Alright everyone the next chapter which you've all been waiting for since my 'odd' little cliff hanger is up. And the next chapter after this will be up next weekend, only because I've already written it. But I had to break it up because it was just too long the other way.

bows thank you everyone whose kept up this long (did you ever think I'd put up the equivalte of 91 pages? and it'll be a short book before I end). I would like to thank everyone whose reviewed and added me to their favorites (even though I don't get reviews from you I still like to know you love me).

Now read, Review, and enjoy.

I yawned on the back of the motorcycle, my mother drove fast then Havoc. It's not that I had a problem riding behind Havoc on the motorcycle… It's that the bike we were on was the equivalent of a 250, power wise, and Havoc wasn't even opening her up at all. We'd left the last town with a train station this morning, in our uniforms. The platoon that had been stationed at that outlining station had lost their last jeep the day before, and weren't expecting a new one for a week. So we'd had to take the only other thing they'd had, a motorcycle. We'd exchanged my duffle bag, and Havoc's suit case for a set of saddlebags and an army pack. The pack was on Havoc's back, and I had my own backpack and my sword. It was mid afternoon now, "HAVOC?" I called over the light roar of the engine.

He looked over his shoulder, he was wearing goggles and a leather cap, that brought the though idiot into my mind. He turned his eyes back to the road but I took that glance back at me an okay to yell a conversation in his ear.

"DO YOU MIND IF I DRIVE?" I asked loudly.

Havoc pulled over, and turned off the machine. "What?" He asked looking over his shoulder at me, "I don't know if you can handle the power of this thing…" He stopped at the glare I was giving him

"Please, I've control horses with more power then your showing on this thing." I hopped off, going over the sissy bar, and pulling my own goggles onto my forehead. "And with the rate you puttering along we won't get to the camp for another week." I raised my eyebrows, there were several comments I still wanted to make, but choose to let Havoc keep some dignity.

"I'm one of the best cyclists in the army," Havoc countered.

"Let me guess all the others are professional racers," I looked down at him, "I feel like I'm driving with Miss Daisy?"

"Who," Havoc gave me a blank look, "and what are professional racers?"

"You do have races in this country right?" I rolled my eyes, "I'm saying you drive like an old lady compared to some of the people from my country."

Havoc stood, still straddling the bike, "You think you can do any better?" his voice had a low anger about it.

"I know I can do better, because I have!" I waved my hands in a dramatic gesture.

Havoc got off the bike, "Fine! I'm going to take a smoke break and then you can drive until it gets dark!" He stormed off going down wind of me. I turned away before I smiled that had been surprisingly easy. Havoc and I had come to an agreement; he could smoke as much as he wanted to, except he had to be at least ten feet down wind of me. So he took smoke breaks just about every hour. I looked at the motorcycle. It had been making odd noises as we slowed down. I wasn't a mechanic but I knew how a bike was suppose to sound. I took off my uniform coat, it was really too warm to be wearing all of this formality anyway.

I pulled the cover off the engine, and studied it. The entire build was wrong, I wished I had time to take it apart by had and put it back together. I glanced at Havoc, he was too absorbed in the scenery to notice what I was doing. I pictured the way the engine was suppose to look, clapped my hands together, and touched it. The engine was hot, but as soon as I touched it, it cooled. The engine looked right now, I had to hope it would work.

Unfortunately the flash of blue light did not escape Havoc's watchful gaze. "DALKA!!!" He roared, "What on earth are you doing!?!"

I smiled putting the engine cover back on, "Nothing much. You finish your nicotine stick?"

Havoc glared, "It's not a nicotine stick… It's a cigarette, and yes I did."

"Good, you can ride behind me, that way I don't have as much of you to smell," I threw my leg over the seat, and started the motorcycle in one smooth move. "GET ON!!" I yelled over the roar of the engine, it even sounded better.

Havoc gave me and the bike a surprised look. I waited patiently and he finally got on. I waited another minute for him to get situated and took off. Havoc let out a little yelp, as I gunned the gas, and wrapped his arms around my waist. He clung to me like I was the only thing keeping him on, I laughed. I'd forgotten to put on my goggles, so my eyes were starting to water. I let go of one of the handles, pulling to goggles on properly, "DON'T LET GO OF THE HANDLE BARS!!!" Havoc yelped

I laughed even louder, and pushed the bike harder. We were doing close to sixty were as with Havoc driving we'd only been doing thirty. I leaned forward, pulling Havoc with me. I loved the feeling of the wind through my hair. Behind me Havoc whimpered. "WAAAHHOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" I howled to the sky. This was the most fun I'd had all week, after fighting Havoc for that picture of him in my sketchbook.

An hour later I slowed and pulled over to another niche in the road. Havoc got off as quickly as he could, and I calmly turned of the engine and put down the bike stand. Lazily I pulled up the goggles, Havoc was on his hands and feet in the bushes. "You okay over there, Frawline Havoc?" I asked calling him a girl in German.

He turned over his shoulder, a panicked look on his face, "Where the hell did you learn to drive like that?" He yelled at me before turning back around and throwing up in the bushes.

"So not cool…" I grimaced, and then shrugged, "I guess you could say I watch too many motorcycle shows back home. Grandpa taught me how to drive his revamped World War II cycle when I was like twelve, but my need for speed is all my own." I smiled up at the sky, I was still high from the adrenalin rush of driving faster then I needed to.

"You've lost your mind…" I shot a look at Havoc. He was lying on his back, eyes closed tight, breathing heavily. "I didn't even know the bike could go that fast."

I sighed taking pity on him. I pulled out one of the flasks we'd been given, from my pack. There was no reason to be any meaner to Havoc then necessary. I walked over quietly and squatted next to him, waiting.

He opened his eyes, blinking rapidly, "Here," I offered him the flask. "Take a gulp without touching the lid, swish and spit." I ordered, "It'll make your mouth taste better." I hugged my knees and watched him. He did as told, repeating the process several times. Finally he took a long swig, gulping down the water.

"Thanks," He said hoarsely, "I feel a little better know."

I smiled, "I wouldn't thank me, yet. You did say I could drive until it got dark." My smile broadened as his face went ashen, "I just thought you might want one of your nicotine sticks."

Havoc grimaced, "I don't really think smoking is going to improve the taste in my mouth or the feeling of loosing the pit of my stomach at the last stop."

I laughed, "Come on let's get some more distance between us and the train station before dark." I stood up and offered a hand to Havoc. He accepted it, and got on to the motorcycle behind me, this time grabbing me prematurely. I went easy on the take off for him, but picked up my speed. Soon we were zooming along the roads. I lost track of time, the only way I noticed any change was how the landscape around us changed. Early in the day, the mountains had still been visible, at noon we'd been traveling through a canyon, now we where on a flat desert. Just as it finally started getting dark, I noticed a change in the horizon.

It look like…. Like dunes? I pulled over and propped up the bike, turning to Havoc. "How much farther do you think we'll have to go before we reach the camp?" I asked as we chewed on hard bread and what looked like beef jerky but tasted like a block of salt.

Havoc shrugged, "We weren't suppose to make it until the day after tomorrow. With the way you drive I'll be surprised if we live through the next day."

I shot him a look, and turned it to a smile, "Does that mean I get to drive tomorrow?"

Havoc paled, "Only for half the day… and if we reach the camp early you pull over and let me drive other wise Sou will tell Mustang I was shurking my duties, and if Mustang hears that Hawkeye will find out, and she'll kill me…"

The look on his face was priceless, but I only smiled, "Alright, I just like motorcycles." We pull out our blankets and wrap them around our shoulder. Havoc lays down, on his side, and I lay next to him back to back. Havoc stiffens, "Night Havoc. Don't let the sand bugs bite."

We reached took off early the next morning. I got to drive. It was midmorning when we stopped the next day to check the map we'd been given. Havoc had it spread out on the ground three rocks holding it down, "Ok, so we're about here." He pointed to a spot on the map with a red line, about an inch away from a black X, "I'm guessing that's about where we are because I know you got us some major time… the way you drive." He rubbed his jaw, pretending he hadn't said what he'd said. "We might be closer we might be farther. Either way I think we should trade off on driving," Some how Havoc had gotten use to my driving. Though, he still tried to get off as quickly as he could when I stopped.

"I think were a lot more east of there," I said pointing to a spot half an inch away from the line, and an inch and half from the X.

"If we were there, we'd be much closer to the fighting…" He said looking from the map to me. "But you could always be right," He said at the look on my face, "If we don't reach the camp by noon…"

Havoc was cut off by an explosion that was about half a mile from us. He jumped over the map and onto me, protecting my head with his hands and body. We were showered by sand, and bets of ash. All around us there was the sound of gun fire and yelling. I could feel Havoc pull away a little, looking all around us. He kept me pressed between him and the ground. I looked up at him, "Dalka!" He spoke just above the noises of the fighting, enough for me to hear but no one else. "Get the map and then find somewhere to hide."

I was about to ask him where would I hide, the only things around us were dunes. Havoc moved off, he army crawled towards the explosions. I sat up quickly grabbing the map, before crawling on my hands and knees to the motorcycle. I opened the saddle bags, I knew better then to stay close to a machine that could explode but I needed something to hide myself in. I found my bundles of cloth grabbing the sand colored ones and ran for the next closest dune. I made a quick depression in the sand, and transmuted the cloth into a camo style mesh I through it over myself as an other explosion showered me with more derby. I was afraid to move but still I shifted my hands to transmute my depression into a cave, which I quickly crawled into, I barely fit. The mesh I left to hide the cave opening.

I could hear as gun fire was exchanged nearby, then yelling, and calls of retreat. I stayed hidden, even after the fighting stopped. It seemed like an eternity before I heard the sounds of people passing to the left and right of me. I held my breath as a set of boots came much too close to the entrance to my little cave. I couldn't see much through the mesh but I could make out the figures that passed by my hiding place and the other's that came over the dune I'd last seen Havoc heading toward. I heard them talking, they spoke English cleanly; where as the calls of retreat had been heavily accented.

"Where is that damn alchemist?" I heard one say.

"That Lieutenant said he last saw her somewhere near the motorcycle…" Said a second. Havoc said I was here? "He said she was running for cover…" Had they done something to Havoc?

"I think this is a complete waste of time. Why can't we just leave them here?" The first said.

Where was Havoc? Did they kill him? My brain kept running those thoughts through my head. I started to shake slightly, my hands where clinched so tightly I could feel groves being embedded into my palms.

"I mean, that Lieutenant did shoot down two men. Sure we owe him but we don't need any damn Alchemists," The first man continued.

I heard the chink of metal and what I easily identified as Havoc's lighter being used. I knew it was Havoc's because his was an old silver one that had a distinct sound. I was sure Havoc was dead, until I heard his voice, "DAAALLLKKAAAAA!!!!"

My hands released, Havoc was alive. I popped out of the hole, between two very surprised soldiers. I picked up the mesh while my head swiveled around, looking for Havoc. One man, had a Havoc's lighter, his mouth had dropped and the cigarette had fallen to the sand. The other had a gun in his hand and a shocked look on his faced. Havoc was standing at the top of the dune next to some other man. I tucked the mesh under my arm and started to hike up the sand hill, grabbing Havoc's lighter from the cigarette guy. I looked at it to make sure it was his, then gave the still surprise man a look and continued up the dune.

I shot Havoc a look but said nothing. "Dalka," Havoc said, "This is Sergeant Hans Anderson. He's given us directions to the camp. Turns out we're east of the camp." Anderson was short, he looked Hispanic. His hair was black, his skin dark, eyes pure black like Mustang's. I let my eyes slip over him then turned back to Havoc.

I gave him a smug smile, "I knew it."

"Yeah… Well," Havoc said ducking his head, "He and his men have to get back to patrol, but you'll see them around the camp." Havoc looked to Anderson, "So if you manage to find my lighter out here, send it to me would you. That thing was an antique." He started walking down the dune back to the bike, I noticed how his boots disappeared into the sand as he trudged through it. The Sergeant saluted me, I gave him a uncomfortable smile and hurried down the dune after Havoc. The other men each saluted as I passed, making me even more uncomfortable. I was glade to through my leg over the sissy bar, behind Havoc, and get away from all those men saluting me.

Once they were out of sight I remembered the lighter clutched in my hand. I put a hand on Havoc's shoulder, "This is your lighter, right?" I spoke loudly in his ear, holding the other hand with the lighter over Havoc's shoulder.

He glanced at it then nodded, "Hold on to it for me," He yelled into the wind. If I hadn't been closer I wouldn't have heard him. I patted his shoulder and released it to show him I understood.

Havoc pulled into the tent camp smoothly, but when he stopped the motorcycle it made an ugly stuttering noise, popped and lurched forward, before Havoc could stop it. It had died. I hopped off quickly practically throwing Havoc off and the same time. I prided the engine cover off the side, burning the tips of my fingers in the process. I cursed at the state of the engine, I knew an over heated engine when I saw one.

I turned to Havoc, "Nice job Lieutenant," I snorted at him, sitting on my heels. "I told you, you where pushing it too hard, but you just had to look good for your little field friends, stupid ass."

"What are you complaining about?" Havoc countered figuring out what I was doing. I was trying to make it sound like he was the one who'd done the damage to the engine. "I got you hear on time didn't I?"

I stood up dusting off my coat tails, "You may have gotten me here on schedule, but you did so by burning out half the engine." I rolled my eyes, "And talk about irony you're going to be stuck her another three days until parts come in or someone else comes along and can take you back up to the train station. Unless, that is, I decide to be nice and fix it for you."

Havoc's eyes went narrow, I turned away from him a little. "But this is no way for us to enter my new assignment. You should have driven me down here in a jeep not on the back of that snorting 'Hog' as you called it."

Havoc mumbled something that sounded like 'whiny little bitch'. I walked passed him towards a waiting soldier, "Call me that again and you won't have to worry about Hawkeye." I warned Havoc, pressing his lighter into one of his hands. "Soldier," I said to the man, he looked about twice my age but I was pretty sure I had a higher rank. I had more lines and stars on my badge then he did after all.

"Corporal," Havoc coughed, supplying me with his rank.

"Corporal," I started again, "I'm here to see Captain Sou, Would you mind telling me where I can find him?"

The Corporal looked surprised by my reaction, and question to him. "Uh… He's probably in his tent, Ma'am… Sir… Major…" He saluted me.

"No need to stand on attention, Corporal," I smiled at him. Then turned around, pulling my things off the bike, and lugging them over my shoulder. "If you have the time, I need someone to show me there," I kept the smile on my face as I turned back to him.

"Of course, Major," He looked at ease again, "Let me help you with those."

I forced myself to keep my smile, Havoc noticed the change, "I'm not as weak as I look Corporal, thank you for offering. Just, show me to the Captain's tent." The Corporal saluted again and led the way down a line of tents. I sighed and followed, Havoc right behind me. He took the bag with my things in from me, to say the least I protested, if quietly, "Havoc!! Give that back right now!"

"Back off, chief-et, I'm just bein' nice." He gave me a little grin, "Besides, you're the only female state Alchemist, you're allowed to be a delicate… flower…" He struggled with the proper word.

"Kiss my ass," I growled at him walking ahead of the blonde man.

"I think I tried that once…" Havoc joked, under his breath. I turned a glare to him, but continued forward. Captain Sou's tent was no different then any other, plain cream color tarp, pulled up strait and into place away from the others, but still looking part of the rest of the tents.

The Corporal stopped before the tent, "Captain Sou!" He went to attention, "The new State Alchemist is here to see you."

"Come." Was the gruff call.

The Corporal pulled aside the tent flap and repeated, "The new State Alchemist is here to see you, Sir."

"I heard you the first time, Rob," The gruff voice sighed, "Send him in." The Corporal nodded and held aside the tent flap for me, I smiled at him before entering. Havoc came in right behind me. Captain Sou was a tall man. He sat behind a make shift desk, that had a supply of papers on it. His hair, once a bright red was coppery, with wisps of grey. His face was wrinkled, wind worn, tanned, and all around tired looking, but his eyes, hidden under dark bushy eyebrows were sharp. Those light blue eyes seemed to take in everything, and file it away to be used at a later date. They betrayed the weary looking face for the sharp mind behind it.

Sou looked up from his paper work taking in the sight of Havoc and me in one breath before looking down at the papers again, "Thank you Rob, go back to duty, now." He waved a hand in the direction of the tent flap, I heard a pair of boots clip together, before the flap closed darkening the inner area further. It took a minute for my eyes to august. When they had, Sou had set his papers down and was leaning back watching us. He sighed, "So you're the Angel Alchemist Mustang ordered me to take?"

For a second I wondered if I should salute, but Sou spoke again before I could think to do anything, "SPEAK UP KID!"

"Sir," I went to attention, Havoc tensed behind me, "Yes, Sir. I'm Dalka Hesperus, The Angel Alchemist."

Sou blinked several times and then started to laugh. I stared at him, shocked, while he tried to catch his breath. After a while longer then I was really comfortable with he wheezed, "You're joking… The Angel Alchemist, the one Mustang talked my ear off about, the one he said could 'Heal' people, the one he spent two hours talking me into taking, and had central promote me two ranks for. Is a short, scrawny, skin and bones, teenage boy?"

I cleared my throat, "Actually I'm considered tall for my age, thank you very much. I resent being called 'Scrawny', and while I'm not muscular, I'm sure as hell not 'skin and bones'. One more thing…" I held up a finger before the captain could disciple me for swearing at him, "I was wondering why do, all men with graying hair seem to think I'm a boy?"

Sou's jaw dropped, "You're a… You can't be… You have…. And you don't have…" He was making odd gestures while he was searching for the right thing to say. Then it came to him, "Aww, HELL NO! ROB!!!" He yelled.

The corporal came running into the tent, "Sir!"

"First off didn't I tell you to get back to your post," Sou scolded. "Next, get Mustang on the horn," His orders were crisp and direct, "There's no way in hell I'm letting that Ass get away with not telling me…"

"Ah sir…" Corporal Rob said slowly, "Command cut our phone lines, said they'd be down for three hours, that's about two more hours from now…"

"We'll wait." Sou was not happy. "The two of you can wait here, if you like." He gestured to the stools. I nodded and perched on the seat, Havoc declined standing comfortable just behind me.

Alright everybody Sou's odivousely not happy about having a female alchemist, that or he's just upset that Mustang left out that oh so important little detail. You'll find out which... eventually.

Now everybody knows what to do, Review! Review!! REVIEW!!!