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scriveynerTitle: Alone in a Crowd
Fandom: Fullmetal Alchemist
AU: Sceptre of Flamel
Characters/Pairing: Roy/Ed
Rating: T
Length: 815
Summary: He did not want to blow his cover.
It took Roy Mustang a startlingly long time to get accustomed to cities again.
A lot had changed since the last time he had walked so brazenly down the streets of Central City. He had not been exactly sure how much time had passed - the days and the months had blurred together. At least two years, possibly - maybe longer. Life without a calendar, without many obligations, just he and Edward and a little isolated cabin in the middle of nowhere. Time moved differently for him now, he could never go back to the way it was before.
There had been a lot of hesitation coming out into the city. He had hemmed and hawed, lurking for a while in some of the outlying villages. It was easy enough to pick up some odd jobs and earn a little bit of money here and there - he looked younger now, rather than older, and his smile was just as charming as it had been in the past. He worked hard, flirted a little bit and tried not to think about Ed. In the end, though, he had to move on. The girl at the flower shop had started to get a little too taken by him, and he could not afford to become anything more than a passing fancy, just a faint memory of a charismatic traveler.
He tried to smile more often and more openly, the way that Edward liked. It did not matter if others knew his emotions, playing those cards close to his chest right now simply seemed like a wasted effort.
It was a big risk, going into Central. He did not know why he felt the need to go, but there seemed to be a pull there, something fixed in his chest that made him orbit the city that he had made his home for so many years. It was fruitless to search for Edward, Edward was gone. To the aetheric realm, out of Roy’s reach … and if he died there, how would Roy ever even know? He had obsessed over it for weeks, for months; trapped in that tiny cabin alone in the middle of the woods. In the end though, he had to go. He could not stay happily there without Edward. Even then, it physically hurt to leave the place he had learned to be so quietly happy.
They had come to him once he left the protective shield of the mountains. Somehow the entire area had been declared off-limits by dint of Edward’s station. Roy had a faint grasp of the politics of the angels - Edward kept him separate and once they reunited (he refused to think “if” - Edward would be fine.) he would sit Edward down and calmly explain to him that he was sick of being kept in the dark about all of this. It was a rather abrupt reversal of fortune, in that regard - and he had to say he certainly did not like being the one “protected” from the reality of the situation. But he did get a good dose of reality when he stepped past the edge of their isolated paradise and back into the real world.
That was when the demons came.
Demons were everywhere, he knew that now. Even further beyond the reaches of the creations of alchemy lay demons - some were twisted beings, their bodies their own, autonomous except for the desire to maim and mutilate. Others still were bound by the rules of Above and Below - (as above, so below - Roy remembered writing the screed as practice, the letters smearing on the page as his sleeve dragged through the wet ink) - they had to have bodies, hosts - demons took their vessels by force, their bodies reliquinished to the darkness. But they had come to him - not to attack, but to befriend.
Samael had been a Fallen, an angel consigned to darkness and despair. He had led these demons, and now they looked to Roy.
It was a terrifying proposition, not only because something deep inside him had been intrigued by the demon’s offer. He did not want Ed to know that the demons had even approached him - Edward had tried so hard to keep him in the light, that even the prospect of the darkness that he knew still resided inside him haunted his thoughts. But Ed was not here, and Ed need not know.
The wanted posters in the train station were old, yellowed with exposure. The picture of him was a bit blurry, and most importantly, he still had the eyepatch. All the same, Roy kept his head down. He was in the city again, and here, people knew him. He did not want to blow his cover.
Fandom: Fullmetal Alchemist
AU: Sceptre of Flamel
Characters/Pairing: Roy/Ed
Rating: T
Length: 815
Summary: He did not want to blow his cover.
It took Roy Mustang a startlingly long time to get accustomed to cities again.
A lot had changed since the last time he had walked so brazenly down the streets of Central City. He had not been exactly sure how much time had passed - the days and the months had blurred together. At least two years, possibly - maybe longer. Life without a calendar, without many obligations, just he and Edward and a little isolated cabin in the middle of nowhere. Time moved differently for him now, he could never go back to the way it was before.
There had been a lot of hesitation coming out into the city. He had hemmed and hawed, lurking for a while in some of the outlying villages. It was easy enough to pick up some odd jobs and earn a little bit of money here and there - he looked younger now, rather than older, and his smile was just as charming as it had been in the past. He worked hard, flirted a little bit and tried not to think about Ed. In the end, though, he had to move on. The girl at the flower shop had started to get a little too taken by him, and he could not afford to become anything more than a passing fancy, just a faint memory of a charismatic traveler.
He tried to smile more often and more openly, the way that Edward liked. It did not matter if others knew his emotions, playing those cards close to his chest right now simply seemed like a wasted effort.
It was a big risk, going into Central. He did not know why he felt the need to go, but there seemed to be a pull there, something fixed in his chest that made him orbit the city that he had made his home for so many years. It was fruitless to search for Edward, Edward was gone. To the aetheric realm, out of Roy’s reach … and if he died there, how would Roy ever even know? He had obsessed over it for weeks, for months; trapped in that tiny cabin alone in the middle of the woods. In the end though, he had to go. He could not stay happily there without Edward. Even then, it physically hurt to leave the place he had learned to be so quietly happy.
They had come to him once he left the protective shield of the mountains. Somehow the entire area had been declared off-limits by dint of Edward’s station. Roy had a faint grasp of the politics of the angels - Edward kept him separate and once they reunited (he refused to think “if” - Edward would be fine.) he would sit Edward down and calmly explain to him that he was sick of being kept in the dark about all of this. It was a rather abrupt reversal of fortune, in that regard - and he had to say he certainly did not like being the one “protected” from the reality of the situation. But he did get a good dose of reality when he stepped past the edge of their isolated paradise and back into the real world.
That was when the demons came.
Demons were everywhere, he knew that now. Even further beyond the reaches of the creations of alchemy lay demons - some were twisted beings, their bodies their own, autonomous except for the desire to maim and mutilate. Others still were bound by the rules of Above and Below - (as above, so below - Roy remembered writing the screed as practice, the letters smearing on the page as his sleeve dragged through the wet ink) - they had to have bodies, hosts - demons took their vessels by force, their bodies reliquinished to the darkness. But they had come to him - not to attack, but to befriend.
Samael had been a Fallen, an angel consigned to darkness and despair. He had led these demons, and now they looked to Roy.
It was a terrifying proposition, not only because something deep inside him had been intrigued by the demon’s offer. He did not want Ed to know that the demons had even approached him - Edward had tried so hard to keep him in the light, that even the prospect of the darkness that he knew still resided inside him haunted his thoughts. But Ed was not here, and Ed need not know.
The wanted posters in the train station were old, yellowed with exposure. The picture of him was a bit blurry, and most importantly, he still had the eyepatch. All the same, Roy kept his head down. He was in the city again, and here, people knew him. He did not want to blow his cover.
