It had been a few days since the trio had left Nate's group and found an abandoned military warehouse to hide out in. Elise had explained to the two what Tucker had done to Monica's mother, and they were not thrilled. Dani and Tiffany wanted to stay and watch Monica, but Elise insisted that the three of them needed to see this. They knew where their destination was, but they had to make sure Nate was not on their trail. It was slightly disheartening not having a place to return to, but it was better than letting two innocent people die at the hands of a madman's sick experiments.

"Elise?"

The girl in question turned to Dani who was certainly here to ask a question. Answering questions seemed so hard all of a sudden and she couldn't pinpoint why.

"What's up, Dani?"

"I've been thinking about something lately…" Dani said looking downward.

"Yeah?" Was all Elise could muster.

"What if Nate found out who you were? Would he help us then?" Dani pondered.

Elise shook her head.

"No, he would just turn me in. Even if I told him, he would only see the Tucker case as something small and leave it to others."

"Oh, I see." Dani said looking rather disappointed.

Tiffany looked down at Monica and said, "Don't worry about Monica. I'll make sure to cover her in lots of blankets so that meanie won't hurt her."

Elise was nervous that Tucker would see through this, but knew they had no choice but to try.

"Hold up! What reason are we gonna give Tucker once we're here?" Dani wailed.

"Shoot, she's right. We can't just not give a reason. He'll be suspicious of us." Tiffany agreed.

Elise pondered for a while on their next course of action. They were definitely right. They needed to give a good reason on why they were here. An idea quickly got into Elise's head.

"Tiffany." She called out.

"Huh? You got a plan?" Tiffany asked with her trademark head cock.

"We can pretend to be orphans looking for an alchemy tutor." Elise suggested.

"That's great and all, but what if he doesn't take us?" Dani asked.

Elise grinned and said, "I have a plan."

The group prepared their supplies and set out to the Tucker estate to complete their own mission. During the walk there, Dani had another question.

"Why is Nate so obsessed with completing missions?" Dani whispered her question.

"Because you get certain rewards such as money, energy for your stone, and other crap like that." Elise answered.

Dani was disgusted to say the least. Nate was using his group to gain mission rewards for himself. Now she knew why Elise had little to no trust in the group. It was sad remembering the truth she had uncovered about Elise. The real Elise was a person determined to protect her loved ones from a psycho even if it meant putting on the mask of a cold and stern soldier. Even if it meant having to leave those loved ones for a long time, she was going to save them. It was something Dani couldn't help but admire in her. Her sheer will…

"This is it…" Elise said with a slight glare.

"The worst part is it looks really nice." Tiffany uttered.

"Can't argue there." Dani agreed.

Looking at that gate made Elise remember a couple of months ago when she escaped that house of horrors with little Monica in her arms. The Tucker estate used to be a place she went to for a place to stay while she studied for her exam. Come to think of it, her exam wasn't far away. But that didn't matter at the moment. Elise's main objective was to put a stop to Tucker's horrific research and save her innocent brother and his sweet daughter who had both been tricked by him.

The group climbed over the gate and stared at the doorway. Elise was silently hoping that this would work, and Tucker wouldn't find out because of Monica. Normally, she would never bring Monica back there, but no one was there to watch her.

"What are you doing here?" said a familiar voice.

It was none other than Kevin, Rachel, and Brad who were obviously there to watch Al. Elise introduced them to Tiffany and Dani before explaining why they were there.

"We'll watch Monica. It's too dangerous to bring her back there." Rachel said.

Elise hesitated for a moment, but soon decided to take the opportunity to give Monica a safe place. Her heart broke hearing Monica wail and reach out for Elise.

"Don't cry. They'll bring you back once we're all done with the dangerous stuff." Elise gently consoled the baby who gradually calmed down.

She then turned to the trio and said…

"Take care of her."

Kevin gave his signature dorky grin and said, "She'll be fine with us."

After thanking the wacky trio, they left with Monica bickering and all. Now the mission was much less risky now that Elise and her friends weren't fearing for Monica. Dani walked up the doorway with a nervous expression and rang the doorbell. Elise heard Alexander barking at the sound of the bell ringing. The one that answered the door was the one person Elise was hoping to see alive.

"Hi there. Can I help you at all?" A large suit of armor answered the door.

Elise faked a smile and said, "We were looking for a certain Shou Tucker."

"O-Oh, I could go get him for you guys." The boy nervously stammered.

That gave Elise a horrible feeling. Alphonse never usually sounded so nervous when talking about someone. Was Tucker already starting with Al? Did Al see something he shouldn't? What happened while she was gone? Before Elise could dwell on her fears, she had to put on her façade again as that disgusting man had arrived.

"You all wanted to see me?" The man nonchalantly asked.

"We all wanted to learn alchemy from you." Elise feigned a cheerful attitude.

Elise went on to tell him that they were poor orphans who were living in an abandoned shack in the outskirts of Central and couldn't afford formal training. She then went on to tell him that they came to him because he was the only alchemist that was nearby. Tucker looked a bit shocked by their story but gave a smile that made Elise's skin crawl.

"Well, I can't provide lodging since the guest room is already occupied, but I can certainly help in anyway I can." Mr. Tucker finally responded.

"That's okay. We have our shack." Dani chirped.

Tucker invited them into his house and introduced them to Alphonse and Nina. Tucker couldn't stay for long as he needed to do more research for his assessment. Nina looked rather sad even when playing with Alexander and Alphonse.

"Why so sad?" Tiffany asked.

"I miss my little big brother," Nina whined, "He's been gone for two months now…"

Alphonse explained the situation to the three seeing what happened between Tiffany and Nina. Elise felt awful seeing the usually cheerful and optimistic girl so saddened because of her. Even though it was for her safety, Elise couldn't help berating herself for what felt like the millionth time in the last two months. Elise decided to make up for it at least a little bit by trying to console Nina.

"Hey, Nina?"

"Hmm?" The little girl quickly looked up at her.

"I don't know him, but I think he would want to see you keep smiling." Elise tenderly said to her.

"I don't feel like smiling though…" Nina sadly said.

"But don't you think he would be sad too?" Elise said.

That seemed to work a little as Nina perked up a bit.

"I guess you're right." Nina said before giggling a little.

"What is it?" Elise smiled hearing Nina finally laugh but was curious to know what it was about.

"You look a lot like my little big brother."

Elise felt like crying her eyes out, but couldn't of course.

A/N

Well, they haven't gotten killed so far. That's a relief. This story's been here for almost a month now, and I am so happy that you guys are reading this. I'm really proud of how this is turning out and I hope you guys enjoy it as much as I am.