Creation began on 12-19-22
Creation ended on 03-01-23
Neon Genesis Evangelion
The Living Alchemist: Acceptance of Avoidance
It was a ridiculous idea, but it was what they chose to do to keep the doors open for a while longer. Trying heavy duty chains and straps across the doors of the Gate, Fuyutsuki and the research team hoped to keep doors from closing of their own accord while they evaluated the strange energy it emanated in the form of these dark and elongated limbs that extended out at random times and to a limited range of ten feet. It was likely a factor of the Gate being open for longer than usual, but it was a slight risk they could accept so long as there were no casualties. But personally, Fuyutsuki worried about the people that left through the Gate to this world that Shinji resided in; it had been four days since the departure…and they hadn't been in contact yet.
"Sir! We have incoming!" A man yelled as Fuyutsuki looked at the interior of the Gate, seeing the extended darkness retreat back inside as something large came out.
Thud! It was the drone that they had sent through earlier on, but it was slightly altered by dents and cracks in its exterior.
Two men in body armor came and examined the drone, and one of them looked to Fuyutsuki.
"There's a message carved into the drone over here!" He informed the elder as he came over.
"They're doing fine over here. Shinji Ikari," the message read.
This had to be proof. Proof that they had made further contact with Shinji, that he was fully aware of what they were doing, maybe even trying to keep them out of harm's way until they returned from where he was. Hopefully even with him along with them.
-x-
It was one thing to accept the fact that it was the early decades of the Twentieth Century in this world, but it was another thing to comprehend that the history surrounding alchemy, the world, even the social structures…and these were just the basic things that Misato, Asuka and Rei had to know when it came to meeting new people around this country of Amestris. Their features made them stand out more so than Shinji's due to their hair coloring and clothing; they didn't want to attract too much attention, so they changed their outfits.
"Excluding your hair color, you three look like you live here," Shinji expressed as he looked at the ladies in their simplistic dresses.
Misato wore a regular yellow and blue dress that did nothing to tame her bosom; you could see the curves and if you were a man that acted more on hormones than on intellect, you were bound to fall for her, even from a distance.
Asuka wore a red halter and dark trousers with a skirt over them; she was attractive in her own way, and had to take into consideration the climate and temperature to function over fashion.
Rei, simply because she lived with the most basic of needs, attempted a one-eighty by wearing a blue dress with a dark shawl covering her bare shoulders; the shawl was meant to keep her at a tolerable temperature in case of a breeze.
"So, no planes?" Misato asked Shinji as they were traveling on the train to Resembool.
"Nope," he answered her as he looked out the window. "Not yet, anyway. There's hot air balloons to a degree, but not everyone uses them. You don't like to travel by train?"
"I just never took you for accepting travel by train as the most efficient mode of transportation."
"Transportation is only as efficient as the people that make it effective to get around."
"Are you sure they won't have questions about the transport we used to come through the Gate?" Asuka asked him; prior to leaving Aquroyo, Shinji transmuted the vessel into three pieces to make moving it easier, and instructed the people in charge of the train they were using to take it to Resembool where he would put the vessel back together again.
"I told them that it was extremely valuable, and since three of them were people that were struggling with their mobility issues due to limitations in the research and development process in prosthesis, they owed me a measure of discretion."
"Mobility issues?" Rei questioned.
"They were involved in a war and suffered. Partial paralysis in their hands, peg legs, PTSI, etc. I take healing people serious when they ask for it."
The train reached Resembool an hour later and everyone disembarked.
"Hmm?" Shinji looked past Asuka at an elderly man in his fifties, graying sideburns on his dark hair, and felt like he had seen him from somewhere before.
"Is something wrong, Shinji?" Misato asked him, and he turned to face her.
"Just thought I…saw someone," he stated as the bodyguards that came with the ladies began to move the pieces of the vessel out of the train cars used to store it.
Although it was only a glimpse, Shinji was required by his position as a State Alchemist to be on the lookout for individuals that were on the list of missing or suspected men and women that deserted the military. And there was a man listed as missing and suspected of having left the State Military towards the end of the Ishval Civil War while still in possession of sensitive information. While Shinji wasn't sure what was so sensitive that anyone within the State Military was ordered to report or apprehend the suspect by any means, he had his own reasons for wanting to find the guy.
"Uh…Shinji?" Misato spoke, and Shinji turned to face her. "Are you feeling alright?"
"I have my moments where I feel like I'm slipping in and out of time," he stated, "but I'm fine."
"This is Resembool?" Asuka questioned as she looked at the open terrain of grassland and few buildings. "It's so…so…"
"Rural?" Shinji replied, and she nodded. "I don't complain about it. It's where I met the Elrics and the Rockbells, where I got into alchemy and ended up being the alchemist that I am today. It's a small town that's out of the way, but it has the opposite feel of what a city is like."
"Baaaa!" A lamb went, walking by, and Rei ended up backing away into Shinji.
"What is that?" She pointed to the sheep.
"It's just a lamb," he explained to her. "It's a farm animal that people harvest wool from."
"Wool?"
Shinji had to consider the possibility that sheep were among the species that Second Impact caused a major decline in, so Rei had no idea what they were farmed for. And, mostly because of where he saw her living prior to the Fifth Angel, he also had to consider that, despite having a school education, the girl, along with everyone else, for that matter, probably knew next to nothing about the specifics of the world before Second Impact. It was only because of his encounter with the Gate that he had access to knowledge he would have had to learn about years ago, not just alchemy.
"Resources we need to produce materials such as clothing or bed sheets," he stated, being simple. "Farmers periodically shave their sheep to harvest their wool to be used as a resource."
"Your friend doesn't seem to know much?" Edward asked Shinji.
"It's…complicated."
"She seems paler than the rest of you, though, Shinji," went Alphonse, noticing that out of the people from the world Shinji was from, Rei Ayanami was of a much lesser coloring than they were, and they were all from the same country.
"Albinism."
"Shinji!" They heard a little girl's voice yell out as a little girl came running up the train station to greet the young man. "You and Ed and Al are back! Oh? Who are these people?"
"Friends from where I'm from," Shinji responded. "What are you doing out here?"
"Oh, Winry got hurt and lost her left hand."
"What?!" Ed and Al gasped.
"Sorry, Winry told me to tell you that happened. She's fine."
Before Shinji could say something else, Alexander came by and knocked him to the ground.
"Arrf!" He barked at the boy.
"Nice to see you, too, Alexander," he greeted.
"He likes you," Misato stated.
"Yes, he does."
-x-
Pinako was surprised that Shinji had guests over. This and that Hohenheim was still around; she had expected him to up and leave when the opportunity presented itself, but here he was still.
"…The more I see the unlikely to happen," she confessed as she smoked her pipe, "the more I worry that something will happen to this young man if he keeps getting involved."
"But…Shinji seems capable of dealing with trouble," Misato expressed to the elder woman that had asked Shinji to keep watch over the Elric brothers after he showed up because of their attempt to bring their mother back to life.
"That he does, and yet…I fear that the State Military may eventually have him cross a line he wants to avoid crossing again because of how it affects him on a personal level."
"You mean, send him off into a war?"
"Yes. Edward and Alphonse mentioned that he does have some fighting skills, but it's like he becomes a different person when he fights someone. Has this ever happened when he was with you people?"
"Not exactly…but I think I know what you mean by that. People have different sides to their personality that act up in different situations."
Meanwhile, Shinji was playing fetch with Alexander, making sure the dog got his exercise while Asuka and Rei were sitting on the Rockbells' front porch watching with Nina.
"He seems almost like he belongs," went Asuka.
"What do you mean by that?" Nina asks her.
"I mean, he doesn't seem like he has difficulty fitting in. Despite this being a different place, and it is very different, he…doesn't look out of place at all."
"Central City is probably similar to where you were before you arrived here."
"What is this Central City like?" Rei asked her.
"Big buildings and long sidewalks."
"No skyscrapers, though, right?"
"What are skyscrapers?"
Both teen girls didn't respond to this question because it seemed irrelevant if there were no such buildings currently in development right now; if there were no buildings that were between ten and twenty stories in height, then there were no skyscrapers.
"…Shinji seems to be bothered by something," Nina said, changing the subject.
"What is bothering him?" Asuka questioned.
"Likely the people my daddy works for."
"Your father?"
"Shinji and Daddy work for the military as alchemists. They're very busy when they are asked to do things by the military."
"He's probably worried that he'll be in trouble for changing the city by the water so that it wouldn't sink into the ocean."
"Ikari-Kun is very…creative in what he did to help the city of Aquroyo," went Rei.
They watched as Shinji threw the ball for Alexander to fetch again.
-x-
Ritsuko needed to make sure she had a fail safe with which to ensure that the success of recreating the Third Child for SEELE wouldn't be for naught. So instead of creating one more clone, she had three made, and each one had to be backed up so she had somewhere to resume with whichever ones didn't bite the dust.
"I don't know about this, Dr. Akagi," said her male assistant as the three clones were suspended in a nutrient solution in their isolation tubes that were opaque from the waist down to their knees. "It feels like we're playing with nature in a grotesque way with this cloning experiment. I get that the kid is dead, but even if it's cloning, how do we know for sure that we can even create an exact copy of someone we know next to nothing about?"
"SEELE doesn't want an exact copy of the Third Child," Ritsuko explained to him. "They just want a copy that will do what is required of him until they no longer have a use for him."
"And if we can't develop one that can work with the Eva?"
"Then it's everyone that had anything to do with this project that answers for this setback."
"Ohh…"
And this was a fate the faux-blond woman wanted to avoid at all costs. It was next to impossible to perfect cloning due to the instabilities in genetic engineering and modification, and the limited understanding of manipulating psychological factors due to not understanding the true limits of the mind and no understanding of the soul. This would've been a simpler process with Rei instead of Shinji, but SEELE wanted Shinji because he was a requirement. Still, they were trying to do what others would've considered playing with nature by trying to clone someone who was dead and use them to do something worse.
-x-
He needed an excuse to go confirm with his own eyes who he saw earlier, but Shinji assured everyone that he'd be fine by himself; he wasn't defenseless or on anyone's hit list. Plus, who goes after someone doing something as trivial as going to the grocery store?
"You're not the least bit worried that he's going to get into some kind of trouble?" Misato asked Pinako shortly after Shinji left the Rockbell home.
"He's quite capable of late-night activities, but he's not someone you would expect to want to go places men older than himself dare to venture," Pinako stated; Shinji just didn't seem like the type of young man to try and grow up too fast when he was still maturing.
Misato had to take this into account, since he lived in this country longer than they had realized.
"But was it really necessary to go to the store for vegetables at this time of the night?" Asuka asks Pinako. "Couldn't he just…transmute some?"
"That's not how alchemy works here," went Edward to her. "You need seeds, soil and water and an understanding of agriculture in order to alchemically produce vegetables."
"It's an equation that comes from understanding how alchemy works," added Alphonse. "Your output has to be equal to the materials you start with."
"Ikari-Kun probably has his reasons for going out this evening," said Rei. "He wouldn't hide anything from us unless he knew something was wrong. He would confirm things before saying anything to any of us."
"I wouldn't let him go alone, though," Asuka claims.
"Believe it or not," Edward told her, "Shinji has a tendency to do better when he's alone; less trouble when there's no one else to worry about."
"Like you and Alphonse?" Misato questions.
"Yeah."
"And if Shinji does end up in some kind of trouble…he's that good with alchemy that he can get out of it?"
"I don't think he'd be called the Living Alchemist if he wasn't capable of dealing with a situation he could resolve."
-x-
"…What do you want from me?" The elderly man Shinji saw earlier asked as said boy sat down at the table in his hotel suite.
"I just wanted to confirm something after I saw you earlier," he told him, looking up from his empty mug and giving him an emotionless stare. "I saw a sketch and photo of a man a while back after I joined the State Alchemists…and he looked a little like you do. Maybe you're just a recognizable face in a crowd…or maybe you're who I would rather not have to suspect you of being at all, but I still need to confirm for myself, and once I do, then I'll let the hammer fall wherever it may. All I really want from you, sir…is your absolute honesty. Can you be honest?"
"Are you…here to bring me in?"
"I'm not on orders to bring you anywhere."
"Then…you're here to silence me?"
"Your answers will decide whether or not what I do next. So, answer this question, sir: Are you…Tim Marcoh, the Crystal Alchemist, the man who went AWOL towards the end of the Ishbal Civil War? Your honesty, sir. Nothing more, nothing less."
The man looked at him, seeing a coldness in him that seemed like a firestorm from the depths of a land of endless misery. If he wanted to, the man was sure that this kid could and would silence him if he was ordered to. He wanted to run out of the room, but he feared that he wouldn't get far. Not from this guy. All he could do…was answer him.
"I haven't been called by that name in the years since I deserted the civil war," he reveals. "I've been called Dr. Mauro to hide my identity from the State Military. I am Tim Marcoh."
"Well, then, it's nice to meet you in person. I'm Shinji Ikari, the Living Alchemist. My specialty is Living Transmutation, the creation of limbs and organs for those still among the living."
"Living Transmutation? So, it's possible?"
"I choose the path of creation and healing over destruction and maiming."
"You…don't look like you…"
"Belong here? I didn't before, but I'd say that I carved out a place for myself in this country. I'd say that you carved out a good life for yourself wherever you were. There's only one other question that I want to ask you before I decide my next move. Do you know anything about the Philosopher's Stone…and have you disclosed any of its secrets with anyone that would misuse it for anything that would be considered wrong, such as warfare or greed?"
"The Philosopher's Stone is only a myth that alchemists made up to motivate them to pursue greater ambitions. There's no such thing in existence."
"Now, whoever said anything about it not existing? I only asked if you know anything about it and if you told anyone else about it that would be motivated to use it in a way that was wrong. You see, I consider myself the one that has to deal with something that would be very, very bad and life-altering if left unchecked and it becomes dead serious. And any knowledge of the nature of the Philosopher's Stone in the wrong hands would be considered very, very bad. So I'll ask you again. Do you know anything about the Philosopher's Stone and have you told anyone else about it that would misuse it? And don't lie to me."
Tim Marcoh raised his left hand up to his chest, just over his heart, and responded, "I know about the Philosopher's Stone…and I've never divulged its secrets to anyone after I left the military. I washed my hands of the research behind it and used the stones I had just to help people that can't afford medical treatment."
"You swear on your life that you are telling me nothing but the truth?"
"I swear."
Shinji looked at him…and saw only the truth in his eyes.
"I appreciate your honesty and humility, doctor," he told him as he got up. "I apologize if I've wasted your time and shall leave you to enjoy your trip here in Resembool."
"What?" Marcoh asks him as he walks over to the door. "That…that's it?"
"I'm not on the job right now," Shinji reveals to him, "and even if I was, I just spent my time conversing with a man by the name of Dr. Mauro…who has never heard of a man by the name of Tim Marcoh. The whereabouts of the Crystal Alchemist are unknown…and I don't know if I'll ever find him. Do you know where I can find this man, Dr. Mauro?"
"I… No, sir, I don't know where he is. I don't know who he is, either."
"Then you don't have to worry about it. As far as I'm concerned, he likely passed away from natural causes, taking whatever secrets of the Philosopher's Stone to the grave with him. I do, however, hope that he knows that things have changed and whatever guilt he had from what happened years ago was never his fault but the fault of the people that desired that which should never have been sought after to begin with…and that redemption was achieved through walking away from the life of violence. Have a good night."
As Shinji left him in his suite, Marcoh couldn't believe his fortune just now. He had met a young man who was a State Alchemist…and he let him go after learning what he knew…and had no intention to turn him into the military.
Walking down the hallway, Shinji was rather content with what he learned tonight. Not only did he meet with another alchemist that had a conscience about what had been done over the course of his career, but the guy couldn't stomach what the military had done back then and fled with dangerous knowledge that both went to great measures to conceal from the rest of the world in the hopes that such an item of extreme risk was never sought after or misused. While he suspected that Marcoh still possessed some of these incomplete Philosopher Stones, Shinji didn't suspect that the doctor used them for anything other than treating his patients, and will have likely used them all up before he passed away. So long as the military knew nothing of his whereabouts, Shinji would never have to see him be captured or executed for whatever crimes that were held against him. There was greater acceptance in something simple as avoidance of people that wanted only to atone for their past mistakes…and Tim Marcoh had been one such person that was better off avoided so that he may continue his atonement.
Power, wealth, immortality, he thought as he walked the dirt roads to reach his next destination. Power exists in many forms, and most are just corruptible influences. Wealth is only for those that want to never have to lose anything or feel despair over their lack of means or want to live in the lap of luxury. Immortality. There is no such thing for people that have to live with the knowledge that their days are numbered. Even if it were possible, immortality would be imperfect due to many reasons. It's better to just live your life and make an impact on those around you. The closest you'll ever become to immortal is through being remembered and when people forget all that there is to know about you, you just become another unknown in the void of forgotten people. You still exist…but nobody remembers who you were…and honestly don't care.
-x-
"It would seem that Major Ikari has made an unusual impact on the people of Aquroyo with the Elrics," Hawkeye informed Mustang, who found out that the three had returned to Resembool not so long after. "They transmuted the entire remnants of the city and preserved its designation as a tourist attraction for the people living there."
"They transmuted an entire city?" He questions; he didn't expect any alchemist, including the Living Alchemist, for that matter, to be capable of such an extensive degree of transmutation. "I didn't expect these three to be capable of such a phenomenon."
"Some witnesses claim that it was mostly Major Ikari, who then left the city with the Elrics and some other people."
"What other people?"
"Sources are mixed, but they describe the strangers as three women."
"Admirers?"
"Or maybe new friends."
To be continued…
A/N: Another story updated, another goal achieved for the sake of escapism. It's becoming harder to escape from reality because of the issues that plague us and threaten to push us out of our comfort zones. I hope to stop feeling this way in due time. Until then, enjoy this chapter as you await the next one.