"That's the last of them Jean." I taped up the last box and looked around my now empty apartment. Jean put it with the rest and rested his elbow on top of the small pile of belongings I have.

"Why are you doing this Riza? I know you like shooting and everything, but joining the military?" My face fell a little at his questions.

"I want to make something of myself. The military seems apprpriate. Good pay, live on site. You should know, you are a lieutenant." He snorted.

"I'm also your best friend. I'm only looking out for you. We see some pretty bad stuff at work. You've been through enough already." He looked over and I glared at him. He knew I didn't like it when he mentioned that. He smiled at me.

"But if you really want to, I guess it's ok. I smiled back, happy to finally have his ok. I didn't like doing things Jean didn't approve of. We loaded the boxes into the back of the car and drove off, leaving my old house behind. Jean put a smoke in his mouth. As he was about to light it, I pulled it out of his mouth.

"Hey!" I frowned at him.

"You need to cut down on these things." He mumbled something under his breath but I ignored it. We drove the rest of the way in silence. When we arrived he lead me to my dorm, brought my stuff up and then took me to meet with the Furher. We stopped outside his office door. He gave me a one-arm hugged,

"Good luck." Then he knocked. A low voice came from inside.

"Come in." He opened the door for me, bowed toward the Furher and left. He gave me a pat on the shoulder as he walked past. I was left alone in the room with the man. He rested his chin on his hands and smiled at me.

"Riza Hawkeye is it? We're happy to have you aboard. From what Havoc has told me, your quite the sharpshooter." I nodded.

"Yes sir." He stood up and handed me a small bag.

"Here are your military assigned pistols and uniform. I will call Lieutenant Havoc to escort you to where you will be working." I stood tall and saluted him.

"Thank you sir. I will not disappoint you sir." He smiled as he dialled his phone. He summoned Havoc and placed the reciever again.

"Take a seat while you wait." He gestured towards the very inviting sofa, but I decided against it.

"No thank you sir, I'm fine standing." He smiled and walked towards the door.

"Well I'm off, enjoy your first day in service." He walked out, almost walking into Havoc at the door. Havoc walked over and mock punched me in the arm.

"Ready newbie?" He laughed as he said this. I pointed my gun at his head. His jaw dropped.

"I may be of lower ranking, but you of all people should know that I can still kick your ass." he put his hands up in a gesture of surrender.

"Ok, ok. No need to be so drastic. Can we go now?" I put my gun back in it's holster as Jean let out a relieved sigh. He lead me down the hallway to my dorm first. I looked up at him.

"What are we doing here?" He chuckled.

"You need to change into your uniform. You going to try and impress your new boss by wearing casual clothes?" I looked down at my body and laughed.

"Good point. I'll be two minutes." I dashed into my room and changed, not caring where i threw my other clothes. I was out in less than two minutes. Jean laughed at me but lead us toward our wing. I decided now was as good a time as any to ask some questions.

"So Jean, what's our boss like?" He laughed.

"He's a nice guy, lazy and a bit of a womanizer, but besides that he's a good guy." I snorted.

"Great, so he's that kind of guy." He laughed at my remark.

"You learn to put up with him." He lead us to the door and opened it. Three men were sitting at desks scattered around the room. They all looked upon our entry. One of them laughed.

"Havoc, what did we tell you about bringing your girlfriends to work?" All the men laughed, except for Havoc who was fuming.

"SHE ISN-" A rather loud bang made him stop mid-sentence. He looked over and saw that I had shot in the general direction of the man. They all stared at me.

"I hate to tell you, but I'm not Jean's girlfriend. We're just friends." The elder of the group stood and introduced himself.

"I'm Vato Falman, nice to meet you." He saluted me and I saluted back.

"I'm Riza Hawkeye." I saw the smallest of the groups hand twitch as she said her name, but ignored it. Havoc pointed to the chubbier of ther group.

"That idiot over there is Heymans Breda, and this little guy here is Kain Furey." Both men waved.

"Anyway, where's the Colonel? Late again?" Breda nodded. Havoc pinched the bridge of his nose.

"How does that guy keep his job? Anyway, Riza, your desk is here, next to mine. Here's some paperwork to get you started. I think that's all you need to know. I'll check in on you later, I need to run some errands." He mock punched me in the arm again and left. The others all got stuck into their work. Mine was pretty easy so I finished fast. I sat there just thinking about things. I wasn't minding military life so far. Everyone went quiet as a hooded man entered the room. He was dripping wet, I didn't know that it was raining. Everyone looked at me. Havoc entered the room at that moment. He stopped when he saw the person. He chuckled.

"Look who finally turned up. I swear your getting later everydy Colonel. Have a hot date or something?" The man took off his hood and laughed.

"I don't think that is any of your buisness Havoc." They all laughed. I stared at the man. He looked so familiar, but I couldn't quite place him. Havoc was still talking.

"And to be so rude to a lady Colonel. You didn't forget did you? Our new sharpshooter started today. She's sitting behind you." He pointed towards me. The Colonel turned toward me. He looked at me, from what I could tell, approvingly. I looked up and met his gaze. Even his eyes were familiar. Who was he? I know this man. Havoc interrupted my train of thought.

"Riza Hawkeye, meet Colonel Roy Mustang." It clicked. This was the same Roy Mustang who was taught by my father, who was treated more as his child than I had been. The one and only flame alchemist. I stood slowly and drew my pistol. Everyone gasped, everyone except Roy. He just stood there looking at me. Havoc pulled me back.

"What the hell are you doing Riza?" I kept my gun pointed at him.

"You...you bastard!" Havoc pulled me into a forced bear hug.

"What's wrong with you? Why are you crying?" I hadn't even noticed I was crying. I was so ashamed of myself. I made a promise to myself that I would never shed another tear about anything that had happened when I was younger. He knew I was coming to work under him and he did nothing. Everything that happened to me was his fault. He was so perfect to everyone. I forced Havoc off me and ran through the door down the corridors. I found a nice gloomy looking corner and just sat there. I sat there for what felt like hours. My silence was disturbed bu footsteps. I assumed it was Jean so I ignored it. He sat down next to me, but didn't give me one of those one armed hugs he always gave me. I looked over and saw that it wasn't Jean, it was Roy. I turned back and looked at the ground.

"Why didn't you flich when I went to shoot you?" He looked down at the ground and spoke very quietly.

"I had no right to run." I looked over at him.

"What did you say?" He looked at me with big onyx eyes.

"I know it sounds stupid, but I deserved it. I'm the reason you were neglected as a child and I'm the reason you have that tatoo on your back." I hated it when people reminded me of that. This couldn't be the same Roy Mustang I knew when I was young. This man was completely different. He was caring and he owned up to things he had done, not niave and self centered. I turned to face him a little more.

"Why did you accept me as a subordinate?" He chuckled.

"Why wouldn't I? We did need a womans touch."

"Well Colonel, don't expect too much from me. I don't like you." I stood up and walked back toward the office, and I knew he was following.