Edward festered an annoyance for the colonel as he sneaked through the bushes. And this time, Al wasn't there to calm him down. Which annoyed Ed even more.

Mustang had received reports of a suspicious group disappearing late at night into the forests surrounding East City. Disappeared was the right word to use, as no traces of them could be found when the initial team was sent out to investigate; no alchemy circles, traces of footprints, nothing.

And so Mustang suggested (read: ordered) Edward to tail the group at night and find out what they were up to. Of course Ed refused initially, with intention to focus more on the Homunculus threat at hand. People don't just disappear like ghosts, Mustang had said. And you're the only person we have on hand small enough to avoid attention.

Following an rage-filled outburst, held back by Al, came understanding. Disappearing acts without alchemy circles could mean the possibility of a fake Philosopher's Stone.

Or maybe a real one, the look in Mustang's eyes had said.

Ed was annoyed that Al couldn't come along. A hulking set of armor makes for a bad stealth companion, they reasoned. But still.

"Don't worry, brother. It's just slightly outside of East City," Al said.

"I know, but every time I leave you alone you get into trouble..." replied Ed.

"Then I'll just wait in the library until you get back!" the suit cheerfully said.

After a moment of consideration, Ed nodded in approval. "Alright, but no cats this time!"

The armor Al was possessing slacked, obviously disappointed. Ed quickly tapped on Al's chest, saying, "But hey, we have until nighttime." A grin cross his face. "Wanna practice? I've been working on some moves!"

Ed rubbed the bruise on his chest gingerly. So had Al. He was never able to beat his brother in a duel, which he wasn't particularly happy with, but was proud of Al all the same.

Coming to a stop, he carefully examined his surroundings before bringing his hands together and placing them on the ground. In a dim flash of blue light, Edward created a miniature dirt version of Al on the ground. Still nothing, he silently cursed, covering the dirt armor with leaves.

The trail of Als were left as a path for future searches, but the short period of time as the materials were deconstructed allowed Ed to sense for secret tunnels underground.

As Edward progressed further into the forest, making and hiding mini-Als on the way, he came across something caught onto a bush. It's a piece of cloth... Ed identified as he released the cloth from its thorny cage. It was black, probably torn from whatever or whoever was passing through, and Ed felt like he was staring into the abyss when examining it.

Ed was so enthralled in the piece of cloth that he didn't notice the dark figure behind him.

"Brother?" Alphonse called.

"Al?" Edward replied in disbelief. Al, not the armor, but Alphonse was standing there in front of him.

"Brother?" Al echoed again, tilting his head.

Edward sprinting forward, embracing Al in a tight hug. "I-I can't believe it, Al! You're safe!"

"No, I'm not, brother..."

"W-what are you saying?" Ed released his hug and grabbed Al by the shoulders, voice trembling. "You're fine!"

"No..." Al whispered. From the darkness around them shot out thin hands of darkness, latching onto him. Tears started to well in Al's angry eyes. "It's your fault."

"N-no..." Ed muttered, holding on to Al as tightly as possible. The hands started pulling, taking bits and pieces of Al as Ed watched.

"You did this!" Alphonse screamed, over and over as he crumbled into the darkness. Edward collapsed onto his knees, hands trembling. He lost Al. Again. It was all his fault...

"Can't find your way, Mr Alchemist?" A voice taunted from behind. Ed turned his head, seeing the white figure of Truth's featureless face, mouth excluded, grinning at him sadistically.

"Y-You..." Ed stuttered, the hollowness in him filling with rage. "Give him back!" he screamed as he lunged at Truth.

The same black hands coiled around Ed, restraining his moves. "No can do," Truth giggled as Ed flailed against his bindings. "See, Mr Alchemist, there's nothing you can give me that is on par with your brother," Truth explained, waggling a finger. "No equivalent exchange, so to speak."

As Edward struggled against the hands, and also to come up with an answer, Truth looked up into the darkness. "Oops, it seems like time's up." He leaned in close to Ed's face, grinning once more. "See you on the other side." Ed felt the hands pulling him away, far away from Truth, as he faded back into the black abyss.

"Come back soon, Edward-kun."

The first thing Edward Elric was aware of was the cold hard ground. The second thing he was aware of was how hard it was to breathe. He tried to inhale, but the air refused to enter his lungs. Edward could faintly hear a muttering somewhere around him. A jolt shot through his body, and before he knew it, he was on his hands and knees, coughing and heaving, before taking a deep, long awaited breath. A quick survey informed him that the room was plain and square-ish, with most of the room shrouded in shadow.

"Ah, our guest is finally awake," a deep voice announced. He spoke with an accent Edward didn't recognize, but the tone was all to familiar to him. A tone of power. Edward shakily got onto his feet, lightheaded, trying to stop the world from spinning. The voice made a sound of mock amazement. "I'm surprised you can stand so soon."

"Shove it.." Edward growled between coughs and pants. He mentally berated himself, remembering how he got here. How could I so damned careless... He was the Fullmetal Alchemist, and yet some yahoos got the better of him, just because of some cloth?

"Now, now..." The voice reprimanded, like a teacher scolding a misbehaving preschool kid. "Is there any way to talk to your master?"

That just infuriated Edward. "Go fuck yourself." His vision stabilized enough to locate the bastard talking to him. The taunter was dressed in a long, black, flowing robe that covered most of his body. The long sleeves hid the man's hands, and the hood covered most of his head. A white mask with small slits for the eyes and holes for the man to breathe covered his otherwise exposed face.

The eyes behind the mask narrowed, and glanced off either side of Edward. Instantly, pain overwhelmed all of his senses, but he was unable to writhe; limbs locked by an unknown force. Unable to scream; the noises stuck in his throat. Unable to think; all his nerves felt like exploding.

When Ed finally could anything instead of suffer, he dropped to his knees again, limbs trembling from the aftereffects. "W-w-what the hell..." he managed to gasp. That sensation was like the feeling of having his automail reattached to his body, but amplified. He shot a hateful look towards the robed figure, the muscles in his body still convulsing. "What d-did you do?"

Ed could feel the smirk behind the mask. "Punishing a disobedient servant." The figure knelt down in front of Ed, and the alchemist could see the obsidian eyes full of confidence. "Do you need another lesson?"

Pain and humiliation turned to determination. "Class is over, you son of a bitch!" Edward clapped his hands together, channeling the energy through his body. Before Black-Eyes could react, Ed slammed his hands onto the stone floor, picturing a fist smashing into the bastard's mask.

However, none of that happened. Markings previously invisible flared with blue energy from Ed's attempted transmutation. Black-Eyes yelled something, and multiple black robed men appeared from the darkness, pointing sticks aggressively at Edward.

The runes formed a circle, with only Edward in it, but it wasn't any transmutation circle Edward was familiar with. Standing in the middle of an unknown circle was a terrible idea, and Ed rushed Black-Eyes. Two birds with one stone.

Which is why Edward was surprised when he crashed right into the air, and a force threw him back into the middle of the circle. "What the hell is this?!" He cried out. Black-Eyes seemed to be frantically ordering his lackeys around, but Ed couldn't hear anything, if he was speaking at all.

One of the robed minions reached out with a hand to test the boundaries of the circle. Lightning flashed throughout the room and he retracted his arm, now a bleeding stump. The circle had disintegrated his hand.

Edward look on in shock. He could have been the one to vanish. Cursing himself for his stupidity, he examined the circle for clues on escaping. The circle had only four points, and symbols that even he didn't recognize. It was a terrible butchering of the art of alchemy, and Edward got legitimately upset. The symbols he did recognize were four triangles at each point of the circle; the four elements.

Black-Eyes stared at Edward, and raised a stick at his direction. A bolt of green energy shot out of the stick and dissipated as it hit the boundary of the circle. As it did, the circle's light morphed from blue to green, and Ed felt a tugging sensation in the pit of his stomach. He felt his ears popped as the air pressure dropped dramatically.

The world spun and whirled as the edges of his vision started fading into black. "Not again" was the last thing that went through the Fullmetal Alchemist's mind.