Virtues

[Mlle Bienvenu]

Chastity against Lust.
Temperance against Gluttony.
Love against Envy.
Charity against Greed.
Mercy against Wrath.
Zeal against Sloth.
Humility against Pride

These are the Virtues.

================
She motioned to a nearby wall, and in a flash of white light, the wall’s wooden panels transmuted into cabinet doors. She marched over, swinging open the doors, grabbed something, slammed the doors shut, marched back over to Edward and shoved something into his hands, Ed, without looking knew what it was, “You want a Philosopher’s Stone? There. There you go. It’s yours. But know this; it will not give you what you want. It is just as flawed as Marcoh’s Stones, just the same as any other stone that’s ever been made.”

“As long as it gets our bodies back, I really don’t care if it’s flawed.’

“The ends justify the means, do they? You military people have no qualms about sacrificing large quantities of human life for what they want, but quail at the thought of sacrificing their own lives for it-”

“You don’t know, okay? You don’t know anything about Al or me! We… we’ve more than paid for this.” Ed held up the vial containing the Stone, “To get Al his body back, I’d die a thousand deaths.”

“And I’d do the same to get Brother's arm and leg!!”

"I know you would. Which is why it hurts me so much that would come so close and fail. That very quality is what makes you valuable to the Sins. It's something they will never posses, that by definition they cannot posses. Lust will never know love. Gluttony will never be satieted, Envy will never know contentment, Greed will never have enough, Wrath will never be appeased, Sloth will never do anything of importance, Pride will always be lonely."
==============================

“That Stone that you hold in your hand can only grant you a flawed joy, a flawed peace, a flawed life. Look at the trouble it’s caused! Wars have been fought over it. Innocent lives have been lost. Souls have been corrupted by it’s flawed promises. I found that out the hard way, I’m still paying for it. Don’t make the same mistakes. You have a chance to get it right from the beginning. You are so close, and you want to throw it away for what is easy. I thought you were different from the others.”

=====================
“Despite my good intentions, I still made that Stone. I can never undo the damage, erase the sin. But I can prevent it from happening again.

=====================
“Let me tell you a story Edward. The story of the human transmutation circle. Once upon a time, before Ishbalah was the Ishbal people’s only god, there was a creation myth that was widely accepted; This god, in the creation of the world, bound himself to the center of a circle and was pulled outward until he was torn to pieces. His body became the earth, his blood the seas and rivers, his limbs became the four types of creature: growing things, swimming things, flying things and crawling things. and out from his head sprang the first humans.”
======================
“Why can you transmute without a circle?”

“Because I’m the fool who tried human transmutation, that’s why.”
=======================
"He looks just like Hughes."

"Is that his name? Do you know him?"

"Didn't you?"

"No... I was travelling on a train one day about 6 years ago where I fell into conversation with this young military officer. He showed me pictures of his wife and newborn daughter, and he had this glint in his eye that I never forgot. When I created Love, I thought of that day on the train."

"Heh, yeah that sounds like our Colonel Hughes alright. He sure loved his family."

"'Loved', did something happen to them?"

"No. He... was killed."

"Oh. I'm sorry to hear it."
======================

[Mlle Bienvenu]

Chastity - Ultimate Shield - Nina
Lust - Ultimate Spear

Temperance - Ultimate Strength - female relative of Armstrong
Gluttony - Ultimate Appatite

Love - Ultimate Aim - Hughes
Envy - Ultimate Mask

Charity - Ultimate Alchemist Young!Tim Marcoh
Greed - Ultimate Shield

Zeal - Ultimate Speed - Scar
Sloth - (?)

Mercy - Ultimate Heal - Rockbell
Wrath - (?)

Humility - Ultimate Cloak - Young!Hohenheim
Note: avoids personal pronouns I, me, my etc.
Pride - Ultimate- coughsplutterhack

[Mlle Bienvenu]

"Mother, I don't know if this is advisable. If you create all seven of us at once-"

"You care too much about me, I'm not what's important here, Love"

"I know, but I can't really help it, can I?"

"No I suppose you can't. But after what Humility has reported, we really cannot risk loosing the Elrics to the enemy."

"Yes, I know."

There was a long pause, and Ed tensed, ready if the door opened.

"If there was another way," her voice was so low, that Ed strained to hear, "Of course I would take it. Last time.... it was ... Hell, and I'm not looking forward to it.... which is why I've written all the instructions down ahead of time.. and I want to have Mercy sedate me. I don't know if that will help, but at least I won't be able to do any damage."

"But what if something changes in our plans and we need new instructions?"

"Make sure I'm... secured before waking me. I'm going to entrust you with the instructions, Zeal."

A voice Ed hadn't heard before spoke, it sounded vaguely familiar as well, "These say you are giving Charity the power of alchemy this time."

"Yes, that's right. He'll need that more than I will."

"If he has the power of alchemy, how will we return to you?"

"He'll have to initiate the transmutation himself. I've written instructions on how to perform such a tranmutation."

"All theoretical."

".. yes.. theoretical.. but it's the best we can do."

"And if he is captured?"

"That's a risk, I admit, but in these circumstances it's an acceptable one.."

"What if he chooses not to return?"

"Do you have reason to believe that he won't?"

"... no ..."

"Always the suspicious one, Zeal, aren't you? I'm just going to have to trust him, like I trust all of you."

Suddenly, Ed felt a hand squeeze his flesh shoulder, "Elric. Come with me."Ed looked, but saw nothing, but he knew that voice without a doubt. He'd heard those tones only too recently and it made his bloodpressure jump several points to hear them again and ordering him around..

"Let go of me, Bastard!!" Ed took a swung out with his fist, but caught only air. The hand moved from his shoulder to the back of his neck, and guided him forcefully towards the door. It opened of it's own accord.

"He was eavsdropping." the disembodied voice of what sounded like Hohenheim Elric said, finally unhanding him and presumably closing the door, as it shut also on it's own accord.

(name) quirked an eyebrow and sighed, "Not entirely unexpected, I have to admit. I've been watching you long enough to know that you don't put much store in such things as privacy."

Ed wasn't listening, he was staring at the man leaning arms folded against the wall. It was Scar.

Or he thought it was Scar. But as he stared, he noticed 'mistakes'. He was too pale. His tatoo was a different design. His scar ran in the wrong direction. He had no sunglasses. His eyes were a pale pinkish red.

"What do we do with him?" The Scar lookalike folded his arms and stared at him with his strange pink eyes. Pink eyes.... he'd seen eyes like that before... on Lust.

"You...you're a homunculus!?"

"Yes he is." (name) sat at the table, hands folded, " I made him, Fullmetal. And Love here. And Humility behind you...well I think he's behind you."

Again, Ed stared in disbelief at the person sitting next to (name). He couldn't believe it... A succesful human transmutation. And of a person he cared about, "Colonel Hughes!"

"Is that his counterpart's name? Do you know him?"

"Didn't you?"

"No... I was travelling on a train one day about 6 years ago where I fell into conversation with this young military officer. He showed me pictures of his wife and newborn daughter, and he had this glint in his eye that I never forgot. When I created Love, I thought of that day on the train."

"Heh, yeah that sounds like our Colonel Hughes alright. He sure loved his family."

"'Loved', did something happen to them?"

"No. He... was killed."

"Oh. I'm sorry to hear it."

"But you brought him back, so you must have already known he was dead? How did you do it? Can I see the research?"

"No. I didn't. and. No." She smirked wryly, " I'm afraid I haven't got the resources to pay the ferryman to cross the Styx more than once. And I think I'm of more use alive than dead. These are not that type of homunculi. Love is an extension of myself. I bind a part of my soul to them in order to give them life. It's really very much like the transmutation you did with your brother. A bit more complex, I have to say. It's much harder to partition off parts of the soul than to bind a single soul to armor." The disembodied voice coughed off to Ed's side and the shifting of positionc could be heard. (name) grimaced and chuckled, "Sorry Edward. You'll have to excuse my behavior. Right now, Humility, Love and Zeal are active. That leaves me without these qualities myself."

"How long were you listening at the door?" Zeal narrowed his eyes,"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Ed spat back at him.

"We're on your side, Ed." the Hughes homunculus leaned forward in his chair, a concerned expression over his face. It was really hard for Ed to remember he was not who he looked like, he expected him to whip out a picture of his daughter any second, "We want to protect you from danger. Dangers like Scar or the other homunculi. The ones created-"

"That's why I created them. You have to fight fire with fire."

[Mlle Bienvenu]

Chastity - Ultimate Shield - Nina
Looks like Nina Tucker except with a different outfit....haven't decided on what that would look like, so you can make it look any way you want to.

her Shield form is similar to Greeds, but more jester like...a lot less evil looking...her braids become pointy like a jester hat's and her eyes look sort of like spiderman's

www.readmanga.com/view.php?currtitle=1&chap=028&img=39

Temperance - Ultimate Strength - female relative of Armstrong
an older woman, a bit taller than pinako... think a female version of the sensei in Karate Kid... people don't see her strength coming... heheh. Has blonde/white flowing hair like armstrong... not neccesarily muscular, but toned.

Love - Ultimate Aim - Hughes


Looks like Hughes, but with Greed's hair, except for the...protruding piece of hair that hughes has. He wears no glasses and doesn't have a five oclock shadow like hughes.
greed pics
www.readmanga.com/view.php?currtitle=1&chap=027&img=12
www.readmanga.com/view.php?currtitle=1&chap=027&img=11
without glasses
www.readmanga.com/view.php?currtitle=1&chap=027&img=15
www.readmanga.com/view.php?currtitle=1&chap=028&img=7


Charity - Ultimate Alchemist Young!Tim Marcoh

photobucket.com/albums/y51/marcohsnotes/15/?action=view¤t=07.jpg
Pretty much marcoh but younger.... a bit longer hair, still trimmed on the sides though

Zeal - Ultimate Speed - Scar

Looks like scar except his scar is going in the other direction (like a cross or star shape with one 'leg' going down his nose). He never wears sunglasses.

Mercy - Ultimate Heal - Rockbell
I don't really know what Mr or Mrs. Rockbell looked like.... I'm thinking she looks like winry but older and with a doctor's hat/mirror thing on.... oh and more clothes...LOL

Humility - Ultimate Cloak - Young!Hohenheim

Looks a lot like an older ed with a beard..instead of a braid, he has a ponytail. still has the cowlick and the long bangs.


As for the tattoo..I have a picture, but it's on my other computer... it's a combination of the Flamel, the oruoborus, and scar's tattoo... I have a way I drew it...but you can make it any way you like just for fun...or not show it at all .....



Anyway...be as detailed or vague as you want, I'd be interested to see what you come up with ^_^

Darkest of Day's Piccy!



Beatrice Lebenstein

Beatrice doing the Homunculus transmutation... I was trying to figure out what the transmute circle would look like (and trying to draw a seven pointed star is very difficult to visualize and do by hand, I might add lol )

[Mlle Bienvenu]

"Can't sleep?" Beatrice

Alphonse turned from his thoughts, "Erm...I just got up for a drink of water.."

"You don't drink anything. You're a soul transmute aren't you?"

"How did you...?"

She held up a hand... "It's alright...I've been following you two for some time. You're Hohenheim's children."

"Er..yes, that's right."

"Your brother is his spitting image. The moment I saw him, I knew who you two were."

"Don't tell him that. He'd get mad."

"No doubt."

"You knew our father?"

"Yes. I knew him once."



=====

"Miss Lebenstein?"

"Yes, Alphonse?"

"I was thinking about the story you told...whatever happened to Mountain-Woman?"

"Oh well, let me see... I think that when Mountain-Woman heard what the Emperor had done, she felt very sorry for Gingerbread-Woman, for it wasn't her fault she was made of gingerbread."

"Oh."

"You sound dissapointed."

"Well... I just thought there'd be more to it, that's all."

[Mlle Bienvenu]

Dante received a thorough education in both classical and Christian literature. At the age of 12 he was promised to his future wife, Gemma Donati. Dante had already fallen in love with another girl whom he called Beatrice. She was 9 years old. Years later Dante met Beatrice again. He had become interested in writing verse, and although he wrote several sonnets to Beatrice, he never mentioned his wife Gemma in any of his poems. One of his early sonnets Dante sent to the poet Guido Cavalcanti, which started their friendship. Dante also dedicated his first book to Cavalcanti. The work, LA VITA NUOVA (1292), celebrated Dante's love for Beatrice. The nature of his love had its roots in the medieval concept of "courtly love" and the idealization of women. According to another theory, Beatrice was actually a symbol of 'Santa Sapienza', which united secret societies of the day. Harold Bloom in The Western Canon (1994) sees Beatrice as Dante's greatest muse, his invention, who saved him "by giving him his greatest image for poetry, and he saved her from oblivion, little as she may have wanted such salvation."

[Mlle Bienvenu]

Inspiration pieces -

"Gates of Dawn" - Secret Garden
(Beatrice's Song of Transmutation)

The wheels of life keep turning,
Spinning without control;
The wheels of the heart keep yearning,
For the sound of the singing soul.
And nights are full with weeping,
For sins of the past we've sown,
But tomorrow is ours for the keeping,
Tomorrow the future's shown.

Lift your eyes and see the glory,
Where the circle of life is drawn,
See the never-ending story,
Come with me to the Gates of Dawn.

And whose is the hand who raises
The sun from the heaving sea?
The power that ever amazes,
We look, but never will see.
Who scattered the seeds so life could be?
Who colored the fields of corn?
Who formed the mould that made me --
Before the world was born?

*Lift your eyes and see the glory,
Where the circle of life is drawn;
See the never-ending story,
Come with me to the Gates of Dawn.* (Repeat)


=====================================

"I'm Still Here" - Vertical Horizon
(Hohenheim's Song)

I found the pieces in my hand
They were always there
It just took some time to understand
You gave me words I just can't say
So if nothing else
I'll hold on while you drift away
Cause everything you wanted me to hide
Is everything that makes me feel alive

Cities grow
Rivers flow
Where you are, I'll never know
But I'm still here
If you were right and I was wrong
Why are you the one that's gone
I'm still here
Still here

Seeing the ashes in my heart
The smile the widest
When I cry inside and my insides blow apart
I tried to wear another face
Just to make you proud
Just to make you put me in my place
But everything you wanted to take from me
Is everything that I could never be

Cities grow
Rivers flow
Where you are, I'll never know
But I'm still here
If you were right and I was wrong
Why are you the one that's gone
I'm still here

Maybe tonight
It's gonna be alright
I will get better
Maybe today
It's gonna be okay
I will remember

I held the pieces of my soul
I was shattered and I wanted you to come and make me whole
When I saw you yesterday
But you didn't noticed
And you just walked away
Cause everything you wanted me to hide
Is everything that makes me feel alive

Cities grow
Rivers flow
Where you are, I'll never know
But I'm still here
If you were right and I was wrong
Why are you the one who's gone
And I'm still here
The lights go out, the bridges burn
Once you're gone, you can't return
I'm still here
Remember how you use to say I'd be the one to runaway
But I'm still here
====================
Father of Mine reminds me of Ed and the way he feels about his delinquant Dad.

Father of mine
Tell me where have you been
You know I just closed my eyes
My whole world disappeared
Father of mine
Take me back to the day
When I was still your golden boy
Back before you went away

I remember blue skies
Walking the block
I loved it when you held me high
I loved to hear you talk
You would take me to the movie
You would take me to the beach
You would take me to a place inside
That is so hard to reach

Father of mine
Tell me where did you go
You had the world inside your hand
But you did not seem to know
Father of mine
Tell me what do you see
When you look back at your wasted life
And you don’t see me

I was ten years old
Doing all that I could
It wasn’t easy for me
To be a scared white boy
In a black neighborhood
Sometimes you would send me a birthday card
With a five dollar bill
I never understood you then
And I guess I never will

Daddy gave me a name
My dad he gave me a name
Then he walked away
Daddy gave me a name
Then he walked away
My daddy gave me a name

Daddy gave me a name
Daddy gave me a name
Then he walked away
Daddy gave me a name
Then he walked away
My daddy gave me a name

Father of mine
Tell me where have you been
I just closed my eyes
And the world disappeared
Father of mine
Tell me how do you sleep
With the children you abandoned
And the wife I saw you beat

I will never be safe
I will never be sane
I will always be weird inside
I will always be lame
Now I’m a grown man
With a child of my own
And I swear I’m not going to let her know
All the pain I have known

Then he walked away
Daddy gave me a name
Then he walked away
My dad gave me a name
Then he walked away
My daddy gave me a name
Then he walked away
My daddy gave me a name
Then he walked away
Then he walked away
Then he walked away

[Mlle Bienvenu]

My theory is that a flawless Philosopher's stone requires a sort of transmutation of your own soul...your own willing sacrifice is greater than the mass sacrifice of a flawed P!Stone and in the transmuatation, you become a living philosopher's stone...(more literally than the HP Living Stone theory) And to do that. since hoho is far from perfect...(this is again working off the manga) he thought to try a sort of Jekyll and Hyde thing, where he purged his soul of his sinful nature by separating them from himself, embodying them in homunculi. So really Hoho is trying to find a loophole...sort of cheat his way to a true!Pstone.

now...off of canonesque theory and onto my Virtues fic ^_^

Now Mother is doing exactly the opposite. She has already attained a true!stone through years of perseverance, work and study... And now she's keeping tabs on Hoho and his schemes and wants to stop them, so she does the opposite of Hoho and pours the good parts of herself into homunculi leaving what's left for herself.

Actually the whole thing sort of follows the hero's journey pattern..(lol....I'm a one trick pony,aren't I?...lol ) Ooh kind of like Sidhartta... the Bodhisatva attains enlightenment after a long journey... attains Nirvanna...but instead of escaping the cycle of death and rebirth, chooses to enter back into this cycle in order to enlighten others.

Anyway, her goal is to protect the Elrics since A) They are the most likely to succeed where their father has failed. B) They are the main target of the Sins.

www.chowk.com/show_article.cgi?aid=00002982&channel=university%20ave
www.chowk.com/show_article.cgi?aid=00002739&channel=university%20ave

[Mlle Bienvenu]

The First Psalm of Creation

At the beginning of this cycle*, there was Ishbalah.
In the circle, Ishbalah divided^ Himself:
In the circle, the world was created,

Of His body, it became the earth,
Of His blood, it became the sea,
Of His right arm, it became the flying things,
Of His left arm, it became the swimming things,
Of His right leg, it became the crawling things,
Of His left leg, it became the growing things,
and of His head, it became the People.

In The Division, the world was created,
In The Creation Ishabalah divided Himself..

Bound by the circle,
God is in+ the world
Bound by the circle,
the world is in+ God
Bound by the circle
they are united.
they are one.

At the beginning of the circle, there was Ishbalah
And Ishbalah divided himself to create the world.

^ Codified texts use the word divided, but if you look at the original and much older sources, they clearly use the word destroyed. There seems to have been a reformation at some point in Ishbal's history, probably when Ishbal became monotheistic, thus calling for a god which is both a part of the world and is his own autonomous being, as Ishbalah took over the functions of the other gods in the pantheon, rather than being soley a god of creation and destruction.

* Many newer translations (the last 500 years) use cycle instead of circle, due to the circle's associations with the now forbidden practice of alchemy. Both words are identical in Ancient Ishbalan. In my opinion only the first 'circle' in the psalm warrents the change to cycle, as it seems to refer to an age of time.

+ 'in' has connotations of 'connected to' as well as the normal connotations of 'within'. A rarely used suffix usually associated in everyday instances with such things as a fetus' physical, literal connection while within the mother, and therefore manifests images of birth, creation, and parenthood.

The makeup of this passage is interesting in the fact that that is is composed of 21 lines. Three groups of seven. Two of the groups of seven lines are together, while the third group is divided into three sections. Seven is a significant number in Ishbalan religious texts because Ishbalah divided himself in seven pieces body, blood, two arms, two legs, and head to represent the universe. (OOC: Actually I hadn't really intended to do that..I was trying for a multiple of seven, but the two groups of seven with one divided was accidental.LOL)


Psalm of Destruction

At the end of this cycle, there is Ishbalah.
In the circle, Ishbalah is gathering Himself:
In the circle, the world is dissolved,

Of the earth, it restores His body,
Of the sea, it restores His blood,
Of the flying things, they restore His right arm,
Of the swimming things,they restore His left arm,
Of the crawling things, they restore His right leg,
Ofthe growing things, they restore His left leg,
and ofthe People, they restore His head.

In The [Re-]Creation [of Ishbalah], the world is dissolved,
In The Destruction, Ishabalah gathers Himself..

Bound by the circle,
God is in the world
Bound by the circle
the world is in God
Bound by the circle
they are united.
they are one.

At the end of the cycle, there is Ishbalah
And Ishbalah gathers himself to dissolve the world.

May it be so.

[Mlle Bienvenu]

There are only three canon words of Ishbalan origen spoken in the show,
Ishbala - the name of the ishbalan god
Ishbalan - the name of the ishbalan people
Shambala - the last one is questionable because it's not definately Ishbalan, but given the 'bala' at the end, i'd say it's a safe bet. Shambala is a place something like a Shangrilah or an earthly paradise (perhaps even a promised land of sorts?) and is in the FMA movie's title FMA: Conquerer of Shambala.

What do these words mean? how are they constructed?

we can break them into several sections.

Ish
sham
bal
a
an

both words have bala in common.

I am reminded of what the older ishbalan said about the world in the episode where Scar is taken in by a camp of Ishbalans. he says something like "All the world is the bosom of the lord our god." this would fit in with what I came up with for the division of Ishbala in the creation of the universe. His body becomes the earth...

If we say that bal equals honorific 'his' and 'a' equals the possesive singular, and 'Ish' means something relating to him (personally I like 'name')then we can say that Ishbala means His Name, and if we look down at the word for body, it's 'geshem' which is really close to 'sham' perhaps 'sham' is bosom or a shortened form of geshem? therefore Shambala, would he His Body or His Bosom or.. the earth or an earthly paradise such as Shangrila?
=============================================

S-O-V word order in a normal sentence

Nouns
plural - im

Forming Possessives
Possessives must agree with the number of people possesing a single object. the number of possessions is taken care of with noun declension.
possesive singular - -a
possesive plural - -an

Order:
possesed-possessor(s)-suffix

Example:
Ishbala'an (or fully amIshbala'an... 'am' which means nation or people is often left out entirely. like saying Ishbala's... the people is implied)

Amestris -
am-esutura'is
nation-thelaw-of'negative (those who aren't of the law [of Ishbalah] Foreigners, infidels, others)

Amestrian -
am-esutura'isan
nation-thelaw-of'not's


Articals -
the - e-
a(n) - en-

Pronouns
Honorific general singuar pronoun - bal
generic all purpose singular pronoun - huwu

Particles
el - of (pertaining to) suffix
et- at suffix
u - and
-is - negative

Verbs
ro(r)- command (do this, go here)


Regular Verb Construction
to be - hav
is - ihav
was - havah
will be - havem

Leading vowel (and uwu) Verb Construction
uwuf - to fly
if - flying
ufa - flew
ufem - will fly

Trailing vowel (and uwu) Verb Construction
hayu - to become
ihayu - becoming
haya - became
hayem - will become

Alphabet
Letters on the same line indicate it is represented by the same character, but with a diacritical mark denoting sound difference.

b, v, w
d
f
g, y, j
h, ch - as in Chanukkah
k, q - no english equivalent, a 'k' but farther back as in Arabic 'qaf' (was kh)
l, r - slightly flipped 'r'
m
n,
p
s, sh, z or ts (represented by the same letter with no distinction, the distinction is only auditory)
t

' - has no sound, is a glottal stop also used as a base for standalone vowels, considered a vowel

a - as in bot
e - as in bet
i - as in bit
o - as in boat
u - as in but. is sometimes silent

au, aw- ow as in bout
ae - as in bat
ay - as in bite
ey - as in bait
uu - as in boot
oo - as in book

uwu - doesn't have it's own diacritical, but is generally pronounced like a regular Ishbalan 'u'

Stress usually falls on the second syllable.

[Mlle Bienvenu]

Ishbala - Ishbala
bal - name
circle - chuwug [chuhg]
world - teber [tehBREH]
earth - ara [aRA]
body - geshem [gehSHEM]
blood - dam
head - resh
arm - ezroa [ezROa]
leg - shaq
right side - yamor [yahMOHR]
left side - samor [sahMOHR]
sea yam
creatures basarim [bahSAHRihm]
creature basar
universe ekol [lit the everything]
all kol
one - echad [ehCHAHD]
alchemy - echemya
alchemist - echemya'ar
ancient [peoples] - anqadimarim
kanuhen - warrior-priest

in - bayit [bah YIHT]
at - -bar
generic pronoun huwu [huh]
this haraz [haRAZ]


To begin - rosh
To be - hav
To become - hay
To swim - dag
To fly - uwuf [uhf]
To grow - gad
To divide - charuq [chahRUHQ]
To create - bar
To dissolve - parar
To Bind - afad
To crawl - zachal
To unite - yachad

[Mlle Bienvenu]

Most of this is pretty crappy dialogue, but it's just to get my ideas out of my brain....it'll be fixed up later...

"Hohenheim... you haven't changed at all, I'm sorry to say."

He nodded from his parody of a throne, his glasses catching the light and making his eyes look like menacing white disks, "My Sensei."

Pride, who was standing to Hohenheim's right, spoke, "So you're the one they call Mother? I would have never believed it. The Ancients Alchemist, scholar of the writings of the Sages from the East."

"No one reads the classics anymore."

"But I should have guessed it would be you. We thought you were dead, but I suppose I should have known better. I notice you haven't aged a day since your last evaluation, Ancients Alchemist.. I wonder why that is... I imagine you must have attained a Stone?"

She said nothing, just stared through him, a faint smile quirking the corners of her mouth.

"Give me the Stone." Hohenheim spoke.

"You can't take what you can't hold." She could feel Gluttony's hot breath on the back of her head, "You always were a poor student. Yes, you learned the lessons, the facts, the calculations, but missed the point entirely."

"Perhaps, but, I'm the one who has your homunculi and... a surprise... Envy, if you woiuld?"

Grinning, Envy held up what looked like a piece of scrapmetal, "Curtesy of Lust."

"You don't recognise that? No? Do you need a hint?

She didn't. Her ghost of a smile evaporated.

"You are dispicable, your own son."

It was a chunk of Alphonse's armor. The only important part. The piece containing the blood seal.

"Give me what I want or the boy's seal will be broken."

"Father!" Envy almost dropped Alphonse, "Why are you doing this!? I'm your son! I'm your son!"

"I'm sorry, Alphonse. You shouldn't be here. It was wrong and selfish of Edward to bind you to steel. I'm merely doing what nature should have been allowed to finish."

"LIAR!!! You're using me to get to her, aren't you!? Don't listen to him! Don't give him what he wants! Father! How can you do this to me, I'm your son!?

"I haven't seen you since you were a baby. I don't know you."

Alphonse let out an inarticulate cry of disgust and sorrow, "What have you done with Brother?"

"Edward too?"

"Oh he's here." Hohenheim pointed vaguely to a dark section of wall, "Asleep."

"But don't worry," Envy sneered, "We won't harm him unless we have to."

"You wouldn't harm him," Beatrice said, "He's too valuable."

"Not now that we have you and your creations. I don't need him anymore."

"Can I eat him?"

Alphonse let out another gasp.

"If you give me what I want, I'll let them go.

"And why would you do that?"
"Why? Why not? What would it matter to me? I might even restore their bodies."

"You know better than to make deals you can't keep. At least I hope you do." She looked pointedly at the remaining Sins and then at Hohenheim, "I assume you promised them something."



========

Before Zeal was brought in, she could already hear him, "-consumed by your own sins, and you don't even see it. You may think you're the one in charge, but we've been watching. Your Sins control you."

========

"tsalem, kanuhenIshabala'a"
"Greetings, warrior-priest of Ishbala"

"Beatrice Lebenstein, The Ancients Alchemist. I didn't know you were alive." He held his arm, which was glowing faintly coal red.

"Well, now you know."

=======================

"Do what you came to do."

Scar narrowed his eyes at Gluttony, "Not like this." With a swipe of his arm, Gluttony's arms disintegrated, allowing Beatrice to free herself. Gluttony screamed like a stuck pig. Gluttony charged, but Scar

"Why aren't you doing anything?" He growled at her.

"I can't."

"My alchemy ability is on loan at the moment."
====================

Suddenly, something grabbed her around the middle and dragged her away from Gluttony's path.

"Ultimate Speed, but you were captured, I heard you yelling bloody murder."

"They never got Humility."

"Where is he now?"

"Do I ever know where he is?."

Her question was answered a second later, when envy went flying backward and Alphonse appeared to be floating in midair."

"Speed! Catch!"

"Idiot! That's a good way to break the seal on the metal! What if I didn't catch it?'

"You caught it didn't you?"

"Less chatty more escapey."
==========================

"Not so fast." Pride used two of his swords to block the path of Humility, quickly turning them inward so the blades ran across Humilities stomach like a large pair of scissors, drawing blood.

"Arrrgh!" Gasped Humilty as he flickered into view like a lightbulb, "How can you see me?"

"I am Ultimate Eye. I see everything. And an interesting sight it is.. I don't know whether you look more like the Fullmetal Brat or Father."

Without warning, Pride drew his swords behind his head with superhuman speed and accuracy. there was a flash of red and the swords clattered to the ground in pieces. Scar didn't wait for an invitation before shattering the other two swords, putting a huge gash through Pride's back.

"You didn't see that." Scar jumped away several feet.

"Wrong." And Pride drew a dagger and threw it at Scar's throat. It missed by inches.

"What!? I never miss!"

"Neither do I." It was Ultimate Aim. He threw several of his Xingian daggers, pinning Pride to the wall by the circle pattern on his skin. Pride was immobilized.

"Where's Ultimate Heal?" Love asked urgently, "What happened to Humility?"

"Already fixed him. He dissapeared after that."

"Where's Charity?"

"Right here."

"Good. We need to help Mother."

Beatrice had become separated from the rest of the melee, suddenly pain shot through her foot and she stumbled forward, except her foot was pinned by a long spike to the floor.

"Going somewhere?"

"What did you do with Edward Elric?"

"As if I'd tell you."

Another spike elongated from one of Lust's fingers and just grazed her head, drawing blood, "Tell us how to get the Stone, or I'll call Gluttony"

"Call him then."

"Oh Gluttony..." She said in a singsong voice.

"If I'm dead, you can't get the Stone."

"True, but I have a feeling you aren't going to tell us anyway, so.... Gluttony, dispose of this." Lust scratched another gash in Beatrice's forehead.

Gluttony bounded forward gleefully, his mouth gaping, but something black bounded past him and landed with a thud on Beatrice's shoulders.

Gluttony was already going too fast to come to a halt in time. An inky blackness covered Beatrice and crystalized, Gluttony bit down on Beatrice's head and squealed in pain.

"My teeth!" He held his mouth, "Lust! My teeth is broke!"

Lust swiped out with her catlike claws, glancing off the black body which was running down the hall, stood before her.

"Ultimate Shield huh? I had a brother with that skill."

"Yes," A child's voice could be heard emanating from the blackness, "And wasn't he murdered by your so called Father?"

"He ... was disloyal." Lust replied, but there was some hesitation in her voice.

The inky blackness seeped away from the retreating Beatrice, and Chastity leapt off her shoulders.

"I'll defend against her, run!"

"Not alone you won't. Eaaaagh!" Temperance dealt a flying kick to the back of Gluttony's head, surrounding Lust and Gluttony.

[Mlle Bienvenu]

Writings of B. Lebenstein, the Ancients Alchemist.

"Alchemy is the circle. It is the manifestation of the mechanations of the universe in miniature. Creation and destruction, thus is the dynamic nature of the universe." - B. Lebenstein

"Science without religion is flawed. Religion without science is blind. Both cases are are equally destructive.." - B. L.

The Philosopher's Stone is neither elixer nor stone, nor a mercurial combination. It is no more or less than yourself, and is a powerful or as weak as you make it."

[Mlle Bienvenu]

Ed looked at the rows and rows of books and odd knicknacks that cluttered the room. Pieces of statuery, stone tablets with incomprehensible markings embedded in them.

"Brother, the floor."

Ed looked where Al stood. His foot rested on the edge of a design engraved into the stone. It looked very old and worn, as if it could have been even older than the house around it.

"It looks like some kind of alchemy circle." Ed walked around the outside of the circle. examining the markings. It was deceptively simple. At a cursory glance, it seemed like an unbroken seven pointed star, each with a circle at each point and one in the center. Ed knealt down, peering into the the engraved cracks. following the line was written something in a script Ed couldn't read.

"A lot of this stuff has to do with alchemy." Alphonse examined what looked like a very old set of armor. It also had alchemical markings engraved on it. Ed couldn't make heads or tails of them. They too were from some foreign form of alchemy, by the lightweight style of the armor, Alphonse thought maybe it was of Xingian origen.

After walking around the circle, Ed moved on. Stopping at a shelf of chemicals. This shelf contrasted sharply with the rest of the room. Everything had it's place. Ed glanced over the chemicals, "Heh, for a non-alchemist, she sure has a lot of standard ingredients; ammonia, carbon, flourine, iron, lime, niter, phosphorus, salts, silicon...wait a minute." Ed started pulling out canisters. Each time he did his face became darker, "dammit."

"What's wrong?"

"You know what these ingredients are for Al. Look familiar at all?"

Al read the canisters Ed had placed haphazardly back on the shelf.

'How are we going to live without her?'

'We're not, Al. We're going to bring her back.'

The memory of his molecules breaking down and being sucked into the transmutation.

The memory of his brother, bleeding profusely, missing an arm and leg.

The Memory of the grotesque thing they had created, with it's heart beating on the outside. Staring sightless back at Alphonse, mouth gaping.

"It's not alway for that... I mean, they're pretty common ingredients..." If Al had skin, he would have been pale.

"The only ingredients missing? Come'on Al... you can't really be that naive."

"I'm not naive! I'm just considering everything."

"It all fits. She can't do alchemy, why? Because homunculi can't do alchemy. Now we just have to find the person who created her."

"But brother, she doesn't seem like any of the homunculi we've met. And she doesn't seem to want to hurt us. Maybe she's like Gingerbread-Wife, she can't help being what she is."

"Just because someone's nice doesn't make them good, don't you know that?"

"Yeah, seems to work the other way around too."

"What's that supposed to mean!?"

"I'm still mad at you for the soup. You could have been nicer to her."

"Yeah well it tasted like milk."

"Mother's soup tasted exactly the same, and you always liked her soup."

"How would you know what the soup tasted like? It's not like you could actually taste it!"

"It's not my fault I can't eat..." Al said quietly.

"Yeah.... you're right Al....I'm sorry."

"Yeah..."

They were both silent for a long time, until Ed said, "You're just upset because she looks like her."

"I know it's not her."

"But you'd like to think it was."

"I know it's not her, okay? Mom had brown hair anyway."

Ed snapped his fingers, "Exactly! Another homunculus trait. The hair color always seems to be black..."

"But she hasn't done anything bad to us..."

"Maybe so...but the moment she does... this cookie's gonna crumble."

[Mlle Bienvenu]

========================
"Edward... Edward ..wake up..."

"M....mom? Dad...?" Ed sat up, groggily, "You.... where am I?"

"You have to wake up.... your brother is in danger."

"Al's in trouble!? Where!?" Ed transmuted his automail into a sword and stood up, but promptly lost his balence and slammed into a nearby wall, "Oh... my head. What the hell did they do to me?"

"Mercy is needed." Humility stated and turned to leave the room.

"No, wait. You stay with Edward."

"I'll stay with Edward." Charity walked into the room, "I'm best able to protect him."

"Yes, okay...Humility?" Humility put a hand on Beatric's shoulder and the two dissapeared, closing the door behind them.

Not five steps away from the door, there was a gut wrenching scream.

"That sounded like Edward." They ran back to the room.

"I! I Don't know what happened! One minute he's fine and then this!" Edward's eyes were wide with fear and pain and blood as red as the philospher's stone gushed down his front. Ed tried to say something,

"Quickly, alchemise something so he can breathe! he's going to drown in his own blood."

"I ...um..."

"Now! Do it now!"

A nasty grin played over Charity's face, "I don't feel like it."

Humility's eyes narrowed as he dissapeared, Charity was drawn up by his neck, "Envy!"

Charity laughed, changing back into Envy's usual form, "The Fullmetal is as good as dead. What are you going to do no-" Envy suddenly stopped talking, and three black spikes stuck out from underneath his headband.

"I told him not to harm the Fullmetal Brat." Lust stood in the doorway, "Father will be displeased. I certainly won't want to be Envy when Father finds out.." Lust smirked.

"Al... where's A-" Ed wheezed, spattering blood onto the floor.

"Don't talk. You'll choke to death." Ed rolled his eyes sarcastically, as if to say, 'I'm dying now you nitwit.' Ed slumped forward into a pool of his own blood.

"Ah well, at least we still have you. That should be enough."

Lust suddenly burst into flame, screaming, suddenly the flame went from red, to a flash of white,, and she was nothing more than cinders.

"I thought I killed you." Colonel Mustang was in the doorway next to Charity, as Hawkey watched their back, "Holy hell, Fullmetal, what happened!?" Roy ran over to him,

"He's dying, if he isn't dead already."

"First we need to stop the bleeding," Mustang knelt down, heedless of the pool of blood.

"Stop!" A doctor's hammer flew through the air and smacked Roy in the back of his head to keep him from cauterizing the wound, Hawkeye trained her weapons on Mercy, "You idiot are you trying to kill him? Out of my way, I'm the doctor here, let me see... Hmm... " She put her hand on his throat, closing the wound like it had never been.

"Is Fullmetal alive?"

"Hard to tell, it could go either way, he lost a lot of blood. Not much we can do about that now, just make sure he's protected from any more attacks.

Scar limped into the room, flanked by Charity and Zeal, "Is the Fullmetal alive?" Scar asked, looking at the state the room was in.

"What do you mean 'is Fullmetal alive!? "

"We're not sure yet."

"What's wrong with him!? Let me see!"

Scar hesitated, and then placed the scrapmetal next to Ed, "Fullmetal, I have brought you your brother."

Alphonse screamed, "What happened! Why is he all covered in blood! Someone tell me what happened."

"It was Envy, he got to Edward."

Alphonse let out a noise somwhere between a moan and a scream, "Brother don't die! We've got to get you your arm and leg back...you...you can't quit now... Don't.... don't leave me.... Brother...I'm sorry....I'm sorry I ever wanted you to get my body back...it doesn't really matter if I ever get a body, just please don't die! We'll find some way to get you back to normal and we'll be happy, you'll see..just....hang in there... Brother... Brother say something!"

Ed wasn't moving.

"No.... brother, you can't...you can't leave me here, you jerk! We made a promise. You promised....you wouldn't....DAMMIT I HATE THIS! I CAN'T EVEN CRY IF I FEEL LIKE IT!"

"AAAAARHHH! Edward! Alphonse!" Love pushed through the crowd and knealt hastily at Edward's side, wrapping his arms around him, holding him protectively, "It's alright Alphonse, I can cry for the both of us..."

"If you're going to do something, you should do it now." Beatrice muttered.

"You must bear witness to what you have done!" Thundered a voice from the hall as a man stumbled into the room, apparently thrown," It is shameful to bear your likeness, you bastard." Hohenheim slipped on his son's blood and nearly fell into Love, Ed and Al, but Temperance, who had entered along with Humility, prevented the collision, Zeal took up where Humility left off and pinned Hohenheim to the ground.

Hohenheim laughed... "Don't you see? I've won... I'm finally going to get what I wa-" Zeal squeezed Hohenheim's throat closed so he couldn't talk." Hohenheim tried to talk again, but couldn't Instead he made a sign with his hand.

Wrath knealt at the edge of where the group was gathered. An ancient alchemy circle. Beatrice suddenly realized why she felt she knew this place. they were in the basment of one of the more ancient temples in the ruined city of Xerxes.

A hand pulled her to her feet while another hand pressed it's palm to her forehead. She did the same, placing her hand over where the X was on Scar's forehead. But as she watched, Wrath's transmutation had already begun. the grooves in the floor, which were filled with Ed's blood, began to glow and spark yellow, and swirl upward like a sandstorm.



The energy flow of Beatrice's and Scar's array. (in an attractive celtic knot form ... lol )


Beatrice sang in Ishbalan, "At the end of the circle, there is Ishbalah...

Scar, at the same time sang the accompanying psalm of Creation. It had never occured to him before that the two psalms were meant to be sung together, but now it sounded as though they had been written counterpoint to each other. They were really one melody separated by time and chapters, "In the beginning there was Ishbalah."

"At the beginning of this cycle, there was Ishbalah.
At the end of this cycle, there is Ishbalah.

"In the circle, Ishbalah is gathering Himself:"
"In the circle, Ishbalah divided Himself:"

"In the circle, the world is dissolved,"
"In the circle, the world was created,"

"Of the earth, it restores His body,"
"Of His body, it became the earth,"

"Of the sea, it restores His blood,"
"Of His blood, it became the sea,"

"Of the flying things, they restore His right arm,"
"Of His right arm, it became the flying things,"

"Of the swimming things,they restore His left arm,"
"Of His left arm, it became the swimming things,"

"Of the crawling things, they restore His right leg,"
"Of His right leg, it became the crawling things,"

"Of the growing things, they restore His left leg,"
"Of His left leg, it became the growing things,"

"and of the People, they restore His head."
"and of His head, it became the People."

"In The Creation, the world is dissolved,"
"In The Division, the world was created,"

"In The Destruction, Ishabalah gathers Himself."
"In The Creation Ishabalah divided Himself."

And here, the song merged into unison. In both melody and rhythm, they were identical.

"Bound by the circle,
God is in the world
Bound by the circle
the world is in God
Bound by the circle
they are united.
they are one."

Again the tune and melody split away from each other.

"At the end of the cycle, there is Ishbalah"
"At the beginning of the circle, there was Ishbalah"

"And Ishbalah gathers himself to dissolve the world."
"And Ishbalah divided himself to create the world."

"May it be so."

[Mlle Bienvenu]

"Have you ever heard the tale of Gingerbread Wife?" Beatrice asked the Brothers.

"Yes. Mom used to tell it to us sometimes at bedtime."

"Indeed? That's kind of a depressing tale for bedtime I would think."

"It is? I dont' remember it being depressing." Al looked at Ed.

"Nah, it wasn't depressing, everyone lived happily ever after, like those kind of tales always seem to do."

"Hmm..." Beatrice became quiet and chewed thoughtfully on her food.

The room was so quiet, that when she finally spoke again it made Ed start slightly.

"Once upon a time, there was a young emperor. He was a handsome youth, but haughty and rude. Eventually it came time for him to take a wife. So he searched the land for candidates for the future Empress. In a small village in the mountains, he found a beautiful young woman, with shining hair the color of a raven's wing, and skin so fine it was the color of freshly cooked gingerbread. And so, the young Emperor asked the beautiful maid to marry him. Unfortunately, the Emperor's reputation preceeded him, and Mountain-Woman knew that although she would be Empress, she would never love him and she would not be happy. She refused his offer. He sent her many fine gifts: clothing of the finest silk, rich foods, bejeweled mirrors and other golden trinkets. And still the maiden refused him, nothing he could do or say would persuade her away from her village in the mountains.

In despair, the Emperor called all his advisors, his magicians, and his priests to help him solve his problem, but none could come up with an answer.

It was his baker that came up with the solution. He would make him a wife of gingerbread that looked exactly like the woman of the mountains and the magicians would enchant her so she would be alive.

Overjoyed, the Emperor consented to the plan, but the magicians warned him that he must first obtain the consent of Mountain-Woman or the spell would not work.

Hearing this, the Emperor was saddend, because he knew he would never be able to obtain consent from Mountain-Woman. The days passed and at last the court magician came to him and told him the baker had finished his gingerbread masterpiece and that he was ready to bring the woman to life.

The magician performed the spell, and the woman came to life, but she was not Mountain-Woman. Her hair was not the color of a raven's wing, but was still the color of gingerbread, and her eyes were not a deep black, but the color of cinnomon. Her lips were not the color of blood, but the color of dough.

The Emperor was angry that she was not just like Mountain-Woman, but when the magician asked him if he had gained consent from Mountain-Woman. The Emperor told him no. The magician sighed and told him that Gingerbread-Wife and Mountain-Woman must never meet, for the moment Gingerbread-Wife layed eyes on Mountain-Woman, she would begin to turn back into gingerbread. But, the magician said, if the Emperor could gather together a certain set of rare and expensive herbs, the magician could make a cordial which would keep Gingerbread-Wife from turning to gingerbread. Although the emperor was dissapointed she was not Mountain-Woman, she still had the same fine gingerbread colored skin as her. The Emperor consented and began to gather the ingredients for the cordial.

Years passed, and Gingerbread-Wife and the Emperor were very happy. In the space of two years, they had two beautiful sons whom they loved very much. However the Emperor grew increasingly nervous about Gingerbread-Wife. What if she ever layed eyes on Mountain-Woman? He spent more and more time looking for the ingredients to the cordial and less and less time with Gingerbread-Wife and the two young princes. Gingerbread-Wife asked her husband was was troubling him, but he would not tell her about Mountain-Woman. He just told her not to leave the palace, because he loved her and didn't want anything to happen to her.

Around the time of the Emperor's marriage to Gingerbread-Wife, Mountain-Woman began to fall ill. Years passed until eventually, she could no longer get out of bed, her hair had became the color of tar, and her eyes had became as dull as coal. However, she kept her gingerbread skin. The people of her village worried after her, as, day after day she became sicker and sicker, even the village doctor couldn't cure her illness. Finally they decided she needed a city doctor.

So they made the journey down the path, carrying Mountain-Woman in a cart lined with soft grasses and the fine silks the emperor had given her many years before.

The city doctors could not figure out what was wrong with her any more than the village doctor could. Mountain-Woman's family, desperate, turned to the Emperor. They thought that if the Emperor could only see Mountain-Woman's condition, he would take pity on her and put his court magicians and doctors to the task of finding a cure.

When they arrived at the palace, they found the Emperor wasn't there, one of the young princes informed them that he was away gathering herbs, but they could appeal to the Empress for an audience. The Empress consented to hear their case the next day.

The Villagers and Mountain-Woman arrived at their audience with the Empress carrying Mountain woman in a litter they made of bamboo, and hung with the silks the Emperor had given her long ago. The Empress, who was an exceedingly kind woman, consented to try to find a cure for Mountain-Woman's illness. Opening the silk curtains of the dais, she laid eyes on Mountain-Woman for the first time. When the Emperor came back from his trip and heard what had happened, he despaired, for he knew Gingerbread-Wife would soon begin to crumble back into gingerbread. He left again, this time more feverishly set in his task than ever before. But it was in vain, for Gingerbread-Wife crumbled back into gingerbread before he could return. Lost and heartbroken, the Emperor ran away and was never heard from again."

Ed and Al were silent for a long time.

"That's not the way I remember it." Ed said at last.

"Well, I don't think Mom ever finished the story. We always fell asleep before she got very far."

"Yeah. The ending I remember stopped with Gingerbread-Woman and the Emperor and the two sons living happily ever after."

"Yeah, that's what I remember too."

"Well, I'm sure she just didn't want to give you nightmares." Beatrice looked thoughtfully down at her plate.

"Yeah...that's probably it. " Al said, "What ever happened to the princes?"

"Well... " Beatrice thought for a moment, "The story doesn't really say. But I think that because the Empress loved them both so much, and that she was such a kind and wonderful ruler, that they both grew into wonderful young gentlemen. I suppose eventually the eldest became Emperor himself, and that he ruled benevolently and his people loved him. And they lived happily ever after."

[Lolua]

Mlle said:

"Well... " Beatrice thought for a moment, "The story doesn't really say. But I think that because the Empress loved them both so much, and that she was such a kind and wonderful ruler, that they both grew into wonderful young gentlemen. I suppose eventually the eldest became Emperor himself, and that he ruled benevolently and his people loved him. And they lived happily ever after."

*coughEdwardandAlphonsecough* A nice little parable that works as well for the problems of human transformation as for the biography of the Elric brothers.