I'd just like to say a big thank you to everyone who reviewed last time, even if it tends to be the same people :) Here's the next chapter.
Disclaimer: FMA belongs to Arakawa
Chapter 9
Things had gotten worse, Garand had developed a fascination with using the fountain pen to harm her. He had gotten more careful as well, he had moved her desk to the side of his, so when he was feeling anger he could sneak up behind her and gag her before he scraped the pen down her arms. He also avoided hitting her face as much as possible as it would give everything away.
That wasn't all. She hadn't spoken to Roy once in the past week. He approached her but she would walk as far away from him as possible. He would eat lunch with her and the other men but she gave him no reply. He continued to stay behind and help her finish the mountain of paperwork dumped on her but eventually she told him to just leave. Not that he listened. They just worked in silence and went their separate ways. Roy wouldn't leave until she went into her apartment, but she refused to say anything to him. It was worse when he would ring her up to talk to her, all she could do was ignore the phone and it killed her. But she had to do this. The closer they were the more likely he would work things out. She couldn't risk anything. She would endure this alone and stop Roy from being distracted from his goal.
She could see how annoyed and flustered he was as well. Ranting to the men, begging her to talk-this was not how he should be.
Roy was tired of her silence, he needed to talk to her. He glared at every man that came in contact with her throughout the day. He was suspicious of every one of them except their unit. He needed to confront her therefore he purposely snuck into work early to run into Riza. She was just stood waiting outside the office for someone to let her inside. When she did notice him, she was too slow.
She didn't expect him to drag her into the nearest closet and then seal the door with alchemy.
"Now we can talk." He turned to face her, his face set.
She didn't speak she just looked at the floor.
Roy grabbed her shoulders and shook her lightly. "We don't have to talk about what happened at my apartment, if you don't want to. I just want you to talk to me."
She sighed. "What do you want me to say?"
"Just tell me anything." She shrugged out of his grasp.
"I can't tell you. Please just stop asking and open the door." She again she looked only at the ground.
He let go of her shoulders. "I'm sorry. I'll stop asking, it's driving a wedge between our relationship." He would stop asking for now, but he wouldn't give up on finding out what had happened.
"Yeah," She muttered bitterly
"Can we change that?" She looked up at him confused.
"Come with me tonight to the military's formal dinner. I promise I won't ask you again, we'll just try and have a good time."
"I thought you never went to those 'stuck-up' dinners." Her voice was in a jokey tone, she sounded more like her usual self than she had all week.
"We get free food and it's the perfect opportunity to kiss higher up ass." He pulled a toothy grin. She laughed lightly.
"Can I take that as a yes then?" He inched his head slightly towards her. She nodded.
(-)
Riza stared at her wardrobe. She had to hide her arms and her back. Funny how all the scars on her body came from men. She laughed bitterly and decided on the purple dress she wore for Armstrong's party estate that covered the neck. She pulled on some long gloves and placed a gun in the holster around her thigh. You could never tell when bad things would happen.
(-)
The evening itself was pleasant. There were very few low ranking officers, so all of the guests were mainly generals and their wives. Roy and Riza felt slightly out of place, but ignored it. This evening wasn't about them.
They talked and talked about little things that held no importance, they joked about their men and they laughed at the Generals and their wives. All was well. Roy had begun to see Riza smile effortlessly and appeared to be having a good time. Which made him happy too. However he looked around at all the male officers he knew Riza saw on a daily basis at the command centre and wondered which one was the guilty one.
So by the time they sat down to have their dinner, they were very happy about each other's company. Riza hadn't been so content in a long time. They were waiting for some more Generals to appear so they could eat.
Roy kept nudging Riza and telling her embarrassing stories about the Generals around their table. She tried hard to muffle the laughs and slapped Roy playfully.
"How much longer do we have to wait? I want to eat!" Roy whined and he swung his legs like a child. He turned to see Riza talking to the person sat beside her, her back to him. An evil grin appeared on his face. He slowly put his hand out to grab a bread roll in the centre of the table. He would finally relieve his hunger.
But he never picked up he roll. The butt of a gun hit his hand first and on instinct he retracted his hand.
"Don't be rude. Wait till everyone's here." Riza quickly slipped the gun back into her holster.
"But Riza!" He whined louder this time. Everyone at the table glared at the couple. Several tutted and shook their heads in disapprovingly. They didn't like the way Riza talked and treated him. She seemed so disrespectful and violent.
"I'm going to the bathroom. Don't eat anything while I'm gone." She waved her finger mockingly at him and departed.
When Riza had finished her business in the bathroom, the corridor was dark. The only light came faintly from the grand hall. Because of that she didn't see her attacker.
He slammed her against the wall. Riza reached for her gun.
"I wouldn't pull that out if I were you." It was Garand. She let her arm drop to her side and prayed for him to leave quickly.
He put a hand around her throat and pushed her into the wall.
"I watched you attack Major Mustang." She made eye contact with him confused, "What right do you have to abuse a man, a higher ranking officer at that!" His hand pushed her further into the wall.
"Your disobedience is disgraceful." He put both hands around her neck and began strangling her. She felt the grip tighten and the air entering her body decrease. She grabbed his arms in attempt to get him to remove them, when that didn't work she hit his arms rapidly. When that didn't work she tried to scratch and claw at his face.
"Damn Bitch! Know your place!" He lifted her and shook her, arms still around her neck.
When he had enough, he released his grasp and Hawkeye fell onto the fall gasping for air. Garand pulled her up by her hair. He pushed her against the wall again and put his arms either side of her head.
"Women don't belong in the military. If you intend to be in a relationship you should lower yourself for him. You should serve him with no regards to yourself. You are merely his possession therefore you shouldn't be attacking him!"
He leaned towards her and glared at her. "You can't be soldier and you certainly aren't worthy of being Mustang's girlfriend." He pushed her face into the wall. "I have an order for you: Become a male military officer or leave the military and act like a proper woman."
She looked at him, terrified. "Do that and this will stop and Mustang will be more likely to regain his old position." Riza looked at him as a sign of hope.
"I expect you to get working on it soldier." He removed his hands and began walking away. "But it's not like you don't deserve this, after everything you've done in Ishbal. It's about time someone beat some sense into you."
Riza rushed into the toilet. She splashed water on her face continuously. She looked at her face in the mirror and pulled the collar of her dress down slightly to get a look at her neck.
There was already purple bruising around it. She shook, she placed two hands on the counter to balance herself, but the shaking didn't stop.
(-)
Garand's words still echoed through her head as she stumbled slowly out of the bathroom. The shaking had stopped and she had made her decision.
In order to get Mustang to the top she needed to stay in the military. Also becoming a normal housewife just didn't seem normal for her. Therefore she had to become a male officer. She hadn't worked out how things would work out, but Garand hadn't given her a time limit. So she would work towards the goal slowly. He probably meant speaking in a low voice and acting more masculine, she wasn't too sure really.
The corridor was still dark, but from the light coming from the hall revealed a man stood waiting. Roy approached her.
"You took a long time. Is everything all right?" He looked at her accusingly. Her eyes face was still wet from where she splashed her face with water. She still nodded though.
He cupped her chin and kissed her. "Maybe we should go eat now Roy." She didn't sound angry or annoyed. She sounded robotic.
"Maybe we should go home and I'll eat you." He kissed her again and slowly moved to kiss her neck. He was pushing the collar down with his face when Riza pushed him away. He was getting too close, any further he would have seen the bruises.
He looked at her confused and rejected. Roy moved to touch her shoulder and apologize when she moved away again.
Riza had realised he was too close. She was reminded of Garand's order to become a man. If she was Roy's girlfriend then that would defeat the idea of being a man. Their relationship was an obstacle.
She thought about the options rationally. She could break up the relationship and keep him safe and get him closer to the top. She could risk her happiness for that cause, right?
She would try.
Roy no longer moved towards her. "I'm sorry?" He wasn't sure what he was apologizing about but he still tried.
"No, I'm sorry." She kept her eyes fixed to the ground. "I can't continue with this relationship." Her chest ached in pain. "It's for the best." Her voice broke slightly at the end.
Roy's heart, on the other hand, shattered. His mouth fell and words took a long time to form. "Why?" Was the only thing that came out. He was shaking.
When she didn't reply he became more coherent. He shook her shoulders. "What are you thinking about? Tell me what's going on!" He shouted in desperation. A tear was forming slightly in his eye.
She made eye contact with him briefly and saw the water. It was about to trigger her as well.
Riza pushed him away and ran into the darkness, repeating again that she was sorry. He stood there dumbstruck.
He wanted to run but his legs wouldn't move. Instead he fell to his knees, palms on the floor.
I don't really like how it came out but I hope you guys enjoyed it. Let me know what you think :)
