Hi! Sorry for such a long delay with chapter 2, but here it is. I very much hope you will like it as much as I liked writing it. I think i ought to precise Roy's and Riza's age; they're respectively 14 and 11. I always imagined the three years gap between them and it wasn't any different while writing this piece. If anyone has any further questions about this fic I'd be glad to answer them. Thank you anyone for reviews! I very much appreciate it. I'll publish chapter 3 probably at the beginning of November. Enjoy!
Riza woke up when she heard strange sounds coming from the room across hers. It sounded like something big breaking, but she couldn't tell what exactly it was. She stood up lazily and looked at the clock.
"5 am." What was going on? She left her bedroom and walked to the guest room, now occupied by Roy, since she assumed this is where the sound came from. She wasn't wrong.
When Riza entered the room the first thing she saw was how clean this place was, almost as if somebody spent their whole night just to make it look tidy again. Then she saw Roy, his clothes being messy and dirty, a confirmation that he was the mystery man. At last she noticed his terrified face and a window beside him, or rather a place where once a window was.
"Riza... look, I can explain..." he stopped just as he in fact did not have a reasonable explanation.
"Whaaat..?" she started as she yawned loudly and took a few steps towards the boy, but shouted in pain when her foot stepped into something sharp. She recognized pieces of glass. That successfully woke her up. "What did you do?!" she hissed.
"I'm so sorry, I didn't want it to end up like this!" Roy tried to help her sit on the bed, as he gave her his hand, but she pushed it away and looked at him in anger. "I was cold at night, so I tried to fix the window..." he took a pause and looked like he had difficulties with ending the sentence. "...by transmuting it."
Riza looked at him with disbelief.
"Since when was this a good idea?" she asked him with resentment while removing the small glass bits out of her foot. "You aren't exactly an alchemist yet, are you?"
He ignored this rather malicious comment. "How bad is it? Can I help you somehow?"
"I'll be fine. You sure have other things to worry about."
As Riza finished her sentence they heard somebody coming upstairs slowly. This could mean only one thing: trouble. Roy immediately began to clean up the glass pieces lying on the floor, his face painted with terror. But his chaotic movements only made the whole mess look even worse. Riza rapidly stood up and with a swift move took the carpet lying in the centre of the room and covered the remaining parts of the window with a transmutation circle drawn across it. She made her way to the bed at the exact same moment as the remaining occupant of this house entered the room.
"What is going on here… in the middle of the night?" old Hawkeye asked, not even surprised to see Riza in Roy's room.
It was a rather strange scene. Roy, still kneeling on the floor, uneasiness slowly appearing on his face. Riza sitting at the edge of her bed, cleaning up her blooded foot with focus. Both of them stayed silent.
"Where did the window go?" Mr Hawkeye asked the kids and they looked at each other, hoping the other one will answer the man's question.
"It's just... well, I was cleaning the room..." Roy said, his voice starting to tremble a little. "...and I..I..."
"He got so carried away with it, that he broke the window with a broom. Not purposefully, of course." Riza has cut in, intentionally saving Roy. "I've heard some noises so I came in, just as you did."
The old man looked at Roy with suspicion, whose face expression changed to a mix of surprise and relief. He sighed loudly.
"Eh, nevermind. I think… the window was already broken. I'll have someone bring in a new one tomorrow..." He said with tiredness in his voice. "Come with me, boy. Let's see what we can do, since we are both awake." He said as he left the room, not even noticing Riza's injured foot.
"Yes, sir!" Roy said with excitement as he rapidly stood up from the ground. When passing by Riza he smiled and said with an inaudible voice "thank you".
She was left alone in his room, her foot still bleeding a little bit. Riza caught herself at the fact that she just helped him avoid her father's punishment for no reason at all. He did mess up the window, woke her up at a quite unpleasant time and was guilty of her foot being injured. Strange, how fast her instinct worked and how she didn't even think this through. She just did it. As this was the right thing to do.
Maybe Riza didn't want him to have more problems with her father. She knew, after all, how angry he could get at times. He wasn't a good father. She could bet that he wouldn't be a good teacher either.
Jumping on one foot Riza made it to the bathroom, where she cleaned her wounds and disinfected them with some alcohol she found in a cupboard. Then she bandaged them tightly and after a split second tried to walk, which resulted in her face twitching in pain. As stubborn as she was, she ignored it and walked to her room as normal as possible, but she limped all the way through anyway.
Riza fell on her bed with a grumpy face. So now what? The best and most reasonable thing she could do now is to take a nap, since it's still very early and she didn't sleep much at night. She crawled under her bed sheets and made herself comfortable. 5 minutes. 15 minutes. 20 minutes. 30 minutes. One hour. And she still wasn't even near falling asleep.
What a nightmare.
She looked around the room in search of something to do. She decided to clean up the mess she caused a couple of days ago, when she couldn't decide what to wear.
It took her 10 minutes or even less. She sighed deeply.
After a while Riza took one of the books from her shelf, her mother's favorite. "A perfect garden." written by some unknown writer. It was still in flawless condition and looked like it was never opened. But Riza knew, that it was in use almost every day. Until one accident happened and both the book and Riza got abandoned.
After a couple of minutes of staring at the cover she put the book back where she found it. Riza didn't want to open it and awaken the memories she had hidden deep beneath her skin.
At this point Riza decided to leave. The foot still hurt her, but she unrelentingly ignored it. After a couple of minutes she was ready to go, with her bow, some extra bandages and a backpack filled with food she took from the kitchen the day before.
Walking downstairs wasn't as painful as she thought it'd be, so that lifted her spirit up. Riza was almost at the door when she heard somebody leaving the other room.
It wasn't a lesson really. Just a very detailed questioning. It seemed like Mr Hawkeye attempted to find a reason not to teach Roy, but fortunately for the boy he didn't find one. And hesitantly, he agreed to be Roy's master.
Roy was a perfect student any teacher would like to have. He was ambitious, scrupulous and passionate about what he was doing. And most of all he was very obedient.
"You need to give me a couple of days to prepare. And I'm warning you, that this won't be a traditional training, and it's gonna take a while since I have a lot of work I can't abandon. After the summer is over, you can go to the nearby school with Riza. She will tell you the details." When saying that he gave Roy a massive stack of books from his shelves. "Start reading them today. And since you did such a good job with cleaning the guest room, you could tidy the kitchen as well. You can go." And without even looking at Roy he dismissed him and returned to reading one of the massive books he had on his desk.
Roy gladly left the man's office, even if he was making him do things that weren't his responsibilities. He was oddly surprised to cross paths with Riza, who looked like she was leaving the building.
"Where are you going?" he asked her.
Riza looked even more surprised than Roy, simply because she didn't expect him to leave her father's office so soon. "Does it matter?"
"Yes, it does since you have your foot injured. You should rest." He said calmly.
"It's fine. It's not your problem to worry about. See you later." She replied as she turned the knob.
"It is actually my problem, since you're in this state because of me. And I think I can't stop you, so..." Roy has slowly put the books he received from Mr Hawkeye on the floor and followed her. "... I'm coming with you."
Riza snorted. "No, you're not." Her expression changed when she saw that he was serious, standing right behind her and ready to go. "Seriously, I can manage."
"I'm not letting you go alone with a limping foot!" He said a little bit too loudly. "You can stay here or accept me as your companion."
He stared at her intensively, indicating he won't be persuaded. Roy still felt guilty about what he did with the window that caused her pain and discomfort, so he wouldn't let her wander alone with a limping foot.
She sighed loudly to let him know that she was not happy with this idea at all. "Fine." Riza looked at him with resignation. "Just don't get lost."
Roy, still wearing his messy clothes left after her. Riza was trying hard to hide her unnatural motion, but he still could see her limping.
"So you go out a lot?" He asked her, kind of knowing the answer to this question.
"I don't like spending my time in there. It's not exactly like a home to me." Riza looked at the building slowly disappearing with each step they made. "I think you can guess why."
Roy gave her a surprised look, as he did not expect to hear personal statements such as this one from her. "Well, it's hard to tell after being here for less than two days. But I think I know what you mean. Some things are clearly...noticeable."
"I don't have anything to do in the house. Contrary to the forest, the fields, or even the town." She admitted.
"...or the school?" he asked, gently trying to tell her what her father decided to take him as his student.
"What do you mean?" she responded slowly, with a sudden revelation appearing on her face. "Oh... so he's made his mind then?" Riza tried to sound as neutral as possible, but she couldn't hide the slight sadness she just started to feel.
"Yes. I showed him what I had transmuted a few weeks ago." Roy said as he took something out of his pocket. "And he said that I'm not such a failure he thought I was."
Riza took the object Roy handed her and immediately recognized what it was.
"Is it...?" she started.
"A hawk, yes." He finished and continued to observe Riza as she was admiring every part of the sculptured bird. Her hazelnut eyes slowly started to shine, her hands delicately touching every curve of the object. Her look was the indisputable embodiment of pure joy, but her face stayed emotionless. Roy saw her brows twitching a couple of times, almost as if she wanted to focus even more.
"It's nice. I like the details." She said as she gave him the object back. "I'll tell you everything about the school when the right time comes."
"Thanks. I really appreciate it." Roy said. "And I'm grateful for helping me out today, even if I didn't deserve your help."
Riza started walking again, but her face was still directed at him. "I knew you had no wrong intentions. But my father isn't as forgiving as I am."
"I guess he isn't." Roy said and sighed deeply.
"Just don't do alchemy unless you learn it. It's just as simple as that." She said jokingly, which made him smile.
"Yes, yes. I figured it out." Roy answered, not minding the squabble.
Roy was still upset every time he looked at Riza and her miserable attempts to hide the pain she was in, but he didn't say anything.
He wondered how old she could be. She was mature, maybe even more than Roy, which may have been a result of living in a cold household. Sometimes he would forget that she was still, as well as he, growing up. Although they didn't know each other for long, he already knew he'd be there for her to help whenever she needed it.
"I like your bow." He blurted out at last, after staring at it for almost 15 minutes. "So are you an archer?"
"I don't know really. I'm not shooting animals, so I wouldn't consider myself a real one." Riza admitted, adjusting the bow on her back a little bit.
"Isn't that the purpose of a bow? To kill?"
"Maybe it is. But I'm no killer, it's not my job to take life away." The last sentence sounded heavy, like it was hard for her to spit it out.
It felt like the whole world just got quiet. The weight of these words silenced them both for a moment, in which both of their face expressions changed. Roy spotted birds on the nearby tree they were passing by. The creatures looked upon them, just like they could understand the context of their conversation and were judging them silently.
"I understand. Could you show me what you do with it, if that's okay?" Roy couldn't stop himself from asking.
Riza looked back at him with a surprised look. "I think so, yeah." And then she immediately started stressing out, because she never had an audience. And did not expect to have one, ever. "Were almost there."
"Where?"
Riza pointed at the forest before them, growing bigger and bigger with each step they made.
"Oh. I could've figured it out, my bad." Roy scratched his head. "I wonder what it is like."
She immediately stopped walking and looked at the boy with disbelief. "You've never been to a forest before." It should've been a question, but she already knew it was the truth.
"Um… yeah. Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Because. Because..." there was a million ways to describe what the boy was missing, but none of them could describe the wonders of that place. "You'll see."
They continued to march in synchronized rhythm, Roy trying to keep up with Riza, who even if having an injured foot, was still faster than him. She almost looked like she was anxious to leave whatever was behind her, like she wanted to run away. As if she didn't leave home, but was walking towards it.
At last they've made it and Roy took a moment to admire an old wooden gate before entering. It looked like an ancient soldier, who welcomed allies and deterred its enemies. It had scribblings all over it, but he couldn't figure out what they meant.
"You coming or not?" Riza asked impatiently, already a few feet ahead of him.
Roy followed her, keeping his eyes on the gate. But what was beyond it, made his eyes open wide with delight.
He had never seen such a variety of different shades of green. In some places the sun was breaking through the branches and with a little help of the wind, made the leaves look like tiny dancers. As far as his eyes could reach, he saw trees so various he never thought that this many of them existed. Underneath his feet he started observing the smallest occupants of this forest, each of them carrying their own burden. Roy closed his eyes for a second and took a deep breath of fresh air. That allowed him to truly hear all the birds singing above his head. Even though all of them sounded different, together they were creating an unique symphony. He couldn't hide his smile. Roy already felt like a part of his heart belonged to this place.
Ahead of him was a narrow path leading to the depths of the forest. Alongside it were impressively huge trees watching over. Looking both scary and beautiful at the same time, like guardians of this place. And in the middle of it- 'her'.
Riza was crouching and picking some berries when she noticed a couple tiny objects lying in blades of grass, shimmering in the sunlight. She looked closely and realised that they were nothing else than snail shells. They already stole her heart. Roy couldn't see her eyes in such distance, but he imagined the spark of joy she had in her gaze. Riza began to gently put her treasures in the bag she brought with herself. Almost like she could feel she was watched, she turned her head and looked at Roy with a questioning look.
"What?"
"What are you collecting?" he replied to her question with another one, while making his way towards the girl.
"I found some blueberries we can eat later. And then I noticed some snail shells." Riza opened her bag and showed the collectives to Roy. "Look how colourful they are." She said while rotating one shell to make it reflect the sunlight.
"They are. I didn't know the forest can hide such precious things."
"You'd be surprised at how many secrets it has ." Riza replied. "Let's keep going."
Roy snapped out of his contemplation and so they began to make their way towards the depths of the forest. Riza was leading the way she walked many times before, confidently avoiding every obstacle along the way.
"How's your foot?" He asked suddenly, as her limping was not as noticeable as before.
"Better. I told you I'd be fine." Riza replied with confidence.
"You were right, I give you that. And I'm so glad I went with you. This place is marvelous." He said with a dreamy voice.
She gave him a mischievous look. "Wait 'till you see the view from up high!"
Roy's expression changed in an instant. "What?" He asked astonished, already knowing what that meant. "Riza, wait!" Roy shouted to the girl, whose pace increased rapidly.
She started running, making him chase her clumsily. Roy feared he'd bump into something, so he ran far slower than Riza, which resulted in being far behind the girl. Riza turned her head around and Roy noticed a smile. It was a rather wide smile, the first one he ever witnessed. Her giggle echoed in the distance and she was not slowing down, even if her eyes weren't directed at the road ahead of her.
And that was a mistake.
Roy heard a loud stomp, but didn't really see what happened. His stomach twisted nervously as he started running towards the sound, not caring about the obstacles on his way anymore. And then he found Riza on the ground, covered in mud and grass, her face twitching in pain.
He instantly knelt next to her and helped her sit down. "Slowly." He said as she already wanted to get up. "Are you hurt? Did you hit your head?" Roy asked her.
"No, I did not." Riza swallowed hard, stubbornly trying not to show the pain she was obviously in. "But my right foot... hurts. A little bit."
Roy carefully helped her to take the shoe off. She was hissing in pain with every small move he made. Suddenly, the uncontrollable flow of tears striked her.
"A little bit, huh?" He teased her, but instantly regretted it when she sent him the most angry look she could possibly make. "Sorry."
When the shoe was off, both of them saw bandages covered with old blood. This indicated that the wounds, caused by the sharp glass that morning, weren't bleeding anymore. Roy tried to move her foot just a tiny bit, to confirm his theory on what was wrong with it.
"Ow! Stop it!" Riza screamed in pain and hid her face in her hands, not wanting him to see her sobbing.
"As I suspected. You sprained your ankle." Roy said, still having her foot in his hands, trying hard not to move it. "Did you bring any bandages with yourself? We need to change the old ones."
It took her a minute to stop crying and finally look at him. "Yes." Riza said and opened her bag to look for the cloth.
"Hey. It's okay to cry, I know that it hurts a lot." Roy sent her a reassuring and comforting smile. "I've had both of my ankles sprained in the past. Not at the same time of course. You should see what kind of hysteria I was in. You're doing great."
That visibly made her feel better, but the tears started falling down her cheeks again, when Roy started unwrapping her foot. As he suspected, the wounds from the morning were partially healed.
"Good news is that your foot doesn't need disinfection. The wounds look good." Roy said. "Bad news is that I need to wrap your foot very tightly to secure it. I'll be as delicate as I can."
Riza nodded and closed her eyes, preparing for another wave of pain. Surprisingly, it took Roy very little time to do it, so Riza didn't even realize when he was finished. She took her shoe and determinedly wanted to put it on by herself.
"I can help yo..." he started, but Riza cut in.
"I know. But I can do it." She said, already having the shoe on her foot. Her face was twisted in pain the whole time, but she didn't stop. "You already helped me a lot."
By the time she was finished, Roy took her bag on his shoulder and kneeled down in a weird position. "You ready to go?"
Riza gave him a suspicious look. "Yeah. Why are you kneeling like that?"
"And how do you think you're going back to your house?" he asked her ironically. "Do you think you can walk?"
"I can walk somehow." She responded. "I think."
"Then you think wrong. You wouldn't stand for two seconds." Roy said. "Trust me, you don't want to try for yourself."
He could see her inner battle between her stubbornness and the pain she was feeling with even the slightest movement.
"All right." Riza said while getting close to the boy. He could tell she didn't like being in close physical contact with other people, her face showing pure discomfort and her hands trembling slightly.
"You need to take a hold of me from behind. Put your hands on my shoulders." Riza did as instructed, but was very put off by this idea. "Good." He said as he placed his arms around her thighs and slowly started to get up.
Surprisingly, this wasn't as hard as he thought it'd be. Roy has never been athletic, so for a moment he feared he wasn't strong enough for this task. But his determination somehow gave him the strength he needed. "You're okay up there?"
"Mhm. Ready to go." She replied.
Strange. Riza never got to ride on her father's back or on anyone else's, so she assumed this to be an uncomfortable position, sorely invading one's private space.
As it turned out, she didn't feel any of those things. She felt safe. Roy's hands were steadily holding her in his grasp and he didn't even budge under her weight.
"Funny thing." Riza said after half an hour of walking. "I know every inch of that path, yet I still managed to get myself in that kind of state."
"You know what's funnier? Knowing how to transmute a detailed sculpture of a bird and yet fail at fixing an already broken window." Roy responded, trying to sound funny, but he couldn't hide his embarrassment.
Riza laughed a little bit as both of those situations sounded equally ridiculous. She moved herself a little closer to Roy, almost hugging him, and that position turned out to be even more comfortable for her. This allowed her to hear how hard he was trying to hide his panting.
"Let's rest for a while." Riza suggested, despite her lack of need to rest.
Roy almost immediately stopped when he saw a tree trunk Riza could sit on. He gently helped her get off his back and sat beside her when she already was in a comfortable position.
"I never thanked you." Riza started, while trying hard to swallow her pride and not show him her vulnerability. "So thank you. For everything."
"You really don't have to. It's what every other person would do." Roy assured her.
She hasn't met this kind of person in a very long time, though. Not since her mother passed away. And it's been a few years already, so all of this was brand new to her. Riza felt like she was learning what kindness was all over again.
She opened her bag and gave him a bottle of water and the berries she collected earlier. "You need this more than I do."
"But it's yours. And you're probably tired too." He refused.
"You're exhausted, Roy. Just take it." She insisted.
Roy hesitantly took the food she handed him and drank the water in one big sip. "Thanks."
All of the sudden, they've heard something and in just a couple of seconds an old carriage appeared before them. And an even older looking man was holding the leashes.
"Hello, Riza!" the man greeted the girl. "And whoever you are." He said to Roy.
"Good day to you, Mr Warden." She replied.
"You alright? Do you need a ride?" The old man asked, as he noticed Riza's dirty clothes. "Something happened?"
"Riza injured her foot and can't walk." Roy answered. "So she'd be grateful for a ride."
"Jump in then, both of you. There's enough space for all of us." Mr Warden pointed at the end of the carriage, where at least five other people could fit in.
"Thank you." Said both of them.
Placing Riza comfortably on the carriage took Roy a while, as he wanted to secure the injured foot.
"We're good!" Roy shouted and a moment later the vehicle was moving again.
The journey went easy and without any bigger difficulties. The kids were exhausted, but relieved they didn't have to come back home on foot. Roy laid on his back, his hands crossed under his head, a piece of hay in his mouth. And the bluest sky above him.
"Those are some weirdly shaped clouds." He said, sighing loudly.
Riza laid herself next to him. "What do you mean?"
"Look at them. This one looks like an old lady with a cigarette." Roy said, focusing his sight on the sky. "And this one is like a cat."
"An old lady with a cigarette? Where do you see that?" Riza snorted at him, trying hard to see what he just saw. "This clearly is a cow eating grass."
"No, it's not!"
And then they spent the rest of the journey bickering about who is right when it comes to the shape of one particular cloud. They didn't agree at all, not even once.
At last the carriage slowed down. Riza clumsily got back on Roy's back, who volunteered to take Riza all the way back to the house and upstairs to her room. They both thanked Mr Warden for the ride and started making their way to the building.
"So... what a day!" Roy said jokingly.
"Don't even get me started. This is not how I wanted it to be." She replied, slightly irritated. "And now I'll be stuck here. With nothing to do."
Roy now realized that the injury meant an imprisonment for her. Riza suddenly got sad, as she started imagining countless hours she will spend here, trying not to go crazy.
"I'll come up with something to do." He assured her. And then he recalled the stack of books waiting for him in the hallway. "But first I need to start reading all of those books your father gave me. And clean the kitchen."
"...clean the kitchen?"
"Yeah. Turns out I'm you new room service." Roy said ironically.
"Oh. I'll help you then..."
"No, you won't..." Roy cut in.
"...as much as I can. While sitting." Riza still managed to finish her sentence.
Roy smiled under his nose. "Stubborn, aren't you?"
"I won't disagree on that one." She said jokingly.
When they got to the main door, Roy quietly opened them and with Riza on his back, immediately went upstairs to her room.
"Okay, so... don't even try to go downstairs on your own. If you'll get hungry, just give me a shout."
"Mhm." Riza said as she was already figuring out a plan to actually get downstairs on her own.
"I'm serious."
"All right! Just get out. I need to change." She hissed at him.
Roy obediently left the room and she was left alone. Riza hated being useless. And she was about to be for many days ahead. The only thing she hated more was loneliness, but she got quite used to it. Nonetheless the fear of being alone was still overwhelming. But she realized she actually could do something about it.
After a while she heard Roy stomping on the stairs. Riza assumed he went for the books, but as it turned out she was wrong.
"Um, Riza, I won't come in." He said, his voice hushed by the door being in between them. "But I made some food. And tea. I'll leave them here."
That caught her by surprise.
"...t-thanks!" Riza gasped a little bit. "Can you come in, actually?
Roy entered the room, still holding the small board tightly.
"Yeah?"
It took her a second to answer, as if she regretted this silly idea she just came up with.
"Would you like to study here? If you want to..." Riza spitted this out so quickly, that Roy only heard the first sentence. "There's just... I... you can use my desk! You don't have one in your room!"
"Um, sure. Yeah. Give me a moment to take the books." Roy looked quite shocked, but decided not to ask any questions which made her truly relieved. He put down the plates and cups on the bedside table and quickly went to get the books. In the meanwhile, Riza made herself comfortable on the bed, grabbed her bag with a notebook and placed it on her lap.
When Roy came in again she was already taking all the things she gathered recently in the forest from her bag.
"Can I take your things from the desk somewhere else?"
She nodded, not even looking at him, since she was already buried deep in concentration.
And this is how they spent the rest of the evening. Roy, trying to figure out the basics of alchemy by himself, surrounded by massive books written in incomprehensible scientific language. Riza, sketching tiny shells and leaves and observing them cautiously as if they were small treasures. None of them said anything, but instead they were sending quick glances to each other without looking in each other's eyes.
Like they wanted to say „thank you for being here".