Okay! Next chapter is up! I hope you guys enjoyed the last chapter! Anyway, tell me what you think! I'm very proud of this new story!

Hikari

Crimson Butterfly- Chapter 2- "Crimson... ... Butterfly... ..."

The brothers waltzed deeper and deeper into the uncharted wood, looking for anything unusual. Somewhere around midnight, to Al's best calculations, they came to the dead end Ed had been hoping for.

He sighed happily, then turned back to Alphonse. "Whew. Nothing here. Guess the Colonel is as dumb as he looks. Let's g-…" Ed stopped mid-sentence, looking to their east, farther into the woods.

Al took no heed to his brother at all, consumed by his own joy that they wouldn't be diving head first into the same empty pool again; they wouldn't be put in dangers way on their two weeks off. "Alright, Brother, you wanna go back... Brother?"

Al turned around, searching desperately for his brother. "Brother? Brother! BROTHER!" He spun around. In the corner of his eye, he caught the wisps of red flapping in the wind, then the blonde hair of Edward. He sighed again. "Brother! What are you doing?"

No response. Ed just kept walking down the small trail that had been embedded in the dirt.

The suit of armor trudged toward his brother, trying to catch up with him. He's walking so slow, Al thought, how is it that I can't catch up?
A shimmer of crimson in front of the elder caught his attention. "Wha…?" Al wondered.

"Crimson……butterfly……" a weakened voice whispered, though the sound echoed from deep within the flora.

Ed sped up, following the shimmer of light, soon breaking into an all out mad sprint. Al tried to keep up, but his metal body slowed him down. "Brother! Wait! Edward!"

Suddenly, the surroundings changed, morphing from their tranquil forested state. Buildings began to take shape; the sky turned a hideous gray color, though the moon shone a gratefully bright yellow light. The buildings towered over him, and a dense fog rolled in, coating the ground in its mysterious mist.

Al looked around, frightened. Ed was nowhere to be seen. What was worse? The town was a desolate wasteland of buildings with blood on the handles of ever door. No wall seemed to be safe from the red liquid and all things seemed to be tinted with its horrendous color.

The armor heard a groan to his right, and immediately spun around to greet it. A door creaked ever so slightly in the winds wake, then a body followed. Al smiled inwardly. "Brother! You're okay!" He took a step toward it before seeing who- or what- the corpse really was.

A man stepped forward, knife strokes across his chest, face and appendages. He moaned in agony, holding out a knife of his own in his own defense; either that or he intended to kill Alphonse. No matter how aware Al was that he was basically immortal, fear gripped him, holding him fast as the dead human limped toward him, weapon at ready.

"YOU LEAVE HIM ALONE YOU BASTARD!" Ed hopped from the shadows, slicing through the monster with his metal arm. The corpse dropped to the ground, knife never leaving the half of him that had been severed. Ed's back still facing Alphonse, he muttered, "Clean cut, one down, who knows how many to go. Damn… And I thought it was fake…"

As if suddenly becoming aware of his younger brother's presence, he turned, his eyes wide with worry. "You're okay?" he questioned, looking at his armor carefully. Alphonse nodded. "I'm fine, how about you?" Ed gave a quick jolt as he heard another door creak. "Damn doors. Their going to be the death of us, aren't they."

"Don't even joke like that." Al said.

Ed looked to the ground, before finally asking meekly, "Al, I was wondering… How did we get here?" Al gave him the best questioning look he could, wondering how he could ask that when he was the one who lead them to this fate.

"Edward, you're the one who lead us here, remember?"

Ed raised a brow in question, scrutinizing his brother. "No, I couldn't have. The last thing I remember is turning to leave."

Al gasped. How could he not remember? It wasn't right… because he could remember him leading the way down the trodden soil path.

"Wait, you have to recall! You were following something…. Some floating, crimson something…"

"Crimson……butterfly……" the voice announced yet again, this time, though, Al could swear that he recognized the voice. To worsen the situation, Ed's pendant began to glow an eerie gold color, though not enough for either of the boys to notice.

As they continued to engage in this game of cat and mouse, that, unbeknownst to Edward, Al should have won, something was returning to its normal form extremely close to them.

A knife glistened in the moonlight, raising Al's attention. The sharp object began its decent, straight toward the top of his brother's head. "Brother! Look out!" he called.

Ed turned his head, diving out of the way at the last moment. He gripped his left arm, where the blade had grazed. "Damn it!" he mumbled. Note to self, he mentally checked, looking onto the dead man's body once again. Zombies don't die that easily.

"RUN!" Ed cried, turning tail and taking refuge into the nearest building aside from the one the monstrosity had come from. Al followed suit, diving into the door before the elder closed and locked it.

Ed sat panting, while Al tried to collect himself. "Well, this is going to be interesting…" Ed murmured, looking to his brother with a grim, yet at the same time amused smile.

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Hikari