Hey all! Sorry you haven't heard from me in a while! Eeek! It's been months since I've been back on this story and I was afraid I had almost forgotten where I was going with all this! I've been quite busy and just got some time during the holidays! Yay for the end of the world! Hopefully I'll get some more words chipped into this fic before my free time expires!

And a reply to a reviewer:

Logarithm: Thanks for all the awesome reviews! Really appreciate that you took the time to tell me what you were thinking at so many points in the story—I'm glad you like my writing style and I'm thrilled you like the plotline since it was basically created when I was less mature. Got to admit, I hated my "explanation of flame alchemy" part but hell, I'm detail-oriented and I'm not just going to throw all that on you guys later when the action gets heavy! ;) Anyway, thank you again for the review!

Enjoy enjoy enjoy!


Chapter Four

(the truth comes skin-deep)

White blouse, plain dress, hair combed down, and a small purse hanging off her left shoulder.

She dressed like any other woman would, intending to go far without anyone noticing her.

Much less the suitcase full of ammunition and spare guns that she carried oh so casually in her right hand.

No one suspected anything when they got on the train east heading toward Xing, and when asked by the train personnel, they were tourists intending to take many pictures of the exotic lands of the direction that the sun rose.

So they sat, side by side, in seats toward the middle of the train car.

Hawkeye hadn't asked any questions regarding Mustang's intentions yet, seeing if she could figure it out on her own, but found herself lacking information to draw any conclusions. Her brown eyes gazed over at her colonel, his head bowed down in half-sleep, hands resting in his lap, fingers clamped tight around each other.

"Hey," she said softly.

He apologized briefly before catching himself again. "Sorry…are you okay?"

She kept an inward smile—the man never did put himself before others, did he?

"Sorry, I never explained the plan…I must be as much of a fail colonel as you make me out to be huh?" he wryly joked. He looked up at her before continuing. "I have to move the Source Transmutation Circle. There's a lot to it and it's hard to explain all at once, but it's all to keep you safe."

Hawkeye corrected him. "Us," she interrupted, placing a head over his tense ones.

laterthatday

She watched his eyebrows furrow, studying the map held in front of him.

"So essentially, we're just a couple blocks from the station…and if we walk a bit in this direction…" he changed his mind, turning around. "I mean, in this direction—"

"Admit it, sir," she smiled. "You're lost."

"No, I'm not lost—I just need to recalibrate our location," he defended.

Suppressing some laughter, she nodded her head. "Okay, while you go ahead and do that, I'll ask for directions."

momentsafter

After a couple of knocks, the wooden door slowly swung open.

Not seeing anyone in front of them, the two of them were confused.

"Down here, young ones!" a voice from below snapped.

"Ah, I'm sorry!" Mustang quickly apologized, slightly bending down to apprehend the short elderly lady in front of them.

"Stand up straight!" she retorted, pushing his forehead up with her index finger.

Hawkeye stifled a small laugh, covering her mouth.

The elderly lady gave Hawkeye a wide smile. "And who might you be?"

"Elizabeth and Christopher," Hawkeye introduced, lie smooth off her lips. "I'm sorry for disturbing you, but we're a bit lost."

"Oh that's no big deal," said the lady, flipping her hand in gesture of this. "My husband and I never get visitors..." the elder added under her breath, "after our son ran off to the city to womanize tramps and our daughter eloped!" She regained her kind demeanor however. "You are welcome to stay for the night!"

"Oh no, we don't need a place to—"

"I insist!" and the senior woman dragged them both in with a strength that surprised the two of them.

Mustang and Hawkeye took in the sight of the simple and neat living space. In the corner, sat an older man sitting comfortably in his chair, who squinted when the two of them entered the house.

"Is that May Ling and—"

"Not our children!" interrupted his spouse. "Just two people that are going to be staying the night with us today," she explained. The elderly lady pointed toward a door to the left. "We have extra rooms!" she said, already ready to host the young couple, who wordlessly agreed among themselves that they could afford a night of rest.

Then lady suddenly looked suspiciously between the two of them and went up to Hawkeye, loudly whispering, "And I have more than one room, so that you don't have to worry about that guy bothering you."

Mustang gave the elderly lady an awkward look and Hawkeye nodded to politely accept the elder's offer.

"Thank you, ma'am," Hawkeye said, giving her a bright smile. "Do you need help preparing dinner today?"

"Oh you sweet girl!"

Mustang weakly raised his hand as well. "I, um, can—"

"You will just make trouble! Go sit!"

laterthatday

"Here, I can help with that," Hawkeye offered, holding out her right hand in order to take over the older woman's sweeping. "It'll be the least that I can do for you hosting me."

The elder smiled. "Why thank you, you sweet girl." She handed Hawkeye the broom, and Hawkeye cherished how she was at least a foot taller than the aging woman. Hawkeye stepped forward to intercept the chore.

"Oh? What happened here?" the senior asked, lightly tapping the Hawkeye's right leg when spotting something on her skin, since her pant leg had drawn up when she had stepped forward. "It looks like a burn."

Hawkeye pulled her leg back instinctively. "Sorry," she apologized for her abruptness, not intending to be rough.

It must have happened at some point while we were escaping, she reasoned quickly, observing the slightly scalded skin on her calf.

"It must hurt a lot then," soothed the older woman. "I'll have my maid take you to a nearby spring later. It's very good for your health too and can probably help your wound out a bit."

The blond lieutenant smiled, tucking her injury back under her pant leg.

She didn't want Mustang seeing that either.

afterdinner

"My flame alchemy isn't going to work for the time that I'm moving my Source Transmutation Circle," Mustang said suddenly.

Hawkeye didn't judge, continuing to lay sheets over the mattresses. "Is it safe?"

He cast his eyes downwards. "As long as no one bothers us in that time."

"We can't guarantee that," she said, rolling out the fabric and smoothing it over.

"The most important thing is that…he doesn't find it," Mustang reasoned, about a minute later. "That's why I have to move it. He knows that it's somewhere in Xing. I just…hope that they lost track of us."

"Where were you thinking of moving it?" she asked briefly.

"I was going to—"

"Um…" a soft voice interrupted. A woman that looked to be in her twenties with her hair tied back showed up around the corner of the hallway. "Sorry, I'm the maid for this house," she introduced herself. She looked past Mustang, facing Hawkeye. "I was told you had burns, and that I should take you to the medicinal spring."

"Ah…" and Hawkeye trailed off, making quick eye contact with Mustang, who left upon Hawkeye's request. "Thank you for the offer."

These people were almost a bit too hospitable, Hawkeye thought while she gave the maid a quick smile.

The two of them walked across the cool dry sand beyond the elderly man and woman's cottage, eventually reaching a small gurgle of oasis.

Hawkeye bent down to roll up her pant leg, but the maid quickly prevented her from doing so.

"Here, here, I'll do that for you," she said, sitting Hawkeye down at the edge of the water and kneeling down to do so.

"Oh no, it's quite alright."

"I insist," and in the small stumble the two women had, the two guns at the holsters from Hawkeye's back fell out, clattering onto the sand below them.

The maid gasped covering her mouth and stepping back, her slick black hair falling out of place.

Hawkeye explained quickly, "No, no! I just keep these on me, just in case!"

The maid took the fault as her own, looking aside. "Oh no, I'm sorry. I just overreacted. I—"

"It's okay, miss," Hawkeye said, placing a sympathetic hand on the maid's shoulder. "You would have never expected me to bring these with me when we were just going to a spring." Hawkeye gave her a weak smile, and the maid quickly continued on with getting Hawkeye's leg into the water. Hawkeye decided it was better that she not do anything, letting the maid do what she wanted, and not interfering.

Before Hawkeye's heel touched the water, the maid suddenly stopped abruptly.

"Um…the water is a bit cold," she said, and Hawkeye nodded before her leg was submerged.

Hawkeye breathed out a small sigh of relief as she felt the inflammation around her burn settle down, the water calming her nerves around the area. She looked over at the maid, who was waiting patiently, sitting on her legs.

"Join me," Hawkeye invited.

The maid looked to the side. "It's not proper to—"

Hawkeye shook her head. "I am not the person you work for," she said.

The maid gave her an unsure smile, and when Hawkeye gestured for her to join her, she then rolled up her own pant legs to dip into the water.

"What's your name?"

"Yin," she said simply. And then after a moment, "What about you?"

"Elizabeth. And the guy that was with me is Christopher."

She nodded, and then asked, "How long have you known him?"

Hawkeye looked upwards at the starry sky. "Quite a while, actually."

"Do you have…future plans?" Yin asked hesitantly.

The blond stuttered, a rare event on her lips. "Oh-oh no, we're not in any kind of a relationship."

"Oh! I'm sorry!" Yin apologized.

"No, no, it's fine."

After the moment passed, Yin continued, "So what brings you here?"

"We were just visiting," Hawkeye lied. "We got lost along the way from the station."

Yin nodded. "It's easy to get lost in a place like this…what happened to your leg?"

"Just an accident."

"That must have been a serious accident."

Hawkeye nodded, turning her head toward Yin.

She froze.

Because under the moonlight, Hawkeye just saw a sliver of skin just at the side of Yin's neck with something that was much too familiar.

A tattoo—a circle with a vertical line drawn through its diameter.

Of the exact same design as the guard from the Alchemist.


Do remember the author's tip jar (aka: please review)! Or...I'll tell Maes Hughes that you totally want to hear all the stories about his daughter! muaha!

Happy holidays all!

thir13enth