A/N: Wow. Yeah, feel free to kill me. I disappeared. Good news, I'm alive! Bad news, you're going to kill me. Oh, well. This life was fun while it lasted. Anyway, I really have no good excuse for being gone. I guess I was preparing for JAMPcon and sort of neglected my writing, and after the Con, I was being poked and prodded by doctors too much to even remember about it. Glory, a lot has happened. I met Travis Willingham, and if you know me, you know how big of a deal that was. Yes, I did get pictures with him, as well as a hug. I also met Vic Mignogna. And became best friends with The Manpower, apparently. We talked to them for like an hour straight. They're awesome, and because they're also my friends, I'll take a couple of seconds of your time to say listen to their music and go see them at a Con, if you ever get the chance. Anyways, here's the late (very, very late) chapter, that probably won't be worth the wait. ^^;

Disclaimer: Didn't own it then, don't own it now. Also, the theme is based off a song by Jon McLaughlin, another thing I don't own.

We All Need Saving

Looking back now, he felt guilty.

Hundreds of times, she'd saved him, from all sorts of different threats.

Assasins, the Homunculi, and on more than one occasion, himself.

He'd never even thanked her, much less done anything to return the favor to her. He'd always thought she was simply doing her job, but he was an idiot. No one would sacrifice their arm, their grandfather, for the sake of a job.

He should have guessed her feelings from the beginning.

Should have realized he felt the same.

God, he was an asshole.

Now, she'd probably never want to speak to him again, and he didn't blame her. He'd gone too far this time, and without even realizing he'd done so.

He felt so conceited.

All this time, she'd always been there to save him, and he'd been too damn arrogant to see that she needed saving, too.

Not from physical things, at least not as often as he did, but from invisable things. But just because they were invisable didn't mean they weren't just as dangerous as the physical things she saved him from.

No, come to think of it, they were more dangerous.

He couldn't believe that the one time she needed him to save her, he hadn't been there for her. Instead, he'd gone and made it worse. What had seemed like a meaningless comment had an unbelievable affect on her, and now she was probably gone, never to return.

Now, the conversation played over and over again in his head.

"I hear you're the official emporer now that your father's gone," she'd said in that quiet, shy voice he'd grown used to over the years.

"Yeah, isn't it great?" he said, joyously. He'd never been so happy in his life. Which made it even worse when he'd ruined everything.

"So, what were you planning on, for the country?"

"Oh, all sorts of stuff! I hope I can make a difference.."

"I know you will." She was always so supportive.

"Yeah, but as my first order of buisness, I'll need a wife, you know, so I'll have heirs."

"Who were you planning on?" Thinking back now, the intent of her question had been obvious, but of course he hadn't seen it at the time.

"I don't know, my father had a ton of different wives, one from each clan! It'd be fun to follow in his footsteps! I think the first one should be from the Chang clan, since that girl helped us so much in Amestris. She stayed behind, though. Married Alphonse Elric, can you believe it!" He'd said it so nonchalantly, even rambled on afterwords, unaware of what he was really saying.

"Oh," her voice shook, "The Chang Clan. Of course." To anyone else, it would have sounded like a simple statement, but Ling had known her long enough to know that something was wrong.

"Should I start somewhere else?"

Suddenly, she was glaring at him, tears brimming her eyes.

"I don't care where you start," she hissed quietly, "And I'm sure you don't care about my opionon, anyways. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm leaving. Now that you're emporer, you'll have plenty of bodyguards, won't you? I can resign." And with that, she left.

He had realized his mistake immediantly...

"Dammit," he muttered, shaking his head. Looking back, he wasn't even sure why he'd said it.

He had no intrest in having as many wives as his father, not really.

He'd learned in Amestris that it was better to be with one person that you loved than a hundred that you didn't.

But he'd chased the only woman he loved away. He didn't even know where she went.

Sighing, he stepped down off his throne and walked towards the door.

"Where are you going, Sir?" Asked a body guard. Not his body guard, at least not the one he wanted right now.

"To visit a friend," He said quietly, not breaking his stride.

"I should co-"

"-No!" Ling broke the guard off mid-sentence. "This is something I need to do alone."

The guard nodded and allowed him to go, having learned long ago that arguing with the young ruler was useless, and he'd simply sneak away later, regardless.

Ling kept walking until, finally, he reached his destination.

A graveyard.

Not a fancy one, like the one where his father was buried, but a simple one.

He headed towards the grave slowly, but stopped in his tracks when he saw someone was already there.

It was her.

Quietly, he walked up behind her and said, "Ran Fan*."

She didn't turn around. "I hear you haven't taken any wives yet. You have a lot of women in line, you know. It would be rude to leave them hanging."

He sighed. "I...Ran Fan, I'm sorry. I was stupid, I know that now. I don't want any of those women. I only want one, just one wife. But I doubt she'd want me, after the idiot I was."

"You're probably right," she said quietly, and his heart sank. "But," she continued, "You never know. Of course, if you were going to ask this girl to marry you, you'd probably have to make it big. Do it like they do in Amestris. On one knee, with a ring. And four words. The place would have to be special, too. Really special."

He smiled slightly.

"Way ahead of you," he whispered, and she turned to face him curiously.

Grinning, he took her hand and kneeled in front of her, on one knee, and pulled a small, white box out of his back pocket.

"Ran Fan," he began, "If you can ever find it in your heart to forgive, then I'm asking you, not telling you, to marry me."

She bit her lip.

"Ling," she said quietly, "Yes."

He cheered and she laughed.

"Did I pick a good enough place?" He asked, sliding the ring onto her finger.

She looked at the gravestone.

"Couldn't have picked a better one. I think my grandfather would have been happy to see such a moment." She glanced over at him. "What made you change your mind?"

He gave her an odd look, as if it should have been obvious.

"You saved me," he said.

She smiled slightly and shook his head.

"No. It was the other way around."

*I know in FMA Brotherhood, her name is Lan Fan, but the first translation I ever read had her as Ran Fan, so I'm sticking to it. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this crappy, super late chapter. Oh, and, surprise! It wasn't super angsty!