Now back to our story. Hmmm, let's see... Riza saw a very disturbing scene in the coffee shop, correct? Let's see how this ends up.
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The day after Riza had left him in his office, to sort out his paperwork and his feelings, he woke up and decided to try harder to get her back. He would have to just make her listen. Hopefully she wouldn't slam the door in his face or something. Shaking his head, he pulled on a shirt and stepped into his pants. Within minutes, he was dressed in a nice pair of civilian clothes.
Walking out of his apartment, he hailed a cab. Even though he was the Fuhrer, he prefered not to use the government's vehicles. It would cause a fuss everywhere he went, everyone would want a word with him about something or other. Sighing to himself, he told where the cabbie where to go.
Smiling to the man, he handed over the Czenz for the ride and exited before the man could notice who he was. It didn't take Roy long to find the woman once more. She was where she had been all the other times he had bought flowers. Walking up to her, he cleared his throat. "Hello, Ma'am. Nice to see you still here." The woman smiled at him and nodded, "and it's nice to see you again, Fuhrer."
Roy bowed his head to the woman, "you can call me Roy, Ma'am. Today, I'm looking for a flower that says, 'The reason I live, is for you.' Do you have anything like that?" The woman gave him a confused look for a moment, before she looked over all her blooms. There were 2 flowers for him to choose from, the Red Carnation or the Red Camellia. Picking both up, she showed him one at a time.
The woman handed him the Red Carnation, "this flower is called a carnation. By itself, it may not mean much, but when it is red, it has a deep meaning. A meaning that tells the reciever of it, that the giver's heart is aching for them, to be near them." Roy nodded his head; thinking that maybe, this one would work for what he needed it for, but then the woman pulled it away and showed him another.
The next flower to be shown to him was also red. But it looked almost like a rose. It had rose shaped petals all in the same spots as a rose. But the middle has white stringy stalks coming out of it, that had little yellow heads on the tops. The flower itself was beautiful, like a rose, but because of it's slight differences, it was called a Camellia. "This is a Red Camellia, Roy. It is meant to tell the recipient that they are a flame in the giver's heart. Both of these flowers can tell the same story of love, but for you're purpose.. I'd have to say the Red Camellia is the way to go."
Roy looked at the two red flowers in her hands, thought about the meanings of them, then nodded to her. "I suppose you are right. The Camellia is probably going to get my point across better than the Carnation." He pointed to the Camellia and the woman nodded back to him. "Good choice, Fuhrer." She put the Carnation away and pulled several more of the Camellias out of the vase they were situated in. "A bouquet of them?" Without a word, Roy nodded.
After paying the flower lady, he took the neatly wrapped bouquet of flowers and walked from the stand, all the way to Riza's apartment. He had to practice what he would say, so he decided to take the long way. "Riza, look. I know what you saw.. You saw me kissing her. I know it looked bad... But.."
He went on trying to find a way to tell her to believe him. But after a few tries, he was at the entrance to her apartment. And he still didn't know what he was going to say to her. Swallowing his pride, he nodded to himself. He was prepared to beg for her forgiveness, if only she would listen to him.
"I really hope she listens at least... Maybe she will finally believe me.." He was seconds from knocking on her door. 3, 2, 1. He knocked. The time it took for her to answer, ticked in his head, making him even more nervous and anxious for her appearance. The door opened slightly, only a few inches. Riza looked out of the crack, seeing Roy standing in front of her door, flowers in hand.
"Roy? What do you want?" She waited for his reply, holding the door only inches from closing. "I wanted to give these to you." He shook the flowers gently as not to break the fragile red petals off the blooms. Riza's eyes lowered to the blooms in his hand, and opened the door all the way. "Okay, was there anything else?" He nodded his head and looked at the flowers still in his hand, before turning his face back up to her.
"Look Riza... I know what you saw, but I also know what you didn't see." This earned him a confused look from the blonde. "What, if anything, didn't I see? Did you leave with her too?" Those words stung Roy's heart, which to him, felt like it was beating 10x faster than normally.
"No, I didn't leave with her. I chased after you. I pushed her away and ran after the blonde who was staring at her kissing me. The blonde who, I'd be a fool not to chase after. That's why I'm here. To try to right my wrong." Riza shook her head; partly in doubt of his honesty, and partly so he couldn't see what his words were doing to her. "Roy... You kissed her back. The fact that you say you pushed her away doesn't mean you wanted it to end."
Roy groaned, not because he was annoyed with her. But because she was just stating a fact. Sure, he liked it. Who wouldn't? But when he opened his eyes and wasn't met by hazel eyes, blonde hair and the face of one Riza Hawkeye, he had pushed Vanessa off of him. How could he keep kissing her, when someone more better suited for him was waiting? Someone who had stowed away in a small corner of his heart when they had first met. But never left, only took up more space until there was no more room for anyone else? "Riza, that isn't the point. The point is... I didn't want to kiss someone who wasn't you."
Once again, like it had in the past few weeks, Riza's breathe hitched in her throat. "Roy... You have to go. I have work to do." With that said, Riza closed the door in his face. Luckily for Roy he was a few centimeters from getting hit in the face with the door.
Sighing, Roy felt his nose. It wasn't bleeding, but the sudden shutting of the door made him think he had gotten hit with it. He shook his head and walked away from the door, going back outside the building.
After closing the door, Riza turned her back to it and slowly slid down to the floor, the flowers clutched to her chest. She felt like crying once again. But she had used all her tears on him. She couldn't cry anymore, not for him. It was plain to see that he loved her. But she didn't know if she could still love him. Shaking her head, she smiled and looked down at the flowers. No, she loved him, probably always would. But what was she going to do...?
How was she going to be able to trust him... She would have to have a little more time. Getting up slowly from the floor, she walked into the kitchen and pulled a vase out from in the cabinet above the sink. After it was filled half way, Riza set the flowers inside it. They did look beautiful. " Red Carmellia... You are a flame in my heart.." She shook her head as a playful smile crossed her lips. "My flame Alchemist."
With that said, she went back to her work on the table. There was still so much to do. Grumbling to herself, she settled down and sorted the papers, for a few hours. Then she went through them and signed what she needed to. Looking at the time, her eyes started to feel heavy. But she shook her head once and continued for another 10 minutes. She was too tired to continue this work tonight.
She went to bed, not too soon after, promising herself that she would get up and find a way to tell him that she was a little doubtful of their relationship working, but that she was going to be amiable and listen to what he had to say. Riza didn't want this to end, before it could even start.
The next day when she woke up, Riza slipped into some civvies and took to the streets to find the flower stand lady. After she passed the military grounds, she was sure it was only a matter of time before she came across the woman. But, she didn't know it would only have been a few minutes.
"Ah, the young beautiful woman. A Fuchsia bloom, you say? You wish to tell someone you're ready to listen?" The woman said as she handed the bloom to Riza, a polite smile on her lips. "Lover's quarrel?" To this, Riza nodded, "I guess you could say that." That made the woman nod her head once more. "Could it be that Fuhrer, miss?" Riza looked at the woman with a confused look, making the woman chuckle and continue with her words.
"He comes by the day before you do, always. He is a man of the military, black hair and eyes that watch you like a hawk. But he has an aura around him that suggests otherwise, a more... Flirty, player-type of man. That is the man you wish to give the bloom to, is it not?" Riza nodded her head to the woman once more. That was definitely Roy Mustang, Fuhrer of Amestris. But what was he doing at this flower stand? Then it hit her, this was the place he was learning about flowers. From this woman standing in front of her. She had seen him everytime, or at least enough times to know the pattern.
"Ma'am... Could you do me a favor and call me when he leaves your stand next? I'm afraid he's been surprising me as of late..." The woman smiled, but shook her head at Riza. "I'm sorry miss. But I couldn't play spy behind the Fuhrer's back. He's a determined man. I respect him for trying to get you back. It would be a shame for him to lose you so soon to a bad mistake." Taking in what the woman said, Riza paid her for the bloom and walked off.
She was only looking for a messanger boy for a few short minutes when she found one, just sitting on the steps of a bakery. He was not too old, maybe about 13. His clothes were a little dirtied, but he at least had a clean face as he munched on a small loaf of bread. "Hello there, would you like to do me a favor? I'll pay you 10 Cenz, if you take this flower and a message to the Fuhrer." The boy looked at her as if she was crazy.
"Ma'am, they wouldn't let me by the Fuhrer even if I was in the military.." Riza shook her head and smiled at him. "No worry, just tell them that General Riza Hawkeye sent you to see the Fuhrer and deliver this bloom and a message. They should let you in just fine." The boy shrugged, standing up and pushing the last of his bread into his pocket. "Okay then, what's the message?"
Riza handed him the bloom and said, "Give this Fuschia bloom to him. Tell him that I will need some time, but I'm ready to listen to him." With that said, she handed him the money and he was off.
-Day after Fuschia was sent to Roy-
Roy was at the office, as usual on a monday morning. Since Riza was still avoiding him, even after sending the bloom, he let her start working from her apartment. Only bringing in what she was done with or needed signatures on. They didn't get to do much talking in anyway of their personal lives, at least not since his visit to her home. It was getting to the Fuhrer. He was not a shy guy, but he was wondering if she had changed her mind about seeing him and sorting out what had happened a little over a week ago. A sudden loud noise started to draw him from his thoughts.
Looking around him, he finally found the source. His telephone was ringing, Roy reached over and picked it up, speaking into the bottom reciever. "Fuhrer Mustang, speak." A loud voice answered moments later, "Mustang! It's time!" At first Roy didn't know who this was he was talking to. Not until he heard a screaming woman in the backround. "Get back here Al! Ed's on the phone and I need a hand!" Then the response from Al, "but Winry! The last time you squeezed my hand, I swear we were gonna have to cut it off...!" Roy's eyebrow raised as he seemed to be worried about the poor Elric brother. But he shook his head as, who he assumed to be Ed, said; "Gotta go, sir. See you soon!"
With that sentence said, the phone line went dead and Roy was back to being by himself. It took a few minutes to process the information just given to him. But when it processed what was happening, he got up and left the office at a fast walk.
-Same day, only moments after the call with Roy-
Riza was working at her kitchen table when the telephone started ringing. Getting up from her seat, she picked up the reciever. "Hawkeye." There was a scream from a woman in the backround that sounded like Winry. It was saying, "Ed, if you don't get off that phone, I will personally rip your other good arm off!"
"Ed..? Is that you?" Another moment of silence from the person whom called, until; "Riza. Sorry to bother you... But it's time!" The news made Riza's mouth curl into a bright smile as she nodded her head, even though Ed couldn't see it. "Okay Edward. I'll see you as soon as I can." Then, they both hung up their ends of the phone. Riza picked up her things that she would need and stuffed them into a bag and ran to get Black Hayate's leash. 5 minutes after hanging up with Ed, she was out the door and off to the train station.
A/N: Okay. I'm super sorry it's so late. But I have been having a little hectic of a life this new year. :C But oh well, I'm working on the next chapter! :) So, if you don't know the drill... Read X Review! :D
