A/N:

This is the result of me having way too much headcanons concerning young Roy and Riza and having too much free time. Weird thing is that this is my first fic and it's actually turning out to be a multichapter. Chapter two will be published soon. Hope you will enjoy it!

Disclaimer for all chapters: I do not own FMA.

The house was particularly quiet that day. It was never really noisy, the only sounds were usually angry screams coming from the office. And it was still a rare thing to occur, so it seemed like nobody lived in there. The reason for the silence was the difficult or maybe even non-existent relationship the two occupants of that building were having. The older alchemist consumed by his work and his stubborn daughter didn't know much about each other, even if living under the same roof. As years passed by they started having more and more separated lives. Neither of them made anything to fix that problem and neither of them seemed to care. On that day Berthold Hawkeye didn't even notice his daughter wasn't around. Riza was long gone and far away from the place she should be calling home.

She liked to disappear for days. The nearby forest called for her to unveil its mysteries and she never refused. Everytime when she thought she discovered all of its secrets, another one appeared before her. For Riza the forest was a gigantic, living creature in which she wasn't treated as an intruder, but as a part of a whole. Coming here wasn't just about freedom, but about connection to everything around, connection she was missing since her mother passed away. The building she was living in was a meaningless void in which she wasn't truly herself. Riza hated empty spaces, filled with empty memories. She almost always felt like she was suffocating in that house and there was nobody who could hear her cry for help.

But this time it was different. Her escape from the familiar loneliness had another reason. This time they were expecting a guest and Riza was feeling anxious and somehow angry. Anxious, because she didn't have much experience in meeting new people. Angry, because that meant her father will help this person become an alchemist.

For her alchemy used to be a strange thing, something father used to tell her not to bother herself with, because it's not for small minded. He caught her once wandering around his office when she was younger, with childish curiosity shining in her eyes. Without giving her a further explanation he dismissed her saying only one thing:

"Don't pursue things that are too difficult for you to understand."

So she stayed away and grew to hate alchemy since it was the reason her father became so absent in her life. And the reason he looked upon her, like she was not good enough. He never had an apprentice, so Riza got used to the fact that he won't teach her and any other person. But somehow one boy's letters managed to persuade the old man to invite him over. What's so special about a fourteen year old kid, whose dream is to become an alchemist?

It took her a while to arrive at her favorite location in the forest- a big, old oak tree she liked to climb on and observe everything around. It was like an old friend to her that knew about all of her secrets, an only witness of her moments of weakness and a place where she hid all of her small treasures. Riza took the nearby branch and started climbing with synchronized movements up the tree, with her hands and feet knowing every little bump and hole in the oak's bark. When she got at the very top of the tree she squeezed through thick cluster of leaves and branches to see the breathtaking surrounding. She knew every detail of it, as if observing it became a sacred ritual to her. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, her hands stretched out like wings of a bird. Like she desperately wanted to fly away.

After a while she went a little down the tree to her favorite spot. It was a massive branch, splitted in two and covered with a couple of blankets. Riza took them from the house when her visits in the forest extended from being couple of hours long to couple of days. She even installed a small, wooden box on the tree's surface to hide her necessities and things she had found in forest. It was her place, her nest.

Riza, as a very perceptive person, loved to observe everything and notice small details everywhere. Those hazel eyes of hers would shine like diamonds in a surrounding she never saw before. So when she had found an old, oak bow at the flea market she didn't hesitate a second and took it with her. And she had been taking it with her ever since. Except this day, unfortunately.

She laid herself comfortably on the blankets and almost immediately felt a wave of tiredness coming at her, a result of a sleepless night. Her head was still full of thoughts, but when she closed her eyes she drifted away moments after.

When Riza woke up she felt cold wind picking up. She quickly got at the top of the tree and quickly noticed the dark clouds coming from the east, as an omen of something fateful. She dismissed those thoughts. "Small drizzle never killed nobody."

If only it was a drizzle. It was a huge rainstorm.

Up to some point she was stubborn and stayed hidden behind bushes, but the rain was intensive enough to make her completely wet within ten minutes. Then her body started trembling uncontrollably, so she made a hard decision to go back and face whatever was waiting for her in the house. Riza gracefully started going down the tree and when she was on the ground she decided no matter how intense the rain would get she will not run. She wasn't that desperate.

So she rhythmically began to walk back home with a head full of thoughts, trying to stay as positive as possible. "It's fine, I can slip through kitchen door. Nobody will notice me, as always." And with that attitude she made her way back to the Hawkeye's possession, lowering the head when passing the windows. When Riza arrived at the door she opened them as quietly as possible and entered the room.

Roy took off the train and slowly looked around, his eyes partially closed from the brightness that greeted him outside. There was not a single soul at the station and he was the only one person that got off the train at this stop. He had Mr. Hawkeye's instructions written in the letter he sent him some time ago, but "...you need to take the road that has an big maple tree at the beginning of it..." wasn't particularly helpful, because there were two roads that matched that description. When Mr. Hawkeye had exactly been outside? Roy stood there for a while wondering which path to choose and secretly hoped that someone would magically appear and help him out. This obviously didn't happen, so he hesitantly chose the road that seemed to be more trodden than the other one.

He sighed with relief when he saw an old, slightly green fence getting bigger and bigger with each step he made, a confirmation that he made the correct choice. Mr. Hawkeye had mentioned it in the letter, so there were no doubts that this path was the right one. When Roy got close an impressively big garden appeared before him, or maybe something that once was a garden. Now it was just an abandoned field completely overgrown by lots of different plants. Roy spotted tiny mailbox behind thicket of weeds and barely visible name "Hawkeye". He looked around cautiously, trying to locate some kind of a wicket, but the only thing he saw was a couple of boards barely holding in one place that once could be the gate to this estate. "Could anyone really live in a place like this?" he thought.

Roy felt a couple of rain drops falling on his head and with each passing second there were more appearing on different parts of his body. He took this as a signal to go to the front door at last. The house probably used to be white once- but now it was more gray than the clouds that started gathering above Roy's head. He noticed a couple of missing tiles and a broken window on the first floor that needed to be fixed. All of those things made Roy even more scared than he already was. He took a deep breath and calmed himself for a couple of seconds before finally knocking on the door.

Silence.

He tried again and again and there was still no response. "Maybe there's another Hawkeye household around and I'm just at the wrong one?" No, that couldn't be. He's exactly at the right place. Dark thoughts started appearing in Roy's head, making him think about unimaginable things that might've taken place in this building. Somehow his hand made its way to the wooden knob and turned it, making the front door open with ease. He gently pushed it and popped his head inside to have a quick look at the place. It was almost completely dark in there, besides a slight light coming from a room located across front door. Slowly, Roy entered the hall and started making his way to the source of light. His eyes began to adapt to the overwhelming darkness and he noticed how messy the room was. Roy almost tripped on a box full of things in weird shapes and sizes. Miraculously he made it in one piece to his destination and with a shaky hand knocked on the door.

No more than three seconds later the door opened rapidly and a rather strangely looking man appeared before Roy. His dark blonde hair was badly tangled, clothes had many burned marks and under his eyes big dark circles were visible. He seemed seriously confused.

"Who are you and how did you get in here?"

"Mr. Hawkeye? My name is Roy Mustang, we had an appointment on this day. As I wrote in my letters, it'd be such an honor to learn alchemy from y..."

"Ah, yes. Didn't realize it was today..." he moved slightly away from Roy and looked at his desk, trying to focus. "How old are you again?"

"I'm almost 14."

"Mhm... how big is your experience with alchemy?"

"It's not much, sir. I have found one fairly old book about basic alchemy in an antique shop and read it many times already. I got very interested in this matter and..."

"That's not very impressive." Hawkeye rapidly interrupted the boy.

Roy looked at him with confusion, as he didn't even finish answering his question. They stood there for a while in an awkward silence until old Hawkeye spoke again.

"There's an empty room upstairs on the left. You can leave your belongings there and come downstairs when you finish. Let's see if you're of any worth to me." He said with tiredness and returned to whatever he was doing on his desk.

Roy's body immediately made its way to the door, but his mind was still processing what he did just heard. He was already insecure and stressed when he got here but now he was absolutely terrified. He started walking towards stairs and almost tripped again over the same box as earlier. The second floor was almost as messy as parts of the ground floor he already saw. Roy quickly noticed first door on the left and opened it without hesitation, but what he saw was anything but an empty room.

It was clearly occupied by somebody. It wasn't as untidy as the other parts of the house, mostly because nothing was lying on the floor except for a very old looking carpet and a small, wooden bow. Messy bedsheets and scattered clothing lying near wardrobe indicated that whoever lived here left the house in a hurry.

After realizing that he stepped into somebody else's private space Roy turned back and quietly left the room. "Did he really say that the room on the left was empty?" Roy were two rooms left, but the one next to the mysterious person's room got eliminated almost immediately, as Roy saw a toilet through an open door. He went into the last of three rooms and sighed with relief, because that was the empty room Mr. Hawkeye was talking about. It was messy, covered in dust and with no signs of anybody living in here for the past couple of... centuries. The tiny, broken window he noticed before was the only source of light. Roy decided to clean it up later and left the room almost immediately after putting his belongings on the floor. He graciously maneuvered his way downstairs as he avoided every obstacle.

Roy headed towards the old man's office but changed his course when he heard noises coming from a different room, which turned out to be a kitchen... sort of.

"...mold on this too. Is there anything edible in here...?" Mr. Hawkeye muttered under his nose, as he didn't notice Roy standing in the doorway. "...why... can't she be just a little bit helpful...too much...work." He finished his conversation with himself when his gaze met his guest's. Roy spoke first.

"What should we do now, sir?"

"What should we do? Oh no, boy. Let's talk about what should you do... " he drifted away for a moment and after a split second his eyes opened in realization. "Yes, you can be useful! Go to the market and buy some food, or our lives will end by starvation." He seemed particularly happy with what he came up with.

"What?" was the only answer Roy choked out of himself, as he looked at Hawkeye in disbelief.

The old alchemist did not reply back, because both of them turned their heads at the sound of the back door being opened and saw somebody coming from outside. A small girl appeared before them. All three seemed confused when they realized they weren't alone in the room, but she seemed to be the more perplexed one. She had short, blonde hair with bangs covering her left eye and was wearing a plain, linen shirt tucked into baggy trousers with suspenders. Her leather boots had small platforms, which implied that the girl wanted to look bigger than she actually was. On top of that, she looked like she just got splashed with a bucket full of water. Her confusion changed to shock as she stood there staring at both Mr. Hawkeye and Roy like her brain refused to work.

"Riza will accompany you, since she decided to show up. I don't take no as an answer." Said the old man as he started making his way towards the office.

"It's pouring outside. What's so important?" Riza finally spoke, her soft voice showing no emotions, contrary to her face.

"Food. Or maybe you like moldy things?"

"Can I at least change my clothes?" she snorted.

"You can. But make it fast, I'm hungry." Hawkeye said as he left the kitchen.

Riza rolled her eyes and left right after the old man and a moment later every living creature in the building could hear her stomping on the stairs. Roy was left behind in the kitchen, awkwardly standing in one spot since Riza appeared. He allowed himself to sit on one of the chairs that wasn't occupied by anything and process whatever he had witnessed up to this moment in this weird household. Why is this house so messy? What did the man mean when he said "be useful to me"? How come that he forgot about this meeting? Why does it smell like something died in here?

Who is that girl?

Roy rapidly got disrupted from his contemplation when he heard Riza coughing impatiently. She looked slightly irritated, so Roy didn't want to worsen his situation and stayed quiet. She changed her clothes to a similar light shirt and a deep red dress made from a thick looking fabric that made her visibly uncomfortable. This or the fact that she had to stick up with Roy.

"You ready or not?" she asked as she took a wicket rattan from the table.

"I... I guess so."

He stood up and followed her to the exit. When they got outside a sigh of relief came out of Riza's mouth.

"Well, at least it's not raining anymore." She said more to herself than to Roy, but he still picked this up to start a conversation.

"So... you don't like rain? I like it when it rains, although it doesn't happen often in Central City."

"I don't care, it's just rain." Riza avoided his eyes as she closed the door. "I don't like getting soaked though."

She passed him by and began to dash towards the fence, flattening her dress' wrinkles every two seconds. Roy, even if taller than her, had problems with keeping up with her. It looked like she was making this intentionally- avoiding any contact with him. Roy didn't want to give up though.

"Are you studying alchemy too?"

"No." Was Riza's short answer.

"So... are you related to Mr. Hawkeye?" he couldn't resist his curiosity.

"He's my father." She replied evasively.

"Oh... okay. I think I understand, having your dad as your teacher would be quite weird." Roy's assumption came out of his mouth too quickly.

"Well, you do not actually get it." She said in a rather annoyed tone, her face turned to the road ahead of them. "Nevermind."

Riza started walking even faster than before, as if it even was possible. None of them said anything more for a long time. Roy started wondering whether he did something to upset her or not. He was always very cautious with everything he did or said, so her behavior confused him to the core. This day, so far, was a complication of strange events Roy never expected to experience. Even if all of this wasn't his fault, he still wanted to get to know the reason of Riza's nervousness and end this day with a slightly more positive attitude, if that was even possible.

"Look, Riza, I'm sorry if I offended you in some way. It wasn't intentional."

She stopped walking and after a while looked him in the eyes for the first time since she met him. The expression on her face changed, as if she realized something.

"You don't have to apologize. I'm not exactly angry with you." The girl said quietly, with slight repentance appearing on her face. "I just... really did not want to be put in the middle of this."

"I didn't even know you existed." He said honestly. "Your father never mentioned you in his letters, so I'm as confused with this whole situation as you are."

"This isn't surprising." Riza shrugged. She made a few steps towards Roy and with a stone face gave him her hand. "Well then, an official introduction won't kill anybody. I'm Riza and there's million things I'd rather do right now."

"Roy Mustang, I have no idea if I'll make it till the end of this day."

The seriousness of his tone made her snort a little bit. "Let's hurry then, so we won't give my father another reason to torment you."

And without further explanation she started dashing again, this time slower so Roy could walk beside her. Both of them stayed quiet, but something about the silence was different, it was comforting. Riza stopped nervously patting her dress down and her pace also seemed more relaxed. Roy took a deep breath and looked around, admiring the gorgeous landscape. There was nothing but never ending fields around them. And so they marched together, their steps synchronized and faces directed onward.