"Where is she!" Ed yelled storming into the colonel's office.

"Didn't expect to see you back so soon." Mustang commented, smugly avoiding looking up at Ed from his paperwork.

"Don't avoid my question Damnit." Ed yelled, slamming his hands down on the desk. "You brought Cierra here." He reminded him angrily. "arrested her for no reason? Ring a bell?"

"Ed, don't come in here and scold me unless you have all the facts!" Roy said loudly, standing up, trying to keep his cool. After he took a breath to control himself he looked up at Ed. "Cierra Shigawa is not under arrest, she's simply here to help us out. She's in the Kanko Hotel across the street." Mustang said, not looking at Ed.

Although Ed wanted to say so much more, he figured that explaining everything to Cierra was more important. He nodded and opened the door.

"Ed," Mustang said, holding Ed up at the door. "be careful. You don't know what you're getting into."

Ed look at him, puzzled for a moment before running off to Cierra's room. After getting the room number from the guy behind the desk and making his way up 5 flights of stairs, Ed didn't even get to knock on her door. As Ed reached for the door it opened, there stood Cierra, in a jacket and with a small bag on her shoulder she walked right passed him, like he wasn't there.

"Oh come on! You can't think even for a second that wanted any of that to happen!" He called.

"Then why did you let it?" Cierra shot back coldly staring through him.

"You don't understand, there were other things involved. I had orders, there were things I need to know, I didn't think-"

"That's right, Ed. You didn't think." She walked down the stairs but was stopped in the street by Ed's hand on her wrist. "Let me go Ed."

"Not until you hear me out."

Cierra sighed ash she turned around to listen to him. "Fine."

"I was given very strict order from an extremely high ranked officer to 'Notify Colonel Mustang' of everyone I met in that town. Not only that, but I was also told to deliver to them all of your books and belongings as soon as I knew the whereabouts and take them straight to central, and bring you with me, even if by force. The colonel has always been one to send spies, to keep tabs on me, to watch my back." Ed started.

"So, why should I care about any of that. I didn't take you as a trained dog."

"heh, you didn't let me finish. If I were to have it my way, I wouldn't have told Mustang anything, but, when I got the phone call in the diner I realized something. The same man who was sitting behind me on the train here had been everywhere I had been since Me and Al arrived. I was being followed. If I had told Mustang that I met no one the word would have gotten right back to him that I lied, and I couldn't very well help you from central, so I told Mustang where you were, knowing what it entailed, although, I will say that I'm sorry about how they treated you."

Cierra smiled slightly, Ed had a reason for doing what he did, maybe he wasn't a hopeless jerk.

"Then when they came to arrest you, I knew what I had to do, I piled your books together so that they could take them easier." Ed smiled at Cierra's puzzled face. "I didn't pile all of them, I hid the last two, not to mention all of the non translated one. By having the stack of books, they thought that that was all of them." Ed said handing her a pile of books which she stuck into her bag. "I grabbed them after you were taken away. So, do you still hate me?"

Cierra shook her head; he had had a plan the whole time, who'd have thought it. She began walking again. "I was issued an order to see Colonel Mustang." She explain in regards to where she was going.

"What does he want…" Ed mumbled. "I'm going with you." Ed said. Mustang's warning still stuck in the back of his mind, maybe if he went, he'd get an understanding of what he meant by it.

"Fullmetal."

"Colonel."

"Ah, Miss Shinoko, how nice to finally meet you." Mustang said offering a hand to shake, though Cierra sat down quietly instead, folding her arms and waiting for him to begin. "Someone doesn't waste time." Mustang muttered under his breath. "Alright, I'm going to make this as blunt as possible, those books that you have, we need them, and we need you to translate their meaning. We are willing to give you any amount of money in exchange for-"

"No."

Mustang sat down, resting his elbows on the desk and folding his hands, looking over the top of them to meet her eyes. "If money's not what you want then tell me what is. Something can be arranged."

"Nothing. That's just it, I want nothing to do with you or your military for that matter. I'm sorry that my father didn't leaves the books to you, but maybe he would have if you didn't murder him." She said angrily, storming out of the room.

"Cierra!" Ed called following after her.

"I'm sorry Ed, you're probably going to get in trouble with him now, it's just-"

"It's ok, I never liked him anyway, too cocky." Ed chuckled as it started to rain. "great."

Cierra giggled as she unnoticeable took a wrong turn into an alley due to the rain. When she noticed she tried to turn around but slipped on the wet pavement, "Kaze!" the wind caught her fall, but as soon she was upright again she collapsed onto the ground.

"Cierra!" Ed yelled, catching her head right before it crashed into the cement. "What was that?"

Cierra put her hand on her head and sat up. "Sorry, when I use alchemy too many times I just get a little exhausted, I'm still a rookie." She laughed, standing up, but not before coughing up a bit of blood onto her hand, she quickly let the rain wash it off behind her back, careful not to let Ed notice it.

"Cierra," Ed started, dead seriously. "On the train here, I finished reading your books."

Really? How did you like-"

"That alchemy you use, it's pretty amazing stuff." He said, narrow eyed. "But in order to exert the force to let it come out of any part of your body, or to keep it condensed or heighten the attack, the total amount would be limited…unless-"

"Ed, what are you babbling abo-"

"You were using human transmutation. It's not major, like bring a human back to life, but the way that necklace works, it transfers your physical energy, your health, into kinetic energy to allow it to do all of its functions. It's slowly draining you of yourself…Cierra, why would do-"

"Ed, it's none of your business why I do what I do. Using alchemy is easier than doing things by hand. You of all people should know that." Cierra said nervously and with a wavering voice.

"My alchemy is different it-" Ed was interrupted by a fit of coughing on Cierra's part, she would have fallen over if Ed hadn't caught her.

"Human transmutation isn't something that anyone should be messing around with…"

Tell him already. I'm sure he'll listen. I bet he can help, what are you waiting for? It's not like he's going freak out or anything, it's only a forbidden-

"Shut up." Cierra mumbled to herself, still resting in Ed's arms.

Please, screaming wont do anything. Except make him think you're insane. He'll help you right? You saw it, so why are you fighting it? Why are you fighting help?

"It's not me it's you he'll help…" She said angrily to herself, holding her head now as Ed watched, totally clueless.

He'll get me out. Isn't that what you want? To be free…of me?

"Not this way." She said, almost to the point of yelling.

Aww, you're no fun. Fine, if you won't ask him, I will.

That instant Cierra started screaming in pain, all the while holding her head, crying desperately for something to just go away. The bottom of her shirt started burning away and soon an entire alchemic circle had burnt it's way through her skin and shirt.

"What the-" Ed had never seen anything like it, but some of symbols he recognized from sketches along the margins in the last book. "Cierra! Cierra, hold on." He yelled.

Cierra ripped the necklace off of her neck and handed it to Ed, collapsing once again in his arms, this time, utterly unconscious. Ed pocketed the necklace and carried her back to her room, trying to put together what had happened just now.

Cierra remanded asleep in her bed for almost 6 hours, though Ed never left once. Instead he spent his time looking up the strange circle he had seen on her stomach.

"You're up, how are you feeling?"

"Tired. What happened? " She asked, sitting up.

"You passed out." He said, throwing back her necklace.

"Oh, sorry about that….you must think I'm crazy…"

"Nah, A little weird, but certainly not crazy….so I looked up that symbol of your stomach."

"Oh that, it's just some silly old tattoo I got when-"

"It's used for calling out a homunculus from inside of a body…"

"Oh. THAT symbol….hehe"