the apple not taken
Characters: Berthold Hawkeye, Lust
Summary: He could have been the second human sacrifice.
Berthold Hawkeye's hatred for the military was rooted deep in his past and was not connected to the father of his late wife even though it would not make Grumman any happier. Berthold had felt nothing but disgust for the military and especially its dogs long before he had even met Elizabeth.
His older sister. She had been the one to make him hate everything and everyone connected to the army – forever. They had been equally talented but while she had looked for fame above everything else, he had looked for knowledge for no other reason that he simply wanted to know everything, no matter how trivial it had seemed.
And so he had watched how she had wandered on corrupted paths, trading innocence for fame and glory, losing her old self in her greed. He had watched in silence and behind his stoic mask, his hatred had grown constantly.
He left his family because of her. He could not bear to watch how she used her corrupted knowledge to attain more and more money and the recognition she had always longed for – even though her admirers were blind, blind to her obvious flaws and the greed in her eyes.
He would never know that this hatred protected him from a fate worse than death because while the military was not aware of him and the power of his knowledge because of his father-in-law's influence, shewas.
She, the femme fatale with a raven soul, had spotted him long ago while she had looked for potential pawns, for the necessary sacrifices. His thirst to attain more and more knowledge was not too different from her own drive to serve her father at cost of hundred destroyed lives. They were kindred spirits in their way of ignoring that all they did came at a price – because they were too used to the simply truth that someone else would pay for it.
To her, he was the perfect sacrifices, better than all the idealistic fools who came to Wrath to gain fame and fortune. He possessed all the traits a perfect sacrifice needed: great prowess in terms of alchemy – because to be a sacrifice, he needed to come back, the devastating loss of his wife – too young, too early, and the crying toddler who cried after her mother all night.
And yet, she was wrong.
For the very first time, she lost a bet she had made with herself and so, she left him alone because no matter how much she wanted to proof Father that she was just as good as her brothers, she would never break her own rules.
Berthold Hawkeye had beaten her in her own game – and she accepted this defeat.
[Years later, she would wonder why Flame Alchemists always beat her there.]
Berthold Hawkeye did not commit the ultimate sin. He refrained from it, too wise to risk body, soul and life, too wise to give in to the tempting call of the forbidden transmutation.
She was baffled. For a mere human, he was either eternally wise – or at least wise enough to see behind the obvious – or the biggest fool she had ever seen … or maybe a coward because he had not even tried to get the better of fate and human nature.
The truth was something entirely different.
He had always looked down on his sister and her pathetic, traditional ways to find new ways and her inability to realise that enlightenment was rarely found on paths that had been walked by others before. Human Transmutation was something she might consider, he was better than this, better than all those fools who had tried and failed.
And inside his chest, the fire burned too hot, whispering its secrets to him, protecting him from the cold inside his still sharp mind.
Thus, it was never an option for him.