The Price of Life [Fullmetal Alchemist]

Chapter Fifty One

won't sleep till i've done all it is i'm living for

-sleepingwsirens

•••

The son of the Fuhrer stood right before Sonia. Right now, he held her entire attention. To her, the subject of the conversation was far too great, and the stakes were far too high. She wanted to know, for her own sake. Jocelyn was a topic she would never let rest.

Pride folded his hands together and began.

"Very well. Years ago, I was sent on a mission by Father in your little hometown, Augustine. He had noticed strange anomalies of human transmutation in that area and wished for me to investigate. Augustine was a small town, so it was strange for it to have such a high attempt rate. That is until we realized it was just one human, attempting over and over again.

"I observed her attempts, thinking she was just another ignorant lifeform. But the more I watched, the more I had come to understand. She never put any of her own blood into the equation. There was never any soul data to make a base, so the Truth never took anything away from her. I assume she found solace in this creature and was simply curious. But when your father died of the war, she decided to put her own blood forth for the very first time. Finally, the Truth took something away from her. And what to take except the very thing that made her differ? Her future vision, of course.

"So then, she could no longer hear the voices and see the possibilities to come. I was instructed by Father to capture her, so I absorbed her into myself. She had already seen the Truth and sacrificed her soul, therefore Father theorized that he could create another homunculus, but with a human base. For the first time, he decided to stretch the limits of his power and create another philosopher's stone by tapping into each one of our seemingly endless supplies of human sacrifices to give his newest homunculus, his eighth child."

Sonia trembles at his tale, mumbling no's repeatedly. He continues nonetheless.

"Jocelyn has received every sin inside of her, and while her philosopher's stone is not as strong as others, her sins are what makes her powerful."

The girl's voice of disbelief grows louder until she is howling at the homunculus. "You... You lie! You're lying! Why should I believe you?!"

At the snap of her fingers, fire erupts for a brief moment. She snaps again, friction from the tips of her fingers generating heat. Sparks fly from her hands and she directs it all towards Pride. It extinguishes from her hands and into the air. Unfortunately, Pride dodges it, but it does leave a burn mark on his cheek. What's worse, the fire lands onto a bush behind him, turning it into flames. It spreads on both sides faster than she can blink, and she realizes how much trouble she has just caused herself.

Heinkel calls for her as black, razor-sharp darkness creeps up behind her. "Sonia, watch out!"

A twang of metal colliding rings in the air as Edward jumps in front of the girl, his blade automail arm as a defense. It retracts, and they both fall back into the grass, which is also quickly setting ablaze. He looks to her angrily.

"What were you thinking, setting everything on fire?!"

"I-I wasn't thinking at all. I was just angry."

"Whatever, it doesn't matter!" Edward looks around and shouts "Fu!" Overhead, everyone watches as a grenade soars over them all. A giant flash of light covers them all, and Pride screams in agony. He doesn't hesitate to attack with his shadows once the blinding light is no more. The Fullmetal Alchemist skillfully dodges them all.

"The guise of a child?" he taunts. "How shameful of you."

The homunculus' blood boils. He stands with his hands out by his side, the shadows bending to his will. "You couldn't be more wrong, Fullmetal Alchemist. I am Pride, the first Homunculus!"