A/N: Okay, this one is going to need a runthrough for editing, and maybe some fluffing here and there, but you know. I'm addicted to my own story because I really want to see where it goes. And by that I mean, yeah, I'm not sure exactly where the plot will take me in the end. Got an idea, and it concludes with some Roy/Ed action in the end, but how to get from here to there is the question... Ah, add in some Greed and Envy and we get to have some fun with the poor chibi...

Chapter Three

The Whispering Shadows

-Blessed Sanctuary-

Ed groaned as he rolled over to his side, trying to remember exactly what was happening. The hospital...then the… His eyes snapped open and he felt pressure on his wrist as he realized he was limited in his range of movement. He blinked bleary eyes and realized he was in a bed, a very comfortable one, but his flesh arm was chained above his head to a metal frame, and his automail leg was secured to the frame at the foot of the bed. His flesh leg was similarly attached to the foot, though he had some freedom of moment with it, where the automail was held fast. He yanked on it hard, expecting it to give, but found it didn't.

"Please, my lord, don't do that!" came a hushed voice from beside him.

He looked up to see a young man with light red hair arranging a table beside his bed. "Who are you?" he gasped, looking around.

The room was lavishly decorated in hues of blue and grey, but there were no windows. Bright artificial lights illuminated the large room. There was a large lounge chair and sofa with a coffee table, and a door leading to what appeared to be a huge bathroom. He was covered in a thick comforter but he could tell without looking he was naked underneath. A blush crept onto his face, wondering who had undressed him.

"Shh, my lord, my name is Raderean, and you must not be loud or our master will punish me," he said.

"P-punish you?" Ed said, frowning.

The redhead nodded. "I am your whipping boy, my lord. Your precious flesh cannot be risked, so it is I who take any punishment for your infractions."

Ed looked around franticly, his breath coming in pants. "But…but why? Where am I?"

Raderean looked up. "The master comes with his advisors to help you understand, my lord."

The large door opened to reveal three men. One was tall and cloaked, only a shock of black hair to be seen over his pale face. One was shorter with thick black hair and chocolate eyes and wearing a gray cloak. The one in the middle, though, demanded attention. He was tall with black hair and piercing blue eyes. He wore ornate white robes decorated with gold adornments. Around his head sat a golden circlet set with a large blue stone. His hands were folded neatly in front of him as he looked on with a smile.

"Let me see him," he breathed, and the one with the cloaked face moved forward and yanked away the cover.

"No, please," he said before he could stop himself and saw the man's eyes flash. The cloaked figure beside him lashed out with a whip at the redheaded boy who screamed as the whip crackled with energy of some sort.

"Do not speak unless you are instructed," the white robed man said softly.

Ed stared at the boy writhing on the floor still in obvious agony, his eyes wide at the sight. "I will not whip you like that, my love. I promise that is reserved for your proxy. I do not like noises, you see. So anytime you make noises that are too loud, your proxy will suffer for you. Do we understand each other?"

Ed looked up at him, his eyes still wide in shock and nodded, unsure if he was permitted to speak. "Good," he purred with a smile. "Good, you learn quickly. You don't like to see others in pain. Good."

The man moved over and ran a hand over the automail. He sighed. "I'm sorry, love, but I'm afraid I cannot permit you to keep such a piece of machinery. It assaults my senses, and you are perfection without such…artificiality. Remove it, Andka."

Ed shook his head as the man in the grey cloak moved forward. He smiled wickedly at him, and with strength that he never imagined the man to have, yanked the automail from him, breaking the shackle that had held it in place with the force. Ed gritted his teeth hard, and choked back a scream, but some small noises emitted anyway no matter how hard he tried to quell it. He dropped his head panting as Raderean screamed out at another lash.

"My love, only one lash for that outburst. I understand that that was extremely painful for you to endure, and because I am so kind, I will forgive such. Now, please, my love, understand I only wish to see your perfection," he said, sitting beside him and running his hand up his flesh leg to his hip.

Ed shivered as he watched him move his hand up and over his body, pausing at his pelvis to hold his hand just above the line of blond hair. "Now, my love, what is your name? You may speak, softly."

"E-Edward…E-Elric…" he said, almost in a whisper, still hearing the boy on the floor quietly sobbing.

"Edward, what a lovely name for my sweet consort," he mused. "You are perfection," he said, reaching up and pulling his loose blond hair down and running fingers through it. "Such a beautiful creature, I think you have been sent to me by the heavens. A perfect being with a perfect mind who can give me everything I ever wanted."

Ed shivered. "Now, of course, you must be trained to answer my desires perfectly. So Andka here will help you. During training, you will not be punished by your proxy, because it will take time for you to learn the way of being my perfect consort. Once you are ready, you will be seated beside me, and we will rule this world together, my lovely Edward."

Ed swallowed nervously and looked around the room. The guy was insane. Totally and completely insane. And as Ed glanced to the redhead who was standing shakily he was truly afraid of what would happen if he approached this with his normal hot headedness. He could take his own pain, but to watch another suffer because of him…he wasn't sure that he could handle that.

The one in the grey robes smiled. "Enjoy your rest, chibi-san," he said. "I'll return to begin our lessons come morning."

Ed blinked, a frown marring his face. Wait…that name. His eyes flashed up at the grey robed figure and he winked at him, the eye turning briefly violet. No wonder his leg had been removed so easily. Envy. But what was the homunculus doing here?

The man placed a hand on his chest and smiled. "I do look forward to my first night with you, my love, but I must insist on the proper training this time. I do not want to hurt you accidently like the other boy…he just cried so much…but you will be prepared for him. I would simply die if I were to lose my sweet consort!"

He turned and left, followed by the two robed figures. Envy turned and winked a violet eye at him again. Ed could feel his heart being in his throat as the Raderean pulled the covers over him and proceeded to curl himself up on the lounge. Not a moment later the room was plunged into darkness, and a soft smell overcame him, and soon after the irresistible pull of sleep.

-Central-

"You can't tell me no one has heard of this guy," Falman yelled into the phone, hands running through his hair absently.

Roy was hidden in his office while his team worked. They needed to find this guy. But with the three in custody, they had no way to even begin to contact him for even in a covert mission. This was not turning out well. Then the door opened and Maes was standing there with a file.

Roy looked up and took it as it was handed to him. "What's this?"

"A blond kid, aged fifteen, was picked up wandering near the outskirts of central, and he's got an interesting story you should hear," Maes said. "We'll have to go down to the hospital again, he's not in great shape, but he's talking. A lot."

Before long, Roy, Riza and Maes all sat in the waiting room for the doctor to see them before they went to talk to the boy. He was a tall man, older and seemed to have a good bedside manner. He looked them over.

"Normally, I wouldn't allow this, considering what the boy has been through. But I know that you are looking for your alchemist who may be connected to this, and I don't want any more kids in here in the condition that he was brought in, or the condition this kid was in," he said, sighing.

Roy nodded. "Understood, doctor. What is his condition?"

"Well, he had several broken ribs, a sprained wrist and a broken ankle. He'd also been stabbed in the chest, amazingly the person doing it missed anything life threatening, though he did almost die of blood loss. Other than that, bruising, cuts and obvious sexual assault. Now, please do not push him too far, he is not in the most stable frame of mind, but he insists that he has to talk to the military," he said and ushered them into a room.

They entered a private room where a boy with short blond hair sat fiddling with the sheet. His head shot up when they entered, and his face was bruised in several places. He nodded to them.

"Hey, I'm Colonel Mustang, these are my friends, Riza and Maes. You can call me Roy if you want," he said.

"My names Chardan Bellman. I'm glad you came so fast. I want you to help Raderean if you can, please."

Roy pulled up a chair. "Chardan, why don't you start from the beginning so we can figure out what's going on."

He nodded. "We, Raderean and me, went to this meeting for alchemy students. Then we woke up and were in this huge mansion. Then this weird guy was fawning all over both of us, telling us how beautiful and perfect we were. But he didn't like my hair, said it was too short. Then he didn't like Raderean's hair because it was too red. But then…then he took Raderean one night and when he brought him back he was different, scared I think. He didn't talk much after that. But the next night he took me to his bed…and I found out what he wanted. I…I was scared and I screamed because he hurt me…and then he was hitting me and that was hurting even worse and then he stabbed me with his arm…but it wasn't his arm…but it was, you know?"

Roy nodded to encourage him to continue. Behind him, he knew, Riza was recording the conversation so they could go over it in more detail and slowly.

"And…and this guy…I dunno who he was, but he kept telling me he was sorry for all of it…that I should have been quiet…that he hated the noise so much that it drove him mad…and…and he just left me on the side of the road, and I was bleeding and it hurt, but then this strange guy came along with gray hair, he musta been old, and he was muttering about kids getting into trouble. He stopped outside a store, and I managed to crawl out of his truck, because I didn't know if he was worse than the guy who hurt me, and then I remember passing out…" he said with a sigh. "I know Raderean must be there if he isn't dead, mister, and I don't want him to die."

Roy nodded. "Thanks, Chardan, but can you tell me anything else you saw when you were left before the man picked you up? I want to help Raderean, but I also need to help one of my subordinates who has been taken by the man who had you."

Chardan looked up with wide eyes. "Is he loud?"

"I'm afraid he's very loud and noisy…" Roy said.

"He's going to die then, Mister Roy. I'm sorry…but Raderean knew how to be quiet, but if your friend isn't quiet, he'll kill him…" he said softly. "Well, unless he gets trained."

"Trained?" Roy asked.

"Well, the man who had us had these two advisors and after I was hurt so bad they were talking to him about not breaking his consorts, whatever that means. And…the one…the one with the purple eyes…he said that he could train the next one to be quiet no matter what happened…and the man seemed to like that idea…" he said.

Roy frowned. "Purple eyes?"

The boy nodded. "Well not always, just every once in a while, when you looked at him right his eyes were purple, otherwise they were brown. Don't know why," he said thoughtfully. "But I thought I was dying and then they took me away."

Roy nodded, looking up at Riza and Maes. This definitely didn't sound good for Ed in the least. He smiled at the boy. "Is there anything you can remember about the place you were held or the place they left you?"

He looked thoughtful for a long moment. "I remember that I smelled something like water, and I heard water somewhere. And before the guy picked me up, I thought I smelled something like oil, but it was pretty hazy then."

Roy nodded. "Thanks, you work on getting better, and call us if you think of anything else, okay?"

The kid grinned. "I will Mister Roy. Hey, why do you think that man told me I wasn't perfect because I had no scars?"

Roy frowned. "I don't know…that's an odd thing to say…"

"Yeah, he said that I wasn't perfect without imperfections. That even if I were quiet I'd never be his consort…" he said thoughtfully.

Roy and the others left and stood thoughtfully in the foyer of the hospital. "Consort? He acts like he thinks he's some sort of king or god…" Maes said, looking out into the rain that had begun while they were inside.

"I can only think of one area in the west where there is both water and oil," Roy said thoughtfully. "I think we should investigate the area, and maybe find our mystery man who rescued that kid and brought him with him to central."

-Blessed Sanctuary-

Ed awoke to the feeling of someone sitting on the bed beside him. His eyes flew open and he was staring at the gray robed figure from yesterday. He smiled, then the face melted as the shape shifting homunculus grinned, greenish black hair tumbling down his back and purple eyes glittering at Ed. Ed growled.

"Envy, what do you want? What are you doing here?" he asked.

Envy grinned and yanked away the cover, exposing him. "Ah, pipsqueak, aren't you sweet looking without that nasty metal cluttering you up?"

"Fuck off, Envy, I don't know what kind of sick game…"

Smack.

Ed was shocked as his face was slapped violently by Envy. He turned and glared at her. "Now, now, Edo, I'm here to help you. I'm here to train you for the king of this castle. So you don't end up dead like the last little blond he had when he lost control."

Ed frowned. "What are you talking about?"

Envy was slithering up on top of him now, and he had no way to throw him off. "See, he doesn't like noise…sets off this thing…blind rage, and he transmutes his bones like ya transmute yer automail…amazin' really. And he just lashes out. So, he's all in love with ya as his consort, but he can't stand noise when he's fuckin'. So…I gotta train ya to not utter a peep no matter what he does to you…because one yelp or scream and he'll take yer head off…so see, chibi, I'm just tryin' ta help ya."

Ed wanted to push him off. "No, get off me, just leave me alone…I won't…Ah!"

He cried out as he felt Envy's hands slip under him to probe him with his thin fingers. "See chibi, ya can't do that…now, I'm gonna finger fuck ya until you can keep quiet…got it?"

Ed squeezed his eyes shut as he rammed his fingers into him over and over, eliciting yelps and pained hisses at first until he finally managed to stop making any noise at all at the violent intrusion of all four of his fingers into him.

"Good…good…now for the rest, sweet chibi…"

Ed's eyes flew open and he shook his head as Envy climbed up, sliding his one leg over his own and positioned himself against him. He began to weep at the memory of what had happened the first time in that warehouse. Envy grinned and snapped his hips hard into him, getting a near scream out of him at the burning and tearing sensation ripping through him again.

"Ah, that's no good, chibi, we'll have to do it again after I'm done this time…" he said, staring down at him with a wide grin. "Not that I mind too much, so keep screaming, I can do this all day, chibi…"

"No, please, just stop this…" he groaned, feeling dampness seep down onto the bed under him.

"Where's the fun in that, pipsqueak? I'm having a good time here…"

By the fifth time, Ed was nearly unconscious and couldn't have given a response if he'd tried. Envy finished with a violent snap of his hips, causing the bed to groan under the weight. She leaned over and patted him on the cheek. "Good chibi…now a few more days and you'll be a docile little whore, now won't you?"

Envy morphed his shape into the docile monk Andka again and grinned at the mess he'd left in the bed. He wondered if he should bother covering the young alchemist. He snickered. What would be the point in that? That stupid redhead would just have to clean it up anyway. He stalked to the door, opening it to find the dimwit standing beside it.

"Clean him up and get him ready for lunch. I come back, I want the place spotless, got it, brat?" he said with a snarl.

He nodded. "Yes sir, Andka, thank you."

He scurried off into the room like a good little mouse. Envy was pretty sure that the kid was smart, but whatever the "master" had done to him had seemed to break the poor kid's mind. Envy shrugged. Oh well. Not like he wasn't trying to do that to the dumb chibi. He smiled. He doubted the stupid pipsqueak would break easily, so he was sure he'd get at least two or three more days with him before he reached the proper degree of passivity and quiet to please the "master". Envy snickerd, passing the dark cloaked advisor.

"You look pleased, Andka."

"Of course, I'm breakin' that chibi down. It's fun," he answered and heard a deep chuckle from the other.

"When you think you're done, I'll test whether he's fully broken or not. We can't have our dear master killing the famed Fullmetal, now can we?"

Envy shook his head. "Not at the least."

As they disappeared, a figure in the shadows melted away. No one noticed the shadows when they moved on their own. And it seemed to be a good thing for the person in them. He was a different sort, after all. He'd followed her directives, investigating this town, and he had been surprised when she came across the situation of alchemists being brought in for some reason. He slithered through the shadows and found his way into the room where he watched from under the drapes as the boy named Raderean wept as he washed the blond alchemist with a bucket of warm water.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry Edward, please, do what they say so they'll stop…I…I'm weak, I know it, but I can't do anything…" he softly murmured as he cleaned the bound teen of sweat, blood and other fluids. He'd already used alchemy to clean the sheets, one of the few things he'd learned before being kidnapped to this place. A lot of good an alchemist who could clean clothes and sheets was in the long run. He finished cleaning him, and gently pulled the cover over him. "I couldn't save Chardan, and it looks like I won't be able to save you either…but I'll be here…and I clean the mess they leave, and try to help you…but I'm sorry I'm so weak…"

The shadows moved and he looked up. The boy shook his head, while outside the building in the shadow of a large tree, a vaguely male shadow shook with silent sobs. He sighed and was gone in a moment, the Shadowdancer Alchemist had to report in to a very specific person. Only a few knew of the strange powers that moved within the mansion. And he could only assume that the reason the boy known as the Fullmetal Alchemist was in there like that was because he was one of them, one that understood the creatures that were not quite human… And one of the others was the boy's superior, Colonel Roy Mustang, if he didn't miss his guess.

The Shadowdancer Alchemist worked alone; information, recon and assassination were his specialty. Few knew of his existence, and even fewer could command him. But he well knew the Flame Alchemist, even if he didn't know him specifically. He was sure he would be more than familiar with his work in Ishvale, however. He moved through the shadows, leaping between the connections that were just beyond the physical world, from shadow to shadow. He had limits, and he was stretching them now. Of course, not even his superiors knew the depth of his knowledge.

Finally, he emerged from the shadows into an alley. He was close to where the would be king, god, whatever he thought he was, lived, but in a town close by. It was an oil drilling area, and the smell was thick on the air. A few moments later and he was connected with the person he wanted.

"Colonel Mustang, what is it, I don't have time for this?" he asked.

"Flame, I think you would want information on Fullmetal," he said smoothly.

There was a pause. "What? You know where he is? This is…what did you say you were, Shadowdancer Alchemist? I've never heard of you."

"Of course not, the only people who have heard of me are usually dead before they can repeat my title. No, I'm in Kaverat, the oil town out west. He's being held not far from where I am, but I know the trip from Central takes at least two days. I know he was brought here through alchemical means, but you don't have them, so I suggest you hurry, or you might not have much of an alchemist to get back…" he said softly, trying not to attract attention at the phone booth.

"Can't you do something?" the colonel snapped.

"I wish I could, Flame. But the situation is…difficult. There are powers in that mansion that are not of…humans." There was a long pause. "I do not think my powers over shadows will be enough to deal with them. And Fullmetal isn't in any condition to use alchemy, considering his automail is missing among other things."

"Understood. We'll be there as soon as we can."

The phone clicked off. All the Shadowdancer alchemist could do was wait. He was useful, incredibly so, but only if he had the element of surprise, and it didn't work well on other alchemists of whatever those things were that were constantly around Dreasal.