A Promise To You

Chapter 1

A Promise to you

Chapter 1

Fortunately, she was alive. Unconscious but alive, sleeping there on his large bed, wearing one of his large t-shirts. Her shirt had been blood stained and ripped so he had to give her something clean and comfortable to wear. He tried to shove away the memories from last night. Surely, when the time came, he would receive an explanation for that too. But what he had seen wasn't something that could be forgotten so easily. Things that made him question if he really did want the flame alchemy and of course, his master's sanity.

The last time he had seen her was at her father's burial. His Master's burial. That day he had promised her that she could count on him. But he could have never imagined that it could come to a life or death situation. He shook his head and massaged his temples. He had two essays to write for the next week and all he could think about was his Master's daughter. And the flame alchemy, again.

It all started last evening, when for the first time since he had given her his phone number she called. Frightened. She didn't give him many details. She only asked him to come quickly because there was something important to discuss. He had been of course nervous thinking that finally he could learn the secrets of flame alchemy. He had abandoned all he was studying, got in the car and rushed to her home.

Odd enough, the front door was opened. He had stepped in hesitantly and called her. No answer. When he entered the kitchen, a tall dark figure noticed him and clearly alarmed, got up from the floor and jumped over the window. Before his flee he was leaning over something. Roy gulped and turned on the light, creeped by the previous event.

He gasped and instinctively stepped back. His Master's daughter was laying on the floor, blood flowing from her shoulder. He tried to regain his composure telling himself that after all he was a senior at the medical university. Damn the theory, he had never been face to face to something like this! He rushed towards her body and verified her pulse. He had to take her to a hospital.

"Miss Riza... Wake up!" he shouted worried. She was laying on her side, breathing weakly. At least she was still alive. He wanted to lift her, but that was when she spoke for the first time.

"Don't...please."

"Sorry?" he asked as he scanned her carefully. The wound seemed to be caused by a gun. He clearly needed to bring her to a hospital or else she would have died out of blood loss. "I'll take you to a doctor, you'll be alright." He tried to calm her as he lifted her body and pressed her against his chest, careful not to touch the bullet wound.

"No... " she replied weakly nearly whining. "They can't see..."

"See what? "He said as he carried her carefully out of the house, to his car. She was so light he could have carried her with one arm.

"My back. Mr. Mustang, you can't let them see it..." she whimpered clinging onto his shirt and coughing.

"I don't understand." He said confused and placed her gently on the back seats of his car. He had a first aid kit of course. He could stop the bleeding till they reached the hospital. Was she only delirious or was there something else he couldn't understand?

He got all he needed from the back of the car and returned to her.

"If you'll allow me... " he said trying to take a closer look at the fresh wound. She was too weak to move or to say anything else. But he needed to keep her conscious.

"What happened, Miss Riza?" he asked her while ripping that side of her shirt to gain more access to the wound and murmured a 'sorry'. He froze at the sight of her bare shoulder. What the...

"They wanted it...so badly...that... " She coughed. "they didn't need me alive... "

It looked like a whole tattoo which contained a difficult research written in symbols was printed on her back. So that's why she was so reluctant to go to the hospital. Damn. He pressed the bandages against her soft skin. The spot wasn't lethal and the blood wasn't flowing so fast...but someone still needed to get the bullet out of her shoulder. He could see it.

"Please... "she whined. "Others can't know."

"But I have to do something... I can't just allow you to bleed to death." He tried to reason with her but she shook her head.

"Just let me die... I don't want to keep living like this... " she murmured whispering and for the first time he saw tears flowing down her face. He brushed away the golden locks from her face as he was pressing the bandages against the wound to stop the bleeding. He was careful though as he didn't want to deepen the bullet.

"Miss Riza, I won't let you die. That's something I promise you. But I won't take you to hospital either." He concluded. "I will see of your wound myself. Can you hold this like that till we reach my apartment?" he asked softly and guided her hand to the bandages on her shoulder.

She nodded and he returned to his driver place. He still wasn't sure what was the idea of that tattoo but he had a vague feeling about what it could be. 'My daughter has the notes to the flame alchemy', his master's words came to his mind. He shook his head as he inserted the key into the car and the engine started roaring. He was going to take that bullet out by himself. It was the last year of university. He could do that. He drove fast through the town and kept asking her simple questions to make sure she was awake.

"Hold on, alright?"

"Mhm... " she murmured back, her eyes slightly opened. Laying on the back seats she could catch a glimpse of him, focused on the road, drops of sweat flowing down his face. The lights from the outside stabbed the darkness of the night in a way that made her feel dizzy.

"I am sorry, Mr. Mustang..."

"This is not your fault. And everything's going to be alright. We are close to my apartment."

He had worked on her wound the whole night. Successfully fortunately. He had managed to take the bullet out and to stop the bleeding. He was quite proud of his work even though he knew he had caused her lots of pain. He had examined her tattoo too while mending her. His suspicions were true. That must have been the theory for flame alchemy. Damn but why in such a way? Even though the two of them had barely spoken during his apprenticeship years, he couldn't help feeling frustrated. She was, of course, a good and innocent girl that shouldn't have been burdened with such a heavy weight.

And that's why writing essays was not an option at the moment. He felt his eyes closing. But he had to wait for her to wake up. To make sure everything was alright.

That desperate look from last night. The way she asked him to let her die. It troubled him. He wanted to check if she was breathing regularly and leaned on her. She seemed to be OK. An unknown feeling of protection was challenging him. She flinched and gripped the sheets with her hands till her knuckles turned white. He realized that might still be in shock and that he needed to take her easy. She opened her eyes and studied him a little. His hair was mess and there were purple bags under his eyes.

Before he could react she jumped out of the bed and pressed her back against the wall. She flinched in pain, feeling her bullet wound pulse violently against the cold surface.

"Stay away from me." She threatened scared.

"It's okay." He said as he got up and tried to close the distance between them.

"Stay. Away!" She said louder and hugged herself. "You'll want to use me too now. Just dispose of me already!"

"What? No! I want you to lay down so you don't make your wound bleed. I worked the whole night on that."

"You have seen my back!" She accused him and started to tremble.

"Not intentionally. And I don't want to use you or kill you. If I wanted that I wouldn't have strived so much to keep you alive, don't you think?" he said gently trying to reason with her. Her body seemed to lose its tension. She was breathing heavily as her eyes scanned the room and then fixed on him. A glance that held fear, innocence and exhaustion. She fell on her knees and to his surprise, burst into tears.

He knelt near her afraid to touch her.

"You are safe now." Was all he could think to say.

"Why did you do that? I don't want to keep living like this!" she sighed and more tears started flowing down her face. "I don't want to carry this... "

"Miss Riza. I promised you to be there for you if you needed me. And that's what I'm going to do now. At the moment, all that matters is you to heal. Afterwards, we'll talk about what happens next. Okay?"

She lifted her face to meet his eyes. His dark burning eyes. Hers were empty. She gulped and covered her face in her hands. For a few minutes, she stood like that, thinking deeply about what she should do.

"I can't go back home. He's going to come back."

"You'll stay with me. Here. It's a nice place, right?" he said trying to cheer her up. He made a mental note to ask her later about who he was talking about. She showed no expression. "During the mornings I'll be at courses, so you'll have time for yourself as well."

"I can't ask so much of yourself." She shook her head. "You've already done so much..." she added realizing for the first time that he had really saved her life.

"There's no problem. Anyway, I need to keep an eye on that." He said pointing to her shoulder. She noticed it and touched the wound hesitantly. The sound of the gun flashed through her years and she froze. He noticed her widened eyes that seemed to have gotten lost again and got up to hold her a hand. She caught it hesitantly as she stumbled on her feet. Everything seemed to move around her. She lost her balance but he caught her and guided her to the bed.

It was for the first time when she noticed that she was wearing a loos shirt that hid a subtle note of aftershave. Embarrassment started to creep inside her and she hugged herself instinctively.

"You should sleep. You are tired. And a little in shock. I've got courses in half an hour so... " he let her know. Oh, indeed he had classes in less than 30 minutes and his notebooks, books and notes were spread all over the couch in the living room, leaving aside that he looked like a zombie.

"I didn't thank you, Mr. Roy. And sorry for being like that before. I am... "

"Scared? Traumatized? A man shot you last night. I can't blame you for your reaction. And I know we don't really know each other but, you have to trust me. And anyone would have done what I did." He used the cliché-phrase even though he was indeed proud of himself.

She turned on one side and watched him curiously as he was picking his clothes.

"I don't think so." She replied uncertainly. "It's difficult to trust people. You have seen what my own father did to me." For a second, he forgot what he was looking for in the wardrobe as his eyes seemed to get lost. There was something about the way she said it… "Anyway, saving my life is an act that could make you a trustable person." She continued skeptically.

He turned to her and smiled quickly before finally picking his clothes. "Oh, and one more thing." He added before leaving the room. "Call me Roy from now on, okay? If we're going to be flatmates, the formalities would be really…awkward."

She nodded. "Then, call me Riza."

Yes, she was in a stranger's apartment. Yes, she barely knew who he was, but there was something that made her feel safe. And after the last months, that was all she needed. He entered the living room and started gathering his things. Who would have thought that so many things could change in such a short time? It was nice not being lonely, In fact, it was nice having someone to care for. He returned to his bedroom to take a few more notes from his desk and noticed that she was sleeping deeply, hugging the pillow. A girl was sleeping in his bed and it was for the first time when it was for an innocent cause.

Starring at her, he realized that he really wanted to change her view about what she had said earlier. Yeah, trusting people was difficult and sorrowful most of the times, but a young girl like her shouldn't look at the world like that. His gaze was interrupted by the buzzing of his phone. It was a text from Hughes who was probably waiting for him. U dead? Or you forgot it's not weekend?