DISCLAIMER: Ok, i know i forgot the disclaimer in the last chapter, but that doesn't mean that I own FMA. I still don't, and I doubt I'll own it anytime in the near future. 6 years later
My feet dangled off the roof of the building I was sitting on. A soft sigh made its way out of my slightly parted lips as my legs swung to the silent rhythm of the wind. The night was a seething black mass, but I could still see everything. The moon and stars allowed me that much. A beautifully full moon stared down at the earth as it lit the darkness, and gave my already pale skin a milky glow, though it could never outshine the stars. Those bright balls of helium and hydrogen that young children tended to wish upon.
Didn't I still count as a child? Or less of a child, considering that if I added the age of my death to my age since I was born a homunculus I would be fourteen. Though, in my current body stage I was about twenty. My powers were to shift my body in any way; hair color, eye color, skin color, age… The only thing I was unable of doing was looking exactly like another person. The only flaw…
Over the years I'd also gained a few memories. My name was Raevyn Adric, I died on my eighth birthday, and my best friend was a little boy named Alphonse Elric. Trying to remember his name nearly drove me insane, but eventually someone had told me. Indirectly, of course, but it was still nice of Edward to still care so much. After all he'd been through; he still told me the story. I briefly wished I could be like him, wishing I was free. Free of what, you ask? Free of this curse that makes me walk in a nonliving shell of who I used to be. Sometimes it is better for someone who's dead to stay like that. Dead.
Metal clashed and caught my attention, making me jump slightly. I'd been caught up in my thoughts and distracted from what I was doing. I was supposed to be watching for any intruders. And WOW had I been doing a crappy job at that. My head turned in the direction the clanking was coming from and I saw two suits of armor fighting. I recognized one as number 66, but the other was foreign. Interesting.
66 laughed in an insane manner, the armor his soul was encased in making an echo-like noise. I couldn't hear everything, but it sounded like he was trying to taunt the other. He was being quite cruel, too. I jumped onto a ledge to get a closer view and to maybe hear the conversation. I recall a voice in my head telling me that it was rude to eavesdrop, but oh well. This was just too interesting, and I was curious.
"N-No! Brother would never lie to me!" a child's voice yelled, obviously determined. 66 chuckled, a smirk obviously hiding in his voice, "Haven't you been listening? He's not even your brother! I KNOW that I'm real, but you're just made up of all those fake memories. You have nothing to hold you to this world. I killed, therefore I am." My brow rose slightly and I felt a twinge pity for the other. From the little bit of dialogue I'd caught, the other suit was also a soul inside of a steel shell. Should I intervene? I asked myself in my head. "Only if needs be," I whispered to myself, voicing my thoughts.
"I-I'm real! I know I am!" the other wailed as he tried to block 66's next attack. I vaguely wondered where his blood seal was. "Chest plate, back, head…" I whispered, reminding myself of all the places it could be. I readied my daggers and jumped out of my hiding place. 66 saw me nearly immediately and stopped fighting with the other. "My, my 66… What trouble have you gotten yourself into?" I chuckled, padding closer to where the two stood. Even in an elder form of myself, they were about two times bigger than I was. He gave a quick salute and answered quickly, "I was taking care of this intruder."
My long red hair bounced as I shook my head back and forth, "Tsk, tsk, tsk… Bad boy. Go find the others, I'll handle it." He ran off in obedience, leaving me with the intruder. "W-Who are you?" he squeaked. A small purring noise came from my throat as I stared up at his helmet. "My name is Agony. What's yours?" I asked, smiling softly up at him. I was a child at heart, so I couldn't help myself. "W-Well.. I think it's Alphonse…" he muttered uneasily. I tilted my head slightly, "You think?"
He sat on the ground cross-legged and nodded, his metal clanking slightly. "Do you really believe what 66 said, Alphonse?" I asked, sympathy growing on me and I walked closer. As I got about two feet in front of the huge steel armor, I sat on my knees, still waiting for a reply. "I don't know what to believe anymore… He was right, though. I have no proof that I was ever really a human… And as amazing an alchemist as Edward is, it's not impossible," he whispered, a pang of desperateness in his undeveloped voice. It was soft as the clouds on a beautiful, sunny day. Probably not such a day for him…
"Do not let the world fill your thoughts with such things. They will cloud your judgment, and even though it is purely human to err, it is not something to be praised," I stated firmly. That was my opinion, even though I wasn't sure if the soulless got one, I was going to make sure it stood strong. "Do you.." he started, definitely uneasy about this. "Do you see or feel anything? Anything human about me?"
"I could ask you the same thing, Alphonse. But I already know the answer to my own question. I am nothing like a human. I am just a soulless puppet to be controlled by the one who created me," I said, looking down at my hands as I turned my body back the way it really looked. My TRUE form. Black hair fell around my face and my skin grew paler, though my arms held a little color in it still. They were not truly mine, though. They belonged to the little girl who'd tried to do a human transmutation. "I am a body without a soul. You are a soul without a body. We are opposites, yet we are the exact same. Do you understand what I am telling you?"
His voice held a spark of realization and he grabbed the tops of my arms in his leather-clad hands. "You're a homunculus! I thought they were just a myth!" he exclaimed, gripping me firmly, yet at the same time in a gentle more HUMAN way. "We are no myth. If we were, there would be no pain and no need for the stone," I choked out. "T-The stone? The Philosopher's Stone?" he asked eagerly, shaking my shoulders a little. I nodded, sending my glare back towards the ground. "What all do you know about it? Is there more than one way to get it? You know, without risking human lives?" he asked just as excited as the last time. "No." His hands fell away from my arms as I revealed my answer to him. He was probably disappointed in the fact that the only way to achieve a whole Philosopher's Stone was to give up human lives. A lot of human lives. "Why would you want the stone? To get your body back?" I asked. My voice cracking as I thought of everything I'd seen in the past six years. "Yes."
"I see…" I muttered, tears running a river down either cheek. "Trying to find it will only bring pain. But I wish you the best of luck on trying to achieve your goals. Come visit me sometime after you get your body, m'kay?" I said, trying to force a smile. "How can you be so sure? Even I'm doubtful," he said, leaning closer to me. "I don't know, Alphonse. Sometimes in life, there are things which cannot be answered."
"Will you try to answer one thing for me?" he asked in a hushed tone. I nodded, my tear-stricken face staring up to his metal one. "Why do you look so much like…" he trailed off, unable to even finish his sentence. I knew what he was asking me, though. During my talk with him, and through the information that he had a brother named Edward, his last name must've been Elric. "I was created after she died. Her little half sister Rikku attempted a human transmutation to bring her back, but nothing is equal in value to a human soul. You know that, don't you?"
His steel head made a noise as it shook up and down. I chuckled softly and smiled genuinely, "Good. You learned the hard way, but doing things the hard way makes one strong." I stood up, my dress and hair blowing in the wind slightly. "W-Where are you going?" I sighed at his question, though I didn't turn around. "I'm going back to the other homunculus. I suggest you find your brother. I'll see you again some day."
Dear Stars,
How have you been doing? It's been some time, and I feel this has been helping some. Do you really grant wishes? I still have to wonder... I wish my friend could have a wish instead of me. I feel he deserves it more than I, the soulless. The immortal. He was once human, and he is closer than I am to achieving his goals. I wish Alphonse had his body.
Atienne: Hehe. Cliffhanger.
Alphonse: Sorry if I'm not myself! Had to go by the script.
Atienne: I hope he's not too OOC TT^TT
Agony: Well I feel human today.
Alphonse: I do too...
Atienne: Good, we all feel human. We can all go if someone says it.
Agony: I said it last time, it's Al's turn.
Alphonse: Reviews are much loved! Flames will be shoved into Colonel Mustang's glove.
Atienne: Say the rest.
Alphonse: Cookie of the week goes to Ranku-chan because she/he reviewed.
Atienne: SERIOUSLY! ONLY ONE REVIEW?
Agony: Atienne, calm down. I'll get Armstrong on you.
Atienne: Yes, I'm sure calmness has-
Armstrong: rips shirt off CALMNESS HAS RUN DOWN THE ARMSTRONG LINE FOR MANY GENERATIONS!
Atienne: I need a shower... Ja ne!
