]o[ ]o[ ]o[
Games without Frontiers
Chapter 31 – Looking Like an Answered Prayer
Rated: T+
Soundtrack: Blessed – Christina Aguilera
Riza rather doubted that Edward noticed it, but she didn't particularly like that dangerous look in the Lieutenant's eyes. She gave Jean a quick once over, taking in the rigid movements, the pulse pounding like a sledgehammer in the base of his neck, the minute tic in his jaw. Only the keenest of eye would recognize the frantic beat just under his skin. Riza recognized the rush of battle readiness; understood the wild rush in the veins. This, however, wasn't battle readiness.
As if they'd choreographed it, the Colonel stood and Havoc took the chair, smooth and without a ripple of awkwardness. The Colonel moved to stand next to Riza's chair, and placed his hand on the back. She looked up at the motion and noticed the side of Mustang's mouth twitching.
"Didn't we teach you not to bite off more than you could chew?" Jean asked, stretching himself carelessly in the chair, looking for all the world as if he didn't give a damn that Edward was looking like he was on the brink of death.
Riza noted the light flush in Edwards's cheeks as he rubbed the back of his neck with his good hand. She too hid her smile, knowing Jean's act for exactly what it was. If the Colonel had been beside himself, Jean had been unmanageable.
"Didn't anyone teach you not to smoke in someone's hospital room?" Edward shot back. "It's unhealthy."
Riza saw Jean's eyebrow arch. Then she watched, amazed, as he took a long draw off his cigarette, blow a smoke ring, and… put the thing out on the table next to the bed.
She and Roy exchanged another look. Oh, dear, she thought.
"I didn't really have much of a choice," Edward mumbled, picking at a stray thread in his sheet.
"Humph," Jean grunted. "Winry is going to knock your everlovin' block off, you know?" He actually made a wonderful attempt at a chuckle, turning and looking at the pitiful lumps of automail on the table. "You sure did a number on those."
"Yeah, well, it couldn't be helped. D'ya mind? I'm trying to give a report to the Colonel, here."
"Oh, of course." Havoc looked over at the Colonel. "Begging your pardon for the interruption."
"I think I can overlook it this time. As you were, Fullmetal."
As Edward continued to explain the attack of the homunculi, Riza covertly watched Jean check every part of Edward's body from half-lidded eyes and through the haze of his leftover cigarette smoke. She wondered if he had come to terms with his feelings yet, or if this was the death throes of his resistance. Edward certainly did deserve someone – other than family or like family – who actually gave a damn for him, and wasn't afraid to show it.
Of course, they all cared for the Elric brothers, but Riza was coming to discover that nothing compared to having someone there who held you in a special regard, who cared for you above and beyond what was considered the call of duty.
"So you couldn't kill them?" Roy asked. "Couldn't even stop them with your alchemy?"
"Not much," Edward answered. "Just enough to get away."
"Hmm." Roy gave the situation a few seconds of thought. "I suppose you are going to research every source you can find on them?"
"You're damned right. I saw something in my fa-father's journals once about them, but I thought like you." Edward shrugged. "I guess I'll look more carefully this time."
"Please do. I can't have my entire office in upheaval because you don't know the meaning of the word danger. Even Falman almost perished from worry!" Roy moved toward the door. "Have a report on my desk about it as soon as you can, hmm?"
Riza rose and started to follow, choosing not to notice that Havoc had not moved, other than to lean forward in the chair and stare at the floor between his feet.
"Yeah, yeah, I know the drill, Colonel."
"And do have one of the girls type it up for you this time, please? I got a real headache reading the last one. Such handwriting should be outlawed and punishable by death."
"Oh, and Colonel? There was something else, something about the one who did all of this to me."
Roy turned at the door. Riza froze, as did Jean.
"Yes?" Roy asked.
"It changed shape. That's how it got so close to me. It looked like one of the Ishballans, and then all of a sudden it ... shifted into something else. It's true form, I suppose."
Riza saw a tic jump in the Colonel's jaw. "Shapeshifting? Not good. If it could be anyone..."
"Exactly."
The Colonel nodded. "Right then. Report, my desk, as soon as you are able."
Riza and the Colonel left, pretending not to notice that Jean hadn't moved one inch from his seat.
"Do you think...?" Riza began.
Roy followed her thoughts as he had read them on the surface of her brain. "They're both smart enough to keep any overt displays to a bare minimum," the Colonel said. "Havoc and I had a long, long talk about it."
"Expounding wisdom from on high, Colonel?"
He allowed himself to smile. "Someone has to. Who better than someone in the same boat as he?"
Riza looked down.
"You were trying to tell me something earlier, before we got notice of the Elric brother's arrival."
They sat in the chairs outside of the door, waiting for Jean to finish with his own brand of questioning.
Riza shook her head as she sat down, and picked at imaginary dust mote on her shirt. "It was just a dream I had this morning before I woke. Very vivid. It was nothing."
"No, tell me about it."
Riza looked at him suspiciously. "Are you trying to get out of reconciling those reports when we get back, sir?"
"Oh, no, never, perish the thought!" The Colonel blinked innocently. "Please tell me."
Riza rolled her eyes, the started slightly at the sound of something hitting wall in the room they'd just left.
"Those two were going to more entertaining than they know." The Colonel said with an evil grin.
"Hmm."
"In any case, tell me."
"Well. I was standing in the middle of nowhere, like a flat plane of nothing. Except it was bright. Very bright."
"Yes?"
"I felt like I was truly awake, even though I knew I was sleeping." She shuddered lightly. "The most eerie feeling I have ever had in my life."
"Mm hmm?"
"And then right in front of me appeared this...these doors. Tall. Black. No, not black. Gray… gray, relieved with black. Right in the middle of nowhere."
She briefly recalled the feeling she had when she saw those doors appear like that.
Cold fear gripped her for a split second, like ice trailing through her. The doors were as large and tall as nothing she'd ever seen. There were very light carvings near the bottom of the door; aside from that, it was blank. She knew those door were going to open, and she couldn't, didn't want to see what was behind them. They moved toward her, looming in her vision until they were the only thing she could see. She remembered the fear clotting in her throat like blood, she remember her eyes widening in horror. No, the door could not open. She could not – should not see–,"
"Hawkeye!"
The use of her name in that sharp tone broke her free from the recollection. She blinked and looked over at the Colonel's, whose face was etched with worry.
She rubbed at her temple, where her pulse began to throb. "I'm sorry. Just...it was so vivid! As if I was there, and yet I was still watching myself." She cleared her throat and looked back down the hall desk. "Really, Colonel, it was just a dream. That gate–,"
"Gate?"
Something in the Colonel's voice grabbed at her. She looked up to see him staring at her as if she'd grown a few extra heads. "Did you say gate?"
She nodded. "That's the impression I got. As if it were a ..." she searched for a better word, and found none. "Gateway." She shrugged. "The doctor told me that vividly strange dreams were a side effect of being pregnant. Maybe that's what it was. Or maybe something I saw in one of those books you were going over before, coming out in my dream." She looked over at him again. "What?"
He broke eye contact and looked down the opposite end of the hall. "Nothing, just–," as she watched, scratched the back of his head. "Nothing. Forget it."
Riza frowned, certain that he'd wanted to say something else. However, as she noticed Alphonse was moving toward them with a young, slim blonde girl that she knew well and decided not to press him. This whole situation brought closer the watchful eyes stretching from the inner offices of Central. Something about it gave Riza an uneasy feeling, and she knew that he could not afford to miss one report from now until his re-assessment.
]o[
Riza pulled the packet containing the thick parchment envelopes just as the door opened and the young sergeant came to announce visitors.
She was in the process of handing out the envelopes one to each of them when the visitors arrived. She halted long enough to salute the Lieutenant Colonel and his adjutant, and then handed the most ornate of the envelopes to the Colonel.
The Colonel stood to greet Hughes and to wait for the coming introduction.
"Colonel Mustang, permit me to introduce you to Major Frank Archer."
The man snapped to a salute. Riza covertly looked him up and down – and immediately disliked what she saw.
First, he looked like a man who spent very little time out of doors. His pallor was almost sickly, bringing to mind the spoiled upper echelon of the Amestrian military. That, with the laziness of his stance and the obsequious half-smile on his face neatly categorized him in her mind as an office grunt. A desk-jockey, a pencil pusher, the lazy breed of soldier.
She kept that all behind her eyes as his eyes rested on her for a split second. When she saw those eyes, a blank slate of ice blue, a tiny alarm bell went off in her head.
"He's been assigned as my aide, and I wanted to introduce him around to those I work closely with," Hughes was continuing. Riza watched him, and noticed that his bearing was also a bit off, somehow. Stiff, falsely cheerful, as if he were as uncomfortable around his aide as she was. "I also wanted to personally deliver this to you," he slid a large envelope across the desk toward the Colonel. "I know you've been waiting on that."
The Colonel nodded at the Major and took the envelope. Flipping it open, he slid the documents out and scanned a few lines. Suddenly his eyes glimmered and a smile touched his face for a second. "Ah, yes, I have been expecting this for some time," he said, looking at Hughes. "Did you have any problems securing it?"
Hughes shook his head, smiling as well. "Of course not. It was long overdue. In fact, those in charge were wondering what had taken so long to get this done."
"A regretful oversight on my part," the Colonel said, closing the envelope and placing it on the top of his folders. When Riza reached out to take the pile away for filing, he placed his hand over them and looked at her, shaking his head slightly.
She withdrew to her own desk and her own little envelope, which she opened, only half-listening to the casual talk between the Colonel, Hughes and the Major.
The envelopes she'd handed were exactly what she thought, an invitation to the next Officer's Ball. She pursed her lips and slid the thing into a desk drawer, fully planning to forget about it. She rarely attended those things, found them extremely boring and not intended to include it in her itinerary of things to do.
Besides, it would have involved purchasing a new gown to wear for it, which involved clothes shopping, never one of her favorite pastimes.
"The Officers' Ball?" the Colonel's voice broke through her concentration. She looked up to see him reading the card.
"Ah, yes, it's in a week," Hughes said. "Gracia and I have already made plans to attend, though we're still looking for a babysitter for my precious sweetheart. Oh! Have you seen the latest pictures? Just a darling, I tell you, getting bigger every day!"
"Why don't you ask the librarian-girl you have working for you?" the Colonel asked, quickly overriding the next Elysia love-festival. "What's her name? Sheka Sheska?"
"Ah, yes, Sheska!" Hughes tapped his temple. "Why didn't I think about her? I'll talk to her in the morning! Elysia loves her! So, are you going, Colonel?"
The Colonel twirled the thing between his fingers for a minute, before laying it on the desk. He fished the tiny return card out of the envelope and signed it with a flourish. "I suspect I might as well have some fun before my re-assessment."
Hughes sobered for a moment and the Major leaned forward. "I'd forgotten about that. It's in two weeks, isn't it? You ready?"
The Colonel gave his patented cocky grin. "I was born ready." He even went so far as to snap his fingers and incinerate the envelope that had contained the invitation.
Riza found something on the top of her desk that was extremely interesting, hiding her expression carefully. He wasn't ready. She knew that as well as she knew her own name. He was still hip deep in research on the fake flame alchemy. However, she knew he wouldn't say so, not with a stranger in front of him.
Hughes knew this as well, just from the performance. He laughed and bent his head, running his hand through his hair, using the motion to give Riza a covert glance. She caught it and lowered her eyes, acknowledging the silent message.
"Are those examinations hard, sir?" The Major asked earnestly.
The Colonel gave him a narrow-eyed look. "Not really. As long as I stay practiced and keep my studies up to date, the examination is literally a snap for me." He smiled into the man's face. "Do you plan to take the exam?" He turned to Hughes. "Hadn't heard about any new alchemists in the ranks."
"No, sir!" Archer smiled ingratiatingly. "I'm just curious."
"He's the most curious man I've ever met," Hughes added.
Riza caught the double meaning there.
"Besides myself, that is," he continued. "I suppose that's why he was assigned to me. Always asking questions..."
Anyone who knew Hughes would have had to been deaf not to pick up the rest of the hidden message. Riza contemplated the folder in front of her. The Archer person was too nosy by half, Hughes was saying. She wondered what kind of questions he was asking that Hughes was refusing to answer.
"Are you planning on attending, First Lieutenant?" Hughes asked her, startling her out of her reverie. "The Ball, that is."
"Sir? Oh, no, sir." she said quietly, trying to avoid the conversation all together.
"She's never been one for these affairs," the Colonel explained to the Major, who frowned in question.
"I hear that they are wonderful," Archer said, his voice conveying excitement. Those eyes were searching, however. "I'll certainly be attending. This'll be my first."
That over eager voice was seriously beginning to grate on Riza nerves, which were beginning to fray beneath the undercurrent of what was unsaid. The Colonel said he was going to go. He'd signed the response card already.
She wondered fleetingly who he thought he was going to take.
Hughes stood. The Major had as well. "Well, I suppose we'll continue on through, then," Hughes said. He saluted, "Thanks for taking the time to meet my new aide, sir."
The Colonel stood and gave them a casual salute. "Hope you enjoy unraveling puzzles, Major," he told Archer. "Because that is one thing you are truly going to be busy with."
"Unraveling mysteries is my specialty, sir," Archer told him, then saluted and followed the Lieutenant Colonel out.
The Colonel watched them leave with heavy-lidded eyes.
"Did anyone else find him...odd?" Havoc muttered over his file.
"As counterfeit as a wood mark," Breda added.
"As oily as a drum of motor oil," Fuery said.
Even Falman chimed in. "Wonder why he was assigned to Hughes?" he asked rhetorically. "Can't see the Lieutenant Colonel asking for help... at least not that kind of help."
"Didn't look like he had much choice," the Colonel said quietly. He looked over at Riza, who was doing her best to give him a normal glance. "What did you think?"
She shook her head. "My instincts tell me that all of you are right. There is more to him than meets the eye, sir."
His eyebrow quivered at the honorific. She winced inwardly; she hadn't meant to make it sound so pointed.
Neither did she think that the idea of the Colonel going to an Officers' ball would irritate her so.
"So, sir, who're you taking to the Ball?" Breda asked. Riza looked over at him and could see him working out odds in his head even as they spoke.
The Colonel frowned, blinked, and then scrubbed at his head with a hand. "I hadn't...really thought about it..." he started.
"I would think that Charlotte would be heartbroken if you didn't ask her to escort you," Havoc drawled. "You are still seeing her, aren't you?"
The Colonel stared at him, a ruddy color crawling up his neck. "Ah... she doesn't really enjoy these things too much."
"Oh? She seemed to enjoy the last one, as I recall," Jean came back with, thoroughly enjoying himself. He gave Riza a look. "You really should come this time too, Hawkeye. I guarantee you'll enjoy it."
She wanted to throw something at the Lieutenant. One of Hughes knives preferably. She shook her head. "I'm not going to haul this bulk over to that kind of event," she said. "I never enjoyed those silly social affairs, in any case."
"Oh, you've got a few months to go before you're a walking tank, Lieutenant," her immediate subordinate said, his eyes brimming over with humor. "I'll be honored to escort you if you don't have an escort already."
Riza looked at him, wondering if every screw was loose in his head. Perhaps his extra-official duties were knocking things askew in his brainpan. "Ah...no."
Breda slapped Havoc in the back of his head, rattling his eyeballs around. "Of course she doesn't want you to take her!" he said.
Riza's jaw dropped an inch. What?
"She wants the father of her child to take her. You're cracked, Havoc."
Riza inwardly sighed. Then quickly recovered. "No!" She stammered. "He-he finds these type of things a real bother. He wouldn't come unless he's forced to."
"You know," the Colonel suddenly said slowly. "I do think it's a good idea, though." He looked over at her. "You need to get out more, First Lieutenant. You should go."
"I could never go unescorted to this type of function in my condition, sir," she said through gritted teeth.
The Colonel waved his hand in the air in breezy manner. Which should have warned Riza that his next words were bound to make her want to strike him. "I didn't say you should go unescorted." He peered at her. "There is another invitation, isn't there?"
Riza blinked and looked down at the desk, where the last invitation lay. She glanced at the front of the envelope, and then almost swallowed her tongue. "Edward?" She looked over at her Commanding Officer as if he were quite mad. "You think … that Edward… escort me?"
"I think it would do the young man some good to see the nicer parts of being a dog of the military," said the Colonel, looking as pleased with himself as he possibly could.
"He won't go," Havoc said in a strangely choked voice.
"Oh, I think I can get him to go. It'll be perfect!" He clapped his hands together. "Kill two birds with one stone. Just like taking your little brother."
Riza briefly thought of removing a bullet from her gun and manually planting it right between the Colonel's shifty, little, mischief-filled eyes. It probably wouldn't take too much effort; his skull had apparently gotten as soft as day old butter.
"Sign that reply card, First Lieutenant," he told her. "You're going to show Fullmetal the brighter side of the military!"
She glared at the top of his head as he bent to his tasks. She would show Edward the "brighter side of the military"... if she didn't go to prison for murder first.
She certainly made him feel like a man awaiting execution that evening. He was probably thinking about keeping on his overcoat, with the frosty reception he was receiving from her.
"What in the world is wrong with you, Riza?" he asked helplessly. He tried to help her put together a quick meal for the two of them, but she was making it abundantly clear that she didn't want him anywhere near her.
Really? She didn't. How dare he? Did he think she wanted...? Unintelligible curses tumbled around in her mind, the only things she could find to describe the feeling going through her.
"Would you please talk to me?" he asked, leaning against the kitchen table. "I know you're angry. What have you to be angry about?"
She gave him a sizzling glare. "You think I want to go to that damned Officers' Ball – with a sixteen-year-old – just to watch you parade around one of those perfectly ravishing beauties you're so famous for?" She spat before she had a chance to think about it. She hated herself for even feeling this way, but she swore she would always be honest with him. Well, there was honesty and she hoped he choked on it.
Black Hayate added his own commentary by giving a little angry growl and attaching his teeth to Roy's pant leg.
His gaped at her even as he tried to shake the dog loose. "I wasn't planning on taking anyone to the ball," he said, stunned. "How could you even think I would?"
She halted in the process of cutting the thick crusty bread. "What?"
"You heard me, Riza." He moved to stand next to her, still dragging the dog. "They still believe that I'm seeing the wonderful Charlotte. You heard me tell them that she wasn't interested in those kind of affairs. Which was the truth. I set it up perfectly so that they wouldn't expect me to bring someone." He snorted. "They probably think I'm going to flirt all of their escorts away from them."
She turned and stared at him.
"Just like you told them that your, well, significant other wouldn't want to attend either," he continued softly. "I was planning on going alone."
She looked down at the counter and wondered if she could fit down the kitchen drain. She was completely and utterly mortified, acting like a jealous little harpy.
"Then why did you insist I take Edward of all people?" she wanted to know.
"That was for Jean's benefit," he said grinning like a little puppy with the biggest bone in the world. He reached down and scooped the puppy up, ignoring the surprised little yip. "Did you even see his face when I suggested it?"
Riza thought about it, feeling a smile coming from under her embarrassment. "I really wasn't paying attention," she said. "If you want to know the truth, I was still thinking about that Archer creature."
"You really don't like him?"
"He's not what he seems, Roy," she warned. She put the bread on a plate and began to slice cheese. "And I don't think Hughes was too happy to have him as an aide."
"Well, I noticed that right off," Roy said. "I wonder what's behind it."
"And what was it that Hughes felt he absolutely had to deliver to you in person?"
Roy shook himself, suddenly remembering. He smiled. "Oh, that! You'll find out tomorrow."
"Roy."
"Oh, don't worry, it's nothing bad." He gave her that look that she should have begun to dread. "Trust me."
"I hate when you say that."
"I know."
The next day found her still wondering why he was so pleased with himself. He even whistled as he went about his work, churning out signatures as if his own arm were made of automail, making phone calls with a calm efficiency that boggled her mind.
In fact, he seemed to make himself even busier as the day came closer to ending, as if he actually wanted to finish all of his work before 1700 hours. She wished she had Hughes' camera, so she could record the scene for posterity.
Riza managed to ignore his antics until about one-half hour before departure time. Then she noted that it had gotten remarkably silent in the office, and looked up to find the others looking at her expectantly.
She looked around at them cautiously. "What?"
"Could you come here, First Lieutenant?" the Colonel asked in a slightly formal voice. She looked over at him in surprise. "I have something I need to discuss before I dismiss you for the day."
She rose and moved to the desk, wondering if she had forgotten something on his calendar that day, if she'd given him the wrong folder. He'd never sounded so harsh before.
She stood at attention in front of him. He rose and moved to stand in front of her.
He stared at her for an eternity, until she actually wanted to squirm under that piercing regard. What had she done?
The others were also watching, most of them staring in question at their commanding officer.
"First Lieutenant. You have been in working in my service for almost seven years," he began. "In those years, you have continued to perform in an exemplary, professional manner. I have never had cause to censure you, or find you in dereliction of your duties in any way."
She stood straighter and waited. Usually, when a commanding officer started like that, there was another shoe dropping somewhere in the distance.
"I've reviewed your personnel records in some detail," he continued. "And I've noted that you haven't been placed forward for a promotion in almost four years. In this, I find myself remiss."
Riza's eyes widened slightly, though she didn't alter her stance one small inch.
"Several months ago, I placed your name forward for a promotion and received a reply yesterday."
The others began murmuring around her. She darted her eyes around, catching the smile beginning on Havoc's face, the wide-eyed surprise touching Falman's features, the shock covering both Breda and Feury's expression.
The Colonel slipped open the envelope he'd received from Hughes again and slid out a formally written document. He laid that on his desk, and then upended the envelope.
She dared a quick look, after which she fixed her eyes straight ahead again. She found that she'd had suddenly lost the power to think properly.
In the middle of his palm lay two little gold stars, one for each of her shoulders.
He leaned forward and pinned the first one to her right shoulder, saying as he did so. "First Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye. For exemplary performance in the line of duty, I hereby promote you to the rank of Captain, entitling you to all privileges and entitlements of an officer of such a rank."
When he finished pinning the stars on her shoulders, he straightened and offered her the salute he saved for the most solemn of occasions. The others followed suit.
She was now only two ranks below him. He was trying to close the gap between them, to make easier to move out of his chain of command. It seemed innocent enough to anyone on the outside; he had been remiss in not having the proper paperwork set up for a promotion before now, but she'd never thought about it. No matter her rank, she would continue to serve under him, and he knew that.
She found herself forcing her knees to stiffen as she straightened and tightened up her salute. The Colonel looked utterly solemn, but she could see, way in the back of his eyes, a merriment he could barely contain.
That night, Dennison took her home alone. Roy must have known she needed time to herself to process the whole affair. It was the last thing she expected in such turbulent times, but it was the first thing she should have expected from that maverick of a Colonel.
Hughes knew about it, she suddenly realized. As she opened her door, she was tempted to go to her phone and call him, telling him she would never forgive him for keeping such a wonderful surprise from her. Then, she paused as she noted the large, flat box laying on her sofa.
Many years before, when she was still a young girl, spoiled rotten by her widowed grandfather, she recalled receiving such a beautiful box, a week-before her so-called coming out party. It lay on her bed, surrounded by other small boxes, waiting only for her eager hands to remove the large ribbon.
She sat beside the box and gently pushed away the ribbon that wrapped it, another flame-colored ribbon. Though that told her immediately whom it was from, it did not tell her what it was.
When she lifted the lid, she felt all the breath leave her.
It was a blue as dark as midnight, and made of pure velvet. She touched it, half-afraid it would disappear in a puff of smoke. She ran her hands across the golden satin ribbon. Upon closer inspection, she saw that the ribbon was a brocade, embroidered with three stars in the same gold color. She could picture the masterpiece leaving a long fall of heavy fabric to the floor.
She had no doubt in her mind that it would fit her like a glove. She lifted it half out of the box and gazed at it in shock, wondering how long it had taken him to have this thing made. Then she noted the envelope, folded between the bodice and the skirt. She picked it up and laid the gown back into the box. She opened the envelope with shaking hands.
It always takes me a while to remember that I am a clod when dealing with such things. I should have been clearer in letting you know that I never intended to bring anyone else to the Officers' Ball. How could I, when no one else even stirs the slightest bit of interest?
I saw the dread in your eyes when I wondered what you were going to wear. I hope you don't mind that I took the liberty of finding something I think will suit you well.
I'll do my best to be polite and pay attention to the pretty little things that will be fluttering around me all night, but know that, between you and me, I will not be able to take my eyes off of you.
He should have known better than to do something like this to a poor, defenseless, pregnant woman. Now she would have to kill him for making her cry like the silly little sixteen-year hoyden she'd been when her grandfather had made her the prettiest girl in her town.
Then, she thought, chuckling to herself, she would make sure to tell their child what a wonderfully crazy father he or she had.