Meigetsu Kukyou!!
明月苦境
Chapter 10
"I am not a werewolf." Roy insisted under his breath. Even the concept of such a thing was absurd. A creature which took the form of a human, but turned into a wolf-man under the light of the full moon? Please. He didn't have time for such… such pish-posh.
Why was his crew so insistent about it, anyway? If this was another prank of theirs, or an intricately formed bet, it was rather ridiculous. There was no need for them to go this over the top, or be this serious about it either.
And, even above that, it seemed far too well-acted to be a prank. Most of the men on his crew couldn't act to save themselves. Each and every one of them would easily cave with a little persistence, a little deception, a little weak mockery and perhaps an offer of reward.
It really should have been simple to get all of them to crack.
Fuery was a ditz. Falman simply… couldn't act. Havok was too clear a lunatic to believe in any situation. Now, Breda… Breda might be able to hold it in for a while, but he would have given in without a fight at the offer of a better deal. And Hawkeye… she would…
His mind stumbled.
She would…
Hawkeye… she wouldn't really play a prank on him, would she? She might not do anything to stop the others, but… she herself wouldn't partake in one. It wasn't like her to do that. And she had…
--
"Roy, you truly were! I saw it, with my own eyes." she said, her eyes stern but clearly shimmering with the light of water built in them. "That really is what happened." she whispered.
Hawkeye didn't act like that. He sighed to himself. So she really mustn't have been acting.
But what could have happened that would cause her to act like that? To believe that?
--
Why can't I remember? The past six days were an empty slot in his memory. He couldn't remember anything at all. Nothing past that thief stealing his briefcase… and him, chasing him down…
The chase had ended with a blur. Why couldn't he remember exactly what had happened there? What had he said to that man? Had he gotten his briefcase back? What had happened to him?
He couldn't remember what exactly had happened to him that evening on the way home from work.
When he tried to recall it, all he knew was that… it put a vile feeling in his stomach. A gross ache that made him feel nauseous and ill, as if his insides were chewing and eating one another.
So he decided that, for now, he would let go of his thoughts for it. There was little need to dwell on it.
--
He looked at his alarm clock. Just one more minute, and it would ring loudly, telling him the day was beginning and it was time to up and get ready.
He turned it off and headed off to the bathroom.
--
After relieving himself he slipped off his night clothes and turned on the shower.
Ahhh. The warm water had never felt so refreshing on his skin before. Though he hadn't previously noticed it, he was tired and achey all over. His ankle hurt and he wondered if he might have twisted it. But still… the water felt so good…
He let himself bask in the water without doing anything at all for longer than he would usually allow himself. It seemed like some kind of clandestine pleasure and he wondered why he'd let himself escape it for so long.
--
But… enough of that… he needed to stop dawdling, or he'd end up at work even later than usual. He put some shampoo into his hand and lathered it into his scalp. The massaging felt so good. It was a little eerie how good being in the shower felt to him this morning. It wasn't the kind of thing you were meant to enjoy that much, was it?
He rummaged for the bar of soap and began to rub it onto his skin. Now to rinse it off. He turned so he was facing the shower head so he could rinse off the suds. As he began to wash them off, he noticed underneath his fingers, something a little…
--
He looked down at his chest. On it was… hair. A fair amount of it, too. Roy felt himself grow a little red. That was weird. He'd never really been… a very hairy guy. It's not as if there were never hairs on his chest before, but not really any hair on his chest before.
He looked down at it again. It was all over him, too. They followed down his torso, all the way down his legs, even going so far as to be sprouting a little on his feet. He shuddered. Hair on his feet. His eyes followed carefully backwards as he tried to get a look over his shoulder at his back. It was no good. Were the suds all off? They were and he took the opportunity to turn the shower off so he could step out and get a good look at himself in the mirror.
--
After the fog cleared off he stared and looked and there it was. There was hair on his back, too, afterall.
He shivered. This was too weird. He couldn't remember most of the previous six days… his crew was trying to convince him that he was a werewolf… and now, as if to mock his efforts of trying to make sense of the whole situation, there was hair growing on him in places that hair had avoided growing up until now.
How was he supposed to make sense out of this one?
--
Now calm down, Roy Mustang. he thought to himself. There's a logical explanation for everything.
Ignoring the option of lycanthropy, his mind scoured for a reason as to why he was becoming hairier.
This couldn't be… his thoughts took a turn that suddenly became more long-lasting and serious in his mind than the matter about werewolves ever seemed. …part of entering my thirties? It was true; as of recently, he had entered that age group. Was this part of the entrance to an age where he could no longer consider himself a 'young' person?
He sighed, but smiled. He had found a sound, logical explanation afterall. This was just part of entering a new decade of his life. It was nothing to worry about.
--
The blank space in his memory? He couldn't remember exactly what happened, but he was sure he ended up in some kind of tumble with the thief. He had probably gotten into a fight with the thief over his belongings, and hit his head at some point or another.
--
As for the werewolf thing? Well… he wanted to say that his crew was just playing a practical joke. That they just liked giving him a hard time. But…
His mind drifted back to when he had awoken, and the story that Havok and them had recollected to him. The seriousness of their faces and the concern in their eyes…
But, such a thing couldn't be true. He wouldn't believe a thing like that.
He pulled on his uniform and slid on his coat. It was time to go to work.
--
It didn't take very long for him to arrive there, and when he did, he walked in without a word or a glance to his subordinates except good morning. He didn't notice the handwritten pages from Sheizka spread all over Falman's desk, or the books in Fuery's arms: all of them having one thing or another to do with werewolves. He payed no mind to Havok scanning some of the pages, not looking up or even noticing him either. He ignored the look of concern ridden all over Riza Hawkeye's face. And he ignored the fact that Breda wasn't at work at all today.
--
Fuery put down his pile of books on the subject down on his desk guiltily. None of them knew how to convince him that he truly was a werewolf, and it was getting to a point where they themselves were starting to think perhaps they had imagined the entire ordeal.
Everyone was getting to that point, except for Riza. There was no doubt in her mind that Roy was a werewolf, and continued to be a werewolf now. She had imagined nothing. All of this was real. And this wasn't the end. Before long, Roy Mustang would transform again; it was only a matter time. She only wished she knew when that time was or what to expect.
--
"You'll know we haven't lied to you soon enough." Riza murmured, but it was so soft and low that no one reacted or seemed to have heard her. But in truth… Colonel Mustang heard the whispers dance by his ears from the other side of the room. He scowled and stepped into his office, wondering why all of them would go along with this. Why would they lie to him? Why was he growing so hairy? Why would a prank carry on this long? Why did he want to believe it?
Why couldn't he remember the last six days?
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--- AUTHOR'S NOTE---
I'm sorry it took SOOO long to put this chapter up. I'm going to try and get up a total of 4 chapters over this holiday weekend, so look forward to it, and don't be afraid to nag me! I'll try and get in a chapter of Alatus Tristitia, as well.
And… my mind has REALLY been going all around and jumping on my LESS story. So, I'm going to try and finish this up so I can get to work on that. TT Really. Snape and Lily (and Teddy Lupin…?) have really been nagging me.
R&R!