Chapter 14

Taylor's P.O.V.

I'm sitting here on Tarin's bed watching her back and forth as she tries to pack her suitcase. Today was when she had to help escort the Elric brothers on their trip to somewhere. "Rin, you wouldn't be rushing like this if you hadn't procrastinated like you always do. You been knew about the trip so why'd you wait?"

She continued to run around her room back and forward for supplies. She almost dropped her stuff when she was about to make her comeback. "For your information, I was busy yesterday. And I actually started last night but got thirsty and fell asleep."

"And that's what you get for drinking too much of your famous chocolate iced-coffee so late at night." I said bluntly. She glared at me with a growl. I ignored her and decided to help by folding clothes into the suitcase. "Rin, can you tell me-"

"I've told you what happened ten times already Taylor. Next time you ask it isn't gonna be any different for the last time I explained."

She either did that 'read you mind thing' we do or just knew I was going to ask her about Saturday night. Yesterday, the morning after her date, I asked her about how her date went. After breakfast was over she finally told me. She said they went to a play; he took her to a beautiful restaurant, and walked and talked for a bit. Each time she explained it I just imagined all, but for some reason something felt out of place. "If you say you had such a good time, then aren't you and the Colonel… you know, together or something?"

She sighed and put her clothes away. "I have other things to worry about then just-"

"Tarin." I said sternly. I knew that was just one of her excuses and won't let her get by with that.

"Okay, jeez. Tayl, you know me good and well. I have small problem with trusting some people. Well at least to a full intent. Either way, I've had people come into my life and trusted with all it being ended with a knife in my back. People are the same; you can only trust those you've known since the beginning."

"Tarin, you know that is not true." I looked at her. "You have to trust those around you knowing that they can be trusted. Just because Dan had-"

"That man has nothing to do with anything! That is just a prime example. In majority of people, there are those who try and gain trust in a person and once they see no use in them they'll just throw them away without a care."

I watched as she was huffing and puffing from her yelling. Seeing the emotion all over her face made me cower down some. "I'm sorry Rin. I didn't mean to… I'm sorry."

She had calmed down. "Just forget it. You should go get your things so we can be at the station on time."

I nodded to her and walked out of her room and back to mine. As I proceeded down the hall I remembered Tarin's face: full of anger, sadness, and pain.

-X-

We make it to the train station and see Edward, Alphonse, and Colonel Mustang all waiting on us. Lynn instantly ran over to Ed and Al; she had gotten over being angry at them because she thought they'd hurt me or Rin and was now friends with them. I followed Rin over to Colonel Mustang.

"Good Morning. Lieutenant Colonel Silvers. Taylor." Mustang greeted us. We saluted to him. "It's surprising that you all got here on time."

Tarin scoffed a faked laugh. "It is surprising, ain't it Roy? But we made sure to be here on time because we couldn't wait to see the boys."

"There was no need to be so excited if you were going to be spending an entire week with them."

"Well maybe we just wanted to-"

"Excuse Colonel, when's the train getting here?" I jumped in between them. I had a feeling this may have lead to something unpleasant and jumped in as quickly as I could.

The Colonel looked at me as he smoothed his hair back. "The train should be here shortly. Speaking of time, I need to be getting back to my office. I want you all to be careful and make sure there's no trouble."

"Don't worry; I'll make sure of that." Rin put a thumb up.

"Just so you know you're the main one that I meant for staying out of trouble. The second being Fullmetal." He then walked out of the station.

I saw Rin stick her tongue out at his departed direction. "He really thinks I'm that much of a troublemaker. I'm not bad; I just have a nature of doing mischievous things is all. I don't even get in trouble and…" Everything after that was just blah bleh blah bleh blah to me.

'Is this how I sound to her sometimes?' I looked at her and I believe she didn't notice I wasn't paying attention. "Rin, while you are complaining, does he even know you that well." She froze up. "You can't just keep your whole identity enclosed from everybody. You are gonna have to open up. You did it with Lynn."

"Tayl, I know you're just trying to help but-"

"Hey you guys!" We look over to see Ed waving his hand in the air. "The trains here. Come on!"

I grabbed my sister's hand and we rushed onto train.

-x-

Tarin's P.O.V.

"Welcome to Resembool." I read the sign as we rode by it. After a couple of hours of riding the train we came to the town of Resembool, Ed and Al's hometown. It looks like a friendly little town. They apparently didn't have much up-to-date things for the fact we were riding on the back of a hay cart.

"We know there isn't much here like in the city, but Resembool is a nice place." Alphonse said. "There used to be more production here but after the war some things were destroyed."

"To tell the truth Al, I think it's nice. Reminds me more of home. Doesn't it Tayl?"

"Yeah. We're more use to this kind on scenery than that of the city."

"I thought you guys were from South City?" Ed sat up from lying down in a pile of hay. "When we went there it was about as big as East City."

"You are right about that one Ed. But after our parents died we had to stay with our grandparents. They live more on the outskirts of town in the rural areas. Wait a second, where's Cathelynn?" We looked around the cart until Lynn popped up out of a pile of hay. "What were you doing down there?"

"Nothing." She shook her head and turned to Ed. "Hey Ed, are guys Amish or something 'cause I've never seen where you had to ride a cart to get somewhere."

Ed and Al both had sweat drops on their heads. I was laughing like a crazed hyena, almost falling off the cart. Taylor was trying to keep from have a small giggle fit herself.

"No we aren't Amish. And Rin stop laughing!" He yelled at me but I couldn't stop. He continued yelling and cursing.

"Brother, we're here." Al announced getting all of our attention. After getting off the cart I glanced at the house over from my view. It was a big crème colored house with a green roof. It appeared to be two-stories with the window and balcony so high up. And then I noticed a sign in the front saying 'Rockbell's Automail.' "This is a friend of ours house and also the shop where she and her grandmother make automail. After our mom died her grandmother became our official guardian."

Ed ran up to the front of the house before the stairs. "Grandma Pinako! Winry! We're back!" He yelled. After a moment something shiny flew from the house and hit Ed square in the head. When it hit the ground I realized it was a wench.

Then a rather short woman with a pipe in her mouth walked out the door. "It's good to see you two are back. You here for your tune up Ed?" She said before sticking the pipe back in her mouth. The woman walked down the stairs to where Ed was now lying half-conscious. Then I guessed she noticed me, 'cause I saw her glance at us through her glasses. "And who might you folks be?"

"Um… My name is Tarin Silvers; this is my younger sister Taylor Silvers and our friend Cathelynn Hawkeye." I introduced. "I was sent here to escort Edward and Alphonse."

She began to look me over. "You are one of the military, aren't you?" I nodded. I wasn't wearing my uniform now so it was sort of obvious she would ask. "Well it's nice to have someone looking after these boys. My name Pinako Rockbell, I'm the boys current guardian."

"It's nice to meet-"

"What have I told you two?" A loud voice came from behind Pinako. I saw a blonde girl walking out of the house, fuming. The girl walked over to the fallen Ed. "Haven't I told you two to call before just coming back? How hard is that to remember?" She was yelling at them like she were their sister; also reminded me of when I first met Ed.

"That's my granddaughter, Winry. She's Ed's personal mechanic." Pinako then turned around and walked back towards the house. We followed her until she stopped. "That's enough Winry, we have other visitors."

Winry stopped her ranting and walked over to us. "Hi, it's nice to meet you. I'm Winry." I introduced myself, Tayl, and Lynn to her. "So they sent you guys here to watch over Ed? I'm glad at least someone's keeping him out of trouble." She heard him mumble something and hit him in the head with the wench.

"You two are really something aren't you? You two have got to be close." I laughed.

"All right now, enough of all this nonsense. Let's get you all settled in. Waiting for Ed to get his replacements will take a few days." Pinako said and she motioned us to follow her into the house.

-X-

Roy's P.O.V.

"Hey Chief, have you gotten a call from Ed yet?"

"No. I haven't heard a word from them since they left."

"What about Rin? Didn't she go with them too? She's responsible enough to tell us they're okay."

"No, Havoc, I haven't heard from her neither." I slumped back in my chair.

"Is everything alright there? You've been acting a little… off."

"Havoc, don't you have some work you need to be doing?" I blew him off. He had made a face before walking away. I had no clue what he was talking about. 'I'm not off; I'm perfectly fine.'

"Sir may I speak with you for a second?" Hawkeye's voice rang through my ear as she stood in front of my desk. "It has to deal with what happened a couple days ago."

I was confused. "A couple of days ago? What are you talking about?"

"Yesterday I went to visit and spend the day with Cathelynn. When I was there I noticed that Tarin was acting a little different. She didn't tell me much but the others said you were out with her the night before. Is there any kind of connection with that night and the way she has been acting?"

"By acting different what do you mean? She's already a bit different as it is so do you mind explaining?"

"I can't say entirely but it was unlike how she usually is. If I could say it was like her regular aura had dulled down but she tried hiding it."

"And you think I have something to do with it?" She nodded. I sighed. "You may have to ask her that, I didn't do anything to make her upset. The last thing that happened was that she had exploded at me."

"Well she must've had her reasons. You most likely crossed a line." Her voice was stern. "I know you seem to be a lady's man to some of the women around here but as you should know not all women are alike. And like you said, Tarin is a bit different. She may not come up to you and act like she is ready to make associates but we can at least try."

"The way she says it that's what she wants and- What are you doing?" I saw that she was completely ignoring me and reached for the phone. "Lieutenant, what are you-"

"You'll see." She turned away and began talking on the phone. I was itching to know who she had called. After a minute she handed the phone to me. "Here sir."

I mumbled an okay, as I grabbed the phone. "Hello…?"

"Hello?" The voice on the other end sounded clueless but I recognized it as Tarin. "Is someone still here?"

"Yes Tarin, it's Mustang. I was calling to check up on you all for going to Resembool."

"Oh, well everything's fine. We got here on time with no real trouble. And after being introduced to Pinako and Winry, they say that Ed may not have to stay as longer as expected." Tarin sounded happier then what Hawkeye had said.

"Well I'm glad to hear that everything's-"

"And Roy, one more thing: I'm sorry." She interrupted me. "You know for yelling at you the other day. It wasn't called for and I think I really overreacted more than I should have. It wasn't your fault or anything like that at all and… I'm just, sorry." She went silent.

I thought over her apology. I couldn't guess what her expression may have been at this point so I didn't know how she felt about her own confession. With Rin it's usually easy to figure out if you match the looks on her face to what she says and how she says it. By the way she said what she said it sounded like she…

"Roy?" Her voice broke me from my thinking. I tried refreshing back into the conversation. "I wanted to know if you'd forgive me."

I slowly felt myself smile. "Of course I forgive you. I understood your reasons that same evening when you told; there was no need for you to even feel any regret about it. That night gave us a chance to know each other more and we did. And like you said a few weeks ago, you weren't ready to get back into the life of dating again so quickly. Isn't that right?"

"Yeah. Yeah you're right." There was then some voices heard in the background on her end of the phone. "Well, it sounds like I'm needed elsewhere now. Good-bye Roy. And thank you." She then hung up the phone.

Just as I put the phone down, Hawkeye appeared at my desk. "Did everything clear up between you two?"

"Yeah; it seemed like it did."

"Good. And here's your paperwork sir." She dropped a stack of papers on my desk.

'Why me?'

No one's P.O.V.

She stood there in that same spot even disregarding her name being called from the other room. Standing there with thoughts buzzing through her mind like bees. 'I did it. I apologized. I apologized to him in the best way I could from here. So why?' Planting down in the closest chair she felt as one tear fell down her face. 'Why? Why do I still feel bad… or just worse.'