Hi everyone! :D
Since I have an inability to write short fics, I decided to challenge myself to write a drabble under 300 words. Then I stumbled across the 31 days LJ comm and thought I'd have a go at that. And since my current obsession is FMA and my fave character is Greed... well, you can see where this is going ;D
Written for June 30th, 2010's prompt, "it only takes a few seconds to die." Cross-posted on LJ.
Disclaimer: I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist. (T_T)
Warnings: Based on the 1st anime's episode 34, so spoilers if you haven't watched that far. Any inaccuracies, I also blame on the fact that I haven't actually watched all the episodes that came before it yet.
Much thanks to Nanaga for beta-ing :D
Once In A Lifetime
'Sin' might also be defined as lack of 'awareness', 'resistance to learning',
and mankind being 'threatened by understanding.'"
~Marshall McLuhan
It takes only a few seconds to die,
But it takes a lifetime to live.
When he thought about it, Homunculi didn't really understand death.
They knew what it was, of course – they weren't stupid (though privately he thought the jury was still out on Gluttony) – but they didn't understand, couldn't understand death, not really. It made sense, really, given that they were all relatively immortal and had literally been born because of death. They didn't age and as long as they ate the Red Stones, wounds would heal instantly to the point where a gun held at point blank range failed to bring even the slightest thrill of fear.
Even now, seconds from his own death, Greed wasn't scared.
He'd seen it coming for a while now; his suspicions confirmed when he saw the worn-out husk that had been his former master on the ground and the bones of his former human self – no, not him, he was Greed – upon a table nearby.
It was as frustrating as hell; he'd finally been getting somewhere in his quest for eternal life – but he was damned if he was going to let himself be sealed for another 130 years or more. A few seconds of death (Greed wasn't the type to believe in an afterlife and besides, what afterlife would have him anyway?) or another eternity, alive but trapped? Not even he would call that 'life' – that was merely existing.
I want to decide my own fate. I'm no puppet to their whims any longer.
When he thought about it, Homunculi didn't really understand death. But then again, Greed didn't particularly want to understand it anyway.
I'm greedy as hell, only out for myself.
As long as it gave him what he wanted, that's all he cared about.
Author Notes
Upon re-reading it, I still don't think it actually makes sense, but oh well xD; Thanks for reading!