Hi everyone! I want to thank each and every one of you for reading my story and taken a liking to it! :) Of course, for your reviews too! There's nothing more that I love than reviews :3 BUT if you have any complains feel free to write them! :)

ANSWERS TO REVIEWS:

Kiyaxan: Thank you! :3 I plan on shifting the POV a bit as the story continues, though I'm not sure how long this story will get, I guess it depends if people are still willing to read it ^^

Bloodynessie: haha aw thanks! :) Yeah I love embarrassed Ed ^_^ But he's older than he is in the anime so a bit more mature but still our cute and dorky Ed ;)

Marucardoso: Awww thank you so much! :D I'm really glad you and the rest like it so much! I've been worried I ruined the chapter because I speed typed and didn't re-read it! . But thanks for the compliments!

Lily: Don't worry! No biggie, take a good long rest and thanks for the review Lily! :)

Daughterofapollo12345: (rubs chin) That's weird...people always write to me that I should remind them never to eat while reading my fics...sheesh xd Oi, oi, now who said Hughes is dead? ;) Ohhh nooo, our dear Hughes is NOT dead in this story...though what I will do to him much later will probably cause you to try and find me and kill me (hides face) I got future plans for Hughes...and for other characters (sweat drop)

Panic: haha Yeah, well actually I know 4 languages, or err 5 if you count Spanish, but I only know the basics of Spanish and don't really speak it actively so I usually don't count Spanish as a language I know lol :P Wait, you're a professor at a university? Oh sheesh why didn't you tell me! I would have watched my language a bit too (hides face) haha Really? Oh come on you're just flattering me xd Well, my former teachers told me that too (strangely enough o.o) and they told me I should consider becoming a teacher myself (it's on the list of many possibilities). :3 Thanks again! I love writing battle scenes and I hope this one will be good, though I'm more for swordplay to be honest.

Fir3danc3r: Hi there! (waves) Thank you so much! I'm really glad you like it, eh, I've read quite a few of them and many of them are really amazing, I can't hold a candle to them! Hahah Thanks but my English isn't perfect, or at least I try to perfect it each and every day ^^

Enjoy reading everyone!

Scars Left by War

"If we are only human then...why do other humans call us monsters?
Why do humans do things only monsters are capable of?
Why do humans, we humans, kill other humans, an act only the vilest of monsters commit?
Is it because we are monsters or because we are human?" – DragonRedfox (me)

The scent of blood and burnt flesh hung heavy in the air, smoke in the distance ascending into the sky to pollute it further, dark grey clouds mingling with the foul poison and creating only darker clouds, threatening to bathe everything in darkness.

I panted heavily, holding the side of my stomach, my bleeding wound. My blood was warm as it spilled through my clothes and between my fingers, only to soak further into my pants. I growled and ripped a piece of my shirt off with my teeth, tying it around my waist to still the bleeding.

I couldn't afford to lose unconsciousness, I still had a damn job to do after all. I looked to my right, where Ling lay unconscious and well hidden behind bushes, well out of enemy territory. The possibility that an enemy could possibly penetrate till this point would be close to zero, after all, we still had our ace in case things would really go bad.

A brief, flickering light in the distance signaled me that Hawkeye was at position and ready, eliminating our enemies and thinning their numbers considerably, explosions in the distance made me smile, if only for a brief moment. Mustang and Kimblee were holding their own, put those two together and you have a battlefield of fire.

Now I just needed to take care of the grunts below, I had strong suspicions that Greed was close to the enemy ranks by now, surely taking them out like he said he would, the only problem was he was exhausted, pushed well beyond his limits. He had helped save many soldiers, protected Al and carried Ling over here to the barracks to safety, now the reckless fool was fighting again.

Greed was there, that meant that the Mustang Unit must be there too, since Mustang ordered them to cover Greed should anything happen. I took a deep breath and tilted my head up, light rain drops hitting my face and sliding down my blood and dirt smeared cheeks. I wasn't one for mystical things or anything connected to "God", since I didn't believe in him anyway, but I took it as a bad sign that it started to rain now.

I exhaled long and hard, before I took up the AK-47, two dual pistols in my gun holsters at my torso and the sword at my other hip. I wasn't usually one to use a sword, that was more Greed and Ling's specialty but if I ran out of ammo, then I had no other choice. I pocketed two smoke bombs and one explosion bomb, I counted the distance I would have to cover running and sneaking.

Running would tire me out faster, despite my good stamina but sneaking would slow me down far too much and I didn't have time to sneak around unless I neared enemy territory.

Running it is.

Quickly, I ran across the field littered with dead bodies, weapons and holes from grenades going off.

I jumped over fallen enemies and comrades alike, their numbers had suffered greatly, but ours had too. We had lost at least a third of our men that had come from Briggs, falling under the command of General Olivier Armstrong, Alex Armstrong's older sister. Al was back at the barracks treating the injured and most definitely Ling soon too, Greed and the Mustang unit were north where the enemy was at its core, Mustang, Kimblee and Hughes were in the east, fighting off the marines, Hawkeye and Second Lieutenant Havoc were south, behind me, covering ground as well as air forces.

I narrowed my eyes when I heard gunshots in the distance, I grabbed the rifle and did a double roll on the ground, hiding behind a tree as I tried getting a clear shot at whatever poor bastard came in my way right now.

My eyes widened when Furey and Breda came stumbling out of the smoke, moderately injured but not too seriously. I quickly shot out from behind the tree, at first their postures tensed when they heard footsteps approaching them, but they relaxed when they saw me.

"Elric! Ah shit!" Breda gripped his injured knee, cursing under his breath. I kneeled down on the ground, scanning him and the younger Fuery for any other injuries.

"Breda, Fuery! What the hell happened? Where is the rest?" it shouldn't have, but panic and worry gripped my heart. Why did these two only come back?

I gripped Breda's collar, pulling him toward me slightly but not too roughly, mindful of his wounds, "Breda! Where the hell is Greed and the rest?"

He winced but looked up at me, "They are still fighting those bastards, the bastards got some reinforcements. Greed, that bastard, he sent us back here to report our status and get back up. I'm glad you're here, Ed," the older man rested his hand heavily on my shoulder, on my other shoulder and he shivered, briefly I wondered if he felt the ice cold under his hand but I pushed the thought away.

I nodded and stood up, nodding south, "Listen, Al is treating Ling and the other injured soldiers. You think you can make it back? It's not too far," I bit my lip, holding the rifle in my hand.

I wasn't happy about leaving them here but I couldn't waste time carrying them back when Greed and the others needed my help.

Fuery though stood up and smiled, a bit shorter than me, "Don't worry Ed, we will be fine. But you're hurt..." his eyes were drawn to the wound on my side and I instinctively covered it with my blood stained gloved hand...that other hand.

I waved his concerns off, grinning, "Don't worry about me, get yourselves to the barracks to safety, I'll help them out," I patted Fuery once on the shoulder and continued forward.

I had to smile when Breda shouted after me, "And you better come back alive and kicking runt! Argh!"

My legs carried me over the blood and rain soaked earth, leaves and wood crunching beneath my army boots as I ran and ran and didn't know when I would stop. Blood was rushing through my ears, making my head spin, my stomach churn, my injury burn and my blood boil in anger.

My muscles tightened in anticipation and anger when I heard the distinctive sounds of battle ahead, loud clangs of metal hitting metal, bullets being shot, grunts and brief shouts of pain or anger. The smoke cleared to reveal a enemy's back to me and I grinned, Greed was in front of the bastard, with his back facing him, a dangerous position for any soldier. I grunted and jumped, I supported my weight with my hands against the ground and wrapped my legs against the soldier's neck, lifting him up and over my body, snapping his neck in the process even before he hit the dirt.

Greed whirled around at the sound of the man's choked cry and relief briefly flickered in his eyes to see me, I grinned at him and nodded. Greed and I pressed our backs together, successfully eliminating our blind spots as we dealt with the bastards coming at us.

I shouted over the loud pangs of gunfire and grenades ,"Where are the others?!"

Greed looked at me, one sharp violet eyes glancing at me briefly before kicking another assailant away, he shouted back, "At the back! Behind the barracks, they freed our injured buddies! I'll be fine here, you go and check on em'!" Greed shot a quick but meaningful look over his shoulder, slamming his elbow against one soldier's back, grabbing his rifle while twisting his hand backward and shooting at three other soldiers who were about to charge at him.

Suddenly, I didn't have much doubt Greed wouldn't be alright.

So I took off toward the back, rifle in hand, readied for anything. Until a sudden surge of pain suddenly shot through that arm, up to my shoulder where the nerves were especially sensitive.

"Damn it! I thought this thing healed already! It's been over seven months!" I gripped my shoulder tightly, gritting my teeth together, that arm was shaking uncontrollably and I bit my lip at the pain, "Shit...not now. Not now! I can't afford to rest now of all times! Come on you stupid thing work!" I tried to shake it, but it was no use.

Ever since my risky operation and since I got...them I had gotten frequently plagued by intense and sudden surges of pain, no matter the time of day or what I was doing, they would come and usually I would need to rest until it wore off. But I couldn't rest now, not when my friends were fighting and probably injured somewhere.

I breathed deep and hard, with my normal hand I gripped my other arm and squeezed tightly, I felt no pain or pressure, I knew that, but I thought it would decrease the shaking at least a little.

It didn't.

I grit his teeth tightly together and hoisted the rifle in my good arm, "Alright, no use wasting any more time, guess I'll have to make due," I nodded to himself, steeling my nerves and finally moved forward.

I looked down at my legs and was glad my leg didn't start shaking and throbbing in pain like that arm did, at least I could be quick on my feet. Once I rounded the corner, I spotted Falman on the ground, holding an enemy at gunpoint, his right shoulder bleeding, Scar, a foreign soldier who decided to help and join Mustang's unit, was unconscious on the ground a few steps behind Falman, from what I could see he suffered a blow to the head.

I grit my teeth, there were sure to be more soldiers, I couldn't believe that this one soldier was only here that beat up my comrades like that. There's gotta be more.

As if on cue, a noise to my right flank alerted me of another soldier but to my surprise this soldier of the enemy ranks didn't just wield a simple gun or rifle.

It was a goddamn bazooka.

I wanted to scream and shout out to the skies above that everyone hated my guts today.

Falman spotted him and paled instantly, seeing me, their captain and only slightly below their leader Roy Mustang, at the mercy of the enemy that wielded a bazooka was very disheartening to say the least. I internally groaned, yeah I can imagine that.

The soldier spoke, "Drop your damn gun or I'll shoot your in command to bits and pieces until nothing is left," he threatened, lightly swaying the heavy bazooka in his arms, aimed straight at my chest.

I narrowed my eyes, glaring at the jerk that aimed a goddamn bazooka at me.

Quickly, I tried reaching one hand to my hip to grasp at the handle of my sword, quietly, slowly, but the soldier saw it and threatened, "Hands where I can see them dumbass!" I growled lowly, defiantly raising my chin up and glaring straight at the man I was at the mercy of. Tch, I won't submit that easily.

It was more than annoying to be at the mercy of this jerk, if it had been a simple pistol or an AK-47, then I wouldn't have a problem disarming him and gaining the upper hand, but if the moron shot, then not only me but Falman and Scar and possibly Greed would be injured as well from the impact. I couldn't afford that.

I nodded at the weapon, "So, what are you gonna do? Shoot me dead? Kill my men? What perk would that give you? You would just kill me, but get nothing much in return except see me dead where you can get so much more," I tried tricking the bastard into relaxing slightly so I could devise a plan in my head to disarm him, bazooka and all.

The soldier didn't seem to buy it, he only grew annoyed at my attempted distraction technique, "Stop trying to bribe me, what do you hold me for? A fool? I know damn well what you're trying and I won't-" suddenly the soldier's eyes widened at least double their size, frozen in pain and shock.

The soldier suddenly fell forward with the weight of his weapon and once he hit the ground, motionless, I saw why.

A bleeding exit wound was directly in the middle of his scalp, killing him instantly.

I quickly picked up his rifle, searching everywhere for the shooter, for a brief second I thought it to be Hawkeye, but she was deployed south, it would be impossible for her to come here, then again, Breda and Fuery might have told her directly where I went.

To my surprise, the man I least expected to be here joined the scene, sniper rifle in hand.

He adjusted his glasses and grinned at me, "Hello there Captain, you alright?" his tone turned slightly serious when he spotted my bleeding wound and the way that arm was shaking.

I shook my head, ignoring the pained yelp of the soldier that Falman had kicked into unconsciousness to the head, and ran a hand over my golden mane it turned into through the fight, "Aw man, Hughes, am I ever glad to see you," I grinned and clapped the older man on the shoulder, before allowing myself a break to collect myself and my energy. Fighting especially under a massive attack like this, was pretty darn tiring.

"Sorry for the delay, I had to help Roy for a bit before coming here, he said I should check on you. When I arrived at the barracks, Breda and Fuery told me where you and the others were at so I thought something might be going down. Breda also told me of your wound, so that speaks for itself," the older man looked down at me in concern but I waved it off, I was fine, bleeding a bit fine.

"Don't worry I'm fine, but we need to head back and let Al treat you guys," I looked at Falman and Scar.

Greed emerged as if on cue from the commotion at the back, "You pussies ready? I'm growing grey hairs over here," he scratched his head, casual as ever that guy. I snorted.

I shook my head and nodded, "Yeah, let's go,"

And that was when Hughes noticed how I started limping suspiciously back to camp, only I found out days later when he directly voiced his concerns about it.

I just smiled and waved him off, feeling pain shooting up and down that arm and leg, I grinned at him, "Nah, don't worry about me, I'm fine,"

If only I were right for once in my life.

Thanks for reading everyone!