Let's steer away from the angst a little bit, shall we? It's my first time doing something like this and I hope you guys like it! 3

"Are you prepared to face the consequences for your crimes, Mustang?"

Roy wanted to chuckle, not only at the weight of the question, but the severity in her voice. Something about the familiar face bearing down on him with her stoic gaze froze him. There was no doubt she'd rehearsed that line, waiting for this moment.

Next to the her, the First Lady sat with a concerned look after giving her testimony against him. Her arm must've surely been twisted to take the stand as witness to his transgressions. But for how long that she couldn't tell him? The Honorable Judge Mallory had allowed Riza to testify against him, as his wife. Several pieces of this didn't add up. From the height, he wondered, was it easier to judge people if you're looking down on them? His chest rose with a deep inhale. "I'm not prepared. I'm not ready."

She crossed her arms, humming pensively as she nodded in her chair. "Too bad. Because what you did is really bad."

"How bad?" He asked her, leaning forward towards her from across the decorated room. "It can't be that bad."

He touched a nerve. The judge gasped, "Are you kidding me?"

Roy shifted back in his chair and met her glare, noticing her tightened the grip on her gravel.

"Just for that I sentence you to eat not just your veggies, but my veggies too." She mashed her toy mallet down with a squeak.

Roy raised his eyebrows in surprise to his daughter-turned-judge, laughter intermingled as he spoke. "You can't do that."

"I can!" She stood up on the chair with a wobble. Her arms extended towards up the ceiling with her toy mallet still in her left hand. "And I will!"

Roy lifted her off the chair and the child began to immediately squirm and wriggle about.

"The guilty must confess or everyone dies!" She exclaimed as she squeaked her "gravel" against the nearest wall. "Order - in - the- courtroom!"

He turned to Riza when he finally was able to hold her from falling out of his grip. His wife had a palm to her face as she shook her head. "Have you been reading to her again?"

Riza's shoulders began to lift and fall with chuckle, her head lifted to expose her humored expression. "I can assure you, I haven't read to her any literature that has to do with law. Perhaps she overhears your radio stories?"

"But those only come on late at-" The Fuhrer turned to the suddenly quiet girl in his arms whose eyes of scarlet red wandered curiously away from his. "Have you been sneaking out of bed at night?"

The words that followed gave him a strange sense of pride. "Yes Papa, but only to spend some time with you."

She was coy, this wasn't the first time using the line. Her outright honesty always amused him. A soft chuckle came from Riza and laughter of his own wasn't far away. The grin that erupted almost earned her leniency. He set her down. "Is that why you wanted to put me on trial for eating your secret stash of candy that you shouldn't have had in the first place?"

She swayed innocently with her arms behind her. "That wasn't the point, Papa."

He nodded and hummed contemplatively, crossing his arms at her. In that moment, Roy realized where she had gotten that from earlier during his trial. He could see Riza completely enthralled by their daughter's theatrics. "Then tell me what is the point?"

She swiveled to look at her mother with twin silver braids swinging, mirroring her turn. Riza offered a raised eyebrow and when she turned back, she smiled widely at him. "You didn't share with Mommy."

Roy's balled up first went to his hips and he lowered himself to her level. "You mean to tell me you colluded with your mother? That this was all rigged?"

She gasped with feigned surprise, "No!" And after a moment, her shoulders fell. "Okay, yes."

He snatched the toy hammer from her and stood tall in front of her. "Then I sentence you to eat half of my own veggies." The toy squeaked from the top of her head and he could see her begin to form an argument in her tiny head. "This judge will hear no more, go play in your room while I deal with you mother."

Her brow fell flat with frustration but she listened and he watched her as she scuttled away.

"You were more than welcome to step in at any point." He turned on the balls of his feet towards the woman left in the room, sitting crossed legged in the chair and donning a pleasant smile on her face.

Her brown eyes moved from the hall Mallory had left through towards him. "No, no. I think you handled that with grace and mercy, your Excellency."

He walked to her, placing the toy hammer in his back pocket. "A corrupt judge - understandable. But a corrupt witness? That's unforgivable with harsher punishment. You rehearsed her too."

She laughed with mirth in her eyes. "You heard her, she wanted to spend more time with you."

"That still doesn't prove you are innocent." Roy leaned in on her, trapping her between his arms as they rested at the backs of her chairs.

She raised an eyebrow, "Does this somehow get you-?"

"Mama, Papa!"

The sudden cry pulled him out of whatever mood he was in and Riza jolted out of her seat. In unison, they began to dart out of the living room, but she came around with her arms out in front of her with tears at the corners of her eyes.

"I think I killed him." She said with a quiver in her voice.

"Oh no. That's so sad. What happened?" The First Lady took the dead fish out of her hands as Roy handed her a cloth to wrap it in.

Mallory began slowly. "I accidentally stepped on him."

"Accidentally? What was your foot doing in his fishbowl?"

She wiped the tear in her eyes with the back of her hand as he wiped them clean. "It wasn't."

"Then how did he get on the floor?"

"I put him there."

"And then what happened?"

"I tripped while I was trying to flap with him and then when I moved my foot, he wasn't flapping anymore."

He exhaled and his head hung. The amount of mischief the little girl managed to do reminded him of himself, tangling herself in a near-exact situation under the Madame's care. If he didn't know any better, he'd swear they were biologically related. And yet after three and a half years, she was as good as his own.

Roy looked at her sternly. "When we got him what was one of the first things we said?"

She looked down, crestfallen. "That he's not like Hayate or Nikkō and he needs to stay in the bowl."

"Did he?"

She shook her head.

"Do you want to stand trial?"

His girl was silent, but she shook her head again.

"Does the guilty confess?"

She nodded slowly.

He patted the top of her head, bringing some strands , "Then it's settled. Let's give him a proper funeral in the bathroom."

Heavily inspired by Yotsuba& and that one scene from Kill Bill!