A gut feeling [Roy Mustang]

[hawkeye]

Perhaps of late Riza had been far more jovial than any would have thought, though in every respect the stoic woman showed none of it. Her reasoning for such was very simple, most everything had worked out. Despite all the barriers that had come up things had gone near enough to plan, the Colonel was now the Fuhrer, Amestris was falling into the ideal she'd held as a young girl, and for once the paperwork was in order. Of course the path had been so very long, and so much had been lost and given for things to work out. Yet in the end it had been worth it, and despite the coldness Riza still insisted upon showing she couldn't have been happier with things.... Actually that was somewhat of a lie, there were two things that still played upon her mind, the loss of Hughes and of the Fuhrer's eye. The prior option had been something she'd had no hope or chance of preventing, yet the latter was something she could have prevented, if she'd been there faster, if she'd been more careful... If both of those things had come together then there was every chance that he'd still have the ability of sight within both eyes. Still, it was something she chose not to dwell upon for the most part, oh sure enough she blamed herself for that loss, but as the Fuhrer had so rightly said; nothing is perfect. She'd been grateful that'd he'd held no grudge against her for her failure, whilst she'd berated herself he'd simply shrugged it off as if nothing had gone wrong... Until he'd run away to the north, tail between his legs in shame.

In swift strides the slender blond was quick to proceed down the hall, a bundle of reports before her. Despite now holding the rank of general Riza was still that acting aid, bodyguard, and all round babysitter of Mustang. It wasn't something she minded, despite the nagging and yelling it was something she both wanted and had to do. The final part was for a reason that could be deemed as odd by some, it was hardly that she was forced to act as such (for very few, if any, could force Riza Hawkeye into doing anything she did not wish to do). It was more that she still had to fulfil the promise she'd made so long ago, to ensure he remained on his path and shoot him if he strayed to far. Indeed it was something she'd adhere to no matter what, though as she leafed through the papers in hand she was quite literally stopped in her tracks of both physicality and mind. Riza knew there were always the bad kind of reports that no one wanted (bad being a somewhat kind term to the matter), she'd come to accept this fact as something that she had no ability to change. Yet this was something that seemed dreadfully familiar, a civil war started with no survivors. Indeed during Bradley's rule there had been Lior and Ishbal, both matters held a grimness about them that caused a grim feeling in her gut much like the one she now had. As foolish as it was Riza trusted her gut, it was rarely wrong in something such as this.

With a brief look of shock, that was soon cleared to impassiveness, the amber eyed woman was quick to add speed to her pace and turn it into a full blown run. It wasn't often anything could spook this woman, yet when something did you could surely be certain that whatever it was did not vote well in general terms. There was just something so wrong about this though, she knew it and could feel it. This was a matter that needed immediate attention, and not the usual form of immediate attention things could so often get when left to the Fuhrer. As such along her path she did not stop and pay regard to any individual she passed upon her given course, though at the moment she met the two men stationed outside the door of her superior office she stopped and straightened herself out. The term dignified was one often associated with this woman, her hair was always perfectly clipped to her head, and her uniform always pristine, bursting into the Fuhrer's office whilst in full run was not something she was prepared to do (and if there was someone else present it could seem incredibly suspicious). Besides which there was perhaps some small chance that this report based solely upon a rumor was something that was not in fact a matter for concern, perhaps it was all merely a construct of her mind. After all, with all the trouble she'd been through living on edge and expecting the worst was something that had and still did come with natural ease to her.

Entering the office it would seem to any that didn't know her that everything was fine and in order, yet to any who did there was very obviously something wrong. The way she held herself was far more uptight than one would perhaps expect, and for once she did not salute to the raven haired man, instead giving him a slight bow of her head before striding forward. "Sir,"

[/color] as was usual with her little was portrayed in the void voice of hers, yet those eyes of hers portrayed every trace of worry. "I have those papers you asked for... But one of them holds a matter that is somewhat troublesome."[/b] Pulling said document from the pile still in her arms she offered it to the man. "There are rumours that a small town to the west has been eradicated through a small yet deadly conflict, it seems that a faction of the military is perhaps behind the matter."[/b] To her it was just so painfully familiar, yet still she showed little to nothing of this feeling... Perhaps someone who was especially perceptive could see the hints of grim recollection and worry she presently felt, though since the Fuhrer was the only other individual within the office it wasn't a matter that concerned her so much at the moment. "I know you ordered nothing of the sort, and I also know this is nothing but a rumour of present. Yet there is something about it that just feels... Wrong...."[/b] Believing this matter was something many could see her as being foolish for, but often a time Mustang gave belief to such things from her. After all, it was this intuition that had saved his life on so many occasions, and would perhaps do so many more times.
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[mustang]

Roy tipped his chair back so that it was resting precariously on only the back two of its four legs as he propped his own legs up on the surface of the desk, directly into the small channel he had cleared through the stacks of papers and who knows what else lost in the chaos that rested on his desk specifically for the purpose of giving his feet their little niche. Behind him on the floor also sat a few stacks of papers and folders, and there were various stacks just like this of books and even more papers spread throughout the lavish office. As Colonel, Roy had always kept a fairly neat office, but then, he had about seven times less paperwork to worry about in those days - and even that had been a lot for him. Now, he found himself getting more and more behind as the days drew on, and though the various stacks about the room displeased him slightly...he was at least somewhat satisfied because they were indeed in stacks, not just scattered about like they could be. At least he had done that much.

At that very moment, however, he could feel his eyelids growing heavy as he realized just how comfortable his current position felt. This was even helping him forget his short run-in with the cheeky acting Air Alchemist earlier, which had ended in an unusual way that he was unused to dealing with, and did not want to relive again. And though he had returned to his work as she had suggested, he had done little, considering himself to be in an emotionally wounded state, and thus, unable to work for at least an hour while he recovered. One thing that he liked most about being the Fuhrer was that he really didn't have to answer to anyone - except for perhaps Riza, but then, did that really count?

Almost directly on cue with his thought Roy suddenly heard the door to his office open, and as his eye snapped open as well he caught a glimpse of blonde hair. His chair quickly slammed to the ground as he grabbed a random sheet of paper off the desk and began to furiously stare at it, even making a few marks here and there with a pen he had been twirling in his fingers a few moments ago in his more relaxed state as the General approached his desk. He waited several long seconds before he looked up from the sheet of paper - which was actually nothing more than an order for him to sign off on allowing more paper to be delivered to the receptionists and other various organizers within the military each month, ironically - and met her gaze with his own casual one through the tunnel he had made in the papers. At least he sort of looked busy - or at least like he had a lot of work...

It was then that Roy could sense that something was wrong - though Riza's expression was a very calm one, he could tell from years of being almost constantly with her that her eyes always told a different story from her expression and her tone, and that it was her eyes that told the truth. Something had managed to trouble her, so he waited for her to speak and explain. After not trying to hide a heavy sigh at her statement of delivering more paperwork to him, he paid a bit more attention to the remainder of her revelation. "No, I indeed did not order anything of the sort..." Roy began slowly, saying each word very deliberately as he thought about the situation.

What could have happened in the western town? Perhaps it was only something small, or the rumour was a misunderstood one for the umpteenth time, but then...what if it wasn't? Things did feel like they were starting to stir up once again in Amestris, especially now that he Elric brothers had returned once more. Though the military had of yet been unable to pinpoint anything specifically, the small occurrences were becoming more frequent - and more disturbing. The fact that this one was being linked back the military itself was not a good thing at all, and if there was any one thing in particular that Roy Mustang cared about, it was his reputation.

Suddenly, a thought came into Roy's mind - he could easily use this rumour to his advantage. Not only could he further investigate these rumours and perhaps find something out for himself rather than depend on other people for information, he could also use the chance to get away from the office, away from Central, and mostly...away from all the papers that he was starting to see even in his dreams. When Roy could not even get a decent night's sleep, something was definitely wrong. And besides...he and Riza had not done anything without a large group in a long time - and that was something he had definitely missed, whether he would admit it or not.

"You know how I trust your instinct, General Hawkeye," Roy suddenly blurted out, jumping to his feet and sending a few papers to their imminent doom on the floor with the gust of wind he created. His tone was bright, but its usual commanding quality was not missing, either. "I think this situation is serious enough that none other than the two of us should go and investigate it at once. We're leaving." He knew she would be unlikely to argue - she seemed to follow him wherever he went, and he respected her loyalty, even when he was unwilling to show it. With that, he strode across the room, grabbing his hat from its stand near the door on his way out and pulling it over his messy hair, trapping it inside - well, for the most part - before flicking off the light switch and leaving Riza behind him in the dark, hopefully with little choice but to follow, or lest be alone with all the papers herself. An intimidating thought in the dark, Roy added to himself with a slight grin.

[hawkeye]

Quirking a brow as he attempted to appear busy she couldn’t help but give a sigh to the matter. She had hoped that once he’d fulfilled his goal he’d actually do his paperwork with less bother, but actually very little had changed, and that irked her slightly. The thing with it was that she was the one who got the raw deal within the matter, since she’d both end up pushing him to do the work (using threats if the need arose) and doing some of it herself. Admirable she never complained about the matter, instead simply choosing to bear it without qualm. One day she’d perhaps get that lazy backside of his kicked into some form of work acceptability, it did seem though that in fairness was very probably going to take a long while yet… That was actually if she ever managed to accomplish such, she’d done a great deal in her life, but in respect this was a task for more daunting than any other. To stand any chance she was going to have to come up with a suitable battle plan, one that would give her the chance she needed to accomplish such a high set goal… (the more she thought about it the more she felt getting the Fuhrer to do his work without issue was a task far harder than the task of becoming this countrie's leader)  

"No, I indeed did not order anything of the sort..."
 
She gave a brief nod of her head to his words. She’d known as much, and if he had given such an order he’d have just condemned himself, the fact he hadn’t though seemed to raise many questions that she could simply not answer… Was it really the military, or just a rebel group of impostors? (of course this was all working upon the assumption that there was in fact something behind this rumour) And another question that was arisen was of course why this was happening now. Everything had been improving, and she was relatively sure that most people were content with this. Of course there were still those who saw Bradley as being some form of hero (they had not seen the monster that he truly was), they were obviously not content with the new leader, and indeed the fact he was still so young probably only aided to fan the flames of hate. It was then possible that this was just some elaborate set up to remove him from power, try and make the Fuhrer out to be corrupt. If that was actually the case then someone would be paying a damn heavy price for this, erasing the population of a town was an unforgivable crime, if the perpetrators were caught then there would no doubt be hell to pay. Still, it irked her terribly that after all the bloodshed this country had seen there were still people willing to cause more. Some people truly were no better than animals…  

The matter was though the new Fuhrer was not behind this occurrence, and unlike his predecessor he truly did care for this country. Riza held it in reasonable confidence he’d take action on the matter, she actually expected nothing less from him. Perhaps Riza may have expected to much for people at times, but in her mind she simply expected their best, nothing more and nothing less. If you truly couldn’t do something then Riza would accept that without problem, however if you could do something and simply chose not to then you were liable to have a very agitated general after you. Indeed by no stretch was that something any sane individual sought, in fact to some people it was the stuff of nightmares. Though through it all she wasn’t such a cruel person, you just had to see past everything she put before herself to keep others safely away. Do that and you’d see someone else, though few did, in fact she could probably count the individuals who saw her for what she was on one hand. It was of no bother though, it was her own doing and in actuality she held the idea of doing so as both a necessity and also a way of life.  

"You know how I trust your instinct, General Hawkeye. I think this situation is serious enough that none other than the two of us should go and investigate it at once. We're leaving."  

Yes, she knew that well enough, and it was a matter she was certainly thankful for, it often times made things so much easier for her that he gave her such trust. His exuberance to the matter though left her slightly disproving (was this such an unusual occurrence from her though? Not really), he most certainly saw this as a chance to escape the oh so evil clutches of his paperwork… Well it would be there for him when he got back. Besides, she agreed with his words. There was something terribly wrong here, and if it did involve the military then how did they know who else to trust but each other? Yes, she most certainly agreed with her superior officer, and was grateful that he gave trust enough for her to follow up a mere rumour. “Yessir.” She stated with her usual sharpness. “That was a thought that had occurred to myself also, and if indeed the military is indeed involved it is possible we may not be able to trust others with the matter.” True enough it was good to be getting back into the field once more, even if it was for a rather grim pretence. Whilst it was certainly pleasant to have little risk of having a homunculus spear you, eat you, or some other such attack, it did admittedly get somewhat dull sat day in day out (even if the reasoning was to continue in the betterment of Amestris).
 
Rolling her eyes slightly at his somewhat immature gesture of flicking off the lights she frowned slightly before following. Of course that was all she could have done, any who’d expected her to do anything different would have been sorely mistaken. Riza was the kind of woman to show a shear and undying loyalty to those she felt deserved it, for all his flaws the man before her did and always had. Through thick and thin he’d proven himself time and time again, and as long as he continued to do the right thing she’d continue to follow two steps behind. As she presently did. “I take it we will be taking the train?” She gave pause and thought for a moment, though she didn’t have a memory so sharp as Sheska, she did make a point to memorise near anything of importance to her duty, and by luck of luck she’d not long ago filled in a report that did hold regard to the station. “There should be one leaving that will get us most of the way there in roughly half an hours time.” That gave enough time to deal with anything that needed such and also left ample time to get to the station, of course first the Fuhrer would first need to address the issue of leaving note as to where it was they were going and as to why. Gallivanting off was good and all, but when you were the leader of a country you certainly had to at least leave notice… Although… If the military was involved then perhaps that was unwise… Yes, that was unwise, perhaps deceit was in order for this matter.  

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[mustang]

[Hey, I am really sorry about abandoning you there... *guilty look* Please don't hate me? Heh. I am back now - and take your time replying. I certainly did >_<]

Roy listened to Riza as she informed him about the time of the next train, and how it coincided well with what they were trying to achieve. The slightest of smirks pulled at his lips as he listened to her talk - he expected nothing less than for her to already know all of that important information so they would not have to waste time trying to find it when time was something so critical, and more importantly, he would not have to look it up himself. And yet...she still managed to make him feel like he still had the authority to make the final decision in the end, no matter how obvious his choice was going to be. Sometimes, he knew that he took her for granted to always be there, and to be like that for him, but then...he could not see himself changing from that any time soon, either.

"Yes, the train will do nicely," Roy ended up replying simply before his mind shifted into the next object of question - what to do about the fact that they were, quite simply, 'up and leaving' in the middle of the day to investigate something that many would ignore as nothing more than another rumour. He clearly had two options from which to pick from at that point - he could either tell somehow their plans, end up with at least half the military knowing what was going on, and perhaps losing the support of a few others that may learn of his 'spontaneous' decision and less than approve of it. Or, he and Riza could simply disappear, and hope that they were able to return before someone realized they were missing - or better yet, return with evidence that the rumours were true - and still risk losing the approval of some that would learn of his decision because it was 'untrustworthy.'

After weighing the options for a few moments in his head, Roy decided to chose what he saw as a 'middle ground' decision, and though it may not have been the best one...to him, it was the best thing he could think of without standing around and wasting time - and he knew that the decision had to be made by him, not by someone else, like Riza. As they passed her desk, Roy paused for a moment beside his secretary - he was still only beginning to actually use her, having such dark associations with the position of the Fuhrer's secretary from the past - and tapped his fingers impatiently on her desk to get her attention. "General Hawkeye and I have some serious business to attend to," he then said sternly to her surprised expression, "So...take care of things until I get back. Understood?"

Roy didn't wait for an answer, not assuming he could get one from the mousy woman but trusting her enough that she would be able to improvise something. It was better than leaving without any sort of explanation, but at the same time, he and Riza would still have the ally of discretion on their side when they arrived in the town to investigate. As the two of them passed out of the room connected to his office and into the corridor, they passed the saluting guards standing outside his office without a word - Roy made another assumption that they would think this was just another of his typical 'wandering inspections' that he had developed a growing habit of making around the building when he was avoiding his real work - and soon found themselves in an empty corridor, heading for the exit.

"To the train, then!" Roy announced once he was certain that they had a moment of privacy, a bit of his old boyish spark flashing in his dark eye as a grin pulled at his features. It really had been a while since he had been able to do any missions in the field, and even longer since he and Riza had done anything together. He was actually more anxious about the idea than he thought he would be. He then cleared his throat a bit, realizing that his tone may have betrayed his emotions a bit, before adding, "And let's try to be discrete about this, shall we?" He knew that it was a statement that he needed to hear himself more than Riza, but was not about to admit that aloud.

[Okay, that sucked. Sorry, I'm just really tired...promise I'll work harder on the next one >_<]

[hawkeye]

"Yes, the train will do nicely."

Yes, well that really had been the only logical path for them to take, it would after all be the fastest method. It was perhaps the one the would also attract the least attention, unlike a car a train was at least vaguely harder to intercept... However far easier to lay a trap, if this whole thing was just a ruse to bring the fuhrer out into the open then it would be very easy to set up any number of assassins upon the train. Caution, as long as it was used they'd be fine. The pair would just have to make sure that they didn't get ahead of themselves, for Riza that was most certainly easy enough... But Mustang.... Well not so much. As long as she gave compensation to this then things would probably work as they always did, and so far neither of them were dead. So perhaps they were doing at least something right in the grand scheme of things, that or they just had one heck of a lot of dumb luck. Either way it worked, thus she was mildly confident they'd be fine whilst dealing with this matter.

"To the train, then! And let's try to be discrete about this, shall we?"

With a light sigh of amusement she shook her head to it, the exuberance he showed was just so... Boyish, so childish. It held a reminiscence to a child receiving a new toy, they just had to try it out as soon as possible. It was perhaps no bad thing, it was certainly better than having him wallow in guilt as he'd so often done before. Perhaps he was moving on, letting go of his demons. She couldn't say yet, this matter was something that only time would determine within its being. Though in all she did feel that he should use more self restraint for the moment, at least until they'd left the building and could actually ensure that there was no one who may be sticking their nose where it was not wanted. Right now, with all the suspicions she had going through that head of hers, she really didn't feel that yelling about their plans was such a good idea. It really did have the potential to make things worse, if someone knew of what was happening it was possible that a trap could be set. There were after all many people who would love to remove Roy Mustang from power. Yes, it was a possibility that this was a trap, Riza was though well enough prepared for such an outcome, and as long as those reflexes of hers hadn't dulled and the fuhrer didn't do anything stupid it should be fine... Should... “Of course sir,” she stated, sharp as ever.

To his comment about being discrete though she couldn't help but feel a key word needed to be changed. “I presume that by 'we' you mean 'I'...” Riza was all for being discrete, it made her life so much easier, attention was not something she craved. Mustang however seemed a magnet for attention, he managed to make himself stand out without actually intending to, which wasn't a particularly good habit in the stoic blond's opinion. One day, one day it was probably going to get him into more trouble than either of them could handle, and then he'd be well and truly sunk. He really did need to listen to his own words, and to it all she was more than happy to make him do so. Forcibly should the need to do so arise. She was perhaps one of the only people, if not the only person, who the fuhrer would actually take an order or insult from. It was strange certainly, but something born of necessity. Time and time again it had been shown that when he failed to listen things tended to go badly, the whole Scar in the rain incident was a fine example. That had been one of the closest calls he'd had, it wasn't something she was actually looking to repeat if truth be told.

As they arrived within the small town it seemed repetition was to be the case, though to different matter. The place was ransacked, ruined, destroyed... The buildings had been reduced to rubble in some cases leaving nothing but remnants of a life once lived, lives that had no doubt been lost and would never carry forth again. What the hell had happened...? Riza didn't know, she just didn't understand how this could have happened, this country had been changing for the better... But now... Now this, now everything seemed to be going backwards, all that pain from the past was now being repeated... How could this have happened right under their noses?! This shouldn't be how it was, there should have been children playing in the street, Mustang should have been scolding her for wasting time, she'd been right though. Of all the things she had to be correct upon why did this have to be one of them? In honesty she'd have given near anything to have been proven wrong in this matter.

The emotions the seeing this place wrought within her was something like a typhoon, rage was most certainly the primary feeling... But there were others. There was worry, pity, dismay, and perhaps even fear. Had she been one for revenge there she'd have most surely taken it upon herself to set out upon the war path, she didn't though, revenge just created circle of hate and in honesty she didn't want that. Despite the angered thoughts though everything about her remain alert and impassive, looking for all the world unfazed by the mindless destruction that had so obviously occurred here. There was something though that stopped the ever stoic woman in her tracks, it was something that momentarily broke the floodgates to her emotions. A child's toy, one soaked with the crimson liquid that should never be outside of a living body. “How did this happen right underneath us?!” She cried out, every part of her tensing for a brief time before she allowed herself to relax back into that ever vigilant state of hers. “It makes no sense that this should be happening now,” she stated with tones once more blank.

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[mustang]

Roy chose to ignore Riza's correction about just who he had been referring to when he was talking about the two of them being discreet, basically pretending either that he had not heard her - or that she had not said anything at all. He had pretty much meant what he had said, and though he was serious about it, at the same time...it was a typical Roy statement. In the back of his mind, though, Roy knew that the time to be serious was close at hand as they subtly left the building - he keeping his mouth shut for once, following his own orders, if only to spite was Riza had said in some small way - and he remained fairly quiet even on the train journey.

The reason behind his uncanny silence? Well, after taking a short nap at the beginning of the journey, Roy's legs comfortably sprawled out and taking up a rather obnoxiously large amount of the cabin - did he do it on purpose? Maybe - he found himself lost in his thoughts as he watched the countryside pass by. It was true, yes, that the original reason that he had agreed so quickly with Riza that the rumour should be investigated was that he wanted to get away from Central for a bit, and avoid the large amount of paperwork that just seemed to keep getting more and more backed up. However, now that he was away from Central, his mind was turning more towards what his real motives should be...and what they truly were, when he looked beyond the surface. It was true that Riza's intuition was often correct, he had not just been saying that, and he had a bad feeling that she was going to be right again - even if he wanted her to be wrong for this particular issue. What could an attack that destroyed an entire village like this mean? Someone inside the military...? Or could it even be, he dared to remember them, creatures like homonculi...?

When the two of them arrived at the town – or what used to be a town – they stopped near the outskirts, taking in the entire scene. Roy’s gaze quickly scanned the destruction before him, taking in the destroyed buildings and the bodies of those who had been so brutally killed. It looked like the entire town had been ransacked by whoever was responsible, and just the men, but the women and children as well. Roy’s face was blank, but the look in his eye was dark as he considered the reality of what had happened. A countless number of lives had been destroyed – people that probably had looked t him for protection as their leader, at least in some small way. And yet, which he had been relaxing in his office, they had been slaughtered. No warning, and no mercy – just…murdered.

For a brief moment, Roy was unable to suppress his memories before they returned to Ishbal, and everything that he had seen there – though this town was considerably smaller, the damage and death were exactly the same. He could still see the bodies laying in the streets there beneath buildings that had been cherished as homes, now either ablaze or already destroyed…and this scene…it was just so similar to that, it felt so familiar…Roy quickly shook his head, knowing that living in those dark memories would not help him solve the current problem, and it was one that he knew needed to be dealt with – and quickly. He glanced towards Riza when he heard her unusual outburst, yet said nothing. There was nothing that could be said, because she had spoken the truth – how had this happened right under their very noses? If this was something from within the military…well, he knew he would have to deal with that if it came to it.

Instead, Roy placed a steadying hand on Riza’s shoulder, his grip on her firm, but still somehow gentle. “Let’s search for any survivors first of all,” he then said, careful to keep his tones showing nothing but confidence and ease, even though his thoughts and feelings were far from that, “And then try to figure out just what happened here. Be wary – the culprits could still be nearby. They might be expecting company.” With those words, he gave her shoulder a quick squeeze, his fingers brushing past her neck as he began to walk forward into the town, careful to heed his own warning and keeping his eyes open for anything while picking his steps carefully through the rubble. He trusted Riza to watch his weak side and his back – he had always trusted her with his very life before, but with his eye destroyed, he relied on her more than ever in situations like this one.

[hawkeye]

If this had happened once then what was to say it wouldn't again, it was possible that it already had happened at they just didn't know of it. It was possible this was just the beginning, hell, it could even be the middle... Riza knew something though, by god she knew it, this wasn't the end. Life was a chain and this was a link, links within a chain were often the same or similar. To change the chain you needed to take a hammer to it and change to form of the links... This was what Mustang had done what seemed like an eternity ago, he'd managed to entirely remove a link, the fuhrer had been that link. It seemed that now perhaps history was going to need to be repeated in this matter, this couldn't be allowed to happen again... Riza had seen the terribly devastating effects of similar events, she'd played her own part in them. She'd not allow for it to happen again, and a part of her knew that Mustang wouldn't either. The matter of the fact was though that they'd not wanted for this to happen, and yet it had. True enough it was rumored the military was behind this but it was possible that it was a group posing as such, that or this was just a repetition of Ishbal where it had all been instigated by a homunculus. They were dead though.... At least... She hoped so...

“Let’s search for any survivors first of all.”

Feeling the reassuring hand on her shoulder she sighed slightly, he was right. She was doing the terribly foolish thing of looking simply to the worst of a situation, seeing this place she had immediately come to the conclusion that there could be no survivors here. How grim of her. She was most surely entitled to her mistakes in thought though, it was a matter that had rectified though. Despite it appearing that it was only she that acted as the support between the two he often did exactly the same for her, without she he would be dead, and without him she'd have long since given up. Saying something wasn't always the key to pulling someone up, sometimes simply being there was all that was needed. Rubbing the back of her neck for a moment she gave a slow nod to what he said, though didn't yet speak knowing that it was very probable that he was going to say something, and it was very likely to be important. True he did have his moments of childish exuberance, as shown by his desperation to leave central, but he knew well enough when he was to be serious [though to be honest if she had it her way he'd be serious all of the time, someday she'd kick his backside into gear].

“And then try to figure out just what happened here. Be wary – the culprits could still be nearby. They might be expecting company.”

Nodding to him again she followed him as the hand was removed, he was indeed hitting the nail upon its head in this matter. Indeed the latter end to his statement was a thought that was nagging at her, it had been for a while. “Yes of course...” She said thoughtfully, obviously with every intention of continuing in a matter. “Though it may actually be company they are hoping for, specifically yours.” With a frown she continued to survey the are about them, careful to pay particular diligence to areas Mustang was weaker in. “This place would be a perfect place to set up an assassination attempt,” she stated flatly. “And I dare say they've had enough time to set something up if that is the goal.” She frowned and mentally scolded herself [not something uncommon for the stoic blond], how could she have been so damn foolish? She should have insisted upon bringing backup, even if it was just Havoc and the others. If anything were to go wrong here it would be her fault and hers alone, as such she was going to have to ensure that absolutely nothing went wrong. Or at least, she'd ensure she was the one to take the fall.

Trudging forward behind her raven-haired superior she continued to scan the area, looking for some small semblance of hope amongst all the death and destruction. Thus far she'd found nothing, it pained her terribly though she made no notion of showing it, hiding everything from the world was something she was pretty darn good at. Something's though are not so good at keeping secrets, it seemed the shadows here couldn't mask all. Though thankfully it was just a dog rattling around in the debris of the place, probably looking for food. It wouldn't hold that much shock if the mutt had been attracted by the scent of blood. Hmph, it seemed that once dead you were considered as nothing, only ever living on through memories which would be lost at some point. Of course she knew that already, but this event was just a stark reminder of something she'd rather forget but knew she never would. Turning back to scanning the are she couldn't help but wonder what had actually gone on here, it looked like a damn hurricane had hit it. “Do you think this could have been caused by them?” She asked after a moment, them obviously in reference to the vile race known as homunculus.

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[mustang]

Roy heard Riza's warnings that the company whoever might lay in the shadows was waiting for could very well be him, but he simply threw up his hand in a dismissive manner, not stopping his forward progress. However, though he showed that confidence on the outside to the blonde, her warning made him start thinking on the inside. He knew that there were a lot of people in Amestris that did not like him nor respect him as Fuhrer. It was true that he had gained the respect of most of the military, and it was behind that power that he had gained the office, but when it came to the actual citizens of the country...well, they were not so easily convinced that the young soldier held the qualifications of leading their country. And like in every government system, someone was always left unhappy - Roy knew it was only a matter of time before the unhappy people became violent towards him.

And it was at those times that Roy was grateful for the strong foundation he had under him, General Hawkeye not being the least of those. He knew in the back of his mind that the woman would probably be willing to give her life for him, but that was not something that he liked to recognize or really even consider - if he could help it, she would never have to. However, it did feel good knowing that he had at least gained some level of loyalty with other people, and that his most loyal companion was currently covering his weak side as he picked his way through the debris, his eye scanning every shadow for possible danger, or someone that might have survived the obvious massacre. All the while, Roy kept telling himself that this couldn't possibly have been a trap sent for him, because he assumed that whoever had done this would never have considered the Fuhrer himself coming to inspect the damage first, or that if he did, he would come with only one other person. It was what was giving him the confidence to continue to move forward deeper into the town, despite the black void that halved his vision on one side.

Riza's next question, however, caused a frown to crease across the raven-haired man's face. She did not have to say the word for him to know what she meant by 'they' - homunculi. It was made even more unsettling because of his own similar thoughts that those awful creatures could have returned. He lightly touched the patch covering his eye for a moment at the memory before quickly shaking his head, trying to scatter the visions of the face of the old Fuhrer coming at him out of the darkness and flames, smiling, swinging his sword wildly....they were images he saw in his nightmares, and not ones he wanted to see during his waking hours as well. The man he had reported to for so long, a homunculi. That was another reason why Roy was having trouble gaining the trust of the citizens - though they of course did not know the full scope of what had happened, news had managed to leak out that it was Roy who had slain the old Fuhrer. News that he had tried to suppress, but had been unsuccessful. It was far from helping his case.

"Let's not jump to conclusions, General," Roy then said calmly, glancing over his shoulder at the woman for a moment and offering the quickest of grins before turning his attention forward, serious once again. "More than likely, this is just a group of rebels looking for attention and blood. And they seem to have found both - we can't let them be successful again."

As the pair drew closer and closer the town's centre, the carnage and debris around them grew thicker. Roy pulled a handkerchief from the pocket of his uniform trousers, holding it over his nose to try to fight off the stench and not let it become distracting to his attention, but he forced his gaze to linger on every body he saw, looking for any sign of life. Thus far, they had been unsuccessful in that search. Suddenly, a bit of colour caught Roy's eye, and he veered off of his path, kneeling near one of the corpses and digging in the dirt a bit with his gloved hand. When he brought his hand back up to his eye, a small, red crystal-like rock lay in the centre of his flat palm. His gaze immediately snapped up to meet Riza's as his fist closed around the rock tightly, a frown evident on his face as his eye narrowed.

"That had better be nothing more than a bad coincidence," Roy stated firmly, though his tone showed his seriousness. Inside of him, something was screaming that everything was starting over, and that everything was going to end for the worst again, and that this time he would lose more than his eye. But Roy silenced those thoughts as best he could, having had years of practise, and kept his cool. "Keep looking, General Hawkeye. I'm trusting that sharp sight of yours to find something more solid." With that, he rose once again, brushing past Riza as he continued to press into the city, his determination showing in his deliberate strides.