21: Brand New Eyes

"Rio, darling, wake up," Robin's voice cooed gently. Rio obliged though her vision was fuzzy. "How are you feeling?"

"What did you do to me?" she asked groggily. She reached up to touch her face where it ached, shocked to find metal plating covering most of the left side of her face. She heard a mechanical whirring as her left eye focused on the figure in front of her, taking in his scarred skin and gaunt features half hidden by dull hair the color of ashes. A pair of mechanical eyes the color of metal stared at her. "Why can I see?"

"I gave you brand new eyes, Rio," he smiled; a twisted replica of what was once a charming gesture. "You're the pride and joy of the Valor Project. It wouldn't do if you couldn't see."

"You're a monster," she growled.

"That's the same exact expression your mother wore each time she encountered me. You truly are her daughter," he chuckled. "Your furrowed brow, the way you lips are pursed ever so slightly... you look positively scrum-diddly-umptious."

"Words can't fool me, McLean. I know what you're after," she snapped.

"Do you?" he asked innocently.

"You are after us, because we're here to stop whatever evil has you under its thumb. You're scared that you'll die again and the hand of the woman you thought was your lover when in fact she was Aislinn's younger twin sister, separated by time and space because of Envy," she recited.

"Your parents have taught you well, I see," he considered. If she knew all that, how much more did she know?

"My mother told me it was important to hear others' mistakes, but that we can only learn from our own so we must listen to others, to learn what to do and not to do, or at least try to avoid," she replied calmly.

"And what did she tell you to avoid?" he inquired.

"Anything that I sense is evil. Pure evil," she added. "Evil in general is unavoidable, but I must be on my guard and it is my own fault that I am here now."

"You're awfully wise for a one-year-old," he mused. "Did your father teach you anything?"

"Of course. He taught me about equivalent exchange and alchemy, though he doesn't know it. I can access anyone's knowledge just by having my skin come in contact with theirs. He also taught me that a strong man won't cry but a stronger man will cry in front of others," she nodded.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Robin questioned.

"It's something he told my mother once, that she didn't always need to be strong and that it was okay to share emotions. She's very tough, but also very delicate. I'm sure you knew of her suicide attempts and masochism," Rio replied.

"Yes, I was witness to a bit of that…" he mumbled. "Terrible, it was."

"Do you intend to do to me what you did to her?" she asked.

"As far as what, since I did quite a bit to her?"

"Rape," she stated.

"Perhaps, if it comes down to it," he grinned. "It all depends on how well you cooperate with us."

"What if I choose not at all?" she retorted. No way was she going to let this zombie-creep have his way with her. She watched him carefully as he walked circles around the bed to which she was strapped.

"Then I'll do it until your transformation is complete. After all, I'm sure you have no experience but it's no fun banging a machine," he chortled.

"Machine?" she repeated.

"Oops, I told you too much. Ah well, too late now," he shrugged. "Guess we'll have another reason to change you, aside from the obvious."

"You're going to use me, aren't you?" she inquired blandly.

"You're smart. Did I tell you that already?" he chuckled darkly.

"Cut to the chase already. What are you planning to do with me?" she demanded, folding her arms against her chest firmly.

"I can't tell you; it'd spoil the surprise," he grinned.

"I hope you die again," she spat as he sauntered out of the room. She felt the metal door slide shut behind her and flopped backwards. Her hand, ice-cold from the AC pumping steadily into the room, traced over the metal plating, fingering the thick wires that breached her flesh, binding the metal to her skin and making it ache horribly. Her fingertips traveled slowly up towards her eye. She watched with a hint of curiosity as she touched the cold surface. It felt like glass, only far, far colder. She groped around with her other hand until she found the small hand mirror she had been given. She held it up to look at her eye; cold white and gold coloring stared back at her. Her supposed pupil narrowed as light was reflected into the eye, making a barely audible mechanical whirring sound. Her short hair was limp and greasy from being strapped to the gurney for who knew how many days. Her neck was lined with red markings from where the fabric of her thin dress that was more of an extra large T-shirt had been pressed against her skin. She brought her hand away from her face and down to finger the imprints, flinching from the sudden iciness of her fingers, a trait she inherited from her mother. With a labored sigh, she let the mirror fall from her tenuous grasp and fall against her abdomen. Static crackling captured her wandering attention.

"Rio?" a female voice asked.

"Ai?" Rio replied, unsure if the owner was indeed her cousin. She glanced around the room, but saw only the four white walls, the air vent, and the metal door. She picked up the mirror cautiously, inhaling sharply when she saw her cousin's face.

"What happened to your eye?" Ai asked, alarmed. The skin around the metal plating looked a little swollen and puffy and not at all comfortable.

"They gave me a new one, but they didn't tell me exactly why," she replied sullenly. "They're going to use me for something."

"Something bad, I'll bet," Ai scoffed, her brown curls bouncing from the motion.

"Oh, nothing serious. I was only captured by our enemies and locked away, then taken who knows where, where they operated on me against my will, not telling me anything, and gave me a robotic eye," Rio drawled, rolling her eyes.

"Gawd, you sound just like your mom," Ai sighed.

"Naturally, I am her child," Rio smirked. "How are things over there?"

"They're okay. Somnolentia victims keep waking up and attacking anyone in the immediate vicinity, trying to get to your parents," Ai replied.

"Why?"

"Because your mom is the one who will help destroy the Lie," she replied plainly.

"And your mom is the other one, right?" Rio huffed.

"No, actually," Ai denied quickly. "They don't know this yet, but the other one who will stop the Lie is actually my father."

"Alphonse?" Rio cried, alarmed. She quickly glanced around in case there were invisible, hidden cameras somewhere. She lowered her voice, "You've gotta be joking!"

"Think about it, River. Why do you think your mom and my dad have almost died so many times, while my mom and your dad only died once? Homunculus is trying to get rid of them," Ai said firmly. "There's something else…"

"What else could there possibly be?" Rio asked, slightly annoyed.

"The victims of Somnolentia who have already died are coming back to life," she muttered, her voice dropping a few volume levels, almost a whisper.

"That's impossible," Rio sniffed. She knew that much… that people just didn't come back to life. It took a massive amount of power and a very strong will to return a soul to its body.

"Try telling that to this," Ai snorted, angling whatever she was communicating through at a corner covered in shadows.

Labored, ragged breathing echoed off the stone walls while heavy chains rattled against a stone floor. Rio pressed a hand to her mouth to stifle a yelp as something vaguely human lunged for the communication device. Skin as pale and thin as paper, sunken and tight and tinted a sick green, clung to the bones of something between life and death. Beady yellow eyes, barely visible for they were so far back into the creature's skull, glared at anything and everything. What was once hair hung in ragged clumps, matted and dirty, framing the supposed face. A twisted grin showed a fairly toothless grin, whatever remaining teeth yellowed with decay. Dry, bony fingers as long and thin as the legs of a Daddy Long Legs spider clawed at the frame of the communication device, nasty wounds and sores oozing thick yellow and green goo and smearing it across the screen.

"Hand over… model EMX0990-00… and… model EMX 0990-01…" it rasped, the voice like a large clump of flesh being dragged across pavement.

"Back, get back foul beast," Marcus's voice barked. "Back I say!"

"Marcus!" Rio breathed.

"Hey Ri," she heard his smile though she couldn't see him. "Don't worry; we've got things under control here."

"Where did you find that abomination?" she asked.

"Wandering the backstreets of Rush Valley. Marcus and I have been investigating any strange goings-on around here. Turns out there is a whole fleet of zombies in the making," Ai reported, turning the screen back to her. "We can't chat for too long. Mom's snoozing right now and I borrowed a smidge of her power to talk to you. If she wakes up and finds me using it without her permission, she'll tan my hide."

"Will you talk to me again soon?" Rio asked wistfully. Having been locked up in the same place for weeks had left her alienated from most people, as she never saw anyone besides Robin. "I'm terribly lonely and my powers won't work in this room."

"Sure, I'll call again when I find the time," Ai smiled warmly.

"Get your grubby claws off me!" Marcus snapped, kicking at the zombie chained to the wall of the storage room. "These are brand new boots and you got your zombie slime all over them!" he whined.

"Despite your complaining, you seem awfully happy," Ai sniffed, folding her arms against the slight chill.

"Please, I'm the son of an alchemist and a god. I had no extra talent whatsoever until last week when Katie told me what role I play in this game," he rolled his eyes. "Zombie Hunter!"

"Can you try to be serious?" she drawled. "You're 'role' isn't exactly a pleasant one! You do know that at one point or another you're going t-"

"I know what I have to do, okay?" he interrupted. "My role isn't particularly grand but I'm happy just to have one. How would you feel if you were surrounded by extraordinarily talented people, were created by two of those people, yet had no special abilities of your own? Would you stand to be 'normal'?"

"I don't like this at all…" Ai mumbled, scuffing the ground with the sole of her sandal.

"Me neither, but we're gonna have to suck it up and deal with it," he sighed, grey dreadlocks bouncing as he shook his head.

"I just want to forget all this crap and grow up like a normal eight-year-old. How many eight-year-olds are prancing around in a teenagers body and trying to help their family save the world?" she huffed.

"This entire plot is deeper, darker, and more twisted than what we went through before…" Marcus mused.

"Come again?" she asked.

"You weren't born then, but before this our parents went through something similar. They had to stop Envy before he destroyed the entire country, but it wasn't as gruesome or complicated as this," he muttered, waving his hand as the pair emerged from the dank storeroom behind an abandoned hospital. "And I think this one will be all the more painful for everyone."

"Whatever, man, I'm just here to guard you okay?" Ai sassed, placing a hand on her cocked hip.

"How ironic… an old geezer being protected by a twerp," he chuckled.

"Don't mock me!" she said hotly. "And you're not that old," she added with a reassuring smile.

"Me?" Alphonse cried, astonished. "Are you sure you don't mean Aislinn?"

"I do not," Katie said firmly, shaking her head for emphasis.

"I can't save the world…" he muttered. "I don't have that kind of power," he added as a rather pointless afterthought.

"You do; you just haven't accessed it yet," she grinned. "The time will come when you will tap into your full and true power and save this land from my sins."

"It must be hard for you…" he said lamely.

"What parent does not agonize over the sins of their offspring?" she asked, not really expecting an answer. Not that Alphonse could give one. "But it's an issue between my children and I trust them to resolve it."

"Speaking of children, did you see what Ai and Marcus found?" he inquired.

"I did. The Lie is already planning his offensive to destroy this world and reshape it as he desires," she answered darkly. "Very clever of him, actually, using people of this world as portals through which he can send increments of his power. Even I wouldn't have thought of something like that."

"How can I access my true power?" Alphonse asked seriously.

"You must accept your destiny and use the key bestowed upon you to awaken them," she nodded.

"You've been reading Christin's comic books, haven't you?" he asked pointedly. He was skeptical as this sounded rather sketchy.

"It sounds like it, but it isn't. this is no fairy tale, Alphonse Elric, but harsh reality. Everyone has a purpose for which they were born. It's my job to make sure you fulfill yours, as it is my beloved's job to make sure Christin fulfills hers," she smiled knowingly.

"But how can you be certain it's us?" he asked almost desperately.

"As if it isn't obvious," she sniffed, flipping a lock of black hair over her shoulder. "You do realize how many times you and Christin have almost died, right? Think about it: someone's trying to dispose of you before you can do anything."

"What'll happen to you when this is all over?" he inquired.

"Well, I have another century, more or less, before I have to reincarnate, so I guess I'll figure something out," she chuckled. "I've been doing it since the very beginning, so I'm sure I'll think of something."

"That's good," he replied, failing to stifle a yawn.

"Get some rest, you've had a long day," she chided gently as she stood up and walked out of the room. Alphonse rubbed his eyes and yawned again, shuffling to his bedroom. He let his body fall against the cold sheets and fluffy pillows, enjoying the contrast they provided against the lingering heat.

Sooner or later, he realized, he's have to look at the world through brand new eyes.

A/N: okay, so the term 'brand new eyes' is from Paramore's new Cd thing. It refers to Rio directly and to Alphonse, Ai, and Marcus metaphorically. I can't reveal too much about Ai and Marcus's roles yet, mostly cuz people will get mad at me. Let's just say Marcus has to live and Ai has to make sure he lives. It's kinda complicated but when I get around to explaining everything it'll make sense. I hope…

Okay, not sure if I'll be able to crank out chapter 22 before June 5 or not… we'll see, now won't we?

Until chapter 22… in which we find out why Ed's become a cute little kitty!