Author’s Note: Rebecca, I hate you for giving me this prompt so long ago in correlation as to what’s happening now with the manga.

In Norse mythology, a valkyrie (Old Norse valkyrja "chooser of the slain") is one of a host of female figures who choose who will die in battle. Valkyries also appear as lovers of heroes and other mortals, where they are sometimes described as the daughters of royalty, etc.

!! Here are spoilers up to the most recent chapter of the manga (100) !!

Again

Character(s)/Pairing(s): Roy/Riza

October 10, 2009

Her hero, his hero.

Her love for Roy Mustang went unnoticed for years before it all came rearing to a head.

She coated each word with a lie, laced truths together with the impossible, all for his sake. She would follow him anywhere, support him in whatever endeavor he wished to partake in, even for the most dim-witted of causes. She stood up for him when he hardly believed in himself, held him up when otherwise he felt weak. She was his spine, his voice of reason, and his will to continue forward. He fought, led, and protected for her and only her.

One, then another, and then two more—until the amount was uncountable—had recognized her dormant (or so she thought) love that she had attempted to suppress. There were more important things to worry about. She couldn’t hide her strong devotion to her childhood friend, war comrade, and presently, her Colonel. When he began to catch on, she thought nothing would be the same.

It wasn’t, but not in the way that she originally assumed.

He hadn’t been hiding his affection as well as she had; he wasn’t really trying to, either.

Riza Hawkeye was not your average individual. She was adept in sharpshooting, could put any person rightly so in their place, and looked damn sexy (not her own words) while doing both.

If she had to count how many times she had found herself in a horrible situation due to this man she was so blindly loyal to, she would need all ten fingers and toes. Despite this complaint, she would continue to watch his back, make sure he was safe, and… sacrifice herself if need be.

Appalled was an understatement of his at how many times that last statement had come into play in their short lives.

The snap, the almost audible, visible snap that took place the second that blade slid across her neck… he felt it.

He felt his conscious break away and dissipate into nothingness. He had lost Maes, his best friend, and if he had to lose Riza now… he would follow her immediately, future of Amestris be damned, with no questions or thinking necessary.

He had toppled off center when Hughes had died, but to have his First Lieutenant, someone so important to him, killed at the hands of the enemy as well? He had already been up shit’s creek when King Bradley knew his weakness, but this… this…

He would go down in a blazing inferno, taking everyone with him; he would expect nothing less from her if the situation were flipped. They were each other’s pillars of strength.

Without one, the other would topple down.

The breath he had been holding seemed lodged in his throat, waiting for the tumble down his throat. Impatiently, he pulled on the men who had been holding him steady.

With the eyes of Riza’s assailant bearing into the back of his skill, he knew what he had to do.