A/N: Three cheers for plot development and badass fight scenes. Enjoy!

Also, a big thanks to my beta readers: Mirror and Image. You girls were great!

Chapitre.X: What Comes Around

Yous Well Lake was a misnomer. It was actually a huge underwater spring that the town had been build around. The townspeople didn't usually permit people to bathe in their only water source, but now that there were no townspeople, that rule was abandoned. Fay had stripped down to his thin white pants and, with Mokona hanging onto his shoulder, jumped into the lake moments after Mrs. Halling had suggested a bath.

"Don't just stand there, Kuro-pu!" Fay said, waving to Kurogane who stood on the dock above him with arms crossed. "The water's nice! And you could use the bath."

"Just what are you implying?" Kurogane said.

"Mokona, would you say it's like a decaying rat stink, or more of a dung in a molding canvass bag stink?" Fay said to the little white blob on his shoulder.

"Both!" Mokona chirped. "Times a hundred!"

"And what about you? I'm not the idiot who wrapped himself in a freaking parka in the desert for the last three days!" Kurogane yelled.

"Well, I'm not the one refusing to bathe," Fay said. He grinned and disappeared under the water.

Kurogane glanced around to make sure no one was looking and then lifted his arm to take a whiff. He made no expression, but his eyes watered a bit. Grumbling, he began stripping down to his undershirt and pants (all black, of course.) Just as he'd gotten his last boot off, he felt someone rushing at him from behind. He sidestepped at the last second and watched Fay lose his balance off the end of the dock and splash into the lake. Fay bobbed to the surface a few moments later, looking sour.

"Teh!" Kurogane said, grinning wolfishly. "Did you really just try to sneak up on a ninj—?"

"Super PUSH!"

Kurogane uttered a grumble of surprise as he found himself pushed clear of the dock and hanging over open water. The splash he made as he entered the lake's calm surface created powerful waves to rival those in the ocean. Seconds later, Kurogane exploded from the water, creating a small rainstorm.

"I'M GONNA KILL YOU MORONS!" he roared and made a lunge for Mokona.

"Revenge of Kurozilla!" Mokona said, seconds before being snatched up by Kurogane and hurled to the other side of the lake.

"Seems this Big Doggie doesn't like baths," Fay said, lazily backstroking away from Kurogane.

"Yeah, and when I'm finished with you, you ain't either," Kurogane said, making a wild grab.

Fay easily dodged and countered by splashing Kurogane in the face.

From where Syaoran stood with Sakura in the makeshift graveyard, the sounds of splashing and Mokona's high-pitched squeal of fake terror floated over to them, echoing off the valley walls.

"Sounds like they're having fun," Syaoran said.

Beside him, Sakura was bending down to place a dandelion—the closest thing she could find to a flower out here—on one of the graves.

"They won't talk to me," Sakura said. Her voice was wavering and small.

"What?" Syaoran said. "Who?"

"Them," Sakura said, her hand hovering over a grave as if it world electrocute her if she touched it. "They're still here, but too shocked and scared to move on. They're upset and wandering and lost, but they won't talk to me. They won't even look at me."

She looked up at Syaoran, tears in her eyes. "I think they sense that it was my power that did this to them. And so they want nothing to do with me."

Syaoran looked out into the remains of the town, unable to see the lost souls that Sakura saw. He wished very much that he could, if only to tell them what a kind-hearted, wonderful person Sakura was and that they had no right to be angry with her. She was innocent.

"You don't know that's the reason they are ignoring you," Syaoran said. "Maybe they don't see you at all just like I can't see them. Like you said, they're still in shock. Give them some time to adjust to the trauma. They may yet come around."

Sakura breathed in deeply, "Yes. You're right. Sometimes I see spirits that don't see me. Maybe they're just not in the right state of mind to communicate."

She looked up at Syaoran with just the glimmer of a smile. "You did it again. You kept me rooted. You and everyone never let my imagination get too much of me."

They sat in silence for a few moments. Sakura's eyes followed around some unseen person.

"What do you think about the feather stopping alchemy?" Sakura said. "When I first heard Edward-san say what the feather did, I was relieved. I felt like it was a good thing. But now that I've really thought about it, I'm so torn. The feather still allows destruction, but won't allow someone else to help. And it may force whoever has the feather to just go on making more destruction in a different area."

"I do believe a part of you resides in those feathers even when separated from you," Syaoran said. "And it could very well be that the remnants of your will are limiting the power used with the feather. But don't forget that we're in a different world and the laws of nature could be slightly different than the laws of nature in Clow. The way alchemy reacts with the otherworldly power of the feather could be causing the neutralizing effect, not your will. The fact is that we may never know exactly why the feather is doing what it does, but the most important thing to do now is to get it back. That's what we need to focus on."

Sakura nodded. "I want this feather back more than I've ever wanted one before. This one is just too awful, Syaoran-kun. I wish we could find it. We haven't even come close yet."

"Mokona's on the lookout," Syaoran said. "And tomorrow we'll head out bright and early and hopefully not run into anymore things like this that will slow us down."

Sakura shivered—a strange thing for her to do in the heat. "I certainly hope we don't run into anything more like this. I don't think my heart can handle it."

After a moment's hesitation, Syaoran put both his hands on the girl's shoulders and turned her toward him to look her directly in the eyes.

"I promise you that I will do everything in my power to get this feather and all the others back to you as soon as possible," Syaoran said. "I will find them all—I swear it."

Sakura began to smile, but her expression turned to shock when Syaoran suddenly doubled over and slapped his hand to his left eye with a grunt of pain.

"Syaoran-kun, what's wrong?" Sakura said, reaching out, but not quite touching him. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Syaoran said, rubbing his left eye. "I just felt a pang. There must've been something in my eye." He blinked a few times and then smiled at Sakura. "Sorry to worry you. I think I'm okay now."

"That's your blind eye, isn't it?" Sakura said. She moved in closer to inspect Syaoran's face. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine," Syaoran said. "And besides, I'm already blind in that eye. It couldn't get much worse."

"That's no excuse not to take care of yourself," Sakura said. "If it's an infection, it could spread to your other eye. Just be careful. And if you feel any more pain, please tell me. Maybe we could get your eye examined somewhere in this world if we have to."

"Really, I'm fine," Syaoran said.

Sakura reached out and took Syaoran's hand. The boy instantly flushed red, and leaned back ever so slightly.

"I always want to know if you're in pain," Sakura said. "Don't hide it from me, okay? Don't play it tough. We have Kurogane-san for that."

"O—okay," Syaoran said, wondering if his face was as beet red as it felt. "But please don't worry. I—I've never felt better."

Sakura studied his face for a moment before letting go of Syaoran's hand and standing up. "I'm going to look for more dandelions. Maybe some flowers if I can find any."

"Be careful," Syaoran said. "Don't go too far."

"I won't," Sakura said. She wandered away, moving toward a patch of green grass not too far from the wreckage of the inn where the Hallings were still pawing through the rubble for salvageable items.

Syaoran watched Sakura move around the patch of grass while he resisted the urge to rub his eye just in case the girl were to turn around and catch him. Of course, Syaoran wasn't going to tell Sakura that his eye had been throbbing on and off for weeks now. He wasn't going to tell her that sometimes he could see things through his left eye; things that he didn't recognize and that were certainly not on the same physical plane as he was. He couldn't tell Sakura these things just like he couldn't tell her his true feelings for her. It pained him to lie to her, but he felt like, in the end, it was the kinder thing.

The unmistakable sound of Al's clanking armor stirred Syaoran out of his grim reverie. He turned around to see Ed and Al approaching. Ed clutched a small glass vile of dirt in his left hand.

"This whole area is like an alchemic dead zone," Ed said to Syaoran once he was within earshot. "I couldn't so much as transmute one blade of grass into another here. But the ground just beyond the edge of the village is fine. Whoever did this definitely had it in for this town."

"What are you doing with that vial of soil?" Syaoran asked.

"Sending it to my superiors in my next report," Ed said. "They'll want it for analysis."

"Can you imagine if they're able to duplicate the effect?" Al said. "You could make anything immune to alchemy. It would be a huge advantage in any war."

"Yeah, well I don't like it one bit," Ed said. "It's unnatural."

Fay approached the group then, carrying Mokona and wearing an entirely different outfit than he had been when he left for the lake. His robe had been replaced by a set of khaki pants and red suspenders over a billowy white linen shirt.

"What do you think of my new look? The clothes were recovered from the ruins and Halling-san said I could have them," Fay said. "A much better choice than my robe in this climate, don't you think?"

"I'd almost mistake you for a normal person," Ed said.

"What did you do with your robe?" Al said. "It looked too expensive just to throw away."

"I gave it to Mokona for safe-keeping, of course," Fay said. He hugged Mokona who had gone back into toy mode with the Hallings so close.

"Where's Kurogane?" Syaoran said.

Fay grinned. "I suspect he's looking for his clothes. I hid them very well. He'll be searching for hours."

Mokona giggled discretely.

The sun set rapidly after dinner. Mrs. Halling had made a thin rabbit stew with some salvaged food. To the travelers, it was the most substantial thing they'd eaten in days. The entire pot was gone in minutes and everyone relaxed into an after-dinner stupor between being alert and drowsy. The stars popped into existence one by one in the sky as the full moon brightened.

"Want a swig?" Halling said, holding out a beer bottle to the group on the other side of the fire. Kyle was asleep in his lap and Mrs. Halling was curled up on a blanket just a few feet away.

Fay reached out for the bottle with a gleam in his eye, but Kurogane shoved his arm down.

"These three are never allowed to drink in my presence again," Kurogane said. "You have no idea the horror you'd unleash."

"Besides, most of us are still underage," Ed said. "You'd be aiding the delinquency of a minor."

Halling smiled. "I forget sometimes, Elric. That look in your eye makes you seem about ten years older, despite appearances."

Ed raised an eyebrow. "Huh? What look?"

"The look that you've experienced everything a parent tries to protect his children from," Halling said. He put a hand on Kyle's shoulder. "The burden of the world on your shoulders."

The man's eyes flicked over to where Syaoran's group was sitting. "You four have the look too."

Fay said, "Well. And here I thought I was doing a good job hiding it."

"It's something you can't hide," Halling said. He nodded in the direction of Ed and Al. "How did you get mixed up with these two kids?"

"We're both looking for the same thing," Syaoran said. "The feather."

"Are you alchemists too?" Halling asked.

"No," Syaoran said. "But finding the feather is important to us."

"Important for what?" Halling asked, his eyes narrowing.

"Don't worry, Halling-san," Fay said. "We have no interest in using the feather."

"In fact, we're on a mission to make sure no one ever uses the feather again," Sakura said, her voice loud and resolute. "I can't stand the thought of it being out there for one more second."

Halling sat back a bit. "That's a relief. You can't possibly try to use that thing for any sort of personal goal. From what I've heard, it corrupts people. Taints minds and brings out the worst in humanity."

"Only in the weak," Ed said immediately. "Any kind of alchemy, even amplified alchemy, can be controlled and used as a force for good. You just have to have the stronger will."

"Are you saying that you have the will to wield the power of the feather for good, Ed-kun?" Fay said, looking at Ed out of the corner of his eye.

"Yes," Ed said. "Of course I do."

Syaoran glared at Ed from across the fire, scrutinizing him. "Just what do you want with the feather? I thought you were here because the military ordered you to help us find it."

"I have orders," Ed said. "Very specific orders. My career is on the line here. And there are other things at stake that you couldn't understand even if you tried."

"Ed-kun," Fay said. He had his head in his chin as he smirked sideways at Ed. "Are you saying that we'll have to fight you for the feather?"

Syaoran tensed and Kurogane moved ever so slightly to put his hand on his sword.

"That's exactly what I'm sa—" Ed said.

"MEKYO!"

Mokona, with big purple eyes open wide, leaped up in the air. Halling yelped and jumped back, dropping Kyle off his lap. The group, already tense, had risen to their feet out of shock. Kurogane had pulled out his sword and Syaoran was yelling for Hien, which Mokona quickly released.

"That thing's alive?" Halling yelled, pulling his dazed son off the ground. "What's wrong with it?"

"It's okay, Halling-san," Al said. "It's a… friend."

"Mokona!" Syaoran said, once Hien was safely in his hands. "The feather—it's here?"

Mokona, still floating in the air, lifted an ear as if listening to a faint melody. "Yes. It's very close."

"Where?" Kurogane said.

"Just beyond the town," Mokona said. "The feather isn't moving. Like it's waiting."

"A trap?" Al said.

"Most likely," Kurogane said. "Or we're being spied on."

"Or both," Ed said. He turned to Halling. "Stay here. This chimera senses the feather nearby. I think Yoki's come back to the scene of the crime. As long as you stay within the borders of the town, you can't be hurt by alchemy. And I'm sure you can take Yoki in hand-to-hand combat if he tries to assault you here."

Halling pulled Kyle close. "You be careful out there. If he could bring down a building, I'd hate to see what he could do to a human being."

Ed nodded and followed the rest of the group as they headed for the edge of town. They were all completely silent as they entered the open desert, the only sound being the sand shifting under their feet and Al's clanking armor. The moon was bright in the cloudless sky, bathing the desert in a soft blue glow.

Mokona gave them directions, acting as a homing beacon to navigate the dunes. After only a few minutes of walking, Mokona told them to stop.

"Straight ahead," Mokona said. "That is where Mokona can feel the feather waiting."

There, maybe fifty yards away, was a rock jutting up from the sand. On its surface sat the feather, emitting a soft white light.

Ed and Syaoran stole glances at one another and tensed as if daring the other to make the first move. As they watched, a light desert breeze plucked at the feather's delicate form, threatening to blow it out of reach. Syaoran bit his lip and Ed murmured a curse. The wind picked up and at the same moment they both bounded forward.

"Syaoran-kun!" Sakura said, taking off after them.

"Stop you morons!" Kurogane roared. "It's a trap!"

Kurogane barely had time to get the words out before a bright red ring formed on the sand in a twenty-yard radius around the stone. Sheets of what looked like glass shot out from the glowing sand and angled in such a way as to create a makeshift dome that encased Ed, Syaoran, and Sakura inside. Sakura stopped and watched the barrier go up, but Ed and Syaoran paid little attention to what was happening around them.

The two boys reached the center of the dome at the same time and made a wild grab for the feather. But the moment before either of them laid a hand on it, the feather dimmed, crinkled, and disintegrated like a flower wilting on fast-forward.

"What the!" Ed exclaimed.

"It's a decoy," Syaoran said, backing away.

A new voice from behind chimed: "You're the decoy. So I'm told."

Syaoran didn't have time to turn around before he felt something connect with his gut that sent him flying backward. He hit the sand and slid several feet, coming to a stop only when his head cracked against the glass that made up the south side of the dome.

His vision filled with stars; he couldn't tell if he was moving his limbs or if it was just his head swimming as he struggled to make his lungs work.

Somewhere distantly he could hear Sakura calling his name through the ringing in his ears.

Sakura… I'm sorry.

In the middle of the dome, Ed recovered from watching Syaoran take the hit and whirled around to face his attacker.

"You!" Ed growled, transmuting his automail into a blade. "Give me the feather, Yoki! Don't make me hurt you."

The figure of a boney man stood only feet from Ed, his shoulders hunched. Ed gulped as he realized that just a shadow of the man he once knew appeared before him. Yoki's eyes, which had been small and beady to begin with, were now dark and lifeless. He stared at Ed with such hatred that Ed could almost feel it.

"You can't hurt me, Edward Elric," Yoki spat the name as if it were a curse, his voice grated on itself like sandpaper. "You've already killed me. Taken everything. I want you to pay. Like I paid. With everything. It'll be an equal trade."

Ed scoffed. "You can't even string a sentence together. Am I really supposed to be scar—?"

"It's all a circle!" Yoki said.

He clapped his hands together, held them there tightly, and shut his eyes.

"They say what goes around, comes around," Yoki said. "They just say it. Well, I say that I saw it come around! I saw how the water we drink is thousands of years old because it's sucked into the air only to rain back down. How one tree can rain down thousands of its seeds and animals are born only to reproduce again and again. One bacterium splits itself and those split and those split and they can cover the Earth!"

Yoki opened his eyes to stare at Edward again. Ed shifted, wondering if he could just strike now and finish it instead of letting the insane little man rant. But something about what he was saying touched Ed deep in a dark corner of his mind. It made the backs of his eyes itch.

"All these cycles of life and death," he said. "And you're going to tell me that I shouldn't kill you? That you should somehow be immune to the cycle? I won't stand for it! I will take everything from you. The Circle demands it."

Yoki unclasped his hands and threw them to the ground. Ed only had a moment to be shocked by that fact that Yoki didn't need a transmutation circle before he found himself frantically dodging shards of glass that popped out of the sand as if they were being fired from a machine gun.

As Ed ran, he noticed, with the very small part of his brain that wasn't currently occupied, that Yoki's transmutations were extremely sloppy. If the man had been trained in the use of alchemy at all, Ed wouldn't have stood a chance in such an enclosed space. After all, it would only take a basic understanding of the elements that made up the air inside the dome to know that he could turn it into a burning inferno and cook Ed alive. But what Yoki lacked in precision and finesse, he made up with a terrifying amount of power and speed. What little he did know how to do, he did it over and over with no rest in between. It didn't seem to tire him like normal alchemy. And he seemed to know about the feather's limitations because he never did anything too big, lest he give Ed a dead zone where he would have relative safety.

Yoki paused his assault for only a moment, which gave Ed just enough time to attempt to transmute a spear from the sand. But the sand was too brittle and quickly disintegrated in his hands. A stalagmite of glass exploded just inches from him and he was on the run again.

Meanwhile, Sakura was running to where Syaoran was laying barely conscious on the sand beside the clear barrier. Kurogane, Fay, and Al with Mokona on his shoulder stood on the other side trying to find a way in.

"This isn't glass!" Kurogane said, pounding the surface of the dome. "It's about a thousand times thicker."

"Not to mention more durable. I don't suppose you can easily slash it with a sword," Fay said. "Perhaps we can dig underneath it."

Al shook his head. "I saw the barrier come up. It must run deep to keep this kind of stability. But was have to get in somehow. Nii-san can't keep that pace up much longer. Yoki'll kill him!"

Back inside the barrier, Sakura knelt by Syaoran's still form.

"Syaoran-kun!" Sakura cried, putting her hands on Syaoran's shoulders. His eyes were open, but unfocused and swimming. "Please be okay! Edward-san needs your help."

"Princess," he said. He didn't look at her when he said it. He couldn't. "Run. Keep moving."

"You're hurt," Sakura said. "I can't just leave you here."

"Please go," he said. "I can't protect you right now. I know I promised it, but I can't…"

He trailed off and his body went limp as if he'd gone unconscious, but his eyes were still open. For a few dreadful moments, Sakura thought he had stopped breathing. But just as she started to panic, Syaoran sat up like as if he were being pulled up by invisible strings.

"Are you alright?" Sakura said. "Please say something."

He whipped his head to look at her. Sakura got the most curious feeling, as if she were staring into a mirror at the boy.

"Kid?" Kurogane asked, voice muffled from behind the barrier where he and Fay exchanged glances.

"I will find them all," Syaoran said, his voice without inflection. "I swear it."

And then he was on his feet and rushing at Yoki with Hien tight in his grip.

Bullets still flying at him, Ed took a running leap and landed beside the stone in the center of the dome. He managed to transmute the stone into a rock barrier and kneeled behind it, panting. But with Yoki just feet away showering the barrier with glass shards, the makeshift shield quickly began to crumble. Ed attempted to skewer Yoki by transmuting the sand around the crazed man into spears of sandstone, but none of his blind assaults connected. Feeling like he had no other option, Ed took a deep breath and prepared to rush Yoki with his bladed automail.

And then, suddenly, all the noise stopped. Ed heard what sounded like a big sack of cement fall to the ground. He chanced a look through the cracks in the rock and saw Syaoran standing over Yoki's unconscious form, the hilt of his sword having had connected with the back of Yoki's head. Ed sprang out from behind his barrier just as it crumbled.

"You didn't need to do that," Ed said. "I had it under control."

Without a word or even a glance in Ed's direction, Syaoran reached down to lift the feather, glowing brightly, from Yoki's pocket.

Ed's breath caught in his lungs. There had never been a doubt in his mind that the feather existed, but to see it within feet of him brought a whole flood of emotion that he wasn't expecting. All his guilt, pain, and misery seemed to evaporate in its presence. He hadn't wanted anything so badly since the day he and his brother stood before the grave of their mother.

Syaoran looked down at the feather in his hand and his demeanor instantly changed. He doubled over and put a hand to his head as if just suddenly realizing he was injured.

"The feather?" he murmured, staring in awe at it in his hand. "How?"

"Are you okay?" Ed said. "You don't look so good. I should hold onto that."

He held out his hand for the feather.

Syaoran looked at the outstretched hand and glared, pulling the object closer to him.

"This doesn't belong to you," Syaoran said.

"It doesn't belong to you either," Ed snapped.

"You don't have any idea what this is," Syaoran warned. "It has a proper place. Haven't you seen the damage it's done? The lives it's ruined? It's dangerous and shouldn't ever be used again."

"Don't tell me that you don't plan on using it for your own purposes," Ed lowered his eyes at Syaoran. "You said Princess is sick and the amplifier can cure her. None of you know the first thing about alchemy. Talk about dangerous. Maybe I can help you use it safely and in return you can let me—"

"You don't understand," Syaoran said, turning his back on Ed and walking away toward Sakura.

"No, you don't understand!" Ed shouted. Syaoran stopped, but didn't turn around.

"We have so little hope these days," Ed said, voice barely above a whisper. "The things we saw in that hell they called the Fifth Laboratory… It made everything so complicated. This may be our only chance. Don't you get it?"

Ed thought of Al, trapped in his iron prison and stripped of any true sensation.

"I can't take back what I've done to us," Ed said. "I can't make it right. But maybe I can repair it a little. And if I have to make some sacrifices, lose some friends, or fight for it, you better believe I will."

"How touching," a female voice said from behind Ed, the sound freezing the blood in his veins.

Ed and Syaoran whipped around to see a strikingly beautiful woman with pale skin and long black hair standing before them. Her slender fingers were on her chin and a devilish smirk was on her lips.

"Lust," Ed said for Syaoran's benefit. "She's another one of the homunculi. Watch out for her claws."

"I'll save you the trouble of a fight," Lust said. "Just be good boys and hand over the feather. After all, you said it yourself: it's dangerous."

She took a step forward, holding out a hand. "Come now, don't make this hard on yourself."

Syaoran and Ed only saw Kurogane come up behind Lust moments before his sword flashed and impaled the homunculus through the chest. Kurogane withdrew the blade and Lust looked down at the gaping wound and grinned wolfishly before falling to the ground. A substance that was too bright to be blood pooled around her curvaceous form.

"How did you get in here?" Syaoran said. Fay, Al, and Mokona were close behind Kurogane.

"That one bit a hole through the barrier," Fay said, pointing past Syaoran.

Syaoran and Ed turned around to see Gluttony standing there in ape posture with his tongue rolled out and a gleeful expression on his face.

Kurogane rushed at Gluttony, who simply rolled out of the way at the last moment and stood a few feet off as if taunting the ninja to try again.

"Tch," Kurogane said. "He's surprisingly light on his… stomach."

"Careful," Al said, looking warily down at Lust. "They don't stay dead for long."

"Princess!" Syaoran said to the girl running toward the group. "Stay back!"

"The feather!" Sakura said breathlessly, reaching out. "Please give it to me! Let this all end now."

Al saw Lust's eyes flash open, but before he could warn anyone she swiped viciously with her impossibly long claws in a circle around her. Her attack connected with Al's left side, leaving three gouges in his armor. Fay managed to dodge, but just barely. A few of his silver hairs fell to the sand. He and Al scattered when Gluttony came charging from behind, Kurogane on his tale.

Lust was up and rushing Syaoran, who still had the feather in his grip. Syaoran aimed for the claws on Lust's right hand with an uppercut with his sword. But Lust simply retracted the claws on her right hand and slashed with her left, forcing Syaoran back towards where Sakura had come to a stop. Ed joined them, his bladed automail flashing in the moonlight.

Syaoran only had a split-second to think about his next move. He turned to Sakura, yelled at her to brace herself, and pushed the feather against her chest.

Sakura went rigid and her eyes glazed over as the feather began sinking—ever so slowly—into the portal that had formed inches above her breast. Sakura sighed, feeling the feather brush the edges of her memory as unconsciousness pulled her in.

"Hey!" Ed shouted, staring at Sakura. "What are you doing to it?"

"Gluttony!" Lust said as she took a few well-aimed swipes at Syaoran and Ed, separating them from Sakura. Lust rushed them, pushing them further away from the girl.

Gluttony rolled out from under yet another of Kurogane's precision attacks, dodged a roundhouse from Al, and then launched himself at Sakura. He landed on all fours on her chest, bit onto the end of the feather that was still exposed, and kicked at Sakura's body with his stumpy little legs. He used the momentum of the two of them falling in opposite directions to rip the feather out of the portal.

Sakura's eyes went wide and she screamed, her voice reverberating off the barrier. Even having a limb pulled off couldn't be much more painful. The fall to the sand knocked the wind out of her and she rolled onto her stomach, gagging and struggling to breathe. Her head and chest throbbed with each erratic beat of her heart.

Ed, streaming curses, took off after Gluttony as the homunculus headed for the edges of the barrier. "Al! Stop him! Corner him—do something!"

"Sakura-san!" Al said. "Is she okay?"

"Al!" Ed yelled. "Gluttony has the amplifier. Get him!"

Ed ran after Gluttony and Al, after a moment's hesitation, followed. The two joined Kurogane and Fay who were attempting to corner the homunculus against the barrier.

Syaoran watched Sakura fall and, as his heart wrenched, his left eye exploded with pain. The pain threatened to black him out, just as he'd gone unconscious back at the beginning of the fight with Yoki only to wake up with the feather in his hand. He fought the blackness welling up inside him and the pain in his eye receded just enough to where he could tell which way was up and which was down.

"You intrigue me," Lust said. She had gotten very close as he had fought to stay conscious, but Syaoran was unable to discern where she was exactly. He couldn't see anything except the blurry sand and something else: a strange room that appeared to be entirely underwater.

"You are more like us than you realize," Lust said. "I want to dissect you; to find out how someone was able to stuff a soul into your lifeless vessel. I want what you have."

"You're a monster," Syaoran said. "The weight of a soul would crush you."

"You're one to talk," Lust said. "With every sad smile and twinge of heartache, the seal weakens. It won't be long before it shatters. And we can't have the real you running loose to be formidable competition."

Syaoran head stopped swimming momentarily, long enough to know the general direction where Lust's voice was coming from. He struck out with Hien, but hit only empty air. This caused him to lose his balance, dropping him on one knee to the sand. In his mind's eye, he could see Lust's claws aiming right for his heart, but there was no time to move—

He braced and waited to feel the claws pierce his chest, but after several moments, he realized that the pain was not coming. He opened his eyes and saw Sakura standing over him, her arms flung wide. Lust had her claws extended, inches above Sakura's own chest.

Lust frowned. "Move, you foolish girl. I don't have to kill you to cripple you."

Sakura shook her head.

Lust advanced, but Sakura stood her ground. Using Hien as a strut, Syaoran tried to get up, but the entire left side of his body seemed not to be working.

"Sakura—don't!" Syaoran said. "Run."

A thrill ran up Sakura's spine at the sound of Syaoran calling her name, but she ignored his command.

Above them, there was a creaking noise. It sounded like the wood in an old ship straining against rough waters. All three of them looked up to see cracks in the barrier zigzagging from the bottom to the top as if being painted there by some invisible hand.

"The little monster's eaten through the base of the dome on all sides!" Kurogane yelled, taking another futile swipe at Gluttony with his sword. "It's about to come crashing down!"

"Sakura-san, Syaoran-san, look out!" Al said, pointing above the two of them and Lust.

A large of chunk of the barrier had broken away from the very top of the dome and was falling toward them. Lust grimaced and sprang away. Syaoran reached out, gabbed Sakura around the waist, and poured all the forward momentum he could muster into a roll. The two of them ended up just yards away from where a chunk of the clear barrier about the size of a car landed on the ground, spraying sand in all directions.

Syaoran and Sakura wiped the sand from their eyes to see Fay standing over them.

"No rest for the weary, you two," Fay said, pulling Syaoran off the ground. Mokona was clinging to Fay's shoulder. "We have to get out of here as quickly as possible. Can you walk?"

Syaoran and Sakura nodded.

"Good! Now, can you run?" Fay steered them towards one of the ever-widening holes in the dome where Gluttony's acidic saliva was eating away at the surface.

Syaoran took Sakura by the hand and forced his defiant body into a run. Pain jabbed into his head each time his foot landed on the ground. Sakura trailed after him, their grip straining as she struggled to keep up.

The three of them had just limped beyond the borders of the dome when it completely collapsed in on itself. The ground shook and a plume of dust rose into the air about fifty feet high.

"Alphonse-san!" Sakura yelled.

"Kurogane-san!" Syaoran yelled.

"Relax, you two," Kurogane's gruff voice sounded from behind them. "We're right here."

They turned around to see Kurogane, Ed, and Al standing there, Al with Yoki's unconscious body slung over his shoulder.

"Yeah, I'm fine too by the way," Ed said.

"Lust and Gluttony?" Syaoran said.

Fay shrugged. "Last I saw, they were very deliberately heading in the opposite direction."

Ed sighed. "They could be anywhere by now, including still watching us."

"We should spread out and search!" Kurogane said. "We can't just let them go. I almost had that little one."

"Sakura! Your leg…" Mokona said, pointing a stubby paw down toward Sakura's feet.

Everyone looked down to see a shard of the clear barrier about the size of a small diary lodged deep in the calf of Sakura's right leg through the material of her pants. The cloth around the shard was soaked with blood all the way down to her ankle.

"I—I'm okay," Sakura said, looking down at the wound to see it for the first time like everyone else.

"No you aren't, Sakura-chan," Fay said, leaning down to inspect the wound. "We need to get you back to town as soon as possible. And you need to get off that leg now."

Syaoran didn't say a word, but stepped over to Sakura and swept her up into his arms bridal-style. He began walking briskly toward town, pushing his own exhaustion from his mind.

"I think Mrs. Halling said something before about knowing first aid," Al said, keeping stride beside Syaoran. "We should take Sakura-san to her right away."

As they moved off, Ed lagged behind, turning around to stare into the moonlit distance. There, just dots on the horizon, he could see Lust and Gluttony strolling away. Ed let out a frustrated growl and stomped after the rest of the group, transmuting his automail back into its normal form.

He trained his gaze on Yoki, who flopped around limply on Al's shoulder.

You better pray you never wake up, Ed thought. Because I want some answers and I will get them even if I have to beat them out of you.

"They are all still alive?" Envy said, crossing his arms. "You weren't able to kill even one of them? Sheesh, you're lucky that was only a secondary mission objective."

"They are a bit more challenging to kill than they look," Lust said, examining the feather. "Especially the little weasel white-haired one."

"Fay. His name is Fay. Please learn their names so I don't have to guess at which one you're talking about."

A tall, willowy man with slate gray hair tied back in a long pony-tail stood beside Envy. As he was talking, he wiped his small spectacles on the sleeve of his long, dark blue blazer.

"I know their names," Lust said. "I simply don't care enough to speak them."

"Be that as it may," Kyle Rondart said, replacing the spectacles on his nose. "I'd be grateful if you'd oblige."

Gluttony approached with a finger in his mouth, drool cascading down to his giant wrist as he stared up at Kyle with longing.

"Hey! How many times do I have to say it?" Envy said, placing a foot on Gluttony's face and pushing. "This human is off-limits unless the boss has a change of heart."

"You were right about the seal," Lust said. "If you hadn't told me about it, I would have had no idea what I was looking at, but it is unraveling itself. He even lost control to it during the battle."

"The seal is weak," Kyle said. "It won't be long before Syaoran reverts. We must be there when that happens."

"Oh, I wouldn't miss all the fun for the world," Envy said, grinning from ear to ear.

A/N: Wow. Two fight scenes in one chapter. Only the third time I've ever really written a fight scene. You know, probably the hardest part of this whole fic is keeping track of six major characters (well, seven if you count Mokona who I can never quite bring myself to leave out). It's hard to know when to stop the action to switch to another viewpoint without losing flow, cohesion, and the reader's attention. It's too much, even for an omnipotent narrator. That being said, any constructive criticism is appreciated. Thanks for reading and subjecting yourself to my literary experiments.

By the way, NO LOVE to the last chapter of T:RC. Ug.

Please review!

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