Oh wow... xD I started a chapter story. Ain't that something?

I've recently been addicted to this manga... I actually just finished it a couple minutes ago. :3 Soo good. Actually, my favorite character is Ed... because I love tsundere boys... xD And he's awesome. Too bad he'd hate me for being half a foot taller than him... xD That's sort of ironic, actually, considering that this is a story that takes place during the Ishvalan war, so no Ed.

RizaxRoy is my favorite pairing, of sorts, for the manga. :3 They are just sooo cute together. x3 Pardon the gaps in my knoweledge of their past; I started in about chapter 20; before then I mostly watched the anime...

Now, this was actually inspired by the song Saviour by LIGHTS. The story itself is really nothing like the song; this mostly comes from the lines 'Remember when we were kids and always knew to quit it? Are we denying a crisis or are we scared of admitting it?' Please go look up the song; it fits REALLY well with this couple. It's not one those really romantic songs, but it is so good.

~*~
Because the night is deafening when the silence is listening
And I'm down on my knees and I know that something's missing
Because the back of my mind is holding things I'm relying in
But I choose to ignore it because I'm always denying them
I'm a bit of a manic when it's not as I plan it
Cause I start losing my head and I get all up in a panic
Remember when we were kids and always knew when to quit it?
Are we denying a crisis or are we scared of admitting it?
Savior, by LIGHTS
~*~

Ishvalans.

Sabotage, was Private Riza Hawkeye's first thought when the canvas tent that had been full of laughing children only a minute before exploded into flames. The fire rumbled like a living beast, unnaturally quick and deadly.

Traitors.

They were all condemned now. The weak and the strong, the guilty and the innocent, Ishvalans and Amnestrians alike- everything went up into flames. Riza supposed that the fire knew nothing of foolish human wars, and who deserved to die and who didn't. An unusual thought. True war- this was true war. Death without discrimination; horrible, painful, deaths.

The moment she knew- you didn't really see fire; you felt it. Felt it from the heat on you skin, from the rumble as it swallowed everything in its path. It would be nice to say that in the face of coming death, Riza suddenly saw how pointless this war was, how they were the true monsters.

She didn't though. That would come later.

The truth was that when you were that close to death, your instincts took over. All that you could think was how to get out, how to stay alive. The moment Riza Hawkeye felt the fire, her training kicked in. She dropped to the floor, flat on her stomach, and that might have been the only thing that saved her life.

All around her, there were screams.

They were screams of fear, of shock, really. They were the screams of women who clutched infants to their chests, screams of children who played tic-tac-toe in the corner. They were the people who didn't realize yet. They didn't know that they were going to die.

The men and the soldiers- they were already dead, incinerated, by the time the real screams started.

Some say that there is no more painful way to die than being burned alive, and right then, Riza believed it.

She forced the screams of the dying out of her head; stared straight in front of her as she crawled; just as she had done a million times in battle. It was just another battle.

Riza Hawkeye was the perfect soldier, in theory. She had built her life upon the rules that defined a soldier. She knew and understood every rule and protocol she could, both unspoken and spoken. There were steps to take in these situation.

The problem was that theory never really worked out in practice.

All of this was like being stuck inside a whirlpool. The fire, heat, smoke, screams- the vividly dancing colors. They all painted a vivid and morbid backdrop for nature's massacre. It sucked all her carefully learned protocols up, and spit out something unrecognizable.

Rule number one- Riza thought. She struggled to recall the first rule. Protect your fellow officers. She pressed her mouth into a firm line.

Right. Right. The rule became a mantra in Riza's head, playing over and over in the voice of her father. Fellow officers. The two men whose names she couldn't remember. They had been near Roy when it happened. That was where the fire had started. Riza didn't suppose that there was much hope for that.

Roy Mustang was different. A flame alchemist. He knew how to bend these flames. Unless-

Riza tucked her head down and shut her eyes. She dragged herself along on her elbows, breathing quick and hard.

"MOMMY!" someone wailed, the cry carrying through the entire tent.

She stopped.

"Mommy," a little girl said.

Riza paused from her conversation with the Ishvalan woman and turned to look at the girl who was pulling on her pant leg. She was an Ishvalan war orphan, of which there seemed to be no shortage these days. Her brown skin was streaked with dirt. Riza's heart softened.

"Mommy," she whined, and wiped her snub of a nose. "Dashni is cheating."

She smiled and lifted the child into her arms.

"We'll see about Dashni."

Oh my god, Riza thought. Oh my god. She burrowed her face down harder into her arms, trying to burn the image of that smiling brown face melted by flames out of her head. Then she remembered rule number two.

Protect the children.

And even if it wasn't a rule, it should have been.

But it came too late, the little girl was dead. Riza clamped her hand over her mouth to hold back the bile that rose in her throat. The little girl was dead, and Riza hadn't killed her, would have saved her if she could, but it didn't seem like it.

She wiped off her face and continued crawling.

The entrance- miles and miles away. It seemed like miles to her weary mind, although in reality it took only seconds for her to reach the small patch of sky. Thirty seconds. Thirty seconds of eternity.

It was both clear and fuzzy. At one time, Riza saw the path sharply and at the same time, it seemed like everything was blurring. It was long and at the same time only a few feet.

Riza had to force herself to ignore the carnage taking place around her. She forced herself to look at the ground. This would come back to haunt her later; this was shredding those small bits of humanity that hadn't already been destroyed, but she couldn't afford to waste this time. Don't look at the woman- ignore the babies- ignore- ignore- ignore- ignore the man with the black hair-

She stopped dead cold in the middle of an inferno worthy of a flame alchemist.

"Private Hawkeye!" someone yelled.

Loud with the crackling fire, loud with his deep voice-

"Roy." Riza muttered. She stared at the spot again.

Roy smirked the usual smirk. The one he did whenever he was feeling smug, superior- you name it.Riza smiled too. Roy's emotions were always so amusing. His hands moved, gesturing ever so slightly. Riza couldn't tell what he was saying, but negotiations were going well. That was always good.

The Ishvalans' leader, of sorts, took a turn talking.

Riza watched while Roy shook his head gently.

"Riza?" a woman said, catching her attention.

Rule number three. Protect yourself.

"Ah, hell," Riza muttered. She was screwed anyway.

"Give it up!"

"Riza!"

Firmly ignoring the men's yells, Riza dragged herself away by the elbows again. The smoke of the fire whipped at her eyes, stinging her exposed skin. She coughed again. Roy. That was where the fire started. But, he wouldn't be dead. Not already. Roy would never die to something so foolish and stupid as a fire.

Never.

Riza gave up on the proper crawl and pushed herself up to hands and knees. She stopped next to Roy, gasping for breath. Somehow, the heat of the fire made her feel desperate and at peace at the same time. If this moment could be frozen…

Roy's face was stained a dull orange by the fire. His eyelids flickered.

Knocked out from the force of the blast.

She looped her arms beneath her superior's, quick eyes flicking about. Safety. Safety. Back to where the men who had tried to coerce her out of the tent had been? No. With a heavy heart, she saw that they were surrounded.

The other entrance.

"Hawkeye!"

Riza stumbled backwards underneath Roy's weight. Not unlike some of their training exercises, really. But he was heavy. Much more heavy than he should have been; much more heavy than he had ever been before. Her legs were dead weight. It was amazing that she hadn't collapsed before now.

"It's Hawkeye!" a familiar voice screamed.

She smiled.

Roy's weight was suddenly gone from her arms. Riza stumbled backwards under the sudden lightness. She supposed that this was what dying felt like.

Everything crashed back down, and a pair of arms lifted her up. The soldier, the one who always smoked- Jean Havoc. It was astounding how clear her mind was right now. At the same time, it was sad, to know that these would be the moments she would always remember.

"Private Hawkeye!"

A man with graying hair hustled over to her side. "Did you see what happened? How the fire started?"

Riza closed her eyes and let her head fall back. Not hot anymore. She was outside while the fire still raged. Private Jean Havoc smelled like smoke, even though she wasn't quite sure what from. How the fire had started?

She knew how the fire had started. Had seen it start. Had literally watched as the explosion engulfed the entire tent. Seen Roy fall back. Seen the men near him die instantly. How did it start?

"It was an accident," Riza said, much too quickly. She slowed herself down and repeated; "It was an accident."

Jean Havoc breathed in relief.

So much for rules.

It wasn't really the lying bit she was concerned about- although that was somewhere up there on the list of things she could be court-martialed for. It wasn't what she was planning to do. The real problem here was that Riza Hawkeye had just broken the great unspoken rule that every soldier worth their gun knew to follow.

On the battlefield, to care is to die.

Okay, so how was that for a first chapter-epiloguey thing? :D

I'm pretty sure that we all know what happened here, but just in case... what the fudge? You think I'll tell you if you're not smart enough to figure it out on your own?

Muah-ha-ha-ha-ha! }:D

Well, review, and give me your thoughts! And... just so you know; this is currently under friendship and suspense. It MIGHT change to romance later; I'm not sure. There will NEVER be any really lovey-dovey moments, the most will probably be things like "You're the most important person in the world to me." Because, I do want to make this realistic and keep it in character. And we know that they love each other more than anything, but they've never been a 'couple.' Also! This is in manga-verse, so Roy never killed the Rockbell doctors. That was Scar, who may be mentioned in passing, but definitely won't be a big part.

I went way off topic! D: Anyway, REVIEW!