It is obvious the ceremony is over, and Scar puts his hand on Ed's shoulder. Despite the festivities going on, they're still given space. "The ceremony was supposed to take place tomorrow, but with you here, it seemed fitting today," he reiterates.
Ed's still a little emotional about all of this and hearing Scar make as close to a joke as he's heard isn't helping. "Couldn't you have warned me?" he asks.
Scar lifts an eyebrow a smidge. "Couldn't you have warned us you were returning?"
Chuckling, Ed says, "Fair enough." He looks over Scar, realizes there's an ease about him that wasn't there when Ed last saw him. "How's the arm for you?"
Reflexively, Scar clenches his fist, not all that different from how Ed tends to anytime he's really thinking about his own automail. "I am unworthy of Ms. Rockbell's fine work," he says after a moment. "But grateful for it."
"Never decided on a new name? Al called you Scar earlier."
"It's as fitting a name as any. You may have removed the hand that sinned, but I must still bear its weight. The name serves as a reminder." Ed remembers removing that arm, the one meant only to destroy, the one with the blood of so many on it.
"More of one than the automail?" Ed asks, unable to resist. It's strange to tease Scar like this, but he seems settled and at ease.
"Just so."
"Are you going to hog my daughter all night?" Mei asks, moving forward again. Scar inclines his head and melts off into the crowd.
Ed turns Eden away from her. "You named her after me—and seriously, Al, what the fuck were you thinking—I think that makes her mine," he tells her with a grin, spinning in a quick circle that makes Eden giggle. That small, happy sound fills Ed's chest, and he can't help but look down at her happy face.
"I can't think of anyone better to name her for," Al tells him, affection and sincerity thick in his voice.
The instinct to turn to Roy to deflect or commiserate over how stupidly sentimental his brother is is strong, but Ed manages not to. Roy isn't here. They weren't in a good place last time they saw each other. Ed still misses having Roy by his side with a physical ache. You're going to bring him home, and you're going to fix this, he reminds himself. There's no other option.
"Such a fucking sap," Ed complains to distract himself. "And what's this about you not getting married just 'cause I wasn't here?" Whatever Ed feels about marriage, he knows that Al would have wanted the whole white-picket-fence and two and a half kids thing, complete with the ring and the big fucking ceremony.
Al puts his hands up, placating, and the gesture is so familiar, it's another harsh pang in his chest. "Like I said, it wouldn't have been right to get married without you there."
Only Al can strike him quite so dumb. Of course Al had complete faith that Ed was still out there, still alive, would somehow find his way back. It's Al , and Ed finds himself once again humbled by his brother's faith, not at all sure he deserves it, but resolving anew to live up to it.
JJ and Morgan must have decided to come see Ed's adorable niece, because they maneuver their way through the milling people to get to them.
"So this is Eden, huh?" JJ asks, and Ed can see the longing in her eyes.
Reluctant as he is to let her go, Ed looks over his shoulder at Al. "Is it okay—?"
Al smiles. "Of course it is."
"To share Eden on her Naming Day is a matter of great trust. It shows that the people you are willing to share her with are people worthy of being called friends, that they are trustworthy and honorable," Scar informs.
Ed raises an eyebrow at Al, who still smiles.
"If you trust them, Brother, I see no reason not to."
"All right then," Ed says, stepping toward JJ, who holds her arms out for Eden. "There's no question that my team are good and trustworthy."
JJ takes her with the comfort and familiarity that only parents seem to have. "Hi Eden," she says as she bounces her. "Wow, look at your eyes ."
"You must have children of your own," Mei comments with her own smile.
"I do," JJ says, glancing up at her. "Two boys."
Mei's face becomes softer, somehow. "You must already miss them terribly," she says.
When JJ looks up again, there aren't quite tears in her eyes, but it looks like they may be close. "Yeah…"
"Have faith in Edward and in Master Alphonse. They'll get you home. I'm certain of it."
"And it's not going to take eight fucking years this time," Ed growls under his breath. He can't imagine being separated from Roy for that long, never mind what JJ may be feeling, separated from her kids.
Morgan turns to Scar. "I'm sorry, we haven't been introduced. Derek Morgan. My colleague, Jennifer Jareau," he says, holding out his hand.
"Call me JJ, please," she says, holding out her own hand.
Scar takes their hands tentatively with his own automail. Though he's had it for years, it's always a little tricky to know exactly how much pressure you're putting on a human hand.
"I am called Scar," he says.
"Scar is the head priest here in Xerxes," Al volunteers. "He was a warrior monk before that."
"The ceremony was beautiful," Morgan says, and Ed is watching them warily because he feels like introducing JJ and Morgan to Scar is a mercury-triggered bomb that the slightest upset is going to set off.
"How do you know Ed?" JJ asks in that absent way people do when they make small talk, still mostly focused on Eden, who is smiling wide and bright for her.
Ed seriously has to consider that there might be a better god out there than Truth because Al jumps right in to say, "He helped us with a problem we were having over ten years ago."
And then he's reminded that Truth is a bitch when Scar gives Al a strange look and says, "I tried to kill you."
That makes JJ's head snap up and Morgan stare.
"You… tried to kill… Ed and Al?" Morgan asks in that tone that says he must have misunderstood.
"I was on a quest for vengeance to murder all the State Alchemists for the atrocities committed against my people," Scar says plainly, and Ed can only hang his head in his hands.
"You… murdered… people?" JJ asks faintly as if something isn't computing, curling Eden a little closer to her.
"Our government was horrifically corrupt and launched a genocidal civil war against Ishvalans," Ed explains. "State Alchemists were front and center in the conflict, and the loss of life was obscene. It wasn't unlike your Holocaust, to put it in your perspective."
"You fought in this?" JJ asks, aghast.
"Nah, I was still a kid," Ed says.
"Mustang did, though," Morgan makes the leap.
Ed sighs. "Can we please not do this right now? Yes, Roy was in the Ishvalan Civil War, and yes, he did terrible things under orders for that war. Why, of all times, did you have to bring it up right now ?" he demands, glaring at Scar.
"I see no reason to hide my sins or others'," he replies solemnly.
"It's not a matter of hiding, it's a matter of time and place," Ed snaps back. "Remind me again who built your arm?"
Scar inclines his head. "Miss Rockbell has been more than kind to me—"
"If we're family and Ishvalan by this rite, then you better believe that Winry is too. It's not the time or the place to bring up old wrongs and old sins. She's forgiven you, hasn't she? And you've forgiven Roy?"
He's not actually 100% sure of the second one, but Scar and Roy had come to some kind of truce before they got swept to the other world.
Ruby eyes seem to bore into him, but Ed has stared down Truth itself, and Scar is just not that scary in comparison. Scar blinks first.
"I see your time in the other world has not dulled your tongue," he says, inclining his head again. "As you say, brother, a celebration is not the time or place to rehash forgiven grievances."
"Brother?" Ed can't help but squawk. He's so used to hearing that from Al, but it feels downright bizarre coming from Scar.
"It's part of the ceremony," Al explains, seeming happy to jump in. "An old Ishvalan tradition that Scar rediscovered when Xerxes was first given to the people. The first child to be born in a reclaimed location was considered precious and a good omen. It didn't matter who gave birth to the child, traveler, someone passing through, or Ishvalan, that child is sacred. A First Child. They aren't named until they survive their first six months. If they do, they're considered a good omen, named before Ishvala, and the child and their parents—and by extension, whoever their parents denote—were considered Ishvalan as well."
"It is an old rite that had passed out of use," Scar adds. "But Alphonse found it in an Ishvalan text he located in his travels. He shared it with me, and with Alphonse and Mei's daughter to be the first child born in this reclaimed place, a land connecting two great nations, one being given to the care of my people, it seemed appropriate to bring the tradition back."
Looking at JJ still holding Eden, Ed feels a warm ball expand behind his ribs. "A child to unite us all, huh?" he asks.
"Ed, can I speak to you?" Morgan asks, and given how intense his eyes are, Ed is sure he knows what this is about.
"Sure—JJ, you good with Al and Mei?" he asks her, because he wants to be sure.
She has subtly shifted until Al and Mei are between her and Scar, and Ed doesn't exactly blame her, but it's tiresome all the same. "I'm good," she says, bouncing Eden a little more, though there's concern in her eyes as Ed lets Morgan pull him aside.
"Ed, is he really—"
"Yes, Scar was a serial killer—emphasis on the past tense, okay?" Ed says before Morgan can start.
The concerned furrow in Morgan's brow doesn't recede in the least. "You know what we do for a living. You know these guys don't stop—"
"He did, all right?" Ed cuts him off. "He was a justice collector, and one with a very legitimate beef, okay?" He sighs. "He changed, Derek." He hoped Morgan would listen with him pulling out the big guns. "He had every opportunity to kill me and to kill Roy and he worked with us instead. He changed his mind, he changed . It was never about the kill for him, and seeing Roy…" He bit his lip, not wanting to share this because Morgan already disliked Roy so much, but it was important. "He saw Roy's rage consuming him. He saw what he might become if he stayed on the vengeful path he was on, and he changed ."
"Killers don't change."
"No, we put them between a rock and a hard place and force them to suicide or lock them away forever so they can't ever make amends for what they've done," Ed replies, then takes a breath. "Look, I know why we do things the way we do in your world. I do, okay? And not that the U.S. government isn't a fucking back of quacks, but it's nothing like here. The Ishvalans… they were killed because they could be. Our government tried to sacrifice the entire population , okay? That's not hyperbole. That's literally what they tried to do, and the Ishvalan genocide was just a piece of that plan."
"I don't believe for a minute you would be party to that," Morgan says, folding his arms.
"I wasn't. Look, it's complicated, but we figured it out, and we stopped it, but we couldn't have done it without Mei and Scar. He could have let the whole of Amestris burn, and he didn't. He hated Roy more than almost any other State Alchemist, and when he had a chance to kill him, when Roy wouldn't have stopped him, he helped us."
Morgan sighs, still visibly uncomfortable.
"I cut off his arm," Ed says, which makes Morgan stare at him. "Alchemy has three parts: identification, deconstruction, and reconstruction. His arm had tattoos that allowed him to get to deconstruction of virtually anything. After the coup, he didn't want that power anymore, and he asked me to take the burden of the arm that had caused so much death. Trust me, he's changed ."
"The coup—? " Morgan cuts himself off and says, "No, I don't want to know." Silence hangs between them for what seems like ages. "I don't like it," he finally says, then sighs again. "I don't really like anything about this, but it's your world, and your rules. I trust you, so I guess that means I have to trust you with this too." He gives Ed a long, considering look that Ed can't quite read, then says, "You really didn't get to be a kid, did you?"
Ed scratches the nape of his neck under his braid because he's not really sure what Morgan's angling for here. "I stopped being a kid when I tried to resurrect my mom," he admits. "It cost me an arm and a leg"—His eyes track to Al without meaning to.—"and it nearly cost me Al. You don't tread where god lives without paying a price for it, and my childhood is the least of what I paid. The least of what I should have paid."
Grim curiosity is in Morgan's eyes, but instead he asks, "Why Mustang? For real. Why did you pick him? Why your boss?"
He doesn't mean to laugh since Morgan is obviously compartmentalizing, but the chuff comes out anyway. "You say that like love is something you just choose . We didn't mean for it to happen. It just did. Somehow, our broken pieces seem to line up. We fit."
"You really love him."
It's not a question this time, but Ed answers anyway, meeting Morgan's eyes fearlessly. "I really do."
"And you really trust this Scar?"
"I trust him with Al and Roy and Eden."
Discontent still pulls at Morgan's mouth, in the furrow of his brow and the narrowing of his eyes, but he makes an obvious effort to soothe his features. "Then we trust him," he says.
"You don't have to trust him, you just have to trust me."
Ed finds no lie or deception when Morgan says, "We do."
He breathes an internal sigh of relief. "Good. Now let's go see my niece, and I've got a ton of crazy family for everyone to meet."
This is probably not the last conversation they'll have about this, but it feels like something has changed. It will take time and effort on Morgan and JJ's parts to overcome what all their training says, but for the first time, Ed really feels like he's making inroads with them, chipping away at what they think they know, and showing them that the world doesn't always fit within the boxes they're so fond of.
It's not perfect, but seeing JJ's relieved face when they come back, watching her hand Eden to Morgan who takes her with such care into his arms, it's definitely a first step. Ed sees the ache in JJ's eyes as she lets go of Eden into arms she knows are safe, and he resolves again.
He will get them home. Whatever it takes, Ed will get everyone back home where they belong.
The fact that where everyone belongs isn't a single place isn't worth worrying about right now. First problem first—getting people home. Saying goodbye will come later; getting home is the priority.
JJ's boys are not going to grow up without their mother. Not if Ed has anything to say about it.