A/N: First of all, happy anniversary of being awesome to my dear Pamela. I'm so glad you're sharing your art with us—it's literally the reason you and I became friends. 😻 Second, of course I'm coming in clutch with this story. Third, of course I just barely managed to make it fit the theme for this collection. Also I went way over the word count for the contest. Why am I like this. And fourth... I didn't mean for this to turn into a three-part story. It just, as the kids say, do be like that sometimes.


The last train for Cameron leaves exactly an hour before midnight, just as the door closes behind the last passenger to board. Shortly after, she appears out of the nearest window—a little girl with short blonde hair in twin purple bows, beaming and waving at the platform with her mother right by her shoulder. The girl hollers her thanks, her voice drowned out by the shrill steam whistle and wheels clanging heavily against the rails as the train pulls away.

The platform is empty now except for Riza, still smiling warmly at the train even after the little girl has retreated from the window and disappeared inside. There's only a small part of her that wishes she could have gotten on the train herself, a small part that is quickly forgotten when she remembers how the little girl had sobbed, how her weary-looking mother had quietly fretted over the lack of money for a second ticket with which she and her daughter could go back home to Cameron together.

"Please, take it," Riza had said, kneeling down to face the girl at eye level. "It's all right, don't worry about me. I can take the next train. But your father will want to have you and your mother home as soon as possible. All right?"

A part of Riza wonders how things are at the girl's home. She had only caught small snatches of the mother's pleas with the station guard before she approached to offer her own ticket. Perhaps the girl's father is sick, and she had been staying with her mother in East City as her mother earns a living to care for him. Perhaps the little girl had even been helping her mother work. Riza wonders, too, if she might know the girl's family.

She can't quite figure out why, but the little girl reminds Riza of herself when she was younger.

"Lieutenant!"

The Colonel is the last person she expects to meet at this odd hour, much less himself ready to leave on a trip, with a suitcase in one hand and a ticket in the other. It isn't often these days that she finds herself seeing him outside of work, but in her tiredness, she smiles at him like any old friend she might casually run into by chance.

"Colonel," says Riza as he approaches. "Are you running late, or early?"

Roy lets out a chuckle. "Nice to see you here, too. I'm taking the next train to Central. I thought I might take a cue from my team and allow myself a weekend at home."

Riza looks over at a poster next to the station's ticket window, which displays the expected arrival and departure times for the different trains passing through the station. "You're much earlier than usual, aren't you? Your train doesn't leave until midnight."

"And yours has just left. The next train for Cameron leaves at dawn."

By the knowing yet curious look he gives her, Riza realizes that Roy had witnessed her exchange with the little girl and her mother. He can't have heard everything, not from where he was standing when he called out to her. Riza doesn't need to ask what he understood of it, and yet she feels compelled to confirm what he might have guessed.

"They needed this train more than I did," Riza says with a pensive smile. "The little girl… she needed to see her father."

Roy nods once, his face softening in understanding. "Of course. So, you'll be spending the next few hours waiting for the next train, then. Where will you stay?"

"Thank you for your concern, Sir. I'll be fine." Riza begins to walk towards the train station's exit. "I'm sure I can find an inn nearby and catch some sleep—"

"Lieutenant, wait."

Riza blinks at Roy when he quickly moves in front of her, startling her into a halt. He seems to be taken aback by his own actions as well, and he adds, "Allow me to wait with you. I'd hate to abandon my subordinate at this late hour when I've got time to spare."

A moment passes, but Riza fails to make sense of Roy's impulse and simply shrugs. "All right."

They find a small wooden bench down along the platform, not too far away from the ticket window. Their footsteps echo through the near-empty station, where it seems their only company at the moment is a wandering guard or two. Riza sits first, placing her large bag in the middle of the bench; Roy takes his place at the other end.

"I suppose I'll have to entertain you, since you're kindly making time to keep me company," says Riza after a moment. "What are you expecting in Central this weekend?"

Roy sighs. "Not much, really. It's been a while since I went home to visit. I just thought a change of scenery might be good for me, seeing as being Colonel has me swamped with more meetings than I actually care for."

Riza smirks. "I'm sorry you'll have to spend a bit more time with your adjutant before your weekend truly starts."

"Don't be. I don't mind at all."

Roy has turned his head to face her. Riza meets his eyes for only a second before his gaze turns all at once far too earnest and gentle and familiar. She quickly looks away, keeping her face solid and stony despite the heat that begins to color her cheeks. Roy suddenly exhales, continuing, "I haven't gotten tired of the work, not just yet. If anything, the progress we've made in such a short time is more than enough to keep propelling me forward. And I have you—I have the team." Roy clicks his tongue impatiently, then quickly stretches his neck to the side. "The unpleasant part is keeping the company of all these crooks who have their own agenda with the top brass."

"You're pretty bold out here in public, Sir," Riza says, grinning again as the tension from the previous moment breaks. "I worry you've gotten drunk with power."

Roy breathes out a scoff. "Not at all, Lieutenant. I'm only a young, ambitious punk, if you haven't heard, and it's in everyone's best interests that I spend my weekend incognito."

There is a brief moment of complete silence on the platform, and it breaks when, at the same time, Riza yawns tiredly and Roy sighs in distaste. They exchange a glance, and without warning, they burst into laughter. It's restrained, and it isn't enough to fill or reverberate throughout the station, but because of it, Riza momentarily seems to become alert again, and Roy's mood quickly improves.

"So," Roy finally says after a while, "when was the last time you went home to Cameron?"

Riza pauses, not needing to think, but steering herself for the admission. "After Ishval."

Roy's shoulders drop slowly, and a longer pause follows. "That was the last time for me, too." The next pause is a bit more uncomfortable. He takes a deep breath, his voice small when he speaks again. "Cameron was nothing like Central when I first arrived. I suppose that's still true. It was the first time that I truly thought Amestris could be that lovely, leaving the city I grew up in. It was as if suddenly, I could see more of everything, even though there seemed to be less. But all Central had were buildings and paved streets. Cameron had the clearest sky I'd ever seen, wide green fields that I couldn't wrap my head around… it had everything else."

Riza isn't sure why she smiles despite her glazed, far-off stare. She doesn't find herself easily agreeing with what Roy says of her hometown, as if her departure when she entered the military academy had been a severance from where her roots had been planted. She cannot say that she is returning for the weekend for sentimental reasons. The last few years she spent with her father have left little room for sentimentality. In fact, they had left nothing that she truly cares for—which is perhaps why they had left an empty space which she could fill with a picture of Cameron anew.

"Hang on."

Roy frowns slightly, blinking as something dawns on him. "This weekend—it's the town festival, isn't it?"

Riza nods. "Cameron's founding anniversary, yes."

"And… that's why you're going home?"

A deep sigh. "I suppose it is. There isn't much there for me to return home to, but I thought… maybe it's time."

"Maybe it is." Roy smiles again. "I envy you, Lieutenant. Your weekend is shaping up to be much better than mine. Not to mention, more exciting."

"Well, if I manage to stay incognito back home, I'll be glad to tell you all about it when I get back."

Roy sighs dramatically in mock pain. "You're a lot less kind than I remember from earlier today."

Then, after another moment and another exchange of looks—this time more lingering than it should have been—and before Roy even opens his mouth again to speak, Riza knows exactly what he is about to ask.

"Colonel."

"Lieutenant." He rises from his seat, picking up his suitcase from the floor. "You wouldn't mind if I accompanied you on your visit to Cameron, would you?"

Riza gets up onto her feet as well. "You've already made plans to return home for the weekend, Sir. I'd hate to get in your way."

"You won't be getting in my way, not if I've decided that I do want to go. After all," Roy adds with an oddly nostalgic expression, "I spent a few important years growing up in Cameron. I consider it my home just as much as I do Central."

"Won't Madame Christmas be expecting you?"

"I haven't called home, actually. I thought I'd just turn up at the door and let myself in." He sees the look on Riza's face—whatever it is, because she finds herself unable to describe what she is thinking now—and he lets out a short breath. "I honestly can't imagine that my weekend will be spent better anywhere other than Cameron. But I won't impose if you would rather we go on separate visits."

No.

No, it isn't that his company is unwelcome. It's the rational side of her that isn't used to spending time with the Colonel as equals, that knows being spotted out on a casual trip with her superior might raise a few eyebrows, which they would be forced to deal with once they return to work. But another side of her is far less worried, because Roy is right—Cameron was at one point his home, and at that time, he came to be a dear friend to her. Nothing else could make the trip as enjoyable as it could be.

All Riza says is, "It'd be a waste of your ticket to Central."

"It won't be a problem. Look—"

And Roy crosses the wooden walkway that connects their platform to another across the rails, designated for passengers headed to the North Area and Central. Once he reaches the other side, he takes his ticket out from his pocket and places it on top of the nearest bench. He crosses back to where Riza remains, and before she can speak, he says, "There. Someone else will find a far better use for my ticket, like that little girl who took the last train to Cameron."

Riza smiles, shaking her head. "I guess you know that it'll be hours before we can leave."

"And I say we shouldn't have to wait that long." Roy nods towards the train station's exit. "We'll take my car."

"Oh no, Colonel, I couldn't let you—"

"Well, it's a special occasion, Lieutenant. We wouldn't want to miss a second of it. Don't worry, we can take turns driving to make sure we both have time to rest. Is that fair?"

Riza exhales. "All right, that's fair."

And once more, their footsteps ring throughout the station, this time fading into silence as they set out on the long way home.