A/N Hi! This A/N is mostly a warning or a heads up, as this chapter is slightly darker than the rest, but it'll also be the last one where poor Ed has angst unloaded on him for a while... As usual, I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist, and I hope you all enjoy the chapter! :)

Ed was still thinking of swear words he could throw at the Truth when he was flung out of Gluttony's stomach.

He had just enough time to see some pipes running around a gloomy underground chamber, before he fell onto Envy's hidious form and slid to the ground, bumping into every crying, laughing or the more terrifyingly hopeless faces on his way down. Those faces, it was like they were numb; giving up on life, giving up on everything as they just stared with eyes like pits, bottomless and filled with nothing. So dark. So lonely.

He let himself go limp the second he hit the floor, just sagging in relief. They were out. They were back in their own world. He didn't kid himself into saying safe. He couldn't be safe, he couldn't ever go back. Wasn't that why he burned his house down? Wasn't that why he was begining to stop running, to turn round and look at that in the eye.

Just then, he felt a strong metal hand grip his legs, and pull him out. Al's red soulfire eyes blazed with worry as he set Ed on the ground properly.

Ed took a second to think of what he must look like to Al. His normally golden hair was streaked with blood, the russet stains unnaturally bold, and his hair was coming out of its braid slightly, looking tangled and giving him a somewhat more wild appearance. He knew without looking that he was pale and clammy, like he was back then when he had first seen the gate. Back then he was still human. Now he was different. He had seen so much more, he had lived so much more. Why was he scared now?

Was it because he had seen Alphonse's body? Was it because it had been like having his mistakes stabbed through his heart? Was it because he had been denied the one thing he could do to fix it. Fix everything.

Was it because, deep, deep down he knew he was a monster?

He wondered again, if Al could tell his arm was different. It felt the same, it looked the same, but it was just so different. It was his, but it wasn't. Someone's soul went into making that arm. He hated it.

I'm sorry. I didn't want this. I didn't want to kill anyone. I didn't want to regenerate.

I didn't want to become a monster!

It was only when Al set him down that Ed realised that his clothes were ruined. The damage down in Gluttony's stomach had left his -that- arm completely bare and his shirt had been torn apart by those hands.

Revealing his ouroboros.

"B-brother, what's that on your chest?" Al asked, pointing straight at Ed's heart. Ed's blood turned to ice, and he clapped his hand, the hand he shouldn't have -but did- over it.

"Nothing! Al." Ed said quickly. Too quickly. How much had he seen?

"Brother, it looked like blood! Are you hurt?" Al asked worridly. Ed had to choke back a bitter laugh, becaues it wasn't blood. It was so, so much worse.

It marked him as a monster.

"No, don't worry, I'm not hurt Al." He gave his brother a weak grin. I can't hurt. I'm a monster.

"Why was there blood on your chest then? Brother, if you're hurt, you need to tell me!" Al cried.

"I'm not hurt... It's dried blood." Another lie. How many lies do I have to tell?

"Then why are you covering it?" Al asked, clearly thinking that Ed was lying to him.

"It... uh... dried in a very unfortunate shape?" Ed knew it sounded like a weak excuse and he was just waiting for Al to ask him what it really was, when a cold, dark voice, filled with authority spoke loudly, causing them all to turn and stare.

"Envy, care to explain what's going on?" Someone, definitely male said. Ed thought the voice sounded familar but he couldn't quite place it.

"That thing is Envy?" Al asked quietly, and Ed could only nod. One of us. Was you. Changes. I'm sorry, Al.

"Just come and look at the people who came out of his stomach. More specifically, the little one." Envy sneered, gesturing towards Ed and Al with a claw.

Ed could only stare as Hohenheim stepped out of the shadows. Wait, this couldn't be Hohenheim... Envy had mocked the bastard at the graveyard, but was answering to this look alike. With all his flaws, Hohenheim had never once had that look in his eyes.

"Oh? Automail... Blonde..." The man's face lit up. "Edward Elric. So you're not dead after all. I wonder how you're alive."

The man took a step closer, and almost unconciously, Ed tightened his grip on his chest. Suddenly, the man smiled, something dark, something sinister.

"I see... So that's what Hohenheim did. To his son, no less. Prehaps he's stronger than I gave him credit for. Even so, you can still be used as a sacrifice... Interesting, I wonder how he made you." The man mumbled, staring him up and down.

"M-made? Brother, what is he talking about?" Al sounded frightened, but that wasn't what made it feel like Ed's soul was being ripped in half. His brother, who he had tried so hard to protect, lied to, just so everything could seem normal, sounded betrayed.

Before Ed could find the strength he needed to respond, to stop staring at those cold, heartless eyes, to turn and face his brother, Envy acted.

"Hah! You didn't tell your own brother? Oh, I get it, you didn't want him to know what a monster you are! I already told you, stop running!" Envy laughed, shrinking and racing at him, arm a blade like it had been back in Gluttony's stomach.

"Ed, look out!" Ling cried, but he was too far away, and Ed was too panicked, too scared to move.

"Run!" Lan Fan yelled, but Ed's legs wouldn't move. Instead, he could only watch, oddly detatched as Envy got closer and closer.

The burning sensation in his shoulder was familar as Envy cut through it again, and his arm fell away in a shower of crimson that was almost exactly the same.

"Stop hiding!" Envy snarled, aiming his arm at Ed's stomach, and Ed could barely stagger away. He didn't get away in time, and he was hit again. And again.

"Envy." It was a warning that finally stopped the older homunculus. It was that person who looked like Hohenheim glared at Envy, and Ed dimly thought he could understand why Envy had shuddered in Gluttony's stomach, why he was scared of punishment.

That man... His whole existance just felt like this horrible blend of wrong and right. He half wondered what he was going to do to Envy, but he couldn't feel any pity for the sin. Not now.

Ed had long since been driven onto the ground, as Envy had stabbed again and again. Looking up, he could see that Al's armour had splatters of blood, his blood on it, looking like tar in the poor light.

Ed weakly reached out his arm, just wanting to reassure his brother that... that what? That he was okay? That he wasn't a monster? He was a monster, but for some reason, hearing it from Al... They had always been together... That wouldn't change, right? They'd get their bodies back together.

But the armour, rattling in fear or horror only clambered away, one shaky step at a time.

"Al... brother... please..." Ed breathed, horror tightening his throat. Please... Don't walk away now... Please, don't think I'm a monster. That I'm one of them. Please... I can still be human! I can still try!

Please...

Just give me a chance!

"N-no," Al's voice was shrill, ringing with shock and fear, "y-you're not my brother! S-stay away!"

All Ed could do was scream as he broke.