DISCLAIMER: All recognizable material belongs to Hiromu Arakawa.

A/N: This one references Girls and Protector; cinemascope08 suggested I have this chapter relate to the last, and so it does :) this one's not as light as the last one, but I hope you enjoy it anyways!


~Promises~

Roy's head spun as Riza led him upstairs. She took him into her bedroom, the one room in the house he had never been in - had never been allowed in. His confusion deepened when she crossed the room to the window, drawing the curtains closed. He shut the door behind him out of habit.

"Your father kept his notes in your room?" he asked, bewildered. He'd thought his late sensei wouldn't have let them out of his study.

When Riza spoke, an edge of bitterness tainted her voice. "I suppose you could say that."

Roy opened his mouth to ask another question, but the thought flew out of his mind as Riza faced away from him, slipping her jacket off. Roy's mind went blank. She didn't stop there. Her white blouse followed, and Roy could tell she wasn't wearing a bra underneath. As the garment rode up her back, all Roy could comprehend was that most of her back was discolored. It took him a long moment to realize what he was staring at: an alchemical array, permanently marring her skin.

Roy wanted to vomit.

Several minutes passed before he found his voice. "What the hell did that man do to you?" he yelled.

Riza winced. Her shoulders shook, and Roy realized she was crying. He took a deep breath, his hands clenching into fists. Before he knew what he was doing, his jacket was off and he was moving towards her. He wrapped his coat around the girl's shoulders, and she instinctively pulled it closer to her to cover her front. Roy rested a hand on her shoulder.

"I'm so sorry, Riza," he muttered. "I promised I wouldn't let him hurt you… look at you. To think the man could be so heartless to use you like this… Dammit, I should have been there, I should have stopped him-"

Riza shifted and turned her head towards him; a steady stream was pouring down her cheeks. "Don't blame yourself for this, Mr. Mustang," she ordered, no signs of her tears betrayed in her voice. "I don't want to watch you suffer over it too."

Roy took another deep breath to try to steady his trembling. "We don't have to do this right now. I can wait until you're ready."

Riza shook her head again. "I don't want to drag this out. Take your notes and be done with it."

He hesitated for a brief moment before giving her shoulder a gentle squeeze and taking his coat as she removed it and handed it back to him. "I'll be right back," he promised, hanging his overcoat on a coat rack mounted next to her door.

With leaden legs, Roy dragged himself across the hallway into his old bedroom, picking up the stationery set that he'd left and grabbing a stool off the floor. Returning to Riza's bedroom, he set the stool down on the ground behind her, placing his hands on her shoulders again as he sat her down. She complied wordlessly.

Instead of kneeling to inspect the marks on her back, Roy found that he was frozen where he stood, unable to bring himself to study her as though she were a notepad. His hands were shaking violently.

"I can't," he whispered.

Riza winced at that, turning around to look at him. Upon seeing his head turned away, his eyes screwed shut, tears threatening, she felt her own throat constrict. She'd managed to stop crying, but her face was still tearstained. "Maybe we should wait until you're ready, Mr. Mustang," she said quietly.

He nodded, still not looking at her. She leaned over the stool, grabbing her blouse off the floor and slipping it over her head. Pulling her jacket on, she stood and crossed the two feet that separated herself and Mr. Mustang. "Are you all right?"

Roy's dark eyes snapped open and they bore into her. "You're the one whose father physically abused and scarred her, and you're asking me if I'm all right?" he nearly yelled. He tried deep breaths again; they were beginning to lose their effect. He was finding it harder and harder to calm down. The last thing he wanted to do was scare her. "Look at you," he finally muttered, his voice slightly softer.

Her eyes fell to the floor, away from him. "I know. I'm not exactly 'pretty' anymore, am I?" she whispered bitterly, referring to the day they'd met. Riza suddenly felt ruined; she knew no man would want her now. Even apart from the sexual ramifications of having her back defaced, who could love her? Not even her own father had given her that much. The array on her back was proof enough of that.

Riza jumped at the feeling of warms arms around her, pulling her against Mr. Mustang's chest. She stiffened in surprise.

"You're beautiful, Riza. No matter what that man did to you, you are still as beautiful as you were the day I first saw you," he told her earnestly. She refused to let tears touch her eyes again, though she was grateful for his words. Riza couldn't make herself thank him with words, but her gaze and expression were clear enough.

They held the others' gaze for a brief moment before Roy leaned in, pressing his lips to her forehead. His arms began to withdraw from her as he pulled away, but on impulse, Riza grabbed his collar and held him there.

Later, she would guess that the reason was that she needed to feel something other than the pain and fear she'd lived in most of her life. Or maybe she just wanted some reassurance that she mattered to someone. But really, at the time, all she knew was that she wanted it.

"Kiss me like you mean it, Roy," she told him, her voice barely above a whisper.

He froze, his eyes darting to her lips and back to her eyes - the color of honeysuckle, the same dark shade they had been all those years ago. Slowly, he nodded, and her eyes fell shut.

His stomach flipped nervously, but somehow he managed to swallow his fear, leaning in to meet her lips with his own. Roy kissed her slowly, though he could tell she wanted more from him, even if she was young and didn't quite know it herself. He knew she was hurting, that she was trying to escape. He wanted to help - even if he didn't know her as well as he did, even if she didn't mean as much to him as even he could barely admit to himself, he would have wanted to help her; he'd known from an early age that that was the sort of person he was. But this was wrong; this was not the sort of comfort she needed. If he let it go any further, he'd be taking advantage of her.

Roy broke the kiss, leaning his forehead against hers, their noses brushing. "Why don't you try to get some sleep?" he asked quietly. "It's been a long day; you should rest."

Her hand clenched his collar again; this time for a different reason. "Don't leave," she pleaded, fear leaking into her tone.

"I'll be right across the hallway, Riza. I'm not going anywhere," he told her, his words sounding like a promise.

Roy was grimly reminded of the last one he'd made her - one he'd inadvertently broken. He closed his eyes, swearing never to break another promise to her again.

"I won't leave you."


A/N: Please don't be shy, I'd love any comments, criticisms, compliments, anything you have to say. Just drop in little review :3