Marcoh and Al stopped running.

"What's going on?" Marcoh asked.

"Brother!" Al shouted. "Brother, wake up!"

They had found both Kirina and Ed lying on the ground. Nothing appeared to be wrong with them at first. It was only when they got close to them that they realized something was wrong. Their skin was cold and nearly blue and they weren't breathing much.

"Kirina?" Marcoh asked, shaking her by the shoulders. "Kirina, can you hear me?"

Al picked up Ed and shook him desperately. "Brother!"

"It's all an illusion," a voice said.

Four people stood behind them. Envy, Lust, Gluttony, and Anger.

"They think they're frozen, therefore they are," Envy continued. "We have our own Anger to thank for that."

"Break the illusion!" Al cried. "Please!"

"I can't do that," Anger said. "The illusion is so deep within their minds that even if I wanted to stop it, I couldn't anymore. That's the art of illusory alchemy."

"Illusory alchemy!" Marcoh snapped. "A fancy phrase for witchcraft."

"Yes, it isn't alchemy. It's just what we call it. Nice, right?"

Lust smiled. "We would've just killed both of them, but we needed both of them. Now all we need is the little gnome who cried like a baby."

"What do you need Ed for?" Marcoh asked.

"We have the girl's tears. Let's just say that they had a sharing of feelings. So we no longer need her. However, we need Ed because he's the only one who can transmute it successfully."

"How's he going to transmute anything if he's under a spell?"

Anger shook her head. "Not spell. Illusion. Everyone here is under an illusion."

She whistled a tune and the surroundings changed. It was a large, dark room. An eerie red glow came from one side of the room.

"Welcome to my lab," Anger said. "One way to break an illusion is through song. Sounds can penetrate the ear, but you need a brain to understand their meanings. That's how the so-called 'spell' can't be broken, Marcoh. Everything needs oxygen to survive, even the brain. And these two don't have much oxygen left in them. Not even mouth-to-mouth resuscitation would work on them at this point. They're too far gone."

Lust frowned. "Anger, what did you say? That wasn't part of the plan."

"Plan?" Al asked. "What plan?"

"The plan was to kill the girl and let the boy live," Lust said.

"You've gone too far, Anger!" Envy said. "You knew it was me who wanted to kill him. What right do you have?"

"More right than you."

Envy kicked Anger, who dodged it.

"And you have no right to kill him for something he didn't even know about," Anger said.

Anger converted her arm into a knife and slashed Envy. Envy hit Anger in the face.

"He looks like him and I can't even find him. His son will do. I obviously can't go after can man because he won't spill blood. He won't spill the blood that tortured me into this form!"

Suddenly, Ed's eyes popped open. "What?"

"Brother, you're awake!" Al exclaimed.

Ed stood up slowly and stared at Envy. "What did you say?"

Anger stopped fending off Envy. "How did you break the illusion?"

"Answer me!" Ed continued. "What are you talking about, Envy!"

"None of your business!" Envy ran toward Ed.

A hand grabbed Envy's arm. Envy turned around and someone slashed his arm.

"Loathe told you it's not Equivalent Exchange! I told you that it's not Equivalent Exchange!" Anger snapped. "Killing him won't make you human again."

Envy stood up and charged toward Ed. "Even so, I can still have revenge!"

Al grabbed his arm. "You can't hurt my brother because we never knew anything about this. We never even knew Dad, so how can you justify your cause?"

"I told you. Having his blood coursing in his tiny body is enough for me to kill him."

Anger was about to step in, but Gluttony grabbed her.

"If you move even an inch, I'll eat you," he said, his drool already melting her sleeve.

Lust charged at Marcoh. Marcoh took out a red stone and held it up. The transmutation circle etched on it caused a lightning bolt to come out.

"This doesn't concern you," Lust said. "Leave and you might live."

"Then who does it concern?"

"Envy's murder targets and the girl who cries red tears."

Marcoh picked Kirina up with one hand and held her close. "If it concerns my daughter, then it concerns me as well."

Daughter?

Kirina woke up in time to see blood being spilled. Marcoh's blood.

"Mr. Marcoh!" she exclaimed.

"It's only my arm. Don't worry. If they were the ones that hurt you, I won't let them hurt you again."

"Hold on a second," she whispered. "Take Al and get out of here. Ed and I will deal with them."

"No! This is the last time you'll behave like an adult. You're still a young girl, so deal with it."

"Then you'd better duck!"

Kirina untangled herself from Marcoh's grasp and pushed him aside. She bit her finger and drew a transmutation circle on the necklace, paralyzing Lust.

"What?" Lust asked. "What did you do? Why can't I move?"

"I'm sorry for who you are. Go now! Go beyond the gate."

The necklace crackled with sparks. For a moment, Marcoh thought he saw an image standing behind Kirina, but it faded quickly, so he figured it must've been his imagination. Slowly, Lust faded.

"Where did she go?" Marcoh asked.

"She's been sealed. Sealed beyond the gate. It's trick a learned with Khumeia."

Kirina turned to Envy. "Touch them and you'll be joining your companion."

Frowning and cursing, Envy backed away from the brothers. Kirina walked over to them.

"Are you all right?" she asked. "Ed, Al, did she hurt you?"

"I'm a guy, moron!" Envy snapped.

"Oops."

"We're fine, right, Al?" Ed asked.

Al nodded.

"Okay. Let's get the hell out of here."

As they began walking away, Envy ran toward Kirina.

"DIE!"

Ed saw this and pushed Kirina out of the way.

"ED!"

"BROTHER!"

Envy, disguised as Ed, smiled. He took the sharp arm out of Ed's back. Al grasped his brother to prevent him from falling.

"Brother! Brother, are you okay?"

"That was . . . dirty," Ed mumbled.

"I missed his vitals. He won't die. By the way, didn't you think it was all a little too easy?" Envy asked, licking the blade. "We wouldn't let you escape."

"Besides, you don't know the way," Anger said. "How can you tell what is an illusion and what is real anymore?"

"And we need payback," Gluttony said. "You killed Lust."

"Al, get your brother out of here," Kirina said. "Mr. Marcoh, would you help me?"

"Yes."

Suddenly, Envy started laughing. He continued laughing even after everyone fell silent. His laughter echoed in the semi-empty lab.

"Did he finally lose it?" Ed asked.

"You don't get it, do you?" Envy asked, still laughing. "Have you forgotten it already? The song we all know and love. Pipsqueak, you remember what happened the last time Anger sang it, right?"

Ed's eyes widened. "No . . ."

"Envy, don't!" Anger shouted.

Smiling, Envy took a deep breath and began singing.

"Itsumo no shisen ni kimi ga ite kokyuu ga dekiru Boku ni totte nara Sore dake de

Mou Juubun na hazu na no ni."

Almost immediately, Kirina started crying. Then she started screaming, as though the very sounds were hurting her.

"Kirina, what's wrong?" Marcoh asked.

"Stay back!" she shouted. "Stay away from me!"

"But, Kirina—"

"Please, stay away! I'll hurt---AHHHHHHH!"

Anger wrenched herself free from Gluttony's grasp. "Let go of me, fool, and run!"

Anger disappeared. Gluttony, however, wouldn't be able to get away in time.

"Chippoke na boku wa kurikaesu ayamachi bakari Dorehodo tsuyosa wo te ni shitara

Nani mo kizutsukezu sumu no?"

"'All little old me ever does is repeat the same old mistakes'," Ed sang. "'How much strength do I need to come by before I can get by without hurting anything?'"

"Brother, what are you doing?" Al asked.

"I know these words. Somehow, I know them," Ed whispered. "Maybe, if what Anger is doing is all an illusion, then just maybe I may be able to cancel out the effects of the song."

"Mayowazu ni Kono ai wo shinji ikiteyuku

Fusagaranu kizuguchi mo gyu'tto dakishimete."

"I'm not going to stray, I'm going to trust this love and with it I'll go on living!

I'm going to take these wounds, the ones that will not close, and squeeze them tightly!"

The glass surrounding the eerie glow began to break. A strange glop came out of it, completely surrounding Kirina. The glowing red tears somehow fused with the mysterious substance and her necklace started glowing. A bolt of lightning got out and shot Gluttony. Just like Lust, he disappeared.

"Futari wa aruki-tsuzukeru Ato ni wa modorenai kara Ima demo kono mune no oku Kesenai tsumi wa itamu kedo . . ."

"The two of us must keep on walking since we can never return again.

Even now, deep within my heart, I still feel the pain of this indelible sin . . ."

"Don't!" Kirina cried. "For the love of God, don't sing the next part!"

"Ed, stop singing," Marcoh said. "She's hurting."

"Brother, you better not. She's crying so hard and none of us can approach her."

Ed blinked and stared at Kirina. He could see her standing in the middle of the red goop, hugging herself and shaking with sobs.

Oh, no, he thought. Did I do this to her? Does that song remind her of her sin and cause her pain?

"Just one more line," Envy said.

"No. Don't!" Ed shouted.

"Darling."

At that last line, Kirina stopped screaming. She let go of her self and stared dimly at nothing. Her tears glistened on her cheeks as she turned around to face Envy.

"Die," she whispered and an electric bolt came out of the necklace, doing to Envy what it had done to the other homunculi.

The three of them stared at her. Marcoh approached her slowly.

"Kirina?" he asked. "Are you all right?"

Kirina stared at him for a moment. The illusion was fading and everyone was inside Marcoh's home. They had never really left.

"Kirina, say something!" Ed cried and took her hands.

Kirina didn't look as though she were on Earth anymore. She had a very faraway look in her eyes. After a few moments, she turned slowly to Ed.

"How long?" she whispered.

"What?"

"How long before I can get by without hurting anything?"

After that, she just collapsed in Ed's arms, still staring at him with insensible eyes.

How is everybody? Anyway, you're probably wondering why I decided to make this happen. The truth is, I don't know. I'm not good at making my point across. And I'm especially not good at creating good plots or anything like that. That's why this chapter isn't very well-written. And Loathe is someone that will be appearing in other fanfics. Well, it won't make an actual appearance where it speaks, but it will be mentioned. Loathe has something to do with everybody. And the reason I'm calling Loathe "it" is because I want its gender to be a secret until it actually makes an appearance.