A/N- That was a cliffhanger, though not a very well written one... Anyway. Chapter nine and the epilogue together because... Don't read this chapter then email me right away! It will probably be a complaint! Read the epilogue before you do that! Okay! A very strange couple will emerge from this chapter... Don't know if it might be in the movie or in a later episode, but I think it's just a little strange... It fits so well in my opinion! Also, don't email me with questions about the name 'Moofy.' It's Wrath's name... Or nickname. Whatever you want to think of it as.

Disclaimer- I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist or any of its characters.

Chapter 9- Whatever you Became

A terrified look was planted on the face of Izumi that day, as she watched Pride walking towards his younger brother, without a single look of emotion on his face at all. Now he was a complete sin, and though he could be changed back, Izumi feared it would do no good, what with his soul missing.

Al was, in all respects, willing to make a sacrifice.

No one could understand why he'd want to give up his soul, except for maybe he just cared about Ed's happiness that much. That feeling didn't change, even when Pride finally reached him and put a hand around his neck, preparing to choke the very life out of the fifteen-year-old. Izumi stared in wonder, afraid to go near the two. But Roy wasn't.

Alphonse was coughing and sputtering from lack of air. Pride was doing a wonderful job of ending his brother's life, when he felt a heavy object hit across the back of his head. He turned to see the Fuhrer, holding a metal pipe that had been lying on the floor, glaring at the sin.

It happened all at once.

Pride, somewhat angered by the Fuhrer's sudden movement towards him, let go of the youngest Elric, and snapped his own fingers as Roy would have done had he not been too close to Al to use a flame. A scythe was summoned. Roy still hadn't gotten the hint as Pride brought back the weapon as far as he could, then swung it, right in his direction.

A few drops of blood hit the ground before Roy's right arm did.

As Pride looked down to stare at the Fuhrer, who had fallen to his knees, cradling his right shoulder where an arm had once been connected, he laughed. He stared at the blood, crimson red color, shining in all its glory on the floor. He laughed. He looked over to his brother, laying on the ground, barely conscious, having trouble breathing as a small bit of blood exited his mouth. Pride didn't laugh.

Instead, a flash of pain ran through his head, causing him to fall to the floor, just as the Fuhrer had. It was all happening again... Those horrible memories coming back to haunt him.

Flashbacks of when they were little, first learning to do alchemy, giving Winry a present. The blonde girl... Winry. Then moving on to when their mother passed away, finding Izumi as their sensei... That was Izumi standing in the room, wasn't it? Failed alchemy, resulting in Ed's automail and Al's lifeless shell of a body, becoming a state alchemist, where he met Roy and Havoc... The other two standing in the room. Finding out about the Philosopher's stone, how it used live humans as components. His and Al's fight about fake memories, killing the sins, dying, sacrificing himself for his brother, ending up on the other side of the gate, then... It went blank. What the hell happened after that?

"Envy, what happened to me after I came back from the gate," Pride asked, monotonously. Envy didn't answer. More like stared at the younger sin, wondering if what he was seeing was actually happening. Sins weren't supposed to remember their past! What was happening to Pride, then? "Envy, answer me!" Pride was getting impatient, and Envy wasn't about to lose his only ally.

"You came here."

"Liar..." Pride realized something must have transitioned this event. Why would these people be here? Then something else struck him, that conversation he'd remembered earlier, when he'd called Al his brother. "I remember something else, some house somewhere, and when I woke up right near there those two helped me." He motioned to both Winry and Izumi. "And I remember attacking her, then the other later on, then being in the middle of Central. Explain that to me." He'd hit a point, and Envy's expression changed from annoyed to one full of fear.

"Pride, listen to me," Izumi cut in. Actually, she hadn't really interrupted anything. Envy probably hadn't been about to try explaning everything that had happened to the younger sin, especially when he knew this could mean Pride would go after him, and now that Pride couldn't be killed... "You're not who you think you are. Your name is Edward Elric. You're the Fullmetal Alchemist. Don't you remember?"

Did he? Not really, but he was beginning to believe Izumi better than Envy, so maybe she was telling the truth.

"Not true!" Envy spat, trying to regain some lost ground. "You've always been this way! They're filling your head with lies! Believe me, as your older brother. You know I wouldn't lie to you." Pride realized what he was trying to do, not being very much of an idiot.

And all of this time, while Envy was trying to sound convincing to pride, he didn't even notice Wrath taking the remains of the Philosopher's stone from him, and sneaking slowly back over to Izumi. "Very good," She said to the youngest sin, who looked proud of himself. Envy still hadn't noticed. He wasn't paying attention when Izumi broke the stone in two pieces, either. How the color didn't fade from it, she might never know, but she didn't care. As long as both halves were good for something, her plan would work.

"So Envy, can you tell me why my head hurts when I try to remember these things!" Pride was getting annoyed.

"Well... I uh... You're concentraiting to hard to remember things that never happened to you. That's why." Made sense... Sort of. Izumi had walked over to where Al was laying on the ground, breathing heavily, chest contracting more than usual. He felt like his lungs were about to burst.

"Alphonse," Izumi said, handing him a piece of the stone. "I need you to use that."

"What do I do with it?"

"Look at your brother, and remember... Everything you've ever done with him. Try your hardest, and make sure you hold the stone with one hand when you do it." Izumi knew what needed to be done. They would attempt implanting some memories into the elder Elric's head, and since these memories were real, maybe they would react better than fake ones.

Al did just as he was told. Another crimson light filled the room, and Envy actually noticed this one.

Pride was brought to the ground, almost screaming in pain at all the information transfering into his head. He was on his knees again, that was for sure, as Al stood behind him, concentraiting the best that he could.

Please, God, return my brother to me... That wasn't him.

That was the only other thought filling Al's head as the room returned to normal, everyone else blinded by the flash of light. Izumi figured now was the best time to see if her plan had worked. Walking slowly over to the blonde alchemist, she reached for his arm, and pulled on it. "Edward?" She asked.

He broke down. Whose memories were these! He was Pride, and yet in every fact, every thought, every dream that had filled his brain, he had been called by that name. Edward... These were Edward's memories, but who was Edward? Was he? What was going on? Why did his head hurt so much? Who were these people? Who was the green haired guy at the beginning of the room? His memories were more complicated than nessecary.

"Yes, okay, fine, I'm Edward!" The sin burst out, tears almost coming to his eyes. They didn't however, and he regained his boring look, trying his best not to see the look of happiness on the woman's face. "I don't know who else that person could possibly be!" And he also tried to ignore when his little brother was right at his side, embracing him, but he couldn't, and returned the hug. Maybe this was his brother... There was just something about Al that seemed, well, memorable.

"You are not Edward Elric!" Envy's voice came from the other side of the room, as he ran towards the chibi. "Edward Elric isn't real! He no longer exists! They're filling your head with complete lies because they want you to replace someone they lost a long time ago!"

"And how long ago was this?" Pride asked. He felt better when people told him he wasn't Ed.

"About five years," Envy said, glaring at him, angry that Pride had ever doubted who he was, and ever believed he was someone he wasnt. "You look just like the Edward they are talking about, but your name is Pride, and you're my brother, not his." Envy gave a sickening look to Al, who seemed more than just a little frightened by the elder sins sudden outburst. Pride wasn't allowing this to happen though, and he stepped in front of who he was now sure was his younger brother, or at least had been at some time. "What are you doing?"

"You're not my brother. I don't know you," Pride stated, giving Envy an angry look. "And stop saying I'm not Edward. I am, and I know I am."

Envy was more angry than he'd ever been in his entire life. Why hadn't he seen this coming? Either way, something was going to have to be done. The chibi would be his brother, whether he took the form of Pride or Edward Elric. It really didn't matter. Reaching into his pocket to retreive the Philosopher's stone, he realized it wasn't there.

That was when he saw it. Izumi had moved to the other side of the room, drawn an array on the floor, Wrath seated in the middle of it, next to the arm that had been ripped off the Fuhrer. "Wrath, no!" He didn't reach the other end of the room before more crimson light blinded everyone. Sure was a lot of that light today...

---

What sat in the middle of that circle after the transmutation wasn't Wrath, but Moofy. A happy, adorable, normal little boy identicle to Wrath, with blue eyes to replace the purple ones, and... Let's just say he was missing a few limbs now, somehow replaced with automail through the transmutation.

"I can't believe this..." Envy said to himself. Things weren't supposed to be this way. Roy, holding his shoulder, which had stopped bleeding, sat laughing in the middle of the floor, probably in happiness that Izumi was so smart. Everything seemed all well and good until Envy punched Pride in the face, giving him a small nose bleed. Not a good thing to do.

Pride picked up his scythe, motioning for Al to get over near to Izumi and Moofy. Once his brother was out of the way, Pride was ready to swing, ready to remove more limbs as nessecary, and this time, hopefully from a certain sin with green hair.

"So, Edward..." It felt so weird, using that name on Pride, but Envy wanted to intimidate the other sin, show him he wasn't frightened. It didn't work with Pride. "How long before you realize you're just a back up for the real Edward who existed five years ago? A replacement?" It was impossible to describe just how much Al and Pride both hated hearing that word... Replacement.

"Can you prove I'm a replacement?" Pride asked. There was no answer. "No? Then I don't believe you."

"I created you, I would know!" Envy snarled. "You didn't exist in this world before I brought you here, with the Philosopher's stone. Without that creation, there would be no you! So stop going against my will, because I also have the power to destroy you!" Without realizing it, Pride shot forward and took a swing at the elder sin, slicing off a few pieces of green hair. Envy grabbed the scythe away from him, throwing it too the ground. "You will pay for that!"

It was only a few more seconds before the two sins were lying on the ground, swinging away at each other with their bare fists, and it was this time that Izumi took advantage of the situation to get everyone else out. As long as Edward remained Pride, he couldn't die. Therefore, she didn't have to worry too much.

"Lutenite Havoc," She began. Havoc looked at her with big blue eyes. He was more than a little freaked out by the situation, let only by Envy. "Make sure you get Winry out of here safely. We wouldn't want anyone to be left to rot in this hell hole." Havoc nodded, and picked Winry up, heading for the door. Izumi's next objection was to get the Fuhrer out safely, so she walked over to Roy, and pulled him up by his left hand. "Will you be okay like this?"

"Yes, I'm sure I can make it fine. I'm just happy my arm was put to some good use," Roy said, smiling at the black haired boy in the corner. Moofy smiled back at him, took Al's arm, and helped him out of the building. The only one who stayed behind was Izumi, to make sure Envy could be done away with, for good. Al had given her the remains of the Philosopher's stone he'd been using to implant memories into his brother's skull, and she was going to make sure that went towards a good cause. She already had her plan. She would destroy Envy with it.

Pride actually had a lot of trouble defending himself from the other rampaging sin, who was practically on top of him, punching every place he could reach.

"You will not get out of here alive!" Envy said loudly. He knew he would need a Philosopher's stone, or something like it to return him to human, but he didn't really care. He had something just like that, stored in his other pocket. It seemed that Envy was thinking about that a little too much, because Pride was able to inch out from underneath him and make a run for the door, along with Izumi. "Get back here!"

Envy went running after him, full speed, grabbing the item that had been sitting in his pocket out and holding it in his hand.

As Havoc carried Winry over to where he knew Riza was waiting, he felt her stirring. He practically dropped her, but was happy he didn't when her eyes shot open. Winry looked around, eyes finally coming to rest on Lutenite Jean Havoc, who was carrying her. And it was then that Havoc finally realized how much of an abserd interest he had in girls obsessed with mechanics. To top it off, Winry was actually very pretty...

"Uh, hello?" She said to him, with a smile. Then she realized... "Did you... Get me out of there?" Havoc nodded, and couldn't help but blush as he did so. "Thank you," Winry said quietly. It was a rather awkward moment. Havoc still hadn't set her down, but she didn't mind. "You said you... had a girlfriend?" Extremely awkward.

"Yes but... She'll probably be angry I missed our date tonight."

"I see..."

---

Izumi and Pride had made it out just fine, as had Envy, who got outside, ready to reveal his secret weapon, the only card he had left to play. And he'd best do it right, this time. No screw ups.

"So Pride, do you know what..." Envy pulled another red stone out of his pocket. The incomplete Philosopher's stone, but still complete enough to make Pride a normal human again. "This is?" Izumi's eyes filled with worry as the stone lit up. It reacted with Pride's sinful aura, and very soon after, as the stone shattered, Edward Elric was left standing next to his sensei. Just regular, Edward Elric. Normal eyes, body heat, normal voice, normal everything.

"Edward, I do believe..." Envy had to rephrase his words. The Fullmetal Alchemist was standing in front of him, confused as could be. There was a glint of metal flashing as Envy pulled something else out of his pocket. Something sharp. "That it is your time to die!"

Envy shot forward, a knife going right through Ed's stomach, along with his fist. It was the same thing, all over again...

Edward fell to the ground, coughing and sputtering, the taste of blood filling his mouth and exiting it as it rolled down his cheek, his throat, and then onto the ground where he lay. Al practically went into shock.

"Edward!" He yelled, running over to his brother, as Moofy simply stared in wonder, then ran to Izumi for comfort. He didn't understand what was going on. Al knelt down to the ground, and picked his older brother up as best as he could, trying not to cause him too much pain. "Ed...?" Ed must've known he was dying. His last words to Al were words of kindness and apology... Just what Al needed to hear.

"Al... I'm... sorry I never treated you better. I know you can't remember everything but... I'm sorry for that too. And no one can ever replace you. Remember that..." Ed was fading away, more quickly now than before. Al tried to choke back tears, but it wasn't working.

"Brother, please... Tell me you'll be okay! Edward?"

"Wish I could say that..." Ed replied, choking on more blood. What a foul taste. "After all that's happened... You'll still call me your brother?"

"Yes..." More tears came to Al's eyes as he watched Ed struggling to breathe. "You're not Pride... You're my brother. Edward Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist. You always have been, and you always will be." Now Ed struggled to hide his tears, but one came out and rolled down his face. One of happiness.

"I love you... Al..." And those were the last words of Edward Elric, before he faded away. He fell limp in his brother's arms, eyes closed, looking at peace with himself, like a sleeping angel.

"I love you too, Ed." With one last tear dripping off his face, and one last cough, Al fell forward, taking one more breath before he left the world to join his brother.

A/N- READ THE EPILOGUE! Don't say anything yet!