Disclaimer: Fullmetal Alchemist obviously doesn't belong to me. This story is clearly an AU but I hope it'll be enjoyable. This is also my first fic. This will not follow the dates in the actual manga so the dates I listed are made up. Thanks for the tens of readers who are still reading this. :D
…
April 3rd Rockbell Residence
Roy lies there on his bed. He is sharing a room with Riza since the Rockbell house doesn't have that many rooms for its guests. He is elated and turns his head at Riza's location near the balcony.
Her back is facing him. He could hear her still and rhythmic breathing. When she touched the soft mattress last night, she was out like a light.
He sits up and yawns. There is someone knocking on the door.
Edward opens the door and peeks in. "Hello there little guy." The older Elric's demeanor suddenly changes. He slams the door the shook the entire room. "Don't call me little!" Edward screams the last word. This amuses Roy.
He stands up and pats the boy on the head. "Sorry little guy." Edward charges at him but Roy halts his attack with one hand on the boy's head. "Easy there little man. You might hurt yourself." Much to the boy's chagrin, he couldn't hit the older man. He swears he's going to grow up big and tall and beat everyone up that makes fun of him.
An object hit Roy on the back of his head. "Mustang, what are doing?" All the commotion woke up Riza.
"The old lady wants you two to come down and eat your breakfast." Edward relays the message and heads back downstairs.
"Mustang, you shouldn't tease him. He's just a kid."
"Sure, I won't tease him."
"I'm serious Mustang."
"Me too. Note to serious face." He makes a circular motion around his face with his finger. He tries to maintain a pensive expression similar to hers but fails.
"Come on, that's too funny." When she gives him a warning look, he takes it into a consideration that she could hurt him if he teases the older Elric again. But it's too entertaining to completely throw out the idea.
"You're laughing at a kid. Act your age." His chuckling persists so it's obvious that he is going to overlook her warning. "All right Sister Nun."
…
The two walk downstairs and finds their breakfast is covered by a plastic lid, keeping the warmth in the food.
Roy digs in and makes an approving "hmmm" sound. He always has a soft spot for home cooking. Riza sits quietly beside him, sipping her tea.
"Are you going to eat that?" Roy pokes his fork at one of her sausages. He noticed from before that she doesn't eat meat. She doesn't stop him and even pushes the rest of the sausages to his side to encourage him to take it all.
"You don't like meat?" She doesn't feel it's appropriate to tell him the reason for her aversion to meat since he's eating. "Something like that." He's not complaining, more food for him.
Winry and Alphonse enter the dining room and sits across from them. She smiles at the two kids. "Good morning, Alphonse." Riza shifts to Winry.
"Hi Winry. I'm Riza Hawkeye." She stretches her hand for a shake but the younger girl doesn't accept it. "I know who you are. You're a soldier like the other two." Riza tenses. The Elric brothers must have told her.
"I was but not anymore." Winry is trying not to cry. Her shoulders are trembling and her head is cast down. "A soldier is always a soldier." She runs outs before anybody can see her tears.
"A soldier? You're soldier Riza?" She wasn't expecting on telling him anything about her past. "Yes I was but not anymore." She repeats. The atmosphere in the room is stiff. "I see. The past is the past. No sense in dwelling on it."
Riza is thankful when Roy doesn't poke his nose in her business. "But it sort of does explain your high level of discipline." He takes her plate and eats the rest of its contents.
She turns her head at the semi-stunned younger Elric. "Alphonse, will Winry have a problem with me here?" If the girl is going to upset with her presence, she can stay at a nearby inn.
"I'm not sure. She seems a little apprehensive around Miss Armstrong and Mister Miles but she didn't react violently with them like she did with you, Miss Hawkeye." The boy's tone is polite and you wouldn't think he's only ten with his very respectful manner.
"Armstrong you say?" It doesn't surprise her that the General would be here but she isn't familiar with the man called Miles.
"Yes Miss Hawkeye. You know Miss Armstrong don't you? They're kind to my brother and me." She nods an affirmative at knowing Armstrong.
Then she notes Winry's violent outburst. "Winry's parents died during the Ishvalian War. They were doctors. Grandma Pinako says that Winry blames the soldiers for not protecting her parents." Riza understands and doesn't ask anything about the topic anymore. This topic appears to be sensitive to Alphonse as well.
Besides, Riza has questions to ask and in her opinion; Alphonse is mature enough to answer them. Roy takes this cue to leave. "We'll talk later Mustang." He perks up at this and heads outside for some fresh air.
"Alphonse, just call me Riza. So when did your mother move you guys here?" Alphonse responds "Five years ago. After Dad disappeared, we left Briggs and headed back here, to Mom's home town. Mom also didn't want us around the war anymore" So the father left or did he disappear? She didn't think he would leave his family. Not with the way he treated them. She makes a mental note at the word "disappeared". "Disappear" and "leaving" are two different things.
Alphonse continues "Mom got sick. She got sicker and sicker as the day passes on. On the last day, Mom told Brother and me that we would be safer with you and that we should go with you. We vaguely remember you so we don't know why mom would say that. I thought we would stay with our teacher, Izumi Curtis. She's a good friend of Mom. Or even with Grandma Pinako. We didn't count on you." There is no resentment in the boy's voice. He is telling the truth.
"Do you want to go with me because I don't think you do." Alphonse muses over it. "I think if Mom thinks we're safer with you, then we're safer with you." He is evasive with his reply.
"Alphonse, you know that doesn't answer my question." He is restless on his seat. He doesn't want to say anything about it yet.
"It's ok Alphonse. You don't have to answer now. Take your time." The boy exhales the oxygen he was holding in. "Give Brother and I a little bit more time, Miss Riza."
…
Roy stretches his whole body and relish the warmth of the sun. He found a nice snug spot under a tree at the back of the Rockbell house where the sun shines enough through the tree but just right so that the sun doesn't totally cook or blind him.
He sighs in pleasure. "This is nice." A small pebble falls on his face. "Hey you bastard! Get away from my tree!" It's Edward.
"Hey there little man. What are you doing up there?" A creamy liquid pours onto Roy's face. Roy abruptly sits up and spits out the substance that entered his mouth. Fortunately, it wasn't urine, it was milk.
"I told you I'm not little." Roy licks his sticky hand. The boy poured milk on him and now it's all over. A plastic bottle drops on his head with a small thunk. "I hate milk." Roy looks up and from his view; the boy is casually sitting against the tree with his arms over the back of his head.
"Well that's why you're so small. Are you sure you're the older brother?" He retorts. He can read the boy predictable moves and is positive that he will take the bait.
"I am the big brother!" Edward jumps on his shoulder and he is used to this kind of assaults from small children. He had a handful of jobs before he got his steady job as a bartender and babysitting was one of them.
"I don't know little man. Alphonse seems taller and more mature than you." The Edward pulls at Roy's black hair. "I'm not small!" His raucous screams echoes throughout the empty backyard and into the house.
Roy effortlessly lifts Edward off of him and puts him gently on the ground. "I know. You are just small now. I was pretty small too and let me tell you milk doesn't work. It tastes bad." Edward beams up. He smiles at the fact that someone finally agrees with him that milk is disgusting. "It does!" He quickly erases his smile when Alphonse and Riza came to investigate the boisterous shouting.
"Brother, what are you doing?"
"Mustang, what are you doing?"
They both simultaneously queried their actions.
Riza quirks her brow in question at Roy's wet state.
"What happened to you?" He places his hand on her cheek and rubs it. Then in a blink, he removes it.
"It's sticky." The scent is sweet and it reminds her of "Milk? Why is milk all over you? And why did you wipe your hand on my cheek?" Aggravation seeps out of her tone. An immature act like that would've never riled her up but she thinks being in Mustang's presence too much is blurring her emotions. There can only be so much Roy one can take. She stomps inside the house and Roy stalks behind her.
"Brother?" Alphonse doesn't miss his brother's rare smile. "I'm fine Al. Hey what happened to Winry? I saw her running towards town." Alphonse makes a disapproving face at his older brother.
"Why didn't you chase after her, Brother? Come on. Let's go get her before Grandma finds out." Edward climbs back to his spot on the tree. "Who cares? Winry is probably having one of her princess fits." The younger Elric takes notice a puddle of milk on a mound of grass. His brother will never learn.
"Miss Riza was introducing herself when Winry tells her that she knows that she is a soldier and when Miss Riza assures Winry that she isn't a soldier anymore, Winry shouts out a soldier will always be a soldier." Edward bounces back down. "Let's go get her. The old lady will have a fit if she finds out we've been out to town without her again."
Resembool: Central Markets 5:50 pm
The Elric brothers spend most of the day looking for their friend. The market is usually safe but in the recent months, there had been reports of kidnapping and burglary, especially in the market district.
"Winry you stupid girl! Al, she's probably back home." There would be a long trek home since their house is in the outskirts of the town. The sun will be down in a couple of hours and the town is even more hazardous at night.
Someone grabs the brothers by their collars.
"What the hell do you think you boys are doing here by yourselves?" They would know that stern voice anywhere.
"Teacher." The brothers fearfully said at the same time. "We are looking for Winry." Izumi Curtis picks up the boys and walks to the direction of their house.
"We have to look for Winry." Izumi doesn't struggle at the boys squirming.
Roy calls out the Elric brother's names from the crowd and closes in on them.
"Edward! Alphonse! Me and Riza have been looking for you two." He is panting hard, indicating he'd been running everywhere. Izumi recognizes the name Riza and places the boys in his custody. "So you must be one of the guests. Well take care of these two, most importantly Edward." Izumi holds their collars tightly.
"Where have you been?" Roy looks at the brothers. "Where's Winry?" Edward panics. He should've followed her earlier. He'll blames himself if anything happens to her.
"Me and Riza split up to look for you kids. Come on! Pinako is worried." The Elric brothers hold his hand and tugs at it.
"No, we can't leave without Winry!" He sighs in defeat. Hopefully Riza found her.
The outskirts of Resembool: South of the Rain River 7:30 pm
Roy had called her and notified her that he has the Elric brothers. She told him that she'll search for Winry so he should bring the Elrics home. There were protests from the brothers in the background. She had asked around and since it's such a close-knit town, almost everyone knows Winry.
A man driving from the South entrance of the town mentioned seeing Winry near the banks if the Rain River but when Riza arrives at the riverbank, she isn't there.
"Damn it." She calls up Roy again and asks if Winry is there?" He says no. Roy proposes he comes and help and she is about to accept when she hears a gruff and a child-like voice further down on the riverbank. "Hold that thought Mustang. I'll call you back."
"Riza–" She cuts off the line. Whoever it is, their presence is somewhat chilling even at a distance.
The sun is long gone but the moon illuminates the area bright enough for her to see in front of her. She hikes cautiously towards the unfamiliar voices.
"Let me go!" This time it's a young girl's voice. The gruff voice is telling her to shut up.
It's Winry's voice.
…
Off topic: Hey guys, someone please tell me I'm not the only one watching Shinrei Tantei Yakumo. It's an awesome anime!
Don't be afraid to review. I'm curious to know what you guys/gals think so far of the story. :D