"Brother…?"

"Yeah, Al?" Ed slipped his hands into his pockets.

"Do you believe what Colonel Mustang said? That Sin is no longer with the Deadly Sins?"

"No. I wouldn't believe a word of what Mustang says at the moment. He's blinded by Hughes' death."

"Well, they were friends. It's only natural that he wants to find Hughes' killer. And he was right; since Hughes' killer was a Deadly Sin, naturally it's the military's main priority right now—"

"This theory of his doesn't really check out, Al. I mean, think about it: according to Mustang, this impostor Jordan Limfour killed Hughes, right? Well, then why didn't Limfour cover his tracks? Just kill Mustang, or something? And we don't even know if Limfour is even a Deadly Sin. For all we know, Limfour could just be some crazy wacko running loose."

"But isn't it possible that after we learn that Envy can transform into other identities that she transformed into someone else and shot Mayes Hughes after he learned about a Deadly Sin spy in the military?"

Ed smoothed back his bangs. "I guess it's possible, but that still leaves one major question."

"Why didn't anyone check Limfour's records and see that he was already dead?"

"And even more curious…"

"Now that Colonel Mustang has shared his theories with his superiors, why don't they check into Jordan Limfour's records?"

"Exactly. I think it's time we checked into this game, Al. We need to track down the Deadly Sins, find Hughes' murderer, and make sure that we're covering our tracks the entire time."

Al nodded.

"But first…"

"Yes, Brother?"

Ed slumped. "Let's get a room and something to eat. I'm starving…!"

Al sighed. "You never change. Come on. I think I saw an inn on the way from the train station." He gestured in the direction that they had come from.

"Okay." Ed and Al walked over towards the train station. When they didn't see anything for about thirty minutes, Ed turned to Al, annoyed. "So where's this inn you saw?"

"Uhh…umm…" Al looked all around. "I thought I saw one…OH!" he lifted up a finger in thought. "I remember where I saw an inn!"

Ed waited for the answer. "And this place would be…?"

Al looked around again. "Uhhh…that way." He pointed back towards the town.

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?"

"I-I'm sorry, Brother! I know it's this way, I KNOW it is!" he started running towards the town. Ed, dragging behind but still fuming, ran after him.

"YOU BETTER BE SURE!" he screamed. "It's too damn hot to not be sure…" so for the next hour, they trudged around the entire city of Kraeyensburg looking for an inn to stay for the week.

Finally, Ed collapsed under the cool shade of a street bar. "I GIVE UP!" he moaned. "It's gotta be over 110 degrees here, Al! I can't move another inch!"

"The inn has to be here somewhere…"

Ed shot him an angry look. "THAT'S WHAT YOU SAID FOR THE LAST HOUR!"

"It's not healthy to be wandering around in 100 degree weather wearing a trench coat and black pants for an extended amount of time, you know."

"Yeah, well we wouldn't have had to do that if metal brain here were—wait…" Ed turned around to see who the voice was.

"Sin!" Al gasped. He instinctively drew nearer to his brother out of protection.

Sin half-smiled. "Yeah. If you guys need a room, you can come to my place. I have a pretty big apartment building, and they're renting."

"No, we're actually just staying for the week. We don't need your hospitality." Ed's voice was grave, and he wore a scowl on his face.

"Fine." she turned to go, but then turned back around. "By the way, there's an inn right behind you." She pointed towards the building that Ed was standing in front of. "Have a nice week, and try not to get killed." She turned around and started to walk off.

"Wait!" Al stopped her. "We're really sorry. Thank you for pointing out the inn to us. We were going around in circles."

"Yeah, I could see that." She added coldly. "See you boys later."

"What do you mean, 'boys'!" Ed cut in. "I'm seventeen and Al's sixteen!"

"Oh, you're right. Al's the man here."

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY THAT?"

"What does it sound like I mean, shrimp? You look like a boy, and you even act like one. Your brother is acting older than you are right now, you know."

"You don't know anything!" cried Al. "Brother's been stronger than I have through everything we've been through together! I can't think of anyone who would have been stronger than him in our situation."

Sin opened her mouth to say something, but stopped. She shrugged. "You're right. I don't know anything about what you've been through over the past few years, but I know how you got your soul stuck to that armor, Al." She turned to Ed. "And I know how you got an automail arm and leg. But I don't know about what happened after that. I'm sorry." She turned and started to leave when Al took her arm.

"But we know nothing about you." Al pointed out.

"You know so much about us," Ed walked over to her. "But we want to know what happened to you. What happened for you to have a long life? Why did you try it?"

Sin snarled and pulled away from Al's grasp. But as she did so, her glove got caught on Al's armor, so it was pulled off. Both brothers gasped.

Sin's arm was made entirely of automail, just like Ed's.

Almost automatically, Sin yanked her glove from Al's hand and quickly put it back on.

"What the hell do you think you're trying to pull!" she yelled.

"You were a failed human transmutation, weren't you?" Ed said calmly. "That's why you became a homunculus. But…why is your arm automail?"

"No." she pulled off her other glove. "Two arms—" and then she rolled up both of her pants. "—And two legs. All of my limbs are automail." Ed looked down.

"How?" he muttered. "How is it possible? I thought homunculi could never lose any of their limbs."

"I thought that would be obvious," Sin said, putting her gloves back on and rolling down her pant legs. "I was brought back whole, but lost them."

Ed frowned in frustration. "That's not possible, at least in the homunculi we've seen."

"Which is why you've never seen me. Dante gave me the red stones, but there was one flaw in her plan. The stones were faulty. She had created, quite literally, a monster. It would not obey her commands, and it roamed freely, collecting the homunculi that Dante had created and uniting them under its command. That monster was I."

Ed clenched his fists. "Then what happened?"

Al could tell that his brother was both curious and disgusted.

Sin shrugged. "I thought that that, too, would be obvious. Dante found my weakness. I was buried close to Central, and she dug up my bones. But, unlike the homunculi you have seen, I was only turned mortal. This monster that Dante had created amazed her, but, nonetheless, she had to destroy it." Sin's golden orbs glazed with the memory. "But she failed. She cut off all of its limbs and left it for dead, assuming that it would die within minutes. Indeed, that would have been true, if it had not been for a stranger helping the monster. The stranger took the monster under his wing and gave its life meaning again. Thus, I was born. You see, the monster and I are not the same person, Ed."

"Who was the stranger?"

"It's none of your business." She snapped, glaring at him.

"But—" started Al

"No 'buts'." Sin turned away. "Just leave me alone." And then she walked off, hands in her pant pockets.