Disclaimer: Fullmetal Alchemist belongs to Hiromu Arakawa, Square Enix, FUNmation, and anything else I've forgotten.


Coincidence

She never quite believed in superstitions. Everything was blamed on either coincidence or the actions of one or another.

Then tell me, Riza, he asked her. Do you believe in fate?

She had just shook her head at him and sent him off to finish his work for the day.

Long ago, when she was a little girl, she heard the story of how a young man dearly loved a young woman, and vice versa. But the young woman was headstrong and reckless, as she dragged the young man out on many wild adventures. The young man was very cautious and wary, yet because of his love for this young woman, he always complied to her requests. Then one day, they were both in a horrible accident. The young woman lived but her lover perished. However, she was in a coma for a long time, until she woke up on the 48th day since his death. When she went home the next day, his ghost came back to see her. Ghosts of loved ones only stay for 49 days. It was his last day with her. She had remembered long ago that he told her when he died, he wanted to come back as a wind. And so, her last wish for him was just that, so he would always be with her.

Riza had cried at the end of the story, then laughed at the absurdity of the entire thing. The story was completely ridiculous, at least that's what she thought for many years, until now, when she began to doubt her own doubts.

She always blamed herself for Roy's death. She may not have been the one that pulled the trigger, per se, but she had gotten there late. Archer had already delivered the final blow. She was too late. The paramedics rushed him to the hospital, with him writhing in pain the entire ride. She stood by, clutching his hand tightly to her chest.

A sudden knock on the door shook her out of her reverie. She glanced at the door.

"Come in!" she called.

Farman stuck his head through the door. "Hawkeye," he saluted. "It's already 8 o' clock. Are you going home?"

Her eyebrows shot up as her eyes immediately searched for the clock. Surprisingly enough, it was 8 o' clock. She looked back up at Farman's face. "I'm almost done," she told him. "You may go now."

He split and she was left to her own thoughts again. the story she heard long ago came back to haunt her mind again. After the surgery failed seven weeks ago, she found herself brooding and crying for many of those weeks. During those weeks, she found herself counting the days, somehow hoping he'd come back... by the time she came back to work, she had given up all hope and buried herself with his old, abandoned paperwork.

She absentmindedly rubbed her arms. It's the 49th day, she thought to herself. It's about time I let him go. She shivered, suddenly cold, rubbing her arms more vigorously.

There was another knock on the door. She frowned, wondering who else other than her could still be there that late.

"Come in," she called again. When no one came in, she frowned some more and walked over to the door. She opened it to see an empty hallway. Her brow furrowed, if this was some practical joke, it wasn't funny.

"No, but it's not a joke." A very familiar voice from behind her spoke out.

She gasped and whirled around...to see Roy standing before her. He looked like how he usually did; cocky, arrogant, still giving her that irritating smirk of his, and...amazingly enough, solid. She wanted to reach out and touch, to make sure he was really there, when something clicked. She felt her hand grip the doorknob tightly.

"It's the 49th day, isn't it?" she murmured, feeling faint.

He simply nodded, his dark eyes staring at her intently.

She felt a strange burning sensation behind her eyes. "Would you like to turn into a wind too?" she joked, attempting to lighten up the atmosphere in the room. She winced though, as her voice cracked on the last two words.

His features immediately softened. "Actually, I do."

She felt a cry bubble up her throat. Roy's face suddenly blurred. She hung her head, her hand falling limply to her side. When she looked up again, he'd already turned around and started walking away. She smiled bitterly, then straightened up and saluted him for the last time.

"Then, Taisa," He stopped, and she continued. "Is this what you call 'fate'?"

He turned his head back oh so very slightly, and Riza saw the corner of his lips curl up.

"No," he said firmly, starting his walk again. "Merely coincidence."

Her tears fell silently, her smile frozen of her face. Her ears straining to hear the soft echoes of his distant voice...

-fin


A/N: This is somewhat based off of 'Windstruck', which is the prequel to 'My Sassy Girl' (Korean drama). I don't usually write stuff like this, so please R & R, and tell me what you think of it!