A/N: Merry late Christmas! Welcome to this page of Bring Me to Life! Just a warning, I will be changing things in the plot, though everything will work out fine in the climax, alriiiiight~? This is an extra special bonus Christmas present, because I've been reading lots of Ling x OC fanfics.

HE'S SO FUCKING CUTE! I think Ling tops Greed in my fave book. But I won't touch my 'if you were in the anime' quiz because it's perfect.

Want to know what I got for Christmas? A giant Angry Bird. Like, no joke.

And also an army of tinier angry birds.

Hell yes, I don't need fucking snowballs.

I also don't ask for much from my parents…except to buy me clothes whenever we go to the mall.

Enjoy! Consider this an early New Year's gift, and don't expect an update this weekend. D';

Disclaimer: I do not own FMA or FMA Brotherhood. Nor do I own the lyrics to Ling's Theme, "No.1 King". If I did, there would be an OVA starring Ling! D:

Bring Me to Life

.

|It's not like it's a convenient life. |

Chapter 3

Wonderland

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A train appears speeding down a forested area, through a series of tunnels before slowly braking at a large city it would seem. The brakes usually take a while to stop the vehicle completely, and for one as agile as Ling Yao, leaping off of the train was mere child's play.

Many heads poked out of the windows of the train, even though a nearby conductor waved his nightstick at them.

"My lord! Do not let the short one's meaningless comments graze you!"

"WHO YOU CALLING SHORT—"

"Not now, brother!"

"Did Ling just jump…?"

"Young lord!"

"Wait, Ling! Could you please come back? Ed didn't mean to call you ugly!" The girl launched out after the prince, right out of the train—which was just beginning to slow down its stop in Central. [1]

Everything seemed to slow as Zhen's feet left the window frame, but it wasn't because Ling was sailing out in front of her; his feelings probably hurt. It was just that as soon as her body and the train parted, it sped away—so fast her own fall speed was almost like slow motion picture.

Once she landed and heard Ling's frantic footsteps, she only focused on the train harboring Lan Fan, Fu, and the others as it disappeared into the depths of Central City. Zhen turned her attention back to the shrinking figure of Ling Yao, instinctively putting her body in motion again.

Two strangers lost in a foreign wonderland like this…they had to stick together.

…

He sped down the streets of a sector in Central, nonstop, uncaring, perhaps blindly. She hadn't any idea why Edward's silly comment would hurt him so badly that he'd try to run away from them. All Zhen had to do was make sure he was fine, so she chased after him until now.

"Ling! Ling! Ling, would you please stop running? Did Edward hurt your feelings? I'm sorry if he did, but you know he didn't mean it literally!" Her chest hurt so much from this constant running, even though she was physically fit—this boy was fast. Gasping, gasping through breaths and sweat/water/tears forming in the corners of her closed eyes, she pleaded for him to stop moving for just a second…

Zhen slammed right into his lean figure, and Ling remained unstirred. Only after Zhen opened her eyes again did she find Ling's almost fearful, astonished visage. He looked just as surprised as she was.

"Z-Zhen? That was you chasing after me all this time?" There was a very convincing tear in the corner of his right eye.

The short-haired girl's mouth hung slightly open, but she closed it and kept one of her brows raised, "Wait, what do you mean?"

Ling heaved a sigh of relief, pressing a hand to his beating chest, "Oh, ha, ha! You really scared me, then! I thought some Amestrian murderer was chasing me down so he could kill me…"

"You're kidding. You really are." Or he's just being paranoid, which is expected of royalty from Xing.

Ling only laughed humorlessly as he watched her, shrugging his shoulders. She honestly couldn't read this guy.

Even if he were joking, why would he jump off the train in the first place?

"You mean…Ed didn't hurt your feelings? So why did you jump off of the train?" Zhen demanded, out of breath and confused out of her mind. Confused by his child-like (Yet cute) naïveté!

He furrowed his own brows, slightly before they returned back to being soft, "Well, at first it stung…but I got over it after a little while."

"How long is a 'little while'?"

Ling chuckled, looking away from her and trotting off after a little spin, "Oh~ A second or two. Maybe half."

He began to kick up a sprint; she saw his ponytail soaring through the wind behind him. Zhen's legs, however sore, forced their way after him—oh, but he seemed to enjoy it despite that her once worried face was replaced with frustration.

"Besides….I wouldn't demean myself that way," he muttered to himself in a most eerie voice.

Zhen stared wide-eyed. That was a change of disposition.

Though the serious look on Ling's face was quickly replaced with a smile.

He was certainly two-faced. Maybe stalking and becoming acquaintances with his boy was more than she bargained for.

With a smile so wide he almost appeared devious, he noticed Zhen caught up to him, running by his side. Even though her hair swayed in her face almost messily, he still found just what he was looking for, "So why did you jump off of the train, then, stupid?" The girl asked him, trying to not lock eyes.

Zhen didn't like to swear. Even if she did, it wasn't a very bad word. The worst words she could probably say would be 'hell' and 'dumbass'. Those are very rare pieces of her vocabulary.

Tilting his head at her while in motion, Ling smiled, tapping his forehead with his finger as he replied matter-of-factly, "To get you to chase me, of course!"

Innocently.

Her sprint slowed to a mere jog, and Ling sped forward. While she finally ceased to a bewildered standstill, she could hear Ling's laughter racing along with him on the winds,

"Woohoooo~ You're going to have to try better than that to catch me, Zhen!" He had turned his torso slightly to tease her before running away again. The Xingese girl held her hips, looking reprimanding, but she had no choice but to oblige to his childish demands.

He jumped out of a train just to get her to chase after him? Was he daft in the head or was it just his clever intention?

…

She chased after him, into the streets. It was almost like Rush Valley, when she was searching for him—although this time, there was much more suspicion stored deep within her. Suspicion conserved for this cunning, two-faced prince.

After all, who would go through all of that trouble and façade just to get a girl to chase after you? Was he just bored? What about all that ambition he claimed to have?

Even as she raced after him, Zhen began to notice the odd stares they received from people. Just exactly was the scene that was portrayed in their minds?

Was Zhen a woman chasing after Ling; a man who had stolen their purse?

Were the two oddly dressed individuals some kind of partners-in-crime fleeing the scene?

Or were they just two senile Xingese countrymen disrupting the general peace—at least, that was what Ling's laughter read as.

Her pace slowed down at the realization, but mostly because she was getting tired. Not only that, but Ling collapsed in the street in front of her. Thankfully, no Central civilian crowded around them.

Crouching down on her knees before him, she worriedly asked the fallen Ling, "What happened? Did your heart stop yet?"

"…No."

Her face flashed surprise, "Really? So what's wrong?"

"Hungry…"

After hearing his words, Zhen put on a small, sympathetic smile. She laughed, resting her hands on his shoulders in preparation to hoist him up, "I should have guessed."

With all her remaining strength she pulled the deadweight to his feet, allowing him to lean on her as she carried him along. Surprising to even her, although Zhen had to baby-sit the younger teenager, there wasn't any sign of disdain on her face.

Ling weakly chirped, "Thanks…!"

"I didn't say I was going to feed you," the expressionless Zhen commented.

"Aww…but if you don't then I…" She heard him swallow hard, like a gulp.

Feeling the slightest pity and sympathy, she chuckled humorlessly, looking embarrassed on the outside.

She thought he was rather cute, in all of his childish, irresponsible, royal glory.

But she decided that she needed to teach him a thing or two about the rules of life.

Rule of Life Number 1: Don't run around an unknown place on an empty stomach.

…

Just like all of those other times she'd watched him, Ling's gluttonous nature allowed him to wolf down the small amounts of food Zhen scrambled to buy him with what little Amestrian currency she had.

Sure it wasn't right to reward his childish behavior, but she had been a little hungry as well.

"Shouldn't you be calling your own bodyguards?" Zhen Ji asked, breaking the silence that had settled between them.

"I don't have to! You're here." Ling had replied honestly, smiling appreciatively at her.

A light pink dusted her cheeks but Zhen remained ignorant, looking away by using a bite of food as an excuse, "…But I'm not your bodyguard. Call me…hired help. There's no ounce of loyalty between us."

"But…you promised me, right? You can't break your promises."

Hazel eyes looked a little bigger than normal. The Xingese never break their promises. Perhaps the 'I'm not your bodyguard' comment was not the best excuse…

Zhen looked at him eating from her peripheral vision, "Well…still! I'm not…actually supposed to be watching over you this way. When you meant, 'needed my help', it doesn't mean baby-sitting!"

Ling kept his smiling face on, with the harmless squinty eyes and everything, "It's not babysitting! It's spending time together."

She almost spat out the food she just started chewing, but that would be un-ladylike. With eyes as wide as saucers, the girl struggled to swallow, beating her chest whilst hearing his words. After she took a gasp for breath and Ling was wondering whether or not she was choking, Zhen repeated, "'Spending time together…! So the whole jumping off of the train thing was—"

Before Zhen could continue her sentence, ear-piercing whistles blew, and the two seated Xingese both looked towards the noise.

It was a duo of soldiers, both bearing arms as they rushed towards them.

"Wait right there, foreigners!"

"Don't move!"

Zhen, being the more sensible of the two, recognized the immediate threat. She quickly slipped her hand under her skirt (Secretly hoping Ling didn't notice) and found that she was missing something. The girl thrust her other hand at Ling, trying to gather his attention,

"Ling! Do you have your entry visa?"

"An entry what…?"

The girl face palmed, standing up from her seat and having a sense of urgency in her voice as she voiced, "Let's get out of here!"

"W-wait what?" The prince had stuttered, still holding onto his fork and knife.

Zhen grabbed his only free hand, "I don't have an entry visa either, so unless you want to get stuck in jail, let's run!"

"Run? But there's food here!"

"Stupid! If you didn't know, there's terrible food in prison!"

"But—!"

She didn't have time to argue with his meaningless complaints. Zhen tightened her grip on Ling's hand, being sure to slap some money on their table before she began to lug him along with her towards an alleyway.

"You don't have an entry visa? Why not?" Ling managed to slip in a question between breaths.

She couldn't answer him truthfully; at least not yet. Zhen decided to tell him half of the truth, "I was in a hurry leaving from Xing—"

"Don't run! Or we'll shoot!" One of the officers raised his handgun.

"You idiot; don't shoot at them!" The other slapped his friend's hand.

The impact of the slap on his hand caused the rookie officer's finger to slip, and the trigger was pulled. The few bullets that were actually fired shook fear into the common people around, and they began shouting. Though the bullets that were actually fired landed on someone.

"Ouch—!"

Zhen quickly craned her neck behind her; alarmed by not only the cry of pain, but of Ling's stumbled movements. Her eyesight, which was trained to notice anything out of the ordinary, immediately found the red blotch on one of Ling's thighs.

Despite her acquaintance's injury, Zhen hurried further into the alleyway; taking advantage of the flustered citizens and bickering officers.

Rule of Life Number 2: (Applies to foreigners) Don't enter a foreign country without an entry visa.

…

Zhen poked her head around the corner of the alleyway, peering into a maze of them. They were all empty; that meant no one was following them at the moment.

She wiped her hands together, sighing as she strolled to the seated Ling. He was seated on one propped knee; the other leg showed bleeding through the fabric of his pants. She paused for a moment, contemplating.

Her original mission was to extinguish him, by command of her own Prince; whom of which had grown suspicious of Ling Yao's hasty trip to Amestris. She was sent to keep an eye on him, and if she deemed his quest threatening to their own cause: dispose of him.

Now would have been the best time to fulfill that request. He was wounded and she seemed to be witness to his off guard side.

Or was he always this translucent?

"Urgh…"

His cry of pain pulled Zhen back into reality, and she found her body moving to assist him. She had pulled the cloth around the stained section apart a little bit to get a better look at his injury. Zhen's hazel eyes examined the wound carefully, trying to see if she could find the fired bullet manually.

"Is it okay? Am I going to get infected?" Ling had suddenly spoken up, locking a gaze with her.

Zhen lifted her head to meet that gaze, but after a few seconds quickly glanced back down, "It's not that bad. Even if it was, it wouldn't be a problem," her hands drifted under her skirt, looking like rummaging.

Ling suddenly got red in the face, "W-wait, what are you doing!"

His flustered tone quieted down once he saw her reveal a quintuple of kunai knives. Ling realized what she was.

"You're an alkahestrist?"

She stayed focused on her own work, emotionally putting aside her duty to take care of Ling. Zhen placed the knives in the five points of a star, and quickly drew the shape, connecting the blades together.

"I'm not a master, but I know enough."

She pressed her hands to the ground, the outline of her drawing glowing in a blue light. As she felt the chi flow through her palms and through her fingers, she closed her eyes; mentally instructing the flow of the earth towards Ling's wound.

Before his own eyes, Ling watched the gash on his thigh mend closed.

Once the light subsided, Zhen remained seated, studying her work. She didn't get a very good look at it though, as the Xingese boy launched upward, jumping on the recently healed leg.

He looked too content. She was a little creeped out. "Wait, Ling, I don't think you should be doing that…"

"This is amazing! That felt weird but who cares! Just when I thought I was going to die!" He laughed hysterically, exaggerating and waving his hands around his head in sheer glee. Caught within the moment of his laughter, Zhen failed to pick up on the sounds of footsteps gathering around them.

"Hold it right there. You two are under arrest for fleeing from an officer."

The two Xingese immediately lost color on their faces as they glanced around to find a whole squadron cornering them.

Being the tactical, experienced retainer she was, Zhen promptly began configuring some way to escape the soldiers without having to obey their commands. Ling's sudden hand against her own stopped her train of thought.

"Hold on. Don't make any drastic movements. I've got this," he had stated, stone-faced and serious.

Zhen looked at him, mouth open, "Huh?"

She watched Ling take a few steps toward two of the soldiers, hands by his side. The officers immediately focused on him. Zhen thought, thought very quickly. Was he making a distraction? A decoy?

Slowly Ling's arms rose, and all eyes were on him. Some officers tensed up, and Zhen thought he was going to attack them.

"We surrender!"

Rule of Life Number 3: Don't get caught by the cops.

…

The bars slid in front of them, and as the soldier trudged away, Zhen immediately pressed her face sorrowfully against the cold steel. She wanted to whine, to complain, but Ling was doing enough of it for the both of them.

"I can't believe you just surrendered like that…" the girl muttered, almost zombie-like.

Ling was lying on the single bed given to them, arms crossed beneath his hand. He stopped complaining, finally, "I don't want to have to run around Amestris as a fugitive~!"

Zhen turned her body towards him, looking visually angry for once, "Don't be so lazy. You are physically trained, right? What happened to the Ling I chased around Central all afternoon?"

He laid on his side, smiling at her, "Exactly! I got tired after all of that running, and all of that food I ate didn't help either."

Her wide eyes looked apathetic and defeated, "…Do you have any idea how long they're going to keep us here? What about your mission?"

"Ummm, I'll fix it; don't worry," he mused, fiddling with the twin silver bracelets the officials locked on him.

Zhen drew away from Ling, instead finding a more appealing view through the bars before her. She hung one of her hands loose through it, fingers faithlessly attempting to stretch towards the lock with sloth-like movements.

"All right scum: LIGHTS OUT!"

She heard a few groans coming from the other cells, though she couldn't see them since they were placed so far apart. The lights overhead dimmed out. Zhen listened to the buzzing silence as she stared out into the dark hallways. Some snores squirmed their way through, though.

Zhen turned her torso around to see Ling sprawled out on the only bed. He seemed to share the same thought she did.

"So where are you going to sleep, Zhen?" He inquired, as if he had not a clue himself.

The girl dragged her flats forward, staring at Ling and then glancing at the ground. After a few moments, she fell to the ground, without any form of complaint.

Ling though, sounded flustered as he threw his legs over the bunk bed, "W-wait, you can't sleep down there!"

She had already lain down on her side, her back facing him. His statement yearned for her to look at him, though, "…Well, where else am I going to sleep, Ling? It's not a problem, don't worry!" She smiled a very small, strained smile. Ling watched, gaping as she showed him her back again.

Zhen thought she was finally falling asleep until Ling proposed, "You can sleep up here with me."

Ignoring her hot face and her flabbergasted expression, Zhen denied him, "It's okay. Don't worry about it. The floor is warm."

"No! Come up here, Zhen."

"It's fine."

"No! Get up here!"

"I said it's fine!"

"Zhen, come here and sleep with me right now."

"…"

"…Okay, that was weird. Look, I'll sleep on the floor! Just come sleep on the bed, alright?" He sounded like he was begging.

Zhen craned her neck at him, finding that he was leaning over the bed, with those same squinty eyes. What was new was that his eyebrows drooped and he had a frown painted on his dimly lit face.

For a few seconds they stared at one another until Zhen cooperated, "…You don't mind sleeping on the floor?"

"No, I really don't Zhen."

"You won't complain to me in the morning about your sore back?"

An almost sly-looking smile crept on his face. He shoved his hand against his chest dramatically, "I promise!"

After a response and gesture like that, how could she refuse him? Especially since he seemed determined to get her to sleep on the bed, though she was unsure of whether or not she cared if he slept with her.

Once she stood up, Ling did as well, and he dropped to the floor. Zhen watched him silently before sitting on the bed, watching Ling get into a comfortable position before lying down against the bed frame. Even though she felt like something was wrong about letting royalty sleep on the floor, she was able to close her eyes.

"Sweet dreams, Zhen."

"…Um…good night, Ling."

Rule of Life Number 4: Always be a gentleman.

.

.

.

Zhen felt the bunk bed creak and squeak, erupting within her ears and stirring her awake. She didn't move, but she forced herself to stare into the corner of her eyes.

There wasn't a need to see; his whisper in her ear was enough of an answer.

"You lied; it was cold down there."

His low voice, dripping with gentleness and sweet as it snaked into her ear.

He was hugging her, her form small in comparison to his. And he was right; his whole body felt cold.

Fortunately for him, her warm body mysteriously turned hot, and he felt even more comfortable snuggling with her than hanging out with the floor.

Staring wide into the white of the pillow, her eyes finally closed.

"You really are conniving, aren't you?"

Well…

At least he followed one of the rules.

Halfway.

.

.

.

[1] – In the manga, when Edward questions Ling's age and height, he goes into a rage and calls Ling ugly. So what happens when Ling actually takes it to heart?

A/N: If Ling seemed a little OOC it's because I see him as being two-faced; one point he's goofy and playful, and the other he's ambitious and serious. You can see I have painted his bubbly side for this chapter. (I also made him a little cunning: yes! He did all of that on PURPOSE! Most of it.)

I'm really sorry if it was cheesy or something. I don't really write stuff like this, especially original scenes. But tell me if you liked it and if you're fine with my portrayal of Ling this way.

Thanks for reading and review!

Again, consider this an early New Year's gift, and don't expect an update this weekend. Or soon...for that matter.