Chapter 7: The Gate (In Through the Out Door)

The noise of the portal faded quickly as it closed around them, and before he knew it he was standing in front of the Portal of Truth. But he saw two portals facing each other, like when he had found his brother Al's body at his own Gate. Is this Aura's Gate? I didn't think she'd have one, not being from Amestris, he thought as he noticed Aura starting to awaken. She didn't seem very hindered by her injuries as she asked to be put down, but held her forehead and looked unbalanced as she stood on her own.

"Oww my head, it's aching real bad. Where are we? Are we still in the lab?" she said weakly, looking around at the massive expanse of white nothingness and staring in wonder at the doors that seemed to be floating in mid-air. She didn't feel very clear-headed, and all the brightness around her made her head hurt even more.

"Uhh.. well you see Aura... I had to bring you..." Edward was cut off by a voice he was all too familiar with.

"Well, it's been quite some time hasn't it, young Alchemist? Still trying to recover what you've lost? And who is this? I suppose you are not aware that two's a crowd here. Although... there is something very familiar about her..." Truth said casually. It was a ghostly image surrounded by a hazy black outline, with only the left leg and right arm made of actual flesh. Even without eyes, they could tell it was staring at Aura intensely. "Yes, very familiar indeed." it said with an air of realization in it's words.

"Look, we just want to get back to Amestris. We don't have any interest in learning about the Truth, especially her, you got that?! So just leave us alone and let us pass!" Edward spoke fiercely as he grabbed Aura's hand to bring her towards his Gate. Truth just watched them as he led her closer to the great door. Just before he reached it Truth spoke up again.

"Your toll has been paid by the girl, Alchemist, there's no further need for harsh words here." Truth put out his arm and gestured for them to continue on. Just as Edward got to the front of the door with Aura, it began to open up. What was behind the doors wasn't the eerie looking eye and black arm-like tendrils he knew before, but a hazy view looking down on what Ed could only assume was Amestris. So it is possible to use the Gate as a portal between worlds he thought to himself as he began to walk through it.

"What is that Ed? How did we get here again, my head still hurts and it's too bright in here to see clearly!" Aura sounded nervous as she spoke, looking through this door that opened up and showed what looked like a normal town through a foggy lens. Did Edward succeed in finding his way home? Was she there to say goodbye?

"Just hold on to my hand Aura, don't let go!" Edward yelled to her as he started across the threshold. He felt a tug backward and as he looked back he saw that Truth had taken hold of Aura's left arm and held fast to her.

"Let go dammit, you said we could go!"

"You must have misheard me young Alchemist. I said your toll has been paid. She has yet to pay hers." Truth said with a snake-like sound to his voice as it effortlessly pulled Aura out of Ed's grasp and forced him through the Gate. He frantically screamed out as he passed through, "don't show her anything! She never wanted to see the Truth, I was only trying to save her! Don't you dare hurt her you bastard!", his voice slowly trailed off as the Gate's doors closed.

"Now, now. You can't expect someone to come in through the "out" door and not pay a toll, can you?" Truth said with a hint of sarcasm as it let go of Aura's arm. The door Ed had just gone through vanished, the second door floated over to them in it's place. Then Truth changed, losing the arm and leg that it had shown on its transparent body before and morphing into a shape very similar to Aura. However, this version of the Truth seemed to have a purplish glow instead of the black outline the other had. "Besides, the door is now open, so take a look at what Truth really is, girl." The Gate opened up to reveal a large eye staring down at Aura. She opened her mouth to scream but no sound came out. Just then, long black shadowed arms shot out of the darkness inside the doorway and wrapped themselves around Aura, dragging her towards the Gate.

"Wait! I don't know what's going on, but I don't want this! Please just let me go!" screamed Aura, making her headache worse with all the screaming. She tried grabbing onto the edge of the stone doors but the arms that pulled her were too strong to fight against. She watched as the doors closed in front of her, the last bit of that white expanse narrowing into darkness.

She felt herself moving through space, then saw what looked like film reels flying towards her. She felt the images and information these reels contained being forced into her brain. The pain was agonizing, it seemed to be a never-ending spiral of knowledge. She wasn't sure if she could take much more of this. Suddenly, she saw what appeared to be a purplish lightning bolt strike the images in front of her, the jagged lines of the bolt cut into the reels and ran down the entire length of the tape. The vortex she had been traveling through began to shine with that same purple lightning, cutting through the air, giving the sky the appearance of broken glass. She looked at her hands and saw that the bolts she had seen had originated from her own body. Her arms and legs started to flake away, just as she felt she was about to lose herself entirely, she found herself back in that bright white area with Truth.

"What is this?! What have you done?!" Truth spoke, clearly mystified at what had just occurred. Aura turned to look at the Gate and saw the stone doors were cracked, with lightning-shaped lines branching out along it's entire surface. A purple glow was being emitted from within that gave the door an eerie appearance.

"I...I have no idea, I just... my head hurts so much, and what I saw in there, it's just too much!" Aura fell to her knees, holding her head in her hands, shaking from what she had just encountered. She just wanted to go home. She wanted to be back in her normal boring life. And most of all, she didn't want to be alone anymore. She wanted Edward to be here with her, to help her understand what was happening.

"Ahh, I understand now, hehehe. This is all happening because of who you are! But now little one, it's time to pay for what you have seen. You're tired of being alone. Your arms always reaching out for someone to help give your life meaning. Your feet hesitant to move forward for fear of pain. Considering these things, the toll should be a striking reflection of that!"

Searing pain began to form in Aura's left arm, she watched as it started to disappear, unraveling itself before her eyes. It was then accompanied by similar pains in her right leg, just above the knee. She looked down to see her leg fading away as well. She heard what sounded like crackling and noticed that flesh had started to appear on this Truth's left arm and right leg, mirroring the limbs that she had just lost.

"I was only trying to help...Edward, this isn't..." Aura's voice faded away, and she felt herself falling down. She tried to brace herself with her arms, but collapsed on her left side since there was no arm there to catch her fall. The last view she saw before losing consciousness was Truth smiling down at her, waving goodbye with the arm that had belonged to her moments ago. "Time to go home now, little one."