Fullmetal Alchemist Fan Fiction ❯ Dying to Please ❯ Chapter 4

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

((Chapter 4))


"E-Ed..." Fuery stuttered the first word.

"Yea, its me...you better believe it." He said and his voice was slightly high pitched, no doubt because he was still in shock of the bullets.

They had there little reunion after that. Roy and Ed were the same as always, seeming to always be insulting each other in a civilized manner. Riza and Al greeted each other as civilized human beings.

"Its good to see you again, Alphonse." Riza actually smiled.

"You to, Lt. Hawkeye."

"I'm no longer a Lieutenant. I'm a Colonel now."

Al smiled. "You sure moved up, thats good to hear and I'm glad to see that your doing good to...at least you are." What he meant was, she seemed the only one who was "mature", at the moment.

Roy clapped Al and Ed on the shoulder. "Its good to see your both alright. Though your still a little on the short side, Ed."

Al groaned as Ed was goaded and reacted by anyone who called him small, even if he only cussed them out when he was alone with Al. He was always reacted someway or another. "Who are you calling small, you good for nothing..." Al pushed Ed back down into the chair. "Calm down, Ed..."

Fuery laughed. "Your still the same as ever."

"So is Hawkeye. She almost took my head off!" Roy arched an eyebrow and grinned. "Your lucky."

Ed shrugged as Fuery asked them if they were staying for long. "Nope, we promised Gramps we would come back soon. We just came to see how you were doing...and its clear you missed me. You guys haven't been able to get anything done without me." Ed shook his head patheticly.

Havoc put his arm around Eds shoulders. "So shrimp, you got a girl yet?"

"Don't call me tha-"

"Weeell, not that you mention it, Ed does have someone that he li-" Ed cut Al off as quickly as Al had cut him off.

"NO. I don't want one."

"When I was your age..."

"How about telling us what you guys are doing here?" Ed leaned forward with his hands on his knees.

..................................

Roy told Ed all about the murders, down to every last detail.

"Damn, thats messed up. Sorry we can't help you guys out on this one." Ed grinned innocently, he wouldn't help even if Mustang asked him to. He DIDN'T have to. And besides, after all Ed and Al had been through in the recent years, the deserved to go home to the family they now had.

Before Ed and Al left, Ed couldn't stay quiet. He had to have the last word, though they all knew it wouldn't be the LAST between Roy and Ed. "Oh, and sorry about your eye, Mustang." He smiled. "Just remember this, call me shorty or shrimp and I can call you...one-eyed freak."

..................................

Riza checked her watch. It was 1:00 in the morning. The others were in there own rooms, fast asleep. She on the other hand, hadn't been able to sleep at all.

She stared at the darkened streets as she ducked under the yellow police strip, walking over to where they had investigated earlier. She shivered as she haunched down, pulling her black jacket tighter around her. It wasn't to cold but it was damn chilly.

Her eyes narrowed slightly and without even barely moving she pulled her gun out of its holster, turning quickly with one knee still on the ground and aimed.

Roy didn't so much as blink. He stood there with his hands deep in the pockets of his coat. He watched as Riza put her gun away slowly. "You shouldn't be out here."

"And you should?" Riza glanced back up at him. It wasn't that he had made a sound, it was just years old instinct that had let her know, or felt, that someone was behind her. A soldiers instinct that was hard to kill.

Roy shrugged. Neither should be here. He went down beside her, where the body had been. "What if that had been the killer instead of me?"

Riza looked up. "He would have had wholes in his knees." She shrugged at his unspoken question. "I couldn't sleep. I decided to come back when there wouldn't be a lot of people."

"I couldn't sleep either. Seems we had the same idea."

Riza pulled on a pair of white latex gloves she had brought with her and ran a finger through the blood. "Look real close, the victim was dead before he brought her here, I'm sure of it. She was probally dead a couple of days, at the most. Her blood is congulated. Its very thick and sticky, with a fw clots...if he had killed her right here, her blood wouldn't be like that." She mumured. "So...he had to of have brought her here..."

"After killing her." Roy finished for her. He was quiet for a moment before he spoke again. "He kills them and then brings them to the place he wants to leave them, some place where he knows someone will find them. But why? Why does he kill them and wait?" His hands balled into fist. "The bastard probally enjoys it."

Riza stripped off her cloves. "Thats my theory, Sir. We don't know for sure and he could be using Alchemy to stop the flow of blood after he kills them. What other reason could there be for all the blood here?"

"I didn't think of that. IF he were to kill them before bringing them here, letting them stay in just one place for days, there blood would stopp flowing within the next few hours, not days. But I don't see how he could use Alchemy to start to flow of blood once he leaves them, if thats possible."

Riza frowned. "We're all open to suggestions. What if he doesn't stop the flow of blood, but gathers it somehow and then uses it, in this case, splatters it?" That didn't really make any sense, but they were at a loss as it was. "He can't get away with it forever." She pulled him over to the left side. "I inspected this place a lot when we were here earlier and before you showed up tonight. I don't see how the police missed it but they don't look for some of the things we do." She pointed to the bottom of the wall. "See that? Its blood, but its to far away from where the body was found." Another dead end.

Roy understood what she was trying to say. "Its impossible, unless he can do Alchemy and we're still not clear on that, thats our haunch. He could have made a door in the wall..." It was already clear this wasn't easy and it wasn't getting any better.

"This is all just compli-" Roy cut her off, placing a hand over her mouth and pulled her up with him against the wall, her body against his as he stepped into the shadows. "Shh." He whispered. "Someones coming." Or in there case, walking by. Riza stilled and listened. She heard the footsteps echoing on the walkway outside the ally. An old man walked by, not even glancing in there direction.

Riza sighed as Roy moved his hand. It was clear why he had done it, they already had enough rumors going about the small town. People were wondering why the military was involved in a simple murder case. They had to keep it as quiet as possible because they didn't need anymore attention drawn to them than what already was.

"You could have told me someone was coming, you didn't have to do that, Sir." She whispered, keeping her voice low in case there were anymore passer-byers.

"You ready to go back?" Roy asked as he stuck his hands in his pockets.

"Not really."

"Me either." He sat down, leaning against the wall. It wouldn't hurt to stay for a little while. He rested his arms on his raised knees. Riza just stood against the wall with one foot probed against it.

"Does it bother you?"

Roy glanced up. "Does what bother me? The murders? Yes, they bother me a great deal."

"Not the murders...Your eye." She didn't speak of it often, it had been a while ago since it had happened.

"No." He mumured. "I'm used to it by now but if it wasn't for you, it would bother me even less. I would be dead."

"I know." She whispered, she could still remember it clearly. "I remember when I saw you, lying there. I actually thought you were dead."

Roy smiled. "I'm not that easy to kill and theres one good thing about this damn thing. It makes me look damn good."

Riza chuckled. "I"m just glad its over. Hughes would have been proud of you." Roy glanced up at her again. "You should smile and laugh more often...it does wonders."

A sweet warmeth swept through Riza at those words and she smiled again.

"And you know what, I feel damn lucky you didn't pull your gun on me That night." He didn't have to clarify whart "That night" meant, she knew. The night he had called her beautiful. Havoc and Falman were still wondering who it had been.

"You were lucky. I didn't have any guns on me then." She mumured in a slightly teasing but dignified voice.

"come on, we need to be getting back." Roy said with a smile to his voice.