Hello y'all!
Who says that you can't be inspired by poetry? I found a collection of poem about love, that I studied in high school. And I fell in love with one of them: Elégie (elegy), by Marceline Desbordes-Valmore (I'm sorry I didn't found it in English). That poem inspired me for this OS, and I wrote it in less than one hour. The title of the OS can be translated with "Dear name! charming name!"
It the first time I write a Soulmate AU. The plot of the manga stays the same, but when you wake up the day of your fifteenth birthday, you hear the name of your soulmate. And each year, as long as your not (re)united with them, you hear the name in your heart.
There's angst, with a happy ending!
Enjoy!
Nom chéri! nom charmant!
Roy Mustang was waiting eagerly for his fifteenth birthday. That day he would know the name of his soulmate, whispered softly in the depths of his heart.
He'd begun his apprenticeship for a few months when the day came. But when he woke up, only silence welcomed him. His soul felt hollow, and he doubted he could one day fill this hole. He'd hoped. He'd hoped for a name, even from a stranger, that would mean "You're worthy of love, you're worthy of being loved."
He knew people cared about him; his aunt, his sisters, perhaps even Riza, behind her detached looks and her stubborn silences when he talked to her.
After that silent day, where no name had been spoken to him, he forgot himself in his studies, getting out of his room for his lessons, meals, and sometimes to get some fresh air. He saw his master's daughter looking at him more frequently, he saw the worried frown on her face, but alchemy burned him. He forbade himself to think about anything else. He had no right, hadn't he?
It was easy to choose to go to a military academy. If he couldn't love, if he couldn't be loved, at least he could protect. He could protect his country; he could protect its inhabitants. He could be able to do that at least, and he would dedicate his life to do so.
But one night, a name rang. Roy sat in his bed and cried. It was so obvious, how could have he been so blind? She'd been there. She'd taken care of him. She'd distracted him from the days he'd spent working on books and notes. But his eyes had never stayed on her, not once he'd looked at her for a long time.
It was too late. He couldn't go back and act as if nothing had changed. Because she'd heard too. She'd heard his name.
Riza saw Roy leave and her heart tingled. She knew he wasn't hers, because when he'd been fifteen, she hadn't heard anything. She wasn't his soulmate, but never once she'd stopped hoping. He'd stayed silent and stepped back.
A few weeks later, however, on the last day of her fifteenth year, she went to bed hopeless. She hoped for nothing, and not his name.
The Moon woke her up with its silver rays on her pillow. Or maybe it was her tears flowing on her cheeks for no apparent reason. For no reason? No, it was the name ringing in her heart, the name she'd never believed she would hear and that brought her pain.
Because she knew. She knew that there was a too faint chance he would come back. Even if he'd heard her name, what could he do about it?
But she saw him again, when his knock on the door surprised her. His name had rang, soft and compelling at each year they'd spent away from the other.
Their eyes locked and they understood. They knew the other had heard their name, they were bound and couldn't do anything about it. The circumstances were too complicated, and when he left again, Riza decided that whatever he would do in his life, she wanted to be part of it, one way or another.
More years passed, and their names rang in the heart of the other when they called each other "Major" and "Cadet", "Lieutenant-Colonel" and "Second-Lieutenant", "Colonel" and "Lieutenant", "General" and "Captain" then "Major".
It was a call, stronger, fiercer, more difficult to fight. And each time one of them was one year older, they woke up crying in a half-empty bed.
"I, Roy Mustang, take you, Riza Hawkeye, to be my wife. I promise to be true to you in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health. I will love you and honor you all the days of my life."
"I, Riza Hawkeye, take you, Roy Mustang, to be my husband. I promise to be true to you in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health. I will love you and honor you all the days of my life."
Never again they would hear that name in their heart, spoke by an unknown voice, two times a year. Finally, they could say it to the other every day, out loud, whispered, murmured, moaned, cried.
