Day 69: Breakfast

[envy_the_sinners]

Scar scowled, both relieved and angry that he had woken up once again in his own bed. That lanky man who had become his new roommate on the night of his death was sound asleep one bed over.

This was coming to be the new "normal." It was infuriating.

As always, he begrudgingly followed his nurse into the cafeteria and took a seat. He preferred to file in with the majority of the patients in order to avoid sticking out, but no such luck this morning.

Scar stared at his food rather than starting in on it, despite the newly found appetite that had been lost thanks to that blasted sickness. He had a lot to think about. He hadn't managed to find Frank last night. The damn intercom had beaten him to it. And judging by Tsubaki's reaction to him, he had been out for at least a day's time. How many had noticed? Cared? It couldn't have been many.

But it was the few who did whose detection Scar was desperate to avoid.

[Eddyyyy!]

Comments

[envy_the_sinners]

Scar looked at Edward as if he had suddenly sprouted a second head.

"As if I give a damn." She was constantly ordering him around, and this would be no different.

[fullmetalheart]

"Al wouldn't be impressed either," Ed continued, still scanning the room for Lust.

[envy_the_sinners]

Scar glanced around the room himself, thankful that Lust was clearly not in here, yet.

"Alphonse needs to focus on taking care of himself. I will be fine."

[fullmetalheart]

Ed gave up and sat back down. "Says the one that got himself killed and made Lust too upset to eat," Ed said tartly.

[envy_the_sinners]

Scar rolled his eyes, scowl shifting into more of a sneer.

"I didn't get myself killed. And that's hardly the reason she wasn't eating anything." What a ridiculous notion. There were a thousand more reasonable explanations for something so stupidly mundane as not eating.

[fullmetalheart]

Ed gave him a 'bitch, please' look. "I wasn't aware that you were floating around as a ghost watching her throughout the day yesterday, able to see what her motivations for things were. She was pretty broken up about your death and someone else's."

[envy_the_sinners]

Scar was about to snap back at Edward when something in his comment startled him.

"...Who? Who else was it that died?" Nobody had been in the morgue with him when he woke up. What did that mean?

[fullmetalheart]

Ed shrugged. "No idea. I just know that your and his--or her--deaths made sure that her day would be horrible, although I think that finding me and me not immediately attacking her provided a small bright spot."

[envy_the_sinners]

Now it was Scar's turn to stand up. He searched the cafeteria almost frantically. As far as he knew, it was either Frank or Lingormr. Those were the only two here whose deaths could have upset Lust so.

"You're sure she didn't mention a name?" If Frank was dead... He didn't even want to think about it.

[fullmetalheart]

Ed shook his head as he watched him. "No, she didn't."

[envy_the_sinners]

"Dammit." Scar hit his fist against the table, still watching for the patients filing in. He sat down, breath nearly shaky. And Lingormr wasn't a likely person to die. He was too goddamn strong.

Frank, though...

Frank had been ill. And he had been transforming into a beast these past few nights, had he not? What it one of the patients had killed him off by accident? If so, why had he not woken up with Scar? As if on cue, Lingormr entered the cafeteria. Scar sat back down with a deep scowl to hide his worry.

"I apologize."

[fullmetalheart]

"Finish your food," Ed said gently. "That way if you also find you aren't hungry come lunch time, you won't be quite as hungry during supper."

[envy_the_sinners]

Scar shot a glare at Edward. No, he didn't feel like eating. He didn't feel like doing a damn thing until he could be sure that Frank was okay.

"I'll be fine," he said stiffly.

[fullmetalheart]

Ed finished his own food. "Scar, eat. Not eating won't do you any good."

Ed eyed the serving area for a moment, wondering if he could get seconds before turning his attention back to Scar.

[envy_the_sinners]

Scar resumed eating his pancakes just to shut the boy up. Stubborn brat.

"Any more brilliant words of advice?" His sarcasm wasn't evident in his tone, rather his voice was flat and unamused as it always was.

[fullmetalheart]

"Yes. Get used to the fact that I'm a stubborn bastard and that we'll have lots of arguments," Ed said drily.

[envy_the_sinners]

"Or you could mind your own business and leave me be," he shot back.

[fullmetalheart]

Ed gave him a cheerful smile. "Nope! You're stuck having me fuss at you too."

[envy_the_sinners]

Scar only sat there, staring at Edward with his mouth agape.

"Are you always this aggrivating?" He was nothing like his brother! Brash, and stubborn, and...

Just like Scar.

[fullmetalheart]

"Yep. Don't worry, I'm not saving it just for you," he assured him.

Ed remembered the existence of his juice and drank some, making a face. "I wish they had coffee. I wake up better in the mornings with it."

[envy_the_sinners]

Scar was silently brooding for several minutes, still occasionally poking at his breakfast.

"Is there anything else that I ought to know?" He looked up to Edward. "About what happened at home."

[fullmetalheart]

"Um." Ed thinks for a moment. "We found out that Bradley's a homunculus. I told Mustang after he hunted me down in the forest outside Resembool. I'm pretty sure he's planning to do something about him."

Ed eyed Scar carefully. "Please don't explode or someone may come to stab you with a needle." And possibly stab him with one for being the cause.

[envy_the_sinners]

"The Fuhrer?" Scar's jaw dropped. "You mean he was with those others you talked about?" Another matter he would be taking up with the Institute's resident homunculus.

"So he was behind the Ishbal extermination? And Liore?" His hands clinched to fists, fury returning to his expression.

[fullmetalheart]

"More like whoever's behind the homunculii are behind it," Ed corrected. "But you're otherwise right."

Ed's lips thinned. "He'd also be behind the death of someone I knew, I'm betting, because I think he knew that Hughes was investigating things after I told him what happened at Lab 5."

[envy_the_sinners]

"He must have been behind it. Lust and her pet and one other homunculus were there. Which means that the military should have known about it from the start..." This was giving Scar a headache. "Goddammit." He slammed his fist against the table again.

"Everything was a goddamn hoax. All for the..." Scar stopped, his heart skipping a beat. Homunculi were after the Stone, were they not? So was that the goal the entire time? To arrange a perfect opportunity for the Stone?

"All they ever wanted was the Philosopher's Stone," he finally murmured.