Kimblee's car was a fancier than the one Ed, Al, and Winry were in. It was slightly bigger, and there was a panel of glass separating his men who sat up front from the two of them in the back.
Manami got in the car on the opposite side of Kimblee, crossing her legs and arms, leaning as close as she could to the window as the car started moving.
"I certainly didn't expect company for this trip." Kimblee said, as an attempt to strike up small talk.
Manami glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, but quickly looked back out the window without saying a word.
"You're still mad, I take it."
"I have nothing to say to you."
"Oof..." Kimblee let out a weak chuckle. "I get it… I went too far with our first one-on-one. I apologize."
Manami continued to stay silent. Kimblee sighed again, going to fold his hands in his lap.
"How about this, to make up for it… you can ask me the personal questions."
"And if I couldn't care less?" Manami snapped.
"Surely there's something you want to know." Kimblee said simply. "It may not even pertain to my personal life... I may know something that you— or maybe those Elric brothers— have been curious about."
Manami's eyes narrowed, looking up to see Kimblee's reflection in the window, looking right back at her.
She began to consider asking him what he knew about the Homunculi. If he knew what their plans were. When those plans were to happen.
Kimblee may have had information that could help the humans win this war... but if he was on the Homunculi's side, it was likely that any "information" he would give her would just be a lie... or worse, a trap.
"What I'd really like to know..." Her eyes fell shut. "Is how long this car ride is going to be."
"... heh." Kimblee chuckled softly to himself and turned his head. "Not too long."
Much to Manami's relief, the rest of the car ride was silent.
They finally made it to their destination, an abandoned mining town named Baschool. Giant metal structures were scattered around the entire town, looking as though they haven't been used in years.
Manami was quick to exit Kimblee's car, not even letting him have a word before she went to the car that the Elric brothers and Winry came in.
She saw Ed and Al climbing out of the opposite end of the driver's side, and she wrapped around the car to notice someone was missing.
"Where's—"
Ed put a finger to his lips and she quickly shut up. Al gestured to his chest plate, and Manami nodded in understanding.
Winry was now inside Al's armor.
Whether this was Ed's plan or Winry's, Manami didn't care. What mattered is that there was a plan, and it was being carried out at this very moment.
"We need to split into search parties." They could hear Miles announce, and they approached him and Kimblee.
"All squads are to contact us here immediately if you spot Scar."
"Yes sir!" The soldiers all around them saluted, and Manami glanced behind her to see two soldiers looming over them and flinched in surprise.
Where did they come from?!
"We've got the orders to keep watch over you three." One of them said.
"Whatever…" Ed sighed.
"Definitely Kimblee's men…" Manami whispered so that only the brothers could hear her.
"We gotta ditch them ASAP." Ed whispered back. "Be prepared to bolt."
"Aren't I always?"
The teams separated, and Manami walked in between Ed and Al. She kept glancing at them out of the corners of their eyes, watching their movements to see when…
"AAH!" Ed and Al pointed to their left. "There's someone right over there!"
"Really?! Where?!" A soldier yelped.
Ed bolted, and Manami and Al were right at his heels. They ran into the building, hearing Kimblee's men barrel after them.
"Wait for us!"
But they didn't slow down, nor did they stop. In fact, they ran even faster.
Ed turned a corner, and when Al and Manami rounded it behind him, his palms were already pressed together and he touched the wall as they passed it, sealing the opening instantly.
"Damn! They turned down this hall… where did they go?!" They could hear the soldiers' muffled voices from the other side of the wall.
"Go this way! Don't lose them!"
"Too late." Ed snickered before they turned to walk the other way.
Manami put a hand on her chest and sighed in relief. It was like a weight had been lifted off of her, and she only felt lighter and lighter the further they got away from Kimblee.
They climbed to the roof of that building and began jumping over rooftops, sometimes with the assistance of Manami and her wind alchemy.
"So… what are we doing, exactly?" Manami asked when they climbed down into another building and were now walking down a long hallway.
"What we came here to do. We're finding the Xingese girl." Ed said simply, not looking back at her.
"... was that the plan?" Manami asked, and she slowed to a stop. Ed and Al noticed her lack of footsteps and stopped as well, then turned to look back at her.
"I mean… with everything that's…" She trailed off.
"We're not carving that Crest, Manami." Ed told her, frowning.
"But what about—"
"They can't hurt Winry if she's with us." Al said.
"I know, but…" Manami gestured vaguely, having trouble finding her words.
"W-We find the Xingese girl… and then what?"
"She tells us everything about Alkahestry." Ed answered.
"But where do we go after that?" Manami asked.
Her jaw dropped when Ed and Al looked to each other, like they were hoping the other had an answer.
"So… there is no plan after all..." She felt the color drain from her face.
"We'll figure it out!" Ed assured her. "I know we won't be going back to that fort to sit in a damned cell!"
"That's not the point!" Manami exasperated. "We can't be on the run with Winry inside Al forever!"
"And we won't be!" Ed snapped back.
Manami was once again at a loss for words. All she could do was turn away from them and rub her temples.
So many thoughts were running through her mind, and to hear that there was no real plan after all…
"... Manami," Al finally spoke, and she turned to look at him over her shoulder. "Can you tell me the last time that we had an actual plan?"
Manami's eyes widened a little at the realization that she didn't know how to answer.
"We've always had goals, but there were always bumps in the road… and we always got past them." Al continued. "What is the difference between before we came up north, and now?"
"..." Manami opened her mouth to reply, but... she once again found herself speechless. She could only look down at her feet.
"What did Kimblee say to you, Manami?" Ed asked, making Manami flinch. "When Winry was doing maintenance on my arm. Kimblee said that you two apparently had a private chat."
"..." Manami turned her head. "It was nothing important..." She lied.
"It clearly is important." Ed took another step towards her. "Because ever since then, you've been off."
"Have you considered that it was because we were told that we had to kill people?!" Manami barked.
"Of course..." Al said calmly.
"But something else he did or said has thrown you off. We can tell." Ed added. "Being cautious isn't new for you, but right now you are downright paranoid."
Manami let out a growl of frustration.
"He wanted to know about my wind alchemy, okay?!" She finally snapped. "He kept prying about how I could kill with it!"
"... can you?" Al asked quietly.
"Of course I can!" Manami gritted her teeth. "So I'm sorry that I've only been able to think about how I would have to really go through with it, and—"
She stopped abruptly and her shoulders started trembling. There was a pause.
"... I'm scared... okay?"
"..." Ed and Al's eyes widened, and they exchanged glances as she looked away. They were quiet for a long while, before a small voice came from inside Al's armor.
"It's okay to be scared."
Manami looked up to Al's chestplate. She had forgotten that Winry was in there…
"Do you remember, a few months ago..? When we were at the Hughes'..." Winry started. "We talked about how I was worried about Ed and Al… and you told me that I had to believe in them... that having any doubt was just setting them up for failure."
Manami's eyes widened. She remembered that conversation vividly— mostly because of the stench of that ointment Winry was putting on her shoulder…
"I think you need to be reminded of your own words." Winry's echoed voice said. "Believe in them."
"Aw, shucks." Ed let out a chuckle and smiled sheepishly at Manami.
"You really said that about us?" Al asked.
Manami's cheeks turned a bright pink from embarrassment and she crossed her arms. "Sh-Shut up…"
"In all seriousness... you were right back then, and Winry is right to remind you of it now. We will find a way out of this. And…" Ed took another step towards her and held up his hand, sticking out his pinky.
"To further ease the anxiety… I promise that I will make sure you never kill anyone."
"..?" Manami stared at his extended pinky for a moment, then lifted her eyes to raise a brow at him.
"You're really making a pinky promise right now?"
"The strongest kind of promise there is." Ed couldn't help but grin.
"..." Manami scoffed, shaking her head as she went to wrap her pinky around his and they each gave a squeeze.
"Are you alright now, Manami?" Al asked as Ed stepped away.
"Yeah…" Manami smiled at Al. "Thanks for helping me clear my head, guys."
"Anytime!" Winry chimed, her voice echoing in Al's armor.
"Back to business!" Ed announced, turning on his heel.
"Let's find that Xingese girl!" Al said as Ed broke into a run, and naturally he and Manami followed after him.
"THIS PLACE IS TOO DAMN BIG!" Ed's voice echoed through the empty building they were in.
"It's going to take forever to search all these buildings…" Al whined.
Manami had plopped down to sit on a broken hunk of concrete. "If we could split up, we'd have better chances of finding her…"
"But that's too much of a risk." Al sighed. "Especially if one of us ran into Kimblee or one of his men…"
Ed groaned. "If only that Xingese girl could just come to us…"
Manami suddenly heard something, and she stood up to look to the open doorway.
"Alphonse..!" They could hear a distant voice call.
"Huh?" Al blinked, and he and Ed also looked to the doorway.
"Alphonse..!" The little voice called again.
"No way…" Ed murmured.
"For real?" Manami's jaw dropped.
"DARLING!"
Manami and Ed jumped back as something launched at Al like a missile, knocking him over to fall on his back.
"She... really did come…" Ed was baffled.
"'Darling..?'" Manami disliked the word choice, and she couldn't help but frown.
"What are you doing here, Alphonse?!" The Xingese girl lifted her head and beamed down at Al.
"Mei!" Al cried. "We were looking for you!"
"Huh?" Mei blinked, her cheeks flushing pink. "Y-You went all this way... looking for me..?"
"Yeah!" Al said happily with a nod. "We really needed to see you!"
"My sweet Alphonse..!"
"..." Manami felt her eye twitch.
Her sweet Alphonse..?
"I need you to tell us all you can about Alkahestry." Al said as he went to stand up.
"Can you—"
"He traveled hundreds of miles to see me..!" Mei seemed to be in her own little world, giggling gleefully to herself.
"He's not the only one who was looking for you!" Ed said with a devilish smirk. "I've been looking for you too, little girl!"
"What do you want with me?!" Mei cried. "Oh no… both brothers have fallen in love with me…"
Manami's jaw dropped. "What?!"
"I'm sorry Edward, but you're just not my type."
"What are you talking about?! Don't play games!" Ed yelled at Mei.
There was suddenly a knock coming from inside Al's armor.
"Can I come out? I hit my head…" Winry's echoed voice groaned.
"Oh, yeah… sorry Winry..!" Al quickly went to unclasp his chest plate, and Manami stepped over to help Winry out of his armor.
"You alright, Win?"
"Ow, ow... yeah, I think so..."
"Alphonse!" Mei gasped. "Who is this woman?!"
"Huh?" Winry blinked and pointed at herself. "Me?"
"How could you do this to me?!" Mei buried her face in her hands and started to sob. "Am I not good enough for you..?!"
Manami felt anger boiling more and more inside her. This girl was so annoying...
"Wait, no!" Al cried, trying to stop her from crying. "It's not like that! She's just a childhood friend— wait…"
"Gotta do a better job than that to convince your girlfriend you're not a cheater, Al." Manami rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, turning her head when Al looked over at her.
"I-I don't… we're not…" Al sputtered. "Wait, are you upset with me?!"
"No I'm not!" Manami snapped, but still didn't look back at him.
"Mei? What's wrong? You can't go running off like—" A different voice spoke and everyone looked to see a man with a mangled face enter the room.
"The Elric brothers are here?!" He gasped.
"Who are you?" Ed asked, tilting his head in confusion.
"Oh, right, my face… it's me, Doctor Marcoh!"
Manami forgot her annoyance with Al and Mei immediately when she heard the name.
"Doctor Marcoh?!" Al gasped.
"But you look…" Ed didn't finish that sentence. "What happened?!"
"Why don't you tell me why you're here, first…" The old man suggested.
"Wait!" Another person ran in the room and, like Marcoh, gasped at the sight of Ed and Al.
"The Elric brothers!"
"And who are you?!" Ed yelled.
"Don't act like you don't know me!" The other man yelled. "You ruined my life in Youswell!"
Winry looked to Manami as the Elric brothers bickered with the scrawny man, her eyes silently asking if she was the only one who was completely lost in this conversation. Manami could only shrug— she had no idea, either.
Frankly, she was still rather annoyed at Al and the Xingese girl.