"What if Ed dies!"

Winry looked over at my sudden (English) outburst from where she was standing by the broken piano. "What?"

I blinked, just as surprised as her. I'd been completely zoned out where I sat in a little rocking chair, absorbed in my worries of what might have been to come. "Uh, nothing. Just thinking aloud." 'But what if he does? If things go like I remember, and he fights Kimblee, then what if - instead of just getting hurt - he actually dies?' I frowned at the floor; maybe I could just make sure I stayed with Ed - 'cause I knew that we were going to have to split up (if things went the same) - and try my best to protect him.

As if I'd been any help up 'till now.

There were a few minutes of peaceful silence then before May decided to break it. "Felicity," I looked up; she and her panda were both looking at me with worried expressions - if that's possible for a bear - and May had her hands to her chest as though she were cold. "Are you feeling alright? Your chi is all blocked up."

"Huh?" I stared at her. 'Chi blocked up? That sounds like Avatar.' I shook my head slightly to clear it. "I-I'm fine. And uh, what does that even mean?"

May slowly lowered her arms as Xiao Mei hopped around on her shoulders. "I can sense that your chi is different from others, but it's still chi. You're stressed about something, we can tell from where it's tensed," Xiao Mei nodded in confirmation from her perch atop May's head - which was really weird, because pandas aren't supposed to understand human languages as far as I know. "Do you want to talk about it?"

I hesitated, noticed how everyone in the room was looking at me now, then firmly shook my head. "No, I'm fine. I just have a lot on my mind, and we all do, right? It's nothing for you to worry about," I shrugged casually and looked away.

We all stayed silent for a few minutes more before Winry suddenly stomped her foot; that made me jump. "That's it, I can't take this waiting any longer."

"H-what?" I twisted around to watch with the others as the mechanic walked over to the door. "Winry?"

She stopped there and turned. "I don't know about you three, but I need to go make sure Ed and Al are alright. They just ran off again, and they're probably fighting Scar right now. After what happened the first time, I-I'm worried. And..." she trailed off. Then her eyes turned hard. "I'm going to find them. Anyone else coming?"

Marcoh stood up and took a few steps closer to her. "Well, I suppose it would be best to make sure they're alright. May?"

"Absolutely!" May agreed with a smile, and I just stood up.

'Oh man, how am I going to deal with what's gonna happen?' I thought frantically; but I put on a calm face as I walked over. 'I have no idea what to do, and things are beginning to get really dangerous - as if they weren't dangerous enough.' I put on a slightly crooked smile. "Sure, I've been freaking out about it too anyway."

"So, where exactly do we look for them?" May asked as we stepped out of the old building; it was pretty clear that we had no idea where they'd gone by now. 'Well, this wasn't planned out well.'

However, hardly a moment after the alkahestris said so, the sound of a huge explosion erupted just a ways down the street to our right, and a cloud of dust rose above a building that may have been a short skyscraper - similar to...a lot of buildings around here. I pointed. "How about over there?"

Everyone agreed and we started walking, but then Marcoh stopped us. "Wait; look over there!" he exclaimed, pointing, and we all turned to see one of the search parties turn a corner down the road. They seemed to be heading toward the dust cloud; Major Miles was leading. "Come on, May," the doctor grunted in that rough voice, grabbing May by the hand and slipping into an alley. I was about to twist around to ask what he was doing, but then I realized the reason Marcoh had pulled May away like that was probably because the military might get suspicious of those two - but not us, so Winry and I just stood there as the party approached.

When they got to where we were, Miles stopped the small (,three-man) group by us and put on a quizzical expression. "What are you two doing away from your party?"

"We, uh, got lost," Winry replied too quickly, smiling innocently. "You wouldn't happen to know where Ed and Al went, would you, Major Miles?"

None of the soldiers seemed to have bought that, but I knew they were on our side, so that didn't matter too much. They gave us a brief suspicious look before the Major glanced toward the building that had half-exploded a moment ago. "I suppose you girls could come with us to check that out. It's likely the two of them went off to fight Scar on their own; I'm sure you're worried."

I nodded with Winry as the part-Ishvalan looked at us questioningly, and then I followed when he gestured for us to do so and started down the street again.

On our way to the explosion site - which continued to emit slightly alarming sounds as we got closer - I kept glancing into the alleys around us; I knew May and Dr Marcoh would be following... Ah yes, there they were. I spotted the bright green coat of the Xingese girl as she zipped down a back alley and passed out of view. I don't know why, but it was kind of comforting that I knew it for sure now.

When we got to the partially-exploded building, the sounds of fighting had ceased. I wasn't sure whether to be alarmed by this or relieved, but regardless we entered the building, found some stairs, and made our way up. I heard someone talking as we entered a hallway and suggested we go down the direction it was in, then, as we approached an open doorway, there was another loud sound; metal against...something hard.

I - and Winry - rushed forward at the sound, halting as we entered the room. It looked... a lot like the room they fought Scar in during the anime. Only...well different; I guess there were just a lot of buildings like that. Anyway, the first thing that I saw was Scar, holding a bleeding right hand out in the open air like there was something there; then I saw Alphonse backed against a pole directly in front of the serial killer as though he'd just been thrown into it, and then I saw the big hole in his chest. "Al!"

Alphonse turned his helmet in surprise as both Winry and I shouted his name. "Felicity! Winry! What are you-? Don't come in here!"

Just as he was saying that, Ed ran out from behind another pillar and silently jumped at Scar. He landed a punch from behind, but Scar whirled around from the impact and managed to throw the boy off - only to be kicked in the gut when Edward did an awesome air-spin move. The midget landed on his feet, then, while Scar was dazed by the metal-footed kick, he clapped his hands and slammed them on the ground, instantly creating four hands out of the ground and pinning Scar. Then Ed turned to glare at us. "What the hell are you two doing here?"

While he had been doing this, I saw Alphonse move out of the corner of my eye to pick up a metal pipe on the ground and use it to fix the front of his armor; pretty nifty.

But I couldn't think about that for long; now Winry was talking. "We were worried about you, moron!" she shouted half-heartedly, and I noticed she was looking at where Scar now lay on his side - leaned slightly against a stone hand - and realized she was too preoccupied to come up with an angry comeback.

Then, after hardly a moment, the mechanic started walking forward, but Miles finally came in and laid a hand on her shoulder - and mine, as if I'd actually moved. "Not any closer."

I shrugged his hand off my shoulder irritably as his two soldier buddies came in and Ed spoke. "Wh-you brought them here, Major? Why?"

"They were looking for you," Miles managed to reply before one of those two men gasped, attracting the attention of everyone in the room.

I looked over and saw that the soldiers were standing by a couple of lumps... Oh wait, those were the chimeras; they looked pretty beat. One of the soldiers (okay, so one of them had a beard, and the other one looked, like, twenty. So I'll call them Beardy and Kid) - Kid - poked the frog guy (couldn't remember his name... Jerico?) with his gun. "What are these creatures?"

Miles let go of Winry to walk over to them, which left the mechanic and I to walk impulsively farther into the room. "I guess they're the result of some ungodly experiment by our superiors," the Major gestured over to one of those poles and took on a more commanding tone. "Tie them both to that column."

"Yes, Sir!"

"As for you..." Miles started as he walked over to Scar - who looked highly uncomfortable being squished under those stone hands - and raised a gun I didn't realize he was holding. "I hate to be so harsh to one of my own people, but I can't let you get away after what you've done."

A trickle of blood ran down Scar's face as he lowered it, apparently trying to look threatening - or...that was probably just me. "One of your people..?"

That was when Winry - like in the anime - started moving forward, and I almost followed out of absentminded habit, but stopped myself before anyone could notice. Winry stopped too right before she got too far, and turned her head to watch as Miles spoke, completely ignoring Scar's question. "You two, Elrics; you can leave with your friends. We'll take it from here."

Winry tensed at that, and I thought I heard her murmur "no, I have to..." under her breath before she walked over to Scar; I just stood back and watched, wondering if I'd be seeing something familiar again. ('Last time that happened was...maybe two weeks ago.')

The mechanic managed to get within three or so feet of the crushed Ishvalan when Ed and Al noticed her. "He-wait, Winry!" Ed exclaimed, jumping forward and throwing an arm in front of her; Miles lowered his gun as this happened. "What do you think you're doing?" the alchemist sounded slightly horrified.

"I need to talk to him," came the soft reply. Everyone - but me - gave a small anime-like gasp at that, and I got a look (not angry or suspicious mind you) from Ed as he lowered his arm slightly; Winry turned what I think may have been a soft glare on Scar. "Please, Ed. I-it'll be alright; let go, Al." She added the last part when Alphonse put his hand on her shoulder - he immediately took it down.

"Winry," Ed cautioned softly.

I watched from the door as Winry convinced them to let her speak to the Scar-faced Ishvalan, somehow bothered by how familiar it was; after all that stuff that I didn't remember happening in the (inaccurate) anime, it...didn't feel right. 'I thought...didn't I want things to go how I remember?' I frowned, but then erased the expression when I caught one of the men looking at me. I guessed...while I did wish things could go as safe as possible, I didn't want to feel like the world was controlled by a TV show. Yeah, that was it.

Anyway, I just stood there watching as this slightly familiar scene unfolded. When Winry asked Scar why he killed her parents, I narrowed my eyes at the response: "There's nothing I can say that won't sound like an excuse. And nothing will change the fact that I killed them."

Huh, it was pretty much the same - but that always bothered me. I took an impulsive step forward, grabbing everyone's attention, and glared at Scar. "You could at least apologize. I know you regret it."

Ah...impulsiveness. I hate it. Everyone was giving me looks, and Scar looked shocked. But I held my gaze; that response he gave Winry had always bothered me, so I was hoping...I don't know, maybe that my words would do something. I can't think straight when I'm being stared at by military people, a murderer, and teenagers.

After a few moments of silence, the Ishvalan lowered his gaze, glancing at Winry indirectly. "I do regret my actions towards your family, but nothing I could say would help," he paused, then looked straight up at her - well, tried; with his position it must've been difficult. "You have every right to pass judgement on me, girl."

I looked warily at Winry as she lowered her head, clenching her fists in...something. Not rage, I know that. For a moment I was afraid she'd start crying, and I took an unnoticed step forward. But then Ed put a hand on her arm and she shook her head. "No, I'm fine, guys. I just-..." she stared at Scar - who's wounds were clasped under the rocks (so I guess she couldn't fix them like I vividly remembered in the anime) - for a few moments. Then she looked away. "I won't do that," she turned back to Scar with a fierce gaze. "I won't 'pass judgement' on you the way you think you've been doing to those State Alchemists. And I won't..." she looked at Ed, so I couldn't see her face. "I won't cry, Ed. Don't worry about that; I promised, didn't I?" her voice shook slightly in contrast to her words. "The next time I cry, it'll be with tears of joy."

Scar looked thoroughly perplexed, but I ignored that to smile slyly as Edward hugged Winry comfortingly - and with slight awkwardness. Ed noticed my look and frowned, pulling away from the sort-of-hug. "What's with the look?"

I shrugged. "Nothing."

He still looked suspicious, but let it go.

I stayed out of everything when Scar and Miles had that little talk about their heritage; I honestly don't know how different it was since I didn't really remember that scene in the show.

I tried to imagine what might happen after all of this, based on what I knew... But I had no idea; the world was really strange. It kept changing, and just when I was thinking the anime meant nothing, I saw something familiar. It was like someone was controlling everything and trying to keep it on track - although I doubt The Gatekeeper would actually do something like that; maybe it was because the Homunculi's plans remained the same no matter what.

That thought scared me.

"Whatever the circumstances between us, I can't just let you go," Miles was saying now, a gun pointed at Scar's head - which couldn't move much, so I wasn't sure why the Major had his gun out. "You must accept judgement."

Just as he said that, the sound of footsteps reverberated in the room from the direction of the door we'd come through; I turned with everyone else to see Dr Marcoh and May come inside. "Hold on!" Marcoh exclaimed, holding his hands out as though we weren't just standing still. "Please don't take Scar as your prisoner; we really need him to help us."

I glanced over as Miles lowered his gun. "You need him? What for?"

May started walking forward, and the doctor followed behind as she replied, "We have some notes that only he can decipher; they're really important!"

There was a pause before Miles finally turned to her resolutely. "Explain."

"Scar's the only one that can make sense of it," Marcoh finished the short explanation of what might be in the notes. "Don't you see? We need him!"

"Hmm," Miles hummed and gazed at Scar thoughtfully, then turned toward May. "So you're the alkahestry girl? There are orders to bring you back to the fort..."

"ME?!" May squealed at an annoying pitch, hiding behind Alphonse - who was now standing nearer to her. I specifically recalled with narrowed eyes that it was supposed to be Dr Marcoh that she hid behind as the alkahestris shivered next to the suit of armor. "But what do they want with me?"

"Don't worry," Miles assured as he turned back to Scar. "I'm quite certain you'd receive a warm welcome. But I was thinking..." he put a hand to his chin as he thought about it. "We need to keep Scar free, and it would be bad if Dr Marcoh was discovered as well. So I think it would be best to bring you and them to Fort Briggs so you can hide from senior military staff."

Now was the moment, I realized. Winry was going to be sent to Briggs too...What if I would have to go with them? I just had to stay there to make sure Ed didn't get killed by Kimblee! Or at least try... Now I was starting to get stressed again.

"What?" Ed gasped; he sounded angry. The midget practically jumped forward in protest. "You can't bring that...monster to Briggs! Just hand him over to Kimblee!" he growled the last part rather loudly.

Miles raised an eyebrow. "We need him to decipher the notes, don't we? They could hold critical information; I will not pass this up."

"BUT-!"

"Elric!" the Major growled, interrupting Ed's further protest. "Listen, General Armstrong told me about the transmutation circle this country was formed to make; we know something is about to happen that will affect Amestris and all of its people. We need to know what the notes say."

Ed glared uncertainly at Miles for a few moments longer, but eventually backed down, muttering, "This had better be worth it," under his breath.

There was a collective silence as I tried frantically to think of a good reason to stay with Ed and Al when we split up; as far as I could tell, the only reason I might have to go with Winry was because Kimblee was a serious danger to me... Well, that is a pretty serious threat. But I knew that if I stayed with Edward then we'd get away from that bastard psycho... Ugh, this was so difficult - or...no, I was just getting overly stressed about it.

While I'd been thinking this, the others had apparently already discussed the matter; damn my inability to pay attention when I'm freaking out!

"...my apologies, Miss Rockbell," Miles was saying to Winry. "But you'll have to wait a while before we can punish your parents' killer."

"It's alright."

I blinked, confused. 'Wait, didn't...did they already decide that Winry's going to Briggs? Did they say anything about me? No...I would've heard that... Did Ed forget about Kimblee's threat toward me? Or did I just somehow miss something? Why am I asking questions to myself?' I shook my head a bit to clear it.

It was then that the chimeras woke up; I noticed, but then I jumped a bit when the sound of a stomping metal foot clanged next to me. I turned my head and raised an eyebrow at Alphonse - who was looking at me. "Hm?"

"Are you okay?" the younger-than-his-actual-age voice reverberated in an expertly quiet way. "You've been spaced out for a while."

"I'm fine," I smiled reassuringly, slightly annoyed by Al's concern for me - not that I wasn't grateful someone didn't hate me, but it was like he could just tell I'd been stressing over everything. And no one else could tell - or maybe they just didn't care. 'That's a nice thought.' (Hint the sarcasm.)

"Dispose of them," Miles was ordering the soldiers then, having also noticed the chimeras waking up; I frowned as the men walked closer to the chimeras and raised their guns in preparation to fire.

But Ed raised his arms in protest, sudden fury evident in his eyes. "Hey, wait a second!"

"You can't kill them!" Al exclaimed, moving away from me as he realized what was going on. "Why-?"

"I see no reason to let them live," Miles answered coldly, and I didn't mask my distaste for his decision. He ignored my obvious disapproval and turned back to his men. "Go ahead and kill them."

"That's really cruel," I muttered angrily; the longer I was around these military people the more annoyed I got. How could real life human beings be this horrible? A life is a life, and no one should have the thought process of killing someone if they have no use for them - even if they were sort of enemies. It's barbaric.

"Yeah!" Al agreed full-heartedly. "It's cruel to kill them when you don't need to! They're living creatures - people - and they have a right to live! What better reason do you need than that to keep them alive?"

I turned my angered gaze away from the Major when Frog Man (Jeremiah?) scoffed. "They're showing us mercy - how adorable."

Pig Guy turned his head to look over at us and spoke in that distorted voice. "You're just sentimental fools; we didn't ask for your help, did we?"

Al and I looked at each other; I don't know what he was thinking, but I'm pretty sure the look I was giving him was one of exasperation. 'I know I saw this coming, but these guys need some serious help.'

As Alphonse walked hesitantly closer to the two, (I just stood there watching) Frog Man spoke again. "Look at what we are. What kind of future do you think we have with these bodies? If you're going to kill us just get it over with."

Al stopped where he was. His armor stayed so still you might think it didn't contain a living soul. Then, after a moment of silence, he replied, voice shaking: "I don't understand. Don't you have families or loved ones? Are you so upset with the way you are that you're okay with dying and leaving them behind?"

"Of course we have families," Frog Man growled. "But us dying won't make any difference in their lives."

Pig Guy spoke up again. "Yeah, because as soon as we got these bodies, they were told that we were dead already."

I found myself crossing my arms in disapproval at this answer, but I didn't say anything. Honestly, I wasn't sure what I'd say anyway; Alphonse had it under control. In fact, it was so under control that I won't even bother relaying the entire exchange; it did end with Al showing them his body and getting frustrated at their hopelessness, kind of like I remembered. Sort of. It was a good speech anyway.

"So I guess we're keeping them alive now," Miles grunted after the short exchange. He sounded almost amused when he said it; I gave him a curious look, but he ignored me.

As everyone else started talking about how Marcoh and the others were going to get to Briggs, I glanced outside through a rather large hole in the wall that seemed suspiciously fresh. The sky, as far as I could tell, was pretty clear - although there were dark clouds way off in the distance. It reminded me that we'd come here... what was it, five days after the group-splitting storm? I frowned at the clouds in the distance and wondered exactly how much five days would affect us.

The Kid soldier guy seemed to notice me staring outside and turned to walk over to the hole. I was just beginning to freak out about what we were going to do when he called to Miles. "Major! Over here!"

'Huh?'

Everyone turned as Miles walked over to him. "What is it?"

"How long would it take to get to Briggs on foot?" Kid asked, exasperation in his voice. "Because it looks like a snowstorm will reach here in a few hours."

'Seriously? How often does this place get snowstorms? There was one a few days ago right?' I impulsively glanced at the others - meaning Ed, Al and Winry - as I thought this. But I quickly averted my eyes when Winry looked at me curiously.

"It should only take a day or so," came the Major's reply. "But that doesn't seem like enough time to escape the storm; it looks to be heading in the general direction of Briggs," The man sighed and lowered his voice irritably. "It's almost as though someone's trying to make this difficult for us. We have no chance of reaching the fort, unless everyone wants frostbite."

I glanced around, realizing the whole 'go through the mines' idea had to come from Yoki. But I hadn't seen him come in... Whoa, he was there. The man was standing just a couple yards away from us, listening to the whole thing. He'd sure been quiet...

"What are we going to do?" Winry asked quietly; it was clear that our situation was now hopeless. To them anyway.

Ed suddenly seemed to get an idea and turned to me. "Hey, Felicity, you wouldn't happen to know anything, would you?"

I blinked, surprised, then looked at Yoki - which caused everyone else looked at him as well, and him to freak out. "I, um, well," he raised his arms in surprise and looked at me quizzically. "You think I have an idea?"

I looked at him blankly. "I just have a feeling."

Yoki was silent for a moment, then, realizing how much attention he was getting, he smirked. "Well alright, I do. But it's pretty obvious to me; we could just go through the underground tunnels. This is a mining town isn't it? I'm sure there's a tunnel that can take us beyond the mountains!"

May grinned. "Mr Yoki! That's a great idea!"

"Yeah!" Ed agreed, surprised. He looked at me quizzically, but I just shrugged in an overly casual way; I didn't want the attention on me again.

Yoki beamed and looked up in a really snobby way. "Hey, give me some credit; this is what I did for a living."

As it turns out, Miles' men had a map on them of the town, and on that map was a vague instruction of where the mine tunnels were. Of course it led out of the mountains, as expected, and when this was realized Miles gave Dr Marcoh a little notebook with a message in it for the people at Briggs. It all seemed perfect...

But then Miles mentioned how Winry would be missed if she left, and Marcoh acknowledged this fact. "That's right, it'll be suspicious when she's discovered missing. Won't the Elric brothers and Felicity be the first people they'll suspect?"

"He's right," I blurted. "Kimblee won't be happy if he finds out we got rid of his hostage," Everyone looked at each other uncertainly, then they all turned their gaze on me. I stared. "What?"

"Well," Winry started hesitantly. "you do seem to know a lot. What do you think we should do?"

Aahh, I was being stared at again. I didn't like that, not one bit, but it seemed like Winry wasn't going to think it up for herself, so... Ugh, fine. "Well, um... There is one thing..."

"What is it?" Ed demanded impatiently.

I scowled at his tone. "Alright, fine," I crossed my arms and looked off to the side to avoid all eye contact. "Well... Kimblee wouldn't blame us for Winry's disappearance if Scar was seen," I coughed slightly. "...kidnapping her."

As a reaction, I got silence. Then:

"WHAT?" Ed practically screamed it, making me wince. "That's crazy! No way are we letting that happen! Right, Al?"

"It is a really dangerous idea," Alphonse admitted, surprising me with how he wasn't freaking out like Ed. "But at the same time, it makes sense..."

"YOU'RE AGREEING WITH HER?" Ed exclaimed, shocked. But Alphonse ignored it.

"Do you think we can trust him not to hurt her?" Al asked me, his armor shifting slightly.

I blinked, then raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, positive. But I didn't think you'd be okay with it."

Al's helmet shifted to the side a bit. "Well, I am pretty skeptical, but you wouldn't suggest something to get Winry killed, right?"

"Right..."

"ARE YOU SERIOUS?" Ed fumed, glaring at his brother. I smiled at his reaction.

That's when Winry decided to speak up. "I think we should do it."

"What!" Ed turned his glare on her, but the look faltered when she glared back.

The mechanic hesitated before nodding assuredly. "Yeah, it would work. I mean, how do you think Kimblee would react? All you have to do is pretend to be trying desperately to save me. Then Scar and I will meet up with Dr Marcoh and the others."

"No way, Winry!" Ed growled. "We can't trust Scar!"

"We can trust Felicity though, can't we?" Winry huffed irritably.

I stiffened when Ed's eyes widened at her words. Then he narrowed them again and clenched his fists. "Not really, no! Especially when she suggests letting a mass murderer go and then handing you to him!"

Winry, Al, May and Marcoh all anime-gasped, staring at the midget in shock. I hardly reacted; I knew he'd say something like that. It kind of hurt, but I knew it.

"Damn it, Ed," came out in English as I glared non-aggressively at him. His eyes twitched in my direction at the sound of his name, ('Ed' in Amestrian is the same as English.) but I looked away and sighed, switching back to Amestrian. "Alright, can we just stop arguing? Are we going to trick Kimblee or not?"

Silence hung in the air, then Kid soldier dude attracted everyone's attention from the hole in the wall. "Kimblee's forces are heading this way now, sir!"

I twisted around to look at him, then turned back to the others. Ed looked absolutely furious, and everyone else just looked worried. And frankly, I was worried too; I knew Scar wouldn't hurt Winry, that much was certain, but I was more worried about Ed. That time was coming closer when he and Kimblee would (probably) fight, and I didn't know what I'd do then.

"Looks like we have no choice..." Al concluded softly. I grimaced at the glare Ed sent my way, but I managed to not get too upset by it. 'Damn it. I know this is Ed, and I know that I lied, but why can't he just let it go?'

"Damn it!" Ed spat, whirling on Scar. "Listen, Scar, if you hurt Winry I'll rip that right arm of yours clean off!"

Scar didn't look fazed in the least. "I won't harm her. I keep my promises."

Ed turned on me then, but I really didn't want to hear anything like that thrown at me, so I interrupted before he could speak; "I keep mine too. Stop freaking out, Ed, please."

"Fine," the midget alchemist huffed. Then he walked over to Scar and clapped his hands, slammed them on the ground, and freed him from his grabby prison. The Ishvalan slowly pushed himself to his feet, grimacing as he placed a bleeding right hand over a wound in his side.

Marcoh noticed. "We're going to have to get that fixed," he pointed at the wound in Scar's side. "You'll die if it's left too long."

Scar nodded in acceptance.

Then I glanced over at the chimeras as Frog Man spoke. "Bring us too!" everyone else turned as well. "Please, you have to take us along too. I know you don't trust us, so you could keep us tied up if you want."

Pig Guy nodded. "Yeah. Please, Kimblee shows no mercy to anyone who fails to complete his mission. So either way, we're dead. And besides," he looked pointedly at Al. "We don't want to give up either."

Later, after everything had been decided, I stood with Ed near the door of of the building we were in. Winry had gone up to the roof with Scar, and Alphonse was standing just a few feet away with Miles and the other soldiers. We were waiting for the signal from Scar - which was going to be a huge explosion.

I glanced over at the small pieces of metal in Ed's open hand that were Winry's earrings. She'd had to take them off from the cold, so now Ed had them... He stuck them in his pocket and sighed, shooting a look my way. "This had better work, or I'll make sure you regret suggesting it."

I rolled my eyes in an attempt to not get upset by his attitude. "I don't think you'd need to do anything for me to regret it, Ed."

Miles walked over to us and gave us a look. "I hope you two can keep up the attitude we need to show. You can't let your emotions give us away."

"Don't worry," Ed practically snarled. "I can easily keep this up, and Felicity's been acting since I met her."

'Ouch.'

We didn't have to wait for much longer. Maybe thirty seconds after that, the entire building shook, and a big cloud of dust and rocks fell onto the ground outside. Everyone started moving, and I followed Ed as he ran outside, coughing in the dust. (We both were.) When I came out of the blinding dust cloud, still coughing and trying to blink the stuff out of my eyes, I saw maybe a dozen soldiers all around us, and Ed as running up to Kimblee with his lungs probably bursting with the shouting he was doing.

"BASTARD!" the midget screamed in Kimblee's face; he grabbed the man's shirt and shook him, shouting some more about Winry, and I realized I should probably do what I promised and act.

Instead of shouting in someone's face, however, I put on a severely upset look (not that hard; I just thought about all the bad things that were happening to me and my face did the rest) and turned to squint up through the dust cloud that still stung my eyes at where Scar was standing near the edge of the roof. I had to admit he was a pretty good actor; that look on his face would terrify me if I didn't know he was (sort of) on our side.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"

I whirled around, keeping that stressed/worried/upset look on my face, to find that Ed now had hold on Kimblee's arms - which were trying to clap together and perform alchemy. Staying in character - and actually worried - I ran towards them and shouted, "STOP THAT! You'll hurt Winry!"

The Crimson Alchemist scowled at me and pressed his hands closer, but Ed was still holding him. I think Kimblee said something, but it was too quiet to hear - and then, just as he said it, the wall of the building exploded. I turned and backed away from it, feeling a single stone clang lightly against my right arm. Another dust cloud rose up, and by the time it was gone the Ishvalan had vanished.

A while later...

I pulled my coat tighter around me as the cold outside got to my ports. The metal chair I was sitting on really didn't help either...

When Scar had gotten away like he did, Kimblee had gone after him and ordered his men to stay back to guard the brothers and me. I guessed that without the storm getting there so quickly, there was no reason for him to be held back - which would be a problem if Scar wasn't seriously talented at hiding from psychopaths.

We'd been kept with Kimblee's men for hours (I had no idea how many) before the approaching storm finally got there. At which point we'd quickly gotten into one of the more intact buildings and were now sitting in one of its large rooms.

Well, the brothers and I were sitting, and I think one or two of the soldiers were resting in the wooden chairs around a table, but everyone else was standing or pacing. And Kimblee looked pissed.

At some point during the time in which we were forced to stay out there in the snow, Alphonse remembered something very important: That Kimblee had wanted to test out my 'Stone'. When he mentioned this, Ed had shown obvious shock at his own forgetfulness, and I'd been...unconcerned. I mean, we weren't going to stay with Kimblee for long anyway; I'd be fine. I told them this, (that I'd be fine, not that we'd leave Kimblee soon) but they still seemed bothered.

I rubbed my leg-stump and glanced around the room, eyes resting on where Miles stood near the window before skimming downwards to look at where Edward sat a couple feet away from me; he was staring at Winry's earrings in his gloved hand, an intense look on his face. The alchemist hadn't spoken since our little conversation about Kimblee's intentions with me, and it was starting to bother me.

Ed closed his metal fist suddenly and turned to look at me. I blinked, staring back, then looked away - only to hear his voice behind my head: "She had better be okay," I turned back to him and found a worried glare being sent my way. "If Winry's not alright then I'm blaming you." I grimaced and tried to look away, but that just seemed to anger him. "You do realize that you don't know the absolute of what's happening, right?" Ed growled. "You might think you know something, but you don't, and you're going to get someone killed if you keep up this confident attitude of yours."

I visibly winced at his words, looking away again. He made me think of Knox, and how he wouldn't be dead if it wasn't for me. He was right; I could get people killed. I already had. But... did I really seem confident? DAMN! Why did things have to be so hard to deal with? "I'm sorry," I muttered in English - I felt like had to say it: "but I already did."

"Translation?" Ed asked with a raised eyebrow. I just shrugged and pretended to mumble incoherently. I wasn't sure if I wanted to tell him that I'd killed Dr Knox with the mood he was in.

A few minutes later I heard one of those other chimeras voicing their concerns about the Pig Guy and Frog Man. I won't bother relaying the exact words, but now I remembered that their names were "Zampano" and "Jerso". Good to know.

And a few more minutes later, Miles alerted us to the problem at Briggs. I wouldn't have acted surprised, but I'd forgotten about it until now, and the question of why Central didn't take over Briggs five days ago left me hanging. But then it occurred to me that they'd been waiting for Kimblee's say so, and Kimblee might have wanted to wait until he was out of the Fort. I didn't know for sure, but it was the only thing I could think of so I let it go.

"We have to find some way to warn them!" Ed growled, starting to pace. I totally agreed with him, but I found myself letting out an exasperated sigh when he whirled around to glare at where I was still sitting down. "Felicity-"

"No, Ed, I cannot solve every problem; please stop asking me," I deadpanned. Then I looked at Alphonse in an attempt to avoid the midget's eyes.

Said midget was quiet for a moment, then groaned in annoyance and began pacing again. "We have to warn them!"

Miles shook his head. "None of us can survive the storm out there. We would freeze to death before we got to them."

There was a moment of silence, and I found myself looking pointedly at Al. The armored boy noticed this and gasped, catching on to my thought process - and every else's attention. "Hold on, there is a way!" Everyone looked at him, and he pointed at his face. "I can go to warn them; that storm won't freeze me to death."

Ed stopped pacing and his eyes widened. "Are you sure about that, Al?"

"Yeah!" Al nodded. "After all, I can't feel the cold at all; it's not like I'll be bothered by it."

So Alphonse was sent out into the storm. I was fairly sure my presence wouldn't affect how fast his soul was ripped from the armor, (Dang, that sounded violent.) so I wasn't too worried about him. Ed was though; he kept pacing, and staring out the window, and pacing... Eventually I had to beg him to stop or else I'd get a headache from watching him go back and forth.

Later, after the storm had stopped, Miles went on to order his men to kill Kimblee and the guys with him. I carefully stayed out of it when Ed argued about it; I totally agreed with him of course - killing those men when they, like Zampano and Jerso, probably had no idea what they were fighting for was cruel - but I knew it wouldn't help, and for some reason I felt too tired to join in.

Oh right, it was the middle of the night by now, probably after midnight. Of course I was tired, even if we had been allowed some rest earlier.

Anyway, once that was over, we all made our way outside. (Ed seemed kind of grumpy the whole way, and I really couldn't blame him.) Outside the building, Edward and Beardy snuck around the back to find something metal to transmute into an Alphonse replica; we'd already planned that whole thing before Al left, so Miles, Kid and I just waited until they came back around - Beardy in an Al suit - to head off to where Kimblee and the others were putting more search parties together.

When we got down there we were placed in one, following Miles, and started on our way. I had to avoid staring at the Alphonse replica as Beardy swayed back and forth inside it; that was pretty weird. I was certain Kimblee had caught on by then, he's not that stupid - or stupid at all, as far as I could tell - but I still eventually decided to readjust where I stood so Ed was between me and 'Al'.

We were walking in silence for a few minutes - in which I found myself humming yet another anime theme song (Rain) - before I heard Miles whisper something to one of his men. That's when I snapped myself out of the slightly-sleepy daze I was in to listen.

"You saw that mineshaft in the center of town, didn't you?" the dark skinned soldier replied quietly, but just loud enough to be heard from where we were. "They're headed down there to search the tunnels."

Ed grunted quietly next to me when he heard that; if Kimblee made it down there, he might catch Winry and the others. Even I knew that would be bad; I couldn't stop the fight from happening, but maybe I could at least stop Kimblee from blowing that place up.

The soldier kept talking: "I heard him mention that he couldn't trust the northern soldiers, so he's only taking the men he brought with him, sir."

Miles grunted. "It seems he's figured us out. We'll head them off. Position snipers by the opening of the mineshaft."

"Yes, sir."

By then I realized Ed wasn't walking beside me anymore. I stopped just before a turn and looked around to see him jogging to keep up; Beardy was behind us, getting the Alphonse costume off now that we were away from Kimblee. I started walking again when Ed caught up. "You're going to do something, aren't you?" I asked quietly, speaking impulsively - again. I knew he was going to do something, but...well, frankly, I forgot what. I just knew that it would start a fight.

Ed threw a look at me and slowed to a stop as we turned the corner; I stopped too. When I looked back where Beardy was, I noticed that he seemed to be dragging the Al suit into the closest building. I guessed he realized it would be bad if any of Kimblee's men found it. Then I turned back to Ed as he spoke. "Yeah. I'm going to go stall Kimblee and try to get information from him."

"Cool."

Ed nodded, too busy thinking to be angry at me for no reason - which I was grateful for - and then led the way toward the center of town. He didn't question my following him, but when we reached the end of an alleyway that led right out to where Kimblee was he turned and put a hand out. "This is as far as you'll go. It's too dangerous for you to get anywhere near Kimblee right now, understand?"

I blinked, then nodded. "Right. Don't get yourself killed."

Ed nodded in return, smirked-smiled, then walked out of the alleyway, turning right. When he reached him, I watched as he spoke calmly to Kimblee. The sound of what was being said didn't reach me, but when the older man stopped talking and held his palms out, I knew shit was about to go down.

The psychopath slammed his hands into the ground, causing a flash of red light and a huge snow-cloud to rise up. I was far enough away so it didn't reach me, but that wasn't necessarily a good thing! I knew Edward was in serious danger now, so I impulsively - and stupidly - ran out of the alley and towards where I'd last seen the two of them. All my sleepiness from earlier vanished as a panicked adrenaline rushed through me. 'I can't let Ed die!'

I practically skidded to a stop when I reached the snow cloud. Ed's voice shouting "KIMBLEE!" was audible through the freezing, steam-like vapor, and when I heard that I felt like I needed to - and did - run in after him.

But that was idiotic, because then I remembered that Kimblee's chimeras would be attacking! I stopped moving and backed up, listening hard. The vague sounds of an animal growling could be heard somewhere off to my right; now I was scared. I didn't know how to fight! And these animal dudes could probably sense how I wasn't quite right; they only knew to attack Edward, but what if they decided I needed to be eliminated too? 'DAMN ME!' I thought frustratedly. 'Well, don't damn me. I can't believe I ran in here! It must be how tired I am...Adrenaline can't get rid of brain-tired. Why did we go out searching at night again? I guess Kimblee's pretty impatient.'

I took a few more steps back, but then I heard Ed's voice nearby and stopped. "Major Miles!" he was shouting, and I guessed the man was on the other side of the cloud; I hadn't heard him speak. "Listen, these guys are chimeras! And they know how to fight in low visibility; don't come in here! Trust me, it's too dangerous! AGH!" he let out a pained yelp at the end, and I gasped. 'Is he hurt?' "Oh," Ed continued, and I breathed a sigh of relief, squinting in all the white used-to-be-snow around me. "And go make sure Felicity doesn't do something stupid like run in here; she's in an alley back where I- ERRG!" he grunted, then continued. "Back where I was!"

I felt my face go hot at his words. 'Geez, does he really think I'm that dumb? I wouldn't have done that if I wasn't so damn tired! I need to get more used to lacking sleep...All that time in a prison really didn't help.'

I heard Miles' reply coming from a distance: "She already did! We saw her run in after Kimblee created that cloud!"

"That IDIOT!" Ed growled, his voice getting farther away.

I turned around with the decision to go back the way I came...but I had no idea which way I'd come from. "Shit!" I cursed, wincing at my own language. But that's when I heard the sound of Ed screaming; I whirled around to face that direction and, on yet another stupid impulse, I ran.

'I can't let him die,' was my only thought as I ran toward where his voice had been coming from. I briefly noticed that the sound of my boots crunching in the snow had turned shallower before I slipped on something and fell on my butt - then proceeded to slide farther down and start falling; then my eyes closed on their own, so I couldn't see where I was going. I bit back a scream as I fell, and then again as something sharp scraped my side, and again as I hit the ground.

"Owww," I groaned painfully, rolling over and trying to unfold my right leg where I'd landed on it. I looked up and saw a huge hole in a little hangover roof above me; it was much too big for me to have made it alone though, so what...

"I don't want to waste much time here, Kimblee, so let's make this quick. Just go ahead and tell me everything you know."

I sat up completely and whirled around at the sound of Ed's voice; there was a big hole in the metal wall behind me, and now that I thought about it the air reeked too. Ed must've already taken care of the chimeras and found Kimblee while I was running to find him; at least he was okay. Now I needed to do something to make sure he wouldn't die.

And so, unsure of what else to do, I crawled over to the hole and peeked inside. The two chimeras lay half conscious a few feet in, that was the first thing I noticed. Then I looked in farther and saw Ed and Kimblee standing off like I remembered, talking it out. Kimblee seemed amused the whole time.

I pretty much ignored what they were saying and looked around for some way to help; maybe I could use that black stuff from the broken dynamite over there to transmute the ground and trap Kimblee? Yeah, that might've worked... If I had been paying attention and done it sooner. By the time I thought of this - which didn't take very long - Ed and Kimblee had started fighting, and now Kimblee was about to take out his spare Stone. I didn't have time to draw a circle!

"...but this does give me a bit of an advantage," Kimblee was saying, amused. He grinned with an open mouth, and I saw the little red Stone fall from it. The psycho chuckled. "Your sense of mercy is such a weakness; you might not come out of this one."

The stone glowed red, and that was the last thing I saw because I was too busy clutching my chest in pain. 'Dammit, I forgot! When a Stone is used near me...' I let out a groan - which quickly escalated to an agonized scream that mixed with Ed's when the red light intensified, and the entire world blew up around me.

When my mind finally cleared up, I coughed roughly in the smoke and dust that followed the explosion; I found myself lying uncomfortably on my side. It took a moment for my head to clear, but when it did I looked up and gasped, finding that part of the wall had been smashed outwards and almost crushed me. 'Damn, that was too close.' I thought fearfully as I pushed myself up. I wasn't hurting anymore, which was good, and I didn't appear to be injured; also good. But my head was a bit fuzzy; there was something important...Now what..?

'Oh...Oh SHIT!' "Ed!" I gasped and scrambled to my feet in panic. Edward had been near the very center of that explosion - and in the anime he'd been severely injured; a pole right through his side! But maybe he wasn't hurt so bad in real life - or maybe he was hurt worse! 'I couldn't stop it!' I ran through the crumbling hole - which wasn't so much a hole as the lack of a wall now - and found a gigantic hole in the floor where Ed and Kimblee had been only moments ago. The whole place looked like...well, like there had been an explosion. I almost rolled my eyes at the irrelevant thought and knelt down next to the edge of the hole. When I saw what was down there, I gasped, panic and fear flooding my chest like a water balloon. "Edward!'"

The midget alchemist was indeed there; he was laying directly below me in what appeared to be a pool of blood; there was a dark green pole sticking out of the center of his back. 'That's not right, that's not right!' I started hyperventilating. The pole was supposed to be in his side, not his back! He could be dead! I knelt down farther and called his name again, hoping he'd hear me and reply; he didn't, but I saw his small form move slightly at the sound of my voice. He was alive, thank God.

But he was still hurt, and he could be dying! I knew I had to get down there fast, so I scanned the hole for a way to do it without breaking my back... But I couldn't find anything! "DAMMIT! How do I get down?" I growled out loud, feeling that somehow might help. And, for some reason, it did. I suddenly remembered a certain Xingese prince and his ninja as they scaled the side of a building, and how they'd looked for the really tiny hand and foot-holds that weren't noticeable to the normal eye... 'But I don't have ninja eyes!' I thought frustratedly. But no, I had to get down there now before Edward really did die! He didn't seem to be trying to save himself, and I was sure that if he could, he would be.

I scanned the hole again, and this time I found something; there were two reddish bars just below me, both standing vertical to the ground. They were connected by another bar that ran between them about eight feet down. Below that, one of the bars were bent and really slanted, so I might've been able to slide down them by taking advantage of my numb hands to reach the bottom. I was sure it wouldn't work, but if I fell then I'd probably survive, even if it hurt. Plus, if Edward died...I...I didn't want to think about that; I had to help him somehow! 'I've failed him thus far, I will not let him die! Winry and Al would kill me if I let him die without doing anything to save him!'

All those thoughts went through my head in about ten seconds; I really hoped it wasn't too late. I looked down with narrowed eyes and judged the height; good, it wasn't too far. Then, acting on only impulse - since I knew that if I thought it over I'd get too scared - I turned and let my left leg slip over into the hole, grabbed the edge of it and then swung down; I ended up hanging by my fingertips. I made sure my feet were above where I imagined the horizontal bar was before letting go; my feet connected perfectly, but I didn't have time to celebrate or anything because then I slipped.

Panicking, I folded my legs and bent backwards, trying to grip the bar with both hands. I got it with my left one before I fell completely, and I ended up with my left leg dangling over the bar, my right foot connected with the side of said bar, and my butt planted firmly on it; the vertical rods swayed precariously. Both hands gripped the edge as I shivered with fear at the drop. 'Close.'

I almost waited to catch my breath, but then I remembered that Edward was lying half-dead on the ground below me. I didn't know what I'd do when I got there - maybe tell him how to save himself - but I had to do something.

I whirled around and grabbed the opposite end of the bar from where I'd been facing, holding my breath as my legs slipped down completely. I grunted loudly when my metal arms straightened with a creaky SNAP; my shoulders ached from that, and I briefly feared that something had broken - but I quickly shook it off and started paying attention again.

The bars, which had already been swaying back and forth slightly, were beginning to fall backwards. When I realized this, I gasped, turning to see if there was anything to grab onto behind me. There wasn't, but the wall was there, so the tips of the bars would stop in a second... Only, when it did, I would probably fall and end up breaking my neck on that pile of rocks below. Gulp.

My mind ran at a hundred miles an hour; only a ninja or someone like that could get down now, so...Well, I might survive that fall, but I didn't want to test it. I closed my eyes and visualized myself doing an awesome ninja move to get down. I knew I couldn't do it, but maybe it would at least help if I tried. I opened my eyes hardly a moment before the bars hit the wall, and quickly let go with one hand; I swung towards the concrete and slammed my left foot into it, planning on turning, jumping, and grabbing hold of one of the bars lower down. But it didn't work like that; when the bars hit the wall there was a jolt, and I slipped. I yelped in fear and grabbed hold of a crack in the wall; that slowed me down a little, and so did the next one I tried, but each time I reached for a notch my gloved fingers slipped, and I ended up sprawled on my side on top of the rocks.

"Ooohhwww..." I groaned painfully. I wanted to just lay there and wait for the pain to go away... But there were two reasons I couldn't do that. One: Edward was down there, probably dying, and I had to find a way to help him. And two: it hurt like hell to stay on top of these sharp boulders; so I pushed myself up and turned to crawl away from them. Thankfully, I hadn't ended up falling too far, so I wasn't hurt bad - but I felt I may have reopened my wounds a bit. Oh well, they weren't bleeding through my coat, so it wasn't too bad.

Speaking of my coat, that had definitely softened my fall, but it was a bit of a hassle to crawl in. So, when I got out of the rubble, I awkwardly pulled it off and threw it to the ground.

That done, I looked toward Ed. He was three feet away from me now, and one eye was open to stare at me. It wasn't moving. "Ed!" I gasped, panicking more; he looked dead. I didn't like that, not one bit! I crawled over him quickly and put a hand on his shoulder; he closed his eye and groaned, giving me a reason to sigh in relief. 'Thank goodness, he's still alive.' But...

I looked at the bar sticking out of him. It seemed to have jabbed right through where his heart should be and angled downwards, probably just barely missing that vital organ. It was sticking awkwardly out of his stomach, and the blood was pooling right towards my knees. I felt my heart-rate go up at the sight of it and closed my eyes. 'No. No, he can't die, he just can't! He's Edward Elric, he can't be killed by a stupid metal rod.' But what could I do? He wasn't moving; his breath was ragged and unusual, he didn't seem even close to getting up and saving himself, and...what if he wouldn't think of using himself like I remembered? He...he might have been too badly injured to consider something like that - especially with me here; would he dare doing something like this to his own soul? Changing part of it to use as a Stone? Not that he could anyway; he was too weak.

I bit my lip uncertainly. He couldn't use his own soul because he was weak. But...maybe I could...

Ed reopened his eye and stared at me again. I wasn't sure what he was thinking, but he seemed to be in pain. Maybe he was wondering why the hell I was there, or how I'd gotten down here. No matter; he was dying, and I couldn't allow that. Coming to a decision, I leaned forward and placed my right hand in the pooling blood, extremely grateful that I couldn't feel it between my fingers. I paused, then I took my left hand and moved Ed's golden hair out of his face so he could see me better; I gave him a look. "Hang in there for me, okay? Don't die," I commanded.

His equally golden eye widened in response, but then it narrowed and he gave a little nod, closing the eye as he grimaced in pain. I smiled weakly. 'Good.' I turned my head and looked around, searching for the chimera dudes who I hoped had fallen down with him. Aaand, bingo; there they were, pinned under a bunch of fallen rocks and pipes and junk. They were both shifting and groaning, so I knew they were alive; I only hoped they were strong enough to help me.

I moved my right gloved hand around in the blood on the floor, resisted puking, and then, shoving back all the panic in my chest - which was threatening to spill over - I stood up and limped closer to the chimeras with my bruised left leg. (And again, I was really grateful for the automail.) I practically fell over when I got to about five feet away from them; my side hurt like hell, but I chose to ignore it. Placing my dripping hand on the floor, I began drawing a circle. I still wasn't very good at transmuting rock and dirt - I'd only really mastered steel, and my automail wasn't made of that anymore - so I had to be careful. I didn't want to hurt - or kill - the two men pinned under those pipes and boulders.

"Hey," I looked up at the distorted sound of a chimera's voice to find the lion guy looking at me; gorilla man was on his back, so he couldn't do that, but his head was turned to the side slightly in the obvious gesture of listening. I blinked at the lion guy, glanced at Ed, then got back to my task as the chimera continued to speak. "Hey, little girl, what are you doing?"

I didn't answer; instead, I completed the circle and pressed my hands onto it. I had to get this right; I couldn't hurt them or else Edward was dead, and I'd probably hate myself afterwards for messing up so badly. The circle glowed blue and I closed my eyes, an imprint of the chimeras' situation on my mind's eye. I imagined the rock moving just so, and focused just right with the little alchemic knowledge I had. And when I opened my eyes the animal-men were free. Well, except for the gorilla guy's right hand; that was still under a boulder, but I was pretty sure his lion buddy could help him with that.

Or...he could just throw it off.

I watched the men stand up uncertainly, gorilla dude gripping a bleeding hand as they both stared at me. There was a moment of silence, then he decided to speak. "Why...why did you do that? Why did you choose to free us when your friend is bleeding to death over there?" he pointed vaguely at Ed.

I scowled as I pushed myself shakily to my feet. Then I let out a breath and tried to reply without freaking out and crying over the fact that Edward was dying - I would not be pathetic in this situation. "I chose to free you because my friend is bleeding to death over there," I ignored the confused stares I was getting and made my face look highly irritable - which I'm good at. "You two are going to help him."

"Eh?" Lion guy - along with his buddy - looked over at Ed briefly. "Uh, I don't know if you realized this, girl, but we're not doctors."

"Yes, I know that," I snarled, internally freaking out. 'If we wait any longer Ed could die!' My mental exhaustion was gone at this point. "But I need you to help me get that thing out of his stomach. Or-" I added on a desperate impulse, kneeling down to touch my bloody circle. "-I could just send some spikes through your ass."

(Yikes, language, Felicity. 'Shut up, brain, this is serious.' )

When the men didn't say anything, I huffed. "You have to help me," I hated the way my voice shook, but I couldn't help it; this was serious, so I didn't care. But then I cursed myself silently as something warm and wet rolled down my cheek. "Please."

The chimeras looked at each other, then back at me. After a moment of tense silence, Gorilla Man spoke. "Okay, fine, we'll help. You seem pretty desperate. But I'm not sure how you intend to save him; I'm pretty sure he's doomed by now."

"No he's not!" I snapped. I couldn't believe that he was going to die; I wouldn't. These thoughts in mind, I stood up and stomped over to the alchemist, clapping my hands loudly; a sharp pain spiked through my chest as I did so, but I ignored it and grabbed hold of the bar sticking out of his back. There was a red flash, and the part of it that wasn't inside him snapped into five equal pieces and fell to the ground; I grimaced. That'd hurt. A lot. But I could tell it didn't do much damage; maybe a few months worth of energy was used up, so... no big deal, right? I had to save Ed. (I think every part of my brain that didn't think that had completely shut down.)

Well, apparently Ed didn't think so. He turned his head weakly, looking up at me with pained shock in the one eye I could see. "Felicity," he croaked. "Wha-what did you just..? You sho-ouldn't have-..." he coughed suddenly and groaned.

I ignored him though, looking pointedly at the surprised chimeras. "Help me," I growled as I stepped over Ed's broken - but alive - body to the other side of him. I knelt down and placed my hands on his shoulders, hauling him up to lean against my chest. The chimera dudes came over.

And Ed was still skeptical about what was going on. "Felicity, what are you doing?" he asked weakly with his head turned to look at me. When I looked at his face, I grimaced. I didn't like how bad he looked; blood streaked his face from the inside of his mouth, and his eyes were half-closed; the rest of it was slowly growing a bruise.

I shook my head. I couldn't think about how bad it was; if I did, I'd throw up, and that wouldn't do him any good. So I ignored him again and shifted my arms to hold him to the side a bit; I looked up at the chimeras. "You two, get over here. I need you to pull the rod out of his stomach so I can close the wound, and then we'll get him to a proper doctor. Okay?" I snarled the last part forcibly; I couldn't let them refuse.

The men looked at each other uncertainly, then decided to comply and made their way over to us. Gorilla Man came over behind Ed and took him from me, while Lion Guy knelt down and took hold of the bar gently. The latter seemed to be about to say something when Ed spoke up again, his eyes wide. "Wa-ait a minute," I grimaced some more as the blood poured out of his mouth; I couldn't help but imagine what was damaged inside. His voice shook with the pain as he spoke quietly. "Don't do that, Felicity! You c-can't use your own sou-ul- li-k-" he stopped to cough violently, then tried to speak again. "I-"

"Shut up," I growled, earning exactly that reaction. I think my head was a bit fuzzy from the panic I was feeling, but I somehow managed to stay calm on the outside as I looked at Ed; it almost hurt to see him like that. I didn't care if he hated me, I didn't want to see him in this much pain - or dead. "I'm not going to let you die, okay? I think saving your life is a bit more important than making sure mine is the right length," I raised my hands slightly as though to clap, giving him an expression somewhere between a smirk and a grimace. "But don't get me wrong; if you could do this yourself I'd gladly step back. I guess I'm just selfish like that," I narrowed my eyes as Edward widened his, then looked up at the chimera men; they looked really confused.

I was about to tell them to get started when Ed decided to waste even more of his blood by talking - the idiot. "Then I will!" he growled. His voice sounded like a broken squeaky toy in a slow blender. He lifted shaking hands as though to clap, but they didn't get very close to each other, and I don't think he could've done even the simplest transmutation in that state. But, even as he was trying to lift his left hand high enough, the midget seemed determined. "I-won't," cough. "let someone else, le-ht alone you - yo-ur soul is already so w-weak," another cough. I wanted to stop him, but I have this annoying habit of listening when someone has something to say. "I won't let y-hyou sacrifice your li-ife for me like th-at. I can-doit," he gasped slightly and closed his eyes, groaning. "myself."

"Idiot," I muttered impulsively. Ed opened his eyes in surprise at my reaction, but I ignored it. I looked at the confused chimeras and brought my hands closer. "Alright, I'll explain that conversation later. Do it now!"

There was slight hesitation, in which I glared at everyone, then Lion Man tightened his grip. "You'd better know what you're doing, girl."

"Me too," I replied in English. And they pulled.

You know that calm feeling you get when you're about to jump off a cliff? Well, I don't either. But I imagine it felt a little like I did when I was preparing to basically commit partial suicide - except for the fact that there was a screaming, in pain, tiny alchemist trying to struggle away from the two men who were helping me save his life. It kind of hurt to hear his agonized yells, but I managed to block it out near the end when the bar was yanked from his stomach. I brought my hands together, but stopped at the sound of Ed's shout; "No!" he grunted, then somehow his hands were together in a clap, and there was a flash of blue...

And then suddenly, Ed was unconscious. His breathing was still ragged - but normal - his automail hand was laying on his side, the other hand fallen to the ground, and there was an ugly scar-like knot where his wound used to be. The bleeding had stopped; and his face was pale, but he was alive.

My hands dropped to the floor in shock. I had just completely prepared myself to do something way too extreme to save this guy's life, and then...I didn't have to. Damn, I... I was relieved. I smiled, letting out a breathy chuckle. "Wow..."

"Uh," Gorilla Man looked down at the boy in his arms, obviously confused. "What just happened?"

"Did he just use his own life force-" Lion Man added tentatively. "-to save himself?"

He looked at me questioningly, and I nodded with another laugh. "Y-yeah. I didn't have to," I gripped my hair in one of my metal hands and stared at Ed's wound with a smile-like grimace. "I don't...I don't think he would've been able to do it if I hadn't tried...S-so, I guess it's a good thing I did, but still; I'm glad I didn't have to do that," I sighed with relief.

"So, uh," I looked up as Lion Man, who still looked totally confused, spoke. "Would you mind explaining to us what just happened?"

I smiled. "Yeah, sure. But not until you help me get him to a real doctor; he's still hurt."

WARNING: AFTER THIS, THERE ARE 7, I REPEAT, SEVEN CHAPTERS OF NON-ACTION. I DON'T KNOW HOW IT HAPPENED. HONESTLY I DON'T, AND I'M SORRY. BUT I GUESS NOT MUCH ACTION HAPPENED IN THE ANIME AFTER THIS EITHER - AT LEAST WITH ED.