Disclaimer: We don't own any of the anime, characters, songs, etc. They all belong to their respective owners. Again, Guardian and I only own our original characters and the plot.

Guardian: We hope that you enjoy this next chapter everyone. ^^

Chapter Twelve

Surprise Attack

A bright blood-red light shot out from the gun and struck Sakura. "NO!" Syaoran screamed, but he was cut off by the sound of Envy's screams as he released Sakura. The Homunculus clenched his chest as he seized in pain on the floor, writhing as a bright red light emanated from it. He screamed repeatedly, his body twisting and contorting abnormally as red flashes like lightning escaped from his body and soon he shrunk to his normal green lizard form. Fallin stood over him with a huge smirk, looking down at him with triumphant eyes.

"You, Envy the Jealous, did you honestly think I'd be any old Ranger with any ol' gun? Well, I'm not. This here's the Bloody Rose and her bullets only seek out Philosopher's Stones. Dr. Marcoh made it for me while I was back in Amestris, and Ed gave me this just to keep handy," she said proudly as she produced a small glass jar. She grasped the Homunculus, being careful of his little teeth as he tried to bite her hand, and dropped him into the jar before punching a couple small holes in the lid. "There, that should keep ya quiet for a while. Now, where's the feather, Homunculus?" she yelled, shaking the jar vigorouously, making the small Homunculus fly this way and that around its container.

Envy coughed and shot the Ice Alchemist a cold look, baring his pointy teeth in a snarl. "Ohh, you're soooo scary," Fallin mocked the lizard as she shook the jar even harder than before. "DAMMIT, ENVY, TELL ME WHERE THE FEATHER IS!" she screamed at it. The lizard curled into a ball, holding its head and whimpering. "Alright, alright! I'll tell you! I'll tell you!" it screamed. Fallin stopped shaking the jar and looked Envy in the eyes.

"It's with Pride. Pride's in the library now as we speak. We figured that's where you'd evacuate everyon-" it explained, but let out a scream of pain when Fallin dropped the jar. "Everyone! To the libraries, now!" she yelled as she whipped out the Bloody Rose and was halfway out of the door before a sudden burst of light from her pendant stopped them.

"Fallin! Don't!" Ed screamed at her through the transmission. "Pride needs shadows in order to attack. Have Sakura and another person find some way to shut off the lights in the library then attack him. You guys didn't move all of them to the library for real, did you?" Fallin shot him a look. "Of course not, Ed! We're way smarter than that. Everyone and the hosts are in the main salon!" Fallin snapped, clearly irritated with the time Ed was wasting. "Let's go, everyone," she said, checking the entryway for any pridely shadows.

"Let's see... the lights are..." Fallin racked her brain. "Aha! Kyoya mentioned to me that they are right over... There!" she exclaimed as she pointed to a small gray panel on the far wall. She ran toward it using the light from her necklace and found the button marked LIBRARIES. She punched the buttons with ferocity and soon the whole eastern wing was in complete darkness, save for the light emanating from everyone's pendants.

Fallin ran to Guardian and the look in her eyes spoke volumes of anger because of what Envy had done to her friend. She felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up to see the magician's blue eyes staring at her with sadness and anger as well. His look told her all she needed to know: he would protect Guardian and that she was in good hands. Fallin rose slowly with a nod and walked to the door, taking careful steps and pausing at the door handle before pulling it open slowly and keeping behind the door.

Nothing came at her and she peered into the blackness of the hallway. The group assembled behind her and their collective light from their pendants plus Ed's transmission shone to illuminate the hallway. Before Fallin could call out a warning, black shadows dotted the hallway and red eyes stared back at them. "Now," a voice whispered from the shadows, "I've got you cornered."

Fallin gritted her teeth and pointed her gun at the direction of the voice and the others dropped the light from their pendants, but a scream of pain erupted from Fallin before she could end the transmission from Ed. "Fallin!" Ed screamed, but the transmission ended abruptly as Fallin clutched her left shoulder, her pretty blue dress soaking with blood. Gritting her teeth, she instead clasped the shadow and blasted it with the Bloody Rose, but it was too slow in comparison to the shadow's speed. Fallin screamed again when the shadow left her shoulder, fainting from the pain.

"FALLIN!" Yami screamed before she rushed to her friend's side. The Ranger held her friend close and placed a hand on her wound to slow the bleeding, not caring if her own clothes were being soaked in Fallin's blood as well. Tamaki ran to the two Rangers and picked Fallin up in his arms before rushing her to where Fai, Guardian, Haruhi, and Sakura were, away from Pride. Kurogane, Syaoran, and Bekah-chan stepped up to the plate as Tamaki took Fallin away from the battle, ready for when Pride would attack them again.

The Host King gently put Fallin on the ground and untied the cravat around his neck before using it to bind her wound. The others were amazed at how calm Tamaki was as he helped Fallin, but there was obviously more to Tamaki than what they could see on the surface. Once the wound was wrapped, Tamaki tied the two ends of the cravat together, relieved that the bleeding had stopped. Yami looked up at Tamaki and said, "Thank you, Tamaki."

"You're welcome, Yami. It's the least I could do," Tamaki replied before turning back to the others. Kurogane had his katana in hand and could feel Pride moving around in the darkness, but the Homunculus hadn't attacked yet. What was he waiting for? Then Kurogane heard a child's chuckle in the darkness, but it was cold and mirthless. He grit his teeth and called out into the darkness, "Show yourself! I know you're in here, Homunculus. I can sense your presence even in the dark."

The mirthless chuckle reverberated through the library again and a young boy's voice said, "So you can sense me, too, can you? How interesting. Maybe I should make myself known since I have something very precious to that little alchemist in your arms, Magician."

The shadows seemed to gather themselves together into one entity and numerous violet eyes stared at the group. They seemed to smile at them, but the gazes were mirthless and maniacal. But it wasn't the shadows themselves that made their eyes widen...it was what the shadows were coming from. It was a little boy no older than maybe ten years of age, but the look in his eyes told them that he wasn't some naive little boy.

Bekah-chan looked taken aback and whispered, "Selim Bradley? You're Pride?"

Pride smiled a smile that sent shivers down Bekah-chan's spine and said, "Guilty as charged, Alchemist. I am the Homunculus Pride. Now...about what I had mentioned earlier..." Pride held out his hand and the shadows dropped Envy's jar and the Garner Stone with Guardian's light into his open palm. The Homunculus smirked when they realized what he had in possession. Fai's blue eyes hardened and his teeth were bared in a snarl.

"Give that back, Homunculus," the wizard growled at him, but Pride just smiled. "I'm not about to give this back, Magician. Father needs that little alchemist's light for our plans. But if you want it so badly...come and take it from me."

Kurogane smirked and grasped his katana tighter. "Fine by me. I've been looking for a good fight lately. Now...let's get this over with, Homunculus!" The warrior launched himself at Pride with a yell, but the Homunculus just smirked and threw Kurogane back into a shelf of books. Syaoran also attacked Pride with Bekah-chan amplifying his attack with her own water attack, but the little Homunculus threw them back as well. Then Pride lashed out the shadows towards the others.

Tamaki shielded the Haruhi and Yami with his own body and waited for when the shadows would pierce him...but they never did. They retreated back to Pride with a shriek, growling at something. Tamaki opened his eyes and looked up, his indigo eyes wide. Fai had one arm wrapped around Guardian, holding her small form close to himself, and the other was extended towards Pride, his index and middle fingers sparking lightly with magic.

Fai lowered his arm and looked at Tamaki. "Tamaki, can you take care of Guardian for me and watch over the others?"

Tamaki nodded. "I can, but what are you going to do?" Fai placed Guardian into Tamaki's waiting arms and said, "I'm the only one who can keep up with Pride's attacks now. Plus I need to get Guardian's light back or else she'll die. I can't let that happen to her...not after everything she's done for me and everyone else."

Tamaki nodded. "Good luck, Fai, and be careful." The magician nodded and stood up to face Pride. The Homunculus smirked. "So this is your last line of defense? A worthless magician with his head in the clouds!" Pride laughed, but the laugh suddenly turned into screaming as another wave of magic attacked him.

The Homunculus glared at Fai, baring his teeth, but Fai just looked at him with anger burning in his eyes. "You know nothing about me, Homunculus, so don't make assumptions. I will take back Guardian's light and send you back to Amestris with your tail in between your legs along with that thing in the jar you're holding."

Guardian: We hope that you enjoyed this chapter and don't be afraid to review. We love hearing from you guys. ^^

Fallin: And tune in for the next chapter. :)