...Well, now that was quite the unfortunate development.
The magician could only watch as the crevice in spacetime swallowed up the younger of the boys, screams cut short as his body was warped to an entirely different location. A twitch of gloved fingers signified an action withheld; The facade was firmly in place. For now, at least. A shift of displeasure somewhere within their very core, the deity of the wretched place known as Wonderland entirely unhappy about the setback.
"Told you so..." The man in dark sea-green muttered in dull monotone that somehow still conveyed irritation. The woman, who had since dismounted, elbowed him in the ribs and shook her head.
The remaining alchemist boy was frantic, gaze of gilded orbs darting between the ground and his candyfloss savior, latching onto their closest arm in open terror. The Troupemaster's brows angled in concern, before gloved hands seized the youth's shoulders and their posture stooped to bring their (already quite similar) heights closer together.
"Look, I'm going to need you to calm down now, as outrageous a request as that probably sounds like." The pink-haired man (or, at least, a being of a notably ambiguously gendered visage) spoke with a firm and grounding gentleness. Their voice was soft and smooth as silk, almost too flawless a tune to belong to a human. Then again, was anyone even human around these parts...? Wonderland had a tendency to gleefully disagree.
Familiarity was the kind of luxury not easily afforded in a puzzle of worlds, after all. And now, the boy's sole kin was whisked away between the cracks.
"I'll help you. I promise I will. But for now, we have to get out of here, lest we share his fate and get scattered every which way. Not a fan of that personally, as I'm sure you would agree. Come!"
The magician's hand found one of metal; A reminder of the child's part machine identity. Whatever had happened to render his limbs of flesh away from him...? A question that begged for an answer, but the being of Wonderland knew well not to inquire too hastily.
Almost as if on cue, a thin line crisscrossed the ground where Edward had stood just moments prior, snaking and writhing as reality itself struggled in vain to regain shape. The entire sector was unstable due to the influence of the great shattered beast, the Mind of which was now yelling for them to run as a handwatch clicked all over again, enveloping the merry band and the boy alike in a bubble of accelerated spacetime.
"Wow! Talk about immediately relevant foreshadowing!~" The person in pink giggled with a not insignificant degree of nervousness.
"Quickly! The connexon..!" The plantlike woman called out, a motion of her parasol causing vines to emerge from the soil and climb upwards rapidly, forming an improvised bridge that led back to the overlooking cliff.
There was another rift, far more stable than the flickering and spreading ones left below. This time, it led seamlessly to some strange black and red dimension, the ground beneath giving way to a smooth crimson surface.
It was only then that the group finally stopped running, the sound of panting and the occasional cuss overtaking the otherwise perfect silence of this strange inbetween. Were the boy to look over his shoulder, he would be met with the warped image of the sunless realm of fungi, quivering like the surface of a disturbed pond before it flickered out altogether, leaving a gaping chasm of nothingness where there once was land.
Like a wound upon the world, leading straight out into the depths of space. Somehow, physics seemed not to mind the sudden window into the vacuum. The particles of air were thankfully not too keen on being violently sucked out and taking everyone else with them. Now that would be quite the unsatisfying conclusion to the renowned Fullmetal's story.
"Wow, I sure am glad we're not dead!" the magician recovered their breath and promptly announced, in a tone far too perky for the situation at hand.
All was well that ended well - or so the rumors said.