Trains
Heymans couldn't believe he was headed out for Creta again. West City was just going to be a way station on his way out to the Cretan battlefield. He felt the fear rise in him, just as it had the two other times he'd been sent to a war zone, both times out west. The first time had been as a fourth year cadet for his combat semester and the second time had been as a newly commissioned Second Lieutenant for his first assignment.
That's what he got for taking up with Mustang. Sure, he'd known it was dangerous and he'd probably end up fighting at some point. But Creta? Again?
Damned fear. Made it hard to keep a clear head, which sure wouldn't help his prospects for survival. And he was under orders to stay alive. He smiled grimly. Like he needed an order to try to do that. That was Mustang, though, he thought, shaking his head. It had been pretty bad when he'd lost Hughes. Heymans didn't like to think how he'd take losing another one of them.
And this was the guy he was backing for Fuhrer? He was sooo toast. It made him chuckle, though, and somehow he felt calmer. He took a deep breath. Might as well start thinking about his options on the way there.
Kain had tears in his eyes and could barely keep himself from shaking like a leaf. He'd managed to stay calm enough while he was saying his goodbyes, but now that he was on the train headed for South City there was nothing to do but think. The guys all thought they'd be sent into combat, so that meant he'd end up back on the border with Aerugo.
He'd made it out of there alive the first time, when he'd been sent there as a Private Second Class for his first assignment. He'd even distinguished himself, taking over the machine gun and holding off the enemy when the rest of his squad had been injured. But that had been eight years ago, when he'd been only 17 and hadn't known what he was getting himself into. This time, he knew.
He fingered the prayer beads in his pocket. It made people uncomfortable to see praying in public, so he kept them in his pocket and didn't move his lips. It calmed him and he began to think of the others. Especially Mustang and Hawkeye, both at the mercy of that monster. As Kain moved the beads through his fingers, he found himself praying for them instead of himself.
The other guys had all said their goodbyes and gone off to their war zones. His dad had to stay home and tend the store, so he'd sent his mom to help get Jean home, just like he'd sent her to check on Jean in the hospital before.
Hawkeye had said goodbye to him at the hospital too. It had been a little strange to see her without Mustang, but it happened sometimes. Then Mustang had said goodby to him at the train station and that had been totally weird. There he was, in uniform, all alone and out in the open. It gave Jean the creeps, as if Mustang was walking around with a big target on his back.
That, more than anything else, struck home how serious this really was. How broken up the team was.
Man, he sure hoped Hawkeye figured out some way to keep an eye on Mustang!
Jean remembered what Heymans had said though. He wasn't going to a war zone and he wouldn't be directly under the eye of the Fuhrer. Mustang was expecting him to catch up, even from a wheelchair. There must be something he could do, now that he could fly under the radar.
Vato supposed that of all of them, he was the luckiest. He knew he'd end up at Briggs, of course. That was where fighting was most likely to break out. But unlike Creta and Aerugo, there wasn't any fighting actually going on at the moment. Unlike what Mustang and Hawkeye faced at Central, there weren't any homunculi out there. And he wasn't in a wheelchair, like Havoc.
So his main problem was just going to be the cold. And staying fit for combat so he'd be some use when Mustang figured out a way to get them all back.
He got out the Brigg's book he'd brought with him on the train and opened it to the envelope he was using as a bookmark. It contained the letter of introduction he'd gotten from Major Armstrong to give his sister.