Fullmetal Alchemist: Lost and Bound

Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist. Hiromu Arakawa does (I hope I spelled her name right). I only own the OC characters.

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No matter how hard he tried, Edward Elric couldn't seem to shake his pursuers.

He knew that someone had been following him for quite some time now, and whoever it was did not seem to want to give up. However, they were not very good at being stealthy. He could see the telltale signs of being watched, a flicker of shadows disappearing just out of sight around a corner of a building, which could only be accentuated by the moonlight that shone from above.

Once again, Edward cursed himself for staying too late at the library researching. After finding out the true way to make a Philosopher's Stone, he had dedicated himself to finding another way. Through long nights of reading textbooks by candlelight and Alphonse fussing over him that he should get more sleep, he believed he was closing in on a breakthrough. He was just missing something. Something important. He just didn't know what. But he would be damned if he was going to let a roadblock like this stop him from getting his brother's body back.

Of course, it wasn't easy when you had Colonel Roy Mustang as your boss. Edward bristled at the thought of the smug bastard sitting at his desk, all high and mighty with another joke about the young alchemist's height on his lips. Ed kicked a loose stone in his path while walking down the streets of Central. The Colonel had given him more missions than he could barely handle, which was saying something. It gave him less time to do his research, which meant later nights doing said research.

'Damn that Mustang. He knows perfectly well that he's wearing me thin, especially since I'm searching for the Philosopher's Stone.' Edward's thoughts almost distracted him from the fact that he was being followed. Almost.

'These people just don't seem to want to give up,' the young alchemist thought, still trying to maintain a brisk walk that didn't show his pursuers that he knew they were following him. He certainly couldn't lead them back to the dorms where he and Al were staying. It would put his little brother in danger. No, they didn't seem to want to give up the chase. So, he was going to have deal with them personally.

Keeping up the act, Edward made his way down the quiet streets of Central late at night. Making sure that his pursuers were still following him, he tried to find a place out of the open so that no innocent bystander would get hurt. He finally found a dark, and sizeable alley between two buildings. Pretending as though he took this route every day, the young alchemist had himself be swallowed up in the shadows of the buildings.

Halfway down the alley, he stopped, waiting and listening. An open invitation. After awhile, he felt like an idiot, just standing in the middle of the passage. Maybe he was just paranoid? But that suspicion was dashed when he noticed a figure move in front of the entrance where he came in.

"And here I thought that you were just my imagination. It turns out I was right all along," Edward said to the figure, his back facing the entrance.

The figure seemed to give a snort. "I suppose we did underestimate you, Fullmetal Alchemist. I would have thought that we would be able to ambush you where you live. It would've been easier, but you seem to want to make our lives harder for us." The figure sounded like a man, his voice like silk.

With an arrogant smile on his face, Edward turned around to face the man. He was tall and weedy, wearing a dark suit. A black fedora crowned his head, hiding black hair. His eyes were the same color as coal. "So there are more of you, then?" Edward asked wryly.