The Sin of Playing God
Author's Notes: The reason for this is that it was a school assignment and that is why it was delayed. I explained it poorly during my presentation and now I want to see what you guys think of it.
Disclaimer: Frankenstein is owned by Mary Shelley. Fullmetal Alchemist is owned by Hiromu Arakawa, Funimation, Aniplex USA, and Viz Media. I do not own any other mentioned properties.
Multiverse theory tells us that, with every choice, a new branch in the timeline is created. This results in an infinite amount of possible universes that coexist with our own. Some, only small things are different to our reality, others may be rather drastic. Sometimes, these worlds interact in small, almost unnoticeable ways such as an idea for a story. Sometimes a great tear in the fabric of reality will allow a person with no background in this world to appear out of nowhere or someone will just seemingly vanish into thin air.
This is a story of one such instance, a man found himself in a strange new world. He had brought a terrible secret with him and hid it in the small, country town of Resembool Amestris. And so our tale begins:
~90 years after the events of Frankenstein~
"Brother! I think found something that will help!" exclaimed a young boy with ruffled blonde hair and golden eyes.
"Great! Bring it over Alphonse!" called his brother's voice from the other side of the library.
Alphonse did as his older brother asked and made his way over to where they had started their research, clutching a dusty, battered, and meager looking book. Al found his brother at the same table he had left him, pouring over calculations and diagrams that would even make the cleverest of adults stand in shock and awe. Most would give up, but these boys were more determined and talented than any one person could ever dream to be. There was a reason these two were working so hard was a single goal, an absence that haunted them constantly, and a simple wish. They wanted to see their late mother's smile again.
"What's this?" asked the elder brother, inspecting the book that Al had pushed into his hands.
"A journal containing notes of a successful human transmutation. Ed," Al stated with pride and excitement, "this is exactly what we've been looking for all this time!"
Edward's similarly golden eyes widened with surprise at this great news. Eager, he began to read. As he did, Al went over the notes that his brother had been taking before he had found the journal. Per usual, they had made little progress. So Al just sat down and waited for his brother to either finish or find a stopping point. Though Ed's blonde hair was just as short as Al's in most places, his bangs that normally framed his face were long enough that Al wasn't able to determine his expression. All Al could do was think about how that cowlick antenna that his brother did at the part was really silly. Edward Elric was definitely not know for his sense of style.
"How did you find this?" Ed asked, not even looking up from the page, taking notes as he spoke.
"Kinda by accident really," this caught the Ed's attention, " I was looking for anything that would help as we always do and I found a book that looked outta place and tried to pull it off the shelf. But it opened up a panel on the bookcase, I found this inside and started reading it."
"It does look like it's been hidden for a while." he concluded, "But I'm not sure if this guy was an alchemist."
"What do you mean?"
"Look here," pointing to a spot on the page he was on, "he mentions Flamel and other famous alchemists throughout his notes. But he never says anything about a human's chemical makeup or about the transmutation circles he may have used. He just tells us that he had selected body parts at random, but somehow made them proportional to each other. It's all very confusing," flipping to the back page, "'The Notes of Victor Frankenstein, translated by Robert Walton.'" Ed pouted, "Never heard of these guys!"
"You would think," Al said with a similar frown, "that a successful human transmutation would be more famous."
"That's the thing," Edward added, "he wasn't bringing someone back from the dead, just creating a new life." He was quiet for a time before screaming in frustration, "We almost had it and this isn't even close to what we needed!" Ed continued to flail angrily about for a few more seconds before letting himself fall forward into his arm on the table in exhausted irritation.
"Hey Ed," Al began, Ed hummed to show he was listening, "do you think that teacher knows who this Frankenstein guy is?"
"Maybe," looking past Al at nothing in particular, thinking about the woman who taught them alchemy and how she would react to question like that. Probably with yelling and a beating for going against her teachings. Shivering at the thought, "I just wish that this wasn't so hard."
Somewhere in the building, a clock chimed five, "C'mon Al, Granny should have dinner ready by now." Packing away his notes and other things he needed to bring home with him. He reached for the journal, but hesitated for a second, as if contemplating whether or not to take it home too. Making a decision, he stuffed it into his bag while Alphonse wasn't looking. They won't miss what didn't know they had. Ed thought evilly.
Shortly afterwards, Ed and Al were at their Granny Pinako's for dinner. Though they weren't really family, Pinako and her granddaughter, Winry, treated them as if they were. As if on que, the usual argument broke out between Ed and Pinako over him not drinking his milk followed by insults about each other's small stature as Al and Winry just quietly finished their dinners, ignoring the increasingly devolving shouting match.
~*Wooo, transition noises*~
The Elric brother found themselves, as they always did, in their father's study that night. Their father had left years ago for some unknown reason before their mother's death. Ed, in his more childish moments, blamed him for what happened and hated him because of it.
"Hey Ed," Al asked, both of them laying on sleeping mats and reading their father's books for any clue to help them, "where are gonna look tomorrow?"
"Right here." Ed answered gleefully. In one, fluid motion, he pulled the journal from his bag.
"Ed!" Al detested
"What?!" It's not like they knew it was there." Ed responded defensively.
"But that guy said what he created was a monster! I don't want to do that to mom!"
"Relax, we're just going to take a few pointers from this guy. What's the worst that could happen?"
Ironically, when the brothers had everything the needed and performed the transmutation, it failed. Leaving Al as just a soul bound to a suit of armor and Ed without his left leg and right arm. Not long after, they were approached by a Colonel from the military, who offered Ed a chance to become a State Alchemist and be paid for his research. This was also a chance for the brothers to fix their mistake. In a year, Ed had outfitted himself with auto-mail prosthetics, a sort of robotic limbs, and became the youngest State Alchemist in history at the age of twelve. As for the journal, it burned with the rest of the house. Set ablaze by the brothers themselves so they couldn't turn back. Sacrificing their home for the resolve to keep moving forward.
This equivalent exchange is the basis for all alchemy, life even. A science born from understanding, deconstructing, and reconstructing matter, everything following a greater flow that can not exist without us. But this art is not all powerful, it holds a taboo, alchemy's single, unforgivable sin the Elrics and so many countless others committed. No alchemist shall play God and bring back what no longer exists, for what could be equal to the price of a soul that has left this world.