To say we were all shocked about this truth was an understatement. How would the government allow human sacrifices to be made? We kept our heads down as we headed back to our hotel rooms, not saying a single word. I almost felt sick to my stomach.
Sitting down on the couch, I opened the book to the chapter on philosopher's stone. Now that I knew the secret, every aspect of it seemed so disgusting now. How our own government can tolerate this is just beyond me. But why would they need it?
Closing the book, I layed down on the bed. It might be best for me to try and get some sleep. Yet no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get it out of my head. 'The real ingredient for a Philosopher's Stone is human souls.' Even thinking it made me grimace.
I heard a knock on my door, prompting me to go and open it. When I did, I saw Ed and Al standing there with determination. "Guys, it's late. Shouldn't you be in bed?"
"We have to check something out that can give us more answers. You coming?" Ed offered. Thinking for a moment, I decided to go with them. We walked over to what they said was the fifth laboratory.
Hoping over the wall, Ed and I snuck in through a vent while Al waited outside. Once we were in, we both noticed something odd. The lights were on.
"Pretty suspicious for a laboratory out of commission to have working electricity," he pondered. I hummed in agreement.
Following the hallway, we came across a division. "I'll go this way. You see what's down there," I told him, the both of us going our separate paths. "Alright, be careful," he warned.
Walking down the hallway, I found an assortment of rooms that were in disarray. Medical equiment was sprawled everywhere. Whoever was here left in a hurry. Opening up one of the drawers, I found a stack of files. Looks like someone forgot some important stuff. Opening one, I found a list of names with serial numbers next to them.
"Prisoners?" I thought to myself. At that moment, I heard a loud noise from down the hallway. Ed! I ran out as fast as I could to find him in a large room that had a transmutation circle in the middle. He was sitting against a pillar and a dismembered suit of armor laid on the ground. It was even still talking!
Just like Al.
"Ed!" I ran over to the injured kid, trying to help him. The suit's helmet then started to talk.
"I'll tell you everything I know. I'll tell you who made the Philosopher's Stone and ordered us to guard this place." Ed and I turned to listen to what he had to say when two long spear-like objects shot out of the darkness, breaking the seal. We all looked in shock as they brought the helmet back to a ravenette woman wearing a black revealing dress.
"Well that was a close call. Number 48 you should know better than to say things that don't concern you," she said in a seductive voice. Another person appeared from behind her. They had long black strands of hair and an odd choice of clothes: a crop top and a skort with gloves.
"Well well would you look at that, what's the Fullmetal pipsqueak doing here? Oh, and he brought a little friend with him," they, or he (?), said in a raspy voice.
"Such troublesome kids. How did you find out about this place," the woman asked as they both stepped forward. Suddenly, the helmet she had was broken in two.
"Brother? Brother?!" The suit of armor on the ground shouted. Suddenly, the guy came up and started stabbing his seal, ranting about ruining some kind of plan. What the hell was going on.
I stood up defiantly, ready to defend. "(Y/N) don't," he warned.
"You might as well listen to the pipsqueak, girly," he taunted. I grimaced, gritting my teeth.
"Don't call me girly again," I growled. He just got closer to my face, glaring down at me with his violet eyes.
"Then what do you prefer, huh, girly?" Ed managed to get back up and kick him, but barely missed. I tried to punch him as well, but he backed away.
"Whoa now, there's no need to fight. Someone could get hurt, you know." Ed was about to use his alchemy, but then his arm fell to his side. Oh no.
Stepping up, I used my alchemy to blow the guy away, but he ran around and tried attacking me with the sword. He barely gave me any time to use my alchemy. Then, thrusting my hands out, he was forced back by a spur of wind. Before I knew it, he threw the sword to me. The blade cut me along the side of my stomach, causing me to fall in pain. He walked over to Ed and drove his knee into the kid's stomach, making him collapse as well.
"You're lucky you two can't move anymore. If not for that, you wouldn't be getting off so easily," he said coldly with a grin.
The woman was giving us a warning of some kind, but I was losing too much blood to even listen. I looked back up to the guy who attacked me. He was standing there with a hand on his hip, smiling down at me sadistically. My vision was getting spotty, but before I passed out, I managed to hear one thing.
"Blow it up."
When I woke back up, I was in a hospital room and it was obviously daytime. I looked over to see an officer with short, brushed back, dark blonde hair sitting there. Guess he was told to watch me. He didn't seem so happy about it since he had a sour scowl on his face and his narrowed eyes burned with some sort of disatisfaction.
"Hello," I said with a rough voice, emitting a cough.
"Don't force yourself, your wound hasn't fully healed yet," he said, crossing his arms. "You took a pretty bad cut and needed stitches. So I wouldn't recommend trying to move."
I just nodded and laid back. The officer left eventually, leaving me alone in the room for a little bit. Lt. Ross came in shortly after with Brosh, looking extremely relieved.
"Wind Alchemist, ma'am," the two said with a salut. I just giggled, much to my pain.
"What's with the formalities? I may be a higher rank but you can just call me (Y/N)."
They breathed out a sigh of relief before starting to lecture me. "What were you thinking?! You guys could've gotten hurt! You don't have to face these things alone."
"I know. I was going to say something to Ed and Al but they seemed so set on getting to the laboratory as fast as possible," I said. When we were all calm, another thought came to mind. "Speaking of which, what happened to the fifth laboratory?"
"Well, someone blew it up into rubble. I'm sorry but there's nothing left," Ross said. I just sighed. This was just great.
"Did you guys find anything in there?" Ross added. I nodded, to which they looked intrigued.
"It turns out they were using prisoners for some kind of experiment. I found a few documents that were left behind that had prisoner's information in them. I have a feeling they were used to make philosopher's stones."
The two looked petrified, almost in disbelief. Is that what I looked like when I found out? It's very possible, without a doubt. I also felt guilty having to drag them into this, as I'm sure Ed and Al are too. If it were me, I wouldn't want anyone else to get hurt. But then again, I don't have to face these things alone.
"Well, there was a prison right next to the lab," Ross commented.
"And the lab seemed to still have electrical power," I added.
"I don't even want to think about that," Brosh said, and Ross nodded in agreement. So did I; I didn't want to think about it either, but this is the cold truth.
"On a lighter topic, how are Ed and Al?" I asked.
"Ed woke up and is still recovering. Al is still here in the hospital," Brosh said. I nodded, thanking him for telling me that. What I didn't understand though is why or how we got out of there.
"Wait, how did we get out when it had been blown up?" I asked.
"Oh, this person carried you and Ed out, telling us to keep a better eye on you," Ross said. "They left before I could ask anything else."
"What did this person look like?" I asked, desperate to know how I'm still alive when those people who attacked us seemed so bent on killing us.
"Well, with the dirt and all I couldn't really make out that much. Just a skinny figure and long black hair. But they had a really raspy voice," Ross described. It sounds like that guy who had stabbed me. But, why would he save someone he wanted to have dead?
I just nodded, too dizzy from the sedatives to even think anymore. Brosh and Ross were about to leave, when yet another question came to me.
"Hey did you guys assign someone to watch me earlier? Blonde hair and a bit condescending?" The duo looked at me confused.
"No one was told to watch you or the Elrics." Well that's bizarre.