This one started to run away with itself and then ran out of juice and puttered through to the end. And it tried to confuse you all by randomly turning into first person at the end, but I managed to make it behave for the most part. Kind of an odd one, and not as fluffy as I thought it was going to be. There is a fluffy happy one coming I promise! But it's currently running around taunting my inability to move it forward, so instead you get this. Hope you like it! Sorry for how little I update, life gets in the way more often than not.

073. Parting


"Is everything alright?" Riza asked, turning to face her superior as she let herself into her apartment. He'd been strangely quiet for the latter part of the day and it worried her.

"Just tired." Roy replied, blinking slowly for effect.

"Then you should go home and get some rest." Riza advised. Roy nodded.

"Goodbye lieutenant." He said, hesitating a moment before turning to leave, as if he had something more to say.

"Goodbye sir." She replied, watching him walk off down the hallway before closing the door and retreating into the small apartment. She slid off the navy jacket of her uniform and hung it on the back of a chair before heading for the kitchen. Out of the window she could see Roy walking down the street towards his own apartment. Nothing out of the ordinary, but for some reason tonight she felt like she had to watch him, like she would regret it if she didn't.

I saw you walk across the road, for maybe the last time I don't know

The next morning Riza walked into the office, which was buzzing somberly with the hushed voices of the men that worked there. The door swung shut behind her and silence descended upon the room.

"Is everyone alright?" She asked, noting the absence of her superior, not too unusual, but enough to worry her, especially as said superior had been weird the night before.

"We're being reassigned." Fuery stated, looking more nervous and awkward than usual.

"What do you-"

"We have to work under somebody." Breda cut her off.

"Mustang's leaving this morning for the north." Havoc explained, "He told us yesterday at lunch but you weren't there, I assumed that you already knew."

"No," She shook her head, "He didn't tell me." Her voice faded and she turned and left the room.

I could pretend and say goodbye

Roy stared out the train window, watching the crowded platform without having to listen to the many goodbyes and come back soons of strangers. A familiar face caught his attention. Red-brown eyes scanning the windows and quickly locking onto his face. He mentally cursed the eye patch, blaming it for giving him away, though he knew that his former subordinate had known him for so long that she would have recognized him with or without the eye patch.

"What do you think you're doing?" She yelled at him. He could almost hear her voice, filled with anger and hurt, despite the rumbling train engine and thick paned glass that stood between them.

"You'll be better off without me." He mouthed as the train whistle blew. The platform crawled with activity as people hurried onto the train.

"Why didn't you tell me?" She cried; frowning at him, eyes full of tumultuous emotions as steam billowed from the engine. A final whistle blew and the train jerked forward.

"Goodbye lieutenant." He whispered waving to her as the train slowly chugged away from the platform, leaving a crowd of teary-eyed strangers waving goodbyes. The train gathered speed quickly and whisked him away, bound for the north, the cold snow promising a perfect opposite to the fire that he couldn't bring himself to conjure.

I could say that's the way it goes

Years later, Havoc and Breda had come by, they wanted to talk about how their superior had changed, but he stopped that quickly. They didn't stay long, and mumbled to each other as they left. Havoc gets it though; and Roy had always known he was a smart man. Not long after they leave, maybe a day or two later, there's news of simultaneous earthquakes in Liore and Central. Armored soldiers, all dead, appeared in Liore. Alphonse was there at the time, and there's something about these earthquakes that makes Roy wonder, but maybe he's just being too optimistic.

Why even try?

There were only two places that Al would logically go after the earthquakes. Back home to Resembool, or to Central. On the off chance that he hadn't thought to go to Central, Roy called the Rockbells, as that would be where he would stay. Winry answered, Al had been there but had disappeared with the homunculus child. Smart boy, and Winry catches on soon after Central is mentioned. It seems as if Central is the place to be, and so Roy Mustang is on the next train there.

I'm always here, if you change, change your mind

By the time he arrives in Central, there's a massive explosion somewhere nearby that shakes the whole city. Armored soldiers are everywhere, falling out of some flying machine, all covered in a weird clingy black substance. People are running and screaming through the streets. When he gets to HQ there are a small number of soldiers crouching behind sandbag walls shooting at the armored intruders. There are more of these interlopers climbing down the building, momentarily catching the attention of the shooters. Fantastic, he thinks, I leave Central for a year or two and the entire system falls apart. Good thing I came back now isn't it? He snaps his fingers and sends a row of armored attackers to the ground.

"Warrant Officer Falman, take a squad and defend the assembly hall. Sergeant Fuery, inform the mechanized division, we need a tank unit in Central, now. Crush their ranks, go." He orders, receiving yes sirs and flurried activity in return. Breda and Havoc mumble to each other, so he addresses them next, to give them a job other than chatting. "Lieutenants Havoc and Breda,"

"Sir!" They snap to attention.

"The command center is our last stronghold. Tell the generals to stop wasting time and order all their divisions to come defend it."

"Right!" They scurry off.

"Major Armstrong," Roy grins, turning to his comrade, "You know, if we're gonna get to that aircraft…"

"Then we'll need a way to fly." Armstrong finishes. "Got it." He heads off. One officer remains, standing at attention by a row of trees. She drops her hand.

"We've been waiting for you sir." Her face tells him everything he need to know. She's been waiting, and will continue to wait, never withdrawing her promise to watch his back, for as long as she needs too. It's good to know. Roy can put his mind at ease, finally find out what happened to Edward, and when he get back, she'll still be there, waiting for him no matter how many times he has to leave her, no matter how long it takes, she, at least, won't give up on him. And eventually, he does plan to return to her; as he has learned that parting brings him nothing but the chance to wallow in his own self pity.