Chapter 4:

I forgot this sorry DX

Three years after 'final battle'

Lan Fan: 17

Ling: 18

May: 16

Alphonse: 17

May walked back to her room in silence. "I hope it will all be alright..." She continued muttering in Xingnese untill she reached her door, finding a still flushed Alphonse leaning on the doorframe.

"Er... Hey, May." He scratched the back of his head as he watched her turn bright red. "I wanted to talk to you." His Xingnese was rough, but clear enough for her to understand.

She decided to stick to Amestrian when talking to him... For now.

"Yes?" She responded in his birth language, calming him slightly.

"Well... What you did before... I just wanted to say.." He stuttered. "I wanted to ask, why did you k-kiss me?" She refused to meet his eyes, instead answering the floor in sharp Xingnese, hoping that he would not understand her words.

"Because I'm in love you." She wanted to say it in his tongue, but was scared of the reaction she would get if he understood.

Her efforts were, however, useless. As she glanced up at him she saw realization dawning on his face and she made a dash for her room, determined to lock herself away from embarrassment.

He caught her wrist, looking her in the eyes meaningfully. He pulled her over by the waist, wrapping her in a tight hug before releasing her and asking, "May, Can I kiss you?"

She blushed. "Oh, I don't know," she smiled, "Can you?"

He laughed slightly and pressed his lips to hers quickly, before pulling back. "I love you too May..."

She smiled widely, and pecked him on the lips before pulling him by the wrist into her room with her.

"Whaaaa-?" Alphonse was silenced with another kiss.

"It's nothing like that..." She blushed and looked away from him. "It just gets lonely..."

She and Al laid down on her bed, holding each other until they both fell asleep.

TWO MONTHS LATER

Lan Fan had lost count of the number of times she got to wake up in Ling's arms. He would wake her up every morning and they would get ready for the day together, stealing kisses here and there.

Now at five months, Lan Fan's stomach had swelled a great deal. She was fitted with new armor, refusing to leave her post until she was seven months along, protesting that her stomach did not restrict her ability to protect him.

He had given in eventually.

So now they sat in the throne room, Ling lounging in the chair with a look of boredom on his face, she standing in the shadows behind where he sat, her kunai ready for anything.

But they didn't expect this.

"- AND AS THE TENTH PRINCESS OF XING I WOULD LIKE THE RIGHT TO SEE MY BROTHER!" An angry looking girl around the age of 17 stormed into the throne room, glaring at a gaggle of guards behind her. "Oh, Hello Brother dear!" She smiled a little to sweetly, and Lan Fan tensed. She did not trust this girl.

"Oh. Hey Jun." Ling waved at her. "Nice to see you."

"Well that's good." Jun's smile widened as she drew a kunai. "Because I'll be the last one you ever see!" She sent the knife straight at Ling's heart, not seeing that in the spit second she drew the knife Lan Fan was standing infront of Ling, using herself as a shield.

"No, Lan Fan!" Ling pushed her to the side, so instead of bouncing off Lan Fan's armor, it punged into Ling's shoulder.

"Yes!" Jun watched happily as Ling fell, again not seeing the black figure streak around the room, this time running at her, pinning her to the ground with a kunai at her neck.

"Go to hell." Lan Fan spat in the girl's face before slitting her throat, spilling blood all over the white tiles of the throne room. She dropped her kunai and rushed back to Ling, pulling the kunai from the wound and binding it with a strip she quickly tore from his robes.

She applied pressure to the wound to slow the bleeding, watching Ling grimace in pain.

"Someone get May! She can stop the bleeding!" Lan Fan shouted to the guards, several of which went off running down the corridor.

"Lan Fan..." Ling wheezed. "I'm not going to die... I promise..." Blood soaked the cloth and Lan Fan replaced it with another strip, binding it tighter than the last.

Her eyes filled with tears. "You better not die... You idiot..."

Blood covered Lan Fan's hands and ran down her face with her tears as she held him, applying pressure to the gaping hole in his shoulder.

She didn't remember when May arrived, just holding Ling as she preformed her Alkehestry to close the wound. Ling smiled at May and at Lan Fan, squeezing Lan Fan's hand before saying, "I'm not going to die..." and drifting off to sleep.

She handed Ling to Alphonse, who carried the older boy to his room to rest. May followed them, leaving Lan Fan sitting on the ground of the throne room, soaked in blood and crying, surrounded by guards and elders.

"It's all your fault you stupid girl!" The smack rang out through half the palace as one of the elders slapped Lan Fan hard across the face. "The Young Lord could have died because of your mistake!" He hit Lan Fan again, this time knocking her over onto the ground. She put up no effort to stop him. It was her fault. She let Ling push her out of the way...

Her master, her love, her Ling, could have died because of her.

She deserved to be punished, right?

The Elder continued to yell at her, telling her how much she has failed at her job, how likely she is to lose it once the Young Lord awakens.

"Oh shut up, you old bastard!" May came storming into the room, throwing curses at the Elder. "You know what happened there? That was not a failure on Lan Fan's part at all! Why was Jun not properly checked for weapons upon entering the palace? She should not have had that kunai on her, that's for sure. Lan Fan here did her best to protect my brother, it's not her fault that he didn't want her to take the blow!"

May stalked across the room to the elder until she looked him straight in the eye.

"Are you really protecting this scum?" The Elder asked, turning back to Lan Fan and kicking her.

In the stomach.

Hard.

Lan Fan let out a cry of pain, doubling over. May's eyes widened.

"See?" The elder chuckled. "Weak."

"You IMBECILE!" May slapped the Elder before kneeling down next to Lan Fan, setting up another array around her. "She's pregnant!"

"Why does that matter to any of us?" The Elder watched May preform alkehestry on Lan Fan's swollen and bruised belly, checking for any damage to the fetus.

"You're one lucky old man. You didn't hurt the children." May stood. "You remember my brother getting you all to agree to something a few months back?" She faced the elder, glaring at him. "He wanted to marry just one woman. One in particular and that was it." May pointed to Lan Fan. "This girl you see as scum, she's the one my brother is going to marry! She's pregnant with his children, the heirs to the throne!"

"What?!" The elder backed up, in apparent shock.

"You nearly just killed the heirs to the throne." May glared at him coldly, pinning him to the wall with a few kunai. "That's treason."

The Elder stood in shock. "That girl is going to become empress?!" He spat at Lan Fan. "What is this country coming to..?" He stared down at Lan Fan who was pulling herself off the ground, cradling her stomach. "Why is she becoming empress?!"

Lan Fan got to her feet, drawing a kunai and pressing it to the neck of the elder. "You have committed treason. Treason is punishable by death."

The Elder's eyes widened, spotting the ring on Lan Fan's hand. "So it's true. You're becoming empress. The ugly, scar-covered, common girl. You don't even have a left arm!"

"I think you've said enough..." Ling stood in the doorway, in fresh clothes, leaning against Alphonse. "I love this girl you call scum. She is my fiancé and she is going to become my wife. She is carrying my children."

He stumbled over to Lan Fan, who caught him, and helped him stay steady.

"You have commited treason. This is punishable by death." Ling looked at Lan Fan. "Why don't you show him what your left arm is capable of?" She nodded, turning her attention to the elder after Ling had found another person to use as a personal leaning post. She removed May's kunai from the wall, tossing them back to her before removing the kunai at his neck and pressing her elbow-blade there instead.

"By order of His Highness Ling Yao, you shall be put to death for the crime of treason."

She ran the blade through his neck, slicing off his head in one clean movement and let his body topple to the floor.

'No regrets.' She looked at her blood covered hands, then at the two dead body's in the room, then to Ling. 'He's worth it.'

She removed the blade from her automail, giving it to a guard with orders to clean it, and retrieved Ling from May.

"You should be sleeping Young Master." She helped him down the hallway back to his room.

"Eh..." Ling smiled. "I think we both need a shower."

And with that, Ling pulled Lan Fan with him into his bathroom.

That night, as Ling watched Lan Fan sleep, he reflected on the day.

"You better not die... You idiot..." He felt her tears fall hot and wet onto his face, and winced in the pain from the wound.

'I can't die...' he had thought 'I love you to much to die on you now...'

Yes, she was his guard.

Yes, she protected, and killed for him.

But, to him, she was always just Lan Fan. Tough, amazing, beautiful Lan Fan.

And she was perfect.

And she was his.

I know I know, I'm sorry, it's supposed to be Almei. But LingFan is so cute!

More Almei next chapter, I promise!