This is set between the threads Corruption, Lies, and Heretics and Universal Panacea on the RP Board. For more background, you can look there.

I do not own anything but Riya. Everything else belongs to the singer of the song "Torn" and the people on the RP boards. Great job guys!

I thought I saw a man brought to life
He was warm
He came around like he was dignified
He showed me what it was to cry

Riya wanted to sob in the hotel room. Downstairs, she could hear Roy, Miaki, Ms. Hanna, and Daemon talking. She could not join them, however, she couldn't let go. Alastor was dying, and she didn't even know where he was. There, on her bed, tears trickled down her face in unsteady spurts. Riya hadn't cried for years, why did she do so now?

Well you couldn't be that man I adored
You don't seem to know
Seem to care what your heart is for
But I don't know him anymore
There's nothing where he used to lie
The conversation has run dry
That's what's going on
Nothing's fine I'm torn

Inside Riya knew it was because she felt betrayed. She'd viewed Alastor as a role-model of sorts, perfect in his faults. But now, he seemed like a whole diffrent person, nothing like the man she thought she knew. He'd just vanished, gone like wind. No, that wasn't right. Riya was strong enough to harness the most unpredictable of elements, wind. Why couldn't she control a mere man, then, if she was so strong?

A knock came to her door, Hanna's voice asked if she was okay and if she wanted to eat something.

No! I'm not alright! She wanted to scream. Years of solitude shut the words off at her throat and rearranged them into the two words she could not say honestly. "I'm fine." She couldn't speak tot hem anymore, not without feeling terrible.

I'm all out of faith
This is how I feel
I'm cold and I am shamed
Lying naked on the floor
Illusion never changed
Into something real
I'm wide awake
And I can see
The perfect sky is torn
You're a little late
I'm already torn

As the footsteps left her locked door, Riya undid her silver locks, letting them cascade down her back. She got up, but tripped over her oen feet and fell on the floor. Defeated for the first time, the girl lay where she had fallen. She thought she heard a chuckle and looked toward her window. There sat Alastor, his sheepish grin on his dark features. Riya looked up, unbelieving. As soon as she blinked, she began to mutter curses at herself. Nobody was there.

Dragging herself to the windowsill, she looked outside. The sky was daylight in the west, skies crimson as blood with the setting sun. That was the part of her that wanted to go out and stop the enevitable war. It wanted to save Alastor no matter what the cost and slay her mother just for the satisfaction of revenge.

The other side was a deep shade of blue and black. The stars were hidden behind clouds, concealing all thing. Tonight was the night of the new moon, she remembered. It was her favorite night of all, for she could steal as she pleased without fear of being seen. That was the part that wanted to turn her back on all of this and go back to Creta, where she had been happy and fairly content. But after all of this, would she be able to? For the first time, Riya was completely, utterly torn.

So I guess the fortune teller's right
i Should have seen just what was there
And not some holy light
it crawled beneath my veins
And now I don't care
I had no luck
I don't miss it all that much
There's just so many things
That I can touch I'm torn

Riya remembered her days as a mere rouge. She was one of the youngest on the streets and proud of it to. She had once, on a dare, went to see a fortune teller. The old man had told her someday, there would be a great battle fought, and she would be in the middle. Many lives would depend on her disicion in that battle, the man had said. Riya had always looked for State Alchemist after that, seeing if a great war would begin. She'd never known that the war the man had spoke about would begin right there, in her own heart.

But somehow, Riya knew that she could never go on with her life as it had been and still be content. She longed for it with wistful determination, but common sense made the goal unobtainable. Even though Riya was wiser than her years form her rugged life, she was still young and there were some subjects she was unable to understand fully. Would this make her a weakness for her friends when they traveled to Xing? Yes, it would.

I'm all out of faith
This is how I feel
I'm cold and I am shamed
Lying naked on the floor
Illusion never changed
Into something real
I'm wide awake
And I can see
The perfect sky is torn
You're a little late
I'm already torn
Torn

Now, in her minds eye, she saw her mother. The woman looked at her, a crazed bloodlust in her eyes. Her voice terrified the 13 year old and made her cry out. She was silent for a minute, until she had confirmed nobody had come to investigate the strangled yelp. Her face was red with shame. How could one image make her feel so helpless? What had happened to the strength she had once possessed? A voice came to the door, Kimio. "Riya, do you need someone to come in there?" Riya netally cursed her friend. A few minutes ago, she would have allowed the comfort, but now she just replied with a polite refusal as Kimio's steps retreated.

hoooooooooo hohooooooo hohoooo

There's nothing where he used to lie
My inspiration has run dry
That's what's going on
Nothing's right I'm torn

I'm all out of faith
This is how I feel
I'm cold and I am shamed
Lying naked on the floor
Illusion never changed
Into something real
I'm wide awake
And I can see
The perfect sky is torn

Looking out at the sky once more, Riya saw that the sky was not as evenly divided as it once appeared. It was early dusk, at the light of the fading sun dominated the sky from the dark clutches of night. Taking it as a sign, Riya set her face in grim determination. No more indesicion, she thoght. The time to fight for herself was at hand.

I'm all out of faith
This is how I feel
I'm cold and I'm ashamed
Bound and broken on the floor
You're a little late
I'm already torn
Torn.

Still, her hazel eyes were read from crying. Even if she did help and Alastor was saved, she would never be the girl she once was. No longer could she try and hold any right to innocnece. Just as the Elrics had when they joined the military, she gave up all claims to childhood. Even with her mind set up and her door opening slowly to let her face the world, Riya Blackwood admitted to herself:

"I'm already torn."


(Not very good, but I had to write something. I'm thinking about a more uplifting sequel, since this was kinda sad. If you think this suck, please try and say it in a nice way or say nothing at all.)

I liked it! But Oh my god! o_____o You make the situation more sad then it already is!

*Cries and is deeply moved*

I agree with Krazy ;_; this is great... but making the story so much sadder.. in a good way though. I may end up crying by the end of sequel if u make it :(