Birth of Prejudice
I don't truly remember where I was or what I was doing before I awoke in the very pretty and well decorated house. It was like existence had flashed forth just then and let me fall to the floor. I vaguely remembered life before this, when I was a simple, young boy. I played with little stones and then used alchemy to fuse them together into a larger stone. The rest was a distant memory, quickly fading like an illusionary trick of the desert.
As I rose from my knees, I looked about the room, my vision was strangely cloudy and I glanced about, seeing pictures of a blond man, a dark haired woman, and a blond son. I shook my head and walked over, driven by curiosity. The pictures were mounted on a large piece of furniture with a mirror behind all the pictures, and I looked at myself. I had half neck length blond hair and a few bangs in my face, and I looked a bit like a teenage version of the boy from my memories...
Was the man in the picture me? He and I were very different, he was wearing very fancy clothes, showing how wealthy his family was. I was wearing...Right now, I was wearing a deep black shirt which showed a slight bit of my stomach. I was also wearing long, but very snug, form fitting black shorts. My left arm had two arm bands, one above my elbow and the other directly below it.
On my right shoulder, I had a strange, red tattoo which seemed to be made of blood. I felt it, it was thoroughly dry and did not smudge upon my touch. I walked about the room, I felt a very deep sense of confusion. How the hell did I get here? Why did I remember so little? I looked again into the pictures, and felt a deep sense of anger stirring. I wanted to know where I was and why I was inside of this mansion!
I managed to walk away from the stand, and then looked around, seeing a room matching the sense of fancy nobility that the youth in the picture flaunted so well. Maybe this place was his relative's mansion? Oh man, I would get into serious trouble if I was found! I groaned, "Prison time. I don't think the military likes intruders, and with a family this influential...I'd rather not think about that."
I went for the door, planning to escape from a situation that would likely spiral out of control. I made sure not to walk too loudly, but my large body was difficult to control. Which made a loud creak on the floor that sounded like the shriek of a woman upon being attacked. I opened the door, hesitating before looking both ways and walking out. I froze after I got five steps from the door when a voice reached me, "So, you are awake."
I turned around to see an old lady wearing a blue dress and she, just judging by appearance, seemed like the kindly old lady type. However, I could not be too careful when I was trespassing in another person's house...mansion...thing. I smiled, trying to look at ease, "Look, I am sorry...I didn't mean to come in here unannounced."
She replied with a smile that was only slightly unnerving in how much it said that she knew, "Oh, you were not unannounced. I was waiting for you to wake up for quite a long time. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Dante." I tried to relax and tried to think of my own name. However, a horrifying blank appeared in my mind.
Holy...shit...I did not know my own name. I rubbed my temples, trying harder to think of it. Will? Roger? Kyle? No, none of the above, although Will rang a bell in my head. Dante smirked and then said, "Oh, you forgot your name. Understandable, after all, you are a homunculus."
I felt a sense of confusion and asked, "What is a...homunculus?" She chuckled, "Well, my dear, you. I had yet to think of a name for you at your proper creation, and I had other, more pressing business to attend to. Your name is Prejudice. It means someone who judges others only on his own thoughts...that is what you do a lot."
My head hurt even more fiercely, matched by a tearing feeling inside my stomach, forcing me back on to my knees. Dante spoke again, "Would you like some food, Prejudice? All you need to do is say, my name is Prejudice, and I am a homunculus." My mouth was dry and words were difficult, yet I managed to squeak out, "I...am. Prejudice. I am a...homunculus."
She grasped my arm and said, "That is a good boy. You would make your father proud. Here...this will make you feel better." She reached behind her back, opened a small purse and then took out some small red rocks. In my blurring vision, the rocks were not small and seemed like meteors in a shrinking world. I reached for the rocks, a strange sort of attraction pulling me forward.
I reached out desperate as a dying man for the one thing he knew that would save him from the inevitable. Dante asked, "Do you want to live, Prejudice?" I answered, "Yes...I want to live..." She smiled amiably, "Then eat." I snatched the stones in a manner which might have been too rough, and then stuffed them uncontrollably into my mouth. I crunched the stones as easily as candy, each filling my body with an explosion of energy as they were gorged.
My world was crystal clear all of a sudden and I managed to get back up on my feet. I asked her, "Why...why am I here?" She answered calmly, "You will find that out shortly." I suppose she did not yet fully trust me, and she motioned for me to follow her. I did so, going down one of the hallways. There were many bookshelves all filled with ancient texts that looked like they had not been read in many years.
We walked for what seemed like hours, the place was no mansion, it was much more of a palace! As we walked, I thought I heard talking inside of one room, but I was guided away from that room by Dante's gentle hand. She told me, "That room is for business, which you are not yet ready for, Prejudice." As we walked, I mustered up some courage to ask, "When...when was I....when did I start being in that room?"
She smiled warmly, "For quite a long time. Many years..." I panicked, remembering familial ties in an onrush of activity in my mind that left my slightly shaken, "A mother...or father...? Do I have a mother of father?" She replied, "No...I am the closest thing that you have to a mother. Your father, the great alchemist Van Trevor, died a long time ago, to an alchemist made of metal."
I felt a surging emotion from the core of my new being, a raw, uncontrollable anger that threatened to blast through me. My father, the man who cared for me as far as my memories served, had been murdered. Murdered by a fellow alchemist. The implications of that were both jarring and infuriating. A traitor. My father died to a damn traitor!
The fury was too much and I unleashed it without heed for the fancy nature of the surroundings and no care at all for Dante. I started striking the ground in a rage, and shouted, "Damn the traitor...Damn him to hell!" The punches were making enormous craters in the floor, and numerous shockwaves resonated over the mansion. There were footsteps, maybe Dante called for help. I simply didn't care. If they tried to stop me, I'd kill them.
I felt a terse hand on my shoulder, and turned to see an experienced looking older man wearing an eye patch, a complex uniform and a unique combination between held back fury and calmness in his single eye. There was something about the old man startling and the fury within his eyes was boundless. I snarled and then told him through my teeth, "I want revenge, I want to rip the traitor to pieces."
He grasped my hand and pulled me to my feet, saying, "Here, we have common goals and common origins...all people here are homunculus, and to say we are people, it would be a lie. A homunculus is not, strictly speaking, a person." I asked, "So, then, a person killed my father? And, as a homunculus, I have the power to kill the killer. I want to join you."
Dante was looking shaken by the sudden quakes, but she had been steadied by the aid of another homunculus who looked nearly exactly my age. He had long green hair made into several blade shaped parts and a sarcastic look was plastered all over his face. He looked like the type to be miserable at every time. He wore black clothes that showed his stomach and shorts that initially, if not for the face, made me think he was a she. Yet, no woman I knew could have a face that sarcastic or miserable.
I was taken away by the older man and I asked, "So...what is your name?" He replied, "The world knows me as Fuhrer King Bradley, but you can call me Pride. It has been rare to have another one, I hope you don't grow into something of an irritation, like the last 8th homunculus, Phobia. She thought she knew everything and sought to charm everyone and everything to her will. Dante did not like that, Phobia died 50 years ago."
I cringed, and decided to make sure that I did not grow to irk my fellow homunculus, after all, we were stronger and did not have the need for betrayal. I was very certain we all had the same goal, so the last traitor I would ever know would be the one who killed my father. I would use this massive power to wring the traitor's neck, and make him beg me for mercy. A mercy which, due to the murder, had died with my father.
"He is none too different than you, Envy." Envy replied to Dante, "Don't compare me to that mess of emotions. He is a loose cannon at best, once he finds out what Elric did, we will get in my way of killing Edward...and that cannot happen." Dante chuckled, "Don't be too sure Envy, you will get what you want eventually. And besides, a loose cannon is also very easily aimed. I will make sure its not aimed at us."
Lust entered and inquired, "Talking about the new one?" Envy relaxed and replied, "Yep, I have gotta say, though, he looks...familiar." Dante finished for him, "Too familiar. Van Trevor gave him to me after his death, this little gem Prejudice. He might just be the key to everything we desire."
Envy went off, and before he left, he gave some parting words, "I hope you know how to control a loose cannon, Dante." She replied, no hint of warmth inhabited her voice, "I do very well. I have already been controlling one." Lust felt a deep unsettling feeling in her stomach, where her heart should have been. She would have liked to believe that Dante meant Envy, but she knew very well what Dante meant.
Lust left as well, and Dante chuckled, "Another one...I suppose eventually both boys will discover the secret eventually, with individuals as driven as they are, I suppose its inevitable." Dante went off to prepare for the next phase of her plan. She just needed a bit of information on Edward Elric, and knew just who she was sending. Envy was too harsh, and carried too much hatred. Prejudice was perfect.
