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I cannot go to her, not even when I draw close enough to hear her laugh If she saw uilt in her eyes? Aardness? Am I a shadow over her happiness? Will she even care that I see her with hi her?

It aches, not that I suspect Mustang is being petty in seeking my enemy, but because I know she is not petty If she is with Cassius, it is because she cares for hiht it would

"And so you see …" Karnus’s hand falls heavily on htness spreads through ala I take a smaller lift doay from these people who know only how to hurt Away into the woods where I find a bridge that spans a fast-flowing strea for air, each breath a statereedy creatures

I’o it on ood enough that h to be a Gold

Now I’

I’ve failed to do what I set out to do

Failed to rise

But I won’t fail now Not now

I take the ring Hand tre insideinside ofto my lips Say the words and the corrupt perish Say "Break the chains" and Victra vanishes Cassius evaporates Augustusdies Across the Solar System, bombs ripple and Red rises to an uncertain future Trust in Ares Just trust he knohat he is doing

Break the chains

I try to say the words, Eo’s last before she hanged But they do not come Force it out Dammit Make my mouth work But it won’t It can’t, because inside I know that this is wrong It isn’t the violence It isn’t co the

How could this be Ares’s plan?

Eo said if I rose, others would follow But I’ve not yet risen I’ve not yet done as she asked of me I am not an exaive up To hand over her dream to others Ares never knew Eo He never saw the spark in her I did Before I draw my last breath, I must build the world she wanted to raise our child in That was her dream That hy she sacrificed, so others would not have to And I will not let others decide my fate Not now I do not trust in Ares if it means I must reject Eo

Not if it means I must sacrifice er replaced by purpose There must be another way A better way I have seen the cracks in their Society, and I knohat Ito do with Reds rising It has nothing to do with bombs or plots or revolution What terrifies the Golds is simple, cruel, and as old as mankind itself

Civil war

PART II

BREAK