~~~***~~~***~~~

        We turned down an alleyway only to get blocked by the man dropping down in front of us.
        “Who are you anyway?!” Al yelled, “Why are you after us?!”
        “As long as there are creators like you in the world, there must also be destroyers.” He replied.
        “Well, it looks like we are going to have to fight.” I clapped my hands together and gripped onto a discarded pole, turning it into a sword as Al got into a fighting stance.
        “Gutsy one, aren’t you?” The man smirked as I ran at him, sword held high, and he easily dodged my weapon. He pushed me out of the way and managed to place his right hand on Al's armor.
        “Too slow…” He said as his arm flashed blue and Al's entire left half exploded.
        “Al!” I shouted, feeling the anger rush through my body.
        “You bastard!” I raised my weapon and charged at the man again. He managed to dodge and evade my attacks. Just when I thought one was going to land, he deflected my sword and grabbed my auto-mail arm. My eyes widened as I watched his arm flash blue again, but there was a sudden gust that sent me flying out of the alley. I managed to skid to a stop before I could fall back and give him an opening.
        "Ed!" I heard Al yell from behind the man.
        I ripped what was left of my coat off and let out a sigh of relief knowing he's still alive, but I wasn't about to let myself become too distracted.
        “An auto-mail arm… That explains why my attacks didn’t do the damage I expected.” The scarred man said under his breath as he walked towards me.
        I clapped my hands again and turned my arm into a blade.
        “Brother, don’t… Just run away!” Al shouted.
        “You idiot! I’m not leaving you behind!” I yelled back, charging at the man.
        He was ready this time and managed to dodge my blade and grab onto my arm. Another flash of blue, and I watched my arm get blown to pieces. I fell back on the ground and stared up as the man towered over me. Anger was replaced by panic. I started to try and crawl away from him, but when I tried to use my left arm, I ended up falling back onto the ground.
        “Ed!” Al cried again.
        "Tell me... are you going to kill my brother too?" I asked as I moved around to look up at the man.
        He stopped and stared at me. "He is not a state alchemist; he is of no concern to me... As long as he stays out of my way, he'll live... The only one dying today will be you, Fullmetal Alchemist."
        I nodded and looked at the ground, accepting my death. "As long as I have your word that you'll let my brother live, then fine. Go ahead, kill me."
        “Brother! Don’t just sit there! Get up and run away!” Al shouted as the man’s hand got closer to my head.
        The sound of a gunshot suddenly brought me from my thoughts.
        “That’s enough! You won’t be killing anybody else today, Scar! I’m taking you into custody, where you will answer for the murders of at least 10 State alchemists!”
        I snapped my head to the side to see Mustang and a handful of military personnel. All with their guns drawn and pointed at Scar. Now that they had Scar's full attention, I watched Mustang hand his gun to Riza, an eager look etched on his face. Scar moved his hand a certain way and started to charge at Mustang, who was standing ready with his freshly gloved hand.
        He snapped his fingers for an attack but only managed to produce a puff of black smoke. Before Scar had the chance to grab him, though, Riza knocked Mustang down and began shooting at Scar.
        While they fought, Hughes and a few soldiers ran over to me. “Who is this guy?” I asked him.
        “He’s the one who killed Shou, Nicole, and Nina.”
        “So Nicole did end up dying... That’s the guy…” I muttered as images of Nicole and Nina flashed through my mind.
        Sitting and continuing to watch as Armstrong was now fighting with Scar, ‘His alchemy… It stops at the deconstruction phase…’ I thought to myself.
        “You might as well give up, Scar!” Mustang yelled from across the way. Scar looked to everyone, seeing he was surrounded and that he probably wasn't going to be able to slip away easily, he placed his hand on the ground, blasting a hole in it and escaping through the sewers.
        Everyone started rushing to try and catch him; I pushed myself to my feet to run back into the alley.
        "Al! Alphonse!" I ran and knelt in front of him. "Speak to me, Al!"
        “You idiot!” I felt a fist collide with my chin.
        “Why didn’t you run away when I told you to?! What kind of idiot are you?!” Al exclaimed.
        “No way am I going to leave you behind!”
        “That’s exactly why you’re an idiot!” I felt Al punch me again. "What do you keep punching me like that for?" I yelled, "If I'd run away, you could have been killed, you know that?!"
        “And maybe I wouldn’t have been! Deciding to die is something only an idiot does!”
        “Hey, easy on the idiot stuff… I’m still your older brother.”
        “I’ll say it all I want to!” Al suddenly gripped the front of my shirt and brought me close to his face. “Survival is the only way, Ed. Live on, learn more about alchemy, and find a way to get all of our bodies back and help people like Nina. You can’t do that by dying!”
        I was suddenly released as Al's arm fell off. “Oh great… Now my arm’s fallen off…”
        “We’re falling apart, aren’t we?” I chuckled, looking down at the ground. “We look like we belong in a junkyard.”
        “But we’re still alive,” Al replied.
        I felt a jacket be placed around my shoulders; Havoc smiled down at Al and me.
        “You know, Al… We’re going to have to pay a visit to our mechanic.” I steadied myself as Havoc helped me to my feet.
        ‘I’m so dead!’
        We made our way out of the alley, and I had to stop to get checked out by a medic to make sure I didn't need to go to the hospital. Hughes had walked over as the medic was finishing up.
        "I'm glad to see you're not horribly injured." He said with his usual smile.
        "Tch, not yet; once my mechanic sees my arm, it'll be a different story," I said, dread pooling in my stomach.
        He let out a laugh as he placed his hand on my shoulder. "Before you head out, though, you should probably go to the hospital."
        "But... the medic said I was fi-"
        Hughes cut me off as he gave me a more serious look. "There's someone there who'll want to see you. I'm heading there now, so you can ride with me. Al can go with Armstrong, and you'll be able to meet up after. Sound good?"
        He clapped my shoulder again and basically pushed me into his car, no matter how much I protested and tried to fight against it. He closed the door and waved towards Armstrong. I watched his lips move before waving again and then getting in the driver's seat.

(Hospital)

        Hughes dragged me through the halls of the hospital; I gave up fighting him at this point. We passed so many rooms and talked to a few medical staff before finally stopping in front of a closed door. Hughes knocked before pushing open the door.
        "Yo! Sorry to barge back in like this; I figured I'd bring you a visitor!" He said cheerily as he grabbed the back of my shirt and dragged me in.
        I pulled away from him and spun around, and my heart literally dropped out of my ass.
        "Nicole! Oh my god, I thought you were dead!" I exclaimed as I ran up to her.
        She looked like she was about to leave; she was in her military uniform and had her bag slung over her shoulder. Her neck and face had large red splotches all over, and her eyes looked dull in color.
        "Ed, it's so good to see you..." She paused as she looked me over. "Whose ass did you kick this time?"
        "It... It was..." I glanced towards Hughes, who gave me an approving nod. "It was the man who attacked you and killed your father and sis-"
        Her arms were suddenly around me. Holding me in a tight embrace. I tensed up a little and patted her back awkwardly.
        "I'm so happy you're okay... Thank you..." She whispered.
        "N-No need to thank me... It's not like I was able to do much; he did more damage to Al and me than we did to him if I'm being honest..."
        She pulled away, wiping her eyes. "That's okay. Getting a few good licks on him and walking away alive means the world to me. I was actually going to thank you anyway. The work you did on my dad's face was impeccable; he deserved every punch. I know you did it in Nina's defense, so thank you for that, too. If you ever need anything, I'm indebted to you." She said as she bowed deeply to me.
        I quickly shook my head. "No, no, none of that. I'm just happy to see that one good thing came from this whole ordeal."
        She gave me a soft smile and nodded.
        "But I hope we meet again soon... Please stay safe out there, and tell Al I said "Hi" and "thank you" too." She said as she went and bowed to Hughes before straightening up and giving him a salute, "You do the same, sir. Stay safe, and I hope to see you soon."
        Hughes gave her a weird look. "Wait, are you being discharged? Let me give you a ride home to get a few things, and then you can come stay with me until this killer is captured. I wouldn't feel right knowing you're in that house all alone, and if he decided to come back, who knows what could happen?"
        "Yes, I'm being discharged. The doctors gave me the go-ahead, but I'm being shipped out; there are a ton of riots being reported out East. It's gotten so bad that the military has been sent out. There have been a lot of casualties, so they're sending me out to try and help."
        My eyes widened in shock as Hughes shook his head in disbelief.
        "I don't have much of a choice; Fuhrer Bradley personally came in and gave me this assignment not too long ago. He's got a car ready for me outside, and I'll have my own personal escorts until I'm out of the city. He said he'll give me a few days to make arrangements for Nina and my father before I go. Thank you for your concern, Lt. Col. Hughes; it means more to me than you know."
         She bowed to us again and left the room.