Riza could barely remember the years when her vision was monochrome but now they had begun flooding back.
She remembered the day she saw colour for the first time. It was only slightly coloured, at first she thought she was imagining the faded blue of the sky, the dull green of the grass and the muted orange of her father's Flame Alchemy. Which he himself vowed he never wanted to see again after his wife passed.
Riza could still hear her father telling her that soulmates weren't for life, they were until one of you died. Which didn't make sense to her at the time but now she saw what he meant. After your loved one died your world went to the greyish hell it was before, and only if you found another soulmate your world would stay that way forever. This notion could also be reversed on your loved one's side.
The day her sight became bright her father had got a new apprentice and it didn't take long for her to realise, it was him making her world beautiful. He must've also experienced the same thing, since they tried to keep their distance from each other for a few days to figure out what was going on.
He was the first to give in. Riza would be doing her chores and the boy would be spying on her and as soon as she turned his way he hid away. Eventually it had turned in to a game, she would be doing something and he should have been studying for his apprenticeship, not studying his master's daughter. Every time Riza caught sight of him she would wait a few seconds and then try and spot him properly. However, he was too fast, but Riza always managed to get a quick glance at his mischievous face which she knew she would grow to love.
Their five years together went fast and Ishval arrived. Her father lost to his illness and nothing to lose, Riza felt she had a duty to find the boy who she spent most of her teenage years with. Central was the only place she thought she could find him.
Her search came back as fruitless, however Riza had noticed that the colours she saw were getting more vibrant by the day, and a throb in her heart had become apparent. This made her search all the more purposeful.
She learnt of a Flame Alchemist that was going into the Ishval campaign and she just knew it was him. And this was the decision that birthed the Hawk's Eye.
A few months later she was deported to the east ready to play her new role as sniper. She sat in many a high place but never saw the infamous Flame Alchemist, all she ever saw was the yellow of the sand, the red of her victims and the orange of flames. Riza knew he was here, that the glowing flame attacks were his, she imagined she could hear him snapping his fingers and fire jumping at his command.
Finally she found him in one of the campaigns. He looked so different, older, tired and his eyes were darker, harder. She knew the same had happened to her, they had the eyes of murderers. Even so, she still loved him but that had to wait, she had done what she had came to do, she found him and now she had to survive.
When Riza knocked on the office door in East City Command she knew this was the beginning of her new life with him, and she was now truly ready. She was ready to get him to where he needed to be and to love and support him all the way.
All the time from then on was the best of their lives, the colours of the world couldn't have been more perfect to see their other half, the part of themselves they were afraid to lose. As Lieutenant and Colonel they managed to distract everyone from their colourful secret, even Riza's grandfather and Madame Christmas.
They fought and worked together as a single entity, knowing what the other was thinking at all times. It was like a wave, unpredictable and exciting, never knowing what was around the corner but not caring because they always knew where they would end up, at the shore, at each other's side.
The fateful day of Führer Grumman's death came, Riza should have expected it. He was old and he needed the rest, but he was all the family she had left. Fortunately, she wasn't alone, so when she cried for the next few days she had her Colonel to comfort her.
However, he wasn't a Colonel anymore, he was the Führer. He had asked her to be his First Lady, Riza had to refuse. She needed to protect him at all costs to repay him for all he had done for her.
Riza was glad she made that decision, in a few weeks they would be going back to Ishval to right their wrongs they had made all those years ago. She would be going as his General not as his wife, does she regret her decision? No, she was happy she was there to protect him rather than be his accessory.
Their arrival was a mixed experience, the Ishvalans were unsure of them and so were the Führer and his men of the Ishvalans. They were slowly welcomed more warmly as the Ishvalans realised they were here to help them.
It had been exactly a week that they were there when the Führer was ambushed in his sleep. The explosion woke Riza, she knew exactly where it had come from, she shouldn't have let him have a tent to himself, how could she have been so stupid?
Riza had rushed out of her tent, she could feel a pain in her chest, as if it was being slowly tipped from her chest. Even though it was dark she could sense the colours around her fading, making her move all the more faster.
Skidding to a halt in front of the ruins of the Führer's, her love's, tent, Riza searched for him as her vision began moving steadily down the grey scale. She found him, bloodied from the waist down, lying in agony on the floor. She scooped him up best she could without causing him much more pain and ran, adrenaline pumping through her, to the medical tent.
That's where they are now, the Führer lain on a roll mat dazedly looking at the roof of the tent, the drugs taking away his pain and spirit. Bandages covering where his legs were meant to be, by this stage Riza couldn't tell what colour they were because they were now soaked in his blood and the colours were beginning to become a distant memory.
The medic had said that he didn't have too much longer to live and that the drugs were just to make his passing painless. She knew it wasnt going to be painless, not for her atleast. All Riza felt she could do was hold his hand and remind him of her presence.
"Riza..." She felt his hand tighten around hers briefly and she looked down to see him looking at her glass-eyed, as if he was in a trance. His mouth still slightly open from saying the word, as if it took all his effort.
"I love..." Again, his voice faltered mid sentence, he closed his eyes and took a large, shuddering breath. Riza looked away from him, the brightness had nearly disappeared to grey, she wasn't ready for this. Riza faced him, she had to. Her soulmate's eyes were open again, but only slightly this time.
"I love you too, Roy Mustang, I will always love you." She whispered to him, raising his clammy hand to her lips and pressing them against it softly. She didn't let the fear of the grey clouding her view panic her, she wanted to stay calm and controlled for his sake, for Roy's sake.
"I love your colours." Roy breathed, it was barely audible but it was there. Riza blinked away tears and let Roy's hand fall to his side as the last of the colour of her world melted away.
She would never forget how the colours felt, and she was sure he wouldn't either.