Chapter 11: Broken People


Riza's mind snapped awake. Pain was shooting throughout each of her limbs as if her body was slowly being broken down cell by cell. She screamed and fell out of the makeshift bed she was laying in and onto the cold tile floor. On the ground, she curled her body in tightly in an attempt to fight the intense pain that was tearing her body apart.

"Doctor!" A woman's voice echoed distantly in Riza's ears. "She's finally awake!"

Riza vaguely heard the rush of hurried footsteps as several people entered the room. The pain suddenly grew more intense, causing her body to involuntarily convulse violently on the ground

"Hold her still!" The gentle yet confident voice of another woman ordered. "She's going to hurt herself at this rate!"

Riza screamed again as she struggled against the hands that were attempting to keep her still. Two fingers were pressed against one of her wrists and then her neck, checking her pulse. Suddenly, the onslaught of pain vanished completely, and Riza felt her body grow still and weak. The hands restraining her loosened their grips with uncertainty.

"Doctor...?" The same voice asked with confusion. "She just went limp. Is this supposed to happen?"

"I'm not sure, but she seems stable now." Riza once again felt someone check her pulse. "Her pulse is normal. This is certainly odd. Nevermind, let's get her off the floor, shall we?"

Riza felt herself being lifted off the ground and placed gently onto a bed. With the pain gone, she slowly opened her eyes just a crack. She saw the familiar color of the ceiling and walls around her, the dusty look of a blackboard, and multiple desks and chairs pushed against the walls. For some reason, she was in one of her school's classrooms, but it was beyond her what she was doing in there. For that matter, she did not recognize the people gathered around and casting curious glances at her.

"Dear, I'm Doctor Swann." The voice of the lady who had checked her pulse asked as she held a stethoscope to her chest. "I'm going to ask you some simple questions. Can you tell me your name and how old you are?"

"Riza Hawkeye…" Riza spoke weakly. "I'm fifteen."

"Thank goodness." The doctor breathed with relief. "Now can you tell me any other people you know like family members or friends?"

"My dad, Berthold Hawkeye…" Riza answered, unsure why the doctor was asking her such easy questions. "Can I see him?"

"He's been busy helping out around town with his medical alchemy, but he'll be back later in the evening to see you."

"Why am I at my school?" Riza asked curiously as she glanced again at the desks against the walls.

"The military designated Edinburgh High School as an emergency triage center. We're using this place temporarily to treat wounds and injuries. And what about a friend's name?"

"Roy." Riza replied before her memories suddenly hit her. "Roy! Where is he? Is he okay?"

Riza sprung forward in panic before falling back weakly onto her bed.

"You must be talking about the boy whose been sitting outside for the past few days. Except for some bruises and minor rib fractures, he seems to be doing fine physically."

"But I thought…he was shot." Riza choked on her words before the doctor's words really hit her. "Past few days? What do you mean?"

"Dear, you've just awoken from a coma. We've been monitoring your condition for almost a week now, and about Roy, I didn't treat him for any bullet wounds. You might be remembering things wrong."

"A coma…" Riza repeated numbly, not sure how to respond to the news.

"Being in the state you were in may have led to some mental damage. Your memories before entering your comatose state may have been affected."

"No, I remember it clear as day." Riza stated defiantly. "I remember…watching him die. I also died…"

The doctor and the several other nurses looked at each other with worried expressions. Riza knew they did not believe her, and after really thinking about it, she began to doubt what she said as well. After all, she was alive right here and now, and apparently, Roy was sitting right outside the classroom.

"Would you like to see him?" Dr. Swann suggested hopefully. "Maybe, you'll be more convinced that way. However, I am warning you that his mental state is a wreck. He hasn't said a word since we brought him in and has barely eaten anything. He's barely gotten any sleep either. The poor boy, losing his parents like that…" The doctor's voice trailed off sadly as she cast a lingering glance at the door to the room. "You must be someone special to him if he's been sitting outside waiting for you this whole time."

"We've known each other for a long time." Riza replied quietly.

"I'll bring him right in for you, and we'll leave you two alone." The doctor spoke as she motioned for her colleagues to step out of the room as well. "I'll be back to check on you later."

Dr. Swann held the door open as everyone filed out quietly and followed afterwards. She reappeared shortly with Roy standing beside and motioned for him to enter before closing the door behind him. Riza felt a wave of relief seeing him alive. Whatever she had remembered about their deaths now seemed like a mere figment of her imagination, yet a slight nagging feeling remained. However, her heart soon sank as she saw his ghostly features. His eyes were hollow and dead.

Seeing his broken form, Riza tried to climb out of her makeshift bed. She wanted to just hold him, hug him until life returned once again, anything to break him from his lifeless trance. However, after swinging her feet off her makeshift bed, she found that her body was still weak after what happened earlier and her legs gave out below her. She fell to a floor with a thud.

"Come on, stupid legs." Riza muttered to herself as she tried to stand. All the while, she was feeling slightly embarrassed and extremely useless.

Before she could lift herself to her feet, Roy was there helping her up. Riza teetered precariously as she finally managed to find enough strength to stand. Roy never took his eyes off of her.

"Riza…" Roy finally spoke, his voice a mixture of disbelief and joy.

"Roy…?"

"Thank goodness. It's really you."

Roy suddenly reached forward and hugged her tightly. Although surprised at first, Riza returned the gesture. Although there were no tears, Riza could tell her friend was crying. Crying would actually be too mild for what she felt Roy was doing. All the pain and emotions that he had kept stored away in silence for the past few days were leaving his body. She felt his body quiver and shake as he continued to hold her. Riza simply hugged back, sharing in his sorrow. After all, it was the only thing she could think of doing.

"You're the only person I have left in this world now." Roy finally spoke while still holding her tightly to his body. "When you suddenly went limp in my arms and collapsed after your father left, I didn't know what to do. I couldn't bear to lose you, too. Then, you never woke back up. Even the doctors from the military didn't know what to do. With every passing day seeing you lie there like that, I thought for sure that you were never going to wake back up, and I kept thinking it was my fault that you ended up like that. I'm sorry. Because of me, you were dragged into everything, too. I'm sorry…"

"Roy, please don't blame yourself anymore…" Riza answered softly. "I don't want you hurting yourself anymore."

As she stood there supporting his mourning figure, Riza could feel tears beginning to well up in her own eyes. She quickly buried her face into Roy's shoulder to hide her tears.

Riza continued to hold onto him, hoping desperately that any minute she would snap out of a terrible nightmare, that Roy's parents would still be alive, and that the tragedies of that day could all be forgotten.

However, as time went by, Riza knew their lives would never be the same again. The halcyon days of their childhood were gone, snatched away before they could say farewell. The present was in motion, shoving them into an uncertain tomorrow. There would be no return to innocence.


Note: After about five months of inactivity, I've finally released a new chapter. I'm sorry about the terrible delay. I was too busy last semester to do any creative thinking/writing. Also for future reference, Riza's father will be referred to as Berthold and not Nathaniel in accordance to the anime series.