Part 7
Lan Fan dug the kunai into her flesh, cutting right through her bone and slicing her entire arm off.
It fell to the ground with a huge splash of blood.
Ling, slowly and gently, lowered her to the ground.
Using my water alchemy, I created some ice that I covered the wound with to stop the bleeding.
"That can only stay on for 5 minutes at a time, other wise she'll get frost bitten. We need something to tie over the wound."
Ling threw his yellow shirt off and tied it around Lan Fan's stump.
"What do we do now?"
Lan Fan struggled to speak. "Use… the arm…"
I looked back at her removed limb and found a stray dog sniffing at it.
"Use it… to throw him… off… our trail."
"What does she mean?"
"The blood trail; the left over blood in the arm will make a trail that follows the dog. Then, King Bradly will follow the dog, not us."
Ling and I rushed over to the dog.
Ling held him down while I tied the arm around his body, quietly apologizing to the poor creature.
Once the dog ran away, Ling looked around and saw a manhole. "To the sewers."
I blew the cover off with some steam pressure.
Ling jumped down first and I ease Lan Fan to him before jumping down myself.
Ling turned back to me and said, "Time for us to split up. You take Lan Fan. Look after her."
"And what are you gonna do?"
Anger filled his face and eyes. "I'm going to catch me a homunculous."
He took off down the sewers.
I let Lan Fan lean against me as we struggled down the sewers.
"… I… beat you… How does it feel to be tricked?... You loose this round…"
"Try not to speak."
I took at look and the frozen over stump and released the ice from it, causing the blood to spill faster.
Lan Fan, suddenly, clutched at my shirt.
"You're gonna be okay."
"… This… is the man… that you have… turned down…."
"What?"
"… You think… that…, because you were… being forced into marriage,… that… he's just a… spoiled brat…. Would…. A spoiled brat…. carry dead weight with him…. And refuse to give it up? Would he?"
I didn't answer her.
She was right; only a king, loyal man would be prepared to sacrifice his life for his country and his people.
But… he wasn't sacrificing anything for me.
So which one of us was right? Me or Lan Fan?
Was ling the man she saw… or the man that I saw?
…
After wandering around the sewers for a while, Ling found us again and lead us to an exit.
A blond woman with glasses was waiting with her car.
And, in the back seat, was the fat homunculous, tied up in strong cable.
I help Lan Fan into the vehicle and the woman sped off, saying that she was taking us to a safe place.
We ended up in the country, far from town.
There was a little, run down cabin waiting for us.
We helped Lan Fan into the only bed. I, immediately, wet a rag and put it on her feverish forehead.
I refused to move from her side, icing the stump on and off.
After sun down, the Elric brothers arrived with two men, one with glasses, the other wearing a blue military uniform.
The man with the glasses pushed me out of the way and took a look at Lan Fan. Apparently, he did autospy for the military, so he was the closest thing we had to a doctor.
The moment he got his hands on Lan Fan, she started screaming and moaning and, even though they were muffled by the rag in her mouth, they still cut through the air, driving us all crazy.
And Ling was the worst among us.
I put my hand on his shoulder, trying to, silently, comfort him.
Suddenly, he grabbed my wrist, squeezing it tightly, as if squeezing my arm would make everything better.
I couldn't feel my hand, but I let him squeeze.
…
Once the doctor was done, Lan Fan fell asleep, only regaining consciousness slightly, once and a while.
The man in the military uniform came up to me and Ling and stuck his hand out.
"I'm with the State Military. Name's Colonel Roy Mustang."
Ling stood up and bowed before shaking the man's hand, introducing himself.
The Colonel turned to me and said, "And you must be Kai Ying. The Elrics have told me all about you."
I stood up and shook his hand, a little shocked that he knew about me.
"They say that you're fluent in Water Healing Alkehistory and want to learn more Alchemy."
"Yes, sir."
"Well, considering all that you've done, I supposed I can pull a few strings and see if I can get permission to let you take the Exam. If you impress us, you could become a State Alchemist."
I did my best to hold back my excitement. Everything I had worked for was now being offered to me.
But, then, I remembered that the leader of the State Military was trying to kill me just earlier that day.
"Let's figure out what's going on with these homunculi before we start on a new project."
"Good idea."
I could feel Ling's questioning eyes on me.
But, before we could talk we started talking about Gluttony.
Ling gave everyone the news about their King being a homunculous and there was a huge debate on what was going to happen with the Philosophers Stone that was inside Gluttony. Ling wanted it for immortality, the Colonel want it to heal a friend of his and Ed wanted it to get his and Alphonses bodies back.
Right when the argument was at it's peak, trouble hit.
Gluttony started growing and expanding.
He rolled to his feet and screamed, "DIE MUSTANG!"
That's when his stomach split in half, creating a mouth with a huge eye in it.
The sight was grotesque and frightening.
Before we knew it, this thing had blown a whole in wall, sucking up anything in its path.
While everyone ran out of the cabin, Ling and I went to Lan Fan and helped her from the bed.
The doctor grabbed the car and told us to get in.
While we were struggling towards the car, we felt something inhuman, watching us from the bushes. But when we looked, nothing was there.
"Come on, we haven't got all night! We need to get moving!"
"But Ed and the others!"
"No way! I'm a civilian, not military! I'm not about to die in the middle of a battle with come crazed monster!... Damn it! What's taking those idiots so long?"
The others came soon enough, and the Colonel was weak from a wound he received not long ago in a fight with another homunculous.
We helped him and Lan Fan in to the car and the female Lieutenant sat beside Lan Fan.
When the doctor told the rest of us to get in, The Elrics and Ling all agreed to stay and take care of the monster.
As the Lieutenant gave Ed a gun for protection, Ling turned to me and said, "Get in the car."
"How many times do we have to go through this? You don't tell me what to do. I'm staying and fighting."
Ling took my face in his hands and looked me straight in the eye. "Don't be a fool; I'm not letting you fight because I think I'm the boss of you. I'm doing because you can't die. Not here. Not yet. You have so much more to do. You're more than a wife for the emperor. You are a bright, beautiful young lady and you have a chance to be an Alchemist. Don't throw away everything you've worked for. Seize your chance and don't die. Besides, one of us has to survive… for the sake of Xing."
I didn't know what to say.
I was shocked and on the verge of… crying.
He had never said such things to me. He was actually treating me like I was human.
He crashed his lips onto my, kissing me with all his might.
He was kissing me like we would never kiss again. And it frightened me.
Once he was done, he pressed his forehead to mine and whispered, "Forgive me."
He pushed me into the car and closed the door behind me.
The doors locked and the car sped off before I had a chance to move.
I watched Ling as we sped away.
'What does that mean? Why do I feel like I'll never see him again? Why am I so scared?'
