35. Mirror Mirror (M2M)

Roy walked into the office, saw the stack of paper on his desk, and nearly turned around and walked right back out the door. He suppressed a sigh and went to sit down. The sooner I get done with this, the better, I guess…

He had just picked up his pen and started to review the first report when the door opened. Riza walked in. She looked faintly nostalgic, a bit happy, and slightly sympathetic when she saw the amount of work that Roy had to do. Something was different, but Roy couldn't put his finger on what.

"Good morning, Sir."

Roy's eyes went back to his paper. "Morning, Lieutenant Hawkeye. Not necessarily a good one, but morning none the less."

Riza's smile widened a little bit and she sat down at her desk, looking at her own (much smaller) stack of work. "At least you're starting early."

"I may have learned a thing or two from you about responsibility."

"Could've fooled me," Havoc chimed in as he entered. "Morning, Lieutenant Hawkeye." He eyed the stack of paper on Roy's desk. "Gee, Chief, I hope you finish that before the party this afternoon."

Roy looked up immediately. "Party? What for?"

Havoc and Riza traded glances. "For Hawkeye's going-away," Havoc said in a tone that indicated Roy should know this.

"Going away? Wait—you're leaving?" Roy looked at Riza, shocked. "What's going on here that I don't know about?"

Now Havoc and Riza looked very concerned. Havoc answered again. "Hawkeye's engaged to be married, Chief. She's been engaged for the last few months. She told us right away that she'd be leaving, at least for a while. And we just talked about the party yesterday. You hit your head or something?"

Roy shook his head. "No, I didn't. This is all very funny. I didn't think you'd be able to play this big a joke on me and keep a straight face. Congratulations, Havoc."

Riza spoke up this time. "Sir, I really am leaving."

"But you're not engaged!" protested a very confused, slightly frantic, and (though he'd never admit it) fully desperate Roy.

Riza held up her left hand. A simple band glinted in the morning sun. "You complimented me on this the first day I wore it, Sir. We were all there."

Fine. They're not getting me that easily. I'll catch them with a few more questions. "So, who is the guy, anyway?"

"His name Jacob Whellen. He lives here in Central, and is a respectable businessman. He wants a family, so he'll be taking some time off, and, naturally, so will I." Riza let the idea hang for a moment before continuing, "We met at the park, when I was out with Hayate. He's a very nice man, Sir. You've met him before."

"This is getting ridiculous," Roy told her. "You didn't meet him at the park, I've certainly never met the man, and you're not engaged to him, because he doesn't exist! This joke has gone far enough, and I don't know what I did to deserve it, but I'd like for it to stop. Now."

A knock sounded at the door, and a man in a suit entered. "Is this a bad time? You sounded angry, Colonel Mustang."

Roy crossed his arms. "You are…?"

"Jacob Whellen." Jacob looked confused. "Are you all right, Colonel? We just talked a few weeks ago."

Looking at the man's hands, Roy could see that there was a band on Jacob's left hand identical to the plain one on Riza's. "You obviously went to a lot of trouble to pull this off, and it was a good show, but it stops here and now."

Riza was now looking incredibly hurt. "This isn't a joke, Sir. I don't know what's causing you to treat it that way, especially since you've been respectful of my choices thus far in life. But it's my life, and I will live it how I want to. Even the military can't stop me from doing that." She went to the door, Jacob following. "I'm leaving now, Sir. You're still welcome to come to the party this evening, but only if you're going to stop this nonsense."

"You can't leave," Roy blurted, searching for any reason. "You…your paperwork isn't done."

Havoc went over and picked up the pile. "I'll do it, Chief."

"Good bye, Sir." Riza and Jacob left.

Roy sank into his chair, feeling like he had just been beaten mercilessly. It wasn't a joke. She was really going. What had happened that he couldn't remember this?

"She can't be," he murmured to himself. "She'd never." That's not how this was supposed to happen—we were supposed to make it to the top. She promised she'd help! I don't want to get in the way of her living her own life, but I thought maybe… How could I have read things wrong all this time? Something's going on.

Roy got up and started out the door without another word.

"Sir? Sir…" It was definitely Riza's voice, but where was it coming from?

"Colonel Mustang, wake up!" Now she sounded impatient.

Wake up? But I'm not—

Roy's head shot up off his arms. His eyes snapped open. "What? What's going…" He looked across the desk. Riza looked a bit irritated, and Roy checked her hands to be sure that there was no ring.

There wasn't. A relieved smile involuntarily graced Roy's lips.

"Sir, what is so funny? Are you coming down with something?" She sounded very worried.

Roy shook his head. "No. I'm fine."

"Is there something you want to tell me?"

Opening his mouth, Roy thought the better of it and shut it to think for a moment. In response to her questioning look, he said, "It's nothing. Have I ever told you how glad I am that you're here?" He didn't wait for her to respond. "Never mind. Just… consider it said."

A/N: Not my best writing, but it seemed like a good idea at the time. I wrote down the idea about a day before I wrote the actual piece because I was at a friend's house and we were quite busy just hanging out and having fun.

The idea actually came from several parts of Alanis Morrisette's "Ironic": First, from the chorus, It's like rain/on your wedding day and then from the last verse, It's meeting the man of my dreams/And then meeting his beautiful wife. Oh, and how could I forget the bridge: Life has a funny way/of sneaking up on you/when you think everything's okay and everything's going right/Life has a funny way/of helping you out when everything's gone wrong and everything blows up in your face... If you're in Maes's corner, It's the good advice/that you just didn't take/and who would've thought/it figures

As always, leave a few words so I know what to do to make it better!