Author's Note: I do not own FMA or its characters. This is set after the manga. Thank you to everyone who had read this story and everyone who has reviewed it. I never expected this to go so long or to be so popular. I have really appreciated all of your comments and support over the years.
A Toast to Us
Laughter rang throughout the room. They had all come together to celebrate tonight. As Riza glanced around the room she found familiar faces all around. Christine Mustang was probably the oldest person here. Riza's one major regret was that her grandfather was not here to see this. He had died some years ago, but at least he had lived to see his great-grandchildren born. Both Rowan and Chris were here tonight. Chris was currently balancing Rhiannon, his two year daughter, on his hip while discussing some use for wind alchemy with Lixue Yao. Emperor Yao's oldest daughter was more interested in Rhiannon than the conversation. Rowan was out on the dance floor with her own husband.
Roy squeezed her hand, and Riza smiled at her husband. Neither of them had especially needed this party to celebrate their fiftieth wedding anniversary, but their friends and family had insisted, and it was a good excuse for a reunion party. They hadn't really had one of these in years. Not since the last wedding at least. It was definitely going to be a fun evening. So much had changed over the years and yet they had not changed all that much. Well, both she and Roy now had grey in their hair, and neither of them was up to chasing the Elrics around the country any more, but who they were really hadn't changed.
Amestris too had changed over the years, and she and Roy had seen their hopes and dreams for the country come to fruition. Amestris had been a democracy for the past twenty years, and while it hadn't always an easy path for the country, it had been the right one. The military and its alchemists served the people now. Both of Riza's children were State Alchemists, and neither of them had been forced into situations like their father or Edward had been. The present might not exactly be the future that Roy and Riza had imagined, but it was definitely worth the struggles they had gone through.
Elysia rapped a fork against her glass, waiting until everyone had quieted down. Riza was still amazed by how much the young woman had changed. Riza still remembered the little girl Elysia had been at her father's funeral. Now she was a beautiful young woman, happily married and with two children of her own. And while she might have taken after Gracia in looks, Elysia was her father's daughter.
"All right, everybody, settle down. You can get back to gossiping later." That prompted laughter around the room, and Elysia grinned. "However, at the moment, it's time for the toasts. I know a number of you have toasts to share with the happy couple, but I get to go first."
She raised her glass towards Roy and Riza with a smile. "Marriage is a lot like the army, everyone complains, but you'd be surprised at the large number that reenlist."
Amidst laughter, they drank to that. Then Havoc rose to his feet, beer bottle in hand. It had taken him almost of year of physical therapy after the final battle, but Havoc not only had regained the use of his legs, but his new business had thrived as well. He had not returned to the military afterwards, but he had remained a close friend and ally over the years.
"May those who love us love us; and those that don't love us may God turn their hearts; and if he doesn't turn their hearts, may he turn their ankles, so we'll know them by their limping."
Still giggling at that toast (which would surprise most of the subordinates of the stern Lt. Colonel Mustang), Rowan rose to her feet to make another toast. Riza's oldest child had taken after her parents the most. She was quite happily employed as a State Alchemist in the Investigations department. With a smile, she raised her wine glass. "May blessings be upon your house, your roof and hearth and wall; may there be lights to welcome you when evening's shadow falls. The love that like a guiding stars still signals when you roam; a book, a friend: these be the things that make a house a home."
"Cool breeze. Warm fire. Full moon. Easy chair. Empty plates. Soft words. Sweet songs. Tall tales. Short sips. Long life." Emperor Ling grinned at the crowd. "I'm not sure that translated right, but you get the idea."
Armstrong lifting his glass prompted some groans as well as sparkles. "May you have warm words on a cold evening. A full moon on a dark night. May the roof above you never fall in and the friends gathered below never fall out. May you never be in want and always have a soft pillow for your head. May you be in heaven an hour before the devil knows you're dead."
Christine Mustang might be a venerable old matron at this point, but she was still head of the Mustang family, and when she raised her glass for a toast, there was silence all around the room. Besides, she not only knew all the embarrassing stories about them, but she often had photographic evidence and the handcuffs to prove it. "May your joy never end like the circles of your wedding rings."
It was the same toast she had used on their wedding day, and Riza had to blink away a tear. It had been a wish for them that had definitely come true.
Edward flashed a smirk at Roy as he held up his glass. He had come a long ways from the young boy they had met all those years ago. He raised his glass with one hand, and his other hand was twined with Winry's. "To keep your marriage brimming with love in the wedding cup whenever you're wrong admit it; whenever you're right, shut up."
Laughter rang around the room once more, and Riza let Roy tug her to her feet to stand beside him.
"Thank you all for coming. It's been great to see everyone, and we appreciate your well wishes." Roy grinned. "So, here's to all of us! For there's so much good in the worst of us and so much bad in the best of us, that it hardly behooves any of us to talk about the rest of us."
Riza was the one to make the final toast of the night though. "Happy are we met, happy we have been, happy may we part, and happy meet again."
Theme: Champagne and Handcuffs.