A/N: Ehhhhhhhh, it's so shooooooort. Shorter thanEd. I don't like the short ones; the long ones have so much more awesome wrapped up in them. Ah well: enjoy it anyway! (Or not, because apparently Roy sucks at writing letters.)

I do not own FMA.

Thirty-five - Letter

Riza:

I'm not putting the word 'dear' in front of that; makes me sound old, or something. Now that I put pen to paper, I'm honestly not sure what to say. The war goes on, and so far for me, so does life. Whoever said 'war is Hell' wasn't kidding.

I won't waste your time with every little complaint I have; I doubt I could list them all, anyway. I'm just writing to let you know I'm okay, and I hope you are, too. Out here, I'm never really near a phone, but mail is regular. I told you to call me if you needed to talk to someone, but for now . . . I guess just write, and I'll call you the minute I get the letter. I promise.

Like I said, I'm still alive, and I hope you'll write back.

Roy

Roy:

I was glad to hear you're all right; just make sure you stay that way. I've trusted you with a very dangerous secret, so I'll trust that you can survive to make it back.

I think I can understand all the things you have to complain about. Goodness knows that being on the front lines is no life of luxury, and certainly not a camping trip with a group of friends that all happen to be wearing the same clothes. You don't have to tell me about the horrors of war; I read about them enough in the newspapers.

Keep your head down, and your nose clean.

Riza

Riza:

I smiled when the guy on mail call handed me your letter; that's the first time I've done that over here. It's like proof that humanity still exists somewhere.

Speaking of our little secret, I don't know how many times it's saved my life already. Every time it does, I've thanked you. I don't know whether this makes you a bodyguard in absentia, or just an angel watching over me from far away, but without you sharing your father's research, I wouldn't be writing to you right now.

. . . This got depressing really fast, I'm sorry. I'm still all right.

Roy

Sitting on the sand beside a dwindling fire, Roy stared at the letter in his hands, one written to him from the blonde curled up a few feet away. A slower-than-usual mail system had caused it to reach him just a day after finding her in Ishval. All those letters he had sent to her, thinking she was living in her father's house, had been re-directed to her at the military academy. She had never once mentioned it.

I didn't want you to worry, she'd told him. Or try to talk me out of it.

Dark eyes slid sideways to look at the face cast into flickering shadow by the firelight. It's too late to tell me not to worry, he thought. Reaching over, he tugged her blanket a little higher around her shoulders; her father had asked him to look after her, after all. He wondered if Master Hawkeye had meant 'look after her' in a more . . . permanent sense. There had been any number of thinly veiled hints of what would happen if Roy were ever caught romancing Riza while he was an apprentice, but now? He wasn't sure what would happen.

Brown eyes blinked sleepily open as he moved his hand away. ". . . . Aren't you asleep yet?"

"Was just about to," he answered. He held up the envelope and folded piece of paper covered in her handwriting. "I was just reading over a letter from a very close friend of mine. She writes to make sure I'm still all right."

Riza regarded him seriously for a moment. "Sounds like a nice girl."

"She is." Lying back, he tucked the letter and envelope into a pocket on the inside of his jacket, next to his pocketwatch. "I write her back to make sure she's still okay as well."

"I'm sure she is, sir. She's got someone like you looking after her."

I've started re-watching the 2003 FMA series; I know there's all sorts of negativity toward it, but I don't mind. I want to hear from you guys: what's your favourite part from the 2003 series? Include it with a review, or shoot me a PM.