Someone Else’s Skin
Fullmetal Alchemist
Amos Whirly

The breeze whispering over the grassy plains and hills was slightly warm, and it mussed the blonde hair she kept tightly tied at the back of her head. She checked her paperwork one more time and verified she was heading in the right direction.

Riza Hawkeye had been to Risembool before, but she had never visited the Rockbell’s house. Major Armstrong had, and so had Ross and Bloch. Even Roy had visited briefly, but she had only seen it from a distance.

That had been more than twenty years ago.

Riza checked her watch and continued walking briskly down the road. The train had arrived on time, and if the directions Roy had given her were correct, she would likely reach her destination in short order.

She had never been to the country before. It was much quieter than the busy life she led in Central. Pleasant. She briefly wondered if she could ever convince Roy to take a break and go somewhere quiet. Somewhere like this.

Riza checked her directions once more and kept walking.

After some time, she crested a hill and spotted the house she was looking for, a quaint home nestled in a grassy plain. Children played in the yard.

She frowned.

Maybe it wasn’t the right home. Winry Rockbell had never married. She had no children. Riza checked the handwritten directions again, scrutinizing Roy’s messy scrawl. No, this was the right home. In the distance, she could see the charred, broken remains of a house that used to belong to the Elrics.

This was the right house.

Riza approached quietly, and the children stopped playing. Some of them waved, and the older one—a boy with dark hair—ran into the house. Moments later, a woman with rose-colored hair stepped out onto the porch.

Riza remembered. Roze, the girl from Lior. She had come to live with Winry shortly after Alphonse Elric had regained his body, after Edward had disappeared. The children had to be hers.

All Riza knew of her was from charts and reports. They had never met in person.

“Good afternoon,” the girl greeted her with a smile.

“Good afternoon,” Riza said. She glanced at the wooden sign hanging from the porch. Rockbell Automail. “Does Winry Rockbell still live here?”

The girl nodded. “Yes. My name is Roze.”

“Riza Hawkeye.” She held out her hand.

Roze hesitated a moment before she accepted her hand. “From the military?” she asked. “You worked with General Mustang, didn’t you?”

General Mustang, Riza thought briefly. I haven’t heard that title in a long time. “I still do.”

“You’re out of uniform.”

Riza smiled. “I resigned my commission some time ago. You all don’t get news out here, do you?”

“Not really,” Roze smiled. “Not since the newspaper and radio station shut down. But it’s all right. Little that happens in Central affects us in Risembool. Would you like something to drink? I just made a pot of tea.”

“That would be wonderful.”

Riza followed Roze into the house and took a seat. The pink-haired girl filled two cups and came to sit down across from her.

“Is Winry here?” Riza asked. “I have something important I need to ask her.”

“She is,” Roze nodded slowly. “She’s out at the moment.” Roze handed her a teacup.

“Out?”

“At the cemetery.”

“I see.”

Roze sat down and stirred her tea. “Her grandmother, Pinako, passed away a few weeks ago.”

“I’m very sorry to hear that.”

Roze smiled sadly. “Pinako was a good woman. The best automail mechanic in Amestris. Winry learned everything she knew from her.”

“Has she been getting a lot of business?”

Roze shook her head. “No. Not really. Ever since the wars stopped, it’s just not in demand like it used to be.”

They chatted pleasantly for a few more minutes, and Riza finished her tea. She checked her watch and was about to speak when the door opened.

Winry Rockbell entered the room, her long blonde hair tied loosely at the back of her head. She shut the door and stopped, staring at Riza.

“Winry,” Riza nodded.

“Lieutenant Hawkeye?”

The woman was thin and pale, dark circles under her red eyes. She looked tired, but she had the same fiery spark in her blue eyes that Riza remembered.

“Just Riza now, Winry.”

Winry glanced at Roze. “What are you doing here?”

“I have something I need to ask you.”

Winry hesitated for a moment before she sat down on the couch next to Roze.

“I’ll get you some tea,” Roze said.

Winry leaned back into the couch cushions and looked hard at Riza. Riza smiled gently.

“I’m sorry to hear about your grandmother.”

Winry pressed her lips together. “She was old. She died at peace.”

“That’s good to know.”

“You’re out of uniform,” Winry blurted. “You’re never out of uniform.”

Riza laughed quietly. “I resigned from the military last year, Winry.”

“Why?”

“Because I wanted to stay and protect Roy,” Riza said, “and first lieutenants aren’t allowed to protect the Fuhrer.”

“Fuhrer?” Winry whispered. “Roy Mustang is the Fuhrer?”

“The military council gave the choice to the people,” Riza said, “and they all decided that they wanted a Fuhrer again. So they elected Roy.”

Winry’s gaze hesitated on the gold ring on Riza’s left fourth finger.

“Yes,” Riza nodded. “We married. Some years ago, actually. It was a quiet ceremony. We have a son now.”

“Do you?”

“Edward.”

Winry laughed. “Edward? Edward Mustang. Now that’s irony.” Winry shook her head. “Mustang, the Fuhrer.”

“Yes,” Riza said, “and as the Fuhrer, he’s started changing things.”

“All female officers in miniskirts?”

Riza made a face. “Absolutely not.”

Winry grinned.

“He’s found a hospital,” Riza said. “Even though the wars are over and done, there are still many people who need automail. And there’s no one in Central he trusts to head the automail division at this hospital. That’s why I’m here. He wants you to come.”

“Me?”

Riza nodded. “You’re the best automail mechanic in the country, Winry. Roy wants you to head up the automail division at this hospital. There’s no one else that could do it.”

“I can’t just leave.”

“Why not?”

“I’ve lived here my entire life,” Winry said. “I’ve never lived anywhere else.”

“You’re running a foster home too, aren’t you?” Riza asked. “With Roze?”

“Yes.”

“That’s something that Gracia has been heading up.”

“Mrs. Hughes?”

“Yes,” Riza said. “Since Elysia enlisted, Gracia needed something to focus on. So she’s been taking in children. She could use Roze’s help.”

Winry bit her lip.

“There would be food, board, a salary, and you’d be doing what you love,” Riza said.

“Which is?”

“Helping people.”

Winry sighed and stood up, gazing out the nearest window. Riza kept quiet, waiting for her to speak.

“How is Mustang?”

“Turning gray. But he’s fine. He had hoped—we both had—that you would consider this.”

“I am,” Winry said. “There really isn’t anything holding me here anymore. My grandmother was the last link in that chain.”

Riza stood and moved to stand beside Winry.

She was looking out across the plains to where the Elric’s house lay in ashes.

“You know,” Winry said, “when he came back—was that really twenty years ago?—When I saw him again, I had this fleeting thought. That maybe—maybe I could keep him. That maybe I could convince him to stay. But he didn’t. He left again. And took Al with him. And neither of them said goodbye.”

Riza folded her hands and said nothing.

“We were always waiting for him, you know,” Winry said. “We were his family. We were the ones who stayed behind and kept everything the same for him when he got home. So he had some place to come home. We were always waiting.” She sighed. “I was always waiting.”

Riza waited.

“He’s not coming back,” Winry said. “I realized that as I watched him fly through that gate. Choosing to go away for the second time and leave me behind. I knew then that he wouldn’t come back. Just as I knew it was pointless to wait for him. But I couldn’t help it. We had always waited. That was all I knew how to do.”

Winry turned and smiled sadly.

“It really is pointless to wait for someone you know will never return.”

“Then stop waiting,” Riza said, “and come with me. There are a lot of people who need you, your skills, your talents. Don’t let it all go to waste, Winry.”

Winry looked over her shoulder and saw Roze standing, smiling.

“What do you think, Roze?”

“I think we should to it.”

Winry nodded and turned to Riza. “All right, then. Sign me up. When do we leave?”

“When can you be ready?”

Roze smiled beautifully, and Winry folded her arms. “How about next week?”

“Next week it is.”

After a few more moments of pleasant conversation, Riza said goodbye and started walking again. Winry and Roze waved at her from the porch, while the children played around their feet.

Both Roy and Gracia would be elated.

As she walked, she passed the fallen remains of the Elric’s house, and Riza felt the familiar nagging pain in the corner of her heart, wishing she had been able to talk to Edward again when he had returned so briefly twenty years earlier.

She smiled to herself. Riza knew all about waiting. She had waited for Mustang for years. For years and years. But waiting for someone you knew would never come back was fruitless.

She hoped with all her heart that Winry could somehow manage to leave Edward behind and find happiness in Central. But at the same time she knew such thing would be impossible.