Living on Borrowed Time
Disclaimer: I own nothing
Author's note: I hope Roy didn't seem like a pedophile last chapter… 0o
Chapter 15 – Mirror, mirror
An uneasiness crept into Ed's stomach as he knocked on the Colonel's door at 8:05 that night. Mustang's behavior from earlier was unnerving. Ed prayed to no one that nobody was home. The Colonel wasn't his favorite person, and after his tree talking display today, he wasn't exactly rushing to find out what Mustang wanted him for. Ed couldn't help but wonder if Hawkeye's death had finally pushed him over the edge.
Inside Roy was just as nervous. He knew that Ed would most certainly say "no", but he had to at least ask. Hawkeye's spirit watched him take a deep breath and answer the door. "Edward, right on time."
Ed nodded stiffly and gingerly stepped inside. He stood still and watched as Roy closed the door quietly. The two men stood uncomfortably in silence until Ed said, "So, what did you want my help with?" he couldn't help but gulp, almost afraid to ask. Roy jerked to attention, as if he'd been contemplating what to say. "Oh! Its back here." Roy said as he motioned Ed to follow him into his bedroom.
All the furniture had been moved against the walls and on the floor was a very familiar alchemic array. In the center of the array was a collection of several elements, Ed didn't have to ask what they were, he knew them all too well. Immediately he turned to Mustang. "No!" he shouted. "I'm not going to help you kill yourself trying to bring her back."
"Ed, if you'll just—"
"No! Nothing you can say to me will change my mind. Human transmutation is suicide."
"Ed, please, just hear me out." Mustang pleaded. Ed stared holes in his commanding officer, but didn't say anything. "You are the only one that can help me. I've had my own theories on human transmutation, but you've actually attempted it. I need you to guide me—you don't even have to stay, I just want to you look over my calculations."
"No." Ed replied firmly. He watched Mustang's face fall and he couldn't help but soften a bit. He hated the Colonel for the bastard he was, but somehow he couldn't be angry at him for turning to alchemy to solve his problems…after all, he was guilty of it himself. Ed tried to console him a bit, "Nothing you can do will bring her back. When people die, that's it. Life only goes in one direction. She's gone."
Roy locked eyes with his young charge, "You're wrong, she's not gone." Ed was beginning to feel a little freaked out again. "What are you talking about Colonel?"
"Ed, I think I know what went wrong when you tried to transmute your mother—" he started.
"It wasn't enough." Ed replied, looking at the ingredients in the middle of the array. "We could make a body, but we didn't have anything to use for a soul."
"Exactly. Which is why this will work." Roy urged him.
The comment caught Ed's attention and he stared at the man. "What do you mean?"
"I have her soul." Roy said.
Ed couldn't help but sigh, "Memories aren't enough, just making a body and putting memories into it won't make it Hawkeye."
"I'm not talking about memories Ed, I'm talking about her soul."
Hawkeye watched the entire scene helplessly. It wasn't until he started drawing the array on the floor earlier that day that she realized what he was going to do. She'd screamed at him for hours that she refused to let him do it, but considering she wasn't substantial they were empty threats. Now she watched the two alchemists argue over her fate and she mentally cheered Edward on. 'At least one of them has some sense.' She thought.
"I know it's hard to believe, but I swear Hawkeye's soul is here, in this room." Roy urged.
"Roy, you're tired. This whole thing has been traumatic. You're acting delusional."
"I'm not crazy, I swear she's standing right next to the mirror!"
Ed sighed in frustration and gestured to the mirror, "There's nothing there!" just as he said the words he glanced in the mirror, and much to his surprise there was a reflection, not of just two people, but of three. "HOLY SHIT!" he screamed and fell backwards.
"What? What is it?" Roy asked, not realizing that Ed could see Hawkeye's reflection.
"She's—there's—holy shit!" was all Ed managed to get out of his mouth. Luckily it was enough to set the wheels turning in Roy's head, "You mean you can see her!" he asked, his eyes widening.
Ed's head nodded frantically. "S-sh-she's in the mirror!"
Roy looked back at the startled Hawkeye. A slight bit of confusion passed over his face, "She's not in the mirror, she's standing next to it."
Ed was still too frightened and surprised to really argue, but Hawkeye seemed to pick up on the plausible explanation. "Colonel, maybe he's seeing my reflection."
"It's possible." He replied.
"Who are you talking to?"
"To Hawkeye, can't you hear her?" Roy asked. It seemed only logical, if Ed could see her, he could hear her.
"There's no one there!" Ed whimpered, saying it as if he was trying to convince himself more than Mustang.
"There is! She's here, you can see her for God's sake!" Roy shouted at the blonde haired youth that still sat paralyzed in fear on his floor. The boy started to shake his head once again, but Mustang interrupted, "It's her soul Ed. I told you it was here in the room." Ed still seemed too terrified to really say anything, but he seemed to calm down a bit when he noticed that Hawkeye wasn't going to hurt him. After a few minutes his composure came back, little by little. "How—?" Ed started.
"I'm not totally sure…I think it has something to do with the blood stains." Roy said, glad someone besides him actually believed she was still there.
"Blood stains?"
Roy nodded and took off one of his gloves. "I wasn't just there when she died, she died in my arms."
Ed's throat tightened as he stared at the Colonel's blood soaked hands. The copper color affected his skin like a bad rash. His attention was drawn back to Mustang's face as the Colonel knelt on the floor next to him. "Please Ed. You're the only one that can help me. I have to do this…she's all I've got left."
For the first time since they'd met Ed saw a completely different man than he once knew. He was no longer the cocky conceited man he met that day he first rolled into Central. Ed looked into the eyes of a broken man, hanging to his last hope. Ed couldn't help but be reminded of the eyes of his brother just after their mother died. 'What are we going to do? How can we carry on with out her?' he'd asked as they'd stood by her grave. Ed couldn't turn down those eyes 3 years ago, and he couldn't turn them down now. He may have hated the Colonel, but he couldn't stand in the room next to Hawkeye's soul and turn the two down. Reluctantly, he looked back at the mirror Hawkeye's soul was standing next to. At first her back was to the mirror, but just as he was about to look away he saw her turn toward the mirror. He almost had to catch his breath as he watched a small smoky tear flow from her eye. It seemed that she wanted this just as much as Mustang did. With a resolute heart Ed turned to face his commanding officer again, "Where's your calculations?"
Okay, tell the truth, who didn't see this coming:P
You might be pondering "How could Ed see her reflection in the mirror, but not see or hear her?" The anwser to that lies within the theory of vampires. They say vampires don't have reflections right? They also say that vampires don't have souls...so it only seemed logical to me that a soul would cause a reflection (at least in the realm of the supernatural). If you've got a prob with that explaination, oh well, it makes sense to me.