It's Not Checkmate Yet | FMA

Riza's POV

"Defeat? Is that was you saw? No, I saw fire in those eyes." ~Roy Mustang (Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood)

***

"The mail, sir." I hold the wad of white envelopes, waving the mail before the face of Roy Mustang. He was staring off into space, which irritated  me. He wasn't doing his work, as he was supposed to be doing at the time. Meanwhile, I was filling out his paperwork like a work-mule.

"Since when did you call me, 'sir'?" Mustang inquires lazily, turning in his chair and easily snatching the papers from my hand. He began to sort through them with ease, not seeming to have a single care in the entire world. He took things far too loosely.

"Since I became your 2nd Lieutenant." My voice had a hard sort of edge to it, as if I were somewhat resentful. I do admit that I wish I was at a higher rank, but, I wasn't. Roy, the man who didn't take anything seriously, outranked me.

"Look, we got a response." Roy changes the subject, as he always does, with a smirk. "Finally, we hear from this 'Hoenheim' dude." I roll my eyes at his choice of wording. Everything was just twice as irritating today. I didn't get any sleep last night, for I was filling out paperwork.

"Open it, then," I suggest firmly. "You've been waiting a while to request him to be a State Alchemist." I'm not sure how he even heard of the man. Through the Fuhrer? Another soldier, maybe?

"I have." Roy grins, opening the envelope. "But this isn't from him." His grin drops from his face, but is quickly replaced by a confident smile. "It's from his sons."

"So?" I ask, not fully understanding this research. I don't get why we needed more State Alchemists. Perhaps Roy viewed it as a way to get to the top. If that was so, then I supported it, no matter how confused I may be.

"So, we may have just found ourselves two more cantidates," Roy sings happily. "I say we go out to meet them tomorrow."

"Yes, sir." I salute Roy obediently, though I still do not care for this alchemy buisness. I didn't understand any of it, and of course, it only got people into trouble in the end.

~*~

"Sir, you're sure this is the place?" I clarify uncertainly, trying to keep my balance on the rickety old carriage we rode on. As we were in a rural setting, a carriage replaced the cars that we'd normally use. It was even pulled by a pair of two horses, laden with hay.

"Yeah, more or less." Mustang shrugs, seeming as if he didn't care. "The return adress was to Resembool." Resembool. Such a remote countryside.

We stop at a small house. It was white, with a dark green roofing, which I would call a normal Amestrian household. But something seems off. It's quiet. Deadly quiet. No children spoke, no laundry on the line, nothing.

"Roy." I breathe, anxiety building up within my stomach and causing it to turn in flip flops. I haven't used his first name in a long time, but I was nervous. "Something's wrong."

"Oh, don't be paranoid." Roy brushes me off. "Ishbal changed your perception." Oh, hasn't it changed all of our perception.

"I thought we've agreed to never bring Ishbal up," I remind him, starting to feel chills on my arms. I was really getting irked here.

"Whatever, lets go." Roy beckons for me to follow with his hands, and hops out of the carraige. I follow uncertainly. The wind sounds like it's blowing through a skeleton, rather than a normal house. I still don't feel right. A shell of a house.

Roy knocks on the door confidently. No reply. He knocks again. Guess what? No reply. No one was home, it was deserted. I just wanted nothing more than to leave this ominous place.