So this is a oneshot that I decided to write after I read some movie spoilers for fma. This is your last chance to turn back before I ruin it for you, so… major spoiler warnings.

So this kinda takes place between the end of the show (which I have not seen, but have read about) and the beginning of the movie (which I have definitely not seen, and tried not to read about) so some details might not be entirely accurate, yeah, I wrote it for some closure for myself.

And so, without further ado:

Everything

"Colonel Roy Mustang."

The booming voice filled the great stone hall, and all eyes were upon the young man in the center of the room. Roy Mustang closed his good eye, took a deep breath, and looked up at the man who was speaking.

"You stand hereby accused of high treason against Amestris, and deliberately murdering our king, the Fuhrer."

Roy swallowed, but said nothing.

"Under most circumstances, Colonel, the court might find it fitting to execute a man for committing such acts."

Mustang was sweating, this wasn't supposed to happen. He was a hero. He'd killed a terrible immortal homunculus who was responsible for the genocide of an entire people! He was supposed to be a hero…

"However," he said, a malevolent grin twisting itself upon his face, "in light of your service to the state, we have decided that a demotion and transfer would be most fitting."

Roy was taken aback. This wasn't good either…

"You are hereby dishonorably stripped of your rank as Colonel, Mustang. Your new title is that of a Corporal. And you are being transferred at the end of the week to a guard post in the north."

"What?" cried Roy, "this isn't right! I've done nothing wrong! I don't des--" his words were cut short as a guard punched him in the stomach.

"Such outbursts are uncalled for, Corporal. We've reached our decision. Get out of my sight before I decide to have you killed after all."

Roy narrowed his good eye, and walked out of the hall. A demotion. And he was being transferred… he could feel his world crashing in around him. This wasn't right. This wasn't right at all...

He slowly made his way back to his office, not sure what he was going to say to his subordinates. What was he going to tell Riza….?

He could hear the chatter of his coworkers through the door, and he sighed sadly as he turned the doorknob. The room fell silent as he made his way to his desk. Mustang sat down, and began filling out paperwork as though nothing had happened.

Riza could sense something was wrong. His hearing had gone badly, she could tell just by looking at him…

There had been a great change in Riza's relationship with Roy since the incident with Pride. She had taken care of him while he was recuperating, she had fed him and watched over him and stayed with him. And he had smiled and told her she was beautiful… But now something was wrong, and Riza had to find out what it was.

"Havoc, Breda. Why don't you guys go find Major Armstrong and see if he's heard any news about Edward. Stick with him until tomorrow, it's very important. And…uh, Falman, Fuery, stay with Alphonse until the Colonel or I give you further notice."

Riza's eyes met with Roy's, but he quickly looked away. The other men cleared out of the room, leaving Hawkeye and Mustang alone together.

"You didn't have to do that, Hawkeye." He said, without looking up from his work.

She looked at the floor. "What happened at the hearing, sir?" He said nothing. She asked him again, firmly, "What happened at the hearing?"

"They've… demoted me, Hawkeye. I'm a Corporal." He didn't look at her, but he was smiling sadly.

She was speechless.

"I'm being transferred to the north. Some guard post in the middle of the mountains. They threatened me afterwards. They told me that they might have me executed anyway if I ever acted out again."

Hawkeye couldn't believe it. She was shaking with anger, but he wasn't finished yet.

"They wanted to make an example of me. The only man who saw that they were corrupt, the only man who would act and try to make the world a better place… they've taken everything from me, Hawkeye. My life is over."

Neither of them spoke. Riza's eyes were brimming with tears as she spoke.

"Sir… that… it's not over yet. You can rise in the ranks again, you--"

"STOP IT. Stop it Hawkeye. It's over. Do you know how long it took me to become a colonel in the first place? And that was starting out with the rank of a Major. It's over. I've given EVERYTHING to this state. I gave them the best years of my life; I killed so many people for them… I nearly took my own life because of them! My best friend got KILLED because of this stupid state, because of me… I gave them my eye; I gave them everything I have so that I could fix this terrible, imperfect world."

He took a deep breath, calming himself briefly.

"And what do I get in return? They strip me of everything I've worked so hard to earn. They took away my rank, my office… my subordinates…" His voice trembled briefly, and he could feel himself weakening.

Riza was not used to the Colonel lashing out at her as he had just done. She wasn't sure if she should be angry or hurt, if she should respond gently or violently. She saw a tear fall from Mustang's eye and land on his desk…

"…Sir… I can't speak for the others… but I want you to know that I will always be by your side, no matter what the court ordered. I swore to protect you sir… and after what happened to your eye… I'm more determined than ever not to let you out of my sight. They can't take everything away from you. They can't take what you and I have away…"

"No one has ordered any of you to stay away from me."

"…So then what's the problem? I'll stay with you in the north."

"No you won't. I won't allow it."

"But Colonel!"

"I'm NOT a Colonel anymore, Hawkeye." He was seething; he could not remember the last time he had been so angry. "And you're not coming with me. I won't be responsible for ruining your life. I can't get a promotion in the middle of nowhere, I can't DO anything anymore. It's over for me. It's not over for you… you have a future here, and I will not allow you to destroy it."

"I won't accept that."

"You outrank me now, Hawkeye. You can follow me wherever the hell you want, but I won't forgive you for it."

Riza was shaking. Her eyes were overflowing with tears and she stared at Roy painfully.

"Why are you looking at me like that? I can bring you nothing but pain now! FORGET ABOUT ME! LEAVE ME HERE! YOU DON'T NEED TO WORRY ABOUT A STUPID UNDERLING CORPORAL! I DON'T NEED YOUR SYMPATHY!"

She was really crying now, and he spoke gently to her.

"I must have done some really; really terrible things for this to be equivalent exchange."

He laughed, sadly.

"Ah… You're so smart and so valuable to the military Riza… Don't throw away everything because of me. Give up on me. …Let me give up."

Riza had found her voice again.

"But what about Brigadier General Hughes? Are you just going to give up on avenging him? Are you just going to let that go? And how do you know this is equivalent exchange? Maybe you'll obtain something great because of this loss! You can't just fade from this world! I can't allow that!"

"There's nothing I can do now, Riza. They've made it impossible for me to move forward. They've won. Leave me, Riza. Just leave me and stay in central. Cut me off, Riza. I'm useless now… Please…"

Riza took a deep breath, and she looked at the man seated before her.

"Fine. I'll leave you."

He closed his eyes. He hadn't expected it to hurt this much.

"I'll leave you. You can go to the north and I won't follow you there. But when you realize that it's not too late, when you see that it's not over, and that we still need you… I'll be waiting. I'll wait for you at the top."

She smiled at him.

"So you'd better catch up."

She turned and walked out of the office, leaving Mustang by himself. He smiled softly, and made his decision.

He'd go to his post, as assigned; he'd atone for his mistakes. And when he had paid for his errors, he'd run back to central. Roy Mustang was not the type of man to lie down and fade away.

He'd make a name for himself again, and he'd do it all for Riza.

Always for her. Everything.

Author's note!

So this is the info that I gathered (and partially filled in for myself) that inspired this story.

So yeah, again, SPOILER ALERT

Roy kills the Fuhrer, and Archer shoots him and he loses an eye. He is then demoted from a Colonel to a Corporal. (It's something like…. Private, corporal, sergeant, master sergeant, warrant officer, second lieutenant, first lieutenant, major, lieutenant colonel, colonel. So this is a HUGE demotion.) he's then moved from central to some tiny shack in the middle of nowhere, where he stands around doing nothing (and not using his alchemy) for two years. But that's not even the worst part. Riza doesn't come with him! In fact, some magazine used the phrase "she's no longer following mustang." Well. I couldn't just let that slide. There had to be something behind it, because the Riza we all know and love would never abandon Roy just like that. And that's where the inspiration for this story arose from.

Yeah!

Um, about the military rank thing, some of that might not be correct, but that's the military ranking (at least in Amestris) as I understand it.

So yeah, it's a oneshot as of now, and will probably stay a oneshot, but we'll see.

Reviews are appreciated. Smileyface

Hope you enjoyed it.

Love, Emma.