Rose and her masked captor continued to drive for hours, eventually Rose fell asleep.

"What were you thinking?"

Rose couldn't believe her ears. I had been so long she had almost forgotten what his voice sounded like.

"Cain?"

"The woman I loved just tried to take her own life. How do you think that makes me feel?"

"Cain I…"

"Do you have any idea what you almost did? How could you do that to me, or to your parents?"

"I don't want to live without you!"

"And you think killing yourself is the solution?!"

"What else was I supposed to do?!"

"You can act like the woman I wanted to marry! The Rose I know would never take her own life! There's no greater sin than that! Cornello may have filled your head with empty promises, but believe it or not there is a God and there is an afterlife, and you don't want to know what happens to suicides."

Just like that Cain was gone and Rose was left alone. Little by little the temperature started to rise. She was starting to get scared, until she woke up and realized that it was just the desert. The Masked Alchemist was still driving, but the sun was already high in the sky.

"Did you have a good night's sleep?"

"Did you get any?"

"I don't have time to sleep. My quarry is still on the move."

"What exactly is your quarry?"

"I'm tracking a man named Roderick O'Hara. Nine counts of murder and rape. He broke out of prison a few days ago and added a few more bodies to that number in the process. I've been hired by the government to take him down."

"Since when does the government hire bounty hunters to take down a single escaped murderer?"

"I said the exact same thing to King Bradley after I snuck into his office."

"You got into his office!"

"Look who you're talking too. But to answer your other question, apparently this prisoner is special, and the military can't spare the man-power to pursue him across the border. Apparently there's some psycho on the loose that's been killing State Alchemists."

"Really, which State Alchemists?"

"No one you know."

"Why haven't you gone after him?"

"Two reasons. One: because no one has put a bounty on his head just yet. Two: I don't know that much about him other than that he's apparently an Ishvalan."

"Is the big bad bounty hunter scared?"

"Running off to fight an unknown enemy unprepared isn't courageous, it's suicide. I never go into battle unprepared, why do you think I'm still alive?"

As they drove on through the desert, Rose started to feel overwhelmed by the heat, despite the fact that she and her masked captor were being shielded from the sun.

"There's water under the seat if you need it, or do I need to use another ice die?"

Rose drank some water and splashed the rest of the bottle on her face.

"Where are we going exactly?"

"O'Hara was last seen heading towards a small village a few dozen miles past the boundary of Xing. I estimate it will be a couple more hours before we get there."

"So what's the plan when you find him?"

"I do what I do best."

They continued on in silence for a long time, Rose couldn't stop thinking about the dream she had.

"Murdered."

"What?"

"You asked me earlier why I do what I do. When I was little boy I saw my parents murdered in front of me when some crook broke into our house."

"Then why didn't you just become a police officer or something?"

"Because the system is more crooked than my grandmother's old rocking chair. If I were a state alchemist the military would be telling me who the bad people are, but one of the benefits of being a freelance bounty hunter means I can pick and choose my clients."

"If you dislike the military so much, why are you helping them now?"

"Because the person they're sending me after is a convicted murder and rapist, and I can also take advantage of the situation and redistribute as much of their assets as I can… We're almost there, time to get into character."

"What are you doing?"

"A man in a mask dressed head to toe in black is a little too conspicuous, don't you agree?"

While the Masked Alchemist was doing his business in the car, Rose thought this might be an excellent opportunity to make a run for it. But the dream of her fiancé started to echo in her head.

"He'd probably find me anyway. He's tracking a single man across the desert, I wouldn't get far."

"How do I look?"

The person standing in front of Rose was a middle-aged man with a gruff voice and an inch long beard.

"Is this what you really look like?"

"Of course not. You forget, I'm a master of disguise."

"How could I forget? I never knew."

"Now we need to come up with a disguise for you."

"Why?"

"Trust me, when this stuff goes down you won't want people to know that you were here."

First he gave Rose some more of his spare clothes to wear, gave her hat to hide her dyed bangs, and then he painted a fake but incredibly convincing scar on the side of her face.

"This is the stupidest thing I've ever done in my life."

"I very much doubt that, but I do imagine before this is over it will probably come close. If anyone asks you're my tomboyish daughter. Just remember to follow my lead and try not to draw attention to yourself."

(To be continued)