Hello! Thank you all for the wonderful support.

On another note, the ending of chapter 15 has been edited. Please, Please, PLEASE read that before continuing or you're bound to be a little (or very) confused. This humble authoress bows in gratitude for your patience and understanding. Thanks!

This was absolutely humiliating.

Al was generally pretty good natured and could put up with anything, but being given a piggy-back ride by one of Naruto's clones because he couldn't run fast enough for the ninjas was totally and utterly humiliating. There was no other word for it.

Although, Al had to admit, he'd rather Naruto carry him than Kakashi. No matter how skilled they said he was, with only one eye, Al didn't trust Kakashi's depth perception. At speeds like this, traveling through the tree branches, one misstep would lead to a painful plummet. Al would take his chances with the solid Naruto clone that shouldn't exist. It still creeped him out, but at least it could run straight.

He could feel the fabric under his hand – a rough cotton and wool mixture. He could see the weave of the fabric and the slight differentiation in color from the dyeing process. For all intents and purposes, he seemed real. The "clone" even moved and talked. It even had the same personality as Naruto; annoying habits and all. It wasn't possible unless things worked differently here than in Amestris. Perhaps there was something else they used instead of a philosopher's stone? A different type of energy? It was worth looking into.

For now, though, he was just concentrating on holding on. He wasn't even the one running and yet his arms and legs were starting to cramp. How pathetic. He would've run if they'd asked him to, but apparently time was of the essence. The Kazekage, the sleep deprived red-head Al had seen only a few days ago, had been captured and in attempted pursuit, his older brother had been poisoned. They needed a medic as fast as possible, and Sakura was the best option.

It was obviously annoying Naruto that he couldn't just head off after Gaara right now, but he understood that if they didn't travel to Suna first, Gaara's brother, Kankuro, would die. Naruto's heart was in the right place. That probably made it even worse. Choosing between a good and a bad option is easy. Choosing between two lives isn't.

The team was making good progress toward Suna; the trees were passing at a much more rapid pace than previously. The bandits hadn't been located too far from Suna anyway – a pretty gutsy thing in Al's opinion – and at the pace they were traveling, Al estimated they would arrive in about a day. Give or take.

Al's estimate was more of a haphazard guess. He hated to admit, but honestly he had no idea where they were.

"Hey, Naruto?"

"Yeah? What's up, Al?"

Aarg. That's so creepy. The Naruto Al had assumed to be the clone had just responded in the exact same way Naruto would. The other one hadn't even noticed. So, which one was real? Were they both Naruto, or were they different beings with the same memories? If Al had known this Jutsu thing when he was still a suit of armor, would he have been able to replicate the armor and would his soul have been split and bound to two different items, or would he have duplicated his actual body? It was only stuck beyond the gate, after-all.

This entire situation was messing with everything Al knew about the way the world worked and equivalent exchange.

"Al?" Naruto sounded perplexed at the lack of a response. He couldn't see Al's face after all. Al was glad of that. He didn't want Naruto thinking Al was disgusted by him or anything. He was just freaked out in general.

"Oh, sorry. I was just wondering how far away Suna is from here." That's the last time I'm getting distracted. From now on, I'll think about things logically and calmly. They're already suspicious enough.

"Not too much longer."

"…"

"…"

Still no elaboration.

Al gave up. There was no use asking for a more specific answer. Ever since that note had arrived, Naruto had completely changed. If there was one thing Al knew about the blond ninja, it was how fiercely loyal he could be when it concerned his friends. Just by the way Naruto talked about the red-haired village leader, Al could tell they were close. They almost seemed like brothers in a strange sense. Just the way they played off of each other's emotions reminded Al of him and Ed.

If anything were to happen to Edward…

Al perfectly understood the struggle Naruto was going through. There was nothing worse than worrying about a close friend or sibling. Al looked once again at the rest of the group to gauge their thoughts. It wasn't like there was much else to do.

Sakura's expression was determined with only a slight tinge of concern. She was the medic that was being called upon and likely her mind was focused on the upcoming task. Al could imagine her running through every lesson to make sure she knew what she was doing. She staved off more far-reaching concern in favor of the most pressing conflict.

Hinata wasn't hiding her concern as well. Without a pressing job to perform, she didn't have the mental distraction and probably couldn't help dwelling on what had happened. Al knew his own mind had been concocting fantasy ideas about whom/what could possibly kidnap someone so powerful to lead an entire village. What made it even more discerning was the fact that apparently, according to Naruto, in order to lead a village you had to be the strongest. How would they possibly defeat opponents that had that sort of power?

Kakashi's face was unreadable as always.

With nothing else to distract him, Al began counting the passing trees, grew dizzy, and quickly decided to stop that particular exercise. It had not been a smart idea. What would be more embarrassing than being a piggy-back ride would be to fall because you zoned out. It would also be more painful.

Al struggled to find a way to keep entertained that wouldn't involve either mesmerizing himself or unneeded mental stress. There was no use debating the validity of equivalent exchange when he didn't have a way to test it. Although…

If I could perform a jutsu, just one, I'd be able to understand. He'd been unable to learn Alkahestry when May had tried to teach him, but that didn't mean he wouldn't be able to figure this out. He hadn't had very long to practice, after all. Now, if he could only remember what they told him to do. It had seemed simple enough in practice. Besides the 12 hand signals, there weren't even any runes to memorize. It was simply manipulating energy.

The concentrating on energy flow did the trick. It minimalized the nagging sensation of muscle pains and limbs falling asleep while preventing his mind from dwelling on situations that would only lead to fruitless pondering. In a way, it was similar to some of Izumi's lessons about alchemy and hand-to-hand combat. This would just be a way of harnessing that energy in a different format. Hopefully.

Time sped past.

A day and a half later, Al finally had his answer about the journey's length. Before the approaching team, the giant plateau that "concealed" the Village Hidden in the Sand jutted from the earth. The sharp black shadow it cast served as a warning to potential visitors. Apparently, it hadn't been imposing enough.

As they passed through the slitted entrance, Al's eyes caught on dark splotches intermixed with the sand. It was if the sand had been stained. Air suddenly became hard to find. If those were what he thought they were…

And then they were past. The ninja seemed not to have noticed, but the image remained in Al's mind in focused clarity. Air had returned, but it took more energy than usual to hold on. The force of gravity tugged on his chest and pulled the rest of his body along for the ride. At least now he knew for sure the type of enemy they'd be dealing with.

The type that had no respect for human life.

Just because he'd dealt with their kind before didn't mean he relished the idea of doing it again. In fact, Al's gut instinct told him to run the other way. This would be just another war he didn't need to be involved in – yet more grief and guilt and struggle. But since when do Elrics listen to their instincts?

Alphonse was never one to run away. He never would, and – other than running from Ed when he was in one of his frenzies – he never had. It didn't matter where they were or even that this was a completely different world. The effects were still the same. People were still people. The splotches intermixed with old newspaper clippings, stories, faces. One memory in particular: a small pigtailed face beaming from a photograph. A proud father.

He wouldn't let that happen again. Not if there were anything he could do about it.

Al barely noticed the guards waving them through, and soon they were outside a complex that Al assumed to be the hospital. A passing medic pointed them to the right room. At this point, Al was finally allowed to walk for himself. After so long being carried, the ground felt strange underfoot. He kept expecting it to move forward of its own violation. When it didn't, he almost lost his balance. His feet had also fallen asleep. Al had no idea why they called it falling asleep. When you fall asleep, you're usually comfortable. This was definitely not. Also, his foot wasn't tingling. It was being stuck with needles.

Al hobbled in after the rest of the ninja. Hinata hung back to walk with him, but Naruto blazed ahead followed almost as swiftly by Sakura. For once, Kakashi wasn't the last one in.

There was a loud clatter from inside, and Al and Hinata entered just in time to see Naruto clones fending off an old lady. Al tensed for a moment, and then relaxed as she backed away. Apparently, she had mistaken Kakashi for someone else. Al would not have wanted to be that person.

Once the commotion had died down, Sakura moved to inspect the boy lying on the bed. Al assumed it must Kankuro, as he was the only one in the room that seemed injured. He didn't look much older than Naruto or Al himself, albeit a little stockier.

She rolled up her sleeves and began barking orders. She wasn't mean; simply quick and efficient. With someone's life on the line, time was of the essence. There was no doubt in Al's mind that Sakura knew exactly what she was doing.

He moved as close as possible without getting in the way in order to watch Sakura's technique. Healing had always been a technique that interested Al. If he'd had more time to study it, perhaps Ed wouldn't have had to spend so much time in the hospital. He supposed, with all his experience in human alchemy, it wouldn't be too much of a step to learn healing as well. There had simply never been the time. When they weren't on the road, they'd been researching the Philosopher's Stone or attempting to fight back against the homunculi.

Of course, Al had had the nights. While Ed slept, he stayed awake and studied. There wasn't much else to do. This meant he had a considerable background of knowledge, but despite that fact, Al had never seen anything like what Sakura was doing.

Instead of using an array, it appeared she was using pure energy to heal. Al could see it extending from her hands and into her patient's body. She was attempting to remove the poison that was slowly killing him. Her face was furrowed in concentration as Al assumed she searched the bloodstream for any foreign contaminants and sucked it out. Much like the treatment for a snakebite except the blood remained in the body.

Beneath her hands, a small pool of the deadly liquid was growing hanging suspended in her pure energy. Chakra Al reminded himself. In order to do the same thing with alchemy, the runes and circle would have to be incredibly complex. Al ran through a few ideas in his head, but quickly gave up. He wasn't a doctor.

Sakura remained that way for perhaps twenty minutes. Her hands remained over the cut that she was drawing the poison from, but beside the sweat accumulating on her forehead, nothing changed. The ominous, floating pool of liquid accumulating beneath her hands just grew slowly larger.

Finally, her shoulders slumped, posture relaxed, and she sighed in relief. She motioned one of the nearby aids forward, and carefully deposited the poison into a container. Only then did she release the glowing ball of energy.

"I managed to remove most of the poison. He should be stable now. The trace amounts remaining won't immediately affect him, but I'll need to prepare an antidote." Sakura looked at the Sand ninjas scattered around the room. "Where can I go to do that?"

The old woman who had previously tried to attack Kakashi cackled and guided Sakura from the room muttering something about a greenhouse. She seemed much friendlier now that she wasn't attacking anyone. She also seemed to be the most experienced medic. Al would've dearly loved to watch, but he knew this time he'd get in the way. There was no doubt about that. It would be a hassle for Sakura to explain exactly what she was doing. Perhaps Al would ask her about practicing medicine at a later time. Whenever this situation was taken care of.

Al walked to stand next to the figure on the bed. His face was less pained then when they'd first entered, but the shadows beneath his eyes were drawn with charcoal and his complexion was pale. The rest of the ninjas were standing in a circle talking in low voices. Even Naruto was being quieter out of respect for being in a hospital. That, or there was really nothing to say. Like any hospital, the room was sparsely furnished, but this was the epitome of minimalist furnishing. The ninjas were standing because they had to.

What Al wouldn't give for a chair.

For now, he just had to stand and await the next occurrence. Either Sakura would return, or her patient would awake. Either way, the waiting game had begun.