Chapter Title: Recovery
Pairings: None! I can't write romance for the life of me!
Spoilers: None
Warnings: Cursing
Disclaimer: I wish I owned it, but I don't. Darnit.
A/N: Yay, this chapter has lots of friendship fluffiness! And Scar starting to act more like the Scar we all know and love. Wheee…I love writing friendship fluff so much…

Al was extremely happy with the fact that Scar seemed to recognize him and wasn't afraid of him anymore. Then he remembered something, "Oh! Scar-san, Hughes-san gave me a package, and he said it was for you. Just a second…" he opened up the front of his armor and withdrew a medium-sized cardboard box, "Here, I'll open it for you," he said, opening the box. Inside were Scar's old clothes, neatly folded, and on top of those was a small key. Al picked up the key, wondering what it was for, when he was distracted by a small clinking noise. Scar was trying to move his arms, and looking slightly confused by the fact that his hands wouldn't come apart. He turned his head towards Al and gave him a pleading look that very clearly said something along the lines of 'Help me'. Al looked at the handcuffs, then at the key, and realized very quickly what it was for. In a few seconds, Scar's arms were completely free for the first time since he'd been captured.

"There you go, Scar-san, I bet that feels a bit better now. Here, these are yours too," Al took the clothes out of the box and held them out for Scar to take.

Scar looked curiously at the bundle of fabric that the-boy-named-Alphonse was holding out; a coat was on the top of the small stack, and it somehow looked very familiar. Slowly, cautiously, he reached a hand over and grasped a handful of the yellow fabric. There was a word…he knew there was a word he could say that would mean what he wanted to know…he pushed determinedly through the fog in his mind, trying to remember…there it was, he'd found it! Feeling vaguely proud that he'd remembered something else, his mouth formed around the whispered question, "…m..ine…?"

Al nodded again, getting the distinct feeling that even though Scar seemed to recognize him, the man was still very confused and disoriented, "Yes, Scar-san, it's yours."

Scar slowly dragged the coat off the pile, not once taking his eyes off of Al, and held it tightly against his chest as though he was afraid that someone would try to take it from him. After about a minute, he decided that it would be safe to look away from the-boy-named-Alphonse, and turned his eyes down to the coat. A small smile appeared on his face, and he quietly repeated the word he'd found which meant that this was his and nobody would take it away from him, "…mine…"

If Al could have smiled, he would have been beaming. This was the first time he'd ever seen Scar smile, except for in Ed's pictures of him from when he'd been basically drunk on his pain medicine, but that wasn't quite the same as this. At any rate, now that Scar seemed to be quite a bit more relaxed than he had been when Al had brought him in the room, the younger Elric could begin to take care of his friend. Noting how matted and dirty Scar's formerly white hair was, Al turned and reached for a comb that was lying on the small bedside table. They would certainly have to take Scar to see Colonel Mustang, and since he didn't know how long it would take for Scar to be lucid enough to comb out his own hair, or how long they had before the Colonel would want to see him, Al decided that he should probably just do this now.

Scar had noticed the-boy-named-Alphonse moving, but since the movement didn't seem to pertain to him, he disregarded it. Then he was aware of something touching his head, and he looked up, startled. The-boy-named-Alphonse muttered to him in a reassuring tone, and the thing touching his head began to move gently through his hair. Whatever was happening, it didn't hurt, so he turned his attention back on the coat that was his. The-boy-named-Alphonse was still talking quietly, but he couldn't understand the words and so it became like a soothing background noise. Within minutes the weary Ishbalan had fallen into a deep, dreamless sleep.

Nearly two hours later, Ed walked into the room, "Hey, Al, sorry I took so long. Had to convince them we didn't need any guards, and then I had to go talk to the Colonel. Everything okay in here?"

Al looked up from combing Scar's hair, and raised a finger to where his lips would be if he had them, "Ssshhh…he's asleep, niisan."

Ed walked over to them, and saw that Scar was, in fact, deeply asleep, and clutching his yellow trenchcoat as though his life depended on it. His hair was almost completely combed by now, and although it still desperately needed to be washed, it was looking much better than it had been. Ed whispered quietly to Al, "How's he doing?"

Al sighed, "He was really confused and scared when I brought him in here, and I don't think he could understand what I was saying to him. He seemed to recognize me a little, but not at first. Niisan…what did they do to him?"

Ed's eyes narrowed, and he clenched his fists, anger underlining his speech, "They drugged him, Al. They fucking drugged him so he couldn't think and couldn't move. Hughes told me how he was caught; they lured him into a trap and darted him out of nowhere, with no warning at all. He never had a chance…he didn't even get a real trial. He spent two weeks drugged and chained up in a cell, not knowing what was going to happen to him."

Al finished with Scar's hair and laid the comb back on the bedside table. He then placed a hand on the Ishbalan's left shoulder, speaking almost too softly to be heard, "Scar-san…so that's why…"

"Hey, everything okay in here?" a familiar red-haired head poked into the room, "I'm supposed to check on y-"

"Ssshhh!" Ed and Al made shushing motions at Breda, but it was too late. Scar shifted, squinting, and let out a very small 'waking up' sound.

Ed glared in annoyance, whispering loudly, "You woke him up!"

"Hey, sorry," Breda rubbed the back of his head apologetically, walking the rest of the way into the room and looking at Scar with a mixture of curiosity and slight fear, "Are you sure it was safe to take off his handcuffs?"

"Of course it was!" Ed continued to glare.

Meanwhile, Scar was waking up very slowly. His thoughts were much clearer than they had been, although he couldn't remember much of what had happened since the drug had begun to take affect. He was lying on something soft, and holding a bundle of slightly stiff cloth. Wait, he was holding? His hands were free? There were people arguing, and he could understand what they were saying…it sounded like they were talking about him. His eyes remained closed, but a murmured question passed his lips, "…where…am I…?"

The voices stopped immediately, and after a few seconds one spoke up, "You're in our room, Scar-san."

That voice…Scar's eyes snapped open, seeing a wonderfully familiar suit of armor sitting in front of him, "…Alphonse…"

Al nodded, "Are you feeling any better now?"

Scar thought on this, but his mind was still refusing to cooperate, "Don'…r'member…" he looked around, remembering that there had been more people than just Alphonse. He saw Edward standing nearby, and also another, unfamiliar person. Someone who was wearing a military uniform. He knew that this fact should put him on edge, should make him instantly untrusting, but he couldn't quite muster enough energy to care, and so merely gave the strange man a questioning look rather than a glare, "Don'…know you. Who…?"

Scar was vaguely amused by how the man gave a very small, startled jump after being addressed, and how nervous he looked when he answered, "Second Lieutenant Breda," in a hurried way, as though he was expecting Scar to leap at his throat if he didn't answer fast enough.

Ed noticed this as well, and smirked, "Y'know, he's not going to messily devour you," he reached over and patted Scar's shoulder, still grinning widely, "Right? You wouldn't hurt a fly, would you?"

Scar gave Ed an annoyed look that very clearly said 'I will get you for that later' before giving his reply, "Hnn."

Breda grinned nervously and began backing out the door, "Well…apparently you're all doing fine, so…uh…just call if you need any help or anything…" he made his retreat, closing the door behind him and leaving the three alone together for the first time since they'd parted over a month before.

Ed spoke first, mock-annoyance in his tone as he looked at Scar, "Hey, you're not a very good listener, are you?"

"What…?" the Ishbalan stared back, a slightly confused expression on his face.

"Don't you act like you don't know what I'm talking about," Ed poked him right in the center of his scar, "I told you not to get yourself caught, and I don't think you listened very well."

"Hmm," Scar replied in a slightly amused tone; words could not express how glad he was that it was them that he'd been assigned to. He'd never say it out loud, but he really had missed the brothers, "Guess it's…fate…for me t'be…stuck with…you two."

Ed laughed and ruffled Scar's hair, "As though that's a bad thing. Look on the bright side; at least now we won't have to stuff you inside Al whenever we need to go anywhere."

"Don'…r'mind me," Scar gave a mock shudder, then remembered something, "…there anything…else for me…t'wear? Sick of these…prison clothes…"

"You really are out of it, aren't you?" Ed shook his head and sighed, "Look down at what you're holding."

Scar looked down, confused…and saw his yellow trenchcoat, "It's…it's my…you got it back?"

Al nodded, "Hughes-san got it back for you. Your shirt and pants, too."

"I thought…I'd never see them…again…" Scar's grip on the coat tightened. It was like an anchor, something tangible and familiar from his old life that he could hold onto in this new life he'd been thrust into so suddenly. Mentally thanking Hughes, he attempted to push himself up…but only got a few inches before dropping right back down onto the bed.

"Hey, don't try to push yourself too hard yet, Scar-san," Al cautioned, placing a hand on the Ishbalan's shoulder, "You don't need to get up and put them on right away. There's plenty of time."

Ed nodded, "Yeah, you don't have to go meet with Colonel Bastard until the drug's completely worn off," then, seeing Scar's slightly confused look, he added, "Colonel Mustang. He's a State Alchemist, so you probably know who he is."

Scar thought on this, "I think…I tried to…kill him…once…"

"Oh, that should make this interesting," Ed sighed, then grinned as a thought occurred to him, "Pity you didn't succeed."

"Niisan!" Al scolded, "You shouldn't say things like that!"

Before this conversation could escalate into any sort of argument, Scar interrupted, "Why…do I have to…meet him?"

"He's my commanding officer, so even though he won't be directly in charge of you, he'll have some impact on what you'll be doing. But don't worry, he won't be able to order you around without going through me first," Ed smiled, amused, "He's probably going to give you some lecture or something about how you're not allowed to kill us."

Scar nodded distractedly; he could think of a few other things that the Flame Alchemist would want to discuss. He was not looking forward to this meeting, not at all. But now was not the time to worry about it. For now he could just rest here, once again under the care and protection of the Elrics, and recover his strength. Even though he was in the middle of a military headquarters rather than in peaceful Rizembool, he could still draw some small amount of comfort from their familiar presence. Things were looking up, if only just a little.

A/N: See, I'm being nice to Scar-san now. Good things are happening to him. I'm not planning for him to go through any more mental torture anytime soon. -hugs Scar-
Scar: -raises eyebrow- I take it you don't count me having to go be lectured by Mustang about not killing the Elrics and not trying to stop them from doing alchemy and not sabotaging missions as mental torture?
Oh, it's not that bad. And you get to meet the whole Crazy Mustang Posse!
Scar: Ishbala help me…
Hehehe…oh, I had a hilarious mental image when I was writing how Breda was saying his name real fast…it was of a very poorly drawn Scar with gigantic fangs leaping onto a pixilated red smudge that was originally Breda…and at midnight that was just the funniest thing ever and had me laughing sporadically for the next few hours. I'm going to have to draw it.