If there is one character I adore and wishes had more screentime in both Manga and Brotherhood; it has to be Scar's brother. And there are unfortunately not much fanart or stories about him either, so I decided to write a story.
This story happens in the Brotherhood/manga universe, about three years after the Promise Day.
Some of the characters might become a bit Oc, but I will try my hardest not to make that happen.
Enjoy!
Deep inside a forest made solely out of bamboo, a group of four sit in cover from the heavy rain that at times falls in such a humid place as Xing.
A man in his mid-thirties with glasses and light brown hair comments somewhat relievedly, "Man, good thing the two of you can do alchemy, otherwise we would've been soaked in seconds." His partner, a black, somewhat chubby man, nods in agreement.
One of the two who transmuted this makeshift cover for the rain smiles weakly; he's a young man with bright blond hair and golden eyes. "Can't have us end up with a cold when we're this close to the Wang clan." He would like to be presentable for one of the oldest daughters of the late emperor. He blinks, and the smile fades when he notices that the only female in the group, who also happens to be his girlfriend and a princess of the former emperor as well looked quite troubled. "What's wrong, Mei?" he asks her worriedly, knowing from experience that the many families don't fancy one another one bit, even though that should've changed when Ling took the throne. Now the families are supposed to be friendly against one another. But he guesses old rivalry dies hard. "Are you worried about the Wang clan?"
Mei nods gravely; her pet panda Xiao-Mei copies her movements as the teenager explains to the three others, "The Wang clan has long been the emperor's favorite clan and his favorite daughter. Many were sure that Li Wang would claim the title as empress, but I am happy she didn't. From what I heard, the Wang clan flourishes on conflicts with the neighboring clans." So the princess of that clan must be just as bad, right?
"Guess we can't expect much of a warm welcome, then," the chubby black man named Jerso muses.
His partner Zampano asks the girl, "Can't we simply visit some of the other clans instead?"
Mei shakes her head. "No, the Wang has one of the best Alkahestry scrolls about the dragon pulse." She figures this place might help since she has so far failed in making Alphonse understand her way of reading the life flow of the earth. She does not like going, but hopefully, the Wang clan has eased up on their hostile behavior now that the new emperor protects her clan.
Suddenly a scream echoes through the forest, making the group snap their attention towards where the sound came from. Zampano, the one closest to the opening of their shelter, looks out and spots a young child fleeing from three people who are dressed very closely to Lan Fan, the bodyguard of the new emperor, but it is clear those three people are not Lan Fan since all of them are male and out for blood.
"Assassins!" Mei tells them, horrified, and from how they are chasing the child, it is clear this child must be a close relative of the Wang clan's chief.
Alphonse springs to action. "We gotta help her!" He chases the three assassins who try to kill this defenseless and very horrified child. Zampano, Jerso, and Mei quickly follow.
Alphonse claps his hands and uses his alchemy to make a cluster of the bamboo whack one of the assassins off-balance and before that guy could recover, Mei kicks him hard over the head, knocking him out. The two others assassins notice it but don't stop their chase after this defenseless child. Jerso chooses to risk it and transforms into his chimera form of a yellow frog and uses his extremely sticky saliva to catch and trap the second one, but they are unable to catch the third who swiftly jumps over to the child, grabs her and pulls out the knife.
The child screams in terror but is unable to get away.
However, before he can finish the task, a beaming sound of alchemy and the earth itself attacks the assassin, throwing him away from the crying child to get then trapped by the palm of a man with a left arm sparking with alchemy. Alphonse freezes up when he spots a very familiar tattoo array on this newcomer's left arm: it looks a tad too familiar to Scar's for comfort. Could this be? No, Scar should still be in Ishval along with Major Miles. The man slams the assassin onto the ground and transmutes the soil around the assassin, trapping him.
"Daddy!" The child calls and runs crying over to the man who pulls her into a hug. The group notices that this man has silver hair and brown skin, but the damning proof of what he is gets revealed when the man turns to them with those striking red eyes, slightly hidden by a pair of glasses.
"Thank you for saving my daughter." The red eyes land on the transformed. Jerso. "... whatever you are." He doesn't look scared, though, more flabbergasted in an attempt to figure out what this humanoid creature is.
"No problem, mister," Jerso replies, a bit surprised how calmly this man takes his chimera form.
And Zampano asks the man, "Say, what's an Ishvalan doing this far East?"
The Ishvalan blinks. "Ishvalan?"
Now it's the group turn to blink in confusion and Jerso mutters to the others, "Should be one, brown skin and red eyes, no doubt about it."
"If you say I'm an Ishvalan, then I take your word for it," the man tells them with a shrug, catching the group a bit off guard and he enlightens them as to why he said it. "You see, I don't have any memories of my former life. Name's Shade; at least for now." And he offers them his right hand—his automail hand.
Alphonse shakes it. "Nice to meet you Shade, I'm Alphonse Elric."
"I'm Mei Chang." Mei bows in her sign of hello, to then nod at the panda on her shoulder. "And this is Xiao-Mei."
"Zampano."
"Jerso." The frog chimera turns back into human form, making the also red-eyed child stare at him in awe.
Shade gives the two chimeras a respectful nod before asking the whole group, "So, where are you heading?"
"To the Wang clan," Alphonse replies. "I was hoping to ask them to enter their library."
"What a coincidence," Shade laughs lightly. "I happen to live there. I'm sure I can put in a good word for you." He lifts his daughter onto his shoulders, telling them, "You four have after all saved the daughter of the Wang princess."
"Princess?" they exclaim in shock, with Mei remarking in realization, "That explains why those assassins tried to kill her."
Shade nods. "Yes." His expression has turned sad. "The assassins have been very set on removing the main source of the Wang clan's power." Eyeing the small girl half-sleeping up against his head, he adds in a softer voice, "The chief has been reluctant on giving my girl any protection, more set on protecting his younger daughters since they too are in danger now that the new emperor will soon choose his wives. So I have been forced to step up as her personal bodyguard, which isn't easy let me tell you. I have no training in combat."
"Man, that's harsh," Jerso muses, he glances back to the still trapped assassin. "At least you make up for it in alchemy."
Shade smiles proudly hearing this, but quickly brushes it aside, and tells the group, "Anyway, I am sure the chief will let you stay. Just..." His eyes land on Mei, "Don't tell him what clan you're from: he's still very touchy about that subject."
Mei nods that she understands. They follow Shade back to the village; here he returns his daughter to what Alphonse presumes is the girl's mother, but reconsider when Shade shows no signs of affection towards that woman as he does his daughter and this other pale-skinned and green-eyed girl there, who is a few years younger than Al.
"This is my second daughter," Shade introduces the second child, putting his automail arm on her shoulder. "Selena, this is Alphonse, Mei, Zampano, and Jerso," he introduces his teenage daughter to the group. "They saved your younger sister from the assassins."
And that made them alright in her book. "Thank you very much," Selena says, giving them a respectful bow before turning to her father. "Dad, when those assassins attacked, they blew up half our house..."
Shade nods and asks the group for their patience. "I need to fix the house—"
"I can help," Alphonse offers and explains he too is an alchemist.
Shade seems very fascinated in that and asks, "What kind of alchemy? I figure yours aren't from Xing since you wish to study here."
"I'm using alchemy from Amestris," Alphonse replies, but his smile fades when Shade suddenly gets a faraway look in his eyes. "Shade?"
"Hm?" The man blinks, then realizes he has been spacing out. "Oh, sorry about that." He gestures for Alphonse to follow him.
The blond boy glances up to the man, wondering if Shade spaced out because he recognized the name. "Did what I say sound familiar to you?"
"Must admit it did," Shade replies thoughtfully, red eyes meeting yellow. "I wonder if it's because I was originally from that place?"
"Ishval is part of Amestris, yes." Alphonse nods.
They stop at the place where the assassins blew their way into the house. Shade puts his left arm on the crumbled wall, revealing the white tattoos on it again. Alphonse has to ask about it. "It's a very unusual tattoo you have." He claps his hands together and helps the man in fixing the damaged area with his alchemy.
Shade lifts his left arm, giving the tattoo on it a somewhat proud but also questioning glance. "Yes, I have it as long as I remember. Took me a while to fully understand it, though. It's the only remaining part of my past." He lowers his arm, hiding underneath the sleeves once again. And speaking about alchemy: "You too have very unusual alchemy; never seen one perform alchemy without a transmutation circle- and I can't see any array on you either."
Alphonse chuckles but doesn't explain how he can do it, merely agreeing that his ability to perform alchemy by clapping his hands does come in handy. He can't help but laugh when Shade remarks, "It's not like I'm dealing with that problem," waving his left arm in proof. Alphonse and others who can do alchemy without a circle still need to clap their hands before touching the ground or whatever objects they want to transmute, but Shade here can simply touch it. Exactly like Scar did. It's getting too similar to be a coincidence; he guesses he should ask Scar about this when he returns to Amestris. It's not like Shade here can tell him anything as long he doesn't have any memories about his past.
"Anyway, let me introduce you to Tai Wang," Shade changes the subject, leading the blond boy away from his house. "Hopefully, the father of his great-granddaughter and personal healer's words holds some importance to him."
So Shade is the healer of this village? It doesn't surprise Alphonse since Xing's alchemy is specialized in the medical.
As promised, Shade takes Alphonse and Mei to the chief's mansion. Zampano and Jerso don't follow, instead deciding to check out the local bar.
The chief's house is incredible, Alphonse admits that it's very spacious and had a lot of art about this tribe being proud warriors with all the weapons, armor, and statues of dragons decorating the rooms. But there is something there that confuses Alphonse. "Why aren't you and your family living here?" he asks Shade. After all, this man is the father of the princess's daughter, the husband of the granddaughter of the chief.
"It's a bit complicated," Shade muses sheepishly, they pass by a pair of lovely dressed women. Alphonse and Mei notice the dirty look they give the Ishvalan. Away from their range, Shade explains to the visitors, "Long story short, the princess fell in love with a complete stranger who has nothing to offer her or the family. But since she was the daughter of the former emperor, I gained a lot of status by marrying her, and all Tai Wang could do was keep us away from his so-called palace."
"Hang on, the way you speak about your wife..." Mei notices how he explained this and not once has the mother of his daughter appeared; she fears the worst from how sad Shade suddenly looks.
He sighs quietly. "Guess there's no point hiding it... my wife got assassinated about a year back..."
"I'm sorry to hear that," Alphonse muses, knowing far too well how much it hurt losing someone.
Shade nods and with a somber, "Please do not speak unless asked," he opens the door and leads the group into the chief's hall. Here Shade tells one of the many servants his reason for coming and about five minutes later, a very broad-shouldered but also quite obese old man arrives inside the hall, giving Shade an annoyed look. "And what do I owe you this visit, Shade?" the man spoke coldly, definitely not happy to see him.
"Your great-granddaughter got attacked about an hour ago," Shade tells the man stonily, not hiding his anger about the lack of protection around his daughter. "And if it hadn't been for this young man and woman, then she would've died."
The chief looks genuinely shocked to hear this, but that expression quickly turns into a scowl aimed at the Ishvalan. "And what the hell were you doing while that happen?"
"The assassins knocked me out," Shade replies, adding in a hard matter of fact, "Honestly you should've expected it - I have told you countless of times that I am not a fighter. Yes, I will protect her with my life, but do you think I stand any chance against trained assassins?"
Tai Wang grumbles but does give in to the demand. "Fine, I will give you two of my most loyal and trained bodyguards."
"Thank you, my lord."
"They will only protect her, not a foreigner like you nor that ghost of a second daughter of yours."
"Of course," Shade says calmly, but his eyes reveal his true feelings about this. Alphonse must admit that he is impressed with how collected this man is even when insulted right at his face. "There is one more request I would like."
The chief sends the Ishvalan a disapproving stare but lets the man speak. Shade gestures to him and Mei. "These two saved your great-granddaughter out of the goodness of their hearts. In return for their noble intentions, I ask they'll be granted permission to enter the Wang clan's library."
The chief eyes Alphonse and Mei suspiciously. "And for what purpose may I ask?"
Mei takes a step forward, keeping her head down in a sign of respect even though her entire being screams at her to attack this potential threat to her clan. "We're simply asking for the scrolls and books about the dragon's pulse."
The chief watches them in silence for a painfully long time, then dismisses the matter with a grunt. "Permission granted." Waving them off, he adds, "I will send the materials to Shade's house. Since you already seem acquainted, you can stay with him as long you're here."
Shade bows, the two others do as well, and they leave the room. When out and away from anyone's hearing range, Shade muses, "That went better than expected; usually, I have to argue with him for hours about the requests I have."
"Has he always been this harsh against you?" Mei asks.
"No." Shade shakes his head. "It only began when Li and I married without his consent. It worsened when she got killed: he still blames me for her death." Shade shakes his head and tries to shake the still looming depression over having lost his beloved wife with it. "Anyway, let's get the four of you settled in. Fortunately, the chief has been kind enough to give my family a house with plenty of spare rooms."
"This doesn't bother you?" Alphonse asks worried, he's not sure if he would like it if someone practically forced him to house a bunch of strangers, but Shade here doesn't seem too bummed out about it.
"It's not every day I get visitors, and it'll be nice to use all of those rooms for a chance." Shade adds with a smirk, "I can always seal you to the ground if you do anything stupid."
Alphonse and Mei believe him on that one; they are both glad Shade has accepted them into his home. He seems like a nice guy. After they have fetched the two human chimeras and Shade shown each of their rooms, the Ishvalan asks one of the servants of the house to cook them some food, explaining the guests, "I may be a brilliant alchemist, but I can't cook a decent meal even if my life depended on it."
"Guess the term 'alchemy comes from a cookbook' doesn't apply to you." Alphonse laughs lightly.
Selena walks over to them, telling them cheekily, "Dad learned all his alchemy from old dusty books and old dusty people."
"Manners, Selena." Shade scowls her, although very halfheartedly. Turning back to the guests, he says, "Speaking about books, I am sure the books you requested will come tomorrow. As long as you will not mess with any of my research notes, I can let you can borrow my office for studies."
"You don't have to..." Alphonse says, embarrassed that he and Mei will be robbing this man of his study room. "We can find somewhere else to study."
Shade merely shrugs casually. "Hey, it's the least I can do for the people who saved my daughter—which reminds me: I better go and check up on her." And with that he leaves the room.
When he's sure that Shade is out of range, Zampano asks quietly to the others, "Is it just me or does Shade look a bit like Scar?" The chimera is careful to make sure that Selena doesn't hear them.
Alphonse sends a quick glance to the room where Shade is speaking softly to his youngest daughter, at the moment having his left arm lifted so the sleeve is down and revealing the array there looks very much like Scar's. That and Shade has some of Scar's traits in appearance. "I have noticed it as well, but it could just be a coincidence," he muses to the chimera.
"But what if it isn't?" Mei quietly counters. Unlike the others she knows a lot more about the man known as Scar and meeting an Ishvalan with the same array of alkahestry and alchemy mixed together, plus missing the same arm that Scar got from his deceased brother made her wonder. Could this really be him? Could Scar's older brother have survived?
Alphonse might not know the details about the right arm, but he can see the similarities between the two and is planning on paying Scar a visit when he returns back to Amestris again.
I hope you like it and will stick around for more. Those of you who have been following me for a while probably already going to know I am not good at making short stories.
comments and such will be a great, as it will tell me if you guys like this story or I should simply keep it to myself.