A/N I have finished City of Glass. While I loved it immensely, I'm extremely sad that I've finished it because now the Mortal Instruments series is over. T-T

It seems like I say this every time I update, but sorry for the long wait! I've been working on my original story lately, not to mention working on my summer project, Crossing Paths, and reading City of Glass. And on that note; enjoy!

"Elli," Ed said in exasperation for perhaps the sixth time that day. "Are you even trying?" He dropped a stack of books on the desk in front of Winry, who jerked back in surprise.

"I'm not used to researching like you and John," Winry retorted, remembering to use Al's alias. She was starting to get used to their fake identities, though it still took her a few times to realize that when someone was calling Elli, they were calling for her. "Where do you even begin?"

Ed sighed as he sat down next to her, dragging a book towards him. He flipped it open to the back and looked up a name, then went to the page that was listed. "You begin with the name of the person I give you," he answered, scanning the page quickly. "You take notes on things that seem important about them, like what they were known for, their rank, their specialties, etcetera. It isn't that hard."

"Just because you're in a bad mood doesn't mean you should take it out on me," Winry muttered, bending her head over her own book. Ed said nothing in response. They had been to this library every other day for the past two weeks, with nothing of any interest surfacing. When they didn't come, Rina and Al did, but with the same results; in that there were no results.

Winry had also been asking around for work, Ed never far behind, but had yet to come up with anything. Which was fine as far as she was concerned; as much as Ed complained about how she didn't know what she was doing whenever they came to the library, she could tell he was happy for the company.

Rina, Winry had found, was an excellent cook. Al had taken to watching her as she cooked, offering to help her and usually being turned down on the reason that boys couldn't cook to save their lives. Al was the one who went to the grocery store with Rina when they needed food, but usually he just held the basket as she picked out what needed to be bought. It led to something else that Winry had noticed: whenever any of them went out, it was always in pairs and always with the same person; Winry with Ed, and Rina with Al. So far, the pattern hadn't been broken.

"Elli," Ed repeated, a tinge of irritation in his voice. "You're spacing out again."

"Sorry," Winry replied, picking up a pen and randomly jotting something down in her notebook in an attempt to appear busy. Glancing over it, she saw she had written 'Colonel Avalier disappeared in the year 1921; since then, no one has seen or heard anything about him.' Winry stared at it for a minute, then glanced back at the page. She had meant to look up Major Awling, but must have gone to the page number listed above his.

Sighing, Winry was about to close the book when something on the page caught her eye. It was a picture of the Colonel, depicting him as a tall, thin, but muscular, man with a sword extended in a heroic pose. His face was very angular, especially around the cheekbones, and he had the strict face of a commanding officer. Something about him looked familiar to her, and she started to read the page.

'Colonel Avalier was an officer known for his ideas about reforming the army and the secret code he created, gathering many followers under his command. However, some of his visions for the future were too radical, and the army eventually told him to stop campaigning when he started to drag the army's name through the mud. He declared that the army had no right to silence him, but before he could do anything, Colonel Avalier disappeared in the year 1921; since then, no one has seen or heard anything about him.'

"Hey, Jason," Winry suddenly said after jotting down what she had just read. "Isn't 1921 the year you disappeared and Al got his body back?"

"I didn't disappear; I went to the other side of the Gate," Ed muttered. "What about it?"

"This Colonel, Colonel Avalier, disappeared that year too."

"So?"

"Maybe there's a connection," Winry replied, though her tone was uncertain. Somehow, this had sounded much more logical in her head.

"Elli, a lot of people disappear every year," Ed sighed. "Just because two happened to disappear the same year doesn't mean anything. Besides, was Avalier even on the list?"

"No," Winry replied reluctantly.

Another sigh. "You need to stay on topic," Ed told her. "The sooner we get this done, the better."

"Aren't you the one who said I shouldn't come in the first place?" Winry snapped. "Don't tell me what to do if you don't even want me here. I'm going to make a copy of something." Without another word, Winry picked up the book and went to the copier in the back room. To say she was disappointed when Ed didn't follow her or call her name would've been an understatement.

In the back room, Winry made a copy of the photo of Colonel Avalier, making it smaller so that it would fit in her notebook. When she returned to where Ed was sitting, he was reading a book so deeply that he didn't even notice when she sat down. At least, Winry told herself that was the reason he didn't notice her.

Two hours of unbearable silence later, Ed suggested that they stop there for the day, rubbing his hands against his eyes tiredly. "We're not going to get any farther today," he said.

"Why do you think that?" Winry asked, returning some books to their shelves.

Ed snorted. "We've been making such good progress up until now, I figured we'd better stop while we're ahead," he replied dryly. "Plus, the library is going to close soon; it's almost dark."

Winry resisted the urge to retort a sharp reply; she didn't want to get into another fight with him right now. She picked up her notebook and pen, stuffed them in her bag, and waited while Ed did the same. He led the way out of the vast, hardly used library and onto the street outside, not even glancing back to make sure Winry was still behind him.

"Oh, Miss Elli!" someone called from one of the stores lining the street. She looked over at the store, immediately recognizing it as the place she had first applied to for a job as a mechanic. It was a small, but nice store, with updated automail equipment that made Winry feel like her tools back home were nothing but rusted old scrap metal.

Mr. Roberts stood in front of the store, waving her down. He had a hawk-like face with a tiny pair of glasses perched on the end of his nose, his build stocky. Winry dodged through the crowd towards him, excitement rushing into her. "Yes Mr. Roberts?" she asked, coming to stand in front of him.

"I have reviewed your application," Mr. Roberts started. "And I have decided that you would work well as my assistant."

"Oh, thank you, Mr. Roberts!" Winry said excitedly. "You won't regret this decision, I promise!"

Mr. Roberts merely grunted in response. "You start tomorrow morning at eight," he told her, then disappeared back into his shop. Winry was practically bouncing on her feet when she realized that Ed was nowhere to be seen.

"Jason?" she called, starting to make her way through the crowd to where she had last seen Ed. "Jason?" After making sure that Ed really wasn't anywhere nearby, she started to head back to the apartment, knowing that's where he would be headed.

The streets weren't nearly as crowded as they were during the day, though still sizable enough to be troublesome. As the sun started to dip below the horizon behind Winry, even more people started to leave the streets. Ten minutes later, the street was nearly empty and Winry was halfway home.

Winry shivered as she felt her neck prickle with the feeling that someone was watching her. Glancing back, she saw no one. Still, she quickened her pace as the feeling persisted. The sound of footsteps made Winry start and spin around to see a tall man who had not been there two minutes ago walking towards her. He wore a gray hat that was pulled down to cover his face, and the clothes he wore were dark.

There was something about him that made Winry know to run, even before he broke into a sprint after her. Winry dashed down the street, hearing the relentless pound of footsteps behind her, getting louder every second. She turned left down the next street, thinking, only another block to go, when she felt someone grab the back of her shirt and pull her back.

Winry landed hard on her back, gasping as pain shot up her head. Before she could even move, the man was over her, a knife held against her throat. "You make a single noise, and I'll slit your throat," he growled. "What are you and your friends doing here?"

Winry just lay there, panting from the run, her mind whirling. "Nothing," she finally said. "We just moved here, we're trying to make a living." She hoped that didn't sound like an outright lie, but it was hard to tell through the pain of her aching head.

"Don't lie to me," the man snarled, digging the knife into Winry's skin. Then he was gone, and Ed stood in front of her. She felt confused for a moment, quickly replaced by relief as she realized what was going on.

"Elli, can you stand?" Ed asked, his voice tense.

"Y-yeah," Winry stammered, pulling herself into a sitting position. A mist of pain clouded her head from where she had landed on it from the fall, but she pushed it aside and stood up on shaking legs.

"Who are you?" Ed asked menacingly, staring at the man who had attacked Winry, standing a few feet away. The man turned and took off at a run as he saw the dangerous glint in Ed's eye. "Wait!" Ed took a step forward as if he meant to follow, then glanced back at Winry.

"Go," Winry told him urgently, unable to think why he would pause. "This is our chance to find something out."

Ed nodded hesitantly and shot off after the man, calling over his shoulder, "Get home and tell the others what happened!"

Winry watched him go until he disappeared around a corner, then slowly, painfully made her way to the apartment. Her head felt like it was about to split open, but somehow she made it to their front door. She felt around in her jacket pocket for her key, but it was empty. I must have dropped it earlier, she thought gloomily.

Forced to knock on the door, Winry waited until either Al or Rina came to the door. A few minutes passed and no one came. She raised her fist to knock again, and only then remembered that Rina had said she'd be going out with Al to look around the military building in this city and wouldn't be back until late that night. Groaning, Winry banged her head in frustration against the door, instantly regretting it as the pain returned.

Footsteps made Winry jerk away from the stairs in apprehension, but she sighed with relief as Ed appeared, panting and with something grasped in his hand. "What are you still doing outside?" he asked.

"I must have dropped my key earlier, and Al and Rina aren't home," Winry mumbled, looking down at her feet.

Ed sighed, but Winry couldn't tell if it was in exasperation or relief. "What happened back there?" Ed asked, unlocking the door and pushing it open for Winry. "One minute you were right behind me, and the next, you were gone."

"Mr. Roberts called and told me I got the job," Winry answered, sitting down on the couch. "I tried looking for you after that, and when I didn't find you, I headed to the apartment. Then I was being chased by that guy and he asked what we were doing here. I told him we just moved here and were trying to make a living, but he didn't believe me." Winry shrugged. "You know what happened after that."

Ed sat down on the couch next to her, twisting the thing in his hand. Now that they were in the light, Winry saw that it was a piece of crumpled up paper. "I chased that guy, but I couldn't catch him. He dropped this along the way, though; it looks like a coded message. I can't read it." Shaking his head, Ed handed the paper to Winry to look at.

The paper was covered in odd shapes that Winry couldn't make heads or tails of, no matter what way she turned the paper to look at it. "Are you okay?" Ed asked, gazing at Winry.

"I'm fine," Winry replied. The pain in her head had been reduced to a dull throb, so she wasn't completely lying. "Thanks for…"

"Yeah," Ed said. He abruptly stood up and went into the kitchen. He was back a moment later with a small white box that Winry recognized as the first aid kit.

"I told you I'm fine," Winry objected as he sat back down facing her.

"You're bleeding," Ed told her. He opened the box and took out a rag, starting to wipe at Winry's neck where the man's knife had pressed against her. He was so close to Winry that she could have leaned forward and kissed him. The thought instantly made her blush as Ed put a bandage on the cut, closing the box as he did so.

"Thanks," Winry told him, looking him in the eyes despite how much she wanted to look away. Suddenly, Ed was blushing as he closed the box and headed back into the kitchen, mumbling something that sounded like "No problem." Winry watched him go with surprise, wondering why Ed would ever have a reason to blush like that.

A/N Yay, an update! Now I'm going to go see if I can update Crossing Paths now too. XD

Oh, and just fair warning, I suck at action scenes, so this chapter was a bit hard and sort of…bad. '- '

~ Please review!