Fullmetal Alchemist: The Way To The Top

Chapter 20: The day

On the next day, Riza woke up very early. Hayate slept next to her. She smiled and stood up. In the bathroom, she looked to the mirror. She had dark rings under her eyes. Riza sighed and went to the work.

Roy came later than Riza as always, but not as late as usually. He had dark rings under his eyes, too. They exchanged a smile. "You look very tired, Lieutenant. Maybe you should go home sooner today." Riza nodded. "You too, Colonel. I think you haven't slept well for a long time." Roy nodded. "Yes. Maybe I will go sooner today. I could ask one very beautiful woman to accompany me for dinner today. What do you think?" Riza laughed. "Sure."

"What do we have to do today?" Roy asked. "I don't know, Sir. I didn't get today's post yet." Roy nodded. "Alright. Then we can continue with our Ishval studies, until the post comes." They went to the bookshelf and picked some books about Ishval. They read for a while, then Riza asked. "Do you have some plan for the rebuilding of Ishval, Sir?" Roy sighed. "Not really. I tried to make something up, but each plan shows problems to handle with. I will have to pick out the plan with the least problems." Riza nodded. "Of course. What is your current plan, if I may ask, Sir?" "The first thing we have to, is to rebuild the buildings. We caused terribly much damage in the war. I am sure I burned down many, many buildings. We will have to ask the Isvalians for help. Then they can live there.

"But what concerns me the most, is that there will be a war, though not as bad as before. But I want to do this whole in peace. The problem is, that many Amestrians still think, that the civil war was reasonable." Riza nodded. He was right. "We have to say the truth." "That's right. But we have to think about how to say it. There are still many people, who think, that defeating the homunculi is only something we say to excuse our acting 'against the military'." Riza looked at him in disbelief. "I haven't expected people will be thankful, but I thought they will see." Roy answered: "You can't expect the people to accept changes. Most of them haven't been affected by Bradley's rule for a long time. The Ishvalian war was long ago. People lived happy lives since then. They haven't noticed something wasn't alright. Now we changed the whole politics of the military. I don't think people are angry. I think they are confused and they don't know, what should they expect. They are uncertain about the future. It is understandable. Maybe we will have to wait a few months, until the situation calms down and everyone will see we do really want only the best for them." Riza nodded. "Then we will wait. But even when the situation is much better, we will have to control Ishval strictly to prevent conflicts." Roy thought for a while. "I think I will have to go there and control everything." Then he looked at Riza. "You don't have to go if you don't want to." Riza answered: "I don't want to see that place again. But I will never let you to go there alone. I promised you I will follow you even into hell." Roy smiled. He was very thankful for her courage.

Havoc came short before lunch. He opened the office and walked in with his crutches. "Havoc!" Riza called with a smile. Roy smiled, too. "Good job." He said. Havoc said: "Yeah, it's getting good at last. But it will still take a long while, until I will walk as before." Roy said: "I know that. But you brought new hope today." Havoc looked at Roy and Riza. "And how are you? You look really tired." Riza smiled sadly. "I slept terrible last night." Roy nodded. "Me too." Havoc nodded slowly. He understood; he had nightmares too.

Then an officer with post came. He put many letters on Roy's table. Roy sighed. The officer gave Roy another letter. "Colonel, this one is from the Fuhrer, Sir. He said it is very important." The officer left. Roy opened the letter from the Fuhrer. He read it and then he asked: "Havoc, is everyone in the front office?" Havoc nodded. "Yes, Colonel. When I came, Breda, Falman and Fuery sat at their tables." Roy nodded. "Very well. Let's go, then. The Fuhrer wants to meet us." Havoc asked: "Who is 'us'?" Roy picked up the letter. "Dear Colonel Mustang, I would like to meet you and your team. If you can, come as soon as you become this letter. Fuhrer Grumman."