A/N: This one's a little darker, so if you're sensitive to stuff like this, you might wanna skip it :/ In other news, a shoutout to kasumin for the review!

Blood-soaked

He was shoved through the door, hands cuffed behind him, to the accompanying sound of a nearby scream. Roy's eyes shot toward the grate in the room's floor, widening as tightness spread through his chest. He knew that voice.

"RIZA!"

She was in a tiny room below the grate, lying on a rough stone slab looking up at him, her hands shackled to the corners. A man stood behind her head with a knife pressed against the side of her neck, looking up with a nasty smile. Blood trickled from a deep gash on her leg and from various other cuts scattered across her body; Roy didn't know which had triggered her scream.

"Glad to see a familiar face, Colonel?" Sweeping into the room behind his prisoner, a well-dressed Mr. Lon Nosser closed the door with a smirk. "A shame that you can't meet under happier circumstances."

Dark eyes glared daggers at him. "Why would you drag her into this?" Roy snapped. "What has she got to do with it?"

Nosser's smirk dissolved into a glare of his own. "Don't get testy with me, Mustang. I know exactly what that little lady means to you; what you'd be willing to do to keep her safe, and how high you'll jump if I . . . push the right button . . . ." He snapped his fingers at the grate.

Roy could only watch as the knife opened a new slash of red across his lieutenant's cheek. Riza gritted her teeth, squeezing her eyes shut as the knifeman lifted his blade to his mouth, licking the blood from it with a sinister leer.

She swallowed hard, before calling "I'm all right, sir." Her eyes opened, the brown irises clear and clearly angry. "These bastards can't do anything to me that was worse than Ishval. You don't have to tell them anything."

He stared at her, wanting desperately to run to her, check for himself that she was really all right. He wanted it so badly that the tightness in his chest was turning into a full-blown ache. He also wanted to turn anyone else in this room into neat little piles of ash, but that could wait until he had his gloves back and Riza was free.

"He doesn't have to tell us anything," Nosser agreed, "but it would be so much easier if he would. Easier for both him and you, Lieutenant. Of course, it's entirely up to the Colonel . . . ."

The knife flashed again, drawing more blood, this time from Riza's arm; the cut was dangerously close to the artery in her wrist. Roy sank to his knees beside the grate, staring at the stream of red that trickled onto the stone slab. He saw her eyes widen as she realized how close he was to breaking.

"Roy, don't . . . ." His gaze met hers. "It's not worth it. Don't do it. Please."

He knew he had no choice. Between holding his silence and watching them kill his Riza, he'd make the same decision every time. His chin dropped to his chest in defeat.

". . . . What do you want to know?"

He almost heard the victorious grin spread across Nosser's face, as much as he heard Riza's shout of "NO!" from below him. Footsteps crossed toward him, and a hand rested on his shoulder. "You're doing the right thing, Colonel. And congratulations, you've just bought your young woman another few hours of life. So long as you continue to co-operate, that time might even be extended. Agreed?"

Roy opened his eyes, looking one last time at the brown-eyed blonde chained in the room below. Hurt, surprise, and disbelief mixed together in her expression, and the eyes that never cried were shining with unshed tears. That one look said it all: How could you?

"Agreed," he said heavily, looking away.

"Bronson, you may escort Lieutenant Hawkeye back to the holding cell," Nosser instructed the knifeman. "There will be no more persuading until further notice. Leave her there and return to me."

Riza didn't shift her gaze from him as the knifeman — Bronson — freed her wrists from the shackles and dragged her upright. "Roy, are you crazy? You can't do this! It doesn't matter what you tell them, they'll still kill us both! You have to —!" A meaty hand clamped itself over her mouth, drowning out the rest of her shouting as she was pulled from the room and out of sight.

"Let's not waste time, Mustang," Nosser said casually. "I've got several questions regarding the fortifications in Central at Laboratory Three; having been there yourself in an offensive capacity, I'm sure you can help me."

His mind was flashing images at him; images of blood and Riza. Ishval, and the blood of countless Ishvalans on their hands and clothes. Blood streaming from Riza's nose in East City; the result of a bar fight she had dived into to drag him out of. More blood on her clothes, his this time, in the aftermath of the battle with Lust . . . . There had been so much blood shed already, and these bastards had gone and spilled more. His eyes narrowed, as anger twisted in his stomach.

The brittle silence broke as Roy growled, "Like hell I will."

Dropping to his left, he rolled onto his back, one foot lashing out to catch Nosser squarely between the legs. The other man's eyes bulged as the breath froze in his lungs; almost in slow-motion, he doubled over and sank to the ground, clutching the offended spot.

Getting to his feet, Roy pressed one foot down on the back of his would-be interrogator's head, forcing Nosser's face against the hard stone floor. "Listen up and listen good, dirtbag. If you so much as twitch, you'll wind up on your own torture table, and I'll personally pay you back tenfold for every cut your man gave my Lieutenant. Understood?"

She paced the tiny room, ignoring the burning from the twenty-one cuts that had been inflicted on her. Riza didn't even notice the tremor in her left leg from the gash; she was too worried for Roy. What did he think he could gain from it? A few more hours meant nothing, not when no one else knew where they'd gone. No reinforcements were coming to help them this time.

Maybe he meant for her to use the time to create a plan. Maybe he hadn't thought that far ahead and had just wanted the 'persuasion' stopped. Reaching a wall, she stopped, pounding one fist against the cold stone. "Dammit . . . ." Pressing her forehead against it, she closed her eyes, trying to will herself awake from whatever nightmare this was.

Noise from outside told her there was nothing to wake up from. Riza looked over at the door and the angry shouting from the other side. There was a sound like rushing wind, then a heavy thud and more shouting before even that cut off abruptly. Footsteps, muffled by the thick wooden panel, approached as the smell of smoke drifted under the door.

That smell . . . she knew that smell. Putting one hand out to the wall, she leaned against it, allowing herself a relieved smile. He hadn't broken after all.

The lock clicked, and the door opened. "Riza?"

It took her a second to find her voice. ". . . Right here, sir."

Roy turned at the sound of her voice, those dark eyes anxiously seeking hers, relief evident when they found them. He closed the gap between them in two strides, arms folding around her in a hug. Riza buried her face in his shoulder, one hand gripping his shirt.

"I'm sorry," he murmured into her hair. "This never should have happened." His hands found the sides of her face, pushing her back just enough so he could look at her. His eyes searched out the cut on her cheek, intense expression softening at the sight of it. "I keep adding scars onto you . . . ."

"Worry about your own scars," she countered. "Are you all right?"

"Just fine." He seemed to hold some private debate with himself for a few seconds before finally leaning close. His lips brushed her cheek, just to the side of the cut; Riza closed her eyes as the burning began to fade. "You're a trooper, Riza; you held up great." She felt his lips press against her forehead; her bangs shifted as his nose brushed them aside. "And I swear, I'll make this up to you."

When his lips found hers, the kiss was almost desperately apologetic. She knew how much he hated to put her in a dangerous position, and that the thought of losing her scared him just as much as she was terrified that something would happen to him. She touched his cheek gently, easing away.

"If you didn't tell Nosser anything and we get out of here within the next ten to fifteen minutes, I'll be happy," she said. A subtle reminder that, no matter what their feelings were right now, they still had to get out. "Are you ready?"

"Whenever you are," Roy confirmed, with a grim smile. Turning, they headed for the door together.