Midnight: Okay, eh...I tried to keep all characters as IC as possible. Here's to hoping that I did a good job!

Riza Hawkeye stepped through the hallway of Central command, heading for the bathroom that was down by the Cafeteria. Today, the women's bathroom was out of order. Why? Well, from what she had heard, the piping was clogged. Whatever the reason, it wasn't very important. She was just on her way to the unisex bathroom to clean a spill of coffee from her shirt.

She stepped into the dimly lit bathroom, passing the stalls and going straight for the sink. As she dabbed a wet paper towel against the blue fabric of her uniform, a sound met her ears. She couldn't quite make it out. She threw the paper towel in the trash bin, stooping to look under the stalls. There was nobody in the bathroom but her.

Shrugging it off as a trick of the ear, she turned back to the sink, as well as the mirror. All was quiet as she was dabbing the wet area dry, until she heard the noise again. Still, she couldn't quite make it out. But this time, she had definitely not been hearing things.

Throwing the second, dry paper towel away, she carefully placed her right hand on the hip holster where her gun was, moving to the door. She opened it, letting it swing closed again. She stood by the door, falling extremely silent and waiting.

This time, actual sounds met her ears. Very clearly, she could hear choked sobbing echoing from one of the end stalls. And it wasn't just anybody's sobbing; it sounded like Edward Elric.

Her hand lowered to rest at her side as she stood, debating what to do. She couldn't come up with an idea quick enough, for Edward came out of the stall. Golden eyes met Amber and the blonde boy froze, horrified and ashamed expression in place.

He tried to think of something to say, to justify his actions, but his red, puffy eyes—not to mention the dry tear tracks running down his flushed cheeks—weren't just things he could pass off as allergies.

"I-I, u-um..." His face grew red as he swiped his coat sleeve across his face. "This isn't what it looks like..." He knew he wouldn't fool her, but in the moment, he couldn't come up with anything else to say.

"Of course it isn't, Edward," Riza finally spoke, her voice calm as per usual, "now, why don't we just act like nothing ever happened and carry on?" she was never good at comforting children, especially when it came to thirteen year old Edward Elric.

"Yes ma'am..." Edward stammered, before moving over to the sink to wash his face. As he flushed the evidence down the drain, he had to look up as a dry paper towel was held out to him. "Thank you." He said, taking the offered towel and drying his face. Riza moved to hold the door open, waiting until Edward was out to follow after him and close the door.

Riza went back to Roy's office, moving to arrange a few things on the bookshelf like she had been before the coffee incident. It was only minutes later when Edward tromped into the room, looking somewhat pissed.

"Here's your damn report, Mustang!" He said as loudly as he could, causing Roy to look up and wince when the papers were slammed onto the surface in front of him. "Oh, Fullmetal. I didn't notice you come in. Maybe I should have the legs sanded down to accommodate your short stature." A small smirk played at the Colonel's lips as the retort sent the blonde alchemist into an angered frenzy. When he finished, he just hollered a furious, "Good bye!" and knocked all of Roy's paperwork to the floor.

Roy moved to pick the scattered papers up as Riza turned. "You really shouldn't be so cruel to him, sir. He's just a child." She scolded the Flame Alchemist. Roy only grunted in reply as he bundled the papers and stacked them back on his desk.

"I'm sure he's fine, lieutenant. A mere insult wouldn't go past hurting his ego." The onyx-eyed man replied. Riza sighed, deciding it was useless to argue with the man.

Even though Riza stayed busy most of the day, she couldn't help it as her thoughts always strayed back to what had happened in the bathroom. She found herself curious as to what the matter was, and finally decided to check in on the brothers before leaving back home for the day.

So when her job came to a close, Riza slipped out of her work uniform and into her casual attire, leaving the changing room and heading down the hallway towards the dorm rooms toward the right of the building. She just couldn't let the feeling go that something was surely wrong with the young alchemist. The only thing was, was that Riza couldn't fathom any possible reason for Edward's crying.

Eventually, Riza stopped at room 307, giving a light knock to the door. Shuffling could be heard, and a few moments later Edward answered the door. "...Yes?" The blonde seemed almost nervous; probably scared that she was going to confront him about the passing in the restroom.

"May I come in, Edward?" Riza asked. Edward nodded silently, pulling the door open a bit more and drawing back to let her inside. She stepped into the room, looking around to see that the dorm was quite empty, save for the bunk bed, a desk, and a trunk holding the boys' personal belongings. The room hadn't even been altered in any way; no pictures, nothing to make it look like someone was staying there.

"Where is Alphonse?" Riza asked the question as Edward shut the door. The young alchemist moved to sit on the bottom bunk, running his fingers through whatever parts of his hair that he could.

"He's at the library. I wasn't really up for going..." The boy explained, threading flesh fingers with automail in his lap. "Is there something you needed, lieutenant?" He asked, both dread and curiosity present in his tone.

"You probably already know," Riza spoke quietly, "I just couldn't stop thinking about earlier today. Ed, is something bothering you?" She asked. Edward didn't immediately respond, hands moving from their threaded position to wringing themselves.

"Well...I'd like to say no, but obviously you'd see through that quicker than I could blather out an excuse." The blonde replied. He was quiet for a moment, before speaking again. "I just...I'm not sure if I can do this. I mean, I failed the Shou," he paused, a choke worming it's way up his throat, "T-Tu..Tucker case...and I feel like I can't do anything right and it makes me feel like crap because it makes me doubt my ability to help my brother. What if I can't? What if I end up being a complete failure and end up just making it worse?" His tone had started out calm and confident, but ended up sounding shaky and insecure.

"Ed," Riza didn't know what to say. She knew that she couldn't even begin to understand what the two brothers were going through, but she knew that it tugged at her heart to see how much Edward was carrying on his shoulders. He felt like he had to do everything himself; but his confidence in himself was not very strong at the moment.

"I let everyone down," Edward continued, head hanging, "Al, mom...Nina...I was there, I should have been able to do something..." He moaned in distress, head sinking into his hands. "It's all my fault. I could've done something—anything, and I just..didn't. That's no better than being a murderer!" Then, it was as if an invisible barrier had broken loose. He emitted a strangled, choked cry, before sobs started wracking his frame much like they had been earlier that day. "I just feel so guilty! Why didn't I stop any of it? I could've..I really could've tried!"

Riza could only feel her own heart tearing in two as she watched the child cry. Here was a child that, by all legal standing, was an adult; a dog of the military. But she didn't see that at all. A cold shiver ran up her spine. No, this was a terrified little boy who was scared an uncertain of the life ahead of him; one who only wanted what was best for the ones he loved, but unsure how to help.

She didn't even realize she had moved until she was on her knees before him, arms wrapped around the boy's quaking shoulders. Edward, instead of pulling away, wrapped his arms around her neck and buried his face into her shoulder.

"I'm just so scared! I d-don't know what to do! I-I, I-I...!" His cries were hushed by the woman as she placed her hand on the back of his head.

"Just cry, Ed. Everybody needs to let it all out sometimes." The sharp shooter wasn't the motherly type. Nor was she one who openly expressed her feelings. But that didn't mean that she was heartless or unable to feel what any mother would if their child was upset. She wasn't Edward's mother—far from it, actually. But she did care for the Elric brothers, and she did have the instinct to protect them. She didn't want to see either of them upset, and it only ended up upsetting her when they were hurt or sad.

Edward finally let the sobs overwhelm him, throat aching and burning from trying to keep it controlled. He just sat there, crying into Riza's shoulder for well into half an hour. And Riza just sat there, running her fingers through his hair comfortingly until he calmed down. When the child finally ran out of tears to shed, he pulled away and scrubbed at his eyes with the sleeves of his palms. "I'm so sorry," he apologized, "I got you all wet..."

"Don't worry about it, Edward. I'd rather you cry when you're upset instead of bottling it up." Riza smiled at him, the gesture almost unnoticeable within her features. "But please, don't blame yourself. You have to be strong, and believe in your abilities; I know you can do it. I want to see you come out of this, with both of you back in your original bodies and living a reason to push forward into the future." She spoke in confidence, her voice not once wavering. She then stood, moving to the door and looking back at him.

Edward, once he was finished drying his face, felt better by her words. "Thank you." He said, getting to his feet. "I won't let you down. I will do this...not only for me, but for Alphonse and everyone else." He made a promise to her as well as himself; he would come through, no matter what or how long it took.

After saying goodbye, Riza left the dorm to head out to her car. As she headed for the exit, she passed Roy in the hall. She stopped as he greeted her, nodding back at him. "Good afternoon, sir." She spoke.

"Evening, Lieutenant," Roy greeted her in the same manner, "why are you still around?" He asked.

"Just taking care of a few things, sir." Riza replied, tone ever remaining collected. Roy nodded, his eyes moving to the wet area on her shirt.

"What happened there?" He asked. Riza looked down at the spot, looking up again.

"I was actually going to tell you. The water fountain by the women's restroom is malfunctioning. You may just want to get someone out to fix it before it claims another victim, sir." Riza replied to him, brow quirking as an amused expression played at her features. She then passed the man, heading to the left and disappearing down the hallway before Roy could point out that if it had been the water fountain, it would have covered a larger area.

Back in the dorms, Edward was laying on his stomach on the bottom bunk. It wasn't long before his brother returned, the suit of armor coming in with a stack of books tucked under his arm. He shut the door behind himself and placed the texts on the corner of the desk, soul-filled eyes turning to look at Edward.

"You're smiling, brother." He noticed the expression, sounding a bit amused. Edward just nodded his head.

"Yeah, Al. I just can't stop imagining how much better our life will be when I get your body back." Edward replied.

"I can't wait either, Ed." Alphonse replied. He could see a determination in those golden eyes that hadn't been there when he left for the library.

And somewhere, both boys knew right then and there, that no matter how long or hard the road, they'd cross the finish line whole and complete.