Fullmetal Alchemist: Lost and Bound

Chapter 2

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

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When Edward woke up, he didn't remember what had happened. All he knew was that his head hurt. A lot. He was too tired to move, but he could sense the swaying of someone walking. What had happened? He opened his eyes as he struggled to remember. His vision was still blurry, and he could only get his bearings once it cleared. Once it did, he saw that he was moving along a forest trail. But that couldn't be right. He was just in Central. He couldn't be on the road already. Moving his head around, he noticed he was in a wood, on a trail used for travel. Craning his neck, he noticed that the reason he was moving was because he was being carried, slung over the shoulder of a large, muscular man with dark bronze skin. And that's when he remembered.

'Oh, right. I was attacked,' he thought. 'And then drugged.' He craned his neck some more to look down at his body. He found that chains were wrapped around him, from his shoulders to his ankles, pinning his arms to his sides and his legs together. He couldn't wriggle out of the man's grip, unless he wanted to struggle like a worm. And his captors hadn't realized he was awake yet. The chains were too tight to move his hands together, so he couldn't perform alchemy. The only thing he had on his side at the moment was the element of surprise, and his teeth.

Beyond his body, he could see his other captors walking at a brisk pace along the trail. The large man, Bimbo, he remembered them calling him, was taking up the rear of the party. There wasn't another soul in sight.

'Maybe I can surprise this guy enough to get out of his grasp,' Edward thought, turning his head back to face behind them. He looked at Bimbo until he found what he was looking for: a particularly sensitive spot on the neck. Teacher had taught that this spot was a useful pressure point to exploit. If someone were to bite down on it, that person would get a nasty surprise.

He positioned himself, waiting for the appropriate time to strike. Possibly when they pass by a particularly thick grove of trees that he could easily roll into to hide from his captors' line of sight. That opportunity came sooner than expected. At exactly the right moment, Edward bit down hard on Bimbo's neck, until he tasted blood.

Needless to say, the plan did the trick. With a surprised yelp, Bimbo jumped, releasing his hold on the young alchemist. Edward dropped hard onto the ground, immediately rolling under the bushes next to the path. He could hear his captors shouting, trying to figure out where he went. They had seen him where he rolled to.

Too late, Edward realized that, with the way he was bound, he wouldn't get very far. He didn't move so much as two feet until he hit a tree. Not long after, the strange young man with the tail tripped over him, his momentum carrying him too far. The rest caught up with him soon enough. The woman and the tall, weedy man grabbed him by the feet and dragged him back to the path.

When they let go of him, the tall man turned to Bimbo, who was holding his neck where Ed had bit him. Edward silently hoped that it hurt. "Why the hell did you go and drop him, Bimbo, you big oaf?" the tall man asked the bronze giant.

Bimbo rubbed the bite mark. He held his annoyed gaze on the young teen at their feet, who glared up defiantly at him with golden orbs. "He bit me real hard, Salazar. It hurt, too. He caught me by surprise. His bite's vicious, like a rat."

The weedy man, Salazar, chuckled. "I suppose the dog's bite is as bad as his bark. Of course, because of his size, his bite would feel like a rat to you, Bimbo."