A/N: Sorry for the late update, I've been touring France and haven't had much time to write. Anyway, enjoy!:D
When Riza awakened, she found herself laying in thin, white sheets in an overly neat looking room that smelled like cleaning supplement. Cracking an eye in attempt to recall the occasions of her first visit to Edward's cell, she remembered fainting from looking deep into the broken teen's eyes.
But...how could she trust him? How could she believe that he was innocent?
She remained just as confused as when she'd fainted, she still couldn't understand how Edward could kill the Colonel. Her heart ached for consolation, but she knew she'd never get it.
"Look who's awake." She heard a voice say. She could recognize the tone anywhere; the playful, goofy tone that belonged to none other than Jean Havoc: "Feeling any better?"
"Not quite." She said simply, forcing her exhausted body to sit up, squinting against the unnaturally brightness of the infirmary room.
"You were checked into the hospital in case of a concussion; those jail floors are hard, since they're cement." He informed her, reading her questioning thoughts.
In that instant, all memories of Edward's visit went rushing back into her mind; He being suspicious of being in the foreign terrorist group, traveling outside Amestris without orders to do so... she remembered every last detail of the case.
Flopping back onto the bed in a heap of thin sheets and clothing, Riza rested her cold hands on her forehead. The case was confusing, and honestly, if she wasn't so hurt and curious herself, she'd probably just ignore the work all together.
Breda and Armstrong entered the room with a long baguette in hand, suggesting to Riza that it was time for lunch. They sat beside her bed, and tore off pieces, eyes flitting about the room to get a point across; they had more information.
"What is it, you two." Riza demanded, understanding their silent eye contact too well.
"Well...we've kind of noticed something important." Breda started with confidence.
Armstrong leaned toward the bed, continuing where Breda'd left off; "You are aware that Edward is friends with an illegal immigrant, correct?"
Riza raised a brow, remembering chasing Gluttony with a Xingeese prince and his two body guards. Yes, I do remember him. But what does that have to..? Oh...right, the foreign terrorist group.
"Actually," Breda began, reading Riza's thoughts easily, "It's not what you think. We don't suspect him of being a part of the group, since he's got direct heritage to the king. But, we have figured out that the train Edward took was out of the country, and based upon the sightings, we've determined which track he took. Apparently, he was on his way East, toward Xing."
Riza raised a finger to touch her chin in thought: Why was he going to Xing? It was possible that he was just innocently taking a trip to visit the immigrant, but since that immigrant was in Amestris...well, could he be on his way to a terrorist meeting?
"What's your point?" She asked seriously. The three men exchanged glances, before bluntly stating with a smirk:
"We've found him."
Riza and Havoc walked the streets with intent aiming toward HQ, specifically, Colonel Roy Mustang's old office. Once they stood outside the closed, protective gates, Havoc had to convince the guards that although Riza was not a part of the military, they should allow her to enter because she was his girlfriend.
"Ah," said one of the guards, dropping his respectful salute, "so that's why you quit the military; there's no dating among the ranks. Wow, and here we were thinking it was because of the Fullmetal Alchemist/Flame Alchemist case..."
Havoc brushed him off slyly, waving his hands back at them with a relaxed arm around Hawkeye's shoulders; "Well yeah! She's nuts about me!"
When the two were out of earshot, Riza grimaced and shoved Havoc's arm off of her.
"Do you realize how disgusting dating you would be? You're too touchy."
"Aw, come on, Lieutenant Hawkeye, you know you enjoyed it."
She tsk'd at this. "No, but I bet you did."
He shrugged, practically admitting that he didn't mind the idea of dating his old superior.
They shut the door behind themselves once inside the open office, memories flooding back to the old times when the team wasn't scattered, and the image of Roy seated behind his huge mahogany desk entered their broken minds. The shiny floors, to the neat stacks of papers were all the works of Riza herself, the team's lazy eyes playing with their dog-eared paperwork instead of actually filling out their reports. Roy doodles of dogs littering every paper in sight, wasting hours of the day until the work piled up, and in the last hour of the day, he'd furiously sign random work with a frustrated look on his boyish face, muttering curses under his breath until Hawkeye would scold him.
But now, the office was bare, the furniture had been removed, Roy's mahogany desk was the only object remaining...the room was tattered and littered with dust, the once bright windows looked grey from no obsessive cleaning, despite the radiant sun outside.
The dark feeling inside of the two matched the appearence of the office; the old cave of their ex-leader.
In an instant, this feeling snapped away when the dirty windows popped open, and a boy about 15 swung his legs into the room.
"Well, this is depressing." He said, his squinted eyes examining the room with a fake smile on his face.
"Ling." Riza stated, her memory of him returning to her back-to-reality mind.
"That's right! And though I recognize you," he said in an up-beat voice, "I do not remember your names."
"Jean Havoc," The Lieutenant waved, smiling at his own words, "And she's Riza Hawkeye."
"Riiiiight..." Ling said in false recognition. "And the reason you called me here...?"
Jean hesitated for a moment too long, so Hawkeye filled in for him. "Edward has been imprisoned for the assassination of his boss, Colonel Roy Mustang."
Ling frowned, opening his eyes up slightly to see their reactions to these words. "I'm aware of that. Are you looking for my help with something, or are we just gonna sit around and chat?"
Jean chuckled at the boy's disrespect toward them. "I like you, kid. We're wondering if you know anything about Ed's trip to Xing...was he visiting you?"
Ling cocked an eyebrow, stating playfully "I have not been in my home country in about a year in a half...though, if Alphonse was with Edward, it is possible that he could have been visiting somebody." The Xingeese teen grinned at this slightly.
Havoc knit his brows together, remembering that the records suggested he'd bought two tickets; this would mean one for Al, and one for Ed.
"Well, it's possible...who could he have been seeing?"
Ling giggled girlishly, "I believe Alphonse has taken a liking to my rival for the throne; her name is May Chang."
Riza smiled to herself, imagining Alphonse, a seven-foot tall suit of armor, 'taking a liking' to the tiny girl with the panda. She recalled the day that Edward searched for that girl, and his drawing of the panda looked like a demonic creature, while Alphonse's sketch looked like a stuffed-animal you might see with a child. Nevertheless, Al's artwork was way more accurate to the real thing than Ed's was...in fact, Ed's was quite bias, as for some odd reason he felt a strong resentment toward the...panda-cat.
"So then...Ed and Al go to Xing to visit this girl, and then come back to Amestris to murder the Colonel..? None of this connects." Havoc stated blandly. He rubbed his chin thoughtfully, trying to make Edward seem innocent, when in reality, he could have been lost in hopefulness.
Ling furrowed his brows. "Speaking of which, I've heard a lot about Ed's case-how come Alphonse hasn't made a statement in his defense yet..? Isn't that how it works in Amestris?"
Suddenly, Riza's attention snapped back to Ling, her face changing from disappointment to surprise as she came to realize what had been missing this whole time, that the Xingeese prince was completely right. Alphonse.
When Havoc noticed this change, he came to realize this too, and unlike Riza, the words flew right out of his mouth:
"Where is Alphonse?!"
A/N: Short-ish chapter, but I'll update sooner this time around since I'm finally back from touring France. Hope you guys are getting suspicious and are interested in the crime, since most of the angst comes after you find out what's REALLY happening with this case...muahahaha...;)
What do you think is going on with Al? I'd love to know what you think's happening, or happened, or...well, I'm not leaving hints. That's uncool. B(
Thanks for the reviews/faves/follows/just reading!
R-E-V-I-E-W OR BE BANISHED! (But not really;)