"WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE'S GONE?!" Officers and non-ranked soldiers alike jumped as they passed the Fuhrer's office.

"Calm down, Sir," Hawkeye responded, fixing her superior with a glare, "Remember, you need to set the example." Mustang ran a hand through his hair, dropping his head to the desk top for just a moment.

"M'gonna kill 'im..."

"With all due respect, Sir," she replied dryly, "I think you're more likely to kill that paperwork through blunt force trauma." Mustang looked up to see that he was indeed hitting his head on a piece of the dreaded paperwork.

"Fine," he grumbled, sitting up, "Maybe I won't kill him. Maybe I'll just fillet him. In milk." Mustang stood from his desk, pulling his gloves out of his pocket and taking confident strides forward. "Let's go find him."

Hawkeye nodded as her superior officer left the inner office in the lead. He stood for a moment in the doorway, looking at his assembled team as Hawkeye slipped around him.

"As you all may have heard, Edward has disappeared from his room in the Central Military Hospital. The MP investigating the scene have reported no signs of a struggle, but they have reported several items missing, things for Fullmetal to use in medical care for himself and his clothing."

"So..." Breda clicked, "He's gone to look for her!"

"Unfortunately." Hawkeye looked up sharply at Mustang's tone of voice. He was hiding something. She narrowed her eyes at him, but held her questions until his orders were given.

"Breda, Havoc, you're going to the alleyway where Ms. Rockbell was taken; the Col. and I will go to Fullmetal's hospital room. We'll sweep the points in between to see what hsppens. If all goes right, we'll find him within the hour. Fuery, you'll run communications from the hospital." He hesitated a moment, indecision marking his gaze.

"Sir?" she prompted, taking a half step forward. His gaze hardened and he glared at the wall just past her shoulder.

"Creta is pushing north towards Central."

The room was silent for a moment. Then Fuery let out a nervous chuckle.

"W-we better hurry then." The team stood, grabbing gear before Breda halted in the doorway.

"Just in case," he said, determination and fear at war in his eyes, "Where do we meet?"

Mustang answered sharply and everyone was out the door.

They split up quickly to their respective posts. Upon reaching the hospital, Mustang, Hawkeye, and Fuery all assembled in Edward's room. After a quick check of the items missing, the Fuhrer and his Colonel left the hospital. They began the sweep, following the quickest path to the alleyway. Nothing suspicious popped into sight or tackled them down, yet an uneasy feeling lit the air.

"Sir," Hawkeye said, drawing his attention as they walked, "How close are they?"

"Who?" Mustang replied absentmindedly, concentrating more on searching for signs of Fullmetal. He knew exactly what she was talking about though.

"Creta, Sir. How close are they to the city?"

"Half a day's march on foot."

"And you're in the field?!"

"My subordinate is missing, Col.!" Mustang snapped back, halting his progress, "I can't let those under me go missing!"

"What about the rest of the team, Sir? We can look! Your country needs you!" Mustang looked at her for a moment and took a deep breath before turning away.

"Col., Amestris is like a hydra." Hawkeye's glare sharpened, but she stilled her comments before they escaped.

"Chief sure picked a bad time to go missing," Havoc muttered, cigarette hanging between his lips.

"Any time for him to go missing is a bad time," Breda returned, glaring as the blonde blew smoke into his face.

"I suppose that's true." The soldiers stayed quiet, continuing their search. Trash bins, cars, random garbage, all were looked through with equal disgust.

"We've been at this for thirty minutes," Haovc muttered, stomping out the butt of his cigarette with his boot, "You think we would've seen some sign by now."

"You might be right," Breda replied, standing up and stretching, "But we also could've missed something. Why don't you go spiral out from the initial point."

"Sure," Havoc replied easily, "Let's get this done." The blonde split from his partner in an easy going stride, back to the alleyway, still marked off with yelloe tape to indicate a crime scene. With careful, measured steps, he continued his work in the opposite direction. At first, there was absolutely nothing new. Merely trash covered roadways and disgusting rubbish bins. Then a flash of red caught his eye.

"Let go of me!" Strangers glanced at the boy of gold, but military blues prevented further scrutiny. It appeared to be an arrest of some kind, although the fact that the nation's Fuhrer was involved was rather odd.

"Hell no, Fullmetal!" the raven haired man snapped back, "You RAN AWAY from the hospital."

"I have to find her, Bastard!" the blonde screamed, rage clearly boiling to the breaking point in his tiny form, "I-"

"There is no 'I' in team Fullmetal!"

"Yeah, well, team is in meat and there's an 'I' in meat pie!" Instead of laughing at the shorter man's horrible pun, Mustang tightened his grip on the front of Fullmetal's garish coat.

"But you aren't part of a meat pie, Fullmetal. You are part of a team and this team is going to work TOGETHER to find her!"

"Like you did with my brother?" the question wasn't loud, the tone wasn't angry, guilty, or anything really. Just small, and quiet, barely slipping out.

Mustang reeled back, as though he'd been struck, dropping Edward to the ground. Again the image of Alphonse's face, twisted with pain as it was consumed by fire struck his consciousness. Quickly, images from Ishval played in front of his eyes, over and over and over.

"You... You know I had to, Fullmetal," Mustang finally replied, "I didn't want to. And it wasn't him." All was silent for a moment while Mustang tried to rebuild his shattered composure. When he finally could look at the blonde again, he noticed yet another trail of blood dripping from the corner of his mouth. Yet Edward didn't flinch. He showed no signs of pain, prompting Mustang to wonder how many times he'd been hurt and had hidden it away from the world to gain that kind of tolerance to his own eventual death.

"Sir, with all due respect-" Hawkeye's comment was cut off by the ratatat of gunfire.

"Get down!" Both she and Mustang tackled Edward, years of training telling them to cover the vulnerable member of the group.

"Are you both alright?" she asked, eyes scanning for cover around them on Central Avenue.

"I'm fine," Mustang answered, spotting a truck where they could shelter.

"Ugh..." Edward moaned, rubbing his right shoulder just above the automail, "Bruised, but not shot." Hawkeye also spotted the truck, but unfortunately, at that moment, their assailants chose to make themselves known.

"Surrender immediately or face execution!" Several members of the Cretian military lined the street in front of them. Instead of responding, Mustang snapped and suddenly there was no line of advancing red uniforms.

"We have to get to Central Command!" Mustang hollered, yanking Edward onto his feet. Unfortunately, at that moment, more Cretian military appeared, open firing. Mustang and Hawkeyes began to run, hoping to find better shelter and the other members of their group amidst the chaos. Unfortunately, Edward's recent brush with death decided at that moment to condemn the blonde.

Instead of keeping up with the Fuhrer and Colonel, Edward began to fall behind.

"Run Fullmetal!" Roy screamed, dodging gunfire that instead hit the car to Edward's left.

"I'm... Trying! You... bastard...!" he couldn't breathe, his chest was so tight and this was so not a good time. Roy looked back and saw how pale Edward's face was. He cursed again and scooped up the injured alchemist in a fireman's carry before running again, explosions surrounding them and open fire punching holes through vehicles on either side of them.

Edward wanted to scream, struggle, and insist on running himself, but he still couldn't breathe and knew that he would just get himself killed if he fought with Mustang at that time. He flinched as the sound of a bullet whizzed past his head and watched, struggling to get oxygen into his lungs.

Hawkeye ran ahead of the pair, shooting down the men who ran past in red uniforms with no mercy. Central was under siege, and they had to get out, not in. She aimed again; however, the face of the next soldier stopped her.

"Major Havoc!"

"Colonel Hawkeye! I'm so glad I found you!"

"Help me with Edward!" Mustang shouted as they continued down the boulevard. Havoc joined Mustang and took the smaller, though not by much, alchemist, freeing the greater combatant power. Just in time too, as a group of soldiers ran into view ahead. Two snaps and they were gone, nothing but ashes left.

"How did you end up in that outfit?" Hawkeye called back to him, still running in front of the group.

"One of 'em recognized my uniform before they began the assault when I was searching a little farther out from the alley. We hadn't seen any sign of Chief closer to the hospital. He tried to get me, but I knocked him out and stole his clothes so I wouldn't get shot by their forces!"

"Move Colonel!" Hawkeye dove sideways and fire billowed out, knocking the gunmen emerging from the alley up ahead. She was back up in no time, now covering the rear of the group as opposed to the front.

"I have no idea where Breda or Fuery are though, I circled back and couldn't find them!"

Havoc shifted his hold on Edward and then glanced back to see the golden ponytail flowing in the wind behind him.

"You doing okay back there Chief?" Havoc didn't get an answer and he frowned. Then, just over the sound of gunfire, he heard the wheezing. Then came the first cough. "Chief's havin' an attack!" he bellowed, promptly switching Edward from the fireman's carry to a bridle hold. The blood started to stain the white gloved hands and Havoc's frown deepened.

"We can't stop here!" Mustang shouted back as he let loose another foundation rocking snap of hell's inferno, "No cover!"

"I know that Boss!" Havoc shouted back, "But he's getting blood all over-" a loud explosion cut Havoc off and for a few seconds, the four were airborne. Edward was tugged from his hold and there was nothing for a few moments. Then came pain. And then more nothing.

When Roy came to, the sound of distant explosions registered as what served to rouse him. His head felt heavy and his limbs dragged, but nothing seemed seriously injured save for the blood dripping down his forehead. He opened his eyes warily, slowly sitting up. Before the explosion, they were close to the edge of Central. Now the area around him was a wasteland. He cautiously stood, looking for his subordinates amidst the rubble, not daring to call out in case of unfriendly attention.

The first person he found was Hawkeye. Blood clotted on the back of her head and her left wrist was bent oddly. Quickly, he put together a splint for her arm before relocating her from the area as fast as he could without aggravating her injuries. The first shelter he found was a flat bed truck on the edge of the blast radius. He tucked her limp body underneath and shook his head, glancing at the sky. They couldn't have been out of it for more than a few hours, at most. With one last look at the Colonel's prone form, he went looking for the others.

After searching the area within shouting distance of his unconscious Colonel, he determined they weren't anywhere near. A quick glance into the surrounding alleys gave no further information. He returned to find Riza awake and behind the truck instead of underneath.

"You're in rough shape Sir," she said, saluting even though her shoulder was likely dislocated.

"You're worse off than I am, Col." he replied. His comment went ignored in favor of more pressing matters.

"Where's Major Havoc? And where's Edward?" She flinched as she lowered her arm, cradling her elbow gently.

"Not in the surrounding area..." he answered grimly. He knelt down next to her and she placed her uninjured arm around his shoulders.

"The Major knew the plan, Fuhrer. It'll be okay." He shook his head and embraced her as well.

"How can we be sure?"

"The only way to know for sure is to head through to our destination."

"Risembool."

He bolted upwards only to smack his head above him and to fall back down.

"Kuso," he cursed, feeling his forehead gently for blood. He pulled his fingers forward and squinted at them through the semi-darkness. Wet. "Great..." he muttered. "What happened?" He felt around with his hands, trying to determine his location. After a minute of blindly groping in the dark, his hand hit something soft. Another minute passed and he realized that it was hair, braided into a plait.

"Edward?" he asked. There was no reply, but he was absolutely positive that he was right. "Edward!" he whispered again, a bit more forcefully. He remembered what happened now, the siege, meeting up with the Fuhrer, and then... The explosion. Edward had been having an attack right before hand. He struggled to sit up again, managing to maneuver himself closer to the unconscious blonde. Several moments later, he could feel Edward's breath on his cheek and he sighed in relief. The small alchemist was still alive. But what now?

He felt around above his head, looking for a weak point to punch through. It didn't appear that they were any in the immediate vicinity. So he chose to try to wake up the other blonde instead.

"Edward!" he hissed, shaking the shoulder of the unconscious form. There was no response from the young man, so he came closer yet. Or, well, he tried to. With a sharp crack, the rubble he had ben leaning on crashed down, onto his legs. He threw himself over the alchemist, protecting his vitals with his own body. Another piece of rubble hit him in the small of the back and he was down. Pinned in place, the best he could hope for was that Edward would wake up!

Mustang and Hawkeye snuck through the countryside on foot, not daring any mode of transportation. Trains had too many eyes and a vehicle of any Central standard would be marked out in less than a second by the country people. Anyone who had the funds to purchase those cars were well remembered. The siege of Central had not yet expanded beyond the capital.

Long ago the pair had fore saken their blues, choosing to continue on in civies as best they could. The blues would be remembered and that was exactly what the pair was trying to avoid.

"Sir," Hawkeye said quietly, "As it is beginning to get dark, we should find an inn in the upcoming town. While continuing on would be in our favor, the townspeople would find it strange."

"That's a good idea Col.," he replied, just as quietly, "Our cover story?"

"Married couple." she replied immediately, "Walking tour through Amestris to admire the history of our nation. We spent last night in our own home just outside of Central and left early this morning."

"Good plan," Mustang answered, "We'll flesh out details later. If questioned, I will defer to you. However, we don't have supplies with us."

"I have water in my pack, Sir, and we are still close enough to Central to avoid questions by saying we would pick things up on the way out of the suburbs."

"Alright." The two continued on in silence to the nearby town and Hawkeye politely asked directions to the nearest inn from the first man they saw. He pointed out the building and Riza smiled, thanking him politely. When they neared the building, she again took the lead and Mustang groaned internally. If she acted as usual on an undercover mission, then...

"Hello!" Riza bubbled as she walked in the door, "I'm sorry it's so late, but do you still have a room open?" Roy almost groaned audibly at the chirpy personality she expressed. The front clerk also appeared disgruntled, but his eyes flicked back at the key rack on the wall behind him.

"Yeah," he answered, "Can you afford the rate?"

"Of course we can," she answered, "Right, Charles dear?"

"Of course Elizabeth," he answered smoothly, falling back on the codenames they'd used countless times. He discussed the rate briefly with the clerk before signing in with the names Charles and Elizabeth Kingston. They went back to their room, sighing in relief before checking over the premises. With everything clear and no victims in sight, Hawkeye took the first watch as Mustang went to sleep.

AUTHOR'S ATTEMPTS NOT TO DIE

Um... Hi? ...I'm not dead? ...College=excuse? But not really? Erm... So yeah, no excuses. Don't kill me and you might see more updates...

Bubblekins1010: I'm glad you like it! I'm sorry you've had to wait so long for an update!

Curligurl0896: Sorry that it's been so long since I've updated. Writer's block has kind of bit me in the butt this year and I started college. And thanks! That little descriptive part is probably my favorite part of the entire chapter last time.

: Glad that I made your day!

DragonFire Alchemist: And more Ed Torture makes an appearance! Muahahahahaha!

Tontone: You can put the knife away, I updated. No murder for now.

Kiri Natsumi-Tetsuya: Ed certainly does have a ton of work to do. YAY FOR COOKIES! I WANT THEM ALL!

Karmadella1234: Well... I'm posting at school again. Woot. Ironic part is that I live here now.

Yay, reviews are responded to, now I can be not dead for a while, although I do expect to be murdered a bit... Be nice!