CM: Hello everyone! Okay, so we're finally getting into the manga timeline, FINALLY! But we're also going to incoorporate some stuff from the manga versioned anime. Once again, we don;t own any FMA characters other than Kat and Elly. So we're now into second arc of the stroy. And due to everyone's oppinions, we're keeping it as one big story. So on with the chapter!

Sisterhood ARC TWO: LAND OF CONFUSION

Chapter One: Justice Isn't Always Just

It was the middle of the night; a full moon hovered over the city of Central, glowing brightly like a silvery beacon and casting the city in a lukewarm glow. Despite this, many of the buildings in the city were too coldly lit with their artificial yellow lighting to be touched by it. One in particular, a large building whose appearance could fill a child's happy heart with apprehension, was the Central Prison, whose insides the light of night or day could not reach. Even sound didn't carry far in its cold depths, if it did, the unlawful conversation occurring might have been discovered by those who kept watch.

"Hahaha! That's the best joke I've heard in a long time," a cold cruel laugh echoed through the small prison cell room. "Me, the Crimson Alchemist, and the Freezing Alchemist team up?"

"Kimbley, you must know what they made us do in the Ishval war, what Bradley is planning to do. Isn't that why you killed those officers?"

"Please don't get me wrong. I don't have such noble ideas like you do. I killed those men because I wanted to, that's all," Kimbley replied with another laugh. "You'd be better off trying to recruit your old apprentice."

"I've already tried," Isaac admitted.

"Oh, so you've seen her then?" Kimbley said with a wide smile. "She's come quite a ways, hasn't she? I'm almost willing to bet that she's surpassed even YOU."

"I will admit, she has come far," Isaac agreed. "But her partner…."

"Interesting, is it not?" Kimbley said with a chuckle. "Considering what we've both seen and did all those years ago, seeing a pair like that in the military; you could almost call it a quirk of fate."

"It does seem to be so," Isaac agreed. "But the fact remains that military is a very corrupt place and chances are they won't remain partners for much longer. It's for that reason along with many others that I ask for your assistance."

"Nope, I kind of like how things are going right now...and I want to see just how long the world will continue to choose them to live," Kimbley replied. "However, if it comes down to it, would you really be able to murder your own pupil?"

"As much as I would like to have her on my side, I can see that she is far too attached to the military and ignorant to the truth behind it," Isaac replied closing his eyes. "Even after all these years, she is still just a child at heart."

"Yes, but if you think about it, that's what makes her so desirable and interesting," Kimbley laughed. "So have fun taking down Central and possibly adding one more Ishbalan to your list."

"That truly is a shame, Kimbley," Isaac said before turning on his heels and walking out, pushing over a frozen guard as he went and shattering him to pieces. "It is unfortunate, but if killing Bradley means removing two more people as obstacles, that is the sacrifice that must be made. Ice Cold… you and your partner best stay out of my way."

"MY SISTER!"

"Here we go," Elly muttered as she and Kat stood at the door of the Hughes family residence. Upon seeing who it was at his door, Maes Hughes threw the door open and hugged his younger sister as if he hadn't seen her for years and a day.

"Bro, I just saw you not four hours ago at work," Kat said in a strained voice as her brother huggled her. "And you really need to shave."

"Ah, but you like my beard," Hughes said lovingly.

"Um, Hughes…maybe you should let her go, so we can come in," Elly suggested nervously.

"Elly, you didn't think I'd forget you, did you?" Hughes said releasing his sister and going to hug her next.

"Ack. No, Hughes, down boy. I don't do the whole hugging thing," she exclaimed holding her hands up in her defense.

"You didn't seem to mind it before," he replied slightly put out.

"That was a onetime thing," she told him without putting down her hands.

"Before…did something happen between you two that I'm not aware of?" Kat asked glancing between them.

"No, nothing happened. But right now I'm hungry so I'm going inside," Elly cut in quickly.

"By the way, we have a couple other guests with us this evening," Hughes told them shutting the door once they were all inside. They made their way to the dining room and saw Edward and Alphonse sitting at the table.

"MY DLF!" Kat exclaimed happily, going over to the blonde shorty and hugging him tightly.

"Yep, there is no mistaking their relation," Elly sighed. "So Al how have you been?" she asked turning to the younger brother.

"Great. Though we still having found any leads…." He replied sheepishly. "We were supposed to go to Lior but Colonel Mustang kept us here to go after a rogue alchemist."

"Rogue alchemist?" Kat said accidentally dropping Edward in surprise and he fell back struggling for breath. "His name didn't happen to be Isaac, did it?"

"Yeah…it was," Ed gasped on the floor. "Isaac McDougal, the Freezing Alchemist."

"Hey, wasn't that the name of the guy that we…" Elly started.

"Isaac-danna," Kat said in a low murmur.

FLASHBACK

"Kathleen Hughes…am I right? It really has been a long time," a voice muttered as a man in a military uniform and his dark hair in a pony tail walked into view of the alleyway.

"Uh…. Kat, you know this guy?" Elly asked looking at her partner who looked as if she had just been smacked… no wait… who looked as if she'd seen a ghost… no, that probably wouldn't faze her either…. she looked like she just witnessed a puppy being kicked.

"Isaac-danna," Kat exhaled. "I haven't seen him since my brother sent me to school, before they were sent off to war."

"He was in the war?" Elly asked swallowing a lump that suddenly appeared in his throat. "Wait if you haven't seen him since then…then what is he doing here?"

"I'm going to make the Fuhrer pay for the crimes he has committed against this country," Isaac declared. "By the looks of it, you've joined up with his blind followers. Well, come with me now…and we'll end the torment."

"Torment?" Kat repeated. "Isaac-danna, maybe we should sit down somewhere and talk…."

"There's no time," he replied, his eyes not seeming to really see them. "I have to finish…but you would well to get out of central…before it's too late."

"I think he might be taking some….. hallucinogen… or something, because he doesn't seem all there," Elly whispered to Kat.

A puff of air escaped through Kat's nostrils and her face was very somber. "Finish what? Isaac-danna…. What are you planning to do?"

"I'm going to change the fate of this country…with my own hands," he replied. "Tell your brother I said hi." And with that he was gone.

"Why don't we leave that topic alone for the night?" Hughes suggested, snapping both girls back to the present. "For now let's just enjoy our dinner."

"Okay/Alright," Elly and Kat said at once.

After an eventful dinner where a minor food fight broke out instigated by Elly tossing her roll at Ed, they all went to bed, with the exception of Hughes who stayed up thinking about both Ed and his little sister being dogs of the military, and that this warrant for Isaac's arrest would be difficult for Kat. That night, he decided to make a phone call to Roy.

"LEIUTENANT, WHERE ARE YOU!?" A voice boomed through Central.

It was late the next morning and Kat did not move from her hiding spot amongst the books the in the library.

"Lemme guess," Elly said from behind. "You did something to make him angry."

"Well, aren't we clever?" Kat said turning to meet the eyes of her partner.

"So what was it this time?" she asked in amusement. "Go after a hardened criminal by yourself, talk his men into staying home today, washing his white shirt with his red socks?"

"No… my brother told him about our encounter with Isaac McDougal, the Freezing Alchemist," she replied settling back against a shelf of encyclopedias. "And then when I told him he needed to calm down he became even more short with me, but it might not have been so bad had he not discovered the litter of kittens I was keeping in his desk drawer."

"You were keeping a litter of kittens in his desk?" the red head asked as she snickered. "The Isaac thing I can understand not telling him...but, Kat, you know he doesn't like cats so why not keep them at your place?"

"I had only found them this morning and didn't have the time to drop them off at my brother's house before coming to work, Elly," Kat told her. "And my desk was far too full."

"Well maybe if you didn't pack so many sweets," Elly ragged.

"Plus…. I don't know…. I find it to be too peaceful when he's not angry with me at least once in a while," Kat added with a smile.

"I'll never understand how your mind works," Elly sighed. "You're the only person I know who enjoys being in trouble." The two of them froze as they heard someone nearby. "Well that's my cue...you're on your own for this one...have fun." With that she tried to sneak out of the room without being spotted.

"Elly, wait," Kat began and was about to follow, but sadly as luck would have it a loose book ended up falling and landing on her head, dazing her to the point where she tripped over one of the stacks of books that someone had neglected to clean up and landing with a loud crash that would make any librarian fit to spit nails.

It didn't take long for the other visitor to find her after that accident, and when she finally got to her feet, she saw that HE was standing right there glaring at her; Roy Mustang, the Flame Alchemist. "So this is where you decided to hide," he muttered darkly. "Now then, what exactly happened when you met up with Isaac?"

"Hello, Colonel," Kat groaned, pushing herself up off the floor and brushing herself off. "Glad to see you cheerful as ever."

"Stop patronizing me and answer the question," he snapped irritably.

"There's really not much to say," Kat said, adjusting her glasses before looking at him. "When we found him he just seemed to be wandering around. Then after a brief exchange, he left."

"Did he say anything significant to you?" Roy inquired.

"Nothing that made much sense," Kat said with a thoughtful expression. "I think he was surprised to see me, as well as my partner."

"Yes well, anyone who had seen you before you joined would be surprised," Roy told her. "What exactly did he say?"

"This country is corrupt and the Fuhrer must be destroyed or we all shall perish," Kat said dramatically. "Something to that effect. And then he asked me to help."

"And what was your response?" Roy asked seriously.

"I said 'Sure, sounds like a time and a half'."

Roy glared at her heavily and she rolled her eyes. "I said no, I can't do that. Did you honestly believe that I would agree to something like that?" she asked him in surprise.

"No, but your answer would mean the difference between me having to take you in and getting you to help me with him," He said rubbing his forehead, feeling a headache coming on. "By the way…. How are your arms?" Roy asked after a moment.

"Almost completely healed," Kat replied with a small smile. "How's your neck?"

"In agony from having to deal with you," Roy remarked.

Kat gave a small laugh at that. "A thousand pardons, Colonel Mustang."

"Now grab your partner and let's go," Roy ordered turning around. "We need to find him and discover his motives as soon as possible." He didn't say anything, but from what she told him, it sounded as if Isaac knew something about the military that wasn't supposed to be known. He couldn't help but feel a little wary of the man's warning.

"As you wish," Kat replied following him out of the library. Kat only hoped that if they did managed to find Isaac that he could be reasoned with. The thought of having to fight him was…. painful.

"By the way, Lieutenant, has your partner been acting strangely the past two weeks since our last mission together?" Roy inquired.

"Only around a certain blonde smokestack," Kat replied knowing where he was going with this.

"Have you confronted her with it yet?" he asked her. "Because whatever it is, is affecting my Lieutenant's work. And he won't tell me a thing."

"Weren't you the one who said, 'leave it alone, it'll patch itself up'?" Kat reminded dubiously.

"That was two weeks ago when he was still managing his work," he retorted shortly. "After one week though, he can't manage to finish the simplest tasks."

Kat sighed. That wasn't like Havoc at all. It was no wonder the Colonel was starting to get edgy. In the meantime, Elly was also lacking in the attention department, and more often than not drifting into her own world. "If I try talking to her she'll just deny everything."

"Probably because you don't tell her anything," Roy pointed out.

"We have a mutual agreement," Kat replied matter-of-factly. "I don't pry into her personal life and she does the same for me."

"Sometimes it's good to bring up the past, so you can learn from it," Roy muttered. "Such as why you still refuse to tell me anything."

Kat tucked her bangs behind her ear. He sounded angry, no, more irritated than angry. She knew he was talking about having to hear about her meeting with Isaac from her brother.

"Let me guess, you didn't think it was anything of real importance," Roy inferred.

If the situation hadn't been so serious Kat might have smiled. He knew he very well by now, and she him. Yet the two of them still couldn't see eye to eye on many levels. Even after creating a truce, neither of them could find a way to scale over the wall that had built up over the years. Her hands, which were folded behind her back, rubbed against each other, wishing to make some sort of wordless gesture that might temper some of the growing frustration, but it wasn't the right time or place. Words of apology and assurance would do nothing.

"I'll have a word with her," she stated finally.

Roy sighed letting his frustration leave…for the moment. "Let's go get them and join in the search for Isaac."

"Hey, Elly, do you have a minute?" Havoc asked her as she sat reading a book she'd grabbed when she was in the library.

"I don't know…it depends on when Kat finishes her chat with the Colonel," Elly replied shortly still staring at her book.

Havoc's hands tightened at his sides. His body was tense, but he wore a mask of calm. "How have you been?"

"Can't complain," she answered without looking up.

"Oh man, here it goes again," Breda whispered to Falman and Fuery.

"There's no telling how this is going to turn out," Fuery added nervously.

"It would be best if we left them alone," Falman consented.

The three of them quickly and quietly got up and got out of the room in order to give the two their privacy.

Havoc didn't know what to do. Ever since that night…. Dammit things had just gotten even more complicated. He tried to talk to her, tried to make things right between the two of them, heck he even tried to make things go back to the way they were. But she avoided him like a disease, and ignored him like an old stump. "Heard you had another run in with a wanted criminal."

"Yep, I seem to run into them all over the place don't I?" Elly replied finally putting her book down. "But every now and again I do meet someone who's not trying to kill me or my friends."

"We're supposed to be heading back to Eastern after this," Havoc tried again. "Breda says he's throwing a party to celebrate. You in?"

"Sounds interesting, who's all going?" she asked the window.

"Um…well, Breda, Falman, and Fuery. We were going to invite Lieutenant Hawkeye, and Kat as well…even the Colonel might show up," Havoc answered nervously.

"Sounds like a hopping party," Elly murmured. "I'll probably be busy that night though…sorry."

Havoc almost bent in half with exasperation. "Elly, I know that what happened was my fault," he started, but immediately stopped when the door opened and two people entered the room.

Elly looked up at the people who entered and was somewhat relieved to see that it was Kat and Roy…somewhat. "So, what's the verdict, Kat?" she asked in amusement as she got to her feet. "How badly are we punished this time for not giving him a little information?"

"We're going out to find him," Kat explained. She glanced between both her and the Lieutenant and it was easy to tell they couldn't have picked a better or worse time to come.

"Lieutenant Havoc," Roy stated authoritatively. "I need you to take a squad to sector 11 to help the search."

Havoc glanced over at Elly but she didn't so much as take notice at his movement. "Yes sir," he finally replied with a salute and walked out of the room.

"So it's a big enough deal to give him his own squad?" Elly asked nodding her head. "Interesting…so what's mine and Kat's orders?"

"You'll be going with Lieutenant Havoc," Roy answered. "And Lieutenant Kathleen Hughes will be accompanying me."

"What?" Elly exclaimed in surprise. "With all due respect….no, I mean exactly what I say. I don't know if your eyes are working, sir, but Lieutenant Havoc and I aren't exactly on the best of terms right now."

"So then fix it," Roy barked. "Otherwise I'll assign you to be someone else's partner for a while."

"Kat!" Elly complained, looking for some kind of back up.

"I'm going to have to agree with the Colonel on this one, you need to get over yourselves," she stated bluntly. "We're allowed to fight with each other because we can still get work done on the side."

"Oh, so then if I actually did work it'd be fine?" Elly asked sarcastically.

"Yes, but as that's an impossibility, this needs to be fixed now," Roy retorted. "My lieutenant hasn't been doing his work very efficiently because of you, and I want that to end."

"Oh, I get it, it's because you don't like it when your men don't do your work for you," Elly angrily replied. "Sounds like you need to pick up some slack too, Colonel."

"Elly, that is enough," Kat stepped in cuttingly. "I don't know what happened and I have been respectful enough to your privacy not to ask but I won't allow you to take your frustrations out on my superior. Haven't I told you before that misdirected anger is a dangerous thing?"

Elly glared at Kat for a second, but sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "Sorry…I'm just not myself right now," she muttered sadly. "I'll…just go now. See you when we find the guy."

Kat watched Elly leave and she truly hoped that this whole thing would blow over soon. "I apologize for Elly's words, Colonel, and would like to take any penalty she may have received for disrespect and insubordination."

"No punishment necessary," he replied turning around. "There's nothing I can do that would make her hurt more than what she can do to herself. Now let's get to the search."

"Yes, sir," she replied and followed him out the door.

That had been rather odd. Usually it was the two of them ganging up on him, not the other way around. Yet she actually came to his defense. A good thing, as that conversation could have taken a very ugly turn. It was a small gesture, but it meant something.

"By the way, Colonel," Kat spoke up. "We're not…. Really going to have to kill him, are we?"

He froze, remembering how highly she had held him in the past. "That would depend on whether or not he resists," he told her calmly. "As long as he doesn't fight until the end, he should get a fair trial…and at the most go to prison for awhile."

"Understood," Kat said. Then something else came to mind. "You're not really going to try to confront him directly are you? I mean, with your…. slight shortcoming …."

"I can assure you that he will fall before me," he stated confidently. "Though I don't like your insinuation there, Lieutenant."

"Forgive me, sir, I suppose I should have been less discreet. You're finished if he gets you wet," Kat stated frankly.

"That's not going to happen," Roy assured her in irritation. "And you'll see exactly what I mean when I corner him."

"Of course, Colonel," Kat replied calmly, though the corners of her lips twitched.

"Havoc, wait up!" Elly called out as she spotted the blonde officer and ran to catch up to him. He turned around and was surprised to see her running up to him and….looking at him…well sort of. "I've been assigned to help you with the search," she explained when she reached him.

"Oh, is that it," he said, more a statement than a question. "Well, thanks for the help."

He turned away from her. He had a job to do. He needed to focus on that.

Elly felt a slight twinge in her gut, but ignored it. She knew what she was doing…or at least she hoped she did. Setting her mind straight, she followed after Havoc and their search began.

The search wore on all day, and well into the evening. At first, nothing turned up, and then a commotion rose up which turned out to be Major Armstrong finding Isaac, and Ed and Al joining up with him shortly afterwards. Unfortunately, he got away. Though both Kat and Roy didn't find it very unfortunate, as this gave them a chance to confront the Freezing Alchemist themselves. After the sun was down and the stars began to come out, one of the men in Roy's search parties stated that he found Isaac. Indeed, they did find him on top of a building, where Roy got into a small skirmish with him before getting completely drenched allowing Isaac to escape to the next rooftop over.

"Permission to say I told you so, Colonel," Kat said with restrained laughter.

"You just did, Lieutenant," Roy growled like a wet dog. (ROFL Get it? Dog of the military? Okay, ya get it.)

"Now that I've have my fun for the day, permission to pursue."

After a series of grumbling, Roy uttered a single word. "Granted."

Kat mimicked her old teacher and formed a bridge leading from their rooftop to the one Isaac escaped to.

"Call in Lieutenant Hawkeye. NOW!" Roy shouted to his men who were trying not to let him see them laugh.

"Yes, sir!" they replied as one of them ran off to find the Lieutenant.

"Isaac-danna! Wait!" Kat shouted as she chased after him. She was determined to catch up with him despite his efforts to throw her off track by launching the occasional attack. At one point, he stopped, turned around and sent a large wave of ice in her direction. Kat promptly stuck out her hand just as the ice reached her and the ice turned to water, and then to steam immediately afterwards. "You're not the only water specialist anymore, Isaac-danna," Kat said lowering her hand.

"You've gotten better, but you're still several years behind," Isaac shouted back. He proved it by shooting a stream of ice that he quickly turned to boiling water just before it reached her.

Kat reacted; a flash, and seconds later the air was filled with snow, as well as a large ice wall sprung up to encircle them both. "Isaac-danna, please come peacefully. I don't want to fight a man who was once my teacher."

"Then don't, but don't get in my way," Isaac replied. "I'll be doing everyone a favor if I can finish this." He reached inside his coat and pulled out a home bound book and tossed it at her. "You might understand in time," he told her sounding sane.

Kat caught it and stared down at it. It looked like a compilation of sorts. She wanted to ask him more, but before she could her vision was engulfed with hot steam and when it cleared she saw he had burned a hole through her wall and escaped. She let out a exhalation of displeasure before tucking the book away and went to try to find him… again.

"Great, this whole search keeps getting better and better," Elly thought as she glanced over at Havoc, who she had somehow become isolated with. The rest of the soldiers had become spread out within the area. She was searching for anything she could find that would help, but nothing was turning up.

"Hey, Elly, what do you make of this?" Havoc suddenly called out.

She groaned inwardly, but still went over to where he was crouched. "Huh, I've never seen this before," she admitted. "It doesn't have anything to do with my element…but it's definitely a transmutation circle."

"Hm, maybe Kat or the Colonel would know something about it, or even the Major for that matter," Havoc said in a low voice, frowning down at the odd drawing. "When it comes to stuff like this, I'm clueless."

"Yes, you are," Elly conceded. "But if nothing else, I'm sure that this was made by Isaac. We should probably make sure he can't use it."

No sooner had she said this, than red lightning erupted from the circling and shot skyward, startling them both. "Elly, what did you do?" Havoc asked in shock.

"I swear I didn't touch it," Elly exclaimed unsure what it was going to do.

To her horror, ice starting forming from the circle and was growing with each passing second. Within five, they were already surrounded by it.

Elly gathered how much longer they had to get out and quickly grabbed Havoc by the collar and pulled him down the alleyway with her. Just as they reached the exit, she jumped to the right with him still in her grasp. When she stopped suddenly to take a look at the damage, he collided with her and the two tumbled to the ground.

The air left her lungs in a rush as the majority of his weight came crashing down on her. "I'm sorry, are you alright?" Havoc asked quickly getting off of her and helping her up.

"Uh, yeah," Elly wheezed as she was pulled back up onto her feet. She looked to see if the ice was still growing and saw a giant, glacier formation steadily moving towards the center of the city. "Crap, Havoc, make sure to get any civilians you can out of harm's way, and get someone to destroy that circle while you're at it."

As she began to run off, Havoc called out to her. "Elly…… be careful."

She slowed and turned around for just a second. "You too." Then she turned back toward the sheet of ice and raced it to the center.

Along the way, she spotted Ed and Al, fighting atop one of the columns with Isaac. "Well…better give them a hand," she thought launching herself over the column next to her to help her get closer to theirs. She landed hard, doing a roll to take off the impact, and getting right back to her feet before running to the nearest corner that would lead to where the brothers were fighting.

As she reached it, she ran into something solid and fell backward for the second time. "Ouch, whoever you are…you have a really hard head," she commented.

"You're one to talk."

Elly glanced up at the familiar voice and saw that it was none other than her partner. "Oh, hey, Kat. In case you didn't notice, the brothers are fighting the Snow Miser."

"Yes, I was just about to go assist them," Kat replied shortly.

"Same here, somehow I don't think they'll be able to fight him like you can," Elly replied getting to her feet and helping Kat up. "Let's get going."

By the time they found the Elric brothers again, Ed was on the ground with a red icicle sticking out of his shoulder with Al seeing if he was alright.

"You guys okay?" Elly asked them as Kat crouched down next to Edward after he pulled the icicle out. "Where's Isaac?"

"He went that way," Al pointed off in a direction.

"I'm going to finish him off," Ed spat trying to get to his feet.

"No, you're not Ed. You're going to stay here, recover, and let Kat and I handle this," Elly said firmly.

Kat placed a hand over Ed's wound and used a spark of alchemy. "I've clotted the blood to stop the bleeding," she told him, standing up once she was finished. "Elly, let's go find Isaac."

"Righto."

The two of them ran in the direction Al had indicated, following a trail of blood. "Don't worry Kat, I'm sure it's not as bad as it seems," Elly murmured seeing the worried look on her face.

Kat said nothing but continued to follow the drops of crimson. She and Elly saw a violent red glow coming from the depths of an alleyway and they both increased their speed before stopping short just at the mouth. Kat's eyes widened as she saw Isaac charging Fuhrer Bradley with a spear made out of his own blood.

Elly's mouth dropped in surprise but brought herself around fast enough to place a hand over Kat's eyes just as Bradley and Isaac made contact. Isaac fell to the ground, blood spurting out of his chest where Bradley had sliced him open and Elly fearfully pulled Kat out of the alleyway and against the nearest wall, but not before catching the steely, killer intent in the Fuhrer's eyes.

Elly heard Kat whisper the name of her fallen mentor and she felt a warm wetness against her hand. She didn't dare let go, afraid if she did, Kat would go to him. She didn't want Kat anywhere near that monster of a man she just witnessed. Elly's heart was hammering and for the first time in her life since the massacre, she was truly terrified to the point where her entire body didn't seem to know what to do with itself. Her lungs were compressed, her muscles were taught and trembling, and even she felt like crying without knowing fully why.

"It's okay Kat," she murmured softly as she heard the Fuhrer's footsteps coming toward where she stood. Her body couldn't move, and as she tried to calm her partner, she also tried to calm her own fears.

Just before the Fuhrer turned the corner, Elly pulled her hand away from Kat's eyes…thinking that it might look a little strange. "Are you two harmed?" Bradley asked when they were finally in view. "I regret to inform you, Lieutenant Ice Cold, that you are now the only remaining Ice specialized alchemist."

"I suppose I have much to live up to then, Fuhrer Bradley, sir," Kat replied passively, with bone dry eyes.

"I expect great things from you," he stated before walking off.

The two of them stood where they were for several minutes longer in complete silence.

"K-Kat…are you okay?" Elly managed to ask after almost 10 minutes of nothing but soldiers rushing in to clean up the mess while Bradley talked with the Elric brothers. Kat remained completely silent, immovable, like cold marble.

It wasn't until Roy showed up, still soaking wet, that she finally stood up from her sitting position. "Are either of you injured?" he asked them straight off the bat.

Both girls wordlessly shook their heads.

"Good, return to headquarters and get me a full report of what happened after you made chase of the Freezing Alchemist," he ordered taking into account the look on their faces.

They both nodded and went on their way without a word.

"So are you heading back to Eastern soon then?" Hughes asked Roy once everything was done and taken care of. "You fiend. Why must you take my precious sibling away from me?"

"If I had the choice, Hughes, I'd have been stationed here a long time ago," Roy told him calmly. "It's just coincidence that your sister is underneath me while I'm in Eastern."

"Right, right, well at least I know you're being well taken care of," Hughes said with a smile.

Roy's frowned deepened. "Other way around, Hughes."

"If you keep frowning like that Roy you'll get premature wrinkles," his friend replied turning to leave. "Just make sure to keep in touch."

"Oh, Hughes, how's she doing?" Roy asked before he left.

"She's a trooper, as always," he answered with a sad smile. "You should go see her."

"I'm going to be seeing her every day at work," Roy replied.

"I think she would want to see you in a non-work-related environment," Hughes corrected. "We'll be at my place if you fancy a visit."

He left with that hanging over Roy and Hawkeye who stood silently behind him. Once the Lieutenant Colonel was gone, Hawkeye murmured, "I think you should go, sir. Don't worry, I'll finish things up here."

Roy's expression couldn't fully be discerned as it was partially hidden behind folded hands. Finally he stood up and headed to the door. "Don't wait up for me," he told her.

CM: In the next chapter of Sisterhood, not everything comes simply, even though we may want it to. Especially not where deep emotion is concerned. And when only one party is willing to try, it only results in a half built bridge over a gaping ravine. See you next time!

"Hey Kat, what are you looking at?" Elly asked her partner curiously walking.

Kat looked up from the book she was reading with a serious look on her face. "I was look through this book that Isaac-danna gave me before he died."

Unbeknowst to them both, Isaac's spirit was hovering nearby. "Yes, my pupil. Soon you will realize what I've been trying to tell you all along."

"Found anything useful in it?" Elly asked her glancing over Kat's shoulder.

"Well, it's coded of course, so it may take some time but..... I found something extremely important."

"Yeah?"

"Yes! She gets it!" Ghost Isaac cheered.

Kat's eyes suddenly turned to stars and she showed Elly the book. "I can use this to advance my alchemy! Obviously Isaac-danna wished for me to further my skills and assist him in perfecting the art of water manipulation!"

The ghost collapsed in a fit of tears. "She didn't get it...."

"Ah, it's almost as if I can hear Isaac-danna weaping tears of joy," Kat said with a whimsical smile.

"Somehow I can't see that," Elly sighed.