A/N: This is a little warmup drabble I whipped up after being inspired by Tumblr user ask-royai-lty's wonderful sketch (soon to be fully colored), which can be found here (remove the '*'): htt***p:/ask*** .co***m/post/163294364408/im-discovering-the-joys-of-drawing-lustriza-and
I'm considering adding onto this later by making it a series of one-shots, or at the very least having a Part II, but for now please enjoy it as a little writing warmup :)
"Are you sure about this boss? Do you really think she's down here?"
Roy had never been more sure about anything in his life. The destitute dungeon of a lab they had found themselves wandering through reeked with the stench of a cover-up. The too clean, broken beakers and dustless pieces of paper littering the room they had stepped foot in were telling.
The laboratory had been recently used.
"I'm sure," he replied as he stepped cautiously over a pile of broken glass to stand in the center of the room. He scanned over the dusty desks and peeling walls, looking for anything that would point him toward where exactly Riza would be.
He saw a shadow shift in the periphery of his vision and he jerked his head around. Havoc responded to his sudden movement with a gasp, his weapon raised and pointed toward the corner Roy had focused his attention on. But after a few moments, when their eyes both adjusted, they found that whatever Roy had seen had been a figment of his sleep-deprived mind.
Roy staggered a few steps forward and slammed his hand against the wall to steady himself. The innumerable nights of sleeplessness he had suffered through were beginning to take its toll on him. No, three days, he reminded himself as his vision cleared and the dark spots that had dotted it began to clear. Though it seemed like it had been a lifetime since she had vanished, it had still been less than a week. The military, the one entity he had begrudgingly put his faith in for the support and materials necessary to find her, had continued to drag its feet until he was left with no other options but act on his own accord.
The discovery of the hidden laboratory had been a blessed accident, something Fullmetal had noticed while walking the perimeter weeks before when his curiosity had been piqued after hearing about the research that had been conducted there. Her disappearance sparked the memory that he had seen transmutation marks on the wall there prior and the search for where Riza could be came to an abrupt end.
It had to be where she was being kept. There was no other place he could think of that the military could hide her without him finding her.
"D'you think the chief and Alphonse might have found her," Havoc asked as he toed a rusted needle and syringe away from his footfall.
Roy did not answer. Yes, in some ways he hoped that she had been found by them, because that would mean that her imprisonment would be brought to an end. But another part of himself selfishly wanted to be the one to find her. He wanted her next to him. Immediately.
He sighed and kicked a beaker out of his path as a wave of guilt bubbled in his chest. Maybe if he had moved faster, been more attentive, this might not have happened. After all, he had been the last person he knew of that had spoken with her. She disappeared after calling him to declare that she had found something 'strange' on her way home from the grocery. Something that she could not bring to him. After giving him the address, she quickly hung up, too quickly for him to hear and gain a sense of whether or not there was anything amiss.
She had sounded confident and sure of herself, albeit a little annoyed by whatever she found. Nothing had indicated that she had been in any imminent danger. Still he moved quickly, arriving at the scene in what he believed had been record time.
And yet, she was not there waiting for him like she had told him.
Minutes of waiting turned into hours, and soon hours of searching, calling, and scoping the city turned into days of interminable worry. He swallowed the lump that had begun to form in his throat and shook his head, refusing to allow his fear to cloud his mind. Because if he overlooked something right then and there because of it, he would never forgive himself.
It seemed, however, that the room they had found themselves in would yield nothing. The scraps of paper on the floor were misleadingly blank and all that remained of the little lab that had likely been there had been broken glass and rusted tools. Despite the frustration that continued to course through him, Roy reminded himself that it was only the first of many in the hall they had found themselves wandering. A quick look in the closet toward the back would be enough to satiate his desire to completely comb the room and, with that thought in mind, he took a step toward it. He startled and froze when a familiar form stepped out from behind the wall he had been walking toward and for a moment he believed his search had come to an end.
Riza's lips parted and she lifted her brows, and a look of relief crossed her face. "Colonel, I thought you would never find me. I've been wandering down here for hours and—" She fell silent off as Roy's eyes flickered down to the… unusual outfit she had on: a black, form-fitting dress that ran down to the floor, accented by a pair of long, black gloves that reached up her arms and ended just before her shoulders.
Roy's brows scrunched together and he looked up at her for some form of explanation for the unusual attire.
She sighed heavily and shook her head, taking a step toward them. "It's a long story. I'll explain on the way—"
"Hey, Boss," Havoc interrupted as he lifted his weapon and pointed it toward her. "Does the real Hawkeye have any tattoos you know about?"
The question jolted Roy from his dazed stupor, surprised by the specific question, and his eyes landed on the red shape on her chest. He had been so absorbed in studying every detail of her face, trying to justify his reluctance to believe that this was the Riza Hawkeye he knew that the mark had become part of the background. He immediately raised and poised his fingers.
That confirmed it.
"Who the hell are you," he snarled.
A devious smirk split the imposter's lips. "I'm exactly who you think I am, Colonel," she responded with a sickeningly sweet tone as she mockingly lifted her hand and saluted him. "I'm your ever-vigilant, noisy First Lieutenant."
"Liar," he hissed as his fingers readily slipped against the rough fabric of his gloves, itching to silence the Homunculus's rhetoric. "Where is the real Lieutenant Hawkeye?"
Her face fell and the smile she had worn melted away to reveal a look of disappointment. "I'm disappointed, Colonel Mustang. I was told that you knew your Lieutenant better than anyone. Surely you can recognize her when you see her."
"I can," Roy snapped. "And I'm confident that the Lieutenant doesn't have that on her chest."
A spark of interest ignited in her eyes. "You mean this," she purred, delicately sweeping her fingers across the Ouroboros tattoo that marked the position of her heart. "This is relatively new… unlike the other mark."
His heart plummeted to his feet at the mention of her back. It was one thing to masquerade with her face and parade it around to toy with them, but it was entirely different when her most intimate secret had been acknowledged so simply by the monster. Roy's kneejerk shock to its revelation, however, quickly gave way to an embittered rage. "Where the fuck is she?!"
Her malicious smile returned and she took a step toward him. "Right here, Roy," she said softly. Her voice was nearly identical to the gentle inflection of Riza's, so much so that the guard Roy had constructed against the imposter cracked. He frantically searched her face, her hair, her body – looking for something that would distinguish her from the real Riza. But the closer she got and the more he looked, the less certain he felt.
Aside from the mark, every detail he saw was Riza. From every strand of golden, blonde hair to the freckles that dotted the bridge of her nose.
Boss, c'mon. You need to snap out of it.
The curve of her body and the way one edge of her lips lifts above the other when she smiled.
It was impossible. Impossible, impossible, impossible that it was Riza.
... Right?
It isn't her. Listen to me!
Every detail he saw, though, was inexplicably and without question: Riza.
The crack of a gunshot tore through the maelstrom of turmoil in Roy's mind and he was snapped from his trance, watching with a mix of confusion and horror as the Homunculus staggered forward and clapped a hand onto her knee. The gush of resulting blood from the bullet wound poured through her fingers and she tightened her grip around it to staunch its flow.
Despite the dazzled haze that had set in, Roy's instinct kicked into overdrive and he stepped toward her. But before he could complete his advance, she brushed her hand over the wound as a burst of red sparks replaced the blood that had been drizzling from it moments before. He drew in a sharp breath and stumbled back, eyes locked on the injury and fabric as the imperfection grew smaller and smaller until it was completely gone
She lifted her head, and any hint of malevolent amusement was gone. Her dark eyes immediately darted over to Havoc, who had reloaded his weapon and it trained on her. The monster lifted her bloodied hand and they watched, horrified, as her fingers thickened and grew into talon-like spears.
"It's a shame you two had to come meddle down here," she droned. "Especially you, Colonel Mustang. You know too much now to be of value to us. Had you stayed away and remained blissfully unaware, you might have been able to live. But," she said as a faint smile tugged at her lips, "I suppose that was our fault, though. You're quite fond of your Lieutenant, after all."
"Sorry, but I don't plan on dying here today," Havoc declared haughtily. "I've got a date I have to get to later tonight."
The Homunculus scoffed. "Unfortunately for you, you are the one I'm least conflicted about killing." She lifted her claws and focused her attention on him again. He steadied his finger on the trigger of his gun but, before he could form a rebuttal to the Homunculus's reply, she darted forward and swung at him.
The weapon discharged and he fell back with a disconcerted cry, narrowly missing the tips of her claws. Roy lunged forward and grabbed hold of her arm, twisting it upward moments before the spears elongated and threatened to pierce the second Lieutenant. The action, however, proved fatal, the disruption of the cement ceiling above them compromised its integrity and it fractured.
The Homunculus stepped back and pulled him with her out of the path of the falling debris as it pounded down between them and the Second Lieutenant. The avalanche of cement ended as quickly as it had started, and within moments Roy found himself on one side of a mountain of debris.
"Havoc," he screamed as he lurched forward, slamming his fist against the wall of rubble. "Havoc, answer me!"
A few tortuous seconds passed and then a weak 'I'm alright' reached his ears from behind the mountain of debris. "Just… just a few scratches, Boss."
A momentary flood of relief pumped through him and for a second he allowed himself to relish the small victory. At the very least, the opposing side of the wall of cement had the doorway that led into the room. It brought some comfort to Roy to know that Havoc, at the very least, would be able to escape. He could hear the second Lieutenant begin to recover from his initial shock, and his quiet rambles and questions toward Roy began to escalate to a yell.
Roy's hand curled into a fist and he pressed it against the stone, buying himself whatever few moments he had left, and took a deep breath. "Listen to me, Havoc," he snapped, silencing the Lieutenant's now frantic cries. "I need you to go find Edward and Alphonse. Do you hear me?"
"What? Colonel, no! I can't leave you. Not with that monster—"
"I'll be alright," he interjected. "Just, please… Go find them."
He swallowed, trying to block out Havoc's defiant cries. He could feel the monster's eyes on his back, watching him like a predator would its cornered prey. A plethora of questions flooded his mind, all of them stemming from the 'hows' and 'whys' that had continually whirled through his thoughts when he first saw her. It was possible that there was a shapeshifter among them, though; one that could copy a person's exact physical and vocal characteristics with a single glance.
"Now that we're alone," he growled loud enough to be heard over Havoc's yelling. "I want to know the truth: Are you really her? And if so, how?" The monster was uncharacteristically silent and he scoffed, balling his hand into a fist to keep it from trembling. "What," he bit harshly, "Are you not going to give a man the satisfaction of knowing what happened to his Lieutenant before you kill him?"
She drew in a sharp breath and he waited for her explanation. But when she spoke, his heart stalled in his chest.
"Col…onel…"
Roy whirled around the moment her voice reached his ears, and found that Homunculus had taken a few steps away from him, lifting her hand to her face. "Pl…ease… g-go…"
His hand slipped from the wall and he took a cautious step toward her, raising his hand and readying his fingers to snap. Her voice had fooled him once before, and he would be damned if he was tricked again. But when his eyes caught sight of hers, his heart constricted. The heartless gaze that clouded her dark eyes had dissipated, and the softness that he had known so well had overtaken her expression.
Seeing that she had drawn his attention to her, Riza whimpered, "Colonel… go."
He took another step forward and she took two back. "Riza, no. Not without figuring out what's—"
"You can't… fix this," she snapped as a tremor tore through her body. "You can't!"
"I'm not leaving without you."
"Colonel, please," she whispered as her eyes began to well with tears. "Please…. Go. I can't…. control… my body."
He lowered his hand slightly and slid his foot forward. "Whatever they've done to you, we can fix. Just… hang on, Riza. Please."
Her head jerked rigidly back and forth as she struggled against the monster's grasp. "I can't," keened as she clamped her hand down around her wrist and pushed it down. "I… I can't, Colonel. Please!"
"I'm not going to abandon you, Riza. We'll find a way to fix this. Just let me—"
Her hand shot up and grabbed his wrist. "You should have heeded her warning, Colonel," the same, heartless tone he had heard before hummed. "I wanted so desperately to see you make it to the day of reckoning—"
The rest of her words fell on deaf ears as he registered a sharp, mind-numbing pain tearing into his left side. Roy's mouth fell open and an agonal gasp escaped his lips. His head dipped forward, mind reeling, as he looked to find the source of the agonizing burn. He traced the two long spears that caught his attention down to his side, watching idly as a blossom of deep red blood grew around them and saturated his uniform jacket.
His head tipped back and his lips parted, but before he could grasp the frantic cry that sat on his tongue, she leaned forward and wrapped her hand around the back of his neck. "But alas, it appears that just wasn't in the cards for you," she purred as she brushed her lips over the shell of his ear. "You almost made it out alive…"
He gasped as she gave her wrist a tight snap, twisting the claws and ripping through his flesh. A flash of blood wetted his mouth as she retracted them and pushed him away. Roy's boot caught on a loose piece of metal and he fell back. An array of stars sprang into his field of vision the moment his head slammed into the pavement and he laid motionless for a few moments as his mind feverishly tried to catch up with what his mind was experiencing. And when it did, he bit his lip to muffle the scream that had been building in his throat.
A shadow fell over him and his head rolled to face her. The Homunculus crouched beside him and lifted his hand, gently pulling every finger from his glove until she could tug it off. She reached for the one that was pressed against his side but stopped, likely noticing that it had soaked through. "It's a shame I didn't get to spend more time with you, Colonel," she mused as she carefully tore the fabric apart bit by bit. "I would have loved to have seen you squirm a little more."
She turned and walked a few paces from him before he was able to find his voice again. "W…wait," he wheezed. "Riza… please…"
"She won't answer. Not again," the Homunculus said over her shoulder. "I know better than to let that happen a second time."
His reached toward her, fingers skimming the hem of her dress before she stepped away, Riza's name again leaving his lips in a hoarse whisper. Her name continued to drip desperately off his tongue as his blurring vision grew dark. Her exposed back, absent of the scars that once marred it, was the last thing he saw before his strength subsided and he sank into darkness.