A/N- Thanks to all who reviewed and sorry to all I didn't manage to reply to. Also sorry for taking so long but this chapter was all confusing in my head and I wanted it to make sense. It probably is still confusing, and if you find it so please tell me so I can explain it. Anyway here is the new chapter!

Chapter Five

Falling is a funny feeling. Like flying, but with obvious differences. It was like simply relaxing, leaning back, or lying on a feather soft bed. It was so tempting just to give up and lie back into its cradling embrace. Most normal people would. They would just lie back and let fate take its natural path. But Edward Elric had never claimed to be a normal person.

That's why he fought with all his strength, arms pinwheeling, head snapping back, desperately searching for a way out of it. He had to get out of it, even if it were just for Al. He had to find something to stop this. All this happened in a matter of split-seconds, Ed's mind was going into overdrive. His memories seemed to decide to take over though, and he could do little to resist it. Most of them were pointless, just him walking down the street of this god-forsaken place! Wait! There was his chance! His arm reached out in front of him, reacting mainly on instinct. Flesh connected violently with stone and pain flared on his palm and up his arm, with a bone shattering jolt and Edward clung onto the side of the ornate balcony he had remembered seeing earlier.

Cartwright didn't even bother looking over the edge of the church. He just stood there, waiting to here the sickly thud of a small body hitting the pavement. Alec crossed his arms smugly, a satisfied grin plastered on his face. He would probably have to leave the town right afterwards, as the military would launch an investigation into this no doubt. He was so wrapped up in his own thoughts he hadn't yet realised there had been no sickly thud indicating that the boy was dead.

Ed would have laughed in relief if he hadn't been bewildered by the fact that he had come so close to death. Also because of the fact that Cartwright was still standing about 5 metres above his head, and might decide to look over the side of the church at any moment. He had to do something about it. Edward started to swing himself back and forth, an act that made him grunt in effort. This was so hard to do with only one arm. He swung even harder and , due to his strenuous effort managed to hook his left leg over the side of the balcony. He smiled to himself at the thought of someone seeing him like this. But then his mood turned darker at the thought of trying to fight this man with only one arm, and no immediate alchemy. He straddled the balcony, an extremely dangerous position if you take into account the fact that he was severely imbalanced right now. Ed did.

Unfortunately for Ed, Cartwright was not as wrapped up in his thoughts as he had been. He stood there, trying to remember if he had heard the body make contact with the ground. He had no idea if he had, so he decided to go check. Standing a safe distance away from the edge, Cartwright leant over the side, craning his neck. He almost fell off the edge in shock. The boy was sitting there calmly, seemingly without a care in the world. He snarled in anger, and Ed looked up in terror, knowing he had almost no means to stop the alchemist from reaching him. He could try though. Ed scratched at the stone, making a transmutation circle. He slammed his hand onto it, and a giant stone hand burst out of the balcony, and went to grab Cartwright, who recovered his wits in time and leapt out of the way. Backwards. He smirked at the small alchemist.

"You really thoughtthat was going to stop me! Hah!" He scoffed, not noticing the blue energy crackling around his feet.

"Pathetic!"

Ed could hear Cartwright but he ignored him, swinging his other leg over the balcony, when he heard an extremely distressed shout.

"NO!" This was then followed by a short scream of rage and pain.

Ed jumped in shock at the sudden noise, and felt himself fall off the balcony.

'Well, this is just fucking great. Wonder what Mustang would be saying now if he could see me.'

Again he felt that weird flying feeling. Then, suddenly, he was flying and he could help but let out a scream as he felt the pain coursing round his body. He flew high into the sky ('Like an angel!' he thought, feeling slightly lucid) but it wasn't worth the pain. It was worse than being stabbed at laboratory 5, even though he wasn't suffering from blood loss. It was as bad as losing his limbs he realised, in a moment of clarity. Apart from the fire seemed to be all over his body, and he couldn't breath, which was troubling him a bit. The fire reached his face, and he couldn't see anymore, not that there had been much to see in the first place, but still. The pain finally reached its climax point, as did his flying apparently. He came crashing back down to earth, like Icarus on his wax wings, and just as he had thought the pain was dulling, it flared up again, and he hit the ground with bone-breaking force. And break bones it did.

'And then Icarus dies.'

A/N-Yay! I count this as an early Christmas present! Okay, now things to explain.

-the reason Ed is a bit strange at the end, is that I believe that life threatening situations can do that to you. He's also in a lot of pain as you might have gathered, so he's gone into shock basically.

-What actually happened when Ed fell off the balcony? I am not going to answer this as the person who gives me the answer first will get internet cookies and cyber hugs! Yay! Unfortunately though Icefore1224 is not allowed to do this as she has an unfair advantage over everybody. Sorry :3

I don't know when I'll be updating next, because of Christmas and stuff that needs to be done, places to go, family to visit. Christmas stuff. I'll update as soon as possible, though it will most likely be in 2014. So...

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Fullmetalsoul0062