02 { feb 13: late afternoon } { video[s] }

[comradery]

[The network was spammed with a flood of messages in the span of a few minutes. Instead of posting each separately, it compiles them into a single post since there are so many. Each block is a separate message.

He posts all of them publicly since there is nothing remotely private about them. They're all addressed to Roy though. Who cares about saving Roy's face? It's not like Roy's in charge of a bunch of people, right?]



Roooooooooooooooooy, I'm BORED. Hey, you should come over.



Roy. Roy. Hey, Roy. I'll bet you'll never guess what Elicia did a few nights ago. It was the most adorable thing ever! I had just got home, and I was really tired bu— [The video cuts off suddenly.]



ROY, MY APARTMENT'S ON FIRE. [He looks frantic, but there is no evidence of a fire in the background behind him.]



Hey, stop working and get your ass over here, Mustang. I'm dying of boredom, over here!



There's nothing to do, Roy. You should come over and share some of that paperwork with me! And by share, I mean, give it to me and don't do any of it at all.



Hey, didja' know that Falman has impeccable memory? I tried moving the chess pieces once when he wasn't looking, and he figured it out as soon as he looked at the board again. Yeesh! How about we play a round, Roy?



Roy, have you ever seen a toilet paper roll be flushed down the toilet? Not the whole thing, but if you pull the paper over from the holder, put it in the water, and then flush it? It's pretty funny. It's probably a waste of paper though.



...okay, so I ran out of toilet paper. That wasn't a really good idea. Roy, could you get some toilet paper for me? I'm out. Please? Pleeeease? [In the background, anyone can see that he still has toilet paper though...]



Seriously, Roy, you should stop working and come over here. Don't leave me hanging!



Alright. You know what? Since you probably think my place is complete boring, and there's no reason to come by, how about I show you something you can't resist?
[The video moves and focuses in on Amaterasu, who's sleeping on Hughes' bed. After a few seconds, it shifts back to Hughes, who is smirking.]
What was that? I couldn't hear what you said over your sheer jealousy.

Comments

[comradery]

Thanks.

[He wheels over and waits patiently. It was something he was fairly used to by now.]

There should be ice in the freezer if you want it.

[thewarisover]

Do you?

[Stopping by just long enough to set a glass in front of Hughes.]

[comradery]

I'm fine, thanks.

[He grins up at Roy regardless.]

[thewarisover]

All right.

[And he's finally settling his back against the kitchen counter, close to the sink, across from Hughes. He didn't want to sit down yet.]

...Dig in, I guess.

[comradery]

You aren't hungry?

[He picks up the utensils and starts, knowing that if he keeps waiting, Roy will feel uncomfortable.]

Heh. You're right. These are really good.

[thewarisover]

[Takes a sip of his water, swishes it about in his glass, looks down at it.]

Don't have much of an appetite.

[comradery]

Mm... That's because you think too much. When you do that, you'll forget about eating, and that's no good. Water doesn't fill your stomach, you know.

[He would not force Roy to eat, so gently nudges would have to suffice.]

...anyway, I really am glad that you came.

[He leaves the reasoning go unsaid since Roy probably knows and would not want to hear it actually being said.]

[thewarisover]

[He doesn't say anything for a bit again. There's a brief but telling flicker of something across his face, though. Pain? Maybe.]

I couldn't not see you.

[In spite of everything.]

[comradery]

Probably not, but that doesn't mean you'd have to actually come.

[As he says this, he points a dumpling at Roy. He eats it soon after and shrugs. He knows something else is wrong, but he does not know how to ask. Best to let Roy work up the courage for that one. Change the topic for now.]

So, your eye... What happened there?

[thewarisover]

I got shot after taking the Fuhrer in my version of our world out.

[Might as well say it straight.]

[comradery]

In the eye? That doesn't sound too pleasant. You made it to the top then? But why take out the Führer? Unless...that had something to do with what I found out...

[He had his own suspicions after all. He would ask what Roy meant by version later.]

[thewarisover]

It had everything to do with what you discovered. Our enemies were right within our own forces. [Setting the glass down now, and finally looking at Hughes.] It's the same for the Amestris that Fullmetal, Hawkeye and Ling all come from, which would be the same place that you're from.

[comradery]

Hn... So then Führer was really behind it...? The transmutation circle covering Amestris.

[He looks back at Roy with concern. Shit. How were his wife and daughter fairing through that...?

He can't handle worrying Roy though, so he glances down soon after and takes a drink of water to distract himself.]

I suppose the both of you managed to stop what was going on? Edward and them too, though I don't know who Ling is. All of that is pretty...
...fuck. It almost makes me feel like a fucking moron for ever fighting in that damned war...

[He was still calm, but he was extremely pissed. Despite trying to have a broader vision of the world, he had once again played a mere pawn in someone else's stupid game.]

[thewarisover]

You didn't know. We all didn't.

[He looks down, fingers tapping against the glass.]

We put a stop to things in my Amestris. I'm not sure how things will be resolved in yours.

[comradery]

[He sighs. Not knowing does not really make it better, but...]

Right. Not like we can change that...

That's good to hear, even if mine is supposed to be different. Explain what you mean by versions of worlds. I'm a little lost on that. I get the world thing, but shouldn't we all be from the same world?

[The whole idea of parallel universes was something he had only heard in passing before. It seemed too fantastical to be real though.]

[thewarisover]

There are apparently two different timelines of our world. I've got notes on the differences, compiled over the eight months that I've been here, and... and the many from both timelines that have come and gone during my stay.

[The hand by the glance clenched.]

...The first Maes Hughes that arrived here was from mine. You're not.

[comradery]

Hm. I'll need to take a look at that some time, if you don't mind. It'd be nice to...know what happened.

[If differing timelines exist, Hughes sort of hopes he could be from one where he is not dead. There is no way to tell, though.

He tenses slightly when Roy continues. He never expected to hear that, but if there really were different timelines, then...
Maybe he was actually just intruding on this version of Roy's life.]

...what happened to him? If I'm allowed to ask. How do you know that I'm not from yours?

[It was more confusion on his part than doubt. How could Roy already have decided such a thing? Was it something he had done? Was he actually different from the Hughes that Roy had known? His head was starting to hurt. He did not like this differing timeline business. It was too abstract.]

[thewarisover]

You've got no memories of Death City. That became obvious, when you asked about the eye.

[He did a full stop right there. There was another thing that had proven it to him, rather definitively, but saying it was going to make things Very Strange, wasn't it?]

[comradery]

Huh. Couldn't I have just lost them though? I mean... Well, I don't know how BREW works, but it's possible, right?

[It was a reasonable possibility, he thought.]

And didn't you say that happened before you arrived here? How would I know about it unless that was something that happened when I wasn't... You know. Unless it did. I don't know.

[He shrugs, passively. He is mostly just confused and is not offended at all by the idea that he might not be the Hughes Roy knew.]

[thewarisover]

Hughes...

[He purses his lips. He really, really doesn't want to have to say it.]

[comradery]

Roy...
Please. There's nothing I can hold against you, even if you are from a different timeline.

[He really meant that. Roy meant too much to him. Regardless of how different Roy might think his is from the Roy Hughes is supposed to know, everything about him is exactly the same: it's impossible to look over this fact.]

Just tell me how you know. I won't get upset.

[Really, the only thing that would be upsetting is if Roy tried to bring him back from the dead, but even Hughes knew that Roy knew better than that.]

/legit stared at this tag for an hour

[thewarisover]

[He doesn't answer, not for a long time. When he does, it's with a level of hesitance that is usually unheard in a man like him.]

Back during the Academy, and in Ishval... you and I. Did we ever...?

[Goddamn.]

Sorry... OTL

[comradery]

[...well, he had not expected the conversation to suddenly steer in that direction, but at least Roy said something. He finds it a bit disconcerting that he knows exactly what Roy is trying to ask though.]

...no. We didn't.

[He does not really know what to say after that.

He sighs and takes another drink.]

...

He still got married after that...didn't he.

[He says it like it is a fact. If that Hughes is anything like he is, he knows he would have. The plan had always been about having a family.]

it was a good sort of pain. ;w;

[thewarisover]

Yes.

[Wow, this was uncomfortable. See why he hadn't wanted to tell you?]

So there you have it. You're different.

OTL

[comradery]

No.

[It is not like Roy would know. After all, it is something Hughes felt should go unsaid, but maybe that was a problem in itself.]

I'm not as different as you might think.

[He hesitates. Is he really going to tell this Roy?

Shit. He used to always think he could just carry it to the grave and never speak of it, but... After what this Roy has gone through, he feels really guilty, even if it is not his actual fault. It makes him wonder if his own Roy had the same troubled feelings, and the fact that he is probably dead becomes even more dreadful to him.

He takes a deep breath and decides to continue.]

...there's something I should say. About...that.
I won't say it unless you're willing to hear me out, though. I can understand if you think I have no place to say anything, since I'm not...your Hughes, but...from what I can tell, even if things played out differently in our timelines, we're still the same person. If that makes sense... We just made different choices.