Farewell (Part 1 - Berthold)

[Year 1900]

That night was the most painful night ever for Roy. He was beaten to a pulp and the puppy with whom he just had a lovely friendship was killed right before his eyes. It doesn't matter whether that someone is a human or not, once we lose them, it takes quite a while to understand that we should move on. And if that someone is taken from us, we let our rage consume us, and plunge us into the darkness of revenge.

After losing his consciousness, Roy finally returned to reality. He was closing his eyes when he heard some faint noise which kept on getting stronger. And finally, he could hear someone speaking near him. It was the voice of a girl. She was talking to someone,

"Miss Becker, I think he is waking up"

Roy then heard some footsteps, and he opened his eyes to find out what was going on. When he opened his eyes, he saw Ms. Matilda Becker and Riza were looking at him. When he saw around him, he found himself on a bed. Moreover, he was covered in bandages.

Watching Roy awake, Matilda asked,

"How are you feeling?" She said with the concern of a mother

Roy was already looking very anxious. So, instead of replying to Matilda's question, Roy asked his own question,

"What happened? Where is Hikari?"

When Riza heard Roy asking about Hikari, her eyes filled with anguish and her chin started trembling. She was trying hard to hold in her tears, but they slipped out finally. In order to hide her tears, she ran out of the room.

Roy could not figure out why she ran. So, he looked toward Matilda and asked,

"Why did she run away?"

"Roy" Matilda spoke his name and stopped

Roy was desperately looking at Matilda, but she was hesitating to tell him the truth. Finally, Matilda had to give up. She looked at Roy with a sad face, and said with a heavy voice,

"Hikari is dead"

Roy was speechless. He was in complete disbelief,

"B…b…but, how? It can't be true. How can he die?" He stuttered

"When I was returning home this morning, I found you badly beaten, lying against a tree, and Hikari was also there, lying beside you. The only difference between him and you was that you were breathing and he was not. Riza and I buried him in our backyard" She said slowly and with a heavy voice

Images of the incident then started appearing in Roy's mind in flashes. He remembered last night when he was beaten and saw Hikari getting beaten by those kids. Roy's eyes filled with tears, he couldn't believe that he failed to protect Hikari.

He was so disappointed and angry with himself that he forced himself out of the bed and fell on the floor. Matilda ran to him and tried to help him get on the bed, but he refused to take any help. Matilda got concerned because of his activities and asked with a worried face,

"What are you doing?"

Roy was unable to stand up but, he kept on crawling toward the door. He was in a lot of pain and the tears of disappointment were dropping from his eyes. When Matilda again tried to help him, he yelled at her,

"DON'T STOP ME. I AM A FAILURE, YOU SHOULD HAVE LEFT ME TO DIE OUT THERE"

He continued to crawl toward the door, and finally, when he reached there, he saw someone's feet. He looked up to see who that was, and saw a tall man in his forties, wearing a white shirt, black trousers and a maroon shawl around his shoulder. The man's blonde hair was pretty untidy.

It was Berthold Hawkeye, the man for whom Roy was waiting all these days outside the house. Berthold looked down on Roy, and asked a rhetoric question,

"I thought you came here to learn alchemy?"

Roy's tears were stopped. He was stars trucked, he spoke slowly,

"Master Hawkeye?"

"I haven't accepted you as my disciple yet. And, I might not accept someone who cannot face the harsh truth of reality. What is born, must die one day, that's the law of nature. If you cannot accept the law of nature, then you are not ready to learn alchemy" Berthold replied in a stoic voice

"But, I could have saved Hikari" Roy sounded disappointed in himself

"You already saved him when you decided to take care of him. If you would not have been present outside my house that day, then the puppy would have died eventually out of hunger or killed by some other dogs" Berthold said

Roy did not know what to say after that. He lowered his head to avert his eyes from Berthold. But, Berthold bent down to help him get up and Roy didn't fight back as he did with Matilda. Berthold helped him go to the bed and lie there. Then he said,

"Now rest. The quicker you get well, the sooner we can start with your training"

Finally, after all his long wait, Berthold accepted him as his disciple but, he didn't seem happy. He didn't even react, he was continuously staring at the ceiling, thinking about his failure. Berthold understood that he was angry, so as a teacher, he fulfilled his first responsibility by giving him some wisdom. He said with empathy,

"I know, you are angry. I know you want to take revenge, but it will lead you nowhere. Taking an eye for an eye is never the right option, if everybody decides to take an eye for an eye then the whole world will be left with blinds, and you know as well as I know that we cannot appreciate the beauty that the world has to offer us, if we cannot see"

Roy looked at Berthold with his sad eyes, and asked with a heavy tone,

"Then what should I do? Just let them go? Even after what they did?"

"Yes, and promise me, after learning alchemy you will only use it to help people, not hurt" Berthold replied

Roy could not say anything for a moment. He was continuously looking at Berthold, trying to hold down his tears and control his trembling chin. Then finally, he looked away from Berthold and replied,

"I promise"

Berthold then looked at Matilda, who was standing at the other side of the bed, and said,

"Ms. Becker, Roy will be staying in your room from now on, and you will be staying with Riza"

"Fine, whatever you say. Anyways, your daughter comes to my room every night so, it won't be a new thing for me" She replied with a little extra information

"Why does she sleep in your room?" Berthold enquired

"If you had ever tried to be like a father, then you would have known. She doesn't have any friends so, she likes to talk with me every night and falls asleep in my bed" She answered like she was scolding

After getting the answers, Berthold remained calm as if he was not surprised by the new information. He then turned around and left the room without speaking a word.

It took some time for Roy to get well, both mentally and physically. After getting well, he started going to the common study room where Berthold used to keep his books, and studied there. Riza also started spending more and more time in the study room with Roy. Riza always lacked a friend, which was now fulfilled by Roy's presence. Sometimes when they were not having any work or study to do, they used to go to the nearby lake and rest under an unusual black olive tree which was big, shady, without thorns and had never borne fruit. The tree was a landmark of that town.