Living on Borrowed Time
Disclaimer: I own nothing
NiCh90 – Nope, no dream sequence, I'm just evil does the weird eyebrow thing If it makes you feel better there are going to be some twists and turns in the story, but nothing you couldn't deduce if you checked the genre ;)
Chapter 2 – Useless
It was 8:00 that morning when several people walked up on the most peculiar scene. Colonel Mustang was sitting on the steps holding one of his subordinates, rocking her rhythmically back and forth. He stared off into space as if in a trance. Several people could see his lips mumbling words, but few could make out what they were. The morning rain had lightened some and it was now just a little more than a drizzle. Some could see she was bleeding despite the fact that Mustang's body blocked most of their view. One man went for the paramedics, but most of them had already deduced she was gone. The entire scene was quiet…the Colonel's mumblings mixed with the pattering of the rain creating an eerie musical effect.
The medics finally arrived and attempted to find out what had happened from Roy but he just continued his mumblings and his rocking. The medics were close enough to hear his murmurs clearly, "It'll be okay Hawkeye, just stay with me…come on, it'll be okay." He kept repeating. Every few minutes he would break in his mantra and put a bribe in, "Come on, if you stay we'll get you that new rifle you've been wanting…won't that be nice? It'll have a mahogany stock and everything…come on stay with me Hawkeye, it'll be okay…" The man looked pathetic to say the least but no one said a word…he was hurting and everyone there could feel his pain.
A paramedic tried to get near her to at the very least take her pulse, but Roy jerked her body away from him. "She's okay!" he screamed at the man, "she's going to be okay…" he whispered to himself. He looked down at her face again, light bruises around her face were beginning to show and her lip was cut open. Her hair hung messily out of her usual bun. A few strands of her hair had stuck to her face and as he murmured to her he gently wiped them away from her face. Her skin, like wet silk, was ice cold. One of the paramedics tried to reason with him. "Sir…we need to see her…we need to see if she's still alive." Roy's eyes met theirs, his expression mirror that of a frightened animal. After a moment his eyes drooped a bit and he nodded to them, loosening his grip on the woman just slightly. The paramedic cautiously put his hand on Hawkeye's neck, halfway afraid that Roy would take the gesture in offence. He waited for a few moments and readjusted his hold, a little more sure that Roy wouldn't attack him. There was nothing underneath his fingertips. Seeing this man's pain he wanted to will the woman to have a pulse, just the smallest hint of a pulse…but there was nothing. The paramedic shook his head at the ground, "She's…gone." It wasn't a surprise to anyone there, but there had been a small hope in everyone's heart…everyone had hoped that they were wrong. It was like watching a tragic moving picture show that they'd seen before…they knew in the end she was dead, but all the way through the storyline they'd hoped and prayed the ending would somehow turn out differently. The shock of hearing the words from someone else's mouth made Mustang lose himself. His arms went limp and his heart broke. The only thought racing through his mind, 'She's…gone. She's…gone. She's gone Gone GONE'" All heat drained from his body and he felt more lifeless than her body lying on the ground. The paramedics brought out a stretcher and gently lifted her off the ground and onto it. No one expected Roy to follow, it was obvious…he was a broken man. The men took away her body, but made sure to pull the blanket all the way over her face before putting her in the back of the vehicle. Roy watched their movements in slow motion. Every fiber in his body told him to jump up and rip the blanket off her face and order her to come back to life…she was always good at taking orders…she always was the perfect little soldier…
He sat on the steps for a long time after they'd taken her away. Many people had walked past him into the building and eventually the crowd dispersed, but he stayed, unmoving on the stairs of the building they'd spent the last 3 years of their lives in. With every ragged breath he took, thoughts of her filled him. Her eyes…those blood red eyes that had so perfectly matched the blood that had come flowing from her mouth. Her lips, the same ones that had so often yelled at him for ditching work…they were cut open. Her hair…the oh so neat bun that she never took down had been falling out…her bangs pressed wet to her face. That smile of hers…it'd been so elusive in the office, but she'd given it to him so freely in her last moments. It was her voice that plagued him the most…so often she'd screamed at him for being reckless…until her last minutes; he'd never known she could speak so sweetly. Her voice rang in his ears even now…"Roy, Roy, Roy" it repeated over and over. He tried not to think of her final words…they only reminded him how he was always too late. "She always did say you were useless in the rain…" he mumbled to himself.
Sorry these chapters are so short. I'm at work and I'm trying not to get noticed that I'm writing a story. Just to anwser any questions that might pop up b/c of that last line, I still haven't revealed what her last words were to him. The "useless in the rain" comment was just Roy thinking.