A/N I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist

Chapter Five

"I'm not eating that!" Chen declared loudly.

Ed looked down confused at the rabbit clutched in his hand. "Why not? I've seen you eat meat before."

"I do eat meat. Faceless, furless, cooked meat."

"It will be faceless, furless, cooked meat when we eat it." Ed then sighed, remembering his own first encounters with hunting on the island. "Why don't you go help Al gather some more wood and it will be food by the time you get back."

Al stepped forward to guide the still disgusted princess away, while Ed got to work cleaning the rabbit. As he attempted the task with one hand, he decided it would have been faster had he an Al traded places. They were already out of view though, so he reluctantly used both hands fearful of the loss of screws.

….

8:30 am

Mustang's Office

Mustang and Hughes had calculated a search grid based on the train's timetable, witness accounts, and guesswork. The guesswork left both men less than pleased. It also left a rather large grid, as witnesses were not a reliable source for the timetable. Once the two men had agreed on a plan, they called in Mustang's team to go over it.

They both agreed it was not in the best interest of either Edward (and Mustang) or Armestris if word were to get out that they had misplaced an important political representative entrusted into their care. Therefore, they were only including Team Mustang at this time. Armstrong had agreed to stay silent on the matter.

Officially, they were going on a training exercise. Mustang (Hawkeye) had filed all of the appropriate paperwork to leave Lt. Col Hughes in charge of Mustang's office for the next week as well as claiming an itinerary for the training. Mustang had decided he would be joining his men in the search, and no one had debated him on it.

"As far as we know, Fullmetal was forced from the train between fifteen and twenty minutes after the hostage situation began. We know that they should have been halfway through the trip at this point. Logically, Fullmetal is likely to lead them back this direction. There is a slight chance, given Edward's temper, that they went West after the train." Mustang said as he traced the train route on the map for his men. "It is doubtful they went West, however, as they would have reached the town Hamlet by now."

"Unless one or more of them was injured, slowing their progress." Hawkeye added quietly.

Mustang nodded an acknowledgement of this possibility. " Nevertheless. We will ride out as far as Hamlet, then begin the search assuming they went East. We leave in thirty minutes."

….

"You are the most annoying person I have ever met." Edward said as they walked down the tracks once again. " I bet you are the most annoying person in your entire country."

"That's because you haven't met my siblings." Chen said with a shrug. "I'm the nice one."

Ed froze in horror, causing Chen to run into him in surprise. "Wait. There are MORE of you?! WHY?!"

" Not everyone thinks I'm annoying Edward." Chen said. "A lot of people think I'm adorable."

"Yeah. Adorable like an angry badger." Ed muttered, unfortunately just loud enough for Chen to hear.

" Yeah, well at least I'm not a pipsqueak."

Al sighed. They had gotten along well enough at camp, but as soon as they started out the two had once again began to fight. He was fairly certain at this point the pair were fighting simply to pass the time. He tuned out their fight as they threw insults back and forth in increasing volume. He silently stepped between them once they escalated to shoving each other. "There's a train coming, we need to move" he said in a very tired voice.

They walked down the slope and waited for the train to pass, only ending the argument when it became to hard to hear each other over the sound from the tracks. Al felt it confirmed his theory as they continued on down the tracks argument completely forgotten. After awhile he relaxed and hoped they were done for the day.

The three continued in silence until they reached a bridge. Ed froze, thinking. There shouldn't be another train for about thirty minutes. However, if his calculations were off or the train was ahead of schedule… there wasn't a way off the tracks if they were on the bridge. He watched the slow moving river below them. He could attempt to freeze it over, but if the ice were to crack they'd be in trouble too. He couldn't risk Al getting wet. He crouched as he made his calculations while listening for the distant rumble of the train.

There was a slightly safer option. They could wait for the next train to pass then cross as soon as the track was clear. The trains had been passing them roughly once an hour all day, so he assumed this to be the travel pattern and that it would give them enough time to clear the bridge, and then some. Sadly, he had never paid much attention to train schedules beyond his own use. Even when he was younger back at home it was not something that he paid attention to, so it was a rough calculation. Decided on a course of action, he nodded to himself before turning to the others.

"Alright guys, I think it's time for a small break."

"Yes. Finally ." Chen said and walked toward a nearby tree to sit down.

It was warmer today, so she had returned Ed's coat awhile ago. Now sitting close to the water with a slight breeze, she began to shiver. Ed watched her for a moment before nodding to himself. He shrugged off the coat and wordlessly dropped it on her before collapsing next to her. As much as he hated parting with his beloved coat again, he couldn't let her freeze.

Al was thankful they seemed to have decided to stop fighting, at least for now. He was sure if he had a head, he'd have developed a headache from the constant squabbling. Chen murmured a thank you from the depths of the coat, to Ed's silent nod. He was still calculating. The silence stretched as the three sat side by side and started at the river.

"If we can keep up our current pace, we still won't reach East City until about midweek." Ed said, thinking out loud.

"We only walked about three hours yesterday Brother." Al said as he stood, intent on finding the others something to eat. " You were both moving slower yesterday, and we've already covered five hours today at a much faster pace."

"I know Al. I don't want to push the princess to hard either." Ed said as he continued to think over how much further he should risk pushing them today.

"I AM NOT WEAK!" Chen said as she jumped to her feet dropping his coat in the dirt." I AM A PRINCESS OF XING! I HAVE BEEN TRAINED SINCE BIRTH TO ENDURE ANYTHING AND I CAN WALK JUST AS FAR AS YOU."

"I didn't say you were weak, or that you couldn't do it." Ed said raising his hands in defense. "I meant I didn't want to push you to hard. You were thrown from a moving train yesterday and we have no idea if you're injured somewhere."

"I am perfectly fine. I do not even have a small limp like some boys around here."

Al sighed as Ed's face turned red at the word small. "WHO ARE YOU CALLING A TINY LITTLE MICROBE SO SMALL HE CAN DROWN IN A RAINDROP?!"

A/N: Sorry for the delay in the posting, the holiday was very distracting. Expect the next chapter Tuesday at the latest.