Second Chance
Chapter 3
Resurrection
Jean Havoc smiled as he enjoyed the cigarette that Roy had bummed off Madam Christmas for him. "Not my brand, but I'm not complaining. Thank Momma Mustang for me."
Roy finally pried his eyes from Riza's face as she slept in the bed beside him. He looked over at Havoc in the wheelchair next to the window and watched the blond blow a puff of smoke in the air before turning around to look at him.
"I'd like to lodge a complaint though about your shitty decisions to relocate this team. First time you cost me a girlfriend when we moved from East City." Jean said and then frowned as he pointed his lit cigarette at Hawkeye, still unconscious from whatever cocktail of sedatives they dosed her with. "This time, it almost cost you yours."
"Havoc." Roy tried to sound stern but it came out in a hoarse whisper.
"Shit Roy, half the team is in this hospital now. Either get us a new office on the first floor of HQ so they can wheel in the gurneys and wheelchair, or just have them bring the desks here." Jean put his cigarette back in his mouth and rolled his chair over to the bed. "What the hell happened?"
Roy closed his eyes. "We captured one of them, the one they call Gluttony. He wanted to kill me for taking Lust from him...so he tried to eat us. Another homunculus was sent to retrieve him, saying he wasn't supposed to eat the 'human sacrifices'. Ed called it Envy, the one he drew for us after the laboratory incident. I couldn't fight, I was nothing but a burden to everyone. As we were driving away, Gluttony chased us and Envy tried to stop him. He cut him off and Riza got out of the car to protect me. She fired at Gluttony to keep him busy but Envy attacked her. The Elrics took my coat and ran through the woods to lure Gluttony away with the smell, we got out and found Riza in the road. Envy took the form of a giant dog and he must have bit or clawed at her before he threw her. Her lungs were punctured, she was drowning in her own blood and I couldn't do anything."
Jean looked over at Hawkeye who showed no signs of being ripped to shreds. He could feel it in his bones that this story had a awful twist to it, like the nursery rhymes Nana Havoc used to tell. Stories that kept them up at night as they tried to ignore the horrible story and find the lesson that was supposed to be buried in it somewhere. "You did...something."
"We were with Dr. Knox and he quickly explained what needed to be done to repair the damage. I can manipulate oxygen, but not when the lungs are already full of blood. I drew out transmutations in her blood to repair the damage. Then forced air into her lungs to get her to breathe, Knox tried CPR. It happened so quickly, but not fast enough. It started to rain and it was washing away my transmutation circles while I was trying to save...repair the damage..."
Havoc swallowed hard as the always confident and strong Colonel choked on his words. He was getting quieter as he retold the story, as if he didn't want to hear the ending when he got to it. Jean remembered watching this man sear his wounds shut after using glass shards to cut an array into his hand. Gritting his teeth and fighting through the pain and blood loss, this crazy bastard pull himself back from death and saved them all. Yet, less than a week later, he was back in the hospital with another subordinate. He couldn't blame him for weakening, everyone knew what she meant to him. All the other losses he suffered were hit to the castle walls, he could rebuild and patch with new stones after the damage was done. Hawkeye wasn't a stone, she was the foundation. Without her, everything crumbled. "What did you do?"
"We brought her back, resuscitated her." Roy said and bit his lip to stop emotion from overriding his narrative. He yelled at her in this damned room for giving up because she thought he was dead and...
Jean raised an eyebrow as Mustang cleared his throat and regained his composure. "You...brought her back? Like..." Jean almost let the precious cigarette drop from his lips. He wouldn't. He couldn't. Roy wasn't missing limbs like Ed, there was no way to successfully do human transmutation anyhow. Roy was intact and Riza was alive, so what the hell actually happened?
"Her heart started beating again." Roy said and looked away. "However in the process we think she might have hit her head, or the lack of oxygen cause her brain to be starved a bit or the alchemy I used to heal her did something else...we don't know. But she doesn't remember who she is and thinks she's from another place."
Jean leaned back in his chair and took a long drag on his cigarette. Wow. He could tell Mustang didn't even have the answers and that was bad. "Well when she wakes up I'll talk with her and see if we can't jar some memories."
Roy looked over at her again and couldn't help but ask himself what everyone else was asking. What did he do?
"Where is Roy?" Riza asked and fidgeted under the steady gaze of the cute blond in the wheelchair. She didn't want to lose track of the one person that seemed to really know her. Without him she was completely lost. "And why are they letting you smoke in this room?"
"Roy, huh?" Jean cocked his head and looked her over. Gone were the confident eyes of the Hawkeye who ruled over them all in the office, right now she was clearly flustered and edgy. He'd been with her on countless missions and nothing rattled her. "He's gone in for an exam. They won't let him burn his own wound shut again and he tore up the scar tissue pretty bad on your mission."
"And you are?" She looked at his honest face and wondered how many more people would be happy to see her in this world. The life she remembered was filled with people who thought she was a slave-driver. The only people who were happy to see her were board members when she was reporting on the latest project that could earn them a lucrative military contract.
"Lieutenant Jean Havoc, we work together." Jean sighed and ran his hand through his hair. "Well worked together, I'm retiring. Our team hasn't been doing too well with the casualty count this week."
She watched him pat his legs and noticed he was in a wheelchair. "We both work for the Colonel?"
"Yeah. We're friends Riza, you and me. He's a friend too, but he's more of a dick." Jean watched her eyes scan his face and he gave her a smile. "Damn, you really don't remember anything do you?"
"No."
"So what is the last thing you do remember?" He asked. "So I know where to start on filling you in on...well, you."
"Just waking up." She said and looked to the door as she caught people passing by in her peripherals. She determined it was best to just pretend she knew absolutely nothing and say that what she had told Roy about her life was just confusion. She could let them think that whatever drugs they gave her worked and she just was making things up before as a way to cope with what happened. Each time she opened her eyes, this reality was in front of her...so it was best to figure out what part she played here.
"So you're hiding something too." He said and she flashed him a surprised look. Not one of annoyance, one that betrayed her surprise that wasn't prepared for him to be able to read her that well. "He's hiding something, but that's between you two. Always has been. You two have a lot of secrets and it goes beyond just what you kids do after hours. Whatever it is, binds you but also cuts you two pretty deep. Eh, like I said, that's between you two."
"We work together?" She asked trying to restart the conversation. The fact that she was in a relationship with her boss irritated her sense of professionalism, everyone knowing about it grated on her pride. That's what normal people did, they compromised for happiness. That's why this Riza was able to have a man who loved her enough to jeopardize his career and health.
"Yeah." He saw her look to the door again as a nurse passed with a cart. She wasn't interested in finding about about what he thought about her, she wanted to know if she could trust Mustang. "But I don't really matter right now. If you don't remember anything then really everything else is just going to be something we fill in later. What you need right now is Mustang and that's probably going to be the best medicine for him too."
"Does everyone know about him and me? Are we really that bad at keeping things secret?" She asked and he gave her this sweet smile that said he was genuinely happy for her. Perhaps this version of her didn't compromise so easily, perhaps she just realized a little earlier that somethings in life were more important than a job you could very well lose tomorrow. Whatever the reason or rationale behind it, the fact was that she was very much part of Roy Mustang's life, and he hers.
"No, you're both great at it. You are extremely professional, keep normal private lives and brush off all the rumors. Really anyone who doesn't work with you guys wouldn't see how genuine you are. I work with you two though, long damned hours and lots of undercover work. I see how he looks at you and how you watch him like a hawk. How he does little things to piss you off in the office just because he wasn't the object of your attention for ten minutes. Says things to Ed that get your dander up and make you protective of the little runt. Plus, he talks in his sleep when he's in the hospital bed next to me. We all know what you mean to him and we are all glad you've got each other."
"We. Who is we?"
"The team. Mustang's staff. You'll meet all of them eventually, I'm sure. I'll let them introduce themselves so maybe that will jar your memory in some way." Jean leaned back and smiled. "We all support that man and the truth is that if he loses you...we lose him. Everything we have done, everything we have lost will be for nothing if he loses you."
She knew he was talking about his legs as he absentmindedly rubbed them with his palms after crushing out his cigarette. "Yet you support this man who has such an obvious weakness?"
"Love isn't a weakness, it's what makes you human. We wouldn't be following him if he wasn't the fool he is, because some heartless ambitious bastard wouldn't care about people. That's what he's aiming for the top and why he's the man to do it. He is compassionate and loyal and you keep him grounded. You have to be more careful Hawkeye. You never think before putting yourself in the line of fire to protect him and it finally caught up with you. We all care about you Riza, this isn't just about Mustang but I know he means a lot to you."
She watched him look for another cigarette only to come up empty. He sighed and continued.
"Riz, that man cares for all of us and he'll never forget sacrifices that were made. Mustang's a commander you're proud to serve under and die for it it comes to it. He doesn't shoulder that lightly either, but you're not just one of his men. I watched him mutilate his hand, burn himself using alchemy to stop the bleeding and drag himself back from the brink of death to go save you. Yeah, he wanted to save me too, but I doubt it was going to be enough to make him fight death to get back on his feet and destroy that monster that did this to me. Lust...said she was going after you and that son of a bitch fought off everything in his way to get to you. I watched him. I watched him do the unthinkable and walk out of that damned room to fry that bitch because she was gunning for you. So...exactly how far did he go to save your life this time?"
Riza was digesting that when he asked the question. She wasn't sure what everyone was referring to when they referenced alchemy, what that blond boy was upset about or why Jean was looking at her with such sad eyes when he asked. "I don't know what you're asking."
"You should go home with him." Jean said as he heard Mustang's voice in the hall bitching to some doctor. "You two have been together since you were kids. You served in the war together. You dedicated your life to being by his side and you've saved his many times. He knows you and if anything is going to make you remember your life, it's that intense relationship you have with him. Plus, maybe without the past holding you back you might just let yourself be happy."
"He's my commanding officer." She said and Jean shrugged.
"You don't remember any of that. Maybe if you're not always watching his back...he can stop looking behind him and start looking ahead. He can still achieve everything with you next to him." Jean glanced at the door as Mustang told a doctor outside he was an idiot. "We need you, you really keep this team together and you are so damned important to his goals...but you're my friend and I want you to have this happy ending. There was so much sadness and pain and you might not be so bad off not remembering that. I told you time and time again that you should quit using your guilt as an excuse for not living your life. This wasn't what I was intending to talk with you about but...honestly we've been through some bad shit and you've seen worse than me."
Riza looked up as Roy returned and slammed the door in someone's face. She wasn't making much headway in the quest to understand who she was, what she was doing here or how she got here. All she knew was that right now, she was happy to see him. Jean seemed nice but clearly had a agenda that involved getting her out of the office and into Mustang's bed, but she could see he meant well. Whatever tension there was between her and her boss was clearly visible to the people close to them and they were eager for them to act on it.
