Harry Potter and the Eastern Sage
Chapter 12
The Mask
Edward crossed his arms as he stood across from Dumbledore's desk, his best scowl on his face. The clock was ticking late into the night and all of the wizards that stood in the room were looking at him expectantly like he was just going to confess to everything and call it a night. Their wands were still out and cocked but they looked like they weren't going to use them. It was all for practicality.
"You know I didn't do it," Edward huffed as time started to wear on him. The headmaster narrowed his eyes at him as they started their stand off.
"Why were you in the corridor and not at the feast?" he questioned him and Edward rolled his eyes in annoyance to the man's repetitive questions.
"I was at Nick's Deathday party and… well, I couldn't stay in the dungeons so I left for a few moments. Is it a crime to walk in the corridors?" Edward retorted, raising his eyebrow accusingly at him. The headmaster didn't seem at all convinced by his story even though it was the truth. Edward let out a hot breath of air as he realised that he would need to elaborate in hopes of him accepting the story. "Nick invited me to his party, I went but in the middle those three blasted Gryffindors came and I ended up having to step out cause of….. They were there, as well as Nick and Mustang. They knew what happened," he grumbled, turning his gaze to the floor in shame.
"Yes, I believe that that many people would be able to hold your story. I do understand that the three students weren't at the feast either. And as Severus has informed me you do seem to have a fear of dungeons. However, there was still enough time for you to vandalize the castle and petrify-"
"I didn't do it!" Edward snapped at him, not letting him finish his accusation.
"Should we try the veritaserum?" Severus suggested next to him and Edward looked at the potions master in disbelief. He bared his teeth at him, ready to give the fickle man a piece of his mind but the headmaster raised his hand to silence the argument. The room was held in a quiet trance as the headmaster continued to study him.
"What do you know of the Chamber of Secrets?" the man asked him after a short pause. It seemed like he was genuinely inquiring.
"Nothing."
"So a person who learned under the founders of Hogwarts had no idea that he was building a legend in the castle?" Dumbledore challenged lightly. Edward looked at him like he had kumquats growing from his ears.
"Albus, they are legends at best. None of this is based on fact," Minerva tried reasoning.
"It could be a student heard of it and-" Sprout started to think.
"But the cat was petrified, a student couldn't have done that," Flitwick stated. "I would hate to say it was Mr. Elric, but he is the only one in the castle really capable of doing something like this."
"We can't go accusing him. We need evidence!" Minerva retorted.
"The facts, Minerva, lay within Paracelsus here," the headmaster said calmly as he waited for Edward to reply. That didn't take long.
"What the fuck are you talking about?" Edward exclaimed. "The only thing I know about this is that someone wrote it on the walls and now I am standing here accused of petrifying a dumb cat! I will have you know that Alphonse was with me the entire time and if he saw me even try and hurt a cat he would kick me to Drachma and back without hesitation. I didn't do it!"
"Drachma?" Edward heard Pomona whisper to herself under her breath as she was confused from his list of nonexistent places. If only they knew. The headmaster ignored her confusion and continued his interrogation.
"Paracelsus," the man said after a long pause, "the Chamber of Secrets is a legend that stretches back to when the school was founded. You know Slytherin had a distaste of muggles, correct?"
"Yes," he confirmed something that he had to learn the hard way. "I got on the wrong end of that argument many times."
"To prevent the inclusion of muggle born students in the school it was said that Slytherin hid a monster within the walls of the castle in a room known as the Chamber of Secrets. Upon releasing the creature, which could only be done by the worthy heir of Slytherin, the school would be purged of its impure inhabitants and Slytherin would get the school he had dreamed of-"
"That's absurd. If there was a giant monster in the castle, why hasn't anyone found it? I obviously wouldn't be too keen if I saw a giant four headed godzilla walking around the corridor!" Edward shouted as he waved his hand in the air at the ludicrous idea.
"Which is why it is surely a legend!" Minerva interrupted in agreement. But the headmaster's eyes didn't address her. They were locked on Edward the entire time as if there was some underlying fact Edward was missing.
"You think I am the heir? That is bull shit! Do you know what he did to me? He tried stealing the stone from me. He gave me back to King Arthur to be used in the Crusades like a weapon! Why the fuck would I be the heir of that bastard?"
"You came to me earlier in the year saying that you heard a snake in the castle-"
"Yes and guess who didn't believe me?! I heard it again tonight if that just makes things worse," Edward retorted but shocked gasps raised amongst the faculty. Edward raised his eyebrow as he glanced at the wizards around him curiously.
"Parseltongue is hereditary with only a few occurrences happening outside the family of Slytherin. You were fairly close to Slytherin. I doubt he would try to unlock the inherited potential of parseltongue if he wasn't sure," Dumbledore said stiffly. Whispers rose and the frightened words licked the anxiety that was filling him.
"So you are a parselmouth," Flitwick accused.
"N-no! I mean… I can hear them I don't know what they are saying. I can't speak it-" Edward started to defend himself but the aroused wizards wouldn't listen to him. Whispers of how Edward was the descendant or relative of the old founder ignited and he felt the accusations pressing in on him. "I can't be the heir it is physically impossible!" Edward stumbled as he tried to make the wizards hear him. "I am not related to anyone."
"You have a brother," Severus sniped quickly pushing down his retort. "Surely a mother and a father are not out of the question-"
"It's complicated," he growled at the man.
"Then explain-"
"I can't. Even if I did you wouldn't believe me."
"Paracelsus, receiving an odd answer is better than none. We need to know," Dumbledore pushed. "With the events that have arisen within the walls of the school we must assume that you are somehow involved. Even though it is a legend, so are you. You have a power that no one in the wizarding world can fully understand and on top of this you have the ancient philosopher's stone. Whether intentional or not you pose a great threat to this school. I have let you run free around the castle without taking precaution against the stone. With what has happened this evening I am forced to have to control it before anyone gets hurt-"
"Free? You call this free? I cannot leave the walls of the castle because you trapped me here! If you were afraid for the safety of the castle you should just let me go! The stone is safe with me-" Edward yelled at him.
"And yet you managed to have it stolen from you," Severus muttered. Edward sent the man a heated glare.
"You don't know half of the story," he breathed at him, feeling ready to punch the wizard's face in.
"We need you here-" Dumbledore started but he didn't get close to finishing.
"To do WHAT!? You need me for what? The only thing you have done since I came here was intrude on my personal life and accuse me of murder!" Edward raged at the headmaster, jabbing a finger accusingly at him. "You need me and then you try to cage me like a fucking animal. Why don't you just lock me in a broom closet and wait till you need me besides all of this backwards talk, huh? I am not a fucking toy for you to mess with!"
"That was our last option," Dumbledore said not even denying that he was thinking about it. Edward frowned as he scowled at the headmaster who was trying to one up him even then.
"Why am I here? I am sure the rest of your faculty would love to know as much as I," Edward hissed. The headmaster seemed less than phased as an invisible smirk played on his face. Edward felt his muscles tense as Dumbledore stood up and opened a drawer on his desk. A rag wrapped package was lifted out of it and set gently on top of the desk. It was wrapped in a dusty old cloth that someone seemed to have grabbed off of the ground for the sole purpose of covering something up. It was something someone wanted to keep hidden. He felt a growing pit in his stomach as the anger poured in in hopes of drowning his fear. It was as if a dark aura radiated off it and for some reason Edward didn't want the man to uncover it. Yet he needed to know. He needed to know what the man was planning, even if it wasn't that good. The headmaster looked at him tentatively as he reached to undo the cloth. The instant he did Edward wished he hadn't. The hollow eyes of his nightmares gazed back at him, the twisted iron of the tortured face screeched in horror as Edward stared at it. He found himself sinking into the pit of his fears, anger being swept behind him with a gust of wind. He was simply drowning. The air in his chest felt heavy and every muscle in his body seemed to freeze as if winter had come at last.
Albus picked up the mask and Edward found himself wanting to run out of the room but his feet were stuck to the stone floors. Absolute fear had taken over him. He could hear his friends in the stone calling out to him, begging him to calm down or do something but their voices were a blur, drowned out in the ocean of panic that filled him. Some of the other faculty were looking at each other, rather confused as to what it was.
"The masks of infamy have been commonly known for a while and yet this one is peculiar to me," Albus said calmly as he rounded the corner of the desk. Edward found himself taking a staggering step back but his legs felt like they were filled with lead and it was painstakingly slow. "For something so simple to be able to contain so much raw power… well, it is very peculiar indeed. And I think it might come in much use to us in the future."
"Y-you can't… you…. B-bastard," Edward hissed shakily as he forced his mouth to attempt to voice his shattered words. He had so much he wanted to say and yet he couldn't seem to form sentences as he stared at the horrifyingly gaped mouth of the mask. How much stuff, poisons, food, unmentionable thing did he have shoved down that thing when he was entrapped in it? How much time did he spend trapped in his own body, alone behind a mask? How many people couldn't tell he was human all because of that bloody iron cage strapped to his head? Edward found his hands shoot up to his face as if he was going to try and rip the blasted thing off of him, even though he knew for a fact it wasn't on him. Instead that thing was held in the hands of a man Edward wanted to consider to be his enemy but didn't have the heart to until that evening. Albus gave a small smirk as he knew he had found the one thing the Eastern Sage couldn't fight. He went to take another step closer and Edward reeled back like he was holding poison.
"Why do you have it?!" Edward scolded. "Why do you have that…. Ungodly object here?"
"As a precaution," Albus said simply.
"I locked it away! No one knew where it was. I locked it away so no one could use it… God damn it Albus, why you crazy old bat, why can't you just leave me alone?!" Edward begged as he saw the man take another step closer. He felt his back hit Severus who was standing behind him like a wall. Edward's eyes widened, unable to look away from the iron entrapment. He felt his heart freeze over and he couldn't seem to move. He was stuck.
"Albus, I don't think this is necessary!" Minerva stumbled as she looked back and forth between Edward and the mask. "As I believe Mr. Elric stated before, he agreed to help us. Though there is much we don't know about him, I think it is assumed that he is not a criminal!" She took a step forward to try and break up the tension but Severus held out his arm to stop her. Dumbledore was inching ever closer to Edward and he could almost feel the ghost of the cold metal wrapping itself around his face and sending him back to those years of darkness.
"We need you here, Paracelsus, not only for our students' benefits or the stone's, but yours. I know that if I simply tell you, you wouldn't accept it as you are not one to delve into future magics. What we do now might be hard, but I promise it will all work out for you in the end of the semester. There is an opportunity for you to go home. That is, if you are on the right side. What happened in the corridor is concerning. All we need, Paracelsus, is an explanation," the headmaster said softly. Edward felt his breath catch in his throat as the headmaster attempted to take one more step near him. He didn't know where to go as his back was pressed as far as it could go into the wall that was Severus behind him. An icy cold filled his blood and his body became a statue of stone, unable to move. His eyes were locked on the cold metal mask which for ages has haunted his nightmares and dreams. The man was speaking about something odd but none of it reached Edward's ears as the mask was near inches from him. However, suddenly, it was gone.
Minerva stood firmly between him and the mask, holding her wand up to prevent it from coming any closer. She looked upset and slightly betrayed as she stood between him and the headmaster who she had trusted for a very long time.
"Albus, I do not know what this mask does, but with how much Mr. Elric fears it I don't like it one bit. I agree with you that we do need an explanation from Mr. Elric as to what is going on but I do not agree with torturing him!" she scolded the headmaster, who looked slightly shocked at her standoff.
"Stand aside, Minerva," Severus growled at her.
"I will not, Severus!" she haughtily replied. However, it didn't matter what she said as the potions master tried to push her to the side. The woman took one step before she brought her wand around and braced it underneath the potion master's chin, right at his throat. Unfortunately, her motion to keep Severus in check, exposed Edward to Albus. Edward's eyes widened as he caught sight of the mask once more, now that it was closer than ever. He could see the intricate runes on the inside that kept him trapped there alone for the longest time.
"We just want to get some answers to help you-" Albus started but something had snapped in Edward. His crippling fear had broken into a burning rage that boiled inside of him as he saw the headmaster with the mask. It was another wizard, another person willing to silence him. He would be damned if he let it happen again. Confusion turned into conviction and fear turned into action.
"Why can't you just leave me alone!" he yelled at the headmaster. The man attempted to take another step towards him, but Edward already found himself colliding his hands together into a clap. With the sizzle of alchemic energy, the blade of his automail extended and he slashed out towards the old man. The mask clattered to the ground as the headmaster pulled back his lightly cut hands. Shocked gasps and cries rang out from the wizards around the room and Edward heard incantations start to leave their lips. He ducked down to the ground as the spells flew towards him and snagged the mask from where it laid as he tumbled. The cool metal sent shivers up his spine. The raw negative power that irradiated from it nearly made him drop it.
"Edward! Take it! Take it!" he heard his brother cry and his grip instantly tightened around the metal. Alphonse was right. There was no way in hell he was letting the wizards get it once more.
As he was regaining his balance, he saw the tips of the wizard's wands light up for another spell. Minerva was standing between him and Severus with a shield charm casted to block whatever the potion's professor was going to send his way. Edward clapped his hands together and touched the ground to draw up a wall between him and where Flitwick and Pomona were standing across the room. As the stone took the hit, he brought up his metal arm and deflected the spell that Albus had sent his way. It bounced off his blade but unfortunately hit Minerva on the rebound. Ropes came out of nowhere and tethered around her to trap her where she stood. The witch fell to the ground, dropping her wand in the process.
Severus, now left unchecked, lunged towards Edward with a spell of his own. Edward danced to the side and charged at the potions master. Severus brought his arms up to block his blade but it never came. Edward instead dodged to the right and backhanded the man out of the way with the hard metal of the mask as he shot past towards the doors of the office. Spells flew past him as he sprinted towards his one escape route. He didn't know where he was going. Even if he got out of the office he was still trapped in the castle itself, but at least he could get away from the headmaster.
Just as he reached the doors, they flew open as Filch was entering with the Colonel in tow. Edward instantly dropped to the floor and slid between the squib's and the Colonel's legs into the staircase. The armor didn't even hesitate as he brought up his fingers and snapped. Fire exploded behind him as Edward felt a rough leather glove grab him by his cloak and haul him to his feet.
"I leave you for ten minutes and you blow up the fucking place, Fullmetal!" he heard Roy scold him as they sprinted down the staircase. Edward could hear the many angered cries of the wizards behind him as they began to file down the stairwell after them. "What the hell-"
"Take this!" he shouted. The Colonel fumbled to catch the mask of infamy as Edward threw it at him. It took only one glance at the thing for the man to catch onto what was happening. He held no comment as they sprinted down the stairwell, the situation more severe than the armored man had originally thought. Edward shook out the horrible feeling of the mask from his hands and skidded to a halt at the bottom of the stairwell. He clapped his hands together and slammed them to the ground as he saw the wizards start to reach the entranceway. The walls of the corridor quickly swallowed up the entrance of the stairwell and trapped them all inside of the office. Silence consumed the hallway where there once was angered cries of spells and chaos. Edward stood up slowly, watching the wall as if he was afraid it would give out at any moment.
"Where are we going now, Edward? We are trapped in the castle," Roy reminded him as he tucked the mask behind him to keep it outside of Edward's line of sight. The blonde alchemist would have been grateful for the motion had he not been planning to continue without the man.
"You mean where I am going, Colonel," he huffed as he held out his hand. Realizing what was going on, Roy moved to stop him. However, with a twitch of his fingers, the soul that was trapped in the armor quickly flew back to Edward's hands. The flames danced around on his finger tips and he quickly touched it back to his chest where the rest of the philosopher's stone quickly absorbed it once more. He heard Roy yell at him from within the stone and demand to be brought out once more.
"Colonel, I can't," Edward scolded the man a he made his way over to the fallen suit of armor. "I can't leave the castle. This will eventually go south. If you are outside of the stone and the mask is used…." He stopped himself from finishing the sentence as he didn't want to think about it. As much as the Colonel was a capable fighter and could save him from the wizards, no matter what they would eventually lose. When that happened, he knew the mask would trap him once more. He already lost so much to it. He couldn't picture losing anyone else from the stone too.
He felt the fear that he had swallowed for a short period of time come back and consume him. No matter what he did it was coming. Those blasted wizards were going to trap him again and there was nothing he could do about it. The cool metal of the mask slid over his face and Edward's hands instantly flew up to rip it off. But of course, it was not there.
"Brother, we understand. It is alright. It is not on you remember? You got it away from them," Alphonse reminded him. He was right. The mask was laying face down on the stone floor in front of him where the Colonel had dropped it when he got pulled back into the stone. The horrid metal glimmered in the torch light of the hallway and mocked him as his mind was playing tricks on him. Fear jarred in his stomach as he stared down at it. He felt like he was going to vomit.
Closing his eyes, Edward took his cloak off of his shoulders and wrapped it around the mask as he picked it off the ground. Just holding it made his chest tighten. As much as he wanted to leave it, he could not let the wizards grab a hold of it again.
"Edward, take a deep breath. Keep your head on straight and fight," he heard Hohenheim order him. "We cannot help you in here. This is up to you."
"Keeping my head on straight is more help than you can even imagine," Edward whispered as he resumed his sprint down the hallway. The wizards were bound to break out of the office at some point. He just hoped that he would be a decent way away from them at that point. Unfortunately he was not that lucky. Just as he rounded the corridor into the adjacent hallway, a loud explosion rang out through the castle.
….
"Who would petrify Mrs. Norris?" Hermione pondered as the three gryffindors paced around the common room. All of the other students were ordered into bed after the horrifying scene near the girls bathroom. However, the three second years could not sleep after what they had seen. The caretaker's cat had been petrified and there was a blood written message across the wall at the flooded girls bathroom. If it was a Halloween joke, it wasn't funny.
"It had to be Professor Elric. Didn't you see him? He was covered in blood! He looked like an axe murderer!" Ron exclaimed like the answer was quite obvious. To most people, that was the answer. Professor Elric had been caught red handed at the scene, covered in the blood that had written the message. With no one else around, there wasn't anyone else who it could have been. However, Harry felt like this was not the case. They had just seen Professor Elric a few minutes prior in the dungeons at Nick's party. Though he surely had enough time to petrify a cat and write the message, he was not in any state to.
"I don't think he did it, Ron. Professor Elric was scared from the dungeons. I don't think he would have been able to do it. Remember?" Harry reminded him. They all drew silent for a short period as they remembered what had happened in the dungeons. They all felt terrible about terrifying their professor like they had. They just want to learn more about the great Paracelsus. After the professor's friend had told them about what they did and what their professor had gone through, they left the dungeons to apologize to the man. Unfortunately, that was when they had found Professor Elric covered in blood.
"You heard what Dumbledore said!" Ron argued. "He was the only one capable of doing dark magic. He has alchemy and the stone!"
"Alchemy is not magic, Ron!" Hermione scolded him. "I don't think he could have petrified Mrs. Norris with alchemy without killing her. But… the stone is another thing. Professor Elric said in the beginning of the year that the stone did not exist. I don't think he would be telling us not to meddle with it if he didn't know the dangers about it."
"He could be wanting to keep it all to himself! We know he wanted it enough to barge into school in the beginning of the year. He can make suits of armor come to life! He has it and must be using it somehow!"
"I thought you were excited to see the great Paracelsus, Ron," Hermione taunted him as she wanted to defend the professor.
"That was before he was a murderer!"
"Hey, I don't think that Professor Elric did it, but the headmaster is already talking to him about it. Whatever happens I think they would get to the bottom of it right?" Harry offered. His two friends who were on very opposite sides of the argument nodded their heads.
"But, Harry, aren't you a bit concerned?" Hermione said to him. "What if someone else gets petrified while they are figuring it out?"
"It would be because Professor Elric escaped or something. Think about it! He has the philosopher's stone. I don't care how powerful Dumbledore is, a five against one with the stone isn't enough!" Ron retorted.
"I don't think they are going to have to fight, Ron! They are just talking! It isn't like its going to get physic-"
BOOM! Hermione was cut of as there was a loud explosion that shook the whole tower. Screams could be heard from both the boys and girls dormitories as they were shaken awake by the noise. The three gryffindors raced over to the closest window that faced the headmaster's tower and looked out. Smoke was rising from the castle walls as Hermione was just proven wrong.
"See?! See?!" Ron shouted at her as Harry instantly bolted up to his room and ripped his cloak out of his trunk. All of his roommates were asking questions and running about the room in chaos. None seemed to notice he had entered and left. When he returned to the common room, Hermione and Ron instantly saw the invisibility cloak.
"Harry, don't go out!" Hermione and Ron yelled at him at the same time.
"He has the stone! You can't fight him!" Hermione exclaimed.
"We barely handled You Know Who without it, mate!"
"I am not going to fight the professor, I am just going to figure out what is going on," Harry replied before he dragged the cloak over his shoulders and sprinted away from his friends. He would have taken them with him, but there was little room under the cloak. He would have to run in order to catch up to the professors and he wouldn't have his two friends get caught incase things went south. They shouted after him but their voices were silenced as the dormitory portrait closed.
…..
Edward cursed as he sprinted down the corridor as fast as he could. He heard the wizards casting spells behind him but he would turn the corner before the hexes even left their wands. He was too far away for them to get him, but he was too close for comfort. Far too close for comfort.
Just as he rounded the bend into the Grand Staircase a hot white bolt came out of nowhere and missed his ear by inches. He tucked himself close to the wall as he sped up the stairs. Edward clapped his hands and scraped his hand against the wall. He drew silicon out of the stone and ingrained it into his gloves. As he cleared the next floor he spun around to see Severus and Flitwick enter the stair well. He snapped his fingers and a burst of fire hurdled itself towards the growing crowd of professors. Cheers of shock and fear rose up with the painting as the wizards ducked back into the safety of the corridor. The flames charred the stone work of the castle but left the wizards unharmed. It wasn't precise like Mustang's but the wave of fire was enough for him to clear another flight of stairs before more spells were shot at him.
He tumbled away from another bolt of light and into the seventh floor corridor. The mask in his hands almost slipped out of his grip but he held fast to it as he clapped his hands once more and sealed the entrance to the stairwell shut behind him. The stone gobbled up the wizard's path to him and he knew that for at least a few more seconds, he was safe. He felt his legs slow from their run and soon he was leaning against the wall trying to catch his breath. He knew he was wasting time, but he didn't know how much farther he could go.
"Brother, you need to keep moving! What are going to do now?"
"I don't know, Al!" he scolded his brother. He wanted to sound authoritative, but he only sounded scared. In truth, he was terrified as it was only a matter of time until he was caught.
"You need to hide somewhere. It will give you more time to-"
"Then what, Al? Then what?! They are going to find me and then…" Edward closed his eyes and ran his free hand through his hair. He couldn't think about that now he needed to stay focused. However, that was increasingly hard when he was holding the horrifying mask in his own hand. He hadn't touched the darn thing in over six hundred years and yet it still held a terrifying amount of power over him. He heard the people in the stone try and to keep his thoughts on track. He took a deep guided breath and shook his mind free of cob webs. He couldn't get lost now. Edward opened his mouth to apologize to his brother for yelling but there was a sudden dulled thud coming from the other side of the wall he made. The wizards were trying to break it down.
"No," Edward whispered as he took stumbling steps backwards before he turned to sprint out of there. However, he barely made it three steps before he was tripping over some unseen force. He collided with the ground, the mask flying from his hold and skittering across the floor. He groaned as he looked back behind him where he tripped and saw none other than Harry Potter appearing from thin air. The student was standing in the middle of the hallway with his wand pointed at him and a silken cape down by his side.
"Potter-" he started to say as he pushed himself off of the floor.
"Professor, what did you do down in the corridor? Why are you attacking the headmaster?" the kid interrogated him without a flicker of fear in his voice. Edward now knew why the foolish prophecy kid was in Gryffindor of all houses.
"I didn't hurt or attack anyone! It was Dumbledore that attacked me!" Edward scolded the student. He heard the chaos in the stairwell grow. Time was running out. He needed to move but Harry held his wand on him, ready to cast a spell at any moment.
"Dumbledore is a good man," Harry defended.
"Good people can still do horrible things, Harry. You are going to find out one day that Dumbledore is not who you think he is," Edward told him. He turned around to grab the mask from where it was thrown but a spell hit the ground near his feet.
"I can't let you go, Professor," the kid said, standing his ground like he though a disarming charm would do anything to stop him.
"He can't hurt you, Edward. He's a second year. Just grab the mask and go," Hohenheim berated him. He wanted to follow his father's orders but the explosions at the stairwell grew louder and louder. They were breaking through any second. Edward held out his hand towards where Harry was standing.
"Hey, move," he ordered the kid but instead of heeding his advice, Potter stood planted. The noise got louder and the ground was trembling in the force of the spell's wake. Edward saw dust of the stone shake and fall to the ground and he knew he only had a few more seconds left. The kid still wasn't moving. Edward heard a couple more spells hit the wall and he knew his time was up.
"MOVE, POTTER!" Edward yelled as he rushed towards the young wizard. Harry looked like he was about to cast a spell but he was not quick enough. Edward grabbed him by the robes and threw the kid behind him just before the wall exploded. Blasts of rubble flew towards them and Edward clapped his hands and held out his automail hand to disperse the energy. The mass of the stone was deterred away from them but one of the heavier rocks hit his automail arm. As his arm took the hit, his exposed automail blade sliced into his own shoulder. He was sent to his knee and the red sparks of the philosopher's stone lit up around him.
Edward looked up towards the entrance way to see the Hogwarts professors file into the corridor one by one. Even McGonagall was there, having been untied from the charm, though her wand was detained by Severus. Harry, on the other hand, was nowhere to be seen. Edward moved to clap his hands one more time to build another wall but the never made it. Ropes shot out of thin air and instantly wrapped themselves around him. They tangled around his legs and bound his arms to his chest, making him lose his balance before he fell collapsed to the ground. He heard the people in the stone yell at him to get up and run but no matter how he wrythed on the ground, he couldn't slip out of the binds. Panic made his heart race in his chest as he watched the headmaster quickly reclaim the mask from where it was dropped. Edward continued to fight the ropes around him, trying to move his arms, his hands, anything to get free but it wasn't working. He should have ran. He knew it was fruitless but he should have ran when he had the chance. He cursed Harry for distracting him.
The mass of the faculty began to walk towards him as Albus carried the mask over to him. Their wands were up, but they seemed to be starting to relax as they saw him trapped there. Edward, on the other hand, became more frantic as he saw the metal thing trapped in the headmaster's grip.
"Don't… Stop!" he choked as Albus knelt down next to him. He tried to push himself away from the elderly man but Severus was ontop of him near instantly to hold him down. Edward bucked and kicked and yet it made no difference to the wizards.
"Master Elric, we only need you to answer our questions. The mask will come off when we know you're not a threat," Albus warned him though it did little to ease the horror that had encased Edward's mind. He quickly lowered the mask and began the process of trapping him in it. Edward fought every second he had for freedom, but it was absent and never came. He felt his jaw forcefully pried open as the cool metal was pressed down over him. Tears streamed down his face as he begged and cried for it to stop. He couldn't get stuck behind it again. He wouldn't go back there. As the runes inside of the mask were pressed down on his face he heard the voices in the stone become faint, like their horrified yells were only whispers. He desperately tried to shake his head to get it off of him but the potion's master held him firm.
"Brother!," he heard the fainted voice of his brother call to him. The fear the had built up in Edward's chest finally exploded in a terrified scream. His voice, muffled by the mask, was released in a howl as red alchemic energy picked up around him. Albus, Severus, and the other wizards were thrown backwards as large stone hands raised out of the ground and slammed them to the wall. The force of the impact made them drop their wands where they were as the hands melded to the walls and held them in place. The ropes around Edward's chest disintegrated and he instant sat up, bringing his hands to his face and flinging the mask off of him. The voices of the stone returned full force and consumed his mind. He clutched his head in his hands as the voices and emotions made it feel like he was going to explode. He screamed in pain and terror as tears streamed down his face. The voices died down from their own panic, but Edward's still stayed.
"Edward calm down. Breathe. Breathe!" he heard Hohenheim order him. His breaths were overlapping each other, as his body began to shake and hyperventilate. Sobs began to wrack his chest as he dropped his head down into his hands.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry," he sobbed as he tried to breathe but his lungs weren't working. He choked and sobbed as his mind swam. The sheer terror of the mask had swallowed him whole and he felt like he was going to die.
"Edward, it is alright. You are safe. Focus on us. Breathe in," Winry commanded him and he followed. "Breathe out. Good. Do it again."
"Edward, we are here. The mask was removed. You are free. You are safe. Keep breathing," Roy said, continuing the soothing mantra that Winry was whispering to him. Edward followed their orders and focused on his breathing. He counted them in and he counted them out. Minutes had passed until it felt like he wasn't going to pass out but eventually, he was breathing fine. He was alright. He was safe.
"I'm sorry. It was an accident. I was scared. I didn't mean to use the stone," Edward repeated himself as he quickly wiped the tears from his face. He felt like an idiot. He was afraid to lose the stone because of the mask and yet he was foolish enough to accidentally use the souls inside of it. He couldn't get his hands together. He couldn't free himself. Because of that, he accidentally could have killed someone.
"Wh-who was it?" Edward whispered, afraid to hear the name of the person he killed.
"You didn't kill anyone. The reaction wasn't large enough for that," Hohenheim told him as if that made it any better. "It was Jeremiah. A friend of mine from Xerxes. He lost a few years off his life."
"Damnit. Damnit!" Edward cursed himself as he gripped his head between his hands.
"Edward it will be okay," he heard his father try and to tell him.
"No it won't! No it won't!" Edward growled at him. Anger and frustration built up in him. Even though many people inside the stone said it was okay, and tried to reason with him, he knew it wasn't. It wasn't okay and he would be damned if it ever would be.
"Look what you made me do!" he yelled at the headmaster who was still pinned to the wall. Edward pushed himself off of the ground and stumbled over to him on weak legs. "Look at what you fucking made me do! I used the fucking stone are you fucking happy? Damnit!"
"Paracelsus, calm down-"
"Calm down? Calm down?! One person almost died tonight because you wouldn't leave me alone! He lost years off his life because I simply used the bloody stone!" he scolded them. The headmaster and the rest of the faculty looked shocked and confused. Edward scoffed at them, the anger and disappointment boiling up inside of him as he saw their sad faces.
"You are all the same, aren't you?! Loyal to blood. Loyal to wands. And arrogant with your fucking magic. I left the wizarding world because of this, and it looks like it still hasn't changed!" he berated them like children.
"The stone was never meant to exist. It wasn't meant be contained by alchemy or magic. It isn't an object, it is alive. I have 50,875,621 lives inside of me. Many of them people I knew, others I have gotten to know only because of the stone. Every single time the stone is used, someone pays for it! The first rule of alchemy. Equivalent fucking exchange. I realized this as a child and you wizards couldn't figure it out after a thousand years!
"All of these manipulation games you are playing, Albus, I know you think they are for the better, but you don't know what you are playing with! One of these days someone is going to get hurt and people are going to find out. Then no one will trust you."
Silence stretched through the hallway as no one had anything to say for themselves. They were defenseless and couldn't hide behind their wands anymore. Edward looked down to the ground to where all of their wands were dropped. He bent over and picked one up, instantly feeling the energy held within it. He could say one word, give it one flick, and be free of the castle within the minute. But he wasn't Dumbledore and didn't gamble with people's lives. Edward quickly picked the wands off the floor one by one until he had all five of the professor's wands. He grabbed his red cloak off the floor where it was discarded and dropped the wands in the wand pocket on the inside that had long stood empty of its original host. The looks on the wizards' faces looked like they wanted to protest, but they knew better than that. Edward clapped his hands and touched the floor, releasing the teachers from their entrapment.
"I can't leave still. I can't use your wands at risk of taking down the entire castle, but I sure as hell am not giving them to you."
"Master Elric, we need to know about the chamber, about the stone-"
"I already told you, you zounderkite, that I know nothing! The idea that you even think me the heir is ludicrous! It's insulting. I am not related to anyone on the face of this goddamn lousy planet!" Edward shouted at him. "Don't you see? I am not from here! I didn't invent alchemy. I brought it here. So I think I fucking know what I am talking about when I say I am not fucking related to anyone!"
"You- You're not from here?" Minerva asked as if she heard of everything but that. Edward's glare softened when he saw her. She was the only person amongst them to stand up for him. She fought against the headmaster when she knew it was wrong. He felt sorry for attacking her, but what was done was done. He slowly nodded his head.
"And every minute I waste in this bloody world is another minute I and everyone in the stone can't live back home," he whispered. A solemn aura fell over the hallway but Edward pushed through it. He was, after all, very well acquainted with loss. He strode over to where the mask was discarded and stared at it. Shivers were sent up his spine as he stared into the lifeless eyeholes of the mask. He wanted to throw up but shoved down the feeling as he picked it up in his automail hand.
"I am going to my room. I would suggest you find yourselves new wands," he huffed as he stumbled out the broken doorway and back into the staircase. The chaos of the battle had ended, but signs of the fight still remained scarred on the stone walls. Edward didn't care to fix it as he slowly made his way down the steps. It would be washed away with a simple flick of a wand from another professor once the morning came. It would be almost like it didn't happen. When Edward reached his landing, he looked back up the stair cases to see he gathering of wizards staring down at him. They looked very upset, but Edward couldn't tell if it was because they had betrayed him, or because they were missing their wands. He didn't spend time figuring it out, he just shook the ideas from his head and continued towards his own chambers. As much as he wanted to imagine life going back to how it used to be in the castle, he knew it never would. Not with the mask, not with the stone, not with the chamber of secrets.
…
