Author's Note: I feel kind of bad about writing this, since I have two other fics that need my attention. But I've wanted to write something like this for a while, and the holidays seemed as good a time as any. Enjoy!
Intro
The pain was like nothing she had ever experienced before. She had known it would hurt, but she hadn't bargained for this; the feeling of her kunai tearing through her shoulder muscle. It was agony, taking every bit of her self-control and determination to keep hacking away at her useless, tattered arm with the small blade. But there was something more, it was almost as if her mind was being torn apart along with her body, somehow sharpening her senses. She was acutely aware, not just of the pain, but of everything else; how her hip bumped painfully against her Master's collarbone with his every hurried step, the sound of her own breathing now thundering in her ears, the dull burning sensation in her lungs from her recent exertion. The maze of alleys they were hurrying through all stank of piss and vermin, and through the crimson film over her eyes, Lan Fan could see rats emerging from every dark corner to lap at the droplets of blood left in their wake. The bloody haze overwhelmed her as she severed the last reddy-white sinew and slumped against the wall the Prince hurriedly lay her against, dropping the bloody arm at his feet. Their eyes met, and a flash of understanding passed between them. Her master nodded, breaking their eye contact to grab the mutt lurking in the corner of the dead-end they had found themselves in.
He tore a strip of cloth from his jacket and bound the bloody limb to the dog. Lan Fan watched in silence as her master prepared the trap, but her head began to spin and she closed her eyes as a wave of nausea washed through her body. She balled her hand into a fist and tried to ignore the searing pain in her wound. She could taste the bile in her throat. She felt the Prince's rough hands pull her to her feet, and he bound the wound his jacket in an uncharacteristically gentle motion. She felt herself sliding in and out of consciousness as the Master eased her through the uncovered manhole and into the gloomy sewer passage. Her head spun as she stumbled her way through the stone corridor, putrid water washing by her. Feeling the warm trickle of blood down her side, she clutched her bloody stump tightly and sank to the ground; no-one would have heard the sound of her fall above the rushing water.