That Blasted Red Stone pt. XI
By Icka! M. Chif


+++ Edward +++

"So..." Mustang gave him a grin that was one part mischief, one part smug bastard, add a dash of malice and stir. "Hear the latest about your guest?"

Ed gave him a thoughtful look as he sprawled out on the couch. Since Saguru had been with him all day, that left "Kitty?"

Mustang nodded. Ed frowned. What had the thief been up to now?

The Colonel folded his fingers, leaning forward in the manner of someone who had some very very good news and was all too smug about it. "Our dear thief got cabin fever and expressed is wishes to explore the city. With the understanding he'd keep a low profile and someone was to accompany him at all times."

"I'd heard about that." Saguru had been the go between for that and had mentioned it during one of their walks. While Ed didn't mind the other boy, he just... wasn't Al. And he missed Al's calming presence around him.

"Did you happen to hear who the escort was?"

"No."

Mustang's grin turn lazy. "Armstrong."

Ed blinked. Oh... dear.

"It appears 'low profile' got lost somewhere in translation." Mustang leaned back in the chair, committing himself to the telling of the story. "Between the strangely coloured glasses, the brightly coloured shirt with clovers on it and him bouncing around asking 'Vas ist das?' he caught a number of people's attention. Quite the talk of the town."

"I'm sure that Armstrong did nothing to attract attention either." Ed smirked. "After all, he's very low profile himself."

An eyebrow rose. Touché. "He decided to take the next couple of days off." Mustang drawled. "After a comment about 'herding cats', I suspect he'll spend them recovering."

"I'm sure." He chuckled.

"In other news." Mustang's face went serious again, not that he'd showed much amusement before. "How are things on your end."

Ed ran a gloved hand across the top of his head and tugged on the hairs. It helped distract him form the minor headache. "I think I may have found how to send them back." He said cautiously.

Mustang smiled. "Excellent."

"I'm not positive, however." He tugged on scalp again. The older books were harder to read, partly because of the archaic language and partly because of the faded or in some cases, invisible, text.

"And if it does?" The eyebrow rose again, this time questioning.

He sighed. "Then we all go back." Kitty and Saguru to their world, he and Al back to the Rockwell's. And from there... he wasn't sure. They'd figure out something.

But that was IF the array worked, IF the combined Pandora/Philosopher's stone worked the way he hoped, IF things didn't screw up. If, if, if, if, if.

Ed was starting to hate 'if'.

Mustang chuckled at him, not unkindly, but he felt his hackles rise anyway. "Go get some rest. And keep me informed on your progress."

He shot him a dark glare, but rose to his feet. "Yeah, yeah." He grumbled. "Later."

Mustang waved him out. Ed rolled his eyes and staggered to his feet.

He'd follow Armstrong's example. Sleep first, eat, then deal with creating the frikkin' huge array.

+++ Kaitou Kid ++

He nearly fell out of the tree. "You're kidding."

Hakuba shook his head. "Rarely. You should know that by now."

Kaito grinned, hanging by the tree branch by his knees so he could look the detective eye to upside down eye. "Edward's figured out how to send us home!?"

"He thinks so." Hakuba said cautiously.

"Wahoo!" He cheered, straightening his legs and allowing gravity to pull him down. He caught the ground with his hands, using his momentum to roll back up onto his feet. He gave Hakuba a big grin before running into the house. "Edward-kun! Alphonse-kun!"

The brothers looked up from the papers they had scattered around the living room. He gave Alphonse a huge bear hug, or at least as much of one as he could being the diminutive size he was and considering the giant armour boy's bulk, then grabbed Edward and tried to swing him around in a circle. Edward was a lot heavier than he looked, so he settled for a happy glomp and rubbing his knuckles into the blonde's hair.

Alphonse looked pleased by the reaction, although sometimes it was hard to tell. Edward elbowed him in response, but had a happy look in his eyes as he grumbled something good-naturedly in that harsh language of his.

"Kid." Hakuba chided from the doorway. "Let them study. They still need time."

Alphonse protested, saying something about morning. He patted him on the head and skipped out anyway. Better to let the brains do what they were best at and study rather than end up some place strange.

Correction, stranger.

"You're really happy to be heading home, aren't you?" Hakuba commented dryly, following him as he bounced back outside. Gracia's house was nice and all, but he preferred the openness of the backyard.

"They're nice people and all, but yes." He nodded. "I'd really rather prefer if my retirement started at home instead of here."

The detective frowned. "You're serious about that, retiring?"

"Oh, yes." Yes, yes, yes. A thousand times yes. While he enjoyed being the Kid, sometimes he thought he enjoyed it a bit too much. The thief was taking over his life, leaving Kuroba Kaito floating around unfettered.

He knew what Kid could do. It was time to focus and see what he could do as himself, not his father's shadow.

And if nothing else, this trip had proved he really didn't care to live with the shadow of suspicion laying over all of his actions for the rest of his life. He liked the freedom that came with no one constantly looking at his every move. And Pandora was safe enough with Alphonse and Edward, if their actions and his gut instinct was any indication. He liked the brothers.

Hakuba didn't look so pleased by it. In fact, he looked downright depressed by the thought. "I'll miss you." He said cryptically, patting Kaito on the upper arm companionably before turning to head back into the house. "You might want to head to sleep a little early tonight. We're going to be busy tomorrow, saying goodbye and drawing the array."

Kaito watched him go, then turned to watch the sun set and wait for the stars to come out.

Even the stars were unfamiliar...

+++ Alphonse +++

"I think we're ready." Brother looked a little tired, but determined. The array was huge, over twice as long as Al was tall, but finally complete. And it looked similar to what he could remember of the flash of light that brought their guests to them.

It was amazing what a little bit of hard work and a lot of research could accomplish.

"Where's Kitty?" He asked, looking around. Saguru grumbled something by his position by the door, keeping an eye on the entrance.

"He'd better be here." Brother snapped.

Saguru cleared his throat. "He will be."

On cue, the door opened and a white shadow slipped in, a huge grin on the thief's face. Saguru glared at him. Kitty whispered something in the detective's ear, Al making out the words 'Mustang' and 'Whoopie Cushion'. Saguru's eyebrows rose, then he closed his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose in a pained expression. "I think we'd better leave as expediently as possible."

Brother chuckled. "Oh, I don't know... It's kind of nice to see someone else in trouble with him other than me."

Kitty made a twisting motion with one hand and a fist size red stone appeared. The thief waggled his eyebrows at them. "Okay then," Brother punched a fist into the palm of one hand. "Ready to go?"

Their tearful goodbyes to the Hughes family had already been said, Elysica hadn't wanted to let them go and Gracia had fretted over them. Their thanks and farewells to Mustang and Armstrong had already been passed on, it was just them that needed to say goodbye.

Kitty handed the stone over to Brother. "Doo arigatou."

Brother blinked. "Uh?"

"Thank you." Saguru translated, pushing himself off the wall. "That goes for me too. The stone is yours."

Brother smiled, taking the stone. "You're welcome." He and Kitty shook hands, grinning like madmen.

Saguru held his hand out to Al, smiling. Al shook it, making a pleased sound. "Good luck."

"Same to you."

He found himself with a Kitty plastered against his back. "Thank you." Kitty said sincerely, patting his head. "Safe."

"You're most welcome." It wasn't often that he invoked a sense of safety for someone instead of terror. Kitty beamed at him. Behind them, Brother and Saguru made their goodbyes.

Kitty slipped off his back with one last friendly pat, the others straightening as well. "Stand in the middle." Brother instructed, placing the stone in a circle at one edge of the array. The two foreigners carefully made their way to the centre, not touching any of the lines as he and Brother took their positions at the other two circles.

"Ready?" Brother yelled.

Saguru grabbed Kitty's arm. "As we're going to be." Kitty nodded, grabbing Saguru in return.

"Okay. Al?"

He nodded. He and Brother placed their hands on the array, the lines glowing blue, then purple and finally red as the stone began to glow as well. It grew brighter, then with a flash of light, they were gone.

Brother slumped backwards, taking a deep breath. "Whew." They had done it. Hopefully the others were where they belonged.

Al rose. "Brother, the stone is still here."

"What?" In a heartbeat, Brother was next to him, examining the still large glimmering stone. "Yes!" Brother began a happy dance that involved much wiggling and throwing of fists into the air. Al laughed, picking up the stone.

The door opened, Colonel Mustang entering, holding a large pink cushion with a sour expression. "They're gone, Colonel." Al informed him. The Colonel nodded, distracted by Brother's gyrations.

Brother tapped his shoulder with the automail arm, making a gong sound. "Ready, Al?" He grinned, the promise of the end of their quest glowing in his eyes.

Al could practically feel a heart beating in his chest again.

"Yes."

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