I haven't done a oneshot in a while...so, I present you this...oneshot! X3 Got the idea from the movie Freedom Writers. A part completely reminded me of Riza, so peresto, new oneshot. Moving on!
Disclaimer: FMA and Riza dun belong to me...and like, I also dun own a gun...cuz I aint psycho or nuttin. -nods-
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Riza stared down blankly at a small concrete tombstone, the grave covered with fresh white tulips. What the grave read:
Mary McKenna
1865-1872
"A wonderful daughter and a great friend."
A slight breeze started blowing, making her blonde hair waft around her face as her amber eyes glazed over, filling with tears and unwanted memories.
-
Riza hated it when her friend cried. It made her feel horrible, that she failed to protect her. Once again, her and her friend Mary had been jumped by a bully and her gang. The leader, Olivia Banks, had obviously sworn to make Mary's life a living hell.
"It'll get better, okay? Someday, you won't be made fun of anymore." Riza smiled reassuringly, patting her friend on the back.
The other 7 year old girl, sniffled through her tears. She was a small girl, freckled and tanned by the summer sun. Her hair was a dirty red color, pulled up into a short ponytail and her eyes were a dark brown, wide and upset. "I'm sorry..." She whispered.
"For what? It's not your fault." Riza responded.
"I always get you hurt, just 'cause you try and help me."
"I want to help you. I don't like my friend getting hurt." Riza stood up, wincing at a bruise on her leg. "And it's fine anyway, I dion't mind it much."
"Someday, I swear it, Olivia's gonna get what she deserves! I'll make it so she can't bully no one!" Mary muttered, getting to her feet and pulling at her lip which was still slightly bleeding.
"Can't wait when that happens..."
-
Riza slammed into the hard brick wall, sliding down it and moaning, her hands tight around her bruised stomach. Sounds of her friend screaming came from in front of her, as she tried to stand up but was met with a shot of pain.
"Riza! Riza, help me!" Mary was wailing.
A big looking girl, tall and gangly smirked at her, her short black hair clinging to her face in close-set bangs, her cold icicle eyes a deep blue. "Learn to fight for your own damn self!" She shouted, as another one of her gang grabbed her from behind and held her steady as Olivia punched her.
"No..." Riza struggled harder to get up, but failed, slumping where she sat.
-
Riza groaned, rubbing the half healed marks on her face as she looked for her friend. She had gotten a call from Mary, telling her to meet in the alley far from both of their homes.
She finally spotted her, waving her over from one corner of the alley. She was holding a small bundle of cloth in her hand, guarding it with her hands and looking nervous.
Riza ran over, smiling. "Hi Mary!"
"Look Riza…I know I shouldn't have this, but this is a way that no one would try and hurt us anymore, no…" Mary whispered quickly, motioning her closer.
Riza blinked. "What is it?" She asked cautiously.
Mary smiled slightly in response, starting to unwrap the cloth slowly. Riza gasped as what was revealed was…a gun.
"Mary…we…we can't use that!" Her voice came out frantic as she stared at the cold, hard metal of the black gun.
"We won't have to! Not really anyway, we'll just use it to threaten Olivia and her gang." Mary carefully lifted the gun, fingering around it. "We just need to practice…to get good at it."
Riza took a step back, her eyes fixed on the gun. "We can't! Only killers use guns, what if we go to jail!?"
"Riza, you have to trust me." Mary's brown eyes softened, looking down at the gun, examining it, turning it around in her hand. "We'll have to be careful, I heard this type is-" She never got to finish, as the gun set off with a loud bang.
"Mary!" Riza screamed.
She coughed, the gun dropping onto the floor. She fell to her knees, her hands over the bullet wound in her stomach. She started shrieking in pain. "Ah! Riza, help me! It hurts!"
Riza backed away, just staring hard at her, unaware of the scream coming out of her own mouth. She quickly gathered her senses, knowing that time was ticking away at her life, dropping to her side, fiddling around with her hands, completely unsure on what to do.
Mary kept shrieking, stopping only to occasionally cough roughly, blood sometimes splattering out of her mouth.
"Gotta get you to a hospital…" Riza yelled, grabbing her around the arm, trying to pull her to her feet. Mary protested, continuing to scream until Riza finally yelled at her to be quiet. "I'm gonna save you, just hold on, okay?"
She whimpered, nodding slightly. Riza pulled her onto her back, wincing at the pour of warm crimson blood down her back. Hesitating, she quickly bent down to pick up the gun.
"Leave it!" Mary hissed out, wincing.
"We can't, what if someone else finds it?" She replied, clutching hard to the gun. She looked around quickly, then ran as fast as she possibly could without hurting her friend.
"Riza...it...hurts..." Mary panted weakly, clutching hard to her as a new wave of pain washed over her.
"I know, just hold on, you'll get help soon."
Minutes past.
"Just a little bit more..."
Each second stretching for what seemed to be an hour.
"We're almost there..."
The large white hospital was almost in sight. Riza smiled slightly to herself, starting to feel that she'd be alright, and everything would be fine. And they could forget about this ever happening...
She was suddenly shoved hard from behind. She cried out, slamming face first into the floor as her hands were busy securing her friend. Her friend yelped in pain, Riza heard the sickening sound of blood splattering onto the ground.
"Hey twerps, I'm back." Came the angry voice of Olivia, staring lividly at Mary. "The hell happen to her?"
"It's none of your buisness!" Riza shouted, scrambling over to her friend's side. She clutched at her, a scared look in her eyes.
"And what's this?" Olivia noticed the gun on the ground, forgotten after the fall. She smirked. "So, one of the babies decided to grow up and use grown-up weapons? Nice one...especially shooting yourselves."
Riza glared at her, her teeth gritted in fear and pain. Mary's nails dug deep into her arm, her breath coming out in hot gasps. "Riza...'m...scared..."
"Awwww, wittle Mary's scared. Big fricking whoop."
"Shut up! Don't listen to her Mary-"
Mary winced, her face completely paling. Her eyes rolled up into her head as they closed and she slumped onto Riza, her mind shutting down and soul leaving its host. Riza's mind froze as she held the corpse close, nervously saying her name. SHe got no response, shaking at the girl to try and wake her up. She never did. An angry buzzing filled her ears, along with Olivia's cruel laughs.
"Ha! The idiot did herself in!? Good riddence, I say!"
"Shut up..."
"You got somethin' to say Hawkeye?" Olivia growled.
"Just shut up..." She reached slowly for the gun, her mind numb and her eyes blurred with tears.
"What the hell do you think your doing!?"
"Shut up!!!" Riza shouted, grabbing the gun and taking a blind shot at her. Her arm jerked back at the sheer force of the gun going off, making her stagger and lseo balence, falling over. Olivia yelled out, also falling over. She clutched her leg, screaming.
"Ahhh! Dammit Riza, you'll pay for this! Agh, dammit!"
Riza dropped the gun, shocked and sickened. She crawled over to her friend's body, burying her face in her still frame and sobbed, ignoring the wails of the police coming close.
-
Olivia was accused of the murder of Mary McKenna, seeing as she and Riza were the only two at the scene, and Olivia was the notorious villian of the small town. She was sent to juvenile delinquit school almost instantly, sentenced for 10 years.
Riza never spoke. She never told anyone of the events that happened that day, going into a large depression that lasted well over weeks. She locked herself into her room, with only the gun that had murdered her friend locked safely away.
-
Riza wiped her eyes, laying one last flower onto the small grave and sighed.
She stopped, hearing footsteps behind her. She turned slowly, staring at a weary looking, older woman with dark, peircing blue eyes and black-gray hair that clung close to her face.
The woman looked at her strangely, as though remembering something. Then she walked, in a limp that Riza noticed, towards the grave and lay a small flower there.
"...long time no see, Olivia." Riza whispered.
"...'tis same fo' ya." She said, giving her a small smile that seemed to be missing teeth. Riza winced.
"I've been thinkin'...jus' wanted ta...sometimes I think it was my fault she died, ya know? Always somethin' ta feel guilty 'bout...so...aftah all these years...ya workin' fo' ta milit'ry, right?" Olivia asked, glancing at the blue military uniform she was wearing and stuffing her hands into her jean pocket.
Riza nodded, her hand touching the holster at her side. Olivia saw that, staring at the gun inside. "...how do ya manage aftah wut happened?"
"I came to like guns actually..." Riza replied in a slightly dark tone, lifting the gun carefully out and aiming it at a tree with no actual intention of shooting it. "Unlike other weapons, you never have to feel your enemy die..."
-
Yay, manga quote! X3 Hope ya liked it! It was fun to write. And about Mary's grave, I jsut picked a random date, since I dunno what year Riza was born and I wanted them both to be 7...anyway...
Please review!