Blood, dirt, grit, and all the telltale signs, sounds, and sights of war flew around him, whizzing past his eyes and ears. But one sound resounded loud in his head above the rest. His lieutenant, grunting as a bullet took out her left shoulder, and consequently, her entire shooting arm. Thats where his mistake was made. He turned, out of worry, shouting for her, and in his moment of blind panick, felt something blunt and heavy dig into his spinal column.

"RIZA!"

He woke in a cold sweat, white hospital walls all too familiar to him. There was movement to his left, and, having figured out his whereabouts rather quickly, turned to see his officers, Winry Rockbell, and the Elric brothers staring at him.

He grinned.

"Hey. Whats with the welcoming committee?" he asked. Then he noticed something that he slapped himself mentally for not noticing before.

"Where's Lt. Hawkeye?" he inquired. Winry covered her mouth and whimpered. Edward,(now a good three inches taller than her) put an arm around her shoulder and addressed Colonel Roy Mustang with a downtrodden expression. Roy didn't like the look.

"So nobody told you yet... Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye... Died protecting you from a bombshell, Mustang."

Winry cried on Ed's shoulder and the rest of the occupants of the room, save for Edward and Roy, looked down at the floor. Ed looked at Roy apologetically.

"Sorry, Roy."

His eyes went wide as he gasped sharply. Then, seeming to lose all life completely, Roy's eyes drooped and his voice became dead and emotionless.

"I... I understand... Thank you for letting me know... Please leave, everyone."

Roy's officers looked at eachother and simultaneously saluted, and took leave. Alphonse Elric left next, stating that if Roy ever needed anything, to just come to the Elric house.

"Roy, do her a favor. Keep going, and reach your goal of becoming Fuhrer. She would have wanted you to continue."

Roy nodded to Edward, who smiled sadly, and helped the young Rockbell out of the room.

When he was sure that all of the others were gone, Roy Mustang blew a fuse, broke down, and cried. As he saw it, his whole reason for becoming Fuhrer was to get rid of the fraternization laws. So he could be with Lt. Hawkeye. With Riza... Now... it was a useless goal and his entire being felt heavy, hard to move, and if it was possible, he was sure he could feel his heart slowing down and his body starting to malfunction because it couldn't take the loss.

"Riza... You should have just let me die. I can't handle anything without you..." he sobbed into his arms. He pulled his knees up to his chest and did his best to hide his face. It was pathetic, really. How quickly he had already fallen apart. It just drove home to his comrades, the Elrics, Winry Rockbell, all of whom were standing behind his door, and to himself, just how much that woman had meant to him. That sharp shooter bodyguard of a lieutenant, that strict, but just soft enough comrade was the only thing that kept him in one peice. And now she was gone, and he would never be able to tell her he loved her, and he would be alone, always alone, for the rest of his life.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Riza Hawkeye... had never been one to break the rules or protocol, but now, she had no idea where she was, and she certainly wasn't anywhere governed by the Central authority, so she found herself a nice tree to sit down and dress her headwound by and sighed.

"I... I guess I did fall for his arrogant charm..." She winced as the wound protested being wrapped.

"Ow... Now to figure out where I am... Hmmm..." She mused, looking around. It seemed to be aroung five in the afternoon, and there was a sign that read "HOSPITAL/POLICE STATION" about seven yards away and to her right. She got up on her slightly twisted ankle and hobbled across the yellowed grass, weeds, and burrs. Before she could make it across, however, a young woman on an evening stroll, appearing to be about six or seventeen years old stopped her.

"Oh, my gosh! Are you allright miss? What on earth happened to you? Don't worry! I'll help you get to the hospital!"

Riza was too weak to refuse. Her stomach suddenly felt empty, her body heavy, and her wounds throbbed in places she wouldn't have thought to ache. And, now that she thought about it, she wasn't really sure what had happened. She remembered after-shock skirmishes after the war, and bombshells... And Roy... ROY! Was he alright? Of course he was... He always was... She remembered the bullet that had taken her shoulder, Roy's face when he whirled around and took a hit to his back... she remembered throwing him out of the way of another bombshell and... thats right... That's when everything went black... so... what was she doing here? Where was here?

Deciding that her questions would have to wait until she was patched up, she leaned on the shoulder of the young girl, who reminded her of a brunette version of Winry Rockbell.

"Hey, miss, Do you mind if I ask your name?"

"Not at all. My name is Riza Hawkeye, Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye."

The girls eyes widened considerably, revealing round ocean green eyes.

"You mean, Lt. Hawkeye- The one who served under Colonel Roy Mustang?"

Riza nodded vigorously.

"Yes! Do you know how I can get back to Central? "

The brunette smiled sadly.

"If I did I would tell you... May I call you Riza?" She asked. Hawkeye nodded.

"Riza, Technically, it isn't supposed to be possible for someone to get from here to Central and vice averse. But somehow, you got here. Whatever you did to get here might just be your ticket back... You didn't by any chance step on a tramsmutation circle did you?"

Riza's eyes turned to saucers.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Hey, brother? I'm worried about Colonel Mustang... He seems... i don't know how to describe it..." said Alphonse. He looked at Edward, and then back at Roy, who was currently hunched over in his chair, filling out another peice of paper. His posture was one that belayed the utter defeat he felt in his heart. Edward nodded. The Colonel's eyes were red and puffy, he'd obviously been crying, and he'd lost a lot of weight, it seemed.

"Y'know, he almost acts like he's lost all reason to live." Edward muttered.

"Brother?"

"Yeah, Al?"

"Remember the Philosopher's Stone? We could use it to bring her back."

"Al... Remember what happened when we tried to bring mom back? You lost your body and I lost an arm and a leg. Literally."

"Yes, but now we have the stone!"

Edward looked at Colonel Mustang's defeated form and sighed, walking over to the depressed officer.

"Hey, Roy."

The officer registered Ed, but otherwise held no reaction.

"Al and I were thinkin' maybe we could use the Philosopher's Stone to try and bring Riza back." Edward said, hoping it had some effect on him.

"Riza would never have allowed it. But thank you, though, Fullmetal."

Edward shrugged at his brother when Roy made no move to say anything further or acknowledge the Fullmetal alchemist.

Alphonse's shoulders slumped and he sighed, walking up to the Fire alchemist who had just lost someone dear.

"Come on, Colonel. You know Lt. Hawkeye would have hated to see you like this!"

Finally a response from Roy. He got up, and snatched Alphonse's collar, holding him up like a rag doll.

"Do. NOT. SPEAK TO ME. ABOUT WHAT SHE WOULD HAVE HATED! UNDERSTAND!" The Colonel roared. Alphonse nodded, terrified for lack of a better term, as Ed yelled for Roy to let him go. Roy Mustang dropped Al and stormed past Armstrong yelling that he would be taking the rest of the day off.

The large, muscley man with the gold mustache glanced at the shaken brothers, and then at the door that Roy had just stormed through.

"Poor boy..." He sighed.