The 2nd to last chapter. Things are starting to get rough for Edward and Lilia. How are they going to handle what's going on now?

Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist or its characters. I only own my OC and the plot.

Lilia couldn't think about anything else throughout the rest of her shift. All she wanted to do was run home and talk with Edward, maybe even cry. She wanted to comfort him most of all, knowing that what he was going through must be hard. He worked each day with confidence, knowing that he had come so far and made it out in the end. To have this happening to him now is probably like a hard slap to the face.

When Havoc came to pick her up, she couldn't have gotten into it faster, nor could she have gotten out of it any faster. Havoc was at a much slower pace, insisting on letting him walk her up to the apartment just in case. She nearly declined, but then recalled when Edward told her about the voodoo doll, and the female murders. With that thought in mind, she agreed, leading Havoc up the stairs and towards their apartment. She just couldn't have herself killed while trying to get to the one person who would be her one and true protection, right? It's like a childish game of hide and seek home-free, except in a much more deadly version.

Each footstep was loud, ringing in Lilia's eardrums painfully. Even the sound of the key in the lock was deafening. The silence inside the apartment was trophy worthy, though, hitting her right when she opened the door and suffocating her until she nearly wanted to throw-up. All the lights were off, being the second most suspicious out of everything.

Lilia hesitantly stepped into the apartment, wrapping her arms around herself, and peering back at Havoc to see if he was still there. He was. Turning her head forward, she drew in an uneven breath, "E-Ed? Are you home?"

There. There was a sound, and from what she could tell it was coming from down the hall. After that, it was only silence.

Havoc must have read her mind, or at least seen the distress, because he drew the gun from his holster and moved ahead of Lilia. With gun in hand, he motioned for Lilia to stay, but not even the most threatening of situations would make her stay behind. Edward was in trouble, she could feel it. She may not be able to do anything in the end, but she just needed to be there for him. She has always been there for him, ever since the first time she helped to heal his wounds.

They moved steadily down the hallway, Havoc in front and Lilia behind. The closer they got the more noise they heard. Clacks or something along the line of that was resounding around the bedroom, breaking through the silence like the knife. If it was Edward, they didn't know.

The sounds were unnerving, increasing the paces of their hearts until it nearly felt like it was just going to burst from their very chests. Havoc managed in keeping his breath steady, something that Lilia failed at. Large and quick puffs of air entered and exited her lungs in a stage of nearly hyperventilating. Palms were sweaty with anticipated sweat, and Lilia's throat felt incredibly tight. The tightness made her almost unable to breath, unable to talk, and even unable to swallow. Each step she took made her feel like her legs were about to give out, and her arms were so spastic with shaking that whoever even got within an inch of her she was pretty sure she was going to give them whiplash.

The door was right in front of them now. All Havoc had to do was open it and then they could see what was really happening. See if Edward was safe or not. See if these noises were just a figment of their imagination. See and finally decide on what emotion they should be feeling.

What they thought could have been the worst was.

Edward was lying half naked on the bed, blindfolded, and probably traumatised. Why he wasn't moving made Lilia fearful. Her heart gave a painful thump and what was supposed to be his name came out in a squeak past her lips. She was just about to run to him when she heard the deafening shot of Havoc's very own gun, a star like flash emitting from the end of the barrel. The figure that she barely caught a glimpse of in the window then disappeared, falling out of their sights and toward the forsaken ground beneath.

Havoc ran toward the window to check if the person had met their fate down below. Lilia, on the other hand, ran toward Edward's side to see if he had met his fate from the person whom she wished did truly die.

She could see the rhythm of his chest moving up and down with his uneven breaths, and that in itself was a relief to see. It wasn't enough to calm her nerves and racing heart, though, since Edward still had not moved an inch in the time that Lilia had set eyes on him. He just lay there, unmoving, on his back and his arms to his sides. His head was slightly tilted, and even with the dim light she could see a dark spot forming on his cheek.

Lilia shook his shoulder, softly calling out to him. There was nothing, no reaction what-so-ever.

In the midst of attempting to calm her breathing, she reached out to remove the black cloth tied over his eyes, keeping him from seeing. Her eyes stung with oncoming tears, and her teeth bit hard down onto her bottom lip to keep herself from whimpering. With her shaking fingers, it was hard to untie the knot near the back of his head, let alone feel the floor beneath her feet. Everything to her felt numb, and that made it difficult to feel where the cloth overlapped. All she could hear were her desperate thoughts and the blood rushing in her ears. Thoughts and possible future events played through her mind, things like what would happen if he was paralyzed, or so wounded that she had to phone Alphonse. What would she say to him?

Lilia's breath caught in her throat when the cloth finally fell from his eyes. Gold stared back at her, eyes wide and pupils dilated in absolute terror. The golden orbs scanned over her face for a moment, which now had tears spilling out of her eyes and cascading down her cheeks. Swallowing back another sob, she forced a reassuring smile onto her face and stroked the young man's bangs out of his face. She saw his lips attempting to move, trying hard to form some sort of word, but all that happened was a small tremble. His eyelids slowly, slower than usual, closed more until how they would normally be. The pupils, however, remained dilated, and in the corner of his eyes Lilia could see tears gathering.

"Is he okay?" Havoc asked, making Lilia jump and shake out of her heart-wrenching thoughts. She hadn't noticed that he moved beside her just a few minutes ago.

Looking up at the Lieutenant, she nodded, "He'll be fine, he's only drugged. Mentally, though..." She shook her head quickly, talking over a whimper by asking, "W-What happened to...?"

She didn't need to finish her sentence for Havoc to understand what she was asking. Placing a hand on her shoulder, he frowned down at her, "I didn't see them. They should have landed just under the window, or at least a few inches away, but they weren't there. I'm sorry."

"I-It's fine. Maybe you should go phone M-Mustang..." She managed to choke out. There was no denying that her stomach just felt like it had dropped at Havoc's words, her heart stopping momentarily in shock and dread. They had gone to this extent already; there was no way to guess what they would do next.

Havoc hesitated for a moment before nodding slowly and exiting the room. Lilia turned back to Edward then, more tears spilling out of her eyes as a whimper finally breaks loose. Blinking repeatedly to try and clear her vision from the water blurring her sight, she stroked his bruising cheek gently.

"You have such rotten luck, you know that?" She wryly smiled, "Everything is just turning out to be a huge mess. It's like trouble follows you everywhere you go."

Lilia almost wanted to cry even harder at the irony of her own words. Trouble was following him everywhere he went; it has been following him for the last two years, watching everything that he did.

When Mustang had arrived on the scene along with Hughes, Hawkeye and the others, ready for anything, they were surprised to see Havoc with pained eyes and a sorrowful expression. All they had heard over the phone was that Edward had an encounter with the mysterious stalker, and that Havoc believed that the others should come check it out. Havoc figured there must have been clues around somewhere, especially where that person was supposed to be lying either wounded or dead.

Havoc led them down toward Edward's bedroom, where they could hear silent crying steadily getting louder. Inside they met a sight that had even shocked Hawkeye.

To see Edward Elric practically naked and unmoving on his own bed with silent tears sliding down his cheeks was a sight none had ever thought that they would see. Lilia was beside the bed, on her knees and crying into the sheets, all the while clutching Edward's hand though he was unable to hold it back. Edward's cheek was bruised and slightly swollen, with pupils dilated and eyelids half lidded. With his mouth slightly agape, it almost looked like the young man was dead, if it weren't for the steady rise and fall of his chest.

Mustang had pulled everyone back out of the room, demanding a better explanation from Havoc. He explained all that he could, starting with how Lilia and him came up to the apartment to see the lights turned off, right up until he found out that Edward was drugged and unable to move, at least for a few hours.

Lilia eventually came out to great them as well, wiping her eyes with her sweater's sleeve and still clad in her nurses uniform. Once asked about the situation, fresh tears fell from her already red eyes, but she managed to answer in the end. With her voice wavering, she explained to them that Edward was drugged from what she could see, and that he should be able to move again in probably an hour or maybe longer. He had fallen asleep recently, and that somebody should be with him at all times to make sure that he was alright. She suggested herself, and although Mustang was against it, Hughes let her be. Instead, the others took to examining the apartment for anything strange, and two others also investigated the ground beneath Edward's window. Inside, they really didn't find much or more like anything at all. Outside, however, Havoc and Breda found blood drops that soon became much easier to see in the rising sun.

Havoc had managed to hit the person, the only question is if he had hit them somewhere vital, or just skimmed them. From the amount of blood, Breda figured he had only managed to skim them.

Just as Lilia had figured, Edward ended up being able to move a few hours later. They were all in the living room, talking things over with Lilia on what they had found, when the young blonde suddenly came trudging out of the room, now dressed in a pair of black slacks and a t-shirt. A bandage was placed over the bruise on Edward's cheek, courtesy of Lilia in her attempt at trying to make it heal faster. Everything seemed normal enough about him, all except for how dark his eyes looked. It was like the man feared just stepping out of his room now.

Although reluctantly, they sat Edward down and stood or sat around him, interrogating him in the nicest yet firmest way they knew how. He almost appeared aggravated about how they were treating him, but he never spoke his disagreement. Secretly, he must have been thankful for their softer words then just outright demanding the whole explanation. Throughout the whole thing, Lilia sat beside him, holding his hand in support with him able to hold it back this time. Both of them looked sickly pale, with dark circles under both of their eyes, and their fingers shaking with the aftershock. They tried not to, knowing that Edward hated it, but each of them pitied the couple, knowing that they both must have been emotionally and mentally damaged by this situation, Edward more so than Lilia.

"Look, I don't know much. All I know is that this person drugged me in my sleep, and then tried to...rape me. I want them found."

His reply was simple enough, but still struck everyone in the living room. They all wanted this person found, so that this could all stop. Edward wouldn't be able to take much more; they could see that, no matter how strong the thick-headed midget tried to act. This was way out of his league, and he needed all the help that he could get.

Edward then told them about the phone call that he received before hand, looking down cast and regretful for not taking action just after this person had phoned him. Maybe then he wouldn't be this scarred. He could have gotten the protection he needed, and then maybe this person would be caught and out of his life.

Mustang and the rest left not long after, though they kept Havoc standing outside their door just in case the person decided to come for another visit. Edward locked the door after they exited, turning to look at Lilia. Immediately, the woman appeared in front of him, throwing her arms around his neck with her shoulders shaking as she tried not to burst into tears once more. Edward almost found himself wanting to throw her off and skitter into a corner, his skin crawling at the memory of being touched intimately but that psychopath. Instead, he forced his mind to calm, and wrapped his trembling arms around her small form, burying his face into her neck. She smelt of sickness and anaesthetics, but Edward couldn't have cared less. As long as it was Lilia, and she was safe, that was all that mattered.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Lilia asked, with her voice slightly muffled from being buried into his chest.

Avoiding the question, Edward tightened his grip and murmured, "Listen, Lilia... I want you to go stay with your mother for a while."

There was a pregnant silence, until Lilia pulled away to look up into Edward's face with furrowed brows, "What? Why?"

"I don't want you to get hurt-"

"Don't use that bullshit on me! The last time you wanted me safe, you ended up being in trouble!"

Edward flinched at her tone, recalling back to their phone call the night before. Still, Edward wanted her as far away from Central as possible, wanted her to be far away from the madness that was going on around them. Her mother lived out towards the East, near Resembool in a village that actually wasn't much larger than Resembool. Her mother moved there just after Lilia's father died, trying to get away from the "sickening air of the city" as she said, and thus moved out to a rural part of the country. As far they both knew, she was happy there, and it was definitely safer.

"Lilia, I don't want you to get involved in this anymore," Edward stated, voice strained under the disapproving sapphire gaze.

"If I leave, then something else might happen to you!"

"You don't know how dangerous this person might be! If you stay here, there's a chance that you'll die!" Edward blurted out, exclaiming it while inside his brain was warning him. Lilia looked away, bangs hanging over her face, still stubbornly trying to fight the truth.

"I don't want to leave you here by yourself..."

"But I'm not alone."

"Ed-"

"Lilia," Edward stated firmly, and he spotted her shoulders flinching a bit as he said it, "I swear to God if you aren't out of this apartment by tomorrow, I'll have Havoc drag you down to the train station himself. There's nothing you can do."

"Why...?"

"It'll be safer for you. The farther away you are from me, the safer you'll get. This person despises you. It won't be long before they come after you."

"I can't just leave you...!"

Lilia's hands came up to her face, clear liquid squeezing through the cracks in her fingers and sliding down the back of her hand. Edward reached out to touch her shoulder, and then hesitated, before just dropping his hand.

Softly, he spoke up once more, "It'll only be for a little while, I promise."

Edward hadn't slept at all, even after he knew that Havoc was standing outside his door. Thoughts continued to plague him with whatever he did, and all he could end up doing was sitting on the couch and just staring off into space like the dead person he felt like he was. Lilia stayed up with him for as long as she could, studying her medicine books beside him until she eventually fell asleep with her head rested on his shoulder. Again, the mere touch made his skin crawl, even though he should be feeling comfortable with her. She was one of the only good things that were with him throughout all this, and yet he still told her that she had to leave. He couldn't even comfort her like he should have when she was standing there, crying about what was coming out of their lives together. One hug took practically all his effort, and even that effort felt wasted after he realized that he felt no comfort coming from it.

Lilia's good-bye wasn't much different either. With a small bag packed with things she needed, she faced Edward and, noticing his distance, just smiled sadly and waved. Then she was gone, looking out the back window of the military issued vehicle as Hawkeye drove her toward the train station. Havoc led Edward in the opposite direction, driving him toward Headquarters so that the two could start on some more of the investigation. Meanwhile, Fuery was at the hospital to explain the situation in as much vague detail as possible, telling Lilia's co-workers that she wouldn't be in to work for a while because of a serious situation. Edward almost regretted not telling even Rachel the truth, knowing that Lilia and she were extremely close.

The office was quiet when Edward had entered, everyone's eyes (minus Hawkeye and Fuery) landed on him and watched his every move as he went over and sat on one of the couches. At first, they only questioned him on how he was feeling, and if he was still feeling up to helping on the investigation. No matter how much Edward just wanted to crawl under a rock and hide until this was all over, he nodded his head, and brought one of the folders toward himself. All he wanted was to find this person, and take them down once and for all.

Eventually, everyone in the office caught onto his drift and shut up about the situation that had happened just yesterday. True, Edward wasn't completely healed from it, they all knew that. He was constantly fidgeting and biting his lip, eyes looking up to look around the room and out the window to just be sure before going back to working. Mustang felt bad for even allowing the kid into the office, and Hughes felt badly for letting him even near the building. However, they needed him. He was the only one that could give them the best answers, and his opinions mattered a lot.

They did ask Edward questions about yesterday, but they were small and very rare. Whenever they came up, Edward would stay silent for a while, before finally opening his mouth and replying. Recalling the incident made his insides twist horribly, and he desperately wanted to forget it. No matter how he tried to distract himself from it, though, it always found another way to worm its way into his brain.

The work was hard to concentrate on, Edward found, since every moment of looking through those pictures of dead women and trying to think up the identity of this psychopath made him want to just hide in a corner. The pictures were gruesome most of the time, and there was very few that weren't mangled in some twisted way. Females from the ages of four to seventy, dead, all because the connected to Edward in some way. You could tell there was anger behind the killings, judging from the wounds that were found among the body. There was even one that was stabbed so much that the intestines had fallen out and were splayed across the cement ground in which they laid on. It was horrible.

Finding the identity of the person was even harder. Edward had met multiple people throughout his travels of Amestris, and trying to remember each and every one of them was hard. Each person was just a blur in the past, like a faded photograph found in the attic. You'd need a name on the back of the picture to be able to identify them, but just recalling a person's face was hard let alone remembering a name.

Files upon files were stacked up among the coffee table, each person picked out especially in hopes that Edward had known them somehow. They were chosen by looking back upon Edward's travels and the specific places that he had gone. If he had gone to East City, they would pick out every file that they had on every person living there. If he had gone to New Optain, then they would find every name and photo of its residences. There were so many people littered about the office that Edward couldn't tell any of them apart anymore.

He came so close to wanting to give up, but even then he just couldn't find the will to just throw down these files and go home. The thoughts of all the people that had died because of him would haunt him. To know that this person was still out there would torment him for the rest of his days, unless he knows for sure that they are either dead or in the most protected cell that could make the military give them. Unless he's right there, watching as this person is cuffed or bleeding excessively from some sort of wound, then he won't be satisfied.

Lilia blew out a loud breath, closing the door behind her to lock out the cold October air behind her. She rubbed her hands together in a fruitless attempt to stay warm with her sapphire eyes looking around the apartment she had only recently left. Yes, Riza had dropped her off at the train station, expecting the younger woman to load onto the first train that pulled into the station. Hawkeye must have believed that she would have been safe on her own (or that Lilia's begging to leave finally pestered her enough to do so) because the Lieutenant left not long after dropping her off. There were many groups of people around, so Lilia figured she would have been safe if that person decided to show up. She would have been safe if she hadn't of forgotten her wallet at home in her rush out of the awkward tension growing between Edward and her.

Lilia dropped her bag to the floor, kicking off her shoes until she got back to the door. Her thoughts trailed back to last night, remembering everything from the gunshot to the moment she had gotten a complete look at Edward's condition. Those eyes still haunted her, that horror stricken expression that just struck her so hard. It was like a punch to the face by an auto-mail fist, a blow that's so completely unfair and horrible to experience that you just want to forget it.

Sighing, she ran a pale hand through her dark hair, stopping at her bedroom entrance to open the door. She stopped suddenly, freezing in place as she heard the sound of something moving inside. That was odd. Edward had left just after she had been given a ride to the train station, meaning that nobody should be home. However, there was no mistaking it; there was movement inside their bedroom.

Gulping, Lilia gripped the doorknob tightly and slowly opened the door a bit. She peered into the bedroom as much as she could, heart stopping in chilling fear when her eyes spotted a figure inside. Her eyes widened, examining the back of this person standing in front of their bed. The person looked as if they were wearing one of Edward's button-up shirts, which was much larger on their slightly smaller frame. Their bare legs were in plain sight, and their hands pulled the collar of the shirt up closer to their face so they could breathe in the scent that was most likely Edward's very own. What must have been their very own clothes sat in a pile nearby, dark and baggy, and looked like they had a dark stain on a part of the shirt.

Lilia covered her mouth to keep from gasping out loud, heart thumping in a fearful realization. This must have been the person that had been stalking Edward; this was the person that caused him to go through that horrible experience the night before.

Quietly, Lilia began to shut the door. Stopping just before the door made the click to signify that it was closed, she left it be and began to tip-toe down the hall. She got to the phone, and after quickly placing it to her ear, she dialled the number to HQ. She kept a wary eye on the entrance to the bedroom, and listened to not only the repetitive ringing but to the sounds coming from beyond the white door. There weren't many, so she thought that they hadn't moved from their spot, when her attention got pulled back to her call.

Unbeknownst to her, she wasn't unheard.

Edward found himself laying on one of the couches in his own office after a few hours of research, having been forced by Hughes to go take a break. They were all worried about him, Edward had figured, and after much thinking he couldn't come up with anything that could make them not be. Through the last few days, he had been facing a form of torture that he never once thought he would face. He had wished for his life to be more interesting, and this was what he got? It was practically the complete opposite of what he wanted.

Groaning, he rolled onto his side. His eyelids were heavy and just threatening to fall, but still he couldn't find it in himself to doze off. Even with military members all around HQ, he didn't feel safe. He probably never would be again; he would head to bed to only find himself wrought with terror about some unknown person watching his every move. To know that you have been watched for practically two years, wouldn't you feel paranoid for the rest of your life that you were still being watched?

Cutting through the silence was the shrill ring of the phone, making Edward jump out of his deep thoughts. He sighed, getting up and moving over to his desk to pick the phone off its cradle before it made him deaf from its cry. Murmuring a very dull greeting, he stared out the nearby window, listening to one of the secretaries from the front desk reply to his greeting.

"There's a phone call coming in for you from an outside line. Should I let it through?"

"Yes, thank-you," Edward responded, rubbing his forehead and eyes to try and rid himself of his exhausted state.

Still, even in his tired state, something didn't make sense. Something about this whole situation didn't feel right. Lilia would be on a train right now, so she wouldn't be able to call him. Everyone he worked with was in the exact same room he had left not even ten minutes ago, and he was pretty sure that they hadn't left yet. Alphonse or Winry wouldn't call unless something had happened to one of them or Granny. So this situation was just unnerving, something that Edward didn't trust in the back of his mind.

There was a small click as the line was patched through, and at that sound he said a quiet hello. He attempted at keeping his voice even so that whoever it was on the other end wouldn't suspect anything portraying to how nervous he actually was. If anyone was in the same room as him, they would probably notice right away that he was shaking.

The voice on the other end made his heart leap into his throat, and then fall to the very bottom of his stomach. His knees buckled, but he kept his stance, both hands now gripping the phone in an iron grip.

"Lilia! Where are you? I thought you were supposed to be on a train by now!"

"I was, but that's not important right now. Ed, you have to get to the apartment, now. They're here," Lilia's voice was extremely quiet, spoken out in a low whisper. Edward had to strain to hear her, what with his pounding heart and blood rushing in his ears.

"What do you mean? Who's there?" He asked nervously, dreading what she was going to say next. If she had known that whoever was at their apartment, then she must have been there herself not too long ago.

"The psychopath who-"

Her words strangle off with a loud clatter, followed by a resounding thump. Lilia's voice screamed out in pain, a deafening sound that made Edward's eardrums ring, but also made him strain to hear more.

"Get off of me!"

"You little bitch! How dare you come back here!"

More clatters and the sounds of fighting, the phone probably long forgotten and left to hang there as the two fought. Edward was terrified to listen to this, hearing the exact situation in which he tried to prevent. And what was he doing about it? Nothing. He was just standing there, listening to the other end of the phone in such frozen horror that he just couldn't do anything.

Silence came from the other end suddenly, a sound that left his heart frozen dead in its beats. There was absolutely no sound what-so-ever, from either of the two that were on the other end. Their fight was brought to silence with one particularly loud thump. Somehow, this silence was also able to bring Edward's voice back, his fear so intense that all he could think about was action, acting on his impulses and adrenaline to figure out the situation and bring it to a stop.

"Lilia? Lilia! Lilia! LILIA!"

Her name was like a mantra, repeated over and over until he finally heard some sort of movement. There were footsteps, gradually getting louder as they moved toward the most likely hanging phone. Edward was torn in two; he wasn't sure if he should have been feeling relieved or just worried. One set of footsteps could have meant anything, good or bad.

The voice he heard wasn't the one he wanted.

"What's your God going to do now Edward?"

CLICK.