The Loveliest Daaaarlings Around!

IceFire Dragon Alchemist73: Sad episode is sad. Dx. Heh, well, more like in the next few chapters.

AliceInNeverland: Hehe, thank you! There wasn't much romance for a few reasons. One being the fact there are going to be so many chapters, and compared to that, they need time to get closer. Secondly, I'm just a big realist. No out-of-character stuff. If you pay close attention, you can tell they get closer. And that will build up to the romance part.

Want to Be my Favorite? Review. Wink, Wink.

DUDES. Guess what.

FullMetal Alchemist: Brotherhood premiered on Adult Swim Saturday! Isn't that gnarly?! I totally got to hear Al's new English voice for the first time. If you didn't see it, you can get it online. Or wait till next Saturday for the next episode(Will only be titled, "FullMetal Alchemist", though.)

DUDES. Guess what again.

I broke my 100,000 word mark with that last chapter. Wewtage. God, I'm so cool.

I don't own FullMetal Alchemist, or its characters. I do own The Sulfur Alchemist and its original content. DON'T STEAL EITHER.

Chapter Twenty-Eight:
Friendship in Jeopardy

Creation. Life. Change. Death. Absorption. Ruining the cycle. Alchemy…

Crime. Sin. Hatred. Death. Life. God. Taboo…

Water. Blood. Bones. Recreation. Human Transmutation…

Regret. Creation.

Death.

The cycle doesn't change. Alchemy is said to ruin a cycle. To erase creation and replace it. Recreate it.

The cycle is never broken. Creation is never replaced. Recreation isn't a substitute; It is a cycle. A cycle meant to be warped and twisted. A cycle that never dies.

"This is some pretty morbid stuff," Breda grumbled out as he held a small journal in his hands. He wore a dark blue hat, along with a rain coat of the same color over his military uniform. Standing by a copper toned desk, he snapped the journal shut and placed it back onto the desk. The officer looked around the small, dimly lit room in wary and confusion.

His fellow officer, a shorter, thinner and younger man, nodded in agreement as he read the titles of the hundreds of books lining shelves. "Wasn't this supposed to be a simple check-in?" Seeing the redhead nod in reply, Fuery blinked, confused. "Then where are the officers? And Blackburn?"

With a heavy sigh, Breda turned to Fuery. "I don't know, man… But this is starting to creep me out. How long has Blackburn been doing all this research without the officers not realizing it? They're supposed to be on top of this stuff."

At the sound of an explosion from the attic, the two officers' heads snapped up. "Wh-What was that?" Fury stuttered out in alarm.

Shaking his head, Breda headed to the door. "Call for back-up," He quickly told Fuery before he left the room. He headed down the stairs as quickly and quietly as possible. He readied himself for anything and by the time he reached the door, he found himself more curious than afraid. Swinging the door open, he saw nothing but smoke. "What the-?!" He covered his mouth as he searched for a light switch without entering the room entirely. Finally finding it, he turned the light on and began waving the smoke away as he walked in. After a few moments, Fuery rushed downstairs, stopping behind Breda as the smoke finally cleared.

"Aw man…," Breda muttered upon seeing the room. Because, in the middle of the room, two dead bodies were sprawled out side-by-side. The officers in charge of Blackburn's house arrest, to be exact. On the far side of the attic, a human-sized gaping hole was revealed through the smoke, which lead out onto the street. Blackburn was nowhere in sight. "Mustang isn't gonna like this," The redhead said grimly. Fuery looked at him in curiosity, but his thoughts would soon be answered when they got back to Headquarters.

. . .

"What?!" The black haired Colonel shouted, abruptly coming to his feet. The two officers before him twitched a bit at the volume of his voice. "You mean to tell me two of my officers are dead, and Blackburn is gone?!" He shouted in anger, glaring down at Breda and Fuery.

"I'm sorry Colonel. We were searching the house for them when we heard the explosion," Breda explained a second time, as if it would make matters better.

Fuery quickly nodded, "Which had to have been when Blackburn escaped."

"Really, you think Fuery?!" He shouted, mouth frowned into a growl. Seeing Fuery look downward, Roy sighed. "It's alright. You aren't at fault."

The officer paused and nodded in understanding. "What are we going to do then, Colonel?" Hawkeye asked him.

Roy fell silent. After a few moments, he sighed. "I'm going to take a walk." As he left the office, the others watched him in awkward confusion.

He walked along the side-walk, until he reached a pay-phone. He didn't need fresh air. He needed to make a phone call the military couldn't know about.

. . .

"Miss?" I blinked, looking over to the side of me. I was in the middle of town. Hannah, Winry and I had went ahead of the brothers. Ed and Al were sharing goodbyes with Izumi. The girls were sitting on a bench, talking as I bought a sandwich. Anyway, a man was standing there at a payphone. "Are you Riley Mauler?"

"Um…," I trailed off and nodded, "Yes. Why?"

He shrugged, rubbing the back of his neck. "It's for you. He said his name was Roy."

I stiffened. Mustang was calling me? Why? I glanced to Hannah and Winry to see them laughing about something. Sighing, I walked over and grabbed the phone. "Thanks." He nodded, walking off and I looked to the payphone. "…Hello?"

"Riley," I heard Mustang's voice through the speaker. I could hear noises in the background which sounded like he was outside. A payphone maybe? "I… I have a favor to ask."

My eyes widened in surprise. "Wha? I'd... I'd normally use this to make fun of you, but that's just… Why?"

I heard him sigh. "Radley Blackburn. He's killed hundreds of men using alchemy and used their bodies for research to become a better alchemist… I've hunted him down for years, but he only ended up with house arrest after it all."

I blinked, recognizing the name. "Oh yeah… I wrote an article about him once. So if he's already in custody, why are you calling?"

A slight pause followed. "He's escaped. Killed the two officers that watched over him. Obviously we have officers looking for him, but only in Central. I think he'll be heading back to his hometown, a little north of South City. His home was filled with research far beyond what was discovered in the home he had in Central."

I sighed as I looked around. "And you want us to check it out?"

"I'm well aware of your current situation with the military, Riley. Don't look at it as though it's an order," He muttered into the phone.

Glancing to Hannah and Winry, I saw Ed and Al walking to them. I thought it over. Roy, as annoying as he was, was still a good guy. Thinking about him lead to thinking about Maes. Sighing, I turned to hang up. "I'll try to talk to Ed into it." I hung up before Roy could reply, and headed back to the others. This was going to be a hard task to accomplish.

. . .

I sighed, sitting cross-legged at the edge of a wagon. My knees were the only thing actually holding me up however as my chest was on the edge and my arms hung down, crossing with each other. I was staring at the ground. Counting rocks.

Too many trees.

We were going south toward an Ishbalin refugee camp. Obviously I hadn't asked Ed about Blackburn and Mustang yet. I figured if we were already going South, why not ask once we arrived? That'd be much better. "Are you sure we're on the right road?" Al asked, looking over to his brother who sat on the opposite side of me, closest to the front, on his back as he stared at the sky.

"All I know is, we're heading South. And we're bound to run into the Ishbal camp sooner or later," Ed replied. I had found many flaws with this way of thinking, but I didn't feel like breaking his bubble.

Al looked back down as he mumbled, "Sooner than later, I hope."

"Well what makes you think the Ishbalin refugees will tell you anything about the Philosopher's Stone anyway, Ed?" Winry asked. I was wondering why she was still with us, but remembering Hannah and I just kinda started tagging along, I felt I had no room to talk.

"Cause it's the only lead we've got. We have to take every chance that we have to get closer to the stone." Suddenly Ed gasped and jerked up.

Winry looked over at him in concern, "What is it?"

"I thought… I thought I heard a woman scream just now but-"

Ed was interrupted by a scream so I looked up and glared at him. "You jinxed us, asshole!" Ed glared back at me but we both turned back to see who it was. A girl with short brown hair and a green and yellow dress was running, when she tripped on rock number nine hundred seventy-six. She fell onto other rocks which knocked some closer to us and I twitched in anger. Damn it, I hadn't counted that section!

There were five guys standing in front of her, smiling with creepy intent. I glared at them and saw Ed, who had already jumped off the wagon and rushed forward, bending down to grab a rock. My eyes widened and as I leaped forward to grab it from him, he threw it at the man that had advanced on her. I yelled in protest and Ed, flustered and embarrassed by the contact, shoved me off. "What was that?!"

"I didn't count that section yet!" I shouted, glaring at him.

He glared as well, "That doesn't give you right to-"

"Who the hell do you think you are, short stuff?!" One of the men shouted in anger. The two of us blinked, distracted as we looked back over at them.

I sighed as Ed rammed his foot into the guy's head angrily. The three guys left standing widened their eyes in surprise but quickly got over it and ran toward us. Ed easily took care of them as he was still fuming over the small comment. Speaking of which, I hadn't cracked many… Man, I was going soft.

. . .

We sat around the girl as the driver of the wagon smoked on a rock, and the Creepy Intent guys were tied to a tree. "So you're traveling by yourself to find this Lujon guy?" Winry asked after the girl had told us her story.

She nodded, "Yes."

Al crossed his arms. "You shouldn't have come alone. It can be pretty dangerous out here even if you do have someone along to help you out." I looked over at Ed when I saw some movement from the corner of my eye, to see his eyes following a butterfly around.

I almost burst out laughing, but apparently Hannah had caught sight of this. She quickly elbowed me and I groaned, tuning back into the conversation. "I know," The girl said, "But I had a feeling if I didn't come, I'd never get to see Lujon again and I don't know if I could deal with that!"

"So why'd this Lujon guy leave your village in the first place?" Ed asked simply, unaware of the thoughts I were having about him chasing butterflies.

"A good reason! To search for another Philosopher's Stone," She replied casually, as if talking about the weather.

"Ah yeah, that's nice," Ed said dully as he, Al and Winry all crossed their arms in boredom.

…

Hannah and I glanced at each other, wondering if we heard wrong. Suddenly the three of them jerked up, "The stone?!"

Silence once more. The girl finally sighed. Looking down, she replied simply, "Yes. In order to cure a horrible epidemic in my village, we need the power of the stone."

. . .

Once the story was done, we were getting ready to board the wagon again. "Ed?" I asked hesitantly, "Can I talk to you elsewhere?"

Ed looked suspicious(I'm hurt.) as he nodded and followed me away from the wagon. It was then or never. We'd help Lidia(I had finally learned her name from Hannah), and then go look into Blackburn. Hopefully. "What is it?" He asked.

"We're friends right?" I asked, grinning. He raised a brow, wondering what that had to do with anything, but nodded. "Well, friends do friends favors!"

"No."

My eyes widened as I pointed at him, "You don't even know what I was going to ask!"

He scowled, "It's going to be something I don't want to do. So no."

I sighed, "Fine. Next time you're tied to a chair with your brother and I'm in town, I won't do a thing to help you." His brow twitched, but I continued. "When you need help finding another doctor who supposedly knows about the stone and I happen to be his student, I won't help you."

He glared, "You didn't help us then, Riley."

I pouted, "No, but I helped you a lot you know!"

With an irritated sigh, Ed crossed his arms. "Fine. What is it?"

Pausing, I planned how to word it. "I… There's this criminal… He's a really good alchemist and he's escaped from the military's hands. I was wondering if we could look into it – Before you say no, he might know about the stone!"

He blinked, looking up at me surprised. "Well yeah, why not? If he knows about the stone, we should, right?"

I smiled, "Great…"

We began heading back to the wagon, when he asked the question I worried he'd ask. "Where'd you hear about him anyway?"

I fell silent before replying with, "…A friend."

He stopped in his tracks. Sighing, he looked at me firmly. "Who, Riley?"

"…" I looked away as I rubbed the back of my neck. "…Mustang called me."

Ed's eyes widened. "You're kidding, right?" When I didn't respond, he glared, "You're talking with Mustang?!" I let out a sigh, about to speak when he interrupted me, "Have you been talking to him this whole time?!"

Glaring, I replied angrily, "Why would I do that?! They're after me too, you know!"

"Yeah right," He growled, "You're probably just helping them. I never should've trusted a State Alchemist!"

I fell silent. Did he really think I was giving the military information? I glared down at him, "If you really think I'm on the inside at this point, you need your brain checked!"

Shoving passed him, I started to walk. "Where are you going?! I'm not done with this!"

I stopped walking and glared back at him, "I am! I'm done with you altogether! I've risked my ass for you and this is the thanks I get?! Screw you, Elric! I'll look into Blackburn myself!"

Ed didn't reply, so I turned and walked passed the wagon. Hannah glanced over at me, "Riley…?" I didn't respond so she sighed and jumped off the wagon, quickly running after me.

Be Responsible. Don't Flame and Drive! Rawr.