Fullmetal Alchemist Fan Fiction ❯ Torn Existence ❯ Dante's Plan ( Chapter 3 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

I was about to inquire as to why she addressed me as Greed when someone else came through the door. There was no mistaking the piercing, violet eyes and wild, dark green hair. The slender but muscular form of Envy walked over to the bed and grinned down at me. “So, which one do we have?”

The woman grabbed my left hand and scrutinized it. “Judging by the location of her Ouroboros, it looks like we have a new Greed. But what puzzles me is that the symbol is not complete.”

Envy snatched my hand out of the woman’s. “Strange, there’s only half of it.”

Envy unceremoniously dropped my hand on the bed and leaned casually against the wall. “Well as long as she’s one of us, I don’t give a damn. Now that everyone thinks that fool of an alchemist has succeeded, it won’t be difficult to rebuild the homunculi.”

The woman sat back down. “I told you Envy, we don’t need them all. I only need a couple more to help me create a Philosopher’s Stone.”

Envy scowled at the woman. “But I want them all! Can you imagine what we’ll be able to do when we have all seven? We can change the way this whole country runs, fit it to out liking.”

“I don’t have time for that right now. This body is not going to last me much longer; I need a Stone as soon as possible.”

Envy’s eyes narrowed. “You seem to be forgetting who does all of the work, Dante. Where is my reward?”

“Don’t call me that. I’m your master, and you will address me as such,” she replied coolly. “And you seem to be forgetting who provides the red stones that enable you homunculi to exist in the first place. You‘ll get what you want, just be patient.”

Envy looked like he wanted to argue, but kept his mouth shut. He seemed to be stalling, and Dante noticed.

“Shouldn’t you be getting back to Edward?” she asked.

Envy grimaced. “Hasn’t it been long enough? Everyone believes he succeeded, I don’t see why I need to hang around there any longer. He makes me nauseous.”

Edward. He was the one who tried to transmute me, the fool. It was the strangest feeling; I remembered everything about him, everything that we‘d gone through together. But I didn’t harbor any feelings of affection for him, as my memories told me I once had.

With difficulty I found my voice and croaked, “Why do I remember, but not feel?”

The two of them turned to me, surprised.

“What are you talking about?” Dante asked.

I took a few deep breaths before continuing in a raspy voice, “I though homunculi weren’t supposed to remember their past life.”

Dante raised an eyebrow. “And you do?”

“Yes,” I answered. “But I don’t feel the same way about it. I loved those people back then. I don’t anymore.”

“That’s because you’re a homunculus, you’re not supposed to feel things like love.”

Envy tapped his chin in thought. “You know, the pipsqueak mentioned something that might have to do with this. He said something about waiting for him, like I was supposed to know what he meant. Maybe something happened when I killed him…”

“He told me to wait,” I explained. “At the Gate. So he wouldn’t have to reach too far for my soul, he told me to wait at the crossroads between the land of the living and the land of the dead.”

Dante’s face was thoughtful as she replied, “I think Edward may have come closer to success than we thought.”

Envy gave her a quizzical look. “What do you mean?”

“When homunculi are born, they don’t possess souls. That’s what makes them what they are.” She looked again at my Ouroboros before continuing. “But Edward
didn’t have to reach as far for the soul like most alchemists do when they attempt a human transmutation. He had but to reach the Gate.”

“What’s your point?” Envy snapped impatiently.

“My point,” Dante continued, “Is that we might have a half-homunculus on our hands. It’s the only way to explain the incomplete Ouroboros and her retention of her memories. In a way, Edward did succeed.”

“But she’s a homunculus, how can you call that a success?” Envy protested.

Dante spared Envy an annoyed glance before continuing. “Were you not listening? I said she’s only half. The only explanation is that she possesses Marie’s soul, but it’s dormant. This must also be the reason she looks exactly as she did before she died. Most homunculi only bear a resemblance to their former selves, but she’s a mirror image of Marie.”

At the concerned look on Envy’s face, she added, “I wouldn’t worry. Even if she has a soul, I doubt there’s any way to evoke it. And as long as it remains dormant,
she’s a homunculus.”

I stared up at the ceiling as I let this all sink in. I felt like I should have hated Envy for killing Edward, but I didn’t. I suddenly remembered when Envy had kidnapped me. It seemed like it had happened centuries ago. I remembered hating Envy, I remembered loving Edward, I remembered caring deeply for Alphonse and even Roy Mustang. But all of that was gone. The memory of it was there, but nothing else. It was not a pleasant feeling.

Dante’s voice snapped me out of my stupor. “It’s only been three days since it happened. Just stay with Edward for a few more days, then come back here. By that time Greed should be recuperated.”

Envy groaned. “Do you have any idea how hard it is to be right next to that jackass and not be able to kill him? It’s torture!”

“I want you to stay with him as long as possible. Once you leave word may spread that Marie acted strangely after she was brought back, and people are going to get squeamish again about transmuting humans. That‘s why we need to hurry, and that‘s why you need to stay as long as possible.”

Envy sighed. “It’s so boring. That town Resembool, we went there so he could get a new arm. There is absolutely nothing going on.” A halo of light appeared at his head, and it continued down his body until it disappeared to reveal an exact replica of myself. “And I can’t kill anything as long as I have to keep up this stupid act. I have no way of relieving any tension.”

That was who I’d heard speaking that night, when Edward transmuted me. He had been talking to Envy, in my form. Or rather, Marie’s form.

Envy finally left, and I pretended to go back to sleep. I didn’t quite know what to make of this Dante, and didn’t feel much like talking to her.

Back at Winry’s I was fitted with another arm. She and Pinako never met Marie and Al didn’t recognize her, so they didn’t know right off what was going on.
I had no choice but to tell them what I’d done. Their reaction was angry at first, but they were awestruck when they realization hit that I’d actually succeeded.
After my arm was attached and rehabilitation began, I was disappointed and worried by Marie’s behavior. Pinako and Winry did everything they could to make her feel at home, but she still seemed so distant. I just wanted to spend time with her, and get Al to know her again, but she was always either sleeping or going off by herself. I was heartbroken that she didn’t seem to ever want to be around me. Or anyone else, for that matter.

Not five days after we came to Resembool, she disappeared. She left behind a note that said she was leaving, and not to come after her.

I didn’t know what to do. I tried to think of what I might have done to make her leave, but I’d barely seen her at all since I brought her back.
Everyone reacted differently to the situation. Pinako was silent about the whole thing. Al did everything he could to make me feel better, and I’d never seen Winry angrier.

“How could she do that to you? After all you sacrificed for her?!” Winry yelled the morning after Marie left, when we found the note. “That bitch, she can’t just leave
after everything we’ve done for her!”

“Don’t call her that,” I growled, fighting back tears.

“How can you defend her after what she did?”

I couldn’t bring myself to meet her gaze, and continued to stare at the floor. “You don’t understand, Winry. Marie’s not like that at all, there’s something wrong.”

Winry sat down next to me and forced her voice to soften as she said, “Ed, you should have never tried to bring her back. Maybe people just aren’t the same afterwards. There’s a reason human transmutation is forbidden. Humans aren’t supposed to -”

“Don‘t give me that, Winry! I‘ve heard it all a thousand times!” I yelled, and immediately regretted it.

She looked at me sadly before standing up. “If you’ve heard it so much then why won’t you stop? You think you’re capable of more than you are, Ed. Sometimes you just need to let things be. Stop trying to change the natural course of things, it doesn’t work.”

She left the room, and a steady flow of tears ran down my cheeks. I was getting sick and tired of crying all of the time.

Al walked in, and I hurriedly tried to wipe away the tears. He sat down next to me and I turned to him and forced a small smile.

“Brother, why did she leave?” he asked in a small voice, as if afraid to bring it up.

I sighed and leaned against the back of the couch. “I don’t know, Al. If you remembered her you would understand that something’s not right. The Marie I know would never do this to me.”

Al looked sadly down at the floor. “I wish I could remember her.”

I put a hand on his head and ruffled his hair. “I wish you could too, Al. She really cared about you.”

That was another thing I couldn’t understand. She has hardly shown any sign of emotion at seeing Al back in his normal body. Definitely not the reaction I’d expected, and I felt was angry with her for being so cold toward him, Winry and Pinako.

Despite all my efforts I couldn’t hide my misery from Al, and he put an arm around my shoulders. I finally allowed myself to cry into his shoulder, but I couldn’t help
but feel ashamed of myself. I was the older brother, the one who was supposed to be strong, but it always seemed to be the other way around. Al had always been the
strong one, the one who never gave up. At that moment I was kind of glad he was; I could always depend on him when needed someone to lean on. Maybe he could help me get through this.

Over the next few days, yet more evidence supporting Dante’s theory about my being only a half-homunculus was revealed. Primarily what convinced her was that I needed human food. Most homunculi lived on the red stones - incomplete versions of the Philosopher’s Stone - alone. I didn’t have to eat as often as a normal human though, only about once every other day.

I was finally recovered by the time Envy returned, and Dante didn’t have much to do with me after that. She practically threw me at Envy and told him to help me get to the point where I could use and control my shield. Just as Envy had the ability to transform, I evidently had the power to rearrange the bonds between the carbon atoms in my body to generate a shield.

Envy didn’t seem keen on the idea, but Dante managed to sway him. She reminded him that we were going to have to work together in the upcoming jobs she had for us, and as long as that was the case I was his to deal with. He must have decided that I would be of no use to him as long as I remained as weak as I was, and he began to put me through what he considered training.

I was dressed in the customary black clothes that the homunculi usually wore, sporting a sleeveless midriff shirt that was similar to Envy’s, but was lower cut and loosely fit. As I pulled on black pants and tucked them into black combat boots, I was reminded of Edward and my first hand to hand training session with him. But I would soon find that this experience would be quite different.

The first day Envy dragged me outside I was clumsy in my new body and was having enough trouble just walking, let alone fighting. But I realized I wasn’t going to get any sympathy from him as I suddenly felt the impact of a fist into my abdomen. I doubled over in pain, amazed that I hadn’t even seen the attack coming.

Still clutching at my stomach, I glared at the smirking homunculus. “How the hell am I supposed to -” I began to yell, but was cut off as he ran at me again.

I was unable to dodge his swift kick into my side and I flew to the ground. Envy jumped on top of me, straddling my waist and shooting me an annoyed scowl. “How am I supposed to get any use out of a weakling like you?”

I glowered at him and tried to shove him off me, only to have him grab my wrists and pin them to the ground. He lowered his face to mine until we were only inches apart. “You’re going to go through hell while I make you stronger. I hope you’re prepared.”

Envy stayed true to his word. He was merciless; he seemed to think that relentless sparring was the best way to learn. At the time I didn’t agree, but I have to admit his methods proved to be effective in the end. Unless I wanted to be completely put out of commission, I had no choice but to fight back with everything I had. He never taught me anything, just attacked constantly. After doing this every day for nearly two weeks, I grew accustomed to his patterns of attack and mimicked them. Copying his moves was the only way I could learn anything. The more I improved, the harder he was on me. No matter how fatigued I became, he never let up.

One night, I took a particularly bad beating from him. I was getting better, which meant he was getting tougher. I was lying on the ground, and I’d finally reached my
limit. I tried desperately to get to my feet, but my aching body wouldn’t allow it. Envy began to walk toward me, and I prepared myself for the beating I knew was coming; my punishment for giving up.

He approached me and stood looking down at me for a moment, and I waited for the impact of a jab or a kick. Instead, he dropped to a sitting position at my side and gave me a sideways glance. “That’s enough for now.”

I finally forced myself to a sitting position and eyed him cautiously.

He quirked an eyebrow. “What?”

“What, you getting soft on me now?” I teased. I don’t know why I was provoking him in the condition I was in, but I couldn’t resist.

He laughed that hollow, cackling laugh of his. “Don’t count on it. I just think you’ve gotten strong enough that tomorrow we can see what you can do with your shield. You’ll need to be in decent shape for that, and if this goes on any longer you definitely won’t be.”

There was a long pause, and for some reason I worked up the courage to ask him a few things that had been on my mind.

“What exactly does Dante want us to do?”

Envy grimaced at the name. I could tell he didn’t like Dante much but I didn’t know why. “Once word spreads that that fool Edward succeeded at human transmutation, most likely there’ll be a different attitude about it. The two of us are going to track down skilled alchemists and kill someone close to them, hopefully resulting in their attempting to bring them back. If they don’t, we’ll just go to another one until we reach a fool who finally tries it. I’ll do my little act, people will see it as another success, and another homunculus will be born.” A sadistic grin spread across his face as he added, “Once we have all of the homunculi back, there’ll be no end to the chaos we can cause. This country‘s going to be turned upside down,” he hissed.

It was the strangest thing that his words had no effect on me, but I knew that had I heard them as my former self, they would have terrified me.

“But why does Dante want more homunculi?” I asked.

“She only wants enough to help her create a Philosopher’s Stone. She’s been using the Stone to switch bodies for centuries. But the constant switching takes its
toll; every time she changes bodies a part of her soul is taken as payment and her body begins to rot after a time. The one she’s in is rotting as we speak, which is why she’s in such a hurry.” He was silent for awhile then added, “Humans are such fragile, miserable creatures. I don’t understand why Lust was so hell bent on becoming one.”

“Was?” I asked. I’d had several encounters with Lust, and remembered her vividly.

He glanced at me. “Oh right, you died before that. Lust was killed while she was helping those idiot brothers. I’ll never understand why she did that.”

He stood up and stretched. “Well I’m off, kid. Be ready for tomorrow.”

I rose painfully to my feet. “Off to where?”

He shrugged. “Wherever I feel like. I sure as hell ain’t hanging around that hag.” With that he sped off toward the nearest town, undoubtedly to cause chaos and have what he considered fun.

Too tired and aching to care, I plopped back onto the grass and fell asleep outside.

I woke up in a cold sweat to someone shaking me awake. It was Envy.

“Why are you screaming his name?” he asked, putting a venomous emphasis in the word ‘his’. I’d dreamt about Edward.

I sat up and drew a hand across my forehead, wiping away a sheen of sweat. Envy stood up and gave me a disgusted look. “Don’t tell me you feel something for that bastard,” he sneered.

“Of course not. It was just a nightmare,” I quickly responded. I didn’t mention the twinge of remorse I’d felt during my dream; in it Edward had given his life trying to bring me - or more accurately, Marie - back. He’d succeeded, and I’d returned to find his lifeless body lying in the middle of the array he’d made. But the feeling left almost as quickly as it had come.

“Just out of curiosity,” I asked, “why do you hate him so much?”

He pushed his hair over the shoulder and replied coolly, “I have my reasons.” His grin returned as he added, “You ready, then?”

I nodded, and we began the grueling task of trying to transform my body into the ultimate shield.

Despite Dante’s assurance that the ability should come natural to me, I still had trouble doing it. Every time I failed I was “motivated” - if you can call it that - by Envy’s fist in my face or a kick in the stomach.

Once again, his ruthlessness gave me a reason to work harder, and I finally saw my skin being covered by a dark material, giving me an almost zombie-like appearance. I was satisfied with it and eager to receive approval from Envy, but when I caught his eye he seemed slightly disappointed.

“What? I did it, didn’t I?”

“You didn’t finish.”

“Finish what?”

“The shield, it stops at your neck. It’s supposed to cover your head too.”

The two of us turned at the sound of a door opening. It was Dante, coming out of the house she was staying in while she waited for the opportunity to create
another Stone. I usually hung around, but Envy came and went as he pleased.

“I think that’s as good as it’s going to get,” she said, looking me up and down. “Remember she’s only half; it only makes sense that her shield is different from that of the former Greed. She probably just doesn’t have the energy to expand it any more.”

Envy studied me a little longer and finally shrugged. “I guess that’ll be good enough.”

Dante told us she wanted us to move out as soon as possible, and was already prepared with a long list of alchemists that we could target.