A/N: Welp, my fanfiction life is falling to pieces. XDD I ran out of Royai fuel pretty much, and my gasoline now is the Shika/Tema (of Naruto) brand. And when I tried posting something for it, I received 0 reviews after a few days. I was like, really brooding over it.

I wonder if this'll be more...liked amongst people? XDD Oh well. Now you know that I'm saying good-bye to my world of Royai one-shots, and I've moved on to a new obsession. However, Royai is always in my heart, and I will someday come back to it...whether it be through one-shots, drabbles, or me completing my old fics/creating new ones.

And THAT you can count on.

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Kibou (Hope)

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"They got their happy ending, but what about ours?" It was a selfish, inconsiderate blurb that she just had to release, something that had balled up over and over again inside of her, growing larger and more massive and all together more difficult to deal with. She shuddered at the coldness of her own words, but a certain strength masked such frailties, and the musing was shoved into his face, delivered on a bloody platter.

"Wha-?!" He was staring at her now, in shock and slight fear. His functioning eye was almost completely circular, and if she weren't so distraught she could have thought his expression humorous.

"This!" she cried, flailing her arms out to gesture everything around them, the seclusion of his apartment and the dinner that she had made him out of pity for his incompetence. "This whole--This whole ACT!" She felt as though her heart's source of life was being wrung tightly over a drain, and oh how it dripped...She was all choked-up inside, and this was exactly the reason why she was ever-avoiding this state. This frantic state...This panic.

"Riza, Riza come on! Settle down and tell me what's wrong!" His brow furrowed and he frowned in worry. His fingertips brushed her right forearm, and he attempted to grip it just enough to force her back into a seat, but she resisted and recoiled away from his touch. She was evading everything he shot at her, be it his gaze or his touches and strokes, and especially his words. She writhed away from him, making choked sounds that scared him more than any fear had ever fazed him.

She turned away from him fully, until her back was all that faced him, her back and her tensely hunched shoulders that racked along with her entire body as she fought desperately to surpress what she knew was probably inevitable. His frown deepened, and he rested a hand on her shoulder though he felt her flinch beneath him. "Riza...RIZA..."

"What's WRONG?" he demanded, throwing out the gentle facade for something more firm and direct, something much like what he would have used if he were still her Brigadier General. "Riza, c'mon..." He pleaded her, forlornly...

"Ed and Al!" she released in a short burst. "They-THEY got to get a happy ending and live their-their lives the way they wanted t-to...but-but look at US!"

"'Look at us'? What do you mean?..."

"I mean, take a look at what we've become! You're more needy than ever, and me - Well, I'M of course catering to you because I hope for something better! But all it ever gets me is deeper in this HOLE!"

He sighed, "Riza..."

"No! It's not FAIR! When they left for Shamballa; to their new LIFE, I had assured myself that I would get my own happy ending! That you would come around, and quit being SO DAMN SELFISH and we'd build our OWN life! AND LOOK AT US NOW!" She finally came down, thundering like a factory or a metropolis that had suddenly halted production, and crashed. Just crashed. She was whirling like a downward spiral, going faster and faster until she couldn't stand any longer. She fell to her knees, sobbing into her hands all the while shaking uncontrollably.

His eyes widened in horror, and he immediately crumpled at her side, taking her in his arms securely and acting as a lifejacket for her stability, allowing her to clutch him and cry to her heart's content. One hand rubbed warm circles onto the surface of her back, the other held her hip as he gently pulled her closer inbetween his spread legs.

"Riza...Riza sweetie..." He murmured softly, feeling his own wall of defense begin to crumble and go down with a vengeance. She molded herself against him practically, shivering from his warmth contrasting against her body's lack of heat, and was quickly out of tears to shed.

"I promise," he whispered to her, up against her sensitive earlobe. "I SWEAR that we'll get our happy ending, and that we'll make up for all this lost time with something that's really worth it. And that, that you can count on..."

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OWARI