Ed: What do you mean you can't think of anything to say? (still being massaged)
Sara: Quiiieeet...just relax, let her take care of the chapter.
Me and Al: (kitty grin)
Me: Hee hee..Enjoy the chapter!
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Episode 11: Nightmares or Sins
The next day, Ed lay on the couch staring at the ceiling while deep in thought. He and Sara had just returned from a recent visit to the general's office. Obviously Sara was not happy being there for the second time in two days, but kept her mouth shut as to not make things worse. After the general argument about their height, Roy had asked about the details of the events in Hyda. They told him all they could, but obviously some things hadn't added up. Before they left, Roy attempted apologizing to Sara, as well as comforting her, by giving her a late B-day present. It was a black, leather bound book with blank pages in which she currently sat scribbling in, though what Ed couldn't tell. She had been like that since they returned from their quick visit, and he was starting to become a little curious.
Though his main concern should have been over what was going on in Hyda, this was not the case; he was more occupied by his discussion with Roy from yesterday. 'I think I'll let Sara tell you the rest of that story.' '-she's a lot like you. Maybe more than you know..' 'the military is having our annual Spring ball in a month. I suggest you bring Sara along.' Many questions floated around in Edward's head: What were they hiding? What had happened to the rest of her family? Where had she been those days she'd been missing? If he asked her, would she say yes? Would she even want to go? Did she even like him at all? Most importantly, did he even like her that way? He found himself thinking in circles as he became lost in his thoughts.
He didn't even notice that Sara had been watching him for the past five minutes. What is he thinking about? she asked herself before returning to her book. Her first entry had been a poem; nothing to big, just something she'd come up with off the top of her head. Next to it, on the next page, she'd taken advantage of Ed's stillness and was sketching a picture of him. After putting in the final touches, she snapped her book shut and walked over to the couch. Sara waved her hand in his face and got no response.
"Wow, you're really out of it.." she muttered. "Ed..Edward...ED!!" Even when she yelled his name in his ear he didn't answer. She decided to try a different approach and said, "Hey, shrimp-"
"HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU PEOPLE I'M NOT A SHRIMP!!" Ed now sat upright yelling at air. When he calmed down he noticed Sara had moved, and apparently was still staring at him. "What?"
"What were you thinking about?"
Ed blushed slightly, "Uuh..nothing."
"Somehow I doubt that.." she sighed.
"Oh yeah? Then tell me, what were you writing in that book of yours?" Ed asked, blush fading.
This time, Sara was the one who was blushing. "None of your business.." she snapped.
They glared at each other for ten minutes, neither one wanting to give in first. Al walked through the door and looked up to find two sets of glaring eyes cast in his direction.
"Uuuuhh...did I miss something?" he asked nervously.
Ed and Sara glanced at each other quickly before she walked off to plop down on one of the beds and close her eyes, ignoring them.
Al blinked, "I guess not..Well, I was going to see if you two wanted to go for a walk, but-"
"No thanks." Sara called from the bed.
"I'd be glad to." Ed sneered, standing and leaving the room.
Al peered back into the room before following his older brother down the hall. "Another argument?" Al asked straight out. Ed let out an exasperated sigh. "Is that a yes or a no?" Al asked.
"...no.." Ed muttered, realizing how stupid they'd been, "I think we're starting to argue with each other over nothing."
"Well I could've told you that." Al laughed.
Ed waved to the man at the front desk as they left the building and came onto the streets. "Al?"
"Yeah?"
"What's wrong with me?"
"Wh-hat?" Al laughed again.
"It seems like most of the time I'm arguing with Sara over the most ridiculous things, and like earlier over nothing at all.." Ed explained, watching the ground pass beneath his feet.
"It could be that you're not used to having a girl around all the time and she's homesick.." Al reasoned.
"That's possible-"
"And it could be that you two like each other."
"WHAT?! I DON'T LIKE HER!! What would make you think THAT?!" Ed yelled nervously.
"Because you're blushing.." Al grinned at his red-faced brother, "And you're always staring at her.." Ed's blush deepened, "AND you make a big fuss when someone asks if she's your girlfriend." Ed let his hair fall in his face, attempting to hide it, as they continued down the street.
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"N..no, leave them alone.." she mumbled in her sleep. "No...No!...NO!!" Sara sat up quickly, eyes wide, heart racing. She took a few deep breaths to try and calm herself down, but it didn't last long.
"Long time, no see.." a voiced sneered behind her.
She stiffened; she knew that voice. Turning quickly she clapped her hands and transmuted her arm into a blade, slashing at the person to whom the voice belonged.
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Ed and Al decided to turn back after an hour. While they were walking, Al suggested that Sara was probably homesick and not used to being around those of the opposite gender, and that maybe they should try to make her feel more comfortable around them. Ed didn't understand how she could be uncomfortable around them. She'd been around them for over a week already and being a military member, unless she'd traveling every day, it was impossible to escape a masculine influence. But he played along and decided they'd all go out for lunch.
Ed stopped a block away from the hotel, confused. "What's going on?"
Military personnel were stationed outside the hotel surrounding piles of debris. Al looked up and found the source of the damage.
"Brother?"
"What is it, Al?"
"Isn't that our hotel room?"
Ed followed Al's gaze to find a gaping hole in the wall a few stories up. His breath caught in his throat; it was their hotel room. Without giving it another thought, Ed and Al ran into the hotel and climbed the stairs, ignoring protests from the other officers as they passed. When they reached their floor they could easily see Roy standing outside the open door of their hotel room, listening to another officer's report. Riza, as always, stood close by, hand on the gun its holster on her hip. As the lower ranked officer left, Ed and Al ran up to the general.
"What the hell happened here?" Ed asked.
"I was going to ask you the same thing." Roy responded.
"From what we can find, it seems there was a struggle between an alchemist and an unidentifiable creature of some sort." Riza informed them.
Ed began inspecting the room himself, searching for any clues while Roy continued. "Since you three were staying here, and apparently left Sara alone, we can only guess she was attacked while you were out."
"But who would attack her in the middle of the day like that?" Al questioned while Ed continued to search through piles of rubble. He stopped when he found Sara's book under a large piece of plaster that had fallen from the ceiling. As he picked it up he noticed there was something attached to it, a small piece of paper with something scribbled on it in red.
The room became deathly silent when everyone noticed Ed wasn't moving.
"Brother, did you find something?" Al asked, slightly hesitant.
Ed rose to his feet slowly, still looking at the note in his hands. His behavior was starting to worry Al and Roy.
"What is it, Fullmetal?"
"...Whoever kidnapped Sara left a note..saying that if I want her back I have to come looking for them...and it's written in blood.." He'd tried working around it in his head, but no other answer came to him. It was blood, not ink, and the color and odor it gave off were all too recognizable.
"Whoever wrote this is going to hear from me." Ed spat, crumbling the note in his fist and throwing it at the wall. Without hesitation Edward threw on his coat, shoved the book in an inner pocket, and jumped through the hole in the wall down to the streets.
"Brother, WAIT!" But Al was too late, Ed had already disappeared into the depths of the city. Roy picked the note up off the floor an opened it to read the contents, to set what had set him off. Written in Sara's blood was the following:
Fullmetal,
I don't believe I've met you yet. If you want Silverwolf back, you'll have to come find our little hideout. If you can manage to do so before 6, we might just keep her alive... 'Till then,
See'ya pipsqueak
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It wasn't the pipsqueak comment that had riled him up, it was the blood and time limit that did it. Sara was hurt, and by the looks of it, badly. And if he didn't there by six they'd kill her. Even if they didn't, the loss of mass amounts of blood would. Ed had found a trail, luckily; some blood had been smeared here and there. Which meant one of two things, either Sara was helping him or the kidnapper wanted him to make it. When he started recognizing certain buildings it was obvious as to his destination: Lab 5. Ed picked up his pace and ran straight for the lab.
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"Here ya go, one state alchemist." said a female voice. It belonged to Envy, the shape shifting homunculus that had kidnapped Sara. But this was a new Envy, and if her hair wasn't black and her eyes purple slits, she could be mistaken for Sara's twin. Black skorts and a tight, black top made up her outfit. Envy threw Sara down to the floor, causing her to grunt in pain.
"Good. Which means he shouldn't be too far behind," spoke a male voice. His outfit was similar to Envy's, though he chose to wear boots and fingerless gloves. His face was hidden by shadows, but the red tattoos running down his right leg and up the left side of his torso were clearly visible. Sara lay on the ground before him, unconscious. There was a nice sized gash on her left side, as well as a couple scratches here and there.
"So what now, Pride?" Envy asked.
"We wait." was his answer.
"If that's the case, can I go play with her for a bit?" Envy asked with an evil grin.
"No. I'll her in the back room with me. You wait here for our guest to arrive."
"Why is it you get to have all the fun?"
"You get to meet our guest first. I'd say you're the one who'll get to have all the fun." Pride bent down and placed Sara over his shoulder, "Put on a good show this time, 'kay love?"
"I told you never to call me that." Envy growled. Pride just smiled and took Sara to the back room. Envy transformed her appearance to that of Sara as she was now and pretended to be seriously injured. "Help!"
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As Ed ran through countless halls, checking room after room, he could hear someone calling for help. He could only hope it was Sara.
"I'm coming!!" he yelled in reply. As the cries came more frequently he picked up his pace and searched for the room frantically. Ed suddenly skidded to a halt, doubling back to a door he'd just passed that was slightly ajar. Slowly, Ed reached out and pushed the door open, not sure what he was going to see.
"Sara!"
She stood in the middle of the room, her expression a mixture of exhaustion and relief. "Edward."
Ed ran over to her, "Are you ok?"
"For the most part.." she answered drowsily.
"You're sure?" he asked, placing a hand on her shoulder to brace her. As soon as his hand touched her shoulder he pulled it back again; something wasn't right. He didn't get much time to react, and barely missed being run through as she brought her arm up, turning it into a blade, and thrusting it at his abdomen. Luckily he dodged to his right and managed to only get a scratch on his side. Being sure to keep his distance, he watched her carefully.
"Aaaww, what's wrong Fullmetal?" she taunted, smirking, "You don't wanna play with little ol' me?"
Her eyes... Ed realized her eyes were not the same honey color that had caught his attention when they'd first met. They didn't even hold the same warm, stubborn feeling they usually did. They were cold, haunting, and purple. "You're not her..Where is she?" he asked sternly.
"Heh! You're better than I thought. No, I'm not her.." Envy returned to her original form, not that it was much of a change, "The name's Envy-"
"I said where is she?!" Ed yelled angrily.
"Why do you care?" Envy asked.
"She's my friend, that's why!"
Envy smirked, "Just your friend? Tell me..how long will this friendship last, exactly?"
Ed was confused, "What are you talking about?"
"Envy" a stern voice called, "You can play with his mind another day."
"Oh, come on, Pride. At least let me have a little fun." Envy called back.
"Another day."
Ed turned to the new voice. He could only see his body up to the mouth, the rest of his face hidden in shadow.
"Edward Elric..so nice to finally meet you."
"Where is she?" Ed asked again.
"She's safe..for the most part. We have a proposition for you."
"You want me to create a philosopher's stone."
"Why, yes, we do."
"Well, sorry to disappoint you, but I've already been down that road before. I won't do it."
"Well, I'm afraid that's too bad.."
Ed caught a flash of movement out of the corner of his eye.
"Because we're not giving you a choice."
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At the same time, Roy was gathering troops and sending them into the city to search for the two missing alchemists.
"Excuse me, sir" Al said, "but why were you upset about our leaving Sara in the hotel alone?"
"I'll explain that if and when they're found." Roy didn't even glance in Al's general direction; he was really upset, the scowl the said it all. Al didn't push it further and ran off to help find Ed and Sara. Roy waited a bit before running off to search as well. They both hoped to find them alive.
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Meanwhile, Ed was trying not to be mauled by the chimera he was fighting. They weren't unlike the ones in Hyda, but they were all canids by appearance. One tried jumping him and ended up with a gash in its chest. It died like the others had as well. He finally got a chance to catch his breath and assess the situation. He was surrounded growling chimera in four different directions, each about 6 ft away, Sara was no where to be seen, and her homunculus double leaned against a wall watching the fight, and evil grin on her face.
Why does she look like Sara?.. he wondered. A couple ideas crossed his mind, but he shoved the thought to the side for now. He had chimera to kill and a friend to save. Blade arm ready, he charged the chimera in front of him, slashing the neck as it lunged at him and spinning around to catch another in the chest as it pounced. Another jumped on top of him, knocking him to the floor, and he kicked it off with his left foot, breaking its ribs and shoving the breastbone into the heart, crushing it against the spine. The fourth jumped him from his right as he tried to stand and ended up running itself through when it landed on his blade. Ed threw it off and stood, keeping his eyes out for anything else. Envy had disappeared, he realized.
Oh no.. Hoping his assumption wasn't correct, he ran to the side room where Pride had been standing in the doorway, hidden in shadows. The room was dark and it was hard to see with the sudden change in lighting. He could almost make out a figure on the floor close to the opposite wall. He squinted, leaning forward slightly in an attempt to see better. There was a puddle of dark liquid, maybe blood since the room smelled heavily of it, dark hair..
"Sara?" It had to be her this time, it had to be.
"That's her." Pride said from behind, as though answering his thoughts.
Ed stiffened; he hadn't heard or even noticed that Pride was behind him. Then again he'd let his guard down, and that had been a big mistake.
"For now, we'll let you go," Pride rested his hand on Ed's right shoulder, "The next time we meet, we'll have another little chat, and you will make the stone for us.." Pride's hand squeezed tightly and Ed's arm was instantly shattered. "Now, go join her on the edge of hell." Pride sneered before roughly shoving Ed to the floor. Ed's head hit the concrete hard; his vision was instantly blurry and he only got a glimpse of Sara before he passed out.
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"Edward.."
Ed stirred slightly. His head was pounding and he just wanted to sleep.
"Brother?" That was Al's voice, Ed was sure of it. He opened his eyes only to close them again, his eyes sensitive to the blinding light above him. "You're awake!"
Who was the first voice? Ed wondered. He opened his eyes again and looked around the room. Al sat on his right, a smile on his face, happy to see that his brother was conscious again. Ed sat up, a little stiff from being unconscious for a long period of time.
"How long was I out?"
"Two days."
"Is she ok?"
"Why don't you ask her yourself?"
Ed was confused by the statement and searched the rest of the room. There to his left, in another bed, Sara sat upright watching him. She smiled slightly and layed back down.
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"Winry's not going to be very happy with me." Ed sighed, inspecting the damage. Somehow, Roy and Al had picked up the same idea that they would be in Lab 5. When they'd arrived, both Ed and Sara had been unconscious and the homunculi were long gone. With some help from the other military officers who'd been out searching for them, they were able to pick up the pieces of Ed's arm and safely transport both of them back to the Central Hospital. Now the pieces of his arm lay on a piece of cloth at the other end of his bed. Indeed, Winry would not be happy with him at all if she found out what had happened. Sara looked at the pieces from her own bed, piecing them all together in her head, seeing if every piece was there.
"I could fix it." Sara suggested.
Ed turned to her, "Really?"
Al had been asked to leave so they could rest, but with his arm in pieces Ed couldn't sleep.
"Yeah. Both of my arms are intact, I could use alchemy to fix your arm. Granted, it won't be as good as getting new automail, but at least you'd be able to use it."
"Uh..ok, sure, go ahead." (Obviously, both are wearing pajama pants and T-shirts provided by the hospital here)
Sara pushed off her covers and slipped out of bed, hissing silently as the stitches in her side pulled slightly, and moved over to his.
"Well, first thing's first," Sara clapped her hands and used alchemy to reassemble the scraps. When she finished it looked as good as new except for the fact that it wasn't attached to Ed's shoulder. "Ok..umm..I'll need you to hold this up to your shoulder for me."
Ed quietly did as he was told, not wanting to distract her too much. Sara clapped again and placed her hands on the arm and Ed's shoulder. With a quick flash of light, his arm was finally fixed and fully functional again.
"Thanks." he said, testing it out a bit.
"You're welcome." Sara was about to move back to her bed when Ed spoke again.
"Sooo..how's your side?"
"It's a little sore, but I'll live. How's your head?"
Ed had almost forgotten that his head hurt, and being reminded of it only made it worse. "Pounding, now that you mention it.." he groaned, holding his head as he lay back down.
"Well, that's what happens when you head hits a concrete floor, Edward." Sara giggled.
"Heh, you're obviously feeling better.." Ed said, smiling while his arm covered his eyes. Sara remained silent for awhile and the next time Ed looked at her she was laying on her side with her back to him, most likely asleep. Ed decided sleeping, or at least trying to sleep, was probably a good idea right now, and was soon fast asleep. Sara, however, lay awake, thinking about what was to came the next day.
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Well there ya go! Episode 11! FINALLY!! And hey, you got some action this chapter. Hope you enjoyed!
Sara: (Peeks over my shoulder) So how'd it go?
Me: (looks at her, surprised) ...Good, why aren't you over there with Ed?
Sara: Hm? Oh! He fell asleep while I was massaging him (kitty grin)
Me: Aaawww, that's so cute!
Sara: Hey, where did Al go?
Me: To find Episode 12. I can't find it anywhere..
Sara: How do you lose something like that?
Me: I don't know, but we'll see you all next chapter!
