The beach - Saturday Morning

[light_a_spark]

Roy hadn't slept since he'd talked to Molly - he wasn't counting the unplanned nap he'd taken on Thursday before getting hug-attacked - and now that apparently he had the freedom to, he was too awake.

He found a quiet spot along the beach and sat down in the sand. Even the morning sun already felt warm on his dark blue uniform and he dug the heels of his boots into the sand. He remembered this kind of heat, but it wouldn't turn as blistering as it had in the Ishbalan desert. The beach was very different from any desert and the scent of the ocean was one he rather liked. It was nothing like Amestris and right now, it was good to be reminded of that.

If radio was right, then the students had dealt with the threat themselves. Roy grimaced. Somehow he kept failing to keep people safe and children, too young to have to deal with these kind of horrors, kept having to pay the price for it. It didn't help that as far as he knew, he might not have been able to stop this guy either. Not with just a gun and not even flame alchemy would have worked.

If alchemy worked here. Ed's theory about the flow of energy had made him wonder, but it felt strange that Alphonse wouldn't have told him. He slowly started drawing a simple array into the sand. It was meant to simply reshape the sand beneath into whatever sort of sculpture he could think of. Roy stared down at it. It was one of the simplest principles of alchemy: take the material and give it a new form. Deconstruct and rebuild, yet somehow he had managed to take these two base principles and make his whole life about the deconstruction.

His stomach roiled at the thought and he remembered too many faces, too much pain. His hand was shaky as he rested it in the sand, inches away from the transmutation circle before he erased it from the sand with one angry sweep.

((So I got wordy. Post is open, but he is in a mood.))

Comments

[light-a-spark.livejournal.com]

His shoulders tensed and he wiped the sand off on his pants.

"It was successful," he said in a rough voice.

[tricksy-spy.livejournal.com]

She looked back out at the water, listening to the waves roll in for a long moment and gave him some space before she said anything else.

[light-a-spark.livejournal.com]

The quiet worked well for him and he let his mind go blank. It was easier to not think with Aly beside him and the lack of sleep was slowly starting to catch up with him.

[tricksy-spy.livejournal.com]

"You need to sleep more," she said very softly, almost under the noise of the waves.

[light-a-spark.livejournal.com]

"It was a long week," he replied as quietly.

[tricksy-spy.livejournal.com]

She nodded her agreement. "Still you're not good to anyone exhausted." Her voice was less admonishing than simply stating the quiet fact.

[light-a-spark.livejournal.com]

"I'm aware," he assured her, not taking offense. It amused him as he was sure Hawkeye would be telling him the same thing. "I wouldn't have been able to sleep yet."

[tricksy-spy.livejournal.com]

"Ah."

She let that rest for a moment.

[light-a-spark.livejournal.com]

"I'd have gotten sleep if this had lasted longer," he added even as he wasn't sure why.

[tricksy-spy.livejournal.com]

"Because you'd've collapsed from exhaustion?" she asked, a bit more lightly.

[light-a-spark.livejournal.com]

He made a face at her. "It needed to get resolved quickly," he replied. Not that he resolved anything at all.

[tricksy-spy.livejournal.com]

"I know," she agreed. "But my point remains."

[light-a-spark.livejournal.com]

"I'm sure it does," he said in a lighter, almost teasing tone.

[tricksy-spy.livejournal.com]

She tilted her head at him. "Glad you acknowledge it."

[light-a-spark.livejournal.com]

"Hmmmm," he glanced down at the chessboard she'd drawn in the sand and then wiped out a random piece. "Would you be up for a game if I do get some sleep?"

[tricksy-spy.livejournal.com]

"Sleep first would be a necessity, yes," she replied. "You'd be too easy a target now."

[light-a-spark.livejournal.com]

He raised an eyebrow. "Is that a challenge?"

[tricksy-spy.livejournal.com]

She smirked. "Wouldn't be much of one for me."

[light-a-spark.livejournal.com]

"Cocky," he tilted his head back, his hair falling away from his face. "I'm afraid I'm going to have to agreed."

[tricksy-spy.livejournal.com]

"That's almost too bad," she commented, watching him.

[light-a-spark.livejournal.com]

"I know you love arguing," he assured her, "but I'd hate to fail to keep you interested in a match."

[tricksy-spy.livejournal.com]

"An arguing match?" Aly asked innocently.

[light-a-spark.livejournal.com]

He shook his head. "That I can do without any sleep at all."

[tricksy-spy.livejournal.com]

"I don't doubt it," she replied. She grinned. "You strike me as the type."

She glanced down at the 'chessboard' and rubbed out another piece. "Is it that the students ended up dealing with the attacker on their own?"

[light-a-spark.livejournal.com]

He'd thought he'd sufficiently distracted her, but he should have known better. His shoulders slumped and he turned his attention back towards the sea. "I took his job to keep them safe," he said.

He wasn't just talking about the sheriff job.