Living on Borrowed Time

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Author's note: Drumroll please! The moment you've all been waiting for--

Chapter 17 – Have Faith

The moment of truth had finally come. He was really going to bring her back. Roy took a ragged breath and stepped nervously to the edge of the circle. In the background thunder rolled. Roy couldn't help but wonder if this was how Dr. Frankenstein felt right before he breathed life into his monster. Hawkeye's soul floated miserably in the corner, her back turned to him. She hadn't said a word while the two alchemists had worked and she still remained silent.

"Hawkeye? I need to you to come to the center of the array for this to work." Mustang said, a little afraid to break the silence. He knew she wasn't happy with what he was about to do, but she didn't really have much say in the matter.

"No." she said, still facing the corner. "Ed might be willing to let you risk your life for me, but I certainly won't let you kill yourself just because you can't accept death."

"Hawkeye, look at me."

"No." she replied defiantly.

Resolutely, Roy walked to the corner she was floating in and walked through her. He turned to face her, only what he saw surprised him. Smokey tears were floating down her cheeks and she appeared to be shaking. Suddenly concerned he asked "What's wrong?"

Her face suddenly changed from sadness to anger, "What's wrong? You're going to commit suicide trying to bring me back! It won't work!"

"It will. Even Fullmetal agreed that our calculations were perfect."

"Ed thought his calculations were perfect the first time and look what happened! Al is living the rest of his life as an empty shell and Ed lost an arm and a leg! Do you really want to pay the same price? Who do you think will be here when your body is taken?" Hawkeye asked. Roy had never seen her like this. She'd been mad at him before, but this was different, maybe it was because he'd never seen her cry before.

"Ed's first human transmutation would have been successful, but they didn't have their mother's soul…this will work."

"I wish I could believe that." She replied.

"Do you trust me?" He asked. The question caught her attention and she looked him square in the face.

"Yes."

"Since the first time we met, you've always been the one to have faith in me. You believed in me even when I didn't think I could keep going. I thought of quitting after I lost Maes, but you never stopped believing that I'd make it to the top. Please, you had faith in me then, have faith in me now." Roy said.

She was silent for a moment, but then she said, "I suppose if you die we can spend the rest of eternity together."

"In fifty years, I'll be happy to." He said with a smile. She smiled back at him and hovered her way over to the array.

Terrified she looked at the circle draw on the floor. It looked so complex…could he really manage such a complicated transmutation? One look at him blew away every doubt. As she floated in the middle of the array she closed her eyes.

While she floated in the center, Roy removed a knife from his top drawer that he'd been storing there ever since he decided to do the transmutation. With the knife in his right hand he stared at his copper colored palms. It was her blood, but the only way to get it off was to take a bit of his skin with it. He took a deep breath and cut off a piece of the heel of his hand. The pain was horrible, but one look at her floating there in the center and he knew he could endure. He looked at the piece of flesh and noticed his blood was flowing over hers in a few places. The two bloods appeared to mix. He looked at her floating there in the middle of the array and smiled through the pain…she'd given him everything, her time, her loyalty, her life, and herself…Roy couldn't help but realize that by throwing in a bit of his flesh, he would become a part of her. Quietly, so not to alarm Hawkeye, he put the piece of himself in with the rest of ingredients.

"You ready?" he asked as he stood in front of her, carefully concealing his wound. He knew if she saw she'd be upset. She opened her eyes to see him staring at her. Their eyes locked, and Roy could feel his breath become shallow and raspy, all he wanted at that moment was to hold her and never let go. 'First things first,' he told himself, 'she needs a body.' Never breaking eye contact he crouched on the floor. Slowly, he put both hands on the array, thinking carefully about everything that had to take place in the transmutation. All the ingredients for the human body were carefully piled in the center of the array. A flash of blue light suddenly burst from the circle and the two watched as the ingredients began to construct the bones. As the blue lights of the transmutation danced, one by one the layers of the human body were laid upon the created skeleton, muscles, organs and veins began forming over the bones, then skin began wrapping itself over the twisted ligaments and muscles. The skin hadn't covered everywhere…it'd missed a place. Her heart, Roy could still see straight to her heart through her ribs and he was afraid that something had gone wrong, but suddenly the piece of flesh he'd taken from his hand lent itself to the cause. Blue light encircled the spot as it sealed itself in seamlessly. Hair began sprouting from the top of the head. Suddenly, the body jerked and its eyelids flew open, the two empty sockets were quickly filled with eyes. The lips and nose began to clearly form. The body seized and the mouth snapped opened. Hawkeye's soul could feel herself being pulled into the body like being sucked into a vacuum. She was in the body completely, and Roy couldn't see her any longer. He nearly panicked, but he held himself back, any change now could botch the entire transmutation. The room began to get hotter as the reaction sped up, smoke started to fill the room and he couldn't see the body any longer. Suddenly it hit him…the equivalent exchange. He knew exactly what he was giving up, he could feel it being pulled from his body as the blue lights flashed through the dirty smoke. His energy was being sapped and he wasn't sure how much longer he could hold on.

And then, it was quiet. The lights had gone and smoke had filled the room. Exhausted he fell to the floor, his breathing shallow.

What did he give up? Is he still alive? Did the transmutation work? All happy little questions you'll have to save for another time b/c I'm still writing the next chapter. ;p Feel free to chuck books at my head for leaving you on a cliff hanger