References to chapter 24 and chapter 35. Final chapter. I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist.

Chapter 5: Time

Maybe it was better this way, Riza thought. What had she known about him back then, anyway? Only that he was young, and handsome, and guilty, and brilliant, and deadly, and desperate, and that he had that spark. Yes, some days she thought that she was still in love with him, even though he was no longer the man she had fallen in love with. And she was no longer the woman who had fallen in love with him. He had been desperate and unsure back then, and she had been so sure in her desperation.

Since then she had learned of his deviousness, discovered his determination, and seen a Roy Mustang that was not teetering on the edge. She had seen him joke, and flirt, audaciously, flippantly. This was a new Roy: one she had never seen before. The old Roy could never have joked, not mischievously, only bitterly. Could she really have stayed with such a man?

Perhaps she had thought that she could cure him, like she had been trying to cure herself. She had had it all planned out. Quit the military. Get a job that doesn't involve killing. Ignore Ishvar. Pretend to be like everyone else. She wondered if it would have worked out. Only time would have told.

That was the funny thing about time. You couldn't go back. You couldn't wonder, 'what if?' You couldn't change things, undo things. You could only move forward. If she asked the Colonel, or Edward, they would tell her something about equivalent exchange, and that something was missing in the attempt to bring back what was lost. Riza didn't need to know alchemy to realize that. The past was gone. She knew that. Time moved forward. She knew that. Life went on. She knew that. But sometimes she couldn't help but wonder.

She wondered if some things could still be repairable, if time could heal as well as sever. It would never be the same, but it could be close. Maybe it would even be better.

Maybe things were better now. They were certainly better from when she had first started working for him. She had been strict and unfamiliar to the point of cruelty. She knew that she had hurt him. She had wanted to hurt him. She had wanted to say, "This is what you chose: deal with the consequences. I'm here to help you succeed, because I need something to believe in, but I'm not going to be your lover. You don't have time for that, and I haven't the heart."

They had grown beyond trusted soldier and commander. They had become comrades, friends of a sort. He would point out the unbelievable intuition of a 12-year-old boy, and she would scold him for his indiscretion. She would call him on treating the Elric brothers like children, when he had always before held them to the harsh standards of adults, and he would rationalize and philosophize and in a roundabout way admit his guilt. Time had led them on a path to an unimaginable place, both better and worse. In any case it was bearable, routine really. That was what time did. It foisted the present on you, until it became more real than what had happened years ago, for a brief interlude.

They were going to the top. That was their pact.

I bet some of you were confused as to what the title referred to in the first couple of chapters. My titles are probably always going to be mentioned somewhere in my fics. "Pact" actually shows up three different times in this fic, in three different contexts.

mylovemiroku: Ah, yes, romantic!Roy, I loves him muchly, because I hate unreciprocated Riza love. I added some angst in though, because I can't stand for things to get too fluffy. Thanks for your review. Watch for updates! (see profile for posting schedule)

Blond Hurricane: Thanks for your review, and you're welcome. It's great that we can still enjoy each other's fics even though we like to pair Riza up with different people. By the way, I've joined one of your forums.

Edward Mustang: Haha, only for a loyal reviewer (what? You mean other people can read responses too? Mind your own business people!). The sequel will come eventually. As always, thanks for your review.

shadowriter55: Yes! Wistful angsty Roy/Riza is my specialty. Yes, the story has ended, and sorry they didn't get together. If you read my response to Edward Mustang's review in chapter 4, I'm working on a sequel. In the meantime, I will be posting other Riza-centric, mostly Royai stuff. Manga rocks. And so a long response to a long review ends.

unexpection: Thank you; I tried hard to make my fanwank work. And it's in chapter 24 where Roy and Riza go to recruit Ed. I'm such a manga whore, I keep a list of Roy/Riza moments. Again: thank you for the review!

xXsilentxwhisperXx: New reviewer! Cool! And you added my story to your favorites list even before it was finished! Oh, and I'm a favorite author! (Plus the story and I are on you alert list. Wow, you did everything. I guess you were impressed.) I hope you liked the ending. Thank you, I always try and proofread my fics for spelling and grammar. Spell/grammar check helps too, but it tells me that words like "angsty" and "Riza" and "Royai" don't exist. The nerve! And my stylistic two word sentences get little squiggly green lines under them. Oh well.

een nihc: Once again, thank you for reviewing. About the second chapter . . . I've never done that either, and I really didn't think about it at the time I was writing it but . . . now I'm embarrassed too! Third chapter: yeah, people do change. Actually my view is that their relationship wasn't too healthy for either of them at the time.

Neptunzdaughter: Thank you for adding this story to your review list. Please leave a review telling me what you think.

momiji-k: I don't know why people keep telling me chapter 4 is short, when it's actually only 30 words less than chapter 3 (the longest chapter). Maybe you guys just can't get enough of my writing? (hee) Thank you for your review. I'm glad people like to read my reflective ramblings.