1 Keep Your Enemies Closer

Chapter 1 -

YOH! So um….if you wandered here then have fun with the story. Updates will be slow-ish.

You will find out her goal later on so don't worry about that. In the story, Blackie is a nickname for Black Hayate.

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"Hey Lt. Hawkeye, are you busy this evening?" Roy asked her while closing the windows of his office at the end of the day.

"No sir, I am free." Riza replied, taking a curtain in hand to help Roy.

Roy's face brightened up in joy and he smiled a bit and began to ask. "Then do-"

"But I plan on taking Black Hayate out to the park for training." Riza cut him off and reloaded her handgun. Roy instantly frowned and turned back to cleaning his desk and continued to organize his messy desk.

"I'm leaving now sir, good night." Riza spoke as she bowed by the doorway.

Roy looked over his shoulder and waved to the leaving comrade then began to pack his brief case.

"You really fail at asking people out to dinner." A short figure stood in the middle of his room, grinning.

"I do not fail at asking girls out to dinner, just her. What are you doing here Alexia?" Roy snapped his case shut and walked out of the room with her trailing behind.

"What? I can't go home with my dear failure of a brother?" She skipped alongside him, grinning.

"Why don't you go with Hawkeye like you usually do?" He asked her, ignoring the insult thrown at him earlier.

"She told you, she's training Blackie. It's best to stay away from the park, the poor dog…" Alexia kept walking along Roy, her long black hair swaying behind her.

"Hawkeye's that rough?" Roy asked the small girl while fishing out his keys from the coat pocket.

"You have no idea." Alexia shivered from the memory of Riza training her for military combat, it was raining bullets.

"Hey Alexia, I'm putting you on a mission tomorrow, you'll need to leave early so get some sleep for a change." Roy started the engine of the car and began to drive off.

"What do you mean? I always stay home and go to sleep." Alexia leaned back into the chair and swung her State Alchemist watch around.

"Tch, don't act like you don't know. I know you sneak out and wander about the city." Roy yelled at her and smacked her forehead. "You need to be more responsible now that you're a state alchemist."

"Well maybe I'm out to stop crimes and stuff." She yelled back, smacking her brother.

"You know how dangerous the city is! The crime rates have also been going up more." Roy reached up and rubbed the place where she had hit him.

"I'm not three! I can manage by myself! Why do you care so much?" She clenched her fist to prevent her from hitting her brother again.

"I'm your brother, I have the responsibility to keep you safe. I'm just telling you, stop doing unnecessary things!"

"You may be my brother but I can manage my self! I know well from bad." She tried as much as she could to hold her violent side in.

"You will listen to me; I know what is best for you!" Roy yelled back at, his voice reaching its highest point.

The car held an uncomfortable silence. The only sound heard was the hum of the engine and occasional honks. Roy opened his mouth to break the silence "I-"

"I am not one of your men, look at my face. Do I look like Riza to you? I will not obey you, I am not a dog! You only have one more year of knowledge then me; does that give you the right to order me around?"

"…Hawkeye can protect herself, you trust too easily and let your guard down too much." Roy stopped the car at a red light.

"I learned how to defend myself, you know that! I've dueled with you before! I can also protect myself with alchemy! I am not a child anymore!"She yelled and sat up and reached for the door handle.

"Where are you going Alex?" Roy turned and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"I'm going to Riza's, maybe that's why it's been so long since I could go home peacefully with you." Alexia stated, finishing with a slam of the car door, stopping Roy from saying anything else.

The light turned green and she saw from the corner of her eye the car speed off.

Alexia kept walking down the dusty sidewalk to the park Riza was talking about earlier. She took a detour so it was mainly silent except for cars that occasionally drive by.

The streetlights came on after a bit. She looked to her watch and saw it was already 7. She assumed Riza was halfway done, remembering Riza kept her back to train her in the dark to strengthen her senses.

The arch that was the entrance was in view. The loud bangs of a gun were also audible from that distance.

"Ri~za." BANG

"Riza~" BANG

"Ri~za~" BANG

"Riza!" BANG

"RIZA!"

"Oh! Hello Alexia, I thought you had gone home with your brother." Riza said as she stopped shooting Black Hayate.

"Nah, something else came up." Alexia replied with a hand gesture that said don't-worry. Alexia looked to her left and saw Black Hayate crying with bullet holes around it. Riza though for a bit and saw it was odd, Mustang had asked her earlier if she was free. If he was busy, why did he ask her?

"Geez, stop torturing the poor dog." Alexia walked over to the weeping canine and picked it up and began to pet it.

"It's not torture, I'm just training him(her?) to successfully dodge bullets." Riza said as she picked up her coat and extra handguns. She made her way to where Alexia was standing.

"You're done already?" Alexia questioned as she kept stroking the dog n her arms.

"It doesn't look like you'll let me continue." Riza walked out of the park and towards her nearby house.

"True, can I stay at your place? I don't really want to talk to Roy right now." Alexia followed Riza up the stairs of the house. The park really was conveniently close.

"Like always. I'm taking a shower first this time." Riza took out her keys and unlocked the door to the simple home she owned.

"I already took a shower this morning. I'll start making dinner. What do you want to eat?" Alexia asked as she made her way to the back of the hall and to the kitchen.

"Lasagna sounds nice, can you make it?" Riza made her way to her bedroom and hung her coat and put her handguns away.

"Yeah, I can make it." Alexia took out the ingredients and appliances. You could say she was a good cook. A lot better than Roy which for some reason, always burned the food.

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"Hey Riza" Alexia sat in front of the dresser and began to brush her hair.

"Yes?" Riza sat on the bed with Black Hayate in her lap. She was drying her hair. Black Hayate snuggled into her stomach. That dog can forgive easily.

"I feel stupid now." Alexia put the brush down and touched the large bang that hovered over her right eye. She barely touched it and jolted her hand back as if it burned her. She put her head down onto her arms.

"Was it because you argued with Mustang?" Riza nuzzled Black Hayate's stomach as it purred (can dogs purr?).

Alexia looked up instantly, eyes as wide as she could manage. "How did you know?" Alexia got up from the chair and sat on the bed next to Riza, the full size bed groaning under her weight.

"You were supposed to go home with him today but you came to me instead. I assumed that you got in a fight, it seems that I was correct. When I talked to him, he indirectly said he was free so you lied at the park." Black Hayate wriggled out of Riza's grasped and crawled onto Alexia's stomach.

"I feel stupid…he was worried about me and I blew up in his face…" Alexia held the dog up to her chest, letting it snuggle into her chest. She turned to lay on her right shoulder facing Riza.

Riza sighed, not knowing what to say. She was never good at this stuff because she never said anything worth arguing about. And even if the argument would start, she would have won on the first comment. Riza looked back to Alexia and saw that the girl looked like she was going to cry. Her bangs oddly still covered her right eye though.

Trying to lift the mood, Riza decided to change the topic "It's about time you cut your hair." Riza lifted her hand and pushed large bang away to reveal Alexia's eye but regretted it and let the bang fall down. Riza mumbled sorry and looked to the girl holding her eye.

"It's alright Riza." Alexia smiled and yawned. "Well, I'm beat so I'm going to sleep first." Alexia crawled to where the pillows were and said goodnight to Riza before closing her eyes and drifting to sleep. Riza smiled softly and grabbed her book from a nearby shelf and took a good look to the clock. It was only 9. Even though Alexia was 25, she still acts like a child.

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A small six year old girl was playing in the sand, digging up sand and packing it to make a castle. After repeating the process several times, the small girl gasped and picked up the beautiful rock she had dug up. She yelled loudly "Roy!"

A small boy walked from a nearby forest and came up to the girl, "You don't need to yell so loudly, I'm right here." The so-called Roy crossed his arms and frowned a bit as the girl grinned back.

"I found a really pretty rock!" the little girl shoved the stone into Roy's face and smiled brightly, about as bright as the stone itself.

"Alexia, did you steal it? It looks like a gem." Roy studied the rock, entranced by the way it shined.

"No! I found it fair and square!" she yelled and hugged the gem to her chest, it was about half the size of her palm (remember, she's six). It was too big for her hand so Roy could still see it.

"Maybe it's a ruby, its red like one. Maybe we can sell it and give the money to Madam Christmas." Roy was reaching for the stone when she jerked it away and turned around.

"No! It's mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! Mi-" Roy cut her off and she smiled with victory in her eyes, "Sheesh I get it alright? You'll keep it. Come on, lets hurry before you get another attack."

Roy ushered the girl to the log cabin they her living in. He thought they could make it before Madam Christmas would find out then Alexia started to cough violently, almost dropping her stone but she shove it in her pocket before her coughing could get worse. She body shook with every cough that came out of her mouth.

Right at that moment, the front door slammed open and Madam Christmas walked out and gasped at the sight. Roy was trying fruitlessly to keep his sister standing but failed. She was covering her mouth with both of her hands, trying to keep the blood from coming out.

"My god! Alexia!" Madam Christmas shrieked and carried the sick girl to her room and laid her on the bed, giving Roy a towel to keep the blood from staining anything except the towel.

"Roy! You should know better than to let her out! She could have died, you know her condition!" madam Christmas lectured the boy.

"I…I'm sorry, it won't happen again." Roy looked down to his coughing sister, the towel was turning red slowly. It wouldn't be able to hold longer.

"She's the only blood relative you have left! I'm going to get another towel. I'll tell the girls not to come in the room." And with that, she left, leaving the Roy alone with Alexia, still coughing but not as violent as before.

'What is so good about being related by blood?' Roy thought as he looked to his sister. Her eyebrows furrowed with the pain she was feeling with every cough. 'Blood is not good especially like this.' Roy looked back to his sister and hot tears began to form in his eyes. He looked up and blinked them back. 'I can't cry, I have to protect her. Yeah, I have to be strong to protect her…protect…pro' He said as he fell asleep next to her.

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Roy woke up and found himself changed into his pajamas and laying next to Alexia. She was curled into him. 'When did I get changed?' He looked down and decided it was madam Christmas when she was coming back with a clean towel. He sat up, not caring whether he woke her up or not. But she did and stretched next to him. "I'm sorry…you got in trouble because I wanted to go outside." She looked down, hiding her face under her hair.

"Nah, it's alright. Just don't go outside. You heard what the docter said about your lungs." Roy hugged her, making her look up and filled her face with relief.

"Can you hand me that book? I want to finish it." Alexia pointed to the book on the desk. Changing her position, she felt the gem against her leg. She quickly pulled it out and stuffed it under her pillow as Roy got up to get her requested book. She quietly thanked him and began to read the book, not knowing what time it was. Roy was also reading a book beside her.

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…"Ow!"

Roy's head snapped up instantly and he saw Alexia clutching her finger. "What's wrong?" He reached for her finger and saw a little cut; the blood was seeping out so slowly.

"I cut my finger with the page." She bit the bottom of her lip. She couldn't stop worrying her brother, can she?

"Wait here, I'll get some bandages." 'Blood is bad.' Roy thought as he quickly got off the bed and ran out the room. Alexia took this as a chance to look at the rock.

She ever so softly reached under her pillow and grabbed the rock, holding it with both her hands. It glowed and dimmed, repeating the enticing process. She looked at it, falling a bit sleepy. It was like a lullaby. Then, the oddest thing happened. The stone turned to liquid and seeped into her paper cut. She would have gone to tell Roy but she was stopped with an immeasurable pain.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" She screamed as she clenched her chest. She rolled on the bed, screaming. Roy busted through the room and dropped the roll of bandages, eyes widening themselves to the size of plates.

Alexia fell off the bed and gagged up a pool of blood, her right eye was bleeding like a fountain and her paper cut was oozing red. It seemed like it was only to be seconds before she would die from blood loss. Red sparks cam from her body, healing her but she gagged up more blood. She clawed at her chest, wishing the pain away. She turned to her brother and said the only word she could before the cycle would happen again.

"Help…me"

'Yes, blood was bad. Very bad.' Roy thought.

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And….scene! Just saying, that was her flashback dream. Don't we all get them? So Chapter one is done, 2 will come soon. Please review and wait with me until then~