Title: Life

Characters: Roy and Riza

Genre: Drama/Hurt and Comfort

Type: Poorly attempted Cannon

Words: 2,213 (without AN or Intro)

Life:

(noun) the period between birth and death

"We found who it is sir."

"Well who is it?"

"Gracia, sir."

Eyes narrowed. "It couldn't be her."

"We know that sir. She was conversing with her neighbor the night of Mae's murder."

"Then why did you say it was her?"

"We found a hair and it was identified to be hers, however her alibi was steady. Every neighbor remembers her staying up with light on until one o'clock and Mrs. Hannah stayed with her until midnight which was confirmed by her husband."

"Well then who was it?"

"We believe it was one of the homunculi sir."

"What brought you to that conclusion?"

"From Elric's previous reports there seems to be a homunculi with the ability to take the appearance of people."

"And what is this homunculi's name?"

"Elric calls him Envy sir."

X-x-X

A torrid fire flowed through his veins, scorching his skin with a maddening rise in temperature, tightening his flesh around his face as he snarled through his clench teeth.

There he stood. With that arrogant confident smirk that suggested he knew exactly what he had done without any hint of remorse.

Bolts of lightning fizzed from his fingertips, uncontrollable, as they warmed his tense fingers. He was going to be sure this man got a punishment exactly proportional to his crime.

The crackling bolt was inches from electrocuting the blasted homunculi's ankle. His infuriating grin only further fueled his rage as he slid deeper into the shadows of the alley. From the corner of the alley, a particular giant of a man stepped out, his thick trunk arm seized around Riza's neck holding a knife precariously against her throat.

There was no thought, no rational logic in which could have prevented him from striking again, the streaking light terrifyingly vivid in the charcoal shadows. He had not seen his coworker held in the enemy's grasp however he was forced to see as the enemy placed her in line with his attack.

Fear tainted those translucent amber orbs as she cried his name yet all he could see was the vicious smirk that had twisted on Envy's face.

X-x-X

The leather seat groaned as he shifted in the chair. His feet had already numbed quite a while ago, according to the clock he had already been here for a full day.

Few people populated the room, some like him had pulled a late nighters rattled with anxious tension to hear news- any news- about their loved ones. Some were obviously new, visibly shaken to hysteria, crying, moaning and whining to their selves as they rocked back and forward in worry. Others had obviously been here before, detectable in the tight stretch of skin around the eyes.

As the door swung open the tension in the room nearly became suffocating. Everyone was on the tips of their toes when the corner of a white coat peeked out from the squared edge of the door.

The doctor was a middle aged man who was climbing up in his years. A hollow gleam in his eyes told the story of his many years of service in the field.

"Colonel Roy Mustang." His tenor held effable sadness behind the frigid politeness.

Roy rose from his chairs, earning a mixture of hopeful and menacing expressions from his fellow waiters, and steadily walked to the doctor. He paused before the aged man, noting the sympathetic gleam in his eyes that could so easily be mistaken for pity.

"She is fine now. We have cleaned and bandaged her wound." There was a visible relaxation of his muscles that simultaneously occurred as Roy breathed a sigh of relief. This seemed to fuel the doctor to continue retelling his diagnosis.

"We have determined it is a second degree burn. Since it is on her neck we have to check if it had damaged any of the nerves and arteries but from what we see there is no damage. She will have to stay in the hospital for three weeks and a week of rest at home before she can return to work."

He nodded absorbing the information with intense concentration. With nothing more to say, the doctor led him behind the door.

X-x-X

The doctor, who Roy had not bothered to learn his name and frankly didn't care to, led him to a white painted door. He knocked; pale knuckles skimmed the surface of the dark wooden door. That is how far the doctor's polite manners concerned him because the next moment he was entering the room.

Following closely on his heels, the image that presented itself to him inspired his guilt farther. In the blank white wash, Riza lay ashen against the dulled worn green hospital blankets, gauze bandages covering from her left shoulder to the tip of her chin. His stomach felt as if it was weighed down with lead as it became a distinct difficult task to swallow.

Hazed honey eyes watched their movements with absentminded vigilance. The doctor seemed unfazed, probably having been quite educated in dealing with officers like Riza, comfortably strolled to the side of her bed in order to assure their was stability in her vitals.

"Well it seems like everything is in order." He muttered to himself after he finished his routine. With nothing else to demand his attention he left but not without the rehearsed warning that he must not stay for more than an hour because she needed sleep in order to return to full health.

Assuring the doctor he would leave soon, he occupied himself with his last distraction before he had to focus his attention on Riza.

Light brown eyelashes brushed pale cheeks. "Good evening Roy." Her tone was guttural as if she hadn't spoken for a week.

Something in him broke. Moisture irritated the back of his eyelids. He tried to put his comical façade on but he found it was an impossible task.

"Same to you… Riza." He knew she heard the slight quiver in his voice as he spoke her name.

Her eyes softened, the warm countenance contrasting almost painstakingly compared to her cool indifference. "How long did you wait?"

He avoided her gaze finding the particular stain where a wad of gum had once been earth shatteringly fascinating.

"A couple of hours. You know how the superiors are. They wouldn't let me go until I had told them everything." He finally found the self control, his mask properly in place.

There was something in the disbelieving shift of her eyes that told him she knew he was lying but she chose to drop the matter. An inevitable silence pursued. Finally, after what seemed to be at least three time periods and a geological era, Riza broke the silence.

"I'm fine." This was the subject he had purposely avoided. He had sincerely tried to believe her. Never once since he had known her had she lied to him. However something inside him wouldn't let himself believe her statement when she was lying sick on a hospitable bed bandaged from shoulder to chin.

"Do you have someone to take care of Buck?" A smile brightened her face but the angelic image was ruined by the racking soul sucking coughs that came afterwards.

"His name is Black Hayate and yes I do."

"That's good." If he were someone else he would have been berating himself to the Istanbul deserts and back but he let the blunder slip, focused on the warm sunlight that danced from the narrow windows.

"Roy I said I am fine." She pointedly reiterated. In reply, he silently clenched his fist, feeling the familiar stroking sparks that accompanied his boiling rage.

"Stop it." Her eyes narrowed as she noticed his avoidance. "You are not to blame for this. You were—"

Her lecture was shortened of its length for Roy had risen from his chair so hurriedly, rushing to her side. Pain ignited her nerves to life as he pressed a forceful hand to her injury.

"I did this to you!" He snarled, his bottom lip captured by his teeth, his hand gripping slightly tighter on her throat. "I am the one who attacked you. I am the one who gave you this wound. I am the reason why you almost died."

The skin on the corner of his eyes tightened in folds, his hand dropped from her as if it were some detestable wasp. However Riza would have none of it. She grasped his hands with delicate calloused hands, hands that have too seen war and death brought by the single smoking shot of a gun.

Fingers wound around his in a comforting manner, her ivy free hand directing his gaze to her eyes.

"I told you I am fine. The doctors said I should heal just fine." Gently, she stroked his cheek before she joined its counterpart, caressing his guilty hand with undeserving warmth.

"Don't tell me your 'fine' because that is a lie." Low rumbling growls havocked his smooth tenor. "You're going to be in this hospital bed with a burnt neck for three weeks under intense treatment. That's not fine."

A grim sigh echoed from her lips as her gaze became solemn. "What do you want from me Roy?"

A sharp tug was all that was required to release his hands from her soft grasp, turning away from her as if she were a tainted piece of art work.

Silence suffocated the words in his mouth. For a few tense moments he leaned against the doorway, reigning control over his spiraling thoughts.

"I want to know why you were there that night." He finally inquired, turning to her with battle worn eyes.

Her smile made his heart palpitate. "I was following you." Such a simple answer yet it left a mile long trail of unraveled questions.

His incredulous stare was enough to entice another answer from Riza.

"Do you think I wouldn't be able to recognize your makeshift intelligence team?"

Admiration was quelled by his curiosity. "Why?"

A dull glint shimmered in her painkiller induced gaze. "I thought you might need assistance."

This was unbelievable. First, he couldn't detect her following him and now she was questioning his competence.

"But I was wrong." The quiet laugh that fell from her lips was bitterly hostile, an expression of detestation for her uselessness. "I am not angry at you Roy because frankly it was entirely my fault for not being as vigilant as I should have been."

His blood was once more sent boiling but this time his indignation was for him.

"No. I should have noticed you. I should have protected you and focused on freeing you." The sincere regret in voice brought sadness over her, loosening her tongue so it made her do something in which she would never commit under normal set of conditions.

"I love you." It was unexpected, not at all interconnected to the discussion at hand, completely inappropriate and utterly too long waited to be admitted.

"I suppose I never really realized how dangerous the life we live. Every day there is the small risk of someone putting us into our grave so we are taught to be vigilant." Her gaze was steady, the hue of irises brightening from the influx of emotions. "You're right. I should have died today from my actions but I dealt with this before. I have woken up in hospitals only to walk out those doors without ever realizing if it weren't for the doctors I would be dead."

She paused, her entire frame alive with a quiet tremble. "Tell me, when did we stop living?"

The phrase had caught close to home. Part of Roy wanted to run through those doors while the other was so utterly derailed movement was seemingly impossible.

"Look at me." He raised his eyes to her determination burning a familiar light in those honey orbs.

"Start living again. Mae's wouldn't have wanted you to be like this. Life is short, especially ours."

Before cowardliness won, he approached her bed side. In accordance, she adjusted her gaze to his, her expression angelically sweet with her loose golden locks and radiant eyes.

With no hesitation, he kissed her. Everything in him seemed to start again as if he was in a deadened state. His heart raced, blood flowed warmly as his hands entangled in her surprisingly silken locks, lips begged and pleaded to be coated with her taste.

When their lungs demanded air, they pulled away. The only sound was the soft cadence of their panting warm breaths, her jaded eyes glowing warmly with satisfaction.

"I'm going to hurt you." He whispered, pulling his hands away.

Her stubbornness reared its determined head for she grabbed his hand before it slipped away, entwining their fingers to keep him with her.

"I am aware of that. But I didn't expect a confession; I just need your understanding." Apparently, Riza Hawkeye knew Roy Mustang better than he knew himself.

Rather reluctantly, he untangled their interwoven fingers and this time she did not provide any opposition. With one quick glance at her reddened lips and tussled hair he walked away.

"Goodnight Roy". She could not see the smirk winding slowly on his face but she knew it was there.

"Goodnight my Queen."

Author's notes: I have a couple important reminders so please read!

1. This is my last Roy and Riza drabble. I find I am very interested in this couple and I so badly want to do them justice but I don't have the time nor the patience levels to do that. Also, I get a lot of requests for this pairing but no one has given me reviews on the drabbles in which I do write about them. Are they terribly OOC or are they IC? Do my plots make sense, do you see the connection between the title and the drabble? Help me!

2. I have not watched FMA Brotherhood. Therefore this is why this chapter has many leaps in time. I gathered most of my information from a youtube video so forgive me for any errors I have made.

3. This is to an anonymous reviewer: I am afraid sadly I can not do Al and Mei. As I state before I have not watched FMA Brotherhood, do not have the time and the end result would be rushed and crap that would only disappoint you.

PLEASE REVIEW!