Disclaimer: Fullmetal Alchemist obviously doesn't belong to me. This story is clearly an AU but I hope it'll be enjoyable. This is also my first fic. This will not follow the dates in the actual manga so the dates I listed are made up. Someone had asked so I wanted to mention it. Yeah... :D Please point out any mistakes. I'm still working on that one. Thank you! :D

December 16th, 1999. The Northern Amestris: Briggs Military base.

Commanding Officer: Brigadier General Olivier Mira Armstrong

"May I sit here?" A brown haired woman asks a soldier, who is sitting on an isolated corner near a window in the mess hall. The soldier doesn't respond but she scoots over to allow the older woman to sit beside her. "Thank you." The brown hair woman hands the soldier a Styrofoam cup filled with hot chocolate.

"I'm Trisha Elric. Aren't you cold?" Trisha Elric is curious about the lone soldier by the corner. The soldier is not wearing the proper attire for this kind of weather.

It is in the middle of December and a snow storm is wreaking havoc outside the military base. The temperature inside the base is inhumanely frigid.

The soldier is just wearing the blue soldier issued uniform with a thin white cloak over it. She coaxes the soldier to take the hot drink and after a few minutes, the soldier finally gives in. The soldier mutters a thank you.

"You're quite welcome. So what is your name Miss…?" Trisha is still attempting to converse with the mute soldier. The soldier gives her a laconic answer. "Hawkeye" Trisha smiles. She can't see the soldier's face because her face is concealed by a hood.

"Miss Hawkeye, You haven't moved an inch from this spot for over two hours. Is there someone you are waiting for?" Hawkeye doesn't answer back. She turns her head away from the window but doesn't turn her head fully towards the nosy woman. "Is there something you need?" The soldier's tone is cold, and despondent.

"No not really. I thought you might just want some company." Her sweet smile still lingered on her lips. The young soldier doesn't say anything. "You should get something to eat." There is no response. "Hey Nurse, Hawkeye ain't gonna talk to you." A passerby commented. "The broad doesn't know how." Another soldier snickered.

Hawkeye doesn't acknowledge the smart alecks. "Excuse me. If you have nothing better to say, don't say it all." The older woman is scolding them like she would a child. The men give a small apology and walks away. "Why would they say that to you?" The silence between them continues. "I can tell you don't really care what they say about you." Trisha stands up. "If you want anyone to talk to, please don't hesitate to ask for me. Most of the soldiers here know who I am and know where I am most of the time." She points in a room across the mess hall that has the medical cross sign on top of the metallic door.

Trisha gives the soldier a motherly pat on the head.

"Thank you." The young Hawkeye says.

"You're quite welcome."

May 1st, 2005. Briggs Airport. Departure area.

"Thank you for everything." Hawkeye gives the older woman an awkward smile. She had received a parchment containing her transferal to the Eastern military base. She is disappointed about her move but orders are orders.

She is even more saddened because over the course of six years, the two women had become good friends. However, no matter how forlorn she became, she would never show it on her face.

She holds out her hand for a handshake but Trisha bursts into tears and embraces the soldier. At their feet are two little boys with blonde hair looking expectantly at the soldier with their cute and childish hazels eyes. They're clutching their mother's brown skirt. "Boys, say goodbye to Riza." The older boy, Edward lifts his hand towards his forehead and gives her a clumsy salute. His younger brother, Alphonse mimics his older brother. "Bye Bye Hawkie." Riza used to correct the younger Elric but stopped because she grew to like the nickname the boy had given her.

Hawkeye returns it. "Goodbye Elric brothers. Be good." She gathers her things and heads inside the departure room in the airport.

"Riza!" Trisha calls out. "Thank you!" She screams. She is worried that her friend didn't hear her. Her two boys is waving and jumping.

Riza hears the two words and simply say "You're quite welcome."

March 4th, 2009 Eastern Amestris military base: The border to Ishval.

Commanding Officer: General Greg Raven

Shortly after Hawkeye's transferal, she was thrown in a three year war between Ishval and Amestris.

"I have orders from the President himself to clear the area of any hostiles. Nobody gets out of their alive." General Raven emphasized the word "nobody". He struts in front of his soldiers with his second in command trailing behind him.

"We must let these Ishvalian scum see the prospects of their rebellion towards our great country. They've broken the treaty of peace between the two countries. We must not let any more of our people suffer." The General raises his sword. "We must not show fear! This will end this year! For Amestris! " He ends his speech and all of the soldiers in the room raises their guns and screams out a battle cry. "For Amestris!"

When the General exit the cramp tent, the soldiers begin their preparations to assemble their belongings and brace themselves for the last onslaught of this extensive war. Their morale has increased from the small speech their general had given them.

"Hey LT. That's the first time I've seen General Raven. Scary man isn't he?" 2nd Lieutenant Jean Havoc sits beside his friend. Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye shrugs nonchalantly and continues polishing her gun.

"I don't think I like the idea of killing children. I hope we don't see any." He lights up his cigarette and inhales noisily. Normally Riza would flick the disgusting stick off of his mouth but she can tell he is nervous enough. "I hope we don't see any. " He repeats.

"You know we will. Just don't shoot at the child." She switches her polishing to a sniper rifle. "Easy for you to say. You'll be in one of the towers, away from danger. I hafta be out there. What if the kid has a gun? Do I choose his life or mine?" She fixes the scope and peers into it.

"Yes" The cigarette drops from his mouth. "Yes to what? My life or the child?" She slings the rifle on her back and glances at her friend's apprehensive face. "Think about it, Jean." She gathers the rest of her weapons and heads outside. Like him, she is not in favor of killing a young life.

March 9th, 2009. Ishvalian Central Hostile Zone. 2:35 am

Commanding Officer: Lieutenant Colonel Solf J. Kimblee

This war needed to end.

She scans the area through her scope. 235 kills. She pulls the trigger. That is now 236 kills. So far, most of the Ishvalians she had shot was a soldier. Even if that is case, she would always remember their faces.

The tower that she resides in overlooks all of Ishval. General Raven gave her and another sniper the privilege of one of the three towers that surrounds Central Ishval. The tower they're in is the highest of the three. 237.238. Her reputation as the "Hawk's eye" had caught the attention of the old General. 239.

Dead soldiers, both Amestrisian and Ishvalians alike are scattered around the bloody terrain. The buildings and houses are abandoned; the blood-soaked field is only filled with distant and faint cries of pain and terror. Far-off to the east, explosions can be heard from the tower.

"Man Lieutenant. You can just hear the Kimblee having fun with 'em explosives. You'd think they're just water balloons the way he's throwing 'em." She says nothing to her blonde hair cadet. "Lieutenant, when was the last time you've slept?" His southern accent is thick and it takes awhile to understand.

Bags are under her eyes from the lack of sleep. She can't sleep. How can she sleep? Riza keeps up her aloofness and shoots another Ishvalian man running with a stick of dynamite towards a group of her allied soldiers. 240. By now, the Ishvalian soldiers are scarce and only the desperate would make a move.

A movement towards the distance to her right catches her eyes. She looks through her scope to take a closer look. A woman is running and with her are two children. The soldiers are in the vicinity of the small frantic family.

"I noticed something. Stay here." She gives the order and doesn't wait to hear her cadet's protest. She furtively runs behind the damaged buildings and hope the other soldiers don't take notice. Relief washes over her when she sees the same family sheltering themselves in an abandoned shack.

She quietly knocks on the door. "I won't hurt you."

To appease the nerves of hers and Havoc, they made a promise that they would quickly kill only hostile Ishvalian soldiers and attempt to help the innocents and defenseless. As long as they don't get caught, it'll be fine she told her smoking friend. They wouldn't prolong their suffering. That is the best that they could do.

She knocks again but this time the older woman cautiously opens the door. Riza smiles friendly at the Ishvalian woman. She is not armed. The lieutenant shows the anxious woman the only weapon, which are two revolvers inside of her uniform and throws them beside the house. "If my plan was to hurt you, I would've done so already." The woman lets her in. The two boys are hiding under a veiled table and cast a suspicious glare at the soldier.

"You should move somewhere else. There are soldiers nearby. This isn't a safe place for you to sleep in." The woman stares at her with accusing red eyes. "There isn't a safe place to sleep anywhere. If you want to end our lives, do so quickly." Riza eyes the woman's children. They remind her of the Elric brothers.

"No, I do not. I just wanted to warn you." She presents a pack of provisions to the woman. "That is all I can do. Be gone by sunrise. The soldiers will be patrolling this area." The lieutenant leaves, hoping that the mother will listen to her warning. Nowhere is safe but she knows a mother will be able to do anything to keep her children safe.

The lieutenant picks up her weapons and returns to the tower an hour later.

"Where'd ya go Lieutenant Hawkeye?" Her excuse is that she went to the bathroom. "Well whatever. Lieutenant Colonel Kimblee just radioed in earlier. He ordered us to go to the central plaza of Ishval. We gotta reconvene with the other snipers." He hands her the earpiece she had left earlier. "Don't forget this LT. It can save your life."

March 9th 2009 Ishvalian Central Plaza. 12:17 pm.

Most of the snipers are stationed at the rooftops. Riza mentions that she has never seen this many snipers in one place. "We're not hidden. Why are we here?" She asks another soldier and he casually responds. "I heard this is where most of the citizens of Ishval are hidings. The leader of Ishval had already surrendered. We just need to take out the rest."

Her eyes widen. "What do you mean surrendered? If that's the case then why do we still need to kill anymore?" A grenade launcher drops beside her noisily. The action startles the soldiers on the roof except for her.

"Because Lieutenant, we need to make a statement. These white haired freaks should've known better than to mess with our country." Lieutenant Solf J. Kimblee forms a sadistic smile on his face. "Besides, it's been boring and we need some excitement around here." He exchanges a different canister of grenades inside of the chamber. "Bang! Bang! Bang! I'm going to love this. Their screams. Their agony. It'll be a sweet melody in my ears." He cries out a psychopathic cackle.

. "But the Ishvalians already issued surrender." Hawkeye confronts the maniac. "There is no need for all this. We've won." Kimblee watches the adjacent building for a signal. "Did the president order this?" He offers no response.

"Lieutenant Colonel, please call off this attack. There is no need for–" He points the same launcher to her face. "Follow your orders Lieutenant. Don't piss me off." She automatically points her gun to him.

"Or you'll what sir." All eyes are watching her. She knows he won't fire. If he does, then everyone in the whole rooftop will be killed, including him. "Such bold moves but follow your orders woman. Don't ask questions. I hate it when a woman asks questions." She grits her teeth. She is not for one to disobey a superior's order but this…when the Ishvalians had raised the white flag. Was this not a merciful and amiable country?

She takes her position on the edge of the roof. "Very good." A light blinks from the near building. "On my mark men." Everyone puts on their masks. Kimblee poses his launcher towards the central plaza. Three grenades launch out from it and others from the rest of the high buildings follow his attack.

Soon, the lower levels are overrun with the heinous gas. The Ishvalians runs outside the buildings there were hiding in. All are coughing, screaming, yelling, pleading, groaning. In a few minutes all of them will be dead. The white gas is traveling higher and higher up the buildings.

"Fire" Kimblee launches a few more grenades then looks at the Riza. "Fire, Lieutenant." She makes no move to lift up her rifle. She stands up and swayed a bit. She isn't wearing a mask. "Write me down for insubordination if you want. I will not do it." She clumsily traipses towards the exit. Her vision is blurry but she is stubborn. She doesn't want to do this anymore. She doesn't want to kill anymore. Why is she doing this?

Then her world falls into darkness.

March 10th 2009 Conquered Ishvalian zone: Medical tent.

The attack on the rest of Ishval was over. The rest of the survivors were executed. No one was spared, not even the children. The medical tent is filled with inured or dying soldiers. In one of the corners of the enormous tent is Riza, lying on a bed with eyes wide open contemplating what she had done earlier on the roof. On one hand, she made her statement but on the other she did raise her weapon to her superior and disobeyed his orders.

Dread crept up to her when he visited her just moments ago.

He gave her three options. The first one was that he tells the President that she is an Ishvalian sympathizer. She would be killed.

The second one was to discharge her from the military. Neither Kimblee nor the President has any need for disobedient soldiers with a mind of their own. He would not say anything about her actions but he'll make up another excuse so she'll be discharged no matter what. "Aren't I a kind man? If you want, I'll even throw an honorable discharge your way." His fiendish smile intensified. He thought up his third option and liked it.

"The third one will be for you to stay in the military, be promoted to Major, and the knowledge of your disobedience will even be forgotten." He chuckled perversely. "But you have to eternally pledge your allegiance to me. You must pledge your whole body to me." Kimblee liked that idea. She'd rather die.

"I'll give till tomorrow to make you decision." He left with a cocky grin lingering on his face.

Riza sits up. She will face the consequences of her actions. She doesn't regret her them.

She looks to her right and sees the unconscious Havoc over by next bed. She inspects the blood-stained sheet that hides his body and walks sluggishly to his cot.

"Hey Jean, you alive?" He opens his heavy eyelids. "Barely." She questions his injuries. "Some Ishval rebel sneaked behind me and stabbed me with some sharp homemade weapon." He coughs. He tries to move his body but the pain is excruciating. "Careful Jean."

Havoc rakes his spiked blonde hair with his good hand. "I can't feel my legs." He starts to ruefully laugh. "This is going to ruin my whole day." She holds his hand as she watches her friend silently weep himself to sleep.

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