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[transcendens]

DATE: July 18
INVOLVED: transcendens and anyone who wants to run into him
ACTIVITY: After being struck blind for no reason, Aizen goes to Ten-ji to get away from Iki.
RATING: TBD

Comments

[alkahestry]

[Since Edward left to speak with Kiyoha and Aya he's lost track of time. He spent a few hours trying to scour the library for any information he can on how to possibly reverse the strange condition that was plaguing his brother and so many others.

It wasn't until his stomach had begun to make it's need of food known that he packed up the books he was reading and left the library and out into the district. He's got a small allowance to work with now, enough he figures to find himself something to eat lunch with now that the morning hours have come to an end.

When he spots Aizen, Alphonse stops in his tracks and stares for a moment. They had only spoken on the network the devices shared so far, and needing to meet in person eventually, Al saw no reason to not walk his way up towards the bench to do so.]

Good afternoon, Mr. Aizen.

[transcendens]

You may have had the right idea. Energy is, at the root, the same. And if you know how to manipulate the forms you wish to utilize, you could find yourself with an exorbitant amount of power on your hands.

[alkahestry]

Power of that magnitude isn't always a good thing though. For instance, the Philosopher's Stone, an alchemical wonder, with it you can transmute objects without having to rely on rules like equivalent exchange. We thought it was the answer to our problems for a very long time, that is until we learned the truth about it's creation. Sometimes great powers come about due to a great price.

[transcendens]

I created my world's equivalent to your Philosopher's Stone. I know quite intimately the cost associated with its construction. And in the end, I suspect that the object itself was not worth the price it cost.

[alkahestry]

Looking back now it doesn't seem worth the hundred of thousands of lives it took to create them.

[Because unlike Edward's world, there was more than one stone, several in fact, including Father, his real Father, and then each of the Homunculus.]

Did you get what you wanted ... in the end?

[It might seem like a strange question, but Alphonse knows all too well that you don't seek out something of that magnitude or try to create it without desiring something.]

[transcendens]

[ He shakes his head, a wry smile passing over his lips. ]

No. No, I can honestly say that I did not. And perhaps in the end, it should have come as no surprise. Putting one's faith in such a foolish thing is only asking for failure. Better to acquire the strength to do so on one's own than to rely on outside sources, whatsoever they are.

[alkahestry]

You need to have faith in your own abilities first, Brother learned that lesson ... it's part of the reason he was able to get my body back without using a Philosopher's Stone. He gave up his alchemy to save me, because in the end so long as you have yourself and your friends, you really don't need anything else.

[transcendens]

[ He chuckles, a low, wry sound that matches the accompanying smile that quirks his lips. ]

Perhaps that was part of my problem. I had only myself. Yet it worked out in the end for one of us, yes? That's what's important.

[alkahestry]

There had to be someone?

[He finds it really hard to believe, and if it really is true then you can be certain that when Aizen reassures him there was not, then he's going to look very very sad.]

[transcendens]

There was one who feigned friendship in the interest of getting close enough to murder me, but that was the extent of it.

[ Despite that particular revelation, he smiles. If it bothers him that a would-be friend was only trying to get close to him to kill him, it doesn't show. ]

The life of a shinigami can be a rather complicated thing. Moreso than strictly necessary, I wager.

[alkahestry]

Mur -

[He can not even get the word out and if Aizen could see his face, he'd see one shocked expression.]

Why...

[But his words falter and fail him. Murder? Revenge? His fingers curl into his palms as he clenches them into fists. The very idea makes him angry, those types of situations, he knew what going down those paths cold do to people.]

Why would someone want to kill you?

[transcendens]

[ He shrugs, the epitome of a lack of concern. ]

He believed that I hurt his friend, and that by killing me, that friend would be protected from future harm. It was an erroneous belief, I did nothing but allow him to believe in an illusion, but he stayed at my side for over a century because of it.

[alkahestry]

Why would you let someone believe such a thing?

[Way to confuse the poor boy, it didn't make sense to live that kind of lie.]

[transcendens]

Because hatred is a feeling. Negative, perhaps, and destructive, but it is still something. And I've found that it's better to be hated for a reason than to make no impact on the world whatsoever. Or worse, to be hated for no reason at all.

[alkahestry]

Couldn't you have spoken to the person ... made a friend out of him ...? But you're wrong about making no impact. Every person makes an impact, we're all connected. Teacher had a saying, and it's also a lesson of alchemy. All is one, one is all. It's like when a leaf falls into a pond, even doing nothing has an impact, Mr. Aizen.

[He's one part naive and one part genius, but really he means well.]

[transcendens]

Perhaps. But friendship is fickle and not always lasting.

[ He shrugs as he speaks the last word. ]

It doesn't matter any more. That was long ago, and our actions served their purpose well. What does matter is how we conduct ourselves here in this place, and with any luck, it will be better than it was.

[ A smile flickers briefly over his mouth. ]

Your teacher was very wise, Alphonse.