Equivalent Exchange (Rich and Damian)

Richard sat behind his desk with a thoughtful expression. Beside him was his 'ingredients' case, closed and locked several times. It was his special case, used only for the most forbidden and powerful forms of alchemy. For inside the case were the individual component elements that made up the human body. He closed his eyes a little and continued to stare at the jar of water he'd placed in the middle of the desk.

Damian made his way to the Transfiguration professor's office. The boy liked the professor and was in awe of him, as well.

Arriving at the office's door, Damian knocked quietly, then waited to be beckoned inside.

Richard waved a hand and the door opened on it's own,

"Mr Gray... come in." he gestured for the boy to sit in the chair on the opposite side of the desk to him, "Please, sit down."

He didn't say anything for a few seconds before he sighed and rubbed tiredly at his eyes,

"Why do you wish to be an alchemist Mr Gray?" he frowned, "You have a personal interest in the subject obviously. But what do you want to do with alchemy?"

Damian entered the room and sat, blue gaze taking in the room around him.

He blinked a bit at the professor's question. The boy hadn't really thought it out that far. Why?

"Well, sir," Damian answered thoughtfully. "Because Alchemy's useful, isn't it? Not only because you can learn how to turn things into gold or even make a Philosopher's Stone and live forever, but because it's powerful all by itself. If you can learn how to turn things into gold, I suspect you can learn how to do anything."

He bit his lip. "I don't want any limits, sir," he confessed. "I want to learn everything I can and be the best I can."

Richard chuckled a little and tapped his desk with his wand, turning the wooden desk into glass almost instantly,

"I'll say it's useful. That was transfiguration but because alchemy requires an in depth knowledge of the arrangement of atoms and alike, once you've master alchemy, transfiguration is easy as breathing." he grinned, "And we both know that transfiguration is the most important branch of magic."

He paused for a second before holding up his left hand,

"Look at my hand Damian. Nothing remarkable about it right?" he shook his head lightly, "Wrong. This is not my original hand. I lost my original hand in a fight near hamburg. Using alchemy I constructed a fully functioning human hand, complete with muscles, bones, skin and blood vessels. With alchemy there are no limits except those made by humans, and you'll be thankful for those restrictions before long my young friend."

He gestured at his ingredient's case,

"The materials in that case are all you need to construct a fully formed, adult male human." he glanced at Damian, "But why is it wrong to construct a human?"

Damian grinned as the professor turned his desk to glass. He did really like Transfiguration class - it was one of his favorites and so far he seemed pretty good at it.

Blue eyes widened in awe as he stared at the man's hand. It looked just the same as his right hand - well, except that it was his left hand, of course. "That's brilliant," he murmured reverently.

His awed gaze went to the case as he considered the new inquiry. A thoughtful pucker appeared between the boy's brows.

"Is it because they wouldn't have a soul?" Damian guessed. "We're born with souls, aren't we? I don't think a person who is made would have one though. It would probably also be considered dark magic. One of our neighbors," the boy scowled at the memory of said neighbor, "would say it's wrong because it's like playing God."

Richard chuckled lightly and looked at his left hand as well,

"It was my first attempt at creating a human body part to be honest." he smirked, "Since then I've grown more skilled and more ambitious. My greatest achievement to date is creating a fully functioning human heart and using a swapping spell to use it to replace a damaged heart. The detail needed... it was amazing."

He shrugged a little,

"To me... the soul is the spark that starts life and the body is the marvel that sustains it." he paused for a few seconds, "Alchemy, unlike any other branch of magic, can be used by both magicals and muggles. Of course, magicals make far superior alchemists but still. You can use alchemy when your magical core is completely drained or if you have no magical core at all. All you need is something of equal value."

He stared at Damian,

"The first principle of Alchemy is that of equivalent exhange. To obtain, something of equal value must be lost." he shrugged a little, "With a magical the equal value can be taken from your magical core. But if you don't use your core you must use something else. In the example of human alchemy... what is equal to the soul Damian?"

Damian nodded as the man spoke, listening intently.

"Another soul," he answered promptly. "If you don't use magic, the equal of one soul is another soul. Someone would have to die."

Richard nodded shortly,

"Correct Damian." he told the hufflepuff boy before sighing, "To create a new life you need a soul. Doesn't matter where it comes from to be fair. You can steal someone's soul and use it if you can stomach the idea long enough."

He smiled faintly,

"Magic can be used to imitate life Damian. Never create it in truth." he frowned and glanced at the ingredients box, "That being said... would you like to see it?"

Damian listened intently. That made sense - only being able to mimic life with magic.

He bit his lip, noticing the professor's frown, but he was really quite curious to see. "Only if you want to show me, professor," Damian answered diplomatically after a moment, gaze fixed on the box.

Richard nodded a little before flicking his wand at the cabinet full of ingredients, opening it up to show the bell jars of assorted liquids and piles of material. He swallowed a small lump in his throat,

"Say hello to my brother Damian." he told his apprentice vaguely, "Say hello to Victor Romain."

Pointing his wand at the ingredients, he closed his eyes for a long few moments before he began to speak in a dead language, a language that was dead when latin was young. The ingredients glowed bright white as they began to arrange themselves but the bright light kept either Richard or Damian from seeing the construction. When the light died down a figure was crouched in front of the cabinet, dressed in tattered robes that had once been dress robes of high quality. And he looked almost identical to Richard.

Standing up suddenly, 'Richard' kicked the cabinet backwards savagely and the heavy wooden ingredients case banged loudly against the stone wall. Looking over the office, 'Richard' stalked forwards menacingly. Looking at both Damian and Richard in turn, 'Richard' locked eyes with Damian and a sly smirk began to form on his lips. Stalking closer to Damian, he leant closer until their faces were not an inch apart. His sly smirk opened up in what would normally have been a rather creepy grin on it's own, judging by the angle, but it was made even more menacing than usual. His lips, which upon closer inspected were dry and dead, cracked open in dozens of places as he moved them, tiny streams of blood beginning to run down his chin and into his mouth. His teeth had changed as well, sharp as if every one of them had been filed until they were perfect fangs. His breath was tainted with the stench of decay as he chuckled into Damian's face,

"What's the matter boy?" the double, Victor, taunted the first year, "Never seen a dead body?"

Victor laughed loudly into Damian's face, his dead breath in the boy's nose and mouth, before standing back up straight and standing there looking rather bored. Richard coughed and Victor grinned at his brother,

"Baby brother!" he greeted the professor sarcastically, "So good to see you!"

Richard rolled his eyes a little but pointed his wand idly at Victor,

"Good to see you are well Victor." he smiled faintly, "How long has it been?"

Victor looked up at the ceiling in thought and as he did that, the blackened and dead muscle of his tongue lolled out to lick up his own bloody lips,

"Mmm... since you killed me or since the last time you let me out?"

Richard shrugged,

"Since I last let you out."

Victor shrugged,

"Just about five years I think."

Richard shrugged,

"Any questions for Victor here Damian?"

Victor grinned his sickening, bloody, grin at the first year,

"Take a guess how long I've been dead!"

The boy looked on with morbid curiosity, tinged with a bit of remorse that he hadn't declined as the professor seemed a bit upset. ... his brother?? Master Roman spoke a language that Damian didn't recognize, one that sounded very old to the eleven-year-old's ears. Damian squinted in an attempt to see through the bright light, trying to see what was happening. He blinked at how very similar the man looked to his professor.

And then said man was in motion.

Damian was a tough little boy - made even tougher by the abuse he'd taken from his former friends over the past year.

He was not, however, a stupid boy. Quite the contrary, Damian was possibly smarter than a good many of his year mates, putting things together rather quickly for one so young. So, to say that it didn't take long for Damian's flight-or-fight impulse to tense all his muscles was an understatement - the transformation was almost instantaneous from the moment Victor kicked out at the cabinet.

The boy leaned back in his seat as the man stalked towards him, blue eyes wide with alarm, though a vague hint of that morbid curiosity remained, despite himself. Damian was oddly aware that he was gripping the arms of the chair as though fearful of falling out of it and that the hair along the back of his neck was standing on end. In fact, he was aware that he had goosepimples, everywhere.

Damian might've gagged from the smell of the man's breath if he hadn't been doing quite so good a job of being a statue.

Killed..? Damian's mind kept working despite his being on the verge of terror. He couldn't help but wonder if the professor would explain how that had come to be.

Did he have any questions? Damian always had questions... Guess?

"Fifteen years, sir," Damian complied very quietly. "Give or take. Maybe a bit longer..."

And then his curiosity reared its head and he asked, "How do you know how long its been?"

Richard glanced from Damian to Victor and back again several times before waving his hand dismissively at the creature that was his brother. Victor rolled his eyes, a sickening sound followed which suggested that his eyes weren't quite as moist as they should be. He shook his head a little at Damian's guess,

"Afraid not." Richard glanced at his brother again, "I killed Victor not six years ago. I believe it took me eight days to finish killing him..."

He gave Damian a small smile, completely devoid of all emotion,

"It was less time than he spent killing my wife." he told his apprentice before turning back to Victor, "Why don't you tell the boy about what you did for a living Victor?"

The creature scoffed,

"It was hardly anything like a job." he shrugged with a sly smirk, blood running from his lips even at that motion, "I used to kill people and take their stuff. Sell their stuff. Get paid. Easy really."

Richard and Victor shared a look before Victor made a 'get on with it' motion with one hand. Scowling at his brother, Richard turned back to Damian,

"He knows because his mind is reformed in exactly the same state it was before he died. Basically when I put his body back together the brain, for some reason, keeps the same brainwaves." he explained quietly, "So when I last broke him back down again he kept his brainwaves, and therefore his memories, of the event. Even though there was nothing between the two points."

"Any questions?"

Damian frowned faintly. He rather thought if someone murdered his sister or somebody he cared about, he'd take eight days to kill them, too.

The boy kept a wary eye on Victor, though he remained firmly in his chair. He didn't wholly understand how keeping the same brainwaves would allow the thing to keep track of time, but the dead man's presence was making him more and more uneasy.

"No, professor," Damian answered quietly. "No more questions."

Richard nodded a little before waving his hand at Victor,

"That will be all Victor." he said dismissively as he poked his wand in Victor's direction and began to mutter in the same language as before. Victor muttered curses in german to himself as his entire body began to disassemble into a fine mist before sorting itself into the liquid containers and the solid containers. Richard paused, "That last spell can be used on anyone Daiman. It takes an awful lot of concentration but it requires less power than you might think..."

He turned to his apprentice,

"Would you be interested in a spell like that?"

Damian watched as the dead man returned to the state he'd been at the start of the lesson. Quite frankly, the boy was rather relieved.

He was still intrigued by the foreign language his master spoke the spell in. So much so, that he had to take a moment to realize he'd been asked a question in English.

The boy ducked his head a bit, biting his lip. A spell to disassemble people? Damian could think of a few people he wouldn't mind using it on. But should he tell this man that he was, in fact, interested in such a spell? Master Chaos would probably expect nothing else and would even possibly commend Damian's thirst for anything he could add to his arsenal. Master Romain was still an unknown entity, however...

The professor had asked, though, so Damian answered honestly.

"Yes, sir," he spoke quietly. "I-I would be interested in a spell like that."

Richard looked at the boy with a completely expressionless face as he steepled his fingers and rested his chin lightly on them as he stared hard at the boy,

"Why Damian?" he asked but in a firm tone that made it clear that it was more of a demand than a question, "Why do you want to learn such a spell? Do you hate someone enough to break their body down to it's elements? Do you wish to learn the spell merely for the sake of knowing the spell?"

Damian shifted uncomfortably. He'd rather the man be outright displeased with him, than expressionless. The boy hated being unable to know where he stood with someone. And now the man was using that tone. Damian was familiar with that tone. He chewed on his lip for a moment.

Deciding he might as well continue with the truth, as it was simply easier and he doubted the man would put up with any attempt to avoid the question, Damian responded to the inquiry.

"Yes, sir, I do hate someone that much," he said. "But I also would just like to know the spell. I think it's brilliant and it could be useful, especially with how the muggles are getting. I just... mostly, I just like to know things, though." The boy sighed, then muttered quietly, "'Sides, just breaking the prat down wouldn't be much revenge."

Damian could see this apprenticeship dissolving. Master Chaos understood - he'd seen why Damian wanted every advantage he could gain against those who would harm him - but surely another teacher wouldn't be willing to teach him magic he might use against others? But, then, Master Romain's opening speech in class...


Blue eyes moved back to the man's face. Come what may, Damian wouldn't change his opinion. The muggles deserved whatever came their way. If the Alchemist was still willing to teach him - and teach him a spell that could literally take people apart - then the boy might well put such learning to use some day. If not... well, Damian would still learn everything he could.

He would miss the opportunity to learn Alchemy, though...

He watched with the same expressionless face as Damian twitched and fidgeted under his gaze. He didn't blame the boy for fidgetting, no one had been able to match his cold stare for long anyway. His tone of voice seemed to effect the boy as well but he'd have been impressed if it hadn't. At the boy's answer, Richard took a deep breath and stood up from his chair in silence. Moving over to his window, he stared out across the grounds for a few moments,

"You are honest and that is a good trait to have Mr Gray." he paused, "However... you want the power I offer for selfish reasons. You want both revenge and knowledge for knowledge's sake."

Richard thought about throwing the boy out of his office and not teaching him alchemy before pausing and realising that at Damian's age he was growing up with the same desires. He frowned a little and held up a finger,

"Come back in a week's time Mr Gray." he looked at the boy over his shoulder, "And give me one thing you wish to protect with your power. If you do that I will teach you that spell and so much more."

Damian ducked his head. He knew he was selfish, sometimes - he'd been told as much before and he supposed it was true. The boy prepared himself to be kicked out of the man's office, already mourning the loss of valuable knowledge, when he was instructed to come back in a week.

His head snapped up and he rose from his chair with the action, blue eyes wide. "Yes, sir," he responded. He took a step towards the door and paused.

"Theo, sir," Damian said. "I'd protect my sister - I'd do anything for her. And... probably Seth, too. He's... he's like me, and he's my friend. But if I could only choose one, it'd be Theolynne. I'd die for her if I had to." His eyes shone with his sincerity.

He ducked his head, once more. "Good night, sir. Thank you for the lesson."