Chapter 4
The mind is a complex tool used for rational and irrational thought. It can combine both simplistic and complex levels of thought, organized and chaotic. With a single thought you can take a trip anywhere you imagine, real or fantastic. Anything within the mind is just as real as if it were happening right in front of you. And to Al, what was happening to him was beyond real. Ed was holding him captive inside his mind.
But what did this swamp represent to Ed? When they were kids they used to visit a river bank in the forest a few miles behind their house where they used to catch frogs. Ed loved it there, he said it was peaceful, and it helped him deal with the pain of their father leaving them. But here, this swamp, was not what Al remembered. There was no life here, only things that were dead or dying.
"Your brother is no longer the person you once knew and nor will he be ever again," the imposter said. "I'm now in control of both his mind and body. Your binding spell won't hold him for long."
Al looked at him surprised. "How do you know about that?" Al said.
"As soon as you entered your brother's mind I was privy to all your thoughts. Not only do I know everything Ed knows, but now I know everything you know. We are of one mind now and as long as I have you trapped here, you brother will remind my prisoner forever."
"You're driving him insane in the real world," Al said. "He no longer knows who I am."
"I am not the one who is doing that to him--he is! This is Ed's world, as simplistic as it is." The imposter looked around. "I thought an Alchemist would've had a larger imagination that this."
"My brother has a giant imagination, you just haven't seen all of it yet."
The imposter grabbed Al's neck with a hand and tightened his grip, then said, "You have a complex mind, I will relish surveying yours after I'm done with your brother's. You have some wonderful inner demons."
"Inner demons?"
"Skeletons in your closet you want no one would know about, much like your brother."
"Read my mind, you know mine is an open book."
"In due time, but I'm not finish with your brother. For now, you'll my prisoner and you'll stay here for as long as I see fit. There is no way you can escape Ed's mind, not unless I wish it!"
"Who are you?" Al finally asked.
"I was wondering when you'd get to that." He released Al. "You can call me Guilt."
"Guilt? What kind of a name is that?"
"Your brother created me. I exist in his mind as a manifestation of the guilt he carries with him."
"What does my brother have to feel guilty about?"
"I'll show you," he said, and suddenly the scenery behind Guilt changed and Al saw himself and Ed in the basement of their house drawing a chalk outline of an Alchemy circle on the floor. This was the night they attempted Human Transmutation to bring their mother back. The events unfolded just as they had, and Al's soul was fused with the suit of armor. Ed sacrificed his arm to do so. Blood covered the floor. Al in the suit of armor looked at his hands and knew something had gone terribly wrong. He saw his brother unconscious on the floor and picked him up and ran upstairs with Ed in his arms. The scene ended and the swamp returned. Guilt turned back to Al and said, "That is what your brother still feels guilty about, trapping you in that armor for all those years. From that day I was born and have been festering every since. I was only recently able to break away and now I'm in control. I control everything that is your brother now."
"You're killing him!"
"Emotions are quintessential in human existence and sometimes they become too much, overbearing. But I am not the one who is killing him--you are. You are a constant reminder of how much you lost. How he stole those years from you, losing nearly five years of your childhood to something he knew you shouldn't have attempted. He forced you, and you were too weak-minded to say no."
"No, I believed in my brother," Al said. "And we both honestly believed we could bring Mom back."
"And what conclusion have you come to now?"
"Alphonse is not the issue here," Maes Hughes said. He came out from behind a tree, he wore a white suit. "The question is not what conclusion the boys have come to, but what conclusion Ed is satisfied with." He approached the boys, then said, "Guilt, do you call yourself?" He then saw Al trapped within the roots. "Al, Ed has been trying to reach you, but Guilt is preventing him from doing so. He needs your strength."
"But what can I do?" Al said.
"You must reassure your brother that he no longer needs to feel guilty about what he did to you."
"But he doesn't," Al said. "I hold no harsh feelings towards Ed. We were kids, and kids make mistakes."
"You need to make him believe in that by defeating Guilt," Maes said. "Only through your strength will the real Ed reemerge. If Guilt is the source of Ed's illness, then the illness must be eradicated; cured."
"You're not going to get rid of me quite that easily," Guilt said. "You can't wipe out years of guilt."
"That's true," Maes said. "But perhaps with Al's help, Ed will start to realize he is no longer has to deal with it alone."
"My brother is not alone. I love him. And I will help him, no matter what it takes."
Guilt laughed, and he crossed his arms across his chest, smiling. "Courageous words, but you're trapped and I refuse to let you go. There's no way you can even attack me like that. And Ed can't help you."
Guilt laughed again, but Al didn't share his amusement.
"There's more than one way to cast an Alchemy spell," Al said, and as they spoke, he had carved a rough transmutation circle with his index finger nail into one of the roots of the tree, and he touched it. There was a bright flash of light and the roots exploded away from his body; broken roots scattered everywhere!
Guilt jumped out of the path of the explosion. "Impressive," he said. "You're a master of two transmutation methods of Alchemy. But you forget, in here, I know everything Ed knows and what he has seen I can conjure up just by thinking of it. We're in his mind, after all, and in here, anything and everything is possible."
Guilt snapped his fingers and a flame burst forth, igniting his fingers with flame.
And suddenly, he turned into Roy Mustang; his clothes the same as the State "Flame Alchemist".
"Time to pay the piper, Al, for not leaving your brother's mind," he said, and launched an attack.
To be continued...
