Please note that there are possible spoilers in this story for anything in the manga and anime.

This is my first time using this website, so please be understanding and let me know if I do anything wrong so that I can fix it.

My story does not have a beta. Please feel free to alert me to any mistakes that I have made.

I am not intending on following any story line from the manga/anime, but I will use bits and pieces of it to fill in certain things. Please feel free to decide when, where, and how this story takes place for yourself.

This story will involve severe adult themes including, but not limited to, violence, gore, and rape. If these themes are problematic for you, please do not continue reading this story.

I do not own, nor am I in any way affiliated with, Fullmetal Alchemist or its creators.

Chapter One – The Story

Alphonse did not know who to go to. He had no idea where anyone was – save for one person – and he was not entirely sure that Mustang would be able to help him. Everybody was so busy with their plans of action – Al was supposed to be busy with his own plan of action – that he wasn't sure there was anybody who could help him. He didn't even know where to start, though, and he was becoming frantic. His mind was too jumbled for him to think clearly to figure out how to find his brother. He was too worried, too terrified, and for once he was ready to ask somebody to aid him.

He found himself outside of the Colonel's office door before he even registered the fact that he had walked there and into Central Headquarter's main doors. Al had been too busy going over the sequence of events that had led up to him waking up in an antique store, too busy desperately trying to ignore all of the images of terrible things that could happen to his brother, and too busy wishing, not for the first time, that he could just cry. He really needed help this time. This was too close, too personal, and probably too dangerous for him to attempt on his own. He just hoped that Mustang was the right person.

His knock was quiet and timid, but it was obviously heard because Riza Hawkeye opened the door quickly. She looked very surprised to see him standing there and looked him over briefly before standing to the side so he could enter the first office. "Alphonse," she said, still staring at him as if she could somehow find out why he was there by sheer will of mind.

"I need to speak to the Colonel," he told her. Maybe after Mustang knew what was going on, they would tell Hawkeye, but he wanted the advice of the Colonel before he went around telling everybody what had happened.

She nodded her head, still staring at him, before she finally tore her gaze away and went to Mustang's door and knocked. She opened it without a reply from him and then closed it behind her when she went into the main office, leaving Alphonse to wait alone in the small room. He didn't see any reason for Mustang to refuse his visit, but he was suddenly nervous that it would be the outcome.

After only a minute, the door opened again and Mustang and Hawkeye came out together. Hawkeye returned to her desk, eyeing the two men – because Alphonse could not be called a child when he towered over almost everyone – and they silently shook hands before walking into Mustang's office. Alphonse closed the door behind him and Mustang took note that what they were going to discuss was something to be shared in privacy; Al never cared too much if doors were left open unless something very serious was happening.

Mustang sat at his desk and Alphonse remained standing because he was too preoccupied to think about putting other people at ease by participating in human mannerisms. The Colonel waited a moment, giving Al the opportunity to sit or speak, but when neither occurred, he asked, "What brings you to see me? And why are you alone?"

Alphonse sighed, the sound echoing inside of his armor. When he spoke, his voice sounded pained and Mustang could tell that the words were difficult for him to say. "Edward is missing," he managed quietly. "I don't know what happened to him."

Mustang furrowed his brows and considered the confession for a moment. Alphonse had not seen his brother for quite a while, as they had all been in separate groups, but they had all been in secret contact with one another somehow. Al couldn't have been talking about that and if he were, he would have contacted Mustang much sooner. He knew that Al must be speaking of something that had happened more recently, and he felt a sudden chill of fear in his stomach, wondering what had happened to Ed.

"How do you know that he's missing?" Mustang asked him after a moment of silence.

Alphonse paused only briefly before deciding that if he was going to trust the Colonel with this information, he could trust him with anything. "I've been having moments, sir, when I lose consciousness. Edward warned me that this would happen, that there would come a time that my soul would begin to reject the armor because it's not where it belongs. There are times, and sometimes they are just minutes but other times they are hours, where I am not here. And during one of those instances, I believe that someone or something took over the armor and somehow got into contact with Brother…and during that time, they captured him."

"How can you be so sure?" Mustang asked cautiously, not wanting to insult the young man, but seriously wondering his conviction on the events.

"I just know," Alphonse told him. "I can feel that something isn't right. He's not where he's supposed to be and he's not. He's not okay."

Al and Ed had never been able to properly explain the connection that they had because of Edward binding Al's soul to the armor with his own blood and because of whatever else had happened that night, in that place with the huge doors. It was there, though, an underlying bond that tied them together deeper than anything anybody else could probably understand, and it alerted them when something was very seriously wrong. And something was very seriously wrong. "You have to believe me," Alphonse whispered to Mustang. "I just know and I'm terrified. You're the only one I could ask to help me."

"Of course I will help you," Mustang said softly, staring down at his hands as he thought about the situation. He felt very afraid for Edward after hearing Alphonse's almost tearful plea. He knew that they shared a very unique connection, though he didn't quite understand how or why, but he was willing to believe that Alphonse truly could feel that there was something off about Edward's situation. Whatever it was, it had the younger Elric brother frantic and if Mustang were to think logically, he knew that he had to have both of the Elric brothers alive and well in order to defeat Father when the time came.

If he were to think slightly illogically, he would feel the familiar protectiveness that he always felt when it came to Edward Elric. He knew the boy was strong, knew that he was a genius and could take care of himself just fine, but he couldn't help the overwhelming urge to want to help and protect him at all costs. Sure, he'd put him in the line of fire on more than a few occasions, but there was always someone there to make sure that the alchemist and his brother were not injured. He always made sure he was safe, but he'd always wanted to give Edward as much success as possible so that he could feel good about the efforts he was making, and sometimes that involved a little danger. Mustang had always felt a little pride, too, when Edward unfailingly prevailed without the need of hidden security to aid him.

Mustang looked back up, meeting Alphonse's glowing eyes that had once brought respectful fear to him, but he now found unexplainably calming. "So you have no idea where your brother is?"

"No," Alphonse confirmed, casting the glow down to the ground, but never moving his head. Mustang had never seen Al behave so unlike a human, but he supposed that the situation didn't call for it.

"Tell me everything that you remember," Mustang said. "Then we'll go from there."

Alphonse nodded and took a moment to think about the entire situation, before telling the story. He told Mustang about what he had done for the winter, the plans that he and his comrades had come up with that he knew they were still working on because they would have had faith in Al's ability to overcome whatever obstacles he faced and they knew that the bigger picture was more important. He told him about Gluttony and Pride attacking him once he'd finally woken up, after his soul had returned to the armor, and how they had captured him.

"I don't know when my soul left again," Alphonse admitted. "But there was a long amount of time when I was no longer in the armor, and then suddenly I was in an antique shop alone, after my soul had returned, and I could just feel that something wasn't right with Edward."

Mustang had been taking notes on everything that Alphonse said, hoping that something would give him some sort of clue as to what had happened to Edward, and he looked up when Alphonse finished his tale. "So we'll have to start at the antique shop," he said, mostly to himself. Maybe the shop keeper would remember something suspicious or there would be a clue of some sort. Maybe there would be something that would point them in the proper direction. He looked at Al for a moment, wondering if it was in all of their best interests if he went on this quest with the younger Elric brother. When he decided that he had no other choice, that his heart would allow nothing else, he asked, "Do you remember where it is? How to get there?"