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Ed took a step back, nearly stumbling as he stared at the lobby of the hotel he suddenly found himself in. He'd been hurrying full-tilt into the lab -- and well, this certainly wasn't the lab he'd been in before. There was no familiar pattern of alchemy on the walls either. Which meant this wasn't the lab.

It was only belatedly that he realized he was also by himself. Everyone he had been traveling with was gone. He spun around quickly, braid twisting momentarily into the air. Nope, he was by himself. He grabbed the door he had just run through, twisting it back open, but the familiar streets of Central didn't wait outside of it. The realization of what had happened sat coldly in his gut. But, it should have been impossible.

Hastily, he pressed both his gloved hands against up the wall next to the door. His alchemy crackled along the wall before a new door was called into being. Even as the energy poured through both his real and automail arm, he could feel that there was something off about it, as if his connection had been altered in some way. He hastily grabbed the knob of the new door, pulling that open as well. What was behind wasn't the same as the first door he had opened -- but still wasn't Central. He slammed it shut, moving automatically to create a second door, and then a third. Each one opened up to a new place, but none of them were the world Ed had just left behind.

"What the hell," he growled under his breath, unable to hide his rank irritation. He spun back around from the wall, facing the expanse of the hotel in front of him again. There was only one weapon he had left to him now.

"Alphonse!" he bellowed. And then, even though he didn't want to: "Hohenheim!"

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Belle was startled by the sound of a shout, clutching her books tighter to her chest as she stopped in her path, not entirely sure who was shouting, but she didn't think it was a shout that could be ignored. She set the books down on the table and hurried towards the sound of the voice, staring at the young man warily when she found him.

"Who's Alphonse?" she asked.

Ed stared just as warily back at the girl who had arrived in front of him. At least he had gotten someone's attention. She wasn't wearing a uniform, so it didn't seem likely that she worked for the lab or the government. Maybe they had gotten smart enough to wear plainclothes, but Ed didn't think so. Their arrogance wouldn't allow for such a thing.

"My brother," Ed said, crossing his arms in front of him. He didn't bother to explain that his brother also appeared to be a suit of armor. "Who're you?" he asked.

"Belle," she introduced herself, not sure if there was anyone named Alphonse around that she had met. She worried that she was going to disappoint him with such news, but she had to be honest. "I'm sorry, I don't think I've ever met someone named Alphonse," she said gently. "Maybe it's only that I haven't met him yet?"

"If you'd met him, you'd know," Ed reassured her, unable to help a wry grin despite the oddity of the situation.

"Are we in Central?" he asked a moment later, because that probably should have been the first thing he asked. Of course, it was important to discern where his traveling companions were -- or, at least, where they were not -- but he needed to know where he was above all. And how to get to Central if that wasn't where he was.

She paused before shaking her head, the pause only because she was beginning to realize that this was someone who didn't know his general surroundings. Paired with the fact that he was looking for someone who didn't seem to exist here, she felt like an explanation was incoming. "No, I think it's called the Nexus Hotel," she said. "I'm not sure if anyone calls it Central, casually."

"Is Central where you meant to be? It could be through one of the doors," she suggested.

It didn't seem as if she even knew what Central was -- which indicated just how far from home he was. He felt caged, a sensation that he hated more than anything. He had been ready. He hadn't know exactly what was waiting for him in Central, but he knew that he was going to fight to save the country. He knew he had a role. So, why the hell had he been pulled all the way out to this weird hotel at the last moment?

"Those doors all go to different places," Ed said dismissively, but what he had seen suddenly keyed in with the implication of what she had just said. "The doors all go to different places," he repeated, almost under his breath. Which meant that there might be a door that could take him back.

He spun around toward the wall again -- forget protecting his back -- and pressed his hands against it. His alchemy surged through it, transforming another door. He swung it open impatiently, but this one was just like the previous ones -- not to Central. This time, the ocean stretched in front of him, bright sunshine beating down on his face.

"How do you find the door you need here?" he asked her.

"Well," Belle said, a considerate moment as she thought about what'd she had just said. "Sometimes they go elsewhere," she said. "And sometimes they don't." Said like that, it made complete sense to her, but probably wasn't quite so easy to understand for someone else. "I think there might be some kind of luck to it, but I honestly couldn't tell you what luck or skill you use. All I know is that I can open a door and find myself back home," she said, smiling with the kind of warmth and peace that came from knowing she could see her Papa.

Though, she hadn't been home in some time recently, because she was trying to avoid the Beast and Gaston and what she feared was coming if she allowed time to march on freely. "I mostly just ... well, hope," she breathed out the word with a happy smile. "Sometimes it even works."

"That makes no sense at all," Ed said, his frustrated bleeding clearly into his world. If this was arrange by alchemy, there had to be a reason to it. It couldn't just be luck of the draw. Random. The very word ate at Ed, because while he appreciated the spontaneity and creativity that came from being an alchemist, uncertainty held little appeal.

He made another door, the familiar glow appearing beneath his gloved palms. He pulled this one open too -- and this one was just a door to the outside in front of the hotel.

He cursed and slammed it shut.

She watched with sympathy in her eyes, holding a breath on her lips that she didn't want to let loose. She felt bad for him, but she also didn't know how to solve his problem. That was the trouble. Belle desperately wanted to be able to help, but couldn't imagine being very good at it. "Maybe you can try another one?" she asked, but hated that she'd said the words. "Or maybe you can try later. I don't think time really moves at home, while we're here. Maybe, I haven't exactly tried it out."

"I don't have later," Ed began to say, nearly shouting the words, although he knew they would make no difference in what was happening. However, he paused openly when he finally heard the second part of what was she was saying.

"Time freezes?" Ed echoed, spinning about to look at her with open confusion once more. It was another element to whatever this was that didn't make any sense and certainly couldn't be explained by alchemy. He'd never, in all of his studies, heard of anyone who could manipulate time. If this was done by alchemy, it was unparalleled. But he didn't know what else it could be done by if it wasn't alchemy.

She nodded, beginning to feel slightly wary about his mood. She took a gentle step back, making sure that she kept herself vaguely out of harm's way in case his anger was more than just shouted words. "I think so," she said. "Or else everyone has been kind enough to not allow their lives to move forward even a minute, where I'm from, because it's always the same if I go back there."