#when you compare him to someone like roy mustang | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

griseldabanks · 2 years ago

Note

Do you prefer writing one-shots or multi-chaptered fics?, Link your three favorite fics right now (please), What is your most and least favorite part of writing?, and Have you had a writer you admire comment on your fic? What was that like?

1. Do you prefer writing one-shots or multi-chaptered fics?

I always think of myself as a novelist, and that carries over to fanfiction as well. Granted, I've written more oneshots than chapterfics, because it takes a lot less time, but I really do love sinking my teeth into a hefty chapterfic. I suppose one of my favorite ways to compromise is to do a collection of oneshots. It's great for when I have a bunch of ideas for a certain relationship or AU, but don't necessarily want to devote the time and attention an actual chapterfic would require.

11. Link your three favorite fics right now

This is...really hard. There are so many good ones! I couldn't possibly rank all of my favorites, because every fic that earns its way onto my faves has something uniquely wonderful about it, and it's really hard to compare. (Also, what is "right now" supposed to mean? Do other people...stop loving their faves? With very few exceptions, once a fic makes its way onto my faves list, it's there to stay.) But here are three from different fandoms:

Tempest by Bookwrm389 (FMA) - Parental!RoyEd fic involving Ed and Mustang fighting Scar during a thunderstorm, gobs of angst and hurt/comfort, everyone so perfectly in-character, some truly epic moments as well as some great humor (very fitting for FMA), and overall it's just impeccably written in every way. I thought of this one when answering question 60 below, and knew I had to mention this fic, because it was the first time I ever saved a fic to my hard drive that was written by someone who wasn't a personal friend. I'm not very good or consistent about saving the fics I really like, but I knew immediately that if I ever lost access to this one, I would regret it forever.

John Plays Hooky by chappysmom (Sherlock) - A fun, shortish chapterfic about John taking an unplanned day off to just enjoy himself, and unintentionally leading Sherlock on a wild goose chase as he tries to solve the mystery of where John suddenly disappeared to. The characters are written excellently, there's so much fun irony in knowing both sides of what's going on when the characters don't, and it's also an excellent display of what sort of person John Watson is. It's a fic that just makes me smile every time I think of it.

Wander into My Mind by SergeantToMyCaptain (Captain America) - Go ahead, accuse me of favoritism, but this fic written by my bestie is just...phenomenal. It's in an AU in which Bucky comes to Steve, who is helping him recover from everything Hydra did to him, and in which Steve and Sharon actually get a chance to go somewhere with their relationship. The fic is about one of Bucky's bad days, and how Steve helps him deal with it. Basically it's just a huge ball of hurt/comfort and some of the most exquisite angst and tenderness you'll ever read. Not a story for everyone, I suppose - you have to be comfortable with men being very soft and affectionate with each other, without even a smidge of romance between them. But if that's a pill you can swallow, do yourself a favor and go read this masterpiece.

27. What is your most and least favorite part of writing?

Well, they're definitely related. I'm not very good at coming up with ideas on my own, so the brainstorming stage is often my least-favorite. It's much more fun, and much more effective, when I have someone to bounce ideas off of, but even so, what I really love is when the whole story is figured out, I know the basic gist of how things will play out, and all that's left is for me to sit down and find the words to write it. I love that. Sure, sometimes I end up staring at a blinking cursor even when I have a plan in mind, but it's just so satisfying to finally be able to put down on paper the scenes you've been daydreaming about. It never quite turns out exactly the way I think it will, and sometimes I need to take several passes at it before it gets to where I want it to be, but that part of the process is when I really feel like I'm in the zone. This is why I work best as part of a team, really - if someone else can help me with ideas, I'm perfectly happy to be in charge of actually writing those ideas out in the form of a story.

60. Have you had a writer you admire comment on your fic? What was that like?

Sadly, this writer seems to have disappeared and taken down/orphaned her fics, but one of the greatest moments of my fanfic career was when Bookwrm389 commented on my FMA fic "Silence-Carved Scars" and gushed about it. It's a Parental!RoyEd fic that was originally inspired by her Parental!RoyEd fic "Gold from Lead." Both fics involve a misunderstanding about the nature of Ed and Mustang's relationship, but she said I went farther than she'd dared to do. I was walking on cloud nine for a while, believe me ^_^

Fic Writer Asks

#ask and you shall receive #called-kept #ask games #just realized that maybe that question about fic recommendations was supposed to be about one's OWN fics?#oh well too late now

2 notes · View notes

justaradioguy · 2 years ago

Text

At least you have them, he wants to argue. Your mother and your sisters and your sons.

Jealousy has probably always been his worst vice, the one that gnaws at him whenever he so much as lays eyes on a father and son playing catch in the park or two friends on a walk together or a couple holding hands.

At least you had Hughes. At least Breda doesn't talk over you. At least people believe in you. At least you know what 'home' means and at least you've heard 'I love you'.

He keeps it all back. It wouldn't be fair. It's not Roy's fault that Kain is like this. Roy is trying to help, even.

Being difficult, that's what he's doing. He doesn't even mean to, especially not when Roy had sought him out to help instead of the other way around.

Maybe this is why he's got people and Kain doesn't. Maybe his father and his mother were right when they scolded him. Weird, difficult, annoying, disappointing - those were the words they used most often.

Maybe, he figures, he should go back to what he knows, shrink away from Roy, and let the formalities slip back into his speech as he pleads his commanding officer to forgive him for forgetting the protocols.

But he doesn't want to. He's warm, and he feels mostly safe, and someone's being nice to him.

And it's not just any someone, it's the man who'd believed in him just enough to bring him onto his unit, who'd given him the only flicker of hope he'd ever felt before that.

He'd been so excited, too. Maybe, in some other universe, he'd have called his mother to tell her about how somehow he'd caught Colonel Mustang's attention. And maybe, in that other universe, she'd have told him how proud she was and how he should have come home for dinner that weekend to celebrate. Maybe he would have, and maybe he would've had some friends waiting for him as a surprise, and maybe everyone would have been happy to see him.

Instead, he'd gone back to his dorm that evening, laid his jacket over his chair, tugged off his boots, and skipped dinner to go straight to bed so he could be well-rested and at his best the next day.

The sergeant forces that away the best that he can. Roy didn't come in here for a sad, insignificant story.

But it's still floating, the memory of how empty his room seemed that evening and of how he'd spent most of it fantasizing and of how that day had been his happiest memory even with how sad he'd been by the end of it.

Roy can never understand what Kain means by 'weird'.

Roy, like everyone else, has the rules of the game.

Roy has a family. They love him and he loves them and so the man cannot possibly get it, even though he thinks he does.

Kain can't be mad at him for trying, even if he's jealous, even if Roy doesn't understand him. He will choose kindness right now. He will choose kindness and love over the venom he could very well easily spit out instead. He will choose it through gritted teeth against every urge to be cruel to the world that is so cruel to him.

"I'm glad you have them," he says. "They'll turn up soon, I'm sure."

And it will sting. He knows it - he'll be standing there off to the side wishing someone were that happy and relieved to see him, but like always he won't say a word as not to ruin the moment. Roy can claim he considers Kain family all that he wants to, but when it comes down to it, he already knows that he can't compare to the people Roy's been telling him about.

Maybe he'll sit with Cid, because as far as he knows Cid doesn't have anything to rub in his face even accidentally. They can sit together in silence, one working while the other grieves in the weirdest way possible over a person who never existed at all. For now, though, and perhaps only for now, he has company and warmth.

"Do you think maybe there's some sort of chance that I'll have someone love me like that someday too, Colonel? Or even just be close enough, like... I dunno." He shakes his head, refusing to let himself finish his sentence.

"I'm being stupid, sorry. Thank you for the hug."

“You can’t protect everyone, mijo.” Chris always uttered that phrase since he was able to pick fights with schoolyard bullies. While she treated his bruises, she learned many of them came from more than his poor social status. No, they came from being the boy who couldn’t ignore when someone else was bullied. He always chose to step in, even if the bully was twice his size or the odds were otherwise against him. None of it mattered.

“Tuve que hacer algo,” he’d say with ice against his cheek. “Alguien tiene que.”

That thinking stayed with him through to the present day. Schoolyard bullies became enemies on the battlefield, which changed daily, and he won more battles thanks to years of training. Still, with arms wrapped around Fuery, he remembered the ones he lost with painful accuracy. He nearly lost Fuery that day with Gluttony—if he had been one minute slower, he would have. Then, there was the battle he lost against the Fuhrer that put Fuery directly in harm’s way. Into the South. Into war. He couldn’t protect him there. He couldn’t do anything for him.

At least he could control a warzone. If he had been there, maybe—

But, he wasn’t. Additionally, Fuery could never know him the same way Hughes did. The monster who controlled a warzone so effortlessly, raising hell instead of ruling heaven, was not the same man Fuery held onto right now. He would not speak freely to that monster like he was now—honestly, without fear of judgment.

Two incredibly different men sat with one another, and Roy hadn’t known just how different until now. For all his lack of structure from living in a brothel, he had rules. He had alchemy, which had laws of science to follow. Those, along with Chris and his sisters instructing him in social etiquette, gave him a firm foundation to stand on. By the time he reached the Hawkeye estate and the military, he was well on his way to becoming the man he was now. Then, there was the fact that their two brains undoubtedly worked in different ways due to more than nurture. Nature was also at play.

Huh.

“I think I get it. It’s easier to keep people at a distance. Safer. The Mada—my mother had a similar philosophy. She and my sisters… they handed me that set of rules you mentioned, I guess. I owe them everything if I’m being honest. But, that doesn’t mean you’re the only weird one. Just ask Ed and Al when they show up. They love to shit-talk me.” He let a smile sneak onto his face for a few seconds before he let it fade. “I’m not asking you to be fine. I won’t ask something of you that I can’t do myself, and we’ve already established I’m anywhere but fine. We can figure this out as we go.”

#verse ;; not quite home (ffu)#r ;; there is goodness in the heart of every broken man [ roy / flameleads ]#thread: sleepless nights

36 notes · View notes

scienceoftheidiot · 2 years ago

Note

👀

Thanks for asking and sorry for the delay in answering! This is an excerpt from another long WIP I've been working on.

Very very small context : Roy dismissed, Riza has been transferred to a new team and Rebecca wants to set her up with her new fellow Lieutenant (yes frat laws have been discussed) :

Riza decided to humor Rebecca. The lieutenant Enfield was not a model, but there was a lot of charm in his features. He was very tall and broad shouldered. His eyes were indeed striking, a pale, piercing blue. He had really short, jet black hair, a slightly hooked nose, and, yes, a very nice, strong jaw. He looked every bit like the idea of the perfect Amestrian soldier they were all fed since childhood, up to the small, thin and almost invisible scar that cut his cheek and his lip at the corner. Riza wasn’t called the Hawk’s Eye for nothing - she had immediately wondered if it was a battle scar. Could be. He was around her age.

Enfield was, indeed, handsome.

But Riza couldn’t help comparing him to a smaller, more slender form, with unruly hair that was just as black, and lips that curled into a smirk when she said the right thing – and even when she didn’t – that were not as full as Enfield’s were, but that were, now she knew, very soft.

Very soft.

“Oh, Riza, you’re blushing! Enfield did catch your eye after all! Hah, I knew it!”

“No, it’s –” What to do? She really didn’t want Rebecca going around saying she had a crush on his co-worker, just now, when she had just started. Better to be honest. Only…

“I’m…” She could feel her cheeks getting hot. She must be crimson. She hated herself for that. “I’m actually… seeing. Someone. I think.”

“WHAT?” Rebecca almost let her cup fall on her knees. She hastily put it down on the table and leaned towards Riza, half curious and half furious. “And you didn’t tell me?”

“I said I… it’s complicated.”

“Oh, of course it is. Damn, Riza, when is something uncomplicated for you on this matter?”

Riza shrugged.

“So. Who is it? Is he more handsome than Enfield, then? Oh my, that both means Enfield is free and that I could have found better, now I’m jealous.”

“I don’t… think he’s your type.”

Careful, Riza, careful. She hid behind her coffee cup, trying to think. But Rebecca would not let her.

“Is he in the military? I don’t see you with a civilian, I must say.”

“He’s… He…”

“Gosh, Riza. You really must be smitten,” Rebecca laughed. “I’ve never seen you as red and stuttering like that. I can’t wait to meet the guy. How come you’re not with him right now?”

“I –” Riza looked at her watch. “I should go, actually. I’ll pay for the next coffee we share. Mustang’s gonna be waiting for me and I don’t want him to –”

“To hell with Mustang! And what does the new guy think about you taking care of him? I’d be incredibly jealous if my boyfriend was always out with someone else than me. Especially with someone with Mustang's reputation.”

Hope you like this short piece 😁

#ask game #goneadrift #royai #riza Hawkeye #wip #wip ask

17 notes · View notes

xjulixred45x · 2 years ago

Note

Hello, I saw your stories and I really liked them a lot, I wanted to make a request for fullmetal alchemist brotherhood a little (very) dark, about some headcanons of roy, riza and ling with a reader who was forced to marry very young with a very abusive military, You decide if the reader has children with their husband, I want to fluff with angst.

First english Request! It's not a problem, i like Dark topics, and the concept it's VERY interesting! (And realistic to the Time where Fullmetal alchemist live). So, Here que go!

Ling Yao/Roy Mustang/Riza Hawkeye X Abused Reader /PART 1

Reader: Female

Type: Headcanons

Trigger warning:(o, where.we.go) mentions of child marriage, implications of physical and mental abuse, etc., bad parents, atrocious and alarming age difference, hypothetical case of a child as a result of abuse, angst to fluff, Happy ending

Roy Mustang

Most likely, he found out about you when he went to your husband's house (reluctantly) so that he personally delivered some papers that he had to fill out if he wanted to have a vacation.

But when he knocked on your door, your husband didn't answer him, but you, a pretty young girl, compared to your husband, you might as well be his daughter, that's why he referred to you as such.

imagine his surprise when you told him you were the wife of his "partner"

Okay, let me get this straight, Roy didn't like your husband BEFORE, because he was self-centered and a complete jerk in general. so it was hard to believe that he was married to someone so young and cute.

you seemed almost scared when you opened the door, your engagement ring was on your left hand, you looked very pale and nervous when he explained that he was coming for some papers that your husband was going to give him.

Coming back to reality, you let him go get the documents he wanted, you left him alone for a few minutes while you went to your husband's office and he, curious, checked a couple of photos that were on the wall.

part of him wishes he hadn't, thought maybe you were recently married, UNTIL he saw pictures of your wedding, where you were CLEARLY a kid, not much older than 13.

For someone who was in the war, it was quite disturbing for Roy to see a girl (not to mention an INFANT) marry an obvious adult.

when you came back with the papers he turned around almost immediately and thanked you for your help, when he left he was left with a knot in his stomach the size of a drachma.

the next day at work he wanted to strike up a conversation with your husband. He told him that he met you and went from being quite indifferent to accommodating.

He said things like:

"your wife is VERY young"

"How long have you been married?"

"you never talked about her"

and the BASTARD answered him as if it were some kind of game, he told him that he had made a deal with your parents to marry you in exchange for a monthly payment, as it was much worse before you married him and that you were more like " a daughter" for him.

The most fake SHIT you've ever heard.

Due to work issues, he had to ask permission for certain things, so going to your house (because your husband doesn't understand what it means to "have responsibilities with someone") and talk to you became something common.

Obviously, you were skeptical, but knowing your husband, it made sense that he would stand him up 10 times out of 10, so you would do the same thing, let him into the hallway, go get the papers, talk for a while, and he would walk away.

what you definitely didn't expect is that, um, you'll start to enjoy his company, and vice versa.

At some point it also became common to have a drink together and talk in a more general way, it was VERY nice to be with someone other than your husband as they had no servants and the only thing that really entertained you was just taking care of the house .

It was nice to have a friend after years of cold-blooded treatment, but you hardly ever discussed your life with your husband, which set off alarm bells in Mustang's head.

your nervous demeanor at first, your already disturbing/strange marriage, your husband's attitude coupled with the fact that you always, ALWAYS dodge the subject, made him fill in the loose ends pretty quickly.

and he's ANGRY

How could someone force a CHILD to marry an adult DECADES OLDER, isolate them and not give them another option?

if he didn't like your husband before, well now he's disgusted

At this point he cares a lot about you, but most likely he will let you decide whether to leave your husband, he will not force you to do anything. he just wants you to be safe (and away from that man).

luckily being treated humanely after so long made you realize how REALLY BAD the situation was. so you decide to just leave the house, no confrontation, no fights, just leave the ring on the nightstand, grab a couple of clothes and money and walk away. As much as you have taken a lot of courage to do it, you do not have enough strength to go face to face with your husband (a good decision).

First of all, you look for a taxi and you go to a hotel that the taxi driver recommends, you have barely traveled the city the time you live in it, so you do not have much to guide you beyond the vegetable stand on the corner of your House.

already feeling safe in the place, you call Roy and explain what you did, he takes a second to process what you said for a whole minute, you think it's over until suddenly (and very loudly) he congratulates you on Making such a decision tells you that your husband is still at work and will probably be up all night (thanks, ed) and that when he gets out he might come by.

honestly, you were crying at that moment, you realize that you REALLY did it, you managed to leave, you escaped, even if you practically have nothing, it's better than being in your "home".

Roy misunderstands and thinks HE made you cry until you tell him no, you're just so euphoric, you can't wait to start over.

your relationship with Roy doesn't change much even when they're an official couple, yes, obviously he's more open and affectionate, but considering your previous """relationship""" he's very respectful.

in the hypothetical case that you would have had a child with your husband... haha. That man better run, Roy would roast him alive.

It does not mean that he will be bad with your son! On the contrary, if this child lived under the same roof as you, then he lived through the same things and deserves the same respect.

It is most likely that said son was very defensive at the beginning of your relationship, Roy was very patient about it, that is, this boy did not know what it was like to have a real father, the only thing he had from his "daddy" was see how he treated you and THANK GOD he realized how bad that was.

With time he gets used to it, he doesn't call him dad as such, but he has come to draw pictures of him, holds his hand when they are in the street and in general is much more respectful with him than with other men

just let him know that with Roy he will be Safe and he will accept (or try) him as a new "male figure in your life and his".

Apart from that, the boy is (as Roy thought, unfortunately) much more mature than most children his age, so you can talk to him without any problem, they end up being something like friends or, rather, your son would see him as an older brother figure that he needed.

For the same reason, don't be surprised when he helps him get away with it, whether it's giving him his dessert before dinner or defending him from a scolding.

movie nights, whoever looks away has to carry the child when he falls asleep.

In general, if you had a son, Roy would be much more careful with you in the sense that if you don't want to have something with someone (or him) now that you are free from your husband, he understands perfectly! Even if you are interested in someone who is not him, he also supports you, you deserve to be happy after all *Satisfied plays in the background*

From time to time you go to visit him at work, either simply to chat, discuss what's for dinner, let off steam, etc..

Do you remember that chapter where he gives Oliver flowers? He would probably do something similar to you, but he won't say the meaning just to leave you wondering (you end up learning a lot about chrysanthemums).

You better expect a lot of flirt lines, but pretty soft compared to the ones he does on the show.

Given that your education was interrupted by your involuntary marriage, if you ask him in his spare time to teach you a thing or two (e.g. math, history or politics in general to be on the sidelines) he will gladly teach it to you, you quickly absorb the new knowledge, so it is not complete at all.

since you hardly left home before you got divorced, Roy has the habit of having his dates in different places in Amestris, that way he shows you more of the city and they have a good time.

even so you discover more things you like!

Already in the events of the anime, you meet several of Roy's friends (Riza stands out, who became something like your first female friend in years and Huges, your friend to show photos of their children if you have yours) and in They generally respect you in more ways than one (your husband was hated by almost the entire barracks, so what happened between you resonated for quite some time).

you even meet Ed and Al! if you tell us about the version of you that has a son, at first you asked Ed if he would like to talk to your son for a while (you thought they were the same age).

You said it so innocently and without malice that Ed wasn't even mad at you, but he did get frustrated.

Roy from time to time talks to you about them (if you have your son he probably asks you for a couple of tips to tame children as a joke) and in a certain way it gives you tenderness as he seems to talk about them as if they were his children (already saying something good or bad, sometimes if they are the parents).

no matter how much you point it out to him, he always denies it.

The first time I took you to see Madame Christmas (Aka, Roy's aunt) you were super nervous about how things looked (the hp didn't clarify anything) but all those nerves disappeared when, when you arrived and saw everything, you put together the pieces of the puzzle (Madame gave him a little speech about how you don't scare such a pretty young lady).

for what happened in "the promised day" you go with Madame and her girls to Xing. And even if you think-know that everything will work out, you end up praying all the way with Madame for everyone's safety.

and when they return to Amestris, you give a full run to the hospital where Roy is and you hug him with all your might when you see that he is alive (you are not very strong, but since Roy was pure it was as if a bear hugged him, even so he was happy to see you safe too).

(The above is when he already recovers his sight, but when you find out that he was blind for a short time you get SO scared).

(Fortunately everything works out :D).

when it's all over, wait for the last name to change from "(Last Name)" to "Mustang"

____

Uff, this end up being much longer than i spected, but i will split this in 3 Parts, the next: Riza Hawkeye

#fullmetal alchimist brotherhood #fullmetal alchemist #roy mustang #fem reader #tw ab*se #flufftober2022 #riza hawkeye #ling yao #tw age gap

23 notes · View notes

worryinglyinnocent · 3 years ago

Text

Fic: Practical Alchemy (3/11)

Summary: "Everyone knows that the Hawkeye name is cursed. There are always two girls to a generation and they have to keep the family name in order to inherit. They'll fall in love with alchemists, and those alchemists are doomed to die. We thought Aunt Trisha had broken the curse - she changed her name, and she had boys not girls - but it just rebounded on her. That's why I dread falling in love."

Riza Hawkeye lives a quiet life - running her late aunt's herbal dispensary and helping her Uncle Hoho bring up her young cousins, having vowed never to fall in love herself. A call from her estranged sister Rebecca turns her life upside down - especially when a certain State Alchemist named Roy Mustang enters the scene on the sisters' tail.

A Practical Magic AU.

Rated: T

[One] [Two] [AO3]

Three

Dear Riza,

I’ve decided that there’s nowhere quite like Central City. I know we both got used to the small village life in Resembool, but even thinking back to when we lived in Eastern with Mom and Dad, it was nothing like Central. Everything moves about six times as fast as in Resembool. There are so many people, so many strangers, and so much exotic stuff that I’ve never experienced before. I want to do all of it at once. It’s a far cry from the village where everyone knows everyone else and you can say hello to anyone on the street. The people here are in a league of their own, and even though it can feel brusque and unfriendly at times, I love it here, and I would never want to be anywhere else. Well, that’s a lie, there are so many other places that I want to go to, and will go to.

I’ve found myself a job at a bar in the city. I’m not quite sure how salubrious it is, being named ‘Madam Christmas’s’, but the rest of the girls here are all very friendly and have promised to show me the ropes of life in the city. I think they’re all quite protective of me as the little country bumpkin on her first foray out into the big wide world. Maybe in another life I’d be annoyed at being patronised, but as much as I love life here, it can be scary at times, and I’m grateful for their help. They’re like substitute big sisters whilst you’re still in Resembool, but none of them will ever be able to compare to you.

And Riza… The men. Obviously the dating opportunities in Resembool are somewhat limited considering that everyone knows everyone else and I’ve dated pretty much the entire pool of available guys there, but there are so many men here. Excuse me whilst I preen a little at all the attention I’ve received from being the new girl. All right, all right, I won’t let it go to my head. At the rate at which people come to Central, I’ll only be the new girl for a couple of weeks before someone else will arrive and I’ll be an old hand. Let me enjoy my status whilst I can.

I miss you like crazy, but I think you already knew that, and even though there’s so much noise and so much drama here, I still feel like this is where I’m supposed to be.

Give my love to everyone.

Love, Becca

Dear Becca

I’m glad to hear that you’ve fallen on your feet so well. Make the most of every moment of it. You were always the one destined for adventure out of the two of us, I think. I know that I would never be able to do what you’re doing out there. You’ve always been so fearless when it comes to new things and new experiences, and I don’t know where you get your bravery from. It’s something that I’ve always admired in you. I’m so happy that you’re happy out there and you’re having a good time and you’re making a bunch of friends. I’m sure that you’ll find the right man out of your many admirers. Just stay safe, ok?

I’m going on an adventure of my own soon. Well, sort of. One of Uncle Van’s friends from when he was travelling, before he met Aunt Trisha, has got back in touch and invited him to go and stay with her and her husband in Dublith in the south. When she found out about Ed, Al and me, she invited all of us as well. I don’t think that they have children of their own, so we’ll have to see how it goes. It’s weird, it’s the first time I’ve left Resembool since we first got here, and even though I’ll be with everyone else, it’s still kind of a scary thought. Like you said, we’ve got used to small village life and I’m comfortable in it.

I’m not sure what’s going to happen when we get there. As Mrs Curtis is an independent alchemist like Uncle Van, I can foresee a long weekend of in-depth alchemy discussions, but I’m learning to appreciate the mechanics and chemistry of it all even if I don’t have any skill in it myself. Maybe her husband’s into gardening and we can share botanical tips whilst everyone else geeks out over transmutation circles and the latest state research coming out of Central. Speaking of, Ed has asked me to ask you if you’ve met any state alchemists, and if you have, to get a photo of their pocket watch. I swear that’s what he said, it’s not a euphemism.

We all miss you and send our love. Take care of yourself.

Love, Riza.

Dear Riza,

I’ve met more alchemists, both state and not, than you can shake a stick at. If Uncle Van wasn’t as averse to leaving Resembool as you are, then I reckon he’d love it here, it’s an alchemist’s paradise. Central Library has an entire wing devoted to alchemy of all kinds. Seriously, if you and the family ever wanted to come and visit, we would have to send out a search party for Van, Ed and Al, we would lose them in there quite happily for about three weeks.

I know you’re probably not interested in hearing about my dating life, goodness knows you’ve never been interested in dating yourself, aside from that one guy who popped in for travel sickness remedies about five years ago, but I’m going to tell you all about it anyway. I’m dating… quite a lot of people at the moment. I mean, it’s not like I’m going behind their backs about it, they all know that we’re not exclusive in that sense. I’m just keeping my options open before I settle down with a boyfriend, you know? If you’re going to make a commitment for any length of time then these things shouldn’t be done lightly, even if we’re not talking about marriage or anything just yet. Honestly, I can’t really see myself getting married at all. There are too many good prospects here in Central for me to be happy with just one of them. At any rate, there are five possible suitors at the moment, and I’m having fun juggling all of them, but one of them did just offer to take me to the North with him to see Briggs mountain and possibly spend the New Year in Drachma, apparently they really do New Year properly over there, with a lot of good vodka and good food.

We never really had vodka back home, it was all about Good Resembool Ale, and Aunt Trisha’s elderberry gin. Well, I guess it’s your elderberry gin now, but the name sticks, doesn’t it? We’ll still be referring to Trisha Elric’s elderberry gin for years to come, I think. On one hand, I’m glad her memory is still being kept up like that, but on the other, I think you deserve some credit for all the work you put into making it.

Anyway, back to possible trips to Drachma. Anyone who offers to take me to far-off exotic places is inching out the others in my book, so I might commit to this one for a while. Well, until after the New Year, then we’ll see how it goes.

Thinking about dating, though… I do worry about you sometimes, getting lonely out there. I mean, I know you’ve got the family and I know you’re friends with all the people who come into the shop, but don’t you want to have someone special in your life? I sometimes think that you’ve taken on Aunt Trisha’s role as the family caretaker, and I do wonder how much of that I pushed onto you, making you promise to take care of them all whilst I’m away. I know you’ll do that anyway, but remember that you’re a bright young woman with so much potential, Riza. You’re a niece and a cousin, not a mother. Aunt Trisha said it so many times, please don’t forget it now that she’s not here and you’re stepping into her shoes in so many other ways - you need to be selfish and put your own life first sometimes. You’ve lost so much in your life, you don’t need to give up on your own hopes and dreams to fill the gaps left by other people’s losses.

I have to go, I have to get to the bar to start work - bet you never thought that your scatty sister who would drop everything remotely breakable in the shop would be able to hold down a job that involves so much glass!

Take care of yourself, and give my love to everyone.

Love, Becca

Dear Becca,

Honestly, there’s no need to worry about me. For all we joke about all of them needing someone to save them from alchemical what-nots, they don’t need a constant caretaker. Uncle Van’s absent-minded at the best of times but he is still the parent in the family, even if he occasionally needs reminders to get out of his study. I’ve taken over Aunt Trisha’s role in the shop and the greenhouse, but then, I think we all knew that I was meant to, it’s where my love has always been. I’ve always enjoyed doing it, helping out at the shop was never a chore, it was a vocation for me.

As for dating… As you said it yourself, the opportunities in Resembool are somewhat limited. I think it would feel weird to date someone who you went to school with. I know you did it all the time, but that was different because you were still at school with them at the time. For me, looking at someone who you knew as a kid who’s now an adult, it’s just strange. I remember when Matthew James asked me to be his girlfriend at the tender age of twelve. He’s grown up into a strapping great fireman and has half the girls in the village after him, but to me he’s still the gangly twelve-year-old. (Speaking of love being in the air though, I think that Ed is developing a definite soft spot for Winry Rockbell next door. You’d never think it from the amount they argue and the amount he complains about her, but for every complaint, there’s a compliment in there too, and he’s always the first one to jump to her defence at any perceived slight coming from anyone other than him.)

Maybe if a knight in shining armour were to come and sweep me off my feet… But even then, I don’t know that I would be all that impressed. I’m happy how I am, I’m comfortable in this life, and honestly, ever since Mom and Dad, ever since what happened to Aunt Trisha… I suppose I’m scared of falling in love. I just think that life would be a lot easier, and a lot longer, and a lot less sad and full of heartbreak if I stay single. I weigh up the happiness of having a partner and a helpmeet against the constant worry that something will go wrong.

I suppose the question that remains is whether any of your admirers are alchemists. If there’s that many of them in Central City then surely you must have a few hanging around the bar waiting for a chance, although not if you take off to Drachma for New Year. Becca, you do realise just how cold it is in the North during winter? You hate the cold, you wouldn’t last five minutes in Drachma.

Whatever happens, I hope you have a fantastic time.

Everyone sends their love.

Love, Riza.

Dear Riza,

I’m sorry I haven’t written for so long. I’ve been here, there and everywhere, travelling around with one person after another. Made it to the Drachman border but couldn’t cross due to increased tensions around the Briggs Fortress, so we holed up in Northern City and rang in the New Year in style. Then back to Central for a while, then across to the West, visiting so many different places on the way. I’m back in Central again now, and I’ve just caught up on all the letters from you that were waiting for me. Thanks for telling me all the news from home, and don’t ever think that you’re boring me. I know that our lives are very different now, but that doesn’t mean that I think yours is any less than mine. We’ve just ended up going in opposite directions. I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing. We were so close for so long, I think it’s natural that we were going to drift apart at some stage. These things just happen. I’m glad you had a good time with the Curtises over Christmas. Honestly, I’m just glad that Uncle Van has some friends outside the house, I think he was in danger of becoming a hermit.

I don’t suppose that there’s anything on the horizon for you on the romance aspect? I know that you say it’s not important to you, but I can’t help hoping. Of both of us, you’re the most likely to settle down to a traditional romance and I kind of like the idea of some adorable little nieces.

Or nephews. I suppose Ed and Al are proof that our bloodline can produce boys when it comes down to it. I think that was always one of the reasons why I believed in the curse so strongly - looking back as far as you could on the family tree, we were always girls. Makes me wonder if the boys were just pruned out of the tree in order to keep the legend going.

There are still alchemists a-plenty out here, some of whom I’ve gone with, some of whom I haven’t. Do you remember when we were discussing way back, wondering what kind of alchemists we’d end up falling in love with? I was so young and silly back then, but there’s a part of me that still wonders. Not right now though - there’s a guy claiming to be the crown prince of Xing who’s been hanging around the bar for a while. Maybe I can get to Xing without the need for a hot air balloon after all, but I highly doubt he’d be able to get me into the Imperial Palace, especially not when he tries to cadge his drinks for free every night.

Take care of yourself and give my love to everyone.

Love, Becca

Dear Becca,

I can’t believe that it’s nearly two years since you’ve gone. You say that the time has flown by, but for me it feels like forever. Things are much the same here as they’ve always been. Nothing ever changes in Resembool, but I don’t mind that fact. Actually, I find it comforting, the knowledge that no matter what else might change in the world, Resembool will always still be here for us and will welcome us home with open arms.

I always said I would never pressure you to come home, but nearly two years without seeing you is a long time, and I’d really like to see your face again. There’s a part of me considering just getting on a train to Central and surprising you, but you know me. I’ve never been all that good with spontaneity, and I think Central would terrify me from your descriptions of it. I have enough trouble getting to grips with Dublith and that’s just a medium-sized town. Still, as long as you’re safe and happy and still following that dream of yours, I’m happy to know that. Did you ever make it to Xing with the supposed crown prince? If you do, bring me back a souvenir. And if you are leaving the country with a mysterious man, please let me know in advance so that I can send a search party if you don’t come back. I know, I know, I sound like a worrying maiden aunt. Still a maiden and not yet an aunt, unless there’s something you haven’t told me. Don’t get me wrong, I love hearing all your tales of adventure, the entire family does. I just don’t want you to get hurt. Years ago I made a promise that I would always be there for you and I would never let anything happen to you. I can’t break that now, even when you’re on the other side of the country, or maybe in a different one altogether.

Izumi and Sig came to stay for the equinox bonfire. I have never seen Uncle Van quite so blackout plastered, Sig had to carry him home in a fireman’s lift but a very merry time was had by all and Ed and Al took great delight in making his hangover even worse in the morning. It’s probably a good thing that you didn’t get to Drachma and send home some vodka, I dread to think what would have happened.

Stay safe and keep in touch. Everyone sends their love, including Izumi and Sig who really do want to meet you.

Love, Riza.

Dear Riza,

Hold the phones and stop the presses, I have done it. I have found the one. Remember how I said, years and years ago, that I hoped I’d fall in love with an alchemist who could create fireworks? Obviously I was only nine at the time and I didn’t really believe in such things, and Uncle Van always warned that any kind of alchemy to do with fire and explosives was inherently dangerous, but…

I’ve found an alchemist who can create fireworks from anything, and I’ve never seen alchemy so beautiful. I mean, Uncle Van’s and Ed and Al’s was always mesmerising, but this is something else.

Riza, I’m in love. Really, truly, deeply, madly in love. I know I’ve said ‘I’m in love’ so many times before that it’s lost all meaning, but I really mean it this time. This isn’t just a passing fancy like so many of the others have been - well, all of the others, really. This is it, I just know it. And the reason I know that this is it, is that even though there’s a voice in the back of my head that keeps warning me about the Hawkeye curse and reminding me what happened to all our relatives, the rest of me just doesn’t care. It’s that deep kind of intoxicating love where nothing else matters except each other. I’m not whimsical enough to believe in the notion of true love breaking curses and all that, that’s just for fairy tales. But when you’re feeling the way I feel right now, I swear that everything can be conquered. Nothing can bring me down.

I think you’d like him, Riza. He walked into the bar and everyone noticed him. You can’t not notice him, he just draws your eye like a moth to a flame, dressed all in spotless white in a fine cut suit that fits perfectly, and these bright blue eyes that just pierce into your soul. It feels like he’s mentally undressing you every time he looks at you and it’s wonderful.

His name is Kimblee. Solf J. Kimblee. I still don’t know what the J stands for, or if it doesn’t stand for anything and he just added it in to add an extra level of mystery. Either way, I don’t care. Oh Riza, I hope that you get to feel this same kind of happiness that I’m feeling right now some day. You won’t regret it, I promise. No matter what happens, I don’t think that I could ever regret this moment right now. I love him so much. I’m sure that this is it.

All my love to everyone,

Becca

Dear Becca

I’m so glad to hear from you, I was beginning to think you’d made it to Xing and decided to stay after all. I’m happy that you’ve found the one. Will I get to meet and vet him as a potential sister in law? I’m joking. (Mostly. I mean, I’ve never met any of your serious boyfriends; I have to intimidate at least one of them, because face it, Uncle Van is the least intimidating person ever.) He certainly sounds like a regular Prince Charming. Send a photo next time! You can’t titillate us with all these tidbits and then not back any of it up with evidence! Ed and Al aren’t going to believe that this man exists until they see proper proof in front of their eyes.

Uncle Van made me promise to remind you that explosive alchemy is dangerous and to please take care when he starts throwing it about - his words, not mine, get your mind out of the gutter.

Take care of yourself, and enjoy every minute of it.

Love, Riza.

Dear Becca,

I just thought I’d drop you a line as it’s been a while since I heard from you. I hope that this is still the right address for you. I wouldn’t put it past you to forget to tell me that you’d moved. Everything is still much the same here in Resembool, for all you might say that nothing happens here, I think you’d be glad to see everything exactly where you left it if you come back. You’d only complain at the changes if everything was different. The shop is still going from strength to strength, and I’ve pretty much taken it over completely now; Uncle Van’s retreated to his study to try and finish his book on Ancient Xerxian alchemy (Ed jokes that he’s so old he probably remembers Ancient Xerxes first hand, something Uncle Van is very put out about). In other news, Ed had grand plans to try and become the youngest state-certified alchemist in history until Uncle Van put a stop to that by pointing out he would need parental permission to take the entry exam, and he was absolutely not getting it, nor is Ed’s handwriting good enough to forge the signature. I don’t understand how his geometry can be so perfect and his handwriting so atrocious. Even Al agrees with me on that one. I suppose it’s Izumi we have to thank for the perfect geometry; when we stayed with them last summer she had Ed and Al drawing perfect circles with no tools other than a pencil. It kept them quiet for the entire week we were in Dublith, so she and I got in a whole bunch of shopping trips. Funny, a year ago I didn’t think I’d be up for days out, but now I can definitely say that I’m loosening up a bit, as you would put it.

I hope everything’s well with you, and that your adventures are continuing. Give us a call when you can; we’d all love to hear your voice again.

Love, Riza.

Dear Becca,

It’s been a while, so I’m just checking in again. I’m sure that you’re just busy in the throes of new love and I’d never want you to feel obligated to keep checking up on us, but I just want to make sure that you’re ok and everything’s still as wonderful as it was in your last letter. Things are much the same as usual here. We’re all still plodding along in the same way as before - Uncle Van has finally finished the book and is now in the editing stage, which is probably going to take another couple of decades.

We miss you, Becca. Please let me know where you are so I can come and visit. I know I said before that I probably would find it terrifying in Central, and I’m not saying that I won’t, but right now I think the need to see you wins out over everything else. I miss you so much. When you went away it almost felt like I was giving up my left arm, and whilst that feeling went away at first, knowing that you were so happy and living your best life out there in the world, now it’s come back, stronger than ever.

Please let me know you’re ok. I worry about you, we all do. Even if it’s just a note to say that you’re still your fabulous self and everything is good. I just want to hear your voice again, even if it’s only on paper.

All my love, Riza.

Dear Becca,

Please call or write, Becca. It’s been so many months now and I’m really worried about you. You can tell me I’m worried over nothing, you can be mad at me for getting so worked up, but please, please get in touch. Please.

All my love, Riza.

#FMA: Brotherhood #FMA fanfiction #Riza Hawkeye #Rebecca Catalina #Fic: Practical Alchemy

10 notes · View notes

haleigh-sloth · 4 years ago

Note

I'm new to manga and while I'm proficient at analysing other forms of literature, I'm finding it difficult to analyse manga, probably because of the artistic component. Do you have any advice on what to focus on when reading manga in order to analyse it well? If this question is too vague, you can disregard it, I am only asking because I find your analyses to be excellent.

Omg 🥺 It’s not vague! It seems like we’re opposites. I’m not well versed in literature, or writing in general, but I am an artist--which is why I love manga. I’ve been reading manga since I was 11 and I’m 24 now (I’m a nerd), so I’ve gotten pretty decent at knowing which panels the mangaka wants us to pay attention to! I’ll give some of the best examples I can think of off the top of my head.

So obviously you know by now that manga is all black and white. We do get some colored sheets every now and then that also have meaning (I’ll link to that post later), and I love when the authors give us those, but for the most part it’s all black and white. If you’re going to try to grasp the tones and meanings behind certain scenes in manga, the BEST advice I can give you is to pay extra attention to the shading more than anything else. Let me use the best examples I can think of when it comes to shading.

So look at Hawks here. Hawks is a hero, yes? A good guy, right?

Well...does he look like a good guy here? I’d say no. This use of shading was absolutely deliberate on Horikoshi’s part. I think we can all agree this was a really dark moment for Hawks (no pun intended). He stooped to a level nobody ever wanted him to, a level Hawks himself never wanted to. This scene being drawn this way tells us that we as readers are NOT supposed to approve of Hawks’s actions here. And NOW, because of the way this scene was drawn for us, all we are left to assume is that something bad is coming for Hawks. Basically, the consequences of his actions have not hit him yet. So even though we haven’t seen those consequences yet (it’s really frustrating waiting ngl), we know that we can expect there to be something dark in Hawks’s future. Many other meta bloggers predict his death, him dying heroically in order to make up for killing Twice. And man, that is very much possible, however I’m still waiting to see what more develops in Hawks’s arc before I make that prediction. Hori hasn’t given me any reason to believe that he’d actually kill off an important hero for the sake of the writing...yet.

Another example, and probably my favorite panel of Shigaraki so far because it’s gorgeously drawn (and sad as hell):

This panel is supposed to make you feel his despair. He’s surrounded by a black, static background, his figure is drawn with an insane amount of detail. You can tell just by looking at it that Horikoshi put a significant amount of effort into this one panel compared the ones that came right before it:

This is same scene, same chapter as the panel above, but the background and shading is totally different. I’m only showing this panel here to point out how important the panel above it is in comparison. One is a panel that is simply moving the chapter forward, the other is meant to stop you for a moment and make you react to it. Horikoshi made sympathetic villains, and that panel of Shigaraki practically begging people to understand was meant to evoke that sympathy from the readers to prepare them for his redemption.

There are probably a million examples from BNHA I could use to show you the importance of shading but I’m going to move over to one of my all time favorites: FMA

So this lovely fellow below, Roy Mustang, is a protagonist in Fullmetal Alchemist. Fullmetal Alchemist is a series with similar values to BNHA. It acknowledges the value of the human life. It acknowledges that once someone is dead, you can’t bring them back. It acknowledges that murder is wrong, no matter the reason.

Also, similar to how BNHA punishes the villains for their quest for revenge over and over again, FMA also portrays to readers the dangers of following the paths of revenge. There are two characters in FMA that show us that danger, one of which is Roy.

This is a big moment for Roy because he just discovered the person responsible for his best friend’s death. And now he’s out for blood. But this panel above tells you that this is a BAD IDEA. Shrouding him in darkness, not showing his entire face, hiding him in the shadows--it tells you that he’s on a dark path now.

Look here, this is kind of similar to how Hawks was portrayed above. Roy is standing over someone who he clearly has power over, someone he is about to kill out of revenge. Envy is a major antagonist in FMA right until his death, but simply because of the way Roy is drawn here, devoid of human emotion because again, you can’t see his face, Envy is almost sympathetic when he finally does die. (BTW, he does not die at Roy’s hand). Roy is a protagonist in this series, but here he’s drawn looking incredibly evil and scary--for a reason. You’re not supposed to approve of his actions. Roy set out for revenge and his narrative consequences came not too long after this chapter. So basically, just like with any other story:

character does something we know is supposed to be bad-----> something bad happens to character as a result

I’ll give one more example from a story that is not similar to BNHA or FMA in the slightest, but still uses that dark shroud in the same manner.

Say hi to Shigure from Fruits Basket. Shigure is kind of...an anti hero? He’s a real asshole. Now Fruits Basket is shojo and the stakes aren’t near as high or dramatic as BNHA so the tone is a bit different. But even with one panel here of this guy’s face, you get that dark, cynical vibe from him. And well, he is dark and cynical. If you read the story from the beginning up until here you can tell that he’s a shady dude (no pun intended again I’m so sorry), and low and behold he is one of the more questionable characters in this series. But this one darkly shaded panel is the introduction to that dark side of him as a character.

Basically in manga shading is tell all for how you’re supposed to interpret a situation. But aside from shading, the SIZE of the panels are also important. Those Hawks panels above took up entire pages. That Shigaraki panel took up an entire page. Those panels of Roy took up an entire page. Obviously the author wants you to pay attention to the story those panels are trying to tell. The words of the characters matter too, but sometimes you have characters whose words you can’t take at face value (*cough cough* Dabi *cough*) so you sometimes have to go off of the artwork alone.

Aside from the manga itself, mangakas also release colored prints along with their series. A lot of times these prints don’t have much to do with the events within the story, but sometimes they do. And I talked here about how Horikoshi really correlated all of his art of Shigaraki with the current place in his arc, and about how now that Shigaraki’s redemption is underway, he’s drawing Shigaraki in such a way that shows him growing closer to his hero counterpart who is currently on his way to save him, and also just portraying him in a less villainous manner than before. This isn’t always the case though. But Horikoshi did it and when that last color spread came out I got so excited I kind of just rambled with excitement lol.

SO I know it wasn’t much to go on but I really hope this helps you a bit more and what you were looking for! Shading is the most important since it’s all black and white, and then panel size is important too.

I hope you read more manga and join us in this hell! Lol

#manga analysis #art analysis #bnha #fma #fruits basket #boku no hero academia #Fullmetal Alchemist #fmab #fma manga #fullmetal alchemist brotherhood #furuba #fruits basket manga #shigure sohma #shigaraki tomura #bnha hox #art #anonymous

22 notes · View notes

tundrainafrica · 4 years ago

Note

i hate it when people see hange only as some funny character/comic relief or when they make her play third wheel for some reason :( i don’t know why... like, hange is so much more than that? it’s just so depressing that han is the one being thrown under the bus

Do you mean Hange playing third wheel to Erwin and Levi? Or just Hange being constantly underappreciated by everyone?I get what you mean. Because I completely agree with this. I think I mentioned already in a previous ask that most of the Levihan fans are usually major Hange stans (me included) and the reason for Hange being underappreciated? She’s a different type of genius ( a more subtle one) compared to Erwin and Armin and I discussed it here.

I think it has been implied already long ago that everyone has to have at least one screw loose to decide to join the survey corps. And even when the main cast was first introduced to the survey corps, the main people: Mike, Hange, Levi and Erwin were shown with at least one screw loose. Mike with his sniffing, Levi with his cleaning, Erwin with his gambling life shtick and Hange with her titans.

The first three were just generally overlooked because the three men were generally quiet people and the things they were obsessed with are conventionally cool things like war and strategy. War and strategy are the epitome of cool and put together in the army. We can also consider Roy Mustang from FMA who was a total weirdo but we found him cool anyway cause he was a colonel and he had his really flashy fire alchemy abilities.

A lot of people just didn’t take Hange seriously because for one, just like everyone else she is a total weirdo. But what contributions does she make to the survey corps? I have already mentioned it in the logistics and plan execution ask linked above, Hange’s genius and contributions to the survey corps were incredibly subtle and incredibly boring that Yams glossed through most of it.

To actually get an idea of the type of work Hange stressed herself over, the audience has to understand the work the survey corps work did outside fighting and getting eaten by titans. When they were out doing expeditions pre canon, they were setting up bases and building supply lines en route to Wall Maria. In fact even before the fall of Wall Maria, the whole point of the survey corps was trying to build bases outside of the walls to leave supplies so they can journey further and further without worrying over supply depletion or just overall fatigue.

That was what Hange stressed out over. Generally, she was the one behind the scenes who made sure that soldiers had gas and blades to refill but really, what casual watcher would consider these types of things? More often than not, in our first watch through of AOT, we probably were too focused on battles anyway to wonder where the hell they resupply. I mean have we actually ever seen someone explicitly resupply their gases?

And here is another thing which made Hange such a comic relief character, she is generally more open, approachable, she wears her heart on her sleeve and she is always more than willing to share what she knows to people. And even when she became a little more subdued as captain, she was still very much open with her subordinates which generally proves that that’s just generally Hange’s personality over all. I did an ask on this just recently on how Hange’s leadership differs from Erwin’s and because of this her general personality makes it hard for certain types of people to take her seriously as a commander. You can read it here.

Just try to imagine Mike, Erwin or Levi with a more extroverted personality or a little more excitable person, you’ll start to realize they’re complete weirdos too. To be honest, the more I actually write Levi, the more I realize that Levi might actually be crazier and more emotional than Hange, the only reason why the comic relief ends up on Hange is because for one, we don’t get a lot of messes to piss off Levi and Levi is just constantly shown fighting and beating up the OP titan shifters in seconds and I guess we can overlook a little crazy because of that?

More importantly, since the story introduced the survey corps, it has been titan discovery after titan discovery and who gets a good kick from titans? Hange. But believe me if we got ‘truth’ stuff or ‘cleaning’ stuff a little earlier we might even have seen Erwin and Levi go a little more crazy than what was shown about them in canon.

Maybe if we had cleaning item discoveries in succession, maybe we would have seen Levi a little more cuckoo crazy than Hange. Maybe if we got more discoveries on smells, we could have seen a crazier Mike. And let’s be honest, we saw the crazy in Erwin already when Hange gave the report on Ragako.

Tbh though, Hange is hands down my favorite character with Levi a close second. I honestly get off more from seeing Hange fight and be a leader more than I do from Levi. She wasn’t given as much of a spotlight than I wish she was but the fact that Armin, Mikasa and Eren were introduced as the main characters, not Levi and Hange, makes it understandable.

If Yams, actually decided to put EMA under the bus, it wouldn’t have made any sense storyline wise and it would have generally been a thematic error. Armin, Mikasa and Eren were built for greatness and by extension Falco and Gabi. As painful as it is to admit, Hange and Levi were destined to be put under the bus, the narrative and their role having finished early on already.

I can personally only be grateful that Yams added so much depth into their character which can be played with in a fandom setting. And I find myself just getting over the depression of watching my favorite characters treated like that in canon and in fanon (by the antis on twitter :))))) ) by just writing and reading fanfiction and you know, -deciding to name my child after Hange one day-

Thanks for reading!

#hange zoe #meta #hanji zoe

45 notes · View notes

fullmetalscullyy · 4 years ago

Text

day 24 - christmas eve

24 days - 24 oneshots | a collection of christmas themed oneshots to celebrate royai | prompt list can be found here

read on ao3

rated: g | words: 1214

Quiet music filled her apartment, not from the radio, but from Roy’s gentle humming. It was no tune Riza recognised, just a culmination of different notes that rise and fell with his breath. Every so often the tune would break, and he’d press a kiss to her forehead before resuming once more as if nothing were amiss. He acted as if it were the most natural action in the world and it made Riza melt inside every time.

The fire roared on the wall to her left, giving the occasional crackle and pop. Hayate was snoozing in front of it on the rug, perfectly content, which Riza felt she could relate to.

Despite the warmth the flames provided, nothing made her feel warmer and more at peace than the person whose arms were around her.

Although she’d expected nothing from anyone this year for Christmas, someone had given her the best thing of all. It had blown her expectations out of the water and made her happier than she could ever properly put into words.

Her head shifted so she could rest her cheek more comfortable against Roy’s shoulder. He said nothing but responded by pressing another kiss against her body, this time into her hair. His own cheek returned to resting atop her head as he held her close.

His arms were wrapped loosely around her waist, his hands clasped together on her lower back. Even though they weren’t restricting in their hold, there was still a comforting weight and pressure behind his touch. If Riza wanted to move away she could, but she knew that would never happen. Not when she was this warm and comfortable.

When Riza had told Rebecca she’d like peace and quiet for Christmas, this wasn’t exactly what she had in mind. This was completely unexpected however it was so much better than what she’d originally planned.

She’d didn’t know why she didn’t think or suspect that Roy may pull a stunt like the one he did. He was such a dork, but he was her dork. The fact he’d gone to the shops and bought a Santa suit, just so he could sneak over here and deliver his “presents” to her… He was incredible.

Along with his surprise presence, he’d bought her a pale pink skirt she’d wistfully eyed weeks ago but had never had the time to go back and buy. How he’d known about that, Riza didn’t know, but she suspected it was maybe Rebecca’s doing. As well as that, he’d given Hayate some treats and a new toy to play with.

Riza lifted her head from his shoulder. Roy immediately moved so Riza could, and tilted his head inquisitively, wondering if everything was all right. She nodded.

Her hands were removed from behind his back and she ran them lightly up his chest. There was a sharp intake of breath from Roy and it made her stomach flutter. Her hands stopped in their path though when she felt an abnormality underneath her palm. It was hard compared to his skin… But something was missing. She’d felt around his dog tags but found no accompanying piece of jewellery attached to it. Her stomach tensed.

Roy was well within his right not to wear it if he wanted to. That was their understanding, but a tiny part of her was immediately worried that there was a reason to do with its absence, and that reason was related to her.

He must have noticed her hesitation and the tensing of her body because he lifted his hand without a word. There, on his left ring finger, was the wedding ring she’d given him years prior.

“Never leave the house without it,” he murmured quietly, breaking the silence between them.

Relief relaxed her shoulders. She exhaled softly and nodded.

“Plus, it added to my disguise,” he winked, making her laugh quietly.

“Every day I feel that ring resting upon my heart and thank my lucky stars that we got to meet all those years ago.” His lips caressed the skin of her forehead, making her eyes flutter closed as she accepted his ministrations. “It brings me so much joy to have it there because they both belong to you.”

She glanced up at him. He was entirely sincere and reflected back in his eyes was the gratitude and love she felt for him too. It was a struggle for her to put it into the right words, but for him, she’d try. He deserved it.

“That ring on my dog tags has got me through some of the toughest times,” she whispered. “It reminds me of you and the commitment we made to one another. Both professionally and personally,” she added. “I love you so much. I never thought I would ever feel that way about someone. I never dreamed I’d be loved so much in return either, but like most things I’m entwined in with you, you blow my expectations out of the water.”

His smile was beatific before he angled his head to kiss her. His lips were soft against hers, both of them move together as their hearts pounded in tandem.

“I am undeserving of someone as perfect as you, Riza,” he murmured against her.

“Impossible,” she shook her head. “You’re perfect for me. You always know what I need.”

His kiss was fiercer this time, and Riza took that as “I feel the same way about you”.

“Thank you for coming here tonight.”

“Of course, Riza. You’re welcome. I wanted to.”

“It… It was certainly unexpected,” she chuckled.

“I like to be a wild card every now and then,” he grinned. A chaste kiss was pressed to her cheek as Riza bowed her head towards him. Her fingers increased their pressure on his chest because of his affection and she let out a happy sigh.

“You’re certainly something, Roy Mustang,” she countered.

“We’ll, you must like it because you married me.” He stuck his tongue out at her. “No take backs now. It’s been too long.”

“If I do, who gets the Santa suit in the divorce?”

He choked on his laughter and Riza giggled.

“I would give you the world if I could, Mrs. Mustang.” Riza was sure he got a kick out of her surprised reaction every time he called her that. “So, I suppose you could get the suit in the divorce.”

“It’ll be something to remember you by,” she snickered.

“About that,” he replied, wrapping her arms around her tightly. “I would like to think tonight is definitely one to remember. And if I hold you tight enough then you’ll never get to leave my side,” he added petulantly.

She shook her head. “You don’t need to worry about that.”

“Oh?” He asked his question after she didn’t elaborate further.

“I’m not going anywhere,” she answered. “You’re stuck with me.”

“Good,” he stressed. “I can live with that.”

Their playful banter died down, leaving them both content in each other’s arms.

Like Roy said, it was definitely a night to remember. It was certainly a Christmas to remember. She was blown away by the lengths Roy would go to for her and had been given so much more than she could ever have hoped for. He’d made her so happy.

#royai #royai fic #royai fanfic #royai advent calendar #emma writes

32 notes · View notes

lioncubofboone · 4 years ago

Text

The Dragon and the Gate of Truth (FMAB Secret Santa Piece)

Happy Holidays, @strawbebehmod !

I was your Secret Santa for @fmasecretsanta2020! I really hope you enjoy it and have a lovely new year! I heard you love AU’s and dragons, hope this is enjoyable.

Rating: General

Categories: Gen, Crossover—His Dark Materials series

Relationships: Edward Elric&Alphonse Elric, Edward Elric & Riza Hawkeye, Edward Elric & Folia (Daemon)

Additional Tags: angst, crossover, AU

T/W C/W Blood, loss of limbs

Word Count: 1280

A/N: Inspired by the Dark Materials series and @strawbebehmod ‘s Pet Dragon AU.

If you aren’t familiar with The Golden Compass, please read it! But, to make it easier, Daemons are a visible portion of someone’s soul, they are sentient with personalities and portray themselves as creatures. As children, Dameons can shift into any form they please. Once they reach maturity, they usually settle into one form. A Daemon’s bond with their human can be forcefully broken.

In a flash of light, Al was gone.

The blood was sticky and warm between Edward’s fingers. He wanted to cry, to retch, to run. But Al was gone, and he knew he had to open the gate again.

“Ed…” Folia’s voice was soft in his ear, and he almost didn’t hear her over the thunderous beat of his own heart.

“You know I have to,” he managed. His breath came in quick pants, why can’t he breathe? He heaved his weak body to the set of empty armor that had stood guard over their ritual, pulling it down into his arms. His hands shook so badly that he could barely remove the heavy helmet, and there was Folia, shifting her skin again to help him. His perfect little Daemon. She became a monkey, clambering up the armor to pull of the head and set it aside before retuning to her station at eds shoulder. He felt his hair ruffle as she shifted again, back to her preferred form, a little dragon, her scales the same wheat as his hair.

She’ll settle soon, he thought absently as he dipped his fingers in the ichor coating the floor and traced careful lines in the chest of the armor. I wonder if she’ll stay like this, little and warm.

All thoughts were lost as he clambered back to the lines inscribed on the floor and laid his palms along them. He felt Folia nuzzle his ear, in support, he thought. He heard her huff words he almost missed through the crackle of electricity as the circle activated.

“Edward… don’t forget our souls are one. And please… come back for me.”

The most excruciating pain he’d ever felt coursed through his body as the gate closed. But not from his limbs, as he’d expected, another gone to pay the toll. No, this pain came from his chest, extending through his body, lighting his nerves afire. When it finally subsided to a dull ache, he realized Folia wasn’t on his shoulder any longer. He didn’t have the energy to process this thought, only dully aware that the armor was standing and crying out to him in his little brother’s voice, eyes blurry as he watched Alphonse’s daemon tear scraps of fabric from his shirt to wrap around his legs. The pain coursed through him as the metal fingers probed his wound and tied it off, but the fire on his skin was a dull ache compared to the hot coals sitting in his chest, threatening to set him alight. He let his eyes slid closed. Al was home, all would be okay.

---

All would not be okay.

Each time Edward awoke over the next few days, it was to the sight of anxious faces hovering over him, dressing his wound and laying cold cloths against his forehead. Never to the warmth of Folia’s scales at the crook of his neck where she liked to lay, never to the comforting awareness of her that stayed on the edge of his mind. Only to terrifying emptiness, and the feeling of being alone.

On the third day, as his natural pain dampeners wore off, he awoke to the full pain of his severed leg. No longer able to sleep through the ache, and the fever that clouded his mind receding, a heavy fact settled into his mind: Folia knew, before he opened the gate. She knew she would be the toll. He couldn’t fathom how, but his little daemon had always had more of an aptitude for alchemy than even he had.

“She knew…” he croaked. “She knew, and she let me anyways.”

Cold, metal fingers found his hand and the tears that slipped from his eyes felt cool against his fevered skin. This would be the last time he cried, he vowed. So in the quiet dark of the room, with Al’s hand in his, he let himself mourn. For the pain he had caused his little brother and the flesh the gate and stolen from them, for the fear of unknown at where their lives turned next, and for the piece of his soul he’d left on the other side.

---

There is a hollowness to those that have lost their daemon, like the light-up eyes of a doll going dark. It’s not something most people notice right of the bat. First, they see a tired boy, walking on an auto mail leg. Second, they see a suit of armor trailing behind. Their eyes catch the Daemon perched atop the suit of armor and instinctively run their eyes over the shorter boy, searching. When they don’t find his daemon, it clicks, and their hearts pour over with pity.

The Elrics soon find they are violently allergic to pity. So, Alphonse begins tucking Daichi inside his armor, making it easier for the white lie to slip past Edward’s lips: “Our daemons are shy. They won’t come out around strangers.”

And that usually works.

But when a Colonel and his Lieutenant come marching into Resembool and up the steps of the Rockbell home, the duo that enters has a unique history that allows them to see through that lie. Mustang sees the dark shadows beneath Edward’s eyes, sees how he stares into space sometimes, how he instinctively reaches his hand to his left shoulder as if to grab something there, only to drop his hand and try and hide the pain flashing across his face. And Riza Hawkeye recognizes the pain.

It will be years before Riza will say the words aloud to Edward, sitting in her kitchen in the dead of night, telling tales of tragedy and war. There she will explain to Edward how she knew, from the moment she saw him back in Resembool, that a piece of his soul had been ripped away from him, as hers had been as a child. She will tell him of how she tried—and failed—to not let tears fall on the train home. She doesn’t tell him this to show her pity. Quite the opposite. She tells Edward this to remind him of the faith Mustang had had in the boys from the moment he’d met them.

“They’ll be alright,” Roy had told her on the train ride home. He didn’t acknowledge the tears the forcefully wiped away as she looked out the window, but he knew she was listening. She always was.

“They’re strong. His Daemon is on the other side of the gate. He can get her back. I’m… sorry you cannot. But he can get her back. We’ve got to help them.”

When Al opened the gate on his own, years later, he saw a sight he never believed he would. His own Body, sitting and waiting for him, joy in its amber eyes. And a tiny, golden dragon napping lightly in its arms.

“I’ll be back for you,” He promised. Folia lifted her head at his voice, cocking it inquisitively. “And Ed will be back for you. He’s missed you so.”

She blinked slowly at him, cat-like, then laid her head back onto the bare thigh of Al’s body. His body smiled patiently at him, stroking the scales of Folia’s back.

We will be waiting.

When Al stumbled back through, he rushed to his brother’s side. In the chaos, it was moments before they could speak, dodging Father’s attacks, yelling over the din of war around them.

“I saw my body, Brother. And I saw Folia.”

Ed stopped dead, shock freezing his features as he looked up at Al. Then, a fierce grin broke out.

“If they’re waiting, then we better get moving and get them back, huh, Al?”

I had a blast writing this, and might continue in this universe in future fics. Comments are greatly appreciated!

10 notes · View notes

phantomrose96 · 5 years ago

Text

Pyramid Scheme

Spoilers for the end of the series!

“Fullmetal, I have a question for you.” Roy tilted his head in Edward’s not-quite-direction, in an approximated attempt to face Edward while he spoke. Roy was in fact facing the window just beside Edward, milky eyes catching the full force of the setting sun. It didn’t bother him. He had no way of telling the sun was even there, save for the soft warmth that filtered through the hospital window. “It’s not an easy question. You can decide to ignore me if you want. Responding to me isn’t an order.”

“…Even if it was an order, who’s gonna make me follow it? I’m not military anymore, Colonel.” Edward lowered the newspaper in his hands, folding it absently at his side. The rustle alerted Roy to Ed’s proper position, and he corrected the angle of his nothing eyes to stare Edward down directly.

“I doubt they’ve processed your paperwork yet. It’s not a simple process. And it’ll be months at least until you’re a private citizen again.”

“Find me one government employee with enough free time right now to care.” Edward eased his weight off his left foot, leaning harder against the hospital wall. The doctor had warned him it would be months before he would be able to carry himself normally on that leg. That hadn’t done much to deter Edward. It was already a breeze compared to his automail recovery. “I think they’re too busy rebuilding the entire government from ashes right now.”

“Fair point.”

“Ask the question, Colonel.”

“Hmm?”

“Ask it anyway. Now I’m curious.”

“You sure?”

“Doesn’t mean I’m gonna answer it. Just ask.”

“Sure. The question… It’s a question I’ve been asking several people, now that I have the luxury to ask it.”

“Out with it.”

“Why didn’t you run?”

“Sorry?”

“Why didn’t you run away, Fullmetal?”

“From what exactly?”

“From Amestris.” Roy’s hand moved, pawing at the air, until it connected with the back of the waiting room couch. He lowered himself into it, out of the dipping sun, which prickled too hot for comfort. “As I understand it you were missing and presumed dead for months before the Promised Day. Kimblee never found you. And you knew what was going to happen – you were the one who discovered the country-wide transmutation circle. And you had no plan to stop it. So I just want to know – why didn’t you run away?”

Edward said nothing. It stretched out the silence between them, until Mustang could hear nothing but the buzzing of the lights above. They were lights he couldn’t see, and Edward’s was a face he could no longer read.

“Forget I asked, Fullmetal.”

“I considered it.”

“You did?”

“I mean, it would be nice if I could stand here and say that I never considered it. But I did. In fact, I planned around it, at one point.” Edward eased his weight back onto his left foot, trying it again, trusting it to hold him. Longer now, this time. Just a bit longer than before. “We had Greed on our side, but he wasn’t much help when it came to making a plan. If anything, I think he dampened my spirits a bit. He was the strongest member of our group and even then he was only a lackey to Father. Anything he could do would be dwarfed by that bastard’s power. And if that was the case, what could I do to stop him? Or any of what was going to happen on the Promised Day? I wasn’t a god, or a philosopher’s stone, or a homunculus. I was just some naïve human, who couldn’t save even one little girl.”

“Nina.”

“Of course Nina. I thought about her every day leading up to the Promised Day, because I had nothing better to do when all I could do was just, hide away, try not to be found.” Edward curled his right hand. It ached, almost like the tendons had rusted from disuse. They strained under the skin. “And I doubted more and more that I had any power to stop this at all. Just me, Greed, and two chimeras. No plan and no tricks up our sleeves. I started to think it was arrogant of me to have ever thought that me and Al could have stopped Father. What could I give of myself that would equal the value of saving a whole country? Nothing, really. Just one person doesn’t have that power. And I started to wonder, really, if we’d all just been doomed from the start.”

“This was while you were in hiding, right? While you were separated from Alphonse.”

“Yeah, and I had no idea you or the Briggs forces or Hohenheim or anyone else had anything planned to fight this. Just me, and two dead-man chimeras, and a half-wit homunculus. …I really did think about running. I made a list of the people in my head, who I cared about most, who I thought I could maybe contact in time, and warn, and get them to flee. If that was the best I could do, maybe I could run from this country with them and never look back.”

“How many people?”

“Hmm?”

“On your list.”

“…A few dozen. I thought maybe I could get it to the hundreds if I stretched myself thin enough. Maybe the best one small human could do is to protect just the people I could reach. But I doubted myself. Every step of the planning process. I saw how quickly that plan fell apart. It wouldn’t work.”

“And why’s that?”

“Because even if I could gather up everyone I cared about and tell them the country is doomed, then each of them would have their own loved they can’t leave behind. The people they want to protect. And then all of those people have loved ones too they can’t leave behind. And that web spreads, and it grows, until inevitably, it would reach everyone in Amestris. And like that I’d be right back to saving the whole country once more.”

Roy said nothing immediately. Until he bowed his head forward, and let out a laugh that shook his whole body. “Sounds almost like a pyramid scheme, Fullmetal,” he remarked.

“Well I didn’t ask for your opinion on that, Colonel. And fact of the matter is I was proven right.” Edward moved his weight back to his right knee, which sent a dull ache through his spine. Moving any part of his body seemed to do that. So he conceded, and lowered himself into the chair across from Mustang. “I tried, sort of, you know. Seeing if I could act on this. I told Winry to get out of Amestris, and run while she still could.” Edward laughed, a small noise. “And she told me no. Not without saving everybody. That was her web, the people she needed to save if she was going to save herself. One degree of separation, and this pyramid scheme already covered the whole country.”

Edward straightened. “And I was also right about the fact that I couldn’t save everyone. With my hands, and my effort, and my intervention, I could only work to protect a few. But they were people who protected others, and who in turn protected others… You, me, Al, the Lieutenant, General Armstrong, the Briggs soldiers, Buccaneer, Fu, Mei, Lanfan, Ling, Greed, the Chimeras, Scar, the Ishvalans, your men, the Central soldiers who sided with us, Hohenheim… and the country’s worth of souls in him. It was that web, and all the branches on it, that reached out and spanned the whole country, don’t you think? Not me. Not any one of us. But all of us, together.”

“You know, Fullmetal,” Roy leaned forward, elbows braced to his knees. He stared unseeing at the ground. A clock ticked above him, and he smiled. “that concept you’re describing, it’s something that someone once pitched to General Hughes a long time back. I think it amused him. He’s the one who’d called it a pyramid scheme at the time, but I don’t think he was dismissing it. I think he believed in it.”

“Did he?” Edward watched the Colonel from the corner of his eye, trying to parse the smile on Roy’s face. “I would expect this to be the sort of thing an alchemist believes in, and he didn’t care much for that.”

“And what does this have to do with alchemy?”

“Equivalent exchange. To try to have one person save a million lives doesn’t work. One person can’t scrounge up enough value to trade for a million people. But maybe one person can protect a few, if he gives more of himself, if those few offer to protect him in turn, and protect the ones around them, until it’s equivalent, and balanced. It’s not a pyramid. It’s a network of connected points that all circle back together, that flow in all directions, that span everyone and everything equally.”

“It sounds like you’re describing a transmutation circle, Fullmetal.”

“Yeah, but one that works on our own terms. Not on god’s terms, or science’s terms, but on ours. The laws it follows are our own. On humanity’s terms.”

There came a click from the door. A woman garbed in white stepped out with a clipboard in hand. “Edward Elric?”

Edward pushed himself standing again. “That’s me.”

“The doctor is ready to see you.”

Edward nodded, and moved forward, and gave Mustang a gentle knock on the shoulder as he passed.

The door shut, and silence draped over Mustang once more, as all-encompassing as the darkness around him.

But it wasn’t as lonely as before. There was a warmth to the room that Mustang dwelled on, a heat that felt like comfort rather than destruction. A connectedness, that included him alongside everyone else. Not as the isolated peak of a pyramid, but just a piece of the larger flow.

The room was empty now. But Mustang didn’t feel like it was.

#fullmetal alchemist #fullmetal alchemist: brotherhood #fma #fma:b #fma fanfiction #fanfiction #fma spoilers #fma:b spoilers #-yells and throws this into the void-

990 notes · View notes

flameleadsarc · 4 years ago

Text

Something that still gets to me from FMAB: when Envy shifts into Hughes to try and throw Mustang off. We see Roy pause for a couple of seconds while Envy moves. Then, he just growls before transmuting again. It’s animalistic, really showing how furious he is. We’ve never seen him go this far, not even with Lust.

This is a man hunting his prey, not someone protecting those around him. I compare him to a wolf for multiple reasons, and this right here is one of them.

Props to Travis Willingham for pulling that off too. His voice acting was top-notch.

Envy’s response to this also gets to me: “What’s wrong with you?! You didn’t even hesitate to incinerate your best friend!” Because, honestly? Roy wouldn’t have done that under normal circumstances. He would’ve hesitated. Envy would’ve been able to get a lot closer. But, he didn’t. Something is wrong with Mustang in that scene, and it’s painfully obvious.

Ed asks if he wants to become another monster. Scar says, “Are you becoming a beast? Giving in to its passion?” That’s how far gone he is. He’s barely human like this... and it was true for Ishval too, hence why I write him as internally calling himself “the Demon of Ishval” instead of Hero.

I don’t know where I was going with this. I haven’t really brought out that side of Roy yet since I started writing for him. But yeah. This man is terrifying.

#a good myth is hard to kill | meta #ooc; what about second breakfast | post #[ this is a short meta but yeah #that scene is one among many that live rent free in my head #goes right along with how Roy smiles when he looks at Hughes and Hawkeye #and when he's confusing the military police on the radio with Scar #scary man is also a dork ]

7 notes · View notes

hihowareyawrites · 4 years ago

Text

Plagiarism

Cross posted from AO3

Roy Mustang/Solf J. Kimblee

Summary: “Wouldn't that be romantic? To die together like this, in a not-so-metaphorical blaze of glory?”

“Romantic isn't the word I would use, but if it'll stop another genocide like that from happening, you can call it whatever you want.”

Scrambling up to his feet again, Roy braced himself against the brick wall of the alley he'd been herded into. He bit his cheek when he was roughly thrown against it, and the taste of iron slowly greeted his tongue. He shot a glare to his assailant, standing casually between him and his only escape route.

“Is this why they let you out of prison? Some sort of assassination...?” Roy wiped the back of his hand over his mouth, taking with it a bit of blood that spilled over his lip and leaving a smirk in it's wake. “Is the Fuhrer really that nervous about me and my team?”

“On the contrary,” Kimblee began, his arms folding across his chest “my release may have been at the Fuhrer's behest, but I'm here of my own accord.”

“So you just missed me that much?” Roy did his best to allow his stance to fall into something more casual, though he was prepared to attack at any sign of aggression. His old comrade (though a term he used loosely) seemed to consider him for a moment then spoke again finally.

“Colonel Roy Mustang, the Flame Alchemist and eventual Hero of Ishval. Boasting the most impressive kill count from the war, the savior of Amestris. It doesn't take a lot of scouring to find any documentation that would shower you with praise like this- and yet, only half of it is true.” He stood in place, but Roy could tell he was resisting the urge to pace as he spoke, something he'd learned about him in the war; Kimblee never seemed to lecture in place. “Perhaps the second most impressive kill count, but certainly not the first.”

“Is that all? You came here to complain about the military's lackluster bookkeeping?”

“Maybe that's all it means to you, but how would you feel if someone else was given credit for your hard work?” Roy could tell the point he circled around now, what this was all about.

“I wouldn't be at all concerned if the 'hard work' that was credited to someone else was acts of murder.” At Roy's dismissive comment Kimblee hastily approached him in motion uncharacteristic of his usual casual saunter. He splayed his hands on either side of the Flame alchemist against the wall, only an inch below eye level, though it didn't stop him from looking up to meet Roy's gaze.

“While you were showered with accolades and praise, I was left to rot there, to be completely forgotten.” Though his expression was fairly neutral, Roy could tell from the vitriol seeping into his tone that his agitation was rising. He'd never known Kimblee to be a jealous man, he never seemed to care much for the titles or praise they gave him during the war, but maybe that's because it was actively being given to him instead of wrongfully taken away. “You left with an enviable title and rank to match- and yet, did really really earn any of it?”

Roy steadied himself and looked at Kimblee with conviction.

“You made that decision. You killed those officers, you surrendered yourself. And for what? For fun? This is no one's fault but your own. You were impulsive and you suffered for it- there's nothing I could have done to change that.”

“Oh I don't blame you, I don't think you demanded that notoriety, but you still took it. I didn't think that by killing those men my entire existence would be erased, like I'd never set foot in that bloody sand pit to begin with.” At that there was a flicker in his dark blue eyes that made Roy feel like he would have stepped back further, if he wasn't already pressed against the wall. “And here I thought the Flame Alchemist was all abut honor and virtue, yet here you are doing whatever it takes to get what you want. Maybe we're not so different after all.”

The very idea of the comparison made Roy's stomach turn, to be compared to someone like Kimblee. Roy was accustomed to Kimblee's lectures, he endured many of them in Ishavl, though normally Kimblee was beneath him when he decided it was time for one.

“You're willing to take whatever you need, just for that. But even if no one else does, you'll always know you never got here on your own merit. You don't have guts to do what it takes to-” Kimblee swallowed his words when Roy's gloved hand was poised to snap at any moment, only a small amount of space between them.

“You're right, I am willing to do what it takes, and if that means taking out the two most prominent murderers of Ishval, I'll do it.” Kimblee considered him for a moment then moved one of his hands to press against Roy's shoulder. Even through his uniform, he could feel a burning from the array on Solf's palm, like he was ready to ignite at any moment. He'd felt Kimblee's hands on him this way many times before, grabbing his shoulders or laced around his neck, but never had he felt the genuine danger emanating from them like he did now.

“Wouldn't that be romantic? To die together like this, in a not-so-metaphorical blaze of glory?”

“Romantic isn't the word I would use, but if it'll stop another genocide like that from happening, you can call it whatever you want.”

Kimblee laughed in a way that Roy almost felt was genuine, and pulled his hands back to his sides. “Will you never humor me? Even after all this time?”

“Never.”

#roy mustang #Solf J Kimblee #royblee #fma #fma fanfic #Fullmetal Alchemist

8 notes · View notes

worryinglyinnocent · 3 years ago

Text

Fic: A Fight in the Shadows (1/16)

Summary: After her grandfather Grumman’s death in mysterious circumstances, private detective Riza Hawkeye receives a letter from him, instructed to be delivered to her after his demise. She is floored to discover he was the head of the Amestrian Intelligence Network, and the secrets he’s found out are deep and dangerous. He mentions a conspiracy within the military, and instructs her to gather together a group of individuals he trusts to assist her in continuing his work.

To say that they’re a rag-tag bunch is putting it kindly, but when they finally get their act together and delve into the mystery, they uncover something that will shake the very foundations of Amestris…

An espionage AU with some core canon elements.

Rated: T

A Fight in the Shadows

[AO3]

One

Roy

In all of her years working as a private detective, Riza had learned that one really ought to expect the unexpected, especially in a place like Amestris, and especially in a place like Central City. It took a lot to phase her; working on the principle that she had already seen everything there was to see and that whatever latest Central Weirdness was about to arrive at her door, it couldn’t be any weirder than everything she had already dealt with.

That said, she really wasn’t expecting to get a letter from her grandfather a week after he died.

Riza knew that her grandfather had died. She had been the one the hospital had called to identify his body, and she had certainly identified it beyond all reasonable doubt as Charles Grumman. Now, she had indeed come across cases of people faking their deaths before, but she had no reason to assume that this was what her grandfather had done. He had no earthly reason to do so. He had spent his entire life working as an unimportant pen-pushing bureaucrat in some backroom government department in Eastern, and he had died in a car accident. That was all there was to it.

The letter, however, implied that there was definitely more to it than Riza anticipated.

It was definitely from Grumman. She recognised the same handwriting that had left odd little flowery messages in her birthday cards for as long as she could remember. Sitting there so innocently on her desk where she had brought it in unknowingly with the rest of the mail, it seemed to be hiding a multitude of secrets.

The most logical explanation, of course, was that it had been written and sent prior to his demise and had just been delayed in the post. There was nothing suspicious about that.

Except, of course, for the fact that her grandfather never wrote to her except for the aforementioned birthday cards. And he certainly never addressed the letters as ‘private and confidential, for the eyes of R. HAWKEYE only’.

Riza was beginning to think that perhaps he had faked his death after all. She sighed. Whatever was in the letter, she knew that the moment she opened it, she was going to end up getting into something far deeper than she had any intention of getting into anything, and it would be a one way trip. She would not be able to back out. A part of her was screaming to just burn the letter and pretend it had never arrived, and then go on with her day. Another part was telling her that whether she read it or not, she was involved now – Grumman had ensured that from the moment he had sent it.

She snatched up the letter before she could second guess herself and sliced it open with such force that Hayate gave a worried yelp, perhaps concerned that she would turn the letter opener on him next.

It was from Grumman all right. Riza sank down into her desk chair as she read the tightly packed text that proved to her once and for all that there were some unexpected things that really could never be expected, and that she had not, in fact, seen everything.

To the outside observer, the letter would have been gibberish. It was gibberish to Riza herself until she remembered how much her grandfather had always loved word games. He had been creating codes for her to play with ever since she could read and write; it had always been their little thing that they could bond over, something that she could keep secret from her father and have as wholly her own.

Grumman hadn’t written to her in code for a very long time, not since her teen years, but she had still kept all the ciphers he had created with her, including the most complicated one that she had been so proud of creating. She recognised some of it in the letter, and she settled down with a pencil and the main cipher, beginning the painstaking task of decoding it all character by character.

With the deciphering complete, she read the letter through three times before the true meaning of it really started to sink in, and she knew that Grumman had definitely got her involved with something she could not back out of, and she was already in it up to her neck.

At least she was now fairly certain that he had not faked his death, even though she now knew that he was not, and never had been, an unimportant pen-pushing bureaucrat. No, no. In life, Charles Grumman had been the head of the Amestrian Intelligence Service.

In short, her grandfather had not only been a spy, he’d been the most important spy in the country.

At least that explained his preoccupation with secret codes. It hadn’t just been an odd fancy to keep her entertained. He had been training her up to follow in his footsteps and ensuring that if something ever happened, like it had indeed just happened, then he had someone he could trust and a code no-one else knew how to break.

Riza leaned heavily on the desk and began on the letter for the fourth time, still not quite believing what she was reading.

My dear Riza,

If you are reading this letter, then I am dead. The circumstances will probably look like natural causes or an accident, but they will have been anything but. I am leaving this letter in the care of a trusted associate, to be delivered in the event of my untimely demise.

I don’t know if you ever suspected the true nature of my profession at any point, but the time has come to be candid with you. I am, and have always been, an intelligence operative. I am a spy for the Amestrian Intelligence Service, and it is as a result of this intelligence that I have found myself in a very dangerous position.

I know it is unfair of me to put this onto your young shoulders and put you into this same dangerous position, but in this profession you learn to trust few and trust even fewer with your life. I think I may have trusted the wrong people, but I have always trusted you. You are a bloodhound, Riza, and I know that you will sniff out those responsible for my death and continue the work that I have started, exposing the terrible truth that underpins the entirety of Amestris, because I know I have only just begun to scratch the surface of what is going on in our country.

There are a few individuals whom I do trust to assist you, and I advise you to find and make use of their many and varied talents. To make things easier, I have also sent a letter like this one to the first of these contacts. I don’t know if you have kept up with the career of your father’s former student, but you must have heard in among of the renown of the one they call the Flame Alchemist. Roy Mustang is in fact an intelligence operative like myself and is my most trusted subordinate. He has his own off-book network who should provide you with a wide range of skills you may need.

If all has gone to plan, Mustang should be arriving in Eastern on the day you receive this letter…

Riza remembered Roy Mustang. They’d practically lived in each other’s pockets for the two years that he had been apprenticed under her father, learning the secrets of flame alchemy. There had been talk of him joining the military academy (and of course, her father’s reaction to that particular suggestion had been well-documented), but when the time came, he had chosen a different path, and after his training was finished and he had left the Hawkeye home for the final time, Riza had not seen him again.

A part of her had always wondered what he had ended up doing. After her father’s death she had not kept up with the gossip and rumours in the alchemy circles. After everything that had happened, she had wanted to keep as far away from it all as possible. Almost unconsciously, she reached around behind her, touching the small of her back as if she could still feel the sharp sting of the needle there as her father bound her up indelibly with his research.

So no, she had not heard of the renown of the Flame Alchemist. At least now she knew what Roy had been up to in the intervening years. She had been glad when he had decided not to go into the military, but at the same time, the line that he seemed to have walked instead seemed scarcely better.

Riza shook herself. She was one to talk; her own profession didn’t exactly bring her along the most morally upstanding path, and there was a good deal of espionage in what she did on a daily basis, although following cheating husbands and finding evidence seemed pretty tame compared to national intelligence work. Still, she was in no position to judge what Roy and her grandfather did.

Roy… It must be nearly ten years since she had last seen him. It was his hands that she remembered above everything else. She had always tried to put that down to an upbringing steeped in alchemy; whilst some people noticed height or build or hair colour or eye colour, alchemists tended to look at hands as the first thing of note. Their hands were their craft, after all, be they gloved or tattooed or bare. Roy had typically worn spark gloves towards the end of his training. Her father, ever the traditionalist, had disapproved at first, but had eventually been talked around to the practicalities of not needing an ignition source on hand all the time - or rather, having an ignition source literally on hand all the time.

At the beginning, though, when he had still been learning, his hands had been bare, his fingers long and tapered. They were always warm, his hands, and Riza had never known if that was from the flame alchemy or if he was just naturally like that. She remembered the touch of his fingertips on her back, and immediately felt her cheeks colour up. There had been nothing like that between them, but since Riza was the canvas for the full array and her father had destroyed the rest of his research for fear of it falling into the wrong hands, she had felt that Roy needed to see it.

He was still the only person who’d ever seen her bare back, and she didn’t think she’d ever forget that little gasp that he gave when he saw it: admiring the beauty of the craftsmanship and shocked that it had been crafted on living skin - her living skin - at the same time.

She’d been seventeen then, embarrassed at being half-naked in front of a boy, even if they’d been friends for over a year and he couldn’t see anything from the front. Even more embarrassing was how much she’d found that she really wouldn’t mind feeling those warm fingertips in other places.

Riza groaned, crumpling Grumman’s letter up into a ball and knocking her forehead against her desk a few times. She hadn’t thought about Roy for years, and she had long since got over her silly teenage crush on him, figuring that of course she’d ended up feeling that way about him because he was the only member of the opposite sex other than her father and grandfather that she ever had any interaction with at the time. It was bound to happen from the sheer novelty value if nothing else.

She really didn’t need to be reminded of it now. Not when she was about to get unwillingly dragged into the world of international espionage and investigate her grandfather’s murder. The last thing she needed to be thinking about was whether Roy’s hands were still as warm as they had always been before.

Riza sighed, pushed all thoughts of Roy Mustang very firmly out of her head, and straightened out Grumman’s letter again, tucking it into the chest pocket of her shirt. Every single spy novel she’d ever read (now her grandfather’s extensive collection made a certain ironic sense) was telling her that she ought to burn it, but she was not in the habit of memorising letters having only had them in her hands for a few minutes, so it would have to stay on her person for now. Besides, she might need to compare notes with Roy. Drat, now she was thinking about him again.

If he was arriving into Eastern, where she was to go herself in just a few short hours, then Grumman had probably instructed him to go to the funeral, so at least Riza wouldn’t need to look for him since her grandfather had given no further hints as to where he might be found. Hopefully, Roy would have a few more clues as to what needed to be done. The rest of the letter had detailed several more people that Grumman wanted her to recruit, and she would likely need Roy’s connections to do so. This was not a simple investigation by any stretch of the imagination.

Riza dragged herself away from her desk, Hayate padding along at her heels as she went to pack a bag for the trip to Eastern. Grumman’s funeral was the next morning. As much as she wished it was sooner so that she could get some answers, she also wanted to put it off as long as possible.

What had he got her into?

The funeral was a fairly standard affair. Riza was Grumman’s closest family left, and even then, they had not been all that close in recent years. She didn’t recognise any of the other people gathered around the grave and making a polite show of mourning, but she assumed that they were people who had known her grandfather. She idly wondered how many of them were spies, or if they were all under the impression, like she had been, that he was a harmless old man sitting in a back office somewhere.

As she’d suspected, Roy was there. He didn’t join the main group, hanging back in the shade of a tree and watching from afar. He hadn’t changed much. His face and shoulders had filled out from the slightly gawky nineteen year old he’d been when she’d last seen him, but he was still instantly recognisable as Roy. He wasn’t looking in her direction, more staring into the middle distance, and Riza wondered if he had noticed that she was there and recognised her. She didn’t think she’d changed all that much either. Her hair was longer now, but that was about it.

A small part of her, in the back of her mind, was annoyed that he’d turned up and was so obvious, because now she couldn’t stop glancing over at him every five seconds and she couldn’t concentrate on the service. Not that she’d really been concentrating on it before she’d noticed Roy. Something in the back of her mind kept telling her that whoever had killed her grandfather might have sent someone to his funeral to make sure that he was actually in his grave, and now she was looking around at all the unfamiliar faces and wondering which of them, if any, she should trust.

At last it was over and people started moving away from the graveside. Riza hung back for what she hoped was a respectful amount of time, making small talk with the minister, and when she did finally walk away, she saw that Roy was waiting for her. She made her way over to him and they moved away from his tree. He smiled as she approached. She remembered that smile.

“Hello, Riza. It’s been a long time.”

“Hi. Thanks for coming. How’ve you been keeping all this time?”

“Oh, you know. Here and there, this and that.” If there was ever a more ‘if I told you I’d have to kill you’ answer, Riza had yet to hear it. “Keeping busy. What about you? Grumman told me you went into private investigations.”

“Yes. It’s interesting work. I’ve always been fascinated with solving puzzles. I suppose that’s why…” She tailed off, and there was a long pause. How did one go about starting a conversation about secret messages and secret agents with a secret agent? Thankfully, Roy saved her the trouble.

“I assume you received a letter.”

“Yes, I did.”

“What did you do with it?”

“It’s… on my person.” She didn’t tell him she’d stuffed it in her bra as the most secure place she could think of.

“Fair enough.”

Riza stopped suddenly, causing Roy to stop as well and turn back to her.

“Should we really be discussing all this out in the open like this?”

Roy nodded. “It’s the best place to discuss things. There’s a reason why all the important conversations in the novels take place on park benches or looking out over rivers on misty bridges. The misty bridges are a bit romantic, but it’s always better to talk outdoors. It’s easy to bug a room and listen in, but it’s much easier to see if you’re being watched or followed out here in a nice, quiet, open location.”

That made sense, and Riza fell into step beside Roy again as they continued to walk through the cemetery. There was no one else around.

“Have you got any idea what’s going on?” she asked. “I’ve got a list of people who can help, but it’s not going to be much good if I don’t even know what they’re supposed to be helping with.”

Roy shook his head. “No, you probably know more than me at this stage. My instructions were just to help you in any way I could. So, I guess my services are at your command.”

“Grumman mentioned you had a secret network.”

“Yes. I’ve already contacted them. They mostly work out of Central, as I believe you do too. We can meet them in a few days. I have a safe meeting place there.”

“Oh. Ok.” At least Roy seemed to have his side of the plan all figured out. Maybe once she met this mysterious network and worked out what skills she had at her disposal, she’d have a better plan for what to do next.

They fell into silence for a long time again. Ordinarily Riza knew the basic etiquette for making small talk with someone you hadn’t seen for a decade. You asked about their family, you talked about the weather, you nodded politely in all the right places. But Roy was more than someone she hadn’t seen in a decade, and both their lives were so steeped in subterfuge and solitude that nothing seemed right as she thought it. That was probably what led to the next words out of her mouth.

“You know, I think that you’re actually the worst secret agent in the world.”

Roy laughed. “Oh really? And what makes you think that?”

“All the time you were standing under that tree, I couldn’t take my eyes off you, and I’m sure that there were a few other people who couldn’t either. You weren’t exactly inconspicuous. I thought spying was all about blending into the background.”

“It is, until it isn’t. Sometimes you need to be noticed and draw attention to yourself. Besides, there are two ways to follow someone. The first way, they never see you. The second way, they only see you.”

Riza felt her blood run cold, and she looked over her shoulder. There was still no one around besides her and Roy; everyone else had gone the more direct route out of the cemetery after the service was over.

All the same, his words were not at all reassuring.

#FMA:Brotherhood #FMA Fanfiction #Riza Hawkeye #Roy Mustang #Fic: A Fight in the Shadows

3 notes · View notes