Father & Son (Part 4 - Flower Vase)

[Present day, Central City]

Two days had passed since Oliver's funeral. Roy's office was operating as usual but with a slight change which was clearly visible to everyone working there. Riza's usual strictness and her occasional smile were missing. She appeared lethargic and very uninterested in the office, still, every day she forced herself to come to the office. Roy on the other side was completing his paper works like a machine, with very few breaks. He was also working late night and investigating his son's murder but still, there was not a proper lead.

While Roy was signing some papers in his cabin that afternoon and Riza was standing beside him, a soldier entered his cabin. "Pardon me General Mustang," The soldier said.

Roy stopped moving his pen and looked at the soldier. "What is it, soldier?" He asked.

"The Generals are waiting for you and Major Hawkeye at the meeting room," The soldier informed.

Roy looked at Riza and asked, "Major, did we have a meeting today?"

Riza quickly picked up the schedule diary lying on the desk and flipped through the pages to look at the schedule of the present date. And she saw a meeting among the different Generals was scheduled at the current time. She looked at Roy and said, "Yes, you have a meeting with 3 other Generals and the Fuehrer today. Sorry, I should have reminded you earlier."

"It's alright Major," Roy stood up and continued, "let's go to the meeting then."

"Yes Sir," Riza replied.

They got out of the office and walked toward the meeting room, which was at the Fuehrer's office. After reaching the meeting room, the soldier opened the door and both of them entered the room. There were four people waiting for them, sitting around an oval table. The first one was the new Fuehrer and the maternal grandfather of Riza, Fuehrer Grumman. The second one was the only female who commanded the toughest place in Amestris, who was popularly known as the Ice Queen, Lieutenant General Olivier Armstrong of Northern Command. She appeared quite bored with the unnecessary waiting.

Next one was a middle-aged bald man with only some black hairs left around the rim. He had a very bulky physique, but at the same time the glasses he wore, made him look like an intelligent person. He was the General commanding the Eastern region, Lieutenant General Abingdon. He was sitting at his chair forming a steeple with his fingers on the table, showing that he was thinking something.

And then there was the final General, who was the tallest among all the people present in that room, but not tall like Alex Armstrong. He was a middle-aged man with fully gray hairs which were styled in pompadour fade with a light beard. He was the commander of the Southern region, Major General Fussen Lech, and he was looking at Roy and Riza with a blank face.

Besides them, there was one more General who didn't attend the meeting who commanded the West region. Except for General Armstrong, all of the Generals became the most powerful person of their respective region only after the previous Generals were arrested for following Father.

When Grumman saw Roy and Riza, he smiled and said, "Welcome General Mustang, Major Hawkeye. Have a seat"

Both of them saluted the Fuehrer and took the seats beside each other, around the oval table. "First of all, on behalf of everyone here, we are sorry for your loss," Grumman condoled.

"Thank you," Roy and Riza responded simultaneously.

Grumman then continued, "I know you two from your childhood. Riza is my granddaughter and you are like a son to me. So as an Oldman you know and not the Fuehrer, I can only advice you two to get married. Nothing else would be changed, except both of you will now spend 24 hours with each other, rather than spending time at the office doing office works," He smiled and continued after a short pause, "We all human being, need a life partner to live, so that we can share our happy and sad moments."

"We'll consider it, Sir," Riza replied before Grumman could continue. "Can we please discuss the real reason for which we were called here?" She finished.

"We have made some changes in the security for the upcoming Amestris-Xing meeting," Olivier replied.

"But according to my knowledge, Major Hawkeye and I are in charge of the security," Roy looked at Olivier with furrowed brows.

"We all have come into the conclusion that you two will be removed from the charge of security for our Xingese guests," Grumman answered politely.

"Why?" Roy asked curiously.

"Don't push yourself too much, Mustang. We all know that you are personally investigating your son's murder after your regular office work. Moreover, Major Hawkeye is yet to recover. She is not alright… you know it, I know it, everyone here can tell just by looking at her." Meanwhile, Riza sat there acting all tough from outside, whereas Olivier continued, "It will be really unfortunate to lose such an important officer. Major Hawkeye," She looked at Riza and Riza looked at her, responding to the call. Then Olivier said, "You should look back at your primary reason for joining the military. Was it for your child or was it for your country?"

There was silence for a moment, because of such tough words that Olivier said to Riza after what she was going through. But, somewhere in deep inside, Riza knew that Olivier was telling the right thing, still, it was very difficult for any mother to forget her child that easily. Olivier was a very patriotic person, and she had seen many of her close friends die before her own eyes, but she had never experienced motherhood which made her comment a bit unsuitable for Riza.

Meanwhile, to break the awkward silence, Roy cleared his throat and asked, "May we know who's going to take charge of security then?"

"Major General Fussen Lech and Colonel Alex Louis Armstrong will take your place as security in charge," Olivier replied.

"I see," Roy acknowledged.

After that, Grumman called Riza by calling her by her rank and said, "You may go. And try to take some rest. If you want to take your day off, then you don't need to ask anyone. I want you at your best."

Riza quietly stood up and saluted without saying a single thing. She then left the room. When she left, all General sat to have a meeting on some other issue which lasted for an hour. After finishing the meeting, Roy came to his office and greeted everyone except Riza who had already left for home. He went to her table and opened her drawer, and he saw what he was afraid of. She had left both her guns there. He took her guns and drove straight to the graveyard without any security. And as expected, he found Riza sitting in front of her son's grave, crying to her heart's content and Hayate was sitting right beside his master quietly. Roy approached her and placed his hands on her shoulders. Riza looked at him with her wet eyes. Roy looked back at her with his sad eyes and said with a stressed voice, "Let's go."

Riza stood up and wiped her tears. Roy then drove her and Hayate to her apartment. He walked her inside her house and prepared her bed while she was changing her clothes. She slept on the bed without talking to him and Roy didn't bother to disturb her. He got out of her bedroom, but before leaving her house, he made sure to put her guns on her uniform, so that she wouldn't forget them while coming for office. He left a card and placed a small flower vase with lilies in it which he bought that evening. He put the flower vase on the card. There was something written on the card. It read, "Happy birthday. Like every time, I can only request you not to throw the vase when the flowers withers. I will be very happy to send you flowers every day if that doesn't annoy you."

It was a few hours early from midnight, but Roy didn't want to wake up Riza due to the recent circumstances. Instead, he looked at her sleeping and greeted her, "Goodnight Major and, happy birthday even though it is a bit early for that." Then he looked at Hayate and said, "Goodnight Hayate…take care of her like you always do."

Hayate barked with agreement. Roy then patted his head and left, locking the door from outside with the extra key he had. But instead of going home, Roy drove to the Ishvalan war memorial which was completed a month ago in memory of all the people who lost their lives during the Ishvalan civil war which included both the military and the rebels. When he arrived there, the park was empty, mostly because it was 9:00 PM. He went inside the park and walked to the center where the memorial was situated. When he reached there, he sat on a bench in front of the memorial.

He sat there for thirty minutes thinking about something, but someone disturbed his loneliness. A man approached him from behind, stood right beside him and asked, "May I sit here?"

Roy looked at the man. He seemed like he was in his fifties because of the fresh wrinkles on his face and streak of gray hair with the black. He was wearing a kurta and pajama with a shawl covered around his upper body. However, the most distinct thing about him was his dark skin and scarlet eyes. He was clearly an Ishvalan.