I awkwardly scooted closer to him to share his warmth, allowing him this image, the image of a defender, not an attacker. He took my hands in his own once more, warming them. I felt myself relax as he continued to hold my hand and make small talk. I found myself leaning against him, staring into the burning embers. "We made a pretty good team," he said. "Buccaneer wouldn't even take on one tundra bear, but you took on two without so much as batting an eye!" he tried to get me to respond.

"Maybe we could bring the bears back," I suggested.

"They'd make a good throw rug for General," he commented. We laughed for a moment before a massive yawn replaced it. "Aww, is the little Central girl tired?" he mocked.

"Yes, she is," I replied. "Central soldiers are used to operating on a full eight hours of sleep," I chuckled. With a soft smile, Miles pulled away from me and laid down, motioning for me to come over. "No way," I made a face of disgust.

"Get over yourself, Colonel," he rolled his ruby eyes. "It's just to stay warm. You know you'd have frozen to death already if it wasn't for me."

"And I appreciate it," I inched away from him. "But I am not sleeping that close to anyone."

"You are such a Central soldier! You can fight, but when it comes to inter-human relations, you kinda suck," he smirked.

"What was that?" I demanded, irritated that he had insulted my people-skills.

"You heard me," he grinned. "Do you want to prove me wrong?"

We stared at each other for a moment.

"Scoot over," I migrated towards him. With a look I can only describe as delight took over his face, he made room for me. I laid down next to him, facing the fire, the back of my head against his chest. He wrapped his arm around my waist, pulling me closer to him.

"You're so cold," he mumbled.

Aw, it matches my heart, I joked tiredly. I stared into the embers before slowly nodding off.

I remembered Ishval. I brought my victims' faces to the forefront of my mind from my subconscious where they now lived. I ran through the blood stained sand streets as buildings began to crumble and explode all around me. People were crying in pain, agony, and sorrow. A child looked up at me with a mixture of tears and blood fell from her red eyes. "Please help me," she begged. With a heavy heart, I turned and left the child to die. When I began to walk, I bumped into someone. I looked up to peer into the ruby orbs of Major Miles. "I- Major, what are you doing here?"

"I'm here to keep you from doing something you'd regret," he hugged me tightly.

"It's too late," I hugged him back.

"Calm down," he cupped my chin to look him in the eyes. I cast my gaze downward, avoiding his ruby eyes. "Look at me," he instructed. I subtly shifted my gaze upward. Our eyes locked and he smiled. I found myself smiling among all the chaos around me. Within the same moment, his lips were locked on mine. I blushed wildly, tightening my embrace around him. His kiss was soft, warm. He was so gentle and his hands wrapped lovingly around my waist.

Suddenly, my hands twitched. Miles' hands lost their grip. His lips were losing their warmth. I pulled back to look at him, to ask him what was wrong. A gasp escaped my lips as I saw his face. Instead of seeing his crimson eyes, I saw a pool of crimson blood spewing from where his eyes should have been. I stepped aside slowly and watching him fall. His dead body made a thud sound as he fell to the ground. My eyes widened in horror as I realized my circles must have activated and killed him. I stared at his body in shock before realizing he was just another victim, just a number added to the thousands that I've hurt. I fell to my knees, a phrase repeating itself over and over again from my lips. It took me a while to realize what I was even saying. "I love you… I love you… I love you…"

"Well done, Lightning Alchemist. Another dog has been put in his place," a demonic voice said from behind me. My heart began to race. Not him… anyone but him. I felt a hand on my shoulder, arousing so many different feelings within me, both good and bad.

I jolted upright, feeling my eyes fill with warm tears. In a frantic effort to keep them from falling, I covered my eyes with one hand, leaning back on my other. I felt my bangs fall over my hand. My breath was short and choppy as I choked back sobs. That dream had been so enlightening. I loved him. And I had killed him. "Colonel?" I felt Miles' position shifting as he too sat up. He placed a comforting arm on my shoulder that I managed to slap away.

"Go back to sleep," I said. "That's an order."

"One that I cannot follow, Colonel," he defied. "Something is wrong. What is it?"

"It was just a bad dream," I told him.

"Well you mumbled my name," he said. "Did I do something bad in your dream?"

"No," my fingers curled as I tried to wipe the images away. "You were the good part. It was bad because… because you died," I admitted. The weakness in my voice made me feel so vulnerable. And the feeling of vulnerability just added to the torrent of emotions the nightmare had riled up. I couldn't bear to see the look on Miles' face. "And you died… because of me… we were in Ishval… and… and…" my voice trailed off. Miles grabbed the hand that covered my eyes, pulling it down. Instantly, my eyes were closed. His hand held mine gently.

"Open your eyes," he ordered. I reluctantly did so, keeping my gaze downward. A stray tear made its way down my face slowly. "Colonel, please look at me," he said. This time it was more of a request. Even so, I did what he asked. "Permission to… um…" he struggled and fumbled for words. I wasn't sure what he really wanted to do, but I granted him permission all the same. With that, he leaned close, extremely close. He gently kissed my cheek, managing to make the tear vanish. "It was just a dream. Don't let it bother you," he said.

"If only it was that easy," I said.

A moment of silence passed between us. "I had a dream as well," his voice was different than I'd ever heard it before. "It wasn't a nightmare," he explained. "It couldn't be, you were there," he continued. I stared at him, wondering what exactly happened in this dream. It was easy to tell he was blushing, even in the darkness of the cave with the low light of the dying embers. "And we were in a dark place… and we were… we were…" from there, it was easy to guess what the dream was about. I slowly inched towards him, gently placing my lips atop his, hoping like crazy that this really was what he was talking about. When he returned the kiss wholeheartedly, I had my answer.

"Let me see if I can make your dream come true," I whispered in his ear before kissing him once more.

When I awoke, I was snuggled into Miles' bare chest. From his breathing, I could tell he was awake. I looked up to see a peaceful look on his face. His arms were wrapped around my waist, holding me securely against his body. Realizing I was awake, he looked down on me. A smile crept onto his normally stoic face, a warm look taking over. "Good morning," he grinned. His very voice made me blush, flashing back to everything he had whispered to me the previous night. My face only got redder when he brought his lips to my forehead. In response, I interlocked our fingers. "Colonel-" I put a finger on his lips, raising a brow. "Maya," he corrected himself. "As much as I hate to say this, we've been MIA for over 12 hours. We better head back," he said.

"R-right," I forced myself up, my body complaining in retaliation. I forced my uniform on, once again struggling with the zipper. With a playful smile, Miles easily zipped it. He reached into my pocket and pulled out my ignition cloth gloves. "They're better than nothing," he said. Rolling my eyes, feeling like a scolded child, I placed the gloves on.

"Happy?" I asked.

"Almost," he smirked, grabbing one hand with his own, intertwining our fingers.

We walked out of the cave, into an especially bright day at Briggs. The sun was bright and prominent in the blue sky. The snow was extra mushy today. Miles continued to lead me towards the fort.