A/N: Alright, over 30 reviews! Thank you people so much! And thank you for the new favorites and follows too! I apologize for the shorter chapter.
Thank you to MaskedMuse for your advice. I will see how I can implement it in this chapter and future ones. Without further ado, here we go!
Central City
Old Factory Ruins
2015 Hours
"One, two, three!" Havoc and Falman heaved another block of concrete rubble out of the pit, adding it to the growing pile of twisted steel and broken earth. Nearby medics leaned over Mustang and Fullmetal, who lay covered with blankets, in order to protect their bodies from the shower of debris. Next to them investigators were questioning a partially reassembled Alphonse. He replied to their questions in a heavy and subdued voice. "Okay Falman, I think that's enough for now." Havoc waved to a pair of soldiers standing by the side of the pit. "Hey, our shift is over. Can you cover for us here?"
They nodded and climbed down into the pit where they proceeded to continue clearing the rubble. Falman dusted off his hands and cast his gaze around the work site, searching for the rest area. "Let's grab some coffee. We can check up on the colonel and Fullmetal after." Havoc nodded his assent and began to thread his way through the debris. Already at the tent were two other soldiers.
"Hey, hey, you know what I heard? Those weapons Mathais and Hawkins found? They've been ID'd as Drachman!"
"You're shitting me! For real?"
"Yeah! And you know what else? They haven't finished checking all the blood for genetics, but they have ID'd some of the blood as the Hawk's Eye's."
"No shit! Wait, where's the body then?"
"That's the thing! Oh, sorry sir." The two soldiers moved off to continue their conversation elsewhere while Falman and Havoc poured themselves some coffee.
"Hawkeye? I guess she did get taken with the colonel." Havoc commented as he sipped the coffee, grimacing at the terrible quality. Falman seemed to have no problem with the vile beverage though.
"I wonder if she's dead. There was a lot of blood down in that hole."
"Mm. I doubt it. If the colonel and the Elrics made it out of there, then she did too." Havoc stirred a little sugar into his drink.
"Still, it looks like the roof probably fell on her. Knowing her, she was right next to the colonel, and, well…" Falman trailed off and gestured towards the pit, where the scene spoke for itself. He and Havoc tossed off the rest of their coffee and threw the cups into the garbage bag. "Let's go check on the colonel."
Falman and Havoc made their way through various groups of soldiers and workers. On the way they passed Breda coordinating a small squad to shift debris and Fuery working at the radio in the command post. The two found their way to the colonel's stretcher, greeted the medics and squatted down by his side. "Yo, colonel, can you hear me?" A medic saw what they were doing and shook his head.
"Good luck with that, mate. That poor guy's gonna be out cold for the next few days. F-Tan is nasty stuff and combined with a bad concussion and how beat up he is, I'm surprised he's looking this good." He shook his head, said something about "damn reckless fools" and walked off to check on the Elrics.
"Ah, screw him. The colonel's tougher than that, aren't you colonel?" Still no response. Havoc checked his pulse and breathing, finding them a little weak but consistent. Sighing, he kept talking. "Anyways, whenever you wake up, you're going to have to tell us about what happened. Especially Hawkeye. I don't think the office will be able to function without her, eh?" Not even a twitch. Havoc shook his head. "Well, get better soon. We've missed you." Falman and he got up to get back to work.
Suddenly, Mustang's hand weakly tapped Havoc's ankle. "Havoc… that you?"
Havoc jumped and spun and when he saw the colonel laughed in relief. "Mustang! I knew you were tougher than that!"
Mustang looked up with glazed eyes. "Where… where is this…"
"Don't worry, you'll be okay now. You're in the industrial district. You've got medics working on you, don't try to move around too much. That gas they hit you with is apparently pretty nasty."
"Riza… where's Riza…" Havoc flinched and looked over at Falman for help. Falman shook his head. Havoc forced a grin and replied.
"She's, uh, she's right here, yeah. Sorry, she's kind of out of your sight, but don't worry! You'll see her soon." His grin was becoming painfully tight. Luckily, a medic overheard and came to his rescue.
"Alright colonel, just take it easy. Get some rest, don't try to do anything. You're in a bad way. Hey, I need 30 ccs of plasma over here, stat!" He waved the pair away, mouthing "I got this". Falman nodded and pulled Havoc away. They took their time walking back over to the work site. On the way they stopped by the CP to check in.
"Major, our shift is over. Do you have any orders for us sir?"
"One second. What do you mean, he's taking command?! I've been in command for the past 3 weeks! You can't just replace me! What?! Oh - oh, okay. Still - what? Oh. I see. Yes sir. I understand sir." He replaced the phone and turned to the two, rubbing his temples. "Sorry about that. What can I do for you?"
Falman raised his hand to ask a question. "What was that, sir?"
"Oh, that. Command has gone over my head. I've been relieved of command, by that son of a bitch!" Havoc's fears were growing.
"Who's in command now?"
"Colonel Eric fucking Herschel. You know him?"
Everyone standing nearby paled at the name. Anything that dreaded officer touched fell apart. While Herschel always managed to get off without any trouble, those who actually worked on the tasks were punished with anything and everything from kitchen patrol to demotion to courts-martial. "Hell yes I know him. That bastard's coming to screw up another investigation, huh?"
The major grimaced. "I was under that guy's command in Ishval. Those under his command tended to get killed in bayonet charges on Ishvalan gun positions. I watched my lieutenant get mowed down by a machine gun and three quarters of my platoon die from a mortar trying to scale a wall. Back then he was company captain. When we limped back to the camp he chewed us out for not taking the objective then took a promotion to battalion major." His hands clenched into fists at the memory. Havoc and Falman looked down at their boots. Any soldier who had ever been under the command of an incompetent officer could sympathize.
"I'm sorry. That must have been hard. Anything we can do sir?"
"Yes. Get these boxes over to the investigations people. They'll be interested in the evidence. After that help the crews taking the rubble off site. Dismissed."
"Sir!" They snapped their boots together, saluted, and left to carry out their orders.
Central City
Gardner General Hospital
0900 Hours
"Mmm… don't wanna wake up… too early…" Roy tried to lift his arm to ward off the sunlight but found it oddly stiff, heavy and sore. He tried to crack open his eyelid and hissed as the sunlight burned his unadjusted eyes. Slowly, he lifted one eyelid then with a great effort opened the other. He groaned quietly as the light caused his headache to throb with a vengeance. "Wha… what?" His throat was dry and his voice was hoarse and quiet. Roy looked down at the rest of his body. Several IVs were hooked up to his arms, which were covered in bandages and a few casts. His chest area was heavily bandaged and IVs were coming out of his sides. Both his legs were wrapped and set, his left leg lifted in the air by a strap. Disturbingly, all the bandages had small spots of blood on them. "Hello? Is anybody there?" he shouted warily, not knowing if he was still a prisoner or not. The nurse pulling open the curtain would have had him snapping if not for the heavy cast on his arm. And the absence of an ignition glove.
"Glad to see you're awake colonel. How're you feeling?"
"Like Briggs just fell on me. Who are you? Where am I? How -" he fell into a coughing fit. When he recovered he continued "how long has it been?"
"I'm HM1 Foster, your nurse for the duration of your stay here. You're currently in Gardner General Military Hospital, Central City. This was the only hospital close by equipped to handle your case after they pulled you out of that hole. You were in surgery for hours and after that you were out for a week." Roy was confused. Hole? Last he'd checked he'd been gassed in a corridor, presumably underground. What was this about a hole? She saw his confusion and quickly clarified. "They found you after an explosion caved in the ground above you." Explosion, eh? Drachmans must have messed up.
"Where're the Elrics?"
"The smaller one is in the room next door. He hasn't woken up yet. Armor boy is getting rebuilt by the engineers. Apparently, he's teaching them more about materials science than they ever knew." He nodded. At least the brothers were safe. But where was…?
"Where's the lieutenant?" She winced as if the question had struck her. "She… they didn't tell you?"
"Where is she?" The nurse exhaled slowly.
"Before you say anything else, they never found a body. She might still be alive." The words hit him smashed into him with the force of a train. Never found a body. Might still be alive.
"What… what do you mean?" Roy was almost afraid to ask. The answer would probably be harder to bear than the uncertainty.
"After the cave in, they found so much blood in the pit. They've ID'd a good portion of it as lieutenant Hawkeye's. There was a gun with her fingerprints next to the debris pile." Roy slowly fell back against his pillows. His mind crashed into a concrete wall going 140 km/h. He tried to reconcile his hopes with reality and failed completely and spectacularly. "She's missing, presumed dead." Missing, presumed dead. Any veteran soldier knew to dread those words. In the Ishvalan campaign, those words had meant that your comrade's body was now drying out in the desert sands, left there as a message by the Ishvalan resistance. Riza was as good as gone.
"I… I see. And… you're sure about this." She nodded sadly.
"Yes. And for what it's worth? I'm very sorry." The nurse looked around not knowing what to say. "I'll give you some time."
"Thank you." She closed the door gently behind her. Inside the room, Roy simply stared at the wall across from him. He kept trying to comprehend the reality of Riza being gone and just could not. How was he going to continue without her being there, without her pushing him to do his paperwork, watching his back, and giving him one of those rare, precious smiles she reserved only for him? Come to think of it, he never did get an explanation for her abilities. Just one more thing that would forever haunt him.
He now had an inkling of what she felt during the battle with Lust. A fog descended over his brain hindering all rational thought. His emotions churned and frothed and would have spilled over completely if not for the one overriding thought still left in his brain. Don't cry. Riza wouldn't cry, and he wouldn't either. It was the least he could do for her.
Roy Mustang sat in his bed, staring at the far wall. Riza Hawkeye was gone. He wouldn't cry. He wouldn't cry. He wouldn't cry.
It was raining.
Central City
Old Factory Ruins
0050 Hours
"черт побери… почему это больно есть*?"
"Ah, there you are corporal. Don't worry, we'll have you down there in a second."
"Thanks sergeant. Guess I owe you a drink, huh?"
"золотой облако, not that shitty stuff they serve in the strip bars."
"Fuck you, you know how my wallet aches."
"Yeah, yeah, bitch when I get you down. You're damn lucky they left you alive. Half our people are dead from the explosion alone. Why'd they spare you, anyway?"
"I wish I knew."
A/N: Anndddd done! Sorry, this is a short chapter this time. Sort of a breather between action and to set some stuff up. Thank you, thank you, thank you for the response to my last chapter. *Sniff* I'm not crying. I'm might not be able to put out a chapter next week. There's some stuff going on and I don't have total access to the computer. I'm so sorry.
Anyways, thank you! Keep faveing, following, and mashing that review button!
* Loosely translated as: "Dammit… why does it hurt there?"
Note 2: Not related, but check out these songs on youtube.
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