(Author's Note: SORRY! This took forever…I blame Final Fantasy XIII. I got the game just after it came out, but them my brother broke the first disk Now, I finally got another copy and could do little else since then. Again, I'm sorry, but YAY, I finished another chapter!
Thank you so much to Lonerwolf1015, Fayre Eternity, and of course DoctorWhotaliaandtheOlympians ^O^ you make my day!)
We walked slowly despite the rain. Scar stood far closer to me than normal. I must have been blushing the entire time, especially when his fingers wrapped around mine. But I couldn't say my smile wasn't more sincere than it had been in months.
We didn't talk for most of the trip. I was still a bit shocked by what had happened, but more than that I was just happy with how it turned out. I didn't really have anything to say. But I was also a bit worried, I guess. I was worried Scar would try and say he had to leave again.
Though, I guess he could have brought it up at any time. I looked up at him, trying to see if I could make anything out of his expression, and all I saw was him staring ahead. He seemed to be in deep thought, and I guess it had to be about the fight. I wanted to do something to help him, but anything I did or said would probably just make him feel worse. Still, I squeezed his hand and leaned closer to him, hoping to let him know I was alright and he didn't have to worry.
He responded by gripping my hand tighter, but he didn't say anything. As we got closer to the house we were staying in, the rain started to let up and the sun poked through the clouds. Golden light reflected of drenched streets making the entire area almost glow. I gasped at the beauty of the scene, and I felt Scar's eyes on me.
Suddenly, he started to talk. "Alison," he said while turning to me and placing his hands on my shoulders, "You were gravely injured because if me-"
"Scar, stop! It's not your fault," I insisted once again. He shook his head, though, and continued.
"I hurt you, and I never want that to happen again. Alison, if anything like this ever happens again, you must do whatever is necessary to stop me." The look in his eyes told me clearly he wanted me to swear I'd stop him, but that was one thing I just couldn't do. Instead, I took a step forward, wrapped my arms around him, and pressed my head against his chest.
He gasped in surprise, but before he could say anything, I told him, "Scar, you should know more than anyone I can't do that. I can't hurt you." I pulled away a little and looked back up at him, "So we'll just have to defeat all our enemies before they have the chance to try and turn us against each other, okay?"
Scar quickly pulled me into another embrace. When he pulled away I saw him nod. I smiled back, and we once again started heading back to the others. We were both still sopping wet when we arrived, which Marcoh took immediate notice to.
'Where've you two been? We were starting to worry," he told us.
I chuckled a bit and replied, "Sorry we…had a lot to talk about. And besides, I'm sure Yoki couldn't have cared less about where we were." With a laugh, I also added, "And May knew exactly where we were." I stopped laughing and instead glared accusingly at her. She burst into a fit a near hysterical laughter.
Yoki and Marcoh were clearly confused, I blushed again, but Scar remained stoic. And based off the sound of May's giggling, I knew I'd be in for days, if not weeks, of incessant teasing. With and exhausted sigh, I suggested getting started on the rest of the trip to Ishval. We packed up what little things we had and set off.
Throughout the town, Scar, May, and I watched carefully for any sign of more enemies. After what had happened, none of us wanted to stay for much longer. However, once we made it out of the town, Yoki began his usual rant, Xiao Mei and Lieu started chasing each other and tormenting Yoki, and May turned her sights onto me.
"So cute!" she chirped randomly, "The whole rain thing might have been a bit cliché though."
I glared down at her and said, "Nobody asked you." She ran of laughing and Marcoh walked up next to me.
"Are you alright?" he asked.
"Yeah, you're cheeks are pretty red," Yoki added unexpectedly. I turned away from them and refused to answer until I calmed myself down a bit. I wasn't all that sure why I was getting so flustered. Scar clearly wasn't showing any sign of being effected by anything anyone said, so why was I?
"I'm fine, I think I'm just getting a bit of a cold," I said to shake them off and hope to explain my flushed cheeks. I started walking faster so I could catch up to Scar. With any luck, Yoki and Marcoh's fear of him would keep them away.
When I reached his side, Scar looked down at me. "Are you alright?" he asked.
"I…I don't know. I keep getting all flustered, but I don't know why. I've never been like this before."
"Are you embarrassed."
"No! No, no, no, no, no, no! Not at all! I'm happy, glad, a little surprised and maybe till a bit in shock, but I'm definitely not embarrassed."
"Why are you surprised? Is it because of May?"
"She's certainly part of it," I said while resisting the urge to turn and glare at her for making my life so complicated, "But, I'm more surprised that you actually have feelings for me."
Scar's expression became one of absolute shock. Well, for him it was. For most other people, it would have only been slightly surprised. "I surprised you?"
I nodded and replied, "Yes, though I suspected you might have felt something for me, based on some of your reactions. Still, I didn't think…" I trailed off, not quite sure how to put what I wanted to say into words.
"You didn't think my feelings would be this strong?" he asked. I nodded again, and he continued, "I should have expected that. I spent so long hunting State Alchemists and harboring a hatred of Amestris, you must have thought I hated you too."
"I did," I said flatly, "At first. But, like I said before, your reactions- saving me from Dr. Faust, protecting m from Father, the way you attacked my ex- made me wonder." Scar looked ahead and remained silent. I almost thought I saw the hint of a smile in his eyes, but I wasn't sure. Annoyed by his silence, I took a step closer to him, close enough that my shoulder brushed his arm, and I started to try and coax some humor out of his again. I started telling him stories about stupid things Mustang's done, stupid things Lieu's done, and some just plain dumb things I've done, but nothing worked to bring out the slightest hint of a laugh.
After about twenty minutes I decided to make this a challenge to myself and decided I'd make him at least smile by the time we reached Ishval. Sadly, after about a week long journey, I'd failed miserably. The most emotion he'd displayed was glaring at Yoki when he started to complain about the growing heat brought on by the encroaching desert. And though it was exactly the opposite of what I wanted, I had to be glad the Yoki had finally shut his mouth.
The further we walked, the more sparse the trees and shrubs became. Sand started appearing on the sides of the road and the grass began to grow more dry and brown. As the sand started to pile up, the landscape changed dramatically. The last bit of brush faded away, and blowing dunes surrounded us. The sun beat down, visible in the great waves of heat the bounce off the hills in the distance. The air burned with a dry, unwavering heat. But while Marcoh and Yoki were halted by the dramatic change in climate, the arid land made me feel alive and energetic. I felt like I could run for days without breaking a sweat. We had reached the deserts of Ishval, the one place that would always be my home.
Like me, Scar and May were completely unfazed by the heat. Xiao Mei looked almost as accustomed to it as well, but Lieu's black coat soon had him slumped under the hood of the cloak I hade to wear to stop the sun from scorching my fair skin. The poor thing looked ready to pass out from the heat, but after a about an hour of resting out of the sun, he recovered a bit.
The same couldn't be said about Yoki and Marcoh. I suspected Marcoh would have a hard time keeping up due to his age, but once the heat began to set in, he was gasping for every breath he could get and appeared ready to faint. But unlike Lieu, he had nowhere to rest, and unlike Yoki, he didn't ask to stop constantly. Actually, he didn't once ask for rest, or even that we slow down.
Because I couldn't bare to see him like that, I slowed and stood closer to him instead of Scar. The Ishvalan looked back at me and Marcoh. His face was hard to read, mostly because we were standing several yards apart, but I didn't think he looked angry or annoyed, though he didn't slow down at all.
"Miss Alison, you don't have to fall behind because of me," Marcoh tried to say, but I refused to listen.
"Oh hush, Scar and I grew up in this place, we're used to it. You're not, and I can't sit back and not help you out a bit," I replied. His face told me he was grateful, but his eyes told me he didn't think he deserved my concern. His expression troubled me, despite his past. Maybe Mustang was right, maybe I was too forgiving. Or maybe Hawkeye was right, and I simply a kind person. Honestly, I believed Mustang was right, though I hoped Hawkeye was.
Regardless, soon after entering the desert, I lost all the optimism I'd built up. The road became more defined, though this only slowed Scar's progress through the sands. Buildings, shattered and broken, rose around us. Burned out hulls of a once massive city sat between massive piles of indiscernible rubble. Scattered about, I saw bones off all sizes and tattered bits of cloth that had once belonged to both Amestrian military uniforms and typical Ishvalan civilian attire. Under the destroyed doorway of one partially standing home, I found a small doll that once had been a child's bear. It's fur was singed and dirty, and one eye was missing. I carefully picked up the doll and hugged it against my cheek. The last time I'd seen this city, people were running about, worrying about the war, but not fighting. Almost so softly I couldn't hear it myself, I whispered, "What have we done?"
Footsteps approached behind me, and a gentle yet strong hand rested on my shoulder. I stood and turned to face Scar. My hands fell to my sides, but I didn't drop the doll, even when Scar's own arms pulled me into an embrace. "Maybe you shouldn't have come," he said in an almost sad voice.
I pulled away and replied, "No, I had to come eventually." I looked up at him and the look on his face clearly told me he wished I never had to see these remains. I was a bit surprised to see so much emotion in his features. And it wasn't like normal, when he showed far less emotion then he meant to, his thought were all too clearly written across his face. I tried my hardest to smile and told him, "I'm alright. But I think we should hurry."
He knew my smile was fake, I'm not even sure it would have convinced Yoki, but still he nodded. I walked ahead of him back to the others, still holding the doll. May asked about it, and I told her where I'd found it. I'm not sure why, but I couldn't leave the doll laying in the street, so I held on to it. I remembered the backpack I'd left at Izumi Curtis' house and wished I'd still had it. But I didn't have it, so I tucked the doll under my belt. I heard Yoki saying something about me being weird for keeping it, but the yelp he gave a second later told me Scar wasn't happy with him.
The sun was starting to set by the time we made it to the relatively unharmed section of the city where Daein's research rested. Not many people had lived here before the war, and the ones who had left before anything got too dangerous. This was primarily the reason why Daein had chosen this place to store his notes.
The building he'd worked in was easy enough to find, both Scar and I remembered exactly where it was. But it would soon be too dark to see any of the notes. We didn't have any candles and the lights could almost certainly not have power. Still, we chose to stay in that building for the night.
The air had cooled considerably now that the sun was gone, and I knew Yoki and Marcoh had to find this a miraculous relief. Scar and May made not mention of the change, most likely because they both were used to it. I, however, didn't like it one bit. I loved the sun and the heat, so when both went away I was left cold and shivering.
Scar must have remembered my hatred of Ishvalan nights, because he sat next to me and draped his cloak over my shoulders. By now everyone else was asleep, so I spoke in a whisper, "You can keep this, I'm warm enough with my own," as I started to pull of his cloak.
His hand found mine and stopped me though. "You're shivering," he said. Despite it being well into the night, the full moon illuminated the room just enough for us to see each other.
I knew I wouldn't be able to change Scar's mind, so I used my free hand to wrap both cloaks tighter around me. I was warmer, but I still shivered despite trying to stop myself. "Still cold?" Scar asked. I shook my head and started to say he shouldn't worry about me, but then I felt his arm drape over my shoulders and he pulled me towards him.
"Why won't you let others worry about you?" Scar asked me suddenly.
"I don't really…no, I do know why," I told him. But before I continued, I leaned into him and closed my eyes, vaguely thankful for his warmth. "Everyone's always worrying about me. Normally, that doesn't change anything, but when anything happens to me, they get upset. I don't want anyone to be upset because of me. But, some people, like you or Mustang, fight to protect me when something goes wrong. I don't…I just don't want anyone to get hurt because of me."
I heard Scar move and felt him kiss the top of my head. "Alison, you can't do everything by yourself. You're surrounded by people who care about you, let them worry. When you need help, they'll be there for you. I'll be there. If anything happens to you, I won't get upset, I'll fix it."
"But if you get hurt-" I started, but Scar silenced by putting his thumb in my lips.
"If I get hurt, I have you and May to help me." He was right, I knew he was right. But I still didn't want him worrying. Maybe I'd follow his advice in the morning. I leaned against him again and he pulled me closer. Just before I fell asleep I remembered Scar hadn't said anything about Marcoh being able to help him if he got hurt. I decided it would be best if I didn't mention anything about that though.
When morning came the heat returned and it soon became to stifling for me to wear both cloaks. I sat up to take one off, and I realized I had to sit up. I was laying on the ground when I awoke, so wear was Scar. I looked around the room, a bit scared that he might have run off. I could feel the pounding in my heart stop instantly when I saw him standing in the door way staring out. The look on his face was clearly furious.
I walked up to him, but before I could ask he held out a small slip of paper. I took it and saw a note written on it. At the bottom, the name Valora was drawn to appear as a snake. Seeing the name brought on waves of anger. The note said:
Missing something, Aurora? Don't doubt the Doctor's resources, he stayed hidden so long for a reason. I found you, I found that scarred man, and I found your past. Many knew of the time you spent here, though none knew why. I visited, and I found. Come to me, in the North near Briggs. There's a warehouse filled with the military. You'll find it. And be sure to bring the scarred man, he will pay, I assure you.
"Who is this?" Scar asked me.
"Dr. Faust. The old woman that turned into the snake-chimera, her name is Valora. Is everything gone? All of Daein's notes?"
"You can look, but I couldn't find anything."
"Maybe…For awhile, he had this chest he wouldn't let me see. Every time I showed up and he had it out, he'd pack everything in it away. I asked, but he never told me what was inside. I snuck in here a few times…more than a few times, but I never found it. Maybe it's still here."
I got up start looking around the building, but May had woken up and she grabbed my arm. "Why did you guys wake up first?" she asked in an annoyed and mocking voice, "Do you have any idea how many jokes I had planned?"
"Huh? Wait, why do you know jokes like that?" May just giggled. I face palmed and sighed. I told her about the missing notes and the chest that may or may not be here. She laughed but started helping Scar and I search. Not long after, Lieu and Xiao Mei joined in followed by Marcoh. Yoki didn't wake up until well after noon.
And before that, I looked over a large wooden desk. I'd always though the desk was nailed into the wall, Daein had said it was nailed in and if there were nails in the back the appeared to be going into the wall behind it. But when I pulled on it, it moved enough to make it obvious it wasn't nailed into anything. I tried pulling the desk back further, but it was big and solid, far too heavy for me to push.
I looked at Scar and smiled. He walked over and pushed the desk out of the way. May and I laughed, and I somehow knew the girl was planning on ways to use Scar's strength to tease him. Maybe I should have just moved the desk myself.
But when I examined the wall behind it and found a section that could be pulled away. I immediately focused on the wall and pulled it open. Inside was the chest Daein had worked so hard to hide. For a second I wondered why he hid for so long, and I thought maybe I shouldn't go through it.
And a second later I was tugging at the lid. Unfortunately, it was locked. Scar and Marcoh started looking around the room for a key, but I stopped them. "This lock doesn't have a key," I told them. Scar looked confused, so I continued, "See these marks, they're what happens when you rush through a transmutation." I stood up and walked over to the desk. A few pencils still rested on it and I took one to draw a simple transmutation circle around the lock. A soft click sounded as the lock shifted.
The lip practically opened itself. I yanked it open and found a small notebook and another box inside. I opened the notebook and found a complicated set of notes that ended with two separate transmutation circles. Looking through the notes brought tears to my eyes and I reached in the chest to grab the other box, already expecting what was inside.
The lid of the box slipped away easily. Inside was a small locket with my name engraved on the front. I opened it and found the only picture Daein and Scar's mother had been lucky enough to take that had all three of us in it. Daein and I were looking over a chart covered in equations and Scar was standing over us with his characteristic angered face. I remembered the say it was taken so clearly. Just after the flash went off Scar's attention snapped to his mother and his anger grew while Daein and I just burst out laughing.
I held the locket over my heart and felt tears fall down my face. May kneel down beside me. "Alison-chan, what's wrong?" I held out the locket for everyone to see.
"These notes…" I started but had to stop so I wouldn't start sobbing. Scar put a hand on my shoulder, and I continued, "These notes detail a set of transmutation circles almost identical to the ones on my gloves. But these offer more direst control over air currents. Scar, do you remember, a bit after I first met you, I talked about wanting to know what it was like to be a bird? I said I wanted to fly. Daein laughed, but with these notes, I might be able to do it." I gave a shaky laugh, but I managed to smile at Scar.
Looking closer, I found the bottom of the box the locket was in could be pulled out. Underneath was a pair of black fingerless gloves that would stretch halfway up my arms. On the back of the hands were two white circles identical to the ones in the notes. I immediately pulled off the gloves I had been wearing and pull on the new ones. They fit perfectly.
"I have to try this out!" I said and grabbed the notebook before running out into the sun. Scar and May followed close behind. I looked through the notes and read a few explanations on how to control the air currents. I needed to wrap the air around my arms and legs then rush air downwards.
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Scar asked me.
I shook my head and said, "No, not at all." Both he and May clearly didn't want me to try, but I ignored them. I found an open area and ran to the middle. Focusing on the currents surrounding me, I easily changed their course. Slowly, my feet lifted off the ground. I opened my eyes and felt the smile stretch across my face.
Going a little higher, I started trying to move around. I glided easily but soon lost control and crashed to the ground. Scar was next to me in an instant. I burst out laughing ant\d tied to tell him I was alright.
"Um…what just happened?" Yoki asked.
"Oh, you woke up," I responded. Anger flashed across his face as he explained that he woke up long ago, but I ignored him. I drew a simple circle in the sand on the ground, then placed my hands on my boots. When I pulled them away, identical circles were on the outside heel of each boot.
This time, instead of starting at a standstill, I ran out into the clearing, jumped, and turned so my feet slid across the sand. Using the new circles on my boots, I formed a curved board under my feet that I used to catch air currents. I still had to balance my arms, but the currents under the board were much easier to balance on. I rose quickly and soared through the air.
May was jumping around and laughing, but Scar looked worried, as did Marcoh. Yoki just looked amazed. Lieu and Xiao Mei were running around beneath me. I laughed and let out a cheer before landing, a bit harshly, in front of everyone. "That was amazing!" I cheered.
"Can you really control yourself?" Scar asked, trying to hide his relief that I returned safely.
"Yeah! Perfectly!" I laughed again. May came up next to me and cheered along. She asked to see me do it one more time, so I did. About an hour later, I managed to convince May that it was time to stop. We needed to go after Valora. She was upset, but didn't argue too much. Long before the sun began to set, we were well on our way out of Ishval to go beat Daein's notes out of Valora.
(Author's Note: Yay, done! Sorry again, I think I almost have Final Fantasy beat…after about a week. I beat FFX in about five days once, and I was very proud ^^ Next time: more snakes (much to Scar's dismay) and Alison absolutely hates cold weather…it'll be fun ^O^ )