Hello!

I've just read chapter 31 of "The way it was" from Fullmetalscully, and I got an idea. How could Roy react when he learn the truth about Selim Bradley? How does he think about how Riza cope with her situation? I like flower language, and I wanted to associate it with Royai. They need some hope when despair can win.

I hope you'll enjoy reading!


Hope for better days


"Selim Bradley is homunculus"

Roy looked at the words on the white sheet. His first thought was "Impossible". No, impossible is a word that doesn't exist in this world, Alphonse had said with Greed's words. It was inconceivable but true. Selim Bradley was a homunculus and knew how to hide it under the face of an innocent boy.

Roy snapped his fingers and burnt to ashes the paper bearing the incriminating words. His lieutenant had taken so many risks to give him this information, so he better use it wisely and not spread the news immediately.

All afternoon he thought of Riza. He was obsessed by the thought that she had to endanger herself to learn the true nature of Selim. She already was a hostage under Bradley's orders, it was out of question to react under an impulse. However, the cut on her cheek intrigued him. Was she hurt there? This evening when he had called her? She'd sounded tense, and even when she assured him that nothing was wrong, he could feel her unease. He was concerned, and not appeased by the sight of his hurt lieutenant. He couldn't go nearer to her than what he had done for lunch, and it enraged him. At least what had happened today was a coincidence, but more interactions could seem suspect.

What had she felt while learning this? She'd kept good figure, but he knew that if she had to tell him in code even in the middle of the canteen full of soldiers, it meant that they could be under constant surveillance.

Because of his impetuosity, she had been taken from him. His support, his guide, his queen, had been taken from him, and now she was threatened. Should he make a step in the wrong direction, she would be at risk. His best ally had been marked as his biggest weakness by the Führer, who kept her near him to show his power upon Roy.

At the end of the day, Roy had taken a decision. He wanted to find a way to bring solace to Riza without anyone suspecting anything. It wouldn't be much, regarding what she was going through at the moment, but it would be at least a little support.

During his day off, he spent all morning at the library, looking in encyclopaedias and books about flowers for the one that would suit the most. He sifted through many books before realising the evidence: the only possible flower bloomed during spring and summer. It would be really difficult to find a blue iris in the middle of November.

On his way home, he drove by a decoration store, so he stopped and went through the shelves he had an interest in. She'd said she hadn't got a vase, so he'd offer one to her. After a long reflection, he chose a thick glass vase, high enough to store the numerous bouquets he wanted to offer her. Once he had made his purchase, he went home to eat. His afternoon was tiresome. He went from one florist to another, asking them about the store where he could find the flower he was looking for. He drove from one end of Central to another, and the list of florists in his notebook grew with the passing hours. Eventually he entered in a modest store in the suburbs of Central. The scent of flowers caught his nostrils as soon as he pushed the door. Plants were everywhere: on the floor, hanged on the ceiling, aligned on the shelves, in the middle of flower boxes at the centre of the room. Green was dominated by yellow, orange, red, rose, white, purple, blue and all the possible shades of these colours.

A young woman greeted him with a smile.

"What can I do for you?"

Roy exposed his issue once more. He was looking for blue irises, that didn't bloom in November, and none of the florists of this city had been able to sell him his grail. The florist listened to him, her smile still on her lips. "Follow me," she simply answered.

Roy was curious and followed her to the back of the store. Temperature was high there. The woman pushed a door and they entered in a greenhouse. Roy suddenly felt lost in the middle of so many flowers and plants.

"We specialise in exotic and out of season flowers. Here you can find summer flowers in winter and winter flowers in summer. The environment is made so that season are swapped."

A few more steps and they were standing in front of a bed of irises of all existing colours.

"Is your friend's situation so dramatic so you have to offer them flowers?"

A sad smile loomed on Roy's lips. "I'd say I need hope as much as her, and I want to think better days await us. But I care about her first.

— She looks precious for you."

Roy nodded. For years he knew what he had hidden in his heart. He loved Riza despite the parting and the impossibility for them to express their feelings in broad daylight.

The florist cut blue irises and soon made a beautiful bouquet. Then, they returned in the store, where Roy payed for the flowers.

"I think I'll come back here", he said before greeting the young woman, a relieved smile on his lips.

He stepped in his car and put the bouquet in the vase on the passenger seat, before pouring water from his canteen. The way to Riza's building was short. He knew she worked until late and wouldn't be home before several hours. He had time to bring the bouquet without being seen. He entered the building and climbed the stairs. It was only once he was in front of her door, he realised he couldn't hide his large present.

Then, he quickly wrote a neat "For R.H." on the flower shop business card attached to the bouquet, before leaving it in front of the door.

It was only months later he knew for certain she had received his gift. The night before the Promised Day, he went with her visit Hughes' grave. She approached him, and he turned, hearing her footsteps on the cemetery's grass. "Colonel, it's time."

He nodded and turned back to his best friend's grave. "I wish tomorrow will be the last one of the threats were fighting against."

She stood by his side.

"Me too. I hope for better days, when I could help to give back this country the government it needs.

— Hope is beautiful, lieutenant. But only acts can make it a reality.

— My hope… fills more than just one vase, colonel."

Roy blinked, abashed, and heat flooded his chest.

"We can make it a reality, together."

They were facing each other. She nodded, a faint smile on her face, and he decided he would offer her as soon as possible each flower existing in the flower shop he'd discovered a few months earlier. Each flower that meant "I love you".