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Trackers

Chapter 5

Alphonse dropped to his knees in front of his brother with a worried frown. He would have reached out to touch his brother, but he knew that the older boy would have just hit his hand away. Edward was never one to accept help from someone easily, unless it was Al, but sometimes he knew that his brother wouldn't want his help.

His brother wouldn't want help with this as he was trying to get this to stop happening within a week. In fact, they only had two more days to get this to stop. Al was actually impressed by how things were going. At first, his brother started his training by going for a run, doing pushups, sit-ups, and pull-ups for about two hours. After that he would begin to fight with Al, just fight. There was no alchemy or weapons used in these fights.

The first part of his training was fine as he has been doing all that for months to help his rehabilitation. It was the fights with Al that got him. About an hour during their spar on the first day he started coughing up blood for about ten minutes, then he got back to training, despite Al's protests. He only lasted thirty minutes before he started coughing blood again.

Every day they would go through the same routine. The only difference was that each day Edward could last longer and longer without coughing blood. He just had to push his body to its limit, which scared Al. He was worried that Edward would eventually push himself too far from this training. But his brother was determined to do this and get working on the case. That case was helping to drive his brother to work harder than ever before. He really wanted to save those soldiers.

More blood spilled into Edward's hand. His hand was so full of blood that it spilled from his hand and onto the ground like a waterfall. He could feel his brother's worried eyes burning into him, but didn't raise his head to look at him. Al was scared and worried and that made Edward not want to see that face again. It always upset him greatly when he made his brother feel worried like this. His little brother already had to face so many horrors in his life from their job as Trackers and from his brother almost getting himself killed because of a stupid mistake. And the older Elric knew he wasn't helping matters, and he was upset because of that.

But this was the path that he chose. He had to follow him. This path was going to be filled with many terrors. He wished that his little brother didn't have to be involved, but they both needed each other. Neither could survive this course without the other.

*Trackers*

"Hey Al," Edward called, but didn't turn to look at his brother since he was too entranced by the rain falling from the sky outside their hotel room.

Al looked up from reviewing the mission report. "What is it, brother?"

"How much longer do you think we have?" Edward asked with a frown.

The younger boy furrowed his brows in confusion. "What do you mean?"

Edward sighed as he turned away from the window. "That person who is taking the soldiers. How much longer do you think we have until he strikes again? What could he possibly gain from kidnapping soldiers anyway? It makes no sense!"

Giving a sad smile, Al tossed the report to the coffee table and turned on the couch to look at his brother completely. "You know, brother, if I didn't think this guy was such a horrible person, I might feel sorry for him."

"Why would you feel sorry for him?" Edward scoffed.

"Because this case was handed off to the Trackers and my older brother has a huge curiosity and likes to solve puzzles like this. He also has a lot of honor and feels the need to constantly protect those who need protection. I have a feeling that this guy is going to be in a lot of trouble when my brother finds him. My brother will not go easy on him for everything he has done." Al explained with a grin when his brother rolled his eyes at him. "Come on, brother. You know I'm right. You're not going to show this guy any mercy."

"That may be…." Edward trailed off as he turned back to the window, hand unconsciously going to his pocket where the State Alchemist watch was. He clenched it in his fist as he thought about all the soldiers and how their families and friends were grieving over the loss of their missing loved ones.

"We can get to work soon, brother, so don't worry." Al replied softly, hoping to reassure his brother.

Edward tapped his left leg against the ground, happy to find no pain shooting up his nerves by the action. The action usually hurt a lot after training this week, but it wasn't happening anymore which he was grateful for. "Yeah, soon, very soon." He growled, mostly to himself as he looked down at the street with a determined frown.

"I'm not sure," Al started as he looked back at the file on the table. Edward turned back to him with a questioning look. "If we can figure this case out without seeing a crime scene for ourselves." He grimaced as he felt his brother's glare burning into him. "You know I don't want anyone attacked either, brother, but I think it might help us to see one. It will probably happen before we can even figure anything out about the case."

"So sorry that I am still hurting." Edward spat bitterly.

Al whipped around to glare at him. "I'm not blaming you. I'm just saying that another attack might happen before we get anywhere. If that happens, seeing the scene of the attack might really help us. Maybe we can find something that the soldiers missed."

"It's possible." Edward said.

"Especially if you're there. You're a prodigy after all." Al said.

Edward snorted. "Al, how many times have I said there are no prodigies? We both just worked really hard at alchemy and became infamously good at a young age."

"But you saw the truth so that makes you better now." Al said quietly.

Those words muttered so quietly as if Al didn't want his brother to hear them, but Edward did hear them. Just hearing those words caused the memories of that day to come flooding back to the surface. Why did his brother have to mention something that haunted him so badly? He knew, damn it! Edward rested his forehead against the cool window. Sweat poured down his face as the memories replayed in his mind. He breathed in through his nose and let it out through his mouth. When he felt himself beginning to relax, he pushed off the window. "Don't speak of that." He muttered, his usual fire missing from his voice.

"Sorry, brother." Al said sincerely.

"Forget it." Edward muttered. He rubbed his forehead with his index finger and thumb. "I think I'm going to go get some sleep."

*Trackers*

It was to an annoying loud pounding on the door to their hotel room that woke Alphonse up at three in the morning. He groaned under his warm covers, wishing to just let his brother greet the person at the door but knew that was a horrible idea. His brother was not someone that should be allowed near anyone this early in the morning. Edward was a monster when he was woken up earlier then he planned to be woken up. So with a tired and annoyed sigh, Alphonse pushed his warm blankets to the end of the bed and rolled off the soft mattress.

Sluggishly, Alphonse pulled a black t-shirt over his bare chest and pulled his dog tags over his neck. The only time the dog tags were ever removed was when they were sleeping. Any other time they always worn them because they were afraid if they left them unattended ever, someone might come across them and see their names. Since he was already wearing pajama pants, Al just moved tiredly out of his room, down the short hallway, through the living room, and to the front door. It felt like such a long walk to his tired mind, but was, in actuality, a very short walk.

"What is it?" Alphonse mumbled tiredly as he opened the door, barely registering the two people clothed in a military uniform.

"Ah, Soul," One of the soldiers said, almost sounding guilty when he saw how tired the young boy looked. "There was another attack. Colonel Mustang wants you and your brother to come check it out."

Alphonse raised his heavy head to look at the soldier, finally taking in the cigarette in his mouth and the spiky blond hair. "You're Havoc, right?" Without waiting for a reply, he continued. "It's three in the morning. Couldn't this wait until morning? In fact, don't you people ever sleep?"

Havoc shrugged. "It's best to investigate a crime scene as soon as possible so the evidence doesn't get old."

"Whatever. Let me wake my brother." Alphonse closed the door, none to gently, in the soldiers' faces and went to his brother's room. He looked down at his brother's relaxed body and felt guilt at having to wake him when he was resting so peacefully. "Brother, wake up! Brother!" The young alchemist grabbed Edward's shoulders and shook him violently while yelling, "BROTHER, WAKE UP!"

Alphonse knew the exact moment when Edward woke as he felt a fist collide with his jaw like always. As he said earlier, his brother was a monster when woken up before he wanted to be woken up. His fist would always come flying at the person, not caring who it was, who dared to wake him before he was ready to.

Climbing to his feet, having flown from the bed when Edward hit him, Alphonse rubbed the side of his jaw where his brother's fist connected with him. "That's going to bruise later. Thanks a lot, brother." He snapped.

Edward stared at him with a frown, though there was guilt shining in his golden orbs. "You know better than to wake me up in the middle of the night, Al. So why did you wake me?"

The younger boy continued to rub his jaw as he looked at his brother with an annoyed frown. He really wished Edward would grow out of the habit of hitting people when they woke him, especially since he was usually the one to wake him and get the fist in his face. "There are some soldiers at the door. There was an attack and they want us to come investigate with them."

A groan escaped the older alchemist's lips. He let himself collapse back onto his bed, burying his head in his pillow. "So early in the morning. Damn this guy." After about a minute of silence, Edward rolled off his bed and to the floor, dragging his blankets with him, getting a chuckle from Alphonse. "Go get your jacket, Alphonse."

Edward threw the blankets back to his bed as Alphonse left the room. He grabbed a black muscle shirt and his black jacket which he threw on before grabbing his own dog tags. His hair was just pulled into a messy ponytail when Alphonse came back into the room to give his brother his boots. Edward grunted in thanks as he pulled his pants on. The younger boy nodded his head, used to his almost mute brother in the morning, and left to tell the soldiers that his brother would be ready soon.

The elder Tracker was just finishing getting ready when his eyes caught sight of the State Alchemist watch that was sitting on his nightstand. With a sigh, he grabbed it and threw it in his pocket, hooking the chain up to a loop on his brown belt. Stupid Mustang and military for giving him such a thing. He just knew that it was going to bring trouble to him eventually.

"Yo, Fullmetal." Havoc greeted when he saw Edward approach the door where Alphonse was waiting. "You ready to go?"

"Too damn cheerful." Edward grunted as he shoved passed the two soldiers, taking notice that the other was Falman. "We going or what?"

Al looked out the car window at the passing view, absently rubbing his bruised jaw. "You could have just called us, you know. We could have met you at the crime scene. It would have been less of a hassle for you."

"Don't worry about it. We had to pass your hotel on the way anyway." Havoc replied, gnawing thoughtfully on his cigarette. "And we did call, but it seems both of you were too deep in sleep to pick up. As it is, it took you ten minutes of us pounding on the door for you guys to answer."

The younger Elric groaned and cast a mock glare at his brother. "Your bad habits are rubbing off on me."

"Of course!" Edward declared loudly. "Because everything is my fault!"

"Brother," Al whined. "It's too early for you to be that loud."

Edward slowly turned his head to his little brother, frowning deeply. "Too early?" He growled. "Who was it that came barging into room, yelling for me to wake up?"

"Who was it that hit me?" Al retorted, eyes flashing in annoyance.

"You know I don't like being surprised like that in the morning." Edward snapped.

Havoc shared a worried look with Falman. "I think you two should….."

"You really need to grow out of that habit, brother. It is a horrible habit to have." Al retorted.

Edward scoffed. "What? Are you my mother now, Soul?" He growled softly.

Al glared heatedly at his older brother. He hated being called a girl in any form and his brother knew that! "No! But someone has to look after us. And how the hell could it possibly be you? You are always so reckless and purposely throwing yourself into dangerous situations! I wonder, do you want to die, Fullmetal? Do you have a death wish?"

"You shut up!" Edward swung his foot at his brother, catching him in the stomach since there was no place for Al to dodge to. "If I left everything to you, we'd probably end up killed within the first few minutes of a mission!"

Al stared at his brother for a moment, breathing heavily as he rubbed his sore stomach. "Are you saying that I'm in incompetent?" He growled, scaring the adults in the car since they didn't think that the younger brother could ever get mad. He really did sound scary and threatening when he was like this.

"Exactly," Edward said viciously. "Use-less!"

"THAT'S IT!" Alphonse screamed. He whipped his alchemy gloves on and clapped his hands.

Narrowing his eyes, Edward grabbed his brother's wrist and kicked the door open on his side. With a strong tug by the elder one, the two boys went flying out of the car and rolling along the road at the same moment that Havoc slammed his foot onto the brake. Before either Havoc or Falman could move to get out of the car there was a bright flash of alchemy. When it was gone, Al was standing there with a sword.

Havoc sighed and placed his palm on his forehead. "Don't tell me they know how to use swords."

A moment later there was another flash of alchemy which showed that Edward had turned the steel bracelets on his arms into his own sword. It was barely a second later when the two were charging at each other and clashing blades.

"What should we do?" Falman asked.

"Brothers fight, it natural." Havoc said with a shrug before sighing again. "Usually it is a parent that gets them to stop and talk it out, but we don't know who their parents are."

"It is strange that their parents would allow them to take part in Trackers. It is a rather dangerous job. What parents allow their children to throw themselves into danger like that?" Falman questioned with a frown.

The blond Lieutenant glanced at his comrade with a thoughtful look. What parents indeed? Parents loved their kids greatly and never wanted to see them hurt, and being Trackers would be incredibly dangerous. The Trackers must get hurt a lot. Why would parents allow their kids to be involved in that?

"What is going on?" A voice growled dangerously.

Havoc grimaced as he turned to face Colonel Mustang and the soldiers working on the case. They were all staring incredulously at the two pre-teens. "I think we shouldn't have woken up the Trackers this early in the morning. They were arguing in the car and it transformed into this." He motioned to the sword wielding kids.

"Unbelievable." Mustang growled. He strode forward angrily, hands tensed at his side and ready to snap from pure frustration. This was the problem with dealing with kids, especially siblings. "Fullmetal, Soul Knight! Cease this fight at once!" With precise accuracy, he snapped his finger and a small burst of flame forced the two boys apart. "What is the meaning of this?"

"He thinks he can orders us around?" Fullmetal growled to himself, changing his blade back into his bracelets as he did so.

Rolling his eyes, Soul propped his sword against his shoulder and turned to the Colonel to say blandly, "We aren't morning people."

Mustang stared at the two brothers for a moment before sighing and turning away. "I don't want to know. Just come on."

The Colonel led the boys into the military dorms with a frown. Seriously, how could no one hear one of their comrades being attacked and kidnapped? The walls were really thin here.

Ducking under the military tape surrounding the room, Edward frowned at the sight in front of him. It was practically clean. There was not a thing out of place. It was almost like the place wasn't even lived in. Even the bed was neatly made.

"Does anyone even live here?" Edward growled, still annoyed with his brother and tired.

"Why would we take you to an unlived in room?" Mustang retorted.

Edward slammed his hand down on the table, surprising the soldiers with the sudden noise. "That's not what I meant. How the hell did you know this soldier was missing so early in the morning if he lives by himself in here?"

"He was to report to guard duty at midnight. He never showed up, sir." Havoc said, reacting instantly to the tone the boy used and said 'sir' without meaning to.

"Okay, so what is wrong with this room?" Edward asked.

"You mean besides the missing soldier and the bloody design on the wall." Mustang asked sarcastically.

Edward glanced over at the wall to see the bloody design was indeed there. "Yes, besides that."

"It's too clean." Al said, walking out of the bathroom that he went into to look around.

The elder brother nodded. "So clean that you can still smell the cleaning products used on the furniture."

Hughes walked over to the table Ed was still leaning on and leaned over it to smell the table. "He's right. I can smell cleaning products." He told Mustang.

"Okay, cleaning products, but so what?" Havoc asked confused, chewing on his cigarette. "Couldn't he have just cleaned the place, then gotten attacked?"

"Yeah, right." Edward said, rolling his eyes. "Who in their right mind would spend their time cleaning their entire dorm right before having to leave for guard duty all night?"

The elder Tracker kneeled on the ground and took his gloves off. He traced on of his fingers over the floor and when he lifted it to his eyes, there was so much as a peck of dirt there. "It's been completely wiped down from floor to roof."

"And what does that mean, of masterful Tracker?" Havoc asked.

Edward rocked back on his heels until he was sitting on his butt and staring up at the soldiers. "Well, for one, our prey was here for a long time, which means he gives his victims a powerful drug that keeps them out for a long time. He cleans up, put his symbol down somewhere, then takes his victim away. Isn't it strange?"

"What is?" Hughes asked.

"Why would he clean up the whole place before leaving?" Al asked, frowning as he took a place on the couch.

"Oh, go right ahead! Make yourselves at home here." Mustang said sarcastically.

Al grinned. "Thanks." And he threw his foot up on the coffee table.

Mustang rubbed his eyes, frustrated. First, they are kids. Then, they try to kill each other. And now, they were making themselves at home at a victim's house! What next?

"Okay, so point of entry?" Ed asked as he rose to his feet. "We have four possible doors. First, the actual door." He nodded at the door that they had left opened. "Then, we have the bedroom window, the window in the bathroom, and the window in the living room. Now, assuming all of them were locked, how'd he get in?" He shot this question at Hughes, then waited for an answer.

"Well, assuming you are correct in that the house was cleaned completely before this man left, the only way to tell his point of entry would be by a broken lock. As we are on the third floor, what are the chances he used a window?" Hughes asked.

"Highly likely if he is an alchemist." Al said, head turned slightly to look at the man. "Transmute a ladder on the wall, break in, do what he needs to do, then use the door to leave with his victim."

Edward nodded and stood up. "And if he used a window, there should still be traces of alchemy on the walls or the window if he opened it with alchemy. Who kidnaps soldiers, cleans their homes, and then leaves a mark behind in blood from a previous soldier? This guy is a weirdo."

Al tilted his head to the side with a frown. From his position on the couch, he could see the bloody design on the wall. It sure was a strange design. It was a perfect circle with an eight pointed star inside it. It actually made the boy think of a transmutation circle with the way it was designed, except that a part of the design was smudge in the center of it. There were three dots in the center of it that ruined the array. There was one on the right by itself and on the left were two more dots in a vertical column. Though, these two were down a space from the separate dot on the right. It was obvious that they didn't belong. There weren't any dots like that in any of the other arrays. Well, there were, but they were positioned differently. Honestly, what was this guy doing? He must be a real crummy alchemist if he is messing up his arrays like this.

Wait. Al blinked with his frown deepening. No alchemist would ever let his array be imperfect. They were particular about how they looked. One mistake could mess everything up for them. If this guy was an alchemist, he wouldn't let his arrays look imperfect at every crime scene. But then….those dots…

"Brother! Do you remember that blind girl we meet when we were training?" Al asked quickly as he sat up straight.

"Well, that's a random question." Edward said as he looked away from the kitchen to look at his brother. "What about her?"

"How did she read again?" Al asked.

"She read using Braille." Ed replied confused. "What does any of this have–"

Al ignored his brother and stood up. "This guy is playing with us!"

"Why do you say that?" Mustang asked confused.

Sighing, Al pointed at the three dots in the center of the array. "In all of his arrays so far, there have been dots in the middle of the array. What alchemist shows off ruined arrays to other people? It just discredits them."

"No way." Ed jumped over the couch to get a better view of the array. "He's putting Braille in his arrays to send us a message? This is the letter 's.'"

"You read Braille?" Hughes asked shocked. "Why would you learn such a thing?"

"This blind girl we met when we were training was very sweet, but lonely. She is smart, but can't do much without eyesight so Fullmetal and I let her teach it to us. She likes teaching so we were being kind and let her tutor and test us in it." Al explained with a soft smile. "We never thought we'd actually need it. I guess it is good to have a wide variety of knowledge."

Ed spun around, wearing a determined look again. "We need to see the arrays from all the other kidnappings."

"Now? It's five in the morning!" Havoc protested.

"You've already woken us up so yes, I want them now!" Edward snapped at him. "Or do you not want this case solved?"

"Coffee, Brother?" Al asked calmly.

"Yes, please!" Ed said harshly.

Smiling, Al nodded. "I'll make you some when we get back to our hotel room. Lieutenant Havoc can you bring the reports there? We work better in a quiet setting when we're alone."

"Am I being ordered around by kids?" Havoc asked, looking at his extremely amused comrades for assistance, but they just laughed.

"That's a great idea." Mustang said, smirking. "Lieutenant Havoc, why don't you be these boys' adjutant while they are helping us out?"

Pitifully, Havoc bowed his head. It was said like a question, but Havoc got the message. It was an order, and now he had to work for these boys and report their findings and activities to Mustang. Why him?

A/N: Please Review!