hello innocent victims! guess what? i know, i know, been forever since i updated. BUT WHAT IF I WAS KIDNAPPED, HUH? WHAT THEN?what ifthere was no possible way for me to update, huh?that's right, feel bad.

oh, and before i forget

ZAGO DOES NOT OWN FMA. HOWEVER, SHE DOES OWN AKA. AND RECENT REPORTS CLAIM THAT SHE MIGHT SOON OWN A NEW SONIC THE HEDGEHOGGAME. INVESTIGATIONS WILL BE RESUMED AS SOON AS SHE STOPS PLAYING IT.

-----Part 16-Cliff Climbing...or Falling-----

Recap-Aka started wearing more girlish clothes, which had an interesting affect on Ed. As your group was heading to the Iselia caves for research, Aka saw a strange figure at the top of the cliff. But the figure disappeared before the Elrics could see.

Start-
"Argh...THESE ROCKS ARE SO STUPID!" You yelled. The three of you had begun climbing, but the rocks were so unstable that you'd only gotten a few feet up.

"Well duh Aka, they are rocks..." Ed said smugly.

"Shut up..." You mumbled, annoyed. Striding over to a large boulder, you seized the grooves with your hands and started to climb upwards.

"Aka, wait! We don't know if that one's stable yet!" Al yelled. Stopping, you looked down at them over your shoulder.

"No big, I'm testing it now!" You yelled back. Returning to your climbing, you made it all the way to the top. Smirking in victory, you leaned over the edge and looked down at the Elrics seven feet below, poking your toungue out at them. "Ha! Take that! Now get up here you turtles!" You yelled. Even from up there, you could feel the heat of Ed's glare.

"Hey! At least we're being careful!" Ed yelled, trying to sound right. Suddenly, a small rock hit his head. Ed threw up his arms and glared up at you.

"AKA!"

"Don't look at me!" You said hurridly.

"I'm sure it just fell Brother..." Al said, trying to calm Ed down.

Or someone threw it... You thought. Looking around, you saw nothing but rocks. But as you glanced over some of the higher cliffs, you could have sworn you saw a whisp of black.

What the...okay, that's the second time! I'm either crazy or somone's stalking us! And I really don't want to be crazy! You were suddenly pulled from your thoughts as you felt somthing hit the back of your head. Whirling around, you saw that the Elrics had made it up the rock. Ed was tossing a rock in his hand up and down, smirking at you.

"You jerk! For the last time, IT WASN'T ME!" You yelled.

"I know. I just felt like doing that." Ed replied.

"What? Argh...ED!" You screamed, lunging at him. He side-stepped to avoid it, turning so that he was still facing you. You tried to do a quick turn to lunge at him again, but you slipped on the dusty surface. Giving a yelp, you began to fall backwards off the cliff.

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...zzzz-poke poke ALRIGHT! JEEZ, FINE!)

"Aka!" Ed yelled, rushing forward. Scared, you reached out to him. Seizing your hands, Ed jerked you back towards him as hard as he could, causing you to fall against his chest. You clung to his shoulers, breathing rapidly. Ed's arms encircled your waist as he did the same. Leaning your head against Ed's chest, you closed your eyes, listening to his heart. It was beating very quickly, but began to slow down.

He was scared too... You realized.

"Aka?" Al asked softly, "Are you...okay?" Still breathing hard, you pushed yourself off of Ed's chest.

"Y-yeah. I'm-I'm okay." You stammered.

"You sure?" Ed asked, placing his hands on your shoulders. You looked up at his worried gold eyes.

I am now... Closing your eyes, you nodded and forced your breathing back to normal. Opening them again, you looked up and Ed and smiled.

"I'm okay. Really." You told him. Ed hesitated, but dropped his arms.

"Alright. Do you want to go back or something?" He asked. You shook your head.

"No, I'll be fine. Besides, the cave isn't much farther ahead!" You said, pointing up. Sure enough, the three of you saw an opening in the rock. Deciding to slow down, you waited for the Elrics to climb up first before you went up yourself. They didn't say anything about it, which made you glad.

They really are good friends...I'm lucky to have them

"Well this is...cozy..." You said. Scarcastically of course. The cave looked like it belonged to the were-wolf; it was dark dusty with a strange smell in the air. You could see cobwebs in the corners of the rocks, and an eerie wind blew by the entrance.

"Riiiight...so, who wants to go first?" Ed asked. You smirked, aware of the quiver in his voice.

"Well, why not let the great 'FullMetal' go first!" You said cheerfully, shoving Ed forward.

"H-Hey!" he yelled.

"What, scared?" You asked in a teasing voice. Even in the dark, you could see the red on his face.

"Who, m-me? Of course not! C'mon you two, let's go already!" Ed said, trying to sound all macho. Unfortunatly, it was ruined as he tried to walk forward and fell flat on his face. You and Al burst out laughing as Ed groaned and sat up.

"Cut it out!" He yelled, "It's not my fault! It's too dark in here..." You still thought it was funny, but got the idea.

"Oh, hang on a sec guys..." You said. Making a fist, you opened it to reveal a small ball of red light, similar to the one you'd made while you were kidnapped.

"Thanks Aka!" Al exclaimed, "That's-oh, um..." He broke off. Looking around, you saw why. If the cave wasn't creepy enough, the reddish light just made it creepier.

"Whoops, heh heh- hang on..." You said. Looking at the light, you waved your fingers a bit under it, making the light a more white color. The Elrics sighed in releif.

"Thanks Aka. That other one was..." Ed trailed off, trying to hide how scared he actually was. You smiled and nodded, silently telling him you understood. Turning to one of the walls, you asked, "So...exactly what are we looking for?"

"Any evidence of fire alchemy I guess." Al answered. Ed groaned.

"For once, I actually wish that Mustang were here..." he said glumly. You laughed.

"Yeah, we could make him do all this." You said cheerfully.

"Yeah right, he'd probably make a bunch of his lackeys do it." Ed said. Smiling, you turned to one of the cave walls and started scanning for any signs of fire, alchemy or otherwise. But you couldn't find a trace of a single spark.

"Guys," You said aloud, "I don't think it's here. We should go in deeper."

"D-deeper?" Stuttered Al. Rolling his eyes, Ed grabbed his brother's armor and started dragging it with him.

"C'mon Al, it's not that bad! You're probably bigger than anything we'll find!"

"Yeah Al, Ed's a lot shorter and he's still pertending to be brave." You said with a smirk.

"Hey! WHAT'S THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN?" Ed yelled. You were about to say something back when all of the sudden, a few rocks chipped from the ceiling. The three of you watched in silence as a few more rocks fell. They were pretty small, but scary none the less.

"This entire cliff must be very unstable." Al said quietly, "We have to keep our voices down."

"Right." You and Ed answered in unison. Without a word, the three of you walked deeper into the cave, unaware that someone was watching...

Happy thoughts...happy thoughts...damn! This place is soooo creepy! You and the Elrics had gone pretty deep into the cliff, and the inside didn't look much better than the first cavern. If possible, it looked even creepier. You kept increasing the brightness of your light because it felt like everything was getting darker and darker. Shivering, you made your light brighter once again.

"I don't see any fire markings...what if it isn't here brother?" Al asked. Ed shrugged.

"Naw, there's gotta be something. Central records said there a possible sample found a couple years ago...and the people in town said that no one went very far into the cliff. I bet if we go deep enough we'll find something...hey, could you cut the light a little Aka? It's getting kind of bright..." Blushing, you realized that your light was now a blinding white sphere and quickly dimmed it down.

Jeez Aka, snap out of it! You're not afraid of some stupid dark, dusty...creepy...cave...NO! NO YOU'RE NOT! You screamed in your mind.

"Hey Aka, you okay?" You suddenly heard Ed ask quietly. You turned to look at him, surprised.

Is it that obvious? Damn! I hate being scared! "Wh-what do you mean?" You stammered, furious that your voice was quivering. Ed put a hand on your shoulder.

"It's okay, most people couldn't handle almost falling off a cliff. You're-"

"Oh, that. Um, that's not...really it..." You interrupted, trailing off. Ed blinked in surprised end then smiled evilly at you.

"You're afraid of the dark." He said teasingly with a knowing grin. Your face flared up with color.

"N-no I'm not!" You stammered.

"Suuure..." Ed said in an annoying voice. You glared and nudged him with your elbow.

"Cut it out!" You said, a bit loudly.

"Guys..." Al said quietly from ahead. But the two of you ignored him.

"You cut it out! Just admit it: You're afraid of the dark!" Ed said, raising his voice a bit as well.

"Guys..." Al said again, a bit louder this time.

"NO I'M NOT!" You yelled.

"YES YOU-" Ed started to yell, but was cut off by a deep rumbling sound. You face paled.

"The cliff..." You whispered.

The rumbling started to get louder.

"We gotta get out of here!" Al yelled. Keeping your voice down didn't matter anymore.

"But- what about the Rune Ore?" You asked. Ed shook his head vigorously.

"Forget it! C'mon!" He yelled, grabbing your arm and jerking your body into a run. The rumbling kept getting louder as the three of your sprinted back up the way you had come.

Suddenly, the three of your heard a loud crashing sound as some of the ceiling caved in behind you.

"Keep running!" Al yelled. Like you had to be told twice. You heard more crashing sounds as you ran, but didn't dare look back. But the sounds started getting closer and closer...Deciding to risk it, you looked up.

Horrified, you saw that the ceiling above you was starting to fall. In fear, you began to slow down.

"Aka!" Ed yelled, slowing down as well. Before you could realize what was going on, you felt something shove you from behind and was sent flying forward.

Falling on the ground, you whirled your head around just to see Ed's jacket disappear under a sea of brown rocks.

"ED!" You screamed.

"Brother!" Al yelled.

Hearing a crackling sound from above, you covered your head as a few rocks fell on you. But they were a lot smaller now, and you realized that the rumbling had gotten quiter. Squeezing your eyes shut, you thought of nothing but Ed as the rumbling slowed, eventually stopping. Opening your eyes, you carfully sat up and looked around. Up ahead and to your right, you saw Al's metal body sticking out from under some rocks.

"Al?" You asked softly.

"I'm fine." Came his faint reply. Turning around, you saw a huge pile of rocks where Ed had disappeared.

"Ed?" You called softly. You heard no reply. Growling, you angrily pushed the rocks in your way off of you and strode over to the pile. Pressing your hands into a fist, you got ready to punch the wall with your alchemy.

"Aka, wait! You might start another earthquake!" Al whispered loudly. Wincing, you jerked your arms away from the wall of rocks and looked back at Al helplessly.

"But...what about Ed?" You asked sadly.

"I'm sure he's okay." Al said reassuringly.

"But he didn't answer!"

"He may be unconcious. I've seen Ed survive through worse, I'm sure he'll pull through."

"But we can't just sit here and do nothing! What if he runs out of air?" Al was silent for a moment before walking over to the pile of rocks. Lifting his hands, he started to dig at them.

"C'mon, help me dig my brother out." He said. Nodding, you quickly went to help him. None of you spoke as the two of you clawed at the rock. Eventually, you started to make a small hole. Smiling, you quickly made it bigger and poked your head through it.

"Aka-"

"I see him Al!" You said excitedly. Pulling back your head, you looked at Al with a big grin on your face.

"It looks like he's still breathing too! He's okay!" Al sighed in releif.

"Good. Now all we have to do is get him out of there." The two of you got back to work making the hole bigger. Finally, it was big enough for you to crawl through.

"Okay, you crawl in and get Ed. I'll wait here and help you pull him through the hole."

"Okay, don't leave now." You said teasingly. Pushing yourself through the hole, you slid down the rocks to where Ed was lying. "Ed?" You whispered. He didn't answer. You bent down and put your head on his chest. His heart was still beating. Slowly, but it was beating. You smiled and stroked Ed's hair.

"Ed, you saved me...thank you so much." You said softly.

"How adorable." Came a voice from behind you. You jerked your head up to see...

me! with another annoying cliffie! MWAHAHA!...hey, has anyone else noticed i usually end my chapters in maniacal laughter? oh well.

more maniacal laughter next time!

-zago