"If we fail, we can never come back. We have a one-way ticket to the battlefield. Which is why there is only one order I can give to you all- don't die."

The three soldiers looked at their commanding officer in silence for a beat. Only one recognizes the words with a flash of memory and a hint of a smile.

"That is all," Mustang said.

Three pairs of heels slapped together, three hands rose in a salute, and they spoke in unison:

"Aye aye, sir!"

Then they each went about their tasks. Fuery bent to rummage through a bag of communications equipment, weapons, and the cloths they would use to hide their faces in the dark. Breda checked coordinates on a map he withdrew from an inside pocket of his coat. Riza pulled her left-side pistol and checked the ammunition, for probably the 15th time in an hour.

Of course, he noticed. He noticed everything about her, always. Just taking in the sight of her, standing so close after so long…

Sitting in Havoc's hospital room the week before, separated from her by only a curtain, knowing she knew he was there had been one of the moments that most tested his resolve. He'd been close enough to smell her shampoo but hadn't been able to speak a word.

The surveillance teams watching them had been so close, he hadn't seen her in a month, hadn't spoken to her since the night he'd bought all those damned flowers.

She hadn't been okay, that night, he could tell, and he hadn't been able to find out the exact source of her unease, hadn't been able to lift a finger to protect or comfort her.

Now, she stood before him, every inch the confident soldier he'd always relied on. She bent to scratch Hayate's ears, and he stepped closer, looking down at her.

"It's good to see you, lieutenant," he said quietly. The others remained purposefully engrossed in their own work. "Would have wished for better circumstances, of course," he added with a smirk.

Riza looked up and gave a wry smile.

"It's a perfect night for a little kidnapping and insurrection, wouldn't you say, sir?" She stood, then spoke quietly. "It's good to see you, too, sir."

They held one another's gaze for a moment too long. Then Roy cleared his throat.

"We'd better get moving," he said gruffly. Riza nodded, her spine straightening. Bred and Fuery hoisted their packs and headed down the tunnel. Roy turned to follow, but her voice held him back.

"Sir."

He raised an eyebrow, inviting her to speak.

"You don't die, either." Her voice was soft, and her eyes gleamed in the dim light. Roy chuckled.

"Who's giving the orders, now, lieutenant?" He started down the tunnel again, the turned his head speaking over his shoulder. "Besides, I'm not worried. You're still watching my back."

—-

Riza breathed a quick sigh of relief as she lowered her weapon away from Bradley's wife. A bluff, of course, but not one she'd enjoyed enacting. She watched as Roy knelt before the distraught woman.

"Was it my husband who abandoned me?" She asked, tears in her eyes.

"I don't know, ma'am," Roy lied with a shake of his head. "I don't know, but I promise that we will protect your life, no matter what."

Riza had known that he'd never hurt Bradley's wife, that she was innocent in everything. But she'd hated holding that gun against an innocent woman's head.

"And when all of this is over," Roy continued, "you can prove to the good people of this nation that we weren't the ones who crossed the line."

And damnit, Riza wondered just for a moment if he was right. Had kidnapping Bradley's wife crossed the line?

She'd argued against the plan from the start, and had only agreed when Roy promised that Hawkeye would be the only one to hold a weapon on her. She was the person he could trust never to pull the trigger.

His eyes were so black in his determination. Would he have ordered her to shoot Mrs. Bradley, if it came down to it? Would he give that order, even now, after assuring the woman again of her safety?

And would Riza follow an order to spill innocent blood?

No. Never again. She'd promised, Roy had promised, and she'd promised to do her duty if he strayed from his righteous path.

Riza felt the weight of her gun, perhaps more heavily than she ever had. Would his better nature continue to prevail in the heat of battle, this close to accomplishing all of his goals, with so much chaos and so many unknowns still looming?

Would she shoot him in the back if he strayed?

They progressed further and further into the city. Again and again, Mustang repeated the order.

"No casualties."

Each time she heard the words, Riza's resolve strengthened. His attacks were so focused, so controlled. He displayed a level of skill and restraint that even she had never seen.

Surely, she'd imagined the darkness in his eyes.

When Riza saw his face transform at the reappearance of Maria Ross, at the sound of Havoc's voice over the phone, her gun felt lighter in her hand. Yes, this was still the Roy Mustang she'd known nearly all of her life. This was the hero he was always meant to be. Surely….

—-

"Who killed Maes Hughes?"

The hair at the back of her neck stood on end, and Riza glanced sideways at her Colonel, her weapon still trained on the homunculus, her mind racing.

As the conversation continued, she could feel the situation escalating out of her control. This was a variable she somehow hadn't counted on. For Roy to come face to face with Hughes' killer now, in the midst of the battle all around them.

When the homunculus changed its form to sprout Gracia's face, Riza felt bile rise in her throat. She could feel the rage building in Roy.

Her heart was beating faster now than it had at any point on the battlefield of Central City.

Why, she wondered. Why were her instincts screaming at her? Why did she not recognize the man she saw in Mustang's clothing? What's going on?

"I'm going to burn you to ash, starting with your tongue."

The heat of his first attack flooded the chamber, and Riza felt sweat drip down her face as Edward asked, "Lieutenant…are you sure the two of you can handle this?"

"We'll manage somehow," she muttered, even as Mustang's flames roared to life again. "If we can't, then…"

Roy had been practicing with flame alchemy, she felt her stomach flop as the realization dropped into her stomach like a stone. He'd been practicing so he could fulfill his promises, show finesse with his attacks to preserve life….But also, he'd been practicing for this very moment. She could feel it in her bones.

Was the man she'd devoted her life to about to become a monster, serving only revenge, right before her eyes? With great power comes great responsibility, and if he doesn't hold firm now, I know what I'll have to do.

She tells FullMetal to leave, but she doesn't miss his low mutter.

"It's not Mustang losing that worries me."

Me either.

"Stay back, lieutenant."

He's like a predator playing with his food, she thinks as his next attack targets Envy's eyes.

Envy flees, taunting him, and Mustang pursues.

Damn it. She follows after him, despite his warnings, and she knows she knows in her bones that he wants to be able to torture and maim this beast without her there to witness his bloodlust.

She loses them in the labyrinth, and sticks to the shadows, winding her way through the maze, listening, every sense alight, and then she starts to round a corner, and she's pointing her gun at his face, staring into his lifeless eyes, as she sees his fingers poised, ready to snap.

"Oh," she mutters, quickly lowering her weapon, relieved to have found him.

He grunts and turns away from her.

"I told you not to follow me, Lieutenant."

"Sorry, sir, but I couldn't just sit back and wait."

The tension between them is thick, and something is wrong, wrong, wrong.

He's grumbling about Envy getting away, then gives an order.

"Don't leave my side, Lieutenant. Follow me."

And then, she just knows. Roy's mental state is so far off right now, his eyes, it suddenly hit her, his eyes have been gleaming, but deadened, just the way they were in Ishbal. Killer's eyes.

But the being in front of her had no shame, no fear, no regret in its eyes, and she knew, because she knew him so well. She didn't think before pointing her gun at the back of his head.

He protests, and in the brief flicker of doubt, inspiration strikes her. She has to check, has to be very sure.

"The Colonel calls me Riza when we're alone."

It's a bluff, a gambit, because he does, rarely, but it works anyway, because Envy reveals itself.

She shoots, a headshot, slowing it down, reaches for her two side-arms, unloads them both, one shot after another. There's no time to re-load, and she's too slow to reach for her shotgun. She barely feels the razor-sharp talon pierce her shoulder, as her nose fills with the scent of her own blood. She fires again, but she knows she's running out of ammunition too quickly.

Then it's wrapping those sharp talons around her, and for a moment she's certain this is it, this is how she dies….

Then the world around her explodes, and he's there, her Colonel, her Roy, saving her at the last moment, again.

"What are you doing to my precious subordinate?" His voice is cold with rage, and he barely takes his eyes off the enemy when he addresses her. "Don't be reckless, Lieutenant, I said I would take care of it."

She meets his gaze and sees them, his killer's eyes, but then his attention is diverted, and he is terrible in his fury.

When the flames clear, and the small lizard-like creature that is Envy emerges, she gasps in horror at the strangeness of it, even as Roy crushes the thing beneath his boot.

Her shoulder hurts, and her mind is racing, but she hears the pathetic, pitiful voice, begging for its life, and she knows the moment she's dreaded has come. She's re-loading her primary weapon with speed, her finger acting without conscious thought.

She pulls her gun on Roy, aiming at the back of his head, for real this time. The sound of her cocking the pistol causes him to freeze, his hand raised to deal a fatal blow to the pathetic creature beneath his boot.

"What's the meaning of this, Lieutenant?"

He already knows. They've been building towards this moment all night, all day. He's lost himself in grief, rage, vengeance, and all the careful control he's exercised up until he confronted Envy, is gone.

She can't obey when he orders her to lower her weapon, and her hand is amazingly steady as she points it at the love of her life.

Please, if there ever was a god, please don't make me do this.

Her voice is level in contrast to his rage. "Please put down your hand." She wants to cry and plead and beg him not to make her do this, but they're at a crossroads. She can't allow him to take the life of a helpless creature begging for mercy, no matter what it's done. He won't come back from that, he won't be able to control himself.

He's always known he was capable of losing himself to the terrible power he wields, that's why he's trusted her with this awful burden.

She's warring with herself inside her head. She can't let him lose his humanity to this desire for vengeance.

Then his killer's eyes are fixed on her as he shouts, "I'm not joking! I said lower your gun!"

She sees his fingers twitch, start to form the deadly snapping motion, and she's got less than a second, her own finger is squeezing the trigger.

The blast of Edward's alchemy forces them both to look away, and Riza has never been more grateful in her life to see another person.

They're all arguing, trying to convince him in their own ways, and she's desperate, praying they're not too late, that he's not so far gone he can't return. He's threatening Edward, this boy, this child they've both tried to protect. Scar's words seem to have some effect, she sees Mustang's shoulders tense.

She pleads with him, her finger still on the trigger of the gun pointed at his head.

"I won't let you kill Envy, sir. I have no intention of letting it live, either. I'll finish it off."

"But after all this time," he rages, "I've finally got the killer cornered!"

"I know!" she shouts. "But right now your actions aren't for the good of the country or even your own comrades. Cold-blooded hatred, that's what's driving you!"

For the first time, her voice breaks. "Please, Colonel. You musn't take that path."

Roy. Don't make me do this.

"If you want to shoot me, go ahead." She stops breathing. "But what will you do after I'm dead?"

He knows the answer, and with a flicker of hope she realizes he needs to hear it. It's the only thing that can save him right now.

His love for her.

"I have no intention of living on alone. After this battle is over, I will erase my life along with the secrets of Flame Alchemy that have driven good men to madness."

Come back to me, Roy. Don't let it rule you like it ruled Father. Don't ruin both of our lives, everything we've worked for. Don't take away our last chance.

She almost shoots.

But the flames peter out as quickly as they flare, harming no one but the wall.

"I can't allow that. I'm not losing you, too." She barely hears his next words, and now her hand is shaking as she continues to point it at him, because she has to be sure, has to be absolutely sure.

"Lower your gun, Lieutenant. I'm sorry." His hand covers hers, and then he slumps to the floor. A moment passes, and then she hits her knees as well.

She's never been so scared, never been so relieved, never been so angry, so happy, so horrified.

We were that close to losing everything.