Chapter 12
Standing on the column in the middle of the coliseum arena, Envy chuckled, and his expression was that of an amused trickster. But Ed and Al were far from sharing his sentiment of the situation. In fact, Envy, as he was still closely connected to Ed's mind, could feel emotions of hate from each of them. And this gave him a further sense of joy. The emotional pain gave him pleasure.
"You're mine forever," he said. "And we're gonna have alotta fun together, I promise that. The world's the limit and I'm feeling playful."
Ed suddenly snorted a smirk.
"What justifies that smugness?" Envy said.
Ed remembered he had said that once before. "That you'll going to be easy to defeat," he said.
"That's right," Al agreed. "With the majority of Envy - you - split from your essence and trapped inside Ed's mind, your presence here is considerably weaker."
"I assure you, you're gravely mistaken," Envy said confidently. "I'm just as strong as I was before and I can destroy you with a single whim."
"Then do it," Ed said sly, crossing his arms across his chest, arrogantly.
Al looked at Ed with a confused look. "Ed, what are you doing?" he softly said.
"Trust me, Al, he's not as dominating as he wants us to think, I can feel it," Ed said quietly. "The majority of his strength has been stripped away from him."
"Don't think I can't hear ya whispering over there, 'cause I have ears like a hawk." Envy said. "My other half is in the real world, but I'm still here and I'm as strong as ever, and that's all that matters. You're trapped in here with me for all eternity or until your body dies from malnutrition, whichever comes first, and knowing the human body, the latter is the safer and enviable bet!"
"I don't think you have any power, Envy, you never did," Ed then said. Envy looked at him confused. "A strong mind makes its own reality, and after everything that's happened, all that's transpired in my mind, I think I've finally figured you out."
"And what exactly have you figure out about me, Edward Elric?" Envy baited.
"That you're nothing without the emotions that drove me into the depths of despair for what I did to Al and for failing to bring our mom back from the dead," he admitted. "Fear is the ultimate enemy and I don't fear you anymore."
"But everyone fears something, and if you're not afraid of me anymore, then perhaps we need to take this little mindbender in another direction," Envy said. And he extended his hand out in front of him and cupped his hand sideways. Suddenly a sword manifested and he gripped it. "I still know your greatest fear, Ed, and your fear is the act of murder." He chuckled sinister. "You hate to kill; you cried when you had to kill the Homunculi known as Guilt."
"I cried 'cause there had to be another way other than to kill him," Ed deemed.
"Admit it, you don't miss your limbs at all, you enjoy transmuting your automail; it's your safety blanket. If you didn't have it, you'd feel naked. And you don't regret what you did to your brother. You were selfish, you didn't care what happened as long as your got your mother back. It was only after things went wrong that you learned it's not nice to play with mother nature."
Al looked at Ed and noticed an angry sneer on his brother's face. "You're right, Envy, I was selfish, and I didn't think about the consequences of my actions, but over the years I've matured and I've learned just how precious and fragile life is, and I've also learned that Alchemy is a responsibility and not a right," Ed said. "It's people like you who abuse that special gift given to humanity and it's people like us, Al and I, who need to set things right."
"What are you now, vigilantes?" Envy laughed out loud.
"No, just survivors of cause," Ed said. "And we're going to kill you."
Ed clapped his hands together and a three foot metallic blade transmuted from his automail right arm. And in Al's right hand emerged his father's samurai sword, suddenly appearing out of nowhere. He had willed it into existence with a thought. As this was Ed's mind, the standard premise of anything-goes applied.
"Two against one isn't fair, but I know a way to even the odds," Envy said, and suddenly he traded his consciousness with Al and exchanged their bodies, so Al's consciousness was in his and vise versa. He had tried this once before and took over Ed's mind and body to attack Al, but now this time things would be a lot different as Ed would fight his brother not knowing it was really Al.
Edward Elric was right. With the other half of his consciousness in the real world in the body of that girl, he wasn't as strong as he once was, however, he still had a few tricks up his sleeve to convince them otherwise.
And so, so Ed would believe in his deception, he would have to use the last of his manipulative power to convince Ed of the trick. Ed's mental facilities were much stronger now than in the beginning of his venture, but he was still weak, and he knew just where to breakdown his mental barriers to crush his spirit. Al could say whatever he wanted, but Ed would be deaf to his pleas.
"Time to die now, Al, for real," he muttered under his breath.
But all of sudden, Ed clapped his hands together and transmuted his arm into a giant metal clamp. He then turned quickly and grabbed Al's body around the waist tightly before Envy could react. Envy let out a cry of "Ah!" as the clamp squeezed around his ribs. He then grabbed onto either side of the clamp in an attempt to free himself, but to no avail. He looked at Ed with an expression of utter astonishment and surprise.
"Did you really think you'd trick me twice, Envy?" Ed said. "The instant you exchanged consciousness's with my brother I was aware of the deception. This is my world remember and I'm taking it back!"
Envy growled angry. But then he chuckled as if he found the situation funny.
"Why are you laughing?" Ed asked.
"Because you still don't have a clue, you'll never be rid of me, and this world is mine!" Envy said.
Envy instantly exchanged bodies again. Now Envy was back in his own body and not trapped by Ed's metal clamp. Al's consciousness went back to his body and he let out cry of pain as he felt the clamp squeezing like vice grips around his ribs.
Ed went agape and immediately released the clamp from around Al's waist. Al felt his ribs and grunted in the pain. "Sorry Al," Ed said afterwards. Al nodded, accepting his brother's apology. Though it wasn't his fault.
Temporarily distracted, Envy foresaw an opportunity and attacked Ed. And before Ed could react, by transmuting his arm back to normal, Envy cut it off just above the elbow joint. The biocircuitry components delivered the illusion and sensation of pain and Ed grabbed his arm instinctively.
"Your safety blanket has been removed," Envy said chuckling. "You're defenseless and now you're mine."
He raised his sword above his head and prepared to bring down on Ed, to finally end his life, but suddenly Al rushed and intervened, putting his blade in the way, stopping Envy's attack. He shifted his weight between Envy and Ed and pushed against Envy's sword. "No attacks my brother," he said valiantly.
Ed smiled. "Thanks Al," he said.
"No problem, you're my brother, and I'll always be at your side, no matter what," Al said.
Envy and Al clashed swords, and Al managed to force Envy back. It was then that Envy jumped away from Al, putting some distance between them. "You're good with that sword," Envy said. "Daddy's little boy with daddy's little sword, how precious. But you're goin' need a lot more than that sword to beat me."
"Maybe so, but all I needed was enough time to keep you at bay so my brother could get ready," Al said.
"What?"
Envy's brows frowned bemused and suddenly a tremendous force clamped around his waist like before. He looked down and saw that it was Ed's metal clamp. He gritted his teeth in pain and tried to push the metal clamp off him, but it was futile. He looked at Al, and then turned his neck to the side to eye Ed. "But how?" he said. "I cut off your arm, there was no way you coulda used it."
"Apparently it's you who don't have a clue, Envy," Al explained. "This is Ed's mind, and anything-goes in here, even the improbabe like reattaching his arm."
"Do the honors, Al," Ed said.
"With pleasure, brother," Al said, and he gripped his sword in his right hand. And with one swift slice through the air, he cut off Envy's head.
Envy's head rolled bounced and then along the ground, but it wasn't dead.
Envy laughed. "I'm eternal, you idiot. You can't kill me. Your mind is my playground, Ed, and intend to have fun forever. So it doesn't matter what you do to me in here. You're never be rid of me."
"Then we're just going to hafta to something unconventional, aren't we?" Ed said, and Al nodded.
Ed released Envy's body from the metal clamp, and transmuted his arm back to it's normal state. Then he clapped his hands again and touched the ground. And out from the ground from underneath Envy's body emerged a iron bar cage and it trapped Envy's body inside. Ed went over and picked up Envy's head by the hair and tossed it in the open top and then sealed it with a solid piece of metal.
Envy picked up his head and put it back on his shoulders, it fused back to his body. He grabbed the iron bars and said, "You're not serious, are you? Do you really think this pathetic cage will hold me?"
"I know it will," Ed said. And Al agreed. "It's time to send you back to where you came from." And the cage began to sink back into the ground like it was trapped by quick sand, symbolically sinking back into Ed's conscious mind.
Envy said, "This isn't over, Ed, I'll be back!"
Ed shook his head. "Not if I have anything to say about it," he said. The cage completely sunk into the ground. "Time to save Winry, Al," he then said.
Al nodded, and the spoke the chant, to return them to the real world and out of Ed's mind.
The coliseum faded and everything went black.
To be continued...
