A/N: This is a story I have been working on for a while and decided to publish it to see how well it does. I am a big fan of the anime and had this idea while watching the story unfold.

Before reading, to those of you who are fans of my other fics, The White Dragon's next chapter is currently 1K words in and rising each day, that story is my main story and will get all the attention it deserves and I expect it will be updated sometime early October. To anyone who enjoys this first chapter, depending on how this pilot chapter is received I will see whether or not it is worth my time to write a chapter two.

If you want to see a second chapter, please leave a review, favorite, and fell free to follow!

Chapter One

How Shall I Die

The grog and haze of unconsciousness shifted from a sharp throb in his head; the world stumbled through stop-motion vision and he tried to pull himself back into the reality that he was at risk of falling back out of. Subaru attempted to focus on something to keep his mind from clouding him into a long sleep. Reaching into his memories, Subaru tried to recall what had happened. He remembered being atop the gunner's mount as his squad drove through the streets of some God-forsaken town in the middle of nowhere. It was the last of many patrols and they had already been near the end of their route and headed down yet another cracked, dusty road with mostly vacant apartments towering overhead. He remembered it being quiet, not in a calming manner, no it was more akin to the calm before a raging storm that attempts to obliterate everything in its path. The next thing Subaru had been aware of was his ears ringing as he felt his body thrown through the air before everything when black.

It was about then that he started to regain his senses, and he desperately wished he hadn't. It was as though his entire body had been lit on fire and there wasn't a part of his body that wasn't crying out in pain. Subaru cried out as he forced himself to move, sending a tight surge of agony all around his right shoulder, restricting his movements. Looking to his side, Subaru saw the carnage that was his arm, or, rather, what was left of it.

Lodged just below his right collarbone, Subaru looked upon the jagged end of what looked like a rusted metal pole. It had been forced through his arm and into the wall that he now found himself pinned to. Terrified, Subaru attempted to move his right arm but found the attempt useless, only sending more pain shooting across his chest.

That was when the panic set in. His mind raced first to whether or not he was going to lose his arm, but he quickly realized that was the worst of his problems.

"God damn it! If I don't get help soon I'm going to bleed-" Subaru started to think to himself, but he was cut off as he felt a tearing sensation in his left bicep as yet another shot of pain flowed over his body as hot lead tore into his flesh. Letting loose a chilling cry, Subaru felt his breathing quicken and he looked up, only to see bursts of light in the distance; the sound of gunfire echoed across the desolate landscape.

Subaru was torn between the prospect of being used as target practice and the thought of the excruciating pain he would have to endure to pull himself from the metal pole. In the end, Subaru figured it wouldn't matter. If he did pull himself from the pole it was almost a certainty that he would bleed to death in mere minutes. No, he couldn't stomach that kind of self-invoked torture only to end with the same result. So he would just lie and pray that it ended quickly for him. Just as he made his peace with his coming demise, Subaru heard the high-pitched panicked screams of what sounded like a little girl.

Looking lazily to his left, Subaru spotted a small child clad in dirtied pants and a red shirt that looked as if it had seen better days. Her face was a mess with a mixture of snot and blood from a multitude of scratches that had been inflicted upon almost every inch of her body. Subaru glared at her, failing to get a look at her face as it was buried deep in her arms while she rocked back and forth, letting loose a yell as another stray bullet broke against the crushed car that she had pinned herself against.

For an ever so brief moment, Subaru thought of leaving her there, content to just lay there and die, after all, it wasn't like he owed the child anything. "What does it matter to me? I'm already dead as far as I see. So why should I suffer anymore in my last moments for some child I've never met? She doesn't really matter to me in the end." It would be so easy, all he had to do was close his eyes and let himself drift back into the cold yet strangely soothing embrace of death, then he would be able to just… rest.

However, in the end, he couldn't, no that would be too damned easy for him. No, he just had to be the hero. His commanding officer had claimed it would get him killed one day and now seemed as good a time as any to prove the son of a bitch right. "Can't I ever just let it go?! God, why me. Couldn't I have been like the others and just died from the damned IED?" Subaru thought. So, he prepared himself for what would come next.

The first movements sent pain shooting over Subaru's body as his flesh flared in opposition. He hadn't imagined the pain would have been as excruciating as what Subaru was forcing upon himself now, but, nevertheless, he had started this trial, and he was damn sure to see it to the end. Subaru gripped the end of the pole and began the labor of pulling himself from it. It seemed the longer he fought, the more intense the pain became. It was like nothing he had ever felt before and his mind was screaming for him to stop, but this was now a fight against time. As blood started to pool on his shoulder Subaru could tell that once he was free from the metal trap he would only have minutes, maybe less, before he would pass out from blood loss, and then die from it shortly thereafter.

It took everything the young man had to will his body to keep going. The seconds it was taking to free himself seemed like hours passing, a lifetime before his shoulder finally slipped from the metal, allowing his body to fell limp to the welcome dirt. Again Subaru questioned whether or not to just lay down and die but quelled the thought as quickly as it had come. He pushed himself up with his one good arm, the bullet wound on his bicep seeming like little more than an annoyance now after what he had just forced himself through.

Subaru held a hand over the wound in his shoulder as a feeble attempt to stop the blood erupting from the massive hole in his arm. Subaru staggered forward, making his way for the child and falling to the earth more than once on his way. Subaru felt his mind blur as bullets kicked up dust everywhere around him. He couldn't tell if any had hit him, and, if they had, his heart was pumping adrenaline through his veins faster than a surging river, numbing him to the pain.

Finally, Subaru collapsed next to the crying child, his breaths labored. The soldier reached forward and clasped a hand upon her shoulder, causing the child to look up with a startled expression. The fear in her eyes was telling and she looked pale and worried as the wet, glistening, remains of her tears still showed against the burning remains of their surroundings. Subaru understood what she was feeling, and truth be told he was feeling exactly the same thing in that moment, the only difference being his fate was already decided; all of his fear couldn't save him now, but it might just be able to rescue the kid before him.

"My name is Subaru," The soldier spoke as calmly as possible, though his words still came out more labored than he wanted. "What's your name?" Subaru asked. He deliberately ignored the bullets slamming against the rusted car.

"A- Amal." The girl forced herself to say in a hushed tone.

"Amal? I like it," Subaru said giving a nervous smile. "Amal, I'm going to get you out of here, okay?" Subaru said, receiving a quick nod from the girl. "Okay, good. Now when I say so, you are going to run as fast as you can down that alleyway." Subaru said. He pointed to a pair of buildings just under a hundred yards off. "When you get there go straight for a while until you get to the town square. There, you should see a hotel. Inside there will be a lot of nice men like me to help you." Subaru instructed. Looking him in the eyes the girl sniffed with a nod, indicating she had understood what he said. "Okay, you're going to have to be brave. Can you do that for me, Amal?"

"Y-Yes." The girl said, her voice still shaky but now she wasn't trembling so much now. Subaru decided that was the best he could ask for.

Subaru sat up into a crouch and, with his good arm, retrieved the sidearm he had strapped to his hip. He took a deep breath, nodded to Amal, and quickly stood, firing a few rounds toward the muzzle flashes in the distance. Yelling, Subaru commanded the girl to run as he walked forward while firing aimlessly toward the nondescript enemies. It wouldn't matter if he hit any of them, he just needed them to be shooting at him and not at anyone else for a few moments. Spending his first clip Subaru struggled to reload his second, and last, clip into the weapon.

Whomever Subaru had forced into cover used the break in fire to spray bullets back in kind. Cursing, Subaru lifted his weapon once more and let off as many bullets as possible before he felt his body get riddled with holes. His legs were the first to go, and then his chest, and one bullet found its way into his arm sending the M9 in Subaru's hand flying.

The ground quickly met Subaru's face as he fell into a pile of rubble and dust. He felt strange as warm blood soaked his uniform and yet he felt cold as ice. It was like the world was slowly starting to close in around him as darkness started to dominate his vision. Subaru would have liked to think he was facing death with welcome arms, but in truth, he was terrified and partly in denial that this was it. In desperation, Subaru's eyes looked for something to cling onto before he died.

Looking off in the distance Subaru was just able to see the blur of the child, Amal, slipping into the dark alleyway. Subaru couldn't help but crack a small smile at the thought of her making it out as he closed his eyes. "At the very least I did something worthwhile before I die." Subaru thought as he finally gave in and embraced the reality of his own death.

SPECIAL THANKS TO MY BETA READER/EDITOR

BlackFruity