Chapter 22

Al squeezed the handle of his sword firmly with both hands and brought it to bare for an attack against his brother. Suddenly, he clenched his arm muscles tight and began to sweat nervously, afraid, resisting the urge to attack. He didn't want to. But the multitude of voices he heard, whispering to him inside his mind, demanded that he attack Edward. Kill him. They said.

He couldn't move. It was like some great force had frozen him to the spot like ice. The voices in his mind wanted him to attack, but he didn't oblige. The voices were saying all sorts of ghastly things to him and were showing him horrific images to provoke a deep emotional response. And it was working. He began to shake apprehensively and they continued with their evil sayings. He tried to resist, but they delivered a mild electrical shock to his very soul. He cringed in pain, but only on the inside. His face didn't show it.

Obey us, or we will devour your soul. They said.

He looked at the blade of the sword and saw his reflection in the metal. Despite the blade was rustic and weathered, as it was left to the elements for over ten years, he was able to see his face as clear as if looking in a mirror. But he theorized that that may be because the voices wanted him to. They were controlling his mind and therefore what they wanted him to see, too.

The sword. . .the voices are coming from the sword! Al's instincts told him, and a feeling of gloom and doom came over him.

The urge to attack his brother was so overwhelming that he had to obey. He felt powerless to resist the voices' demands.

Looking at his brother, his eyes filled with an implanted hate, he attacked Edward, advancing swiftly and concisely.

Ed blocked with his automail as Al came at him with a downward strike. The noise from the blades hitting against one other was deafening. Al pushed forward with his sword, but was unable to overcome his brother. He pulled back and then attacked again. This time coming at Edward with his sword down. He sliced upwards in an uppercut motion. Ed dodged the attack, but just barely. The sword came within an inch of his face.

"Al! Stop it!" Ed cried out, behind intense, hurtful eyes. Something had possessed his brother; he knew the symptoms. And Envy was most likely the culprit.

"Shut-up!" Al barked back. "I might not be able to use the special abilities this sword holds, but I can damn well use it in its conventional sense!"

He struck high this time, but Ed quickly blocked. However the recoil from the attack was very intense and Ed's knees buckled slightly. Mustering the strength, Ed pushed back and Al staggered backwards.

Attacking again, Al missed his brother, slicing downwards, and got the sword stuck in the mud. He yanked at it and quickly pulled it out, shaking the wet mud off the blade. He readied for his next attack.

"Fight it, Al! I know this isn't you! Don't let that bastard win!" Ed shouted out angry.

"I don't know what you're taking about, dear brother," Al said maliciously smirking. "My actions are of my own accord, I'm not being controlled."

"That's not true and I know it," Ed rebuked back. "Listen to me: Power is given, control is taken. Take back control, Al. You're being controlled." He sneered and then shouted out: "Envy, stop this now! I know you're there. C'mon outta hiding you perverse, malevolent bastard!"

There was a soft trenchant, audible chuckle from the trees nearby. Then Envy jumped down from some foliage and landed like an alley cat. He rose to his feet god-like and smiled like a tyrannical dictator. "Why should I?" he said wickedly. "I'm having too much fun." He put his hands on his hips in a casual manner and then said, "You don't get it, do you, Edward? I never lost control. We may be outside your mind, but my control never stopped."

But there was something in Envy's expression that looked unnerving, his eyes told a different story.

In the other world, there was a game people played called Poker for entertainment and money. As Ed had been trapped in that alternate world for two years, he got to know the game very well and played it on numerous occasions to earn some money to pay for parts for his arm and for the rocket he was building. It turned out that he was good at the game. But luck and skill had very little to do with the game of cards. He was able to count the cards in every hand and determine the ratio/average each card would turn up. So, by using this card counting method, he knew who had what and what was in the pile yet to be played. The other players tried to bluff their way into winning pots, but it didn't work. Their eyes told him their true intentions.

Envy had this same look. His expression was that of a smug, arrogant player, who had nothing. His eyes told him he was hiding something - an untruthfulness, that he was "bluffing". But what was he hiding?

"Attack him, Al! Strike without mercy!" Envy ordered.

Al obeyed and attacked Edward aggressively, showing just how good a swordsman's he was, even after all these years. Ed followed his strikes and blocked every one, then jumped back and away after a very close strike.

"My, my, my, how hell quickens the spirits to flee, huh Edward?" Envy said. "Afraid to attack your little brother? Don't be. He's not towards you. But he careful, if you kill Al this time, he'll really be dead. This isn't your mind. Death is final here."

"I'm going to kill you, Envy," Ed threatened angry.

"Not if Al kills you first," Envy retorted. "The rage I implanted in his mind is intensifying his true emotions he harbors towards you. Eight years ago, you performed forbidden Alchemy that bonded his soul to that suit of armor--"

"But he said he didn't hate me," Ed said fuddled. He looked at Al woeful and in disbelief. "Al said he could never hate me."

"Everyone lies, Edward, especially when they're protecting family," Envy said.

Ed's eyes flickered troubled. "Is it true, Al? Do you really hate me for what I did to you?" He asked the question hesitantly.

Al looked at Ed with an intense fury, like a man who kept a deep hatred in his heart bound for thousands of years, wanting to be unleashed. "Yes, dear brother, I hate you, and I feel better for doing so," he said contemptuously. "I feel that a heavy weight has been lifted from my shoulders unleashing my true feelings about this. You stole my life when you bonded me to that armor and I'll never forgive you. I hate you, so much!"

Ed gasped in total disbelief, looking like someone had just reached into his chest and pulled out his battered glass heart and shattered it on the ground into thousands of tiny pieces. But he knew this was Envy's doing and he quickly gave Envy a look of complete and utter hate.

Envy met Ed's gaze and frowned his brow slightly, shrugging his shoulders. "Don't look at me, Edward, this is who your brother really is. I merely enhanced feelings that were already there," he said, sounding a little unsure. He could sense something wasn't right. He was starting to lose control of Al. There was another presence at play here.

Al gripped his sword tightly again, and attacked his brother. "Pay attention, Edward!" he snapped out. "I won't be denied my revenge!"

Edward quickly blocked. He stepped back to get some distance from Al, unfortunately his right heal hit an uprooted branch sticking out of the ground and he fell back and landed on his rear. Exposed, Al attacked again, and this time, Ed was at his brother's mercy. Only a miracle would save him now.

To be continued...