Fullmetal Alchemist Fan Fiction / Cowboy Bebop Fan Fiction ❯ Once More, With Pirates ❯ So Cold ( Chapter 18 )

A/N: GAH! I went kinda slow writing this chapter. I was trying to put it off as long as possible, for one reason… My descriptive is my weaker point, and the first scene in this chapter could only be descriptive… almost no dialogue. Hopefully I did it justice.

 

Well, anyhow… I'm going to keep the word count running, even though I already crossed the NaNo finish line. Just to see how long this thing ends up being. I have a feeling it's liable to end up longer than the first one. Be afraid!

 

Chapters: 18

Word Count, This Chapter: 2703

Word Count Total: 53,090

 

So Cold

 

Show me how it ends, it's all right; Show me how defenseless you really are; Satisfied and empty inside; Well that's alright; Let's give this another try - Breaking Benjamin (We Are Not Alone)

 

“A sluice,” Fullmetal said as he took a precious instant to survey the terrain outside the crawlspace. “Short drop, too.” He clapped and touched the rock just outside the mouth of the tunnel, then slid out head-first. He kept a grip on the wall just below the mouth, flipped upright as soon as his feet were free, and dropped

 

Spike heard the boy grunt from the landing, then a moment later, he was poking his own head out of the space. He looked down, and saw that the drop was only about seven feet. Easy enough; especially since the boy had managed to create a hand-grip in the rockface. It was a small ledge, but there was enough room for the two of them.

 

The majority of the chamber was visible, thanks to the low lighting throughout, and it gave them a good idea of what they were in for.

 

“There's still power down here?” Spike said, as he shimmied out of the crawlspace to his waist and leaned down.

 

“Yeah. Looks like the quakes haven't affected this area much, at all,” Fullmetal said, as he looked around.

 

As Spike was pulling his legs out of the crawlspace, the boy leaned a little over the edge and looked down. “I just need to figure out how we're gunna get down from here, without falling in that.”

 

The problem was the mouth of the sluice was aimed over a reservoir, 20 feet below, and made of smooth metal. And the reservoir was full of the same contaminated water that was trying to break through the makeshift dam. They needed a solution quickly before Fullmetal's dam broke.

 

“I can make some stairs in the rockface,” the boy said. “Not too hard.”

 

Spike lowered himself gingerly down on the sluice. With his height, he didn't have to drop, but that didn't stop the explosion of pain as soon as he put weight on his injured ankle.

 

The extra weight on the mouth of the sluice caused it to groan, and sag under them. The recoil when it snapped back up was felt the most in Spike's ankle. He reacted instinctively, jerking away from the pain, and unbalancing Fullmetal just as the boy was about to clap. He slipped and tumbled over the curved side of the sluice. But like a cat, he managed to flip in mid-air and catch the edge with his hands.

 

The sudden change in weight distribution caused the sluice to sag even further, forcing Spike's feet out from under him. He started sliding toward the edge and blindly searched for something to grasp onto as he back-pedaled with his feet. He caught himself on the sides, and pulled himself backwards; feeling every muscle in his arms straining and popping at the exertion.

 

He could see over the side enough to see the fear on the boy's face. Not that he blamed the kid, any. No one was sure what concentrated exposure to that reddish water would do to a person.

 

There was another dangerous rumbling sound, much louder than before, and accompanied by groaning and snapping overhead. Both Spike and Fullmetal looked up, and saw the front of the floodcrest erupt from the mouth of the tunnel, shoving debris ahead of it. In the instant before they were hit Spike saw the look on Fullmetal's face as they locked eyes. Unspeakable terror, then resignation.

 

The sudden force of the flood snapped the sluice, and they were airborne. The last thing Spike saw before he hit the rank, contaminated water in the lake below, was Fullmetal; drenched, falling limply above him, and crackling with bolts of blue-white energy.

 

The turbulence created by the falling water forced him deep into the reservoir, and kept him from easily swimming away. It was only by sheer luck alone that he wasn't smashed to the bottom by debris; but the pressure of the turbulence was squeezing on his lungs, and he was growing desperate for air. He had been rolled and tumbled so badly, that he wasn't even sure which way was up, and as much as he didn't want to, he forced himself to open his eyes.

 

The water, while a rich red in colour, was at least semi-clear. It was also bright enough for him to see the bottom, and use his good foot to launch himself toward the surface. He needed to get to Fullmetal, knowing the boy would be weighted down by the automail, but he desperately needed air first.

 

His kicked and swam for the surface, feeling the ache in his ankle every time he used it to propel himself upward. His lungs were burning and the instinct to gasp was becoming compelling, but he fought it as he continued to reach for a goal that seemed to be staying just out of his reach. The sound of his own blood roared in his ears, and he felt like he was trying to swim upstream; every muscle in his body screamed in protest.

 

Just as he broke the surface of the water, the bright light went out; but he barely noticed as he took great heaving gasps to fill his air-starved lungs. As he tread water and searched for the closest shore, he gradually noticed that the silence around him was almost complete. He could hear the red water sloshing, echoing drips in the enormous chamber, and his own ragged breathing, but nothing else. There was a sudden sense of tension; like the air just before a violent storm erupted.

 

It was that moment that Spike understood that the brightness of the light while he was underwater had nothing to do with someone rigging anything up in the reservoir. It had come from Fullmetal.

 

The thought barely formed, when an enormous amount of energy burst up from the middle of the man-made lake in a huge, violent bubble. The water parted and the eye of the energy spread in a cyclone of excited particles throwing water and debris out from the nexus; with Fullmetal unconscious at the center.

 

Spike was caught in the shockwave with the red water, and hurled out of the reservoir, then slammed with incredible force against a wall of the chamber. He fought to keep consciousness as he slid down, and landed with a wet splat on the ground. He struggled to lift himself up, but his body gave out, and his face hit cold, wet cement.

 

The desire to just give in to unconsciousness was warring with the urgency to find Fullmetal, and it was beginning to win out. The painfully bright cyclone that was spreading out from the center of the basin blurred, and blackness tried to take over. Spike struggled to get up again, and once more, collapsed.

 

Heartbreak, and shame flooded him; for a promise broken, and friendship about to be lost. He knew if he couldn't get to the boy he would die, but his body refused to understand the logic. The sadness was slowly being replaced by frustration and anger at the idea that he was so weak that he would just lay there; not try to save the one person he trusted enough to take a blood oath with. The one person who put unquestioning trust in him.

 

That anger burned within him, and gave him the energy to pull himself up, and hobble toward the edge of the reservoir. Slowly… so slowly. He grit his teeth, and growled low, determined to reach Fullmetal. His friend… his brother.

 

The force of the cyclone was stronger as he came closer to the edge; nearly pushing him back more than once. Nothing but determination kept him moving forward. He was splattered with needle-sharp droplets of red water that felt like it was etching the surface of his skin away, and pelted with tiny bits of debris and sand that moved with the velocity of a bullet; scouring at the pressure suit and embedding into his flesh. He could feel blood mingled with filthy water in his boots, making his footing slippery; adding to the problem of keeping his balance in the near gale-force winds.

 

He reached the edge of the empty lake, and shielded his eyes against the intensity of the light in the nexus. He could barely see the supine form in the center, but he hoped the boy was still alive.

 

The sides were sheer; Spike had no choice but to free-fall down. He dropped, tucked and rolled, and felt new paroxysms of pain through his body. An anguished cry burst out of him, and he lay on the floor a moment, gasping like a fish out of water.

 

Some instinct made him flatten himself on the floor, and he felt the wind as something whistled over him, and embed itself into the side of the enormous tank. He dared a glance, and saw a long metal spear; rough and sloppy. It quickly began to disintegrate in a shower of sparks, and retreat back into the center of the cyclone. A thrill of horror shot through Spike when he realized that it was Fullmetal's automail that had been the source, and the boy's alchemy was dangerously out of control. He kept low, and crept along the floor toward him, flinching and dodging as more alchemized projectiles flew at him.

 

At the center of the nexus he reached out, and it felt like he was piercing a membrane. The cyclone resisted his efforts to penetrate it, and nearly succeeded. Once inside though, there was calm, and he collapsed on the boy, gasping for breath.

 

Exhaustion was slowing down his mental faculties, too, and it took a moment for him to realize that Fullmetal wasn't breathing. He lifted himself to his knees, and set back on his heels. Weakly, he peeled the breather off the boy's face, ignoring the wide, whitened eyes, and the grimace of agony.

 

Spike panted, trying to fill his lungs with enough air for two, and started CPR.

 

0o0o0

 

Beverly Crusher was alerted to three beaming directly into sick bay no more than a moment before they began to materialize; but it took her less time than that to shoo everyone out of the way.

 

There was a triage team set up on the planet's surface to handle immediate emergencies, and anyone being brought into sick bay after that was beamed into the transporter room, first. That meant that either of the alchemists was seriously injured. That also meant she was not only going to have treat Mustang or Fullmetal, but calm down an agitated suit of armor, as well.

 

She took a deep breath, and steeled herself. Alphonse waited next to her, silent, but the armor rattled nervously. Geordi and Data materialized, with an unconscious Mustang in the android's arms. As soon as the beam let them go, they were moving to get the soaking wet Colonel on an exam table. Crusher immediately started diagnostics. “What happened?” she asked.

 

“A dam broke somewhere in the last tremor,” Geordi said. “A whole lot of that contaminated water came rushing out of the crawlspace, and drenched all of us.”

 

“Apparently the chemical compound in the contaminated water has a quite violent effect on alchemists,” Data added.

 

“To put it mildly,” Crusher said. “His brain waves are all over the place. It's like they've been overloaded, and then short-circuited.”

 

“You should have seen it when it happened, Doctor,” Geordi said. “It was like he'd been super-charged, and had no control over his alchemy. Sparks flew all over the place, and he wasn't wearing his gloves.”

 

Alphonse gasped and rattled, and Crusher glanced up at him with a warm smile. “I'll make sure Colonel Mustang will be okay, Al. I promise.”

 

“Has there been any progress on discovering exactly what the contamination is?” Data asked.

 

Crusher shook her head, and set the med-scanner aside. “Not a clue, Data. Right now, for all we know, it's the next new element.” She pulled out a hypo-spray, and pressed it against Mustang's neck. A moment later, she checked him with the scanner again, and relief washed over her face.

 

“Dr Crusher?” Alphonse said. His voice sounded suddenly tiny as it echoed through the hollow suit of armor. “I think I know what that water is, now.” He faced Geordi and Data; and in a voice that slammed home the simple fact that this being in the giant suit of armor was still a very young child, asked, “Where is my brother? And Spike?”

 

Geordi stared up at Alphonse in silence a moment, tension setting his mouth in a tight, grim line. Slowly, he shook his head. “I don't know, Al,” he whispered. “I don't know.”

 

Alphonse fell against the wall, and sagged to the floor. “If Nii-san was hit with the full force of that red water…” He buried his face in his hands, and his voice was filled with anguish, as he finished the thought. “…he's dead.”

 

0o0o0

 

“I got it! I got it!” Ed shouted victoriously.

 

Jet had been at one console attempting to break codes to get into the databanks and find out what was being researched here, and the string bean was doing the same at another. It had become a race of sorts, and the ever increasing tremors just added to the urgency.

 

Riker had been attempting to get scans on the giant ring in the center, but it was hit and miss with the interference. Havoc was sitting on the bottom of the stairs, looking bored and uncomfortable, and Hughes was staring over Jet's shoulder, fascinated at the man's tenacity.

 

At Ed's announcement, everyone was now looking over her shoulder.

 

“Did you get the research info, Ed?” Jet asked.

 

She shook her head. “Nope! But I got this…” She pointed at the screen, and pulled up a schematic of the lower levels of the complex.

 

“That's something good, at least,” Riker said. “Download it to the portable, and we can use it to search for survivors.”

 

“Aye, aye, Commander!” she chirped and started to do exactly that. She suddenly scrunched up her forehead, and scratched her head. “This doesn't make much sense, though.”

 

“What's wrong, Ed?” Jet asked.

 

“Look at this,” she said, and set each level on the screen to overlay the one below it. “See? The above-ground complex is set up in a circle, like the level below, but it's at one side, instead of in the center. And it's a lot smaller.”

 

She tapped out a series of commands, and laid the two levels over a third. “And this isn't even in a circle, but a hexagon.”

 

A pattern was beginning to emerge, and it looked very similar to the logo on the door.

 

“It's illogical,” Ed said. “But that's not the reaaaaallllly weird part.”

 

She played her fingers across the keyboard once more, and pulled up another level. “Looky here! This makes no sense at all. Corridors wrap around themselves, and only have one way in and out, some of them squiggle like a snake, and don't go much of anywhere, and some places are irregular shaped chambers, and nothing more.” The schematic of the lowest level lit up, except for one small area near a place in the center that was shaped suspiciously like the symbol for infinity.

 

“Is there something wrong with the information, Ed?” Jet asked. “It looks like it's not reading that one part.”

 

“Not a thing! That part just isn't finished, yet.”

 

“Damned strange tunnel system,” Riker said.

 

“It's not a tunnel system,” Hughes said. “This whole damn complex is one huge alchemic array.”