Victory party. As if this was the time to be celebrating. We won, sure, but we have a long way to go as far as reconstruction. Riza was up later than she normally did due to the fact that she was packing for the beach trip her grandfather, the current fuhrer of Amestris, had proclaimed for the whole of the military and anyone involved, each of the five bases in turn so as to leave Amestris secure while they vacationed in Britannia.

It was the first vacation Riza Hawkeye had been on in about three years; the troubles after Ishvall had kept her busy for some time and then she always had to schedule her time off around Roy Mustang's as she was his body guard. Not that she minded one bit; being with him was better than any exotic place she could go alone. And besides, she enjoyed his company. Even though she spent every on-duty moment with him, she never tired of his company.

It was always like that; ever since she was a little girl, she had followed him everywhere. She had followed him to Ishvall and into the military, and had promised to watch his back even into hell if need be. She would always be at his side. Riza was Roy's bodyguard and best friend.

Though the war was technically over, there was still very little in the way of consumer goods, and Riza couldn't buy much new for the trip. Everything was rationed and though she had lived well, she had lived well through the military. The only thing she had bought was a swim suit. The military did not provide one which nodded towards a vacation and she needed to hide her tattoo. Swim dresses, when they could be found, were very much a sought after item and her simple purple swim dress cost her 30,000 cenz (a little over 30 US dollars).

Smiling, she placed it carefully into her bag long with her blouse and the two extra skirts she had packed; one floral for the beach, and one black pencil skirt for any meetings or formal occasions which might come up. She would travel in her uniform and carry three guns.

Lieutenant Hawkeye woke up the next day to Black Hayate licking her feet. Her alarm had rung, but she was so accustomed to it she couldn't wake to it anymore. A new alarm will be nice, once they're being manufactured again and won't cost me a fortune. She dressed quickly, fed Hayate, and set off to the kennel and then to the station where she would meet up with Roy Mustang in his private car. Now that he was promoted to Major General, he always rode in the privacy of his own car. Only she would have been permitted to come with him, even if another were his body guard. She smiled at this as she walked along the platform. We understand each other like nobody else can even imagine.

She arrived at his car and climbed in to find him napping across a loveseat, which was bolted to the floor. The sound of the footsteps, so familiar and so frightening to him, woke him and he jerked upright in a display of attentiveness as he scrambled to do his paperwork at a desk which was not there. When he noticed Riza looking at him humorously, he laughed. "I suppose I get to really rest for the next week."

Riza put her bag up in the storage rack next to Roy's and smiled back. "For once you'll get to sleep on your own time." She sat down next to him and added, "But not all the time, I hope; we haven't spent real time together in too long."

Roy took her hand and gave it a squeeze. "Too true. Remember when we were little; I had just come to stay and study alchemy with your father and we always spent those long evenings together? Those were such innocent times. But you come armed, even at the beach now." Indeed, the grave little girl he had pitied and played with so that she wouldn't be bored and sad had turned into the most powerful, convincing women he had ever met. But she was always armed, even when she was safe as could be.

Riza grew grave; her gun was digging into Roy's leg, they were sitting so close. He couldn't have missed that for all it was concealed. She shifted so that they were both more comfortable. "Times change, but it'll be relaxing all the same. We haven't left Amestris since before the Isvallan Civil War."

"And we never did go together," Roy reminded her. "We just went to the same places at different times, and mostly within Amestris. It'll be nice this time, getting to see another land with you."

Riza smiled up at him and all but whispered, "You don't know the half of it." Perhaps Roy had heard, perhaps he hadn't, and it was hard to tell. As the train started moving, Roy dozed off again and his head slumped forward. She removed his boots and turned him sideway so that his head was in her lap so that his neck wouldn't crick as he slept. She ran her fingers through his hair as he slept for a little while. He looked so peaceful when he slept. Nothing like the burdons he carried in his waking hours. His killer's eyes were closed to the world and he seemed to either like the physical proximity or was having an especially good dream for once instead of the nigtmares she knew still plagued him. They plagued her too; they were the same mass murders of the Ishvallan Civil War, a sniper and an alchemist. After a while took out a book she had waited too long to read. For hours, they rode together in silence.

The train slowed as they reached the station. Roy had been awake for a few hours now and was reading out of some book on alchemy Riza didn't recognise. Riza had read a lot about alchemy when she was younger but had no skill in practical application and so had changed her course of study to political and military science. Roy had made a career out of it.

He noticed she was watching him, or perhaps it was just the change in momentum which made him look up, but she looked away embarrassed to have been caught in the act. He smiled at her and stood to put his book into this suitcase and collect his things as they rolled into the station. The train stopped, and Riza followed him out and stepped down to the platform where salty air washed over her.

The air had changed drasticly from the dry Amestrian air she was so used to back home. The sky was brighter here and the wind brought salt to her Riza's nose and eyes. It was a familiar sensation, but it had been since she was a little girl that she had seen the ocean or smelled anything like it, and it was all she could do to keep herself from whooping with glee like the little girl that she had been when she left. She was grinning from ear to ear, but checked herself as Roy turned around.

"You're all smiles, Riza," he noted. Setting down his suitcase, he took out a telegram and read over the directions to reach the hotel they were to stay at. Riza had not recived this telegram, as they were only sent to the senior officer of each set of housemates.

"It's been a long time since I've been on a vacation, sir-"

"Roy," he corrected her. Smiling back at Riza, he added, "I think we're familiar enough to call each other by our names when not on duty." Riza blushed a little at this show of friendliness and Roy took her bag from her, leaving her to walk with him, protesting that she could carry her own baggage just fine, thank you. It seemed silly to her that he thought it nessesary to help another soldier carry something as light as a change of clothes. Still, it's a chivilrous gesture.

The officers' hotels were a cluster of traditional looking condominiums with whitewashed walls and thatched roofs. The furniture was predominantly wicker and finely sanded driftwood. Overall, it leant to a light, pleasing, carefree atmosphere. Each condo was made of two sets of conjoining rooms with a common living room. Riza was exhausted after her long day's travel, but wanted to see the ocean as soon a possible.

As soon as she had packed away her military uniform and her formal skirt and shoes, Riza put on her old floral skirt and white blouse found her hat, and stepped out onto the beach barefooted, as she had when she was a child. Her long blonde hair was free to flow down her back in the breeze as she walked down to the water. If she closed her eyes, she could still hear her father's warning not to swim at night due to the dangers of sightlessness and her mother's laughter as she read the three part novels she loved so much while laying on the sand. She had been so young and only the infinite weariness used to be able to pull her from play. That was nearly twenty years ago now.

Smiling, she let the water wash over her toes as she wiggled them into the sand. Then she did hear a voice. For a second, she was confused, but then realized she wasn't alone after all. "Is everything as you remember?" Roy Mustang had walked up behind her and was watching the late afternoon sun flicker down over the water.

She nodded and then replied, "It's nice that some things don't, and can't, change. Even if...everything had fallen through, it would still be here today looking just as it is." The sun was glancing off Roy, turning his pale, toned body golden like the sand around them. He too had changed out of his uniform and a loose linen shirt hung open showing his muscles. With the wind blowing his hair like that, he... She caught herself staring and Roy gave a little smirk and she cast her glance out to the sun where he had been looking a moment ago. It was just touching the water now.

"Yeah. Nothing can ever get rid of the ocean, because it's too large and too complex; there's nothing equivalent to trade it for and so alchemy, even what we saw last spring-" Riza cut him off with a playful punch to the arm.

"How typical of an alchemist, you have a one-track mind and everything is placed in terms of alchemy." Roy took her hand and clasped it in his own.

"What's wrong wit that? It's how the world flows. Your father taught you too; you know that as well as I do."

Riza colored again and turned to the condo to hide it. It was nearing seven now and neither of them had eaten since that morning. She cleared her throat and said, "It's getting rather late; we should see about dinner."

Roy gave her another smirky smile. "Are you asking me on a date, Riza?"

She couldn't help it, she felt the bush rise, but in spite of it replied, "If you want it to be, sir-"

''Roy.''

"If you want it to be,...Roy." He grinned as she said his name. They trudged back to the condo to put their boots back on. They looked a little strange contrasting to the light summer clothing the both of the wore, but nobody was able to find leisure shoes at a reasonable price; too many of the shoe manufacturers had been converted to weapons factories, and with border skirmishes, there was little hope of a consumer economey in Amestris any time soon.

The two officers found a seafood buffet about mile away, and were pleased to find how much better the fresh seafood tasted compared to the preserved kind they could get in their own landlocked country. They were both exhausted, so conversation was sparing, but it was nice to spend the time together. On their way back, they planned to meet each other after breakfast to swim. When she finally lay down, Riza was so tired she fell right to sleep and didn't dream at all.

Okay, chapter one of my first multiple chapter story I wrote for this site. I haven't read it in over a year, myself, but I remember enjoying writing it a lot. Please tell me what you think of it!