HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TAYLOR! -champagne poppers- -annoying noise makers- -building explodes- -fire-
(it's my friends birthday. just roll with it.)
To celebrate, I wrote this. It originally was going to be Greed!Roy, but this took over, and, well… (but Greed!Roy will come in due time. Just wait.)
What Could Have Been
Riza Hawkeye sighed as she made her way through Central Command. Only her idiot of a boss could manage to forget the office's year end paperwork, the exact paperwork she had reminded him to not forget a total of twelve times. Now she had to fight back through the biting wind and empty hallways to retrieve paperwork that was due nine am sharp the next morning.
If shooting a superior officer were legal, Havoc would be full of holes.
After what seemed to be an endless amount of time, Riza arrived outside of the office. The sight that greeted her had her gun out and trained forward almost before she could blink.
Standing behind his desk was Havoc. In front of him was a spread of paperwork. Riza recognized the open red folder, red to indicate the secrecy of its contents.
"Sir," she stated calmly.
Havoc looked up. "Lieutenant!" he exclaimed. "What's with the gun?"
She didn't move. "Who are you?" she snapped, gaze locked on the rooms other occupant. "Why are you here?"
Havoc's face grew alarmed. "I'm here because this is my office! And you know who I am!"
Riza took another step forward. "You aren't the Colonel," she declared. "I left him at the car." She raised the gun further. "I'll ask again. Who are you?"
Instead of continuing to protest, a smirk that looked out of place on the joking Colonels face began to spread. "I told them you were smart," he began, "but no one listened to me."
Riza felt a stab of fear race through her as red sparks began to race across the surface of the fake Havoc. The smirk didn't disappear as the entire body of the intruder began to change. Military uniform became black and skin tight, hair darkened and grew, eyes slimmed until, instead of Havoc, it was a product of her nightmares standing in front of her.
"You like?" mocked the monster. "Of course, it's not the same as-"
"Where did you get that face?" she demanded, grip tightening on her gun. When the monster didn't respond, she tried again. "How do you know that face? Answer me!"
"C'mon, Riza. Your dad won't notice if its just for a few hours."
"I don't know…" She pursed her lips and glanced back at the house. "Doesn't he check on you?"
The boy laughed. "I'm lucky if he's asked how far I got at the end of the day. It won't be long, I promise. And you've always wanted to go into town without him, right?"
"This?" The monster reached up and touched his jaw. "Why? Remind you of someone?" He sent her a slimy grin. "Too bad, because this face is mine."
"I guess…" she trailed off.
The boy grabbed her hand, before proceeding to drag her down the road. "It'll be fun! I promise."
She pulled the trigger.
The bullet tore through his right shoulder, throwing him backwards a few inches. But instead of crying out in pain, Riza watched in horror as the bullet was ejected from the wound, red light coming and sealing up the hole.
People began to gather, no doubt drawn in by the sound of the collision. She slowly sat up, dazed. Around her lay the wreckage of a motor accident, rare for a town of this size. Glass and metal were everywhere, and her head began to ache. One hand reached up to touch her forehead, and it came away bloody.
"What'd you do that for?" groaned the man, rubbing his shoulder. "Not that it was a real setback, but still." The red light continued its work until not even a bloodstain remained.
Riza held her position. "I haven't seen that face in over ten years. Where did you find it?" An edge of hysteria had crept into her voice.
"Calm down, sweetheart. You're making it bleed more."
She struggled weakly away from the helping hands, straining to see around the area. "Where is he?"
"You need to calm down." Hands, more forceful this time, grasped her shoulders.
She tried to shrug them off. "I need to see him. I have to!" she cried.
Everything started to become distant. Voices began to fade, images became blurry, and it didn't matter how hard she fought.
That was the last day she saw Roy Mustang, her fathers elusive alchemy student.
The face of Roy Mustang smirked. "Wouldn't you like to know?" And before even her sniper reflexes could react, he had kicked open the window and swung out into the night.
It took her a few minutes to lower the gun. Hands shaking, she approached the desk to inspect the damage. Nothing was missing, as far as she could tell, but paperwork was spread everywhere. Looking around, she noted that only the Colonels desk was affected by the raid. Sighing, she grabbed the folder she originally came for and exited the office.
Something was going on in the military. The Elrics knew, somewhat, of what was going on, but their lips were sealed tight. Other things, small things, had been building up for a series of years, and they all pointed to something happening soon. But what?
The trip back to the garage was somehow faster, and Riza found herself standing in front of the car she was supposed to drive the Colonel home in. A car she really didn't want to get into.
Reaching forward, she let her knuckles rap the tinted glass twice. "Colonel."
A muffled "Shit," could be heard through the car, and some shuffling noises came before the back window rolled down. "Lieutenant," Havoc nodded.
Riza ignored his attempt at a polite conversation. "Get whatever floozy is in the back of this car out or so help me I will force you to walk the rest of this week," she threatened. "Is this why you conveniently 'forgot' your paperwork? Save this for-"
She was silenced when the back door opposite her opened, and out stepped a familiar blonde head. Her hand snapped into a salute. "General sir!"
General Armstrong turned around, a small smirk playing across her lips. "First Lieutenant Hawkeye. It's nice to see someone here in Central who understands how it works." Without waiting for a response, the General turned back towards the exit and marched (marched?) off.
Riza stood there in shock for a moment, before releasing her salute and looking down at Havoc, who smiled back sheepishly.
"I can-" he began.
"I don't want to know," Riza sighed, before rubbing her nose and unlocking the drivers door.
The car's atmosphere was awkward and silent the first few minutes. As soon as they were a good distance away from Central Command, Riza parked the car on the side of the road.
"I really don't know how it happened," began Havoc, "she just sort of jumped me."
"Please don't give me a mental image," Riza groaned. "This isn't about your love life. There's been a new development with the conspiracy…
Review, it feeds the ever hungry muse!
Wryder