Hey! So this is my latest fanfic, "Hope for the Hopeless". I'm working on a better title, just bare with that one for now. I know it's cheesy, I'm sorry!

Just so you know, although this is set in the 2003 series, I really don't follow the storyline at all. I take the characters/situations/locations and manipulate them to suit this story better. If you don't like that, this fic is not for you!

So without further babbling on my part, here's chapter one!

Chapter 1
Mystik Endret had been a prisoner for three months now. Of course, that was just a rough guess. She was judging by the sunrises and sunsets, and she might have missed a few while being tortured.

She frowned at the reminder of her pain, and, without really thinking about it, reached down to finger the scars running down the length of her pale stomach. With what had been done to her, she had almost died. She should have died. But one of her seven captors, Envy, kept saving her life with... Something.

"Get up," a man voice ordered. Mystik stiffened. Which one was this? Slowly, she turned on her bed, her straight blue-black hair falling around her face and into her bright silver eyes. On the third day of her stay, Envy had carried a queen-sized feather bed into her room, dropping it and leaving without an explanation. Mystik still didn't understand why she had been giving such a comfortable bed, but what she didn't understand more was the fact that the purple-eyed man had carried it over his head with one hand.

"I said," a man with an eyepatch snapped, more forcibly, "Get. Up."

Mystik pulled herself out of her thoughts and forced herself to stand on her shaky, weak legs, and faced Pride with as much courage as she could muster. It wasn't in her nature to cower or give up, but the fear of more torture kept her docile.

"Food," Pride snapped in explanation. He twisted a key in the lock, and pushed open the barred door just wide enough to shove the tray containing a simple sandwich and a glass of water through. Back in her first few weeks of captivity, she had often tried to bolt through the gap provided when her door was opened. But each time, she had been captured, subdued no matter how hard she fought, and tortured. Eventually she had stopped trying to run. Mystik certainly wasn't a quitter, and she still had every intention of escaping. But, at the same time, she knew when a plan was doomed to fail. So all she'd done these past few weeks was sit and plot, watching the sun rise and fall through the small window of her cell.

She watched Pride's broad back as he left through the dark doorway, moving out of site down a set of winding stairs. From her many escape attempts, Mystik had learned that she was in some sort of castle-type building, and through her window she saw that the place was very isolated. But she still had no idea where she was, only that it was surrounded by rolling hills. She was very high up from what she could see, probably in a tower of some sort. So jumping definitely wasn't happening, even if she could get through the iron bars on her window.

She was about to get her daily meal when an extremely loud commotion outside had her darting backwards in fear. There were several loud crashes, followed by violent curses in a voice she recognized as Envy's. She shrank back onto her bed; her spiky-haired captor was the cruelest of the lot, the one most inclined to "punish" her.
Soon, the greenish tips of Envy's hair appeared. His back was to her, his muscled arms yanking on a huge, violently struggling man in a full suit of armor.

"Stop struggling!" Envy ordered, "You're only making this more difficult than it has to be." His usual amused tone had been with replaced with one so full of loathing it made Mystik shudder. Her curiosity got the best of her, and she cautiously padded forward to grip the bars of her cell, stepping over the tray of food. She craned her neck and tried to get a better look at the newest inmate, but he was jerking and writhing so much that she couldn't see much but flashes of grey.

He was dragged past her cell and thrown roughly into the room next to hers, his metal armor clanking loudly as he scrambled for the exit. Envy slammed the door before he could make it, though. They were out of Mystik's line of sight, but this had happened enough times for her to know what was going on. The people beside her never stayed for long.

For a few terrifying moments, all was quiet. Suddenly, though, Envy's face appeared in front of her, his purple eyes gleaming and his too-sharp teeth bared in a gloating grin that sent shivers down her spine.

"Congratulations, girlie," he crowed, the amused tone returned to his voice, "Looks like you have a playmate!" With that, he spun on his heel and left, throwing a smirk over his shoulder at whoever now occupied the room beside her. Mystik couldn't help herself; she stuck her tongue out at him, although he couldn't see it. It made her feel a bit better.

"Hello?" A sweet-sounding, boyish voice called out through the wall. Mystik turned with a gasp. The other prisoners rarely tried to speak to her, to concerned with begging for mercy. Mystik was proud that not once, through all the pain, had she begged.

"H-hi," she replied, her voice cracking from lack of use. Her seven captors didn't like her to speak... They said that she wasn't worthy of speaking.

"What's your name?"

Mystik blinked at the question. She had expected more direct questions about how to escape.

"I'm... I'm Mystik Endret," she called through the stone blocks.

"Nice to meet you, Mystik. I'm Alphonse Elric."

Mystik gasped at the name. Could it be?

"Alphonse, as in the brother of Edward Elric? The Fullmetal Alchemist?"

"Uh-huh. You can just call me Al," he replied, then sighed, "Is that all I'm known for?

Being the Fullmetal Alchemist's brother?" He seemed to be talking more to himself than to Mystik, so she didn't reply.

"Believe it or not, I knew you two before Edward became a State Alchemist."

Al paused, as if thinking it over, "I'm sorry, but I don't remember anyone called Mystik."

She smiled, "Well, I didn't actually know you... I knew of you," she explained, "I used to live in Dublith. I don't know if you remember the doctor there...Sarah Endret? Well, she was my mom, and she used to be friends with Izumi Curtis."

"Really? I'm sorry we never got to know you... We were so busy training we didn't have any time to socialize."

"Well..." Mystik said, suddenly hopeful, "I'll forgive you if you get us out of here. You trained with Izumi... You must be an alchemist too, right?"

"Stand back," Al called over suddenly. Mystik scrambled backwards without question. And it was a good thing she did, too. A few seconds after she had gotten out of the way, a loud crack could be heard, and the stone right above her bed crumbled, breaking apart. She coughed and waved her hand around her face, trying to clear the dust flying around her. She looked up just in time to see Al pulling his foot from a hole just big enough for her to see through. She gasped and ran towards the opening, peering through.

"You shouldn't have done that! How badly did you hurt your foot?"

Al stood again, examining her pale face carefully, "You know, I think I remember you're mom. You inherited her eyes, didn't you?"

Mystik ignored him and focused on the foot that had broken through the stone. Despite being only fifteen, she had acted as a nurse in her mother's clinic and knew that the impact could very well have shattered his bones. To her utter shock, Al was once again standing on two legs, not even wavering. How? Was it his armor?
Mystik yelped in surprise when she realized something far, far worse. Those... Those... Monsters that had captured them had removed his hands, leaving two gaping holes where his armor ended.

"Al! Your hands! Let me see them, maybe I can help!"

"No, don't worry about me..." Al said, a bit nervously. Slowly, he raised is arms and showcased... An empty suit. The way his handless arms were raised and the streams of light leaking through the window of his room have Mystik the perfect view to see that there was nothing there... Not even a chest or head.

She stifled a shriek. When she spoke again, her voice shook, "What... How..." She stared some more, desperately trying to compose herself.

"Please don't be afraid," Al pleaded, and the sad acceptance of his voice got through to Mystik. She felt a sort of motherly need to comfort him, despite them being around the same age.

"I'm not afraid," she said, and it wasn't a lie. She was nervous, but had heard of the Elric brothers and all the good they had done for the people of Amestris, despite being in the military. "I'm just...shocked. When...when I saw you in Dublith... You weren't-you were... Like me. Human."

"I'm still human," he assured her, "It's... It's a long story. My soul was bonded to this suit of armor... That's why I'm hollow. And why I don't feel pain. The homunculi weren't trying to hurt me by taking my hands, they did it to stop me from escaping through alchemy. I can't preform it without my hands."

"Homunculi? As in, artificial humans? They're what's got us?"

Through the hole, she saw Al nod.

"But..but..." she spluttered, "but they're just myths!"

"No, they're not, Mystik," the seriousness of his voice scared Mystik, "They're what happens when stupid, stupid alchemists try to break the laws of life and death."

In that moment, Mystik knew that was exactly what the Elric brothers had done, what had cost Al his body. She didn't know much about alchemy, but she did know the law of equivalent exchange, and knew that nothing could be equivalent to that of a human soul. She was just sorry that Al and his brother had had to find out the hard way.

"Makes sense that Envy, Pride, and the other homunculi are soulless. Nobody could be that cruel if they had a shred of humanity," she muttered. Al did not reply, so she continued, "So alchemy won't get us out of here. We'll just have to think of another way."

Al brightened at that, "Don't worry. Brother will come for us, I'm sure of it."

"Where was he when you were caught?" Mystik asked skeptically.

"The homunculi attached and separated us," he explained.

"Then how do you know he hasn't been captured as well?"

"He hasn't," Al replied confidently. Mystik could tell he looked up to his brother and believed that nothing could stop him. She just hoped he was right. She wasn't just going to sit here and do nothing, though. New hope had sparked within her, and that overcame any fear she had.

"Can you kick through the bars like you did the wall?"

Al wandered over to them, bending to get a better look. "No, I don't think so. They're made of a metal stronger than my armor... It might break me. And besides, I definitely couldn't fight off the homunculi handless, and I don't think you could fight them, either."

Much as she hated to admit it, Al had a point. She didn't have any fighting skills, and she wasn't going to risk Al's life on a plan doomed to fail. She walked away from the hole to pace her room.

"You should eat, you know."

She didn't even look up, but continued pacing with a simple, "I'm not hungry. You want it?"

Al sighed, "This body doesn't let me eat."

Mystik looked up, realizing she might have offended him, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean-"

"It's alright," he assured her, "You couldn't have known."

They were silent for a few moments more, then she spoke up, "Did you see where we are?"

"Yea, actually," Al replied, "We're in this castle thing hidden not far from Central. It shouldn't take Brother too long to find us. Be patient."

Mystik threw up her hands, still pacing, "I'm through being patient! I'm no damsel in distress, I should be able to get out on my own!"

"How long have you been here, exactly?" Al asked. How could he be so calm?

"Exactly? I don't know. But it's sometime around three months."

"What! Three months?" Al cried. Mystik nodded, not looking at him. Thousands of different scenarios kept running through her head, each worse than the last.

"Mystik... I'm really sorry. We didn't know this place existed or we would've-"

"It's not your fault," Mystik said, at last turning her silver eyes to him.

"But-"

"Really," she interjected, "You couldn't have known."

Al made a noise like he was about to argue again, but seemed to think better of it. "It's getting late. You should get some sleep."

"You should get some sleep," Mystik muttered, just to be contradictory. To be honest, she hadn't even noticed the setting sun outside, nor did she feel tired in any way.

Of course a wave of guilt washed over her when Al sighed, "I can't."

Unable to think of any better ideas, Mystik brushed the crumbled rock and dust off her bed and shoved her way under the covers. "That brother of yours had better hurry."

"Don't worry. Brother never fails. He'll be here before you know it," Al assured brightly.

With his words echoing in her ears, Mystik at last closed her silver eyes and let sleep overcome her.

So that was chapter one. Okay, I know there wasn't much intro, but I'm assuming since you're reading this you at least know a little about FMA.

Oh, and I should probably mention that i SUCK at science... so my alchemy descriptions might be flawed. Pretty much the only alchemy law i'm gonna follow is the equivalent exchange one.

I'm kinda addicted to writing this at the moment, so chapter 2 should be up in no time.

Ed: And I'd better be in the next one!

Me: Maybe you will, maybe you won't. I'm not gonna say nothin'.

Mystik: Yea, no spoilers, Blondie.

Ed: Don't call me that!

Me: *shouts over Mystik and Ed's arguing* See you readers later!