A/N This story has been a document on my computer for almost two months, and I've gotten the sudden urge to upload it onto the world wide web.
Oh yeah. Almost forgot to introduce myself. My name is SoulErrorArwitch, Soul for short. I've written several Minecraft stories and one other Fullmetal Alchemist one-shot.
Truth really interests me. Truth isn't the evil deity people make it out to be-I don't really believe that Truth has the power to randomly bring people to Amestris. And the chances of the same thing being taken by it are slim. But if you really want to believe that Truth will whisk you off to Amestris, I'm not going to burst your bubble. This is just my idea on how it all worked.
I also incorporated my own ideas on what happened after the Promised Day. I can't really say what or I would be spoiling our mysterious woman's identity.
I also tried writing in present tense, something I haven't done before. I'd like to think my attempt turned out pretty well.
And I almost forgot about this...This story takes place after the Promised Day so SPOILERS! If you have not finished the series hold off on reading this fanfiction!
I can promise you that I'm not an anime style cow. I'm just a fan of Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood! Well, reviews are appreciated and please enjoy this one-shot!
Encounter With Truth
There's many names for the white figure standing in middle of the place. The young woman in front of it holding a pencil and a small notebook knows the names of it very well. God. The universe. Everything. You. The most repeated one of these is Truth, and that is what the woman decided to call it in her prized notes. Once she returns she will code it over into her research notes as a mystical story. A piece of fiction. But as of it right now, she's decided to write it as she sees it.
"Hello Ms. Al-Ch-Em-Ist." As Truth speaks, the woman jots down a quick note on how it talks. Multitude of voices. Way it talks conveys superiority.
"Hello, Truth." She replies back, pushing a strand of hair away from her eyes. "I've heard a lot about you. But I've realized that it's always better to learn things for yourself than rely on others."
"You aren't arrogant like your father was when I met him." Truth merely states.
The woman gives a nod. "He wasn't even a teenager at that point in time. I'm almost an adult, but you already know that. After all, you're knowledge in its basic form."
"You're an interesting woman, Ms. Al-Ch-Em-Ist."
"I'm a researcher." She says. "That's why I created the array to get here without having to pay the price of human transmutation." She walks over to the large gate behind her, laying a small hand against it. "I'm not here for divine knowledge. I'm just a girl from Resembool who wants to see if her hypothesizes are correct. But like I said earlier, you know that already, correct?."
Truth gives a nod. Hypothesis #1 Correct.
She turns and spins on her heels, gesturing to the vast whiteness around them. "It's all pure. All of this room. White is the color of purity, but it can be so easily stained by lies or darker paint."
"Correct again." She jots down a quick note after Truth confirms her guess. "The toll gets higher each time you ask a question."
She nods. "I understand. But it really isn't that much of a toll, since the knowledge is already up here, most likely." She taps her forehead with the tip of her pencil, once again jotting down a note. "I'm going to list the accounts of what you took from several people in the cause of equivalent exchange."
Once again Truth gives a small nod.
She sits down on the ground, facing the crosslegged white being. "Izumi Curtis. Proclaimed housewife, teacher to the Elric brothers. Human transmutation attempt was trying to bring her deceased newborn son back to life. When that failed you took away several of her organs." She looks up from her notes, continuing her interrogation. "That made her long for children more, correct? So that failure made her more determined to have kids. Though she never said it, that's what got her to take in the Elric brothers."
"That's correct, Ms. Al-Ch-Em-Ist!" Truth says, an eager expression on its face as it leans in closer to her.
Truth applauds the woman for her theory, impressed at what the seventeen year old has come to realize. "Bravo, Ms. Alchemist! Continue onto the Elric brothers!"
Her smile grows larger. She can't doubt the fact that it feels good to get praise like that. "Edward Elric. Fullmetal Alchemist until he was discharged. Older brother to Alphonse Elric." Though she knows the story well, it gets a bit tricky to word what she knows without mixing up the details as she speaks. "The first time they came, you took Edward's leg away, and then took Al's entire body and soul. Edward gave up his arm for his brother's soul, and put it into a suit of armor." She gets to her feet, starting to become more animated as she speaks. The woman begins to gesture with her hands, a habit that she's picked up over the years. "But that wasn't just the price. The guilt that Edward and Alphonse both carried is part of it too. But without their toll, Mustang would have never come. Edward would have never joined the military in the hopes of finding the Philosopher's Stone, and the two would have never stopped the Promised Day. They also became so connected, and loved each so much that Alphonse gave up his soul to get his brother's arm back, and Edward gave up his alchemy in order to get back both Alphonse's soul and body. You taught them the deepest meaning of brotherhood possible." She takes a deep breath as she finishes, looking at Truth as it stands up.
Truth applauds louder than before, much to her pleasure. She realizes that the notebook lays forgotten on the ground, and that the pencil has rolled off to who knows where. But what matters is that she has gotten her questions answered. "I've never met a human like you, Ms. Alchemist! You amaze me with how open you are."
"I'm just in search of the truth." She replies simply, a slight blush spreading across her face at the praise.
"The people of the world call you the Truth Alchemist, after all." Truth adds, smiling once more. "Now, you do have to pay the toll."
She nods, nervously anticipating this part. She isn't quite sure what the price for something like this is. Knowledge like this hasn't been truly known to the race of man before. She suddenly has the sickening feeling that it will be a hefty price. "What is it?"
It seems to glance down at her notebook, gaze then traveling to the pencil now found to residing by the Gate. "I think that your pencil and notebook are equivalent exchange."
She holds her breath, thinking about how her notebook is practically her childhood. She's been writing observations in it for years, every since she started learning alchemy. Knowledge for knowledge. She gives a sigh, letting go of her breath. "That works."
Truth grins one more time, this time larger than ever before. "It was an interesting meeting with you, Ms. Alchemist."
"Same thing with you, Truth."
When she wakes up, she's in the basement of her house, standing in her own personalized transmutation circle. It isn't until she heads outside into the fresh sunlight and walks down to the river that she realizes how much of an idiot she was in front of Truth.
"I was an idiot!" She yells to no one in particular. "That wasn't bad at all! I have the knowledge in my head! I've caught onto your game, Truth!" Though she sounds angry, she isn't. She now has the reason to prove, more than ever, that Truth isn't as bad as it seems. She practically skips to the Rockbell Automail shop, smiling as she sees the outline of more than a couple of people in the window. Reunion? She guesses. The house grows quiet as she opens the door. Suddenly, the house is filled with lights as everyone yells, "Surprise!" Streams and confetti go flying, and she's shocked by the amount of people that are in her family's small living room.
After the group calms down, she goes to join her childhood friends-her cousin Nina Elric, and Maes Mustang. When they ask her what she was planning on doing for her eighteenth birthday, which was around one o'clock in the morning the next day, she says that she's already done what she's wanted.
"I've seen Truth." She admits, a proud smile growing on her face.
"Truth?! But Dad and Uncle Ed only saw him when they performed human transmutation!" Nina exclaims, chocolate brown eyes twinkling with curiosity.
Maes chimes in with, "And Dad had to give his eyesight afterwards...I hope that you aren't going to lose your eyesight. Then you wouldn't be able to see all of my handsome beauty." She gives the black haired teenager a playful jab to the shoulder.
"Handsome beauty? Isn't that a bit on the repetitive side?" She turns to see Elicia and Selim Bradley standing behind her, the former of the two smirking. Selim, on the other hand, gives a small smile.
"Did you mention Truth?" Jin Yao pipes up, long black ponytail bouncing up and down as he jumps up from his crouching position on the windowsill.
"Jin! I haven't seen you since your birthday!" Nina runs over to her boyfriend, the prince returning her affectionate kiss as they embrace.
"So what did I hear about you saying that you saw Truth?" The Xingese prince questions, eyes sparkling with as much curiosity as his girlfriend's.
"Well, I had a lot of questions for it, so I-"
"So that's why you created that transmutation circle!" Nina suddenly exclaims. "I was wondering about that!"
"Yes, that's why-"
"And that's why you kept missing out on our plans to go to Central in the last couple of months." Maes realizes.
"Yes, that's why-"
"And that's why you looked sleep deprived." Selim quietly says.
"Yes, that's why! Now can you let me finish my story?!"
But this time, she's interrupted by a different person than before. She feels a hand on her shoulder, turning to see her father behind her.
"You saw Truth?" She gives a nod. "What was the price?"
"A pencil and my notebook."
Edward Elric seemingly can't believe his daughter's words. "Just that?"
"Maybe it was a birthday present?" Maes suggests humorously, gaining the laughs of the rest of her childhood friends.
"Maybe." Her dad says, smiling. "Hey, Trish, want to have a special eighteenth birthday sparring session?"
"Sure."
"Just don't let your mother know. She hates when I spar-"
"Don't let me know what?" The two turn to see Winry Elric behind them.
"Nothing, Winry..." A second later a wrench finds itself hitting her father's forehead.
"D****** Winry, that hurt! Are you trying to murder me?!"
Everyone laughs, and Trisha Elric's surprise eighteenth birthday party continues without any problems.
Later on that night, as Trisha gets into her bed, she gives a smile. "Thanks for the birthday present, Truth. I won't forget what you told me..."
And in front of the Gate, Truth returns the smile.
The End