Hello all! I'm back! I am soooooo sorry that it's taken me like, two weeks to update. I've been really busy and haven't had much spare time. That and I was a little dicouraged by a few comments.

BTW, feel free to throw the book at me. Justknow boulders!Or anything heavier that 10kg! You know who you are!

The title will make sense at the end of the chappy.

For: Lili and momiji-k

Ok, I know I've already responded to you momiji-k, but there are some new details that I worked out after I sent that reply. Anyway, this is going somewhere, but I can't tell you right now without giving away future chapters. But I promise that I am going somewhere with a few of the little things you've picked up. Oh, and Lili, I didn't even metion Winry. She's not going to be involved in this story at all. I've almost finished writing it. It is possible to survive for that long in the cold and bleeding. And as I said before, I can't tell you anything because it will give away future chapters. I am going somewhere with it! Don't worry about that! It gets mentioned towards the end! I promise you that everything will (or should) make sense by the end of this story.

Disclaimer: I don't own it! If I did I wouldn't have to share a computer with my mother or borrow money from her anytime I want something.

Chapter 12

What should've been obvious

"We've checked them all, Chief," Havoc said "She wasn't at any of them. Heck, we even checked the one here on base just to rule it out."

Roy sighed and looked over the people in the room. He was seated at his desk. On one couch was Tari and Mark. On the other was Havoc, Maes and Martin. Havoc was gesturing to the map that was sitting on the coffee table between the two couches with a red marker. On the map were several red crosses marking all of the butcher's shops, meat lockers and meat storage facilities in Central that they'd checked and ruled out. Every single place had been crossed out.

Suddenly, a thought hit Roy "Havoc? When was this map made?"

Havoc scanned over the map until he found a date. "Uh, last year."

"Go find the most recent map of Central from this year," Roy instructed "There might be new places!"

"Yes, sir!" Havoc said and swiftly left the room.

He came back five minutes later with a rolled up map in his hands.

"You were right, Chief," Havoc said as he entered the room, closing the door behind him. He unrolled the map on the table and quickly crossed out all of the places they'd already checked. "There's a new one here." He pointed to a place on the map that was about 20 kilometres away in the industrial/abandoned part of town. Very few people went there any more and those that did were the workers. There were many abandoned warehouses surrounding the new place. Who'd want to open up a shop there?

"That has to be where she's at," Maes said looking at Roy.

"We'll have to send someone to check it out," Roy spoke "It'll have to be someone who's stealthy seeing as this is most likely where he's got her."

"I'm pretty good at stealth."

"AAAAAHHHHHHH!" everyone screamed as they jumped about a foot in the air. Roy had the misfortune to accidentally topple his chair backwards when he jumped. He went down with it.

Tari, Martin, Mark, Maes and Havoc all turned to look at the source of the new voice.

"What?" the person asked.

Roy stood up, after flipping and crawling out of his toppled chair, and picked said chair up. He dusted his uniform off and straightened it. He sat down and stared at the woman, who'd rather suddenly appeared, disbelievingly.

"Where'd you come from!" Roy asked, panicked slightly.

"What do you mean? I've been sitting here for the last 15 minutes," she replied.

"Corporal Tarot, how did you not see her? She's sitting right next to you!" Maes exclaimed.

Tari looked at the young Private next to her. "I honestly do not know."

"Private Lita Cortez," Roy called. Everyone turned to look at Roy. "You have the job. Acquire the other uniform, change and report back to me. I will then give you your instructions."

"Yes, sir," Lita replied.

"Uh, who's your commanding officer?" Roy asked.

"Brigadier General Russel Tromp, sir."

"Ha!" Maes laughed slapping his knees "He'll understand. I'll go inform him that we're borrowing his subordinate." He stood and looked at the Private. "Just go straight to Issue and get the uniform. I'll talk to Russel." He looked at Tari, Martin and Mark. "You guys better come with me too."

"Yes, sir," the three replied in unison.

The Major, the Corporal, the Sergeant, the Sergeant Major and the Private all left the room and headed off. This left Havoc, kneeling on the floor at the coffee table, and Roy, sitting at his desk, alone.

"What're we gonna do if we find her, Chief? What's the plan?" Havoc inquired.

"Not 'if' we find her, Jean. 'When' we find her…" Roy said.

"Yeah, that's what I meant," Havoc smiled sadly. He did not share the same optimism as his superior, but he wished he did.

A/N:

Me: Sorry for the mega-shortness...

Ed: WHO'RE YOU CALLIN' MEGA-SHORT!

Me: Ack! Ed! I wasn't talking about you! I was talking about the length of this chapter.

Ed: Well, yeah it was pretty short!

Me: smacks Ed over the head Shut up! Just because Envy can play the drums and you can't doesn't mean you can take it out on me!

Envy: Yeah, short-stuff.

Me& Ed: Shut up or we'll tell everyone about how Izumi smashed you through the floor countless times!

Envy: That wasn't my fault! It was Ryoko, Sam and Ember's fault! They're the ones that put the trampoline under me!

Me: Yeah and I told you that trampolines were outdoor toys, not indoor toys!

Envy: Shut up! stomps off and up the stairs to sulk

Ed: What's the matter! Got PMS!

Me: ED! NOOOO!

icky noises

Me: Ouch. winces Anyway, I'll try and update tomorrow if I can. I've got the day off tomorrow.

Riza: Hey! Why does all the bad shit keep happening to me?

Roy: Yeah!

Me: Riza! Don' t swear around the 3-year olds! Two of them are your kids!

Izumi: What's for dinner?

Me: GET AWAY FROM MY FINGERS! ALL OF YOU! IT'S BAD ENOUGH WHEN YOU TAKE OVER MY VOICE! SHEESH! Uh, sorry about that. All the guys you've just heard from plus many others live in my head. And I'm serious, they take over my voice and occasionly my arms! Okay, um... I better go. They're circling. They want control! I think this Author's note is officially longer than the chapter now! Yikes, gotta g--

Ed: Wait! Why am I not in this chapter!

Me: Okay I'll explain. Ed and Al are helping in the search. They checked the place they were sent to and were on their way back. They stopped and called Mustang to tell him that their place was empty because they knew they were gonna be late. Anyway, on their way in Hakuro stopped them and asked them why they were helping and told them that they shouldn't get involved. So that's why they weren't there. Happy now, Ed?

Ed: Yes... I think.

Maes: Wanna see some photos!

Riza and Roy: RUN AWAY!

Maes: What'd I say?