Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist. I only own the plot, a laptop, and a really dark mind.


Ed was thoroughly pissed. He was pissed that he to delay his research on the Philosopher's Stone. He was pissed that he had to be inspecting another damn mine. He was pissed that he and Al were separated right now. And most importantly, he was pissed that before he could start on his third bowl of noodles, he heard a high-pitched scream.

That honestly wouldn't have been a problem on a day like today if he didn't know that Al would be rushing to the source. On any other totally sucky day like today, Ed would've been perfectly content to devour at least 10 more bowls of noodles without even worrying if something was wrong, but Al wasn't like that. Al was selfless, kind, and a way better person than Ed was.

"Dammit." Ed had to protect his younger brother, since there was no one left that could do that for him.

After slamming 200 cenz on the table, the older Elric grabbed his notorious red jacket and stormed out of the restaurant. This better be important Alphonse, the blond thought. Or else I'll kill you.


Colonel Mustang threw open the door to his outer office nearly an hour later than he should've, completely ignoring the various concerned glances from his various subordinates. They were all concerned for the obviously sleep deprived Colonel, and the two Elric's. Even Hawkeye spared Mustang the murderous glare and agonizing lecture that usually followed his tardiness.

"Hughes came in looking for you sir," the blond lieutenant offered instead. "He's waiting for you in your office."

Mustang offered a muffled "thanks" before throwing open the thick door of his inner office and sauntering in. Just like Hawkeye had said, Roy found Lieutenant Colonel Hughes ruffling through reports on one of the couches in the room. After noticing his friend's presence, the Lieutenant Colonel promptly placed his papers on the table and turned towards Roy. "Any word from them?"

"No," Roy couldn't stop the dread from spreading through his body as he glanced at the clock on the wall. "Alphonse should've called by now."

Maes' usually cheerful face was warped into one of deep concern. Al always called. It wasn't in the younger Elric's soul to let Mustang and his team worry, so he would always call. Even if his brother protested the action.

"Maybe Ed wanted to get a head start on the inspection." His friend's preposition made Roy laugh.

"Yes, because he seemed so excited to receive the order in the first place."

"Okay, well maybe they ran into someone they knew and lost track of time." After seeing Roy's doubtful expression, the Lieutenant Colonel added, "You did used to be stationed there."

"Fullmetal didn't have many friends in East City."

"Cut me a break Roy." The Colonel purposefully avoided the eye contact that his friend was trying to establish. "Ed is an intelligent and highly skilled alchemist. Even if he did come into contact with these people, he wouldn't go down without taking most of them with him. Plus, it's kind of hard to even touch Ed with a six-foot-tall suit of armor by his side. So, I'm sorry if I'm trying to be optimistic about this situation, and not wallowing in my own self-pity."

Hughes was right, like he usually was. Ed was more than capable of defending himself. Honestly, the Colonel felt sorry for any soul unlucky enough to pick a fight with the famous Edward Elric. But then why was there a feeling of sickening dread in the pit of his stomach?

"I still don't like the idea of those two so close to danger. I'm going to talk to the Fuhrer about getting them out of there."

"Be careful Roy." That was all that the Colonel let his friend say before closing the door of his inner office and making the long trek to the office of Fuhrer King Bradley.


The closer Ed came to the source of the scream, the more anxious he became. He couldn't shake the feeling that something really bad had happened. The only thing was, there was no destruction. All the buildings were whole, and there was no debris littering the air. In fact, this seemed like a completely normal day. So then why did it feel so wrong?

Ed couldn't help but notice the fact that he didn't hear the telltale metal clanking of his younger brother. Maybe Al hadn't heard the scream? He was probably already at Eastern Command making that call to Mustang that he always insisted on making every time the two brothers went some-BANG!

Ed was ripped out of his thoughts by an explosion, and what sounded suspiciously like ripping metal. "Al?"

The older Elric immediately picked up his pace. Buildings blurred as Ed sprinted passed them, desperate to get to his little brother. Another explosion rang out, and Ed called out to his brother. "Alphonse!" Whoever was stupid enough to harm the famous Edward Elric's little brother was in for a very unpleasant surprise, and maybe a couple missing fingers.

The young alchemist transmuted his metal arm into a blade, and rounded the corner of the alley only to stop dead in his tracks. There was no one there. Cautiously, Ed walked forward. It seemed like any other alley. There was a dumpster lining one of the buildings that reeked of rotting garbage, and lots of bricks darkened with mold.

However, there was something that caught the older Elric's eye. Ed took a cautionary step forward, and knelt down next to the hundreds of tiny steel shards on the ground. He would know that steel anywhere. "Al?" he whispered, and at the same time and figure appeared from out of the shadows.

"Well, well," alerted to the new presence behind him, Ed immediately stood un and turned to face the voice. "If it isn't the Fullmetal Alchemist. What can I say? I thought you'd be taller, although all of my sources have told be that your height doesn't match your title."

Who was he to talk? The boy standing in front of Ed didn't look much older than he was, and he wasn't much taller either. "Where's my brother you bastard?"

A smile was suddenly splayed across the boy's face, but his blue eyes were tinged with madness. "How did I know that you would ask that? It seems as though my sources were not wrong."

Ed took a step closer to the blond boy, anger swelling inside him. "Listen to me you smug bastard, you seem to know who you're dealing with, so let me be blunt with you. You tell me where my brother is, and I don't rip out your guts to sell as cow meat."

The boy laughed. That smug bastard actually had the never to laugh at him! It was all Ed could do not to follow through with his promise then and there.

"You see Ed, that won't happen. You're going to come with us, and you're going to come willingly."

"Like hell I will!" Who did this guy think he was?

"Oh you will, because we happen to know about a certain little blood seal." Ed stopped in his tracks. How did they know about the blood seal? "I thought so. Now why don't we get rid of that silly little blade don't we?"

After a moment of hesitation, Ed clapped his hands together and returned his automail to its original position. "Ah very good. Go ahead Frank."

Ed looked around, trying to place a face to the bringer of his doom, but older Elric couldn't find a face before a transmutation was activated, and a dirt cage arose around him.

The older boy walked closer to Ed, and he could swear that the air was getting thinner in his personal prison. "How rude? It seems as though I haven't properly introduced myself. I'm Lucas McHugh, and we are about to have a lot of fun Edward."

For some reason it was getting harder for Ed to breath, almost as in the air in the small cage was slowly leaking out. His breaths stared to become ragged, and his vison started to blur. The boy was faintly aware that his captor, Lucas, was saying something, but he couldn't quite make out the words.

Earlier that day when that bastard of a Colonel had sent him to East City, Ed thought that his day couldn't get any worse. Man was he mistaken.

Ed's knees gave out from the lack of oxygen, and Ed found himself laying on the cold ground, clutching his neck. His lungs burned, and his vision darkened. It might have been his oxygen deprived brain, but Ed could've sworn he heard laughter before his vision became completely black.


A/N: Well that was harder than necessary. I don't know why but this chapter gave me a really hard time. I had in written by Wednesday, then rewrote every single word for the next three days. I'm still not sure that I'm completely satisfied with this chapter, but I guess it'll have to do.*sigh* Any who...I really hope you guys enjoy this chapter more than I did. I also think that I'm going to change my update date to Sunday since that's basically when it's getting updated anyway. Until next week I guess.

-ThePsychedelicBean