Prompt #304 - Dystychiphobia - "Taking Steps" - 47thlight - FMA Brotherhood

[47thlight.livejournal.com]

Title: Taking Steps
Fandom: Fullmetal Alchemist - Brotherhood
Character(s): Alphonse Elric & Riza Hawkeye
Prompt: Dystychiphobia
Warnings: Spoilers for general series, particularly Riza Hawkeye
Rating: PG
Summary: On Al's quest for knowledge, he learns of the path Riza Hawkeye took and how her past can help his future...

Taking Steps

He wanted to learn everything – not for personal gain or any other such lofty achievement, but to just know. Ever curious, and just as bright as his prodigious mind let on, Alphonse was determined to file away all the world’s mysteries during his lifetime. Amestris’ uncovered, and in the process of learning Xing’s, he returned to Central for a chance meeting with an old comrade.

Riza Hawkeye, a recently promoted major in the military, was on maternity leave with a belly the size of a watermelon when she saw Alphonse stroll down through Central’s one and only market. She was equally enthused to see him and invited him to her apartment for a light lunch, taking the boy with her whether he liked it or not. Alphonse, of course, was happy to oblige – he always liked visiting with whomever he could, so long as he wasn’t imposing.

“The baby… is it the Colonel’s?” Alphonse was hesitant to ask at first, but Riza’s eyes were calm and equipped for the question.

“Yes, it is, but you needn’t worry about Colonel Mustang being a deadbeat dad,” she said with a smirk over the brim of her cup. “We got married quietly about ten months ago, so he’s stuck with me for the rest of his life. I wouldn’t have left him anyway, because I promised I’d protect him.”

Alphonse smiled, relieved for more than just reasons of marriage. It honestly didn’t matter to him, he was just concerned that Colonel Mustang would indeed be of the sort to abandon his family due to an “accident”. Thankfully, the Hawk’s Eye was sharper than ever and prepared to handle all of her duties accordingly – including keeping her husband in line.

“So you’re on a journey for knowledge, am I right, Al?” Riza asked then, seizing the opportunity to spark the young man’s imagination.

He took a quick gulp of tea and grinned widely. “Yes, Ma’am! I came back to Central to visit, really and not hunt for answers so much. I just want to let people know I’m alive.”

“Is that all? Oh, that’s too bad, because I had something I was going to share with you…” Riza replied, turning her gaze away as she drank in her tea, too. But she was playing with him – drawing him out so that his curiosity would ensnare him viciously. She was such a coy, devious creature, and she was proud of it. It’s the same trick she used on Roy when he was being either a nuisance or a lazy do-nothing.

Alphonse gulped hard, but not on more tea. Was it proper to inquire about such a secret, or would he be disgraced from that moment forward? “Oh that’s all right – you don’t have to tell me. I know all the secrets I honestly wanna know about this place.”

“Except the secret of Roy’s flame alchemy.”

She had him there and Alphonse felt himself falling into her net of enticing knowledge. He wanted to know, but… but!

“You know the Colonel’s the only flame alchemist in the world now, don’t you, Al?” Riza waited for the boy to nod and went on. “My father taught him the ways of alchemy, but even though he was a master of fire, he refused to give that technique to his successor. Instead, I gave myself…”

Alphonse was embarrassed at first when Riza loosened her shirt just enough to reveal the remnants of a tattoo now heavily scarred by poorly healed skin. But this was beyond a point of physical intimacy; a barrier of her hardened exterior had been dropped to show him the price of one’s curiosity, and how she had attempted to hide it forever. He felt himself become more than saddened and even ashamed, not for her condition, but for his inquisition.

“I’m not showing this to you for sympathy, Al, I promise,” Riza added, turning back around to face him after re-buttoning her maternal blouse. “Just like I gave the Colonel my father’s secrets, I gave him my protection in addition to my love. Now, I am about to give him a child, which is more than I deserve for harboring such a dangerous alchemic formula.”

“Did your father force that tattoo on you?” Alphonse’s voice dropped at the distasteful, downright rude question. What a horrible thing to ask a pregnant woman who bore such an awful reminder on her back.

Riza shook her head and took up the tea kettle to pour Alphonse another warm brew. “No, I asked for it selfishly, because I wanted my father’s supremacy to be passed on one day to the proper disciple. Finally, the Colonel came along and I saw the fire in his eyes that matched my father’s. He wanted to change his country, but he needed a powerful force to help him accomplish that, so I gave him all I could at the time.”

“And then Ishval happened…” Riza’s tone didn’t waver, as if she had told this story a hundred times. She was so solid, Alphonse had to admire her even more – he was glad that Mei was beginning to show similar levels of resolve. “When I saw the destruction my father’s knowledge had on the people of Ishval through Colonel Mustang, I knew that it needed to be done away with. So I begged him to remove it from me so that no one else could ever master such an art.”

The lump in his throat had grown considerably and Alphonse forced it down with another heavy swallow. “A-and… the Colonel did that to you?”

“Yes, many years ago, after our occupation in Ishval was over,” Riza replied, still cool as ever as she touched her stomach in a sheltering fashion. “He promised he’d make it as quick and accurate as possible, and he did. He also told me I could scream if I wanted to, because he said that would be the appropriate response to a monster’s attack, like he claimed to be.”

Riza’s eyes then softened, looking up from her cup to gaze across into Alphonse’s tear-filled orbs. Hand still rubbing her over-sized tummy, she used her free one to reach across and touch his fingers that were gripped into the tablecloth. “But I didn’t scream, because he’s not a monster and never will be. And neither are you, Al.”

Alphonse’s eyes gushed a few tears and Riza continued, “It’s all right. Ed told me how you felt after you tried to bring your mother back, and I wanted the chance to tell you that you’re not a monster. You were just a boy who missed his family and you wanted it back together again. Were we all that gifted and determined, I’m sure we’d try the same methods, or something on a similar scale.”

“Al, I saw a lot of terrible things in Ishval, and a great portion of them were because of my gift for marksmanship.” Her hand tightened on his fingers, communicating on an entirely different level as she spoke. “But we were not made to be monsters of destruction, otherwise we wouldn’t be blessed with the abilities to create life. It isn’t a craft, magic or alchemy – just the innate passion to bring a new life into the world. I had to accept that after years of taking away lives, I was doing it to protect those whom I love, so now I don’t regret any of the shots I’ve fired over time. I am a protector – and so are you.”

Such difficult words to hear, but at the same time, Alphonse felt renewed thanks to this surprise moment of transparency with the woman who was always at Mustang’s side. Her story wasn’t about her hardships or guilt. It was a message meant to encourage him to continue searching for truth, happiness and endearment.

“Don’t take chances with your loved ones, Al – just take steps with them. The journey will be all the better if you’re all together.”