Disclaimer: Yo no own

There's a major storm at my place right now. When Sensei, My Sis, and I were dropping the Sensei off at her casa, we fish- tailed (the back to the car came forward from on of the sides), then, on the way back, the car spun, like, in circles on ice and we slammed into one of the gynormous snowdrifts that was taking over the road. We just stared straight forward on the way home with the four-wheel drive on the entire way home. Scary.

I have just gone through the five hour course with one of my sister's friends. The man was old…and he swore a lot. He was moderately amusing, but not enough to keep me laughing for 2 ½ hours for two days. Not even close. But his potty mouth reminded me of my hick grandpa!

Attention people! I have officially found my favorite quote! It is from Kowalski-sensei, mi major amiga and my newly adopted sister. "My Gay Uncle's A Postal Worker!" …Now tell me, isn't that great. We don't know if he's gay or not, but I think so, no straight man dresses like he does if he isn't being dared. Plus, 4 dogs, 2 cats. No. Oh and another "I Don't Know Why I Have 'Elton John' Written On That Page…?" TEEHEEHEE!

Bad News everyone, my family made me watch "Little House One the Prairie" after I watched about three hours of Trigun and bits of Spiderman, so my brain is mush. I'm probably going to do a tribute FF for Andrew (Mr. Thomas) in Chronicles of Narnia and possibly one for Trigun…and FLCL. If I remember. And Maybe "The Little House On the Prairie", just to piss my mum off.

ROBERT GOHLEY (sp) AWAY!

Chapter Twenty Four

Picture Perfect

Mustang had been restless for two weeks, since the Elric's disappearance. Attempting to sleep seemed pointless, so he had given up all together. Riza had been slipping sedatives into his many cups of coffee, he was aware of this and he was pleased; he could get some sleep then. She didn't even bother him about sleeping or not doing paperwork anymore. Dandy. Now if only he could find them, his friends. As soon as Ed was found, he would tie him to a chair and keep him with him wherever he went. He knew Al would just follow.

You had to love the Elric boys; there was strong, dependable Edward and caring, sweet Alphonse. Both were intelligent and loyal and loving. Ed was sassy and Al was sympathetic. Both had the alchemical skill that could send a good percentage of the State Alchemists running and they were able to find solutions to any problem within minutes and they were perceptive. He loved them for every quality; Ed's stubbornness and Al's ability to wrench his heart out with his ability to empathize with all the suffering people he'd met on his journeys. Mustang was sick when he was informed that they were missing and now he hadn't recovered them, still, especially with more homunculi missing along with Winry. Her Grandmother was mad at the military and had threatened him with Winry's wrench that he had heard about Ed getting beaten with countless times. He had seen the scars, he had heard the stories; there was reason to fear the Rockbell women.

Mustang sat with his head in his hands. He had come to the conclusion that they couldn't be dead and there was reason to look into Xenotime. He had heard about the Elric boys being there for months, but his resources he had told him that they were there for about a week, no more. He had also heard that the mansion that the Elrics were studying at was broken into by imposter that had caused quite a stir. Ed hadn't mentioned any of this at his last stop. Besides, he knew Ed didn't like staying in Ritzy places, he thought it was too strict and good for him, he preferred run down dumps over many of the military hotels. He had told Hawkeye to look into the matter; he trusted her judgment, if she found something of interest, she would take care of it and see to it that any possible leads were fully searched.

Havoc came in with a worried face; he wasn't the type to show his emotions. "I've got news that might interest you, Chief. A civilian just called in saying that she saw a blond girl wander into a cul-de-sac and not come out."

Mustang looked at him like he was an idiot. "And?"

"She said that there was a flash of light and the girl screamed. The civilian went in to help and the dead end was void of people."

Mustang sat up. "Where was this?"

The directions Havoc gave him sucked and only further infuriated him. He had set them on fire about ten minutes after he left the headquarters. He would rather take his chances with wandering for aimless days then try to translate idiot into a normal tongue. He noticed the store that had been mentioned on Havoc's notes. He chose to venture into the alley. He turned only to be blinded by a celestial blue-white light.

Feudal Japan

Payne had been feeling well today, so she and everyone else had been sitting around the fire, just enjoying everyone's company. Winry sniffed and reached into her pocket for a tissue, smiled a little, and pulled out a picture. Ed turned to look at her.

"What are you looking at, Win?" He leaned closer to her to try and see.

She smiled and showed him. "It's a picture of you and Al from when you guys were little."

Al, Kagome, Shippo, Sango, and Miroku all crowed around Winry and Ed to see the picture. Kagome smiled. "Aw! You guys were so cute!" Inuyasha stood up and meandered over to see. The picture revealed a smiling Ed and Al, both fully human. Ed was holding up a fish and Al was laughing at his brother's inflated pride. When Inuyasha looked closer, he could see Ed's mother's reflection in his eyes, though he was the only one could see, for he knew that Shippo wouldn't notice and he knew the human's probably couldn't see it.

Al laughed. "I remember that summer! That was right before you and I fought and I threw you into the river where we caught the fish!"

Ed smiled. "Then Mom scolded me for leaving you behind when I came back home. Then she had you apologize to me, it was a riot."

Al nodded. "…Especially considering the fact that we fought again after she went to the market."

Winry smiled. "I remember that! Al ran to my house upset and Granny had to keep you there until you calmed down! Then Ed came and refused to talk to us!"

Ed laughed. "I didn't want to have to admit that I was wrong."

Winry and Ed walked over to the river to get water. The picture had lifted everyone's mood, but made Winry remember about Granny. Ed had conned her into going with him. They held hands the entire way there, playing little games by squeezing back and forth. Winry smiled at Ed, "Thank you for taking me out for a walk, Edward."

He looked at her and smiled in response. "It's no big deal, Winry, you know that. I just wanna make you happy."

She nodded. "Right…just, thank you."

He sighed. "No problem."

They had been enjoying the quiet when Ed got a spooky feeling. "Winry, stay close," He whispered.

She looked at him quite surprised. "Hmm…Ed, what's wrong?"

Ed looked around and grabbed Winry's hand pulling her in the opposite direction from camp.

"Ed! What's going on?!" She stumbled and fell on her stomach.

He helped her up, not noticing the paper she dropped as he pulled her along. "Winry, we gotta hurry! I can't exactly tell you what's happening and I'm sorry. But someone is chasing us and that should be enough of an incentive to get you to run!"

She nodded and ran along side Ed so he wasn't pulling her.

Envy picked up what Winry dropped and smiled. "This should rock their world." He looked at what he held in this hand and transformed. When he was done, he dropped the paper and walked away. It landed face up. The picture of Ed and Al started to get wet as the rain fell, making it look like Al was crying.

They did a loop in the forest and made their way back to camp very out of breath, everyone stood.

Inuyasha raised an eyebrow. "What's wrong?"

Ed panted out one word that scared everyone. "H…Homunculi..."

Payne and Fumi looked to Al, lost and scared, "What are homunculi?"

"…Our enemies." Inuyasha grabbed the hilt of his blade and faced the direction that Ed and Winry had come from. He turned to Kagome, Sango, and Winry. "You guys get Payne and Fumi outta' here, now! Don't come back; just go to Kaede's village."

Kagome nodded. "You guys be careful though."

Ed smiled. "We're always careful it's just our attention to detail that causes our injuries."

Winry looked at him seriously. "You'll be okay, won't you?"

Ed smirked. "Same as always."

She sighed. "That's not saying much. You keep your Brother safe. You too, Al! Be careful everyone!" She hopped on Kagome's bike as Fumi and Payne climbed onto Kirara with Sango.

Inuyasha braced himself for what was going to come from the woods, when a nail shot out, pinning Al to a tree and the saimyosho seemed to pour out of the woods. About fifty demons emerged the same time as Lust, Naraku, Sloth, and Gluttony, but there was someone else; Inuyasha could see the outline of a short-ish person, possibly a young boy.

Ed ran over to help Al when someone calling out to him stopped him.

"Brother!" The voice sounded pure, not metallic like Al's. He turned to see the face of his brother, one he hadn't seen in years. The boy smiled and repeated the word quieter. "Brother."

Ed faltered. He knew that wasn't Al, he knew it was Envy, but he couldn't seem to accept that. Al seemed to notice this and called out to him. "Ed, brother…"

Miroku fought off the demons with Inuyasha and turned to speak with him. "Did that boy just say 'Brother'…?"

Inuyasha nodded. "Yeah, but who the hell is he?", not getting a very good look at him.

The boy ran forward and attacked Ed, Ed just backed up to avoid the punches and kicks. Ed closed his eyes and threw a punch, but the boy grabbed his arms and pulled him close and smiled malevolently. "You wouldn't hit your Brother, would you, Brother?" He kneed Ed in the stomach and pushed him on the ground. Ed got up and transmuted his arm into a blade and looked away. The boy laughed. "Please don't hurt me, Brother, please…?" He laughed again. Ed swung the blade like an amateur. "Like you could hit me fighting like that."

Al shook his head. "You know that's not me, Brother, fight for real!"

Ed shook his head. "I can't…I can't kill your face, Al."

Inuyasha growled and unleashed a Windscar and ran over to help Ed, but was stopped by Naraku. "Dammit, must you screw with everyone!?"

Naraku laughed. "You misunderstand, half-breed. I'm not screwing with you, I'm playing a game, it's not my fault that you don't know the rules."

Miroku tried to run over while Naraku was distracted, but Gluttony came in front of him. Miroku smiled. "I don't anymore, this is just, plain annoying." He opened his palm and drew him in, along with three poison wasps. He ran over to Lust and cut her back with his staff.

She pulled her hand out of Al and attacked Miroku, who seemed to be feeling the affects of the venom he had ingested. Al drew an array and stopped Lust. Inuyasha unleashed another Windscar, killing the golem. Everyone turned to see Ed on the ground, the boy standing above him with his arm shaped like a blade, pointed at Ed. He drew his arm back as Al screamed for his brother. But, one noise rang out above all the others: a snap…

Review…..please…I know it took me a long time, but it's pretty good, right…please. PLEASE!