"Ed?" Kirina whispered. "Are you alive?"

"Yeah."

"Where are you?" Kirina held out her hand.

Ed grasped it. "I'm here."

Kirina shivered and drew closed toward Ed. Both held each other close. It hadn't taken them long to realize that they were in some sort of refrigerated cellar. The lights were extremely dim and they couldn't see anything well. What they did fin out was that the room was small, no larger than eight feet and no wider than ten.

"It's freezing. We should stay close together."

"It's probably -19 degrees Celsius and it's only getting colder."

Kirina blew on her hands and rubbed them. "Are they planning on making us human popsicles?"

Ed rolled his eyes. "Cute thought, Kimiya."

"Um, please call me Kirina."

"Okay."

"If we get out of this alive, I'll tell you everything."

"Everything?"

"So they'll be no more secrets."

"Why not now?" Ed laughed uneasily. "I mean, it's not like we'll use up all the air in this place. And maybe our breaths will warm this place up."

"You start," Kirina said.

"Why can't you?" Ed demanded.

"Because I told you to start!" Kirina snapped.

"But it was your idea!"

"Fine." Kirina sighed. "My family and I lived in a small, unknown village. They were both alchemists, even though my mother was an Ishbalan. One day, we were walking and out of nowhere, bullets start flying."

Kirina trembled in Ed's arms and he held her tightly.

"I closed my eyes and when I opened them they . . . well, you know."

"Say it, Kirina," Ed whispered gently. "Get it off your chest."

Kirina swallowed and said in a hushed voice, "Fine. They were dead. Completely dead." She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand.

"You tried to bring them back, didn't you?"

"Uh-huh."

"How old were you?"

"I had just turned five."

"And what happened?"

"Uh, I can't remember. It's still buried to deep in my consciousness. But I can assure you that whatever it was probably scarred me for life."

Ed nodded understandably. "Somehow, Dr. Marcoh found you and he raised you and took care of you for a while, right?"

"Yes."

"Then what?"

"I met a woman named Khumeia."

"Khumeia?"

"Yes. I learned more alchemy. Illusory alchemy, which is more like saying I learned witchcraft."

"And?"

"I stayed with her for only a few years. One day, she just disappeared and that's when I decided to become a State Alchemist."

"You passed the written test and everything, didn't you? But why? Why did you decide to become a State Alchemist?"

"It might sound old-fashioned, even stupid perhaps, but I needed to apologize. I wanted to apologize to the homunculi for creating them."

"Isn't that a little insensitive? It's like telling a bastard child 'I'm sorry you were born'."

"It's sad, I know, and perhaps hurtful, but I felt like I was the one who had hurt them. They were only replacements and, as you know, no one can replace anybody. And they can never die. Now you talk."

"My mom died when I was eleven. I guess that's when I got the stupid idea to bring her back, so I convinced Al to help me and what happened is what you see today. The end."

"Tell me the truth," Kirina scolded. "When you saw the homunculus, what did it look like?"

As soon as the words were out of Kirina's mouth, she felt Ed freeze up.

"What's wrong?" she asked gently.

"It was horrible," he whispered, his voice shaking.

"What was?"

"The homunculi. It stared at me. It stared at me with gaping eyes. It just stared. And stared . . . Oh, God!"

Ed untangled himself from Kirina's grasp and stood up. He walked away from her with his head bowed. Kirina could tell from the little gasps that he was crying.

"Please, don't cry," she said and walked over to him.

Suddenly, her own eyes filled with tears and she began to cry as well. Ed turned around and held her close, sobbing. Kirina did the same. They held on to each other as if the world would crumble if they let each other go.

"Mom wasn't the only one who died. There was also a girl named Nina," Ed sobbed.

"Nina?"

"When I became a State Alchemist, Al and I moved in with Shou Tucker, the Sewing-Life Alchemist. He had a little girl named Nina and a dog named Alexander. And he . . . he. . ."

"Yes?"

"He turned them into a chimera. And then Nina was killed. After that, a serial killer kidnapped Winry. When I went to rescue her, he tried to kill me. And---"

"No!" Kirina cried. "Please, don't say anymore."

"Why?"

"You're only hurting yourself. Let's just stay this way for a while. Just let it all go away."

Both sank to their knees, still holding each other. They cried for a long time, hoping their tears would make their sorrows ebb away.

Kirina opened her eyes slowly, unaware of what was happening. She remembered, though. She was lying on the ground, her arms still wrapped around Ed and Ed's wrapped around her. She found herself face to face with Ed. His face had streaks of ice from the frozen tears and his hair had nearly turned white with ice.

"Hey," he whispered, his breath creating a little cloud. "Morning."

"How long has it been?" Kirina asked in the same whisper.

"Don't know. Can't exactly tell what time it is when no sunlight shines through any windows."

"Can you let go?"

"Can't. I think we got frozen."

Kirina laughed quietly. "If anybody sees us, they're going to get the wrong idea."

Both laughed a little uneasily.

"By the way, if you're still interested in the Celestial Stone, I know another place you could look."

"Where? Tell me."

Kirina smiled. "Maybe I will and maybe I won't."

Ed groaned. "Come on! This is no time for jokes."

"All right. When I was little, a woman named Ekaterina came to us. I can't remember the exact circumstances, but I'm pretty sure that she said that she and her people were also working on the Celestial Stone and that they were almost finished."

"Really?"

"Yes. No joke, Ed, and she was dead serious about it."

"So where did she live?"

"Door."

"What!"

"She specifically said 'Door', but maybe it stands for something. Anyway, I can't be sure of where it is."

Ed sighed. "I'm amazed we haven't died."

"I feel numb, don't you?" Kirina asked.

"Yeah, I can't feel anything. I don't think there's anymore warmth left in us."

Kirina felt herself growing sleepy. She blinked several times, scattering a light dusting of ice that had gathered on her eyelashes. "If we fall asleep one more time, we might not wake up."

"True, but what can we do. We're frozen to the ground."

"I don't know. Are we really going to die here?"

"We can't." Two tears rolled down Ed's face and froze when they even hit the ground. "We can't die. What'll happen to Al?"

Kirina closed her eyes, trying to keep her own tears inside. "We won't die. I swear."