Pre Chapter Rant:

Grr…I just looked at "Central Depressants" and "Winry" was a lot smaller then I thought it was! So if this chapter took some time to come, its cuz I was 1) lazy 2) having no ideas and 3) trying to make it long.

And while trying to write this, I ended up writing parts of Chapter Six…:bangs head against wall: So…Yeah… When you read Chapter Six, you'll understand why the two of them (Six and Two) go together.

And, as for the "Roy can't take care of dogs" I haven't seen all the episodes. :kills Adult Swim slowly and painfully: but I saw screencaps with Roy walking Black Hayate. So if he's good with dogs…Forgive me.

And I suck at names. Just so ya know…

The Colonel bid her good day and left, shutting the door as he went. Soon after, a doctor came in.

"When can I leave the hospital?" Hawkeye asked, hoping he would say tomorrow or something sooner.

"You were shot with a bullet, for goodness sakes, Lieutenant. I would think you'd be reluctant to go back to work." He sighed, flipping the pages on a clipboard. "However, I think it'd be fine if you went home tomorrow, but you'd have to rest before going back to work." Riza nodded to show she understood and leaned back against the pillows as the doctor left.

Tomorrow. That was good. Of course, it'd be longer until she could go back to work, but she would make do. She'd just ask the Colonel to bring her some work to do at her apartment.

The next day Hawkeye shook off the nurses sent to escort her halfway to her house and hobbled the rest of the way on her crutches, as she had been shot in the leg. As soon as she walked in the door she noticed that the phone was ringing. Hobbling furiously on her crutches, she managed to pick it up. "Hello?" She asked, slightly breathless.

"Hey, Lieutenant." Winry said quietly on the other line.

"Is…Something wrong, Winry? Is something wrong with Ed?" She asked, panicking slightly.

"No, nothing's wrong. I was just calling to see whether or not you were home yet."

"Just got in."

"Oh. Well. That's good." Hawkeye noticed that Winry's voice sounded slightly hollow. Which was certainly different for the girl. "I'm sure you'll be happy to get back to work."

"Yes…Winry, are you sure everything's okay?"

"Yes!" Winry said on the other line, slightly hysterical sounding. "I was just calling to see if you were home yet and to apologize for not coming by today. Ed's fine, Al's fine, I'm fine."

"Alright, well, thank you Winry."

"See you soon." Around 2 miles north of the Lieutenant a young mechanic put a phone down in its cradle and buried her face in her hands.

Hawkeye put the phone down quietly. Shaking her head, she put away her coat and clothes with some difficulty, due to the blasted crutches that were necessary now.

The next day Riza awoke early and stepped off the bed before remembering the crutches. She fell a little, but was able to stay upright.

After getting dressed, which took longer then usual, (crutches, again, if you would believe it), Hawkeye limped into the kitchen and fed Black Hayate, who was whining from under-feeding. The Colonel was supposed to feed him while Riza was out of commission…Mental note to self: Roy is not meant to take care of dogs. Probably was distracted…

Lt. Hawkeye's next matter of business that morning was to call the Colonel and request that he get someone to get her something to do while she's stuck here. She dialed the number slowly, feeling as though something was wrong.

"What do you want?" Mustang barked on the other end.

"Colonel, sir, I was wondering if there was any way that I could get some paperwork to do while I'm stuck at home."

"Hawkeye?" The Colonel asked, sounding bewildered. At his desk, he ran his fingers through his hair, thinking. "You still live in that apartment, right?"

"Yes…"

"Good! I'll get Havoc to drop it off on the way to the crime scene." Hawkeye's heart plummeted.

"Crime scene?"

"I'll get Havoc to explain…HUGHES! Hughes! Fury, get Hughes!" Riza heard a faint, "Yessir," from the phone.

"Okay, sir, see you soon." She said uncertainly.

"Yeah." Roy hung up, but Hawkeye could hear him talking to Maes before the phone hit the cradle.

"Great." Hawkeye sighed, sinking into a chair. "Crime scene, the chaos I heard on the phone…There must be a new killer."

An hour later, when Havoc rang her doorbell, Riza was slowly becoming depressed with nothing to do but think about her boredom, her uselessness, and the new killer. When the doorbell rang, however, Riza almost skipped to go answer it. Now she wouldn't be bored, or useless.

"Hello Havoc." She greeted him, but her smile faded when she took him in. Second Lieutenant Havoc looked disheveled, tired…The definition of depression. He also was not smoking, which panicked Hawkeye more then anything.

"Sir," He said dully, saluting.

"What's wrong, Havoc?" She asked, panic increasing.

"Here's the paperwork the Colonel wants you to work on." He gave her the stack of papers, ignoring her question entirely.

"Thank you…Havoc, are you alright?"

"No. Not really. But its fine."

"What—" Havoc just kinda shook his head and walked away, waving as he went.

"A depressed Havoc…" Hawkeye muttered, sitting in her living room. "This must be really bad." She opened the first folder with dread and hesitation, not knowing what to expect.

Surprisingly, the first paper was a newspaper cutout. "ALCHEMIC KILLER KILLS 12-YEAR OLD GIRL" The headline screamed. Riza began to read the article.

Lauren Havoc, 12, was walking along the main street in a town outside Central when

Lauren Havoc, 12, was walking

Lauren HAVOC

"Omigod…" Hawkeye breathed, holding her hand to her mouth in shock. "That could be his sister…Maybe that was his sister…Omigod…" Hawkeye skimmed the article for proof that Lauren was Havoc's little sister.

Military unsure…Lauren's brother, Jean Havoc, a Second…Investigations team puzzled…Lauren's brother, Jean Havoc…

"Poor Jean!" Hawkeye murmured without realizing it, her eyes widening at the picture of Lauren after the alchemist was…Through with her. The caption read about how he uses alchemy to transmute all liquids in his victim's bodies to ice…A literal brain freeze. Hawkeye shuddered, unable to imagine what that must feel like… And also wondering for how long this poor girl had to suffer before the lack of blood or hypothermia killed her. What an odd way to kill people…Not your everyday person who just shoots you… I'd rather be shot to death…Riza mused, her hand unconsciously moving toward her wound.

That night, Hawkeye slept with short dreams of death, no doubt brought on by the new killer, who people merely referred to as "Ice Alchemist". At one point, the Lieutenant had a particularly violent dream, causing her to move her foot suddenly with great strength, flinging a sleeping Black Hayate off.

After being confined to her apartment for quite a while, Hawkeye was not in a good mood. All she could do was paperwork, and anyone who had the time to talk to her only spoke of the killer. Except Winry. Winry was acting extremely strange, and shied away from talk of the killer.

And today was worst of all for Riza's mood. Today—the day she was waiting for in the hospital—had become the day she dreaded.

The day she went back to work.

Central was as busy as Hawkeye had heard it on the phone, if not busier. One thing really irked her though: Normally, people say "hi" to her upon her entry. She had expected them to at least say "hello", since she'd been gone for so long.

But everyone was way too busy. Two more victims had been found since Lauren. One other young girl, who was unfortunately Hughes' niece, and a young boy who was related to a Major.

The most weird and changed thing, however, was her own colleagues. Sergeant Fury was trying to work on his paperwork dutifully, but kept sighing and staring into space. 2nd Lieutenant Havoc was staring into air like Fury. He had taken up smoking again, but didn't seem to realize that the tip had burned off and was slowly smoldering a hole into his papers. The Colonel was in his private office. It was quiet but occasionally one could hear a thump, as if something had been thrown, and the sound of pacing feet was common to hear.

Cain's head shot up when he heard the door open, and he bolted upright when he saw it was Hawkeye. "Thanks goodness you're alright, Lieutenant." He said, saluting.

"What's going on Cain? This place is a mess." Hawkeye said, staring at Havoc. "Havoc! Earth to Havoc." Fury grinned wryly.

"He can't hear you Lieutenant."

"I noticed…" Riza muttered, her eyes now taking in the many cartons and butts of cigarettes littered around Havoc's chair. "How many packs does he smoke a day now!"

"Twice as more then usual, if I'm correct." Fury replied. "He never finishes any work and hell if any of us can get to him."

"What about the Colonel?"

"Holed up in his office. He's particularly upset at this case. Major Armstrong and Breda are with the Lieutenant Colonel."

"That explains why they're missing…" Fury nodded.

Lieutenant Hawkeye moved to the Colonel's office, ears alert to any noise other then the rapid pacing. She opened the door slowly, as Fury walked backwards, away from the door.

"What do you want?" Mustang asked harshly, and Riza was reminded strongly of his phone call.

"Hello, sir," Hawkeye replied, saluting. A good couple of feet away Fury did the same. Havoc stared into space as the cigarette finally fell.

"Hawkeye?" Roy asked, blinking. He slightly shook his head and turned around, then returned and handed Hawkeye a stack of papers. "Go through these, and finish by tonight."

"Sir, there's a lot of work here to be done." Riza said in awe, flipping through the pages. "Can't I have more time…?"

"NO." Mustang barked sternly, and slammed his door.

"Somebody's chipper." Hawkeye muttered, looking again through the stack of papers. She found a folder near the middle and opened it.

Pictures fell out of the opened folder. Hawkeye knelt to pick them up and stopped, horrified.

The pictures were all of the victims, whose skin was blue, as was most of their bodies. Some pictures were of the inside of the victims. Their blood was frozen, their organs gray…It was disgusting, and made Hawkeye feel faint. "Fury, have you seen these pictures?" She asked, her voice low as she walked to the table. Fury nodded.

"It's disgusting, isn't it?" He asked, staring into space again. "I want out." He shivered slightly, and went back to work on his stack.

Later that night Hawkeye was the only one left. Havoc had "sleepwalked" out two hours ago, Fury tailing close behind. Mustang hadn't been out, but Hawkeye had suspicions that he had either fallen asleep or had jumped out the window. There wasn't any more pacing from his desk, just the rustle of pages. The open window. Riza told herself, grinning wryly at the thought.

Riza herself was still at Central, struggling through the horrible doctor accounts and witness reports. The man who was doing this had no overly unique features like Scar had, so there was no way of telling who it was. It could be anyone. Riza shivered as Fury had done earlier, the thought haunting her mind as images of everyone she knew being the Ice Alchemist floated in her vision.

It could be anyone. Anyone. It could be Ed, Armstrong…Any alchemist. Hell, if the Colonel wasn't specialized in flame…And if Alphonse wasn't so selfless…Although it could still be them. Not likely, but logic doesn't always come into play in the military.

An hour later Hawkeye had driven herself to the point of insanity. Packing up her large stack of unfinished work, she left, upset that the Colonel hadn't even bothered to say good-bye, because it was a good 5 floors to ground and he probably hadn't jumped.

Probably.

Riza didn't sleep that night, instead choosing to stay up and work on this stupid case that Mustang had ordered her to do. She had this eerie voice in the back of her head that told her she would be haunted by the pictures, the reports, everything associated with this case, right down to her colleagues' behavior, for the rest of her life.

Hawkeye also knew how to shut that voice up, along with the other depressing voices that were talking as well.

But she wouldn't do that.

Today…

:blows raspberry: I don't like it much. It doesn't floooow. Oh well. I finally finished it (yay!). Review, please, even though I can't respond. Tell me what a horrible job I did, please. Thanks.