(Begs for forgivness) I'm so sorry I haven't updated in SOOOO long. I'm been busy job hunting and such, so things have been a little hectic for me. But the good news is I'll have a permenant job (hopefully) by June. I've signed up with the military and I'll be going for my basic training then. I can't wait! XD I'm in such bad shape, I gained so much weight after having Raeven that I just don't know what to do with myself. If the army can't whip me back into shape, nothing can. ...;-; I'm doomed.

Anyway, quick little thing, go to youtube dot come and type in the search bar Cute Baby Raeven. You'll get three videos of Raeven in all her cute glory! She only makes a little bit of noise, but she's just so frikin' cute!!! XDDD

(ahem) Sorry...but really, check out the videos, tell me what you think. The longest one if a minute and a half. So, enjoy!

OH! And this chapter...FINALLY things are picking up and the arc is about to end! WOOT! Tell me what you think!

Chapter 35 - Kidnapping!

He sat amidst the darkness. "It seems they're doing all the work for us." The old man rubbed his hands together. "It's going perfectly. Get everyone ready, you're going to town and catching the next train to central. Right along with the girl Aria." He spoke quickly to Raul. He then turned to Felix. "You can go with them."

Felix smiled a wickid smile. "Thank you sir."

Ed tapped his foot impatiently as he awaited the train to show up at the little Ishbalan outpost. "Come on!" He could see the train several miles down the line, but because he was in a rush, it made the train seem like it was tking it's sweet ol' time getting there. Ed gritted his teeth as he held the now fully translated book under his arm. They pulled an all nighter, but they had managed to get the book, at least enough of it, translated to actually figure out what was going on.
The phone rang in the Rockbell house, though it was early in the morning, Wirny had managed to wake up early for her patients. She wrapped her fingers around the phone and greeted the person on the other line. "Rockbell auto-"

"Winry!" She was cut off.

"Oh, Ed? What's going on?" She twirled the phone cord around her fingers and smiled. He actualy called her, though he sounded remotly frantic, it was still nice to hear from him.

"I need you to get Aria out of bed. I need to tell her something."

Winry, slightly angered. "What do you need to talk to her for?"

She could hear a sigh from the other side of the phone. "Winry...I'm sorry, I don't have time to explain. I need you to get her. Now hurry up and put her on the phone."

Figuring he must have something important to say, she took off up the stairs to get Aria. After only a few seconds of shaking her, and thretening to clock her with the wrench if she didn't get up, Aria crawled out of bed and down the stairs.

"--Hello?" She managed to say through a yawn. Aira listened well to what Ed had to say.

"Aria, can you and Al both be ready and waiting at the train station by about five today?"

"Yeah." She replied.

"I need you two to come to Central with me. You'll go right?"

"Of course. Why?" She leaned against the wall.

"I think the cult is going to try something there. I'm not all that sure, but after translating this book Leo gave me, I just have a hunch that Centeral is where they're going to do it. I'll explain more on the train, and don't forget to give Al a call and give him a heads up. And I know Winry might want to come along, but tell her I need her to stay there. Ok?"

"Ok. I'll do that. Bye." With that said, she hung up the phone.

"What was that all about?" Winry stood there, confused and slightly upset. Ed hadn't wanted to talk to her, but she realized he had stuff he needed to do. Even if she didn't like it. Aria turned to her, a worried expression on her face.

Ed stood up straight as the train pulled up in front of him. It was twelve in the afternoon now, he would sleep till four, get something to eat on the train, and then be fully rested for meeting Al and Aria when they arrived on the train.

The train hissed as it pulled into the station.

Ed had gotten on the train, requested a wake-up call for four o'clock and with that, he went to his private booth and immedatly collapsed and slept on the seat. He wasn't use to pulling all nighters in years. The last one he recalled was when he and Al were little and still studying alchemy, right before they were taken on by Izumi as students.

So much had changed since that time, but at the same time, so much had stayed the same. His love for science and alchemy was still there, and his height hadn't changed as much, but the one big thing that had changed in him, was his love for Winry. Though he had never said it to her, it was still implied.

Ed napped away the few hours that he could when finally there was a knock on the door. "Mr. Elric, the time is now four PM...Mr. Elric?"

Ed's eyes slit open and he sat up. "Thanks...I'm up." The voice from the other side of the door went silent and he heard footsetps moving away form the door. "Mmm..." He rubbed his eyes. Four hours of sleep just wasn't enough, but he knew that waiting till night to sleep was better for him anyway. He stretched and stood up.

After getting an extra large black cup of coffee, loaded with sugar, and a big sub with everything and anything on it, Ed headed back to his seat. He was starving and tired, so eating coupled with a pick-me-up was in order.

The final hour passed and Resembool station came into view. It was on a little bit of a hill out in the middle of a field, so it was quite easy to see. Ed made his way to the next car, the one with window on the proper side. He needed to pass the tickets through the window to Al and Aria.

As the train pulled up, he stopped right in front of Al, Aria and his father. Ed looked out past the train station, he could see the car there, so it was obvious they got a drive. He looked over to his father. "If I'd have known you want to come to central, I would have picked up a ticket too."

Hohenheim shook his head. "I promised Pinako I'd take her to the grocery store anyway."

"Right." He looked at Al. "You're looking much better."

Al smied. "I feel better. Though the doctor told me not to do anything strenuous for the next week." The same worried experssion that took hold of Aria now spread to his own. "So...what exactally is happening?"

Ed flipped them their tickets. "I'll tell you when we get on the train. You never know who's listening."

The fields passed and then some trees and then dense forest. It wasn't a hard thing to tell that they were leaving Resembool. "Brother...what's going on?" Al sat there carefully. The stitches in his side still hurt.

Ed picked up the book that was next to him; it was crammed full of foot notes and full page translations of some sections. "When we translated this book, it revealed that it was written by and Ishbalan priest...and Michel."

"Michel?" Aria said in shock. "You mean the one who we visited in the asylum?"

Ed nodded. "Yeah. Apparently he wasn't kidding about being able to link minds with his brother and that his brother could fortel the future." They listened patiently. "My name is mentioned in the book, so is your Al, and your's too Aria."

"How...what do I have to do with it?" Aria nervously rubbed her hands together.

"I'm not all too sure, it said that you would lead to 'the boy with the red eyes'. I'm thinking that if they used you, they would have found out where to find Leo and this book.." Ed opened to the front. "The first half of the book is how to create a homonuculas and control it. The second half is written by Michel, and it's telling the story of seven demons and how they came to almost destroy the world. I think that the cult wants this book to learn how to make homonuculas so they can control them to destroy everyone."

"Wait, that doesn't make sence. If Michel read his brother's mind to know the story of what was going to happen, how would the cult leader have found out about the book in the first place?"

Ed shrugged. "I'm not sure. I imagine that Michel told his brother that he had warned everyone about him and not to try anything harsh. I think he wrote this in the back of the book to warn people that if they wanted to raise a homonculas, they would have to chance destroying everything. As to why they wrote it in an ancient language is beyone me, but I'm sure there's a reason to it."

Aria leaned forward, her pony tail draped over her shoulder and fell in front of her. "What does this have to do with us going to Central?"

Ed smiled. "Well, I need you to come along because I really don't feel like leaving you in central with Felix looking for you. And Al, I wouldn't mind having you by my side, it lightens the work load for me."

Al sweat dropped. "So considerate."

"But why central?" Aria was still confused.

Edward continued. "To make a homonculas with such a power would require a lot of resources. But using one that's already made and powering it up would save a lot of time."

"One that's already made?" Al's face went completly pale. "You don't mean..."

"Envy." Ed finished his snetence.

Aria's eyes widened. "You mean the guy who stabbed you."

Ed nodded. "Yes. I think they're planning to ressurect him and use him to kill anyone and everyone. And Envy would od it too, in a heart beat."

The silence was staggering to say the least. Ed and Al remember first hand having to deal with Envy, it was nothing they wanted to repeat. "Why are we going here then?" Al asked, a shaky tone in his voice.

"If we managed to seal Envy, all would be fine. But seeing as how he's just sitting there in suspended animation, there's no telling what someone might do." Ed looked out the wondow. "We have to put him somewhere that no one can get to him. Remember, we can't destroy him, we dont' know where his remins are, if they even still exist."

He managed a smile. "But since we know all this, so long as we beat them to the punch, we'll be fine. Which is why I was in such a rush this morning."

A two day train ride for three people was nothing short of expensive, Ed was going to have to ask for another advance in his pay. It wouldn't have been so bad if this was military business, he could have just written everything off as a 'business expense'. Ed thought about it a little more. If he worked the paper work the correct way, he very well might still be able write all the expenses off, maybe even the doctor bill as well.

The days passed slowly, and the worst part was the night before they were to pull into Central station. The back car, the one next to theirs, decided to party and make vast amounts of noise. The three of the young travelers found sleep was sparse that night and they were next to exausted when they pulled into Central around eight in the morning.

The train screeched to a hault. "Mmmm." Aria groaned in pain, such a bad headache from the lack of sleep coupled with light really didn't help. She shook Al's shoulder, he was laying on her lap as he slept. "We're here." She looked up to Ed who was already awake, and not looking the best. It seemed the motion sickness had crept up on him overnight. "You gonna be ok?"

He shook his head. "I need to get off the train...now."

She gave him a sympathetic glance and then proceeded to help Al sit up. The stitches hadn't completly healed and after laying down most of the night, he was a little stiff in the morning. "Thanks."

Ed stood up, his hands clasped over his stomach. "Oh just stop and let me off." Wiht that, he exited the little booth and made a bee-line for outside.

"Poor brother." Al carefully stood up, with Aria's help and they walked towards the exit. Upon exiting their little booth, they saw a series of, what appeared to be, monks. The clichet brown long cloak and the hood that covered the face. There had to be at least twelve of them. Al smiled. "It's nice to see people who still believe."

Aria smiled back at him. "Yeah. I haven't gone to church in a while, I feel kind of bad."

Al gave her a pat on the shoulder. "Mom always use to tell us that we didn't have to go to church to believe, so long as we have faith, that's more than enough."

She smiled in return. "That's a good way to think." They stepped off the train. "So where do you think Ed went?"

He looked around for his older, yet smaller, brother. "It'll be impossible to find in him the tall crowd." Al had a sharp nerve of fear snap in his entire body. "Don't tell him I said that." He laughed a little.

Aria nodded. "I won't...remember, I'm even shorter than him, so I can't pick on him because of his height."

Al paused. "Sorry." He smiled.

She shrugged. "I don't mind. The only thing I wish is that I had a more curvey figure, but it doesn't matter to me all that much."

"I think you look fine just like--" Al's sentence was cut short with a swift knock in his back, knocking him down.

"AL!" Aria exclaimed as she tried to help him back up. To her dismay, she was met with a firm hand holding a cloth wrapped around her mouth. She breathed in hoping to scream loudly for help, but upon inhaling, her lungs met with a powerful scent. Immedatly, her entire body shut down and she fell limp to the ground. No sooner had she stopped moving, when the rest of the cloaked men crowded around her and quickly scurried off with her unconcious body.

Al could only stand by and watch it happen. His side was splitting with pain, he could barely move. Despite the crowd around him, no one seemed to notice that Aria had been taken. "Dammit!" He used all his strength and will power to pull himself to his feet again. He caught a glimps of Ed, hanging over the edge of the port. Though the pain was nearly unbarable, he made his way toward Ed through the crowd.

Ed held onto the bar that barracaded anyone from falling over the edge and into the water. He hadn't gotten sick, but just in case, he held on for dear life.

"Edward!" Al called to him from about ten feet away.

"Do I not look busy?" He gave a smart ass remark in return. He wasn't feeling well, and putting up with anything at the moment wasn't a good idea.

"Ed! Someone took Aria!"

Quickly snapping out of his bad mood he stood up, still a firm grasp on his mid section. "What?"

Al shook his head. "They knocked me over and then dragged her off."

Ed thought quickly. "Who would do such a thing?" Then it hit him. "DAMMIT!" He knelt down. "Get on my back Al." Al was hesitant. "You're not that heavy, I'll be fine. We need to get to a phone. They beat us here."

He looked surprised. "What?! How did they know?!"

Ed hoisted Al up on his back and proceeded to walk in a hastened manner. "Their leader can predict the future, what did you expect?"

Al sighed. "Oh...right."

Ed rounded a corner, dodging people as they came at him. The adrenline rush quickly got rid of any nausea he had and he was making good time. "The sooner we get to a phone, the sooner we can get a car to go to the old church." The stairway that led under Central, to the old city, right where Envy was being held in a state of suspended animation, the place where he died; that was where they needed to go.

Like I said earlier, really sorry about the long wait. I'll be sure to update really soon, I'm too pumped about the way the story is going to stop it now! ;D

Tell me what you think! Thankies!
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