Equivalent Exchange
A/N: Another oneshot. I wrote this last year; just now getting around to uploading it. I was talking to my friend Lyco Rogue on Facebook and somehow we ended up talking about Vic Mignogna (HE'S EPICALLY AWESOME! I'VE MET HIM BEFORE! X3) And then this little idea was born in my head.
Disclaimer: This is a work of fan-fiction. This was NOT written for profit. I do NOT own any elements of Hey Arnold or Full Metal Alchemist/Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood. Hey Arnold was created by Craig Bartlett and is currently owned by Nickelodeon/Viacom. Full Metal Alchemist/Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood was created by/is owned by Hiromu Arakawa and is licensed by Madman Entertainment (Australia), Funimation Entertainment (North America), and Revelation Films (United Kingdom).
Thank you.
Equivalent Exchange
Written by: Brittany R./FoxieSango
Water, 35 litres.
Carbon, 20kg.
Ammonia, 4 litres.
Lime, 1.5kg.
Phosperus, 800g.
Salt, 250 g.
Saltpeter, 100g.
Sulphur, 80g.
Fluorine, 7.5g.
Iron, 5g.
Silicon 3g.
And fifteen other trace elements.
Those are the elements to make an average adult human body. You can buy these elemental ingredients at the market with the pocket money of a child. Humans are made so cheaply.
-Edward Elric, "Full Metal Alchemist"
"Mom...Dad...it's my fault. It's all my fault," he wheezed. His body was stiff and taught. He couldn't breathe, couldn't think, everything around him was spinning.. He was doused in sweat, soaked to the bone.
Nothing made sense.
"My fault...all my...he's...they're not..." he sobbed; salt-water stung the edges of his eyes, searing a trail down his face. Snot bubbled up, clogging his throat and nostrils. There was sticky, red liquid everywhere. All over his torso, his shoulder, his waist, his legs, his face. It keep flowing over. He was dying.
"Arnold! Arnold, my love you have to calm down..." a soft voice whispered, placing an ice-cold towel over his eyes. He groaned, breath coming in fast pants.
"It's not...this...damn it! This wasn't supposed to happen!" he whined, another choked sobbed.
"We're losing him!" A stern voice shouted.
The being beside him held her breath, clutching his arm tightly.
"Oh my beloved, what happened to you...?"
**6 Months Earlier**
It was the end of May,
A fifteen year old Arnold Shortman was leaning against the pillar of the library, a burgandy book in his hand. It was worn around the edges, and the smell of mothballs flooded his nostrils. He was blind to surrounding world, so he didn't notice his best friend coming up to him.
"ARNOLD! My man!" a heavy arm slung itself around the neck of the unsuspecting boy, causing him to lose his balance and drop the book.
"Gah! Gerald!" He exclaimed light-heartedly as his companion gave him a noogie.
"Man! It's SUMMER BREAK! What the heck are you doing with your nose in a book?! Your eyes should be glued to a videogame screen! Why aren't you at the arcade?!" the dark-skinned boy asked. Arnold squirmed his way out of Gerald's hold and tried to fix his hair. It didn't do much good.
"I've just...been looking into something," he said with a smile, bending to pick up the book. Gerald promptly snatched it from his hands.
"'The History of Alchemy?' Man! What happened to picking up the latest issues of the Pop Daddy comic or snatching a copy of the newest release of the Hardy Boys?" he scrunched up his face. "This sounds like the kinda stuff that'll melt your brain like candle wax," he held the corner of the book between his thumb and forefinger in mock-disgust. Arnold took the book from him and shoved it in his backpack with a smile.
"It's pretty interesting stuff Gerald. Some people relied a lot on alchemy years ago before the advances of science and modern medicine. And some current societies still practice it today."
"Uh-huh, that's nice Arnold. Guess who's got a date with the HOTTEST girl in school toniiiiight!" Gerald grinned cheekily from ear to ear. Arnold inwardly rolled his eyes. The matter was really trivial anyway. Gerald didn't really need to know about it. No sense in weighing down his summer with Arnold's problems. For now, he'd just let Gerald ramble on about how smooth he was in finally coaxing a certain Asian-Kentucky genius into going out with him.
**Two months later**
"OI! Football-head! Get your ass out here before it starts snowing or something!" Snow? In the middle of July? ...actually not too strange for Hillwood. Weather there changed so quickly that once Arnold swore it was blazing hot, then freezing with snow within a 42 hour time period. Arnold leaned out of his window, staring down at his girlfriend of the past 4 years. They had hooked up officially when they were 11, but flirted on and off quite a bit before that.
"I'm kinda busy working on something Helga."
"You think I care?! Look! Bottom line Arnold. If I'm out in this heat then I want my, smokin' boyfriend out here with me so I can take full advantage of him! Now get down here in one of your thin t-shirts so we can have some fun in the sun! Or better yet, come out shirtless!" she winked. Arnold flushed.
"Y-you would like that wouldn't you?!" he cried, a bit skittish. She waggled her unibrow, grinning ear-to-ear.
"You know me all too well Arnoldo," her lids lowered sultrily. Arnold's did the same...he was tempted so tempted. He looked back at the endless pages of research he had strewn across his bed and on the floor. He was understanding the basics more, close to a breakthrough but...he supposed he could take a break. For her.
**Two months later**
He understood.
He understood the basics.
He understood the formulas.
He understood the chemical compounds.
He understood the physics.
He understood the mathematics.
He understood the science.
He understood the practice.
He understood the technique.
Now...he needed to put it into action.
Early morning, before first bell, her locker closed in front of her face. She gasped.
"What the-"
"Happy anniversary, babe," he grinned lovingly, presenting her with a single object in his palm. It was a dove, constructed out of metal. She blinked,
"Wha-...Arnold, when did you take up welding hair-boy?" A twinkle in his eyes,
"That's for me to know and...me to know."
"Oy, no secrets Football-head, remember?" His right arm slipped around her waist as he pressed her against the lockers.
"Hm, not even if they allow me to give you surprises like this one?" he held up the dove again. Her arms wrapped around his neck,
"You're treading on dangerous territory hiding things from me, Shortman. You know I'll find out eventually."
"Maybe...for now though, I'll take my chances. Kinda used to living life on the edge where you're concerned," there was a devious twinkle in his eye as he leaned forward to capture her lips.
**One month later**
October had just arrived. There was a chill in the air. Dark-hued leaves were just starting to dance on the wind.
And he... was not his normal self.
He was anxious, nervous, uptight, jittery, fidgety... all the time.
They chalked it up to the usual tidal wave of emotions around his time. His birthday and...THAT day...being so close together. Maybe after all these years it was finally driving him mad.
Mad.
The evening before his birthday, the boarders were out for a night on the town, each to their own. His grandparents had left to get some groceries for dinner.
He was alone.
The kneecaps of his pajamas and palms became matted with white dust as he crawled around, sketching out the chalk based-graphic for his...project? Experiment?
"Water, 35 litres. Carbon, 20kg. Ammonia, 4 litres. Lime, 1.5kg. Phosphorus, 800g. Salt, 250 g. Saltpeter, 100g. Sulphur, 80g. Fluorine, 7.5g. Iron, 5g. Silicon 3g. ...I think that's everything..." he reviewed his facts, highlighted in his journal; the same journal his dad had left behind. There had been a few extra pages within that had been blank for usage behind that map. He looked over to the photo of his parents. He had blown off a double date with Gerald, Phoebe, and Helga tonight for this. But it didn't matter...
Tomorrow they'd all be together.
All of them.
"Better start with one first, to make sure it works. ...Dad. I hope you're ready to come home. And don't worry mom, you'll be right behind him." Arnold spoke softly to the picture. The two adults beamed back at him. He could practically feel their spirits in the room with him already.
"Just need a little bit of my DNA..." he picked up a knife and cut a small slit in his forefinger, wincing as the blood dripped. He held his finger above the graphic on his floor. It dripped, splattering to the ground. He then fell to his knees, placing both hand on the circle; he closed his eyes and concentrated.
"Human kind cannot gain anything without first giving something in return. To obtain, something of equal value must be lost. That is alchemy's first law of equivalent exchange."
-Alphonse Elric, "Full Metal Alchemist"
"ARNOLD!"
"ARRRGGHHH!"
Blinding flashes, chaos everywhere. A harsh wind smashed glass from his windows, demolishing everything in its path. Blood...so much blood; dripping down the walls and coating the floor. He was lying on his stomach...head pounding. A leg was missing, and an arm was slowly disintegrating.
"FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, MAKE IT STOP! MAKE IT STOP!" He cried...hot tears streaming down his face. This wasn't supposed to happen. A careening screech pierced the room...that...thing...that black, charred, tarred mass of flesh and tendons, a product of the exchange, was crawling towards Arnold. His friends gasped in horror.
"The hell-?!" his best friend rasped. Gerald picked up a nearby broom and thwacked at the wheezing creature. Helga was drenched in blood, holding Arnold close to her form. Phoebe was flipping through the book of Alchemy, looking for the chant to cease the...transaction.
She found it.
Shouted out the mantra in repetition...over and over and over again.
A coarse wind stopped blowing through the destroyed window.
The creatures hissed once before melting into a steaming, black liquid goo. It's stench reeked of a rotted, burned, dead corpse.
"A-arnold?" Helga's voice breathed just above a whisper as she held her love close to her heart, as if trying to become one with him. Arnold's pupils were dilated with fear, he was frozen...muttering nonsensical words as he stared at the now immobile mass. No matter how he tried, he couldn't tear his eyes away from that...that...thing. Helga rocked him as he crooned in pain.
So much pain...
He had failed...
He was dying...
"Mom...Dad...it's my fault. It's all my fault," he wheezed. His body was stiff and taught. He couldn't breathe, couldn't think, everything around him was spinning.. He was doused in sweat, soaked to the bone.
Nothing made sense.
"My fault...all my...he's...they're not..." he sobbed; salt-water stung the edges of his eyes, searing a trail down his face. Snot bubbled up, clogging his throat and nostrils. There was sticky, red liquid everywhere. All over his torso, his shoulder, his waist, his legs, his face. It keep flowing over. He was dying.
"Arnold! Arnold, my love you have to calm down..." a soft voice whispered, placing an ice-cold towel over his eyes. He groaned, breath coming in fast pants.
"It's not...this...damn it! This wasn't supposed to happen!" he whined, another choked sobbed.
"We're losing him!" A stern voice shouted.
The being beside him held her breath, clutching his arm tightly.
"Oh my beloved, what happened to you...?"
~End
A/N: I'll leave the rest up to your imagination.
Reviews are welcome!
-FoxieSango