I hearby promise to complete the 100 themes.

Disclaimer: I don't own FMA, obviously. If I did, Roy and Riza would have held hands for the entire last episode.


1. New


Swip. Swip. The low, rhythmic tapping of impatient fingers echoed through the mostly empty office. The sun had barely risen on a promising new day, and the smell of coffee in the outer hall wafted gently in through the open doorway, creating a deceptive feeling of permeating warmth, of comfortable safety. Riza, yawning more out of boredom than from any real exhaustion, tipped the coffee into his bran-new, bone-white mug. Every morning, it was the same. Dark roast, sooty, ashen blend. Strong initial impact, but no real flavor.

As if he cared. The coffee was just for the appearance of normalcy.

"Your coffee, sir." Blunt, efficient, and to the point, as always. A new office did not warrant a new personality, nor did it require any semblance of the same sort of deception from her.

He smiled, and sipped lightly, mug perched almost delicately in his hands. Another deception; the Furher was anything but delicate. "Ah, thank you, Riza. A nice cup of coffee is just the thing I need in the mornings." Her name sounded new and broken in his mouth. She clenched and unclenched weary hands behind her back. Riza. Coming from his lips, it was hardly her name anymore

"Yes, sir".

It would only be a matter of time before the Colonel contacted her. Then, a bit longer after that before a new government could take power, hopefully with Colonel Mustang in control.

I wonder if he remembered to bring an extra set of gloves to work this morning.

The Fuhrer's assistant: a flattering seat, to be sure. New teammates, a new list of items to attend to, a new daily routine. A new office, smelling of cleaning supplies, burnt, lifeless coffee, and frantic despair, and new boots, made from the Fuhrer's finest leather.

A promotion would make any sensible soldier happy, but here, where the air was stifled in artificial sunlight, there was a monster standing over her.
And this new place was anything but home.


AC: Riza: "No, YOU make ME a cup of tea! /slaps/"
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