The next day, after they finished their holes, they were inside the wreckroom, playing pool and listening to music. They game quickly stopped when they heard a scream come from outside, soon followed by a yell. Although the yell had came from a guy, the scream certainly didn't.

"Steel." Brandy whispered and shoved her way through the crowd to get out the door.

The rest of the gang followed, close at her heels. They came outside to see Thlump being choked by Zero. It took Brandy, Flame, Mustang, Squid, Zigzag and X-ray to seperate the two of them.

"What is wrong with you, you mute freak?!" Thlump yelled to Zero. "I was just playin' with your girl a bit."

"What the hell did you do to her to sick perve?" Flame yelled at him and landed a hard punch to his nose.

The crowd slowly broke up and Zero calmed down.

"Where is she?" Brandy asked Zero.

"I dunno, she ran when I jumped on him. He scared her, he kept touching her and she kept trying to get away, I had to stop him." Zero explained.

That was the most the gang had ever heard Zero say, they were quite amazed at how strong and firm he sounded when he talked.

"You did the right thing." Brandy said giving him small smile "Lets start looking for her."

They went off in pairs or groups to search around the camp. Zero went off by himself even though Zigzag and Flame had invited him to search for Steel with them. He figured that searching for Steel wasn't the only thing they were going to do and didn't want to be in the way.

He was walked past the 'library' when he heard a small whimper. He stopped and looked around. He caught sight of orange cloth sticking out from behind the library.

He quickly ran around the corner and found Steel sitting with her back against the wall and her arms wrapped around her legs. She was sobbing as quietly as she could.

He quickly sat down next to her and wrapped his arms around his.

"I'm s-s-sorry." Steel managed to choke out.

"Its okay, it wasn't your fault." Zero said soothingly.

"But it is!" Steel wailed "I wish I had Brandy or Mustang or any of the girl's confidence. They wouldn't have ran, they would have stood up from themselves but I am just so scared."

"I won't let anyone hurt you ever again." Zero said hugging her tighter.

"Promise?" Steel said looking up at him, her face wet with tears.

"Promise." Zero said.

They sat there for a minute, just looking at each other. It hurt Zero so much to think about what she has been through. She is so innocent, she didn't do anything to deserve what she got. He wished he could be like a wall and shelter her from all of the bad things in the world. She was the only person who actually understood him.

"I love you." Zero said.

It came out so easily, he didn't know why he said it but then it hit him, he really did love her.

"I love you too." Steel said.

Her tears had stopped and a small smile could be seen on her face. Zero did somethings else he never knew he had the courage to do. He kissed Steel, only lightly, he didn't want to frighten her anymore then she already was.

She kissed him back. They didn't know how long they sat there together. Steel didn't want to leave, she felt so safe when she was with him.

They finally walked back to the girl's tent, hand in hand, where they found the rest of the gang. The gang had giving up looking for Steel and when Zero didn't come back, they figured he had found her. They also didn't say anything about what had happened with Thlump of the fact that Zero and Steel were holding hands. For the first time, they didn't sit outside, they sat inside with the gang. They didn't have to hide anymore, as long as they were together, they were safe.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

This chapter is dedicated to khleozerozeroni0. You finally got one of your wishes lol! I hope this wasn't too sappy, I tried not to make it too mushy lol. Anywayz, keep reviewing, you guys always give me more ideas. I know the story might be moving kind of slow but an idea for the adventure in this story finally hit me! I just need to figure out the details and stuff...

Sincerely, SheElf