The Coldest Years
Roy's been missing for three years now. The military has pronounced him dead, splitting up Mustang's team. Hawkeye is less than willing to think so. That's not to say that she'll be expecting what she finds, or exactly pleased to find it. Chimera!Roy
Disclaimer: I still don't own Fullmetal Alchemist. But I do own the family that this chapter is centered around. Ask permission if you want to use them, please!
Note: Late by one day. Sorry. But it was Valentine's Day, and I had robotics and then my boyfriend came over after, and he didn't go home until I was too tired to post anything. So sorry to anyone who's actually reading!
Chapter 2
A young woman looked out of her front window, then to the picture on the coffee table beside her, and then out the window again. A little girl stood beside her, only four years old, watching her.
"Charity…"
The little girl blinked at her mother's name. She cocked her head to the side.
The woman looked down at her and smiled. She patted her head gently. "It's nothing, Hope. Just missing your mom." She sighed.
Hope nodded numbly, drawing her thumb into her mouth. "Me too…" she mumbled.
The woman's smile faded a little. "Why don't you do me a favor and go get your brother and sister? We'll go out today. How does that sound?" she asked.
Hope looked up at her, nodded, and dashed off to find her siblings.
The woman looked back out the window, up at the sky. She sighed, bowed her head and, for the first time in two years, prayed. "God, if you're even up there at all, would you please have mercy? Give me a sign that she's dead or alive. Send me a sign; tell me where Charity is! I… know that I've never been much of a believer, but Charity has been, and that's just not fair, it's not fair!"
"Aunty Faith?"
The woman, Faith, turned around to see her nieces and nephew standing side by side, watching her with wide eyes. She turned back to the sky. "Three years has just been too long, God. It's been too long to be without my big sister. I'll beg with You, I'll plea. I don't care. Just tell me…"
"Aunty Faith?" pressed little Hope, releasing her big sister's hand to step forward and tug on her dress.
Faith turned down to smile at her. Then she looked at the older two. "Harmony, Chance, do you want to go out?"
Harmony, the oldest of them, stepped forward. She was almost ten years old. "Okay, Aunty Faith. To where?" she asked.
Faith glanced back out of the window briefly and then shrugged. "Maybe we could go to that one Aerugan place down on 39th. Your mom always loved it there."
Chance, seven years old, nodded. He smiled at his aunt. "Will Dad be back tomorrow?" he asked.
Faith only nodded. "Yes, Sage should be home soon. Maybe we'll get to go out tomorrow, then, too." She sighed.
Hope squealed in delight at the thought. She marched over to her siblings and grabbed their hands, clutching them. "Let's go get ready, now, okay?" she asked.
Chance and Harmony watched her dash toward their room. Harmony looked up at Faith. "You were praying about Mom?" she asked quietly.
Faith swallowed a thick lump in her throat, nodding heavily. "I was, Harmony." She admitted.
Chance stuck his hands in his pockets. "What about?" he muttered.
"A clue, or something. Someone's gotta find your mother. Someone has got to know what happened to her. I was praying that God would tell me what it was that happened." Faith said. She smiled at the two. "Let's go, guys. Your dad is coming back tomorrow, and you know how he hates to see sad faces."
Chance looked at Harmony and put on a fake smile. Harmony took his hand and went to fit him into a sweatshirt and find their shoes. "We'll be out in a minute," she promised.
She turned and steered him around, disappearing back into their room.
Once they'd gone, Faith looked back up at the sky. Her brown eyes glinted in the sun's light. "If there's anything that you can do, Lord…" she started. She sucked in a deep breath and shook her head. She turned away from the window and went to the front table, tucking her arms into her ridiculously warm coat and picking up her purse.
Seconds later, her little nieces and nephew appeared at her side. With a warm smile, she took Hope by the hand, leading the three out of the door.
"They fell asleep waiting for you."
A man with bright green eyes looked up from his feet. He looked to the stairs, continuing to remove his shoes. "I'm sorry. The meeting stayed late."
"They were so excited for you to come home today." Faith put her hands on her hips. She stood adorned in a lavender bath robe, her hair still soaked from her relaxing tub. Her slightly rotund stomach was barely wrapped in the robe successfully; she'd leaped out of the tub and into her robe as soon as she heard the door open.
"I know." Sage dropped his suitcase to the ground. He looked up at her sheepishly. "Are they sleeping still?"
"Little devils tuckered themselves out waiting for you." Faith nodded.
Sage sighed. "Please stop rubbing my face in it. I'm sorry, okay? The meeting ran late, what was I supposed to do?" he demanded of her, his eyes burning with ire.
Faith clenched a fist. "How about give your children the only parent they have left? Take some time off of work every once in a while. They'd love that! Spend a day with them! I may be close, but I'm not their mother. You are their father. Let them keep what little they have left." She commanded.
"Do you even know how much work I do? I can't just take time off." Sage looked offended by the idea.
Faith, too, looked offended by his blatant disrespect of her idea and of his children. "So, what? Does your job mean more to you than your children? What good is a good life if you've got no one to share it with? And with Charity gone and you pushing away your babies, that is the road that you're going down." She shook her head and marched into her bedroom. "I pity you, Sage. I do. You may never know what it's like being around your wonderful children. I'm lucky enough that I get to know that nearly every day, but I pity you." She decided. "You can sleep on the couch. Don't wake them. Good night, Sage."
Sage watched his sister-in-law go, frowning. He wished that she understood his line of business. It wasn't his fault that he had meetings day in and day out. If it weren't for him, they wouldn't be living the 'good life', as Faith so claimed. She really ought not be so hard on him!
He slowly trudged up the stairs, managing to locate the couch. He slumped on it tiredly, and then turned over, looking up at the ceiling. He reached behind to where he knew a familiar picture was. He held it tightly, kissed the head of the person inside, and sighed. "Oh, Charity… this is tearing our family apart. We need you. Where did you go?"
She watched the babies fondly as they chewed voraciously on the piece of meat that had been thrown in. She and he had already taken a bite out of the precious food, before backing away to let the kittens lay claim to it. She didn't mind. She really wasn't that hungry anyway.
The kittens had stopped suckling yesterday. They were old enough that they didn't need to feed off of her anymore. They could eat real food. She and he both knew what that meant.
Which did explain his position. He was crouched near the door, his hackles already raised, his teeth bared, his claws unsheathed. Just as much as she didn't want for her kittens to leave, he didn't want them to leave, either. He was going to do what he could to protect them.
She gave a happy purr, and he glanced back her way, his small ears flicking up. A little cock of his big black head made her laugh, so she stepped forward and pressed her nose to his flank.
Both of their ears shot straight up when they heard voices approaching. She heard the word 'kittens' more than once and she knew what that meant. No! Not already! They couldn't take them away!
His ears flattened against his skull. Her fur puffed up. Both of their claws unsheathed. They would not let their babies be taken from them to who-knows-where.
The door was pushed open. He shoved her back, offering his body to protect her. Two humans stepped inside, carrying three carriers between them. Both of them bared their teeth before those evil humans could get any closer.
One human raised an eyebrow, speaking something to its companion. Its companion laughed merrily, stooped, and attempted to shove him to the side.
He bit it.
The human yelped and shook out its hand. It snarled and lashed out with a foot, kicking him right in the chest.
He heaved in pain, almost crumpling momentarily. But he managed to keep his footing, placing one front paw out before him. His throat rumbled with an unearthly growl. How dare they!
The bitten human snarled something to its companion, who rolled its evil eyes and snarled. It lashed out again, striking him across the face and bringing forth a loud yelp of surprise. She snarled and leapt forward to defend him, digging her claws deep into the offending human's leg.
The other tore her off, manhandled her, and threw her to the ground. She landed badly, crying out when she heard and felt a sickening crunch spring forward from her foreleg.
His dark eyes looked into her brown ones, watching her. She pushed herself up, wincing as she put weight on her bad leg.
The humans attacked them, surprising them both. He was held down, pinned by the neck, by the one that he'd bitten, while she was kicked to the side, smashing into the wall. Her head connected, and her eyes slid closed. The last thing that she remembered was a second, nauseating snap, and his voice yelping in pain, followed closely by three pathetic whimpers as the kittens tried to go their parents' sides. She begged that he would stop them from doing that, and she pleaded that he could stop the humans from taking them away.
When she awoke, her head was pounding. She glanced around her, not even moving or lifting her head. She could only see black. Lots of black. Where was she and why was it so dark? She fidgeted and jolted away, crying out and crumpling when she put weight once more on her aching leg.
A soft, amused voice chuckled. Three squeaks sounded when someone shuffled over. Or was it something? Was one of the humans here to attack them again? Were they to be euthanized?
A cold, snuffling nose pressed to her ear, and then a rough tongue drew up the side of her face. She looked in that direction, surprised to find a pair of black eyes watching her.
He drew away from her, sitting with one leg stretched out. He looked happy, though why, she didn't know. Shouldn't he be upset? Surely the humans had taken the kittens away. Right? They'd taken her down in a minute, and he looked dead tired.
Something pressed against her exposed belly, two tiny paws, followed by another pair, scrambled up on her before plopping down. She looked at the pressure, her eyes widening.
Her daughter laid there, her head cocked to the side. Her white front paws stretched in front of her, while her black back paws were splayed behind her.
She rolled, effortlessly knocking her daughter off and ambling away from her kittens. She took them each by the scruff and checked them over for injuries, relieved to find that all three were perfectly healthy, if not a little malnourished.
She looked up at him, looking into his dark eyes. She glanced down, noticing his leg, noticing its odd shape. With a shudder, she looked up at him, and he looked right back at her. Even a human could have read the message in her eyes, "you kept them safe."
He dipped his head with a heavy nod, "of course I did. I promised." He leaned forward and pressed his forehead against her shoulder.
With a purr, she shifted him ever so lightly. She pressed her forehead against his, letting him siphon strength from her and at the same time doing the same from him.
They were, after all, all that they had left.