Alphonse's POV:

It was dark when he came to his senses, a headache throbbing harshly behind his eyes and reverberating throughout his skull. He groaned softly, opening his eyes only to shut them a split-second later as stars seemed to dance in front of him through the inky blackness. Water dripped from somewhere nearby, splashing slowly into puddles.

Drip...drip...

Drip...

The groan of pipes creaking and hissing made his breath catch.

Oh crap, where was he?

Something skittered across the floor.

Drip...

Edward's POV:

;He should be back by now; Ed signed, his hands shaky. ;We should go after him. What if something happened to him?;

"Edward Elric! He is old enough to look after himself for a few minutes. If it makes you stop throwing a fit though, I'll go make sure he's all right." Pinako snapped. Edward jumped, as the older woman had been quiet enough for him to momentarily forget she was even there.

;Please, Pinako?; It might have been a testament to how worried he was that he didn't throw one of his normal jabs her way, but Pinako merely nodded and left the room, the door closing quietly behind her with a click. Ed curled up into himself then, not reacting as someone, most likely Winry due to the only slight dipping of the bed, sat next to him.

Minutes passed quietly.

"Mr. Hohenheim..?" She spoke, breaking the tense silence. "When you said that Ed would live longer than the average person..." Winry trailed off.

Hohenheim looked at her, eyes carefully neutral as he considered his next words. "Miss Rockbell, Winry, it is not particularly my place to say-"

;Bullshit! You did this you bastard, so man up for once in your damn life and tell her.; Edward signed furiously. ;I've let you keep your secret and wander around who knows where for this long, the absolute least you could do is be honest to her.; He was glaring now, looking every bit like he was about to jump out of the bed despite not having his automail attached and still being weak from being comatose earlier that year.

"...Very well then. Miss Rockbell, Edward will live a mostly normal, if astoundingly long life. I estimate that, even with his usual tendencies to seemingly get into mass amounts of trouble, Edward will most likely outlive you with ease." His expression was carefully neutral as he spoke, with zero hints of any further emotion in his voice. "Depending on how careful he is to avoid any life-threatening injuries, he could very well live to see the twenty-first century, if not longer." Winry's jaw had just enough time to drop open in shock when Pinako barged back into the room, mouth set into a firm, worried line as she stood in the doorway.

"Alphonse isn't on the roof." Was all she had to say before Edward was trying to scramble off of the bed, disregarding his lack of automail. Winry darted across the small space almost as soon as he started moving, holding him down to the bed as Pinako rushed over as well. They both knew Edward far too well and knew that there was nothing he would let stop him from racing after his brother. Wordlessly, the began to work almost as one. If they didn't connect Edward's automail, chances were that he would try to do it himself with his damned alchemy and, when that didn't work, just go without, dragging himself across the floor.

All thoughts besides those of his brother were forced out of his mind, and he only sat still long enough to hiss in pain as the nerves in his limbs were jolted to life painfully once more before red electricity crackled up around the ports and the pain was washed away. Edward promptly ignored that, although he did grudgingly send a thought of gratitude towards the souls that rested inside of him before he was out the door, cursing his body. He was at the roof in barely two minutes, having pushed past a couple that shouted angrily at his rapidly preceding back.

Ed felt his panic levels rising ever further as he approached Alphonse's usual spot to think. No Al, several small droplets of blood sitting innocently on the concrete, and no sign of where his brother was now. His mind racing, Ed ran around the perimeter of the building, nearly snarling as he reached a fire escape. His brother wouldn't have run away without reason, so there was either something major that had happened, in which case Alphonse would have come back to the room to at the very least tell his family and friends, or...

Alphonse had been taken, and the blood Edward had found made his stomach drop as he practically flew down the rickety metal steps, using his speed to fling himself around the tight corners by grabbing the support poles. Once he was close enough to the ground, he carelessly jumped over the railing and hit the ground running away from the heart of the city. Most people at least knew of the Elric brothers enough to recognize one of them if they were, say, unconscious and being taken to who knows where for who knows why. 

In the back of his mind, Ed was going through a mental list of the people who he had pissed off during this life. There weren't as many as his first go, and none of them had he angered enough for them to do more than glare and spread rumors about him. That left, in his mind, one option he didn't like.

Alec.

The thought only made him run faster.

--Alphonse's POV--

He had tried just about everything he could think of. Alphonse's hands were bound tightly behind his back, palms facing away from each other so that he couldn't transmute even if he tried his hardest. His legs were tied behind the backs of the legs of the chair he was sat on, so even if he did manage to get his hands free, it would be difficult and an awkward process to free them. Alphonse was sorely regretting not carrying even the small pocketknife his brother had made for him but knew that even if he would have had it, it would have been most likely removed from his person.

Something ran over his foot, not for the first time since he had woken up, but it still made him shudder in fear and disgust.

The pipes continued to drip, the sound continuous and maddening.

In front of him, a door open, flooding the room with dim, flickering light. Alphonse's eyes screwed up, not used to even the dull light after having let his eyes acclimate to the darkness.

A hand grabbed his face harshly and forced it up to look at the silhouette of the person in front of him. "Ah, Alphonse Elric...what a pleasure to finally meet you. My apologies about these less than accommodating surroundings, but don't worry, I doubt you'll be here for long. Once I have your brother, ah, well, then I'll certainly have no need of you then, will I? You might be pretty, but Edward is mine."

Alphonse felt his stomach drop even further, to his toes and then through the ground, further and further until he was nauseous and his throat was too tight with anxiety to speak.

Today just couldn't get any worse, could it?

--1226 Words--

Careful, Al!! Don't say that because it can and probably will get worse. Enjoy, everyone! I'm not super proud of the section that was Ed's pov when he wasn't doing anything. It was really forced and :/ Alphonse's pov was super fun though, as was when Ed finally got to bolt the fuck after his brother. Coming up next chapter is something I believe everyone has been screaming for since a certain somebody was introduced. See you all next update!