FIC: Imagined Fantasies
Banner courtesy of bay115
Title: Imagined Fantasies
Author: drummerdancer
Verse: None
Characters/Pairings: Riza, Roy
Word Count: 557
Prompt 254: You lie and I'll swear to it
Rating: K+
Summary: She didn't dwell on them, but sometimes, Riza did like to indulge in fantasies of her own.
Riza sometimes wondered what life would’ve been like without Roy.
It was a hollowing, unsettling feeling, something that she neither thought of often nor dwelled on for too long.
But when the thought did come to a head, and she was in the mood to play, a great many unrealized dreams and desires sprang to life behind her eyelids. A one-room schoolroom, out in the middle of nowhere, made black-rimmed glasses stuck astutely to her face and a pencil skirt with kids clutching to the material come to mind. She would teach math because math was precise, it was accurate, it was clean-cut and only had one answer, one target to shoot for, one goal to achieve.
A blink of the eyes, and then the rural schoolroom would change into a pastel bakery in downtown Dublith, a welcomed variety to a place known for its meat and sausage links. She would cook everything from scratch, taking care to get the exact amount of each cooking ingredient right so that the finished product would be perfect, a clear standout in its pretty pink wrapping and multi-colored sprinkles. And she would wear her hair down, her face relaxed and stained with laughter lines from years of good service and good customers, all happy to see each other day after day.
Another twitch and suddenly, the pastels would fade to black, giving her a moment’s pause to catch her breath before the second act started. The curtains would open, and then the spotlight would be there, on her, and she would cross her ankles and spin, raising her arms delicately overhead as the music played and the audience watched, captivated by her sharp moves and perfect balance. She would be light as a feather but smooth as a swan, hitting the moves just sharp enough to be considered strong, but gracefully enough to be considered dainty, a perfect mix in the ballet world.
But them, after the applause erupted and faded, her eyes would open and stay open, staring up at her bedroom ceiling for a few moments before her breath calmed and heart slowed, the pretty pictures resuming their place once more in her subconscious.
She would never be those Rizas. She was a soldier; now, always, and forever. Her fate was in stone, inscribed with permanent ink and an ice pick. Even if he crumbled, even if he made a misstep now…
You lie, and I’ll swear to it, she repeated, her eyes closing once more.
The kids stayed in their homes this time, the bakery with a ‘closed’ sign stamped inside its window. She would be out in the street, the outside of the theatre to her left, when the dark-haired man would approach her, his eyes heavy and deep.
“Will you come with me?” he would ask, his hand already outstretched for hers.
And her leotard would be gone, replaced with the stiff Amestrian blue she knew all too well. And her gym bag would disappear, traded for weapons actually designed to hit a single target, her math’s goal for accuracy paling under the weight of her firearms.
And she would nod, repeating the phrase under her breath as she took his hand firmly in hers.
You lie, and I’ll follow you to hell and back if you ask me to.
Double posted @ fma_fic_contest