Hey, y'all! Thank y'all from the bottom of my heart for reading this. I really appreciate the comments and favorites and follows. I never expected this story to have a lot of interest but it does. I'm so thankful it does. I apologize for how this chapter is paced. I hope it won't be too annoying. The next chapter will hopefully be better paced. So sorry for taking a bit for posting this. School is a lot right now. Thankfully, Friday was the last day of classes. All my exams except for two classes are optional. I'm not going to do the optional exams, so that should free me up. I might take some time to plan out the next two chapters before writing chapter 9. Anyways, I really hope y'all will enjoy!
Someone was touching his face. That's all Ed was aware of as he floated at the surface of unconsciousness. It wasn't uncomfortable per se, he just didn't want the hands of unknown people near him. A hand places itself on his nose and feels around. Pain explodes throughout his face.
He whips his head back and forth to dislodge the hand. He's relieved when it disappears. The buzz of voices above his head alerts him to more people around him. He's able to escape the fog of his mind to open his eyes.
His blurry gaze focuses on faces above him, eyes wide and worried. They aren't the ones touching him and he weakly bares his teeth when the hand appears in his vision.
Who were these people? They had to be Drachman's. Well, he wasn't going to be killed without a fight.
The hand settles itself on his face and he bites down hard, tasting copper.
The voice yelps and he feels a slight rush of satisfaction. The voice is suddenly giving the faces orders. Fear floods him as hands settle themselves on his head, holding it.
Someone pins his legs, and a concerned face holds onto his arms. His snarls grow louder and he tries to throw back his head. The hold only grows tighter.
'I'm trapped.'
He weakly tries to buck them off, but their body weights hold him down. His chest is heaving and his fogged mind knows that these people are trying to hurt him. Something is stuffed in his mouth, and he nearly chokes. Oh, so they were going to choke him now?
He tries to spit it out, but a hand pushes it back in. His heart pounds against his ribcage.
This was it. These people were going to finish him off.
"S….orry….id."
The hand moves to his nose, and his nose is quickly jerked.
Agony flies throughout his face and his own muffled scream is the last thing he hears before the blackness drags him back down.
The world is spinning the next time he comes to. He squeezes his eyes open and shut a few times, trying to banish the black spots in his vision. The copper taste remains in his mouth and he wonders if the people are still there.
He breathes heavily, trying to remember what led him here and why he hurts so badly.
'That's right, I surrendered myself and they beat me up.' He winces as the pain of his bruised or broken ribs flares up.
A face enters his field of vision, and he flinches, wincing as his body seizes with pain.
"Rana! He's waking up!" He winces at the yelling. The person kneels beside him, and more people come rushing over.
His hands scrabble at his sides and he painstakingly pulls himself into a sitting position. He scrambles backward, only to find that there's not any more room to back up.
Four people sit in front of him, looking worriedly at his face. He glares at them, making himself as small as he can to avoid any more injuries.
"Woah, there. You were pretty badly hurt when they threw you in here."
The woman's accent was thick, and he knew she was not Amestrian by the looks of her. Her eyes were green, her hair a ginger red, and her skin was pale. Her face sported a cut running along the bridge of her nose to her left eyebrow.
"Who are you? Where am I?" He snarls.
"Calm down, kid. We're not with them. Promise." The man beside her spoke up.
He looked between each of them, shaking the remnants of unconsciousness from his mind. He slowly wills his aching body to relax. They all looked young, around his age or older. He noticed that their hands were in handcuffs, making it impossible for them to touch.
"Was it you who wouldn't stop touching my nose?" He growled. His nose ached, but it wasn't as bad as it had been.
The woman winced. "Your nose was badly broken. I had to reset it or it wouldn't have healed properly."
"Well, it hurt like hell." He growls.
The others chuckle and the woman smiles sheepishly. "Sorry, I hoped you wouldn't remember much. We had to hold you down cause you bit me."
She motions to a small bandage on her other hand. Ed sheepishly scratches the back of his head.
"Sorry, I didn't know where I was. I thought you were one of those Drachman bastards."
The woman's face screwed up in anger at the mention of the Drachman's. She stares at her comrades, their faces nervous.
"Who are all of you? You don't sound like an Amestrian." The woman smiled slightly.
"I'm Rana, I'm from Aerugo. Kalan is from a country from the west, Maoali." She motioned to a boy to her right. His eyes were brown, his skin was tanned, and he had dark hair.
"Jenaja is from Xing and Byer is from Aerugo." She motioned to the girl staring at him with worried dark eyes. Byer slightly smiled, his hazel eyes showed the concern that he must've been feeling.
"I'm Edward Elric." He watched the expressions on all of their faces turn into shock. He smirked, it looked like they had heard of him.
"Wait, THE Edward Elric?" Rana's green eyes widened, and she turned to Byer beside her.
He nodded, his smirk growing wider. "You look just like they describe." Jenaja's small voice pipes up. Her dark eyes shine with wonder.
"You're shorter than I would've thought," Byer states.
Ed hisses. He hated being called short!
"I'M NOT SHORT!" He yells. He crossed his arms, frowning.
"You have that fiery temper that all say you have." Kalan laughs.
That was interesting. How had rumors about him spread so far into other countries? He couldn't be that well known, could he?
"How far has information spread about me?" His brow furrows. Rana looks surprised.
"You don't know? There are rumors all over the place. You're well known." Byer says.
"I've only been in the military for two years. Sometimes, people I come across call me the 'hero of the people', but I don't know why they call me that. All I do is stop rogue alchemists and help people fix things."
He's never understood why people call him that. He takes down rogue alchemists because that's what his missions require. He only restored the things asked of him because he felt it was the right thing to do, he gained nothing from it. He enjoyed helping people in desperate need of help. In all honesty, he enjoyed saving others. It was the bright side of a job he hated. He never asked for anything in return. He didn't feel like he deserved that title at all.
"That's where you're wrong, kid. They call you a hero because you help them willingly. All those people you've helped, you've never turned a single one down. They only had to ask once, and you did it."
Ed stares dumbfounded. They really thought he was a hero. Well, if they thought he was, then there was no way he would convince them otherwise. He sighed, letting his head thump back against the metal wall.
He was deep in thought when Kalan spoke up.
"A-Are the rumors about your alchemy true?" He spoke quietly, as if scared.
"What rumors?"
"That can do alchemy without a transmutation circle and your automail allows you to do it?" Kalan squeaks.
Ed chuckled. Well, he was half right.
"Yeah, I can do it without a circle. The automail does nothing to let me, though."
Kalan nodded. He relaxed. Everything turned quiet for a bit.
Ed looked around him, finally taking in his surroundings. They were in a truck, that was clear from all the jostling. Where were they going and what did the Drachman's want with these people? He had thought he was all they wanted, but if that were true then what were all these people doing here?
He looked silently at the little group. They didn't look like the type of people that would stand out in a crowd. They looked...normal. Very normal. He probably would've ignored them in a regular crowd. His mind is swirling with questions and he finally asks the biggest one on his mind.
"Why are you all here? They made it sound like I was the only one that's needed."
Byer and Rana looked at each other. They then looked at Jenaja and Kalan, who nodded.
"Have the rumors not made their way to Amestris? Rana's green eyes gazed questionably into his.
Ed shook his head. Rumors? He hadn't heard any rumors about Drachman's searching for a way to use alchemy. Maybe Mustang or the higher-ups had, but he hadn't.
Byer shakily sighed. "There are rumors that the Drachman's are gathering alchemists. Any they can find. It's well known how they don't like Amestrians. Rumors in Aerugo say that they're using alchemists to create a weapon. Nobody knows what the weapon is, but it could apparently cause massive destruction."
"How do you know all of this? Detailed rumors like those could only from inside the military, right?"
Rana nodded. "That's correct. I'm a captain in the Aerugo military. Colonel Kisins, who I work under, has been hearing of these rumors for over a month now."
If a colonel in Aerugo had heard about these rumors, then why hadn't colonel Mustang mentioned them? Unless he thought it wasn't his place to tell Ed. He wouldn't have put it past the man to hide information like that.
"And this... weapon, does Aerugo know what it could be?"
Rana shook her head. "Nobody is taking it seriously, even colonel Kisins! He thinks it's a load of crap created directly from the Drachman's to scare neighboring countries."
Ed sighed and massaged his aching head. This whole situation was getting complicated. A Drachman weapon? Alchemists disappearing? Could those things be related?
"If they're after alchemists then that must mean that all of you are alchemists as well?"
"I can do a little alchemy, but I'm not all that good at it," Kalan spoke up. Ed looked at each of them, Jenaja and Byer nodded in agreement.
"I've mastered water alchemy. I'm the equivalent to what you Amestrian's call a state alchemist." Rana turned her palms up and showed him the symbol for water tattooed on her palm.
"If the three of you are not very good at alchemy, then why catch you and bring you along?"
"I don't know, but one minute I was taking a shortcut to work, and the next minute I felt something hit my head and I woke up here." Rana reached to rub the back of her head.
"Any idea where they're taking us?" Ed gingerly stood up, careful to mind his aching ribs.
He looked down at the metallic handcuffs. Now that he had a better look at them, they looked more like manacles then anything else. The funny thing was that they weren't even restricting his hands. It wouldn't be a problem for him to transmute a way out of the truck and stop the Drachman's driving it.
Ed smirked and clapped.
And nothing happened.
He frowned, something definitely should've happened. He clapped his hands, Again and again, nothing happened each time. Ed could barely swallow down the rising panic in his throat. He couldn't transmute, something was stopping him, most likely the manacles.
He kicked the door and cursed loudly, drawing the attention of Rana.
"What's wrong?"
"These Damn manacles, they aren't letting me transmute."
She walked over to him, taking his cuffed hands to look.
"These are different from what we have." She held up her hands, which were regularly handcuffed.
"Looks like they're smarter than I thought." Ed sighed, running his fingers through his bangs.
He slid down and wrapped his arms around his knees, wincing as his ribs ached. Rana joined him. She watched him for a second before leaning her hand back and staring at the other end of the truck.
"Any idea where we're going?" He asked, breaking the silence.
"I heard them say Monnow and then to Antyau."
"Antyau." He whispered the name, rolling it around to see if he could recognize it.
It sounded so familiar but from where? Had he heard Mustang mention it or had he heard about it from one of his missions. It was on the tip of his tongue! He shut his eyes tightly and tried to think.
It finally came to him a few minutes later. Antyau!
Families were disappearing from there. Local authorities couldn't seem to figure out why. Antyau was a small town. It had a population of a thousand people. It was mainly a mining town. They mainly dug for coal and other minerals for fuel. For the most part, it was abandoned.
A few years ago, the mine collapsed, burying fifty people. Five were discovered dead when the rubble was cleared away. After that, the mine was shut down, deemed to be too dangerous. With the mines shut down, many families had nowhere to go. Some stayed, some left, and some disappeared.
It was unknown where those that disappeared went. One day they'd be in their homes, trying to find a new job, then the next, just gone! All that was left were signs of small struggles. Unfortunately, there was no evidence. The town was all but abandoned six months after the mines collapsed.
So what would the Drachman's want with an abandoned mining town? The mines were too unsafe to go in and there was the risk of another collapse. It just didn't make a lot of sense to Ed.
"If I were a Drachman I'd hold the alchemists I was catching further into the country. Seems easier to get more of them that way." He cards his hands through his sticky bangs.
"Maybe there's a reason for that." Rana stood and stretched. She walked back to her previous spot and laid on her back.
"Not much we can do in here. We'll just have to wait and see. Get some sleep, we don't know what's going to happen tomorrow."
Ed sighed and gingerly found a comfortable position where he didn't ache. The faint light that had shown from underneath the opening had disappeared an hour before. It was dark now. How long had it been since he'd been captured?
His mind drifted to Al and Winry and he tried not to think of what Al's reaction to him being captured. His heart ached when he thought about Mustang breaking the news to Al. He and his little brother were always together. It was rare that they'd ever be separated.
He turned on his side, allowing the coolness to stop the stinging of the cut on his cheek. Regret tugged tightly at his heart. He should've talked to his little brother. He felt a sharp ache when he thought about how worried his brother would be.
His little brother was thirteen. Winry would be right there with him, but the only family he had left was being taken somewhere, many miles from all that he knew. Al was his rock, but he was just as much as Al's rock. He'd never told him this. He never wanted to think of the person he'd be without Al.
He hadn't stopped to think of the type of person Al would be without him. Oh, god. Tears tugged at his eyes and he blinked them away.
He'd never felt homesick before, but as he thought about Al, he was. The homesickness hurt even harder as he thought of Winry.
He'd left her. He'd kissed her and just left. What kind of idiot left the love of their life just like that?
He sighed and shut his eyes. What's done was done. He couldn't fix the things he wished that he could now. He hoped Al was ok without him. He hoped Winry was with Al, not regretting what she'd done.
That was all he could hope for as he drifted off into the clutches of sleep.
It couldn't have been but an hour or so later when Ed was awakened by someone. A hand was on his shoulder. His eyes flew open and he grabbed the hand. He relaxed when Byer's alarmed face looked down at him.
"They stopped."
Ed sat up quickly and swiveled around to face the door. Jenaja and the others joined him, listening for any signs of movement.
"Have we made it to Monnow?" He whispered.
Before she could answer, the sound of scraping metal made its way to his ears. His eyes narrowed onto the door.
The door was shoved open seconds later and the sight of three Drachman's met him. They looked at him and then each other, speaking quickly in their language. His hackles rose when one climbed onto the back, holding a weird-looking collar.
The Drachman roughly grabbed his manacles and shoved him to the entrance. He was roughly pushed to his knees once out of the truck. The two other Drachman's placed themselves on either side of him, keeping him on his knees.
He changed his expression into a look of boredom as Petrovich made his way from around the corner of the truck.
Petrovich studied him for a moment, taking in his bored expression and bruised face. He then spoke in Drachman to the man that had pulled him out. They conversed for a second before Petrovich is handed the metal collar and a syringe.
Ed jerks back when the man roughly grabs his bangs, dragging his head forward. "Don't touch me!" He throws his head back, teeth bared in a snarl, and golden eyes burning a deep fire.
Petrovich sighs, nodding to the Drachman behind him. Ed's shoved forward and onto his stomach, his arms pulled behind him. He bucks his hips, snarling at the Drachman's and trying to throw them off of him.
A knee jabs into his back, pinning him. His face is shoved into the dirt. Petrovich kneels in the edges of his vision. The pinch of the needle is fast and he barely realizes that it's penetrated his skin until Petrovich backs up.
All at once, a dull pain shoots through his head. It's easy to ignore, but suddenly it sharpens, sending sharp waves of agony shooting through his head.
'What did they inject me with?'
The thought is interrupted as somehow the pain grows worse.
His automail knee buckles as sharp agony overtakes his body, sending him pitching forward. Howls of pain are involuntarily forcing itself from his mouth, his stomach revolts and he retches up its contents.
A tearing wave of pain shoots itself up through his stumps and a scream tears itself from his throat. A sob works its way into his heaving breaths.
A sharp cry of agony forces its way out of him as his stumps try tearing themselves apart. He can't think, can't breathe. The pain is overwhelming him and writhes, trying to find some comfort.
It's like that night.
The night Al lost his body and his arm and leg were ripped from him.
'He's my little brother! He's all I have left!'
But Al isn't there. Nobody is here trying to stop the sharp wails of agony tearing their way from his throat.
His limbs feel like their on fire. Like the time Mustang had to burn a wound of his shut or he'd bleed out. The fire digs into his core, tearing him apart piece by piece, burning him to ash.
He curls into a ball and the memories flash before his eyes.
Reaching for Al.
Al's being stripped away. He's almost there! So close to touching him.
His little brother screams as the truth rips him away.
He's all alone. He screams for his brother, but he doesn't answer. Pain rips through the stump of his left leg. He failed. He failed his little brother. He screams in pain as blood floods from the stump.
The pain tears him apart and with one last howl of agony, his mind fades out.
"Ed!"
"Ed"
The voices were screaming his name. His mind works through the fog and he remembers what happened. His eyes fly open and he gasps, back arching off the floor.
He pants, panicked eyes looking everywhere they could. His heart is pounding in his chest. The sharp, mind-numbing agony has lessened to a dull ache whenever he moves.
Someone cups his face in their hands and his eyes slide open. His vision is blurry and doesn't want to focus, but Jenaja comes into view.
"Ed, I know it hurts, but I need to know where the pain is centralizing and what it feels like."
He can barely think through the haze of pain his mind is in to determine where the pain is coming from.
His flesh fingers are pried apart and a hand settles itself in them and he tightens his fingers around the hand.
"Focus on my hand. Then focus on where it hurts." Rana's voice speaks close to his hear.
She stares into his pain glazed eyes and he searches for where it hurts the worst.
"R-Right shoulder. Where automail meets the skin." He croaks, his throat raw from crying out in agony.
He feels Jenaja move the clothing over the area. His fingers brushed the area and his world spins.
A sharp cry pulls itself from his lips and his back arches, trying for an escape. His chest heaves with painfilled breaths.
"Sorry, Ed. I had to confirm my theory about what they inserted."
"What the hell was it?" His eyes crack open to glare into hers.
"A device inserted into the bloodstream that causes pain when activated. It's only used in Xing and it's banned in quite a few countries."
"It felt...like my limbs were trying to tear themselves apart. Still feels like it." His head lolled into the cool floor, cooling his sweat-drenched face. He groaned as he felt something slightly uncomfortable digging into his neck.
"Temporary after effects. It shouldn't last very long. I think they used it to distract you from them putting that collar on your."
"Collar?" His left hand weakly reaches up and feels a metal collar flush against the skin.
"You had no manacles when you were thrown back in here. The collar must do the same thing."
He grunted, shutting his eyes. The pain had exhausted his body, physically and mentally.
He laid there for a moment before forcing himself up into a sitting position.
Jenaja's hands pushed his hands back down.
"You need to rest. You'll feel much better after you do."
He rolled his eyes. The pain had finally disappeared and all that was left was fatigue.
"Doesn't hurt anymore. 'M fine."
Jenaja sighed. "At least rest your eyes. I heard them say it was only two or three hours until we get to Monnow."
"Fine. Not going to sleep though."
Jenaja sighed. She and Rana moved out of his sight to talk amongst each other.
Ed winced as he shifted. Maybe it would do himself some good to sleep.
He stared up at the ceiling as his eyes blurred with exhaustion.
The pain was gone, nothing more than a dull ache. However, he would never forget what it had turned him into. A child.
A child with two missing limbs who was getting in way over his head.