#r!starter

He pushed open the door to the small cabin, slowly stepping in as the snow fell from his shoulders. His expression was as dreary as the weather was outside; every day both downcast. Some that could see him – considering as he never got company – would say it was painful how much he has changed and how apparent his lack of care was. But to him, it was much easier this way. The snow kept him numb and it was easier to not focus on his emotions. He was done with living through the constant mistakes and if halting all moving forward would stop them, then so be it.

As he pulled off his winter coat and hung it at the door, he noticed that the fire was out. He would freeze to death if he didn’t get another one started. It was almost painfully ironic how he had to live off of fire out here, but he wouldn’t dare to dabble in those thoughts. Instead he simply kicked his boots off and moved over to the fireplace, shifting a few pieces of wood before adding another in when the phone rang. It was piercing loud in the near dead silence of the cabin. And it actually elicited a bit of emotion out of the man, that being surprise.

Roy slowly shifted to the phone that was on a nearby end table, eyeing it a moment before deciding to answer. “Mustang,” he muttered voice low and cracking slightly with the two simple syllables. It was almost as though his vocal cords were numb too since he hasn’t spoken to anyone or anything in weeks It made him realize how lonely he truly was from the fact that he had no purpose to even talk.

“You sound a mess.”

A voice that would normally make him crack at least some sort of a smile, did nothing to him now. He only tipped his head to the side to hold the phone up against his shoulder as he gave himself a little bit of slack from the cord so that he could continue what he was doing. “How did you get this number?”

He heard Madame Christmas give a short snicker before speaking, “I have my connections.” Roy nodded to himself. It was a stupid question to ask. All of his girls – some of which he grew up with being a foster kid and all – had their own surprising amount of resources. He even had relied on them from time to time. “Cutting straight to the point,” she continued without hesitation. “I think you should come back to Central.”

His hand froze in his pocket, fingers clutching around the small box of matches. His pause and hesitance spoke for itself. She knew him better than anyone and he didn’t have to speak his troubles for her to guess them. He sighed and loosened his grip as he pulled out the matches. “I can’t do that,” he said softly, trying to keep some evenness to his voice as he attempted to flick a match to life.

“You want to do some good, right?” she snapped, but Roy could easily hear the tender sub tones beneath the irritated ones. She didn’t like him in this state and only wanted what was best, Roy knew that. He finally managed to strike a match as she continued, “This kid with the metal prosthetics showed up here and--.”

He couldn’t move. He felt his body being pinned down by what? He wasn’t sure. There was an undeniable weight pressing against him and he felt the still healing wounds in his hands stinging. He could feel his breathing pick up and a groan in response. He wanted to move so badly. He felt an urge to run, but for some reason, he was laying down immobilized.

And suddenly everything hurt. It was a pain he couldn’t pinpoint or describe accurately with any amount of words. It simply hurt. Each and every fiber of his body burned and throbbed with an intense amount of discomfort. He could clearly see vibrant flashes of blue coming from all around his frame. The color would be so alluring, if it wasn’t accompanied by suffering. He broke out in a sweat and his groan increased in volume to a low shout.

Roy Mustang tugged his black hat securely on the top of his head before slipping on his black coat that hung all the way down to his shoes. He left his military uniform folded on the chair next to his now unused hospital bed. He had asked his closest subordinate to retrieve it for him so that he could leave the next day. However, he wanted to take matters into his own hands. Still injured and in the middle of the night, no one would expect him to be walking out of here.

“Sorry, Lieutenant,” he mumbled into the darkness of the room that he shared with the blonde hair soldier. “I’m leaving you behind.” He made sure his coat was closed to hide the hospital outfit underneath it. He didn’t have anything else, but the military uniform, but that would surely get him discovered for sure. The point was to cause the least amount of attention and in the morning when the others saw his attire still in the room, they would just assume that he excused himself which would buy him more time.

He slowly pulled open the door and it was quiet all around, except for a few nurses checking the patients that needed the most care. It was easy for him to walk out without worry as the people around probably thought he was a visitor not an actual patient, although, as simple as it was to sneak by, his wound was throbbing with pain which made walking difficult.

A whole day off is something that Minyoung didn’t get to see very often, but moments like these where she got the afternoon off were way more reoccurring. She always had something or another planned everyday whether it is an interview or one of the many things company related. It made her wonder if this was her uncle’s way of keeping tabs on her. Having to make an appearance at work to make sure she didn’t slip or run into something to injure herself…or worse. And though it was partially irritating at the thought – what with the lack of trust or more expecting her to not be well off – it was still touching. In his own weird, controlling ways, it was how he cared for her and she didn’t really have anyone else to do so for her.

However, she didn’t have to see the man until a meeting later tonight with a sponsor. By the time she left the house with her personal driver, she had a good couple of hours to blow so she thought to decorate her room and maybe the house with some flowers, something she loved. She turned her attention to the man behind the wheel, facing him, but not actually looking at him. “Please drop me off here. I’d like to talk the rest of the way.” The weather was just starting to change into the cool, beautiful bliss of Fall and she wanted to enjoy it, especially since she had the time to.

By now, the employees were used to her making trips on her own, even if at first they protested it and even tried escorting her around. Then again, plenty of people always seemed surprised by the mere thought of a blind person out and about the city on their own. But she needed the independence regardless of what anyone else thought. “We are a few blocks away, but just follow this street up for another cross walk and turn left. Then ask someone to direct you the rest of the way, miss,” he instructed as he pulled over to the side of the road.

“Thank you,” she acknowledged with a soft smile as one hand blindly searched for the door handle while the other still lightly gripped the collapsed white cane that rested in her lap. When she managed to slowly get out of the car, she unfolded the cane and carefully followed the driver’s directions. All the while she waved her walking stick side to side, letting it clatter ahead on the pavement to signal a clear path. Only after she made a left on the sidewalk, she felt lost as she wasn't used to coming out this way, but the flower boutique she usually went to had gotten replaced by a clothing store causing her to find a new one…or attempt to.

“Wait…what?”

It’s the only thing that the young woman could get out of her mouth. It’s not that she misheard anything, but the news was dumbfounding to her. “It’s just got the time being,” he uncle replied as soothingly as his emotion would allow him. “Everyone is very busy lately and who knows, maybe the lady will by your friend, help you do things that you can’t.” In this moment, if she could storm off, she would have. Chances are that she’d end up running into something and hurting herself.

She opted on merely letting out a short winded sigh. “I can do just what I need to.” Minyoung was very independent woman. After nearly a decade with this blindness, she kind of needed to be. She couldn’t and surely didn’t want to go through her life with someone holding her hand all the time. Perhaps it was a bit harsh to be bitter about the situation since her uncle was probably the one who cared about her most, if not the only one. He was the man who practically had to raise her when everything went downhill.

Usually she wasn’t for the high class things, as she didn’t mind just sitting in a typically coffee shop for an hour, but she got the invite from one of her company’s promoters. Apparently it was for a party that only the rich and famous where going to. And albeit she fits the rich part, she isn’t exactly an idol, but she had just as much interviews as one. Or at least that’s what it felt. People everywhere have made a spectacle about her disability. And since she interviewed idols left and right, she got even more unintentional attention from their fans.

So Minyoung figured to go. Might as well take advantage of the opportunity laid out for her. If it meant getting out of the house, the company, and away from reporters, then she was all for it. It’ll give her some free time and time to relax. Just because she is blind, doesn’t make her boring or incapable having at least a little fun. So here she was, dropped off by her driver and escorted to the front door of the luxurious bar. She flashed the invitation to the bouncer at the door before she was let in and separated from her drive white cane in hand.

Minyoung day was completely empty surprisingly. No interviews, no meetings, nothing. Usually when this happened, finding herself with any bit of free time, she loved to spend it away from the company and out of the house. She hated feeling cramped up all day in the house as if she was a piece of furniture. She could easily go out and do things like everyone else could, even if the house workers and her uncle sometimes thought otherwise. And with an awkward coincidence as she carefully heading downstairs, her phone went off in her purse speaking out the man’s contact name in an automated voice, ‘Lee Kyungsam Ajusshi’.

She couldn’t help, but to let out a soft sigh as she stopped at the bottom of the staircase to dig through her bag and answer the phone, “Yes? What is it?” she asked, with no inclination in her tone that she was even slightly bothered. But truth be told, she was a bit leery of this phone call what with how presses has been pressing this CEO issue hard lately.

“A driver should be there soon to pick you up.” A sharp shooter. No asking. Just straight to the point. “When you arrive, please come to my office. There is someone I’d like for you to meet and we’ll have some business to discuss.” She almost wanted to pull in the opposite direction, but she knew that wouldn’t get her anywhere. Besides, she was assuming that it was either a promoter or press questioning about the CEO or her disability since calls like this usually ended in that way.

The young woman wasn’t exactly sure how she got rounded up to doing this. Going to a party wasn’t really her thing. There was a lot of noise and a lot of people. For a blind person it wasn’t exactly an ideal situation. However, a friend of hers told her that she needed a break, which definitely couldn’t be denied. And partially she said yes because the girl kept pressing her that it would be an awesome early Halloween party and that she had the ‘perfect’ character for Minyoung.

Honestly, once she heard the character - Mio Amakura from a video game called Fatal Frame - she got curious. Minyoung, who at first didn’t really want to go, ended up asking a bunch of questions about the character and even listened to her friend play through the endings. It truly was perfect for her. The character sports a blindfold around her eyes after assumingly going blind for some reason or another, Min wasn’t exactly sure.