I apologize for the delay. This is the last chapter. I want to say thank you to everyone who has reviewed and will review (hopefully) again. You've made writing 'Of Bullets and Mercury' a fantastic experience for me. I hope you will enjoy this last closing act in the same way as I did. -leonahari

Chapter 10: Of Bullets and Mercury

He was fighting it. Fighting as hard as he could. He'd had a nightmare like this one, where he was surrounded by the familiar darkness of his creation. Except it wasn't a nightmare. He couldn't be dead. He wasn't exactly alive to begin with. If he had been alive then this, he figured, would be the afterlife…what a disappointment.

Gingerly, he opened his eyes. He didn't process what he was seeing at first, since a pattern of white spots was dancing in his vision. Besides, he was too preoccupied with trying not to choke on air. It took what felt like entire torturous hours for him to reconsolidate his breathing. It felt as though he had been submerged underwater for more than he could possibly withstand. On the one hand his lungs were struggling to convulse and breathe, but on the other this process was extremely painful in itself.

The darkness around him seemed to swell and retract as if it had lungs of its own. He couldn't see it, but he could feel it. One by one, his senses slowly became familiar to him again. He felt the darkness press down upon him until claustrophobia crippled his mind. All around him he felt the light touch and caress of others as if he was lying with hundreds or thousands of other bodies, souls or whatever else this place kept within its darkness.

It made him sick. He felt his throat constrict threatening bile to rise in his chest and layer his tough in a bitter flavor. Taste.

Slowly, Envy was being reassembled.

Suddenly, unexpectedly, he heard a piercing sound, like a horrible, high-pitched cry. His reflexes jerked and he couldn't stop the involuntary nervous reaction of his fingers. As they clutched the ground on their own volition, he realized that what he had grabbed was a handful of earth, even though he couldn't see it.

So, he was on his stomach. Slowly his mind registered tiny fragments of data for him to justify and cling to. It was all he could do to rely on his senses. Without the knowledge of location, Envy felt trapped and useless.

The scream died as soon as it had come and left Envy in a state of paranoia. After a time, he got control of his actions and brought the handful of loose soil to his face. The tip of his nose touched the pile in his hand, but he still couldn't see it through the darkness. And it smelt off. It didn't smell like earth. It smelt sour. Envy dropped it. Let it slide sickly through his fingers.

I'm in the gate…his mind suddenly kicked in and his last moment before the little hands pulled him behind the doors flashed through his memory. Edward and Sloth's hopeless struggle to save him from the shadows and Winry's terrified expression haunted him.

Why am I still here?

That was a question that haunted Envy throughout his entire existence. Four hundred years without a purpose was enough to ware on someone and he had asked himself that question before with every passing year. He was a simple reflection of someone with a purpose who had died prematurely.

But here, the question held a different meaning. What was he doing in the gate? Was he supposed to wait for his death? Inevitable as it was, death was the high cost of living. He had said it himself. But was this it?

If I am dead…then was I alive before? If I'm inside the gate, does that mean… I no longer have a soul?

Envy's hands groped at the sour-smelling earth again. He would wait for death or whatever it was he was waiting for. He was still there, and so he would wait.

A year had passed.

It was a hot summer night in Risenbul. Winry stood in an open field surrounded by gravestones, and one in particular, which she knelt before. It was old, ancient. She remembered stumbling across it on their way out of the forgotten city below central one year ago.

'William Elric: one and only cherished son…1522-1540…of mercury…' the rest of the words were eroded and illegible.

This confirmed it for them. Winry knew Edward had not taken the news that Envy was technically his half brother well. He had had a fit over it. Alphonse had only chuckled at Edward, silently accepted the fate that had thrown the three of them together, allowing them to share the same four-hundred-year-old name.

Memories of their short time together flashed through Winry's mind as they always did when she stood there. She visited once a week, whenever she could. Though there was no body to bury, it was the only piece of Envy she had. It was the only evidence, besides that of her fading memory, threatening he existed at all.

Her eyes narrowed on the fine scratches bellow the marking on the stone. She remembered engraving the name 'ENVY' underneath 'WILLIAM'. One of her fine cutting tools had done a relatively clean job and Envy's name stood out clearer than William's.

Of bullets and mercury…Winry thought bitterly, if I think about it. Envy and I were thrown together by death. The death of William allowed him to exist, and the death of my parents made me search for a greater meaning to my life. And that's how we found each other…rather morbid…but…I live without regret.

"Well, Al, what do you think?" Edward and Alphonse had been roaming a small village to the East for several hours and nothing had caught their attention. Or, better yet, no one had caught their attention. It was a deserted village from what they could see.

The fuehrer had sent this mission out to Mustang personally, but Mustang had other ideas and had passed it on to Fullmetal. Now, Ed and Al were wandering around scratching their heads.

"What do I think? I think it's a ghost town!" Alphonse replied, "Why did the Colonel send us here anyways?"

"Beats me, Al," Edward said, "Uh…I'm starving. There's nowhere around here to eat is there?"

"I think the closest place to a working restaurant is in Lior," Alphonse replied.

"I don't know, Al," Edward sighed, "Why would the Fuehrer send someone out here unless he wanted to confirm it was deserted? If that's the case, he could've wasted someone else's time."

"Unless it wasn't deserted last time he checked."

"Then, what happened?"

Alphonse stiffened. "Brother, look!"

There in the shadows of a small building sat a round, bald man. Edward and Alphonse recognized him immediately as Gluttony. The homunculus had not noticed their presence yet. He was sitting on the ground, rocking back and forth and muttering something inaudible. It almost sounded as though he were sobbing.

Edward and Alphonse shuffled out of the center of the main street to avoid being seen and hid behind a corner of a nearby building.

"What do we do now?" Alphonse asked, "Should we just leave him?"

"We can't do that, Al. I have a feeling he's the reason everyone in this town is missing," Edward said, darkly. Alphonse gasped quietly.

"He looks like he's crying…"

"I brought the things we need," Edward knelt down and produced a small sack from his jacket pocket. Since last year when Envy had given them the homunculi pieces they had carried them around for emergency use. Of course, they had managed to pick out the ones that belonged to Sloth, Pride and Gluttony and keep those with them at all times. Wrath, Lust and Greed's weaknesses remained at the house. There was no further use for them.

"Which one is his?" Alphonse asked, bending over to get a closer look at the small items in Edward's palm. Edward scratched his head.

"I didn't think that far ahead," he admitted sheepishly, "We'll just have to try them all."

"How are we going to do that?"

"Get him to eat it."

They peeked around the corner to find Gluttony hadn't moved from his spot on the ground. Edward snapped around to face Alphonse with a ready made plan in his head. "Okay, Al, let's go," he said.

They darted out of the ally and into the main street. Edward was sorely aware of the amount of sound Alphonse's armor made when he ran, but it couldn't be helped. He had the piece of bone ready in his hand when he approached Gluttony. The fat man still hadn't bothered to turn around and look at them. When they got closer they realized he didn't seem to be in the fighting mood.

"Lust…" he sniffed, "where's my…Lust?"

"Uh…Gluttony?" Edward started, awkwardly. It didn't feel right addressing his enemy so casually, but the scene just didn't sit right with him. Gluttony was supposed to be trying to eat him, not sitting on the ground moping quietly.

Gluttony either didn't hear him or chose to ignore him.

"Lust…my Lust…"

Edward tried again. "Uh, Lust is gone, Gluttony. They're all gone."

Gluttony rolled to the side, stuck his thumb in his mouth and gurgled, "Lust…gone?"

There was a short silence. Edward couldn't tell what the fat cue ball was thinking, so he held his automail fist at the ready. Gluttony showed no sign that he wanted to fight them, but then again Gluttony was just as unpredictable as the rest of the homunculi.

Edward looked back at Alphonse to exchange a confused look.

A sound like rolling thunder rumbled through the deserted street the second he had turned his head.

"Brother! Look out!"

Edward was knocked to the side. He bounced back quickly to find Gluttony stumbling towards him with an angry expression. "You hurt my Lust!" he accused.

"No, it wasn't us!" Alphonse tried to explain, but Gluttony charged at Edward, mouth open.

It was now or never. Edward grabbed the little piece of bone in his pocket and threw it at Gluttony. His aim was right on target, and Gluttony stopped, choked and swallowed.

Then, he fell to the ground, writhing in pain.

"Now, Ed!" Alphonse had already drawn the famel for him with his alchemy. They dropped to the edge, hands first and delivered the final blow.

Blue light highlighted the lines in the transmutation circle and Gluttony wailed for Lust like an overgrown child for his mother.

Just when Edward and Alphonse thought it was over, the light started to fade with stains of crimson and melted red stones, something odd happened. The light faded to a deep red. Something was terribly wrong.

"Ed?" Ed heard Alphonse' terrified voice from across the circle and he was suddenly struck with the memory of that horrifying night when they tried to bring their mother back to life.

"Let go, Al!" Edward suddenly shouted. They both withdrew from the circle and out of the red rays that were growing stronger with every second. Gluttony was dead in the center, but his body hadn't faded away yet.

Alphonse met Edward halfway around the circles edge. "What's happening?" his voice was shaky, "I thought we did everything right."

"I don't know, but I didn't want to be linked to the transmutation if means another sacrifice."

Alphonse shivered at the thought.

Then, the light stopped. It disappeared, vanished, as if nothing had happened. Before Ed and Al had a moment to think it over, the gate appeared over the Gluttony's body.

"What the…?" Edward gasped.

"What's the gate doing here?" Alphonse worry was evident even in his metal expression.

In the darkness a ripping sound echoed through the emptiness. Ripping of some nondescript thing in the darkness, something Envy could not see or smell. It was the ripping that drove him from his own droned thoughts and caused him to focus on the outside space. He shook violently when he realized he had been close to fading, fading in with the rest of these immovable, lifeless bodies around him. If he hadn't have been disturbed, his mind would have swallowed his thoughts and senses and he would have elapsed into a simple object of indifference, waiting for something that would never come.

But the sound grew. It didn't pulse like the rest of noises and hums in the place, it grew louder, and it had no rhythm to it.

The ground beneath him stared to shudder. The movement was unnatural for an inanimate surface, and Envy found that it was this realization that allowed his mind to configure the difference between his body and the earthy ground. They were not of one, as his mind had fallen into believing after being void of movement for so long.

Envy found his body, every limb, every sense, every thought and separated them from the darkness. He looked, with his own eyes, around in the darkness. The movement itself was foreign to him, but he learnt quickly.

Then, something snapped. He came back. His memories, his wit, his morbid curiosity, his sadistic humor, it all came back to him, and he was Envy once more.

The gate.

He remembered.

He was in the gate.

And it was opening.

The silver light beyond the doors cracked thinly into the darkness, penetrating only deep enough for Envy to find the doors.

With movements unfamiliar to him, he stood and waded through the darkness, the nondescript forms, shadows, knocking him over with every step he took, but he regained balance and continued. The light guided him through to the doors. The moment his hand came in contact with the roughly designed surface, he pushed and pushed and pushed.

His strength was quickly fading, but the doors were slowly opening. Soon he would be free of the darkness.

Then, the doors sprung open. To Envy's amazement and surprise, he fell over the threshold, closed his eyes and landed face first in more dirt.

Something had passed him on his way out, the round man had looked oddly familiar, but it had been too long. Darkness was all he was familiar with now, at least he thought.

Envy shuddered at the cold, dry breeze that went through his hair and across his skin. So unfamiliar, and yet…

The feel of things, the cold, the dry, the…for crying out loud, the brightness! It felt so different and so familiar at the same time. Hell, the brightness! It was too damn bright! His eyes were still closed, but he saw red and orange and yellow through his lids. He wanted to bury his head in the earth he now lay on and hide from it all, but at the same time he wanted to discover or rediscover things he had long forgotten.

He opened his eyes slowly, blinking away salty water from his vision. There was color, so much of it. Darkness too, but it wasn't the same kind. It wasn't dense, it didn't pulse.

"E-envy?"

Sound? Wait, no…language. Envy…that had been his name. Then, the memories flooded back to him like a tsunami. He cringed at the overload.

"What the hell…?"

That voice.

Edward Elric.

That feeling…Anger? Jealousy? Love, perhaps?

Envy shifted. He didn't feel weak. He looked up towards the voice and saw the image of the blonde-haired boy from his memory, if not a little taller, standing beside that same suit of armor. Alphonse Elric? Yes, that was it.

When Envy moved he realized his body felt odd. He was naked. What did he used to do in this situation?

Just as his memory caught up with his thoughts, the all too familiar black attire appeared to cover him. He felt his hair change too, into long locks of spiky black-green hair.

"So it is you," Edward managed after seeing the blonde haired man before them, who oddly resembled their father, shift into his worst nightmare.

"Envy! Welcome back!" Alphonse said. Both Edward and Envy could hear the smile in his voice. Edward gave him a look. "Winry will be so happy to see you again! She's been…well, she hasn't really been the same since last year."

"Last year?" Envy winced. His voice was rough from disuse. It didn't suit him at all.

So, he'd been stuck in gate for only a year? It had seemed like an eternity. He had thought these twerps had actually managed to find a source for immortality. Of course, the latter wouldn't have made much sense to him after what Dante had tried to do.

Dante. Winry. It all came back.

"It doesn't seem like a year, though," Alphonse mumbled. It seemed to be more to himself than anyone else.

"You're taller," Envy shot at Ed. He was proud that even after a year of complete detachment he was still able to pick fun at the pipsqueak.

Unfortunately, Edward told his comment as a compliment. Envy was rather unimpressed.

"So, are you going to lie there on the ground, or do you want to come with us and see if Granny will let you take the couch?" Edward spat.

"How do you feel?" Alphonse asked, as Envy stood up and brushed the dirt off his body.

"Fine."

"Don't you need those stones?" Alphonse asked, curiously. Envy wondered the same thing. Strangely, he had no craving for the stones and he didn't feel weak without them.

"I…no, I don't."

Edward raised an eyebrow, but Envy snapped, "Are we going or not, pipsqueak?"

Envy almost patted himself on the shoulder that time. Edwards mouth dropped open and his eyes grew wide in surprise. Envy figured since he was taller now, nobody had bothered to comment on his shortness in a while. Of course, that would have to be fixed. Envy would make sure, that as long as he was still alive, he would continue to do so.

Winry was on her way back from the cemetery when she noticed a bright flash of light cut through the night sky. It was coming from the direction of home. She smiled at the familiar memory. She figured she must have stayed out far too late to have Edward calling her home.

She made her way up the dirt path and spied towards the balcony where the light still pierced the darkness, on, off, on and off in that same rhythm. She couldn't really make out the details in the darkness yet, but color was obvious. Unless Edward had died his hair black again, she didn't know who was behind the lamp.

A couple more steps of squinting, and… she dropped her handbag. It couldn't be. Lips barely parted for a whisper, "Envy…?"

There was no mistaking that grin, and those mischievous eyes. The night seemed to swallow up the rest of the details of her surroundings until there was only him and the flashing light upon the balcony. It was unmistakable, and in the back of her mind somewhere she wondered what Edward and Alphonse had done.

Envy…Winry smiled and couldn't help but wave frantically, tears streamed down her face…he was finally back.

The lamplight flashed one last time, and Winry noticed Envy smirking down at her from the balcony. They were too far apart for words, but no language in the word could have made that moment any more memorable for them both.

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