The Girl From Ishval

Near Death

One of few remaining Ishvalans grabbed her up, covering her mouth so no one would hear her screams, which could draw back the state alchemist. 

Ula cried, screams of pain leaving her small body as she wept. The Ishvalan carried her where they knew they could be safe. The man carrying her began yelling, begging for help. Ula didn't know what he was screaming though. His words were muffled, and she no longer cried in pain. 

Her vision blurred, and it changed from a blob of what she knew was a fellow Ishvalan to a woman. Her blurred vision wouldn't allow her to male out details other than pale skin, blonde hair, and what she assumed was blue eyes, but to her it just looked like two blue blobs on this lady's face. 

She could hear her voice, but, just like the man, she couldn't make out her words. She was taken away from the others in the room, which had grown quiet once the man brought her in. 

Soon enough, Ula felt the pain at her shoulder again, screaming. Someone else she didn't even bother to try and make out ran over to assist, keeping her down. Ula cried, and she kept crying until the pain stopped. 

When it did she slowly opened her eyes, finally able to make out the details of people's faces again. The first thing she saw was the woman's smile. She had blonde hair, pulled back out of her face and blue eyes. She noticed another person, a man looking identical almost. His hair was short, but it was blonde like the woman's, and he, too had blue eyes. 

Ula smiled back at them, unafraid of the two as some other Ishvalan children had been. "Did you help them?" Ula asked, pointing over at other injured people, either laying down or sitting on a makeshift "bed" (which was really just thin blankets to lay on and a blanket to cover up.) 

"Yes, we did," the woman answered, patting Ula on the head. Ula smiled again, reaching up to hold the nice woman's hand, but her left hand didn't seem to obey. Ula frowned. She looked down at her bandages, and followed them to where her left arm should be. 

She began to shake. When she had woken up she had hoped all of that pain from before was a terrible dream. 

But it wasn't. It was real... Ula looked down, curling up. She laid her head on her knees. It wasn't until minutes later than she realized her other injuries. She had bandages wrapped around her abdomen from burns caused from the explosion. She also had these burns on her right arm, starting at the shoulder and going all the way down to her hand. 

The burn on her shoulder also went to the right side of her chest, and the right side of her neck. It finally led up to her right cheek, stopping before it reached her nose. 

The doctors who helped her allowed her to stay with them, telling her they would bring her with them when they went home, having been told of her father's death. But they'd only do so if she wanted to. Of course, Ula accepted. While her father was friends with many other Ishvalans, she was never close to them herself. This led her to want to be with these people. They just saved her life, and that was enough for her to want to stay with them. 

The woman was Sarah Rockbell, and her husband, the other doctor, was Urey Rockbell. They were very nice people, helping anyone they could that was brought to them. 

However, her time was very short lived with them. Ula watched as one man they had helped killed them, and she ran, not knowing what else to do. 

Being a child, she had no idea where to go, having no information of which places were safe and which weren't. 

All she knew was that she couldn't go where she had already been. No going home, no going to the Rockbells. No going to where she had previously escaped.