A/N: SPOILER ALERT. If you have not seen the end of the Brotherhood series, or read the manga, DO NOT READ THIS unless you are prepared to ruin the ending for yourself. Of course, I hope you'll read anyways. : ) Please review! Thanks!
Twenty feet or so from where she had fallen, her superior, her best friend sat detained by the enemy, able to do nothing but watch as the life slowly ebbed out of her. Of course, he had a choice. He could risk his own fate, the fate of his country and save her in an instant: she would live. Or he could continue to fight and risk losing her. It all came down to his decision, and when it came down to it, Colonel Mustang had never been particularly good at thinking things through. He was rather impulsive. Now, just as any other time would have been, his thought was, 'Damn ultimatums to hell. I'll have it my way.' With that thought in mind he wrenched himself from the strong hold of the two men and ran toward her as the others made their attack. When he reached her she was out cold with no sign of consciousness, of that he was certain. He felt for her pulse, and upon finding that she was still alive, gave a sigh of relief. However, the wound was still bleeding. The blood quickened its pace out of the wound and over her small form to the ground where the pool had grown substantially in the last few moments. He felt her pulse begin to lag slower, and slower with each second and panicked to stop the crimson liquid from leaking out, but it was no use. He felt time itself stop in his hands and gave loud, sorrowful cries to the heavens (or whatever the hell was up there).
With a great start Roy Mustang shot up from his pillow, his breathing quick and heavy, and forehead sweaty. He flung the covers off the bed and sat with his legs hanging over the edge of the bed to look out the window at the night sky, wondering why he had this recurring nightmare. No, it was not a nightmare; it was worse. Once a week or so he would have this version of the dream. The dream where he had failed her again and again, letting her life end right before his own eyes without doing a damn thing about it. The real version.
Truthfully he could undoubtedly answer his own question, but it was a matter of will to face the truth. He knew that he was afraid of losing her, but it was his greatest fear of letting her down, and being the cause of her death himself. He knew that he could never live with himself if something so horrible were to happen to Riza as a result of his actions, damnit, he would not lose his best friend again as he had lost Maes.
Roy had always felt somewhat responsible for Maes's death, though he knew in the back of his mind that it wasn't really his fault. That was his irrational fear however: being the downfall of the ones he loved. It was perhaps his greatest strength and his greatest weakness combined. He would do everything he could to protect the people he loved, but if somehow they were killed as Riza often had been in his dreams, it would motivate him to do something horrible without thinking as often seemed to be the case. After all, what was Roy if not impulsive?
He lay back down to his pillow now, bedding still slumped carelessly on the floor as he tried to bring his thoughts to better subjects and soon, as always, he found sleep.
The alarm clock rang annoyingly in his ear and he smacked it violently to stop the infernal buzzing. It was another morning, a special morning. Another morning alive to see his best friend, another day with the heavy weight of her life on his hands and it worried him to think about this, the fear of last night's nightmare was still swirling in the back of his mind. He decided he would go to her apartment this morning as he sometimes did whenever he had the nightmare, just to make sure she was safe, and that he had not in fact let her down.
As he walked, he heard nothing but the sound of his thick military issued boots against the hard cement of the sidewalk below. He thought long and hard about what he would do if he were to arrive there only to find her….no, he wouldn't think of that, not today, not on her birthday. He knew she remembered, although she would never have introduced the topic for conversation. Over the years, they had established a routine for Riza's birthday. It was tradition: he walked her to work, finished his paperwork without complaint, cooked her a simple dinner, walked Black Hayate with her in the evening and kissed her upon the cheek before parting ways with her on this day of every year. And he never, ever got her a present. He was at least smart enough to think that decision over twice.
If anyone knew anything at all about Riza Hawkeye, they would have known that her birthday was not a day of celebration for her. Of course it was the day she was given full-blown life, but it was also the day she had "killed her mother" as she had so eloquently put it. Riza's mother had died during childbirth, which was not at all an uncommon thing at the time, and Riza took full blame for it later on. Therefore, Roy knew not to get her a gift, it would only make her feel worse for something she didn't need to feel any guilt over.
He had reached the door of her apartment complex, and leisurely strode up the steps to the second floor where her apartment was located. He reached her door, and before even getting the chance to knock on the door he heard Black Hayate's magnificent barking skills bouncing off the walls of her apartment, followed by a small voice hushing the pup as footsteps approached the door. The door opened, and sure enough, safe and sound was Riza Hawkeye in full uniform, ready for work on time as always.
"Hey, Happy Birthday." It wasn't a particularly joyful wish, but still, he had felt compelled to acknowledge that he hadn't forgotten, and that this year was no exception to the tradition. "Good morning, sir. Thank you." Riza said. She let him into the room as she got her boots on and clipped on Black Hayate's leash before departing for work. She had noticed that his greeting had almost sounded a little relieved, and looked up at him, puzzled for a moment before opening the door again to leave. 'The dream…' she thought, 'I would bet money that he had the dream again last night.' "So did you sleep well, sir?" She asked him, trying to cover her suspicions with unusual happiness. "Same as usual I guess." He said not looking her in the eyes as they exited her apartment complex, Black Hayate leading the way to Central Headquarters.
"So you dreamt last night I presume?" She asked professionally, with a twinge of irritation in her voice. Irritation that he could tell was from the fact that he tried to hide these things from her when in fact she could read him like an open book. "Yeah, I did. But its fine, I'm fine now." He said, hoping to have ended the conversation for the day. "You know its exactly the opposite. I'm not afraid of you letting me down, I know you're more than capable of protecting me. However, its my job to protect you, sir. And I really believe that you should be more concerned with your own life than with mine. After all, its your dream we're chasing here, what am I going to do with your dream? We both know there's no way I could do it on my own as a woman." She told him this the same way she did every time she could tell that he had the dream. "It may seem like that, but I've come this far because of you, and I don't intend on going on any further without you. We made a promise that day in my office, and don't you forget it." He said with a slight biting tone towards the end, knowing that adding this inflective touch would abruptly end the conversation, which it did. "Fine." She said, signifying the usual end to this conversation.
They reached Central Headquarters and Riza tied Black Hayate to his usual tree and proceeded inside with Roy to get started on the day's work. Roy sat down immediately upon arriving at his desk, and began working on papers to make sure that he would finish as soon as possible to make Riza something nice for dinner this year. He found that time flew when he actually made himself useful in the office, and by five o'clock found that his paperwork was finished and he would be home by six to start on Riza's birthday dinner.
He entered his own apartment around six and began cooking. She would be at his place by promptly seven, after all, she was very punctual. He had decided on something rather quick and easy in his book: spaghetti with meatballs, Italian salad, and some bread, with of course a homemade and frosted birthday cake for dessert. Sure enough, seven o'clock rolled around and Roy heard the distant chime of his doorbell signifying Riza's arrival. He welcomed her in and handed her a glass of wine (this was his addition to the tradition), and took her coat like a true gentleman. "You're…wearing an apron?" She asked rather bemused at the sight of the powerful flame alchemist in such homely attire. "I thought the saying on the front was appropriate. Since I'm not allowed to get you gifts, I figured you could give yourself a gift! With some assistance of course." He said with a wide-toothed grin on his face. Aloud, she read the print on the front of the apron, "'Kiss the cook!' Hmm…I'll pass for now, thank you. Clever though, I appreciate the attempt!" She joked with an actual smile spread across her face (something one didn't see often).
Amidst their conversation dinner went as per usual, with Roy bringing out the gorgeous (half-assed) cake he made for her and singing that horrible birthday song that she hated so much, but at least he made it comical. She really appreciated all the work he went through just to give her a decent birthday when she felt like crying.
"Well I think its time to walk Black Hayate, he's getting a bit antsy…" Riza said after she had helped him with the dishes, much to his complaint. "Haha, I think you're probably right." He said looking at the pup who was now jumping up and clawing at the door, clearly wanting out.
They walked along the four blocks it was to Riza's apartment while talking about funny things they liked to do alone. For instance, Roy offered singing loudly and very off-key in the shower, and Riza had confessed to building a fort in her living room and reading under it like she used to as a child. Eventually, they had reached Riza's apartment door, and said their goodbyes. "Thank you, Roy. I think you might be the only person who can make the worst day of my life seem like anything but horrible." She confided with an innocent smile. "Well after all, that's what friends are for, right?" He said with his classic smirk wiped on his gorgeous face. "Well," He started, "I guess this is goodnight! I hope your birthday hasn't been too horrible." She gave a small chuckle, "No, actually it was nice. I had fun."
Just then Roy decided to follow up with the finale of their annual tradition: the goodnight kiss on the cheek. But Roy, being a bit of a show off and bad-ass rule breaker decided to break tradition this year and he did kiss her, oh boy did he kiss her. On the lips. And in the back of her mind, Riza had secretly wished the kiss hadn't ended so quickly, but she promised him she would see him just the same at work the next morning, only to wait 364 days to find out what rules he would break next year.