'Ello! So, if you are one of da people who was reading my other Royai fic, I mentioned that I had a horror one coming...just fyi, I have NEVER written a genre like this before....so what you know! It seems I am exploring new and bright horizons with these Royai ficcies! Npw, just letting you know, when I startedd writing this I had intended for it to be a one-shot, but now it isn't....I actually already have part II written, and I am working on part III too....but I would like a few reviews just to see if I should keep up with this plot bunny or not. Just let me know!
And if you ARE one of the readers from Shoot Me in the Foot....I know I promised the next chappie by today, but I have had a lot of work and the next chapter is turning out REALLY long...or at least for my chapters... . So I will probably not get it up by tonight, but hopefully I'll have time Wednesday or Thursday. I really am trying here~!!
Anyway, Riza and Roy and all their cuteness don't belong to me....the story does.... ^_^
Now, without any further adieu.....I give you........the STORY!
"I am sorry sir, I can't do that," Riza Hawkeye's cold words cut through the Fuhrer like a knife through butter and something in him snapped. After all of these years, after they had battled their way to the top, it was now that she chose to defy him.
Roy Mustang flicked two of his fingers at the gathered advisors who quickly scurried out of the room, happy to escape the fury of the Flame Alchemist. Only one of them paused, Jean Havoc felt loath to leave Riza with the raging Fuhrer, but a glance and subtle gesture of the woman's head told him that she would be fine. The wheel-chair bound advisor reluctantly rolled himself out of the office.
With a harsher cue from the Fuhrer, the two bodyguards on either side of the doors bowed out too, leaving Roy and his silent officer alone. That is when all hell broke loose. Roy slammed his fist on his desk loudly, "What is the meaning of this Ms. Hawkeye?!"
Riza winced at the use of her last name, she had thought they were close enough that he would still listen to her, but it seemed as though the longer Roy had power, the more it got to his head. "I am not leaving the capital Fuhrer, I cannot obey your command."
Roy's handsome face contorted in a snarl, "You don't have a choice in the matter soldier! Mind your place."
"Forgive me sir, but I am. My first duty is to protect you, and I can't do that from across the sea." Riza's amber eyes stared straight ahead, looking beyond the walls, anything not to be in that room with the shards of her shattered heart cutting burning slashes in her soul.
"No, your first duty is to your Fuhrer!"
Riza was silent for a moment before turning her head to look him in the eye, "Then what would you call the King Bradley episode? Did I neglect my duty in allowing you to live? The Fuhrer would have preferred you dead, but instead I helped you bring him down. By your reasoning I should be put to death, I didn't uphold my duties."
"Silence!" The Fuhrer was shaking with rage, his gloved hands fisting.
Riza Hawkeye was beyond silence. "No! Why should you treat me differently than any other soldier? The people have the right to jud—"
"I said no!!" In his rage Roy swung the back of his clenched fist, his eye flashing dangerously.
Special Advisor Havoc was waiting anxiously outside of the Fuhrer's office doors with Lieutenant Colonel Falman. He was concerned for the two of them. He had noticed the rising tension between them for the past year. He had seen Riza stare with that blank look in her eyes at the bottom of an empty glass far too many times lately. It tore his up that only the Fuhrer could pull her out of the depressed stupors he sent her to. Did Roy not realize what he was doing? He was destroying what should be the most important thing in his life. Did Roy not even care anymore? That was when a crash was heard from inside the office.
Falman rushed to the door, Havoc as much to on his heels as a man in a wheelchair could be. What they saw inside the room brought both of them up short. Riza Hawkeye, the renowned protector of Fuhrer Roy Mustang, lay sprawled on the ground, her eyes shut and skin pale. Her cheek was red, and the Fuhrer's fist was remained frozen in the air, his own eye wide with shock.
"Riza!" Havoc leaned forward towards her and Falman crouched down by her side. When he rolled her on her back he hissed in worry as he saw the small pool of blood that had formed beneath her head, pouring from a laceration on the side of her head. Havoc pulled a pistol from the inside of his coat and turned it on Roy, his voice level as he ordered the head of the nation to step away from his fallen assistant.
Roy's own guards were at a loss, not sure whether to be aiming their weapons at the crippled man or their leader. Roy just stared at his upraised fist, his expression impossible to read. The tense moment was broken by the soft moan from the fallen woman. Falman leaned over her as Riza's amber orbs opened. She raised a hand to her cheek where Roy had hit her, her eyes dull and dead.
Falman protested as she began to sit up but a tired glare forced him back and she made her way to her feet on her own, only accepting help when she began to lose her balance when getting her feet back under her. Once she was completely vertical she stepped away from the support of Falman's hand, waving him off. "I am fine Lieutenant Colonel Falman."
Havoc shivered when her eyes passed over him, he had never seen her like that; it was as if she was completely drained of any and all emotions. Roy turned his back to the movements of his subordinates, shutting everything away as he stared out the window.
Riza looked at her Fuhrer, the man she had would have followed to hell for, and bowed low to his back. "If you would excuse me Fuhrer, I fear I must take my leave of you."
With that she had left. She had refused offers of help from Havoc and Falman. She knew they would have insisted, except for that haunting order from Roy, "Don't follow her, she can take care of herself."
Shutting her eyes against the pain, Riza fled from that voice she hated, the man she had loved.
The streets were empty, dark storm clouds rolling across the early evening sky, and rumbles of thunder rang out across the heavens. Black Hayate pulled at the leash, eager to get away from the approaching bad weather and into his safe bad, but no matter how he tugged and pulled and strained, he couldn't get the human on the other end of his line to pick up the pace, she just kept walking at that same slow crawl, her mind miles away from the darkening skies.
Riza placed a hand to her throbbing temple. Her blond hair was matted with dried blood, and more was oozing fresh from the open wound. She felt the world tilt on its axle, forcing her to rely on the sturdiness of the nearest brick wall for stability. Her head kept pounding and pressure continued to build behind her eyes. Finally she had to sink to the dirty ground of an alleyway and lay her head on her knees. She was dimly aware of the growing red stains on her blue uniform, but she couldn't find the energy to care.
There was a shuffling sound from the depths of the alley and Hayate's coat stood on end as he pulled back his lips and snarled into the shadows. His thin body pressed against Riza's leg and she was shocked to feel him shaking. She had yet to find anything the dog was afraid of, so his terror managed to shoot a beam of fear through her heart and she shot to her feet, her right hand grasping her gun, her left, Hayate's leash.
"Who is it? Show yourself!" Riza could hear what sounded like raspy breathing getting louder accompanied with the faint sound of wet footsteps slowly getting closer. Riza's nose filled with the scent of blood and decay, and she had to fight not to gag at the putrid odor.
Hayate's growls had turned to whimpers and he began pulling at the leash, trying to tug his mistress into the light, but Riza's sharp eyes were trained in front of her towards the origin of the sounds. "I warn you, I am armed."
When that failed to garner a response Riza dropped Black Hayate's leash and reached with her free hand for the small flashlight the she carried in her coin purse. Once she had it out she fumbled with the metal cylinder, knocking it against her thigh as she tried to turn it on; her eyes never leaving the darkness.
Once the flashlight was on she cast the narrow beam into the shadows, only to find the alley empty. Riza was dimly aware of her dog's teeth digging into her pant leg as he tried to make her move, but she was staring in growing fascination and horror at the far wall. A spot was glowing with a sickly hue of red.
The spot got larger and she watching in shock as something began to come out of the wall. It was a face, a human face devoid of skin, just muscle and blood stretched across a frame of bone. But it was the eyes…the eyes…that Riza couldn't stand. The sockets were filled with golden lights that stared unblinkingly at her. Riza's vision wavered as another dizzy spell hit her and she had no choice but to watch as the head was followed by shoulders just as ghastly, and Riza was forced to step a step backwards away from those eyes that pierced her soul. At her movement the thing froze. She froze to. Then it began to tilt its head, and it didn't stop, twisting its head upside down.
Riza's fingers spasmed on the trigger and she emptied her gun into the creature's flesh. When her gun stopped shooting, the bullets spent, the creature just smiled, thin black lips pulling back to reveal teeth like daggers. She screamed and hurled both gun and light blindly into the dark. There was the sound of a sick slap as one of the objects managed to hit her target, but she wasn't there to hear it, having gathered Hayate in her arms and taken off at a run, the sound of a piercing shriek and the smell of smoldering flesh chasing her from the alleyway.
When she reached her apartment she locked the door behind her and turned on all of the lights, grabbing her spare pistols and slumping to the ground with the loaded guns in her shaking hands, tears rolling down her cheeks, the pain in her head increasing by the second.
Suddenly the light bulbs began to shatter one at a time until only the bulb in the ceiling above her head was left, flickering dimly. Riza felt Hayate dive under the bed behind her and she brought her guns up, she studied the room as the sickening odor reached her nose, making her eyes water. Just then her door shattered open in a shower of sharp splinters of wood and metal, one shard stabbed into her side, pinning her to the floor. Riza glanced with pain glazed eyes to the doorway. Standing in the ruble was Roy Mustang, his eyes smoldering.
"Fuhrer!" Riza's lungs began to fill with blood and a trail leaked out of the corner of her lips to join the growing pool on the carpet. "Get…get out of here!"
Her heart pounded in her chest, terrified that he would be killed, that she wouldn't be able to protect him. "Run!"
Roy's only dark eye glared down at her and he spoke with all the warmth of ice, "Why would I do that Riza? This is just where I want to be. I have the power I wanted, the entire country lies at my feet. "
Riza could feel that she was dying, her limbs becoming cold to the touch. She gasped as she felt the cold creep into her chest. She reached her arm out towards the alchemist in the hallway, "Roy…ple-please…r-Roy…"
The raven haired man tilted his head and smiled coolly, "Why should I help you? It's long past time for me to leave you behind…you are of no more use to me Hawkeye, you are…defective."
His left hand rose to caress the patch of silk that covered where his eye had once been, "You've already cost me one eye. Maybe if you had been quicker before you could manage to convince me of your worth now…Oh well, too late. Good-bye soldier."
With that he raised his fist. As his fingers snapped Riza watched as the thing from the alley stood in his shadow and fastened its jaws into the flesh of his neck. The last thing Riza Hawkeye saw was the man she loved, the man who murdered her, dieing with a look of horror and pain eternally painted on his face as the flames devoured her. She didn't even have enough breath left to scream in agony as her lungs filled with black smoke and deadly fire.
So yep..........a wee bit of a cliffie..... just let me know what you think! If I get enough of a positive response I will post the next chapter ASAP!!!! Thanks for reading! Ta-ta!