Fullmetal Alchemist Fan Fiction ❯ Anti-Existentialism ❯ Prologue: A Butterfly In Xing ( Prologue )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

By: BHS

Anti-Existentialism

Hello, everyone! I am BHS, and this is my story. It is not anywhere near to being my first work, but it is one of the first stories I really have a good feeling about. I would absolutely love it if you were all to read and review this, and offer constructive criticism. I will probably update this, on average, about once every week or so. Variations will occur, but I assure you that I will not abandon it.

I'm the one writing this. My name is `Drof', and I would probably dislike you all if I met you.

Drof! Be nice. Well…This is the overall plot of the story: A series of freakish murders caused by bored Homunculi breeds nervousness in the population of Central City. Slowly, the simmering cauldron of oil that is fear comes to a boil and is poured out over the entire country of Amestris, and civil war breaks out. While the Amestrian military is trying frantically to prevent another Ishbal in their own country, Ishbalan insurgents, led by a persuasively violent young man with very radical ideas, rise up and begin waging holy war on Amestris from within. And then, to top it all off, Xing attacks Amestris as well, throwing everything into a state of utter chaos.

While this is happening, Envy wanders out into the streets of Central, absolutely itching for a fight. And, like the three wise men who were led to the baby Christ, he is led by some mysterious sixth sense to the Elric brothers. Before he has time to fight them, the Monster trapped inside him nearly breaks out, driving him to the very brink of insanity and then pushing him over. He passes out, and is carried by a compassionate Alphonse to the military head-quarters, where he promptly escapes again. Once he is brought back, he is kept under lock and key (and the watchful eye of Al), while around him all hell breaks loose. And slowly, very slowly, he begins to realize that perhaps he doesn't hate the Elrics (or at least one particular Elric) as much as he thought he did…

Disclaimer: We own nothing.

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Prologue: A Butterfly In Xing

Everything is caused by something else. The smallest pebble will, if thrown in the right place, cause huge ripples. A butterfly flapping its wings in Xing will cause a tornado in Amestris. Everything is caused by something else, which in turn causes something else, which causes something else, and so on and so forth.

Everything happens for a reason, as well. Even if it seems like the occurrence in question is a random act of fate, it's for a reason. This usually only become apparent later on, and by then the people involved have usually forgotten about what started everything.

Only those who take the time to stop and ponder their circumstances really grasp this, and only a rare few of those actually get it. Those who do get it realize that they have absolutely no control over their fates whatsoever, and are usually the people you find ranting and raving on street-corners after they were fired on account of not doing anything, seeing as how they can't control their own fates.

However, even if you can't exactly control your own fate, you can sort of influence it. Nudge it a bit in the right direction. You know what I mean.

It is not impossible to be at the right place at the right time, but it is very, very hard, and it typically involves hanging about in one place for awhile and missing all the chances at better things that go by. However, it is so much easier and more convenient to hang about any old place whenever you want and make it be the right time.

There are many people in this world who don't quite get how to do that until it is far, far too late, and they usually have to shout obscene things when they come to this realization and cause old ladies to drop things on their toes in shock. So, you see, it's just so much better to make your own time and place and make them right.

Two such people were the Elric brothers. In fact, the Elric brothers can be quite conveniently used as a model for most of these ideas. When Edward and Alphonse were younger, their mother died. At the time, they didn't know why, and they didn't understand that it was for a reason. All they knew was that their caretaker was gone, and that they were all alone.

When they were ten years old, they performed a human transmutation in an attempt to bring her back, and instead created the Homunculus Sloth. Of course, they didn't know that at the time either. All they knew about that was that the thing they had brought back was a pulsating lump of bones and organs turned sideways and backwards and inside out and with way too many elbows.

All alchemy operates on the theory of Equivalent Exchange: In order for something to be gained, something of equal value must be lost. In order to bring back the monstrosity that used to be their mother, the Elric brothers had to sacrifice something. Edward Elric lost his left arm; his little brother, Alphonse, lost his entire body.

By sacrificing his right leg, Edward was able to regain his brother's soul and bind it to a suit of armor using a rune drawn in his own blood. Edward had to have prosthetic auto-mail limbs constructed for him, and Alphonse became an unfeeling hunk of metal.

The two brothers set out to remedy their mistake. They no longer wanted to bring their mother back; they merely wanted to regain their bodies. So, they set out on a search for the Philosopher's Stone, a near-magical substance rumored to be able to suspend the laws of alchemy and perform great feats with little or no sacrifice in return.

This quest led them first to the house of a man named Shou Tucker, where they witnessed a terrible piece of alchemy: Tucker, in order to pass his State Alchemist assessment, fused his own daughter and his dog together to create a chimera that could speak.

This quest also led them to the town of Liore, where a false prophet was using what turned out to be a fake Philosopher's Stone to feign miracles and gain the trust of the people.

Indeed, the Elrics traveled all over in search of the elusive elixir, and while it was always so near, they never seemed to get any closer. Every new lead just led to a dead end.

And now, let's take a look at things for a moment and apply our earlier theory to them, shall we?

Had Hohenheim, Edward and Alphonse's father, never left, Trisha wouldn't have fallen ill. Had Trisha not fallen ill, she wouldn't have died. Had Trisha not died, Edward and Alphonse wouldn't have attempted to bring her back, and they wouldn't have ended up with the bodies that they did. Had they never ended up like that, they never would have searched for the Philosopher's Stone. Had they never searched for the Philosopher's Stone, they never would have been led to an old abandoned military lab.

Had they never been led in their search to an old abandoned laboratory, they would have never met the Homunculi Lust, Envy, and Gluttony. Had they never met Lust, Envy, and Gluttony, this entire story would never have taken place.

You see how such a small thing can cause so many other events? A man left his wife, and, as a result, his sons ended up becoming heroes of the people and, a bit later on, were involved in some rather shady events with a deadly enemy of the military while holy hell broke out all around them.

This is the story of that occurrence. I do so hope that you like it.

~The loyal servant of truth and recorder of history as it happens, so that all may at some point view it

~Servant of the unseen

PS: Events are connected in the most ridiculous of manners, aren't they?

PPS: I'm writing this in a sort of story-form. I felt it to be appropriate, for it isquite a tale. Iam sure I will be scolded for my frivolity, but do leave it like this. I rather fancy it.

PPPS: This room really is rather drafty. I would so enjoy a fire. Well, enough of my babbling.

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About that end bit…Have you ever read DragonLance? This character is rather like Astinus. Please review and give constructive criticism! I will be so very happy.