Sorry I haven't been posting lately! I really just pounded this out to get back into writing...

MAJOR MoA Spoilers- you have been warned! And this (obviously) follows the FMA: Brotherhood storyline.

There was no way to keep track of time, but it seemed like hours had passed since they'd started to trudge through the sea of blood and rubble. It came up over his ankles, and he was sure that Ling's white pants were already red and soaked through. But what could they do but keep walking, keep searching for a way to escape?

"How the hell did we even get here?" Ed asked, more to himself than to his comrade.

"The last thing I remember before waking up here was being swallowed whole by Gluttony."

"You can't mean to say..."

"Yes. I believe this entire expanse is Gluttony's stomach. See? Look." Ling gestured with his torch towards the torn-off corner of a wooden building.

"That's from the house we were fighting at," Ed said incredulously.

"And look at this- the automobile we were driving in." Ed only nodded in reply, gears already turning in his mind.

"Well, one thing remains obvious: we need to escape."

Ling nodded gravely. "We know where we are now, so the question is, how do we get out?"

They were still puzzling this when they heard it. Voices- human voices. Calls, cries that Ed couldn't really hear, as they were too echoey and far away to be truly understood. Ed would have thought he was just hearing things, but Ling seemed to hear them, too. Though there was always the possibility that they were both crazy and borderline schizophrenic, Ed was pretty sure that these were real.

Gold and charcoal locked for the barest instant, and without exchanging a word, the alchemist and prince set off in suit of the voices.

Both were panting when they finally came upon the two shouters- one male, one female, both a little older looking (though still taller, much to Ed's dismay) than Edward. They had crafted a somewhat-campfire and were resting on a large circular stone-looking thing.

The male looked startled upon seeing Ling and Ed trudging towards him, as if he'd been calling for hours and had since given up hope of finding help. He pulled something from the pocket of his pants- a small stick, maybe? The girl, seated near the fire with her legs extended, just looked up and made no move to stand. Ed realized her foot was wrapped in some kind of makeshift splint.

He couldn't really make out what they looked like in the dim firelight, but they looked... dangerous, somehow. Ed knew right away not to mess with the pair. He stopped walking and put his hands up in what he hoped was a universal sign of peace.

"We aren't here to attack- in fact, I think you're in the same situation here as we are," Ed called. Ling nodded convincingly. The boy's stick (maybe it held an array of some sort or could be transmuted into a weapon... there had to be some reason he was holding it out like it would protect him, and Ed refused to believe it was some kind of magic wand) lowered just a bit, and he exchanged glances with the girl.

"How do we know we can trust you?" He asked finally, his voice stills scratchy from all the yelling he'd been doing. Ed noted his odd accent- he didn't speak like anyone else did in Amestris, that was for sure.

"We could be asking the same to you," Ling noted. "Plus, if we wanted to kill you, we'd have attacked already." The two seemed to ponder this again, exchanging words.

"No way they're... wouldn't be in here... monsters." The girl still sounded cautious, as if she was afraid Ed was going to bite them. The boy shook his head; his so-called whispers were much easier to overhear.

"Seem fine to me. Not like we can't hold them off if they're lying." Edward could barely contain his scoff- who did these kids think they were, exactly? "Besides, blonde kid only looks twelve or so, and bandage guy seems sorta friendly." Oh hell no.

"SHORT?! Just who the hell do you think you are? I'M FIFTEEN, DAMMIT! I'M NOT SMALL!" This time, Ling could only barely hold the raging alchemist back. The foreigners looked shocked (a normal response) by such a reaction.

"Fifteen? Really? You're kidding. I mean, I could see your friend there being fifteen, but there's no way..." After a sharp jab in the ribs from his female comrade, the guy seemed to reconsider. He smiled goofily, as if forgetting that he was trapped in a hell-hole with no known escape, and extended a hand.

"Okay, okay. I take it back. Name's Percy- you guys promise you won't kill us?"

"Nice to meet you, Percy. I am Ling Yao, and the brat here is Edward." They were all four seated upon the huge stone, now; true to his royal lineage (whether he was covered in blood or not), Ling was one for manners.

"Hey! It's Ed, by the way. Thanks for letting us onto your piece of rock, I suppose."

"Anytime- I'm actually surprised there were people besides us in here, anyways." Again, Percy exchanged glances with the blonde girl. "Oh, and this is my girlfriend, Annabeth." Annabeth gave a small wave.

"I'd get up, but, well..." she gestured to her ankle, wrapped tightly and expertly. This was obviously not their first time in a dangerous situation like this. Ling was about to reply when his stomach growled loudly, echoing through the cavern.

"I'm starving- do you happen to have any food in that pack?" Ed hadn't noticed, but there was a small backpack behind Annabeth. Percy shook his head.

"No, sorry- we're in the same situation as you are. Been down here two days- I think- and absolutely nothing to eat or drink." Well, damn... a group of half-starved teens wasn't going to help at all. Ed was suddenly struck by an idea.

"Hey, Ling. See that metal rod over there? Go get it for me. I have a way to get us something to eat." Ling, not fully aware but understanding the general idea, obliged; Percy and Annabeth looked confused.

"Uh, I dunno where you came from, but we don't eat metal."

"No, no. We just need the metal to turn into a pot. As for actual food- well..." Ling thrust the long rod- probably a piece of railing swallowed by Gluttony long ago- towards Ed, who smiled and clapped his hands, already thinking of the stew that would soon fill his stomach.

For the briefest of moments, the entire stomach was lit up with electric blue light.

"Mph, leather shoe is surprisingly good... not that I ever figured I'd have to eat it." Ling was slurping loudly (so much for manners), finishing off his share in practically no time at all.

"You're welcome, you know. Those boots aren't exactly cheap."

"What? Do you have to get them custom-made for your tiny feet?"

"Who're you calling a tiny little mouse that would drown in a teacup?!" Ling only sighed, biting back a snicker.

"Whatever," Ed humphed. "Just eat it so we can get some rest." He finished off the rest of his "stew" quickly (splitting one shoe four ways hadn't left anyone with a truly full share) and laid down, closing his eyes and trying not to focus on Percy and Annabeth, who were whispering not quite loudly enough to make out the words.

"I'm right here, you know," Ed commented loudly. Annabeth blushed (though it was a little hard to make out in the firelight) and she and her boyfriend immediately drew apart.

"Er..." Percy made no move to finish his sentence. Ed rolled his eyes.

"If there's something you wanna say, spit it out."

"It's nothing!" "How the Hades are you doing all that?" The two comments were simultaneous. Annabeth glared at Percy for giving away what they'd obviously been talking about.

"Nice going, Seaweed Brain."

"What? I wanted to know, alright?" Ed couldn't help but laugh a bit- these two sounded like he and Winry.

"You mean that's what you're curious about? You never heard of alchemy?"

"I know what it is, I just never knew it existed, like, in real life." Where the hell were these two from? Ed was pretty damn sure that they had alchemists in Drachma, Creta, and Aerugo, as well as the alkahestrists in Xing.

"Besides, isn't alchemy just turning stuff into gold or creating sorcerer's stones that give you immortality?" Percy asked, earning a whack from Annabeth.

"That's in Harry Potter you idiot."

"I dunno who that is, but she's right. Alchemy can be used to turn anything into just about anything else." He decided to give them the "dumbed-up version" usually saved for the idiot farm hicks back in Risembool.

"So we just ate your shoe? Gods, that's actually pretty gross. Guess I'm pretty desperate," Percy commented.

"Hey, how do we know you don't have, like, athlete's foot or something?" Ling interjected, causing Ed (who though the squinty-eyed prince had fallen asleep) to jump a little.

"MY FOOT'S METAL YOU DUMBASS!" To prove his point, Ed stuck the automail right into Ling's face. He heard a gasp from behind him.

"What, first you never heard of alchemy and now you're gawking at my automail like it's a flying pig?"

"It's metal... but you can still move it. How?" Annabeth asked, gray eyes wide.

"Connected directly to my nerves- it hurt like a bitch to connect it, but it's worth it, I'd say."

"How'd you lose it?" Ed was beginning to think that Percy really didn't understand the concept of a filter.

"It was a mistake... I paid the price." His golden eyes were dark, that slight feeling of haunting shadowing his face for the barest instant.

"Oh, um, sorry. Didn't mean to intrude." For all his obliviousness, at least Percy seemed to realize he'd said the wrong thing.

"Wait, so you don't know what alchemy is, you act like you've never seen automail before, your accents aren't from anywhere I know of, and you just happen to be trapped down here in the homunculus's stomach? Something's not right here." Ling's eyes narrowed (even more than normal). Ed couldn't help but agree.

"Yeah, where're you from, anyway? Creta? Across the desert? Definitely not Amestrian, and you don't look like you're from Xing. It's equivalent exchange- we told you stuff, now it's your turn." Percy looked a little sheepish, but Annabeth's eyes lit up, the color of storm clouds.

"Wait, wait. What's a homunculus, and how could it have a stomach this big? I don't know what desert you're talking about, and we aren't from Create or Xing or Amest-whatever. We're from America, ever heard of that?

And you think it's weird that we're down here in the first place... you aren't even half-bloods that I can tell, and if you were monsters I'd wager you'd have killed us already. So why are you in Tartarus, care to explain?" Annabeth was now full-on glaring at them.

"A...mer..ica?" The word sounded funny in his mouth.

"Yup, the United States of America. Stars and stripes and Land of the Free or whatever... never was that good at history," Percy interjected not-so-helpfully.

"Okay, I don't know about any of you, but I'm tired and sore, and all this arguing is making my head spin. Why don't we all get some rest and figure this out in the morning?" Ling suggested in his calm, political-style voice. The other three grudgingly agreed.

"Any way you could alchemize me up a pillow?" Percy called out jokingly.

"Fat chance; stop whinging and go to sleep."

It wasn't hard to notice the definite line between where the two groups settled down for the night, but Ed was too tired to even care.

Sleep came easily, and his heavy lids closed at last.

Okay, I know Percy and Annabeth wouldn't really be stupid enough to go shouting out and announcing their arrival to the deepest pits of Tartarus, but oh, well. I had to get the story moving somehow.

There will definitely be another chapter (maybe two, depending). Thanks for reading- I'd love to hear your feedback on this!