A/N: Short little one shot to take a break from That Was Alchemy, Sir.

This is my first attempt at feels, so advice is appreciated.

I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist.

Everything was going so well. He was fuhrer. Today was supposed to be inauguration day. The day he gave his speech, the day he started changing everything. He had achieved his dream and the country was looking to a bright new future. Riza was at his side. He was going to ask her out after the speech, surprise her with her favorite flowers. They were going to go to a fancy restaurant, just her and him, together at last. Everything was coming together.

Then the shot rang out. That wasn't supposed to happen.

Even before the shot was heard, Riza was moving. She crashed into him, pushing to the ground, throwing herself in front of him. That wasn't supposed to happen, either.

The doctors told him the bullet entered on the right side of her chest and punctured a lung. On its way out, it severed a major artery. There was nothing anybody could have done. She bled out quickly. She didn't suffer much. Voices comforting him, saying it wasn't his fault. Meaningless. That wasn't supposed to happen.

The sniper had been hidden in a tower overlooking the plaza. Multiple sweeps had failed to reveal him. His hiding place was almost impossible to see, and if he moved back from the ledge he would have been impossible to make out. His security team wasn't at fault. Not that he was blaming them. No. This wasn't supposed to happen.

The bullet would have blown off his head, had Riza not seen the briefest flash of light off the sniper's scope. But true to her name, the Hawk's Eyes had been watching. And as far as he was concerned, they had watched too well.

The red appeared on her back without warning, before the bullet buried itself in the wall behind him. He was confused, shocked. That wasn't her uniform. Where had that red come from? Then the sound waves had caught up with the bullet. The bang jolted his team into action, but he lay there stunned, unable even to crawl out from under her body.

Havoc and another soldier - he didn't know his name - ran over and pulled him out, asking if he was alright, telling him to stay down. He didn't hear them though. He just stared at Riza uncomprehendingly.

He got himself out of Havoc's grasp, ignoring his cries of protest. He stumbled over to Riza and cradled her head in his lap. He shook her gently, asking her to wake up, it would all be alright, she just had to open her eyes. She was invincible, she was Riza Hawkeye. She couldn't die. That wasn't supposed to happen.

Her eyes were wide, unfocused, but as he shook her, they slowly locked onto his, mahogany meeting obsidian. She smiled, a small, sad smile. Why was she smiling? This wasn't supposed to happen.

"Are… are you al… alright, sir?" She was asking if he was alright? Why was she asking that? He wasn't the one who had blood pumping out of his body. He wasn't the one with blood on his mouth. He wasn't the one who could hardly breath, and whose blood bubbled and frothed with every breath. Why was she asking that?

"You… you should do… something about that… that sniper, sir. He's in the… tower over there." She struggled to raise an arm, to point it at the tower. Havoc and the other soldier were at her side, trying to stop the bleeding, but he only had eyes for her. Riza, his ever-watchful hawk. Riza, his faithful guardian.

"Shh, don't talk, don't try to move, just rest, you're gonna be okay, you're gonna be okay." He repeated that over and over again, more to reassure himself. Riza was strong, she would make it through this. She couldn't not make it through this. He couldn't imagine a future where she wasn't at his side, where she wasn't telling him to do his paperwork, where she wasn't giving him one of her rare, small smiles that made the world stop, time freeze and his heart clench.

"Sorry… sir… I don't think… I'm going to make it. Hey… Havoc, tell Fuery to t… take care of Hayate for me. I… don't think I'm going to… be able to."

"Don't talk like that, lieutenant! I'm ordering you to hang in there!" Riza never disobeyed a direct order. She was going to live. She was going to live.

"*Cough* Sorry sir… didn't mean to get blood on you. I think… this time… that's an order… I can't follow."

No! She had promised! She'd promised to follow him! Riza Hawkeye never broke a promise! Never! She was going to be in his life, always and forever. She'd always been behind him, she was going to be beside him, she would always be with him. And now… "Don't think like that!" The sounds were coming back now, The crowd was screaming, his security team was shouting, the only thing everyone was doing was asking what the hell was going on. It was all still muffled and distant, as if only things within a 5 meter radius around him existed.

"Fuhrer! We have to get you to safety! Come with me…" The man trailed off when he spotted Riza's body and when the Fuhrer failed to respond.

"Were you planning… on asking me out… sir? That room isn't… as *cough* *wheeze* soundproofed as you might think…" Her voice was becoming more ragged, weaker. She was trying to smile.

"That can wait! Don't talk, the medics will be here soon!"

"Heh… you can tell the medics to stand down… they can't do anything." Her hand rose and clutched his jacket. She pulled him down closer and whispered in his ear. "I would have said yes, by the way." She looked down at herself with surprise. "Wow… I'm really messed up, aren't I?" Riza let go of his jacket and with a final cough exhaled for the last time.

That wasn't supposed to happen.

A/N: I don't know if I really hit the feels, but I needed a little break from TWAS.

To Riza Hawkeye and Roy Mustang, my favorite characters. You always deserved better.