About four miles away from the city a very tired group of alchemists were still running trying to put distance between them and their assailants. They had stopped for the umpteenth time to catch their breath.

Calkie looked back to see if they were being pursued. "Did we lose them?"

Asuna looked back at Calkie. "Yeah, I think we lost them. That plan back there was a pretty good one." She looked over towards the boys and saw Ed looking carefully behind them. He finally gave up and turned to the girls with a nod.

After catching their breath they started to walk along the road again. The afternoon rolled on until evening. They had run a little more to make tracks and again put distance between them and their assailants. They were soon walking the road and had realized they needed to stop somewhere. They were hoping to find a safe place to stop for the night. The sun was setting fast and soon it would be too dark to travel.

Asuna found a nice place a little after the sun had set. So the group made camp there for the night.

Ed stared a camp fire then looked to Asuna. "Ok, now will you tell me what's going on?"

"Hold on a minute, first could you tell me what time it is?" Asuna had been thinking about this for a few minutes and needed to know. Her sense of time was all but shot now.

Calkie and Al decided they would go out and gather water from a nearby stream they had been following. So Asuna hoped they would be gone long enough so she could talk about this without Calkie hearing the gruesome details over again.

Ed took a moment before he got Asuna's question. He reached for his back pocket then he searched his front pocket. "What the… I could have sworn…Where the hell…WHERE THE HELL IS MY WATCH?"

Asuna watched this scene with great curiosity then fear. When Ed yelled she had instinctively shot up from her seat on the ground. His shout had startled her and put her on the defensive.

Ed then wheeled on Asuna noticing she had shot up. Al and Calkie had appeared from the creek carrying water from the stream.

"Where is it? Did someone take it?" Ed half yelled at Asuna.

Asuna snapped when Ed started to point fingers at her. "First of all you may have lost it in the forest. Second, you have to be really stupid if you think I can get YOUR watch from your TIGHT ASS PANTS!"

Ed stood back in embarrassment as he realized that he blamed the wrong person for a missing watch. The chain had been really weak and he was meaning to fix it.

"I'm sorry, I just thought…. I apologize for my yelling and for blaming you." Ed said quietly.

Al looked shocked at his brother. He couldn't believe that a girl had made his brother apologize.

Ed looked at his brother's face and blushed even harder. "What? Can't I apologize for something I shouldn't have blamed someone for?"

Al then looked away as if he had been caught doing something wrong.

Asuna ended the uncomfortable moment. "Let's get some rest. Ed, I need to tell you what happened in the morning. We are all tired and need to get to safety in the morning."

Ed nodded in understanding and chose his place not far from the fire.

Everyone else did the same accept Asuna. "I take first watch tonight. Ed, do you want the next shift?"

Ed looked at her and nodded, then closed his eyes for sleep to take him. The others soon followed. Asuna then stood up and walked out the door and away a few paces. She was still shaking when Ed had shouted. She wanted to cry she felt so helpless. A few tears left her eyes and she sat herself down on what felt like a log. She then realized that she couldn't stop the tears at this moment and let loose to cry.

Ed tossed and turned for a little bit when he decided he couldn't sleep. He heard Asuna go out earlier and thought he could go out and at least help her. (Two sets of eyes are better than one.) He thought.

He went outside and saw Asuna sitting on the log that was in front of the small cabin they had roomed in. She was shaking and if his ears weren't lying to him she was crying. He walked up to her and touched her shoulder. She jumped and turned to him from where she was seated.

He was shocked to say the least to see her cry. He went around the log and sat on her right side. He then wrapped his arm around her and let her cry into his shoulder.

After she had calmed down a bit she sat back up and he released his grip on her. "I am sorry for crying like that. This whole mess…"

He silenced her with a finger and smiled. "You can tell me later. I came out here to check on you. Good thing I did too. Crying alone is a hard thing. I know cause I have done it a few times myself." He took his hand away.

Asuna then smiled and nodded. "Thank you for coming out here to check on me." Ed nodded in turn and then asked, "Will you be alright?"

"Yeah I think I can handle it from here. Go back in and try to get some sleep. I will wake you when it is your turn." Asuna smiled brightly at him before getting back up.

He got up and went back into the cabin. As he hunkered down under his coat he slowly drifted off thinking that Asuna had a beautiful smile.

After about 2 more hours of keeping watch Asuna changed positions with Ed. He stayed up till he switched with Calkie. Then after her sift she woke Al.

The next morning was a little more organized. The last person to watch that night was Al only because he wanted to think a little before they started out.

As soon as Ed, Asuna and Calkie where awake things started to come together. Breakfast was served and eaten and soon they were on their way just as the sun was coming up over the horizon.

Ed spoke first after they had been traveling a while. It had been on his mind since last night and was going to ask Asuna about it till he found her crying. "So now that we have some time. What happened to your parents?"

Asuna looked at Ed and then sighed. She had known he would have asked sooner or later and also wanted to protect her sister. (So much for saveing her from reliving it again.) She thought before looking at Ed and then back at the road. She had been a little uncomfortable about the subject as it wasn't the nicest thing to remember. But she gathered herself and started to explain from the beginning. The beginning of what happened that night they were attacked.