"Russell, how much farther?"
The group had been running for several minutes already, and still hadn't caught up with Mugear. He was surely at the spring by now, and had likely set some sort of trap.
"The spring where the red water comes out is just up ahead. We're almost there."
As they got closer, though, they found a wall had been hastily constructed in the middle of the tunnel.
"Mugear blocked our path!"
"He forgot who he's dealing with." Ed scoffed, slapping his hands together and slamming them against the wall. It crumbled easily, but they found that Mugear was indeed waiting for them. With a cannon.
He wasted no time priming it to fire, and the teens barely had time to get out of the way. Russell grabbed Fletcher and pulled him to safety while Al grabbed Jessie, and Ed hid behind a section of the previously standing wall.
As Al held onto Jessie, he realized that her body was trembling. Was that an effect of the poison? He knew that it must be, and that they needed to get her to the hospital quickly.
"I'll never surrender the spring!" Mugear shouted, "As long as I have the red water, nothing can stop me – least of all a diminutive State Alchemist and his copy-cat friends!"
"Diminutive State Alchemist…" Ed echoed, "Points for the big word, but you're still going down!"
Mugear prepared the cannon for another round, and Ed reconstructed the wall so the blast was held in with him. The wall didn't hold perfectly, and crumbled at the end, in time to see Mugear on the ground in pain.
"You see now?" Ed asked, standing over him, "Even with your stones, I'm on a whole other level."
Suddenly the ground began to shake.
"What's happening?"
"The cannon blasts are destabilizing the tunnel," Jessie realized, "We need to go!"
"Ed, that's enough – let's get out of here!" Russell called, waiting beside Jessie and ready to haul him out physically if necessary.
Ed glanced at them before looking back to Mugear, finding him crawling closer to the spring. Some part of Ed wanted to talk him down, but the other part knew that wasn't going to happen.
"I'll never surrender the spring," Mugear said.
And indeed he didn't. As he pressed closer to it, water began spraying out from various cracks in the surrounding rocks, and the destabilized tunnel collapsed on top of him.
Ed stared in horror. He'd never seen someone be literally crushed to death before.
"Edward, come on!" Jessie shouted, running to his side and grabbing his arm. Russell was right beside her, and as he took hold of Ed's other arm, he saw Jessie's fingers shaking. A glance at her face revealed that her skin was pale, and her eyes glassy.
"Ed, look at your sister." Russell commanded when the other boy didn't respond to them. That was what finally caught his attention, and his eyes turned to Jessie. He took in her pale face and glazed eyes with one quick look, and quickly took charge.
"Alright, let's go."
Ed led the way out of the tunnel, and as the other two followed behind, Jessie spoke to Russell.
"That was a dirty trick."
"Effective, though." He shrugged, "And I'd do it again. You need to get to a doctor, Jessie."
She brushed off his concern, but she knew he was right – she could feel her body getting weaker by the minute. Pretty soon she'd be feeling like she was back in the basement.
Suddenly Russell stopped running and looked back, and Jessie stopped beside him.
"Do you hear that..?" He murmured, and she stopped to listen.
"Rushing water," She realized, "The red water's overflowing."
Ed constructed a wall to hold the water inside the tunnel behind them.
"That should hold it for now."
"Won't it just come out somewhere else?"
Everyone looked to Al when he spoke. No one wanted to admit it, but he was right – the water would just find another place to escape the tunnels.
"That shockwave probably weakened the support beams," Russell said, "We should leave, now."
No one argued with him, and they all started running again.
Once outside, they saw that the red water was spilling over the mountain. Thinking quickly, Ed began constructing walls to surround it and contain the water, and Jessie moved to help.
"Jessie, don't!" Al called, "You're too weak – let us handle this!"
"I have to help, Al. You know that."
"Is she always this stubborn..?" Russell muttered as he went after her. He didn't see Al's nod.
As soon as she'd finished the wall, he took her arm and led her away from it, rejoining the others at the top of the hill. He had an arm around her waist to help her walk, and she leaned heavily on him. He doubted that she even realized what she was doing though, and was sure that if she knew, she wouldn't be so close to him.
Her eyes were falling closed again, and he knew they needed to do something, fast. But with the water being another immediate problem, what could they do? Thinking quickly, he walked her over to a tree a safe distance away from the red water and sat her down, then pulled the red stone from his pocket.
"Alright, this should help for a little bit."
Jessie was too far gone to even answer. All she knew was that she was tired, so tired. And her entire body ached. She saw a dim glow of red light, and tried to focus on it. She'd seen it somewhere before, she was sure of it. But where..?
The glowing dimmed until it finally went out completely, and Russell stood and walked away. At least, she thought he did. But somehow, she thought she felt something touch her forehead after he had gone. Was it something else? Or was he still there? She didn't know. But she didn't care enough to find out either. She was beyond caring now.
Her eyes slipped closed again, and this time she did nothing to stop them.
...
When she opened her eyes again, she was no longer sitting beneath a tree outside. She was in a bed, in a small white room. As she looked around, she saw all four boys gathered around her.
"Wha..?"
She could barely form the word, so she licked her cracked lips and tried again.
"What happened..?"
"You passed out, Jess," Al explained, "We got you to the hospital, and the doctors gave you some medicine. You're gonna be okay now."
"Still so tired…"
"That's to be expected, after what you've been through," Russell spoke up, "But the doctors want you to stay overnight for rest and observation, and you'll be released tomorrow. So you can just take it easy for now."
"That's something she's not very good at," Ed quipped.
"Well, she's gonna get plenty of practice today."
"What happened… to the red water?" Jessie asked next. "Did the walls contain it?"
"We took care of it," Fletcher said, but before he could say more, Russell cut in.
"But you'll have to wait until tomorrow to find out the details. We're not going to tell you anything until you've rested."
"And we should let you get to that," Al said, and the boys all stood and turned to the door.
"We'll be back to check on you later," Ed promised.
Jessie didn't know what she would do with her time now. She'd only just woke up, so she doubted she'd be ready to go back to sleep so soon.
...
In the end, she needn't have worried. She fell back asleep almost instantly. When she woke again, sunlight was streaming in through the window. Russell sat in a chair beside the bed, snoring softly.
She smiled when she saw him. For everything that'd happened, he was a good guy. He came through when he needed to, and Jessie felt that she could count on him if she ever got into trouble. If they were ever in a bad situation, he'd have her back.
At that moment he stirred and opened his eyes, smiling when he met her gaze. This time she didn't look away.
"Good morning," He whispered.
"Good morning. How long have you been there?"
He glanced up at the clock briefly, then shrugged.
"Not long. So, are you hungry? I could bring you something."
Jessie smiled at his eagerness, but shook her head. She wasn't hungry. What she wanted most was to leave the hospital, but she knew she had to wait for the doctor's approval for that. There was no way her brothers would let her leave without it.
"No, I'm not hungry. I just want to get out of here."
Russell smiled.
"I can understand that. Don't worry, you'll be back at Belsio's house by tonight."
"We'll need to be heading back to Central soon."
"The next train doesn't leave until tomorrow," Russell countered, "So you're here until then at least. Besides, I doubt your brothers would let you travel today anyway."
"You're probably right about that. But they don't need to worry – I'm fine."
"Jess, you were poisoned. That sort of thing takes a lot out of you. And you're still recovering. I know you're used to looking after your brothers, but you have to look after yourself too."
Jessie knew he was right, but that didn't mean she had to like it. She didn't like sitting around and waiting for things, especially her own recovery.
...
The doctors did release Jessie pretty early that morning, and she walked out of the hospital on her own feet despite her brothers' protests.
Back at Belsio's house, everyone insisted she take it easy and rest all day, a fact she rather resented. She felt fine, and all the fussing was unnecessary. But her opinion didn't change anything.
The day was relatively uneventful. The boys told Jessie about what happened after she passed out, how they used the trees surrounding the mansion to soak up the red water. They had to destroy the trees afterward though, a fact that no one was very happy about.
That night, everyone went their separate ways to prepare for bed. Ed and Jessie shared a room, as did Russell and Fletcher, while Al stayed downstairs doing whatever it was he did at night.
For a simple farmhouse, Belsio's home had more rooms than anyone would have guessed. He and Elisa had their own rooms on top of the others, and there was even a study. Some of Russell and Fletcher's books had been brought over from the mansion, and Jessie almost wished she had time to read more of them.
...
Jessie couldn't sleep. She wasn't surprised, really – she hadn't slept well since she and the boys left Central, but she'd been sleeping a lot during her illness.
Sitting up, she glanced over at Ed's sleeping form and smiled slightly. Out like a light. Climbing off the bed, she walked to the door silently, stepping out into the hallway and moving to the stairs.
She thought she might go the study and read for a while. Russell had made it abundantly clear that she was more than welcome to look through any of his books, so she decided to take him up on the offer.
When she reached the study, however, she found that she wasn't alone.
"Couldn't sleep?" Russell's honey-smooth voice questioned from his seat at the desk. He had a book open before him and a notepad nearby, pencil in hand as he took notes on whatever subject had his interest at the moment.
"Yeah, guess I'm not the only one."
Jessie stepped into the room and closed the door, mindful of Al's presence in the room down the hall. Then she moved to the bookshelf, feeling Russell's eyes on her as she scanned the titles until she found one she was interested in.
Most of the books were naturally about plants, and agricultural alchemy, which Jessie found herself becoming very interested in. She tried to tell herself that her interest was solely based on the fact that it was a use for alchemy that she'd never seen before, and that it had nothing to do with the user of said alchemy.
But she feared it was a losing battle.
"Guess not." Russell said. It took Jessie a minute to realize he was answering her earlier statement about not being able to sleep.
"I study when I can't sleep." She said, "I feel like I should be doing something productive with my time if I'm not resting."
She didn't know why she was telling him this, but he nodded as though he understood.
"I do the same thing, actually."
Jessie smiled at that. It was something they had in common, then. Something she could relate to. Somehow, that only made her like him even more. Damn.
She continued to look over the books, surprised to find some on biology too. She pulled one off the shelf, flipping it open as she asked, "Are these all yours, or did your father collect them?"
"A little of both, actually."
"Hm."
Jessie didn't say anything else for a few moments, and went back to the book in her hands. She assumed that Russell went back to his studies, but she felt like he was watching her, maybe wanted to say something.
There was something she wanted to say to him too, and maybe now was a good time to say it. Taking a deep breath, she turned to face him.
"I… I wanted to thank you," She began, "For giving me the red stone earlier, and for helping me with the guard. You saved my life twice."
"Jess, you don't have to thank me for that," Russell smiled, "I couldn't let the guard shoot you – you're too pretty for that."
Jessie blushed at his words and opened her mouth to speak, but he wasn't finished.
"And as for the stone… don't thank me for that. It was because of me that you were poisoned in the first place, so I certainly don't deserve thanks for trying to make it right."
Jessie frowned at that but, unsure of what else to say, turned back to her book. Russell said nothing further for a few moments, and when he spoke again it was on a different subject.
"Would you agree with the theory that everyone needs someone to rely on?" He began, sounding as though he were discussing an academic topic, "That everyone needs someone to care about, to… love?"
Jessie thought it over for a moment, then nodded.
"I suppose so. It stands to reason that everyone should have someone in their life that they can depend on. But why do you ask? Are you researching human interaction?"
"Not exactly."
Russell stood up from the desk and moved to stand by Jessie.
"I think that everyone needs someone special in their lives," He whispered, "Even me, even you. And I want to be someone… that you need."
Jessie's breath caught in her throat. She knew he'd been flirting with her since they'd met, but this… this was something totally new. He wanted to be someone she needed?
"You… you don't know me…" She tried, though it was a feeble attempt.
"That's my point. I want to know you. Everything about you, inside and out."
"You know I'm leaving tomorrow."
"But you could come to visit. Or I could come to Central. And we could write."
He was certainly determined. Jessie wasn't sure what to say to that. She set the book down.
"I could be older than you. Doesn't that bother you?"
"Why should it?" Russell shrugged. "Does it bother you?"
She wanted to say yes. If she did, she could walk away and never look back. He would let her go.
But did she really him to?
"No," She answered honestly, "It doesn't bother me."
"Good. It doesn't bother me either."
He pressed one soft kiss on the side of her neck.
"You're something entirely new to me. You're different. And you're wonderful."
"I- I'm not wonderful." She protested, "I'm nothing special at all. I'm boring." She tried to think of a rational argument, but it wasn't easy with his fingers kneading her neck like they were.
"Why don't you let me decide that, hm? Give me a chance to find out for myself." He pressed a kiss to her neck again, turning her in his arms until she was fully facing him, then added a kiss to her chin.
"I want you, Jessie."
Then he pressed his lips to hers.
She wanted to push him away, to shout at him, tell him to stop. But the pressure of his mouth on hers made it hard to think, hard to want to do anything but stay right where she was. Almost as quick as it started, it was over, and Jessie was left gasping for breath while Russell stared down at her with a small smile.
"Oh," She breathed.
"So what do you think now?" He asked.
"I think…" She touched a finger to her lip curiously, "…it bears further investigation."
Russell chuckled lowly.
"I agree."
Then he kissed her again.
Fin