Ch. 5, Cat and Mouse.
:WARNING- Rating for this chapter is bumped to M in lieu to darker themes this time around, if your a minor teen you've been warned. If you aren't continue on :
Ed felt the pitter patter of rain hit his coat as he moved to stand up from the ground. He dusted himself off and yawned loudly. If it wasn't for his damming circumstances he would have gone back to the dorms and straight to bed.
Luckily Al was going to be gone for the night. At least later when he figured out how to end this mess he could have enough time to maybe get Mustang out of his room without being questioned.
Clunk!
Ed quickly snapped his head to the left, just catching a flash of shadow before it went away. "Is someone there?" Ed asked out loud, taking small steps in case it was someone eager to comment about the 'nice smell' again.
With his back against the wall Ed turned to look around the corner and spotted an opened door. He felt his heartbeat quicken.
"Hey, who's-"
Then suddenly there was a hand over his mouth and a strong arm holding him back. Ed kicked and flailed. He tried to yell and fight whoever held him, but to no avail. Whoever had him was quite strong.
"You're the boy under Mustang's division, aren't you?" Said a voice filled with as much venom as there was silk. Ed growled lowly as he tried getting his forearms close enough to clap his hands together, but to no avail. The man walked him toward the opened door, causing Ed to mistakenly pause in fear, which gave his captor the time to throw him inside.
Ed cried out as he tumbled down the steps, his head hitting the bottom after the rest of him had gotten battered on the way down. He wobbly sat up trying to see straight and looked up at the place where he was thrown from only to watch the door close, encasing his vision in complete darkness.
And he wasn't alone, the tell tale sign of footsteps making their way down the stairs.
"Back off!!" Ed shouted. He remembered the gun and reached into his coat pocket. It wasn't there. Ed gasped loudly, he must have lost it when he fell down the stairs.
'Not good, not good at all…' His mind rambled.
"Let's play a little game…" The older man's voice echoed in the din.
--
Alphonse paced back and forth. he mumbled in a small voice as he wrung his hands in disdain.
"Big Brother, are you not feeling good?" little Alicia asked as she watched him from a box of mewling kittens she sat next to.
"Alphonse?" A woman's voice said coming into the room. "Is something the matter?" Al turned to Gracia, noticing she came in, carrying a small bowl of milk for the kittens. He shook his head quickly.
"No, not really. I'm just worried about my brother is all."
She smiled softly, her eyebrows drawn together as she gazed at him in sympathy.
"I wouldn't be too upset, Alphonse." She gave the bowl to her daughter before speaking again. "If Maes said that they would find him then I know for a fact they will."
"It-it's not just that…" Al said, walking toward the window and looking out into the night. "I've got a bad feeling about this."
Gracia frowned slightly. "A bad feeling? Why's that?"
Alphonse sighed despite the fact he didn't need to, but it alleviated some of the stress it put on his soul.
"If Ed stays missing, how am I going to explain this to Winry when she comes to visit tomorrow?"
Gracia hummed as she thought about what he said. "I'm not sure," She patted his arm in in reassurance. "Just hope he's found before hand."
"I guess your right." Al replied, kneeling down to scratch a kitten behind the ear. Despite her positive words, Al still felt something was terribly wrong.
'Brother, please be alright.'
--
"Any word around your end, Falman?"
Vato rubbed his aching temples, unable to shake away the horrible headache despite the fact it had been at least a couple hours since his memory become foggy after finding Ed pillaging the first lieutenant's office and ended up getting himself encased in the wall with the major and two other officers.
Grimacing, he spoke into the phone trying to ignore the pounding in his head. "I'm sorry, Lieutenant Colonel, sir. None of us have seen him since the incident by Lieutenant Hawkeye's office."
Hughes sighed, looking at random notes he'd made and adding up the things he learned about what had occurred whenever Ed had been located. So far the only thing that stood out the most was the claims about an unusual smell before loosing their memories.
And if what Roy said about Ed experimenting with the stone was true, did that have something to do with it?
"Ed, what the hell did you do?" He whispered, none of it was making sense. There was only one thing he could think to do at a time like this.
Call a team meeting.
"Vato," Hughes said over the phone to the warrant officer. "Call everyone in Roy's division and tell them to rendezvous in his's office. We need to get to the bottom of this."
--
Ed scrambled around a corner, hoping against hope he wouldn't run into an obstacle in the lightless area again. Or the guy who trapped him here. He breathed in and out in a tired pace, trying his hardest not to be loud. His lungs hurt something terrible from all the running he'd been doing since he wound up trapped in an underground storage unit with some psychotic idiot.
An alchemist too, he discovered, when the man had blown up something in anger at not being able to catch him as easily as he had earlier and wound up blocking the exit with a stack of shelves and other rubbish.
Which left Ed at a horrible disadvantage.
The room down here did seem quite large, but it was very dark. If he used alchemy recklessly not only would it give away where he was hiding, if push came to shove the man had an arsenal of his own. Who knew what kind of lengths he would take to harm Ed in this case.
Ed had a vague idea just what would happen if he were to be caught but he refused to dwell on that.
Yet judging by the guy's attitude, Ed assumed he was someone who enjoyed overpowering others, even in a state of lack of self control. Why else would the guy toss him into a concealed area, making it close to impossible to get away without getting himself caught first?
"Oh, Fullmetal boy…come out come out wherever you are…"
Ed shook his head. What a time to be recognized by his celebrity name when he was in a terrible situation. Someone must really hate his guts.
Ignoring his inner irony, Ed ducked and paced forward, feeling along the walls as he ventured further down the confines of the dim place and away from the voice still calling for him, and promising things that Ed made himself deliberately ignore if only for the fact it might either make him sick or let fear override his judgment.
Ed nearly stumbled when the wall gave way to air. He teetered dangerously on one foot and grabbed at the edge of the wall, steadying himself. 'Close call…' Ed thought, silently congratulating how he managed to keep himself from going down and giving away his position.
After the last few minutes of running his eyes had slowly adjusted to the difference in shadows and he deduced he was going down some hallway in the storage unit, which must mean all the underground units were interconnected.
Meaning there had be another exit somewhere!
Ed held his breath when the voice became closer. Unlike Ed the guy might know his way down here a lot better, so he had to keep moving or he'd never get the chance to test his theory. Turning the corner he walked a little faster, aiming to keep his footsteps from being heard.
BANG!!
Something exploded behind him, causing the area to shake and Ed accidentally let out a cry of shock as he went to the ground.
"Gotcha!" The guy's voice yelled from a few feet behind him.
Ed scrambled up and ran, despite the dark and the noise of his running. It was fight or flight now, and what with the bombing display; Ed chose to fly.
As he ran down the hall he clapped his hands. He touched the wall to his right, causing a rock barrier to form behind him. Ed hoped it would hold the man off long enough to give himself the time he desperately needed to run.
Then suddenly the wall he made exploded behind him. Debris from it hit Ed, and a larger piece knocked him on the back of his head, sending him to the ground once again.
It was a painful blow. Ed could feel the slow run of warm blood going down the back of his neck. In a dizzy haste he clapped his hands together and made another wall to replace the one that got blown to smithereens.
Using the only moment he had, Ed crawled to the wall over to his left, clapping his hands again and making a nice sized hole in the wall big enough for him to crawl on hands and knees in. He shimmied into the small space and closed off the entrance, sealing himself within.
Behind the seal covering the hole he could hear his other makeshift wall explode, the angry yell from the alchemist and the footsteps as they passed his spot.
Once Ed was certain that he was gone he let out a great breath of air and winced at the throbbing in his head. Gingerly he touched the sore spot on the back of his head and felt around for the cut that was there. After finding it he decided it wasn't big enough to show concern over so he ignored the throbbing and the dizziness.
Paying no heed to the need to get sick again he let himself think about what his next move should be. Obviously there was no way he could survive if he stayed in a hole forever. Curling to his side on the ground he crossed his arms and gripped at his sleeves as he tried to think of a solution.
Going back out would mean running into the bombing lunatic and getting into trouble.
'Damn it, THINK!' He sternly told himself. He was trapped. What the hell was he going to do?!
Sniffling back frustration he closed his eyes. To every problem there was a solution. He had to escape, yet he had to trap the other alchemist.
Think
Think
Think…
--
Meanwhile Kimbly stood leaning against the wall across from where Fullmetal hid. He stared at the spot where he watched the sweet smelling boy crawl into and shut himself in.
Kimbly believed himself to be a patient guy, and it seemed quite the thrill to make his prey think it was safe until… boom.
He grinned wickedly. This is more fun than he thought.
--
Mustang stood at his desk. He regarded each of his subordinates, including Hawkeye, who was applying another bandage to replace the old one covering the bite wound she received on her calf via Black Hayate.
"I'm sure by now you all realize why you're here." Roy started. "The Fullmetal has gone missing and to top it off," Roy looked away from the small crowd to stare at his desk pensively.
"Despite the numerous sightings none of you or myself seem to remember what happened in between the moments he was spotted and when he disappeared."
"Don't forget the smell, Chief." Havoc pointed out. "Yes, I was getting to that." Roy answered, looking back up.
"From what I've learned I can deduce that it looks like Ed made a huge mistake with something he did 'experimenting' with the red water stone." Hughes said, brandishing his notes and setting them on the table for the others to see.
"He made a mistake?" Breda repeated. "But he's an alchemist, how does an alchemist make a mistake with something like that?"
"Alchemists are capable of making mistakes, Breda. Even if it is with an amplifier of sorts." Roy said coming up to the table everyone sat at. "Ed had a small number of chemicals in his possession when I went to his dorm room, he might have used them in a sequence that caused the stone to react strangely."
"Which may also explain the unusual smell everyone claims to have noticed after sighting him." Hughes finished. "Roy, I noticed there were bottles in his room when I found you there, were those the chemicals?"
"That's right, they were. The labels were marked with the state symbol."
"That must be why me and the Major can't remember what happened." Vato said helping himself to the coffee pot by the counter. Armstrong buried his head in his great hands and sighed deeply. "I feel awful for not detaining him, sir. He was well within our sights yet-"
"No need to apologize, Major." Roy said, patting the big man on the shoulder. "You aren't the only one here who feels this way."
"So, what should we do?" Fuery asked after looking at Hughes's notes. "Where are we going to start, Colonel?"
Roy looked at the group, crossing his arms as he spoke. "Well, we have two options here. Look for Edward as a group, or try figuring out the reason behind the unusual smell."
"It would make more sense to search out the reason, sir." Hawkeye said rolling her pant leg back down. "since none of us are capable of approaching Edward without loosing memory after sighting him we should try for the reason behind why it's near impossible to cross paths with him."
Roy nodded. "It makes sense. Any objections?" He addressed the group. They answered with no qualms about Riza's suggestion.
"Good, we'll split into groups of four, and since it's only me and the Major who understand alchemy we'll be team leaders."
So Roy teamed up with Hawkeye, Havoc, and Hughes while Armstrong was paired with Fuery, Breda and Falman.
"Alright, Armstrong your group will take post at the library, get as many books on alchemical ingredients as you can find. My team will gather the bottles in Ed's dorm and bring them there, then we'll study them together. Those are your orders, now go."
"Sir!" They all saluted and separated into their respective groups.
The investigation had begun.
--
The major's team made little time making it to the library. Aside from a slight mishap that involved a scramble by the Master Sergeant for the key to the doors, things had gone smoothly.
"How long do you figure we have to wait around?" Breda asked, seating himself in a chair after lighting the lamps on the table they chose.
"Not a lot," Vato replied. "I live in the same dorms as the young major, it's only four blocks away from H.Q."
"Then we should get moving and gather those books on alchemical ingredients." the major said walking through an isle of tall bookshelves and leafing through a few titles. "We don't have much-"
Achoo!
All four of the military men looked over to the other side of the room, Vato reaching for his gun.
"Who's over there!" Breda yelled, getting out of his seat. Fuery stayed still as he watched the others slowly walk to where the noise came from. There was no chance he was trusting random noises after the whole warehouse thirteen scare.
"In the name of Central Command, I order you to come forth and show yourself." Armstrong said in an authoritative tone of voice, nearly scaring his own platoon.
A sigh of defeat came from behind the desk. Suddenly someone popped up with his hands in the air.
It was a tall young man in wearing a white shirt and brown pants. He gazed at them behind short pale blond bangs that covered one eye.
"Okay, you caught me." He said coming from behind the desk. "I promise I'll come quietly, officers."
"And your companion?" Vato asked him, still aiming his gun. "Is he willing to cooperate as well?"
The young man turned around sharply. There stood another boy, much younger than him, wearing green overalls over a white tee shirt and a face of guilt nearly masked by the cut-off hat he wore over equally blond hair.
"Fletcher I told you to stay put!" The older boy said, scolding the younger one, causing the officers to believe that the two may be siblings.
"But I didn't want you to get taken away by yourself!" The younger boy said back in an almost timid protest.
"You boy's don't belong here." Armstrong said cutting in the argument. They both looked up at him, the one called Fletcher nearly shirking away in fear, while the other merely narrowed his gaze. It almost reminded him of the way Edward would react to opposition except this boy had gray eyes, the exact opposite to the Fullmetal's amber gold ones.
Suppressing the memory as it reminded him how he'd earlier failed to apprehend Ed, Armstrong looked at the tall teenager with growing weariness. "If you and the younger one leave now I won't report this to the police-"
The younger boy's voice was so small it was almost hard to hear him but it was enough to rouse the groups interest.
"Umm, excuse me, but are you major Armstrong?"
Taken aback Armstrong looked over at the boy, who migrated from behind the desk and bravely stood next to his older brother. "I think he is, remember Russell? Ed told us about him when we were in Xenotime-"
"Wait, did you say Ed?" Breda asked, shoving a bit at Vato's gun, silently telling him to put it away. "Do you know Edward Elric?"
The taller one, Russell, perked up at the word Elric. "Fullmetal Alchemist Ed Elric? Yeah, we know him."
"I remember!" Fuery said finally joining the group. "I read the file on the red water incident. It mentioned two other brothers contributing to the discovery of the man, Mugear's plot to contaminate the water supply of Xenotime."
A look of sudden guilt shot across both faces of the two boys before it vanished.
"So the two of you are the ones who helped Edward." Armstrong said, holding both his hand out to shake theirs. "I must say it's nice to finally meet the both of you, despite these circumstances."
Russell and Fletcher put on brave faces and shook the major's hands.
"Now what could have possessed the two of you to sneak onto military premises?" Armstrong asked, crossing his big arms and eyeing the both of them.
"It…it's for research…" Fletcher said, ignoring the look of anger from his older brother. "I told my brother there could have been other ways but…"
"That's enough, Fletcher." Russell said to him. The boy went silent. Russell looked Armstrong in the eye. "Actually, we had come to see Ed about something that a man named Belsio found underground in Xenotime, but we couldn't find Ed."
Armstrong shook his head. "I'm sorry, boys. Edward Elric has gone missing."
"Missing?" Fletcher asked before Russell did. "Like kidnapped missing?"
"He took off somewhere and none of us are able to apprehend him." Fuery spoke up. Suddenly Breda smacked his fist to his other hand with a noise of ah ha!
"Hey, you two know something about the red water stone don't you?"
Both blinked with wide eyes. "What about the red water stone?" Russell asked with a serious tone in his voice.
"It could be the reason why none of us are able to find and catch Edward." Armstrong said, getting where Breda was going by asking them. "If you two know something about how the red water stone works and help us I'll pardon this little break in."
Russell looked a bit on the suspicious side, but he nodded his head.
"Sure, no problem. Although your going to have to be a bit more specific on what happened with Ed and this red water stone."
--
Roy's group had reached the dorms around the time Armstrong's team discovered the Tringham brothers.
While Hughes conversed with the dorm keeper about Ed's whereabouts the other three waited in the small front door lobby.
It was silent save for the static from a radio Roy was playing with, trying to tune into a voice singing 'All Heaven Is Calling'. Havoc sat in a chair reading an outdated car magazine, wishing the place could be a little more livelier than with just the other three as company.
"Sir, permission to speak." Riza said breaking the group silence.
Roy turned his head to look at the Riza. "What is it, Lieutenant?"
She sighed. "This may seem beyond my concept since I don't understand the fundamentals of alchemy, but I've been thinking."
Roy shut off the radio. "What's on your mind?"
Riza continued. "Don't you find it strange that Black Hayate would attack me?"
Roy nodded somewhat. "It does seem out of character for your dog, but what does this have to do with the investigation?"
Riza gazed at her superior officer with conviction in her maroon eyes. "Think about it this way. If were are loosing our memories because of something Edward had foolishly done with the stone, then what was it that made Black Hayate bite me during my memory loss?"
Havoc blinked, looking up from the magazine he was reading. From where he was sitting it looked like Riza was grappling with a terrible realization, and losing.
"Lieutenant? What's wrong?"
"It's just…" She said in a low voice that Roy and Havoc almost had to move closer just to hear her.
"What if I had been doing something to upset Black Hayate? What if I…"
"Riza, please speak up." Roy asked her, stepping forward slightly.
She looked up at the both of them. "What if I had done something terrible enough to cause Edward to run away?"
The two men gaped at Riza. Havoc was about to ask her if she was joking around, but this was Hawkeye, The Pistol Packer. At the same time who the heck would jest at a time like this?
"You think you attacked him?" Roy asked. His face didn't show it, but a feeling of intense realization had slap him across the face, and in his soul.
"It… kind of makes sense…" Havoc said carefully, breathing in and out deeply. Suddenly the thought of silence and solitude didn't seem like such a bad idea to him.
"Hey," Hughes said coming back into the lobby. "Sorry I took so long, I had to show Rick how much my little baby girl had grown. I spoke with him, he said he hadn't seen Ed at all since earlier this morning. So there's a good chance those bottles are still in his room-" Hughes stopped and stared at his friends. At first the other three were gung ho about solving the great mystery revolving around Ed.
Now they just looked haggard and torn, Roy hid his grief but the other two looked as if they swallowed cherries not realizing it had been lemons the whole time.
"Did I miss something?"
--
Hughes scratched the back of his head and sighed. After hearing Riza's theory about the occurrences during the memory loss he had to admit, it was an uncanny coincidence.
They'd made it to Ed's room and decided to hold a brief meeting over this new development before taking off to the library with the chemical bottles.
"Poor kid…" Hughes muttered. "If that's really what's been going on, I have to say I don't blame him for being on the run."
"We don't know for sure if we've been attacking him though." Roy said as he knelt by the coffee table. He picked up one of the chemical bottles and looked at it. "Since none of us remember anything in between those times."
"Either case, chief. What would motivate Fullmetal to keep running off whenever we get near him?" Havoc said from over by the sofa, knelt down to look at the red coloring in the green carpet on the floor, still having a hard time wrapping his mind around the fact that it used to be a solid red stone.
"It still rings a lot of bells, for me anyway."
"That and tie in the fact that I found you here trapped in the cage-"
"Yes, Hughes, I get it!" Roy said turning his head away to hide the chagrin that dared to linger on his face. "Your right. Maybe the smell is associated to something triggering anger and making us attack Ed for no apparent reason."
"How much do you know about how the human body works, sir?" Riza asked Roy, getting up off the sofa to observe the four bottles at the table with him.
"Only a little, you'd have to asked the major if you want a full detail."
"If that's the case then shouldn't we get going? We need to let the others know we might have a break in this case." Hughes came up to the coffee table. He read the names on the bottles.
Glycerol, Sodium Chloride, Amino Acid, and Vanadyl Sulfate.
"Odd assortment here…" Roy muttered, glancing at Hughes.
He shrugged, pushing up his glasses with his forefinger. "Don't look at me, alchemy is your territory."
Roy grimaced. "I wasn't even going to ask you." He stood up from the table. "Alright I think we've got everything we need here. Havoc, make your self useful and carry the bottles; we're leaving now."
Havoc made a small noise of protest as he joined the others long enough to grab the bottles and-
Stare blankly at the bundle with his face white like vanilla frosting.
"Lieutenant Havoc, is something the matter?" Hawkeye asked, falling behind to gaze at the second lieutenant with worry.
He opened and closed his mouth several times before he made what sounded like an incoherent chirp.
Roy groaned in frustration, rounding on his subordinate. "Havoc, what's the hold up, and why are you gawking at the bottles?"
"I…I…" He stammered. "Oh dear sweet- of all the- how did he-"
Roy cuffed Havoc on the shoulder, ending the nonsensical mumbo jumbo that spewed from his lips. "Havoc, either say what's wrong or shut up, which do you prefer?"
Havoc shut his eyes tightly, a flushed look on his face as he breathed in and out deeply.
"I… I think I have a slight idea about what happened here, chief."
--
Edward slowly breathed in and out deeply. He tried to sweat away some of the fear that lingered in his heart. It had been at least an hour or two since he'd hidden himself in the hole, so the chances that the other alchemist might still be around were slim to none. With a push to his Psyche he clapped both hands together, touching the small blockage that he made to cover the entrance to the hole.
He stayed still a moment to watch the blue sparks dissipate into the air before he began to crawl forward.
"Surprise…" whispered a voice in front of him.
Ed gasped loudly and stumbled backward, landing on his bottom and nearly hitting the top of his head on the ceiling of the hole.
"Did you think I didn't see you go hiding here?" The man said, blocking the entrance. Behind him the lights were on and Ed could see the face of the guy who caused him so much grief.
It was someone who very much resembled the snake like quality Ed noticed when the man spoke, with expressionless dotty black eyes (unless you counted the look of wrongful excitement) and dark hair tied up at the back.
"Look, I-I don't want any trouble!" Ed stammered, hoping to reason with him since he seemed more in control of himself than the rest.
Although, if he were in control of his emotions, didn't that make him even more dangerous?
"Oh don't think your getting away that easy," He mocked. Then he leered somewhat, looking at Ed's body in addition to his face, making Ed cringe while bringing his legs up toward his chest.
"You remind me of something I seen in a bar once," The man rambled on. "It was a real pretty thing. A killer body, gorgeous legs, and hair about as long and blond as yours." He knelt further down till his head was within the threshold of the hole.
He breathed in loudly, taking in whatever scent Ed carried on his person. The man's dark gaze fixed on Ed's frightened eyes and bored into them like drills.
"Do you know what I wanted to do with something like that?"
Ed's eyes went wild with tension when the man got on his knees. He had been foolish making this hole! It was big enough that the man could easily slip into it without hitting his head.
"First I wanted to get real close, just like this…"
The guy begun to crawl into the hole!
The breath in Ed's throat hitched and he backed away, hitting the rock wall behind him. "Wait! Don't- don't come any closer!"
"What are you gonna do?" The man sneered. "You pull any of your alchemy stunts in this thing you go too."
Ed heartbeat hammered when the man got close enough to touch his boots.
"No, stop! I'm begging you! Please don't!"
"That's right, the little bitch would say what you just said." He was close enough that he was practically over Ed, one knee parting his legs. With both hands he pinned Ed against the wall behind him. "Then I would touch her just like this…"
"Let me go!" Ed begged, his voice cracking with the effort to keep from sobbing. He tried to pry away from the fingers that touched his face, the thumb that brushed his lips. He felt a hand crawl up the side of his leg.
"Stop!"
The man gripped both sides of Ed's head and forcefully made him look into his face.
"Then I'd explore her a little, just to see what makes her tick…"
Ed felt and heard the snap of the clasp on his shirt being yanked away. Then his mouth was invaded by the other alchemist. Ed ground his teeth down and struggled, trying to evade the tongue that demanded entrance. Suddenly his jacket was pulled down his shoulders till both his arms were exposed.
Holding his ragged breath and prying his vision away from the mouth that moved to invade his neck, he looked at something on the wall next to him. He cried out as the man harshly turned him over so he was his stomach, jacket pulled all the way off.
Ed winced through his teeth, trying to ignore the cold hands sliding his shirt up as he inched his right hand toward the thing only he noticed. He touched the edge of it.
A small smile of satisfaction hit Ed's lips as he watched the blue shock of alchemy spark to life.
The wall in front of Ed dissapeared, letting him shoot away from the man and out of the small hole into another room. Inside the hole the man yelped in shock.
The small ceiling above him begun to cave in, sending rocks showering over him.
He tried to crawl forward but he wasn't small enough to leave the way Ed had so he tried backing away, shocked to find that the way he came in was sealed off.
The other alchemist yelled loudly as he was buried to the point of no escape.
After a moment of nothing happening Ed collapsed to his knees on the floor, arms slack like a great burden just fell from his shoulders. He spit at the ground and exhaled deeply, a great smile grew on his face, adding to the growing glow in his eyes.
His plan had worked.
Earlier while Ed was still inside the hole he became curious as to the whereabouts of the wall behind him and discovered another hall just around an area that he had came from earlier. Using this new knowledge to his advantage, Ed devised a plan to make it seem like he was trapped when all the while above him there was a jumble of rocks made unsteady by the wonders of alchemy only to be triggered into action by the touch of a symbol Ed had carved into the wall after going back in the hole and resealing the other exit.
All it took was a little bait and it worked like a charm.
Laughing in relief he wiped his mouth and brushed away stray tears of relief from his eyes. He was a better actor than he thought. He wondered briefly if he should go into acting and theater after getting his brother's body back.
Ending his victory celebration he got up from the floor, inspecting the damage made to the clasp on his shirt. Seeing the torn fabric and missing fastener he sighed, a little peeved that he lost his favorite jacket in the process. Scoffing he decided it didn't matter right now.
Turning on his heels he walked away from the clever trap and set off to find the exit.
He still had a long way to go before he could properly celebrate being free of trouble.
T.B.C.