...LineBreaker....
Roy sighed, lifting up the previously turned down frame to stare with one good eye, having removed his eyepatch beforehand, at Hughes's grinning face. Immediately, tears flooded his vision and started sailing down his cheeks and he had to cover his mouth to muffle the desperate sobs that escaped. His chest hurt so bad he could barely breath, and he could vaguely make out the stubbled face of Lieutenant Colonel Maes Hughes.
"Why?" Roy despaired, the lament escaping him before he could stop it. "Nn." He whimpered, clutching the frame closer and doubling over, tears rapidly dripping to the floot. HIs throat hurt from attempting to stiffle sobs. But they came out in pitiful whines and strangled hiccoughs. Eventually, he started choking on his own sobs and had to let out a few, loud, wails as he dug his fingers into the biting metal of it's frame. God..... it hurt. It hurt so much he almost didn't want to live iwth it.
"Colonel?" Roy coughed and righted himself whilst spinning his chair around so Riza couldn't see him. He attempted to act as if he hadn't been bawling his eyes out and tears weren't still falling to hit Hughes's smiling face.
"Sir, um....." Riza coughed awkwardly. "Are you-"
"M'fine." Roy attempted to control the shaking in his voice.
"Um---I was just-" Riza sighed. "Nevermind, I'll be right outside if you need me."
"Of course." Roy ignored the cracking at the end of that statement. Riza sighed once more, and left.
Roy heaved a great shuddering sigh, and turned to put Hughes's picture back on his desk.
"I'm probably a mess." Roy laughed humorlessly, dejectedly wiping at his face. "....Like I care." He sighed, but picked up some tissues anyway.
~ ~~
Roy dragged his sick ass into the doctor's office, run down and haggard.
"Oooh, you don't look so good...what ails you?"
"I'm tired all the time, exhausted, I'm achey, irritable, and I'm puking a lot, especially in the mornings." Roy collapsed on the examining table.
"Well, it sounds like you're pregnant." The doctor was probably joking but-
"WHAT?!" Roy's eyes bugged out of their sockets. The doctor seemed to find this amusing.
"Yes, all we have to do to prove it is to perform and ultra sound, and voila! Baby!" The doctor actually chuckled silently to himself.
Roy, knowing the workings of the gate and alchemy, didn't find it so funny.
"Just lay down here and I'll just-" The doctor trailed off, a sort of spring in his step and an inflection in his tone as if he were in on some private joke of his own.
"Lift up your shirt." Roy nearly groaned, but did so.
The gell was cold, and his stomach muscles jumped at the feel of it.
"We'll just-" THe doctor put that odd instrument in the gell and started moving it around. "Let's see, " The doctor hummed. "It all looks-" The doctor dropped his device.
"What?" He hurriedly picked up the device and pressed it back down on Roy's tummy a little harshly.
"WHAT?!" Roy asked, starting to feel panicked.
"You-" The doctor gaped like a fish. "You-you-you... not only are you pregnant, but you're pregnant with twins."
".................................What?" Roy deadpanned.
"Wow, I've only ever heard of this before! YOu wouldn't happen to be an alchemist, would you?"
"Ya." Roy replied tersely. 'Damn Gate' he thought.
"I-I don't know what to do." The doctor slumped.
"Luckily...I do."
~~~
Roy went to real doctors who had actually had some experience with his condition after that. He was 3 and a half months pregnant, and the pregnancy was going smoothly. He was immediately, temporarily, relieved of his duty.
So...now he just sat in his house, staring into the fireplace, doing nothing because he didn't know how to function like a civilian.
"what do normal people do?"
"Read books? Clean? Watch T.V.?" Riza answered as she walked into Roy's living room unannounced.
"Hello to you too, Riza."
"Roy." Roy sighed, he seemed to be doing that a lot, and returned his gaze back to the fireplace.
"So." Riza sat on the couch adjacent ot him. "Do you know their genders yet?"
"No, I wanna wait."
"Do you have names picked out?"
"Ya..."
"Can i hear them?"
"Ya.... For boys i have either Axle, Ike, or Maes. And for girls I have Pearl, or Lily."
"Pretty names." Riza smiled tentatively.
"Thanks..."
"So......Maes huh?"
"...........Ya." Roy's entire demeanor changed, his features darkened.
"I think it's a suitable name."
"Thanks, I-I think so too."
~~~
2 and a half months later and Roy was STILL trying to get used to civilian life. He'd passed his time by making a baby's room and cribs. It was actually a more taxing task than he had at first thought. But he was determined to see it through. But right now he was worried. There seemed to be a bit too much activity going on even for twins in his tummy, and he didn't think he should be THIS big!
Which was why he was currently being checked out by the doctor.
"Well." There was an amused crack in the doctor's voice. "It seems you are not just having twins, but triplets."
"I------WHAT?!"
~~~
Roy smiled softly down at his stomach, caressing his belly. "3 little Hugh babies." He muttered. Roy leaned back in the back and gave into the temptation to sing to his tummy. It took him a while to narrow down a genre, an artist, and then song and then actually try to remember the melody and then the lyrics. And then actually get up the courage to sing the song....
Roy hummed the song at first, getting the basics of the melody and also getting the harmonizing out of the way, before he started in on the real lyrics.
I dreamt I dwelt in Marble Halls
With vessels and serfs at my side Roy sang softly.
And of all who assembled within those walls
That I was the hope and the pride He changed 'I' to 'you' as he imagined talking to his unborne triplets.
I had riches all too great to count
And a high ancestral name
But
I also dreamt which please me most
That you love me still the same Roy winced at this point, but kept singing.
That you loved me
You loved me
Still the same
That you love me
You loved me
Still the same Roy's voice broke a bit on the second harmonizing part.
I dreamt that suitors sought my hand
That knights upon bended knees
And with vows no maiden's heart could withstand
They pledged their faith to me Roy closed his eyes and lost himself entirely in the song.
And I dreamt that one of that noble host
Came forth my hand to claim
But
I also dreamt which charmed me most
That you loved me still the same Much more emotion was placed in his voice.
That you loved me
You loved me
Still the same
That you loved me
You loved me
Still the same... Roy couldn't finish that last harmonizing bit as he broke into light tears.
"Oh Hughes." Roy muttered brokenly, but he smiled down at his distended belly, imagining what they would look like.
It was so surreal. He almost didn't believe it sometimes. But his big rounded belly, and the fluttering in his tummy, among other things, proved it to him many times.
"I can't wait to see you." He whispered.
~~~
"You can barely even get around anymore." Havoc gasped at the 8 and a half month along Roy, who's belly caused him to be sitting most of his days these days.
"You look like you're about to burst." Breda said, awed.
"Don't jinx him!" Fury warned.
"It's bad luck!" Falman agreed.
"Too late." Roy gasped.
~~~
Never again did anyone ever want to see Roy give birth. They forgot to remove his gloves. So, among very scary screams of pain and threats during the contractions he had to suffer through before the C-Section surgery, he also singed the shit out of the room, and everyone who was stupid enough to get too close.
They were ALL going to be having nightmares about it for a long, long time.
~~~
Roy found that having a C-Section was the single most scariest thing he'd ever experienced, which was saying something. The tarp was daunting, and he could feel them rooting around IN his body faintly. THe entire thing made him uneasy, and he was afraid for his babies.
When he heard the first cry, he sighed in relief.
"It's a boy." THe nurse placed the baby near his head and he slugishly raised his arm to caress the soft skin of HIS baby. He cried. He really did, and while he was preoccupied with his first born, his second was born. This one let loose a LOUD healthy wail.
"Another boy." The nurse cleaned him up and brought him over to him. THey were both very beautiful babies, and it didn't help the flood of tears any.
The first born was a bit bigger than the second by a few centimeters, but the second born was WAY louder.
"We got the third one." Roy perked up, but didn't hear any cries.
"Clear his lungs!" Roy started to panic inside at that. What if... What if the baby died? How... How would Roy deal with it? He wouldn't lose someone else.. would he?
Of course, right about when he was about to have a panic attack, he heard the cry, and heaved a deep breath of relief.
"A boy. You have 3 baby boys." Roy finally got a look at his youngest. He was tinier than his brothers, but he was much louder. Much, MUCH louder.
~~~
After ROy was all sewed up and stuffs was taken care of, Roy basked happily in the presence of just him and his 3 babies... Until a nurse walked in.
"Do you have names for them?
"Ya... Axle for the first born, Ike for the second, and... Maes for the third." Roy gave a bittersweet smile.
~~~
Eventually Roy got to go home with his sons. He had to be rolled out of the hospital in a wheel-chair, no matter how much he protested. But he FINALLY was home.
The first thing he did, was just sit in the baby room, and watch all 3 of his babies sleep, and to remember the good times, amongst the better, and the better that were sure to come...
END
Yep, that's all folks....