--- I hate myself for this. ---
27. Just a Dream.
'Why? Why did you take him from me? Is this supposed to be fair? Equivalent exchange? Payment for all the lives I've taken under orders? I was counting on forever. Now I'll never know. You've taken my life away; my very reason for living. This is just a dream. It has to be…'
That was what Riza Hawkeye was thinking as she stared blankly at the mahogany coffin in front of her.
Two weeks. Two weeks and they could've been married. Two weeks until their life together would've started.
God is a cruel person.
She jumped as the first gunshot rang out. Looking around, she spotted her friends and colleges. Furey and Havoc. Sheska and Armstrong. Ross and Brosh. Even Ed, Al, and Winry Rockbell. It surprised her to see that Ed's eyes were red. Was he crying? He was. Huh, that was odd.
"Riza," her head turned to see Armstrong walking up to her with a bundle in his arms. "Here. His things." She took the bundle he held out numbly. A military flag. His state certification watch. Her hand slowed as she got to the third thing; his tattered and dirty glove. She stroked it with one finger gently.
The remaining ten shots of the 21 Gun Salute rang out. With every shot, if got harder and harder for Riza to breathe. She let the tears flow freely and silently now. She didn't care who saw. The guns sounded in one last shot, and it felt as if that bullet had lodged itself in her heart.
She stood in that cemetery for a long time afterwards, clutching all she had left of him to her chest.
'This is just a dream…'