How to Get What You Work For

by PurpleTurtle21

After a friend attempts to perform alchemy from one of her favorite anime shows, Amelia finds herself on military property and about to go to prison for trespassing, until the Fuehrer offers her a chance: She gets a one-year trial period learning under a certified alchemist and if she passes, she gets a get-out-of-jail-free card. Now if she could only find someone to teach her…

32. Splitting Up

32

Yoki's "tale of woe and hardship" was full of holes that Amelia could easily see through. It didn't help that she could easily see in him that facade that she would see in her mother and her companions whenever they tried to talk themselves up. Her morbid interest in how Edward "ruined" another man's life was subsequently dashed away, and she found herself despising Yoki the more he kept talking. As far as she could tell (and from what little she had gleaned) he had been doing something in the town of Yousewell that made it easy for Edward to trick him into giving him the deed to the town and its mine that was overseen by the military, that same something was the reason the entire town hated him and was more than happy to find out he was no longer in charge to the point they kicked him out of town whenever he tried to confront Edward for tricking him. Following that, it was discovered that whatever he had done was illegal and he was branded a criminal so he tried to do odd jobs (and was terrible at all of them) and then gambled away what savings he had left in a desperate attempt to make some money. Following that, what he called "asking for a charitable loan" she was pretty sure equated to some kind of burglary or stealing, though she didn't know who he tried to steal from.

Still, it was enough to tell her that his story of his life being ruined only involved Edward as a catalyst, he was far from the cause. And somewhere towards the end, as Yoki talked about his desire for revenge, she had begun to turn away and focus on where Edward, Alphonse, and Winry were all trying to calm down a hysterical May who was still acting dramatic from Alphonse's adultery.

"It's not right, I'll never let a thieving hussy like you take him from me…!" She cried.

"Did you, uh, just call me a hussy?" Winry was obviously not thrilled at the accusation.

"I already told you, she's just a childhood friend," Alphonse tried to comfort her and calm her down.

"You should think about something else, like alkahestry," Edward suggested in a clearly blunt way of trying to steer the conversation where he wanted it to go.

"You could not make it any more obvious what you're doing, Ed," Amelia commented, and was met with a dry expression from her alchemy teacher.

As Yoki noticed Amelia's dwindling interest in his tale, and his growing lack of an audience, he turned back to the Elric brothers with a fierce scowl as he realized they hadn't heard a word of the story he had told of their last encounter, and the fallout since, "You better listen to me, damn it!" He snapped.

"Yeah, how sad. Life is hard. Trust me, I know just how you feel." Edward replied indifferently over his shoulder, and Amelia frowned.

"Are you patronizing me?!" Yoki only grew more infuriated, and Amelia decided this was the moment to step in.

"Okay, okay! How about we all take a breath and calm down?" She spoke loud enough that everyone could hear her, and May seemed to grow a little quieter as Amelia stepped in front of her, squatting down to meet her eye-level, "And as for you, we need to talk with you not as romantic interests, but as scientists with what I hope is a common goal. You're the expert right now, and we need you to keep a level head to talk with us." She looked her directly in the eyes as she said this, keeping a serious expression on her face. It was a small thing that should have appealed to that dramatic nature inside of her — Amelia guessed she acted out like this because she didn't get enough attention at home, so having someone play along with her fantasies about herself should be enough to help her. She watched as May nodded, reaching up to wipe her eyes, and she stood back up, letting out a small sigh, "Okay, I think we should all get a handle on what's going on here first." She turned to Doctor Marcoh, "Like maybe with what happened to your face, and these reports that you're traveling with Scar…"

"Ah, yes…" Marcoh nodded, and he found a place to sit down in the room, the others moving around him as he began to speak, "Not long after I last saw you, the homunculi came into my town and threatened to destroy the village if I didn't leave with them. I was their prisoner for a few weeks following that, but somehow, Scar was able to free me." He moved one gloved hand up to his disfigured face, "He also did this to my face, to help disguise me while we traveled. I'll admit, as gruesome as it was, it was very effective."

Edward nodded, unable to help agreeing, but there was something more he wanted to address. "I've learned a lot since we met… like what it takes to create a Philosopher's Stone." Marcoh's expression sobered at the mention of the stone, remembering how he had given him the clue to find his hidden notes, and he didn't seem overly thrilled that Edward had found the truth like he had wanted him to, "I know there's something wrong with this country, and there's something rotten with its alchemy, we decided to look into the possibilities of Xingese alkahestry and figured that she could help." He pointed his thumb at May when he mentioned her.

"You're on the right path," Doctor Marcoh said, opening his coat and reaching inside for something, "But you aren't the first person to put all of these pieces together." He pulled out a small notebook, handbound in some kind of twine full of aged pages between paper covers that looked like they had been stained in what she could only guess was either mud, coffee, or blood. "This book is a collection of his research and theories. It's written in code, but we believe this book contains all of the answers that we need."

"So then, if we decipher the code, we might be able to start fixing some of the things that are wrong in Amestris?" Amelia asked.

"Perhaps. I believe so," Marcoh nodded, "But they'll be impossible to translate without the assistance of Scar."

Edward's hopeful expression immediately turned into a scowl, "What do we need him for?!"

"The code is based in ancient Ishvalan, a dead language known only to the monks of the Ishvala religion." Marcoh explained, "Scar was—" He was cut off by the sound of an explosion, and everyone's heads turned to the nearby windows, May getting up from her seat.

"What do you think that was?" She asked worriedly.

Marcoh went over to the windows to see a plume of smoke making its way out of one of the buildings a few blocks away, "That's the building Scar was in…!" He gasped, turning back to look at the others, "You think it's the military?"

"Sure sounds like it," Amelia said as she stood up, getting ready to follow Alphonse and Edward.

"Look, all of you just need to stay put and hide out in here." Edward said, "Al and I will find out what's going on." He looked over at Amelia, who was obviously a little concerned that she hadn't been listed in the group about to leave, "Stay here and make sure everyone stays safe."

"What? Why can't I come with you?"

"It's one thing to spar with me, but Scar's on another level. You'll be safer staying here," Edward said, and deciding to leave it there before Amelia could get another word in, he looked up at his younger brother, "Let's go, Al."

"Right," The two brothers started to rush out of the room and out of the building, and Amelia started going after them.

"Hey, wait a minute!" She called out.

"You stay there! We'll come back!" Edward shouted over his shoulder at her, and she watched them hurry off down the stairs to get out of the building. She was tempted to just run after them anyway, but she knew he was probably right in that it was safer for her to stay behind… still, she had hoped she had improved enough in her own sparring that Edward would have trusted her at his side instead of leaving her behind. Then again, she was definitely the weakest fighter out of the three of them…

She let out a frustrated sigh, turning back into the room to see the others all looking at her, "I guess we should probably keep moving. If the military's already on Scar, there will be other squadrons heading this way, so it might be safer for you all if we move you somewhere else to hide for a while." She said, looking over at Marcoh, May, and Yoki.

"But what about Mr. Scar? We can't leave him behind! We need him!" May pleaded.

"Um…" Amelia wasn't exactly sure how the Elric brothers planned to get him to cooperate, especially considering their last meeting together talking about how he killed Winry's parents. She doubted they were on good enough terms to consider negotiating with someone like him…

Her thoughts were interrupted by a hand on her shoulder, looking over at Winry to see a surprisingly determined expression on her usually sweet-looking face. "We can meet them there, that way you can make sure things don't go too far." Amelia looked at her with wide eyes, doubting her ability to do that, "You've been trained by Ed, so I'm sure you can handle yourself, right? After all, you've kept up with them for this long." She gave her a small smile to reassure her, and Amelia smiled a little bit.

"Yeah… yeah!" She agreed, "Okay, we'll just meet them halfway, figure out this stuff with Scar, and we'll work on the details of getting you guys out on the way." She said, turning to the others, "Come on, we should be able to get out of this building pretty easily." She said, starting to make her way out and the others following behind her.

"What, just walk out in broad daylight with the military patrolling the area?" Yoki scoffed, "That's not going to be possible."

"We'll be fine," Amelia said, "With that explosion, I'm sure we're not the only ones who saw it. All eyes will be on that building, and all the military will be rushing towards it." She continued down the stairs with Winry and the others trailing behind her as she headed to the first door she saw, "With their attention focused on that, it should be easy to get around them and get you all somewhere safe." She promised as she opened the door, only to be met with a passing patrol that happened to be led by Major Miles.

There was a moment where her eyes met his with the door wide open, the Major stopping in what he was doing to look at her, and she stared back for a tense minute, mentally berating herself. She had been sure of it, but she hadn't considered that the military might already be closing in around them, she had thought they had more time than that… still, he had seen her, and that wasn't changing as his red eyes focused on her through his dark glasses as she continued to stand there with the remains of her confident smile on her face. However, her usual plan in tense situations where she had been caught doing something she wasn't supposed to was to feign confidence and try to correct it so she could get out with as little against her as possible. So, without saying a word, she began to close the door she had opened.

She stepped back, and the rest of the group was tense in their silence, and they all jumped as the door was calmly opened again by Major Miles, "Did you really think you could just pretend I hadn't seen you?" He almost seemed a little baffled that had been her first response.

"Uh, yeah… I figured it was at least worth a shot." Amelia replied, feeling a little sheepish, but it had been a shot in the dark anyway. Major Miles looked over their group, seeing May, Doctor Marcoh, and Yoki, though if there was any recognition, he didn't say anything.

"Where are the Elric brothers? Aren't they supposed to be supervising you?" Amelia didn't respond at first, knowing it wasn't exactly allowed for her to be alone, but then again, it's not like she could lie her way out of this situation.

"They heard the explosion going off and went to investigate, I was supposed to get Winry somewhere safe… well, safer." She stepped to the side and looked over the rest of her companions, Doctor Marcoh hiding his disfigured face, while Yoki looked pale and stared directly at Major Miles, looking like he was about to soil himself… or burst into tears. One of the two. May seemed to be staying close to Marcoh for the time being, and Amelia stepped back in front of her before Major Miles could get a good look at her and her panda cat.

"We should be able to assist with that." Major Miles said, glancing over the rest of their party, but not saying anything else, "I should have known that once reports got out about Miss Rockbell going missing, you three had something to do with it."

"How do you know she didn't just walk away on her own?" Amelia responded.

Major Miles lifted up a single, questioning brow before looking over at Winry, "Miss Rockbell, did you walk away on your own?"

"Um…" Winry, a little nervous, stepped back and let out a small laugh as she tried to come up with an answer, but apparently, that lack of talking was enough to convince Major Miles that she hadn't and he turned back to Amelia to see her response.

"You have no proof, and we're leaving now." She said, starting to walk around him with purpose, and was very quickly caught by the arm as the Major grabbed her.

"No, you're not." He said in a tone that was firm, but with an undertone of amusement that she had thought this would work. "Why don't we go and find Fullmetal to get you back under the proper supervision, and we'll make sure that Miss Rockbell and everyone else gets to safety?" Amelia's shoulders slumped as she knew there was no getting around this man.

"Okay, fine…" She said, moving her arm out of his grasp and he let go. In the time they had spent going back and forth, a few more rumbles started to come from the building where Scar had been, likely announcing the arrival of Edward and Alphonse on the scene. "We should hurry, that building is where Scar is supposed to be."

At the mention of the infamous murderer, Major Miles and his squad quickly made their way towards the building, making sure Amelia and company were following as they escorted them. As they came closer to the building, the sounds of the fighting inside grew louder, and it quickly was becoming apparent that they weren't just fighting Scar up there. Something else was going on, which only made Amelia all the more uneasy. There were signs of something being shot around, but no audible sounds of guns so it wasn't bullets. As they came closer to the building, Major Miles stopped the group.

"Penns and Heinrich, circle around the west side." He directed them, and Amelia looked up, able to see the light of a transmutation flashing through the small openings up on the third floor, "Samuels and Dickson, come with me around the east." As the men split up, Amelia and Winry began following Major Miles' group up, with Marcoh and the others not far behind. Luckily, no one had asked for their names or really stopped to do anything with their group, so their identities were safe for the time being while all the focus was on Scar. As they got up to the third floor, they could all hear the shouting voices of the Elric brothers and their opponents (two voices that definitely weren't Scar's were talking back to them) and Major Miles paused the group that were heading up to help to better prepare their weaponry.

It was in this moment that Amelia quietly turned to Doctor Marcoh, "They're going to be distracted by this for a while, you should use that to get out of here." She whispered to him, knowing that if he was caught, there was a very real chance he would be brought in to face charges for the fact that he deserted back in Ishval. The doctor didn't respond at first, his gaze focused on the others around them as the soldiers made sure they had enough ammunition as well as organizing with the others on the opposite side of the building to let them know what their plan was. He nodded silently and looked to Yoki, who rather fervently nodded his agreement at the plan of getting out of the military's custody while they could. May was more focused on the soldiers and seemingly hadn't heard what Amelia had said, but something drew Amelia's attention away from them.

She could see Winry, also taking advantage of the slightly distracted guards, and heading closer to the room where Edward and Alphonse were fighting Scar. Amelia hissed through her teeth and quickly made her way over to where she was, putting her hand on Winry's shoulder before she reached the doorway, hearing the sound of shouting inside. The blonde looked back at Amelia, "What the hell are you doing?! You know Scar's in there!" She whispered to her, trying to pull her back, only to be surprised as Winry pushed her hand away from her shoulder.

"Of course I know, that's why I have to see," Winry said, and Amelia frowned.

"Ed said he wanted me to keep you safe, so you're going to back away from that door and leave it alone." She said determinedly.

"I need to see him." Winry shot back, sounding just as determined.

"Ed will be fine, he can handle Scar."

"I'm not talking about Ed."

Amelia was a little confused at first, but then she remembered the last time she saw Winry: The story of how her parents were murdered. Edward had mentioned that she had made her way onto the battlefield last time they fought Scar, back when she had been with Ling and Lan Fan. She had found out the truth about her parents back then, and now she looked at her a little differently knowing that she wanted to see Scar after finding that out. She let her hands fall back to her side, and she was about to gather her thoughts and respond when she noticed something that had changed in the time that they had been talking.

"Wait, why is it so quiet?" The shouting had stopped, and the two girls glanced at the door, and then back to each other before making their way over to the doorway, both of them poking their heads in to see the fighting had started up again just as they had looked in. It was Edward and Alphonse charging Scar, while two other bodies lay unconscious to the side on the floor. Scar was glaring them down, his left arm injured, but he brought up his right.

"You offer your arm to me? Then I'll take it!" Amelia's mind flashed back to when she first encountered Scar, how he had destroyed Edward's arm completely and she almost ran out when she saw Edward's fist meeting his open palm, with no sign of any destructive transmutation.

"I hate to tell you, but my arm isn't steel anymore!" Edward said, sounding so satisfied that he managed to catch Scar off guard with that. He used his grip against him, pulling him forward and using his automail leg to knock him down, which he just barely recovered from, staggering before he managed to stand again. He was tired from the fight, Amelia could easily see it, along with the bright red stain of blood on his other arm made it clear that he wouldn't last much longer with that injury, not against two people. Just as she was realizing that the Elric brothers basically had an assured victory in the fight, so did Scar as the two brothers prepared for the worst, "Don't make this difficult!" As they clapped their hands to prepare a transmutation, Scar prepared his own.

He knelt down to put his hand to the floor, his transmutation breaking it apart under their feet, the shaking floor pushing them onto their backsides as Scar leaped over the gap to get the upper hand.

"Don't hurt them!" Winry's voice shouted out, and Scar's gaze shifted away from the boys to where she and Amelia were standing in the doorway, his eyes growing wide at the sight of her standing there. It was enough of a distraction that Edward and Alphonse could take advantage, coming up and meeting the Ishvalan halfway with a pair of powerful kicks that knocked him against the remains of a wall. Alphonse rushed over to transmute the material around Scar's right arm, knowing it was the more dangerous and preventing him from using it. As soon as it was safe, Amelia let out a small sigh in relief, only to be met with an infuriated Edward that turned around to face her.

"What are you doing here, you idiot?!" He snapped, "I thought I told you to get her somewhere safe!"

"This isn't my fault!" Amelia snapped back, while Winry just had that determined look on her face as she went to approach them, and Amelia reached out to put her hand on her arm, "Winry, wait."

"Yes, that's close enough." Major Miles' voice came up behind them and they looked back to see him and a few other soldiers, armed and ready for the worst, coming into the room.

"You brought them here, Major?" Edward asked.

The Major didn't respond, his eyes scanning around the rest of the room to see their situation. Two of the soldiers made it over to the two other bodies in the room. They weren't quite human, one having gray skin, and a face like a pig. The other one had yellow-green skin, very fat, but a large mouth that reminded one of a frog.

"Ugh, what are these creatures?" One asked, disgusted by them.

"I'd guess they're the result of some ungodly experiment by our superiors." Miles said as he looked around the room, pointing to a support column, "Tie them both to that column."

The two soldiers saluted and went to do just that, dragging the two unconscious bodies of what must have been a pair of human chimeras, given how they still wore the uniform pants of the military. If Amelia had to guess, they were likely two of the men that were under Kimblee's command. Miles turned to where Scar still sat captured, "And as for you, Scar," He pulled out his gun and pointed it at him, "I regret having to treat one of my own people so harshly, but I can't just let you walk away. Not after what you've done."

Scar scowled up at him, glaring down the barrel of his handgun, "Your own people, huh…?" He muttered as he looked up at the man. As they were all talking, Winry started walking towards Scar again, and Amelia walked with her.

"Wait, I don't know that this is the best idea…" She said quietly, trying to understand Winry's state of mind about seeing Scar, but the blonde girl didn't stop walking and didn't respond to Amelia's words at all.

Without looking at the Elric brothers, Miles spoke again, "You two can leave. We've got it from here."

Winry was walking past them, and the two brothers rushed to her, grabbing her shoulders as she got within a yard of Scar.

"Winry!"

"Stop, Winry. Stay back!" Edward held onto her, though neither of them yanked her away.

"Let me go," Winry said in a strangely calm voice, "It's alright."

"It couldn't be any less alright!" Edward snapped.

"Miss, you need to stay back," Miles advised in the strict military tone that made it clear it was more of an order than any kind of advisory.

"Just let me," Winry insisted, her voice still remaining perfectly calm, "Please understand… you have to let me talk to him." She lifted her head and looked right at Scar as she spoke, "I need to, Ed."

At her soft plea, Edward faltered. It was clear he had reservations about letting her anywhere near him, and he was about to protest her doing so again when Amelia spoke up, "Ed, he's not going anywhere. I think she'll be safe." His right arm was the more dangerous one, after all. His other arm was pretty badly injured, he was effectively subdued for the moment. Edward looked back at Amelia, and then at Winry, and sighed reluctantly as he let go of his childhood friend, letting her walk forward until she was standing in front of Scar. The man looked up at her, his scowl having softened a little as their eyes met, while Winry's expression was set in her own determination.

There was a long pause between all of them, the brothers tense as they were ready for a fight, and Miles still had his gun ready on the murderer Scar. Amelia held her breath, wondering what it was that was so important to Winry that she wanted to come all this way to meet her parents' murderer.

"Why?" She asked in a quiet voice, "Why did you kill my mother and father?"

Scar's eyes narrowed at her question, but he still answered her, "There's nothing I can say that won't sound like an excuse. And nothing can change the fact that I am responsible for their deaths… I killed them." Winry stared him down, and he broke their gaze, looking away from her, his brow furrowing and his hand tightening into a fist for a few moments before releasing it and relaxing, looking back up at her, "Young girl, you have every right to pass judgment on me." Winry looked at him for a moment, and then away from him, looking at Edward for a moment, considering what she wanted to say before deciding not to ask him and turning to Amelia.

She walked over to the girl, reaching for her own scarf and taking it off her neck, "Amelia, can you transmute some of this into some gauze?" Amelia's eyes widened in surprise at the request but nodded.

"Uh, yeah, sure." She brought her hands to the fabric, watching as the material changed on half of the scarf, the fabric shifting into something thinner, but still durable, flowing out on top of the rest of the fabric before sitting in a small pile on top of the rest of the scarf. "Is this enough?" She had transmuted six inches of Winry's scarf into nearly a foot of gauze-like material, but there was still enough left over that she could still use the rest of the scarf for the cold weather.

"This is plenty." She said, wrapping the scarf loosely around her neck before going back over to Scar, wrapping up his injured arm in bandages. The act shocked the scarred Ishvalan, his body tensing suddenly as she tended to him, "You'll die if we don't bandage your arm."

Edward's eyes widened at the sight of her helping him, and Amelia was in a similar state. Winry was facing her parents' murderer, and instead of unleashing her rage, or her sorrow at him, she was helping him. It was an act of kindness that Amelia couldn't believe she was seeing, though she couldn't help but question why she thought this was the best way to move forward.

"Winry, are you sure?" Amelia asked. If she was in Winry's place, she wouldn't have been so kind. Even if she hated her parents, she would want their murderer to see justice. If that meant bleeding to death from an injury caused by someone else, so be it.

"I think… I think this is what my parents would have wanted." Winry replied, "Mom and Dad saved his life before, after all… There has to be a reason for that."

Edward was speechless as he watched her work, and Alphonse was the same. Amelia stayed quiet with them, but she was in awe of Winry. To have the strength to look her parents' murderer in the eye and ask him "why" was incredible enough, but to have the stomach to tend to his injuries, too? Just because she thought it would honor her parents' memory? It was a kind of selflessness that Amelia had rarely seen outside of a movie, and it gave her incredible respect for her. I guess… maybe this is why Edward likes her so much. This is something I don't think I could ever do… he must have seen this strength in her a lot…

"Does that mean… you're forgiving me?" Scar asked.

"Oh, don't get me wrong!" Winry quickly snapped her head up to look at him, "I don't forgive your wanton murdering!" Scar's eyes widened again as she told him this was not done out of forgiveness towards him. So, he was silent and said nothing else as she continued to wrap up his arm, the entire room was quiet as they watched her do this for Scar. After making sure the bandages were tight enough to put enough pressure on his injury to stop the bleeding, Winry tied it off and stood back up. Edward took a step towards her, incredibly concerned for her after all of this.

"Winry…" He would have expected her to be bawling after a moment like this. The last time she faced Scar, she had been wailing so loudly that he struggled to keep himself from crying with her. But here she stood, dry-eyed, if very somber.

"It's alright… I won't cry," Winry said, turning to Edward and putting a smile on her face despite the weight of her sadness and grief, "Didn't we promise that the next time I cried, they would be tears of joy?"

Edward's concern faded as he looked at her, seeing that strength she had in doing all of this, smiling for him, talking about the promise he had made to her at the train station. He stepped over, one hand going to her head as he brought himself closer, almost hugging her as his head gently touched hers. Amelia could feel something inside of her stinging at the sight of them together, they fit together so well… they would be so happy in the end. She pushed down her feelings of envy for the time being, knowing now wasn't the time to get upset over an unrequited crush. It was only a crush, and hopefully, it would fade with time. Edward had his perfect person here for him, she was just here until she was able to get home and that was all.

After their short moment, Edward let go of Winry, stepping in front of Scar with his brows furrowed in anger and his fists clenched tightly at his sides, "Listen, Scar," He spat out his name with an intense venom, "No matter what Winry says, I still want to beat you bloody and drag you down to the Rockbell family grave to pay your respects…!" Scar met Edward's eyes, seeing that fury there, and said nothing. He lowered his head, accepting his fate and what was to come from this meeting between him and the Elric brothers.

"Should we contact headquarters, sir?" One soldier asked Major Miles.

"Yes," He replied. As another soldier started preparing what they had to contact their headquarters, Scar spoke for the first time since speaking to Winry.

"Major Miles, wasn't it?" He called out to the man, getting his attention, "Can I ask you something?"

"What?"

"Earlier, you said I was one of 'your people,'"

"That's right, I'm part Ishvalan on my grandfather's side." Miles clarified as he stepped forward, keeping his handgun still trained on Scar. He reached up to remove his sunglasses, revealing his red eyes to him, "I wish we didn't have to meet like this, red-eyed brother of mine."

Scar only scowled, "How can you bring yourself to be part of the Amestrian military?" The soldiers nearby all clammed up with wide eyes. It was clearly a taboo question that no one had asked of him during his time at Briggs.

"My objective is to work from the inside to change how the people of this country view the people of Ishval." It was a simple, concise response, but it was enough to make Scar's eyes grow wide. Amelia could see he was having a kind of epiphany at his words, and she could probably guess why. Scar had become a murderer likely because of what had happened in Ishval, the lives that were lost, and he got revenge in a terrible way because he thought that was the right way to do it. Now he was speaking with someone who had a similar background, that same pride in his ancestry, and how he went about it an entirely different way. Still, it only lasted for a second, and he went back to scowling.

"I don't think that great a task will be easy to accomplish," Scar said.

"Who knows how long it will take?" Miles couldn't help agreeing, "But still, my mixed blood gives me a slight advantage, at least. I'm an Ishvalan pebble tossed into the ocean of the Amestrian military. Maybe in time, the ripples I create will become great waves." As he finished speaking, he put his sunglasses back on, hiding his red eyes once more, "And do you want to know what the most ironic part about it is? It was an Amestrian who set me on this path in the first place."

After hearing all of this, taking in these words and considering his actions versus that of Major Miles, Scar hung his head, "Look at me, I'm a festering wound of hatred born of the great Ishvalan War…" He lifted his head and looked back up at Major Miles, "I am thankful that there is someone like you out there."

Interrupting the moment, a soldier came over with the phone they used for communications, "Major,"

Without waiting for anything else, he reached for it and spoke, "Copy. Major Miles here. We captured Scar, we're holding him in Area D. Inform Kimblee." The person on the other end responded and he hung up, "Whatever the circumstances may be between us, I cannot let you go. You must accept judgment."

"Hold on!" A voice echoed from the end of the room, Amelia looking over to see Doctor Marcoh at the entrance with May just behind him, her eyes wide.

"Who's there?" Miles demanded, ready to shoot.

"Please don't take Scar as your prisoner, we need him!" He pleaded.

"Doctor, what are you doing? You're supposed to be escaping!" Amelia couldn't believe it, they had the perfect opportunity to get out of there, and they didn't take it.

"I know, and I'm sorry, but we couldn't afford to leave without Scar," Marcoh said, stepping forward and May following behind. Yoki stayed close to the entrance, clearly not wanting to get too close to anyone, but too cowardly to be left alone in an abandoned building without the guarantee that everyone would be coming back with him.

"Ah, the other members of your party," Miles recognized them, glancing at Amelia before looking back to Doctor Marcoh, "I don't believe we've been properly introduced."

"I'm Doctor Marcoh," He introduced himself and Amelia's expression tightened into a grimace, "And this is May Chang, please don't take Scar as your prisoner, he's vital to our research."

"What research?" Miles asked.

Marcoh reached into his coat, pulling out the hand-bound book of notes that he had shown to Edward and Alphonse earlier, "These are the notes of a talented alchemist, and we need Scar's assistance in deciphering the encoded information."

"Deciphering notes, huh?" Miles asked.

"Yes, it's ground-breaking research that tries to fuse Amestrian alchemy and Xingese alkahestry!" May said.

"But all of the important parts are unreadable, written in Ancient Ishvalan. Scar's the only one who can make sense of it. Don't you see?" Doctor Marcoh pleaded.

"Hmm…" Major Miles looked back at the still-imprisoned Scar, thinking over everything, and then glancing back over at May, seeing the little Xiao Mei on her shoulder and recognizing it, "So you're the alkahestry girl," As he mentioned her, May's eyes went wide, "I have orders to bring you back to the fort."

"Me? But what do they want with me?!" May asked, hiding behind Marcoh and glaring up at the Major suspiciously.

"Don't worry, you'll receive a warm welcome, I'm sure." Miles assured her, but then he went back to his thoughts on this situation, putting one hand up to his chin, "Well, let me think here… Scar needs to be kept free, and it would be just as bad if they found out Doctor Marcoh was here as well… Alright, I think it might be best if we took you back to Fort Briggs to hide you from senior military staff."

Edward quickly went over to the Major, "Hold on, what are you saying?!" He demanded, glancing back at Scar with a glare before looking back at the Major, "You mean we're bringing that monster with us?"

"We need to decipher those notes, right Elric?" Miles asked.

"There's not a damn thing I want that guy's help with!" Edward growled out, "Just hand him over to Kimblee—!"

"The transmutation circle," Edward was cut off by Major Miles, "The one this country was formed to make." Edward's eyes went wide as he looked up at the Major, surprised that he knew anything about it, "I heard all about it from General Armstrong. We know something's about to happen that will affect all of Amestris and its people. We need to know what the notes say. That's more important than anything else." Edward grit his teeth, clearly unhappy that he was making a good point, glancing over at the others, and Miles continued, "I heard they're using the Rockbell girl as a hostage against you, if we act now we can disgrace Kimblee and find some place to hide her where they can't touch her."

Edward's scowl only deepened as he heard Miles' words, clearly hating the idea that Scar would do anything to help them at all. Amelia glanced over at the Ishvalan man, who looked back at her. She remembered when they first met, their real first encounter in an alleyway where she denounced alchemy in front of him, it was by sheer coincidence that she had managed to put herself in a good light with him for that brief moment, though now things were very different. She looked back over at Edward, "Ed, we need to prioritize things right now. I know how you feel, but Major Miles is right. Acting now is the best chance we have." Edward's hands clenched into tight fists, but he listened to her, stepping away from Scar and Miles pointed his gun at the man again.

"Listen up, Scar. If you're willing to work with us, I'll postpone your judgement day." He offered, and Scar looked back up at him, glancing over at Amelia again before looking back at the man. "Well?"

"It doesn't look like you're going to give me any other choice." He said in a brief resignation, "Yes, I'll help you decode the notes."

"I have your word on that?" Miles asked.

"You do. I swear on my Ishvalan blood. You can trust me, my red-eyed brother." Scar assured him, and that was enough for Miles as he withdrew his weapon.

"We have a deal, then." As he held his gun at his side, he turned to Winry, "My apologies, Miss Rockbell. You'll have to wait a while before we can punish your parents' killer."

"Fine," Winry replied.

"Young lady," Scar's voice came up again, looking over at Amelia, "I remember you." Her eyes widened a little bit as he chose to address her, "It seems many things have changed from our first meeting."

"Yeah… they have." She said softly, not really sure how else to answer him. It wasn't like she could tell him her entire story.

"Your courage has grown since I last saw you," He said, "But you're not Amestrian. I can see that much from looking at you." She was a little surprised he was able to tell, most people had assumed she was Amestrian of some kind, or if they thought otherwise, they never said anything to her. "With that in mind, why are you fighting for these people? Do you also seek change?"

"Um… not exactly," She said, "The answer to that question is a little long… but the short version is I just want to go back home." Edward glanced over at her as she said this, "And that's going to take a while, but all of this might be able to help me in that goal… even if it is kind of crazy." Edward's expression shifted a little bit, the intense scowl he had for Scar softening as she said that she wanted to stay and help in the hopes of finding a way to go back home. Was that really all she wanted? He would have thought that, after all, she had told him about her parents, the last thing she wanted was to return home.

Before he could continue those thoughts, he was distracted by the sound of moaning coming from the two tied-up chimeras he and Alphonse had fought. Major Miles glanced over at them, "Right, I almost forgot about these two freaks of nature." He turned to his men, "Dispose of them."

"Yes, sir," One of his soldiers said, readying his weapon.

"Hold on a second!" Edward exclaimed.

"Wait! You don't have to kill them!" Alphonse said, stepping out into the line of fire.

"I see no reason to let them live." Major Miles said coldly, turning to his officer, "Kill them."

"No!" Alphonse insistently stepped forward again, "A life is a life. What better reason do you need than that?!"

"Hmph. Showing us mercy, how adorable." Said the fat chimera, getting Alphonse's attention.

"You're just a sentimental fool," Said the hog-like chimera, "We didn't ask for your help, did we?" Alphonse turned to the two of them, surprised at their dismissal of his attempt to save their lives.

"Look at these bodies, what kind of future can we have?" The fat one lifted up his head, "If you're gonna kill us, do it!"

Alphonse stepped over to them, "I don't understand. Don't you have families? Loved ones?"

"Sure, we do." The fat one said, "But as soon as we got these bodies, they were all told that we were dead."

"And to them, we are." The hog one added.

"Don't you want to see them again?" Alphonse asked.

"Even if we did, how could we go back to them like this?"

Alphonse scoffed, "So you don't want to get your original bodies back, then. You're content the way you are now, is that it?"

"No! How could we be?!" The hog one snapped.

"Of course we want our true bodies back!" The fat one barked.

Alphonse pointed to the fat one, looking him directly in the face with his metal helmet as he spoke to them, "There's your answer. I don't want to hear a bunch of fatalistic nonsense! Why not live and learn whether there's a chance of getting your bodies back?"

The fat one had been stunned by him, but looked away, scoffing, "Hmph. How could you possibly know what we're going through?"

"And what chance do we have of going back?" The hog one asked.

Without saying a word, Alphonse reached up to take off his helmet, showing them the empty body of armor that his soul resided in, both of them letting out shocked gasps as they realized why he was speaking to them the way that he was, "Well, I'm going back. No matter how long it takes, I'm not giving up!"

A soldier who had gone to the nearest window looked out over the terrain and the weather, seeing something that changed everything they were planning. "Major!" The Major looked over at him, coming over to where he stood.

"What is it?"

"It's not good, it's a snowstorm." He said, looking at the clouds as they rapidly flew by overhead, signaling the coming change in weather.

"We can't complete a snowbound march with this equipment," Miles said, turning back to the others, "We have no chance of reaching the fort." All of their plans were suddenly dashed, what were they supposed to do now? It would be impossible for Scar to get out with Doctor Marcoh and the others, and they certainly couldn't do it in the middle of a snowstorm, not when they were as ill-prepared as they were.

"What do we do now?" Winry asked, turning to Edward in her worry.

"This is a mining town, isn't it? Why don't we just go into the underground tunnels?" A voice that had been silent since all of this had begun suddenly spoke, and everyone looked over at Yoki as he made his suggestion that they escape through the underground tunnels of the ghost town's dried-up mine. He jumped as he saw everyone staring at him, "W-What's wrong? I mean… this is a pretty large mine, right? So surely there's a tunnel that can take us beyond the mountains, uh… I think?"

"That's it!" Edward and Alphonse shouted at the same time.

"Mr. Yoki!" May happily exclaimed, looking up at the man.

The formerly flustered man suddenly grinned, striking a pose with his hand on his chin and another on his hip, "Hey, give me some credit, this is what I did for a living!"

"Is he right?" Amelia asked, looking over at Major Miles, who looked over to his subordinate and saw him wordlessly pulling out a map of the town, unfolding it and looking over the area, his fingers following a certain point until he got to one corner of the map.

"He's right, the tunnels come out past the mountains." He confirmed, he came over to Yoki to show him the map so he would know the way out through the tunnels and lead everyone to safety.

"Right," Major Miles reached into his pocket, pulling out a small notebook and quickly writing something down on the first page of it, "When you run into Briggs Soldiers, just hand them this," he handed the notebook to Doctor Marcoh, "I've explained our arrangement so you shouldn't have any trouble with them."

"Thank you," Doctor Marcoh smiled as he took the notebook, making sure to tuck it away in a safe spot. He turned over to Winry, "But there's still the matter of the young Miss Rockbell. She can accompany us to the fort, of course, but when word gets out that she's missing, won't the Elric brothers be the first people they suspect?"

"We can handle ourselves," Alphonse said confidently.

"Yeah, I hate to brag, but I've got a pretty smooth tongue, you know?" Edward said with a grin.

"No, you don't." Amelia immediately replied, "You can't talk your way out of this one, this is Kimblee we're dealing with. In a matter of minutes, this man read me like a book and figured out everything about me. He's going to be suspicious of anything you say to him, especially about Winry." Edward's grin deflated as Amelia pointed out the holes in their lying.

The four of them all took a moment to think about their potential options. Winry needed to be able to get out with Scar and Doctor Marcoh, it would be easy enough to say Scar managed to slip away somehow, he had done it before, and it wouldn't be hard to believe. However, as soon as he learned that Winry had managed to disappear along with Scar… there was a very real chance he would figure out their plan, and maybe even organize a group to cut off the group at the mountain's exit.

"Um…" Winry's voice caught their attention, "I hate to be the one to suggest this, but… uh… what do you think Kimblee would do if I was suddenly taken hostage by Scar?"

There was a pause following her suggestion, and Amelia thought it over while the two boys gaped at Winry.

"You want him to kidnap you?" Alphonse asked.

"Hold on, Winry… You're saying you want us to let him go?" Edward asked, pointing to Scar.

"That… could work," Amelia said, getting their attention and making them gape at her as well, "No, no, think about it! We make a huge show out of it, it would be impossible for Kimblee to deny that incident, she'd be in the clear!"

"Right," Winry agreed, "Scar runs away carrying me, then Ed, you and the others try desperately to stop him, or at least that's what you pretend to do… You understand?"

"You can't do that! You're crazy!" Edward snapped.

"Well I don't have a choice, do I?!" Winry snapped back, "I'm a hostage either way, so I might as well get to choose my captor!"

"But he's a mass murderer!" Alphonse exclaimed.

"Like the Amestrian military isn't?!" Amelia replied.

"You stay out of this, Amelia!" Edward barked at her.

"It's a good idea, Ed!"

"Shut up! There's no reason for Winry to be risking her life!"

"Don't you get it?! It's time for you two to learn you don't have to do everything alone!" Winry's voice rose above the three of them and the two boys looked over at her, surprised at her statement. They had been so independent for so long, relying on each other, and her relying on them, the idea that she was able to do something without depending on them was… new, to say the least.

"Make up your minds," Major Miles said into the quiet following their arguing, "The storm is coming in. If we don't hurry, we won't be able to get out of here."

Edward's hands clenched into fists again, conflicted and unsure of what to do with any of this, and the time crunch wasn't helping things. Winry glared back at him, standing her ground knowing she was making the right move for herself, even if it put her at risk.

"I can see Kimblee's forces now!" One officer reported, shortening their time even more. Edward grit his teeth as he knew they didn't really have many options other than Winry's suggestion.

"DAMN IT!" He shouted out in frustration before turning to Scar with a fierce glare, "Scar, if you do anything to hurt her, I'll—!"

"—I won't harm the girl," Scar assured him, "I keep my promises."

Edward went over to the wall that was holding him, undoing the transmutation and letting Scar go free. The man stood on his feet, if staggering a little, one hand over his injury as he straightened up. Edward still glared at him, ready to punch him into the ground if he made any kind of move against Winry.

"Us, too." Said one of the chimeras, "Please, you have to take us with you too…!" His plea was met with a doubtful silence, "I know you don't trust us, so I understand if you want to keep us tied up."

"Kimblee shows no mercy to troops who fail to accomplish their missions. One way or the other, we're dead." The hog chimera said, and then looked over at Alphonse, "Besides, we don't want to give up either."

Alphonse shifted, a happy gasp moving through his armor at the sound that the chimera had taken his words to heart and wanted to work to get their bodies back, so glad he was able to get through to them.

Doctor Marcoh looked over at them, "How do we know you mean that?" He asked, "You realize if you do anything to obstruct us, the whole country could be destroyed, including your families and everyone you care about."

"Wait, hold on! Just what are you saying?!" The larger one demanded, shocked at this news. "I don't understand, the Central forces weren't told about any of this!"

"Please! We need to know more! What's going on?!" The hog one asked.

Doctor Marcoh looked at them, and then nodded, "We can tell you about it on the way, I doubt there's much time for it now." He said, and then stepped back, "Is it possible for you to return to your human forms?"

"Yes, just give us a second," The larger one said, and the two of them focused, their bodies beginning to shift and change. Amelia began to recognize them as they shifted back into their human forms. Once they were back to normal, a soldier came over to undo the ropes that kept them to the column, and they got dressed again in their uniform coats to keep warm before they held out their wrists to the officer. "Here, just tie them in the front good and tight." The officer didn't hesitate to do so, the other chimera coming over to have the same done to him by the Major.

"You're sure about this?" Major Miles asked as he looked over their bonds.

"Yeah, I'm sure everyone will feel a whole lot better if we're tied up." The larger man, his uniform identifying him as Jerso, replied.

Major Miles nodded, and then turned to Scar, "Alright, Scar. Give us a good performance."

"I know what I'm doing." The Ishvalan replied.

"And you will keep your oath, your solemn word as a true Ishvalan?" Major Miles asked and was met with an affirmative nod from Scar. It was enough for him, "Alright, let's move out. You may have the best vantage point for the hostage situation from the roof." He said, and began to direct the other soldiers, "Samuels, make sure they get up safely. The rest of you, come down to the ground floor with me. We'll meet Kimblee's forces and start the show." And that was that. Their plan was in motion and they all left the room. Marcoh, Yoki, and May started to make their way out to head to the mineshaft that would take them directly into the tunnels under the mountain, which was quite a few buildings over, but they should be able to quickly head down once everyone was distracted by Scar and Winry before the storm got too bad. Amelia walked with Edward and Alphonse, heading down to the ground floor to make sure they were there to help give a convincing performance.

As they separated at the stairs, Winry and Scar going up while everyone else went down, Samuels noticed something very quickly, "Excuse me, Miss? Your ears!" Winry looked back at him in confusion, and Edward stopped to see what the problem was, and Amelia stopped when she noticed Ed wasn't following with them, "Your earrings are made of metal, if you don't take them out, you'll get frostbite."

"Oh," Winry quickly went to take off her earrings, gathering them all in her palm. Seeing that everything was fine, Edward started to make his way back down. Winry looked over them for a moment before she started making her way back down the stairs, "Ed!" He looked up at the sound of his name, and so did Amelia, watching as Winry came over to him and dropped her earrings into his hand, "You hang onto these for me," She said, and then she started to make her way back up the stairs, looking back over her shoulder, "I'll see you back at the fort." She promised, and Edward wrapped his fingers around her earrings, nodding as he pocketed them and started to make his way down the stairs, Amelia joining him, still feeling that stinging sensation in her chest. She gave him a promise to see each other again, like when you leave a sweater at your crush's house. She pushed her feelings down again to focus, there was no reason she needed to start feeling like this now, they had to prioritize what they had to do, and she could allow herself to feel jealous over all of this when she was alone.

They rushed out down to the bottom floor, and it wasn't long before they heard the first explosion to signal something going wrong to the incoming forces. The explosion shook the building and Amelia couldn't help panicking a little bit, starting to pick up the pace as she could see rubble falling from the destroyed remains of what must have been part of the top floor. "He can't wait a minute?!" She said as she rushed down the stairs behind the other soldiers. They were still on the second floor, they weren't out yet! The building rumbled around them and she couldn't help crying out as part of the wall fell off and smashed onto the floor. It wasn't close to them, but if they hadn't been moving, they likely would have been hit.

Edward grabbed onto her arm, yanking her down the stairs and making her run faster as they rushed out of the building. Ed led the way as he dashed down as Scar put in a second attack to make it look like things were getting worse, the building near the exit crumbling as they stepped out, and Amelia could hear the sounds of the floors just a few feet away from them crumbling into rubble, undone. Scar had reached the roof and taken out an entire floor that also happened to have the outer staircase, sealing off any attempts to find them from outside of the building. The doorway out was shrouded in the dust of the rubble and Edward rushed out, coughing out the remains that had managed to find its way into his throat, Amelia was in a similar predicament as he pulled her out of the dust cloud.

As they came out into the snow, they could see a few of the Briggs soldiers around them, armed and ready for a fight, looking over them confused as others started to rush out of the building.

"Damn it!" Edward cursed as he looked up at the roof, looking for Scar so he could hopefully yell at him for cutting it so close.

"What's going on in there, Fullmetal?" Kimblee's voice came over, getting Edward's attention.

The blonde looked over at the man, infuriated as he looked him over, "You bastard!" He started to march over to him, "This is all your fault, Kimblee! You were supposed to be watching Winry!"

Kimblee's eyes widened at his words, another soldier gasped as he noticed movement, "Mr. Kimblee! Look! Up there, on the roof!" As everyone's attention was drawn, they looked up to see Scar holding a limp Winry under his arm, glaring down at them from the top of the building. The sight only seemed to shock Kimblee more, though it wasn't a very large shock as he looked up at the man.

"Tell me something, Kimblee," Scar's voice carried down easily from his high vantage point, "Do you remember when we first met? It seems we've changed places."

Kimblee growled out, "You shouldn't be so confident!"

Edward rushed over to Kimblee, grabbing him tightly by his collar, "Ed!" Amelia could hardly believe what he was doing. He knew this was all a show, but she wasn't expecting him to go at it so hard! Especially considering what Kimblee was capable of!

"Kimblee, damn you!" He grabbed the man so hard his hat went flying off, "Tell me why! Why is Winry here?! We finally got Scar cornered, and now he's taken her hostage because of you!" Kimblee's gaze was entirely focused on Scar as Edward demanded answers from him, his expression steeled as he fixated on his enemy standing on the roof.

"Stand aside," He ordered, pulling off his gloves and revealing a pair of alchemical circles tattooed on each of his palms. Amelia's eyes widened as she realized he planned to attack that building and blow it up in the hopes of getting Scar, regardless of the hostage he had.

"What are you doing?!" Edward realized it too, and as Kimblee raised his hands, he reached up and pushed his arms apart, keeping his palms from meeting. Kimblee didn't seem to care, still trying to push them together, but Edward kept fighting back, "Stop! Stop this now, Crimson Alchemist! Can't you see Winry's up there with him?! I won't let you attack!"

Kimblee glared down at Edward, his gaze going back up to Scar, looking irritated at being held back from doing what he wanted, "Why can't you just stay out of the way?" He growled out, still looking at Scar. Deciding this was enough, Scar transmuted the remains of the building underneath his feet, layers of concrete and steel falling to the earth and forcing everyone back. As the dust slowly faded away in the wind, Scar turned around and left with Winry's limp body. "Not so fast, Ishvalan!" Kimblee shouted, about to dash after him when another soldier grabbed him by his shoulder.

"No, wait! It's much too dangerous to get close to the building!" He warned him, and he was right. The rubble around the entrances made it difficult to get in, and certainly not safe, not if you wanted to keep your skin uncut and your clothes intact. All around them, the wind began to pick up, a billowing gust rushed around all of them. "Fall back!"

"It's a snowstorm!" Another soldier shouted, "Hurry! We have to find shelter!"

Kimblee stayed put as others around him started to run out of the building to find a good place to stay and wait out the storm for now. He stared up at the spot where Scar had stood a while longer before going with his forces and leaving with them as everyone started to make their way out. There was a building a few blocks away that still had windows and doors that should work as a shelter for them to wait out the storm until it was safer for all of them to continue their search. Major Miles walked with Edward, Alphonse, and Amelia as the storm began to pick up, snowflakes rapidly falling from the dark clouds above them and adding to the snow around them as they made their way to the shelter.

"That was a convincing performance," Major Miles said to Edward.

"It wasn't a performance," Edward replied, "I'm every bit as angry as I sounded back there. I feel so worthless having to put on this stupid charade…"

"It's the best option we have for now, Brother," Alphonse said, trying to comfort him, even though he wasn't exactly thrilled about it, either. Edward remained silent and they all made their way into the small house that would shelter their group and Kimblee's for a while until the storm let up.

They all filed into the building and found a few spots. There was still some furniture left standing that didn't look like it would topple over at a moment's notice, so they took seats where they could. One room was made up to be the room for communications so they could report everything to Fort Briggs and get a status update on what was happening there. In the time they had been gone, a search party had been sent down into the tunnel to search for the missing people who had first gone in, and hopefully by now, they would come back with survivors, if there were any.

Edward, Amelia, and Alphonse found a group of old crates to take a seat on for a while, and Kimblee and his men moved into the next room where the remains of a dining table and chairs sat to use as their meeting headquarters as they worked on a plan as the storm began to rage outside.

Amelia could just barely hear their voices through the closed door, men giving encouragement to each other to come up with a plan to hunt down Scar since he would still be in town… or at least, that's what they would think. They didn't know about the mining tunnels or that they were using them to escape with the perfect person to lead them through to the other side of the mountain. They would be able to get in a lot of travel time safely underground while the storm kept going and forced them into one place.

"I guess luck really is a factor with you guys," Amelia said as she heard the wind whistling outside, rattling the icy windows of their shelter. The two Elric brothers looked over at her, "This storm came at the best possible time, the others will make really good ground while everyone here is stuck in one place." She looked over at Edward, "Plus, all the new snow should cover their tracks."

"Yeah, that's true," Alphonse agreed, ever the optimist, "The storm shouldn't come anywhere near them underground." Amelia smiled and nodded, allowing herself to relax for a little bit as she thought it over. Doctor Marcoh and Winry and the others will be able to safely make it out, they'll be able to decipher the notes and come back with a solid tactic to stop the nationwide transmutation circle. Things were starting to fall into place the way they wanted it to, and she allowed herself to feel a little optimistic about it.

"Yeah, it'll be fine. Right, Ed?" She looked over at Edward, who only let out a small hum in agreement as he looked down at something. She curiously looked over to see that he was holding Winry's earrings in his hand, and she sat back, choosing not to bother him further. Of course, he was more worried about Winry than anything else, so naturally he would be thinking of her now… She couldn't help but feel a little disappointed that he was so focused on it, but who was she to say anything? "Right…"

Alphonse noticed the shift in her behavior pretty quickly, glancing over at his brother, and then back to her, "Are you alright, Amelia?" He asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Why?" She looked up at the armored boy.

"Well, it just seems like you've been acting a little different since we left the fort," Alphonse said.

"Well, to be fair Al, this is the first time you're seeing my face since we got out of those prison cells," She replied with an amused laugh, "We've been talking all this time, but we haven't been seeing each other at all. You might have just forgotten how I act sometimes."

"I guess so," Alphonse said, "It's nice to see your face again." He laughed a little to himself, and she laughed with him.

"Yeah, it's good to see your face, too." She said, reaching up and tapping the side of his shoulder in a friendly way, hearing the sound of her small taps echoing through his body. She let out a small hum as she looked over at his armor, and then back up at him, "Al?"

"Yes?"

"You know, I've only ever seen you like this… I have no idea what your actual body looks like." She said, "I'm pretty sure you look a good deal like Ed, since you're brothers and all, but what about you looks different from him?"

"What would look different?" Alphonse repeated the question, trying to think, "Well… when we were younger, I had shorter hair than he did. And I guess… my face might have looked a little rounder than his? I'm not sure how it would look now."

"Well, how would you want to look?"

Alphonse crossed his arms, trying to think, "Hmm… I guess I'd like to be kind of tall, and lean. I always liked being lean instead of having big muscles."

"Yeah? I think I can see that, I'd prefer that too. I mean, let's be honest, after seeing someone like Major Armstrong, would anyone want to have those big muscles?"

"Right?" Alphonse laughed, "The Major's great and all, but…"

"Oh, no, totally! He's awesome! But with all those muscles and that attitude…"

"Yeah, definitely." Alphonse agreed, and the pair laughed again. Amelia let out a small sigh as she glanced out the window once more.

"How long do you think this storm will last?" She wanted it to be long enough to give Winry and the others a head start, but she also didn't want to have to stay in here overnight.

"It won't be long," Major Miles's voice piped up, "It's only a snowstorm, not a blizzard. They can leave as quickly as they come, but judging from the clouds I saw earlier, we might be in here for an hour, maybe two."

"Oh, okay." She leaned back on the crates she sat on, her arms keeping her up as she looked around the mostly empty room. She was definitely bored, it hadn't helped that her phone was still somewhere with the rest of her belongings back at Fort Briggs. She wished she had thought to ask for it now that there was so much downtime. All they could do was wait.

"Excuse me, Major," A soldier popped his head in from the other room, "Briggs is on the line for you." The Major made his way into the other room to take the message, leaving Edward, Amelia, and Alphonse all alone together in the quiet of their room, with the sound of rattling windows and moaning gusts of wind to fill the silence.

Amelia wasn't really sure what to say, or what they could do for the time being, but it wasn't as if the silence was uncomfortable. She was mostly just antsy, unsure of how to kill time without her most convenient electronic means of doing so. She got up from the crates she sat on, starting to move around the room, looking at the little remains of junk and trash left behind by the previous owners. She crouched down in one spot, carefully moving around a few old boards of wood to see if anything was behind them.

"What are you doing?" Alphonse asked.

"I don't know, I'm bored," Amelia replied as she let the wood fall over and then stand back up.

"If you're bored, maybe we should play our story game," Alphonse suggested as Amelia began to walk around them.

"Oh, yeah, that sounds good," She smiled in agreement, "I think it was Ed's turn, right?" She walked over to him, giving his automail shoulder a gentle nudge with her hand, "How about you come up with something for us to listen to?" Edward didn't respond at first, his automail hand tightening around Winry's earrings and pocketing them again. He just sat still, his elbows resting on his knees as he looked down at the floor. Amelia frowned at his continued silence and nudged him again, "Ed, come on. You know it's your turn. If it's any consolation, they never last long so Al can go after you."

"Why didn't you tell me Kimblee had a Philosopher's Stone?" Edward's question stunned her, and even more surprising was the low tone in his voice. He hadn't even looked at her when he asked, his gaze staying towards the floor. She took all of it as just him still being upset about everything that happened, but she hadn't been expecting that question.

"...I didn't think it was important," She answered.

"Bullshit, you had to know that it was important." Edward glared up at her, and she stepped back.

"I really didn't. You guys said you didn't want to use it, so I didn't think it had any relevance." She defended.

"We won't use it, but Kimblee definitely would." Edward said, "Why didn't you think to mention that from your last meeting? He said he offered it to you first before he offered it to me, is that right?" Alphonse looked up at Amelia, his own curiosity showing as Edward kept questioning her.

"Well… yeah, but like I said, you guys—"

"—You don't think Kimblee might have used that stone earlier? When he was about to attack Scar and Winry?"

Amelia wasn't sure how to respond to this. Edward had been angry plenty of times, but this wasn't like before. His usual rage was loud and explosive, out of control and usually detained by Alphonse. It wasn't so quiet like this, it wasn't so directed like this, it was a significant difference from what she had seen from him. "I… I mean… I wasn't really thinking about that, no. He offered it to you, so I figured—"

"You figured what?" Edward stood up and Amelia took another step back from him, "You figured that he would just keep it in his pocket and never touch it until I had done what he said? That I would go through with all of his orders? That I would capture Scar for him and help him kill all those people at Briggs?"

"Jesus, no!"

"Then what exactly were you thinking he would do with that Philosopher's Stone?" Edward took another step forward towards her, and she continued to back up.

"What's with you? Why are you so focused on this anyway?" Amelia's nervousness could be heard in her voice as she took another step back, and Edward took another step forward.

"Because you didn't think to mention that the Crimson Alchemist, one of the most dangerous alchemists we know of, has an alchemical amplifier as powerful as the Philosopher's Stone with him. And now here we are, trapped in a building in a storm with him, waiting on his next command!"

"I didn't think it was a big deal! I'm sorry, okay?" She took another step back and stumbled as her heel hit the wall, and she fell back against it, though she managed to still stand up, Edward was still right in front of her, and she held out her hands defensively. "Why are you getting so worked up about this?"

"Because you didn't tell us anything about that meeting with Kimblee, especially not something like that! You don't think he'll make use of it on his own time somehow?"

"Ed, just calm down. I'm sorry, alright? I made a mistake."

"Yeah, you made a really big one!" Edward turned around with a huff, leaving Amelia where she was, still backed up against the wall as he walked away from her, his arms crossed angrily as he moved a few feet away. She felt her heart pounding in her chest as she looked at his back, and she took a slow breath to try and calm herself down. She hadn't really been that scared of Edward before, she wasn't used to seeing him angry like that. She heard the sound of clanking metal and looked up to see Alphonse had come over to her.

"Are you okay?" he asked in a quiet voice, obviously concerned for her.

"Yeah, I'm fine," She said, stepping away from the wall and looking back over at Edward. She frowned at him, "You know, just because you're mad that you couldn't think of a plan, you don't have to take it out on me just because I forgot to mention that." She said as she reached over to her shoulders to dust off whatever might have gotten left on her clothes from the wall.

"What?" Edward looked over his shoulder at her, and she quickly closed her mouth, regretting that she had spoken at all.

"Uh, never mind. Forget it." She didn't want to get into that kind of argument with him again.

"That's not why I'm mad!"

"Okay! I'm sorry I said anything!" Amelia said, starting to step away from him.

"You want to know why I'm mad?" As Edward started to march over to her, she started to hide behind Alphonse, "I'm mad because someone I thought I could trust decided to—"

"Brother, that's enough! Can't you see you're scaring her?" Alphonse cut him off by holding out his arm and preventing him from going forward and Edward stopped, he looked over at Amelia, seeing how she was partially hiding behind Alphonse, her brow creased in worry over whatever was about to come out of his mouth next. His expression softened a little, and his shoulders dropped slightly as he realized what had happened. "It was an honest mistake, she already apologized."

"Ah…" Edward looked up at Alphonse, and then at Amelia, taking a step back, "Sorry, Amelia."

"I'm sorry, too. I didn't think that it would be that important for you to know." Amelia apologized again.

"No, no, you— It's—" Edward sighed, frustrated, "Never mind, don't apologize."

Amelia relaxed a little and stepped out from behind Alphonse, looking over Edward in concern, "Why are you so worked up? I mean, you get mad sometimes, but not like this…"

Edward glanced over at her, turning around so she could only see his back as he moved one gloved hand through his bangs, trying to figure out how to put everything into words. "I… I, uh…" He stopped when the door opened and Major Miles came in, followed by another soldier, both of them with grim expressions on their faces.

"We have a problem," He announced to them, "Fort Briggs is no longer safe."

Edward's eyes widened, "What do you mean the fort's no longer safe?!" He snapped, and Miles put up his hand to remind him to be quiet, glancing at the door where Kimblee was planning his search in the next room, and the others all came closer to Major Miles speak to him without alerting Kimblee to what was happening.

"I mean that General Armstrong has been summoned back to the Central Command Center," Miles explained, "Troops sent from Central have begun invading Briggs in large numbers. There's no doubt they're acting on the Crimson Alchemist's orders. When we were back at the fort, I noticed him making rather frequent phone calls."

"But if General Armstrong isn't there, then who will command the fort?" Amelia asked, hoping it would be a situation like a second-in-command being picked.

"A commander hand-picked by Bradley will be posted in her place," Miles answered gravely.

"What do we do about Winry?!" Edward urgently asked.

"Hiding her and the others will be difficult," Miles admitted, "If they're not careful, they're bound to fall into the enemy's clutches." This news didn't sit well with Edward, his fists clenching as he started to pace, trying to think.

"We have to find some way to warn them…!" He said as he walked around their small room.

"Is it possible to reach them by radio somehow?" Amelia asked, looking for solutions.

"We didn't give them any, and I doubt any signals would reach underground." Major Miles said, "And there's no way we can catch up to them in a storm this bad." Outside the wind still rattled the glass of the window, snow falling so hard and fast it was difficult to see more than 10 feet beyond the glass.

"So we just sit here and do nothing?!" Edward turned to the frosted window, glaring out at the raging snowstorm. "I'll go tell them."

"Don't go underestimating the storm out there, kid," The other soldier said, "You'll freeze to death before you come anywhere close to reaching them."

"Even with your automail, I don't know that it'll help in this weather." Amelia agreed, "I just… I don't see any way we can get to them in time, maybe if we gun it by car, but even then…"

"There is a way," Alphonse spoke up, getting everyone's attention, "Listen: Send someone who doesn't have a body. That storm won't freeze me to death."

"Are you sure?" Ed asked. "Even if you won't freeze, it's not like you know the way back on foot."

"We can get you a map to help you in that," Major Miles said, nodding to his soldier who went to go and do just that, "The mountain is directly north of this town, and the path there is pretty clear, even in this snowfall. You'll just need directions out of the town."

"This is a good idea, but what are we going to do when Kimblee asks where Al is?" Amelia asked, "He'll notice right away that he's gone missing."

Alphonse and Edward looked around the room, "Well, there's plenty of cement in these walls, and I'm sure there's more we can use in this old junk. We can easily make a fake armor to look like Al, we'd just need someone to fill it out to play the role until Al could come back."

Amelia wasn't sure this was their best option, but it was their only one for the time. "Yeah, alright, I'll help you out." She said, and the two of them got to work while Major Miles worked with one of his soldiers creating an easy map for Alphonse to use while he walked out in the snow, "So, would we just meet up with you back at the fort when it's done?" She asked Alphonse, looking over at him as she and Edward gathered up materials that they could transmute into a look-a-like armor.

"I guess so, I can meet you guys when you're leaving the fort," Alphonse suggested.

"Yeah, we won't be sticking around long now that the General's not there." Edward said, "We'll tell them that we're expanding our search for May or something if they ask." It seemed well enough for the time-being, but she couldn't help this feeling of dread in her stomach. They were coming up with a lot of plans on the fly, and it just didn't sit well with her, but she couldn't really think of any other option for now, so she went along with it.

---

The lookalike armor really did look exactly like Alphonse when they finished, and they set it up so it looked like Alphonse was in deep thought so hopefully no one would think to look at the empty armor and ask it a question. Major Miles got one of his men, Sergeant Penns, to volunteer to play the part of Alphonse once the storm passed. Major Miles was right, it was only about an hour and a half before it dissipated, and the sun came shining through again. Major Miles got two of his men, Penns and Samuels, into the room with Edward and Amelia to discuss what plans they had while the rest of his men were busy with Kimblee and preparing to search for Scar in town.

"The storm has finally passed. Start preparing." Major Miles ordered.

"Yes, sir!" The two soldiers replied.

"We can't take any risks with Kimblee and his men so first chance you get, take out all three of them," Miles ordered.

"Understood, sir." Said Samuels.

"Yes, sir." Said Penns.

Edward had an uneasy look on his face as he realized this was their plan. Amelia looked over at him, seeing his furrowed brow and his pressed lips. He clearly wanted to say something, but he had been very quiet since Alphonse had left them to go warn Winry and the others. She had to admit she wasn't expecting them to be so serious about it, she would have thought they would have taken Kimblee prisoner to get some information for their side first before they killed him…

"You're the only ones to know of this mission," Miles continued, "Don't mention it outside of this room."

"Hey, hold on a minute," Edward spoke up, "You're not planning on killing them, are you, Major?"

"Of course we are," He answered in a chilling tone of voice.

"No, I'm not gonna have any part of that." Edward replied, "I say we should take Kimblee prisoner and try to get some answers."

"I agree, he works directly with the enemy, he must have loads of information that we can use," Amelia added.

"Do you really think he'll tell us anything?" Miles asked, and Amelia had to admit that he made a good point. Her time with Kimblee was brief, but it wasn't likely that normal interrogation would work with him… "He's too dangerous to live."

"But we don't know that about his men!" Edward insisted, "I mean, for all we know, he could be manipulating them somehow. Forcing them to obey!"

"You could be right, but we can't take such a risk on a possibility," Miles said.

"And yet you're still willing to kill them for one!" Edward shot back at him, "This isn't like it was with General Raven!" Major Miles's eyes narrowed as Edward brought it up, "There might be another way—"

"—Have you forgotten the first law of Briggs?" Miles interrupted him, "The careless are the first to die. You show mercy in this place, and I guarantee it's gonna get you or your friends killed." Edward's eyes widened at his words, glancing over at Amelia who looked back at him. She had to admit that Major Miles made a good point, and Kimblee would definitely not be of any good help to them, but his men weren't necessarily bad like he was… right? Still, neither of them particularly wanted to die, but they weren't comfortable going forward with this plan. Edward's lips pressed together again as the conflict of these philosophies fought inside of him. Amelia let out a small sigh through her nose, unsure if she could say anything to change the Major's mind about this situation.

However, deciding to take their silence as their answer, Major Miles, Sergeant Penns, and Lieutenant Samuels all started to make their way out of the room, "We aren't going to be careless." He told them as he left, "We're killing Kimblee and the two men with him." The door closed shut behind them, leaving Amelia and Edward in the quiet of the room as they began to prepare for their plan. Edward's fists were clenched as he tried to think about a solution that would suit them all, but he wasn't coming up with anything. Amelia stepped away for a moment to look out the window, seeing the Briggs soldiers and Kimblee's men all talking as they prepared for their search for Scar, who was long gone by now.

"...Major Miles has a good point about Kimblee," She said softly, getting Edward's attention, "He's sharper than he appears. He won't give us any information, not even if we tortured it out of him." She looked back at Edward, "Maybe it's for the best if they kill him."

"But what about those two men with him?" Edward demanded, "What if they're like those other two chimeras that Al talked to? Maybe they're just being forced into this!"

"I'm not saying they should die, too!" Amelia quickly said, "I agree that Major Miles is taking this a little far, Kimblee is the only one we really need to worry about, but… I mean, what if they're not like those chimeras? What if they're just guys who want to do this because they have the same goals that General Raven did?"

"You don't know that."

"And neither do you! I'm just saying, he makes a good point. I'm not saying it's the best point, or the plan I would have picked, but it's a valid point! He's just trying to be safe and cover all his bases."

"Well, I still don't like it." Edward crossed his arms.

"I don't think it makes a difference if you like it or not. It's out of our hands." Amelia said, glancing back out the window, "I doubt we can convince Major Miles out of this plan, he's going to move forward with it no matter what we do."

Edward let out a hum, starting to pace with his arms crossed over his chest, still trying to think, "There has to be a way to make this easier on them, at least… I don't think we have to kill Kimblee. He could tell us a lot more than his men could."

"Even so, I don't think we could get it out of him. He's already pretty powerful and dangerously smart." Amelia said.

"What if we took away his defenses?" Edward asked, turning to her.

"What do you mean?"

"He's an alchemist who hasn't seen the Truth, so he has to rely on his transmutation circles on his palms. If we take them out, then he doesn't have any real defense beyond hand-to-hand combat."

"You think you could take him alone?" Amelia asked.

"I think I could." Edward said with a grin.

Amelia frowned, "But you might have a better chance if we do it two-on-one. Even the best fighters struggle taking on multiple opponents."

Edward's grin quickly faded, "No, I don't think that's the best option for you."

"Why not?" Amelia asked, "You've said I've been doing better in our fights, and I know I'm not exactly the strongest compared to you or Al, but I think I could still have a chance if I fought with you!"

Edward frowned, his eyes going to her injured arm. He remembered when she had gotten hurt, how he and Alphonse had been searching the city for her for what felt like an eternity before they finally managed to get word that she was in the hospital. He had rushed in and forced the door open, ready to tear her a new one for ditching them like that, but… he had never really seen her seriously hurt, and for a moment she had just seemed really small on that examining table. Like something could come along and crush her under their boot if they wanted to. Hearing it had been Envy, he had more fury than ever for that annoying homunculus, not just because of all the short jokes, but because he had gone so far as to do this to her.

He looked back up at her, "Amelia, you've only ever fought me. I don't think you're ready for a fight with Kimblee. You have other talents that I'm sure we can put to use in other ways."

"Like what?" Amelia frowned.

"Well, if I take care of Kimblee, do you think you might be able to stall Major Miles and the others?"

"Stall them?"

"Just long enough until I can convince them that Kimblee has information that's too valuable to risk killing him for," Edward explained, "You can stall them, right?"

"I mean… I definitely can, but I have to admit I'm not used to coming up with distractions with soldiers like Major Miles." Amelia said.

"Then it'll be a little challenge for you." Edward grinned, "Come on, this should be cake for you. Remember that old cat lady in Central? You managed to figure her out super quick!"

"I guess I can probably ask a few probing questions to get his attention…" She said, bringing one hand up to her chin as she started to think, "Considering what we know about his background, and what we just saw with Scar… I can probably come up with something." She could ask a few questions about the experience, his thoughts on his plan to change Amestris's views on Ishvalan people from the inside out. She could probably get a conversation going long enough to stall for a little while, "It might not be for very long though, maybe only a minute at best. Soldiers are trained to have a one-track mind and stay focused on their mission above all else. If I get a little personal, he'll stop for a minute, but that might be all I can get you."

"A minute will be plenty." Edward said, a bit more confident now that they had something planned out, "I should be able to talk to Kimblee, and take out his transmutation circles so we can really start talking."

She nodded, "Okay, I guess we have a plan, then." She smiled at him, feeling a little more confident about this as well, though that sense of dread was still there. She took it just as anxiety, nerves that should help her work a little faster to make sure everything worked out the way they wanted it to.

---

Amelia and Edward waited to the side to join Major Miles's search squad while the others were all getting organized. Penns was inside the fake armor, sitting down while they waited, able to hear everything that was being said to the Major.

"Three men in this squad," One soldier reported.

"There are five men in mine, sir." Another reported.

"Each squad is ready, then. Spread out and carefully search your designated sector." Major Miles ordered and was met with a small group of "Yes, sir." in response. He looked over to see Kimblee and his men already on the move to wherever it was they wanted to search. Major Miles turned to Edward, Amelia, and the fake Alphonse, "Let's get going."

"Yes, sir," Said Penns from inside his suit as he pushed himself to stand up.

"Don't get carried away, Alphonse," Edward said in a dry voice, "There's no reason to call the Major "sir.""

Penns jumped slightly as he realized his mistake, and Amelia shook her head in subtle disappointment, hearing the man grunt a little bit as the left arm moved a little, and then the right, "It's hard to move around in here… Couldn't you have made this thing lighter?"

"You're strong, you can handle it!" Edward hissed at him, "Come on, Kimblee's watching." Kimblee had been leading the way for his search, followed by Major Miles and his squad, looking back at them to see if they were joining him. Amelia and Edward walked like normal, but it was taking a minute for Penns to figure out how to walk in his disguise.

"Ugh… Hold on, brother!" He called in a falsetto voice in an attempt to sound closer to Alphonse, which wasn't bad, but anyone could hear the difference if they knew Alphonse at all. He tramped forward in the suit of armor, each step clanking and clunking just like Al normally would, but definitely slower than him.

"Hurry up, come on!" Edward said as they tried to keep up with the group, though it was a little easier for all of them to hang back for a while.

They began walking down various paths, part of the squad splitting up as they got further and further into the city, but most staying pretty close to Kimblee as he was starting to head down his own path.

Major Miles leaned in towards one officer, speaking quietly so Kimblee wouldn't hear them, "Did you overhear Kimblee say where his squad is searching?"

"You saw that mineshaft in the center of town, didn't you? They're headed down there, to search the tunnels." Their words carried back to Amelia and Edward, who frowned at the sound of it.

"I told you he was sharper than he looked," Amelia whispered to Edward, a small warning to advise him about going forward with Kimblee. He had already figured out the escape plan they had set up for Winry and everyone else.

"I heard him mention that he couldn't trust the northern soldiers so he's only taking the men he brought with him, sir." The soldier continued.

"Hmm… I guess he's figured us out, then." Major Miles muttered, stepping back to speak with Lieutenant Samuels who had been walking beside him, "We'll head them off. Position snipers near the opening of the mineshaft."

"Yes, sir," Samuels replied, and the group carried on. Edward started to fall back, giving Amelia a knowing glance. If they were going to head them off in preparation, it was time they started their plan, too. She gave him a subtle nod as she moved to keep pace with Sergeant Penns inside his suit.

"Were you able to hear all of that?" She asked quietly.

"Not really," Penns replied from inside.

"Major Miles said he wants to head off Kimblee at the mineshaft," Amelia said, starting to pick up the pace, "Come on, if we keep up with him, it won't look as suspicious." Penns was panting from inside the suit, but he was managing as he kept pace with Amelia, not seeming to notice that Edward was separating from them. With luck, this plan would work… hopefully. She wasn't sure if it was as solid as it could be but considering it was just the two of them, and there was that time crunch of trying to meet Kimblee in time before he was killed, they had to work with it.

Now that she thought about it, it seemed a lot of their plans were a little rushed for the day. She hoped it wasn't a sign of anything.

She walked with Penns until they were able to meet up with Samuels and Major Miles, who instantly noticed a distinct lack of a certain alchemist, "Where's Fullmetal?"

"He said he didn't want to be a part of this, so I suggested he go wait somewhere else." Amelia explained, "I figured it wasn't a big deal as long as I was with Penns, because I need a supervisor and all."

"Yes, that's fine," Miles said, and the men started to make their way into the building just next to the mineshaft, Penns heading up the stairs in his armor until they got up to the third floor.

"Ugh, someone help me take this thing off!" He said from inside, and Amelia reached for the helmet first before going for the straps that would open up the chest plate.

"Here you go," She said as she opened it up, the man inside taking a deep breath of the cold air once he was freed. He didn't hesitate to step out of the suit and leave it on the floor as Samuels handed him his rifle, leaving Amelia with the helmet and remains of the Alphonse disguise. "Oh… huh, I'm just now realizing you're like a foot shorter than Alphonse," She said as she put the helmet back on top so it still looked like Al, just slumped over, "How were you able to see out of there?"

"There was a crack between the bottom of the helmet and the neck, I could see out of it okay." Penns said as he started to load his weapon, and then he paused as he glanced over at her, "You know… you might not want to be in the room for this."

"What do you mean?" Amelia asked, playing dumb.

The men all glanced at each other before looking back to her, "I know Elric was strongly against killing him, I didn't expect you to be in support of it." Miles commented, finding it a little strange.

"We talked it out a little bit after you left. With everything I know about him, I thought you made a good point. After all, I met with Kimblee before Ed did." She said, "I'm sure you remember that meeting…" She glanced over at the opening in the wall where they were starting to set up everything, and then glanced back at Major Miles, "You guarded the door, after all."

"Yes, I remember that you and he didn't seem to get along…" He said as he looked over at his men, and Amelia figured this was the best time to start stalling.

"Right, well, Kimblee's definitely not the kind of guy who would willingly give us information, you were right about that." She said, getting the Major's attention, "It might be better to play it safe and take him out." Major Miles looked over at her curiously, "I mean… the homunculi trust him enough to give him access to a Philosopher's Stone, I've never seen them do that with any of the senior staff… though, I don't think they're alchemists. Are they alchemists?" She figured she may as well start her plans for a distraction.

"No, the majority of the senior staff in Central are all generals and normal soldiers, none of them are alchemists." Major Miles said. Amelia decided to keep going with her line of questioning as they worked, thinking it would be her best opportunity for a distraction like she promised Edward and keep the Major from making any orders.

"That seems a little odd, doesn't it? I mean, I know I'm not super familiar with the way Amestris runs, but wouldn't it be easier for an alchemist to climb through the military ranks than the average soldier?" She asked.

"There are plenty of promotions based on performance, but with alchemists they show their performance every year in assessments," Miles explained, "Which is all well and good, but you can't expect to get a promotion every year you pass an assessment test. If you do your job well, or have the right connections, then they can. But you can easily get promoted up a rank or two if you're not state certified based on merit." He turned as he watched Penns setting up his rifle, "Is it clear?"

"Yes, sir. He's in my sights." Penns replied, and Amelia panicked a little bit, realizing it meant Kimblee was there. He hadn't been that far behind them when they headed this way, and she wasn't sure if she had done enough. She hadn't realized they were operating without Major Miles' direct orders.

"Um… Major, I know you're busy, but just one last follow-up question—"

Penns let out a gasp that caught the Major's attention, "What's wrong?"

"It's Edward," He answered.

"What?" Miles went over to the opening to see Edward approaching Kimblee, and Amelia followed behind him. They could see the two figures speaking to one another, but they couldn't really hear them from their place in the building nearby. Amelia only grew nervous as she looked at the two of them, but she was glad to see that Edward's presence was making them hesitate. She could hear the murmur of their voices, and Edward's went a little quiet after a few words were exchanged, making her think that Kimblee must have said something that made him change his tactics. He was just trying to stop him from going into the mine shaft, right?

"They're just standing there, talking." Penns muttered as he still had his rifle aimed, "What should I do?" He was hesitant to act considering there was someone right near Kimblee.

"Can you still target Kimblee?" Miles asked.

"Yes, sir,"

"Then aim carefully, and fire."

"Wait, what about Edward?" Amelia asked, "Are you seriously just going to take this guy out when he's right in front of him? Are you trying to traumatize him even more?"

Before the Major could even dismiss her, Kimblee raised his hands, showing the transmutation circles on his palms, and then bringing them to the snowy ground, a huge cloud of snow bursting up and out in his signature explosion-style, engulfing the building they were in and the surrounding area.

"That bastard! He's using the snow to block our view!" Penns cursed, stepping back from the opening he had been using.

"Kimblee!" Edward's voice came up from the cloud below, and Amelia tensed at the sound.

"Shit, I need to get down there…!" She said, turning and heading for the stairs. If Edward was about to fight Kimblee in that mess, he would need whatever help he could get. If she could barely see anything from three stories up, Edward definitely couldn't on the ground.

"Amelia!" Major Miles called after her, but she didn't stop. There was no point in them trying to snipe Kimblee now when they couldn't see, she knew they would be following her as she rushed down three flights of stairs to get to the cloud. She could hear the sounds of fighting not too far away from her, and see the light of a transmutation being performed, but nothing else. The cloud of snow was still billowing around them, and she couldn't see anything through it, but she could still see the mine shaft opening towering over everything else.

"Edward!" She called out to him as Major Miles, Sergeant Penns, and Lieutenant Samuels all came down, "What's going on in there? Where are you?"

"Amelia!" Edward's voice came from the fog, "It's Kimblee's men! These guys are chimeras, and they know how to fight in low visibility! Stay out of here, trust me!" And shortly after he told her to stay out, she heard him crying out in panic, and then a sudden thud.

"Ed?!" She only grew more worried since she couldn't see what was happening. She didn't receive any kind of response, and that just gnawed at her mind. He was in there somewhere, fighting a pair of human chimeras, and Kimblee was probably making his way into the mine's tunnels to find Winry and Scar and ruin their plan. She needed to do something to help! She looked out at the cloud, and then at the area around her. If this cloud could be produced with alchemy, then surely, she could get rid of it with alchemy? It was only snow, so it was just water in the air. It could easily be solidified or turned back into a liquid form. "Major, you and your men might want to stand back for a minute." She said, stepping towards the cloud.

"What are you doing?" He asked.

"If Kimblee made this thing with alchemy, then I should be able to unmake it the same way." Admittedly, she had never performed a transmutation on something already in the air, but she rationalized that she had to learn about it sometime. She took a deep breath before bringing her hands together and bringing them down onto the snow below her feet. She watched as the light from her transmutation shot up into the air, the white, billowing cloud starting to turn into water droplets that rained down, but there was so much of it…! She grunted as she kept trying to keep the transmutation going, trying to reach out further and her transmutation lightning continued to reach into the cloud, but it was as if there was a barrier keeping her from reaching as far as she really wanted. She kept pouring what energy she could into it, feeling it rushing through her body and into the snow, and soon enough the cloud was cleared enough for them to make out their surroundings. Whatever was left was quickly fading away into the wind.

When it was finished, she let out a heaving breath, her limbs feeling like they were made of jelly for a few moments, "Ugh…" Transmutations never really left her feeling like this, but she also never tried to keep them going for longer than a few seconds. She pushed herself up, but her legs were shaky, and one gave way, forcing her to quickly kneel down in the cold snow that she could barely feel, which was a little worrisome. Lieutenant Samuels came over to her, his hands already going to her shoulders as she tried to stand up again.

"Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, just a little wobbly." She said, pushing herself to stand up. Her legs felt tingly, and her arms hung at her sides, but there wasn't any real pain, "We should hurry, Kimblee's probably already heading into the tunnels." She started taking a few small steps, limping slightly as she waited for the pins and needles to stop and get feeling back in her legs again, but Major Miles reached out and stopped her.

"You need to stay back, I'm calling for back-up." He ordered, "We're going to need some extra hands if we have to chase him down in the mines."

"Are you serious? We can't just sit here and wait for your guys to come in!" Amelia snapped. It was only a few moments after she said this that they heard an explosion from within the mineshaft entrance. And another few moments afterwards, a foul stench filled the air, and everyone was quick to hold their noses.

"Ugh, what is that disgusting smell?" Samuels asked. Amelia covered up her nose too as she looked around them.

"I think it's ammonia, but where the hell did it come from?" Miles asked, turning to Samuels, "Call the Charlie squad and Jackson squad, I want to make sure we have all the people we need to get this done."

"Yes, sir," Samuels said, pulling his pack off of his shoulders to do just that.

"I'm not just going to sit here and wait for your back-up to come," Amelia insisted, "Edward's fighting Kimblee when he has a Philosopher's Stone! That's not exactly something we can just forget about and hope he makes it!"

"I'm aware of that, and we'll move in, but you're not going in by yourself." Miles said, "You're still not walking correctly, what happened to you?"

"I don't know! It doesn't matter! I'm fine, my legs are just asleep, I can walk it off!" She said, turning to take a few more steps to the entrance only for her still-tingling leg to give way again and she let out a yelp as she fell on her face. She grunted as she pushed herself up, her arms still feeling like jelly as she tried to get back on her feet, forcing her legs to move so that she could at least kneel. Had that transmutation really taken this much out of her? Was she really so inexperienced? She felt a pair of hands moving under her arms, pulling her up and away from the entrance, "Hey!" She glared up at Major Miles.

"You're hardly in any condition to fight when you can barely walk," Miles said, helping her to stand before reaching for the phone from Lieutenant Samuel's pack, "This is Major Miles, I need Charlie and Jackson squad to make their way to the mineshaft now. Kimblee's gone rogue and he's brawling with Fullmetal." She could just barely make out the affirmative acknowledgements of his orders before he handed it back to Samuels who began packing it away. "Now, what's wrong with you?"

"I don't know, my legs are just numb." She said, "I think that transmutation might have taken out a lot more than I realized, I've never done one continuously for that long before." She admitted that she might not be the most experienced alchemist, but at least she managed to get the clouds out of their way, "Look, I don't want to just sit here and wait for something to happen, we need to get moving!"

"We will, but you need to stay back from everything, you're not going to be much good in a fight—" Major Miles was cut off as they saw a flash of red lightning, and heard a sudden rumbling, the four of them looking to the mineshaft entrance, watching as the roof was torn open, smoke pouring out into the sky as the earth began to shake around them. Smoke exploded around the mineshaft and shot into the sky. The horrendous creaking of metal could be heard as the crane that roofed the mineshaft began to fall inward, the ground collapsing around it and pulling down plenty of the land with it. Wood and shrapnel started flying and Major Miles quickly dove to the ground and yanked Amelia down with him, one hand over her back to keep her pinned so they could avoid the worst of the blast as the air was filled with the gut-wrenching sounds of the earth coming undone as the mineshaft began to break apart and fall into the depths of the holes that were dug so long ago. The explosion rushed through the mining town and Amelia couldn't hear anything but the sounds of destruction for a solid 10 seconds, and they felt like the longest 10 seconds of her life. She hadn't even been aware she had been screaming until it started to quiet as the rubble fell less.

She lifted her head up, seeing some of the smoke in front of her being pulled away by the wind, but the mineshaft was gone. There was nothing left but a gaping hole that was now filled with the steel remains of the drill that broke apart, as well as the remains of the old building, and blocked their way in.

She coughed as she started to lift herself up, taking in the distinct smell of ammonia among the dust and barely-there remains of the wood that had gone flying into the air, "Edward?!" She called out for him but received no answer. She quickly stood up, starting to head over to the hole, "Ed?! Edward, answer me!"

"Amelia, stop!" Major Miles grabbed her and held her back from the hole, "The ground isn't stable!"

"Edward!" She kept shouting out for him, "Edward Elric! You better answer me, damn you!"

She received no response, there was no sign of anyone inside the mineshaft, and she could feel panic welling up inside of her. It was just like when Gluttony swallowed him, he was there, and suddenly he was gone. She kept coughing as her breath started to come faster, her mind reeling as that fear that he had disappeared again started to grow. He had been inside the mineshaft when it exploded, but maybe he had gotten out? Maybe he was okay? But at the same time, she hadn't seen any sign of him leaving, and there wasn't any around the entrance. She felt tears flowing over her cheeks as her chest grew tighter, screaming out his name at the top of her lungs in the hope that he would call back, "Edwaaaaard!"

But there was only silence.