ekaterinn

I've finished the first of the drabble requests. I'll be working on the rest in the next few days - and feel free to request a drabble if you haven't already!

For

shigure, who requested Roy and Ed, book, bitter:

Roy stood vigil all that long night. He'd been solemn at the funeral, remaining professional even when he'd seen Hughes's wife and daughter, sober in mourning colours.

Now though - now he was a little drunk. The cheap brandy burned on his tongue and he reached out for the bottle again, brushing his hand against a the hard spine of a book instead. Drawing it across the desk toward himself, he saw in the dim light that the engraved letters on the cover spelled out Fire Myths. Ed had given him that, Roy recalled. His voice had been young and defiant:

"There was nothing about the Philosopher's Stone in that no-good city." A hesitation. "But I did find this book." He had dug awkwardly in his coat pocket, finally thrusting the book towards Roy. "I thought you might like it." Ed had added, trying to shrug nonchalantly, even as his face turned red.

Roy had been amused, then, at Ed's uncharacteristic gift. He wondered now at youth and idealism, at the Elric Brother's - Ed's - insistence on achieving the impossible. Wondered, too, if that same insistence had gotten Hughes killed, and was surprised by the sharp pain that burst inside him, as explosive as battlefire. He squeezed his eyes tight and took a couple of deep breaths. And thought that he would have very little of youth or idealism in him, before this was done.