Chapter 2: Hospital
So... This is a really long chapter, probably my longest ever, so I'm sorry if it seems a little rushed or out-of-character (or really random)...
Bold=Xingese
Italics=First-Person thoughts
He was running. His shoulder felt heavy under the weight of his injured friend, but that was nothing compared to the burden of being the cause of her pain that rested on his mind. The air was still and silent except for the sound of his own ragged breathing and the blood rushing through his ears, as his feet hit the pavement and his warrior's blood splattered onto the cold ground.
A ragged intake of breath.
"Y-young...Lord..."
Ling tensed up as he heard the pain in her voice. It obviously took her a lot of strength even to just speak. He could tell that she had something important to say.
"I-I can't..move my arm..." Can't move her arm?! The cut's that deep?! It probably cut through her nerves..."Don't speak. Don't worry. I'll get you out of this. You'll be fine, I promise." Even to himself, it sounded like an empty promise, still trying to convince himself.
He could almost hear her small smile, indicating that she appreciated his attempt to reassure her. "It...may be true that there is no king without his people, ...but without their king the people have no sense of purpose. Young Lord...y-y ou must survive to preserve the hopes of our clan."
"...Wh-what are you saying?!" Ling asked precariously. What was she thinking?!
"There are many things worth throwing away for a great cause."
"What are you thinking?!"
He was seriously scared.
The 'shing' of a knife.
"Lan Fan, no!" He completely forbid it. "No!"
He felt her hesitate.
"Come on! We can find another way!"
"..."
"...Okay."
That's all it took. Now it was all on him. If he couldn't get her out of here...
He gently lifted her onto the ground. He flung off his yellow happi coat and wrapped it around her injured shoulder to staunch the blood.
"Wait here for a second." He told her. Like she can go anywhere in her condition.
He ran up to a stray dog, lurking around the alley walls. He didn't want to hurt it, but that was the only way they could possibly make it out alive; their enemies were right on their tail. He could feel it. He grabbed the dog's tail with a quiet "I'm sorry", and sliced it in half. The dog whined loudly, then barked once, and sprinted away towards the dead end.
He turned back to Lan Fan. Looking around, he found a manhole cover, leading into a sewer. He bent down and removed the cover. He turned back to his guard. She was trying to get up, but was having a lot of trouble not being able to use her arm. She winced whenever it moved.
Without a word, he walked over to help her. Together they managed to both climb down the ladder. As Ling pulled the cover back into place, he had a sudden feeling of panic. Less than an hour ago, his guard had been able to launch herself into a double backflip, ten feet off of the ground. Now she could hardly stand up. He was probably more scared and worried than she was. He shook his head, clearing the thoughts from his mind. He couldn't afford to think about the past. He needed to be here, in the present. He climbed back down to Lan Fan.
They sloshed along in the sewer until they came to a manhole above which they could hear yelling and alchemical explosions.
"Lan Fan."
She looked up at him.
"I-I need to go help out. I promised."
"Okay." She removed her good arm from around his shoulders and instead leaned on the wall for support.
"Keep going until you find another ladder. I'll meet you there."
"Okay."
Her response was so simple and relenting. He felt extremely guilty, leaving her in these horrible conditions to fend for herself.
He started climbing up the ladder, which was difficult with his heavy conscious.
They sped around the corner. "Ling Yao, isn't it? I was told you promised to catch a homunculus. An admirable feat." As if in response, the tightly-bound homunculus moaned from its place in the trunk. Serves you right, Ling thought bitterly. The lady behind the wheel spoke again. "As so, I've been ordered to take you to an abandoned cabin on the outskirts of Central City."
"What?! No!" Ling exclaimed.
"Why? What's wr-"
"M-my companion! We need to pick her up!"
The lady frowned. "We don't have that kind of time."
"SHE DOESN'T HAVE THAT KIND OF TIME!" Ling was surprised by his own loud voice. "Please," He quieted his voice down. "She's...really hurt. I promised her I'd be back..." His eyes grew warm. He couldn't, wouldn't lose her.
"Which way?"
Ling silently pointed her around to Lan Fan's approximate position, assuming she even made the walk. He jumped out of the car before it even stopped. They were in the middle of another alleyway. He found a entrance. He removed the cover and recklessly jumped in. "Lan Fan!" He called. "LAN FAN!" He ran along the tunnel in way he told her to go. He ran and ran and ran, calling her name all the while. He finally came upon a warm black and red lump leaning heavily on the wall, half emerged in the dirty water. "Lan Fan..." He picked her up in both arms. She felt warm, but she was shivering. As he walked, he brought his ear close to her face to listen for breath. He could hardly hear it. At least she was breathing.
At least she was alive.
He found the ladder and somehow managed to get both of them through the small opening. The woman in the car (who had continuedly neglected to tell him her name) stared at them as Ling carried his best friend in his arms. Now that they were back in the twilight, he could see the lack of color in her red-speckled face. He walked over and gently laid his unconscious friend in the back of the car, then walked to the other side to sit by her head and check her heartbeat. Her caring heart was beating about 37 times a minute. This was not happening.
"What happened to her?" Asked the driver, shocked.
Ling thought of the best way to respond. "She was... knocked down from a height of about fifteen feet headfirst, by a sword, and, as you can see, it cut her nerves. She has a slight concussion and has no feeling or movement in her arm. She's been on-and-off unconscious since it happened." He almost felt relieved to let it all out, onto another person who could help them. However, it scared him more than ever to finally be forced to admit to the fact that she might not be 'okay'.
"How long has it been? Since she got injured?"
"Umm..." She got hurt, they got knocked through a window, he talked, he ran, they escaped, he captured a homunculus, she drove, he found her, and now they were back on the road. How long had it been? "A-almost an hour..."
"Okay." The woman made a sharp U-turn.
"What- Where are we going?"
"We need to get her to a hospital. If she's really as bad as you say, then she's in serious trouble. Oh, and there's a blanket under that seat that she can use. You know, to prevent shock."
"O-oh. Thank you Ms..."
"Riza. Riza Hawkeye, 1st lieutenant in the Amestrian Military."
"Yeah...thanks."
Ling felt under the seat for the blanket, and, upon finding it, laid it over his companion. He continued to manually monitor her breathing and pulse rate. Her breathing had evened out a bit, but it was still extremely shallow. Her heart rate hadn't improved. On the contrary, it had become less distinguished and slower.
"How's she doing?"
"Her breathing's steadier, but her pulse is...slow..."
"Do you know CPR?"
The question caught him off guard. "...yes."
"Well, good. She might need it. If her heart reaches 10 beats a minute, then it's mandatory if she's going to live."
Ling nodded and re-checked her pulse. 22. Why couldn't he do more for her?! Here she was, dying, and he was helpless. All he could do was sit here and pray that she would be alright. Once they reached the hospital, they would take her away, and he wouldn't even be able to just be there for her. He pulled her head into his lap and bent down for a closer look at her shoulder. He peeled away his blood- soaked jacket to look at the wound. The skin around it frayed away from the gash. It was way more than a thin sword cut. There was a big gap separating her arm from her shoulder. It would take a miracle to fix that. Maybe if there was a skilled alkahestrist... No, this was Amestris, the land of alchemy. Alchemy wasn't a healing art. Can this situation get any worse? He thought to himself as he checked her heart rate for a fourth time. 18. Come on... Stay with me...
The car lurched to a stop.
"Huh?"
"We're here. The emergency room is right in there. I'll come in once I park the car."
"Mmmm-hmm" Ling picked his friend up as gently as possible in his arms.
"Nnn..."
Ling smiled lightly. "It's okay Lan Fan. We're at the hospital now. You'll be okay." it felt weird, taking to her in terms of simple, almost childish words.
She shifted lightly in his arms. Her bad arm, which had been rested on her chest, fell, dangling in the air.
She gasped sharply, eyes wide. "Agh..." She sank back into his arms, completely limp.
For some reason, this time scared him. It was just too much.
Will she ever wake up?
He finally found the mental strength to run through the clear glass doors of the building in front of them, bursting into the emergency waiting room. He ran up to the front desk. The secretary was considerate enough to look genuinely worried and surprised.
"What happened to her?!"
"She...fell and got cut. She's lost all feeling and movement in her left arm, and might have a minor concussion. She's been like this for over an hour. Please..."
The secretary said something into a communication device, and a few seconds later four doctors came out of a door with a rolling bed.
"Quick. Place her on this."
Ling laid her down as gently as possible.
"Come with me." A doctor split away from the group, as the rest rolled the occupied bed away at a running pace. "We need to get you cleaned up."
Only now did Ling realize that he was shirtless and covered in his friend's blood. He turned around and realized that after her arm had fallen less than a foot off her chest, it had started bleeding profusely more, leaving a trail on the shiny white floors.
He realized that the doctor was still waiting for his response. "Oh, yeah...sorry..."
"It's fine. This way."
He was lead away into a basic check-up room.
"Here." The doctor handed him a towel and a hospital shirt.
"T-thanks." He walked over to the sink as the doctor spoke from behind.
"You can call me Nurse Steve. I mostly just help out with lesser injuries. Nothing like the one your friend there had." Ling stayed silent. "Don't worry. She's in good hands. What's her name?"
"L-Lan Fan."
"Hm. That's a pretty name." He pulled out a piece of paper. "Might as well get this over with. We need all of her personal information, especially if she's a minor. So...does she have a last name?"
He thought for a moment, then decided on her 'last name'.
"Yao. Y-A-O."
"Okay... Age?"
"Fourteen."
"Race?"
"Xingese."
"Wow. Okay...are you related to her at all?"
"Not that I know of."
"Wait...what's your name?"
"Ling Yao"
"And you have the same surname?"
"Our last names are based off our clan name."
"What about her parents? Where are they? Do they know she's here?"
"They've been dead since she was three."
"I-I'm sorry. Does she have any other relatives?"
"Well-"
The door burst open, and a doctor stepped in.
"Steve! We need your help!" He turned to Ling. "The girl, does she have any allergies?!"
"N-not that I know of..."
"Has she ever been hospitalized by an open wound before?"
"N-no...Why?"
"We're trying to stabilize her position, and she's reacting negatively to a disinfectant spray." He turned toward the door. "Follow me." He walked out of the room. Steve and Ling followed him.
They turned into a white surgical room where two men rushed about in the middle of a hurried conversation. There was a nauseating smell of blood and disinfectants. A slow, steady beeping came from a heart monitor. His eyes rested on the center of the room and the source of the worry.
Lan Fan lay on a surgical table in front of him. They had transferred her into a hospital gown, and she had a light blanket thrown over her chest. There were two drips running into her right arm: one for pain and the other supplying blood. There were electrical pads on the skin at the base of her neck, monitoring her pulse and blood pressure. Sweat beaded on her face, trickling down her cheeks like unshed tears until it was blocked by the oxygen tube that ran under her nose. Her hair strayed away from her pale face in a way that made her seem unearthly calm and relaxed.
"What was her reaction?"
"To the allergen? She's hyperventilating, which, in her state, is very bad."
Ling watched as one of the surgeons removed the oxygen tube and instead placed a mask over her nose and mouth.
It killed him to see her like this. If it took this long just to stabilize her..."Wait...Weren't you going to operate on her arm?"
"No." The answer came from the surgeon that had put the mask on her. "Ww aren't allowed until her breathing is normal and she can sustain consciousness for up to an hour."
The fourth surgeon in the room spoke. "Sir, I'm afraid I need you to step out of the room. Steven will escort you to a waiting area and give you an overview of our procedures."
He shot a meaningful glance at Steve, who in turn took Ling's arm and led him out of the the room.
As he walked along the long hallway, Ling's mind wandered. I've never seen her in such a vulnerable state...Fu would never approve anything near this, putting his granddaughter's life in somebody else's hands... Fu... How could I face him?! Lan Fan might die and he won't know about it until he comes back... NO. She won't die. She's strong. She knows that. She'll hold on as long as she can. Lan Fan... I'm so sorry...It's all my fault. All my fault...
"Um...Ling? We're here." They stood in a deserted room filled with chairs. He didn't hesitate to plop down in one.
"I'm supposed to tell you our procedures now... So...Once they get her stabilized they're going to try to repair the nerves where her shoulder was cut."
"H-how big are the chances that she'll regain movement?"
"Not big. Small. Very small."
Small?! No! If they can't fix her arm, then...
"If they can't repair the nerves, the only other choice is amputation."
"NO!" Ling stood up out of haste and anger. He couldn't put her through that. "Do you even understand what she's been through today?! I WON'T ALLOW IT!"
"I-I'm sorry sir. Those are our procedures. We can't just stop halfway and leave her with a limp arm for the rest of her life."
The rest of her life... He sounded so certain that she would live.
"If it comes down to it, and we can't heal her arm, T-then there is the possibility of automail..."
Automail... Like the Fullmetal Alchemist...
Wait. This had gone too far. Lan Fan was still here, in this hospital. Her arm was still attached. She was still alive.
"A-alright. Do what you need to. But... Please try. She's strong. She can handle anything that comes with a repaired arm. Don't give up unless it's impossible. Please... Please..."
"Alright. Thank You. We'll give it our best shot." He walked away, leaving Ling to his worried thoughts.
A few minutes later, the door reopened and Riza stepped in.
"There you are. I was looking for you. I was letting my superior know about our situation after I parked the car. How is she?"
"She had an allergic reaction to a disinfectant spray. Once they get her condition stabilized, they'll try to repair her nerves. If not..." He choked up. "If- if not, the only other choice is... is r-removing it. H-her arm..." He felt something warm slide down his cheek. He buried hid face in his hands and let out all of the feelings he had been storing inside of him since this afternoon. It was too much.
She was dying...
