Incarnate
Returning
"Back again, Elric? You are such fun! Always a glutton for punishment, you are. And you never really learn you lesson." The Truth sighed, seemingly resigned. And was that- disappointment?
"What have you done now that needs fixing? What will you lose this time?"
The Truth pulsed all around him, with no definitive form at this point, the ghosts of arms twirling around him, moving his hair, pulling him forward. Ed licked his lips shakily, recovering from another burst of pain. "I want- I need- I need to know what this thing is!" He made an angry gesture at the wave of pain that he had followed to its source. It appeared golden, a bloodlike liquid, but one that was not physical. "And why am I burning? Why the fuck do I feel so great? Why am I in even more pain but you haven't taken anything from me? WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING TO ME?"
The Truth laughed. It echoed in the white, sounding harsh, unreal, but it had an echo of song behind it. "Oh, Ed. Well, this is a turn up. I think you're ready to remember. Your penance is over. Rise and be reborn, my dearest creation..."
Ed's eyes widened, suddenly recognising voice of the Truth from the song from the pain, the endless pain, the one that surrounded him, like water had surrounded him when he was small and learning to swim. His pain. The words took longer to sink in and he opened his mouth to protest, but what was released was simply a scream as both the black hands of truth and the gold chord of pain simultaneously pulled him through the Gate.
Remembrance
Ed was floating in the endless void of Truth- rise and be reborn, my dearest creation.
He saw memories from a life he ever lived - golden wings, golden eyes, golden hair, shining like the Sun, the light bringer, the life bringer.
He remembered doing things, things he simply couldn't have done- he was the favoured one who gave the people the gift of fire, the gift of weaponry and the gift of alchemy
He felt things that he couldn't felt- love for a family he never had- Death, Night, Day, Fate, Chaos, Dream, Nightmare, War, Pestilence, Famine, and a hundred others; his sisters and his brothers
He remembered a fall, his punishment, being lost and alone-Icarus made wings of wax, but he flew too close to the sun and they melted, Lucifer Morningstar was the most beautiful of all the angels, but he was to prideful and jealous and fell, he loved humans and tried to help them but stopped the events that must happen, he forgot himself and his place; so the Truth tore off his wings and put him into, the Dark- a void with no life nor consciousness, not for a thousand years
He could remember the conditions for his redemption, his birth-"You will be incarnated as a human, Life, as the son of the philosophers stone that the fall of Xerxes made- do you remember Xerxes? Ah, yes, you were away for quite a long time. Death had a field day. No arguments. You will fulfil your role, and I promise you will be redeemed after your fall. But we will have to get rid of all your memories of being yourself first, so that you can blend in with the mortals... Your colouring can be explained by his Xerxesian blood, but the wings? ..." He could remember the Truth's soft voice flicking over the words, and unbidden harshness in them, the weight, and then the amusement at his strong worded arguments in the ancient tongue. Then he remembered the pain at having his wings ripped off for the second time, and then came, thick and fast, his life as a mortal, much shorter, before being sucked away in the tide of pain again.
Reborn
Ed blinked, and did his best to stand up, turning shakily to see the Father of the Homunculi sitting on his throne proudly, with a sense of accomplishment. He thought he had gained the powers of God, or Truth, or the Universe, for his own, for always. Ed knew better- he was Life and Life had been created by Truth as a helper, and a creator in his own right, and there was no way that this, this usurper could contain the Truth for long. This thought struck Ed (or was it Icarus or Lucifer or Prometheus- no, it was Life, no, it was Ed. Ed-life? Life-Ed?), as particularly funny. So he laughed.
Greedling, Izumi, Hohenheim and Al looked at him as if he were crazy- he was still managed to be quite impressed with Al's look as Al remained in the armour. Mei Chang was staring at Al in a moon-struck way instead. Father did not seem to be bothered and Pride was rolling his eyes. Mustang was lying there on the floor, being useless. Mustang, the bastard, was of no use to any of them in his present state of blindness. So Ed (Life-Ed) decided to fix it. With a snap of his wrist, the gold soul-blood that ached with power swirled towards Mustang. He simply directed it to reverse the taboo, a menial task at this point (not even an hour old, no clap alchemy had been used, the transmutation circle wasn't made by Mustang anyway- no intent had been there), and there it was done. Colonel Mustang was able to see again, and the ache of the gold-blood-soul stuff [ichor, his mind prompted] lessened significantly.
"What? I-I can see? What happened? Who did it?" The arse was touching his face with reverence, staring at his hands; the others were looking at Mustang in confusion- even the Idiot Usurper That Was Destroying Himself. Ed ignored it, being preoccupied with fitting his new old memories to his new old powers, his new old body and the not at all that different, but definitely not the same Ed and Life.
Ed was part of Life, another name and face to all the others that people have given him, but was somehow more.
Edward Elric was his first incarnation into a human body.
He was fully human, and now fully divine as one.
He was Life, and he was Ed, and it was golden.
Without him realising it, the soft glow from earlier had reappeared around him.
A.N. : Three chronological drabbles for you there. I should have written the next few for next weekend, and some more for the week after that. There after I will add to this verse sparingly and maybe attempt a multi-chapter piece. Unfortunately, I have my GCSEs to do, so this is a secondary project for me to do whilst I procrastinate revision. I hope you enjoyed it, and I thank my two reviewers, Rinako and Fluehatraya, and offer internet cookies to them.
Thanks for reading
~ Call Me Tom [14.06.2012] [Edited: 16.06.2012]