Alright! Part 3! Woohoo! Yeah, sorry guys, but it looks like there will be 5 parts after all… sigh… You know what? I'm just going to make all 5 of these parts their own story… I was going to do a whole story series, but this thing has just gotten a life of it's own and is so long now I don't think I can honestly keep putting it in as part of a series of "short" stories! Sigh… Ok… the deed has been done… sob!

I do not own FMA – but this story is now officially up on Roy-Fan-33's new site! (Either go to the last entry to piece together the site address, or go to my profile!)

"It Takes Love to Live pt. 3"

After a long and bumpy ride down unpaved roads, the vans finally rolled to a stop across the street from a cluster of small buildings, conveniently protected by a large cement wall. Roy and Hughes poked their heads out of the back of their van, looked around to make sure the coast was clear, and then quietly jumped out of the van. After searching all around the vans for any signs of enemy gunmen, Hughes gave a nod to Roy, who then quietly motioned for the soldiers to come out as well. Once the soldiers were assembled behind the vans, out of sight of the buildings, Hughes gave them their orders.

"Ok, everyone, we're going into a tough one; Investigations hasn't been able to make much headway other than that the rebels in these buildings here are anti-military and playing a strong role in the black-market trading of large weapons. We sent Fullmetal in to investigate further, but unfortunately he was taken hostage – we received a ransom note of sorts just over two days ago. Other than that, that's all we know – we're basically going into this one with our hands tied, men, so do what you do best!"

"Yes, sir!" the soldiers responded, preparing themselves for the battle ahead.

"Alright, then – Meyers! Greenwell! You two will lead the assault! Orwell, Hav-"

"No!"

Hughes stopped. He turned and looked at Roy.

"No – I'll lead the assault."

"But, Roy – !"

"I'm a State Alchemist, Maes," Roy told him with a pained grin. "I can take care of myself."

Hughes stared at him for a while. After a minute, he consented. "Alright, Roy, do whatever you want… Havoc! Hawkeye! Flank the 'Flame Idiot' here and make sure he doesn't get blown up! Meyers and Greenwell, you cover them from behind! You three over there, I want you to – "

Roy stood there looking at his Lieutenants, slightly surprised. "I didn't know you two were coming!"

"We were almost afraid you weren't!" Jean Havoc told him with a smile, cigarette dangling.

Roy just shook his head, smiling.

"Sir?" Riza Hawkeye asked, cool and collected as always. "Are you ready?"

Roy looked around. The soldiers were still assembling themselves according to Maes' orders, but he felt confident enough in his two subordinates to go it without the others. He nodded. "Alright, Lieutenants, let's go."

"Yes, sir!" they saluted.

Roy struck out towards the well-protected buildings, being sure to keep out of sight of windows and any other vantage points where enemy snipers could be hiding. Havoc kept to Roy's left, while Hawkeye opted to stay just a bit behind in order to provide cover if needed.

Once across the street, Roy crouched along the wall until he reached the gate – locked.

"Damn…" Roy cursed under his breath. Havoc shrugged his shoulders to show his lack of ideas. Roy was about to bite the bullet and jump the wall (at the risk of being seen or shot) when Riza slunk up beside him, pulled a bobby-pin out of her hair, and successfully picked the lock. She slowly opened the gate, making the opening just wide enough for a person to pass through.

Havoc went through first, eyes darting back and forth for any sign of suspicious movement… there was… nothing?

Roy crawled through and looked around – no one in the windows, no guards, nothing – in fact, most of everything was boarded up and apparently abandoned.

"Uh, Havoc? Is this really the right place?" Roy asked, puzzled as to why no one was trying to kill them yet.

"Yeah, Chief, I'm pretty sure… I don't get it, though – there's no one here!"

"Yes, it is strange, isn't it?" Hawkeye added after slowly closing the gate behind her. She saw Hughes out of the corner of her eye – he was running around wildly, looking for something – most likely Roy. (They had, after all, left without notifying him of their plans). Riza sighed. Roy hadn't said anything, so she wouldn't either.

Roy carefully stood up… nothing. He looked around at the buildings – there were five of them, each about two or so stories, and all in varying states of disrepair; bricks falling out, doors off their hinges, roofs with holes… Yet all in all they appeared exactly the same: empty. Roy sighed as he put his hands on his hips.

"Well," he said, "we'll have to start somewhere… Ed could be in any one of these buildings…"

"If he still is in the buildings." Havoc pointed out.

Roy winced. He didn't want to have to think about that… The implications of what it meant were enormous – if the terrorists were gone – if Ed was gone – then it meant that the rebels were tired of waiting around for the military to show up, which would not be good… If that was the case, then the military no longer had any leads and no leverage – Ed's life would be out of the military's hands. Roy shuddered, shaking the thought from his mind as well; he had to get a grip on himself if he was ever going to save Fullmetal…

Roy narrowed his eyes and straightened himself to his full height, squaring his jaw and his shoulders; he cut an imposing picture.

"Havoc, Hawkeye," he said in a dark, commanding tone, "you two split off and search the buildings on either end – I'll take the one in the middle."

"But, sir – !" Hawkeye began to protest before Havoc flung his arm out and stopped her. He gave her a look that plainly said, 'There's nothing we can do – we're just going to have to trust him.'

Hawkeye reluctantly nodded. She turned and looked one last time at her commanding officer, who was now walking across the long stretch of dirt in front of the buildings, before standing up, face set and resilient. Then she did as she was told and made her way over towards the buildings on the far right, Havoc following suite shortly after and entering the buildings on the far left.

Roy watched both of his subordinates safely enter the buildings. He gripped the handle of the door to the middle building – by far the largest and the most intact – and gave one last, deep breath before opening the door and swiftly entering the dark building, feeling for all the world as if he were in another life, another time, another world…

…

Yeah, yeah, I know, I know – another cliff-hanger! I'm sorry! I really am! It's just that whenever I'm writing, I stop wherever the piece seems to naturally stop! I'm just listening to my wild author instincts! (Anyone else think that that's a bit ironic?) Anyway, part 4 is cooking along! Hopefully it will be up soon! And to all of my "Adventures" readers, I haven't forgotten you! Please just be patient! I want to try and finish this piece for Roy-Fan-33's birthday tomorrow! Please R&R!