A/N:: My first songfic. Just wanted to write a little oneshot because I've been having a bit of writer's block. First songfic, as I have said so please excuse me if it's not up to snuff. Thank you for reading!
The war had started not long after the Elrics had gotten their bodies back. Edward was no longer tied down to the military so I wasn't sure if he even heard of it starting, but I was sent out pretty much from the beginning due to my experience in the Ishbal Rebellion. By no means am I fond of war, but I couldn't help feeling a bit safer the day Riza had been sent to my station (it was my request in the first place but she was still a welcome face.)
We were stationed behind a few piles of sand bags in an abandoned house in some outskirt city between West Amestris and Creta. The sound of gunshots filling my ears made me positive they would make me go insane, one way or the other. At least in the Ishbal Rebellion I was always certain the bullets were cutting down the 'enemy' instead of my allies...
Of course, there was also the tank the Cretans had brought out. The reason for us to be stationed—I say stationed, but I mean hiding—in an abandoned building, and the same reason I'm growing increasingly nervous. For some reason, I'm not afraid of my own death as much as any one else's. Edward must've made me soft in the time we had previously spent together.
My thoughts are interrupted by a shout, an order ripping through the air, and the stale silence of a battle suddenly stopping. The lieutenant presses her ear to the ground, on hands and knees, making a sound to keep me silent.
She got down on hands and knees,
One ear against the ground,
Holding her breath to hear something
But the dirt made not a sound tonight...
"Let's go," she says, picking up her rifle and jumping over the barricade blocking entrance into the house.
"What did you hear?" I ask, remembering she had told me she had often done that to make sure her position was safe.
"The tank is retreating—they're drawing back." I nod in response and we take off towards the outpost we had set up only the day before.
Echoes of songs still lurk on distant, foreign shores where we
Danced just to please the gods that only ask for more, and so it goes...
"What are you humming, sir?"
"What?"
"Sir... What are you humming?"
"I didn't realize I was humming," I admit. I probably had shut down upon arriving at camp.
Riza looks at me expectantly. She must have figured I'm lying or growing tired, but it's probably both. "It sounded," she starts, staring off into nothing for a moment, "like the song we danced to at the last military ball." I smile.
But still we give ourselves to this
We can't spend our lives waiting to live.
"We're both tired, Lieutenant. Out of the hospital and into battle... Try not to push yourself."
"Yes sir. I know you have first shift but... You should get some rest too." Hawkeye gives me a funny half-smile before turning away. "Good night sir."
On cold nights
In a prayer for dawn,
But daylight
Isn't what she wants.
The concrete calls my name again
I'm falling, through the cracks I slip...
"What's this?" I ask, turning over the postcard in my hands several times before reading it.
"It came in the mail sir," Riza states, "it's obviously for you."
I stay quiet instead of telling her I already know that and decide to read the card.
The postcard says 'Wish You Were Here'
But I'd rather I was there, holding
Onto the simple things before they disappear
The front has a scenic photograph of a place I don't recognize with the words "Wish you were here!" scrawled in cursive. I turn it over to see a few lines of writing so messy, it was barely passable as handwriting. "What does it say?" Riza inquires.
"It says... 'Dear Colonel Bastard,'" I read aloud, "'I've just heard another damn war broke out between Amestris and Creta. Since you're probably on the front line I might as well tell you not to die. The Lieutenant would probably kill you for it. That, and Winry told me I should try to be polite because you're my 'friend'. Fat chance. Signed, Edward Elric.'"
Riza smiles and says, "He's right."
"He is," I agree, "but he's just using his girlfriend as an excuse so he looks like the bigger man."
"Bigger in what way, sir?"
I only offered a smile as an answer. "Let's make it out of this alive before we start worrying about Edward's height, Hawkeye." She only smiles and shakes her head slowly.
That's what I meant but that was then, and this is now.
I'll make it up to you somehow.
On cold nights
In a prayer for dawn,
But daylight
Isn't what she wants.
The concrete calls my name again.
I'm falling, through the cracks I slip...
I have a dream between shifts and struggling to get much needed sleep. It's the same feeling I had when I was thrown into the Gate, but it's constant and won't go away.
A destination...
It's raining in my dream-world and I know I have to keep running. Riza is at my side the whole way but she trips and falls and doesn't get back up.
A fading smile...
I go back for her but I know I have to keep running but I can only watch as she dies...
Another station...
Another mile...
Another day gone.
I swore that I will be there before dawn,
So be there I will...
Then I wake up. It's daylight and we have to get moving; get thrown back into battle.
It seems to me that these days are just a replay of each other. Riza shoots, I transmute, soldiers die and lives are lost. At the end of the day one side retreats and one side is crowned victor. We always discover who when she presses her ear to the ground...
She got down on hands and knees,
One ear against the ground,
Holding her breath to hear something...
Any thing at all.
The dirt whispered:
"It's over," she claims this time, before looking me directly in the eyes.
"Child, I'm Coming Home."