A loud din interrupted the precious moment. "Bang!" the sound reverberated throughout the room, shaking the walls violently. Riza Hawkeye and Roy Mustang quickly jerked apart from each other. Instinctively, Riza reached for her firearm and aimed at the wall where the noise had originated from. Even bullet less, it still made her feel a bit safer. Roy was fearless, however, he could not mask the anger on his face at the noise for the severance.

"Bang!" the something thudded again. A small hole had appeared through the thick metal and, before either could react, a silver cylindrical object was thrust inside and into the room. Odorous smoke poured out of it, filling the room quickly. Roy grabbed Riza and pulled her back and into a tight hug, as if it would protect and save her. They quickly realized that the gas was toxic when it started clawing at the back of their eyes and throats. Its effects made them cough hysterically.

"Roy!" Riza gagged, a small dribble of blood now falling down her chin. She gasped for air as her eyes slowly rolled into the back of her head. Her body sank into his arms and her limbs went completely limp. Roy's cheeks were wet with tears when he heard a faint laughter coming from the other end of the hole. However, he scarcely had time to place it, as his vision had blurred. He knelt Riza softly to the floor, fighting desperately to stay conscious, and stooped above her, gasping for breath. Finally, with one last look at her bloodied lip, he fell on top of her and the world turned a murky black around him.

Roy touched consciousness and regretted it at once; his head felt like it was imploding. Everything in him screamed for the sweet, cold embrace of death, but a tiny part of him still fought with the need to survive and protect. It urged violently with yearning, needing to know if Riza was okay. The fire in him erupted and surged forth, taking over his mind and giving him strength from deep within the pits of his heart. The need to go to her was overwhelming, so he simply opened his eyes.

His body was extremely heavy when he attempted to rise. Looking around, Roy found himself in a dimly lit room. It was dead quiet and the air tasted hot. His throat was still burning slightly from the gas, so he was glad for a moment when he saw a glass of water on a small table in the middle of the room. He ignored signs of caution as he downed the warm water and looked around his new prison for an escape. The only other thing in the room was a door, heavily fortified. His gloves had been stripped from his hands, as well as, he realized dreadfully, his pocket watch.

Walking around the room, he felt along the walls. His stomach growled at him, reminding him of its neglect, and his legs felt a little wobbly. As he came to the door, he stood on his toes and looked out of the small barred window. Beyond him was pure darkness. Even unbarred, only someone with Edward Elric's stature could have fit through the window anyway, so he quickly dropped to his feet and started making as much noise as possible.

He couldn't scream or yell much - his voice had almost left him and it came out only as harsh whispers - so he sufficed to banging the table on the door, hoping that somebody was outside. After awhile, he heard the sound of padded footsteps outside of the door, and he threw down the now broken table. A pale face came to the window and peered inside, searching the small room for the prisoner.

"Where is Hawkeye?" he said as loud as he could. The jail keeper's eyes found Mustang and glared.

"Stop banging things, stupid human." it hissed. He realized then that it was a serpentine Chimera. This one, however, was a bit different than the bunch he and Hawkeye had fought earlier. This Chimera was intelligent - it had spoken. It turned to leave and Mustang grew desperate and angry.

"Where is she?" he shouted again. "Just let her go! She has nothing to do with any of this! She's completely innocent!" He gripped the bars and stared straight into its eyes. The Chimera looked at Mustang once more, loathe written all over his face. Then, he turned to leave again, intent on ignoring him, but stopped suddenly in his tracks. From beyond him, in the blackness, came a familiar arrogant voice.

"For someone so high up in the ranks, you look rather pitiful." Envy laughed. The Chimera moved quickly to its side and bowed its head, waiting for Envy to walk passed. As soon as Envy was ahead of him, it almost slithered back to its post. Envy was in his teenage boy form with the smirk to match. He stood just outside of the door, taunting the flame alchemist.

"Envy." Roy could not put more hatred into that name. He glared at him, hating everything about him.

Hughes...

"What, you're surprised?" Envy flipped his head back and laughed. "You thought you could just strut in here and kill me? Do you even know what it takes to kill a homunculus, Mr. Mustang?" Not being called Colonel Mustang was strange, but then, there were no formalities here.

Roy wished more than ever that he could burn the homunculus to ashes. Hot streaks of hatred flashed across his face. Envy was so close, he could smell his filth. If only he would take one more step, and he could strangle him to death.

"You're being almost as loud as your girlfriend, you know. She's got quite the hot temper! Fortunately, she's pretty disposable. Did you remember to say goodbye, Roy?"

Roy spit in his face. "Let her go."

"Well! That was rude! Especially since her life is in my hands. Father says I can kill her whenever I want." he stated proudly, wiping his face briefly. Mustang's knuckles were white on the bars. All he could do was stare. "Anyway, it's time to go. Don't bother attacking unless you want to lose your friend. If I'm not in Father's chambers in ten minutes, the girl dies automatically." He unlocked the door, opened it, and stood back in mock respect.

More hot air hit his face. He looked out and saw rows of prison doors. Roy briefly wondered if Hawkeye was in one just like it, but he knew how big this place was. From exploring earlier, he knew it was a enormous maze of dark corridors and musty passageways. It would be impossible to find her, especially without his Flame Alchemy. Out of options and almost out of his mind in worry, he huffed angrily at Envy. No matter how upset he was at himself, he had to save her and going with Envy seemed to be the only way.

Roy had no choice. With his anger at boiling point and his fists clenched, he followed Envy.