Author's Note: Finally, an angsty theme! I was thinking about other important in-canon scenes between these two characters, like the 520-cenz promise one, and one of the main ones that came to mind was this scene. I think this is one of the defining moments of Mustang's character, a point where he had to make a crucial decision. When I read this scene in the manga the first time, I felt like his entire character had been leading up to this point the whole time. So because Ed was there to witness it, I leapt at the chance of exploring this.

Timeline: Chapter 94/Episode 54

Theme 14: Confrontation/Just between us

How had it come to this?

Edward could still remember the day Roy Mustang stomped into his life, as vividly as if the man had just slammed the door behind him. He had been stewing in his own despair at the time, slumping in a wheelchair as though his guilt was a palpable weight on his shoulders. All his purpose seemed to have seeped out of his world, and everything surrounding him seemed washed out and grey.

Then Mustang appeared, bursting through the door with no warning. He grabbed Edward by the shirt, pulled him up so their eyes were level, and shouted in his face, "What did you do? Did you perform human transmutation? Answer me!"

And as Alphonse explained, as they all discussed the future over his head, Edward watched Mustang through his straggling bangs. He took in the man's crisp blue uniform, his calm and collected face after his initial outburst. The strong, confident hands that gestured as he spoke, laying out the benefits of being a State Alchemist. The glitter every time he shifted in his chair, the sunlight flashing on the silver chain leading into his pocket. His voice, assured and charismatic, quietly urging without seeming to manipulate.

And his eyes, those deep, ebony eyes, so dark they almost seemed as black as his hair. When he looked into those eyes, he saw a solid determination that would not be turned aside no matter the obstacle. He saw a future.

Even as Mustang spoke, Edward realized that he wanted that determination. Here was a man who had seen the worst and not given up, and how could he, Edward, do any different? He was at fault for what he had done to Alphonse, but how could he ever give up until he paid for those mistakes? No, he would become a State Alchemist like this Roy Mustang, and the same fire would burn within his heart that he saw in those dark eyes.

As Edward got to know Mustang, he ceased to look at him as a role model. He saw Mustang's failings and learned all his irritating habits and mannerisms. He discovered Mustang's ambitions and realized that all along, he had never been more than a rung in Mustang's ladder to the top. But he put up with him, because his position as Mustang's subordinate was all that allowed him to search for a way to get his brother back to normal.

Yet as time continued to pass, as he and Mustang learned how to tease and insult each other best, a familiarity grew between them. They knew what the other would say when they met, and they knew how the other would react. In the constantly changing world of a wanderer, Roy Mustang remained the same. Without intending to, Edward began to count on this. He started to rely on Mustang's teasing constancy, because when he could trust no one else in the military, he knew he could turn to Mustang.

That trust had grown more and more important. Enemies sprouted up all around them, and it became increasingly clear that they were the few standing in the way of mass destruction. They shared the deadly secrets they had uncovered, fought side-by-side, even saved each other's lives.

Edward thought he had known Roy Mustang. He thought he had understood the thirty-year-old colonel with the dashing smile, the powerful alchemy, the resolve to become Fuhrer, the compassion for the innocent and desire to protect the ones under his authority. He thought he could depend on this man.

Yet now Mustang stood before him, wearing his uniform as always, fingers poised to snap like so many times before...but he had the face of a stranger. There was no hint of the teasing smirk, the sharp focus of attention, or the heroic desire to protect those dear to him. His smooth, young face was twisted into a ferocious grimace, and his eyes...his eyes were black holes that sucked out everything of his soft humanity, leaving behind nothing but an empty husk of a monster.

"Give him to me, Full Metal," Mustang growled through his teeth.

Edward planted his feet, firmly gripping the tiny form of Envy in his automail fist. "No."

Mustang's mouth worked, and for a moment silence rang out in the narrow stretch of stone hallway between them. Then he smiled, a hideous stretching of his lips that reached nowhere near his eyes. "So," he said quietly, "it's just between us, eh Full Metal? Don't be difficult. That thing deserves a painful, humiliating death, so give him to me."

Edward felt his jaw aching from how tightly he was clenching his teeth. But Hawkeye, standing behind Mustang, hadn't pulled the trigger yet, so he could hope that all was not yet lost. "I won't," he said calmly.

And suddenly Mustang was shouting at him. "Give him to me right now, Full Metal, or I'll burn your arm off with him!"

"Go right ahead!" Edward yelled back. Anger boiled up inside him, burning away the fear he felt as he saw the heartless grimace on Mustang's face. "Go ahead and burn me down to ashes, why don't you, and then what'll you be? A monster, just like them! You said you felt like a human when you were fighting the Homunculi, but you know what, you're exactly the same. Exactly! So you're gonna kill Envy, huh? But you're not doing it 'cause he's helping that Father guy, are you, or 'cause he's about to kill somebody, or even because it'll get you a promotion! You're just doing it 'cause you're angry. What kind of a reason is that, Mustang? How does that make you any better than this?" He gestured with the fist holding Envy, ignoring the creature's cries of protest. "Kill Envy, and you'll be no better than him when he killed Hughes."

At the mention of that name, Mustang snarled and raised his hand, about to snap. Hawkeye raised her gun, pressing the barrel to the back of the colonel's neck and releasing the safety. Edward could see her face, could see the naked fear in her eyes as she teetered on the brink of utter despair. Alphonse had told him how much she had cried when she thought Lust had killed Mustang. "Please, sir..." Her voice was trembling, and Edward couldn't tell from where he stood, but he was willing to bet her hands were as well. "Envy cannot be allowed to survive...but let me...let one of us destroy him. You're too emotionally involved in this. Vengeance..." Her voice broke, and she dropped her head, though not the gun in her hand. "Colonel, please...don't go where I can't follow."

Edward glared at Mustang, hating the monster that had claimed this man and put Hawkeye through this. As though Mustang hadn't put her through enough already. He was always worrying her, always putting himself at risk and forcing her to put back the pieces. And now here she was, faced with either killing him herself or watching him turn into a man she could never respect, never follow again.

And he would lose Mustang too. There would be no more light-hearted banter, no more implicit trust, no more relying on Mustang to know what to do. No matter what happened, Roy Mustang would be dead to them all. So Edward glared at Mustang, willing him to understand, to see everything he would abandon if he followed the path of vengeance.

Mustang's face was still twisted in a grimace as though he had been stabbed within an inch of his life, and his eyes were screwed shut. He raised his right hand. His thumb pressed against his middle finger, his forefinger curling back like a snake ready to strike. Transfixed, Edward watched that hand hovering between them like a wall of fire cutting him off from the other man. It trembled, as the thumb pressed harder and harder.

When the snap echoed around the hallway, Edward flinched despite himself and Envy let out a little squeal of fright. But no blistering wave of heat slammed into him, no flames licked up his body, no almighty force wiped his existence off the face of the planet. With a dull boom, a wall on one side exploded and stone blocks crumbled to dust.

When the clouds of smoke cleared, Mustang stood among the wreckage, arms held limply at his sides. Hawkeye still stood there, staring at him in shock with her gun pointing at his head. But Mustang turned to face her, closed his hands around hers, and pushed the gun down. He looked around at them all and murmured, "I've been such a fool."

He looked as exhausted by this confrontation as Hawkeye, but there was a light behind his eyes again. The light of determination, a steady flame burning in the depths of his dark eyes. A human warmth in the lines of his face as he murmured an apology.

Roy Mustang lived again.