Disclaimer: I don't own FMA
Notes: Happy, happy birthday to yoou!
At Fourteen Years
Ran-Fan still remembered how, as a child, she had been teased for her dedication to her father and grandfather. It had led then to her first meeting with Prince Ling. The honour of meeting the Emperor's favoured son hadn't been as overwhelming then as it would have been, had she been older, because she was young and didn't know better. Yet she found it odd that the very same boys who had mocked and teased her when she was young now paused in their own training to watch as she headed towards her own.
One day, when they were on break as she returned from hers, she saw them approaching her, and wondered what they might be up to this time. Were they playing tricks again, and looking for a fight, or was there perhaps a less malicious reason today? Their faces showed the usual over-cocky arrogance she was used to, but something was slightly different in the swagger of their stride.
They stopped in front of her, directly in her path. "Ran-Fan."
She paused, watching them carefully. "Deng. Lao, Jung-Wan."
Deng's face was no different to usual, save that his usual open and teasing smile was kept behind a mask. He seemed to be trying to keep it in, this time. "Lao has something he wants to say."
A grinning Jung-Wan gave his comrade a push, and the third boy looked at the others in horror, as though this was not how he had expected things to go. His eyes flickered back to Ran-Fan's confused face. "I- I, erm. Do you want to–"
"She's busy."
Ran-Fan looked in surprise at the prince, who had just appeared to her right, arms crossed over his chest and his face as serious as a stone monument, for once. The young prince seemed to have an uncanny ability to arrive without even Ran-Fan's notice. She didn't know how he did it, but it had happened many a time now, and it was hard to doubt the use of this in stealthy appearances and escapes.
"Aren't you?" the prince asked, in a demanding tone. Without a further word he took her hand, dragging her off in a way that reminded her of the first time he had taken her from these three scoundrels.