For a moment, Kirina and Marcoh stared at each other.

"You really don't remember?" Marcoh asked.

Kirina shook her head. "No," she replied. "The years after my fifth birthday and last week are lost to me. However, you look familiar. Yet, I can't quite put my finger on it."

Marcoh's eyes fell on the quartz pendent. "You still have that?"

Kirina unclasped the pendant and stared at it. "I don't remember why I have this or even if it's mine. I don't know why my spine is made out of metal. However, I do know why I have these scars."

"What happened? To cause the scars, I mean."

"It was dark." Kirina frowned, thinking hard. "I remember that hail was falling. There were no sounds but those of nature. An odd night indeed."

The door swung open. Marcoh and Ed gasped.

"Basque Gran!" Marcoh exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm looking for the pathetic excuse of an alchemist. The one that lost her memories."

"Are you looking for me, sir?" Kirina asked, stepping forward.

Gran turned to Kirina and she gasped. Her eyes grew so wide that there seemed to be no eyelids left. She backed away from the brigadier general, gasping.

"What's wrong?" Ed asked.

"It's him," Kirina whispered, frowning. "He killed them!"

"What? What are you talking about?"

"This bastard killed my parents!"

Marcoh turned to Gran. "Is this true?"

"How the hell am I supposed to know? There were plenty that I killed. So what if her parents were among them?" Gran walked toward Kirina and grabbed her arm. He scowled at her and twisted her arm. Kirina screamed.

"What the hell are you doing?" Ed demanded, trying to get him to let go of her arm.

"Now I remember her. She is the Quartz Alchemist. The little upstart who everybody loved."

Kirina screamed even louder as her arm made a loud cracking sound.

"Kirina!" Marcoh said and ran toward her. He grabbed her and pulled her away from the brigadier general.

"Out of the way, Crystal Alchemist!" Gran said.

"No. You leave my daughter alone!"

"She's not your daughter! She's a war orphan."

"I've protected her for five years. She is my daughter."

Ed transmuted his arm into a sword.

"Get away from both of them!" he snapped. "What the hell is your problem? Why did you break her arm?"

"Same reason I tore out her spine."

Ed gasped. "What!"

"I hate her. With him gone, I thought I could finally have my revenge on her. Then I found out that Dr. Marcoh left her in Colonel Mustang's care. However, the foolish girl ran away and that's when I got my chance."

So that's why that entry comes to a sudden halt in her diary, Ed thought. And those bloodstains. He was the one who ripped out Kirina's spine.

"You bas!"

Ed charged at Gran, who merely stopped his assault with a fist.

"Want me to show you exactly how I ripped out her spine?"

Gran ripped the back of Ed's shirt and grabbed a handful of flesh.

"Ow, ow, ow!" Ed shouted. "Let go!"

Gran grabbed the bone that protruded out of Ed's back. Ed gasped. This pain was different from the normal burning sensations. This was some sort of paralysis. Ed felt himself go numb and slip to the ground.

"That's how," Gran said, smiling. "Now to finish you off."

A sudden bolt of electricity made Gran stand back. He looked up and saw Marcoh holding a heart-shaped quartz stone.

"Stay away from them," he said. "Stay away from my daughter and her friend. You have no right to take their lives."

"What are you going to do?" Gran asked. "Shock me."

"The obsidian gives the quartz power, making this quartz pendant even stronger than anything Kirina could ever enhance."

"You're saying something that just grew out of a rock can shock me to smithereens."

"Yes, and I'm not afraid to use it. You will not harm them."

Gran smiled. "Next time I come, there will be more damage than a broken arm and a paralyzed boy," he said.

Cackling madly, he walked out the door and left.

"Ow . . ."

"Are you awake?" a soft voice asked.

Ed opened his eyes and saw Kirina staring down at him. Her arm was bandaged and in a sling.

"Yeah, I think," Ed responded, sitting up in the bed. "My back feels kind of sore, though."

"It'll be like that for a few hours," Marcoh said, handing Ed a cup of water. "Do you feel better? Can you sit up? Can you stand?"

"Yeah, I think so."

"Brother, why'd you leave without saying anything?"

The water Ed had just drunk went down the wrong pipe as he saw Al across the room.

"Al!" he exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"

"Kirina told me that you were visiting Dr. Marcoh and we got here as fast as we could. Well, Kirina ran all the way here and I couldn't catch up to her." Al walked over to Ed. "Why's you leave without saying anything, idiot!"

"Hey, what's with the attitude?"

"Dr. Marcoh told me that the brigadier general was here and he nearly killed both of you. Ed, why do you always do this? Why do you always try to do things by yourself? One of these days, you're going to get yourself killed and then what? What will happen to me, brother?"

"How is it that you two are so alike?" Marcoh asked, sitting down at a table and staring at Kirina and Ed. "Why do you try such dangerous things that will most likely get you killed? You're only a couple of children. All three of you are only children."

Ed, Al, and Kirina stared at the ground with embarrassment.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Marcoh," Kirina whispered. "I remember you in some sort of detail." She smiled and hugged him with her free arm. "You're my father who cared for me for five years."

"So you did know him!" Ed exclaimed.

"In some sort of detail, yes."

"Sit down, Kirina," Marcoh said, standing up and fetching a stone.

Kirina took a deep, shuddering breath. "The incomplete Philosopher's Stone you forged."

"You're still afraid of this, aren't you?"

"Not much."

"Okay. Hold still."

Kirina closed her eyes as the stone began glowing.

"All done."

Kirina opened her eyes and unwrapped the bandages from around her arm. "Thank you."

"Now, tell me what happened, Kirina. How did you get those scars? Was it human transmutation or were you trying to do something you knew was strictly forbidden?"

Kirina smiled sheepishly. "A little of both."

"Now, Ed tells me you know how to create the stone without hurting anyone. Is this true?"

"Yes."

"How?"

Kirina made a face of pure disgust. "I know you told me not to. The first time I tampered with the stone was when I was about three, I think. The second time was before you left. The ingredients I used to make the semi perfect Celestial Stone were---ugh, I can't even say them. I don't know what's worse: using live human beings or using their remains."

"You did what!" Ed, Al, and Marcoh exclaimed.

"I dug up the graves of people and used their remains to create the Celestial Stone. It was the day before you left, Mr. Marcoh, when I tried it out."

"That must've been some smelly job," Ed said.

"Kirina, where did you get the idea to create the Philosopher's Stone using human remains?" Al asked.

"I figured since the recipe called for live human beings, why not use their remains? Of course, that didn't pan out and that's why I've got this curse with me."

"Your tears, right?" Ed asked.

Kirina nodded. "I don't know how it happened. When you mess up, isn't it more likely to lose than to gain? That's what I thought when I first saw my tears. To be honest, they scared the living heck out of me. They looked and smelled so much like blood, but they tasted salty so I figured they were tears. And that's why they're after me. That's when I understood they were a curse."

"They're after your tears?" Marcoh asked. "But why? What's the use of watching a child cry?"

Kirina paused for a moment and then answered.

"They're the missing ingredient in the Celestial Stone."

The threesome gasped.

"How?" Marcoh asked. "How is that possible?"

"Beats me. I don't understand it myself. I figure there must be some sort of protein or chemical that makes the tears red and whatever it is is the missing ingredient. I tried them out to make the stone and it worked. It was perfect."

"Where is it now, Kirina?" Ed asked. "Where's the stone?"

"I destroyed it."

Ed's face fell. "What? But why?"

Kirina trembled. "Because that's when some of my old memories returned. It was when I was in that abandoned house. I had the stone in my possession and the blood was activating it. It was like a slideshow. Then a voice started to sing 'Kesenai Tsumi' and it all vanished except for the old memories. Now I have half of my old memories and half of my new memories. I still don't know who I am. Am I Kirina Miracle or Kimiya Mimosa?"

Kirina stood up and ran out the door.

"Where are you going?" Marcoh asked.

Ed ran outside and followed her.

"Kimiya, wait! Kimiya!"

Ed lost sight of her. He continued running through the small town until he reached a dark place. The place was undistinguishable. Was it a house or a forest?

"Kimiya?" Ed called.

Ed heard a scream and ran towards it. It was there that he saw Envy, who was holding Kirina. Envy, in the shape of Ed, was threatening to slit Kirina's throat. Kirina stared at Ed, wide-eyed and trembling.

"Let her go," Ed said, trying to sound brave.

"Aw, why should I?" Envy asked. "Don't you think it be fun to watch her die? And she is going to be killed by one of her friends. Isn't that nice?"

Ed clasped his hands to transmute his arms, but Envy drew the blade closer toward Kirina's throat until it was only a paper's width length away.

"I wouldn't come any closer if I were you. Oh, wait. I am you."

Ed stood frozen to the spot he was standing on. If he moved, Kirina would be killed. If he didn't . . . it was definitely a lose-lose situation.

"Follow me."

Envy started walking, dragging Kirina along with him. Ed followed. With each step he took, the temperature seemed to fall. Suddenly, Envy stopped.

"Where are we?" Ed asked. "It's freezing."

"It should be." Envy let go of Kirina and she fell down a dark pit. Ed ran toward her, holding out his hand in a desperate attempt to catch her.

"KIRINA!"

Kirina's screams vanished. Ed stood staring and gasping. Suddenly, he felt someone kick him in the back and he, too, fell. All that was heard after that was a shrill whistle.

I'm back again! Yay! (Actually, not yay. I have so much homework!) I can no longer check my e-mails, but that's okay in a weird sort of way. So if you want to ask me something, either send me a message or write it in a commentary. Ah, I can't wait for the holiday season. All the giving and warmth of the holiday season melts the ice around the heart. Plus, no school! By the way, if one of you readers said something and I confused it with someone else, I deeply apologize. I can barely remember my own name half the time, so don't feel offended if I forget yours. Sumimasen!