ATTENTION:

PLEASE NOTE that I had combined the first and second chapter. If you some how skipped the second chapter without realizing, please go back and read it.

And thank you for those who reviewed. And what about the rest of you? Liked it? Hated it? Think I could do better? REVIEW! (Flame, but please keep it constructive.)

Even it is just to say that you thought it was okay, please review!

And so ends my long rants. Please enjoy the second chapter to Fated when Forbidden: How the Sun Dies.

ALSO NOTE

I changed Lynelle's husband to Shou Tucker for plot purposes.

xXx

So numb that I didn't even feel Edward let go of my crumpled dress to muse over his conflict (on whether or not to let me stay). Silently I prayed that he would keep me, not for my sake, but for Hughes. Beginning to show signs of recovery, he would die if they took me away from him.

Silence stretched over the cave, the sky coloring with the sun's magnificent death. And almost willingly, I let a memory take me far away from where I was, at the mercy of an alchemist-assassin, to a time that seemed so very far away…

"Make the sun come back," I whimpered into my mother's dress. "Please Mother, I don't want it to go away."

"Dearest, the sun will come back, but first it has to die," Mother's honeyed voice floated in the air.

"Huh?" Forgetting my fear of the impending darkness, I looked up at her through my tears, even wiping some of them away.

Squatting down my small size, she ruffled my hair with her hands and smiled. "Do you know why the sun makes such beautiful colors at the end of the day?"

I shook my head.

"The sun is sending off a message that it will be back in the same beautiful display of colors in the morning. Every day the sun is born and dies, but tells us that it is not the end, only a new beginning, and leaves us the moon and stars to give us hope to live on to the next day."

But, I couldn't help but think I may not live regardless of a new beginning.

Edward scrutinized me with his amber eyes, battling with his inner thoughts on the situation at hand. Silence stretched over the cave, Al's unseen eyes moving from Ed to myself then back to the Fullmetal Alchemist, who refused to break unblinking eye contact with me. I was now at Hughes's side staring up into hard golden eyes. My nerves were being pulled in opposite directions: nervous, hate, fear, terror, they were all there. But I could not look away.

Like me he was unnaturally tiny, possibly only centimeters above my height. His golden hair was pulled back into a short single braid with bangs framing his unnatural gold eyes. Ed's apparel was that of a traveler: black pants, boots, and shirt with a red warn coat embossed with the design of a winged serpent wrapped around an arrow pointed cross, and gloves.

How unusual, I mused despite my situation, to where gloves in the summer…

I snapped out of my reverie when Edward's sharp voice broke my train of thought.

"You have eleven days to heal him, after that you are at our mercy," his voice prattled them off like they were military commands, "My alchemists will fetch you whatever you like save for weapons, those will be handled with my supervision only." His voice was cold and emotionless, but I sat quietly and attentively, like a well-behaved child. I felt degraded and stupid, like an ignorant child, but this was life or death, and had it not been for the knowledge that it was mine along with another's I would've backed out then and there. But I couldn't abandon him, not now.

"Eleven days…" At this I started.

"Eleven! That's not nearly enough!" Empowered by my indignation I stood, fully facing the feared alchemist, not entirely understanding my actions myself. But then…

"You're just a kid!" I exclaimed without thinking then immediately realizing my mistake.

"How dare you—"

"Brother!" I silently thanked Al as the man in armor's hand stopped his leader's that was about to make an impression on my face. After a few moments of labored breathing, Ed shrugged his brother off, and Al let him, thinking him cool enough to think a little more clearly.

"Fine," Ed said bitterly, smirking, "Ten days, ending on Midsummer. And that better teach you to question my hospitality, wench." His tone was biting, but this time I caught myself before speaking and hung my head in acceptance, despite his belittling name for me.

After he left in a huff, Al apologized and said he would talk to him, but I told him no.

"You can't change a person's mind when it doesn't want to change," I said calmly, holding back the urge to sprint after the hothead myself and yell into his arrogant face. "I am not a good enough reason for you to quarrel with your brother. Besides, this is my task and I will finish. I must."

xXx

The days and nights were long and I denied myself most of the body's needs (mostly sleep) as I watched over my patient. Hughes was showing tremendous progress but it could easily turn the other way without warning so I must keep vigilant.

One the third day (seven days and counting till the deadline) Hughes was able to swallow a full cup of water and herbs I had prepared for him, but vomited it up later when we tried soup.

Alphonse and the others seemed more than ready to help. (I guessed Al had told them of my meeting of Edward and they wanted to make up his lack for hospitality.) I often had the feeling that all I had to do was smile and they would be off. That is, all except for Edward himself, who would sit just outside of the cave and call me wench, bitch, and any other degrading name he could think of as I walked past him.

On the fourth night, after Hughes was in a dreamless state, I walked out of the cave ignoring Edward's immature glare, and breathed in deep fresh air. Sitting next to Al in the circle around the fire, I quietly began to listen to the sound of the woods, staring into the fire.

"Are you alright?" asked a concerned Al, bringing everyone else's attention towards me. Coloring, I shook my head.

"Yes," I said quickly. Just a little tired and homesick.

I sighed.

Sensing that I was lying, Al suggested I tell them a story. Trying to wave it off, the rest of the circle soon joined him and I couldn't help but look at Edward. He had his arms crossed over his chest, his face drawn into a sulk. Like a spoiled child, I thought acidly, but I held my tongue.

"Alright," I said quietly. "But let me think of one…"

After a few moments of thinking you began, "Once there was an orphan boy who saw a thousand shoot stars one night. 'Where did they all go?' he wondered.

"And so he thought that if he rode from one end of the world to the other he would find the stars and for ten years he traveled alone, surviving on thievery and crookedness.

"But one day he stole a much needed comb for his horse from a beautiful young princess. Now the comb had belonged to her dead mother, so she chased after him, demanding that he return her comb.

"He did not but the princess had lost her horse and her way back so he took care of her, no matter how much she resented him for stealing her comb. Soon he fell in love with the princess, but still refused to give her the comb, knowing that if he did, she would go away forever.

"And although the princess would never admit it, she loved the boy too.

"But one day the boy was careless and left the comb where the princess found and took it, but she didn't leave. When the boy saw that the comb was gone, he mourned thinking that the princess would leave him as soon as she knew. But when he told her he had lost the comb, she just smiled.

"'If you wanted a comb you need only to ask,' she said. The boy was confused.

"'It is not the comb I want, princess,' he said humbly. And when she asked what did he want. He replied:

"'When I was a boy I saw a thousand shooting stars and I thought that if I rode to the earth's end and back I would find them. But I've found something better.'

"'And what is that?' the princess asked.

"'I am a man. And I've found the brightest and most beautiful star in the entire sky,' he said, kissing her hand. And she took him back to her palace where they were married and lived happily ever after."

Silence replaced my words soon after I finished, but I had not realized it as my entire conscious had melded with the flicker of the flames in front of my face. Why had I chosen that story? Truly none of these would care of a love fairy tale told to three-year-old girls before bed. And yet, they all seemed mystified to the point of believing there was such a princess and a boy and such a love that would tear down all logic.

But I did not listen to what they said afterward, only to my own heart beat blend with the forest.

xXx

The author speaks…

Every memory of that night after that point would be wiped from your memory like a vague dream. Havoc had pushed a mug of warm beer into your hands and with the drink weighing heavily in your mind, it all became like some fantastic dream with everyone laughing, even Edward. But then your dream turned into a fitful one, with you standing on top of the mountain, the wind rushing through your hair, shouting 'Jump! It is time! Jump!'

And then you awoke…

xXx

Awaking as the sun climbed toward its noon position, I jumped up only to be met with a powerful rush of my chest and heart pounding. Leaning against the cave wall (I must've been carried into the cave by one of the others), I steadied myself, forcing to think rationally.

Deciding I had fallen asleep from pure exhaustion, I wobbled over to my patient who was still unconscious. After vowing never to drink alcohol again, I held the back of my hand to his forehead only to quickly draw it back again. His fever had somehow spiked higher than when it began.

Searching for my water basin and cloth, I found it empty and I cursed. Looking around and not seeing one at present, I redressed the infected wound on the arm and placed a soothing lotion over Hughes's head and then walked out of the cave, my own headache beginning to wear off.

Stretching my stiff limbs from my night on the stone floor, I continued to look for any form of life. I began to worry. Strange, they always left someone behind before. I gasped. Did something happen to them?

"I sent them out," an unseen voice answered. Spinning around I found I was in the presence of Edward Elric, alone. Sitting where he always had outside the cave entrance, I wondered why I hadn't seen him. His cold amber eyes sent shivers down my spine but I stood firm, giving myself a little defiant look. "I will be keeping with you wench. However, I am not as easy to use as my poor excuses for comrades are. If you need anything I will direct you to where you can find it, but if you get lost, I will not come looking for you."

"Water?" was the only thing I managed to say through my locked jaw.

"Head that way, if you walk straight you'll find it in ten minutes or so."

"Thank you." I forced myself to nod my head in recognition.

"Feh."

Lifting my head so that I could give him a cold look, I held back my displeasure as he turned back to the metal work he held in his gloved hands and ignored me. He's nothing but an ungrateful child, I spat inside my head.

The unseen trail was easy enough to follow, and just as Edward said I found the stream in ten minutes of walking. But when I reached for a bucket, I realized I forgotten back at camp.

Silently scolding myself for my stupidity, I turned back toward camp, only to find that all the trees looked the same.

"Now, what is a rare and exotic flower doing in the middle of the wood?" said a smooth voice behind me, "Such a beauty should be where it can be admired."

Snapping back around, I found myself staring into cold, emotionless purple eyes. It was a human… but not a human, with palmed out hair held back from a thin and narrow face. His smile sent shivers down my spine as hungry eyes combed my body. Suddenly I felt naked and vulnerable under my unwashed and stiff dress.

"P-please, I am-am in a hurry," I said, silently cursing my unsteady tongue. Then, making as if to turn and run, he grabbed my arm in a vice-grip. Feeling panic slither down into my muscles, I tried pulling away, opening my mouth to unleash a scream.

My abductor was quick. In one movement he pulled me back towards him, pressing our bodies together, and clamped his thin but muscular arms around my tiny middle, pinning my arms to my sides, while the other clamped a hand over my mouth, stifling any sound.

The human… no, demon pressed his face against mine as I tried to wiggle out of his grip in vain. "No, no flower," he breathed silkily into my ear, "I have some friends who have been waiting for you for such a long time. We wouldn't want to keep them waiting. Would we?"

Something inside me still told my body to rebel and try to run, but some sort of power came that made my body go rigid like a machine. Shaking my head like a robotic doll, I felt my attacker loosen his grip and half-lead, half-drag me away from Edward's camp.

As I watch the river and hear the sound start to fade, another wave of dread washed over me as I remember the Fullmetal's words: I will not come looking for you. Filled with a sense of impending doom, I hung my head, trying not to cry.

It was a long while before the demon used his inhuman strength and flung my body at the base of a tree, stunned from the impact I could not move and it was not long before I was surrounded like a caged animal. There were seven of them: two women, one child, and four men. And for the first time in my life, I felt like an animal. Frightened so that all rational thought escaped me and I even surveyed the full circle by moving on all fours.

The demon that brought me to this horrific place (where, I could not tell you in my terrified state) was the last one I faced and his sneer and hypnotic eyes caught me. Squatting down to my level, he grabbed hold of my shaking chin, forcing me to keep eye contact.

"Is this her, Lust?" he questioned as he kept me perfectly still, like a trained pet.

One of the women, the one wearing a revealing dress and tattoo of a snake biting its own tail above her breast, smiled menacingly and seductively. "Envy, you have done well," she praised. "She will be the perfect sacrifice. We are sure she is a virgin though?"

Had I not been incapacitated with fear, I would've taken offense, but all that registered in my mind was sacrifice. Thoughts of escape rushed into my head, but the one called Envy held me under his spell.

"Of course, either that or a superb actress," he snickered under his breath, and for the first time bringing me half way back to normal as the urge to slap him over came the urge to run. Hot tears were leaving burning streaks down my cheeks at this point and that only made my captors laugh.

"Such a young girl," drawled the other woman.

"Yes," said Lust thoughtfully. "Unfortunately we are not ready. Wrath, Greed, guard her until we have a need."

As five turned a way, the child and one of the men staid beside me, watching me. Glad of Envy's release of his hypnotic hold, I tried to suppress my primitive instincts and think calmly. Able to maneuver myself into an upright position, I listened as a man who was shorter than me and extremely fat ask Lust, "Can I eat her?"

Placing a delicately gloved hand on his fat, greasy baldhead, Lust replied, "Not yet, not while she still has a use."

Turning to stone, I sat at the foot of a tree trunk, guarded by two demons, watching the others prepare for satanic ritual. A ritual in which I had a sacrificial part.

Fear turned me to stone as I sat quietly in between two smirking devils, I saw that the sun itself was beginning its fantastic end of another life, promising to come back renewed with the same brilliance. But, I couldn't help but think, I may not be able to make the same promise, as the demons worked diligently and I sat, waiting to what I was beginning to think to be my inevitable doom.