A/N: I apologize about the standard of this piece as it hasn't been beta'd at all and it was produced in about an hour and a half and I only thought of this idea today.

With this fic I am marking my return into fanfiction again, so I also apologise if this piece isn't up to my usual standard as I am still getting back into the swing of writing.

Oh, and fans of In Pursuit of Reason can expect chapter 3 soon-ish. I am on the hunt for another beta reader, please PM if you're interested in the beta position.

Enjoy, if you can. I hope you don't cry.

Light the Skies

The Central Times, Thursday, 24 October 1917

Major General Roy Mustang and Captain Riza Hawkeye were found dead early this morning in the Eastern Ishvalan town, Bruhala.

Major General and his aide were working in Bruhala for the Rebuild of Ishval Campaign created and run by Mustang himself. Mustang, and his aide, was reported missing by his subordinates yesterday. First Lieutenant Jean Havoc revealed that both Mustang and Hawkeye were scheduled to talk with the locals and return by mid afternoon. However they never did.

A search party was deployed in the early evening and worked through the night until finally, at daybreak, the bodies of Mustang and Hawkeye were found in an Ishvalan cemetery.

First to discover the pair were Second Lieutenants Freihl Launder and Mikael Strakov. They described the scene that befell them to be both "haunting" and "heartbreaking".

More details to follow in tomorrow's edition of The Central Times.

x

"I don't believe in a god, Captain." Metallic blood coated the inside of his mouth as his head lolled to the side, the dry grass scratching his cheek. He looked softly, reverently at the profile of her face. "I don't believe in a Heaven or Hell."

He watched her swallow and struggle to breathe. Her chest made a god-awful wheeze as she coughed. She looked intently into the cloud-littered blue sky before speaking in a rasp.

"I'd like to believe that there is a better place than this that awaits us." Her voice held no bitterness. He knew her like the inside of his scar-lined hand.

As if to prove that she knew him just as much as he knew her she spoke again. "You are not going to Hell, sir." Her head fell to the side so she could look into his weak eyes. "And if you are, I will surely be joining you."

The pale wash of her cheeks weighed in his heart.

Weakly he dragged his bloodstained hand from the clean slice in his stomach to the sliver of grass between them.

"I hope a better world does exist; purely for your sake Hawkeye."

Her smile fades as her chest wheezes again. The jacket upon her torso is shredded and mottled with deep burgundy blood. It sticks to her like a second skin and the red is everywhere. Nothing lays untouched; her face streaked, looking even paler compared to the vivid crimson across her cheek.

Roy couldn't believe that this was the day they would die. He had awoken that very same morning and wondered with a fragile heart if maybe today was the day he and Hawkeye would happen. If they would collide in a mess of heat and chaos and beauty. Or maybe today he would finalise the peace treaty. Or maybe today would be the day Havoc would ask that girl he had been in love with for the past year to marry him. Today held so much promise.

But today was the day he died and he was dragging Hawkeye fucking down with him, just as he had always feared. She hadn't even given him a chance to save her, to beg for her life.

Roy's hand flinched closer, a mere centimetre, towards her.

"Why, Hawkeye?" His voice was now ghostly silent; the blood running down his thighs now under the blue military wool. Her eyes drifted to his, the amber is them dulling. "Why did you..."

Her lips parted, a rasp passing through her lips, and slowly her crimson-drenched hand crawled towards his; painting the grass red as it went. It weighed down in his palm and her fingers caught in his.

"Don't start with me Mustang. This is my choice." Her eyes are hard and stubborn and ask for both understanding and forgiveness. He is still in awe of how strong she is. (Has always been)

His fingers tighten to the point where he can feel her pulse. "I wish it wasn't," he admits, heartbroken. A tear collects in the corner of his eye and falls.

He has never and will never forgive himself because of what he has done to her now and for her whole life. If anything he has corrupted her. Ruined her life and tainted her future in so many disgusting ways. She deserved better.

They are quiet for many moments; simply listening to the sound of the wind and the stutter of their breaths. Hers is so much worse.

Roy cannot bare it anymore, almost as if he was fulfilling some kind of ancient promise, he nudges his head towards her and kisses her.

Despite how she is bleeding out without an end onto the dry grass beneath them she almost seems to blossom for him. She accepts his kiss without any trepidation, her lips as soft as blood-stained petals, as if she had been waiting for this her whole life.

He kisses her for an eternity, scraping every emotion he has ever felt for her into that one kiss until he is satisfied that he has emptied his heart completely.

She pulls away to cough; blood spotting her cheeks and yet manages to sigh and sound so damned happy. Her head settles heavily against the ground and she stares into the endless blue above her.

He watches her pale face, his vision swimming.

"Riza." He tastes the name on his tongue and it's the sweetest, most forbidden thing he has ever indulged in.

He watches her smile, softly and contentedly, eyes still lost in the sky.

"Yes, Roy?"

"Are you happy?" He is almost too afraid of the answer. His heart is bared so completely to her. The husk of his heart beats solely for her now. He watches her lips part and she breathes heavily.

"Yes," a sweet rasp from her lips as crimson slides down her cheek from the crease of her mouth; a vicious line against her pale skin.

His heart pounds and he tightens his grip on her hand, lowering his mouth to smear a kiss across her cold fingers.

She can no longer move her head so her eyes slide sideways to look into his.

"Don't ever leave me," he begs, sealing his mouth against her hand again.

A look of peaceful contentment ebbs across her features until she is smiling softly again. Her amber eyes speak every volume of the feelings lost in her iron cased heart. Her eyes are crystalline as she watches a silvery cloud drift across the sun, painting a dusty shadow across them.

"Never." She takes a tattered breath and it catches in her shredded lungs. "I'll always follow you." She releases that breath and it mingles with the wind.

He looks into the same sky that she is watching and sees the serene beauty. It is so peaceful, in the Desert they destroyed. They are dying as martyrs in the place they ruined. The weight of the irony should destroy this place.

And yet the sky is beautiful.

"Riza," he whispers. He hears only the wind and with a thud of the heart he turns his head to look at her.

Her eyes are flawless glass, reflecting the sky. Red paints the grass around her and the wind tugs at her hair. Her skin holds a grey pallor.

Her chest is still.

In dawns on him with the same sensation as if he was being swallowed alive that she has died before him. It seems so completely incomprehensible because he would have done anything to keep her alive. But death has taken her before him. He would laugh if he didn't want to cry and if he could breathe.

He only notices then that her second hand rested atop of his and the look on her face was serene.

She hasn't left him. She is that damned loyal.

He didn't deserve her.

He takes a breath; it hurts now; and nudges his head forward just a bit more until he has her head nestled under his chin, her hair soft against his face. He clasps his last hand atop of her exposed one and he encases it as she has done with his heart. He makes sure her face is turned to the sky.

She is still, dead still, and it is completely unbelievable. He curls around her as best he can as if protecting her from the wind and looks into the crown of her golden locks and feels the retaining warmth in her fingers.

Roy Mustang spends his dying moments worshipping the woman who followed him for years.

x

The Central Times, Monday, 28 October 1917

An Ishvallan High Priestess, Lora Reegar, has come forth and confessed to the murder of Major General Mustang and Captain Hawkeye.

She claims to have confronted the two soldiers and told them that she would murder Roy Mustang for his crimes in the Ishvalan Extermination; that the murder was a conscious decision by her people who wanted justice for their slain brethren before they could move on and rebuild their country and that both Major General Mustang and Major Hawkeye had agreed to be executed to pay for their crimes on the condition that it paved the way to a peaceful relationship between Amestris and Ishval.

Reegar went on to say that Hawkeye wasn't intended to be killed but Hawkeye had pleaded that she be executed as well.

First Lieutenant Havoc has demanded that Reegar be put on trial for two cases of first degree manslaughter.

Reegar has accepted both the charges without complaint.

She has even been reported to have told First Lieutenant Havoc that she would be happy to be sentenced to life imprisonment for such noble people as she feels that they were truly sorry for what they had done.

A memorial for the couple will be held tomorrow afternoon across Central.

and the shadow of the day

will embrace the world in grey

and the sun will set for you

A/N: What a return...

I'm sorry this is so depressing but I felt that this was completely necessary. I have long held the belief that the majority of the FMA fanbase doesn't care much for Riza aside from the fact that she is Roy's partner. This little fic explores Riza's importance in Roy's life and the impact her death would have on him if he was in the same situation. It also explores the depths of both of their psyche in regards to the Ishval War and how far they would go to atone. I believe wholeheartedly that they would die if it were necessary.

I also think that Roy would have tried to save Riza from this noble death as I think he largely blames himself for her future and what has happened to her. Riza, on the other hand, I think has accepted that Roy will die eventually. I think this death is one of the many situations she believed might happen.

Lyrics are from "Shadow of the Day" by Linken Park