Fullmetal Alchemist: The Way To The Top

Chapter 33: New hope

The team gathered in Roy's tent once again. No one said anything. They stood around with their heads bowed. Roy sat at his table. He watched his subordinates. He saw his own emotions in them: shock, horror, sadness. All of the faces around Roy asked the same question: "What will we do now?" Roy knew he had to give them hope. Hope he didn't have. But it was his job. If he couldn't motivate his subordinates, he had no right to be the Fuhrer. Maybe if his subordinates get the hope they need, it will give him some, too. Roy took a deep breath and stood up.

"The recent events showed once again, how dangerous business we are in. We have lost our colleague and a very good friend. May he never be forgot. Warrant Officer Kain Fuery will always be remembered as the one friend we need so much in our job. He could always give us hope and smile, even in the worst situations. I am sure he wouldn't want us to cry over him now. The best way to say him thank you is to go on. We have to continue on our path, even though it will be difficult. We have to make this country to a nice and happy place, a place he wanted to help us build. May we all learn from this tragedy. It showed us, that our lives are not meant to be long. But even in a short time, we can do a lot. We did change this country in just one day. We can do more now. We can give this country the freedom it deserves. We can watch the people be happy. We can watch children laugh on the streets, walking with their parents. We can watch people having a much more beautiful youth than we did. All of it thanks to an amazing work we have done. Kain Fuery helped us a lot to get the country to the safety it is in now. Let's do it even better. Let's work even harder than before. Let's make this country to a place we can be proud of and always remember the sacrifice of our amazing colleague and friend Kain Fuery."

Roy sat down again. He saw the tears running down the Major's face. The others had tears in their eyes too, but they didn't let them out. Then Havoc cleared his throat and said: "You are right. Stopping here would mean his sacrifice was for nothing." Riza nodded. "Yes, we have to go on. It is the only thing we can do. There is no comeback to our lives before all of this. We can only continue and hope for the best." Maria Ross said: "It will take a lot of courage and carefulness to get there. This situation is like manipulation with dynamite. But in this case, we know that the military is on our side. The General was able to save my life, when the military decided I was a murderer. The situation is better now. I am sure he will do an amazing job again." Roy bowed his head to her. "Thank you for your trust, Second Lieutenant. It is right that I could handle with many dangerous situations before, but I wasn't alone. I needed all of you to help me and I will always need all of you in my team." All of them gave him a sad smile.

In a few minutes, an officer entered the tent. "Sir." He said and saluted to Roy, the Major and Riza. "I've got a letter for you, Sir." He gave Roy an envelope. Roy thanked him and the officer left. Roy examined his name written there. "It is from the Fuhrer." "What does it say?" the Major asked. Roy opened it and read aloud:

Dear Brigadier General Mustang,

First of all, I would like to offer my deepest sympathy for you and your subordinates. Yesterday, I was very sorry to hear the news about your young Warrant Officer. It is a hard loss to the whole military for he was a person with potential, who could do great things in the future. I promise you I will give him an adequate funeral, which is the only thing I can do for him.

I heard there was an underground network in this country. So far, I consider your mission in Ishval done. You and your team will come back to Central in three days.

In three days, I will be wait on you in Central with a new job, which requires your qualities. If you will be sooner in Central, you are free until our meeting.

Fuhrer King Grumman

"That sounds nice." Riza said. Havoc shook his head. "We are not going to get a lot of free time, are we." Breda said: "No, but I think it is the best to have something to do now." Maria Ross asked: "What do you think is the job the Fuhrer has for us?" Havoc answered: "As far as I learned working in this team, it will be something dangerous. For example to defeat another underground organization. We did it even before we got that job from the Fuhrer." Breda gave him a furious look. "What did you mean by WE did it? As far as I remember, the only thing you did was getting captured. You did an amazing job doing it, I have to admit." Everyone smiled a little. They were still too sad and shocked to laugh, but hearing good friends argue with a friendly style is always somehow fun. Havoc didn't wait with the answer: "I know that YOU didn't get captured but maybe it was because YOU could have just ran away. And then, they decided to capture ME, which means they didn't consider you important." Breda said: "I don't care how important those idiots consider me, as far as my friends and my higher ups consider me important. I think it is better so because there is a little bit higher chance of staying alive if our enemies don't think I know very much."

"You are free for now. Come tomorrow with the sunrise. We will leave to Central." Everyone left the tent, only Riza stayed behind.

Roy came to her. "I am very proud of you. You did an amazing job."

Soon Roy went to bed. Riza stayed for the whole night at the entrance to the tent. It would make no sense to go to the bed. She wouldn't sleep after the day. It took long time, until she heard slow breath as a sign that Roy was asleep. However, he woke up after a few hours. He walked slowly through the tent to Riza. "You should sleep, Sir." He gave her a sad smile. "I can't sleep. Do you want to go to the bed for a while?" She shook her head. "No, Sir. I think I will stay here tonight. I don't feel like sleeping." "Do you want to have a walk? Just to the border of the camp." Riza bowed her head. "Alright."

Roy and Riza walked through the camp. There were only a few men around the fires, most of them were either watch or their friends. All of the men they walked by saluted. Slowly they reached the borders. The watch was not far away, they could still see them. But they were far enough not to be heard. Riza watched Roy for a while. He looked exhausted. "Are you alright, Sir?" He wavered before he answered. "I think so. I am only worried." "May I ask what are you worried about?" Roy sighed. "I keep thinking about everything what happened and what is going to happen. I always think everything would be different if I was a little bit more careful."

Riza shook her head. "It isn't your fault. I am the sniper. I should have watched the city more carefully. I found the sniper first when I saw the reflected light from his gun. I think every minute how I could be so stupid. I was fooled with the feeling of victory. I thought the city was cleaned completely and I didn't pay attention anymore. I have always been the one, who was there to eliminate the danger. Doing such a foolish mistake after such a long time in the military..." Then she added with a broken voice. "If I was more careful and quicker, he could be still alive."

She had tears in her eyes. Roy took her hand and held it tightly. "Don't blame yourself. You did your best. You reacted much sooner than I noticed that anything was wrong. I will have to watch everything more carefully. I refuse to let any more of my subordinates die." They stood there in silence for a while. Roy watched Riza, who was staring in the desert. Though she tried to hide it, Roy could see she was feeling terrible. He closed her in a protective hug. A moment after, she laid her head on his shoulder. In a few seconds, Roy noticed wet spots on his shirt. He pulled Riza closer and laid his head in her hair. She was shaking with sobs. Roy noticed that other members of the team were watching them from distance with sadness. It took a few minutes, until Riza calmed down.

"I am sorry for my weakness, Sir." Roy gave her a sad smile. "You are not weak. It is normal that you are sad. And it is natural that you want to cry when you are sad." Riza gave him a smile, too. "I love you, Roy." He kissed her on her forehead. "I love you, too." They stood there for a long time. They were silent, just enjoying the closeness of each other.

"How are your wounds?" Riza bowed her head. "Better." Roy looked at her in disagreement. "You still don't understand that you can't hide anything from me. I can see it, when you are not alright." Riza sighed. "My whole body is aching. I think there is no spot on my upper body, which still has its natural color. Every breath hurts. My muscles are stiff, when I try to move. At least my finger doesn't hurt for it is in the bandages. I really can't imagine what Jean has to go through with the broken rib." Roy sighed. "Are you sure you don't want to sleep? I think it would help you." Riza shook her head. "No," she answered with a shaking voice, "It would make no sense to go to the bed. I am not sleepy at all." "We are leaving to Central. Maybe it will help us, when we are not in the desert near this city. At least one part of the thoughts will go away." "Are we leaving tomorrow?" "Yes. At least, I hope so. If nothing goes wrong, then we will leave tomorrow." Riza's voice shook again: "And the day after..." Roy held her closer to him. "Yes. We will do it nice. He deserves it."