Matter (Heroes Fanfic - WIP)

“Equivalent exchange.”

“What?”

He turned around. “Equivalent exchange. Like Fullmetal Alchemist. 'To obtain, something of equal value must be lost.' You remember that, don't you? We spent months watching it; you must know!”

Peter chuckled. “You always were the nerdy one.”

Roy knelt again, scooping up some mud from the ground and packing it into a ball in his hands. “I'm being serious here. I have some kind of special power here, and you laugh at me like I'm joking.”

“Because you're a jokester. Most days I can't tell when you're being serious or when you're pulling my leg. The day you're actually being serious when you say you're being serious is the day I become a millionaire.”

“Well,” Roy began, standing up and turning towards his friend, “that day is today.” He held out his hands, the ball of mud encased between them. “I have your million dollars right here, if you will take my word for it.”

“A million dollars, huh? I doubt that mud is worth as much as you say it is.”

It was Roy's turn to laugh. “I'm telling you, I can make you a millionaire with this mud. All I ask is that you take the chance and believe in me.”

“Okay, fine. I believe you. Can I be a millionaire now?”

Roy pressed his hands together and closed his eyes for a moment. After a few seconds, he opened his eyes and smiled. “Close your eyes and hold your hands out. I'm going to give you a present.”

Peter sighed, but closed his eyes and held out his hands to oblige his friend. The next thing he knew, he was dropping something very heavy. It fell to the ground with a dull thud.

“You can open your eyes now.”

Peter did so and looked to his feet. Where there should have been a ball of (very heavy) mud, there was actually a ball of gold. Pure gold.

“Wha- how? You did this?! How did you do this?!”

Roy began to laugh. “That's just it; I don't know! I concentrated on that ball of mud and told it to become something of great worth, and that's what it became! Now, if you don't want it, I'm sure I can find a use for it...” He stepped towards his friend, but Peter knelt and scooped up the precious metal first.

“It's really heavy. Is gold supposed to be this heavy?”

“Yeah, I'm pretty sure it's supposed to be that heavy.”

“What do we do with it?”

“We? Nothing. You should have it appraised. Say you found it in the rock quarry a couple miles from here. Do something for your family with the money you get from it. I have a few experiments I have to do, and soon I'll be leaving this go-nowhere town. You should too.”

Peter furrowed his brow. “So, that's it? You hand me this lump of gold, free of charge, and then tell me you're going to disappear? Will we cross paths again?”

Roy nodded. “I'll find you, and we'll hang out again. But not here. And not soon. I have a few things I need to do first.” He paused and thought for a moment. “Move to Colorado. I hear it's getting to be an awesome place to live nowadays, and your mother would benefit from the fresh air. In a year or two I'll show up at your front door.”

“How will you afford to move?”

“Peter, I can turn mud into gold. I don't think money is going to be that big a problem for me.”