I'm not much of a religious person, but I do find a big fascination in studying some of them and reading about different legends. What I write about Ishvalan religion is kinda taken from whatever I remember from what I have read of those religious legends and put my own touches into it- just like Scar's brother's alchemy!
But what I write isn't canon Ishvalan belief.
To RemaSofiRuin: I read up about Automail in both manga and anime, about how people from Xing recognized it but were shocked it was being used as a weapon. I say they do have automail, however only as artificial limbs. So my guess is that Lan Fan got her new arm done by an Amestrian Automail engineer.
I many times thank WargishBoromirFan for the beta reading.
Enjoy the story.
Far away from the Wang clan's main village, Selena is feeding her sister, the younger girl still sick from the lack of rest. Harika's paranoia hasn't decreased one bit now that her primary source of protection is no longer nearby. "Where's daddy?" she keeps asking, and Selena constantly replies that daddy is no longer around, all the time struggling to keep her tears at bay.
Alphonse and Mei walk over and help the pale-skinned girl to take care of her sister and comfort the now-crying girl.
"Poor kids..." Jerso muses, watching the scene from a small distance along with his partner Zampano, "lost their home and father in one single day."
"Yeah, and Selena is trying so darn hard being strong for her sister," the other chimera agrees, musing mostly to himself. "Hopefully we can find them a nice family in Ishval. They deserve a break."
"Harika won't be a problem, she looks mostly Ishvalan," Jerso muses. The little girl does lack the Ishvalen's iconic silver hair and her skin looks more tan than brown, but she sure got that people's iconic red eyes. "But," his dark eyes land on Selena, with her pale skin and green eyes; she will stand out like a sore thumb around the brown-skinned Ishvalan people. "Selena will have one hell of a time hiding among them with her skin tone."
Zampano smirks weakly. "Maybe it is a good thing many from Amestris have come down to help the Ishvalans in rebuilding, with them around; she might not stand out too much."
"You got a point." Jerso muses and returns back to their guard duty; they are after all still on enemy ground.
Fortunately, the group doesn't encounter any trouble on their way back to Amestris. They do as they crossed the desert area, which is the nearest place they could reach a train station, but that wasn't because of people. It proved that Selena's skin cannot handle the harsh sun as well as others. So Alphonse has to transmute some of their clothing to shield her sensitive skin from the sun. The teenager uses the scarf she got from her father to cover her head, shoulders and part of her arms. Harika gets the same treatment; sure she handled the weather way better than her older sister, but Mei suggests that they shouldn't take the chance since the young girl still suffers from fever and sickness thanks to the stress of being constantly hunted down.
They arrive at the train station, right at the borders of Amestris and it clearly shows that this is the first time both girls have ever seen a train before. In their excitement and curiosity about this new thing, for a blissful moment, they forget about their quite gloomy situation. At that moment, the four really see the real personality of the two. Selena is an adventurous girl who has trouble keeping her hands to herself- Zampano has to drag her away from the locomotive when she starts to climb it. Harika might be very shy but is proven to be very smart from the sometimes very thoughtful questions the girl asks them.
They ride the train throughout the whole night, arriving at the borders of Ishval around eight in the morning.
"Those people look like Daddy." Harika points out at the train station after having passed a small group of Ishvalan people. She looks up to Alphonse, asking, "Are they family to us?"
Alphonse chuckles lightly. "I doubt it; all Ishvalans look like this. Most people recognize them by their brown skin and red eyes."
That is something Harika knows both she and her father have, and thus asks these friendly people, "Are Dad and I Ishvalan?"
"You are." Alphonse nods.
"Selena too?"
This time Selena replies, "Sure, but you can't see it because of my condition." This catches the chimeras by surprise since they haven't heard the teen's backstory like Alphonse and Mei did; she sends them a cross look. "What? My real mother and father looked like my new dad, my skin and eyes just never turned the right color."
"If you don't mind me asking," Jerso says, very curious about how Shade took Selena in as his own child, "but how did you get adopted by Shade?"
"Mother and father found Shade when we ran... from the destruction..." Alphonse, Jerso, and Zampano's expressions drop right away, realizing that Selena is speaking about the Ishvalan War of Extermination.
She hugs herself; just thinking about that place scares her, the beautiful sand stained in the colors of red and black. Buildings destroyed, clouding the sun with their dust and dead people lying everywhere.
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The small family had been lucky, they escaped the alchemist attack, but just by a hair. Horrified, they slowly walked through the rubble and human corpses lying everywhere. Selena sobbed loudly from the horrific sight; her mother hushed her in fear there would still be soldiers or a state alchemist nearby. Her father went up ahead, spotting people hauling someone severely wounded away, but even though he dearly wished to call for them, let their fellow people know that there were more survivors, he was just too afraid that his voice would alert the Amestris soldiers to their location.
This destruction around them had rattled him to the bones. So the other survivors never knew about this small family, meaning they were on their own.
They slowly left the area, Selena's mother keeping her daughter close, trying to shield her for the sight of the many deaths surrounding them. They passed the spot where the other Ishvalans were not long ago. The father glanced for a moment down to yet another body of his fellow people; this man was about his own age, perhaps a couple of years younger. He was covered in blood from the wounds of the State Alchemist's attack. The most noteworthy injury was the torn off right arm, which looked to be old though as there was skin around the stump that seemed to have healed. The father was about to move on, but a strange feeling—perhaps the hand of Ishvala - made him check this one for life signs.
This one was still alive! Barely, so no wonder why the others mistook this one as yet another body covering the rubble. The father pulled this one up on his back, ignoring all the blood covering the young man's body. The small family left the city, even though they have heard about two doctors and perhaps the most significant chance in saving the man.
The mother told her husband not to go there; she had heard the doctors were Amestrian and how could they trust them after what their fellow countrymen have done to their home and loved ones?
So they didn't go. Instead, heading to the location they had been planning fleeing to: Xing.
The mother of Selena used all her self taught skills in the medical field to nurse the unconscious man back to health. The wound on his left side was severe, but fortunately, none of his organs got hit, and the rest of his injuries weren't lethal and wouldn't kill him. But the state of what was left of his right arm worried her deeply. It looked like it had been put together wrong, as if no doctor ever saw it while it healed.
They arrived at the borders of Xing; here they allowed themselves time to rest at a small waterhole, figuring out what their next step should be. The mother and father discussed their next course of action, however, the conversation got cut short when a gang of thugs— living on stealing from caravans traveling over the desert - surrounded the small camp, demanding the family what little supplies they had.
The father refused; without it, his family was sure to die. The mother sensed the danger and told her daughter to stay hidden along with the still unconscious man.
Selena did, frightened for her parents as she listened to them confronting those thugs, whimpering when the shouting and yelling turned into what she later learned were screams of death and knew her parents had joined her friends and grandparents. She cried but stayed put, that was what her mother wanted.
Two days passed and new people arrived; they found the bodies of the mother and father. But they weren't going to leave, for they all sensed the chi of two nearby, both weak so there was no time to lose. They found the two hiding under a rock.
Selena, although weak from dehydration, put up one hell of a fight when the people grabbed her. She screamed and thrashed when one of the men pulled her out from the den she had been hidden inside; she was too scared to listen. The girl only calmed down when a beautifully dressed woman, with the voice of a soothing bell, told her everything would be alright and they both would be taken care of. Selena nodded slowly, deciding to believe this woman's words.
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"It was Li Wang," Selena explains the group softly. "She made Shade wake up, gave us both a home—gave me a family again." She smiles weakly from the memories. "When Shade and Li got married, they said that if I wanted I could call them mother and father, so I did. I was so happy. Then... some people killed my new mother too and keep trying to kill my younger sister and..." Tears start welling up in her green eyes; this time she's unable to stop them. "Now my new daddy is gone too!" She breaks down into deep sobbing, so much that she collapses onto the ground.
Harika tries to comfort her by hugging her shoulders. "Please don't cry..." the young girl tells her softly, not wishing to see her older, strong sister be like this.
Alphonse watches the heartbreaking scene, feeling a tight squeeze in his chest from how much pain and suffering young Selena already has been through. She has gotten a far worse life than anyone deserves. Sure, Al knows a little about childhood trauma, as losing his entire body was incredibly hard and so was losing their mother, Nina, and Hughes, but Selena has seen twice as much death already and she hasn't even turned eighteen!
So he is determined that these two girls will get a happier life, knowing a lot of their people from Ishval can relate to them when it comes to the suffering they have been through. He puts a hand on the crying Selena's shoulder and offers her his other hand. She takes it after a moment of hesitation, allowing the young man to pull her up from the ground and hold his hand as comfort; she sure as heck needs the personal contact.
Harika needs it too, and Zampano is more than willing to let this sweet girl get a ride on his shoulders. Quietly, the group takes the two girls towards the nearest town in the Ishval region. And with the two chimeras and Xingese girl looking after them, Alphonse heads to the command center placed in this area, asking some of the soldiers about Major Miles's whereabouts. When he got it, Alphonse's group heads towards the town in search of the soldier and most likely also a former killer.
"They should be around here somewhere," Alphonse muses, scanning the rebuilding town for any sign of the major and scarred man.
"Daddy?" Harika asks and before anyone could stop her, Harika has run over to the man who looks very much like her daddy. Selena swiftly follows the young girl before she gets herself into trouble.
Scar blinks hearing some child mistake him for her father. He stops along with Miles, eyeing the young girl running over to him. She stops when realizing her mistake and tears start to fall. Scar doesn't like watching children cry; it always makes him feel like a huge jerk, and fortunately, he does know why this little one is crying. "You're looking for your father?" he asks her, kneeling down so he at least looks less menacing.
The girl nods tearfully, turning around when her older sister calls her name. "Harika, don't run off like that!"
Scar's eyes wide by the name this girl has. "Harika?" That's the same name as his mother. The little girl - Harika - nods slowly up to him, quirking a smile when he tells her, "It's a very nice name."
"My dad gave it to me."
Scar nods then turn his attention to this older pale-skinned child. For a moment he mistakes her for one coming from the north, then realizes that this girl is an Ishvalan too, merely a moon child. He has heard about Ishvalan people with white skin and green eyes instead of the iconic red. His mother once told him that Ishvalan children born to look like that have been blessed by the moon; that's why the sun hurts them. "And what is your name?" he asks the older girl. These white-skinned Ishvalans are incredibly rare and it should be considered an honor standing before one. His mother told him that the moon children of Ishvala are strong people, for unlike most other Ishvalans, the moon-blessed Ishvalans will stare into the night and the horrors the darkness brings without fear.
"Selena," this teen, Selena, tells him, not one bit afraid of this scarred and quite intimidating looking man.
Yes, Scar can see what his mother meant; this girl has a certain strength in her eyes and posture he has only seen in a few people; one of them has been the Fullmetal. "Bear that name with pride, girl. Not all Ishvalans get blessed by the moon." The girl blinks but quickly smiles up to him.
Miles is confused; he has no idea what the scarred man is talking about. "Care to explain, Ishvalan?" He has never seen a white-skinned Ishvalan or heard this talk about being moon-blessed before now.
So Scar explains to both his red-eyed brother and the white-skinned Ishvalan girl. "My mother once told me about white-skinned Ishvalans, and said that sometimes when the moon travels over the sky, she blesses an Ishvalan child with white skin and green eyes. Their life will be a constant struggle as the sun does not approve of the moon's children; that's why the sun hurts them." He gently puts a hand on this white-skinned child's head, feeling quite honored standing before one of these moon children. "But a moon-blessed child, like Selena here, shows the true strength of what it means to be an Ishvalan. Look at her eyes."
Miles does and must admit that this young girl has fire in her green eyes, so there must be something to what Scar told him.
"Wow, I didn't know that. I always got teased for my condition," Selena exclaims in surprise. She always hated her condition because of the mean nicknames she got but hearing that she has been one of the few blessed by the moon and is the real strength of the Ishvalans makes so much worth it. So her mother's words that she is special were true. "Thanks for telling me, mister!" She smiles up to the scarred man, already liking this one.
Scar nods to the teen, he gets up and asks the two apparent siblings. "You got lost from your father?"
"No, sir." Selena shakes her head. "Daddy used himself as a decoy so the Wang clan wouldn't follow us when we traveled here."
Alphonse and the others come over by this time. Scar is a bit surprised to see Alphonse as human; the last time he saw the boy, he was still a suit of armor. Of course, he has heard that the youngest of the Elric brother has gotten his body back, but this is the first time he's seen it. Putting that thought aside, he asks mostly Alphonse Elric, "You met an Ishvalan in Xing?" Mei did send him letters from time to time, explaining how she is doing and such. He has gotten quite close to that girl.
Alphonse nods and explains to the two adult Ishvalans about this Ishvalan who also happens to be an alchemist that they met on their trip to Xing. He explains how Harika has been under constant threat of assassinating and their father, calling himself Shade, chose to work as a decoy so they could get the two kids away and back to Ishval where they could hide among their people.
"Does this Shade have any family left here in Ishval?" Miles asks, thinking it would be best for the girls to live with close relatives rather than a bunch of strangers.
Scar, on the other hand, is quite startled that there is another Ishvalan who has been studying alchemy; he always thought his brother was the only one crazy enough to do that.
Alphonse hesitates. "Well... maybe. He didn't know much, thanks to his lost memories, but..." He eyes Scar with the question. "How many Ishvalans know about the alchemy you use?"
Scar's eyes widened ever so slightly; his heart starts beating faster at what Alphonse is hinting. "I'm the only one."
And his world gets pretty much pulled upside down when Mei exclaims, "But Shade has a tattoo there looks very much like yours, Mister Scar! Except it was white and on his left arm."
Can it really be? No, he shouldn't... but how else would they know about it? He has never shown them his left arm after he got it marked. Scar pulls up the sleeve of his left arm, revealing the reconstructing transmutation array.
"Hey, it looks like Daddy's," Harika points out innocently.
The two young adults and Miles, however, see the overly shocked look flashing over Scar's face. "What is it, Scar?" Miles asks but the other Ishvalan ignores him, full attention on Mei and Alphonse, demanding to know, "Was he wearing glasses and missing his right arm?"
The two nod.
That did it, only one person would fit that description. All these years he has thought him dead, but he is alive and... Scar's eyes land back on the two confused children. Harika and Selena, they are not merely fellow people of Ishval, no, they are his family. His brother's children.
All this time, he thought he was the only one left of the family.
Not only his brother has been alive all these years, but has blessed him with two beautiful children! He thanks Ishvala for returning his family back to him. "I'm the younger brother of your father," he tells the two kids, and from the looks of it, they too are just as surprised as he was in hearing they are family with one another.
Both girls gasp, stare at him with wide eyes for a moment, then with a cheer they both tackle him into a hug, which he awkwardly returns.
Mei Chang beams that her former protector has found some light in his quite gloomy life.
Miles and Alphonse, on the other hand, are pretty startled from have heard this, both remember the once killer had told them that his older brother died during the war. Now the facts point that Scar's brother is still alive, which begs the question: "If he has been alive all this time, then why never return?" Miles asks, making Scar turns away from his nieces, also quite curious about this.
"Shade lost his memories, possibly because of loss of blood from losing his arm?" Alphonse ponders out loud. He doesn't know much about the medical field, but can't that be a possibility? "Whatever the case, he had no idea what an Ishvalan was when we called him it, he didn't even know his own name."
That explains it - without his memories, his brother wouldn't be aware of anything going on in Amestris. That also explains why his brother named himself Shade, he is after all only a shadow of his former self.
His brother hasn't lost his sense of humor, that's for sure.
But god he hopes that his brother is still the same personality-wise, he won't know how much losing someone's memory will affect a person. Only one way to find out. "Miles, can you take care of my nieces?" He asks the Major, pushing gently the two over to the soldier, knowing the man will protect them as if they were his own.
Miles promises that he will, very aware where Scar will be going. "Come along, children," he calls for the two.
They follow but the two stop when Selena asks their newfound uncle, "You're going to bring father back to us?"
Scar nods he indeed will. The girls smile, and feeling way lighter than before, they follow Miles over to his home. Scar then demands of Alphonse and Mei, "Bring me to where you last saw him."
The two nod in agreement. In fact, they have kind of been hoping that Scar would help them rescue Shade. They leave Ishval right after requesting the two chimeras help Miles protect the two girls, in case any of the Wang clan has been following them.
They once again return back to Xing. All the way Scar is deeply pondering how much of his brother is still inside this man calling himself Shade. Will his brother recognize him?
He doubts it, but he will simply be content if his brother is still the same enthusiastic and smartass of a bookworm he remembered from his youth.
Yeah I think I too would leave right away if I got the news that a family member I thought dead has been alive all this time. Also, if anyone can save Shade, then it is Scar. That man is a beast when it comes to fighting!
Chapter suggestions are very welcome; I don't have a full plot on this story, simply just want to write about the two Ishvalan brothers.
Till next time!