Riza's feet were sore and her bag seemed to be getting heavier by the moment. In her haste to continue searching for Ed and more information about another philosopher's stone, she had forgotten to check the train times. Upon arriving at the station late last night and being informed that no trains were scheduled to come until late afternoon the next day, she figured that she could walk a ways and maybe hitchhike to the next stop. She had been walking most of the night, and had made quite a lot of ground but her feet were aching in her sturdy military boots. That was stupid of me, she thought to herself as she trudged along the roadside, of course the trains here aren't like the ones in Central, leaving every hour. I should have known that. Hawkeye knew that if she wasn't so worried about to Colonel, her mind would have been a lot clearer.
Suddenly, a shout startled Hawkeye out of her thoughts. She looked up in surprise to see an automobile barreling straight towards her. She jumped out of the way just in time as the car skidded, kicking up gravel before slowing to a stop where she had been just moments before. Hawkeye drew a deep breath to yell at the driver but then her mouth hung open when she noticed the occupants. A bemused-looking Sergeant Fuery was behind the wheel. He saluted the Lieutenant before he shut off the motor of the car. Warrant officer Falman was sitting beside him in the passenger's seat and Maria Ross smiled from the back.
"Hello there," Maria waved.
A grin broke out over Riza's face as she got over her surprise. Standing a little straighter, she saluted them back. "Fancy seeing you here."
"We're surprised to see you too," Fuery said.
"How'd you manage to get discharged so quickly? The last we heard, you and the Colonel were on bed rest until further notice."
Hawkeye looked down at the ground, hoping that her long hair covered her still-bandaged neck. She tried to keep the smile on her face at the mention of the Colonel, but knew that the expression must be coming off as forced. She had been happy to see the other members of her team, but now reality was setting in. She was on a mission and couldn't allow herself to get sidetracked.
"I managed to negotiate an early release. The Colonel is still recovering," Hawkeye said.
Maria frowned at Hawkeye. "If by 'negotiate', do you mean you just up and left?"
Hawkeye stiffened, surprised that her co-worker knew her so well. "I left because there's something I need to do."
"What is it?"
Briefly, Hawkeye explained what had happened with Jean Havoc and the stone being maxed out to treat his injuries.
"Well I guess that answers our question," Falman said after a moment of surprised silence. Then he looked Hawkeye in the eyes. "To be honest, I don't care what it was you had to do, but if you're trying to protect Mustang, that's our job too!"
Fuery nodded. "And if you need a ride, we can give it to you. We're just heading off to the east. I'm going to drop off Ross and Falman to the command there."
"That's perfect; exactly the way I'm going as well."
"Hop in," Maria said, reaching over the door and grabbing Hawkeye's bag before she could protest.
Grateful for the unexpected support of her friends, Hawkeye opened the door and climbed into the backseat of the car next to Maria. Fuery started the car and they were on their way, the wind whipping past them in the convertible's lack of roof. Hawkeye felt the cool air on her face and her long hair whipping in the wind. She closed her eyes.
"So how far exactly do you plan on going?" Fuery raised his voice in order to be heard over the wind and the noise of the engine.
"As far as you can take me," Hawkeye opened her eyes.
"Is the border alright?"
"It's a start."
Once Falman and Ross had been dropped off at Eastern command, Hawkeye sat up front with Fuery. He drove most of the way in silence, the roads getting increasingly more treacherous as they approached the border of the desert which separated Amestris from the eastern nation of Xing.
"Is your throat alright?" Fuery asked.
Hawkeye nodded, resisting the urge to put her hand up to her wound. The gash still hurt, especially when she jerked her head too far to one side and she felt the flesh around the stitches start to tear. She wasn't going to cause any concern for herself. In fact, the pain was welcome because it served as a reminder of all that she and the Colonel had been through—and how much more they still had to go. She wasn't going to give up on his sight. Her discomfort now hardly mattered when she considered that there was a chance that the leader of Amestris could physically see the direction in which the nation was headed.
Sensing that Fuery wanted to know more in response to his question, Hawkeye rambled on. The conversation kept her mind off of her anxiety about the Colonel. "I know I should probably be in bed, but when I found out that there was a chance... I had to take it."
Fuery sighed, his eyes on the road. "I know. Any of us would have done the same thing. Just remember that the Colonel wants to see you safe and sound, if he gets his sight back."
"When he gets his sight back," Hawkeye amended. Despite there being many more hours to the trip, most of it was spent in silence, peppered here and there with pleasant dialogue. After what they had just been through, there wasn't much to say and both were feeling their energy being sapped by the monotonous scenery—the bushes dry and withered this close to the desert.
Fuery drove to the town square of the easternmost city before the desert began and stopped the car. Hawkeye climbed out without opening the door and slung her bag over her shoulders.
"Thank you for the ride, I really do appreciate it."
"I hope you find that little alchemist. And I'm sure you'll manage to get a stone for the Colonel. I'd help, but I can't abandon my station and we're horribly short staffed."
"I understand." Hawkeye said, smiling. Fuery had orders to obey whereas she had directly ignored Mustang's insistence that she stay in bed. She stepped away from the car and saluted. "Thank you again."
Fuery started to drive off. "I'll write up the bill for the gas and get the office of the Colonel to pay it!" He waved and Hawkeye laughed into the dust left behind by the automobile, its black hood shining in the bright light of the sun. Hawkeye turned towards the market of the town, a hint of the spicy exotic flair of Xing in the air. She squared her shoulders and started walking towards the marketplace, intending to ask around if anyone had seen Edward Elric lately.
Roy Mustang woke up but the world was still as black as it had been before he went to sleep. He sensed that he was alone in the hospital room. It was childish, he knew, but he had hoped that one moment would come and everything would end up being a bad dream; Fuhrer Bradley, the Homunculi, his Lieutenant's injuries, all of it. But such was not the case. He lay in the hospital bed, feeling the flimsy material of the bed sheet through his fingers. He wasn't sure where his gloves went, but assumed that an orderly had removed them in case he accidently snapped a flame to life. At this moment, though, the Colonel had no desire to perform alchemy. He didn't even care if he became the fuehrer or not. Though it was incredibly selfish, at this very moment he couldn't think of anything he wanted to see more than her face.
Riza Hawkeye blinked the dusty air out of her eyes and reached into her military bag for a water bottle. Seated on a curb in front of a shabby tavern, she watched the people walking by as she took a couple of minutes to break from her search. So far, no luck. Nobody seemed to have any idea where the sate alchemist might be, though many people admitted that they had heard of him. For someone so small, Edward sure had a big reputation. People had some idea about what had happened all the way in central a couple of days back, and when Hawkeye asked them questions, she often found herself interrogated in return. Not wanting to state her true purpose for coming, though, she always answered as evasively as she could.
Hawkeye leaned back on her arms and turned her face towards the sky, her eyes closed. Before experiencing what they had in Ishval—and being scarred by it—the Colonel had always talked about wanting to visit Xing and other nations surrounding Amestris. Hopefully, when he got his sight back, they could go do those things. And she would be by his side, as long as he wanted her there.
Suddenly, a scuffle broke out just inside the tavern. Hawkeye jumped to her feet as she heard the shouts and was shoved roughly out of the way by guards as they threw someone out. Hawkeye's hand travelled to her back, where her gun was holstered. She touched the cold metal but hesitated when she recognized who the victim was.
"Ling?" she asked, hardly believing it.
Ling looked up at her and his eyes widened. "You're Mustang's girl aren't you?"
The guards looked at the pair suspiciously and watched Ling get to his feet. One of them turned to Hawkeye, disgusted.
"Do you know this guy? He just came in here and ate everything he could find, even off of other patron's plates! And then he insisted that he didn't have a dime to pay back."
"Is this true?" Hawkeye asked, studying Ling. He didn't look much like the prince she had just been expecting, but she supposed that the things she had heard about his insatiable appetite were true. So some things didn't change, not really.
Ling crossed his arms. "I was hungry."
"But you're full now?"
Ling nodded.
Hawkeye sighed and reached into her pocket. Her cracked military ID was still there, scarred from battle.
"Send your bill to the office of Colonel Roy Mustang," she deadpanned, trying not to think of all the paperwork she was creating for the future fuhrer.
The guards scowled and retreated, leaving Hawkeye and Ling alone on the street.
"So what brings you all the way to this border town? Are you intending to go all the way to Xing?"
Hawkeye shrugged. Her years in the military reminded her to be careful of how much information she told people. The moral instinct that she felt she could trust Ling was overshadowed by the fact that he was foreign. So she decided to tell the half truth.
"I'm on business for the Colonel. I'm looking for Edward Elric."
Ling smiled widely at her announcement. "The Elric guy, huh? Well, you have perfect timing. I know where you can find him. I'll even tell you, since you were so nice to me just now. But first, I think that you had better come with me to the capital of Xing."
"What?" Hawkeye asked. She had known that it might take some work on her journey to return the Colonel's sight but even so, she hadn't expected to leave the country. "Why?"
Ling grinned again and there was something vaguely greedy to the expression.
"I bet you'd be just as surprised as I was to learn that there are actually eight."
Hawkeye blinked, not sure what the prince was getting at. Maybe he had drunk a little too much in the tavern.
"You know, as opposed to the original seven?"
Realization began to dawn on Hawkeye, but she wasn't willing to believe it until she could be absolutely certain.
Then a masked figure jumped down off of the roof behind her and circled Hawkeye, stopping at Ling's side. Hawkeye didn't bother drawing her weapon; she had heard all about the ninja's reputation and knew enough to guess who the newcomer was.
"Stop beating around the bush my lord," Lan Fan said, removing her mask. Her dark eyes stared into Riza.
"There is an eighth homunculus. She's in Xing."
Hawkeye resisted the urge to gasp. After everything that had happened, she didn't think that anything could surprise her anymore. She had been mistaken.
"How can that be?" After Fuhrer Bradley's death it was supposed to be over with. Amestris was supposed to have Mustang as its leader and everything should have been peaceful. So why was she still fighting after the last battle?
Neither Ling nor Lan Fan answered her question; it seemed that they were just as confused as she was.
"It doesn't matter," Hawkeye said, dismissing her previous question. "We need to destroy it."
"I like the sound of that," Ling smiled. He turned to Lan Fan. "Is the vehicle ready?"
Lan Fan nodded and replaced her mask. "My lord." She sprinted off, leaving Hawkeye and Ling walking after her at a much slower pace. As they walked away from the centre of town and towards the edge of the desert, Hawkeye thought about how she had been so quick to include herself in their mission. It was because she had noticed a pattern during the most recent battle; where there was a homunculus, there was a stone. If Ling thought it odd that she had agreed to accompany them to Xing, he didn't say anything. The way he had asked her to join them in the first place, though, would suggest that he had a plan of some sort in mind.
When they met up with Lan Fan a few minutes later, the look that she and Ling exchanged—almost as though they could communicate without words—reminded the Lieutenant that she ought to watch her back. She climbed into the all-terrain vehicle beside Lan Fan in the back as Ling sat up front and a Xingease driver she didn't recognize took the wheel. The car sputtered to life and sped across the desert, blowing a wave of sand all around them. As they raced towards Xing's capital, Hawkeye's heart raced as well. Hopefully she was making the right choice, heading in the right direction, to save Mustang's eyes.
Three days later, the skyline of Xing's capital came into view on the horizon. Hawkeye had spent most of the journey in a daze, staring off into the distant expanse of sand, but without seeing anything. The gritty material got into her hair and the pores of her skin. She felt mummified and stiff. She sat up in her seat and licked her lips, though it did little to help.
"You need to drink more to keep your strength up. We'll be there soon." Lan Fan handed Hawkeye a soft-sided container of water and the Lieutenant sipped from it weakly, grateful for the cool liquid. They had made camp early every night somewhere in the shifting sand dunes, but the moments passed by in a blur. Apparently, the Lieutenant's lack of focus wasn't uncommon. Hawkeye remembered Lan Fan warning her at some point early on in the trip that the alchemical energy radiating from Xing's capital could lead to some side effects for those unfamiliar with the practice. And indeed, as they drove closer to the capital, Hawkeye thought that she could detect a strange hum passing among the shifting sands. Ling had been the one to tell her that the eighth homunculus might have been projecting that energy as well.
Hawkeye must have drifted off again because the next time she opened her eyes, the car was stopped and the driver was helping the prince and his guard exit the vehicle. Hawkeye shuffled out of the car and tried to keep up with Ling and Lan Fan as they approached what she assumed could only be the palace—a soaring marble-white structure with gold architectural accents. It put everything she had ever seen in Amestris to shame.
Mustang would love to see this, she thought, then realizing that she had reminded herself of her reason for being here.