and here you are! chapter 3...i realize i'm not naming these chapters, cuz i'm just bad at that :P as usual, spoilers...in fact i'm not gonna say it again. SPOILERS ARE HERE, and that applies for the rest of the entire length of the thing, okay?
He took a bite slowly, and let the taste linger in his mouth before he chewed.
"This stuff could get addictive," he muttered to his friend, before swallowing.
"Tell me about it," Maes answered, taking another slice of the apple pie. "She's so damn good at everything."
Mustang smiled slowly, taking another bite.
"Roy?"
"Yeah?"
"What the hell are you thinking?" His friend's eyes were too dull for his liking.
He shook his head, and sighed. "I don't know."
Maes sighed. "Come on. Tell me."
"I…he stopped, thought for a moment, and then spoke again. "I saw her eyes, and I realized…its my fault, Maes. Everything."
He looked surprised, but said nothing, letting his friend continue.
"How many people do I have to kill before they're satisfied? And then I had to drag that girl into this."
"What girl?"
"Hawkeye."
"The sniper?"
"Yeah."
"What about her?"
"I know why she's here, Maes. She's here because of me."
"You don't know that."
"I do know that. I know how she works."
He sighed. "So I'm assuming she's a…friend…of yours?"
"A friend. No pauses please."
"I see. And?"
"And what?"
"What exactly is the story?"
"Oh. Her father is my master."
"Romance?"
"None. Well, maybe a little, but not enough that you could say we were together."
Maes sighed. "Then why would she come find you?"
Roy looked too serious, all of a sudden. "Because I'm all she has left."
Maes looked surprised.
"And I left her, while she was hurt."
"Why?"
Roy sighed and leaned back. "I don't know. She seems so…strong, Maes. So damn strong. A woman who would carry you to the finish line if you couldn't get there yourself. That's what she did with her father, you know. She wouldn't let him die of starvation, because that man was so involved with his stupid learning he would have."
"Rough childhood?"
"You don't know the half of it…" he paused. "Even I don't know more than I've seen…the bastard used her…like she was some kind of blood-related maid service."
Maes just listened.
"And I used her too," he admitted slowly, only realizing it himself for the first time. "I let her take care of me, let her kiss me, let her do everything she did because I wanted it, and then, when she needed me, I went away."
Maes sighed, serious for once in his life. "Everyone needs someone to lean on, Roy. Even those you lean on the most. A pillar needs a foot and a ceiling to hold it in place."
It was too damn wise of him to say that. He closed his eyes and bit his lip. "And now she's here."
Again, Maes said nothing.
"Well, if she's here, there's only one thing I can do for her."
"What's that?"
"Recruit her."
"Why?"
"So I can keep her where I can keep an eye on her."
"How would that help her? More than likely, she'll end up worrying about you."
Roy realized that was all too true. "Well, at least I'll be able to watch her. Not knowing what she's doing...worrying about her..."
"It would kill you."
"Yeah."
Maes looked at his friend carefully and then smiled. Selflessness was a beautiful justification, he though, before nodding his approval. "All right," he said. "You do that. Transfer her. Watch over her as she watches over you. What is it you alchemists call it?"
Roy smiled. He was rubbing off on his friend. "Equal exchange," he said, liking the sound of that.
a lot of these are going to be mostly dialog, since that's how the manga is written. a lot is revealed through snippets of missed conversation, and i'm just filling in the blanks here :) tell me if i get boring, because its so easy to do when writing just conversation.
as always, don't break my heart, leave a review!