On the Backburner
Royai / M / Riza Character Study, Post-Promised Day, PTSD, Injury Recovery
Chapter 3: Just Three Days
(No.Ā WantĀ does not factor into this. For either of them.)
(It shouldn't.)
Deft, organic movement. Cloth whispering against glass. A sudden draft. It doesn't matter what wakes her - she is suddenly molten with adrenaline, awfully aware that her Colonel's bed is closest to the window.
Her heart is in her throat, her sheets on the floor, her hands - no guns, no guns!Ā ShitĀ - new plan. She reaches for him instead.
He's asleep - unaware; it's what allows her to throw him to the ground and step over him, heave the bed onto is side with aĀ bangĀ and crouch over his prone body while he's scrabbling for consciousness.
He groans, "Ugh - Riza - Lieutenant, what theĀ hell?Ā Are you -" She rebukes his attempt to get off the floor with her forearm, puts her weight into it. The window creaks open - Mustang stiffens beneath her.
Think,Ā thinkĀ - no pistols, should she grab a book, or could a pillow be a distraction? It's the middle of the night - she can use the limited visibility to her advantage. But without a weapon -
The door slams against the wall.
"What's going on?"Ā Ross - Ross with a handgun raised. Hawkeye grits her teeth as it sweeps the room, jerks towards the shadows in the window (can't be Pride, it can't be, itĀ can't -). "I heard a crash and -"
"Hey! It's you! My prison break buddy - how's it goin'?" says one of the shadows brightly.
Ross' semi-automatic dips to point harmlessly at the floor. She takes her finger off the trigger. What - "Oh!" she says, light and confused. "Nice to⦠see you again? It's o-two-hundred hours - how did you get in here?"
"The window."
[CH1] [Keep reading on AO3!]


















