FMA fanfiction
Feb. 14th, 2005 03:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
swordageI give into the sudden rush of lovely ficcage that is Valentine's Day. Even though this is really more of an Easter piece. >_> It was supposed to be a drabble. I've gotten wordy in my old age. (Haha, old age!)
Title: Observance
Series: FMA
Rating: G
Ramifications: Spoilers for, um, 41-43? I forget. OMG SCAR FIC.
Summary: In Lior, Ed learns of Ishvalla.
Edward turned a corner, muttering under his breath about the dust and general dishabille, and nearly ran into Scar’s makeshift shrine. He cursed loudly, catching a wobbling candle before it could fall off the carefully-stacked crates.
“What the hell?” he demanded, glaring at Scar and the brightly-colored fabric draped along the crates and the small candle-stubs he had managed to scrounge. “Don’t just put stuff like that in the hall! I could have died! Been set on fire!”
“Hush. The baby is sleeping.” Scar ignored the questions, keeping his head bowed for a moment longer before rising and snuffing the candles out one by one.
Edward growled his irritation, but did so quietly. Scar supposed it was to be expected. “What the heck is all of this?”
“It is a holy day.” He felt no need to elaborate to a non-believer, and instead began to shift the still-soft candles to a more sturdy surface. Edward muttered something under his breath before helping. Scar turned to hide his smile.
“What kind of holy day involves taking over a perfectly good hallway and lighting people on fire?” Edward grumbled, and Scar sighed. The boy was spectacularly single-minded.
“It is the day we celebrate the births of our holy men,” he told the boy.
“That’s kinda weird. You celebrate little babies?” Edward arched an eyebrow expressively, not noticing the wax dripping onto his right hand. “I mean, babies are great and all, but a holy day devoted to them?”
“That will be hard to clean.” Scar didn’t bother indicating his meaning, just left Edward to figure it out on his own - it only took a moment for the profanities to stream forth. Sharp boy. “You expect us to celebrate their deaths, then? I understand that is the custom elsewhere.”
“Well, when you put it that way…” Edward was picking disconsolately at the dried wax, leaving Scar to finish cleaning up. “But usually it’s something they did right before they died that made them really important, right?”
“No. Their lives were what made them holy, not their deaths. By living, they shared the wisdom Ishvalla had given them, and we are thankful for it.” He began folding the scraps of fabric, carefully smoothing the edges. “So we celebrate the beginnings, with all the promise they hold, rather than their deaths.”
Edward was quiet then, gaze withdrawn and thoughtful. Scar felt his chest tighten at the familiarity of the look; he had often seen his own brother finish a passage in a book and contemplate it in the same way. He moved the crates to their original out-of-the-way corner to distract himself.
“That makes sense,” Edward said finally. “But why do you celebrate them all together, instead of on whatever day they were born?”
“Because their greatest contributions were to the whole, unselfish in their generosity.” He couldn’t help a small smile at the irony of their situation; a heretic preaching the love of Ishvalla to a skeptic. “By celebrating them together, we see the parts come together into a whole, each adding to the previous.”
“So if, say, one of these saints had never existed, or if one were killed as a kid or something, the whole thing would fall apart.” Edward frowned, and Scar realized where the small crease between the boy’s brows had come from. “That’s really delicate.”
“Yes,” Scar agreed, “Life is very precious.”
“That’s not what I…” Edward trailed off on his own, then looked up at Scar with an odd half-smile. “I guess that is what I said.”
“You’re welcome.” He put a hand on Edward’s shoulder, smiling a little at the automatic bristle. “Tomorrow I will teach you of materialism.”
“Hey!” Ed stalked after him when he left the room, headed to the makeshift kitchen that was still better than anything he‘d had since childhood. “That wasn’t an invitation to convert me! I just wanted to know why I was being set on fire! Are you listening to me?!”
“Yes, Edward Elric. I hear you quite clearly. And so does the baby.”
“Aw, crap, don’t cry…”
Title: Observance
Series: FMA
Rating: G
Ramifications: Spoilers for, um, 41-43? I forget. OMG SCAR FIC.
Summary: In Lior, Ed learns of Ishvalla.
Edward turned a corner, muttering under his breath about the dust and general dishabille, and nearly ran into Scar’s makeshift shrine. He cursed loudly, catching a wobbling candle before it could fall off the carefully-stacked crates.
“What the hell?” he demanded, glaring at Scar and the brightly-colored fabric draped along the crates and the small candle-stubs he had managed to scrounge. “Don’t just put stuff like that in the hall! I could have died! Been set on fire!”
“Hush. The baby is sleeping.” Scar ignored the questions, keeping his head bowed for a moment longer before rising and snuffing the candles out one by one.
Edward growled his irritation, but did so quietly. Scar supposed it was to be expected. “What the heck is all of this?”
“It is a holy day.” He felt no need to elaborate to a non-believer, and instead began to shift the still-soft candles to a more sturdy surface. Edward muttered something under his breath before helping. Scar turned to hide his smile.
“What kind of holy day involves taking over a perfectly good hallway and lighting people on fire?” Edward grumbled, and Scar sighed. The boy was spectacularly single-minded.
“It is the day we celebrate the births of our holy men,” he told the boy.
“That’s kinda weird. You celebrate little babies?” Edward arched an eyebrow expressively, not noticing the wax dripping onto his right hand. “I mean, babies are great and all, but a holy day devoted to them?”
“That will be hard to clean.” Scar didn’t bother indicating his meaning, just left Edward to figure it out on his own - it only took a moment for the profanities to stream forth. Sharp boy. “You expect us to celebrate their deaths, then? I understand that is the custom elsewhere.”
“Well, when you put it that way…” Edward was picking disconsolately at the dried wax, leaving Scar to finish cleaning up. “But usually it’s something they did right before they died that made them really important, right?”
“No. Their lives were what made them holy, not their deaths. By living, they shared the wisdom Ishvalla had given them, and we are thankful for it.” He began folding the scraps of fabric, carefully smoothing the edges. “So we celebrate the beginnings, with all the promise they hold, rather than their deaths.”
Edward was quiet then, gaze withdrawn and thoughtful. Scar felt his chest tighten at the familiarity of the look; he had often seen his own brother finish a passage in a book and contemplate it in the same way. He moved the crates to their original out-of-the-way corner to distract himself.
“That makes sense,” Edward said finally. “But why do you celebrate them all together, instead of on whatever day they were born?”
“Because their greatest contributions were to the whole, unselfish in their generosity.” He couldn’t help a small smile at the irony of their situation; a heretic preaching the love of Ishvalla to a skeptic. “By celebrating them together, we see the parts come together into a whole, each adding to the previous.”
“So if, say, one of these saints had never existed, or if one were killed as a kid or something, the whole thing would fall apart.” Edward frowned, and Scar realized where the small crease between the boy’s brows had come from. “That’s really delicate.”
“Yes,” Scar agreed, “Life is very precious.”
“That’s not what I…” Edward trailed off on his own, then looked up at Scar with an odd half-smile. “I guess that is what I said.”
“You’re welcome.” He put a hand on Edward’s shoulder, smiling a little at the automatic bristle. “Tomorrow I will teach you of materialism.”
“Hey!” Ed stalked after him when he left the room, headed to the makeshift kitchen that was still better than anything he‘d had since childhood. “That wasn’t an invitation to convert me! I just wanted to know why I was being set on fire! Are you listening to me?!”
“Yes, Edward Elric. I hear you quite clearly. And so does the baby.”
“Aw, crap, don’t cry…”
(no subject)
Date: 2005-02-14 09:51 pm (UTC)...
And you have to write about candle wax staining after I get it all over my pant leg. *scrapes some off*
(no subject)
Date: 2005-02-14 10:46 pm (UTC)...You got candle wax on...? Wow. You really are secretly Ed. >_>
(no subject)
Date: 2005-02-15 12:14 am (UTC)Anyway. You can too write angst! You just have to watch the end of the series first. Then the angst comes flowing in from everywhere! ^_^
(no subject)
Date: 2005-02-15 02:29 am (UTC)You and Ed can sympathize over which is harder to get out, then: wax on pants or wax in hand. *giggle*
(no subject)
Date: 2005-02-14 09:54 pm (UTC)Scar fic! And it's beautiful! And the way you handle the religious theme is so sensitive, so sympathetic, so right.
*glomps Scar, all wibbly*
(no subject)
Date: 2005-02-14 10:42 pm (UTC)Which is my wordy way of saying, "I'm so glad you liked it omg squee-purr!" I seem to make you wibble a lot. >_> This pleases me beyond words.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-02-14 10:53 pm (UTC)And I sympathize -- Scar is really hard to write. He has a lot of depth, between the angst and the fury and the strength at his core. His trajectory as a character is so moving. And he *needs* a chance to be happy so much, and it's so hard to give it to him.
*cuddles Scar protectively*
(no subject)
Date: 2005-02-14 11:11 pm (UTC)On Ishvarran religion: It is quite nice, and very tempting, but how much of what we know of it is really canon, and how much is fandom extrapolation? I think it might appeal so much because each person gives it their own personal twist, their own spin on how they think a good religion should be.
On Scar: I love seeing him develop from a little fuzzy puppy to this big bad mutha who destroys people for their sins. But it makes it harder, because yes, there's so much depth to him - more like an actual person than a fiction character. There's a million things he might do in response to a single thing, and it's impossible to tell which it might be. So you kinda just have to choose one and hope it works. ^^;
(no subject)
Date: 2005-02-14 10:06 pm (UTC)heh. finally, someone's found a way to make ed listen to a sermon!
(of course, given what scar's about to do in the name of that religion, that's really kind of scary.)
i love the whole "quiet underground hideout" setting here. the quiet before the storm....
(no subject)
Date: 2005-02-14 10:53 pm (UTC)Hee, Ed listening to a sermon and agreeing with it. XD He's so silly.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-02-15 02:46 am (UTC)As the others have said, it's rare to find Scar in a peaceful mood, and this is great.
(Oh, and I just watched ep. 15. My thoughts on it are thoroughly written out in my journal.)
(no subject)
Date: 2005-02-15 09:16 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-02-15 11:25 pm (UTC)Episode 15 is all kinds of love, mainly the hurting kind.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-02-16 02:35 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-02-16 03:22 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-02-16 04:53 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-02-25 07:03 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-02-25 06:26 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-03-05 04:39 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-03-05 04:43 pm (UTC)