Smile Like You Mean It

by Dailenna

Royai 100 Themes. Anything and everything from childhood, to alchemy, to Ishbal, to the coup, to parenthood. Roy Mustang, Riza Hawkeye, and the faithful comrades with them will stick together through it all.

78. Ideals And Truths

Disclaimer: FMA belongs to Arakawa Hiromu

Notes: Ay, return of the Ishbal.

---

Seventy-eight: Ideals And Truths

"I want to use my alchemy to help people!"

--

The desert was a terrible place to be. A terrible place to fight a war. Roy's blood boiled at day, and froze at night, and was at no point pleasantly in-between. At day, he was ordered to go out and send the Ishbalans into hell, purging the whole city with fire. He looked at his gloves sometimes, when the day's fighting was over, and wondered what Riza would think if she could see him now. At night, he tried to tell himself that he had no choice in what he was doing, or that he was protecting the people at home – but all along, he knew that he was just perpetuating a myth to keep himself happy. There could be no excuse for this bloodbath.