An Elric Cat-astrophie!

Jail house cat

Ed found his brother on the outskirts of the town looking nervous. He was so nervous that he didn't spot Ed until the kitty version of his big brother was before him. "Oh! Edward! I was worried!" he exclaimed as Ed slowed to sit before the huge suit of armor. "How did it go? Where's Genevieve? Did she get out ok?" he asked in worry for the girl. Ed put the papers down that had been in his mouth and shook his head, "No... Bradley got there first. They.... they.... they killed her father... took her prisoner..." he stammered. Al's face fell in shock, not that anyone but Ed could tell through the steel helmet that was his head. "How awful... What does he want her for anyway?" He asked sadly. Ed shook his head, the little bell on the collar Genevieve had made for him jingled softly. "I'm not sure but I think it's got something to do with where she's from. It's a place beyond any neighboring countries borders... I think she said she's from your-rope..." Ed said thoughtfully. "Your-Rope? Sounds strange." Al frowned a little in thought. Ed nodded, "Yeah but this is more important right now. Can you help me figure this out? Mustang said if we use this alchemic formula we should be able to put me back in my own body." He said, looking over the papers he had pinned down under his fore paws. Al sat down and looked at them too.

"From what I can gather..." Al said after a while of silent reading under the street lights, "the only 'ingredient' we need is your body." Ed nodded, "Yeah but, question is, where in Amistris is it?" Al thought for a moment, "Well...the logical place would be a jail so they can keep it away from the general public and since all jails are policed by the military they know it would be kept secret." He said. "That's as good a guess as any we've had. So let's go check it out! They'll probably have taken it to the closest jail too, to avoid being questioned about it." Ed said, gathering the papers but Al picked them up. He then picked Ed up and put him on his shoulder, "No offence brother, but your kitty legs are small so you can't run fast and you must be tired already, so let me carry you, ok?" Ed was about to snap at Al for saying he was small, even for a kitten, but he couldn't get the words out before Al set off at a run. Ed found himself clinging onto Al's shiny armor for dear life as his claws slipped on the smooth surface. It was a nerve-wracking experience for poor Ed to say the least.

Needless to say they arrived quickly, much to Ed's relief. As Ed got his bearings Al looked around. "Looks like there's only guards posted at the main doors. Theoretically, your body should be in an isolation cell for solitary confinement... just so no one asks questions about it." Al told him. "So, the quickest and easiest way in is....." Al started and Ed looked at him slightly terrified. "Oh no...no Al. Al. No. No!".... And with that, Ed found himself crawling through an air vent and not for the first time in his life either. 'Damn it all! Why me? Why is it always me? How do I get myself into these situations?! If I was the huge hunk of metal instead of Al things would be soooo much different! For one I wouldn't be so sh....' Ed mentally raged at himself for allowing his thoughts to run riot and call himself short in the process. When he got over the initial shock he ran along the air vent as quietly as he could while doing his best to listen out for someone talking about his body or even the smell of it.

Eventually he grew tired of creeping along so dropped himself down into a dark and empty corridor. He slunk along until he came to the isolation cells. As he walked along he would pause and press his little velvet ear to the door to listen. When he came to the last one he finally heard something inside making the most curious sound... well, for a human at least. It was a very obviously human voice with a slightly husky undertone saying 'new? New?' Helplessly. Because of the tone it sounded quite sarcastic but ed was glad to hear it. A little further back down the hall, Ed had passed what was clearly marked as the 'cell warden's office' was inside he was likely to find the keys. With this new plan in thought he decided to take action.

He stalked along like a prowling tiger, rather than the adorable kitty he currently was, and listened at the door that stood blissfully ajar. Inside he could hear a single, probable middle aged man, laughing heartily at something on the telly. Ed saw his opportunity and went for it. He stood on his back feet and pushed the door opens with his fore feet. It swung open just enough that he could sneak inside unnoticed. Once inside he saw the jailer sat on a chair, leaning back so only the two back legs were on the ground, his feet were up on the desk with the TV in front as he chortled away at whatever he was watching. Ed snuck over to the chair and sat under it as he eyed a fat bunch of keys swinging from the mans pocket. Ed felt what was slowly becoming a natural urge to bat at the swinging keys as the light glinted and shimmered off them as he watched. He shook his head to try to dislodge the urge though and, sitting on his back feet he stretched up with his fore paws and tried to grab the keys. Surely one of them must open that isolation cell?

As he pulled and pulled at the keys he was ignoring the man and his program. Had he taken notice he would have seen that the program had finished and the man took his feet off the desk where he'd rested them and put them on the floor. As he did so the front chair legs came down too.... one of which landed on the tip of Ed's tail. Ed almost screamed but managed to bite his lip instead. As he tried to contain the pain his claws had extended and snagged onto the keys, pulling them free. Ed yanked his poor tail free and thanked his lucky stars that the chair had only just caught it so it wasn't bleeding or anything. He sulked back to the door, the keys now in his mouth and only stopped outside the isolation cell where mewing could still be heard. Once there he put the keys down and sat down to look at his tail. He felt utterly miserable now and wished he had Genevieve to cuddle him and tell that whale of a man off for hurting him... but Genevieve was goodness knows where and possibly in as much trouble, if not more. She couldn't comfort him or yell at the man who had hurt Ed without knowing. So Ed sat there and licked his poor tail to try to ease the pain.

Once the pain had passed a little he looked at the keys in turn. Judging only by the size of the key hole, he narrowed it down to two. It took some skill with his little fangs and his claws to get the two keys off as the whole set was obviously too heavy for him to try to reach the lock. He frowned at the height of the lock and, not for the first time, cursed his lack of height. He grumbled to himself as he went about looking for something to climb on in order to reach the lock. He found some cardboard boxes in the store room near the warden's office and pushed them to the door, somehow managing to keep them stacked on one another. He picked up his first choice of key and hopped up each ledge of the boxes to the top then, standing on his hind legs, he put the key in and tried it. It didn't work and Ed mentally cursed it in such a way that would make any sailor proud. Once he gathered himself, he tried the second key. Luckily for Ed, or rather his mentality as he was really starting to get annoyed with himself, this key worked and with a push, he managed to open it. He hopped down and peeked in.

"Mew?" Ed was surprised to find his face at eye level peering at him. In hindsight, he shouldn't have been so surprised as he had been anticipating this... but it still took him a moment to get his wits together. "Cat, listen up! Ok, erm... come with me." he said, wishing that he'd traded bodies with a dog so he knew it would listen. Fortunately, the cat seemed interested in Edward and followed.... albeit on it's hands and knees much to Ed's silent annoyance. He found the air vent and stared up at it, wondering how they would both get up there. The cat.... or rather Ed's body with the cat's soul inside it, stood next to him and stared up too. Ed looked from his body, to the vent and back again. He smirked as he got a cunning plan.