Prologue
The Fuhrer was sitting at his desk, glancing out of his window staring off into space. It was a laid back day at Central Command, the payload slightly lighter than usual, and with only one meeting to discuss trade routes with neighboring countries, the day went by without any issues. He glanced over at the clock across the room and let a smirk appear on his face. "Looks like it's quitting time". He got up, stretched and walked across his office and opened his doors to his waiting office that was occupied by his secretary and his most trusted subordinates. He looked around the room and smiled at his secretary, who was the only one in the office. She turned when she heard the door open and gave him a small but genuine smile. "Is it time to go already sir?" she spoke, the smile never leaving her face.
"Yes but where is Brigadier General Mustang?" the Fuhrer glanced around the large room once again.
"Most likely at the training grounds practicing like every other Monday sir" she said while she was finishing filing the day's work in their respective places in the filing cabinets along the far wall.
"Well care to join me in my search for the General? It's getting dark and I can't let my secretary walk around headquarters' alone, let alone walk herself home" the Fuhrer gradually said as he approached his secretary from behind. She turned and walked over to her desk to collect her purse before she could be cornered by the Fuhrer, "If you insist sir." She then headed to the door with the Fuhrer right on her heels, then they left the office after locking the door and headed for the training grounds at the back of the building.
The training ground was set up in a colosseum like fashion. The area opened up in the center upon entry to allow state alchemists along with hand-to-hand combat training cadets and soldiers, practice areas to hone their skills. There was also seating that raked upwards gradually and could accommodate a large audience if necessary. As the Fuhrer and his Secretary approached the building, the tail ends of flames could be seen above the tops of the colosseum, a feat in itself since the building is around 48 meters high.
"Wow, someone must have ruffled the Generals feathers in order to produce that much flame " the Secretary said as they got closer to the entrance, the Fuhrer was unfazed by the show of power. "That may be the case, or the General is getting stronger" the Fuhrer deduced as they walked through the entrance and saw the General, dodging and somersaulting out of the way of large arrow heads being launched from the opposite side of the arena.
"Care to watch the General at work, I haven't watched in a while, plus I don't believe we've been spotted yet". The Fuhrer gave a lopsided grin to his aide. "I don't see the problem in doing that sir, I don't have to be home right away" she responded with a slight smile and lead the way up the steps. She sat about mid way up the rows of seats and towards the middle, allowing for a perfect view of the General. Once they were seated they could see that Major General Armstrong was providing the spikes from the opposite end of the area. The dust cleared from the recent attack and the General could be seen towards the middle of the arena poised with both hands up ready to snap. As the dust settled, a booming voice echoed across the arena. "Excellent job General! Ready to give it one more shot?"
"Ready when you are Armstrong!" the General shouted back, adjusting their footing and tightening the gloves on their hands while still keeping a composed look. All of a sudden earth like pillars shot out of the ground and raced towards the General at an alarming rate, and a sudden snap sounded and flames shot outward and engulfed the pillars, leaving the General perfectly unscathed. The attack took a mere four seconds to occur and die down, it took quite a bit of skill to react that quickly. The Fuhrer stood up along with his secretary and clapped at the Generals performance.
"Wow you've improved since last week General, you should be proud because I certainly am."
The General twirled around at the sound of the Fuhrers voice and snapped into a salute, Armstrong approached behind the General and repeated the gesture. The Fuhrer waved it off and walked out onto the field, his secretary right by his side.
"The only reason I have improved is because of Major Armstrong here offering his time to allow me to practice, and I have a pretty good teacher as well." The General spoke with the family trade mark smirk on their face.
"Well I would love to meet your master one of these days and have a word with him, I hear that he is a devilishly handsome man, with a great personality and hair" the Fuhrer spoke, while rubbing his chin in a semi smug gesture.
"Don't forget the fact that he cannot grow facial hair, has a god-like complex, and wanted all female personnel to wear miniskirts" the General spoke while crossing their arms. Armstrong had to cover his mouth to hold back a chuckle at the face the Fuhrer was making.
"And don't forget a procrastinator, a former womanizer and was useless in the rain." His secretary spoke beside him while giving a wink to the now chuckling General whilst trying to stifle her own laughter.
"Riza that's enough, notice how three of the things you both said were in past-tense so ha, and second, Riley-Mae Mustang is that really the tone you use towards your Fuhrer." He spoke while staring daggers at his wife and daughter.
"Oh please, the fact that you are here right now means that it's quitting time and the formalities are done for the day Dad" she spoke, with the smirk growing ever so widely on her face.
"Why do you look like your mother but you had to get that smirk from me, no wonder Edward always shivers whenever he sees you do that. I'm sorry to say that it is a little unnerving."
"You were the one who taught her that Roy, so you are the only one to blame." Riza spoke, with a smile tugging at the corners of her lips.
All of a sudden they were scooped up and held in Armstrong's vice like grip, tears streaming down his face and his sparkles floating around them and his now, suddenly, bared chest as he bellowed. "The Mustang family will be known to playfully banter for generations! The Flame Alchemist and the former Hawk's Eye were complete once the Flame Eye joined their lovely family and they together will make this country proud!"
"Armstrong... we... can't... breathe..." The Mustang's managed to speak.
Armstrong slowly lowered them back to the ground , then stood straight while wiping the tears from his eyes. "Oh I am terribly sorry, I got swept up in the moment, you are the picture of families that others strive to achieve!"
"Ah thanks Armstrong? Anyways thank you once again for using your spare time to help me out with Alchemy combat training." Riley turned and gave Armstrong a salute.
"It was no trouble dear, I'm always willing to assist the Mustang family."
"Speaking of assisting, do you need help cleaning up the Arena? I feel bad if I left you to alchematize it back by yourself."
"Actually Riley I could assist, you go on ahead and gather your things, besides I'm a little rusty and I need the extra practice" Roy spoke while cracking his knuckles, which received raised eyebrows from his family.
"Okay sure, knock yourself out there Dad." Riley, Riza and Armstrong walked off the field and into the bleachers. Roy took the time to quickly go through the formulas to repair the small craters that were blasted into the earth from Riley's attacks, he then clapped his hands and slammed them down onto the ground. The entire area lit up with blue light and the ground shifted and filled in all the craters, once the light stopped, Roy stood straight and turned to his family and Armstrong, letting a huge smirk make its way onto his face.
"Glad to know your age isn't affecting your brain too much there Dad, otherwise you might have caused the arena to collapse." Riley spoke as she made her way towards the exit of the arena. Her mom and the now fully clothed Armstrong, were crossing the field to talk to Roy.
"Did you just call me old Riley?" Roy bellowed across the way towards his daughter, his face showing the slightest bit of irritation.
"I may have, sorry about that Pa."
Calling Roy Pa sent him over the edge, he usually was quite composed when it came to his anger, but not so much when it came to someone calling him out on his age, and Riley certainly knew exactly what buttons to push in order to get him over the edge. Before anyone knew it , Roy was booking it towards his daughter giving chase, and as Riley realized this, she turned on a dime and ran out of the arena laughing as she went. Armstrong was standing there chuckling to himself over the father-daughter shenanigans while Riza merely shook her head.
"I have no idea how you are able to deal with those two Mrs. Mustang" Armstrong spoke, as he and Riza made their way towards the exit following the sounds of both Roy and Riley's laughter.
"I think it helps that they are usually quite composed while on duty, so when they get like this, I let it run its course, it makes it easier to coax them to go to bed instead of them getting absorbed in their research or anything else that they feel needs their attention other than sleep." Armstrong glanced down at the First Lady, seeing a tiny heartfelt smile appear on her face as they left the arena, they saw Roy fling Riley over his shoulder and spin her around. Their laughter resounding off the outside of the Arena and Central Command.
"Well on that note I bid you farewell First Lady, I will see you tomorrow. Bye Mustang, bye Riley."
"Have a good evening Armstrong." Roy waved with his freehand.
"See you tomorrow, thanks again." Riley waved over her father's back.
Armstrong headed towards Central Command while Riza walked towards her family, the smile slowly growing wider the closer she got. "What did I do to deserve a family like this?" She stopped a few feet away and watched Riley struggle to get free of her father's grasp, if the situation was dire, Riley could easily get out of the predicament, but since it was just her father goofing around, she went along with it.
"Okay that's enough you two, if I remember correctly Roy, you have a meeting with the Assembly tomorrow at 09:00 hours and Riley, you have to be at the range by 09:30 hours to get your fire arms licence renewed, and if I know you , you won't be up in time to make it unless you both go to bed soon."
"Fine." They both said as Roy put Riley back on her feet. They dusted themselves off, their faces slightly flushed from laughing, and headed back towards their home, which was located at the far corner of Central Command's property.
Roy stepped in time with Riza on his right, slipping an arm around her waist. Riley also fell back to his left side, and he used his free hand to mess up her long blonde hair. It was a few shades darker than Riza's and went down past her shoulder blades, a few strands fell from her ponytail that was draped over her right shoulder. She shot him a glare from her deep brown eyes, darker than Riza's, probably thanks to his obsidian eye genes. Riley looked more like Riza, the few little tie ins to Roy were her little quirks, like his smirk and his flame alchemy. She also had some other little quirks that she got from her father, only close family and friends could pick out the similarities. Of course she still had quirks that were distinctly Riley, and that made her unique.
Roy took this moment to look at his family, he ended up with the woman whom he has known since he was a teenager. She vowed to protect him and follow him into Hell if asked to. He thought his life couldn't get any better until his daughter was born, she completed his family. He thought he didn't deserve the life he had now after the monstrosities he committed in Ishval, but he was able to face those demons. As long as he had his family, nothing could bring him down.
