Title: In The Margin IV

Author: SammyQuill

Series: Manga

Word Count: 874

Characters: Roy, Riza, Master Hawkeye

Warnings: -

Summary: More excerpts from Roy's alchemy notebooks.

A/N: The poem mentioned within is the work of Robert Frost and was first published in 1920. However, in order to fit with the timeline, I made it exist a few decades earlier. That is the only liberty taken with Mr. Frost's work.

Roy Mustang's Alchemy Notes – June 20th

Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I've tasted of desire
I hold with those who favour fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.

I still can't believe this is what Master Hawkeye wants me to study! Has he run out of more notes to make me copy? I'm afraid it's getting clearer every day that he doesn't intend to actually teach me anything. He says I'm not ready. What I'd like to know is how reading the work of some long dead poet is going to prepare me?

Fine, for the sake of keeping my sanity, I shall attempt to interpret Sir Frost's not so cryptic poem. He's clearly talking about opposite elements here which is a reference to balance in alchemy and alludes to the law of equivalent exchange. The difference between scientists and alchemists is that the former don't understand how similar ingredients can produce to opposing forces. The mention of "hate" and "desire" are clearly euphemisms to... Why is Riza back so early?

Roy Mustang's Alchemy Notes – June 21st

It's almost two in the morning and I still can't sleep. And I'm not sure what's keeping me up, this bloody assignment or the fact that Riza is sick.

It sounds stupid but I never thought Riza got sick. I have no idea why I assumed this. Maybe it's because she's always the first one up every morning and does most of the work around the house. Maybe it's because I've seen her tackle racoons with the ferocity of a lioness and shoo rats away with the old broom in the kitchen. If any of the girls in Central ever saw a rat, they would scream the place down. Not Riza though, she simply glares right back at it and wacks at it until it goes away. I've never actually seen her scared or weak and sometimes, it's hard to imagine she's not an adult.

So when she came home earlier and almost fainted in the doorway, I didn't know what to do. I almost looked over my shoulder and shouted "Ms. Hawkeye!" as I always do when something needs attention. But this time, it was Ms. Hawkeye herself who needed help. I assisted her to her room and from what little I could feel of it, her skin was burning. Her eyes were red and droopy and her face was ashen. I admit I was scared out of my wits for the first ten minutes.

And then my senses returned and I realized she had a fever. So I did the only thing I could think of and wetted a towel to press to her forehead as she slept. Riza looks... interesting when she sleeps.

If the world does have to end, I think I myself would prefer ice. At least, Riza could use some right now. I don't like all this fire business.

Roy Mustang's Alchemy Notes – June 22nd

Fire: Heats

Ice: Freezes

And now that I've stated the obvious, I don't know what else to write. The poem mentions opposing forces and equivalent exchange but what would Master Hawkeye have me see that I don't already know. Riza says I'm over analyzing (she's well enough to tell me I'm not doing it right, even if she can't get out of bed yet - normalcy, here we come!) the poem and that I should view it as something detached from alchemy. I didn't have the heart to point out that it was given to me by an alchemist as an alchemy assignment because I'm his apprentice, studying alchemy. She's sick, her mental faculties are bound to not be at their best right now.

She says she thinks the fact that the world will end is more important than how it will end. To quote her surprisingly lucid sounding self this morning "what does it matter how the world ends, the poet says eventually it will". That's almost as pointless as saying that no matter what we transmute, it will always come back to bite us...

Wait, fire... it heats, gives life, produces fuel for machinery... but it doesn't come without its costs because essentially, it needs to be kept constantly fed and whatever we feed it is going to disappear. So it's a case of what needs to be given to the fire and what we can receive from it. A similar argument can be used for ice – further underlining the laws of equivalent exchange.

Wait, so this lesson has been secretly on fire safety? I'm confused. At this rate, I'm starting to agree with Riza, the whole argument would be pointless if the world just ended.

I tell her this and she says that wasn't her point. She says we need to make sure it doesn't end, by ice or fire. I swear, she is the most cryptic person I know. Probably gets it from her father.

Think I'll go lie down. I feel tired and my skin's been warm for the last few hours. See what I get for reading this kind of literature?

End Note: Reviews are much loved, and rewarded with ice cream! XD