Innocent Sugar:

Simone’s Notes:

The term “lolita” has come to represent an archetypal image of an under-aged sexualized nymphet. This image is used often in advertising and many other aspects of popular culture, from movies to magazines - if not as sexualized children then as adult women made to appear childlike. In her article on the use of the "lolita" concept in advertising, Debra Merskin argued that the sexualization of children in the media has the potential to contribute to the increasing problem of child sexual abuse by indirectly condoning the use of children in inappropriate sexual contexts (2004). The phrase lolita complex or lolicon is popular in modern-day Japan to refer to a prurient interest in actual or manga or anime depictions of young girls. There is also a style of dress in Japan, often worn by Visual Kei musicians and their fans, called "Lolita" that is intended to evoke the look of a young girl. Lolita clothing styles range from Classic Lolita or Gothic Lolita to Sweet Lolita or "Ama Lolita." A Woolworths retail store chain in the U.K. briefly marketed a bed designed for six-year-old girls as "The Lolita," but the product line was pulled from stores after complaints from concerned parents.

The investigation for Stacey’s disappearance went on. The military had no leads so far. They only had the photographs to go by. Nately took another look at the one where Stacey was half-naked and staring scared at the camera. An idea popped into his head. He lifted the lid on the scanner and placed the photo face down. The lt. col. shut the lid and pushed the button. Reed waited for the photo to come up. Havoc was walking by when he noticed Nately at his desk. Curious he walked over to the lt. col. He looked at the screen closely.

“What are you doing?” he whispered to Nately from behind. The lt. col. looked behind him quickly.

“Don’t do that!” he said aloud.

“Sorry,” Jean replied. Nately turned back to the screen.

“Anyway,” he said. “I decided to look for Stacey in a new way.” Havoc was slightly confused.

“What do you mean?” he asked.

“Well,” Reed explained. “The eyes are the window to the soul, right?”

“Yeah,” Havoc replied.

“I decided to look into Stacey’s eyes to see what she is looking at to find out where this picture was taken.” Nately answered. Then the photo came up.

“You can actually do that?” Jean asked.

“Yeah,” Nately said. “We need anything we can get in order to solve this case.” Then, he ordered at photo shop program and got to work.

“Okay,” Havoc replied. “Let me know what you come up with.”

“Alright,” Reed said. Then, Jean headed out of the office for the afternoon. Nately kept on with his work. “Don’t worry, Stacey!” he thought. “We’ll help you and get you home safely.”

Outside, the investigation was still going in circles. The soldiers were still asking her friends and family questions. This was all that they had for the record:

Stacey was a responsible girl. Straight A student, bright girl, got along with everyone, many friends, and no boyfriends at all. Stacey was last seen going to school like she normally did. But something seemed missing. Mustang knew what the missing piece was. It was lt. col. Edward Elric. The alchemist proved it to the general himself. It was a slam dunk case. However two problems stood in the way:

1.      Edward had become a pretty good liar and come get himself out of the mess in seconds.

2.      Mustang had no proof.

But still, the military had to be aware of the truth before it was too late. It really hurt him inside. Roy really didn’t want to believe that Edward was capable about such thing. But the alchemist had proven his greatest fears. Mustang had no choice. So, he called a meeting that same afternoon. All of the North and East troops assembled in the cafeteria. They were all concerned what this was all about. Mustang stepped up to the front. His heart sank to his stomach. He really didn’t want to do this at all. But it had to known.

“Everyone,” the major general said to the troops. “I have something to say.” Everyone waited in silence. Mustang swallowed hard.

“Edward Elric is one of those incubi creatures,” he announced out loud. “I have come to the conclusion that he kidnapped Stacy Beale and is holding her hostage at the moment. I don’t know where or if he has killed her or not. All I can do I keep looking for Stacey and hope that she’s not dead. I also believe that Fullmetal is behind the murders of the women and men of the city. Whether he is acting alone or not, I am not sure. But we must act before Stacey or another young woman is found dead in the city.” Silence filled the cafeteria. Roy looked at all of their faces. He was hoping that they wouldn’t believe him. They all just stared at him in shocked silence. Mustang could see what they were feeling in their eyes. They didn’t want to believe it, but the truth was there. The soldiers all knew that Edward had changed. But they just couldn’t understand how. Mustang’s testimony had finally answered their questions.

“So now what do we do, sir?” Havoc asked him. Mustang drew in another deep breath. Here came the other hard part.

“I already put out a warrant for his arrest,” he announced. “For the time being we just need to focus on finding Stacey. That is all!” The troops all saluted him. Mustang saluted back. The war had just begun.

Outside, Faerie and Edward saw the whole show. The fairy looked up at her boss.

“Uh-oh!” she said aloud. “They found you out!”

“I know,” Edward replied.

“So now what?” she asked him. The alchemist just shrugged.

“Can’t be helped,” he replied. “I just won’t get caught by them at all.” Then, Ed rose up to his feet. He was turning to leave. Faerie looked up at him confused.

“Now where are you going?” she asked him aloud.

“To pay my little pets a visit!” Edward replied without turning around. “You coming?” Then he disappeared into thin air. Faerie smiled to herself wickedly.

“You know what,” she replied. “I think I will!” Then she followed after him.

Out in the field, Peyton and Demetria were still trying to get information from the local neighbors about Stacey’s whereabouts. They were still coming up short. The neighbors didn’t know anything either. Peyton was getting more stressed by the moment. Demetria tried to ignore it at first. But now the problem was getting too big to let slide. Something was up with her best friend.

“What do you mean that you don’t know anything?!?” Peyton snapped at old lady when she questioned the next to last neighbor.

“I told you,” the woman said. “I still don’t know anything about Stacey.” That really pushed Peyton over the edge. She was so sick of hearing that answer from everyone the military all talked to.

“WHAT?!?” the private first class barked. “A girl is missing! Do you not understand that?!? We have to find her before she is killed! Do you not care about you stupid old bitch?!?” The old lady was terrified now. Demetria saw that this was going nasty. “Oh crap!” she thought. “I better do something fast before someone gets killed!” Demetria rushed forward and grabbed Peyton from behind. Her friend tried to fight her off.

“What you hell are you doing, Demetria?!?” the emo private yelled out. “GET OFF!!!” The private didn’t listen at all. She just kept dragging her friend away out of sight. Demetria mouthed that she was sorry to the old lady. The woman nodded nervously and quickly shut the door.

Demetria dragged Peyton near to the local playground. The emo private first class finally got herself free of her friend’s clutches. She was panting like an angry bulldog.

“What the f**k did you do that for?!?” Scott yelled out. Demetria looked at her as if she was crazy.

“What’s your problem, girl?” her friend asked her aloud at long last. Peyton stared at her blankly. Silence was heavy and long between them. Then, Demetria noticed something strange about her friend. Peyton was actually… crying. This was completely odd. She had known her for four years and not once had ever seen the private first class ever cry. This had to be something very painful. Demetria stepped forward hugged Peyton close to her chest. Scott just cried up against her heavy breasts. Her best friends just silently stroked her long blonde ponytail.

“It’s okay. It’s okay,” Demetria kept whispering to her over and over again. “You want to talk about?” Peyton nodded hard against her chest.

“Okay,” her friend whispered to her. Then they moved over to the bench and sat down. Demetria lightly let go of her pal. Peyton just sat there trembling while she stared at her friend nervously. Silence was heavy between them. Demetria felt great pity for her.

“You don’t have to, if you don’t want to…” she began to say. Peyton quickly held up her hand to stop her. Demetria quickly closed her mouth. Her friend looked up at her with tears in her eyes.

“Years ago when I was twelve,” Peyton began. “It summer and I was staying with my aunt as I normally did for the summer. One night, my aunt to me to one of her friend’s house for a barbeque. It was nice and all until we reached the end of the party. Most of the people had gotten home. My aunt wanted to do the same, but I insisted on staying with my friends. She asked me how I would get home. I was about to speak up when one of her neighbors, Tommy Banes, spoke up and said that he would take me home. My aunt knew him for years. He was seventeen at the time. I thought he was a nice guy and very charming as well. I did have a small crush on him at the time. So I was excited when he offered to take me home. I should’ve known than. Soon it got late and Tommy asked me if I was ready to go. I said yes and we got into his car. The drive started off normal at first. Then it all began to wrong.

“‘Hey Peyton, I’m going to take a detour. Do you mind, it’ll get us home quicker.’ Tommy said to me.

‘No, go ahead.’ I said to him. Then he drove off into the woods. Nothing seemed wrong at first. But then, Tommy stopped his car. I looked around confused.

‘Tommy,’ I spoke up. ‘What’s going on? Why did we stop?’ He didn’t answer me. Then…” Peyton began to tremble in fear. Demetria waited for her to calm down some.

“Go on,” she said. “What did he do to you?” Peyton swallowed hard.

“Tommy grabbed me down and pushed me to the back,” she said trembling all over. “I screamed at him to get off, but he wouldn’t listen. He just started tearing at my clothes. I cried the whole time. I don’t really remember all that he didn’t to me through the whole thing. I just remember afterwards, *sob* just sitting in the car in silence as he drove me home. We didn’t even speak at all. I couldn’t even bring myself to look at him. I couldn’t believe what happened or what he did to me. I kept hoping it was all a bad dream.

“When he took me back to my aunt’s he said, ‘You can’t anybody, Peyton! You’ll ruin everything for all of us!’ Then, Tommy drove off and left me. I walked into my aunt’s house and sat there on the living room couch staring out into space.” Peyton tried her best to fight back more tears.

“This is why we have to find Stacey no matter what!” she cried out. “I can’t let her keep being raped until Edward decides to kill her! I just can’t!” Peyton broke down crying again. Demetria held her to her chest again and stroked her blonde ponytail.

“Shhh,” she whispered to her. “It’s okay. We will find Stacey and bring her back to her family alive. Okay?” Peyton nodded at her chest. Demetria looked up to the sky. She only hoped that she was right herself.

Back at Central Headquarters, Nately came upon a break in the case. He finally managed to get the picture magnified to Stacey’s eye and clear up the image to identify it.

“Holy cow!” he yelped out. “Thank you technology!”