AN: I have been re-watching FullMetal Alchemist, which reawakened my love for Edward and my strange ship of Riza and Ed.

CH. 1

It was a chilly fall night in Central, although the sky was clear, the wind was cold, causing many people to hike up their sweaters and rush home.

Yet, at Central Headquarters, the military was preparing for a new tradition, hoping to turn it to an annual celebration.

"Military Ball?" asked Roy, the infamous Flame Alchemist.

"Yes sir. It appears to say that the military is preparing to initiate a new tradition, and all soldiers are asked to participate." Riza read the invitation to her superior.

"That seems like fun." Roy smiled, flicking through paperwork, ignoring the red stamp that read "Urgent!", and set them back on the desk.

"So, are we allowed to bring dates?" asked Havoc, eyes lighting up at the chance to dance with a pretty girl.

"It seems to say that you may bring one guest." Riza said, re-reading the card.

"Oh please Havoc, as if you can get a date on such short notice." laughed Breda, one of Mustangs subordinates.

"Hey, shut up, it can happen! Besides, who are you bringing?"

"No one, maybe one of the girls who shows up will be nice enough to talk to me." Breda shrugged, not getting his hopes up.

"What about you Fuery?"

"Huh? He jumped," Oh, um... I guess I'll just show up. Having a date doesn't really matter to me, just a night out sounds good to me."

"Same here." Falman agreed.

"Well, the sooner you boys finish your paperwork, you can all go out and prepare. Says it begins at 8 o'clock tonight." Riza sat down, neatly filing away her work.

"What?! That's in 3 hours!" Havoc cried out.

"Well, if you would stop complaining, you'd be done in less than an hour." Riza said, ignoring his pleas.

"She's right Havoc. I'm almost done myself." Fuery smiled.

"Well, I'll see you boys later." Roy stretched," I'm off to get myself prepared for the night."

"But, sir-" Hawkeye began to protest.

"That's no fair! How come he gets to leave!?" Havoc whined once more.

"Yeah Mustang! When you leave, Hawkeye dumps all the paperwork on us!" Breda frowned.

"See you boys there." Roy waved his hands.

Riza sighed, knowing there would be no point in trying to stop him. Mustang did what he wanted, when he wanted.

"We'll never finish all this in 3 hours..." Havoc frowned at his large stack, cigarette drooping in his mouth.

Breda rested his cheek into his palm, casually signing a paper here, sighing the next second.

"You boys go on ahead, I'll just do the rest. I can tell you're all impatient." Hawkeye glared at her work.

Havoc raised a brow,"You sure? I can finish my work, I just like giving Mustang a hard time."

"Hard time? More like you whining because you can't get dates, and your constant complaining of dying alone." Falman laughed.

"No, it's fine. Go on ahead." Hawkeye kept signing.

"Alright... See ya then. Thanks for covering our asses again." One by one they stood up and walked out the door, except Fuery, who was nearly done.

"There, all done." Fuery smiled, and handed his stack to Riza to file,"I figured I can at least do my share of the work."

Riza returned his smile, grateful that there was at least one person in her office that cared enough to help,"Thank you Fuery. Go have fun."

He nodded, grabbed his coat, and headed out the door.

Hawkeye waited until his footsteps could no longer be heard, and she sighed loudly, putting her head on her desk,"Honestly...why am I stuck working with a bunch of lazy men..." She groaned," With the amount they left, I guess I won't be attending the ball...and if I don't get this work done, no one will." She stole a glance at the clock, which read 5. She shrugged," They had 3 hours to finish up...Mustang hasn't even touched his stack."

She flung herself back into her chair, leaned it backwards and stared up into the ceiling,"Protect the man until he is Fuhrer..." she laughed,"What was I thinking..."

Suddenly, loud footsteps were echoing down the hall, and before she could react, the door burst open, and a screaming voice exclaimed,"Hey jerk face! You should know that when a man comes back home-" he stopped when he noticed Mustang wasn't in the office, and Riza was staring at him, with wide open eyes, her chair still leaning backwards.

"Uh, H-Hawkeye. Sorry... about that... I thought Mustang was in..."

Hawkeye felt a tinge of warmth on her cheeks, slightly embarrassed that the FullMetal Alchemist caught her slacking off, and quickly lurched her chair forward," Uh, no that's fine Edward. He just left about 10 minutes ago...When did you get back into Central?"

"Oh, just this morning actually. I came in today to have a talk with Mustang. It's only been one week since I've been back in this world, and he already sent military officers to Reesembool, looking for me."

Edward had passed back through the gate, with Al's help, and his limbs were kept intact, and was still able to perform alchemy without a transmutation circle. In the parallel world, 4 years had passed, making Edward 21, but in his regular home, he had only been gone 1 ½ years. It was strange how different dimensions worked, and how much can change in that short amount of time, along with people.

"I see. Sorry about that Ed, I'm sure you would have loved to spend more time with your family."

"Yeah...well...anyway, where is everyone?"

"They've taken the rest of the day off, to prepare for a special night."

"Special?" he asked, taking a seat in Havocs seat, who was opposite of Riza.

"Yes, have a look." she handed over the invitation to Edward, who was reading it over.

"New tradition, huh?"

"Yes, and the boys couldn't contain themselves with the thought of all the women officers who would be there."

"I'll take it Mustang left the second he heard?" Ed shook his head.

Riza nodded, going through the paperwork,"Right on the nose Ed." she smiled.

"So, you going to the military ball thingy?"he asked, tilting his chair backwards, much like how Riza was earlier.

"I was considering it, until the boys left me all their work to finish up. They seemed really impatient, so I went ahead and dismissed them. I'm sure it's nothing too extravagant I'll be missing out on."

"Ah, you work to hard Lieutenant. You should take some time off, might do you good." He winked at her.

Riza felt her heart skip a beat,"I suppose you're right," She chuckled,"However, if I don't do this work, no one else will."

"So what. Why not follow Mustangs lead, and let him deal with the consequences for once in his life?"

She laughed,"I suppose you're right. It can get quite tiring doing all the work." She set her pen down, and filed the rest away,"So, are you heading to the party? It says you can bring a guest. I'd love to see Alphonse again."

"Yeah, he came with me. You know us, we can't be apart for too long. So, I'll be dragging him along with me, though I doubt he'll be dancing with anyone, lest he loses his head." Ed chuckled.

"Oh? And why would that happen?"

"Turns out, that Al and Winry are dating one another. So, I doubt he'd want me blabbing to her about another girl he danced with."

"Really? Al and Winry are together?"

"Yeah, I was a little shocked when I heard it myself, but they seem happy together, and if they're happy, I'm happy for them."

"That's very sweet of you Edward, I always thought you had a crush on Winry." Riza smiled.

"What?!" Ed blushed,"No way! I told you before that we were just childhood friends. She means a lot to me, I saw her as more of a sister than a romantic interest."

Riza studied Ed, and she surveyed how much he had changed, how he was taller, his hair was longer, and no longer in a braid. He also seemed to have grown outwards as well, as he seemed much more buff and broader than before. "I see. Well, I hope to see you both there. It would be lovely to catch up with you both. But, I've got to get home and feed Black Hayate."

Edward stood,"Mind if I walk you?"

Riza felt that warm sensation bubble up, and she quickly fought it back,"Not at all."

Ed smiled, and held the door open for her. As she walked beside him down the hall, he noticed that he was taller than her by 6 inches at least. He found himself stealing glances at her, as they walked and chatted, how bright yellow her hair was, like gold, and her soft warm voice, how it was soothing and relaxing. When she turned to look at him, he couldn't believe how pretty her eyes were, such a deep cherry brown. Ed couldn't understand how he never noticed her features before, and chalked it up to being too young, immature, and being distracted to ever notice details of her before. But now that there was a smaller year difference between them, 6 years to be exact, he found himself wanting to get to know her on a more personal level.

"So, what is it like? Being back home?" she asked.

"Well...it's great. I wouldn't ever want to go back to that place again, I just never realized how much I've taken for granted over the years. Has anything changed much here in Amestris?"

"Not really, the damage that happened was cleaned up in a few months, thanks to the Alchemists."

"Yeah...that wasn't a fun day." Ed laughed. "It took Al a while to find a way to pull me back. I'm just glad that he was able to do it without risking himself again."

"Yes, it is nice to have you back Edward." She smiled up at him"So, what else can you tell me about this other world?"

"Well, it was really weird, and it took me a while to get used to it. They have these flying machines, called planes, or these huge blimps called zeppelins. Alchemy didn't exist there, so it was really hard to adjust."

"Planes? You mean like those things that rode in through that gate?"

"Eh, sort of." Ed scratched his head,"Those were more like rockets and ships. But close enough."

Riza smiled at the young man,"I have to say, it quite a shock to see you bursting through the Generals door. Seems like its been ages."

Ed laughed,"Yeah, even longer on my end. Still, after all these years, my fist still needs to deliver a good hard blow to that assholes face." Ed slammed his fist into his palm, rising a chuckle from Riza.

"Oh, this is my apartment complex. Well, thank you for the escort Edward. I'll see you boys there tonight."

"Yeah, sure thing."

She walked inside, and out of Eds gaze. He sighed,"Ugh, what the hell is wrong with me? The Lieutenant would never consider a guy like me, hell she probably still thinks of me as a kid. Not only that but I just got back into town...Get it together Ed" he stared at the building.

Riza walked inside, and saw Black Hayate in his bed, sleeping, patiently awaiting his masters return. "Hi boy." The shiba inu's ears perked up, and began to happily bark,"Yes I've missed you too. Are you hungry?" The dog responded with another bark, and spun around.

"Okay, you know the routine boy." she said as she poured his kibble," Sit. Down. Roll over. Shake. Other paw. Good boy." she placed his bowl down and the dog greedily dug into his food.

She headed over to her room, where she laid down on her bed, and gazed into her mirror,"What is the matter with me? It's Edward...Why has being around him gotten me so giddy?" She frowned,"I'm so much older than the boy...yet, when he winked at me... those bright golden eyes seemed to pierce right through me. It was an amazing sensation." She threw herself backwards,"Oh stop it Riza. You're being ridiculous." She rolled over onto her stomach,"Still... he isn't dating Winry..."

Authors Note: Hey guys! Did that chapter seemed a bit rushed to you? It did to me, now that I've read it over several times 0.0 Well, not to worry, I know this was a short first chapter, I promise that I'll try and write longer chapters! I'm sure some of you FMA fans may be confused, but let me take this time to clear some things up. This fic shares some ties with both animes. We know that in the movie, Conqueror of Shamballa, Ed and Al stay in our world, leaving everyone they knew and loved behind. While in Brotherhood, they remain in their own world, Al back into his human body, and Ed with his human limbs. I decided to not give Ed his automail in this fiction, as it just worked better in my mind. So don't let the endings of both animes throw you off, as they are both intertwined. Such as in the original anime, Ed and Winry have a more platonic relationship, meaning friends only. Whereas in Brotherhood they get married . So, I kept the platonic friendship in this, but kept the line in Brotherhood when he told Hawkeye they are just friends.

As always, stay tuned for future updates, and please leave a review as they make me very happy ^.^ Also, add this to your favorites for notifications when a new chapter has been added!

Thanks for reading!