Not everyone who dies becomes energy to be used in the other worlds. Some are selected as emissaries to keep the balance. Mustang is sent to Valdemar, set during 'Brightly Burning'.
Dutchman: Inferno
Open the Door
The Gate is not cruel, it just needs to maintain the balance. Sometimes usually this means absorbing those who enter. However, the Gate is not all-powerful. There are those who can disrupt the flow, and cannot be forced to kneel before the black door. Emissaries are needed. Warriors, whose skills and strength are put to use.
These are the Dutchmen. Most are men, but a few women have succeeded in joining the ranks. Each Dutchman travels the world he finds himself in, appearing where he is needed, leaving when his work is done, returning to the gate when he dies again.
They are collected in violent death, and released again through violent death, though there are some exceptions. That is in truth the one thing the Gate controls. Death.
It is, after all, the exchange for life.
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Mustang gritted his teeth as Pride's sword cut through the muscle and bone of his left shoulder.
"Damn you…"
Pride grinned. "Oh, Mustang, did you truly believe you could defeat me?" He lifted up his eyepatch. "After all, I do possess the Ultimate Eye."
Mustang managed to overcome the initial shock of pain to bring the fingers of his right hand together.
Pride drew a second sword. "Now, dear Mustang, I shall deliver the coup de grace. You should be honored to die by my hand." The sword sliced off Mustang's hands before he could snap his fingers, first his right, then his left, removing his last defense. Next went the arms at the elbows, then the shoulders. Then the legs, ankles, knees, hips. Mustang's mutilated body now hung by the sword through his left deltoid.
"Oh, no, that will not do at all…" and the sword pierced his solar plexus as the one in his shoulder was removed. "There. Truly a work of art."
Mustang howled in agony. The pain was intense, but Pride, with his Ultimate Eye, had cleverly cut his nerves in a way that he could not slip into unconsciousness.
"Now, now, Mustang, don't wear out your vocal cords. You still need to tell me who else was in on this. Hawkeye, perhaps? Or your entire unit? I will kill them anyway, they were too close to you."
'Hawkeye! She'll be coming! She won't stand a chance...oh god...'
"Oh, I am correct after all, I can see it in your eyes. Well, I suppose this is the end, Private Mustang. My, how humiliating. Demotion in death." Pride sliced off the rank pins and stars indicating Colonel status.
"Goodbye, Mustang." Pride turned and walked away, leaving Mustang pinned to the wall. "Take comfort that you won't be alone in death." His voice echoed down the passageway.
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As Mustang faded, he could hear a bell tolling. It was a mournful sound, which seemed fitting.
But weren't senses supposed to dull in death? The bell was becoming more and more clear. His surroundings, which had gone dark, began to lighten, as if dawn was coming to the catacombs.
Odd.
Then he saw the Gate. 'So I'm dead after all.'
"Yes, you are dead. But I am not sending you to your final rest. You see, Flame Alchemist, there are many worlds. My purpose is to keep them in balance. Sometimes, I need…assistance."
"So you want me to become one of you?" Mustang got angry, real fast. "I've seen what you do! You tear people apart, and use them as sport! Join you! Never!"
"No." The voice was amused. "I need someone in the world to help control the influx of souls. You see, I am not all-powerful. I do not give power, I moderate it."
"So what is it you want?"
"I am sending you to a different world. I shall permit you to use alchemy; you will need it."
"Where? Why?"
Mustang's answer was to be pulled into the Gate. Light flashed, and the bell, which he had ignored, tolled louder.
He landed on stone. 'Ow.'
-----------------------------------------------------------------And yes, the homunculi win.
I got this idea after I started writing 'To Live Again'. I'm trying to put someone's talents or views in the appropiate world. So, what would you think about Hughes in Tanya Huff's 'No Quarter'?
RxR please!