Love Through Flame and Gunfire

Chapter 6: Mustang Vs. Hawkeye

Riza lay on her stomach on her bed with her pup, Black Hayate, stroking his fur gently. Hayate opened one eye drowsily, yipped, and closed it again as Jackory came in, passed through, and left. His room was next to Riza's, Leroy Mustang's being next to Jackory's, with Roy's room on the far end. The idea was that neither one of them could get through to the other without passing both parents' bedrooms, rendering it impossible to get through. Loki's bedroom was next to Roy's, even though he was hardly ever there. He going in the guise of Havoc every day to ring in any details on their whereabouts, and it was going well. The military had no clue as to where they'd disappeared to.

Roy was on his stomach as well, his shirt thrown off to the side, when his mother came in. She was small and petite, and a bit quiet, totally at odds with Roy's father who was tall and robust, an enthusiast at all things and not one to keep quiet, an all around hothead; his tendency to act rashly without thought was a large streak that he had passed to his sons. Roy and Loki, as a result, were tall, if not as muscular, more leanly built and better suited for speed than for a hands on fight, though they certainly weren't lacking in that category either.

Ilia examined the wound on his back and sighed; it didn't look good, and she wasn't feeling all that great either. She had just finished healing it, and Roy sat up, getting up to retrieve his shirt from the floor. His mother was watching him and he looked at her. "What's wrong, Mom?"

"Your father is fighting with Jackory again."

"Again? That'll be the eleventh time this month!"

"Twelfth, actually..."

"Oh... I'll see if I can stop them. You want to come, Mom?"

She nodded and followed, marveling, as she often did, at how tall he was. It hadn't seemed that long ago when she was still carrying him around on her hip and he was whining for her attention, along with his brother. She frowned and grabbed Roy's arm, stopping short of Leroy's door.

"Roy's done nothing with her, I don't know what you're talking about!"

"Yes, just like you didn't know what I was talking about when you went cavorting with my sister!"

"What I've done can't reflect what Roy does, and what's past is past-"

"Just face it, Mustang, you're entire family is nothing but a bunch of good for nothing womanizers and hopeless drunks!"

"Why you-"

There was a cock of a gun and Roy and his mother burst into the room to see Riza burst in through the other end. "Dad!" she cried, and Jackory ignored her, his eyes focused solely on Leroy. Leroy was livid with rage,his fingers gloved and in snapping position, staring at the other man with an intensity that Roy had never seen before in his father's eyes.

"Take it back," he seethed.

"Why should I?"

"Because it's not true, and I will not allow insult to my family. You can insult me, but you will not degrade my family line."

"Idiots!" Roy cursed, and got in between them. "Stop it! Stop it, what are you doing?"

Leroy's eyes had narrowed dangerously. "Get out of my way, Son."

"Are you crazy, you-"

"Get out of my way! If Hawkeye wants it settled this way, in front of his own daughter and in front of my family, then so be it!"

The gun was still loaded and pointed, and Roy spun around helplessly to find himself staring into the barrel of a gun. "Why? Why are you doing this?"

Riza had cocked a gun as well and went to stand beside Roy. She stood in front of her father, her head leaned against the barrel of the gun. "If you want to shoot, go ahead, but it will have to go through me, first." Jackory's eyes widened. "Elizabeth, get out of the-"

"No, I won't!"

"Elizabeth..."

"Why do you have to do this? He didn't do anything to you, Roy didn't do anything to you, or to me, or to anybody! Mom wouldn't have wanted you to do this, she wouldn't..."

"Don't talk to me about what your mother would want, Elizabeth," Jackory said, gritting his teeth. So that was it, Roy thought, this was about Riza's mother, that was his weak spot.

"If he...If he... he as good as killed her!" Jackory cried, and Leroy's eyes widened as well. "Me? How could I have killed her, you little-"

"Leroy!" Ilia cried, holding onto his arm, "Stop it!"

"How could he have killed her, Dad? You said she died having me."

"But if...if... he hadn't tried to escape, she wouldn't have been wounded, she would have been alright... she would have... she could have..."

"So this is my fault, Hawkeye?" Leroy asked, quietly.

"It might as well be," Jackory said wrathfully.

"Then taking me away from my wife and my sons, that will make it even? Will that make it even?"

Roy whirled on him. "What are you saying?" he cried. "Think about what you're saying!"

He pushed Roy and Riza out of the way gently and seized the barrel of the gun, placing it against his forehead. "If this will make it even, then pull the trigger, Jackory." Jackory's finger tightened on the trigger, and Leroy's eyes closed. Then the finger hesitated, and Jackory shook his head, letting his left arm drop, letting the gun fall from his hand and clatter on the floor.

"It isn't... what she would have wanted... a life doesn't cost a life."

Roy and Riza were hugging each other tightly, so tightly that Riza's fingers were leaving marks on Roy's skin, and she relaxed. Roy jolted, only then realizing that she had started to cry. He leaned his head against hers, pressing his cheek against her head. "It's okay, Riza, everything's okay..." Havoc sighed, relieved, from the doorway where he had been watching.

Jackory sat down on a chair, head in his hands. "I've been an idiot...a complete and total idiot all of these years... Mustang..." He looked up. "My apologies." Leroy nodded. "Apology accepted, Hawkeye," he murmured quietly. Now that it was all over, he felt quite faint. If Hawkeye had been enraged enough... he just might have pulled that trigger. He was glad Ilia was there to steady him; he was going to get a beating once they were alone, he just knew it. She wouldn't leave him alone until he was bruised on every inch of his body, not after a crazy stunt like that. His wife might be quiet, but when she was angry... it didn't bear thinking about.

Jackory got up and Riza followed him into his room, sitting on his bed and looking up at him. "Why did you do it?"

"I... just... I saw you and him... and you... you know I'm overprotective, Elizabeth," he smiled at her weakly; he was tired, and he looked older than Riza had ever seen him, older and more haggard. "I always tried... not to get upset over your mother in front of you, I didn't want you to get upset, be afraid... but I guess... I needed someone to confess to. I just exploded. I'm sorry, Elizabeth..."

"You could have told me."

He looked up and into her eyes.

"I'm not a little child anymore, you could have told me."

He nodded slowly. "Yes... I should have, but by that time, by the time you deserved to know it hurt too much to tell."

"So will you tell me now?"

Roy stepped in and sat next to Riza. "So will you tell us now? I think I deserve to know as well."

"Yes... I might as well, since Elizabeth is adamant on you." He sighed heavily, fingers rubbing his temples.

"Where to begin... Ah... I know. I grew up in North City, and that's where I met your mother. I was a sharpshooter, I had a regular job with the military up north, and so did she. She was also a gifted marksman and she and I hit off right away. We started out as friends, or rather, an officer and his subordinate, much like you two. Our relationship was slow, but we got to know each other very well; we were sent on missions together because of our compatibility, usually search and rescue.

"That's also where I met your father, Mustang. He and I were... never close, but never at each others throats either; mutual rivals, I suppose. He was the military's best alchemist, I was the military's best sharpshooter, we were constantly at odds and soldiers liked to egg on our conflicts, which were few and far between, but they were there all the same.

"There was just one thing; he was extremely overprotective of his wife, your mother, his girlfriend at the time. They would also go on mission together, but oftentimes he would end conflicts before they were started; he was rash and bold, but when he was accompanied by your mother, he did not want to run any kind of risk.

"On one mission, your mother was captured by Eastern Rebels, and your father was furious. He requested to be the one to search, rescue, and destroy opposition if necessary, but Angela, Riza's mother, and I, were deployed at the same time. Neither party was told that the other would be on the same trail. In the end, it was I who found her first, but then... I remember nothing except a gunshot and a terrible pain in my hand, and when I looked up... he was standing there, his firing arm was by his side and his face was sheet white.

"I woke up in the infirmary some time later, and they told me that my hand was lame, it was beyond repair. My life in the military was over, they discharged me soon after and your father was court martialed, but deemed accidental. It was then that I started to train with my left, in the hopes that maybe they'd let me back if I could fire steadily in one hand, but it was futile. Sometime in that time period I proposed to Angela, and she became pregnant with Elizabeth.

"She was... abducted near the end of her final month." Riza's brow furrowed, her face wore an expression of confusion. "But then how-" Jackory held up his left hand.

"Mustang took it upon himself to look for her; now I suspect that he was feeling guilty for what he had done to my hand, and having a four year old son of his own..." he looked at Roy, and Roy remembered the lengthy mission his father had left on, if only briefly, and how, when he'd returned, he'd sunk into a chair, his face in his hands. When young Roy had asked him if the mission had been successful, he groaned that it had been a success, but it might as well have been a failure. Roy had not understood at the time.

"He brought Angela back, but in escaping she was terribly wounded, both of them were. He sank onto the doorstep, left her there, and staggered away to get help for himself before he passed out. You were born then, and she died, naming you Elizabeth. From all her wounds and then the added pain of childbirth... she couldn't take it, and she died."

"So that was it. You thought that if my father had left her there for a while longer, maybe she wouldn't have died after Riza was born..." a horrible thought popped into his head. "But if things had gone badly, and Riza was killed... I might not... she might not be... I might not have you here now..." he whispered, looking at her. She shivered.

"I thought I had convinced myself beforehand that Mustang had helped me, that he had done all he could. I suppose... that I did not want to believe that. But it's over now. Our differences have been set aside; we may never be close friends, but we still have the chance to be just... friends."

Roy and Riza sighed in relief, and Leroy stuck his head into the room. "That doesn't mean you two will be sharing a room anytime soon, though." Jackory smiled. "I'll second that one, now go on, off to your rooms."

Roy grumbled, hands in his pockets. "I'm twenty-nine years old! I'm not a child."

"Ah, but I'm forty-eight, and since I'm older and your father, I call the shots."

"No fair..."

"Have some kids and you can boss them around."

"You just want grandkids!" Roy howled at him. Leroy studied his fingernails.

"Well, we do need some heirs so the Mustang line can continue, don't we?"

"Gah! That's all you ever think about, grandkids, grandkids, grandkids! 'Roy, when will you have kids?', 'Come on, Roy, you're twenty-six, you need to have kids', 'Roy! You're twenty-nine! A few more years and it will be too late for kids!', or even, 'Hurry up and have kids!'. At three o' clock in the morning! How many do you want me to have, seven?" Roy screamed at him.

"Maybe... awww... seven little grandchildren... what do you think, Ilia?" He looked to her for her opinion but found that he didn't need to. Her heart was already melting on the spot. "Awww... seven little grandkids...awwww..." she looked at Roy beseechingly and he crossed his arms over his chest.

"I dunno... Go ask Riza, then maybe... why don't you just ask Loki to give you some grandkids? He'll have twelve of em for you!"

"Well... we need one to carry on the Mustang line, Heir to the Flame and all that... and only the firstborn can do thaaaat..."

Roy cursed. "I'll go ask Riza..." he muttered, stomping off to her room.