Disclaimer: I don't own FMA. If I did... muhahahaha... but no.

AN: This is the part 2 I said I wrote. I went thru it and I conceded to myself that it was available for posting. So you guys get to see it! Says thx to myself, you guys. Do enjoy, that's why I write.

'Will you please tell me why we are following her?' She was starting to let frustration lace her voice.

'Oh, sweetheart. If I didn't tell you the last twenty-seven times, what makes you think I'll tell you now?' He handed her the cotton candy in his hands. She glared at him but took the cloud-shaped sugary goodness anyway.

'Geez, Thane. Maybe because it's been three hours and I'm totally beat?' She stomped with each syllable. Who would have thought there was this side to our goody-two-shoes nun? He did not even hide his grin, knowing it will further infuriate her. She gave out an exasperated sigh before digging into the cotton candy.

'All in good times, Rose. All in good times.' He really enjoyed her company.

'How is it possible that she doesn't even see us? It's not like we are exactly inconspicuous!' She asked between mouthfuls of cotton candy. He contemplated about explaining to her that he had placed a magical weave of death over them then decided against it. If he told her, he would have to kill her. He did not really want to do that.

It was difficult to explain anyway.

Almost all people tended to pretend as if death did not exist in their lives even though they were all eventually doomed to die. All he did was to simply amplify this aspect and wrap the "magical cloak" around them. People may see them and even interact with them perfectly, but they would not be noticed or remembered unless he or Rose went an extra mile to be the centre of the attention.

They have been tailing her ever since she was released from the guards, quite a distance from the scene of commotion she had caused. He had not explained the reasons why he was following her to Rose. Likewise, he had not really explained to himself why he was letting Rose tag along. He just had a gut feeling that these were good ideas. What could possibly be wrong with following a girl, or having a girl to follow him?

The sun had begun to set in the horizon and nothing had yet to occur. The girl had so far done nothing out of the ordinary, as if the entire chaos she had caused in the noon had not happened. She waltzed through the streets, behaving like a tourist who had come to Lior to sightsee. She chatted animatedly with the strangers – who surely must have neither been at the parade square nor simply failed to recognize her if they have – and smiles and laughter were exchanged wholeheartedly. Thane himself grinned at the happy picture, his suspicions seeming to be more likely with each observation.

It was almost at the end of the crepuscule when the event he had been hoping to see happened.

The girl had still been wandering the streets of Lior, but with plainer focus on searching for something; Thane guessed it to be the whereabouts of her lodgings. The streets were not yet completely deserted, a merchant closing his shop for the night here and a pedestrian who was briskly pacing away in her eagerness to reach home there.

Out of the narrow alleys and lanes linking to the street, a few men popped out. They pretended to be unaware of each other, although the similar gaits they possessed informed Thane they were a group. They were not very subtle, clearly intending to be seen by the girl to chase her off the main street. In fact, even Rose saw the gathering of these men and stopped her complaints. That was a relief; if these hooligans had not shown up, Thane would have had to explain himself about dragging her around for so long without an apparent reason.

'Is this why we were tracking her?' She whispered, although the magic he had casted would have rendered them unobtrusive and kept them concealed anyway.

'Uh huh.' He did not answer her properly, focusing on stalking the stalkers. Rose was reluctant about going after men who were no doubt full of malicious intents. However, the desire to look out for a fellow member of her gender – no matter how rude the particular person has been – and to not be left behind won and she tagged along with him.

Four, five, six, seven… No, that one is just a passerby. There were six in the hunting pack. Big numbers for a lone girl. They were clearly professionals, in the sense that they have done this before, easily cutting her off and herding her into a less-traversed avenue. It was not long before they would make their move. He quickened his steps despite the risk of his magic failing to conceal him at such close proximity. Rose followed suit, tense.

However, the thugs were only concentrating on their quarry, believing there to be no witnesses around. They moved with haste and cornered her into the back alley. Thane rushed towards them, knowing discretion was pointless when his goal of saving the girl was moments from being a failure.

When he entered the alley, he caught the words, 'pissed off the wrong kind of people, lassie. Someone wants you gone and wants you gone in a jiffy. He ain't were too clear cut about the how, though. Guess I can do whatever's hell I want.' The speaker was a young man, and brandishing a knife in a manner that suggested he knew how to use it. He was undoubtedly too close to her for her comfort.

Suddenly, his grip tightened, his intention clear to Thane. Without thinking about the risk he was bringing to himself and Rose, he yelled out, 'excuse me, gentlemen. Do any of you happen to know the way to the nearest loo?'

As one, eight pairs of eyes landed on him. Aw, shit. I'm so gonna regret this.

Contrary to his inner grimace, Thane continued, 'the girlfriend and I would really like quiet place for oursel… Oh… Uhm… Was this a bad time?'

The youngster was the quickest to reply. 'Don't ya be worryin' for yer sweet thing. We'll take her to the quiet place ourself.' On cue, two of the thugs rushed towards him, bringing their weapons to bear.

Thane gave Rose a gentle but strong shove backwards and moved forward to greet the assaulters.

Right. The ugly has a club, the shifty eyes has the dagger. He shifted towards his right, bringing himself closer to the ugly. His weapon has a longer range than the dagger, meaning bringing myself even closer to him will let him swing at me way before – The club swung towards him. He grabbed it at the end of its swing, where it was the slowest, and twisted it away into his hands – the dagger can even reach me. With the kindly donated weapon, he blocked the thrust from the other assailant. It embedded deep into the wood, allowing Thane to easily pry it out of the man's hand by rotating the club. With both weapons confiscated, Thane tossed them as hard as he could over the wall by his side. He returned to his fighting stance to face his now disarmed opponents.

Holy moly. They are boiling now. Both are coming in together but not coordinated. The ugly's shorter, meaning his range is shorter. He carefully watched the movements of their limbs. Here they come. The shifty with a right jab while the ugly's a hook. Meaning, I do this. He sidestepped the taller assailant's right fist easily and grabbed the arm. Guiding the momentum of the swing, he placed it in the path of the ugly's punch.

'GAAAHHH!' The shifty screamed, although the volume of the shriek probably did not do the agony justice. If it was not broken, which was unlikely, it was definitely unfit for further use in the combat. The ugly stared dumbly at the crying figure on the floor, stunned at the damage he had caused to his ally.

Not letting the opportunity slip, Thane approached from his back and tripped him forward. The man fell hard. Without wasting time, Thane grabbed one of his legs and… My friend, this is going to hurt… spun it at the joint to the hip. With a pop, the leg became dislocated.

'ACCCKKK!' His scream joined his friend's. Thane looked at them and shrugged. He did not feel bad at all; they did not have any permanent injuries after all.

As he turned his attention back to the rest, he realized two things. The girl was still alive, which was good. Three mean looking men were charging towards him with mean looking weapons, which was bad. A pipe, an axe and a… I'm pretty sure that's a bone. A really big bone.

He did not move till they were range. He watched, observed and plotted his counter-attacks. When he was in their range, thus their weapons being in his, he moved.

The two girls watched the battle but could not follow his movements. It was not that Thane was too fast. It was that Thane moved very little. Thane's attacks were nothing if not efficient.

Thane's style of combat was derived from a friend who disliked moving too much, disliked fighting but liked to drink in bars. When a bar brawl occurred, she made sure she rendered both sides of the conflict incapable of further violence with little movements as possible. Therefore, she was a well loved patron of the bars she frequented, an enforcer of peaceful nights and a guarantee of minuscule collateral damages.

With the smallest actions, Thane wrenched weapons from hands, snapped weak joints, overloaded nerves and weakened muscles. Within minutes, the fight was over, with a lone winner standing. He dusted his hands and faced the last opponent, fully planning to gloat at the quality of his underlings.

But whatever wisecrack he had had died right when he saw a revolver pointed his way.

Thane, in general, has an aversion to guns. They were loud, they needed ammunition to work, gunpowder made his throat sooty, it needs a lot of oiling, but the worst trait of all about the firearms was the fact that they made people have an easy mean of causing him massive amounts of pain.

'End o' the line, old man. My little sassy here's gonna give ya a third nostril.' The young man had the red-haired girl in his arm. His other arm held the firearm.

'Son, you are going to be vastly disappointed.' His mind was racing with a way for him to get out of this situation without getting shot. Other than being able to avoid the agony that was sure to follow, he also wanted to be spared the headache of explaining why he did not die if the bullet were to land on a supposedly a fatal spot.

In the end, Thane wrecked his mind for nothing. As the man's attention was focused on his target, he failed to divert enough of it to catch the girl planning something. Without a warning – even to her rescuers – she tossed a small item in front of her capturer's face and immediately scrunched her eyes shut. Thane's magical senses told him alchemy was taking place an instant before his eyes told him that whatever the girl tossed had burst into light.

People often underestimate how harmful light can be. When an intense light overloads one's senses, the person is not simply blinded but also disoriented to the point of nausea. In the current situation, the word 'intense' did no justice describing the alchemy-induced miniature supernova.

Thane's magic easily negated the overwhelming sensation. The youngster had no such magic.

'Gwahhh!' The man dropped to his knees, his hands releasing the girl and the gun to cover his eyes. The girl grabbed the gun and pointed it towards him. Alarmed at how little her hands shook with the lethal weapon, Thane rushed forward and snatched it away. Before she could protest, the gun laid on the ground, reduced to its component parts.

The girl turned towards him, clearly intending to rebuke his actions. Thane allowed her no chance.

'That is enough out of you, young lady.' His glare was flint.

Hesitantly, trying to hide being intimidated, she moved behind him and muttered, 'fine.'

By this time, the young man's underlings had gathered around their leader.

'Hey, Spencer, you fine?' One of them asked. Spencer, huh. Now he had a name to the face.

'Yeah. We're pulling back. Lead the way.' The venom in his voice was notable in its restraint as well as its toxicity. Thane wondered whether he had underestimated Spencer. He sounded like a man who had been playing before but has decided to be serious from then on.

Without any comment, the enemy faded into the dark boulevards.

Rose approached him, now that the danger was past. Before she could ask for his and the girl's well-beings – her intention was as open as a book – he preemptively questioned, 'Rose, where's a good place to stay the night? I need a chair.'

It took a moment before he got the reply, 'ah. Right this way. I think I know a place.'

Thane loved the worlds of the living. Nobody who worked for the AMN hated them. Even his sister Keres, the embodiment of violent death, loved the living, although Thane suspected that she loved the people because their bloody deaths entertained her.

At the specific moment, what Thane really appreciated about the living was the fact that they knew how to really, really make a bed soft.

Ah civilization. Thane had jumped straight into the comfortable mattress upon sight and was currently rolling around a bit.

'Ahem.' Escarta coughed, obviously astonished by his juvenile behavior.

'Don't mind him. I believe in his mind, he's still being polite.' Rose's deadpanned voice emerged, causing Thane to chuckle. It was amazing how close he had grown to the girl, considering that they have only met for a day. Usually, his aura of death repelled strangers before they opened up to him.

'Well, aren't you the lawyer,' was his repartee. Rose stuck out her tongue.

Escarta, who still retained a slight residue of tension after being rescued from a murder attempt, muttered, 'you two are a really sweet couple.' That earned her a loud bark of laughter from Thane and immediate furious denial from Rose.

'No, no, no! We are not a couple. We only met this morning.'

'But, just now in the… That was a lie, wasn't it?' She arrived upon the truth faster than a normal person would. Thane thought he knew why.

'Congratulations. You managed to see through the deceit that took me an entirety of two seconds to fabricate. The reality of the fact is that I am simply a biographer who has come touring into this fine city of Lior and the ever lovely Miss Rose here is a sister to the Church of Letoism you've just grievously insulted the Founder of this afternoon. We've been at your heel ever since you've been led away by the guards. I'm sure you yourself know why.' At the last sentence, Rose looked at Thane with confusion avid in her eyes. However, Thane did not notice as his attention was focused on Escarta, whose features now sported fear and apprehension.

'Who are you?' The tremble in her voice now made her the center of Rose's attention.

'I am not part of the Leto's church, Escarta. And you have my assurance Rose is not privy to whatever is happening within; she's just a worshipper. If you could be so kind, please enlighten her.' Escarta struggled, in dilemma between speaking the truth and keeping a secret. In the end, her gaze fell on Rose's still confused face and that persuaded her to reveal the truth.

'Rose. You saw what happened in the square, right?' Rose nodded, frowning slightly as she briefly recalled the rudeness Escarta displayed to Cornello. Escarta quickly continued, sensing the train of her audience's thought. 'As your companion saw through, it was all an act. I don't know how he did, since I thought it was a quite magnificently done.' Pride shone through her words, and a question.

'It was. The hint was that a person who has the guts to confront a Founder of a Church before thousands of his followers about his involvement in a kidnapping is audacious enough to be equally capable of speaking either a truth or a lie. If such is the case I would guess that a liar was a more likely scenario.'

'So I got caught because I was too bold? Hmm.'

However, her contemplation was cut short by Rose's angry remark, 'would kindly spill why you felt such an act was necessary?' Escarta flinched at the vehemence.

'Alright. I guess I must. Let me start from the beginning. You know my name. Escarta Lemington. I am a freelance private investigator. Ten days ago, I came to Lior with my fiancé, Thomson Reglory. Heard of him?' Thane had not, but Rose had.

'Isn't he the journalist? I remember reading his article unveiling a heinous practice within an institute in the southern Amestris.'

'Yes. That was such a mess. Tasmira's Institute for the Graceful is a correctional institute for socially difficult youths. Rich men's spoilt daughters, politically powerful people's rebellious sons or renowned family's bastard children. You could have found them all there. The headmaster was using alchemy to produce toxins that will turn these teenage maelstroms into docile, socially acceptable creatures.

'Anyway, the point is, Thomson's work involves discovering the rotten works going on by the people who are supposed to be the society's best. My work is to provide assistance when I can: usually in form of knowledge regarding alchemy.'

'You are an alchemist?' Thane's noted with interest.

'Yup, but not a state-endorsed one. Even if I was, I'm sure Tommy's work would have ended that sooner or later.'

'I see, please do continue.'

'So few weeks ago, a contact in Lior brought to Thomson's attention regarding disappearances happening in Lior. It wasn't flagged as important or anything. Just a regular update of ongoing situation. The only reason he paid attention to it was because he had no other jobs at that moment. Out of boredom, he decided to take a closer look at the missing people. What he found out made him come to Lior immediately. Naturally, I followed.'

'What did he find?' Rose whispered, caught in the atmosphere of suspense.

'Two things. One: the missing people were either outsiders or loners. People who would not be missed. Usually, this sort of abduction is done by people who dabble in human trafficking; people who sold people to people who were willing to buy them; no returning of the abductees for ransom. However, something was off.'

'What?'

'Usually, human traffickers target two groups of people. They will go after either girls or young women to be sold as slaves or people who were at fit to be sold as body parts or lab rats. However, the missing people did not fall into these two neat groups. Some girls went missing, but so did some elderly, children, toddlers. One case encompassed the whole family. It was as if anyone was up for grabs as long as they would not be missed soon after.'

'And what was the second point that warranted Thomson's closer look?' Thane found the tale immensely fascinating.

'When these disappearances were raised to the authority, which is essentially the Church in Lior, no actions were taken. In fact, there were signs of cover-up happening. Once he caught scent of that, he had to come here.'

'Then he went missing?'

'Yes. Last night, he said he had a big lead from within the Church and went to chase it. I would have gone with him except…' Escarta paused, suddenly looking abashed.

Thane, who was now totally engaged in the mystery and had no patience for her timidity, insensitively blurted, 'except for your cramps.'

Rose, catching on, blushed at her companion's lack of tact. Escarta, on the other hand, seemed relieved that she did not have to explain herself.

'Yes. You will have to tell me how you figured that out later. So anyway, Thomson went out alone and never returned this morning, even though he promised to. I figured it was a trap as I've originally suspected and so made my moves accordingly.' Thane nodded, with the blanks in the details now filled. However, one look at Rose told him that she still had not connected the dots.

'Let me narrate from here. You had suspicions but no concrete facts. That is why you went to the square this afternoon and created such a scene, letting whoever was responsible for your fiancé's abduction be aware that you were also on his trail. Afterwards, you wandered in the streets so that he could have time to send someone after you. You had the flashy weapon ready to disarm whoever that came to hush you. You were planning to capture and interrogate your assaulter. However, what you did not expect was the sheer overwhelming number of men the mastermind criminal had sent after you. Am I right?'

She nodded. 'Are you sure you are not a detective?' The admiration in her voice, as well as in Rose's eyes, was plain. It made Thane happy. It was rare of him getting appreciated for his prowess of deduction. Most people in his work either denounced him as childish or, if the person who witnessed it was Maria, too free.

'Oh no. I am simply a biographer. It's just that when you experience many people's lives, you just learn to be familiar with many situations,' he preened. With the small moment of satisfaction had, he fixed his attention to the next matter to be discussed. 'What are our next moves?'

Escarta took a moment to overcome her surprise at his offer of help before answering, 'huh? No. There is no "us". This is my problem, I will not drag others into the dangers that's sure to come – if today's fan club I had is any indication.' Her tone was not as strong as her brave words.

'I beg to differ. I am a man who is an outsider and a loner. By your own opinion, I am a prime target for the next abduction. It is most crucial that I remove any threats to my well-being to succeed in having a pleasurable tour in Lior. Even if I am not involved as of yet, I will be sooner or later. And as my boss always enjoys saying, why not sooner?' He smiled, assuring her that he will not let her go through this adventure alone. She returned the smile, accepting the offer.

'I also cannot just sit by idly. If there really are serial kidnappers in my city, I will help you bring them to justice.' Rose commented, justice brimming within her. At her words, Thane looked at Escarta guiltily. His eyes met hers, and he knew she was thinking the same thing.

It was very probable, in fact almost certain, the Church of Leto was deeply ingrained within this most distasteful affair. Rose had not figured out yet. Neither of her companions wished to be the one to educate her on the matter. A silent agreement passed between him and the PI.

'Rose. You are not coming with us.' Thane decided he would have to be the harbinger of bad news.

'Huh? Of course I am.'

'I won't let you.'

There was a brief period of silence. It was removed and replaced by Rose's anger as she realized her friend was denying suddenly her involvement in the affair. 'What makes you think you can order me around, Thane?' She was nearly shouting now.

Thane never raised his voice. 'Think back of the evening we've had today. These people? They are out to kill. I can protect myself. She's an alchemist. You? I don't think so.'

'I can protect myself. I'm not a weakling girl.'

'Bullshit. You do not have what it takes to hurt other people; even those who are out to kill you.'

'I…' She could not argue, knowing Thane was right on this one. 'You don't want me here because I will be a burden.'

'Go home, Rose.'

The brunette got up. Wordlessly, she went for the door. Before she left, her gaze locked into his and then she was gone.

'Wow. Harsh.'

'Yes. That's what my ex said too.' Thane shrugged his reply. Wisecrack was his defensive mechanism to uncomfortable decisions.

'Oh cheer up. You made the right choice. It's too dangerous.'

'You know, you are not much older than her, if at all.'

'Yeah well, I am an alchemist. We grow fast, as a breed.'

'Mmhmm.' His reply was automatic, his thoughts on something else.

'Hey, earth to tough guy? Whatcha thinking?' She waved her hands right before his eyes.

'Hmm? Oh. Nothing. Nothing at all. Let's get to planning shall we?' Contrary to his words, there was a train of thought going through his head.

The hard look in Rose's tear-filled eyes constantly nagged at his mind.

It was very late into the night when Thane got to slumber.

After Rose's departure, Thane and Escarta spent the night getting acquainted with each other and planning their next course of action.

Escarta was an intriguing individual. Only twenty of age but already betrothed and well-travelled, he found her wise beyond her years. Cheerful, funny, lively and well-versed in the highly decorated art of sarcasm, she got on well with Thane. Thane learned the she was confident enough of her talent as an alchemist to title herself the Luminous Alchemist. As her title suggests, her alchemic skills involved manipulating light. Interesting as her explanations about light alchemy sounded, he had to admit that most of them went straight over his head.

For the next day, they agreed that they were currently lost as a child in a market and that they should split to obtain information separately. Escarta will try the police, claiming to file a missing person report for her "brother". Thane, who was known to the head honchos of Letoism, will approach the Church.

Just before he left – which was forced, since chivalry demanded that he do the menial task of getting to the second room – he felt for Escarta's death.

Thane does not do this for every Tom, Dick and Harry he meets. He had not done so for Rose. It made him squeamish, like reading a person's diary – those with all the sanguinary and morbid details of one's feelings. He only did this when he was involved in a serious task, so as to give himself a little edge. It was never a bad thing to learn more about a potential enemy or ally, even if it left him feeling… icky.

Everybody's death is unique, just like their lives. When Thane feels for a person's death, it was not an expiry date of the person that he saw; it did not work that way. Some people can be fated to perish on a number of days, his actual death falling randomly on any of these dates. Some people can have a range for his death day – which could span for decades – and nothing is out of ordinary as long as he died within the period. Some people may have a day of probable, but not definite, death. On that day, it will seem to them as if the universe itself was conspiring to get them dead because that was exactly the case. If they manage to survive – in however manner – the day, Thane loses their death date and can no longer predict their natural death. It's possible, albeit rare, to find people who are naturally without death date, meaning the only ticket to Netherworld for them is by violent death. Once, Thane has met a girl whose death date shifted every hour. Boy, wasn't that an exciting one to chase. Thane inwardly smiled at the thought of how she had bested him in the end. Last intelligence report regarding her informed him that she was currently habituated in Heleumos-003 with her husband and wife.

Thane had noticed, after years of feeling people's death, that Fate complicated the hell out of their death if their lives were spectacular. While he appreciated her effort to grant fitting ends to deserving individuals, it impeded his work frustratingly – which was probably another reason why she did it.

Shawl of shadows, Escarta's death was complicated. He would not say it was the most complex one he had seen, but it deserved merit for the attempt. Even if he had not met her now, she would eventually have caught his attention in future. It had multiple possible resolutions, some declaring she will live till the ripe old age of a century and one while other insinuating she would suffer a gruesome death at hands of enemies. In summary, even he did not know what was in store for her.

Also, with his introduction into her life, there was possibility of unnatural death as well.

Pondering about what he learned of his new comrade, Thane entered his room. The seductive furniture of mattresses and blankets in the centre of the domain beckoned him and he shamelessly offered himself to its embrace. After journeying through the mental list of their plans tomorrow, he prepared his body to slumber.

Tomorrow is bound to be an interesting day.

He entered Hypnos' realm.

AN: Yes. I admit shamelessly. This is a filler part. Part 3 is not even properly in the works guys. I still have not decided who lives and who dies; well, present personification of death not excluded. It's hard to kill a character who is death in flesh... or spirit.

I make no promises to promptly execute next update (I am *cough cough* kinda *cough cough* working on *cough* another *cough* stuff.) because something came up. I'm also contemplating the mood; basically in the concept of 'How low can I go?'

tata desoldeben out