I do not own FMA. Enjoy!

Hey, Hawkeye. It's been a while since you've last heard from me, I know, but things have been a little busy lately. You probably already know this since word travels fast (in your case, that rings especially true) but I'm close. After all this time, I'm close to finally becoming Fuhrer of Amestris. It won't be long now, maybe only a year, if it all goes well. I've almost done it, Riza. I've almost fulfilled our dream.

Yes, Riza, our dream. Maybe you don't remember (although something tells me that you do) but before I had dreams of making it to the top and leading this country, I dreamt of doing something less ambitious and more innocent. I dreamt of marrying you, Riza Hawkeye. I was still going to be in the military and still work towards a greater good, but I was going to do it with you by my side. I planned on coming back for you and marrying you. I wanted to give you that happy future you told me you wanted to believe in, the one that you wanted everyone to have.

I didn't expect Ishval, though. I didn't expect to have that peaceful vision shattered by the bullets that rained during that war, to have it turned to ashes by my own flames. I also didn't expect to see you there, either. You know how much I beat myself up for that, Riza. I thought I'd brainwashed you into following me there, into fighting for that cause I'd spouted to you dozens of times just a few years before. It wasn't until you practically slapped me that I realized how idiotic I was for thinking that. You weren't some impressionable, gullible little girl. You were an intelligent young woman, easily smart enough to know all the dangers and risks war brought. You knew how easy it would be for you to be killed by anyone or anything. Yet, you followed me. It's because you did that I even made it out of Ishval and lived to tell the tale, that I didn't end up another number in the casualty census they took at the end of the war. It was because of you that my dream was able to change. I didn't just want to work for a greater good, no, I was going to end up being the greater good. I was going to lead the country and make sure that nothing like Ishval ever happened again. Even though I didn't think you would, Riza, I hoped that you would join me. This new dream, after all, still had an empty spot in it, one that only you could fill. I was ready to accept that you might not follow me this time, that one time was one too many if it meant anything even half as brutal as Ishval. That was the second time I underestimated you, Riza, because I'll be damned if you weren't standing in my office not even six months later, looking me dead in the eye and giving me a perfect salute.

Needless to say, I never underestimated you again.

From that point on, you followed me. Together, we learned of the things once unknown to us, of Homunculi and chimeras, of what a man with a vision for his country has to lose, if only for a while, to learn the price of Truth. Never once did you stray from my side, even when I nearly strayed from my path, never once did you even think of leaving me behind (in fact, you blatently disregarded any orders I ever gave you that involved doing just that). You became and stayed my constant, so much so that I became more certain of your constant prescene than I did of the sun and whether or not it would rise the next day. You were always more than just my friend or my subordinate. You were my queen, my lovely, precious queen that I never wanted to give up.

So imagine my agony when I finally had to.

I've gone over that day too many times in my head, through both memories and dreams (funny how that word would now be used in such an agonizing way). One minute, the both of us were staring that killer down, the one we'd both been assigned to catch and had finally cornered, and the next minute, you were bleeding in my arms, two bullets in your chest that should have been in mine. I tried to get you to hold on, to try and stay alive until someone could help you, because there had to be another way this could play out, right? I'd never even given up my queen in a game of chess before, so how was I going to give up the one that truly mattered?

It was then that I was reminded how amazing you really are, Riza. With the last of your strength, you told me you loved me. You told me to keep going, because it would be a shame if I had come so far and then decided to just throw it all away. You knew I was still wavering because you looked me right in the eyes as best as you could and whispered your final words to me.

"If for no other reason, Roy, please...do it for me."

You knew I'd do anything for you, Riza, so doing it for you is exactly what I've been doing. It's only been a year since that day but it feels like so much longer. There's not a day that goes by that I don't miss you terribly, that I don't wish I could have done more to save you. I'm not giving up, though. I'm going to make sure that your future comes true through me. Maybe we weren't able to have a future where we lived happily but I'll be damned if anyone else is deprived of that chance.

I think I'll end this here, Riza. It's getting later and if I don't stop now, I won't get any sleep. So for now, good night, my love. I'll write again soon. I promise. In the meantime, say hello to Maes for me, will you?

- Roy.

It is at this point that I want to express how sorry I am to follow up something as fluffy as "Cuddle" with something as melancholy as this. Also, this chapter marks the start of weekly updates of "68 Intricacies". Just plan on getting a new chapter every Thursday until I either can't keep up with it anymore or am having a particularly terrible bought of writer's block. Whichever comes first.