Part 11
How long had I been there?
A few days, I supposed.
I couldn't tell. There was no watch to check the time, nor was there a window to the time by the sun.
The whole time, I had been in the room by myself. At least, I'm pretty sure I had been alone the entire time; I dosed off sometimes so Greed my have returned and left while I was asleep, but it was, highly, unlikely. I had no idea where he went but I hadn't seen him since he slapped me.
And, I was still in my undergarments.
I sat with my back facing the door, my knees pulled up to my chest.
Ever since Greed had slapped me, I always wondered; would Ling have hit me like that?
I kept coming up with the same answer. No.
This made me miss him even more.
To the point where I remembered a song I had heard many years ago.
I'm so tired of being here, suppressed by all my childish fears
And if you have to leave, I wish that you would just leave
Your presence still lingers here and it won't leave me alone
These wounds won't seem to heal, this pain is just too real
There's just too much that time cannot erase
When you cried, I'd wipe away all of your tears
When you'd scream, I'd fight away all of your fears
And I held your hand through all of these years
But you still have all of me
You used to captivate me by your resonating light
Now, I'm bound by the life you left behind
Your face it haunts my once pleasant dreams
Your voice it chased away all the sanity in me
These wounds won't seem to heal, this pain is just too real
There's just too much that time cannot erase
When you cried, I'd wipe away all of your tears
When you'd scream, I'd fight away all of your fears
And I held your hand through all of these years
But you still have all of me
I've tried so hard to tell myself that you're gone
But though you're still with me, I've been alone all along
When you cried, I'd wipe away all of your tears
When you'd scream, I'd fight away all of your fears
And I held your hand through all of these years
But you still have all of me,
The last note faded out into silence.
Suddenly, a mass of fabric, angrily, fell on my head and shoulders, followed by the sound of leather hitting the floor.
I didn't have to look to see who it was.
His gruff voice cut through the room like a sword. "Put those on. Wrath wants to have a word with you."
The door slammed back shut and locked.
I pulled the fabric off my head and looked at it.
It was a navy blue military uniform, just like the Colonel's and his Lieutenant's.
And behind me were the black boots.
Why give me a military uniform? And who is Wrath?
I, slowly, slipped into the uniform, feeling awkward in these foreign clothes.
The moment I got done, the door opened again. This time, greed was accompanied by a man with long, green hair and pale skin.
He spoke in a harsh voice. "Hurry up."
He walked out of the room and Greed jerked his head towards him, silently telling me to follow him.
I followed and Greed brought up the rear.
We ended up in an elevator. The man, called Envy, and Greed stood in front of me, to make sure that I didn't run out the moment the doors opened again.
Right as the door was about to open, Envy flashed and turned into a blond man in a military uniform.
Once the door was open, we found ourselves in a building full of military personal.
I had a good guess as to where we were; Central Command Center.
As we walked through the halls, I had to wonder; how many of these soldiers were fooled by Envy's disguise? How many knew everything that was going on?
Finally, we came to some double doors.
Envy pushed the doors opened.
And there, sitting calmly and drinking tea, was Fuhrer King Bradley.
At that point, my heart and my breathing just stopped.
When I didn't make a move to step into the room, Bradley, said, quiet sternly, "Come in, Miss Kai Ying."
I took a deep breathe and straightened up, putting on the toughest face I could. I slowly stepped into the room, pulled out a chair and, cautiously, sat down. Greed followed me in and leaned against the wall, scowling and crossing his arms.
Envy closed and locked the door, leaving us to ourselves.
Bradley took a sip of his tea and, then, said, "It's been too long since we've seen each other, Miss Ying. How is your friend doing? The girl who was excess baggage."
That just made me grit my teeth, refusing to respond.
"Well, no matter. We're not here to talk about her anyways. This is about you. Now, Father has deemed you useless to our cause and would have fed you to Gluttony if it weren't for Greed. This, you know. However, I don't find you as useless."
I didn't like where this was going. Not one bit.
He laced his fingers together and rested his hands on the table.
"A little birdie told me that you've got impressive skills in the way of Alkehistory and you're very eager to learn Alchemey. In fact, the birdie said that, besides escaping a life you didn't want, you came to Amestris with one goal in mind; to become a State Alchemist."
I kept a straight face, refusing to show him that he was getting me interested.
"Well, I can make you a State Alchemist. You could have all that you've ever wanted; Alchemy, knowledge, the life that you want. And you wouldn't even have to take the Alchemy Exam. And just think, you won't be locked up in that cold room all day."
'Sounds like a pretty big bonus. And with a big bonus, comes a big catch.'
"There are of course, boundaries to this. You can never interfere with our plans and you must do everything that your higher ups tell you. And when I say everything, I mean EVERYTHING."
'Which means if they tell me to kill a child, I have to do it.'
Bradley reached into his pocket and pulled out a shiny new pocket watch, just like Ed's, complete with the military symbol.
"So, what do you say, Miss Kai Ying?"
I had often wondered when and how I would be offered one of these pocket watches.
I had worked so hard to get to this point.
I fought to no end.
I closed my eyes and slowly lowered my hand onto the cold pocket watch.
I second passed before I chucked the wretched thing right back at Bradley. He caught it with one hand with no trouble at all.
His glaring eyes met mine.
"… That's a real shame. Envy?"
The door opened again.
"Escort these two back downstairs."
