Christmas Shoes
It was December twenty-fourth, and twenty-year-old Roy Mustang was very disgruntled and angry. He had just finished the first half of the state alchemy exam and, being one of the youngest there, gotten into a fight.
Unfortunately, it was Christmas Eve in Amestris, and Roy had yet to finish Christmas shopping for his friends and family. He spent longer than he would have liked tearing from store to store buying gifts.
By the time he had gotten to one of Central's discount stores, his anger hadn't subsided. He'd crashed around the store, unceremoniously tossing gifts into his small cart as he went.
As he finished his shopping, he found a relatively short checkout line. In line before him was an anxious-looking blonde who appeared to be about five years in age. Roy watched the boy shift from foot to foot with worry.
When the child's turn at the register came, the boy placed a pair of women's shoes on the counter to be rung up. He calmly explained his situation as he handed the cashier a wad of bank notes. "Sir, I'd like to buy these shoes. They're for my mother, please. You know it's Christmas Eve, and these shoes will fit her quite well. Please, sir, could you hurry? Nii-san says she hasn't much time left; she's been sick for the longest time. I know these shoes will make her happy. I want her to be beautiful should she cross over tonight."
The cashier counted the bank notes and coins he had been given. When he finished, he apologized to the blonde boy and told him that the money was not enough. The boy searched his pockets but found nothing but a return ticket for the train to a small town called Rizenbool.
The boy turned to Roy with tears in his brilliant golden eyes. He asked Roy what he should do. He told Roy, "Mom made Christmas good. Most years she got little in return. Somehow… Somehow I've got to get her these shoes."
Something in the boy's words touched Roy's heart. He gave the boy a nice smile as he paid for the shoes. The boy looked at Roy with awe written clearly in his eyes as he stammered his thanks.
"Get those shoes home to your mother. She must be worried," said Roy with a kind look.
The boy smiled and ran to the train station with the shoes in hand. Roy was glad to have bought those shoes for the boy. The sens he paid were not nearly enough to pay for the smile he saw that day. All t he sens in Amestris wouldn't have been equal in value to the one boy's smile and the warmth it called forth.
Disclaimer: I own neither Fullmetal Alchemist nor the song Christmas Shoes, after which this flash fic follows. Christmas Shoes was preformed by Bob Carlisle. Fullmetal Alchemist is written/drawn by Hiromu Arakawa.