MandaxPanda: I've never seen any voice actors, so I'll just revel in how cool a coincidence that is. I really am glad that Holly has been so well-received. She's just got that little something special to her.
FablerPhoenix: If you ever start a Holly fanclub, I'm sure that you'd have more than one person wanting to join. I really am so happy that's she's been so liked. And oh dear, now you're giving me thoughts for crack fics where I tie Al like that in front of Scar. "No, bad Scar, no trying to kill. Look! An Al! Good Scar." And don't worry, Scar shows up soon. And I know what you mean, we need to see Al as more than an angelic fluffball sometimes. The kid has got balls, in many implications of the word. He should be allowed to use them.
Sonar: I think you'll soon be getting your chapter wish of more Scar.
elemental heiress: Al is like Roy, except he more secretely has the world on a string. No one suspects him because it's well, Al. Everyone suspects Roy. And I'd have been so happy if I'd ever had a teacher like Holly... she's just cool.
GWings: I'm sure you'll enjoy when we get to that part about Scar learning Al's preferences, and his progressive reactions to Al's dates.
Cheru: Think of who Holly reminds you of yet? And yeah, I was really tempted to make him as bi... but I guess I wanted to go for something different with him this time around. But oh yes, rough play between them is very much encouraged... Scar has to keep up his muscle strength after all, and what better attention-holding way for him?
GreedxEd: There was a reason that in elementary school if I had to buy lunch I'd always say I "forgot" mine, so they'd give me a peanut butter and honey sandwich instead. Not only do I love them, but it's hard to mess that up.
Insanity Breaking Point: Ed's life would be so much duller without Roy... and without the coming knowledge that Scar is in close-quarters with his defenseless baby brother.
Six Ways From Thursday: Thank you. I have met a lot of people so far who share the same mindset as you, Roy/Ed fan, love Al, sometimes they love Scar/Al as well, but more often than not they hadn't thought about it before. So I'm glad that I'm pulling it off so far. They're a pairing that I just can't help but adore. And I never get tired about hearing if someone loved the chicken scene, I was amused just thinking about it before I wrote it, so it's nice to know my humor sometimes pans out. As to the hyper kids, yeah, experience there. I was in an Education program at university one year... student taught in four different grades. Nightmare.
marnariddle: Thank you. And what is it with that date thing and the other party not liking to spoil you a bit? I don't get that sharing thing... I'm a girl who wants a full dessert. Or duck entree, the guy should never suggest to cut costs by splitting my duck entree.
ZemyxDexion: Thank you. And yeah... I've been there before. The just Winry and Marta/tel thing... but I figured it was time for me to put Al with who I really like with him. So I hope it keeps going well.
I'm so glad I finally had time to work on this again! I was going through Scar/Al withdrawals badly... I even dreamed about them last night. Granted that dream should not be repeated here... -cough-, but you get the point.
So, onto the chapter! Wherein I hope you all enjoy, and no tears are shed.
Chapter Eleven
The next two days passed without too much incident.
Alphonse had happily been having full nights of sleep. He could only suspect it was because Scar had to be sleeping at the same time at last. Finally, the Ishballan appeared to have a proper sleeping schedule. And he wondered if the man had taken his ability to sleep into the decision, but didn't dwell on it too much. He was too glad to be able to begin feeling normal again.
The magnetic pull to the other portion of Scar's soul was still with him. If he focused on it he could bring it into more prominence. So he could only imagine that while that tattoo was healing, it was not a complete process yet.
The only visible reminder of his trip to find the dangerous Ishballan were the bruises that had come out along his neck for about a day, and then begun to finally fade. Clearly the man had bruised him far from the surface of his skin, which only made him realize how lucky he was that Scar hadn't gripped harder. A bit more pressure and he suspected his neck would have snapped.
Otherwise Alphonse felt his life had gone pretty much back to normal.
And at the moment he was embracing his normal life by returning to work at the upscale bar that he owned in the business district of East Central. Finding that while his employees had done well without his being there, they were as glad as he that he was back.
It had always been a business decision that his brother had never really understood. Out of all the things that he could do, he'd chosen to run an upscale bar establishment. According to Edward, it was the thing most far from his personality.
But that was exactly why he'd chosen it.
He wanted to succeed at something away from his normal life. To know that he wasn't just a one-trick pony who could only do alchemy or befriend stray animals.
Roy, on the other hand, had wholeheartedly supported his decision from the beginning and not questioned it.
Alphonse figured it had something to do with how much the man liked his alcohol. Not that the Fuhrer was an alcoholic, but he knew that Roy liked to drink when he found it appropriate.
Presently he was taking the inventory of the stock that had come in as part of a shipment that had been received while he was away. Not that he didn't trust his staff to take responsibility for making sure every last bottle was accounted for, they knew he didn't doubt them. It was just that he liked to know for himself personally.
He had just finished ticking off the checkboxes for the wines when Abigail, one of the waitresses who'd been with him since about the time he'd opened the doors to the bar, came inside the chilled cellar room.
"You've a phone call, sir. Would you like me to finish up in here?" She asked, rubbing her arms against the chill in the air.
Alphonse smiled as he began to count the cases of beers. "Is it an urgent call?"
Abigail walked over to his side, peering over at the inventory sheet. "Well it's from a General Hasa-something over at Eastern Command. He wouldn't give me specifics, you know how it is."
"Hastion." Alphonse provided as his eyes flicked over the labels. "No… I'll finish after the call. It shouldn't take too long." But he handed his clipboard to her anyway as she promptly reached out for it. "Thanks."
And he let himself out of the chilled cellar, heading down the ambient lighted hallway with its pine floors and trimming and cream-colored walls decorated with the wrought iron lamp fixtures. As he reached his office he let himself inside before walking over to pick up the receiver as he sat on the edge of his desk.
"Alphonse Elric speaking." He answered into the receiver as his eyes darted over the calendar on his desk, idly making a mental note that he should schedule an extra ice delivery this week.
"This is General Hastion." Came the formalized response, even though calls between the military and Alphonse Elric were not uncommon. "I apologize for disturbing you at work, Mister Elric – "
Alphonse couldn't help thinking that 'Mister Elric' made him sound like his brother.
"But we've detained a man at the train station, and he's been demanding to see you. Won't stop harassing the military officers detaining him about it. Won't answer any questions until he does."
Alphonse frowned, "why did you detain him?"
"Because he bears similarities to an Ishballan man that was involved in the killings of military officers back several years. I believe his name was Scar."
Alphonse dropped the phone. He didn't even recognize that he had as he stared wide-eyed in front of him before he scrambled for the phone again. It wasn't possible! What the hell would Scar be doing here? It had to be a mistake. Mistaken identity. "That's impossible. Scar wouldn't come here, and he certainly wouldn't be nice to anyone trying to detain him."
"Be that as it may, Mister Elric, if you could just spare some of your time to come down to the train station and give us a positive or negative identification it would solve quite a few problems."
Alphonse however wasn't listening. Instead he'd found himself instinctively drawing on that magnetic pull, and felt something inside him falter as he realized that the pull, instead of being more southward as it should be, it felt far more near. And he barely registered saying a quickened, "I'll be right there," before he was tossing the receiver back into the cradle and dashing off of his desk.
He barely remembered to tell his head bartender that he was leaving and would be back shortly before he raced out the door. It smacked shut haphazardly behind him long after he'd begun running down the sidewalk towards the train station.
Not even knowing or caring why he was in such a heart-pounding hurry to know if it truly was the grouchy Ishballan.
Alphonse reached the train station in record time, somewhat out of breath, but all the same he had gotten there in less than ten minutes. As he worked on catching his breath he looked around for the navy blue uniform of the military, and once he'd spotted it he hurried in that direction.
"Mister Elric, there you are."
Alphonse barely nodded to the uniformed man who, though he'd never met, clearly at least knew who he was. Instead he immediately got straight to the point. "Where is he?"
The military officer hesitated a moment, before twisting to nod towards one of the tile inlayed walls of the train station. "Over there."
Not as if Alphonse had really needed the assistance, he'd already reached out instinctively to feel that pull between the two pieces of Scar's soul. And he stepped around the military officer slowly even as the man moved aside.
This… this was impossible.
There was no mistaking the irritated Ishballan standing against the wall looking murderous. "Scar…" the name slipped from his lips laced in shock and some measure of disbelief. And suddenly he stood still no longer as he shoved his way at a near run past every single military officer between he and the Ishballan until he was under the observation of red eyes.
"And here I was about to think they were completely incompetent." Scar growled, though any anger in his tone was not meant for the brat before him. "What took you so long?"
"What do you mean, what took me so long?" Alphonse shot back with wide eyes. Still not quite believing what he was seeing. "What the hell are you doing here?"
Scar suddenly reached out to grab Alphonse by his arm, ignoring the way the military officers started forward in alarm as he bore his gaze down into a startled amber one. "You and those damn cow eyes."
Alphonse didn't even have time to formulate an indignant retort when Scar was shoved away from him roughly by three of the military officers. Granted they weren't able to get the imposing Ishballan more than a few inches, but as soon as he realized, and realized the danger those men could be in, quickly lunged after them. "No!"
The military officers stumbled back as they were shoved away.
Alphonse didn't even check to see if they managed to keep their balance, he'd somehow ended up instead with a grip on Scar's right arm as he met the questioning, if not still incensed gaze of those red eyes. "Don't hurt them, please." He beseeched as softly, yet urgently as he could.
Scar felt most of his anger towards the imbecilic military officers who'd dared detain him begin to fade away at the worried look in those amber eyes. "If I wanted to hurt them, I'd have done it the moment they began this detainment farce. I'd not have demanded to see you."
"Why?" Alphonse demanded in his confusion, still not letting go of Scar's arm. "What are you doing here?"
Scar sent a despising glare towards the gathered military, pleased to see that they seemed to shrink into themselves just a little. "Just turn your big cow eyes on them and convince them to let me go, and I'll tell you."
"I've not got cow eyes!" Alphonse flared up in insistence.
Scar looked back at him to smirk. "Would you prefer I call them doe or puppy eyes? You're about the size of a puppy." He estimated.
Alphonse released Scar's arm in order to smack his shoulder, though he doubted he'd managed to even make a bruise. "Shut up!"
Scar lifted one eyebrow just a bare enough amount to make Alphonse flush a little. "Are you going to do it or not?"
Alphonse leveled a glare at him that was met with a stony, yet mocking expression on Scar's end. "Just… don't say anything and wait here."
With that, Alphonse turned away to engage the military officers who had been in charge of the detainment. And he trusted Scar to behave himself as he walked the few steps over to where they'd been hovering.
"So he is Scar?" The officer who seemed to be in charge of the whole thing asked with a wary glint to his eyes. Everyone in the military eventually heard the stories of the Ishballan man who'd once made a hobby out of turning State Alchemists brains into mush.
Alphonse straightened his cufflinks a moment as he studied the group before answering. "Yes. I'll be taking him now. I've identified him as was wanted, he can be released."
"But, sir!" One of them quickly spoke up in protest. "This man is a killer! He can't just be allowed to walk the streets!"
"Take it up with the Fuhrer. But Scar is coming with me." Alphonse argued through narrowing eyes. "Unless you of course want to take the chance of trying to keep him imprisoned. I can tell you from personal experience though that it won't go well for you. I at least have the assurance that he won't hurt me, but do you?"
"Even with your association with the Fuhrer you are still a civilian, you can't just take a known murderer back out onto the streets!" The one in charge spoke up sternly. "Especially an Ishballan! And you have no authority to – "
Alphonse eyes were snapping in cold fury as he shook out his hand, not really caring that he'd just hauled off and decked an officer of the military. Oh no, his concerns were for something else entirely. "And you have no authority to insult the Ishballans! A murderer is a murderer, and a fucking jerk is a fucking jerk! No matter where they come from! You're not any better than Scar!"
Scar could only stand there, stunned, as he watched Alphonse haul off verbally on the man who was nursing a jaw that would surely swell and bruise nicely. Until it became clear that he might need to step in, lest Alphonse hit the ignorant ass again.
Not that he wasn't enjoying the sight.
"The Fuhrer shall hear of this!" The military officer threatened, swearing as he tried to cup his already swelling jaw through smarting eyes.
"I sincerely hope so!" Alphonse shot back, right before he was yanked backwards with a startled squeak into a strong grip around his middle.
"I think you've made your point, little one." Scar growled loudly enough for all of them to hear. "Let's go."
Alphonse struggled fruitlessly to get out of the hold Scar had, not at all satisfied yet. "Scar! Let me go!"
Scar rolled his eyes, and while he mentally had to be grateful to Alphonse's efforts on his behalf, it was clear that they were getting nowhere fast. And he didn't want to be breaking bread with the damn military for much longer or he feared he might consider whether or not he'd be pardoned a few more deaths. "We're leaving." He announced in a general fashion, and switched his hold to around Alphonse's upper arm to begin hauling the spitting mad youngest Elric towards the exit.
"Wait! You can't – "
"Try and stop me, and he's dead." Scar shot back over his shoulder to the officer who'd bravely attempted to speak up. And with that, he turned back around to keep hauling Alphonse forward, lowering his voice to say, "just keep walking or they will be."
Alphonse looked up at him with a suspicious frown. "I thought I'd told you to wait where you were? And didn't you hear me tell them you wouldn't hurt me?"
Scar snorted mirthlessly, "you think they're paid well enough to chance it? You seem to have some value to them."
"And you didn't decide to wait and let me use that to my advantage because…?"
"As heartwarming as it was to watch you defend my honor as an Ishballan," Scar drawled, "this is far more fun."
Alphonse's expression didn't lose any of its suspicion as he looked up at Scar through narrowed eyes. "That doesn't surprise me, actually, coming from you." And for the rest of the 'kidnapping' out of the train station, he was silent. Waiting until they'd gotten across the street before he shook Scar's hand off him, reminded again how much easier it was to do now that the man wasn't opposed to letting him go.
And he turned to stare up at the man in uncertainty. "What ever happened to wanting me gone so you wouldn't risk hurting me?"
Scar's eyes narrowed, and for a moment he looked away to release a hard breath before striding around Alphonse and down the sidewalk. "I had nowhere else to go."
Alphonse whipped around to stare after him, new confusion bubbling up inside of him at the bitter words. "Wait… what?" And he quickly trotted after the man to catch up, peering around and up at him. "Scar, what…?"
"You asked why I came here?" Scar demanded of the caramel-blond, "I didn't know where else to go."
Alphonse worried his hair a moment with one hand as he tried to understand. "Scar, talk sense a minute!" He exclaimed, getting nowhere fast. "What happened?"
"Don't play innocent, Alphonse," Scar suddenly snapped as he jerked to a halt, and he abruptly raised his right arm. "I know you saw."
Alphonse's eyes hardened as he shoved Scar's arm aside, instead yanking down the threadbare coat the man had on in order to reveal the bandages wrapped securely around that very same arm. "At least you really have been taking proper care of it." He said mildly, resting one hand on the bandages at the same time he looked up into an unreadable crimson gaze. "Why did you do it?"
Scar shook the hand off, snapping his jacket back up over his shoulders. "It's who I am."
Alphonse didn't respond for a time, only stood there, gazing back up into those red eyes he'd thought he'd seen the last of in Ishbal. "But you're a good man." He replied at last, wondering if he'd ever stop feeling confused. And softly, he asked, "they exiled you because of this?"
"It was a choice between killing many of them, or leaving. And as I've always done, I left." Scar replied shortly, feeling rather uncomfortable all of a sudden. "I don't want to bring the Ishballans trouble."
"But why this time? It's not right!"
Scar actually felt a twitch of a smile at Alphonse's clear indignant anger on his behalf. "Can't say. All I know is that the moment I was seen with that tattoo, I was driven out of town. Willingly. You know no one could have made me do anything against my will, and that village would have been a graveyard if I'd wanted to stay that badly and murder my own kind."
Alphonse shook his head slowly, before worrying his lower lip between his teeth. "But then, how did the military corner you? And why'd you even let them detain you?"
"I had to find you, didn't I?" Scar answered simply.
Alphonse was taken aback a moment, before, slowly, "you weren't just… using me? You… wanted to see me?"
"It's not that!" Scar snapped, offended that Alphonse might think he wanted to willingly subject himself in an amiable manner to his tormenting ways. "I'm only here because I had nowhere else to go! On my way out of town I realized that despite why I want to keep away from you – "
"You won't hurt me." Alphonse interjected with a slip of humor in his tone.
" – I'll have to take my chances." Scar glared at him for interrupting. "I've seen the trouble you can get yourself into, and I'll be damned if I let you waltz around with part of my soul and not be there to look after it. I'd rather not die because you do something stupid and wind up dead and dragging me with you. So here I regrettably find myself."
Alphonse fought off an indignant retort about his apparent troublemaking talent, instead beginning to smile.
"What?" Scar frowned suspiciously.
"See, you won't hurt me. You care about what happens to me." Alphonse began to smile wider.
Scar tried not to feel flustered at Alphonse's happiness, instead growling out a, "my soul, not you. So I figure this is as good a place as any for me to have come. Start a new life and keep an eye on the rest of what belongs to me."
Alphonse rolled his eyes, not at all put out. "Stop growling at me and come on." He said, turning around to begin heading off cheerfully with a bounce to his step. Not at all able to comprehend why he felt happy about the fact his life had probably just taken a screeching turn for more complicated. "And I swear that if you start scaring away my customers, or even my staff, I'm locking you in my office."
Scar debated tailing the impertinent brat, just to protest this idea that he was going to willingly go wherever Alphonse apparently deemed appropriate, when he actually took a good look at him. Without recognizing the fact that he'd even started after him to catch up, he was beside Alphonse. Looking him over with eyes that for some reason only now really saw him. "What exactly are you wearing?"
Alphonse blinked once, and then looked down at himself, wondering if he'd accidentally gone to work in his most worn-out pair of pajamas and no one had bothered to tell him. But no, no pajamas. And he looked over at Scar to say hesitantly, not entirely sure if this was some sort of strange joke. "A suit?"
"You have never struck me as a suit-wearing man." Scar muttered as he took a good long look up the black dress pants, the impeccably cut black suit jacket over a blindingly white collared shirt. Even Alphonse's caramel-blond hair had been groomed back to be bound in a black tie.
Alphonse surprised himself by bursting out in laughter. "Up until a week or so ago you only knew me as a hunk of steel." And he smirked over at Scar. "I dress like this when I go into work. Or have a date."
Scar weighed his options for a moment before choosing, "I find myself genuinely curious now what kind of shop it is that you own. The suit is… not fitting to anything I could ever picture you as doing."
"One of the classier bars of East Central." Alphonse related with a humored smile, knowing well how many people viewed that particular occupation for him. "I only sell the highest qualities, which means my prices are high. Which also means I, and my staff, dress the part."
Scar did not say anything to that for several minutes as he tried to wrap his head around it. And then he decided that this was, albeit not what he would have ever expected, at least not something that would be liable to make him want to explode Alphonse's head. Yet this did present an intriguing opportunity… "what would it take to get me a free drink?"
Alphonse actually considered, a calculating gleam of enjoyment entering his amber eyes before he looked sideways up at the man. "Promise you'll keep going to bed at a decent hour and you may have one free drink a day. I know how much you can drink, and I am not giving you an open tab. I want you to do something worthwhile with yourself, remember?"
"I'll figure out something." Scar muttered, remembering the conversation very well indeed. Knowing that Alphonse had suggested a decent idea that afternoon, but whether or not anyone here would trust him in that capacity? He doubted it. "But I still plan to keep an eye on the rest of my soul."
"Just admit you are going to be like you were back there in Ishbal and put anyone who bothers me into a coma." Alphonse taunted him fearlessly.
Scar only scowled.
And for nearly two more blocks they walked in semi-comfortable silence as they tried to acclimate back to each other's presence, and the fact that they were in each other's presence again, before Alphonse had a sudden epiphany.
One that made him pale considerably. "You're going to kill all the military personnel."
"Not all."
