Chapter 9

Just Have Faith

(May)

Riza never did like clothes shopping. Especially for a fancy dress, she never thought of herself as a girly-girl. But still, she needed a dress for her superior's ball, and truth be told, she wanted to look flawless that night. Dresses were never something she knew anything about, I mean, look what she did for a living. What go would frilly dress do her when she's sniping a killer while her Colonel burned them to ash?

Not much.

Nonetheless, a dress needed to be bought. Only the men were required to wear their military uniforms, while the woman got to glam it up a little more. Riza had considered just wearing her own uniform as well, but this night was for Roy and she wanted to pick something she thought he may like on her. Besides, it wasn't just for Roy that she wanted to look beautiful, she felt she owed it herself, feel like a princess for a night.

Racks and racks of dresses where scattered about the shop she entered, a small bell ringing on the door when she came in. Right then and there she almost had a panic attack, so many dresses and she had no idea where to begin. So, she made for the dresses that sparkled a little bit, figuring something glitzy like that would look nice in the ambient lighting at the hall where they party was being held.

Careful not to hurt her bandaged hand, she grabbed an armful of dress of various colors and styles. Surely, one of these would made the grade, so she took the garments and headed for the fitting room.

Twelve dresses later, Riza still had made no progress. Either the dress was the wrong color, or were far too revealing for a professional get together like the inauguration ball. Riza may not of know too much about fashion, but she knew that none of these dresses were the one.

A sudden knock on her dressing room door made her jump slightly. "Do you need help in there, sweetie?" A sweet sounding woman asked from the other side of the door.

"No, I-" She began, but then stopped herself. "You know what? Yes. Yes, I do need help. I'm dressed so you can come on in."

When the woman opened the door and entered, Riza saw that she had long, straight black hair with a pink shade of eyeshadow on her topaz-colored eyes. A bright pink lipstick painted delicately across her lips. The dress she had on seemed to fit her small frame perfectly. It was a deep maroon color and a small silver chain hanged from her neck and her nails were perfectly manicured.

Riza immediately felt a little insecure next to her. She was really beautiful and seemed to grasp the whole 'fashion' thing far more than she herself did. It was like she'd just stepped out of a magazine for style. But if anyone was going to be able to help her get the look she was looking for for this party, it was going to be her.

"Hello!" The lady said in a cheery voice, her smile was bright. "My name is Eva." She said, she went to extend her hand for a handshake, but noticed how banged up Riza's hand was. "Oh, I'm so sorry, sweetie. Are you okay?"

Riza nodded and waved it off. "Don't worry about it. Just a hand injury, it doesn't even hurt that much. I'm Riza."

Eva looked around the room and noticed a bunch of dresses thrown about. "I saw you come in here with a few selections, are you just not feeling any of them?" She asked.

"Twelve dresses to be exact." Riza said, looking at the mess she'd made. "And you're right, none of them seemed to do the trick for me."

Eva pursed her lips in thought for a moment, looking over the dresses again. After a moment, she shook her head. "Yeah, none of these dresses suit you. They're all a little...over the top?" Eva gave Riza a quick once over and then her eyes lit up. "You know what? I think I have the perfect dress for you, just hang on for a sec, kay?"

Riza nodded and smiled. She had never really met anyone like Eva before. Sure she had girlfriends at Central, but they were all like her, fashionably challenged and far from dainty. Sure, Riza could take someone like Eva in a fight of brawn, but when it came to confidence in her own skin, Eva would destroy her.

A short wait later, Eva was knocking on the door again. When she entered, she held a small black dress that glimmered ever so slightly. She held it up for Riza to admire, draping it over one of her arms.

"Every girl needs her own little black dress." Eva said, now handing the dress to Riza.

Riza looked at the dress with a gulp when she took it. Suddenly noticing the lack of fabric. "I'm attending a military inauguration...isn't this a little bit...risque?" She asked.

The woman just smiled and giggled. "You're a young and beautiful woman with an amazing figure. It's okay to show it off a little bit."

Riza held the hanged dress up to herself and looked at herself in the mirror. Maybe something like this would work.

Eva patted her shoulder, "Trust me." She said with the utmost confidence. "Just try it on and see how you feel." And with that, she left Riza to change.

So, that's what Riza did. She turned away from the mirror, she didn't want to see herself until she was done. When she finally looked at herself, she was stunned. Eva had been right, this dress looked amazing. It was black and form-fitting, and stopped at her lower thigh. The sleeves were long and black, but the material made it look see through. A bright, almost glittering, single zipper went down the back. The front chest of the dress was high-cut, but a small key-hole opening rested in the center.

An excited knock rapped on her door. "Can I see it?" Eva asked in glee, she had known without a doubt that she had chosen the perfect dress.

Riza opened the door and let Eva in. "Yes, I want your opinion and...need help zipping up the back." She said with an embarrassed laugh.

Eva walked in brought her hands to her face in amazement. "You look lovely! See? Classy and sexy at the same time." She smiled, zipping Riza up as she had asked.

Riza felt her cheeks blush at the compliment. "Thank you. I feel...really pretty." She said, looking at herself in the mirror.

"Here." Eva said, handing her a medium-sized black box. "Try these on with it."

When Riza took the box and opened it, inside rested two bright silver heels. The color of the shoes perfectly matched the silver of her zipper on the back of the dress. The lights in the dressing room made them shimmer and sparkles.

"Wow..." Riza remarked as she slid the shoes onto her feet. The bright silver of the shoes contrasted the black of the dress gorgeously. Looking at herself in the dress and the shoes, she'd made her decision. "Yes. I'll take all of it." She said. "I love it."

Eva looked at her. "May I do one last thing?" She asked.

Riza nodded. "Of course."

Eva then went behind her and gently pulled her hair from it's barrette. Blonde hair fell to Riza's shoulders. "There, the look is complete now." Eva said smiling, looking at Riza's reflection in the mirror with her. "It's a military party, right? Show off your hair a little."

Riza smiled. "Yes, it is. It's an inauguration for our new Fuhrer actually."

A mischievous look fell over Eva's face. "And do you have a daaaaate?" She asked playfully.

Riza grinned. "I do." She answered. "He's wonderful and I want to look my best for him, because he means everything to me." Riza felt her happiness trickle away. "I don't know what I'd do without him."

The weight of Roy's end was weighing down heavily on her. Tears filled her eyes and she stepped away from the mirror and Eva.

But Eva still noticed.

Eva placed a hand on Riza's shoulder. "What's the matter, sweetie?" She asked in a consoling voice. "Why the tears?"

Riza knew that as soon as she opened her mouth to the sweet woman, she would just break entirely. But Eva was so kind and felt she actually did care. Maybe she could open up to her? And, just as she'd predicted, the moment she spoke, the tears fell harder with no sign of stopping.

"The man that I'm attending the ball with..." Riza began.

"Your husband?" Eva asked.

Riza shook her head, wiping her tears. "No...but he's the love of my life." She told her. "And he's...really, really sick."

Eva deflated a little bit. "Oh..." She said sadly. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you." Riza just shook her head, she knew Eva meant well. "I take it it's...terminal?" She asked.

Riza nodded, still wiping her eyes. "Yes. The doctor looking after him says he's got about six months left to live." Riza buried her face in her hands. "I just don't know what to do anymore. I'm trying so hard to stay strong for him and myself, but I can't...I just can't."

Eva looked at Riza and didn't say a word, she just pulled her in for a warm hug. Riza didn't care, she needed this. Eva's embrace made her feel better.

"Just cry." Eva told her. "It's okay. No one will hear you."

And that's just what Riza did. She broke out into a full-blown sob. She cried for Roy, she cried for herself, she cried for the Elric boys. She just cried. The release of it all felt nice, it was what she'd needed since all of this began.

Eva just patted Riza's head as she held her. "Miracles happen every day, sweetie. Your love for each other is no exception to that. Every second that he's alive, there's always hope. Hard as it seems in situations like this, you have to remember to have faith."

"Faith?" Riza repeated. Hope and faith were never things she ever considered to be real, and if they were, they were very rare and had some sort of scientific explanation to back them up. Blind faith was something she didn't believe in.

"You don't have to have faith in some higher power or anything." Eva told her. "Just have faith in the man you love, have faith that anything is possible. If you don't have any faith, all you'll have is despair." Eva turned Riza's face to look at her. "Listen to me," She said, "he's going to be okay. I can just feel it, and when he's recovered, bring him by here."

"And if he doesn't?" Riza asked, admittedly a little coldly.

"He will." Eva insisted. "I want to meet him, and find out how much he loved your dress." She said with a smile. "Be your own miracle, Riza."

Riza just felt deeply touched. She nodded her head. "Thank you, Eva." She said. "Roy and I will be here real soon to see you."

Riza just had to have faith.

XXXX

Roy was feeling okay for the most part. He had been out of the hospital for a couple weeks now, and the pills Evans' prescribed to him still seemed to be working a little—to an extent at least. Sitting at his desk in his office, he was on the phone, seemingly making arrangements for something.

"Thank you." He said into the receiver. "I'll leave it in your hands for now. I'll check back in with you next week to see how it's coming along. Goodbye." He said, hanging up the phone.

After his phone-call he had to get back to the mountain of paper work in front of him. After his near death in the last mission, he wasn't cleared for field work for another couple weeks, as much as he hated it. July was the soonest he'd be able to be out there in battle again. As much as all of this pissed him off, he couldn't blame his doctors or even Riza. His heart had stopped three times after going toe to toe with the Spark Alchemist, and even Armstrong put her input in to make sure he didn't go back out until he was fully recovered—and then some. Easier said than done.

A knock came through his office door.

"Yes?" He asked, not even looking up from rummaging through his papers.

"Hello, Colonel." A timid voice said from ahead. "Or I guess it's Fuhrer now, huh?"

Roy looked up and smiled when he saw his visitor. "Alphonse!" He said happily. "It's great to see you. What brings you by?"

"Brother wanted me to make a quick visit to make sure you're really as okay as you claim." he explained.

Roy let out a dry chuckle. "That sounds about right for Fullmetal." He said. "So, I take it he isn't with you?"

"No." Alphonse said, shaking his head. "Every second matters to him, so he spends it training with Dr. Lee—which I wanted to discuss with you. I truly believe he wants to help us."

Roy gestured for Alphonse to take a seat across the desk from him. "That's hard for me to believe, Alphonse. I can't fathom why he would do something like that."

"Doctor Lee is a man of peace—at least he is now. I didn't know him back then. Killing someone that another cares about, wouldn't bring back what he's lost. And besides, Brother is more than capable of handling himself if things were to get out of hand. The people he loves is his motivation, and he won't stop until he succeeds." Al explained. "I really trust Lee and I know Brother does too."

"Then Lee is a better man than I am." Roy conceded.

"Now," Alphonse went on, "how are you doing? I want the truth."

Roy looked to Alphonse and gave a smirk. "Bad choice of words." He joked. "But I've been better, if I'm honest. However, I've been taking medicine that eases my symptoms so it's been...manageable."

"Brother is really coming along in his training." Alphonse told him. "He's going to have you cured and back to normal before you know it."

Alphonse caught Roy's gaze fall downward and his face fall, he looked very uneasy.

"What? You don't think he can do it?" Al asked.

Roy shook his head slightly. "It's not me I'm worried about, Alphonse."

Alphonse cocked his head to the side in confusion. "What do you mean?"

Roy leaned forward, propping his elbows on the desk and interlacing his fingers. His face still came across as concerned. "Edward has a very hard time dealing with guilt. I'm afraid that is he doesn't succeed, for one reason or another, that he'll just...break. You know him more than I do, Alphonse, you know he'd blame himself for my death, whether it's really his fault or not. Even if he did literally everything in his power to prevent it. I don't want him tormenting himself over it."

Alphonse took Mustang's words in, he knew the man was right. Edward had a tendency to blame himself for things that were out of his power to stop. "Doctor Lee and I have been talking about that same exact thing. Brother, he...keeps having reoccurring nightmares—or night-terrors as Lee calls it—about if he does fail. It's scary seeing Ed hysterical like that. I have to hold him for a long time before he finally settles."

Roy nodded in understanding. Edward was everything to Alphonse and it was clear that seeing his older brother crumble like he's been doing was taking it's toll on him. "Fullmetal listens to you more than anyone, Alphonse. If anyone can convince him to talk to someone about his problems—it's you."

"Brother has always taken care of me, the least I can do for him is return the favor. The two of you will be reunited before you know it, and none of this will even be a factor anymore." Alphonse said.

Roy looked the boy trapped in the armor with kind eyes. "You're my son too, Alphonse." He assured him. "I care just as much about you as I do Fullmetal. It's just you're...considerably stronger in handling your feelings than your brother is."

Alphonse perked up a little bit at this. "Thank you. You can count on me...dad." He said, with a hint of embarrassment.

Roy grinned at his boy. "I know I can. So, how long to I have you for?" He asked.

"Just a couple days." Al replied.

"Looks like I have a roommate, then."

Alphonse giggled. "If you'll have me."

"I'd be insulted if you stayed anywhere else. You can stay in my guest bedroom."

This was exactly what Roy needed—a visit from one of his boys to jolt him back into gear.

XXXX

Edward and Lee pressed on in their alchemy training. As strong as the Fullmetal Alchemist was, all of this alchemy was fast taking it's toll on him. Strained and exhausted as he was, though, he still fought. Although, it felt like he'd hit another plateau—nothing seemed to be improving. Time wasn't a luxury that he had anymore, so the sooner he completed this, the better.

Lee walked around Edward, who was on his knees. Before him lay a dead squirrel, his task was to bring it back from the depths of death. Bring it back without the use of human or animal transmutation. Just using strictly medicinal alchemy.

"You can do this, Edward!" Lee called down to him. "Just think of your dad and how much he needs you!"

"I'm trying!" Edward yelled, his healing powers flickering bright before it crackled out. But he didn't stop, he just clapped is hands together and pressed them to the floor one more time. His arms were buckling under the force of his strain. Try as he might, the creature in front of him refused to move. Each attempt left him more drained than the last, his body wasn't going to be able to take much more.

But he refused to give up.

After taking a few moments to catch his breath, he went to try again, but stopped when an odd sensation hit his nose. He took his flesh hand and wiped under his nose—blood.

Lee sighed. "I think we need to stop for now, son."

"No." Edward insisted, shaking his head. "I can handle this. It's just a little nosebleed, I'm fine."

Sighing again, Lee conceded. "One more attempt, then you're taking a rest."

Edward growled lowly to himself. "Fine, but only because I'm going to do it this time." He said confidently, despite his weakened demeanor saying otherwise.

Edward just closed his eyes and tried to focus.

Just focus and think about your dad. He's going to die if you don't perfect this, you hold his life in your hands. Every day is just another step closer to him being well again. You'll save him. You have to save him—failure is not an option here.

Clapping his hands together carefully, Edward placed his hands on the deceased creature. Focusing as hard as he could, he imagined his alchemy seeping into the squirrel from his hands. Pale green light enveloped both Edward and the animal, he could feel his energy waning, but he just kept at it. A steady stream of blood pouring from his nose. Pained grunts an noises left him, he fought to stay steady and upright. Once more, his arms began to buckle under the pressure.

Once Edward felt he had poured enough energy forward into the critter, he stopped, falling forward forcefully, his wobbly arms just barely keeping him from hitting the floor. Edward didn't move his gaze from the animal.

Did I...fail?

Just then, the little squirrel twitched slightly, and then sprang to life. The creature looking happy, healthy and eager to live.

Edward watched in delight as the squirrel scurried about and laughed in disbelief. "It worked. I can't believe it actually worked.

Edward forced himself up and carried the little animal in his hands, petting it's head delicately with his flesh fingers. So there was hope for his dad! He'd done it, he 'd actually healed something that had perished. A wide smile graced his face.

Lee approached Ed and the squirrel and clapped his hands. "Amazing work, Edward!" He cheered in praise. "I knew you could do it! You have the strength and ability others aren't so lucky to experience!"

Edward's face was still brightly lit up. "Thanks, Lee. I never would have been able to do all of this without you."

And Lee smiled back.

Suddenly, a loud boom echoed into the room and a dark aura filled it. Lee and Edward made it to their feet, looking about in horror.

"What the hell is this?" Edward asked, still peering around the room in fright.

Lee put his back to Edward's, hopefully, nothing could surprise them this way. "I'm not sure, but just be on your guard Fullmetal." he warned the boy.

"How many times do I have to teach you this lesson, Edward Elric?" An eerie and familiar voice called out from the abyss. "You have no right to play God!"

A flurry of tiny, black arms darted out from the darkness and made a straight line for Edward.

Edward shook his head rapidly from side to side. "No, not this! Anything but this!" He cried out, backing away in horror, the squirrel jumping from his grip to get away. Escaping was inevitable, however. The hands grabbed him from all sides and began pulling him into the void.

"No! Please!" He screamed, tears falling hard from his eyes, nothing more than despair and terror. "I have to stay! I have to save my father!"

Edward's body slowly began to chip away, just as it did when he and Alphonse lost their bodies years ago. All Edward could do was scream until his throat ached. "I have to save him! There's no time! Dad! DAD!"

Roy jolted awake, suddenly, screaming at the top of his lungs. He couldn't breathe, and sweat soaked his hair and his clothes. Red and glassy eyes blinked back to life and, as he looked around, he realized he was in his own bedroom.

Stupid goddamn nightmare.

Roy let out a sigh of relief that almost sounded like a whimper, and pushed his sweaty hair out of his eyes. His heart was racing so hard that his chest ached.

"Son of a bitch..." He mumbled softly, struggling to regain his composure.

Just then, his bedroom door flew open, and in ran Alphonse.

"Sorry to barge in without asking!" Alphonse cried, still trying to be polite in peril. "But I heard you screaming from all the way downstairs! Are you okay?"

Roy swallowed hard, it took him a few seconds before he could answer. "Yeah...yeah I'm fine...it...was just a dream. A terrible, awful dream." He said. "Sorry if I scared you, kid."

Alphonse raised a hand and shook his head. "No worries. Brother has nightmares like that all the time. I'm just sorry that it upset you so much." The boy then saw Roy grab at his chest and wince. "Are you sure you're okay?" Concern seeping more and more into his voice with each passing word.

"Yeah." Roy assured him. "I'm just a little...overwhelmed. But it wasn't real...just a dream."

It wasn't real.

"Would you like to talk about it?" Al asked sweetly. "It might help."

"No." Roy answered quickly. "I don't want to talk about it at all."

Alphonse chuckled softly. "You and Brother are like two peas in a pod. Ed never likes to talk about his dreams with me either. It's like pulling teeth to get anything out of him."

"It's just one I'd sooner forget." Roy told him. "We'll just leave it at that." As sweet as the kid was being wanting to help him, all Roy wanted to do in that moment was forget every last detail of that dream—that nightmare.

"Okay." Al told him. "But the offer is always on the table if you change your mind."

"Thanks, kid."

As Alphonse turned to leave, he stopped before he exited and turned back to Roy. "Brother is going to be just fine, father. I can promise you that. He won't fail, or be forsaken—because he refuses to." Alphonse just gave him a casual thumb's up, that tried to convey everything would be just fine. "Goodnight, dad."

"Goodnight, son."