The Bonds Between Them

Disclaimer: I'm not awesome enough to own FMA. -bows down to the awesomeness-

A/N: This takes place after the events of Lab 5, but before Hughes's death, to give you an idea of the time frame. There are two unfortunate plot holes, involving the fact that Scar leaves with several other Ishbalan refugees directly after episode 24 and isn't seen again until Lior, and that I don't think Mustang has been transferred back to Central yet, but I hope you'll overlook them. ; Hope you enjoy, and please review!

Chapter 1: Wounded

Several shots rang out through the streets of Central. Otherwise it was a beautiful, crisp, August afternoon, the bright sunshine reflecting over the many puddles that adorned the city after last week's scattered rain showers, and creating small rainbows. The streets weren't quite as busy as they would be in an hour or two, as most people were still either at school or at work.

"Get him! Before he escapes!"

For a certain by-now-infamous Ishbalan, the relative quiet made the morning and early afternoon the perfect time to move about and enjoy the sunshine on the main streets for once, instead of skulking about alleyways. It usually worked out for the man, who would quickly duck back into the alleys around 5 pm, when the city streets began to bustle with activity once more. Unfortunately, Scar wasn't quite so lucky this time--he had been spotted by two military officers on patrol, and yet again, the chase began.

The Ishbalan was doing pretty well eluding them at first--he had been doing this for the past few months, after all--but eventually they outsmarted him. The two soldiers had been dutifully chasing the state's military enemy #1, when suddenly one of them stopped, tugged on the other's sleeve, and whispered something into his ear. Then they just turned around and started to walk away. Scar didn't notice this odd turn of events at first, and quickly ducked into an alley, hoping to lose them once and for all. He then finally looked back over his shoulder, and breathed a soft sigh of relief when he saw the soldiers were no longer following him.

And that was when he saw the two guns about half a foot away from him, pointed at his head. Crap. The Ishbalan leaped back in shock, and rapidly began to walk backwards, hoping to be able to make it to the street proper and break into a run before the soldiers got a good enough fix on him to fire, all the while cursing himself for not noticing that they had stopped following and gone a different way.

He was unfortunately just a bit too slow. Gunshots reverberated around the alleyway again just as the Ishbalan was nearing its exit. Scar managed to dodge the first round of bullets, the second, but as he was twisting his body around to evade the second, one of the soldiers fired again. Scar never stood a chance that time, and his body crumpled to the floor in pain. The soldiers had been close enough that the bullet had gone right through him and lodged in the opposite wall, cracking two pairs of ribs on its way.

"We got him!"

The soldiers seemed rather pleased with their accomplishment, but before they had a chance to finish him off, Scar pressed his right palm to the ground, knocking the two men off-balance. He then activated his arm again to make the ground underneath his attackers crumble, dumping them in the same sewer system that he usually used to escape them.

I have...to get out...of--out of...here... It wasn't safe to remain in this alley. Those soldiers would probably call for help, and then... He managed to crawl a few inches forward, but the pain was clouding his mind, and his vision had gotten all blurry, and...he couldn't...

"Damn...it..."

Everything went black as he finally stopped fighting a losing battle and allowed himself to fall into the dark void of unconsciousness.