Yay! So here is another chapter! I'm trying to make it so I update as often as possible. Maybe this will minimize the death threats I've been getting. Kidding Kidding. In any case, I am sure that someone will recognize a good portion of this chapter, as it was indeed inspired by that, and the first part of it was written the morning after. It provided a good way for me to kinda say something about it without really having to. But I should say that I'm really happy that I had the chance to finish this today, because it's been bugging me all week. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Roy had spent the rest of the afternoon on the couch. Time and again he glanced at the book, flipped through it, turned it over in his hands, flipped though it again. He stared at it listlessly, his mind far too overwhelmed for him to be showing much emotion towards it now.

"Why did it have to be me?" he wondered aloud.

The thought struck him as wrong, though. If it wasn't him, it would have been someone else, and that person may not have the capabilities to fight those monsters. But he couldn't help but think that this was terrible timing, especially considering that his relationship with Riza had only recently begun to escalate.

Later that night, he slowly rose from the couch and hobbled into the kitchen and got himself a small snack and some scotch, which he downed in two gulps. He poured himself another glass and this time took that and his snack into his bedroom, where he set the food on the night stand and flopped onto the bed. A small wave of pain washed over him then, and he cringed, but it wasn't bad, since he had numbed himself – if only a bit – with the alcohol, and for that, he was thankful. Then he took a small sip from the glass and sighed.

You'd better...

When Roy first heard the knocking, it was light, almost hesitant. He thought it was something down the street, and decided not to concern himself with it at first, but then the noise became frequent, loud, frantic. He groggily sat up and glanced at the clock. It was about one thirty in the morning. He scratched his head and stood up slowly, reaching for the light, only to realize that it was still on. With a small sigh, he walked down the stairs and opened the door, only to be shocked by what was before him.

There was Riza, breathing heavily, tears in her eyes, hands clasped in front of her chest.

"Riza?"

"Sorry..." she whispered. "I just...I just..."

Unable to say another word, she threw herself into his arms, sobbing uncontrollably. Taken aback, but not much unphased otherwise, he placed his arms gently around her, burying his face in her hair.

"What's wrong, Riza?" he asked quietly, speaking not above a whisper.

"I...sorry. I just...I..."

She held onto him tightly, gripping his shirt, nearly clawing the flesh underneath and sobbed heavily. Slowly, he led her over to the couch and sat her down, and when he sat down with her, she threw herself at him once again, burying her face into his chest.

It was quite a sight to see. Here was the beautiful and otherwise contained Riza Hawkeye; hair disheveled, clothes wrinkled, sweat dripping down her brow and tears down her cheeks, sobbing like a child, or rather, like she had just lost something very dear to her.

She was the only sound that rang out through the house. Her sobs, so full of fear and despair, would not calm or quiet. Roy could not help but think how terribly sad the sound was, and it was all he could do to not burst into tears himself. Other than her cries, nothing else was heard, and he said nothing. At long last, when she calmed a little, he stroked her hair, whispering quietly in her ear.

"What's wrong?"

"I...I'm sorry...to have bothered you so late at night."

"No, don't be sorry. It's all right. But how about you tell me what's wrong?"

"I..." She paused for a moment, took a deep breath. Roy could feel her lips part and move, back and forth, time and again, trying to form words, but she succeeded in succumbing to helpless sobs once more.

"Please don't leave!" she screamed at last. "I beg of you, please don't leave me! You may never come back...what if you don't ever come back! Please...just please don't leave!"

Roy was stricken by this, and his grip tightened on her, and his eyes, now an obsidian that was becoming dull and polished with the struggle to fight his own tears, narrowed.

"I'm sorry," he whispered. "But I have to go. If I don't, they'll keep coming for me, and that means that they might come for you too. If something happened to you... if I lost you... I don't know what I would do. I would probably not be able to live with myself. And so, I have to do this. I have to take care of this, so that you don't have to run the risk of being hurt anymore. I know you're scared, but don't worry about it so much. I promise I'll come back to you, ok? I promise."

"You'd better," she said between subsiding sobs. "You'd better come back. Because if you don't, I won't be able to go on. I refuse to go on without you."

"Don't say that," he protested as lightly as he could. A forced smile cracked his face, and a small chuckle that was full of anything and everything but laughter tapped his vocal chords. "If something happens to me, you have to go on. There are people who depend on you, and Hayate needs his master.

But you also need to be able to go on for yourself. You're a strong woman, Riza. You and I both know that. And if you can handle everything you have been up to now, and have that same demeanor at work that tells nothing to anyone, then you can continue to do so. However, I wouldn't honestly recommend being so seemingly emotionless, even at work. If you need to express yourself, than you should every right to do so, without anything holding you back.

And that's why I'm glad that you are now. Sure, I hate to see you like this, and you crying has got to be the saddest sound and sight I've ever seen. But I'd rather you be crying now, before I leave, and telling me how you really feel, than to have you do so when I'm away. When I can do nothing for you at all, even in the earliest hours of the morning."

She said nothing. Her eyes were closed, and she was listening to his heart now, which pounded ferociously in his chest. The hands that had gripped him so tightly loosened now, and she relaxed ever so slightly, sinking into his embrace. Her sobs had subsided for the most part, although tears still fell in a stream to meet with the ocean of Roy's cerulean blue shirt. Then she felt something against her head, and recognized that it was Roy, running his fingers through her hair again, working around the tangles that had no doubt formed whilst she was running to his house.

"I'm sorry," she whispered again.

"Don't be sorry," Roy whispered into her ear. His breath against her flesh made her shiver, and she clung closer to him. "It's alright. Everything's going to be alright, ok?"

She nodded slowly, the tears subsiding. Roy's hand through her long silky locks became for graceful, and took to playing with the strands of gold.

"Just trust me, alright? I'll come back, safe and sound. In return, I just want you to stay strong, and be the same Riza I love. Let me come back to the beautiful, strong, Riza that I will love forever," he smiled as he gently lifted her chin with his index finger so that he could look into her eyes. "That's 'equivalent exchange,' isn't?"

She smiled lightly and nodded, her eyes bloodshot now from crying so heavily.

"Good. It's a deal then," he said.

With that, he brought her chin a little higher and pressed his lips to hers. Riza was surprised when she felt a single wet drop fell onto her cheek, and when she glanced at Roy, she saw the small transparent line that proved him guilty. Although just that single tear tore her apart, she closed her eyes and returned the kiss. She felt as Roy's hands, which were previously positioned in her hair and under her chin, moved behind her back to support her. Not that it mattered any. She found herself being lowered, sinking deeper and deeper into the couch until she was on her back.

The exchange between the two became passionate, hungry, desperate, and before either of them knew exactly what was happening, they pulled away from each other slowly, hesitantly, panting for air. One of Roy's hands was now entangled in her hair, disappearing under long golden strands. The other held one of her own, their fingers entwined tightly, as though both of them were afraid to let go. Slowly, he freed his hand from her hair and nestled her cheek in his palm, smiling.

"Look at you," he said with a serene smile. "So gorgeous. I can barely restrain myself."

"Then why do you?" she asked lightly, running her free hand through his hair.

"I wonder why," he replied with a smile, and then lowered himself to her, pressing his lips to hers again.

Once again, the exchange was almost desperate. It was as though both of them felt that, despite Roy's reassurance, he wouldn't come back to her, and if he did, he would not be the same, and therefore, neither would she. Slowly, tantalizingly, he ran his finger from her cheek, down her neck and along the side of her body. To her, the sensation was unlike anything she had ever felt in her life, and she moaned into his mouth, fighting the urge to bring him closer to her. The sound however, spurred Roy on, and he brushed his fingers delicately, deliberately, over her body. He was rewarded with another moan, longer than before.

It wasn't long before they became more frequent, and soon, they were both laying on the couch, Riza on Roy's chest, resting above his heart, which was going about a mile a second. Their breathing was laboured; but it didn't matter to either of them. Roy played with her hair again, but this time, his movements had an exhausted quality. He with the other hand, he tugged on the collar of his shirt.

"Is it just me, or is it really hot in here now?" he rasped as he struggled to get oxygen into his lungs.

"It could be hotter," she teased.

He laughed a little and shut his eyes, smiling serenely again.

"Yes, I suppose it could be." He lightly kissed her hair, and then looked about the room. "You know, I'm starting to wonder if the Philosopher's Stone is really what it's said to be. Maybe... maybe it's not as perfect as it is rumoured to be."

Roy didn't receive an answer. When he tilted his head up to look at her, he found that Riza had fallen asleep, a peaceful smile playing across her lips.

It was the birds outside that wakened young Riza Hawkeye. Her eyes didn't want to open at first, and she rolled over and tugged the blanket over her head, and groaned. Any minute now, Hayate was sure to come bounding onto the bed, jumping all over her, panting, barking and whimpering for her to get out of bed and take him outside. However, minutes passed, and she almost fell asleep again, but the birds sang louder, as though insisting that she get up. Slowly, she sat up and looked around, wondering why her pup hadn't tried to dig her out of the covers yet. Then she realized that the full sized bed in which she lay was not her own. The room was painted differently, and a desk replaced the dresser. No, she recognized this room. It was Roy's bedroom.

She got out of the bed and made it, then ventured out of the room. The house was lit with sunlight, which streamed into the house through opened curtains. A couple of the windows were open as well, and the calls over morning songbirds echoed throughout the downstairs. A cool spring breeze blew into the house through the openings, and made the air in the home smell fresh.

Stepping into the living room, where she last recalled being, she saw the couch had a blanket on it again. That must have been where Roy slept. But he was not present. Except for the chirping outside, no sound could be heard throughout the entire house, and there were no smells to suggest that breakfast was being made. The only evidence that she had not been the only one in the house the whole time was a fresh blood stain on the couch, where Roy had been sleeping.

Ooooo. So saucy! Hahaha. I really wanted to make this scene extremely romantic, since he's going to be leaving, on a 'life or death' trip situation thing. I wanted it to be like 'Will I ever see you again?' 'Maybe, and maybe not. But I promise I'll love you forever!' Kinda thing. But I guess that I really just love the fluffage. When I was writing Roy's speech, I really wasn't paying attention to what I was doing, and by the time I finished the speech, I decided that I should look over it and make sure it was powerful and didn't have any typos, since that would kinda take away from its...powerfulness. And so, when I got done with it, I couldn't help but laugh. I realized exactly what I was thinking of, or rather, what was in the back of my mind when I wrote it, and I couldn't help but find it... almost satiric I guess. I wonder if any of you thought that something else was going on when the romanticness came. I thought I was going in that direction for a moment there, and then I was like 'NOPE! WRONG!' and went somewhere else.

In any case. I want to say that the end is coming. It's going to be exciting, but due to the fact that there's going to be some action, it's probably gonna take a while. Action seems to not really be my thing. In fact, if anyone has any pointers on how to write actiony fight scenes, please tell me! Anyway, I'm sorry for taking up so much space this time. Thank you for reading! Until next time, Ja ne!

Words of Wisdom:

Of all the interesting things in our world, one of the most intriguing would have to be the flavours of fruit. Ahhh yes, the fruit. Fruity things have such an... interesting and pleasing flavour, and quite often, one can taste that for a long time to come.