Living on Borrowed Time

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Author's note: The two officers in here were just made up off the top of my head. I just needed two people to serve the purpose.

Chapter 3 – Investigate, Interrogate

A kind hand from behind tried to lift him from the ground. His body was dead weight in the Good Samaritan's arms and he couldn't lift him off the ground. Roy turned to see another of his faithful followers, Havoc. "Sir, you need to get up." Havoc said solemnly. Roy continued to mope on the ground. "Please get up." Havoc urged again. Mustang still made no movement, only studied the drops of rain that were running down the surface of the stairs. Havoc became annoyed. Hawkeye had been murdered and Roy was simply sitting there. "Get up!" he shouted. The words startled Mustang. Havoc had never talked to him this way. Hawkeye was the only person that was below him that wasn't afraid to order him around. Mustang's sad eyes tilted up to meet Havoc's, Havoc merely gave him a cold stare. "She wouldn't let you sit out here moping and I'm not going to either." His subordinate told him. The words compelled him to get up. He had a little trouble standing at first…he felt as if he didn't have any bones at all. Havoc took his arm around his shoulders and the two men walked inside. The only thing left of the disturbing morning was the black trench coat that she'd been coveredwith, and a small trail of blood that had yet to be diluted by the morning's rain.

The building was warm and dry and the commotion from the lieutenant's death had the entire Eastern Headquarters in a fit. Deaths weren't uncommon in the military, but this was different. The latest military deaths were unique, most by Scar in his pursuit to murder the military's State Alchemists, but this one was fairly common and straight forward. "Normal" murders weren't uncommon to this area either, but there was just something about Hawkeye's murder that was peculiar. How did someone get close enough to her to shoot her? It's a well known fact that she carries two handguns and a few small knives in her shoe. Hawkeye was the military's top sniper and gunman…who could possibly be good enough to take her down? The bruising on her face was strange too; it meant that someone had actually gotten close enough to her to hit her. While she specialized in guns and rifles, Hawkeye knew a little hand to hand…how could someone have disarmed her and then beat her? The strangest thing of all was the fact that they dumped her out, alive in front of Eastern headquarters. No one had known where she'd gone, and no one would have known. Why dump her out where she could get help and tell who the criminals were? Even if they went on the scenario that she'd been shot in front of the headquarters, it was still suicide to the criminal to do it in front of the military station. None of it made sense. The only thing that Havoc could deduce was that it was a message, most likely to Mustang.

Roy followed Havoc slowly down the hall, dragging his feet. Havoc lead him, not to their office, but to the investigations department's interrogation room. Two of the top investigators strolled in shortly after. Mustang sat at the table, staring blindly at its surface, his hands folded patiently in his lap, Hawkeye's voice ringing clearly in his ears. "Roy, Roy, Roy, Roy" the more he heard his name from her voice the more it sounded like a sweet song. It was strange, before today he couldn't remember her ever using his first name. It was always "Sir" or "Colonel." He sighed heavily as the two investigators sat down. "Thank you 2nd Lieutenant Havoc, you can go now." One of the investigators said, signaling for him to leave. Havoc gave a side long glance to his superior. He didn't want to leave Roy with these men, not in this state, but that was an order. He looked the investigator square in the eye, "I'd like to stay." He said. "Anything you need to ask Colonel Mustang, you can say in front of me."

The investigator had lost his patience. "That was an order 2nd Lieutenant, and if you want to keep your job, I suggest you leave." Havoc weighed his options for a moment, but eventually he slowly turned and walked from the room. He'd be more help to Mustang if he was still in the military. This wasn't something he should be dismissed for. As he walked from the room, a sad thought crossed his mind, 'If it had been Hawkeye they'd asked to leave she would have stayed, no matter the consequences…'

The thought passed through Mustang's mind as well and it plunged him deeper into his despair. His melancholy thoughts were interrupted when one of the investigators spoke up. "Tell us what happened from the beginning." The investigator's name pin glinted in the small well lit room. Roy could clearly see his name, A. Hiver. Mustang looked at the men with uninterested eyes, his only thoughts on the pain coursing through his chest.

"A few days ago Hawkeye received a letter—" he started.

"What time was it when she received the letter?" Hiver interrupted.

Annoyed at the interruption, Roy continued, "It was a little after we came in from lunch."

"'We?' You ate with her?"

"Yes. What of it?" Mustang said, raising his eyebrow. "We always eat together, the only exception being when I have a lunch date." Hiver nodded at the statement and made a note of it in his notebook. The other investigator, E. Reigns, had been fairly quiet and was calmly standing at the wall, trying to stare holes through Roy's body. "Continue," Hiver said.

"She quickly read the letter, collected her things and left."

"She didn't say anything? No note, nothing?"

"She didn't say anything." Roy said sternly, the man was getting on his nerves, why did he need to question everything?

"You didn't ask her where she was going?"

"Why should I? She is a big girl; she can take care of herself." Roy replied, not even noticing he was saying is, and can. "For all I knew she was going to go to the bathroom. Should I ask my subordinates for a lengthy explanation every time they need to get up and leave?"

"Well in this case maybe you should have." Reigns mumbled. Roy didn't notice. Hawkeye's voice was still in his ears and it blocked out any sound he wasn't paying attention to. "Roy, Roy, Roy, Roy." It was amazing, after the first few hours her words started to sound like gently crashing waves. Every time he heard his name it seemed to come out breathy and wispy.

"No, of course not." Hiver said, "Please continue Colonel."

"She left after she received the letter and I didn't see her again. The next morning when she didn't show up to work I called her home. There wasn't an answer, so I went by on my lunch hour to make sure she was all right. Even if she had been sick she would usually call in, so I was a little worried about her. When I got to her house, no one was home so I called on the next door neighbor—"

"Can you describe the neighbor?"

"What? Oh, yes. She was probably early 60's, white hair; with just a touch of gray…maybe 5 feet tall, it was hard to tell she was leaning on a cane."

Hiver made another note on the woman's appearance and told Roy to continue once more. "I asked the woman if she knew where Hawkeye went, but she said she didn't know. She told me that Hawkeye had come by the afternoon before and had left her dog, saying that she'd be away for a few days. The woman had kindly agreed to take care of Black Hayate."

"Black Hayate I'm assuming is the dog, correct?" Hiver asked, making note. Roy nodded, becoming quite bored with this entire process. The trauma of the morning was beginning to take its toll on him and he was feeling exhausted. The pleasant sound of Hawkeye's voice repeating in his ears was creating a very relaxing effect and he was beginning to want nothing more than to fall asleep and know that none of this ever happened.

Roy continued once more, "The woman had asked Hawkeye where she was going, but she said that Hawkeye had only told her that she was going to take care of something. After talking to the old woman, I headed back here to ask anyone if they knew of her plans. No one I talked to knew where she was or why she'd left."

"Did you receive any word from her while she was gone?" Hiver asked. Roy shook his head. He hadn't seen or heard from her until this morning. "What day did you say she went missing?"

"Monday was the day she left the office." Mustang repeated. Hiver made another note of it.

"Colonel, I know this whole thing has been hard on you, but could possibly recount the events of the morning?"

"I walked up to the building and I stepped in a puddle of blood and water." He started, forcing himself to relive the moment. "There was a trail of blood that lead up to the base of the stairs where her body was. I-I think she crawled to the stairs." His voice was beginning to disappear and he gulped hard trying to wet his vocal cords. "I came up on her—someone had draped a black trench coat over her body."

"Did you bring the trench coat in with you?" Hiver asked. Mustang shook his head; he never wanted to touch that thing again. Hiver turned to Reigns and he nodded, taking the hint to go get the coat.

The door clicked shut and Hiver encouraged Mustang to continue. "I pulled the trench coat off her and saw that she was shot. I tried to lift her to take her to safety, but she told me that it hurt to move. I was…afraid that I'd hurt her more if I moved her, so I started to get up to go get help, but she wanted me to stay…I-I think she knew she was going to…" he couldn't bring himself to say the word, not with her voice ringing in his ears. "I stayed with her until she…until…her time came." Tears wanted to flow, but he held them back. Grown men don't cry.

"Did she say anything while you stayed with her?"

He shook his head, "Nothing of military importance."

"I didn't ask if it was important to the military, I asked what she said." Sensing the Colonel was holding back information.

"The only thing she said was that she didn't want to be alone." He said, lying.

Hiver gave him a suspicious side long look. "All right. You're free to go." Mustang and Hiver stood up to leave, Mustang extended his hand to shake, as was the custom, but Hiver merely stared at his hand in disgust. Mustang was about to take offence…until he looked at his own hand…it was stained with Hawkeye's blood. His entire uniform was a dingy red brown. Mustang stifled a gasp and withdrew his hand. He didn't look at Hiver as he hurried from the room. Havoc was waiting just outside the door like a loyal sentinel. Mustang didn't look at him as he passed. Havoc quietly followed his superior. Mustang was making his way in the direction of his office but Havoc placed a gently hand on his shoulder. "You should go home." Havoc said.

Mustang shook his head, "No, I want to work."

"You need some sleep, and a shower…go home." He urged once more. Roy was about to protest again, but he noticed that Hawkeye's voice seemed to have changed a bit. Instead of the gently wispy "Roy"s that had been ringing in his ears all morning, it was now a gentle "Home, home, home, home, home…" the word sounded almost as sweet as his name. It was strange that the sound should suddenly change, but he dismissed it. It'd been a horrible morning…his stress was getting to him. "You're right…I guess I'll head home…I trust you can handle things while I'm gone?" Havoc nodded. Roy gulped and threw his 2nd Lieutenant a tired smile. He slowed turned on his head and walked out a side door. Hawkeye's voice continued to echo "Home, home, home, home" in his ears.