Juliet ran through the burning buildings, almost tripping over her dress several times.

"It's just like it was back then." She thought as images of a burning house filled her mind. The voices echoed in her mind, calling out to her. Juliet brought her hands to her ears and closed her eyes as she ran.

"No, no! I won't let it happen again!" She thought and ran into the center of the village plaza, where a water fountain still sprouted out water, despite the flames. She clapped her hands and slammed her hands into the water. The familiar light flashed around the water as it rose up into the sky like a giant geyser and fanned out to put out the flames.

"There she is!" "Seize her!"

Juliet looked over her shoulder and glared at the soldiers that ran towards her.

"This is all your fault!" She yelled as she extended her arm towards them and a wave of water shot out in the direction of the soldiers, knocking them back several feet.

Juliet looked back up at the water that worked to put out the flames. The ashes and cinders slowly dancing their way into the sky, creating the image of small fireflies. It wasn't long before more soldiers came after her, but she simply pushed them away with the water.

Edward ran through the streets, managing to get by several soldiers since most of them thought he was just a villager. Then he saw the giant geyser of water shoot up into the sky and slowly started to put the flames out. Edward narrowed his eyes and darted off in that direction, but someone ran into him before he got far. It was a woman, her face smudged by ashes and tears.

"Help me, please!" She begged as she clinged to Edward's shirt. "My daughter she's trapped!" She said and pointed to a building nearby that was on fire and seemed like it would collapse at any moment. "Please! She's all I have!" She said and fell to her knees and sobbed.

Edward looked at the woman for a moment and then ran towards the building. He entered the burning building and immediately was greeted by falling cinders. The smoke burned his eyes and he squinted as he tried to make out what was what.

"Is anyone here?!" He yelled as he looked around. "If you can hear me, say something!"

"Mommy!" A girl's voice yelled from upstairs. "Mommy!"

Edward bolted up the stairs that collapsed under his weight as he ran up the stairs.

"Jeez, I'm not that fat." He thought as he looked back at what was once the stairwell. He was snapped out of his thoughts by the sound of the girl's muffled coughing. He followed the sound and kicked down the door in order to enter the room. He looked around and spotted a small girl in the corner of the room, on the very of passing out from the lack of oxygen. Edward ran to her and scooped her up.

"Hey, stay with me, okay?" He said as he turned on his heels and headed back. The floor creaked under the pressure of his foot and gave out. Edward jumped back a bit to avoid the falling debris. He cursed under his breath and looked behind him at the window.

"Why do I always find myself jumping out of windows?!" He yelled as he crashed through the window and used his body to protect the girl from any falling glass. He landed on the ground and rolled a few feet away from the building just as it collapsed on itself. He coughed a bit and checked to make sure the girl was okay. She was fine, but a bit dazed. He sighed in relief and stood to his feet, the girl still in his arms.

"Amber! Amber!" The woman yelled as she took the girl from his arms. "Thank goodness!" She sobbed as she held her daughter close to her. "Thank you, thank you so much." She said through teary eyes.

"Don't mention it." Edward said and ran off, heading back towards the geyser in the sky. The closer he got, the less flames he saw and the more unconscious soldiers he saw. He finally slowed down when he spotted Juliet staring at the water in a dazed state.

"Juliet!" He said and snapped her back to reality. "Juliet we have to get out of here." He said and grabbed her arm.

"No, wait!" She said and pulled her arm out his grip. "I have to fix this!" She said.

"There are still soldiers around here! If we stay here, you'll get caught." He shot back. Juliet didn't respond, but clearly tensed up. Edward took ahold of her arm and dragged her away. "Come on." He said as they began to run.

"... I'm sorry..." Juliet whispered as they ran by the burning buildings that they geyser couldn't reach. "I'm so sorry."

"Here." Edward said and tossed an apple to Juliet.

"Thanks." She said as she caught it, but continued to stare out the window.

Edward sighed and sat down across from her. At the moment they were staying in a town nearby the town that had burned down last night. Rumors and stories of it had already spread to the town they were staying in. All had the same story that it had to do with the Red Witch and her fury, but not a single one included anything about the army.

"If you don't eat, you'll get sick." Edward said as he took a bite out of his own apple.

"I know." Juliet said and turned her attention to her apple. "So how did it go?" She asked, changing the subject.

Edward rubbed his head, "Well, seems like my old man has some important things to do, so he isn't of much help." He shrugged and took another bite of his apple. "Looks like we're stuck here for a while."

Juliet sighed, "We can't stay here for that long. They move quickly."

"Who is 'they'?" Edward asked.

"The army." She said and looked back out the window, watching a few people pass down below them.

"Why is the army after you anyway?" Edward asked and took another bite of his apple. "You said you would tell me."

"Just because I said something doesn't mean I meant it." Juliet replied dully as she finally took a bite of her apple.

"What?!" Edward said as he stood up and glared down at Juliet. "Come on! I'm the one who's hiding you right now! It's the least you could do!"

"The least I could do is teach you Alchemy." Juliet said and looked up at Edward with a calm expression as she took another bite of her apple. "Besides it's not like you would turn me in. You need me, don't you?" She challenged.

Edward's eyebrow twitched in annoyance. "Look here, kid."

"Don't call someone who is taller than you a kid." Juliet said and smoothed out the skirt of her dress.

"You're only taller than me because of those boots you wear!" Edward growled.

Juliet placed her apple on the nightstand beside the bed and stood up. She kicked off her boots and shrunk down a few inches. She placed her hands on her hips and smirked.

"I'm still taller than you." She taunted.

"Are not! We're the same size! If anything you're the short one!" Edward said as he clashed heads with her.

"What was that pipsqueak?" Juliet said as she moved back and slammed her forehead against his.

Edward stumbled back a bit with his hand over the red mark on his forehead, but Juliet's forehead was also a bit red.

"Who you calling a pipsqueak, you, you, flea!" Edward yelled as he pointed at Juliet.

"Flea?!" Juliet said and put her hand to her chest as if she was greatly insulted. "Well at least people can see me! I don't even know where you are." She said and looked around the room as if she were looking for him. "Where'd you go, pipsqueak?"

"What are you blind? I'm right here!" Edward said and headbutt her as payback for earlier. However, Juliet didn't even flinch and they engaged in a tug-of-war, but with their foreheads and they were pushing, not exactly tugging.

"Who you calling blind, shortstack?!" Juliet growled as her eye twitched.

"Witch!" "Midget!" "Grandma!" "Chibi!" "Jalapeno!(You know, cause her hair is red)" "Shorty!" "Demon!"

Knock, Knock

"WHAT?!" They both yelled in unison as they turned to the door, but then turned to glare at each other.

"... there's a phone call for the young lady." The man on the other side of the door said.

"About time he called back." Juliet said as she headed to the door. "Oh, and don't get lost in the covers, blondie." Juliet smirked as she exited the room, she could practically feel Edward's glare on her as she left. She chuckled as she walked down the stairs to the phone. "Hello?" She answered as she placed the phone to her ear.

"I heard you were on the run again." The voice on the other side of the line said.

"Yeah, and just when I was getting comfortable." Juliet said and leaned against the wall, keeping a careful watch on the few people in the room.

"So what are you going to do?"

"For now I'm staying in a hotel in a nearby town with some boy named Edward Elric." Juliet said as she inspected her nails.

"Edward Elric?"

"Yeah, mind doing some research for me? This kid knows about it and claims to be from the other side of the gate." Juliet said in a whisper.

"Someone else that knows about it? Edward Elric, right?"

"Mhm, that's him. Tell me what you find. I'll probably be here for one more day before we get moving." She said as she ran her fingers through her hair. "It won't be long before they come searching here."

"And the village?"

Juliet was silent for a moment. "It was burned down."

"Hm, they're as irrational as always."

Juliet scoffed, "That's an understatement." She rolled her eyes. "Anyway, I'll be waiting for your call and if you can't find anything before we leave, I'll call you from the next place."

"Are you coming here?"

"... Possibly, but I don't know. I have to make sure I keep a close eye on this Edward guy. He might be able to tell me about the things I don't know."

"Like your past?"

"... Yeah... Anyway, I'll talk to you later." Juliet said as she pushed herself off the wall.

"Be careful."

"Yeah, I know, bye." She said and hung up the phone. She sighed and turned around and ran right into someone. "Sorry." She said and moved back a bit. "Edward? Were you eavesdropping on me?!" She said as she glared at him.

"Hush." Edwards said and pushed her into a corner of the room. A hand on either side of her and his body almost touching hers.

"What are yo-"

"Shush!" He demanded and looked over his shoulder.

Juliet looked over his shoulder and gasped at the sight. There was a group of soldiers coming into the hotel.

"Already?" She said and cursed under her breath.

"Shh, they're coming." Edward said and turned back to face her.

The two of them stayed quiet as they waited for the soldiers to pass and hoped that they would leave them alone. Once they were gone, Edward pushed himself away and looked around.

"Come on." Edward said as he grabbed Juliet's arm and dragged her towards the back door.

"Wait, what about our things?" She asked as she looked over her shoulder.

"What things? My suitcase probably became ashes yesterday." Edward said as they rushed out the hotel into the alleyways.

"I had my boots in there!" She said as she lifted up her dress to show her bare feet.

"I'll buy you new ones later." Edward said as they began to run down the alleyways.

"You better." Juliet mumbled as they made a turn, her foot splashing into a puddle of who knows what. She cringed a bit and hoped that it was just water.

After a few minutes the finally decided to come out of the alleyways and into the streets. It was no surprise that their were soldiers everywhere they looked.

"Persistent bastards, aren't they?" Edward mumbled as they merged with the crowd.

"Tell me about it." Juliet said as she tried to keep her head down and hoped that her hair color wouldn't attract too much unneeded attention. She then linked her arm with his.

"What are you doing?" Edward asked as he looked around at the soldiers.

"Just play along." Juliet said and pointed at some random marketplace. "It's not like I want to do this. Especially with someone as short as you." She snickered.

"For the last time we're the same size." Edward said and forced a smile as he waved at some random bystander.

"Keep telling yourself that, kid." She said and laughed as if he had just told a funny joke.

"Hey, you two!"

Edward and Juliet turned to see one of the soldiers pointing right at them.

"Time to go." Edward said as they began to run.

"Hey, stop them!"

It wasn't long before they had a group of soldiers hot on their heels. They weaved through the crowd, making plenty of complicated and unnecessary turns. They jumped over barrels and knocked down trash cans as well as push a few people into the soldiers.

"Do you even know where you're going?!" Juliet asked as she spotted a familiar building that they passed by a few times.

"Nope!" Edward said and took another right turn.

Juliet deadpanned, "Then why are you leading?!" She yelled as they almost ran into a group of soldiers.

They turned on their heels, but there was a group right behind them. The two had their backs against each other as they glared at the group of at least twenty soldiers surrounding them.

"Surrender! You're surrounded!" One of the soldiers said and took a step forward.

"Jeez, see what you've done?" Juliet growled and ignored the soldier's order.

"Put your hands up above your head!" The soldier ordered.

"Well, you should've lead the way if you're so great." Edward mumbled as he rolled his eyes.

"Trust me, I will next time." She said as she clapped her hands and slammed them into the ground. The light flashed and the ground under the soldiers shot up at least twenty feet into the air. "Come on, you idiot." She said as she stood up and dragged Edward away.

"Jeez, my feet are sore." Juliet mumbled as she sat on the ground of the forest.

Edward sighed and turned around to face her. "Come on." Edward said and offered his hand to help her up.

She groaned, but took his hand and stood to her feet. "Just how long have we been walking?"

Edward looked at his wrist watch. "Two hours." He replied as he began walking.

"And we still haven't reached another town?" She asked as she followed him, her feet starting become raw because of the difficult terrain.

"It's not that we haven't reached one, we're trying to avoid them." Edward replied as he moved a branch out of his way.

"What? I need to get to a town." Juliet said with a sigh.

"What for?" Edward asked and looked over his shoulder at her.

"I need to call a friend of mine." She said as she crossed her arms over her chest and ducked under a tree branch.

Edward sighed and looked around, "The military is probably in all the surrounding towns looking for you. We can't do anything until they calm down a bit."

"Or I can disguise myself." She said in a 'duh' type of tone.

"With what?" He asked, but a moment later realized it.

She stopped and looked around. She picked up a few rocks and set them on the ground. She clapped her hands and slammed them on the ground near the small pile of rocks. A moment later there was a primitive form of a knife where the pile of rocks had been.

"What are you going to do with that?" Edward asked as she picked it up and stood to her feet. She didn't reply and simply took her braid and chopped it off. Her hair now barely reached her chin and a few strands were longer than the others, but not by a lot.

"Watcha think?" Juliet asked as she looked at the braid of hair in her hand.

"Hm," Edward said as he tapped his chin and looked her over. It did make a difference, although he didn't know many people who had red hair as noticeable as hers. "Not bad." He shrugged.

She smirked and looked around. "Ah, there's one." She said and clapped her hands and placed them on a tree nearby. A second later a small wooden cage fell into her hands. She opened it up and held the squirrel in. "Hold still, will you?" She said as she tied her braid onto it. "Hmm." She said and placed it on the ground. It ran away, the braid luckily clinging onto it. "That should get those military dogs off our trail." She said and watched as the animal disappeared.

"That's a nice trick." Edward said. "I'll remember that." He said as they began to walk again. Juliet flinched a bit and stopped for a moment. "Something wrong?"

"... Just stepped on a rock..." Juliet said as she lifted her foot to see the knife she had created. "... Yup, just a rock." She said with a nervous laugh. "I'll just make myself some shoes... made of dirt." She said as she clapped her hands and slammed her hands into the ground.

The ground around her feet crawled onto them and slowly conformed itself to them. There were a few pebbles in the dirt that Juliet used to create the soles of the shoes and added a heel to them. She stood up and walked around a bit.

"It'll do... for now." Juliet said as she and took the lead this time.

"Who said you could lead?" Edward mumbled as he stuffed his hands in his pockets.

Juliet raised an eyebrow at him, "You want to lead? With your sense of direction? Ha, funny." She laughed and turned her attention back to where she was walking. "May I remind you about what happened back in the previous town?"

"I wasn't trying to get us out of the town! I was trying to get away from the soldiers." Edward explained.

"Wouldn't have leaving the village been the best way to get away from the soldiers?" She asked as she swatted away a fly.

"... I didn't think of that..." Edward mumbled as he crossed his arms over his chest, slightly pouting.

Juliet chuckled, "It's okay, shortstack." She said and ruffled his hair. "You're not the brightest lightbulb.

"I'm not short!"