Hiding From The Light (A Study Of Shou Tucker)
He's really not all that bad, at least not to his young daughter. He's a good father, he was a good husband, and he provides well enough to support him and Nina.
Perhaps his only self-admitted fault is that he's too absorbed in his work, and it only makes him more upset the harder the obstacles he finds. Each failure brings pain, fear of disappointment, fear that the next time Evaluation comes up, he will be judged and found wanting. At that time, all his 'reputation' as 'the authority on chimerae' will be worth less than a common wayside stone, and just as easily kicked aside.
Damn that Fullmetal brat. Damn him. The kid probably didn't ever have to work for his license, skipped entirely around the equivalent trade of wasted years for enough skill to perform an impressive enough feat in front of the Dai-soutou. Wasted years, wasted time...
Wasted spouse, even.
Niamh…
You were the light of my life, you know? And it would have been perfect, perfect when you made that last sacrifice for me. So I and Nina could eat. So there would have been food on the table. As long as you lived and I could prove, I could prove that my work was worth something¸ that you and I were worth something and I LOVED YOU.
But you wouldn't live, you wouldn't try to live.
"I want to die," you kept saying in that thin low voice again and again and again. And eventually you died, but at least you hung on long enough for me to get my license, at least you spoke enough for them to believe I'd really made some kind of a breakthrough when all I did was change a talking human into a stunted monster.
I swore I'd never do it again.
For a while everything was good and I had time to play with Nina, and I had the leisure to experiment with other animals, try to duplicate what I'd done with you. I tried everything.
Everything.
And now, now what? I've used Nina too. And Alexander, he and you were inseparable, I remember that. Look at her, she's beautiful. Just like her mommy. She loves me, don't you, Nina?
…Why don't they understand, why don't they understand? I had to. I had to.
…I'm still hiding from the light, you know. Still hiding from the light.
Why don't they understand?
And as the man approaches, he knows that the light has come to judge him.
As the alchemy cuts through his body, his hands begin to raise, hiding, still hiding. But this time there will be no more hiding.
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Ooookay, I'm officially back on the angst trip. Actually, Tucker wasn't even close on my hit list, but a reviewer requested some 'villain' action, so here he is. Even if I don't think he's a bad guy personally, just desperate, but hey… you take it from here. Oh, and I'm basing my stuff off the manga principally… so Tucker did get killed when Scar got him…
Next up, also on request: King Bradley. You might know him as the Fuhrer.
BIG BIG BIG spoilers for chapter twenty five onwards from here, I think. You can read on if you want the juice regardless of spoiler, and if you don't… I'll put a spoiler warning in the chapter title, so you can skip over what you haven't gotten to yet.
Look, I'm reader-friendly! (sparkles) So please review!