Gains and Losses- Chapter 4: "The Longest Day" (Havoc)
This is the fourth chapter of the arc called "Gains and Losses". It is Havoc-centric. It is set in the mangaverse, so if you don't know what happens to Havoc around Chapter 38, then read it before you start this fic.
Title: The Longest Day
Author: SeaweedOtter
Characters: Mostly Jean Havoc, but the most of the rest of the gang appears.
Rating: G- PG
Disclaimer: Manga Spoilers... Set in the manga, a couple years after the end of chapter 38. Maybe AU?
Summary: There is a fine line between the best day and worse day in a person's life.
Author's Note: There is one reference to an event that happened in the anime, but it fit too well. I had to put it in. Also, I am sorry, I dont really like the ending, but I struggled with it for a while and that was what I ended up with.
Read all the chapters so far HERE!
By the time Havoc woke back up, he was in a familiar setting- a room at the Central infirmary. His eyes went wide. For just a split second he wondered if the last 3 years had been a dream. His heart was filled with hope for the briefest of moments- then he tried to move his legs, with no success. His heart sank, and his face darkened. He sighed and rubbed his temples lightly.
"You are awake, Jean. Good to see ya back." Havoc shook his head, clearing the last of the sleepy cobwebs from his brain and forced his eyes to focus on where the voice was coming from. It was Breda, and he was still in his tuxedo.
"Oh good." Havoc said miserably. "I ruined your wedding. You couldn't even leave without worrying about me. I am sorry." Havoc's shoulder's slumped, and his face was the picture of misery.
"It isn't like that at all, Jean. Janet was just as worried as I was about you. Contrary to popular belief, she likes you. She isn't jealous of the time I get to hang out with you. That is just one of the many reasons I love her so much. She is actually waiting outside the room. She figured we should talk alone when you woke up."
"About.. what I did?"
"Yeah. That was amazing. I don't know if you remember the looks on everyone's faces. You bumped your head pretty bad, and the doc wasn't sure if you had lost your memory or what." Havoc silently nodded and reached up to feel the bandage going around his head- hissing in pain at his own touch, and the dull ache that was entering his brain.
"I.. wanted to do more. I am sorry."
"Are you kidding?! You stood up!" Breda's voice got more louder, higher, more animated. "What you did was something we never thought we would see. It was great. It was definatly the best wedding present a friend could get."
"Ah, I better take back that silverware I got you then!" Havoc managed a small, familiar smirk of a smile. It was infectious, and Breda just had to laugh at his goofy friend.
"You better not, Janet loves that pattern! Good job picking that out."
"Thank my ma. She saw it, and suggested that you guys would like it."
"I will next time I see her."
_________________________________________________________________________________
He only spent a couple of days in the hospital. When the doctors were sure that he had no worse than a really ugly looking bump, they discharged him. Breda had wanted to see his friend off, but Havoc had insisted that they go on thier honeymoon, that Armstrong would be fine to escoprt him back to the train station. Breda was worried that Havoc would be travelling by himself, but he insisted that it was a short trip, and his parents were going to meet him at the station when he arrived home, so it would be fine. Reluctantly, Breda agreed.
It was a thankfully uneventful trip home, but as Havoc had feared, his parents had become quite worried when they saw the bandages on his head. He took the entirety of the trip from the train station to home to explain everything that had happened those few days.
"That is just like you, Jean. You just always have to make a scene, don't you son?" his father joked.
"Dad!"
_________________________________________________________________________________
Havoc quickly settled back into his routine of boring days, peppered with the excrusiating and lingering pain of physiotherapy, and the intense boredom that came with a lack of mobility.
Winter arrived, and the all too familiar ache in Havoc's bones came along with it. He cursed the cold for making him feel even more miserable than he already was. The Xing doctor had noticed, and commented, that his progress was slowing over the colder months. Because of that, he worked Havoc even harder, making Havoc ache more, and making him more miserable. It was a viscious cycle.
Even with the slow down in progress, Havoc was rather proud in how far he had come. He could pull himself up to a standing position, and hold it there for a few minutes at a time, with a railing or something to hold onto. It wasn't too much, but it was more than he had before.
What Havoc had in his legs couldn't be called true feeling, but it was a prickly sensation, like when an appendage goes to sleep and the circulation needs to start back up, except that is what it felt like day in and day out to him.
He tried to take a step once during a particularly productive session, with disasterous results. The twisted ankled had been puffy and ugly for a week afterwards, and even with little feeling it seemed to ache softly. Havoc wasn't sure if he should be happy that he felt it or mad at himself for trying something so stupid. But he had a promise to keep, and it seemed to him that a snail's pace would be faster than how he was progressing.
_______________________________________________________________________________
Winter broke, and the days started to get longer, and warmer. Havoc knew the time was short before spring finally arrived, and with it was coming another wedding.He had already recieved the invitation, which was only a formality considering he was one of the groomsman.
Havoc sighed, snuffing his cigarette on the armrest of his chair, a bad habit he had picked up recently, and rolled back into the house. If there had been any way to weasel out of this wed, along with his Xing physiotherapy for things he wanted to do. But it was his colonel- no- the Fuhrer, and he was in the wedding party.
This was already going to be an unusual wedding- most everyone alive in Amestris had only lived through two Fuherships, and both of them had been married before coming to office, so a Fuhrer having a wedding was new to most everyone. Add to that the fact that Mustang was not going to have a best man. The only man he would have wanted for the job had been dead for over four years now. Maes Hughes was going to be the Best Man in absentia, and Gracia and the now 9 year old Elysia were given places of honor in the wedding party.
Breda came to visit as spring arrived. Janet was with her, and she seemed- different for some reason. She didn't look different physically, but she.. just radiate happiness even more than before. Even as unobservant as Havoc could be from time to time, he noticed it, and at the first opportunity he could, he pulled Breda away to ask.
"What is going on with Janet? She looks happier than usual." Havoc asked during one of his frequent cigarettes breaks outside the front of the house.
"Oh, nothing, nothing." Breda smiled, holding his hands up. "So, it is nice that we are finally getting some warmer weather, huh?"
"Come on, Breda. Don't change the subject on me. I am not that dumb. I know something is different." He got a worried look on his face. "Are you sure everything is alright? You can tell me. I would like to think you consider me your best friend."
Breda sighed. "There ya go, playing the 'best friend' card. You know I can't resist that." Havoc snubbed out the cigarette but stayed still, waiting for his friend to continue. "Okay, well, I wasnt gonna tell anyone yet, but... well.. " Breda turned a deep red.
"Out with it, man!"
"We are going to have a baby. Janet is pregnant!"
"I.. need another cigarette." Havoc just smiled.
______________________________________________________________________________
The Xingian doctor definatly noticed the change that came about in Havoc as the weather turned and after he was visited by his friends. He redoubled his efforts to learn to stand and walk. He was hoping to be able to walk down the aisle for his Furher's wedding, but that was seemling like more and more of an impossible task.
Havoc tried not to let that depress him, although late at night, when he had little else to do but let his mind wander, he would think about all the things that he had missed, all the little parts of life that he could no longer do, and tears would come unbidden to his eyes.
By the time Breda came back to take Havoc back to Central for the wedding, Havoc was able to stand for while with a couple of canes, and he had even tried to take a step or two, although it was risky at best. He had twisted and folded his ankles several times trying, and he had decided that walking was going to just have to wait a little longer.
"Hey Breda!" Havoc shakily stood up on the to canes that he permanatly carried with him now. Even though Breda had seen him stand before, it never ceased to amaze the man at how far Havoc had come in these few years.
"Hey, Havoc! I almost forgot how tall you were!" he joked. Havoc smiled and straightened up.
"It isn't my fault you are short! Just be glad I don't have a free hand to punch you with!" It was so nice for Breda to see his friend's smile again, a smile that had been absent for so long. It had taken many years, but his life was starting to resort to some semblance of normalcy.
Breda just laughed. "Well, let's get ready. The train waits for no one."
______________________________________________________________________________
A few days later, Havoc had settled back into life at Central again. He was staying with Breda and Janet, who had recently started to show a bit in the belly. Havoc joked that she was going to have as round of a stomach as Breda, which earned him a rather dirty look.
Havoc hardly saw Mustang or Hawkeye until the day of the wedding, which was probably a good thing. The less he thought about losing Hawkeye forever, the better- he thought.
When the day of the wedding came. When the new Fuhrer walked into the room where the men were changing into thier tuxedos, Havoc shakily stood up, leaning hard on the wall beside him, and managed a quick and awkward salute before he had to sit back down quickly in his chair.
Mustang stood agape for a moment. He had heard from Breda that Havoc could stand, but without seeing it for himself, it was a bit hard to belileve. And there is was, for just a few moments in time, his Lt. was standing in front of him, saluting like years ago.
It took a moment for Mustang to come out of his thoughts and salute back. By that time, Breda was helping Havoc get situated comforatably again. "Nice to see you back, Havoc." Mustang said formally, but with the all too familiar smiling smirk on his face. "I forgot how tall you were." Breda beamed, and Havoc shot him a deathly look. "I am still waiting for you, you know."
"And you know I will be there, chief. Just gimme a little more time."
Mustang smiled, a rare, true and happy smile, and put his hand on Havoc's shoulder. "I know you will, Jean. I know you will."
_________________________________________________________________________________
The wedding was a good one. There were a few suprised looks after Havoc was wheeled by Breda down the aisle and put into his assigned place among the groomsman, he took his canes and stood when Hawkeye came down the aisle. He surpried everyone, including himself, that he was able to stand for the whole ceremony, though by the end of it he was feeling absolutly drained of all his energy. But it had been worth it.
When Hawkeye had walked down the aisle, looking more ravishing, more beautiful that Havoc had ever seen him before, he had to fight to keep the moisture from his eyes. It was a strange combinations of feelings that rushed through him. He was sad to see her marrying another man, and a man he respected and trusted so loyally.
But he was so proud of her and happy for her as well. No one loved her as much as Roy did, not even himself. And he knew that, whether he wanted to admit it or not. They were so perfect for each other, thier better halves.
He bit his lip when they shared thier first kiss as man or wife. His legs felt weak under him, his knees buckling slightly. His knuckles whitened, his nails digging deep into the soft wood of the canes under his hands.
At the reception, since there wasnt a best man, the groomsman, all of of them, took turns making sort speeches, most of which were poorly veiled attempts to make a fool of the Fuhrer by telling embarassing stories. Havoc couldnt resist telling about the time that the former colonel was fighting the alcheist killer Scar in the rain and Hawkeye had to kick him out of the way because his fire alchemy didnt work in the rain, which got a nice laugh.
Mustang and his new bride left the party soon afterwards, and the rest of the party dissipated eventually. Breda, Janet, and Havoc head back to thier house at the end of the evening.
"That was a pretty nice day, wasnt it, Jean?" Janet asked, while Breda was busy driving the car down the still busy streets of Central.
"Oh.. yeah." he said, rather absent mindedly. "I guess so." He sighed softly, simply
happy that this long day was finally almost over.
Title: The Longest Day
Author: SeaweedOtter
Characters: Mostly Jean Havoc, but the most of the rest of the gang appears.
Rating: G- PG
Disclaimer: Manga Spoilers... Set in the manga, a couple years after the end of chapter 38. Maybe AU?
Summary: There is a fine line between the best day and worse day in a person's life.
Author's Note: There is one reference to an event that happened in the anime, but it fit too well. I had to put it in. Also, I am sorry, I dont really like the ending, but I struggled with it for a while and that was what I ended up with.
Read all the chapters so far HERE!
By the time Havoc woke back up, he was in a familiar setting- a room at the Central infirmary. His eyes went wide. For just a split second he wondered if the last 3 years had been a dream. His heart was filled with hope for the briefest of moments- then he tried to move his legs, with no success. His heart sank, and his face darkened. He sighed and rubbed his temples lightly.
"You are awake, Jean. Good to see ya back." Havoc shook his head, clearing the last of the sleepy cobwebs from his brain and forced his eyes to focus on where the voice was coming from. It was Breda, and he was still in his tuxedo.
"Oh good." Havoc said miserably. "I ruined your wedding. You couldn't even leave without worrying about me. I am sorry." Havoc's shoulder's slumped, and his face was the picture of misery.
"It isn't like that at all, Jean. Janet was just as worried as I was about you. Contrary to popular belief, she likes you. She isn't jealous of the time I get to hang out with you. That is just one of the many reasons I love her so much. She is actually waiting outside the room. She figured we should talk alone when you woke up."
"About.. what I did?"
"Yeah. That was amazing. I don't know if you remember the looks on everyone's faces. You bumped your head pretty bad, and the doc wasn't sure if you had lost your memory or what." Havoc silently nodded and reached up to feel the bandage going around his head- hissing in pain at his own touch, and the dull ache that was entering his brain.
"I.. wanted to do more. I am sorry."
"Are you kidding?! You stood up!" Breda's voice got more louder, higher, more animated. "What you did was something we never thought we would see. It was great. It was definatly the best wedding present a friend could get."
"Ah, I better take back that silverware I got you then!" Havoc managed a small, familiar smirk of a smile. It was infectious, and Breda just had to laugh at his goofy friend.
"You better not, Janet loves that pattern! Good job picking that out."
"Thank my ma. She saw it, and suggested that you guys would like it."
"I will next time I see her."
_________________________________________________________________________________
He only spent a couple of days in the hospital. When the doctors were sure that he had no worse than a really ugly looking bump, they discharged him. Breda had wanted to see his friend off, but Havoc had insisted that they go on thier honeymoon, that Armstrong would be fine to escoprt him back to the train station. Breda was worried that Havoc would be travelling by himself, but he insisted that it was a short trip, and his parents were going to meet him at the station when he arrived home, so it would be fine. Reluctantly, Breda agreed.
It was a thankfully uneventful trip home, but as Havoc had feared, his parents had become quite worried when they saw the bandages on his head. He took the entirety of the trip from the train station to home to explain everything that had happened those few days.
"That is just like you, Jean. You just always have to make a scene, don't you son?" his father joked.
"Dad!"
_________________________________________________________________________________
Havoc quickly settled back into his routine of boring days, peppered with the excrusiating and lingering pain of physiotherapy, and the intense boredom that came with a lack of mobility.
Winter arrived, and the all too familiar ache in Havoc's bones came along with it. He cursed the cold for making him feel even more miserable than he already was. The Xing doctor had noticed, and commented, that his progress was slowing over the colder months. Because of that, he worked Havoc even harder, making Havoc ache more, and making him more miserable. It was a viscious cycle.
Even with the slow down in progress, Havoc was rather proud in how far he had come. He could pull himself up to a standing position, and hold it there for a few minutes at a time, with a railing or something to hold onto. It wasn't too much, but it was more than he had before.
What Havoc had in his legs couldn't be called true feeling, but it was a prickly sensation, like when an appendage goes to sleep and the circulation needs to start back up, except that is what it felt like day in and day out to him.
He tried to take a step once during a particularly productive session, with disasterous results. The twisted ankled had been puffy and ugly for a week afterwards, and even with little feeling it seemed to ache softly. Havoc wasn't sure if he should be happy that he felt it or mad at himself for trying something so stupid. But he had a promise to keep, and it seemed to him that a snail's pace would be faster than how he was progressing.
_______________________________________________________________________________
Winter broke, and the days started to get longer, and warmer. Havoc knew the time was short before spring finally arrived, and with it was coming another wedding.He had already recieved the invitation, which was only a formality considering he was one of the groomsman.
Havoc sighed, snuffing his cigarette on the armrest of his chair, a bad habit he had picked up recently, and rolled back into the house. If there had been any way to weasel out of this wed, along with his Xing physiotherapy for things he wanted to do. But it was his colonel- no- the Fuhrer, and he was in the wedding party.
This was already going to be an unusual wedding- most everyone alive in Amestris had only lived through two Fuherships, and both of them had been married before coming to office, so a Fuhrer having a wedding was new to most everyone. Add to that the fact that Mustang was not going to have a best man. The only man he would have wanted for the job had been dead for over four years now. Maes Hughes was going to be the Best Man in absentia, and Gracia and the now 9 year old Elysia were given places of honor in the wedding party.
Breda came to visit as spring arrived. Janet was with her, and she seemed- different for some reason. She didn't look different physically, but she.. just radiate happiness even more than before. Even as unobservant as Havoc could be from time to time, he noticed it, and at the first opportunity he could, he pulled Breda away to ask.
"What is going on with Janet? She looks happier than usual." Havoc asked during one of his frequent cigarettes breaks outside the front of the house.
"Oh, nothing, nothing." Breda smiled, holding his hands up. "So, it is nice that we are finally getting some warmer weather, huh?"
"Come on, Breda. Don't change the subject on me. I am not that dumb. I know something is different." He got a worried look on his face. "Are you sure everything is alright? You can tell me. I would like to think you consider me your best friend."
Breda sighed. "There ya go, playing the 'best friend' card. You know I can't resist that." Havoc snubbed out the cigarette but stayed still, waiting for his friend to continue. "Okay, well, I wasnt gonna tell anyone yet, but... well.. " Breda turned a deep red.
"Out with it, man!"
"We are going to have a baby. Janet is pregnant!"
"I.. need another cigarette." Havoc just smiled.
______________________________________________________________________________
The Xingian doctor definatly noticed the change that came about in Havoc as the weather turned and after he was visited by his friends. He redoubled his efforts to learn to stand and walk. He was hoping to be able to walk down the aisle for his Furher's wedding, but that was seemling like more and more of an impossible task.
Havoc tried not to let that depress him, although late at night, when he had little else to do but let his mind wander, he would think about all the things that he had missed, all the little parts of life that he could no longer do, and tears would come unbidden to his eyes.
By the time Breda came back to take Havoc back to Central for the wedding, Havoc was able to stand for while with a couple of canes, and he had even tried to take a step or two, although it was risky at best. He had twisted and folded his ankles several times trying, and he had decided that walking was going to just have to wait a little longer.
"Hey Breda!" Havoc shakily stood up on the to canes that he permanatly carried with him now. Even though Breda had seen him stand before, it never ceased to amaze the man at how far Havoc had come in these few years.
"Hey, Havoc! I almost forgot how tall you were!" he joked. Havoc smiled and straightened up.
"It isn't my fault you are short! Just be glad I don't have a free hand to punch you with!" It was so nice for Breda to see his friend's smile again, a smile that had been absent for so long. It had taken many years, but his life was starting to resort to some semblance of normalcy.
Breda just laughed. "Well, let's get ready. The train waits for no one."
______________________________________________________________________________
A few days later, Havoc had settled back into life at Central again. He was staying with Breda and Janet, who had recently started to show a bit in the belly. Havoc joked that she was going to have as round of a stomach as Breda, which earned him a rather dirty look.
Havoc hardly saw Mustang or Hawkeye until the day of the wedding, which was probably a good thing. The less he thought about losing Hawkeye forever, the better- he thought.
When the day of the wedding came. When the new Fuhrer walked into the room where the men were changing into thier tuxedos, Havoc shakily stood up, leaning hard on the wall beside him, and managed a quick and awkward salute before he had to sit back down quickly in his chair.
Mustang stood agape for a moment. He had heard from Breda that Havoc could stand, but without seeing it for himself, it was a bit hard to belileve. And there is was, for just a few moments in time, his Lt. was standing in front of him, saluting like years ago.
It took a moment for Mustang to come out of his thoughts and salute back. By that time, Breda was helping Havoc get situated comforatably again. "Nice to see you back, Havoc." Mustang said formally, but with the all too familiar smiling smirk on his face. "I forgot how tall you were." Breda beamed, and Havoc shot him a deathly look. "I am still waiting for you, you know."
"And you know I will be there, chief. Just gimme a little more time."
Mustang smiled, a rare, true and happy smile, and put his hand on Havoc's shoulder. "I know you will, Jean. I know you will."
_________________________________________________________________________________
The wedding was a good one. There were a few suprised looks after Havoc was wheeled by Breda down the aisle and put into his assigned place among the groomsman, he took his canes and stood when Hawkeye came down the aisle. He surpried everyone, including himself, that he was able to stand for the whole ceremony, though by the end of it he was feeling absolutly drained of all his energy. But it had been worth it.
When Hawkeye had walked down the aisle, looking more ravishing, more beautiful that Havoc had ever seen him before, he had to fight to keep the moisture from his eyes. It was a strange combinations of feelings that rushed through him. He was sad to see her marrying another man, and a man he respected and trusted so loyally.
But he was so proud of her and happy for her as well. No one loved her as much as Roy did, not even himself. And he knew that, whether he wanted to admit it or not. They were so perfect for each other, thier better halves.
He bit his lip when they shared thier first kiss as man or wife. His legs felt weak under him, his knees buckling slightly. His knuckles whitened, his nails digging deep into the soft wood of the canes under his hands.
At the reception, since there wasnt a best man, the groomsman, all of of them, took turns making sort speeches, most of which were poorly veiled attempts to make a fool of the Fuhrer by telling embarassing stories. Havoc couldnt resist telling about the time that the former colonel was fighting the alcheist killer Scar in the rain and Hawkeye had to kick him out of the way because his fire alchemy didnt work in the rain, which got a nice laugh.
Mustang and his new bride left the party soon afterwards, and the rest of the party dissipated eventually. Breda, Janet, and Havoc head back to thier house at the end of the evening.
"That was a pretty nice day, wasnt it, Jean?" Janet asked, while Breda was busy driving the car down the still busy streets of Central.
"Oh.. yeah." he said, rather absent mindedly. "I guess so." He sighed softly, simply
happy that this long day was finally almost over.