Sorry that it took me awhile to get this chapter up. I couldn't seem to find the time to type it up, but here it is, finally! Yeah! Hope that you like it, hehe.
Disclaimer: Neither of us own FullMetal Alchemist, though I think that if I keep writing all sorts of fanfics and buying all sorts of FMA merchandise, I might get to own FMA sooner or later. Why else do we buy all that stuff if it's not to try and own FMA? Oh…it's just an obsession, you say? Okay…you're obsessed, aren't you? What? No, I am not obsessed. I tell you, I'm not obsessed! Okay, maybe a little…
The confused expressions on the faces of that little girl and Al turned to looks of horror when it suddenly dawned upon them what was going on. I turned to see my master and saw him say, "This is what happens to those you care about when you disobey my orders." And then, turning to Al, he said, "You would be wise to remember that, young man."
He then raised the whip up over his head. I turned my face away. I didn't want to see it coming. It was only a few seconds before SMACK! The first lash hit. I cried out in pain. I hadn't thought it would hurt that bad, and I had three more to go of these? I knew that each one would hurt worse.
The second lash came and tears began rolling down my face. Two more, I told myself, there's only two more.
The third lash came and I felt my whole body pulsate with pain. This was terrible. I wasn't even sure if I could bear the last one.
The fourth lash came and I screamed a blood-curdling scream. It was extremely painful, like nothing I'd ever felt. I'd been whipped before, but never this hard. But, that was the last one, or so I thought. I hadn't realized that the mistress had changed it to five lashes instead of four.
The fifth one came down, and I screamed so hard that I dropped to the ground, not able to support my weight any longer. I always tried to be tough and not cry, but I couldn't avoid it that time. I was sobbing on the ground. While I couldn't hear Al's and the little girl's reactions, I could feel the tension in the air. I knew that it was hurting them worse than it was hurting me, as unbelievable as that sounded at that moment.
He let me lie there for what seemed like only a few seconds before he grabbed me by the scruff of the neck and pulled me to my feet. He turned me around so that I would see his face, and then told me, "Go wash up, you're leaving today." He then promptly gave me a shove in the direction of the bathhouse.
Or at least, what we called the bathhouse. It was a shack where slaves washed up, and it wasn't very clean. I weakly nodded and then stumbled my way over to the bathhouse/shack. For the first time in I didn't know how long, I was so glad that we didn't have hot water. These wounds stung like nothing else, and hot water would have just aggravated them even worse.
I soon finished cleaning up my wounds, got dressed again in my rags, and then made my way over to my master's house where he was waiting for me. He directed a couple of his men to grab me and bind my hands behind my back. He knew that I wouldn't run away anyway, since I hated his guts, and wanted more than anything to be out from under his control, but he still liked to torture me with the idea of not being able to move my hands.
As soon as my hands were bound securely behind my back, he dragged me over to a nearby carriage and set me in it. I didn't pay much attention to the ride over. It didn't really matter to me. I was leaving Al behind. I had hoped that I was doing the right thing. I hoped I could find a way to save Al. I hoped.
Before long, we arrived at a house that I was not familiar with. I assumed that it was the lady's real house, and not the place where she hid out and took me to. She couldn't take the risk of her own house being discovered as a refuge for slaves, so I understood that.
I was rudely jerked off the cart and pushed up the long walkway toward the front door. She lived on a large plantation too, so naturally, I figured that she must have people to tend it, but were they slaves…or merely…servants? I doubted that she kept slaves. I just couldn't bring myself to think that.
I looked over and saw two people, obviously Amestrian, pruning some of the hedges. They looked up and saw me, waved at me, and smiled. Okay, so they couldn't be slaves if they were that happy. They were probably merely servants in her care, probably paid well for it too.
I nodded my head in their direction, but didn't return the smile, as I continued to walk up to the door. Finally, we reached the front entrance, and my master pounded on the door. The maid answered soon afterward, and we were escorted inside. This house seemed even more elaborate than my master's. I was in total shock.
My soon-to-be-new-mistress came walking out into the room. "Have you brought him?" she said.
"Here," he pushed me forward to her. She looked at me, but didn't smile.
"This is the alchemist kid, right?" she said.
"Yes," my master said dryly, "But remember that he can't do alchemy with that broken arm of his." He gestured to my auto-mail. "And I don't accept returns. Once he's yours, he's yours. I don't want him back."
Returns? I thought to myself, he's talking about me like I'm a piece of merchandise. That really was all I was to him, a piece of merchandise.
"Understood," said the woman, "I'll have one of my maids bring you your money." She clapped her hands and one of the maids brought out the previously mentioned money, and handed it to the man. He quickly counted it, grunted at the woman in what I interpreted as a sort of Thank You, and then headed out the door.
My new mistress turned to me and smiled for the first time since the master had come in. "Welcome to your new home, Edward," she said. Her smile quickly faded as she suddenly realized that I was still bound. "Oh, let me loosen that for you."
She quickly untied my hands and set me free. "It's hard to find auto-mail mechanics in Drachma," she said, "But we'll try to find some way to fix your arm. In the meantime, you have free run of the place, okay?" I nodded. She continued, "Just use common sense. I can't come and save your hide every time you get yourself in trouble. And definitely don't get yourself in trouble when you're not on my property. Do you understand? If I get caught and in trouble with the law, then I won't be able to help any of your people. You must be very careful about that."
"I understand," I said, rubbing my left wrist with what was left of my auto-mail arm. "I'll be careful to keep your secret safe."
"Thanks, I knew you'd understand," she said, flashing a smile my way. She turned to leave the room, and then stopped short, and turned to face me again. "I'm sorry that I couldn't get you your brother."
"Um…yeah, I…I know, it's okay…it's not your fault." I stopped for a moment, and then said, "I noticed some Amestrian people outside working on your hedges. I was just wondering…"
"Oh!" she chuckled, "Don't worry about them, I don't keep slaves. Those are some of the other Amestrian people I bought off of other slave masters. Whenever anyone, Amestrian or not, works for me, I pay them their fair share. Of course, when it involves Amestrian people, I usually have to pay them with some kind of barter system, since Drachman currency really isn't much use to them."
I chuckled. "No, I can't say it would be when they get chased out of the marketplace every time they get discovered."
She laughed at my little comment, and then said, "Would you like a tour of the house?"
I shrugged my shoulders. "Sure, I guess."
"Okay, I'll call one of my servants. No, on second thought, I'll lead you myself." She grabbed my arm and led me in the direction of the nearest room. Never in my life had I imagined that there could be a mistress as kind as this one. I only wished Al were here. He deserved better than he had.
Al, I said to myself, Keep strong, I haven't given up on you. I will save you, somehow.
Hope that you liked that chapter. Please leave a review, and I'm sure that RR-Major-Ed-Pride will be happy to provide her chapter. (Just incase you guys aren't catching on, she writes all the even chapters. Yes, her style is so similar to mine that it's probably hard to tell them apart, but seriously…) I just thought it was hilarious when one of the reviewers mentioned her story "Hand in Hand" as sounding like "One Year", and then apologized for talking about another author, when she is co-authoring this story AND "Hand in Hand" was indeed inspired by "One Year"! Hehehehe…yeah, okay…yeah.
Anyway, please review, and see you back here soon!