I'm sorry that it took me so long to update this story! My life has been kind of hectic the past few days, so I haven't been on much lately. I'm so sorry about that. I'll try to post the last chapter tomorrow, since I know that you guys will kill me if I don't update soon, but that'll depend on me finishing that last chapter. Hope that I can do that by tomorrow. Ugh. Heh. Yeah, I'll try.
Anyway, I hope that you enjoy this chapter.
Disclaimer: I do not own FullMetal Alchemist. Hmmm...I can't think of a witty remark to say this time...how about a random one? My brother has purple triangles coming out of his nose. Random enough for you?
Ed woke up to find himself in a clearing in the forest. He was laying in the middle of a circular design made of rocks carved into square and rectangular shapes. On the edge of this circular design were the names of all twelve members of the zodiac. This must've been the circle.
"So, you're finally awake, Scorpio, are you?" asked a woman from somewhere behind him. Ed turned and looked. He narrowed his eyes and glared at Aries. How dare she force him here against his will. He was not going to cooperate with her, no matter what she tried to pull.
"Why did you even bother to bring me here?" he said, "You know very well that I won't cooperate with anything you try to do."
"I admire your persistence," said Aries. "You could actually be quite a help to me in my ruling of the land. You could be my right hand man, perhaps even the king. I would let you if you would help me out."
"Never!" shouted Ed, trying to stand up, only to fall back into a puddle of himself. Either being at the circle made him unusually weak, or the eclipse was nearly upon him. Maybe it was both.
"Really?" said Aries, "Well, that's too bad. We actually have one member from each element here at the circle now, and so it would be quite easy to go and round up all the rest of the signs. With your help, this could be quite effortless."
"I will never help you, Aries," Edward mumbled under his breath.
"Suit yourself," shrugged Aries, and walked off. "We'll have them rounded up soon enough anyway, and you won't get any reward, because you didn't help me."
Edward groaned. He couldn't move. None of the other signs were slowing him down right now, he was just left to himself. But he was so weak that there was nothing he could do but just lie there. "Al, Winry," he called with as much strength as he could muster, "Please be safe."
Winry ran as fast as she could, dragging Pisces behind her. "Slow down, Winry!" called Pisces, "I'm only a water sign, I can't move that fast."
"But we have no time to waste!" cried Winry.
"But you can't just run in on Aries without making a plan first," said Pisces.
"But what can we do?" asked Winry.
Al finally managed to catch up with them, and he was panting hard. "I remember when Envy had tricked Brother into coming on this mission, he had said that if one member of each of the elements were to get together, they would be a force to be reckoned with. We have four of the zodiac signs here, maybe that could help somewhat."
"True," said Pisces, "But we don't have an earth sign. We have two water signs, an air sign, and a fire sign, but not an earth sign."
"I think I can help with that," said a voice coming from a few yards over. Everyone turned and looked. It was Hohenheim. He had managed to find them.
"Who are you?" Al said, looking at Hohenheim.
Hohenheim looked at him, and smiled. "Alphonse? Is it really you? Long time no see. My, have you grown!"
Al looked confused. He hadn't a clue who this guy was. He'd never seen him before. Noticing this, Hohenheim explained, "I'm your father, Alphonse."
"F-Father?" asked Al, a bit timidly. Hohenheim just smiled some more. Al burst into a run, and ran to hug his father.
"I always knew you'd come back for us, I just knew it!" he cried.
Hohenheim just smiled, and pulled Al away from him to look into his eyes. "Where is Edward? He's in trouble, isn't he?"
Al nodded. "He's in BIG trouble."
"Well, we need to hurry and get to the circle then," said Hohenheim. "He needs our help badly. There are a lot of forces working against your brother right now. Aries specifically planned it that way." They picked up the pace, and ran in the direction that Hohenheim and Pisces led.
It didn't take them long to get to the circle. It really wasn't far from where they were. When they got there, they saw Aries standing over a puddle of water, which they assumed to be Ed, two men which they assumed to be the earth signs, two women which they assumed to be the air signs, and Leo. Aries spun around when she heard them gawking.
"So, you've come to make my job easier, have you? Thank you very much, it saves me the trouble of going out and actually bringing you all in. Now, if you would be so kind as to take your positions along the circle, things will be better for everyone involved."
Sagittarius put her hand to her chin. She looked like she was trying to decide which side would be more fun to join.
"Leave Brother alone!" shouted Al.
Aries just smirked at him, and said, "I don't think so, Cancer."
Al cringed. He wasn't used to being called by his zodiac name. Aries made a hand signal that sent all the signs under her control lunging for the signs in the party that had accompanied Ed. Aries personally lunged at Al, which was a big mistake on her part, because it finally gave Ed enough ambition to pick himself up, and lunge at her.
"No one touches my little brother!" shouted Ed. Aries spun and thrust her hand through Ed's watery form, since he couldn't return to his human form, even if he wanted to.
"And just what are you going to do about it, Scorpio, you weakling?"
Ed picked himself back up, and rushed at her again. There may not be much that he could do, but he sure as heck wasn't going to let anything happen to Al. Al or Winry. Anyone who even thought of harming them was going to pay, and pay dearly.
Ed was desperate to come up with something to do. Anything that would deter her. Then he remembered a time when he had battled with Sloth, and she had converted into her watery form. Wait, she had converted into a watery form? Maybe that was why she was watery...because they themselves were. Strange that they had never picked up on that before.
Anyway, her watery form was just as lethal, if not moreso, as her human form. Maybe he could use his watery form to his advantage in the same way. He started throwing punches at Aries in the same way that Sloth had done previously to him in her watery form. Aries was actually stepping away from him to avoid his punches. Yes, this was effective indeed. Maybe he could win like this.
Just then, she jumped aside, clapped her hands together, and touched them to the ground. The earth shook beneath their feet. She had performed a transmutation without a circle? When had she seen the Gate? Even the signs of the zodiac were bound by those same laws of alchemy as everyone else was.
Aries stood back up. A slight breeze rushed at her veil, and pulled it up. Edward gasped. He could not believe who that person was. It was Dante.
No one else had seen the face under the veil, but they saw Ed's reaction to it. They gathered that it must've been somebody they knew. "Ed! Be careful!" shouted Winry.
"Fullmetal, don't let her beat you! Fight her!" shouted Roy.
No one knew what to do or say. They could only stand from the sidelines, and try to cheer Ed on. Finally, Ed got his determination back. He was so angry about the way that Aries had treated all of them, and manipulated all of them. He would get his revenge, one way or the other.
He clapped his hands together and slapped them to the ground. A spear formed out of the ground, which he picked up and quickly hurled at Aries. It didn't effect her much though, because she simply turned into her fiery form, and it passed right through her. She returned to her human form, and chuckled. "You're stronger than I thought you'd be on this day, Scorpio, I'll give you that much. But is that the best you can do? If so, then you really don't have much of a chance against me."
He had gotten her to turn into her fiery form. Maybe that was the ticket. If he could attack in his watery form while she was in her fiery form, maybe he could defeat her. He was going to have to trick her into converting again.
He quickly grabbed some stones that were nearby and hurled them at her. He couldn't pick up anything very heavy, since he was so weak on this day, but those stones could certainly cause a lot of damage if they were to hit her in her human form. Sure enough, she converted into her fiery form to let them pass through. This was his chance.
He clapped his hands together, but she saw what he was doing, and quickly converted back to her human form. It looked like that wasn't going to work. He was going to have to try something else.
He reached down and grabbeda handful of dirt. He wasn't sure what to do with it, but he was hoping that maybe it could at least give him an idea. Before he was able to come up with anything, however, Aries converted into her fiery form and rushed at him, causing him severe damage.
He didn't care about the pain just then, she was still in her fiery form, so now was the time to act. He clapped his hands together, and then he thrust his arms inside of Aries' body. She had apparently done the same, for her arms were thrust inside of his body. The pain was immense, for fire and water do not mix.
Ed focused his energy on her, thrusting as much of his watery form into her as he could. She did the same to him. Ed felt the pressure building up in his body, but he had to persist. He had to save Al and Winry, and all the rest of those that he loved. He was NOT going to let them come under the rule of Aries!
He pressed harder. Aries pressed harder on him. The pressure increased. He ignored it. They remained in that stance for several seconds, several very long, intense seconds. They continued to increase the pressure that they were forcing on each other.
After what seemed like en eternity, an explosion occured. No one could see anything for about a minute or two, but when the smoke cleared, they saw nothing but two burn spots where Aries and Ed once were. Winry and Al shreiked and ran over to the spot. "Ed!" shouted Winry, "Ed! No, no, no!" She started to pull her hair out.
Al wasn't saying anything. He was just crying. Roy walked over to the spot, and said, "This...can't be! This just...This just can't be! Fullmetal was too strong!"
"Is he really...?" began Sagittarius, but she was interrupted by a small rain shower that suddenly occured. It was water mixed with ash. Neither one of them would have allowed the other to infiltrate their body like that. That only meant one thing.
"No!" screamed Winry, "No! Ed can't be dead! He can't!" Al was sobbing pitifully. No one knew what to do, or say. Al and Winry kept pawing at the ground, as if that would bring Ed back, but nothing happened.
The ground was now wet with the ash-laden rain, but still no sign of Ed, or Aries for that matter. They were both gone.
Roy put his hand on Winry's and Al's shoulders. It looked like he was trying to blink back tears as he said, "Try not to cry over him, kids, he wouldn't want that. The forces were strongly against him, yet he managed to accomplish his mission and defeat Aries. He would want you to be happy about that."
That just caused everyone to cry even harder. Yes, Ed was strong. He had overcome insurmountable odds, and accomplished his mission. They couldn't have expected anything more, yet they had. Was it really too much to ask though that their best friend and brother live through the whole ordeal? They didn't think so.
They were sure that had he been able to, he would have chosen life over death. In a way, he had chosen life over death, but not his own. He had chosen their lives over his death. Tears were coming to the eyes of everyone around. Ed had indeed been a friend to all of them, and they all deeply cared for him. They were really going to miss him.
Please, please, don't kill me! I have one more chapter after this one, okay? I'll try to update tomorrow, so please be patient. Leave me a review anyway, as I need your comments. (Now you know why I don't allow anonymous reviews. These cliffhangers that I like to do would surely generate flames!)
Anyway, see you soon, on the next chapter!