Fullflame
By: Bar-Ohki
Disclaimer: Fullmetal Alchemist is not mine.
Other Stuff: College, what an interesting thing. This is my first term, should my free time hold I'll be writing pretty consistently all year, should it not, you'll see updates on the weekends.
Chapter 2: Fantasy
One hundred years ago the military discovered that the children produced from Word Pairs were always part of a pair themselves. They were always more powerful than their parents and their name longer and more unique. When on scientist innocently presented his charts on Word Pair genealogy and genetics, the military passed a law stating that all Word Pairs were to undergo some form of permanent birth control to prevent the 'race' of the Word Pairs from growing out of control. It also became illegal for them to produce children, and any children produced were to be killed upon birth.
Roy always hated those laws, but thankfully for him there was a small loophole that stated that an Unpaired part of a Word Pair didn't have to undergo any sort of surgery until they found their Other Half. Should that half be of the same gender, it was unnecessary. That had been a more recent reform to the law, at the operations were risky, painful, and most importantly, costly.
It was the relief that he would not have to undergo the so-called "correctional surgery" that he awoke to. His face was covered with a dumb smile that most would associate with post-extremely-good-sex. To Roy the normally stiff hospital bed was comfy and warm, the air smelled like something good as opposed to sanitation chemicals, and the sun was shinning instead of the overcast sky that poured into the room. There was nothing that could make today a bad day, Roy had his Other Half, he was whole. And no person was going to take that away from him.
Roy felt better too. He examined his body briefly, not having had had a good look at the damage yesterday. To his shock, he was fine. In fact, he had never been better. Not only had his more recent wounds healed, but so had the older ones. His body was scarless! Roy timidly ran his hand down his smooth chest. His skin was once again soft, like a newborn's.
My body is perfect!! Roy's eyes were wide in awe.How!? Soon plagued his mind. Roy was a man of logic, but there was nothing logical to waking up two days after being literally beaten within an inch of your life to being so perfect or whole.
Whole! Roy gasped at the thought. Perhaps when you meet your Other Half your body restores itself and becomes whole as a physical representation of your new state? That was certainly the most likely thing, but wouldn't that have had been mentioned in one of his classes?
Roy sat on his bed, perplexed.
It was there the nurse found him. She was so shaken by Roy's new appearance that she dropped the tray of medicine she had been holding.
"Doctor!!" She screeched, her eyes wide in amazement.
"Hmm?" Roy looked at her, honestly confused. A doctor came running in. His jaw dropped.
"H-how!?" The man was shaking.
"I thought you were going to tell me?" Roy asked the man. "All I recall doing was sleeping…. Which reminds me, how long have I been asleep?"
"An hour at the most!" The nurse gasped. "This kind of healing is unheard of!"
"I was afraid of that…." Roy smiled with a sweatdrop, knowing he was not going to live that down at work.
"I'm going to examine you to make sure this isn't a hoax." The doctor explained as he walked into the room.
"Feel free, I'd like to know that too." Roy nodded to the man. "Wait, where's Edward?" As the name rolled of Roy's lips he relished the sound and feel of his Other Half's name.
" 'Edward'?" The nurse asked, the doctor also mimicking her confusion.
"You know, the boy who brought me in?" Roy reminded them.
"I don't recall who brought you in exactly, but I am sure it wasn't a boy…." The nurse assured Roy.
"He was blonde, about yeh tall," Roy held his hand at Edward's height to demonstrate, "with gold eyes. You're the one who told me that he was the one who brought me in!"
"I don't recall anyone like that." The nurse was confused. "He may have some brain damage, doctor."
"I don't! He came in right after you did when I woke up!" Roy roared, amazed the woman hadn't remembered that.
"Perhaps you were having an extremely vivid dream?" The doctor asked. "It happens with some coma patients, and you had been in one too."
"A fantasy?" Roy whispered. "It was all just a fantasy?"
"Yes, Mr. Mustang, now let me check your wounds…." The doctor went about his business. Roy grew numb and stiff, his life having lost its meaning and joy.
Why can't they remember?
-break-
A very real Edward stood on a nearby rooftop looking into the hospital room window.
I'm sorry I had to tell them to forget me, my love. Edward shut his eyes, forcing back his sobs and tears as he had been trained to do from a young age.
This is for the best, I assure you. Edward held out his hand to the raven haired man in the window below him, as if the man could see it to take it.
"Your free time is up." A cold, sinister voice reminded Edward from behind. Ed nodded and turned around to face the other person, his face set in a determined scowl. Edward walked past the person who watched him from behind violet eyes.
Don't worry Ed, I'll keep your little weakness a secrete a little while longer…. The person smiled, a smile like that of a murder having just found their next victim.
-break-
"Colonel!" Everyone in the room cried as Roy entered his office later that day. They were shocked.
"Good afternoon, now get back to work." Purposefully, Roy walked past all the dropped jaws and skeptical looks to sit in his chair. He picked up a sheet of paper and began reading it.
"Sir, pardon my rudeness, but what the hell?" Hawkeye asked him sharply. Her choice of final word startled Roy, making him jump a little and look at her.
"What?" He asked.
"We were told that you were severally beaten yesterday, somehow your perpetrators wound up in comas, then you come in less than 12 hours later as if nothing happened!" She snapped.
"…." The last thing Roy wanted was to be made a fool by his subordinates. They all looked at him expectantly.
"I want you to hear my story out before you cast any judgment." Roy looked as pleading as he did haunted. They nodded, saluting to emphasis their resolve to grant his request.
"…My Other Half saved me." Roy began gently. "He hauled me to the hospital. I saw him not too long after I woke up," Roy found himself relishing in the memory, "his Name was right here…." Roy traced the front of his chest. It was uncommon, but not unheard of for Word Pairs to have their names in slightly different places.
"What'd he look like, boss?" Havoc, a tall man who smoked asked.
"Long blond hair, gold eyes, and such a perfect tan…." Roy's eyes were focused off into his memories. It was a look anyone in the military knew, the look of a member of a Word Pair thinking of their Other Half.
"He was young too, still a bit of a child." Roy chuckled, age gaps were rare, but again, not unheard of.
"Did he tell you his name, you know the normal one?" Breda, a fat strategist with a head of red hair asked.
"It was Edward," again savored, "Edward Elric."
"Where is he?" Falman, an elder man with gray hair and an acute memory.
Roy's illusion shattered, he gripped his desk and began shaking. Never before in his life had he felt so alone or disappointed. His control and strength threatened to fail and leave him on the ground in a pile of tears.
"I-I-I!" Roy choked on the words, desperate. "I don't-" he cut himself off, fearing the answer, fearing the truth, the hard reality that came with those words.
"You don't know?" Fuery, a young man with boxy glasses inquired. Roy's face fell. He nodded numbly.
"When I awoke the second time," Roy began telling the easier part of the tale, "my body was healed and whole. As if I had never been injured in my life. I don't know why, neither do the doctors. For the sake of the matter we're staying hushed about it."
Everyone nodded in understanding.
"But Ed-" Roy sobbed, his strength finally failing. "He wasn't there! I'm alone!" Tears fell freely.
Havoc stood up and rushed to his commanding officer's side. He began to draw on his empathy that came with being a Sacrifice. Havoc began to cry too, being filled with a small share of Roy's immense sorrow.
"We'll find him sir!" Hawkeye, used her motherly tone, trying to help. She knew it was somewhat futile, being Havoc's Fighter Unit made it hard for her to emphasis with others beyond him.
Roy howled in agony, calling to his Other Half.
-break-
Edward lay on a lumpy mattress looking up at a plain ceiling. He felt an overwhelming wave sorrow and emptiness crash through his being. Edward managed to sit up and lean over the edge of the mattress in time to vomit and convulse. The tears he had choked swallowed earlier came out of his stomach and eyes.
I'm sorry Roy! His mind cried.
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I decided to begin each chapter with a little bit of history about Word Pairs and their role in society. Let me know what you think of that. And let me know what you think of the rest of my story while you are at it.
Review please!