Author's Note: I do not own FMA or its characters. This is an AU based on the manga.

Holding Together

He wasn't home yet. Riza let herself into Mustang's apartment with the spare key she had. While she could guess where he probably was, it would be best to wait for him here. She didn't want to take the chance of missing him, and if he had already heard about Hughes, he would be coming home rather than going to a bar. Roy preferred to brood on his own rather than in company.

Riza set about making herself at home. She would be here for the night for sure. Setting the kettle on the stove, she mentally reviewed the facts she had. Someone had attempted to kill Hughes. They had not succeeded, but it was a serious enough situation that Maes and Gracia had decided to fake his death. The military knew that Hughes was dead. Everything else at this point was speculation.

The door opened, and she turned to find Roy frozen in the doorway, eyes wide and haunted. He stared at her unseeing for a minute, and then she was caught tight in his arms, his face pressed into her hair. He had already heard part of it. Her arms came up around him, holding him just as tightly.

"Roy."

He mumbled something into her hair. The only thing she could catch was Maes' name. She stepped back from him, her hands coming up to cup his face. "I know, Roy. Come. Sit."

Once she got him settled on the couch with a cup of tea, Riza took a seat beside him. She held a hand up to keep him from speaking.

"Gracia called me from the hospital. She told me that something had come up, and that Maes is dead."

Riza used the exact same words that Gracia had. His eyes went wide with understanding, and the cup trembled in his hand.

"Did she say anything else?"

"She would like us to come to Central as soon as possible. There were no other messages." She took the cup before he dropped it, setting it on the end table. "Roy?"

"I was on the phone with him when it happened." His voice was shaking almost as much as his hands. "He had found something, and it was important."

Her arms went around his shoulders, drawing him closer to her. She could imagine his terror at realizing that something was going wrong and there was nothing he could do about it. Roy hated not being able to do something when things went wrong. Being helpless was one of the things he hated the most.

"I thought I'd heard my best friend die."

Riza held him as he cried, shedding her own tears. She didn't know what was going on any more than he did. Their friends were in danger, and there was nothing they could do at the moment. At this point, all either of them could do was support each other and wait until they knew more.

Theme: Soft Shoulder