Memento

Sep. 14th, 2008 03:43 pm
pandora_culpa: (Ed golden eye)
[personal profile] pandora_culpa
Little bit of a fic clearinghouse activity today... I'm transferring some past ficlets that were posted to my personal journal, but never made it over here to my writing journal, where they really belong. So- clean-up today, since the little imp I live with is making it clear that there will be no actual writing done until she's tucked into bed tonight. Oh well...

So... first up is a piece that I wrote for the Fahrenheit 107 Fic challenge. [livejournal.com profile] evil_whimsey and me make these things up all the time; we're good at amusing ourselves. She gave me a prompt to work with (Roy keeps a secret scrapbook of Fullmetal's newspaper clippings), and this is the result. Came out pretty good, despite being unpolished and short. Meh. Whatever. It was kinda fun, all the same.

Memento



Alchemist Rebuilds Bridge, Saves Twelve...

Scissors make a soft schuss, as they trim out the strip of newsprint. He hums absently, laying it out onto the beige paper and affixing it alongside similar clippings with small squares of tape. The article secured, he pauses, looking back over all the others that crowd the pages of the scrapbook. He knows the tales they tell, often in greater detail than the journalist who wrote the words, but he spends a moment on each of them all the same. Spanning back over the course of almost six years, their tones ranging from outrage, to incredulity, to sheer adulation, they detail the works of a single man, and he has kept them all.

Town Water Supplies Purified By Passing Alchemist...

Even when the name isn't given, he knows who has done the deeds. Sometimes the proof came in a hasty and messily scrawled report, flung carelessly on his desk, and sometimes intuition informs him. But he's never wrong. And with or without the name, the article is removed and secured with the rest.

Burcheesa ne 'Fullmetal Alchemist'- Coud' Amestris- Lixhana Purvast e Hochant...

Some of the articles, he cannot even read. Fingers brush lightly at the edges of the clipping from Creta's main paper, with its yellowing photograph of a youth nearly swamped by the crush of a crowd, face alight with fierce pride. He always pauses here, as much for the photograph which captured the young man so perfectly, as for the fact that this article nearly escaped his collection. It was the first he'd found from another country, but he soon expanded his net to capture the ones that followed. Cretan, Drachman... even a slender slip of rice paper from Xing, printed in symbols he couldn't hope to interpret, but prefaced with an artist's rendering in bright paints.

Fullmetal Alchemist Captures Serial Killer From Eastern City...

He seldom sees Fullmetal any longer, being busy with his own duties, while the young man travels incessantly; a holdover from the perpetual quest which made up his early life. The days when the young man would appear in his office unannounced (and less frequently, when requested) are long past, though still close in memory. The heavy scrapbook he keeps, filled with pages upon pages of illicit peeks into a life with which he'd only ever been peripherally associated, is the nearest thing he has to the once-familiar, volatile companionship he'd known with the Alchemist for the People.

State Alchemist Institution Abolished; Alchemists Turn In Their Watches...

He had hoped, with the passing of the wars and the return of peace, to see more of the prodigy he'd found years ago, to watch him grow into a man of distinction, receiving the recognition and accolades his enormous talent deserves. With a chuckle of irony, he thinks that he's gotten at least half of that desire, if not the half he'd have preferred. And his hands curl possessively around the edges of the book.

Former State Alchemist Rescues Kidnapped Diplomat...

One day, he thinks, he will donate the scrapbook to the Central Library, so that this young man's illustrious history can be fully appreciated by the archivists. The stories it tells are so astounding and various that each deserve their own book, but the little clippings will have to suffice to relate the tales to future generations. He knows how easy it is for history to sweep past, and for even men as extraordinary as Edward Elric to be forgotten beneath the weight of the years. But this book is his own personal crusade against the negligence of time. It's the least he can do, to preserve the best memories of his former comrade.


With a sigh, the Fuhrer closes the book, slipping it back in its customary location behind the hanging files in his desk drawer. Someday, he'll share it with the world. But not yet. For now he holds the memories close, private; his vicarious involvement with a person who has wandered beyond his ability to touch.

Date: 2008-09-16 06:48 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] rinfang.livejournal.com
I really like this. It's so sad, but something that I can see actually happening in the manga or anime, whether you take it as Roy/Ed or not.

Date: 2008-09-17 01:50 am (UTC)
ext_27574: (FMA- Roy Flame Alchemist)
From: [identity profile] pandoraculpa.livejournal.com
Thanks! I was rather pleased with how this one came out. As much as I'd love to hope for the two of them to develop some kind of closeness (shippy or otherwise- although shippiness between them will never occur in canon!), this seems a little closer to the truth. Either way though, it was a fun exercise, and I'm glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for reading! :)

Date: 2008-09-16 06:57 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] mustanginblue.livejournal.com
Wow, I like this one! Erm...you should expand it hehehehe (I love happy Roy/Ed ending!!! I can't help it!) But this was beautifully written even if it is a bit heartbreaking!!

Date: 2008-09-17 01:52 am (UTC)
ext_27574: (FMA- Roy Flame Alchemist)
From: [identity profile] pandoraculpa.livejournal.com
Thank you so much! Yeah, I really like happy Roy/Ed endings too. In the deepest recesses of my heart, I hope that Ed shows up on Fuhrer Roy's doorstep one day, and makes all that wistful yearning go away...

Thanks for the lovely comment, m'dear! :)

Date: 2008-09-18 03:15 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] cairaguas.livejournal.com
I love the nostalgia in this and the little glimpses into what really must be an amazing life story. The headlines sound like headlines; Roy sounds like what Roy must secretly sound like; Ed perpetually travels like he must always travel. I like this piece lots.

Date: 2008-09-18 12:56 pm (UTC)
ext_27574: (FMA- Roy Flame Alchemist)
From: [identity profile] pandoraculpa.livejournal.com
Thank you! Those headlines were actually the hardest part of the piece to write. And Roy... my heart aches for him a little, really. (But then, I seem to take perverse pleasure in beating up on him. He takes it so beautifully.)

I'm so pleased that you liked the story. Thanks for reading! :D

Date: 2009-03-19 05:08 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] patterson1219.livejournal.com
Wow, that was an intense serious fic. The articles titles were genius... it would be crazy awesome to read a fic where the 'State Alchemist Institution' would be abolished. Would it create mass chaos or nothing more than minor blip? And the fact that Mustang has faithfully followed Edward throughout his journey while remaining in the shadows... *sigh* Perfection, yet again.

Date: 2009-03-19 01:40 pm (UTC)
ext_27574: (FMA- Roy- Flame Alchemist)
From: [identity profile] pandoraculpa.livejournal.com
Those article titles were the absolute hardest part of this ficlet. It's really tough to come up with those terse newsblurbs; I suck at technical writing, ha! And I just love the idea of Roy's silent devotion to Ed across the years...

Thanks for reading; I'm really happy you liked it! :)

Date: 2009-06-10 06:18 pm (UTC)
ext_30566: (Default)
From: [identity profile] musichika-tg.livejournal.com
Oh. You broke my heart a little with this one. :)

Date: 2009-06-11 07:41 pm (UTC)
ext_27574: (FMA- Roy- chess)
From: [identity profile] pandoraculpa.livejournal.com
This story was fun to write, although the article headings were actually very difficult to come up with. The prompt set me up with such a quietly sad inspiration... I'm glad the feeling carried over. :) Thanks for reading!

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