"Here's my report, Sir." Alphonse set the paper down on General Mustang's desk. "No signs of the homunculi anywhere." Al's voice sounded completely defeated. Roy didn't want to see his eyes. He continued to stare down at the unfinished sheet of paperwork in front of him.

Realizing that he wasn't going to get an answer, Al continued, "Sometimes I wonder why we even bother. Getting our revenge isn't going to bring Brother back."

Roy was thinking the exact same thing, but he couldn't admit it. "We have to destroy the homunculi so that this doesn't happen to anyone else." He tried his hardest to put some determination, some fire into his voice, but it fell flat. He looked up at Alphonse, who was wearing his brother's red coat. "I've told you before- you don't have to try to find them. That's a job for my subordinates. You're just a civilian."

Al sighed. "I know..." He tugged on his sleeve. "But this was Brother's mission. I'm doing it for him."

"It's too dangerous," Roy tried arguing, but he knew it was no use. Al had made up his mind, and once an Elric makes up his mind, there's no changing it.

"I know it's dangerous," Al said calmly. "I know that I might die. I know that I probably will. But if I do, it's for a good cause." He paused. A single tear made its way down his face. "And I'll get to see Brother and Mom again."

His words sent a shockwave of horror through Roy. Alphonse wanted to die. Roy was sure of it. That's why he kept taking dangerous missions even though he wasn't even part of the military. He wanted to die, but he didn't want his death to be pointless. He wanted to die in action, to die for a cause. He wanted to do one last good deed, then go join his family.

Roy thought that his heart couldn't be broken any more than it already was. He was wrong.

He knew he should say something. He knew he should try to save Alphonse from the pit of despair, or at the very least offer him a shoulder to lean on. But he couldn't do anything except stare.

"I'll be back with my next report in a few days, General," Al continued like normal. "And if I'm not... I'll tell Ed that you're furious about the paperwork that he left you." Al smiled half-heartedly. His face glistened with tears. He turned and left, Edward's red coat billowing out behind him.

---

"Sir, you need to do your work."

"No."

"Sir-"

Roy slammed his hands down on his desk. "I can't, okay!?" He glared at Riza. "I can't write about... his..." Roy choked back a sob and buried his face in his hands, all the anger drained out of him.

"Sir, I understand that this is hard. But you've faced death before. What makes it different this time?" Riza knew the answer. She knew why it was so hard for the General to even think about Edward's death. But she wasn't sure if he knew. And he had to figure that out.

"What makes it different? It's my fault..." Roy punched the desk. A piece of wood splintered off. "It's my fault, dammit!"

"Why is that?"

"He was my subordinate. I sent him there! Why else? Why, why did I did do that!?"

"So you're saying you should have sent someone else?"

"Yes! No! I don't know! I shouldn't have sent anyone..."

Riza had nothing to say to that. There wasn't a real point to the mission other than 'Find the homunculi'. The world wouldn't have ended if Roy hadn't sent anyone. Not this time, at least.

"Would you have gone?" she decided on asking.

"In Fullmetal's place? Yes." There was no hesitation.

"And if you had died?"

Roy didn't seem to know how to answer that. Riza decided to do it for him.

"If you had died, we would be left alone. You're our commanding officer. You aren't here to protect us, you're here to order us. To send us to war. And if we die while following your orders, so be it. You were just doing your job, and we were just doing ours. We aren't little kids who need protection, we're soldiers."

Roy stared at his desk. "But that's just it." His voice was so low that Riza could barely hear.

"Pardon?"

Roy looked up at her, his eyes hard. "That's just it. Fullmetal was just a kid. And I got him killed! I'm a horrible disgrace of a commanding officer. I mean, what type of CO orders a kid to march to their death!? No Colonel- or General- in the entire history of Amestris has ever done something like that."

"But no General in the history of Amestris has ever had a kid as a subordinate," Riza said gently.

She let Roy think about it. Eventually, some of the guilt faded from his eyes. When he spoke again, his voice was calm.

"Send kids to war, and eventually they're going to die. Fullmetal just happened to be the first..." Roy straightened. "You're right. Thank you, Riza." He looked up at her. Their eyes met.

"You're welcome, Roy."