Chapter 25: Familiar Troubles III

Roy stared at his foster mother like Chris Mustang had just told him that she had lost every little bit of sanity she maybe had still possessed after raising him. "Your … your granddaughter?" he asked while his voice nearly broke. He mentally went through the last six years and came to the conclusion that he had been a true gentleman. It was nearly impossible that he got someone pregnant because after everything he went through in the war, he had had a hard time to bring himself to touch anyone with his bloodied hands.

"Yes, Roy , I am talking about your daughter," his aunt said annoyed.

"I have the dark feeling that you know maybe more than I," he muttered. "What's going on, Chris? What – or more importantly – who are you talking about?"

"Vanessa and I went out for dinner tonight," she said smugly, "and because you always said that the Chop Suey in the Golden Dragon was really good, we decided to give it a try…"

He paled. "You are messing things up," he said. "The girl – Laila – isn't my daughter."

"You didn't act like she wasn't your daughter," Chris said frowning. "You acted really fatherly. And it would explain a few things, Roy -boy. I mean, you broke the engagement with Elizabeth because you came to the strange conclusion that she deserved someone better. But instead of allowing her to leave and find someone better, you keep her close and glare at every man who dares to speak with her – including your poor, innocent cousin Phil."

"The last time, Phil was poor or innocent was when he was a baby and Jade hit him with her rattle because he snored when they took a nap – and that was years ago," Roy said. "Phil is as innocent as I and you know it, Madame. This guy can be really mean."

"And why did you decide that your cousin, the boy you vowed to protect at the tender age of ten, is mean?" Chris asked while she felt how she became more and more tired.

"Phil always took away my things!" Roy said with a childish pout. "First he always took my toys and when we got older, he always took my books … and when we were teenagers, he stole my dates! I am the poor victim here, Chris! I did nothing!"

"If you did nothing, Roy, how could you get the poor woman pregnant?"

"I am not Laila's father, don't you get it?" he said annoyed. "I mean, didn't you say yourself more than once that you raised me to be a gentleman, Chris? And which kind of gentleman would be that much of a bastard to leave a pregnant woman in the dust to become Fuhrer?"

"I just said that I tried to make a gentleman out of you," she said. "Oh, your poor father would never have done something like that! He would be ashamed if he knew of this behaviour of yours! And how can you still visit Abby's anniversaries and hold a speech on the happiness she found in her marriage while you are such an irresponsible guy who leaves a woman when she is pregnant with your child, Roy? Wait until our aunts hear of this!"

"Which part of I am not Laila's father didn't you hear, Chris?" he sighed. "Shall I spell it out for you? Or you can even ask Jade. You know that she was always my partner in crime…"

"Roy, how can you dare to lie to me?" Chris asked. "You know that I know the true and you still try to lie to me? Honestly, are you thinking I am that dense?"

"Chris, you can ask Riza if you don't believe me but I am not Laila's father," he said. "She is way too smart to serve in a war while being pregnant," he added. "But that is something I can't say about her cousin. Really, Kay had the nerve to return to the battle while being pregnant!"

"Kay was the state alchemist who had the break-down during the war, right?" she asked.

"Yeah," he said darkly. "And she was Laila's biological mother even though she had to leave the country some months after the war and left the girl with Riza."

"That's pretty cold for a woman who was described as warm-hearted and caring in all of your letters," Chris said with a little frown. "And why did she leave the girl with her not-married and minor cousin? The poor lass could have gotten in trouble for having a child … especially since your best friend Kimblee voiced his suspicions of your relationship with her in the court room…"

Roy shrugged. "There was a short time when we were watched from all sides but it calmed down after some months," he said. "I wasn't even bothered by it … since it was true…"

His foster mother stared at him. "You didn't mean what I think you meant," she said.

"Hello? Didn't you think there was a reason why I couldn't look at her without feeling guilty for weeks?" he asked. "I mean … I would have gotten out of trouble somehow … but she would have been the sacrifice the military would have gladly made to keep everyone in order."

"You are playing a really dangerous game there, Roy-boy," she warned.

He sighed. "I know that I am playing with fire but I am the flame alchemist after all," he said.

"Never forget that a little bit of rain or carbon dioxide can make the flame alchemist really, really useless," Jade threw in. She stood in the doorway and her face was still very pale. "Listen, Roy, I am going for a walk. I don't feel so brilliant tonight and I need a break from the notes."

He turned around to look at her and a little frown appeared on his forehead. "You look like hell, Stormy," he said and got up to check if she had fever. "My, my, girl, you belong into your bed!" he exclaimed. "You are burning!"

She looked up at him with confusion. "No … I feel good…" she muttered.

"Stormy…" he sighed as he used her old nickname again. "Be reasonable. You need a break. You were overworking yourself over the past weeks … and I don't think that I can allow that. Please, go to bed and sleep a little bit."

She buried her face into his chest. "I don't want to sleep," she whispered.

"You need your sleep if you don't want to end up like you ended up some years ago," he said and hugged her gently. "You know how fragile your health can be, Jade."

Jade's body was in fact a constant risk. In spite of being a war veteran like her cousin (she had been in the west instead of Ishbal but still) and of being a renowned user of martial arts, her body was in a terrible constitution. It started with her eyes which were weak – for that reason she wore contacts – and went on with her ribcage which had never healed perfectly after an accident and was therefore prone to breaking again. Her bones broke generally very easy and she attracted bullets like a magnet. Roy knew about the scars on her stomach and on various other parts of her body because he had been there after most of these incidents and as her cousin, there wasn't much she wouldn't share with him.

But even though injuries had taken a toll on her along the years, illnesses had plagued her as well. Insomnia and fear of the dark were the results from her past and a certain numbness that never stopped hadn't helped her either. Her body was constantly strained by colds and other seemingly minor illnesses and according to her mother it was a miracle that her body could still take the permanent torture Jade put herself under. Rigorous training, ungodly hours, never enough sleep, hours of studying ancient scripts … she was ruining herself but she didn't care and her body took it without a problem.

Roy had seen the sheer strength Jade possessed. He had seen her once in combat and countless times in training and her willpower was the reason why she took injuries that would sent most people down to the ground, weeping and crying in pain, with a dark glare and without a word. She was a woman of knowledge but she had been taught from a young age how to defend herself and her beliefs and if Roy was honest, there were only two people he trusted with knives. One was Maes because Roy had been saved by his knives multiple times and the second was Jade because her knife never left her hand and she wielded it with highest concentration, only touching what she wanted to touch and nothing else. The third master with knives had been Martin but Roy knew that it would shatter Jade's resolve to mention him now because while Lynn had been Jade's closest friend, Martin had been her friend as well and she would need time to get over this even though she seemed alright now. Roy knew that Jade's current energy was a bad one. She took her drive from her dark wish to avenge her friends and while he didn't approve of it, he knew that he couldn't do it without her. He needed her because she was the ice to his fire – and he could trust her to stay calm. Well, most of the time at least and this was more than he could say about himself or Riza who had had quite a short temper when they had been younger.

"When I sleep…" Jade inhaled. "I see their faces, Roy. I see Lynn and Martin … and they are trying to say something but I just can't hear them! I should leave and go back to the mansion. I am just a failure … and I can't stand the idea that I could fail you and Phil once more!"

Roy sighed deeply. "Out of all of us, Breeze Soul, you were always the one with the strongest compass and the one who would rather kill herself than fail another person," he said. "You were always the most talented and best-looking out of us. So get up and walk, Stormy. You are such a wonderful and caring person but your low self-esteem is getting in your way."

She punched the wall behind him and hissed when the pain captured her body. "You have no idea how I felt when I saw my little brother … and when he showed me that his hand was gone!" she said. "I promised mama that I would protect him … and I couldn't even hold that promise."

"You are always trying to force yourself to do things you don't really want to do," he said. "Phil is dear to you and I know how much you would do to make sure that he is fine but … you are no goddess. You are an exceptionally talented alchemist since it runs in our family but you are human, Stormy. Don't kill yourself, Miss Emerald."

"…whether I die or not doesn't matter to me," the black-haired woman said as she looked at the knife in her hand. "It's not even the most important question right now. Strength doesn't matter to me either. I am not here to prove a point like you are. I am here for my own reasons. I am not even here to prove that women can be as strong as men or something like that. I am here because you did the unforgiveable. You attacked my brother and my friends. That's why I am here."

"You are truly the knife of the army … the woman in the background, in the shadows…"

"It's there where no one can hit me because as long as I am there, I do not care whether I die or live. I have stopped to care a long time ago. So come at me … if you think that you can destroy me."

"Why would I want to kill a woman who gave up such a long time ago?" the man asked as he turned away. "Your brother has left you and your friends are dead. You claim to be fighting for them while you are simply attempting to die in battle so that no one would realise that it was suicide. I know that you would be stronger than I am – if you would fight like you used to."

"How can you be so sure that I really gave up?" she asked as she raised her knife. "We never fought before … so you cannot know whether I changed or not."

"You are supposed to be fiery, aggressive and everything but rational."

"You are messing something up," she said as she stared at him cold and empty eyes.

"Huh?"

"Unlike my brother and my cousin, I never had the true spirit. I won my battles for selfish reasons. I fought because I considered it the only thing I can best them both in – Phil because he holds back most of the time and Roy because he hasn't seen a true battlefield since Ishbal," she said as she cut her own wrist before she used the blood to draw an array. "I love them. That's why I fight for their sake and why I keep them far from me. I am bad news. My decisions always cause others to get hurt. By keeping them far from me, I protect them. To be arrogant means to be protecting in this case."

The next Sunday, Jade was still ill when Roy left to met Riza for lunch at the Hughes' place. He felt bad for leaving her but Chris would stay with her and when Gracia opened the door, he was happy that he had come. The scene on the couch was adorable. Riza sat there and the four children, Laila, Victoria, Nick and Elicia, surrounded her while she read them a story. Victoria had inherited her aunt's flaming red hair and her mother's violet eyes while Nick was the splitting image of his black-haired, green-eyed father – only that his eyes were brown with green rays. The twins were half a year younger than Laila and one year older than Elicia and obviously big fans of Riza since they were fighting over the privilege to sit next to her at dinner.

Roy sneaked up on them before he hugged Riza from behind. "Always little Miss Popular," he grinned. "First it was the guys back at school, now you have kids fighting over you."

She smiled as she turned her head to look at him. "You look nice," she said, "but tired. Let me guess, you had a surprising visitor too last night?"

"My foster mother, yeah, and Jade fell ill," he said as he sat down next to her. "Who was at your place? Chris didn't say something about it but it makes sense…"

"Vanessa," Riza said with a shrug. "Mrs Robinson let her in … I wonder why…"

"Vanessa has her ways to get into houses," he said. "Well, I listen to the argument between Nick and Vicky and I would say that I will sit next to you if those two don't get along with each other if they don't get to sit next to you…"

Maes appeared out of the kitchen and he dragged Roy away, into his study. "What kind of game are you playing?" the older man asked after he closed the door. "You keep flirting with Riza whenever you see her … you know exactly that she never got over you and now, now you go and increase her hopes … how can you do that to her? And more important: have you any idea of her anger when you break up with her again? Last time, you were in luck that she was on the other side of Ishbal when you had your brilliant idea. This time, she is working for a man who wants nothing more than bring you down. And angry women are really unpredictable."

Roy sighed. "I don't plan on leaving her anytime soon," he said. "I may be an idiot – and Fullmetal and probably even Jade would second that statement anytime – but I will never leave her again. I am not that much of a fool, Hughes." He sighed. "I really start to regret that I threw the ring away when I got it back with her letter…"

"I thought you said that Jade is the one with the fever," Maes muttered.

"Hey, you were the one who wanted me to get married for years. Now I tell you that I have a really beautiful woman in mind and you are making fun of me!" Roy pouted. "And I think it makes sense for me to marry her. She is beautiful, smart and strong. Who wouldn't want to marry her? She is the perfect woman for me."

"Rumour is she turned down Prince Claudio when he visited last year…" Maes shrugged. "The girl is really something else. Most women would have sold their souls to marry this guy…" He looked at Roy. "No need to look that gloomy, Roy. I just told you that she didn't want to marry him. I spoke with him shortly afterwards and he said that she said that there was someone else. I guess that were you … and she really has to like you when she turns down such an offer…"

"She always turned down the best offers," Roy muttered darkly. "I never told Kay but Charles told me once that he had a crush on Riza when they were kids. He confessed it to me the fateful night of Riza's graduation. I guess he was pretty much drunk."

"You and the rest of your merry gang were always speaking about that day but no one ever gave me the details … what was so special about it?" Maes pouted.

"Kay accepted Charles' proposal, Martin and Lynn vowed that they would stay together for the rest of their lives and I finally had enough courage to confess to Riza without fearing her father's wrath because I knew that Serena knocked him and his sister out," Roy grinned. "It was the best day of our lives … and we promised each other that we would never lose each other's friendship. That's why it was just natural for me to keep Riza close after the war."

"You can admit that you didn't want that any other man could get close to her," Maes said.

"That plan was a terrible idea from the very beginning since she was the only female member of my staff," he said with a frown. "Well, I promise you that I won't hurt her. As a matter of fact, I am trying to talk Jun Li from the Golden Dragon into hosting a wedding, something she never does."

Maes sighed. "I know that you and Kay had your problems with each other … but I guess she would be proud of you if she could see you now," he said. "She always wanted to best for your and everyone else … and sometimes she forgot herself in progress."

"She was a great friend," Roy agreed. "Well, can I go back to Riza?"

Gracia smirked at Riza as the younger woman joined her in the kitchen. "So, you and Roy, yeah?" the infamous wife of Lieutenant Colonel Hughes grinned. "I can't say that I didn't see it coming."

Riza had had nearly the same discussion with Kay, many years ago, so she kept the blush away from her face. "He is nice," she said with a little shrug. "And you can't tell me anything I haven't heard from my dearest cousin years ago, Gracia. I am sorry to disappoint you but Kay beats most people even after her death. She is really a stubborn harpy, I am sorry."

"So, you mean you have gone out with Roy before?" Gracia inquired.

She nodded. "I was fourteen back then and he was sixteen," she shrugged. "He asked me out the night of my graduation. I believe that Charles and Martin pushed him into this direction."

"You grew up with Charles and Martin?" Gracia looked nearly jealous. "Of course, I was already with Maes when I met them but they were always so nice. I bet that every woman would have envied Kay and Lynn after seeing how their husbands loved them."

"Charles asked me to marry him when I was four," Riza chuckled. "I turned him down because he had no chocolate for me. He accused me of breaking his heart for years afterwards."

"I believe that Claudio of Aerugo would second the statement that you are a heartbreaker, girl."

The blonde sighed. "What could I do? There was no way for me to leave everyone behind to play the next queen of Aerugo. Furthermore, he told me later that Kay had warned him that I would say no, so I hardly broke his heart … and the last thing I heard was that he has his eyes set on someone else … someone black-haired and really beautiful…"

"I met Kay just once but Maes said that she was an infamous troublemaker back in school…"

"The teachers hated her but her grades were always good. I believe they were all afraid of the things she would do if she would have to repeat a class," Riza said. "And from what I remember, Maes was her partner-in-crime. They had often detention together…"

The older woman chuckled. "He told me that there was no week without detention for him and her," Gracia said. "You were really happy that you got to spend your youth with them. It was surely an amazing experience to live with all of them … and don't you miss it sometimes, Riza?"

The blonde nodded with a soft sigh. "Sometimes it's really hard to believe that they are gone for good," she said. "I guess that we all knew that Lynn would die that way because knowing too much was part of her job description but that all of them would fall down…" She looked down at the necklace she wore every day underneath her clothes. "It wasn't a part of our promise," she said and her voice was full with sorrow and pain.

"You have really a nice necklace there," Gracia said with a smile. "The coin is beautiful…"

Riza nodded. "Kay had been gifted when it came to transmuting things like that," she said. "Look at it … can you see the hawk and the horse above the field?" she asked. "The hawk stands for my family, the sisters' family, and the horse should be a mustang…" she smiled fondly at the memory as she looked at the shiny gold. "The field … well … Charles was the heir of many acres of land somewhere in the west, so it should represent him. Martin is also in the picture. Can you see the stars? Kay always said that he was like the most beautiful and brightest star in the night…"

"You have still the old coin?" Roy asked while he put his right arm around her waist to hold her close as he took a better look at her necklace. "Really, your loyalty knows no boundaries…"

She chuckled. "You can admit that you still wear it too," she said. "The day we got soaked, I could see it underneath your shirt. Have you any idea how surprised I was?"

He grinned. "So … you were checking out my upper body, yeah?" he smirked smugly. "I really hope you saw something you liked…"

She raised an eyebrow. "You know that you always looked weak compared to Charles," she said.

His face fell. "But I stayed alive all these years while he went and got himself killed," he said.

"He died for something he really believed in," she shrugged. "I may sound like Bendix but he is right: I rather watch my friends die for something they believed in than for nothing at all. Call me cold, call me ice-hearted … but you will always know deep inside your soul that I am right."

He looked at her before his right hand cupped her face and his thumb caressed her cheekbone as he smiled sadly at her. "You used to have such a brilliant and heart-warming smile," he said and his voice was laced with regret. "I would give everything to see this smile again."

She smiled but it was only half of the smile she had possessed years ago. She knew that it had been a while since she had really smiled and she could very good remember the last time she had smiled like she wasn't broken. It had been shortly after the war when the doctor Kay had blackmailed into helping her giving birth had give Laila to Riza and when the blond sniper had vowed that even though she would go to hell for everything she had done, that she would take everyone down with her who dared to mess with this perfect little child. Riza had adored Laila from the first minute of the girl's life and she had seen some strange kind of hope afterwards. She had held Laila close to her chest and she had cried when the girl had buried the little face into her chest because it had felt so right, so complete … even though she didn't deserve that kind of happiness. She had never felt that good before in her life and she had held the girl close for a whole day. She had been against Kay's idea at first and she would always admit that but she couldn't deny the fact that she had loved Laila from the moment the huge eyes had looked at her. She had chosen the name Laila because it was related to the name Helena which had the meaning of the shining one and a girl with Laila's smile could wear no other name.

"Honestly, Riza," Gracia said. "Everyone said that you had the most amazing smile before the war and I really would like to see it once in my lifetime…"

The golden-haired woman shrugged. "I just smile that way when some life-changing event happens," she stated. "I believe I really smiled the last time when I adopted Laila…"

"Well, we will need to create another life-changing moment," Roy promised. "I will take care of it after the Promised Day … and you will be happy afterwards. That's a threat, just so you know."

She raised an eyebrow at him. "Don't worry, Roy," she said. "After the Promised Day, some things will be easier than now … and I really wonder when it will finally be the day everything will be a little bit more like we used to like it in our youth…" she smiled a little bit. "Of course, it will never be the same even though we wish the Golden Time back, so we need to move on…"