"Jade, Jade! Can you hear me? Jade!" I crack my eyes open to something bright. The pounding in my head starts to go down as I wake up more.
"Al, what happened?" I ask as my vision returns to me. I look over to see Fletcher by Al who has Ed in his arms, out cold. "Is Ed okay?" I ask, sitting up carefully because of the slight pounding in my head.
"He hasn't woken up yet." Al says quietly.
"What was that?" I ask again, but no one answers me. "Look, he's waking up." I say quietly, looking at Ed.
"Brother? Are you alright?" Al asks him as Ed seems to snap back into reality.
"Where… Where am I, Al? And what the hell is he doing here?" Ed asks, sitting up and looking at Fletcher.
"I'm-I'm sorry." Fletcher says, tears in his eyes.
"Ed! Don't scold him!" I say, putting my hand on Fletcher's shoulder.
"What are you sorry about? What'd you do?" Ed asks him in confusion, his gaze softening.
"No Fletcher, it's what you didn't do, isn't it? If you know something, tell us." Al says quietly and I turn to Fletcher with a confused look. "I get the feeling you don't like what's going on here."
"That red water you saw, it's a toxic substance that's been polluting the whole town. But it's… it's the vital ingredient for creating the red stone." Fletcher says quietly, his hands clenched on his knees.
"Is that why the people in Xenotime have been coughing so badly?" Al asks him, tears running down Fletcher's cheeks. I put my arm around his shoulder, trying to comfort him.
"I'm… so sorry…" Fletcher says as he brings his hands up to his face, turning into my embrace.
"Okay, this is ridiculous." Ed states as he stands up. "First thing's first; let's demolish this lab."
"I can't let you do that." I look over Fletcher's head to see his older brother, holding what looks to be a philosopher's stone, or at least one of the imitations. "After all the work we put into it, we finally created a red stone. My father gave everything he had in the pursuit of this breakthrough, Mr. Elric. If you think I'm going to give up now, you're quite mistaken."
"So you care that much about a lame piece of costume jewelry?" Ed asks him, smirking. The rest of us have risen to our feet by now, but I still stand by Fletcher. His older brother seems a bit… insane… His brother touches a lamp and in a flash of red light, a sword appears instead. "Yeah a fake sword from a fake stone, huh? I think I can top that!" Ed shouts while transmuting his automail arm into a sword.
He shouts a battle cry as he runs at the fake Ed, their blades clashing. Ed's automail starts to break the transmuted sword easily and Ed smirks. "Mine's the genuine article." The other boy knees Ed in the chest so he goes flying back, before touching his hand to the metal door behind him. What looks like a hose comes out and he holds it in his hand.
"What the-?!" I ask, looking at it in total confusion.
"Red water straight from the tap." The boy explains, smirking confidently. "If you're doused with it, you're a goner. You'll lose a lot more than your consciousness."
"Fine, let it rain!" Ed smirks as well, transmuting his automail into an umbrella. The boy blasts pure red water at him, the umbrella keeping Ed safe.
"Brother, this is crazy!" Al exclaims as Fletcher and I gain worried looks to our faces.
"Your brother's right; just go and you can live!" The older brother says, looking less confident now.
"Never! I'm not giving up to someone who wants to be… just like Daddy!" Ed says from behind the umbrella. The red water amount is increased, pushing Ed back a bit. He then slips in the water, Fletcher running from my side in the same moment. All you can hear is a crash before everything becomes clear. Ed sitting unharmed but surprised off to the side; Fletcher lying in pain in the red water.
"Fletcher!" I exclaim, running over to him and pulling him out of the water. I ignore the slight burn of the water on my own skin. "Fletcher, hang in there." I can see his brother has a horrified look on his face.
"Brother, the reason dad wanted to create a red stone was to bring happiness to people and make their lives better." Fletcher says to his brother from my arms. His brother looks away, ashamed. "But what we've been doing here, it's actually been making people suffer, hasn't it? Don't you see the cost of forging that stone? It doesn't matter who gets the credit anymore. Because this isn't… Because dad would be ashamed if he could see what we've done!" Fletcher exclaims, tears in his eyes again.
That alone seems to snap his brother out of it, shock registering on his face. We can then hear a whistle blown, and we all look towards the door in surprise and anticipation.