Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist. Hiromu Arakawa does. I only own the OC characters.

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He was tossed against the same white wall again, in the same white room with the same red bloodstains on the floor. Except this time, the threat was all too real. His nightmare was about to get a whole lot worse.

First, the man took the same rusty crowbar to remove Edward's leg, extracting it from his pants after taking off his boot. Then, as if to make the punishment hit even closer to home, the man took a leather collar with a chain attached to it. He hooked the chain to the wall, and clipped the collar around the boy's neck. Now he definitely wasn't going anywhere.

Ed was too frozen in fear to move around. He slowly scooted to the corner of the room, as far as the chain would allow. He then curled his arm around his one knee and shivered as the man left the room. He came back in leading a large Great Dane by the scruff. "This one seems big enough for you," the man said. The teen didn't react. He just tried his best not to look.

The man began his process of "cleaning out" the dog. The Dane was tossed onto the table, bucking and growling underneath the psycho's grip. It wasn't enough to deter him though, as the plastic tube was stuffed down its throat. The knife flashed, and the dog's innards were ejected onto the floor. It took everything in him to keep himself from screaming. He put his hand over his mouth to stifle any noises he made.

After the man had completely scraped out the inside of the canine, he began the long process of sewing a zipper into the large incision he made. Ed could no longer stop his whimpering, but the man paid no heed to it. Once he was finally finished, he dragged the heavy carcass down onto the floor in the center of the room. He turned a sideways glance to Edward. The boy saw this, and began protesting in desperation. "No, please don't! I can't! I don't want it, please!"

The man ignored him. He walked over to the young alchemist and unclipped the collar from his neck. He dragged Ed by the hair over towards the dog, the boy struggling in his grip. The man positioned his body so that his head was near the dog's and his feet down towards the tail. With the boy fighting him as best he could with only two limbs, the psycho managed to stuff Edward inside the slimy interior of the dog carcass. The teen screamed for him to stop, but it was no use. The zipper slid up over the boy's body, closing it up completely at his eye level, plunging him into total darkness. The now full dog corpse was moved back against the wall. The sound of the door opening and closing could be heard afterward.

The dark was one of Edward's worst nightmares. Not only was he trapped inside a dead dog, but there was no light escaping through. He didn't know what could be waiting for him in the dark. He could feel himself start to hyperventilate, his breaths becoming quicker and more forced. He had to calm himself down, but it was so hard to breathe in here. He was suffocating. He needed to breathe. Air, air, he needed air...

Edward shot his remaining arm up through the dog's gullet and out of its mouth. Cold, fresh air from the room outside the cadaver flowed in. He greedily gulped in breaths. An idea immediately struck him. Maybe he could reach the zipper. He knew he wouldn't be escaping anytime soon, but he didn't want to be inside this dog for one more second.

Reaching around the corner of the dog's jaw, Edward stretched his arm as far out as it could go. The Great Dane's neck was really long, but he could just touch the tip of the brass zipper handle. He just had to open it a little bit, and he could do the rest inside. He teased it a little to have it fall between his thumb and forefinger, but it didn't budge. Eventually, the zipper seemed to fall out of his reach entirely. Ed withdrew his hand back into the dog, cursing himself for being so clumsy.

Making sure the dog's mouth stayed open to allow air in, the teen poked around the edges of the zipper. The urge to scream was building up again, and he didn't know how long he could keep it in. He found no weak points in the zipper, but there was a soft area of flesh next to the track. He drove his finger as hard as he could into the slimy substance, and successfully poked a hole through the skin. A tiny trickle of light from the room seeped in. However, Edward couldn't tear any more of the dog's flesh. It was just too thick.

Tears gathered at the corners of his eyes again. He couldn't hold it in any longer. He was about to lose his mind. But before he could scream his lungs out, the sound of gunfire could be heard outside. Wait, gunfire? That couldn't be right. The man didn't own a gun, did he? It wouldn't be surprising if he did. Ed decided to stay as still as possible. Soon, the noise ceased altogether. A few seconds passed, and the teen heard the sound of the door opening. He started to tremble, afraid it was the man again. But instead, to his surprise, he heard, "Fullmetal! Edward, where are you?"

His heart soared at the sound. Could it be...? Was it really...? "Mustang, over here!" he called, his voice slightly muffled from inside the dog. "I'm in here! Please, get me out!" the last sentence came out as a sob.

"Oh my god, Edward!" Mustang exclaimed as he threw himself to his knees next to the carcass. He fumbled with the zipper before finally gripping it, forcefully ripping it open. It revealed Edward's face filled with terror and apprehension. Once the boy set his eyes on him, however, he leapt out of the corpse, and hooked his only arm around the Colonel's neck. Mustang immediately pulled the rest of the boy's body out of the dog, but the teen did not let go of him. Instead, Ed pressed the side of his face against the man's chest and trembled, from shock or relief, he wasn't sure. Mustang stared down at the boy clinging to him. To his surprise, he noticed fresh tears spilling down the boy's cheeks. From the previous tear tracks, it was obvious that this wasn't the first time this occurred.

"I-I was s-so s-scared," Edward managed to get out in between sobs. Someone had come to rescue him. He could finally leave this nightmare. "I know," he heard Mustang answer. He barely felt the Colonel's fingers rubbing his head, comforting him. Oddly enough, it calmed him down enough to stop crying. Ed finally let go of Mustang, rubbing his eyes as he did so. He looked up. "What happened?" he asked in a quiet voice.

"Robert Peterson is dead now. He violently resisted arrest, so Hawkeye had to shoot him," he answered.

Edward looked down. "What was wrong with him?"

"We're not sure. We never knew that much about him to begin with." Mustang breathed out a sigh. "Made it that much more difficult to catch the damn bastard."

Ed perked up, immediately remembering something. "Where's Al?" he asked.

Mustang smiled at him. "He's here, waiting outside. You want to go and see him, don't you?"

The teen nodded vigorously. Slowly climbing to his feet, he used Mustang as a crutch to make his way across the floor. Once leaving the wooden building, he knew he was never going back. The faces of everyone he knew lit up as they saw him, alive and safe. Ed saw a hulking suit of armor clank its way up to them. Al carefully enveloped his older brother in a huge hug, making sure not to squeeze too hard. Ed returned the embrace. He didn't care if his little brother was cold and empty. He was here, and he was never going to be lost to him again. Tears of relief and happiness flowed down his cheeks, staining the hard steel surface his face was pressed against. No, he was never leaving Al ever again.

END

Author's Note: Here's the last part to this story. A bit of a happy ending. It's what Ed deserves, after all he's been through. I hope none of you hate me for this. The next story will be more mature, so strap yourselves in for that wild ride. I also hope that you are all enjoying this so far. I've gotten some really great comments over the past few chapters, and I've been replying to a few of them. You are all so precious and wonderful.

See you in the next story!

Praise is appreciated and constructive criticism is encouraged.

-The_Mayflower