The wedding

She was a strong, independent woman that never needed anyone helping her reaching her goals… Then, why was such a simple thing making her strangely sad?

She always walked alone, fighting to surpass her tribulations, fighting for her own goals, until she found him… He was the one which her life started revolving around… The one that she lets see her tears, the one that knew how she suffered with her past, the one that hugged her in the middle of the night, when memories of shadows lurking around her woke her from a deep slumber… the one she was walking towards in that place… She didn't need anyone walking beside her, except him… However, that sadness didn't disappear, leaving her troubled with her own emotions and weaknesses… the weakness of wanting someone to walk her down a simple aisle towards her happily ever after…

He knew she was sad… he could see in the depths of her eyes whenever someone asked who would walk her into the church… but she always said, with a smile, that her orientation wasn't that bad and finding him would be easier without anyone slowing her down…

People would laugh and say it was really something Riza Hawkeye would say, but he knew better and that made him gloomy.

She deserved having someone else in her life that could help her in moments of need… and that made him think if he died she would be alone, without family… without someone she could cry with without feeling pathetic… Her father was no epitome of fatherly love, but he always believed the detached man held some respect for his daughter, or why else would he tattooed his most prized possession in her back? Sometimes, he wondered if the old man wasn't trying to protect Riza giving her that power… Would he know that, sooner or later, Roy would be back and that she would show him the secrets his old master always hided? Could he have been hoping that maybe the young man could protect his daughter? If yes, then the man was screaming at him from the afterlife with rage… All he ever did was hurt her, physically and mentally… and now he could not even find a bloody person to walk with her through the aisle. He knew all his subordinate, Ed and Al would jump into the opportunity of making the woman happy, it was no secret how much Riza was cherished, but he knew she would never accept it, judging it as pity, and if there was one thing Riza Hawkeye despised was pity.

The day arrived with the leisure of an autumn morning, Roy's favorite season because it always made him remember her eyes, and Riza's, because all the leaves falling and the small hidden flowers under them ready to survive another winter always brought a strange sense of peace she couldn't explain... maybe because it was that season when she returned from Ishval or maybe because he enjoyed it so much with his long walks and childish games of stepping over the leaves to hear their rustle.

And leaves filled the front of the church all right. A carpet of brown, orange, yellow, red and so many heterochromatic gradients she couldn't suppress her smile while watching through the window, even if her mood was far from happy. He was late... To their wedding... And she was pissed!

Rebecca was trying to calm her, while Winry, her swollen belly the most prominent part of her anatomy, kept looking through the door, waiting for Ed's signal indicating Roy's arrival. The blond couple kept trading exasperated looks, while Ed tried to keep his son in silence, rocking him beside the church's entrance.

"Riza!" Roy's voice came from the back door that connected the exterior with the room she was waiting at. She turned around, her glare directed to him.

"I'm sorry, but someone appeared and I had to bring him!" he said, entering the room with his eyes closed. Ed's head popped into the room and grabbing the Fuhrer's ear while pulling his son against his chest with his other arm, pushed him into the altar, grumbling against idiotic flames alchemists.

Riza was left speechless and when an old man entered through the same door Roy used, it didn't help at all her logical thinking.

"What are you doing here, sir?" she asked, when she regained her speaking ability.

"I heard our delightful future first lady didn't have someone to walk her to the altar and I thought that as former Fuhrer I could step in..." Grumman said, smiling politely.

"I don't know what to say, sir..." Riza answered truthfully, confused at all the commotion.

"It's rather easy, don't you agree? You just have to say yes." the old man said simply.

Rebecca and Winry nodded at her side and only when Al entered the door to remember the time, did Riza accept the offer, still baffled at what just happened.

Grumman smiled, delighted, and taking her arm through his own guided her through the door.

"It's weird, but sir, you make me remember someone..." Riza commented, feeling the warm of the man's hand next to hers.

He smiled softly. "You are probably confounding me with someone else..." but Riza could swear something in his tone was trying to convey a different information and she couldn't suppress the feeling of familiarity, that was stronger than ever, while walking with the man towards her future husband. Nonetheless, she smiled, feeling someone's presence beside her in that red carpet.

"Why won't you tell her?" Roy asked, while observing his wife laugh with Breda's poor attempt at guiding her through the dance floor. She was happier than he remembered ever seeing her and it made his heart burst with happiness that he was the cause of such feeling.

The old man beside him grunted non-committedly and they shared a knowing glance.

"I have no idea what you are talking about..."

"All those jokes about me marrying you granddaughter, and only this morning I realized those were no jokes..." Roy said softly, while Riza was dancing with Alphonse smoothly.

"She is happy, that's all that matters right now." Grumman replied, without taking his eyes from the glowing woman in front of him.

"She deserves to know, and I'm not the one that should tell her…" Roy said, in a harsh tone that gained Havoc's attention, a few meters to their left.

"Not today! And I would advise you to regain your wife or she will be snatch away by some of those men…" Grumman said, no longer in a light tone.

Roy sighed, and looking at the man one last time stopped Riza's and Ed's dance and reclaimed her to his side, trading some sour words with the former Fullmetal Alchemist. He could feel the old man's eyes over them the rest of the night, but feeling Riza's happiness, he couldn't make himself worry about that.

Not today, at least…