AN: I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist. This is the first non-one shot that I've ever done, so, if my lack of experience with how chapters flow is apparent, please forgive. Enjoy.

'It's too much blood.'

That's what Roy thought when he saw Riza lying on the ground, her eyes closed and her abdomen bleeding profusely. Blood, her blood, was everywhere. It stained her uniform and the ground beneath her, streaking the dirt with a deep crimson color that would forever be imprinted in Roy's mind. This blood was worse than any blood he had ever had to see.

That was because this blood was supposed to be in the body of the person that he cared about the most in this world. It was supposed to be keeping her alive, not saturating the ground.

Roy found it impossible that one single person could have so much of that sickening red fluid in their body to spill. Yet, there was her's. It was her's alone that spilled and spread.

He kneeled down beside Riza and placed a hand on her check, ever so gently, like she was a fragile vase or a work of art. Roy found it ironic that his murderous hands could even be capable of being so gentle, even toward this woman that he loved so much. He thought, fleetingly, that maybe it was the law of equivalent exchange, or something similar to it, at work. Since his hands had hurt her in the past, even if it was with her consent, his hands could also be used to impart a tender gesture onto her.

"Lieutenant, you need to open your eyes! Please, show me that you're still here. That you can hear me. I'm not going to let you die, lieutenant! Riza," Roy added softly, the desperation that had been slowly creeping up his body finally overcoming him. "Please, Riza. I need you to open your eyes."

For a moment, Roy thought that is was too late. That Riza had already died and that he was begging to a corpse at that point. For a moment, his world- a world whose future had always included Riza- fell apart around him.

It was only for a moment, though. In the next moment, something happend that made Roy know that his pleas hadn't been in vain.

In the next moment, Riza Hawkeye opened her eyes.