Chapter Twelve

"Well?" Dante repeated, "what is she doing? Is she close to killing the target?"

Envy hesitated, thinking of what he had witnessed in the rain. "Yes," he lied slowly, frowning to himself, "Yes, I'd say the task will be completed shortly."

"Are you sure?" Dante seemed so surprised she forgot to sound menacing. "She hasn't strayed off track at all?"

"No, ma'am." Envy said through gritted teeth.

"Hmm," Dante murmured, "Interesting. I thought she would fall all too easily in love with being free. Perhaps I have wrongly doubted her. Very impressive, Nemesis."

"Yes," Envy agreed, "very impressive indeed."

We kissed as we made our way through the lobby, and we kissed up the stairs, and we kissed in the hallway, and finally, with Edward's hands on either side of my face, we kissed with my back against the hotel room's door.

"Al's inside," he murmured against my lips, and then, eyes widening, he jumped a foot away from me and stared at me in horror. I reflected the expression, and we both seemed to realize at that moment what had just happened.

We stared at each other for a bit longer, and then I quickly spun around and opened the door, strolling in with Edward on my heels.

"Hey!" Alphonse said cheerfully, "How was dinner?"

"Great," I replied, "delicious. Well, I'm beat. I think it's about time for bed."

"Yeah." Edward agreed, looking confused.

"You're both soaked." Alphonse commented.

"Yep," I said, "Got caught in the rain. No big deal." I paced over to the bathroom and made my best attempt at drying my hair with a towel. Edward did the same. His elbow brushed against mine and we both shuffled awkwardly away from each other.

My wet clothes, which I had borrowed from Winry, were beginning to get uncomfortable now. Stepping out of the bathroom, I made my way to Edward's suitcase, which was on top of his bed. I opened it and peered around, frowning at the clothing I had borrowed. "Not really my style," I said dryly, lifting up a mechanic's uniform and slipping out of my clothes. Alphonse quickly looked away and Edward blushed horribly, spinning around so fast he fell into the tub.

Winry was taller than me and much curvier, so the uniform didn't fit that well, but it was dry, so I was satisfied.

"Well," I cleared my throat, crawling into my bed next to the window. "erm, goodnight then."

"Yeah," Edward responded, giving me an uncomfortable smile and crawling into his own bed as I crawled into mine. I shot Alphonse an apologetic look as he noisily sat down.

"It's alright," he said sincerely, as if reading my mind. I grimaced at him, and then reached over and pulled the chain on the lamp, sending the room to darkness. For a while, we all stayed in silence, though we all knew quite well no one was sleeping yet.

I bit my lip nervously and stared at the ceiling. What was I supposed to do now? Envy was following me, watching me, how long had it been since I left Dublith? A bit over a week.

Dante said to take all of the time I needed, right? And Envy hinted that I shouldn't kill Edward until after we've found the Stone.

I smiled to myself, feeling much more content now. Yes, that's what I would do. I would wait until Edward found the Stone and then I would kill him.

I turned over on my side and closed my eyes.

And who knew how long that could take, anyway? Weeks, months… there was nothing wrong with waiting to please Dante even more.

But still, I felt an uncomfortable knot in the pit of my stomach.

"Home sweet home," said Edward bitterly as we walked through Central Headquarters. "I wonder where Mustang's going to send us next. I'm done with these god damn wild goose chases, we aren't getting anywhere."

"Yeah," Alphonse agreed. "We haven't found any new information on the Stone since Cornello, and that didn't go too well."

"Yeah, don't remind me," Edward muttered, taking a sharp left and pushing a door open without so much as a knock. Alphonse and I followed in behind him.

Under a large stack of paperwork that didn't seem any smaller than when I had last seen it sat the familiar man with unruly black hair and eyes to match. He glanced up at Edward, and then his focus went straight to me.

Immediately, he stood up and extended his arm, shooting a string of flames in my direction.

"Ah!" I yelped, jumping out of the way in panic.

"What the hell are you doing?" demanded Edward, looking back in forth between the Colonel and I in shock.

"This girl is not who she says she is." Said Colonel Mustang shortly.

My heart sped up and my stomach dropped. This was it, I was about to die.

Edward frowned. "What does that mean?"

Without looking away from me, Mustang strolled toward us, his arm still extended. "There are no records of any 'Nem' ever existing. No type of file, not even a birth certificate."

I was sure they must've been able to hear my heartbeat by now. I swallowed loudly, but said nothing. My eyes were wide with fear.

"I know!" Edward responded angrily, and I looked up at him in confusion, "she explained everything to me."

I frowned. When did I do that?

Oh, right, I realized, blushing. Edward had remembered my made up story about being adopted and looking for answers.

Mustang rolled his eyes. "I think this girl is a homunculus." He narrowed his eyes at me.

"That's crazy!" Alphonse exclaimed, "Nem would never try to hurt us!"

I never once looked away from Mustang, who suddenly bent down next to me and lifted me up by my arm before I could even gasp.

"Let's prove it, then," he spat at me, and I noticed something sharp and shiny in his hand—a letter opener.

"Hey!" Edward shouted, "What are you-!"

But without any hesitation at all, Mustang swiped the blade across my cheek.

I inhaled sharply, pulling away from him and gingerly touching the cut. I winced. It stung.

Edward and Alphonse both looked outraged.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Edward demanded, "Why did you do that?"

Mustang stared at me in curiosity. "Interesting," he said slowly, "If she was a homunculus, it would've healed."

"And it didn't, because she's not!" Alphonse said in his high-pitched voice. Both brothers stood on either side of me. I wiped dripping blood from my chin.

"We should get Nem a bandaid." Alphonse spoke again. He didn't sound angry, like Edward, just confused.

Mustang continued to stare at me. I knew I looked guilty to him, and I certainly knew I wasn't off the hook. My heart was still racing.

"That's right, Al, so let's get out of here as fast as we can." Edward turned to Mustang, "What is our next assignment?" he shot at his superior rudely.

Still, Mustang's gaze at me was unwavering. "Fullmetal," he spoke, "Let's have a word alone."

Edward pursed his lips, but turned to face Alphonse and I. "Go take Nem to find a bandage," he instructed. Al nodded and took my small hand in his large metal one, leading me out the door and down the hallway.

"Ed." Said Mustang sternly, "This girl is a threat and you are being thick-headed."

"She's just an ordinary girl from off the streets." Edward scoffed, "She's no threat to Al and I, and even if she was I'm pretty sure I could handle a little girl."

Mustang peered at Edward, and then a look of understanding dawned on his face.

"I see," he smirked, "You're allowing your hormones to cloud your judgment. My, my, I never thought I'd see the day."

Edward blushed violently. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"If someone wants to hurt you, this is the way they would do it!" Mustang urged, but Edward rolled his eyes.

"Can you just tell us where to go so we can get out of here?" he asked impatiently.

The colonel looked aghast. "You're taking her with you?"

"That's right," Edward said shortly, "so, where are we off to?"