Angel of Alchemy
By: Karasu Kyra
AN: This goes out to Pheonix to Flame 'cause she made my day ten fucking times over. This is her request. My prompt was an Ed/Roy death!fic.
Rating: T
Summary: If you had the chance to talk to the dead, what would you say? Death!fic RoyEd
--o--o--
Roy Mustang turned dark eyes on the gravestone. He looked down where the remains of a boy who died before his time laid. He thought of the blond hair he used to run his hands through. The softness was astounding when the boy had the time to properly wash it. He thought of golden eyes that made him feel like he was drowning in a field of wheat, and he could stay there forever.
He shivered as a particular memory distorted his vision, blurring the lines of reality until it took over his sight.
Edward laughed and stuck out his tongue. "Ha! I told you, Mustang. I would be real again."
The blond held up both arms and showed that they were both real--blood, tendons, muscle, bone, skin.
Roy stood, a smirk twisting his handsome face. He walked around the desk, booted feet thudding heavily against the carpet. He then walked around Edward, stood behind him, and waited for him to turn around. When he did, the dark-haired man captured both of the blond's hands in his own.
He ran his hands over both of them, marveling in their roughness, the callouses. They were strong hands, learned from hardship; learned from physically fighting, not just relying on his alchemy. He ran his hands up both the flesh arms slowly, before both hands came to cup the blond's cheeks softly.
Slowly, dark-eyes watching unwavering gold the entire time, he leaned forward and pressed his lips to the others. Still staring at those amber eyes, he felt Edward press back against him, eyes watching his own. As Roy ran his tongue over the blond's lower lip, he watched blond eyes cloud slightly.
It was a soft kiss, not the needy, lust-filled ones they normally shared. The ones that bruised and were followed by twenty minutes of pleasure and then one of them leaving and both pretending that nothing happened. This was slow--the first sign they were falling in love.
The man glanced backwards at the sound of soft footsteps. He wasn't surprised to see a not-so-young boy walk up. Roy opened his mouth, stared for a long moment, then closed it again. The young blond half-smiled up at him, and he was beginning to wonder if how long one could go without oxygen to the brain was a sport--for he was definitely hitting a world record.
Roy had never known how similar the two looked. Not until after...
"Alphonse," he said.
"Fuhrer Mustang," was the softly spoken reply.
The two were silent, watching the gravestone--for what neither could truly answer--for answers, perhaps, that might never be said.
"Alphonse, truly, I am sorry," Roy said it quietly, hoping it wouldn't be heard, but the proof of it being said still lingering in the air.
"I know. I don't blame you," the young blond said, looking up at him. Apparently, Alphonse had quite acute hearing.
"He was at the other end of the field. I could just barely make out what he was doing. When I saw the other man leap at him, I...I reached my hand out...I was just about to flick my fingers and...a soldier next to me...grabbed my hand. I reached out the other. All I could think about was getting that man away from Ed...and then I was gone. I'd been hit over the head, I think."
Mustang paused and glanced at Alphonse.
"It's all so fuzzy and I hate it. I wish it were clearer."
"If that were so, you would only torture yourself that much more. You loved him Mustang. I know it and you know it. It's...okay to...cry,...Roy. You don' have to be strong all the time. And look: there's no one around. Just you, me, and Edward. We've seen you cry before." Al offered a crooked smile.
Roy smiled. "I can't, Ed-Alphonse. I'm sorry. You look so much like him when you smile like that."
The young blond shrugged. "A lot of people say that, but I don't really see it..."
They both grew quiet. Then Al said, "When I look around, I can see him, memories of him; in the streets, just walking, or around our apartment at headquarters, sometimes just the most random times, like grocery shopping. Especially around the milk. He hated milk."
The blond laughed then, hysterically, as tears rolled down his face. He couldn't help it. Despite the pain, the laughter bubbled it's way through his anguish, and made him laugh. Yet, nothing was funny. Nothing was comical.
"At the...funeral...I swear he was there, and that he was talking to me the whole time--making jokes about his death, mostly. Am I insane, Mustang? Or was he really there? Could it have been my imagination? My wanting him there so badly that I hallucinated him?"
"I don't know, Al. I don't know. There are times I think he's right here with me. I can feel himm smell him, see him, and yet...I know it's not possible. It defies science. It's just not possible..."
"...at the end of the day, does it really matter? So what? Maybe it is just our imagination. Perhaps he found some alchemic way to get here. We don't know anything about the other side of the Gate and Brother is an unbelievably amazing alchemist. He's one of the best!
"...ha. Look at me. I'm referring to him as if he were still here."
A cold wind blew then. Both males shivered. They sky was blue, the grass a lovely green, Al was Al, Roy was Roy, and Edward no longer existed in this world. That was how it was.
Alphonse looked toward the sky. Several birds flew across it and wispy clouds highlighted the baby blue. Leaves were turning colors, accenting his peripheral vision. Then, out of the corner of his eye, he caught a flash of amber, too bright and glowing to be any sort of leaves.
He turned his head toward it, and there stood Edward. "Brother," he whispered, and then louder, "Brother!"
Roy's head snapped toward Al and then to where he was looking. And there stood Edward in all his glory--black clothes, red jacket, golden hair, amber eyes, Edward fucking Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist. The dark-haired man heard his lips whisper, "Ed..."
Edward stepped forward, and from his back unfurled ivory wings. That was when he scowled. "Don't look at me like that, Mustang!"
Roy smirked. He couldn't help himself. As surreal, as unbelievable as this was, old habits die hard.
"A-Are you an angel?" Alphonse whispered quietly.
"He's too small to be an angel. A bird of some sort, maybe."
"Who are you call so small he'd fit in your pocket?!" seethed Edward as he walked forward. The other two turned toward him, still standing in front of his...grave.
"How is this possible, brother?"
Edward grinned and rubbed the back of his head. "Well, I used a transmutation circle I'd seen. I don't know where I saw it--it just felt right to use. As for these," he said, stretching out a wing, "well, I didn't know what was gonna happen!"
Roy lifted an eyebrow. "You? Reckless? Of course not!"
"Where...are...you?" Al asked slowly.
"The other side. It's...so amazing...beautiful...It would be perfect if you were both there. Perfect..." Edward smiled sadly. "But you have lives to live. My carelessness ended my own."
"I love you, Edward, brother. I love you," Al said suddenly.
"I love you, too, Alphonse. Don't doubt that."
Edward stepped forward slowly, purposefully and enveloped his brother in a hug. They both held on tightly, afraid to let go, never wanting to lose the contact. Finally, it was Al that pulled away. "You don't belong here, Ed. As...amazing as this is, brother...you belong...on the...other side."
Again, the older blond smiled sadly. "You're right, I know."
Edward then turned to Roy, who was still, overall, speechless. The blond walked up to him and cupped one of the taller man's cheeks in his hand. The other came to join it shortly and Edward kissed him, standing on the tips of his toes.
When they parted, the blond looked deeply at Mustang. "Find someone else to love. Don't wait for me. Be happy. Promise me that, Mustang."
"I can't. I can't love anyone but you." Roy's arms wrapped around Edward's waist, holding him in place.
"Just promise me you'll be happy! That's all I'm asking."
"I...will try."
"Thank you..."
"Edward...I'll always love you. You and only you."
"I know. I'll always love you, Roy. I'm so proud of you. We've both...gotten what we wanted."
"Yes. It seems we have."
They stood silent a moment and Edward's figure displaced, like static on a television screen and then stood solid again. Mustang grabbed the blond then, and pulled him tightly against his body and kissed him.
Even as he felt the older blond become less and less solid, he held on tightly, until he could feel him no more. Even then, he remained frozen, using ever sense to remember Edward. Remember his touch, his taste, his smell, what he looked like, felt like, the emotions he made him feel.
The Fuhrer's body collapsed, falling to the ground as if his bones had been dissolved.
"We'll be together again, Roy. I promise," he heard whispered on the wind.
The sun began to set, ready to come up once more and begin a new day.
Roy began to cry.