The time was now. Ed shouldn't hesitate, couldn't afford to hesitate, and yet…. He had no idea what would become of him. At best, he would likely be dead. At worst… well. There was so much worse the Gate could do than a simple death. He looked at the elaborate swirls painted on the ground before him. In their own way, the lines were beautiful and breathtaking, but Ed knew what they were capable of, and the power taunted him, mocking his cowardice.
The sound of cracking stone made Ed look up to see Envy struggling against the giant hands holding him captive. They arched up from either side of the gigantic transmutation circle laid out before him, holding Envy stretched awkwardly above it. The only reason they'd managed to hold the homunculus this long was because he was in a position that afforded him very little leverage. But he was strong, and the hands were breaking, and Ed needed to act now.
Ed clapped his hands together, the sound ringing through the subterranean ballroom with a sense of finality, and Envy screeched, thrashing violently. Paying Envy no heed, he placed his hands on the floor, adding to and overwriting the current transmutation circle that was painted there. Caught in the middle like a spider in a web, Alphonse cried out.
"Brother! What are you doing?" He struggled wildly against his bonds, his armor clanking and squealing against the marble floor. "Stop! Please!" he sobbed.
Ed gave his brother one last, longing glance, then gritted his teeth and ignored Al, focusing intently on the power using him as a conduit. Because that's what this was. The power surging through and around him was wild, untamed. It was a primal force of nature in all its unleashed glory, and all Ed could do was hang on for the ride. One small mistake and they would all be torn apart.
Envy screamed in rage again and broke free of the stone hands, only to fall right into the transmutation circle. It flared up to meet him, and this time, he screamed in pain and fear. He tried to move, to flee the circle, but the power held him fast.
The light crackled and swirled around them, three brothers caught up in the spinning wheel of fate, and shot up through the roof to the city above. Then everything went still, and lying alone in the middle of the circle of power was a young man, naked as the day he was born and holding tightly to a silver pocket watch.