#but loop is cursed dealing with someone that they cannot predict the moves of and so has no choice but to get more invovled

[annasofthe11thdimension]

Waltz

[fullmetalscullyy]

this was actually written for a prompt i got ages ago - “ed and/or al mess up and hurt Roy and/or Riza on a mission” from an anon - but i completely forgot i’d already half written this and started on a completely new idea and posted that lmao so here’s the original one that i found and finished

hope you enjoy it!

rated: t | words: 2516

“Do you want backup on this one Lieutenant?” Mustang asked her as she loaded her pistol. She hid her small smirk, predicting his question perfectly in her mind just moments before he asked it.

“That won’t be necessary, sir. We’ll be fine.”

“I know you will be fine. It’s Fullmetal I’m concerned about.”

“The boy will be fine too,” she stressed playfully, turning her smirk towards him. Her expression turned soft when she saw the concern in his eyes. It was natural for him to worry about them all before going on a solo mission. Yes, she would have Edward with her, but he’d only been a State Alchemist for a few weeks. He could handle himself in a fight – that much had been proved already – but he was still just a child. A fact the military seemed to forget.

Mustang muttered something under his breath. Riza ignored it while rolling her eyes.

The Fullmetal Alchemist walked through the door, followed by his brother.

“We’re ready, Lieutenant Hawkeye.”

“We?” Mustang questioned.

“Yeah,” Edward replied, as if it was obvious. “We.”

“Alphonse is coming too?” Riza questioned, lifting an eyebrow with a small smile. She’d expected as much.

“Well, I, uh, was wondering if I could come alone with you? Someone needs to keep Ed out of trouble,” Alphonse reasoned, pleading his case.

“Hey!” Edward protested

“I don’t doubt your abilities Lieutenant Hawkeye, but two sets of eyes are better than one.”

Riza chuckled as Edward begun to protest loudly and the two begun to argue. She took off walking down the street, heading towards their destination while the sound of their argument followed closely behind her.

*          *          *

“Edward?” Riza hissed. There was no answer. “Shit.”

Creeping forward, pistol drawn, she approached the area of warehouse where she’d last seen the brothers. She cursed herself for letting them out of her sight. They were tracking down a lead on the Philosopher’s Stone and she was there as back up. Now she’d let her charges out of her sight.

The ground begun to shake underneath her feet. She stumbled at the sudden shock, throwing out a hand to catch herself against the wall. It continued to shake before simply crumbling. She hit the ground, her knees bashing against the stone painfully. The wall also begun to crumble, falling, striking her hand and arm on the way down. Riza hissed in pain as some rocks broke the skin before she could pull away.

“Come back here you bastard!” she heard Edward cry out from somewhere to her left. Rolling her eyes, Riza pushed herself to her feet, shaking out her hand to try and rid it of the pain.

“Edward!” Alphonse cried, probably to try and stop him from doing something reckless. However, given the situation and the current state of the warehouse they were in, he’d already done something incredibly reckless. There was another clap followed by more shocks beneath her feet. She tried to walk, but she kept falling as the ground continued to move.

“Alphonse?” she called out, trying to get at least one of them under control.

“Lieutenant Hawkeye?” he replied. She rounded a stack of crates and found him in the centre of a small clearing, whipping his head around as he tried to locate her.

“What’s going on?” she barked, trying to get a handle on the situation.

“Oh, uh, nothing. Just, uh…”

“Alphonse,” she warned.

“Sorry, Lieutenant. Ed is trying to stop the guy we were tracking from escaping.”

“This is not the way to do that,” she stated, voice hard as she flicked the safety off her pistol. “Where is he?” Riza barked, eyes scanning the room.

“Come back!” they heard Edward call out. “I want to talk to you!”

Suddenly there was a massive tremor and the glass above them shattered. Riza looked up in horror, finding there was nowhere for her to move to so she could shield herself.

“Lieutenant!” Alphonse cried. Suddenly, she was pulled sharply backwards into his metal body, hitting it hard. It was enough to knock the wind out of her lungs. She gasped as his hands held her body still. The glass missed the vital parts of her body, but her arms were still stretched out as her body was jerked backwards, the glass piercing her bare skin. Riza closed her eyes against the pain, biting her lip to try and stop herself from crying out.

“Are you okay?” Alphonse asked worriedly.

Finally getting her breath back, she straightened up and forced herself out of Alphonse’s arms. “Where is Edward?” she bit out between her teeth. Her voice was deadly calm, posture wound tight because if it wasn’t, she would explode there and then.

Her anger was carefully restrained inside of her, as she’d learned to do for most of her life.

Edward is just a kid. He’s just a kid. Don’t snap. Don’t do it.

“I, uh –”

“Find him. Now,” she forced out. “I will be waiting for you outside.”

*          *          *

“Lieutenant?” Edward’s small voice reached her.

She turned, fixing her gaze on him. It seemed to make him shrink in size. His shoulders rounded inwards, his head dipped, and his gaze was cast downwards. This was a new look for him. Normally when the Colonel was telling him off for something, he would argue right back, but with just one sharp look, Riza had him shying away from her.

It would have amused her, how different the reactions from Edward were between her and the Colonel. It would have, had she not been so angry at him.

“You cannot, under any circumstances, waltz into a warehouse – or any building, actually – and start tearing up the place just because you don’t want someone to leave.” Edward nodded while Alphonse stood ashamed next to him. Riza had finished wiping the blood off her arms and tossed the soiled tissue in the car behind her. Edward watched and visibly paled at the sight of her injuries. “If that man wants to leave, you let him leave, you do not use alchemy to make him stay, do I make myself clear?”

Riza’s voice remained a deadly calm throughout. Her anger at the boy’s recklessness and complete disregard for everything and anyone around them was held in check. After all, they were just children. She remembered being that age. Her and the Colonel got up to all kinds of mischief as teenagers – it was mostly just Roy doing something insanely stupid so he could try and amuse her. But this was on a whole other level, and it was uncalled for. Edward was in the military now. Regardless of that fact, he couldn’t go around tearing up the city because he felt like it.

The boy before her audibly gulped then nodded. “I understand,” he whispered.

“Good. Get in the car.” Her order wasn’t barked, but it almost was. Her anger was slipping through, but she reigned it in as tightly as she could. Edward flinched and nodded, walking around to where he’d sat on the ride over like a dog with its tail between its legs. The door was closed quietly.

“Lieutenant –” Alphonse began, his tone worried. Riza was facing the warehouse, her back to him, and she didn’t turn. She couldn’t just yet. If she did, she would glare at him, and she didn’t want to.

It was likely Edward had initiated this whole thing, but Alphonse could be equally as careless as Edward sometimes. They just didn’t think. For being two kids who were supposedly prodigies, they could be clueless, especially when it came to the real world. And that was the reality of it all. They were children. Many didn’t understand that because they were in the military, but Riza understood it perfectly, because she’d been in the same position. She’d had to grow up far too fast and had been left to fend for herself, so everyone in town treated her like she was older than she was. It was likely they thought she was older but was just a bit on the small side for her age.

“In the car, Alphonse,” she stated. She needed time. She needed to decide what to do. The two of them had practically torn the place apart, and now she was left to deal with the fallout. No wonder the Colonel was so frustrated with Edward sometimes.

There was a quiet pause then the sound of metallic feet walking away from her, towards the car.

Letting out a long sigh once the door was closed, she walked back into the warehouse to assess the damage. She could almost picture Edward and Alphonse protesting at her entering alone, but there wasn’t a peep from them. She’d probably scared them into silence. Drawing her weapon and flicking the safety off, she entered the building.

She had no idea what was going on. She didn’t even know who the target was! She’d just been given a name. Edward had destroyed the place and caused the ceiling to fall on them before she could see the target.

Letting out a frustrated growl as she assessed the damage, Riza made a loop of the building, which she determined was empty. Whoever that man was, he was long gone, and Riza didn’t blame him.

Walking back to the car, she was in deep thought. Arriving at a solution, Riza tried to let all her anger flow out of her. She hated to do it to them, but she needed to call it in. Someone needed to survey the damage and restore it to its rightful state. Someone also needed to assess what stock had been damaged and how much the military owed the business owner. The thought alone made Riza want to pinch the bridge of her nose to try and stave off the headache forming.

“Lieutenant Hawkeye,” she stated to the operator across the car radio. She gave her security number, calling the Colonel’s office and requesting the team to meet her at the warehouse.

She wasn’t looking forward to having to explain to him what had happened. Especially as it was under her watch.

Riza slammed the door closed after climbing in the driver’s seat, using that as an outlet for her anger. Out the corner of her eye she noticed the two brothers flinch at the sound in the rear-view mirror.

“You both don’t think,” she began.

“We’re sorry,” Alphonse replied, his voice incredibly small and sounding every bit like the twelve-year-old he was.

“That’s fine, Alphonse, but what if someone had gotten hurt?” Riza asked. It wasn’t to be nasty. It was to show them the reality of working with the military. She didn’t point out the fact that she had gotten hurt. That would be cruel to them. “What if you had gotten hurt? These bad guys won’t see a child and immediately stop and show mercy. The people you encounter will not hesitate to kill you just because you’re a child,” she stated, her voice softer. “Especially if you’re with the military,” she added. Glancing over at Edward, he dipped his gaze in shame. “Your talents are great – the both of you.” She glanced over at Alphonse too. “But that will only get you so far. You’re not indestructible. You never will be. If that automail breaks you’re out of commission, Edward,” she reminded him softly. “If someone manages to break Alphonse’s armour, he’s gone.” Edward stiffened, and Alphonse shifted in his seat, his metal clanking together. “You need to think before you act.”

“We’re sorry you got hurt,” Alphonse apologised, sounding like he was on the edge of tears. “You’re right – we didn’t think.”

“Yeah,” Edward added. “I’m really sorry, Lieutenant Hawkeye.” His eyes were full of remorse as he met her gaze finally.

“Good. Apology accepted.” Out the corner of her eye, she spotted the Colonel’s car pulling up. “Stay in here,” she ordered softly. Holstering her weapon, she stepped out of the car. The last thing they needed right now was Mustang yelling at Edward.

“Hawkeye, what –” His eyes landed on her scratched and bloody forearms. His gaze lifted her hers, questioning and hard. With one eyebrow raised, he asked her what happened.

“A little misunderstanding,” she waved off. “The guy thought Edward and Alphonse were trying to take him away somewhere, so fought back.”

Mustang stared her down, but that had never worked on her before. He probably knew she was withholding information but wouldn’t call her out on it. Not in front of everyone.

“The guy was a maniac,” Riza added. “Collapsed the glass ceiling on top of us, so we had to fight back,” she shrugged as if it was nothing. It wasn’t a lie – the target had collapsed the ceiling on top of them to try and stop Edward from chasing him. “Some of the stock inside got damaged as they defended themselves.”

Mustang rolled his eyes and turned to face the warehouse, ordering members of the team to go inside and scope it out.

“And you, Lieutenant?” he asked, looking down at her arms, before his gaze flicked back up to hers. There was an unspoken question in it, an unspoken concern in there. She offered him a small smile in return.

“Perfectly fine, sir. Just a flesh wound.”

Mustang rolled his eye as he turned to face the warehouse again. “Why is it, that it’s always trouble with those two.”

Riza shrugged, surveying the work the team was doing as they had their discreet conversation. “I don’t know, sir, but it reminds me of someone else.”

“Oh?” he asked, his tone questioning.

Riza nodded. “A boy I knew from when I was a child. He always seemed to drag me into trouble, just like Edward seems to do with Alphonse.”

Mustang chuckled beside her, shifting in place so his hand brushed against hers. She felt the sensation tingle over the back of her hand and passed her wrist. “That boy sounds like a riot.”

“He was,” she surmised. “But a pain the ass, too.” She smiled fondly when he turned sharply to face her with a disapproving frown. “He turned out okay, though. I just like to remember the mischief and trouble we got into when we were their age,” she added, jerking her head backwards towards Edward and Alphonse in the car. It was a reminder for Mustang to go easy on them.

The brothers couldn’t hear their conversation – they were both too far away – but when they turned, both boys seemed to shrink into the seat.

“That boy did get into a lot of trouble, didn’t he?” Mustang mused to himself. “I remember you telling me about him.”

“I’m sure you did too, sir,” she smirked. “So, remember, go easy on them.”

Mustang sighed and nodded. “I suppose,” he joked. Riza bumped his shoulder with hers before walking to help her teammates in the warehouse. Behind her, she heard Mustang greeting the brothers, but his tone was soft as he encouraged the boys out of the car.