Hi, everybody:)

I'm new to the Fullmetal Alchemist fandom and this is my first fanfic for it. I'm not a native English speaker, so sorry for any mistakes, I'm trying my best:)

Spark Of The Dawn

Part I- Bulletproof

Chapter 1

He will live with us for a while

"A novice? Here?"

It was strange that her father informed her about this anyway. If they talked two times a week it was certainly too much. Since her mother died, ten years ago, she became a lonely, quiet and independent person.

Riza and her father didn't have a good relationship, they didn't have a relationship at all in fact. He was always obsessed with his work about alchemy.

But Riza was annoyed by something else. If her father didn't care about her, his own daughter, why would he care about a novice? About a stranger?

" His father was a good friend of mine."

Was. Probably Berthold gave up on his friend as well so he could refuge in his paperwork. Maybe now he was ashamed of his acting so he agreed to do this favor.

"He's coming from Central. He will live with us for a while."

"I see…"

Like one person obsessed in alchemy wasn't enough in this house…

"So when is he coming?" She asked curiously, trying to prepare herself morally for this.

"This evening."

"And you waited until the last moment…" She inquired feeling the annoyance rising inside of her. Again, why did he bother to tell her about this after all?

"You know Flame Alchemy is filling my whole time.

Flame Alchemy again. In that rarely conversations they had they only talked about it. He bragged about it or swore about how difficult it was. For a 16 years old girl it was a boring life. At least she had her mother's diaries. Before Berthold could throw away all of her mum's belongings she had saved some diaries about armaments.

She had become extremely fond of all the types of guns so she would usually just stay closed in her bedroom and read the diaries and other books she borrowed from the library. She had even made her own sketches. The problem was that her father was so against the military that if he found out about Riza's passion he would have burnt everything to ashes.

So aside from going to school, that was her life. Little did she know about how much it was going to change.

"I told you about Roy's arrival so you could cook for him as well."

Roy. So that was his name. She was going to be a maid for Roy as well. That's why her father told her about his arrival. She never complained to others about her life but she knew that as soon as she would turn 18 she would leave the house and start her own life.

She said nothing else and walked down the corridor to the kitchen so she could start preparing the meal. She started to boil some water and cut some vegetables. She wondered how this Roy would look like. Tall? Short? Blonde or chestnut? And most important, selfish and arrogant or nice and appropriate?

After she added the vegetables in the water she returned to her father's office.

"And where will he sleep?"

"Don't interrupt me now, Riza…never mind. Does our house seem so big that you can't think where he will sleep? In your room. You will sleep in the living room, on the sofa."

Her eyes widened and she rolled her eyes discreetly. The annoyance was soon replaced with anger. She wasn't the type of person to let out her anger, especially in front of her father.

"You're kicking me out of my room so your precious apprentice can have it? This is not…fair. " She never told her father about how she felt about some certain situations, but her father had informed her about so many things in such a short time that she didn't have time to let it sink in.

"Life's not fair, Riza. I know you can comprehend the situation."

"Of course, I always have to understand. I can't wait to let a stranger sleep in my room…" She added ironically, closed the door of the office and returned to the kitchen. She got a piece of meat from the fridge and started slicing it angrily as if it was Roy's face. It was so unfair already! She knew it wasn't Roy's fault for sleeping on the couch but she was angry with him as well.

After she finished preparing the lunch she went to her bedroom to pack some of her things in a box. She didn't want Roy to see her personal belongings. She packed more than she planned so when she left the room it looked like no one had ever lived in it.

After Roy got out of the train he started looking for a cab. He read once more the note with Master Hawkeye's address. It was the first time in his 18 years that he was leaving Central. He was feeling so free and ambitious far from his aunt's pub.

After countless attempts of trying to stop a cab, finally one stopped and he got in. He hoped he wouldn't make a bad impression from the start to his master. The car left him in front of a small house that had a small garden and a shed. He entered the garden's gate and knocked at the door. He waited for a while.

Finally, a short man with a long and white face that held the pain of the past opened the door.

"You must be Roy Mustang. I am Berthold Hawkeye."

"Nice to finally meet you, sir." Roy said awkwardly as they shook hands and entered the house. A young blonde girl was waiting inside. She had a cautious and shy look on her face.

"This is my daughter-"

"I am Riza Hawkeye." She interrupted him to introduce herself.

"Roy Mustang. It's a pleasure, miss."

He couldn't see if she blushed because she turned her head in other direction. Gesture that made Roy sure she blushed.

"Now Riza, show Roy to his room." Master Hawkeye ordered to his daughter that said nothing and walked down the corridor. Roy followed her. She was somehow intimidating him. It was like she had an electric field around her so Roy kept the distance. She opened the door of a bedroom.

Roy first saw the colour of the walls. Purple. So could this room be Riza's? He would feel guilty to take her place. The fact that on the wall was written with big letters RIZA made him realize he had been right. He didn't like the awkward silence so he asked:

"So this is your room?"

"Usually it is as you can see, but for now on it's yours."

He somehow wanted to apology for using it but he didn't know how to so he simply said:

"It's a nice room. Thank you for lending it to me."

It's not like I had a choice, she thought for herself. She nodded and wanted to go out:

"We'll have dinner at 19:00 ." She closed the door and left him alone in his room. What a mysterious girl. He put the luggage down and let himself fall on the bed. He was really tired. So this was the start of his journey to becoming a state Alchemist. He didn't plan on telling his Master about his dream. Not yet. First, he had to see what kind of man he was.

*Knock knock knock*

This was awkward already. She told him to come to lunch at 19:00. Now, it was 19:00. The knocks at his door didn't seem to have any effect. How politely would it be if she opened the door herself? What if he was sick and passed out?

She slowly opened the door. She could see his figure in the dark on the bed. The light that crept from the outside lay on his chest. He was breathing. But who could sleep so heavily? She stepped in and sat down hesitantly near his bed.

"Ahem…Sir? Are you ok?" She couldn't call him by his name. She had just met him one hour ago. Sir was fine. Even if he somehow looked like a young boy.

"Just…just a minute more." He murmured and started snorring.

Riza frowned. She was going to wake up this man even if he wanted or not.

"Sir." She said louder. "The dinner is ready, I worked very hard on it so do me this favour and come to eat it."

Still sleeping, he turned on one side and opened his eyes, now facing Riza. She crawled backwards while he got up. She was very startled. Of course she scared him... He had just woken up to see a girl watching him. She was sure she was blushing, fortunately, it was dark.

"I'm sorry, sir, I didn't want to-" she tried to say as she stood up.

"It's fine, don't worry, blame me for this. I guess I was very tired…it's been a long day for me."

Riza nodded and they both went out of the room, heading to the kitchen. Roy opened the door and saw an emotionless Berthold sitting down at the table. Riza knew better not to say anything. The situation was just going to become very dark. Punctuality was one of the things her father loved the most.

"Sir, I'm sorry I've been late."

"I can overlook that. Today. I value very much the punctuality."

So her father could tolerate other's mistakes. Roy had the advantages of being an alchemist.

"This will not happen again, sir." He said and sat down, same as Riza did. The atmosphere was uncomfortable because no one said anything. Riza was very used to the situation, but was worried because Roy might not feel comfortable. Wait, why was she worrying about that? She shouldn't care at all. The stranger took her room, didn't he? She shouldn't worry about him.

"So, sir, have you ever thought about becoming a state alchemist?"

Riza barely chocked with her water. Of all the things Roy could talk about he chose military.

"No. I've never been into military professions."

"I understand."

Poor boy will get used to the rules of the house soon enough, Riza thought. But still it was strange for her that her father could overlook that much. Was Roy's father such a close friend to her father? She had never heard about him. However she decided to help Roy.

"Don't worry, sir. My father isn't in too many things. You'll learn very fast." She saw that Roy grinned a bit glad she had said something. Her father was giving her a threatening look. "So, you are good at alchemy?" Riza continued.

"Well, I can transmute a few things but the reason I came here is to perfect myself. Miss, I suppose you're a skilled alchemist yourself."

"I-"

"My daughter was never into alchemy." Her father answered before she could say anything. "I tried to teach her alchemy when she was younger but she was very incapable of performing it." He revenged for what Riza said earlier. She wasn't hurt at all because she was used to her father's attitude. But she felt bad because he insulted her in front of someone else.

"Then it means that she is meant for something else, I'm sure."

"Thank you, sir, I hope so." They both smiled. Berthold held a bored face. After the meal was over, her father took Roy to his office while she cleaned the table. She needed to breathe some fresh air. Berthold had always had the ability to make the people around him feel uncomfortable.

She opened the door to his office and spoke:

"I'm going to do some shopping…umm, we have no more food supplies."

Berthold nodded. He was focused on giving Roy a huge pile of books. It was becoming heavier and heavier, the master still adding books on his student's arms. Finally, Berthold nodded proudly.

"That's enough for now. Before we can start our work I want you to read these books. They are extremely old and useful. Ask me questions if you don't comprehend something."

"Right, sir. Thank you."

Roy tried not to show his master his overwhelmed face. It was a lot to study, but to become a state alchemist he needed to work very hard. As he was sorting his books, he looked at his Master. He seemed really focused, trying to sketch some kind of pentagram…on his palm. The young novice forgot about his books, paying attention to what his master was doing. After he drew the alchemy circle, Berthold snapped his fingers and to Roy's astonishment, a little flame burst into the air and faded away.

"So close, yet so far." His master spoke disappointed.

"Sir, I'm not that skilled but creating flames through alchemy it's impossible. It was awesome." Roy answered enthusiastically.

"I spent the last years trying to perfect it. This will be the most powerful form of alchemy once I finalize it. Now, return to your books. Stuff like this isn't for everyone."

If his master had barely managed to perform Flame Alchemy, then Roy had a lot of chances to become a State Alchemist. Now he knew not to tell Berthold about his future plans. Maybe later…

One hour passed by and Roy's head felt full already. Even if he had managed to sleep one hour he still felt tired. He stood up and looked outside the office's window. It was raining. His Master observed his novice and spoke as if he could read Roy's mind.

"Riza's still outside. Let's hope that the food won't spoil because of the rain."

Roy arched an eyebrow. Was his master worried much more about the food than about his daughter? He could see that they had an odd relationship. Still, Riza seemed to be a nice girl. Once more, the master seemed to be reading his mind.

"Riza is a strong girl, the rain won't stop her."

"I guess so…"

"Anyway, it's enough for today. Go and rest, tomorrow we are going to work very hard."

"Thank you, master, have a good night."

Roy got out of his master's office and headed to his room. While he passed near the front door, it opened. Riza entered the house looking as if she fell in a puddle of mud, bloody scratches covering her hands. Certainly, Riza wasn't expecting to meet Roy. He was startled by the way she looked.

"Miss…what happened? Are you alright?"

She pressed her index finger against her lips silencing him and smiled as if everything was ok. "Yes, I'm fine, don't worry. I just…fell down and…yeah, but at least I bought milk and apples." She said and held up happily a bag.

"Oh well, those scratches don't look fine at all. If you'll let me look…" He said and held her free hand, examining it. She flinched a little and they both felt electrocuted for some reason. She lied. She might have fallen but her hands shouldn't be bleeding just because of that. It was much more to be said and he had no idea what happened. It wasn't wise to insist on the problem so he freed her hand.

"Take care of that."

"Sure I will. Good night, sir."

Thanks for reading guys. I'll try updating weekly. Maybe the characters seem a little OOC, but they are young and Arakawa didn't wrote too musc about their personalities at that time.