Chapter 2

"Good morning, brother." Al said as soon as he noticed that Ed was awake. "Sleep well?"

Ed groaned as he rose to a sitting position on the side of his bed. No, he hadn't slept very well. His night in the uncomfortable mattress consisted of a lot of tossing and turning, and when he did fall into an awkward slumber, his dreams were filled with strange and grotesque thoughts that would ultimately force him awake.

Ed rubbed his eyes with a yawn. Something as simple as opening them fully was difficult in his sleep-deprived state. "About as well as expected." Ed said with a frown. He got to his feet and looked out the window. The sun was just peaking out over the horizon, meaning it was still early morning.

"We aren't in any rush if you want to rest for a while longer." Al pointed out. "You won't be in any condition to travel if you're too tired to walk."

"No." Ed said hastily, picking up his sluggish pace as if to show that he could handle the rigors of travel. "I'm ready to leave this place. Besides, I doubt it'll be any good. I won't be able to sleep now, either."

"Well, if you're sure." Al said with a frown. He gazed at Ed from the corner of the room with concern, clearly unconvinced.

Ed ignored him. If it was up to him, he would definitely choose to sleep as well, but now wasn't the time nor the place. Once he cleansed himself of the strange aura that this whole town gave off, then he could rest easy.

"Is Winry up?" Ed asked as he picked up the clothes he removed last night and put them back on.

"I don't think so." Al replied, averting his gaze out of respect for his brother's privacy. "She hasn't left her room, at least."

"We better go wake her, then." Ed said, gathering up the last of what he had brought with him. Once he was satisfied that he had grabbed everything, he began walking toward the door, saying in a hushed tone, "I want to get the hell out of this town."

"I'm with you there." Al nodded in agreement, his voice weary with unease. "I think you're right, Ed. There's something strange about this town."

"Why?" Ed asked, stopping to look at his brother. "Did you see something last night?"

"No, its not like that." Al replied, furiously shaking his head. "I just have a bad feeling. It's hard to describe."

"Yeah, I think I'm feeling the same thing." Ed muttered. "Come on, let's go."

Ed led Al out of the room and back into the second floor hallway. They stopped at the next door down and Ed knocked, saying, "Winry? Are you awake?"

They waited patiently but after a full minute, there still wasn't a reply from inside. "Winry?" Ed called again. "I'm coming in, cover up if you need to..."

Ed slowly opened the door, which was already unlocked, half-expecting to see Winry there covering up her exposed body with her limbs and yelling at him for barging into her room while she was changing. He was already prepared to flinch under her wrath when he realized that she wasn't anywhere to be seen. "Winry?" Ed called out again, but it was no surprise that there was no reply. The room was completely void of life. Winry hadn't brought many supplies with her during this trip but they were still scattered across the room. The only thing missing was Winry herself.

"Well, that's strange." Ed muttered to himself, taking a second glance across the room to make sure she was indeed not in there. Once he was sure that she was nowhere to be found, he added, "Why would she leave us without saying anything?"

"Maybe she went to get breakfast?" Al suggested, his voice feigning hope.

"Yeah, maybe." Ed said slowly, but he was not convinced. Winry wouldn't leave for even a few minutes without saying anything.

Ed walked through the hall and descended down the stairs to the empty tavern of the inn. He was hoping that Winry would be there eating breakfast or something, but she wasn't. Only the bartender was in the room, there wasn't any other soul to be found. At a loss as to where else to go, Ed approached the bar and asked the bartender, "Hey, do you remember that girl who was with us last night? Have you seen her today?"

"The blonde girl?" He asked, and when Ed nodded, he said, "No, I can't say that I have."

Ed sighed. Now he was really starting to get worried. "How long have you been up?" He asked.

"Since the break of dawn." He replied.

Ed frowned. "Alright, well, thanks anyway." He said, then turned his back and took a few steps away from the bar, where he stopped to think.

"What do you think, Ed?" Al asked.

"I don't know." Ed said meekly. He wanted to believe that she had just gone for a walk or something, but it just didn't add up. "She left the inn at some point since we last saw her, but it couldn't have been this morning or else the bartender would have seen her. This isn't good, Al."

"Maybe she went for a very early morning walk?" Al suggested.

"Winry wouldn't ever want to wake up so early if she had the choice." Ed said with a chuckle. "Which begs the question, what was it that motivated her to wake up so early? Or, is it more likely that she left not by her own free will?"

"Not a chance." Al replied hotly. "I was awake the whole time. If there was any kind of struggle, I would have heard it."

"She was sleeping, Al." Ed pointed out. "If she was captured, her captors would have silenced her before she even had the chance to wake up. Besides, remember her room? Nothing was out of place. There was no struggle."

Al let out a whimper. "I should have stood guard outside, I could have prevented this..."

"No, it's not your fault, Al." Ed said calmly.

"But who would want to kidnap Winry?" Al asked, his voice on the verge of breaking. If he still had his real body, he would have been close to tears.

Ed, however, somehow remained calm, despite the uncertainty regarding his childhood friend. "I don't know." He said. "We don't even know for sure that she was yet. But captured or not, she couldn't have gotten far and we're not getting anywhere standing here. Let's go check around town."

"Right." Al said with a nod.

Ed rushed out of the inn with a hurried pace, Al right behind him. "Hey, unless you plan on staying another night, I'm going to need those room keys back!" The bartender yelled at them as they rushed out of the inn, but his calling fell upon deaf ears as the Elric brothers didn't even turn back as they rushed out of inn.

Stepping back into the streets, the prospect of finding Winry suddenly became much more daunting for Ed. The town was not very big but even so, Ed had absolutely no idea where to search first. In the end, he decided to simply ask around and hope somebody had seen her. This action proved to be unsuccessful even after asking a dozen people and Ed was growing desperate. Every minute he wasted was one minute closer to losing Winry for good, if she wasn't already lost. Who knew what her captors had in store for her, and Ed preferred not to think about it.

After about half an hour of asking around, Ed was beginning to lose hope and was thinking of trying some different strategy. But when he stumbled upon the local general store, he decided it was worth a try, since general stores usually see more gossip than other parts of a town.

Upon entering the building, Ed found it hard to call it a general store. Its stock was very underwhelming and the building was hardly any bigger than his room back in the inn. Still, he decided to give it a try. "Hello?" He called out when he entered. "Anyone here?"

He didn't need a response to know the answer to that question, for he soon saw an elderly couple standing behind the counter on the opposite side of the building. "Ah, a customer." The man said, his voice frail and shaky. The two of them both had sheer white hair, and the man's was receding somewhat. They were both beaming down at Ed and Al, but there was something innocent about the woman's gaze. Her eyes seemed unfocused, as if she wasn't quite sure what was going on. "How can I help you?" The man added.

"I was hoping I could ask you a question." Ed asked as he walked over to the counter.

"What is it?" The man asked.

"Have you seen our friend?" Ed asked. He desperately wished he had a picture of Winry on him, for continually describing vague characteristics was not very productive. "She's not from around here. She's about my age, has long, blonde hair and bright, blue eyes..."

"Ah, you must be talking about Anna." The woman said in such a high-pitched voice that it was almost painful to listen to. "Yes, what a pretty girl she is. I'm sorry to say I haven't seen her, dear, but if you wait for a bit, she'll be over soon for afternoon tea."

Ed stared at the woman, perplexed and unsure of how to respond. He hadn't ever heard of a girl named Anna before. Luckily, though, he wouldn't have to respond, for the man quickly turned to his wife and said, "Honey, why don't you go get that tea started? I'll take things from here."

"Of course, darling." The woman said, then she hobbled off through a door behind the counter and disappeared into the back of the building, presumably where the two of them lived.

"You'll have to excuse my wife." The man said once she was gone. "I'm sad to say that old age has not been kind to her memory."

"That's alright." Ed said, still feeling confused about the whole situation. He was still trying, in vain, to comprehend what the woman had said, but he chose instead to just ignore it. "No, Anna isn't the girl we're looking for, but tell your wife thanks for trying."

"Wait." The man said, halting Ed, who was turning to leave, in his tracks. "If your description of your friend is accurate, then there's something I feel obligated to tell you. Something you may not want to hear."

"What is it?" Ed asked quietly, doing his best to conceal his budding enthusiasm. It finally seemed like they were getting somewhere.

"Your friend is missing, is she not?" The man said. "She isn't the first. Over the past month or so, many women who match your friend's description – young, blonde hair – have been kidnapped. I fear your friend may be the latest victim."

"What?" Al asked. "By who?"

"We're not sure but I think it may be a local mercenary group that hangs out just outside of town." The man explained. "Ever since they arrived a few months ago, they've been slowly destroying this town. These streets used to be vibrant and full of life but, as you have no doubt noticed by now, that livelihood is gone. They demand daily payment of gold and supplies under the threat of extermination and they kill anyone who tries to leave the village. We're stuck here in this madness."

"That's awful." Al said, horror struck.

"What? How can you allow this to happen?" Ed said angrily. He wasn't really asking the old man in particular, but rather, the entire town. "Stand up for yourselves, don't you have law enforcement around here?"

"Brother..." Al said soothingly, trying to calm Ed down. But Ed didn't relent, and continued to stare at the man fervently as he waited for an answer.

"What can we do?" The man quietly, a strange smile on his face. "The first thing the mercenaries did was wipe out our military. None of us left are able to fight them. We've tried sending messengers asking for help from the state, but the mercenaries just kill them and send them back to us before the message is delivered. Now, none of us dare leave town."

Ed frowned, realizing that, without any help, there wasn't much these people could do. But now that Winry was involved in all of this, Ed and Al may just be the help that the town needs. Focusing back on the reason he was talking to this man in the first place, Ed asked grimly, "Where can we find these mercenaries? I don't think I've seen any around town."

"They don't hang around town anymore. If not for the disappearances of all these girls and the fact that they still collect money from us, you wouldn't even know they're here. They've got a camp somewhere in the woods to the south of town, I think." The man answered. "But you can't seriously be thinking of going after them, can you? You boys don't need to be added to the list of victims that have been caused by this senseless violence."

"Don't worry, we can take care of ourselves." Ed said confidently, using alchemy to create a blade from his automail arm.

"You're an alchemist." The man said, his eyes full of wonder. It was clear that Alchemy was a rare art in this town.

"That's right." Ed said happily.

"Then you might be just be the liberator this town needs." The man said slowly.

"We'll do whatever we can to help you, sir." Al replied happily.

"Just one last thing." Ed said. "This Anna your wife spoke of, was she kidnapped by the mercenaries as well?"

"No." The man replied. "She was killed. In broad daylight, I might add."

Ed's eyes grew wide with worry. He hadn't ever heard of this Anna before but the fact that the elderly woman mistook his description of Winry for Anna meant that their fates were probably shared. Was this the fate of every girl that was rounded up by these mercenaries? Was Winry already dead?

"What?" Al asked, clearly as shocked as Ed was. He seemed to have come to the same conclusion that Ed had.

"Anna was the first girl that was targeted by the mercenaries, and she was killed by them on the spot. This was about a month ago. Since then, more and more women of similar appearances – namely, blonde hair – have been kidnapped, never to be seen again." The man explained. "I can only imagine how my poor wife feels. She and young Anna were very close. Her memory is bad but the fact that she is always talking about Anna means that the pain is still there. My wife was one of the many who witnessed one of those damned mercenaries slit Anna across the throat. Maybe its better that her memory is gone, or else she'd be reliving that moment every second of her life."

"I'm...sorry to hear that." Al said slowly. "I promise, we'll make this right again."

"Please do." The man replied, something of a smile on the corners of his mouth. "You've given this old sack of bones reason to hope again. Thank you."

Ed nodded, then exited out of the general store, where he walked out onto the street and continued on in silence. "Well?" Al asked as they walked. "Do you think the mercenaries have her?"

Ed grimaced. Winry was becoming difficult to think about, knowing that her situation was looking bleak. But he wasn't going to give up hope, not yet. "That has to be it." Ed replied. "They are after pretty, blonde girls and that's Winry all right. They must have seen us enter town yesterday then snatched her from her room last night."

"Yes, I agree." Al nodded. "And when we get her back, I'm telling Winry you think she's pretty."

"You bastard." Ed said heatedly, blushing ever-so-slightly. "Come on, let's go then."