Chapter 2: I Didn't Mean To
By: Tazzy
Disclaimer: I don’t own the boys, just the messes and trouble they get into under my care.

Author's Note: Thanks to Jaderose for help with the title of both the series and this chapter/story.

As the strange green light of someone’s alchemy charge faded, Edward Elric lowered his hands from his golden eyes, looking around at their new surroundings. He and his brother, Alphonse, had been in Colonel Roy Mustang’s office talking about their latest assignment when the green glow had surrounded Ed. From the clank of metal and the faint scent of sulfur and smoke, both Al and Roy were with him. A quick glance at Roy and Al then himself showed that they were all there, and he firmly shoved the phantom feelings of his arm and leg unraveling aside before glancing around.

It looked like they were in a library of some kind, even if the cage full of weapons, and they were standing on a sturdy table, while three teenagers and an adult were scattered around on the floor, unconscious, but the brunette boy looked like he had been sitting at the table they were on before being tossed back by an explosion. Yet nothing, not even the table they were on, looked like it was damaged in any way other than the usual wear and tear of a library table.

Ed shifted his weight to hop off the table when something crinkled under his foot and he looked down to find he was standing on a piece of paper.

“Brother, where are we?” asked Al, his young hollow voice sounding both curious and apprehensive.

The Fullmetal Alchemist shook his head as he slipped off the table and scooped up the paper, frowning at the strange array drawn on it. “I don’t know, Al,” he replied, golden eyes already studying the glyphs. “But this probably has something to do with it. There’s no way this could have brought us here without a deadly equivalent exchange.”

A white glove with a red array woven onto the back took the paper from Ed and Roy looked over the array himself. “I haven’t seen an array built like this before,” he muttered, his charcoal eyes flickering over the symbols, and Ed snorted as he moved over to the brunette teen. Crouching down with his red coat gathering around his ankles, Ed gently tapped the teen’s cheeks with his real hand, getting a soft moan as he woke up.

“Anyone get the number of that truck?” he groaned before opening chocolate eyes and yelling as he scrambled away from Ed. “I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to summon you, Mr. Demon. Please don’t hurt me!”

“Hey relax,” began Ed, holding up his gloved hands as he stood up. He’d been called many things in his life, but never a demon, and what did this kid mean, summoning them? “We just wanna know how we got here and what you used for such a large and dangerous equivalent exchange.” He held out his right hand, and the teen glanced at it before accepting the help standing. Al and Roy were no longer on the table but were rousing the other people in the room, Roy was waking the adult while Al was attempting to rouse the redhead in the jeans and overlarge sweater.

“Honestly, I don’t know what happened,” confessed the boy, scratching the back of his neck in embarrassment and causing the thick silver chain he was wearing to bunch around his fingers until he lowered his hand. “I was just doodling, not really paying attention to what I was doing and I accidentally touched it when my pencil slipped. It began glowing with a green light and then this explosion of light knocked all of us backward.” he shrugged before holding out his hand. “I”m Xander Harris. That’s Willow Rosenburg the guy in the cool armor’s trying to wake. Rupert Giles is our mentor and all-around descent guy, and Buffy Summers.”

“Ed Elric,” replied the blond alchemist, carefully shaking Xander’s hand. Sometimes he forgot how strong his automail grip was. “I’m the Fullmetal Alchemist. My brother, Al, is in the armor, and that’s Colonel Roy Mustang, the Flame Alchemist and pain in my ass.”

“And yet you keep coming back for my company,” purred Roy in a dangerous and teasing voice as he helped Giles sit up. “You must enjoy my friendship more than you let on.”

Snorting, Ed was about to reply when there was a startled scream followed by a familiar crashing of metal hitting the ground. Instantly, Ed whirled around to find Al sitting up from where he had fallen, the helmet lying next to him on the floor where it had fallen off again. But this time, instead of seeing empty armor, Ed could see something inside the metal shell.

This time, Ed could see his brother for the first time in five years.