It took a lot of persuading to get Keith to talk and it finally took a death threat to make him comply. Mark took a false snake from a pit and made it bite a rat that Clen found. The fangs barely broke skin and a teardrop of poison got into the rats system, but that was more than enough. Immediately the rodents' body began to convulse and the area of skin where the poison had entered began to bubble up and looked like it had been infected for months. Within seconds it was dead.

Keith originally preferred to die rather than spill any secrets but that method of death was too much even for him. The day after Goxlin had been dropped off in the desert Keith and Ryan went out to try and find him. Ryan thought his ears were cool and wanted to cut 'em off and keep them if they were able to find Gox. After a day of keeping their eyes peeled, not finding anything and were getting frustrated, the sands couldn't cover a body that well and that quick could it?

Eventually they saw a silhouette of a town, once they were close enough to know it wasn't an illusion they saw someone flooring it out of the town. With binoculars Ryan reported that the big-eared wonder was in the car driven by the man Caradon's hatred for was only rivaled by Mitsuku. The two teens knew this only because Caradon had an old picture of him tacked to his dartboard. Staying a reasonable distance from Steve's car they followed them to Yoyo Manor. Knowing their boss would reward them greatly for such a find Ryan went ahead to relay the message and Keith ended up where you see him now. After the confession Ed and Al took Keith to Central. They'd let the military decide what to do with him from there.

TWO DAYS LATER

"I'm bored, lets get something to eat."

"Somebody will come up when it's time to change shifts, until then shut up."

"How 'bout both of ya keep your yaps shut? How am I supposed to be the ears if I can't hear anything but you two?"

Gox and the twins sat on the roof as watchmen. Luke and Lucus had large telescopes and Gox sat on a pillow trying to listen for anything out of place that could be the enemy approaching. As one could imagine the twins didn't have the patience to carry out such a job. For them it was too much time they couldn't pull a prank and they could only play the black eye trick with the telescopes once.

"Could we at least get some lemonade or something?" Lucus whined.

"SHhhhh!" Gox twitched his ears, he had been listening to the sounds and the way they were in tune with everything else but now something was out of balance, something was wrong.

Inside

Clen watched Chanty and Annie sitting on the couch talking, a demon of fury poking him in the back. True he'd never admitted to Annie that he liked her but now Clen felt as if a complete stranger had stolen her without giving him a chance.

"Oh I almost forgot." Annie said and pulled a white handkerchief out of her pocket and handed it to him. "For you."

Inside the handkerchief the pendant containing the gem glittered. The chain was no longer rusted and the pendant looked bran new. "How did you get it like this?" He asked amazed. When turned in the right light he swore that he could see his reflection.

"Lets just say I know a few helpful alchemists." Annie smiled and laid her head on his shoulder.

It's a wonder that Clen's blazing fury didn't catch the house on fire. He didn't even notice when Wonder flew down the stairs.

"Purdy purdy necklace! Purdy purdy necklace! Squark!"

Clen wanted more than anything to burst out and tell Annie everything he ever felt about her and tell feather duster to back off. If given another minute he might've but cries of panic were heard outside. The watchmen were hustling to get through the door,, Gox was sandwiched between the twins. Lucus lost his balance and fell onto Gox who frantically tried to find something to hold on to in order to stop him from falling, he did…Lukes shirt. In a beautiful domino effect they all landed neatly on top of one another on the floor.

"Kun!" Dixie giggled.

"Beautiful landing you three." Brody said. "Very graceful."

"I suggest you gracefully get off your duff and get everyone around and ready-"

"Because as Paul Revere once so boldly put it-"

"THE BRITSH ARE COMING!!!" The twins yelled in unison.

That got the attention of everyone in the house; they all knew what it meant. Faster than lightning everyone acted on some kind of pre-planned assignment that had been given to them days ago. The Elric brothers positioned themselves around the house and set up a layer of stone and triple layered the glass so it was more bullet proof. Chanty did a Dr. Frankenstein by given his plant creatures the spark of life. Anxious to get their teeth on something the creations fidgeted in their, hole, pit, or waterhole.

Dixie was told to take Wonder and her fish and hide through a trap door beneath the coffee table. She didn't want to go, she wanted to stay with Ren but he insisted that she stay hidden to abolish any possibility of her getting hurt. Since Goxlin couldn't be too much help either (no offence to him) he stayed with her. With everything in place all that was left to do was wait.

"Chanty what do you think you're doing wearing that?" Steve demanded.

"What this?" Chanticleer touched the pendent. "Annie fixed it up so I thought it be appropriate that I wear it."

"You realize if Caradon sees you with that he'll shoot you down like a clay pigeon."

"No, he's more likely to lay him across a stump and whack off his head with a hatchet."

"Lame, please no chicken jokes."

"I'm just trying to make myself feel better."

TEN MINUTES LATER

"Oh God," Ed breathed. "Caradon must want Steve and that jewel more than he values life."

"What are you talking about, Brother?" Al asked looking out the window. "Oh."

It looked as if an entire army were marching toward the mansion, everyone of them heavily armed. Everyone inside held their breath as the mass approached the first hill and surrounded the house. Out of the corner of his eye Clen saw Steve go pale as Caradon himself stood on the hood of his vehicle and spoke.

"Peterson! I know you're hiding in there and I know you have what you've stolen from me! Now you can either come out with the Jewel and you will be the only one who has to die! Refuse and I will slaughter your little friends and leave you alive to spend the rest of your useless life mourning! So what will it be? Spare your friends with your life or be once again responsible for the deaths of the innocent? Either way the Jewel is mine!"

All was quiet for a few moments, then….

"Steve can't give you what you demand because he no longer has it!" Chanticleer shouted next to a window.

Steve nudged him hard in the arm. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Reveal where the Jewel is or all of you die!"

"It's mine now!" Chanty yelled. "Now scram! All you said was you wanted to know where it was, nothing about how I had to give it to you!"

Several gunshots were fired around the house and the sound of breaking stone.

"This is your final warning, surrender the Jewel or die." You could tell his patience was running on empty.

"What are we going to do, brother?" Al asked. " We can't just hand it to him-"

"Course not." Ed said with a demonic grin. "Then what would have been the purpose of all those traps?"

"We've made our decision!" Brody hollered. He and the twins made faces through a window. That resulted in more rounds of gunfire but the glass was too thick.

From there everyone had their faces glued to a window to watch as their traps were set off. Chanty's lizards exploded from their holes and dug their teeth into the closest leg they could get to. Steve and the twins laughed so hard when their flour bombs were stepped on. Some would step on one and it surprised it so much that they either stepped on another one and looked like snowmen or fell backwards and attracted the attention of a lizard.

In the pool the squid had its tentacles full of surprised men screaming in no time. The plesiosaurus sprung from the depths and once it got hold of someone it would fling them as far as it could away from the house. Caradon's army had been wiped out to about half because of the traps. The pit falls were the main culprit. But the other half began to advance with fewer casualties not that most of the traps had been sprung.

Seeing this as their cue the three alchemists left the house to get in the fight. Ed transmuted a window into normal glass and he and The Dawn jumped through it. Al couldn't get through a window so he used the door and clobbered a few men that were trying to break it down. Edward made a bridge of earth and headed for the nearest face he could knock in. Al plowed through anyone who came too close and Chanty made a stone maiden and she would throw him to a target and that landed a fist in their mouth. For a while everything acted as though the odds were in their favor until…

"Chanty help!"

It was Annie; Caradon had hold of her upper arm with a gun pointed under her chin. They had forgotten to have someone guard the door.

"Apparently you don't see the seriousness of this sort of situation until the warning is only a hair away from being carried out." He sneered and gripped Annie's arm tighter. "Now give me my Jewel!"

Everyone could hear their own heartbeats it was so quiet. The Dawn's fingertips caressed the golden pendent. He could only see two ways out of this, one might be the most risky but possibly more effective. But if it didn't work would he really be willing to risk Annie's safety if it didn't? But if he didn't think of something quick his nagging conscience wouldn't matter. The sounds of a scuffle came from inside the house and he thought of Brody. If he didn't choose soon everyone would end up hurt or worse.

"I've made my decision," Chanticleer said confidently with his head held high. "You can have the Jewel…but its power is mine."

Chanty snapped the gem out of the pendent and held it firmly in both hands, causing it to glow in an unnatural blue light.

Caradon stood speechless; he apparently didn't know that the Gems power could be transferred to a human body instead of just amplifying alchemy strength. Edward could only stare until he had a serious adrenaline rush, he could smell burning flesh.

"Brother! What's going on!" Brody burst out of the house, his shirt kinda wet for some reason. He saw the blue light. "Brother don't! You don't know what it might do to you!"

But whatever damage could have been done, was. The light faded and Chanticleer looked as though he were sleeping standing up. He tried to straighten up and the Jewel fell from his hand, plain as glass, from a distance Al could see a transmutation circle burned in each hand. Chanticleer stood up and looked at Caradon, his shirt and hair drenched with sweat, plastering it to his body. With what looked like all the strength he had the Dawn alchemist bent over and picked up a hand pistol from the ground…and held it to his temple, Brody nearly keeled over dead when he saw that.

"You fool!" Caradon yelled at him, regaining his senses. "What do you think you're doing!"

"I…I…I have transferred all…of the Gems power to…my body." He said very breathless, the transfer had taken quite an exhausting toll on him. At the time even he didn't know what would happen if he did that. "Everything…that stone was capable of…all its power…is with me. If you…hurt any…of my friends…then I will pull this trigger, and all…you've gone through,…the trouble of obtaining…dies with me."

Chibi me – is this the part that you meant, something bad happens to someone?

Me – Nope. That happens next. And I'm really sorry about making this chapter a really long one. It was either make a long one or make two more chapters out of it…and I couldn't find a place where I could break and make another chapter.

Chibi me – Do you think this looks good on me? (holds up a bright pink dress with lace trim and lavender bows)

Me – Any dress looks decent on you, why?

Chibi me – EmptyHeart's Light self sent me an invitation to a tea party at her house. EmptyHeart turned them all into otsels (sp?) so this should be interesting.

Me – (thoughtful) I wonder what Chibi would look like as an otsel? I'll have to ask EmptyHeart how she did that.