I love present tense. It's so pretty. This is probably Brotherhood.

Trying to keep with daily updates while I can, but don't depend on it :P My vaca starts August 4th, so I'll try to update til then.

DemonLordoftheSurface: Well, Envy's hardly mature for his age either XD Hence why I love writing them. They're such brats. And you know which face he does, too! You know EXACTLY which one! With the antenna and the perfectly round face and the cartoonyness and the…yeah. XD Thanks for reviewing and hopefully understanding my temporary insanity. (There goes my rep as the mature sensible Edvy writer ==;)

rockmari: I didn't really see any way to make it longer, glad you liked it though ^^ Every now and again I want to do something silly/cute.

Pen-Name-Kitsune-Chan: Hehe. I enjoy writing Ed as a brat. He and Envy are like an old married couple.

Chapter 53: (the fact that I am writing that is mindboggling) This one ended up kind of disjointed and weird, sorry. I'm probably going to go back and rewrite it one day. The teddy bear XD Although, imagine if you were in Ed's position. Jeezus.

Ashling Ivy: This would TOTALLY happen. At least in part. You know it. ^w^

what-is-the-color-of-love: Envy's condescension is cute as a button, but Ed's rudeness is even better, haha. Danke liebe to you too ^^

Thanks all for reading and reviewing! ^^ (And yes. I'm being lazy. I felt like I was getting redundant, so sue me! XD)

55. First Fruits of the Season

White. Nothing but the cold and the white and a leering face. It's all I can see, all I can feel.

Let me go, I demand, and it shakes his head. It – the Truth. The being I thought I'd finally rid myself of forever.

I can't, it replies blandly.

Why not?

I just can't.

I roll my eyes and glare at it. What the hell is it with you and your cryptic answers? I satisfied your equivalent exchange, I got nothing to take back from you, so why the hell am I back at the Gate?

You're not.

I pause at that. Well, what the hell do you call this place then? I can see the damn Gate, standing monolithic behind him but stubbornly closed.

The white, featureless figure shrugs. I don't know. And suddenly I realize that he is telling the truth, that he isn't Truth, because Truth knows everything.

Al needs me, I say.

Really.

I'm silent for a moment, and then, I need him.

Ugh, this old song-and-dance again? I'm so tired of hearing this same old nut.

Oh yeah? I thought you weren't Truth!

I'm not.

Suddenly, there's something pressing against my lips. I don't see or taste anything, it's just there.

What's that? I ask Not-Truth.

It's a strawberry.

A strawberry?

It nods, but I'm still confused. There's whispers, but I don't understand them. If I'm not at the Gate, they're not the Children, so…

"Can you hear me?" It's so quiet I can barely catch it, but it's Al's voice and my heart jumps at how real it sounds. There's no echo to it. "Brother, please…wake up…"

Wake up?

I'm…dreaming?

I try to dredge up my last memory. I dragged Al back from the Gate – the actual Gate. I took him to the hospital. I think I collapsed there. Have I not woken up since then.

"Ed, you idiot."

It's not Al's voice. It's a voice with an gravelly edge to it.

Envy? You've got to be kidding me. Envy, of all people?

At the same time, it gives me comfort that even he is waiting for me. I'm not sure why. Still, there's no way out.

A scent comes to me – the scent of strawberries, and raspberries, and other fresh fruit. It's subtle, lingering.

"Edward!"

And suddenly – with a thunder-crash and a lightning-strike, and static crawling up and down my skin – suddenly, there's hands gripping my arms and nails digging into my skin, and there's lips over mine and a tongue in my mouth curled around mine, and there's a taste that's everything the Gate is not – it's cardamom and cinnamon and a little bit of iron, it's the taste of Envy, and curled around it all is the taste of the first fruits of the season.

I'm not just awake.

I'm alive.