Chapter Five

The abrupt halt of a comforting, rumbling rhythm under his cheek roused Ed slowly from the vestiges of darkness clouding his mind. It wasn't exactly like a switch had been turned, rather he was brought near enough to the surface to claw at the slippery edge of reality.

A voice floated through the darkness, smooth and inconspicuous as it seemed to respond to some unheard question,

'These are my sons. We're just heading back to Espuzanza after vacationing in the South. These are my brothers Monty and Axel.'

A voice that seemed too far away asked another muffled inquiry. The same voice- that familiar, dark, green-eyed rasp, smiled coolly,

'The trip exhausted them, indeed. What? No, I didn't know there was anything going on in the north... yes, sir... of course. We'll be careful, thank you for the warning.'

Realization sparked in Ed's mind and he fought his way farther into wakefulness. Idiots. Didn't they notice the strange accent? What was happening in the North? Had Ed been wrong and they'd broken through the Briggs fortress...?

The rumbling vibration returned, shaking through his skull and startling his eyes open like a final push into reawakening. By the time he struggled into an exhausted lean against the backseat, their surroundings were once again fields, with the tops of houses retreating in the distance.

'Where are we?' Ed grumbled, glaring at the leader, who had apparently hidden his automail out of sight.

The man scowled back at him without a single trace of sympathy.

'Nearing Pendleton. We'll drop the brat there. Don't worry, stupid alchemist. We're almost there.'

Ed sat back and watched James, who appeared to be sleeping. Not unconscious by force at least. The boy looked peaceful, the type of death-sleep that occurs after a bout of extreme stress. The blonde smiled faintly and put a hand on the boy's shoulder, wanting- needing some kind of contact with his student. Not even his touch woke the boy and he sighed regretfully.

This was all Ed's fault. James should be in class right now, smiling and learning and blissfully unaware of such stress at his age. It was just unfair to the boy. Ed should have done the right but cruel thing and turned him away as soon as he showed up at the teacher's door. He should have just ignored the knocking. James would have gone away eventually.

Pendleton. Ed had never been there but he hoped they had a direct line to Central. They had to have one, being so close to the border and all, right?

Minutes passed as the car sped along and the sick, pounding glaze over Ed's brain slowly dissipated. The sky began turning into rosy shades of orange with dusk as the shadow of a town appeared on the horizon; the sharp, pointed roofs silhouetted by the still, warm sky.

They couldn't have been more than a mile outside the town when the roar of the engine began to steadily keen louder, so slowly that the occupants of the vehicle nearly missed the minute change. The buzz rose and rose, until the Drachmans shared a baffled look. When the driver- Axel- slowed the car to a stop, the noise got so loud that James moaned quietly and squinted his eyes open, tired hands pressing to his ears.

Ed climbed up onto his knees to peer out the small back window, squeezing James' shoulder briefly before gold eyes blew wide. He shoved James towards the door with bruising force,

'Everyone out NOW!'

It took less than three seconds for James and the Drachmans to be out of the car, and Ed had barely made it two steps away from the metal machine before another vehicle crashed into the back of it. Heat instantly consumed Ed and knocked him head over heels as the force of the collision caused the Drachmans' vehicle to practically explode, throwing metal shards in a dozen different directions as fire belched into the sky, already thick with onyx smoke.

Pain blossomed all over, enveloping Ed in a swathe of flames and sharp agony. Curling in on himself, he barely noticed shouts and the feel of a liquid, blistering sensation licking at his flesh, until a pair of tender hands covered him with some kind of cloth. Choked sounds died before they left his mouth. The taste of metal coated his tongue and the sky reeled above his eyes in a smog-darkened haze.

A sharp wail broke from him finally when his shock-dampened senses fled abruptly as those hands grasped something in his side and pulled. A wet feeling covered his skin quickly and he blinked once, hard.

'Ed!'

James' voice screamed from somewhere nearby, even as the bark of gunfire lit the air alongside the roar of flames.

Ed gritted his teeth and forced his eyes to focus, ignoring the aching of his wounded bones as he straightened himself out, one limb at a time. Nothing seemed broken, at least. Just bruised as fuck.

A kind hand grasped his flesh shoulder and carefully levered him into a sitting position.

'Edward Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist.'

Pain-glazed eyes blinked at the man in Amestrian uniform that smiled down at him strangely. Red hair, clear gray-blue eyes... Ed recognized him almost immediately. This was the soldier that had sat in on his class yesterday. Or was it the day before yesterday now? How long had passed since they had been taken? Ed's mind wandered even as he stared up at the man, eyes flickering-sightless- over the silver chain of a pocket watch hanging from the soldier's belt.

He abruptly remembered the shots he had heard earlier and jerked his head around, jaw dropping open at the ruin that spread across the field beside the road. The car he and James had been transported in was completely demolished, but the other vehicle was fine other than an ugly dent in the front. The Drachmans were all apparently dead, their bodies sprawled over the crippled yellow grass and stained with red and dark bullet holes. Eyes stared blankly in Ed's direction and the blonde winced.

They had been bastards, but no one deserved to die so quickly, so pointlessly.

Heart stuttering, Ed spotted James. The boy was standing amid the carnage, face as white as chalk and apparently frozen in place. The Fullmetal Alchemist followed the boy's eyes back to the auburn-haired man's right hand, where a military-issue rifle was hanging loosely but dangerously in his relaxed fingers.

Ed met the man's eyes once again.

'You were in my class, that day,' he murmured, thoughts still too jumbled to organize a useful sentence or question.

The man's grin just widened, a pleased look lighting in his eyes, 'Of course, dear Edward. And many of your classes before that. But I don't blame you for not noticing me then, don't worry. I am only seen when I allow myself to be seen.'

Confusion just added another layer of fog over the blonde's mind, making him dizzy as he muddled through the thick of his feelings. It was just too hard, and the man was distracting him by pulling off his coat and cautiously lifting his shirt. The familiar feel of sticky blood coming free with the material made Ed look down at himself. He couldn't see past the man's hands though, and could only watch uselessly as the soldier assessed the wound. His eyes strayed to a large scrap of metal that must have come from the Drachman's vehicle when it exploded, and the blood that covered it.

So. That's probably what had impaled him when he went flying. No wonder his thoughts were so mixed and he couldn't really feel anything- he was in shock, and losing blood fast.

'Hey, kid, get over here.'

At the soldier's command, James finally seemed to reawaken to the cruel world, his movements jerky as he approached.

'Ed...'

'Give me your jacket or shirt or something. His wound needs to be dressed,' the man set the gun down finally and took the jacket that James stripped off obediently. In a few practiced motions, the clothing had been ripped into several long strips that the man began to wind around Ed's abdomen carefully.

The blonde groaned and growled as the pressure on the wound sent needles of white-hot agony through his chest but he just dug his fingernails into his palm and was slightly comforted by James' steadying arm around his shoulders.

'Ed,' his student murmured in his ear as the man in uniform worked efficiently on the bandaging job, voice almost drowned by the crackling of flames behind them, 'this is the only soldier here... and he just gunned down those Drachmans without batting an eye. He almost killed us when he crashed into us... who is this guy?'

Ed's eyes narrowed at the man's pale profile, at the look of utter concentration and peace in his stormy gaze. This soldier had come after them alone? How had he even tracked the Drachmans here? And why crash into them? Ed and James easily could have died if they hadn't gotten out of that car in time... And to just murder their kidnappers without a trial or a chance...

'You almost killed us,' the blonde stiffened when the hand on his side squeezed unconsciously in response, 'who are you? What's your name, Major?'

The redhead smiled approvingly at Ed, making the man of thirty some years appear young and childlike with his troubling delight. The soldier lifted a hand to ruffle through Ed's hair, and the blonde was completely helpless to stop him in his weakened state.

'My dearest Edward... I had faith in you to get out in time. I would never do something if I didn't think you wouldn't survive it. Remember that, will you? It's important,' his words caused a sinking dread in Ed as those hands caressed his hair in a twisted placating gesture, 'And my name is Artabanus.'

Ed began to ask another question, except... he didn't. His mouth hadn't moved and the words were caught deep within him. His brow wanted to furrow, but it couldn't. His whole body felt paralyzed in every way possible. It wasn't the shock this time. It was something else- something that fizzled under his skin and infected one nerve at a time, sending tiny vibrations through his veins as his entire body became both immobile and speechless.

Why the hell couldn't he move?!

Beside him, James said something, but panic deafened the blonde's ears as he was trapped in Artabanus' stare.

What the fuck is going on!