Leave A Scar (Fullmetal Alchemist)

Playing Speculation

"STOP! THIEF!"

I looked up, seeing someone finish jumping onto the rooftop above us. Ed was already following him, spouting something off about how he wasn't getting away!

But when his platform deconstructed, there were a few sparks of red light instead of blue. I watched them fade, the pieces of sidewalk crumbling into a small pile in front of me.

His transmutation light had been red, when we were in Dublith.

"Al..." I began, still staring up at the roof like that would somehow help. "Did you...?"

"Yeah..." the younger Elric responded. "His light was a little red again."

Al raised us both up to the rooftop, where we stepped off his platform and onto the flat surface. Only to have the center of rooftop rise into a massive hand, red and blue light sparking around it. The thief turned around, giving a shriek through his ski mask before he was grabbed. The sack of money in his hand dropped, another smaller concrete palm catching it.

From his place beside me, Ed stood up, hands falling back down to his side. He smirked, kicking his weight over to his right leg, arm coming to rest on my shoulder.

He grinned at me. "What'dya think?" he asked, and a thin line of pain pierced the center of my heart when he said my name. "Pretty awesome, right?"

I looked over to what he was referring to; the pair of hands. He had added little details; tattoo-like designs running along the wrist, swirling along each finger. I bowed my head, turning away and failing to hide a smile.

"Yeah, Ed," I told him. "I like your hands."

I heard him laugh a little through his grin, and was surprised to feel a small squeeze against my shoulder before his arm slipped away completely. I blinked, wondering if I had imagined that or not. I looked down as his hands disappeared into coat pockets, like that would somehow rewind time. Or maybe I just felt like there would be some physical indication of him touching me. Some manifestation of the horribleness I felt on the inside.

I forced myself to focus, knowing I couldn't slip. Not now; not in broad daylight, with them here. I focused harder, immediately berating myself for missing the question Al had asked. I glanced over at Ed again, thankful he wasn't staring at me, thankful I didn't miss a question that was directed at me.

"I'm not sure why it's red, Al," Edward began, his head tilting a little as he looked at the thief struggling to get away. Al must have asked about the change in Ed's light. Good.

The elder Alchemist relaxed, sighing a little. "I don't think it's worth worrying about, though; it's really just making everything easier..."

"What do you mean?" Al asked.

Ed shrugged. "It... Feels like transmutations are a little easier now." He looked down, the space between his brows creasing a little more in thought. "Not that they were hard to do before. But... It just feels—smoother. Like taking a breath full of clean air after you've been somewhere totally polluted."

Al and I waited, stayed silent as he paused, shaking his head again. "It only gets to that level when it's completely red, though."

"But why would it change in the first place, though?" Al wondered aloud.

I had no idea. This was absolutely, completely out of my range of Alchemic knowledge. And even then... I wasn't even considered an expert. Before all of this, I had only heard of two different lights before...

I shook my head, trying to offer something. "It wouldn't have anything to do with what you're transmuting." I looked to Ed, softly raising a brow. "Right?"