it's not over tonight
Characters: Scar, West City's state alchemists
Summary: The first survivors.
West City's had four jewels.
Wave. Silver Hands. Breeze Soul. Breeze Heart.
Four state alchemists who had not been in the army during the war, four state alchemists who had all attained their qualification the same day because after brilliant scores and amazing demonstrations of their abilities, there had been no saying who deserved it more.
Well, this might be very well the last day of West City's jewels because Scar was here for them and their popularity would be their downfall. It had been even easier than ever before to figure out where to find and kill them because the quartet had many adoring fans who loved talking about them – not realising that the stranger had plans on becoming their executioner.
He saw Silver Hands first, her pale hair shone in the light of the street lanterns as she smoothly moved ahead of the others, steps dancelike and gracious. She wore a white lab coat with her uniform pants and for a moment, it stung because of the doctors all those years ago. But this woman had to die. She was a state alchemist – she deserved to die.
Behind her, Breeze Soul. Watchful black eyes roamed over the dark streets because she was the most cautious among them, the one he had to be careful with. But her hands were bare, no gloves in sight. None of them had any transmutation arrays at hand, a recklessness they would pay for dearly but then again, there had been no attack in West City before and compared to the so-called heroes of the war, they were relatively unknown outside their town. And they seemed to be on their way back home after a long day of duty.
Breeze Heart and Wave walked side by side. His steps were soft and steady as she moved fluently as if every step was part of a carefully choreographed step. Among the four, Wave was the only one with openly offensive abilities, the only one who could land a direct hit. Her partner, Breeze Heart, and his sister were both capable of taking on Flame but they needed time – time he would sure as hell not give them – to prepare their attacks.
Well, they had nearly reached him so he stepped out of the shadows. He had to admit that they had the right attitude and enough pride not to run – not that it would help them because he was pretty sure that he would outrun most of them with relative ease.
"The state alchemist killer came for us," Breeze Soul said as she bound her hair into a ponytail, obviously preparing for a fight. "Well, it honours us that he comes for us before he goes for the ones in East City…"
"Jade," Silver Hands warned sharply as she nervously scratched her neck. "Careful and steady."
"Don't worry, we got that, Lynn," Wave said with a small smile. "In the name of the Amestrian State Military, we are arresting y-"
His punch missed her by an inch because Breeze Heart pulled her back and suddenly, Scar felt a kick against his shoulder. Breeze Soul lived up to her reputation to be faster than most people when it came to martial arts and she had timed her attack neat like a professional, diving out of his reach by the time he was firmly on his feet again. He had to hand it to her, a few years back, he would not have been a match for her but seeing that she was the one who did not even bother with alchemy at the moment, he blocked her next attack with more power than necessary and watched how she crashed into a wall and slumped down there, motionless. He was sure that she had not died yet – he had heard no bursting bones – but he would deal with her later.
"…you bloody bastard!" Breeze Heart screamed, charging at him. Like his sister, the air alchemist was usually a more than decent user of martial arts but in his wrath, he had allowed himself a huge opening and Scar effortlessly grabbed his hand, concentrating on destroying his body but before he could do this, blood splattered and stained his glasses. As his sight was restored – he simply threw away the damn glasses – he saw the trace of water and the hand that was no longer attached to the rest of Breeze Heart's body.
"Sorry, Phil, but … it was all I could do," Wave apologised, dropping the arm with the hand that held a ring, the ring she had used to transmute water or rather to put the water under a high enough pressure to cut through her partner's flesh and bones.
"Heartless, Wave," Scar said with a smile. "So, you are the one who's next?"
"If you let Lynn go, yes," the blonde replied, fists clenching by her sides. "She has a family to get back to, two little children. I'd not appreciate it if her husband becomes a widower and her children become semi-orphans tonight."
"I cannot make such a promise," he replied seriously. "It is my quest to kill all state alchemists and that even includes those who have not served in the war or who have children."
"It's okay…" Silver Hands said as she rose from where she had knelt next to Breeze Heart who was no longer bleeding. "We are all in this together, aren't we? And we are going down together as well. I rather never see my children and my husband again then to become a coward who runs from a fight. I can do more than healing after all."
"Two of you are down, Wave is the only one who landed a direct hit – on her own comrade but still, and you, Silver Hands, have no reputation about any marvellous fighting skills," he stated calmly, mentioning at the fallen air alchemist behind him. "Oh, Breeze Soul caught me off guard as the beginning of our marvellous battle. This is a feat I should mention as well."
"You're a real bastard, you know?" Breeze Heart snapped, leaning against the wall. "We are fighting for our goddamn lives and instead of giving us a decent battle, you are holding speeches. Rena, help me up. This bastard hurt Jade."
"Your recklessness cost you your left hand already – do you want to lose your right one as well?"
"No – this will end in hundreds of reports for me and I'll need my right hand to write them," he replied as he was pulled onto his feet again. "I did consider letting you go when you first arrived – West City is mostly autocratic and we don't appreciate Central's doings. But you hurt her – and you forced Serena to take my hand. That's what I won't be able to forgive – ever."
"She should be fine in a few hours," Silver Hands replied, poking her friend's cheek. "She probably broke another rib but she has a thick skull so we don't have to worry about a concussion – because that would be something I'd really, really hate."
Scar saw the icicles and the water rays and he barely managed to dodge them before a pressure wave hit him and sent him staggering into the next wall. 'Wave and Breeze Heart – a damn good team, I need to watch out for them,' he thought before something grazed his arm after a flash of silver had passed him. 'Just a scratch.'
"Just in case that you assume that this is a minor injury, it is," the silver-haired woman replied, appearing right in front of him. "This, however, is no minor injury. This might hurt a little more."
Her ghostlike touch send chills up his arm, the arm without tattoos, and seconds later, blood splattered over her white lab coat. "W-what?" he asked.
"Reverse healing alchemy and you have something to cause maximal damage with minimal effort," she replied, wiping the blood from her face. "Along with the icicle in your hip, this will slow you down considerably. You are fast, I'll give you that, but not anymore. The injuries will heal, of course, but tonight, you are no longer a match for us."
He knew that her words where the truth, that they had truly beaten him at his own game but this did not explain why she was standing so calmly there, just a few millimetres out of his reach. "How is this possible?" he asked. He had always been the fastest and he could not be outmatched by anyone on terms of speed. This was absolutely ridiculous.
"Lynn's first blow, the scratch distracted you for a moment – probably because you feared that it might be something poison-related which should be everyone's first assumption," Breeze Heart explained. "It has however two purposes: to give Rena the time to conjure the icicle and to give her the time to deliver the real blow. You might not have known this but Lynn is currently the Amestrian champion – there is no woman faster than her at the moment. Plus, there is a reason why we are called the quartet – ninety perfect of our attacks work only because we are a team."
A sharp blow into his shoulder announced the presence of Breeze Soul behind him but as he twirled around, she was already out of his reach again.
"The Queen of Spades never loses a battle," Wave said cryptically. "A word of advice: the next time, you try to mess with us, separate us and don't allow us to fall into out formation."
"Serena, you really shouldn't give him any advice," Breeze Soul said as she limped over to the rest of her team, visible in pain. "Still, scarred man, just … leave before we obliterate you."
For a moment, he considered whether he would be able to beat them even with his injured leg and arm. They had been battered as well, one of them was missing a hand, another could barely stand straight even though she was still talking big. For a moment, he nearly pitied them because the hand was lost forever and the broken rib would take longer to heal than his injuries. They were a team and if they went down, they would go down together and they would take him with them because this was the way they functioned.
This day marked the historically event of the first state alchemists who escaped Scar.
Afterwards, they were asked how this had been possible when other, stronger alchemists had fallen like flies but they always said that they had been four against one and that for this strategically upper hand which they had technically had, they had lost too much.