A/N: hello there people! whoop at last another chapter :D sorry to leave you hanging so long- been a bit crazy for a while with the sheer amount of essays/exams/term papers due (seriously- why is it always so many at once) thankfully got a bit of time between them to write this up. Thanks so much for all the reviews/likes/follows seriously never thought this story would be so popular :D and don't worry- although I may take a while to update I am not abandoning this story, I enjoy playing with it too much and have many more ideas to share :P anywhoo, enough of my rambling. Hope you like this, let me know what you think! hope wherever you are that you are having a good day! :D

CHAPTER 8

A noise, a very persistent, repetitive, beyond irritating noise that seemed to drill deep into the depths of her skull. In addition to the sickening pulse thudding sluggishly through her brain… safe to say that she was feeling pretty miserable right about now. AND THAT NOISE WAS STILL GOING! It was like a tapping, almost a plinking… recognisable in her decidedly muddled brain as… WATER! Oh god she was thirsty- mouth like sand paper or the desert by which Leore was surrounded… LEORE! The sudden thought made her jerk and then double over as the entire universe seemed to explode from the back of her head.

What the hell had happened?

…

Mustang's team were assembled at their hotel, bags carelessly thrown onto the beds and promptly ignored as they focused all of their attention on facing the situation at hand. Nobody was speaking, but the room was by no means silent. The constant footfalls of the colonel as he paced back and forth in front of the window were a monotonous beat that the others did their best not to yell at him for. There was the hasty rustling of pages as Alphonse flipped through his alchemy notes to try and find a lead on the arrays that had been left. Hawkeye added to the soundtrack with the methodical metallic clacks made as she dismantled and cleaned her weapon, eyes hard and mouth set in a firm line, taking comfort in the familiar movements. Then there was the nervous click of Havoc's lighter shutting on and off and on and off and on and-

"For the love of god stop that bloody snapping!" everyone stared in shock at the colonel who had whirled around to holler at his subordinate. It was an inevitable explosion, an expression of the frustration they were all feeling, of the guilt which was eating at the man who had let the kidnapper slip through his fingers. And so nobody said anything in response. Although the lieutenant's reproachful look spoke volumes.

His superior immediately looked contrite, a faint grimace on his face as he turned back once again to the less than stellar view from the window. He wasn't seeing it though. In his mind the events of two hours before played out for the millionth time. Like a movie reel he once again saw the figure of their mystery alchemist getting closer, he had been catching up, practically within grabbing distance of his prey as they tore through the streets of the city.

Of course it couldn't have been that simple. Of course the colonel had underestimated the criminal. Of course the murderer who had proved so intelligent would not have taken just any old route whilst kidnapping Ed. And of course Mustang had run across an array scratched into the pavement which activated and made hands of stone spring from the ground to hold him fast by all four limbs. In hindsight he was beyond lucky that the trap was non-lethal. And so he had watched, helpless, as the alchemist ran from view, the limp form of Edythe Elric slung carelessly over one shoulder.

By the time the others had caught up, Al swiftly breaking the Colonel free, it was simply too late. The alchemist had vanished along with his hostage practically into thin air. Their only option had been to regroup back at the hotel. Hawkeye and Havoc had immediately begun to coordinate with the local units, putting the word out about what had happened and trying to access any and all informants who might have spotted their fugitive. Once that was done though, all they could do was wait for word to get back.

Meanwhile, Al had been almost literally consumed by his books, tearing through the notes that he and his sister had been making just before she had been taken. Mustang wasn't entirely sure exactly what it was that he was searching for, but decided to leave the prodigy to it. At the very least it would stop the boy's brain from centring solely on his worry for Ed.

The officer sighed as he once again turned on his heel to continue the endless circuit of pacing. Something had to give, something would turn up, something that would help… he just hoped it wouldn't be too late…

…..

The next time that Ed fought her way back to consciousness was slightly more pleasant than the first. Although her head was still aching it was no longer quite as ferocious a drum beat as before, and her senses seemed more organised, less in overload. Staying very still, she began to try and catalogue her surroundings.

That repetitive tapping sound was still there, a faintly metallic echo almost like when the kitchen tap was left to drip against a metal sink. Maybe a leaking pipe? The air smelt faintly musty, slightly chill against her skin, different from anything she had felt since arriving in the desert city. The sound of that infernal tapping sent echoes bouncing around, giving her a sense of the relatively small size of the room. No sense of sun on her face, apparently lying on cool stones… logic dictated it was most likely a basement of some sort. There was no sound of anyone else close by, but the hairs still raised on the back of her neck as if she could sense somebody watching her.

Shifting her focus, Ed did a quick run-down of her own condition. Head: still aching, like seriously- how hard had she been hit? Thirsty, very thirsty in fact, and now she thought about it the hunger gnawing at her gut was another source of discomfort. There was rope tying her wrists together behind her back and she smiled a little to herself. That could be easily dealt with when the time came for her to escape. And there was something else, a strange feeling on her face, like fabric resting over…

She couldn't repress a snort of derision, which soon grew into a low chuckle that was quite out of place given her situation, but honestly she just found it too damn funny.

The sudden sound of a door opening interrupted her amusement, and heavy footfalls approached. Burnt metal and that strange coppery tang only found in blood and the stale stench of a body too long unwashed.
"And what is so funny?" the voice was the same, gravelly and with a slight snarl. The reminder of why she had been giggling managed to overshadow any sense of trepidation within the girl and she snorted once again.
"You blindfolded me." And this time her laughter was distinctly louder.
"I don't see what is so amusing about your current situation missy- you are my hostage, kidnapped by a man that the whole of the Amestrian military wants dead as a violent criminal-"
"Also known as the moron who decided to blindfold me." And another round of sniggers filled the stunned silence of the room.
"And just what is so funny about that exactly?" there was a low edge in his tone, hinting of potential danger and no doubt a painful end in the near future… but she just couldn't take him seriously under the circumstances.
"I am blind you absolute idiot!" and with that Ed broke out into another round of almost cackling that would put a hyena to shame. So perhaps she was partly reacting to the stress of the situation, perhaps she was intentionally trying to annoy her captor, but either way it was pretty damn funny that he had blindfolded an already blind girl.

Clearly her erstwhile kidnapper did not quite know how to respond to that revelation, and a slightly awkward silence settled over the pair. That is at least until Ed's stomach decided to do its best imitation of a whale. She actually blushed a little.
"Oi, Mister-lets-kidnap-and-blindfold-a-blind-girl, any chance of some food?"
"Afraid not at this point." The guy actually sounded a bit off balance at how she was reacting to the current situation, which only increased as she huffed in annoyance.
"Look mate, I don't know how often you have played this hostage-taking game, but ideally you need to keep said hostage in fairly good condition. Could I at least get some water? I mean seriously, I'm so thirsty! It is like my throat is made of sand, or dust, or cat litter, or-"
"Fine! I will give you a drink if you just shut up!"

Inwardly the young alchemist smirked. Apparently outwardly as well, if the sound of grinding teeth was anything to go by. There was the noise of fabric rustling, and she guessed he was searching through a bag or something, before she heard the blessed unmistakable sloshing of water in some form of canteen. A moment later the edge of a water bottle was placed against her mouth, and she greedily gulped down the contents, being careful to stop before she had too much and made herself sick.

She grinned in the direction she judged her captor to be. "Thanks- that feels much better. Now, down to business. How's about you do the smart thing here and just let me go and turn yourself in to the military? I will make sure that you are treated fairly."
The disbelief emanating from the man was almost a solid force. "You seem to be under some sort of misunderstanding regarding how this is meant to work. You are my hostage- my bargaining chip, my captive. You are not in control here. I am. I am the bad guy here- the violent, dangerous criminal who does bad things to innocent people. You are my victim." For some reason it sounded to her like he was trying to convince himself…

As he was speaking the man had begun to pace, his footsteps mirroring the tapping of the leaking pipe and only serving to aggravate Ed's headache further. Out of patience, she just huffed another sigh of frustration.
"Well, I gave you a chance. But if you insist on doing this the hard way…"
It was the work of a moment to shift her wrists until her palms could touch…

…

The tense silence which had fallen over the hotel room was suddenly broken by an exclamation from Al. "I think I have it- I think I know what this lunatic was trying to do!"
Everyone's attention was swiftly focused in on the young alchemist who was frantically looking back and forth between his notes and a text book that honestly looked ready to fall apart from misuse over time. Apparently he had forgotten for a moment that the others were waiting for him to continue, startling when Mustang cleared his throat to remind him of their presence.

"Oh, sorry sir. Well, Ed was right- the arrays were definitely aiming to work with iron and heat, geared specifically towards manipulation of the blood. However, I don't think that the intent of the alchemist was to kill. Quite opposite- I think that he may have been attempting to produce a healing effect but didn't know what he was doing, or at least hadn't perfected his technique and so it went wrong."

Seeing the sceptical looks which he was receiving he hurried to defend his idea. "Look, the closest match to the arrays and effects that I have found have to do with bio-alchemy, specifically the study of battle field medicine. There was a series of experiments done by a research lab about twenty years ago into treating traumatic injuries by attempting to almost cauterise severe wounds from the inside using elements in the victim's own blood. The idea was to try and reduce the chances of infection occurring from introducing potentially unsterile surgical instruments in a conflict situation. Unfortunately the study was abandoned when the alchemists were unable to prevent the array from effecting all the blood in a body. They never proceeded to human trials as they recognised the dangers that would pose to test subjects, but the reported effects on the blood would likely have resulted to similar deaths as we have seen."

"Ok, assuming that this is what we are looking at, how does that us help find this nutjob?" Hawkeye didn't seem to notice Havoc's frustrated tone, replying in her usual clipped manner.
"We need to look for alchemists who have expressed an interest in this field of study, someone with enough clearance to access these research materials. That should help us narrow down the list of suspects."
"But how long will that take?" now that his focus was off of his research, Al's fears for his sister were clearly coming back into the foreground of his mind. "Ed is out there with this guy, and for all we know he could-"

Any further debate was interrupted as a soldier rapped on the door frame and came smartly to attention. "Sir- a building collapse has been reported in the North Eastern section of the city. Officers on site testify to seeing alchemical flashes just beforehand. It is an area of abandoned warehouses and offices that they had been searching after a tip off that there had been a man fitting the description of the kidnapper lurking around."

All those present blanched at the report, thoughts of what this could possibly mean for the youngest Elric simultaneously flashing through their minds. What if she had been severely hurt? What if-
"Take us there. Now." Mustang's tone brooked no argument, and the soldier saluted smartly before scurrying off to find the group a car to take them to the site, shuddering internally at the sheer level of anger in his superior's eyes. He almost felt sorry for the criminal they were hunting.

…..

The kidnapper in question was undoubtedly feeling rather sorry for himself as he took stock of the situation in which he was now found. There was dust heavy in the air, the fading echoes of falling rubble still ringing in his ears. He remembered the girl saying something about 'doing this the hard way' and then a flash of alchemical lightning and suddenly her hands had been free. Shock had frozen him to the spot briefly, this girl was an alchemist?!

A split second later she had clapped, placing both palms against the floor and stone hands had shot from the ground. He had barely managed to dodge, hastily pulling a set of pre-drawn arrays from his pockets and slamming one against the wall. Evidently he had made a mistake in his haste, and instead of creating a barricade in defence there had been a sickly whine through the air. The girl had clasped her hands over her ears, crying out as she dropped to her knees in apparent pain, and suddenly he recognised what was happening. Desperately he reached for the array, wanting to end the reaction before it could be competed, but he was too late.

And then everything had disappeared in the rush of collapsing walls.

There was the sound of shifting rocks somewhere to his left, followed by a rough groan. He actually was rather relieved at the indication that his hostage- could she still really count as that?- seemed to still be alive. "Hey- are you alright?"
A slightly pained chuckle, "Well, this is a nice change of scenery."
"We are in the midst of a collapsed building."
"I was being sarcastic. Moron. You know, there are at least seventeen different ways this could have gone better. Literally, I am counting them right now. But no, you just had to go and resonate the concrete." Her voice was heavily tinged with annoyance, but also faintly with what sounded like pain.

"For what it's worth, I am sorry. For getting you caught up in all this…"
"You really aren't much of an evil mastermind you know."
"And you make a terrible hostage."
"Not gonna apologise for that. Part of my cunning plan- annoy you until you just want to give me back."
"It was almost working."
"So… why did you do it?"
He didn't need to ask what she was referring to. Shifting slightly, he let loose a heavy sigh. "I never meant to hurt anyone. It was just a mistake. I… a few months ago my wife and I were walking home from an alchemy conference when we were attacked. The guy had a knife and… god there was so much blood and there was nothing I could… and she… well, I'm sure you can guess. I started research bio-alchemy, I thought that I could find a way to make sure that no one had to die the same way. But it just, it wouldn't work. I found those teenagers after they had already been hurt- there is a low level gang war going on around these parts, so many victims on all sides. But I couldn't help. I just made it all worse, and suddenly I was being hunted as a killer…"

"And let me guess, when we showed up you panicked?"
"Pretty much, I wasn't thinking straight when I grabbed you. I just figured I needed some sort of leverage to avoid getting shot on sight."
"I will say it again- you really are a moron."
"Believe me, I am well aware. I had no idea you were an alchemist."
"Yeah, you just saw an easy target." There was no mistaking the note of bitterness in her voice. They lapsed into silence.

…

Mustang's group arrived at the site of the collapse and practically jumped out of the car before it had even come to a full stop. They all seemed to freeze at the view of total destruction before them. Military rescue units were swarming all over the mess of bricks and steel like ants, attempting to coordinate a search effort to see if there was anyone trapped within the wreckage.

Havoc had been getting a hasty report from the captain of one of the crews, and hurried to share what they had so far with the others. "Apparently it was brought down from the inside- transmutation marks on the bricks show it was definitely done by alchemy. So far they haven't found any casualties, but apparently this section of the city is known for having extensive underground systems. They are trying to dig some form of tunnel to see if anyone got trapped down there."

Hearing that, Al turned to the Colonel. "I'm going to go help them. If I know my sister she is most likely somewhere underneath all that. I can help find her."
Mustang didn't try to protest- it made sense, and was exactly what the older Elric needed to be doing at that moment so as not to go crazy with worry. "Go for it, your alchemy would probably be useful for their tunnel idea. Just be careful- our suspect could also be somewhere close by and we don't need anything else to go wrong in this situation."

The boy nodded and hurried off. The rest of them surveyed the wreckage, all wondering the same thing. Was there really a chance that Ed was still alive somewhere under there?

…

The relative quiet of the underground room was broken once again by the sound of shifting rubble and a sharp, pained gasp. Ed gritted her teeth and once again made an attempt to push at the weight which had her pinned across her chest. It felt like rough wood under her fingertips, possibly some sort of support beam, no doubt very thick and heavy. She had no idea how it hadn't already crushed her- probably being propped up by the rest of this mess.

"What are you doing?" the voice of the man who had gotten them into this state echoed oddly around the changed dimensions of the room, giving her a vague image of how the various piles of rubble were likely placed. It didn't really help much though if she couldn't get out from under this blasted beam.
"I am trying to work myself loose." Shifting again brought a sudden stab of pain through her torso. Dammit, probably a busted rib or two. "What condition are you in?"
"Honestly? I think I am pretty lucky. As far as I can tell no major injuries, my ankle is sore but seems sprained rather than broke. I have one arm pinned but am wary about shifting around too much to try and get free. I don't know if moving will bring the rest of this down on top of both of us."

Ed snorted at that answer. Of course he would be the lucky one. Then again, neither of them were dead or apparently dying. "Alright, well I have no idea where the hell we are, but collapsing buildings tend to draw a fair amount of attention so there will likely be rescue crews already working. We just need to find a way to guide them to us." Somehow she was able to keep her voice calm, sensing the heartbeat of her fellow prisoner evening out slightly in response to the tone. Somehow she seemed to have taken on the role of adult in this situation. She couldn't resist a breathy chuckle at that thought.

"So, I think it would be best if you worked yourself free- I don't think it will cause a collapse so long as you are careful, and it would definitely be useful to have one of us able to move around."
The only response was the sound of shifting bricks and occasional pained grunts as he seemed to follow her directions. With the man occupied, she once again reached out with her senses to try and get a better picture of their situation.

The sound of their own breathing, their own heartbeats, both slightly accelerated from the fear which was a strong scent in the air. Ignoring the crunch of moving rocks from the man's direction, her hearing strained to its very limit… there! Very faint, but there was definitely something, a crunching of metal and stone, the faintest echo of commanding voices. Yes! They were coming! And… there, a faintly flickering shadow of alchemical feedback. She knew that signature. Nobody else it could be. Her brother was coming.

A small yell of triumph brought her focus back to the room as her companion apparently managed to work himself free without killing them both in a deadly cave in. Obviously miracles did sometimes happen. Unsteady footsteps drew close to her position and then his voice came from somewhere to her right.
"Blimey you really are caught fast. It's hard to tell with just the lamplight but it seems that there are two beams- one pinning you, resting on the other at an angle which is holding it up and keeping you in one piece. I can't see any way to move it without bringing the rest of this place down on top of us."
"That's alright, just don't shift anything around me and I will be ok. Listen, the rescue crews are coming, sound not too far off in fact, and my brother is with them. You need to find some way to guide them to us."

He hummed for a minute in thought, then once again shifted away from her side. Moments later a harsh rapping filled the space, the unmistakable noise of a rock repeatedly striking a pipe in an SOS pattern. Ed grit her teeth. This had better work to get them rescued or else she would kill him herself for giving her the headache that was blossoming behind her eyes.

…

Al pulled up short half way through sketching an array for shifting a particularly troublesome section of wall, hastily motioning for the rest of the workers to shut up. Almost immediately silence fell. He strained his ears, he could have sworn he had heard… there! Heads snapped towards his direction as the faint metallic rapping echoed across the collapse site, and suddenly everyone was swarming the immediate area.

It was Mustang's barked orders that got everyone back in order, working with the chief of the rescue teams to redirect their efforts towards the section of rubble that Al managed to zone in on as the source of the noise. With the sound as their locating beacon it was almost painfully simple for a transmutation circle to be drawn which formed a small tunnel through the wreckage into what seemed to have been some sort of basement room. And suddenly they could hear voices floating up to them.

Al almost fell to his knees in relief as a male voice shouted up that Ed was alive, confirmed a moment later by her own yell that there had better be something to eat when they got out as she was starving. That drew a slight breath of laughter from Havoc who muttered under his breath something about buying her a banquet when they got her free. They quickly outlined their situation, the man describing exactly how Ed was trapped which seemed to cause some worried frowns on the faces of the rescue teams. When Al asked what was wrong, they explained how with the beams balanced so precariously any attempt to create a wide enough escape route could result in a cave in which would crush the girl before they could reach her.

Possibilities flashed through his mind, and suddenly struck gold in a memory from just a few days prior. Hastily he ripped out a page of his ever present notebook and sketched the design of an array. Mustang peered over his shoulder, recognising the circle after a couple of moments and sent a questioning look at the younger man.
"She is in there with an alchemist. He can activate it."
"It is going to have to take a lot more force than a few thrown office supplies."
"It will work." There was utter conviction in his tone. Mustang nodded.

The note was wrapped around a stick of chalk and thrown down the access route previously made. "Draw this around Ed, make sure she is at the middle before you activate it. It will keep the beams from falling on her whilst we excavate an escape route for both of you."
"Brother you are a genius!" the boy smiled softly as his sister's voice came echoing up to them.

Mustang stood back and watched as confirmation was given that the shield array had been activated and seemed to be holding. He bore witness as the alchemist on the rescue crew carefully crafted a new tunnel which was wide enough for him to crawl in so as to secure the room, then re-emerge with two figures caked in brick dust and smeared with dirt. Lieutenant Hawkeye had stepped smartly forwards to lock the cuffs onto the risks of the man who had caused all this chaos, and who didn't stop apologising the whole time as he was led away to the waiting MPs.

And at long last he saw as Edythe was eventually cleared by the paramedics after having her ribs wrapped, to be instantly enveloped in the world's gentlest bear hug from her older brother who didn't even try to fight back the tears in his eyes.