The next day, Izumi and Alphonse descended the stairs with high hopes of their new experimental design. It had been an all-nighter for both of them, but Alphonse was pleased with the result. Izumi yawned as she followed Alphonse down. He was practically skipping. How happy-go-lucky he was.
He paused at the end of the stairs, staring curiously into the room. "Sensei," he whispered. "I think someone's been down here."
The camera had been knocked over, but the recording light was still on. Some areas of the transmutation circle had been smudged, and boxes had been turned over. There were chunks beaten in on the walls, like someone had taken a battering ram to them. There was not much destruction of their experiment, but it was a very curious disturbance.
Izumi came down and stared at the mess. "No one else had a key, and the door was locked. There was no alchemy residue either."
"Shh... Sensei."
There was one light in the basement, and it came from a little bulb in the ceiling. A lot of the room was left in darkness. It was not a bother to them. They did little more than conduct actual experiments in here, most of their ingredients were measured and brought downstairs, if they needed any.
Izumi was silent. Alphonse began to slowly walk around the room, and Izumi watched him from the doorway. She suddenly noticed how he was acting, and then she noticed how dark the corners of the room were. Even the walls had a deep shadow about them. She would get more lights down here.
Then it became very obvious, an extra shadow that was creeping around the walls, blending in with the other shadows almost immaculately. Instantly, her hands were slammed together and there was a ripple of cement that smashed the figure against the wall. Al jumped away, staring at Izumi and then at the thing on the wall.
"What the?" he cried.
Izumi watched it, and she did so carefully. It wasn't fighting the fist that rose from the ground and wrapped rocky fingers around it. It was calm, peaceful almost. She could hear it breathing now, which must of been what Al had heard earlier. It was breathing in short gasps, a very tiny sound compared to their breathing.
As they neared it, it stopped breathing. That little sound stopped. Izumi was slightly afraid that she had killed it, but she was afraid of it at the moment, even to the slightest degree. Then, suddenly, it melted in with the darkness of the wall. Alphonse took his jacket off and wrapped it around his wrist.
"What are you doing?" Izumi hissed softly.
"I'm going to see if it's still there..."
What a stupid idea. "What?"
"Shh."
Alphonse inched forward, his arm extended like a sword towards the middle of the fist. He then stopped, and his covered fist drooped slightly.
"I think it laid its head on me..."
Izumi clapped her hands and directed her attention to that one bulb. The ceiling managed to project a few rods into the wide cone of the one light and tilted it in their direction.
It was blacker than the inside of the Gate. Izumi felt a chill run up her spine. Its skin was black. It's hair was black. It looked like the perfect definition of a living shadow.
"Sensei..."
The shadow leaned forward, placing more of the weight of its head onto Al's hand.
"Wha..." it whispered.
Al jumped, and Izumi took a step back.
"Wha...tah...dah...ark...wah...urld...oo...ave..." it said very slowly.
"What a dark world you have," Izumi repeated.
"I think it's hurt," Alphonse said. "Are you hurt? Can you understand me?"
"Sah...Sah...Sah...ins...Sah...ins...bah...bah...bah...urn...ah..."
"Sins. Sins burn."
Alphonse pulled his hand away slowly, and the shadow's head drooped.
"Do you think its talking about...our sins?" he whispered, turning his head to Izumi.
"Yes," she said plainly.
She was afraid of it. Another Homunculus. They had to kill it. Without warning, the fist closed tighter, causing the shadow to squeak.
"Sensei! No!"
"I can't let it live, Alphonse! It's one of them! The doll with no heart!"
"No! Sensei!"
The first finger cracked, followed by a shattering fist. The rock formation that had held the shadow was crumbling, releasing it onto the floor. Izumi felt her heart stop. Alphonse backed away, and Izumi nearly fell. She would have if the wall had not been there.
The shadow crawled across the floor, very slowly, as if in great pain.
"It's got wings," Alphonse said.
Izumi looked closer at the mounds that were on its back. They did look like wings. Alphonse went a little closer to the black creature, inching ever so close.
"How can we help you?" he said slowly.
The creature paused on its trek across the room. It laid on the floor, exhausted.
"Wah...wah...ere...is...tha...tha...tha...lah...lah...ite...?"
"Outside? Do you want to go outside?"
"Lah...lah...ite..."
"Will you hurt us?"
"Stah...stah...op...urt...me..."
Izumi inched closer to the stairway. "Alphonse. Stay here. Be careful. I'll get something to put it in."
She rushed up the stairway, and Al's heart stopped. He suddenly had a dire fear that he would be dead soon, but there was no violent or hasty move from the shadow.
"Stah...op...urt...ing...me..."
"I'm not...hurting you," he said, kneeling down a few feet away from it.
It convulsed, arms and legs trembling and twitching. "Sah...ins..."
For a while it was still, moving occasionally. For the most part it just panted out breathes every now and then. Alphonse noticed the things on its back that he thought were wings were shrinking.
"What are you...?"
"I...of...tha light..."
As he reached out to touch it softly on its back, Izumi came rushing down the stairs with a tarp. She threw it over the shadow and rolled it over.
"Get those ends!"
She grabbed half of the tarp, and Alphonse grabbed the remaining half. Izumi lifted it quickly, moving backwards towards the stairwell. As they climbed the stairs, their load seemed to be getting lighter and lighter. By time they made it to the top of the stairs, Alphonse had to look into the tarp to see if it was still occupied. By time they went into Izumi's back yard, there was nothing in it.