The Fullmetal Alchemist and the Box of Sorrow

The Message

Mustang's door flew open and behind it was Fullmetal and his brother.
"What do you want? Did you know that disrupting a working Colonel is considered impolite?"
"We need to talk", said Fullmetal with a stoic expression.
Mustang furrowed his brows.
"Take a seat."
Fullmetal sat down while his brother remained standing.
"Dead", stated Fullmetal simply.
"Sorry?"
"They are dead. Your soldiers. The people staying at that hotel. Dead."
Silence enveloped the room. Mustang opened his mouth to say something when Lieutenant Hawkeye came rushing in, a piece of paper in her hand.
"Sir! A homunculus who went by the name of Envy dropped this letter off and said that it was to be delivered to the son of a man named Hohenheim", said the Lieutenant, holding up the letter.
I began to reach out to grab it when Fullmetal slammed the arm of his chair.
"Hohenheim... what do the homunculus want with us and Hohenheim?" he grounded out.
Mustang and Hawkeye stared at him.
"This Hohenheim... is your father?" asked Hawkeye.
"Ye- No. Someone like him doesn't deserve to be called a father. He left our mother to die. He didn't even come to the funeral. No. Someone like him will never be my father."
"Brother...", murmured Alphonse who had kept quiet until now.
"Give me that", said Fullmetal, grabbing the letter from Hawkeye's hands. He broke the seal and began reading it. As he got further into the letter, his expression became even more serious than it was before.
"The homunculus say that they have something that will help Al and I get our bodies back... he says he will give it to us... for a price. He will give it to us if after we get our bodies back, I will stay with them", said Fullmetal quietly.
"No brother! We will not accept this. We will find another way!" screamed Al, desperate for his brother to listen to him.
"But Al..."
"Fullmetal. You will not accept this offer. I do not know their true intentions but I will not allow you to accept this."
"But..."
"No. You can do it over my dead body."
Fullmetal sighed, understanding that he would never win.
"We have no more business here so we must get going now", said Fullmetal.
He stood up and motioned for his brother to follow him out.

That night, Edward lied on his bed and stared at the ceiling, listening for any footsteps coming towards his room. Silence. He slipped out of bed and looked for anything that could help him get out. Ed was about to grab a piece of rope when he heard the clanking of armour.
"Brother, what are you doing?"
"Um..."
"You were going to meet the homunculus weren't you?!"
Ed laughed nervously. He'd for gotten that Al was still in his room. And that he didn't sleep.
"Well, I only wanted to check them out."
"Which means that you wanted to barge in their base, kick their butts and take the Box of Sorrow without anyone else there to back you up."
"How did you know?"
"You're you brother. How could I not know?"
"Oh. Good point. Anyways, this means that you're coming with me right?"
"Yes. But on one condition. We must bring some backup."
Ed made a face.
"Fine."
"Good. I'll go get the backup. Don't go anywhere."
"Yeah, yeah."
Ed could have sworn that Al's soul was smiling. Al walked out of the room, shutting  the door behind him. Once the sound of clanking armour faded into the distance, Ed grabbed any piece of cloth and some string, tied them together and made a makeshift rope. He opened a window and chucked it out, tying one end to the corner of his bed frame. He sat on the windowsill and tugged on the 'rope' to make sure it was sturdy, then slipped down it. That was his second time doing that, only that the other time, he was with Al. Sorry Al... I have to do this alone, thought Ed, then ran down the street to the address on the letter. The address he didn't tell anyone because he knew they wouldn't allow him to go there and check it out.