Summary: At the right angle, in a line of sight, one might wonder why he never stopped staring at her for so much as a second.
Theme: 078. Ideals and Truth
Disclaimer: If I owned Full Metal Alchemist, Scar & Riza = life made.
Angles
078. Ideals and Truth
It is a matter of uncoordinated space.
When Riza picked up the phone she talked about the way she missed waiting for trains with him and how it rained more than usual lately, so it was lucky he was away. He would survive that way. She told him that the office was emptier than usual without his voice echoing in the hallways where they used to meet, and how she did not like that people were actually getting the paperwork done nowadays. He had to laugh at that, but the noise was dry.
He scratches patterns in the log walls with his nails, traces the lines of age in the wood with his thumb. He uncurls the phone wire in his tired fingers. He told her he was sorry.
"About what?"
She asks. He fingers the fur on his collar and his hair and thinks of the way she would like something like this as an 'in memento mori.' He twists the cord into shapes he does not recognise and remembers the way she wore an oversized scarf in winter. She would not last two minutes out here in the endless whiteness. The never-ending emptiness between them.
"I do not know."
He can imagine that her face is drained even though she is trying to sound pleased for him. He can imagine her devising ways to get him back; more codes and cryptics and anything to keep their rebellion safe. But they have already been caught, and she knows; it is in her throat waiting to come out if only she dares to say it. He does not want to imagine her crying. He wants her to be better than that, and remain as emotionless as she is tucked away inside his head where he can remember her better.
"Where are you?"
Her voice finally breaks; and he knows she does not ask where so much as why.
I have always wondered how Riza found out about the exile, and I know I was probably told by the manga but I cannot remember it. But it always made me want to ask when I was younger 'do you know long distance relationships never last?' - forever the cynic.
Reviews & criticism appreciated.