Edward Elric is determined to keep moving forward (icarus_rising) wrote in penance_thread, @ 2022-04-08 00:25:00 |
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Entry tags: | !narrative, !trial, edward elric |
Who: Edward Elric
What: In which there is a table, a gift, and some suspicious notes.
When: Trial Night! (yeah I know this is super fuckin late)
Where: 2nd Circle: Lust
Status: Narrative, Complete
Warnings: Ed's foul mouth, FMA Manga spoilers
It had to be a trap.
It was just sitting there. Not even in a secure space or anything, just out on a table in the middle of the room.
When Ed had opened his eyes, he'd been sitting in a chair - a overwrought enormous throne of a thing, with elaborate carved details wreathing the too-straight chair back and plush red velvet upholstery. He would have liked it for its ostentatiousness, if it hadn't been so uncomfortable.
The rest of the room matched it for opulence, to a degree that even Ed started to feel was getting a little tacky. Who had this much money to throw away on such rich bullshit? Thick heavy draperies in some sort of fine fabric, with what looked like silk and gold lining the walls. The floors were some sort of gleaming exotic hardwood with a dramatic grain. There was more of this same, overly-elaborate furniture around the room, all in the same carved wood, marble-topped, velvet-upholstered style. It was set up to be something like a sitting room, he guessed, with beautiful thin-cushioned sofas and chairs with hard-angled backs and annoyingly narrow arms.
His chair sat next to its twin, facing the ridiculous sofa. The furniture framed a ridiculous fireplace with an enormous mirror on the mantle. The room was so big and wide, with enormously high ceilings that Ed swore people like whoever'd had this built did on purpose, to make you feel small. Which he wasn't. Bastards.
To his left, between the two chairs was an end table, dark wood against a swirl of black marble, contrasted against a rich lace ivory doily. A relatively simple lamp with a stained glass shade sat there, and under it, just sitting out with nothing to contain it or shield it...
Was a little crimson bead of amorphous material.
The Philosopher's Stone.
Just... sitting there.
Ed stood up from the chair, looking around the room for Kimblee, or maybe one of the Homunculi... something to explain the presence of a Philosopher's Stone here in this room. But he was alone. He couldn't hear any sign of anyone else nearby either.
He looked back at the Stone. Cautiously, he reached out with his automail and poked at it. It wobbled and gave under his finger, springing back into shape when he withdrew. It was the same as the one that Dr. Marcoh had had.
It was just sitting there. Unclaimed.
Ed's human fingers twitched.
There was any number of reasons for him to take it. After how long they'd been searching... With this, he could restore Alphonse. They could open the portal, make the trade for Al's body, and get out again safe. Toll paid, bodies restored, mission complete. Envy's Stone had worked to do it before, when he'd gotten Ling and Envy and himself out of the void in Gluttony's stomach. He knew this could work.
But he could also remember the mass of mutated human forms that made up Envy's body. The crying, pleading voices, the moans of pain and distress and grief. That little deformed arm, reaching out to lay a gentle hand on his head...