The thought had never crossed Edward's mind: What it felt like to be dying.

And yet there he was, lying sprawled out on the snowy forest floor with his flesh hand gripping the fresh, draining wound on his side. He could feel the blood pooling on the earth beneath him, saturating the mound of powder; no doubt turning it a deep crimson. His ears were still ringing from the shot, deafening him to the rest of their surroundings.

He had expected it to be instantaneous, like a light being snuffed out; his consciousness there one moment and then gone the next. And yet he still remained…

The shot had clearly missed its mark, but for reasons unbeknownst to him. Almost instantaneously after it had rung out, he had heard a muffled thud next to him that accompanied the roaring pain in his side. But his reeling mind instead turned itself toward the amplified the sound of the bullet's shell casing burying itself into the snow beside him.

He willed himself to verify that fact. When his head lolled toward it, he was surprised to see the man that had been standing above him moments before lying beside him, remaining eerily still.

Edward blinked, trying to process the meaning behind his discovery. As far as he knew, he had only heard the report of one gun, not two. So how had it been possible that the man had fallen victim to it as well…?

One thing was certain, however. He hadn't heard a second shot, meaning that Hawkeye was safe. And if that were the case, then there was still a chance of making it out of there alive. All he needed, he decided as he closed his eyes and balled his flesh hand into a fist, was to stand up and—

Edward's thoughts were interrupted when a dark shadow loomed over him. Rolling his head back and opening his eyes, he looked up at it and subsequently felt his heart drop into his stomach.

The man standing above him wore a dark mask, large goggles concealing the rest of his face. He uttered something through his mask and slowly began to bend down toward Edward, but by that point something else caught his attention.

Seeing another dark shape out of the corner of his eye, Edward's head whipped around to find a cloaked being crouched down next to Hawkeye, its gloved hand reaching toward her. Letting loose the sound that had been building at the back of his throat, Edward lunged forward and swung at the unknown, catching him on his cheek. When the man recoiled, Edward charged again but was stopped when the masked man planted his hands on his shoulders and held him back.

Twisting around, Edward swung at the masked man and connected with his jaw, driving him back and away from them. He could feel the adrenaline coursing through his veins, giving him the energy he desperately needed to fight back again as his promise to Hawkeye returned to the forefront of his mind. Out of the corner of his eye he saw his assailant move toward him again. Whirling around, he lunged himself upward and prepared himself to fight again, forgetting about the fracture in his leg. When he was reminded by the piercing pain that shot up through his body, he let out a yelp as his legs gave out beneath him.

Before he hit the ground, however, his assailant caught him and yelled something, his words more distinguishable than before. "Chief!"

Instantly recognizing the tone, he looked up to see Havoc rip off his face cover and goggles. "Chief," Havoc gasped again as he eased Edward down onto the ground, "It's us. You're safe."

"It's…" Edward slowly tapered off as a wave of stars exploded in his vision, the shock to his system finally catching up with him. "It's…" He blinked a few times, trying to keep his thoughts straight.

Havoc was there… So that must have meant that…

He languidly turned his head to the side, seeing the same dark shape bent over Hawkeye. Edward blinked again until the dark shape became more defined, realizing that it too was familiar. He watched as it combed over Hawkeye, looking for her injuries and the source of the blood that stained the snow beneath her. Then he saw it move the blanket back, revealing the bottom of the intricate red array that was engraved on her back.

The man was quick to cover her injuries and back, swiveling its head back and forth to see if anyone saw its action. Havoc may not have… But Edward had.

When it turned toward him, Edward was able to make out is face more clearly. Colonel Roy Mustang: the owner of the array's secrets. Mustang's eyes widened when he realized Edward had seen him.

But before Edward could accost him, the darkness that had slowly been advancing from the corners of his vision began to bleed into his line of sight as his breaths began to slow. Feeling his entire body grow limp, Edward began to realize that it was succumbing to the blood loss he had sustained. Now in the hands of familiars, however, he finally allowed himself to surrender to it, vowing that when he woke up he would confront Mustang once and for all about the secrets of Flame Alchemy.

After a long and heated argument with the nurses and attending doctors, Roy Mustang was at last able to gain access to one of his subordinates. Following anxiously after the doctor, Roy was shown the door to the room where Riza was situated. When he received an affirmative nod from the doctor, he tapped his fist against the door and paused to listen. Once he heard Riza's voice, he turned the door handle and slowly pushed the door open, easing his way into the room.

She was lying on her side facing him, one arm stretched outward in front of her with an IV attached, delivering the fluids she desperately needed to her veins.

When she saw him, she pushed herself up onto her elbow and shot him a faint smile.

Takin a few steps toward her, he slowly asked, "How are you feeling?"

"I'm feeling… alright," she admitted. "They said that aside from the fever and the cuts, there isn't anything else that needs immediate attention," Riza replied as she eased herself up slowly and leaned back against her pillows, though not without letting a small hiss of pain escape her lips. When Roy made a move to help her, she shook her head and murmured, "It's fine. I'm not putting much pressure on my lower back. The movement just tugged at the stitches."

Roy reluctantly drew his hand back and clenched his jaw, still not completely satisfied by the way her face still twisted with discomfort.

No doubt seeing this, she quickly changed the subject by asking, "How is Edward?"

"…As good as he could be, I guess," Roy admitted half-heartedly as he sank back down into the chair beside her bed and ran his fingers through his hair. "They said the bullet went straight through him and didn't hit anything major. His leg is definitely broken and the prolonged exposure of his automail ports to the cold left him frostbitten around the steel plating. But despite all that, they said he would make a full recovery. I haven't been able to see him yet, but I'll take their word for it."

"I see," Riza murmured as she looked down at her bed sheets and gripped them in her fists. After a few moments of thought, she shook her head and said, "I shouldn't have let him talk me into it. I should have just convinced him to leave me behind. He would have moved faster without me."

"Don't say that," Roy chided her as she continued to stare down at her fists. "You must never give up on your life, Riza." She twitched when he murmured her name, an utterance reserved for the most serious of times.

"And besides," he added, "You know his character. He's never one to leave someone behind."

Riza sighed. "I know, Roy. I just… I thought he would have considered his own life and Alphonse's and how important it is that the two of them go on to recover their bodies. If Edward had died in there, there is no telling what could have happened to Alphonse."

"I understand," Roy said as he shook his head, "But you also need to realize that Edward's plan always includes everyone."

She nodded indolently. "I know. And I fear that may one day be his downfall…"

"Riza," he gently scolded her as she looked up at him. "You can't condemn him for not leaving you behind. He did what he decided was best for both of you."

He could tell by the way she twisted her lip that she knew he was right; that there was no point in arguing with him.

"I know, sir," she replied, driving them back toward their formalities. "I just can't help but think of their words and their motives. They were willing to kill Edward to get what they wanted. And now I fear they have it." Gripping the edges of her blanket, she pulled it tighter to her body and shuddered. "I just don't even know where to begin…"

"You don't have to tell me now," Roy murmured as he pushed a loose strand of hair that was clinging to her lip behind her ear.

"No," Riza said as she shook her head, "The details are fresher now than they will be later. If I wait, I might lose some important elements."

Roy sighed and languidly nodded. "But if you feel the need to stop, then I want you to stop, alright?"

Riza dipped her head before looking him in the eye. "Yes, sir."

The sudden crack of a hand across her face brought Riza back into a conversation she had mentally left minutes before, causing stars to erupt in her vision as the pain shot across her face and down her neck. After staring at the floor in a daze for a few moments, she willed herself to look up at the man responsible, narrowing her eyes as she did so.

The burly man seemed unfazed by her glare, laughing loudly instead when she made eye contact with him. Leaning forward and stopping inches in front of her nose, he sneered, "Welcome back, Lieutenant Hawkeye."

Refusing to be intimidated by him, she droned, "Thank you. I hope I wasn't gone too long."

"Far too long, I'm afraid," he replied with the same enthusiasm. Straightening himself, he clasped his hands behind his back and took a step back. "Because while you were in your own little world, we were left here to ask questions to a shell."

She blinked and looked past his shoulder, focusing on the wall behind him as she remained silent, idly noting to herself that her lip had been split open. It was the same questions every time, and every time she gave the same reply: An "I have no knowledge on that matter" and silence after that. She had gotten so tired of it that she resorted to her withdrawal training, closing herself off to them entirely as she allowed her mind to wander away from them.

"I admire your resilience, Lieutenant Hawkeye," the man admitted as he took a step to the side, keeping his eyes glued to her, "It seems your training has paid off."

She straightened herself up and replied, "You're right. The military has provided me with the the training needed to endure in a situation such as this."

"Indeed," he said as he took another step around her, "But for how long?"

"You've been rationing the food allotted for the two of you unevenly, giving more to the boy than to yourself. You've graciously offered to the boy's place every time we call for you. What is it," he asked as he bent at the waist and uttered in her ear, "Are you waiting for?"

"I think you know," she replied dispassionately. "But that's beside the point. I have mainly based my decisions on the wellbeing of the boy."

"By starving yourself? How noble," he sneered. "All you are doing is prolonging his life beyond yours. As soon as we are finished with you, we will simply move onto him."

Riza's face darkened when he mentioned Edward, but rather than give him the satisfaction of a crude response, she simply said, "The human body is able to survive three weeks without food."

Their captor frowned, likely not fond of her lack of response to his threats. "If you think you're getting out of here alive in that time, you are sorely mistaken," he snarled as he slowly pulled away from her. "We have secured a location so remote that even Mustang and his merry band of dogs cannot locate the two of you. The only way he will find it is if he responds to our request for his notes."

She chose to remain silent, denying him the satisfaction he would get from trying to tear her down again.

"With you being closest to the Colonel, I'm sure you've picked up a few details pertaining to his research." Riza remained rigid and unyielding, refusing to confirm or deny any connection to Flame Alchemy. "Although, I do suppose the boy could be another option."

"The boy won't know anything," she muttered crudely as she licked the blood off her lips.

"Really," the man asked as he raised a dubious brow. "Because I think that boy might know a thing or two about Flame Alchemy, seeing that he is the Fullmetal Alchemist."

"The Colonel keeps his secrets locked away and shares them with no one, especially other alchemists," Riza deadpanned. "Edward is a skilled alchemist, but one that still would not have access to those secrets."

"But he could certainly figure them out."

Despite her best to try and remain impassive, Riza's eyes widened.

Seeing her falter, their captor grinned. "The boy is intelligent enough. If… 'prompted,' I'm sure he could figure them out."

Realizing that she had let her wall fracture, she dropped her unflappable demeanor and growled, "He won't be able to help you."

"Really," he asked. "Well, I'd like to test that theory." The ringleader then grabbed her bicep and lifted her off the chair. Turning her roughly, he pushed her toward the door and added, "I think I'll do a little exchange. See if we can't get him to say something on the matter."

Jerking away from him, Riza turned around and slammed her knee into his groin, eliciting a surprised grunt from the man. Another kick found his stomach, causing him to double over from the pain. Before she could retract her foot, however, he grabbed it and jerked it toward him, causing her to lose her footing and slam down onto the ground. When she tried to roll away he bent over and gripped her arm, dragging her across the concrete floor before lifting her up and pinning her against the wall.

"Ruffled your feathers didn't I, Hawkeye," he purred in her ear as she tried to catch her breath. "Well, I—" He stopped and pulled away from her with a small gasp.

She tensed when she felt him hook his finger on the bottom of her shirt and tug it upward, just enough to reveal the lower half of her back. A low whistle escaped his lips before he leaned back and whispered, "Well now, what have we here…"

"I'm sorry, sir," she uttered as she huddled into her blanket. "I fought against him but he overpowered me... He… He saw everything. The entire array…"

"Lieutenant," he breathed as he reached forward to brush her fringe from her eyes. "There was nothing you could do…"

Riza jerked her head away from his hand and looked down and away from him. "No, there was. I shouldn't have let my guard down like that, shouldn't have tried to fight back that way. If I had instead made myself more appealing for further questioning, then he wouldn't have needed to resort to using Edward against me."

"You were afraid," he whispered in protest. "You were fighting in defense of Edward and yourself."

"And I would fight for him all over again," she replied softly. "Just without foolishly letting my guard down."

Roy swallowed the lump in his throat, knowing what she was slowly wandering back to. "Riza…"

"I have to finish," she said as she shook her head. "You need to know the rest, Roy."

He pursed his lips together and braced himself, knowing that what would follow would be far from pleasant. But just like him, when she used his first name he knew that she was serious and intended to follow through with whatever she had set her mind on. After enduring her stare, he hastily nodded his head and said, "Okay, you may continue. But only under the same condition that you stop if it becomes too difficult."

She nodded and closed her eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath in order to calm herself. After opening her eyes again, she said, "He called a second man in to help him…"

"This is it," the ringleader hissed as he brushed his fingers over the array. "This is the secret to Flame Alchemy…" Stepping around the table, he leaned over so that his face was inches from hers and said, "And here it was this whole time.

"How much did Mustang pay you to hide it there? Or was this a more," he continued as he brushed the back of his finger over her cheek, "Scandalous exchange."

Riza pursed her lips together and fought back the urge to bite his finger off, reminding herself that his rotten exterior matched his interior and would likely leave a bitter taste in her mouth. She instead opted to turn her head away and rest it against the table as one of his henchmen continued to hold her down, while another hovered around the table acting as a scribe.

Riza jerked around again, throwing the two latter men off. This caused the one copying down the array to hiss angrily while the one holding her reacted by slamming her back down.

"It's no use," the scribe muttered as she heard him tear another piece of paper off of his scratchboard. "It's too detailed. We need a camera or something."

"If we had one," the ringleader growled, "Then we wouldn't have had you copy it down."

"Well," the scribe replied defensively, "What if we just… took it."

"Took it," the man in charge echoed back. After a few moments of contemplating it, he began to chuckle darkly. "You know what. It would make a lot of sense, wouldn't it? We would get what we want and she could get that one-way ticket to hell she's been trying so hard to receive."

She heard him wander around the table again, and moments later felt a large, cracked hand on the center of her back. "Hold still, dear," he commanded as he pressed the edge of something thin and cold against her flesh. "We don't want you damaging the array too much more."

Then she felt him glide the knife over her back in a skinning motion and through the top layer of her flesh.

"After that I struggled until they had grown tired of holding me. Why they didn't kill me then, I'll never know. I could assume that it was the sick satisfaction of watching me struggle. But all I knew after that was that I was lifted off of the table and was made to walk back to the holding cell Edward and I shared to keep me contained while they prepped themselves for another round.

"That's where they made their fatal flaw," she continued as she closed her eyes. "Because they failed to realize I took a key they had placed on the table. From there it was a matter of giving it to Edward to fuel his escape. Only then, as you know, he chose a plan different from the one I formulated." Opening her eyes again, she added, "From there it was just a matter of Edward getting us outside to where we eventually encountered the team."

And from that point on, Roy knew the rest of the story. Finding the pair in their gun sights just before they ducked into the forest while being pursued by one of their captors. Racing against the clock to reach them before the enemy delivered the fatal blow. Havoc putting a bullet in the hostile a millisecond before his gun went off. Although that rapid succession proved to be beneficial, there was still the fact that the enemy's gun went off and hit Edward in a critical area.

Looking back up at Riza, he saw her eyes grow distant and unfocused as she thought back to those moments, hardening herself to the realization of how close they came to having their lives end.

Reaching forward, he put a hand on her shoulder to bring her back. "And now you two are back with us a little worse for wear."

"We are," she agreed dispassionately, "But at a great cost." Looking up at him as her hand subconsciously rose to grasp her shoulder, she added, "I know you don't want to hear this, Roy, but these scars will heal and the ink will still remain. If we want to prevent this from happening again we need to consider destroying more of it. It's the only way."

Before Roy could formulate a rebuttal, a knock on the door prevented him from following through. Looking over his shoulder, he saw a nurse standing in the doorway.

"Major Elric is awake, Colonel Mustang," she announced timidly. "The doctor has approved your request to see him."

"Thank you," Roy replied as she dipped her head and disappeared from the doorway. Turning back to Riza, he saw her watching him.

Her face softened and an infinitesimal amount of light reappeared in her eyes. "Please let me know how he's doing."

"I will," he replied cautiously as he rose to his feet, hoping that, for the time being, the subject of destroying more of the tattoo was cast aside. But just as he was about to turn away, he heard her say, "Please, Roy. We need to consider this very seriously."

Without turning back to her, for fear that she would see the dread that had crossed his face, he moved his head up and down in agreement before stepping out of the room to head toward Edward's room.

The thought of destroying more of the tattoo causing his stomach to twist and tumble uncomfortably in his gut because the memories of that day so long ago still hung fresh in his mind, the sights and smells of burning flesh forever engraved in his head. But for the time being the notion could be pushed off to the side, seeing that every single shred of evidence from before had been turned to a pile of ash.

A/N: The next chapter will focus primarily on Edward and Roy. I should also mention that this fic will be a relatively short one, probably no longer than 4 or 5 chapters. It'll explore a bit more of Edward and Riza's time after they were captured, and moments in the present. I have no intention of making a full story out of this, however, since I haven't fleshed out the villains well enough (and I have too many ongoings right now). But regardless, I hope you enjoy the next few installments of this fic! Again, thank you so much for the reviews, favorites, and follows! I'll see you next time!

P.S. To those that follow any of my other fics, expect an update of Like Family, Ignite, or Expect the Unexpected next. Thank you for your patience owo.