A/N: So sorry for the very late chapter. I've been very busy the last couple of months (I just got married last month and was sick for a while afterwards) so I wasn't able to write any fanfiction until recently.
Birth of a Sniper:
"Here." Roy dropped a medium sized wooden box on the dining table. "This is for you."
Riza eyed the box suspiciously. "What is it?" she asked.
"Just open it."
"It better not be another one of your pranks," she muttered as she gingerly lifted the lid. Her eyes widen in surprise at the contents and she quickly dropped the lid. It fell back onto the box with a loud thud.
"What the hell! Why did you give me a gun?"
"So you can defend yourself."
"You're kidding right?"
"No, I'm not." Roy carefully took the revolver out of the case and began loading it. "Sensei asked me to watch over you right before he died but I can't do it if I'm away at the academy. The best I can do for now is teach you how to use this so you can protect yourself." He handed her the weapon and she took it reluctantly. It felt odd and heavy in her hand.
"This is crazy. You can't possibly expect me to use this to kill someone do you?" Roy looked at her sternly.
"I expect you to use it for self-defense. There are people in this world who will try to take advantage of a young girl so you need to make sure you know how to use it." He motioned for her to follow him. "Come on. I've set up a target in the backyard."
Riza carefully dismantled her pistol and placed the components on a large handkerchief in front of her. One of the many things that annoyed her about fighting in the desert was the fact that her firearms constantly required cleaning to make sure they were free of sand or other debris that could jam it. While she didn't mind the actual cleaning (it took her mind off of other, more disturbing things) it was a time consuming task.
She looked at her watch. Her shift started in just under an hour, which should give her enough time to finish cleaning and reassemble the gun. Picking up the gun frame, she began to clean it with a piece of cloth. While she rubbed the dirt off it Roy's words from years ago echoed in her mind.
So much for using it just for protecting myself, she thought to herself as she put the now clean frame back on the handkerchief and proceeded to clean another piece.
Roy smacked himself on the head. Which tent is hers? he thought as he stared at the sea of identical military-issued tents in front of him. He mentally berated himself for not paying attention when he walked her back to her tent that first night.
Damn. Maybe I should just wait until I see her again.
Reluctantly, he had just turned around to leave when another person collided into him, causing both of them to fall down.
"Hey! Watch where you're go….Oh, Major Mustang, I'm so sorry about that." Roy looked up. It was Riza's dark-haired friend.
"That's ok," he said sitting up. "Are you alright Cadet…umm…"
"Catalina. Rebecca Catalina. I'm a friend and classmate of Riza's." She quickly got up. "Look, I'm really sorry about running into you. I was just-"
"It's fine. Nothing's broken," he replied, slowly getting up. While he brushed the dust off his coat, he realized something. "Say, do you happen to know which tent is Cadet Hawkeye's?" he asked, waving his hand at the sea of tents. She looked at him incredulously.
"Of course. It's that one," she said, pointing to a tent on his left. "Just look for the most perfectly pitched tent."
Roy grinned at the comment. He should have known. Riza was always a bit of a perfectionist. "Great, thanks. I was hoping to talk to her but I forgot which tent was hers."
"If you want to talk to her you better hurry. Her shift starts at 1500."
Roy nodded. "I will. Thank you, Cadet."
"You're welcome, sir," she saluted before running off.
Grinning, Roy walked over to the tent Rebecca had pointed out and whispered "Riza?"
There was a sound of something being dropped before he heard her voice. "Who is it?"
"It's me. Can I come in?"
There was the sound of more shuffling before she responded again. "Yes." He lifted up the tent flap and walked inside.
The tent was set up similar to his. A small cot sat on one side of the tent while a table with a washbasin and mirror stood on the other side. A small fold-up table sat next to the cot with a kerosene lamp and a few boxes of ammunition resting on it. Riza was kneeling in the middle of the tent, a dirty cloth in hand, with pieces of a handgun lying neatly in front of her.
"Can I help you Mr. Mustang?" she asked.
"I just wanted to talk," he answered, sitting down on the ground across from her. He stared at the disassembled pistol briefly before turning his attention back to her. "What happened to the revolver I gave you?"
"I still have it here."
Roy looked around the tent. "Where?"
"Somewhere safe."
"Oh." They were silent while she finished cleaning. While Roy watched her carefully reassemble the pistol, he couldn't help but think just how skilled she had become with firearms. He grinned as he remembered how awkward she was the first time she held the revolver. It never once crossed his mind that the girl he once taught how to shoot would become one of the military's most prized snipers.
"OK. Now hold the gun steady." He stood behind her, making sure she was holding the weapon properly.
"This is ridiculous," Riza muttered under her breath. Roy chose to ignore the comment.
"Now pull the trigger and be careful of the recoil." She squeezed the trigger and fired. A loud bang erupted from the gun and Riza took a step back, apparently unprepared for the force of the recoil. Roy grinned at the shocked expression on her face before walking over to his makeshift target.
There was a dent where the bullet grazed the very edge of the target.
"Ok. Not bad for your first try," he called over his shoulder. Riza scoffed.
"I missed the entire target."
"Everybody misses the target the first time. You can't expect to be a sharpshooter the first time you pick up a gun," he replied as he walked back towards her. "Anyway, let's see your stance again."
Riza rolled her eyes before bringing the handgun back up. Roy walked around her, checking her stance. He placed his hand on her waist and gently nudged her a little to the right.
"The gun's tilted. Keep it straight in front of you."
"It is straight."
"No, it isn't," replied Roy. He walked behind her and reached out to place his hands over hers and moved the gun to the proper position. He felt her stiffen slightly.
"First rule about gun safety: keep your finger off the trigger until you're ready to shoot," he said as he gently moved her index finger off the trigger. "It'll prevent you from accidently shooting yourself in the foot or something stupid like that."
Riza didn't say anything. As Roy leaned in over her shoulder to get a better view of the target, he noticed a scent of jasmine coming from her hair. It was a rather nice fragrance and it took a fair amount of willpower to ignore the intoxicating scent and focus on the target ahead of them.
"Alright, you're ready. I'll help hold the gun steady while you pull the trigger, OK?" he murmured into her ear. She nodded. He felt her move her index finger back onto the trigger and squeeze it.
BLAM!
The bullet hit the target, missing the bullseye by only a few inches. He heard Riza gasp before uttering excitedly, "I almost hit the center!"
"See? It's not that hard to use."
Riza turned her head and smiled at him. Roy grinned back at her. It had been a while since he had seen her this happy. She was actually quite pretty when she smiled and Roy inadvertently found himself getting lost in her eyes. He snapped back to reality when he realized just how close they were. He quickly let go of her and took a step back.
"Umm…how about you try a few shots without my help?" he coughed.
She looked at him, somewhat confused at his sudden actions, before nodding. Lifting up the gun, she aimed at the target again…
"Mr. Mustang?" a voice broke his train of thought.
"Huh?" Roy asked, looking up. Riza was looking at him.
"You OK?"
"Yeah. Sorry. I was thinking about something."
Riza nodded and went back to cleaning the handgun. While he watched her wipe the barrel with a clean cloth he couldn't help but think it was all his fault. If he had never taught her how to shoot, never told her about his stupidly naïve dreams she wouldn't be in front of him right now getting ready to go out and kill.
"Riza?"
She looked up again.
"Do you regret joining the military?"
"Sometimes. I don't enjoy killing people."
"I'm sorry."
She gave him a confused look. "What for?"
"I'm the reason you're here. If I hadn't told you about my dream…if I hadn't taught you to shoot you wouldn't have joined the military."
She sighed and put down her pistol. "It was my decision to join the military. Like I said a few days ago, I wanted to help make a difference and protect our country. You never actually encouraged me to join."
Roy looked down at the ground. He felt a little better knowing that she didn't blame him but it still bothered him that she was here in the first place.
"Plus I-I had hoped…" she began before stopping.
He looked up at her. "Hoped what?" he asked.
"Nothing," she said, blushing slightly. She quickly got up and placed her pistol back in its holster. "I should go. My shift starts soon and I still need to find Rebecca." She picked up her sniper rifle that was lying on her bed and turned to leave but Roy stopped her.
"Riza…" he said softly, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Tell me what's wrong."
She looked down at her boots. "It's nothing."
"It's not nothing if it's bothering you."
She was silent for a moment. "Mr. Mustang," she finally said. "We both joined the military out of our desire to help protect the future of this country. I entrusted you with my father's research because I believed that it would help create the utopia that we both dreamed of; a world where everyone could live happily. Yet, every time I'm on the battlefield all I see is death and despair." She looked up at him.
"Tell me, Mr. Mustang…Why are we killing the citizens we vowed to protect? Why is alchemy being used to kill when it's supposed to help people?"
Roy looked at her sadly. "I don't know," he murmured. "I ask myself the same question every night."
"Do you still believe that dream can come true?" she asked.
He hesitated. "Yes I do," he finally answered slowly. "Despite everything going on here I still believe that we can make the world a better place. I have to believe it…or else everything will have been for nothing."
Riza looked down but Roy could've sworn he saw a slight smile on her face. They were silent for a moment before she eventually spoke again. "Father would probably be quite upset with us if he was still alive wouldn't he?"
Roy chuckled. "He would've hunted me down and killed me for filling your head with all that nonsense about how the military helped people." Riza smiled.
"Father never liked the military. Especially the State Alchemists."
"Nobody outside the military likes us. To them we're sell-outs who only care about helping ourselves-."
"Which you aren't," interrupted Riza. She looked up at him. "I'm glad. After I saw the flame attacks from the watchtower I was worried that perhaps you had abandoned your dreams but I know now that you haven't."
Roy stared at her, somewhat stunned by her comment. She honestly thought he had given up on helping people? Then again, seeing the type of things he was forced to do here he couldn't blame her for thinking that. "You know me better than that, Riza."
"I know. But war can change people…"
"That's true but my ideals won't change. I promise you that."
Riza smiled softly. "Good…I really should go though. I don't want to be late for my shift."
Roy looked at his pocketwatch. It was almost 3.
"Alright," he replied, giving her a small nudge on her arm. "We'll talk more later." She nodded in agreement and they made their way towards the tent entrance.
Rebecca stared at her watch. Ten minutes to three. Sighing, she leaned back against a pile of rubble and looked over to where Riza's tent was. She hoped her friend would come out soon. Their supervisor, Colonel Ramsay, was an impatient man who would throw a fit if a soldier would show up just one minute late and she was in no mood to listen to another mindless rant about how a soldier should never be late to the battlefield. Personally it made absolutely no sense to her. What kind of soldier would want to show up early to die on the battlefield?
Peeking out from behind the rocks, she surveyed her surroundings before quickly ducking back down again. Major General Raven was still nearby harassing female soldiers. The old lecher was constantly trying to recruit women to his squad, especially the pretty ones. Rebecca shuddered as she recalled the time she and Nora, another sniper, were assigned to help his men during a raid. General Raven kept looking at them with a lecherous grin on his face and made several unsolicited advances on them during the course of the mission. After that, Rebecca purposely made sure she was never within 50 feet of the old man whenever possible which was why she was currently hiding behind a bunch of rocks.
She had originally intended to go warn Riza when she saw General Raven but when she bumped into Major Mustang and found out he was also going to see her she decided otherwise. Riza had very few friends to begin with and she could tell from the conversation they had during breakfast that the Major was someone dear to her. Not to mention, she wasn't going to ruin her best friend's chances to get laid.
Rebecca chuckled as she recalled the conversation she had earlier with Riza. They had known each other for three years yet Riza had never so much as hint to her that she was acquainted with the Flame Alchemist. The again, if it were her she probably would've wanted to keep it a secret too. There were quite a few girls at the academy and on the front lines who thought the Major was HOT and would have bombarded Riza with questions and requests to meet him if they had known she had grown up with him.
God…how much longer are they going to take?
Just as Rebecca was debating whether to go over and get her the flap opening parted and Riza walked out, followed closely by Major Mustang.
Finally!
"Hey Riza!" she called, waving her arm. Her friend looked over in her direction and smiled. Rebecca watched as she turned around to say a few words to Mustang before walking towards her.
"About time you showed up," she exclaimed when Riza finally reached her. "I was this close to having to go get you. You know how much Colonel Ramsay hates it when we're late."
"Yeah, sorry. I guess we lost track of time."
"So what were you two doing?" Rebecca asked, giving her friend a small nudge. Riza gave her a confused look.
"We were talking."
"Just talking?"
Riza's eyes narrowed. "Yeah…What did you think we were doing?"
"Oh nothing."
Riza looked at her suspiciously but said nothing. They quickly began walking towards their command station when Rebecca suddenly leaned over and pulled down the collar of her turtleneck.
"What the hell are you doing?" Riza demanded, batting her hand away and instinctively bringing her hands up to her neck.
"Looking for hickies."
"Oh for fuck's sake, give it up already."
Rebecca grinned. It was going to be so much fun teasing her from now on.
Riza peered through her scope, scanning the area for any signs of danger. Fortunately, most of the area around their "nest" was already secured so she spent most of the afternoon taking turns with Rebecca spotting for enemies while dodging Rebecca's pestering questions about what she and Roy "talked" about. It was getting rather annoying and she wished her friend would just give up and accept the fact that they were just friends and nothing more. There was absolutely no way Roy would ever be interested in her as more than just a friend.
A small movement at the very edge of her scope suddenly caught her attention. Riza quickly shifted her rifle to find the source of the movement.
Two young Ishbalan boys were playing off in the distance, trying to knock down a group of empty cans placed on a stone wall using rocks. Riza couldn't help but smile slightly when she saw one of the boys grin widely when he knocked down one of the cans. With all the carnage here it was actually nice to see some semblance of normalcy. She moved her rifle down a little and noticed a squad of soldiers about a block from the boys.
This isn't good…
"I've found something," she called out to Rebecca.
"What? Where?" exclaimed Rebecca while she scanned the area with her spotting scope.
"See that giant rubble pile there? Look over 25 meters to the right. There's two children playing near a wall."
"25 meters…" echoed Rebecca. "Ah! I see them! What the heck are they thinking playing out in the open? That looks like Colonel Gran's squad moving towards them."
Riza didn't say anything. It was moments like this when she hated being a soldier. Killing enemy soldiers was one thing. Killing innocent civilians like women and children were another. She gritted her teeth and adjusted her scope while a voice in her head screamed This is wrong!
"What are you doing?" she heard Rebecca ask.
"Following orders. We have an order to shoot at any Ishbalans we see."
"But-" began Rebecca but Riza stopped her.
"They won't stand a chance when the soldiers see them." She looked over to her friend and added. "Trust me on this."
Rebecca gave her a confused look but didn't say anything. Riza carefully lined up her shot and fired.
BLAM!
She held her breath as she watched the younger child stagger a few steps back before tripping and falling over. He stared wide-eyed at the newly formed bullet hole on the wall approximately 6 inches from where he had stood only a few seconds before. The older boy quickly ran up to him and grabbed him by the arm, jerking him back onto his feet. The little boy looked, confused, at his companion before realizing exactly what had just happened and quickly followed his friend up an alley.
Riza sighed in relief while she watched the two boys run off in the opposite direction of the approaching squad. Hopefully they would escape the city or at least find a place to hide. Looking over at Rebecca, she noticed her friend had a big smirk on her lips. Riza shrugged.
"I missed."
"Nobody's perfect," replied Rebecca with a smile. "Especially not a cadet." Riza grinned.
"Guess I still need to sharpen my skills some more."
"Hardly. You're already one of the best snipers here. If anything you need to stop sniping so well so the rest of us don't look so bad."
Riza couldn't help but grin even more. "Then let's switch places. You'll need more training if you want to catch up to me."
"Fine. But you didn't have to rub it in," remarked Rebecca. Riza simply smirked as she watched her friend take her place by the ledge before grabbing the spotting scope. As she adjusted the lens she couldn't help but think of all the people who had lost their lives because of her.
"I hate killing," she muttered to herself.
"Hmm? You say something?" asked Rebecca.
Riza shook her head. "It's nothing. I was just thinking out loud." Raising the scope to her face, she attempted to scan the area but her mind was still preoccupied. She sighed in frustration. She couldn't wait for her shift to be over.
A/N: I normally don't solicit for reviews but if you enjoyed this please review. It makes me happy that people like the story and will motivate me to get chapters out faster.