"Hurry up! And you better not spill any!"
Buccaneer had the trio, as well as Falman, load gasoline into multi-gallon cans. Everyone was only able to carry one can except for Al, who trucked ahead with one can under each hand. Manami, Ed, and Falman were struggling just to carry one, while Buccaneer only carried one because he had a gun pointed at them with his other hand.
"Is the gun…" Manami grunted under the weight of her can. "Really necessary?"
Before Buccaneer could respond, they heard loud rumbles from below… which only meant that Olivier was dealing with the Homunculus.
"If it puts a pep in your step, then yes!" Buccaneer finally answered. "Come on!"
They were led to an elevator which took them up. Buccaneer explained on the way that Olivier was going to send the Homunculus up to them, where they would then pour these cans of gas on him.
"And then what?" Manami asked.
"You two, go up into the rafts!" Buccaneer ordered Ed and Falman, ignoring her. The two didn't waste any time going up the stairs and readying themselves up above.
"You two, come with me. Remember, as soon as he's in sight, douse him!" Buccaneer directed Manami and Al to follow him into a hall nearby.
Just as Manami opened her mouth to ask again, there was a ding that caught everyone's attention.
"Where… am I?" The Homunculus stepped out from the elevator.
Buccaneer then ran out and grabbed his arm, and much to everyone's surprise, he managed to throw the Homunculus over him! The Homunculus landed his back with a loud THUD!
"DO IT, NOW!" Buccaneer yelled.
Ed and Falman lowered their cans to douse the Homunculus with the gas first, then Al and Manami came from the hall to empty their cans on him, too.
They did it!
"Okay… what now?" Al asked nervously as Ed and Falman landed to join them.
"Yeah," Ed nodded in agreement. "You never told us how you plan to—"
Ding!
They looked back to see the elevator opening once again, but froze in terror as they looked down the barrel of the tank Olivier was in.
"Sh-She came up in the freakin' tank?!" Manami shrieked.
"GET OUT OF THE WAY, BRATS!" Olivier yelled as the tank struggled to exit the elevator for a moment, but managed to lurch out.
Manami managed to cover her ears just in time before the tank fired a shot with a loud BOOM, hitting the Homunculus sending him flying back through the closed gate to fall back against the railing outside.
"One more!" Olivier commanded below her.
"We're out of ammo!" They heard the voice inside respond.
"If that's the case…" Falman pulled out his pistol.
Manami was about to question it, until she noticed that he shot not at the Homunculus, but at the icicles above him. This knocked the icicles down and they fell right on his head, stunning it for a moment.
He just needed one more push…
"!" Manami quickly pulled out her fans and ran forward a few feet before waving her fans, sending a gust of wind at him that made him stumble and fall backward over the railing and down to the unforgiving snow below.
He was out of the fort!
"YES!" They all cheered, Ed and Al running to Manami to throw her high fives before going to look over the railing. It was so dark that they couldn't see where the Homunculus had fallen.
"That fuel is specially blended for the cold. That stuff vaporizes pretty much instantly." Buccaneer explained as he approached them to look over as well.
"As it evaporates, it'll suck out his body heat…"
"And freeze." Manami finished for him, now understanding.
"And with this blizzard… that bastard will freeze down to his brain." Buccaneer grinned at her.
"And that monster can sleep there until spring…" Manami looked up to see Olivier standing beside Buccaneer.
"Now, take these three away."
"HUH?!" Ed and Manami shrieked when they heard Olivier's command. Before they knew it, Buccaneer saw to it that they, including Falman, were tied up at the wrists and he was dragging Ed and Falman with him, while another soldier had Manami's and Al's tied wrists attached to a leash.
"What did we do that was worth tying us up?!" Ed yelled.
"We're on your side, remember?! We helped you for crying out loud!" Manami added, going to look back at Olivier who remained at the gate's doors.
"You were forced to help us." Olivier retorted, her blue eyes burning into Manami's brown ones. "Or at least, that was a good enough excuse to fight. You three aren't going anywhere until you tell me exactly what that thing was and what it wanted."
Manami gulped, looking down to her feet as the elevator doors closed and broke their eye contact. She then exchanged nervous glances with Ed and Al.
How were they supposed to explain..?
They went down a few floors, and the door opened to reveal cells lining each side of the room, all the way down the hall. Buccaneer and the other soldier led them down to the very end of the hall before he opened the cell to the left.
"You two get in here." He grunted to Ed and Al, which the unnamed soldier released Al from the leash to hand over to Buccaneer.
"You'll be in here, miss." The unnamed soldier gestured to the cell across from the one Ed and Al were being shuffled into.
"W-Wait..!" Al resisted, nervousness rising in his voice as he looked over to Manami. "She shouldn't—"
"No, it's okay, Al…" Manami cut him off and forced a small smile. "I'll be fine."
Al paused, knowing that her expression and tone weren't at all convincing…
"Get moving!" Buccaneer barked. "Two maximum per cell!"
"I can switch—"
"And birds don't share toilets with bees, for crying out loud!" Buccaneer cut Al off before he could even suggest the offer.
Ed tried but failed to completely stifle a snort after that comment.
"Come on, Al…" He said, going to sit down on one of the fold-out beds that felt more like a plank than a mattress.
Al watched as Manami stepped inside her cell and the soldier stepped in with her. He went to pull out a knife and cut the ropes tying her wrists.
"I'm not gonna ask again, Tin Man…" Buccaneer grumbled.
"Alright, alright…" Al said with annoyance as he walked into the cell with his brother, plopping down on the bed across from Ed with a huff.
The unnamed soldier exited Manami's cell and she looked over to watch Buccaneer cut Ed and Al's ropes as well before leaving and locking both their cells from the outside.
"So, are we going to get a guesstimation for how long we're gonna be treated like prisoners?" Manami asked with a frown once he finished locking her cell.
"It's up to you, little birdie." Buccaneer looked up to meet her eyes. "As long as it takes to get the info we want out of you."
"And what if we're unable to give you any info?" Manami asked, not at all intimidated by him.
"We want to know why you can't." Buccaneer answered, his eyes burning into hers.
"..." Manami stared back at him for a moment, but looked down when she found herself unable to come up with a response.
"... sleep tight, then." Buccaneer turned on his heel to walk down the hall with the other soldier and entered the elevator doors, that closed behind them.
"..." Manami sighed as she now went to plop down on her bed in a similar way Al did.
"Well… might as well try to get some shuteye…" Ed mumbled, going to shrug off his coat.
"Have fun with that…" Al muttered, annoyance still in his voice.
"It's kind of ironic that you're more upset about this than I am…" Manami chuckled weakly, earning Al's glance.
"Well…" Al shrugged. "Y'know…"
Manami left it at that and went to shrug off the straps of her knapsack. After reaching in the bag, she pulled out the journal.
"Can't wait to write about today's adventures?" Ed asked with a yawn as he went to lay down with his coat on top of him like a blanket.
"Oh, yeah…" Manami answered with as much enthusiasm as she could muster. "Stoked."
She flipped through the pages until she found the one she dog-eared the corner of. Her eyes glossed over the little bit of music she had already written, then looked to the top of the page to find it blank.
She couldn't think of a title.
"Hmm…" She would normally be able to hum the notes aloud when she wrote music, but that wasn't the case this time. She thought she could imagine the tune in her head, but that was all the harder…
She didn't realize that time had flown until she looked up when the sound of a snore coming from Ed rang through the stony hall. She glanced over her shoulder to see Ed laying on his back. While she couldn't see his face, she saw his chest rising up and down, confirming with the snores that he was definitely asleep.
Al, on the other hand, hadn't moved at all. He still sat across from Ed, his elbows resting on his knees, and his hands folded as he stared down at the floor. He must have felt Manami's eyes on him, because he eventually turned his head to look at her.
"You okay?" He asked quietly.
"Yeah…" Manami went to close her journal and put it in her bag.
"Got all of today's events already?"
"Uhh…" Manami thought for a moment. "Well, not totally…" She lied. "But I lost the motivation to finish."
Al hummed in response, looking down at the floor again. "You should try to sleep, too… unless…" He trailed off.
"It's possible." Manami understood where Al was going with this. She could have another nightmare, but this time, Al wouldn't be able to get to her to wake her up.
"That's why I tried to not have you in a cell alone…" Al sighed.
"I know… thanks, Al." Manami smiled softly at him. "The fact that you tried… it means a lot."
Al looked back at her, only wishing that he could smile back.
"I mean… it'd probably hurt more to not sleep at all than to wake up from a nightmare that I might not even have." Manami sighed and went to shrug off her coat before laying down and covering herself with it, following Ed's tactic.
"Well, if you do…" Al chuckled. "I'll tear down this cell and yours to get to you so I can wake you up."
"Please don't..!" Manami said, yet unable to hold back her own laughter, making Al laugh a little as well.
"Good night, Manami." Al hummed.
"Mm… good night, Al." Manami hummed back, going to close her eyes.
When Manami opened her eyes, she found herself somewhere that she's never been before…
With how this place looked, along with how floaty she felt… it almost felt as if she was underwater. The strange part was that she had no difficulty breathing. Manai looked around, finding that nothing was around her for as far as she could see…
But then she heard a strange noise. It was more like a voice, that she could swear was calling her name…
"Manami…"
Who the voice belonged to, she had no idea… she awkwardly moved around until she remembered how to swim, then went to start swimming upwards. Her eyes widened at the sight of a hand dipping into the water, extending it's fingers and reaching for her…
"Manami…"
She went to swim faster so that she could reach for the hand… but Manami realized fairly quickly that, the faster she tried to swim, the further away from the hand she got…
Manami struggled to swim and stretch her hand out at the same time, all while starting to make out a silhouette above the water, a silhouette that she could only assume the hand belonged to.
"Manami..!"
She stretched her fingers as far as she could and managed to brush fingertips with the hand before feeling like she got punched in the stomach. The force sent her down into the depths of the water, away from the surface.
She could only watch as the hand, silhouette, and light surrounding it faded away… as everything got dark around her, she tried to yell out, but all that came out were a bunch of bubbles...
"!" Manami let out a heavy gasp for air as her eyes flashed open to see the stone ceiling above her. That was when she realized that her bed was above her…
Wait, was she on the floor?
"Manami, are you okay..?!" Al whispered, a small bit of panic in his voice.
"Huh..? Wh-What's..?" Manami went to reach with one hand to hold her head, but was forced to bring up both hands, for she quickly learned that both her hands were bound together once again... this time, by a pair of wooden cuffs, held shut with an iron padlock.
"You were stirring, and fell out of your bed…" Al explained as she sat up and shivered harshly.
"Why is it so damn cold..?" She muttered, seeing her misty breath rise in the air as she turned her head to look back at him.
"I'd like to know the same thing…" She heard Ed grumble and she and Al watched the blonde sit up in his cot.
"Morning, brother…"
"More restraints, huh? These are lovely..." Ed looked down at his wrists disapprovingly.
"Must've been real tired to not wake up when they put these bad boys on…" Manami went to stand up, her legs wobbling a little bit at first, but she turned to face Ed and Al's cell.
"Brother almost did wake up..." Al said. "He was upset that they took his coat off of him, and he accused me of stealing his blanket in his half-asleep state."
"Oh, shut up…" Ed frowned in embarrassment and Manami let out a weak chuckle.
She couldn't help but look off for a moment and think about that dream… she never had that one before… what did it mean?
"Morning, kids." They heard a familiar voice and saw one of the doctors they met yesterday approach their cells with a mug in each hand.
"Yes please…" Manami graciously went to reach for a mug, which the doctor handed her with a small smile before turning to Ed.
"Heard you three helped us fight off that monster." He said as he handed the other mug to Ed, and he took it.
"Thanks."
"That'll be two hundred Cens." The doctor held out his hand with a grin just as Ed took a sip.
"You're charging me?!" Ed spat the coffee back into his mug.
"A hundred Cens per mug."
Ed looked over to Manami in hopes that she hadn't started drinking yet... but she didn't even bother looking back at him as she was just about finished with her mug already.
"Did you find anything else out?" Al asked, changing the subject.
"Mm… well, Captain Buccaneer and Lieutenant Falman got a party and went down to investigate the hole. They're not back yet, last I heard. Oh, Major Miles is at the hospital too."
"What happened?" Manami blinked. "He got hurt?"
"Pft," The doctor scoffed and waved a hand. "No way. He's visiting a soldier who got admitted there. Apparently he got hurt fighting Scar."
Ed and Manami exchanged narrow-eyed expressions.
"So, Scar's in the north…" Ed mumbled.
"Wonderful. Call it a party." Manami sighed.
"There they are!" They heard an unfamiliar voice, and Manami and Ed looked down the hall as much as their bars allowed them to see a group of soldiers approaching them.
"We have orders from the General. You three are coming with us."
"Can we at least go without these ridiculous cuffs?" Manami held up her cuffs. Much to her surprise, one of the soldiers approached her and stuck a key into the small padlock holding her cuffs shut, unlocking it with a click!
"Wow, thanks!" Ed grinned as he and Al were also released.
"Don't thank us yet." Another soldier held up a length of rope, making Ed and Manami's smiles fade immediately.
They were going to be leashed. Again.