Title: For Her
Genre: Gen, Hughes-Centric
Rating: PG
Summary: Hughes muses on his friend and on his daughter. Now, he finally understands something.
Beta: forgottenlover
Warnings: Spoilers for the first five minutes of #25. Just the first five.
Disclaimer: Not mine.
Thanks: akirachan, you had a line in one of your fics that bunnied me. Evil woman. You rock!
For Her
Elysia blinked up at him and cooed, tiny fists clenching and un-clenching as she burbled. Though only a week old, Maes already had been convinced that not only was his daughter the most beautiful baby in the world, but also the smartest.
"Look, Roy," he shouted over to his best friend, who finally had enough time off from his work to make a congratulatory visit, "She's already looking around AND SEEING THINGS. She must be some sort of genius! So alert! Of course, her mother is such a wise person herself, so it's really no surprise...!"
Roy snorted, but Maes noticed a small, fond, smile tugging at the the corners of his lips. A real smile for once, though a tired one. He had been putting in a lot of hours lately, trying to protect the Elric boys while still turning his sponsorship of them to his advantage in the military.
A dangerous game, and one that he knew took a lot out of his friend. Emotionally, physically, and morally. However, he knew Roy wouldn't stop... couldn't stop, even...
Hughes had helped all he could.
He had no other choice at the time.
"Here, Roy, why don't you try holding her? Elysia! Say 'Hi!' to Uncle Roy!" Before the dark haired man could protest, Maes carefully placed his still-burbling daughter in the other man's arms. His friend's eyes widened in surprise, mouth now forming into an 'O' shape... but he still took the infant, holding it gently in the correct fashion. After a brief second, the alchemist even started to rock her.
"Hughes. I'm not sure if this is appropriate..." Roy's voice had that rough tone to it, the one it gained whenever his friend was reliving those memories...
"It's fine." Maes nodded and stepped back to admire. It really was a cute scene, his normally stoic friend looking like young Edward had just dumped a bucket of water on his head, and Elysia, the most adorable and wonderful baby in the world, looking happy as a bee in a flower.
There was a time when he thought, for a brief horrible second, that he would never see this day.
There was a time when a simple visit to a friend he hadn't seen in a while turned into something else entirely. In a dusty and dirty room full of forbidden books and bright red Sin, conveniently placed in buckets.
Maes never saw himself as any sort of hero. Sure, he was a good man... at least he hoped so. But he was just some office grunt, one that filed paperwork all day.
Terrible paperwork. Or at least it had been during the war. He had no illusions that he grasped the whole picture, but the little bits he did see...
But he had continued to work, despite his own misgivings. 'There is nothing YOU can do about it, anyways!' he told himself. That had seemed good. Seemed logical. He was just a man, and he had his future to think about. A life to live and a girlfriend waiting for him once he got off in a few hours.
Then he had seen Roy. He had seen his friend, the same man who Maes had admired for years, who had always seemed so strong and unbreakable...
He was broken.
"Hughes...!"
Shaking himself out of his musings, Maes looked over at his friend, startled by Roy's tone.
"She's making... different noises now. Is that normal?"
Really, this was too funny. As soon as he handled this, he had to get his camera... Roy's reluctance to be photographed be damned! Some memories (and facial expressions) just had to be captured.
"Well, it's about her lunch-time. She's probably hungry. Gracia has some bottles made up in the kitchen, so just get one of those and feed her."
Roy stared at him, rocking ceasing. "You want me to feed her!"
"Go for it, it'll be fine. OH! But don't use that," he gestured at the arrayed gloves the other wore, "of course." Maes grinned over at the alchemist, ignoring the dirty look he was now getting.
"I'm not an idiot." And the man headed off to the kitchen, his amused friend trailing behind him to be sure.
Maes remembered how the other man was back then, remembered how those eyes, already coal black, were as dark as cinders. The dead kind that looked like they would never light again.
...And Roy's voice!
He had been terrified. He could practically see the metaphorical brink the other was teetering on, and the gruesome outcome if Roy fell.
And in the back of his head, small voices chattered about shared guilt and people who worked for murderers so they could take lovely ladies on dates.
So Hughes had spoken.
"What...? Be Fuhrer?"
"I'll help you."
He wasn't trying to be a hero or anything. He was just a friend, just a man...
One who didn't want to lose someone close to him. Maes had just wanted to give Roy a goal. Something to distract him and an outlet for the guilt and self-hatred the alchemist was obviously suffering from.
It was practical.
Unexpected was how well Roy took to it. How much amazing skill his admittedly charming friend displayed in the realm of politics. How single minded it turned out the man was, deep down inside.
Sometimes it scared him.
Guilt, he had understood. Wanting to make wrongs better, he had understood.
Roy's dream for a future without pointless wars and power to the people... Maes had not quite understood then but had admired all the same.
Hughes simply did all he could to help. For Roy.
The bottle was eventually found and warmed, and now Roy was sitting in the the most beat up, and thus most comfortable, chair in the living room. A look of serious concentration was on his face as the man carefully fed the bottle to the tiny angel in his arms, being sure to let no bubbles slip in.
It really was a touching sight.
Maes wondered if his friend saw the same thing in Elysia he had himself saw as the baby first opened her eyes and blinked up at him, gaze wide and trusting.
The children. The innocent.
Intellectually, he had always understood that the country was full of them. Emotionally, OF COURSE he never wanted them to suffer. Morally, he was against war on principle.
It wasn't until that one, amazing, moment... that he had truly understood.
He wanted more than anything for her to have a bright future and a happy one. A safe life was the life his daughter deserved, after all. Maes knew would do anything in his power to make sure she got one, too.
How ironic was it that he had already been working on it, thanks to Roy, before she was even born.
Roy had to succeed, Maes truly knew that now.
For the children. For Elysia.
For the country.