Aztec Goddess: Sigh . . . back to happy humor! If you're a Scar fan, please don't let the beginning freak you out too much, okay?

Disclaimer: Read carefully because I do not want to bother posting this on every freakin' chapter – I do not own nor claim ownership of Full Metal Alchemist nor Sleeping Beauty nor any other familiar princess/fairy tales used here.

Timeline: This fic branches off from episode 18 so let us all pretend that Ed has not figured out Marcoh's notes yet and Scar is back on the streets of Central all fine and dandy . . . kinda.

A Fairy Tale Beginning

It stood in the middle of the street on a chilling wintry night; motionless, fearless. It was no human; its pieces creaked as the frosty wind nudged its yarn which whirled around its biggest component. What the hell was it? A spinning wheel, of course. Man fears the unknown, so naturally all the citizens of Central feared the spinning wheel. No one knew where it came from or who put it there. No one dared to ask questions – except for foreigners. The unluckiest foreigner of all was named Scar.

It was just like any other night for Scar, minding his own business, blowing the brains out of any State Alchemist that happened to pass by. However, he was, in fact, freezing his ass off since Ishbalans are not used to such cold weather. Then he came across the spinning wheel. "What the hell is this?" Scar asked himself as he examined the mystical object. It had a wheel, yet could not be driven. It had a huge needle, but nothing to poke. Scar was baffled. But the needle-like spindle – it was so beautiful; so warm and inviting. He had to touch it.

Alas, Scar pricked his finger on the spinning wheel and fell into a deep slumber. In the middle of the street. It was dark, so needless to say, cars ran over his unconscious body. Continuously. Yet the drivers were very careful in not even scratching the spinning wheel. But poor Scar lay there, sleeping through all the times wheels ripped through his jacket, making quite a mess.

The next day, Jean Havoc woke up bright and early to harass – I mean greet – the cute flower girl he had his eyes on. In fact, he was so eager to see her that he decided to take a shortcut. As Jean rushed across the unfamiliar street, he tripped over something odd. He scraped his knee so he sat in the middle of the street, hissing for a while. "Damn, that hurt! The day hasn't even started and it's already –" But Jean was interrupted be a disturbing sight: Scar's battered body.

Jean screamed like a little girl and tried his best to move away, but then he tripped over something else. The spinning wheel. It enchanted him. Jean heard a soft voice saying, "Touch it . . . touch it." Did the voice mean the spindle? Jean knew it had to be dangerous since there were drops of blood in it, so he turned away. But then the voice came back, louder than before: "Don't resist it . . . Touch it!" By then, Jean was completely under some sort of spell. His eyes turned cloudy and his body moved on its own accord. He had to touch it.

"No, don't!" the voice said, louder than ever. It was Cain Fury the entire time. "Resist it! I told you not to touch it, Havoc!" He came running to Jean's side, but it was too late. Alas, Jean pricked his finger on the spinning wheel and fell into a deep slumber. Since Cain did not want his friend to suffer the same punishment as Scar, he dragged Jean to the safety of the sidewalk. A car zoomed by not long thereafter, running over Scar's already critically damaged body.

Cain sighed of relief. "Whoa, that was close. But poor Scar; someone should check if he's alright." Then it dawned upon him. "Hey, that's the guy that's been killing the State Alchemists! Everyone will be so proud of me if I bring him back to HQ! Isn't that right, Havoc? . . . Havoc?"

Jean Havoc was still sound asleep on the sidewalk. Cain groaned. He was too little to drag both the sleeping bodies to HQ and since he had no money to use a phone booth, he was pretty much stuck making two trips. And so Cain grabbed hold of Jean's legs and dragged him all the way to HQ. By the time they made it to Roy's office, Jean looked just as bad as Scar.

"Holy crap!" Roy yelled at Cain. "What the hell did you do to Havoc? You saw him kick a dog or something?"

"No . . ." Cain started. "And if you think he looks bad, wait 'til you see Scar–"

"Oh, wow. I didn't know you were so violent," Roy said as he backed off a little, clearly terrified.

"It's not like that!" Cain tried to explain as he carefully laid Jean down on the carpet. "Scar and Havoc –" He was interrupted by the door swinging wide open. It was Riza Hawkeye.

"Colonel Mustang, it's been confirmed!" Riza exclaimed to Roy. "The battered body people have spotted on the street next to the spinning wheel is Scar!"

"And guess what!" Roy cried dramatically. "Cain Fury is the one who beat the crap out of him and Havoc!"

"No, you guys–" Cain tried to start, but was interrupted again.

"No way!" Riza gasped. Then she lowered her gaze to the floor. Jean's motionless body laying in the middle of the room had her completely convinced Roy's misunderstanding was correct. "Fury, this is unacceptable!"

"But –" Cain tried again.

"No buts about it," Roy butted in. "I'm gonna have to put you on probation for endangering the life of an officer that outranks you."

Cain was pissed. "Can you two just shut up and listen to me for a second!" he screeched. Roy and Riza cowered in fear, so Cain continued: "The only reason Havoc looks so beat up is because I had to drag him here. He pricked his finger on the spinning wheel and fell asleep. Scar, too."

"Oh. I suppose that makes sense," Roy said. Then he thought over the entire situation. ". . . Wait, no it doesn't! People don't fall asleep because they poke themselves on a spinning wheel! Fury, for attempting to lie to your superior, you're–"

"Hold on a minute, Colonel," Riza said. "I've heard about such incidents." She spoke in a deathly serious tone. "Many years ago, and evil alchemist created a cursed spinning wheel. Whoever pricked their finger on its dangerously sharp spindle would fall into a deep slumber, never to be awakened again. Some believers have wasted their entire lives searching for this spinning wheel, but it looks like it came to us. And Havoc has become one of its victims."

Roy was not amused. "Wow, what a load of crap."

Cain, on the other hand, was taking the situation as seriously as Riza was. "I've heard that story, too! When I was little . . . So, is Havoc dead?" he asked, fearing the worst. If this was true, then he was dragging around a dead guy! A sudden chill crept up Cain's spine.

"No, he's asleep at the moment," Riza explained. "But he can only stay asleep for so long until his body starts eating itself. Then he'll die . . . We may only have a few days."

"For what?" Roy asked, looking rather bored. "Won't a swift kick in the groin wake him up?"

Cain shook his head. "That wouldn't work. He didn't even flinch on the way here."

"If I remember correctly . . ." Riza mused, "the curse can be broken . . . with a kiss by his true love."

The trio had a moment of silence looking down at Jean. Riza had a distant look on her face as if trying to come up with a different conclusion. Cain was a little frightened and terribly worried. Roy, however, was suppressing his laughter, until it was too much for him. "Ha! True love? Havoc?" he laughed. "Those two just don't mix! Havoc falls in love with anyone with big–" He realized Cain was still in the room. "–eyes." Roy could not say what he was really thinking since Cain looks so young and innocent.

Riza narrowed her eyes at Roy, knowing exactly what he almost said. "It seems as though you and Havoc have much in common, Colonel. So, what do you propose we do now? We are going to help him, right?"

"Well . . ." Roy said. "It sounds like it's going to be hard . . ."

"Hey, what if this happens to you?" Fury cried. "You'd want us to help, right?"

"Of course, but . . ." Roy scratched his head as he searched for the right words. "It's not very obvious as to who Havoc's true love is. And how do we even know if all this is true?"

"We could at least try . . ."

"I'm with Fury on this one," Riza said. Then she remembered something important and gasped. "The spinning wheel is still out there for more people to fall victim to it! We must bring it here immediately! . . . Scar, too!"

Jean Havoc fell asleep on Monday, 7:30 AM – Total Time Asleep: 0 days, 0 hours, 30 minutes.

Scar fell asleep on Sunday, 11:00 PM – Total Time Asleep: 0 days, 9 hours, 0 minutes.

Aztec Goddess: The above information is, of course, a rough estimation. So, has this fic caught anyone's interest?