[[For superman_dead]]

[light__of__day]

[[Also patient_heart if mun decides Trisha's staying near Ed like he'd prefer she did with Dante out and about.]]

Still in the Nexus, after her conversation with Havoc, Riza turns and starts walking toward a store to pick up bandages to take to him later, not bothering to see if she were being followed, or wait for anyone.

[[Thread closed; post-RP edit

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[superman_dead]

Edward blinks at how quickly Riza takes off, and hurries to catch up with her. "Hey," he says quietly, matching her stride easily, "wait up a second, would you?"

[light__of__day]

Riza glances at him, slowing a bit, silent for a few heartbeats. "I'm just going to buy some bandages and then go straight home. I don't need an escort nor a bodyguard."

[superman_dead]

He scowls. "This isn't about whether or not you need a bodyguard. One, I'm not leaving you alone until the bitch is dead or at least gone from the Nexus and not coming back, and two..." he sighs. "Wanna tell me what that was about?"

[light__of__day]

"Not particularly," Riza says, her tone dull as she looks away. "And I'll be fine for a few hours. I have no desire for company of any sort at the moment." She resumes walking almost before she finishes talking.

[superman_dead]

Edward hears the sounds in her room and doesn't react except to tell Trisha to leave Riza be for now before she can say or do anything. He's familiar with that sort of fit, the sort brought about by a helpless frustration building up and reaching a point where it boils over and explodes.

Poor Alfons, he suddenly thinks as the sound of the drawers hitting the walls reaches his ears (he'll have repairs to do later, it sounds like). It's a wonder his roommate ever put up with him and his semi-frequent fits that occurred more when they first met than later on, as the frustration gave way to that overwhelming hopelessness that smothered and numbed all feeling down a dull ache behind his ribcage

[light__of__day]

Riza grows silent briefly as she lifts her forehead off her knees, just enough to look in his general direction out of the corner of her eyes, and sniffles. She closes her eyes again as she shakes her head a tiny bit. "I don't know what happened," she says quietly, sucking down a shuddery breath. "But whatever it was, it... clearly didn't go well. He went back. I found his way back and it's my past and he went back and told them who the homunculi were. I told him not to let you and Alphonse separate, to warn you not to do that, and to not let me be the one to go with the Colonel if he went after Bradley

[superman_dead]

Edward is quiet, listening to her, and pulls a handkerchief out of his pocket (he seems to be giving away a number of these lately- first the muse-turned-mortal, and now Riza) and hands it over to her. "It wasn't that one," he says quietly. "It was another one though."

It idly passes through his head to wonder what would've happened if he had not left Alphonse behind when he went to Liore, but he quickly shoves the thought aside- it doesn't matter by this point, it's long since over with and whatever that outcome would've been, the one he got was satisfactory, if what he'd heard from Russell and Riza and the other Alphonse were true. Alphonse was alive and washed clean of their sins. That was enough.

"If you hadn't warned him, who's to say it wouldn't have gone just as bad, just in a different way? Don't blame yourself for this." He gives her a soft smile. "Holding onto guilt like that only makes you old and worn out long before you should be, and you're too pretty for that, Lieutenant."

[light__of__day]

Riza looks at the handkerchief for a long moment before taking it, folding it a bit and dabbing at her eyes. "That's what I was trying," she says. "If it had gone right, maybe there'd be a little bit of absolution in it for me too."

[light__of__day]

Riza crosses her arms tight, looking away out the window. "What happened to putting myself first for once in my life, what I want?" She closes her eyes, giving her head a small shake. "He might never even find a way back to his own time. Why work off assumptions of things that may never be a concern?"

[superman_dead]

"Why chance shattering yourself completely later?" He shrugs. "You're right, of course. I have no room to speak about replacements. But that's why I'm trying to warn you. But if you really want to live in a fantasy land, guess there's really not much I can do but be there to pick up the pieces later, huh?"

[light__of__day]

She's quiet for a moment, and crouches, starting to pick up wood bits from a broken drawer off the floor. "It doesn't really matter right now," she says. "It's all in pieces anyway. I'll figure out how to keep them from scattering. I managed it before."

[superman_dead]

Edward sighs. "So had I," he says quietly, before turning and walking out of the room.