Disclaimer: Most of you know the drill. I don't own FMA or the handsome Roy Mustang, although I really wish I did.

This is my first FMA fanfic and I hope it's to everyone's liking. I have deliberated and debated as to what I wanted my story to be about. I finally came to the conclusion that after I was left wanting more after the movie, I would make up my own version of what happens next. If you have read my other story that I have been working on it's based on the Inuyasha series (featuring Sesshomaru and Rin) then you will know that my writing style is rather descriptive and full of visual images. I am going to try and keep everyone in character except maybe a couple discrepancies here and there. I pretty much like Roy and Riza' characters the way they are. I love to write in my spare time and I may end up writing a book one day. As of now though I'm just trying to finish my last semester before med school.

Please Review and let me know it you like it! I don't want to continue with a story that nobody is interested in reading. Thanks!

Kaida

Roy Mustang swore loudly as he rose from the dusty ground to his knees after his unceremonious landing with the material Fullmetal had given him. He lifted his head and wiped furiously at the beads of sweat that were dripping from his raven locks. The sun's intense rays burned into the general's equally intense onyx eye as he positioned his gloved hand trying to make out the almost undistinguishable craft that carried the two Elric brothers. Roy felt his anger churn deep down in his stomach as he watched them fade into the horizon. It was all he could have done to allow Alphonse to jump onto the airship at the last second. Who was he to keep him from his brother when he had been trying to find him ever since he had regained his body?

Neither he nor Alphonse could have stopped Fullmetal from returning to the other side of the gate. In the few brief minutes Roy had shared with the older Elric, he had realized that Edward had long since abandoned his selfish needs and had finally grown up. The blond alchemist had felt that it was his duty to seal up the portal from the other side and because of that reason he left behind his friends and almost his brother.

Fullmetal's last burning gaze flashed in the flamed one's mind and he remembered seeing a glint of sadness and hesitation in his golden eyes. Then just as quick as the moment started it had ended and he and Al were slowly starting to drift away as they watched Ed's back as he disappeared deep inside the craft.

The general curled his gloved hands in fury and slammed them into the parched and rock littered earth before him.

"Why did you have to go?" He ground out as he watched his sweat splatter onto the ground below. "Just when I had found out that you were indeed alive you run off again and no doubt back into danger. How in the hell am I supposed to protect you if you are on the other side of that damned gate!" He spat furiously as he quickly rose to his feet and lashed out torching the nearest thing available, which happened to be a shrub.

Riza had been hiding behind a tree in the distance secretly watching as the general crash-landed rather roughly. She was about to rush to his side, when he rose to his knees and looked up into the sky. From where she was standing wedged between a tree and what was left of a building, it was next to impossible to make out anything but clouds and sunrays. The lieutenant decided to stay put just for a few moments longer as she looked onward rather worried about her superior. 'Roy Mustang will always be my superior, just because he now wears the rank of an enlisted man, doesn't make it so. It's just not right.' She thought as she stood watching his fists hit the dirt stirring a rather large cloud of dust around him.

For some reason unbeknown to her Riza had a feeling that after the general saw Fullmetal he would carry on as that… a general. For some odd reason it just seemed that the blonde headed alchemist always brought out the fighting side of the general. 'Just maybe the old Roy Mustang might come back now that he knows that Fullmetal is alive and well or at least what was left of the old Roy before the fall of Fuhrer King Bradley. Even his doctor said that in time the general's left eye would mend itself almost completely.' She thought as she noticed a plump green caterpillar shimming up the side of the tree.

Lieutenant Hawkeye was then brought rather awkwardly out of her silent inquiries by the familiar sound of something giving its last testaments to the wind as it was being burnt to a total crisp. 'Must you always burn something when you're angry General?' She asked herself as she began the short walk to where he was standing his back facing her.

Roy used the back of his hand to wipe the sweat out of his face once more but failed to notice the red smear that crept into the white fabric of his pyrotex glove. The general was about to fry another unsuspecting shrub into nothing but useless ash when he heard the unique sound of tiny pieces of gravel being stepped upon behind him. Thinking as sharply as ever and with the intensity of his frustrations, the seasoned alchemist spun quickly and poised his fingers ready to snap at the unannounced visitor. To his relief he was staring into the soft brown eyes of one Riza Hawkeye. He lowered his hand and was about to speak when the next thing he knew well aimed bullets were loudly whizzing past his head. The raven-haired alchemist stood as if frozen in a comatose stupor until the lieutenant had relinquished her weapon back into its holster perched snugly upon the belt at her waist.

"What did I do now lieutenant? It's not like I have been neglecting my paperwork." He said rather smugly as he awaited her response.

"Sir you shouldn't have went off on your own like that, and what is that distorted heap of rubble behind you? Don't you tell me that's the same balloon you rode off in?" She asked as she diverted her eyes from the flame alchemist and searched the surroundings.

"No lieutenant that's not the balloon, although I would have preferred riding it down instead of that." He replied pointing to the pile of rubble she had mentioned just seconds before.

"General where are Fullmetal and Alphonse?" Hawkeye asked after deciding that the boys were no longer in the vicinity.

Riza watched as a flicker of pain darted through the general's eye and a scowl adorned his handsome face. She walked closer to him standing but a mere foot away and quickly noticed the deep laceration on his right temple. She reached down in to her front jacket pocket and pulled out a white handkerchief and began dabbing the sweat and blood off of his rather dirty face.

Roy was hoping that she wouldn't ask him that question. He was just too frustrated at the moment to answer her, but Hawkeye being as scrupulous as usual, noticed very quickly that the Elric brothers were missing. A slight sting on the side of his head pulled him out of his thoughts and centered his attention on Riza as she ran the soft cloth lightly across his forehead.

'"Never mind sir you can tell me later. Let's get you to the hospital wing at headquarters. I'm afraid that this may require a couple of stitches, although I don't think that it will leave a scar." She said as she lifted the cloth from the wound and watched as blood continued to slowly trickle out.

"Well that's good to hear lieutenant I can't have anything messing up my handsome features now can I?" Mustang asked as he felt a sudden uncomfortable pressure pushing rather painfully against the side of his face.

"You are going to need to hold this on there sir it's still bleeding." Hawkeye replied as she quickly scanned his body searching for any other injuries.

A flash of red caught her eye as the flame alchemist lifted his left hand to run it through his sweat-drenched hair. Riza reached up and carefully plucked his gloved hand from its entanglement within his raven locks and brought it down in front of her. She rested his hand in her left as she used her right to ever so gently remove the flame alchemist's glove. She searched his hand on both sides and found nothing but the smooth perfection of his pale skin. Once satisfied that he must have wiped his glove across the cut on his head she released his hand and brought her gaze up to meet his.

"We need to get moving sir. The invaders or what ever you wish to call them caused quite a mess at central headquarters and in the surrounding areas. I'm afraid that we will need all the alchemists we can find to help and repair everything." Hawkeye said as she stepped aside and waited for the general to start walking.

"Indeed Lieutenant. Once we arrive back at headquarters I want you to rally up my subordinates and have them waiting for me in the break room. This includes: lieutenant Havoc, lieutenant Breda, master sergeant Fuery and yourself." Mustang said a small smile playing across his lips.

"Will do Sir." She replied as she stopped at his side wondering what made him discontinue walking after he had only taken two steps.

"And Hawkeye one more thing." He said turning his head and meeting her questioning gaze with his mysterious one.

"Sir?"

"My desk better be exactly the same way I left it."

Roy sat hunched over his desk staring rather menacingly at all the hoards of papers stacked before him. It was so bad he couldn't see even an inch of the sleek cherry wood he knew to lay hidden beneath all that paper.

"Good morning sir." Said Lieutenant Hawkeye as she walked into their office her hands clutching several manila folders.

"Lieutenant when I said yesterday that I wanted my desk to be the same way I left it I wasn't including the paperwork." Mustang said sourly as he watched her deposit the folders onto the already towering stack in the corner of his desk. "What am I supposed to do with all of this stuff?"

"Reading it would be a good start sir." Hawkeye replied as she sat down at her desk and began shuffling through the documents in her inbox.

Roy shot a disgusted look her way as he reached down and picked up the first report he saw. 'Military Codes and Regulations.'

'This is going to be a long day.' He thought as he flipped through the report's pages paying them not a single thought.

Several hours, numerous rants, and well placed bullets later the raven haired general had finally managed to put a small dent in the seemingly never-ending flow of paperwork.

Roy reached down and withdrew his state alchemists watch out of his pocket and read the time. 12:03. He then leaned back in his rather large leather chair and placed his hands behind his head.

"Lieutenant I believe that it is time for lunch." He said as he propped his feet up on the now empty spot on his desk.

"Don't worry about that general. Fuery will be bringing our lunches to the office." She replied not even glancing up from her report.

The flame alchemist frowned at the thought of being stranded in his office with nothing but work surrounding him. He decided that if he couldn't leave for fear of being shot then he would just take a small nap to appease his boredom. Roy didn't so much get his eye closed when he heard the all too familiar click of the lieutenant's safety switch being released. 'Damn.' He thought as he slowly cracked his eye back open and stared down the barrel of Hawkeye's gun.

"That would be unwise sir. These reports have non-negotiable deadlines." She said as she waited for the general to resume his reading.

Roy knowing he really had no choice in the matter and that he might as well get it over with removed his feet from the desk and sat back up straight in his chair.

Riza seeing that the general was going to comply with her warning, clicked her weapon back on safe and placed it back in its holster.

A soft knock on the door seconds later brought a smile to Roy's face as he looked past lieutenant Hawkeye and in the direction of the door.

"Enter." Came his reply as he watched the door slowly push open and Fuery stagger in with what he assumed was his and the lieutenant's lunches.

"Excellent timing Fuery. I was in need of a break." Said Mustang as he glared in Hawkeye's direction.

Fuery sensing that the first lieutenant was having a bit of trouble keeping the general focused on his paperwork decided to try and leave as quickly as possible. To bad his plan was in shreds before he could piece it all together.

"I'm glad I can help sir. It's good to have you back." Kain replied as lieutenant's Havoc and Breda entered the office behind him.

"Yeah chief it was different without you around, although outranking you for once was rather nice." Said Havoc as he removed his smokes from his pocket and began to fish one out.

"Needless to say I outrank you once more and from now on there will be no smoking in my office lieutenant." Roy said curtly as he watched the smile from Havoc's face and his pack of smokes rapidly disappear.

Roy somehow managed to suppress the smirk that was threatening his lips as he wondered what it was that made him want to irritate the second lieutenant so badly. Maybe it was just because he could and maybe it was the fact that Jean was almost as bad as Fullmetal when it came to teasing or criticism.

'Edward'

He had been thinking about him off and on throughout the day and had wondered if he and Alphonse had made it back safely to the other side.

'The other side.' He thought. 'How am I going to seal the gate? If a homunculus must die in order to open the gate then what must happen to shut it?'

"General." Said Fuery as he watched the flame alchemist pull away from is thoughts and focused his attention on what he was about to say.

"General Hakuro would like to speak with you in his office this afternoon at three." He said as he deposited the lunches on Hawkeye's desk.

"Thanks Fuery." Said Riza as she glanced at the door and then back at the group standing in the office. Fortunately they all took the hint and left after saluting the general.

"Sir are you ok?" She asked as she walked over to his desk noticing the small beads of sweat that was forming on his forehead.

"Why do you ask that lieutenant?" He asked as if he read her mind and wiped his forehead.

"You spaced out for a moment. Fuery had to address you twice."

"I was just thinking."

"About Edward sir?" Riza asked as she watched him flinch at the mention of Fullmetal.

It had taken Roy almost two hours the previous night to explain everything that had happened with the Elrics to Riza. Of all the people that he knew she was the only one who had his complete and utter trust. If anyone could help him find a solution it was her.

"Yes." He replied as he glanced up and met her reddish brown gaze. "Let's not talk about it now…I'm hungry."

Deciding not to push him for any answers Hawkeye walked over to her desk and began sorting out their meals.

"Sir you know if you don't finish that paperwork you're going to have to work late tonight." She said as she squeezed a packet of ketchup onto her Styrofoam plate.

"For some reason I knew you were going to say that lieutenant." Roy replied as he stirred salt into his mashed potatoes. "You will be staying with me though, right?"

"Of course sir. You wouldn't do any work if I didn't."

Roy grinned and lifted his fork to his mouth. "True." He said as he took a bite of his roast beef with a bit of mashed potatoes.

Riza smiled, careful to hide it behind the chicken sandwich she was holding in her hand. 'I think the old Roy is beginning to shine through. It didn't take him any time to go back to his procrastinating paperwork hating self. I agree with Fuery it's good to have him back.' She thought as she wondered just how late she would have to be staying that evening. Not that it mattered. She would rather be with the general anyway. At least then she would know that he was safe.