40. I Hate That I Love You (Rihanna ft. Ne-yo)

A/N: 40 chapters, over 100 reviews, and over 9000 hits! You all have made me very happy! Thank you! Now for this story, which takes place in Ishbal, yet again.

She hadn't changed much, physically, at least. Maybe her hair was shorter. Maybe a little longer. She might have filled out a little more. He didn't know. He didn't really care.

He was far more focused on her emotions, or lack thereof. Poor girl. No, he shouldn't think like that. That shifted the blame from him.

What have I done? She'd never have had to suffer like this if not for his selfishness. He hadn't dreamed that the secret would cost him even a tiny fraction of this.

Maes noticed his friend's contemplative mood. Moving to stand next to Roy, he said, "You love her."

Roy whipped around, looking more than a little angry.

"It's a simple observation, Roy. Nothing wrong with it."

"You would say that, Maes."

"Don't make this about me, Roy. What's the problem?"

Roy looked at his hands. "She trusted me. She trusted me with a secret that could harm others, and I betrayed her trust, but she still stands by me!"

Maes sighed. "At least you admit that you're the problem." As Roy glared at him, he reasoned, "What? I can't change what you've done, Roy, and you can't, either. Maybe it's a good thing that she still trusts you."

He was forced to step back as Roy stood up to advance on him. "That is the problem! What if I hurt her next time?"

"You think things need to be perfect? You've got two-way trust—you're almost there, Roy. You just need to learn to trust yourself to make the best choice at the time."

"Which is exactly why I'm distancing myself." Roy turned to walk away, only to have Maes's half-full canteen hit the back of his head. "Ow! Maes, what the hell was that for?"

"Wait a week and tell me if that knocked any sense into you," Maes said coldly. "If not, I'll know to hit you with something harder next time."

"For a friend, you're a real pain in the ass!" Roy yelled.

"Takes one to know one!" Maes retorted.

That did it. Friend or not, Roy took a swing at Maes, who dodged and returned the blow before hauling Roy up by the collar.

"I'm not in the mood for this, Roy," he hissed, "but if you're going to let loose, then so am I." He pushed Roy away. "I advise against it."

Roy sat there in the dirt for a moment, glaring up and looking like a sullen child.

"Now." Maes held out his hand. "Wanna change? I guarantee that doing something is better than doing nothing."

Grudgingly, but perhaps a bit sheepishly, Roy reached out. "All right."

Maes smiled and shook his head. "You'll get it yet, Roy."

A/N: Good Lord, Roy gets hit a lot in my stories! He gets cracked across the face by Havoc in "Comatose"… and just sort of generally manages to get himself injured when he's being stubborn. Is this fan abuse? I think I had Lion King on the brain when I wrote this, if it's any excuse.

Anyway, Maes kind of forces a second chance onto Roy, here, but we all know he'll take it, and keep on taking them until he does something right.

Next time, it'll be the companion to this, with Riza and Rebecca!

Drop me a review and tell me what you think! Also, I don't know if I've mentioned this, but if you have any second chance sort of songs you'd like to see a fic for, let me know in a review or PM, and I'll see what I can do!