Author's Note: Wha-la, part 2 of the formerly super-long chapter! Also time to up the rating – I should have known this was going to happen, sooner or later. I mean, this is FMA we're talking about. Don't worry, there won't be anything worse than what we've already seen in the series.
The Underground River
Yuki led Al and Izumi through another doorway and down a long flight of stairs. Eventually they reached a sprawling underground laboratory, far below the city beneath the city. They walked between tables and benches filled with flasks and strange apparatuses that emptied into large buckets and vats. Detailed diagrams of the human body hung on the walls, along with scribbled transmutation circles, probably the works in progress of the alchemists who had once worked here. They also passed by contraptions of unknown function, but after noticing the wheels and belts and hooks, Izumi did not want to guess what they had been used for.
Covering one of the walls was a glass tank that was partially hidden by a curtain. When Yuki saw where Izumi was looking, she explained, "That was where the researchers stored their unfinished projects. But as you can see, it's empty. We have already disposed of the remains."
Izumi frowned. They had come here to track down a Homunculus, not take a macabre tour of a human research facility. "Have there been any signs of anyone trying to escape? Anything that looked like it had been eaten away by acid?"
"There was no one down here when the military arrived," Yuki answered. "Apparently whoever had researched human transmutation had abandoned their work some time ago. However, there are several elevator shafts here that lead to different parts of the city. That was how the researchers were able to gain access to the laboratory without raising any suspicion."
"I see." This was getting them nowhere. Dante could have left the 5th Laboratory and the underground city any number of ways, and there was nothing to suggest that Gluttony had even been here at all. It was not that she doubted Rose's story; they just had no clues as to where to begin looking for the Homunculus. "Thank you, Major."
Izumi walked along the walls of the wide room and studied them for any signs of decomposition or alteration by alchemy. As far as she could tell, the walls were more or less intact and only showed the wear and tear of the years. She sighed. This was pointless. If Gluttony and Dante had wanted to escape, they would have gone up the way they came, not down to the heart of the 5th Laboratory. "Well, I'm not able to find anything here," she said loudly, and headed for the staircase. "Let's go back upstairs, Al."
But instead of joining her, Al remained by a pile of rubble by the wall across the room from Izumi.
"Did you find something, Al?"
"Major, how many elevators are there in this room?" he asked.
"Four. The one you're standing next to has caved in."
"Just as I thought." He indicated the elevator doors on the other walls of the room. "Sensei, there's one door for every wall. This one doesn't have any. This must be the missing door."
"Do you think that's how they escaped?" Izumi asked, skeptical.
"I don't know. Maybe. But it's different from the others. I think we should look."
"All right," she said, and helped him clear away the rubble. They were unlikely to find anything, but at this point, it was better than nothing.
After a few minutes, they had exposed the outer doors of the elevator, which had been twisted and bent out of shape. Behind them were more chunks of stone and concrete, stained dark with moisture from the dank underground atmosphere. Al wiped the sweat from his forehead, and with Yuki's help, pulled away one of the doors with a great heave and a showering of rubble. His left hand brushed against something damp and sticky. He held it up to his face, and saw that his fingers were covered in something dark and thick as tar.
"Sensei…what is this?"
Yuki brought the candles closer, and Izumi spat on her hand and rubbed it on the sticky black stuff. Her fingers came away bright red. "It's blood. The humid air down here must have kept it congealed so it wouldn't dry up completely." She wiped her hand on the floor. "Major, where does this elevator lead?"
"It leads to the entrance of the concert hall one level up. The next level leads to the study of the former Fuhrer Bradley."
"Is that so?" Izumi mused. "I think we need to find out what happened in this elevator shaft. Major, please stand back. Al and I need you to hold the light for us."
They were able to clear away enough rubble to reveal that the other wall of the elevator shaft had collapsed, as well. The more they removed, the more blood-streaked their hands became from the blood that stained the wreckage. There was also a sweet, heavy, metallic smell that permeated the air. Finally, they created an opening wide enough for them to crawl through. Izumi could not tell where it led, but she could hear the sound of rushing water.
"Ok," Izumi said, straightening. "I'm going to go through first. Then Al will follow me. Major, please wait for us here."
Izumi half-expected Yuki to object, but the girl only saluted and said, "Yes, ma'am."
On the other side was a large underground cavern with a river running through it. The area was awash in a soft blue glow from dimly luminescent rock formations in the water and shafts of light that penetrated the rocky ceiling. Massive stone statues of faces with geometrical features were partially submerged in a stagnant part of the river. Their eyes were closed, and their expressions were peaceful, as in meditation or even mourning. A stairway had been etched into the rock along the riverbank, and its upward ascent appeared to eventually lead up to the surface.
The ground directly below Izumi's feet was dark and sticky with blood, just as she suspected it would be. Whoever it belonged to must have tried to escape this way.
With a small grunt, Al tumbled out of the elevator shaft and landed next to her. "Look, Al," Izumi said, pointing at the trail of blood. "It leads all the way to the river."
Al nodded and rolled up the long sleeves of his shirt to reveal twin leather bands around his wrists, on which were inscribed two identical transmutation circles. "We'd better be ready for anything, Sensei."
As they slowly edged toward the river, they noticed several shallow craters in the ground and stalactites that had fallen from the ceiling, as if a massive struggle had taken place. Entire sections of the stone stairway had been gouged out or crushed to pieces. The trail of blood weaved unevenly from side to side, as if the person it belonged to was having trouble keeping their balance. Izumi kept her eyes trained on the shadows in the rocks protruding from the cavern wall. There was nothing but the sound of their shoes on the silty ground and the uninterrupted flow of the river downstream.
The cavern floor dropped precipitously onto a river bank of boulders and jagged rocks. Any blood at this point would have already been washed away by the river. Izumi looked back over her shoulder at the dark, staggering path they had followed. Is it possible for a human being to lose this much blood and live? Izumi wondered. Even if it is Dante?
"Sensei, look." Al pointed at something sticking up between the rocks of the river bank. It looked like a shoe. No, two shoes. With legs.
Al hopped over the ledge and ran a short ways downstream, and Izumi followed after him. He got to the shoes first, and uttered a muffled shriek and stumbled backwards. When Izumi reached him, she saw what made him recoil. Two elegant shoes made for dancing were strapped to a pair feet connected to legs garbed in stockings that were shredded in places. The owner of the legs had worn a ball gown of some sort, as evidenced by the torn satin skirt and petticoats that partially encircled the legs. Above the waist, there was nothing but a ragged, bloody edge where the torso had once been attached. There was blood all over the body, staining the fabric a rusty dark brown. The areas exposed by the torn stockings were dusky purple, like the color of an angry bruise, and had turned black in some places. Splotchy brownish-green fungus grew along the calves, and the whole thing smelled like raw meat that had been spoiled for days in the sun.
Al was leaning against the ledge, trying not to retch. There was no question in Izumi's mind who the severed legs belonged to. Aside from Rose, Dante had been the only human female present in the underground city when Edward disappeared. Rose had made it out alive. Dante, on the other hand…
"Not even Dante could have survived this," Izumi said. "Let's go, Al."
They made their way upstream as Al struggled to get a hold of himself. "Maybe we need to sit down for a moment," Izumi suggested. Grateful, Al nodded wordlessly.
As Al regained his composure, Izumi considered the implications of their discovery. Dante was dead, that was certain; but how? Could a powerful woman who had managed to live hundreds of years have met her end at the hands of a Homunculus, or even in a freak elevator accident? It seemed unlikely, but she couldn't deny that half of a woman's body lay several yards away from them. It looked like it had been decomposing for over a month, which fit the timeframe when Edward disappeared several weeks ago. To live for more than four-hundred years, only to meet an ignoble end such as this. It truly was ironic.
But what about Gluttony? Or the elevator that the Homunculus Fuhrer had used? Where did those pieces fit into the puzzle? She assumed that Fuhrer Bradley was dead, because Mustang had faced him and survived. Envy had disappeared with Al's armored body. The Homunculus with her son's body had run off without a trace. All the Homunculi had been accounted for except for Gluttony.
Izumi watched the cool blue waters of the river as it flowed by. Everything was returning to the way it should be. The mistakes they had made were correcting themselves, and the cycle of life would continue, unbroken. Her eyes drifted along the rippling water and came to rest where the water took on a reddish glow.
A reddish glow?
She rose to her feet and moved in the direction of the glow. "Sensei?" Al called. She heard him clamber after her.
Taking care not to let her sandals slip on the slimy rocks, Izumi picked her way to the river's edge and squatted down to peer into the water. The reflection of Al's young face in the water appeared next to hers. Scattered among the stones and pebbles of the riverbed were a handful of gleaming red stones that gave off a light of their own.
"Sensei…is this the Philosopher's Stone?"
Izumi plunged a hand into the water and retrieved one of the glowing red stones. With a cry of delight, Al followed suit, eagerly snatching the stones from the riverbed and splashing water everywhere. Soon he was dripping wet and had a fistful of stones cupped in both hands.
Izumi turned the blood-red stone around between her fingers, examining its uneven facets. It had the appearance of having been chewed by someone with very powerful teeth. She frowned, and tried to remember what she had been able to glean from Edward about the Philosopher's Stone. She placed the small stone on the ground, picked up a rock lying nearby, and smashed it.
"Sensei!" Al gasped in horror.
She lifted the rock to reveal the shattered pieces of the red stone underneath. "This isn't the Philosopher's Stone, Al," she said gravely. "It would not have been so easily destroyed, if it can be destroyed at all. These are Red Stones, which Homunculi feed on to keep themselves alive."
"Red…Stones?" Al repeated in stunned disbelief.
"I believe we have found the site of Gluttony's grave. Homunculi expel the Red Stones when they are weakened, and then, like humans, they become vulnerable to death. That is what must have happened here. Dante and Gluttony killed each other in this place."
The stones that Al clutched fell through his fingers like a shower of crimson jewels. He leaned forward on his hands and searched his Sensei's face for the inevitable truth. "Then where is the Philosopher's Stone?" he cried, half-fearful and half-desperate. "What happened to the Philosopher's Stone?"
"I don't know," Izumi said sadly. "If it's not here, then Dante must have used it up in the last minutes of her life, battling against Gluttony."
Al squeezed his eyes shut and dug his fingers into the ground. "No…no!" He scrambled to his feet and waded into the middle of the river. "It has to be here. It has to be!"
For the next hour or so, Al overturned every rock in the underground river and clawed at every nook and cranny of the cavern that he possibly could. It was only when he collapsed, shivering from cold and exhaustion, that his desperate search came to an end. Izumi pulled him out of the river and carried him back to the collapsed elevator shaft, where she was met by Yuki. By then, they had been gone long enough for the State Alchemist to grow concerned and follow after them. Yuki drew a transmutation circle on the ground and widened the tunnel through the wreckage of the elevator shaft so it was large enough for Izumi to pass through with Al in her arms.
"I-It has to b-b-be h-here, somewh-where," Al said weakly through chattering teeth. The shuddering of his cold, wet body against hers made him seem all the more vulnerable. "The Ph-Philos-sopher's S-Stone…It h-has t-to be…I'll f-find it…I-I'll bring Nii-s-san back…"
Izumi gently shushed him. "Not now, Al. We have to get you into a warm bed or you're going to catch cold."
When Izumi, carrying Al, had gone through, Yuki paused and glanced over her shoulder before entering the tunnel herself. When she was satisfied that there was nothing there, she went through the tunnel and transmuted it shut behind her.
As the three humans left, a lone figure watched them from the depths of the underground cavern with unblinking eyes, two pinpoints of light in the shadowy darkness.