Creation began on 01-17-21

Creation ended on 03-23-21

Neon Genesis Evangelion

The Living Alchemist: Nothing Personal

A/N: But to who?

"…Say, Shinji," went Edward to Shinji as they were on the train back to Resembool when they heard that Hohenheim had returned, "you didn't find it unusual that Teacher took in the boy we found on York Island so soon after we left?"

Shinji, looking out the window at the scenery, turned to face the young alchemist.

"No, why?" He questioned.

"She seemed to take to the boy shortly after he became more active."

"Maybe all he needed to be more active was a feminine influence."

"Are you sure, Shinji?" Alphonse asked him.

"Why the sudden curiosity on why your alchemy instructor taking in a boy we found just a day ago?" Shinji had to question; in truth, he didn't want to go into detail over the fact that the boy in question being the long-lost former-stillborn/homunculus son of the Curtis couple. "Worried that she'll train him to become a better alchemist than you two?"

"That was uncalled for, Shinji," Ed expressed.

"Consider it a cheap shot for what I gotta do when I meet your father for the first time."

"Well, we'll probably be there in another half-hour," Al stated. "What if he leaves before we get there and he disappears again?"

Shinji sighed as this was within possibility.

"Then the next time he shows his face in Resembool," he told the two, "I'll transmute restraints and have him locked up so he can't leave again. Being your father, I could probably have him charged with child neglect and child abandonment. He did, more or less, walk out of y'all years ago, didn't he?"

"Yeah," Ed admitted, "he did."

Yet, Shinji had to honor his promise to Ed, even if there was a chance that their father would leave before they showed up.

"Your father, being an alchemist," Shinji spoke up, "just how good is his alchemy?"

"We have no idea," Ed responded.

"The guy's an alchemist, and you have no idea what kind of alchemy he specializes in?"

"He's hardly ever around, so we don't know what sort of alchemy he did. All we really know about him is that he had a nickname: Hohenheim of Light."

"Hohenheim of Light, huh? That name makes no sense to me due to having very little knowledge on this mystery alchemist."

-x-

Hohenheim looked at the more recent photos that had been taken a while back, seeing that his sons had aged considerably in the years that went by. But what got his attention was the teen boy that was with them. He had never seen such a strange boy whose face was clearly different from every other face he had seen in Amestris. It was like he had been sculpted from different materials than whatever ones used to make other people, or he came from a completely different environment than the ones found here.

"Who is this boy?" He asked Pinako, pointing to Shinji's photograph.

"That's Shinji Ikari," she explained. "Believe it or not, he's been helping to look after Ed and Al sometime after their mother passed away. He showed up one day…and has been with us ever since. He makes sure they stay out of trouble."

"You don't find it unusual that he just shows up and nobody questions his presence?"

"He joined the State Alchemists alongside Ed and Al and practices alchemy for medical purposes. Nobody can really question where he's from if they know he's a member of the military now. Stick around, you might be able to know a bit about him."

Hohenheim had his doubts about that. It wasn't because he didn't trust the teen or anything, but not knowing who the boy was left him suspicious.

"What do they call him in the military?" He asked her.

"The Living Alchemist," she answered him.

"Arrf!" Alexander barked, running past Den and Winry to go outside.

"Well, well, it seems like they're back," Pinako chuckled. "Alexander seems to always know when Shinji is near."

Hohenheim followed her to the outside of the house, and saw three boys walking towards them.

"Yeah, that's him!" He heard one of the smaller boys yell as he pointed at him.

The teenager sighed and approached the man.

"Hello, sir," he was greeted by him. "You must be Hohenheim. Hohenheim of Light. It is nice to make your acquaintance."

"And you must be Shinji Ikari, the Living Alchemist."

"I am. I would shake your hand, but first I must apologize to you."

"Apologize? For what?"

"It's nothing personal."

BASH! Shinji, fulfilling his word to Ed, punched Hohenheim in his face, knocking him to the ground in front of Pinako, Winry, Nina and the brothers.

Suddenly, Shinji found himself in a black and red realm, representing blood and darkness. He saw a man shrouded in darkness, a woman whose shape seemed to echo that of Lyra's, a dozen or so people locked in cages with glass canisters full of a red liquid. The man clapped his hands together and created a flash of light. Seconds after the flash, Shinji saw no signs of the people in the cages and the canisters were empty…and in the man's hands was a dark red crystal.

No, he realized what he had witnessed, seeing the man fall to the ground and was comforted by the woman that had grabbed the crystal that had been created, recognizing them, despite the darkness obscuring their faces from his perception. It never seems to end until everyone responsible pays some kind of price for their actions.

Then, he was back in the presence, looking down at Hohenheim, who was shrugging off the hit.

"I guess…there's a reason for that?" He asked Shinji.

"Unfortunately, yes," the boy responded. "Like I said, it's nothing personal, but I made your eldest son a promise that I'd hit you after we met."

"I figured Edward would make you do something like that, Shinji," went Pinako.

Shinji then offered a hand to Hohenheim, who accepted as was helped off the ground.

"I would say something relating to Ed and Al, unfortunately, half of what I want to say is negative, so I'll refrain until later on. But here's a question I can ask that is positive: What brings you back after so many years away?"

"I heard that they joined the Amestrian State Military."

"They did. The State Alchemy program. Your eldest and youngest are Fullmetal and Building."

"And you, the Living Alchemist. Yet, you seem to be at a different level than my sons."

"Ed is combative, Al is constructive and I'm merely practicing pacifism because I don't enjoy causing violence for any reason."

But Hohenheim got the impression that Shinji's sense of pacifism stemmed from something deeper than what he wasn't saying.

"You look better with that bruise on your face," went Ed when he came over with Al, looking like he felt slightly better about seeing his father after such a long time.

"Edward…still don't like drinking milk?" Hohenheim asked him, and then got kicked in his right shin by the boy.

"Who you calling so tiny that you can't see without a magnifying glass?!" He demanded to know from his father as he fell to the ground again.

"He didn't say anything of the sort, Edward," Shinji, Winry and Pinako reminded him.

-x-

Ritsuko had finally managed to get the clone of Shinji to be talkative, but his level of speech was limited to just a few words, most of which stemmed from what few memories that had been recreated for his mental faculties to work with. His vocabulary was limited to things like, "Yes, ma'am", "I can't", "Run", and "Why?", something that needed to be improved later.

It'd be easier if he could function a little better than his original had before he died, Ritsuko thought as she tried to fabricate more memories for the clone, but had to consider what the point would be if he wasn't going to be seen by anyone from his original's past.

The copy was looking at her with an emotionless expression, which she found just…too much like Rei's whenever she looked at her. This was all unethical, how she was doing things that were going to get her in trouble if the authorities had difficulties dealing with someone that was dead suddenly walking around like nothing was wrong. Not that most people were going to ever find out about him. Even with fabricated memories, the Third Child's clone was as good as child sacrifices were these days.

"We'll have a rudimentary Eva ready for him when he's at an adequate stage," SEELE 04 informed her shortly after the boy was cloned. "If he's stable, we can begin work on the Dummy System. We'll expect an update in a month from now."

And the month was nearly over, with only ten days left before the clone was expected to be tested in the rudimentary Eva. If Ritsuko couldn't get him to live up to their expectations, she was likely to written off in some obituary in some small country that was barely on the map.

"Have you read the book yet?" She asked the clone, looking at the book in front of him.

"I…read it already," he responded to her, looking down at the book on the table.

"When?"

"It was… I know I read this book before, but I…don't remember ever reading it."

Ritsuko was evaluating his recollection and how accurate the possibility for memory to be passed on at the genetic level. So far, she was finding several gaps in the clone's ability to recall; he was able to recall certain events, but the very events themselves were missing from his recall. Recent cognitive tests indicate that he was capable of small feats of intelligence, but his brain, like any teen, was still in development, still adapting, not like an adult brain. This left how his mind would develop to be a mystery.

"My father," the clone uttered suddenly, "he…he spoke to me just once, didn't he?"

"What do you remember about that day?" She questioned.

"I see him moving his mouth…but I can't hear what he's saying. It doesn't sound pleasant. None of it sounds pleasant."

"You only remember him talking to you…but not what he said?"

"Lately, I've been…unable to remember anything. I see people without faces. Places without things. There's a…black and white bird…with a backpack?"

A black and white bird with a backpack? He can't even recall Pen-Pen.

-x-

It was unsightly, but it was clear to mature eyes that Den and Alexander…didn't like Hohenheim very much at all, like there was something wrong with him. At least when it came to company, Shinji stuck around when everyone else left the man alone with the dogs that didn't seem to want to leave him alone with anyone.

"I guess you're not well-liked by dogs, sir," Shinji told him, sitting outside the Rockbell house with him as the night went on. "You seem to have…quite a reputation on you."

"Not the same as you do," Hohenheim responded. "You're…very blunt in how you do things. You don't cross the line between morality and immorality, refrain from causing much pain in the pursuit of achieving a goal, and even as a State Alchemist, you refuse to do what you do for a price from the people you do what you do for."

"The price is already paid for, metaphorically speaking, and I can live with that price so long as the people don't suffer because of the actions of those that could care less about how others have to deal with their repercussions. What is the difference between being an alchemist, a State Alchemist…and a member of society able to do what others can't or won't consider doing? Is there even a difference that they can see?"

"You use crystallized Red Water to strengthen your alchemical reactions. The refinement process makes it more effective to use as a resource. But using it for healing purposes instead of as a weapon, that displays your true ability as an alchemist."

"Alchemy is a tool, meant to improve people's lives, not to tear them apart and leave the pieces to be picked up by those that remain."

Hohenheim had to admit that this young man had a different view on alchemy and his own agenda on how to best use it.

"So, just how long have you used alchemy with less than noble intentions?" Shinji asked him.

"What are you talking about?" He responded, acting as though he didn't know what he was asking him about.

"I hold myself in check in front of the brothers because I respect them, but right after I hit you today, I became aware of something that has been kept in the darkness…and it relates to you and another person that did something that few people know how to…and even fewer have actually done so. So, my question, in the absence of the brothers and Ms. Tucker, Winry and her grandmother…is just who or what are you and how long have you done what you've done with alchemy in an unethical manner?"

Hohenheim had to consider the way this boy was looking at him, how his expression was direct and not entirely hostile, as though he was anticipating whether or not to be hostile towards him.

"What makes you suspect that I've done something wrong with alchemy?" He tried to beat around his question with another question.

"Edward mentioned something to me that I couldn't help but notice was something unusual. He said that when you left years ago, the house still smelled like you for a while, like a perfume that starts to get dull after smelling it for a long time. I only met one other person that had the same aroma as you…and she's been dead for a while, too. She was an alchemist, as well, but she was…lacking in her morality. She had no remorse for anything she did, for anyone she harmed, and had the indecency to question the possibility of eternal life, something that isn't possible…and something that shouldn't be sought after by anyone. Nobody's meant to live forever, and nothing lasts forever, even when we want them to."

"This woman… Did she have a name?"

"Yeah. Dante."

Hohenheim couldn't hide his reaction from him. He hadn't heard that name in many years. He had put that name behind him after he met Trisha. Everything from his past, he put behind him.

"I guess you're familiar with her?" Shinji asked him. "If you do…then I guess my suspicion of you is also true. You're just as old as she was, aren't you?"

Shinji wasn't even trying to beat around the bush with Hohenheim. He was just being direct.

"You do realize that is crazy to assume, don't you?" He asked him.

"I've seen crazy, done crazy, heard crazy, and the thing of it is… Crazy is just a part of the norm in this country. So…how crazy is an alchemist that specializes in healing instead of combat or construction or elemental manipulation…or the most depraved form of alchemy, which is combining different creatures to create something else entirely? How crazy is that?"

"Except you help to save lies, not take them."

"I don't enjoy violence. To be tasked with doing violence against people that don't even deserve it…just disgusts me. You put a gun in my hands, I'd probably turn it into a wad of paper clips or powder or anything that isn't a gun. You show me someone laying on the ground in a pool of blood, riddled with bullets, clinging to life with all they have, and I'll use my Red Stones to heal them while life still resides inside them. What sort of alchemist are you these days?"

"I haven't done any alchemy since I left."

"That must be rough."

"No, it's actually…very relieving to not do any alchemy. Not too long ago, we couldn't do alchemy. These days, everyone with sufficient knowledge and skill can do it."

"I learned the basics from your sons, and expanded upon it through reading more and getting experience, even seeing the Gate. Knowledge is a form of power, just knowing whatever there is to know, and sharing it with those that don't have it."

"You've seen the Gate?"

"Same as you, same as your sons, same as anyone that tried to do the impossible that even God won't do…and punishes those that go against him."

"Have you attempted to bring someone back to life?"

"No. There's nobody to bring back in my life. My parents are dead, and they are shadows from my past, just people I either don't remember or never understood. I once met with the ghost of my father, and he demanded that I bring him back to life. I told him I wouldn't, and he still insisted I do as he told me because he was my father…and I still refused him. He exploited me after years of absence and barely spoke with me. I don't have care about him as much as I thought I did months ago, and he can burn in Hell for all I care. I wouldn't cross the line and bring him back to life, knowing what he'd do if I did, and he wouldn't thank me for doing so."

"So, you don't have a relationship with your father?"

"He saw me only as a resource, not as a person, so I wouldn't help him breathe again, my father or not. He doesn't respect the lives of others, so what right does he have to get his back?"

"He doesn't respect the lives of others, so what right does he have to get his back?" Hohenheim repeated his words in his mind. "Don't you think that is a little hypocritical of you to say?"

"Everyone is hypocritical. Everyone has an opinion. All it all depends on in anything said and done…is one's sense of conviction, their determination and tenacity to do whatever it takes for them to achieve something…same as you did."

"They were going to die, regardless of what anyone else did."

"Can you elaborate? Or do I have to second-guess everything you say? People that hide the truth behind what they have either done or are trying to do…are the ones who lie the most. So, my suggestion to you, Hohenheim of Light, is that you don't lie to me. What do you mean, they were going to die, regardless of what anyone else did?"

Hohenheim sighed and came clean with his past.

"I was researching the means to transmute living matter into a more-manageable state for energy consumption," he stated. "Dante was my apprentice in the study of alchemy. We found a way to transmute a condensed form of energy generated by the human body by transmuting the body into a smaller state."

"The Philosopher's Stone."

"Yes. But as we continued to explore this route, a friend of ours, Zeke, discovered that one person was insufficient in creating a stone of sufficient energy. We needed more. So, we gathered people that were sentenced to death for witchcraft or were dying from a disease brought on by rats."

"Plague rats. How many people?"

"One-hundred-twenty-eight."

"You sacrificed…one-hundred-twenty-eight people…to make one stone?"

"That was just the first stone…and its power was minute at best. There were two cities full of people that were…used later on."

Hohenheim could see the anger in Shinji that was being held back. He wasn't sure if the boy was going to jump him, throttle him or some other form of bodily harm for his sins. But he was still sitting across the room from him, a considerable distance between the two for now.

"When I created the first stone, it nearly killed me," he revealed to Shinji. "Dante saved me by sacrificing Zeke."

"Then…you used the stone to live a parasitic life, jumping from one body to another over the years," Shinji responded, sounding disgusted by this revelation. "It makes me have to wonder now… Are you afraid of dying that much that you cling to life like an insect, hanging onto a larger body that doesn't notice, if it even can, that you're there until later on? You should give me a reason, just one reason, why I shouldn't do the world a big favor and put you to pasture like how Dante was dealt with for her atrocities against humanity."

"After the first stone was transmuted and the two cities were used to increase its power, I wasn't going to do anything else beyond living so long as the stone existed. Once it was used up, I would die, because there is no such thing as eternal life. Even what Dante and I discovered was nothing more than an illusion, and one that carried a price that not even the stone could pay."

Hohenheim then pulled up the sleeve of his left arm and revealed to Shinji, who recoiled slightly at the disturbing sight. The skin on his wrist was several layers decayed, not even the beginnings of any scabbing. It was like the flesh was simply rotting away.

"I couldn't live that way after what happened to Zeke, so I transmuted copies of my original body and transferred my soul into them each time I was near death," he explained. "I tried to get Dante to do the same, but she…couldn't stand to wear the same face over and over again. I even tried to fashion different faces for her, but she preferred pretty faces of young women."

"There's something else that you're not telling me. Something I believe you're hiding." Shinji suspected from him.

Hohenheim sighed and uttered, "During the time Dante and I were together, we had one child. A boy. He died from mercury poisoning…and I tried to bring him back to life. He ended up becoming a homunculus that Dante called Envy…and I left them after our views went different ways. But I left her most of the Philosopher's Stone, hoping that she would just disappear if I'd stayed in hiding."

"Unfortunately, she wasn't going to stay in hiding, as she wanted a new stone. She just didn't want to have to be the one to make it herself. She almost tried to get me to make one for her…and I wouldn't. Sacrificing people's lives for some stupid pebble is never a fair trade. Immortality at the cost of so much suffering…is not a life worth living. She lost her shell of a life because she was greedy for more than what she had already…and her homunculus, or rather, your homunculus, Envy, was sent back into the Gate."

"Did you kill her?"

"No. When I became a State Alchemist, I made a promise to myself that I wouldn't take a life. Even if ordered to, I can't violate my principles just because of a bad apple. Someone else killed her, getting revenge for their own atrocities she helped create. The stone she had was reduced to nothing, so she was doomed to die, anyway. The question is: What happens to you now?"

Hohenheim felt intimidated by him now. It was the way he looked at him, spoke towards him, evaluated his past actions and inactions.

"If you leave again, you will just create more tension between yourself and your sons, mostly Edward, and, unfortunately, I can't have that," Shinji expressed, thinking this through. "If you stay, there's a chance that you'll be exposed due to your necrosis, and I can't have that, either."

"Then…what will you do to me?" Hohenheim asked him, seeing him take something out of this pouch he had tied to his pants, revealing that it was a Red Stone.

"As you probably know, I am very skilled with healing injuries and illnesses. I heal your necrosis, you stop hiding in the shadows and face the world and your sons. You flee, you disappear again, give me one reason to think that you might cause Ed and Al more harm with your absence from their lives…and I will know. I will be out there, looking for you, and when I find you… You will see a side of me that even I don't have much awareness or control over. You ever heard of people with Dissociative Identity Disorder? I might have something similar to that, but I don't do crazy things when I find myself full of confidence and the increased conviction to do what I think is necessary to end the suffering. Can you live with that?"

-x-

"What do you think Shinji is talking about with your father, Alphonse?" Nina asked as she, Ed, Al and Winry walked down the road towards the Elric house.

"He's probably putting him down for leaving back when he did," said Ed as he hopped onto a stone-sculpted wall.

"Or he's just trying to get information on where he was all this time," Al suggested.

"How can you be sure of that?" Winry questioned.

"I can't, really. But Shinji always has a reason for everything that he does and doesn't do. Half the things he has done have been to avoid trouble we can't avoid…and he doesn't want trouble to follow us around."

"Except trouble has a tendency to follow you three."

"It follows Shinji more than Al and I," Ed defended.

"Why does trouble follow Shinji more?" Nina wanted to know.

"Shinji, uh…"

"Oh! Is it because he's a better alchemist than you and Al?"

"What?! No way is he better than me that he could outdo me in alchemy!"

"She didn't say that, Edward," Winry stated, seeing the Elric house up ahead. "But you have to admit, an alchemist that can heal injuries or even regenerate limbs, they're almost impossible to overlook if they're able to do what doctors can only dream of doing."

"I could study medical alchemy if I wanted to!"

-x-

"…I don't know what is crazier," went Misato as she and Asuka returned to her apartment, "the fact that a rocket is being built to travel through the Gate…or that I want to bring Pen-Pen with me tomorrow?"

"The bird," said Asuka to her. "I see no reason to bring him with us to the Geo-Front. Even if they get the rocket to work, we'd still have to wait until Shinji does something on the other side to open the Gate. And I think he'll probably kill us just for trying to get to him."

"You would think that."

"Because he doesn't want us risking our lives for something that might be more dangerous than piloting the Eva or facing the Angels. I mean, he is in a world where the people practice a form of alchemy that is pretty powerful and enables them to create things on a larger scale, which would make them dangerous if they decided that they wanted whatever it was they wanted."

"But Shinji is able to do it, too, and look at what he does with it. He uses alchemy mainly for healing purposes. He hates violence and prefers nonviolent actions over his life as an Eva pilot."

"If something like that could be done here, it'd be a miracle for the medical realm of science and technology. He uses alchemy to close injuries or grow new limbs."

Both ladies could see Shinji doing that in this world, treating people medically, probably making a decent living as an alchemist that used medical knowledge. But only if he could use his abilities here like he could over there. As there was no way of knowing yet if he could use alchemy anywhere other than the world he was in, it was just a possibility, not a fact.

-x-

"I think you put the fear of God in the boys' father, Shinji," said Pinako to Shinji as he was washing the dishes. "What did you two talk about?"

"Just where he was and why he left and didn't return when the boys tried to contact him when their mother was sick," he explained. "I only threatened to come after him with a slight vengeance if he ever left his sons again without an explanation. If he left and didn't explain why, I will be after him like a common criminal. He understood that I wouldn't be as forgiving as maybe Alphonse is…and maybe just as unforgiving as Edward currently is, but I wouldn't do something as irredeemable as murder him, tarnishing my soul in the process, and swore he'd stay put here."

"My, my, you certainly put the fear of what you might do to Hohenheim in him. That's quite a feat that not many are able to achieve. Still…what do you suppose would happen if you…up and left all of a sudden?" Pinako asked him.

"That…isn't something I try to see happening," he responded, finishing on the last dish. "Even if it were possible, the price is high, and even if it could be paid, I can't allow anyone to pay it, even for me. Despite the benefits of alchemy, its law of Equivalent Exchange is not an absolute truth; not everything has a price that can be matched…and everything obtained is everything desired by the person seeking whatever it is they want."

"Heh. You're wiser than Edward, I'll give you credit for that much. Not everything can be solved through alchemy."

"Alchemy is just a tool to be used. Alchemists are supposed to use it to benefit the community they reside in, right? I may be a State Alchemist, but I choose to help the people through nonviolence rather than oppression. And…things are getting better, one day at a time."

"Yeah. Yeah, they are getting better. But still…just…what happens if you were to leave?"

Shinji turned to face her and sighed. As much as the possibility of returning to his world seemed within reach, he feared the repercussions of what could happen if someone got hurt because of him. He wasn't willing to let anyone suffer because of his displacement or for trying to find him a way back to his world.

"I pray nobody gets hurt," he told her.

-x-

All his sons told him was that Shinji had cleaned up after them in his study, and Hohenheim found out what they meant by that after he noticed what books had been read and what notes had been written or hidden. The Living Alchemist had concealed the fact that the boys had committed Human Transmutation a while back to try and resurrect Trisha after she had died…and had reversed their failed attempt.

"He covered for us when a State Alchemist came by, responding to a letter we had sent to try and find you," Edward had told him. "The last thing we needed was to be looked at by the State Military for trying to piece back our broken family. He was probably looked at with suspicion more than we were that day."

"Shinji had foresight," Alphonse explained to their father. "If we were found out, we'd have to answer for what we did. Nobody has asked us if we did it, and if they ever do, all we have to tell them is that we haven't. Because, technically, there's no longer any proof that we did anything wrong…and there's nothing anyone can do to make the claim that we did do anything wrong."

He could've approached the young man and ask what he wanted from Ed and Al, as some people would expect a favor in return for keeping their secrets protected from the wrong eyes and ears, but Hohenheim had his doubts that Shinji wanted anything from his sons. What could he possibly want that he didn't currently have?

"Nobody really told him to cover up for them," Pinako had mentioned. "He just wanted to make sure that they were protected against being persecuted."

Hohenheim sighed as he had to accept that Shinji was very perceptive of what could've occurred and cleaned up his sons' mess to keep them safe.

He probably has more than foresight, he thought. Probably has hindsight, too. Selective hindsight and foresight; he can see things that have occurred and events that could occur. He can't change what was or has happened, but he can either undo what is or prevent what could be. Such an ability would make him just as unpredictable as his alchemy would. And his use of the refined Red Water and Red Stones, he's already a force to be reckoned with, and he doesn't rely on the Philosopher's Stone. He won't rely on anything made with sacrificing human lives, believing that there is no equivalent trade for any number of lives. Shinji Ikari, just who…or what are you?

He sat at his desk and looked at a photograph of his family from before he left due to his bodily decay that Shinji used his Red Stones to reverse for the time being. Sighing, he found himself uncertain of what to do with his time now that he didn't need to worry about his decaying flesh. He still only had one life, probably less than a few years, perhaps less than a decade, but probably long enough to set each and every one of his affairs in order…and he now owed a debt to Shinji; if he left his children again, the teen would make him regret his choices in any fashion he found he could live with so long as it didn't involve murder.

"Like I said, it's nothing personal," he remembered Shinji saying to him.

And yet, sometimes I think he is capable of taking things and people serious. He's smart enough to know when not to trust people, so he's clearly smart enough to know who he can trust and who not to.

With his future now uncertain, Hohenheim decided that he needed to start setting whatever affairs he had left in order, just in case something did happen to him.

-x-

All things considered, Shinji had his doubts that Hohenheim would live to be physically in his nineties, even with the use of the Red Stone to regenerate his rotting flesh. It wasn't just the body that was maimed over time, but the soul, as well. Even in the land of the living, the soul wasn't invincible to the ravages of decay; Shinji had concluded that because of the extensive use of the Philosopher's Stone for a little over four centuries, the human spirit began to lose much of its potency to survive in a foreign body that didn't belong to it (and this was almost the same with alchemically-derived bodies to serve as substitute containers for the soul), resulting in rapid decay of random sections of the body. People using this method of cheating death might've been able to hide this decay through the use of clothing or even through being in places where a foul odor was common, but any slip ups that exposed them to the public was a move they couldn't undo. The power of the Red Stone by an alchemist specializing in healing could've reversed this to some degree, but the damage caused to the soul was likely beyond the stone's power.

The soul exists beyond physical and biological comprehension, he thought as he laid in his room in the Elric house. After life is lived, the soul must move on, but if the strength of the soul is great, then it can and will be renewed, having been given a new life to live, absent of the past life. To be reincarnated is different from being incarnated, again and again; incarnation is the deliberate attempt to continue living in fear of death and the afterlife that awaits us all in the end…and reincarnation is the gift of a new life, free of the past, able to make different choices and be with new people in a new setting. Immortality is a curse from which there is only agony. To know that one day, even the very next one, that you're going to die…is what gives life any meaning. To know that there's a limit to how long you can see the sun, the snow, the stars, the rain, feel the wind against your face, taste the beverage in your hand, hold the hands of the people you love most. I'd settle for those over living forever. I'd settle for everyone living until a sickness or old age catches up to them. We're not gods…and nothing we do can change that truth that will be etched in our lives.

He turned to his left and looked at the pouch of Red Stones on the bedside stand. One of the stones was out and giving off a small glow, emanating with a limited power waiting to be used however the user saw fit.

What does it mean to live? He continued to think. What does it mean to die? What does it mean…to have and to lose than to have never had at all?

To be continued…

A/N: If any of you thought that Shinji was being a little too philosophical or whatever, that's just how he is when he meets people that have done things he makes a choice not to do himself. But hey, I'm sure you all can agree that when Shinji did hit Hohenheim, it truly wasn't personal, just him fulfilling a promise he made to Edward. And now that Hohenheim knows just what to expect if he ups and leaves again, he will stay put, not that he has any other choice in the matter. I expect reviews from you about this chapter. Whatever you have to say, say it. I don't know when the next chapter will be, but have patience.