//------------------------------// // Passion // Story: Mustang // by InfinitySlayer //------------------------------// "From the day I was extracted from Father, I believed that I was in every way superior to the disgusting creatures known as humans. Hell, a part of me still believes that now. If you were given powers that superseded every known law of alchemy, of nature itself, what would you think? Even when alchemists gain the smallest bit of power, they believe that they're somehow better than those who didn't. Bastard hypocrites. The ultimate irony then, is that I, the physical embodiment of envy itself, became jealous of humans. What a ridiculous concept! Me, an Homunculus, envious of what little humans have? How could I so paradoxically despise every aspect of filthy human nature, yet desire it above everything else? Riddle me that, Truth!" Truth grinned evilly at the furious Homunculus Envy, each white tooth portraying some element of a sinister plot. "How could you not be jealous, Homunculus? You are indeed the very essence of that sin, yet you have the arrogance to believe that you are somehow above it? Humans have so much more than you could ever hope to gain, but you already know that, don't you?" Envy clenched his fists in an embarrassed fit of rage, "Enough of your games! If I'm here, then you still have some purpose left for me. What the hell are you planning?" Truth's expression turned sour as he pondered the question, "There are so many places I could send your miserable soul, Envy. I could send you with the Father you seem to regard so highly to a hell you can't even imagine. Considering your nature and the things you've admitted, however, I think I have a much more, effective, place in mind for you now." The two massive, ornate doors of Truth opened with a clamorous bang. Envy swung around to meet them, his face contorted with a foul mixture of surprise and anger. Dozens of featureless black hands exploded from the partially open doorway, wrapping tightly around the struggling Homunculus and pulling him towards the aperture. "I'm sending you to a world that many humans might regard as a heaven. I can think of no better hell for you, Envy the Jealous." The stone doorway shut, leaving nothing but a white silence in its wake. ___________ For a moment lost in an endless infinity, the human spun in the eternal sea of blackness. As in a surreal dream, Mustang felt his emotions and thoughts dulled by the environment. He could think little beyond patchwork ideas, incomplete memories, as his body was deconstructed and reconstructed thousands of times each second. He saw a desert landscape painted red with the blood of an innocent people. He remembered the ruined cities and the dying children wandering empty streets. He saw himself, dressed in a uniform he once wore so proudly, obliterate a holy Ishvalan temple with a simple snap of his fingers. He smelled burned flesh and mangled gore in every house, on every road. He felt the pain of guilt overcome his soul, he felt the desire to rectify his sins by any means necessary. He felt fury he never knew as he stared at the very thing that caused him all that pain, that resulted in the genocide of an innocent race. The Homunculus Envy, wearing that cocky grin he sported so often, mocking the "weakness" of the human race. The Colonel ended that boasting with the same movement that once carelessly destroyed thousands of lives. Mustang's scattered thoughts were violently interrupted by a horrible pain occurring within each individual cell of his body. As he fell through that void, he vaguely recalled that feeling of being reconstructed from his last experience with the Portal of Truth. Bolts of volatile alchemic energy rebuilt his hands and legs from nothing, quickly spreading to fill in the rest of his body, including the hospital gown he had garnered before entering. At last, an aperture opened below the reconstructed Colonel. Natural laws swiftly reengaged, causing the force of gravity to pull him into the tear between the worlds. His body collided with a hard surface, distorting his newly returned vision for a moment. Disoriented and nauseous, the Colonel rose to his feet as swiftly as his reconstructed legs would allow. His vision still blurred, he saw only faded black walls and piles of something that smelled foul surrounding him. His breaths came in short gasps as he avoided tripping over decaying garbage. His mind still partially trapped in a fog, the Colonel's voice rose, "What is this? Where the hell am I?" A low sound erupted from the darkness, echoing and amplifying off the gray walls. The Colonel froze as he began to recognize that laughter so full of scorn and deceit. "Who's there? Show yourself!" The Colonel yelled, attempting to address the mocking voice echoing from all sides. "Who would've thought, the almighty Flame Alchemist so easily sequestered into my hands. I can barely resist the urge to strangle you, tear you limb from limb, watch the blood ooze from your body..." The Colonel stood bolt upright, sweat beading down his face. His eyes contorted with shock as anger began to bubble in his heart. That raspy voice was all too recognizable. He blinked the stinging sweat from his eyes, focusing on the movement in the shadows. From the darkness and decay of that abysmal alleyway, a pale figure stepped out of the darkness and into the gray moonlight. Its androgynous body was little more than skin and bone, contrasting sharply with the tightly fitting black clothing in the form of something resembling a skirt and top. The most defining feature of the being was its black hair, strongly resembling the sporadic leaves of a palm tree. Its facial features were sharply contorted in a mixture of rage and madness, its teeth barred in an evil grin. "No, that can't be...you can't be-" "Surprised to see me, huh? Can't quite say the same for you. Welcome to hell, Colonel Mustang." The Homunculus Envy's smile widened as the Colonel stared in disbelief. Trembling with rage as he addressed the smiling Homunculus, he said, "I burned you with my own hands, Envy. I watched as you ended your own life in shame. How are you here, how can you still be alive?" Envy's voice reached a maddened falsetto as he replied to the human, "I wouldn't worry about the how, but the why. That's a much simpler answer. You see, it all boils down to one question: how long will it take for me to end your miserable life? I certainly won't make it quick. Oh, and have fun trying to defend yourself without those infernal white gloves of yours." The Colonel looked at his shaking hands, bare of the gloves that allowed him to perform Flame Alchemy. For a moment, his heart stopped as he pondered his options. He inhaled slowly, allowing his heightened emotions to abate slightly. Realization dawned upon him with a smile. "I'm going to enjoy this more than you can even imagine, Colonel. It's high time I see you writhe-" Mustang interrupted Envy's heated rant with a clap of his hands, bringing them together in a position largely associated with prayer. The Homunculus's smile vanished as blue sparks of pure alchemic power flew from his closed hands, casting strange shadows upon the walls. He then extended his right hand towards Envy, his thumb positioned strategically atop his index finger. His eyes darkened. He swiftly brought his thumb across his finger. A tiny clicking sound erupted in the silent night. Imagine fire. Recall the feeling of it in a camp, in a kitchen. Remember the pain of accidentally growing too close to the orange-red blaze. Amplify that fire, that passion, beyond anything you can even dream of. That is the power of the flame that was sent towards the bewildered Envy, it's burning fury illuminating the entire alleyway in a glow of heat and explosive energy. The trail of flame collided with the Homunculus violently, to say the very least. Envy screamed into the darkness of that starlit night as his body was incinerated by Flame Alchemy over and over again. Red sparks of dark alchemic power erupted from the burning body as it attempted to regenerate ashen flesh and bone. The Colonel watched with passion in his eyes and fire in his heart, the shadows cast by the blinding flame adorning the hastily built wall behind him. After a few moments, the flames naturally subsided, leaving an crater filled with ash where the explosion occurred. Plumes of white smoke rose from the collapsed figure exhuming red bolts of energy breathing heavily in the center of the circle. Nearby piles of garbage lit ablaze by the heat burned ferociously, forcing the Colonel to take a step back from his handiwork. "On your feet, Envy. I'm not through with you yet." The Colonel's voice was powerful and demanding of respect. Envy slowly obliged, rising clumsily to his feet as the partial Philosopher's Stone within his core pumped energy to his body. He turned to face the Colonel, his eyes full of a mixture of fear and indignant rage. He stammered in pain as he finally replied, "Bastard, I'm gonna kill yo-" Another snap of his fingers and the Homunculus was engulfed in flames. The Colonel's eyes clearly expressed his determination, an unshakable will that far superseded the childish nature of the Homunculus. "Do you really want to go through with this again, Envy? I've already killed you once. I'm more than prepared to do so again." Mustang's voice was low and patronizing, like the tone a father might use to scold his child. As the flames subsided once more, Envy rose to his feet, this time sparing no time to attack. Lunging himself at the human in an enraged stupor, the Homunculus was spared no time before another burst of fire collided with his startled face. He flew backwards into the alley's wall, a terrible cracking sound erupting from his backside. "I'll keep burning you until you're nothing but a smoldering pile of ash. This time, I won't hold back. You certainly didn't, Homunculus." There was no wavering in the Colonel's voice. His eyes were hard set on the miserable creature regenerating his incinerated skin and bone ferociously, coughing violently in pain and despair. "H-how are you using Flame Alchemy? There's no transmutation circle!" The Colonel answered its question, clapping his hands together, "I've seen the Truth, Envy. I myself am the transmutation circle I use for Flame Alchemy. Although, it is a bit inconvenient to have to clap my hands between bursts. I guess it'll take a little longer to kill you than I initially expected." The Colonel heard a small shuffling sound from behind him. He threw himself backwards as crimson spear suddenly jutted out from the darkness, narrowly missing Mustang's jugular. In response to the attack, he hurled a bolt of flame towards the rough location of the spear's trajectory, setting that shadowy section of the alleyway ablaze. A women's scream erupted from the explosion. Against the blinding fire, a familiar shape crackled red with fire and reconstructive energy. "Just when I thought things couldn't get any more interesting. Good to see you again, Lust. I guess I get the pleasure of burning you both." Mustang's voice was laced with sadistic tones as he observed the smoldering Homunculus. She finished regenerating, returning to her original outside beauty. Her face was curled in an angry snarl as she thrust her index finger towards Mustang's smiling face, only to be greeted by another burst of wild flame. Mustang chuckled to himself, "You Homunculi really just don't learn, do you? I guess that I'll have to burn some knowledge into you. It's time you truly understand the weight of your actions, the pain of your wanton murder, and the cost of your evil plots." The Colonel turned his head to the sound of a clicking noise from down the blackened alleyway. Within a few moments, shadows of horse figures cast by the blazing heaps of decaying matter became visible, followed swiftly by the creatures who cast them. Mustang's eyes widened in surprise as he analyzed the startled and confused beasts now gaping at the scene before them. "What in Celestia is going on, here? What are those things?" "Why is everything on fire?" "Get back, they might be dangerous." "Might be? Look at the walls, look at the fire! Mustang observed the fantastical, colorful horse-like beings with no small amount of wonder. "What are you? Some kind of strange chimeras?" The creatures eyed the human with confusion until one of their number replied, "What's a-" It's voice was cut off by a crimson spear sliding through its throat. A pool of red blood accumulated on the stone road below the creature as it slumped downwards to its knees, dying instantly. The remaining horse like beings stared at the scene in horror and disbelief as the Colonel turned rapidly towards the confident Lust, his hand curled and ready to incinerate the Homunculus. "Not so fast, Mustang. You wouldn't want any more of those poor, innocent creatures to perish, now would you?" Lust extended another spear towards the neck of a turquoise creature, cutting off its escape. The rest of the creatures stood frozen in place by a fear they had never experienced in their lives. Blue sparks erupted from the Colonel's outstretched hand, on the brink of releasing a burst of flame at the smiling Homunculus. Envy rose to its feet, smiling in the wake of the latest development. "That's always been you're weakness, hasn't it? You just can't let innocent souls perish. How pathetic." Mustang clenched his fists, retracting from his stance. While he didn't even know the species of the presumed chimeras gaping at him, he still felt some amount of obligation towards their safety. Human or not, they didn't deserve to die by a Homunculi's hand. I need to get out of this populated area. Judging from the tall buildings, I must be in some urban environment. There'll be too many innocent lives to risk a drawn out battle with those bastard Homunculi. The Colonel pondered his options as the stalemate continued. No soul dared a step in any direction, lest risk destruction in some way or another. "Well, Mustang? What's it gonna be? Either you kill us and we kill those horse-things, or you allow us to kill you, and we might just let them live." Fat chance of that, the Colonel thought to himself. He looked to an area of the stone alleyway where the stone appeared chipped and cracked in places. Taking one last look at the two impatient Homunculi, he spoke aloud, "I guess we'll have to continue this conversation elsewhere." They couldn't even blink before the wall exploded into black chunks of stone and melted tar.