SCA: Hello everyone!

Emily: Hello people!

SCA: Ok, as I said last time, there's a time skip this time!

Ed: Why?

SCA: Cuz I didn't feel like writing about a train ride and meeting the bookworm

Ed: *Cough*lazy*cough*

SCA: Shut up! -hits Ed with the keyboard-

Ed: Hey! That hurt!

SCA: Its supposed to! Anyway, I'd like to thank all my reviewers! I'm not gonna type out your names this time, but you brighten my life! XD

Emily: Sure

SCA: Emily, just for that, you have to do the disclaimer

Emily: Fine...SCA doesn't own FMA (Ed: Be glad she doesn't! SCA: Hey!)

SCA: Anyway, this chapter starts in Central. Ed and Al have been researching the code for the stone and Em and Alice have been cooped up in the hotel, so here we go!

*EDITED: JANUARY 15, 2011*

Chapter 6: Are you trying to kill me?

It was 8:30 in the morning and Emily was fast asleep in the bed she and Alice had been sharing for the past week. Alice was standing at the end of the bed, Ed and Al standing in front of her, getting ready to leave. The four had arrived in Central a week ago. When they first got there, Ed was practically bouncing off the walls. Then they found out that the first branch had burned down. After that they met the Bookworm. She had this mental thing where she remembered everything she ever read. So she created an exact copy of Dr. Marco's notes for them. Only thing was that they were written in code. So Ed and Al had spent that last week couped up in the library trying to figure it out while Alice and Emily were stuck at the hotel.

The former now stood in the dimly lit room, her hands clenched as she watched Edward pull his jacket on. The tension she had felt around him at the Rockbell's was nearly gone. But she knew that Ed's trust for her hadn't grown at all. Unless there was something she didn't know about...She still wasn't sure what to do.

"Hey Ed...uh, maybe you should take a break." Alice offered quietly. She waved her hands in a panic as he turned and gave her a look.

"Ok! Maybe just an hour or so. You look exhausted. I don't think it would be too good if you passed out at the library."

"She's right, Brother. You look really tired."

"No, Al. I'm not stopping when we're this close."

"Alright, " Alice sighed, "But at least drink some coffee or something. Make sure he does, Al?"

"I will. See you later Alice."

Alice waved to them as they left the room. As soon as the door clicked shut she slumped down on the bed. They had been with the Elric's for almost two weeks now. And it didn't seem to be getting any better. She supposed that asking for trust after two weeks was a lot but still...Yes, she was still worrying about the trust issues Edward had with her. She just couldn't stop obsessing over it. But she had her reasons. Alice was absolutely positive that Ed's trust for her hadn't risen at all since the train ride, and yet he seem to have no trouble at all trusting Emily. Just what was she doing wrong? Was all of this really because of Scar? Or did Ed just happen to hate her?

She sighed, leaning forward and resting her elbows on her knees. Alice knew that she shouldn't be so bothered by this, that if she was in the blondes shoes she would probably react the same way. Truth was, she knew exactly way she was acting like this. Never before had she ever had to work so hard for one persons trust. People had always just...liked her. Plenty of people had told her that she was just so "innocent and well-behaved and trust-worthy." But maybe she deserved having Ed act like this. Perhaps it was a test of some sort, or a message, telling her that faith didn't come easily.

"But it always does!" she cried out in anger. "They always trust me! They always have faith! Why else would I act like I do?"

"What the hell are you going on about?"

Alice flinched. She had forgotten that Emily was in the room with her. "Sorry Em," she said, turning and giving her friend an embarrassed smile."Didn't mean to wake you up."

"I'm guessing you're not going to tell me what you were ranting about?"

"Uh...maybe later?"

"Fine. We're going to get out of this hotel room and we're going to go get some sort of caffeinated drink and you're going to tell me what you were screaming about." Emily stated, crossing her arms and nodding decidedly.

"Alright, alright. As long as we talk about other stuff too."

"Of course."

"Good. Get dressed then we can leave."

~X~

It had been almost three hours since her outburst that had ended up rousing Emily from slumber. The two had been wandering around Central for a while, just talking about random things. Eventually, they had remembered the reason for leaving the hotel room in the first place and had found a nice looking cafe. They were now sitting in the outside part of a cafe with a French name that neither of them could pronounce, sipping coffee.

Emily of course, had remembered her informational needs and Alice had just finished trying to explain. Thankfully, the two best friends had minds that could have belonged to twins and Emily had easily understood what Alice was freaking out over. Now that the awkward part was over, Alice decided to lighten the mood in the only way she could. Gossip and relationship interrogation at it's finest.

"Hey, Em?"

"Yeah?"

"How do you feel about Alphonse?" Alice asked, leaning forward with a slight smirk.

"How do you feel about Ed?" Emily shot back, raising an eyebrow.

"Do I really need to answer that?" Alice blushed as her friend gave a smile.

"Hmm...well, pushing all your trust issues out of the way, you've had a crush on that boy ever since you started reading Fullmetal Alchemist."

"Hurgh...yeah. Now answer my question."

"Fine. He's...nice. And he likes cats. But I wouldn't say I like him." Emily said thoughtfully, stirring her coffee.

"Oh? Well, that makes everything lame."

"He's a fictional character, Allie. That sort of thing doesn't happen. You've liked Edward for years but you still admit that he's not real. Unlike some Edward Cullen fans."

"I know. But still."

Emily rolled her eyes and smiled. Alice just sighed, pushing her dark-brown hair out of her face and slumping over on the table.

"I want to go ho-" Alice started to say, only to be cut off as Maria Ross ran up to them.

"What is it?" asked Emily, glancing up in surprise.

"They've done it!" she gasped. "They decoded it!"

"What?" Alice exclaimed. "Already?"

"Yes! Come on!"

Alice and Emily looked at each other before shrugging and following Ross back to the hotel.

Ed was pacing the hotel room and Al was sitting on the couch, looking over a bunch of papers. Emily was sitting on the edge of her bed, Alice sprawled out behind her, following Ed with their eyes like they were watching a tennis match. Suddenly Edward stopped pacing and strode over to Al, grabbing one of the papers. He started to say something when they heard it. Heavy footsteps were coming closer to the room and the sound of crying could be heard. The ever emotional Armstrong had arrived.

"Quiet!" Ed hissed,"Act like we're not here." Everyone nodded, not wanting to experience a life draining Armstrong hug. But it was not meant to be. Armstrong broke the door down after no one answered and he immediately ran forward, pulling Ed into a bone crushing embrace while rambling on about bravery and love. Finally, he dropped the half dead alchemist on the floor and the other two soldiers walked in. They instantly began making excuses to a very pissed looking Edward when they were cut off by Armstrong.

"The truth can be so cruel." he said, tears still pouring out his eyes in waterfall sized streams.

Ed stiffened. "The truth..." he muttered.

"What's wrong Big Brother?" asked Al, turning to look at him.

"Do you remember what Marcoh told us at the station?"

"Huh?"

"Remember? He said 'The truth behind truths'. So there must be something more."

Armstrong studied at him for a moment before whipping out a large map.(2)

"Presently the military oversees four alchemical labs within Central City. The one Dr. Marcoh was involved with was Lab 3. That is most likely where the research took place."

"Hmmmm. Wait...Over here, what's this building?" Ed asked, pointing to a spot on the map. Ross looked at it before pulling out a book and flipping it open.

"That used to be a fifth research lab but they shut it down. Currently, it's off limits due to danger of collapse."

"That's our place." said Ed.

"How do you know?" asked Brosh.

"Look," said Ed, pointing to map."Its right next to the prison. The main ingredient of the stone is live human beings. If I'm not mistaken, the bodies of prisoners aren't returned to their families, right? So they make it appear as if the death row convict was killed for his crimes but really, they just shipped him to Lab 5 to be used in experiments."

"The prisoners...are the ingredients?" asked Emily, looking slightly sick.

"Don't look at me like that. I feel sick just explaining it."

"So the governments in on this too?" asked Brosh.

"No, it's possible that they were acting on their own and the government had no idea about it. I'm going to look into this, alright? And the Elrics will stay put! That goes for you two as well, Miss Smith, Miss Hill."

"Don't worry, Major." said Al, "We'll wait for your report."

~X~

And lo and behold, the night found them scaling the wall of the military hotel, escaping their room on on a rope made of sheets. Al climbed out first, then it was Alice's turn. She walked up to the window and stuck her head out, looking down. She had never had much of a problem with heights, but usually she didn't have to go down a wall from the third floor without a harness.

She took a deep breath before she swung her leg over the sill, sitting on it. She grabbed the makeshift rope before swinging the other leg over. Don't look down, she told herself, Don't look down. She slid off the windowsill and out into open air. It took every ounce of her being to keep from screaming bloody murder. She swung for what felt like years before she got her feet planted against the wall. She began to walk down the wall as best she could, pushing off it lightly.

All too soon she made it to the end of the rope. An end that was too far away from the ground for her comfort. Her feet were at least five feet up. Taking a shaky breath, she let go. She bent her knees as she fell and managed to land without injuring herself. Emily followed her, looking a bit freaked out and Ed quickly came down after her.

They snuck through Central like they were being watched by someone. They weren't but that's paranoia for you. After sneaking around for a good fifteen minutes, they came to the huge wall that surrounded the desolate Lab 5. Emily and Alice gawked at it. It was a little over ten feet high, and there was electrical wire attached to the top. Edward and Alphonse did a team-up gymnastics move the sent Ed to the top where he pulled apart and deactivated the wire. He let the wire down for them to climb up with. This time Emily went first; it didn't take long for her to get up there but it took a little longer for her to jump off. Ed watched the other invisible side for a moment then motioned for Alice to climb up.

Alice gripped the deactivated wire and began to walk up the wall. It didn't take very long but when she looked down at Emily she wished she had stayed at the hotel. It seemed so far down!

"Come on!" said Ed, "If you don't hurry up, I'll push you off."

"Are you trying to kill me?" Alice hissed, the irritation caused by the supposedly gone tension back in full force. Apparently he was because he reached over shoved her off the wall. She bit her lip to keep from shrieking and threw her arms out in a reflexive manner. Luckily she managed to twist at the last second and landed without killing herself. She'd have bruises but she'd live. Maybe.

"Are you alright!" cried Emily, running over and helping her up.

"I'm fine," she said as Al and Ed landed. "But the bloody shrimp was trying to kill me!"

"No I wasn't! And who are you calling a shrimp? I'm taller than you!"

"So? I'm younger than you!"

"So!"

"Come on," said Al, "We're wasting time!"

*EDITED JANUARY 15, 2011*

(2)-I know its kinda non-descriptive, but that's what happens in the manga and I didn't feel like coming up with something.

Yay! Chapter 6 is finished! Right before band starts too. Man, I'm not looking forward to THAT. :( Anyway, you might be wondering why I don't the conversation thing going on. I've decided not to do that anymore. At least not at the end. Unless you like those? I'll only keep doing them if...6 people tell me they like them. If not, then I'll just do these. I'll still have one character with me to tell you reviewers what you'll be getting! And about band starting, thanks to that, I might not be able to update as much. But I'm not sure. I will try my best! Anyhoo, heres Roy to tell you what you'll get if you review! -hands Roy a piece of paper-

Roy:Uh...You get chocolate bunnies

So please review! Just hit that little button and the bunnies are yours!

Ok, I know that I never do this but my friend asked me too and since its really good, I did. I am advertising a story! xD

Iron Man: The Riley Stark Adventures by superherofan95

I stink at summaries. Riley Stark is a 15 year old who is Tony Stark's younger sister. She's been having dreams about Edward Cullen, but she doesn't know that's his name yet until one day, she draws him and changes everything.

It's a Iron Man and Twilight crossover, but you don't have to watch Iron Man before you watch it. I didn't. ;) Anyway, anyone who reads it gets TWO chocolate bunnies! XD