Manami didn't stay at the Hughes Estate for dinner that evening, much to Gracia and Elicia's dismay. Manami couldn't bring herself to eat now, even if she wanted to. She instead made up some excuse that she had to leave early and headed out after changing into a tank top and some sweat pants.

When she returned to the hotel, Manami quietly went into her own room, not even checking to see if Ed or Al had returned. She walked into her room and let the door shut behind her, not even thinking to lock it behind her as she went to kick her shoes off and flopped face-first onto her bed.

She didn't bother turning on the light… she just didn't care.

She just wanted to lay there, shut her eyes, and do nothing… be nothing.

When Manami opened her eyes, she found herself on that same hill in Resembool, with the same tall grass swaying in the wind around her.

Her eyes narrowed. This dream again…

Though immediately, Manami noticed a difference. When her friends passed her to run down the hill, she wouldn't normally be able to see their faces, but this time… Edward, Alphonse, and Winry turned to look back and flash her big smiles.

"Come on, slowpokes!"

"It's dinner time!"

Manami felt someone run past her, and from the blur of brown hair similar to her own, she could tell that it was her younger sister, Shiori. She hesitated to follow her, because this was always the part where Shiori would start coughing, so harshly that she would fall to her knees and…

But that wasn't happening this time. Manami blinked once, and all the sounds around her had stopped.

No wind in the grass, no birds or grasshoppers chirping... Just utter silence.

It was eerie.

Manami looked up and noticed that Ed, Al, and Winry had disappeared as well. Only Shiori remained, standing a few feet in front of her. She stood still like a statue, her back still facing her.

"..." Manami slowly approached her, wondering if it was even worth it to reach out for her. She never would be able to touch her.

Despite her thoughts, her body moved on its own, her arm slowly lifting up to reach for her sister.

"Shiori..?"

This had been the closest she had ever gotten… s he gasped softly when she felt her hand finally land on Shiori's shoulder. She felt her sister flinch to her touch, and she started to turn her head to look back at her.

Manami's smile quickly faded and her eyes widened in horror at the sight of her sister's face… or lack thereof.

There were no eyes or nose. Just a mouth, with a wide grin stretching from ear to ear.

Manami let out a yelp as she quickly retracted her hand. She blinked again, and everything around her was suddenly white. Her sister remained in front of her, but her body disintegrated until it revealed to be...

The white silhouette that was Truth.

"Hahaha… HAHAHAHAHAHA!" They cackled as Manami heard a door opening behind her.

Usually she would let whatever was inside that door just take her... but for some reason, she tried running this time.

"Why bother running?! You've done this yourself!"

Manami felt the tendrils wrap around her ankles, causing her to fall flat on her face. She gripped at the ground under her, desperately trying to dig her fingers, her nails, anything into the ground to anchor herself… but she failed, and she was dragged back towards the giant gate.

"Face your sin, alchemist!"

"No!" Manami cried out, feeling the tendrils wrap around her torso now, binding her arms tightly. She squinted her eyes shut.

"Please… let me wake up!"

She opened her eyes again to find that she was now in a black void, but noticed that she was no longer bound by the tendrils. She looked around until she saw two people standing nearby, their backs facing her.

But her eyes widened when she realized who they were.

"Mom..? Dad..?"

They both turned to face her, full faces looking back and smiling fondly at her. They opened their arms, in a kind and welcoming way.

Manami breathed a small sigh of relief as she ran to them, throwing herself into their arms. For a moment, she could even smell the familiar scent.

But then she felt them start to tremble.

"..?" Manami looked up to see not her mom and dad, but the two-headed beast she created in the failed human transmutation.

Her parents' bodies, twisted and deformed .

"!" Manami grunted as she tried desperately to pull out of their embrace, but it only made their grip around her tighten more.

"Ma… na… mi..!" The heads gurgled, like some sort of hellish reptile.

"L-Let me go!" Manami cried.

But the beast didn't release her. Instead, the two heads lifted their heads to let out an ear-piercing screech before opening their jaws wide, then each sunk their teeth into both sides of her neck.

"GAAAAH!" Manami squinted her eyes shut and screamed as hard as she could.

"... Manami..!" Another voice called for her, but she kept flailing around, desperately trying to get out of the grip.

"No! No! Get away!" Manami shrieked, still vividly in her nightmare.

"Manami..! Wake up..!"

"NO!"

CLANG!

Manami finally regained her vision the moment she felt her clenched fist hit something hard enough to make her hand throb. She was still in a panic, panting heavily as sweat rolled down her face. Her eyes darted around the room, trying to make sense of where she was…

She wasn't even on her bed. At some point, she had fallen onto the cold, wooden floor… and then she looked up to see Al hovering over her.

"M-Manami…" He sounded scared. "L-Listen to my voice, you were having a nightmare..!"

"But…" Manami whimpered, her eyes moving down as her shoulders started to visibly shake. "But it…"

"It's over now… you're okay..."

But Manami wasn't okay. She let out a choked sob, quickly lifting her shaky hands over her face to hide her face.

"I didn't mean… I just…" She tried to make words, but she couldn't... for she could no longer hold back her sobs.

That nightmare was usually realistic already, but that one was worse than she ever had before. She couldn't stop shaking. She couldn't stop crying.

Al slowly reached out to wrap his arms around her, trying not to be too constrictive as he pulled her towards his chest plate in a hug.

"You're safe…" He said softly, holding her as she sobbed as hard as she could for a long while.

He was very familiar with Ed waking up from nightmares screaming, in a cold sweat. He never could offer comfort like this to his brother, but often times he wished he could. Manami's case was the worst he had seen of someone having a nightmare though… whatever she was dreaming, she saw it vividly, to where she thrashed and even hit him.

He wasn't offended by it, but moreso worried if she had hurt herself.

It took a while for Manami calm down, but she eventually quieted down to soft sniffles until she went silent completely— to where Al started to wonder if she had fallen asleep like this.

"... I'm sorry…" She finally spoke, eliminating any of those suspicions.

"Don't be…" Al replied quietly, pulling away to look down at her, but she wouldn't— couldn't look back up at him.

"Are you okay now..?"

"... no…"

"If it'll help… you can talk to me about it…" Al offered.

Manami was quiet for another brief moment.

"... I learned what really happened…" She finally said, after what felt like forever.

"Huh?"

"My mom and dad… I know what happened to them now."

"... when did you find out..?" Al dared to ask.

"... wh-when I helped Ed open the portal to get out of Gluttony's stomach…" Manami confessed. "I went through my own portal. I asked Truth what really happened…"

Her shoulders started to tremble again.

"How come… you didn't say anything before?" Al asked. He knew he was right in feeling like something was wrong with her earlier today...

"... wh-when Ed said that saw your body… that's a really good thing..!" Manami said, trying to sound happy. "I… I didn't want to take away from that."

"That doesn't mean you should've tried burdening this all by yourself..."

"I thought I was ready for the truth… but…" Manami took a shaky breath. "I-I wasn't strong enough for it…"

Her voice wavered. "Their souls were taken as the toll, their bodies were dragged into the rebound, and they were turned into that thing..!" She let out another sob and went to cover her face again.

"It's all because of me..! And there's nothing I can do..!" She cried. "I-I don't know how I can live with myself..!"

Al had no idea what to say… how could he? He and Ed were lucky enough to where nobody else was involved in their human transmutation but the two of them… the only ones who got hurt were the ones who deserved it.

He knew how much the guilt ate at him and his brother… he couldn't remotely imagine how she felt. The guilt wasn't just eating at her… it was consuming her— and it broke his heart.

"... I'm here for you…" He said quietly. "I'll be here all night if you need me to be…"

"I don't deserve it…" Manami shook her head. "I wish… I just stayed in Gluttony's stomach and rotted…"

"Don't say that..!" Al pleaded.

But Manami said nothing.

"... Manami… I can't put into words how I was terrified I was, thinking that I might not ever see you ever again…" Al's voice wavered, and his grip around her tightened. "The thought of losing you again… even now, its too much to bear…"

Once again, Manami didn't respond, leaving the room to fill with silence.

"... I want to help you… I want to take this pain away from you… I want to see you smile again…" Al whispered. "But… I can't do anything…"

"You're doing plenty…" Manami finally spoke up, her voice low. "It's just… none of us can do anything about this… I'm a murderer, and I have to take that to my grave."

"..." Al grew quiet, thinking for a moment before pulling away from her so that he could look down at her.

"Did I ever you… about a little girl we used to know? Her name was Nina…"

"..." Manami shook her head, her eyes still glued to the floor.

"She was a little older than Elicia." Al started. "Her father was a State Alchemist, known for his research and creating of chimeras… eventually we found out that he once created a chimera using his wife, but it wasn't until… he had already created another chimera, by fusing Nina and their dog…"

"..?" Manami slowly looked up at him, seeing that the red orbs weren't shining, meaning that he had closed his eyes.

"Brother and I couldn't return her to normal… and we really took it hard… we blamed ourselves. We still do." He mumbled. "I still think about her... every day."

His red orbs finally reappeared to meet her eyes.

"But... we had to accept that she's gone… we had to accept that we would bear that burden, along with the burden of failing to bring mom back, all the way to our graves…" He paused. "But… we also had to accept that did all we could, and we had to forgive ourselves for the rest."

Manami's eyes widened a little.

"It doesn't have to be tonight… tomorrow… or next week… but you have to work to forgive yourself, Manami… for everything you've done and regret now." Al said to her. "If you don't… the guilt will just eat you alive. I just…" He shook his head.

"I didn't want to see it happen to brother… and I definitely don't want to see it happen to you."

"..." Manami looked down to the floor again. She felt her eyes went up with tears again and she slowly reached up to wipe them away.

"... wh-when did you get so wise..?" She asked quietly, sniffling afterwards.

"After a few years of being alone with my thoughts every night…" Al replied, trying not to sound sad about it.

"..." Manami sniffled again. "... I'm sorry…"

"Don't be." Al shook his head. "I don't want anything that's going on with us, good or bad, make you feel like you can't talk to us… or to me."

"You're much easier to talk to than your brother…" Manami chuckled weakly.

"Brother is supportive in a different way, that's all." Al said with a soft chuckle of his own. "He's just usually more helpful with his actions than his words. But he means just as well… even if he is asleep right now."

But he was happy to see that he had made her chuckle, even if it was a small one. Even the slightest smile on her face made him happy.

"How he didn't wake up from me screaming, I have no idea…" Manami mumbled.

"You'd be surprised." Al let out another chuckle. "Brother sleeps like a rock."

But little did they know, Ed was out in the hallway, his back against the wall beside Manami's cracked door. He had his head leaned against the wall, staring up at the ceiling.

He had heard everything.

Initially, he had simply noticed that Al got up and left the room, but then heard Manami's screams, and that was when he went to follow. He almost went into the room as well… but then he decided to stay behind and listen in from the hallway.

It was good that he did just that, because he could tell that those two were having a moment that he would only impose on.

So, once Ed confirmed with himself that Al had this covered and that Manami was alright, he silently slipped back into his room.

"More helpful with my actions than my words, huh..?"