Draped in Wires
by. Poisoned Scarlet

Theme 058: Homesick

Ed believed he was really going soft.

Or perhaps he had always been soft, it had simply never disturbed his life so much until now.

"Why so glum?" Riza Hawkeye asked when she entered his office and found the young man balancing a pencil idly on his nose; looking exactly as misery should with downcast golden eyes and slumped shoulders. "You were so happy yesterday after the Brigadier dropped you off at home."

"I was drunk." Ed deadpanned.

"But happy nonetheless." Riza lightly humored, picking up a few finished reports from him. She flipped through them quickly, skimming the information to make sure it was all filled out and relatively correct. "Is this about Winry?"

"...No."

Riza smiled secretly at his attempt to sound strong. "It's fine, you know, to feel a little homesick every once in a while. Even I get like that, too."

"You do?" Ed asked, curiosity piqued. "But I thought you were born and raised in Central, Hawkeye."

"Oh, no, I originally come from Creta." Riza informed him, surprising the former alchemist. "It would explain the abnormal pigment in my eyes." She smiled. "I moved to Amestris when I was two because my father sought to expand on his idea of Flame Alchemy, and Amestris offered an opportunity to do just that."

"Wow, so you're Cretian..."

"Part. My father is Amestrian." Riza smiled at Edward's awe. "My mother was Cretian, though. Father often said I was the splitting image of her..."

"I suppose you must miss her a lot."

Riza dropped her eyes, distant with thought. "I wouldn't know... she died during childbirth."

Ed stilled, looking uneasy. "Oh...sorry. I had no idea."

"It's quite alright, Ed, no need to look so stiff." Riza smiled, stacking the documents on her arm. "I hardly remember her as it is. I've only known my father and Roy."

"That doesn't mean you can't miss her." Ed quietly said. It was Riza's turn to still now. Her eyes flashed to his, burnished gold heavy with knowing and darkness. For a split second, they both felt each others pain. The military required their constant attention; it was a job that would always consume the majority of their time like cancer. It was something they needed to work around, work through, because it was something unchanging. But that didn't mean that during those brief breaks in their duty they weren't overwhelmed by the emotions they'd compartmentalized.

Regardless if Riza ever knew her mother, her absence would always be a raw wound on her heart. And Ed understood this because, even though he'd had the blessing of knowing his mother for a little while, her absence still wounded him whenever he saw a little boy walking alongside his mother. Because he would never be that little boy again.

That split second vanished just as soon as it came and Riza excused herself out with a nod of her head.

Ed returned to toying with his pencil after giving her a lazy wave of his hand.

It was okay to feel homesick, Ed decided with a sigh, because he sure as hell wasn't the only one feeling that way.

A/N: I haven't been updating this collection recently because I'm working backwards. As in, I'm starting from Theme 100 and working my way back. I find it's easier that way. But I've also been writing down random ideas. I'll be organizing them later, when I have time, but for now I have a bunch of one-shots without order. It's chaos in my documents folder, I swear.

Scarlett.