Two weeks had passed since the incident, but Ed couldn't stop thinking about it. Large portions of his memory were blank. Finally, he decided to go talk to Kirina and see what she thought.

"I can tell you one thing," Kirina said and looked up from her book. "It's no accident we can't really remember what happened."

"How can you tell?" Al asked.

They were sitting together at a table in a far corner in the library. Kirina sighed and closed her book.

"For one, it doesn't make sense. I don't feel the need to apologize anymore."

"Need to apologize?" Ed asked.

Kirina glared at him. "Don't play stupid. I know you read my diary." Her expression softened. "If I don't have that feeling anymore, I must've apologized. Minds are so complicated. I wish it were easy to break down, just like a base metal or something. Memories are complicated as well."

"Anger must've done something," Al said. "She said she knew illusory alchemy."

"That's right. I bet she made us forget what happened."

"It's still confusing, though." Kirina folded her arms. "Sound is recognized when it penetrates the ear drums. The ear sends information up to the brain to be interpreted and we can identify what sound we heard. And that's a good explanation for me and Ed, but Al, no offense, I'm not sure that this applies to you as well."

"What do you mean?" Al asked.

"Yeah, what do you mean, Kirina?" Ed asked, his voice slightly more challenging.

"It's just . . . how can we even begun to figure out how you can speak and hear, Al. Is it all just the will of your soul or what?" Kirina unfolded her arms and laid her head on the table. "Sorry. I didn't mean to say that. I guess I made you feel like some sort of weird alchemical experiment."

"It's okay," Al responded.

The threesome remained quiet for a long time.

"There's something else wrong, isn't there?" Ed asked finally.

Kirina looked up at nodded.

"'Ima demo kono mune no oku kesenai tsumi wa itamu kedo'," she mumbled. "'Even now, the inerasable sin deep in my chest hurts. . .'" "Why?" "Ed, Al, why did you two try to bring your mother back to life?"

"Because we loved her and wanted to see her smile," Al said.

"We missed her," Ed added

"Ed, remember when I said that you had a good heart and you told me that the only reason I thought so highly of you was because I didn't know you very well and that if I knew the real you, I wouldn't think about you the same way? Well, you were wrong."

"Why?"

"Because you actually had a good reason for wanting your mother back. My only reason for wanting my parents back was pure selfishness and fear of being alone. I didn't know my parents that well and they didn't know me that well. We only knew each other for about five years. How was I supposed to know whether I loved them or not?"

"That's why you wanted to apologize to the homunculi?"

"Yeah. It wasn't fair that I brought them into such a miserable existence just because I was scared of being alone. What's worse, I don't even remember what my real parents look like. When I want to picture them, all I see are the homunculi. It's like when I want to feel the dirt between my toes. I can't. Even though I have prosthetic toes and they work perfectly well, I still can't feel them. When I remember my biological father, all I see is the flash of a transmutation. When I remember my mother, all I see are herbs. I just can't remember them at all, no matter how hard I try."

"Kirina, Ed said that you made the Philosopher's Stone and got rid of it because it was giving you nightmares, right?" Al said. "But why didn't you use it to repair yourself? You know, to make yourself fully human?"

Kirina stared at her hand and traced a particularly deep scar. "To remind myself of the sin. Even if I could return myself to unsullied flesh and blood, I'm sure these scars would still remain." She smiled ruefully.

Ed reached across the table and grabbed her hand. Kirina looked up with surprise.

"Ed, what are---?"

Ed traced one of the scars. The scar felt smooth and bumpy at the same time. It was flesh pink and, like the rest of the scars, stood out from Kirina's normally pale skin. He turned the hand to see the palm. On the fingers were crescent-shaped scars from bits, but the palm was surprisingly smooth and untouched.

"It hurt, didn't it?" he whispered.

"Yes."

"All of the scars, did they occur slowly?"

"At first, yes. Then they happened faster and faster. The faster they occurred, the more they hurt." Kirina's voice became softer and softer until Ed and Al could barely hear her. "They hurt as though someone had poured burning oil onto my flesh. When your leg was taken and when you sacrificed your arm for Al, did it also hurt?"

"Yeah."

Kirina laughed softly. "This is going to sound stupid, but I guess this proves adults right. When they tell you not to do something, it's for your own good."

Ed let go of her hand. "Don't be ridiculous. What would they know?"

"Well, I happen to know we're only kids. We're both fifteen and Al's fourteen now, but all this stuff, this painful stuff, happened when we were younger. But I guess there's nothing we can do now."

"Yep. Just gotta keep living."

Kirina stood up. "Let's get out of here. It's too stuffy."

As they walked out of the library and down the steps. Ed turned toward Kirina.

"Kirina?"

"What is it, Ed?"

"Remember when you asked us if we ever dreamed?"

"Uh-huh."

"Well, if you're still wondering, I had a dream yesterday."

Kirina smiled teasingly. "I thought you said you didn't dream."

"Well, I did. And we were all in it." Ed's voice dropped to a whisper. "We were . . . happy."

"Hopefully, it won't only stay a dream.

Ed nodded. "Yeah."

Kirina took Ed's hand and placed a scrap of paper in his palm.

"What is it?" Ed asked, unfolding the scrap of paper.

"Directions."

Ed looked up. "To what?"

"You still want to get you and your brother's bodies back to normal, right? Well, go to Beyond the Door. Find Ekaterina or Yasuko. I'm sure either one will help you."

Ed grinned. "Thanks."

To be continued in The Land Beyond the Door.

And this story comes to an end (more or less). Hope you enjoyed and if you actually read it thanks! The three remaining stories will have the titles of the ending themes songs for Fullmetal Alchemist, so look for them or else! Just kidding. Bye-bye!