047. In the dead of the night

This is the first FanFiction I publish here, though not the first on I wrote... it's just the first I finish^^

Well... this is what happens when I start writing in the dark half asleep... funny thing is I wrote in english and only realized it the next morning...

I named it aufter one of the 100 Royai themes... which I'll never finish of course^^

English is not my mothertongue, so if some phrases sound weird it is because I'm german...

If you have any Idea to make weird phrases sound better, please let me know.

I'm open for critism as well, so do not hesitate to tell me what you think about this...

Disclaimer: All the charakters belong to Hiromu Arakawa, I just borrow them.


Their relationship never involved much physical contact.

The first time they were just teenagers. In those days they spend much time together, hiding in some dark corner or outside from her father's eyes and, and lost in each others embrace. Even then they never advanced beyond cuddling, even in their teenage years they never shared a single kiss. All that mattered to them was the simple tenderness of being together.

These were the innocent days.

When they found each other in Ishval they were to distraught at first, to grim and to sore; mad at the other one and especially at themselves. It was only later when they started to find comfort in each other's arms again. Together they endured even the darkest of nights, wandering the ruined spaces and the silent, long dead battlefields. Part of them hoped to run into an ishvalan squad one day, which would end their pain. They never did.

Maybe these bleak hours of apparent calm was the only thing that let them stay sane. It was their time to mourn the dead, the souls they had tossed into oblivion.

Some nights they did nothing but listening to the beating of each others heartbeats.

To remember they were still humans. And to remember they were Alive.

They had long forgotten what life truly meant.

When the war was over they slowly recovered. Their assignment in east city gave them time to let the old wounds heal, both physical and mental. They relaxed their convulsive hold on each other and started living on their own once again. However, they always remained close, not physically, there they were just commanding officer and loyal subordinate, but behind that they showed their affection through secret glances, hidden gestures, words behind words. A language only they knew to decode.

It was enough for many years. Until now.

He was still heavily injured from his struggle against the homunculus, a strife he had barely won, due to his determination.

She had yet to recover from the shock of loosing him, the one who gave her an objective in life.

Some wounds from and from before Ishval had never truly healed.

And they had left Children on the battlefield.

She took him home and stayed till dusk.

In those dead hours of night were nothing seems to move and even the world seems to hold it's breath none of them wanted to be left alone.

Once again they found comfort in tenderly touching each others scars, her old one and his half healed wound. They did not talk, did not think. They just reclined in their embrace, not sleeping but not being awake either.

She left his apartment just before the first morning light, no one would ever know she had been there.

When the day begun he was alone.

And at this day everything changed. They were torn apart, both taken hostage by the homunculi, their last separation.

The day they finally reunited and broke out of the homunculus' trap she nearly died and he lost his eyesight to the truth.

Recovery was slow for both of them.

When he finally opened his eyes again the first thing he saw was her.

In this moment the dead night ended, at long last.

And they went to the prospective path of their life, the path of absolution, together.

But some of the pain, some of the blame never faded away...