The Meeting of Fire and Green Eyes
Chapter 1
The Investigation
Maes stared out the boarding room window. The sky was a dull Grey, and rain clouds gazed back at him with a clear sign of a thunderstorm. It was all just a reflection of the 15 year old's normally bouncy mood. I can't believe it's going to rain on my first day of military school, which I didn't even want to come to in the first place! As if things can't get any worse!
At that moment, a boy about 3 years younger than himself trudged into the dorm room. He had long dark hair that shaded his eyes, and he definitely sent out an unfriendly aura. Scratch that, Maes thought, it's worse!
The boy had a backpack and one large suitcase, hardly enough to get him through the long, tough years of military school. Yet, Maes sensed something almost... loyal about him. He figured it wouldn't hurt to try talking to him.
"Hi!"
The boy continued stuffing his clothes into the wooden chest of drawers next to the bed on the other side of the room.
"Um... My name is Hughes, um, Maes Hughes!"
Silence.
"What's- what's yours?"
Again, he heard nothing. He was beginning to find it hopeless when a sound finally escaped from the locked vault now carelessly stacking a number of books on top of the chest of drawers.
"Roy, Roy Mustang."
His voice was dark and deep. The name suits him.
"Well, where're you from?"
"What's it to you?"
Maes had expected as much. Roy was now sitting on his bed, facing the wall, and was concentrating intently on something. Maes finally saw that it was one of the strangely titled books on the shelf. He looked at the books still on the shelf, and recognized one: Introduction to Alchemy- Book One. So he's an alchemist!
"What kind of Alchemy do you study," he blurted out. He couldn't help sounding more excited then he wanted to. Roy gave him a look of pure revoltion. In that look, though, Maes's blazing green eyes, bordered by small, rectangular glasses, saw, in Mustang's eyes, pain and suffering. Although, when he looked beyond that, he saw emptiness, longing to be filled. When Roy turned back towards the wall, and his book, Maes decided he was going to find out more about Roy Mustang.
Their first day of school went a little better than Maes expected. Before their first class, Maes sneaked a glance at Roy's schedule. They had all the same classes together. Good, Maes thought, I can investigate him more if I spend more time with him.
In every class, Maes picked a seat near Roy. Not always directly next to him, though… just enough room to see his reactions to random things. The first reaction was a clear one. When Maes sat next to him in first period, Roy gave a highly annoyed and reluctant reaction. He kept quiet, though, and allowed the empty seat next to him to be filled. Throughout the day, this continued. Maes observed many things in each class, but nothing gave him any more hints into Roy's personal life. Just one thing caught Maes's attention the whole day. When the teacher in third period was explaining the ranks of the military, and began to talk of State Alchemy, Mustang paid much more attention than before. That must be why he is studying alchemy! He wants to be a State Alchemist!
About a month later, in the dinner hall, Maes grabbed a tray of food, and turned his gaze towards the tables. Finally, he spotted Roy sitting alone at a table in the corner. He walked towards it, the usual bounce in his step subsiding a bit as he reached his destination.
"Hey Roy!" As usual, Roy hardly looked up, and said nothing.
"Great day, huh?" Maes thought he heard Roy mumble something that sounded like, "Just go away." At this, Maes set his tray on the table, and sat down right next to Roy. He had decided he no longer found Roy's silence and brooding intimidating. Mustang heaved a deep sigh, and scooted a couple of inches to the left, away from Maes.
"Roy, why are you so quiet? It's really weird! Ya know? You should try to get some friends, and maybe you won't be so gloomy!" Maes smiled so wide, that Roy felt sick.
"I don't need any friends. I'm fine on my own!"
"Awwwww, but Roy? You're so private... dark... um, deep. You always look so depressed. If you had friends, they could help you carry the weight that is obviously heavy on your shoulders." Roy was silent again. Maes sensed that he was contemplating the thought of friends.
"I could be your friend," Maes blurted out.
"I could help you become a State Alchemist and everything!" Roy's head shot up.
"How do you know I want to become a State Alchemist?"
"Oh, I've done some investigating over the past month." Roy gave Hughes a very suspicious glance, and then an awkward smirk replaced the usually blank face.
"So you wanna be my friend, and help me become a State Alchemist, huh? What do you know about alchemy? So far the only thing I know about you is that you're enormously annoying!" Maes couldn't help but laugh at that sarcastic smirk.
"Hey Roy? Have you seen the pictures of my dog back home? Huh?" Roy shook his head. He instantly regretted that as soon as Hughes pulled out a photo album, no, a novel of pictures of Sparky, his dog. As Maes was showing picture after picture, he thought to himself, it'll take a while, but Roy is actually trying to trust me. I hope we can become better friends in the near future. Looking at Roy's exasperated expression to all of these photos, he thought, yes, we will be better friends soon.