Chapter 4: Snow Day
Riza, now nine years old and fully dressed for the weather, violently shook a drowsy Roy in futile attempts to wake him from his slumber. It was the first snow of the year, and Riza would not dare let her friend sleep through it, much less stay inside.
"Roy! Come on! There's snow outside! The sooner you wake up and get dressed, the sooner we can play!"
"Bwah...but I don't want to. I'm sleepy. Leave me alone. I'm sleepy" Roy whined, slurring his words and covering his head with his pillow.
"Get up, lazy!" Riza yanked off the warm blankets.
"It's cold, Riza!" Roy scrunched up into a ball. "Give my blanket back. I'm going to die of hippo-thermia."
"What's that?" Riza gave him a puzzled look.
"I'm not really sure. I think it has something to do with being really cold."
"Oh okay." Riza said as she headed for the solitary window in Roy's room. She gave Roy a playful grin before pretending to open the window.
"Riza!" Roy screamed in panic as he suddenly leaped from his bed to chase Riza around the room in his pajamas.
"Get dressed!" Riza laughed, grabbing Roy's winter coat from a hanger and aiming it at his face. "I'll be waiting outside for you to get ready. If you aren't downstairs in three minutes, I'll come back up with snowballs!"
"What!" Roy shouted after Riza as flew out his bedroom. "Three minutes? There's no way!"
Taking Riza's threat to heart, Roy hurriedly changed into the proper clothes. After finally zipping up his coat and making sure his warm gloves fit snugly, Roy scrambled down the stairs. He was surprised that his parents were nowhere in sight, but he had bigger worries than that right now. A challenge awaited him, and he was not about to back down. He flung the door open and jumped out the doorway, ready to face Riza in a snowball fight, but was promptly greeted with a snowball.
"Ah!" Roy spluttered, spitting slushy ice from his mouth. "Who did that?"
Roy stared dumbly at the white expanse before him. Not a single person was in sight. However, he soon noticed an unusually large mound of snow that resembled a fort. Poking out above were the tops of two people's heads. Roy silently bent down to shape a snowball in his gloves and began to advance slowly towards the mound of snow.
"Attack!" A voice shouted from behind the snow fort.
Roy expertly dodged the first thrown at him and then the second as he ran to the side trying to get behind the fort and catch its occupants off guard.
"I have you now!" Roy shouted triumphantly.
He had swung around the back, ready to give his assailants a taste of their own medicine. He felt confident that his maneuver would catch the fort's occupants off guard completely. However, what faced him inside the small fort was something he had had planned for. Roy's heart sank. The snowball he had readied fell from his hand to the ground. His eyes widened in horror. He was defenseless completely and utterly defenseless against the terrifying creature before him.
"Tatsu, now!"
"Woof!" The large husky bounded forward, tail wagging happily.
"Nooooo!" Roy Mustang swung around, arms flailing wildly.
The large husky easily overtook Roy and pounced. Roy found himself fending his face from the volley of licks as he was tackled to the ground. Roy could hear Riza's light laughter coming from the fort.
"Ah, you oversized ball of fur!"
"Alright, Tatsu. That's enough."
Berthold Hawkeye called the husky back into the miniature snow fort. Having been saved, Roy gladly rose to his feet. Now that the main threat was eliminated, he could focus on his target. However, he was outnumbered and outgunned. Eying the mound of snowballs beside Riza, Roy knew his situation was quite dire indeed. Without support or backup he would crumble under a firing squad of snowballs from Mr. Hawkeye and his daughter.
"Roy, I've come to help!"
Roy looked to see where the familiar voice of his father had come from. Emerging from the front door of his house in full snow gear, Robert Mustang leaped from the front door and started sprinting towards the snow fort, scooping up a handful of snow in the process. Roy cheered triumphantly as he ran to meet his father, dodging a couple of snowballs in the process.
"Alright, Roy. Let's fight back these invaders!"
"Yeah!"
Roy shouted excitedly as he ran with his father towards the snow fort. The tide had turned. He had backup. Victory was in his grasps. Roy quickly ducked as a snowball came flying towards him, clipping the top of his head. Riza and her father had emerged from their snow fort to face them. This was no longer a playful skirmish. This was a battle.
"Attack!" Riza's voice rang happily in the winter air as she, her father, and Tatsu left the snow fort to face the Mustang duo.
"I give up, Riza!" Roy feigned while walking slowly towards her as he secretly shaped a snowball behind his back.
"But we've only started." Riza replied, slightly bewildered.
"No way! You're mine now!" Roy cried triumphantly, preparing to launch his surprise attack.
His snowball fell harmlessly to the ground as Riza called his bluff and hit him square in the face with her own snowball. Roy crumpled under the excellently placed shot.
"Roy, don't be silly. There is no way you would give up that easily." Riza ran farther away from him and started preparing more ammunition to hurl. "I'll give you five seconds to get back on your feet before I attack."
"Fine. Bring it on!"
The Battle of Roy's Front Yard lasted for another thirty minutes or so before both sides, exhausted by the snow fight, grudgingly called a temporary truce. With neither side being able to claim victory and bragging rights, everyone unanimously decided to make snow angels. Roy and Riza fell on their backs beside each other onto the fluffy white snow. Roy noticed happily that Riza was wearing the scarf he had given her around her neck.
"Hey look, Riza! It's starting to snow again."
While making their snow angels, the two friends stuck out their tongues to catch snowflakes, and both could easily taste the joy lightly descending upon them.
"Okay, all you snow fighters." Roy's mother called from inside the house. "How about taking a break for some hot chocolate?"
Roy propelled himself from the ground as if the mention of hot chocolate gave him newfound energy. He grabbed Riza's hand and pulled her from the ground with surprising strength and quickly led her towards the house. Robert and Berthold followed suit and followed the two children inside. The Battle of Roy's Front Yard will have to wait until everyone had their fill of Mrs. Mustang's delicious hot chocolate.
