Hope you enjoy part 2!
TRAINING Part 2
ROY
Roy stood as Elizabeth entered Riza's room.
Roy had eventually gotten her to calm down and sleep. Her tears had continued for about an hour, and understandably so. He promised her he wouldn't leave her side. The poor girl had watched her Father almost die. He wouldn't have left her side, even if she hadn't asked him.
"How did it go?" Roy asked quietly.
Elizabeth closed the door quietly with a sigh. She approached the arm chair beside Riza's bed, where Roy had sat for the last hour.
"I understand why he did it," she said quietly, watching their daughter.
Anger spiked within Roy. She couldn't be serious?
"What?" he hissed. "How could you even say that? Riza watched me almost die before her and you're okay with it?" His voice rose uncontrollably. Riza stirred in her sleep and whimpered. The noise silenced him.
"No, I'm not okay with it. How could you even ask that?" Her gaze turned hard as she looked at him. His anger simmered as he remembered she had gone through the same experience. "I said I understand, not that I was happy with it." Elizabeth sat in her chair, turning away from Roy, and lightly grasped her sleeping daughter's hand. "He went through the same training routine with me when I was six."
Roy looked at her in surprise. "When you were six?" Elizabeth nodded. "How come you never told me?"
Elizabeth shrugged. "I don't know. It wasn't something I liked to talk about when I was young."
Roy waited for her to continue, if she even would. He couldn't believe she had gone through the same when she was even younger than Riza. He could understand teaching children about the world, and that it wasn't "all sunshine and roses", but this method took it too far.
"It was my mother," Elizabeth continued softly. "I couldn't stand there and let her die, so I ran to her side, like Riza did with you. But…" she trailed off, taking a deep breath. "The so called "attack" continued and I was hit by an arrow myself." Elizabeth looked up at Roy for the first time entering. His jaw set in anger at what she had to go through. It wasn't right.
"I was all right, it was just magic, but it felt so real."
"Riza, I'm so sorry." He reached for her hand and gave it a squeeze. She smiled in thanks.
"I thought he might do it again with little Riza. I begged him not to when she was younger. I remember the terror of it and didn't want her to go though it at such a young age. But I understand the training is necessary because it taught me that as a soldier I need to maintain my post, no matter what the cost."
Roy still wasn't happy with this method of training, but he could see its point. He still didn't agree with it.
"I'm not happy with it," Roy stated.
"I understand, but it was effective."
"I don't care," he replied sharply.
"Roy, we can't protect her forever. She needs to learn–"
"I don't care," he repeated, his gaze hard. He didn't want to hear anything more about it. His little girl didn't need to see him lying on the floor dying. No child should witness that. He should know.