I wrote this randomly. Its long enough that I may just leave it as a one-shot, but I also am seriously thinking about continuing it and making it a story. If I continue it I'll need to find someone to edit for me, since I'm not very good at finding little mistakes in my own writing and editing after writing all that is just boring. I just had a stroke of inspiration and if it continues then I'll continue this lol.
1908, East Amestris, Frontline of the Ishvalan Conflict. King Bradley issued order 3066, sending State Alchemists to the front line of the Ishvalan Civil War.
It wasn't safe. It hadn't been safe anywhere for seven years now. The conflict had torn appart town after town, family after family, but the Ishvalan people would not give in. Too much damage had already been done to just give up now. But now it was too late.
By the time Tehya had heard that they were bringing in State Alchemists, it was too late to run. Their town had been over run with Amestrian Soldiers three days ago, and Tehya had no choice but to take her daughter and flee her home, taking refuge in a cellar beneath a neighboring building, along with four other women, and six children, all of them ages three to thirteen. Tehya would have regretted the decision because of the cramped conditions, if it weren't for the fact that her house was ransacked and all but destroyed later on that night.
The second day they went into hiding, they heard voices above them. Amestrian soldiers had made their way into the building, tearing apart and taking whatever they found. Tehya held her breath and waited fearfully for the soldiers to leave the building, her arms wrapped around her young daughter the entire time. No one spoke for the rest of the day, even after they were sure that the soldiers were no longer in the building, and their silence lasted well into the night.
On the third day, the explosions started. She heard the rumbling, and it seemed far off, but as the day went on it grew more distinct. Soon, their little bunker began to quake from the blasts, dirt falling from the roof and covering them, stinging their eyes and clouding their lungs. Voices could also be heard. Not from in the building, but outside.
Screams always accompanied each new blast, and Tehya was sure she could smell smoke. They were setting fire to her hometown, anything that wasn't destroyed by the blasts would be be burned to the ground. She shook with fear, but kept her voice stead, for the sake of her child. It was cruel, that her baby would have to die like this. Burned by the fire that engulfed many parts of their town, blown to bits, crushed to death by their slowly crumbling shelter, or just plain shot through the head by some stupid, mindless soldier. She only hoped that whatever killed them, it would be quick and painless.
The ground quaked and screams filled the air for well over an hour before the trapdoor to their little shelter was suddenly ripped open. Tehya squeezed her eyes shut, holding her little girl tightly, who hid her face in her mother's shoulder.
To her surprise, it was an Ishvalan soldier. She'd never seen him before, but she couldn't have been more relieved.
"OUT, EVERYONE OUT," The man screamed, gesturing frantically for them to follow. Tehya knew that this would be the only chance her little girl had to survive, she had to take it, regardless of how scared she was.
The group ran out, Tehya and Pima close to the back of the group. A group of Ishvalan soldiers stood in the building, herding them out, yelling frantic orders. Fall back, run, do not stop for anything.
They ran for the exit, the plan was to follow the group to an area of the town where the explosions had stopped and the fires had mostly died down. Anything would be better than where they were right now, hiding right below the heart of the war.
One of the first things that Tehya noticed was how overwhelming the sounds were. She swore that if she lived, she would never forget this sound, the sound of death and war and suffering.
She wasn't sure exactly what happened, but as she neared the exit, the entire structure began to shake around her, and actually began to crumble, as if it was made of nothing more than dry dirt.
The explosion came from directly in front of them, and left her with ringing ears and shaking legs. Before she could fully comprehend what was happening a second explosion went off, this time she and her daughter were both tossed to the ground from the force of it, the building around them was beginning to crumble.
Bits of the building were lodged into her skin from the explosion, her body was wracked with pain, though most of it was from her leg. She wasn't sure what happened, but it hurt like hell.
When her head finally cleared, the first thing she did was look for her daughter, who was a few feet away from her, now sitting up, crying and covered in scrapes and bruises. A soldier, who was in the building with them when the explosion went off. He rose to his feet, first pulling her daughter up, and then helping her stand. The entrance to the building was destroyed completely, the bodies of the women and children who had hid with her, and the soldiers who tried to help them, lay scattered about. The sight was grotesque, and she could hardly resist the urge to vomit at the sight of the dismembered bodies of her neighbors and their children.
She pushed aside those feelings of disgust and sorrow and followed the soldier, who now carried her daughter, towards the exit.
The man exited first, Tehya struggled to keep up with him. She felt week, but before she even had a chance to call out to him, another blast hit, directly between her and the soldier. They were barely out of the building when it happened.
Tehya died instantly. She was too close to the explosion, and though it was grotesque, if she felt anything at all, it would have only been for a split second. The soldier and her daughter hadn't been so lucky. The blast killed the man, who had been in an equally grotesque state, though he lived long enough to let a strange and horrifying gurgling sound before he died. The little girl was thrown from the man who'd been carrying her. Her arm, which had been wrapped around the man's neck, was all but blown off, right past her elbow, and the rest of her was not in much better condition. Sever burns covered her, and debris from the explosion was launched deeply into her skin.
She landed several feet away, and could do nothing but scream. The pain overwhelmed all of her other senses, all she saw was white, and the horrible ringing in her ears covered the sound from other possible explosions.
Through her senses started to clear, she still writhed in pain, and was bleeding profusely. She opened her eyes and instantly regretted it, the bloody scene before her was to much to handle.
She shook as she vomited, clutching her stomach with her remaining, although badly burned hand. Whether it was from the sight of her mother's mangled body, or the pain, she wasn't sure.
It grew quieter around her as the minutes passed, and she began to feel weaker, if that was possible. She flipped onto her back and watched the smoke rise into the sky. She could hear voices far away, screaming, but she wasn't bothered by them anymore.
She squeezed her eyes shut and tried to breath normally, but couldn't seem to stop gasping for air no matter how deeply she breathed. She was going to die in the middle of a war zone. Alone.
She stayed that way for several more minutes, until the sound of footsteps shocked her out of it.
Her eyes flew open, ready to see what horrible thing was about to happen next.
She stared wide eyed as a man slowly approached her from the smoke and rubble. She felt a spark of hope, but it quickly died when she could see him clearly. He wasn't Ishvalan, but one of them. A state Alchemist.
She stared at him, not daring to blink or even move as he stalked towards her. He stopped a few feet away from her, having to step over the bodies of the soldier and her mother. He stared down at her, eyes wide with horror and disgust at the sight of the bloodied and mangled child, who stared straight back at him.
"Just kill me quickly." She said, her voice hoarse and barely audible from inhaling so much smoke and dust.
The man just stood there, for a moment, before he turned away from her, hand covering his mouth and eyes screwed shut tight. He took a deep breath before he turned back around, clearing the distance between them and kneeling down beside her. Her wounds weren't too bad, other than her arm. There was practically nothing left of it, leaving bone and torn flesh open to all the dust and smoke. The bleeding had slowed for sure, but it was still horrible, and if he didn't stop it very quickly, she would bleed out. He wasn't actually sure how she hadn't already.
"I'm going to cauterize the wound. It'll be extremely painful."
"HA!" Was the girls only response. If she hadn't been so close to death she might have really laughed, but that was all she could muster, and she felt that that single syllable got her message across pretty clearly. Seven out of the ten years she'd been alive, a war ravaged her home. What was one more painful experience?
She watched through narrowed eyes as he carefully removed a ring from his hand, and tucked it away in a pocket. His white gloves, clear of any markings aside from what she recognized vaguely as an alchemic symbol, were soon covered in her blood. One hand held her down firmly. He raised his other arm, and with a snap of his fingers, she was suddenly filled with a pain that was ten times worse than before.
The girl let out a horrified scream and struggled against him, thrashing violently. She sobbed and begged him to stop, but the pain just wouldn't end, and she finally blacked out after what felt like eons, but was really only seconds.
