I wasn't going to put a warning on this, but then I figured I probably should since this kind of thing does actually happen to people and it can be traumatic. This chapter involves a creepy stalker/guy that has an agenda and is out to hurt someone. So don't read if that kind of thing makes you uncomfortable.
I also transcribed a scene from the Brotherhood specials/manga book, FMA Chronicle, you'll know it when you see it. I didn't come up with that scene, it was all written by the amazing Hiromu Arakawa.
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If you asked Jay Soren, there were a lot of things wrong with the State Alchemist program, the main issue being that they rejected him. He had so much to offer and the military was too blind to see it. Sure he may have lost his temper and might have gone a little overboard when he began destroying government property, but that was no reason for them to threaten him like they had, several times in fact. So of course he lashed out and started injuring officers. That was a normal reaction, wasn't it? Anyone would have done the same. He wasn't crazy, everyone else was.
When Colonel Mustang, Lieutenant Colonel at that time, was sent out to subdue and arrest Jay, the rejected state alchemist had been furious and swore revenge on the Flame Alchemist for getting him thrown in jail for a year.
And now, as Jay followed who he recognized to be Mustang's loyal and pretty bodyguard, he formulated a million plans in his head about how he could exact his revenge using the woman and possibly the young alchemist she appeared to be trailing. They were both probably important in some way, the woman being important to Mustang and the boy being important to the military if he was so young and managed to become a state alchemist, and Jay could use that to gain the upper hand. He could use them as hostages maybe. Yes, that might be the best idea. Outright killing them might not do him any good.
Jay followed them until they all stopped at the same inn, the young alchemist and the boy in the suit of armor went in first, the woman going in after them a bit later. He grinned, now knowing where they were staying, and slunk off into the shadows to bide his time until the most opportune moment to strike presented itself.
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On the train ride back to East City, Riza got the distinct feeling she was being watched. No one really stood out to her after doing quick and discreet scan of the others in her train car, so she attempted to ignore it and returned to reading her book, though she remained a little on guard out of habit.
Unfortunately, the feeling didn't leave her even after she disembarked the train and began to make her way home after making sure the Elric brothers were off the train and out of sight. She knew she was being followed. At least whoever it was seemed to be after her and not the boys. Riza knew she could take care of things on her own and the Elrics had enough to worry about without having a stalker tacked on to everything else.
Instead of going home, she made a detour to East Headquarters in an attempt to throw the stalker off and it seemed to work. The feeling of eyes on her dissipated as she entered the building and she sighed in relief, walking to Mustang's office to see if anyone was still around that evening. She figured it was probably a good idea to wait around for a while before going home, just to be on the safe side. A stalker knowing where she lived would have been a problem for more than one reason.
Hawkeye approached Mustang's office and noticed the door was unlocked and the lights were still on inside. She figured it was Roy frantically trying to catch up on the paperwork he undoubtedly put off in her absence and upon entering the office, she was indeed met with the sight of the colonel at his desk, sleeping face down on a large pile of paperwork. The sound of the door opening and closing didn't even wake him, which meant he must have been unusually tired, something Riza wasn't surprised about by now. Roy being unusually tired was something that coincidentally seemed to happen every time she was gone on an out of town mission without him.
Riza sighed and stepped up to his desk.
"Colonel?" she said, just loud enough that he would hopefully hear and wake up.
Roy groaned and slowly woke up, rubbing his eyes and looking around blearily. When his eyes landed on Riza, he was so startled he almost fell out of his chair.
"Lieutenant!" Roy yelped, sitting straighter in his chair in an attempt to keep it from toppling over. "When did you get back?"
"About half an hour ago," Riza replied, unfazed by Roy's ridiculousness. For a moment, she considered telling him about the fact that she thought she was being watched, but decided against it, not wanting to add on to the stress she already knew plagued him for most of his waking hours. "Perhaps you should go home, sir, it is a bit late and you can finish this up in the morning."
Roy blinked and wiped a hand down his face then glanced at the clock on the wall.
"Maybe you're right," he sighed, standing and giving her a tired smile. "Going soft, are you, Lieutenant?"
Riza returned his smile with one of her own, barely visible unless one looked closely.
"Just for now," she said, a hint of humor in her tone. "I expect you to finish all of that in the morning."
Roy chuckled and walked around his desk to stand beside her.
"Fine, fine, I promise I'll get it done. Shall I walk you home, Lieutenant? A lady shouldn't have to walk home alone in the dark."
Riza was about to agree to that, but remembered the stalker and frowned a bit.
"I think I can manage on my own, sir," she said, hoping he wouldn't argue. "You seem to be very tired and I don't want you to have to go so far out of your way."
She should have known he wouldn't take no for an answer. This was Roy Mustang afterall.
"Nonsense, It's only a few minutes out of my way. It would be no trouble."
Riza sighed, knowing he was going to walk her home no matter what she said, so she gave up and nodded.
"Alright Colonel, thank you."
Roy grinned and held the office door open for her, locking it once they both stepped out.
"It's really a nice night," Roy said, glancing up at the sky and breathing in the fresh air as they walked out of headquarters.
"It is," Riza agreed, not actually noticing the environment around her as she was too busy glancing around them to make sure no one was following.
It didn't seem like anyone was watching them or following them, so she relaxed a bit, wondering if she had just been imagining things earlier.
Roy's hand brushed against hers and she had a feeling it was not accidental. She allowed his fingers to slowly and gently curl around hers while they walked and the warmth from the contact calmed her.
"How was your trip?" Roy asked casually, releasing her hand.
"It was fine," Riza replied quietly. "I had a good time, nothing much happened, though it was nice to have a break from work."
Roy nodded, understanding her meaning that the Elric brothers were fine and nothing happened to them during their trip to Yeveth.
"Good to hear," he said as they reached Riza's apartment building and she reached into her bag to get her keys.
"Good night. Please be careful on your way home, sir."
"I will, good night Lieutenant," he said, his gaze soft and warm. "And welcome home. I'm glad you're back."
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Three days later, Riza still felt someone's eyes on her whenever she was outside of headquarters. She could no longer chalk that feeling up to her imagining things or being tired. There definitely was someone stalking her, but it didn't really make her nervous. It was just starting to irritate her more than anything and she almost wished whoever it was would make their presence known so she could deal with them.
Roy had a date that evening so left early, leaving Riza to finish up some work a little after hours, not wanting to get too far behind later in the week. Staying an hour or so after work one night was far preferable to staying with a panicked Roy into the early morning hours trying to finish up the paperwork he put off every time. The man never learned.
On her way home, the hair on Riza's neck stood on end and a minor chill went up her spine and she turned her head sharply to look behind her down the dark street, hand hovering over the gun on her back. There was a couple across the street walking arm in arm, but they were clearly concentrating on each other and were most likely not the ones watching her.
Riza frowned and continued walking, faster than before. If someone was following her, they'd have to hurry to catch up to her and she'd probably be able to hear their footsteps when they did. Unfortunately, she heard nothing and she sighed as she reached the stairs leading up to her apartment. Maybe she was just paranoid? She had been under a lot of stress the past week. Maybe a relaxing bath and a nice cup of tea would help.
Riza ascended the stairs and walked down the hall to her apartment and that's when she heard it. The unmistakable sound of footsteps echoing in the stairwell.
"Coming home a little late aren't you, Miss pretty lieutenant?"
A man's deep voice reached her ears and she had her gun drawn before he could even blink.
"Woah now, little lady," Jay Soren said, taking a step back. "I see you're just like him. Shoot first ask questions later… Like superior like subordinate I guess."
Riza's trigger finger twitched as she stared at Jay, unamused, keeping her gun leveled on him.
"What do you want?" she asked bluntly.
"You."
Riza went to shoot his leg in response, but the ground beneath her feet shifted and before she could react, the concrete turned into hands, grasping her ankles and forcing her off balance. She fell sideways and hit her apartment's door and in her confusion, Jay rushed forward and pinned her there. Riza noticed the transmutation circles tattooed onto his palms and inwardly cursed herself for not noticing them sooner. An alchemist was a little harder to deal with than an average criminal.
"These tattoos sure come in handy when I need to transmute in a rush," Jay sneered, leaning down closer to her face. "Glad I got em when I did… Now then, how about you come with me and…"
Jay didn't get a chance to finish speaking before Riza headbutted him then twisted in his grasp to pull a gun from her shoulder holster, removing the safety and shooting him in such a quick and fluid motion that Jay didn't even see it coming. Jay yelped in pain and grasped his shoulder. The cement hands holding Riza's feet dissolved instantly and Jay stumbled back and few steps, almost running into someone that had just come up the stairs moments earlier.
Jay turned to see Roy standing at the top of the stairs. He would have grinned at the sight, happy to be able to face the Flame Alchemist and exact his revenge to the man in person, but the look in Mustang's eyes frightened him terribly and he almost whimpered as he stepped backwards toward Riza, still clutching his shoulder and grimacing in pain.
"You dare to touch my lieutenant like that?" Roy said, voice icy and far too calm.
"You...It's all your fault!" Jay yelled suddenly and bolted toward Roy, intent on knocking him down the stairs, but Roy was quicker and snapped, sending a wave of flame at Jay.
Jay yelped as the flame hit his face, singing his eyebrows clean off and forcing the man to the ground, howling and in even more pain than before.
"I'll keep him here, lieutenant," Roy said without looking up from Jay. "Contact investigations."
"Yes sir," Riza nodded and entered her apartment to make the call.
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"I could have handled that on my own," Riza said an hour later as she and Roy entered her apartment after Jay had been taken away.
"I know, you were doing a damn good job of it too," Roy replied, a proud gleam in his eye. "But I couldn't just let him get away with hurting you like that."
"And what are you doing here anyway? I thought you had a date tonight?"
"I did, but Claire needed to contact the madame about something so she passed off her information pretty quickly. It's a good thing too. What if you hadn't been able to deal with that guy on your own? He surprised you, didn't he?"
"He's been following me for a while." Riza sighed, walking into her kitchen to put on a kettle for tea. "I was expecting it. What I wasn't expecting was for him to be an alchemist."
Roy blinked, eyes widening.
"Wait, what?" he asked. "He's been following you for a while? Why didn't you tell me?!"
Riza shrugged.
"You didn't need to know. You have enough to worry about."
Roy stared at her, dumbfounded that she would even think something like that.
"Didn't need to know? Why can't you just let me worry about you sometimes!? Maybe I like doing that. Maybe I want to know what's going on in your life. Maybe I want to protect you too!"
Riza sighed and turned to take the kettle off the stove.
"You need to focus on your future," she said quietly, retrieving two mugs from the cupboard. "I'm not important."
Roy took a deep breath let it out slowly, stepping closer to her.
"We've talked about this before… You are. You are important. I can't do this without you."
Riza stopped making tea and froze. The emotion in Roy's voice simultaneously broke her heart and made it race.
"Of course you can," she said, refusing to look at him.
Riza Hawkeye, ever the realist. Roy sighed.
"Alright, yes, you're right, but that's not what I meant… It's...It's our dream now isn't it? It would lose so much meaning without you."
A world where he managed to succeed and change the country without Hawkeye there to see it was something he couldn't even imagine. It was unthinkable. She deserved so much. She deserved to see that better world, deserved to live in it and be happy. If there was one thing he hated it was when Riza thought of herself as someone unworthy or unimportant. She was his world, his one point of light in the darkness of his mind. How did she still not understand that?
"Yes," Riza replied, finally looking at Roy. "It is our dream now."
"Then let's do this together. Don't shut me out. No more hiding things… Though I never could hide anything from you."
A hint of a smile appeared on Riza's face at that.
"All right."
Roy nodded and reached out to brush her hair behind her ear, caressing her cheek and jaw.
"Promise?"
"Promise."
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Hawkeye walked down the halls of East Headquarters toward the shooting range, passing a couple of lower ranking officers who parted for her and saluted. She saluted back without pausing in her stride.
"Hey, that was…" one of the men whispered to his friend.
"Yeah, she's the 'Hawk's Eye.'"
The men grinned.
"Seeing her accuracy makes me want to practice more."
Riza didn't seem to hear their praise as she entered the women's locker room. After opening her locker, Rebecca Catalina walked passed and smiled at her friend.
"Your hair is getting long!" Rebecca said, unlocking her own locker.
"You're right," Riza replied. "It's starting to get in the way. Maybe I should tie it up soon."
"You've always kept it short. Why did you suddenly decide to grow it out?" Rebecca looked up and grinned widely. "Is there a man who likes it long?"
"That's not it," Riza answered, only slightly annoyed at her friend always trying to find out if she had any guys she was interested in. Mostly Rebecca's attempts to find out more about her love life amused her. "I met a girl with long hair when I went to Resembool and I thought keeping it long might not be bad."
Riza picked up her rifle, as did Rebecca, and the two made to leave the locker room.
"That's all?" Rebecca said, sounding mildly disappointed. "What a simple reason."
"You think so? Reasons are always simple. We snipers are living in a very simple world as well." The two of them exited the locker room and entered the shooting range together. "A world in which we pull the trigger, and the enemy dies."
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Riza entered Mustang's office the next morning, hair pulled back with a simple brown clip. Roy noticed the change immediately and grinned.
"Good morning, Lieutenant."
"Good morning, sir," Riza nodded. "You're here early."
"Yeah," Roy scowled. "Grumman's going to be out of the office today, but he didn't want to skip our chess match so he had me come in early." He paused and considered Riza for a moment. "Why did you decide to wear your hair up?" He paused again, realizing what he said. "I mean, not that it's bad! I think it looks good."
Riza smiled lightly.
"Thank you, sir, Rebecca gave me the clip this morning."
"Oh?"
"Mhm, she pointed out that it was getting long and I mentioned that it was getting in the way. When I went to my locker this morning Rebecca handed it to me."
"That was awfully nice of her."
Riza laughed quietly. Roy and Rebecca didn't really like each other much despite only meeting a handful of times.
"She's nice a lot of the time."
"I'll have to take your word for it," Roy grumbled, propping his head on his hand.
"I know why Rebecca doesn't like you, but why do you dislike her so much?"
Roy sighed.
"Because she's always trying to hook you up with someone," he muttered, meeting Riza's surprised gaze.
"You're...jealous? Don't be ridiculous, you know there's only one person I'm even remotely interested in." Roy began to grin, but it faded as soon as Riza's next words left her mouth. "Though sometimes he does make me question my sanity for having feelings for him."
Roy pouted and slouched in his chair.
"That's not a very nice thing to say."
Riza's lips tugged up into a small smirk.
"He can handle it. I've said worse things to him."
"This poor guy must really like you to tolerate such abuse."
"He does."
Roy and Riza shared a knowing look, expressions softening as they met each other's eyes and only tore their gazes from one another when the rest of the team filed in a while later.
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I decided to give the random dude a name so I didn't have to keep referring to him as "the man" anymore. It was annoying and confusing otherwise. Lol
I'm finally done with writing all the prompt requests I owed people so I can hopefully focus on this story again. Next chapter will probably skip ahead another year to the canon timeline so see you then!