Scar opens his eyes to a sound that unintentionally brought him back to when he was a kid, back when he was sharing a room with his brother. It's a sound that back then filled him with annoyance, he admits even now he feels the same thing, but not as strongly anymore. "Why can't your mind ever rest?" He grumbles, considering just go back to sleep but decides otherwise and gets up from bed, heading into the living room where– right and behold sits his brother with his nose in a book.

Shade jumps when he realizes Scar is here. "Oh, I didn't wake you did I?" He asks worriedly.

"You should be sleeping." Scar tells him in a matter of fact, especially what is going to happen tomorrow.

"I know..."

"But?"

Shade sighs and puts down the book, caressing his temple from mind spinning with more thoughts than usual. "My head won't let me. I have been shifting and turning these last three hours. So I thought I might as well be a little proactive."

Exactly like when they were young. When his brother got too many thoughts; his mind refuses his body rest. It has caused a lot of sleepless nights for his brother. Scar brews two cups of herb tea, handing one of them to Shade and takes a seat beside him. "What's on your mind?" He asks, to then frown when his brother gives him a surprised look. "What?"

"It's nothing." Shade returns back to the book, embarrassed this kind gesture took him off guard.

Scar does have an idea of why Shade gave him that look. Back when they were kids, he would often just gets very huffy at his brother staying up to study before he went back to sleep. And nearing the war of Ishval, he wouldn't really be around since his brother lived in his own house by then and most of their interactions had been heated arguments about how wrong it was to study alchemy. Hated the fact his brother dwelled his mind into such heresy but he loved his brother too much ever to dislike him personally, and he thinks his brother knew that. The few times, his brother noticed him watching; he would smile.
Shaking off the memories, Scar gestures for his brother to tell whatever heresy he's now doing.

Shade takes a deep breath before explaining; "During the conversation with the doctor, we came into the subject about how the human body has a flow. Just like the ground has. I was aware of that, have tapped into it a few times. But it made me thinking; could I interact with this flow inside the human body to a more wanted effect?"

"I don't follow." Scar admits, he has never done much research on alchemy, most what he can do is more out of guesswork. Yes, he is smart enough to know how exactly alchemy works, but he has deliberately kept himself distance from doing further research on the matter. Back when he was a cold murder, he knew enough to use the right arm of deconstruction; turn the insides of a person into mush or cause great destructions to his surroundings. "Is this like the dragon pulse?"
"Yes, except it's inside a person." Shade nods and puts his hand on Scar's right shoulder. "If I wanted, I could disrupt your inner dragon pulse and make you unable to use your right arm for about an hour."

Scar's eyes wide hearing this, his brother can really do such a thing? "What else can you do with this ability?" He asks, restraining himself from pulling away. He trusts his brother won't do this on him.

"Me? Only disable." Shade shrugs and leans back into his chair. He, of course, knows how to make the blow lethal but never wishes to do that practice. "The closest thing I have ever come to fighting. But I was wondering if I could use this tactic; for example, numb pain."

Scar is not sure if he likes this or not, on the one hand, he can see where his brother is going. Using alchemy to erase pain instead of drugging the person with sedatives, maybe even help someone recovering faster is incredibly useful. However, there is also a bad side to this idea and that if it's been used on soldiers. He wouldn't like to face a soldier who wouldn't be able to feel pain, continue on fighting even though his arm was snapped in half. It reminds him a bit too much of those man-eating dummies. But, he trusts his brother, and will personally make sure no one from the military will turn his research into a weapon. It was bad enough that he did it.

"I am very certain it's possible, for I think I unintentionally did it when they tore my automail arm off. It didn't hurt as much as I thought, and the loss of blood was what knocked me out; not the pain." Shade explains, not noticing the look in the other man's eyes; he's too busy skim the book for the facts he needs for this idea. "So maybe if I can recreate this tactic, I might not need three years to recover."

Ah, now he sees why his brother cannot sleep. Scar isn't surprised over his brother's dread going through the surgery again, he has heard it's an excruciating affair and one he did not wish happed to his soft-skinned brother.
"Hang on." Shade interrupts Scar's thoughts, the one-armed man flips between the pages, reading a section intensely to smile widely. "I knew it! It is possible." and before Scar can stop him. Shade has found a piece of paper and a pen, writing down his discovery. Scar rolls his eyes, "brother, you need sleep."

"Just a little more time, I almost got it." Shade replies, he needs to write this down before he forgets the details.

He always says that, and it always more than just an hour. "Listen to me, we can postpone the automail surgery." Scar tries to reason his brother, he grabs Shade's arm "There's no need to—" and gets the biggest startle when Shade's left arm suddenly reacts, the alchemy reaction went through his right arm, spreading through his entire body. He falters of what incredible weird sense it left him in. His body feels numb as if sleeping. He drops onto the floor but feels nothing from the landing. He gasps of what has happened.

"Are you okay?" Shade asks worried, gets on his feet and helps the very disorientated man back up. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean this to happen. I was so caught up in the discovery I—"

"It's alright." Scare interrupts his brother's river of apologies, it's not like Shade is the only one who has been dealing with alchemic lash outs. He had a lot of those back when he learned how to control the right arm's alchemy. He has much gotten better not having the right arm reacts on his rage anymore, it leaves such a darn mess. The left on the other hand... well, Shade proved that if the user got an alchemic theory in mind and gets startled enough, then the left arm will react. "I shouldn't have startled you." These instinctive alchemy reactions can be useful from time to time, after all, without one of them; Bradley would probably have killed him.

"I should've been more careful." Shade scolds himself, placing Scar on a stool he asks worriedly. "How much damage did I do?"/p

Scar pinches his left arm, but although he can feel the touch, all he gets is a painless numbness no matter how much his pinches. This is weird and freaky. "I can't feel pain."

"You can't?" Shade blinks. Scar shakes his head and the older one grumbles on this issue. Doesn't matter it's a victory, he can cheer about that later: when his brother can feel properly again. "I'm inclined to wait an hour or so, see if it wears off on its own before I try to mess around with your body by alchemy." He suggests, after all, he did only disrupt the dragon pulse; not removing it.
"I would prefer that very much." Scar agrees, he trusts his brother, it's the darn alchemy he doesn't trust. So they wait, a very awkward form of waiting. About an hour pass before Scar is starting to feel small senses of pain, but only when he pinches his skin with all his might. A half-hour later and he's starting to feel normal, still with the numbness, though. Shade is much relieved it disappeared on its own. "Oh, thank god... I thought I had really messed up."

Stroking his left arm, also glad this hasn't been permanent and yet he is impressed how quickly his brother made that theory work, he truly is a smart man. "Will you now go back to sleep?" Scar asks Shade in an annoyed tone, he got enough drama for one night.
Shade chuckles weakly. "Yeah, and sorry about this whole thing..."
Scar simply nods, quietly heading back to bed, never thought his brother's knowledge of alchemy would reach this far. But he should've expected it; he is, after all, bearing his brother's right arm as if it always has been his own. And that happened when his brother had little to none experience on how to actually perform alchemy. It's a bit scary to think that his brother might be way more powerful than he ever has been. Scar lifts his right arm, the arm he used to kill people. He did it with only basic knowledge how to use it, so what can a scholar in alchemy do with it? At least Shade won't use it to kill people: he's too much of a pacifist for that and Scar is much relieved about that fact. He would be terrified if his brother ever got taken by the beast of vengeance and turned his alchemy into a weapon.

One good thing came out from what happened last night, and that's Shade has discovered a way where he wouldn't suffer as much against the surgery, and still. "I can't make my body completely immune against pain, there is a reason why the automail engineers don't knock the patient out." Shade explains Scar over breakfast.
Scar is not really sure how to react, other than disbelief from what his brother has gone through. "Are you telling me that you went through surgery with little to no sedatives?" His brother nods. Dear god, no wonder why he was so set on figuring this pain-numbing trick out. "How did you handle it?"

"I didn't," Shade replies hard as he grabs himself another piece of bread, happy the kids are outside playing during this conversation. "All I could do was scream myself hoarse, trashing as much the binding allowed me until I passed out from the pain. It happened more than once during the surgery and when they were finally done, it took me three years before I even could manage to move my new arm. And what was even with Li's healing."

Scar's body tense hearing how much his brother had suffered, regret that he is partly at fault of this. His brother shouldn't have been suffering like this. If he had just kept his arm instead of giving it to him...! But that was a choice his brother made on his own account... and now he's paying for it.

"Anyway, even with all excruciation pain and rehabilitation. I'm still glad I went through it, and it wasn't so bad as Li stayed by my side throughout the whole ordeal." Shade continues, he can see the regret in his brother's eyes, as if he thinks he is at fault at this. Why? He does not know and gets the feeling that his brother really doesn't want to talk about it. It's frustrating that he does not know what is causing his brother this pain, he wants to help but it's hard when the man refuses to let him. Maybe he will take his extended hand when he's ready, Shade can only hope.
Scar meets his eyes, realizes the hint from him, but all that does is making the man look more in pain. Why won't he tell him what is bothering him? Shade thinks with the sense of helplessness. He sighs and calls for the kids to wash the desert sand off before they leave. "Whatever regret you're feeling about me; don't. Nothing that I went through was your fault." He tells his brother softly and leaves the table, he needs to pack his research notes before they leave.

Perhaps it wasn't his fault, but Scar still feels terrible that he is the reason to why his brother has to go through this again.

,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

About an hour later, the small Ishvalen family is traveling to Rush Valley by train. There were a few complications with Scar leaving Ishval since he is still considered by many a wanted murder. That is why Miles and Lieutenant Hawkeye are going with them.

This is the first time Riza has seen the person the Major spoke about being Scar's older brother; a brilliant alchemist and creator of the alchemy Scar has been using. Easy to say that her ranking officer got quite intrigued and Lieutenant Hawkeye agreed to escort them to Rush Valley for the automail surgery in a way to get to know this first alchemist of Ishval better.

"I hear you are an alchemist, a rarity around Ishval." She points out, so far the only alchemist of Ishval they have known of is Scar, but that man hasn't been doing any sort of alchemy since the Promise Day. "So I hear." Shade replies in a casual manner, unlike Scar who looks so angry all the time, his older brother Shade is a lighthearted man. "The Ishvalen belief doesn't condone alchemy, so out of respect for that, I will not perform alchemy unless highly necessarily."

Scar feels a warm squeeze around his chest hearing this, he's glad his brother's old respect for Ishvala hasn't entirely disappeared.

"What are you doing in Ishval Miss. Hawkeye?" Shade then asks the Lieutenant. "I know you're helping us rebuild Ishval, but how exactly?"

"We're aiding your people setting up plantations and turn Ishval into a central trading route between Amestris and Xing," Hawkeye explains the man.

"Hm, yes, Miles did mention this and some of the wares I saw in the market could be traded with the Xingese people." Shade muses, and since he has been living in Xing, he somewhat knows what the Xing people want. "I don't know much about food, but I do know about silk. My wife often took me out to the local silk farm. The Xingese people really love that type of clothing and I'm sure our country would as well." Shade starts explaining the Lieutenant and Major how to produce this form of fabric by the help of a special caterpillar called the silkworm and how he has observed they extract this fine fabric out from the cocoon of this insect. "All they would require is mulberry leaves, and if you figure out how to properly grow this tree, the Ishvalen people will also be able to trade the berries: they are edible for humans."

"I love mulberry!" Selena declares cheerfully to the adults. "It's like candy, just healthier!"
Well, isn't this a pleasured surprise of an opportunity. "I'll be sure look into this when I return back to base." Riza says, sure Mustang would like to look into this possible new trading object and can be useful for the people in Ishval and rest of Amestris.

Miles is also quite impressive about what this older brother of Scar knows, makes him wonder what else is inside that head of his. He is sure General Armstrong would love meeting this guy, and hopefully, Shade won't get too intimidated by her which could make Scar protective and get into a fight with the General.

The ride to Rush Valley goes smoothly, Selena did cause a bit of trouble when she got too excited about that friend she made on the train, so Shade had to rein her in. Both Miles and Riza found it incredibly amusing when the youngest of the two Ishvalen girls crawl up on Scar's lap and plays pretend with the man, no idea how much she is ruining his image of being an intimidating man.

Doesn't do any better when he obliges on Harika's demand getting carried on his shoulders when they leave the train.

"Any special automail engineer you have in mind?" Miles asks the scarred Ishvalen, having a big amused smile from the adorable scene of a small girl getting a ride on Scar's shoulders.

Trying his best to the man's amusement at his predicament, Scar admits he had one in mind, as he has seen her work in action, however... "I do not think she will do my family or me any favors." and he doesn't blame her one bit for it.

Riza knows exactly who the man is talking about. "That's a weird choice." All things considered what this man did to her parent.

"I'm aware, but I have seen Miss Rockbell's work personally and I know it would fit my brother's needs." Scar explains the Lieutenant. Shade casts him a glance, having a hint of confusions in them before turning back to scanning the area. "Where's Selena?" He asks, noticing that the teenager is nowhere around them. Scar and the two soldiers look around for the pale-skinned Ishvalen.

Lieutenant Hawkeye spots the girl. "Over there." Pointing at the exit of the train station, the girl is running out with no idea she is leaving the others behind. Shade calls for her, but the girl is too far off to hear him. The father of Selena face-palm. "Dear lord, I can't take my eyes away from her for a second... " About to go in pursuit but gets stopped by Scar. "I'll get her." He puts the disappointed Harika down, and turns to the two soldiers; "Keep them safe." and he runs off.

"Safe from what?" Shade asks slightly worried. "How dangerous is this place anyway?" He asks the two soldiers.

"There is nothing to worry about," Miles assures him, explaining that Scar probably only said it because he cares deeply for their safety. "Accidents do happen after all."

"What about we head over and talk with the automail engineer Scar mentioned?" Riza suggests and offers Harika her hand, to her surprise the small girl refuses it; instead takes her father's. She does quickly brushes it off and guides Shade towards that particular shop.

Meanwhile, Scar is impressed by how swift Selena can move. And with that fire in her heart, Scar is confident she will grow into a strong and powerful woman. Just like a particular Wall of Briggs he knows, except Selena will have fire in her instead of ice. He wonders how Selena will react to General Armstrong and also fears when that day will come. Not sure Armstrong would appreciate an overconfident kid talking back to her as he knows Selena will do that when they meet. He finds Selena, the girl is chattering with a young black woman, seemly excited about something. And before he can get over to them, both run off. He follows and can almost hit his head against the nearby wall when this young black woman jumps easily up to one of the roof's, making the giggling Selena follow.

He must admit that if the girl got a bit of training, she could become a good Ishvalen monk. "Selena!" He calls after have gotten onto the roof like the two female. The two stops, the young black woman looks quite surprised, Selena simply gives him a cheerful wave. "Uncle! I made a new friend!"
The monk training would also help with her focus as well... too bad only boys are allowed to pursue that carrier. "You shouldn't run off like that." He lectures her.

Selena's smile drops and she kicks a loose tile plate in embarrassment. "I'm sorry..." She just got so excited about this new place. Giving the woman a small wave, "nice meeting you." and trots over to her uncle.
"You two squirt." The young woman calls cheerfully and with an almost unnatural grace runs off. Scar watches that one leaves, getting the feeling her legs might not be organic anymore. No surprise, this whole place is filled with people having artificial limbs. "Let's go." He tells Selena and with a nod from her, they jump down the roof and heads over to the shop Scar is sure the others are by now.

"It's busy in here." Shade remarks at the many people crowding this shop with the name of Atelier Garfield. Looking down, he notices how uncomfortable Harika is and asks Miles taking her up. The Major does and the girl calms a bit further down. Still, she clings to the soldier's clothing like a lifeline. "You really don't like crowds; do you little one?" Miles asks her softly. She shakes her head that she doesn't, less so when she has no idea which one of them wants to hurt her.

Riza walks through the crowd, calling when she spots a blond Amestrian young woman, at the moment repairing an elderly man's arm. "Winry!"

"Oh hey, Riza." Winry Rockbell greets her in a happy surprise. "I wasn't aware you were coming on a visit."

"Sorry about that, I'll sure call the next time." Lieutenant Hawkeye replies with a faint smile on her lips, it does disappear slightly when explaining the automail engineer. "I'm here on official business."

Finishing the repairs and letting the man walk over to the owner of the shop to pay, Winry turns her full attention to the Lieutenant. "What kind of business?"

Motions Shade to step forward, he does and Riza explains. "I'm escorting this man and his family. As you can see; he needs an engineer's service."

Winry nods in understanding, and scanning this Ishvalen up and down, yes she can see the resembles. Alphonse did tell her about this man and him being the older brother of Scar, yet he has no idea about anything what Scar has done. "Shade, right? Al spoke about you." She says, unsure how to be around the older brother of her parents' murder. But looking into those red eyes, she realizes Shade has too gentle of a look in them to be anything like Scar. Also, she notices this Ishvalen man has that gleam in his eyes like Ed and Al. Ah yes, Al did mention that Shade is actually an alchemist himself, that explains the gleam.

Shade offers her his left hand and she shakes it. "Nice meeting you, miss."
"Rockbell."

Shade blinks, for some odd reason that name rings a bell. "That name sounds familiar..." The two soldiers and Winry blink, noticing this Shade waves his hand flustered to them. "Sorry, I don't know where that came from..! My memories are all scrambled up."

Okay, Shade here is very different from his brother, this man has a sort of charm Scar does not have. She is beginning to like Shade already. "My parents were doctors in the war of Ishval." She explains this way more likable Ishvalen.
Shade turns back to her, giving her a quite surprised look. "Really?"
She nods. "Yes, they saved your brother's life." Telling him about what Scar did to them did cross her mind, but just couldn't bring herself to shatter that thankful look in the man's red eyes and less so when he says:

"Then, I am eternally grateful for their aid. Is there a way I can personally thank them?"

"No... they are dead..."

"Oh." Shade's expression drops instantly, he shifts on his feet once before speaking again. "I may not remember anything about the war, but from how the people in Ishval carry this sort of pain in their eyes and many bear scars on their bodies- myself included. I can conclude that your parents were very brave risking their lives by helping others; an act of courage you can be very proud of."

Winry can feel the tears pressing against her eyes from Shade's sincere words but refuses to let them fall. With the tears in check, she gives Shade a small smile. "Thank you, I really predicate hearing this."
Shade nods in return, to smile weakly when Winry asks him with excitement he recognizes from himself when he stumbles upon a new mystery he can solve.

"Now, shall we take a look at that arm of yours?" Gesturing to the table in the back of the shop. The man follows her inside where he takes a seat and pull off the poncho that hid his missing limp. Winry notices right away that this man already has been wearing automail, but something or someone has torn it off. "What happened to your former arm?" She asks him.
"Some people tore it off when I refused to answer them certain questions." Shade replies quietly. Winry winches hearing that, and also feels angry someone can be so cruel tearing off an automail arm. "That's barbaric..."

"Indeed." Shade agrees and has to asks since he has been afraid the damaged the Wang clan did to him is too significant for him to get a new arm. "Will I still be able to get a new one attached?"

After a close inspection of the badly scarred arm, Winry can say this. "Don't you worry, I can attach one; no problem."
"Oh thank god." Shade breathes out an air of relief. Winry smiles and with a notebook in hand, she starts designing an arm suiting for this man, asking him what he would be mostly using it for. "No weapons." He tells her right away. "I won't be doing any combat. But if you could do..." He explains how he would like a smooth surface, one with as few plating as possible and also would like metal resistance to heat since he is living in a desert after all.
Winry thinks about these two requests and is confident she can come up with something good for this man. "I have to give your arm some moveable plating, without them you won't get the same mobility as a normal arm." He nods that is fine by him and with these requirement written down, she asks; "How fast do you need this arm? I can build it in three days if its a rush order, but that will cost you extra."

"Oh, just take the time you need." Shade tells her, giving this woman a small smile. "I'm in no hurry." He still needs to perfect his latest alchemy discovery.

Winry nods, blinking in surprise when a teenage girl suddenly comes running into the shop like a speeding bullet "Daddy! You're not gotta believe what this place has!" She calls and jumps around the room like an excited puppy while telling the man about all the people wearing automail. Winry stares of what this clearly not Ishvalen looking girl called the man. "Adopted?"

The man nods, before turning his red eyes back to the speaking like a waterfall girl. "Still Ishvalen though." and explains Winry briefly. "She has a condition that removes the color pigmentation in her skin and eyes."

Makes little to no sense for her, wasn't even aware people could lose the color in their skin other than when they don't get exposed to the sun. "She's a cute one." Winry says instead. The man nods and calls for the chipper girl's attention. "Selena, this is Winry Rockbell. She will give me a new metal arm."

"Cool!" Selena cries joyful but drops when memories of what happened the last time her daddy went through this. "Oh wait, you gotta be sick and in pain again for a really long time, won't you?"
"It is necessary." He tells her softly. Selena turns her bright green eyes to Winry, asking hopefully. "Can't you make it hurt him less? Last time daddy was in pain for so long..."

Winry feels so bad, but she cannot change the fact that it is necessary that the patient must not get too much sedative during the surgery where the nerves gets attached to the artificial limp. "I'm sorry..."
Selena lowers her head to then shoot her a glare and runs out, ignoring her father's calling for her. Winry's eyes follow this understandable angry girl and gasps seeing a face she really didn't want to see; Scar. Why did he also have to be here?

Shade follows Miss Rockbell eyes and spots his brother, he smiles and about to call him over, but then notices the regretful look in his brother's eyes, turning back to the engineer, he notices that she does not look happy to see him. Okay, only an idiot won't realize that there is animosity between the two. For what reason he does not know; figures he will ask his brother later. "How long do you think it will take you?" He asks Miss Rockbell friendly, pretending he hasn't taken notice of the air of hostility around the two.

"Hm? Oh-" Winry snaps back to her customer, ignoring her parents killer for the moment. "Let me see... give me eleven days and you have your arm."
"Then I will be back in eleven days." Shade says and with thanks, he leaves the shop. Scar sends Winry a single glance which she returns before they both go their separate way.
Out on the streets of Rush Valley, Shade pulls his brother gently back, letting the two soldiers and kids walk further forward. When sure they are out of hearing range, he voices the observant he did between Winry and Scar. "What did you do to earn her disdain?"

Scar doesn't answer, he had really hoped his brother hasn't taken notice about this looming regret he feels every time he sees this young woman nor that she still doesn't really like having the reminder of who killed her parents around.
Shade can see this causes his brother great pain and regret, he dreads what is causing those feelings, but he much rather wants to know that being left in the dark. And he wants to understand this by his brother and not by someone else's mouth. "Brother, what is it for a pain you are carrying in your heart?"

Scar turns away, afraid how his brother will react, more so when Shade barely knows who he is. "... If your memories ever return... I will tell you." He promises. Scar knows it's very childish and even selfish of him, but if he has to tell this to his brother; he much rather do it when the man at least partly knows what started it.

Shade frowns deeply at his brother's words, feeling like he's getting a bit screwed over. "You are aware that it might never happen." Scar does not answer him. Shade watches the younger man for a while and sighs in defeat. "Alright... but you better keep that promise." He tells his brother firmly.

Scar meets his eyes, has to remind himself that his brother has forgotten that Ishvalens honor their words. "I swear by the blood we share in our veins."

Those words did catch Shade a bit off guard, probably because he's used to hearing Xingese people makes a solemn promise through their clan or honor of a warrior. But he will accept this solemn promise and the bond they share as a family.

Many of you have probably been waiting for the meeting between Scar and Winry. I have read several fanfictions where Winry forgive Scar, but that is never going to happen in this fanfiction. I don't think something like that ever should be forgiving, but there are other ways to get over such horrible things and that is by learning from their mistakes and do better in the future.

but that's just how I see it.

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.