Prompt 176 || Arrogance || "The Price He Pays"
Title: The Price He Pays
Author: evil_little_dog
Series: Manga/Brotherhood
Word Count: 270
Rating: Teenish
Characters/Pairings: Ling+/Ran Fan
Summary: Ling has time to reflect after capturing Gluttony.
Warnings: Angst.
Disclaimer: Arakawa absolutely owns all.
fma_fic_contest prompt: Arrogance
Notes: Thanks to cornerofmadness for her edits.
X X X
Sitting outside the room of the ramshackle house where his servant lay bleeding, Ling cursed the day he had decided to come to Amestris. What arrogance he’d had, believing that he could find the Philosopher’s Stone and return to Xing without paying any price. And look at the fortune he’d paid. Shedding his own blood would’ve meant nothing to him, but Ran Fan’s blood, her flesh and bones, her entire arm missing - that was a price beyond any that he had expected to pay.
Upon his arrival in Rush Valley, he’d learned there would be a cost for Amestrian alchemy. The Elric brothers provided proof of that, with Ed’s metal arm and leg and the hollow suit of armor that housed Alphonse’s soul. Ed’s explanation had been sketchy at best, but Ling recognized the arrogance in their attempt to raise the dead as a similar emotion that had pushed him into attacking the homunculus. With the intensive training both Ran Fan and he had gone through to protect themselves, and specifically, for Ran Fan to shield him, Ling had never thought either of them would be harmed. The Amestrian Fuhrer proved to be a being beyond any that Ling had ever encountered before, and Ran Fan was the one who paid the price for that encounter.
“Hold that light steady! Girl, you have to stay still!” the doctor shouted from that inner room.
The sound of Ran Fan’s cries cut into his soul. Gritting his teeth, Ling vowed that somehow, he would find a way to make it up to her, even if it was more arrogance on his part.
X X X
Author: evil_little_dog
Series: Manga/Brotherhood
Word Count: 270
Rating: Teenish
Characters/Pairings: Ling+/Ran Fan
Summary: Ling has time to reflect after capturing Gluttony.
Warnings: Angst.
Disclaimer: Arakawa absolutely owns all.
fma_fic_contest prompt: Arrogance
Notes: Thanks to cornerofmadness for her edits.
X X X
Sitting outside the room of the ramshackle house where his servant lay bleeding, Ling cursed the day he had decided to come to Amestris. What arrogance he’d had, believing that he could find the Philosopher’s Stone and return to Xing without paying any price. And look at the fortune he’d paid. Shedding his own blood would’ve meant nothing to him, but Ran Fan’s blood, her flesh and bones, her entire arm missing - that was a price beyond any that he had expected to pay.
Upon his arrival in Rush Valley, he’d learned there would be a cost for Amestrian alchemy. The Elric brothers provided proof of that, with Ed’s metal arm and leg and the hollow suit of armor that housed Alphonse’s soul. Ed’s explanation had been sketchy at best, but Ling recognized the arrogance in their attempt to raise the dead as a similar emotion that had pushed him into attacking the homunculus. With the intensive training both Ran Fan and he had gone through to protect themselves, and specifically, for Ran Fan to shield him, Ling had never thought either of them would be harmed. The Amestrian Fuhrer proved to be a being beyond any that Ling had ever encountered before, and Ran Fan was the one who paid the price for that encounter.
“Hold that light steady! Girl, you have to stay still!” the doctor shouted from that inner room.
The sound of Ran Fan’s cries cut into his soul. Gritting his teeth, Ling vowed that somehow, he would find a way to make it up to her, even if it was more arrogance on his part.
X X X