okay this is slightly AU due to character placement and some other stuff but this is obvs before roy became a colonel.
Roy stretched his aching muscles as he leaned back in his chair. He had wanted to leave hours ago but Riza told him that she would know if he didn't finish signing at least half of the paperwork he had and he didn't want to get shot. Looking at the two piles (one for finished and one for unfinished) he decided that he had fulfilled his obligation to sign half of the documents and got up. He grabbed his coat and threw it on, turning out the lights and heading out the door.
Not much had happened since he became a Lieutenant Colonel in the military. In fact, if he didn't have the guilt of the war still fresh with him and he didn't have a goal he was looking forward to, he would have rather stayed on the lower ranks so that he could go back into battle. He liked the atmosphere but he hated the bloodlust and idiocy of the military at times. He shook his head, knowing that it was for the best that he leave that type of life behind him. He was going to be Fuhrer one day and he would make better decisions about fighting than the current Fuhrer.
"Hey, Roy, you heading home?"
Roy looked behind him to see Maes coming up to him. Roy stopped and waited for him as he got closer.
"I was going to; why?"
"Gracia was going to make a big chicken tonight and I wanted to know if you wanted to come over and help us eat it? Take some home for the week?"
"Are you indicating that I can't cook for myself?"
"Not at all, not at all." He said both mockingly but truthfully. "I just know how hard you work and it's hard to find time to eat a proper meal with your busy schedule. Come on, what else do you have to do? Besides, Gracia has been wanting you to come over ever since we got married."
Although Roy liked Gracia very much, he didn't like to get involved with her and Maes just for common courtesy of a new married couple. He was sure they had 'things' of their own to do. But, she was an excellent cook, and what he had had in mind for dinner couldn't even compare to what Maes was describing.
"Alright, I'll come over there."
"Great! Let me call Gracia and tell her you agreed so she can set out an extra plate."
Maes left to go to the phones and Roy headed out the door.
Roy waited for Maes to come out, pulling his coat around him a little tighter in the chilly November air. He could smell snow on the horizon, if that were a possibility, but he had no doubts that they would get some sort of storm (rain or snow) within the night or at least the next day. The door opened and Maes walked out.
"Ready?" he asked.
"Yeah… You have beer at your house, I assume?"
"What kind of person do you think I am? Of course I do." He said with a hearty smack on the shoulder.
Roy smiled as Maes rubbed his hands together and blew into them.
"Damn, it's cold tonight."
"Yeah. I have a feeling we're going to get a good amount of snow."
"You think so?"
"It's like I can feel it."
Maes laughed. "You'd think that sometimes. The atmosphere gets so thick it's like it's telling you what's about to happen."
Roy smiled a little as he stuck on his ignition gloves. Although it wasn't the proper use for them, they were better than nothing due to the thick fabric used in order for him to create sparks.
"Gracia was happy that you decided to come over. She said she wanted you to help with some deserts. Something about doing a flambé on some icing or something."
"Is that all I'm good for?" he said with a small laugh.
"Of course not, I made that up. She just knows that things have been a bit awkward since I married her and stuff… Roy, I'm kind of worried about you."
"What? What's this all of a sudden?"
"It's not all of a sudden; it's something I've been thinking about for a while now. You're a bachelor by choice, I get that, but have you ever even considered settling down?"
Roy thought for a moment. "Every once in a while I do… but it's no use settling down when I haven't reached my goal yet. I don't want my slight obsession with becoming Fuhrer to get in the way of my family. Once I'm in the position then I know I can settle down."
"But that's just it, Roy. It's been a while now since the Ishvalan War ended and although you're a lieutenant colonel now, that's all you are. Waiting will only get you so far, but never as far as Fuhrer. So the question is that have you thought about if you can't be the Fuhrer? I mean… you can't live your life on a hope and a dream. Sure you can work towards it and I will always support you no matter what, but you can't pause your happiness for something that is 90% not going to happen while you're young."
Roy made a face and although he wanted to tell Maes he was wrong, he knew that the older man was right. There were many times when Roy thought about having a family, a wife and maybe a kid, but every time he did he thought of how someone could use them against him, cause him to lose out on his dream of changing Amestris to something far better than it is. He just didn't want to get anyone close to him hurt over his own agenda.
"I know it's something that you really want, Roy, and like I said, I'm not knocking it, but you need to set a different goal for yourself. You're twenty three years old, you've got plenty of time for a family and reaching your goal. Maybe you should give yourself a time limit. Something like, 'If I haven't reached my goal by the time I'm thirty, then I will start looking for a family' or something like that."
"Thirty?" Roy said with a small laugh.
"Hey, that gives you seven solid years to try and rise the ranks. If you want it bad enough, you'll find a way."
Roy laughed a little. "True…"
The two turned the corner and started passing a small alley when they heard a yelp and a loud ruckus. They stopped for a second and turned to each other.
"Did you hear that?" Maes asked.
"Yeah… Should we check it out?"
"Up to you… You got your gun on you?" he asked, reaching for his own.
"I've got my ignition gloves on, so same thing."
They stopped talking when the sound of trashcans and broken boards caught their attention, along with a small whimper. They waited patiently as the sound of footsteps echoed in the alleyway where the person was running towards the entrance. Maes and Roy stepped back a little to give the person space when said person made their way out into the light of the street. They turned without looking and ran straight into Roy, almost knocking him down.
After hitting him, Roy realized it was just a kid as he laid sprawled out on the ground, trying to get his own bearings. Maes put his gun up and knelt down.
"Hey, are you alright?" he asked.
The young boy, only about eight or so, finally got his head together and looked at the two men. Seeing them, he began to crabwalk backwards in fear, staring at them with wide and fearful golden eyes. Roy tried to hold out his hand to help him up but he coward and finally flipped over and ran away, back down the alley.
Maes and Roy looked at each other in confusion when a shot rang out, prompting Maes to pull out his gun in response. Roy noticed the crackles of alchemical use and ran to the alley.
"Roy! What the hell are you doing?" Maes called, running after his friend.
When Roy reached the middle of the alley, the boy again came rushing at him but this time when he ran into Roy, he clung to him for dear life. He was trembling and crying, saying something but Roy couldn't understand it through the fabric and the tears. He heard Maes run up to him.
"Roy, what the hell? You could have been killed." He saw the way Roy was standing and moved to see the boy. "What happened?"
"Beats me. He's trying to tell me but-"
A hissing sound made the two look up as well as the boy.
"Go away!" he yelled.
The hissing turned into something like a growl and Maes and Roy could hear something coming down the wall. The boy looked up.
"You gotta do something! He's after me!"
"Who?" Maes asked.
Roy was still staring at what had come down the wall and was confused by it. It looked like a child… about the same age as the boy. It was primal, acting more like an animal than a boy.
"Who is that?"
"Please… please make him go away…" the boy whimpered into Roy's stomach again.
Maes shot at the child, aiming just above its head. I didn't even flinch as the bullet whizzed past.
"That won't do anything." The boy said.
"Triiiiick or treeeaaaat…" something said hoarsely.
Maes and Roy looked as the child-like thing started coming forward on all fours, walking like an animal. Once in the small light of the streetlamp, Roy saw that it had golden hair that was long and matted, falling over the child's face, but the eyes were primal, full of bloodlust and as golden as the sun.
"Trick or treat!" it snarled, a crazy grin appearing from under the golden locks. "Trick gets treats when trick is good. Bad trick get punished." It said with a sinister growl with the last word.
The boy trembled at Roy's side and he decided he had had enough of this creature.
"Go before we kill you." He yelled, sending a stream of flame towards the thing.
The flame seemed to scare it a bit as it let out a screech and scrambled back. Once back in the darkness though, a crazy laugh erupted.
"Good trick get treats if he is good. Bad trick is punished when he is bad… Trick or treat… trick or treat…" The laughing suddenly stopped and Roy felt something sinister from the shadows. "Trick is bad. You will never be safe."
In a flash he was gone and the boy lost his ability to stand, the fear taking the strength right out of his legs. Roy knelt down to him as Maes did as well.
"What was all that?"
The boy looked up, tears falling down his face.
"That was my brother. They… they did this to him. Please save us…"
"What's your name?" Roy asked softly.
"It's Alphonse but… but those people named me Trick."
Realizing the correlation of his nickname and the strange things the creature –boy- was saying, they could see they had a lot to understand.
"Come with us, Alphonse. We'll keep you safe."
Roy reached out and picked him up as Alphonse cried on his shoulder.
Maes sighed. "Well then, this will be a sight for Gracia. One more plate it is."
amestrian timeline class: roy was a lt. colonel for 3 yrs after the ishavalan war. we meet him officially as a colonel after ed recovers from the taboo with his automail and laddy da. also, i know that mustang wasn't in central the whole time but 90% of the story, he was. maes died in like chapt. 20 i think (or close by) and right after that, roy was transferred to central. plus, elicia wasn't born until about 1911 3 yrs after this so this means that maes and gracia are newly weds cuz this is one year after the war. whew... anyway... oh and this makes ed/al about 9/8