Stand Up and Walk

My Own Soul

You nod enthusiastically, locking gazes with the blonde boy and clenching your fist in front of you in determination. "We'll do it together," you tell him firmly, already knowing that he was going to attempt to suggest doing it alone. "We'll open up the real Portal," you repeat, turning your attention back to Envy and Ling, "and you two will jump through it."

Envy sneers at you. "What happens if it goes wrong?" he presses

Ed's words snap you out of your thoughts. "Then it'll rebound," he explains, voice grim. "A failed transmutation ricochets onto the person who performed it." He turns to you, face determined, and you already know what he's going to say before he opens his mouth—you begin shaking your head in advance. "Echo," he says, forging on stubbornly despite your protests. "You know that's why I can't let you do this with me. There's always the chance it might not work, and I don't want you to get hurt!"

"Can't let me do this with you?" you repeat, eyeing the boy incredulously as you cross your arms over your chest. "Good luck trying to stop me! I'm not letting you do this alone, Ed, so don't even bother to argue with me! What would I say to Al if I came back without you?"

He can't seem to come up with a good argument for that one, and, after a moment, he concedes.

He turns his attention toward the green-haired homunculus. "Hey, Envy! I've got something else I wanted to ask you!" The boy lets out an answering grunt, and Ed begins dragging his toe through the dust on the ground beneath you, drawing a quick sketch of a transmutation circle in the clean paths. "The completed mural from Xerxes," he explains, gesturing to his drawing. "It would've looked more or less like this!" He points to a part on top. "This was the first thing that caught my eye!" he explains. "The symbol for 'God' is written upside-down; and beneath it is the two-headed dragon—the alchemic symbol for a complete lifeform!"

"What that means," you explain, catching the lost look on Ling's face as Ed scrutinizes the circle, "is that you can read this kind of like a sentence. It basically translates to, 'I will Strike down God and become a Perfect Being.'"

Ling lets out a little snort. "That's certainly an arrogant concept!"

You point at a nearby slab which is painted in bright colors, a vibrant red circle clearly visible, nestled perfectly among the shattered piece of rubble so as to still remain. "This was the first piece that caught my eye," you tell Ed, and walk over to examine it further. "The image of the Lion swallowing the Sun... it represents the Philosopher's Stone!"

Ed lets out a grim nod. "Yeah," he agrees, "and that's what I wanted to ask Envy about." He calls out to the boy over his shoulder, not turning around to look at him. "Philosopher's Stones are made of human souls, right?"

"Yeah," Envy agrees nodding unabashedly; "That's right."

"How could a nation as advanced as Xerxes possibly fall—let alone in a single night?" he pushes, finally turning to pin the homunculus beneath his gaze. "What happened to its citizens? These stone fragments of the mural—you put them here to hide the evidence!"

You gasp as his words wash over you, realizing the awful truth. "You killed them!" you murmur, struggling beneath the thought of the sheer scale of the destruction. "You transmuted all of Xerxes and made its people into a Philosopher's Stone!"

Ed clenches his fists. "Who was it?!" he demands, glaring at Envy. "I want to know who used this to transmute himself! Who slaughtered the population of a whole country? Who created all of you? Who's trying to make themselves powerful enough to surpass God?!" He points a brash finger at the homunculus, who tilts his chin up arrogantly in response to the boy's demands.

"It was that shitty Father of yours, wasn't it?" you demand, glaring at the green-haired teen with your arms crossed over your chest.

Ed takes a step forward, placing his hand on your shoulder to quell your outburst. You glance over at him, but he keeps his furious gaze locked on the homunculus, pinning him in place with the weight of his eyes. "He's been using you homunculi to try to recreate the destruction of Xerxes here in Amestris, hasn't he?!" he demands, and again, the growing scale of your problems sends you reeling.