The New Face Of Lior, Holy Mothers and Civil War

OOC: Not sure where this is going, and now Kimbley is dropping out.

Scar was unmoved by Kimbley's insults. He had faith, and the words of an unbeliever (and madman) weren't going to sway him or frighten him.

He put his hand to the ground and sent a path of destruction towards Kimbley.

OOC: I guess it all depends on whether or not we can find a new Kimbley. If we can't find one by Friday, let's have Scar kill him.

OOC: that's fine ... playing Scar is interesting but I had forgotten how single-purposed he was ... there's not a lot of room for character development ... so playing a character of my own in a new thread (or even starting a Naruto character at the other site) would be more appealing.

OOC: Perhaps if Kimbley dies, Scar could have room for character development after all. I mean, he's got Ahava back, and having the Crimson Alchemist dead at his hands (arm)...who knows what may be another pursuit? I've been meaning to do something with Yoki.

He saw Kimbley evade the fissures in the ground his alchemy had created, jumping to avoid them. The opening of the earth had created thick clouds of dust at ground level, almost like a fog. Kimbley was sure he knew where Scar was; he had just seen him with his hands on the ground working his destructive alchemy. He advance through the dustclouds towards a large outline. He saw some yellow, which could only be Scar. He reached out with his hands and placed them on Scar's back.

"The next thing you'll be hearing is your own nervous system fizzing like a fuse the moment before your body explodes. I just love how the human body detonates, just like a ... "

It was then he realized that what he had put his hands on wasn't Scar, but rather Scar's jacket. The Ishbalan had drapped it over a mound of earth that had been thrust upward when he used his alchemy on the ground.

"What? Im .. Impossible!" Kimbley said, looking around rapidly.

"You shouldn't have come here," Scar said, from directly behind him. He struck Kimbley between the shoulder blades with his alchemic right arm, sending a fountain of blood shooting out from the front of his chest. Kimbley fell to his knees with a groan.

"May god have mercy on you, for I have not," Scar said. Ordinarily he would have put his hand on the man's skull and blown apart his brain from the inside as the finishing blow. But in Kimbley's case that was too quick, and too kind. He merely stood there and watched as Kimbley slowly expired.

"You ... piece of filth," Kimbley said. Blood gushed from his nose and mouth, and the front of uniform was soaked crimson. He crawled a few feet, then collapsed on his back. "I wasn't ... done ... with ... you," he said, before his eyes went blank and sightless.

Scar looked on without a trace of emotion on his face. He retrieved his jacket, then picked up Kimbley's body and carried it to a building on the edge of town. Ascending to the roof he went to the ledge facing Archer and his troops. He held the corpse in his fists for a moment, then he tossed it over to the edge. It hit the ground with a thick-sounding thud. He looked out at the soldiers with a look of contempt, then turned and was gone.

Korsakov's pale silver eyes saw everything, and wondered if now would be the time to slip away and try to find some place to harbor her. Colonel Archer would more than likely do what he could to make sure her career in the military came to a premature end. "What are you going to do now...Scar?" she asked in between rapid breaths. She didn't want to move too much, just in case Archer had another sniper pointed in her direction. But if she stayed in place...what was the point being a sitting duck? For that, she stood up, only to have another bullet hit her shoulder. She dove into the ruins and tried to figure out where the locals were hiding; wherever they were, it had to be safe!

~ ~ ~

"Sir, Second Lieutenant Korsakov got away," one of the Warrant Officers informed Archer, only to watch as the pale man's face turned the color of radishes. "Sir? Sir, are you alright?!"

No; Colonel Frank Archer was not alright. His pale blue eyes saw it from the binoculars; Lieutenant Colonel Zolfe J. Kimbley was dead. This was the fourth State Alchemist he lost so far to Scar. First, it was Henry Jekyll, the Joint-Conflict Alchemist. Then, it was Julius Loxias, the Sanguine Alchemist. After that, it was Naomi von Dorian, the Subzero Alchemist. Now, the Crimson Alchemist was going to join them...them?! Kimbley had been a legend from the Ishbal War, far more-so than the other three, and even he fell to this piece of Ishbalan garbage. How in the Hell should a Colonel take that?!

Grabbing his subordinate's gun, Archer started to fire in the last spot Scar was seen, and shrieked at the top of his lungs. "I'LL GET HIM! I SWEAR TO ALL THAT'S MEANINGFUL IN THIS WORLD...I'LL KILL HIM!"

What will you do

The words echoed in his mind for a moment. Was there any doubt what he would do next? He thought about her for a brief moment. But he looked up at the sky for a moment and pushed those old thoughts away. That person was not the woman his brother - and he - had fallen in love with. He knew what he had to do.

"I'll be waiting for them, when the come," Scar said ominously. The circle had been made. He had dragged it every torturous inch that was required. Now all that was needed were the ingredients.

He turned suddenly towards Korsakov - it just now occurred to him the same fate would fall upon her if the circle were activated. "You have to leave Lior, now, and never come back," he said.

Those grim eyes met with Scar for a fleeting moment, but Vashti Korsakov somewhat understood what would happen if she stayed over here in Lior. It wasn't precisely what she knew, but she did feel something bad would happen if she stayed. For that, she gave Scar a quick salute than marathoned it out of there as quickly as possible. 'Where do I go now? Where could someone harbor a person like me? Drachma is all the way up north...this is down in the southeastern area...' Oh dear God, if there was one...what now?