He was cold, wet, dirty, mentally and physically exhausted. Not to mention still scared out of his mind. It had been raining the last two days and non-stop bombing and rifle fire for four days straight. The sound was maddening and Edward wanted to just pound his head into the muddy earthen works to rid the echoing in his brain. But he resisted the urge and sat still as Havoc dug a bullet out of his right shoulder that had embedded itself into the joint.

His troop had arrived just in time for Edward to create ditches for the men to take cover in and not do much else. The Drachman army wouldn't let them. They had kept up a barrage of artillery going night and day. Along with sniper fire that was just as unresting and even more deadly if anyone was foolish enough to stick their head out of the ditches. Edward had tried to use alchemy to tear up the earth as far ahead of them as he could see, hoping to disrupt them. But it didn't make a difference. They were too far out of range for him but not enough that they couldn't do any damage to the Amestris army. Both Edward and Colonel Robienne, the officer charged with defending the Great North Road, had repeatedly urged North City to send out a brigade of artillery, which arrived none to soon.

The Amestrian guns fired for a full day. When a lull occurred from the answering Drachmans, Edward's troop was ordered to charge ahead. It was a minor success. They had gained fifty yards before Edward was forced to create another ditch for everyone to hide in. Before he had a chance to jump in himself he felt a push against his right shoulder. It was strong enough to have made him lose his balance and fall into the trench.

"Okay, got it," Havoc said as he popped the bullet out onto his hand and sheathed the knife he had been using. "Can you move it? You'd better make sure the bullet and I didn't do any lasting damage."

Edward moved his arm around and sighed with relief wondering what he would do if his automail had been damaged. He would have been too afraid to ask Winry for any repairs considering the last time he had seen her. He wondered if she would even care anymore whether he trashed his arm or not. It was a relief to get the bullet out. It had kept him from moving his arm up all the way. Without the offending obstruction his arm was still fully functional.

"Automail comes in handy it seems," Havoc noted. "No such luck for that poor bastard," he added indicating a soldier to his left. Edward looked and saw that the man was not as fortunate as he. The soldier's right arm was bleeding profusely from his own bullet wound.

"At least we're closer so the batteries can't do too much damage to the ditches. But it does bring us in range of more than just sniper fire," Havoc commented. Edward just nodded.

"You alright?" Havoc asked.

"No," Edward said through gritted teeth.

"Well, don't look like it," Havoc hissed back. Edward looked at him with frightened eyes then nodded, trying to compose himself.

"This is nothing. We haven't come face to face with any Drachmans yet."

Edward tried to push that thought out of his mind. I'll worry about that when it comes, he told himself. He looked back at the soldier with the wounded arm, thinking about how to get the other wounded out of the ditches.

"Should I create another ditch to connect this and the last one?" Edward asked Havoc. "To get the wounded out."

"Yeah, I'll get them rounded up to move out," Havoc said and started to issue orders to the Sergeants.

Edward clapped his hands together and placed his hands on the wall of the ditch. With a flash of bluish light a section of earth disappeared and continued to stretch out until a pathway was in place. He looked around him and saw that some of the soldiers were looking at him with wide eyed wonder making Edward think that this was the first time they had seen alchemy performed. He stepped aside to allow the wounded to be carried through. Leaving the men to do their work Edward left in search of Havoc.

"Any casualties?" Edward asked once he found the Lieutenant.

"No. But we just got here," Havoc warned.

"Lieutenant Colonel, Sir!"

Edward looked to see Sergeant Sharpe, who served as his communications officer, running towards him with the radio pack bouncing on his back.

"What is it Sergeant?" Edward asked dismissing the salute from Sharpe.

"Colonel Robienne," he said handing Edward the receiver.

Edward turned his back and listened hard through the static of the horrible connection. Once he got his orders he handed it back to Sergeant Sharpe. He then turned to Havoc.

"Prepare for another attack," Edward said and turned to go back down the other side of the ditch. He clenched his hands hard trying not to be overwhelmed by his fear. He could afford a bullet in his right arm or left leg. The others could not. They were within target of rifle fire and yet no machine guns had been heard. He had a feeling it was just a matter of time.

"Sergeant Healy! Get the rest of the wounded out and prepare your men for another attack," Edward heard Havoc order as he made his way to Sergeant Brody to issue orders of his own.

"Sergeant Brody, we're preparing for another advance," Edward said. Brody looked at him then down the ditch at Havoc. Seeming satisfied that Edward was giving the correct orders he set to work. Edward turned his back on the older Sergeant fuming and went back to where Havoc was waiting in position to jump out of the ditch.

Edward settled himself next to Havoc and took a deep breath. He looked up and down the trench to see that the men were ready.

"All set?" Edward asked. Havoc nodded in return. Edward looked to his left to see that Sergeant Brody had gotten into position without him seeing.

"Give the signal, Sergeant," Edward commanded bracing himself.

Brody placed a slim, silver whistle in his mouth and blew. The high pitched signal was repeated and with a roar the men threw themselves out of the trench. Edward pulled himself out then clapping his hands together he kneeled and placed them on the ground. He created a barrier fifty yards ahead of the charging men to provide them with some protection as they advanced on the Drachman troops. Returning gunfire could be heard but the shots were muffled by the barrier.

Edward caught up with the rest of the men as they took cover behind the barrier. As the troop fired into the rain Edward peeked over the rim of the barrier. He couldn't see anything. It was just a haze of smoke further beyond. He had hoped they would have gotten close enough to see something.

"That's not just the weather providing them with cover," Edward heard close by. He turned to see that Havoc was at his elbow.

"What do you mean?" Edward asked.

"They're using more than just their own firepower to create smoke cover like that."

"Fuck."

"They must have an idea we have an alchemist with us. You need to see what you're doing so they're blinding you."

Suddenly a section of Edward's barrier blew apart further to his right. Luckily there were no men nearby. Then a few more explosions erupted behind them spraying them with mud.

"Looks like they've adjusted their guns for our advance," Havoc noted.

"Then we need to adjust our own," Edward commented.

"That's right," Havoc said with a touch of pride that Edward didn't need to be told.

"Sergeant Sharpe!" Edward yelled looking around. Another explosion not quite muffled by the barrier in front of them caused it to crumble a bit. Edward clapped his hands and placed it on the mud wall to reinforce it. When he was done he looked around for Sergeant Sharpe. Finding him down to his left he kept his head down and ran towards him. As he ran another shell exploded to his left. The force of it hurled Edward into the barrier stunning him for a moment. Shaking his head clear he continued towards his communications officer.

"Sharpe, connect me with the Colonel," Edward shouted to be heard above the din of rifle and battery fire.

"Colonel Robienne," Edward said once the connection went through and he had the receiver. "We need cover fire from artillery."

"Who is this?" Edward heard crackle through. Fuck! I don't have time for this, Edward thought.

"Lieutenant Colonel Elric," he yelled out as another shell dropped ten feet behind him.

"And what did you want? Have you advanced as you were ordered to?"

"Yes! We need artillery to cover us. Shells are dropping all around," Edward explained.

"We can't bring our own guns into range of their long range artillery. You're an alchemist; figure something out, Lieutenant Colonel."

Edward tried to maintain himself. He wondered if this was a way to teach an upstart kid a lesson or if this was normally the way of things. But he couldn't be worrying about such things at the moment. He had bigger problems. But it was all too frustrating with the explosions. It was too loud and confusing and he couldn't think straight. But he did know he couldn't retreat. He knew they were close enough that if they could just see the Drachman lines they could do some damage of their own.

As he handed the receiver back to Sergeant Sharpe, Havoc approached.

"What did the Colonel say?"

"To figure something out," Edward said then flinched as another shell dropped nearby. He looked around desperately seeing several eyes upon him, looking for answers. He felt like screaming. He could feel the panic building up inside and he headed back the way he had come just to do something to keep from losing his senses in front of everyone. He turned when he felt a hand grip his elbow. Havoc was beside him and leaned down.

"We've got to do something," he hissed.

"I know," Edward hissed back. "If I could just see what's ahead." Then his head cleared a bit and he found he could think a little clearer now. "Let's go ahead and make another charge. I know we're close enough. If we can get a little further ahead and take cover, we should be close enough for me to disrupt them somewhat. If not, we can advance again until we are."

"Sounds good." Havoc agreed. "I was almost afraid you were going to say to let you go out alone."

"I know you wouldn't let me."

"That's right. We're in this together. Whatever you do, we all do."

"Okay, prepare for another advance."

Havoc left to spread the word to the Sergeants. When the troop was in position the signal was given and they made another charge. Edward removed the barrier and they ran for it. Explosions and gun fire hailed upon them. Edward looked to his left and saw two men go down. He had a moment where he wondered why the sight of those two men falling to the ground didn't stir up any kind of reactionary emotion. Pushing the thought out of his head he focused on pushing himself harder, trying not to slip on the muddy ground. As he ran a new sound joined the cacophony. They were quick, short bursts that rattled through the air. Edward stopped when several men in front of him went down at once. He stopped and clapped his hands together and created another barrier ten feet in front of his advancing troop. As the men reached the new wall of mud they dropped below it, catching their breaths.

"Lieutenant!" Edward shouted as he caught up and dropped down next to Havoc.

"We're a little too close for comfort for them," Havoc said with a wry smile.

"I thought so. That's why they started the machine guns?"

"Yep. We should set up our own guns and return fire."

They quickly went to work to set up their own machine guns. Edward had just finished creating openings for the guns and the last one had just been put into position when Sergeant Sharpe came running up to him.

"The Colonel," he said out of breath. Edward took the receiver and put it to his ear.

"Lieutenant Colonel Elric here," he said.

"Pull back Elric."

"What?! We just set up guns to cover us for another advance..." but he was cut off.

"I said pull back. The left flank was not able to make any progress. You've advanced too far ahead of the rest of the battalion. Come back or get cut off."

"Maybe they need more time. We've gained a lot of ground! We can hold our position!"

"The battalion does not need more time if half of it is gone! Pull back now. That's an order, Elric!"

"Yes, sir," Edward said stunned. Half a battalion gone. If he didn't retreat than his own troop would add to the numbers. The thought of giving up what they had just gained was too frustrating. But the thought of being cut off and alone without any support was worse.

"Havoc! I mean Lieutenant Havoc!" Edward shouted searching through the rain and smoke of battle. "Sergeant Sharpe, begin the retreat. If you see the Lieutenant, tell him to find me."

"Yes, sir!" Sergeant Sharpe said as he saluted and trotted off to carry out his orders.