All right. Sorry for the late update - we are (or I am, to be more exact) now two stories behind T.T This one is particularly difficult to write, not because of anything, just because... I think I'm coming down with a writer's block. If you read this, you'll see there's nothing impressive here other than it's a bit more lengthy than the previous ones, yet I took two days to write this. No worries, though, everything will be finished on the Royai Day because I will depart on my vacation at the night of Royai Day!
I can't wait for the scanlated version of 108. Not that I haven't read the spoilers, because I simply couldn't resist myself. But the spoilers aren't complete!
Thanks to TheFirstTree for reviewing.
Disclaimer: If FMA belonged to me, I would make Roy the main character and entitle it Flame Alchemist... or even better. I would make Roy and Riza the main characters and entitle it Royai. Weird? Yes, that's exactly why FMA doesn't belong to me.
Quake
That morning started peacefully, but Riza had an unsettling feeling in the pit of her stomach. It felt like something bad was going to happen, but she couldn't sense on what it would be. They hadn't had news on serial murderers going around, not about the homunculi or loose chimeras either, but Riza just had a bad feeling, and she couldn't shake it off her mind. She had repeatedly told herself there was really nothing to worry off, yet she was still distracted by this feeling. She could not ignore it, either; she had tried to, and failed quite miserably. The feeling followed her everywhere and continued to bother her throughout the morning.
Maybe she should be proud because her instincts were still as sharp as before, or maybe she should regret for not acting upon instinct. But then again, this was really unpredictable. There was nothing she could do, even if she had known before, or maybe there was. She could have brought Roy, the Hughes family and the rest of her comrades as far as possible. But it would have been cruel to leave everyone else behind… She still regretted she didn't do something when she first had the bad feeling, though. She regretted scolding Black Hayate for being restless since the morning, while all the poor pup wanted to do, she was sure, was to inform her of the awaiting disaster.
That afternoon, a massive earthquake shook the grounds of Central. Tall buildings swung and crumble, the trees fell down like chopped by an invisible power and the grounds cracked. People all panicked – many were buried under their own homes and offices. It was supposed to be a sunny, bright Wednesday afternoon, but the sky was dark with the debris and dust that lingered in the air. It was supposed to be an afternoon full of joy and laughter of the children who played in the park, but it was filled with death and sorrow instead.
When it happened, she was just about to file some reports the Lieutenant General just finished. He finished unusually quickly that day, and she was rather pleased. She was just meters away from the filing cabinet when suddenly the grounds shook heavily. She could hear people screaming around her whilst she tried to be calm and remember what to do on an earthquake. She remembered something about avoiding windows and getting to be any near big, strong furniture if you couldn't get out of the building, and she was certain she did not have time to approach the exit at all. She was on the third floor after all. She put the reports hastily on the floor, undid her uniform jacket and used it to cover her head, crouching beside the filing cupboard. It looked sturdy enough after all. There were no people in the filing room at that time, save for her, and she could hear people panicking outside as she closed her eyes. The ground moved so heavily that it felt like she was on a carousel, spinning around and around. When it suddenly stopped shaking, she could hear several thuds and suddenly she was lying on the floor. The world suddenly turned black.
The female Colonel realized that she must have fallen unconscious when she opened her eyes, conscious once more. She was lying sprawled on the floor. Her position was rather awkward, but she still could see desks, chairs, table lamps, various books and papers scattered all around the room. Riza tried to lift herself up, but couldn't. She felt a heavy pain on her back, as if Brigadier General Alex Louis Armstrong was sitting on her back, no, maybe even heavier than that; and glanced at her back as best as she can in her position, lifting her neck a bit. She gasped as she saw the filing cupboard she was ducking beside had fallen on top of her. No wonder she felt like she was being crushed. The first thing that came to her mind after she registered the large piece of furniture crushing her was the Lieutenant General – Roy Mustang. Was he safe? He was still in their office when she left – if he was still there at the time of disaster… and their office was on the second floor. There was nothing he could hide under or beside in the office, unlike her. But on the positive side, there was no way he could be crushed by a large cupboard like her. She genuinely wished for his safety. Earthquake was one of the natural disasters that took most victims, after all. The second thought she had was on whether her bones were still intact or crushed like how she was feeling like. She couldn't make sure, though. She could only feel pain from her shoulder blade and lower, and she knew her left arm was trapped under the cupboard with the rest of her body. She was thankful that her right arm was not squeezed under the cupboard, though she was not sure what she could do with it in her position. There was nothing she could reach that could help her, after all.
Riza tried to move around as much as she can, seeing if she could slip out of the pressure of the cupboard, but soon found out that she couldn't. The cupboard was too heavy as it is, and despite being military, there was no way a woman like her could lift something like that on her own, especially not on her current position. Maybe Brigadier General Armstrong could, but he was no woman after all, and- look at all his muscles! She was soon tired from all the movements she attempted, and fell asleep uneasily on the carpeted floor of the filing room, sandwiched between the cupboard and the carpet.
She did not know how long she had been asleep when she woke up. She wore her watch on her left wrist, which was unfortunately under the cupboard, and she could not see the clock anywhere in the room. It probably fell during the earthquake. The filing room had no windows to outside, too, so she could not predict what time it was. She could only deduce that it must have been pretty long since she was getting thirsty, and hungry, too. What she thought weird was that nobody had come here to check for survivors at all. She knew she heard people outside when the earthquake happened, where were they? Her thoughts drifted back to her first thought when she first realized her being trapped – Roy Mustang. She could not help but to wonder about his safety again. Well, she was his bodyguard after all, she reasoned to herself. There were so many reasons for her to worry about him. She felt odd when she found out that she felt rather relieved when she thought about how earthquakes were natural disasters. That meant it was not some odd enemy causing trouble to humankind. But then again, to remember how the Father person made the grounds shake… But Father was already dead, and there was no way someone would have a power like that again… or was there?
The sound of footsteps suddenly aroused her from her thoughts. There was someone out there! She might get help; but first, she had to let that someone know about her presence in this darned empty room… What should she scream? 'Help' sounded too helpless to her liking. What about 'I'm here'? She needed to be quick, just in case the person out there thought no one was here and she was left all alone again, not that she minded being alone, but being alone under a cupboard was…
"Help!" she finally yelled. She did not care whether it sounded helpless or not, all she cared was to get out of this damned position and ensure the safety of the Lieutenant General. 'I hope he is safe, I hope he is safe, I hope he is safe, I hope he is safe…'
A black-haired someone popped his head inside the room. What caught his eyes first was the state of disarray the room was it – it looked like a shipwreck. This black-haired man did not see Riza at first. "I thought I heard someone yell, from here?" he mumbled to himself.
"I'm here!" Riza called out again. She could see a person there, what was taking that person so long? Did he think she liked being in this position…
The person, or the man, to be exact, heard the yell and fully entered the room. He was surprised to see a blonde head and a fair-skinned hand sticking from under a cupboard. And didn't the blonde head look familiar…? Oh goodness, don't tell him that was the head of the blonde he had been looking for! He half rushed to the fallen cupboard only to have his suspicions confirmed. He squatted in front of her head.
"Err… Colonel Hawkeye?" He just had to convince himself it was her. It was unusual for her to be in a situation like this; it was usually him.
Wait. Uh, was it really the person she had been worrying for, the one in front of her? Reality was sometimes such a weird thing. Or maybe it was weird all the time. But whatever, at least she needn't worry about him again. And she still needed to answer his question, too. "Whoever else would you think I am, sir?" she replied, her answer still a bit sarcastic despite her current position.
"Uh," was his awkward reply. He scratched his head, which was not itchy at all, awkwardly. "I'll get some help. I don't think I can lift that cupboard alone even if some of the files are already scattered." He stood up and walked out of the room. "Wait here," he said, and cringed when he realized how stupid he must have sounded. "Sorry, I kind of forgot about the… position you're in."
He could feel her glare at him even though his back was facing her. "Just go out and come back quickly, sir. I do not particularly feel like staying like this for more hours."
She did not have to wait long before he came back with ten other men, Heymans Breda and Alex Louis Armstrong among them. The cupboard was soon removed. Riza's legs were probably cramped or broken from the weight that crushed upon them. Either way, her whole body ached. One of the men, a medic, confirmed that her right leg was broken but her left leg was pretty much all right. She insisted that she could walk on her own, though, and Roy helped her up. She latched herself onto Roy's left arm and hopped with a leg, dragging her limp leg along.
Roy laughed. "There's no way you can make it outside like that! That's not even walking!"
Riza glared at him, but could come up with no retorts. Before she could protest, Brigadier General Armstrong lifted her and carried her throughout the walk outside. She was not really shocked when she saw the buildings around the HQ had all crumbled for the earthquake had been massive. Maybe 8 or higher on the scale, even.
The Brigadier General, Breda and the other eight men left Roy and Riza out on a safe place and left again, saying that they should go and search for other missing people. The two sat in silence for several moments.
"I was worried. I'm glad you're alive," Riza suddenly spoke, breaking their silence.
"That should've been my words," Roy disagreed light-heartedly. "I was very concerned, you know, the filing room was on the 3rd floor, though it's now barely above the ground."
Riza shook her head. She was about to start her usual words about not to worry about her for she was merely a subordinate, but suddenly another earthquake took place. It was quite massive, too, though not as massive as the first one, but enough to tear the grounds apart. The buildings sank lower to the ground. The ground between them cracked into two, and they flew to opposite directions.
A/n: Now let me explain to you about the song and the fic a bit. I mean, about the relations. All the parts of this story before Roy found Riza is the tense, fiery part of the song, or the first part. The more light-hearted moments up to the second last paragraph of the story is the calmer part in the song. As for the last paragraph, it is for the final tense and fiery part of the song. I know the length of the third part isn't equal in ratio, but I meant for you readers to imagine what happens next after this in relation to the rest of the song. Sorry for the hanging ending.
And last but not least... Review, please?
