Chapter 11: The Stone
"Sakura, hang in there!" Al said.
Ed and I ran over to the two of them. I knelt down next to Sakura and saw the wound she had on her stomach.
"Dammit, this isn't good." I said.
I took my jacket and ripped off a couple strips of cloth. I tied the two together and wrapped it around Sakura's wound. I then brushed the hair out of her face and gently rubbed her cheek with my hand.
I stood up and looked at Ed, who was looking at Sakura with a concerned expression until he noticed me looking at him.
"What are we gonna do?" I asked him.
Just then, the wall next to us parted and revealed a hallway. We looked from the opening to each other, Ed answered. "We go after Bareos."
He turned to Al and said, "Are you going to be okay here?"
Al looked down at the unconscious Sakura in his arms and said, "I think it'd be better if I stayed with Sakura."
Ed and I both nodded, I crouched back down next to Sakura and put my hand on her cheek. "Hang in there for us, okay?" I said to her, hoping that she would hear.
I stood up and looked at Ed, who was looking at me. He turned to face the entrance, I walked up to his side.
"Ed, what if it's a trick? You heard what he said, he controls this entire fortress with alchemy." I asked him.
"It's the only lead we've got. We can't just sit here and let him get away with this." Ed said in a serious tone.
I looked down at the ground in worry, it was such a gamble, but as Ed said, it's the only lead we've got.
Noticing my worry, Ed put his hand on my shoulder giving me an understanding look. I looked at him and we stared into each other's eyes for a moment. He then took his hand off my shoulder and turned his head to face the opening, a serious look on his face again.
"Let's go." He said.
We started walking towards the opening, Al then said. "Be careful."
Ed and I turned to look at Al, Ed smirked and said, "Don't you worry about us."
We turned back to the opening, and then we ran in.
Into the darkness.
As soon as we ran in, the entrance closed off behind us; now there was no turning back. Dim lights lit up along the ceiling, revealing that we were in some sort of hallway. We continued on running again.
We ran and ran, for probably 15 minutes, wondering if we would ever reach the end of this tunnel. Just then, I saw something up ahead. "Edward, I see something!" I said.
Ed focused his eyes, and saw something as well. Just then he grabbed my arm and stopped running. I slowed to a stop with him, I turned to face him with a questioning look.
"Ed, what is it?" I asked.
He put his hand on my cheek, and came closer to me, closer until our lips met. He began kissing me slowly but passionately, after a few moments our lips parted again. He opened his eyelids revealing his gold eyes to me, enchanting me just like how they did before.
"If anything happens, I want you to know, I really love you." Ed said to me.
On impulse I said, "I love you, too."
He briefly kissed me on the lips again, and stared into my eyes, I could now see worry in the look he was giving me. I smiled widely at him and said.
"Ed, don't worry! We'll be fine, we'll all make it out of this! We always do!"
Ed stared at me for a while, then he smiled, though the worry still present in him. "I hope you're right, Raven."
I looked behind me at the light that may be the end of the tunnel. I turned my head back to Ed and said, "Come on, let's stop this guy once and for all!"
Ed smiled and nodded, "Yeah."
We began running again down the hall.
--
Meanwhile, back where Al and Sakura were, memories of holding Ed missing an arm and leg flooded Al's mind as the pool of blood under Sakura grew. Even if Al didn't have a real body, the feelings of sadness and fear were very real and true to him.
Please hurry you guys. Al thought.
Just then Al heard footsteps, at first it only sounded like a couple people but then the numbers went up. The footsteps got louder, Al looked behind him and confirmed that the footsteps were coming from behind him. Just then Mustang, Armstrong, Hawkeye, Hughes, Havoc, Fury, Breda, Falman, and who knows how many soldiers marching behind them, came pouring in.
"Alphonse! Are you alright?" Mustang called to Al.
"Uh, I'm fine, but Sakura!" Al held up Sakura a little as Mustang arrived to Al's side.
"I see… You there! Get the first aid!" Mustang ordered to one of the soldiers, the soldier ran off and Mustang crouched down in front of Al. Mustang picked up Sakura's wrist and felt for a pulse.
"She still got a pulse, but it's a bit faint. How long has she been like this?" Mustang asked Al.
"Um, I don't know, maybe 20 or 25 minutes…?" Al guessed.
The soldier came back with bandages, one soldier lay down a blanket on which the lay Sakura on. After that they immediately started cleaning and bandaging the wound.
"Where is Ed and Raven?" Hawkeye asked.
"They went that way to stop the alchemist that has been behind all of the attacks. He wants to create the Philosopher's Stone so he can bring his dead lover back to life." Al answered, as he pointed to the hallway that we had went down earlier.
Mustang stared at the hallway for a while, until he said, "We need to go assist them now, who knows how they're faring. Lieutenant Hawkeye, Major Armstrong, and you five there…" He signaled to five soldiers. "I want you all to come with me to assist Fullmetal and Silver-Spear."
"Yes sir!" They all saluted him, and followed him as he began running towards the hallway.
Just then, the hallway entrance closed off, Mustang's eyes widened as he skidded to a halt. Everyone did the same behind him.
"What in blazes?!" Mustang exclaimed staring at what was once an opening, completely closed off as if it never existed. He examined the wall, until he found a few transmutation marks.
So that's how you did this. He thought.
"Colonel, what do we do?" Hawkeye asked.
Mustang turned around and said, "We need to find a way to break this wall down."
"Then leave it to me, Colonel Mustang!" Major Armstrong exclaimed as he took his shirt off and posed.
"I can help to, Colonel!" Al offered.
Mustang nodded, "Alright, we'll need all the help we can get."
--
Ed and I were finally getting close to the end of the hallway. From there we saw bright light flashing.
"Ed!" I yelled.
"I know, he must've started on the creation of the stone, we have to hurry!" Ed yelled back.
We began running even faster, it was only moments until we finally got to the room. We were almost blinded, because the light from the transmutation was so much brighter that the light that lit the hallway. Our eyes adjusted quickly, Ed barreled into Bareos stopping him from continuing the transmutation.
Ed pinned him down and yelled at him, "I told you we weren't going to let you get away with this!"
I looked at the transmutation circle, and instead of the transmutation stopping, it continued going.
"Ed, the transmutation isn't stopping!" I said.
Ed looked over at the circle, and with an angry look on his face he turned back to Bareos. "How do you stop it?"
Just then the entire room began shaking, and the circle began expanding slowly.
"It can't be stopped at this stage, it has to be finalized or it will consume everything around it." Bareos replied.
Ed punched him, "Don't lie to me!! I know there's got to be a way to stop the damn thing, tell me how, dammit!!"
Bareos laughed manically, "I already told you, the stone has to be finished! That's the only way to stop the transmutation."
Ed got pissed off and hit Bareos again, only this time he knocked him out.
"Ed, the circle is growing, we've got to do something!" I yelled.
Ed stood up and turned to face the circle that was visibly but not rapidly expanding over the floor. Ed clapped his hands, and was about to use alchemy but I stopped him.
"Ed, wait! We don't know what that will do! This is the Philosopher's Stone here, and if alchemy is used near it, doesn't it take power from it?" I said.
"Well we have to do something! I was going to see if I could make a break in the circle to make it stop expanding until we figure out what to do with it." Ed said. "But now that you mention it, I think I do remember reading something like that…"
Just then, a piece of the ceiling came down and landed right in the circle. It merely just dissolved away.
"After seeing that, I don't think making a breaker would have done anything." Ed buried his face in his hands. "What are we going to do…?"
I looked from him to the circle, I then said, "I guess we have to finish it."
Ed put his hands down and looked at me like I was crazy. I saw this look he was giving me, and I got annoyed.
"Don't give me that look! It's the only option we have right now! If we don't, this circle will keep going, it'll spread all thought this fortress, spread out of the country-side. Who knows when this thing will stop, we have to do something!"
Ed's expression turned concerned and frustrated as he looked down at the ground. I took his left hand into my right, "You aren't alone, I'll do this with you." I said.
Ed looked at me for a moment, then he looked at the circle that was now only two feet away from us. "Alright, let's do this."
We took a step closer to the circle and knelt down. We put our hands down on it, and began to finish the creation of the Philosopher's Stone. The red light turned white, so bright as if the sun was right there in front of us.
The light became so bright that I had to close my eyes, and soon enough…
…I passed out.
End Chapter 11