For the next several days in the Hospital, Rosalyn spent a lot of time with Alphonse. They had spoken much of Rosalyn's life growing up in a large home with just her aunt as company. Each time the topic got close to her family, Rosalyn would quickly change the subject. Eventually Rosalyn mentioned how kind her mother was which lead Al to asking the simple question, which would come up sooner or later.
"Rosalyn, what happened to your mother?" Alphonse asked sympathetically, but still it doesn't lessen the pain from the memory of Rosalyn's mother. Seeing as how the question seemed to bother Rosalyn so much, Alphonse quickly became a nervous fourteen year old. "I'm sorry, Rosa. I didn't mean to intrude on a personal matter."
Al's nervous, apologetic voice made Rosalyn smile. It was sweet that he saw the topic was sensitive, but being as how the subject couldn't be avoided forever, Rosalyn decided to answer. "She died when I was about five…."
Maybe a long silence would have come between the two, but a dark-haired soldier barged into the room. The guy had a rather laid back demeanor. Three buttons at the top of his uniform were undone and his hair was rather shaggy, which hung in a spiky style.
"Hey Alphonse, Doc says the girl's good to see Bradley. So I'll be the one babysitting the kid now." The guy's voice was rather deep, almost like Mustang's. The thing that got Rosalyn was that the guy just said he would be babysitting. There was no way he was more than three years older than her, so Rosalyn was stuck wondering who the baby was?
"Oh, Rosalyn this is Victor Carlit. He's one of the escorts for the military." Alphonse didn't seem too excited about Victor being sent to escort Rosalyn to Bradley. There wasn't much question to why Rosalyn needed an escort. Even though very few knew about the Philosopher's Stone possibly being in Rosalyn, it was still dangerous for a lot of people to find out about it.
With a soft smile, Rosalyn could reassure Al that she would be fine, but for some reason Rosalyn couldn't bring herself to put on the mask. Instead of putting on the smile, Rosalyn just pushed herself out of bed and began to pull on her boots.
Many a times had she pulled on the leather boots that hugged tight to the faded, rough fabric of her pants, but never had she thought that she would be doing it to meet King Bradley. With one look to Victor, Rosalyn grabbed the jacket that Ed still hadn't taken back from her and began to walk out the door. That was until she considered the fact that Al would probably worry. "Hey Al…. Don't wait up for me. I'll catch up later."
Rosalyn knew though that the way she was feeling, she wouldn't be seeing Alphonse or Edward for a long time. Without even looking back, Rosalyn walked out of the room with Victor following behind her.
Victor was ahead of Rosalyn in no time to lead the way to Bradley's home. It was actually strange that Bradley had invited Rosalyn to his home and not his office. First off why was he at home and not in the office? Rosalyn had thought that since he was the leader of the military that he would be at work as much as he could.
The walk through the Hospital, but when Victor and Rosalyn got to their transportation, Victor begun speaking. "So any idea why a twerp likes you has been invited to visit King Bradley?"
Rosalyn couldn't help, but to glare at Victor. A twerp? How could he call her that when he wasn't that taller than her? (In truth Victor was about six even, and Rosalyn exaggerated about her own height sometimes.)
"Who are you calling a twerp? You don't look that much older than me." Rosalyn could feel the heat rush to her face when she snapped at Victor. Obviously he found it amusing considering he just put up his hands and gave a soft smile in defense.
"Ops, I meant ki-"Victor stopped seeing as how Rosalyn seemed to glare at him again before he stopped himself. "Sorry…. Anyways though, why is Bradley requesting for you to come see him at his home?"
Rosalyn shrugged. If Victor wasn't high enough on the food chain to be told about the people he escorted, why should she tell him? Besides some secrets are meant to be kept a secret, and some people aren't meant to be trusted right away.
"How would I know what Bradley wants? I can't read people's mind." Rosalyn's answer made Victor smile, which aggravated Rosalyn. Victor's cocky smile was cute, but still something wasn't right bout it didn't set right with Rosalyn.
Victor soon raised his hands in defense again, his smile still played across his lips though. "You got a smart mouth, but I think I can handle it." Victor didn't really have much of a smart mouth, but he was over-confident.
"What the hell are you suppose to be handling?" Rosalyn snapped. Obviously Rosalyn wasn't someone to be 'handled'. Even though she was mad, Victor didn't stop smiling. This made Rosalyn even madder. "What the hell are you smiling about?"
Victor laughed as the vehicle came to a stop, his dark eyes didn't look at Rosalyn anymore. "You're cute when you're mad, kid." It sounded like Victor was just talking now to get under Rosalyn's skin, it was working.
Before Rosalyn could take the time to cuss out Victor, he was already heading towards Bradley's home. Rosalyn followed behind, quickly since there wasn't anything else she could do. Rosalyn could tell Victor still had the smug smile on his face because he turned to look over his shoulder at her.
By the time the two were walking through the house, Rosalyn couldn't help, but to be in awe. Bradley's home was almost ten times bigger than Rosalyn's father's home was. There had only been a few times that she had truly been in her father's main home, but still she remember the large home being amazing.
As Rosalyn entered into the large library she could see a small child speaking to an older man. The boy was sweet, innocent, and barely reached up to Rosalyn's waist. The boy looked much like the older man, both had black hair which was cut neatly and their features seemed to be similar as well. The only difference between the two was that the boy had bright blue eyes and the older man had one a dark-colored eye.
"Ah there you are Victor. I have waited for some time now." Obviously the older man was Bradley, but when he gave Rosalyn a kind smile, she was shocked. "My dear, I'm sorry if Victor's rude behavior scared you in anyway."
Rosalyn studied Bradley up and down. A military leader being kind, that was something new to Rosalyn. When she heard Victor snort though, Rosalyn returned the smile. Bradley's kindness seemed to get under Victor's skin. Now that was amusing.
"Boss th-"Victor had begun speaking, but seemed to be completely silence when Bradley raised his palm to the younger soldier.
Bradley's eye didn't leave Rosalyn and for some reason, she had gotten the feeling that the eye covered by the eye patch was boring through her absolute soul. "Victor I would like you to take Selim to his mother while I speak with Ms. Estalines."
Victor didn't like the idea of being left out of a conversation, but he reluctantly followed behind the young child. Strangely though, Rosalyn had the feeling that she was going to be stuck with Victor for a while.
"Well now that they're gone, sit down Ms. Estalines." Bradley kept a kind behavior as he came to sit behind the large desk that was placed in the center of the room. Even before Rosalyn was sitting though, Bradley had started the conversation. "I read in the report that your wounds have healed at a surprising rate."
Rosalyn pressed her lips together, which formed them into a thin line. There were so many questions that Bradley could ask and Rosalyn wouldn't have any answer to a single one. Rosalyn couldn't even begin to think of why there could be a philosopher's stone deep within her; let alone answer another's questions about the matter.
"From your expression I can tell that you don't have the answers I'm looking for." Bradley spoke kindly, but his voice carried a hint of something else. "I haven't spoken to your father about the matter yet, but I assume that if I do bring it up, he will want you on the next train as soon as possible."
Rosalyn panics and speaks up now. "But sir I can't leave. I'm here to be a State Alchemist and I'm not giving up till I get answers of my own." Maybe it was Rosalyn's determination or something else because Bradley just gave Rosalyn a kind smile before going to stand and walk to her.
As Bradley made his way around his desk to approach Rosalyn, he began speaking. "Yes, Edward Elric mentioned something of your wanting to be a State Alchemist. " He paused. "I suppose with the right guards and the right living facility, we could arrange you to take the test in a few days."
Rosalyn was shocked. Bradley wasn't rushing for her to go home. Why? Even before she could ask that one question, Bradley spoke again. "Unless you would want me to message your father and see to it that you get home safely?"
"N-No sir'" Rosalyn stood quickly. "I'd love to stay for a few more days to take the test." Rosalyn could feel excitement, but that vanished when she heard the next thing Bradley says.
"Well good. I'll assign Victor as your personal escort then." There it was again something else hidden in Bradley's smile. It actually gave Rosalyn an uneasy feeling, but finding out why wasn't Rosalyn's main concern. Her main concern was that she'd be stuck with Victor.
"Wait sir, is there anyone else that coul-"
"Victor is a very trust worthy young man. If he slips up I'll allow you to pick your escort. Deal?" Bradley didn't give Rosalyn time to think about it because by the time she started to speak, he had already led her outside of the library. "Just follow Victor to the home where you will be staying and then tomorrow you come back by and we'll speak of you becoming a State Alchemist. I would speak to you now about the topic, but being head of the military, I am a very busy man."
Rosalyn couldn't even take in everything before Bradley retreated into the library. Several minutes afterwards, Rosalyn was escorted to the front of the home where she would be greeted by Victor. Much was not said between the two as they departed from King Bradley's home. Usually Rosalyn would be trying to find where she was going, but the feeling that she was being watched kept her silent the rest of the night.
Lust sat crossed legged upon the large frame of the elegant desk with her chin resting in the palm of her hand. "So what do you think of the girl?" Lust was eyeing Bradley as he made his way to the large window in the room so that he could see the car pull off to take Rosalyn to the place to rest.
"I'm not fund of this pawn, Lust. If she steps out of line, you're the one to clean up after her." Bradley spoke over his shoulder since his back faced Lust. "I don't care what you do with her either. Just make sure she doesn't get in the way of Father's plans."
Lust obviously was annoyed at Bradley. Of course she would take care of the girl since it was Lust's idea to use her in the plan. "Don't worry about her. She's already playing right into my hands." Within moments after speaking, Lust was gone.
Still with Lust gone, Bradley responded. "Very well then sister, I'll hold you to your words though."