Sacrifice

By Yellow Mask

Spoilers: Heavy spoilers for chapter 47.

Disclaimer: I do not own FMA.

oooooooo

Scar barely saw the movement, Edward Elric was so swift. One moment he was poised in front of him,pleading with the Rockbell girl not to shoot, the next, he was sailing through the air. Scar felt harsh metal close on his arm, but it was gone before he could react, the golden-haired alchemist using it like a springboard to flip over his head.

Scar's hand followed him, targeting him, ready to grasp and destroy...

But then he stopped. The Fullmetal Alchemist wasn't trying to launch an attack from behind, his leap had placed himself in front of the girl, one hand holding the gun down, the other outstretched in his effort to shelter the fragile body behind him.

Scar stared, his palm inches from the boy's face, poised to end his life...and found he couldn't.

He couldn't bring himself to kill him...not like this. Not with Edward Elric crouched in the dirt, using his body to protect another. Of the girl behind him, Scar could only see the pale gold crown of her head, the rest of her body hidden by the alchemist in front of her.

Not one word passed his lips, but there was no need. Not when those golden eyes spoke so eloquently. Blazing with defiance and challenge and determination...and beneath that, like a cloistered secret, worry and fear and desperate, aching love for the girl he shielded.

Edward Elric didn't care what happened to him, so long as the girl behind him remained unharmed.

For a heartbeat, Scar recalled his brother, lunging to place his body between Scar and the alchemist that loomed over them. That alchemist hadn't hesitated, destroying his brother in an instant, laughing, mocking the depths of love that could drive a man to lay down his life for another.

Could Scar become that person? Could he strike now, and end Edward Elric's life? Now, while he stood between Scar and the girl he loved, willing to lay down his life in defense of hers?

He could not.

Scar couldn't become that person. He couldn't kill Edward Elric, not here, not now.

Not while he protected the one he loved.

End.

AN: Just re-read chapter 47, and it got me thinking – what did was Scar thinking when he saw Ed place himself between him and Winry? We know he recalled his brother, and I thought I'd explore why he hesitated. In the end, I think it was that memory, and respect for the kind of love that drives such an action, that made him hesitate. As my story told, I don't think he would have actually killed Ed, not there at least, out of respect and even admiration for his willingness to sacrifice himself for Winry.