Ficlet - The Cost of Freedom

[cornerofmadness]

Title --The Cost of Freedom
Author-- cornerofmadness
series -- manga
Disclaimer -- Arakawa owns all
Rating -- teen
Characters/Pairing -- Hohenheim
Word Count -- 214
Warning -- none
Summary -- He didn’t know how much it would cost him
Author’s Note --this was written for fma_fic_contest for the prompt ‘set free’ and it won third. Thanks to evil_little_dog for the beta and sonjajade for the lovely banner


XXX

Being set free had been a dream of his since childhood, though the mere notion of it had terrified him. Twenty-Three had been a small child when he and his mother had been ripped from his home. To this day, he had nightmares about how all the adult males had been slaughtered, the stench of blood and burning bodies still thick in his nostrils as he dreamed.

The smell lingered even now, but the only blood was that of those who had fallen down as their bodies were used for the dwarf in the flask's nefarious purposes. How ironic was it that he only knew what ‘nefarious’ meant thanks to the homunculus. Even more ironic? The fondness it seemed to have for him. His life was spared and, with his own face staring down at him, Twenty-Three was told he was finally free. He was officially no longer a number. He was Hohenheim.

Where he could go, what he could do now, never even crossed his mind. It was too filled with the howling of other voices. Hohenheim could barely comprehend what the homunculus had done to him. Freedom's price was too high. He'd been bought and freed and it only cost all the life of an entire city, his soul, and his sanity.

Comments

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

Poor, poor Hoho.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

he is a sad man.

thanks

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

Yes, poor wandering sad Hoho.