The Unexpected (Part 1 - Flame Alchemy)

[Year 1905]

After Roy left for the military, Berthold's health started degrading more and more. Roy couldn't spend a lot of time with his master, but he tried to do whatever he could to save his master. Even after his devotion for his master, Berthold was still disappointed in him, just for the fact that he chose the life of a soldier. The exchange of words between the lonely alchemist and his only disciple had reduced to the minimum.

After 2 years, in the autumn of 1905, when Roy graduated from the military academy, he first went to his true family to celebrate his achievement. But, that day was unusual for him. Berthold wanted to meet Roy in private, so he called Roy to his bedroom where he was lying on his bed like a living corpse. He spoke through his heart that day and revealed the truth about flame alchemy to Roy at last. He got stressed for some reason after he asked Roy to protect Riza, that she had the secrets to flame alchemy. He started coughing and spitting blood from his mouth, and within a few moments, he lost his consciousness.

Roy came to celebrate with the only family he felt like his own, but there could not be any celebration that day, because he lost the man that day, who guided him on the path of his dreams. The doctors who treated Berthold found out that he was missing some internal organs because of which his health was always in vulnerable condition, and in the last 2 years, the body couldn't keep up. During his last moments, Berthold asked for the first and last favor from his daughter. He asked her to give Roy the final book he wrote, after his death. The book was titled, "The Knight". It was a fairy tale about a Knight who devoted his life to protect the princess with whom he was in love.

On Berthold's funeral day, there were no friends or family except Roy, Riza, and Matilda, and it was not surprising, considering that the man had little to no connection to the outside world. Roy never understood why his Master was so lonely, why he shut himself from the outside world.

After the funeral was over, Matilda and the other people facilitating the funeral left the graveyard. Roy and Riza were the only one present there at that time. They were standing in front of Berthold's grave, remembering all the happy and sad moments with Berthold. Finally, Riza showed her gratitude toward Roy for the fact that, even after not being related by blood, he put all his money and effort to save his master. He even arranged everything for his master's funeral like a family member.

"You have done so much. I don't think I can thank you enough," Riza said politely while looking toward her father's tombstone.

"It's the least I can do, after everything he taught me," Roy replied.

He then took out a contact card and gave it to Riza. He said, "You should take it. You can call me in the military if you need to."

He never asked Riza on how she felt about his decision of joining the military. He remembered the heated conversation between him and Berthold, 2 years ago, and always thought that maybe Riza also thought like her father. So he said very compassionately, "Let me guess…you also don't approve of me becoming a soldier. Your father told me, soldiers are left to die like trash on the side of the road. That may be but, I know it's the only way to make a difference and I know I will never be happy if I don't try to make this country a better place."

He finally released all the words suppressed in his heart for a long time in those few moments. But, he then realized he got too emotional and moved his hands through his hairs. "Man…that must have sounded pretty childish, huh?" He smirked embarrassingly and looked toward Riza.

Riza looked at him, and replied, "Not at all, there is nothing childish about caring. I like to believe that you are serious about this, that you really do care." She paused for a moment and brought up the topic which was bugging both of them. She asked, "Can I trust you Roy…with my father's research?"

Roy closed his eyes, took a deep breath and exhaled. He then opened his eyes and asked, "What do you think?"

"I think…I can," Riza replied hesitantly.

Roy thought maybe she wasn't sure because of the hesitance in her voice. So, he decided to talk about the topic at a later time. He tried to direct the conversation in a different direction, and said,

"Let's go home. We can talk it later."

Both of them turned around and started walking toward home. While walking, Roy saw Riza was preoccupied with some thoughts because of which she was looking stressed. He understood that it should be flame alchemy. So, to lighten up her mood, he teased her, "I hope you know how to make stew."

Riza instantly got out of her thoughts, and replied annoyingly while looking toward Roy, "Then why don't you ask Ms. Becker to make you some stew?"

Roy stopped walking and held Riza's shoulders. He then begged her desperately by making a pathetic face, "Don't do this to me, Miss Riza. I will definitely die without your stew, please prepare me some."

Riza burst into laughter. Her eyes were closing due to the laughter and she was trying to cover her mouth with her hand to stop laughing. "Okay, okay…stop it, I will make some stew," She said while laughing.

After some time they reached home and found that the dishes were already prepared, but Matilda was not there.

Riza looked at the dining table and said, "Looks like Ms. Becker went to her home, she told me she had some work and will be coming at late night. Anyways, I still have to prepare some stew to make sure you won't die." She finished off the sentence by mocking Roy.

They prepared the stew together like old times, and after finishing the dinner, they washed off the plates and sat on the dining chairs, which was adjacent to each other. Riza then reminded something embarrassing to Roy. She asked,

"Roy, do you remember back when I was resting under the tree beside the lake?"

"Oh come on now, you had to bring that? I swear, when you were closing your eyes and lying under that tree, I thought you were sleeping. So, I was putting that bug on your face," Roy sounded embarrassed.

"But, your prank backfired at you…didn't it?" Riza grinned.

"How can I forget? You punched me so hard on my face after all. I was dizzy for a moment," Roy acted as if he could still feel the pain.

Riza burst into a laugh, remembering the old days, and Roy quietly watched her happy face. After some time, when Riza seemed very happy, Roy thought of bringing up the question which was making him anxious from a long time. He called Riza politely.

When Riza looked at him and responded him with a "hmmm?" He asked, "When did Master complete his research?"

The happiness from Riza's face disappeared instantly. Riza was quiet for a moment and averted her eyes from Roy to look down at the dining table. Roy was anxious to get the answers, but at the same time, he didn't want Riza to feel uncomfortable, so he remained quiet. Suddenly, Riza answered him without looking at his face,

"He completed it 6 years ago. But, soon after he completed his research, he found that somehow the military got to know about it. He feared that his research might go into the wrong hand so, he burnt all his research work. A few days later, the military came to our house and asked him to give up the research as he was not willing to work for them. He told them the truth but, they didn't believe him and searched the whole house and found nothing. They took many of the notes and books my father had with them"

Roy was in complete disbelief. He couldn't believe after so much time he spent with his Master, he never learned flame alchemy and now after knowing the truth, he was feeling like a loser. He couldn't believe that Berthold burnt all his research work, still, he told him that his research work was with Riza.

"How can that be? You yourself told me that you have Master's research," Roy asked anxiously.

Riza lifted up her head and replied with a little hesitation, "Yes, I have it. Before he burned all his research work, he made a copy of it to make sure that his research does not go to waste."

Roy was relieved when he learned the whole truth. He got excited and spoke out of impulse, "Can you show me?"

When Riza saw his face, she could see the hunger for knowledge in his eyes, like her father. She couldn't see the caring Roy she knew, which made her sad. She replied with a concerned face, "My father devoted himself so much toward alchemy that he forgot he had a family. Even when my mother was ill, he never came to sit near her and talk to her for a moment. I hope you won't become like my father," She finished off with a sad smile.

Roy felt bad and averted his eyes from Riza. There was silence for a moment, but then Riza held Roy's wrist and spoke with a smile,

"It's all right. I know how excited you were to learn alchemy from my father…it's getting late and you have a train to catch tomorrow…please come with me," she said.

Roy looked with his sorry eyes toward Riza and saw her smiling face in return. He smiled back at her and stood up after her. He then followed Riza to the study room in order to know the secrets to the most powerful alchemy.