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Outside, the hail of bullets assaulted the desert landscape. Roy and Riza had ducked into the empty building, hoping to find some kind of shelter from the storm. Their hearts were racing as they leaned against the heavy door.
“Well… We’re safe for now,” Roy murmured. Riza nodded.
“Where are we?” she asked, looking around at their sanctuary.
Roy stepped away from the doorway, venturing into the building. “It’s… It looks like a…” He paused. “A church? Temple? Whatever they call it out here.”
“A church? We should… We should find somewhere else.”
“Do you wanna go back out there? To that firefight?”
Riza was quiet, her body shivering slightly. She didn’t like the building. It was strange, being concealed in hallowed ground. They didn’t belong here.
“Hey… Are you cold?”
“What?”
He gestured to her, and Riza blinked. Roy rolled his eyes and sighed when she didn’t immediately answer. “You’re shivering. Are you cold? I didn’t think it was possible in this desert…”
“No I just…” Riza was quiet for a minute. She thought back to the church in Tobha. Her father was buried in the churchyard there. She hadn’t even gone to visit him since his death. “This is somewhere we don’t belong. It’s… hallowed ground. No matter what we believe, this is a sacred place. We’re intruders here.”
“Riza, you can’t tell me you believe in superstitious nonsense like that.”
“It’s not superstition. It’s their belief. Just like you believe in Truth and Alchemy. We’re… Intruders here. Please, Roy. Let’s go find somewhere else. Just until the sun goes down?”
“We can’t go anywhere else, Riza. We’re stuck here until it calms down outside. Let’s just… make the best of it. We only have a couple hours before backup arrives.”
“This place is giving me the shivers, Roy. It’s not… This culture has such a history. Please. Let’s go literally anywhere else. I can get us out long enough to go somewhere that isn’t here.”
“What are you afraid of, ghosts? There’s nothing here. There’s nothing that will hurt us. We can just hunker down here until it’s time to go, okay?”
Riza nodded, but stayed as close to the door as she could. There was a spirituality to this world, something they could never understand. They didn’t belong.
***
She didn’t realize how long it was, but Roy was shaking her awake. “Riza… Riza, c’mon. It’s been quiet for a while. We can sneak out now, okay?”
“Wh-what? How… How long have I been asleep?”
“I dunno, a while. I haven’t been paying attention. I’ve been focusing more on the whole firefight going on outside. Get up, we gotta go, and quick.”
Riza stood slowly, listening to the silence outside. Roy slowly opened the door, and the two of them slipped out into the now-dark city. They moved like ghosts through the streets. Given the last several hours, ghosts didn’t seem like too much of a stretch.
Outside the city, Riza finally could feel the warmth of the desert seeping into her bones again.
“Are you okay?” Roy asked quietly. “You’ve been quiet for a while.”
“Just… cold. I told you we shouldn’t have stayed in the church. We should’ve just… gone somewhere else. Hallowed ground… It wasn’t a good idea.”
“That’s not all.”
“I was thinking of my father. I… If I make it back, I should go visit him.”
Roy was quiet. They wandered through the desert together, trying to figure things out. It wasn’t long before they encountered their backup. Several young men and women in Amestrian uniforms surrounded them.
“Major Mustang! Thank goodness. We hadn’t seen any trace of you in the city.”
“We hid in the church. Tell me, is it clear?”
“Yessir!”
“Alright then. Move out.”
The soldiers fell in step, and Roy and Riza followed in the back. She was still shaking and nervous, the strange feeling of other from inside the church was finally beginning to leave her. Roy slung an arm casually over her shoulder. She leaned into the comfort, and let the desert swallow the nerves.