I have not given up on this story! I just haven't had a lot of time to write. Between working almost everyday, family stuff and applying for college, I have almost no time to myself anymore. But Ill continue to jot town some of the chapters here and there when I can. Thank you all for being patient and giving my all the lovely reviews ^_^ Love you all! Enjoy 3

I almost felt guilty for storming out on Ed like that. Almost. He had some nerve spitting that kind of language at me. I could have thrown a few insults his way about his own family but that would have ended in a fist fight. The only reason I felt at fault for the whole thing was the fact I'd punched him harder than I'd hit anyone. He was just a kid after all. But staying within a meter radius of him for any second longer, I might have done a lot worse.

I passed a few other soldiers on the way to.. where ever I was going. They glanced at me with puzzled expressions. Probably wondering why I looked like I was about to spontaneously combust. I just needed air.

We had moved slightly farther into the city and had pushed the enemy back enough to pull out of the trenches and set up another base up front. We left the wounded to the trenches while the rest pitched tents on higher ground. I passed a couple more groups of soldiers. If this hadn't been a war, it would have looked like a friendly camping trip; with tents and everyone huddled around a fire for warmth.

I couldn't tell what time it was, but it was already dark. It was weird to see stars. I'd always lived cities my whole life so it was odd not to have the sky molded together as one dark blanket. I sat down on a large rock, or mound of dirt, -whatever it was, and just stared. It contrasted all to well with current life. I sighed, watching as my frosted breath stretched out into the sky. It was so quiet. Nice for a change.

The city ahead of me matched the darkness. It looked like it had been abandoned, but that was far from the truth. As large as the city is, there would no doubt be hundreds of hide outs and camps. We just had to find out where. I reached down and grabbed a hand full of sand watching it thread through my fingers. It had been a while since I'd played in the sand, ever since that day...

"Colonel..."

I didn't turn around. There was no mistake whose voice that was.

"What do you what, Fullmetal?" I tried to hide the fact I was still fuming.

There was a silence. I could hear foot steps and the next thing I knew, the kid was sitting cross-legged beside me.

I swear if he says anything slightly insulting I'm gonna sock him in the jaw. Again.

He leaned back placing his palms on the sand to support himself. Did he really have a reason to be here?

"Are you sure you should be up?" I still hadn't looked at him. My gaze was still locked on the sky, so I couldn't tell if he was looking at me or not.

"What, I'm supposed to have a curfew now?"

"That's not what I meant." God, the kid just needs to think before he talks. "You shouldn't be up in your condition."

"I'm going back on duty tomorrow anyway. Might as well get used to it."

Silence.

Now I wish I was combusting. It would end this painfully awkward scene.

"It was meant to be a joke you know..."

"What was?"

"What I said."

Was he being serious? He had just made up the most vulgar story and he now claimed he was joking? I should punch him right now just for being stupid. How could anyone take that to be a joke? In reverse that would be like saying to Ed his mother was a whore and his little brother is a waste of air. Ed was just lucky he had said that to me and not some other officer or else they would have put a bullet in his head.

"I guess you just took it the wrong way."

"Ya think?"

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you upset."

This was just getting even more uncomfortable. I'd never heard Ed apologize before in his life, especially to me of all people. Then again, I'd barely seen him cry before either. But I guess war changes people. I could hear the rustling of fabric, but he never got up. I sneaked down a glance and saw him fiddling uneasily with the fabric tucked around his boots.

"You're a bright kid, Ed, but sometimes you say some really stupid shit."

I was expecting him to have a snide remark to that comment but to my surprise his eyes just dropped. Was he trying to make me feel sorry for him? He deserved a good lecture.

"I said I was sorry, okay?"

"No, it's not okay. You basically told me my family was a bunch of fucked up hookers." Just being reminded of that conversation made me hate the kid.

"I was just saying that to make you tell me the truth, I said it as a joke!"

"That's your idea of a joke!?" I need to calm down. Yelling wouldn't solve anything. This kid feeds off of yelling. "If I said the same thing about your brother would you have taken that as a joke?"

He didn't respond. That told me his answer.

"Use your brain the next time you say something." Something told me that statement wouldn't stick with him.

"I just wanted to know the truth." he rubbed his shoulder slightly and looked up at me. I hadn't even realized I wasn't staring at the stars anymore.

"I gave you my answer and you still decided to prod at me. You saying all that shit didn't change my mind in the slightest." I looked away from his golden eyes, although they appeared brown in the darkness. They made me feel like my gut was being twisted.

"Can you just answer my one question from before?"

"Which is?"

"Do you have any siblings?"

I really didn't see why that mattered. But Ed had always ended at nothing to get small details and this was no exception. Maybe if I gave him that he would actually shut up.

"No. I don't." I paused for a minute. "But if you want to count the kids I was with in the foster home, you could say I have two." There was really no information given there. Practically everyone in the military knew I had come from a foster home. If Ed hadn't figured it out that would be a shocker.

"Do you know where they are?"

"You said one question."

"Common, Colonel! Why can't I know that much?" If looks could kill there would be about sixty daggers in my face.

"And what exactly will you gain from knowing this?

"Why does anything have to be gained? Can't I just know for the sake of knowing?" he paused for a second. Maybe he was actually thinking before he started spewing out word vomit. "What do you gain from knowing so much about me?"

He was thinking to hard.

"I just want to know who you are." He just stared blankly ahead before continuing. "I've been working with you for four years and all I know is that you're 29-" 30 actually. "- and you're a freakin drunk."

Well that information was even more than he should know. No one in the military knew anything about me and besides all blood and death I'd been covered with, there was a good reason for that.

"No one else knows anything, so why should you know more?"

"Stop toying with me!"

"I need to be honest with you for a second-"

"That'd be a nice change."

I shot him a glare. Why is he always such a prick?

"I don't want any kind of information about me getting to the wrong ears. Especially in situations like this." I didn't want to completely freak him out, so I was giving him the cropped version. "Anything I say can be used against me you know."

"So you're keeping it secret for business reasons." Ed sighed as if disappointed with my reasoning.

"Basically, yeah." I was almost thrilled that my response didn't lead to him yelling more questions at me. He seemed to be calming down a little

"What about all the stuff you know about me?"

"Everything I know about anyone is also locked away for business reasons. If I'm ever questioned about my subordinates, under certain circumstances, knowing the truth about them makes it that much easier to lie to avoid problems."

Ed glanced back down at his boots. Maybe he was finally understanding. I'm sure there were thousands of more questions he wanted answers to, but I'm sure he figured he wouldn't get them.

"Why couldn't you have just told me this before?" He almost sounded hurt. "Instead of avoiding everything I said."

"'Cause now I'm finally see how desperate you are for answers." I gave him a little smirk in attempts to lighten the mood a little. "I've never had someone forcefully demand stuff about my personal life."

"I just wanted a little equivalency."

His voice tapered off, almost sounding confused as he finished his sentence. I glanced down at him, watching him squint at something near the city.

"You should head back inside, we'll be moving out early tomorrow."

He didn't seem to hear me. Not even phased by my voice/

"Ed?"

He shot up faster than I expected, making a quick sprint towards the city.

"Ed! What the hell are you doing?" I shuffled to my feet, still in a daze, confused with his actions.

"There's someone out there!" he yelled over his shoulder.

Was he stupid? This is how you get yourself killed. I opened my mouth the yell at the brat and made a step to go after him, before I felt a hand grab my shoulder. It was one of the other officers. Probably new, since I didn't recognize him. Everyone in this squad needs damn name tags.

"Sir, Lieutenant Hawkeye is looking for you." he said monotonously, his brown eyes watching me carefully.

I looked over my shoulder back at Ed who was still dashing forward as fast as his hobbling body would carry him. The soldier seemed to notice, making a move forward.

"I'll bring him back, sir. Just go speak to Hawkeye."

I nodded to him watching him jog forward towards the teen. At least that was taken care of. Worse comes to worse, there are other soldiers within yelling range.

I made my way back past the rows of tents back into the trenches. Took me a good five minutes to finally find Hawkeye. Who has been coerced into playing a round of poker with some of the new recruits. I waved her over, earning a loud moan from the hardcore card players. I waited for her to speak, which ended in a silence.

"yes, sir?" he questioned, probably wondering why I wasn't giving her orders.

"You... wanted to see me?" I gave her a questioning look. "Surely its not to play with not amateurs."

"Not to be rude or anything, sir. But I don't remember saying I wanted to see you. Not that its a bad thing, but... why would you say that? "

"One of the newbies said you wanted to see me for something."

"I never said that."

Shit. Not good.

I darted back out of the trenches, grabbing a flashlight and a gun as I ran back through the tents, earning even more glances from camping soldiers. I ran back out to the clearing near the city, grazing my finger along the switch, turning the flashlight on, sending a beam towards the buildings. Nothing. I took a few more steps, lighting up a few dumpsters along one of the walls, flashing the beam down a small ally way. Still nothing.

"Ed!" I called down the buildings, listening to my voice echo back to me.

I pointed the flashlight down at my feet, noticing the pairs of boot prints still in the sand. I tried to picture what happened with what was given to me. Once my eyes caught sight of the blood stains on the wall, leading to what looked like a madly disarranged amount of sand , my heart almost stopped.

Ed was gone.