Author's Note- I realize this is really, horribly late and I am very, very sorry! RL was being...chaotic would put it too mildly... Anyway, here it is, hope you enjoy it and leave me a review! Reviews really do help me to update soon, this long absence was a very weird fluke. Oh, and if anyone is feeling very, very generous, I love fanart!

Sustained Fire

After he reads it, my career and probably my life will be over, Riza thought grimly as she began putting together a simple meal for two. But somehow this is supposed to be worth it. Months of trial, retrial and testimony, rather than a quick exit...I can't watch him read it... I can't... she thought desperately, concentrating hard on her task at hand.

Suddenly, she smelled smoke. She whirled around, surprised. The note was rapidly being consumed by flames. "Sir?" she whispered, surprised.

Captain Mustang smiled and the fire died. The note was ash, but the tile on the table beneath it was barely singed. His smile was strange, Riza decided, but it was a smile none the less. "I don't want to read it," he said simply. "If you don't want to talk about it, I'm willing to let it go, or wait until you are ready to talk, but I'm not going to read it. I want to hear you tell me, with words better than the ones you wrote."

"Sir, once you know what I've done…" Riza began, but her voice trailed off uselessly. I can't tell him- not now! If he knows what I've done...

"If you don't want to tell me, you don't have to," Mustang said. "Whatever it was, it's in the past now, isn't it?" His eyes locked with hers, with such intensity that Riza had to look away to nod a 'yes'. "It can't hurt anyone but you, can it?" he asked softly.

"How do you know?" she asked, equally quietly. How can he possibly know?

A mirthless laugh. "Lieutenant, you can't possibly think you're the only one who's done something they regret in the past?"

That look in his eyes... Riza felt shocked. He knows... he carries his sin with him, just like I carry mine. "I... I don't think I completely regret mine- I'm not sure-" she stumbled over her words. "Some good came of it, but..." she could not bring herself to continue.

He looked slightly surprised by this statement, then after a long moment, spoke. "Then I am glad to know that our mistakes are not the same." An almost smile.

What was his mistake? Riza wondered as she set the table. Rumor has it that he's on the fast track for promotion. His mistake can't be widely known then… She served the food, first to her guest, then herself. "I lied about not regretting my mistake," she said hesitantly. "It's not entirely true, I still remember that..." she bit her lip and pushed that memory as far away as she could. "Do you remember yours clearly?" she asked. "Please tell me it's not just me- that I'm weakminded because I keep remembering..." she could not look at him, could not stand the weakness that made the tears well up in her eyes.

"No, you're not weak-minded," Mustang said, but Riza could not look up. He sighed. "I remember nearly every day. Sometimes it's worse than others. I wonder if it will ever go away. Talking helps though...without Maes- Captain Hughes- I would have died."

Riza looked up at this. He nearly died? He nearly despaired too? But he seems so... confident- and distant, like nothing matters to him sometimes. Or does he keep that distance to keep himself safe? Is it pain, not arrogance that makes him that way? I'll have to watch more carefully. Aloud she only said:"It must be...good to have friends," she tried a smile.

"You have Farman, don't you?" Mustang asked.

"I can't tell him everything," Riza said. "And the less he knows about that, the less he can say..." I had the resolve to write that note, now I have to tell him… She bit her lip for a long moment, then finally spoke. "It happened two years ago. I was fresh out of OCS at my first posting, as green as they come. We were supposedly there to keep the peace in this fairly large border village- a not insubstantial portion wanted out of our country and their fellow citizens had tried taking matters into their own hands regarding the matter. Then they decided that they couldn't manage and we were called in. For a while it seemed fairly conventional as peace-keeping went- then- "

XWXWXW

Riza was usually awake before reveille, but it wasn't usually because of distant gunfire. She dressed quickly and quietly and walked downstairs to visit the officer of the watch. To her mild surprise, he was sitting behind the desk in the foyer of the building that was being used for officer housing, and drinking his coffee.

"'Morning, Hawkeye," he said with a yawn.

"'Morning, Thorn," she returned. She and Thorn had been through OCS together and while they had not been friends, they didn't stand on much formality due to OCS. "What's the racket outside about?"

"Didn't you hear last night?" Thorn asked, looking surprised.

"Hear what?"

"The loyalists have decided to start taking out the anarchists on their lonesome," he grinned. "They're really doing our job for us. We've had an order come down to say we're not to interfere, this village is big enough that we could run into ambushes- and if local sentiment goes against us, they out-number and possibly outgun us," he frowned at that thought.

"Aren't we supposed to be here to do peace-keeping?" Riza frowned. "And aren't they breaking the peace?"

"Orders are orders," Thorn shrugged. "By the way, I snuck a peek at the roster, you're up next for officer of the watch. I suggest you double the gate-guards, apparently some of the anarchists would rather kiss and make up with Central than get killed by their neighbours."

"Wouldn't you?" Riza asked.

"Maybe," Thorn said carelessly.

XWXWXW

A mere two hours later, Riza was indeed officer of the watch. Given the current situation, she preferred to walk the perimeter of the encampment than to sit at a desk. She was armed, not only with her CFP, but with an issue K8, a 'Kate' as the men called the rifle. She hoped she wouldn't have to use either. There were four entrances to the encampment, each guarded by four guards- all of whom were needed, she saw, as men, women and children crowded all the gates. That sight bothered her, especially the children. At the eastern gate, the guards appeared to be near overrun, Riza noticed, quickening her pace as she walked towards the gate. The guards were ineffectually shouting at the people and one seemed to be on the point of using his rifle as a club.

"Hold!" Riza shouted.

The guard froze in midswing and grounded his rifle.

"I said 'hold' not 'ground'- are you hard of hearing?" Riza snapped, feeling unreasonably angry at this show of imperfect obedience. She looked at the crowd at the gate.

"Please let us in!"

"They'll kill us!"

Riza held up a hand for silence. "You-" she gestured to one of the men. "Tell me what's going on and do it quickly. The rest of you be quiet."

The man told, and Riza listened. Her expression was first guardedly neutral, and slowly she found she had to struggle to keep it that way. No matter how horrible, she had to look impassive. She looked at the guards, saw the sick horror on the faces of two of them, and grim looks of the other two. She looked at the man. He wasn't lying. "Sergeant Collins, I want you to tell Colonel Avery what this man told us. Word for word. Now."