"Humankind cannot gain anything without first giving something in return. To obtain, something of equal value must be lost."
Ed was looking at the ground grimly while he repeated Alchemy's first law of equivalent exchange. Then he kicked the dirt.
"I used to believe in that, you know." He sighed. "I used to believe that was the world's only rule, which cannot be broken. That equivalency sustained the balance of the world. Give in order to gain."
"And why don't you believe in that now?" I asked, sitting beside him on the bench. The wind blew softly in our faces and picked up a few yellow leaves that swirled along with it. He traced them with his glance before answering.
"I realised the world was not perfect. That this rule could not be kept under all circumstances. There are limits, beyond which even equivalency means nothing. You can work hard and gain no reward at all."
"Well, then, perhaps you shouldn't earn anything."
He frowned, looking at me with his yellow eyes. "What do you mean?"
"If there are rules by which everything in this world abides, then there should also be division between right and wrong, shouldn't it?"
"Equivalency doesn't care about right or wrong," he said, putting his hands in his pockets.
"Why not? A good cause is worth a hundred times more than a bad one." I leaned back. "Because when someone works for the wrong cause, other people get hurt. And he gets nothing in the end."
"That's…" he paused. "It's naïve, to think that way."
I raised an eyebrow. "Why so? The homunculi put a lot of effort in their search for the philosopher's stone, but many people were hurt in the process. And despite their hard work, they didn't get anything in the end, right?"
"What about us? We too searched for the philosopher's stone, but we didn't get anything at all."
"You realised that many lives had to be sacrificed and you gave it up. As for the long journey to get there, you got realization about many things in exchange for travelling."
He didn't say anything for about a minute or so.
"And the innocent victims of the homunculi?" he spoke at last. "What do they get?"
"Redemption," was my simple answer. He snickered.
"What for? Aren't they innocent?"
"How do you know?" I asked. "You can't tell if they didn't deserve it."
He narrowed his eyes. "You mean to tell me that all that suffering…it was what they deserved?"
I sighed. "Maybe. Maybe not. Even if they didn't, they might gain a lot of things for it. Perhaps they just had to pay the price first."
"What things?"
"Oh, we may not be able to tell right away. I'm just telling you that things aren't simple and some of them can't be seen right away."
He closed his eyes. "There's no certain proof of that."
"Truth lies beyond any proof."
Ed opened one eye to look at me. "Who did you quote this time?"
"Uhh…" I scratched my head. "I forgot his name."
He laughed.