(Author's Note: This is the first chapter I finished on the Mac my school gave me…well the first since school ended last year at least. So, YAY another chapter done! But I am sorry to say this fanfiction is almost done Afterwards I'm going to start a Final Fantasy X fanfic, so if anyone has played the game please read it
Thanks again to Drwhotaliaandtheolympians and Fayre Eternity! And thank you to anyone else who has put up with my extreme lateness this summer! Now that school has started (and once I finally get my schedule straightened out) I hope to be able to upload much faster ^^ )
A small sphere of light came slowly down the mineshaft. The light wavered slightly, but it didn't appear to be going out anytime soon. Still, I checked the lantern I held to make sure there was still plenty of oil in it. Even though I was walking with Scar, I still feared the dark.
When Scar and I first started walking down this corridor, I had used a small ball of flame to light our way. However, I soon thought that was a lethally bad idea. If pockets of gas built up, the flame could ignite them, most likely killing us both. So when I saw a lantern lying near a wall, I snatched it up. The light wasn't as bright, but I would hopefully be much safer. When I told all this to Scar, he agreed the lantern was a much better plan.
After what seemed like hours of endless walking, we stumbled upon a fork. Two tunnels opened up before us. "Now what?" Scar asked.
I could feel a slight breeze coming from the cave on the right, and I remembered Yoki saying something about following tunnels with breezes. The caves without air flow were dead ends. I pointed with my uninjured arm towards the right tunnel and said, "This way. There's a bree-" I was cut of by a sudden howl that echoed across the walls.
Without thinking I reached out and grabbed Scar arm, pulling myself close to him. He rested his hand on my shoulder and said, "It's just the wind."
"Y-yeah," I said, then laughed shakily, "Sorry, maybe we should leave soon," I finished with a smile. I looked up at Scar, hoping to see him smile or chuckle or at least show some emotion, but his face was straight as usual. However, his eyes had a strange look in them, like he was desperate.
I thought he was going to say something, but he just turned around and started walking down the tunnel I pointed out. I watched him walk for a few moments, but I was holding the lantern, and he was fading away into the darkness. The thought of him disappearing came to me and frightened me, so I quickly followed after him. ***
As he walked down the tunnel Alison had pointed out, Scar noticed a slight breeze blow passed his face. She was right, they were on the right path. But he barely noticed.
Scar wasn't sure what he wanted to do. He wanted desperately to tell Alison how he felt about her, but he also wanted to focus on getting her out of the mine as fast as he possible. She smiled and laughed, making fun out of her fear, but he knew how badly she wanted to leave.
Maybe it was because of her intense desire to leave that she spotted a light growing in the distance. It was faint, but Scar thought he should have seen it long before Alison pointed it out. It flickered and glowed orange, clearly a lantern or torch and not sunlight.
"Maybe it'll be May or Marcoh! Or maybe Miles made it out and sent someone to look for us," Alison said. But Scar wasn't sure either was a possibility. He had a feeling whatever was ahead wasn't going to be friendly.
As they got closer, Scar's bad feeling grew worse, but Alison's excitement only seemed to grow. The tunnel widened and opened into a large cave. Clustered around a small fire were at least twenty men. When Scar approached, one stood and drew a knife.
"What're you doing here?" the man asked.
"We want to get out of this mine," Scar replied simply. He kept his voice level, clearly showing no fear of the knife the man held.
Alison stepped out from behind Scar and added, "Please, we have people waiting for us." At the sight of Alison, the men's faces lit up. The one who had spoken took a few more steps forward.
"Well, seeing as how you found our little hideout, we can't just let you go. You see, we're not exactly following the law here," the man said slowly, as if to make himself appear to be a world class criminal, "But why don't we make a deal. You leave the girl here with us, and we let you go see these friends of yours. 'Course, if any cops show up, she'll be the first to go, but that's just business, ain't it."
Anger filled Scar's face and he stepped protectively in front of Alison. But her hand came up and rested on his shoulder. "Scar, you can't fight. There're way too many of them," she said.
Scar took a step back, pushing Alison further away from the band of outlaws, and handed her the lantern, all without taking his eyes off the group of men in front of him. "They won't lay a finger on you," Scar replied sternly.
"You'll get hurt or…or worse. I'll be fine, just go!" she insisted.
"I'm not going to leave you here with them."
"Then let me help you! I can-"
"No, you can't. You're not going to fight while you're injured."
"But I can still help! I have my alchemy." She looked down at her gloves and noticed both were covered in dirt. A quick wash would make them good as new, but while the transmutation circles were covered, she couldn't use her alchemy.
"Alison you can't fight. I won't let you get hurt, never again."
The thug that had stood up let out a bellow of menacing laughter. "Such a sweet scene, ain't it boys? But it looks like Mr. Hero won't take us up on out offer. How about we change his mind," he let out another laugh, "And don't worry about your girl, she'll be just fine!" At those words, every man stood. Some drew knives, one had a gun, but most were unarmed.
"Get back!" Scar yelled to Alison as he rushed for the man standing ahead of the group. The man feel to the ground, dead before he could even react. The other men watched, stunned, before slowly beginning to charge.
Alison cried for Scar to come back. He heard her cry, but ignored it and instead fought harder, taking care to avoid the men with knives. One unarmed man ran straight in front of him and threw a sloppy punch. He was easily thrown away. But while Scar fought him, two more men, both with long knives, approached from behind.
Scar spun around and grabbed the wrist of one, hearing a sickening crack as the bones broke. The knife fell from his hand and Scar snatched it up just before the other man took a swipe at his throat. Using the knife, the Ishvalan blocked the blow with ease and countered by stabbing the still armed man through the heart. With a quick blow from his right arm, Scar brought down the first man.
Another unarmed man landed a solid kick on Scar's back. He stumbled forward a few steps as pain shot up his spine, but the thought of Alison being taken flashed through his mind and he turned and slew the man in one motion. Three more men, one armed, circled around him. All at once they charged, believing the kick might have stunned or at least slowed him down.
Unfortunately for them, he wasn't even effected. He crouched and kicked all their legs out from under them. He finished off two before they could stand, the last one managed to return to his feet, but then immediately was thrown against a wall of the mine. He didn't move, but Scar didn't think he was dead. Not many men were left, but most were still armed. He took care to avoid putting the men with knives behind him as he took on more attackers.
While he fought he also watched for the man with the gun. He looked through the remaining fighters, but the gunman didn't appear to be among their ranks. Scar began to think the man might have run in fear, but he had a sinking feeling that wasn't the case. A muffled scream filled the cave, and he turned to see the gunman holding a hand over Alison's mouth, his gun against her temple. The lantern she'd found was lying next to her, the glass cracked and oil pooled around it.
"Don't move!" he shouted before Scar could run to her aid. Suddenly, a man with a knife came behind Scar, attempting to take advantage of this distraction.. However, Scar wasn't about to let himself be defeated so easily. In one fluid motion, the Ishvalan grabbed the man, took his knife, and threw it towards the gunman. The knife his the gunman in his shoulder, causing him to drop the gun as he lost all feeling in his arm.
Scar's right arm brought the knife-wielding man down, but the gunman was still in his feet. He took the knife from his shoulder and was about to attack Alison in his anger, but Scar stopped him just in time.
Kneeling to the ground, Scar sent a ripple of his deconstruction alchemy through the ground, knocking both the gunman and Alison off their feet. With this attacker occupied and away from her, the Ishvalan was easily able to run across the growing cracks in the ground towards Alison.
He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her away from the broken ground, cautious not to move her injured arm around too much. Suddenly a deep rumble filled the mine and cracks ran up and down the walls. Scar realized the tunnel would collapse soon. Without thinking, he scooped Alison up into his arms and ran down the tunnels, heading after the last few outlaws.
The gunman tried to stand, reaching for his gun with his uninjured arm, but his foot landed in the puddle of oil. He fell again as a shot rang out. Above Alison and Scar's heads, the bullet hit the ceiling and ricocheted past them harmlessly. Another rumble filled the cave and a giant fissure appeared along the ceiling. Scar darted towards what he hoped would be the way out. The other men had run this way, so he assumed there must be an exit.
A loud crash sounded behind him as the tunnel finally collapsed. The small fire that had been built was covered in rubble, plunging the mine into complete darkness. Scar clutched Alison closer and just ran as fast as he could. He felt her finger grasp at the cloth of his shirt as she said, "Scar it's too dark. Slow down, you can't see where you're going." Her voice was filled with concern for him, but he couldn't hear a hint of her fear of the dark.
"There's a light ahead, I can see just fine," he answered, even though he couldn't see a thing. But shortly after, however, a light did appear. This one was brighter and appeared blue-white, like sunlight reflecting off of the snow. Scar was exhausted, the strain from fighting and the earlier hours of walking were catching up to him, but he knew that light was the way out of the mines. With renewed vigor, he rushed forward. Alison expressed her concern, both at the dark and his draining energy, but then she too saw the light. She asked him to put her down, "I can walk on my own, and I know you're exhausted," she told him.
Although he almost seemed reluctant, Scar agreed and placed her gently on her feet. By now there was more than enough light flooding into the tunnel that they could both see clearly. This was no doubt the exit.
Alison walked a bit further before stopping. "Wait," she called, "There's something I want…no, something I need to ask you." Scar stopped and turned to her.
"Is something wrong?" he asked.
"No, I just…I wanted to know why you're always protecting me. Why are you always saving me?" She paused for a moment. Scar didn't answer, partly because he wasn't sure how and partly because almost as soon as she paused, Alison sucked in a nervous breath and started speaking again, "No, that's not really what I wanted to ask, I guess. What I really wanted to ask was…" her cheeks flushed and she was obviously nervous. "Back then, in that house, I...I meant what I said. I guess, I just wanted...to know if you felt the same."
"Alison..." Scar started slowly before cupping her face and gently brushing his lips against hers, "I do feel the same. I have for a long time. Alison, I love you, and I won't anyone hurt you. Never again." ***
I looked up at Scar in shock for half a moment before wrapping my arm around him. I could barely believe what I was hearing, but he'd never lied to me before, and I knew he was telling the truth. I reached up and kissed him again, long and tender just like the first time in that rainy, abandoned village.
Scar's arms gently wrapped around me. I soft pain throbbed through my injured arm, but I was easily able to ignore it. We stood there for what must have been more than an hour, but only felt like a few seconds. We both were so shocked and overjoyed, though Scar didn't show it, by what we had just realized. We also knew the minute we left this cave we'd be under the constant eye of the Northern branch of the Amestrian Military.
"We need to go," Scar said slowly, reluctantly.
I shook my head and replied, "I don't want to."
"You need May to fix your arm. And the others need us." Leave it to Scar to use my own argument against me. All I wanted was to stay here with him, but Amestris needed our help, and I couldn't just abandon them. And I had to admit, my arm was starting to get worse.
"I know but…" I started, but Scar interrupted me by lifting my face to look at him.
The first thing I noticed was the look in his eyes. It wasn't a harsh, stoic, or angry look. Instead he appeared understanding, like he wanted to stay just as much, no probably more than me. But there was also a hint of urgency. He knew Miles and the Elrics needed out help, and even if he didn't want to, we had to help.
Then he said something that completely amazed me. "As soon as we finish off the Homunculi, we can go anywhere we want."
Why that hadn't occurred to me before I'll never know. But he was right. I smiled and nodded, now excited to leave and help the Elrics with anything they needed. Because as soon as we won this fight, Scar and I could be together. One look towards him told me he was just as eager to end the fighting, even it he didn't show it as much. I wrapped the fingers of my good hand around his own hand and we finally started making our way out of the mine. It didn't take us long to reach the end of the tunnel.
The sun outside was blinding, and the bright white snow all around didn't help at all. Fortunately, once out eyes adjusted, we were able to make out numerous sets of prints. At first we thought some of them might belong to the bandits from before, but then we noticed one set of giant, heavily sunken prints that could only belong to Alphonse Elric. And beside them were a set that looked as if they belonged to a child. There was no mistaking both Ed and Al had gone by this cave.
While we were making our way through the cave, the blizzard must have worn itself out. The sky was completely cloudless, and there was a fresh layer of soft snow over everything. The new snow was making walking difficult, but tracking the Elrics couldn't have been easier so neither of us complained. However the sky was starting to darken as the sun set. I was beginning to get very worried we wouldn't find the brothers before night fell. With the temperature dropping fast, we hurried after the tracks. Just as the first star began to show in the sky, we saw a pillar of smoke that belonged to the chimneys coming from the Northern Base.
I let out a cheer and ran as fast as I could. Scar followed close behind. When we reached the doors to the base May, Lieu, and Xiao Mei came barreling towards us. My cat and May jumped towards me, but Xiao Mei headed straight for Scar, taking him by surprise. He almost dodged out of the way of the careening panda, then thought better of it and allowed the animal to land on him. I was laughing, but by know May had noticed the sling around my arm.
"Oh no! What happened!?" the girl cried, "Is your arm broken? Did you cut yourself? Does it hurt? Did I make it worse? Oh no, I did, didn't I? I'm so sorry, Alison-chan!" By now tears were beginning to form in her very concerned eyes.
I laughed and told her, "No, you didn't make it worse. And it's not broken. It got um…crushed. In the cave in."
More concern filled her small face and she almost shouted, "Come on follow me I'll make it better!" She grabbed my good arm and pulled me along, asking every soldier she passed where a bed was.
I wanted to laugh at her reaction, but I couldn't help but noticed the looks every soldier was giving us. No one trusted Scar. Some even soldiers just looked at him in hate, thinking of him as nothing more than a serial killer. And because I was with him, I was getting those looks too. But I thought back to what he said in the mine and hoped that once this was all over that distrust, or at least the hatred, would end. For now, I at least had something to hope for, something to fight for.
I thought this as May lead me to a small room with two beds. She told me to lie down on the closest one and she started fixing my arm. When she was done I flexed my hand and marveled at how well it had healed. She giggled excitedly when I thanked her, but then said she needed to go get the Elrics and Miles.
I sat up on the bed and Scar sat down beside me. "How does your arm feel?" he asked quietly.
"Much better now," I told him with a smile, but I could see there was something troubling him.
"Alison, those soldiers weren't just glaring at me, they were glaring at you too."
"Scar, stop," I started, guess where this conversation was going and wanting to stop it here, "I don't care what a few soldiers think. Hell, I really wouldn't care if all of Amestris hated me. Mustang still trusts me, and the Elrics know me far to well to stay mad forever. As long as I have my friends, and you, I'll be alright. Don't worry, okay?" To emphasis my point, I smiled brightly and slid closer to him. I leaned against his arm and he held me close. In response to my answer, he only nodded.
Loud footsteps came pounding down the hall. I pulled away form Scar in surprise as Ed burst through the doors. "What the hell happened?!" shouted the elder Elric.
I laughed nervously and responded, "The mine collapsed and we got a bit separated. Didn't anyone tell you?"
"Yes, but we looked through the mine and couldn't find a trace of either of you. Where were you and how did you get out?" Ed replied.
"I'm not sure where we were, but I think we just went more or less straight through the mines. Well, there was a fork, and we went right. And after that we ran into some bandits," I continued.
"Those thugs!" Ed said surprised, "We ran into them too, but I figured there was no way you two were down there. How did you get out?"
"We um…dealt with those guys," I tried to explain.
"We?" Ed asked, making me assume May told him about my arm.
"I didn't do much," I said and tried to add in a small laugh.
"Didn't think so. Anyway, I was going to start with the notes today," Ed started to finish as he held up Daein's notebook. When he saw it, I could feel Scar tense, as if seeing Ed hold his brother's work infuriated him. But Scar's face remained emotionless, and he didn't say anything. Not noticing Scar's reaction, Ed continued, "But you both look like you've been through a lot. We can start tomorrow." After he stopped speaking, the elder Elric left the room. I waited for someone else, maybe May or Miles, to come in, but the only other person to enter was just a soldier who brought us some dinner. Honestly, it almost felt like I was in jail.
But then I remembered Scar sitting next to me, and that made me feel much better. Neither of us could come up with much to talk about, so we mostly ate in silence. Almost as soon as we finished eating, a wave of exhaustion washed over me. I leaned against Scar's arm and fell asleep as soon as I felt his arm wrap around me.
