Author's Note: Alright! It's nearly the end of the line, now, and I'm super excited for it! I actually had a hard time coming up with the chapter title for this one, but I like the way it turned out. This chapter is for Lan-Fan.
A Riddle for the Warrior
Scar had gotten to him before her, but he wasn't dead yet, just lying there bleeding from the two stumps where his arms had been severed. She came out of the shadows into the light and he saw her. Lan-Fan removed her mask and glared down at him hatefully, the man who had taken her arm, but more importantly, had killed her grandfather.
"Here to avenge your grandfather?" Bradley asked dully, "Very well. Go ahead."
She wanted to. Honored ancestors knew she wanted to! But she had her honor. She wouldn't kill him. At least not yet, because even stronger than her hate was her pity. He had no purpose in life save to do what the homunculus leader told him. No reason for living, so she would give him this moment.
"Any last words you'd like to say?" she asked.
"None," he responded simply.
"Such a sad life," she stated aloud, "Tell me, Bradley. Was there... anyone you loved? Any friends? Your wife?" Was there no-one for this man?
"My wife," Bradley answered.
"That was something at least. But...
"Are you saying you have nothing? No message for her? When she finds out what you are...!"
"Your trivial words of sorrow... Of love and guilt mean nothing to me young lady," Bradley chided, "My wife understands. She's the woman that I chose to live by my side. There are no more words that need to pass between us now. That's what it means to be the wife of the Fuhrer."
Lan-Fan didn't understand. What did he mean by that? 'No words need to pass between us now'? She highly disagreed. If she were in his position, she'd want Master Ling to know how much he meant to her. She was disappointed. She was sure that Mrs. Bradley would feel even worse than she did (as an uninvolved member) about receiving no final words from her husband. Well, she had tried for that woman's sake and it had been nothing more than a waste of time. Bradley couldn't have cared that much for her if he was so heartless as this. He was dying and he had nothing that he wanted to say to the one person he claimed to love. So sad.
This was difficult. I didn't have that much to work with, sorry. Maybe when Lan-Fan's older, she'll understand what Bradley was trying to tell her.