Seven raced down the streets, transmuting the ground behind her as she ran. Behind her, two unknown figures hopped over each of her transmutations and continued to chase her.
Seven turned a corner and disappeared into a crowd of people. The figures probably lost her at that point, so she sighed in relief.
However, her peace was short-lived as the two figures from before quickly began to rush through the crowd and straight to her!
"You've gotta be kidding!" She groaned as she pushed through the crowd, though she was much slower than the two figures and they began to gain on her.
Eventually, she broke through the crowd and onto a less populated street, "Dammit Lieutenant! Any day now!" She grumbled to herself.
Atop a roof, Ross laid still, waiting for Seven and the two figures to come within her range, and, as they did so, she fired!
At first, the shot seemed to do nothing more than slow them down, but soon, they began to light up like a firework.
Before long, the figure crumpled to the ground, never to walk again. Ross fired again, this time into the next figure, burning it to a crisp just like before.
Ross wiped the sweat off her brow and looked down to Seven, who held her hand up to Ross, probably giving a thumbs up, but Ross wasn't able to see that far.
Eventually, Ross had climbed down the building and met back up with Seven, adrenaline was pumping through both of them.
"'Bout time, Lieutenant," Seven snickered, "They almost had me!"
Ross smirked, "You handled yourself well… Either way, care to take a look at those things? They're freaky,"
Seven walked over to one of the crumpled up figures, it was hard to tell what it even was by this point.
Seven placed a hand on the figure and a light erupted upon contact. As she pulled her hand back, she grasped on to a red stone.
She looked at her palm, and there it sat, the stone that gave these things life, there was no doubt about what this could be.
"Who'd of thought that these would be real!" Seven giggled, "Oh, if Auria could see it now, she'd be amazed,"
"What is it exactly?" Ross asked, "Looks like it'd kill me if I got close enough to it," She murmured.
"This, Lieutenant, is what the kids call a Philosopher's Stone!" Seven exclaimed, "Basically, it holds all you'd need to perform whatever Alchemy you want, all in the palm of your hands, with some exceptions, probably,"
"You think it'd be able to bring back a human?" Ross asked.
"Nah, I don't think so… No matter what, Alchemy has never been able to bring back the dead or kill death itself, so I don't think it's as powerful as Alchemists and non-Alchemists tend to believe,"
"Then what exactly would it allow you to do that you couldn't originally?" Ross inquired, clearly still processing the information given to her.
"Well, say for example that you committed a taboo so outlandish that you were punished by the gods for your misdeeds and wanted to find a way to fix your problem…" Seven snickered, "Then this little thing would be your best friend… Though it doesn't seem like a full philosopher's stone… Every book on it depicts it as a darker shade than this..."
"How exactly do you even make one?" Ross asked.
Seven just shrugged, "No idea, some sources say it's a four step program, others turn it into twelve, I think some say there's three steps, but I got no idea, really,"
Seven dusted herself off, "Either way… Let's get going, I need to give Auria a piece of my mind for leaving us in the dust like that,"
"You don't give up, do you?" The figure asked the now bloodied and bruised Auria, "It's just been a half hour of the same,"
"Well, I'm quite stubborn," Auria half-joked, "Besides, I gotta keep people safe, be the person they never had in their lives,"
"I don't get what's so great about being human, it's just not all that great, you know? Honestly, I don't know why you don't just give up," The figure replied.
"You see… Humans are born to learn to live, and to learn to live a good life, so no, I can't ever give up on trying to make things right," Auria proclaimed, "At least, that's how I see things,"
"Idiotic," The figure simply stated before heaving a sign, "Regardless, can't kill you outright here… We'll meet again, Godless Alchemist," The figure added before transmuting the wall to his right, opening it and leaping from the train.
Auria stared as he leapt from the train, but was too exhausted to give chase. She rested against a crate, cradling her staff between her legs and letting it lean on her shoulder.
Auria heaved a sigh, "Oof, that was stressful…" She murmured to herself, curling further into a ball. Before she knew it however, she had begun to tear up. Why was that? There wasn't any reason for her to be sad!
She shivered for a moment before resting her head on the crate and closing her eyes and cried to herself for a while.
Auria exited the train, carrying her large and heavy trunk with her. She finally made it! The World Tree stood just in front of her- a tree that could be seen from any point in Ikaria. One that pierced the Heavens with its very existence.
"Man, if only Grenadier Senwell could see this! I'll have so many stories to tell him when I get back!" Auria exclaimed.
"And what of your old man?" A voice from one of her blind spots asked, "Come now, I can't have escaped your memory already,"
Auria turned to face the source of the voice, and there he stood, Edward Fulbar, her father. It was the first time in a long while that she had seen him.
"Ah, happy late birthday," He said, "I was going to go look for you for your fifteenth birthday but… Fate had other plans for me that day,"
Auria sort of stared at her father. She knew what he was planning, knew that she could stop it right now, but… She couldn't bring herself to do anything, she wasn't decisive enough.
"Mm… Since you've come all this way, I assume it wasn't for nothing," Edward said before heaving a sigh, "You know, don't you?"
This question snapped Auria back into reality, "Yeah…" She grumbled, "I know… Had to do something though… Even if you won't change your mind,"
Edward heaved another sigh, "Oh, Little Rabbit, there are so many things about Alchemy that you've never thought about… Never considered… But trust me, I do this for both of us, I wouldn't go through this if I didn't have your best interest at heart,"
"Shut up!" Auria shouted out, "Don't give me that bullshit! You know damn well what'll happen! It's clear as day that even the best of Alchemists can't revive the dead!"
"Well I-" Edward started.
"No!" Auria exclaimed, tears now visibly welling in her eyes, "You don't understand…" She whimpered, "I don't want to lose you too… I couldn't live with myself if I lost you… You're the only family I have left!"
Edward heaved a sigh and placed a hand on Auria's shoulder, "Alright… I hear you…" He murmured, Edward was careful to choose his next words carefully, "How about we spend the rest of the day sightseeing?"
Late in the night, after all lights were out, and not a sound echoed through the small house that Edward owned, he descended down a flight of stairs, making sure to close the door behind him, and performing Alchemy to seal the door shut for the time being, it wouldn't be long, but it would be long enough.
However, unbeknownst to him, Auria had also awoken, funnily enough, around the same time as he had, so she noticed his leaving.
Edward drew a transmutation circle in the middle of the room, it wasn't a large room, but it was large enough to fit a transmutation circle which itself was large enough to fit at least two full-grown humans inside of it.
Auria, yawning and half-asleep, tried to open the door, her dad was being weird and she wanted to make sure he was okay, but upon seeing that it was locked, she tried to use Alchemy on it, to no effect.
Meanwhile Edward held the Philosopher's Stone in his hand and let it fall into the middle of his transmutation circle. He then bit his finger and allowed his blood to flow into the chalice. He swished it around for a while before tilting it over and allowing the blood to drop onto the transmutation circle, and it spread around the entire circle.
Just outside the door, Auria rammed her shoulder into it, "Dad!" She rammed her shoulder into it again, "Ouchies… Dad! Don't do it!"
"Don't worry, I'll bring your mother back! I promise!" Edward exclaimed.
Auria again slammed into the door, "Ouch! Dammit!" She inhaled sharply, "Dad! You know what's gonna happen! You know!"
Edward didn't respond to this, instead dropping to his knees and placed his hands onto the transmutation circle. It was succeeded by a large flash of light that lit up each crevice of the room, but almost instantly faded away. The transmutation circle darkened, a sign of complete failure, and something Auria knew well.
With almost perfect timing, Auria finally rammed her shoulder into the door for a final time, forcing it open.
She looked on in horror, the transmutation had already happened. It was gone, and her father sat in the center, completely silent.
Auria walked closer to him, and he looked over to Auria, "I'm sorry…" He sighed, "You were right,"
Auria dropped to her knees and hugged her father, "It's okay, dad… What did you lose? What did it take?"
Edward inhaled deeply, "A few organs…" He half-joked, "Nothing too serious,"
"Then we're in the same boat, dad…" Auria murmured, "Never told you, but I tried somethin' similar… Lost a lung for that one,"
"I guess breaking the rules runs in the family," Edward smirked, "Khara would be proud of who you've become, you know… She loved you with all her heart,"
"But are you proud of me?" Auria asked.
"Of course I am," Edward almost instantly said, "We both loved you with all our hearts… There's no question about that,"
Auria nuzzled up closer to Edward, "I love you, dad…"