Disclaimer: I (unfortunately) do NOT own Fullmetal Alchemist or any of the characters. I only am responsible for the (albeit poorly written and devised) plot.

Hey guys! Sorry the last chapter took so long, I've been busy with school. (Lame excuse, I know.)

I know this piece might not be what you were expecting, and that it's a bit confusing. so let me clarify:

Riza never told Roy about the tattoo, and he (somehow) learned Fire alchemy on his own. Riza can perform it too, only she doesn't need circles because she's already got two powerful one carves into the surface of her eyes. (Yes, I know that isn't how it really works.) She carries her father's work.

There's a mysterious person, well, more than one actually, that's been searching for that work. Riza's father had colleagues, and somehow it got out that one of their daughters had the work. They're killing off the girls, picking them off a list as they search for the notes.

And now they've found the right girl.

But they're not gonna just kill her.

No, they're gonna watch her struggle for a bit, make her suffer. Because to them, death is so quick and easy. And for them, there's no fun in that.

Just another frightening thought: now they have a key to her house.

The next week was almost painful to watch. Riza sent a glare that could've melted ice when she found out what Maria's explanation had been. And then she almost died of frustration when the guys treated her like glass. Roy had been the worst. It was only until she'd cocked, aimed and fired her gun at Havoc's head, knocking the cigarette out of his mouth with a bullet, that they realized making her angry might be terrible for their health.

Personally, Maes found the whole affair hilarious. Things started to fall back into their usual schedule. And things were normal. For a while.

And so, a week later, Riza realized something was wrong.

The phone call had made her paranoid, if anything. She was hearing things, always seeing danger at every turn. Whenever one of the team left the building, she made sure to watch them and make sure they made it out of the building safely.

Thursday morning, things started to fall in place. And it all began when Riza remembered to thank Roy for his help that night.

"I forgot to thank you for getting me home alright last week. Thank you for that, sir." She said over his shoulder as she supervised him actually doing work. He turned and smiled, thinking of how cute she was when she was half-awake. Almost like a little kid.

"It was no problem. Are you feeling better now?" She nodded and his eyes twinkled. "Glad to hear it. Oh, that reminds me, did you get your key back alright? I left it on your bedside table."

What key?

Riza hurried home that evening. After lying straight to the Colonel's face about having the key back in her possession, she sat at her desk, staring at a the clock as the minutes passed by.

What key? If he really did leave it there? Her eyes widened as she drew to her only conclusion.

Someone's been in my bedroom.

She abruptly pushed her chair back, and gripped the edge of her desk.

In a flash, Roy was standing behind her, hands gripping her shoulders. The whole room was staring.

"Riza? Are you okay? For real this time, do you need me to get Maria or Rebecca?"

"That won't be necessary," she responded calmly. "I've just got a headache. I think I'll head home now, some fresh air would be great."

He nodded. "Do you need a ride? I'd be glad to-"

"No, it's fine. I could use the exercise," she waved goodbye.

"See you tomorrow."

And with that, she turned and fled the office.

Riza for the most part, sprinted home. She needed to get home. Fast.

She mentally planned what she'd do when she finally got home. She'd run to her bedroom, and lock the door. Then, she'd bring out the big guns. Literally. (She kept them in her closet, hanging in one of her her dresses.)

When her house came into view, she ran even faster, ignoring the mud splashing up onto her uniform. She practically rammed into front door, not bothering to lock it. If they already had a key, what would it matter?

She ran up the stairs, mentally cursing herself for taking this long to realize the truth.

Dropping her bag and flinging her bedroom door open, she stopped cold in her tracks.

Because there was a woman sitting on her bed.

And she had a gun pointed at Riza's face.

Riza froze, her hand on the doorknob. She felt her other hand twitching, slowly making its way to one of the holsters.

"Tch, tch, tch," she shook her head. "Now, now. Let's be rational." She aimed the gun at the spot just between her eyes. "Drop the belt. Now." She did as she was told, and with a loud thud, her guns clattered to the ground. Riza began to raise her hands up, holding them behind her head.

"Now, now, darling," she woman's voice coaxed. Riza realized with disdain that this was the one she'd talked to on the phone just a week before. This woman was gorgeous, blonde hair, and sky blue eyes. Obviously a few years older than Riza. Curves as desirable, if not more so, than her own.

(Yes, under the heavy uniform, she did have a VERY feminine figure. She would admit to that much. Of course, that was only when she wasn't wearing the damned uniform, which was when she slept, and only one of the seven days of the week.)

"There's no need for that. So long as you're unarmed. You are, aren't you?" She looked up at Riza through her long lashes. Her ruby tinted lips pulled back into a smirk. "And even if you are, I hope you know, someone's gonna pay. And it won't be you. "

Riza was torn, what to do? Sighing, she pulled two small knives out of her sleeves, and another from her boot. And she sheepishly finished by pulling a handgun tucked into the back of her pants.

"There. I'm done. Now, what do you want?" The woman's smirk only grew. "Why, darling. I want that research. I thought I'd made it quite clear on the phone the other day."

"No, I meant what do you want with me?" Riza was calculating in her mind whether or not to fry this woman alive. A bullet to the face would stop her before she'd do any real damage to this woman.

"Oh, still playing clueless I see. Hate to break it to you, but that's not gonna get you anywhere with us."

Riza looked at her in confusion. "Us?"

"Yes. Us." And suddenly an overwhelmingly strong arm was wrapped around her throat, ready to clamp down on her throat if necessary. Riza struggled to gulp in air, and was only half succeeding.

"Peter, hold back a little," she commanded to the person who stood behind her. The grip on her lessened, only slightly. "We can't have our little toy breaking to pieces just yet. We'll get what we came for, use her help if need, and then you can do what you want."

She could feel his laugh resonate through her, vibrating through her body. Just before a small blade dragged down the side of her face and blood trickled down her chin.

"Perfect."

"You won't get away with this. Someone will catch you. And when they do, you're gonna be sorry. You won't be able to decipher the notes without me. And I swear to god I will sacrifice my life to keep this power from you," Riza spat out, gritting her teeth in pain as the blade sank further, now on the other side of her face.

The woman's gorgeous face contorted into a sneer.

That was the last thing she saw before her air supply was completely cut off and her vision went black.

Riza didn't show up the next day. It was enough to surprise about the entire building, but not quite enough to raise suspicion.

She wasn't in the next day either. But no one thought twice about that, Saturdays were her one day off. Sunday was the day rumors started to fly.

Falman thought she had the flu.

Fuery assumed she was having a personal problem.

Havoc and Breda whipped some crazy story, something having to do with long-lost brothers and reappearing mothers, or something like that.

Roy just looked like he was going to go insane.

He was going crazy without her presence, and it was clear that he wasn't going to last much longer.

Maria and Rebecca agreed with Falman. Riza was probably just sick or something. Being the good friends they were, they loaded Maria's car with everything from chick-flicks to cans of soup to bandaids. When Riza got sick, which wasn't very often, she got, really sick.

About halfway to her house, Maria turned to Rebecca.

"Shit! I forgot, I gave Roy my key when he dropped off Riza the other day! Now what do we do? She's probably so damn helpless she won't be able to even open the door for us. Damn!"

Rebecca laughed. "Don't worry, I've got her other spare. We'll be just fine."

Pulling up to her house, Maria parked the car and went to unload the truck. Meanwhile, Rebecca walked up the porch stairs and went to unlock the door.

She went to insert the key into the lock when she realized it wasn't actually locked. It was open, just barely. She gave it a gentle push. The door creaked open with no resistance.

Huh. That's odd.

She walked right in, calling out Riza's name.

It took about four seconds for a shrill scream to reach Maria.

"Rebecca! Rebecca what's wrong?" She rushed into the house, and found Rebecca standing in Riza's bedroom.

There was no Riza to be seen.

But there was...

Rebecca could only stammer and point.

Blood. Lots and lots of blood. On the floor, dried on her bed, trailing down the hallway, smeared along the walls in handprints.

If only they'd payed attention on the way in.

The most horrific part of the whole ordeal was the wall next to her bed.

Written in shaky red letters was a message that made Maria scream along with Rebecca, as they stared in horror.

PLAYTIME'S OVER

Hey guys! Hope you enjoyed. I wrote this at night, and writing this even made me paranoid. Hope this has been an okay story so far. Comments are welcomed, and hope to hear from you at some point. (Sorry, there were plot holes again. Oops.)

Love you all,

-Pyro