Chapter Title: Snatched!
Characters: Scar, Ed, Al, Clara
Pairings: None! I can't write romance for the life of me!
Spoilers: Tiny spoiler about Scar's brother.
Warnings: Cursing
Disclaimer: If I owned the show, Envy would be more like he is in the manga. Unfortunately, I don't own it. XP
A/N: I'm sorry this took so long; school's a bitch. I can't believe that CN isn't showing any new episodes until September! -insert cursing here- On the plus side, now I feel absolutely no guilt whatsoever about buying subbed DVDs and getting ahead of the dub. I wonder what Scar-san sounds like in Japanese…
"regular speech"
'thoughts'
cat speech-
Al was still pacing and worrying and wondering what to do. He had already suggested going to Mustang about the matter, but Scar had shaken his head vigorously at the statement. After he had been wounded and nearly killed by a simple stall owner in the market, he was certainly not about to practically give himself up to the military with a sign around his neck saying 'Please execute me; I am currently vulnerable and have no actual means of defending myself'.
The awkward silence persisted until a loud groan from Ed caused both of their heads to immediately turn towards him, -Owww…my head…- he raised his paw up to rub against it and opened his eyes, -Where am I…?- Ed's tone suddenly became worried, -Scar? Where are you-ow!- Ed had tried to stand, but the sudden movement jarred his head painfully and he was forced to lie back down.
Since Ed obviously wasn't able to see Scar, and more frantic motion would have made his concussion worse, Scar sat up and walked into his line of vision, -I am right here, Fullmetal. Your brother is here as well.-
Ed's head snapped up, then went right back down as his head made its unhappiness with this movement perfectly clear. -Al? Are you there? I can't see you from here; where are you?-
"Niisan, stop moving so much!" Al hadn't understood a word of what his brother had said, but he did see that moving was causing him pain. He leaned down to look into Ed's face and placed a hand on his back, "You have a concussion, and you'll make it worse if you keep jerking your head around like that. Where have you been, niisan? I've been worried about you…"
Ed gave a cat grin, -You worry too much, Al. I missed you too.-
Scar quietly hung back from the pair of them, not wishing to intrude. It was interesting, how strong their connection was. Much like he and his older brother's had been when he was a child, before his brother's wife had died and his brother had gone mad with his research to bring her back to life.
A voice suddenly interrupted his thoughts, and paw waved in front of his face, -Hello? Scar, are you in there?-
He quickly snapped back to reality, realizing that Ed and Al had probably tried to get his attention several times while he had been lost in the past. He answered gruffly, -What is it?-
Ed rolled his eyes, -We've only been trying to tell you for the past five minutes. Talk about zoned out, geeze. Anyway, Al is going to help us find that Clara person.-
Scar shrugged, -It can't possibly hurt.- But at the same time he sighed inwardly, 'At this rate, I'll be partners with the entire military before long.'
Once again, the pair found themselves hitching a ride inside of Al's armor while he snuck them out of HQ. They had been fairly silent for most of the trip, until Ed suddenly spoke up, -Scar…why did you push me out of the way of that psycho fish guy? I thought you wanted me dead, and you saved my life. You took the attack that had been meant to skewer me.-
Scar replied indifferently, -It was not my intent to use myself as a shield, but merely to get you to move. Because of the wound I received by saving your life, I was nearly killed.-
Ed continued, -But why would you even try to get me to move anyway? I thought you didn't care.-
Scar was silent for a moment before he answered, -Not even you deserve a death that humiliating. Now I have a question for you. Why did you come back to save my life?-
Ed shrugged, -Just returning the favor.- But in truth, that was only part of his reason. He had turned back as soon as he had noticed that Scar was no longer running next to him, but had stopped at the edge of the crowd instead of rushing right in; it would have made his human life a lot easier if he didn't have to worry about Scar any longer. But he did believe in equivalent exchange, and Scar had just saved his life so by all rights he should return the favor. But there was also the fact that simply seeing someone who seemed practically invincible most of the time be kicked around to the point of not even being able to stand, and then be picked up and be completely helpless to do anything but hang limply while he was strangled…it had hit a nerve somewhere in him. A nerve very close to the one that was hit whenever anyone called him short.
"Ok, you two can come out now," Al's voice echoed loudly inside the armor, cutting the discussion short. He opened his chestplate and lifted them out, "You're both injured, so you can ride on my shoulders if you want."
Scar nodded and climbed up to sit on Al's left shoulder, but Ed found that he was unable to climb without sharp pain in his head and so had to be lifted and placed on his perch by Al. And so the search began in earnest, and Scar soon learned just how irritating language barriers were when one was attempting to give someone instructions. The two 'cats' had to make do with pointing, limited sign language, and charades. Anyone watching would have been highly amused. Things continued on in this fashion for several hours; by this time they felt like they had combed over half of Central.
"Are you sure she's even still in the city?" Al questioned as the search continued to drag on fruitlessly.
Scar nodded in return. He was sure that turning them into cats had only been a way to temporarily incapacitate them, and that she would most likely be after their actual lives now. Not a very comforting thought, but unfortunately it turned out to be correct. The trio was searching around an empty street in an older part of the city when a very familiar figure darted up behind Al and snatched both Ed and Scar up by the scruffs of their necks. It was a good thing that Al had such fast reflexes, for he sent a kick at Clara, who was attempting to run off with the two cats, and luckily for them it just barely connected. Although it didn't cause her much damage, it was enough to send her off balance for a few seconds. Long enough for Scar to twist around and rake her arm with his claws and cause her to let go of him with a surprised cry; he landed hard on his injured shoulder, and clenched his teeth at the sudden flare of pain. But he could handle it, he had felt much worse after all, and he thanked Ishbala that he had gotten away for the moment.
Ed, however, was not so lucky, and did not manage to get loose. Although it was not for lack of trying; he was struggling with the ferocity of a tiger, but he couldn't quite reach his arms far enough to actually score a hit. At this point, with one of her targets having gotten away, the other one close to it, and a large suit of armor with amazingly good fighting skill, Clara decided that she should just take what she could get for now. Quickly dodging a punch from Al, she slammed her gloved palm into the ground and caused a wall of spikes to rise up between herself and Al, then took off…with a wildly struggling Ed in tow.
"NIISAN!" Al let out a frantic cry, trying vainly to get through the spikes to his rapidly disappearing brother using brute force.
Scar could see easily that Al's efforts, however desperate, were utterly useless. He pushed himself to his feet, hissing as his shoulder vehemently protested; he noted grimly the fresh blood seeping through the bandages, signifying that the wound had reopened upon his landing. But there were more urgent matters at hand. He limped over to Al, -You aren't going to be getting through that way. Use your head.-
Of course, Al couldn't understand a word, but the sound brought him out of his desperate but futile attack on the spikes and his more reasonable side took over, "Of course, I wasn't thinking! I can go around the spikes! Just hold on a little while, niisan, I'm coming to save you!" Al took off at a sprint towards one end of the large barrier, completely forgetting about the poor Ishbalan-turned-cat.
And so Scar was left alone. It was what he had wanted, right? For annoying Fullmetal to be gone, and leave him to find Clara in peace. But he had not counted being injured in his wish, nor had he counted on the fact that Fullmetal would have saved his life, even though technically he was just returning the favor for Scar saving his life first. Scar frowned; the fact still remained that he was only alive because of Fullmetal and Alphonse's intervention. He might as well help them out while he was taking his revenge on the Altering Alchemist. So, with a sigh, he began to limp in the direction Al had taken. The sooner he was out of their debt, the better.
A/N: And thus, the grudging respect for which this fanfiction is named develops further! And there is actually a kinda-sorta-definite plot! Next update might be a little slow; I have final exams to study for, and I'm still working out some small but important details about the actual plot. You know, for a while I couldn't decide whether it would be Ed or Scar who was 'snatched' by Clara. I decided on Ed for two reasons: One, I think I've tortured poor Scar plenty and Ed not enough, and Two, I was slightly worried about what Clara would do to Scar based on what she did in the first chapter.
Scar: I can't decide what would be worse. Her killing me outright or molesting me again.
Exactly. Oh, and you know how I described Clara to have a Psiren-esque look and outfit? Guess what I remembered today? Psiren's name was Clara. Oops. But there is NO RELATION, okay.
Envy: -sarcasm- Way to do your research before designing your characters. What kind of idiot muses did you have before you got us?
Not very good ones. Anyway, time to answer all the nice reviews!
Lunatic Pandora1: Well, maybe not that funny…sorry…
Scar's fangurl: I'm sorry I'm taking so long with chapters; I have finals coming up and I have to study.
Anase the Shadow Alchemist: Happy Late Cinco de Mayo! I've been busy too.
lazerducky27: And then he promptly lost them again. Mean ol' fishy guy.
crazyanimefreak15: Nice name. :) Thanks for the compliment.
Shale 101: Yay! Thank you!
