Ed knelt in the middle of his own circle, staring into the swirling energy behind the open doors. A few moments earlier, he'd thought he'd caught a glimpse of his brother through the abyss. So close! But now, the scene blurred and nearly disappeared, as if something else was pushing it aside. Ed reached out towards the fading image, now not even sure that it hadn't been an illusion created by the creatures behind the gate.
Roy was the first to enter the room; cautiously at first, fearing what he might find at the source of the strange power. Ed was, decidedly, the last thing he had expected to be at its source. He watched him closely as he entered the room, barely taking note of the other things going on around him - of the group of men in the corner staring into the Gate, or the small boy sulking nearby, his gaze never leaving the other group. Roy studied the circle drawn onto the floor. Its shape struck a familiar note somewhere in his mind, but he was unable to connect it with anything he had seen before, even in the immense jumble of foreign memories that made up his own trip through the gate. Tearing his attention away from Ed and the gate, he walked further into the room, trying his best to take in as much as possible of what was going on. The power was beginning to shift again, taking on a different feel and colour, somehow rougher than it had felt before, more raw.
Hughes, upon entering the cavern, turned immediately to face the members of Akatsuki. He noted their rapt attention on the centre of the room, where a small boy in a red coat sat in the middle of a circle, facing the doors of the gate. It was a testament to his training that he looked first to the most immediate human threat, rather than Edward, but once his attention fell on him, he was trapped in a swirl of thought on how he could possibly have gotten trapped here too. It was immediately clear to him that Ed was trying to tear his way home somehow and Hughes latched onto this idea, this small glint of a promise. The gate here appeared no different from the one that he had come through to arrive here, though it appeared that he hadn't used the same methods Roy had to summon it. If he hadn't known the boy in the corner to be Sauske, he would have assumed that perhaps Ed had used him as the key to the Gate. It appeared that he had been working almost completely independently of his father, so little of his influence was echoed in his approach. Ed's attention was fixed entirely on the gate – he took no notice of any of the three as they walked into the room. Hughes' attention flew briefly to Sauske. It wasn't like him to stand out of the way of all the action, and even less so for him to look so tired, so used.
Havoc was the last to enter, focusing his attention instead on the reaction of the two men in front of him. He watched as they split their immediate attention as they entered the room, almost as if they had been trained to take in everything at once. Roy had paused near the middle of the room and off to the side, carefully out of the reach of the menacing group in the corner and away from the raw power that now flowed from the open gate in the centre of the room. He could feel the tension in the air, and found himself instinctively trying to latch on to the strange raw power that now leaked from the gate. This was a very fragile situation they had walked into. The members of Akatsuki seemed to be waiting for something from Ed, while Ed was completely distracted by something that was going on inside of the gate itself. Whatever it was had made him forget completely what was going on around him. The men behind Ed shifted uncomfortably, and Havoc tensed. The presence of Akatsuki hadn't escaped Hughes' eyes either, and the two grouped behind Mustang, who was still entranced by whatever Ed was doing in front of the gate. It appeared that the men hadn't given the three more than a glance. Perhaps the sound insignia meant more than they thought it did, or perhaps they were more intent on the gate than they seemed. At least it saved them from immediate conflict.
Ed's eyes widened as he stared into the depths. Something seemed to be coming through, and he backed away. It was the last remnant he had seen of the previous connection he'd had with his own world, and he followed its swirling movements through the tunnel of the gate. It shifted hard to the left for a moment, then seemed to speed up, propelled by some new force behind it as it hurtled towards the opening. Ed stood, moving to the side to get out of its path should it fly all the way through, never breaking his stare into the opening. The children that usually guarded the gate seemed unable to move from the outside of the tunnel, pushed aside by the same force that pushed the strange object forward. As it approached, Ed could see the familiar skill in the build, the choice of materials. It flew from the gate just as Ed connected the form to its maker. It had been something Winry had built. Winry…
He turned to see where the object had landed. He recognized it as the head of some sort of machine and wondered briefly what its original purpose had been. Surely not to do what it had just done. One of the members of Akatsuki now stood glaring at Edward, rubbing the blood from a cut on his face. If the object had hit anyone else, it probably would have felled him immediately. Ed stepped back at the murderous stare, but stopped when he remembered where he was. A few false steps and he could be flying into yet another foreign world, and he doubted he could survive another adventure like this. Gazing back briefly though, he noted exactly where the gate sat in the room, in case he needed to make an emergency escape. The man the errant piece of machinery had hit was now unmistakably advancing toward him, and there was no mistaking his intent to kill. Edward mentally kicked himself for never bothering to study their style of fighting. He knew only what he had thought might help him in his research on how to return home, and none of it was useful when he was on the defensive. Foolishly, he had been relying on their power to protect him if he was ever threatened. He had assumed that, should they threaten him as he made his escape, he would have already sealed their power away. He hadn't counted on it escaping from the stone and leaking from the gate as it was now.
Only two pairs of eyes were not on Ed as the man approached, both studying the scene through the power of the Sharingan. Sauske never took his eyes off of Itachi, while Itachi watched Ed's attacker.
"That was your doing, yeah?" the man questioned. His tone and accent were strange, and his looks and movements had a bat-like quality.
Ed silently stood his ground, hiding any emotion he was feeling behind a calculating scowl. Even now, he couldn't afford to lose face in front of these men if he was to finish what he had started here.
"Why…" he took a few more steps forward to intimidate Ed, "would you do something like that, yeah?"
The man was getting too close for safety. Ed clapped his hands together and drew his left hand along the back of his prosthetic arm. Though it was now made of a synthetic material his friends had introduced him to in Germany, he'd built a long knife into the length of it that could be drawn out mechanically. He now reinforced it with alchemy, mixing the material into the bottom of the blade, securing it thoroughly so it wouldn't snap loose. The man lunged and then sprung at Edward, but before he was an inch off the ground his body stiffened and fell forward.
Everyone in the room seemed to freeze for a moment as their attention switched to Itachi as he stepped forward. Kicking the body out of the way, he watched Edward for a reaction, seeming to scold him for not defending himself more quickly. He then turned again to face his fellow members of Akatsuki, daring another of them to come after the boy he'd brought to them. They were not the types to avoid his stare, but none made a move to test his strength. Itachi slowly walked back to stand again at the front of the group. Only Hughes noticed his slight glance towards the corner as he walked back. It could have passed as a gaze back at the man he had just killed, but there was something else behind it. He followed Itachi's line of sight, finding Sauske once again at the end of it. His eyes were now tinted red with the same Sharingan as his brother's. He seemed to be watching everything at once, taking it in, calculating. Waiting. Itachi watched him for only a fraction of a moment before turning his attention back to the gate in the centre of the room. The energy flowing from it now was of a totally different type, yellow and raw, and it was increasing with every passing second.
As Itachi stared into the gate, watching the flow of power as only those with the Sharingan could, Sauske sensed his moment. His brother's hunger for new power would be the only thing that would distract him thoroughly enough to give him an opportunity to strike. And in this room here it felt like now or never. With the gate wide open, this new power flowing into the world, it felt like the end. If not the end he'd been waiting for, at least some end. He took a step forward, gathered a small amount of strength – just enough to move quickly, a careful amount less than his brother would be likely to notice. There was no stopping the momentum now as he lunged toward his brother.
Itachi's eyes snapped to Sauske as he ran towards him, but the man made no other move to show that he even cared that his brother was running towards him, murderous intent showing in his eyes. Itachi simply stared, and slowly, slowly Sauske came to a halt in front of him, in a sort of trance. Itachi reached a hand out towards his brother, a small hint of a mocking laugh escaping from his mouth.
"You're still too weak! You're barely even resisting!"
He reached out, grabbing Sauske, and threw him towards the wall. Before he could even think, the knife Hughes had palmed when the bat-like man was threatening Ed flew through the air, grazing past Itachi's neck and leaving a thin red line that slowly began to bleed.
Why did I react now, for someone I barely even know, when I didn't react when Ed was attacked? Hughes questioned. The answer came quickly though… there would have been no one else in this cavern that would have done anything for Sauske. And he couldn't stand by when someone so young was in danger, no matter how dark and brooding he might have been.
Itachi broke eye contact with Sauske and the boy sank to the floor. He'd only been trapped in the genjutsu for a few seconds, but clearly it had taken its toll on him. The anger in his eyes was only slightly dimmed as he caught his breath, watching the man who had just attacked his brother. Itachi turned his cold stare on Hughes and for a moment everyone seemed to be frozen in place, watching. The wind continued to swirl around the gate, the only background noise to the scene.
Hughes looked up to meet Itachi's stare…
(Author's Note: At the end this time even. Raise your hand if you want to kill me now. I am so evil. Because it's going to be forever before I get a chance to write more of this. Sorry! Sorry! But this was such a beautifully evil place to leave off, I couldn't resist. Expect, around the same time I update with the next chapter, for there to be a few random other chapters thrown into the middle. I'll try to point people to them, but I'm not sure how angry ffnet's going to get when I switch all the chapter numbers around... Oh, and destinedragon, you made my day with that review. Hehehe).