Chapter Seven: Primrose

In Japanese culture, primrose stands for helplessness or desperation.

A part of Alphonse wanted to beat himself senseless for going off on his own recklessly. Another wanted to beat himself senseless for not doing it earlier.

To be completely honest, Alphonse wasn't sure which one was winning.

He walked around rather aimlessly, only searching for any kind of trail that Edward might have left. His hands worked to tie the yellow thread every now and then to mark his way back. He wondered if anyone would be mad at him for the stunt he was doing – most likely yes – and what kind of punishment the colonel might dish out to him. Even though he wasn't officially part of the military and Colonel Mustang had no real power over him, there was no guarantee that he wouldn't punish him for acting recklessly.

And Alphonse most likely would just accept it too. Even as he tied another yellow string, he was contemplating on how high his action would score in the act of recklessness scale. Granted, Edward would take the prize, but his own action was pretty much reckless and stupid at the same time.

His feet soon brought him to the elder tree where he first met Mimosa. He stared at bowing branches and the sweeping leaves, wondering if there was a trail of Edward somewhere there, and reached out to push the leaves and twigs to make way under the tree. Then he heard rustling voice from beyond the tree.

Acting on impulse, he turned around and leapt away as quickly and quietly as possible, crouching down behind a large bush to conceal himself as he peeked out from the jutting leaves.

A hand pushed out the twigs of the tree, and a head peeked out of the thicket, followed by the body of the owner. Long dark brown hair hung down, and the familiarity crashed to Alphonse, nearly making him gasp aloud.

Mimosa walked away from the tree, straightened and dusted herself to rid stray leaves from her clothes and hair. She looked around before walking away, further into the woods. Alphonse watched her as she went. Inwardly, he wondered if he should chase her, but somehow he felt that it wasn't such a good idea. He directed his gaze at the tree instead. Mimosa walked out of it. Was she hiding there, for some reason? Perhaps he could find a clue about Edward's whereabouts there too.

Careful as to not make a sound, Alphonse made his way to the tree and pushed the leaves away from his path as he ducked and walked under it. The leaves hid a cave-like area under the tree, which was dim with minimal amount of sunlight able to reach its way to the ground. He looked up, somewhat awed by the place, finally understanding why Mimosa 'thought if this as her secondary house', to quote Ives. His body had no ability to feel, but he knew for certain that this place was comfortably cool.

His eyes observed the place, looking for any clue that might be present. The glowing red eyes caught the sight of something that looked vaguely like a trapdoor. He kneeled next to it and ran a hand above the wood, clearing it away from the leaves that had fallen atop of it. To think that such a thing existed right here. He should've checked the tree right from the start.

He gripped the handle of the trapdoor and lifted it open. A set of stairs was revealed underneath him, and after contemplating a bit he put his foot down on it, slowly descending into the dark cave underneath. The wooden boards gave creaks that he hoped wouldn't alarm anyone inside.

Soon, his foot touched the ground. He looked around in high alert, scanning the place for any possible threat. He found none. Instead, his eyes caught the sight of two bodies sprawled upon the ground, one that he somehow found familiar and one that he had known for so long, he could recount every detail even after being separated for years.

"Brother!"

Alert for possible threat forgotten, he ran off to his brother and created echoing sound of metal pounding the earth. He skidded to a halt next to Edward, and he kneeled down and took him into his arms. Edward was out cold, hands bound with wooden cuffs behind his back and chain binding his foot. His hair was messy and his coat was ragged. Alphonse shook him gently, calling his name repeatedly, but there was no hint that Edward was waking up any time soon. Alphonse would have hyperventilated with panic if he had a body.

His sight fell to the little girl that lay beside Edward. After a beat, he recognized her as the missing girl, Kelly. His mind whirled at once, connecting the dots and making conclusions, and he felt himself going cold despite the fact that he was unable to feel it. He shook Edward again, more urgently this time, and hissed his name in hope that he could somehow wake his brother.

This time, Edward responded. He groaned weakly, eyebrows knitting together as he slowly pried his eyes open, blinking owlishly at the light. He looked around in disorientation before he locked eyes with Alphonse. "Al…?" he rasped softly.

"Brother…!" Alphonse sighed in relief before he shook Edward urgently again. "Brother, we need to go. There's no one here right now but we won't know when people will arrive – "

His words was cut with a sudden sound of banging metal. A force knocked him away as his helmet shot through the room and clanged against the wall. He dropped Edward in the process, and his brother yelled out in pain.

At the same time, a high-pitched scream rang through the cave.

His body clanged against the earthen floor and he turned to see who attacked him. His sight fell on a blond girl with blue eyes that stared at him in the familiar horrified way, with a club clenched in her hands. As he moved around, she let out a small 'eek' and pointed the end of the club at him defensively.

"Who are you?" she asked, adopting a more threatening stance. "How did you find out about this place?" Then, a bit more unsure, "…why are you hollow?!"

"Please calm down – " Alphonse tried to stand up while showing his palms in order to show her that he meant no harm, but the girl shrieked and swung the club once more, effectively knocking him down again. From the side, Edward groaned and called out to Alphonse.

"Stay where you are," she pointed the club at him.

Crackles of blue prevented him from doing anything anymore. The earth moved like coils, binding his arms and legs and covered his hangs down to the fingers, making him unable to move, and trying to scratch a transmutation circle would be impossible. He registered the sound of chain jingling and Edward yelling his name amidst the light and the sound of transmuting earth.

It seemed that the blonde was surprised, too, because she could only stare at his bound limbs wordlessly. She jumped when a voice suddenly called, "Agnes!"

"Moss…!" the blonde turned to the direction of the stairs as the sound of feet running down on the wooden boards echoed through the cave. "You're here?"

"Of course I am, you screamed so loudly! Are you alright?"

"I suppose…" the club was dropped.

The newcomer came closer to him and he gasped when he recognized her face. "Mimosa…!"

"Alphonse…" she muttered as she knelt beside him. "You're hollow?"

Alphonse stared at Mimosa's hands instead, staring at the transmutation circle stitched into the gloves she was wearing. "You can do alchemy?"

There was a sad smile in Mimosa's face. "It shouldn't be that much of a surprise. Your brother wasn't all that surprised either, I think."

"And are you behind all those disappearances, too?" there was a faint betrayal in Alphonse's voice.

"All but one," Mimosa admitted. "Agnes instigated her own disappearance."

"What – why would she – "

Mimosa didn't bother waiting for Alphonse to finish his sentence. She stood up and turned to the blonde – Agnes – and said, "We should move them now. We made quite the commotion, and while I don't think the people in the town can hear us from here I'm worried that someone might still be scouring through the woods."

"Okay," Agnes answered readily. "What about the transportation? Can you drive?"

"Ives taught me in case something like this happens." Mimosa unlocked the chain on Kelly's foot and lifted her. "We should hurry."

"You should go first, I'm standing guard here in case they try to do anything funny." Agnes glanced to Alphonse in suspicion as Mimosa muttered an 'okay'.

"Where are you taking her?!" Alphonse shouted after Mimosa.

"Somewhere you won't find her," Mimosa answered quietly. Then, softly, she added, "Please tell her family that I'm sorry. I have no choice."

"Wait! Mimosa! If you're sorry, then – "

"Alphonse." There was a dangerous edge to Mimosa's tone, and Alphonse stopped talking. "That strange symbol inside of you, isn't it the thing that keeps you bound to this world?" Alphonse jerked against his restraints. "I wonder what will happen if it happens to break."

Alphonse was quiet for a while before he called, "Mimosa… I – "

"Quit it," Agnes cut him off. "She's already gone."

Alphonse cursed inwardly and shifted his gaze to Edward, who was lying on his stomach and trembling, though he wasn't sure why. He hoped it wasn't because of pain. His bangs covered his face, but Alphonse could faintly hear the sound of gritting teeth and the more prominent sound of heavy breathing.

"Aaah, this is somewhat inconvenient…" Agnes sighed as she stared at Edward too.

"What did you do to him?" Alphonse asked her immediately, tone accusing.

"Nothing much, we simply put some sleeping drug into his food so he'll stay quiet," Agnes answered calmly. "But now that you've woke him up, he's actively trying to fight the drug and it seems that we won't be able to keep him down for long." She seemed to be able to feel the air of hostility Alphonse immediately produced, as she shrugged calmly. "You don't need to worry. He's only having a killer headache, it'll pass in a few hours. The drug doesn't have any long lasting effect. Granted, he may have some sudden headaches coming and going as well as general weak feeling and bouts of sleepiness, but other than that there is nothing life threatening in that drug."

"And that's supposed to be reassuring?" Alphonse asked harshly.

"Is there anything else I can say to reassure you?" Agnes asked back without missing a beat. "It's already done. There is no way to reverse the effect. There is no antidote. If you want the effects to pass you simply need to wait it out."

Alphonse willed his rage to disappear, though it wasn't of much use as he was still worried about Edward's condition. He hated that Agnes' words was sound with logic. He wanted to do something, anything, to put Edward out of his obvious misery. Yet he was bound, his blood seal exposed, absolutely helpless, useless, powerless. Remembering how Colonel Mustang was often said to be useless in the rain, he wondered if the colonel would feel the same as him right then.

"Where are you going to take him?" Alphonse asked when his anger had come to a more manageable level.

A small smile made its way to Agnes' face. "He will be a tribute of sorts, I suppose."

"For who?"

"That's not for your ears to hear," Agnes answered coldly. "That is, if you even have them."

Edward jerked all of a sudden, making Agnes jump and Alphonse turn to him. "Don't," he hissed to the blonde with strained voice, "you dare… speak to my brother like that."

"Regained your bearings already?" Agnes asked, sounding both surprised and somewhat disturbed at the same time.

As soon as the sentence left Agnes' mouth, Edward flopped back to the ground with a loud groan. "What the hell did you put in that food…?" he moaned. "Did you seriously feed Kelly that too? This thing feels like poison!"

"Don't worry about the girl, we gave her a lighter dose," Agnes answered him calmly. "We didn't want to take any chances with a State Alchemist, however."

The sound of descending footsteps on the stairs drew their attention away. "The girl is safe," Mimosa announced. "Let's take him next."

"Right," Agnes nodded and pulled Edward to his feet. He gasped at the sudden movement and swayed, ending up having to rely on Agnes' support to stay upright as Mimosa unlocked the chain binding his foot. When Agnes pulled him and he tried to step back in retaliation, however, his automail leg gave out and he fell to the ground with a shout, dragging Agnes together with him. He turned to look at the leg, shock clear in his face.

"Brother?"

Edward's eyes met Alphonse's vision as he gulped slightly. "I can't move my leg."

"Must have been because of that tree," Mimosa placed his hands below Edward's armpits and started heaving. "Agnes, help me carry him out."

"Wait – " Edward gasped when Agnes grabbed under his knees and together with Mimosa lifted him off the ground. "Stop! Al!" He struggled against their hold. "Alphonse!"

"Brother!" Alphonse, too, began struggling against the earthen bonds despite knowing the uselessness of such attempt. The earth that bound him was too strong to fight against.

"Stop… fighting!" Agnes hissed as Edward's flesh leg hit her stomach, making her drop his knees in pain. Mimosa, determined to bring him up no matter what, started dragging him by the torso. Edward countered by wriggling away from her hold and planted his flesh leg firmly into the ground. It didn't do much since Mimosa was still able to drag him away. In desperation, Edward let his body go limp and let go of all remaining energy inside of him, slumping to the ground and dragging Mimosa down.

Unfortunately, while Mimosa was clearly surprised by the choice, she recovered immediately and dragged him from his coat, treating him as if he was a lifeless corpse instead. "Agnes, come on."

"I swear, Mimosa, if you bring troublesome people like this again…"

"Stop it!" Edward struggled again, intent not to be dragged away, to little success. He was halfway up the stairs when he stopped yelling to be released and started screaming for Alphonse. "Al! Alphonse!"

Alphonse responded by calling out his brother repeatedly, alternating between 'Brother' and 'Ed' in desperation. Soon, Edward was out of sight, and slowly his voice grew fainter and fainter before it was swallowed by the loud sound of an engine being started and a vehicle driving away.

And all the curse words Alphonse learned from Edward but never used himself flowed out from him like a river, before he fell silent, defeated.

To say that Roy was frustrated was a huge understatement.

How can he not be? First, he sent his subordinate away on a mission that was meant for the military folks in the North to be a test for the young boy. Then, when he thought that it was going well for Edward, he got a report that no, it hadn't been going well at all, the people didn't trust him and wanted him gone, and he had actually gone missing. Then, when he went there to give a helping hand to find his subordinate and put the case to a close, the very brother of the subordinate who called him for help went and searched for his brother on his own and might very well be missing as well.

Yup. Roy was having the urge to incinerate something.

And he was currently stuck in the woods with Hawkeye and Havoc, having reached the end of the tied string Alphonse had left in his wake. They chose to follow the yellow string to find him, but then at one point it ended, and the boy was nowhere in sight.

"Should we just go back?" Havoc asked, looking around.

"No, let's try to find a trail first," Roy decided.

Hawkeye, ever the loyal follower, nodded calmly and started to look around, intense eyes blazing in concentration. Her eyes suddenly widened in surprise, though, when her clipped hair suddenly came undone and her long bound hair came undone. She let out a small surprised 'ah' as the clip fell to the forest floor. Then, just as she bent down to take the clip, she gasped and her eyes went even wider, hands coming up to hold her hair in somewhat protective manner, eyes darting around suspiciously.

"Lieutenant?" he asked, eyebrows knitting together. "Is there something wrong?"

"Something pulled my hair," Hawkeye answered, eyes still looking around in suspicion. She kneeled and took the clip from the ground before standing back up. "I'm not sure what."

"Looks like the fairy nonsense the people in the town talked about might be true," Havoc grinned goofily, though the way he chewed his cigarette told Roy that he was in high alert as well. He suddenly yelped aloud, cigarette slipping from his lips and falling to the ground. "Whoa. Something pulled my hair too, just now."

A sudden grunt from Hawkeye drew their attention to her, and to his surprise Roy saw that a strand of her blonde hair was floating midair, pulled by an invisible force. She pulled her head back in retaliation, but whatever it was that held her hair was stubborn enough to tug angrily and kept the hair in place.

"Boss, did I drink in the train before we got here?" Havoc asked Roy in a disbelieving tone.

"No, I don't think you did. I don't think I did, either," Roy answered in the same tone of voice.

The thing kept tugging at Hawkeye's hair, and her eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Sir… I think it wants us to follow it."

"Following an invisible force doesn't rank up to high in my list of good ideas, Lieutenant," Roy frowned at her. "In fact, it scores pretty low in the list."

Riza stared at the space where her hair was floating, staring intently. "Whatever it is, I don't think it means to harm us," she said, putting her hair clip into her pocket. "I have a feeling that it's trying to lead us somewhere."

"Lieutenant, have you gone insane?"

Hawkeye glared at him.

Roy sighed. "Fine, we're following it. But if there's any chance that this might be dangerous, we're bolting away."

"Understood, Sir."

The three soon walked, Hawkeye in front and Havoc at the back with Roy walking in between. It felt somewhat strange, to have the order mixed up like that. Usually, Roy would have Hawkeye's comforting presence protecting his back, a steadfast yet feminine air hovering behind him that was ready to spike into a sharp, piercing aura at a moment's notice if danger was near. This time, at his back was Havoc. He felt the air at his back thick with alert, yet at the same time it was casual and relaxed. While Havoc's aim with guns might not be as good as Hawkeye's, he knew the second lieutenant was just as capable to shoot an enemy right between the eyes. His aura didn't comfort Roy the way Hawkeye's did, but he allowed himself to relax, knowing that he wasn't in danger with him guarding his back.

Soon they reached a tree with leaves spilling down like a waterfall, and Roy allowed himself a moment of awe. He had never seen a tree like that in his life. It was big, majestic somehow. He stared at how the leaves bowed down to the forest floor in curiosity, wondering just how old the tree really was.

"It wants us to go in there, Sir," Hawkeye announced, pointing at the tree. She took out her gun. "I will see if it's safe."

"Be careful, Lieutenant," Roy told Hawkeye. Since they couldn't see anything behind the leaves, if there was an open space beyond it, it would be a very good place for an ambush. Behind him, he heard Havoc shifting, positioning himself so he could cover as large an area as possible if anything were to happen. There was a shifting sound and he knew instantly that Havoc, too, had taken out his gun from its holster. He flexed his own hand, feeling the fabric of his transmutation gloves.

The first lieutenant nodded and pushed through the leaves, blonde hair still down with a strand hovering midair. Her form was soon obscured by the leaves as it swung back in place. After a moment, her voice rang out, "Clear!"

Roy immediately walked after her, Havoc right behind him. When they both were under the tree, Havoc gasped quietly. "Whoa."

Roy echoed the sentiment even though he didn't say anything. He looked up at the light seeping through the leaves overhead, awed by the way it seemingly flit through the gaps as the leaves swayed in the wind. He then mentally slapped himself, trying to focus on finding both the Elrics.

"Sir," Hawkeye called, staring at him, "there's an open trapdoor in here." Her hair was no longer hovering midair, and Roy heaved a silent sigh of relief. It was disturbing to see her hair being tugged by an invisible being.

"Let's see what's in there then," Roy announced as he pulled on the gloves.

"I'll go down first," Havoc offered.

Behind him, Hawkeye clipped back her hair and followed as Roy descended the stairs below the trapdoor after Havoc.

He came to the sight of a familiar set of armor, headless, bound to the floor with rock moulds. "Alphonse?"

The armor shifted a little, as much as his bounds let him. "Colonel?"

"Hold on, Alphonse," Roy quickly strode to Alphonse, hands searching his pockets for a spare chalk he knew he had put in there. Soon he was drawing a simple transmutation circle to get the boy out of the binding rocks while Hawkeye and Havoc searched the place. It didn't take long before Alphonse was sitting, rubbing his wrists as if trying to get some feeling back. Roy felt a pang of sympathy to the boy, wondering just how it felt like to live a life void of senses.

"The place is clear," Havoc announced as he walked near, bringing Alphonse's loose head and giving it to the boy. Alphonse muttered a thank you and put his head back on.

"Sir," Hawkeye's voice rang through the cave-like place, and Roy turned to her. In her hands was a pair of chains, dangling in the air almost hypnotically.

Alphonse, too, was looking at the chains. "Colonel," he called, "I'm sorry for going on my own. It seemed like a good idea before I was bound."

"What happened in here?" Roy demanded immediately.

Alphonse was quiet for a moment before he began recounting his story. It was surprising for the three military men to hear that the first victim and the latest one were both behind the disappearances, and that it was likely that the latest victim's brother was also one of the people who was pulling the strings. It was a problem, though, that Edward had been moved to a separate location. They had to find him, and soon.

"We should head back to the town, then," Roy decided. "If they left using some kind of a vehicle they must have left a trail. We can find it later and follow it."

"No," Alphonse spoke up. Roy turned to him, staring, wondering what the boy had in mind. "I don't feel fatigue, so I think I should be able to scout ahead. I'll leave you a more obvious trail. I still have the yellow string I took from Mr. Lotus, I can use it to leave a sign behind."

Roy thought about it and nodded. "Alright. You can go ahead. We'll head back to town to find a vehicle we can borrow, and once we do we'll catch up to you."

Alphonse nodded in agreement and walked quickly, eager to track and find his brother as soon as possible.

"Be safe, Al," Havoc called at his back.

Alphonse turned. "I will," he promised, a gentle and reassuring smile heard in his words. And then he walked up the stairs like a marching soldier eager for his first battle and was gone.

"Let's go," Roy called to Havoc and Hawkeye. "We need to find a car, and maybe put this Ives character to an arrest."

A/N: yep, done. Finally.

I'm so sorry that this update was really late. That writer's block is just so stubborn. It wants to hang around for a long time. Apparently it doesn't realize that its kind is unwelcome in my head. Usually I'd run away to other stories in work, but then I realize that apparently this time the writer's block is really stubborn. Urk.

On the other hand, I'm just really glad that this chapter is done. I think there will only be one to three chapters left, though I'm not exactly sure of that. The estimation probably isn't too far off, though. Keyword being probably.

Anyway, for now this is it. I hope that the chapter's good enough. Please leave a review on your way out! Hope you have a good day!