Pocket Full of Souls

The following day, Ed was told to go play while the adults talked, so he let Al and Winry drag him around for awhile, but he kept thinking about Basque Gran. In theory, he wasn't General rank yet, but he probably wasn't far off—he probably got the rank during this war. Only those of General rank knew the whole story of what was going on, and as his mother had pointed out, that could have been worded in a way which could have led to someone believing something else was going on. Even though Rashad had told him to let him handle it, he suddenly didn't think he should do that.

Finally, he turned to the Temple to find a Warrior-Priest—they'd be the ones most likely to tell him where the captured Amestrians were being kept. When Al and Winry realized he was going somewhere else besides where they'd been planning to take him, they quickly followed him. "What are you doing, Jed?" Winry asked curiously as they walked. "Just the Temple?"

"No. I just have to go there to find someone who can tell me where one of the Amestrian soldiers is," he told her quietly.

"Why, though?" she asked in confusion. "Aren't they the bad guys?"

"Then why are they still alive after Ishbala purified them?" he asked in reply, and she blinked and gave a little agreeing hum.

"So you want to find out what made them different from the ones Ishbala made into lights?" Al asked suddenly from his other side.

"That's part of it," Ed agreed. "Because the one I want to talk to should have been one of the ones made into lights by what he was okay with doing to Amestris. That means something happened that I didn't know about, even after everything." He then paused and blinked, and swore faintly. "The pocket watches!"

Winry and Al traded confused looks over his head, but fell silent. Soon after, they were at the Temple and Ed had found one of the Warrior-Priests who worked with Rashad a lot. "Could you take me to see the Amestrian called Basque Gran, please?" he asked, and the man turned to face him in surprise. "And get his silver pocket watch for me, too, please?"

"Jed...Why?" the man asked in a quiet tone.

"Because I need Winna to get the watch open to see if what I think is true, and I need to ask him some questions—things even my father won't think to ask him," Ed answered the man.

For a very long time, the other Warrior-Priest just stared at him in something like surprise and uncertainty. Finally, he said, "Only if you'll accept me being there, just in case he tries to harm you, Little Avatar. Or your friends."

That time, the boy paused for a moment, then he gave a nod. "Okay. He's a soldier, so that's fair."

"Come with me, then," the man agreed, and led them first to a storage room in the Temple, then out to a row of very small storage rooms in the 'warehouse' area of town. In the Temple storage room, he found the man's silver pocket watch, the one all State Alchemists had on them, and offered it to Winry. At the row of storage rooms, he stopped by one and said, "This is his 'cell' of sorts. We've made sure they had food and water—plain fare, but sufficient quantity. We're not sure yet what to do with them."

He then unlocked and opened the door, and Ed could see the large man sitting with his legs crossed against the far wall, gaze annoyed. One of his wrists was chained to the back wall, but it was long enough to let him reach the door—so every other part of the room. The cells didn't really have drainage, so there was a pail and some toilet paper in there for doing that sort of business, and on the far side of the room was another pail, but it was full of water and had a clay cup beside it.

The man himself, while looking somewhat the worse for wear, was otherwise not harmed (besides the bruised jaw Armstrong had left him with) and was gazing at the door with a glare—which quickly morphed into surprise as the boy stepped inside behind the Warrior-Priest. Ed eyed the man for a long moment, then picked a place to sit and motioned Winry to sit a bit beside and behind him. "Sit there while you work, Winna. It's the back you have to get off." Al just waited quietly at the door.

"Okay," she agreed, settling there—in Gran's full view—with her tools as she set to work on trying to pry the back off the watch.

As the man started to open his mouth in anger, Ed said, "When Ishbala purified the land and the people on it, you were within the area of purification, but you weren't reduced to lights—you didn't need to be purified." The man froze, gaze confused. "You're not an evil man or someone who wants to see people dying or suffering," the boy went on when he saw the man's surprise. "Why were you trying so hard to kill Ishbalan civilians?"

The man started to open his mouth, then shut it for a moment as he just stared at the boy. Finally, he asked, "Before that, why in the world are they letting a child question an enemy prisoner? The Führer would never allow this—a child would be in far too much danger."

"That's funny when the Führer tried to kidnap Jed once, tried to kill him once, and actually did kidnap him once," Winry commented, still working intently on trying to pry up the back of the pocket watch.

Gran actually turned to stare at her in shock for a moment, then returned his gaze to Ed. "That's you? Jed?" Gran asked slowly, and Ed nodded. "But why?"

"Because every time something threatened me, not only did I survive, I walked away unharmed," the boy offered. "I'm the 'Avatar of Ishbala', and Ishbala, even from behind a wall made of alchemy, was determined to protect me. Other beings like Ishbala also apparently helped, or so Mr. Mori said—his did, and he was aware of it. But something about what's happening right now isn't adding up, and I need to know that answer to know what needs to be fixed. That's why I need to ask some questions—no one but me will know some of those questions."

For a long moment, the man was quiet, but finally, he said, "I was told the Ishbalans have been trying to undermine us and take control of Amestris' East Area. All the soldiers were also warned not to underestimate them, because even women and children would draw weapons on us. But you three aren't even carrying any..."

Ed's brow furrowed as he said, "We wouldn't be. Most women carry a ceremonial dagger to use if a man tries to force her into a—compromising position, but it's only enough to be a deterrent. It can't kill or leave anything more than a scar. Children are supposed to be able to look to any adult around to protect them, so we don't need to carry weapons—other men and women will handle that for us. Your eyes would have shown you that just by general observation. So what made you attack with such force?"

"Got it!" Winry suddenly grinned as a popping sound reached them. Then, she gasped and said, "Ew! What are those? They feel slimy and look like clotting blood!"

Everyone in the room all looked at the collection of small, dark red stones, and the Warrior-Priest commented, "Winna is right to ask. I've never seen anything like that before, but the taint on them is obvious."

"I was afraid of that," Ed sighed faintly, then looked back at Gran. "So, can you answer me?"

Gran gave his head a small shake like he was trying to clear it, then said, "Those shouldn't be there. No, wait, they took all our pocket watches for a few days shortly before we came out here, saying they were going to test something to make us stronger against these opponents. They could have put them in then, and I couldn't put my finger on it, but something about them felt different when they gave them back to us. I think...all the State Alchemists have been generally more angry and temperamental since, but I had thought that was the effect of the war. It just seemed...easier to be expedient rather than honorable in battle..."

Ed stared down at the floor blankly for a minute, then realized he was looking at dirt, not something more solid, and pulled Winry's small, flat-tipped screw-driver from her hand. He then used it to trace a series of arrays in the floor, the ones for Sense. His gaze lifted to Gran's as he said, "You can read it. You know what it does." He then picked up one of the stones—and flinched as he felt its similarity to a Philosopher's Stone—and put it in the middle of the center array. "See for yourself what that stone is."

Gran eyed the array on the ground for several more minutes before finally reaching forward to rest his fingers on the rim. It activated, and a few seconds later, the man sat back, his expression ill. "Souls, life, death—it's using human life energy to give us more power, but how could it do that unless the person or people were dead?"

"Not quite dead by being trapped in there," the boy answered quietly. "And that's exactly what a Philosopher's Stone is—the compressed remains of the souls of living humans. These are prototypes to a real Stone. If I'm right, these resulted from the miscarriages of pregnant women, after those women had been given the substance which ultimately caused the miscarriage." Everyone in the room looked ill at the words, and Ed paused for a long moment before meeting the man's eyes again. "This is the research your leader does. Why are you following him when you're a more honorable man than that, Basque Gran?"

"I was told everything we were doing was to bring peace, so there wouldn't be people who would harm others," he answered quietly. "I was asked if I would lend my support to a plan to control the population so violent crimes and most other kinds wouldn't happen. If that was the actual goal, I would have. If this is any indication, the plan isn't as benign as I would have thought."

"You can never completely get rid of those kinds of things unless you get rid of people entirely," Ed pointed out in a flat tone. "Even mostly good people can break and commit a violent crime, and changing circumstances may lead people to things they wouldn't have done otherwise, like theft. Even a completely ideal society wouldn't be completely free of that. But for the record, both Doctor Marcoh and Major Armstrong have realized that Amestris is being made into an array to turn its entire population into a Philosopher's Stone."

Gran actually looked pained for a minute before sighing and leaning back against the wall behind him. "Hence their sudden defection," the man noted absently. Ed didn't answer, letting the man think for a minute—or a few. Finally, the man said, "It's knowledge of what that stone is which makes me ill in dealing with it, but holding it doesn't feel any different to me than holding any ordinary stone. Are you sure I should have survived any sort of purification when I can't see something like that for what it is?"

"I don't think anyone who grew up learning Amestrian alchemy can tell," the boy offered.

The others blinked, and Gran tipped his head back down to eye Ed as he asked slowly, "How's that?"

Using the screw-driver he still held, Ed drew the runes used for drawing in outside energy, the same four Halimah had once given him. "You know what these are, right?" he asked the man, who nodded. "If you research them as independent runes, they refer to sacrificial energy—the energy of the dead."

Gran's eyes widened as he protested, "That can't be true! They're to pull on the energy of plate tectonics!"

In response, Ed's brow quirked and he drew four more marks beside the first four. "These are the actual runes used for drawing on plate tectonics," he replied. For what it was worth, the runes were very similar in appearance, but the new ones he'd drawn were clearly also earth-based, not sacrifice-based. "My arrays don't even use either of these. But if you've been using the arrays you were taught, you've been doing the same thing as every other Amestrian alchemist—using sacrificial energy to use alchemy. For everything. You couldn't tell you were using soul energy because that's what you've been using since you started learning alchemy."

That left Gran looking just as ill as everyone else in the room. Finally, the older man said quietly, "Even the oldest versions of our arrays, dating back five hundred years or more, use those runes in their coding. Sacrifice. I ask again, if we've been tainted this way for five hundred years, how did I survive any kind of purification? How did any of the Amestrians survive?"

"Taint isn't choice," the boy replied, sounding a bit amused. "You weren't deemed evil because your energy is tainted, you were deemed good—and redeemable—because you still have honor and can usually choose the correct response to a situation. Despite living with tainted energy. Even mine, for the short time I used that flawed energy, has some taint. The bigger question is, can you cleanse yourself of the worst of the taint so it can't keep hurting and controlling you? And will you take steps to stop pulling on that sacrificial energy?"

The man was quiet for a long time, but then, as Ed rose, he asked, "How could I cleanse myself? I can change the runes now that I know, but I can't...There isn't a way to do the kind of cleansing this would require if even you have a bit of that same taint."

For a moment, Ed just blinked at him, then smiled faintly and crouched with the screw-driver still in his hand to rub out some of the marks on the array he'd already done and replace them with the ones which would make Sense into Cleanse, also adding the extra arrays Cleanse had. He then took the fragments of stone which had been in the pocket watch and put them in the middle of the array. "You can see for yourself how it works. And yes, because these arrays specify a target, not an area, you can use this same array on yourself."

Once he'd done that, he turned to leave the room, Winry jumping up to follow him. Al moved out of the way for them as they stepped out of the room, and Ed passed the screw-driver back to the girl. The Warrior-Priest didn't follow them, so they wandered away to go back to town.

"That was really horrible..." Al murmured as they walked. "I never knew so much bad had happened."

"It is," Ed agreed. "But that's why I had to talk with him. I wasn't sure when those stones started being used or the real effect they could have on things."

"I'm glad you did it," Winry announced. When the two boys looked at her in surprise, she said, "Well, Jed made an ally, and made an honorable man remember how to stay that way. Isn't that a good thing? If he was good enough to survive the cleansing, making sure he knew sooner means maybe he has a better chance to not go the bad route, right?"

"...Thanks, Winna," Ed told her with a small smile as Al grinned and hugged her. "You're right. Getting to it now was the best option so he has a chance to stay good."

"Yup!" she grinned.

"Okay, then maybe I should actually do some healing for all of them!" Al suddenly grinned, himself. "They're hurt still—I can fix that. Maybe it will help, too."

"You do that, Ali," Ed agreed with a smile as he ruffled his brother's hair. "That's yours to do."

The younger boy grinned, nodded, and closed his eyes to focus on the arrays he needed to heal the injuries of all of the men being held. Ed and Winry watched it spread and saw it spread over several rows of small storage rooms. That also meant all of those men (and maybe some women) needed healing.

Ed was grateful to Al for his chosen path of healer—and Healer—and his strong desire to fix injuries and illnesses. He'd never been more grateful than he was now. And now they could all go back to more ordinary things.

FoWD-HC

Once he'd dealt with Gran, his usual tasks were less pressing, and as much fun as sorting out the new options Ishbalans could be was, Ed was much more focused on Minerva's pending arrival. Looking up into the sky, especially at night, showed the comet-like form her Omega currently had as it approached, and it had even become visible during the day if you knew where to look. Ishbalans had taken to following Ed's advice and moving breakables to places they wouldn't fall from, which usually meant the floor or ground, though some of them also had other places, like boxes, to put them.

He also realized as he watched her approach that she was probably going to land during the day, and it would probably not be until the following day that travel to her would be possible. Which also reminded him they would need supplies, especially for building and food in the short term while Minerva's plants grew. Too much of the remains of Xerxes were utterly destroyed for those to be usable residences for the new arrivals, assuming they survived her landing, so it wasn't like they'd be able to appropriate them. For that, he asked Rashad, who asked the High Priest, and the response was that they would arrange a caravan to them.

Over that week, Ed began to realize he was worried about seeing them all again—he'd changed so much, his age especially, so how would they actually take it? Yufi and Shelke were around fourteen and fifteen now, Aeris was twenty, and even Nina was around ten—she was older than him! And they were the ones who were likely to be highly amused by his being a six-year-old now. What about everyone else? Kariya, Rufus, Veld, Vincent—Hell, what would Tseng think? Or Ria? Would she even still be linked to him if his age and 'damage' had changed? Excitement at their pending arrival warred with fear of that very strong unknown, and the waiting was proving to wear on his nerves. Nerves an amused Ishbala and Minerva repeatedly soothed.

Finally, the day came, and she descended from the sky above the desert which had once been the kingdom of Xerxes, trailing light behind her. It was also obvious she was slowing down as she entered the atmosphere, and anyone in Ishbal who could make it to a roof- or hilltop to watch her descent did so. Frankly, Ed thought they were all very brave to face that, though he himself knew it was okay for them to do so—especially with the glow they could see of Ishbala's energy on the land below where Minerva was going to land. It was entirely fascinating for Ed to watch the process from the ground as the Omega finally touched down.

There was a massive explosion of light, then a shock wave rose and surged outward from that location. In it were carried her white-green pyreflies as well as Ishbala's blue, brown, and green, and before long, the shock wave had been much-reduced. By the time it hit most of the Ishbalans, it only caused a minor quake through the area, and while some people fell to the ground, most were unharmed and even able to keep their footing. Nearly everyone kept watching the landing site to see what was happening there. Of course, it also caused plants to start growing everywhere.

Ed's gaze, on the other hand, followed the wave—and he smiled as he saw the array Amestris was being made into flicker, then disperse. He'd been sure she would dismantle part of the array, if not all of it, but even getting rid of a segment of it would ruin the circle as a whole. He'd been most worried about that, and they now had breathing room before the First Homunculus would be able to reset it. By extension, his father's array now wasn't going to be necessary, though if he'd actually learn the Cleanse spell, he'd be able to dissipate the remaining 'points' on the array.

Turning back to the region of Xerxes, he noted how some areas were glowing—and building successively higher. What in the world was Minerva going to do to have salt water for some of the animals and monsters she needed? Xerxes was a large enough area to cover both the land mass and ocean space she'd had on her own world, but how would she even be able to do that and keep the monsters in her land? Especially the flying ones! He hoped the general idea of the Enemy Away Materia could reach high enough into the sky that things like Dragons and Zuus couldn't fly right over them...

:Do not worry, my Ancient Sentiel,: Minerva told him in an absent tone. :The borders shall repel them. While a few may nest in those borders, they shall not be able to pass without my permission, and by extension, the permission of the one whose territory they wish access to. I have been certain they could not burrow through those mountains, either, above or below. Though, it will likely be some time before you may come...: She paused, then said, :Ah, when the glow of my terraforming has vanished, then it will be safe for you to travel into this area. Before then, you may only proceed as far as the edge of the glow. The caravan, perhaps, could begin now?:

:Only because the caravan will probably take at least a week before getting to that border,: Ed told her in amusement. He then gave her a 'good luck' and a 'welcome' sense (she returned joy and a 'hug' to him), and turned to find Rashad and the High Priest to tell them what she'd said.

As such, before the end of the day, everyone who was to be heading over in that caravan had been gathered and the caravan set out. They didn't get very far the first day, mostly because they'd only had from around late afternoon until dark to travel. The people in the caravan surprised him, though, they honestly did.

Everyone who had already been tested and registered as one of Minerva's types—Turks, Sentinels, and a few others—were there (Maes, Roy, and Riza, as well as several Ishbalans), Shiro, Rashad, Zahir, Nasima, Salim, and Halimah all joined them, with Ed, Al, and Winry—and by extension, Hohenheim, Trisha, Yuri, and Sarah. The two Doctors had been asked to go along because Ishbala had made the very good point that these new arrivals would need medicine in the near future for diseases they had no defense for. And the reverse.

In addition, a few Priests, like Ishan and one of the acolytes who had known Jed without being told, were also with them, and a few merchants. Even a few of the Amestrian soldiers who had been captured, like Basque Gran, had asked to go along with the caravan, and if they were willing to be 'tested' (they were), they could go. Those ones often got a result Ed thought would place them with SOLDIER in its new incarnation, which didn't give Jenova cell infusions but still gave Mako infusions. Other soldiers were released to return home, and some stayed in Ishbal.

Who hadn't gone had been notable as well, and Marcoh and Armstrong had both finally made their ways back into Amestris to tell everyone the truth of what had been happening in and to their land. With the Armstrong name behind it, the truth would have weight no one else could manage, and Ed truly hoped that would mean the Amestrians would be able to oust their corrupt leaders and become allies to Ishbal and whatever name Lady Shinra would give to the former Xerxes territory. The High Priest had also asked before Ed went to show the truth of his appearance and origins, so with Ishbala's blessings, he had removed his, Al's, and Winry's disguises (1). Things could settle down there after that while the caravan group would establish things with Minerva's people.

They came to the edge of the area being terraformed about a day after the light had vanished, and had to stare in shocked amazement. From where they stood, they could only see so much of the changes to the region, and those made everyone go cross-eyed. On what had once been flat land around the Xerxan desert, there was a long row of large, towering columns made of what was obviously Materia glowing purple very faintly while their tops glowed brightly—an active Materia. Enemy Away, probably. It extended as far as the eye could see in both directions along that border. That wasn't the strangest part, either, it was what lay immediately past those glowing columns.

First, open water, and apparently by the smell, it was salt water, spreading as far as any of them could see. There were shores which would make fantastic beaches and potential ports if people cared to arrange them as such, but otherwise, there was only one thing visible from their location—a very long bridge. It was made of metal with high sides, and was several lanes wide, allowing nearly any sort of vehicle to pass, or even allowing an airship or plane to land on it. When he jumped off the caravan cart to examine the metal more closely, he realized it was mythril and grinned—it would be nearly impervious to damage and definitely wouldn't rust.

"It's safe and strong!" he called, so the caravan began moving forward onto it, and he climbed back into the cart.

As they traveled across it, they realized there were places where it had been spread wider to allow for rest areas and potentially even the building of something like an inn. For the purposes of the caravan, it gave them space to set up a camp, so after they found the first, they decided to stop at it for the night. The next day, they realized those places had been set about half a day apart by caravan—slow—travel. When they reached land again, it was obviously on a continent with some plants they all thought were very odd (other than Ed, who was used to them), and there appeared to be a track for them to follow.

Following the track made things easier, so they did, and it led them further and further into an area of obvious new growth which was most definitely no longer a desert.

Notes:

(1) Yes, this means Ed, Al, and Winry are back to their blond haired selves, and back to just using those names entirely!