Kotaro's parents cottage

The Kitchen of Kotaro's house exploded and the living room caught on fire. "HEY KOTARO EVERYONE IN THERE ARE YOU ALRIGHT?!" Akio yelled using his ice alchemy to try to stop the fire but it wouldn't go out no matter what he did. "Damn! alchemy fire!"

Media looked at Alpha funny. "Uh, I see...?" she blinked when the living room caught fire. "What the -, what did that man do?"

"Kotaro," she sighed. "They were going to kill me and present a clone to big brother. They were testing her out on you," she said. "So said the doctor. "Emotion-wise. So that was their plan. Essentially, you saved me."

She smiled. "Every time, you saved somebody. You shouldn't underestimate the help you give."

kyte wrote: "Damn! alchemy fire!"

(just to let you know i meant this as in normal fire that it's heat has been greatly increased with alchemy)

Alpha quickly ran to the fire. "What the hell?"

Dante sighed. "Even so." He looked at her. "I still can't get the image out of my head. The look of sadness, the sight of her dead. And I can never save anyone without another getting hurt."

Akio ran into the house. "Ok we need to evacuate NOW! the fire has obviously been tampered with by alchemy my ice alchemy can't even stop it!" he said expresionless

"I was eating here!" Proto said, mad. "Who dare do this?!" Media tried to calm him down. "O-oy, Proto, calm down," she said. "Alpha, let's just get out of here. Get Lira... and the frog."

Resha sighed. "I'm sorry you had to go through that," she said. "But no one's perfect. There will be sacrifices for one thing or another; it's like the law of alchemy, Kotaro. Don't be so hard on yourself for something you cannot control."

Alpha nodded grabbing Lira and running out the door.

Dante looked at Resha. "Humankind cannot gain anything without first giving something in return. To obtain, something of equal value must be lost. This is alchemy's first law of equivalent exchange. But the world is not run by laws. And equivalency is just a guideline. Everything you do won't disappear, it follows you till your death. And death is something alchemy has no power over." He said it with a serious attitude.

Akio looked at Proto "It was a man and i killed him already but i think he worked for the military it seems like someone wants Kotaro dead." He sad putting his arm on the flames to take them out since his arms were metal and he already lost the sleeves on his shirt.

Media and Proto were out when she suddenly remembered. "Gah! The frog!" She ran back in the burning house.

"You think so? I've lived in the military since forever, Kotaro. All my memories are of the military and I've always followed rules and laws all of my life," she said. "Maybe I'm not the best person to talk about this but one thing I'm sure of: at the very least, everything you did was not in vain. Do you really want to make the people you saved sad? You make it sound as if saving them brought you grief."

Alpha groaned and grabbed the frog as he ran out of the house.

"They were put in danger because of me Resha." He said sadly. "I try to protect them and I fail."

The fire had spread to where Kotaro and Resha were. "I hope they are alright." he said as he ran out both of his arms now rendered useless because of the heat.

[we're outside kyte, somewhere]

Media was glad the frog was safe but she was unable to find a way out of the burning house. Plus, her wounds were hurting her at a bad time. "If I don't die by the wounds, it's by fire, huh?" she shook her head, not giving up. "I'M FINE!" she yelled, hoping Proto and Alpha heard her.

"Not everyone," she said. "Me, I'm not that," she sighed. "I'm sorry, I don't know what else to say. I hope you would snap out of it. No matter what I say isn't really getting to you. Maybe I'm not saying the right things, but I'm sorry."

(i know but still if i remember correctly Kotaro's house is in a forest type area which means the fire can hit the trees)

Theta ran past Alpha and into the house. "Where are you!"

"I realize your trying to help Resha, but I don't think I will be able to fix this. I'm sorry."

"Theta, get out!" Media said. "I'm getting out myself, so get out, you cat!" she said, trying to find an exit - the entrance was already covered in flames so she resorted to the back end.

She sighed. "Yeah, I'm not much help on this one I guess. I don't know what to say else anymore. I'm going back to the military. And if it's easier for you, I'll be your enemy."

Theta screamed. "Media! Don't be so stubborn and let me help!"

"Resha...." Dante didn't know what to do. He didn't want her hurt because she was near him, but the thought of having to be her enemy. He thought of the clone again and without realizing it he hugged her. "Please....don't leave."

Akio the walked over to a pool of water and looked to the right the man had a weird bottle it was labeled "Water" Akio looked confused then looked at the note that was tied to it and it read:
"This water is the only thing that can put out the fire you have to pore it on where the missle hit for all of the fire to leave." Akio walked up to Alpha and showed him the note.

"Don't be stupid! You're gonna get fried! Look, I can handle myself. I'll be safe. Don't worry. So wait for me outside, all right?" She said, coughing from all the smoke; she really hoped that Theta would leave - she didn't want her getting hurt.

She smiled and broke the hug. "I think it's for the best though, Kotaro."

"But Media....!" Theta sighed. "Call if you need help."

Dante looked down and closed his eyes tight. "Please....Don't.....I'll never forgive myself."

Akio walked into the burning house and ran into where the kitchen was and found where the missle hit he pored the water over it exterminating the fire making it all go away but the damage was still there.

Media was rather surprised when the fire suddenly disappeared. "Huh?"

Resha shook her head. "You haven't forgiven yourself for anything, Kotaro. Besides, I was originally an enemy. If you think about it, I still am. I'm still part of the military," she said. Besides, it would be easier for him to cope for my clone's death this way.

"What!?" Theta gasped at the disappearing flames.

Dante's expression turned to one of anger."You want to be enemies? You think just because your in the military we should be?" Dante snapped. "Fine then! I guess everyone in the military is an enemy to me! I can't trust anyone anymore! If I'm enemies with you, then I'm enemies with your damned brother, and Theta, Proto, Media and Alpha, after all THEIR ALL IN THE MILITARY!" He turned his back to her. "Now get yourself and them out of here. Get away from me whille I could still hold myself back! But be warned, the next time I see any of you, I.WILL.KILL.YOU!" He kept his back turned to hide his tears.

Akio laughed at their expressions. "You guys really need to be observant when something like this happens i forgot for a while." He said dropping the bottle on the ground.

Media shook her head. "And being the very observant one that you are, maybe you would like to look at the damaged that fire caused, hmmm?"

"Get a hold of yourself," Resha said, "Theta, Proto, Media and the others - they are not part of the military. Media said she was following orders from my brother. And my brother is not part of the military either," she shook her head. "Only me. And, that's just fine," she said, hoping her voice won't falter nor her resolve. "You are free to kill me, if so you wish." If that will stop you from blaming yourself at least one of your worries.

Alpha shook his head. "You know we were in the house when it happened, so maybe we could have been paying more attention."

"Just shut up and go, take them with you." Dante said still facing away. He didn't want to hurt her. He didn't want to yell at her anymore. He just needed to be alone. He began to walk away from the cottage, head down and eyes closed.