Everything was planned carefully and according to plan; they could not afford any mistakes within their movements. Beneath the dirt of Amestris; there used to be a society which was under the direct command of central city and of the Fuhrer. They exist in the dark and acts as messengers between the seen and unseen; they were also professionals in their true field of work. In a single word to describe it; Ninjas; however since the death of the fuhrer and the collapse of internal structure of Amestris, these Ninjas became nothing more than normal man carrying normal duties.

Some were unhappy with the changes made therefore these lost men regrouped themselves after a long while of stasis to re build the unheard society from scratch. With that; they had elected a leader among them to lead them in their newest mission, someone who is capable to infiltrating central city without being spotted or suspected. And yes; their deception was perfect until one night when everything they had been planning was exposed to a certain public. The cause and consequences were dutifully punished accordingly; but anxiety still existed in the group…

"Tell me; How on earth can you be so careless?" he pounded the metal door with a heavy fist, looking restlessly upon a kneeling masked man in front of him. The predator growls in his speech and spat on the floor angrily, "Our plan is perfect; you of all people should be able to understand that failure of any kind is not acceptable." He continued on; positively circling his prey. He knows that he was safe; no one knew how the others looked like. They were carefully not to reveal too much about themselves, they were a group in times of strength but truthfully, they were fair weathered team mates. One for their own survival. That was the rule of their beloved society; this careless person could perish right here and now, but no, not just yet.

The kneeling man took a gasping breathe and muttered under his own; "Please don't worry, your sire. I will take responsibility for my carelessness and make sure that the plan would never be leaked out." The pitiful man bowed low and kissed the ground after speaking, between the two men there was several minutes of silence before the predator lowered his guard and approached the kneeling man. "Rise, you have made a grave mistake and will never be forgiven however you have something we need therefore you shall live for now. Make sure that the secret will only just be so, or else." The senior whispered and turned away to a door at the far end, he pulled open the door and disappeared beyond the depth.

The kneeling man did not rise for he knew that the senior was testing him; sure enough it was only one hour later before he heard the door close with a soft snap. He stood unsteadily and rubbed his knees; he had received punishment; a death sentence and the question of doubt. The man kicked the nearby chair in plain frustration; he had failed the Grandsire and his instructions. He closed his eyes for a while and breathed in stale air that made him cough a little; he nodded slowly to himself and began to limp to the only exit.

SHe is going to pay for his own actions dearly. The man grinned silently and reached for the last handle; time to play a game of mouse and mouse trap.

0o0o0o0o0o

She stirred from her sleep unwillingly; she rubbed her eyes sleepily and found herself staring up to a patch of white ceiling. For a split second, she jerked up from the bed she was resting in; only to be jolt awake from the ache in her head. Her surroundings cleared up and the tense feelings she had slipped away, Riza heaved a sigh of relief and pat herself on her head. Calm down, it was just a dream.

Riza rubbed her head gently and yawned; she peered into the darkness around her; a few hours ago there had been two men standing here talking to her, Havoc and the colonel or used to be colonel. "I am so sorry, Sir…" she whispered to herself and pulled the bed sheets to her neck, there was so many things she wanted to tell him, after such a long time away from each other's company and to reunite under such circumstances. She shivered slightly and blew warm breathe into her hands, it was as cold as her heart was when she had to send those two away with a cryptic sentence; she could not be sure if the general was nearby and she knows if he ever found out that he had gotten the truth from her. They would be killed… Without wanting too, a single tear fell from the corners of her eyes, Riza wiped it away quickly. She was not a weakling; she had to tell him as fast as she could to prevent a tragedy from occurring; in any way possible even if it means being put away forever...

"You know, it took me a while to find out when you meant…" Riza nearly shouted at the voice which had rang out in the room, she took a quick glance at the door and the person who came through it. The scar on her arms seemed to have burned up quickly, and the painful sting that was on her face returned rapidly, she glared at the man who entered her room; "General…" she said calmly.

"You are a really sly bitch" he spat as he came closer to the side of her bed, Riza cringed badly as a large palm tightened slowly around her neck, she kicked in bed sheets aside and with all her strength tried to push the general away from her but his grip was unrelenting and was slowly squeezing the breathe out of her. The general threw her across the room, her back hit the way and she slide to the floor coughing desperately. He stood in front of her with something that was shimmering from the moon light on his hands, a steel blade that belonged to a dagger. "You sought death even though I warned you, and after I finished you, it would be Mustang's turn…" Her eyes widened; "Leave him alone!"Were the only words that left her, she saw the door which was left opened. Mustering her strength and all, she rushed towards it; she had to tell him, in order to protect…

She stumbled forward, and the reasons were clear… Riza peered down, the blade she had saw earlier stuck out from her chest like a sore thumb. Streaks of her blood flowed from the wound, a tough arm held her from behind forcing her to kneel, and his face appeared over her shoulders. "Well well, looks like you will fall here." He cooed into her ears, she coughed a mouth full of blood. "Ah, just in time; Mustang is here." At the sound of his name; she peered up and there he was, the stature that she was so familiar with, and that messy dark hair. He was approaching them quickly with that look of concern on his face; "Colonel, Sir! Don't come here!" it was hard to speak, but she had too. The words came out painfully and every gasp that came after was torturous. She heard a click of the gun from her right, "Please No…" she heard herself begging, knowing what would come next. The gun was shot, a bullet flew and hit the target squarely in his chest, much tears and her heart that was tearing apart swarmed into her emotions, COLONEL!

She felt his hands touching her head, the gently and warm hands that she had felt before. He was gone forever and it was her fault…all her fault, she could have saved him. She saw the fallen colonel in front of her, his hands close to hers. She should have died in his place…

"Lieutenant?" a voice, she knew was calling her. Leading her forward, she was walking towards that voice… "Mm…" she heard herself, her own voice, wasn't she dead…?

"Lieutenant, are you alright?"

She woke slowly, head feeling heavy and all. Her eyes flickered open; to her relieve and surprise, she was looking up and into a pair of dark eyes. Her jaw fell open, "Colonel…?"

"You scared me, I thought you were in pain…" he spoke gently and she felt his fingers wiping off the tears that had slide down her face. The fast beating heart of hers relaxed its tensed muscles, she took another look around in the room, and there was no general, no askew mess. Just the colonel and her, he glanced at her and smiled kindly. "You look much better today." The lieutenant who had been stunned a couple of seconds before frowned slightly, she was warm in the cheeks; flushed would be a much better word. It was a nightmare, the nightmare that made all the blood in the body pumping so quickly. She had indeed been through pain, as she returned the glance to the colonel her line of sight fell onto the small clock next to her bed.

"Sir, it is already 9am!" She shouted in shock and began to push the bed sheets away, she was so late, the general would be mad; she was searching for her slippers when she felt his hand on her shoulders. "Relax; you need not head to work today." He said softly and pushed her back into bed.

"What do you mean I do not need to work today?" Riza asked carefully, the orders of the general was clear yesterday, to return to work without fail; is the colonel trying to get her punished?

"Ah, apologies, I mean you need not to work for him today, instead you would be working with me." The colonel ended with a small smile, there was an awkward silence between them. And all of the sudden, a slipper was thrown and hit the forehead of the used-to-be-colonel.

"What was that for?" he shouted adamantly and gazed at the lieutenant, who was the culprit, struggling to stand properly.

"Don't joke around colonel, please." She said short and made her way unsteadily to the bathroom. Roy sighed and placed a hand on her waist, "Let me help you." But the lieutenant shifted his hand away. "You would be a much better help, if you could get a car here." She glared at him as though she had a gun hidden somewhere preparing to shoot.

"Lieutenant, I am not kidding, you are working with me today." The sincerity of that voice made the lieutenant stop in her tracks, she turned her head around and looked at the colonel curiously, the glare had slide off her face unknowingly. Roy chuckled slightly and supported her to the door of the bathroom, "The gate must be destroyed over at this end, and I am doing it today, I requested some people to help me. And you are coming with me."

Riza had her fingers on the door knob, "Does the general know about this arrangement?" she glanced at the man, who grinned back, "Yes."

She entered the bathroom and closed the door behind her, Riza turned the tap to the left and cold water flowed out slowly, she splashed some water on her own face and took a look at her reflection in the mirror. It was strange, her spirit had seemed to have lifted rapidly, "Thank you…" she did not mention the name, but it was obvious; who it was for.

Right outside the door, the colonel was leaning against the piece of the wall next to the door to the bath room, he placed a hand on his chin and gave a small smile, this would cheer her up and make her feel much better today. It was no easy feat getting the general to agree to his request, sadly the way he agreed to it was when Roy had no choice but to tell him that the lieutenant would be useless to the general in the office and would perform better out in the field. He did not mean it of course, but every second near to the general was nothing more than a torture. Roy was no sexist, every solider no matter of the gender was worth protecting as long as they had the potential to sacrifice for the country. The lieutenant is one of such solider, but…the general would never stop hurting her, he had to keep her close to him and away from that mad man.

"Colonel?" he snapped awake at the familiar tone, she looked at the dazed man and smiled gently. An action that caused Roy to blush uncontrollably, it was not usual for the lieutenant to smile, the chances of such was as rare as him doing his work properly.

"Are you ready?" he asked her, Riza blinked a couple of times and looked down, a cold breeze in between her legs told her that she had forgotten something. "Is something wrong?" he asked at the sudden quietness of the lieutenant, the color in her face raised uncontrollably. The colonel looked down and the color if his face too, turned bright red. "Lieutenant, your…" he began.

"Look away!" she shouted and pushed the colonel face away; she rushed into the bathroom again and locked the door quickly, leaving the colonel warm all over his body.

Riza found what she was looking for, hanging from the towel bar. She wore it fairly quickly and felt warmer in her face than ever. How could she have forgotten about it? That was too silly and the colonel saw it too.

Meanwhile Roy had sat himself on the chair nearby, his heart still beating rather fast from what he saw, that was one embarrassing situation. And the look on the lieutenant face was precious, he laughed to himself, a hand over his mouth. Still, he did not know that the lieutenant had such nice pair of legs since it was always covered by thick pants. He had always wished he could have a glimpse at those legs before and turns out that she had forgot to wear her pants out, and he had another pleasant surprise too. He laughed out, the lieutenant wear lacy underwear! "Laces!" the giggles were insuppressible.

All of the sudden, another slipper hit the sides of his head painfully. "Colonel, can't you say any louder? I believe the other patients in the next block did not hear you!"

He turned to the source of the voice and noticed how red her face was. "Lieutenant…ahhhahahaha" all the while his hands on his stomach trying to stop the aches panging it.

"I said shut up!" she said bitterly, and stalked off.

The colonel stopped quickly, and watched as the lieutenant went to pack her things.

It is just like before, almost just like before.