For R; because I could never see you, even with my eyes open.
MIRROR
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"Here, Riza, I've bought a new shirt for you - it's blue, your favourite colour. It's for your eleventh birthday, that's sometime next week, isn't it?"
Amber eyes wide open, ten year old Riza nodded, it was the closest Father had gotten to guessing her birthday right since Mother had died. "Thank you, Father, but my favourite colour isn't-"
"Roy! Where is that boy? Even potential needs to be refined, you know." Watching as her father made his way up the stairs, she stepped out the front door with a sigh. Father had forgotten to buy the groceries in favour of the Alchemy books he'd brought home for Roy. Although Father and Roy could survive on crackers and milk, she most definitely couldn't. She'd decided long since Roy arrived that it must be one of those talents only Alchemists could possess.
Fourty five minutes later, she brought dinner up to Roy's room, she had already given Father his tray of food. Balancing Roy's tray and her own (she'd decided that as amusing as the dogs were to eat dinner with, at least Roy wouldn't try to steal her food) as she ascended the stairs, she nudged open the door to Roy's room with her foot.
"Roy? I've brought dinner, can I eat with you?"
He turned his eyes to her, but his gaze was distant, as if looking through her. He wasn't the only person in the household that she routinely got that same look from, Father rarely ever looked at her anymore. "Oh, hey Rize. Sure, but it's gotta be quick, your Father wants another essay on equivalent exchange written."
Settling down on the floor beside his bed, she watched as he shuffled through stacks of paper, flipping and scribbling an equation every once in a while, "Has Father seemed a bit.. I don't know, off to you lately, Roy?"
Barely raising his head so that she could only see the top of his raven hair, he replied, "I'm sure he's just busy with his work, Riza."
"But I'm his daughter." Still, Roy did not lift his head so that she could see his eyes.
"Well, you may be, but if you think about it Rize, it would be kind of selfish to demand his attention when he has such brilliant Alchemy concepts in his mind. I mean," he let her see his eyes, and it was then that she saw the emptiness in them, "for the greater good, right? In all truths, his research is much more important than just one person."
It wasn't like she had expected him to agree with her and think up a brilliant plan to make Father notice her again, but nonetheless, it was with bitterness that she pushed down the despair rising in her throat, "Right," she barely managed to croak, "Um, well, I'm done, I think I'll go back downstairs."
"Kay, could you close the door on your way out?" Roy said, turning his full attention back to the paper he was writing on.
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"Riza.. let me see Riza alone." Roy left her to be alone with her dying Father.
Kneeling before her Father, she let him clasp her hand in his large one. "Ri.. za. Take care.." she nodded, the tears dripping down her face. "I know Father, I will." She decided there was nothing more terrible than having to watch the light fade slowly out of her Father's eyes.
"..of the research. Take care.. of my research. Give it.. to Roy."
Letting her Father's hand drop bitterly back to the mattress, she let one last sob wrack her body. Just for a moment, she'd thought her father had been thinking of her instead of the research he'd written forever onto her back. Even his last words to her had been a command, asking her to bare her body to his student, who had always been more like the son he'd wanted than she ever had been his daughter.
"No." No. She should have known better than to believe Father might be thinking of her, but her sense of betrayal still flared in her.
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"Well, here's all your stuff, Rize, but where did you Father leave his research if not in his house?" Roy handed her her bags, rummaging through the last of her Father's drawers. There was only one thing her father had left his research on, and she knew where her Father had left his research, she knew all too well.
Since her Father had died a month ago, Roy had done nothing but search every inch of the house. He'd even had the nerve to rummage through her room one day when she was in town helping buying the groceries. Not once had he ever questioned whether she was all right.
Lately, she'd found herself thinking more and more that while Father's training might have given Roy the skills he needed, he had also embedded his own personality into Roy. Father had taken the dream out of Roy altogether.
"Hey, Riza. Here's one of your sweaters, it's your favourite one, isn't it? It's your favourite colour-blue."
Something in her snapped then, "My favourite colour is red! And despite what you and Father assumed I hate white chocolate. I hate dancing and I love archery! My birthday was last week and I need you to see me! I think your reasons for studying alchemy are all wrong, because all you want is glory, not to help people. Father was the one who always made you see just the research but he's gone now! He only ever saw his precious Alchemy in me but he's gone. He's gone but I'm still here! I'm still here and I need you to see me. I'm a person just like you are, and I just need you to see me. When you look at me you have to be able to see me. It should be just like a mirror, but instead, all you do is see through me."
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"You told me you wouldn't do this!" she yelled at him, her tears flowing carely down her cheeks. The despair in her throat was incredible. "You swore you'd use the Alchemy for the right reasons! That's why I gave it to you! You swore you would. But look what you're doing, tearing apart Ishbalans, for what purpose?"
"Riza-"
"Shut up, Roy, just shut up!"
Faster than she knew what was happening, she was pinned against the wall, his lips on hers and his hands pressing into her sides. Against her better judgement, she kissed him back. It was only after an eternity that he pulled back, slightly out of breath and his breath brushing her eyelashes. Bringing his mouth close to her left her, he tilted his head so that it rested against hers.
"I see you, I see you. Just trust me, I won't turn into your Father. When I look at you, at anybody, it is a mirror now. I see people just like me, I see you, I see all of them."
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There's the second chapter. Yes, Roy was a bit cruel to her in that first little part, but I can't honestly say that I think when Roy was young, and got praised so often for his talent, that he'd be a humble little boy that can see all truths. No one grows up that fast?
And I'm not sure if this was confusing to readers, but review and leave a comment. And please tell me if it was TOO incoherent, since I can't really judge, being the author.. Review, and much love. (: Oh yeah, this one was definitely longer than the first chapter.
