A few more days had passed and Blackwater and I were slowly getting adjusted to the swing of things here at Briggs. I was making my ordinary rounds, checking for icicles after a night of sentry duty. The weather was violent and the wind nipped at my thin pants and exposed face. Deeming the Fort icicle-free, I turned back and decided to head to the mess hall to get some breakfast. After clocking out for the night, I headed for the mess hall. "Colonel!" I bumped into the Briggs Tailor. He saluted me quickly before saying, "Your new uniform is ready."

Smiling, I went to my barrack. I had finally learned to navigate my way through the convoluted chambers of the Fort. There, on my bunk, sat five bundles of Briggs uniforms, fitted to match my figure precisely. I opened one and began to put it on. The extra padding restricted my natural feminine curves. It was a lot heavier than my Central uniform, making quick movements difficult. But at least now I didn't stick out like a sore thumb. I wouldn't freeze anymore. I looked at myself in the mirror. The uniform was deceptive, making me look like I had more muscles than I actually possessed. "Briggs looks pretty good on you," I heard a familiar voice I'd come to admire. In the corner of my mirror, I could see Miles standing in the doorway.

"Miles!" a smile broke out on my face. We had become great friends in such a short span of time. "Do you really think so?" I asked.

"I think it'd be better if you actually zipped your jacket," he commented. I looked down laughing softly.

"I just hadn't gotten that far," I chuckled, beginning to zip. It went up so smoothly and suddenly… it stuck. It was stuck midway to the top. It was right by my left breast. I proceeded to try and zip it all the way up, to no avail after each attempt. My fingers turned white with the amount of pressure I was using. Suddenly, I saw tan hands removing mine from the zipper.

"You Central soldiers can't even zip zippers?" he chuckled, unzipping it before succeeding easily. I blushed as his hand approached the top of the zipper, right above my left breast. "Get over yourself," he chuckled darkly.

"Close the door if you're going to be doing that!" Blackwater scolded, gallabanting on in anyways. She plopped on her bunk and opened some old researcher's journal. She had been looking in the archaic book every chance she had. When she had free time, she was either gossiping with Lieutenant Havoc or reading that darn book. The only thing we did in the same vicinity was sleep.

"I-It's the zipper," I tried to explain.

"You don't need to lie to me," she said. "I know you want him," she grinned from behind her book.

"There," Miles pulled his hand back. He seemed to have taken no heed to the crude comment. I was the only one that suffered from embarrassment. I walked out of the room and down the hall, my appetite suddenly diminished. "Colonel," Miles called, catching up with me. "Have you had breakfast yet? I could go get us some," he offered. I shook my head.

"Nah, I think I'm going to take a walk. I haven't gotten to properly assess my environment," I said. "Do you want to come?" I asked, hopeful he'd say yes.

"I better not. General Armstrong needs me today. I've spent too long helping you out," he declined, much to my disappointment. I instantly felt guilty at being the source of General Armstrong's wrath towards him. But he didn't seem too worried about. He seemed happy to suffer the fate, even. "Well, just be careful, Colonel," he warned. "Don't wander off too far. A storm's headed our way. If you're not back within two hours, I'll send a search party. If a tundra bear doesn't kill you, then I will," he said before curtly departing. I made a face as I compared Miles to a bear…

I climbed the cliff side that was to the left of the fort. The snow was falling slowly, not in a violent torrent like usual. It didn't seem like a storm was on its way. The snowfall now was almost peaceful. All around me, trees reigned. I exhaled deeply, amused by my breath freezing upon contact with the outside air. I walked on, listening to the sound of my new snow boots crush the snow beneath my feet. It didn't feel quite like my feet made contact with the ground though. I found myself grateful for my new Briggs uniform and the warmth it brought.

I looked up to watch the snow falling. The wind tossed the flakes this way and that before finally landing softly on the ground. Some snowflakes found their way to my face, melting upon contact. One valiant flake managed to land on my eyelash. The soft flurries were so light and lifelike, almost like a child. Children could be so innocent and fun, but could be screaming and throwing a fit the next moment. At that moment, I realized how soon the weather could change from this peacefulness to a violent storm.

I walked on, finding myself comparing this snow to Ishval. The flurries were like the military's residence in Ishval for the years preluding the war. The raging and howling winds were factors that contributed to the storm. The blizzard was the war, blinding and deadly. I recalled a time back in Ishval when I took on an Ishvalan twice my size. He had a couple of guns pointed at me. The streets were illuminated only by moonlight, making vision difficult. He was hiding in different shadows and alleyways, shooting at me from different positions in the darkness. As soon as I heard him shoot a bullet, I'd change my position. But suddenly, I tripped and fell. When I looked up, I saw the silhouette of the man in the moonlight.

A giant roar brought me back to the frozen wasteland. Somehow, I was on the ground like I was in the flashback, looking up. Only this time, I didn't find a man's silhouette, but a bear's. And not just any bear's, a tundra bear's… I stared into the bear's rabid eyes as it stood on its hind legs, raising one massive paw to the air. The shadow of the paw covered my whole face. This bear had to be twice the size of a grizzly. I closed my eyes, anticipating the swipe. "Colonel Malone!" I heard a voice yell, followed by the sound of a bullet piercing the air. I opened my eyes again only to find the tundra bear roaring in agony as he fell from his hind legs onto his back, proceeding to roll around. "Malone," I felt a hand roughly grab my uniform, pulling me to my feet. I turned to see Miles. "Let's go before he-!"

The bear roared once more, but a different kind of roar. It wasn't filled with pain and agony.

"What's he doing?" I asked, hearing something thundering around me.

"He called his friends," Miles said as two more tundra bears emerged. The bears circled us as their injured friends escaped. Miles grabbed my wrist, putting himself in front of me.

"Well, what do we do?" I asked, watching as the bears continued to circle us.

Miles looked around, his grasp on my wrist tightening. I sighed, resolving to take care of the bears myself. "Your helplessness is cute," I laughed, pulling away from his grasp. He glared at my comment. The bears made eye contact with us. "Time to show you how I made colonel," I stripped the white gloves from my hands to expose my tattooed palms. As the massive white creatures charged, I placed my hands on the ground, activating the circles. I looked up, expecting to see the bears keeling over as the two bolts of lightning were sent through their bodies.

To my fatal dismay, the bears turned to see two trees falling, thanks to my bad aim. "What was that! Central will make anyone a colonel!" Miles yelled. I felt where I had placed my palms only to see it was snow, not the actual ground. Its mushiness must have thrown off my lightning's trajectory. "Got any more bright ideas!" he demanded as the bears charged once more.

"Distract them!" I ordered, beginning to dig through the snow, with my bare hands, in an attempt to reach the solid ground.

"But I… Fine!" he said, knowing we didn't have the time to argue. I heard a few gunshots followed by the thundering of paws. I tried my best to ignore Miles' cursing as I continued to dig. The snow was freezing as I dug up more and more of it. My fingers began to freeze and movement became harder and harder. They tightened and stiffened in retaliation as I forced them to continue. I almost didn't realize I'd hit the brown dirt beneath all the snow due to the newfound numbness in my hand.

"Major, move!" I ordered, looking up to see their positions. He looked at me questionably from one of the bear's backs. He looked me in the eyes before obediently jumping down, barely avoiding the other bear's fatal jaws. I barely noticed his sunglasses flying through the air. In the same instant, I activated the circles, sending the lightning through the actual ground this time. I was able to pinpoint exactly where the electricity would hit this time. Just as the massive bear was about to finish off Miles, my bolt propelled itself through the bear's nervous system, killing it instantly. The other one soon met the same fate.

Sighing in relief that the fiasco was over, I pushed myself up and walked over to Miles, who was doing the same. "Not too bad-"

"For a Central soldier?" I asked, ignoring my aching fingers.

"I was going to say… not too bad, Lightning Alchemist," he smiled.

"Oh," I blushed at the compliment.

"Your hands must be cold," he commented, pulling off his gloves. I looked down at my hands, seeing them turning a slight blue color.

"I stopped feeling them earlier," I tried to shrug it off and look in control.

"And you weren't worried about that?" he asked, inspecting my hands closely. "You'll get frostbite if you keep that up, idiot," he said, softly massaging my hands with his toasty warm ones in an attempt to rekindle the feeling.

"I was more worried about you," I admitted as I looked up into his eyes. When I got a good look of his eyes, all breath left me. I suddenly felt winded, my body frozen in shock. His eyes were a beautiful ruby red. As I stared, I could see all the eyes of my Ishvalan victims, all those that I had murdered… every man, woman, and child, they were all reflected in Miles' eyes.

"Colonel?" Miles asked.

"I, uh," I looked away, instantly ashamed to be this close to him. "I'll go start a fire," I tried to jerk my hands away from him.

"No," he said, grabbing my hands. "You'll get frostbite for sure," he insisted.

"But if we had a fire, I wouldn't have to take your warmth," I tried to reason.

"Do you not want me to hold your hand?" he smirked playfully.

"No, that's not it," I blushed at my reply.

"I have an idea," he said. "We'll get to a cave that's nearby, warm your hands, then build a fire," he said.

"Fine," I agreed stubbornly.

As we walked, neither of us talked. I was grateful for the silence. It wasn't long before I was lost in thought. How could I have not realized that Miles was Ishvalan? How could I ever be more than friends with him if I couldn't even look him in the eyes? How could we even be friends? What would he think of me if he ever found out what I did in Ishval?

All these thoughts circled my mind as I robotically walked side by side with Miles. We made it to the cave in a speedy manner. We sat down against the far wall, huddled closer than I wanted. I found myself grateful for my shivering, for once. Miles couldn't tell I was shaking because I was nervous around him. Our silence still reigned as he continued to hold my hand. I didn't know how much time had passed before he stood up. "Here," he tossed his gloves at me. "Those will keep you warm until I get back with the firewood," he left the cave. I was left alone with my thoughts.

I stared at the gloves Miles had left, unable to bring myself to put them on. Miles was the only reason I was alive now, yet I had mercilessly murdered his people. I felt as helpless as I did back then in the war. I bowed my head, folding my hands over it, staring downward. Before too long, Miles returned. I heard him shifting the wood into a proper pit. "Now how do you- I told you to wear those," he said. He walked towards me, grabbing my hands, forcing them into the gloves. "You're not going to lose your fingers out here," he said. "What's your problem?"

"Nothing," I took one of his gloves off, much to his dismay. But I replaced them with an ignition cloth glove, just like Roy's. "I'm just making us a fire," I said.

"How?"

"Lightning alchemy is an extension of flame alchemy," I explained. Kindling the fire, I sat next to it, welcoming its warmth. Miles sat next to me, so close I could feel the body warmth radiating from him. Despite my freezing body screaming to get closer, I scooted away. I already took too much from him, I couldn't take his body heat too.

"Did I offend you?" he suddenly demanded.

"Of course not," I replied. "Don't be ridiculous."

"Then why are you suddenly giving me the cold shoulder… not literally," he added. I looked up at him, only to find those ruby eyes staring in a mixture of sorrow and a slight hint of anger. I instantly looked away. Was that how my victims would look at me if they could? "Colonel," Miles called my attention back to him. "If this is about the war, don't worry about it," his voice was soft. I looked at him, my eyes wide with horror. Did he know? Did he know about the lives I have taken? The families I have destroyed? The chaos I have caused? "The Flame and Lightning Alchemists were the heroes of the Ishval Rebellion," he explained. "Everyone knows that. But what you did exactly is unknown to everyone but other vets from the war. But I know you wouldn't kill anyone unless your life depended on it," he said.

He had me all wrong. He didn't know anything.