A/N: Thank you to all my reviewers! I love you all! I am desperately trying to finish this before my semester starts again. I hope I manage! Hope you all enjoy the chapter.
Chapter 15
"I know I know it. Damn it, this is gonna bug me all night..." Roy closed his eyes and once more attempted to curb the anger that was flowing through his veins. Was everyone trying to annoy him this evening? Hughes, sensing his friend's agitation, turned around.
"What are you trying to remember?" He asked Marguerite.
"She recons she knows a woman we met this evening from somewhere." Roxy replied in a bored tone. She was obviously getting tired of her friend's constant mutterings. Marguerite glared at her.
"But I know her! And I know it's annoying you as well!!" Roxy turned and glared back at her friend.
"Yes, but I'm thinking about it silently..."
"Enough!" Roy cried, startling both women. He had had enough. After everything that had come to pass this evening, his patience was wearing thin. There was only one woman he wanted, needed to speak to tonight, and she was neither of these women.
"Look, why don't you two go home. It's late." Hughes stated, jumping into the conversation before Roy could say something that he would regret later.
"Hey, we are not like those kids, you can't just send us home." Marguerite exclaimed, folding her arms over her chest.
"No, but you aren't military personnel, so you have no reason to be here." Roy replied before stalking towards his office.
"But we are witnesses to a crime, don't you want our statements?" Roxanne replied sweetly. Roy cursed. She had him there.
"Fine." He stated through gritted teeth before walking through the door of his office, Maes and the women following swiftly. Hughes immediately walked over to the phone.
"I'll see how they are doing with interrogations." He called. Roy nodded as his friend began dialling and then turned back to Roxanne and Marguerite. Both were staring around his office, as if processing all they saw. He cleared his throat in an attempt to catch their attention.
"Well... this is... spacious." Roxy concluded lamely. Roy sighed heavily.
"It's an office, not a designer suit." He replied scathingly. Both women glared at him in reply. He smirked at them.
"You know, I really don't know what she sees in you." Marguerite huffed before walking away to investigate the office further. Roy's face fell at her statement. Roxy caught his reaction and sighed.
"That was low, even for her. Come on then, take my statement already." Roxy stated brusquely, in an attempt to divert his attention. While Roy had seriously aggravated her this evening, she could tell that he was hurting deeply over the situation with Riza. She didn't want to push him too far. Roy agreed and headed over to grab a pen and paper, just as Hughes finished on the phone.
"They are nearly done, but they asked us to stick around for a while. They want to ask us a few questions. They also wanted to speak to Edward, but I told them to postpone it until tomorrow." Roy nodded.
"Alright, how long are they going to be?" Hughes shrugged.
"I doubt more than twenty minutes, they seemed to be finishing up." Roy sighed. Twenty minutes seemed far too long to him. He really needed to speak to Riza, each moment that he left it, the worse the situation was going to be.
"It's not that long Roy, stop panicking." Hughes stated gently.
"Yeah, don't worry. You'll be able to talk to her soon." Mustang looked up, surprised the Roxanne had attempted to comfort him. She narrowed her eyes in return.
"Don't get any ideas, I'm not exactly impressed with you mister. I thinking of Riza." She clarified. Roy smirked slightly at the statement as Roxy grinned back at him.
"Spending your time with little whores now, you pretty little bitch? Tut, tut what will he say? But then again, you're not telling him about crawling around in the dirt with that filth are you? Don't worry my dear Lieutenant, all that will soon change when I get what I want." Everyone's head snapped round to where Marguerite was standing, reading a small blue rimmed card. She turned and met their gazes.
"What the hell?" She cried a slight note of fear in voice. Hughes and Roy were at her side in an instant.
"Where did you find this?" Roy asked, his mind reeling at the words on the card.
"It was on the floor by the bin." Marguerite replied. Maes plucked the card out of his hands and inspected it closely.
"It looks like a greeting card, one you get on flowers." He stated, a puzzled look forming on his features.
"Flowers?" Roy questioned. Damn it! He cursed himself repeatedly. How could he have been so stupid?
"Roy?" Maes asked.
"Riza's been receiving flowers for a while now. She swore she didn't know who they came from." He could feel the panic rising in his voice.
"Roy, calm down." Maes stated firmly, "Riza left to give a statement before we did, she's fine." He affirmed calmly. Roy felt his fear leave him slightly. Yes, Maes was right. There was nothing to worry about.
"Are you sure it was addressed to Riza?" Marguerite asked worriedly.
"Well, it does fit. Especially seeing as she just met you two... no offense, of course." Roy added hastily. Marguerite sighed.
"Whore?" hissed a voice from behind them all. The three turned to see Roxanne stalking towards them, her face contorted in fury.
"When I find whoever sent this, I'm going to rip them limb from limb." She cried venomously, "Nobody calls me a whore and gets away with it!" Roy and Maes backed away hastily, slightly alarmed by Roxy's sudden change in character.
"Roxy, calm." Marguerite stated sternly before turning back and addressing the two soldiers.
"So do you think it was Greg who did this?" Hughes frowned.
"Sort of makes sense I guess, as Winry did say it was Roy he was after. But nothing like this was ever found in any of the other cases."
"Besides, this seems more like someone trying to get Riza rather than myself." Roy added, his fists clenching as he spoke. How dare anyone try and threaten his Lieutenant. He turned to Hughes.
"Are you sure there was nothing like this in any of the other cases? Nothing about white roses?"
"Wait...white roses?" Marguerite asked. Roy moved his attention back to her.
"Yes, those were the flowers." He replied, not entirely sure why this mattered. Marguerites eyes widened and she turned to Roxy.
"It couldn't be." Roxy stated sceptically.
"It's far fetched but..." suddenly she stopped, realisation dawning in her eyes. She whipped around and stared at Roy.
"I think we have a problem." She said.
Her head was pounding. Riza groggily opened her eyes, attempting to block out the pain. It was a struggle. Her body was heavily, her limbs feeling as if they had been filled with lead. The darkness that had previously smothered her was so tempting; she could feel herself wishing to sink back into it once more.
"You're awake? Damn, I thought I'd drugged you enough. Ah well, it doesn't really matter." Riza concentrated on the familiar voice, dragging her aching mind back to reality.
"J...Jessica." she whispered, her voice cracking as she spoke her name. Jessica turned around, smiling ever so slightly.
"Not for much longer." She replied, pulling a blonde wig over her red hair. She bent down and pulled a coat over her shoulders. Riza squinted, knowing she knew the jacket. A flash of gold caught her eyes and realisation hit her. It was a military jacket. Jessica saw her eyes studying the stars on the lapel and laughed.
"In a couple of hours I will be First Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye." She stated gleefully. Riza senses were coming back to her slowly. She attempted to move her arms, but only succeeded in flopping her hand over. Jessica sighed and turned back to the mirror.
"You shouldn't try and move. It's not going to help." Riza ignored the warning, focusing on moving her legs. Unlike her arms, there was almost no reaction there. Concentrate Riza thought to herself as she willed with all her might to make her muscles move.
"Seriously, what the hell is your deal, I told you not to move!" Jessica yelled suddenly, marching over and throwing a swift kick into Riza's rib cage. Hawkeye doubled over slightly, but her face remained impassive. She would not let this woman have the satisfaction of seeing her in pain.
"This is why you don't deserve your life." Jessica hissed. Riza turned up to face her.
"What?" she replied breathlessly. Jessica smiled maliciously down at her. She bent her legs and slowly lowered herself to Riza's height, in what Riza guesses was meant to be an intimidating manner.
"You have no idea how perfect you are." Jessica mumbled, twisting a few strands of Riza's hair in her fingers. Riza shuddered slightly at the intimate touch. It was far more threatening than the physical pain she had received before.
"You are beautiful, but strong. Blonde but smart. So perfect, just like a white rose, so innocent and untouchable. At least that's what I used to think." With that, she yanked on the strands of hair, ripping them from Riza's scalp. Riza winced, her eyes filling with tears at the pain, but there was no time to dwell on it. Jessica grabbed her chin and wrenched her face up to meet her eyes. Riza was shocked at the fury she saw there.
"I idolised you! I thought you were infallible, the amazing sniper Riza Hawkeye! Then I saw you there, at the sugar bowl. Then I realised, you are no better than me. You spend your time with whores just like I do. You let that piece of shit Mustang touch you, just like I let all those shits touch me. We are the same, but I'm going to change all that. We are above all of this, above all of them!" caught up in her rage, Jessica slammed Riza's head against the floor. Riza groaned, her vision slipping once again as she felt the blood run down her face. She forced herself to concentrate on Jessica's voice, one of the few things that would force her to stay conscious.
"You can do so much better than him, so much better than this life! I always knew it, I knew we were meant for more, but it was only recently I could see what I should do about it. I mean, watching you waste your life was terrible, so I had to step in."
"You sent me the flowers." Riza whispered her voice far fainter than she would have liked it to be. She needed to keep Jessica talking, just long enough to distract her.
"Glad you finally worked it out. Who else would know your work address, your home address and be a person that your little mutt trusted. Well, I doubt he would trust me now." Riza felt anger course through her veins as realisation hit her.
"Hayate was never sick. You poisoned him." she hissed. Jessica laughed.
"Well I had to get rid of the flea bag somehow. Damn Adrian, sticking his nose in and calling you. But I taught him a lesson." She laughed, her eyes flashing brightly. Riza shuddered as she thought of what could have happened to Adrian. However, before she could retort in any way, Jessica began speaking.
"Oh, and while we are on the subject, I really don't think you should move. It's only going to make things work faster, and I'm actually having a lot of fun right now." Riza clenched her teeth together at the woman's words. She had a feeling she had been drugged, but she wasn't sure if it had just been to sedate her. It seemed like this was not the case. A faint crash echoed from somewhere outside of the room, causing Jessica to turn.
"How the fuck!" She yelled in frustration. She turned and grabbed a chair, jamming it up against the door.
"Damn that murdering bastard, how did he find me?" she hissed, panic gliding through her voice. Riza couldn't help but allow herself a triumphant smile. Roy. Jessica noticed her smile and her face switched from panic to malice within a second.
"Don't you dare get complacent you dirty slut! You're life is mine! You don't exist. Who is going to mourn the corpse of a nobody!" she screamed in rage, stalking over to Riza. Riza shuffled her weight backwards; putting as much distance s she could between her and Jessica. But it was in vain. Jessica loomed over head, madness gleaming in her eyes.
"You life is mine. I'm going to have it." Jessica whispered as her hands enclosed over Riza's throat. Riza's weakened hands scrapped over Jessica's arms, drawing bloody trails. Jessica screamed in rage, her hands only tightening over Riza's airway. Riza fought for consciousness, but the drugs made it virtually impossible. Her vision was going foggy once again as unconsciousness threatened to take over her senses. But this time, Riza knew she was dying. There was no pain, no fear. Everything was just slowly fading out. She couldn't even feel Jessica's hands squeezing her life out of her anymore. She was simply floating, falling downwards to whatever lay ahead. She guessed that just before you die you can have glimpse of whatever you want, as for a moment, she believed she saw Roy. He was talking to her, holding her, telling her he loved her, just as he used to. She smiled to herself, knowing that death was about to take her. If this was the last thing she was allowed to see she would die happy.
"I love you Roy." She mumbled to herself, not even sure if her voice was even real. It needed to be said. Then, with one last breath, she felt everything fade away for her for the last time.
A/N: As always, please drop me a review with your thoughts.
Oh, and congrats to MoonStarDutchess, who is the only person that I know of who guessed where this was heading!