FIC: A Sign
Banner courtesy of ladynorbert
Title: A Sign
Author: drummerdancer
Verse: First Anime/CoS AU
Characters/Pairings: Roy, Hawkeye, mentions of Edward, slight Roy/Ed
Word Count: 666
Prompt 253: Nail
Rating: K
Summary: Roy just needed a sign, something to tell him that he was alive.
The office was silent save for the quiet scratching of pen on parchment underneath Roy’s hand. His eye was tired after the many hours of writing and signing, yet he neither stopped nor complained, but continued on, his focus trained and deliberate.
He needed to keep busy so his thoughts wouldn’t drift.
The monotony and simplicity of it all used to drive him up the wall and make him want to rant and rave about how boring it was; now, it soothed his wounds like no other balm ever could. Sometimes, he laid in bed at night actually looking forward to it, his right hand stinging slightly as it itched for something to do, something to sign, something to put it to use again.
He used to looked forward to the nights; now, he detested them.
‘Stop thinking,’ he reminded himself, his focus going right back to the hand signing papers. He grabbed another one and placed it under his writing hand, his eye scanning the sheet for any red flags before he bloodied it with his signature.
The quiet in his mind soon resumed after that, his head blank and using only the barest of necessities to function on the work. It was because of this that he didn’t hear the door open. Nor did he hear the soft padding of booted feet walk up to his desk.
“General!”
Roy jumped, his back shooting up and backwards as he felt the chair tip over and fall backwards. He-and the chair-crashed to the ground, leaving his visitor to quickly drop her paperwork and run to his side.
Hawkeye tried to apologize, but Roy raised a gloved hand and sat up off the chair. “It’s fine, Lieutenant. I just didn’t hear you come in and I was startled.”
She shook her head and began to speak, but something caught her eye that made her pause. “Sir…is the chair broken? There’s a nail over by your boot.”
He looked in her direction. Sure enough, a small, silver little thing was hanging out underneath his desk. Roy reached over and grabbed it, his attention immediately drifting back to the upturned chair. Both of them stood up and put the chair upright, looking for any damage that the fall may have caused it.
After a quick examination, though, nothing seemed out of place. Roy turned back to the little thing in his hand, about to label it as trash and throw it away, when a sudden shock of familiarity rippled through him.
It couldn’t be…
“Hawkeye; when is the last time anybody vacuumed in here?” he asked in confusion, his hand now roaming the features of the thing to try to validate (or dismiss) its origins.
“Last Friday night, I believe. Why do you ask, sir?”
Last Friday…that couldn’t be.
“Are you sure?”
“Positive,” she replied, now looking at his hand in confusion. “Why do you-oh my god.” Her eyes bugged out slightly. “That’s not a nail-it’s a screw. You don’t think that’s one of his, do you?”
Roy turned the screw over in his hand, unfamiliar hope blooming to life inside his chest. If it was true and somebody had vacuumed in there, wouldn’t they have found this? Surely they wouldn’t have left an automail screw on the carpet, right?
“Call Investigations. I want any and all footage of Central Headquarters over the last seven days,” Roy ordered, setting the screw down on his desk. Hawkeye saluted, the same desperate hope clinging to her face as well.
He had been afraid since day one to hope or pray that Edward was alive. Shutting it all off was easier, was better, was healthier in some aspects because it saved him from other means of coping.
But he would rather have Edward back than have to cope another second of the day. Even if this screw wasn’t his, it had to mean something.
And it was enough of a sign to put his hopes on.
Double posted @ fma_fic_contest