HEIR TO THE FLAME

CHAPTER 28: Death

"You can't stay like this, you know." Roy looked up and over his shoulder and sniffled, turning back and laying his chin on his arms.

"Don't you have a home to go to, kid?"

"...Yeah... but nobody's there."

"Nobody... so you're an orphan then."

"...yeah..."

"Here, come walk with me."

Roy looked upat the man again, weighing his options. It could be potentially dangerous to just go off... then again... what did he have to lose? He got up and brushed off his legs, and the man held out his hand. Roy hesitated, his obsidian eyes boring into green. He stopped hesitating, saw something friendly in those eyes, something akin to the warmth that had been in his father's eyes, and took his hand, wrapping his fingers tightly around it.

"It's always a shame to see a little kid on the streets, even if they have a home. You've lost your parents, I'm assuming. Lost them permanantly."

Roy nodded and squeezed the hand, and the hand squeezed back reassuringly. "It's alright. Let me take you to my place." He let go of Roy's hand as it started to rain and he took off his coat, covering Roy completely in it, making sure it was over his head to protect him from the rain. He looked down at Roy and smiled and Roy smiled back, a small smile, and his hand reached up to take the man's hand again.

"I knew your dad... worked under him a lot."

"You knew him?"

"Mm-hmm... he was a great guy, he had such big dreams... he wanted to be Fuhrer."

"Fuhrer..." Little Roy seemed to ponder about the word, hand still entwined in the older man's, and he looked up again. "What's your name?"

"My name? Windsor Ross... you can just call me Ross."

"Where are you taking me?"

"Kids shouldn't be left without guidance..." he ruffled Roy's hair and smiled again. "So... what say you about me adopting you... or becoming your surrogate father, rather."

Roy thought about it; Ross seemed nice enough... "Okay."

"Ross! Did I do better?"Roy asked, pointing at the pile of ash. Ross stooped down and picked the ash up in his hands, letting it run through his fingers.

"You did better... but you can do better than this."

"But Ross... I'm hungry!" Roy whined.

"Try one more time!"

"But I'm hungry!" Roy whined again, his stomach growling to back him up.

"Just once?"

"Hungry!"

"Now now, you two stop fighting..." Ross turned around and a hand went to tug at his headband sheepishly.

"Aw, Marta... you know he could do better!"

"But he says he's hungry, so let him eat," Marta argued, setting a tray of food on the ground. Roy dove at it and started to stuff bread in his mouth at a furious pace, and Marta laughed and sat opposite of him, ruffling his hair. "Well you're hungry aren't you?" she asked, and he nodded vigorously before picking up the bowl of soup and glugging down the contents. Ross sat beside Marta and started fiddling with her long blonde hair. She flicked her head sideways and smacked him lightly in the face with her hair, and he laughed, plucking a flower out of the ground and tossing it at her face. Roy stared at them both and started gagging. They shot him nasty glances until he started to choke on the bread he had tried to swallow and gagged for real, grabbing his throat and falling backwards into the lake as they got up to try to help him. Ross tossed off his jacket and kicked off his shoes, jumping into the lake after Roy as Marta leaned over the stone step guard nervously. Ross dragged Roy back to shore and threw him on the bank, struggling up behind him, and Marta leaned over Roy, only to discover that Roy had recovered from his choking fit and was now trying to cough up a fish. She giggled and grabbed Roy's neck, keeping him still as she took a knife and stabbed the fish, drawing it out of Roy's mouth and onto the ground, and killed it. Roy stuck out his tongue; he didn't like fish.

Ross got on all fours and glared at them, shaking himself off like a dog, spraying water all over them. His hair, sufficiently free of water, poofed out, earning another glare. "Now my hairs all poofed out! Look what you've done."

"It's not my fault!" Roy said, hiding behind Marta for defense. Ross could get cranky when his hair was poofed. Marta put an arm around Roy's neck and held him close. "You wouldn't hurt our poor little Roy, would you Windsor?"

"No, of course not... I'm going to STRANGLE him!" Ross yelled, jumping at Roy. They scuffled for a little while, leading to a thoroughly dirty Roy with his face pressed against the ground, hard. Ross got up, the victor. "I win!" he said, basking in his glory. He stretched out onthe grass and yawned wide, basking in the sun instead of his glory, and Marta poked him in the head with her sandal.

"Hey, come on, get up... you can't sit around forever."

"Ah, come on, Marta, I've got my whole life to do stuff... let's just relax for once. And one thing..." He got up on one knee and pulled a box from his jacket pocket. "Marta... will you marry me?"

Roy's dream went back to the battlefield scene, the scene where Ross was dying and holding out the box to him. "Give it to Marta... it was... it was supposed to be... our first... anniversary..."

"But where Ross? I don't know where..."

"She was a very... special lady... Marta..."

Marta was leaning over Roy's bed and kissed his forehead. "Good night, Roy, sleep tight..." He was only eight years old, and he reached out to touch Marta's face. "Good night, Marta..."

"Why don't you call us mommy and daddy?"

"But you're not my mommy and daddy."

"I know... okay... well... good-night, Roy." She kissed his forehead again and Roy wondered why she had looked so sad.

"Can I see Ross too, Marta?"

She nodded and Ross stepped in as well, sitting down beside him on the bed. He patted the side of Roy's face and grinned. "What's up, little guy? Sleeping okay every night?" Roy nodded and checked to see if Marta was listening.

"When are you and Marta getting married, Ross?"

"I don't know... what with all the problems in the military... maybe not for a long time. I haven't been around much... you know that."

"I know... I missyou when you're gone, Ross. I play with Marta, but it's just not the same."

"Yep... I miss you at work too... just not the same as being at home playing with you, buddy. I try to come home when I can, though." He paused for a moment. "Do you miss your parents, Roy?"

"Yeah... but they can't come back. You keep coming back, Ross."

"Mm-hmm. And I'll keep coming back until you don't need me anymore, when you come of age and leave the house." He kissed Roy's temple and patted Roy's chest gently. "Night, kiddo."

"Good night, Ross."

"Ross, I'm joining Special Operations."

"Spec Ops? But Marta, that's dangerous!"

Roy paused in shoveling food into his mouth, fork halfway between his mouth and the plate, a forkful of eggs teetering on the edge of falling onto the table. Ross frowned and put down the Central Times, looking up at Marta from his seat at the table.

"I've made up my mind, and besides... I can't just let you work for the three of us..."

"But it's dangerous!"

"And it's becoming hard to live just on your paycheck," Marta continued over him. It was true, things had become hard since the riots in Ishbal had started... the eggs on Roy's plate weren't even average by health rating, and the bread was a bit old, borderline stale. He crammed the fork in his mouth; he was thirteen, he was hungry! Food was food to him.

"I can try harder, Marta! If I really impress them, if I work extra hard on my research, I bet they'll give me a raise!" Roy said through a mouthful of eggs. Being a thirteen year old State Alchemist and prodigy of the State wasn't easy. He should have started earlier... he had asked Ross whenhe was ten, but Ross hadn't let him. Marta shook her head and hugged him tightly against her chest. "No no, I couldn't ask you to work any harder than you already have... you've been a big help too, Roy..."

Marta had been stretching both Roy and Ross's paycheck as far as it could go to support the three of them. Times were tough, and the only thing to do now was to get another earner in their household.

"But... Marta, it's dangerous... please, at least reconsider."

"I've made up my mind Ross... we're leaving next week."

Roy nearly choked on his juice, and looked up at her, juice all over his face. Marta sighed and got hold of his face, wiping it with a napkin as he coughed and spluttered. "Marta! Why are you leaving? They haven't told anyone else to leave."

"Well... Special Operations goes undercover to see if there's an actual threat. They won't send in soldiers and alchemists until later."

Ross sighed and sipped at his coffee, his mind obviously on other things.

"We'll just have to have the best last week together that we can."

"You're really leaving, aren't you?" Ross whispered, and Marta nodded resolutely, brushing her long golden hair out one more time. Her black suitcase was on the floor by the door, sparsely packed with only the essentials and ready to go in the morning. Ross hesitated for a moment, stepping closer to her, then hugged her tightly from behind. "I have a bad feeling about this war, Marta."

She nodded and held her hair tightly in one hand, drawing a dagger from a strap holster and shearing it short so that all the hair left on her head was cropped near her head, save a blonde strand that hung in her face.

"I do too, Windsor."

Roy watched them both from the bed, then looked back at it. Ross and Marta's bed. Except, Marta wouldn't be there anymore, she was leaving tomorrow morning. For Ishbal. He had talked to Maes about it that morning; Maes was going to join as soon as he was old enough, and Roy would be in Ishbal too. They would be there together, but now Roy had to make sure he held up his end of their bargain.

"I want to fight too!"

Ross and Marta looked back and stared at him, and both of them shook their heads.

"Not now!" Roy cried, "When I'm older!"

Ross still was adamant on shaking his head, but Marta paused thoughtfully. "Maybe when you're sixteen, Roy, but not until then." Ross stared at her incredulously and she leaned over to whisper something in his ears. He sighed loudly and his shoulders hunched; Ross's sign of defeat. Roy had never been more happy to see it. He turned and looked at Roy again. "When you're sixteen, you can fight; but don't think I'll let you fight as an alchemist."

Roy gasped and his eyes flew open, his arms wrapping around whatever was nearest. In this case, it was Riza. She jumped slightly, startled, then realized it was him and shushed him, trying to calm him down. Sweat beaded on his face but his breathing calmed and his heart stopped pounding quite so hard. He groaned and lay back down again, and Riza stopped him from lying comfortably.

"What happened? What was it?"

"Nothing," Roy lied.

"Nothing doesn't make you jump in your sleep screaming like a madman."

He had been screaming? For what...? Oh. That. That very last picture, right after the bedroom... those crazy narrow eyes, the greasy hair, the alchemist's palms...

He shuddered and huddled against Riza for support, and she decided it was best to say nothing, to let Roy sort it out for himself and decide when he was ready to tell her all she needed to know. She sighed and got up after stroking his hair for a few minutes and making sure he was sound asleep before getting up and waiting with Luna for Jean to come.

She waited.

1 o' clock, and Jean still hadn't come.

This was unusually bad timing, even for Jean Havoc. Especially for Jean Havoc, who kept it a point of business to always be on time... the phone rang and she ran to answer it, picking it up and holding it to her ear. There was choked gasp from the other end; it was Jean.

"R-Riza? R-Roy? Are you there, please tell me you're there? Oh God!" He gave a strangled scream from the other end and Riza flinched. Roy's eyes were open again and he bounded up from the couch, taking the phone from Riza. "Jean? Jean, what's wrong?"

"J-...Just... oh God... Just come here, to my house... Oh my GOD, WHY?" It sounded like he had thrown the phone down, just not into the reciever, and was sobbing on the floor some ways away. Riza held Luna against her chest tightly, then asked her to go upstairs and play with Junior some more. Roy called up the stairs that he and Riza were going out, and to be good and please not burn down the house while they were gone.

Riza stopped in front of the Havoc household where military vehicles were lined up and tape was strewn around the perimeter. Roy and Riza entered the house and found Jean on the floor curled around something protectively, as if using his own body as a shield. Roy put his hand on his friend's shoulder gently and Jean snarled wrathfully, unwilling to unwind himself. Maes stepped in behind Roy and Riza, a gun in his hand, and he fired it into Havoc's back. Jean writhed for a second before falling backwards onto the floor.

"Tranquilized," Maes said simply, but Roy's eyes only had room for the mess on the floor.

There on the floor lay the body of Keira Havoc, and Roy could hear the baby, J.J, wailing pitifully in the corner.