painisjustasimplecompromise,sowecangetwhatwewantoutofit

-paramore

•••

Iris can feel the ugly presence of a homunculus. But she also feels the aura of her sister, or at least the remnants of her tainted soul. Her heart twists, for even as the creature is still shrouded in the shadows, walking ever so slowly towards them, there's no doubt it's her. It's her sister.

'She's got to be in there,' Iris convinces herself. 'Just like Ling.'

The taller woman wore a buttoned vest that exposed her midriff and thigh-high boots over her leggings. All black of course, just like any other homunculus. The ouroboros tattoo on the right side of her neck reminded the younger sister of what she was. She had to think of her as just another homunculus, or else she wouldn't leave this fight alive. She didn't have much backup - Ed was on the other side of the room by now, just about ready to start a fight with the other crazed killer.

"I figured I'd see you again," the female homunculus said, approaching the alchemist. "'Oh, don't you remember me, dear sister?'" She mocked her, recalling the first time they had encountered each other at the fifth laboratory. "I think I know who you are now." She smiled menacingly. "My next victim."

Iridian immediately advanced. Iris began to strife, giving her time to pull out her pocket knife. She knew this was not the ideal weapon, so she quickly transformed it into a sword with longer range. Unfortunately, stretching the metal would make it weaker, but what choice did she have?

Now equipped with a fair weapon, she held it with both hands in front of her. She tried desperately to summon any strategies that Bradley had used during their fight, but her thoughts literally got knocked out of her head when Iridian nailed a swift kick to her head. She was more agile, and the girl noticed that she took notes from Envy - stretching herself to get a longer reach. After, she returned to her normal size and went back to the defensive.

The alchemist decided to offend, but her hesitation gave in and she dealt attacks that she knew her sister would easily avoid. She couldn't help but try to reach out for her once more. Ling had shown traces of himself through Greed... maybe this could be the same.

"Please, I don't want to fight you! You're my sister! My flesh and blood! Does that not mean anything to you? Don't I?!"

The homunculus' face only flashed with anger. "How pathetic you are! Flesh and blood?! The only blood coursing through my veins is that of the philosopher's stone!"

She attacked again, but missed. Iris knew her defensive moves greater than anything else; she never liked to fight, but she always had to. That was the problem, wasn't it? She tried to channel the pure hatred of those who had hurt her, who she wanted to inflict the same pain on them as they had once done to her. It hurt, but she sliced and sliced and sliced at all angles against her own. They all hit, and Iris decided to do the sword uppercut from the Fuhrer that had almost finished Lan Fan.

All the sword connected to was a carbon shield. When See-All looked up, Iridian's stomach had turned a dark grey, similar to Greed's when he defended with his shield. She lunged backwards, both in shock and so to dodge her retaliation. Again, the homunculus stepped back as she reverted to her usual body.

Iris had considered this a possibility, but was having trouble coming to terms with how truly powerful she was. Originally, there were only seven deadly sins. It made no sense to have an eighth. But, she did recall a statement Iridian made after introducing herself.

'I'm a little special. Being created out of every sin, it's rather difficult to kill me.'

If she truly was born from each of the deadly sins, it's feasible that she would possess each ability that the first seven demonstrate. She was proving this now - shapeshifting like Envy, a hardened shield like Greed... there's no doubt she had other things such as precognition from Wrath's Ultimate Eye, or Gluttony's acidic saliva.

Too lost in thought, Iris was too late to dodge an attack. Iridian had plucked an icicle from one of the nearby railings and quickly maneuvered around her to distract her. Then, she plunged the sharp ice into her left shoulder, right under the long bone of her collar. She cried out in pain, and her left arm immediately dropped to her side.

The alchemist looked down and was horrified to see the end of it sticking out of her. She couldn't move her arm, and she could feel the chill of the ice touching her bone. Improvising, she discarded her sword and immediately rubbed her palms together to create friction. Her hands burned as her fire alchemy came to life. She winced in pain, but took her right hand and held onto the icicle. It melted in seconds, just as the fire died. She subconsciously thanked Roy in her head for all his fiery-ness that had rubbed off on her.

With the icicle gone she felt the blood rushing to the wound even faster, but she had mobility of her arm again and ignored the painful throbbing. She looked up to see that Iridian had just finished recovering as well, her skin regenerating over the lacerations Iris had made into her skin with the sword.

She reached for the weapon again, but once it was in her hands she felt a rumble underneath her. With great risk, she turned around to see the Ed's side of the fight. She saw the red glint of a philosopher's stone in the distance and immediately knew what was happening. Kimblee was going to collapse the place!

Things crumble around her within seconds, and Iris has no time to warn Edward. She loses him in all the dust and distance. Her fall is not graceful, but not painful, either. She's trapped only under small rubble and shattered ice. It grazed her arms when she put them up to cover her face.

Iris wanted to run over to find him, but some dust cleared and Iridian was in front of her once again. She could see Kimblee's figure escaping, and Ed's curled up body at the edge of the room, right next to a large pile of rubble. He wasn't moving.

Her blood froze in fear, then felt as if it was on fire the next second as her adrenaline kicked in. She went for a sweep kick to Iridian, but she sidestepped then pushed her back by her injured shoulder. She groaned and fell back. She watched as Edward's body twitched. Red liquid began to seep into the side of his coat at an unsettling pace.

"Ed!" she yelled out, hoping for a response. "Edward, hold on! She'll kill us if I don't stop her!"

Iris gathered her strength to stand and created more distance between them. She strategically traveled in a circle to get closer to her friend. She could hear him incoherently mumble.

The homunculus comes closer and furiously jabs at her, annoyed at her diverted attention. She lands a hit on Iris' eye and she goes down, revealing a bruise once she uncovers her eye. Things are a blur, but she manages to kick Iridian's knee in. It bends backwards thanks to the blunt force of her strong-heeled boot. She grimaces in pain and hobbles back, giving the girl some space. She looks behind her as she hears a transmutation being performed. Edward has lifted the rubble with a giant hand to release the chimera who were stuck.

"Please help me!" Iris cries to them, having no other choice. Through her blurred vision she could see Iridian revert her knee back into place sickeningly. The alchemist dived onto her and pummelled into her face. She couldn't watch herself punch her own sister, so she looked away.

"Help us!" she screamed again. "Kimblee left you down here just like us! You're nothing to him, don't you see?! So please just help me so I can save my friend! Fucking plea-!"

Her breath ran out as Iridian finally came to and grabbed her by the throat. Iris stopped her punches and grasped at the homunculus' fingers. She felt her fingernails enlarge on her throat and could only imagine that they were as long as Lust's. Yet another copying of a sin's ability, and this one could be the one that kills her.

Blood pricks out of her neck and Iridian smirks. "Sweet sister of mine?"

Iris could only make choking noises as she lost the strength to hold on. Her arms dangled to her side. She was about to accept her fate when a furry creature pulled her opponent by the waist and threw her across the mine. Her body thudded against one wall. More icicles fell.

"Your friend must be dying," the gorilla-like chimera said urgently. "Go help."

Iris didn't have to be told twice. Now that she had no obstacles, she ignored all her pain and made a straight shot for Edward.

She didn't know what she expected, but it wasn't this.

A thick metal rod was stuck clean through Ed's right side. His heartbeat was weak and his eyes were glazed over. She could see that he had shortened the rod with alchemy. She was careless as she kneeled in his puddle of blood and had her hands hovered over his abdomen, not knowing exactly what to do or where to start. Blood was everywhere, his breathing was shallow, and his wound was throbbing erratically.

"Holy shit, Ed, please, don't die. Please okay, I'm going to help you, okay, just pay attention to my voice, I'm going to fix this. I'm so sorry but please don't die... I need you, Ed. We'll do this together, I just have to get this out of you and seal your wound and you'll be just fine, okay?" She talked so fast she didn't know what he'd gathered, but it didn't seem to be much.

"...I'm not.. dying. Not yet." Ed speaks in shallow breaths, and it almost sounds to her as if he's trying to convince himself, more so than her.

Iris tears up, but decides it's not the time to cry. She steels her voice for his sake. "Of course you're not dying. You still have a lot to do. We both do. So just, shut up. Okay?"

He doesn't say anything. She can't decide whether that's a good sign or not.

"Chimeras!" she calls over, suddenly noticing that the fight is over with. Iridian is nowhere to be seen. She can't be occupied with that fact, though. This was so much more important. She spoke as calmly as she could. "I need your help. Please, pull the rod out of him. I'll hold him down, but please get it out of him."

"He'll bleed to death if we do that, you know that, right?"

She glared up at them and snapped, "Of course I do! I'm... I'm going to sew his wound with alchemy." She speaks more to herself at this point. "I can do it. I should be able to. I was stuck in Rush Valley with Winry so I got to read some of her medical books that she'd brought. That and my alchemic knowledge combined should be enough to keep him... stable." She chose to replace the word 'alive;' she wasn't about to even entertain the thought of him not seeing another day.

Edward seemed to be listening, for he protested. "I'll... do it myself, Iris. I don't need... help with the alchemy..."

The girl wanted to slap him, if not for the actual circumstances. Even at such a critical stage, he always wanted to put the burden on himself.

"You're not the only one here certified in alchemy, dummy! Trust me a little, will you?" Her voice softened, a bit hurt. She knew it wasn't the time, though. They were all dealing with more pressing matters.

Iris positions his head and back onto her knees and grips at his shoulders.

"Ready?" the chimeras ask them. The girl nods, and Edward just gives a shallow huff through his nose. Immediately, he writhes against her, unbearable pain ripping throughout his entire body as the blood-stained rod is being pulled out of his intestines. His scream is nothing like Iris has never heard before. It leaves her stricken before she realizes she only has a few seconds to perform her transmutation.

She thinks of how all of it could be applied into one single formula. Ed's blood and organs and his entire life force...

'Keephimalive.Keephimalive.He'snotdying,notinyourhands,Iris.'

She demanded these things of herself. His life was in her hands, quite literally. One clap of the hands, then she thrust them onto his wound forcefully. A howl of pain, a flash of light, both covered in blood. She quickly readjusts him to sit upward. He coughs, blood coming out. Then he goes limp over her shoulder.

"Ed?"

Carefully she pulls him back by his shoulders so she can look at him. He cracks one eye open in the very slightest, then somehow finds the strength to wipe his chin of the blood he coughed up. She smiles in relief, then embraces him, not necessarily caring how much of a mess they're in at the moment.

"You're alive," she whispers, even though she can tell that he's already passed out. They stay that way for only a few seconds, since the chimeras rip her out of the scene.

One states, "Save the mushy shit for later, girly!" Iris tried not to blush.

"Yeah," the other agrees, "We have to get him to a hospital!"

"R-right! Let's get the hell out of here."

The chimeras carry the Fullmetal Alchemist out of the mine, the See-All Alchemist dragging along with an injured shoulder and black eye.