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Ling never had the time to keep up with the social engagements of his friends.
He would say he's too caught up with his royal affairs, but he has to remind himself that being Emperor is not just something he's 'caught up in'. It's his sacred duty as ruler of the country. It has to take priority.
Still, when he sees Alphonse and Mei enter the same room, lock eyes, and storm out, he can't help but feel like he's been a bit neglectful.
From over his shoulder, he hears Greed whistle. Ling looks to see the former hommunculus proudly wearing a smirk, like the thought of strife between the couple thrills him. Judging by the scowl on Lan Fan's unmasked face, she does not share Greed's sentiments, and she, like Ling, is just a little appalled.
"What's going on?" Ling asks him, seeing the knowing behind Greed's coy smile. Ling knows it's none of his business and he should keep out of it,
"Al's got his panties in a twist because Mei killed someone."
"Watch your language," Lan Fan scolds, like a stern mother.
Ling raises an eyebrow at the duo. "Should I be concerned?"
"Maybe," Greed says with a shrug, "If it was anyone important, you would have heard about it. Just some sorry scribe that worked in the Imperial Archives..."
"You shouldn't talk like that," Ling chides him. Ling disliked Greed's blatant disregard for human life, though he didn't hold strong convictions against killing like the Elric Brothers. If Ling did, he'd be dead a long ago. People have been trying to assassinate him since he could walk. "Why did Mei kill him?"
¨He tried to kill Al," Greed explains. "He was spewing some bullshit about not teaching 'the way of the Dragon's Pulse' to outsiders. Forunately, he was just a wimpy pencil pusher, no match for our girl Mei."
Ling frowns. The situation was all too familiar. The one or two assassins who had made attempts on his life during his reign as emperor had said similar things, accusing him of turning his back on the ancient ways of their people, of being too progressive. Lan Fan and himself had quickly and unhesitantly disposed of them both, as she had all those who posed a threat to his life.
"Personally, I think Alphonse needs to get off his moral high horse," Greed says, though Ling hadn't asked for his opinion. "He doesn't understand. That guy was out for blood. What he did think he was going to do just sit him down and what? Explain? Did he think a sappy speech about cultural exchange would change his fanatical mind? Did you think you could put him in the dungeon for a little time out?"
A part of him doesn't want to admit it, but he knows Greed is right.
"How many people you reckon you've done in?"
"Eight." Ling informs him. He doesn't even have to think about it.
"And you?"
Greed is talking to Lan Fan now. She tenses when Greed addresses her, but her expression feigns indifference. "I don't know," She responds cooly.
"Think you could count 'em on both hands?¨
She doesn't miss a beat, "No."
"Unlike any of my siblings, I never made a habit out of slaughtering the innocent. Never saw the fun in it," Greed says, as casual as can be. "Just killed people who got in my way. Innocent or not, who knows? Never made a habit of getting their life stories."
Ling remembers the first time he'd killed someone. It had been a sibling of his, too. Sayaka of the Itawa Clan. He was seven, and she was twelve. At the time, it was the most excruciating battle Ling had ever been in, though he eventually killed her. He left the battle with a dislocated right shoulder, several broken ribs, and a scar across his stomach.
She, the thirteenth heir of the Xingese throne at the time, had laid, bruised, bloody and battered at his feet, unable to get up. He, sword at her throat, offered to spare her life, and she begged that he take her life. She rather die honorably, then return home in shame.
He passed out almost immediately after sliting her throat. If a young Lan Fan hadn't found him when she did, he would have bleed out where her katana had caught him in the stomach.
He'd cried that night, but did not let anyone see his tears. He knew that wouldn't be the first time he had to take a human life. He told himself he would not be as weak as he was now and he would grow used to it. Now, he had reached that point, and it terrified him.
He looks at Lan Fan. How many had she killed to protect him? More than she could count on her own two hands? Did her first kill bother him as much as it did her? Could he ask her?
If Mei had not killed that man, he would have killed Al.
Survival of the Fittest.
It's why Sayaka attacked him, and he look his first blood at such a young age. It's why the clans stain the land of his beloved country with each other's blood. Land, riches, resources. The Chieves tell their clansmen to go to war for them, because they profit from these things. Ling loves his country. Its culture is so rich, and unique. There are so many generous, and beautiful people here. Yet the country has been plagued by an unending cycle of violence for thousands of years, and Ling is but one man. A foolish idealist, they call him.
"Al is right," Ling says. Greed and Lan Fan look at him in surprise. "Like you said, he was just a 'pencil pusher'. Mei could have easily brought him down without using lethal force. I... respect the Elric Brothers' values. I wish my country held the same. The clans each have strict eye-for-an-eye policies, and I don't want to be leading a blind country one day... Killing may be the easiest thing to do, but surely isn't the most noble."
Greed snickered. "Being noble will make your reign very short... Lan Fan, you know I'm right."
Lan Fan ignored him. "Whatever you say, my lord."