He would never forget.

She didn't even know how they ended up out here, but there she was, beside the boy named Roy Mustang as the wind whipped their hair.

"Come on," she declared. "I want to show you something."

She lead the way through tree trunks and candle bud bushes and hovering wasps, across the scattered stones sprinkled over the creek. She ran ahead, and he was two paces behind, and eventually she stopped and he stopped too because he knew they were here.

The grass stretched for acres, the horizon littered with stray tree and lined with violet and orange wildflowers and bordered by the bright blue sky. She plopped down in the tall grass, the hem of her skirt fluttering over her legs.

"Is this where you like to sit?"

"Yes."

He sat beside her at a safe distance and set his hands on his knees, arms locked. "I can see why."

Her eyes swelled with pride and they sat for a moment, silently. Then, in a quiet voice Roy was getting quite used to hearing, she said, "Mr. Mustang, how old are you?"

"Almost fifteen. You?"

"Thirteen."

He nodded; he'd figured her around there.

But suddenly, walls rose around her. What was she doing here with a boy of almost fifteen? Was this what companions did? Anxiety claimed her stomach and flares fizzed in her chest – this was a mistake, to show him this place, her place. How did they even get here? She abruptly sprang to her feet and ran as quickly as her slender legs could take her, back the way they came. It took Roy a moment to register she'd fled, and even when he too was on his feet, he still couldn't catch up to her. Where did she learn to run like this?

Later, as he sat in his bedroom, reading over Master Hawkeye's notes, he heard a raised voice from downstairs. He listened for a moment, but was unable to place the words. He tried his luck and poked his head out the door frame to find Riza in the corridor, attention turned to a grungy mirror on the wall. He approached her, having not seen her since she ran, and she turned to him, glossy eyes full of fright, hatred, and shame. He opened his mouth to question her, but she removed a hand from her cheek to reveal a large, pink welt swelling from cheek bone to jaw line.

He will never forget the look in her eyes when he discovered why Riza Hawkeye could run so fast.