Desert Rose (a Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood fic)

Disc.: I'm sure I've said this plenty of times before, but I don't own this series or any other I write fics about…so there's really no need to ask.

A/N: So, I pride myself on the unusual pairings that exist in an anime/manga/game series, and I try to contribute to that ever growing pool on the site. This means that any fics I write, people can love em or hate em, it's all up to them. Anyway, I started watching the original FMA series again, and an idea popped into my head after I watched episode 8 in English. I asked myself 'What if Barry the Chopper was targeting young boys instead of women and kidnapped Ed? And what if Ed was dating Scar without anyone knowing?' These questions found their way into my brain and I just had to contribute to the small pool of EdxScar fics, because this paring needs more support and perhaps more love…no more author's note, it's chappie time!

Ch.1- Imprisoned

The first time Edward Elric met the one called Scar was when he was 9 years old, he had taken a late class and was walking home with a lantern in hand when he heard a grunt of what sounded like pain. Being only 9 and curious about everything around him, Ed followed the sound and the trail of blood until his lantern caught the shadow of a boot. He cautiously hid behind a tree in case the boot belonged to a corpse, but was surprised to see that the boot belonged to a man.

He eyed the man from behind his tree, and Ed couldn't help but feel a small blush appear on his face. The man looked to be at least 15 to 16 years old, and was gripping his arm as blood ran down it in great rivulets. He had tan skin and a crop of white hair on his head with gray hair underneath it, and he was wearing sunglasses to hide his eyes. But what caught Ed's attention was the large X shaped white scar on his face that sat in the direct middle of it, as he watched the man he ended up stepping on a twig as he tried to back away from the man's intimidating gaze.

"Who's there? Show yourself!" the man yelled, scaring the 9 year old boy as he came out from behind his tree with lantern in hand. The man saw who had made the noise, astonished that it was a kid standing before him. He felt this kid couldn't be older than 9 or maybe even 10 years old, he had short golden blonde hair and equally golden eyes with pale skin that greatly contrasted his own tan skin. He was looking at him with fear and worry in his eyes, this made the Ishvallan man wonder why exactly a little kid was worried about him of all people.

"Um, excuse me but…do you need help? You seem to be hurt." The boy spoke in as brave a voice as he could dredge up in the face of such a frightening visage, the man's expression softening somewhat at the boy's wondering about his condition.

"I'm fine, this is just a flesh wound. There's no need for you to worry about me, you should get home to your parents before it gets to be really dark out."

"Well, if you're sure…but at least let me wrap the injury up somewhat, you don't want to let it get infected or exposed." The young boy said as he ripped his jacket sleeve off and wrapped as tightly as he could around the bloody injury, surprising the Ishvallan man. He just knew this boy would achieve great things someday, but for now this was as close as he was gonna get.

"There, all done." He looked down at the boy's handiwork, it was tied very nicely. It wasn't too tight or too loose, and it managed to stop the blood flow somewhat. He reached out with his other hand and ruffled the boy's hair gently, such kindness was still so new to him seeing as he was a refugee on the run from Ishval Killers.

"Thank you young one, I'll be fine from here on out. For now, you should get home before your parents start to worry about you."

"Ok, I guess I'll see you around then."

"What's your name, young one?"

"It's Edward. And you?"

"I gave up my name a long time ago, but you can call me Scar."

Ed nodded and then left, neither of them aware that they'd be seeing each other again someday.

(3 years later)

Ed was now a certified State Alchemist, the youngest in history at only 12 years old. He was currently handling a case that he'd absolutely despised, he had to catalogue Shou Tucker's research. He would never forgive the man for turning his own daughter into a Chimera just so he wouldn't lose his State Alchemy Certification. Ed had nearly beaten the man to death and then got pissed off at Roy for making him get more involved in the maniac's depraved research materials. This led him to get angry at Al for no reason before he stormed off and refused to complete the task, causing Roy to make him relinquish his pocketwatch until he agreed to follow orders. As he kept walking down the street, he passed by the alleyway where Nina had been obliterated by what appeared to be the work of an Alchemist, the memory still fresh in his mind and it only served to make him more depressed. He was so deep in thought that he never even noticed that he'd bumped into someone until he felt them brush his arm.

Ed looked to see who'd gotten too close only to come face to face with the man from 3 years ago, the one he'd helped in the forest that night.

"You're…Scar?"

"Edward Elric? It seems that you've grown up quite a bit in these last 3 years, what brings you to Central?"

"I needed to clear my mind, I've been so stressed out these last few days and I'm trying to dislodge an unpleasant memory from my head."

"I see. Tell me, what troubles you young one?" Scar asked the blonde Alchemist gently, he seemed to be in a very fragile state at the moment. He reminded Scar of an abandoned kitten that had been kicked to the curb for no real reason, it was adorable how sad he looked right now.

"Well…you see, we stayed with a man named Shou Tucker while studying for an exam. We got along really well with his daughter Nina, she was like a little sister to us. But then, her father turned her into a Chimera and then she…she was murdered, and I couldn't do anything to stop it from happening!" Edward by this point was full on crying, his wailing sobs carrying into the air like flower petals. Scar pulled Ed towards him and embraced the young boy while running his hands soothingly up and down his small back.

"I see…you poor child, your mind is in so much pain right now. I only wish that I could ease some of it away, but doing so might hurt you more. Walk it off, and I'm sure you'll feel better soon."

Ed nodded into Scar's shirt, his tears staining it as he finally got the tears to stop enough to only let sniffling get out of his system. Scar then smiled down at Ed as he ruffled his hair before walking off, his retreating back the last thing Edward saw as he turned and walked off. After roughly an hour of walking around Central, Ed saw that it was starting to get late as the sun was rather high in the sky above him. He was about to head back to Headquarters when he heard sniffling from an alleyway off to his right, his curiosity guiding him as he found a woman crouching in a corner and crying. Ed noticed that it was somewhat cold and idly wondered where that coldness came from, but he ignored it to help the woman.

"Hey, are you alright ma'am? Is there anyone else with you?"

The woman pointed shakily at the other side of the alley, her voice coming out in quick shuddering breaths.

"Over there, a young man…he needs help." The woman said, and when Ed turned to look where she was pointing he never even noticed the extremely thick wooden bat being raised up to the back of his neck.

"Ok, I'll grab him and then come back for you. Don't worry miss, you're safe n-" that was the last thing Ed managed to get out before his world turned dark, the woman's feet being what he saw before he passed out. As Ed slumped to the ground unconscious, the woman slung him over her shoulder and tied him up. She then threw him into the back of a truck and smiled evilly to herself as she imagined all the fun she was gonna have with this one.

He was exactly her type too, young and blonde. She especially liked blonde boys with unusual eye colors, and his were a shade of molten gold that one would never find anywhere else as she drove back to her butcher shop.

(Central Headquarters)

The time was ticking away uneventfully as Roy Mustang sat at his desk filling out documents. His mind kept going back to Edward's obvious sorrow at what had happened to Nina at the hands of her father and then his anger at her murder at the hands of some rogue Alchemist, but he couldn't let every little thing deter him from protecting the people of Central and Amestris. He let his dark blue eyes fall on Ed's watch, perhaps he'd been a little too harsh with the boy in demanding that he hand it over until he cooled his head off enough to finish his assigned task. That was nearly 2 hours ago, and Fullmetal wasn't back yet. Roy shook his head, perhaps he'd just decided to take an extended walk and would be back later.

As he kept filling out the documents, Hawkeye walked into his office and set 2 more small piles on his desk. Her eyes drifted to Ed's watch, a sigh escaping her lips and her eyebrows knitting together at how childish Roy had acted when he demanded that Fullmetal relinquish it to him until further notice.

"Sir, maybe you shouldn't have acted like you did towards Edward. He may be a State Alchemist like the rest of us, but he's still barely 13 years old. This case is affecting him more than even he would admit, and your behavior towards him didn't exactly help in making him feel better."

"Look Hawkeye, I get what you're saying…but until he learns to respect his superiors and harden up a bit, then he's going to be punished. He's just lucky I didn't stick him in the Filing Room and make him sort documents by himself for 6 hours, compared to that I'm actually a saint Hawkeye. Now, what all else did you come in here for?"

"We've got more news on the serial killer that's been targeting people around Central, Lt. Colonel. Hughes' investigation turned up some new leads as to what their M.O. is."

"And? What did he find out, Hawkeye?"

"We've recovered new evidence from one of the bodies found on scene at the riverbank. It seems that the killer is targeting young boys, mostly blonde and really young, at least anywhere between 12 to 17…but that's not the most disturbing part, Roy."

"If that's not disturbing enough for you, what could be worse than that?"

"All the victims' bodies were chopped up into pieces…they also found evidence of forced entry and anal tearing, as well as blood and semen still in the broken hymen."

Roy had to hold his lunch down at how Hawkeye said it so easily, it was bad enough the victims were found chopped into pieces but they'd been raped before their deaths? Roy wanted to shudder at the thought of how anyone could do that to such young kids, especially boys. As he let the information sink in, Mustang felt his blood freeze somewhat at what Hawkeye had said that the victims were all young blonde boys.

'Young, blonde boys? Oh no…if that's true, then-'

Before he could finish his train of thought, Al burst into the office and turned on the radio.

"Alphonse, what are you doing?" Hawkeye asked worriedly.

"There's a radio broadcast on about the serial killer!"

Everyone, including Roy, immediately dropped what they were doing and listened to the broadcast with rapt attention.

'We have breaking news on the recent serial killings, it seems that another young man was abducted off the streets an hour ago. This latest victim seems to fit the killer's M.O., young and blonde. Evidence was found at the scene, a red jacket and strands of blonde hair belonging to the victim have been recovered by the State Alchemists' Investigations Department, however no news of the young man's identity has been issued as of late.'

As the radio broadcast ended, Roy felt his heart stop at what he'd heard. A red jacket and blonde strands of hair? There was only one Alchemist with that trademark, and Mustang felt like all the air had been knocked out of him.

The reason Edward hadn't come back was because he'd been taken off the streets, and it was Roy's fault for letting it happen.

T.B.C.- Woah, poor Ed's been kidnapped! Who's his abductor? Read and review to find out!