Disclaimer: I don't own FMA.

"I have one question." Shela said before I opened the door. I turned back to look at her, and she sighed. "How the hell are you going to sneak out inconspicuously? If you haven't noticed, your hair is, like, freaking neon blue." I paused, pursing my lips.
"I knew that…" I muttered, retracing my steps to sit on the bed. I retrieved a hair band from my suitcase to tie up my hair, and Shela used her teeth to pull out a black scarf I had stashed in my jacket pocket.
"Thanks." I said, taking the scarf and wrapping it around my head, covering my blue hair. I tied it tightly around my head, making sure it wouldn't slip off before getting up and hauling my suitcase with me as I walked back to the door while Shela jumped into my jacket hood, hiding herself.
My stomach flipped nervously, and my heart thumped hard in my chest. I mean, when I was in my world, I had to pass my parent's bedroom to get to our creaky stairs. And I had acquired the skill of sneaking down those stairs quietly, since I knew how to skip the creaky spots so I wouldn't wake up my parents when I went to get my iPod or a midnight snack. I had never been caught when I did that, but this was a whole different story, because now, I was sneaking out of a high-security military fort. The level of skill required for this task was Izumi level, and I don't think I'm anywhere near besting her.
So, I started off, sneaking down the hall with my heart in my throat and my stomach knotting up.
For the most part, I took the smaller, less used hallways, and, thanks to my map, I succeeded in avoiding guards and other soldiers. Finally, it was time for me to make my exit.

I was now standing near the outer wall of the fort, looking down. Sloth was still there, frozen solid and limp, lying on the snowy ground. I gulped, clapping my hands and touching them to the wall, creating handles going down the wall. The strong winds frightened me, so I was literally clamped onto the wall in fear of falling. Oh, one other thing to remind you?

I was deathly afraid of heights.

Slowly, I shifted myself over the edge of the wall, clinging for my life onto the first handles I had made. Using my scarf to tie myself tightly, and when I say tightly, I mean suffocatingly tight, to the first handle, freeing up my hands. Praying to Truth that I would live, I pried my hands away from the handle, shaking nervously.
I clapped my hands and placed them against the wall, having a stone pillar shoot out to wrap securely around my waist, stabilizing me. So, keeping my hands against the wall, I made the pillar slowly travel down, making sure my feet touched each handle to make me feel better. Shela had crawled from my hood into my jacked, curled up in an inside pocket on my back.
It felt like an eternity, but finally, my feet touched the snowy ground. As soon as that happened, I made the pillar let me go and erased all signs of the handles and the pillar, making the wall look as if I had never even touched it.
Sighing in relief, I sat down, warming myself up and wrapping my scarf back around my head before pulling my hood back up to cover my red ears.
I stayed like that until my shaking stopped, then getting up and slowly edging around the frozen Sloth. To tell the truth, it scared me all over again. I was afraid Sloth would just somehow unfreeze and grab me, like in those movies where people think the guys are dead, but they pop up again. I couldn't even sit through a PG rated movie where the ozone layer had been penetrated and a frost swept across the world, freezing everybody. I was immensely scared of freezing to death, being one of my biggest fears, and now that I realized my life actually mattered, it only scared me all the more.
Once I finally got around Sloth, I took a deep breath before clapping my hands and touching the ground. Ice traveled from my hands, glazing over the snow in a thick layer, steadily freezing in a steady path. I wasn't called "Cold Blood" for nothing. My specialty was ice, after all.
When I was finished, a gleaming slide sat in front of me, reminding me of a giant waterslide I had been on when I was back home. I sat on the slide, taking another deep breath before pushing myself off.
I slid swiftly down the icy path, gathering speed. Trusting my slide-making skills, I covered my eyes to keep the snow from getting in my face.
Truthfully, as I got used to it, it was kinda fun. I whooshed through the snowy Briggs mountains, making the slide as I went. It didn't matter if I didn't erase it, because the
snow would cover it up anyways.
I wove around bumps and other obstacles, my laughter lost in the howling wind.
I was escaping, so I might as well have fun, right?

*Outside POV*

Meanwhile, in the Briggs fortress…

Edward Elric, and his younger brother, Alphonse Elric, were tied in rope, walking in front of Buccaneer and Falman, who appeared to be holding them hostage. (a/n: You might want to re-watch Brotherhood episodes 35 and 36 to get what's happening.)
As they continued to walk down the hallway, they just happened to bump into Major Miles, General Armstrong's Ishvalen adjutant, accompanied by the Crimson Alchemist, Solf J. Kimblee.

Both groups paused, facing each other directly.

"What's going on, Buccaneer?" Miles asked bluntly, seeing the tied-up Elric brothers.
"Sir, I am moving the Elric brothers from the east cells to the west cells. Who is this gentleman?" Buccaneer asked, glancing at Kimblee. All eyes were on Kimblee as Miles answered.
"Mr. Solf J. Kimblee. He is General Raven's guest." Miles replied. Ed's eyes widened slightly, remembering who Kimblee was.
Kimblee lifted his hat slightly to look at the Elric brothers, smirking slightly.
"By the Elric brothers, you mean the Fullmetal Alchemist. I see, just as your name suggests." Kimblee said, glancing at Al. Miles, Falman, and Buccaneer sweat dropped as they all pointed down at Ed, who almost sweat dropped himself. "Oh, this one?" Kimblee's attention shifted to Ed, who appeared to be slightly pissed off. It had been, after all, a while since that had happened.
"Pleased to meet you, Mr. Fullmetal Alchemist." Kimblee removed his hat in a respectful, formal gesture. Ed seemed reluctant to reply, but he managed a simple hello.

/

"I am Raven, from Central." Raven said.

Currently, the Elric brothers were in a cell on the west side of the Briggs fortress, and General Raven had wished to speak with them privately. Both Elric brothers sat on their own bed, handcuffed, while Raven stood near the bars of the cell, looking at Ed and Al intently.
"I have heard about you from His Excellency, the Fuhrer," Raven continued, " It appears that you've kept your mouth shut."
"That was the agreement." Ed said, looking down at his feet. He obviously didn't like being handcuffed, but that wasn't the only thing making him displeased.
"You seem discontent." Raven noticed.
"It would be strange for someone not to be discontent when they have hostages taken on their account, right?" Ed replied bluntly.
"Um… When can we be let out of this cell?" Al asked anxiously, looking over at Raven. "The agreement was that as long as we don't interfere with you, you would let us continue our journey." Raven held his hands up in an assuring motion.
"I will let you out of here soon, don't worry." Raven reassured the Elric brothers.
"Is that underground tunnel part of your plan as well?" Ed asked, narrowing his eyes as he glanced at Raven. "If everyone else find out…"
"You needn't worry about that either. General Armstrong said she was going to put the homunculus back in the tunnel and then close up the hole." Both Elrics gasped in shock as they turned to look at Raven, who continued, "The General has come over to our side."
Ed and Al looked at each other before looking back at Raven, who turned around to exit the cell.
"That's all for now." Raven said, unlocking the cell door. When he shut the door and re-locked the cell, he paused, turning to face the stunned Elrics. "Ah, one last thing." Raven said, facing the bars. "I sent someone up here to notify the General about our location, but I haven't seen her around. Have you seen the Cold Blood Alchemist around lately?" Raven asked.

Both brothers froze, staring at Raven wide-eyed.

"SHE WAS HERE?!" They both exclaimed, thoroughly shocked. Raven nodded.
"Yes." He said, "Lynette La'va, the Cold Blood Alchemist. Shoulder-length blonde hair with a red tint, curved scar across her left eye." Raven described, shocking the brothers even more. They stared at Raven, gaping.
"Her name was Mary though…" Al said weakly, making Raven raise an eyebrow.
"Mary? I don't know any woman by that name…" Raven said.
"No way… It was Lynette the whole time?" Ed said in disbelief.
"That would explain how she knew so much… But… It didn't look like her at all!" Al exclaimed, still in innocent denial, "She was blind in one eye! Even her voice was different!" Raven laughed at Al's frantic denial.
"You haven't heard, have you?" Raven chuckled, attracting both Elric's full attention. "She was caught up in an explosion a few weeks ago; found shielding a woman and her child from the debris."
"EXPLOSION?!" Both brothers exclaimed simultaneously. They knew by woman and child, it had been Gracia and Elicia. Raven nodded.
"She did, after all, betray the homunculus. I'm guessing it was their punishment for her." Raven said.
It was now that regret overflowed both Ed and Al. They had treated Lynette so harshly, cast her away, not knowing what might happen to Lynette. Part of her sight had been taken away because she had helped them, and they repaid her with undeniably hurtful words. Even if she had stood by the homunculi in that battle, not only did she save May, but she also saved Ling, even when she had no choice but to cooperate with the homunculi. No one had died because she had stood by the homunculi. But by her scars, it was obvious she was almost killed in the explosion for helping them and protecting Gracia and Elicia.
They finally realized that Lynette wouldn't have done that without reason. She wouldn't have helped the homunculi because she wanted to. She knew everything that was happening, and was going to happen.
That made the brothers feel even worse about hurting her. At once, they knew they needed to talk to her.
Especially Ed, who regretted it the most. I mean, who wouldn't regret hurting the one they loved dearly? He had felt heartbroken, but had he realized how much Lynette had done for them, only to be cast away the second she was unwillingly forced to do something? She must be crushed.

But then, why did she act so happy?
"But… How did her voice change?" Al asked frantically. Raven sighed.
"While she was in North City, she encountered someone who was undoubtedly skilled in fighting, because, with the help of some lab chimera, we found her lying in an alleyway, half-dead with her throat cut." Raven said to the Ed and Al's horror. "She would have died if we hadn't reached her sooner. Her throat wound was not fatal, but she had been close to bleeding to death. It hadn't fully healed, so her voice seemed different."
"How could… Is that… No…" Al gasped.
"Lynette couldn't have been taken down! She's Lynette! She's always carrying weapons!" Ed protested. Raven glanced at Ed curiously.
"Do you know her?" He asked. Both nodded.
"She was here." Al said, "We saw her… But she was under a façade, so no one knew who she really was…"
"We need to talk to her! Can you please get her to come over here?" Ed pleaded, his mind filling with things to say to her. He felt like if he didn't talk to her soon, he would regret it for his entire life. Raven nodded, and turned to face a soldier that stood by the door.
"Please retrieve Major Mary from her room immediately. It's urgent." Raven commanded. The soldier saluted and hurried off down the hall, leaving Raven and the Elric brothers to wait anxiously for his return with Lynette.

After thirty minutes of waiting, there was a knock on the door. The breathless soldier returned, along with two other soldiers. Lynette was absent.
"Where is she?" Raven demanded.
"She's gone!' The first soldier exclaimed, "Her room was cleared out! She hasn't been seen for a few hours, and no one can find her anywhere! There hasn't been any reports of her leaving the fort either!" The soldier said once he regained his breath. Ed and Al instantly got to their feet, standing by the cell's bars, alarmed.
"No traces whatsoever?" Raven said, astonished. All three soldiers looked at each other before one stepped forward, holding out a folded piece of paper, which Raven took.
"It was found lying on the bed in Mary's room." The soldier said, and Raven opened it, scanning over the words. His eyes narrowed as he looked at the soldiers.
"Do you know the meaning of this?" He asked, but all the soldiers shook their heads. He turned to the impatient, alarmed Elric brothers, and held out the paper.
"You know her more than I do. Do you know what this means?" Raven asked. Al took the paper, opening it back up. Something instantly shocked him.
"Is this…" Al trailed off, horror laced in his voice. Raven nodded as Ed snatched the paper away from Al.
"Blood," Ed gasped, his eyes as wide as they could go. His gut knotted as he started to read the words on the paper.
After he read it, he looked up at Raven, staring at him with a blank face, in shock of what he read. What did the letter say, you might wonder?
Scrawled in blood, the message read:

Protect them for me.

Lynette

P.S. I'm sorry… And…

Goodbye.

/

Hey guys! YAY! AUTHOR LADY UPDATED TWO DAYS IN A ROW AFTER IGNORING THE STORY FOR A WEEK! LONGER CHAPTER TOO~ And yay! It snowed where I am! Snow day… Well, homework is waiting, but I'm procrastinating..

In this chapter, I used an outside POV, which, for those of you who don't know, POV= Point Of View.

A lot happened in this chapter, so I hope you're paying attention! I don't have much to say, 'cept this chapter was really sad and stuff…

CELERATING CHAPTER 60~

Anyway, check out "A Unique Game" by NightshadeRoses13! Starring your favorite OC, Lynette! We're collabing, and if you haven't already, I hope you'll check it out!

My lovely readers, please review~

Thanks!