So yes, the writer's block has lifted and I will be updating more readily...hopefully.

The way I started looking at this fic, and realized it's time for a new season, so to speak. So it's the new arc that opened with Clause.

!!!Refresher!!!

Clause stopped taking her medication again, dreading the side effect of acne
tarnishing her image. She goes out one evening and finds herself in a bad situation.
After being the victim of rape, Clause's personality slumps back into it's
normal, 'I'm a bitch to the world' mode.

After telling the entire cheerleading squad that Riza was gay, she really
put her spot on the team on the line. Things were patched up with
Riza, but it was at this point that Winry began to question
the whole situation and wonder why Clause didn't want to
press charges against the assailant.

Episode 35 - Discovery

Winry sat at the end of her friend's bed and swung her feet back and forth. She wondered where the tape was.

After many hours of begging, Winry finally convinced Clause to at least get the security camera and see who it was that violated her. Clause said she got it, watched it and said the guy had his back turned the whole time, so it was useless. 'Are you sure? Let me take a look.' Was Winry's request, but it was met with an 'I'm too embarrassed.' excuse.

The thought had crossed her mind many times, but now that the tape was supposedly in the room, it was too close to pass up. Clause was in getting a shower before the dance, so Winry had some time.

She knew Clause quite well when it came to revenge, and it wasn't something she commonly passed up. Why didn't she care what had happened enough to get the guy who did it? From where Winry had found Clause that night, there was no way that someone was so careful that their face didn't show up once. And she said nothing about his face being masked.

If she didn't want revenge, then she must have been protecting someone. Winry thought about that night. Alphonse had opted out of hanging with them that evening, but never stated where he was going. Clause was out too as she recalled. It linked too perfectly.

The blond girl paused in her search. 'Why would she have tried to frame Al in one situation, and cover for him in another.' It didn't make sense. It had to have been something else.

The clever girl had taped it to the bottom of her desk drawer, right at the back, on the underneath of the desk. Unfortunate for Clause, Winry wanted to check every spot in the desk when the drawer, which only had junk and an empty bottle of pain killers, hit a snag and wouldn't pull out any further. Sure enough, the video tape was caught.

Reaching for the VCR that Clause still owned, brushed off and brought down from the attic, she hesitated. 'What if she really is trying to protect him? No, that doesn't ma-' She heard the door at the end of the hall open and Clause yell to her older sister for a larger towel.

'You gave me a hand towel.' Clause bellowed down the hall.

Placing the tape carefully in her purse, she zipped it up so she could watch it after the dance. If they were planning on having fun tonight, Winry felt she was best off not knowing, just in case it was someone they knew.

"Alright, so we're sure there's no one who's going to notice?" Aria asked, rubbing her hands together.

"The lock's been busted for months now, if someone was looking after it, don't you think they'd have fixed it by now?" Russell said as he filmed the earlier part of the graveyard, dark, light-less. He panned over to Aria who was walking along side Sylvia. "Scared yet girls?" He snickered.

"No..." They looked over their shoulders at the sound of stick breaking.

"Sorry." Ed said as he walked through an unmelted patch of snow which was hiding many things; it was only March, so it hadn't warmed up completely.

Finally approaching the old church, Leo grabbed hold of the stick wedged in between the door handles and slid it out. The doors didn't move, firmly shut from the weather beating on them.

"Genius, it's a pull, not a push." Paninya piped up.

He rolled his eyes. "I know...it's for dramatic effect. We're filming, remember?" He took a step inside.

Russell waved vigorously from under the camera, making sure his hand was in the shot, as if to remind Paninya that there was a camera in her midst.

"Sure you were. Hurry up, I wanna see." She turned her attention away from the camera and back into the church hall. It wasn't a very large church, but there were a few rooms that were just begging to be photographed.

Sylvia looked from side to side. "Where did all the pew's go?" She could make out the hint of 'drag' lines with the faint light from the camera.

"I guess people took them to burn. They're usually made of good solid wood, so..." Leo shrugged.

"I'd be afraid to do that." Aria shivered. "Who knows who you're pissing off. We leave everything just how it was when we got here...it's ok to nudge things, but don't take anything home." She said with a firm tone.

"Yes Sir." Paninya groaned.

"I don't think there's anything here worth taking." Ed assured her. He picked up a book off the floor and dangled it from his hand, the dust nearly poured off.

"Eheww." Sylvia looked at the tarnished book, there was a clump of dust, hanging from a hair, dangling from the book Edward was waving. "Should we just start taking pictures? This place smells like 'old basement'." She pulled her disposable camera out of her pocket.

"Good idea." Leo turned to face the group. "Let's split up."

"Are you nuts?!" Aria squeaked in a terrified voice. "That's just what they want! Split us up and pick us off one by one."

"Who's they? ...Never mind. Fine, we'll go in couples." Leo attempted to come up with an alternative.

"NO!" Aria said. "If we do that we would have to have boy girl teams. What if one of the teams will give into their lusty desires under the pressure of the haunting and the spirits will go after them first." She folded her arms. "You know it's only the virgins who live."

"I think that only applies for psycho's, not ghosts." Russ mentioned.

"You sure?" She glanced at the camera. "Well if that's true then fine, but there's still the rule of the black guy dying first."

"You need to get out from in front of your television. The rules of horror films do not apply in real life." Leo shrugged. "Besides, we don't have a black guy on out team."

Aria pointed a finger at him. "Ah! Paninya's half-and-half."

"I don't think that counts dude." Paninya laughed.

Edward sighed. "Those are just horror story rules. Real ghosts, if they exist, more than likely wouldn't have a particular skin color preference. Also, I don't think they're too many angry spirits in a church, this is where funerals are held, not where the death or murder of the victim took place. They would be haunting the place where they died; I'd say the best we'd get here are a few orbs or spirits that don't want to let go, or rather, need to say goodbye. Nothing vengeful."

The group stared at Ed. "Oh, you mean like unfinished business...that actually makes me feel better." Aria smiled. "...but just a little." She shivered.

"So have you done this before?" Russell pointed the camera at Ed.

"No." He said. "I'm just assuming... But, if we're going to pick teams." He motioned to Leo and Russ. "You two check out the upstairs, you can get a good view of the whole church that way. Paninya and Sylvia can check the back and Aria and I will get the basement."

"Why do you get to pick the pairings?" Leo huffed.

"Doesn't really matter to me, I figured this way would work best. If we paired off trying to not have a girl-boy team, there would end up being one anyway, there's six of us." He allowed that to sink in. "Also, this way, no one is paired in such a way that they're not pair with someone else who's nervous in here."

"What if you give into 'lusty desires' out there?" Leo joked.

"I won't because I have someone-in mind." Without missing a beat, he quickly caught himself.

"Ooh, who is it?" Aria poked at him, she could hear the camera zoom in, beside her, lining up to be a dramatic shot in post production.

"I don't want to say, It'll jinx it." He lied; Edward never believed in jinxing. Russ zoomed back out.

"I'll pry it out of him. Come on Ed, I accept the pairing." Aria waved him along, away from the group.

"So who is it?" She asked right off the bat, walking along side Ed down the dusty stairs of the abandoned church, powered dust collected around their feet with each step.

He shook his head. "It's not going to work that easily. Let's just get some pictures." He looked around the basement. It was a dorm for all the clergy, addled with spider webs, dust and the occasional mouse.

Aria peered from left to right, eyeing the yellow, age stricken walls of the downstairs. "What if one of them committed suicide down here?" She peeked into a nearby room. The dusty frame of a bed looked as though it was just thrown into the room. An old box and stool were also in the room.

"Doubt it. And if I'm wrong-" He shut the first door they were looking into and snapped a picture of the entire contents of the long narrow hallway. "-We should see a little something pop up in the pictures, right?" He opened the door and snapped one of the small tome.

The little red head peered down the hall to see twelve rooms and a boiler room. "Twelve rooms, one boiler room shot, the other room over there and this hallway' She turned to point at it. "...we have tons of shots to do. That's fifteen and then we can just get nine close-ups of interesting things."

"Nine extras? I can do that." Ed began to click away, following the numbers on the doors form one to twelve, just so they could remember which room was what, for reference purposes if things showed up.

Making their way to the boiler room, they tried the door. "The lock seems jammed, I don't think we can open it."

Ed rolled his eyes. "This isn't 'Silent Hill', hold the camera." Handing the disposable camera to Aria, he stepped up to the door and with one swift kick by the door handle, and it just busted to splinters.

She and Ed stood there in awe. "I don't know about Harry, but Heather could have totally had that in her." She referenced to the series.

"Wait a sec." Edward lowered his kicking leg and looked at the frame of the door. "It's so damaged. I probably could have sneezed on it and it would have broken. And here I thought I was awesome."

"You shouldn't have said anything, I didn't even think of that." She smiled. "We'll just pretend your awesome."

"Thanks." He chuckled with her as she handed him the camera back. "Let's get some light." Aria led the light around to room for him. "I think we may need two shots in here." He took a picture of the initial side of the room and then the other side with the boiler and hole in the wall.

"What was that? Was that a hole? Should we get a picture in there?" She pointed to the two foot wide hole near the boiler.

Ed froze.

Aria teased him. "Want me to take a pic of the big scary hole? I protect you from the ghosts."

Edward edged toward the hole. "It's not ghosts I'm concerned about. I'm more afraid of a raccoon thinking I'm here to eat her babies, jumping out and tearing me a new one."

She wearily looked at the hole. "Fair enough. Just stand back and take it." The flash went off. "Hmm?"

"What?" Ed lowered the camera.

She gazed through the darkness with her small pen flashlight. "I thought I saw something..."

"Not funny." Ed shivered, he wasn't looking forward to contend with a nocturnal creature in the dark. Unlevel playing field.

"Nothing spooky...just looked like something was in there...kind of looked like garbage on second thought."

He shook his head. "Well, we'll see what the pictures have to say."

"Right." From the creaky ceiling came a low hum, one that resonated through the entire structure, one of that of an instrument. "Looks like they found the organ."

Ed held his chest. "Scared the shit out of me." He sighed. "Let's check out the room at the other end of the hall and then we'll go back to the forayer."

"Sure." They left the room. "Um, Ed..." She began.

"What?" He looked over his shoulder.

"...I-yeee...eh, never mind."

"No come on, what?" He pried.

She hesitated. "...I'll tell you what it is if you tell me who you've got your eyes on." Aria beamed in a sly manner.

"I see." He narrowed his eyes at her. "That's not going to work either. Get me to spill and you have nothing to say. I'm on to you."

She laughed. "Seriously, I do have something to say."

Ed took a step back to hear her out. "You go first. A little quid pro quo "

She looked a little embarrassed. "I kind of have a crush on someone too...but he likes someone else. I just wanted to know if he may have given me a chance if I asked first."

"Not sure. Why not ask him?" Ed was oblivious.

"I'm too afraid of being turned down...and what if he really doesn't like me at all and makes fun. I hate getting picked on, so I don't feel like putting myself in that situation. Please Ed."

He shoved his hands into his coat pocket. "Why tell me this? Do you want me to go up and talk to him, I'm bad as a mediator. I'm terrible talking to people I don't know...do I know him?" Ed went to clarify just if he knew the guy or not.

"You do know him. You live with him." She revealed her crush to Ed. "Why else would I be asking you, you're the closest."

Taking a moment to let that sink in, he inhaled deeply. "...Al? Not meaning to sound bitter...but why?"

"Well..." She began. "He seems like the strong silent type who goes misunderstood. I don't know, he just intrigues me, I want to get to know him, to see what he's like, what makes him tick...is that weird?"

Ed shrugged. "With Al? If we're talking human experiments, maybe a little weird; but wanting to date him, that's just surreal."

"Funny." She rolled her eyes.

"I'll see what he says, but I'm telling you now, don't get your hopes up." Ed was well aware that his brother was quite judgmental of the way people looked, and was still unsure if Alphonse would go for a 'freak'. He did notice him checking her out he when they all hung out, but that didn't mean anything. Curves is curves.

"That's comforting. Why? Not popular enough?" She wasn't offended, just assumptive.

"No, not colorful enough." He admitted.

Aria pondered to herself. "Really now, cause I'm not a plastic? I'm sure I could do something about that."

Ed sighed and looked back at her. "Don't try to change to impress him. You'll regret it."

She was touched. "Thanks Ed. I'll figure something else out then...still, ask?."

"Cool, sure." He said approaching the other door. "Kick?" He said, trying to turn the knob, which turned and opened flawlessly.

"No kick." Aria stated. Ed looked disappointed.

"Aaaw." Ed began to take additional pictures in the larger room, which looked like it could have served as a lounge, or television room.

"Anytime now Ed." Aria said, rather annoyed.

"Anytime? For what?" He said as if he didn't know.

"Who is it that you like?" She got closer.

"Oh right." He smiled wide. "I'm not telling you."

"What?! We had a deal." Aria stomped.

"Yeah, I lied. Sorry." Edward couldn't help but smirk. "Now if you keep bugging me about it, I'll tell them you have a crush on Al. See how well that goes over."

The red haired girl was at a loss for word. "But--yo--...sneaky son of a bitch." She couldn't help but laugh a little, Ed must have been too shy to say. "..." He followed behind him in silence. "I'll figure it out...don't you worry."

"Sure you will." He said, heading back up the stairs.

She had seen it with her own eyes. Clause was at the dance with Alphonse. She recalled him being told to lower his standards, but this was too much; could he possibly have wanted a girlfriend that badly? Dry humping on the dance floor wasn't something you wanted to be doing with someone who wanted to frame you to go out with them. It seemed that Alphonse had some demons of his own to contend with.

"Hey Winry." Riza's voice sounded from behind her.

Turning to face her, she saw Maria at her side. "You decided to come? Awesome." Winry was quite happy to see everything patched up amidst her team. With one exception, the bee.

"Yeah. I talked it over with the girls, and they wanted to make sure Maria was good enough for me." She pulled in closer to her hips.

"I'll blow them away." Maria said, giving her girlfriend a hug.

"Try not to come on too strong though." She smiled wide.

"No worries." Riza nodded in return. "I think we're good." The young couple walked off to the refreshment table.

Winry herself was there without a date, for obvious reasons, secrecy. She wanted to leave early, but didn't want it to seem suspicious, the tape was burning a hole in her purse.

Winry's prayer's were answered, in a very non conventional way, but they were answered. Cramps had started. She needed to go home and lay down. Damn shame.

Managing to stay nearly till the end, ten thirty, she drove herself home and quickly made a break for her bedroom. Winry knelt down in front of her VCR/DVD player and popped in the tape. Pushing the button for the TV, she waited for it to get past the fuzz.

Recalling the time Clause called, she fast forwarded to the time that she figured everything went down. Sure enough, Clause emerged from the bar, a tall man on her arm, getting her to walk. There was no audio, so she could only fill in the blanks.

She watched them. They walked through the alley, directly in line of the camera, the man's face was directly on screen. Winry recognized the face and the bright dyed orange hair. It was Vato, Sheska'sboyfriend. "She just didn't want to get her sister's boyfriend in trouble?" Winry held her hand out to the screen as if she was expecting more. She paused the video, not wanting to watch what happened next. "It still doesn't make sense." Flicking her blond hair behind her, she stared at the frozen image; as choppy as it was, she could still see their expressions. Clause looked like she was wasted, even took a bottle outside with her. Vato was trying to light up a cigarette while holding Clause up.

"I'll just squint." She said as she pressed the play button. She wanted to know what happened, but she still didn't want to see it.

The scene unfolded. Clause looked like she had gotten into an argument with Vatoand he pushed her against the brick wall. But from there on out, he just yelled at her and then left her outside alone. "The hell...who was it then?" Winry got close to the screen, only two feet away. As the tape continued, more things began to make sense. Finally, the end of the tape was reached, Winry sat there, moth ajar. "I suppose that makes the pieces fit."

She hit the eject button, and removed the tape.

I love doing that. Keep ya haaaaangin'.
Tell me what you think. I know it's a little long, but I was making up for lost time.