Author's Note: After much internal debate, I decided to split the next chapter into two parts. So here is part one. Thank you for your review, Basser. Don't worry, we'll be seeing a lot more of Ed pretty soon, though just not yet. ;)
Beneath the City
"The Soul-binding Alchemist?" Izumi echoed. She clenched her fist in outrage. "Is the military now openly experimenting with human transmutation? Have you not learned anything from the 5th Laboratory? Or Lior?"
Roy Mustang chuckled in amusement. "I suppose the name is a bit misleading. Her name is 'Soul-binding,' as in 'soul-healing.' She binds souls as one would bind a wound. Her specialty is the realm of sleep and dreams, and both the shell-shocked soldier and the official with insomnia have found her useful."
"I see," Izumi replied, still perturbed, although for a different reason now. If they ran across Dante or Gluttony, the Soul-binding girl would only get in harm's way. Normally, she would have been overjoyed to see someone in the military use alchemy in a healing capacity, but if Yuki followed the trend among the State Alchemists, she probably carried a transmutation circle that allowed her to do one thing only: to induce sleep and manipulate people's dreams. Which would be useless in any life-or-death situation that they were likely to face.
"You will be interested to know that at sixteen years of age, she is the youngest person to ever become a State Alchemist, second only to Edward Elric." Mustang unfolded his hands and steepled the tips of his fingers together. "Full Metal's record is rather tough to beat, after all."
Izumi, however, was not interested in hearing about Yuki's precociousness and was even less interested in listening to Mustang talk about her student like he was a prized racehorse with the fastest track time. "We should get started without anymore delay," Izumi said curtly, and stood to leave. "This may take some time, and I wish to return home as soon as possible. My husband cannot run the butcher shop by himself."
Mustang rose from his chair as well and gestured at Al and Izumi. "Major, these two are concerned about a fugitive known as Dante who was involved in the illegal research carried out in the 5th Laboratory. I am assigning you to investigate this person's disappearance. Izumi and Alphonse will assist you, since they knew Dante personally. Please escort them to the 5th Laboratory."
Yuki saluted again, her face stern and business-like. "Yes, sir."
Since Yuki was with them, Izumi and Al had no trouble getting past security at the 5th Laboratory. However, the 5th Laboratory Yuki had brought them to was not the 5th Laboratory that Izumi had had in mind. This one was an abandoned research facility across the street from one of the state prisons. Its perimeter was walled off and intruders were deterred by barbed wire along the top, and soldiers patrolled the entrance to keep others out while the government carried out its inspection.
The facility looked as though it had weathered a small war. Large sections of the outer walls had been completely blown out, and the interior was not much better. Not a single room stood untouched, and sometimes Izumi could see through one room right into another. There were so many holes in the walls and the floor that Izumi wondered that the building was standing at all. However, there was no sign of the Red Water; the military must have confiscated it long ago. As they walked between the roped-off areas and inspection equipment, Izumi said, "Major, does the government know about the true 5th Laboratory? The one that's located underground? This one is just a front for the real research facility."
The tall girl nodded agreement. "Yes, we are aware of that. I am taking you there right now."
There must be more than one entrance, then. Izumi thought back to the contents of the excerpt from Nash Tringham's diary. It had described the entrance as an altar in a small church in the northern part of the city. That was the way Edward had taken. Maybe she and Al should have taken that way and bypassed the military entirely. It would have made things much simpler. But if anyone had found them skulking about the most secret part of the 5th Laboratory, there would have been questions, and that would have made things more complicated. In the end, it was probably better to appear as though they didn't have anything at all to hide.
They reached the end of a hallway where a heavy metal door had been propped open. It looked like the entrance to a large safe, and had probably been designed to conceal the elevator behind it. Yuki slid the real elevator door to the side and pulled open the metal grate. Izumi and Al followed her inside, and they descended into the bowels of the 5th Laboratory, the elevator rattled loudly along its pulley.
The lone bulb illuminating the elevator flickered fitfully and the car shuddered so violently that Izumi feared it might come apart. Yuki stood as straight as a pole and appeared unaffected by the jolting descent. Her skin was surprisingly pale, especially for the summertime, as though it were untouched by the sun. In the gritty, dim light of the elevator, there appeared to be shadows and dark lines across her face, as if she often worked too hard and slept too little. In addition, her rigid, unsmiling demeanor, which would have gone unnoticed in a seasoned officer, was unusual to see in someone so young. She was not like any other sixteen year old that Izumi knew.
There was a tap on her shoulder. "What is it, Al?"
Al motioned for her to lean closer. "Sensei, why didn't you tell the Brigadier General that we're looking for Gluttony?" he whispered. "Why did you tell him we wanted to find Dante?"
"You and your brother have been pursued in the past because it was thought that you were collaborating with Homunculi," Izumi replied in hushed tones, making sure her words were covered up by the rattling of the elevator. "Circumstances are different, now, but I think it is unwise to express interest in any of the Homunculi. I only used Dante as an excuse to get us into the 5th Laboratory. Hopefully we'll be able to find a clue about what happened to Gluttony."
"I see." Al thought about this for a moment. Then he looked up again and said, "But what about Dante? Shouldn't we try to find her too? She might try to create the Philosopher's Stone again."
"She may be with Gluttony, but it's hard to say. According to Rose, Dante and Gluttony fled separately. It seems that Dante did not have complete control over him. In any case, we must try to reach him before she does."
At last, the elevator reached the lower level of the 5th Laboratory and opened into a narrow hallway. Piles of crates were stacked along either wall, and filmy cobwebs covered the rotting wood like ghostly sheets. The hallway curved slightly to the left and ended at an arched doorway, which led them into the vastest concert hall Izumi had ever seen. A wide stage at the front overlooked an open dance floor that stretched from the stage to the massive double doors at the other end of the room. Rows of seats were set back from the dance floor, overshadowed by balconies on the upper floors. The ornate, flowery architecture and the velvet curtains draped in doorways and over the balconies made it beautiful, but the empty seats and unlit chandeliers made it a concert hall for ghosts. It was like gazing into the bones of a well-preserved skeleton whose life had faded away hundreds of years ago.
There was a row of candles in the front, along the stage, that guided their way. They had only taken a few steps when Al broke away and ran toward the center of the open floor.
"Al?"
He was followed by Izumi, and finally by Yuki, who removed a candelabrum from the stage and brought it with her. When they reached him, he had dropped to his knees at the edge of a large circle inked onto the floor. Izumi slowed to a halt and knelt down next to him. It was not like most transmutation circles; instead of being straight, the lines inside it curved and flowed and interwove with each other until they converged into a single arrow down the middle. It was not even a true circle, since the lines that composed it tapered off to the sides like the wings of a grotesque bird in flight. She recognized it, and there was no doubt that Al recognized it, too.
He reached out a hand to touch the pattern of the human transmutation circle, the one that brought him back to this world. And took his brother away. "Nii-san…"
In the light of the candles in Yuki's hand, the black outline of the circle was bold and defiant on the smooth wooden floor, a symbol that went against every natural law in the universe. It was the mark of sin, a stain on all their souls, something that they had been too foolish to understand until it was too late.
When Edward brought Al back, however, it was different. It was not like the time when Izumi tried to raise her dead son or when her young students tried to bring back their mother. The transmutations that brought forth Homunculi were done out of selfishness, with the expectation of receiving something without giving anything in return. But when Edward performed human transmutation for the last time, he did it out of love for his brother, without any concern for the consequence to himself. He was willing to offer up everything. Izumi reached out her own hand and touched the circle. Only then was human transmutation able to succeed.
Al stood up and walked to another part of the room. The floor there was splotchy and rust-colored, like something had been spilled and dried up. "This is where Nii-san died," he said quietly, his head bent. "There was a lot of blood."
They stood in silence. Al clenched his fists at his sides. "Nii-san isn't dead." He turned around to look at Izumi. "He's still inside the Gate, just like my body was inside the Gate. I just have to figure out how to get him back."
His gray eyes were bright in the wavering candlelight. "Major," Izumi said, without looking away. "Please show us the rest of the 5th Laboratory."