"1st Lieutenant, what do you suppose is the difference between love and loyalty?" Roy idly toyed with an ink pen as he tried to think of more distractions that prevented him from doing his dreaded paperwork.

Riza set down her gun. "Well, Colonel, I suppose you would have to look at it this way. Loyalty is the willingness to stay by a person you support, whether it is for their good or yours. It can be forever, or just until the end of their relationship. Love is the power that holds two people together forever; therefore it can also be interpreted as loyalty, only with physical attraction between the specified two. There is not much of a difference, Colonel, when speaking in technical terms." She started cleaning her gun again.

"What if the person that the other is loyal to, or loves, dies?"

Riza froze for a second, and then started speaking again. "In terms of loyalty, the person would stay by his side-"

"His?"

"-er, well, his or her side until they breath their last breath. Maybe after the said person dies, they will move on and continue fighting for that same purpose. If the person truly loved the other one, then he or she would do anything to keep them alive, perhaps even trying to bring them back if they died. They would give up their life for that very person, or even to be with him or her, if need be."

"A human transmutation is too dangerous to even consider."

"Of course, but if the person truly cherished him or her, they would attempt anything to reconcile themselves with their loved one. Or die trying."

"Ah, yes. The Elric brothers." Roy Mustang remembered the day he had forced open the door to Ed and Al's home, and found the remains of a disastrous failed experiment to bring back their mother. Although they haven't died, both Edward and Alphonse had sacrificed much to at least reverse the damage their experimentation had caused. Currently, the Philosopher's Stone was the only way to undo the harm.

If I had one of those stones…I could be able to amplify my powers in such a way so that I'd be able to immediately overturn, or even kill, the Fuhrer, just like those other homunculi I managed to put down. I could better protect the ones I love by eliminating others in battle before they could harm her. My Riza…

No, I must not be manipulated. The stone is made from countless lives of innocent people. I would be a monster if I was to use that for my own purposes. Even though I'd also be helping my country by ridding enemies, it would be too easy to fall into the cycle of power. The more power I obtained, the more I would want, and that would not help me in my goal to become a great leader. Yet, to be able to protect the ones I truly treasure…

"Sir? Were you thinking of something." Riza folded her hands in her lap, along with her gun, and prepared herself to answer more questions.

"Riza…If I died…"

She inhaled sharply.

"…What would you do?"

Roy looked up quickly as Riza slammed her gun down on the table. "Colonel Mustang, you should know better than to die when you have so much more to give to Amestris. If you were dying, you know that I would do anything to bring you back to health again."

"But if I did die?"

Riza paused, carefully choosing her words for her answer. "Then I would shoot myself for allowing you to stray from the right path."

His heart leaped in joy. Here is a slim chance that she does love me after all, he thought. "So you would die for me?" I am such an idiot. I would never allow her to die for an undeserving person like me. Heh, I would rather die for her.

"Yes. But only out of loyalty. When you brought me under your command, you entrusted to me your back. I would die for you, if only to bring you back on the road to achieving your goal for the greater good. I am but one person, after all. One life is nothing compared to the thousands that would suffer if this country does not become better."

"What about…the other reason?"

Riza lightly laughed. "Sir, I could not possibly do anything out of love. If I was to love you, then that would be too selfish of me. I would be dying just for myself, and not because of the greater good. That would not help you in your purpose to become a selfless leader, if your 1st lieutenant is only doing it for her own gains. I can not love you, as then I would be too distracted to pay attention to other more important subjects, such as correctly doing my job." Roy's heart stopped. He could barely breathe as Hawkeye continued her speech, not noticing him clenching his fists and breathing more haggardly.

"Loving you would lead to breaking all Fraternization Laws, possibly risking your career, and cause you to become a laughingstock in the military. Besides, why would I ever love a pompous man like you? I would say that you are everything Edward Elric has ever called you, but then I'd be raising my voice to a superior and be in jeopardy of being demoted. I would not, could not, ever love you, sir." She finished cleaning her gun and placed it back in its holster, seeming unaware of Roy standing up, using his hands to prevent him from falling. He felt weak, and struggled to keep his expression neutral.

She stood up. "Does that answer your question, Colonel Mustang?" Getting no answer, she walked closer until she stood eye to eye with him. Steady hazel eyes faced trembling black ones. "Now if you will excuse me, I have somewhere else to be right now." Hawkeye flicked her eyes disapproving at the piles of paperwork.

"When I come back, I expect your work to be done, sir." Riza mockingly spat out, walking haughtily out of the room. She did not stay long enough to watch Roy Mustang's heart shatter in a million slivers.

Once she reached her own office and locked the door, Riza leaned against a wall and breathed heavily. Her conceited, self-centered act completely fell apart, and she let her neutral, yet arrogant and infuriating at the same time, facial expression slip away as she curled up into a ball on the ground. A little piece of her heart broke again, just like those other times when she had forced herself to stop even thinking about the Colonel.

It will never work out, she bitterly told herself. Once she had noticed that Mustang might also love her, she had done everything she could to push him away.

I can not allow myself to become a weak spot for him, Riza decided. If others found out, I could be kidnapped and used to force Mustang to do the enemy's dirty work for them. If I die, Mustang could also lose the will to fight. And die, in the process.

Riza started shaking from forcing herself to stop loving her superior. He entrusted me with his back, basically, his life. If he was to love me, he would stop focusing on his utmost purpose: to become Fuhrer and repair Amestris. She took out her gun and stared at it for a moment, remembering what he had said. He had allowed her to shoot her if he ever strayed from the right path. Loving me would be straying from the right path, Riza had decided. Loving a person like her and putting her needs before the needs of a whole country would completely inhibit him in his goal to becoming a great leader.

Better his heart broken now than his life destroyed later.

Colonel Mustang would recover, she was sure. After recovering, it would allow him to better focus on defeating the evil and gaining control of the country. There were plenty of other women he could love later on in his life when he became Fuhrer. Riza had decided a long time that if two teenagers could sacrifice the best years of their life in dedication for the greater good, she could sacrifice her own measly life also for the greater good.

Or was it love?

Loyalty just meant following what your leader wanted, no matter what the consequences. Love represented even more. To truly love someone meant that you would sacrifice anything, whether they wanted it or not, for that one special person. 1st Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye had forfeited her happiness to keep Colonel Roy Mustang on the right path. That was the major difference between love and loyalty. That was the meaning of sacrifice.

I won't ever allow you to stray, sir.

A single tear slid down her cheek. It glistened sadly for a moment, and then she regained her composure and stood up to continue working.

Riza Hawkeye never cried again.

.

Even when she died protecting her beloved Colonel.

.

.

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I have to admit, writing this piece was hard. R&R please and thank you! Do you think I should make this a one-shot or two-shot?