Chapter Title: Observation
Characters: Scar, Al, Ed, Winry, Pinako
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: Over the course of the last few days, I have gone and gotten myself addicted to AMVs (Anime Music Videos). I found some really, really amazing Scar ones, and a couple others that I liked, on If you can, you should go look at 'em; you have to sign up on the site and deal with annoying 'give us money' things every few pages, but I think it's worth it.
When the house came in sight as the trio crested another hill, Al was relieved just to see that it was still standing, with no obvious holes blasted in the walls. He hoped nothing bad had happened while they had been gone; leaving Scar and Ed alone in the same house, never mind the same room, for an extended period of time really didn't seem like a very smart thing to do. When they reached the door, Al was halfway expecting the worst. Winry opened the door and they walked in quietly. Instead of going right into the living room, they kind of peered around the door. No signs of a fight at all, surprisingly. In fact, Ed and Scar seemed to be playing some kind of card game, with Ed holding Scar's cards up for him.
"You're cheating."
"What? No I'm not!"
"Yes, you are."
Ed groaned, "Aarrgh…how could you tell?"
"I can see the cards hidden in your sleeve."
Both Al and Winry facefaulted. At the noise, Ed looked up, surprised, "Oh, you're finally back. What took you so long?"
"Well, we bought some more medicine…" Winry listed what they had gotten while digging through one of the bags she carried.
Meanwhile, Al was scolding Ed, "Niisan, you were cheating at cards again?"
"It's not like we were betting anything!"
Winry reached over and smacked him over the head with her wrench, "Then why were you cheating?"
"Well…uh…" Ed appeared at a loss for words.
Scar sighed. This would be a long eleven days.
"Come on, Scar-san. You have to eat something," it was the second afternoon, and Al was attempting to feed Scar some soup. Note the 'attempting'. Scar was not particularly inclined to be fed.
Ed yelled from the kitchen, "Winry didn't make it, so it's not poison!" There was then the now easily-recognizable sound of Ed being beaten with a wrench. It happened quite a lot, as Scar had soon realized. About a minute later, Ed walked into the room, stopping in front of Al and taking the spoon from him, "Here, I'll do it," turning to Scar, he held the spoon full of soup in front of the stubborn Ishbalan's face, "Hey, eat it." When Scar just turned his head away slightly, Ed sighed, "Okay, fine then," and quickly shoved the spoon into Scar's mouth before he could react. Surprised, Scar accidentally inhaled some of the soup and began coughing uncontrollably for nearly a full minute.
"Niisan! You can't do things like that!"
"Well your way wasn't working," Ed didn't look the least bit guilty as he turned to Scar again, "You're eating this one way or another. Either I can shove every single spoonful down your throat, or you could just let Al feed you. Your choice."
Scar only glared, the look in his eyes daring him to just try it.
"Okay, if that's the way you want it, then…" Ed readied another spoonful of soup, and thus the battle began.
Al shook his head and walked out, muttering, "They're both too stubborn for their own good…" He really hoped that this wouldn't happen every time Scar had to eat until he was strong enough to feed himself.
It was the third morning. Scar had awoken to see that neither Ed nor Al seemed to be around. This was slightly unusual, as one or the other was generally within earshot if not eyeshot. He wasn't worried or upset, simply curious as to where they had gone. The atmosphere of the house and its occupants was quiet and slightly subdued until the pair returned later in the afternoon, and he wondered what it was that they had been doing.
Alphonse was the one who answered the unspoken question, "We were visiting Mom today."
Nothing more needed to be said.
On the fourth afternoon, there was a slight incident. A man came by to have his automail repaired, and since there was no time to hide Scar somewhere else, they covered most of his face with a cloth and hoped that he wouldn't be recognized. Fortunately he wasn't, and once the man was in the surgery room the danger had temporarily passed. The hours passed by, and the screams of pain from the surgery room where Pinako and Winry worked were audible throughout the house.
Ed was feeding Scar again, his face stony as the horrible noise filtered through the walls. Al had needed to go outside to get away from it.
"Is it really that painful?" Scar asked quietly.
Ed was quiet for a few moments before answering, "Yes."
Scar's usual frown deepened slightly and he fell silent, thinking.
With each passing day, Scar learned more about the 'family' that he had temporarily become a part of. He observed many things; he now knew that Ed hated milk, that Al would often bring in cats out of the rain, that Winry obsessively loved machinery…all sorts of little quirks that he had been completely unaware of. For the most part, the house had a peaceful, calming atmosphere. It made a nice change from past years. It was nice to rest, just for a little while.
A/N: I gave y'all a nice chapter with no cliffhanger, since, as you know, I'll be gone for a full week starting Tuesday. I liked writing all the different scenes in this one; especially the second one. As for the card game…well, I'm guessing that Ed talked Scar into it out of boredom.
Scar: How long will it be before I can actually move again?
Well, that's up to you. Definitely not next chapter according to the ideas you've given me…maybe the one after?
Scar: -shrug- Sounds good to me.
Great. Oh, I'm so going to be sketching out some of these scenes on those plane rides…Oh, and in completely unrelated news I found a nearly perfect song for Scar and Al's unique little relationship. It's called 'Best I Am' by Flaw, and it makes me cry every time I listen to it.
Scar: And not only do you cry, but you also hug me every time you listen to it.
Hehe, yeah. If I knew how to make AMVs I would make one out of it in a heartbeat. Go look up the lyrics, and listen to it if you can. It's really good. Now that I've finished my shameless advertising, I'll answer reviews.
Darkness Shadow of Hatred: But I need my muse! -laughs-
Anasazi Darkmoon: Hahahaha! It's still pretty funny. XD
The Great Neodragon: Yay! I'm glad you like it. Oh, and before I forget, if I'm not mistaken one of the super amazing Scar AMVs that I found was by you. It's like 'OMGdrooltwitchspazz'. Just thought you'd like to know that. :)
crazyanimefreak15: Yay, someone else who loves that! Trouble…well, I don't know how much trouble there could be since Scar-san can't move and Ed is under threat by Winry…
no one's friend: XD You sound just like my friends. Love the little skit-thingy.
Silvertails Tora: Why thank you. I don't think Scar-san really cares that much that we're all enjoying his misery so much. Well, my Scar-san doesn't, anyway. I don't know what the real one would think…he probably would be rather annoyed.
Lady Jaye1: Glad that you seem to be enjoying the story. :)
LadyRiona: S'okay. It's great that you like my story so much!
candidus-lupus-full Moon: Thanks!
Moonglitter2: Thank you!