The Divine Comedy

A fan fiction inspired by the “Full Metal Alchemist” movie

By Karen, Storm, GirlyAnimeGirl, Janey-Rei of Light and KakashiXIruka21

Prologue

(Munich, Germany. November 11, 1923)

Several days after the funeral, she was making her way silently through the churchyard, looking for that one particular headstone.

She had to smirk to herself at the way things were falling into place for her. Not only had she been able to escape the ravenous attacks of Gluttony back in Amestris, but she had managed to send herself through The Gate and put her own soul and her latest body back together again on the other side.

It had been all to easy to dispose of and assume the identity of that silly actress at UFA Studios, working for the man who was the obvious counterpart of Pride no less! She had had to pretend to walk away in a huff when she had crossed paths with Edward Elric again, because she could scarcely contain her laughter when he didn’t completely recognize her, taking her for her foolish counterpart!

It had been an unfortunate setback losing Envy, that much was true, but at the very least the homunculus who was once her son had disposed of her former lover, Hohenheim, for her before he could try to get in her way again. Not only that, but Edward Elric had unknowingly showed her he knew the correct way to open the porthole between the worlds, something her incompetent minions like Dietrich and his cousin Deitlinde Eckhart in the Thule Society had been unable to do.

Since she had arrived, she had done everything in her power to prolong the first war in this world, and, sure enough, those whose lives had been destroyed, those who had nothing left to lose, had come flocking, ready to throw away their lives, and the lives of their fellow human beings, to create the Philosophers Stone and the incomplete red stones. Apparently, it was a legend in this world as well. Humankind was so predictable.

Now, with another great war approaching, which promised to be even more lethal and destructive then the first, there was every opportunity to create a larger and even more powerful Philosophers Stone, to ensure her immortality on both sides of The Gate! After all, as she had told the eldest son of Hohenheim, she was worth it. She must live on and sacrifice a small portion of humanity to save both worlds from their sins!

However, first thing’s first, which was why she was at this cemetery tonight…

Finally, she reached the gravestone she had been searching for… It was surrounded by white roses, lilies, and other flowers… Propped up against the grave was a framed photograph… the sweet, heart shaped face of a young man no more then seventeen or eighteen years of age smiled out from the picture…
It made sense, she thought with a scoff; the elder son so greatly resembled his father, so it made sense the younger son, and his now dead counterpart here, would resemble that woman, Trisha…

Placing her lantern down on the cold ground, she took the chalk from her pocket to start drawing the necessary array that would create her latest servant. It really was a bother that alchemy was more difficult to use in this world, but now, thanks to all of her studying and experimenting, she knew it was possible and she knew just how to make it work…

In moments the array was finished and ready to activate. Now came the interesting part; From what she had discovered, Alchemy could not be performed by ordinary humans from this world, but the blood of an Amestrian, an Amestrian who had seen and been through The Gate, could be used to activate a transmutation circle. Without so much as batting an eyelash, she bit her finger and placed it, bleeding steadilly, on the array. As she had expected, the circle began to glow brightly with alchemic energy.

Experience had shown that it was easier to use an original body rather then gather the many contents, and the end result would have fewer weaknesses, but there was still one more necessary ingredient…

“Hey, Fräulein! What are you doing here so late at night? This cemetery’s closed until morning.”

The usual night watchman for the churchyard was usually making his last rounds about now. She smiled. This was to perfect!

Almost before he knew what was happening, the poor night watchman was seized and quickly thrown into the now brilliantly shining circle she had drawn around the gravestone, which grew even brighter with the power coming from the appearing gate… The doors creaked open, revealing hundreds of glaring eyes surrounding a particularly larger one… It was a scene she was almost to familiar with by now to be even the slightest bit nervous around.

The terrified night watchman tried to run from The Gate and out of the circle, but long black tendrils from beyond the doors reached out and grabbed him… He had barely enough time to scream before he was dragged into the darkness, The Gates doors shutting behind him…

Once The Gate had disappeared, she was pleased to see her latest “sacrifice” had been repaid as expected. The Earth around the gravestone had parted and risen, bringing up a wooden coffin to the surface...

She calmly opened the coffin and found exactly what she had expected. Human transmutation on the dead never produced the desired results, but it was enough for her to work with.

The grotesque combination of outer and inner organs writhed about in place of where the deceased had once been.

“You poor thing,” she crooned to it. “Someone has made you into something horrible here and abandoned you. Let me help.”

Thankfully, since arriving on the other side of The Gate, she had been able to make the sufficient quantity of red stones to create and empower a new homunculus, a new inhuman servant… Smiling, she drew the stones out of her coat pocket and fed it to the abomination…

“Here you go, eat this.”

The creature opened his mouth and gleefully ate the stones, choked, and fell to the ground.

"Oh, no, not yet," Dante said as she drew another handful of red stones from her pocket.

Only a few more mouthfuls and this creature would begin to take the form of the human it was meant to replace. After over four hundred years this was as familiar a scene to her as The Gate.

"Here, you must have some more."

What better weapon to use against the sons of Hohenheim? Neither would have the heart to fight against it.

It stood slowly and calmly, looking back at her with the eyes of Alfons Heiderich. Once full of warmth, he now looked coldly at his new master. Something about him looked confused.

The new homunculus was nearly completely formed now, very much resembling the boy in the picture by the gravestone. The clothes it had originally been buried in were now rags and shreds, so she knelt down and almost tenderly placed her coat around him. It had never been difficult to win these creatures over to her side once they were formed. Even the one created from the transmutation of Trisha Elric had served her obediently.

"Tell me," she asked her new would-be minion. "How much can you remember?"

The homunculus frowned. It tried so hard to think. It thought it could see something in its fractured mind, but dismissed it.

"I..." He began. He stopped, as if painfully confused. "Nothing." It stated. "Nothing at all..."

Dante smiled to herself. The look on the new homunculus’s face told her he had remembered something, but what he'd seen had confused him. This had happened with the others as well.

"Think back carefully," she said. "Does the name Edward Elric mean anything to you?"

He gasped.

"Well, I... I don't know. It sounds strange... kind of familiar. I don't know." He closed his eyes, not wanting to belong in the situation he was in. He tried to shut himself out of this place.

"Who am I? Where am I? What... am I...??" He said almost to himself. "And... who are you??!"

"My name is Dante," she answered in a calming tone. "This is Munich, Germany, your home city. As for who and what you are, I regret to say that you are a homunculus, a soulless artificially created human."

As she spoke she reached for the picture that had been propped up against the grave and handed it to him.

"This is the person you used to be."

The Homunculus barely understood. He just looked at the picture. It was almost exactly like him.

"But what do you mean...?" He asked shyly. "Soulless... what does that mean?"

"Simple," Dante replied. She knew he was this close to taking the bait now. "Humans have souls, feelings, that's what makes them human. Homunculus, artificially created humans, however have none of these, in spite of their few memories. Would you like to know what happened to make you this way?"

"Okay..." He said glumly. If he had any one feeling it had to be a pretty negative one.

"I could tell that the name Edward Elric struck something with you, even though you denied it," Dante began, "as well it should. He was the reason you died, the reason you are in this state now, I'm afraid."

"What happened?" He asked.

Dante placed a hand on his shoulder. "Try to remember," she urged. It would be easier to use this against Edward if the new homunculus remembered for himself, rather then her having to tell him everything.

He tried, and saw several images from his former life. He began to think he might have been friends with this Edward.

"That's right," Dante encouraged him. She could tell he was remembering more.

The more he tried to remember himself, the more he began to miss Edward Elric. Eventually he gave up and sighed.

That sigh told her he had given up, but never mind. More would come back to him soon enough. In the meantime...

"You remember that Edward was your best friend, correct?" she asked.

He hadn't quite gotten that far, but he nodded.

"Or should I say, you were his best friend," Dante continued. "You befriended him at Dr. Oberths', where you both came to study rocketry, even though most of the others wrote him off as eccentric because of his stories about another world where alchemy eclipsed chemistry and physics."

"I think I see now..." He nodded, trying to understand. It did feel familiar to him.

"It was because of your passion for rocketry, and your dream of proving the scientific worth of your country, that you became gravely ill," she said in her most sympathetic voice. "It was a fatal lung disease brought on by prolonged exposure to the fuel and fumes. Do you remember the constant bouts of coughing? The blood?"

"Hmm..." He hesitated. "I think so... but... if that's who I was, then what do I do about it now?"

Now she had the bite, so it was about time to reel the catch in. She smiled her kindest and most warmest smile.

"Once I finish telling you the whole story, you will know and understand," she said, "but first, since you have nowhere else to go, I suggest coming with me to my mansion. You will need better clothes and there will be more of these red stones for you to eat."

"Alright." He obeyed. He felt like asking whether he would be able to see this Edward Elric again, but left it for another time…