This is a Full Metal Alchemist and Rising of the Shield Hero Fanfiction only.

As I was ready to make good on my threat, I felt the sudden build-up of energy behind me and from nowhere a blast of air hit me right in the back sending me flying till I landed head first a few feet from where I had been standing. As I got up I saw Myne pointing her hand at me, and her hand was glowing.

So much for having such tender feelings for me Myne, I got to admit, for a second I truly believe she was my old spirit girlfriend, but not even Lust would do something like that to me. Just as I was thinking this I hear something that was not good, "LIGHTNING SPEAR!" That is when I was hit by Motoyasu's attack, it felt like I was getting shocked each time he hit me.

Had my shield abilities not improved my defenses as much as it did, I would be as dead from the first hit, that thing was literally lightning, and no alchemist needs to wonder how much power a single bolt of lightning has, and here I got hit by no less than five of them. I could barely stand.

"The duel is over, the winner is the Spear Hero, Sir Motoyasu. The poor creature shall be freed from the evil clutches of the Shield Hero. Come, show your gratitude to the hero who saved you."

They cheated, they had me completely fooled, I thought that Myne was my old girlfriend, but in reality they fooled me completely, betrayed once again by a person who I once trusted, after Luge did this to me last time, you would think that I would learn to expect this from the people in Melromarc.

They had no intention of honoring the terms of the duel, if I had won they would still find a way to declare Motoyasu the winner, all because I am the shield hero. Everything I have gone through again simply because I am the shield hero. If they hate me so much why did they bother summoning me in the first place?

The is only one reason I can think off, to deny me any support, to torture me into either killing myself or to motivate someone or some people to kill me or cause my death. After what Myne said the last time the King tried to frame me for something that is punishable by death, I will admit, I relaxed a little and hoped that my presence would not be so badly received.

I was however wrong, it was all a plot, a plan to betray me yet again, I began to realize how much were they willing to do me over, and my feelings turned from sadness and disappointment to bitter hate and anger.

If they are willing to do so much to make my life a living hell, they should never have summoned me in the first place, but if this nation cares so little about the Shield Hero, then I guess it is only appropriate, to hell with them, to hell with their greedy, selfish idiotic plots, the feeling has finally become mutual, THEY CAN ALL BURN FOR ALL I CARE!

That is when I heard a message from the status magic, Curse Series unlocked.

All I do is help them, keep them safe, fight monsters that would have killed them by the hundreds, they never appreciate it, they even allowed that backstabber Luge to become King, well at least that makes sense, she really is his daughter.

"Master Mustang, are you alright? Please talk to me, let me help you." I swatted her hand away, how dare she, try and touch me after betraying me, how much more is this world going to torture me, I do and do to protect it, and this place is determined to always reject me, always hurt me, my personal hell.

"DON'T TOUCH ME! YOU ARE FREE THANKS TO MOTOYASU, YOU ARE NOT COMPELLED TO BE LOYAL TO ME, GO THANK YOUR HERO, LEAVE ME, TRAITOR."

Raphtalia came closer to me and took hold of me, "Master Mustang, I was never compelled to obey you, I followed you by choice, when that trader gave up on me, you freed me from that cage, when people thought that I was not going to die anyway you spent expensive medicines to heal my condition."

"When I was hungry, you took always the cheapest menu item so that I could have the best food for me, you gave me a ball and defended me against bullies that wanted to hurt me, you even took a monster that everyone considers a pest and treated it like a pet, Bowser always keeps me company, you did that to protect me when you were asleep."

"You have shown me kindness, tenderness, and love ever since I joined your party, I do not follow you because of the seal on my chest, I first followed you because you were my mentor, you taught me how to defend myself, how to fight for others, and later because I honestly love you with all my heart."

"Should the world choose to become your enemy, I shall always stand by your side, should everyone call you names, I shall always give you love and a shoulder to cry on, so please Master Mustang, Roy, take my hand and allow me to help you."

As I took hold of her arm, a fog began to dissipate from my mind, I never even noticed it before, a haze that was there but I never noticed it, clouding my vision, and that is when I found myself being hugged by this beautiful young woman, her ample armored chest pressed against me. "Who are you? Where is Raphtalia?"

She smiled and began to laugh, "I am Raphtalia, relax Master Mustang, I will help you, you are safe in my arms."

I couldn't accept that there is no way this young woman is Raphtalia, "Raphtalia is a little girl, there is no way you are you, so who are you?"

She put her lips on my lips for the briefest of moments, "I am telling you, I am Raphtalia, honestly I know that I can sometimes behave childishly, but I told you many times to stop treating me like a little kid. It is alright, you can relax, you are safe with me."

For some reason I couldn't move, I felt so tired, so exhausted all of a sudden and collapsed again on the arena floor, and everything went dark, I could not keep awake and my dreams were just memories of the one spirit that was my girlfriend once, and now of my memories of the things I lived with Raphtalia.

As I woke up on a bed in the palace, I was greeted by Raphtalia who apparently slept holding my hand. "You moved me from the arena floor to his bed, didn't you shadow? I would not suggest doing that, you rulers will not be happy of you treating me with such consideration, it could lead you into trouble."

I heard a woman laughed, "I only followed her majesties instructions, it seems you have not changed even if your body clearly has, still as kind as ever, I dare say."

As I got up from bed, this caused Raphtalia to wake up, "Are you really Raphtalia?"

She looked at me and smiled, "I know that you are surprised but you must know how different humans are from demi-humans, you know that we mature according to our experience and level, this is why demi-humans are hated so much since we tend to grow up rather quickly. If you think I am no longer a child it is because of you kindly nurturing me, helping me grow."

"This is one of the reasons people hate and discriminate against my kind. Of all the cardinal heroes, I am blessed by being saved by you." I couldn't quite understand, I knew about their growth from my memories, but somewhere deep down inside my mind I refused to believe it, and it is not the first time this has happened.

"Honestly, how can you see me like this and still think of me as a little kid? Do you have any idea how many men have tried to ask me out on dates? How many men I had to decline when they tried to woe me? I live for only one man, and that man is you. My Beloved, Roy Mustang."

I finally got out of bed and began to dress in my armor, that is when I noticed her tail wagging, and then I also noticed we were sleeping without our clothes, shadow undressed me? Wait for a second, I slept the entire time with Raphtalia and she was as naked as the day she was born?

She put on her armor as I finished putting on my gloves. I am shocked that the idiot backstabbers didn't try and destroy them. I certainly wouldn't put it past them. Wait, there is a cart with some food waiting for us. Who put this food here? It might be poisoned, again I would not even need to think twice to think Luge would do that.

Raphtalia took some of the food and ate it, "Good, the food I prepared is still good. Come Master Mustang you must be really hungry since you had very little to eat during the banquet. Don't worry, I made everything here using leftover food from the banquet, please eat, if only for my sake."

I guess I shouldn't think twice about it, if I reject the food, it would only hurt her feelings. I began to eat a sandwich and it tastes great, the subtle flavor of the ingredients, the taste of the soft bread, wheat by the way it tastes, the juice fresh and sweet. Why can I taste this food now when before it was all bland and tasteless?

As I finished several plates of food, I never realized just how hungry I was. As I ate I felt like I had been starving, why does the food taste good when it didn't before I was still bothered by it, but something good came of it, Raphtalia seemed to be smiling as I ate the food. She even began to laugh at some points during my eating breakfast.

"Well I feel about a thousand times better, Raphtalia we need to go back to Lute, there are probably things only us can take care off. I also want to put as much distance between me and this castle, you can keep laughing, but I simply think that idiot, Luge, will try to do us harm."

She finished her tea, she looked at me with a bit of confusion showing on her face. "Who is this Luge you often talk about? I never met a person with that name."

I looked at her and smiled, "Oh, Luge was once a member of my party, my right hand in a previous life, who is he? Well, you might know him as the King of Melromarc, he sure moved up in the world from being a low level noble. Sure his family had a tradition of producing the most capable knights, which is why he was so important in my party."

She looked at me and began to wonder something, I could practically read it on her face, "How can you know what happened in a previous life Master Mustang?" I looked and showed her my shield.

"This weapon is practically alive, and we share everything with each other, so part of that is my memories, this shield shares with me the memories of my previous lives every time I am reincarnated, this also gives me a working memory on how to do what I must during the waves and even after they are temporarily stopped."

She touches the shield and for a brief second the gem in the center of the shield began to shine, "I knew this legendary weapon was amazing, but I had no idea that it could do something amazing like that. If you had the memories of a previous life as a shield hero, then why didn't you know about demi-human growth? Why did you think of me as a little kid if you knew?"

I looked at her and smiled, "Because while I gain the knowledge my mind still needs to process it, and until I truly saw you through the haze of my anger, my disappointment, and despair, I truly only saw you as a little kid. It is thanks to you that the haze from my mind is gone, and it is your acceptance that has allowed me to be able to taste the things I eat."

"You are the one that made me feel like at least someone in this world actually accepts me, and made me feel welcomed in our world." She began to cry as soon as I told her this, damn it, maybe I should have kept that to myself. The last thing I want to do is cause her to cry.

"So all this time when you said you didn't want to eat much was because everything was tasteless, and I guess now you regained your sense of taste, it makes me feel so happy that I was able to do something like that for you Master Mustang, and I am so sorry that I never noticed it till now. That is why you always got the cheapest menu set."

I could tell her an excuse and tell her the real reason I chose the cheapest menu set was because it was the cheapest items on the menu, and in reality, I am quite frugal or some would say stingy. I could not lie to her, so I simply kept that excuse to myself.

"Since you can again taste the food, how about we make sure we eat some good tasting food each day? If we are doing so much work, we might as well be able to eat some good food." I guess she is right about that, I was going to need some time to get used to this, from a little kid to this kind and caring beauty. No wonder Motoyasu always had this dirty look on his face when he was looking at her.

As we left the castle the very person I didn't want to meet was practically waiting for me, Motoyasu was waiting at the entrance to the Foyer, I know alchemy can do wonders, can make things happen that look like miracles to the common folk, but is there a chance to transmute this idiot into a half decent person? No, better not, just thinking about it is probably going to cause Truth to give me another lecture against human transmutation.

I, of course, could argue that Motoyasu is more beast than human but there is no way I could ever win an argument against Truth, and quite frankly I know better than to do something that horrible.

"You managed to trick people into thinking that you own our duel, you even managed to get Itsuki and Ren to both backs you up something I never thought would happen. No matter, the seal has been removed, it is only a matter of time before she realizes she is better off with me than a worthless pathetic loser like you."

I could tell him that he technically only won due to Myne's help, I could tell him that victory won due to someone else helping him cheat is no victory at all, and I could tell him that had I been even slightly as evil as he thinks I am, he would be a pile of ashes just as the duel began, but no matter, why bother talking with him if nothing will get in that block of cement that some might call ahead.

"I just had breakfast, and unlike you, I am very busy, so tell me why are you bothering me?"

He looked at Raphtalia and he didn't even bother to look at me when he answered, "Oh, I am not waiting for you, loser, the king said all four of us should be present so that he can give us a reward for defeating the wave. I don't mind seeing her, but you, I only put up with seeing you because I must, so don't talk to me unless you have to."

Breakfast, a conversation with a fool, and now I am supposed to attend another meeting with the backstabber, boy that breakfast seems is the only positive thing that has happened today.

As we walked towards the royal chamber they would not open to let us in, but as soon as Motoyasu, Ren, and Itsuki showed up with their parties they opened the door in a hurry, well don't worry guys, don't need to do something like that to make me realize that you and most of the people around me hate my guts.

The fact that nobody even said a thing about Motosayu getting help to cheat at the duel means that most of the so-called nobles were either in favor of what happened or they didn't care what happened at all. You couldn't be more obvious if they painted hate messages on every wall on my way to the throne room.

As we entered we took the very much previous formation, we four stood up front, in front of the throne, and all our companions were standing right behind the hero they help and behind each other in a line.

"So we are here to give to the heroes the agreed reward for stopping a threat to the Kingdom, Motoyasu will receive nineteen thousand silver pieces, Ren and Ituki shall receive eighteen thousand silver coins, and as for the Shield Hero, he was supposed to receive the bare minimum of five hundred, but after the cost of removing the slave crest, he shall receive nothing at all."

Well, it is not like I was expecting any fair treatment from Luge, I didn't even bother to protest. "That will not do, he never once requested that the slave crest be removed, and he did not lose the duel, so removing the crest should not have occurred at all. It is simply improper for Roy not to receive a reward when he alone saves the lives of the people of Lute."

What the hell did Ren eat for breakfast? I never expected him to do something like that. He is pretty much arguing with the idiot on the throne, he could get into some serious problems. "That was very nice of you Ren, but honestly I don't need a reward for doing a good deed, I say that any reward is given to you three, you need it more than I do."

Luge looked at me and he was glaring at me, "We know of your illegal activities Shield Hero, we are investigating the possibility that you are extorting the people that Sir Ren said you saved. I at least will do as you so suggested, and give each of the other heroes a portion of the reward that you should have gotten, no matter how little it may be."

I looked at Luge, and the at Myne, I was a fool, I truly expected better from Lust what happened during the duel, I turned to look at the fool on the throne, "Well since the situation is taken care of, may I be excused? I have quite a busy day ahead, and I wouldn't want to ruin your day any more than I already have by having to suffer my presence."

Luge looked at me with this look of utter disgust, and he turned away from me, "You may leave, I hope that you at least have the decency of walking off a cliff and dying so that I never have to see you again."

I was about to leave when I decided to do Luge a favor, "You will not have to see me again if you only summon the other heroes and never summon me to appear before you. I only came by your request, have a wonderful day, your majesty."

As I walked out the throne room I could still feel the gaze from Myne, but I didn't need to speak with her, after the duel she made it perfectly clear who she wanted to help and who she cared about. I may not admit it, but the pain that her spell cause was next to nothing compared to the pain of her betrayal.