Chapter Twelve:

Chapter Twelve:

Captured

Annora frowned as she stood underneath the showerhead, letting the hot water pummel her entire body. Ever since the argument that she'd had with Ed the night before, she and Ed hadn't spoken a word to each other. Al was worried, and she was frustrated. What she needed more than anything was someone she could talk to, and hell had a better chance of freezing over than her saying a word to Ed about her concerns.

The teenager looked down at her hair and noted with satisfaction that all of the dye that had been there previously was now gone. She still hadn't quite forgiven Ed for that particular stunt. Annora let out a sigh as she stared down at the tiled floor beneath her feet, watching the water wash away down the drain. Between her homesickness and the perpetual dreams about the Gate that she had been having since the first one almost a month ago, she was relatively close to having a nervous breakdown. It was now nearing the ten-week mark of her arrival in Amestris, and she couldn't help but wonder what would happen next. What would be her next step in finding out why and how she had ended up here?

Right after she had turned off the water and was in the process of drying off, the sixteen-year old heard Izumi hollering at her, Ed, and Al to get downstairs. Annora immediately threw on her clothes and ran down the stairs. She had learned the hard way that it was never a good idea to ignore Izumi.

--

If there was any form of a divine being watching over her, Annora would have to assume it was a malicious one as she sat and stared moodily at her reflection in the glass of water that she was holding in her hand while sitting at a small table in a somewhat seedy café/bar. The teen scowled at her reflection before she took a long gulp of the cool liquid, hoping that the water would help to cool off her temper as well. Ed and Al had left Izumi's house about ten minutes ago to run an errand for their teacher by going to see someone named 'Dante', leaving her behind.

"That jackass," Annora grumbled as she drank the last of her water, her chocolate eyes flashing with barely contained irritation as she mimicked her friend's words to her. "'You don't need to come, Teacher was the one who told Al and I to go and get medicine from Dante.' Pfft, yeah right. He probably just wanted to ditch me for a few hours 'cause he got tired of being the military's babysitter, and he's still pissed off at me."

'The prick can go pound sand for all I care, because I'm not going to admit that I'm wrong!' the sixteen-year old mentally snarled before she sighed as she placed her left hand on her forehead and massaged her temples. She usually didn't like to sulk, but for some reason unknown to her, Dublith felt just a little more… unfriendly than Central or Resembool. Maybe it was just because of her recent spat with Ed, or maybe not. Annora was about to get up and head back to the Curtis's butcher shop when a strange woman suddenly flopped down in the seat next to her and indicated to the bartender that she would like a drink.

"Hello there," she greeted, and it took Annora a few seconds to realize that the woman was talking to her.

"Hi," she responded somewhat unenthusiastically. The woman arched a blonde eyebrow in question before she leaned over and peered at Annora closely, her odd green eyes slightly narrowed.

"You look familiar, have I seen you somewhere before?"

"I dunno, it may just be your mind playing tricks on you," Annora suggested as she stood up, only to suddenly find herself hemmed in by a short guy wearing a cloak, a tall muscular man with a startlingly white ponytail, and a guy roughly around her height with spiky greenish-brown hair. The woman stood up as well, and it was then that Annora noticed that her blonde hair had been cropped short.

"Actually, I know that I've see you somewhere before," she woman pointed out confidently as she leaned closer to examine Annora. "You were with two boys, the Elric brothers."

Annora froze momentarily before her mind started working again. Feigning ignorance, she looked steadily back at the woman, keeping her expression politely puzzled.

"The Elric brothers, as in the famous State Alchemist and his younger brother? Hah, that's a good one. Never seen them before in my life," she laughed before she pulled back her jacket sleeve and looked at her wristwatch. "Crap, I have to get home before my brother blows a gasket for me ditching my chores. Well, it's been nice talking to you; see ya."

Annora tried to squeeze past the man with the spiky greenish hair, only to have him pull out what looked unsettlingly like a katana from out of nowhere and point it at her.

"I don't think so," the man growled, his eyes narrowing. "You're coming with us, kid."

"Dorochet, the boss said that we're not supposed to harm her!" the woman snapped, her green eyes flashing. Dorochet made a scoffing noise in the back of his throat, but he still didn't lower the sword.

"The boss also told us to make sure that we brought the kid back to the Devil's Nest before meeting him at the old bat's house, Marta."

Annora stared at the sword pointed directly at her and blinked before she fixed her attention on the two adults. A slow smirk made its way across her face before she ducked under Dorochet's katana and delivered a painful blow to the man's stomach, causing all of the air to whoosh out of his lungs. The man crumpled, and Annora assumed a fighting stance, glaring at her remaining would-be abductors.

"Sorry, but I make it a rule not to go with people who threaten me," she spat before she head butted Marta in the stomach and ran like hell down the street. Annora made it to almost halfway to the Curtis's butcher shop before something shot up behind her and hit her hard in the back of her neck. The teen fell to her knees with a pained gasp, fighting against the almost overwhelming urge to pass out as Marta, Law, and the other man caught up to her while Dorochet looked down at her coldly.

"Talk about a speedy little brat," the ninja growled as he put his sheathed sword that he had used to stun Annora back into his belt. Law looked over at him as he pulled out a cloth already dampened with something and pressed it up against the sixteen-year old's nose and mouth. Annora struggled against the man's grasp, cursing and scratching at her attacker as the chemicals soaked into the fabric began their work, fogging her mind and tempting the teen to enter the dark realm of unconsciousness. After a minute of incredibly violent resistance, Annora fell limp in her abductor's arms, dead to the world.

--

"Nnnghh…" Annora groaned as she slowly came to, her head feeling as though it was about to explode. The sixteen-year old sat up and looked around her, examining her surroundings closely.

"What… what the hell?" she muttered when she saw that she was in what looked like a small storeroom, and noticed the fact that her hands had been bound together with thick rope. The teen sweatdropped as she looked at the ropes before she scooted over towards the corner of a metal crate and immediately began to scrape her bonds against the rough edge. After several minutes of grunting and swearing profusely under her breath, the last few strands finally parted and Annora was able to remove the coarse rope from around her wrists.

The teen made a face as she rubbed gingerly at the spots where her wrists had been rubbed raw by the rough fibers. Where the hell was she anyways? Annora glanced around, noting the fact that boxes had been stacked all around the room in a rather haphazard manner, before she spotted a door. Moving carefully so as not to knock anything over, Annora made her way over towards the door and stood up on her tiptoes to peer through the barred window up at the top.

Through the meal bars, she could see two men armed with knives standing in front of the door, chatting.

"Hey, did you see the scratches on Law's face?" one man asked with a laugh. "Boy am I glad that I wasn't with the group that brought that kid in. From what I heard, she fought like a wildcat when they caught her."

"Yeah, well don't let Greed hear you say that," the other one warned, his expression serious. "Otherwise he might 'volunteer' you for the duty of hauling that little she-devil out of there when he wants to talk to her."

Annora gave a disgusted snort as she lowered herself to the floor and sat down by the door, thinking hard. So the person who had arranged to have her abducted was named Greed? That thought didn't sit too well with the teenager; the idea of it was way too close to Envy's name and what he represented. Annora looked around her slowly, searching for an exit of some kind. After a few minutes she gave up and slumped down against the door's rough wooden frame. The only way out was the door, and that was being guarded by a couple of boneheads.

'Well this is a fine kettle of fish,' the sixteen-year grumbled mentally as she pulled her knees up to her chest and crossed her arms on top of them, resting her chin on them as she stared aimlessly at the ceiling. 'I need to get myself out of this, and not rely on Ed or Al to help me out. Especially Ed; I don't need to see the smug look on that jackass's face when he finds out that I was dumb enough to let myself get kidnapped.'

Annora suddenly blinked and straightened up, her chocolate eyes focused on the air duct located in the middle of the ceiling. A slow smile made its way across the girl's face as she stood up and walked directly underneath it. She had found her way out.

--

Greed whistled tunelessly as he, Law, Bido, Tucker, and a few other chimeras strolled down the hallway. He had managed to kidnap both the younger Elric brother, and as an additional bargaining chip, the girl that traveled with the State Alchemist all in one day. As far as things went, he was in a good mood. A sudden commotion up ahead snapped the homunculus out of his euphoric state, and he increased his pace as he rounded the corner, only to find the two guards he had stationed in front of the room where the girl had been in arguing heatedly with the door standing wide open.

"Alright, what the hell is going on here?" he demanded as he came up to the arguing men. Both of the guards jumped about a foot in the air before they spun around to face their boss.

"B-boss… the kid, I swear we were watching her, but…" one stammered out nervously, his knees shaking violently. Greed fixed the man with an intense look as he lowered his purple-tinged sunglasses.

"But what?"

"But… she's gone…"

Greed didn't say a word as he poked his head around the corner and peered into the empty room. His odd lavender-colored eyes scanned the room thoroughly before they landed upon the metal grate to the air vent hanging to one side. The homunculi's dark eyebrows shot up almost to his hairline before he turned around to look at Bido.

"Bido, we have a rat in the ventilation system. Go take care of it," he ordered. The lizard chimera gave a gleeful laugh as he scurried up the wall and onto the ceiling before going into the ventilation shaft. Greed waited until the tip of his tail had disappeared from view before he turned around to face Law.

"So, where is this Alphonse kid?"

--

"That damn stupid blasted thrice-cursed misbegotten jackass!" Annora snarled as she slowly pulled herself through the filthy air vent, her temper rising rapidly as she crawled through the tight dark space. "When I get my hands on the scumbag that had me kidnapped, I'll rip out his eyes and stuff them down his throat!!"

The teenager thought hard for a moment before she shook her head and continued moving. "Nah, that'll be too quick for the bastard. I'll have to think up something more painful… but what?"

A sound from below caused Annora to jump, making her crack her head against the top of the ventilation shaft.

"Dammit!" she snarled just as an idea came to her. An unholy smirk crossed the teen's face as she continued on down the seemingly endless air shaft. The stupid freak that had kidnapped her was going to rue this day for quite some time.

--

Kimbly, who was down in the bar washing glasses looked up at the ceiling, his amber eyes narrowed thoughtfully. He thought he had heard a bump, but when a disembodied voice floated down from above he froze in his tracks.

"…first, I'll boil his balls in acid and make him watch… rip his heart out and make him eat it while it's still beating…then I'll scratch his eyes out and stuff them down his throat…"

The Crimson Alchemist's eyes widened to about the size of dinner plates as he stared up at the ceiling in revulsion. It couldn't be, could it? The man's mind flashed back to the stories his mother had told him when he was a child, about the ghosts of a murder's former victims coming back to haunt the present owner of a house, and extracting their revenge in a bloody and gruesome way. Those stories had scared the shit out of him when he had been a kid.

Come to think of it, Greed had mentioned something about a woman being murdered in this bar not too long ago, before he, a few renegade humans, and the chimeras had taken up residence in the Devil's Nest.

The former State Alchemist slowly backed away from the spot where he had heard the voice, keeping his eyes trained on the ceiling before he glanced at the tattoos on his palms. He couldn't blow up ghosts, could he? Wasn't there something about them not being corporeal or something like that?

"I didn't kill you!" he muttered fervently as he gripped the cleaning rag in his hand tightly.

After a few moments, and no more whispered threats, Kimbly relaxed and went back to cleaning out glasses, glancing out of the corner of his eyes to make sure that no one had observed his strange behavior. It wouldn't do for anyone to find out that he, Zolf J. Kimbly, the Crimson Alchemist, was afraid of ghosts.

--

"Dammit, where the hell is the exit?" Annora groused as she entered an area where the air vent opened up into another room. "I don't know how long I've been in here, but I'm sick and tired of crawling around in the dark!"

"Oh, I can fix that," a voice hissed behind her. Annora let out a startled curse as she tried to whirl around to see who was behind her, only to lose her balance and fall head-first onto the metal grate below. For a moment it seemed that the grate would hold, only to have the screws give away with a harsh shriek of protest. With a petrified shout, Annora was dumped painfully right into the middle of a room full of people on her back.

Al looked up from where he sat up against the wall, his hands and feet bound in thick chains to prevent him from escaping. The fifteen-year old's red eyes widened when he caught sight of the girl lying in the middle of the room, groaning.

"A-Annora?" he asked hesitantly, hardly daring to believe that the older girl had come to rescue him. Annora didn't hear him as she fought past the pain that fogged her mind, trying to think coherently.

"Aw shit… ouch… okay, note to self; next time, just kick the son of a bitch in the face instead of trying to see who the hell it is," the sixteen-year old moaned as she rolled over and pushed herself up into a kneeling position before holding her bruised ribs.

"Well, well, well, and who might this be?" a man asked mockingly as he walked up to Annora. A pair of slightly curly-toed shoes came into the teenager's line of vision before she looked up to see Greed come over next to her and crouch down by her side.

"Who the hell are you?" Annora snarled as she looked up at the homunculus. Greed only smirked in response, revealing unsettlingly pointy teeth. Another voice rang out from up above in the air duct, causing Annora to look up at the speaker.

"See Greed? I found her!" Bido declared as he bounced up and down excitedly inside the metal ductwork, his tail whipping around in all directions. Annora scowled at the lizard chimera, her chocolate eyes brimming with fury as she stood up and fixed Bido with a murderous glare.

"You have exactly two seconds to haul your scaly ass out of my sight before I come up there and beat the shit out of you!" she spat. "And when I'm done doing that, I'm going to haul you to the taxidermist and have your hide made in to a purse!!"

Bido let out a yelp of fear before he scuttled away into the dark depths of the ventilation system, afraid for his life… or at least the humiliation of being made into a purse. Greed blinked a few times in surprise as he stared at Annora before a slow grin made its way across his face. The homunculus strode over to the girl and grabbed her by the chin, forcing Annora to look up at him.

"I like a girl with spirit," he stated smoothly. "So, how about it?"

"And you are?" Annora asked with a frown. Greed smirked in response.

"Your new best friend. So, how about you ditch the shorty that you usually hang around with and-"

"Sorry, no. Not only no, but hell no," Annora growled as she jerked away from the homunculus. "I hate to disappoint you, but I'm not that desperate."

Greed's right eye developed a noticeable twitch at the teenager's statement, and two minutes later, Annora sat next to Al with both her hands and feet bound tightly with strong rope while Greed and all of the chimeras except Dorochet left the room.

"Gee Annora, that was really mature," Al muttered. Annora gave a sarcastic snort in response as she shot the boy a sidelong glance.

"The freak job was hitting on me. What was I supposed to do; say 'take me, I'm yours'?"

"No, what I'm saying is that you could have handled that better."

Annora gave an exasperated sigh and rolled her eyes. "Al, the only way I could have handled that better would have been to kick that stupid slimy bastard in the crotch."

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," a female voice stated suddenly from inside Al's armor, causing Annora to jump slightly. The sixteen-year old stared at Al for several seconds before her gaze moved down to the younger boy's breastplate.

"What do you have in there this time, Al, a talking cat?" she asked jokingly, only to have Al shake his head while the person inside exploded.

"I am not a talking cat!!" the woman raged, obviously insulted. Annora gave Al a questioning look, her eyebrows raised almost to her hairline.

"Al, is there something that you need to tell me?" she muttered, the sarcasm in her voice clearly evident. The woman inside obviously didn't feel like being a smartass, because she cut right to the chase.

"Listen, Greed put me in here to watch the boy, and now you since you decided to drop in!"

"Oh joy, a babysitter, just what I need," Annora grumbled as she rolled her eyes. "More bullshit to deal with."

Dorochet just rolled his eyes in response as he watched the two teens. Annora arched an eyebrow challengingly in his direction, causing the man to curl back his lips and let out a low snarling sound. The sixteen-year old recoiled slightly in shock, her chocolate eyes wide as she stared at the sword-wielding man in front of her.

"Did you just growl at me?" she asked incredulously. Dorochet chose not to dignify that comment with a response, although he did growl slightly when Marta started laughing from inside of Alphonse.

"You've never heard of a chimera before, have you, kid?" she finally asked, much to the confusion of Annora.

"A chimera, what's that?"

"It's a combination of animals alchemically fused together," Al said slowly, obviously thinking intently about Marta's comment. "Or in some cases, a human and animal fused together. But it's illegal to use alchemy on humans like that!"

"That didn't stop the military scientists from combining me with a snake," Marta responded grimly. Annora remained silent for a few seconds, mulling over what she had just learned, before she looked over at Dorochet.

"So, what kind of chimera are you then?" she asked. Dorochet smirked at her in response as he lit his pipe before inhaling in a large quantity of smoke.

"Guess."

"Just watch. He raises one leg when he pees," Marta declared suddenly, causing Dorochet to choke on his pipe before glaring angrily in her direction.

"I do not!!" he shrieked while Annora pulled a face.

"Okay, major information violation right there," she pointed out. "We really didn't need to know that."

Once Dorochet had calmed down enough to stop making death threats at Marta, things quieted down. After several long moments of silence, Al looked over at Annora with worry evident in his red eyes.

"Annora, why are you mad at Brother?" he asked hesitantly. The sixteen-year old glanced over at him momentarily before she returned her attention to the door and sighed.

"It's complicated," she pointed out reluctantly. "And right here isn't exactly the best place to discuss it."

"What, boyfriend troubles?" Marta piped up suddenly, and Annora flushed a furious shade of red as she directed a filthy glare in what she assumed to be the older woman's direction.

"W-what that hell gave you that idea?!" she stammered. Marta rolled her eyes from inside of Al's armor at the teenager's statement.

"I've been there a few times, so trust me, I know what I'm talking about."

Annora gave an offended huff as she looked in the other direction. Al sighed in response before he decided to try and keep the conversation going.

"So, Marta, where exactly are we?" he began just as Greed opened the door and came in once again with several chimeras.

"Glad you asked, kid," he stated proudly. "You see, this place, the Devil's Nest, is handcrafted for outlaws, where they can hide out for a while."

Annora sweatdropped as she stared at the man incredulously. "Oh, this is just frigging peachy. We got kidnapped by a damned bandit wannabe who's spent way too much time watching outdated TV shows."

Greed ignored the teenager's biting remark as he strolled over to Al and lifted up his helmet before looking down.

"Well, I'll be damned, he really is empty," the homunculus exclaimed as he dropped Al's helmet back into place.

"Hey, what the hell do you think you're playing at?!" Annora demanded angrily as she attempted to place herself in front of Al, only to have Greed push her back with his foot.

"Calm down, chicky," he told the teenager, who immediately tried to go after the homunculus, spewing a long list of profanities that would have deafened a sailor in response to being called 'chicky'. "I'm not gonna hurt your friend. So just sit down, shut up, and stop cussin' at me; it isn't gonna do you a damn bit of good. Besides, it's not like I haven't heard some of those words before."

Annora twitched at the insult, but stopped cussing up a blue streak and settled for glaring at the homunculus instead, much to the considerable relief of the inhabitants of the Devils Nest. Greed arched a dark eyebrow at the sixteen-year old's audacity before he turned around to look at a tall stocky man bundled up in an overcoat, balaclava, and hat standing behind him.

"It's just like you said, Dr. Tucker," he said as a slight smirk played about his face. "Looks like you weren't just pulling my leg."

"But… I'm not the one who told them how to apprehend you, Al," the man insisted in a whispery voice. Judging from Al's reaction, he really did not want to see the man.

"And just who the hell might you be?" Annora demanded as she redirected her glare from Greed to Tucker before she arched an eyebrow at the other man's appearance. "Geez, is there a weirdo convention in town or something? I've already lost count of how many nutjobs I've seen since this morning, and that's only in a few hours!"

"Annora, he's a chimera," Al interjected softly, and the sixteen-year old looked over at her friend with wide eyes.

"You're kidding me, right?" she asked hesitantly before she cast a glance at Tucker's feet and yelped out a curse when she caught sight of the man's clawed feet. "Okay, that gets about a fifty on the weird shit o' meter. I think we've had enough fun here for today. Can we go home now?"

"Ha, that's a good one, kid!" Greed said as he went and crouched down in front of her and Al. Annora just gave the homunculus a dirty look as she scowled and muttered something inappropriate under her breath. Al gently elbowed her in the side, silently warning her not to do something stupid.

"It's a treat to meet ya, kids," he said, grinning unnervingly at the two teens. "You two can just call me Greed. I'm your new friend."

"And how loosely can I define the word 'friend'?" Annora asked sarcastically as she stared defiantly at the man in front of her. "I was thinking more along the lines of 'rapist' or 'child molester'."

"And why do you say that?"

"Hmm, let me think. You kidnap two teenagers, both of which are under the age of eighteen, and haul them off to some unknown shit-hole. Where I come from, that qualifies as child abduction, and you'd be sitting in prison dealing with Bubba for a long time for what you've just pulled."

(AN: 'Bubba' is the typical prison fag that … well, use your imaginations.)

Greed threw his head back and laughed until tears streamed from his eyes. Annora and Al both sweatdropped as they stared at the cackling homunculus in front of them. After several moments of watching Greed laugh his ass of, and wondering whether or not he was going to wet himself from laughing so hard, the man finally stopped and wiped away the tears from his eyes with his left hand.

"Now that was funny," he stated with a smirk, not noticing the fact that Annora's breath hitched in her throat when she caught sight of a bright red symbol tattooed onto Greed's left hand.

"Oh shit, we are so dead," she muttered nervously as she immediately started to wrack her mind for a possible escape plan. A gasp from off to her left alerted the teenager that Al had noticed the tattoo as well, and knew exactly what it meant.

"A tattoo of the Ouroboros," he muttered almost fearfully. Greed raised his eyebrows as he glanced down at his left hand, a slight smile twitching about his lips.

"Heh, so you know what this is. Well this should go quickly then."

"Yeah, disembowelment and other forms of torture. Oh joy," Annora grumbled, earning her an odd look from Greed.

"What the hell gave you that idea?"

"The stupid palm tree threatened me with that after I called him a cross-dressing fag, so I'm kind of expecting the same sort of B.S. from you," the teenager explained with a small shrug. "I mean, you do have the same tattoo."

"Yeah, so that makes you a friend of Envy, Lust, and the others, doesn't it?" Al added as he caught on to where Annora was headed. Greed gave a disbelieving snort in response as his odd-colored eyes narrowed behind his sunglasses.

"I wouldn't say friend," he muttered darkly with a scowl. "More like sworn enemies if you want to get down to the grit."

"I don't get it."

Greed smirked at the fifteen-year old as he stared intently at him. "Well Al, that is your name, right? Tell me, how does it feel to have your soul attached to this empty suit of armor? To exist as a chunk of solid metal instead of a soft and cushy human worm? In other words, completely unaffected by weaknesses like hunger, fatigue, and old age. You could call that eternal life, couldn't you?"

Annora stared at Al in disbelief, her eyes wide as the realization of what Greed had just said hit her.

'I know I shouldn't agree, but what he said is right… in a way. But Al wants to get his body back, not stay this way forever. What the hell is this guy playing at?'

"Eternal life?" Al asked, incredulity clearly evident in his voice as he glared at Greed. "That's why you kidnapped me? Eternal life?!"

"They don't call me Greed for nothin'! I want money, women, status, and power! I want everything this world is selling, and eternity's topping the list!" the homunculus crowed excitedly before he bent down next to Al. "Do you understand? You can help me achieve what I'm going for, Al, and you will help me here. Because if you don't tell me how your soul's bound to that armor, I'll break it apart to find out."

"Wait a second," Annora interjected suddenly, attracting Greed's attention. "If you kidnapped Al to find out the secret of his soul, then why kidnap me as well?"

"Collateral."

"SAY WHAT?!"

"That's right, kid; you're the insurance policy if Big Brother tries to get to violent when he comes here after his brother," Greed stated with a smirk. "That, and you'll help encourage Al here to tell me the secret behind his soul attachment."

Annora scowled at the homunculus. "I'd sooner kiss the ass of a yak. I'll never sell out my friends, you… Laosboc!"

(AN: Laosboc means gelded male goat in Gaelic, and it is a major insult. Annora learned this and several other phrases from her grandmother, who is Irish.)

Everyone in the room stared at the teen as she spat out a word in another language that none of them had ever heard before. Greed stood up and blinked, staring at the girl in obvious puzzlement.

"What the hell does that mean?" he asked. The sixteen-year old glowered at him defiantly in response.

"Try that I just called you a castrated male goat, asshole," she snarled, chocolate eyes flashing darkly in loathing. "Maybe next time I'll speak in English, and slowly so you'll be able to keep up with me."

Greed scowled at the girl before he returned his attention to Alphonse.

"So, what do you say, kid?"

"I won't help you; you're a bad person," Al stated stubbornly. Greed gave an amused snort as a slow smirk made its way across his face.

"You can act tough for a while if you insist," he pointed out knowingly. "Just remember that no one's on their way to save you kiddo, so you two are at my mercy now."

Annora froze, her eyes widening before she smirked knowingly at the man. What really unnerved both Greed and Al was when she began to laugh.

"You dumbass," she snickered, shaking her head in mock sympathy. "When my brother finds out about this, you're going to be beyond screwed."

"And why's that?"

"Try he's in the military," Annora told the homunculus with a hint of triumph in her voice. "And he's incredibly overprotective of me. I'm so gonna enjoy watching him kick your ass."

'But, I thought that Annora's brother wasn't on the military records,' Al thought bewilderedly before he realized what the sixteen-year old was doing. 'She's trying to psyche Greed out so that he'll let us go!'

"My brother knows that you took me!" Al jumped in, adding to the pressure. "I bet he's on his way right-"

"Oh, yeah, about him. When I left him, He wasn't feeling so good," Greed said suddenly, smirking as he pointed his thumb down at the ground before he looked over at Annora. "And as for your big brother, I'd like to see him try and hurt me."

The teenager gritted her teeth to prevent herself from saying anything that could possibly make the situation any worse than it already was as Al lost it.

"You better not have hurt my brother!" he shouted as he hastily scratched a transmutation circle onto the ground using a piece of rock. A massive stone hand shot up from out of the ground and punched Greed right in the stomach, knocking him down.

"Way to go Al!" Annora cheered, grinning at her friend as he continued.

"You let your guard down! Now, all I need to do is use this chain to do-"

"To do what exactly?" a familiar voice growled as Greed straightened up and broke the stone hand that had punched him. Before either Annora or Al could react, the homunculus reached over and slammed Al's head down against the stone floor beneath them.

"Now that was silly," he stated before he let go of Al's helmet. "Oh, sorry about that, Marta; I forgot that you were keeping house."

A low groan from within Al's armor indicated the truth behind this statement as Greed stood up and strolled back over to the group of chimeras standing behind him.

"I like a man with guts, but did you honestly think that it would be that easy?" the homunculus asked with a smirk. "I mean if you really want to hurt me, you'd have to do something like-"

Greed didn't get a chance to finish his statement as Law creamed him head-on with his massive hammer, obliterating the top of the homunculi's head down to his bottom jaw. Annora and Al both stared in horror as Greed's corpse hit the ground in front of them before the younger boy reacted.

"Huh? What did you do that for?!" he demanded fearfully, and angrily. "I thought that he was your friend!"

"I'm going to be sick now; please make room," Annora muttered faintly as she stared at the brain matter splattered wetly on the floor in front of her.

Al cast a worried look at the older teen before she suddenly stiffened up next to him, and all of the blood proceeded to drain from her face.

"Al…" she muttered shakily as Greed's body stood up and his head went back together before he cracked his neck, apparently unperturbed about the fact that he had just been dead a few short seconds ago.

"See, I've got quite a shell too, Al," he stated confidently before he looked over at Law. "Hey, bud, a little cleaner next time, 'kay?"

"Yessir, I'm sorry."

Annora was now dead white as she stared in horror at the homunculus, her chocolate eyes wide in fear.

"Y-you… you were dead!" she protested. "You had half your head blown off!!"

Greed smirked at the currently shaking teenager, his lavender eyes glinting in hidden amusement.

"You see, doll, that's the nice thing about being a homunculus; you ain't that easy to kill," he stated proudly before directing his attention to Alphonse. "I know what you're thinking. If I have this body, then why do I need you sec… ret…"

Greed trailed off as a loud stomping noise became present out in the corridor and a large ornate door was suddenly transmuted from the previously solid back wall.

"Brother!" Al stated excitedly as he leaned forward. "Brother?"

Instead of Ed, Izumi calmly strolled in, followed closely by Sig. Annora and Al both sweatdropped as they stared at the two adults. It wasn't the rescue that they had expected, but they weren't about to complain.

"Excuse me for the interruption, gentlemen," Izumi stated coolly as she fixed Greed with a deadly glare.

"T-teacher," Al stuttered nervously while Annora gave a wane smile.

"Hi Mrs. Curtis," she muttered weakly as Greed gave the woman in front of him a dirty look before she whispered to Al. "I have a sudden feeling of impending doom. She's gonna kill us once she's done wiping the floor with these guys, isn't she?"

Al nodded empathetically in agreement, and Annora cringed in response. Greed ignored the exchange between the two teenagers as he looked at Izumi speculatively, irritation obvious on his face.

"I'm sorry, who the hell are you?" he demanded. Izumi scowled at the homunculus before she exploded.

"PISSED OFF!!"

Annora and Al both watched as Izumi then proceeded to kick some serious chimera ass, knocking all of the chimera in the room out cold before she straightened up and dusted her hands off.

"Wow," Annora muttered to Al, clearly impressed. "That was new."

"Hey, hey, hey!" Greed protested as he walked away from where he had been standing by Al and Annora. "Nice manners. I can see where the kids learned theirs."

"Hey, I resent that!" Annora interjected while Izumi and Sig both glared at the homunculus. Greed just ignored her as the women walked up to him and gave him a dirty look.

"Are you the one in charge here?" she demanded, dark eyes narrowed dangerously. "Thank you for taking care of Al and Annora for a while, but I'll be taking them back home now!"

"I'm afraid that's not true," Greed pointed out with a smirk. Izumi just closed her eyes and gave a serene smile in response.

"I see."

Moving like chain lightning, the alchemist immediately went and punched Greed in the face, only to flinch upon impact. The homunculus smirked at the woman's discomfort, a strange patch of some shiny black substance coating the skin on his cheek where Izumi had tried to punch him.

"Well, aren't you just full of surprises?" he asked mockingly, revealing a set of unsettlingly sharp teeth. "Tell me, did you break three fingers or four?"

Izumi hissed out an incomprehensible curse as she jumped back away from Greed, her eyes narrowed.

"Teacher!" Al yelped worriedly. The woman ignored him as she fixed Greed with an intense searching look.

"That's a pretty weird body you've got there," she remarked offhandedly. Greed smirked at her and shrugged in response.

"I never did bruise easily."

"Ah, then I'll just have to start trying harder then."

Annora looked back and forth between the two adults, her mind whirling from what she had just seen. Suddenly, Al leaned forward and asked anxiously.

"Teacher, where's my brother? Is he safe?"

"I should be asking you that," the older woman stated sternly. "Apparently the two of you can't even run a simple errand for me."

Izumi paused for a moment before she whirled around to glare at the two teens. "All three of you are in for a long lecture later, so you'd better get ready!!"

"I-I'm sorry!" Al stammered as tears somehow managed to start spurting from his eyes. Annora wasn't much better off, seeing as she was currently shaking like a leaf in her seat, and tear were welling up in her eyes as well.

"Yes ma'am, I'm so sorry ma'am!" she stuttered out nervously. Izumi arched an eyebrow at the girl's response before she clapped her hands together and slapped them down onto the ground, causing Greed to be encased up to his neck in stone.

"Not even going to try?" the alchemist asked calmly as she stood up. Greed smirked at her as he gave a shrug as well as he was able to.

"I have no intention of fighting a woman. All I want from Al is the secret of his transmutation, simple as that."

"And if you get it?"

"Why then I'll have the secret to eternal life, and the world will be on a platter."

"Oh yippee," Annora muttered dryly as she rolled her eyes. "As if this wasn't fun enough as it already is."

"This is getting us nowhere," Izumi stated coldly as she dropped down to the floor and slammed both hands down on the ground, transmuting a giant stone hand and ramming it straight into Greed's face. Annora and Al both let out enthusiastic cheers when they saw the massive cloud of dust that came from the collision.

"You did it!" Al enthused, only to freeze when he, Izumi, and Annora all caught sight of Greed still standing where he had been, smirking triumphantly at them with his amethyst eyes shining in unbound satisfaction.

"Don't look so surprised," he stated with a leer. "I told you before I don't bruise easily. Don't you listen, doll?"

Annora went pale and swallowed nervously. She had a really bad feeling that this was not going to end well.

--

I know, I know, evil cliffie. Just don't all go trying to find out where my house is so you can try to tar and feather me. First of all, my parents would be pissed as hell if a group of people just suddenly showed up and started setting up a cauldron of pitch in the front yard. Second, the next part of the chapter will be up soon. It was too long if I had everything in here, so I cut things down a bit.

Ed: Actually, you're just lazy.

Wandering Hitokiri: Oh, just shut up. At least I don't drool in my sleep.

Ed: I do not!!

Wandering Hitokiri: (Smirks) Oh yes you do. (Pulls a bunch of pictures out of her hakama pocket) Here's some photos of you sleeping on the train. And on an additional note, I borrowed Hughes's camera to take these.

Ed: (Looks at pictures and goes red) I'll kill you!

Wandering Hitokiri: Only if you can catch me, hobbit boy! (Wandering Hitokiri is forced to use Shikuchi to escape from one very pissed off alchemist)

Note: Shikuchi means 'Reduced Earth' and is a move from the anime/manga series 'Rurouni Kenshin'.

And now, the reviews!!

Reviews!!

Zilo's Blue Pen: Yes, Izumi is scary as hell, although my parents can top her easily in scaryness. But yes, Annora is having trouble coping with the idea that she's in Amestris. A normal boring life has never looked so good when you're homesick, huh? I agree with you, I'd probably lose it if that happened to me, and I am a fan of FMA, just not a rabid fan.

Mew Sarin Alchemist: Yes, Ed is dense. Although, all guys have their moments at one time or another, Ed just seems to have them more than most. Here, hit away at Ed. (Shoves Ed over to Sarin) I don't mind how you say that you would like a new chapter, I'm just glad that you take the time to review.

YourFavoritePlushie: Thank you.

Syldoran: Yes, biting sarcasm is always useful. (Smirks) Oh, really? Did you just give me a spoiler? That sounds interesting.

Mei Fire: Thanks for the cookies. Are they chocolate chip or peanut butter? No, Annora did not become emo, she's just a little depressed, and Ed isn't helping matters all that much. Oh is he going to get a big surprise in the future.

Arella no Renyel: Wow, thank you so much for the compliment. (Blushes) I'm glad that so many people think that this isn't a Mary Sue fic. If it was, I'd have to kill myself.

Mimori Kiryu: Really? Thanks! Yeah, Ed is an insensitive jackass sometimes, so that's part of the reason why Annora's having problems. Would you be interested in appearing later on in the story in Central? Maybe you could be a character whose dad works in the military or something like that. Let me know and send me a detailed character profile if you're interested.

Mischevious Wolf of Twilight: Thank you very much for reading this. It makes me happy.

richard9311: I rock? Sweet!! I hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as the last one.

Siacatmesecat: Oops, sorry. I didn't realize that I was being repetitive. Thanks for the advice. I hope that what happened in this chapter was dramatic enough for you.

Kinjo Satsujin-han: Interesting… Sounds a little too painful for my tastes, but hey, it sounds fun too. Yes, boys are confusing. I think that it's genetic or something.

Lost and Never Found: Izumi, the dragon is definitely Izumi. I think it's "Meddle not in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy, and taste good with ketchup."