DISCLAIMER: -sleepily- I don't own FMA. I give credit to Hiromu Araka- zzzzzzzzzz

A/N: I am so unbelievably sorry for the lack of update. I have been super busy lately with work and finishing up my homework and stuff. (They're a bit more important at the moment.) I've been thinking of you guys so much lately and feel super guilty. I wrote this chapter tonight and partially during lunch break at work today, so I hope it's good. I will update as soon as I can.

Chapter 13: Unveiling A Monster. RH.

I slammed on the gas pedal. Those boys had a lot of nerve to go off without telling anyone! I couldn't say I was surprised, but I thought at least Alphonse had enough sense. Apparently, I was wrong.

I turned the wheel suddenly, turning down a darkened street. I knew where they were headed. The old building had been closed recently due to problems in the foundation.

Pulling in front of the building, I threw open the door and raced toward the padlocked front door. I lifted myself through a nearby broken window and started off in the closest direction. I couldn't hear anything, which meant that a fight hadn't started...

Or...

Perhaps, it was over. If I walked in to find the remains of a young boy and a lifeless suit of armor, I didn't know what I'd do.

Every footstep echoed, not only off the walls, but in my mind. I moved as quickly and quietly as I could through the tangled mess of hallways. I seemed to be making my way through a labyrinth. Coming to an end, I froze.

A woman stood at the end of the hallways, blocking a door. She sneered at me and I pulled out my guns; something I, shockingly, hadn't done before. I hadn't been concerned with them. I was worried about the boys.

Dodging every single one of my bullets, she laughed. I was starting to wonder what was wrong with me. I had never been so completely out of it before, especially in battle.

"I think I'm in love with you, Riza..."

I shook my head.

No! Not right now! I can't be thinking about Roy while Edward is probably off getting himself killed somewhere...

"I've got orders to protect this area," she growled. "There's no way a military brat like you is going by!"

Without warning, she put her hands to the ground. I reloaded my guns and felt myself being thrown backward against the wall.

Only slightly stunned, I regained my balance and looked up. A hand encircled my wrist in a deadly grip. Her green eyes sparkled as she squeezed harder. Part of me began to feel weaker. It was a very strange feeling. My fingers fought for the trigger of my gun.

"Let her go," a man's voice said.

An older man had appeared in the once closed doorway. The woman next to me stared at him in horror.

"Do you dare disobey orders?" she barked at him. "We were told to kill-"

"We were told to kill everyone, except her..." he corrected her. "Perhaps you don't know who you're dealing with here..."

He walked toward us slowly, grinning widely. I wondered if the woman was ever going to let go. My hand was starting to turn blue.

"Mikayla Hering," he pointed to the woman. "Please meet First Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye."

She dropped my wrist immediately and backed away, looking terrified.

"Are you, really?" she gasped. "Oh, I'm so very, very sorry. Please continue."

I stared at each of them. Something was going on and I wasn't sure if I wanted to figure it out. However, if it got me closer to those boys, I was willing to risk it.

I moved past them and went through the door, which led to a set of stairs. I wasn't sure what would be waiting for me on the second floor, but I was certain that I was about to find out.

------------------------RM

"Roy, do you have any idea how to drive this thing?" Maes asked, starting to look very uncomfortable.

Frankly, I didn't care if I knew how to drive or not. I needed to get to that warehouse. I needed to stop Riza before she went and did something stupid. I would deal with Ed and Al later, once we were safely back at headquarters.

"Roy!" Maes gripped the edge of his seat as I swerved around a few pedestrians. "You're gonna kill someone."

I didn't say anything. It had been a long time since I'd actually driven something, not to mention I had never really been that good at it to begin with. Normally, I was in the passenger seat while Riza drove. Things were different now.

Braking suddenly, I spotted another military car nearby. I knew Riza was somewhere in that building. I didn't bother the close the door behind me as I jumped out of the car. Maes was not far behind me, doing his best to keep up.

The front door was padlocked. I cursed loudly and reached out my hand to blow up the door.

Before I could do it, I heard Maes whistle and I turned to look at him. He was signaling toward a busted window, as if that would be a better plan. I sighed. He always had to do things the hard way.

We scrambled through the window and landed on the other side. The place seemed deserted. I started to wonder if we had the right place. Riza's car was there, but perhaps she had the wrong place too. Perhaps, Fullmetal was trying to throw us off in case we did find out that he was missing.

As we made our way through the halls, I was starting to think it would be better if we split up. But then, if one of us found the others, we would have to find each other again, without any of us getting hurt.

Never mind.

"Where do you think they went?" Maes asked, as we came to the intersection of two halls. I looked down each of them, trying to choose.

There was a loud noise from above and both of us looked up. It sounded like something metal had just fallen.

"Up," I said shortly.

We took off down the nearest hallway and searched desperately for a staircase. If we didn't find one soon, I was going to blow a hole through the ceiling and we were going to get up there that way.

I was only hoping it wouldn't come to that.

------------------------RH

There was a loud clanging noise and I stopped in mid step.

Alphonse!

Hurrying up the rest of the steps, I burst through the next door and entered a very large room. My ears were met with the sound of metal hitting something else. It took me a minute, but I spotted Alphonse fighting two people in the corner.

I took careful aim and shot one of them in the shoulder. They cried out in pain and Alphonse turned around to see how the attacker was. He straightened out as he looked right at me.

"First Lieutenant Hawkeye!" he blurted. "What are you-"

"Alphonse!" I yelled, firing several more bullets at the stunned others. "Where is your brother?"

"He's upstairs!" he answered, catching one of them by the arm and throwing them against the wall. His companion was advancing on me, but Alphonse didn't seem to notice. I continued to fire at him.

Moving quickly, I managed to trip my attacker, stopping them only momentarily. Alphonse turned to me.

"Go!" he ordered. "Go find my brother!"

Only pausing for a moment, I stared at him. The man nearest him had stood back up and was starting toward him again. He repeated his order and I took off down the adjoining hall.

Edward was somewhere above me, fighting who-knows-what by himself. I was proving to be quite worthless before. I only hoped I wouldn't screw up again.

------------------------RM

"Maes..." I said slowly. "Go that way..."

I pointed down another hallway. He stared at me for a moment and I repeated myself. He nodded shortly and did as I told him. I stared down at the hall I was going to go down.

My heart was pounding. I didn't want to admit it, but I was nervous. I didn't know how long the boys had been there, or if Riza had even made it to them. What if they were all...

I couldn't think about that now. I had to focus on finding them. Dead or alive, I needed to see them in front of me.

Finally, I found a staircase and hurried up it. I met up with Maes on the next floor. He passed by me and told me that he'd heard the metal noise coming from the other side. I followed him and we found the source of the noise.

Al was now taking on four people. Three men and a woman. One of them was clearly banged up and anther was shot. I knew that wasn't Al's doing.

Maes quickly pulled out a knife and joined in, helping Al. I moved to help, but Al took notice of me.

"COLONEL!" he said. "LIEUTENANT HAWKEYE WENT UPSTAIRS TO FIND ED!"

I froze, looking around at the people in the room. If we assumed there were nearly twenty of them, and there were four here, she would be facing almost 16 people on her own. She couldn't handle that many, especially with two pistols!

Some of them reacted at the word "Colonel" and started toward me, suddenly being thrown backward by Maes or Al.

"Roy!" Maes said through gritted teeth. "Get out of here! Go find Ed and Hawkeye!"

I didn't need to be told twice. I left the room and raced off in search of yet another staircase. I thought I had seen someone in another hallway, but when I stopped to check, they were gone.

"Riza?" I called out, down the empty hall.

There was no answer and I slowly walked down the hall. I called her name a couple more times to see if it had been her. I held my breath as I turned the corner, certain there would be someone there waiting for me.

There wasn't. A bit disappointed with myself, I took off again. Things were getting increasingly harder. If only the place weren't so huge...

Suddenly, there was a loud noise and it sounded like all the doors in the building had shut at once. I stopped and looked around, wondering if I had imagined the whole thing. I reached out for the next door and pushed.

It wouldn't move.

I pushed even harder, throwing all my weight against it. It still wouldn't budge. Giving up, I found another door and tried that one. It wouldn't open either. Somehow, someone had managed to lock every single door in the building, probably with Alchemy.

Cursing, I went in search of a set of stairs, not hidden behind a doorway. If Ed and Riza were upstairs, they were stuck up there, with no way of any of us getting to them.

------------------------RH

I could have sworn that I had heard Roy's voice calling my name, but had shaken it off as my mind playing tricks on me again. It was becoming harder to focus though, wondering if he really had been there and had been looking for me.

I jumped when a loud surge went through the building. Upon inspection, I noticed that all the doors were locked, but it didn't matter. I had reached the top floor, where Edward was, and that was all that I cared about.

It was dark; much darker than the rest of the building. I noticed that all the windows had been covered and very few torches were lit along the walls. There were no hallways on this floor. Just one very large stretch of space and complete darkness.

As hard as I tried, I could not stop the sound my shoes made as I walked across the floor. I had hoped to take whoever was waiting up here by surprise, but it seemed like the area was empty.

I stopped suddenly, when I heard someone speak from the other end of the room. Their voice sounded low and far away.

"It looks like ve are no longer alone, Full Metal one..." the voice said. "I do believe ve may haff some company..."

I saw the reflection of the torches on a metal arm and stepped forward. I was relieved to see Edward standing in front of me, unscathed. But, why had they not touched him. Why had I gotten here so easily? I was very confused.

"Velcome, First Lieutenant..." the voice continued. "I haff been expecting you. I didn't think you vould be here so early though, I must admit..."

I didn't say anything. Edward was staring at me. He looked around, confused. I knew what he was looking for, but he wouldn't find it.

"You seem to be alone..." the voice stated.

"I am alone," I said firmly.

The outline of a large chair could be seen in the shadows. I recognized it immediately as some kind of throne. We were certainly dealing with someone of great power.

Whoever was sitting on the throne laughed and it sent shivers up my spine. Edward didn't move, but continued to stare into the shadows.

"Why don't you show your face?" he asked bitterly.

They laughed again. This time I was certain I had heard a hiss in there somewhere. "Getting ahead of yourself, are ve, Fullmetal?" they asked. "I told you. I do not intend to fight you yet..."

"Lies..." he spat. "You're lying!"

"No, I am not lying. I vant answers first..." they said simply. "Answers only the two of you could really help me vith..."

I narrowed my eyes and tried to focus into the darkness. Whoever was speaking had a very low voice, but there was something about it that struck me odd.

"Why do you think we'd help you?" Edward asked, growing angrier by the second.

"Your temper exceeds your height," they said with a small chuckle. "You might vant to be careful about that, Fullmetal. It might get you into trouble someday."

I could tell that he was about to lose it. He really did need to learn how to control his temper. Especially in a situation such as this, it would be best if they both kept calm. Though, as much as I told myself that, I couldn't stop my heart from racing.

"You really vant to see me, Fullmetal?" they asked.

"Yes," he answered sharply.

"Very vell then..." the voice drawled.

I watched as a shadow moved toward us. They were certainly tall, whoever they were, I could point out that much. I could hear heels click across the stone and my earlier suspicions were confirmed.

Long legs and a black dress made it even more so. We were dealing with a female. A dangerous female.

She would have looked like Lust, if and only if, her hair wasn't red. It was curly and reached down the middle of her back. Her green eyes shone in the torchlight and were speckled with brown. A devilish grin danced across her lips as she watched us carefully. However, that wasn't all.

A large green snake coiled itself around her neck and her arms. It was massive in size, as it's large black eyes were focused and unmoving, as if stalking it's next victim.

He was staring at me.

A/N: Don't bother to say anything. I know this is a cliffhanger, but hey, I'm good at those. I will be updating as soon as I can, because I know you guys are about to kill me! -hides- If you get bored, please check out my other FMA fic (ROYAI!) Midnight Conversations. (It's Rated M, but it's not bad or anything. There will be some implied stuff later on...maybe a little itty bitty bit more than implied, but nothing completely terrible.) So you should definitely check that out. Oh and don't forget to REVIEW both of the stories! I will be updating that one soon too! Thanks!