It was raining when they met - Part 1
It was getting close to two in the morning, but Riza Hawkeye wasn't asleep like any sane, normal person. She was watching the rain from her window, hoping the endless drops would stop falling from the sky before six. The rain always made her restless. It reminded her of how useless the Colonel was when he couldn't use flame alchemy. He was unprotected, and he was too bad at shooting to consider guns a protection.
Now that she looked back, Roy Mustang had always been useless in the rain. Even on that day so many years ago when they'd first met...
Sixteen years ago
A twelve-year-old Riza tried to find entertainment in the simple act of baking cakes during a rainy evening. As usual, her father was too busy to even know she existed, probably doing research. Sometimes, Riza felt lonely, but she was determined not to feel lonely today. She'd bake cakes and pretend her mother was there too, willing to eat them with her.
Riza's mother had passed away only a few years after she'd been born and her father blamed her for it. She knew this because every time he looked at her all she found in those old red eyes was resentment. She knew this because he chose to spend his life researching alchemy, the evil science that had driven him insane, instead of with his only daughter.
But Riza didn't complain. Of course she didn't, how could she, when her father was the scariest man she'd ever known? She just hoped that one day, she'd be able to become someone useful. Someone who didn't spend their afternoons baking cakes and talking with imaginary people.
Suddenly, the door burst open and her father appeared, looking old and dead like he always did. But there was someone behind him. This was odd. Berthold Hawkeye never invited guests, since he didn't have or wanted any friends. But the boy who stood behind him couldn't be his friend. He was around fifteen, black haired and quite good-looking. Of course, a new apprentice.
Riza wondered when he'd gotten here, since it'd been raining heavily all day and she hadn't heard anyone come in or leave the house. Although her father wasn't known for telling her what he was up to, so she shouldn't have been surprised.
"Good, you made dessert," said Riza's father, coming straight into the kitchen and grabbing a few pieces of cake without even bothering to say 'thank you'. He chucked a piece at the boy and then looked at Riza, without smiling. "I didn't tell you, did I? That's my new apprentice. He's been my apprentice for a week and he'll be coming home often. So you better make more food, Riza." The old man then shifted his gaze to the boy. "You can't go home in this weather. Sleep in one of the spare rooms. My daughter will show you where."
And without saying another word, he stood up and left. Riza heard footsteps stumbling up the stairs and the slamming of a door. He'd be starting his alchemic research now. Riza looked shyly at the boy, and he gave her a smug smile.
"My name's Roy Mustang," he stated, as if this was some important announcement. "I've been studying alchemy for a year, and I hope to become a great alchemist like your father one day."
He spoke slowly, as if Riza was somehow incapable of understanding his words. She decided she disliked the new boy. There were just too many negative points about him: he liked alchemy, he thought her father was great AND he thought she was stupid.
"I'm Riza Hawkeye. Just come this way and I'll show you where you'll be sleeping tonight, Mr Mustang," she ordered, using her 'scary' voice. It worked well enough with other people, but Roy only laughed.
"It's too early to go to sleep. And I'll have nothing to do," he answered, flashing his smug smile again. Riza narrowed her eyes.
"Didn't my father give you homework to do?" she asked suspiciously. Her father usually gave his apprentices so much work they gave up within a month.
"Yes, but I'll do it later," answered Roy, shrugging. "Or maybe you could do half of it for me. I'm sure you must be a pretty good alchemist, living with Berthold Hawkeye and all. You must have grown up with nothing to read but alchemy books! You're so lucky to have Master Hawkeye as your father."
"I don't know anything about alchemy except that it drives people insane," she told him bitterly. Roy's expression quickly changed into one of shock. Of course, he was an alchemy addict like her father. "And I don't want to know anything about it, Mr Mustang. So just go do your homework and leave me alone."
"But...why? Why would anyone ever think that about alchemy?" he asked, clearly annoyed.
"Just look at my father. Just forget his alchemy for a second and think about the person he is. He isn't a great person. His health is deteriorating because he spends all his time locked up in his study doing research. He's obsessed with his research. Now look at my uncle, another great alchemist. He died after a failed human transmutation. Now look at all the other apprentices who were here before you...they all either gave up, went crazy or turned into horrible people who think they can do whatever they want just because they're alchemists. Just face it, Mr Mustang: Alchemy is an evil science that brings about destruction."
"That's not true. Alchemists are there for the people! That's what I learnt even before I began studying alchemy," he told her matter-of-factly. "I don't know about the alchemists you know, but I want to learn alchemy to help people. To obtain anything, you must sacrifice something of equal value in exchange; that's alchemy's first law of equivalent exchange, Miss Riza. And that's how life works too. If you want to achieve anything, you must work hard and help people."
He smiled thoughtfully, and for just a moment, Riza decided that maybe he wasn't as bad as all the other apprentices. All the others had treated her as a little kid incapable of understanding the holiness of alchemy. Maybe, just maybe, Mustang was different.
"Let me show you a simple transmutation," he said suddenly, taking a piece of chalk out of his pocket and leaning down to draw a circle on the floor.
"Not here!" Riza practically shouted. He stopped. "My father gets mad when his apprentices transmute anything inside the house. You have to do it outside."
She opened the front door and walked out, but Roy hesitated.
"What's wrong, Mr Mustang? Didn't you want to do a transmutation for me?" she asked. She would never admit it to anyone, but having someone pay so much attention to her made her feel flattered, special even. That's when she noticed it was raining buckets and that she was getting soaked, though she didn't particularly care. "It's just water, Mr Mustang! Don't tell me you're afraid of a storm?"
"But how will I draw a transmutation circle?" he asked. "And besides, I hate water."
"You can draw a circle on the mud. Do it or I won't believe what you say about Alchemy."
Hesitantly, he stepped outside. He looked like a cat being forced to have a bath, but he was too proud not to do it. So he clumsily leaned down and drew a perfect circle on the ground, adorned with two triangles and a strange shape in the middle. He then placed a stick at the centre and stood up, both of his hands hovering above the circle. The blue sparks Riza was so used to seeing flew everywhere for a few seconds, but it was soon over.
The stick was no longer there. A tiny dog made out of wood had taken its place. Roy picked it up and tried to clean it with his shirt. Then he held out his hand, motioning for Riza to take it. She stared at him.
"Go on, take it. I made it for you," he said. "I'm pretty sure I'll be able to make much better things in about a week though."
"Thank you," she whispered, taking the wooden dog and deciding that she definitely liked Roy Mustang. Not even the people she'd known for years were so nice to her.
"Let's go back inside. I really, really hate getting wet," he told her, practically running for the door.
Riza followed him, admiring the wooden dog made from what she'd always thought to be 'an evil science'. Once inside, she realised that the kitchen floor was now soaked and covered in mud thanks to her stupid idea, and that her father would be really angry the next morning when he decided to come downstairs.
"Your room is at the end of the corridor upstairs, Mr Mustang," she told Roy. "I'm going to clean this up now."
"I'll help you," he said. Riza stared at him dumbfounded. He'd help her? This Roy Mustang really was nothing like all the other boys her father had brought home with him before. And he'd definitely get killed the next day for not completing any of his homework.
"My father is really strict with his apprentices, Mr Mustang. You should read the books he told you to read by tomorrow or you'll be in trouble!" she told him seriously. "I'll do your written homework for you today. But please be more responsible next time."
"You will? I thought you didn't know anything about alchemy," he said, sounding very pleased.
"I don't. But I've grown up with Berthold Hawkeye, so I know where he gets his questions from and where to find the answers," she told him mischievously. "Now let's clean this mess."
They didn't talk again after that, at least until the next day. Roy left at noon to go back to his house, but he came back two days later to stay for a whole week. Riza had been secretly excited about it. For maybe the first time in her life, she didn't feel lonely.
Present
The memory was still clear in her mind; she could still remember every single detail of the day she'd met Roy Mustang. If it hadn't been for him, she had no idea where she'd be right now. She smiled sadly and decided to try and go back to sleep.
But before she could move from where she was, Hayate started barking. His barking was followed by a loud knock on her door.
"Silence, Hayate!" she instructed, and the dog instantly obeyed his master's command. She took one of her guns and approached the front door cautiously. "Hayate, prepare to attack!"
Who could possibly be knocking on her door at three in the morning? It had to be a burglar, and a very unlucky burglar as well. Riza Hawkeye was one of the most deadly people in the country, after all. She opened the door quickly and pointed two guns at the person standing in the corridor. Black Hayate attacked, and a scream broke the silence.
"Colonel?" asked Riza, perplexed. She realised that Hayate had probably just woken up all her neighbours, and that she'd be in trouble unless she got out of there right then. "Get in, sir! Quickly!"
After exactly three minutes, Roy was sat in her kitchen, a cup of tea between his hands. Hayate was wagging his tail enthusiastically; it wasn't often that one of his favourite people came to visit. Riza was trying to calm herself down.
"Sir, what's the meaning of this?" she asked dubiously. Roy gave her a sheepish look.
"I'm really sorry, Lieutenant. But I heard some noises outside my house. I was going to kill whoever was trying to break in, but then I went outside and...got soaked."
"So you left your house open and came here hoping nothing would get stolen?"
"I locked all the doors! But I don't really know whether someone was trying to break in or not; I just heard noises, went outside and got my gloves soaked. And I didn't have an extra pair, so if there had been someone, I could have done nothing to protect myself," he explained. Riza sighed. "I'm really sorry for waking you, Lieutenant."
"You didn't wake me, sir. Now wait here. I'll go to your house and check if anyone's still around there. And I'll get you another pair of gloves too."
"That won't be necessary, Lieutenant. I phoned Fullmetal and ordered him to do it," said Roy evilly.
"Poor Edward. He's only a child. You might be putting him and his brother in danger, sir."
"Nah, he's been through worse. And besides, it was his choice to become a dog of the Military, and dogs have to obey their masters no matter what. Anyway, you said I didn't wake you. What were you doing up at three in the morning, Lieutenant?"
Riza blushed, and gave the Colonel a thin smile.
"I was just thinking...about the old times. Do you remember, sir?" she asked shyly.
"How could I forget?" he whispered back. And for a moment, it felt like they could go back through time to the times when they didn't have to worry about so many things and so many people, to the easy times when all they had was each other.
I've already written another two chapters, but I will only put them up if I get at least 5 reviews. Thanks for reading! :)