I love Royai! I do, I do, I do! It's so obvious that they dig each other, and well, it's so dang cute. So, here is another one of my tributes to them. Enjoy, no flamers, thanks.
Disclaimer: I don't own FMA or Roy or Riza or the Dixie Chicks…duh.
"Travelin' Soldier"She was fifteen when she first met Roy Mustang. He was an aspiring alchemist who had come to her father as an apprentice. At first she had hated him. Always keeping her father away from her. She was being enrolled in the military academy and was doing quite well. She was the best sharpshooter in the class. But no. Her father would only talk about or talk to Roy. It made her sick. She'd watch him, from her bedroom window, acting all macho 'cause he knew about fire. She'd smile every time her father gave him a lecture, he deserved it. One day, when she came home from school, she found her father on the living room floor, coughing up blood. She struggled to get him to his room and into bed. She called the doctor and gave him his pills. She waited for the doctor to finish. She hoped beyond hope, that no one would take her daddy away from her. He was all she had left. Roy came, she yelled at him, telling him to go home. He wasn't part of the family and he wasn't needed. He just nodded and went away. The doctor told her, her father only had a short time left. He wasn't sure how long. Days, hours, minutes, weeks, months, or years. She nodded but did not cry. The next day, her father was up on his feet again, training Roy. She sat on the stoop, peeling apples, watching. Roy had improved. She looked away. That night, her father took her to the woods by their house.
"Riza," he said. She looked up at him with big auburn eyes.
"Yes Papa?" she said.
"My darling, my baby girl, I need you to help me," her father said. Tears were filling his eyes. He coughed.
"What is it Papa?" she asked. He took a breath.
"I'm not going to live very long Riza, and I want you, to hold onto my most important alchemy secret. Can you do that?" he asked, grasping her shoulders. She nodded. He hugged her.
"Good, now this is what I have to do," he said. Riza sat with her back to her father as he cut her long, blonde locks. She held her head high as he drew the blood ruin onto her back. She was scared, but did not show it. She was a soldier and did not show emotion. If this is what was meant for her to keep her father's most powerful alchemy, than she would do it without hesitation. She felt his palm on her skin slowly warm to a burning blaze. She heard a far off scream that sounded like her own. Her ears popped, and all she remembered was white, hot flame, and the smell of burning flesh. She woke up the next day in her bed, bandaged up, and groggy. Her grandfather sat next to the bed. Her late mother's father. He smiled at her. Months past without a problem from her father, till one afternoon. She was staying after school to help with some kids who needed help on sniper shooting. When she returned home, Roy was waiting for her. He looked, sad.
"I'm so sorry," he said as she came to the door.
"Why? What happened?" she asked. He stared at the floor.
"TELL ME!" she yelled. He looked at her.
"Your father...he's…" but he couldn't finish. Riza ran into the house, dropping everything, and ran straight into her father's room. He lay in his bed, sleeping, or so she thought. She ran to his bed, and shook him, screaming his name; she got no response.
"Oh Riza. I'm so sorry," her grandfather said, placing his hands on her shoulders. She just stared. The funeral was small, and not many people came. Roy did. He was the only one who held her hand, and offer her a shoulder as she cried. He listened as she wailed on about how unfair it all was and now she was an orphan.
"If it makes you feel any better, I've been an orphan all my life," he said. Roy was nineteen. She'd never seen a man cry before like he did, even if it was really just silent tears.
OK, that was only part one. lol