Jessica was a witch. It was a trait passed down through her family since... well she didn't know, but it tended to skip a generation. Her grandmother had it, her mother didn't. When she found out, she was so excited. She wanted to create world peace and put an end to hunger, but grandma told her that the magic wouldn't go that far. So she used it for her own amusement. There was the time she made all the boys in her class fall in love with her, but then she got in trouble when it wore off. They were not happy, to say the least. But the biggest mistake she ever made was something that wasn't even her idea.

Jessica's best friend was named Catharine, or Cathy for short, and one day they were sitting under a tree in the park talking about magic. Cathy was jealous of Jessica's powers, and kept trying to get her to do crazy things with them. This day, they were laughing about the time Jess had made an illusion of a victoria's secret model to tease a boy in their class.

"So," said Cathy. "How real can you make these illusions?"

"Oh, I can make them as real as I want. Sight, sound, smell, touch. I can give them personalities and free will. I can pretty much create a real person if I want. Of course, that girl was just sight, and had no personality or anything..."

"So you can make humonculi?" asked Cathy, innocently. Jess looked at her in surprise. The other girl didn't read a lot, and it was strange to hear big words like that coming out of her mouth.

"Um, yeah, pretty much. Why?" In response, Cathy pulled something out of her bookbag. It was a comic book. Jess looked at the title, Fullmetal Alchemist. "What's that?" she asked.

"It's something I've been reading." Cathy opened the book and shoved it in Jess's face. "Can you make one of those?" she asked. Jess looked where her friend was pointing. There were two people in the panel, one an extremely busty woman in a slinky, low cut dress, and the other... Well, she didn't know what to make of her, or was it a him? It was very hard to tell. As if sensing her confusion, Cathy explained.

"The woman is Lust, the man is Envy." Ah, so it is a man, thought Jessica. "They're homunculi. I was thinking, it might be fun to bring them to life?" She ended her sentence with a question mark and gave Jess puppy eyes. "Please? For me?" Jess laughed.

"Okay, but if you want the whole thing, personality, and all, I only have the energy to bring one of them out of the book. So pick. Hot Chick or Androgynous Dude?"

"Envy, his name is Envy. And if I can only have one, I'll have him." She stared off into the distance, a dreamy look on her face. Jess nudged her.

"Got a little crush, do we?" Cathy blushed a little and mumbled something that sounded like yes. Jess sighed. When would that girl start crushing on real guys. In her experience, they were a lot more attainable. She let her hands hover over the page and concentrated. This would be easier than making a person from scratch, because all the information was in the book. She didn't even need to know anything about him, she just needed to pull him out. She took a deep breath, said the magic words, and let the spell go. The minute she started, she knew something was wrong. It was taking up way more energy than she had expected, but once the spell was working, there was no stopping it. Jess screamed as the spell pulled every last speck of magic from her, and she slumped against the tree.

"Jess? Are you okay?" Cathy asked.

"What the hell?" Jess yelled. "Who is this guy? He's either a lot bigger than I thought or he's got magic coming out his ears. It used up everything I've got!" Cathy suddenly looked worried.

"You mean you don't have any more magic left? Uh oh." She went very pale and gulped.

"Uh oh? What uh oh? Why are you so scared all of a sudden?" Jess demanded.

"Because," whispered her friend. "Now you can't deal with him." Jess turned around slowly. There he was, lying in a heap, his crazy hair strewn across his face. He was, to all appearances, unconscious. The witch looked at the manga in her hands, and groaned. Why, oh why didn't she read it first? The guy was the villain of the story, and was pretty damn creepy. Luckily, he would be unconscious for an hour or so. Jess called it 'summoning sickness'.

"Okay," she said, trying to remain calm. "We have a while before he wakes up, so we'll drag him back to my place, tie him up..." Cathy's eyes lit up and she grinned mischievously.

"Oohh! Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"I don't think so, Cathy. Not unless you're thinking of tying him up so he won't try to kill us in self-defence as we beat him to death with a shovel."

"Jess! You can't! He's my favourite character!"

"He's a twisted psycho, Cathy. Besides, if he dies, I'll get my magic back. Otherwise I'll have to wait for it to recharge and I don't have that kind of patience." She grabbed Envy's arms. "Come on, you take his legs." This, at least, her friend agreed with. Cathy grabbed Envy around the knees and together they tried to pick him up. After several tries, they gave up and sat, panting, on the grass.

"Damn, Cathy. He's really heavy for such a skinny guy. What, is he made of lead or something? Okay, you take one arm, I'll take the other arm, and we'll drag him." They did this, and dragged the homunculus down the road, with a lot of effort. They got quite a few strange looks from passersby. Luckily, Jessica's house was close by, and they managed to get him in the front door, and they pushed him down the cellar stairs. He cracked one of the floorboards as he landed. Cathy got the duct tape, and took great glee in wrapping him up in it. She stared down at the unconscious homunculus and ran her fingers over his chest. She smiled a silly fangirl smile and brushed a lock of hair off his face. He was perfect. Cathy was startled out of her reverie by a loud cough. Jessica was standing at the top of the stairs, holding a metal shovel.

"All right, Cathy, get out of the way," she said. Cathy's eyes filled with tears. She flung herself over Envy's body.

"No! I won't let you!" she shouted. Jessica raised the shovel and came down the stairs.

"If you don't get out of the way, I'll have to move you by force," she warned. Cathy just held him tighter. She wasn't going to let anyone be beaten to death with a shovel. Envy groaned and stirred. He was waking up.