"Beckoned now by the snow-white backdrop, I go into a yet unseen world. Lost as I traveled under a gray sky, with a different map each day, so many dreams ran together. I wonder if someday, even with my modest stride, I'll be able to get beyond those clouds. Falling raindrops provide a persistent diffuse reflection, as though able to see into my heart, wounded for acting tough. Beams of light crisscross and shoot on forever without announcing where they're headed; faint afterimages burn into my eyes. Wherever I am under this sky, I should still arrive at a yet unseen world."
—Nico Touches the Walls, Hologram
※※※
You are in a lush, green field, and the sun is warm on your skin. You sit cross-legged on the ground, fingers idly tugging at the blades of grass beneath you.
Two blonde boys are play fighting nearby. You recognize them, of course—it's Ed and Alphonse. Their golden hair shines in the sun, the younger boy's cut shorter against his head than his brother's braided locks.
You smile at them faintly, glancing down at the grass between your fingers. When you look up again, Al is leaning down over you, a flower crown held proudly between his hands. "Echo!" he cheers gleefully, his golden eyes glowing with excitement. "Ed and I made this for you!"
You accept the flower crown, placing it delicately atop your head.
It's lovely, of course, but you can't help but feel that something seems... off.
But the blonde boy beams down at you, at you smile back up at him, feeling your worries ease.
Ed leans over his brother's shoulder, looking down at you with a soft smile. "It was pretty tough trying to work around all the leaves," he tells you sheepishly, scratching the back of his neck; "But we thought all the green would bring out your eyes!"
My eyes? you think to yourself, reaching up toward your right socket. No, that's not right, I only have...
But your eyelid reflexively flutters closed as your fingers approach, and they come into contact with smooth skin.
It's only then that you realize that part of the strange feeling is that everything seems to actually look strange. You can't quite place your finger on how, but everything seems to be clearer than normal, like everything has an extra depth and dimension that you're normally unable to see.
But why wouldn't you normally be able to see like this?
You trace your fingers over your eyelid gently and then blink the lid open, squinting against the sun. You can feel your pupils constricting in the light, and you're struck again by that same strange feeling.
But if not your eye, then what were you expecting to find on your face?
Shaking your head, you try to clear the thought away. It doesn't matter, you tell yourself, and adjust your hair beneath the crown.
"And were you right?" you prompt the boy, referring to his previous statement; you strike a bit of a pose, blinking up at him dramatically. "Don't they just sparkle like emeralds?"
"Wow, Echo! You look like a princess!" declares Al, and bows to you, bending low at the waist.
You can feel a little grin fall over your face, your worries rapidly flitting away from you. "A princess, huh?" you repeat, and rise to your feet, facing the boys and standing akimbo. "Then I guess that makes you two my loyal subjects!"
Ed bows to you as well, taking your hand in his own and kissing the back of your fingertips gently, and you giggle down at him. "Thank you, my knight! Now, what is the first order of royal business this morning?"
Al begins to cheer, pumping his fists in the air. "Picnic!" he chants, doing a little dance in place. "Pic-nic, pic-nic, pic-nic!"
His antics cause you to laugh again. "Yes, my royal jester!" you declare, waving your hand in a boisterous gesture. "A picnic it shall be!"
※※※
You wake standing upright in a writhing mass of red. The fibers writhe beneath you like worms, and you blink, trying to make out their shape in the dim lighting.
They are soft and squirming beneath your feet, and you have to constantly shift to readjust your balance so you don't fall.
Suddenly, a faint, rasping voice calls out from the darkness. "Hello?" it calls. "Is someone there?" The voice breaks on the words, sounding like it hasn't been used in a long time.
Squinting against the darkness, you begin to take slow, hesitant steps forward, toward the voice. The ground squelches and squishes beneath your boots—it feels like you're walking on some sort of giant squirming sponge. The scent of bile and wet meat fills your nostrils, and you can practically feel your nose hairs singe at the odor.
Up ahead, you begin to make out a faint shape. As you creep closer and closer, you're able to make it out more clearly.
It's a person, standing spread eagle, each of their limbs tied with chains to the red, writhing walls. You try to take a closer look at their face, but it seems to shift and change beneath your gaze, never looking the same for more than an millisecond at a time.
The sight of it makes your head begin to swirl, and you rub it with the back of your hand, glancing down instead toward their bare feet; they still shudder through changes like thumbing through a flip-book at double speed, but at least they make you a little less nauseous.
"Who are you?" you ask the person. "Where are we?"
"It's been such a long time..." they tell you, and you can't make out any details about them from their voice; "...since anybody has listened to me."
You can't tell if the voice is male or female, young or old; indeed, it seems to somehow be both all of which and none of which all at the same time.
"Well, I'm here, listening to you now," you tell the person, and lick your dry lips. "Can you tell me where we are?"
They sigh, sounding long weary. "We're in the dark place that he puts the things he doesn't want to see," the figure tells you cryptically. "Things he doesn't want to think about, doesn't want to feel."
"Things who doesn't want to feel?" you question. You try to remember what you were doing before, but your mind comes up blank. "What are you talking about?"
"It's so nice to finally be heard," they tell you, and you risk another glance up to their face, which continues to shift under your gaze. You can feel your temples begin to throb more and more the longer you look, so you avert your gaze again, this time focusing on their bound wrists.
"Why are you chained up in here?" you ask them, watching the hands flicker, nails fluctuating in length, appearing nearly blurred with the speed.
"Because," the figure sighs. "I tell him things that he doesn't want to hear."
You feel a lump beginning to form in your throat. "Like what?" you respond, still not knowing the he in question.
"I tell him to stop," they tell you, and your head spins as you try to keep up. "I tell him how he's feeling. I tell him how others must feel."
"But he doesn't listen?"
"No," they sigh sadly. "He hasn't for a long, long time."
You take a step closer, examining the chains. They are made of thick, sturdy metal. You get the feeling that, even with your alchemy, you would have no hope of ever breaking them on your own.
"And why doesn't he listen?" you question the figure, reaching out a curious finger to touch the cool metal.
"Because it's easier to lie to yourself than it is to feel pain," they tell you solemnly, and you feel a little jolt run through you at the words. "And the pain is easier to bear when it's on the outside."
You feel your guts churning inside of you. "W-what do you mean?" you stammer, taking a small step back.
"He's done it too, you know," the voice tells you cryptically. "But it's a lot harder for him. He heals so fast that he has to be creative." Your mind spins, struggling to keep track of the conversation. "He's tried stabbing. He's tried burning. He's shot himself in the face and he's ripped his own limbs off. He's been trampled by bulls, tried decapitation, and even used poison. But he always heals—physically, anyway."
"I don't understand!" You shake your head, beginning to feel frustrated. "Why are you telling me all of this? I don't want to know!"
"Because," the voice tells you, its voice insistent. "You're the only one who can help us!" They pull against the chains and the rattling of metal rings out briefly through the air; the wet walls seem to swallow the sound. "You have to make him listen to me! It's the only way we either one of us can be free!"
You shake your head, stepping back. "I don't even know you," you argue, not willing to take on unneeded responsibility. "And you still haven't told me who you're talking about!"
You hear the voice sigh. "Isn't it obvious?" it asks you. "I'm talking about—!"
※※※
"Echo!"
Ed is crouched over you, shaking your shoulders as you blink awake at him. You're lying on your back on a dry, hard surface, and the boy's worried face is all you can see above you. His ponytail hangs over one shoulder as he peers worriedly down at you. The white bandage on his head is stained with blood that isn't his.
"Echo!" he says again, searching your face with his golden gaze. "Are you okay?"
You groan, pressing one hand to your own aching head. "What happened? Where are we?"
Ed lets out a relieved sigh, sitting back on his haunches. "We're still inside Gluttony, unfortunately. Envy swallowed you," he says, glaring in accusation at the boy, who has returned to his human shape. "But I was able to get you out."
You sit up, and you feel his mismatched hands reach out to help. He guides you into a seated position, and you rub at your temples, eyeball throbbing in your skull. "How'd you do that?" you ask him, gritting your teeth through the pain.
The blonde boy flushes slightly, scratching the back of his head. "Well, I, uh..."
"He jumped in after you!" Ling pipes up from behind Ed, peering down at the boy dubiously. "That crazy fool actually fought to hop inside that monster's mouth to go after you!"
You feel you own cheeks begin to warm as you pin Ed beneath your glare. "Why would you do something so stupid?!" you demand of him. "You could've been killed!"
"So could you!" he argues back, waving his hands in frustration. "What, was I just supposed to let you get eaten in here?!"
You scoff at him. "You couldn't have tried cutting me out of his belly?" you persist. "Or making him throw up?!"
A vein pulses in his forehead. "We were kind of in the middle of a fight, you know!" he points out to you. "I didn't exactly have a whole lot of time to go over my options!"
Envy lets out a long, loud groan. "Ughhhh! Can you two lovebirds stop bickering already and tell us how you plan to get out of here?"
Faces red, you and Ed both turn to shout up at Envy at the same time. "We're not lovebirds!" you both yell, and then glance at each other; you both blush harder before glancing away again.
Envy lets out a gagging sound, and Ed rolls his eyes.
"Alright!" he says hurriedly, scratching the back of his neck as he turns away from you. "Here's the plan...!"
※※※
Ling holds the torch closer as you and Ed examine the seven broken slabs that Envy had gathered. There were still chunks missing, but the homunculus had said that this was all he was able to find.
You let out a low whistle, running your flesh fingertips delicately over ancient stone tablet closest to you. "Do you really think these came from Xerxes?" you ask the blonde at your side, taking in the intricate carvings and the painted colors, still vibrant even after all of these years.
"I do," confirms Ed. "They're pieces of a large mural from what remains of their temple. Do you remember the transmutation circle we saw in the Fifth Laboratory?" You nod in confirmation, and he continues. "When I saw one of these fragments up close, I thought it was the same one that they used there—one to make Philosopher's Stones. ...But now that I look at it, it's actually different!"
He places a hand on his chin, deep in thought, and you begin to nod in understanding, peering closer at the slabs. "The sun represents the Soul," you point out for Ling's benefit. "The moon represents the Mind, and the stone itself represents the Body." You shake your head. "Ed, I think you're right—this might really work!"
The Xingese boy shakes his head behind you. "Slow down, you two!" he warns. "Try to keep it simple, okay?"
You make a face, but Ed is able to dumb it down for the boy. "Basically," he explains, "this is a summoning circle..." He turns to look over his shoulder, pinning the other boy beneath his hard gaze. "...for human transmutation."
Ling leans forward in surprise, the torchlight flickering over his features. "I do know that one!" he admits, and you're not surprised by the fact, given that he's searching for immortality. "...At least, I think I do! Is it used to bring back dead people?"
You shake your head. "That's what most people think; we used to think that too, but it's not quite right."
"Alchemy is based on the rule of Equivalent Exchange," explains Ed, breaking it down for the boy. "You can't transmute a life form from a soul that no longer exists in this world—you can trust us on that one." His last words are a grim bite.
You pick up where he left off. "When we tried to bring back our mother, we accidentally transmuted Al instead," you explain. "But we were going about it all wrong, so it didn't work the way it was supposed to. You can't transmute the dead, but you can transmute the living! We just have to know what we're really trying to do before we start! We didn't before, but now we do!"
The more you explain it, the more confident you become. This really might work! We might really get out of here!
"We can use this transmutation circle to deconstruct ourselves," continues Ed, mirroring your growing excitement; "Then we can put ourselves back together! That's human transmutation, and it'll open the portal." He turns toward Envy, who crosses his arms at the boy, acting like he's isn't listening carefully. "You said that Gluttony is a defective Portal of Truth..." he ponders. "...I bet that if we pass through the real Portal, then we'll wind up in our own reality!"
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.
You wait, hoping that Envy will laugh, will call Ed a fool for suggesting something like that, but he says nothing. Instead, he leans forward, crossing his arms at the boy and sneering. "Get us out of here," he bargains, "and I'll gladly tell you everything!"
He glares down his nose at you and Ed, his chin lifted in the air. "You've spent enough time beating around the bush; I'm getting sick of waiting for you to ask! You need to pay a toll, right? To open the portal?" He raises one hand in the air and, in a flash of red sparks, transmutes the arm into a bird's leg, the predator's talons razor sharp.
With a giddy exclamation and a wide smile, the boy slices the talons across his chest, revealing the Philosopher's Stone nestled in his chest.
The red glow pulses before you but all you can do is stare in horror as Envy seems to revel in the pain.
He's done it too, you know, echoes the voice from your dream in your head, and you shake your head minutely at the grim realization. But it's a lot harder for him. He heals so fast that he has to be creative.
"This should work!" the boy says, a giddy smile on his face.
※※※
You and Ed wipe the blood from your hands onto your clothes. You stare down at the familiar transmutation circle that the two of you had scrawled on the ground, carefully ensuring that every line was as straight as possible, each circle as perfect as you could make them.
You turn to Ling, who is standing with Envy outside the circle. You scratch the back of your head awkwardly. "Y'know, Ling..." you say haltingly, not sure how to continue. "There's... a chance that this might not work out for us. If anything bad happens, you need to warn people about these homunculi! Can you do that for us?"
Smirking, the boy stands with his hands on his hips, turning his face arrogantly to the side. "I don't care that much about Amestris," he informs you smugly. "It's not my country!"
You can feel a vein bulge in your forehead before your brain even processes the words. When you finally do, it only begins to pulse harder. "Are you serious?!" you demand of him, and he snickers out a laugh, tilting his head to the side at the two of you. "You guys still have too long a life left together to die in a place like this," he tells you, and you feel your cheeks warming at his words. "Besides, you have people that are counting on you to come home! So just make it back alive, and you can tell them yourselves."
Envy steps inside the circle. "Let's get on with it!" he complains.
You and Ed exchange a look, and then you give each other a firm nod.
We can do this!
Together, the two of you clap your hands and then slam them into the ground at the center of the circle. Blue and black alchemy lights up the area, shining brightly as a red hue slowly begins to engulf the world around you. Shadows that are not your to control begin to swirl around the edges of the circle. The shadows soon give way to reaching, grasping black hands that you'd hoped to never see again.
As a huge, unfortunately-familiar eye gapes open in the center of the circle, you hear Ed begin to shout. "Ling!" he calls urgently over his shoulder, not daring to turn away from the chaos before him; "Jump in it, now!"
You hear the boy's hesitating footsteps for only a moment. "You maniacs better know what you're doing!" he hollers. "I'm trusting you!"
Then he steps forward into the circle. You can feel the weight of the air shift as the particles that make up his body join in the mash of your transmutation. You marvel at how much easier it it to control everything now than it was when you were younger. You wonder if it's because you're much stronger as an alchemist, or if it's because you actually understand the goal of the transmutation this time.
Somehow, you can feel the weight of a few souls being burned away inside of Envy's Philosopher Stone, their energy expended to spare you and the boy by your side from paying the toll. Closing your eyes for a moment, you take a moment to thank them for their sacrifice.
Envy dissolves next, and his mass is much larger, but no more difficult to control.
After the homunculus is gone, only you and Ed remain. You can feel yourself begin to break into dust, and you reach out a hand to Ed.
Smiling at you, he takes your hand in his, closing his eyes as you both fade into dust.
※※※
Your consciousness rockets through the portal, the familiar waves of all-encompassing knowledge swirling through the edges of your mind.
This time around, you don't fight the flow as your cells rocket through space and time. You can feel your atoms swirling like the mist you control, and you begin to pull yourself back into your human form.
As you reach the epicenter of the swirling knowledge, where it comes together in a vortex, you shoot through the void, ending up in the all-encompassing white area that still haunts your nightmares.
As you hurtle through the snow-white backdrop, you can see Truth's white, outlined form loom up in front of you. A wide grin splits its face, your own green eye staring back at you with a wicked mirth.
what's this?
you're not even trying to get your eye back right now, are you?
But you don't have time to stay and chat, and you wouldn't want to even if you did. You continue on your trajectory, your body launching straight through Truth's illusory form, which dissolves into nothing around you.
※※※
With a thump, your body lands on a hard surface, although there is nothing below you but empty white space.
The breath is knocked out of you with a low whoosh, and you wheeze as you fight to regain your air.
Sitting up with a groan, you take in the great stone door that looms before you—yet another sight that you hadn't been eager to see again.
You hear a shifting sound beside you, and when you turn, you're surprised to see Ed sitting beside you.
You reach out and grip his shoulder in your hand, not quite believing that he's really here with you in this place until you feel him beneath your palm; warm, solid, and alive. "Ed!" you laugh, delighted. "You're here! That means that it worked!"
He jumps under your touch, having not registered your presence yet. Once he does, he smiles at you, gripping your hand on his shoulder in his own.
Then, he turns to look over his shoulder and his mouth drops open, gaping like he'd just seen a ghost.
So you turn to see what has him so shocked, and you can feel your own jaw drop as well.
Because there, sitting with his back facing you, attention affixed to a second stone portal door, is a naked blonde boy. His hair is longer and even more ragged than yours, and his body is gaunt, though not skeletal.
You recognize who it is before he even turns his face around, his features familiar to you despite the added age and the sunken cheeks.
"Alphonse!" you choke out, and Ed takes off running toward his brother. After a heartbeat of stunned shock, you follow behind him, your footsteps falling silently on the solid nothingness beneath you.
But the shadowy hands reach out from the open door behind you and wrap around you and Ed before you can even make it half way.
You thrash against the hands that tug you toward the door behind you, away from your brother's human body, as he slowly rises to his feet and turns to face the two of you.
"Al!" Ed cries, fighting just as hard beside you. "Come on! Please, hurry up!"
You reach out with a desperate hand, managing to wrestle your automail arm free from your binds to extend to the boy. "Take my hand!" you holler at him. "We'll get you out of here!"
The gaunt boy gives you both a soft, sad smile; he lowers his gaze and begins to shake his head. "I can't," he tells you sadly, and you can feel your heart shatter at the words. "I can only leave with my own soul. I'm sorry—I can't go with you."
No!
No, we're so close!!
We might never get this close again!!
You fight as hard as you can but the hands are relentless. Soon you're pulled through the door, and it slams shut behind you.
For just an instant, you and Ed are turned into molecules again, losing your physical shapes and blending your cells together. For just a single instant, your minds merge into one, and it gives you both the final burst of strength you need to push yourselves forward, slamming the door open again with your combined mass and then regaining your own shapes.
"Alphonse!" screams Ed, pinning his brother beneath his determined gaze, which burns like molten fire. "Listen to us! I promise—we're coming back for you!!"
"We'll show you!" you yell, fighting with every ounce of strength you have against the vice-like hands pulling you back. "We're going to bring you back with us, no matter what!!"
"Just wait for us!"