Chapter Title: PROLOGUE: Caught
Pairings: None! I can't write romance for the life of me!
Spoilers: None
Warnings: None
Disclaimer: I wish I owned it, but I don't. Darnit.
A/N: And here, finally, is the sequel that you've all been waiting for! Now, I'm not trying to make another Illness, no way; this story gets its own plotline. But it does pick up where Illness left off (and by the way, if you haven't read Illness and you're reading this, go back and read it, because you'll be really confused if you don't), and this is almost into the realm of AU I'm messing with the canon plotline so much. -sweatdrop- Anywho, on with the story!
It had been a little over two weeks since Scar had recovered from his bout with the flu and had left the Elric brothers. In this time, said brothers had left Central for Eastern Headquarters at a summons from Mustang. Scar was still in Central, as he had no real reason to leave as long as he was not sighted. This was where all the State Alchemists were, anyway. Although he would not kill Edward Elric or Alex-Louis Armstrong out of gratitude for saving his life, he held no such reservations with any other State Alchemists. The fact that he had not killed any since his recovery had nothing to do with any remote feelings of charity towards the military whatsoever; it simply took time to track down and destroy any one State Alchemist.
This was what he was doing at the moment; tracking one particularly difficult old man known as the Silver Alchemist. Actually, not so much tracking as following, since he could actually see his target and was only waiting for there to be fewer people around. What he didn't know was that not only did the Silver Alchemist know that Scar was following him, but that he wanted Scar to be following him. He walked for some time until he reached a deserted street in the old part of town, at which point Scar decided that it was time to make his move. But before he could, a shot rang out and the Ishbalan felt something pierce his neck…something that was not a bullet. When he reached up and tore out a small dart, a horrible realization stole over him and he turned to run, but already he was feeling tired and disoriented; he only managed stumble a few steps before crashing to the ground. As he struggled to stay awake, he heard running feet and triumphant voices around him. He couldn't concentrate…everything was blurred…he was being picked up and he couldn't move, couldn't struggle against the people holding him…it was as though he was ill again, only this time it was not a friendly Alphonse who had him. He could no longer fight against the tranquilizer, and slipped into the black oblivion of unconsciousness.
Scar awoke groggily, his thoughts sluggish and his senses dulled. It took about a minute of looking at his surroundings to realize that he was lying on the floor of a dark cell, with his wrists handcuffed behind his back. A slow tug showed that these were in turn attached by a short length of chain to the wall. He tried to use his right arm to destroy the chains, but he couldn't concentrate at all. They'd drugged him. A cold, sick feeling began to rise in his chest; this was a hundred times worse than when he had woken up inside Alphonse. This time, there would be no comforting voice telling him to calm down, to not be afraid, that nothing bad would happen to him. There would be no promise of being let out soon. He was alone…and he was afraid.
Scar was well and truly caught.
A/N: Teensy little prologue, but the next chapter is already written, so it'll be up tomorrow. I'm not so evil as to give you such a tiny chapter AND leave you with an evil cliffhanger for more than a day. But this isn't any kind of length indicator for the rest of the chapters, so don't worry about that!
Scar: How ironic is it that Ed's last words to me in the final chapter of Illness were 'don't get caught', and yet here I am getting caught?
Hehehe…I know, I'd planned that from the beginning! Oh yes, ironic foreshadowing! Could anyone actually tell that it was foreshadowing when they read it? OH, and by the way, the Silver Alchemist is not made up. He's from Chapter 43 of the manga; he's a total bastard (Scar-san kills him, which made me happy), and he resembles The Penguin (y'know, that fat villain from Batman?). He'll be around for the next chapter or so, being himself, and when he does you can all think about him canonically having his head 'sploded by Scar-san later. Yay. It's so much more satisfying when it's canon. Anyway, please review, because I love feedback and constructive critisism.
