Chapter 22: the Fight to Fulfil a Promise

Roy's fury was unparalleled. Watching helplessly as one of his subordinates was fatally attacked was one thing he had vowed never to allow, and here it happened right before his eyes. His fingers were snapping so fast, they were almost a blur as Pain fled.

She deftly avoided the explosions by sending her shadow at him, forcing him to defend himself and stop his assault on her.

His attacks provided Riza, Ed and Al with a distraction as they rushed to Havoc's side.

"Is he…?" Ed asked worriedly as he knelt awkwardly with the stiff automail.

Riza sighed in relief as she checked Havoc's unconscious form carefully. "He's alive, but barely. Please hurry and transmute something so we can help him."

"General!" Ed shouted as Roy had begun slowly making his way towards them while keeping Pain and her shadow at bay.

"What is it?" He asked as Al took over defending them.

"Can you seal the wounds to stop the bleeding?" Ed asked as he tore the arm from his shirt to use as material for wrappings. His automail arm glistened as Roy began meticulously sealing Havoc's wounds.

"I'm done." He said as both the entrance and exit wounds were sealed.

"All right… Al, can you help Riza with him?"

Al nodded as he and Ed switched places. Al had studied medicine casually during their year in Germany, so Ed knew Al could do a better job than he could.

"Are you ready, Fullmetal?" Roy asked grimly.

"Whenever you are…" He said with a tone just as grim as Roy's. "We swore we'd make it out of here alive, and I'll be damned if one of us breaks that promise…" He growled.

Roy nodded in understanding. "Protect Havoc." Roy snapped suddenly.

Riza and Al had no time to stop them as they charged towards Pain, who stood waiting for them with a cold smile on her face.

Riza cursed. "Alphonse, with your broken leg, you're better off staying here and protecting Captain Havoc." She said apologetically.

"That's fine. Go and back them up. With Sloth's ability at her disposal, General Mustang is in serious trouble." Al said calmly.

Riza nodded in gratitude before charging after Roy and Ed.

Pain couldn't help but chuckle at the foolish humans racing to join their friend in death. However, she cursed as she noticed Riza's raised gun as she ran behind the two men.

The woman was an excellent marksman and Pain knew better than to let her get off a shot, especially as she felt her regeneration abilities slowing to dangerously low speeds. Her shadow vanished from beneath her as she assaulted Ed and Roy with watery tendrils that had been her arms to prevent them from getting closer.

The shadow's sudden appearance beside Riza gave her no time to react as it threw her roughly amongst the ruins of a building.

The yell she managed to sound distracted Ed and Roy long enough for the watery tendrils to grab them. The ones that attacked Roy wrapped around his hands so he was unable to use his alchemy before throwing him. The force of the throw caused him to roll repeatedly across the ground.

When he was finally able to stop himself, his left arm hung uselessly at his side. It had broken upon landing. He cursed as he wiped blood from his face before throwing away his useless gloves. Something was seriously wrong with his leg, but since it could still function, he dismissed it for the time being. The pain searing from his broken arm far outweighed the pain coming from his leg.

The tendrils that attacked Ed bound his arms firmly to his side and began to squeeze with the intention to crush his body.

He let out a gasp as he found it harder to breathe while a muffled crunching noise announced that something inside of him was breaking.

Suddenly, the water splashed to the ground and freed him.

While catching his breath, he saw Pain lying on the ground with another life spent. He glanced over to where Riza stood, clutching her side with a smoking gun aimed at where Pain had stood.

Though now completely exhausted, they regrouped quickly with Al near Havoc's body.

"We need to end this soon…" Roy growled as Riza put a fresh glove on his good hand, his broken arm in a makeshift sling made by Al.

Ed nodded as he watched Pain's still downed form warily. "I think her regeneration is slowing… we may have a chance soon. I just need to exhaust her a bit more." The looks the others gave him made him smile in saddened gratitude. "Don't worry, I promised I wouldn't die this time, didn't I?"

They nodded reluctantly.

"All right…" He looked at Pain as she began to rise again, only to be forced back down by a long ranged explosion by a quick reacting Roy. "How fast can you attack one-handed?" Ed asked of Roy who glanced at him in surprise before smirking in understanding.

"I can strike as fast and as long as you need me to, Fullmetal."

Ed nodded as he glanced at Riza. "How's your ammunition and how fast can you reload if you need to, Captain Hawkeye?"

Riza dropped the clip that was in her gun and loaded a full one in. "Perfectly fine and reloading will be no problem." She said calmly.

"Great… Al… no offence, but with your leg, you're-"

"I know. I'm better off staying back here." Al said in cold amusement.

"Sorry about this."

"It's fine. Just tell us what you want us to do."

Ed nodded. "We'll have to move very fast-"

He was cut off as Roy snapped his fingers again, forcing Pain back down as she began to move.

"Al and Roy will stay here and protect Havoc while keeping her shadow at bay as best they can. Riza will provide me with cover and keep killing her to prevent her from attacking. I'll go in and sever that bitch's head from her shoulders, hopefully ending this once and for all. Once I've done that, unload the last of your ammunition into her body. And torch the remains." He said, glancing at Riza and Roy as he said the last of the instructions.

"Al, once we're in the final stages of finishing her off… please start making a stretcher so we can take Captain Havoc to the surface."

Al nodded in understanding. Even though he wanted to help finish the foul creature off, he knew his job was just as important as theirs.

"All right… let's go…" Ed said grimly as he transmuted another staff, the other one long lost in the chaos of battle.

Everyone nodded as they prepared for their parts in the plan to finally destroy Dante's dark ambitions once and for all…

Ed limped quickly towards Pain, who had begun to stand shakily after that last attack by Roy.

Riza walked quickly by his side, aiming for her chest as Pain glared challengingly at them.

The shadow lunged at them, only to be met with a series of explosions and spikes.

The shadow then decided that Roy and Al were much better targets and began snaking its way towards them.

Pain's arms began to liquefy, but quickly solidified as Riza began shooting at her. However, unlike before, the shadow continued its futile attempt to get to Roy and Al.

Several bullets struck her in the chest and head, causing her to stagger as she tried to speed up her regenerating abilities.

She noticed Ed as he came within range of her nails, grimacing as the bullets prevented her from doing anything but regenerate.

Riza's hail of bullets stopped as she quickly tried to reload her gun.

Pain took the opportunity to finish regenerating and elongate her nails, slashing at Ed.

Ed had felt the poor repair to his leg begin to give way when he knelt to check on Havoc, and now used that to his advantage as he dropped the staff quickly and rested all of his weight on the leg. The leg completely collapsed under the strain and Ed used the momentum from the fall to roll under her nails as Riza took up firing again.

As Pain was distracted by the bullets, Ed transmuted his automail.

Riza relented to give Ed an opening, which he took before Pain could react.

With one quick slash of his arm blade, Ed did exactly what he said he would do as Riza ran up and began firing into the body to prevent it from getting up.

Suddenly, flames burst from the body as Roy got within a reasonable range to accurately control his alchemy without risking those close to his target. Roy stopped beside Ed as the two looked down at the burning body with dark looks.

Riza watched the two cautiously. She was deeply worried for their mindsets as they watched Pain burn. "Sir? We should help Alphonse carry Captain Havoc back to the surface. If he doesn't get medical attention soon, he will die." She said quietly.

Roy nodded as he snapped his fingers again.

The fire burnt higher and hotter, forcing everyone to stand back as the flames completely consumed Pain's body. "Come on…" He finally said, turning and limping back to where Al and Havoc were. Whatever had happened to his leg was steadily worsening. He feared by the time they arrived back on the surface that he would have a hard time using that leg.

Ed picked up his staff again and transmuted it to what remained of his leg, creating a new leg that was in the same condition as the one that had just been destroyed. "We'd better hurry, this patch job won't hold out very long…" He said, limping back with Riza.

Ed shifted his end of the stretcher carefully as Roy walked just as carefully up the stairs with his end.

Riza had tried to lift it, but whatever she had injured in her side refused to allow her to help carry her comrade.

"How are we going to explain these injuries and our sudden return to Central?" Al asked worriedly as he and Riza walked behind them, ready to catch one of them should they stumble.

"We'll tell the truth and apologise for lying to them." Roy said simply. "Considering we have just gotten rid of a threat that could have been as big as Bradley if left unchecked, they'll understand."

"You'll probably get demoted if that Director Giles hates you as much as you claim." Ed said, trying to be sly but failing as the pain from the wounds he sustained finally decided to reveal itself.

"Director Johnson seems to have taken a liking to me. I'll be safe so long as I go straight to him. We need to deal with the more immediate matters first."

Everyone nodded in understanding as they tried to pick up the pace to the best of their abilities.

Once they reached the surface, Al quickly replaced the stone tile to hide where they came from as they moved much faster on a flat surface.

"The hospital isn't too far from here, let's move." Roy snapped as they limped out onto the street, hoping to make it to the hospital before the improvised healing they did to Havoc became infected or worse…