"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRGGGHH!"
So far the shorter of the two didn't seem to be enjoying the ride.
"Hey, Edward?" Aerrow said calmly. "If you wouldn't mind deploying the wings...?"
Edward finally stopped screaming and through his screwed up eyes he caught sight of the appropriate switch, and his trembling hand found it and pulled it. His grip on the sidecar tightened as the Sky Knight pulled up above the layers of volcanic smog and into the towering clouds.
"There," said Aerrow. "That wasn't so hard."
"Speak for yourself," Edward whimpered.
When Aerrow looked, he saw that this boy who was an entire year older than him was clinging for dear life to the sidecar with his eyes closed so tightly, one could wonder why he even needed goggles.
"You know," said Aerrow, "seeing as we've levelled out and we don't have to go down to the Wastelands for a while yet, you could try opening your eyes."
Edward moved a hand to one of the handlebars, his knuckles probably white under his gloves.
"Are you sure?!" he yelled. "'Coz you should know I'm trusting you with my life right now!"
"I've done this a million times," Aerrow told him. "I should know if it's safe to have your eyes open or not. What're you waiting for?"
As if it weighed a tonne, Edward lifted his head and the wind rushed into his bangs and blew them right back against his scalp. He slowly cracked open one of his eyes.
And then the other, and his jaw fell slack.
Aerrow hadn't ever thought it possible for a single person to look so happy until he saw Edward's face light up like the sun on a Solaris crystal before he threw his hands into the air and whooped and yelled with joy. The Sky Knight couldn't help but laugh at the sight.
"THIS IS SO AWESOME!" Edward screamed, his coat billowing out dramatically behind him as he threw out his arms.
"You think so?" asked Aerrow, moving his thumb towards a button. "Just wait until I activate the afterburner!"
"The WHAT?!" Edward seized a handle just in time for the skimmer to suddenly explode with speed, and only just managed to hold on as the pair sped through the clouds, leaving bizarrely shaped holes in the clouds they moved too fast to avoid.
When the afterburner finally wore off, both boys were soaked to the bone and had rather different reactions to it as the water was blown away.
"Why did you have to do that?" Edward asked, plainly terrified.
"Why else?" Aerrow asked back. "To see the look on your face, of course!"
He laughed as the look in question shifted from terror to annoyance.
"Hey, relax!" He gave the alchemist a friendly tap on the shoulder. "I'm one of the best flyers in the known Atmos."
"Thanks for the reassurance," said Edward, and it was impossible to tell if he was sincere or not, "but I'm not much of a flyer, especially on giant motor-powered bicycles! In fact, th-this may or may not be my very first time flying open-air!"
"Huh? You've never flown before?"
"Not in a manner of speaking, unless being thrown around by my teacher counts as flying!"
Aerrow laughed again.
"I'm not too sure about that," he said.
"I would be!" Edward insisted. "I'm pretty sure I got a good view of the planet's curvature once!"
"Oh, really?" said Aerrow. "I bet it wasn't half as awesome as this planet's."
"Well, you- wait," Edward said. "Are you saying you've been into space?"
Aerrow didn't reply. He just smiled quietly to himself.
"Hey," said Edward. "Did you go into space?"
The Sky Knight remained silent, secretly enjoying the alchemist's frustration.
"Fine, forget it," Edward huffed. "How long will it take us to reach this Cyclonia place?"
"The afterburner gave us a boost," Aerrow informed him, "so it shouldn't take too long. Trust me, you'll know when we're getting close."
"I do trust you, Flyboy," said Edward, "and that's kinda why I'm so frickin' nervous!"
"You trust me?" said Aerrow. "Just not enough to call me by name?"
Edward glanced at him, looking like he was completely stumped.
"What? Come on, it's true!" he pointed out. "If you really trust me with your life, how come you don't call me by my real name?"
But Edward seemed to have stopped listening. He looked up at the sky, at the clouds surrounding them, which were beginning to darken. Some were already the colour of blood.
"I'm guessing we're getting close," he stated.
"Yeah," said Aerrow. "Hold on, we're going down!"
He steered his skimmer down into the lowest cloud layer, hunched over with his eyes narrowed in concentration while Edward hung on desperately to the handlebars and leaned back as far as he could without flattening his back against the sidecar. They were falling almost vertically at an admittedly pretty damn high speed, and Aerrow found himself glad he'd chosen to wear goggles for this occasion.
"Holy SHIT!" Edward screamed as the Wastelands came into view.
Aerrow pulled up in the nick of time, wincing slightly as the lava seared the base of his skimmer, and ducked and weaved around to avoid the volcanic explosions which he could have sworn were programmed into the earth just to try to knock him down. Edward seemed too alarmed even to scream as he pulled up to a safe distance.
When he looked over, the alchemist's face was frozen in gritted-teethed terror.
"How you doing?" he inquired.
"Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa..." Edward let out a high-pitched shuddering whimper that lasted at ten seconds without pause.
"Yeah, that's pretty much everybody's reaction to this place," Aerrow told him. "You can probably see why we call it the Wastelands."
"Uh-huh," said Edward, "because this is the perfect place to go and waste someone!"
"I wouldn't have put it quite like that," said Aerrow, "but I think you summed it up pretty well. You still think this is awesome?"
"The moment we stop," Edward shakily said, "I am going to get off and hug whatever ground we land on, Cyclonian or otherwise."
Aerrow snorted in laughter.
"Stop laughing!" cried Edward. "This isn't funny, this is terrifying!"
"Maybe to you, but I wish I'd brought a camera."
"Oh yeah, 'coz what's really important right now isn't getting out of this horrifying volcanic nightmare, but making sure my face right now is documented for future generations to laugh at!"
He yelped as they dodged out of the way of an erupting volcano.
"I guess," he said, now panting, "I guess this explains a few things."
"What do you mean?" asked Aerrow.
"Ever since I got here, my alchemy's been feeling a bit more powerful," Edward explained. "Transmutations are powered by geothermal energy-" they dodged another eruption and he yelped again "-generated by stuff like volcanoes and earthquakes etcetera-" something exploded behind them "-or just general movements in the earth's crust-" a plume of smoke almost enveloped them and required a quick dodge "-so the state of this place might even explain how I was able to make it here in one piece!"
"I... I understood about half of that," Aerrow said. "The rest just sounded like gibberish."
"I'm not surprised."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means I've been studying this stuff since before I was four years old and it's not all that shocking that someone who discovered it only a couple of days ago doesn't have a clue about all the technical stuff!"
Aerrow shrugged. He couldn't argue with that.
"Please tell me we're getting close," said Edward, who was beginning to look rather nauseous.
"It shouldn't be much further," Aerrow replied. "I'm glad we avoided the border guards, but getting in without being seen is gonna be a bit of a challenge."
He pulled up, flying straight up the wall of what looked like a mountain, but it was quite obviously the base of a terra. Not just any terra, but their dark, evil-ridden destination. Aerrow calmly tightened his grip while Edward tightly hugged the sidecar, sweating and trying desperately to ignore the growing gap between him and solid ground.
When they emerged from the thick layer of cloud and volcanic smog, he looked around.
"Whoa," he breathed, taken aback at the sight of the rolling, endless blood-red clouds, towering spikes of charred black rock and constant rumbles of thunder. "This... this is Cyclonia?"
"I know," Aerrow said grimly. "Ugly, isn't it?"
He levelled out and entered an immense pipe large enough for the Condor to fly through, switched to wheel mode and they rumbled along, deeper and deeper into the inside of the terra, twisting and turning until they finally came to a halt.
"No wonder they keep trying to invade," said Edward as Aerrow climbed off. "That place looks like a total hellhole."
"Tell me about it," said Aerrow, and he lifted his goggles to his forehead. "Seeing as we've stopped, why don't you get off?"
He didn't. Edward just let go of the sidecar and fell off, limbs splayed out spread-eagle on the floor.
"That was probably one of the most intense experiences of my life," he gasped.
"You sure about that?" Aerrow asked. "Might wanna save that title for the ride out of here. You need a hand?"
"Nah," said Edward. "I got it."
He leant back onto his shoulders, legs in the air, and jumped to his feet.
"So how're we getting up there?" he asked, indicating the ladder hanging out of the faraway ceiling. "You got a rocket pack or something?"
"Actually, no," said Aerrow, "I was kinda hoping you'd think of a solution, being a total brainiac and all."
Edward rolled his eyes.
"Fine," he said, and he removed his coat and laid it over the stationary skimmer. "Gimme a sec."
He walked away from the side closest to the ladder, up the curve as far as possible, then turned around and charged down at incredible speed, somehow making up to the point where the wall became vertical, at which point he clapped his hands and slapped them into the side of the pipe. A crackle of blue lightning shot up to the ladder, which slowly extended as the pipe's material poured into it until it was just low enough for Aerrow to touch without having to stretch his arm.
"Nice," he commented as the alchemist slid down the side of the pipe and came to a rest at his feet.
"Glad you think so," said Edward as he got up. "Could you gimme a boost?"
"Sure."
"Thanks."
Aerrow lifted Edward's foot, hoisting him high enough to grab the lowest rung, and followed the short blonde up the ladder once there was room.
"You know," said Aerrow as they climbed, "you're a lot heavier than you look."
"Are you calling me fat as well as short?" Edward asked angrily.
"What? No! It's probably your automail."
"Yeah, probably. I know it took me ages just to be able to lift it."
"About that," said Aerrow as Edward reached and opened the trapdoor at the top, "if the recovery period takes three years like you said, how you come you were able to do it in only one?"
Edward climbed out and offered the Sky Knight a hand.
"Simple," he said proudly as he pulled Aerrow out, "I'm awesome."
When they had both emerged, they carefully examined their surroundings.
"That's the hatch we used the first time we came here," said Aerrow, looking at the hatch with an almost fond expression. "We had the Condor down in that pipe and Finn and Junko used it to escape."
"I'm wondering if I should ask about that," said Edward as he pressed his ear to the door. "You've been here before?"
"Unfortunately," said Aerrow. "It's a long story."
Edward jumped away from the door.
"Someone's coming," he said. "We gotta hide, quick!"
Aerrow grabbed his wrist and pulled him down into the hatch, pulling it closed just as the door opened. They waited until the sound of footsteps stopped and the door opened and closed again before they emerged.
The redhead quickly peeked out. He saw a Talon walk away and turn a corner, and beckoned the blonde to follow him the other way.
He looked around the corner, as did his companion, at the two soldiers who were standing right there having a conversation.
"We need some kind of disguise," Aerrow whispered. "Usually on missions like this we just steal some janitor's boiler suit, but this is the belly of the beast. People here know about the Storm Hawks. We're gonna have to steal some uniforms off a Talon and pray they've got something in your size."
Edward frowned slightly, but he was intently studying the Talons ahead.
"Why steal?" he asked, pressing his hands together in front of his chest.
Things were going pretty normally in Cyclonia. In fact, with the Master so strongly occupied by her current, apparently rather personal project, everything seemed far more laid back than usual, and many of the soldiers were just standing around, having a conversation.
So nobody really took much notice of the two that walked through the corridors, weaving their way towards the Master's office, the taller one occasionally casting furtive and anxious glances at the people around them.
"Will you stop that?" the shorter one whispered while trying hard not to hunch. "If you keep looking around like that, someone's gonna catch on!"
"Hey, I'm nervous, alright?" the taller, whose hair was bulging under his cap, muttered back. "I know I'm dressed exactly like one of them, but I can't help but feel kinda... I dunno, exposed."
"Look, I've been around plenty of military bases in my time with the state," Edward told his companion. "You just gotta walk around like you don't give a damn about anything and nobody will look at you twice."
"I get that," said Aerrow, "but are you sure this transmutation of yours isn't going to wear off when we're even deeper in than we already are?"
"Wear off?" Edward was frowning behind his reddened goggles. "Alchemy doesn't work that way. Transmutations don't wear off; they're permanent until an alchemist comes along to undo them. Now stop worrying about it, alright?"
"Good morning," said a passing Talon.
"Heeeeey," Aerrow said, waving his hand in greeting and holding the syllable for far longer than he probably should have.
"Wait, we don't know him," Edward pointed out.
"While we're here, we might as well try to be authentic," said Aerrow as he lowered his hand. "Isn't that the whole reason we dressed like this?"
"It better be worth it," said Edward, fingering his tight armour. "I doubt they'll be impressed if they find out I'm wearing part of their walls-"
"I SAID NO MUSTARD!"
The two froze at the sound of the shout from a room up ahead.
"HOW HARD IS IT TO MAKE A HOTDOG WITH NO. MUSTARD?!"
The door crashed outward under the weight of a Talon who had obviously been flying at a pretty high speed, and he slid down to the floor and started groaning.
Aerrow and Edward took a step back as a mace-wielding, squinty eyed, seven-foot-tall walking wall of muscle stepped into the corridor.
"What're you dweebs looking at?!" he demanded, brandishing his immense weapon.
"N-Nothing, sir!" Aerrow stammered.
With a growl of rage, the terrifying stranger raised his mace to pound the disguised Sky Knight into the wall.
Then he started laughing.
"Get outta my way, ya pipsqueaks," he said, and shoved both of them aside as he walked down the corridor.
The two boys slowly slid down the wall, Edward taking care not to hit the door of a nearby janitor's closet.
"That is exactly what I was afraid of," said Aerrow. "I guess we're lucky he didn't recognise me."
"You know that jerk?" asked Edward, and judging by his voice he was pretty annoyed at what they had been called.
"Unfortunately," Aerrow said. "That was Snipe. He's the one Cyclonis uses when she wants strength without smarts."
He climbed to his feet.
"I'm surprised you haven't had a tantrum yet," he commented. "You did hear what he called us, right?"
Edward clenched his fists. He was obviously angry and trying very hard not to become explosive like he usually was.
"WellIguessanybodywouldlooklikeatotalpipsqueaknexttothatguy," he spluttered, and sighed heavily in relief.
"You're right about that," Aerrow said as he helped the alchemist up. "I just hope we don't run into-"
"What's going on in here?"
Another intimidating figure was questioning those left in whatever room that immense brute had just departed. He was tall and dark, his eyes were narrow and slanted, his entire demeanour strong and powerful and almost demonic in nature. He didn't look like a man to be reckoned with.
"...the Dark Ace," Aerrow finished, clenching his fists and glaring in fury at the newcomer.
"Let me guess," said Edward as he got up, "tough guy?"
"One of the toughest," said Aerrow through gritted teeth. "He's Master Cyclonis' right-hand man and the commander of her army of Talons, and he has a personal vendetta against me."
"Really? Why?"
"Don't ask, just act natural. If he knew I was here..."
They started walking, hoping to pass right by, and at first it looked as if they had escaped notice.
"You two. Stop."
They froze, and slowly looked round as the Dark Ace walked right up to Edward.
"Aren't you a little short to be a Talon?" he asked, looking down his bent nose at the boy.
Edward's fists clenched and he gritted his teeth in rage.
"He's a new recruit, sir," Aerrow said quickly. "Just graduated from the Academy. Sir."
The Dark Ace turned to him, and Aerrow was glad his red-tinted goggles hid the fact that his eyes were narrowed in anger.
"Huh," said the Cyclonian. "I didn't know that place was still running. Must be under new management. Very well, be on your way."
He walked away in the direction they had come from.
Aerrow looked down at Edward, who was trembling with the effort of suppressing his anger. He grabbed the alchemist's collar and threw him into the nearby janitor's closet.
He leaned against the door, resting his head on his hands and patiently listening as what was on the other side was annihilated by a storm of crashes, bangs, shouting and curses that would make a grown man blush. He was pretty sure he even heard a chicken squawk in alarm at one point.
Another soldier stopped and stared.
"Better keep walking," said Aerrow, pointing down the corridor with his thumb, "there's a monster going crazy in there."
The Talon nodded and ran straight past as if something was chasing him.
With a few final shouts, as well as some unnervingly heavy bangs on the door, the janitor's closet became silent.
Aerrow opened the door, revealing an out-of-breath Edward with his hair poking out of his cap and his goggles askew, standing in a veritable sea of carnage.
"Are you finished?" he asked.
Edward stepped out, for some reason followed by a very disgruntled chicken, and straightened his goggles. He didn't seem to care about his hair.
"Yeah, I'm done," he said sourly. "We gonna keep moving?"
"Hey, that chicken's following us," said Edward.
"Is it?" Aerrow said, and he looked back to see that yes, the bird was still strutting after them. "Where did it even come from?"
"Don't ask me," Edward said, "it just came with that closet."
He looked down at the chicken.
"Piss off, will you?" he snapped.
The chicken cocked its head in indignation. It didn't stop following them.
"It's still there!" Edward whispered.
"Ssh!" Aerrow pushed him back and held up a finger for silence.
They were standing next to another door. The Sky Knight reached forward and rapped on it three times.
After waiting for a few seconds, he pulled Edward inside and ignored the fowl creature that followed them in and wandered into a corner.
"This is it," said Aerrow as he and the alchemist surveyed the room. "Master Cyclonis' private office."
Edward adjusted his goggles.
"Is it always this dark in here?" he asked.
"Don't worry about that right now," said Aerrow as he approached the desk. "We need to stay focused."
"Shouldn't one of us stay by the door?" asked Edward.
"If anyone comes in, we'll just say we were sent in to clean it," Aerrow said.
"And if it's her and she doesn't buy it?"
"I'll think of something. Trust me."
He walked over to the desk and started rummaging around while Edward started examining the books that lined the multitude of shelves.
"Dammit," he swore, "this would be so much easier if I could read this language…"
"You've been here for one and a half weeks," Aerrow pointed out. "Didn't you even think to make a cypher?"
"No, I didn't!" Edward snapped. "Because it's only after I met you guys that I finally started to figure out what the hell was going on with this place! I had to make a rough estimate of what that scroll thing said about those crystals and I'm pretty damn amazed that I got it right! How about you try getting transmuted to an alien world where you can't read the language and you don't know anybody and see how that plays out for you?"
"Okay, okay!" said Aerrow, and returned to searching on the desk. "Just try to be quiet, will you?"
Then his eye fell upon a familiar symbol and he pulled out the opened scroll from under the rest of the papers.
"Edward!" he whispered as loud as he dared, "come and look at this!"
The alchemist half-jogged over to the desk, trying not to make too much noise.
"What is it?" he asked. "Did you find something?"
"Yeah," Aerrow replied, and he flattened out the parchment. "Check it out; it's the scroll we found in the library. The one about the Philosopher's Stone!"
"No way!" Edward's face could have lit up the room. "This is perfect! Could you read it out? 'Coz, you know..."
"Sure," said Aerrow, and picked a paragraph at random. "'Upon commencement of the ritual, the earth shall be alighted in celeste-' what's celeste?"
"Celeste- that's a shade of blue," said Edward. "A really light shade. It's talking about the transmutation, keep going!"
"…'alighted in celeste, fading soon to violet as the crystalline energy coalesces at the centre of the structural matrix'," Aerrow continued. "So basically, it starts out blue but then becomes purple when it really gets going… 'and after a blaze of brilliance that temporarily renders all who look upon it inert of vision, the Philosopher's Stone shall materialise'."
"Dammit, that's just a description of what the transmutation looks like," Edward said in disappointment. "What about organisation? What crystal goes where on that circle? Does it matter?"
Aerrow scanned over the scroll, searching for the appropriate information.
"'Experimentation has revealed that arrangement of required materials is of little or no importance'," he recited, "'should the alchemist performing these arts be strong of heart and high of skill. Thy faith must not waver lest the on wh- the one who wishes to acquire the stone feel the energy of their attempts reflected upon thy body which shall surely eradicate thee from existence'. Uh... Edward?"
"Yeah?" Edward said.
"This makes it sound like one heck of a challenge," Aerrow pointed out. "Are you totally sure you can do this?"
"He will if he knows what's good for him."
It was only then, in that terrifying moment, that the boys realised their mistake.
Both had become completely engrossed in the scroll.
Neither had been watching the door.
Neither had noticed when it opened.
And neither had been paying any kind of attention when the most powerful and intimidating person in the entire world slowly walked into the room, waiting calmly for them to finish their conversation, or at least reach a point where she could intervene.
Aerrow dropped the scroll in shock. He only barely remembered how he was dressed.
"M-Master Cyclonis!" he stammered. "Forgive us, we were ordered to tidy up in here and-"
"No," said Master Cyclonis, "you weren't."
A sadistic smile was all that was visible beneath her hood as she raised her staff and fired a huge blast of lilac energy into their faces, catapulting both of them backwards over her desk and, rather painfully, onto the floor beyond.
She discarded her cloak in a similar yet smaller flash of light and leapt, softly as a cat, onto her desk, where she stared down at the intruders with a gaze that could cut through solid lead.
"Master!" called somebody from out in the corridor. "Is everything alright in there?"
"There's nothing to worry about," Cyclonis responded without taking her eyes off her prey. "Everything is as it should be."
She softly jumped down off the desk as Aerrow and Edward looked up at her, not daring to rise into a sitting position.
"You must be the fabled alchemist," she said, examining the shorter of the pair. "I must admit that I expected you to be... taller."
"I could say the same thing about you, you dot-faced bitch!" Edward snapped, clearly struggling not to take it further. "What're you, thirteen? How the hell are you the one in charge of this hellhole?!"
The Master held the crystal that topped her staff dangerously close to his face, and he fell silent and tried to shy away. A quick zap broke the bridge of his goggles, which fell away from his face, and Cyclonis lifted the cap aside with the other end of the staff.
"Well," she said, "no wonder. Who are you to comment on my age so brashly when you yourself are barely older than your companion? Speaking of which…"
She turned to Aerrow and blasted his goggles away, and the force of the bolt caused his cap to come flying off.
"You're looking well," she commented, unnervingly casual. "I believe you were recovering from a nasty accident the last time we met?"
"What do you care?" asked Aerrow. "You're the one who tried to put me down permanently, remember?"
It was almost sickening how satisfied she looked just from hearing him say that. Luckily she turned back to Edward before Aerrow had a chance to gag, and the Sky Knight instead started slowly getting to his feet, hoping to evade her notice.
"How do you know about me?" asked the blonde. "How do you know I'm an alchemist?"
"I'm assuming you've been here long enough to have found out who I am," Cyclonis said arrogantly. "And if not, then I have no choice but to pity you."
"Yeah yeah, you're Master Cyclonis, the head honcho everybody's scared shitless of," said a now-annoyed Edward. "My name's Edward, by the way. Edward Elric. Thanks for asking."
"I honesty couldn't care less, so long as you act with obedience," said Cyclonis.
As Aerrow was preparing to punch her out, she sent a bolt of energy surging into his body with merely a wave of her staff and he was pinned against the wall, this time held there by her power.
"Flyboy!" Edward cried in shock.
"Oh yo- come on!" Aerrow said angrily. "You still don't want to use my real name? I do have one, you know!"
"If you know what's good for you, Sky Knight," Cyclonis said dangerously quietly, glaring at him through narrowed eyes, "you'll keep your mouth shut before I erase it."
Admittedly frightened, Aerrow pressed his lips as tightly together as he could without pouting.
"Let's make this simple, so that your fragile minds can comprehend it," said Cyclonis as she effortlessly lifted Edward to his feet with a single hand on his collar. "From your interest in my research, I'm assuming that you and I are after the same thing. Perhaps for different reasons, but that hardly matters."
"The Philosopher's Stone?" Edward shook himself out of her grip. "What do you want with that? No – don't tell me – it's conquest, right? That's what all you evil overlords are after. That's your shtick, right?"
To his irritation, she smiled.
"You make it sound as though to have ambition is a bad thing," she said. "And to answer your earlier question; I am one of the most powerful figures in the known Atmos. Do you not think I would put time aside to set up some kind of spy network? I have eyes on almost every terra. How else would I know which would bring the greatest advantage should I ever go ahead with an invasion?"
Edward gritted his teeth in anger.
"Megalomaniac brat," muttered Aerrow.
Without even looking his way, Cyclonis raised her hand and curled her fingers inwards, and instantly the Sky Knight began to choke and struggle for air.
"Don't you dare-" Edward tried, but she pushed him back with her staff in his face.
"While I do possess the power to eradicate you using what's left of your own pathetic little skeleton," she said calmly, "I still have need of you. You see, I must have read over these scrolls dozens of times since I acquired them and have since used my influence to discreetly gather every necessary material, but as you can quite plainly see, I don't have the Stone yet. I have all the knowledge in the world, yet I don't have the abilities to apply them. And that's where you come into play… Edward, isn't it?"
Edward's gaze shifted from the staff to her face, not knowing whether or not it would be appropriate to scowl.
"So I have, shall we say, a proposal for you," Cyclonis continued. "You make me the Philosopher's Stone, and in return, I'll allow you and your… acquaintance to leave this terra with your lives. And you need never have to fear me again. Isn't that what you alchemists call 'Equivalent Exchange'?"
Increasingly uneasy, Edward glanced up at the still-struggling Aerrow, who by now seemed more focused on getting air into his lungs than paying attention to the current conversation.
"What if I refuse?" he asked.
Cyclonis smiled.
"Then I'll have no choice but to erase both of you from existence in the most painful way possible," she helpfully informed him.
Edward looked to her staff, pulsing with purple energy, to her face as her dark smile widened further, and then to Aerrow, whose face was beginning to turn blue.
"Edward…" he choked. "…don't do it… just get out of here… tell… tell the others we failed… I'm not… worth sacrificing… all of Atmos… we'll find some other way…"
Frowning, Cyclonis glared at him out of the corners of her eyes and curled her fingers in further, and the Sky Knight all but stopped breathing.
"Stop it!"
Both of them looked back at Edward.
"Let him go," he said. "I'll do it. You can have the Stone."
With another sickening smile, Cyclonis opened her hand and Aerrow fell heavily to the floor, clutching at his throat and gasping for air.
"Just give me a moment to set it up," said Edward.
He pulled out his chalk and drew a large circle on the ground, and a pentagon within it, then did the same again but with the inner circle touching the edges of the pentagon.
"Alright," he said as he straightened up. "Now I need the crystals."
Cyclonis casually waved her hand and one of the drawers in her desk slid open, and fourteen crystals of varying sizes, shapes and colours drifted slowly out and rested in different positions on the transmutation circle.
"Edward," Aerrow said croakily as the alchemist walked over to him, "you're not seriously going through with this, are you? You know how much you want the Philosopher's Stone! I thought you needed it to restore your brother's body! Are you seriously considering handing it over to Cyclonis?"
Edward reached into the Sky Knight's pocket and pulled out the tiny shard of the Aurora Stone.
"I'm sorry," he said. "I don't have a choice. And I can't let you die."
Aerrow watched, confused and worried, as Edward placed the shard on the one free space in the circle.
"If I were you," said Cyclonis to the redhead as she took a step away from the circle, "I wouldn't try to interfere. I don't even want to know what would happen if a person were to get dragged into this sort of transmutation. Would you?"
Trying to ignore her, Aerrow watched as Edward positioned himself on the far side of the circle.
"Edward, you don't have to go through with this," he insisted. "We'll find some other way to get the Philosopher's Stone. You don't have to do it like this. Just stop now!"
Edward raised his hands to clap.
"Edward!"
And pressed them together in front of his chest.
"EDWARD, STOP!"
And in a snap he crouched down, pushing his hands against the chalk lines which lit up with a pale blue glow, and as lightning sparked outwards and upwards from the points upon which the crystals lay, a swirl of brilliant light started to gather in the centre as the glow faded into purple, and the Sky Knight was blinded by a sudden rush of brilliant white.
I always envisioned Cyclonis as a sort of calculative sociopath, almost like if Kimblee was a teenage girl. She knows what she wants and is willing to kill as many people as it takes to achieve it, and I bet she would simply delight in almost choking Aerrow to death. I can just imagine her casually checking her nails while standing on top of somebody's corpse.
On another note, has anyone ever noticed that the Dark Ace has practically the same hair colour as Envy? It's rather weird.
So as you can probably tell, this is a rather different kind of Philosopher's Stone than the one depicted in both the original FMA and the Brotherhood series. Really it's more of a proto-Stone - it has the same amount of energy, but you don't need to kill anybody to get it (unless you're Cyclonis and/or you just feel a bit murderous). It's probably just as difficult to obtain too.
Note: one thing Cyclonis said in this chapter is actually foreshadowing of the ending. See if you can figure out which it is...
Reviews are very welcome!