I know that chapter title is odd, but I had to! It was there, so I had to!

Sorry it took so long to update, but with graduation and life in general getting in the way, it was hard to find any time to write.

…

Shinobu looked between the two military boys in confusion. Was it really that strange?

Havoc recovered first. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't think about it. Nor did I think it would matter." She shrugged. "I didn't ever think I'd see him again."

Lin looked a little sad that his fiancé thought so little of him. Regardless, he said, "But, Shinobu, you weren't even supposed to leave Xing. Father was supposed to make sure you didn't wander off."

"He sent me here. He told me to find out who I am, that was his only wish for me from then on." She took another breath, thinking about how to skip the rest of the conversation that she saw coming. "Well, Lin, it was, uh, nice seeing you again," which was an obvious lie coming from her mouth seeing as she had put poison into her voice, "but Ed needs his automail fixed. We have to go."

As Shinobu tried walking past him, Lin grabbed her wrist. "Wait, Shino—" He was cut off abruptly by a foot being plowed into his face – Shinobu's foot, actually.

"I said that we have to go." She glared down at the shifty-eyed bastard. "Stay away from me as well. I really don't want to kill you, but if you keep this up, I might just try."

Havoc, Ed, and Al all exchanged the same look of confusion that was on their faces. None of them would have thought Shinobu would ever be so angry at someone that she'd actually threaten their life, but it seemed that that was possible.

Lin stood up from where he had fallen on the ground, and got into a position for fighting with just fists. "Come on then. I've always been better than you."

Shinobu's eye twitched a little bit at that. Even if it was the truth, she hated hearing that the one man she absolutely hated was better than her.

She didn't think, she just ran forward and struck out at Lin with her fist. He dodged easily, with fluid grace, and struck Shinobu in the stomach with the heel of his palm. She stumbled back a little bit, her balance thrown off. He hadn't been trying to attack to injure, as she had, but just to throw her off balance. That was normally what his attacks did, Lin wasn't one to try to seriously hurt those he knew, just get the better of them and wear them down until they give up.

Unfortunately for him, he didn't count on how pissed off Shinobu really was at seeing him.

Shinobu regained her balance quicker than normal and ran at Lin again. This time, as he dodged and went to try and get her off balance again, Shinobu dodged to the left and kicked him in the small of his back. Lin went flying about ten feet from where he had been standing and almost landed into a stone wall face-first.

He stood up and turned around to face the now smirking Shinobu. As he went to run back at her, she knelt down on the ground and put her hands in a transmutation circle that combined the Star of David pattern and the runes in the Elemental transmutation circle, and the pentagram of her Rendanshu. Shinobu lifted one hand off of the circle and threw one of her suntetsu's. As it neared Lin, Shinobu activated the circle, combining the flying knife with the earth around it. The knife became a large, nearly deadly projectile within a few seconds.

Lin turned around and started running away from the large flying earth-knife, and nearly got away. As he was jumping over a stone wall – the same one he almost landed face-first into just a moment ago – the projectile struck him just below his knee and sent him tumbling back and over it. That time, he did land face-first on the top of the stone wall. He fell ungracefully off of it and onto the grass just on the other side. Lin's face was bloody, some of it possibly broken, and he himself was unconscious.

Shinobu walked over to the wall and leaned over it, staring down at him as she said, "You are not better than me. You lose, and we are no longer betrothed. I was never a member of the royal family of Xing, and now I never can be for harming you." She turned back to the other boys. "Well, come on, let's go."

Ed walked right on past Shinobu, ahead of Havoc, her, and Al. He seemed to be unphased, and kind of happy, that Lin was unconscious and wouldn't be waking up for a while. Havoc seemed a little shocked to have seen Shinobu actually go all out on some guy she was supposed to be engaged to, but that was all. Al, on the other hand, was distressed about just leaving Lin lying in the grass with an injured leg, and possibly a broken face.

"Don't worry about it, Alphonse, if I thought he was in danger of dying, I wouldn't have left him there – no matter how much I hate him." Shinobu laughed. "He'll wake up soon and find his way to a doctor."

"O-Okay…" That was all Al could think to say. He was still concerned about Lin, but Shinobu didn't seem too concerned, so he tried not to let it bother him.

A little later, the group was walking through the door of the Rockbell Automail Shop. Ed shouted that him and his brother were there with two extra people. Almost immediately, a skinny teenage girl came jogging down the stairs wearing a black halter-top and the baggy pants of her white jumper, her purple sandals clacked loudly on the stairs. A green bandana held the front her long blonde hair out of her face, while the back of it was bound by a rubber band.

"Edward?" She stopped at the last stair when she saw the missing arm.

Quickly, Ed was turned into a pile of mush by a wrench the girl had pulled out of one of the pockets of her pants. She turned to Al with a glare in her blue eyes. "Explain what happened! I just made that arm for him five months ago, and it's already broken!"

Al tried to begin, "Well, Winry, uh, I honestly don't know wha—"

"How can you not know what happened?!" Winry now hit his metal head with the wrench, sending it flying into the couch on the other end of the room.

Shinobu cleared her throat, grabbing their insane hostess's attention. "I can explain what happened, if you calm down for a moment."

Winry faced Shinobu and Havoc, and nodded. "Of course. But, first, who are you two?"

"Second Lieutenant Jean Havoc."

"Shinobu. The Elemental Alchemist."

Winry held out her hand to Shinobu. "It's good to see Ed interacting with other girls besides me and Miss Riza."

Shinobu took the outstretched hand hesitantly, afraid that the blonde would unleash her fury all over her head as well. "I'm glad you think so."

"Now, will you explain what happened to Ed's automail?"

"Of course." Shinobu sat down in the nearest chair, Winry took the one across from her, and began to explain everything from the moment the Fuhrer told them Scar was spotted in Central until the moment she was chosen as one of Ed's escorts.

Winry looked over at Ed, who was now completely himself again, with a sad expression. "I see." She looked over at Shinobu. "It seems that it was a good thing you were there."

Shinobu nodded slowly. "If you think so. I couldn't protect him all that well, but at least I kept Scar's attention off of him for a while."

Winry didn't say anything, and looked at Ed again. "Scar again, Ed?"

Ed hung his head and mumbled, "Yeah…"

"Why do you keep doing this? Are trying to prove that you're invincible?"

"No. Scar needs to be stopped though, Winry. I thought you, of all people, would understand that."

Winry bit her bottom lip. Scar had killed her parents in Ishbal, so of course she understood that he needed to be stopped, but knowing that it was Ed trying to stop him was scaring her.

Shinobu looked at Havoc, who seemed to be looking straight at the wall as if he was trying to give the two some privacy even though he was in the room, and Al, who was sitting on the couch where his head had landed. She looked back over at Winry and said:

"I know you're worried about him, but he'll always come back." Shinobu smiled a little bit when the blonde girl looked at her. "Even in the worst of situations, if you believe he'll come back to you alive, he will." She, of course, was thinking of the visions—memories of her waiting for Havoc to come back – and her more recent one of him coming back as they were still in Ishbal.

Winry smiled back. "Yeah, you're right."

Havoc understood what Shinobu was thinking of when she said that, and he couldn't move. He couldn't believe that she really remembered the Ishbal war, about him returning to the main camp, the camp Kari had been stationed to. He only hoped that she didn't remember what happened shortly after he returned. He let his head drop a bit. If she remembered that, Havoc feared that Shinobu might hate him.

Shinobu stood up and stretched. "If you remember that, you'll have no worries."

Winry chuckled. "I highly doubt that, seeing as he's more reckless than he was as a child, but it might help a bit."

Shinobu smiled wide. "Good to hear." She swayed over into Havoc, who had to catch her quickly, as she became lightheaded.

"Are you okay?!" Havoc asked as soon as he caught her.

"Yeah." She struggled keeping her eyes open. "I guess I just don't travel as well as I thought." She closed her eyes and fell into an unconscious sleep.

…

"Well, it's time to get to work." A skinny black haired psychopath State Alchemist named Solf J. Kimblee said with enthusiasm as he cracked his knuckles. In the distance, somewhere in the middle of Ishbal, he had already let an explosion rip loose.

Kari was among the soldiers following Kimblee into the battle. She was following him under orders from the Fuhrer himself, even though he did creep her out.

Her and the soldiers began to walk forward when something exploded in front of Kimblee. Kari erected a earthen wall to protect her and the soldiers behind her. As the wall shrunk back to the ground, she saw Kimblee holding the corpse of a burned soldier as he complained about his jacket getting dirty.

Kari held back her comment as she checked on a soldier whose forehead was bleeding. "Are you alright?"

The soldier nodded at her. "Yes ma'am, I'll be just fine."

"Okay."

"Come now, he doesn't need help." Kimblee said as he turned around. "Let's go, Elemental. The sooner we get this done, the sooner we get to head back to camp."

Kari ground her teeth together and said, "I told you, my name's Kari, not Elemental."

"While on the field of battle, saying your real name can be life-threatening. That's why you're to call me Red Lotus." Kimblee glanced at her over his shoulder. "Is that clear?"

"Crystal." She said with resentment. She hated calling people by aliases or nicknames, and avoided it whenever possible. Now, though, it seemed impossible.

"Good." He began to walk forward. "Let's go end the lives of those worthless Ishbalans."

Her eyes narrowed as she followed Kimblee into the smoldering Ishbalan city. She mumbled under her breath, "I don't think they're worthless…"

Regardless of her saying this, at the first sight of the Ishbalan resistance, she attacked without mercy.

…

Shinobu opened her eyes slowly. She sat up in the bed she was lying in and looked around. Other beds, all made up with white sheets and pillows, were in the room.

Shinobu rested her face in her hands, creeped out by the guy she had been following in her dream. Not only by the guy, really, but also by the fact that she had attacked innocent people with no mercy at all.

What have I done?