Author's Note: I changed Roy's age for this story. In this story, he's 22, not whatever his age is normally. What is his age normally, anyway? And, after the real Aria begging me day and night, I have been forced to explain the age thing. Even though she is really 15, her personality is more mature than that. It's more like 18 or 19, not 15. Just thought you should know!
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Roy let his gaze wander the room idly. Ed looked troubled; he always did, even in sleep. Eternity's mouth was slightly open. And then his gaze fell on Aria. Her hair had fallen over her face, dark and slightly curly. He was intrigued by her appearance, as she was always so logical. She somehow reminded him of himself just 7 years ago. Just young and innocent and...he shook his head. He wasn't innocent at 15! A murmur drew him from his musings to see Aria mumbling incoherently and thrashing around.
"Aria." Roy stated, striding over and putting a hand on her shoulder. "Wake up, Aria." He shook her gently. She opened her eyes and began to cry silently, her shoulders shaking. "What's wrong? Nightmare?" Aria nodded miserably. "What was it about?" Roy knelt next to her bed compassionately.
"It was about Hughes," Aria replied a moment later, her voice shaking. She cried for a moment before continuing. "It was about his death." Roy immediately knew what she meant, remembering his own response to Hughes' death. After he was alone, he couldn't stand it anymore and just cried, much like the girl before him was doing now. In a rare and spontaneous gesture of goodwill, Roy suddenly hugged Aria. In response, Aria stiffened for a moment and then relaxed. She forgot who she was with and just imagined that it was someone she knew well, leaning into Roy's chest. Roy was surprised at her actions, but very well couldn't back out on his choice now. He kept holding her until he heard a rustle of blankets behind him. He let go quickly, spinning to see all three of the people in the room staring at him. Roy stood up and brushed himself off.
"Go back to sleep, Aria," He told her stiffly, obviously uncomfortable with all the stares. "I think I'll go to sleep also." He laid down on the free bed and turned away from everyone. Soon everyone went back to sleep, but it took longer for Ed. As always, he was thinking. But soon the spell of sleep fell over him like a smothering blanket, and he dozed fitfully until they left in the morning.
Weeks passed with nothing eventful happening. Roy(who had become a permanent addition to the team) was impressed with the amount of people caught with the help of these two girls. He had never realized how helpful just having nearly helpless people walk around would be; but of course they weren't nearly helpless anymore. They had employed all of their free time in learning anything they could to get themselves out of danger, save alchemy. Neither person would let the girls learn alchemy, for reasons Eternity and Aria couldn't fathom. Ed became close friends with Eternity, and Roy enjoyed spending time having long conversations with Aria. It seemed like everything was going perfect. Until it happened.