Spoilers
Grand Vision
"A man who had a grand vision to save his country loses his eyesight, forever unable to see what his beloved nation will become."
Wasn't what- the darkness- he expected.
He fought ghoulish white empty puppets and brainwashed human battle machines, and of the three homunculi he had killed one had been a grotesque conglomerate of faces and souls and ankles and fingers and eyes and flesh and more flesh than anything he had seen, and a mouth to consume that flesh and a tongue to enjoy its flavor. He'd used his flames mercilessly against an old man and a small child and his best friend, and in return they'd-
Oh god they had almost taken her-
They could have ripped her apart and what could they have done then? His Riza-
But he'd been sucked into a world of nothing and dropped into a world of white nothing, and met with a being of nothing- and he knew nothing- he was doing nothing-
Pull yourself together, colonel.
The darkness isn't what he expected, after countless horrors since the war and never stopping since then, the disgusting images that had been burned into his eyes and his mind. Darkness was the enemy now- it had him now. And now he had darkness, after being sent past the white nothing and the being of nothing and the gate.
He was suddenly aware again, of existing, his body and his mind and all his limbs and his clothes-
I wonder what they will take from you?
He hit a floor, he assumed a floor. Assumed concrete or brick or stone, because he only saw darkness. He felt the hardness as gravity reclaimed him and let him bounce and grabbed him back to the floor, though in the darkness it was like being hit with bricks and turned around and hit with stones and twirled and even after he was laying on the ground he didn't know what way was up. There was pain, he felt pain again and because of pain he felt anger and annoyance and - fear? - did he feel fear? Riza wasn't with him- he felt pain-
I wonder what they will take from you?
He moved his toes, in his boots, and his fingers -pain!- and his arms and legs-
Fullmetal lost his arm- he remembered the blood on the floor- and his leg- so much blood. Roy couldn't feel any blood, or hear it or smell it or taste it, except where he bit his cheek in the flurry of bricks.
He heard voices- - he felt his ears- calling him-
Alphonse lost his whole body- Roy had his body, he could feel it, he could push it off the ground. His hands were in pain -Bradley!- but they were there. Becoming aware of time was very sudden- he pushed his body off the ground slowly- he could remember the time and had been going slowly, remember every detail of the darkness though he couldn't see it. He could feel time speed up now, almost normal- he strained his eyes against the darkness.
He couldn't feel any blood, or broken bones, or rushing fluids, or shards poking into or out of his body. Had he seen the truth? Was that the gate? Did the homunculi send him through it intact? There was no blood- He could feel his body, all there, he could feel his arms and legs and he could feel a presence near him now, though not a large one.
"I've brought you the fifth one, father."
Was everything moving at the right time? His ears rang clear and his head burst into pain, right behind his eyes- the disconcertion left but the darkness stayed. The presence by him stayed.
"You okay, colonel?"
Fullmetal lost his arm-
"Not injured-" he tried to say, but there was too much pain in his hands and his head.
"We've got five bodies, yes..."
There wasn't any blood though.
"...But Alphonse Elric is not actually with us at the moment."
Alphonse lost his whole body-
"Fullmetal..." He felt the words in his throat then on his tongue and then in his ears and realized he was successful. In his head he could see the gate and the white nothing, in his eyes he saw the black nothing. "Where are we?"
"In the bosses lair! What happened to you?"
He was loud but the immediate answer meant reality was no longer in a time warp. His head was still in pain, his hands were still in pain, but his body was intact. No broken bones, no blood.
"They took me to an empty white world with a massive gate..." and an empty white person with a massive smile, and then it wanted something it wanted a toll and it hadn't taken anything since he wasn't bleeding like Fullmetal had bled those years ago. Roy told his mind to shut up-
"What'd it take?!" The ground hit his face again, or did his face hit the ground again? Disconcertion, but the pain kept him alert. Alert to gloved hands groping his limbs, checking for wounds or for blood. "Are your legs still there? Are your arms?!"
If his arms weren't there, he thought, what would he have done? Even one hand would have crippled his alchemy. Doused his flames-
Useless-
Suddenly aware of darkness and only darkness- up and down where a myth- what a lie. He was stuck to a very solid stone floor spinning in space and Fullmetal would not shut up.
"What are you doing?!" He couldn't really keep the panic from his voice. He tried though. He felt like vomiting. "Are you with me, Fullmetal?!"
He felt the world stop spinning and pain in his head and hands- he still used his hands- He felt attention on himself and confusion from the tiny alchemist. "Huh?"
The darkness descended on the colonel's heart. Something in him dropped- not injured? Intact?
"What're you talking about?"
He could feel his organs squeeze and shrivel- not blood in his veins but ice- anxiety, fear, real fear, undeniable sprouts of fear. Stop it from growing. His voice was calm.
"It's pitch black." He explained it like Fullmetal was a child- more of a child. He was so young. If Roy had started so early- "... I can't see a thing. Where are we?" He had come so far. "Can you see any lights?" Can you see anything? I can't see anything...
I wonder what they will take from you?
He didn't feel any breaks.
Fullmetal lost his arm-
He didn't feel any blood.
Useless-
He could feel eyes watching him- their eyes were watching him- in the darkness-
"I... can't see..."
He stood up quickly, he wanted time to stop but it wouldn't, it kept going and as it went the dread came and filled him up- he wobbled and didn't know if it was from fear or the slab of stone floor spinning in space, space without stars, no more stars-
He could only walk-
No blood! All his limbs and no blood!
How he wished there had been blood!
Take my legs! Take my arms!
The slab of floor hit his face again and his sweat hit the slab of floor.
No. "No..." Not him, he couldn't speak.
Take my arms! Take my legs! Why wasn't there pain?! Why wasn't there blood?!
God damn everything, please let me- bleed- suffer- scream-
In his mind- the red on the floor- pouring out of his knee- pumping out of his veins onto that light slab of floor-
But there wasn't any blood! No flesh and a mouth and a tongue to enjoy it- no- focus!
Riza! Her throat! No-
Bradley fighting- the shadows pinned him- seeing-
Don't take me eyes-
Don'ttakemyeyes!-take my body! Why didn't you take my body!
NoBLOOD-
WHY DID YOU TAKE MY EYES
"Have you gone blind?"
Those eyes
"Splendid!"
So clear and focused...
"Of all the alchemists here-"
I love them.
"Your abilities were the most troublesome-"
I look forward to seeing those eyes...
"... now suffer..."
Become clouded from suffering.
"...anguish..."
That day will come...
...very...
......soon...
Prompt #74: Eyes