If Scar meant to clarify things with that explanation, he completely failed. Nothing he said made sense.
First of all, Ed was very familiar with the transmutation circle used to create philosopher stones. He had seen it first at Lab 5. He had seen it again at the ruins in Xerxes. He had found the parts that were missing and defaced from those ruins when he had been swallowed by Gluttony. He had seen Scar's tattoo in close-up.
It did not have that transmutation circle.
Scar's tattoo, at least the Scar that Ed had encountered in his version of Amestris, was something else entirely. There were aspects of Amestrian alchemy of it for sure, but a lot of it was also very foreign, like a mix of different practices rolled into one.
Granted, the Scar he was speaking to now could have had a completely different tattoo. There was no way for Ed to know without seeing it himself and he wasn't about to ask what it looked like. The tension between the teenager and the alchemist killer might have been relaxed, but there was still the negative history that hung in the air, even if that history was different for each of them.
The alarmed and confused expression remained plastered on Ed's face. Skull the Cubone was still lingering around his trainer's ankles, his gaze moving from one human to the next, trying to get a read on what was about to develop. At least they weren't about to fight, right?
Second, if Scar's brother knew about the transmutation circle used to create a philosopher's stone, surely he would have known the components needed to make one. He couldn't understand why anyone, after learning the cost of such of such a thing, would not only want to create one, but design a tattoo with the sole purpose of being able to transmute one.
"I don't understand." There was no hiding the shock in his voice. Those words were the only ones he could muster as his mind continued to race with the endless implications of what he had just heard.
And that didn't even cover the other terrifying part of all of this. '...I died. The thing that keeps us here does not heed death.'
Those words contradicted everything Ed understood about death. About his most recent findings when he had pursued the truth of the failed transmutation of his mother that led to Ed's dismemberment and his brother's complete loss of his body. Dead was dead. There was no coming back from it. He had been so sure of it then. Despite the dark recesses of where this knowledge had come from, it had given him so much hope for getting Al's body back, because it meant that wherever that body was, he was still alive, because Al's soul was still around even though it had been bond to that cold suit of armor. It meant that Ed's goal of getting his brother his humanity back was possible.
But Scar's words just threw all of that back in his face.
"You're wrong!" Ed suddenly stood up up, his hands shaking and balled into fists. The knuckles of his left hand were white. "That's not possible. People can't come back from being dead!"
Skull had tumbled back from Ed's sudden movements. The tension was up again and the little Pokemon scrambled back up on his feet and grasped onto Ed's ankle, the one that could actually feel the tiny hands desperately grab onto him to try to prevent another fight from breaking out between trainers. He looked back at the scarred man, hoping that he wouldn't rise up to match Edward's energy.
You gave me a tag and I gave you a book.
First of all, Ed was very familiar with the transmutation circle used to create philosopher stones. He had seen it first at Lab 5. He had seen it again at the ruins in Xerxes. He had found the parts that were missing and defaced from those ruins when he had been swallowed by Gluttony. He had seen Scar's tattoo in close-up.
It did not have that transmutation circle.
Scar's tattoo, at least the Scar that Ed had encountered in his version of Amestris, was something else entirely. There were aspects of Amestrian alchemy of it for sure, but a lot of it was also very foreign, like a mix of different practices rolled into one.
Granted, the Scar he was speaking to now could have had a completely different tattoo. There was no way for Ed to know without seeing it himself and he wasn't about to ask what it looked like. The tension between the teenager and the alchemist killer might have been relaxed, but there was still the negative history that hung in the air, even if that history was different for each of them.
The alarmed and confused expression remained plastered on Ed's face. Skull the Cubone was still lingering around his trainer's ankles, his gaze moving from one human to the next, trying to get a read on what was about to develop. At least they weren't about to fight, right?
Second, if Scar's brother knew about the transmutation circle used to create a philosopher's stone, surely he would have known the components needed to make one. He couldn't understand why anyone, after learning the cost of such of such a thing, would not only want to create one, but design a tattoo with the sole purpose of being able to transmute one.
"I don't understand." There was no hiding the shock in his voice. Those words were the only ones he could muster as his mind continued to race with the endless implications of what he had just heard.
And that didn't even cover the other terrifying part of all of this. '...I died. The thing that keeps us here does not heed death.'
Those words contradicted everything Ed understood about death. About his most recent findings when he had pursued the truth of the failed transmutation of his mother that led to Ed's dismemberment and his brother's complete loss of his body. Dead was dead. There was no coming back from it. He had been so sure of it then. Despite the dark recesses of where this knowledge had come from, it had given him so much hope for getting Al's body back, because it meant that wherever that body was, he was still alive, because Al's soul was still around even though it had been bond to that cold suit of armor. It meant that Ed's goal of getting his brother his humanity back was possible.
But Scar's words just threw all of that back in his face.
"You're wrong!" Ed suddenly stood up up, his hands shaking and balled into fists. The knuckles of his left hand were white. "That's not possible. People can't come back from being dead!"
Skull had tumbled back from Ed's sudden movements. The tension was up again and the little Pokemon scrambled back up on his feet and grasped onto Ed's ankle, the one that could actually feel the tiny hands desperately grab onto him to try to prevent another fight from breaking out between trainers. He looked back at the scarred man, hoping that he wouldn't rise up to match Edward's energy.