(AN: I know it's been waaaaaay too long since the last chapter. I was having some extreme writers block, had a lot of homework, had my gymnastics state meet, exc. I meant to have this chapter up a long time ago….. sorries)

Compared to her expectations, the first half of their journey was pretty uneventful. She made some small talk with Roy while they were riding, but for the most part they were silent. The horses clopped along the road, their silky heads nodding in rhythm. The peaceful air around them was filled with the sounds of birds, singing happily and paying to attention to the two travelers.

This is amazing. Riza thought to herself, raising her head to look at the brilliant blue sky. I've been spending so much time inside I almost forgot its midsummer. She stared into the distance on the right of the path. The road they were following sat directly on the edge of a cliff, so she could see for miles around. The golden sunlight rested on the far away hills, giving the air a warm green-gold glow. The trees on the slope below her were positively basking in it, their leaves shining brightly. In the ravine at the bottom of the cliff, a small river cheerfully flowed on its way. The river ran over small rocks rocks, creating a nice babbling sound and sending up brilliant flashes of light.

Riza let the calm feeling comfort her. It was so peaceful that she almost forgot the reason for their journey. Almost, but not quite. And she knew that Roy had never, even for a second, forgotten the danger the Elric brothers were in.

Riza turned to look at her colonel, and saw she was right. Roy was staring straight ahead, his eyes never leaving the path. His brow was furrowed in concentration and his mouth was molded into a gentle frown. Even his glossy black hair had been effected. It hung darkly around his face, strands sticking to his sweat soaked cheeks.

It killed Riza to see him like this, it really did. However, she knew that he would not stop worrying until the brothers were safe.

Riza sighed and turned back to the view. To her eyes though, the peacefulness was gone.

After a few hours of riding in anxious silence, Riza saw something up ahead. Nudging her heels into her horse's flanks, she pulled away from Roy to take a look. As she got closer, she felt her heart sink.

It was even worse than she had imagined. For one hundred feet in front of her, the road was completely gone. To the right, the cliff was steeper than ever. To the left, what once had been a gentle hill was now a cliff just as steep as the one below. And there was no road to separate the two. The whole scene looked like an enormous being had taken a bite out of the mountain. (goddamnit Erin)

"This is bad" Riza said, calculating their chances of getting across. There were a few ledges of what might have been the road, but nothing big enough to take the weight of a horse. On foot, it wouldn't be much better. Most of the spaces between ledges were way to far to jump, and the sheer cliff looked almost impossible to climb.

"Well," Roy said, having caught back up with her. "You are certainly right about that."

Riza turned to look at him, surprised by the tone of his voice. He didn't sound angry, or even frustrated. He sounded absolutely calm. And the look on his face was one of pure determination.

"Sir!" Riza said, alarm flaring in her voice. "You are NOT thinking of climbing across that."

"I don't see any other way to get across, do you?" Roy replied stonily.

"I cant let you do that, sir" Riza said, sighing. Roy had never been very brave. Most of the time, when faced with a hard decision, he would run away rather than take action. It was one of the qualities that make him different than the rest of the military dogs, that made him Roy. But looking at his face now made Riza's heart beat faster. If he really was serious about climbing across this cliff, there wasn't a lot she could do about it. Besides being a coward, Roy could be incredibly stubborn. Still, she had to try.

"Its my job to protect you Roy, whether you want me to or not."

"I know Riza, but it's my job to protect the Elric brothers, and I can't do that from this side of this goddamn cliff."

Well, I tried. Riza thought.

"If you are insisting on putting your life at risk, then you at least have to let me help you." She said, adding some stubbornness of her own. Roy looked at her, tilting his head to the side.

"I never said you would stay here, in fact I kinda assumed that you would end up following me no matter what I say. That's what you normally do, just ignore my advice and put yourself at risk." Roy sighed and pushed a few sweaty strands of hair off his face. "I really hate it when you do that you know. It would kill me if you got hurt."

Riza looked down at her horse's mane. He was right, she supposed, she did have a tendency to put herself in dangerous situations. Of course, she told herself, everything dangerous I do in this job is all to keep the colonel from getting hurt. If only he could understand that.

"No sir, I would kill me if you got hurt." Riza said, trying to put her thought into words, "I don't know if I could live without you."

Roy stared at Riza's downturned face long and hard. This side of the lieutenant was new to him; he had never seen her admit something as heartfelt as that before.

"Together then," Roy said. "We'll do this together."

Riza looked up. "Thank you." Was her only reply.

Roy shifted in his saddle, pulling his feet out of the stirrups. He slid to the ground, and led his tired horse off to the side of the narrow trail. Riza followed his lead, tying her horse's reins around a large rock. "I'll be back." She muttered under her breath, running her fingers down her horse's sweaty flank.

She turned, nodding to Roy, and moved to stand by the edge of the cliff. Roy came up behind her and lightly put his hand on her shoulder. "Lets do this." He said.