Author's Note: I know it's been forever since my last update, but it took me quite a while to track down Turtlequeen2. Hopefully, I'll be able to keep track of her long enough for another chapter or two, but I can't make any promises. Please leave a review if you have the time. I also have a website now if you'd like to keep track of this or any of my other stories.

Staring out the window, Roy Mustang looked completely calm as he listened to the sounds of the moving train. Hawkeye however, knew better than that. She knew from the too-calm expression that the least little thing could make him blow up. Sitting across from him, she held her tongue, wishing that she know what her companion was thinking.

'I can't believe how reckless Fullmetal is! Not to mention that bastard so-called fiancée of hers!' Roy inwardly raged as he continued to stare out of the window of the train. 'I can only hope one of them gives me the legitimate excuse to use my flames on them...' he continued to seethe.

"Sir?" Hawkeye said nervously, pointing at his hand and the sparks that were emerging.

Roy blinked, looking down at the at the glove. Controlling his boiling rage, he stopped the sparks from becoming a small flame. He then looked back up at Hawkeye, wondering if she had anything to say. "Lieutenant?"

"We should be there soon, please try to control yourself. I doubt Rosette would be happy to learn you died in a fire of your own making."

The colonel sighed, showing her rare emotions that he hardly showed to his other men. "I will," he murmured. 'Besides, I wouldn't plan on dying before scolding a few idiots in more ways than one...'

An hour later, Hawkeye stood when the train had stopped. "I'll go to the inn there were staying on the off chance one of them is there." She stated. "Don't kill anyone until I get there."

Roy stood up after her. "You don't need to worry, Lieutenant," he assured the woman. After having exited the train, he walked over to where the hospital of the town was located. Once he entered the building and showed the receptionist his identity, he was led to the room where the group he was after were currently staying.

When Edward noticed Roy enter the room, he inwardly cringed. 'I'm going to die, aren't I?' he mentally remarked, already seeing his superior's eyes sparking with rage.

Before anyone could say anything, Al raised one hand and put it where his lips would have been, then pointed at Rosette. The redhead had fallen asleep in her wheelchair, and the dark circles under her eyes told Roy that she'd been having 'those dreams' again.

The colonel glanced over at his sister and knew that he couldn't wake her. Walking over to Edward, he murmured, "Can you stand?"

The state alchemist shook his head. "If I could, I'd be out of this place by now," he replied in a quiet voice.

Now knowing that he couldn't scold the Elric brothers until Rosette woke up, he turned his sights on his sister's fiancée.

Ronald looked at the Flame Alchemist and inwardly quaked, but did good to present himself with a friendly disposition. "Is there something you want to speak to me about?" he asked, not bothering to pay any mind to Rose's sleeping.

Roy's eyes narrowed at the man, knowing that if his sister woke up due to Ronald's insensitivity, he would not wait for Hawkeye to show up.

Rose made a quiet noise of protest and frowned, but didn't wake.

Relieved that his sister did not stir too much, the colonel walked over to the other man and silently urged him to follow him out of the room. As soon as the door securely shut and Roy was far enough away from the area, his eyes practically smoldered with anger. "What the hell is wrong with you?!" he snapped.

Ronald resisted the urge to step away from the military official as he heard his yell. Taking in a deep breath, he explained, "I only sought to get Rose better from her condition."

"How many times do me and other people have to tell you that she's sensitive to being put in that type of situation?!" Roy continued to rant. "You don't understand a damn thing she went through!"

The other man cringed slightly upon hearing this remark. "I do understand how much of a bad condition she is in," he protested.

The alchemist's glove sparked once, but he managed to control the flame and put it out. "Putting her through such false promise over and over will not help her get better! You should understand that by now. No amount of alchemy will help her get treatment!" His eyes narrowed even more. "Thanks to your stupidity, you almost got her killed!"

The once arrogant Ronald seemed to shrivel down into a scared little boy at the wake of Roy's anger. However, after he took a few minutes to recover from Mustang's attacks, he calmly replied, "Maybe I was a bit out of line for introducing her to that man, but I only had her best interest at heart!" His own eyes narrowed slightly at Rose's brother. "I don't think you coddling her will help her recover either! If there's a chance of helping her recover, then you should allow her to try it!"

Roy didn't like Ronald's retort at all. "Don't you think we've already tried?" he snapped. "That's how I know that normal medical treatments and alchemy haven't worked! And whether or not I do what you claim to 'coddling' is not going to stop me to protect her from idiots like you! I'm like this because there's always false prophets off to tempt her to their side! It's not in my interest to see her die."

"She'll be my wife soon." Ronald snapped back."

'Not if I have my way with you...' Roy inwardly hissed, feeling his gloves growing more waxy with the build up of wanting to let flames out. "I can easily change that," he growled.

"At the very least, she needs to learn the basics of alchemy," Ronald replied,

"Absolutely not!" the state alchemist spat.

"Why not? Your an Alchemist."

"I chose to be this way because I have things I want to accomplish," Roy answered. "Alchemy isn't a wonder elixir that can fix all of the world's problems and learning it only brings the person complications and dangers. Rosette doesn't need anymore trauma to go through."

"There you go again! She needs to get stronger and the only way that's going to happen is if she learns how to use what she has!"

"Alchemy isn't going to be what can make her that way!" the colonel snapped.

"Neither is keeping her safely under your thumb! I want her to make something of herself."

"There's plenty of other ways that she can make something of herself!" the alchemist argued. "Alchemy isn't one of them!"

Al clanked into the hallway just as a scream was heard. "Now you did it! You made her start screaming again."

'Again?' Roy repeated to himself before looking back at his sister's fiancée. Glancing back at Alphonse with murderous intent in his eyes, he made a quick decision. "Go back into the room, Elric," he ordered in a stern tone. He knew if a child saw what he was about to do, they would most likely be traumatized.

He gulped, but did as he was told.

"And as for you," Mustang snapped, turning towards Ronald with his fingers practically dancing with spark. "Say goodbye." Raising his right gloved hand, he snapped his thumb and index finger together, sending forth and tall but controlled column of fire that managed to burn the man to a crisp. The man burned so quick that he didn't even have time to scream as he died.

As he watched the flames begin to die down, Roy's irritation abated slightly. 'One idiot down...' he told himself before walking back into Edward's room to see if he could console his sister.

Al was holding her tightly as the girl fought him in her sleep, or tried to anyway. "This has been happening ever since we called you Sir."

"Move," Roy ordered Alphonse, quickly taking Rosette from the suit of armor and hugging her close to himself, not caring who saw. With his arms around her, he began to rock her slowly, gently murmuring, "It's okay, I'm here now. You're older brother won't let the fire eat you anymore..."

Edward's eyes opened wide in stupefied shock. 'He really is close to her!' he thought to himself. He had never seen the colonel being so vulnerable and emotionally exposed in such a manner before!

She quieted after several minutes and opened her sleepy gray eyes. "Roy?" She murmured soft, her voice slightly raspy. "What happened?"

"You were having those dreams again," the colonel murmured in a soft voice, his eyes softening only when looking at her.

"I musta fell asleep... sorry." She yawned. "Is everybody else okay?" The redhead cuddled close for a moment in apology.

"I'm fine Rosette." Al said, grateful his knees weren't shaking.

"Uh... What happened to that other guy?" Edward asked, seeming to be the only one lost out of the loop.

Rose rubbed the sleep from her eyes. "You can put me back now; I'm heavy for you Roy."

Roy nodded his head and carefully placed Rosette back into her wheelchair. Standing back up, he turned to Edward. "He's been taken care of," he stated in a sharp tone.

The young state alchemist paled slightly, seeming to understand what his colonel meant.

"I'm going to get a drink, you want anything Roy?" She asked, still trying to wake up.

"No, I'm fine," Roy replied calmly.

Al watched rather nervously as, with a still somewhat sleepy smile, Rosette left the room and tactfully gave her adored brother permission to yell at the Elrics if he chose to do so. He knew that they were both in for it now!

The state alchemist's eyes narrowed on the older brother as soon as Rosette left the room. The rare display of comforting emotions was long gone and was now replaced with a level of anger Edward had hardly seen on the colonel's face. "Fullmetal," he snapped. Looking back at Alphonse, he added, "You two, Alphonse."

Edward inwardly cringed again, but maintained his usual defiant stare towards his superior.

Al shifted nervously from foot to foot, wishing Rosette hadn't left.

"Would you care to explain why you two allowed Rosette to be subjugated to such danger?" Roy demanded, practically barking at the two men.

The youngest state alchemist sat upright, trying not to avert his eyes from Mustang's question. "It wasn't like we put her in that situation," he pointed out.

"And yet you didn't prevent it either, did you?" the colonel snapped in return.

Edward knew that the colonel had a bit of a point there. 'Dammit... how were we supposed to know that the colonel was psycho protective over his sister?!' he inwardly growled.

Al mustered his courage. "The first time was Ronald's fault sir; we weren't fast enough to stop him before he exposed her. As for the second: She wanted some privacy, and a suit of armor isn't very quiet. We didn't want to be accused of spying on her."

The Flame Alchemist turned his full attention on Alphonse upon hearing the young man's explanation. "You let her go out there alone, knowing that that lunatic was still in the town?!" he growled. "I believe I gave you two, namely Fullmetal, an order to protect her no matter the costs!"

Edward's eye twitched slightly, knowing that the two had made a mistake now. "...In our defense, we had no previous knowledge of homunculi being involved in this or being around at the time!" he argued back.

Roy glared at his subordinate at this reply. "Yes, you had no clue of that knowledge until it was nearly too late. You are in the military, Fullmetal!" he replied sharply. "You should know better than most that you should expect anything when involving a suspected enemy!"

"The homunculi didn't hurt Rosette at all, and we stopped the phony healer before he touched her. He never laid a hand on her." Al stammered.

The young state alchemist felt his temper rise slightly despite knowing how much trouble him and his brother were in. "You at least should be happy that prevented her from being killed!" he added, narrowing his eyes slightly. "If anyone got physically harmed in that battle at all, it was me!"

Roy knew that despite how protective he was towards his sister, the two brothers were somewhat right. They were still practically children in his eyes. Letting out a deep breath in an attempt to calm his anger, he replied, "Then your injuries are punishment enough." Managing one final glare at the two boys, the Flame Alchemist added, "You two should better than most. Emotional wounds scar just as much as physical ones."

Al exchanged a look with his brother, concerned.

Edward, who seemed prepared to come up with a smart-aleck retort, paused when Roy added that sentence. When he saw his brother look at him, he sighed, calming himself down. 'He's definitely right about that...' he mentally murmured, thanking back to the night him and his brother tried to bring their mother back to life.

"Should we mention Lust's interest in her?" Al asked his brother privately.

"...Do we want to die?" Edward returned to his younger sibling.

Rosette sighed and looked at her watch. "Should I go rescue them or wait a few more minutes?" She debated aloud.

Hawkeye glanced over at the other woman and shook her head. "We'll wait a few minutes," she murmured. "I think he needs to vent for a few moments... Through the entire trip up here, the colonel has been very stressed and worried about your condition. It's not the first time that those boys have changed around his plans."

"I agree. I missed Roy too." The redhead said quietly.

The other young woman shook her head and sighed. "He practically caught the train on fire several times!"

"Say what! He's never done that before." she exclaimed. "He's usually very careful!"

Hawkeye nodded her head in agreement. "For as long as I've been around him, he's usually been able to keep his anger under control, without even intentionally calling upon his flames, they started sparking out of his gloves when he started to think about your fiancée and the Elric brothers."

"Oh dear..." She shot a worried look down the hallway. "Maybe we should rescue them after all..."

Riza sighed. "I'm pretty certain that he won't harm the Elric brothers... It's your fiancée, I'm more worried about," she admitted.

"I wouldn't be at all surprised if he were dead already. I nearly killed him myself several times."

The second lieutenant raised her eyebrow at the woman. Did that mean that Rosette didn't care about her fiancée? Seeing how her personality was, Riza could understand why Roy liked his sister so much. "So... you wouldn't be upset if the colonel killed him?" she asked.

"Nope. I'd say it was his own fault for forcing himself where he wasn't welcome." Rosette bushed her short hair out of her eyes. "I'm more worried about what Roy's gonna do when he finally notices my haircut."

Hawkeye couldn't help but chuckle at the woman's explanation. "...I think a few minutes have passed," she finally remarked. "Don't you think?"

"Yeah, and I didn't hear anything go boom..." She raised her eyebrow.

"That's possibly a good thing," the military officer replied. Looking down at the woman, she suggested, "You can lead the way."

Rosette nodded and rolled down the hall, then stopped in her tracks with a squeal of rubber. "Well..."

Hawkeye stopped when the girl in front of her stopped rolling forward. Following Rosette's eyes, the second lieutenant saw the pile of ash on the ground. 'Oh no...' she inwardly groaned. Narrowing her eyes slightly, she added, 'I told him not to kill anyone until I arrived!'

Rosette took a deep breath. "Oy." Then she rolled around the pile to open up the door. "Look who I found Roy!"

Roy blinked when his sister and his other subordinate came into the room. "Rosette," he remarked, not feeling any remorse for killing her fiancée.

Rosette sighed and hugged her brother. "You coulda barrowed my frying pan if you were that mad."

The man returned the embrace without hesitation before pulling back to respond. "I would have considered sparing his life if he would have avoided saying such stupid things," he replied.

"You're lucky you weren't with us on the train." Rosette muttered, running her hands nervously though her hair.

"I don't want to imagine how idiotic he sounded when I wasn't around," Roy admitted, having dealt with Ronald before.

Al snorted "It wasn't listening that Rose had to worry about."

Rosette blushed. "Al!"

The colonel noticed his sister's blush, but paused when he finally realized that Rosette had changed something about herself. The man narrowed his eyes slightly. "...You... cut your hair?!" he declared, in a state of both shock and irritation.

"I had to. He wouldn't leave it alone!" She replied, going red, then pale, and back again.

"...I went from not caring that I killed him to happy that I did!" Roy shouted, hating Ronald more than ever.

"It'll grow back." Rose told him anxiously.

"Hair does do that Colonel." Hawkeye pointed out, eyeing Roy's glove again.

The Flame Alchemist's temper abated slightly at their remarks. "Well, I can't say I'm upset for ruining your chances at a wedding with that idiot," he admitted to his sister.

"That was kinda the plan. He got all mad and shouted that now my hair was short, he'd have to wait until it grew to a decent length." Rosette admitted.

"...So you did it on purpose to prolong it?" Roy asked, blinking.

"More or less, yeah. I think I like it short though."

"....What?" the older sibling remarked, having a double take of her words.

Nervously she ran her hands though it again. "It felt weird at first, but I think I could get used to it. The guys should leave me alone now that I look like one."

"Did I just hear you correctly?" Roy asked, stunned by her words. "You want to look like a man?"

"You need it trimmed a little though, did you use a knife?" Hawkeye added.

The redhead answered the questions in order. "Yes, you did. No, I don't like it, but it beats the alternative. And yes, I used a big knife."

Roy's eye twitched. "...Are you trying to give me a heart attack, Rose?" he demanded upon hearing about the knife.

At Roy's questioning look, she looked confused. "The one that mother used for the turkey? It wasn't that big Roy."

"That's even worse than what I imagined!" the older man snapped back.

Edward, who watched the entire exchange silently beside his brother, looked over at Alphonse. "For some reason... The colonel and Rosette's relationship reminds me of us..." he silently told his brother.

"What? What'd I do now?" Rosette just looked puzzled.

"She has him wrapped around her fingers." Al added, seeing Roy fall to pieces under his sister's innocent gaze.

"Yeah... but you have to admit... It's pretty hilarious," the state alchemist mentally snickered. "It's hard to believe this is the same man who yells at me on a weekly basis."

Mustang shook his head. "As soon as Fullmetal recovers, we're leaving," he announced. He'd rather not hear about another dangerous thing his sister had done or else he would risk keeling over.

"Did I mention I made the typewriter go boom when I tried to pack it secretly and I need a new one?" She added in a small voice.

Roy felt his fists clench up when he heard those words. "...We'll buy you a new one when we get to Central," he murmured, trying to keep his temper in check.

"Thank you Roy." She smiled at him happily.

The colonel paused, letting out a heavy sigh when he saw her smile. "I know I'm going to regret asking this, but how does one make a typewriter go 'boom'?"

"I couldn't shut the lid of the suitcase, so I tried to sit on it." Rosette admitted.

Roy sighed again, shaking his head. "If you sit on another typewriter, I'm not buying you a replacement again," he replied.

Rosette looked puzzled again "I wasn't sitting on the typewriter Roy, I was sitting on the suitcase."

"...If you sit on anything that causes a typewriter to break, I'm not replacing it next time," the colonel corrected.

Edward shot another look at Alphonse upon hearing Rosette's remark about the typewriter. Being the young teenager he was, he couldn't help but let out a small laugh at her seemingly innocent explanation.

"This is going to be interesting Ed. I take it we are detouring to Central? I wonder if it will survive the 'booms'..." Al commented.

"I hope so," Edward replied, laughing a bit more.