A/N: Hello there! Happy Valentine's Day everyone! This might be a surprise for you. I'm very, very sorry if I left this fic on hiatus. It's been more than half a year since I last updated this fic. Forgive me, please? I became so busy and so lazy these past months. I'm sorry, everyone. Now I don't know if you are still interested in reading this crap of mine. Yeah you can kill me after reading this...
And as usual, please forgive me if there are grammatical errors or typos on this fic. I think I have lost my English writing skills (wait... do I even have any?). I'm very, very sorry guys.
Well, here we go. Read, enjoy, and review.
Disclaimer: I don't own FMA.
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Riza opened her eyes and found herself in a dark room. She still felt dizzy and her head ached. She was tied up on a chair. She can hardly move or breathe. When fully awake, she remembered what had happened.
"What's that stench smell?" She whispered as she fully regained her senses.
"Corpse flowers..." A voice was heard as the lamp lit up and exposed Grace on Riza's vision.
The small lamp illuminated a part of the floor, and Riza was surprised to find a lot of corpse flowers around her.
Riza gritted her teeth and tried to free herself from the rope. Unfortunately, the rope was tied too tight around her body.
"Trying to escape?" Grace smirked and slightly raised the lamp. The light slightly brightened the room.
Riza lifted up her head. Her eyes widened as she saw a lot of black roses hanging above her. Not just black roses, but they still have thorns and were drenched in a poisonous liquid. She observed them and noticed a rope that was attached. Her eyes followed the rope and as she turned her head, she gasped in shock. The rope was also tied around her body.
"You know what will happen if you try to escape. If that rope snapped, those roses will fall on you. You won't be able to avoid it. I tied another rope on your feet." Grace explained.
Riza glared at her. "Why are you doing this to me?!"
"It's because I want you to die!" Grace laughed wickedly.
"I didn't know that behind that graceful face and behind that beautifully decorated flower shop was a wicked witch concealed in a filthy hell!" Riza shouted.
Grace frowned and pulled Riza's hair down behind her. They glared at each other, eye to eye. "You stole him from me! You took everything from me! That ring you wear! That big mansion! His hugs! His kisses! His love! Those were supposed to be mine! But you stole everything!"
"He was never yours. He didn't say he loves you, didn't he?"
Grace was dumbfounded with what Riza said. She released her hair and slapped her left cheek.
"Say that again and you'll be dead." She remarked before walking out of the room.
She sobbed in pain. "Roy, please save me..."
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Jean entered the office. "Good afternoon... colonel." He saluted and greeted Roy with a smile as if nothing had happened.
Roy glanced at him and smiled. "So... how is she?" He asked.
"How is she? I thought she's with you now." Jean answered with a confused look. "And it's past twelve. She should be here now. Uhm... why don't you call her?"
Roy immediately dialed Riza's phone number. Several rings were heard on the other line, but no one answered. "No one's answering the phone." Roy sighed. "Is it true? Does she still love me?"
"Yeah." Jean glanced at him. "Please, make her happy. You know how painful it is to see her cry."
Roy nodded. "I think I have to see her now. I want to talk to her. I'm going to her house." Roy stood from his chair.
"Uhm... colonel." Jean called. "I may sound stupid but... I want to see her smile with you. Will you allow me?"
Roy smiled. "Sure. Let's go see her."
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Roy and Jean arrived at her house. They can hear Black Hayate barking happily from inside. Roy knocked several times but no one answered.
"No one is inside aside from Black Hayate." Jean said.
"Maybe she's sleeping." Roy assumed. "I'll go check her from the windows."
Roy walked around Riza's house and peeked at the glass windows. Everything seemed normal inside. He looked up to see her bedroom's window.
"Havoc! Havoc! Come here!" Jean swiftly went where Roy is. They were both surprised by the broken window of Riza's room. "I'll go inside. Havoc, look for the broken pieces of the glass on the ground."
Roy broke the door and rushed into Riza's bedroom. No one's in there. He then observed the broken window and saw the dried blood stains on it. "Are these stains from Riza? No... it can't be. Everything looks fine here aside from this window. Riza would never jump out of the window without any reason." He thought.
"Colonel! You must see this!" Jean shouted and Roy hurriedly went out.
"I found the broken pieces in this garbage can, but there is something else in here." He opened the can's lid and Roy got shocked with what he saw.
"Black roses? Where did these stuffs come from?" Roy lifted a rose and noticed the sticky liquid on it. The notes in the garbage can instantly caught their attention. They both read the notes.
"No! Someone wants to kill Riza! We need to find her!" Jean exclaimed.
"Jean!"
"What are you doing?! She's already missing and you're standing there as if everything's okay!" Jean shouted in anger.
Roy did not speak for a second and suddenly remembered something.
"Oh, these? I got them from thorns. I was carrying too much roses and when I slipped, all of them fell on my arms."
"The blood stains... the wounds... the roses..." "Come with me! I think I know where she is!" Roy ran and Jean followed him. "I will never forgive that bastard."
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"The flower shop is already closed. But Grace doesn't close her store this early." Jean indicated. He stared at Roy and realized something. "Don't tell me..."
"I knew it." Roy broke the shop's door and went inside. There they found broken vases, roses scattered everywhere.
Grace suddenly went out from a room. "Hello colonel. I'm very sorry but my shop is already closed. You can come back tomorrow if-"
"Where is she?! Where's Riza?! Tell me or I'll burn this shop of yours!" Roy screamed in rage.
She grinned and ran back into a room. The place was too dark and they followed her by the sound of her footsteps. Soon the sound stopped. Roy and Jean found themselves in a big room illuminated by a single light from a lamp.
"Roy... Roy... Are you there...?" A weak, soft voice was heard. The light gradually revealed Riza, completely exhausted, with Grace next to her.
"Riza!" Roy and Jean called.
"Release her." Roy calmly ordered. "Release her and surrender or else..."
"Or else what?" Grace chuckled. "You're gonna burn me? Just to inform you Mustang, I spilled some fuel on the floor. So go ahead, snap those fingers and let's see who gets toasted first. Well, why do I have to wait for your move? I can just drop this lamp anytime." She then pulled a knife from a holster hanging on her back. "Oh yeah, I almost forgot. I can just cut this rope and let those poisonous flowers fall on her!" She warned as she raised her lamp and illuminated the flowers above them. She then hid her knife as she saw Roy's shocked eyes.
"Grace please! No!" Roy shouted. "Please... please let go of her."
"Roy... I'm okay." Riza looked at him and smiled.
Grace suddenly slapped her face. "Speak again and I'll immediately kill you."
Roy gritted his teeth in anger. "What do you want from me?! I'll give you everything. Just let her go!" Roy was shivering in extreme wrath. Riza's life was at risk but he can't do anything to help her.
"What I want? Simple. Your love." She smirked. "Love me. Marry me. Give me that big mansion and spend the rest of your life with me! Promise me that you'll love me forever and I'll free her."
"How many times do I have to tell you that I will never love you? I love Riza. She's the only reason why I live. I will never be happy with you. Can't you understand that?!" Roy screamed as he eventually lost his temper.
Grace glared at him. "But I'm better than her! You know that!"
"No... You're not. You don't even know how to love. We love each other. Why do you have to ruin our relationship?" Riza got the strength to speak.
Grace then glared at her and pulled her knife. "Shut up!"
"Grace!" Jean suddenly called. "Grace, stop this."
"Jean..." She looked at him. "But you love her, right? You love Riza! Why don't you take her away from Roy?!" She shouted.
Jean smiled. "Because she's happy with him, and I'm satisfied with that. Can't you see? Roy is happy with her, too. If you're going to continue this, how will we end up?"
"But..." Her eyes were suddenly filled with tears.
Jean slowly walked towards her, but kept a little distance to be safe. "You need someone beside you. I know how sad it is to be alone. So please, let me be here for you, and let's start your life again." He looked at her eyes and gave a smile.
"Jean..." Her tears slowly rolled on her cheeks. She dropped her knife and didn't hesitate to come to him. "Jean..." She called again.
Jean slowly took the lamp from her hand and embraced her. "I'm sorry." He then hit her on her neck and she fell on the floor.
"You... liar..." She glared at him before she lost her consciousness.
Roy then rushed to Riza and embraced her. "Riza, are you okay? I... I'm very sorry. You suffered again because of me." He frowned as his tears suddenly flowed from his eyes.
"Roy..." Riza whispered as she began to cry.
"Colonel, we'll untie her." Jean said. "I can tie that rope on Grace so that the flowers won't fall. Let's just call the others and let them take her later."
Roy did what Jean said. "Jean, thank you very much."
Riza embraced Roy as the rope was untied from her. "Roy..." She cried again.
"It's okay. You're safe now. I love you, Riza."
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A/N: Oops! This is a long one, and I think this is kind of lame or boring. Okay, so now... you can kill me. Just kidding! But you can scold me nicely in your reviews if you want. Thank you for reading. Sadly, this is the second to the last chapter. So maybe I'll upload the last chapter before this week ends. I'm very sorry guys. I know I'm not a good writer. Well, thank you very much to those who will still read and review this fic. Thank you very much!
Oh and btw, thanks to winglessfairy25 for reminding me.
Happy Valentine's Day everyone!