No Longer a Cross, Not Yet a Comfort
A/N: Spoilers for chapter 100-102.
It was another grey, dreary day in Central. Fall was in the air, and so it went that some days clung to summer's sunny blue skies and lazy atmosphere while others such as this one tended toward winter's unpleasant double team of cold and dampness.
Roy sighed. "It's going to rain."
Riza looked to her superior, who had been deep in contemplation for a while before making this declaration. "And how do you know that, Sir?"
She tried not to make a habit of questioning him now. He'd adapted to his situation quite well, but some of his new methods still escaped Riza's understanding.
Roy shrugged. "Call it a sixth sense. I've always known."
It was true. Even from his days as an apprentice, Riza had known Roy to look at a perfectly blue sky and say, "It's going to rain," and not an hour later, it would be pouring. This power of perception usually worked with predicting sun as well, but never were any of his predictions more accurate than those he made about the rain.
"I shouldn't care," he said quietly, and Riza, who had been looking out the window, shifted her gaze back to him. "It's not like I don't have a whole arsenal of alchemic weapons at my disposal now, but no matter how much some things change, there are certain immutable facts that will always stay the same."
Was he talking about hating the rain? His blindness? Both? Or something else entirely? Riza didn't know.
When Roy spoke again, it was barely a whisper. "Tell me, Lieutenant: Why does the rain have to fall?"
Riza thought for a moment. Her answer, spoken with no more volume than Roy's question, still somehow exuded the confidence that negated Roy's despair. "So that when we see the sun shine again, when we feel its warmth, we realize just how much we take it for granted." Was she suggesting that his sight would someday return? "And we are all the more grateful for its presence."
Roy stood and walked around the desk, taking Riza's hands in his. "When you were dying, and all I could do was watch, I thought, 'I won't complain about the rain, no matter how long it lasts. I don't have to see the sun again—I just need her to survive.' And here, even with you by my side once again, the sun still shines. I might not be able to see it, but I can feel it. It's more than I asked for, and so it has to be enough for me." He paused, for a moment, then continued, "And it is. I don't need the sun. I don't even need to be able to see. I have you by my side—nothing else matters. Let the rain fall, let me stumble around in the darkness, put me through any kind of hell imaginable, and I can live on if I know you're there, waiting for me."
Riza blinked. "You were right, Sir—it's raining."
And certainly, it was. Roy could hear the gentle tap of droplets spattering on the windows.
So, too, could he hear the roughness and the waver of emotion in Riza's voice. She was trying her best, and he expected no less, but she couldn't hide it from him.
"So it is, Hawkeye. So it is."
A/N: Wow… Sappy enough for you?
Inspired by "Rain" By SID (5th opening of FMA: Brotherhood) and "She Is the Sunlight" by Trading Yesterday. (Yes, go ahead and laugh. It worked, didn't it?)
I had a bit of trouble wording the answer to "Why does the rain have to fall?" At first, I was actually going to go with cleansing, but then the answer I used popped into my head, and I went, "Oh forget cleansing—this is much more Royai!" It turned out to be better than I imagined when I started writing Roy's little speech at the end, there.
Well, tell me what you think! (I, for one, think it's a bit clunky in places, but I tried! I may edit if anyone comes up with absolutely fantastic ideas about how to fix it.)