"LET GO OF MY WRIST ED!" Aura yelled furiously, pulling against his grip to swing and stab at Lucien, but Edward held fast. "He doesn't deserve to live! Dammit Ed, he killed my mother! She deserves vengeance!" she struggled against Edward's grasp, but he wouldn't give in. Hearing what she said about her mother though, he was shocked and his heart felt heavy with sadness for Aura.

"Even so Aura, is this really the way you think your mother would have wanted this to go? She wouldn't have wanted you to be a murderer like he is! This isn't you Aura, that's not who you are!" Edward told her, trying to calm her down. He felt her arm trembling as he held it in place. "You told me that you wanted to help people, and you've done that for me. You have a good, strong heart Aura, don't let his darkness stain your hands, please."

Hearing Edward speak slowly brought Aura to her senses. She had felt so much built up anger and hatred, she couldn't control herself for that moment, when she had the bar up ready to kill the person who had taken so much from her. She was thankful that Edward was there to remind her that she was better than that. That she was better than him. Her breathing slowed, as she dropped the metal rod and let go of Lucien's shirt, who then fell to the floor in front of her. Edward moved between the two of them and held her by her shoulders and looked at her. He saw her face, and her eye and how it was cut badly and swollen shut, and his heart sank.

"We need to get you some help Aura, can you walk?" said Edward to her, and she looked at him and smiled.

"Yeah... don't worry, I'll be fine. But look, I think this is what you need... to get home." She pointed towards the array on the floor.

"Yeah it is, I met someone upstairs that can get it working, but right now I want to make sure you're taken care of, Aura, I can't leave you like this..." He had started to help walk her out, when suddenly he noticed her look at something behind him, over his shoulder.

"You...you're weak Aura, you should have killed me when you had the chance!" Lucien lunged towards Edward, aiming to plunge the metal bar into his back.

"NO!" screamed Aura, and she used all the strength she had left in her to grab Edward and turn him away from Lucien's path, shielding him. The sound of metal penetrating flesh left a sickening wet echo in Edward's mind as he watched over Aura's shoulder as Lucien sank the metal into her back before collapsing backwards to the ground.

It was Edward's turn to scream as he held Aura, who was hugging herself against him closely. He could feel her legs giving out from under her as she looked up at him weakly with tears forming in her good eye. "Get...home...Ed. They're waiting...for you there. Go..." Those last words didn't make it past her lips as she passed out in his arms. As she sank to the floor so did he, holding her close and begging her to wake up. He noticed that Lucien had gotten back up to his feet and was coming towards them. He put Aura down and went to fight him away.

Aura woke up to the sound of Edward and Lucien fighting somewhere behind her. She felt her face, blood coating her fingers. She had to make sure he got home. To her that was all that mattered in that moment. She pushed herself up and slowly started crawling forward, her arms reaching out and pulling her on. The wound in her back sending out waves of pain through her body as her hands left smears of blood along her path. She wasn't aware enough to notice it, but she had moved towards the center of the room, just outside the circle on the floor. Just a little further. I can help him get home, just have to find the controls. Her strength was fading quickly, each move exhausted her further. She reached out once more and landed her bloodied hands just inside the circle, and from there she couldn't move anymore.

The pattern on the floor started to glow, its color flashed a bright blue and white, which started sending up waves of color, swirling within the circular line along the floor. It grew more intense, creating a whirlwind that blew papers and debris around the room. Edward and Lucien had each frozen in place when they saw the light coming from the array.

"The portal, it's been activated?!" cried out Lucien, witnessing the event for the first time since he had started his research years before.

"Yeah, but how?! I thought it could only be activated by someone..." Edward said before noticing Lucien had begun his attack again and lunged out of the way. He landed a solid kick to the back of Lucien's head with his automail left leg. With Lucien stunned, Edward took the opportunity to grab him by the front of his shirt and pull him up towards his face. "This is for Aura! You deserve a lot more than this, you sick bastard!" Edward yelled as he socked Lucien in the face with his right arm. Lucien collapsed in a heap on the ground under the impact of Ed's metal fist. Once he knew Lucien was down for the count, he rushed over to Aura, who had been pushed back from the circle and against one of the structures surrounding it.

He turned her over and pulled her up into a seated position against him. She stirred and looked at him with a weak, watery gaze to her eye. "I told you... go home. You have to... get back to your family. Please... make it back... for me?" she said softly, pausing to catch her breath between words before fading out again.

"But how can I leave you like this? I can't do it... I won't do it! I won't lose another person I care for because of my problems!" Edward cried out. He watched as the portal he was all too familiar with open in the center of the room.

From the balcony above him, blocked from view by the machine behind him, he could hear Hohenheim yelling down to him "You have to go through it now Ed, there isn't much time!"

Oh no, what do I do? If I leave her here, Lucien will kill her for sure. But if I don't go, I may never get to go back home, like she wanted me to. Thinking of her last words to him before she passed out, he knew what he had to do, but he had to move fast.

Ed looked at the portal, then back at Aura, and picked her up into his arms and started walking towards it. I can't leave her here to die, not after all she's done for me. She saved my life more than once since I've been here, I can't let her suffer for it! His mind focused on the portal, he held her close and stepped into the circle, fighting the currents of air and light that were being emitted from it.

Hohenheim made it to the ground floor and entered the room. He found Lucien unconscious against some machinery back from the circle, and as he looked to the portal, he saw Edward moving into it. But wait, what was he carrying? It looked like a girl, not much older than Edward. And for a moment he wondered what was going on. A glimmer of recollection shone in his eyes as he got a closer look at the girl. Then, visibly shaken, he cried out to Edward.

"Aura! Wait... Ed!" Just as Ed got to the entrance of the portal, he thought he heard someone yelling out and turned to see his father yelling out from the edge of the room. The sound of the portal was overwhelming, but he thought he had heard Hohenheim calling out Aura's name. But how could that be? He had never even told Hohenheim that he had come here with anyone else. The thought soon left his mind as he started to feel himself being broken down by the portal. Holding Aura close, they stepped through the threshold and got lost in the darkness as the portal closed around them.