AN: The characters and concepts of Fullmetal Alchemist belong to Hiromu Arakawa. This story revolves around the first anime of Fullmetal Alchemist, not the manga. Do not flame because of that small difference, I've read the manga and seen the real anime that follows it, but the first anime is what captured my heart about FMA, so this story is tribute. Enjoy the story. The lyrics are "Sink or Swim" by Falling in Reverse, I do not own the lyrics to the song. - Carrie.
"What if the devil was a lie?
What if God did not exist?
So, with all due respect,
Tell me, what is death,
If life is just a bitch?
I see the evil in their eyes,
I hear the lies behind their breath.
They wander in the dark,
Do not have a heart,
Don't let them take it away."
The brothers and Carlina sit in silence in their room of Central. Ed lies on the couch facing the ceiling fan, Al sits with his back against the couch and faces out the window. Carlina lies curled under the coffee table, wrapped in the blanket from Ed's bed. They stew in their individual thoughts for a few more minutes before Ed breaks the silence. "God must really hate people who go against him. I was eleven years old then, and he still has me marked. Every time I've thought I was in reach, he's pulled it away, so I'd fall on my face. And then, when I've finally got my fist around it, he raises his big obnoxious foot and kicks me in the teeth. Just face it, Al... It's gonna be this way our whole lives."
Carlina pulls the blanket over her head and cocoons herself. The brothers' conversation and voices sound muffled to her. A few hours pass before she drifts awake. Through the blankets, she can make out the frustrated tone of Ed's voice and the desperate tones in Al's replies.
"I said enough!" She hears something fall off the table, followed by the sound of breaking ceramic. Carlina unfurls halfway from under the table to pull herself into a sitting position. She rests between the front of the couch and the edge of the table as Ross and Denny walk into the room. While it seems Ross will start to lecture Ed, Lina begins to zone out of the conversation. "I know that what you boys have been searching for is the Philosopher's Stone. And I know it's created by sacrificing human lives." She snaps out of her trance from Ross' voice. Ed almost kicks her in the back of the head as he swings his legs off the couch to sit up.
She listens as Ross encourages them to continue combing the research for answers. Happy that Ed and Al seem rejuvenated, the Electric Alchemist's stomach begins to churn. Her brain cycles through all alchemical knowledge her parents and tutor passed on to her. Unable to think of any other options her head begins to throb. Lina fakes a smile when she notices the other occupants of the room looking positive and upbeat. I don't see any other possibilities or endings for this...but we have to try.
Time passes as the group sits around the coffee table, pouring over Dr. Marcoh's notes. Brosch takes out a map of Central and lays it flat on the table. Ed continues to speak, "According to his data, it takes huge refining equipment to create a Stone. You'd need a massive facility. Like a whole complex." The more the group speaks about the Philosopher's Stone, the colder Carlina begins to feel. She thinks of her own little brother and tries to imagine how he would feel if he could see her now. Lina gets drawn from her thoughts as Brosch speaks about the alchemical labs of Central. Ed shoots down the suggestions that one of the four labs could have been researching the stone. Carlina's stomach feels a little lighter and she feels guilty to wish the Stone might stay out of their reach.
Her body stiffens as Al points to a big familiar building toward the center of the map. "Oh right. There used to be a fifth lab, but they closed it down years ago. It's just an abandoned building now. Apparently there were structural problems, so they made it off-limits," Brosch's voice cuts into Carlina's thoughts.
The girl's breathing gets shorter and quicker. Her gaze stay fixated on the map where the fifth laboratory stands out as a red block. Everyone's voices fade out as though she is trying to listen from underwater. She's snapped out of her trance by Edward shaking her shoulder. "You're pale," he states as he tries to brush some of the hair away from her face. Carlina jumps back from him and ignores the brief hurt look that crosses his face. "My parents worked in Lab 5. I've been there, as a girl. Bring your child to work day, how lame," she manages to squeak out the reply as she feels the air draining from her lungs. Ed's expression looks troubled before it shifts to enthusiastic. He shrugs and stands, "There's no choice. What do you say we go check it out ourselves, guys? Especially since Carlina knows her way around the inside!"
Any response Carlina had for Ed gets interrupted by Ross. "We'll go to Lab Five, and see if anything's out of the ordinary. If we see anything, we'll give you a full report. It's our duty." The brothers glance at each other before Ed sighs, "All right. I clearly can't argue with you. You guys can take care of it." The officers leave the room. Ten minutes pass before Ed grins, "Alright, let's head to Lab Five." Seeing the determination of her companions, Carlina slumps in defeat. "I'll change first…"
The three shimmy down the rope tied to the bed post. On the ground, Lina adjusts the high neck of her shirt. She pulls her gloves on over the edge of her sleeves. Creeping behind the brothers, her hair swings behind her. As the group approaches the outside of the Laboratory the girl sweeps her hair into a large bun. Observing the trip wires around the front of the facility, they skirt the wall to the back of the building. Alphonse boosts Ed up unto the wall. After Ed uncoils the barbed wire and creates an open space on top of the wall, Al lifts Carlina up. The teenagers clasp arms as Ed helps pull her up. Climbing up using the barbed wire, Alphonse drops on the other side of the wall with his companions.
The front door is heavily barred with barbed wire across the front. Carlina puts her hands on her hips and stares at the Elric brothers. "So then, what do we do now?" Alphonse points out the duct in the side of the building and helps the two alchemists climb inside. Edward leads the way into the building.
Coming to a grate, Ed kicks it out and drops down. Carlina drops down shortly after. The halls have dust and cobwebs, with small rectangular lights lining the bottom of the walls. "The lights are still on," she turns to Ed and follows his lead down the corridor. "How do they explain that when they say they don't use this place anymore," Ed's brow furrows as they turn the next corner. "Just running up the bill for fun?" Carlina's joke goes unappreciated as they hear a sound from above them. "What the-" She's cut off as spikes fall from the ceiling above. Edward rolls forward as she rolls backward.
Mortified, she watches as Ed triggers trap after trap. She makes her way to the trap door in the floor he opened up. Jumping over the hole, she looks back at the exhausted traps. Edward pulls himself out of the hole while chuckling, "For them to go to all this trouble. They must have something here they really don't want to be seen. I'm getting excited. I just love being right."
Ed's hand sinks into the ground as he activates another trap. The corridor behind the teens begins to rumble. As Ed gets to his feet, a ramp swings down from the ceiling. A large boulder, big enough to take up most of the corridor, rolls down the ramp at them. They sprint as fast as they can, the boulder overtaking them. Hearing a thud from behind her, Carlina imagines the worst. She hears Ed's voice, "Throw yourself into the corner against the floor!" Tucking her arms against her chest, she throws herself into the corner between the wall and floor. An audible click comes close to her head.
She grabs upwards as she slides down a metal chute. The boulder passes by overhead and the trap door closes, leaving her sliding in darkness. A minute passes before she lands in a heap on the floor, looking around. The rectangular lights are smaller and dimmer than the ones in the original corridor. Faint lines of hospital gurneys and abandoned IV stands line the walls.
Carlina kneels next to the wall, clapping her hands and touching the light fixture in front of her. All fixtures flicker for a few moments before they swell to three times their brightness. Having better visibility, she looks down the corridor again. Observation rooms line the corridors with various pieces of medical equipment. "This must be where they conducted testing on the vitals of the prisoners from next door. It wouldn't make sense to use them for the...experiments without verifying their health," she shudders. Walking down the hall, she focuses straight ahead. But these people were still, people. I don't know how anyone could do such a thing with human lives. Her thoughts cut off as she reaches a large set of double doors.
Swallowing the lump in her throat, she creaks open the doors. Inside is a large operating theater. A viewing balcony is visible a hundred feet up the adjacent wall. Carlina squints, the electrical surge in the lights not reaching this room. "It must be on a separate electrical grid, I can only imagine how many grids this building has." She steps halfway into the room before the door slams behind her.
Her hands cover her mouth as a startled cry comes out. The visibility in the room is half of the visibility in the hall. She puts her hands in front of her and shuffles toward the wall, performing her alchemy on the lights. A sound comes from the ceiling, causing her head to snap up. A bundle of black fabric strips hangs from the center. Squinting, she can see glints of silver shining through places in the black gauze. She freezes as a glowing pair of eyes locks on her. The figure drops straight down, about twenty feet away from the female alchemist. "Will you walk into my parlor, said the spider to the fly," an echoing female voice spoke.
The black gauze settled from the fall and revealed the speaker's form. Like a knight, the helmet had a lower visor with vertical holes. Above the lower visor was an opening where the upper visor would usually be, the eyes flickering at her.
Long metal pieces, like a feather headdress, start from above the eyes and cover the rest of the helm. The black gauze wraps and covers the arms of the suit. A breastplate of silver gleams in the light, modeled to resemble a female torso. At the edge of the breastplate's bottom is more gauze, flowing like a skirt to the knees of the armor. The legs are silver with a chevron etching toward the floor. A diamond shaped knee joint connects the leg pieces. The armor stares before the head tilts, "What brings you to my parlor, little fly?"
"Lost," Carlina keeps her answer as short and vague as possible. Her gaze stays on the figure before her, but she mentally analyzes the room's layout. Her thoughts of looking for escape end when the figure clears its' throat.
"You didn't look so lost when you entered the duct with the blond boy, and left your armored friend outside." Lina feels a chill shoot down her spine. The armor takes a step toward her, she takes a step back. "You can call me 87, dear. What can I call you, my darling little fly," the armor steps back and regards the female alchemist. "Carlina Joihanson," her breathing slows, trying to think of how the armor knew she came with the Elric brothers. "Joihanson? The daughter of Thomas and Stephanie? Oh my dear you make this old woman happy," laughter echoes through the armor, chilling the girl more, "You are a lucky one. Had fourty-eight or sixty-six come for you, they would have wasted this opportunity. But, since you are the daughter of my esteemed colleagues, I'll make this as quick and painless as possible. As long as you cooperate, I may even leave you alive."
Steam releases from the back of the armor as panels open along the back of the breastplate. Thick wires emerge from behind the figure. One has a syringe on the end, another grips a whirring sawblade, and the final one has a scalpel.
"Leave alive," Carlina manages to squeak between her breaths, trying to wrap her head around the situation. "What is going on here? Were they actually sacrificing prisoners- human lives- to try producing philosopher's stones?" The armor laughs as it shifts it's weight, ready to move at any moment, "My dear Carlina, those are questions best reserved for your parents." "And if my parents are dead?" The armor seems to take a moment before shrugging, "Then you have my condolences. Your parents were good colleagues of mine. Despite that, I will not give you the answers you seek that easy. If you are that desperate for answers, come take them from me."
Lina's hands shake by her sides, her vision blurring from her sudden headache. The mention of her parents makes her blood boil, her fists clench. "You will tell me what you know about this laboratory, and quit spewing your lies about my parents."
AN: So I didn't mean to fall off the map quite as hard as I did. Many things have happened but as always, thank you to those still following who will read this update. Looks like Carlina has some inner and outer demons to face in Lab 5. The second chapter in the Lab 5 arc is already underway, I'm excited for the action to occur. Please leave me a review or a personal message about the chapter. Thank you so much for reading and sticking with me! -Carrie.