"So, are we going to get to walk away?" Edward asked, but never got an answer because Envy appeared in the window.
"The damn brats turned on us," Envy growled, meaning Gilbert and the Nordics. "They didn't waste a moment, either."
Wrath nodded. "It's too late, anyway." He was fingering the button looking Edward full in the face. Edward stared back, not going to be the one to break his gaze.
"So what do we do?" Envy asked.
"Dispose of them," Wrath replied, sweeping out of the room without a backwards glance.
xxx
"Come on, let's get out of here," Ludwig said. He grabbed Feliciano's hand and, making sure Lovino was following them, started to run for the exit.
Feliciano wasn't sure what was happening anymore. "Where are Ed and Al?"
"They were going to try and compromise with the enemy," Ludwig replied, but suddenly fell as he felt his consciousness slipping.
"Holy Rome!" Feliciano called. "Oh, the wound's really bad."
"Don't you know not to get a wound wet?" Lovino growled, starting to throw tomatoes at the approaching Gilbert.
Ludwig looked Feliciano square in the face and said, "Antonio and…Roderich should be waiting…outside…they'll take you back to…Edward and Alphonse…" It was getting hard to talk, now that his adrenaline rush had gone.
"No! You can't die!" Feliciano cried. "We're supposed to live until we're centuries old and talk about everything that's happened. We're supposed to watch the world evolve. You can't die now!"
Ludwig took Feliciano's hand and smiled at her. "I won't die here, I can promise you that." He closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths, but was stopped from continuing because of a rush of clothing and the 'clang' as something hit someone's head.
Feliciano, Lovino, and Ludwig all looked and found Elizabeta standing there, frying pan in hand, stopping Gilbert from reaching them. "Go, now!" she called to them.
Feliciano and Lovino, much to the latter's disapproving look, grabbed Holy Rome's arms and held him between them, making for the exit again. Behind them, they could hear Elizabeta beating the shit out of Gilbert.
"What happened?" Roderich asked as he took Ludwig into his grasp.
Feliciano said, "He was hit wi-with one of Gilbert's arrows w-when he was tr-trying to save me." It was easy to tell that Feliciano was crying by the shaking in his voice and the tears that started to run down his face.
Roderich nodded. "Come on," he said. He turned and started to climb one-handed up the ladder and into the daylight, Lovino and Feliciano following.
"Lovi!" Antonio said when they were all in the open. "Didn't Edward tell you to stay with his friend?"
"I couldn't leave those bastards to find Feliciano themselves!" Lovino defended himself.
"It's," Ludwig gasped. "It's all right. If-If he hadn't sh-shown, we wo-wouldn't have been a-able to save Fel-Feliciano." Ludwig was breathing heavily and was gasping for breath when he was finished.
"Ludwig!" Feliciano cried.
Roderich said, "Don't worry. He's going to be fine."
"Fine? We're in the middle of nowhere!" Lovino shouted.
Roderich sighed. "Watch." He laid Ludwig down and turned to Antonio. "Rip one of the sleeves off your shirt."
"What?"
"Just do it."
Antonio did so, staring at Roderich like he was crazy. Roderich was given the cloth, who promptly started to rip it up into strips.
"Hey!" Antonio protested.
"He needs it more than you," Roderich stated. He took one of the strips and tied it tight above Ludwig's leg wound, and then proceeded to use the rest to bind the actual wound. "This is crude, it won't last for long," he explained. He picked Ludwig back up and started walking. Feliciano, Lovino, and Antonio quickly fell into step behind him.
"Will he be all right?" Feliciano asked.
"If we can get back to Central fast enough," Roderich replied. Then he smiled down at the little Italian and finished, "But we are. Don't worry."
Feliciano nodded, looking in the direction they were walking. They didn't appear to be anywhere near Central, though.
Feliciano felt himself get scooped up, and he cried out. Roderich turned but sighed when he saw who it was. "Well met, Alphonse."
Feliciano was laughing now as he hugged Alphonse. "You found us!"
"Of course we did," Edward replied, walking out from behind Alphonse. His self-satisfied smirk disappeared when he saw Ludwig, though. "What happened?" he asked.
"Gilbert Beilschmidt," Antonio said. "Apparently he caught Ludwig in the leg while trying to rescue Feliciano."
Edward nodded. "So why's Lovino here?"
Lovino, who was promptly trying to hide behind Antonio's legs, scowled and said, "I couldn't expect you bastards to be any help in saving Feliciano! And I was right, if I hadn't been there, potato bastard would've died and Gilbert would've taken Feliciano!"
"Wait, but, I thought-" Edward stumbled. He was caught by the fact that Lovino said Feliciano would've been caught. Not that he would've died.
"You thought that if Feliciano drowned, he would've died," Antonio guessed. Edward nodded. "Ludwig said we weren't human, didn't he? We can't die by things like drowning. We can't even be killed by being hanged. Being shot to death, though, that's different." Antonio glanced at Ludwig in concern at this point.
Edward shook his head. "Ok, Feliciano wouldn't have died. That would've been nice to know, but right now we've got another thing to worry about."
"What?" Feliciano asked.
"The Homunculi are pissed and are on our asses," Edward stated bluntly.
Roderich nodded. "And once Francis hears Gilbert didn't succeed in grabbing Feliciano, that's going to lead to more problems."
"So here's what we're going to do," Edward said. He pulled out his silver watch and gave it to Antonio. "You and Roderich will take Ludwig to the hospital, get his leg healed. Alphonse, you take Feliciano and Lovino and return to Dublith. Teacher should be able to help protect them."
"What about you?" Antonio asked, examining the watch.
"Give me your other sleeve," Edward said. Antonio looked ready to protest, but ripped the sleeve off and gave it to Edward. Edward placed it in the sand and sat there doing nothing but examining it for a few minutes, before finally clapping his hands together and placing them on the cloth. Blue lightning erupted from the spot and sitting in front of him were little dummies that looked like replicas of Feliciano and Lovino. "I'm taking these and going back to Resembool," Edward stated. "Then I can explain the situation to Winry."
"But what if someone sees the real us and tips wine bastard off?" Lovino asked.
"No one will," Edward replied, looking at Alphonse.
"Ah, um…" Alphonse seemed very hesitant.
"Problem?" Edward asked.
In answer, there was mewing.
"Huh?" Feliciano asked. He pulled Alphonse's helmet off and revealed the head of a cat. "Aaaaa!" Feliciano nearly fell of Alphonse's armor, Lovino stared with more tomatoes at the ready, and Edward was glaring at Alphonse, at the same time wondering where Lovino got his tomatoes from.
"What have I said about cats?" Edward asked.
Alphonse replied, "But he was so lonely!"
"Are we missing something?" Roderich asked.
"Explanation later," Edward sighed. "Long story short is that Alphonse doesn't have a body. Lovino and Feliciano are going to hide inside his armor until he gets to Teacher's house. Once they're inside, until we can determine they're safe, they can't leave. I'll contact Alphonse about moving them once I get back to Resembool."
Roderich nodded. "What about Ludwig? What do you want us to do with him when he's healed?"
"And what's the watch for?" Antonio asked.
"Do what you guys want, and tell the people at the hospital I'm paying for you. Give them the watch as proof," Edward explained, picking up the Italian Brother dummies.
Feliciano looked inside Alphonse's armor again. "Is everything really going to be ok?" he asked.
Edward nodded. "Don't worry, it is. Oh, but don't touch the marking on the back of the neck."
"I see," Feliciano replied, and jumped inside, making sure to avoid the blood seal.
Alphonse helped Lovino up and in also, before putting his head back on.
"While you guys are inside, try to avoid making any noise," Alphonse told them.
"Ok!" Feliciano replied from inside the armor.
With that, the group set off towards Central again.
/AN
I hope that cleared up the whole 'death by drowning' thing. Couldn't find a way to add this into the explanation, but the reason the Homunculi tried it in the first place was that they simply didn't know. Gilbert and the Nordics wouldn't divulge that information easily, so they were considered to be humans.
R&R Please!
AN/