My Reasons

Author's note: ...I hope Hughes isn't too badly out of character...

Disclaimer: I don't own FMA

Chapter 3 – Deadly Gift

When they got back to camp he immediately began feeding her. He didn't say much, but he continued to put more food on her plate. "I'm not hungry." She kept telling him, but he refused to take 'no' for an answer. After she'd eaten a good bit they sat in silence on the ground. Riza just didn't have the will to get up and she believed that Hughes didn't get up because he wanted to make sure that she wasn't going to do something stupid.

Eventually when everyone around them went to bed and they were the only two left in sight, he said something. "Why did you join the military?"

She thought for a moment. Why did she join the military? She'd never really been fond of killing, even animals, the only reason she was such a good shot was because her father had made her practice on cans behind their house. When she'd finished her schooling, a year ahead of schedule, she really didn't have a plan. She was a crack shot, and smart…but she wasn't really interested in anything in particular. If she did something, it was because her parents had advised it. It'd been that way most of her life, taking orders from other people. "I guess I joined because my parents wanted me too. They knew that the military paid well—"

"What do you want?" Hughes interrupted.

She thought for a moment…all she wanted right then was to bring that boy back to life…but there wasn't a way to do that. "I guess I want to leave the military…"

"You guess? You don't know? Why are you here?" His questions bombarded her…it was the last question that really got her, "What is your purpose, Riza?"

She was stunned…what was her purpose? "I—I don't know sir."

Hughes leaned back. "People need a purpose in their life, Riza. It gives us a direction…it gives us a reason to live—to keep on living even after we've done things we regret. Tell me, if you leave the military, what are you going to do?"

"I haven't thought about it sir." She replied…it seemed that she hadn't thought about a lot of things.

"Riza, you were given a gift, the ability to be amazingly deadly with a gun—"

"That's no gift." She interrupted.

"It is. You just can't see it yet."

"How can something so horrible be a gift?" she asked in desperation.

"I'll show you." He said as he got up. "Follow me." She rose from her position on the ground and followed him without question. He walked toward a campfire and a set of tents. Voices could be heard. Hughes stayed within the shadows but got close enough to the scene to be able to see all of the people present. He motioned her to stand next to him. Around a fire sat two men. On that was extremely muscular and bald. The other was substantially smaller than his companion and he had raven hair the fell into his eyes. The larger one seemed to be saying something about the war not being right. The smaller man didn't say anything; he just continued to stare blankly into the fire. Suddenly the larger one got up and went into a tent. The other didn't seem to notice at all, he just continued to stare into the flames. The smaller person really couldn't be considered a 'man' he really didn't look much older than she was…she found out later that he was only two years older than she was.

Hughes pointed to the black haired youth and said in a quiet voice, "Do you see that man?" Riza nodded in the darkness. "That man is Roy Mustang. He's going to change things." He said. "Not just for the military, but for the country. He has a purpose."

She looked at Hughes in the shadows, "But what does this have to do with me? My shot would be just as deadly if I have a purpose or not. It's still a curse…not a gift."

"But it can be!" He said grasping her shoulders urgently, never raising his voice above a whisper. His hands gripped her arms sternly. "I need you to do me a favor. I need you to protect him…he's important. He's going to change things. With your shot, you can protect him from anyone." He slowly released her shoulders. She was beginning to see what he meant. "Riza, you were given a gift…not just to kill, but to protect. And the most important thing you can do with that gift is protect Mustang."

Riza could see his point, but in protecting she would still be killing and she wasn't sure she could stand to kill another innocent person. She turned her face away from his gaze.

"I know you want to give up…but give the military one more chance." He said putting his hand on her shoulder. "I can pull some strings and get you assigned to his squad. If you still want to quit in a month, I'll sign your resignation papers myself."

"Why does he need me?" she asked. "If he's so important he should have tons of supporters."

"He has supporters. What he needs is someone to keep him in line. He can be reckless and tends to put the needs of others above his own. He needs someone to remind to him to take care of himself, as well as others." Hughes said.

Riza remained doubtful, but she had nowhere else to go…besides, with Hughes' plan, she had a month to figure out where to go after she quit…it would give her time to think. When she didn't respond, Hughes prompted her, "So, what do you say?"

She looked at him uncertainly, and forced herself to say, "All right, I'm in."

Hughes just smiled.