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Games without Frontiers

Chapter 36: Let it Shine

Rating: T

Soundtrack: I Will Never Let You Down – Rita Ora

She entered an office heavy with an oppressive silence. Save for the low murmurings of Hughes on the telephone, the others were keeping their own counsel and not offering a thing in the way of incriminating evidence to the other men in the room.

Riza saluted General Hakuro, who greeted her with a kind smile. She didn't buy it for one instant.

"Captain, you are currently the ranking member of the staff here. I'm going to leave you here while the Lieutenant Colonel and I meet the inspections team and begin our questioning."

She said through gritted teeth, "Yes, sir," knowing that Hakuro was removing any chance for her to find out any information on the Colonel.

"I'm counting on you to maintain the status quo while the Colonel is unavailable. This is one of those instances where your performance will reflect on your future career."

It took everything for Riza not to let her lip curl. "I'll do my best, sir."

As soon as the door shut, Riza collapsed at her own desk. "Okay, tell me," she asked the others at large.

Jean took the lead in answering. "Hughes got a phone call yesterday afternoon, telling him that the Colonel was being confined to quarters," he said. "We've been questioned all morning as to our whereabouts during each of the bombings before and after."

"We were also questioned about the Colonel's whereabouts during that time," Breda told her.

Riza pinched the bridge of her nose. "They really believe he was involved somehow?" she asked, incredulous. "The Colonel doesn't need bombs to do his dirty work. If he wanted to explode a train or set fire to a library, he wouldn't use a bomb."

Jean snorted bitterly. "It wouldn't be in keeping with his reputation as the great Flame Alchemist. Thank goodness it was Hughes doing the questioning. He knew exactly what to ask." Havoc gave her a direct gaze as he said this.

Riza nodded slowly. "Are they planning on questioning me?"

Breda laughed this time. "This is the funny thing. It seems that, every time a train was bombed, you weren't here. There is evidence to show you at Central, for those visits of yours. At least that's what Hughes said."

She gave a bitter smile. "So I'm clear."

Havoc nodded. "As are we all. The only person they haven't questioned yet is Mustang." He shrugged and leaned against the Colonel's desk. "I don't know what they're waiting for. They could have questioned him about fifty times by now."

"They're compiling evidence, Havoc," Riza told him. "General Hakuro can't just go in and question him like Hughes questioned us. His responsibility is much greater, so they have to be sure that they have their evidence clear."

"But, what evidence could they have?" Fuery wanted to know. "He's here. Every day. There are plenty of people to say that."

"Telephone records." Jean said, teeth clenched around the cigarette. "Courier packages." He looked over at Riza again. "Driver's records."

Riza sighed explosively. "What are you trying to say, Jean?" she asked. "Just spit it out."

"Well, Captain, if I could do that I would."

She tried to erase the picture of the Colonel sitting in his small home, in the dark, getting more and more claustrophobic by the minute. "I'm so tired," she finally said quietly, leaning back and rubbing at the back of her neck. "All of this...tell them, Jean. Just...tell them. It'll be easier for us to deal with all of this if they know."

"Are you sure?"

"They've been questioned and cleared. There's nothing for them to hide anymore."

Jean took a deep breath, walked over to Riza and put a comforting hand on her shoulder. Normally, she would be shocked by the familiarity. Right now, she was just tired. He started speaking. Riza didn't really need to hear the words, because they were imprinted in her brain from the moment all of this started.

The most interesting response she got was a small nod from, of all people, Fuery. "What, Fuery?" she asked quietly.

"I knew it," he said simply. "Ever since we went after Kimblee."

Riza smiled and shook her head. It was always the quiet ones you had to watch.

"But..." Breda blurted. "Why didn't you just tell us?"

"If she did," Fuery answered quickly, "then how could we have answered honestly when they were making Hughes ask all those stupid questions about preferential treatment?"

Riza sat forward. "What?"

"They – General Hakuro, that is – made Hughes ask us if we noticed the Colonel giving anyone preferential treatment," Jean answered. "I don't know whether they had anyone in mind when they asked."

Riza gave this some thought for a while. Then she shook her head. "No, I don't think they do either. He hasn't given anyone in this office preferential treatment. Unless they were referring to the promotion."

The door suddenly banged open. They all looked over to see Edward storming in, Alphonse hot on his heels.

"What is this about the Colonel under arrest?" the young man asked, his face stormy.

"He's under house arrest, Edward," Jean told him. "They want to know if he has anything to do with the explosions or the library fire."

"What?" Edward yelled.

"Ah, Fullmetal!" Hughes called from behind Edward. Alphonse took a quick step to the left to allow the man into the room. He moved up to the young man, leaned down into his furious face. "You're finally here! I have a few questions–,"

"Stuff your questions!" Edward yelled. "Why is the Colonel under lockdown?"

Hughes waved a hand, trying for his usual carefree attitude. "Oh, it's just until the questioning is over. Speaking of which–,"

"I'm gonna see–,"

"Ah, no, Edward, you're not." Hughes suddenly said, his voice solemn. "No one who hasn't been cleared–, "and he met Riza's eye over Edward's head. " Can see him. The security officers have just been given a list."

"But–," Alphonse said. "The Colonel wouldn't blow up a train!"

"Huh," Edward snorted. "The Colonel is too lazy to try to blow up a damned train!" The young man collapsed into the couch and sat there, mutinous.

Hughes sat on the couch next to him, nodding. "That's what I tried to tell them, but it didn't work."

Everyone jumped about a foot when the phone rang. Instinctively, Riza picked it up. "Colonel Mustang's office," she said, a bit defiantly.

There was a stone cold silence on the other end. Then a voice, perhaps rusty from a couple days of misuse, crossed the line and made her knees weak. "Captain?"

He'd been yelling, she immediately thought. He was... or had been... furious.

"Ah...yes, sir?"

The silence again, then. "Put Maes on the phone."

Riza blinked. Then, helplessly, she handed the phone over. "It's..."

Hughes leapt up and snatched the phone from her. "Lieutenant Colonel Hughes, who is this?"

Riza watched him carry on the conversation. After a moment of muttering, "Uh-huh. Yes," he went to the other side of the Colonel's desk, yanked open the top drawer and started rifling through it. "I know, I know. How much longer do you have? Damn... I can't... don't you ever clean this damned thing?" He shuffled through scraps of paper and about a metric ton of paperclips and other filched office supplies. Riza watched, the only thing coming to mind was so, that's where all the staples went.

"Ah-ha!" Hughes suddenly exclaimed and held up a well-worn notebook with a tattered leather cover. "I found it." He nodded, even though he knew the Colonel couldn't see him. "I got... yes, I got it. Yes, you can have it. I'll have it sent..." Hughes' voice subsided for a moment and his eyes swung in Riza's direction. "Um... yeah. I think can do that."

Riza actually felt herself holding her breath until he got off the phone.

He looked over at her. "He wants this notebook," he said. "Something about having nothing else to do and wanting to research."

Riza nodded. "He does that when he bored. To... chase away..." she stopped.

Hughes nodded. "They're not allowed to impede his studies in any way, you know," he said. "If he wanted half the library shipped to him, they would have to do it. State Alchemists..." He tried to laugh, "They have all the luck."

"So...you'll take him the book?"

"Nope." Hughes shook his head. "Remember that list I mentioned? Of his approved visitors. I'm not on it. They had a choice between you or me. You won." He held up a hand. "Supervised visits only, of course. Only for about a half-hour. But... it's something."

Something about that hit Riza all wrong. "Supervised? What do they mean supervised?"

Hughes blinked rapidly. He must have been familiar with that particularly wild look about her eyes, because he backed up slowly. "It's-It's just a precaution, you understand. Until his questioning."

Riza reached out and took the book from his hand. "We'll see about that." She turned her head and pinned Havoc with her gaze. "Call my driver."

Her record was beyond reproach. Beyond reproach. She'd been cleared of all suspicion. So, what did they (and by they, she knew Hughes spoke of General Hakuro and all those attached to him) mean by saying supervised visits only?

When Dennison pulled up to the house, the two security personnel posted there moved up to the car. One look at her, and they moved back and saluted. Dennison opened the door and helped her out of the car. She ran her hands down her shirt, tugging at the hem to make sure it was straight, and then moved over to them.

"I'm delivering something to Colonel Mustang," she told them by way of explanation and moved to step between them.

One of the young men nervously halted her. "Ah... sir, I have to take a look at that."

She pursed her lips, but handed it over nonetheless. She wouldn't begrudge them their duties, after all.

They flipped open the book and shook it, ostensibly to insure nothing was hidden inside. Then one of them tried to read what was inside. She could tell by the cross-eyed, confused look that he had absolutely no idea what all of the codes and sketches meant, let alone what the un-coded words were. Roy's handwriting was more infamous than his lollygagging skills. They handed it back.

She moved again to go between them and up to the door. She stood there for a moment, waiting, and then turned back to them. "Is someone going to open this?" she asked coolly.

Both young men – sergeants from the look of them – started. "S-Sorry, sir. We thought–,"

"You thought that I would have a key perhaps?" She let a dangerous tone creep into her voice. "Don't be ridiculous. Open this door, officer."

At least they had the good grace to look guilty at their implication. "Yes, sir. Right away, sir."

The door opened, and she was almost blinded by the wave of darkness from inside that almost took over. She blinked and took a step over the threshold, but a voice stopped her. That voice, harsh and hoarse.

"Who the hell is that?"

When she stopped the sergeant behind her bumped into her, then backed up apologizing profusely. "I'm sorry, sir. But, I'm going to have to search you."

Again, she turned to look at the boy from over her shoulder. Then she rolled her eyes and turned, holding up her hands.

They took great pains not to actually touch her in the search progress. She could have secreted enough explosives to blow up the town on her person and they would not have found it, considering. When they were satisfied, they nodded and held out a hand for her to proceed.

"Wait!" One of them suddenly said. "We're going to have to confiscate your sidearm as well."

Okay, that was just about enough of this nonsense. She turned completely in the doorway and stood there with her hands on her hips. "What?" she barked.

"Sir, your... your sidearm, sir. We have to take it."

Her eyes narrowed, even as the other sergeant elbowed his companion. "That's Captain Hawkeye, idiot!" he hissed. "You don't take her sidearm! Not even the Fuhrer would take her sidearm!"

"Now, why would you want to take my sidearm..." she looked at the young man's shoulder. "Sergeant?" It was one of the few times in her career that she fully intended to pull rank. Right now, she felt very good about doing it. "If I wanted to shoot you, I would have already."

"Yes, but, s-sir..."

She felt his presence at her back. He wasn't even close enough to touch, but she felt him there, close to the doorway, watching. "And, if he wanted to use a weapon, he doesn't need a gun," she continued, moving step-by-step closer to the boy. "He could incinerate all of this–," she held up her hand, right under the sergeant's nose, "with just a snap" and she did just that, quite enjoying the fact that the young man looked as if he might wet himself, "of his fingers."

He opened his mouth, to protest once more. "But he doesn't have -,"

His friend groaned and put a hand over his face.

"Let me tell you something, Sergeant." Riza interrupted, making it right up to his face. "I have been protecting this man since before you even contemplated joining this service." She looked him up and down. "From the looks of it, before the day you were born. " In addition, I will continue to do so until I am relieved of duty. Now, you will not confiscate anything on my person, and I will not require your supervision during this visit." She leaned back a little. "Now, I understand that you are only following orders, from someone a little higher up than me, but I assure you, if you persist, I will make a note of the disrespect you showed by presuming to search my person."

The young Sergeant's mouth worked for a moment, and then he subsided.

She gazed into his face, remembering all the times her drill instructor had done the same. After she noted that he conceded defeat, due to her superior rank, she nodded, and backed up.

"I apologize for that, young man, but you have to understand that I find this entire thing absurd," she allowed in a no-nonsense voice. She turned back toward the door.

"Uh, sir–?" This time it was the other one. She acknowledged him. "We think it's absurd too."

She gave him a small smile and turned toward the door. And faced him.

He braced himself in the doorway, watching it all. His face was impassive, but she could see the minute sparkle of amusement there. She fought a blush down her neck, remembering that he had never seen her actually use her new rank for something more than shoulder ornamentation. She stepped past him into the darkened room, and listened while he shut the door behind him.

She could barely see through the half-curtained windows. "Goodness, Colonel, could you at least remember to turn on a light once in a while?" she said, busying herself with that, hands shaking, suddenly nervous, finally tired of all of the drama that had surrounded her for the past few months. From the minute that she had heard the news, she'd been working things out in her head and had come to a conclusion. While she had the chance–and the nerve–, she was going to tell him about it. "Do you have eyes like a bat that you can see in the dark? How are you researching like this?"

She stopped because he came up behind her and put his hands on her arms. "Don't worry, Riza," he said softly. "I won't be here long. I promise."

She turned to him and gave him a sorry excuse for a smile. "Long? Oh, I know you won't. You haven't done anything wrong."

"Yes, I have. And you know it."

She looked away. "But, this isn't about that."

"You don't think so?" He laughed bitterly and she watched him push his hair from his face. "I'm sure General Hakuro knows something. " He said something to me when he first got here. Something about 'having all my improprieties in order', because he was going to find them all out."

Riza's hand trembled on the switch on the oil lamp. She turned it up, casting light on the room.

It looked like the room of a teenaged boy. From the looks of things, he'd spent most of the day in or around his bed. And he'd tried to cook as well, from the look of the disaster on the plate at her feet. "Don't they realize you can't cook?" She bent down and pick up the plate and a few sheets of paper, anything to keep her hands busy. "They could have sent you some food, at the very least."

"I didn't want them to bring me anything."

She looked over at him, ran her eyes briefly over his disheveled form. "Did you think to ask for some soap, at the very least?"

"Damn it, Riza, look at me!"

She turned and looked at him. "What? What am I looking at? Someone who is wallowing in self-pity?"

He reared back, not expecting that attack. Well, good. She knew him. Knew him like she knew her own self. He'd been sitting here for the past eighteen hours, feeling sorry for his state, panicking, starting at every shadow.

Remembering. She saw that too, in the back of his eyes.

They shouldn't have locked him up for so long. With nothing to do, nothing to occupy him but his current state, his mind would start to roam back through memories better left behind.

She had to shock those memories back where they belonged.

"Don't tell me you've just been sitting here, floundering," she said, slamming the plate on a table. "You haven't even considered a plan of attack, have you?"

"What? What kind of plan of attack?"

"What are you going to answer when they ask those questions? You going to have all of those improprieties in order?" She pulled the chair out and sat down. Her feet were starting to ache, which did not compliment her temper at all. "You're just going to fold and tell them whatever they want to hear, plus some things they can only guess at?"

"Riza... I'm tired." He plopped on the edge on the bed and dropped his head into his hands. "Do you know how long I've been looking over my shoulder?"

She looked at him, amazed. "Of course I know, Roy. Are you blind? I've been standing right there every time you looked back."

He stared. Frankly stared. Then looked back down at his feet. "Yes you have. You still are. And now I've ruined all of that, haven't I? I've ruined everything."

She stood and exclaimed, "How?"

He looked at her mid-section for an eternity. "We shouldn't have done this," Roy finally said, looking away.

She crossed her arms. "You think? Perhaps you're right. Do you have regrets? I don't. Not anymore."

Roy looked at her, realization clouding his eyes. "How is it that I deserve you? I'm not that worthy."

"No, you're not," she said simply. "You're lazy, shiftless, and I'm surprised you can remember how to put your boots on the right feet. You have the intelligence of a prodigy, the machinating skills of master, but the common sense of a goat. Half the time, you don't know when to say the first thing that comes to mind and when to keep your mouth shut. The other half of the time, you amaze us all with your brilliance. It's nerve-wracking." She shrugged. "I could have been serving under anyone else. Someone more... simple minded." She stepped closer to him. "But I'm not. I'm here, in this dingy room. With you."

He shook his head, scratched at the growth of beard on his face. "You really are devoted to me," he said, as if it had just occurred to him. As if some she'd passed some test in his mind, and that he was surprised by that outcome.

Her mouth dropped open. "You're just realizing that I'm devoted to you?" Riza shook her head. "I can't believe you." She leaned in; until she was sure he was looking her in the eye. "I gave up all of my ambitions the day I met you. All of them. I was that little girl who spent all day planning her wedding to some simple man, and then I met you. "I remember the day I put my diary away. I remember it well, because I knew I would never look at it again."

She knelt then, because bending like that was torture on her back. "And then, I took all of my reservations and told them to kiss my ass when I decided to give you a key to my house." She took his chin in her hand, because he was trying to turn his head away, to look anywhere but at the truth in his face. "And if that weren't enough, I decided to change everything I was when I decided to carry this baby that you helped create." She let him go and sat back, her arms crossed over her chest. "So don't sit there and tell me that you're just realizing how dedicated I am to you."

"I just don't want... I don't want you to go down with me," Roy whispered.

"Don't you get it yet, Roy?" Riza hissed, at the end of her patience. "I don't care what they do to me anymore. They can demote me, transfer me, court-martial me, and dishonorably discharge me. I will always have your back. Why? Because of all the things I mentioned before." She leaned back. "You don't know how to be anyone else but yourself. Even if that makes you look like a prime idiot. But," she repeated. "I will always have your back. If things go bad, I just won't be able to do it from the inside. But, I'll find another way to do it." She sighed, and said softly. "I can protect you both...and I will."

Roy tilted his head. "Both?"

She gave him a slow smile, reached out and took his hand, pulled it to her stomach. "Both."

She could see him trying not to smile even in the half-light. She nodded; he would be all right. "Now. I suggest you get up, sir, and wash the stench off of your ass, put on some clean clothing and sit here and wait for them to come to you." She leaned forward again, this time in prelude to something she knew he needed. "Let them see when they get here that you don't give a fuck that they think they have you locked up, because you didn't do anything wrong."

She finished with a soft kiss on his lips. And a smack to the side of his head. "Now, hurry up and get out of here. Think you can manage that before I actually go into labor? "

He gave her that infamous narrow-eyed gaze. "You challenging me, Captain?"

"Of course, Colonel. Someone has to."