A/N: Happy New Year! Iron Rose is back, baby! Anyway, I should let you know that I don't make resolutions because I don't like failing, so you won't be getting an update schedule! Lucky you!

However, I do believe in starting the new year off right. And that means a near death experience!

Chapter song: Search & Destroy by 30 Seconds to Mars

Enjoy!


When Jack woke, he found himself surrounded in darkness. It was as if the earth had swallowed him whole. He picked himself off the ground and called out, "Ana? Ana! Can you hear me?"

He heard a groan and then Ana's groggy response. "Jack? Is that you?"

"Yeah. It's me."

"Can you get a light going?" she asked slowly.

Jack pulled out his lighter and flicked it open. He grew the flame until they could see each other's faces.

"There we go," said Ana, going into her commander mode. She looked upward, confirming what she originally suspected, the maze had been some sort of trap. Why it was a trap and who had made it was a mystery, but Ana refused to give in.

She clapped her hands and pressed them to the wall. Nothing happened.

"Okay….That's weird?" She tried it two more times. "Why isn't it working?" she growled.

"What are you trying to do?" asked Jack.

"Open a hole in the ceiling."

"Oh….right." He paused. "It's not working."

"That's what worries me," she muttered. Louder, she said, "Okay, we may need a backup plan. Shine the light around the wall."

Jack began to look around at the smooth stone sides of the pit. In a few moments he discovered a small tunnel, leading further underground. He attempted to tell Ana, but she was distracted by her own investigation of the trap. She clapped her hands, pressing them against the wall. A faint blue light appeared in the tunnel, but quickly died as Ana's transmutation failed again.

"Okay….That's weird," Jack said slowly. "Ana, I'm going inside."

Not turning around, Ana simply hummed in agreement. She only realized he was gone when the light grew too dim for her to see.

"Jack?!" she shouted, slightly panicked. Ana finally saw Jack and his light inside the tunnel. She ran up to him. "What are you doing?"

"Investigating. That's what you wanted isn't it?"

"Well….Yeah. But-"

"Nevermind. Look what I found." Jack pointed to the wall blocking the end of the tunnel. On it was a large transmutation circle.

The circle was very complex. Inside was a heptagon and various alchemical symbols were located inside each point. Inside another circle in the center of the heptagon, was the alchemical symbol for fixation.

Ana recognized the circle as some type of alchemy prevention circle. Her dad had been working on one fifteen years ago for Mustang's alchemist prison. But this did not look like her father's. Nor did it seem to function like his either.

Ana clapped her hands and placed them on the ground. The circle glowed and the wall moved farther down the tunnel. "Interesting. That wasn't what I wanted."

"What were you trying to do?" asked Jack.

"Dig a pit," said Ana nonchalantly. "Whatever this is, it's messing with my transmutations. Though the real question is why isn't it affecting yours?"

"What do you mean?"

"You use alchemy to alter the flame from your lighter. It's not being affected by the circle. Why?"

Jack nodded. "That's easy. I don't use clapping alchemy."

"I hope that's not the reason," Ana muttered.

"Why?"

"Because that means this is a set up. And without my alchemy we can't get out of here."

"Don't worry. I told Savon to get help before I jumped in after you."

"How is Savon supposed to get people down here? Much less find us afterwards?"

"I didn't think that far ahead…." Jack admitted.

Ana sighed.

"Anyway, what do you think is behind this wall?" asked Jack, pressing his ear to the wall.

"Probably a trap," Ana stated sullenly. "But we aren't getting out any other way." She clapped her hands and pressed them to the transmutation circle. Blue lightning flashed violently. A large explosion flung Ana back down the tunnel and filled the air with dust.

Jack coughed and called out for Ana. He waved at the dust, trying in vain to clear the air. "Ana?"

"I'm okay," Ana coughed out.

When the dust finally settled, Jack peered around the pile of rubble that had been the wall. The explosion had thrown stones everywhere.

"There's more tunnel," Jack said helpfully.

Ana sighed. "Great."


They had spent almost twenty minutes wandering around the tunnels. They had stayed within the main one even though they had found numerous smaller side tunnels. Ana had wanted to investigate some, her curiosity getting the better of her, but Jack reminded her of the danger they were probably in. As helpful as Jack was at that time, he was now beginning to grate on her nerves.

"What time is it?" asked Jack.

"Two minutes after the last time you asked," snapped Ana.

"Oh...Well at least we-"

"Be quiet."

"Huh?"

"Shh…." she whispered.

From behind them in the tunnel, they heard a faint roar.

"Did you hear that?" whispered Ana.

"Yeah. That's weird," Jack whispered back. "There shouldn't be roaring animals in tunnels."

"Definitely not."

Now soft thumps could be heard. Another roar came, louder and closer than the first.

"What do you think it is?" asked Jack, scared.

"I've got no idea. It doesn't sound like any creature I've ever heard."

The creature padded into view and the two teens froze. The monster was some type of chimera. Ana suspected it was a cross between a lion and a tiger.

Was this the trap? Did someone want her dead this badly? Ana did not think she had made too many enemies during her time as a State Alchemist. Maybe Lori was back, this being a chimera and all.

The dead silence was broken when the chimera roared once more. The noise startled Ana and Jack out of their stupor. They ran down the tunnel, the chimera chasing after.


The chimera followed them down various passageways, none large enough for the two teens to turn and fight. The two saw a bright light ahead of them and ran even faster. This was their best chance to take out the chimera.

Ana and Jack ran straight into a brightly lit room. They slowed down to allow their eyes to adjust. The chimera stopped at the door.

Hands shot out grabbing Jack by the arms. He struggled, panic lighting in his eyes.

"Let me go!" Jack shouted.

His shout caught Ana's attention. She was a little ways off, almost in the middle of the room. Ana clapped her hands and almost touched the floor. She stopped, her hand inches from the floor, when she noticed the markings.

A large circle covered the floor. Two pentagrams, one inverted, laid inside the circle. Another circle was drawn inside the pentagrams. At each point of the inside pentagram, stood a glass cylinder with a metal faucet. The tubes were filled with a strange red liquid.

One of the men who had caught Jack forced his hands behind his back. The others surrounded the transmutation circle Ana was standing in. They pointed their guns at her.

"Stand up," one of the men men commanded, "slowly."

Ana did as she was told and held her hands above her head for good measure.

After a few moments of silence, Ana asked timidly, "What is all this?"

"I'm glad you asked," said a voice from another tunnel. A man quickly walked into the room. "This is my greatest experiment: turning a single soul into a self-sustaining Philosopher's Stone."

Ana lowered her hands, stunned. "Who are you?"

"Dr. Jezeb Locke," he said with a slight bow.

"And what are you doing again?" asked Jack, bewildered.

Locke sighed. "Children don't understand science! You see, my boy, I'm going to create a living Philosopher's Stone."

"How?" asked Ana, her curiosity once again getting the better of her.

Locke beamed. Finally someone was actually taking interest in his work. Well someone besides that strange white-haired young man. But he did not actually count seeing as he was the one who gave Locke the project in the first place

"See this red liquid?" Locke gestured to the containers. The teens nodded slowly. "That is a chemical formula of my own creation. It's essentially a Philosopher's Stone minus the soul bit, of course. However, it's not as powerful as the real thing, which is why I need her." He gestured to Ana.

"But that doesn't make any sense!" Ana exclaimed. "Why me?"

"Your father, of course," cackled the doctor. "He was the first person to turn himself into a Philosopher's Stone of his own volition. Not to mention your grandfather. He was alive for thousands of years due to the Elixir running in his veins."

"That's ridiculous! He never said anything about that to me!"

"That doesn't make what I'm saying untrue."

"I'm not my father," Ana said, bristling at the attacks on her family.

"But you share his blood. And that's enough to make this work." Locke gestured to one of his men. "Release the compound," he commanded.

The red liquid poured out of the container. The man moved on to the next cylinder. Locke opened the faucet closest to him. The liquid seemed to have a mind of its own. It did not splash like water. It acted more like any melted metal: half solid, half liquid. It moved slowly. Ana backed away from it in fear.

Three shots rang out in the small room. One of the containers shattered, sending glass shards flying and the red water spilling everywhere.

The goons, startled by the gunshots, released Jack's arms, fleeing the room in a panic.

Jack turned to see Savon, Jaroue, Naomi and a frozen lion-tiger chimera in the doorway.

"Ana! Jack!" Savon shouted. "C'mon!"

Jaroue's radio crackled to life. He listened as the voice on the other end issued instructions. "Yes. I understand," he responded. "Okay kids, time to get out of here."

Jack hurried over to the door. He glanced behind him to see that Ana was not following. He called to the others. "Wait!"

Ana looked absolutely terrified. She stared at the water as if it was acid. As if it would kill her on contact. It scared Jack to see her so frightened.

"Ana, come on!" Savon shouted.

"Just jump!" Jack yelled.

Ana did. She took two steps back, one step forward and leaped.

She almost made it.

The back heel of her left boot landed in the red water. Red light filled the room. Ana screamed in pain.

"Yes! It worked!" yelled the madman.

Naomi fired her gun. The bullet hit the evil doctor in the chest. He fell to the ground, blood pooling around his dead body. The blood mixed with the water, dissolving the body.

Power radiated from Ana. It came off her like wind in a hurricane, pushing everyone back from her. Red lightning danced around the room. Whatever it touched, changed form. A bolt hit Ana's hair and it changed from red to gold. The walls became riddled with spikes, holes and beams. The structure of the room was starting to fall apart.

"We have to get out of here!" shouted Jaroue over the noise of the chaos.

Naomi shouted back, "My job is to protect Ana. I can't leave her here!"

Naomi turned towards the alchemical storm that had begun to form around Ana's body. The young alchemist had not moved since she touched the water. It was as if the time around her had stopped.

Naomi stepped forward into the chaos. She fought her way to Ana dodging the bolts of alchemy. She reached out for Ana's wrist but was pushed away by a sudden gust of wind. Naomi stood up again, gritting her teeth. She only had to take a few more steps until she was close enough to grab Ana's wrist.

The moment she did, Ana unfroze. She turned her head towards Naomi. The older girl was shocked to see Ana's left eye glowing blood red.

"Naomi?" Ana whispered.

Naomi pulled Ana into a tight hug and the storm died. Ana collapsed in her arms.

Without the raging storm the room settled and no longer seemed to be on the verge of collapse. Naomi carried Ana, piggy-back style.

"Come on, girl," she whispered, so low no one could hear. "Let's go."