A/N: Alright, everyone. Here it is! Chapter 10. Now... Don't you think it's time for another one of Nikki's reunions? I thought so too :D
As far as Nikki x Ed, it will come back eventually. He'll be around in the next chapter and, if I were you, I'd skip Chapter XII, because it will contain some... Ahem... Explicit content... Anyway, enjoy!!

It wasn't as though she didn't feel bad; it wasn't that at all. She had remained there as long as possible and simply found herself unable to stay in a place that held so much pain. Glacia did not agree, but knew that she had made the right decision. Elysia was devastated; she had lost her playmate. However, Nikki had promised to come and visit whenever she could. Right now, she had the difficult task of hunting down the Elric brothers... Those two covered more ground than the number of women Mustang won over with his 'devilish charms' in a week.

Heaving a sigh, Nikki slouched in her seat and propped her feet up on the seat across from her. The train rattled along the tracks as they passed over a river. Her violet eyes stared back at her through the reflection of the glass, but she ignored them and stared past them at the scenery that seemed too perfect and technicolour to be real.

"Hm... Where to start..?" She sighed and rubbed her forehead gently with the tips of her fingers and cleared her throat. She had been talking to herself a lot this train ride, so she was happy that her compartment had a door, a lock, and shades to pull down over the door windows.

Even if Edward and Alphonse weren't in the Eastern half of Amestris, she knew Mustang would tell her where she may be able to find them. Er... Hopefully. If there was a shred of humanity in him he would, right? ...Right?!

Nikki sighed and shook her head, slipping her hand under her glasses as she cupped her palm over her eyes. "Oi..."

Maybe... This was a bad idea? What was she supposed to do once she got there? Didn't she need some kind of identification to get into Eastern Command? She didn't know anyone there who were civilians... She didn't even know where Mustang and his team lived. Worse... She had no money... Glacia had paid for her ticket, saying it was 'the least she could do'. Well... She did what she could. Nikki couldn't be mad because of the events that had taken place just a few days prior.

The conductor made his way down the aisles of the train. As he came to Nikki's door, he rapped on the window and she looked up, her glasses slipping back down onto her nose. She sniffed some and stood up, going to unlock the compartment door.

The conductor, who was young with straight blonde hair that fell to his earlobes from under his cap, flashed her a grin. "May I see your ticket please, Miss?"

Nikki blinked and then fished into the back pocket of her pants. "Um..." She scrunched her nose and then slipped the ticket from her pocket, handing it to him. "Here you go..."

The conductor eyed the ticket and then looked up at her, blinking. "You're traveling all the way out to the East on your own?"

Nikki smiled some, taking the ticket from him gently. "Yeah."

"It's kinda dangerous out there, y'know... There have been a lot of kidnaps lately. Especially young women. You be careful out there Miss." He tipped his hat and grinned, his pearly white teeth shining some.

Nikki smiled a bit and nodded. "I will. Thank you." She went to close the door when the conductor stopped it from sliding closed.

"May I get you anything?" He inquired, semi-hopefully.

She tilted her head to one side and then nodded. "...Water? Please."

He grinned and then nodded. "I'll be with you in one minute."

Nikki watched the conductor as he walked down the aisle, checking the rest of the tickets.

The train ride seemed shorter than it was intended to be, probably due to the fact that Nikki finally had someone to talk to. Michael, the conductor, was a very sweet boy of 18 who was working as a conductor in order to help pay for a toxin his mother needed to get well. He had said that the doctors diagnosed her with some sort of blood condition. Apparently, she had clots that, although they did not clog her veins, made it very difficult for the blood to flow and that caused her to remain bedridden.

Nikki sympathized with the boy. She could only imagine what it must be like to have something like this happen, knowing that your mother is suffering and that all you can do is work hard and hope for the best. It wasn't as though she wasn't familiar with loss... God, that was one thing she knew about... But burdened with the fact that it could happen any time...

Of course, whether you were sick or not, death could come to you at any moment, but somehow Nikki thought it different when one was sick. She wasn't quite sure how to explain it, but it was more real than the seemingly intangible possibility of someone being shot, or murdered, or getting into an accident because, in the long run, a majority of people often lived with the attitude which reflected the thought; "That will never happen to me."

The walk from the Eastern Sector train station to Eastern HQ was a long one... Partly because Nikki had no real idea about where she was going. Of course she had the knowledge to ask around, but her mind wandered while the other person spoke, lingering on this and that, and therefore she always had to seek out help again.

At one point during her walk, she wasn't sure how long after leaving the station, Nikki sat down at a small café that reminded her of the one Edward had taken her to after his alchemy exam in Central. She stared up at the sky from around the edge of the umbrella propped up over her head, the handle sprouting from a hole in the center of the round, white, plastic table. She let out a soft sigh and grabbed the small arch of her glasses that surrounded the bridge of her nose. She squinted some, her hair slipping into her eyes as she tilted her head down, cleaning off the lenses with the corner of her shirt.

With a gentle touch, Nikki tucked her hair behind her ear, sliding her glasses back onto her face. She glanced sideways at the table as a waiter set a cup of free tea on the table in front of her. She blinked and eyed the cup for a minute before looking up at the waiter and smiling softly, nodding. He smiled and nodded back before turning and walking back into the café.

Nikki turned so that her back was pressed against the arch of the chair. She sighed and held the cup in both hands as she gently lifted and tipped the cup, gently wetting her lips. She closed her eyes and then parted her lips, letting the tea sink into her mouth. As the semi-sweet taste filled her mouth, she sighed softly. It was soothing in a way and not even the rattling of the buggies on the cobblestone broke her state until;

"Nikki!! Nikki, is that you?!"

With a small jump, Nikki set her tea down and turned her head. There, leaning against the small white fence that lined the outside area of the café, stood none other than Caine Fuery; the officer who worked for Mustang and who Nikki had gotten rather friendly with during his stay in Central.

For the first time in a week, Nikki gave a genuine grin and stood up as the boy, who was currently dressed in civies, approached her. The two embraced one another in a friendly manner and Nikki smiled, her head barely coming up onto his shoulder. "How are you?!"

She was surprised at how much a familiar face changed her attitude, though she showed it in a very subtle way. With a small 'eep' of surprise, Nikki clung tighter to the boy as he tightened his arms around her and lifted her off the ground. She was quite light.

After he set her down, he grinned some, adjusting his glasses. "I've been great... But... I've heard otherwise of you." He frowned a bit. Though he hadn't been in Central at the time of the funeral, he knew why Roy and Riza had gone just a week prior. "How have you been? ...I mean... Are you alright?"

Nikki looked at him for a moment before smiling and nodding, cocking her head to one side. "Yeah... Yeah, I'm fine... Well... better, at least... Compared to how I was."

This was partially true. Though she wasn't completely back to her old self, the arrival of an old friend made her very happy compared to her how she had been just a minute ago. But, she assumed, that even though she really did still feel bad, it would pass in time.

Caine gave a weak, somewhat unconvinced smile. "That's good... That's really good."

"Yeah, it's great..." She slipped her hands into her back pockets and then jerked her head lazily towards the seat across from her own. "Do you wanna sit?"

Caine grinned. "Sure." As he walked around to the other side of the table, Nikki sat back down. She looked at him and blinked slowly. He was so different. The white sleeves of his button-up shirt were rolled up to his elbows, displaying semi-muscular forearms. His hair was a little longer, causing it's default spikes to stick up a bit more and even limp over at the ends. He was taller for sure... And he just looked so much older... But then again.. He had to be at least twenty by now.

Nikki wondered if she looked older to him as well... Sure she had seen herself with a different POV in the mirror that night, but she wondered if it was seen amongst other people as well or whether it was just a real-life epiphany that had taken years for her to experience.

"So, Nikki... What brings you all the way out here?" Caine inquired.

Nikki blinked, shaking her head a little, snapping back to reality. "..Oh.. Well, actually... I was just looking for Edward and Alphonse... I just needed to get out of there for a while... Away from all these cities and stuff... I dunno... I'd like to travel a lot more." She smiled.

Caine leaned back and folded his hands behind his head. "Ah, well that's good that you're getting away from it all. I mean, I can't imagine what you've gone through." He gave a small frown.

Nikki frowned a bit and nodded. "Yeah, it's been hard, but... You know... I guess I'm dealing with it."

Caine laughed a little. "Well... That's just natural for you isn't it?"

Nikki laughed as well, twirling a spoonful of sugar into her tea. "I guess it is, isn't it?"

If Mustang had been stubborn before, then he was just not listening to a word Nikki was saying. She assumed that the death of Maes, whom she knew to be his very good friend, had hit him hard and made him a little bitter. His dark eyes seemed even colder than the previous time Nikki had met them in the cemetery, seeming to hold nothing but contempt and hate. Riza seemed worried about him because she constantly sent her chocolate-brown eyes towards Mustang with a weary glance.

Nikki observed this, sitting in his new office that was more ominous to her now than it had been at the time of the mishap in Central several years ago. Though her mind couldn't place what was so foreboding about the room, she couldn't help but feel something big was going to happen as she sat there on one of the green upholstered couches.

The whir of the fan was deafening, leaving an annoying ring in Nikki's ears. Her hair had been pulled back into a ponytail and small wisps of her chestnut hair hung in her violet eyes over her glasses. She slowly took a deep breath and as she spoke, let it out. "...Why can't you tell me where they are?" So much for humanity.

Roy's brow furrowed and his eyebrow twitched irritably. "...Because... They work for the military and we can't release such information to you because it would not be permitted to any other civilian."

Nikki whipped her head in the direction of the Colonel and frowned. "Well that man was a member of the military wasn't he?" She replied bitterly, her lips pressed tightly together as she spoke. She despised 'that man', more specifically her father, with every fiber of her being. "And so did Maes..."

Roy opened his eyes and glared at her from over the tops of his hands, which were folded against his lips. Nikki braced herself and then suddenly relaxed as Riza cleared her throat, which seemed to calm Roy down and, with a little less heat in his system, almost silently replied; "...But you personally are not of the military... Nor are you a legal adult in this country."

Nikki huffed and stood up. She was getting tired of being treated like a child which she most certainly was not! No humanity at all! "That's not a good enough reason! They're my friends and I want to know where they are now!"

Riza and Roy both blinked, a little surprised by Nikki's sudden outburst. Riza clung to her clipboard gently and blinked a few more times. "...Nikki... Please calm down. We understand your concern with all this, but you have to understand that some things cannot be released to the general public, whether it be one person or a group of people..."

"But that's not fair! Who am I going to tell?! What problems would it cause? It's not like they wouldn't mind having me there! What the hell are you being such a tightwad for?!" Nikki wasn't sure where her burst of energy had come from and she certainly was surprised, but she wasn't letting it stop her. Not this time. She had lost several people she cared about and now another one was on some hiatus for a military colonel with his head shoved way too far up his own ass to even realize her situation instead of worrying about himself. Maybe that was a bit hypocritical. But weren't alchemists supposed to be for the people? And if not the alchemists, then at least the military in general? Oh well... It just goes to show you that you can't trust the government at all.

Roy glared at her and stood up. "Now you listen to me... I make decisions in this office, not you. You will not tell me how to do my job."

"Of course, Colonel." She replied bitterly, her teeth clenched. "But what exactly do you plan to tell your commanding officer when I tell him how incompetent his Colonel is and how he can't possibly be trusted with a rank as high as that because he finds it difficult to supply a girl with the whereabouts of an ally whom she cares about very much and who would not approve to his decision and if prompted, quit this hellhole of a service. Especially when this certain friend is the same friend who has been entrusted with finding the fabled Philosopher's Stone and if and when he finds it, the person responsible for sending him out on these farfetched missions to search for it would be greatly rewarded by the Fuhrer. But how can this possibly be if that certain someone who must find the stone quit, hm?" Nikki folded her arms and took a deep breath, her face red from speaking so quickly.

Roy and Riza stared at her blankly and Roy scratched his head. "Um... Right! So the girl and the hellhole and Stone and... What?" He arched an eyebrow and his features drooped in a blank confusion.

Riza blinked slowly. "I think that... She means she's going to report your incompetence to the Fuhrer and when Edward finds out that you denied her access to his whereabouts he will quit the military and you won't gain glory for being the one who sent FullMetal out on all these missions to recover a Philosopher's Stone... And, should there actually be a Stone, you will be glorified, in a sense, for it."

Roy blinked slowly. "...Ah... Well..." He cleared his throat and puffed his chest in an attempt to seem manly, but failed miserably. He even deepened his voice some. "Challenge me will you?"

Nikki sweatdropped. "Oh... Give it up."

Roy exhaled and then grumbled scratching the back of his head. "He's not far... He's making rounds outside the city and he'll be back around noon tomorrow..."

Nikki twitched and clenched her fists, stomping a foot on the floor. "Couldn't you have told me that in the first place?!"

Riza frowned at Roy. "Indeed, sir... I didn't even know this..."

Roy coughed. "...I have my reasons..." His voice wavered a bit.

Nikki huffed and eyed him.

"What?!" Roy practically whined. "I like seeing you mad... It's amusing..."

Nikki glared at him.

Outside, Caine and Jean Havoc were walking down the hallway, conversing about something or other. Jean slipped his hands through the air in the shape of an hourglass, so it could only be assumed they were talking about women (Three guesses as to who the main focus was about...). They both jumped and stared at Mustang's door as a loud howl of pain came from inside it.

Caine and Jean blinked slowly as Nikki walked out. They eyed her as she stormed down the hallway and the two exchanged glances and grinned. Jean gripped his cigarette in his teeth and slid his hands in an hourglass shape again. Caine snickered a bit and nodded before they blinked and glanced at Mustang who was holding his swollen head. A stapler was open on the desk, the staples laying out around the desk and floor.

Riza sighed and shook her head. "Oh, sir... Hopefully you've learned from all this..?"

Roy groaned.

Jean and Caine looked at each other, then over at Nikki who had bent over to tie her shoe some way down the hall. The two men grinned and looked at on another again. Jean snickered. "Not bad... Not bad at all."

Caine laughed and nodded. "I told you so."

"So how old is she, now?"

"Er... Fifteen? Sixteen, probably..."

"Isn't she a minor, then?"

"Technically..." Caine blinked.

Jean's cigarette dropped with his expression, the ashes falling onto the floor. "...Caine..." He clapped a hand on the other boy's shoulder. "...I think we've just officially become pedophiles..."

A/N: Well...I think that this chapter deserved a bit of comedy don't you? After all, the last couple got me so depressed. Thank God for Mustang and his crew!