ROYAI CHAPTER HERE WE GO!

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Chapter Ten: A Month and a Day

May 9, 1916

A couple of minutes earlier—

Roy Mustang was pulled into another hallway by another person. He watched as his Lieutenant walked down the hallway in front of him while wondering who the hell would still be at work at 9:45 PM. He turned around; ready to attack the person who pulled him in when he saw that it was Fuhrer Grumman. "Hello Colonel!" He said, smiling at him and putting a hand up. Roy took a deep breath. He thought it was another General that was jealous of his rank and his actions as Colonel. He also thought it was Major Mikimoto popping up to ask him if he asked Lieutenant Hawkeye yet.

"Your Excellency, what are you doing here this late?" he asked. He knew that the Fuhrer lived somewhere around here, but he never thought of a Fuhrer reporting back to his office.

"Ohohoho," Grumman laughed, "I left my chess board in my office and I came to pick up. One of my bodyguards wants to learn how to play chess, so I told him that I could teach him! However, unlike you," he nudged his elbow into Roy's side. He winced in pain as Grumman had picked the side where he burned himself. "But I wanted to see how things were going for you."

Mustang blankly stared at Grumman. This was very weird place to ask him a question like that. He sighed, "It's going well. Paperwork is still a pain."

Grumman laughed again, "How about that Lieutenant of yours?"

"Havoc is doing well with getting up and around—"

"No, no," Grumman was laughing still, "Lieutenant Hawkeye."

He sighed, "She's fine, sir. We're going to head back to Ishval at the end of the month."

Grumman smiled sincerely, "You can't really leave her behind, eh Colonel?"

"It isn't that," Mustang started to explain; "She insists that she come with me in the first couple months of the reconstruction project."

Grumman nodded in approval, "I can see where she's going. The two of you were pretty infamous in Ishval during the war. She would really do anything to make sure you're safe." Mustang, without a doubt, would do the same. Ever since the Promised Day, he has been holding in guilt from witnessing Hawkeye getting her throat slit. He hasn't felt as useless until he saw that. Not even a rainy day could give him the same feeling he felt. And now he held a promise inside to protect Riza without any hesitation. He could make her life easier instead of harder. "Speaking of Lieutenant Hawkeye," Grumman pushed his glasses up his nose, "let's talk about women." Mustang smiled at that. Even as Fuhrer, Grumman was still the same to him, "How are the ladies here in Central?"

Roy laughed nervously, "They're wonderful. However, I haven't gotten any of them to stay with me for awhile since the Promised Day. I thought the women would like a knight in shining armor."

Grumman laughed, "Oh, I taught you well, Colonel. But what about my granddaughter? As the only family that I have and along with her, I would really like to see her married someday—or at least happy with the man she loves. I want great-grandchildren. She's my only granddaughter and I'm willing to do anything for her to be happy." He had an evil smile on his face, but Roy didn't catch it as a devious smile. He brushed it off as if Grumman was brimming with happiness. He always liked to talk about his granddaughter, but Grumman never mentions her first name. Roy had believed that he was protecting her from some of the people in the military but after while; he began to think that Grumman wanted him to figure out who it was. Though in all the conversations where Grumman's mysterious granddaughter was brought up, Grumman hasn't said any codes or signals that reveal the identity of his granddaughter. "Do you have any leads on who it is?" Mustang shook his head, trying to fight off a yawn. Grumman sighed, "Oh really? I have zero anticipation for you then." Roy's eye brows furled. Now it was clear that Grumman wanted him to find out who his granddaughter was. He patted his shoulder, "I'll let you go your own ways now. Good night Colonel."

He saluted, "Good night, Your Excellency."

Roy climbed into his car with the Fuhrer's opinion about his granddaughter replaying over his head. He still didn't understand why Grumman didn't tell anyone about the name of his granddaughter. He tried to remember the contents of his desk at Eastern Command. There was a picture of a young woman with blonde hair holding a baby, but that image looked so dated and old that Roy believed that it was his wife's image with their daughter. He also started to recall the conversation he had with the Fuhrer concerning Lieutenant Hawkeye and Ishval. Just by that, he realized that she walked home by herself in the dark. And knowing her for so long, he knew that she wouldn't be taking any shortcuts tonight.

He pulled out of Central Command and rolled down his windows to let the stuffy, hot air out of the car. He went down the fastest way to get to Riza's apartment by foot. As there was nobody driving that night, he kept the pace slow and scanned the streets for anyone wearing a military uniform. He wanted to make sure that she was okay. The last thing he needed was her stuck in a sticky situation where he would need to intervene. However, Roy was ready to intervene if he had to. At a stop light, he pulled the glove compartment of his car and checked the handgun that was hidden in there. Roy didn't want to use alchemy if he had to—he was afraid of hurting Riza again. However, if he had to use it… he will.

A high pitch scream caught his attention. He could see about two blocks away a group of men moving to an alley next to a bar. He saw someone as big as Major Armstrong pick up someone as it was kicking and trying to grab attention to someone. He watched as they stuffed a dirty towel in the person's mouth to muffle the screams. Roy drove faster, seeing that he could help the person there. The men looked sketchy and drunk and as he got closer the shape of the person's head started to get clearer. His eyes widened when he realized who it was.

Roy stuck his head out the window to get a better look. It was her all right and now his heart was racing to get to her side. He found a parking spot about half a block away. Roy decided to grab his gun from the glove compartment and run as fast as he could down to the bar. Once reaching the mouth of the alley, he noticed that it was completely black inside. He could hear the men shuffling around and Riza's muffled screams in the darkness. To calm himself, he took a deep breath before stepping in the alleyway. He heard someone throw something on a wooden crate, causing it to break. Then something hit a metal pole and a couple punches were dealt. The scuffing of shoes against the concrete ground entered the silence along with grunts and screams. "You bastards…" he grumbled underneath his breath as his eyes got used to the darkness. He came across another alley opening made by three buildings connected together. The men were all surrounded by one thing in the circle; one had a pipe and was constantly lifting it up and slamming it down to the thing in the circle; a group of three was kicking; and another group was punching the ground.

A growl ripped through Roy's teeth, "What the fuck are you doing to my Lieutenant?" The seven men turned towards him, revealing a beaten up and bloodied Riza Hawkeye. She blinked a couple of times to make out the image of her Colonel standing at the mouth of the second alley. No, she thought, why did you come here? Roy raised his arm, revealing his gun. Clicking the safety off, he growled, "Do anything else to her and I'll shoot you!"

The Armstrong-size man smirked before running as fast as he could to punch Roy in the face. He dropped down to his knees and made his way past him. The Armstrong-size man turned to punch him behind the head, but Roy predicted that perfectly and turned to block him. The other six men decided to join in with the fight, giving Roy a handful to fight with. Riza watched as he tried to protect her. But the whole time, she had to wonder why? Why did Roy want to protect her? Shouldn't it have been the other way around? Once again, she felt like a burden to him just as she felt on the Promised Day. She believed that it was her fault that Roy was blinded by Truth. If they didn't force him to open the Gate, then things would've been different. She would've been dead, but she was willing to die for him anyways.

He maneuvered his way past the other group to get a closer look at Riza. He punched one man in the gut before knocking him out by grabbing the pole on the ground and slamming it at the back of his head. He turned around and whacked another person with the same pole in the stomach, causing them to double over. Roy clapped his hands together and created a couple of knives to pin people down with. One of them decided to ambush him from behind, but Roy dropped to the ground and rolled over, managing to pin him to the ground with the man's hand as the medium. The Armstrong-sized man came to throw Roy to the wall, but he clappedd his hands once again and touched the ground.

The Armstrong-sized man was encased in a concrete cage where he rattled around in and demanded to be let go. The men stopped in their tracks, realizing who they were dealing with. In fear, they all ran away, screaming things such as, "I'm going to die!" and "I'm getting the fuck out of here!"

Roy slowly walked up to Riza. She started to cough up blood which caused him to rush over to her side. He slowly brought her up to a sitting stance, grabbing the towel out of her mouth. There was a scar underneath her left eye that was bleeding and a road burn on her face along with a couple of scars on her arms. After cutting the rope that they tied her hands with, he took off her military jacket to examine the damage. There were a couple of bruises, but he couldn't see how many there were or how big they were. "H-how did you know it was me?" She managed to ask.

"I heard you scream," he murmured, putting an arm around her lower back to give her support, "Can you walk?"

"May-Maybe," she shivered in the cold. Roy pulled off his black jacket and draped it over his Lieutenant's shoulders. He helped her get off the ground, but as she rose, her knees gave way and she fell into his arms. "Sorry, sir," she murmured.

"No, it's okay." Roy lifted Riza up bridal style before putting her on his back as if they were giving each other piggy rides. She rested her hands on his shoulders, keeping her face out of his messy black hair. He hoisted her up, holding on to the back of her knees. He walked out of the alley, smiling, "It kind of reminds you of those days when I was studying under your father and you didn't want to walk around in the kitchen because of that really big spider you saw."

Riza laughed softly, recalling the memory, "Yeah. B-But I could've gotten up on my own."

He groaned, "Too late now. Besides, it's not like any one at work is going to find us like this. It's 10:30, Riza." Usually, Riza would be a little bothered when her superior officer called her by her first name, but ever since the Promised Day and the two of them were in the hospital together, things have changed. For one, Roy always called Riza by her first name when work was over and it was just the two of them. Riza had told Roy that she would do the same, but he hasn't heard her call him by his first name since that promise was made.

Riza rest her chin on his shoulder, "Thanks." She whispered. Roy looked at her, causing her to raise her head higher than his shoulder to make it look like she wasn't resting on top of it. Thank god it was still dark in the alley as he would've easily seen her blushing.

"How did you get in that mess in the first place?" Roy asked. The two of them were now on the sidewalk and he could now see the damage easily. Riza told him what happened to her, and ended up finishing her story when they were at the car. He loaded her in the front seat before running to the other side and getting in. He stored his unused gun in the glove compartment before turning on the car and driving to Riza's apartment. She was amazed that he still remembered where the apartment was by only telling him the address. When she asked him about it, he only replied, "I grew up in Central. I know my way around here."

"Where did you go after work?" she asked, "I heard you get grabbed by someone."

Roy kept his eyes on the road, "Fuhrer Grumman decided to have a short chat with me."

"Oh," she simply said, "W-What did you talk about?"

He sighed, combing his fingers through his hair, "Nothing important. Just things about Ishval and how things were going on with you now that you're back in my command," Riza looked down. She wondered why Grumman would bring her up like that. She put her hands together, rubbing them to keep her mind occupied on something, "And he brought up his granddaughter again," she shot a look at him. Roy slowly looked at her with a confused face, "D-Do you know who she is?"

Riza sighed. Grumman strictly told her to not tell Roy who his granddaughter was; however, her expression gave away her feelings about Grumman's granddaughter. "You're looking right at her."

Roy pressed on the brakes, causing both of them to lunge forward. He exclaimed, "You're Grumman's granddaughter?"

She groaned. Rebecca had the exact same reaction when Grumman told her. "Yeah, I didn't know about it until he rose to Fuhrer." She leaned against the back of the seat, "He's my grandfather on my mother's side. It makes sense that I didn't know much about him."

Roy blankly stared at Riza. When their eyes met, he looked away and continued driving. Grumman's reasons for making his granddaughter happy now made sense. He was gone for the majority of RIza's life and now that he's around, he feels some regret for what happened to her. Now he was going to try to make her life better and he would do anything to make it so. Then it dawned on him; would he flex the fraternization laws just so she could… Roy threw that thought out of the window. There was no way that she held any feelings for him. Underneath the women and the manipulation, Roy did have some feeling but he couldn't let the world know that, now could he? He thought of the reactions that everyone would have. Hughes would be ecstatic from above, Major Mikimoto and her sister would definitely be partying in the streets, and for his men? He predicted that Havoc would get pissed for all the times he stole his girlfriends but he was the only person that he imagined to have a negative reaction. Fuery was probably already "tainted" with the ideals coming from the Mikimoto sisters. Riza started to talk again, "He likes to code my name into different things he says. I've noticed him doing so when you were talking to him last week. And I believe that Dark Night has done the same a couple of times."

He tried to recall the conversation he had with Grumman. He could try to remember what he said word for word, but it never came out perfectly. Then he remembered the awkward statement that he told her, "Really, I have zero anticipation then." He started to break it down and at the same time, he realized what Dark Night had asked him on the phone when it came up to Grumman's granddaughter.
"It makes sense then," he muttered to himself.

When Roy didn't take a turn that would take them around a block and head to Riza's apartment, she asked him, "Sir where are we going?"

"My apartment," he simply stated as if it was nothing out of the usual, "I have some things to clean up your scars with—"

"But sir," she argued, "I'm fine."

He reached into his pocket, taking out his State Alchemist pocket watch and handkerchief. He handed it out to her, "You're bleeding on your face." Riza slowly lifted up her hand and touched her cheek. She removed her fingers and looked at the crimson dots on her white skin. She was surprised that she was beat up that badly. She took the handkerchief and pressed it on her face. She noticed that little dark marks were made on her pants. She didn't feel the blood streaming down her face, but now that she realized that, she couldn't feel her fingers as she pressed them into her cheek.

When they got to the apartment, Riza was expecting it to be as bad as a mess it was when she brought him home after he was discharged from the hospital. Surprisingly, it was almost as clean as hers except for the pile of newspaper on his dining table and random pieces of clothing draped around couches and chairs. "Sorry about the mess," he said as he helped her into the apartment. The two of them helped each other get to the couch where Riza was instructed to sit back for awhile and relax. Roy walked back into the kitchen to get a kettle started. Riza slowly took off his black jacket and found the horrors of the bruises on her arms.

Roy came back, "Damn, they got me well," Riza muttered as she tried to move her upper arms around, but found that they were screaming in pain. She yelped a bit when she tried to move her left shoulder. Her left shoulder was always the sensitive one compared to the right arm from implications during the Promised Day. There were days where the pain came back and she would usually have to rotate and stretch her arm out to get rid of the kink, but this time, the pain was more intense than before.

"What's wrong?" he asked, kneeling in front of her.

She started to move it back and forth, but it was just as worse, "My shoulder. I think they threw me on this side and so it started acting up. It's nothing too bad."

He shook his head, "It's from the Promised Day, isn't it?"

"No, sir," she tried to sound like it didn't matter to her.

He put a hand on her shoulder, "This is the shoulder that Envy got, isn't it?" His fingers trailed up to her neck where the scar from when they slit her throat started. He stopped, looking away from her and closing his eyes. "Dammit," He clenched his free fist.

"Sir, calm down," she said.

He stood up quickly. "I-I'm sorry Lieutenant. I-I just can't..." He looked down, "I can't see you hurt anymore."

"It's okay sir. I'm fine now."

"No, you're not," he growled, still looking away from her. He took a deep breath. Was he willing to tell her now? "You're aware of the guilt that I hold for what happened to you, are you?"

She nodded slowly. He admitted all of this to her in the hospital on one of the nights they were together. He had believed that she was asleep, but of course, with being blind, it was hard to tell if anyone was asleep. "I want to make it up to you somehow, but I just don't know how…" Taking another deep sigh, "I'll lift the challenge off your shoulders… I'll finish up my paperwork in time…" He kept on muttering little things that he could do for Riza. "I could make you happy again," he whispered, not letting her hear anything about that.

"You need to finish the challenge, don't you sir?" she asked as Roy turned around to face her. "I do too. And we both know that none of us would want to share lips with Major Mikimoto." Roy nodded slowly. "I'm not totally up for this because of the fraternization laws but… we could both finish the challenge together."

Roy looked at her as if she was crazy. However, her thoughts were correct; neither of them wanted to end up paying 50,000 cenz and their lives. They've already heard the story from Megumi that someone did kiss Ayame in Xing and she ended up punching him right after. "All right, but we can't tell anyone in the higher ups."

"Understandable," she nodded, putting a hand over her shoulder.

Roy quickly asked, "For how long?"

"A month," Riza first said, but then remembered the clause about they can't date people as if they were using them so she added, "And a day. Thirty two days. After that, we can walk our own paths."

Roy nodded, thinking that was a good idea. However, a small part of him started to form up on the surface. That small part of him was trying to scream at his conscious about dating Riza. He smiled at her, "A month and a day."

PHEW! That was a long chapter!

I hope you guys liked your Royai… I missed writing about them D:

Now the image of Lieutenant Hawkeye being carried by Colonel Mustang on a piggy back is forever burned in my mind… I REGRET NOTHING!

Next chapter: -checks outline- DAMN Lot's of problems! Gotta shake things up here in Central! Not everyone is going to have easy success with this challenge!

Please review!

OH CREDITS TO POKEMONFREAK90 FOR HIS/HER (I never got to ask you D: ) CONTRIBUTION TO THIS CHAPTER! –offers cookie—

Resident Asian

P.S. I have a deleted scene from this chapter… do you guys want me to post it up when the fiction is over? It's actually kind of funny