Work Text:
Resembool. A quaint town in the outskirts of Amestris, it was one of the few places that Riza felt somewhat calmer in. She did not have much time to tarry here before because of the war, so she drank in as much as she could of the place. Quietly, she eyed the large swathes of viridescent fields stretching out into the horizon.
Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes, her ears catching the sounds of water rushing from the nearby Rain River that bordered the town. She grinned to herself. It was a scene so unlike from what she was used to in New Optain, a small city bursting with so much urban noise due to its proximity to the heart of the military command.
She eyed the Lieutenant Colonel Mustang sitting in front of her, and exhaled slowly.
It's been a few months since her appointment as his aide, and so far the bulk of her workload was the mountain of paperwork that was left undone due to the Ishval campaign. Needless to say, it was mostly horrendous due to his tendency to slack over things where his level of tolerance was particularly low. She turned her gaze to him again and found him carefully reading her report.
Despite herself, she could not help the grin forming on her lips.
That aside, it was a small fortune that today was a brief respite from the confines of the four corners of their office in East City. After all, they travelled to Resembool particularly in order to meet a pair of brothers living in the area.
"My apologies," she heard the soldier driving their wagon saying, "that there are no cars in a countryside village like this. The repair for the train coaches are tarrying due to the damage on the train tracks caused by the last war, so it's taking a while to transport vehicles here."
The Lieutenant Colonel waved it off with a smile. "No, it's okay this ride is pretty interesting. Don't worry about it."
The older soldier nodded. "So, why are you looking for the Elrics, Lieutenant Colonel Mustang?"
"I heard the Elric brothers here are seeking to become alchemists," the Lieutenant Colonel said, holding up her report and mouthing his thanks to her silently, "so I'm here to recruit them."
She nodded with a small grin.
"Ahh, for the State Alchemist program. That's impressive!" the soldier replied conversationally, waving to the children playing in the background. "Why come all the way from the Eastern District, then?"
"It's my job to look for, and recruit talented alchemists," he explained, tousling his hair as she caught his gaze.
She arched a brow at him.
Roy blinked, swallowing his words. "But the truth of it is that we are terribly understaffed at headquarters due to the mess that's going around."
Riza removed her gaze from him, a smile tugging at her lips.
The elder soldier laughed heartily. "A ranked officer in the military personally coming here to recruit them," the soldier whistled pleasantly. "Boy, would the Elric kids be surprised."
Roy arched a brow at her. "Kids?"
He quickly skimmed over her report again. "What is the meaning of this, Second Lieutenant Hawkeye?"
"According to logic, this is a case of incorrect information," she replied quickly. Before Roy could retort, however, she turned to the older soldier. "Sir, I want to verify, but is it truly the children, and not the relatives of the Elrics?"
"Well, I've heard their father, Van Hohenheim, was also an alchemist, but he hasn't been here for a while now. He's probably in North City, if the gossip around here is to be believed, that is," the soldier explained, halting the wagon in front of a house near the foot of a hill. "It could be that the brothers learned it from him, so it won't do you any harm just meeting them, really."
Roy nodded with a sigh, alighting from the wagon with her. "Thank you, sir, we'll be back in an hour most likely."
"It could be that the local records mixed up their ages," Riza conjectured as they walked towards the Elrics' household. "There were some Ishvalan terrorists who bombed Resembool earlier, after all. Then again, I will resolve to avoid this oversight in the future, sir."
"I wasn't going to nitpick your work," Roy answered quietly, catching her meaning. "Your work is always thorough, Lieutenant. Mistakes like this cannot be avoided as the matter of synchronizing information is a constant issue in any workplace. That said, it is something we can discuss with headquarters."
She breathed a sigh of relief before turning to him. "You wish to recommend that we provide assistance to the local officials here, then?"
Roy nodded, grinning at her before knocking on the door of the Elrics' household. When they received no answer and found the door unlocked, Riza glanced at him. He gestured for them to split and look around for the brothers. Quickly, she scanned the rooms upstairs, and upon finding no sign of the Elrics, she hurried to where the Lieutenant Colonel was.
She found him pale-faced at the sight of a bloodied floor in front of him. A human transmutation circle was inscribed on the ground.
She froze.
"Where the hell are the Elric brothers?" he asked, his voice a deadly calm.
"The officer said they could be at the Rockbells'," she replied in a monotone voice. "It's the house resting on top of a hill a few meters from here."
Roy strode angrily as they departed the house and went towards the Rockbells's place. She forced herself to walk, following him quietly. Taking a deep breath, Riza apologised to the grandmother as Roy stomped towards where the brothers were in the dining room. She was about to restrain him from haranguing the children when the armored individual standing behind the wheelchaired boy stopped the Lieutenant Colonel, who paused in shock. Gently, Roy set down the blonde child back on his seat.
"I'm sorry for my indiscretion," he said slowly, "but I will need you to explain what happened."
"Over tea, officer," the grandmother said, ordering a girl who was seated nearby to prepare a tray. "Perhaps that will remind you of your manners."
Riza watched Roy's face redden in embarrassment. She turned to him. "I'll just wait for you outside, then?"
She saw his shoulders relax for a bit. "It will only be a moment, but thank you, Lieutenant."
Nodding, she went out of the room and sat on a couch in the hallway. Now that she was alone, the sight of the bloodied floor at the Elrics' house flooded her mind, reminding her of a similar occurrence five years ago.
Her eye twitched, and she watched Roy carrying her dying father as he vomited blood in his study all over again. She exhaled slowly, not realising that she was holding her breath, and closed her eyes.
Now isn't the time for me to be troubled by this, she thought acridly, taking another deep breath as she tried to get ahold of herself.
She opened her eyes abruptly when the girl from earlier approached her with a cup of tea. "Thank you," she said gratefully, thankful for the distraction.
Suddenly, the girl slumped on the seat beside her. She arched a brow at the child.
"Um, miss Second Lieutenant," the girl began nervously, clutching the tray in front of her lap.
"Ah, call me Riza, please," she tried to assure the child, extending her hand, "Riza Hawkeye. Nice to meet you."
The child frowned at her, tearing up.
Riza puzzled over how to help the girl, but it seemed that she had something on her mind, so she withdrew her extended hand instead.
"Have you ever shot anyone before?"
She stared at the child, surprised. She glanced at her cup for a moment before nodding. "Yes. Many of them."
The child looked away at her, sighing. Why does this child's silence feel so heavy?
"I don't like people from the military," the girl said, her eyes morose. "Because there was a shortage of doctors, my mom and dad were taken to the battlefield and were killed there."
Ah.
"Now that guy called Mustang wants to take Ed and Al away again. I don't want them to be part of the military," the child pleaded. "Please don't take them away."
"The military isn't going to take them away. It will be their choice whether to come or not." Riza said gently, turning to the girl. "To tell you the truth, I don't like the military either. Because at times, I am forced to take lives."
The girl furrowed her brows. "Then why are you in the military?"
A small, fond curl rose over her lips. The child arched a brow.
"I have someone I want to protect," she whispered. "It was not because I was forced by anyone, but it was my own free will. It is my choice to pull the trigger for the person I must protect."
The door in front of them was starting to open, and Riza began to rise as well.
“Until the day that the person accomplishes his goal," she continued as the Lieutenant Colonel appeared, "I will pull the trigger without a doubt."
"So if those kids have strong wills, they will decide for themselves and go towards that path, even if that path is a muddy river," Riza said as Roy caught her gaze.
The child eyed them curiously.
A moment later, the girl's shoulders relaxed, nodding. "Oh, my name is Winry, miss Riza."
"I hope we meet again, Winry," she said as they shook hands.
They were about to leave when Winry tugged at her coat.
“Uh, Ms Riza,” Winry began. “Are you always with the sir?”
“Yes, because I am his aide.”
“Ahh, if that’s the case, is he the person you want to protect?” Winry asked, a smile tugging at her lips.
“You are correct.” Riza arched a brow, wondering where this query was leading to. It’s not as if it takes a lot to arrive at that conclusion. Children are very perceptive creatures.
"Ah!" Winry exclaimed, looking up at her. “Does that mean you love him?”
Riza paused, her eyes widening. “Ah, that would be—”
“Second Lieutenant Hawkeye!”
Winry grinned at her. “Take care, miss! I will keep it a secret!”
Stiffly, she waved the child farewell and did her best to keep an impassive mask.
Upon reaching the wagon, the Lieutenant Colonel made way for her and held out his hand to her. She placed her hand on top of his as a soft breeze passed by.
His dark eyes drifted to hers, his lips moving. Her eyes held his gaze, not hearing what he said.
Still, she took a step forward and the wagon jolted, making her miss a step. But before she could fall, the Lieutenant Colonel caught her waist, steadying her against him. The hand he grasped earlier was trapped between them. Her head hit his chin, and they both groaned softly.
Then the wagon jolted again, and Roy tightened his grip on her waist. For a moment, she looked up and caught his dark eyes.
She did not breathe.
Suddenly, he released her as soon as the wagon paced on even ground. She sat down primly, hearing his slow exhale.
In the background, the soldier driving their wagon muttered an apology for the disruption, but none of them paid it any heed.
“Are you all right?”
She eyed him, but he suddenly looked away, fixing the collar of his shirt. Both of them sat opposite each other even as something felt amiss.
She straightened her uniform as well, nonetheless. After a lengthy pause, she managed to reply, “Yes, thank you. What were you saying earlier?”
"Most likely we will have to check another place for the meantime," Roy answered, crossing his arms. "But not North City, even if that's where their father is supposedly at. I don't want to deal with Briggs. So probably Youswell or Liore since I heard there were some individuals practicising alchemy there."
She looked at him, crossing her arms. "Are those kids going to come?"
"They will," he said, smirking.
"You sound confident. That Ed kid looked like he would never recover."
"You think so?"
She frowned. "But those eyes..."
He shook his head. "Aren't withered. Rather, they are lit with determination. You'll see, Lieutenant."
Riza shrugged, remembering the way Winry pleaded to her earlier.
"Ah, that reminds me," Roy continued, eyeing her, "what did the girl talk to you about?"
Riza paused a bit, keeping her mien neutral. She will not talk about the conversation she had with Winry just before they left. This was not the time and place for such things. There was something more important than that, after all.
“Her parents were the doctors that were killed in Ishval.”
Roy shut his eyes, brows furrowing. “I see.”
His reaction reminded her of how messy that area was during the Ishval campaign. Her teeth gritted in anger, remembering who was posted in that district. She suddenly froze.
“Lieutenant Colonel,” she said slowly, a snarl taking root in her voice despite herself, “wasn’t that where Solf Kimbley was posted?”
“Yes,” he said, eyeing her this time. Her hands balled into fists.
More seriously, he continued, “The path of your thoughts is correct. He may have had a hand in that.”
Riza looked up at him, frowning. “Then, the lives of those children,” she mustered, “we must protect them.”
Roy crossed his arms. “Of course we will, but we can only help those within our reach for the meantime. I need you to understand that, please.”
Her shoulders slumped for a moment. Winry Rockbell was a sweet and thoughtful girl — a girl orphaned by a war that shouldn’t even have happened in the first place.
She shook her head mentally, forcing herself to get a grip. She resolved to see this through, no matter what. That was the promise she made with him.
Even if it means walking across rivers of blood, she thought, eyeing him from beneath her lashes, I will continue to walk beside you.
Suddenly, his dark eyes caught her gaze again. Then he looked away immediately, as if he did not mean to, hiding his eyes beneath the fringes of his jet black hair.
Her mind replayed the way he caught her fall. The way his hands spanned her waist, and the way she forgot to breathe.
And the way Winry's question softly fell, the warmth of it taking root somewhere deeper, somewhere far in the back of her mind.
Does that mean you love him?
It’s nothing.
Nothing she wasn’t aware of already.