[Open] The Book of Memories

[feistyflowright]

Who: Fai D. Flowright, A magical book and YOU!
What: The Book of Memories from the country of Lecourt is found in the library by the residents of the S.S. Thor. They all find and experience the magic of memories.
When: Starting in the evening.
Where: The Library
Warnings: MASS PEOPLE! Enjoy~

Comments

[best_papa_evar]

And thus the boy was suddenly in a green area just outside of a small town. Trees lined the distance, and nearby a few tall, sturdy pine trees rustled faintly in the wind. It was all on the lip of a lake, sparkling in the afternoon sunlight. It seemed relatively calm--however, there was a snapping noise above, as one of the pine tree's limbs broke underneath something... or someone. The pines trembled as a small body fell right through them--

And the golden-eyed boy landed on his butt, beneath the large tree. This 10-year-old was in a wife-beater, looking disheveled, though not 'homeless, poor' disheveled. No, he had grass stains and spots of dry mud on his clothes, and his hair was ruffled up and unkept.

"Ooooow, owowow!!" He was teary eyed, but he seemed to be trying to hold it in. As if to say 'I'm too tough to let something as lame as a 2 story drop through branches hurt me'. But the pain in his arms and butt vanished when he looked around, suddenly realizing he'd lost something he wore on his face--his glasses.

"Aaaah, no! Mom'll kill me if I lose those..." And he began to search the open grassy shade for the spectacles.

[notasinglelady]

Kurt eyes? widened. Where was him? What happened to the library? Then he heard the crash and spot the boy.

"You're ok?" He felt the urge to help him automatically but the kid didn't even looked at him, nor he seemed to acknowledge him. Kurt frowned and clenched the book in his hands, what's this it's fault?

[best_papa_evar]

Indeed, the boy didn't even notice Kurt standing there, even though he was so close by. He made a quick 'aha!' before picking up his glasses and putting them back on. All the while, a soft-faced woman with eyes like the boy walked out from the quiet home, wiping her hands on her apron.

"Maes, are you all right? You're covered in dirt, look at you! I just bought those pants..."

Maes smiled, jumping to his feet.

"I'm training to be a soldier! Dad said they have to train a whole lot, with climbing over stuff and going through the mud. I'll be extra prepared."

Mrs. Hughes smiled, exasperated.

"You have many years before you even have to think of something like that, son... Come now, let's go eat something, hm? You've been out here all morning."

Maes made a stern face. "I've been hunting bad guys, mom. I can't possibly care about an empty stomach. They need to be apprhemdated."

She laughed. "Apprehended."

"Right, right! I'll get the bad guys and keep Amestris safe, right? They won't even know what hit 'em, when I'm on the case! And we'll have a crazy shoot out and just when it looks grim--BAM!"

And at that, the sound of a real gunshot echoed out; in the blink of an eye, the setting changed as the page turned--the military academy. Where many uniformed men were climbing those high wooden obstacles and jumping through tires. Beside Kurt would be Hughes--now a young man, a teenager closing in on his 20's. He was aiming down the sight of a rifle, toward an old worn target a little ways away.

Bam!!

Another bullet shell bounced to the ground, as he frowned.

No bulls-eye yet.

[notasinglelady]

Maes..so that's why the kid looked vaguely familiar. The face traits, the black hair, now he could see it, Mae Hughes, as a kid. But why was he seeing this? Why was his life in a book?

The gunshot startled him and he tensed, instinctively trying to take step back but he couldn't. He couldn't do anything but look and wait, and that he did.

[best_papa_evar]

Hughes lowered his gun as another soldier greeted him--a man a little older than him, with blond hair and blue eyes, in a casually unkept uniform as well. They were both focusing with interest on a group of girls bychance passing by on their way from their own daily routine.

"You're a shit shot, Hughes," the blond said, smirking, "And you're at the targets every day at the same exact time. Don't tell me you're scouting out the ladies, huh?"

While some teenagers would have blushed or denied it, Hughes threw his arm around the man's name and smiled wide.

"Correction, Gabriel--there's one lady I'm checking out; take a look-see over there at that beautiful gal." And he pointed down at the group, at the gentle-looking girl at the end. Recognizable as his to-be wife, Gracia Hughes. "Isn't she the prettiest thing in the world?"

"Eeeeh, I've seen prettier. She don't got much to her."

And poor Gabriel earned a sharp elbow to the top of the shoulder. People cursed Hughes' height, but the blond did more--being so short. While the other teenager held his achy shoulder, Hughes smiled like he was in heaven.

"Don't be stupid! She's like an angel who left her wings at home, a perfect beauty~! Aaaah, I wonder if she'd date someone right now~♥"

Gracia seemed to look over in his direction, and that determined look on Hughes' face melted; he inched behind Gabriel, blushing.

"You pansy, go talk to her if you really like her."

"You think so? ....Naaah, she probably digs the intelligent bookworm guys, like Mustang. You know, the serious handsome fellas. I doubt she'd waste her time with a goofball like me."

At least he could grow decent facial hair.

Hughes sobs worriedly.

"What if she doesn't like me?! Or she thinks my hair is stupid, or I've got a horseface?!"

Gabriel rolled his eyes.

[notasinglelady]

The boy smiled slightly. So that was when Maes met her. Kurt saw photographs of her before, or more exactly Maes practically publicized them all around the ship, and he knew how she looked like. Now, here was a man that never stopped being in love.

Kurt was worried about the war they mentioned, he heard others member of the ship talk about a place called Ishbal, but he never asked further.

[best_papa_evar]

The pages suddenly began to flip through different images--many of which were of Hughes and Roy Mustang, of Hughes and Gracia spending time together, of happier times in the man's life. He worked diligently to keep his grades up near the end, and spent a lot of time practicing for his expertise in knives.

And then the pages stopped.

The setting never changed--he was still at the shooting range. But time had passed; a few years of hard work. Hughes stood there, looking a little stronger, a little more muscled from the workouts and lessons. But he was not the happy man he was before. He was serious, gaze lowered to the earth.

He held a letter in his hand, but he never looked at it anymore, after the first time. Gabriel walked over to him, just like the previous memory, but he wasn't smiling anymore either. He himself carried his own letter.

"...You're being sent out, too, Maes?" the man spoke quietly, "I'm sorry."

Hughes shrugged. "No, I--I want to go.... I want to help, if I can..." He wasn't so sure, though, and it showed. He furrowed his brow. "I'm not dropping out. The country needs men there, so I can't just leave it to someone else. I won't back down."

"What about Gracia?" Gabriel replied softly.

Hughes's shoulders tensed.

"...I haven't told her yet."

Gabriel sighed. "You'll only make it harder on her if you wait until the last goddamn second, you idiot."

"...I know..." He squeezed the paper in his hand, closing his eyes. "I know. I'll tell her."

[notasinglelady]

Kurt's eyes moves through the pages, trying to catch all the details of the images in front of him, no one ever talk to him or noticed him at all. A cold sensation settled in his stomach at the view of this last memory. Mae told him that he died before to get in the ship...but it couldn't be in the war, he had a daughter. So..when?

[best_papa_evar]

The scene changed and the page flipped.

A sweltering sky above them, a bumpy desert all around them. Kurt was standing in the middle of Ishbal. The buildings were already being destroyed by the weapons of war. Previously, there had been a scuffle--underfoot, there is blood, puddles and splatters all across the damaged earth. And connected to those puddles--the dead. Dead soldiers, dead rebels, dead innocents.

No one had been spared.

The silence in such a war-torn area was shocking and daunting. There was only one sound--so faint, almost inaudible. The sounds of sharp, strained breaths. They came from the darkened, debris-covered alley, from a hunched figure holding his head in his hands, rifle at his foot.

Hughes. He clasped his fingers into his hair, breathing raw, ragged breaths from the exertion of running, running, running. He was coated in some places with soot and blood. Trying to bottle those sharp pangs of regret and fear. His gun was still hot from firing, the blood all fresh.

"Please..." he whispered to himself, "Not yet. Pull yourself together..."

He trembled in his boots, almost unable to peel his hands from his eyes. They were unseasoned, filled with uncertainty--so much uncertainty and terror. He curled a little further into the darkness, not yet willing to leave his safety.

[notasinglelady]

He felt his blood go cold and his stomach turned, but he managed to keep his lunch where it belong. He knew about wars, he studied and read about them at school, saw movies, and reports but nothing could compare about the real thing. Nothing could be compared to what he was saying. Soldier, men, women, all sort of people, probably kids too..., most of the ones not wearing military uniform where dark skinned. Was this a genocide?

Why would be Maes fighting in a war like this. He finally spotted the man, and couldn't feel anything but pity for him. The common people don't want war, but after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine what to do and people get dragged along.

"Maes..."

[best_papa_evar]

Hughes tensed and it almost appeared that he looked in Kurt's direction when the boy spoke his name; however, it was what was located behind the boy that startled him. A pair of Ishbalan men rushed out from around the corner, past Kurt, and almost instantly caught sight of Hughes sitting there, alone and without his gun in hand.

"You--!!" the more muscular man yelled, and a sharp spray of gunfire sprung from his gun. Hughes rolled toward the inner wall of the alley, attempting to find cover behind the fallen debris, in the dark. A small spray of blood hit the wall behind him as he went and he stifled a cry of pain.

The two must have assumed the mark was hit, because they lowered their guns just so, walking toward the alley. It was a mistake--one sharp, speeding throw knife embedded itself in the first man's eye, killing him in seconds. The second knife pierced the last Ishbalan's throat and he went down gurgling in a pool of blood.

Hughes stumbled out, a small circle of blood on arm; he stared speechless at the fresh corpses, eyes wide behind his glasses... and after a long, pregnant pause, soundlessly took one of their guns off of them. Pilfered their ammo. And sat there until other Amestrian soldiers began to appear in the distance.

A nameless soldier walked up behind Hughes.

"They're sending the Alchemists in. You can return to base."

"The alchemists...." Hughes said, trying to control his voice, and then spoke in a lower whisper, "Most of these people can't even fight back..."

[notasinglelady]

He has turned back when he heard the scream, thinking thanks to Mae's reaction that he was visible now. Kurt noticed how mistaken he was when bullets start to fly in his direction, but all of them missed him, somehow, even if he was technically between them and Maes. He had to suppress his own scream of worry as the blood stained the wall where the other man was not many seconds before.

Hughe's attack came as another unpleasant surprise. Even if he understood the mechanics of wars he would never get used to them. The boy couldn't help but stare at the new corpses, Mae's voice talking to the other soldiers seemed too distant.

[best_papa_evar]

This unfortunately continued through many pages--many corpses, many soldiers lost to a sudden attack, many buildings crumbling and explosions rocketing all around them.

When the pages finally calm once more, Hughes is sitting at the camp with a small group of other soldiers. They'd been talking about this and that, about the futility of continuing this struggle... But it had been interrupted by a howling, raving old man on a gurney. He'd gotten his ankle blown through by something or another and was getting carted off, probably back to home.

"You Ishbalan brats!!" the old man growled through clenched teeth, "How dare you--you sons of bitches...!"

Hughes casually continued drink his coffee out of the dented metal cup, unimpressed. He seemed to have hardened himself to the pains of war now--he almost looked like he was just casually on the job at an office, even.

"Well, if it isn't old man Comanche," he spoke.

The young lad in front of him thought aloud absently, "I wonder if he was shot...?"

Hughes could help but scoff, finding the old bastard annoying enough as it was. "If he has enough energy to howl like that, he'll be fine. Good for you--you can go back home now, old man."

The other soldier brought up, "That old guy's a state alchemist, right?" And soon the small pack of men were buzzing about the power of those alchemists, about how they're like cannons, blasting through those defenses... But Hughes had canceled out their chatter, instead focusing his attention on a passing figure.

A familiar passing figure. The back of the raven-colored head was undoubtedly that of...

"Roy!"

[notasinglelady]

His hands were shaking as he kept looking, and Kurt felt his eyes tear up. What caused such a crude war? What reason was good enough to explain this and why no one put a stop to it? The war clearly went on for along time, and both armies, no, combatants, he couldn't think as the isbhalans as an army, were losing many people. It shown in people faces and body language, and Kurt couldn't recognize the cheerful man he met when now he looked at Mae's eyes.

The alchemists showing up just seemed to make it worse, they were stronger and could kill more people faster, but they weren't stopping the conflict.

Alchemists.

He saw Roy's powers in the ship, he knew what the man could do. seeing him mixed in the war didn't come as much of a surprise thsi time.

[best_papa_evar]

Roy turned at the sound of Hughes' voice, and offered a smile while the other man patted him on the back. "Hughes! So you're here, too."

"Hey, it's been a while Ro--" he paused, correcting himself, "Oh--you're 'Major Mustang' now, aren't ya?"

The two knocked their knuckles together, a gesture of undamaged friendship: one a battered hand, the other a hand gloved by the sign of alchemy. Despite everything that had happened so far, Hughes genuinely felt a huge withheld sigh of relief, seeing a familiar face that wasn't in a gurney or on a cot.

"To be more precise," Roy replied with a small smile, "It's 'a position equivalent to Major'. I actually have about as much authority as a captain."

"Hahah, same as me!"

Roy turned away while Hughes folded his arms casually, as the alchemist began rinsing his hands and face in the luke warm tub of water nearby.

"You became a captain? When?" Roy asked between dripping hands.

"Just now! Out here, both people high and low keep dying. If you gain a little credit..." He was trying his best to be chipper and happy around his old friend, but when Roy removed the cool towel from his face Hughes faltered faintly. Roy's eyes were cold, emotionless, distant.

The eyes of a...

"You..." Hughes began, glasses glinting against the sunlight, "You've got a different look in your eyes."

Roy eyed him for a moment, before responding flatly, "You do, too."

The Flame Alchemist looked quietly down at the reflection of himself in the rippling water, as Hughes' gaze lowered to mimic his.

Finally, Roy continued, "They're killer's eyes."

Hughes went quiet for a moment, realizing he hadn't looked at himself in a while; it was foolish of him to look surprised at Roy's changed facade... when his was so much different as well. The youthful, spirited looks the two had shared in the academy were gone now.

"...Yeah."

[notasinglelady]

Kurt wait and watched, noticing the awkward silence before Roy spoke. He didn't waste his energy trying to talk to the people around him. as it was clear that no matter what scenery he was saying he was not visible. He didn't want to meddle in people's life, but he has no saying in this even if it mad e him feel bad.