C32: The Blood Alchemists

Alan crossed his fingers and placed his hand on the table, waiting for the reply. He needed to know what kind of threat they were going against, and also, he had no idea what the bloodstone was.

Rick took the mug in front of him and took a sip before he began.

"The Blood Stone... Is a power of an unknown magic, the magic of re-life... as they say. With this power, you can bring back a person from the dead. But they say that you need to be destined to achieve that power... And to this day, none of them succeeded. However, the power emitted by this bloodstone can be used for another thing... Blood Alchemy. Manipulating the blood within another's body... We have some leads for these Blood Alchemists."

Rick explained the situation. But, none of them had hardly known these fields of alchemy, except Alan.

"Hmm... Blood Alchemy, huh?" Alan brushed his chin from his hand, wondering about this.

'Blood Alchemy... The manipulation of one's blood. That's good...' he thought to himself. But Alan wasn't the only one who had an idea.

'Blood Alchemy, the members who went to Elrion did not return. Endier said that their deaths were unnatural and it was caused by destroying his body system within. This was... Blood Alchemy?'

She wondered about this, not stepping up to say anything to them though.

"Ok then... There you have it! The Blood Alchemists... But I have the most wonderful clue." Katie muttered pridefully.

"Hmm?" Alan turned to the sister, narrowing his eyes at her. "Go on."

She smirked and said, "The Blood Alchemists... Are an organization that lives within this very town!"

Gasp! Everyone gasped upon hearing this. None of them thought that they could exist in such a peaceful town as West Lake. Maybe the constant rebel attacks, but not something like this.

"The ones called Blood Alchemists are within this town?" Alan repeated her answer, to ensure that he heard it correctly.

It was hard to believe that such an organization would exist in a place like this but at the same time... Why not? It's a secret organization hiding in plain sight.

"Yes... The Blood Alchemists are within this very town. Yet, we do not know where exactly!" She said.

Alan smirked upon hearing these words. 'Just how many organizations were running under my nose?' He thought, shaking his head.

However, Rick didn't seem to like the amused expression on Alan's face.

"What's so funny?"

Alan glanced at Rick and smiled. "Nothing... Just seems too interesting," he said.

"Oh, is it? Well then... Let's get to work. Since all of us can't go because of the heavy security of the knights, we should choose 4 of us... Including me, and Alan." Rick raised his mug as he declared the plan.

"Me!" His sister was the first to count in with the team. Rick didn't argue there, cause he knew that his sister was good news when it comes to missions.

"I'm a little tired... So not me." Elijah spoke.

She wasn't one to simply skip a mission, but unlike other days, she skipped. Everyone got anxious about this.

"Who's next?" Rick asked, looking at the faces of the team. Owl didn't seem to be in if Elijah wasn't. Luke, Lucy, Riza, and Winry seemed to be the ones who were interested in tagging along.

The four looked at each other.

"Ughh..."

"Winry! I'd like to take Winry along... Since she's the most powerful one here," Alan said, smiling at Winry.

However, Lucy and Riza got a bit mad upon hearing this. They wanted to tag along, just as much as Winry did.

Though, Riza had another suspicion... Because of the indirect kiss, Alan and Winry shared on the boat at the battle with the lightning dragon.

"Mmmm..." Riza mumbled angrily, looking away.

"It's decided then. Also, everyone should keep their heads down. Midnight is in town." Rick warned the team before standing back up to take his leave.

"We're leaving right now, Winry... Alan and..." he glared at his sister like she was his worst enemy. "Sister."

"Hmph!" Katie huffed pridefully.

Alan looked at this and shook his head. 'Kids... Always like this.'

However, Elijah who chose to stay behind had a plan of her own. She volunteered to stay behind because she had a case to look into, by herself.

The case of the Midnight. She didn't want to drag everyone into this, but she needed to know why they were after the Woodland Foxes.

Especially... Why only her?

And she knew exactly who to take for this mission. 'Hmm... Cute Owl would do well in this mission.' She told herself.

"Hey Owl," Elijah called out to Owl.

A shiver ran up his spine when he heard Elijah speaking his name.

Owl turned around as if he had heard an angel's voice behind him. Though, for him, Elijah was more than an angel.

The owl blinked twice, not able to speak to her face to face. He could barely make eye contact with her.

"Owl... I need you to come with me today! Deal?" She asked from him, beaming at him.

'No... Elijah asked me... out –'

'Impossible!'

'Am I dreaming?'

"Ahh, Owl!? Aren't you coming... If you don't, I'll drag you out, hehe..." she smirked at him and grabbed him by the arm.

"Come on!!!" The innocent Owl was dragged out of the inn by Elijah. Everyone stared at this, dumbfounded.

"Damn... Only us three left." Riza looked at Luke and Lucy who was sitting beside her. "What the hell should we do now?"

Suddenly, Luke happened to notice something. Something the others didn't notice until now... There was one missing face easily overlooked in a crowd.

"Wait... Where's Aether?"

***

"Now... Will you tell us where Captain Leaf is?" The two strangers asked from Aether who was hung up by a rope, with both his hands tied.

"I don't know what fucking shit you want... I'm just an ordinary thief. I thought that owl was delivering a letter of mine." Aether spoke, coughing out a handful of blood.

"You climb up the tower, blow the faint whistle, and signal the owl... And yet you say that you aren't one of them, how foolish do you think I am?"

'Fuck... These bastards... I'm sorry, Captain. But I think I might die here.' Aether closed his eyes and slowly answered him...

"I don't know."

Bash! The men who had kidnapped him bashed his chest by an enormous club once more.

Finally, Aether was out cold.

The two strangers standing in front of him were members of the midnight. However, one of them was a girl.

She pulled out her mask and revealed her face.

Beneath the mask, it was a wonderfully beautiful girl with red hair and a perfectly fair complexion.

"Lord Ray... He's not giving off the Captain Leaf, or her location... Shall we kill him?"

The girl asked the man, sitting on the chair in the shadows.

"No, Claire... We can use him as bait to trick the captain in here... Or we may even not need to trick her... She'll just come here in time. Just remember... Don't let your guard down, and keep searching the city. They are trouble."

"Yes sir!" The girl and her partner beside her saluted him before taking their leave.

The man sitting in the dark stood up. Yet, the sorrow inside him didn't leave him. He just wanted to kill more and more... till he was able to correct everything.

'Haa...' he sighed. 'I will find a way for you all. But to do that, Foxes... You must die.'