Five Golden Rings

Author: MoonStarDutchess

Chapter 2: Chaos

Disclaimer: I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist and gain no profit from this fanfiction but I do own my idea.


Chaos

A wave of coughs wracked her body as she stumbled through the smoke engulfed atmosphere. She yelled Roy's name over and over as loud as possible. But she could barely hear herself; perhaps her voice was damaged because of the smoke she inhaled when she opened her mouth. She jumped when someone grab her ankle. She moved to her knees and saw Roy through the smoke. A large gash tore through the skin at his forehead and blood leaked into his dark eyes, a reason for why he had them formed into extremely narrow slits. She helped him stand, figuring if he could on his own he would be, and they made their way toward a light in the back; the exit.

Riza's knees almost gave way as they stumbled outside, but the weight on her shoulders lightened suddenly. She looked to the left side and saw a fireman, who was dressed in formal uniform for some reason, helping her with Roy. Once they cleared the sidewalks and were on the street, they collapsed onto the pavement.

She jerked her gaze over to Roy right before a paramedic rushed to him. He turned to her and moved his lips but nothing came. In fact . . . she looked around and saw ambulances and fire trucks, and injured people, and couldn't hear any of it the way she was supposed to. A rumble and ring overwhelmed everything else; creating dull reverberations of what were supposedly loud noises. She realized that it wasn't that Roy never answered her yells; it was that she couldn't hear him answer.

When she felt a hand on her shoulder, she looked up and saw the young fireman. He showed her one of the most beautiful smiles she'd ever seen and, for a moment, it alleviated her panic at the, hopefully temporary, hearing loss. Then a paramedic took that easement from her as he pushed the man out of the way and went straight for her arm. She hadn't realized it was injured until the medic tore her sleeve all the way off and skimmed the wound with disinfectant. She kept her eyes on the fireman as he shot to his feet when another explosion rocked the area. He turned and ran away from them, toward another building and helped the people stumbling out of the burning buildings.

She turned and saw the medic was helping Roy to an ambulance. Riza stood and followed them with the help of the other medic; her equilibrium was off and made it hard to walk on her own. The medic handed her an item and she put it in her purse after climbing into the ambulance and sitting down. She saw Roy open his mouth and since he was looking at her, she assumed he was addressing her.

"I can't hear you," she said. "Everything is just a hum right now."

The paramedic closed the door leaving her alone with Roy and another medic. The medic offered her an oxygen mask but she shook her head. Roy turned one down as well. She saw the medics eyebrows furrow in annoyance but ignored it. He moved over to clean the wound on Roy's forehead. Riza was about to ask if it was okay but she didn't want to distract the man from his work.

She saw Roy talking to him and cursed inwardly at having only four senses to rely on at the moment. The humming in her ears was more annoying than if it'd been completely silent. Then the ambulance stopped and a moment later the back doors opened. Roy and Riza were helped out of the vehicle and rushed to by military medical personnel.

She started to question how they knew where to take them but didn't get time as she was ushered inside Central Headquarters' medical center.

-/-/-/-/-

Riza's eyebrow twitched and she clinched her fist as she stared at the young doctor in front of her. He was looking into her eyes and addressing her as if she was perfectly capable of hearing every word. After a moment, he nodded and scribbled something down on a clipboard before going over to her left, then her right, speaking single words that she could make out because they were so damn odd. He was lucky he was Doctor Knox's son or she would have made him wish he'd never gone into the medical profession.

She scolded herself. He was just doing the standard medical procedures and there was no use in getting violent with the young man. She jumped when she felt a sharp jolt on her arm and glared at the nurse. The woman smiled but offered no form of apology as she cleaned the wound. The nurse on the other hand . . . No. Now wasn't the time to lose her temper. The country was under a terrorist attack for goodness sakes. It was bad enough they were injured and couldn't do anything, the last thing she needed to do was create another injured person and one less medical expert. Her arm jolted with pain again. No matter how tempting it was.

A clipboard moved into her line of sight and she took it. Looking down, she read what the doctor wrote. Temporary hearing loss. She knew it was more complicated than that with all the medical terms and mumbo jumbo that doctor's usually spouted off, so she appreciated the short and to the point statement.

She looked up at the young man, nodded, and offered him a kind smile. "You sure?" The two words felt like sandpaper sliding up the inside of her throat.

He nodded and answered her vocally; she faintly made out his verbal "yes."

-/-/-/-/-/-

An hour later Riza was in a room with Roy, relieved that it was just the two of them but unnerved at the silence. She sat on the bed near the window and looked out at the city. Gigantic plumes of dust and ash and smoke rose into the sky from various locations, indicating that more than just the small market area was attacked. The smoke mixed and twisted among the snow cloud burdened sky, casting an ominous shadow over the terror imbrued city.

Roy was busy on the phone with her grandfather, who was safely tucked away in the capitol, and she was sitting there as useless as a string-less marionette. She jerked around when she heard a distant thumping. Roy laid there in his bed, his fist (the source of the thumping) resided on the bedside table and a smile on his face. A smile that even outshone that of the kind fireman that helped her. He motioned for her to come to him; she did so without question. He moved over on the bed as she sat down and pulled her to pillow against his chest. He took a clipboard the nurse gave him and wrote on it as her body rested securely in his embrace.

Are you okay other than the hearing?

She nodded. "I'm okay. The doctor said I should get my hearing back a bit day by day. Are you feeling okay?"

I'm fine as long as you are all right. I was worried about you. I saw you get knocked off your feet. He wrote.

"Not as worried as I was about you," she said.

I love you.

She wasn't expecting to read that but wonderful wouldn't begin to describe the way she felt when she saw the words. She knew it, he'd told her already, but it was special that he took the time to tell her now. She took the board from him, turned, leaned up and kissed his bruising lips, her own busted up from her fall onto the floor. He returned the kiss with caution, aware that they both were injured.

Then he jerked away from the kiss and narrowed his eyes as if he saw his worst enemy. Riza turned her gaze to the foot of the bed. Havoc and Rebecca stood there, both in uniform. Rebecca had that teasing looking on her face, an indication she said something Riza wouldn't like. Within seconds Roy had the clipboard in front of Riza and wrote out what Rebecca said.

Harpy: You two will go at it anywhere. Shameless, absolutely shameless. Screeeech…. Cluck cluck, moooooo! Riza withheld a chuckle.

"We are here to get you two out of here. We have a car waiting out back," Havoc said.

Riza looked at her questioningly. "Hello, why aren't you saying anything? You go deaf or something?"

Roy cringed as Riza directed her gaze back to him. "What'd she say?" Riza asked.

"Yes, Rebecca, she went deaf temporary." He was clearly speaking louder so she could hear. When he cringed after speaking, she placed her finger on his lips and shook her head before turning back to her best friend and Havoc.

"Oh! Sorry!" Rebecca yelled. Riza just waved it off and looked down at Roy's hand moving over the paper.

We are getting out of the hospital.

"Where are we going?" Riza asked.

"Top secret. Grumman wants both of you safe!" Rebecca yelled. "Mustang is the next fuehrer after all! And hopefully you'll be the future first lady!" Riza only made out bits and pieces of Rebecca's sentence but did catch the last few words and narrowed her eyes. Why wouldn't they give it a rest? It wasn't the time to think about marriage when the peace of the country shattered the way it was.

Roy must have felt her tense because he hugged her and kissed the top of her head, a gesture she took as him telling her to just ignore the comment.

-/-/-/-/-/-

It'd only been three days since the string of attacks. It turned out that more places than Central City were targeted. There were bombings in East City; the largest bridge in the West, Marxus Bridge, collapsed after an explosion; and several lines of tracks that led to the cities in the North were destroyed.

"How many casualties?" Roy asked as he finished signing off on the last bit of paperwork he had. He was still stuck in the safe house, at the insistence of Grumman and much to his annoyance. Roy was always one for moving around so staying still was driving him crazy enough that he was three days ahead of his paperwork. Riza would normally be thrilled with such an event, and understood that he couldn't sit around doing nothing during this chaotic time, but he needed to rest during after hours or he'd do more harm than good. The rest of the team wasn't helping matters as they provided him with whatever information he requested.

"Why can't he work like this when he's well?" she muttered.

"For civilians, current death toll is eight hundred eighty seven people dead with five hundred twenty two missing," Denny Broch said.

"And servicemen?" Roy asked.

"Three hundred dead, fifty missing. Makes total casualties at one thousand seven hundred and fifty nine," Broch said.

"Sir, have we heard anything about who could possibly have done this?" Rebecca asked. Riza was sitting closest to Rebecca and could make out her words the easiest. She resisted the urge to get up and chase everyone from the room.

"They are saying that it's the Ishbalians," Maria said.

That jerked Riza's focus away from Roy's tiredness. "And who are they?" By the way Maria looked at her, Riza knew the words came out a bit harsher than she intended. She didn't like it when people blamed the Ishbalians for violence when they were the least violent people in Amestris.

"That's just the word out there in the public," Breda said.

Riza shook her head and looked back at Roy. When she saw him staring at her, wordlessly inquiring about her grumpy mood, she looked away.

"That will change tomorrow afternoon when Fuehrer Grumman gives his radio address. A terrorist group called the Amestrian Liberation Front has claimed responsibility and at this moment we have Special Forces and investigations tracking down their whereabouts. They'll be brought to trial."

"If you ask me they should be shot on sight," Rebecca said.

"As much as I agree with that, it's not the right way to do things. We'd be taken as hypocrites by our allies if we just executed them. We'd be no better than the previous government.

The room grew into an awkward silence and Riza was about to usher everyone out when Havoc chuckled and spoke, "You know, this is strange."

"What is?" Fuery asked.

"Dealing with this side of an attack. Not being able to go out and catch these guys ourselves. Instead we have to stay behind the scenes now. We used to complain about the higher ups and their staff. Now we are those people."

Roy smirked. "Yes, but we are actually concerned about the nation, unlike our predecessors. I consider our jobs right now just as important as the ones on the field. Even though it's clearly not as dangerous."

Riza leaned back in her chair and looked out the window, deciding that she didn't want to concentrate so intensely on the conversation any longer. Considering she was only making out a few words then guessing at the rest of the sentences they spoke, it wasn't worth the effort. Her head and eyes already ached from the strain of reading all the paperwork. The continued force of concentrating on their every word would just increase the thumps coursing through her head. She lifted her hand and rubbed her right temple.

She thought she heard someone ask if she was okay but wasn't entirely sure. She turned to the group who were all staring at her. She didn't falter under their concerned stares nor answer the question posed to her. All she wanted was for them to leave and let Roy, and herself, rest a bit.

"Will you get my medicine from my purse Rebecca?" she asked.

Rebecca grabbed Riza's purse as Riza got up to get a glass of water.

"Ah…What the hell is this?"

"It's a prescription medi—" Riza turned and saw Rebecca holding a little black velvet box. Rebecca opened it and a huge smile appeared on her face. "It's a ring! You asked her! We needed some good news in amongst all this tragedy! This is the best news we could get!"

Riza couldn't form words and instead turned her gaze to Roy who had the most confused expression she'd ever seen mask his face.

Rebecca turned to Roy. "Oh! I could kiss you!" She hugged him, much to everyone's shock.

Riza opened her mouth but before she could speak she was bombarded with very loud well wishes and congratulations. Roy was accepting the handshakes extended to him but his eyes never left hers. She definitely had some explaining to do.

"Grumman is going to be thrilled!"

"Thrilled at what?"

They all looked at the door to see an exhausted looking Grumman standing there. Rebecca held up the box. "He finally asked her!"

"Wait a-"

She'd never seen her grandfather move so fast. He grabbed the ring and let out a hearty laugh before hugging Riza and handing her the jewelry piece. "It's about damned time!" He turned to Roy, laughed, and grabbed his hand, shaking it up and down several times in rapid succession. "You sneaky boy! Not telling me you were going to pop the question to my granddaughter! And teasing me back at the house."

Roy faked a horrible looking smile; Riza thought he looked constipated. "Yeah. . . I'm … that kind of guy."

"Hey! Wai…" Riza's voice trailed off when she saw her grandfather's face, beaming so much in happiness that it could double as a lighthouse. Her words stuck in her throat.

"Now you don't have any excuse not to wear this when out of uniform," Rebecca said, intentionally speaking loudly as she spoke to Riza. "It's so pretty too."

Riza looked at the ring for a moment before moving her gaze over to Havoc. She noticed he was the only one that didn't get excited at the announcement. He grinned at her and she knew he didn't believe she and Roy were engaged for even a moment. Havoc was always a good reader of body language.

"They look overwhelmed," Havoc said. He patted Roy on the shoulder and stood from his chair. "They probably didn't want us to find out this way. Let's let the two of them rest."

"Yes, you are right," Grumman said. "These two have been working far too much and need to recover. That's why I came here in the first place. To personally order these two to take it easy. We have everything handled now."

Riza was relieved at hearing the orders to rest. Now maybe Roy would get the much needed rest he required.

"Yes, you are right. Let's leave these two lovebirds alone." Rebecca hugged Riza. "I'm so happy!"

Riza hesitated in returning the hug but did so.

"Alright! Everyone out!" Grumman said and then left the room with a bounce in his step.

"Hey, I just thought of something," Denny said as they began filing out of the room. "Ed and Winry are married, and Rebecca and Havoc, Maria and Me, and the General and Captain are engaged. If Fuery would ask Scieszka to marry him, we'd have five golden rings for Christmas."

"What? No way! We've only been dating a month!" Fuery protested as he closed the door.

Riza sighed in relief at the quietness. It would be easier on her head just talking with Roy than all the mixing of noises that came with a crowd. She looked down at the ring box, and then moved over to the table where her purse was sitting. She sat the box down and removed her medicine from the small tote. "I'm really sorry about all of this."

"Don't worry about it. You didn't have time to correct them because they were all so damn ecstatic."

"I'll explain everything to them myself. Starting with grandfather."

Roy picked up the box and opened it. The small ring was nestled among thick black velvet, its white diamond glistening even in the dim light.

"Did someone propose to you already or something?"

She jerked the box away from him and shut it. "Stop being silly. Of course not!" She shoved it back into her purse. "The ambulance driver handed me that."

"An ambulance driver proposed to you?"

"Roy!"

He laughed. "I'm sorry."

"Well, I need to find the owner. This is something very special."

"Someone could have dropped it as they ran from the explosions," Roy said.

"Yes, that's likely what- that fireman."

"Huh?"

"The one that helped us. He was in formal uniform. I bet he dropped it."

"Even if it's not him, at least it's a lead."

Riza nodded. "I'll have to find out which store it came from."

"It should be inside the box. They usually print a logo on the lid."

"How do you know that?" she asked as she removed the box and opened it. "It's pretty."

"I thought you didn't like diamonds."

"Even so, it's still a nice ring." She smiled. "I'm surprised you remember my dislike for diamonds."

"Oh . . . Um . . . yeah, glad to know I know you so well. Is it there? The name I mean."

"Yes, its here. Rinoaebastel jewelry." She furrowed her eyebrows. "I wonder where that is."

"It's famous jeweler on the East side of the city. In District Three. They keep a registry on who they sell precious stones to. You shouldn't have trouble finding the owner."

"You certainly know a lot about jewelry."

Roy laughed nervously. "Well um...growing up around women, you learn a thing or two. And I did cultivate the ladies man reputation before I got the world's greatest girlfriend."

Riza blushed and put ring back in her purse. "I'll drop by that place in a few days to get the owners name."