This is a good chapter. Nice and action packed.

Liz: Finally. I was getting tired of all the filler.

Envy: Oh you'll be begging for more poker games.

Ed: Once the authoress goes on her killing spree

Liz: Ugg... good point.

Spite: I'm sure the readers will enjoy us getting knocked around.

Lust: Sadistic people.

Wrath: If they cry does that make it better.

Al: I guess.

Spite: Who knows. REVIEW!

"I thought you'd bring them." Spite said. I could see sweat running down her forehead at the sight of her remains. "I figured I wouldn't be trusted. I guess I was counting on that." She took one step forward. It was obviously difficult for her but she didn't stop. Envy didn't move, he just kept staring at her.

"I don't get it." I said. "Those are her remains? How did you know where to find those?"

Envy didn't answer me. No one responded. They just watched the scene in front of them.

"None of my memories make sense. I only see faces. I need to understand." Finally Spite was standing right in front of him. Slowly she reached out a trembling hand towards the bone. "Can I see it?"

Envy didn't move for a moment. Then he passed the bone over to her.

As soon as her fingers closed around it she dropped like a stone, her eyes rolled back in her head, her body shaking with the effort of containing pained screams. She shut her eyes tightly and curled in on herself. Al looked around nervously.

"Shouldn't we help her?"

"You can't." Envy said flatly.

"Envy what the hell is going on?" I asked.

"Nothing." He said.

I saw right through the lie, but instead of questioning him further I found my eyes drawn back to Spite. After what seemed like forever her clenched hand released the bone and she stopped shaking. Her eyes opened and she blinked a few times before she slowly raised herself.

"I can see why those things cripple us." She said, kicking the bone away from her. She brushed her hair out of her face. "I get it now. I remember what Dante told me to do and I actually fell for her lie." She looked at Envy. "You're the one who killed me."

My heart dropped as things clicked into place. Envy once killed a girl one hundred and twenty years ago. A girl I had been told I was very similar to in both looks and personality.

Spite was Kristen.

"Yes." Envy said.

Spite swallowed and nodded.

"How long have you known about this?" I asked.

Envy looked at me for the first time. "Since you were kidnapped and I saw her with Desire in the woods."

"Why didn't you ever tell me?" I asked.

Ed made an odd coughing sound and I turned to see him looking guilty.

"Wait you knew too?" I narrowed my eyes and whirled to look at Al. "What about you huh?"

"No, no I didn't." Al said, waving his hands in front of him. "I swear!"

"Edward was the only other one who knew. I told him not to tell you." Envy said.

"Why?" I asked. The idea of Ed keeping a secret for Envy baffled me.

Envy shrugged. "It wasn't really necessary at the time."

"That's a crappy answer!"

"It didn't matter." Envy said. "She's not Kristen. She looks like her."

"Reasons can be established later." Spite sighed. "Right now, I'm thinking you guys are on a tight schedule. I'm supposed to show you where Dante is. That's what I'm going to do."

Slowly I nodded, but not before I cast Envy a look that said: 'We are discussing this later.' He just nodded and response.

"Alright, lead the way."

Spite led us through the winding streets, further towards the center of the city. When we reached Northern Head quarters she led us around the back and to a section of wall, covered by bushes and vines. There was evidence of recent alchemic activity.

Spite's brow furrowed. "They sealed up the entrance? Why?"

"Because we expected your betrayal." A familiar voice called from high above us. We looked up to see Desire standing atop the building, casting his maniacal grin down upon us.

"You." Ed growled, obvious furry crossing his face.

"Me indeed." Desire said, leaping down from the building. We moved back quickly as he landed hard on the ground, sending cracks through the concrete. "Master thought you were up to something when you left, Spite. So she sealed the entrance, just in case you should come back by. Unfortunately you brought alchemists with you." He eyed us. "So I'll have to deal with that."

"So let me guess." Spite asked scornfully. "You're supposed to kill all of us."

"Yep, sounds about right." Desire grinned. Fire flared up around his hand. "I think I'll enjoy it pretty well too."

With that he shot a jet of flame in Envy's direction. But the fire never reached him before Spite was standing there and literally splitting the fire in two with her hands. It flew into the sky, harmlessly.

Spite looked rather like a demon as she straightened. "I've had to put up with you for all this time. Put up with your stupidity, your arrogance, the fact that you're a first degree pervert." She drew her knives and looked back at us. "Do what you want but this bastard is mine!"

Everyone decided not to argue.

Spite propelled herself forward, kicking Desire in the chest. He slammed into the wall but ducked as she drove a crater into the wall with her knife strike.

"Close but not quite!" he jeered.

"Wipe that smirk off of your face you fucking bastard!" Spite snapped, charging him again.

The ensuing fight was quite terrifying. Both Desire and Spite were amazingly fast, particularly Spite with her telekinetic abilities. She was flying all over the place, bounding off walls and trees like a cross between an acrobat and a bouncy ball. Desire for once seemed to be controlling his movements as he was not overcome with any specific emotion. He didn't move much, he just shot jets of flame in Spite's direction.

Spite fell from the second level of Northern head quarters and landed a hard kick on Desire's head, snapping his neck. He staggered back, sending a whip of fire in her direction. She jumped back out of the way, landing in a crouch. Desire grabbed his head a snapped his neck back into place with a grin.

"Ow, that hurt."

"Good!" Spite growled, lunging again. He jumped out of the way and launched himself into the air, swinging himself up onto the roof of Northern head quarters again. Spite followed him and they disappeared over the edge of the building.

"What do we do?" Al asked.

"Neither of them can kill each other." I said. "Which puts them at a standstill. So we need to make our own alchemic trap for Desire."

"I can draw the circle." Al said. "I'm better at those than either of you."

"Hey!" Ed snapped.

"No offence brother but you and Liz don't really need to use circles." Al pulled chalk from his pocket. I'll work as quickly as I can."

"Yeah, please do." I said as I saw a particularly powerful jet of flame shoot over the edge of the building. Spite couldn't die but I'm sure getting fried didn't feel very nice.


Spite rolled out of the way of one of Desire's fiery fist and aimed a kick of his shin. He jumped over her leg and sank his own foot into her stomach. She gasped as it drew all the breath from her lungs and sent her to the ground. Before she could get up again he kicked her in the side and sent her onto her back. Moments later she found him crouched over her, hands, cupped around her head in a vice that forced her to look straight at him. His knees crushed her hands to the ground, forcing them to remain pinned by her sides.

"You are faster Spite." He smirked, leaning his face close to hers. "But I'm still stronger. You're too small to leave any real lasting damage."

Spite made a growling sound in her throat and tried to struggle away but his grip was like iron. "Fuck you."

"Such language." He shook his head, stroking one hand along the side of her face. Spite's heart was pounding. She knew that look on his face. He had looked at many trapped girls with that look before.

"Don't touch me." Spite jerked below him. He drove his knee further into her hand and she cried out as the bones crunched.

"You stay still." Desire said. "Or I'll crush your hand so much it won't form back. Understand sweetheart?"

"You son of a b-" Spite got no further as Desire crushed his lips to hers. Spite's eyes bugged and she struggled as hard as she could despite Desire's previous warning. He seemed too caught up in what he was doing to go through with this promise but she still couldn't move her hands.

"Damn it, think of something Spite." She thought. "You don't have your hands but you've got to figure out something."

She shuddered as the kiss grew in intensity, curling her toes in discomfort.

"Wait." She thought. "Toes. Feet. I just need to channel my ability through my feet!"

Spite closed her eyes and tried to focus as best she could. She felt her power moving from her hands, up through her arms and then down her torso. As soon as she felt her feet tingle her eyes snapped open and she unleashed the greatest force she could muster and launched it straight at Desire. He went flying up several feet into the air, flailing in surprise.

Spite smirked and satisfaction and got to her feet as he began to fall. When he was twenty feet from the roof she held up her hands and stopped his fall. He jerked to a stop, suspended in mid air like a puppet on strings.

"Don't ever underestimate me you bastard." Spite snarled. "Don't you ever compare me to those human girls you've caught. I'm stronger than them. And I'm better than you."

Desire growled and kicked at the air but Spite's hold did not waver.

"Spite!" She heard someone call. She peered over the edge of the building to see Liz waving up at her. The girl pointed at a circle drawn on the ground. She recognized it as the circle that could kill homunculi.

She grinned. "Yes." And threw Desire towards the circle.


Spite's aim was perfect but, unfortunately, Desire saw the circle before he hit the ground and was able to use his fire to jet himself out of the way. He rolled a few feet and came up in a crouch, grinning.

"You aren't getting me anywhere near that thing."

"Oh yeah?" Spite slammed into Desire, driving him into the chalk circle. I knew that she must be using her power to help her, because she seemed to immobilize Desire just by wrapping her arms around his neck from behind. He choked and clawed at her hands, trying to drag himself out of the circle. But he couldn't. He was free game for us.

The problem was, Spite was in the circle too.

"Do it!" She said. "Now!"

"But…" I said. "But you…"

"It doesn't matter!" Spite said. "I can only hold him for so long. I need you to activate it now!"

"I can't." I shook my head. "Spite-"

"Just do it! Forget about me! Activate the damn circle!" She snapped.

I knew we had to kill Desire. I knew I had to activate the circle to do it. But if Spite died because of this too…

"Do it Liz." Envy said to my right.

I looked from him back to Spite's desperate face as she tried to contain Desire.

"God damn it!" I finally shouted, clapping my hands together and slamming them against the circle. It was activated in a flash of blue light.

I had to shield my eyes from the bright light. I thought I heard both Desire and Spite coughing. When the light faded I lowly lowered my arm—

Just in time to see Desire run a long dagger through Spite's chest.

She opened her mouth in a silent pained scream, her eyes widening.

"NO!" I cried out as Desire smirked and tore the blade from Spite's chest.

"Bitch."

Spite fell to the ground, landing hard on her back, her eye lids already fluttering.

Desire didn't get a chance to do anything else however because at that moment the silver point of a blade tore through his chest. His eyes bulged and he slowly turned to look over his shoulder where Envy stood just behind him. His arm had transformed into a blade and he had run it right through Desire's back.

"Burn in hell." Envy growled, ripping the blade from his back. Desire fell flat on his face and was quickly still. Envy morphed his blade back to flesh as he glanced scornfully down at the dead homunculus. "Bastard."

"Spite." I hurried over to the girl. Her breathing was shallow but she was still very much alive. "Spite can you hear me?"

She grinned weakly. "I got stabbed in the chest, not the ear."

I bit my lip. "You see, this why I didn't want to activate that circle."

Spite shook her head. "Don't worry about it. I don't have much to do after all this is over. Least ways not as a homunculus."

"But we found a complete equation. We could have turned you into a human." I said.

Again she shook her head. "I died one hundred and twenty years ago. Even if I hadn't I would have been dead by now. My time long past. I didn't want to become a human." She looked up at the sky, her eyes peering into some unknown distance. "Turning Regret into a human was better. He still had something to live for. Even if I do miss him, there was a reason."

"You don't have to have people to come back to for there to be a reason." I said. "And besides, you do."

"Nah." She said. "And I don't want to stay a homunculus either. I've been dealing with those memories for so long. They're painful, near unbearable. I just can't deal with them anymore. It's too great of a burden." She looked back me. "I just ask one thing."

"What?" I asked, trying to contain my tears.

"Kill Dante. That's all I want."

"Not a problem." Envy growled from behind me.

Spite smirked. "Good." She held out a closed fist. "Give her hell, look alike."

I formed my own fist and stacked it on top of hers.

"I will. I promise."

With that her eyes lost focus and she exhaled one last time. Then she was still.

We were silent for a long time before Ed stood and walked over to the sealed entrance. He clapped his hands together and set them against the wall. The stone peeled away, revealing a passageway and a staircase leading downward.

"Let's go." He said. "There are two more homunculi and Dante left to kill. We can't waist time."

"Yeah," I nodded, tearing my eyes away from Spite and standing. "Right."

Liz: Well that was depressing.

Envy: But productive.

Ed: I know. Two down, three to go.

Spite: Hey, did anyone notice I died?

Al: Oh yeah.

Lust: That sucks.

Spite: I hate all of you.

Wrath: The audience is crying, don't worry.

Spite: Joy.

Al: REVIEW!