The New Eye

President Lily Aranea, Doll Corps Commander Adam Gray, and General Matt Douglas were all sitting together in the war room.

Lily chuckled. She had wanted to declare total war on the Empire for ages, but instituting conscription and a war economy would be unpopular without any real justification. However, with the Doll Corps HQ incident, all that was needed was to pin the attack on the Empire and they’d have all the justification needed. There would still be grumbling, but such a flagrant attack would be impossible to overlook.

“Adam, what’s the status on that Gwehrtain doll?”

“You mean Edea? She’s agreed to join us under the condition that she gets to take down Velvet.”

“I see. Well, whatever it takes to get her to cooperate. Two should be enough, but it’ll be good to take the remaining Gwehrtain dolls alive, so try and rein her in. I expect the Doll Corps to serve as our vanguard with Edea leading the charge. Prepare as best you can in the meantime.”

“Understood.”

With the Doll Corps sorted, Lily turned her attention towards the leader of the Republican military. “General Douglas, how long until we’re fully mobilized?”

“Six weeks minimum.”

“Six weeks? Are you serious? Can’t you speed that up? Those imps are like rats! If you don’t kill them in one hit, they’ll just scurry off!”

“The conscripts need to be trained which will take some time. Not to mention, we have a weapons shortage, so I’ve ordered some from a dealer down south.”

“You idiot!” She slammed her fist down on the table. “The battlefield will be their training! And what do you mean a weapons shortage? What happened to that cache we found last year?”

“Most of those guns are heavily rusted and barely usable.”

Lily rubbed her chin, feigning thought. “So you’re saying they’re usable? Then equip the troops with those.”

“Ms. Aranea, with all due respect, I highly advise against that—”

“Don’t you get it! If we’re to defeat the Empire, it’s all about speed and numbers! We need to be as powerful, overwhelming, and unexpected as a tsunami!”

Douglas desperately pleaded, “But without proper training and equipment, the casualties will be immense—”

“Sacrifices are necessary in war!” With a deathly stare, she lowered her voice and threatened, “Now, I don’t think you need to be reminded of the repercussions that may follow if you remain so determined to ignore orders. Understand?”

Douglas finally relented. “Yes, ma’am…”

***

A simple alchemical concoction had put Velvet into a deep slumber. She was currently spread across Suzie’s desk, being examined. It was clear that she had gone through a fierce battle. Besides just her missing leg and eye, she had other small damages all over. However, one thing particularly impressed her. Suzie had been practicing alchemy for most of her life. Some might even consider her a master, but while she could tell that Velvet once before had had severe damages repaired, those repairs were almost imperceptible.

“You fixed her before, right? It’s hard to tell where you made the repairs. They’re almost flawless.”

“Really?”

“Yeah…” As she leaned in, Suzie frowned. Felix had always been a prodigy… but this was something else. Pushing off her desk, she got up. “Well, that’s it from me.”

“Huh, what are you talking about?” Felix, who had been watching her, was genuinely confused.

“You’re gonna heal Velvet. Feel free to borrow any tools or supplies you need.”

“Suzie, are you sure?”

“Of course. An alchemist should fix their own doll, that’s what I think at least.”

Felix chuckled. “‘An alchemist should fix their own dolls,’ huh?”

“That’s right.” She started walking out of the room. “So be sure to treat her nice, okay?”

Leaving Felix to his work, Suzie went upstairs to her room. While she did believe what she said, a part of her just didn’t want to admit that he could do a better job than her.

***

It took several days to heal Velvet. However, while Felix managed to reattach her leg and get her looking like new, there was one thing he had a lot of trouble with.

“Damn it!” Felix lost his temper, chucking the small glass ball at the wall, shattering it into a thousand tiny shards.

All it took was one slip of the hand and the eye was ruined. Eyes were very particular, requiring a special process to make and a highly skilled alchemist. It was something he spent hours and even days mulling over. Day and night he would produce prototypes, but not even one was close to matching the original. No matter what he tried, the color, the texture, the shape, none of it was right. He tried countless techniques, and even snuck out in the middle of the night to pick up some new pigments to make more colors, but to no avail. Nothing he tried worked.

It was late at night, and Felix had once again spent the entire day working, and was planning to work for several more hours, that was until Velvet approached him.

“Felix… About my eye…”

He rubbed his eyes. “Yeah, I’m sorry I haven’t been able to make you a new one yet. Gwehrtain really did an amazing job. They’re absolutely beautiful, and the deep scarlet of your iris is something I can’t even begin to recreate.”

Velvet blushed. ”Th-thank you, Felix…but…you really don’t need to trouble yourself over it so much…”

“Hm? What do you mean?”

“What I mean is… I appreciate what you’ve done for me… I love my eyes, but you’ve done a really good job thus far, so…I believe I’ll be happy with whatever you make…”

It was almost like Felix’s heart stopped for a second. He felt the slightest tear in the corner of his eye. “I see… Thank you…” He rubbed the corner of his eye and looked away. Velvet’s words had truly touched him.

“Yes… Now can you please get to bed? It’s late.”

With a chuckle, he replied, “Of course, of course.”

***

After a great sleep, Felix woke up the next morning and with a clear head, started work on Velvet’s eye. He could never match the work of the great Alfred Gwehrtain, but he was still a competent alchemist in his own right. He worked the entire day at an efficient pace. He glided through the process, nailing each step. As for the most important part, the iris, he mixed a beautiful, deep, velvety red, that shone brightly in the light like stars in the night sky.

“Okay, Velvet, I’m done. Here, take a look.”

“No, that’s quite all right.”

“Hm? You don’t want to see it?”

“I don’t, just put it in.”

Following her request, Felix set down Velvet on the table and carefully inserted the new eye into her socket. Once it popped in, it was like Felix’s heart had stopped. His eyes widened and breathing froze.

Velvet blinked twice, getting used to her new eye. She looked up at Felix and asked, “How is it?”

With a blush, Felix grabbed a nearby mirror. “Um, here, take a look.”

Velvet’s new eye was similar, but also completely different. Her original eye was beautiful, practically perfect, and the iris was the finest shade of red one had ever seen. However, her new eye shone with passion. The color was rich, luxurious, and darker, but it sparkled like a ruby. With the new eye, she now had mild heterochromia, but the new color gave her almost a kind of edge.

After a good look, Velvet slowly put down the mirror and looked up at her medium and smiled. “Thank you, Felix. I love it.”