-- Phantomphobia --

Chapter 2 - 15

[inside the house, living room]

Ed: I'm back...

Envy: Welcome home.

Ed: !! Envy! How is it you're here again? Al!

Al: Brother, you came...

Ed: Al! Are you okay, any problem with him?

Al: Hmm... I'm fine...

Envy: I can't stand this. You talk as if I did something to him, but I have ittle interest in ordinary humans.

Ed: What are you doing here!?

Envy: Humph! Watch out your mouth!

Envy: Don't forget we're now on the same boat. Don't you want to go back soon?

Ed: .....

Envy: Speak up. Didn't you look for that bun face today? Does it mean you want to join him?

Ed: How do you know that I saw him!?

Envy: Hey, what do you think about us homunculi? We're familiar with your whereabouts.

Ed: If you already know, then why do you ask?

Envy: I was just confirming it. By the way, I'll give you a piece of advice! Don't betray me.

Ed: I...

Al: Brother...

Ed: Al... I, I'll explain to you later...

Al: Brother... Are you really my brother?

Ed: Al!?

Al: Or... did we have different memories all this time?... Or is there something wrong with my memory?

Ed: Envy! What did you saw to him!?

Envy: I just told him the adventure story of the iron pot.

Envy: You should thank me for sparing you the explanation.

Ed: You...!

Envy: What is it? Are you so obsessed with your brother's body what you want to bring this counterfeit back with you?

Envy: Forget such delusions! Everything here is fake, we must return there.

Ed: No! No... Al is not...

Envy: He's just a fantasy of yours. You're daydreaming.

Ed: ...!!

Ed: It's not...

Envy: Don't tell me now that you want to stay. In that case, I'll put an end to him, so you don't have any reason to linger here.

Ed: You won't touch him!!

Ed: I... of course I want to go back. I'll try to collect information, and you should also investigate with me.

Envy: Heh heh, you always have a satisfactory answer for me. Make me happy in this world.

Envy: I'll come back to you again.

Ed: .....

Al: .....

Ed: Al...

Ed: He... What did he say to you?

Al: Just what you told me that night, brother.

Al: We failed to resurrect our mother. So I was taken away, and you lost your right arm to recapture my soul.

Al: Then my soul was fixed inside an empty armor.

Al: After that, we became dogs of the military to restore our original bodies, searching for the Philosopher's Stone...

Al: Brother... is this true?

Ed: Yes... It's true.

Al: So what am I here now?

Ed: ... Al...

Al: ......

Ed: Actually, I don't know... When I saw you here, I couldn't understand anything.

Ed: This world is very similar to the one I live in, but not entirely.

Ed: If I hadn't transmuted our mother at that time... I would have lived with Al just like this.

Ed: It's like the world I've always dreamed of, one absolutely impossible to reach.

Al: Brother...

Ed: When I see you... I think of you as my brother Al. That's... right.

Ed: (I may not have evidence, but I feel like this.)

Ed: Please believe me.

Al: Brother...

Al: Sorry, I... I want to stay alone for a while.

Ed: Ah, ok...

Al: Once my mind is clear, I'll talk with you, brother.

Ed: Ok... good night.

Al: Good night.

[Al leaves to his room]

Ed: .....

END OF CHAPTER TWO

Continue on page "Chapter 3 - 1" !