Chapter 16: Only Friends

Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist or the characters. A thank you to Bar-oki and harryswoman for reviewing.

Sean walked out of the small dune that he had used to hide himself from the eyes of the others, even though someone could peer over there, it was still more effective than standing out for everyone to see. He couldn't say that he liked having to deceive Edward Elric and his brother Alphonse, nor did he gain pleasure for having to deceive the others. The only thing he could say was that he was going to help them and in the end, he will get exactly what he wanted, his dead lover resurrected. To him, if he could hold her in his arms again, than everything would have been worth it, but yet he can't say that because the memories would come flooding back to him and he would be left weeping again. He would hate himself for not taking his own life the day she died of poisoning, a result of her betraying her old employers by not killing him. I guess there is something to be said about not falling in love with a woman who was sent to kill you, thought Sean bitterly as he made his way out of the sandy area to the dry ground of the rock formations. What I wouldn't give to see you right here right beside me, smiling like you always do Iris. That smile brings the moon out to block the sun from my eyes when I cannot see. Where has it all gone, where are you Iris?

When he finally made it to the camp he was surprised to see that the camp was mysteriously deserted, completely empty of any human life and he walked around find any signs of a kidnapping. Panic spread in his mind, making his lungs move at a slower pace than normally as he thought of his friend Edward being taken away by the enemy and now they were probably torturing him. Sean was well versed in the ways of torture and very familiar with the process, himself once having been a victim of an aggressive interrogation involving little needles and a knife. There was nothing, no trace of them even appearing to have existed in that area at sometime and he was getting worried by the lack of life around the camp. No, they couldn't have been taken, Edward would have surely used some form of alchemy to get himself out of it, and he's strong enough to do that.

"Edward, are you there," asked Sean, his voice resonating between a call and a slightly raised voice so as to keep the risk of reaching an enemy at a minimum range.

"Wow, you actually sounded concern there, Sean," said Edward as he pointed a gun at Sean's chest, the solid metal pushing into the elegant vest that Sean had worn, as if he were at a business meeting.

"Ed, what the hell are you doing," asked Sean as he looked at the gun pointed at his chest and he couldn't help but wonder how it had all come to this, having a gun pointed at him by his own friend. "Have you gone mad or something?"

"Don't act like I'm stupid, traitor," said Ed as he motioned for Winry to tie Sean's hands behind his back with his own wire. "Winry overheard you talking to your employer, Dante, so now we know what you really. A mercenary willing to sell loyalty to the highest bidder, a fox with the blood of reptiles underneath the skin, a snake that waits in the bushes for the unsuspecting victim, that's what you are and be damned if you aren't!"

"Look I only took the job because she said it would help you which it has helped you a lot," replied Sean as he tried to state his case, but Ed wasn't hearing any of it, he was only focused on his own anger. "I took the job the first night I spent in that hotel room. She called me and asked me if I could think of something I really wanted for my skills and my work to help you. How could I turn down such an offer?"

"Oh and what was the pay for the job," asked Ed with venom and hate dripping from his voice, enough to cut Sean deeply in his heart. "Forty million, two hundred million dollars, am I even coming close to the sum that she was going to pay you or was it a position of power promised to you?"

"Please don't insult me Ed, you may think that most of what I've been saying is a lie, but I am not so heartless," replied Sean with a bit of anger and sadness as he pulled a locket out of his top vest pocket with his teeth and Ed took the extended locket from his mouth. Inside the locket was a picture of dirty blond haired woman who was quite beautiful and had green eyes that seemed to observe everything down to the most minor detail. "Her name was Iris, and she was my fiancé. Before we could get married, however, she was poisoned by the men who employed her to kill me and later died. That was when I went into my depression and more bloodier years, right before I happened to meet you in that cantina in Cairo. All I had to do was help you get to the Philosopher's Stone and she would be able to bring her soul back for me to add to the body."

"The body?"

"I'm not normal, well you already know that, but I have a bit of power to perform what is called necromancy. The only thing preventing me from being happy however is that I cannot bring back the soul as well, necromancy only moves with two ways. I had trouble just bringing her body back and this was through a simple use of chemicals and other various things found by many cults and religions."

"So I guess you aren't a complete sell out," said Ed as he put the gun away and turned Sean towards a tent and tied him to the stick that held up their big tent. "But I'm not going to trust you just yet, I'll leave that for military courts to decide, all I'll say is this friendship is over."

"If only you knew," lamented Sean as he sat there as Ed walked out adding, "you're the only friend I have left or had left."

(Author's note: the lemon scene between Roy and Riza will be cut out of this chapter and will be added as a bonus chapter later on or sooner if I get reviews saying you wants it. I must warn you I am a very graphic person.)

Roy awoke early to find Riza still slumbering on his chest with her arms wrapped around him, the sight he had always hoped to wake up to for so long. His dream come true right there in his arms and that's when he heard Alphonse packing up outside that he knew that it was time to go. He woke Riza up so she could dress herself and he did the same as they stepped out of the tent and packed everything up. Soon they were ready to make their way over the sand dunes down into rocky area where Ed had reached with his group. Upon their arrival they took notice of a few odd things about the place, such as the brooding Edward Elric, who sat on one of the rocks staring at the horizon and Winry, who was worried about how Ed was doing on his little rock of solitude. That's when they came to the most surprising sight of all, the sight of Sean tied up in the tent and that's when Roy felt an all familiar anger shoot through him as he realized that the person who had ordered his troops was a traitor.

"Wait out here," said Roy as he walked into the tent and closed the flap behind him. Riza knew exactly what he was going to do and was the only one not surprised by hearing Sean scream out in pain. She was the only one to approach him when he came out of the tent and said, "come on, we're leaving and we're bringing the traitor with us."

About half an hour later they were walking to the cave that would serve as the rendezvous point for all groups. The cave was very damp surprisingly as a strange liquid seemed to drip down the walls, a product of the Philosopher stone no doubt, but it still seemed so unreal that this Philosopher stone could do so much. Even Vashov, the creator of the stone, marveled at the power at which it held. Dragging Sean inside the cave was Riza, who had been going pretty easy on him because of the injuries he received from Roy's interrogation, but the mercenary was still a bit slow despite the level of patience Riza had in getting to their destination.

Roy would have told her just to drag his worthless ass across the floor when he heard the thundering of footsteps and instantly realized they weren't friendly as he turned with his hand out ready to start a fire. Ed, knowing that the dampness of the cave would make Roy's fire ineffective, tossed the general a gun and then pulled out his own handgun while Alphonse sported a rifle. Riza would have drawn her gun but then she remembered that she was making sure that Sean didn't escape, and he was a mercenary after all so she had to extra careful with him, less she find herself thrown off balance. Bullets sprayed the interior of the cave walls as the group returned fire at the enemy troops carrying submachine guns and found that they were a bit outgunned as the troops had an easier time of delivering suppressing fire. That's when Ed used his alchemy to create quicksand where the soldiers were and Riza immediately picked up a rilfe to peg off the machine gunners that were causing the most trouble. This gave Sean the time he needed to slip out of his wires, since he had trained himself to do it in case this situation ever happened, and pulled Riza's semi-automatic out of its holster. Roy saw this and wasted no time in turning his glove hand at Sean who was now aiming upwards from his crouched position, appearing to be aiming at Riza. Both fired at the same time and hit their marks. Roy hitting Sean's face with a fireball and Sean hitting a soldier who had his gun pointed at Riza.

"Damn," cried Sean as he held his face and Riza turned towards the mercenary to see what had happened and then saw the gun in his hand and the dead soldier lying right behind her. Sean, too focused on the pain shooting through his face, backed up a bit, but he backed into thin air and fell back into darkness.

"Sean," cried Riza as she reached out for him, but came up with nothing. "Oh shit, we have to go after him."

"Why, he didn't give any information and he would have killed you had I not thrown his shot off," said Roy, who still hadn't realized Sean's true target.

"He wasn't aiming for me, he saved my life," said Riza as she pointed towards the body of the soldier and Roy felt a pain of shame in his gut as he realized his mistake. "What will we tell Ed, he still considers Sean a friend whether he wants to deny it or not?"

"I don't know, but you will have plenty of time," said a familiar voice as the two heard the pulling of the hammer of a revolver. They turned to see a smoking Guile with gun pointed at them, dressed in a Philosopher's officer uniform. "I'm going to have to ask you two to surrender right here."