chapter 9

You stand, arm-blade held out in front of you. The man who you stabbed snarls and flicks his knife.

"You've gone too far, (Y/N) (L/N), Metal Alchemist." The man says.

You growl back. "And so have you, targeting a girl like me."

The people behind the man all draw their weapons, and fear settles in the pit of your stomach.

The muscly man had a sword, shining in the firelight. The doctor held a scalpel, as expected from a doctor. The women both had guns, a sniper and a handgun. Why she had a sniper for such short distances, you didn't know.

The man in front of you suddenly lunges at you, and you dodge, only to hear gunshots whiz past your ear to hit the wall behind you. The big, muscled man swings his sword at you, and you duck and spin around, only to be grazed in the cheek by the man who had tried to kill you. You suddenly realize that you had forgotten about your own weapon.

Swinging your automail arm at the blond-haired man's legs, you jump up and move around quickly, trying not to become a target to the guns. The man who held you dodges your swing and you slide sideways, a bullet just barely missing your arm. Taking your moment of distraction, the blond person takes his knife and cuts your shoulder deeply. You scream in pain and scramble away.

The doctor was right in front of you. He raises his scalpel and aims for your leg, but you use your arm and deflect his hit. He aims again for your right arm, but you deflect it again. A gunshot rings the air and a huge pain explodes in your leg and you collapse, gritting your teeth but keeping your guard up as the doctor continues on defense. You bring your right hand down for an uppercut and follows through as hard as you can, only to see a blade slash down through your already injured right shoulder.

Your fists clench and your toes curl as the doctor falls unconscious in front of you. Blood spurts from your shoulder and stars appear in your vision. The blade in your shoulder withdraws and you turn around, taking advantage of your blood and wrecking the ground beneath you, causing the muscled man who sliced your shoulder to lose his balance and fall.

The women shoot at you, but you create a wall to block the shots from coming at you. Clapping your hands, you create a thick wall around the muscled man and turn your attention to the women.

Their eyes were aflame and both held their guns up dangerously. Your eye flits to the blond man who appeared to be attempting to sneak up on you. The wall around the muscled man quivers as he hits it but doesn't give in.

The womens' eyes turn to the man behind you, but goes back on you, as if trying to hide his existence. You begin to feel lightheaded.

Suddenly lashing out to the man behind you with your arm, you stab him in the leg, resist the urge to gag to the sound as you pull out your blade. The women shoot and one misses while the other bullet skims your arm, still scraping you. The man who you stabbed plunges his knife through the right side of your abdomen from the front, and you scream, flailing your arms. You punch the man hard in the temple and he goes unconscious, fist loosening from the blade's handle.

The women adjust their positions and you fall forwards, suddenly finding it hard to breathe. You use your alchemy to create a huge chunk of the ground to hit the women, and they scrape away at the ground. Your hands fly to your chest, and you lie on the ground, each breath sending a shooting pain through your abdomen.

"We'll let you go for now, since you're a candidate for us." A familiar, masculine voice says, "But if you don't come back here in within a week, you'll be found dead in your bed on the eighth day."

Lightheaded, dizzy, vision dimming, and the fact that everything hurt, especially your stomach, leg, arm, shoulder, and face made you want to just lie down and go to sleep. You use your last bit of strength to cause the entire ceiling to fall but creating a small room for yourself to stay in. Your pained breaths slow and your eyes blur out, and you finally black out.

~

[November 19, 1917]

You open your eyes to complete darkness. The tangy smell of blood pierces your nose and leaves you lightheaded. The warm, sticky feeling of blood was all over you, and you try not to gag.

You try to sit up, but pain shoots through your entire body. You groan and push yourself up with your arms.

You realize you're still in the place where you trapped yourself.

You feel for a wall around you, and when you don't, you scoot around with your right leg, the leg that didn't hurt as much. You raise your left arm since your right arm wouldn't budge, no matter how much you tried. When you finally feel a wall, you grab on to a ledge in the wall and pull yourself to your feet. No, foot.

As soon as you stand, your left leg collapses without permission, sending pain through your body. You hiss and support yourself with your other leg. Your abdomen suddenly started hurting so bad you fell to your knees. You realize your right arm was still bandaged.

Using the blood on your right hand, you clap your left arm to your right arm lightly, trying not to budge your pulsing shoulder, and explode the wall. It's still dark, but you feel the rush of cold, new air in, and you know it's the hallway. Grabbing onto the wall again, you pull yourself up and start hopping forwards, each step seemingly sending a knife through your abdomen, shoulder, leg, arm, and face. You grit your teeth.

Your eyes try to adjust to the darkness, but there was no light whatsoever to comfort you. The darkness seems to press at you from all sides, and you start to feel trapped.

Suddenly, your right foot hits something and you fall forwards, braking your fall with your left metal arm. You were at the stairs. The imbalance sends you toppling towards the right, and you fall, something jabbing through the hurting side of your stomach. The pain was immeasurable, and you scream, blinking tears away frantically.

You lie, gasping, on the stairs, the weakness of your limbs making you want to just give up. You roll yourself onto your left side and start dragging yourself up the stairs, each step sending a shock through your hurting body. After many steps, something clicks and suddenly, a light floods the hallway. You see the mechanic shop up a few steps. You set your mind and start dragging yourself up.

You hear two pairs of footsteps and commanding voices. A large, humanoid shadow blocks the light. You couldn't see his face due to the shadow but he gasps, and you recognize the voice in relief.

"Ed..." You croak painfully.

"(Y/N)! What happened!?"

Ed rushes down the two steps, and you see his beautiful golden eyes run up and down your bloody body. You smile weakly.

His eyes land on your burning abdomen, and his eyes widen. You blink, confused. "What's wrong?"

"Who... Who did this to you?"

You attempt to shake your head. "That's not what matters right now. Please, get me out of here."

Ed inhales deeply and exhales, trying to calm himself. "Okay, but first, we need to get that knife out of your stomach."