Creation began on 02-11-20
Creation ended on 04-22-20
Neon Genesis Evangelion
The Living Alchemist: Imploding Control
Envy searched for several hours, but couldn't find Lust in Central. This was a serious situation that he knew they were in now.
"The Living Alchemist knows the truth about the country," Lust had told him when she tried to kill him. "He won't produce a Philosopher's Stone, no matter what you try. He even knows that Bradley is in league with the master. Your plans are all imploding on you. You will not prosper."
When I find that soulless bitch, he thought, looking down at the streets of Central, I'll kill her until she consumes all of her Red Stones!
If what Lust told him was true, he would need to inform the master that the Living Alchemist was a lost cause to their plans. But for now, he had to focus on the treacherous homunculus.
-x-
Shinji, bored out of his mind, was killing some time by detoxifying the Red Water in the Second Alchemical Laboratory to produce more Red Stones. After hearing that another State Alchemist had been murdered last night, he decided that he wasn't going to let whoever was out on the streets of Central targeting State Alchemists target the Elric brothers or himself. If someone wanted to come after just because he was a State Alchemist, then let them come after him…and he would do all in his own power to stop this psycho…and end this nightmare that restricted the movement of the State Alchemists.
"Wow, Shinji," he heard Maria Ross as she examined the plants being used to detoxify the Red Water, "I hope you know what you're doing with this water."
"It's only toxic to humans when they're exposed on contact to the skin or ingest it. After it's detoxified, you transmute the liquid into a solidified state."
Denny Brosh looked at a small tray displaying several shards of the finished Red Stone Shinji exploited for some of his transmutations and expressed, "It's hard to believe that these tiny rocks you make are able to help you do the impossible."
Shinji looked over at him and responded, "There are different variations of what is impossible for alchemy to achieve. Facilitating the regeneration of lost or damaged limbs and organs is not possible for alchemy on its own if you have no idea what to do. But it takes more than just a Red Stone to achieve the regeneration of the human body. You must pay the toll for the energy needed. How much energy is truly used during a transmutation? How much energy is truly used in anything the human body does? The human body has unlimited potential, but we limit ourselves in what we feel we can do over what we think we can't. To know what your limits are, you must explore all that you can do in your life. Walk a mile or three, scale a building, practice multiple, musical instruments, become versed in as many fields of education as your mind can recall. When you know how much you're really capable of doing, you have almost no limits to what you can do."
They then watched as he came over to a small vat of the Red Water that had been refined, clapped his hands together, and dip them into the water, causing light to shine upon contact for a few seconds. When it ended, Shinji removed his right hand and revealed a crystallized stone the size of an apple.
"Come take a look here," he told them, and they came over.
Looking down at the vat, Maria and Denny could see a dozen or so Red Stones the size of apples and oranges, reducing the amount of Red Water within the vat.
"What are you going to do with all these stones, Shinji?" Maria asked him.
"I dare this State Alchemist killer to come after me," he explained. "I hope he does come after me. I'm willing to put my life on the line to stop this person…so long as it's my life."
-x-
"…The State Alchemist killer is unofficially known as Scar?" Ed and Al asked Maes Hughes, who had informed the brothers while Shinji was at one of the Second Alchemical Branch Lab.
"Yeah, mainly because he was reported by some witnesses to have a scar on his face," Hughes explained to them. "So far, the method he employs to kill people is still a mystery. How does he explode their brains yet leave the rest of the body intact?"
"Could he be using some sort of firearm?" Alphonse suggested.
"There were no reports of a weapon."
"Possible hand technique?" Edward suggested.
"That's possible, but the witness statements are spotty at best. These attacks happen so fast that nobody that was unharmed saw anything of significance."
"Well, Shinji will likely have a greater understanding of what someone can do when he returns from Lab Two," Al gave up.
"Or maybe we're looking for an alchemist that has a vendetta against State Alchemists?" Hughes made a joke.
"That would label all alchemists as being murderers," Ed defended, "which is untrue."
"Not all alchemists are capable of murder," Al stated, "but that doesn't change the fact that an alchemist could use alchemy to commit murder, brother."
"But why would an alchemist need to kill people?"
"Does there really have to be a reason?" Hughes questioned Ed. "Everyone's different, has different reasons for why they do things. Like why people apply for the State Alchemy Exam varies between the applicants."
"Power and prestige," Al stated again.
"Authority and access to research funding," Ed added.
"How about Shinji? Why did he want to be a State Alchemist?" Hughes asked them.
"He wants to use alchemy for medical purposes," Ed stated; that's all Shinji wanted to do with alchemy since he got here. "He's just a…a pacifist."
"A pacifist with a knack for violence, though."
Al then expressed, "Shinji is…not someone that embraces violence. True, he is capable of conflict, but he never escalates. Even with his mock battle with Basque Grand, he ended the battle as quickly as he could…and nonviolently, too."
"But how long can he keep that up until he can't, anymore?"
Ed and Al couldn't answer that question. Neither was sure of how long Shinji could avoid violating his own principles to refrain from committing acts of violence against others. They just knew that he preferred to walk away from the violence of his past after he showed up and saved their lives from the abomination they created when they attempted to transmute their mother back to life. But if Shinji could avoid succumbing to the dark side of what they understood as human nature, then that would be a good thing.
"People are capable of compassion," Shinji had mentioned to them, "and great violence. We're unpredictable all the time. Anyone can have a shift in their behavior at random moments."
-x-
Flash! Shinji transmuted a shattered window of a woman's floral shop back together.
"Thank you, sir," the florist praised.
"Don't mention it, ma'am," Shinji responded and left with Denny and Maria. "All in a good day's work as an alchemist."
Just walking down the street, he had already used his alchemy to heal eight people's work-related injuries at a metalworks shop, rebuilt a damaged building for a family of eight, even fixing minor appliances for people that couldn't afford to replace them just yet. Some of the people even made attempts to pay him for his services due to him being a State Alchemist, but Shinji declined monetary compensation.
"Not even a State Alchemist for a year yet, and people love you," Maria told Shinji as they walked past a small park.
"I use alchemy to help better people's lives rather than just improve my own life," he responded, hopping onto a bench. "Why take advantage of people? That would be disgraceful and irredeemable of me to do so. And…I'd rather earn my living with my research into medical alchemy, not accept money from civilians I aid when I walk among them. I still have half the money I received from before the Elrics and I left to investigate the Youswell coal mines and caused problems for Yoki. Now that I think about, I don't really eat much during traveling or spending time in one place. Is that unusual?"
"That people don't eat much?" Denny questioned. "No, that's not unusual at all. A lot of people don't eat a lot. They follow a healthy diet or a strict regimen."
Suddenly, Shinji noticed a man coming their way. He was wearing a yellowish jacket and had on dark sunglasses, making him stand out a little. Something was off with his face, and it wasn't that it was obscured due to wearing the sunglasses. He had dark skin, similar to Basque Grand's, but his hair had a whitish sheen on top.
"Uh, Shinji?" Maria asked, but he kept his eyes on the stranger.
"Tell me something," he responded, seeing the guy walk past them at a distance, "what do you suppose are the chances of any suspect being able to get around without raising much suspicion? I mean, what are we not seeing that is there?"
"All we have is a few details on any given suspect," Denny explained. "The more information we have on the suspect, the less they're able to move unnoticed by others."
"Unless there's something being overlooked by those looking for the suspect."
"What do you mean by that?"
"You should re-interview the witnesses that claim to have seen the guy that's been going after State Alchemists."
-x-
With Envy looking for her, Lust had to restrict her movements to wherever the shape-shifting homunculus wasn't, and right now this was the sewers. She had to hope that the Living Alchemist was doing fine and hadn't been targeted by this State Alchemist killer.
"You look like you could use a hand," she turned to the left and saw a man with a group other people. "Well, well, well, I didn't expect to see you after such a long time, lady."
It was Greed, the homunculus that had been sealed away in the Fifth Laboratory for over a century, and now he was back in Central, assuming he ever left Central to begin with.
"What are you doing here?" She asked him.
"Would you believe me if I said we have a mutual fellow in our respective corners?" Greed asked her. "The same person that offered to get you what you desire offered to let me live freely without being pursued by the one that made me."
"The Living Alchemist?"
"Yeah…though, he hadn't gone by that name back when we met. He's adjusted ever since. Looks like he made you defect."
"To be human, I had no other choice but to defect. However, Envy isn't easy to best."
"That jerk isn't easy to best at all…at least not on your own. So…what is your specialty?"
Lust extended her left arm's fingers into blades and revealed her ability in front of them.
"The Ultimate Spear," she explained. "What is your specialty?"
"The Ultimate Shield. Envy is the Ultimate Spy."
"There's another homunculus possessing an ability called the Ultimate Eye. I have no idea what he's capable of."
"Whatever happened to Gluttony?"
"Transmuted."
"Well, at least that reduces the number of enemies down to just three main ones."
-x-
"…His face was probably dark-skinned," said one of the women that witnessed the State Alchemist being murdered by the killer.
"…He had on a yellow coat," a man explained.
"…I think red light appeared when he got near the State Alchemist," another woman revealed, "and his face was dark, but I could only see from a distance."
There were less than ten witnesses, but Shinji heard the similarities in their statements, which led him to suspect that the guy the military was looking for was closer than they believed.
"Shinji, you've barely touched your tea," Maria told him as they were sitting at a café.
Shinji had been lost in his thoughts that he had let his tea go warm, and quickly picked the cup up and drank the soothing beverage.
"Sorry about that," he apologized. "I was just thinking about what one of the witnesses said about the killer probably being an alchemist. I doubt that to be true."
"Why?" Denny asked him.
"It wouldn't make sense for an alchemist to blow someone's brain up. There's no logic in the method…unless the guy was trying to transmute brains and kept screwing up because the brain is too hard to comprehend fully… Dammit."
"That doesn't sound good," Maria uttered.
"We gotta find that killer," he told them.
"What?! No, our orders are to keep you safe out here."
"Well, I gotta make you work for it."
Shinji then got up from the table they were sitting at and walked away from them.
"Shinji!" Denny gasped as he and Maria got up to follow him.
"Keep watch!" Shinji told them as he walked further up the street from them. "The guy might be nearby, but I want him to come for me!"
"That's crazy!"
"I've seen crazy ever since I got here!"
Shinji bumped into someone in front of him and saw that it was none other than Basque Grand himself, looking irritable at him.
"Okay, not good," he expressed.
"You," Basque Grand uttered. "One day, you're going to lose that positive attitude of yours and get the fact that as a State Alchemist, you'll be dragged into the dark side of war and see that you can't be passive about resolving conflict!"
"You're a war veteran, Basque Grand, and the last war was a long time ago. Who wants to go to war after leaving a world of conflict over beliefs and differences that were a matter of choice? And not every war should have to be resolved through conflict!"
"Yet conflict is the only way to resolve wars."
"No, conflicts are a double-edged sword; you might cause a reduction in enemy numbers, but they cause a reduction in your numbers, too. And if it goes on, where does it end? Someone doesn't agree with someone else about something, so one side starts a feud and it progresses into a nightmare that drags others into it until it stops? And what of the people who want nothing to do with the conflict and just want to walk away from it, only to be seen as an enemy simply because of their differences or beliefs. Do we simply kill them instead of talk with them?"
"In wars, you either kill or die."
"That belief doesn't sit with me."
"I'm starting to suspect that you're one of those good-for-nothing Ishbalan sympathizers…or worse, someone in league with them!"
"Iron-Blood Alchemist, Basque Grand," they both heard someone behind Basque, and Shinji saw that it was that guy he saw earlier at the park. "Your time is up."
Basque turned around…and was grabbed on his face by the guy's right hand, seeing red light…and then darkness.
Shinji hadn't expected to see someone go out like this before. He'd seen Angels go out in explosions or just collapse and rot away after some time, even seeing a dead animal or two, but the sight of another human being getting killed in front of him was just something that he hadn't been prepared to witness. The Iron-Blood Alchemist fell to the ground in front of all these people, his head spraying blood from his ears, nose, mouth and parts of his forehead, his eyes glazed over, showing that he was dead before he hit the pavement. Shinji was suddenly reminded of how grateful he had been just to avoid getting caught up in conflict, but this was an unrelated turn of events that wasn't what he had expected today. He was now face-to-face with the State Alchemist killer.
The man looked at him and flexed his bloody fingers.
"Living Alchemist, Shinji Ikari," he spoke, identifying the young man, "it's time to meet the god you turned away from."
Shinji blinked and uttered, "Not today."
Something had just clicked in him, as he reached behind himself and removed two kunai from his belt. There was no sense of fear, no sense of dread, not even a desire to run away.
Maria and Denny caught up with Shinji and saw him about to engage the man that has been killing State Alchemists.
"This isn't right," Denny gasped. "That man's going to kill him, and he's just a young teen."
-x-
Emerging from the sewers, Lust and Greed stood up on the empty streets.
"…So," went one of Greed's lackeys that looked like a crocodile-toothed man to the female homunculus, "the Fuhrer is also one of you?"
"Yes," she answered.
"How is that possible?" Greed's only female lackey questioned. "The Fuhrer's been around for years. Homunculi are said to be unable to age. There's no such thing as a homunculus that can age like a human."
"Except there's no such thing…as no such thing," Greed stated. "If there's someone pulling the strings of the puppets from behind the screens, then that same person could enable a homunculus to appear as human as possible. She just can't decide what unique abilities any homunculus will possess upon creation."
Boom! A loud sound, like an explosion or a building collapsing, was heard by them, and they all saw smoke in the air from afar.
"What the Hell was that?" A short man that had a lizard-like tail asked.
"Let's go see," Greed declared.
-x-
It was like Shinji was a different person now, full of conviction. Neither Maria or Denny had seen this behavior from Shinji since the day they found out that Barry Stein was a serial killer, only this was more extreme…and the young alchemist was more capable of defending himself against this new killer that seemed to demonstrate more danger with his right hand.
"Rrraurgh!" The man growled, thrusting his right hand at Shinji, who dodged and kicked him to the ground.
Slam! He touched the ground and triggered a split in it in front of Shinji.
Clap! Shinji put his hands on the ground and closed the chasm created by the man.
The people around them had been forced to get away, leaving the streets empty for these two men that were engaged in combat. And then Shinji noticed that the guy's glasses were no longer on his head, revealing his face in fuller detail. He had red eyes under the "X"-shaped scar on his face, and the skin tone was brownish.
"I don't understand," he expressed. "Why do you want to kill me? I don't even know you!"
"You alchemists are an abomination in the eyes of my god," the man responded.
"But aren't you an alchemist yourself?"
"I do not use alchemy."
"Except you do, just not the way others do. Dodging you several times has enabled me to see how your right arm works. Alchemy is a three-step process: Comprehension, deconstruction and reconstruction. Basically, understanding something's makeup, breaking it down into a more-malleable state, and then rebuilding it into a different shape. The way your right arm performs alchemy is probably similar, but you don't completely follow the alchemical route. You stop short of reconstruction. By ending a transmutation at the second step, you're left with nothing but debris that can be used to make something…but you refuse to use alchemy to do so."
"I am not an alchemist! I come as a right hand, an agent of God! You alchemists, you disgrace the natural world with your wicked ways! You need to be removed to ensure that the natural order of things is left alone!"
"But why State Alchemists? There are dozens of alchemists out in the world, but you only target those within the military. That, by itself, indicates something personal with you. Now, tell me something… Are you from Ishbal?"
The scarred man growled, clearly having a nerve struck within himself.
"If you are, then what you're doing is personal," Shinji told him. "You're angry about what the Amestrian Military did to your country and people, but this isn't the way to resolve it!"
"These Amestrians only understand violence. They're the ones that started the war!"
"You think I don't know that?! I looked up the history behind the war, and it's filthy! But it ended years ago. To target people afterwards, and probably only a handful of the alchemists you killed were even involved, will not change what happened!"
"So long as you serve the Amestrian Military, you are the enemy!"
"Don't make me fight you, sir! Violence solves nothing! We should talk about this!"
But the man raised his arm up, surging with red energy.
"Don't," Shinji warned him, raising one of his kunai defensively.
Then…a piece of rubble struck the ground in between the two, causing them to look to Shinji's left and see a young, androgynous man with dark green dreadlocks and dark clothing that didn't cover much of his skin.
Shinji recognized him as none other than Envy…and had to wonder just what else could go wrong today. It was bad enough that he was currently dealing with a man from Ishbal that used his right arm to deconstruct people's brains, but to face him and a homunculus would likely be problematic, not to mention extremely dangerous for any civilians nearby.
"You," Envy uttered, pointing to Shinji. "You have no idea how disastrous your actions have been towards some pretty unpleasant people, including myself."
"Is he with you?" The Ishvalan asked Shinji.
"No way, he's not with me," Shinji defended. "I'd sooner take him out than aid him with doing something that goes against my conscience."
"You released Greed from the Fifth Laboratory," Envy stated, "you likely disposed of Gluttony…and you drove Lust to defect and become a traitor. You're more dangerous than you seem when you're off your leash."
"I don't know what you're talking about, but as a man with free will and alternatives, I'm as unpredictable as this man here (he points to the Ishvalan man). Everyone is unpredictable…and dangerous when they make choices that go against what anyone else thinks or believes."
"But not someone like you who can't be manipulated to do what is expected of you."
Shinji then threw one of his kunai to the ground in front of Envy.
"What is this supposed to signify?" Envy asked.
"Nothing," Shinji told him. "That's just to give you a headache."
"Well, you failed."
Envy then lowered to pick up the kunai, but was then encased from the neck down in a pillar of concrete; Shinji had used his distractedness in order to transmute the ground around the homunculus and trap him.
"You really think this is going to hold me?!" Envy asked him.
"Do you think I care about what you think right now?" Shinji retorted. "You stay there and be silent…homunculus."
The Ishvalan man's eyes widened at the sound of that word Shinji used.
"Did you just call that man a homunculus?" He demanded of Shinji.
"I did."
"Is he really such a thing?"
Shinji looked at Envy and brandished another kunai.
"I've seen five of them so far, one of which was dealt with recently. Another one, I dealt with as soon as I got here. Are you familiar with homunculi?"
Envy had to consider the possibility that this alchemist had to have disposed of Gluttony, destroying any possibility of creating a Philosopher's Stone from the contents of the homunculus' stomach, but this other homunculus was unknown to him. It must've been Greed, but the only way to know for certain…was to extract the information from this boy that had made use of the Red Water and used it in place of the actual stone itself.
"I will break you, boy!" He told Shinji.
"Hey," Shinji uttered to the scarred Ishvalan, "let me deal with this one first, and then we can resume where we were. Are you fine with that?"
"Do I even have a choice?" The man asked him.
"Of all the homunculi I've seen and heard about, this one is not worth letting go, so no, there's no choice in this matter. Still, I like to ask before I do something."
Clap! Shinji clapped his hands and then placed them on the ground, creating a large circle around where Envy was restrained…and Envy recognized the circle.
No! The homunculus thought in realization. He's going to transmute me!
It was the Transmutation Circle needed for Human Transmutation! No doubt that Shinji, due to his knowledge as an alchemist, was able to understand everything necessary regarding Human Transmutation, and knew enough to reverse one.
"You're not gonna be the end of me, boy!" Envy declared as Shinji approached him.
"Equivalent Exchange," he responded. "In order to obtain, something of equal value must be given up, but the reverse is also possible. To regain what was lost, you must give up what you obtained. Basically, what you receive, you can give back. I'll return you back to the Gate from whence you came."
But Envy couldn't accept that as his fate. Not when he still had a score to settle with the one that gave him life only to abandon him.
The concrete casing transmuted by Shinji began to crack as Envy started changing his appearance, freeing himself from the alchemist's confinement.
"I knew it was a mistake to let you live," he told Shinji as his flesh contorted off his face. "I'll do away with you now! I'm really going to enjoy this! The fall of the Living Alchemist! Ha-ha-ha!"
Shinji backed away as Envy continued to change in his appearance. All he really understood from what Lust informed of him was that Envy could become anyone he wanted, but Shinji doubted that Envy was only capable of such a basic form of shapeshifting. Because Envy was a homunculus, an artificial human being, he wasn't bound by the limitations that regular humans were. This meant that it was possible for Envy to become other beings, provided he met the requirements of such forms.
"I've never had a chance to try this form out," they heard him say as he fell to his arms that became larger and longer. "You should feel honored to be the first victim!"
Shinji and the scarred Ishvalan were stunned at the sight of the creature Envy was turning into. It was black, stood on four legs, resembled a big cat with some reptilian qualities, including a long tail, and had insect-like mandible sprouting from the sides of its head. If this was some sort of chimera, it was the first one that Shinji had ever seen a homunculus turn into.
I've bit off more than I can chew today, Shinji thought, a part of him wanting to run from this horrid sight, but he couldn't.
Envy, in his beastly form, roared at Shinji as he charged towards him.
"Now, you die!" He yelled at the alchemist, only to see him jump out of the way.
"Get back!" Shinji yelled at his security detail and whatever civilians were on the street. "Get back! It's not safe!"
-x-
"Oh, great," went Greed as he and Lust saw the creature that was Envy attacking Shinji. "It's Envy. I've never expected him to be this riled up before."
Lust saw the creature Envy turned into whip his tail at Shinji, who brandished one of his small knives at the appendage and slice through it.
"What are the chances that the Living Alchemist can deal with him?" She asked Greed.
"If I were a betting man," Greed responded, "I wouldn't want to be the alchemist right now. That form Envy has taken on is the stuff of nightmares."
Envy then reeled back and slammed his arms down on the ground, fracturing the pavement, destroying the circle that was setup.
Then, they saw Shinji transmute four large walls around himself, Envy and the scarred man with them, trapping them within an enclosed space.
"Those walls won't hold Envy," Greed sighed, removing his jacket and tossing it aside.
"What are you doing?" His female lackey questioned.
"I owe that kid a debt for freeing me," he told her. "Not to mention Envy is a bastard that needs to be put down."
Then he changed into a dark-skinned demon with red lines similar to those of Lust's and jumped off the rooftop.
Lust sighed and followed suit, but only because she needed the Living Alchemist to hold up his end of their pact and make her human.
To be continued…
A/N: Between the pandemic, trying to watch Angel Links, staying positive and working on this, my focus is scattered. I hope you like this until the next chapter. Also, for those that don't know, the creature I had Envy turn into is the Kothoga monster from the film The Relic.