Chapter 12:
The trap door opened up like a hungry mouth and she was offered to the maw, being flung through it to land on the harsh wooden floor. Her shoulder was rammed into a metal loop which caused a surge of burning pain to erupt from the connection spot and spread down her arm and back. she tried to shift away from it only to feel warm blood rush down her back from the deep gash that the loop cut into her with its sharpened edge. She cried out around the gag as the face that she used to associate with her uncle slowly moved upward from the hole. She watched as he pulled himself from the hole and turned to receive Jericho's unconscious body which was then thrown beside her to land on its stomach. She allowed her body to fall towards him, cutting her shoulder the rest of the way open, and attempted to flip him over with her head.
"Stop wasting your energy." Envy's voice called out before she was roughly pushed back against the sharp metal loop. She cried out once again as it cut into her side, just below her ribcage. She watched through tear filled eyes as one after another her five companion prisoners were thrown around her and the latch to the hidden trap door was locked. She was moved against the wall, as well as the five boys, so that the door could be covered by a large dark green carpet.
"We need to get ahold of Pride." Lust grumbled from beside the door leading out of the room and into another, "He should find another place for the ritual since the center of Central City is out." She was talking to Envy who was sitting on the floor just within her view through the open door. Emily felt cold air waft down her back from below and turned to see a small window was cracked open and a few flowers and grass where poking through. Her fingertips began to search for the edges of the window to no avail, she was just too far away to reach it with her limited movement and was growing weaker and weaker with each attempt until she was breathing heavily and leaning against Jericho's still sleeping form for support. She could feel her energy slipping away from her as the edges of her vision began to blur into blackness.
It took close to an hour for Edward to figure out what the lock on the other side of the wooden door was made of, however after finding out exactly what type of rust was leaking through a bit of minor alchemy he managed to melt the components that formed the lock until the metal liquid slipped through the cracks in the wood to be absorbed in the steps below him. The door swung up instead of down so he knew that he would have to move it just enough to hear what was going on above him. He shifted to sit on the second step and rested his feet on the fourth before placing one shoulder against the door and pushed upwards just enough to feel it shift and then stopped. Soft murmurs filled the small space that he inhabited, no words loud enough for him to understand as the ones above him as they carried on a distant conversation. He lifted the door with his shoulder a bit more only to see a thick green canvas like carpet filling the crack between the door and the frame built into the floor boards.
"The boys aren't waking up are they? She looks about out of it again too." He ground his teeth at Envy's words and clutched his hand tightly in a fist as he bit his lip to attempt to stop his growl from escaping.
"Of course she's out of it. She's about dead after all. I want a new sacrifice." Lusts voice was closer as her footsteps moved overhead, "Hey, are you planning on death yet?" he heard her squat down presumably in front of Emily. Some sort of growling grunting sound echoed down to him, it was very muffled and he assumed that she had been gagged.
"Lust, mind yourself. Pride just called, he is on his way." The sound of the person who he had thought was her uncle's voice surrounded him causing him to fill with anger and hatred. He could hear others walking around and something hitting the ground with a loud thump.
"No wonder she's about out of it, look at all that blood." Envy's voice filled his hiding spot.
"Can I eat her now? Lust wants another so she's useless."
"No." The others said in unison. Edward did not know if he was thankful for this or even more angry at how they would allow her to suffer.
Emily was tired, too tired to fight back against their words. She felt like her body weighed more and more as time went on, making it difficult to even shift position. She felt her consciousness slipping in and out and heard strange creaking's as her captors moved to the next room once again. A soft glow from under the green carpet in front of her face caught her eye she fought back against the darkness that had invaded the corners of her vision and focused on the carpet, even as her captors had another go at her for their own entertainment. She alone saw it lift a few centimeters, then a few more as the trapdoor below it moved upwards. She watched it lower once again only to raise upwards as the Homunculi moved to the next room. She watched the carpet so carefully that she did not notice Jericho shaking himself awake beside her.
Jericho's arm moved to brush along hers as he shifted causing a shockwave of pain to rock through her body. She tried to lean away only to fall against his arm harder, white hot pain covered her arm causing her eyes to burn with the need for tears that she could not produce. She bit down on the gag that was now slick with her own saliva, and choked on the foul liquid that squirted out into the back of her mouth. Jericho seemed to notice her distress because he rested his head against her own and gently rubbed her temple with his forehead while he said something around his own gag that sounded like the question 'are you ok?' To this she nodded and nudged him back as she swallowed down the vile liquid that she had gaged on a moment before.
The sounds of footsteps had gone into the room beside the one he was hiding under, and a loud bang was heard as the door was slammed shut behind them. He hears a groan followed by the sound of muffled retching and what sounded like someone asking a question but that too was muffled beyond recognition. He ground his teeth as he listened for any other sounds of people moving around above his head but heard nothing. It was the best time to get in, the only time he would probably succeed in sneaking past the creatures in human form that he loathed so much.
He pushed up slowly, pausing each time it made the slightest sound, until the green carpets edge fell into the hole he had opened. He grabbed this and pushed his body carefully upwards, belly crawling across the floor until he was free of the hole. He slowly lowered the door back into place and returned the carpet to how it had been t the best of his knowledge. He had done all of this without looking about himself, too focused on his work and on remaining undetected by those in the next room that he did not think to search for who may be in the room with him.
As he stood he heard a muffled grunt that sounded a bit like someone trying to say his name. It was soft though, and weak sounding. His head turned quickly to see six forms lying against each other in the shadows along the edge of the room. He squinted but in the dying light he could make out nothing at all aside from the mass and the six distinct heads protruding from it.
"Emily?" he asked softly as he studied the heads. One shifted slightly to the left as he spoke her name and a soft muffled sound came from where it was. He knew that from his position they could see him clearly so of course she knew it was him. However he could not help his next few words slipping free on their own, "It's me, Ed." Immediately he felt dumb. The body that he assumed was Emily shifted slightly as if uncomfortable. He moved slowly across the room so that he would not creak any floorboards, fining his way over to her to squat down before her slumped form.
Her eyes where sunken in and her hair was a tangled mess, but it was undoubtedly Emily. He reached to touch her but drew back at the harsh glare from the boy beside her. Only after this did he notice the deep gashes and rough raw spots along her arms and legs. Her Bindings where so covered n blood that it almost seemed like they were a part of her wounds themselves. His heart pulled painfully in his chest as he gently touched one rope only to see her wince away in pain.
"Emily." He whispered as he touched her cheek. She looked up at him with half lidded distant eyes, unable to speak due to the nasty looking rag that was tied about her mouth. He clinched his fists before turning to the far door as the sounds of laughter erupted from behind it.
"Don't worry. I'm here to free you all so you won't have to be here much longer." He whispered as he stood and turned towards the door. Her soft murmuring reply caused him to snarl in order to hold back his anger towards the Homunculi. Her silver eyes grew a bit wider at this sight causing him to shake his head fervently.
"No, Em i-" He shook his head and looked down to steady himself. Then slowly and carefully he undid the knot at the base of her neck that held her gag firmly in place and watched as a balled up mass of fabric slipped from her open mouth. She coughed as fresh air coursed through her throat causing him to cover her mouth quickly with his hand and grimace as a pained look crossed her face. When he finally removed his hand she sucked in a slow breath and let it out just as slowly. Her eyes shifted towards the boy beside her suddenly and she opened her lips to rasp out his name.
"J-Jericho." She said the name so softly that Edward almost did not hear it. The boy that had been glaring at him this whole time turned his eyes on her, Edward saw them immediately soften as they landed upon her face, "E-Edward, please undo him as well as the others." She stammered around the words, testing her tongue on the sweet tasting air.
"Emily, we don't have time we have to get out of here." Edward whispered.
"It would be easier if you freed us of our bindings first." She returned in her own harsh whisper. He could not argue and thus a few moments later all of the conscious prisoners where unbound and Edward was holding the trapdoor open for them to lower the still unconscious ones down. It was slow work as they attempted not to make a sound. Emily attempted to help Edward lift Richards sleeping form only to cry out in pain as her wounds along her back and arm ripped open once more with the strain she was putting on her body. She clamped her good hand quickly over her mouth but the damage had already been done. Her scream was heard easily in the next room and was made all the more obvious by the sound of clattering and scraping chairs. Edward quickly pushed the sleeping boy down the hole with his metal arm and turned to the door. Emily standing behind him began to shake from both nervousness and exhaustion.
Her world was shaking as her vision blurred in and out. The only image that held steady was that of Edwards back as he stood protectively in front of her. The loud banging sounds and muffled voices from the other room where growing louder. She watched as he clapped his hands together quickly and pressed them to the ground. A large wall of rock and wood emerged to cover the door.
"Emily." She turned towards the voice only to lose her balance and fall painfully into Jericho's chest. She felt him lift her bridal style and hold her tightly yet gently to his chest.
"Hey short stuff, I'm taking Emily to safety so do your stuff." Jericho stated before he turned and jumped down the hole to head down the stairs.
"Who the hell are you calling SHORT!" Edward shouted after them. All that Emily remembered after that was Jericho's Chest shaking slightly as he chuckled while he carried her down the stairs and towards the spot marked on the map that Edward had given Emily before untying everyone. After this she gave in to the darkness that had been trying to capture her mind the whole time.
Edward took in a deep breath after the trap door slammed shut behind them, leaving him alone to defend the room and their escape against the Homunculi who were slamming against his barrier attempting to get in.
"I thought you said they couldn't get untied!" he heard envy shouting from beyond the now thick wall.
"I thought you said their alchemical talents weren't awakened yet!" Lust's voice was loud and grew even louder just before three long sharp talons shot through the barrier he had created. They retracted allowing fresh light to waft into the room through the holes that they had created.
"And I thought you idiots would have guessed already that I was on to you." Edward smirked as he shot the comment back at them through the blockage between them.
"Is that the Pipsqueak? I've been hoping he would show up!" Envy's voice called out after a long moment of dead silence. Edward ground his teeth and growled in anger as he clapped his hands together and slammed one onto a metal pipe beside him, pulling it away and creating a long spear as he did so. He aimed and flung the spear through the large hole in the center of the ones that Lust had created. He could not see but he could clearly hear the exclamation from Envy as it slammed into his leg.
The spear was yanked out and tossed aside as Envy growled low in his throat. Moments later the wound was completely healed and untraceable to the human eye. He grumbled as his form began to shift around him. Slowly he melded into a long thin black snake and slipped himself into one of the holes, sliding easily through to the other side only to return to his humanoid form before the ever reddening Ed.
"Miss me?" he asked as he spread his arms wide and smirked.
"Why the hell would I miss you?" Edward growled as he clapped his hands together and ran one down his metal arm. A long sharp point was formed above his fist as he jumped and swung his arm downwards towards the Homunculus' head. It did not meet its target as Envy simply shifted out of the way and danced around the angered alchemist.
"Come on short stuff you aren't going to make this boring for me are you?" Envy sneered.
"Don't Call Me Short Enough To Hide Under An Ant!" Edward exclaimed as he jumped to the side and swung his bladed arm towards the Homunculus once more. This went on and on, with one attacking only for the other to dodge and attack in return just for the first to dodge that attack. The cycle continued in what seemed like a never ending loop as Lust slashed at the barrier with her long sword like talons that had grown from her nails. It fell away into a pile of rubble as Wrath slammed into the wall after lust caused it to look very much like Swiss cheese.
Edward jumped away from Envy as the other three rushed to join him where he stood in the center of the room. The four grouped together and looked upon him with menacing smiles upon their faces. He knew that he was outnumbered and he was already growing tired from his fight with Envy. He mentally ticked off everything in the room that he could use as a weapon against the four of them. Killing them off was not an option, he knew from personal experience that a Homunculus could regrow literally any part of their body as long as their personal philosopher stones where unscathed and still useable.
"Pushed in to a corner like a rat, boy are you in trouble." His eyes trailed over to Lust as she chuckled and moved her hair over her shoulder. She seemed worn down already, washed out and withered compared to the men around her.
"It looks like you're the one who's in trouble. Miss a beauty session recently?" Edward sneered as he clapped his hands together behind his back and touched the largest pipe behind him, forming it into a cannon with three giant cannon balls laid out on top of it. It had an automatic loader that formed under the cannon balls and loaded the first one inside as he stepped out of the way. The ball fell inside of the cannon and a loud whirling sound echoed through the room before it was shot out ahead of a blinding white flash. The cannon ball itself slammed into Lust's stomach and sent her flying backward a half a second before the force behind the blinding light sent her companions flying through the air to slam through the wall after her. He used this distraction to give him time to fling the trap door open and hop down onto the first stair as the second ball fell into place in the cannon. He gave one last smug smirk in the direction of the fallen Homunculi who were pulling themselves up before shutting the trap door just as the second cannon ball fired out of the barrel of the cannon.
Emily awoke slowly, fighting against the heaviness of sleep on her body as she forced her eyelids apart ever so slightly to see a blinding white light that caused her to close them once again. The sharp smell of disinfectant and the sickly sweet smell of liquid medicine penetrated her nostrils causing her to scrunch her nose against the smell.
"Emily?" she felt a warm hand on her own and forced her eyes open once again as she turned her head to look at the bandaged wrist and fingers that seemed to cling onto her own for dear life. She followed the arm that was wrapped in thick white gauze and looked upon the worried face of her childhood friend.
"Jericho?" after she rasped his name she was caught up in a coughing fit, which he moved to pat her lower back gently as she struggled through it.
"Hey, are you feeling alright?" he asked as she lay back, against the large pile of pillows that he had pushed up behind her, until she was in a half sitting position.
"My head's still a bit fuzzy." She managed to murmur as she reached up to touch her forehead slowly.
"Not surprising. The doctors said that the chemical in the gas they gave us was unlike any they had ever seen, they were surprised that we weren't dead." He chuckled and gently touched her cheek with his fingertips, "I'm glad you are alright." He stated as he leaned forward to rest his head against her own, "I was so worried that I ran you straight to the hospital and left the others to the large guy in armor that was waiting for us in the sewers." He stated with his eyes closed.
"Alphonse is here?" she stated and moved to lean forward, at the same instant he shifted his head slightly and his lips where pressed firmly into her own. She sat there, shocked still as his fingers found their way to her jaw to hold her face as he kissed her.
"I've been wanting to do that for so long." He stated as her face grew warmer and redder. He opened his bright blue eyes to stare into her silver ones and smiled slowly, "I'm so sorry but I'm just so happy that I was captured right now." He kissed her lips, quickly this time and leaned back to sit in the chair by her bed once again.
"Jericho I-" her eyes shifted to the doorway where a flash of gold slid just out of sight. Her mouth hung slightly open as she puzzled over the strange flash of color.
"You what?" her eyes slid to look upon his face once again and she saw the longing in his eyes that made her think that perhaps he could have been the shell for greed.
"I-" the image of Edwards face flashed across her mind causing her to stop suddenly and look away from him, "I don't think that I feel the same way-"
"I don't care about that! I can make you see how I feel about you. Please just give me a chance, Em, I've loved you since we were children." His eyes pleaded with her own as he stood to grab both her hands. She could not look at those bright eyes for very long before she had to look away from their pleading depths.
"O-okay." She murmured without looking up at him. He in turn wrapped her in a tight embrace that caused her to cry out from the multiple wounds over her body.
"I'm so sorry." He exclaimed before pressing his lips into hers once again, "I love you Emily Hagraven, I will figure out a way to make you love me as well I promise, then we could be happy again just like before." He said this quickly before standing up and moving towards the doorway, "I'll be back with some food, the doctor said your being fed through the i.v's but I bet that you would love some tomato soup, it was always your favorite." He seemed to float on air as he made his way out of the door and out of sight.
She lay back on the pillows with a tired sigh, her body was still weak and ached everywhere especially the areas that the i.v's where stuck in to connect her to the many machines around her bed. Her head was spinning and her fingertips were going numb, her entire situation was very uncomfortable. As she thought this a flash of light off of metal caught her eye and she turned to see her armored friend standing in the doorway.
"Alphonse." She smiled at him as she struggled to sit back up without hurting herself or pulling out any i.v's.
"H-hey! Emily, I was just checking in on you, you know, making sure you were healing up alright." She chuckled at his nervous words and motioned towards the chair that Jericho had so recently vacated.
"Thanks Al. why don't you have a seat? I feel like it's been ages since I saw you last." She gave him the warmest smile she could as he moved to fill the seat with his girth.
"So how are you feeling? Edward said you were in pretty rough shape when he found you but-" he let out a soft ooph sound as a hollow gong rang out from his breast plate, "Sorry, but you must be really tough to survive what you've been through."
"Really? I don't think I'm tough at all." She looked down at her bandaged interlocking fingers and gave a soft sigh, "Honestly if your brother hadn't shown up I don't know what I would of done. I think I was knocking on deaths door right before he appeared." She turned back to see Alphonse squirming uncomfortably.
"I didn't know you thought that highly of brother." He said around awkward sounds that he tried to suppress.
"Yes, your brother Is great. I'm lucky to know both of you though." She tilted her head as she watched his awkward wiggling's, "Are you okay Alphonse? Is your armor too hot because you could take it off."
"No! No I'm fine." He held up one hand as if to stop her train of thoughts in its tracks, "I just, I have to go to the bathroom, yeah. Be right back okay." He clambered out of the room sounding much heavier than he had before with each step.
"Odd." She stated as she watched him disappear around the edge of the doorway. She could still hear his loud footfalls as he made his way down the hallway, the sound died off slowly into nothing as je made his way down what she presumed where stairs by the sound of the echo. She lay back once again and stared up at the ceiling in a daze. She had thought everything would go back to normal once she saw Edward emerge from the trapdoor. That had been the only thing on her mind when she saw his golden braid flashing as he worked. She had for the first time in a long while, a small piece of hope forming in her heart. That hope had been crushed in the last fifteen minutes by first Jericho and now Alphonse. No one was acting the same as before and that caused her to worry about how her life would be once she was free of the hospital.
"Oh, where are you when I need you Ed?" she groaned softly as she closed her eyes against the bright light above her head.
Alphonse stopped in an alley alongside the hospital and opened up his breastplate to allow the small blonde to clamber out and onto the ground. Ed straightened himself and swatted dust off of his coat before turning to look up at the rows of windows above them as he wondered which one belonged to her room.
"Are you happy now?" Alphonse crossed his arms after latching himself closed once again. Edwards face was downcast as he turned towards his brother and leaned his back against the rough brick wall of the hospital behind him.
"No." he stated with a soft heartbreaking sigh, "She may think that I am great but she decided that the fool of a red head was a good choice for a boyfriend." He mumbled without realizing what he was saying out loud.
"Who cares if she's dating someone. You were going to see if she still wanted you as a teacher right?" Alphonse gave him an expression that was as close as he could manage to menacing. He had been convinced to let his brother hid in him with the promise that all he wanted was to see if she still wanted to learn alchemy, so that he could awaken her alchemical skills and thus deplete her as a target.
"Relationships will get in the way of training. I can't teach her anything if she can't draw a circle for some guy hanging off of her arm." He grumbled before turning and walking away, leaving his brother there dumbstruck by how angry he was over something so trivial.
Jericho stood in the line for her tomato soup at the cafeteria of the hospital. He knew that she preferred homemade soup like her mother had made them all those time but this was the best he could do. He thought about how happy he would make her once he learned to cook, and about how long he would have to wait to propose to her. His father would be proud of him, he did always say that his son needed to marry the Hagravens daughter and give him a grandchild that could perform medical alchemy the world has never seen before. He smiled as he thought this over, tapping his chin rhythmically as he did so.
"I'll have to call and tell him the good news tonight." He thought out loud, "Won't he be surprised to hear his dream has come true."
"Hey kid your holding up the line." He was shaken out of his thoughts by a gruff voice that belonged to an old woman who was wrapped in knitted scarves and wore a blue patient pair of scrubs like the kind he and Emily wore.
"Oh, sorry about that I was lost in my own thoughts." He stated as he moved forward and ordered Emily's soup.
"That can be dangerous." The woman smiled as he shifted position. The shirt of her scrubs raised up just enough to reveal what looked like a tattoo of a dragon eating its own tail, forming a circle which held in its middle two triangles, once facing up and one facing down.
(End of chapter 12: phew! It took a long time to write this chapter because I had too many ideas going at one time and it was hard to organize them all in an order that made sense. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I am hoping that my next few will be a bit shorter so I can post them for my loyal readers faster. However I seldom know when to stop when I get into writing so no promises. I am sorry for the long wait though and will try very hard in the future to put out a chapter a day at least. Worst case scenario it will be one chapter within 48 hours.)
