Just as Edward, Miles, the other soldiers and I ran out of the building Scar blew up half the building with his alchemy. We ran even faster to avoid the flying debris. The other soldiers that accompanied Kimblee were yelling from what just happened. "Damn it!" Edward coughed through the smoke.
"Fullmetal Alchemist?" Kimblee asked.
"Kimblee!" Edward shouted. "Why, you! How come you didn't keep an eye on Winry?"
Kimblee flinched at the news. "Mr. Kimblee!" A solider cried out. "Up, on the roof!"
Just as Kimblee and us turned our heads at the roof, amidst the smoke stood an ominous-looking Scar while holding a supposed unconscious Winry over his arm hostage-style. "Do you remember, Kimblee, when we first met?" Scar called. "The situation is reserved now!"
"Don't you look down on me!" Kimblee shouted.
"Kimblee, why you!" Edward growled, grabbing hold of Kimblee by the collar, causing his usual fedora to fall off. "Why? Why is Winry here? Here we're finally cornered Scar, and now he's taken her hostage!"
"Stand aside," Kimblee stated coldly. as he slipped off his gloves and stretched his hands out, revealing his tattooed hands just like my hands.
"You dumbass!" Edward shrieked, letting go of Kimblee to grab his wrists instead. "Stop, Crimson Alchemist! Can't you see Winry up there?"
"I wish you would keep out of my way," Kimble growled.
Scar blew up more of the building, causing the bigger pieces of debris to land just mere inches away from us. By god is Scar taking this act seriously. I mean, his original intentions were to kill every single State Alchemist that stepped in his way, so I don't exactly blame him. Through the smoke, Scar exited the scene. "Just a moment, Scar!" Kimblee shouted as he ran after him.
"Mr. Kimblee!" A soldier stopped him by grabbing his shoulder. "It's too dangerous to get close to the building! Fall back!"
"A snowstorm is moving in!'
"Hurry!"
In the chaos of the moving soldiers, Kimblee just stood, staring at the damaged building that Scar was just in. We all ignored him as we began to head back. As soon as we began the trek back, the snowstorm hit and it grew thicker by the passing minute. "That was a convincing performance," Miles commented.
"It wasn't a performance," Edward replied. "I really am seething with anger at how worthless I am, having to put on a charade like this.
"Welcome to my world," I shivered.
"You said something?" Edward asked.
"No," I looked away. "It was nothing..."
*~*~*~*~*~
We had to stake out in an abandoned building. Edward, Alphonse and I sat on some crates while a soldier leaned against a wall with his arms-crossed in a relaxed state. Outside, I could hear the howling wind rattling the metal building, almost like it was going to blow it off its hinges and take us with it. On the other side of the room, our escort soldiers Heinkel, Darius, Kimblee and a few more soldiers sat on some crates as well. Miles stood watch at the window, watching the storm to see if it will let up.
"I'm worried about Zampano and Jerso," Heinkel said.
"Either Scar did them in or they're trapped in this storm," Darius concluded.
"Scar won't be able to move either," Edward pointed out.
"He must be somewhere in this town," A soldier stated. "Let's make arrangements for our next search operation while we can."
"Major Miles," Another soldier called. "Briggs is on the line for you."
Miles stepped into another room and began speaking on the phone, away so we couldn't hear what was going on. After a little while Miles came out and ushered Edward, Alphonse, a soldier, and I into the room he was just in and began explaining what he was told.
"The fort is no longer safe?" Edward hissed. There was little privacy in this hideout and the howling wind outside can do us so much as to concealing our conversation.
"General Armstrong was summoned back to Central," Miles restated. "There are Central forces entering the fort in great numbers. No doubt at Kimblee's behest. When we were at the fort, he was making calls pretty frequently, after all."
"Hold on. If the General is gone..."
"A commander affiliated with Bradley will be posted in her place."
"Then, what about Winry and the others?"
"Hiding them just became difficult. In fact, if they're not careful, they'll fall into enemy hands."
"We have to warn Winry and the others somehow."
"It will be impossible to catch up to them in this storm."
"So are we going to let them go? I'm going after them."
"Don't go belittling the storm, rookie," A soldier chastised. "You'll lose all your strength in no time flat and freeze to death."
We sat in ominous silence, wondering what could we do. I glanced up at Alphonse and remembered how he trekked through the blizzard with not much problem and my constant begging to let me inside of him so I could avoid the wind. It occurred to me. "Why don't we send Alphonse instead?" I proposed. "A person with no body won't get tired and won't freeze to death."
"That's..actually a good idea," Edward thought about it.
Alphonse looked a little shocked about my idea. "I didn't mean to offend you at all," I nervously assured. "It just occurred to me that your current state is actually convenient to us right now..."
"No, it's fine," Alphonse said. "So, what will I have to do exactly?"
*~*~*~*~*~
After Alphonse left, night came and passed and it was a new day. Kimblee along with the two lanky guys Heinkel and Darius were outside ordering the soldiers probably on the search for Scar. Miles, Edward, our small group of soldiers that stood by us the entire trip here and I watched him through the window. "Kimblee and his men from Central..." Miles stated, approaching us. "When you get an opening take out all three of them."
"Yes, sir," The soldiers saluted.
"We'll carry out the mission with only those who are here," Miles continued. "This is top-secret, even to the soldiers from Northern Command."
"Hold on, Major Miles, by 'take out', do you mean kill?" Edward interrupted.
"Of course."
"I can't go along killing them. Better to keep him from using alchemy and getting intel from him."
"Do you think that guy is going to freely tell us anything? It's too dangerous to keep him alive."
"Then what about his men? They've been turned into Chimeras and maybe they have no choice but to obey him, you know?"
"You're right. But ultimately, that's still a 'maybe'."
"You're going to kill them just because you're suspicious of them? I mean, even in General Raven's case, there was no other way!"
"Do not forget the law of Briggs. 'If you get careless, you're dead'. Your sense of mercy could cost you or your friends their lives. We don't need anyone careless in these parts. We're going to dispose of Kimblee and the other two."
Edward clenched his fist as Miles and his men left the room and I placed a soothing hand on his shoulder. I didn't know really what to do, so I decided on trying to change the subject. "Speaking of Kimblee...what are you going to do with Alphonse? It was hard enough sneaking him out so late at night, but when Kimblee doesn't see him with you that's an instant red light of suspicion that's going to ruin everything we worked hard for."
"Don't change the subject, Eve," Edward growled. "It's not going to help right now..."
"Oh..." I stepped back, feeling like I was scolded by a parent. "Sorry..."
"Don't take it the wrong way-I do appreciate the thought," Edward sighed. "And yes, I have thought of something..."
*~*~*~*~*~
Edward leaned against a crate while a fake Alphonse suit with one of Miles' men inside while I stood guard by the two as soldiers began to check in. "Squad 3, three men," they checked off. "Squad 4, five men."
"All right, that's everyone," Miles nodded. "Okay, each of you, commence searching your areas."
"Sir, yes sir," they saluted.
Kimblee, accompanied by Darius and Heinkel as usual passed by us as the soldiers began to fileto their assigned zones. Miles eyed Kimblee, "Let's go."
"Yes, sir," the soldier inside Alphonse's suit spoke, making me panic.
"Hey now Alphonse," Edward scolded. "You mean 'right', don't you?"
"Man, I tell you, it's hard to move around in this, Edward," the soldier inside complained.
"Please manage somehow," I pleaded. "Come on, Kimblee is watching."
"Just a minute, Brother!" The soldier staggered in an exaggerated manner while also speaking in a much more high-pitched voice.
"Walk faster," Edward rolled his eyes.
As we staggered behind Kimblee, his men, Miles and his men, we overheard Miles talking to his subordinate. "Hey, where are Kimblee and the others searching?" He asked.
"There's that huge mineshaft in the center of town, right?" The soldier replied."He said he was going in there to search the tunnels. He said he couldn't trust the northern soldiers, so he was only taking the men he brought from Central."
"He's caught on, has he? We'll head him off. Secure sniping positions near the shaft."
"Yes, sir."
Edward began to slow down gradually and once I noticed that the soldier inside Alphonse's suit were getting ahead, I stopped and pretended to adjust my clothing so I was with Edward. "What are you doing?" I asked. "Pick up your steps or else you're going to be separated from the group!"
"That's what I want to happen," Edward explained. "You heard the Major? He said that he's going to snipe down Kimblee. I want to reason with Kimblee first, though, like I had originally intended."
"Okay..." I trailed off, looking away to see that we had a great distance between us and the two groups and no one has caught on from our separation from the group. I had an ominous feeling about this though. Like, something bad is about to transpire.
As we got further and further behind the groups, the two groups split off and Edward followed Kimblee and I trailed behind Edward. Just as the soldier had said, Kimblee was in front of the mineshaft and was giving orders to Darius and Heinkel. "Search the entrance to the tunnel," He ordered. "If there are multiple set of footprints, then there's no doubt."
"Yes, sir," They nodded before heading off to do their business. Edward began to approach Kimblee and I followed. Hearing our footsteps, he turned around to face us. "Kimblee, if you're going to check out the tunnels, shouldn't you leave that to the Briggs soldiers?" Edward stalled. "It runs pretty deep in there."
"The fact that you're stopping me proves they're here," Kimblee smirked.
"What do you mean? I want to get Scar as fast as--"
"Or are you buying time until the snipers get into position?"
"You knew about that?"
"With as much bloodlust filling the air around us, I knew. I didn't survive the Ishvalan War because of my good looks."
Kimblee stretched his hands out and I knew exactly what he was going to do. "Edward, look out!" I yelled, pushing Edward behind me as I clapped my hands to counter Kimblee's attacks but I was too slow. Red sparks danced on the white snow as a huge flurry of snow billowed up and obstructed our view from just a few feet. "Damn it!" Edward cussed as we backed up against one another and searched the area to see Kimblee's next move. Kimblee began to enter the mineshaft and Edward yelled, "Kimblee! Why you--"
He smirked back in a taunting manner as he entered the mineshaft. As Edward was going to run after him a claw raked through the fog. "Edward!" I warned as the claw struck down on Edward's metal arm thankfully, but I had no time to breath as someone punched me but I had blocked it with my metal arm as well, not to stay that I didn't slid back a few feet in the snow. As the fog cleared, two Chimeras wearing the Amestris military uniform stared at us. One of them resembled a lion while the other was a gorilla. That still didn't say that they didn't retain their distinctive human features and I was able to identify who was who by just looking at them. "You fellows are Chimeras too?" Edward asked.
The two backed away and we stood back to back. I could make out their figures running around us, as if they were doing a big circle around us. But due to the snow, I couldn't tell if what I was seeing was right or not. Even if I tried to use my alchemy to clear the fog, I'm just going to bring up more snow and it wasn't going to help the current situation at all. Suddenly, a huge hand reached out and grabbed Edward by the neck, lifting him in the air. "Come quietly, Fullmetal Alchemist," Heinkel warned. "You can't escape from our sharp noses in this poor visibility."
"Not on my watch!" I yelled, drawing my sword and ducking underneath Heinkel's lion arm, popping upp betwen them as I stabbed my sword up his arm, causing Heinkel to cry out as he dropped Edward and I pulled my sword from his arm, blood dripping down the blade and staining the snow in droplets. I felt the snow shift underneath me and I jumped away just as Darius brought his clasped hands down on me. "What's going on in there?!" I heard Major Miles call out from outside the fog. "Fullmetal Alchemist? Clockwork Alchemist? Answer me!"
"Major Miles!" Edward replied as we retorted to jumping away from Darius' and Heinkel's melee attacks. "There are Chimeras here! And they're accustomed to fighting in poor visibility! Don't come inside the snow cloud!"
Suddenly, Edward slipped and fell down, disappearing in sight. "Ed!" I shrieked before turning to face the two Chimeras. Damn it! I thought to myself. It's me and these two hulking guys. With just one sword, there's no way I can take these guys! I winced in pain as I moved my injured shoulder to pull out my other sword. Sorry, arm... I apologized before positioning myself and doing a twirl, creating a blade whirlwind and making the two Chimeras jump to avoid my spinning attack, not to say that Darius got a small nick from the attack. We circled each other until Darius and Heinkel jumped down to follow Edward. "No!" I yelled, dashing over to examine how far the fall was. It was at least one story high and with an injured arm it was going to hurt like hell. Gritting my teeth to suck it up, I jogged back and got a running start, jumping down as well as positioning each sword to point downwards so I could soften my fall by having a proper landing. As my sword tips sunk into the snow, I stretched my injured arm and was greeted with a searing pain as thanks. I winced as I pulled my swords from the snow as held them in a threatening manner as Edward held sticks of dynamite in his hands., "Don't come too close!" He grinned. "You know what this is, right?"
"You idiot," Darius laughed.
"That stuff isn't going to be of any help to you," Heinkel added, reminding them that the snow had soaked the dynamite completely.
"Fellows, do you know what dynamite is made of?" Edward laughed.
"Nitroglycerin?" Heinkel asked Darius.
"Nitroglycol, wood flour, ammonium nitrate and so forth?" Darius added on.
"Okay, and what is the ammonium nitrate made of?" Edward asked.
"That's easy," Heinkel replied. "Nitric acid and ammonia."
Suddenly, they froze. "Ammonia?!" They yelled. Edward smirked as he clapped his hands and deconstructed the dynamite, filling the entire area with a green gas. "Pee-yew!" They yelled as they backed up and tripped and fell down on each other, their weight together causing one of the mine shaft walls to fall down. I covered my mouth and nose with my arms as the green gas eveloped me.
As the smelly gas cleared, Edward and I stepped inside the collapsed mine shaft wall to reveal Kimblee. "What is that smell?" He scrunched up his nose, catching a whiff of what Edward had exploded.
"Ammonia," Edward laughed. "Having a too sharp nose can be a problem too.These guys aren't any use to you anymore."
"This is what happens, the moment your hostage concerns are gone?"
"Whatever do you mean? I'm just trying to get you to spill everything you know."
"Well, well, aren't you the hot-blooded one? Facing a youngster like you while I'm on the mend will be quite taxing. I don't have the time to mess with you either. How about I make use of this?" Kimblee searched his jacket pocket and pulled out a Philosopher's Stone the size of a small crystal.
Edward and I separated and we approached Kimblee from front and back. Edward transmuted his arm to a blade while he slashed upwards and Kimblee jumped back. Just as he did so, I jammed one of my swords forward, making him jump to the side and drop the Philosopher's Stone in the giant hole in the middle of the building. I began to fence with him, buying Edward time to appear in front of me and cut one of Kimblee's palms with his blade. "Now I've--" he started.
"You've won," Kimblee admitted. "That's what you're thinking, right? The resolve not to kill. It is a fine policy. However, on the battlefield, it's something that can be taken advantage of. You should have finished me off just then." Kimblee opened his mouth and underneath his tongue was another Philosopher's Stone the size of a small pearl. He stuck his tongue out, allowing the Stone to drop out of his mouth and into his open palm. "That sense if next will be the reason of your defeat," He stated.
The entire room began to glow red as the ground underneath Edward crumbled and he began to fall down. "EDWARD!" I screamed, dropping my swords as the entire building rumbled like it was in a earthquake as I crouched down, trying to hold on as I reached my hand downwards to grab Edward's hand but just as our fingers brushed against each other...
They missed.
Edward plunged down to the darkness below as I was left helpless above. I stood crouched in shook, cursing myself at how close out hands were from grabbing each other. Through the smoke of the explosion, I saw Kimblee walking away, seeing a job done and I glared at him and in rage, I grabbed one of my dropped swords and gripped it tightly in both hands and held it at the side of my face, glaring at him. Just as Kimblee heard my quick angry steps and turned around, I had jammed my sword through his side, almost like the time when Lust stabbed me in the side with her fingernails.
The blood seeped into his stainless white coat as he staggered back, his body pulling itself out of the sword. I chuckled darkly. "You know, it's funny..." I gripped my sword with both hands again. "The color of your blood right now matches your title, Crimson Alchemist."
Just as I charged forward I began to slash at Kimblee with it but he moved fast enough to both dodge my attacks and to get far from me. Once he did do, he used his Stone again to create another giant cloud of snow, blocking my view. That didn't say I stopped charging forward but as I exited the snow cloud, he was gone. I gritted my teeth was I searched around. "Kimblee!" I shouted. "Where did you go?"
As the snow cleared, there was nothing. Just like before, he conjectured up a snow flurry to block his tracks. "Damn it!" I cursed before running back to that huge hole in the mine shaft. "Ed!" I yelled from above. "Can you hear me? Ed! Ed! Edward! Edward Elric!"
But nobody came.
Nobody responded. I began to panic, my heart pounding in my ears at a pace so fast that I sure to get a cardiac arrest if Edward didn't reply. I debated jumping down and searching for Edward but seeing that I couldn't see the bottom from up here, I wasn't willing to break my legs just to look for Edward. I resorted back to screaming, only louder this time. "EDWARD ELRIC!!!" I screamed desperately. Tears began falling but I scrubbed them away. I was getting into a panic again.
This took me back to Hughes' death and I was screaming at him to stay awake. I was about to lose my hope and determination but I took a deep breath and screamed one final time, "EDWARD ELRIC PLEASE RESPOND I'M BEGGING YOU!!!" My voice cracked while I was screaming and I wasn't sure it was because my throat was tired or it was because I sobbed between my words.
"Who is that?" A gruff voice responded.
"I think it's the girl Fullmetal was with," Another gruff voice responded.
Darius? Heinkel? What were they doing down there? I remembered that they were unconscious nearby while we fought Kimblee. Putting aside our fighting, I yelled back, "Can you two hear me?"
"Yes!" They responded.
"Then I need you two to look for Ed! If you find him, I'll pull you two up!"
"We already got him! Can you help?! Quickly!"
"Y-Yes. right away!"
I blew up one of the edges of the hole to free a long metal pole and I reached down with it as one of them grabbed on and I yanked them up. Darius came up the hole and I crouched back down and stuck the pole down for Edward or Heinkel. I assumed Heinkel grabbed on because it was really heavy-heavier than what Edward should be and I grunted as I tried to pull him up. Darius grabbed onto the pole with me and together, we heaved and pulled Heinkel up., But he wasn't alone. Cradled in one of his arms was Edward. "Edward!" I yelled, approaching him. "Why didn't--"
As I pulled Heinkel's arm aside, I stopped what I was saying and covered my mouth in horror. Edward's side was completely covered in blood. It soaked right through the fleece coat and clothes, meaning the puncture was bad. "What. The. Hell. Happened?!" I demanded.
"He was impaled by a pole," Heinkel replied casually.
"Impaled by a wha--" I paled, remembering his much blood there was. "Oh my god we need to get to a hospital right away! But we're in the mountains there's no way we'll be able to get down there in time--"
"That's why we need to go now!" Darius yelled. "We obviously can't show up in Briggs like this. One of the team of soldiers had a car, if we managed to take it we just might be able to make it to the nearest town by here. Heinkel! Do you recall any towns nearby?"
"Only the one that we met the girl up in," Heinkel replied.
"Then we need to go!" Darius grabbed me and see me on his pack, having me ride him in a piggy back style. "Hold on tight!" Darius and Heinkel sprinted faster than I could even possibly imagine and I screamed as I held on tight.