Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters except for Isabella.
No POV
Barry attacked Al and Al stood there in shock when he moved back to his place. "What's wrong, something on your mind? Your reactions are slow and clumsy! It seems that an artificially created soul doesn't quite measure up to the real thing. it must be such a shock to find out who and what you really are." Barry said to Al. "No. You're lying. I'm... I'm... I'm Alphonse Elric!" Al said to him. When Barry sent Al straight toward a wall, he started chuckling.
"Like I said, you can't prove that can you? Just accept it. You'll feel better." Barry said to him. "If that's the truth, then what about you? What about you?" I asked him as he gasped and moved back. "You have memories from when you were alive. And that means..." I couldn't finish when Barry sees someone coming, and Al turned to where he was looking and see a silhouette there. Barry started chuckling at the sight of it.
"How exquisite. The fools keep coming one by one. What about me, you ask? It's really quite simple. I love to tear the flesh of the living, to kill for the simple, intoxicating pleasure of feeling blood between my fingers... I KILL, THEREFORE, I AM!!!" Barry said to us when he charged at the silhouette, which turns out to be that Scarcharacter. "Whether I'm real or human doesn't matter. I'm a killer, and that's all I need to know!" Barry said when Scar grabbed his arm, and Barry was stunned by this. "You're right, there is no need for you to prove that you exist because very soon you won't." Scar said to him.
"Humankind cannot gain anything, without first giving something in return. To obtain, something of equal value must be lost. That is alchemy's first law of Equivalent Exchange. In those days, we really believed that to be the world's one, and only truth."
{Opening song}
Ready Steady Go!/L'Arc~en~Ciel
"The Red Glow"
Isabella's POV
I was by Ed's side when we felt an earthquake-like movement around the whole place.
No POV*
A homunculus called Greed wakes up from the earthquake-like movement, and the skull begins to fall downfrom the ceiling, causing the lights to go off. He started laughing evilly, and he got himself free from hisrestraints and stands up. "About 130 years, I'd say." Greed said to himself. A room full of Chimeras are incages when Greed breaks down the wall, and the lights go off on the cages. "Let me break this down, nice andsimple. You can either remain in here as lab rats, or you can come with me to bring hell to those above us.Your choice. I'm only asking once!" Greed said to the locked-up Chimeras when he starts laughing.
Isabella's POV
Ed and I are in confusion when this all started after we stood up. "What was that? What just happened?" I questioned on what had happened. "That felt just like an earthquake. What was it?" Ed questioned as well. "Good question." Older Slicer said when we faced him. "It might have been one of the bombs set throughout this building to destroy the evidence. With that aftershock, there's a chance even more will go off." Older Slicer said to us. "We still don't know anything about this stupid place." I said to him.
"I promised, I would help you two. You two came here to find the secrets of the Philosopher's Stone? I don't know very much about it, but I can lead you to the entrance of where they keep it." Older Slicer said to me when Ed came up and picked him up. "Fine, but what about your little brother? I mean we can't exactly leave him like this." I said to him. "No need to worry about me, just finish me off. Get it over with." Younger Slicer said when Ed and I got mad at this.
"We already told you, we're not killing anybody, period!" Ed and I said to him when he started laughing and wiggling to sit up. "You two are the ones who said we're human, right? Well in that case. Please tell me, how am I supposed to keep living as scattered scraps of metal?" Younger Slicer questioned. "Well uhh... Um..." Ed said when he hands him his brother, but he moves around sacredly. "Don't connect us! Please! Do you two really want us to remain here? Guarding this abandoned building alone? In this empty lifeless shell of a body?" Younger Slicer questioned him.
"But-but who says you have to keep doing that?" I asked him. "You think we can go outside? Do you actually believe that people will let us roam around freely?" Younger Slicer asked me. "Wait a minute. Ed's brother has the same kind of body you do. That's why we're here, searching for the Philosopher's Stone, so we can return him to normal. And if we can just find it, we can..." I couldn't finish my sentence. "If we were returned into our normal bodies, we would just be executed." Older Slicer said when Ed and I faced him, and the younger Slicer starts chuckling.
"Now do you two understand? Even if we did become human, it would only be long enough to be killed. What do you think they would let us? A couple of serial killers go free?" Younger Slicer questioned us. "No. There has to--" Younger Slicer cuts me off. "Listen to us. I'm sure it seems very noble, but you two don't understand how cruel it really is. Teasing us, calling us human when we can only live in this twisted form. Making us remember what we've lost. That is truly inhumane." Younger Slicer said when he had his thumb on his blood seal. Ed tossed the older Slicer aside, and he and I ran up to him in shock.
"No! Stop, you idiot! What are you trying to do?!" Ed questioned when he and I try to stop the younger Slicer from killing himself. "Just shut up, and watch." Older Slicer said to us when Ed and I tried pulling onto the younger Slicer to stop him. "What are you talking about?! He's your little brother!" I said to him. "He was happy you called him human. Now he can no longer go back to being Number 48. This is the only thing he can do to keep his human dignity." Older Slicer said to me.
"No! That's not true! We can't let you do this!" Ed and I said when the younger Slicer's grip is strong, and Ed and I begin to fall back. "Brother. I'm going on ahead." Younger Slicer said to his brother. "All right." Older Slicer said to him when Ed and I sat up and ran up. "No!" Ed and I cried out when the younger Slicer destroyed his blood seal, and he and I gasped at the sight of it. His body went lifeless and Ed and I fell to our knees in shock at what just happened.
"My brother. Once I fulfill my promise, I will come to join you." Older Slicer said to himself when Ed and I shook at the sight of what happened. "What were you thinking? What were the two of you thinking?" I asked him all shook up. "It was the only choice he could make." Older Slicer said to me when Ed clenched his hands. "We treated you as humans. We gave him a choice, and he still chose to die. What could we have possibly done different to keep him alive?" Ed questioned all shook up.
"That is one of the many questions in this world that has no answer." Older Slicer said to him when he and I stood up. "I'm going to return Al back to normal. I won't let him go through all of this." Ed said to him. "And I'll help him do that." I said to him as well. "Let's go." Older Slicer said to us. Ed and I begin to walk out with the older Slicer in his arms.
No POV
Two MPs are shocked when they see smoke from another area.
FF*
Two guards are walking down a hallway. "Are we really gonna release these guys?" One guard questioned the other. "Those were the orders. They're supposed to be used for military research. They were sentenced here for life. Though if you ask me, they should be put in front of a firing squad for their crimes." The other guard said to him when they here a rubble from somewhere. "The hell was that?" One guard questioned about that sound. "That was the sound of a building collapsing from some sort of explosion. What a soothing sound." Kimbley's voice said through the door.
"That's enough, Kimbley." One guard said through the door. "Ah. It really takes me back. Back to the time of the Ishbal Extermination." Kimbley said when the guard opens his cell. "Get out. You've been summoned. This is Kimbley, the military's madman bomber. He killed the enemy in a handful of our own." One guard said when another rubble was heard, and he started chuckling. "Such a pleasing ring in my ear, makes me all warm inside." Kimbley said to himself. "So much for the great legend of the Crimson Alchemist. You've hit rock bottom." One guard said to him.
FF*
The prisoners are walking down a hall with Envy in his Grand disguise.
FF*
"Now all we need is for Envy to gather the ingredients. This is the moment I've been waiting for." Lust said to herself. "Lust!" Gluttony called when she runs up to where Gluttony sees something from below. "What is it?" Lust asked him. "It's him, Lust. It's him!" Gluttony said to her. "Him? No, it can't be. Not Greed. We have to hurry, before our plan is interrupted." Lust said to him.
Isabella's POV
Ed and I are walking down a hall with the older Slicer in his arms, and he faced me. "Roberta." Ed called as I faced him. "Why did you save me from his little brother back there?" Ed asked me. "Because I can't have you dying. You saved my life from Scar, so I owed you one for saving your life." I said to him when I faced the older Slicer. "Just checking but, we're passed all the weird traps, right?" I asked him. "No intruder has ever been able to get this far." Older Slicer said to me.
"Yeah. You mean you and your brother killed anyone that ever tried." I said to him when he chuckles. "So who was it that attached your souls to that suit of armor, anyway?" I asked him when Ed and I stopped and heard growling form inside the shadows. Then those eyes started glowing from beneath them, and Ed and I got ready. "I thought you said we were passed all the weird traps." I said to him. "This isn't a trap." Older Slicer said to me when those figures come out of the shadows, and started to attack us. Turns out those are Chimeras.
Ed tossed the older Slicer into the air and turned his arm into a blade, and killed one of them. I turned a nearby rock into a dagger, and killed one of them as well. Ed caught the older Slicer, and kills another. I even killed one for trying to get near my hair. One Chimera almost got Ed, but he dodged it. I even dodged it as well. "Damn it!" Ed cursed out when a Chimera was about to finish him off, and me looking like my partner needed my help, but a whistle was heard which made them stop and bow. Ed and I are stunned by all of this turn of events.
"What happened?" I questioned when we heard footsteps coming, and Ed and I faced the other way. "The Chimera heard their master, the one who created them." Older Slicer said to us. "You're telling us someone lives down here?" Ed asked him. "Someone? I think it could be better described as something." Older Slicer said to him when the Chimera Master stopped its tracks, and Ed and I are stunned by this. "That's a Chimera. You mean this one created all the others?" Ed asked him.
"No... not all of them." A voice said when it revealed itself to be Tucker. Ed and I are shocked by all of this. "It's been a long time... Edward and Isabella." Tucker said when Ed and I remembered him years ago. "Tucker...The Sewing-Life Alchemist?!" Ed questioned when he drops the older Slicer and he and I ran up to him, and he grabbed him. I was by Ed's side when that happened. "But how?! The military said you were executed!" I said to him.
"My brother and I were still alive in this place, even though the records say we were killed. Why should it surprise you two that others were kept alive as Chimeras?" Older Slicer questioned us. "Yeah. But that's not what we're talking about! It's Nina..." I trailed off when Ed and I remembered how Nina died. "Nina..." I said when it ended. "Your daughter is dead, because of what you did! How could they allow you to live?!" Ed stammered at him. "I'm living for Nina." Tucker said to him as we gasped. "I understand how you and Isabella must feel right now, Edward. But please, let me explain." Tucker said to him.
Ed and I are in Tucker's studies, and we see several stuff there. "So the military staged your execution, and then sent you here to make Chimeras, is that it?" I asked Tucker. "Not just Chimeras, Isabella. I have several research projects in the works, none of which can ever be made public. You two can understand." Tucker said to me.
"There's still something you're not telling us. You've changed into a Chimera, but you're not like the rest of those beasts back there. You've kept all your intelligence from when you were human, and your stable, something you couldn't do before. What alchemist has that kind of skill? Dr. Marcoh? Basque Grand? Or is it someone else? Answer me, Tucker! Who the hell's running this place?!" Ed questioned when Tucker didn't answer that question. Ed and I turn to see something which is covered by some curtains.
"Please don't look at her, you two. She's extremely bashful." Tucker warned us when Ed opens the curtain, and he and I gasped at what we just saw. We saw different Chimera forms of Nina inside of those glasses. "Nina..." I said out of shock. "She's not yet able to keep her form, when she's exposed to the open air." Tucker said to us. "You still can't find a way to perform a human transmutation, and bring her back. So you've created a Chimera that looks like her, is that it?" I asked him.
"I tried and failed, many times, and in the end, I wound up in this form. But I'm... I'm almost there... Almost." Tucker said to me when he walks over to something, and Ed and I faced what's going on. "You mean it's possible?" I asked him when he opens the door to reveal another room there. Ed and I are shocked by all of this and ran inside and saw everything there. This room has red water in those glasses, and Ed sees a faucet there and he turns the knob, and the red thing drops to the ground. We were stunned by all of this.
"That's the same stuff that Marcoh had. This is the incomplete Philosopher's Stone." Ed said out of shock. "Yes it's incomplete, but it's still extremely powerful. You two have seen it used before." Tucker said when Ed and I remembered our encounters with Cornello and Mugear using those kinds of things. "If this amount of unfinished material could be carefully confined, you two could make a true Philosopher's Stone." Tucker said to us when Ed and I faced the whole room. "This is what you two have been looking for, Edward and Isabella." Tucker said to us.
Ed and I are really stunned by what we just witnessed. "Many have tried, but no one has ever succeeded before. It's an impossible task for any ordinary alchemist." Tucker said to me and Ed. "Yeah, you're right... But you see... I'm no ordinary alchemist." Ed said to him. "Same here... I'm no ordinary alchemist also." I said to him as well.
{Ending song}
Tobira no Mukou e/ YeLLOW Generation*