Chapter Twenty-Two: Sacrifice

Shinobu sat in a dark corner of Korovin lab, holding himself and willing his breaths to quiet themselves. Although he was invisible, his heart was pounding in his chest so loudly he was sure he was a sitting duck. He knew he could run and get out of here before it was too late, but he was so shaken his legs wouldn't let him.

Miyagi had lied to him. The one and only person he trusted in this terrible world had betrayed him and led him back into his captor's hands.

Two tears leaked out of the boy's eyes and splattered onto the ground, and Shinobu waited in silence, resigned to his fate. Korovin would find him eventually and turn him into a brainwashed robot, and at the moment Shinobu didn't care if he did.

Because without Miyagi, life wasn't worth living.

"AHH!"

Shinobu jumped as he heard a cry of pain from the other side of the room. Frightened but curious, the boy crawled on his hands and knees across the floor until he had a view of the doctor. And what he saw chilled him right down to his bones: Miyagi cuffed to a steel slab, writhing in pain as Korovin's scalpel cut deeply into his flesh, drawing rivets of blood and revealing his insides. The sight of the blood made Shinobu gag and he had to resist vomiting with all his strength as it triggered flashbacks of his own torture.

But this time was different. It wasn't him tied to that table, screaming and shaking.

It was Miyagi. And Shinobu continued to watch in horror as Korovin stabbed Miyagi yet again, dragging the knife at an agonizingly slow pace down his side.

Miyagi gritted his teeth as he felt the knife slice his skin again, but he wasn't able to stifle his cry. Somehow the fact that he couldn't see was just triggering more pain and panic, and he got no reprieve even when the knife was taken out. Sweat beaded on his forehead and dripped down to mingle with the blood of his agony as the blind man hunched over, panting heavily.

Korovin chuckled at the sight of a full grown man reduced by a few well placed cuts, though he knew that Miyagi was in far greater pain than he should be. While he had been unconscious, Korovin had injected him with a reverse pain killer, making his nerves extremely sensitive. It was one of the doctor's finer methods of torture, and he watched in delight as Miyagi writhed.

And now that he was weakened, it was time to make things a little more interesting.

"Gamma, let's make a deal," Korovin said, removing the scalpel from Miyagi's side. "Call out to Epsilon, and maybe I'll kill you quickly."

"What?" Miyagi scoffed, trying to ignore his burning body. "For a 'doctor' you're not that intelligent Korovin. Anyone with a hint of sense would have run away from this place long ago and Shinobu's no fool. I'd be wasting my breath calling for him."

"Ah, but he's a fool for you Gamma." Korovin replied astutely. "I know exactly what kind of relationship you have, and that little shit would jump off a cliff if you told him to. Now, call him to you."

"I'd rather die."

"And so you shall," Korovin said impatiently. "But first I'm going to put you through such pain and agony you'll wish you were dead long before I'm done. I think I'll start by cutting off all your fingers…"

"NO!"

Both Korovin and Miyagi started at the cry and the doctor turned in satisfaction to see Shinobu emerge from a corner of the room, fully visible. At the sight of the boy, Korovin couldn't help but smile. He knew that Epsilon would come to him eventually if he threatened Gamma enough, and now he had his toy back in his claws, never to escape again. The sheer thrill of that fact sent tremors down the doctor's normally steady hands, and he licked his lips in anticipation.

Shinobu, meanwhile only had eyes for Miyagi, and what he had seen and heard had stirred something inside him. Miyagi may have led him here, but even now was trying to protect him with his own life at stake.

Miyagi still loved him. And that single fact gave Shinobu a feeling he hadn't had in a long time: bravery.

Even through the pain, Miyagi strained against his bonds at the sound of his lover's voice.

"Shinobu! What are you doing?! Get out of here!"

But the boy only gritted his teeth in indignant anger as he saw Miyagi's streaming wounds and the sharp crease in his brow caused by the pain. It made him angrier than he had ever felt.

"No one," he murmured.

"What was that poppet?" Korovin said with a gleam in his robotic eye.

"No one…hurts Miyagi."

But Korovin only laughed.

"Oh darling, your strings haven't been held in some time. I think it's time I showed you who you belong to again, and I'll do it in front of your beloved Gamma."

The doctor stepped forward, shedding his lab coat and brandishing his scalpel. Surprisingly Shinobu didn't shy away, but stood his ground, though his body had begun to shake furiously.

Korovin wondered at the sight, but stop in his tracks as Shinobu spoke again.

"I told you…no one hurts Miyagi!"

The boy's words were unthreatening, but the voice he said it in sounded like it came out of a great beast. And Korovin's eyes widened in awe as Shinobu's human form began to change, shifting and wobbling like an apparition. His jumpsuit ripped away as his form grew, long golden hair sprouting from his skin.

Furious growls came from the boy's mouth as his spine bent and shifted forward, putting Shinobu on his hand and knees as they morphed into giant paws. Korovin dropped his scalpel and his lip lightly trembled as the transformation completed itself. Before him stood a great beast, greater than any on earth.

Before him was a creature with the front of a lion, but a thick scaled tail and hind legs of a dragon. It was a chimera.

The beast opened its massive jaws and gave a fearsome roar just as Korovin fell to his knees, awestruck at the sight before him. And despite the creature's fearsome size, it leapt forward in a single second, its jaws closing around Korovin's neck and ripping the head off. But even though the doctor was instantly killed, the chimera refused to stop, and his claws and teeth raked the body until it was reduced to strips of meat.

The creature looked at the body for several minutes before the blood thirsty glow in its eyes dimmed, and the boy inside the creature came back

"Miyagi!" It cried in a growly voice, bounding over to Gamma. With a few careful bites, Miyagi fell free of his bonds and landed on the blood-soaked floor, panting heavily from the carnage he had just heard. And as he felt a furry head nuzzle him, he hesitantly spoke.

"Bu-chin?"

"Miyagi," Shinobu replied with a soft growl. "Are you okay?"

"I think I'm okay…Bu-chin are you…are you a lion?"

"A chimera actually," the boy replied proudly. At this, Miyagi sighed contentedly.

"See? I knew you could do it. You faced your fear and you…won."

"Miyagi? Miyagi!" Shinobu cried as his lover slumped. Seeing all the blood pooling under his paws, Shinobu knew he didn't stand a chance without medical help. So he backed away from Miyagi and concentrated, focusing on the newly found fountain of power uncovered by his earlier rage. His golden hair shortened, his scales disappeared, and wings sprouted at his sides as he morphed into a golden Pegasus.

Shinobu clopped back over to Miyagi and gently nudged him with his muzzle.

"Come on Miyagi." He said, barely able to keep the tears out of his voice. "I'll get you to Beta. He'll fix you up."

With a heavy breath and Shinobu's help, Miyagi was amount to mount the Pegasus. He rested his head against the long, thick neck, his breath coming in smaller gasps as Korovin's injection began to wear off.

"Hold on tight, Miyagi!" Shinobu neighed.

After that command, pain was the last thing on Miyagi's mind as Shinobu began to canter, racing out of the lab and down the halls. And as soon as they reached the outside, Shinobu spread his wings in flight, soaring high above the lab to safety.

"Nowaki! GET DOWN!" Hiroki yelled as he saw a grenade fly over his head and land on the ground. The two scrambled to get away from the blast, only to have enemy gunfire rain down on their backs. Alpha had been right to put them as a diversion, as it seemed like they had attracted the entire attention of the base. Helicopters were encircling them, and they were under heavy gunfire from foot soldiers bent on capturing them.

Hiroki backed himself against a shielding boulder, tossing yet another empty gun away. They were running out of ammo and fast. Nowaki had long used up all his boulders and Hiroki only had a semi-automatic, two clips, and three grenades left. At the rate of the advancing soldiers, they would be taken.

Hiroki cast a lingering glance at Nowaki and gritted his teeth. No way was he going down without a fight. But how could he make a big enough bang to send the FMA retreating?

Suddenly a thought came into his head, and Hiroki shook it. No. That would be crazy! He'd get himself killed!

But as he looked at Nowaki again, Hiroki's brow creased. This wasn't about revenge anymore, it was about protecting the one he loved, and Hiroki knew in his heart that he would do anything for Nowaki…even if it meant the ultimate sacrifice.

"Hiro-san, I think we should fall back." Nowaki panted, taking a quick peek around the boulder. "Maybe we can hide in the mountain cliffs—Hiro-san?"

But Hiroki didn't reply as he threw the gun over his shoulder and grabbed the grenades. He then stood before Nowaki. The giant's eyes widened as Hiroki grabbed his shoulder and pressed his lips fervently against Nowaki's mouth.

"I love you," he murmured before turning and running between the boulders into the enemy fire.

"Hiro-san! No!" Nowaki yelled as Hiroki ran straight towards the oncoming soldiers, his own gun taking down targets with amazing accuracy. As Hiroki was spotted, two helicopters flew down, sharp shooters poised and ready to take him down.

But no one, not even Nowaki, was prepared for what they saw next.

Once he got deep into enemy territory, Hiroki tossed the gun aside and doubled over, clutching the grenades to his chest as flames began to rise from his skin. Soon his body was engulfed in fire, and his auburn hair blazed as he ran in range of the two choppers, pulling the pins from each of the three grenades.

BOOM!

Nowaki tottered on his feet as an earth-shattering explosion cut through the air, and as the smoke cleared, he looked upon the scene in horror.

The two helicopters had been hit dead on with Hiroki's blazing grenades, doubling their explosion power and send them crashing into each other and spiraling out of control. They had hit a section of the foot soldiers as they smashed into the ground, sending the rest into retreat. But even though it seemed he was safe for now, all of Nowaki's thoughts were on his lover, and headless of his own safety, he bounded across the field to the wreck, his mind in a panic as he yelled.

"HIRO-SAN!"

More to come soon. If you guys haven't noticed I've been on a freaking roll with this story, so I'm toying with the idea of just finishing it, then getting back to the others.

This chapter is dedicated to my cyber seme Cerberus Revised, for letting me use her dastardly Korovin. I took great pleasure in killing him off :)

Keira Kinover-Mar, Artemis Fortune, Daniel Lazerus, KiyameHikari-chan- thank you guys for taking the time to review! ^.^ It really inspired me.

More Egoist and then we're back to Misaki! Stay tuned.

TBF101