Hey guys! I know I have disappeared for a LONG time, but I am alive I promise! =) I was watching the TV show Arrow when I got this idea from something Shadow said, if you have seen that particular episode you may catch phrase that snagged my attention. I thought about writing this for Arrow, but for now I'm writing for FMA. Maybe for Arrow later. Please read, leave a review with your thoughts, and enjoy!

Scars

Pinako moved from one side of the kitchen to the other, the smell of stew floating around from where she had cooked it about an hour ago.

The sun had already set, and although she knew better than to worry, she couldn't suppress the feeling as she listened to Winry's footsteps from upstairs. First it was the sound of her stool slide back from the work bench against the hard wood floor, then her sandaled feet would pad across to the window. After a few moments, she would slowly walk back to her bench, scoot the stool forward, and begin working again.

This cycle repeated for upwards of an hour, but Pinako couldn't complain. She too had walked from the kitchen window back to the foyer multiple times, stopping and doing menial things in between strides.

Pinako looked at the bed rolls lined up against the wall of the foyer. It hadn't been but three days since Edward and Alphonse arrived on her doorstep with a group of soldiers behind them, needing a place to stay and make a base while on a mission.

Moving back into the kitchen, she reached up and opened the cabinet door, pulling out glass bowls for the stew, Winry's stool scooting out once more.

Pinako set the bowls on the counter, listening as the sound of Winry running across the floor and down the stairs made her heart jump a little.

"Granny!" Winry yelled as she flung the front door open, "something is wrong!"

Moving as fast as her short legs could carry her, Pinako moved from the kitchen out onto the porch. She could see Al running as fast as he could with Ed in his arms, the group of soldiers struggling to keep up with him managed to stay by his side as he reached the porch.

"Granny please help!" Al said, "brother has been hurt badly!"

"Bring him inside, quickly!" Granny Pinako said as she raced to prepare a place for Ed, "Winry grab the medical supplies."

"Right!" Winry said as she and Pinako worked quickly to stop the profuse bleeding from Ed's side.

Roy and Al sat in silence on the couch, the rest of their 9 member squad sitting haphazardly around the room, Riza standing at Roy's shoulder.

Winry came out of the room used for automail implants, the only room in the house with medical equipment, "What happened?" she growled.

Roy took a breath to speak, a solider answering before he could.

"He disobeyed a direct order to fall back, what happened to him was his own fault." The soldier, Adam, retorted.

Al grabbed the soldier by his collar, picking him up and pinning him against the wall, "My brother saved an innocent girls life. You were supposed the have his back no matter what the order was."

"What are you talking about?" Roy asked as Pinako rounded the corner behind him, wiping her hands with a rag.

Al's grip didn't falter, "There was a little girl in the building we were investigating. As the building began to crumble and you called the order to fall back, one of the guards showed up, and a support beam fell and collapsed a wall between brother and I and the little girl. There was a small hole in the wall, just big enough for the girl to climb through. Brother called to Adam to hold the guard off while he helped the girl through the hole over to me. Adam instead turned and ran. The little girl barely made it through when the guard sliced through brother's side."

Roy felt the heat in his face, "Al let him go."

Al hesitated for a moment, knowing full well he had the ability to crush this man who abandoned his brother. His grip slowly loosened, and he took a step back.

Roy took a step forward and stood nose to nose with Adam, who would have shrunk back if he had had the wall space to.

"There is no room for cowardice or abandonment in the military, sergeant Adams." Roy snarled as he raised his fist and punched as hard as he possibly could.

Adams sank unconscious to the floor, everyone slightly taken aback by his action.

"Sergeant Ryan, arrest him under grounds of treason." Roy adjusted his glove, "we will handle him when we get back to HQ."

"Yes Sir."

Roy turned to Pinako, "can we see him?"

Pinako outstretched her arm, leading Roy, Winry and Al back into the medical room.

Al immediately went to Ed's side, the only thing covering his torso being the bandage now wrapped around his side.

Roy stood in the door with Pinako.

"I heard what Al said." Pinako started as she lit her pipe.

"I'm sorry Mrs. Rockbell." Roy started, "I-"

"-Got him into the military to begin with." Pinako stared at her 'grandson' on the bed, "Don't worry, he is stable and will recover in time and rest…" she paused, "You know, although Ed got hurt rescuing that girl, he wouldn't have had it any other way."

"I'm not sure I know what you mean." Roy questioned.

"Our bodies and the scars on them tell a story Mustang." Pinako said taking a puff from her pipe as in front of her Winry brushed a stray strand of Ed's hair back, "Did you know that in my younger years I was pre-med before opening an automail shop? As I child I watched my parents who were doctors in the civil war. They helped soldiers- patched them up and got them back on their feet so they could fight again. When they weren't saving lives, they examined the bones of the dead soldiers. Gruesome though it sounds, they examined their bones in hopes to identify unseen wounds in live soldiers, such as fractures and what not. My dad told me that 'each person has a story, and you can find certain chapters in their bodies.'

"Often times I found it would never be the happy chapters in their lives. My father would sit with the deceased's folder and say, ' do you see that break there? This man got it when he was seven years old, protecting his sister from being raped. Looks like he was a hero from the start.'"

Roy frowned, Ed's bandaged wound would result in yet another scar.

"What I'm trying to say Mustang, is that the scar he will wield on his body for the rest of his life because of this, he earned saving a child's life. He will live knowing that every day when he sees that scar that he saved a life; knowing that he could very well have lost his own in the process." Pinako turned to Roy, and for the first time since they arrived she looked him in the eye," You would also do well to remember that not all scars are physical ones, Mustang. I am sure you are fully aware that many of them, are in fact, emotional and mental scars."

Roy watched as Pinako turned and headed down the hallway, quietly telling the team that they all had a hot bowl of stew waiting for them on the stove.

Pinako, of course, was right, and for once Roy was happy to have been chided a little by her.

Ed jerked awake in bed, groaning in pain as his surroundings began to take form.

"Brother!" Al said, "how do you feel?"

Ed looked down at his bandage, and gave a pained laugh, "I feel like I'm going to have another scar for Winry to complain about."

Roy smirked, knowing in his heart the kid would be ok, and headed down the hallway for some stew.

Edward sniffed the air, "Is that stew I smell?"