Well, I got bored, so I decided to move this over to the FMA category. It's based on the manga. And stuff. So yeah.
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Fifteen minutes into his shift, Grissom found himself at a crime scene in a small apartment that housed two men and, from the looks of it, at least one child. They'd gotten a call earlier from one of the neighbors who had heard shouts and screams from the apartment, and by the time they had arrived, the man sprawled out on the kitchen floor had died, most likely from the knife wounds that revealed his intestines and rendered his face completely unrecognizable.
"Do we have an ID on this guy?" he asked Warrick.
"Not yet. According to the landlord, one of the two inhabitants was just staying for a visit, and this guy's face is too destroyed to find out which of the two he is."
"What about kids?"
"Landlord never saw any, and other than this guy, this place was empty when we got here."
"Let's take another look around. We might have a kidnapping to investigate, too."
"Right."
At that moment, the two heard a thud from the living room. Drawing their guns, the two entered the living room, looking for the source of the noise. There was another thud, and that was when they noticed the square that was slightly sticking out of the back of the couch.
"Smart place to hide," Warrick muttered as they approached it.
"Who's there?" Grissom asked, raising his voice so that whoever was inside could hear him. He wasn't terribly surprised when a child's voice replied.
"Let us out!" came the shout from what sounded like a boy, one that couldn't have been older than eight or nine.
The two CSIs knelt down in front of the couch and began looking to see how they could pry the wood away from the back of the couch. It was nailed down, so Warrick stood up and went to find something to pry the nails loose.
"Just wait a couple of minutes, we'll get you out as soon as we can. Can you breathe in there?"
When Grissom got a reply, it was from a different voice. "Yeah."
Warrick returned quickly, and they got to work. Once they had gotten the nails out, Grissom pulled the wood back to reveal two young boys with matching golden eyes and hair.
"Are you two okay?" Grissom asked, kneeling down so that he was at eye level with the boys. There was a split second in which neither seemed to be able to move, and then one got out of the cramped space with surprising speed and tried to run for the door. Warrick managed to grab him by the arm before he got very far.
"Whoa there, where are you going?" Warrick asked as Grissom helped the other boy out of the space.
"Let go of me!" the smaller boy shouted, struggling wildly to get away from Warrick. The calmer one looked from Grissom to Warrick to the smaller boy before pulling something out from his pocket and nailing his companion in the head. The smaller one stopped struggling as soon as he realized what had hit him, and he glared at the calmer one. The calm one returned the glare, and some unspoken agreement seemed to pass between the two, because the small one finally relaxed. Warrick let go of him, and both boys looked expectantly at Grissom.
"Who are you?" the small one asked.
Grissom pulled out his badge and showed it to the two. "We're police officers. We're here to help."
The small one narrowed his eyes and looked Grissom straight in the eye for a moment, as if he was trying to determine something. Then there was a small nod, a subtle sign that the small boy was willing to trust Grissom.
"Come on, let's get you out of here."
THIS IS WHERE THE OPENING CREDITS WOULD GO IF THIS WERE A REAL EPISODE OF CSI!
"Hey, check this out," Warrick said, pointing to the plywood that had been the door to the boys' prison. Grissom leaned down and inspected it. He frowned.
"Looks like someone's part of a cult," he said, pulling his stuff out to get a blood sample from the hastily drawn array. "Our killer, maybe?"
"Or one of those kids."
"They don't seem the type, but I guess it doesn't hurt to check. I'll have a chat with them when we get back to the station."
"I wonder how long they were in here."
Grissom changed his position so that he could easily see into the hole in the back of the couch. Not only had the entrance been blocked off with plywood, but so had the sides and the back of the space. "Well, it doesn't smell too bad, so either the kidnapper let them use the bathroom, or it's been less than a day. Unless these kids have amazingly large bladders."
"At that age? I like the first two theories better."
"Who knows? Maybe the smaller one was only trying to find a bathroom."
Warrick shook his head. "Well, I think we're about done here, don't you?"
"For now, at least." Grissom stood up. "Well, I can understand why he tried to make a break for it. I think just about anyone would want to get the hell away from there."
"I guess all we can do is find their parents and hope these kids are willing to answer our questions."
"Or maybe they'll just tell us everything on their own."
"Could be."
Grissom looked out the window to where the two boys were getting checked out by paramedics. "Well, I know one thing. Those two aren't normal."
"Yeah. I don't think I've ever seen anyone with eyes like that. Think that might have anything to do with our case?"
Grissom stood in a dramatic pose fitting the situation, still looking out the window. "Could be."
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Other than a few scrapes and bruises, along with the beginning signs of malnourishment, the two boys, named Edward and Alphonse Elric, seemed to be in good shape. Grissom watched them out of the corner of his eye as he drove them back to the station. There was so much he wanted to ask them, but there was something else he had to do first: find their guardian.
He noted during the car ride that Edward and Alphonse seemed to be in awe of their surroundings. It made him think they'd never been to a city before. It also made him think that they hadn't been affected too badly by whatever had happened to them, meaning that whatever had been done to them couldn't have been very traumatizing, which let him breathe easier.
"So, is this your first time in a city?" he asked the brothers after a while.
"Yeah," Edward replied. "Back home's really small compared to this."
"Where do you live?"
"Resembool," Alphonse answered. "It's surrounded by mountains and stuff, and the only way to get anywhere else is by train, so we never really went anywhere."
"By train?" Where exactly is this town? Grissom thought as he parked the car.
"Yeah, only people didn't use it for a while," Al said, looking solemn as he and his brother followed Grissom to the station.
"Why not?"
"Some people blew up part of the train station," Ed replied, not sounding too happy about the fact. Grissom was startled. He hadn't expected that…
They went inside, and Grissom led the boys into one of the interrogation rooms. That awed expression he'd seen in the car had returned to both of their faces as they walked through the station, and Grissom couldn't help but be amused.
"So, can you two tell me a few things about yourselves?" Grissom asked.
"Like what?" Ed asked.
"How about your parents' names? You probably want to go home now, right?"
The two were quiet for a minute before Ed replied. "We don't have parents."
"No? Then who do you live with now?"
"You mean like our guardian?"
Grissom nodded.
"Pinako Rockbell. She's our friend's grandmother."
"Can you tell me how to get in touch with her?"
Ed frowned. "I don't remember the phone number. We didn't ever use it much since our houses are so close together."
"Okay, how about a street address? Do you know that?"
Ed shrugged. "We never needed to know that either."
"Okay… Well, can you just tell me the zip code and what state Resembool is in? We can find her with just that."
The two just looked confused.
Grissom sighed. "Do you not know that either?"
"We don't have anything like that back home."
"You don't?"
Ed shook his head.
"Okay, next question. What country do you live in?"
"Amestris."
Grissom blinked. The name sounded familiar, but not because he'd heard of a country with that name…
"Where is that exactly?"
Ed and Al looked at each other for a while, as if trying to figure it out. After a minute, they looked back at Grissom.
"Can we see a map or something?" Al asked. "We only know the countries around where we live."
Grissom thought about it for a moment before standing up. "Here, come with me."
He led them into his office, where he noticed that they seemed even more in awe of what they were seeing. He figured it was because of all the jars on the different shelves, and he didn't think much about it as he turned on the computer.
The computer was a source of fascination to the boys as well. At this point in time, Grissom was becoming a little suspicious. Had they never seen a computer before? No, that didn't make sense…
"What is that?" Al asked finally, giving Grissom a curious look. It took Grissom a minute to realize that Al was talking about the computer.
"It's a computer," Grissom replied, figuring that would be enough.
"What's it do?" Ed asked next.
Grissom was surprised. Not seeing a computer before was one thing, but not even knowing what it was? This was definitely suspicious…
"It lets you do a lot of things, like looking up information, writing documents, listening to music, even contacting people on the other side of the world in seconds," Grissom answered.
"Really?" Ed sounded impressed.
"Yeah. You've never heard of computers before?"
Ed shook his head. "Nope."
Strange, Grissom thought. Very strange… He'd thought that maybe the boys were from a third-world country, but if they spoke English fluently then there didn't seem to be any good reason why they wouldn't know about computers…
Grissom quickly found a world map online, and moved to let the boys study it. It had been quiet for a while when Ed suddenly pointed to a corner of the screen. "Wait, what's that?"
Grissom looked at where Ed was pointing, and looked back at Ed in confusion. "That's today's date."
Ed looked at it again. "But… It's May, isn't it?"
"No, it's June."
Ed frowned. "But back home it was May…"
Grissom frowned. "How long have you been away from home?"
"I dunno."
Al was counting on his fingers, and he finally looked up at Grissom. "Five days."
"And it's May there?"
Both brothers nodded.
This is getting interesting… Grissom thought. Then a theory came to his mind. "What year is it where you're from?"
Ed raised an eyebrow. "1908. Why?"
Grissom quickly pulled something up on the computer screen. "Here, the date is June 16th, 2001."
"Eh?"
Ed frowned. "Then… how did so much time pass?"
"I don't think that's it," Grissom said. He had been studying the map during this conversation, and his theory had been formed completely in his mind. "Don't worry about it for now, okay? Let's just focus on trying to find the man who hurt you."
The brothers nodded, and Grissom noticed Al yawn. He looked over at Ed, and sure enough, both of the boys looked like they were about to fall asleep where they stood. He sighed. It looked like most of his questions would have to wait.
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The awe on the boys' faces seemed to be disappearing as Grissom brought them elsewhere to get their fingerprints and DNA. Or rather, it wasn't disappearing, but it was turning into something else. They seemed to be observing now, looking at their surroundings and, Grissom thought, they understood why everything was so much more advanced now. He was impressed. If they were used to technology from the early twentieth century, then being able to make a connection like that was not only going to make it easier for the boys to adjust, but it showed that they knew more about technology than he'd thought at first.
He left the boys with Warrick and went out into the hall to observe them. Of course, he hadn't told anyone else about the whole 1908 thing yet…
"Okay, let's start with your fingerprints, okay?" Warrick asked. Ed looked at his hand curiously for a moment before seeming to realize something and nodding. So it seemed that the boys knew the basic idea of leaving fingerprints behind…
Once both boys had given their prints, Warrick brought out the DNA stuff. That was the point where things got interesting.
"What's that?" Al asked.
"It's for getting DNA samples," Warrick replied before going into an explanation that the boys would be able to understand. "If we find blood or something else that comes from a human body back in that place, then we can see who it belongs to, and we can find whoever did this more easily."
Ed frowned. "But how could you do that if you've never met someone and you find their blood or something?"
Out in the hall, Grissom raised an eyebrow.
"Well, Edward, you're pretty sharp," Warrick replied. "Actually, it's more of a test to see whether or not it matches another DNA sample. If we have a sample that we know came from a certain person, and if a sample we find out in a crime scene matches that, then we can say for sure that it comes from that person."
"Oh."
"So you want DNA samples from us?" Al asked.
Warrick nodded. "Yeah, if that's okay with you."
Both brothers nodded, and a few minutes later, they came out of the room with Warrick. Grissom took charge of the boys from there, leading them to a different part of the station where they could rest for a while.
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"So, where are they now?" Catherine asked as Grissom came into the break room.
"Sleeping, and I get the feeling they won't be waking up for a long time," Grissom replied.
"Did they tell you much?"
"No, not yet. I didn't get anything about what happened to them. Although, I did learn something else that's just as interesting."
"Really? What?"
"Edward Elric was born in the winter of 1899."
Catherine looked confused, and Grissom decided to continue. "It would explain a lot, wouldn't it? The confusion when they saw today's date, their fascination with just about every kind of technology they've encountered since we found them, even their personalities to an extent. And to add to the fun, they're from a country that doesn't seem to exist on this planet, and yet they speak perfect English."
Catherine still looked confused. "So… what's your theory?"
"Well, to me, it seems like these two were raised in some sort of… the best example I can think of is an Amish community, but with a few key differences."
Catherine nodded her understanding. "Makes sense."
"There's a few problems with that theory, though."
"Like?"
"They also mentioned something that sounds to me like their 'town' was victim to a terrorist attack. Apparently the train station was targeted."
"So they're taking extra steps to make sure people stay in town?"
"That would make more sense if the trains hadn't been working up until that point, and even afterwards. Unless whoever's taking care of these kids is very thorough, there's no way they wouldn't have heard about what's beyond their little town."
Catherine frowned. "Not to mention their security isn't very tight."
"Exactly. After Warrick was done with fingerprints and DNA, they told me that whoever had kidnapped them had denied the existence of their country, so unless he's involved with this… whatever it is, he couldn't have known much about it." Grissom sighed. "Either way, I don't think there's a big chance we'll be getting these kids home." He decided not to tell Catherine about the feeling of familiarity the name Amestris gave him.
"How about the case? I get the feeling it won't be too hard to make an arrest once they tell us what happened."
"Same here." Grissom frowned. "But what I don't get is why that guy went through all the trouble to kidnap two boys from the middle of nowhere, and not bother to take them with him when he left."
"Maybe he was planning on coming back," Catherine suggested.
Grissom looked thoughtful for a moment. "Maybe he will."
Catherine saw the look on his face and rolled her eyes dramatically. "Don't get your hopes up."
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So yeah, that's chapter one, and this will be a three-part story, so if you think it's done, it probably isn't. I'll say when it's the final chapter. ;O
And much thanks to AkitaFallow, who prevented me from making this be completely full of OOC moments and being my beta, and pretty much inspiring this fic in general. So if you like this one, go read hers, it's really good and stuff.