Hello, Fullmetalfan here! I am soooooo sorry it took this long to get this chapter up. I guess that I have terrible physic powers because I said that I'd get this chapter up quickly, which didn't really happen… Anyway, here's the third chapter, which is my longest one yet. I'm proud of it, but it took forever to write! Oh well, at least its done now! Oh, and hey, just as an update, I've decided to make this mainly a RoyxRiza story. Sorry to all of the EdxWinry fans out there. They'll still be in my story, but they just won't be main characters.

Now I'd like to thank all of the new people who reviewed my last chapter! Thanks to ZRBxSTITCHES, FruitsBasketFreak44, Cles, LuciousLadyLucius, Patience Halliwell, and C.A.M.E.O.1 and Only for the new reviews! You guys are great! Also, I'd like to send a special thanks to Fuhrer Allie and The New Fullmetal Alchemist for your continuing support!

Disclaimer- I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist and I never will…I think everybody should know this by now. Unless in some freak-accident I switch bodies with Hiromu Arakawa…and then I would own FMA! That would be cool. Yeah.

The Alchemist Games

Chapter 3: Kidnapped!

That night, Roy and Riza walked into the restaurant. The place wasn't anything fancy, but it was lit by candlelight and had a dance floor. The hostess seated the two into a comfy booth near the stage where the band would play when the dance floor opened. She gave the two their menus, and left them to ponder about what to eat. However, before she left, she made a special effort to be extra nice to the Colonel by winking at him when listing the wine selection, and rubbing his shoulder. Roy acted like he didn't notice, but Riza sure did.

'Ok, this is just messed up.' Riza thought. 'It's obvious to see that we're on a date, and the Colonel is still getting hit on. I knew he was a playboy, but WOW. Geez. Wait, did I just call this a date? No Riza, bad Riza; you can't do that. Remember, this is just a work dinner, nothing romantic. Just work. You have to be the sensible one here, because God knows that Roy won't be.'

The two decided against calling their dinner a 'date,' because Riza wasn't comfortable with the word (this was much to Roy's disappointment.). Not to mention, as Riza clearly pointed out, that dating co-workers was against military conduct. So, the two decided that this was just a dinner to discuss work matters. It was also Roy's way of apologizing to Riza for always making her stay late to make sure he finished his work.

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Two and a half hours after they had arrived, Roy and Riza were now deep into conversation. Even though this was supposed to be a work dinner, so far they had hardly talked about work at all. Roy was surprised at how relaxed Riza was tonight. Right now she was explaining something about training Black Hayate.

While Riza was talking, Roy took the opportunity to gaze at her. Riza had let her hair down, which was unusual to see. Because of the atmosphere of the restaurant, Roy had convinced Riza to dress up. While he was wearing a pair of black dress pants and a dark-blue button-up shirt, she had worn a light-blue sundress with a tightly knitted white button-down sweater, just in case she got chilly. Roy hadn't had expected her to look so pretty. He was expecting her to just wear a blouse- and maybe a skirt (if he was lucky,), but when he went to pick her up, he had gasped at the sight of her when she opened the door. Riza immediately yelled in defense (while blushing,) that this was the only fancy thing she had that wasn't at the cleaners, and threatened to pull out her gun if he wouldn't stop gaping.

Even though Roy wouldn't say it to her face for fear of her temper, he thought that Riza looked drop-dead gorgeous tonight. 'She looks beautiful tonight. I mean, I've seen her in dresses before at military banquets, but tonight she's simply glowing. And that dress fits her so nicely…When I become Fuhrer, I really need to change the dress code. Riza really has nice legs, and she'd look great in a miniskirt…Wait, WHAT! What am I thinking? I don't usually think about her like this…what's going on with me?' he thought.

All of a sudden, music slowly drifted down from the stage and wafted across the room, indicating that the dance floor was now open.

Roy immediately snapped back to reality and jumped up.

"Come on Riza, let's dance."

"Sir, I thought this was just supposed to be a work dinner. If anyone saw us, then they might get the wrong idea." Riza said with one eyebrow raised.

"Riza, after work I'm not 'Sir', I'm just Roy. And if that's the case, then we just won't let anyone see us!" Roy replied, flashing his trademark smirk. "Also, if you haven't noticed, for being a work dinner, we haven't talked about one work-related thing yet." he said, tugging on her arm.

"That's not true. You mentioned that the Lt. Colonel was coming back tomorrow from the East. That's work related." Riza stated maturely.

"Look, now you're being difficult." Roy said, smiling teasingly at her. He was having fun.

Crossing her arms, Riza spoke. "So? One of us has to be."

"Alright, fine! You wanna do this the hard way? Then we'll do this the hard way." Roy said, jumping around her and grabbing her purse. Immediately turning his back and walking towards the dance floor, Roy opened the purse and began going through it.

"Okay, now let's see what we have in here…"

Riza immediately jumped out of her seat. "Roy Mustang, give that back!" she yelled.

Roy laughed. Throwing the purse back into the booth, he grabbed Riza's hand and dragged her to the dance floor.

"Sir, please, I'm really not a good dancer-"

"I told you, after work I'm not 'Sir', I'm Roy. And it's no big deal, I'll teach you. You're going to dance, that's an order. It's rare to see you so dolled up, and I want to see you move a bit." Roy said slyly.

"Roy, watch it!" Riza said angrily, shocked at what he had just said.

Even though Roy knew she was pissed, he couldn't help but notice that she was blushing as well.

"Sorry, I was just having a bit of fun." he said, sheepishly smiling at her.

Riza opened her mouth to object, but after mouthing a few silent words, she decided not to.

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On the dance floor, Roy and Riza took their places. Roy took Riza's hands and began to show her some moves and steps that coordinated with the music. The music being played was a swing tune, so Roy decided to show her how to spin. He chuckled to himself. It was funny to see the woman who was always so calm at work suddenly be so flustered.

Roy spun Riza out, still holding onto her hand. She began to spin back into him, just as they had been practicing. Suddenly, Roy's impulses took over. Being the man that he was, he instinctively pulled a playboy move that he had done on so many other women, on so many other dates before. This was one of his flirting routines. As Riza spun back into him, he wrapped one arm around her shoulders and with the other…grabbed her butt.

'Shit…' he thought, just realizing what he had just done.

Quick as a flash, Riza pulled out a gun from a leg holister under her dress and had it under his chin. How could he be so stupid? He should have remembered that she wasn't just another woman. This was Riza, his hard-core First Lt., and there were bound to be consequences.

"Watch your hands Roy!" Riza yelled, clicking the safety off her gun.

"I'm sorry, it was an accident!" Roy replied in his defense, now raising his hands over his head.

"No, an accident is my finger slipping on the trigger!" Riza yelled sternly.

"Aw, come on. You wouldn't kill me in this lovely restaurant, now would you?" Roy asked, smirking at her while his hands were still raised above his head.

Riza shoved the gun deeper into his chin, as if to say 'yes, I would,' but then she did something totally unexpected. Lowering her gun, she took a step back and then slapped Roy in the face. Putting her gun back into her leg holster, Roy stood there on the dance floor, dumbstruck. He was expecting a gunshot, a kick to the ribs, or something else that was equally painful. But a slap to the face? Totally out of the blue.

Riza then turned on her heel and began walking back to the table.

Snapping back to reality, Roy chased after her.

"Hawkeye, Hawkeye, wait! Riza, I'm sorry!" Roy said, finally catching up to her. He knew he shouldn't have done that. Pulling a stunt like that on Riza was a no-no. "Riza, I'm sorry, I didn't mean it. I won't-"

"Roy, I'm not just another woman you can flirt with and then take home." Riza said angrily. She knew how Roy acted around women. She also knew that he saw dating as a game and didn't respect how women felt about him. With eyes aflame, she continued. "We've known each other long enough now that you should know that."

"Riza, I'm really sorry. I didn't have any intention of doing anything like that." he said, taking her hand. "It was just a reflex-"

"Which it shouldn't be!"

Roy cringed when she yelled. He knew that Riza was right. "I wasn't thinking. Honestly, we've been through so much together. You're my best friend, my right hand woman, my…uh…conscience, which I'd be dead without. I was just goofing. I'd never do that to you." Roy said sincerely.

Riza looked at him, glaring. But when she did, her anger instantly melted. Roy had the sincerest and caring look on his face. And if she didn't believe what was written on his face, everything was said in his eyes. He really meant what he just said. Riza was about to reply, but was cut off as the band began playing the next song. It was a slow-pace one.

Roy grabbed Riza's other hand and looked deep into her amber eyes.

"I'm really sorry. One more dance. Please?" he asked smiling at her.

'Out of all the years that I've known him, this is the first time I've ever seen Roy like this. There's no smirk, no suspicious twinkle in his eyes, no mask….' Riza thought.

She sighed. "Oh, alright."

They made their way back to the dance floor and took the traditional slow-dance pose. (boys' hands on the girls' hips and the girls' hands around the boys' shoulders.) As the music played, they began to sway slowly.

Minutes of silence echoed between the two as they listened to the music. Roy moved to look at Riza. The way the dim light reflected off her sandy-blond hair, the way that dress fit her so nicely…she was beautiful in mind, body and spirit. Why hadn't he ever felt this way about her?

'God, I was such an ass to think I could do something like that... How could it not offend her? I know Riza better than that.' Roy thought, mentally scolding himself. 'I guess I really do think of woman as objects if I was stupid enough to do that to Riza.'

Moving his head closer to her ear, Roy whispered to her. "Riza, I'm really, really sorry for what I did earlier. I was being stupid and immature."

Riza mentally agreed. 'That's right, you were.' she thought. But even as she thought that, she knew she couldn't stay mad at him. Riza had known Roy long enough to know that he meant what he had said.

"It's okay. I forgive you, just don't do it again, Or else you'll have more to worry about than a slap in the face." Riza said, smiling up at him.

Roy looked at her smile and his stomach flipped. That's when he knew. He never had butterflies around other women. He never really wanted to get to know them. And he never gazed at them like he did at Riza. 'Could I be in love with Riza Hawkeye?'

Smiling back at her, they returned to holding each other, and danced the rest of the night away.

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Two and a half weeks later, Roy was still on cloud nine. In fact, he was in such a good mood that it was seriously freaking everyone out. Over the course of 18 days since the 'date', Roy had surprised everyone by coming into work early, actually doing his paper work, cleaning the office, and even, volunteering to look at Hughes' new pictures of his daughter Elicia.

"Dude, what's up with the Chief?" Havoc asked, glancing at the Colonel, who had just happily skipped into the room carrying a larger handful of uncompleted paperwork.

"I don't know…He's been acting like this ever since his date with the First Lt." replied Breda, who was standing in front of the desk next to Havoc.

"Do you think something happened?" Havoc asked again, taking a cigarette out of his pocket and lighting it.

Fuery, who was previously filing some papers, chimed into the conversation. "I don't think so," he said. "The First Lt. seems just as freaked out about Mustang's mood swing as we do."

Just then, Hawkeye and Falman walked in, carrying some papers. Hawkeye was sighed, obviously tired.

"Sir, wait up…" she said with exhaustion in her voice.

As she stepped in, Havoc decided to risk getting shot to solve the mystery of Mustang's mood swing.

"Hawkeye, any idea of what's gotten into the Colonel? Did something happen on your date?" he asked with eagerness. Havoc was hoping for some gossip.

"No, I don't know why he's acting like this. And it wasn't a date Havoc." Riza replied, glaring at him.

What Riza had told Havoc was true. She really didn't know what had gotten into Roy. When she had spare time, she occasionally wondered if he was acting happy because of their get-together. True, it was a fun night, more fun then she had had in a long time, but Riza didn't think that anything significant had happened to make him act this way. 'Though,' she thought, 'he has been making an effort to actually dohis work and help me out…in fact, it's almost like he's stalking me. Maybe what I said had some effect on him. I mean, he never does his work. Maybe he just wants to make up for what he did, and in the process, realized that he enjoys working… Nah, what am I saying? This is the Colonel after all.'

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Late that night, inside an abandoned warehouse, Kaese met with his men.

Sitting in a chair and leaning over a table, he glanced over various reports passed to him. Kaese expressed no emotion. His men had been in and out of their hideout all day, working to finish making preparations. It had been a little over two weeks since their group had sent out the invitations, and now they were organizing the replies that were sent back. Lust was right; so far about 95 of the State Alchemists had responded to the invitation, eager to find out when and where they could win the prize money. There were only a few who didn't seem interested. These alchemists would be the ones that Kaese was looking forward to meeting. These would be the smartest dogs of the pack, and would have to be dealt with on a whole separate plain.

As he finished reading what he thought was the last report, another one of his correspondents ran into the room, panting and carrying a sheet of paper.

"Sir, here's the last report." he said, handing him the paper.

Taking the report, he grunted, "So these are the Alchemists from Central? Hmmm….Interesting…."

Skimming the list of names, he immediately stopped at two of the "Dogs" who didn't respond. "Well, well, well…Looks like Miss Lust was right about these two. Colonel Roy Mustang and Edward Elric; known as the Flame Alchemist and the Fullmetal Alchemist. These are the two that she had warned us about, as well as took a particular interest in."

Turning to the man sitting next to him at the table, Kaese ordered, "Isaac, I want you to follow them. Lust said that these two had to attend. Find a way to get them to come. Blackmail, bribery- just do anything to bring them here. Physical threats won't work on them. These men won't fear pain like the rest. After all, one of these guys is Roy Mustang, hero of the Ishbalan War." he said, spitting on the ground. He was especially looking forward to meeting Roy. "You'll have to find a weakness of some kind. Get creative if you have too." he finished.

"Yes Sir. I'll get on the train to Central with the boys tomorrow."

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Two days later at the office, Roy was still in a good mood. Sitting at his desk, humming to himself, he stretched. He was on a roll; he had finished every stack of paperwork that Riza had handed to him so far. Taking a few moments to relax, he went through the few previous days events.

He realized how much free time he now had because his work was done. He now had time to eat lunch in the court yard, go home early, and even run errands with all the free time that wasn't spent doing his work. Of course, this was all because of one thing- or really, one person; Riza.

Riza walked in, instantly surprised that Roy was, once again, done with his work.

"Colonel, this is amazing! What's gotten into you? Not once have I had to take out my gun to get you to do your work." she said, surprised but calm as well.

"Ah, nothing really." he replied coolly. "I've just discovered something that's been a weight on my shoulders for a long time. And now I know how to deal with it." he said, looking at her and grinning.

Riza cocked an eyebrow at him. "Okay….Well, either way, you can go home now." she said, looking a little disappointed. "That was the last stack of paperwork you had to do, Sir. I have to say, this is so strange. My nights usually revolve around the office, trying to force you to get your stuff done. I guess because you're done, I'm now done too."

Walking over to his desk, she said, "I guess I'll turn in these papers for you." Smiling at him, she also added, "Colonel, I don't know what you discovered, but either way, I'm proud of you."

'Aw,' Roy thought, 'she's proud of me. I guess doing my paper work has its benefits. But wait, I don't want to leave early! I just wanted to get my work done so Riza would be happy. Damn! Now because I actually worked, Riza doesn't have an excuse to stay here in the office. All I wanted to do is spend extra time with her. Hmmm….maybe I can change that.'

As Riza was gathering up the papers, Roy stood up.

"Wait! Not so fast Hawkeye!" Roy said, surprised at his own sudden outburst. 'What am I doing?' he thought.

"Sir?" Riza asked, with one eyebrow raised.

Roy looked around. He realized that he really wanted to stay with her. It had been fun following her all around the office today, and he didn't want it to end. Suddenly, Roy had an idea. It was childish, but it just might work. Reaching up, he reached behind her head and pulled out her barrette that held her hair up.

"Sir, what are you doing!" Riza asked, alarmed. Dropping the papers, she began fumbling with her long hair which had come cascading down out of the barrette.

Grabbing her jacket to stop her, Roy laughed. "Riza don't, it's much better like that." he said teasingly.

Riza immediately blushed, which she hadn't meant to do. 'Did I just blush? Why did I just blush? Okay, just look away. I can't let him see, or else Roy will tease me for the rest of the week about this. Why am I doing this now? This usually doesn't happen, especially in situations like this!'

"Sir, that's not very funny. It's my decision as to what's better." she said, obviously flustered. She jerked away from his grasp, and looking down at the floor to hide her red face, busied herself with her hair. Roy noticed that she didn't put it back up, but she did move it out of her face.

Roy laughed again. He was having fun messing with his First Lieutenant. Usually he would have been scared of her, but she seemed less intimidating with her hair down.

Changing the subject while Riza regained her composure, Roy asked, "Did you drive here?"

"No Sir, I walked here today." she replied, still trying to hide the blush.

Roy suddenly became very macho like. "Then as a man, as well as your superior officer, it's my duty to escort you home." he said, striking a pose like Armstrong would.

Riza snorted as she tried to cover up her laugh. "Sir, what's the matter with you? You've been acting strange for the past two weeks. When I slapped you, I hope I didn't rattle your brains."

"Oh no, I'm not crazy or anything. Like I said, I just realized something that I had bottled up for a long time." he replied. 'Yeah, like that I think I'm in love with you.' he thought. Ever since the date/work dinner, Riza had been the only thing on Roy's mind. He now accompanied her wherever she went, talking to her about her past, things she liked, and now he wanted to top it all off by walking her home.

She eyed him suspiciously. 'I wonder what he realized…' she thought. 'He's never asked to walk home with me before, and he knows I can protect myself. I guess I wouldn't mind the company though.' Giving in, Riza said, "Okay, let's go."

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On the way home, the two talked constantly, telling each other funny stories about when they were training in the military.

"After that, we couldn't eat in the mess hall for weeks!" exclaimed Roy, laughing at the memory.

It had taken them much longer to get to Riza's home than it normally would have. It was dark now. Roy had insisted on taking a 'short cut' through the park to see the changing color of the leaves.

Now at her doorstep, Roy had just said something to make Riza laugh. 'God she's pretty when she smiles.' he thought. Unknowingly, Roy blushed. He didn't realize that he was until Riza put her hand on his forehead with a concerned look in her eyes.

"Are you okay Sir? You're all flushed." Riza asked.

Taken by surprise, Roy replied, "Yes, I'm alright. And I told you; after work I'm not 'Sir', I'm just Roy." He grabbed and held her hands and looked into her eyes.

Roy smiled when Riza blushed and looked down. It seemed that she was doing this a lot lately…

"Listen, Riza…I'm sorry again for what happened on our dinner date."

It was now or never. Roy was convinced that he was falling for Riza. He had been thinking all about it on the way to her house. But first, he needed to test one thing.

"It wasn't a dinner da-"

"I'm sorry about then, but I need to know something. For the past two weeks it's all I've been able to think about. I'm not sorry for what I'm about to do now because I really mean it." he said.

Before Riza could say anything, he bent down and kissed her on the lips. For a moment, the two stood still, embraced and lip-locked as the world spun around them. Roy bashfully pulled away, blushing. Now he knew. That kiss had so much feeling to it, as though the world could have melted around them. Roy had dated a lot of women before, and had always kissed them, but none of those kisses had felt like this. He usually was cool and collected about such things, but not now. Now he felt like a boy going out on his first date. And now he knew that his suspicions were true. He was in love with his First Lieutenant. But how did Riza feel about him?

Pulling away slowly, Riza looked down at the ground, blushing ten shades of red. She was about to look up, when they were interrupted by Hayate's barking. They both jumped.

"I guess that's my cue to go." Riza said quickly. She reached down to her pocket and Roy flinched, expecting her gun to come flying out. However, all she did was pull out her house keys.

Opening the door, Riza quickly jumped inside. After turning around and staring at each other with sparks flying in the air, Riza finally spoke. "Roy…Did you-"

Roy quickly cut her off. "I'm sorry, I...I don't know what came over me. It's just that since the dinner…"

She looked up and smiled at him. "It's okay. Just don't tell anybody at work." she said shyly.

A few moments of silence danced between the two before Riza spoke again. "I had a fun time walking with you today."

Roy grinned shyly. "Yeah, me too." Lifting an arm and scratching the back of his head, he asked, "Can I expect that you won't drive again tomorrow? You'll definitely need my protection again if you do." he smirked at her.

Riza chuckled. "Yeah, because everyone knows that I don't carry four guns with me at all times." she said sarcastically, chuckling. "I would like that."

"Great! I'll be sure to get all of my paperwork done early so we can walk through the park again. I hear that there's going to be a band playing in the gazebo tomorrow."

The two chuckled some more.

"Good night Roy." Riza said, closing the door. But before she did, Riza stepped back out and walked towards Roy. She then stood up on the tips of her toes and kissed him on the cheek.

"Good night Riza." He said softly, smiling and rubbing his cheek before she closed the door.

Roy stood on her stoop for a few more moments shocked, before turning down the street. As he began walking, he started to hum a tune and added a little bounce to his step. Roy was giddy. He was in love –truly in love– and it seemed that Riza had felt the same way. 'Whatever,' he thought. 'Either way, I just kissed my First Lt. and lived to tell the tale! This is kind of strange. We've been friends for years, and just now we're becoming more than just friends. I guess it would only seem natural, but I'm not used to this feeling.'

Now skipping down the street, Roy was also snapping his fingers and making little fireworks as he walked. He was on cloud nine.

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When all the flames had gone out and Roy had left, the street was quiet and empty. Or so it seemed. Out of the shadows, a man stepped out. It was Isaac, the man who Kaese had sent to Central to follow Roy and Ed. He was grinning maliciously. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a walkie-talkie. He flicked on its switch.

"I think I've found a weak spot."

> > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >

Riza and Roy had been taking regular walks after work now. True, it had been only three days since 'the kiss,' but it felt like weeks. Roy now followed Riza everywhere she went, and she did the same for him, which wasn't too unusual. She always followed him to make sure he got his work done. They hadn't spoken about what took place on her doorstep because it was just too deep for words. She didn't know if the other members of their group had noticed a change yet. If they were caught together like this, then they both could get in serious trouble.

Riza had just closed the door as Roy walked down the street. She leaned back against it, listening to his footsteps fade into the night. He hadn't tried to kiss her again. She suspected that he didn't want to press his luck. Riza knew that what had happened between them shouldn't have taken place. But when he kissed her…there was something unspeakable there behind it. She was now in love with Roy. Or rather, had always had been and just denied it.

Walking into the kitchen, Riza put down her bag and abruptly stopped. Something was wrong. She may have been feeling giddy about walking with the Colonel, but she wasn't as distracted as to not to keep a cool head. Where was Hayate? He was always running to the door when she came home, even if it was late. Quietly walking into the living room, she abruptly stopped when she saw him sprawled on the floor with a fuzzy dart sticking out of his butt. Someone had drugged him.

Something sounded behind her from the closet. Whirling around, she grabbed her gun and pointed it at a man who jumped out of the closet. Immediately shooting two bullets at her attacker, one hit the man in the shoulder and one shattered the lamp behind him. Yet, he continued to charge at her, waving a bat, despite that he was heavily spraying blood all over the floor.

Aiming at him again, more crashes sounded behind her. Spinning on her heel, she saw three more men jump out from behind furniture and other hiding spots. Remembering her original attacker, she spun around and dodged a blow from his bat while kicking him in the stomach. This sent him flying towards her other attackers.

"You'll pay for that, you wench." one of the men said, spitting on the ground.

Isaac now spoke. "Why don't you come with us, First Lieutenant Hawkeye? We don't want to hurt you. You see, we have orders to bring you to our boss. He's very curious to meet you. Let's make this easy, shall we?"

'Who are these men? What do they want from me?' Riza quickly thought.

"Why do you need me?" she asked, pulling up her gun.

The four men laughed. The man who Riza had shot, now holding his limp arm, answered her question. "We sent a letter a few weeks ago to your good buddy Roy Mustang. We noticed that he wasn't interested. That made our boss very angry. So, we've decided to send him another invitation. This time, there'll be more at stake than prize money for him."

Riza thought quickly, remembering the Alchemist Games invitation. So these were the guys who sent it! It was a trap after all. And now they wanted to use her has a hostage to get Roy to come. What was their real plan? Riza decided not to think about that now. Either way, she wasn't going to let them take her to use against Roy.

Pulling out a second gun, she aimed it at two of the men and shot, peppering bullets into the wall. One of the men, expecting this, dodged her bullets and charged at her. The other wasn't so lucky. A few of the bullets hit him right in the chest. He collapsed, dead.

"Leave it to Mustang to have a girlfriend that knows how to fight! Looks like we're going to have to do this the hard way!" Isaac yelled, laughing at the same time.

The man who dodged her bullets ran at her, baring his teeth while swinging a pipe at her. She dropped one of her guns and caught the pipe in her hand. Losing her balance, he pushed her back until she was cornered against the wall, still holding onto the pipe.

The man, who she could now see was Ishbalan, pressed his face close to hers. "You know, you're very pretty. It's too bad you're a Dog of the Military. However, the military isn't the place for a woman."

Regaining composure, she turned her gun to his stomach. Quickly noticing this, he bumped her wrist as she shot, making the bullet graze his side.

The man howled in pain and stepped back far enough to give Riza room to escape. As she wriggled aside, the two other men greeted her. The one who she had shot earlier ran at her and grabbed her waist, tackling her to the floor.

They both fell, and Riza lost hold of her gun. It skid just out of her reach, and the other rebel kicked it under the couch. She was weaponless.

Rolling away, she jumped up, only to find that the man she had grazed in the stomach grabbed her and wrapped an arm around her neck. "Aw, come on. We're really nice guys. You should be a better hostess."

Elbowing him in the ribs, he let go of her and Riza ran towards where she dropped her first gun. Isaac foresaw this and got to it before she could. He bent down and picked it up before she could reach it. Pointing it at her, Riza stopped dead in her tracks.

"You really like these toys don't you?" Isaac said, looking at the military-style gun. He began looking at it curiously, pretending he had dropped his guard and was distracted.

Riza took the bait and charged at him, yelling. Unfortunately, Isaac was saw this was coming. As she charged at him, he dodged Riza and countered her attack by punching her in the ribs. Riza, winded, kneeling on the floor, clutching her stomach.

"I told you, we didn't have to do this the hard way…" Isaac said, signaling to the man with the stomach wound to grab hold of Riza.

The man walked over, clutching his side, and then put Riza in a chokehold.

While she was struggling to get free, the man who had punched her walked over to her coffee table where they had left a bag. Reaching into it, he took out a clear bottle and a syringe.

"Don't worry. This will only make you take a little nap. It won't hurt."

Riza continued to struggle against the man's grip, but he had a good chokehold on her neck. She was beginning to see spots and get dizzy. The man walked over, holding the syringe, and grinned.

"Nighty-night princess." He maliciously grinned, jamming the needle into left her shoulder.

Riza swayed on the spot. Her eyes went out of focus and she then fell unconscious. Isaac, who gave her the drug, threw her limp body over his shoulder.

The three men quickly walked out of the house with Riza and the man she had killed slung over their shoulders. They had to get out of there quickly; somebody would have noticed by now and would have called the local guards.

Before the man carrying Riza left the house, he turned around and took a crumpled-up piece of paper out of his pocket, throwing it on the floor. Grinning, he turned and left with others, having the blanket of night to cover their escape with their hostage in hand.

Dun-dun-done! Hah, a cliff-hanger! Sort of…

So, what did you think? This is the first time I've EVER written romance, let alone any story, so sorry if it seemed a little strange. But hey, I'm trying. Also, I couldn't help but laugh when writing the kidnapping scene. Fuhrer Allie was helping with writing parts of it and editing, and pointed out this question; "Who the hell uses a pipe to attack someone who has multiple guns?"

I had to agree with her, but if I had put in guns, then the fight would have been over too soon, and as Fuhrer Allie stated, itwould be "a big-ass mess to clean up".

Anyway, if you have comments or suggestions, then send your reviews! I love reviews! Just don't flame me. I'm afraid of fire…Seriously. In science class last year, I had to conquer my fear of matches for lighting the bunsen burners.

Thanks for reading!

-Fullmetalfan