AN: PEOPLE! This is the last chapter of Inerasable Memories! I might write an epilogue, but I'm not sure about it. I hope you enjoyed the story and please also check out Central Prison, my newest RoyEd fic!
Also, I actually made an AMV (hence the late update) XD It's my first one ever xD Go check it out : http/ www. youtube. com/ watch? vvEszonzrKN4
Don't forget to take out the spaces x3.
I also just noticed that I haven't put Riza in ANYWHERE O.O… well, not after she decided to get information out of Alphonse anyway. Crap. I totally forgot about her T.T. I'm so sorry Riza! xD
The song at the end is of Barry Manilow, but I loved it a lot, so I put it in x3
And thanks to BasketCase14 who told me it was 'career'. I know it's a lame excuse, but in my first language (Dutch), it's 'carriere', so I guess that I got it from there xD. It was weird though, because I knew it wasn't the right word O.o… a carrier is like a wagon, right? xD
Okay, I'll stop rambling now X3.
Wait… Not yet. I'd also like to thank everyone who has ever reviewed my story and also the ones who haven't, but read it anyway X3. Yes, I know you're there, because I can see how many hits I have! Mwuahahahaha!
Enjoy the last chapter! (although it is kind of sappy… ah well x3) And no lemons T.T If I write an epilogue, there will be a lemon with it! It all depends whether or not people want one n.n
9: Can't Smile Without You
He arrived in a secret military base in Drachma two weeks after he had left Central to find Roy. Unfortunately, but as Alphonse and Edward had suspected, he did not see Roy anywhere, nor did he catch up to him—his head start was just too big.
He was brought by when he had entered Drachma, along with several other soldiers who had just arrived there. It was obvious that the army was desperate to have more men (and women) out there. Edward didn't know too much about the war, but he had heard rumours that Amestris was losing and, to be honest, Edward hoped they were. It had been Amestris who had started the whole damn war, without any reason at all—they had heard and speculated that Drachma was going to bomb Central, but none of that had been ever proven. The Führer had declared war then, claiming that it was better than 'to just wait until Drachma makes their first move'.
On the one hand, Edward found that the Führer did have a point. However, nothing had been proven and they weren't even sure that Drachma would have even attacked them.
The war had been going on for almost three years now and Amestris had made it further into their country, slowly taking over each and every city and village, killing nearly everybody on their way. Edward had no idea why they were still fighting, especially since they barely had any men left—they would soon have to recruit other non-military people—young boys, old men who are still strong enough to hold a gun. Anybody they could get.
Edward just hoped the stupid war would be put to an end as soon as possible—he didn't want Alphonse to be recruited.
The base was located in a thick forest near one of the many mountains. Even though it had been reasonably warm in Central, there was a thick pack of snow lying all over the country, giving the people of Drachma an advantage—they were used to the snow and the people of Amestris weren't. They would often stumble through the woods, occasionally sacking deeper in a heap of snow or tripping over branches that weren't visible. They made more noise than the people of Drachma, who could move without barely even making a sound, giving them a great advantage when surprise-attacking in the forest. Edward was surprised that the people of Amestris had even made the woods into their base, but it was rather good for cover, he supposed. Better than an open field anyway.
It was also near a small town that had been recently taken over by Amestris. Edward knew about it—the village had been famous for its many café's, bars and restaurants and now that it was in the hands of Amestris, soldiers went there every evening they were off to have a good time. There was no doubt that, if Roy Mustang was there, he'd be pouring liquor into his body every minute he could.
"Major Elric!" Once Edward stepped out of the truck which had taken him, he heard a deep voice boom out his name. He blinked and turned around, only to find his former commanding officer standing in front of him. In some ways, Edward had always thought General Bell resembled Major Armstrong—with his amazing height, muscles and, of course, the moustache. He didn't have those horrible pink sparkles every time he got excited though and he had a thick mop of black hair on his head, instead of the little baby-like, blonde curl Armstrong had.
"General Bell, what are you doing here?" Edward asked, genuinely surprised, though not in a bad way. "I thought you were stationed further into the country." Bell nodded.
"Yes, I was. I got transferred a week ago, since they needed more men here," he said. "But why are you here? And in disguise, no less!" Edward blinked and then smacked himself on the forehead, groaning. He had completely forgotten that he wore a disguise. He quickly looked around to see if anybody had heard them, but, seeing as no one was paying attention to them, he quickly took a step closer to Bell.
"How did you know it was me?" he asked him. Bell chuckled lightly.
"Edward, don't take this the wrong way, but you are the smallest State Alchemist to have ever joined the military. Although I must say that green hair doesn't suit you at all—you look like you have a wig on your head made of seaweed. Care to explain why you're here?" Edward sighed, deciding to ignore the 'small' comment (he could handle seaweed-hair).
"I came here looking for someone. He just arrived here, I believe, do you know General Roy Mustang?" Bell rubbed his chin for a minute, looking pensively at the black sky above him.
"I think he arrived here five hours ago. The Flame Alchemist, right?" Edward nodded. "Ah yes, he went to get a tent of his own, but that was the last thing I saw of him. Try the town nearby, it's only a two mile walk from here," the General added, pointing southwards. "Just walk straight ahead." Edward nodded.
"Thanks General," he said.
"That's quite alright, mister Black!" he boomed, before leaning down and whispering to Edward, "hey, you don't want to be recognised, right?", before putting a hand on Edward's shoulder and walking past him.
When the General had left, he grinned mischievously. Before he would go to Xion, he'd go visit an old friend of his.
It seemed to take him forever and he was cursing his short legs as he stumbled through the snow, occasionally completely sacking through until his knees, since his auto-mail leg was so heavy. But that wasn't the only reason why it seemed to take so long—Edward was simply nervous to see if Roy was in the small town Xion, and he desperately hoped he was. He couldn't wait to see him again.
After twenty very long minutes, he finally saw the small lights of the town in the distance and, as he got closer, he also heard cheerful music coming from the buildings. Now all he needed to do was find out in which one of these Roy was, so, he decided to use logics.
Roy.
Used to love girls.
Womanizer.
Skirts.
Edward looked around until he spotted a bar with a sign hanging from it. On the sign, there was a pair of female legs, and a small bit of skirt. Edward grumbled, before walking over to that place and took a deep breath and entered.
The bar was very crowded—it was mostly filled with soldiers, though there were some women from the town itself. There was one woman standing on stage singing soft music—it wasn't really too festive or anything, and definitely not what Edward had expected when he had seen the sign. The place was kind of fancy. There were several couple on the dance floor, slow dancing on the soft rhythm, though most of the people were sitting down.
He didn't see him immediately, since he was seated in the corner all by himself, sipping from his beer. Edward had to search for him a couple of times as his vision was often blurred by the girls. They were like a pack of hyena's, Edward mentally noted, before he finally spotted Roy. Edward smiled softly when he saw how he actually turned down a beautiful blonde woman, who walked off disappointedly.
Edward took another deep breath and strode to the round table Roy was seated on. Roy didn't notice this—he was looking inside of the glass, a defeated expression on his face. He didn't even notice it when Edward sat down on the chair on the opposite side of the table.
"Hey there, sexy," Edward said, using a very high voice, which made him sound like a girl. It worked, since Roy didn't even look up.
"Not interested," he grumbled. Edward pouted slightly.
"You're not interested in me?" he asked, again using the high-pitched voice.
"I'm already taken," Roy said, using that dull tone in his voice. Uncaring.
"You bet your ass on that one," Edward replied, this time using his regular voice. It took a moment for Roy to realise that it had been a very familiar voice who spoke those words, before he looked up, eyes widened.
"E-Edward!" he exclaimed, his eyes filled with shock, before turning into anger. "What the hell are you doing here!"
He suddenly felt a stinging pain on his cheek. Edward had slapped him with his flesh hand, leaving a red mark. Roy looked disbelievingly at Edward, trying to figure out if this was real or not.
"Bastard," Edward grumbled. "You left so I didn't have to? What were you thinking! I can't believe you would actually do something like that! You know how fucking worried I was about you! Damn it Roy, I could've figured out some—"
"No, you couldn't," Roy stated firmly. He sighed, before continuing, "Edo," he said softly. "Why did you come after me? Why did you do that?"
"So I could kick your sorry ass and drag you back home," Edward said, crossing his arms on his chest and looking determined at Roy. Roy merely shook his head.
"If I go home, I'll be thrown in jail or executed, or whatever. It'll be bad. I have to participate now, or else you'll have to. It's you or me and I prefer it to be me, so go home now before you get caught up in this!" Edward shook his head, grinning slightly. Roy blinked—whenever Edward grinned like that, it meant that he had something up his sleeve.
"No you won't," he just said.
"Yes, I will."
"No. You won't," Edward stated firmly. Roy sighed.
"Fine, I'll play your little game. Why won't I get thrown in jail?" Edward's grin grew.
"I have a friend who's in charge of all the records about who's arriving and who's allowed to leave," he said. "When I went away two years ago, I met him. A year ago, he was transferred to this place, so I visited him today—he owed me a favour, since I saved his ass way back when. There was this huge attack, some guys came out and had set our base on fire, and Robert—that's his name—was stuck in one of the bigger tents, he couldn't get out. I rescued him from there. Anyway, I just visited him and asked him if he could return the favour and change some records—everything he'll send to Central, won't be questioned, since he's practically as powerful as a General. So, he wrote down that you had an injury and had to be sent back immediately and can't fight for at least three months time. I was scheduled to stay three more months, since I had signed myself up for two and a half years," Roy blinked.
"Edward, you know that it's fraud, right?" Edward nodded happily. "And that, if anyone would find out, all of us will get executed, including this Robert, right?" Edward nodded again.
"Yup, but they won't find out, because Robert's a genius. He's done these things before anyway, to soldiers who want to go home and visit their families. He just fills in a form only he's allowed to fill in and they'll send you back home." Roy raised an eyebrow sceptically. "Don't look at me like that! It's at least better than what you did, you bastard," Edward added, grumbling.
"I suppose so," Roy mumbled. "So, I really am allowed to leave?" Edward nodded cheerfully. "But what about you? Shouldn't you go to Drachma now?" The blonde shook his head.
"No, because that was the deal right? You go and I don't have to. Well, you went, so I'm not obligated to do anything. We'll have to wait a day with leaving of course, since it has to be convincing that you were injured, but we're definitely going to get out of here. Now thank me for what I did for you," he said, grinning maliciously. Roy leaned back on his chair, smirking.
"If it hadn't been for you, I wouldn't be here in the first place," he said. "So we're even." Edward pouted, looking away from him. They both looked up as the woman on the stage began with a new song. It was nice, slow, relaxing.
You know I can't smile without you,
I can't smile without you,
I can't laugh and I can't sing,
I'm finding it hard to do anything
"Edward?"
"Hmm?"
"You want to dance?" Edward blinked. "Don't worry, if anybody asks, we'll tell them I'm teaching you to dance so you can impress girls," Roy added, smirking lightly. Edward stuck his tongue out. The raven-haired man stood up and offered the blonde his hand. Edward took it and they both walked to the dancing floor, Roy's hand still in Edward's, while his other one was on the smaller man's waist. Edward had his other hand placed on Roy's shoulders and they slowly started to move with the beat.
You see, I feel sad when you're sad,
I feel glad when you're glad,
If you only knew, what I'm going through,
I just can't smile without you
Both men didn't realise that their bodies kept getting closer and soon Edward's head was leaning against Roy's chest, a content smile on his face as he took in the older man's scent. Roy smiled softly and buried his face in the blonde hair, as they kept on moving.
You came along, just like a song,
And brightened my day,
Who would've believed that you were part of a dream,
Now it all seems lightyears away
Nobody stopped to look at the dancing couple—nobody cared, except maybe for a couple of women who had their eyes on Roy and were trying to glare daggers at the smaller man, who looked as if he was in heaven. And maybe he was.
And now you know I can't smile without you,
I can't smile without you,
I can't laugh and I can't sing,
I'm finding it hard to do anything
The song continued as Edward pulled his head slightly back so he could look into those black eyes. They stared back at him and he found that their faces were inching closer—Edward hadn't forgotten about all the soldiers in the room and tried to pull back. However, Roy had quick reflexes and had apparently manoeuvred one hand so it could rest on the back of Edward's head.
"Don't worry Edo," Roy breathed, still inching closer. "If anybody asks, I'll tell them I was teaching you how to kiss." Roy crossed the final inch and kissed Edward softly on his lips, savouring each taste and each second as he moved his mouth against the blonde's, who whimpered slightly at the touch. It wasn't needy, not like the kiss Roy had given him right before he had left, but this time full of comfort.
Full of love.
Now some people say,
Happiness takes so very long to find,
Well I'm finding it hard,
Leaving your love behind me
Edward moved as well, slowly entering Roy's mouth with his tongue, his arms wrapping around Roy's neck. They had completely forgotten that they were in the middle of a bar, filled with people (Sidenote: most of the girls who had been jealous of Edward were now enjoying the show very much, even though they died from blood loss five minutes afterwards). They didn't care.
I can't smile without you,
I can't smile without you,
I can't laugh and I can't sing,
I'm finding hard to do anything
I feel glad when you're glad,
I feel sad when you're sad,
If you only knew what I'm going through,
I just can't smile without you
They pulled back for air and continued their dance, even after the music died out.
-Owari-
