Reviews from the Author.
"A gripping, emotional roller-coaster ride. Sure to please readers." -Five Foot Fury.
"Meh, I've read better." -Five Foot Fury.
"What the hell is this piece of shit? Who allowed this author to even write this?" -Five Foot Fury.
I hope you enjoy. : )
...
For years she's been a few steps behind him, following him in his shadow. So it was ironic how she now had to lead him around. They walked side by side as they left the hospital, the lieutenant guiding her superior. Hawkeye took him to her apartment as they had previously agreed on. She unlocked the door and opened it, almost surprised not to be greeted by a patter of paws running on the floor and a welcoming bark, until she remembered that Fuery was watching Black Hayate for her. Hawkeye stepped inside and Roy followed her into her apartment without too much trouble. She closed the door, then let out a sigh as she took off her ruined jacket. The clothes they wore when they had arrived at the hospital were the same they had to wear when leaving. "Would you like to sit down Colonel?" Hawkeye asked him.
"No." He didn't like needing help to do everything. He didn't want to say yes just to fumble around for a seat or to have Hawkeye guide him to one. Instead, he gave her a normal reason to guide him around. "Give me a tour of your place Lieutenant." He said to empty air since he had forgotten to listen for where Hawkeye was.
"Yes, sir." She draped her ruined jacket over a chair to toss it out later. Hawkeye returned to his side to guide him through her apartment, talking him through the tour. She told him what rooms were which that they walked into and where everything was, like, "The couch is two feet to your right, sir." Always making sure to stop before directing him of where objects were and in some cases, she took him up to them. The last of these items that she took him to was her bed. "That's everything." She told him and moved away, not telling him to sit down, but leaving it up to him to do what he wanted as she changed her clothes.
Roy sat on her bed, annoyed. He was helpless, he knew that, but did Hawkeye have to make it so blatant and keep reminding him of it every five seconds? He stared angrily into the black nothingness that surrounded only him. He listened to Hawkeye's clothes rustling and shuffling. Was she changing in front of him? How cruel. She couldn't even treat him like he wasn't blind. Now she could do whatever she wanted in front of him and just act like he wasn't there, or rather, like he was a piece of furniture. Nothing to pay any mind to. She seemed content to do so now. He could only expect more of it later. He closed his eyes pointlessly out of anger. "I'm here you know. Just because I can't see you, doesn't mean you have to pretend not to see me."
"Sir, you're here with me so I can keep an eye on you as I have been doing. The last thing I'm doing is ignoring you." She told him patiently, coming up to him.
"Don't keep an eye on me while you're in the bathroom or for that matter while I am." He turned away, again it was pointless, but it was out of his natural instinct to do so when angry.
"I'm sorry, sir." Hawkeye said, looking down. "I'm trying to handle this the best I can. I know you're not completely helpless. I don't mean to treat you as if you are."
Roy crossed his arms. "You know I am." He mumbled quietly.
She frowned a little, looking back at him. Unsure of what he had mumbled, Hawkeye was silent, but stayed by his side in case he needed help or wanted her to get something for him.
After a long moment, he turned back towards her. "Are you still there?" He asked, unsure.
"Yes, sir." She responded.
" ..." Roy turned away again. How sad was that? He couldn't even tell if she was still in the room. He stood. "Go make me something to eat." Ordering her to do things for him made him feel less helpless and more lazy. A trade he was fine with.
"Yes, sir." She turned and left the room. How silly of her to have thought Roy would be kind and ask for things or that, maybe in the privacy of her apartment, they could tell each other things they couldn't voice in public. Maybe I had been wrong. Had I misjudged him? She wondered as she prepared a meal in the kitchen. Hawkeye had been weak and had been losing consciousness on and off. Perhaps that caring look in his eyes when he had held her had been imagined to mean something a little more than friendship, simply because it was something she wanted to see. She knew better than to dwell on her feelings though. Through the years that she followed him like his shadow, she knew it was best to hide her feelings so she could continue protecting Roy and to prevent potentially damaging their friendship. Hawkeye picked up the plate and started to take it over to Roy in her room, but stopped when she saw Roy was on his way out of her room. He walked straight into the door jam. He bounced back, corrected his path the wrong way and hit nothing but wall. On his third try, he made it through the doorway with ease.
He went through all of this because he didn't want to look like a fool with his arms stretched out in front of him, feeling around. He also imagined it'd hurt his hands too much to be feeling around constantly. Roy could only imagine Hawkeye covering her mouth, holding back laughter. He sneered.
Still frowning a little, Hawkeye set the plate on the table and went to help Roy. She put a hand on his upper back and the other rested on the side of his chest; just like how she had guided him around on the Promised Day. She led him over by the table to a chair. "Have a seat, sir." Hawkeye said. "I made you a sandwich."
Roy felt out for the chair with his foot and then managed to sit down without a problem. He found the sandwich with ease and started to eat.
A chair scrapped across the floor and Hawkeye sat down across from him with a glass of milk for herself. She wasn't so hungry that she was willing to go through the discomfort of eating with her neck injury.
After finishing his sandwich, Roy started to squeeze and flex his fingers. "Uhm." He rested his hands down.
"Is something wrong?" Hawkeye asked him.
"I can't feel several of my fingers. I'm wondering if it'll ever return."
A sad expression came over her face, already knowing the answer. "Perhaps Dr. Marcoh will heal them. After all, you'll need your hands to help in the effort to rebuild Ishbal."
"I can use my fingers, I just can't feel them. I'll live without that." Roy said, not wanting the power of a philosopher's stone to go to waste.
She made a small noise of acceptance, then took a sip from her glass.
Roy bowed his head. "How's your neck?"
"Its healing, but it still hurts." She didn't need to tell Roy that it would be a couple of weeks still before she'll be completely healed, Roy had been there when the doctor had told her.
"I wish I could help you." He grumbled, angry that he only knew how to hurt people. "I've got to learn medical alchemy."
"Don't worry about me, sir. I'll be fine."
Roy smiled a little. "I can't help it. I've got nothing else to do." He sighed. "Its hard to believe that a week from now, when I get my eyesight back, I'll be very busy. I guess I should be enjoying myself for now. That'll be hard."
"That's hard to believe coming from you. You found it easy enough to sit back and relax instead of doing your paperwork, sir." Hawkeye teased him.
"I also have no reason not to, besides being blind and having holes in my hands, which is bad enough, but I am stuck in your apartment with you for a week." Roy smirked and leaned back in his chair.
"You're taking it as a good thing? You don't think it'll be boring?"
"There's no one else I'd rather be with." He tried to look straight at her, but was off to the right.
"Only because of my previous experience helping you. You know I'm the best for the job, sir."
" ...right. If that's what you want to believe." Roy stood. He went over to the couch and sat down.
...
More to come!
