The Unpublished Memoirs of Roy Mustang Ch. 6
Title: The Unpublished Memoirs of Roy Mustang
Rating: R
Fandom: Fullmetal Alchemist
Pairings: Canon pairings, one very apparent in this chapter, along with Roy/Ed later. Het ahead. You have been warned.
Spoilers: The whole manga/Brotherhood
Fullmetal abandons Amestris
CENTRAL -- Much to the surprise of many, the prize of Amestris’ state alchemist program, the Fullmetal Alchemist, is leaving Central and the state military. According to Fuhrer Roy Mustang, he approved Elric’s departure from the military.
“I fully support Maj. Elric’s departure from the state military,” Mustang said in a press conference Wednesday afternoon. “He has made great sacrifices for the country in his years as a state alchemist, and I have no issues with releasing him from his contract early to take care of his brother. I have no doubt that Maj. Elric will continue to be The People’s Alchemist, even if it is not in an official capacity.
“He would not be Edward Elric or have rightfully earned his title if he were not the type of man to do so.”
New diplomacy for new administration
The Mustang Administration will soon be proving its intentions to take a new stance on diplomacy with Amestris’ neighbors as diplomats from Aerugo, Drachma, Creta and Xing visit the country to tour the underground tunnels.
“I look forward to meeting with representatives from our neighbors,” Fuhrer Roy Mustang said. “Showing them the tunnels that we intend to convert into an underground train system will help to explain the events of the last few months and show the efforts our country is making to turn a negative into a positive.”
#
Ed was probably passing some of the delegates from Aerugo and Xing on his train back to Resembool. Not that he’d know. It was my understanding that he’d been almost insufferable, even to his ever-patient brother, in trying to make preparations for Al to be comfortable on the ride home, continue his therapy once there and locate the nearest doctors to treat any complications that might arise. Ed was oblivious to everyone’s irritation, as he usually was, and couldn't understand why everyone was being "such assholes" to him.
My own sight was still slow to recover. The dark spots that obscured the center of my vision had shrunk to the point I could make my way around without absolutely having to have someone around, though having them certainly helped matters. I still wore the tinted glasses for two reasons, though. With the black spot, I still was unable to see anything -- though it was all blurry -- when looking at it straight-on, and the grayish tint hid my eyes' natural attempts to look at people indirectly just to be able to see them. The downside of this reverse degeneration of my eyes was that bright light, particularly sunlight, created a fierce glare. The tint helped with that, too.
Explaining the glasses today was going to be difficult. I would be leading the various foreign dignitaries around the underground tunnel system that Father had created. In talking with some of my top officials, we agreed to use the tunnels, redirecting some so they no longer formed a transmutation circle, to create an underground mass transit system. It would be the first of its kind, but to gain the trust of our neighbors after years of bad blood would require a tour of them. I had to show them that this was not a method for us to make war.
Riza stood at my side with her hand on my arm as we awaited the cars to arrive that would bring the diplomats from Creta, Aeruga, Drachma and Xing as well as a few select reporters. It may have been unfair, and some of the news companies were lamenting a lack of freedom of the press under my rule, but until I had these tunnels and Father’s mess cleaned up and my vision back, they could just kiss my ass, as Ed would put it.
Though we were officially incorporating Isval into our country, one of their people’s elders was coming along as well. It was that final guest that I was personally dreading the most, but I had been trying to do reparations for my actions in Ishbal, even if it could never really drive away my own guilt.
We were relatively alone at the guard post to the Central entrance of the tunnels, while the rest of my team and other guards double- and triple-checked security
“How am I to go about leading you around?” Riza asked. It wasn’t really proper in a formal setting for a captain to be holding onto the fuhrer's arm. I had promised her that I would think of something, and I had; I just didn’t know if she would accept.
I used my free hand to reach into my breast pocket and swallowed, unused to the sudden nervousness that was hitting me. “I thought of a way that would explain you being at my side today … and every day.” I pulled out a small jewelry box. "And I'm sorry that I'm borrowing one of my old cufflinks boxes for this. I didn't go to a jeweler's for it, so I didn't get a nice box, but it felt as though it should at least have been presented in one... It was my mother's."
It wasn’t fancy and probably was worth very little compared to what I could afford to buy, but it meant more than that. Though just a simple silver band with a single opal, it was one of the precious few things I had of the woman who had given me life. It was one of only three of my mother's belongings Chris had given to me when I’d grown. She’d sold the rest of her things to settle the debts she’d left behind and the ones that I incurred.
I could feel Riza’s hand tightening on my arm. “I know the timing isn’t quite the best, since people will be here soon and I probably should have done this over a romantic dinner … I thought about that, you know. But I couldn’t time that before today, and I felt we probably needed to be engaged by this point--”
“Roy, stop,” she said, putting a hand over my lips even as I continued to talk. “No, maybe the timing isn’t perfect, but if you think I want a big romantic show, you don’t know me that well.” I stared at her a moment or two, not really knowing just yet how to react to what she’d said. She laughed and bumped me with her hip. “That’s a yes, you stupid idiot.”
I wanted to chastise her for calling me both stupid and an idiot, because wasn't one of the two enough, but I was too busy kissing her -- or at least trying to through my smile. I felt her arms wrap around my neck, so I let my own make their own way to encircle her waist. I pressed her against my own body and tried not to grin like a completely love-sick moron when I knew I would have to deal with foreign dignitaries and behave myself. “You’ll stay tonight?” I asked as we finally ended the kiss.
“If you don’t mind Black Hayate coming with me.”
“I already have a bag of his food and bowls for him at the house. What do you think?” I asked her before finally sliding the ring out of the box and putting it on her finger, with her help. “I also have a few of your things you thought you were secretly leaving around the house.”
I couldn’t see it clearly at this close space, but I suspected there was a sheepish smile spreading across her face. “You noticed that, did you?”
“I’m not quite that blind, Riza.” I kissed her softly on the lips again. “I assume you won’t mind me introducing you as my fiancee today?” I asked.
“Just as long as it isn’t the only reason you’ve asked me.”
“Not a chance,” I told her and held her for a few moments that didn’t feel like nearly enough. Much too soon, I cold hear the envoy for the diplomats pulling up. I was not lying when I told Riza that I wanted to do this another way. I didn’t want the engagement to be colored by the where and how I had done it, or rather, that I had done it this way.
The first to step out of the car was a diplomat from Creta and a reporter. The reporter was one that I knew quite well, one of the hand-picked few to get to visit the tunnels. Though I knew the press was anxious to have more freedom of access to things in my life and in the military, I didn’t know if I would ever be the kind of leader to give them that. Even if I were that kind of leader, I knew this was not the time to grant the media free reign. If the wrong information got out, someone could potentially have tried to recreate Father's experiments.
The Cretan diplomat smiled and extended her hand. “It is a pleasure to meet you,” she said as I moved my own palm to hers; I was almost impressed by how easily I had found what was a small target despite the black dot that still dominated my world. I noted that the ambassador had a soft accent, as though her every vowel and word were softened, rounded. “I am Prudence Cathcart.” I had to feel some pity for her, to have been burdened with a name like Prudence while still only a small baby. Parents could be cruel sometimes.
I offered my own greeting and shook her hand. Prudence pleased me quite a bit when she immediately moved to my right to introduce herself to Riza. Though she did not yet know we were engaged, she didn’t snub the woman who was so important to me.
Riza was polite to Prudence and the reporter, but before the man spotted the ring on her finger, the second car was pulling up. This one was filled with a few more from the press and the representative from Ishbal. Though the people were officially Amestrian citizens, considering our history and their work to rebuild their community, it felt only appropriate for their people to understand what exactly had happened to cause such a massacre.
“I told you that getting on the earlier car was the smarter idea. More leg room,” Prudence said to the reporter at her side. I had to admit I liked the woman almost instantly. She already seemed at ease with me and with the country, which put me in a better mood about the whole situation. I became worried when I caught slight movement as she looked at Riza and then gave me a very knowing smile. This woman was incredibly perceptive, which meant I couldn't tell her half-truths without her spotting them for what they were.
The reporter, despite making a living at this, did not have the same eye for detail, and Prudence’s movement went unnoticed for the time-being. He was still blissfully unaware of this new development.
It took a bit more time for everyone to arrive at our designated meeting point. No representative from Xing was in attendance because the Emperor had every assurance from his son and newly named heir that Amestris would make for a strong ally to their empire. At least, while it was under my control. I imagine that Ling had also told his father about the tunnels and how he came into possession of a philosopher’s stone and the homunculus Greed. It was my understanding that was how he had been named heir.
“Why don’t we begin our tour?” I asked the men and women. Riza’s hand came to rest on my arm. She would guide me this way through the tunnels, but I knew I needed to explain the somewhat affectionate gesture to the diplomats and reporters.
“I am still learning more about the various cultures of your lands,” I said, in particular looking to the Drachman official. I knew he was a hard-assed man and that their country was not exactly fond of women’s rights. What rights their women had were hard-won and not nearly what they deserved. “I hope that it will not trouble you if my fiancee, and I walk through the tunnels a bit closely. She has only just given me an answer and this is as close to a public display of affection as we’re quite ready to give at this point.”
I could hear the reporters’ pencils scraping across their notepads, and I could just make out Prudence’s smile once again. Congratulations were offered by the officials and a few of the reporters. The Ishballan ambassador, however, remained largely silent. I don’t suppose he wanted to hear much good news about my life, and I could hardly blame him. Though I was trying to help the Ishballan people rebuild in any way I could while still unable to leave Central, I knew that I was still very unpopular.
“Shall we move along, then?” I asked before moving ahead into the tunnels.
There were some explanations that needed to be made, why we were realigning portions of the tunnels, what we planned to do with them, etc. These I could answer largely truthfully. “The tunnels were a mad alchemist’s plan to create a huge transmutation that would have killed nearly everyone in the country.
“Since the tunnels are largely complete and all stable, it made sense to us to turn them into a form of mass transit. Underground, we should be able to use trains to travel much more quickly than we can risk on land.”
These were naturally followed with more complicated questions about the alchemist who had tried to wipe out an entire country. Who was he? How was he able to do this? These were the things I had to lie about, but the story had been well rehearsed over the months, and even in front of these officials, I had no issues reiterating the familiar lie.
Prudence seemed to feel the need to touch the walls, and I couldn’t really think of a legitimate reason to stop her, even if my gut churned at the idea of making contact with the madman's handiwork. One of the very last things Ed had done was make sure that the tunnels were free of alchemic influence. He’d even had Izumi’s assistance.
On occasion, I saw the diplomat from Ishbal copy Prudence’s movements, and in the dim lighting above us, I had to wonder just what his face looked like as he did. He may not have had the markings on his arm that Scar had, but I had learned the people of Ishbal were far more in tune with the world and the power it possessed than most of those of Amestris.
Riza was at my side through the whole tour, her arm firmly wrapped around mine. It was a pleasant weight I knew I could easily become accustomed to, if she would allow it. For now, I knew she took pity on me. I don’t think it looked like pity, however, if the reporters and the newspaper articles the following day were anything to go by. I know that I didn’t feel like it was entirely pity as her hand made its way to mine at the end of the tour. I could feel my mother’s ring as our fingers interlaced and we made our way back to my home. Soon to be our home.
It felt nothing like pity, either, that night.
I do not think I can state enough just how beautiful that woman’s body is. I often cursed her father and myself for the crimes we committed against it. Flawless skin and beautiful curves were marred by the tattoo that my former teacher had etched onto the peach flesh, and a large portion of that was destroyed by my own hand. It doesn’t matter to my own sense of guilt, nor has it ever mattered, that Riza asked me to do this to her.
Even as I watched, as best I could, as her form retreated into my bedroom, uniform coat gone, with only her golden hair to cascade down her back, I was reminded of the time I had first gotten a glimpse of that body. She had been young and trusting. She made me swear to tell no one what her father had researched.
It was a promise I would have done well to have remembered and that maybe I should have kept.
There had been no romance then, just an overzealous alchemist practically bursting with giddy laughter at the thought of finally getting the research he’d been dying to learn for years and a girl handing over immeasurable knowledge to man she thought she could trust. I did not intentionally use her feelings for me to get the formula that had been tattooed in dark ink, but I don't doubt that she only trusted me the way she did because she had a crush on me.
“You seem very deep in thought,” she said, turning her head to look at me as she slowly slid the pants of her uniform over her hips. I could hear the worry in her voice.
"I was just thinking about how beautiful you are," I said. It was at least a half-truth. The rest of my thoughts were simply too weighty for this moment. "I wish that I could see you more clearly."
"You will," she said as she pulled me toward her. Her gun-calloused hands wrapped around my wrist as she pressed her lips to mine. "Your sight is getting better all the time. It won't be long until it's at 100 percent."
I didn't believe that, and I wasn't entirely sure she did, either, but they were nice words to hear, and it was a pleasant reminder that my sight was improving. Still, for this first night together, I wanted desperately to see her clearly. I wanted the black spots gone, the blurs clear.
Then, I realized what a tactile experience this would be. I could tell the character of each kiss, from the soft to the passionate--the woman was no less demanding or dominant in bed than she was in the rest of the world--and I could feel the planes of her body, the curves of her breasts, the rise and fall of her curves, the textures of her skin. Soft and supple in some areas, roughened palms from handling weapons, scars both raised and creating small indents in her skin. I worshiped the mark I hated most, kissed every last inch of it and traced it like braille.
If I can be so proud of myself, by the time I was done thoroughly showing my reverence, I had Riza thoroughly undone. Each little moan and whine and whimper nearly sent me over the edge, but I was too determined to cause more to rush this. When she actually said the phrase "Please, Roy..." that was it.
What followed was too fast for my own tastes, but I blamed that on wanting this with Riza far too much, on it having been too long since I'd last had sex of any kind, and for having gotten us both thoroughly excited. Riza didn't seem to be complaining, and it wasn't as though I was so old that I couldn't manage a second and even third round.
After a few minutes, of course.
Rating: R
Fandom: Fullmetal Alchemist
Pairings: Canon pairings, one very apparent in this chapter, along with Roy/Ed later. Het ahead. You have been warned.
Spoilers: The whole manga/Brotherhood
Fullmetal abandons Amestris
CENTRAL -- Much to the surprise of many, the prize of Amestris’ state alchemist program, the Fullmetal Alchemist, is leaving Central and the state military. According to Fuhrer Roy Mustang, he approved Elric’s departure from the military.
“I fully support Maj. Elric’s departure from the state military,” Mustang said in a press conference Wednesday afternoon. “He has made great sacrifices for the country in his years as a state alchemist, and I have no issues with releasing him from his contract early to take care of his brother. I have no doubt that Maj. Elric will continue to be The People’s Alchemist, even if it is not in an official capacity.
“He would not be Edward Elric or have rightfully earned his title if he were not the type of man to do so.”
New diplomacy for new administration
The Mustang Administration will soon be proving its intentions to take a new stance on diplomacy with Amestris’ neighbors as diplomats from Aerugo, Drachma, Creta and Xing visit the country to tour the underground tunnels.
“I look forward to meeting with representatives from our neighbors,” Fuhrer Roy Mustang said. “Showing them the tunnels that we intend to convert into an underground train system will help to explain the events of the last few months and show the efforts our country is making to turn a negative into a positive.”
#
Ed was probably passing some of the delegates from Aerugo and Xing on his train back to Resembool. Not that he’d know. It was my understanding that he’d been almost insufferable, even to his ever-patient brother, in trying to make preparations for Al to be comfortable on the ride home, continue his therapy once there and locate the nearest doctors to treat any complications that might arise. Ed was oblivious to everyone’s irritation, as he usually was, and couldn't understand why everyone was being "such assholes" to him.
My own sight was still slow to recover. The dark spots that obscured the center of my vision had shrunk to the point I could make my way around without absolutely having to have someone around, though having them certainly helped matters. I still wore the tinted glasses for two reasons, though. With the black spot, I still was unable to see anything -- though it was all blurry -- when looking at it straight-on, and the grayish tint hid my eyes' natural attempts to look at people indirectly just to be able to see them. The downside of this reverse degeneration of my eyes was that bright light, particularly sunlight, created a fierce glare. The tint helped with that, too.
Explaining the glasses today was going to be difficult. I would be leading the various foreign dignitaries around the underground tunnel system that Father had created. In talking with some of my top officials, we agreed to use the tunnels, redirecting some so they no longer formed a transmutation circle, to create an underground mass transit system. It would be the first of its kind, but to gain the trust of our neighbors after years of bad blood would require a tour of them. I had to show them that this was not a method for us to make war.
Riza stood at my side with her hand on my arm as we awaited the cars to arrive that would bring the diplomats from Creta, Aeruga, Drachma and Xing as well as a few select reporters. It may have been unfair, and some of the news companies were lamenting a lack of freedom of the press under my rule, but until I had these tunnels and Father’s mess cleaned up and my vision back, they could just kiss my ass, as Ed would put it.
Though we were officially incorporating Isval into our country, one of their people’s elders was coming along as well. It was that final guest that I was personally dreading the most, but I had been trying to do reparations for my actions in Ishbal, even if it could never really drive away my own guilt.
We were relatively alone at the guard post to the Central entrance of the tunnels, while the rest of my team and other guards double- and triple-checked security
“How am I to go about leading you around?” Riza asked. It wasn’t really proper in a formal setting for a captain to be holding onto the fuhrer's arm. I had promised her that I would think of something, and I had; I just didn’t know if she would accept.
I used my free hand to reach into my breast pocket and swallowed, unused to the sudden nervousness that was hitting me. “I thought of a way that would explain you being at my side today … and every day.” I pulled out a small jewelry box. "And I'm sorry that I'm borrowing one of my old cufflinks boxes for this. I didn't go to a jeweler's for it, so I didn't get a nice box, but it felt as though it should at least have been presented in one... It was my mother's."
It wasn’t fancy and probably was worth very little compared to what I could afford to buy, but it meant more than that. Though just a simple silver band with a single opal, it was one of the precious few things I had of the woman who had given me life. It was one of only three of my mother's belongings Chris had given to me when I’d grown. She’d sold the rest of her things to settle the debts she’d left behind and the ones that I incurred.
I could feel Riza’s hand tightening on my arm. “I know the timing isn’t quite the best, since people will be here soon and I probably should have done this over a romantic dinner … I thought about that, you know. But I couldn’t time that before today, and I felt we probably needed to be engaged by this point--”
“Roy, stop,” she said, putting a hand over my lips even as I continued to talk. “No, maybe the timing isn’t perfect, but if you think I want a big romantic show, you don’t know me that well.” I stared at her a moment or two, not really knowing just yet how to react to what she’d said. She laughed and bumped me with her hip. “That’s a yes, you stupid idiot.”
I wanted to chastise her for calling me both stupid and an idiot, because wasn't one of the two enough, but I was too busy kissing her -- or at least trying to through my smile. I felt her arms wrap around my neck, so I let my own make their own way to encircle her waist. I pressed her against my own body and tried not to grin like a completely love-sick moron when I knew I would have to deal with foreign dignitaries and behave myself. “You’ll stay tonight?” I asked as we finally ended the kiss.
“If you don’t mind Black Hayate coming with me.”
“I already have a bag of his food and bowls for him at the house. What do you think?” I asked her before finally sliding the ring out of the box and putting it on her finger, with her help. “I also have a few of your things you thought you were secretly leaving around the house.”
I couldn’t see it clearly at this close space, but I suspected there was a sheepish smile spreading across her face. “You noticed that, did you?”
“I’m not quite that blind, Riza.” I kissed her softly on the lips again. “I assume you won’t mind me introducing you as my fiancee today?” I asked.
“Just as long as it isn’t the only reason you’ve asked me.”
“Not a chance,” I told her and held her for a few moments that didn’t feel like nearly enough. Much too soon, I cold hear the envoy for the diplomats pulling up. I was not lying when I told Riza that I wanted to do this another way. I didn’t want the engagement to be colored by the where and how I had done it, or rather, that I had done it this way.
The first to step out of the car was a diplomat from Creta and a reporter. The reporter was one that I knew quite well, one of the hand-picked few to get to visit the tunnels. Though I knew the press was anxious to have more freedom of access to things in my life and in the military, I didn’t know if I would ever be the kind of leader to give them that. Even if I were that kind of leader, I knew this was not the time to grant the media free reign. If the wrong information got out, someone could potentially have tried to recreate Father's experiments.
The Cretan diplomat smiled and extended her hand. “It is a pleasure to meet you,” she said as I moved my own palm to hers; I was almost impressed by how easily I had found what was a small target despite the black dot that still dominated my world. I noted that the ambassador had a soft accent, as though her every vowel and word were softened, rounded. “I am Prudence Cathcart.” I had to feel some pity for her, to have been burdened with a name like Prudence while still only a small baby. Parents could be cruel sometimes.
I offered my own greeting and shook her hand. Prudence pleased me quite a bit when she immediately moved to my right to introduce herself to Riza. Though she did not yet know we were engaged, she didn’t snub the woman who was so important to me.
Riza was polite to Prudence and the reporter, but before the man spotted the ring on her finger, the second car was pulling up. This one was filled with a few more from the press and the representative from Ishbal. Though the people were officially Amestrian citizens, considering our history and their work to rebuild their community, it felt only appropriate for their people to understand what exactly had happened to cause such a massacre.
“I told you that getting on the earlier car was the smarter idea. More leg room,” Prudence said to the reporter at her side. I had to admit I liked the woman almost instantly. She already seemed at ease with me and with the country, which put me in a better mood about the whole situation. I became worried when I caught slight movement as she looked at Riza and then gave me a very knowing smile. This woman was incredibly perceptive, which meant I couldn't tell her half-truths without her spotting them for what they were.
The reporter, despite making a living at this, did not have the same eye for detail, and Prudence’s movement went unnoticed for the time-being. He was still blissfully unaware of this new development.
It took a bit more time for everyone to arrive at our designated meeting point. No representative from Xing was in attendance because the Emperor had every assurance from his son and newly named heir that Amestris would make for a strong ally to their empire. At least, while it was under my control. I imagine that Ling had also told his father about the tunnels and how he came into possession of a philosopher’s stone and the homunculus Greed. It was my understanding that was how he had been named heir.
“Why don’t we begin our tour?” I asked the men and women. Riza’s hand came to rest on my arm. She would guide me this way through the tunnels, but I knew I needed to explain the somewhat affectionate gesture to the diplomats and reporters.
“I am still learning more about the various cultures of your lands,” I said, in particular looking to the Drachman official. I knew he was a hard-assed man and that their country was not exactly fond of women’s rights. What rights their women had were hard-won and not nearly what they deserved. “I hope that it will not trouble you if my fiancee, and I walk through the tunnels a bit closely. She has only just given me an answer and this is as close to a public display of affection as we’re quite ready to give at this point.”
I could hear the reporters’ pencils scraping across their notepads, and I could just make out Prudence’s smile once again. Congratulations were offered by the officials and a few of the reporters. The Ishballan ambassador, however, remained largely silent. I don’t suppose he wanted to hear much good news about my life, and I could hardly blame him. Though I was trying to help the Ishballan people rebuild in any way I could while still unable to leave Central, I knew that I was still very unpopular.
“Shall we move along, then?” I asked before moving ahead into the tunnels.
There were some explanations that needed to be made, why we were realigning portions of the tunnels, what we planned to do with them, etc. These I could answer largely truthfully. “The tunnels were a mad alchemist’s plan to create a huge transmutation that would have killed nearly everyone in the country.
“Since the tunnels are largely complete and all stable, it made sense to us to turn them into a form of mass transit. Underground, we should be able to use trains to travel much more quickly than we can risk on land.”
These were naturally followed with more complicated questions about the alchemist who had tried to wipe out an entire country. Who was he? How was he able to do this? These were the things I had to lie about, but the story had been well rehearsed over the months, and even in front of these officials, I had no issues reiterating the familiar lie.
Prudence seemed to feel the need to touch the walls, and I couldn’t really think of a legitimate reason to stop her, even if my gut churned at the idea of making contact with the madman's handiwork. One of the very last things Ed had done was make sure that the tunnels were free of alchemic influence. He’d even had Izumi’s assistance.
On occasion, I saw the diplomat from Ishbal copy Prudence’s movements, and in the dim lighting above us, I had to wonder just what his face looked like as he did. He may not have had the markings on his arm that Scar had, but I had learned the people of Ishbal were far more in tune with the world and the power it possessed than most of those of Amestris.
Riza was at my side through the whole tour, her arm firmly wrapped around mine. It was a pleasant weight I knew I could easily become accustomed to, if she would allow it. For now, I knew she took pity on me. I don’t think it looked like pity, however, if the reporters and the newspaper articles the following day were anything to go by. I know that I didn’t feel like it was entirely pity as her hand made its way to mine at the end of the tour. I could feel my mother’s ring as our fingers interlaced and we made our way back to my home. Soon to be our home.
It felt nothing like pity, either, that night.
I do not think I can state enough just how beautiful that woman’s body is. I often cursed her father and myself for the crimes we committed against it. Flawless skin and beautiful curves were marred by the tattoo that my former teacher had etched onto the peach flesh, and a large portion of that was destroyed by my own hand. It doesn’t matter to my own sense of guilt, nor has it ever mattered, that Riza asked me to do this to her.
Even as I watched, as best I could, as her form retreated into my bedroom, uniform coat gone, with only her golden hair to cascade down her back, I was reminded of the time I had first gotten a glimpse of that body. She had been young and trusting. She made me swear to tell no one what her father had researched.
It was a promise I would have done well to have remembered and that maybe I should have kept.
There had been no romance then, just an overzealous alchemist practically bursting with giddy laughter at the thought of finally getting the research he’d been dying to learn for years and a girl handing over immeasurable knowledge to man she thought she could trust. I did not intentionally use her feelings for me to get the formula that had been tattooed in dark ink, but I don't doubt that she only trusted me the way she did because she had a crush on me.
“You seem very deep in thought,” she said, turning her head to look at me as she slowly slid the pants of her uniform over her hips. I could hear the worry in her voice.
"I was just thinking about how beautiful you are," I said. It was at least a half-truth. The rest of my thoughts were simply too weighty for this moment. "I wish that I could see you more clearly."
"You will," she said as she pulled me toward her. Her gun-calloused hands wrapped around my wrist as she pressed her lips to mine. "Your sight is getting better all the time. It won't be long until it's at 100 percent."
I didn't believe that, and I wasn't entirely sure she did, either, but they were nice words to hear, and it was a pleasant reminder that my sight was improving. Still, for this first night together, I wanted desperately to see her clearly. I wanted the black spots gone, the blurs clear.
Then, I realized what a tactile experience this would be. I could tell the character of each kiss, from the soft to the passionate--the woman was no less demanding or dominant in bed than she was in the rest of the world--and I could feel the planes of her body, the curves of her breasts, the rise and fall of her curves, the textures of her skin. Soft and supple in some areas, roughened palms from handling weapons, scars both raised and creating small indents in her skin. I worshiped the mark I hated most, kissed every last inch of it and traced it like braille.
If I can be so proud of myself, by the time I was done thoroughly showing my reverence, I had Riza thoroughly undone. Each little moan and whine and whimper nearly sent me over the edge, but I was too determined to cause more to rush this. When she actually said the phrase "Please, Roy..." that was it.
What followed was too fast for my own tastes, but I blamed that on wanting this with Riza far too much, on it having been too long since I'd last had sex of any kind, and for having gotten us both thoroughly excited. Riza didn't seem to be complaining, and it wasn't as though I was so old that I couldn't manage a second and even third round.
After a few minutes, of course.