Chapter Title: He Is Not a Cat!
Characters: Scar, Al, Ed
Pairings: None! I can't write romance for the life of me!
Spoilers: Nope
Warnings: None
Disclaimer: I don't own it! Waaaaah!
A/N: Oh the irony of the chapter title…yay for making obscure references to my other fics! Lalala…oh, and I must warn you all; just because this chapter was posted quickly doesn't mean that they all will be.

If being inside Alphonse sitting down had been uncomfortable, being inside Alphonse standing up and walking was even worse. Scar was tall, but still about a head shorter than the animated suit of armor, and so kind of hung by his arms. He also didn't enjoy the sensation of someone else moving his limbs for him, instinctively resisting it, but too weak to stop it, which was even worse. He heard a door open, then close, and Al stopped moving.

"Scar-san? Are you all right?" Al's voice echoed around him, and he flinched, not answering. Al's voice took on a soothing tone, "It's okay, Scar-san, I'm not going to do anything bad to you. I know this might be pretty confusing and sudden, and maybe a little scary, but it'll be okay. You're…really sick, and I'm just trying to help. Would you be more comfortable if I sat down?"

Scar's reply was mumbled, and Al had to ask him to repeat himself louder. He complied, and his voice had a frantic tone to it, "I want out."

Al was silent for a moment, torn with indecision, before answering, "I don't know, Scar-san…there's not much room, and it's pretty windy out here…I don't think it'd be a good idea…"

"Let me out…please, let me out."

The hint of desperation in Scar's voice tugged on Al's metaphorical heartstrings, and he sighed before undoing the latch holding his front plate closed. It was a bit difficult to extract Scar from the armor, as the Ishbalan couldn't really move on his own, but eventually he was sitting, back supported by the train car's wall. Al really hoped that nobody else would come out there; that would have been a difficult situation. But as long as Scar was out, he might as well check up on his condition. It seemed to have worsened quite a bit, probably because –Al mentally cringed– he had been sitting in soaking wet clothes inside of a cold suit of armor since that morning, with no medicine or anything. His eyes were clouded and unfocused, and it was hard to miss the spasms of violent shivering that occurred multiple times a minute.

"What's…going o-" Scar dissolved into a fit of coughing. Al placed a hand on his shoulder, but he flinched away, speaking in between coughs, "Don't…touch…me…" the coughing subsided, "What's going on?"

"Well…you collapsed, and you looked really sick. I didn't want to just leave you out in the rain, but the train was about to leave, so…I hid you in my armor and brought you with us."

"Where…where are you taking me?"

"Rizembool; it's a place way out in the country. We're visiting some old friends," Al looked up, and found that he could actually see the station in the distance, "The train's almost there. Scar-san, you need to get back inside my armor."

Scar panicked. He didn't know why, but he did know that he did not want to go back inside Al. He attempted to get away, but only wound up falling onto his side. In his state of alarm, he couldn't hear Al trying to calm him down, he couldn't even hear his own shouts of "No!". His panic heightened into full-blown terror as Al placed a hand over his mouth, effectively muffling his shouts, and quickly lifted his weakly struggling form into the armor.

"Calm down, Scar-san! Everything will be all right, please stop shouting…Do you want the entire train to know that you're here? You'll be out again soon, I promise. Now, I'll take my hand away if you'll promise to just be quiet until I can take you out again," Al tried to sound comforting, but it seemed like forever before Scar gave a slow nod. Al removed his hand and closed his front, sealing Scar in, "I'm sorry, Scar-san. I'll let you out again as soon as I can."

"Hey, Al, we're about to pull into the station; you should come back inside," Ed opened the door of the train car and poked his head out.

Al straightened quickly, and tried not to look guilty, "Yeah, I guess so niisan," hoping that Scar would stay quiet, he followed Ed back into the car. Within minutes the train had arrived at the small station, and the two brothers, along with one very unhappy passenger, were headed along the familiar dirt path through the grassy hills. Unlike Central, it was pleasantly warm and sunny in Rizembool. When they got within ten yards of the Rockbell house, they were greeted by Den, who sniffed and then began barking furiously at Al.

"Al…are you hiding another cat in your armor?"

"N-no, niisan! Whatever gave you that idea?"

Ed sighed, and with a practiced hand quickly undid the latch holding the front of Al's armor on before he could react, expecting a cat to jump out. He did not expect to see a wet and very freaked out Scar staring back at him like a deer in headlights. Ed blinked once, twice…before what he was seeing sank in and he took a step backwards, gaping and pointing and shouting the first thing that came to mind.

"AL! HE IS NOT A CAT!"

"But niisan, he's sick and it was raining and…"

"CATS MAYBE! SCAR NO!" at the same time, a snide little voice in Ed's mind was saying 'Congratulations. Your little brother has officially graduated from hiding cats in his armor to hiding Ishbalan serial murderers.'

A/N: Yeah, short chapter, but it just felt right to end it there. I can be veeery obsessive-compulsive about that kind of thing. But poor Scar-san, all freaked out and being stuffed into a walking suit of armor. I so need to draw a picture of that last scene…heeheehee…And now to answer reviews!

crazyanimefreak15: Thanks. And of course Scar-san isn't evil, he's just a prime example of a misunderstood character. And about Scar and Ed being friends…I dunno, even if Ed wasn't a State Alchemist, their personalities still collide like a train wreck. I think Al is more suited to being buddies with Scar than Ed is, even without the State Alchemist thing.
Darkness Shadow of Hatred: -thinks about it. brain explodes- Aaaaaaaaaaaaaa…thanks for the compliment, though.
unknown: Thanks!