The room was huge, dark, and twisted with huge slanted eyes and sharp teeth moving along the walls. Alex was constrained to bizarre created chains that tightly held him by the wrists and ankles which were bolted by the ceiling and floor, holding him in midair. The strain from both sets of chains made his limbs stiff and immobile, and himself fearful, but too weakened to be easily shown by any signs of it. His head hanged low with defeat and exhaustion. Alex's soul was weak while Pride's was once again growing dominant and would soon have complete control over their soul and body. His body's hair was now even more black than its previous dirty blond and his eyes dark and dead-like.
"Alex!" Edward cried out, after seeing what Pride had shown him from one of his shadow's eyes, "Wake up!"
The pain of seeing his son through his prison walls was crushing. He probably would have fallen to his knees if Winry wasn't there.
"He can't hear you, Edward Elric. You can't wake him up from my hold. Nobody can. He wouldn't wake himself up even if he could; for the shame of what he saw himself do," Pride said grinning on the face of Alex's body.
"You son of a bitch! You're the one who made him do it in the first place. Moving him like a puppet. You're still doing it. " Edward yelled and ran the short distance in an attempt to swing at Pride in order to wake Alex up.
Pride then suddenly flashed the frightened, innocent face of Alex with wide, alive eyes who then said, "Dad?!"
Edward stopped his arm in mid-swing and stumbled to a stop in which Pride then switched back to his face and swung him flying back and falling not as gracefully as he used to.
"Ed!"
"Dad!"
"Oops. Did I do that? " Pride mocked.
The family ran to him and the friends from the military guarded them. Edward got up waving them all back, "Get off! I'm fine. Sore, but I am fine. But Alex…"
They all stared at Pride thinking about the teenage boy who's in a prison within his own mind.
"How helpless and broken you are Edward Elric. Can't do a single thing to save the soul of one who you created, by manipulating me and my soul which created him. That guilty, humble half-human homunculus. It's amazing that he had any aspect of being me. Ha! You made it too easy for me to take control when I became strong enough to awaken. Even if you had alchemy you wouldn't be able to stop me."
Pride then turned around and began to walk away laughing.
Edward glared at Pride with hate-filled eyes and growled, "Pride. I will get you back for this if it is the last thing that I do."
Pride turned his head back to Edward and gave him a condescending grin and said, "You tell yourself that Edward Elric. Just try and you'll be as broken and dead as your 'son'."
"No, we won't, you bastard. Just as I told Alphonse all those years ago at the gate, I will tell my son now. Just wait. I promise, I'm coming back for you. Just you wait. Alex, Just hang on. Fight him for all you got! Use your pride as an Elric. My son, you are more than just a soul!"
