Fic - Staring Down the Barrel

[cornerofmadness]

Title --Staring Down the Barrel
Author-- cornerofmadness
series -- manga/brotherhood
Disclaimer -- Arakawa owns all
Rating -- PG
Characters/Pairing -- Scar
Timeline/Spoilers -- Set during Scar and Winry’s first meeting
Word Count -- 249
Summary -- He was broken but now he’s rebuilding
Author’s Note -- Not what I thought I’d be writing, but Scar insisted. Thanks to evil_little_dog for the beta. Written for fma_fic_contest for the prompt ‘fracture.’ It won second place. sonjajade made the banner.

XXX


Scar could pinpoint the exact moment his sanity fractured. Waking up in the makeshift hospital, his head throbbing as if it had been split open, and realizing that his arm was no longer his own. He killed those doctors without a second thought for just being Amesterian, ignoring the screams of the other patients. Even the little voice in his head that shouted the doctors were helping him got lost in the deafening shatter of his mind.

Now, standing on a ravaged street corner staring down the doctors’ daughter, Scar heard that little voice telling him to explain the pain and sorrow, the insanity that drove him to that act. Once more, he ignored the voice, thinking that his actions then were as heinous as anything the Amestrian army had done. He thought about the boy with her, a young man he had nearly destroyed for the mere sake of Elric’s vocation. It had seemed right then.

Weeks of traveling with a foreign princess seemed to have done something to him, reconnected his mind. Now, his battle with the young alchemist felt less like righteous vengeance and more like senseless violence. Elric would only have been a boy at the time. He wasn’t the true enemy, like Gran, or Silver, or like the ones who had escaped him, Mustang and Armstrong.

As the girl points the gun, Scar knew something is different. He was changing once more and he had no idea who this man will turn out to be.

Comments

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

I still love this.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

thank you very much. New and improved and now hopefully typo free

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

I didn't see any, not that it makes much difference. I'll see them a year from now.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

yeah exactly. I think the letters rearrange themselves when we're not looking. I mean, I ran spellcheck and yet there was 'heared'

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't be surprised if that's what happens.

[randomdiversion.livejournal.com]

Nice well-conceived introspective character piece. :)

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

thank you very much

[helliongoddess.livejournal.com]

Very, very nice. Scar is a fascinating character, and one of my favorites in FMA. I would love to explore him more myself, perhaps write something with him, although I have no idea what. But he really is an interesting, complex individual. And you captured that turning point in his life very well.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I had always disliked Scar, at least in the first anime since he never changes really and is so one note.

Manga Scar grows as a character and becomes much more fascinating (I have the same feelings about Hohenheim in the two versions).

I haven't done much with him but he is interesting. I might like to try to do something with him post series

[fractured-chaos.livejournal.com]

I agree with you on that. I didn't like 1st anime Scar, either, but I love manga/Brotherhood Scar -- and I think this particular moment is why. Well-done.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

thanks again, and agreed

[helliongoddess.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, he was definitely pretty one-dimensional in the original anime. It's only since the seeing second half of Brotherhood and reading the manga that he has really caught my imagination. The only thing that I liked about him from the original anime, which I kind of miss, was the implication about the history there with Lust and... was it him, or his brother? It's been so long since I've seen the original, I've forgotten! I remember thinking I liked what they were doing with it, though, how it gave Lust an additional dimension, and a little shading of that "I wish I was a real boy" (girl, in her case) Pinocchio thing we see with Greed.

And I agree with you wholeheartedly about Von Hohenheim. Night and day. I was just reading the part in the manga last night where Ed finally gives him the message from Tricia and he breaks down. He's really a great character, and one I would like to write some of later once I know him better.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

A lot of people liked the relationship between Lust, Scar and his brother. I admit it, I didn't. I like the homunculi being nearly wholly inhumane (Wrath and Greed being the known exceptions)

I finally started writing Hohenheim after chapter 74 in the manga when we get his backstory (broken little boys are my trope)

What I miss from the first anime is Roy killing Winry's parents. That intrigued me

[leni-ba.livejournal.com]

You always have a way with the broken ones, Dana. Quite powerful. Now I really wanna rewatch this scene!

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

The broken ones, they speak to me. Thank you very much.

[dreamer1789.livejournal.com]

Great introspection into some of Scar's most defining moments - it's fascinating to see how he starts to evolve as a character. ^^ Congrats on the win!

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

Thank you very much. It is fascinating to see his evolution.

[vince-moon.livejournal.com]

This is amazing.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much