So, I wrote this in about 30 minutes. It's a really short chapter, but I found it so sweet that I really felt like it deserved to stand on its own. Hope you like it!
Roy decided to rejoin the rest of the group downstairs and let the brothers have some time by themselves after he was assured that everything was going smoothly. He had waited for a while, fighting off two different nurses who pointed out that it was outside of visiting hours, as well as someone who came by to check in on Ed. It could wait an hour.
They had moved to the cafeteria. It had more comfortable seats, as well as coffee. Vital, beloved, crappy coffee.
Hughes had already held an hour-long power point presentation about his precious daughter when he came back, with everyone- curiously except Winry (who was gooing and dancing and gushing with overwhelming love in her eyes), seemingly asleep (which, Hughes expectantly was completely oblivious to).
Roy cleared his throat to announce his arrival, getting everyone's attention.
"How did it go?" Hawkeye asked expectedly.
"It seems to be going very well," Roy smiled reassuringly, slapping Hughes in the back of the head as he walked by.
Another hour passed, and Winry was getting restless.
"Colonel Mustang, sir?" she asked shyly, head bowed and hands folded submissively.
Roy smiled mildly at the young girl. "Yes, Miss Rockbell?"
"I'm sorry for being impatient, but I would really like to see Edward as well, and, make sure that Alphonse is doing okay. I'm very worried, sir."
Roy looked at a watch placed on the wall, noticing that it was more than two hours since Alphonse had entered the room. He made a quick decision,deciding that another visitor couldn't be much more straining for Ed's condition, considering the circumstances.
"I'll show you to his room if you want to," he answered calmly and got up.
"Thank you so much, sir," she smiled, face lit up with gratefulness.
At this point, Roy knew the way to Edwards room in his sleep. They walked in silence, and he noted that Winry seemed extremely apprehensive in his presence. It wasn't uncommon. Uniforms often had that affetct on people, giving the ones wearing them instant authority. Also, he carried himself in a somewhat timid matter. He hadn't a vulnerable bone in his body, outwardly. Not like Havoc, Hughes or Hawkeye. Or Armstrong, who cried at the drop of a hat, and with the blond swirl on his forehead, making him look like an oversized toddler.
He couldn't help but wonder if it was a good thing or a bad thing.
"Colonel Mustang, may I ask you something?" Winry asked, breaching the silence in the elevator.
"Of course Miss Rockbell," Roy answered as disarmingly as possible.
"Did you fight in the war?" she asked, out of the blue. Her question took him by surprise, and for a second, he could hear the sound of explosions and pained yelps. He got back to his senses fast, as he usually did.
"I assume you mean the Ishvalan war. Yes- I did," he said honestly, not losing his stoic expression.
"My parents died in that war," she said quietly, looking at her feet. "They were doctors."
Roy sighed. That's why she seemed so anxious around him.
"I'm sorry to hear that. Unfortunately, many good people lost their lives in that war." He joined her in looking down. "I lost many of my good friends."
"My parents helped people," she said with a trembling voice. "They helped, both the Amestrian army and the Ishvalan people. That's why they were killed."
Something about her tone was accusing, Roy noted. He couldn't blame her. After all, he also blamed him.
"I am really sorry for your loss, Miss Rockbell. I know it's not much of a comfort, but your parents probably saved a lot more people than I did. They did in no way die in vain."
Winry was about to say something, hurt in her eyes and in need of someone to let out her frustrations on. Roy's eyes had gotten dark, darker than their usual onyx as he interrupted her.
"You know, I'm called a war hero," he said with clear distaste in his voice. "It's bullshit. People like your parents are the real heroes of that war. The innocent. The ones that acted purely by the love in their own hearts. They were healers. All I left behind was destruction. Miss Rockbell- I'm not asking for your forgiveness, because I don't deserve it. I'm just asking you to be proud of the lives of your parents. Don't mourn them, celebrate them."
Winry was taken back. She didn't expect those words coming from someone bearing the uniform she had to spend most of her life hating. Yes, she truly hated that blue outfit and anyone wearing it.
For the first time, she dared to look at the older man's face. The pain in his eyes made her decide to do something she would never in her live imagine doing. She took a step forward and hugged him.