A/N: Yes! I finally updated!
To SK-CF, Sailor Senshi Alchemist, and TheEndlessWanderer, thank you for reviewing! You guys rock!
Disclaimer: I do not, will not, can not, own Fullmetal Alchemist. No matter how much I wish I do.
~Chapter One: Dušana the Spirit~
War is, in the simplest of terms, Hell on Earth. It robs you of everything; innocence, sleep, hopes, dreams… And we can do nothing to stop it. War is inevitable.
However, because there is war, there are people like Mr. and Mrs. Rockbell.
Yin and yang, war and doctors... they balance each other out.
But really, did you honestly think that in a million dead, they would find one still breathing?
It took all of Sara Rockbell's willpower to not give up right there. She longed to let the tears threatening to fall go, and to leave, leave it all, and just go home.
Oh, who was she kidding?
She wouldn't have been able to even if she tried. These people needed her, and Hell on Earth be damned if she didn't. She would give it her all, just to show them that all hope was not lost, and that not all Amestrians were merciless killers. She would help them.
Determination rekindled, she forced herself to look at the dead as they searched for any survivors.
Hours later, as the sun began to sink; they still had found no survivors. If they did, by some chance, find someone still breathing, all they could do was make their last moments as painless as possible.
Sara leaned back against a crumbling wall, and closed her blue eyes to it all.
She heard laughter. Young, childish, high-pitched laughter.
Sara's eyes snapped open.
The young Ishvalan girl in front of her smiled, waved with one blood soaked hand, then turned and ran.
Sara leapt to her feet with a grace she hadn't even known she'd possessed, and ran after her.
"Urey!" she called back to her husband, "Urey, I found a survivor! Come on!"
Seeing the look in her eyes, he didn't question it, and ran to her. Sara followed the girl a small ways, before losing sight of her at an intersection.
As her head darted from one path to another, her husband found this to be an excellent time to interrogate her.
"Sara, what was it?" he asked, watching his wife's indecision with faint amusement.
"A survivor, honey, a survivor!" Sara knew she sounded a little out of it, but was too wired to care. As her husband eyed her warily, (the faker) she remembered one important fact.
"Urey!" she cried, whipping around and just about giving Urey a heart attack, "Urey, she was bleeding! Her hand was covered in blood…"
Urey's expression immediately turned solemn.
"I hope it isn't serious," he mused to himself, before his clear blue eyes locked on something behind his wife's shoulder.
"Sara!" he warned, "I found her!"
Sara turned, just in time to see a blur of silvery white round the corner into a side alley.
Without a moment's hesitation, the couple followed.
Sara and Urey followed the young child. She constantly flickered in and out of sight, always around the next corner or down the street before they could really look at her. They called out to her, but she didn't answer them. She only laughed; a light, musical sound, like bells.
If they noticed that her voice echoed, they did not mention it.
Inwardly, Sara wondered where they were going. The girl seemed to have a destination in mind, for she moved like one did when they knew where they are headed.
Later, Sara wished she had never known.
As the couple rounded the latest corner, they realized two things.
One, that the child was nowhere to be seen.
Two, right in front of them, a young man was gasping for air, strangled sobs tearing out of his throat.
They glanced at one another, and made a quick decision help the wounded now, and find the Ishvalan child later.
Sara knelt by the poor man, and placed a cool hand on his forehead.
"There, there," she soothed, "It's alright… we'll get you help soon, okay?"
As Urey relayed on their radios where they were and what medical supplies to bring, Sara frowned.
Was this where the child had led them? But if so, where was she? What was going-?
And, once again, Sara heard laughter.
Her head snapped up, and her robin blue eyes met blood-red.
The child smiled at her, but Sara was numb. How? How could she have not noticed…?
A drop of blood as red as her eyes fell from the girl's bloody fingers, disintegrating as it hit the ground.
The child smiled one last time at Sara- a slow, sad smile that didn't reach her eyes.
The child faded into nothingness, and Sara let out a sob.
Urey turned to her, distracted.
"Sara, honey, what's wrong?"
She didn't answer, just flung herself at him and cried into his shoulder.
"What-?"
"D-do you r-rem-member w-what you said a-about hoping her w-wound wasn't serious?" she asked.
"Yes but-"
"I-I think i-it was."
As their helpers carried the man away to their makeshift hospital, Sara turned to where she had last seen the spirit. She sighed and turned away when something caught her eye. She walked over, only to see a silver ring lying on the bloodstained ground. She picked it up, examining it.
It really was beautiful, she mused.
The thin silver band was decorated with intricate symbols, and a piece of rope looped around it, making a makeshift necklace. Sara frowned. It hadn't been there before…
Ah. The spirit child.
Sara tilted her head back.
"Are you trying to tell me something?" she asked the cloudless sky. "Do you want me to have this?"
She felt rather than heard the answering whisper, a soft voice on the wind.
Yes…
Sara smiled sadly. She turned to head back with the others, but paused.
"If I may ask…what is your name?"
No answer came, and just as Sara was leaving the street, she barely caught the whispered reply.
I am Dušana.
I hope this makes up for the wait. Don't blame me, blame homework and tests. Those things kill, man.
Review!
-Dream
