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Little Sister at the Side

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                        Little Sister at the Side

“Are you certain this is all you have, Yoki?” the brawny Ishvalan gruffly asked the scrawny, pallid man with the pencil-thin mustache.

“Of course! Why should I hold from you, sir?” the runt of a man wheezed with the sonority of a broken puny tin whistle.

Yoki was the runt’s name, and his “partner” went only by the moniker of Scar, so deemed by the authorities because of the prominent x- shaped scar on his stern broad forehead.


“I am so sorry, Mr. Scar and Mr. Yoki! This is all I have left from crossing Xing.” Piped the girl dejectedly as she placed a fist of coins from the land she hailed from, the land of Xing. Her fine clothes of silk denoted she was a princess, though a petty one among a hundred at that, this girl was May Chang. Born the seventeenth daughter to the Emperor, her title provided scarce means of luxury, let alone comfort.


An equally dejected sigh squeaked from Xiao Mei, May’s dwarf panda who always was perched on the princess’ shoulder faithfully.

Scar counted each coin and crumpled bill carefully with his finger, adding it all. “This still isn’t enough for a meal for all of us.”

“Perhaps we could share one meal, Mr. Scar? Xiao Mei and I eat very little.” suggested May as she tugged at his coat sleeve.

Yoki balked at her suggestion. “What! Share one meal among three- no four because of the wretched pet of yours?!”

Scar casted a glower at Yoki, at which Yoki sank further down where he sat, intimidated.

“Still, we‘d starve on that even.” Scar returned to May, softening-by his definition, his ireful glower mitigated. “There must be some way we can obtain more money.”


While Scar and May contrived some plan to earn money, Xiao Mei hopped down and crawled behind Yoki, pawing into his coat pockets while he sneezed from the cold and bemoaned his denied meal. Nudging further, Xiao Mei found a wadful of bills that had been tucked away in one of the pockets.  


“What’s this?” May picked up the bills Xiao Mei dropped at her feet.

Scar saw what the panda had done; he then snatched Yoki by the collar fiercely. “You were withholding from us!” growled Scar through gritted teeth.

Cringing cravenly, Yoki fumbled to vindicate himself. “P-please, s-s-sir! I forgot about that bit! Really, really I did! B-besides, I saved that paltry sum should we be in dire straits!”


May Chang redden as well. “Mr. Yoki! How could you! This is a dire strait! We’re starving! You’re awfully selfish!” she fumed.

Again Scar counted their meager means, and even with Yoki’s surreptitious addition, it was barely enough. Scar’ brow furrowed in frustration.  Survival appeared impossible if they failed to increase their means. To be sure, the trio took shelter in slums, emptied allies and abandoned places, that cost not a penny, but food was not as cheap.


Scar turned his glower at Yoki. "Yoki, you said you were familiar with gambling? May the Holy Father Ishval pardon us, but you had better remember how to gamble. If you lost your fortune in gambling, may the Holy Father cast a kind eye to us you can gain some money back!"

Miffed at Scar's demands that he, Yoki, equally on the lam as Scar was, should have to risk his hide by plying chances with luck at the tables, he scoffed. "Really! I am an expert gambler! It was those dratted casinos that cheated me out of my rightful winnings! Of course I could win-win double or triple-no ten times whatever I place for betting!" Yoki grew smug as a fat cat does when it gulps a mouse and resumed his boasting. "Why, they called me "The luckiest hand of Youswell!" he simpered and closed his eyes pompously.

May Chang now perceived Scar's plan and her eyes brightened with hope. "Mr. Yoki! Then you could gamble what money we have and then we might have enough to live on for a while!"

Yoki's eyes then snapped open and he gaped. "What? Me? Have to go gamble? In a casino? Why not on the street with these cretins luring about? Like that scoundrel who sold stolen pocket-watches from his coat? He must have a good deal of money!"

Scar refused to hear of Yoki's whining protests. "What's wrong, 'luckiest hand of Youswell'? Any of these lowlifes here would no doubt bash your head in and make off with whatever they scraped off of you. Our best chance is in a casino."

"What? But it's been ages since I've gambled and I haven't any suitable atti-" Yoki was cut short when Scar grabbed him by the collar and held him a foot of the ground up to his own face. Scar possessed a glare that could even defy a god, and for Yoki, even as spineless as he was, it always terrified him senselessly.
"Either you can take your chances of those lowlifes cracking your skull, or take your chances with me doing it if you don't!" Scar growled, his other hand clenched in a fist and crackling knuckles sharply. Yoki gulped and relented.

"If I am to go to a casino, I simply must dress suitably. Now how do you propose we go about that? Hmm?" Yoki tsked. Perhaps he might just wriggle himself out of this scheme yet.

Xiao Mei patted her mistress on the shoulder and pointed at a clothesline in the distance. The line was arrayed with clothes from an affluent family it appeared. "Oh! Xiao Mei, you're brilliant!" May Chang praised and pressed Xiao Mei to her cheek ecstatically.
"Mr. Yoki! We solved that! We could borrow some clothes from over there! I'm sure they have a suit!" May Chang pointed to the clothesline.

Scar began to realize the little Xingese princess might prove a help than a hindrance; she was more resourceful in one moment than Yoki could ever be in ten years.

"A wise idea. May Chang, tonight, you will knock on the door of that house and ask whoever answers that you are visiting Amestris with your uncle and he fell into a fountain and his clothing  is soaked. Then tell whoever answers that you both can’t afford to purchase new clothes and you need to borrow some dry clothes for your uncle. Do you understand?” Scar instructed firmly.


“Yes, sir!” May Chang affirmed, nodding solemnly, though her spirits were raised at the prospect of some warm meals if Yoki did win.


At evening, May Chang focused her eyes on that particular clothesline as she made her way down the rows of streets.

Arriving at the front door, May Chang took a gulp of courage to muster herself as she feared she would meet a sour face at the door. She knocked the door timidly, and she almost lost her gumption in facing whoever answered it. Instead of the grim face she imagined, a trim lady of 30 or so bobbed her head out. With a bob cut of ash-blonde hair and bright eyes, she smiled warmly at May Chang, though she was surprised to a child from Xing, and especially at this hour at night.


“Hello! Are you lost?” she asked in a kindly maternal tone as she bent over to lessen her height and level her gaze with May Chang’s.


“Oh, no! No, my uncle and I are touring the city, but he fell into a fountain and soaked his clothes.” May Chang managed to pipe up. “Since we have only have money for food and board at the hotel, he can’t afford to buy some dry clothes. Um… I notice you have some clothes. May I please borrow some for my uncle? I promise to return them as soon as his own clothes dry, miss!” Her knees trembled and her throat felt dry as combed wool, but May Change maintained her composure.


“Goodness! That poor man! Of course I can lend him some clothes. I am so sorry to hear that. Why don’t you come in and you can show me what clothes might fit him? I’m afraid all I have are my brother’s clothes on the line, but I hope they can make do for your uncle for the time being.” The lady opened the door wider, and the warmth, the glowing light and ambrosial smell of something sweet baking enticed May Chang.


“Thank you, Miss! I can wait here!” May Chang recalled Scar warning her to be wary of the people in this country. Many were not as kind as they seemed. What if this lady meant her ill will? Amestris differed from Xing greatly, what if the people were not as hospitable as back home?


The lady paused. Perhaps this girl and her uncle really had no place to stay, and they needed clothes to pawn for food money. Why should such a young child be out at this hour at night? And alone? She thought of her own little daughter who was soundly slumbering in a warm bed upstairs. This Xingese girl was far older, but she was so young nonetheless. Or perhaps this girl did indeed tell the truth. Either way, the lady restrained no thought in helping her.


“Well, it may take some time. Why don’t you come in? I just finished baking some sweetbreads, and it seems I made too many. You could stay for moment, eat a loaf and then you can be off with the clothes for your uncle.” The lady gently coaxed.
The air was growing frigid as she stood on her threshold. May Chang relented and thanked the lady profusely as she was led down the hall to the kitchen of the house. It was a bright, cheery place, and on the table were pans with plump sweetbreads, all dusted with sugar, cooling.


It was then the lady noted Xiao Mei on May Chang’s shoulder. “Is this your little kitten? She looks hungry! Sit down, and you both help eat this loaf up.” proffered the lady in the honeyed tone mothers do with children as she plopped a loaf out of one pan and onto a plate which she then set before the girl and the dwarf panda.
Hunger is the finest sauce for any dish, and May Chang’s hunger got the better of her, so she and Xiao Mei munched on the loaf as though it were a meal fit for the emperor back home.


“Who are you? Your kitty’s cute! Can I pet her?” a child’s treble piped up. May Chang jolted in surprise, and then turned around and saw a little girl, perhaps three or four, standing at the doorway of the kitchen in what May Chang surmised were her pajamas. Rubbing her fist over her still drowsy eyes, the little girl yawned and climbed into a chair beside May Chang.


“Um. My name’s May. And this is my panda, Xiao Mei. Her name means ‘Little Sister’.” May held out Xiao Mei for the little girl to pet.

“Panda? What’s a panda?” the little girl asked as she stroked Xiao Mei’s head. Xiao Mei was not receptive of people petting her, but she kept still for May’s sake.

“Pandas are bears, though they only eat bamboo leaves and green stuff.” May explained.

“Is she a baby? She’s so small!” marveled the little girl as she then held Xiao Mei in her arms.

“Actually, she was born really small because of a disease she got as a baby. Her mother abandoned her, so I raised her.” May recalled as she then took Xiao Mei back on her shoulder.

Then the lady returned, her arms holding a neatly folded suit. “Oh, dear. Elicia, you’re up! You should be in bed. What woke you, honey?” The lady placed the suit on the table and scooped the little girl in her arms.

Elicia, the little girl, rubbed her eyes with her fists and yawned again. “I had a dream that daddy came back, mommy.”

May thought she saw the mother’s eyes become glassy, as though from tears held back. “I miss your daddy very much. But we’ll see him one day! And he’ll have lots of toys to give you then!” the lady mustered a bravely cheerful tone -and a beaming smile that stretches too much lest sorrow break through- though May heard the same voice trembled.


“Oh! I’m sorry! I didn’t introduce ourselves. This is my daughter, Elicia and I’m Gracia Hughes.” The mother apparently recovered her composure.

May then remembered she also had not introduced herself. “OH! I’m May, and this Xiao Mei!” May shook hands with Mrs. Hughes.

“Xiao Mei means “Little Sister!” piped Elicia proudly of remembering that fact.

“Well, you’d best be off to bed again, little lady! I’m sure we’ll see May again soon, won’t we?”

“Sure!” May fibbed. She began to grow uneasy, yet drawn to stay in this home.

“’Night!” Elicia held her hands out to pet Xiao Mei again, which May obliged.
Mrs. Hughes returned again. “Elicia has such energy! She’s really her father’s daughter! Here is the suit, and why don’t you take a couple of loaves as well? The way prices here are so high, it might help you and your uncle with the costs.” Mrs. Hughes chirped, handing May the suit and then turned to put some loaves in a paper bag.


Deception has a bitter taste when wielded against those who are kind, and so May Chang felt a pang of guilt deceiving Mrs. Hughes, and now her generosity towards her heightened her guilt. “Oh! You don’t have to do that! We just need this suit for a while, that’s all!”

Mrs. Hughes would not hear of it. “Nonsense! I’ve baked too much! Besides, it looks like Xiao Mei really loves my baking!”

May then found Xiao Mei nibbling the remnant of the loaf they had been eating.
“Here you go!” Mrs. Hughes wrapped the top of the paper bag and handed it to May Chang.

“Now if you need anything else, you’re always welcome to come here. I know Elicia likes you very much!”

“Thanks so much, Mrs. Hughes. Thank you so much!” May held tightly onto the suit and bag.


Dipping her hand in her blouse pocket, Mrs. Hughes produced a thin wad of bills. “Like I said, prices are high around here, so why don’t you take this? You needn’t tell your uncle I gave it; you can tell him you found it on the ground.”

Now May held back tears for this was all too much. “I can’t take it! Really, Mrs. Hughes, I can’t.” May squeaked.


Mrs. Hughes held her chin pensively. Perhaps this girl and her uncle were too proud to ask for much help. Perhaps the girl came alone without his permission. But still, she refused to let May take off without some money. It’s the way Maes would have wanted it.


“Well, you can’t, but I’m sure Xiao Mei will.” And so Mrs. Hughes placed the wad gingerly in the dwarf panda’s extending paws.


Once May had dashed off, Mrs. Hughes felt her spirits lighter. For certain, Elicia’s dream of her father did pry that wound of loss open, but charity is a medicine that alleviates grief at times.
When we act as those we loved have acted to others, we are somehow closer in the barrier which separates us. So had Gracia felt satisfied in herself that she had done as Maes would have done.

************************************************************************
Scar’s instructions to Yoki before he took off to the casino across the city were simple: “If you betray us and run off with the winnings… you know I can and will track you down. You’ll end up like those godless alchemists, understand?”

With Scar’s warning -and the tiny panda’s bite marks on his thumb from her attack when Scar warned him- ringing in his head, Yoki fumbled to straighten the suit as he arrived at the casino.

On such a bony, ungainly frame as his, the suit clung at his joints and shoulders like a baggy suit on a scarecrow. More or less, Yoki had the bodily stance of a sorry-looking scarecrow as well.

Still, vain as he was, he straightened his height and smugly ambled in to play backgammon. Yoki became heady at the sight of the wealthy, the famed and the posh all idling in the leisurely pleasure of throwing money in the hands of chance like gullible children. Those several glasses of champagne he downed might have also contributed his light-headedness.


Ah! How he wanted part in such social stratus! The tailored tuxes, the company of those terribly rich people who spoke so droll, the liveried servants, valets, the prospect of squandering time on voluptuous pleasures, dining as gourmand- all these dulled his weak senses for but a moment. When he heard that the backgammon tables were opened, he assumed his focus and went to gamble.

The night wore on. Somehow, luck smiled at the sorry runt,-or perhaps Scar’s supplications to his god were answered- for Yoki was on a winning streak and raked in 12 times what he had placed at the table.

*************************************************************************

Gambling was a base vice in his faith, thus Scar had spent Yoki’s absence by praying to his god in penance.
A paradox indeed as Scar had killed a string of state alchemists prior to May Chang’s tagging along with he and Yoki.

But in his blind vengeance, he fashioned himself that he was an agent of retribution against the vanguard of state alchemists of Amestris.


May, on the other hand, refused to believe any of the accounts Yoki blabbered on about Scar’s deeds.
Scar, despite his harshness, was a man of character and showed her and Xiao Mei kindness.

And if Xiao Mei took a liking to him, then he must be a good man as Xiao Mei had gift of deducing a person’s intent.

Unaccustomed of seeing an Ishvalan practice his faith, May watched in curious silence.

Her family was not overly religious. Once a year, a pilgrimage to a shrine here and there to pray for good luck in the temples was all May’s clan asserted was enough faith.

She had never prayed to her own gods, and seeing Scar, this brutishly strong man whose soul seemed carved in stone, pray in feverish devotion, prompted her to consider her own beliefs. He almost appeared vulnerable with his face on the ground in such humility.


“Mr. Scar?” May asked when he finished his prayers and rose from kneeling face-down on the ground.

“What is it?”

“Why do you think gambling is a sin? All my family likes to gamble. It can’t be a sin?”


Scar glanced at her at what she thought was a thoughtful expression.
“Earning money is a sacred act.  When you work good, honest work, you earn your money. In turn, you use your money to live on what you need, nothing more. The very structure of which the Holy Father Ishval fashioned this world is order. Nothing is by chance. Even our encounter must be some part of some vast eternal plan of the Holy Father.”

“I think I understand?” May nodded. “But I’m still confused.”


Scar went to explain. “Taking something from order and casting into uncertain chance is sinful. Not only is it avaricious, but you are throwing down your work that earned the money as though rejecting it. And by doing so, you ally yourself with chance. Chance is chaos: chance is the mayhem of the world and its vices. A man may gamble and win a fortune, but his thirst for greed will never be quenched. Once a man grabs what he wants, he grows tired of it like a dog with a bone. He has to find another object or desire to pursue. Or a man may gamble and lose, thus impoverishing himself, and sullying the value of his work because he threw his money away.”

Scar sighed and continued. “ May, in the time I have been in Amestris, I have seen, from afar in hiding, many a man driven and lowered as beggars, or have exalted to wealth, only to be poisoned by their lusts for excess.”

"But by the side of it, we cannot survive without yielding to some degree to any vice. A person must take chances when there are no other choices before him. In marriage, some form of lust must be present if it sustains the marriage, or how people continue to live through their scions. A form of desire for materials ensure survival and comfort, betterment for the people. The desire for food makes certain a body doesn't die from starvation. Even a vice like anger can bring justice if it fans the flame enough. We can't survive any other way, so with the Holy Father's gracious pardon, we must yield to the vice of gambling."

It was clear to her now. Whatever scant wealth the clan held, the gambling addictions of her uncles and half-brothers diminished from that.


“Here. You’d best eat this before Yoki comes back. We’ll be on the road again heading for Central City once he returns.” Scar murmured gruffly as he handed his half of his own sweetbread loaf to her.

Not hesitating at his offer, Xiao Mei opened her mouth wide, but May casted a scolding brow at her, and Xiao Mei shrank back timidly.

May objected, realizing he hadn’t eaten his share. “But it’s yours.”

“Take it. I’ve had enough. You’ll only burden me if you grow weak from starving.” Scar returned briskly while he masked his concern for her.

They shared a similar purpose in their lives: May sought to preserve her clan’s survival in the favor of the Xingese Emperor, while Scar sought the vengeance of his people now degraded to nothing but animals herded into the slums of this country.

Though he denied it adamantly, there was a sort of odd kinship between he, an Ishvalan who once trained for priesthood, and this Xingese princess who wielded no power among her people.

Ever vigilant of the authorities pursuing him, Scar kept watch as May fell asleep at his side at they sat against the wall of an alley.
The chill in the air grew sharper, and May shivered and sneezed in her sleep. As the cold affected him little due to his disciplines, he took of his jacket and snugly draped it around May.

“Thanks, Mr. Scar.” May said. Her voice was muffled under the jacket which draped up to her eyes.


“Go back to sleep.” was his answer. But his voice was softer than its usual harsh tone.
First Fullmetal Alchemist (Manga)/Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (anime) fan fic I have written.
While the majority of fan fiction in this particular focuses on the more major characters- e.g., Ed, Al, Roy, Riza, the homunculus, so forth.
However, the filial or fraternal-depending on one's view of their interaction-relationship between May Chang and Scar from the series is seldom depicted. In scouring both dA here and on Tumblr, I have only discovered a handful of fan art and no fan fiction.
To put it succinctly, these two-or three if you included the weaselly Yoki- characters do not receive enough love.

For this particular fan fic work here, this is set prior to episode 21 in Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood and immediately thereafter of chapter 32 in the manga series.

I have yet to read further into the manga as of yet, but having seen 95% percent of 2009 anime, I was perplexed how these three-Scar, May and Yoki- got around without money to sustain themselves prior to their alliance with the Elric brothers and the Fort Briggs ranks. It seemed unlikely any of them would resort to theft, so this scenario cropped up in my imagination.

The more complex lexicons I usually apply to my writings was eschewed here as it seemed unsuitable in conveying the story and tone of the fic.
Thank you so much for reading, FMA/FMAB fans!
© 2013 - 2024 Tete-DePunk
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Iziume89's avatar
BRAVO! BRAVO! wonderful work I must say!

Scar is one of my most favorite characters on Brotherhood and I just love the Fatherly relationship he holds with May!:love:

If you like,please feel free to have a brows through my art Gallery on here as I do have quite a few drawings of Scar,among other characters,who have the cute 'Fatherly Bond' which I love so much.

Hope you enjoy and I clap for your work!:clap::iconroseplz: