of why i'm sick inside
Character: Solf J. Kimblee
Summary: And here he comes.
No one leaves Ishbal the way he or she arrives.
This is a fact.
Law of the desert or so the Lady says.
He is one of the newer state alchemists, someone who has just received his qualification and she is his superior and instructor, a woman as cool as the ice her transmutations create. He likes her a lot more than he can stand the wimpy fools who call themselves his fellow state alchemists because she knows what she is talking about. She is one of the few who actually do their job, who bother telling those who have just arrived about their duties, who teach them the rules. She is a kindred soul, someone who has a certain viewpoint and who has not sway, no matter how pathetic the others are.
He finds her on a hill, staring at the silent desert that shines silver under the moonlight and stops behind her, wondering why he has looked for her in first place. "Major General?" he asks calmly.
"Kimblee," she replies and turns her head. "You should not be here. Don't you have a camp to guard or something like that?"
"Mustang took over about an hour ago," he shrugs. "I was passing your tent and realised that you weren't there. A major general should not leave the camp without an escort."
"I have been here for a few months longer than you," she says as she crosses her arms. "How are you? They sent you to one of the nastier districts today, didn't they?"
He raises his eyebrow. "Do you underestimate my ability to deal with a few rebels, madam?"
Her mouth twitches as she smirks. "No, not really," she says amused. "I am supposed to clean up an entire village with children tomorrow," she adds quietly.
He freezes because he knows that she has been a mother once and that somewhere deep inside of her chest, her old instincts are still lurking. "…will you be okay?"
"Ask tomorrow again," she tells him, eyes empty.
There will be no tomorrow.
This is the last evening for her to live – and looking back, he wonders whether she has known this, whether she has known that there would be someone with the power to kill her. He stares at the coffin – because her body has been retrieved by a red-haired state alchemist who has been rolling her eyes the entire time – and he wonders when he has stopped to pay attention. Reine and he are alike, they are both different from the others. And it makes no sense why anyone has had the power to kill her. She has been strong and stable, keeping him at bay.
"Kimblee, high command says that you need to leave now," the redhead tells him.
He nods. If the desert takes the only one he has looked up to, the only one who has understood him, he will take the desert's children, those demons. He feels guilty for not being there for his superior when she has been killed and to die all on her own is something too pathetic for her. She has understood and without her, there is no longer a reason to act like he is normal. She has set a good example on how to hide bloodlust and sadism but now, there is no one he has to impress.
He turns to look at the redhead again. "I have understood, Major," he sneers because he dislikes her and her attitude greatly. "She meant to last," he tells her, not too sure why.
"There is no place for a broken woman here," she replies but a certain sadness is etched into her face. "And a woman who has ice inside her veins is not supposed to be missed."
The madness inside his chest nags him to leave her standing there and he walks through the desert, leaving a trace of blood in his wake. The desert has taken what he values, has rendered the Lady into the pathetic form of a cold corpse. His madness and hers have been such an amazing duo and have meant to last forever.
But here he comes and when he leaves, he will be no longer the man he used to be.
Ishbal changes everyone.