A/N Sorry for the wait (again)! My computer broke down for a week, then I went on vacation for a week and updated Crossing Paths only because of the deadline, and then I was sick for a few days, and then…band camp, the horror of my summer. T-T
I have real excuses this time! XP
Anyways, just a warning, since school is starting in like two days, I might not update much. Not that I have been, but I'm telling you now to expect long waits.
"Hey, Ed, do you know when Al and Rina will be back?" Winry asked, trying to come up with something to say. After coming back from the kitchen, Ed had been silently watching the front door with thoughtful eyes; Winry could almost see the gears turning in his head as he tried to piece something, presumably something to do with the mission, together.
"Mmm?" Ed mumbled, turning to Winry as if just realizing that she was talking to him. "I dunno. They said they'd be back sometime later tonight after checking this town's military base. They didn't say specifically."
"Obviously," Winry replied, rolling her eyes. Her gaze shifted to the kitchen, something that had become almost a habit when she was looking for or thinking about Al and Rina. For some reason they spent a lot of time there. It always seemed like they had a lot of fun, but there seemed to be some kind of underlying tension between them, too. "I just hope they're okay."
---
"Quiet down back there," Rina hissed behind her at Al. He was about to say something in reply, then thought better of it and just nodded. They continued to creep forward, staying in the shadows cast by the tall military building they had come to scout out.
Rina froze as a security guard passed not five feet in front of them around the corner. Al held his breath until the uniformed officer moved on, a bored look on his face. "We could move a lot easier if we had uniforms," Al commented, his voice barely a whisper.
They darted forward through the pitch black darkness of night and crouched behind the stairs leading up to the entrance of the building. Rina poked her head over the edge and glanced left and right, then lifted herself over the edge and, still in a crouch, scurried through the doors with Al close on her heels.
Al watched Rina as she silently closed the doors behind them, waiting behind a large pillar for her to catch up. A sliver of moonlight caught in her dark red hair, making it look almost like a shining halo. Her steps were graceful as she drifted back behind another pillar directly across from him.
Al shook his head slightly as she signaled for him to go; he couldn't think about something like that right now. Ever since they had come to this town, he had noticed something about Rina that he hadn't before. She always seemed cheerful enough, but there was something that seemed to be separating her from the rest of them. Almost like she didn't want to get close to them for some reason.
"Al, are you gonna go, or not?" Rina asked from across the hall, her irritated voice ringing in the silence.
"Sorry," Al apologized quietly, running down the first hallway that branched off from the main one. He barely heard Rina's footsteps that announced that she was following him.
Al stopped abruptly as he caught sight of a marked door, causing Rina to crash into him and sending them to the floor with a thud and a muffled "Oof!"
"Ouch, what was–?" Rina started, then cut off, blushing fiercely. Al was laying on his back, Rina directly on top of him with her hands on his chest, their faces barely inches away. From this angle, Al could clearly see the way Rina's pale blue eyes deepened in the center, giving her a more saddened, wise look.
"Are you okay?" Al asked, resisting the urge to brush her bangs out of her eyes.
"I–I'm fine," Rina quickly replied, scrambling up and off Al. "Why'd you stop?" she asked suddenly, not making eye contact. She glanced at the door Al had been looking at and her face brightened as she understood. "I bet there'd be a lot of information in the filing room."
Al slowly stood up, watching as Rina darted over to the filing room door and cautiously peered inside. But the lights were off and there wasn't a sound to be heard. Rina tried to turn the doorknob, then silently cursed when it wouldn't open. "Al, you know how to pick a lock?"
"I could try," Al suggested, coming to stand next to her. He leaned down, peering at the lock. "Do you have a pin or something I could use?"
Rina reached up and pulled a bobby pin from her hair, handing it to Al. He took it and bent it so that it was one long piece of wire, then expertly twisted it in the lock. After a few moments, there was a satisfying clicking sound.
"Wow, you're pretty good at that," Rina commented mildly.
"Brother and I used to sneak into places all the time," Al admitted. "Sometimes we couldn't use alchemy to do it because it would draw too much attention, so we learned how to do this."
Rina laughed softly. "Before I joined the military, my sister and I would've never dreamed of picking locks," she said, smiling slightly, but her eyes were unfocused, seeing something that Al could never even begin to touch.
"I didn't know you had a sister," Al said, looking up at Rina, who stood slightly above him as he crouched down in front of the door. "The way you speak, it sounds like you two are close."
Rina snapped back to the present, her eyes hardening. "That's none of your business," she snapped, pulling open the door and marching inside without a backwards glance.
Al sighed; it seemed like she always acted like that when he started to get to know her. It's like she hates me, he thought sadly, his eyes following her as she moved between the aisles of filing cabinets. Standing, he entered the room and closed the door behind him quietly, studying the room.
It was large, with row upon row of cabinets lined up in the center of the room and pushed up against the walls. Tables were scattered here and there, most of them piled high with papers and documents. There were no windows, making the room even darker.
"We need to turn on the lights," Al said after a momentary pause.
"If we do that, someone might see us," Rina argued.
"If we don't, we won't be able to read anything anyways," Al retorted.
Rina hesitated, then reluctantly nodded. "Alright then, but we have to be quick in here."
Feeling along the wall, Al brushed the light switches up. The lights overheard flickered briefly with light, then blinked out. "Now what?" Rina asked irritably. "If we can't see, we can't do anything."
"We should have brought a flashlight," Al mused.
Rina sighed, heading back for the door. "Look, we know where this place is," she pointed out. "We'll come back tomorrow with flashlights, like you said."
"Alright," Al agreed reluctantly, glancing around. There was something about this place that didn't feel quite right to him; there was a kind of wrathful aura hanging around. He couldn't describe it well, but there was definitely an ominous feeling in the air. Casting a quick sideways glance at Rina, he was surprised she hadn't noticed it; either that or she had, but wasn't showing any sign of it.
Even as Rina and Al ran through the dark shadows of midnight, he couldn't shake the feeling that something very bad was about to happen…and that someone was watching them.
---
"There you are!" Winry exclaimed as Al and Rina walked through the front door of their apartment.
"We're back," Al replied wearily.
"How did it go?" Ed asked, pushing himself off from the wall he had been leaning against.
"We need to go back tomorrow for more information," Rina said shortly, not looking at anyone. "I'm going to bed; it was a long night." Without another word, she walked off down the hall. Her back and shoulders were straight, but she gave off the impression of being utterly exhausted.
"You wanna explain that?" Ed asked, raising an eyebrow questioningly. Winry was gazing after Rina in confusion, and made as if to get up, but Al stopped her with a tired wave of his hand.
"She's just in a bad mood because we couldn't find anything out tonight," he explained, feeling slightly guilty. He was telling part of the truth; well, the part of the truth he knew, anyways. In reality, he really didn't know what was upsetting Rina.
Sitting down on the couch next to Winry, Al recounted what had happened at the military base, leaving out his "trip" with Rina. When he was done, Ed sighed and told him what had happened with Winry.
"She was attacked?" Al asked in astonishment, looking from Ed to Winry. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," Winry answered absently. "At least I got the job; now we won't look so suspicious."
"If our cover isn't already blown," Ed muttered.
Winry gave him a glare, then stood up. "I'm going to bed," she announced. "I have to get up early tomorrow for work."
Ed looked like he was about to say something, but held back until Winry had left the room. There was a soft click that announced she had shut her door, and Ed slumped down onto the couch next to Al.
"Is something wrong?" Al asked.
"I don't know what to do about her," Ed muttered, gazing up at the ceiling. "It's like she doesn't even realize what's going on…how much danger she's in."
"Winry will be Winry," Al replied with an attempt at humor, giving a laugh that sounded hollow even to him.
There was a long pause before Ed spoke again. "I think someone knows that we aren't just four kids looking for a place to live," he said solemnly. "I'm not sure if they know who we really are, but they're suspicious." Another pause. "I will protect Winry."
Al looked at his brother in surprise. "Did something else happen?" he asked cautiously.
Ed shook his head. "I…" he trailed off, his eyes vacant as he stared at nothing, then tried again. "I don't want to lose anyone important to me anymore."
"I understand," Al murmured softly.
"And Rina?" Ed inquired abruptly.
"What?" Al asked, startled.
"What will you do about Rina?" Ed clarified carefully.
"Rina is a soldier and can take care of herself," Al answered, but he wouldn't meet his brother's eyes. "She's done stuff like this before; she knows how to fight. She isn't like Winry."
"Maybe she is in the regard that she is an important person to you," Ed said, tilting his head to the side slightly.
"She's not –"
"She's a friend," Ed interrupted. "To Winry and me. What is she to you?"
Al could only stare his brother with blank eyes. What was he talking about? Ed didn't usually act like this; what had gotten into him? Was he simply tired and speaking bluntly, or was there something he was trying to accomplish in this?
"She's…Rina is…" Al struggled, but couldn't find the right words. How did he describe his relationship with Rina? Not that they really had one, of course, but he felt a strange compulsion to help and protect her.
"When you find your answer, you can tell me then," Ed finally said when it appeared that Al wasn't going to answer. "For now, I'm going to go get some sleep; the girls' had the right idea there."
Al watched as Ed disappeared inside their shared room, then suddenly remembered something. Standing up, he walked down the hall to one of the smaller bedrooms and knocked on the door. No answer. He knocked again.
"What is it?" came a muffled, but irritable call from the other side of the door.
"It's Al," Al said. There was a pause, then the door suddenly swung open in front of him.
"What do you want?" Rina demanded, standing in the doorway. Her dark red hair looked disheveled already, and her pajamas hung around her loosely, as if they were too big for her.
"I wanted to apologize for earlier, at the military base," Al said, then quickly continued when he saw Rina's uncomprehending expression. "For stopping so suddenly and making you fall."
"Oh," Rina replied, her cheeks becoming as red as an apple. "It's fine; that was nothing."
"Please let me make it up to you," Al insisted.
"Why?" Rina asked, surprised. "You didn't do anything wrong."
"If there had been guards around, we could've been caught because of the noise," Al argued. "We just got lucky."
"Fine; what is it you want to do?" Rina conceded, though her eyes sparkled with curiosity.
"I want to make you a promise," Al answered.
"Go on," Rina said after a long pause. "What is this promise of yours?"
"I give you my word that I will protect you," Al swore. "And that if you ever need anything, I will always be here if you need me."
Aaaw, AlxRina moment. XD
Again, I'm reeeaaally sorry for taking such a long break. I got obsessed with reading Tsubasa (an amazing series, for those of you who don't know) this past week, and let my writing fall behind. :(
Well, school starts the tenth for me, so…say good bye to summer vacation. T-T