Sin

Chapter 3:

Sin couldn't catch a glimpse of anything from his past anywhere in his mind. And now that he was there with Al and his son in a town called Rizembul, he couldn't quite remember why he had agreed to go there, either.

Wrath had been furious about the idea. Now that Daddy was alright and not on the brink of death, he didn't care if he had to live back in the filthy alleyways of the town; he just wanted to have Daddy all to himself. The three of them had spent another hour sitting in their hotel room after the boy had remained adamant. Al was trying to explain to the boy why good food and clean water were essentials, and that living in an alleyway was a bad idea. But the boy screamed and thrashed and cried until Al and Sin sighed in unison and exchanged long-suffering looks. Sin had no idea if he could take care of himself, let alone the child. Although he felt somewhat guilty, the responsible side of his mind told him that he should take advantage of Al's help now, since he needed it the most, and he would do his best to pay the debt back later.

After a long session of logic and screaming, the boy somehow submitted and finally agreed - albeit reluctantly - and he cried and whined as Al took them shopping to buy them an outfit each until they could settle in somewhere and afford themselves a wardrobe; and then they made their way to the train.

Trains were noisy, unpleasant things. They belched out mountains of black smoke as they groaned and shrieked with signals that Sin couldn't understand... Not to mention that they were surrounded by so many people... Sin hated it immediately, but the entire scene changed the moment they got on board. They walked down a narrow carpeted path and seated in their spot near the back, on the left.

His son whimpered and whined, and the sound cut unpleasantly into Sin. He placed his hand on the boy's head and ruffled his long dark hair playfully. When his violet eyes gazed up at him, Sin found himself smiling fondly. "Everything will be all right," he said without thinking.

And the boy smiled, relaxing as he curled up against Sin's arm.

The boy was a strange one. He had introduced himself as Wrath, and Sin couldn't help but wonder how he could have come up with a bitter name like that. He was almost beginning to believe that he couldn't be the boy's father, when suddenly he shrieked something at Al that startled the both of them, followed by a series of pathetic whimpers. Sin couldn't deny his parental instinct to shield the child from harm. Besides, they had the same black hair and purple eyes... Sin didn't realize he had already caved, allowing himself to adopt the position of Wrath's Daddy. He would come up with a more appropriate name later.

They talked a lot on the train, trying to get some information out of Wrath and failing miserably. They discovered Wrath's name (a few times over) and that Sin's name was Daddy. Any other question he answered with nonsense or violence, so they unanimously chose to give up. They arrived at Rizembul a lot sooner than anyone expected, a town where Al said he knew people who would take care of them until Sin got his memory back. Sin and Wrath (with much difficulty) agreed, and there they stood at the empty trainstation in the middle of nowhere before they finally started walking in the crimson light of the setting sun.

"I used to live here," Al spoke, once again talking about a whole lot of nothing as Wrath giggled and hummed random songs from his perch atop Sin's shoulders. "There isn't very much here, but it's a nice place with really great people. We all take care of each other."

Sin nodded and began to wonder if they had actually come to Rizembul for his sake, or if it was just because Al had been homesick.

"How much longer?" Wrath whined.

"Not much further," Al replied, pointing down the hill they were mounted on to a large house placed where the ground evened off at the bottom. "It's right up ahead. Do you see it?"

"That one?" Wrath asked, pointing over Sin's head. "It's so small."

"Just wait until we get there, it's much bigger up close," Al said patiently.

Less calm people never would have been able to deal with Wrath.

As they came up to the house, a young blonde girl emerged from the front door to stretch and enjoy the warm summer air, but it didn't take her long to notice them coming up the road. She waved at them from a distance, and descended the stairs slowly, watching them as she approached.

"Hello, Winry!" Al greeted, taking his opprotunity to run ahead of Sin and Wrath in order to greet his childhood friend.

"Daddy!" Wrath wailed, "he's going faster than we are! Let's race him!"

"I can't," Sin replied quietly. "I can't run with you, you're too heavy with all that auto-mail."

Wrath continued to whimper pointless complaints into his hair as the boy leaned over his head, but Sin was distracted to look up and find the Winry girl staring at him by the time Al reached her side. It was a strange expression that was on her face, some mix of emotion that Sin couldn't identify.

"Al," he heard her ask as they got closer. "Who is that?"

Al smiled at her, appearing somewhat concerned with her expression. "He's a man I rescued from an alleyway in East City," he began. "He can't remember his own name or anything. I was taking him here so you could help me take care of him and his son."

"Al," she asked, turning to him, her face solemn. "Do you remember Gracia and Alicia back in Central?"

"Yes. Actually, I-"

"That man," she said, pointing to Sin, "is Brigandier-General Maes Hughes."

Al had only ever seen him in pictures, snapshots from a life that he was only told had happened. No alarms of recognition sung in his head when he looked at Sin, and he stared intently at the man, trying to hear them. Trying to recognise him.

Sin had no choice but to sit in torture under their scrutinizing stares. Looking at the few pictures they had, he couldn't deny the fact he resembled him to an uncanny degree, but the problem that they couldn't understand was the fact that Hughes had been dead for six years.

It didn't make any sense, but Sin couldn't argue. Another girl living in the house had actually fainted upon his entering the room.

"Maybe he's just a look-alike," Al suggested.

"Don't ignore it!" Winry cried. "Even look-alikes aren't this identical, and they don't sound the same. This man is Maes Hughes."

Al gave Sin a dejected look. "But... that's just... not possible."

Pinako then entered the room. She had put the unconcious girl to bed and left Wrath in the living room to play with the auto-mail dog. She caught the end of the conversation and came in to speak the words that no one wanted to think of as a possibility. "Human transmutation."

Al winced at the concept, but Winry just turned to listen to the wisdom of her grandmother.

Pinako crossed the room to where Sin was sitting at one end of the kitchen table. He sat in silenced and watched her as she looked him over, staring into his eyes, his ears, under his chin... "But he's such a perfect display of the power of alchemy. It's nothing like the one the Elric brothers created."

"But... Human transmutation isn't supposed to work," Al protested.

"Precisely," Pinako pointed out, counting Sin's five fingers on each hand as he sat there patiently observing. "Didn't you say that you were looking for the Alicia girl? Wasn't she this man's daughter?"

Al just couldn't stand to think about the suggestion. "No! Alicia would never do something like that!"

"We can't dismiss it as a possibility," Pinako said, reaching for the hem of Sin's shirt. He grasped her hand gently and looked despairingly at her for a moment until she changed her mind and turned back to the children. "We've all proven at one time or another that humans are capable of stupid, selfish things all the time. Besides, Al, weren't you telling me of how well Alicia was doing in her alchemical studies?"

"But why would she?" He cried, "how could she! She's only ten!"

"It's not unusual for children to want their parents back when they die," Pinako stated bluntly. "And I know of one child who attempted the same thing when he was nine."

"Don't use me as an example! It's not the same!" Al yelled, tears very obviously welling in his eyes in spite of his frequent blinking to keep them at bay. "I can't even remember! That's not fair!"

"Al," Winry spoke finally, her voice soft with reassurance as she rested a hand on his shoulder. "No one here is blaming you for anything."

"But I was supposed to find her! You can't be trying to tell me she's likely dead!" He cried, turning to face his childhood friend and shrugging away the hand she had offered. "I left Central to find her! What would Gracia do if I told her Alicia was dead?"

"We don't know that," Pinako said. "Ed survived. Izumi survived."

"Please don't argue for me," Sin said, finally getting a word in on the conversation. "I wish I could tell you what happened. I wish I could say something about anything. But I can't remember who these people are; I can't remember my own face, let alone my name. None of these words or names hold any meaning to me at all, but I wish they did. If I killed a little girl in order to exist, I could never ask your forgiveness, or even manage to give myself some of my own. I just want to understand what happened to me, why I am here and who I was before I lost my memory. I wouldn't blame you for hating me."

"Don't talk like that," Winry said, smiling weakly, but full of warmth. "If you're alive now, then you're alive. You should take advantage of it while you have a chance. Don't spend your time regretting things you never even did. You're not being fair to yourself."

"You know what to do, don't you Al?" Pinako said, turning to look at him as Al rubbed relentlessly at his face. "You need to take him back to Central. The people there who knew him might know what to do.