A loud, obnoxious voice filtered through Ed's ears as he arrived near the cave entrance. Ed was too focused on maintaining his current speed as his feet barely kept in contact with the ground. Before, Ed had learnt the hard way that changing speed drastically or losing focus meant a faceplant into the sand. That experience was not one he wished to relive, and he hoped that no one had witnessed such a mortifying moment.

Ed's golden eyes narrowed as they met the scene, and in less than a second Ed was between the two groups. A boy, a little younger than he, with spiky blond hair had been shouting in panic and anger at Itachi, who had appeared calm, but his obsidian eyes flashed as Ed appeared.

The Akatsuki member next to Itachi was blue-skinned, and Ed looked in clear horror at the man, focusing intensely on his blue gills and sharp teeth. What had happened to him? A transmutation like that—who would condone such a thing?

But…the man could have also been born this way. This was, after all, a world Ed knew almost nothing about.

Ed's mind flashed with an image of Nina Tucker, the little girl who was used in a transmutation experiment by her father. How the position of state alchemist and the military had pushed the man's mind to such an insane conclusion. The splatter on the wall of what was left of the girl and the dog had made Ed want to gag as the smell of death had entered his nostrils and tears stung the corner of his eyes.

The Akatsuki was made out of monsters, criminals, and humans, all with their own motives. Then a spindle of a thought entered Ed's mind, dark and filled with evil intent.

A monster creates monsters.

The flash of a memory, a black mass on a wooden floor, and blood on his hands as Ed thought, "Why?"

Ed's eyes wandered to the red powerful chakra surrounding the blond, who was ready to attack by the look of things, and next evaluated the pink-haired girl with clenched fists. Her chakra flow was peaceful, an aquamarine color that felt gentle even from Ed's distance. It was an aura similar to Al's, and Ed halted himself from nearing the girl.

I miss you, Al.

Ed watched as the group of nin had slightly tensed at his appearance. An almost fully-clothed man, with three-quarters of his face covered by a mask and silver hair, barked an order out, "Naruto! Sakura! Get behind me. Now." The silver-haired nin was in a battle stance, a blade—kunai—in his hands. The teens looked ready to protest, but then Naruto's—was that his name?—face morphed into confusion, and he gave a cautious look towards Ed as he stepped back. The girl, Sakura, followed along, although it was probably more along the lines of following the orders of a superior rather than what Naruto had experienced.

Ed's eyes switched over to a man wearing green spandex; he had to raise a golden eyebrow at that. The man was shouting at the silver-haired nin, saying, "Kakashi, man, I'm burning! What are you doing?"

Kakashi snarled at the man. "Guy, calm down and look more closely at the blond."

Guy furrowed his bushy eyebrows and scrutinized the uncomfortable blond. Ed glared daggers at the man as Itachi tightly gripped his shoulder. There was a flash of grave seriousness in the black eyes of the man named Guy, who now was taking a step back and nodded at Kakashi in understanding. Ed wondered what they were agreeing on when suddenly he was pulled by Itachi, whom had launched himself off of the ground to land with the dazed blond a few meters behind Kisame.

Ed ripped himself away from Itachi's hold, snarling out, "What the hell is your problem?"

Itachi's hand snatched Ed's arm, icily replying, "You are, Edward. What were you thinking?"

Itachi didn't wait for an answer as he gave a nod to Kisame to continue without him and proceeded to tug Ed into the mouth of the cave, which was above ground, Ed noted with curious eyes. It was almost a dome-shaped structure with a hole in it. Ed's muscles froze as his eyes met the situation inside the cave. A wooden statue was what stood out the most. Blue streams formed into dragons were streaming out of the its mouth as its hands ominously stretched out, fingers glowing, arms in the ground and the hands shackled together.

But Ed's fury-blazing eyes filled with inner terror were glued to the form surrounded by the blue tendrils. A teenager with blazing red hair, pale white skin and sleep-deprived eyes was in the center of what appeared to be a ritual. For what, Ed didn't know, nor did he really care, because by the looks of things, the red-head wasn't going to survive for long. Itachi's grip on Ed tightened painfully and Ed tried to wrench his left arm from the man's hold, and getting frustrated that he wasn't getting anywhere, Ed slammed his left automail foot onto Itachi's and winced at the crunch.

The hold was released and Ed immediately recoiled, not daring to look back at Itachi as he neared the red-head. All the Akatsuki members were there. Ed was sure of it as his eyes surveyed the chanting men with hoods covering their faces.

Amongst them was Tobi, his pair of soul-sucking eyes kept on Ed even when he finally reached the teen. Ed wasn't sure why they weren't moving to stop him; maybe they thought he wouldn't have the power to stop the ritual?

Think again, bastards, Ed thought as his hands crackled with alchemy and he slammed into the ground. Ed was intending to make his alchemy cause a little earthquake, but he was surprised when the power that erupted from his fingertips vaporized the statue and made the earth churn over. Cracks appeared in the earth, and Ed watched in horror as the cave started to fold in on itself.

There was chaos, and Ed barely noticed as the redhead was nabbed by the blond teen, his blue eyes staring at Ed with curiosity for a second before he was gone. Dust was rising in the air and Ed's vision blurred as it got into his eyes. A hand grabbed at Ed's pale wrist, tight and bruising as a sudden hope erupting in his chest at the thought of Itachi saving him. But as golden eyes stared into black cold eyes, a shiver traveled down Ed's spine, his body wrenched forward into the man's chest and Ed was engulfed into a black hole with Tobi.

It was like being sucked through a tube so small that Ed's atoms had to be rearranged to fit inside of it. There was an intense nausea as hard ground met Ed's feet, but his automatic response was to stagger away from Tobi.

The man's eye was staring at him with dead fascination, and Ed could feel a hundred spiders crawling along his skin at the look. It was dark in the large cavern, and as Ed glanced out of his peripheral vision, he recognized the structure of the Akatsuki building. The atmosphere was tense as Ed took a step back, Tobi stalking forwards like a predator would towards prey.

Tobi's personalities didn't match up. One minute he was this irritating, annoying, idiotic fool and the next he's a hunter that radiated danger and sadistic tendencies.

"That was quite a bit of power you showed there, little one," the man murmured as Ed's back hit a wall. The jab at his stature made Ed want to fume, but the situation was dangerous, and there was no time to be outraged by a such a—dare he think it?—small thing.

So instead, Ed maintained his silence and tried to catch an exit through the edges of his vision, as it wasn't safe to take his eyes off of Tobi.

Then it clicked. There was the metaphorical light bulb lightening up inside his head, and it all made sense.

The bipolar personalities, the mask, even the name…

"You're not Tobi, are you?" Ed muttered out, voice hoarse as Tobi—no—the man gave a chilling chuckle.

"A smart one, aren't you?" the man asked rhetorically, and Ed took a step to the side, intent at least to avoid physical contact with the man as he raised a hand out to touch Ed. The hand blurred in Ed's vision and a surprised rasp sounded from him as it appeared, clenched around Ed's throat as Tobi slammed his body into the wall.

"Now, now, let's not be too hasty, shall we?" the man murmured, tightening his hold on Ed's throat. The last bit of air left Ed's mouth as he snarled, raising an automail hand that formed into a fist. Black dots were dancing in his line of vision now, a suffocating darkness descending down upon Ed. But Ed had a strong will and perseverance that could be compared to the unbreakable diamond.

The automail fist flew towards the man's face with pent up anger, frustration and humiliation. A crack sounded upon impact, and the man let go of Ed as he staggered back, unsuccessfully keeping his mask on his face with his hands. The glass mask shattered into tiny shards, landing on the stone floor with a clink. Ed's chest was heaving in adrenaline.

The man's face was a deathly pale, and the right side was marked just like the mask that littered it before. A red, glowing eye glared chillingly at Ed. The left side of the face, however, was smooth, but the left eye was purple and had black rings in a repeating circle, growing larger the farther it was away from his pupil. The man's hand left his face, smiling a deranged smirk at Ed and advancing with slow steps towards him, the glass shards cracking underneath the pressure of his feet.

"That will have to be punished," the man said idly, and Ed felt a biting fear rise within him. The man's aura, chakra, had changed in a second, there wasn't a dull brown swirling lazily around him. Now there was a blazing, fire-red hurricane surrounding the man, and Ed felt the power from him with every single step.

"Obito."

The words were spoken from behind the man—Obito—and Ed nearly sighed in relief at the sight of Itachi.

Obito tsked. "Came to fetch your little pet, Itachi?"

Itachi didn't deign the man a response, and instead addressed Ed with an order. "Let's go."

Ed felt quick to comply, because Itachi's cobalt eyes were burning with anger while Obito gave Ed another demented smirk as he passed by. As soon as Ed was within distance, Itachi grabbed his wrist in an iron grip, pulling him out of the room and down a dimly lit hall. Itachi was dead silent, and Ed didn't dare utter a word. There was a certain shame building inside of him for stepping on the man's foot with such force. Again, Ed had acted without thinking, without thinking of the consequences and jumping right into the chaos. Itachi suddenly halted and Ed stumbled, a dumbfounded, "What?" escaping from his lips. The iron grip left Ed's wrist, leaving a faint shade of purple behind and Ed rubbed at it with a wince.

"You just can't follow orders, can you, Edward?" Itachi asked as Ed was looking up from his wrist into cobalt eyes. The words sparked irritation within Ed, a faint memory of those words uttered to him multiple times by Mustang.

"I'm not a dog!" Ed snapped out, gritting his teeth and not noticing the faintest twitch of Itachi's hands nor the black chakra swirling around his eyes.

"I'm not a pet," Ed strangled out, "and I won't be used by anybody."

Itachi let out a humorless chuckle and Ed found himself taking a step back, golden eyes narrowing as his senses screamed out danger. "If you had only listened to me…" Itachi trailed off, shaking his head, "…it's too late now."

Confused, heart beating fast, Ed stuttered out, "What do you mean?"

Itachi took a forceful step forward, closing his right eye as his left iris swirled to a blood red with a thin black triangle in the middle.

A menacing, fake, smirk appeared on Itachi's face, "Congratulations, you are officially the property of the Akatsuki."

Ed's vision blurred, his body shutting down as he spiraled into a hollow darkness.