so it's been like two weeks! sorry guys!

heh, i was actually in a bit of a roy rut. i was mad at the fullmetal alchemist people for making him all sad and downtrodden in the movie, so i was kinda distraught when i thought about him cause i have a passionate nature! haha. but then i actually saw the movie (or the roy parts, mostly) and i fell in love with him all over again. and the royai? don't even get me started. there's enough royai in the conqueror of shamballa to make any standard fan of the pairing die of happiness.

anyway, so here's the much awaited chapter eight, in which emma fixes the "ack cliffhanger!" problem that she left everyone with.

Roy was the first of the two to notice the car as it raced towards Riza. His blood ran cold and he cursed silently as he sprinted towards his beautiful subordinate. He would not let her be harmed, and certainly not when he could do something about it. Riza heard him call her name and she whipped her head around in time to see Roy Mustang shove her out of the way of the speeding vehicle… and she could do nothing but watch as the car mowed him over instead. There was a terrible, crunching, guttural sound as he fell into the street. She screamed. She screamed and screamed and screamed, and she could feel her heart shattering as she imagined the worst.

The driver climbed out of the car in a panic, and he addressed Riza quickly and apologetically.

"I'm so sorry! Is he alright? It's so hard to see with all this rain… you know? And the ground is so wet; the brakes don't work as well… I'm so sorry! …Are you alright, Miss?"

Riza wasn't listening. She could barely hear him as she stared at her broken and bleeding officer, and she certainly wasn't about to accept an apology from him. She removed a pistol from her handbag and cocked it. She pointed it at him.

"Shut up."

His eyes widened and he stopped talking immediately.

"Go call an ambulance. Go call one right now. If he dies… if ANYTHING happens to him… I will personally hunt you down, and I will kill you, do you understand?"

The man nodded, terrified, and ran to find a payphone.

Riza sank to her knees and began to weep. This was absolutely one hundred percent her fault, and she would never forgive herself for it. She watched as his blood poured out into the street and she felt sick. She had one job, one single thing that Colonel Roy Mustang employed her for, and one job that she was good at: to protect him, and to make sure he didn't get hurt because he was doing something stupid. Her one job, and she had failed him.

"You… i-idiot." She was sobbing, it was difficult for her to speak. "You st-stupid idiot! Why did you push me out of the way?" She was crying more quietly now, and she looked at her hands as she spoke. "You know that you're useless on rainy days…"

"Heh... that's not fair. Picking on a guy… who's in this much pain…"

Riza's eyes shot open. She grabbed the Colonel's hand and stared into his eyes. "Sir?"

He brought her hand to his lips and kissed her fingers as he spoke to her. "I was so… worried when you left… I thought… I might have lost you…"

"Sir, I'm so sorry, please don't try to—"

"No… Riza, I'm sorry. I shouldn't… have let those guys talk to you like that… I just thought… that if I acted like I didn't care…. They would get bored… Please don't… hate me."

Hate him? Riza's blood ran cold as she realized the logic behind the Colonel's newest fear. She had just run out of the office with… at least some kind of intention to leave him. Looking back on what she had been feeling only moments ago, she couldn't understand it. If she had thought seriously for even one moment how terrible the prospect of life without her Colonel would be… she could never ever leave him. Her feelings for this beautiful, loving, quixotic man were so far from hatred that she couldn't take it.

She looked into his eyes and smiled through her tears.

"Sir…" she kissed him, "Roy…" she kissed him again, "I could never," a kiss, "ever" two more, "hate you," and another, "for as long as I live."

Her sentiment expressed, she began to kiss him continuously, uninterrupted, and he, relieved that his selfless act of heroism had earned her forgiveness, returned the sentiment gladly.

"Mouth to mouth resuscitation? Good idea."

Riza jumped back, alarmed at the sudden intrusion of this man.

"He still seems a little out of breath though… he's not in good shape."

Realizing that the ambulance had finally arrived, Riza stepped away from the Colonel and watched as the medical personnel loaded him onto the ambulance. She took in his injuries and allowed herself to see for the first time just how severe they were. His face was pale, his breath short, and he was bleeding badly… She had to look away. She couldn't bear to see him like this.

"Are you going to come with him?" one of the ambulance attendants asked her.

She nodded, and silently stepped into the back of the vehicle to be with Roy. She grasped his hand and smiled at him, bravely. He looked at her and smiled back, trying to relax his body as they made their way to the hospital.

It was difficult. Roy was in a terrible amount of pain… he knew his right arm was broken, that much was certain, but there was something going awry internally… he could feel it. He saw the concern etched on Riza's beautiful face, and he mumbled an apology as he allowed his eyes to close. The Colonel felt his Lieutenant tense up tremendously, obviously fearing the worst… he opened his eyes and smiled at her.

"You're beautiful, Riza."

Her lip trembled as she watched him; he lifted his hand up to her face and caressed her cheek as he spoke.

"And I'm lucky… to have such a brave, cunning, perfect woman as you by my side… to care for me… and be there for me when I need her… I just want you to always remember, Riza Hawkeye, that… I… love… you…" His eyes drifted closed once more, and Riza's entire body stiffened as she sat beside him.

He squeezed her hand gently, and she managed to compose herself.

"He's just resting, Ma'am. He seems fine as of now; you probably don't need to worry so much."

Riza brought his hand to her face and she kissed it over and over. Roy smiled in his sleep.

They finally arrived at the hospital, and Roy was rushed into surgery.

"He's bleeding pretty badly internally…" a young nurse told the Lieutenant, "we're doing everything we can, but there's no guarantee he's going to make it… he lost quite a bit of blood…"

Riza sank into her chair and began to sob hysterically. This was bad. This was very, very bad. If the Colonel didn't live through this… No. She couldn't think about it. Her world was collapsing and she could find no one but herself to blame. The nurse patted Riza's shoulder as she wept, pitying this poor woman who was in so much pain.

Roy was in surgery for what seemed like an age, until finally a doctor came out and walked up to Riza.

"We've managed to get him into a stable condition… but there's nothing more we can do for him… He's still pretty weak… and he… well…" the doctor looked into Riza's eyes and he placed a hand on her shoulder. "He might not wake up. It's up to him now, I think. The most we can do is hope for the best. I'm sorry."

Riza stared at the ground and said nothing.

"You can go in and see him now though, if you'd like."

She nodded, and walked silently into her Colonel's room. He was lying in the bed, and she drank in his presence. Pulling a chair up next to the bed, she sat down beside him, and waited for him to open his eyes.

THIS IS NOT THE END OF THE STORY! haha, just wanted to clarify that. i've got a chapter nine in the works in my mind here, but of course, reveiws are still appreciated.

(i wonder if i could get 100 reveiws by the next chapter! that would be amazing!)

anyway, my yaoi poll is still open too, but i guess i should clarify. i love royai, i love yaoi. i won't stop writing royai if i write a yaoi fic, and (haha this is cause i got SO many reveiws that were like "ew yaoi sucks") it's cool if you don't like yaoi, but that's not really important for the sake of the poll? i guess?

heh, i dunno. it's cool! so the poll is still open (roy/jean, roy/maes, roy/ed) but once again, if you're gonna vote in the poll or whatever, also say something abotu the story! haha that's why we're here.

um, it really makes me happy that so many people are reading my story and leaving such nice feedback. thanks so much for everything!

i will most probably update by this time next week, but who knows... the more reveiws i get, the more i'm like "i must give the people what they desire!"

hehe. i'm a bad person! it's ok. we're all united by a common love here: the love of roy mustang and riza hawkeye lava.

yeah!

thanks again, you're all wonderful.

emma!