The Boy at the Side of the Pool

[Guest]

Chalybs found himself looking at the water filled crater that was once South City, having driven non stop for many miles. The sight saddened him deep inside, to think that not too long ago a city stood there... But now it was gone, taken by a villain for his own selfish gain then turned into a base for a military that would no doubt also use it for their own selfishness.

It was the destruction of South City that what originally gave him the idea of wanting to become a hero, become Justice. Now he was here for the first time, and it made him angry.

He got off his moped and walked up to the water to kneel down and move his hand across it slowly. He watched the ripples go out across the water and was reminded of his own plan. He was going to cause ripples that would one day turn into waves, cause a domino effect that would change the world for the better. Maybe he wouldn't succeed, but he had to try. You don't change the world sitting around doing nothing.

He placed both his hands in the water and splashed his face with it, then put them in again to pull out water to drink. Feeling the cold water on his face and going down his throat felt good, washing away the tiredness of being awake for an ungodly amount of time. If it had not been for his automail heart and lungs he would of fainted from fatigue ages ago.

He stood up and looked at a cloud in the sky, smiling happily at the thought of the world he was going to put all his existence into making. Dreams of an idol world, one that he knew would never exist but he was dammed if he wasn't going to make this world as close to it as possible. He would go to hell and back to get it, and he knew that determination like that would only help him.

He smiled at himself, chuckled even, thinking about how much of an idealist he was. He sounded like some sort of hero you'd only expect to hear stories about, the idealist who was determined to succeed and thus was always going to win. He hoped it would turn out like that, but hope is nothing without willpower.

He walked over to his moped and leaned on it, greeting everybody who walked past with a smile that could only be achieved by someone who loved life and everything about it, a person who carried unthinkable ideals and the willpower to do anything to make them come true.

[Guest]

Ayden Derocha had come a long way to see... well, just if the rumours were true of South City; and they were. The entire city had been reduced to a hole in the ground, now filled to the brim with water. A once great, prosperous settlement, turned into a glorified pool in the blink of an eye. To many, it was tragic, that this many lives had been lost. Ayden simply viewed it as odd.

He turned to return to his car, his sightseeing over, as he had to continue to his next contract, but then he saw a boy wash his face in the water... and then drink it? Ayden grimaced at the thought - it was most probably incredibly dirty. This boy was... strange. Something was ever so slightly off about him. Ayden's sixth sense, his extra perception, his knack for knowing when something was awry, it was thrumming like crazy.

So, of course, what else to do but approach him?

Nearing to Chalybs, he let out a small smirk and placed a hand on his moped. He couldn't determine the boy's nationality at a look, so he started in Amestrian. "A very nice vehicle you have here," He continued, trailing his fingers along the guard of the back wheel. Perhaps Xingese. "Reason for intrigue from one such as me. Oh, and, don't worry," He trailed off in Cretan, hoping that one of the three - or perhaps more - would register with the boy. "I'm not attracted to you, or anything stupid. However, all applause for you," He said, raising his hands and mock clapping, before finishing in Amestrian once more.

"You've set the curiosity of the Blackskull Alchemist awry."

[Guest]

Chalybs looked at Ayden as he approached him with wary eyes at first, but these soon disappeared as he spoke to him. He understood the first two sentences but the last one he did not, which made him assume in was Cretan. He smiled at the man as he expressed the fact that he interested him for some reason.

"Is that so? Well it's an honer Blackskull that I have, though I can't really imagine why. I'm just a frail teenage Automail Engineer, nothing special." He shrugged, smiling, then brushed his hair back with his hands. "I noticed you spoke Xingese, I myself am quite fluent. I learned it on my own, I was home tutored you see, learned most things on my own through books." He said as he looked at the ground in thought.

"Though I don't speak... Cretan was it? I don't know why... I guess it's because the reason I decided to learn Xingese, and Drachman for that matter, was because I wanted to learn about their culture... Cretan culture never interested me, I presume... Though I plan to learn it at some point, you can never know enough languages... Don't you agree?"

He smiled and looked at Ayden. "But anyway, I wonder what got you intrigued about little old me? The only thing special about me is my frail body... And that's nothing to be proud of, sadly." He turned his back to Ayden and lifted up his jacket slightly so that he could see his Automail back, then let the jacket drop and turned back around. "Without that thing I wouldn't be able to stand... I guess it's what got me into Automail, the fact that it helped my life be better..." He looked distant for a moment, then snapped out of it quickly.

"Well look at me, rambling on to a stranger I've never met and telling him all my secrets! I guess I'm like that, speak too much you know?" He offered his hand to Ayden so that they could shake hands. "My name's Chalybs, but I'd prefer if you called me Chal. It's nice to meet you."

[Guest]

Ayden chuckled, before bursting into full-blown cackling. "Finally, someone who appreciates my audience! Most excellent," He said, trailing off, and removing his sunglasses, closing them together and slipping them into his pocket, revealing sharp blue irises and narrow pupils. "And a learned one at that. Absolutely brilliant, and the points you make are wonderful."

"Indeed, you never can know enough," He said, before repeating the sentence in Amestrian. "Well, enough language games," Ayden quickly breezed past the point of Chalybs' fragile body. Pity wasn't exactly his strong suit, and neither was care for another.

When the boy mentioned 'speaking too much', Ayden's jovial expression vanished, and his pallor paled ever so slightly. He'd had brushes where his mouth had gotten him into trouble one too many times. "Indeed," He murmured, before the boy changed the subject.

"Ah, well, boy, you can address me as Ayden. My surname being Derocha. Ayden Derocha." He said, smirking. "Tell me, Chalybs," He said, moving closer, and slamming his hands on the leather seat of the vehicle. "You've imparted to me the... knowledge of your profession," He paused, before finishing his query off.

"Do you... wish to know of mine?"

[Guest]

Chalybs shrugged and thought on Ayden's question. Why do I get the feeling I don't want to know, that it'll somehow involve killing... Oh wait, now I know... His alchemy name is BLACKSKULL... I'll be dammed if it doesn't involve killing of some sorts... Though it may insult him if I say no...

Chal tapped his head and chuckled. "This what you Alchemist refer to as Equivalent Exchange correct? The belief that in order to get something you must give something back of equal value... I studied Alchemy when I was younger, but I can't perform any. If I could I reckon I'd be pretty good, what with all the studying on it. But alas, I am inadvertently avoiding the question! Can't have that, can we now?"

He laughed heartily then shrugged at Ayden. "The real question is... Do I want to know? It's probably something dangerous if you ask me whether I want to know..." He tapped his chin repeatedly. "But... It would be knowledge, however little, and knowledge is always good. While on the other hand ignorance is always evil..." He chuckled briefly. "Perhaps these things are what a young thing like me would say... But what the hell! Tell me what your profession is and quench my childlike curiosity on the matter."

[Guest]

Child-like? He's only a kid anyway... what is he talking about?

Ayden shrugged it off, and snapped back to reality, continuing, a grim smile slipping onto his face, as he threw his hands up in the air, his cloak billowing beside him, and the inside of his jacket, too, as a breeze swept into him. "I am a conductor! I organise and execute a beautiful, unique kind of music, and I'm one of the most proficient alive in Amestris of doing so!" He grinned. Oh, metaphors were fun.

A moment's pause before the borderline-psychotic assassin continued. "This," He said, drawing Fleshbane, and spinning the revolver around his finger, about the trigger, it making a fair few speedy revolutions before he firmly pressed the metal frame still against the leather seat of the moped. If it frightened the boy, all the better... but this one... had a strong will. "This is my tool! It is with this, I command and lead an orchestra as we march through symphonies and rhapsodies alike. Infact, moments ago, I traveled from a... venue, having finished another of my great operas, ending in the most beautiful crescendo I've performed for months, a truly beautiful ballad, summarising life and death in a matter of moments!"

Ayden chuckled, slipping the revolver back into its holster. "I proclaim myself to be many things, boy, but the comparison of a conductor never gets old. I am an artist. My paint is the souls of those who I remove from the face of this world." He smiled, skirting around the moped. "I am an writer, and my ink is the blood of those whose necks I break, whose flesh I riddle with bullets!"

He hung his head so locks of silvery hair draped over his gaunt sphere of a cranium, before whipping it up a moment later, snapping his legs together and raising his arms into the air. "I am judge, jury, and executioner. I am the Blackskull Alchemist, and some who use layman's terms call me an assassin, a murderer, a vile piece of scum, a hitman, a contract killer! But I much prefer 'writer', 'conductor', and 'artist'. Makes me sound creative in my so-called 'depravity', eh?" He finished, before standing at ease, and moving back so the pair were at a comfortable distance, leading off into hysterical laughter, obviously very entertained from his own spiel.

All that was left to see was if Chalbys felt the same way about it.

[Guest]

Chalybs' rage built up inside him, but he showed no outer signs. Writer?! Conductor?! ARTIST?! How dare he call himself that! All that he is is scum who should be wiped of the face of the earth! When I get my hands on him I'll...! I'll...! He clenched his fists for a moment then relaxed them again. No... Calm down Chal... Mustn't get angry, mustn't show any signs of anger... Can't let myself be suspect... He may not be a part of the military but it's best to be safe rather than sorry.

He shrugged. "Well I'm sure as hell more comfortable calling you an Artist and whatnot... As for your 'depravity'..." He tapped his finger against the seat of the moped, thinking of what to say. "Who am I to judge? Hell, who is anyone to judge anyone? We can't go about judging others, that would only lead to idiocy and loneliness... Nobody ever really wants to be alone, no matter what they say."

He moved over next to the pool and knelt down to brush his hand atop the water. "Though... Judging people is a human thing to do, is it not? Humans are humans and we can't change that, nobody can, so all we can do is watch. Quite depressing at first but..." He turned around at looked at Ayden "Humanity... Humanity in whole is a beautiful thing, that's the one belief I hold on to no matter what."

He looked into the water, staring at his reflection intently, then turned around to face Ayden, holding out a finger. "Though... I have a question for you Ayden!" He looked back at the water. "A wise man once told me that if you stare into your reflection hard enough you see what you truly are inside... I see..." Chal saw himself in his Justice disguise and smiled. "I see myself smiling, proud of my own life... Proud of being human and proud to be looking up. Come over here and look into your reflection and tell me what you see, as I told you what I see."

He chuckled at his own words. "Oh and another question... Do I sound like an fool who is gullible enough to believe the stories his father told him when he was younger?" He turned to face Ayden and smiled brightly.

[Guest]

Heh. The kid had a good response. Ayden knew that if he'd had any moral sense he would've spoken out, or backed away, or something. So either he was keeping it hidden, or the boy had more to him than the assassin had formerly predicted. Either way, he commended the answer. "Heh. Nice reply, kid."

Then came the spiel about judgment and how humanity was beautiful. "You can really say that? Look over there, Chalybs. Look at that pool of water, the only thing that remains of what was once an entire city." He growled. "You think humanity's so beautiful? Humanity's true nature destroyed the lives and homes of hundreds. And you can still bear to call it beautiful after that? We're carnal, primitive in nature. Some choose to reject it, to work against the grain. I simply go with the flow." He paused, and chuckled, before continuing. "I enjoy what I do."

Another gap in speech before he continued. "Carnality isn't so bad, though. You just seem too aligned towards working against yourself. Give your more primitive side a try every once in a while, kid. You might find out that you enjoy it." With a chuckle, he finished playing around with the boy. If he could crush his idealism and hope, that would be one thing. If he could turn him into a convert, someone who saw things the same way as him, that would be a true achievement.

Then... some crap about... seeing who he really was? In the reflection? He knew it was bull. Ayden was a believer and firm supporter of many things, classical mythology amongst them, but old wives' tales and urban myths like these did naught but irritate him. However, if the child was going to keep up the farce, he may as well go along with it.

Ayden moved from the moped and aligned himself with Chalybs, staring down into the crater-pool that remained of South City. The water was clear enough, but he recalled Chalybs both washing in it and drinking from it and his face contorted slightly in disgust once more. With a smirk, he looked into the pool, confident that all he would see was an identically handsome devil glaring right back up at him.

Chalybs' dirty little scheme, attempting to get Ayden to 'realise what he was', or something along those lines, infact didn't work. At all. Staring down into the depths, as the light twinkled across the surface of the water, his smirk was accentuated ever so slightly, and amidst the ripples was his face, something he, well, rather valued. He had never been one to judge on appearance, infact, judgment was somewhat useless overall. You needed to see someone, and how they responded to something. Predictions could be totally invalidated with a single synapse firing, a single thought process.

So, in a way, Chalybs was right.

But... it wasn't in his own face that Ayden saw this revelation. It was in his eyes. Perhaps it was the water, perhaps the lack of sleep, and perhaps a long-awaited caffeine addiction that needed to be sated, but he saw no blue irises, no white sclera, no black pupils. The only thing he saw was fire. A raging inferno, swirling around like a hurricane inside both eye sockets. Coupled with his grin, which steadily turned upwards... an intimidating visage indeed.

He cackled, and snapped his head upwards, turning to Chalybs. "What do I see? I'll tell you what I see, kiddo." The cackling became louder, more drawn-out, and significantly more intermittent and maniacal, picking up in every little pause. "I see a motivator. I want to go out, and I want to work, right now. And I'm not just talking a petty little neck-breaking job, I want to see blood. BLOOD. And lots of it."

He continued after a small fit of insane hysterics. "I want to wound, maim, hurt, shoot, kill, destroy, obliterate! I want to remove someone from their pathetic existence, I want to undo the life they've been so graciously given! I want to permanently vacate someone from their life, and I want to do it so they experience so much pain that they'll be screaming in agony for their mothers before I administer that final shot in between their eyes." With that, he finished, nails outstretched as he acted out every scene in his rhapsodic re-telling of a legend of his own creation. The flames in his eyes were easily visible as pure anger, hatred, and a simple will to end someone's life seethed out of him, warm rage emanating from him in waves.

[Guest]

Inside Chalybs was burning. Burning with a pure hatred that wanted to grab the man and bite his ears of. He wanted to cut off his tongue, chew it, then shove it back into the man's mouth to watch him choke till the last second. Then we wanted to break his legs, break his arms... Hell he wanted to break every little bone in the sadistic degenerate's body. Then he wanted to piss in his mouth and leave him by the side of the road. Just thinking about it made him feel better. Damn I'm a sadistic bastard... But at least I'm only sadistic to those who deserve it...

Chal looked at Ayden. "Is that the truth, ay? Well... At least you're true to yourself, which is better then being in denial by far... I believe the worst thing a person can do is lie to themselves... Lying to others? Go ahead! But to yourself... That's stupid... And I don't like the stupid."

He stood up. "What you said, about me being wrong about humanity, I disagree." He walked along the edge of the huge crater that was once a city. "Sure a person did this... But that was just one person! I won't let a single person cloud my judgment... I won't let a small group of people make me think what I think about humanity... As a whole."

"And me giving into my primitive side?" You have no idea... He chuckled lightly. "Hell if I did that I'd probably die! Or get severely injured..." He pointed at himself. "I mean look at me, Ayden, I'm fragile! So fragile! I can't stand up without Automail! When I was younger I had to change my own heart and lungs for Automail replacements because if I didn't I'd of died ten years ago!" He shook his head. "I'm not asking for pity, for help or handouts... Treat me like you would anyone else. All I ask you to acknowledge is that I can't do what normal people can..."

He smirked. "Listen to me... I sound like a right sod, moaning about how he was made! But don't get me wrong... I'm happy with who I am! I wouldn't have it any other way! To say I would rather be someone else is to deny myself and, as I said, I hate that!"

He brushed his hair back and let himself fall onto the floor, looking up at the sky. "Some might call me a pathetic specimen... Perhaps they're right... But who gives a damn! If I can't do something I'll do the things that I can ten times better! I'm gonna become the best damn Automail Engineer this country, no this world, will ever see! Everyone will know my name and I'll become a shining example for the downtrodden, for those who've given up, to inspire them to become all that they can be!"

He sat up, lifted one knee and rested his arm on it. "That's my dream... I guess. What do you think? Does it sound corny? Do you think it's possible? Wait, don't answer that last one! I already know it is, if I try hard enough..."

[Guest]

He was well and truly in full force with his inner psychopath, totally and completely synchronised with another side of him always hinted at but never fully there. It was a sight to behold. He cackled, almost bawled with laughter, a shimmering layer appearing over his eyes, as if he were about to cry.

"Will you stop this pathetic facade?!" He screamed, the shout echoing for miles. "It's disgustingly pitiful, kid. Fragility is nothing but an excuse for non-combatants, for weaklings, true weaklings! Fight back! You've got automail, make use of it! Empower yourself, don't push yourself down! Infact, I can see..." His eyes shot towards the boy.

"...you want to kill me. You hate how I think, how I work, how I'm such a vile person. I deserve to be simply wiped off the planet, don't I!?" With another fit of crazed laughter, he cast aside his cloak, revealing his revolver, and brandished it, spinning it around so the barrel was aimed at him. Dropping down to his knees, he cackled once more, and grasped Chalybs' hand, forcing it onto the revolver, and peeling every finger round so he held it usually, uttering a word with each. "Want... to... kill... me!"

He placed the barrel up to his head, his insane smile reaching up to the very corners of his face. "It's true, isn't it!? I can see it in your eyes, you're seething with hatred, ready to destroy me, ready to pull that trigger, right there!" A pause. "Go on. Squeeze it. It's a simple reflex, one tiny action, one more villain gone from the world! You know you want to, so shoot me! Shoot me, shoot me, shoot me, shoot me, SHOOT ME~!" It went from a hiss to a shout in five mutterings of the phrase.

Almost sporadically, he smacked the gun from his hand and cackled, reaching over for it, and holstering it as he stood up to full height once more. "You're weak." He spat. "Not yet ready to accept the fact that your precious justice, your idealistic world comes at a price. People lay down their lives every day in the West so you can continue living yours. We don't live in a world of beauty, we live in a world of sacrifice, a world where the fittest survive. Unless you can accept that, you're sure to die, Chalybs." It appeared as if he'd calmed down.

"You couldn't even pull the trigger on a lowly scumbag like me when I gave you the chance to blow my brains out all over the water." He dusted off his coat, apparently returned to his usual state. "You're nothing but a pawn, a useless, helpless civilian who sees the world as he wants to."

[Guest]

Chal looked at his hand where the gun had been as it shacked furiously. He almost had done it... Almost pulled the trigger... Almost committed the worst wrong possible, in his eyes. But this was a reminder to him. A reminder that everyone, including himself, was only a single twitch away from becoming a monster...

"You... You bastard!" Chal clenched his fist and felt streams of tears, real tears, roll down his eyes. "Don't you DARE do that again! I was so close... So close to killing you!" He fell down to his knees. "I... Can't kill anybody... I can never do that... To anyone... To myself..." He moved his hands, opened and still shaking, to look at them. "I can't do that... No no no... I just can't!"

He clenched his fists and punched the floor, leaning on them. "Maybe you... Maybe you're a killer! But I'm not! Don't you understand, dammit?! I SHOULD BE DEAD RIGHT NOW!!!" He saw his tears fall to the floor and wiped his eyes, then sat back on the back of his legs. "I should have died ten years ago... A guy like me has no right to kill! Every second I go on I am cheating death!"

He stood up slowly. "I don't expect you to understand. I don't expect anyone to really, everyone's view on life is different from the experiences that they've had... So don't you dare... Don't you dare tell me how to think, you fucking bastard! You think you're soooooo enlightened do you?! Just because you've killed?!"

His whole body shook with rage, his fists clenched and his body in an offensive position. "Well you aren't! YOU HEAR ME?! You're no better then me, or anybody, you're just a person! A person who's just happened to kill someone! Maybe killing people helps YOU feel better... But people like me... People like me aren't like that! People like me... Feel better helping people!"

He lunged forward to punch Ayden across the jaw. "SO DON'T YOU FUCKING DARE PUT A FUCKING GUN IN MY HAND!!! YOU HEAR ME, YOU FUCK?!" Chalybs' teeth were clenched with uncontrollable rage and his eyes burned intensely, like the pits of hell.

[Guest]

"Don't you DARE do that again! I was so close... So close to killing you!"

"Pahaha! Why do you think I did it?! Your way of living comes at a price, but all your justice, all your idealism, when you're staring down the barrel of a gun, that's not what matters. What matters is which side of it you're on. Do or die, Chalybs. He smiled. "So... in a way... at the most basic level... you're a lot like me." His eyes were seething with hatred. He wanted to break this boy, shatter him, crush him, and do it over and over again.

Why? For fun. For simple enjoyment. The man got his leisure from seeing human beings reduced to nothing, forced down onto their knees. "You enjoy HELPING PEOPLE? You enjoy letting people beg for assistance at your feet, you enjoy having tedious, tiresome tasks expected of you?! And for what? No reward, whatsoever? Well, I got news for you." Silence but for a moment. "That feeling of redemption you get from helping someone... it's synthetic, it's just chemicals. Man-made." Then came the clincher. "Fake."

And then came the punch. Well, as the saying goes, to make an omelette, you've gotta break a few eggs.

Chalybs was letting his emotions and his morals control how he fought. The punch was an angry jab, expressing himself, and because of that, it was uncoordinated. But... Ayden made no attempt to duck, or weave out of the way, even knowing he could. He let it strike. He even reacted, acting out most of his initial 'reflex', twisting away and falling back onto the ground. He ferociously tore away at the inner lining of his cheek until he felt blood trickle into his mouth.

As the man got to his feet, he shot no daggers at Chalybs, and made no attempt to dive at him or retaliate, instead spitting the blood on the floor, framing the boy, a wicked grin slipping onto his face. "You see that? That's blood. That's a byproduct, something symptomatic of pain, pain, suffering, and death, which, as weak and pathetic as it may be, you have caused in me."

A chuckle as he wiped away a loose trail of blood from his chin and flicked it away, wiping his hand on the seat of the moped as he returned to it. "As I said, kid. You've got the fight in you. You've got the potential to be a warrior, to be..." He hissed the final part of the sentence. "...a cold-blooded killer."

Clapping, he began to cackle, sticking his head forwards towards the boy, almost comically. "It's just a matter of which path you take. Are you gonna stick to your 'high and mighty' morals, or are you gonna break down and join the oh-so-tempting 'dark side' of humanity? Are you going to give in to the urges that lie within you, ready to break out, punch, kick, stab, slash, shoot, wound, kill?"

With that, he paused for a moment, already having decided on Chalybs' reaction, and he turned his back on the boy. "You're pathetic. So much power within your grasp, yet you turn your back on it. Oh well. Perhaps you'll see in time."

[Guest]

Chalybs looked at the blood on his fist, panting heavily with anger. "Fake, you say? Ha... HAHAHA!" He pointed his bloody hand at Ayden. "So that's fake huh? Well NO SHIT SHERLOCK!" He laughed like a maniac, a look of insanity in his eyes. "Oh that's rich... Pwhahaha! Fake! Oh god that's amazing... Oh god I think I'm crying... Pfft!"

He wiped a tear from his eye. "So dammed rich... Ha! Oh god..." He tried to stop laughing and managed to stop after half a minute. "Oh Ayden... That was funny... That was god dammed hilarious!" He wiped his head. "I know. What do you think I am? Stupid? Ha! No... I think that's what you are. If this 'feeling of redemption' I get is fake... Which it is I know... Then that feeling you get when you kill a man is fake too!"

Chal walked up to Ayden and looked him right in the eyes. "We all fake, you idiot. Every feeling we get, from love and happiness to hate and anger, is fake! Chemicals in our body mixing together to create the things we call emotions... All fake." He chuckled menacingly. "You idiot."

He pushed Ayden back. "But you know what, you sick fuck? That doesn't make it any less beautiful... You idiot. You know, I thought you were kind of smart... Guess I was wrong. You're just an idiot hiding in a shell of insanity and murder. Deep down... Deep deep down... You're weak. You envy something that most people had, don't you? You envy something... But what is it?"

Chal put his hand on his chin and began to think. "Not that it matters, what ever made you who you are happened in the past... That doesn't matter to me. I'm just safe in the knowledge that I'm stronger... Much much stronger then you."

He nodded then chuckled at Ayden "You're not the only person with problems in the world. Hell I'm pretty sure your troubles are nothing compared to others... Yet your not as strong as other people. People have gone through so much worse shit then you have and yet they come out of it fine, sometimes even better. But you... You've fallen into... What was it you called it? Ah yes... The 'dark side' of humanity. How childish of you."

He shrugged. "Call me pathetic all you want... But we both know that I'm truly the stronger one, we both know that you are truly the pathetic one. You're in denial. Face it." Chal shrugged and turned his back on Ayden. "You're pathetic. True greatness, happiness, is within your grasp and yet you shy away behind your shell. Perhaps you'll see in time."

[Guest]

Laughter? That was his response? Laughter? Ayden cackled along with him, before bursting into full hysterics at the boy's naivete. "If that's really your reaction, you're more naive than I thought." He clapped Chalybs' shoulder patronisingly as the boy continued.

Was the boy really trying to outwit him? Ayden raised an eyebrow and laughed quietly to himself. What was he trying to accomplish? There was nothing to accomplish. If he wanted the man to recognise how terrible a person he actually was, then, well, he already did. And he commended himself on it. If he was attempting to change him, then that was another matter completely - and a fruitless one, at that.

"Bahaha! I know, I know, I KNOW! I just pride the human body on the fact that it can create such a good feeling from such a primitive action! Murder is just so fulfilling for me~!" A pause. "I... envy something... others have?" In mockery, he paused, and raised a finger to his chin. "Nope! Not at all! I have everything I need, bar a little more money and power, and... considering knowledge is power, I can promise you that the pair of them will only take time." He had begun to growl.

A smirk. "Much stronger than me?" Ayden shook his head, and rolled up his sleeves, before flipping over his bare arm, to reveal dozen of short scars, lines, looking deliberate and almost like they'd been self-administered. "My father hated the fact that I was an alchemist as a child. Despised it. So he gave me a knife, and told me that unless I cut myself once for every transmutation I'd ever performed, he wouldn't feed me, and he'd keep me locked in my room until I did." A pause. "Could you bear to do that, Chalybs? Don't act like you're the only one who's ever had hardships. For twenty years of my life, I had no eyesight." His tone became stern, and harsh, almost on the edge of violent... was Ayden becoming serious for once?

"Yes! Exactly! Finally, you've grasped it! I've fallen into the murky depths of 'evil', which is in reality, just another shade of 'good'. The two aren't so set out like that. However, I do know, that whatever I've gotten into..." He began to snarl, almost gaining a demented appearance in a split-second, his face contorting. "...I love it."

He frowned as the boy continued. "What do you know of greatness? Of happiness? You're but a child. Happiness and greatness are relative. To others in my line of business, to others who view the world as I do, I could have achieved 'true happiness' and 'real greatness' already. Ever stopped to think about that, kid?"

Then, silence. Ayden sniffed the air. He was beginning to get bored. He thought, perhaps he'd state it.

"This is beginning to get irritating, and you're turning quickly from a plaything into a pest." With a single motion, he unsheathed Fleshbane, cocked the hammer, and held the barrel but inches from Chalybs' head. "I wonder what colour your brains are? Gyahahaha!" It appeared... it appeared the manic side had wrested control from what semblance of sanity was left within Ayden once again.

[Guest]

Chalybs looked at the gun apathetically. "So that's your excuse, huh? Daddy didn't love you? How... Pathetic." He sighed. "I expected something more, something that would justify it slightly... Guess I was wrong. You are wrong. You are weak. There's no escaping that fact, you know it just as well as I do."

He put his hand on the gun and moved it down slowly till it pointed at the floor, all the time staring into Ayden's eyes. "I'm sorry... Sorry that you had to live through that. But it doesn't justify murder." He sighed. "My parents probably hated me too, hated me for being weak. That's the only reason I can think of why they would dump me on the ground to die... For a long while I wanted to find them and kill them for it. But I grew up."

Chal walked up to his moped. "I accepted that the past is the past... Nothing can change that. I can't dwell on what they did all my life and use it as an excuse for my actions..." He looked back at Ayden. "I'm not gonna lie, what happened to you was much worse then what happened to me. Maybe if we swapped places we would be just like each other, but that's not how it is. I live for the future, I don't dwell on the past, yet you seem to hold onto your past and use it as... As justification for what you have and will done. We're opposites in that sense... You and I."

He got on the moped. "I believe this conversation is going nowhere, so I'm going to leave. Neither of us is going to bend to how the other wills, not today at least." He grabbed the accelerator then looked back at Ayden for one last time. "Just... Next time you kill someone, think about what I said. Or at least respect that you're hiding behind a wall made of the bodies of those you have killed. Hoping that one day... You'll... You'll feel better about yourself." He drove off into the distance at moderate speed, waving back to Ayden for a few moments.

[Guest]

"Oh, my dear boy, weakness is a matter of perspective." He snarled, keeping the gun aimed steady. "And if you think I'm looking for justification, you're wrong. I just want to get you to shut your whiny little trap." Something about his parents leaving him. Ayden chuckled, before cackling, then finally howling in hysterical laughter.

"Well, you see, perhaps you would have turned out better if you'd gotten your vengeance, Mr. Bad Egg. It feels fulfilling as all hell," A bloodthirsty grin swept his face. "I don't hold onto the past. You're wrong. But I don't look to the future, like you, either. I live in the moment, savour the bloodshed, savour every kill like it was my last, readying for the most beautiful crescendo of all." With a smirk, he rolled the hammer back in slowly, and holstered the revolver, moving back into a position of ease as the boy announced he was leaving, before uttering a set of parting words.

He raised an eyebrow. He had to hand it to the kid, he had balls, and he was certainly a stubborn little prick. With a sigh, as the faint smell of engine fumes hung in the air as the boy drove off, Ayden turned on his heel, stuck his hands into his pocket and continued down the road towards his car, whistling idly.

Perhaps what the kid said would have carried gravity for anyone else, perhaps carried meaning, and perhaps invoked a sense of regret, or even gotten them to consider their actions. Not Ayden. He legitimately didn't care, and when he spoke of his feelings, blunt and horrific as they were, he spoke truthfully.

"Oh well, perhaps another day..." In truth, all Ayden was really curious to discover was not of himself, not of his past, and not of his 'petty' justifications which he never needed nor wanted anyway. All he wanted to find out was if grey brain matter complimented a blood spray as the pair flew, intertwined, over a large mass of water underneath the setting sun.

Truly a beautiful image.

[[EXIT]]

[Reila Tsukino]

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