--Edward's POV-- 

The hours had passed by in a blur, with Edward searching every nook and cranny he could find, interrogating people who might have seen his brother being abducted. He had several pages written out in a hasty, panicked scrawl that he showed to passerby and anyone in his way. They showed a simple depiction of his brother and pleas for them to pass along any information if they came across it. Nobody had said anything, each person shrugging helplessly as they walked away from him.

It was dark now, the moon a thin crescent struggling to peer through the layer of clouds that obscured much of the sky. He sagged against a wall for a moment, absently staring at the ground. His mind had been through too much in the past few days, and now it was taking his resting as a chance to numb itself from the panic and fear and grief.

How could nobody have seen anything? He wondered in the back of his mind, his eyes fixating on a small coin trapped in the sidewalk in front of him, the surface worn nearly smooth from so many people having walked over it.

Ed didn't know how long he stood there, staring at that coin before the answer came to him.

A car. Alec must have had an escape car ready, and just dumped his brother in the backseat before driving off. But cars weren't very widespread yet, not as they would become in the coming years. Only the wealthier people could afford them currently, such as high ranking military officers or those who owned successful businesses and could afford to throw some money into a car. The houses of the wealthier citizens of central were on the outskirts of the city, and he vaguely remembered Alec being middle to upper-middle-class from his past life.

A tired smile crossed his lips as he pushed himself off the wall and began to run again. Alec could be anywhere on the perimeter of the city, so he had a long way to go. In a silent show of support, the stone inside of him soothed his aching muscles, and a rush of energy flooded through his veins. Edward took a moment to, less grudgingly so than earlier, thank the stone, and felt a satisfied sort of acceptance in the back of his mind.

--Alphonse's POV--

Alphonse was very quickly beginning to shiver in the gloomy room. His captor had freed him from the chair after what felt like hours of the man speaking about how Edward was 'his' and explaining, in quite explicit detail how his brother had just laid there and cried when he was...

When his brother was raped.

The man seemed so proud of what he'd done, his words gloating and nearly crooned into Alphonse's ear. He had bragged about how he'd been able to get to Edward in the hospital even, and Al had realized with a sickening feeling that he had been just a few hours too late to help prevent the unspeakable from happening to his brother.

He almost prayed that his brother didn't come looking for him, and deeply regretted how he had stormed out on him, just because he couldn't handle this newest hurdle in Ed's life.

Groaning, he sat in the corner to the side of the door, hissing as the rope chafed against the skin on his wrists. The man had at least had some semblance of sense enough to not let a trained alchemist have full use of their hands in such a situation like the one Alphonse was currently in and had left Al's hands bound tightly, with his legs bound just far enough together he could take short, hobbling steps.

Al must have explored the room a thousand times over, trying to find any weakness in the walls or flooring that would allow him even a semblance of a way out. Besides the door, which was locked from the outside, there was nothing. No way out. He had tried screaming, earlier, but Alec had just laughed in his face, informing him that it was highly unlikely anybody would ever hear him, but when he tried again, later, he had received a hefty punch to the side of his jaw that throbbed and ached for ages afterward. His best option was to just sit in the corner where his captor couldn't see him immediately and then attempt to escape when they next opened the door.

Another shiver racked through his frame.

--Edward's POV--

It had been two weeks. Two weeks of crossing the city's outskirts and sneaking into any house with a car, carefully leaving no trace of his existence and two weeks of no sleep beyond what he absolutely needed and no more food or water than necessary because that took up time that his brother might not have, but he had the house now, he was sure of it. 

The house itself was slightly rundown, the remnants of a once-proud building, now with its paint chipping and faded and shingles missing from the roof. The yard was unkempt, with scraggly trees and bushes dotting it. Overall, not a very welcoming place, but he had seen Alec through one of the cracked windows while staking the place out, and he had looked oh so remarkably smug. Yes, this was the place, and he would have his brother out of here as soon as he could bring himself to stand to go in. A slight tremor throughout his body was causing his automail to rattle quietly.

He had to do this. For Alphonse.

Without further thought to allow doubt time to take root about his plan of action, Edward bolted up and sprinted towards the door, nearly tripping on the steps leading up to the porch.

The door gave way easily to his foot and all rational sense left when he saw his tormented enter sitting smugly at a table off to the side of him.

"Edward, such a good boy you are! Coming straight too me like this, like I knew you would. Couldn't get enough of me, hmm? It took you a while, but I knew you'd come around. After all, who else would want you? Who else could? You're spoiled goods. Broken beyond repair. Worthless. Useless. Unneeded and unwanted to everyone but me, so I'll offer you a bit of a deal, yes? You stay here with me, and I'll let your precious little brother go."

Edward had gotten progressively more pale as the man had gone on, but at the mention of his brother, his vision had gone red and he was lunging forward before he could even notice what Alec was holding.

With a loud crack that echoed off of the walls, a bullet sunk into Edward's shoulder. If Ed could scream, he would be. Electricity crackled around the hole, the bullet being forced out as the wound healed. Ed forced a slightly feral grin as the bullet hit the ground and the wound finished healing. Another few bullets left the chamber of the gun before Ed reached Alec.

"Not just a worthless fucktoy but a monster too." Alec snarled before choking on a whimper as Ed's automail arm, hastily transmuted into a blade, made its way into Alec's stomach.

Edward grimaced as he pulled his arm free of Alec's gut, knowing he would feel guilty about so hastily resorting to killing the man later, but for now...now he just felt relieved. It was over, the man couldn't touch him anymore, he couldn't touch anyone anymore. With blood staining his clothes from the now healed bullet wounds and marring his arm, Ed began to search the house. He did a full sweep and almost missed the almost perfectly hidden door in the back of the building. It was locked from the outside, which was suspicious enough, but when he heard a familiar voice call out for help? Well, the door didn't stay on its hinges for more than a few seconds after that.

There was a set of stairs leading down, steep and worn, and the room beyond it was dark beyond what the light from behind Ed illuminated.

Then his brother came into view, worn-looking, thinner and tired, hands and legs bound, but he was alive!

"Ed!" Al exclaimed, face lighting up for a moment as he moved to stumble up the steps. They were too steep, though, and he ended up face planting on the steps, shouting a few choice expletives. Ed couldn't help but laugh a little, the adrenaline of the last few minutes leaving his body as he started down the stairs to untie and help his brother.

The ropes were done away with quickly, and when Al turned to hug his brother, he hugged tightly, hands clinging desperately to the back of Edward's shirt. "I'm so sorry, Brother. He...he told me what he did to you. I'm so sorry I wasn't able to help you or stop it from happening. I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry..." He trailed off as Ed hugged him back just as tightly, making a soft shushing sound. His brother would have just suffered the same torture that he had if he would have known or tried to help. 

They managed to make it out of the house after several minutes, neither of them wanting to let go of each other to move but also neither of them wanting to stay in the house longer than they had to. Ed covered his brother's eyes as they entered the room with Alec's cooling body, the stench of blood that lingered around Ed reeked all the more strongly here. Ed kept his face carefully neutral as he led Alphonse outside before removing his hand. It was about twenty minutes to the nearest neighbor, and Alphonse took that time to explain what had happened in his time in the basement in the dark, and then fret over why Ed was so covered in blood that, he claimed, wasn't his.

From the grass, a snake watched the two brothers make their way towards safety, tongue flicking out with a faint hiss.

--1667 Words--

Holy..crap. Two chapters in 24 hours and Alec finally dying...I hope you enjoy!