-sniffs- I can’t believe it… it’s here! THE FINAL CHAPTER!

-choke, sob- I don’t know what to say, so I’ll just write!

--

HAGANEGAMI

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

DEATH

--

Tsuzuki wasn’t under the cherry blossoms, he definitely wasn’t at his desk, Watari hadn’t seen him, Tatsumi had broken off into mutters about the budget when asked (Hisoka assumed they were deeply in debt, again) and Konoe said he didn’t know, but he did know that Tsuzuki was the laziest, slackest worker he had ever encountered. The GuShouShin brothers reminded Hisoka that Tsuzuki had a life-time ban from the library (1) before quickly assuring him that he, Hisoka, was always welcome. Tsuzuki wasn’t visiting Elric or Envy – both were still asleep, curled around each other. As cute as the image and aura of the scene was, it didn’t help Hisoka in his mission.

There was only one other time he had searched Meifu like this. It had been for Tsuzuki then, too, and it had been raining. It wasn’t raining now, but maybe…

Hisoka started to run. It took a while, but finally he reached it. The bridge, over looking an elegant stone structure. The place where he had accepted Tsuzuki as his partner. The scene was almost eerily similar – Tsuzuki leaning on the rail, staring unblinkingly towards the building opposite. Hisoka stepped to his side.

“Idiot,” he sighed. “You had me running all over JuuOuCho looking for you.”

Tsuzuki made a thoughtful noise. Hisoka leant on the rail by his side. The silence wasn’t awkward, but it was full of anticipation.

“Hey, Tsuzuki…?” Hisoka started. He barely registered Tsuzuki’s acknowledgement before continuing. “I love you.”

“Do you remember what I said, last time we were here?” Tsuzuki questioned. He glanced toward Hisoka, smiling warmly. “‘You’re my partner. No matter what kind of pervert you get involved with, I’ll be there for you.’ ‘Cos I love you too, ’Soka.”

Hisoka flushed. “Idiot. The only pervert I’m involved with now is you!”

--

(This is a dr-e-e-e-e-eam/memory. Thingy.)

Panting heavily, Ed leant against Envy’s chest. His eyes drooped closed as he listened to the rhyme of a racing heart. A hand pressed against his cheek.

“Aww, did I tire the poor pipsqueak out?” Envy cooed.

Ed swatted his hand. “Don’t call me a pipsqueak, asshole.”

“That lacked the usual energy,” he observed. A breath of hot air told Ed that Envy was playing with his cowlick. Again.

“Maybe I don’t feel like fighting anymore.”

“We weren’t fighting, we were – ”

“You know what I mean!”

Envy chuckled. His fingers danced over Ed’s right arm thoughtfully. “You know what you need? A tattoo.”

Ed’s eyes snapped open. “What?”

“I can give you one, and it won’t hurt too much,” Envy added, grinning. Ed glanced up at him, shuddering.

“You mean it won’t hurt you much!”

“Well, it won’t be automail surgery.”

Ed glared. “If I get one, you get one! Where the Ouroburos used to be!”

“Fine.”

“Fine!”

Another lapse of silence followed.

“…what’s it gonna be of?” Ed asked, somewhat uneasily.

“Me, duh.”

Ed twitched. “No fucking way.”

“My name, then.”

“No.”

“The Ouroburos?”

“Like hell!”

Envy considered it more seriously. “My name in those pretty symbols.”

“Kanji.”

“That’s the one.”

Ed sighed. “Fine, but you’d better do it right!”

“It’s not that hard,” Envy shrugged. “Burn it into your skin and then cover it with ink. Simple.” (2)

“WHAT?” Ed shouted, jumping to his feet. Envy pulled him back into his lap.

“And how’re you gonna mark me, Edo?” he questioned huskily.

“The Flamel,” Ed replied instantly.

“I want pretty symbols too!”

“Kanji.”

“Whatever.”

“Um… Fullmetal?” Ed guessed.

“I was thinking “pipsqueak”, but okay.”

Ed smacked him lightly. “Why’re we doing this, anyway?”

“To show ownership,” Envy replied with a wide grin.

Ed blushed.

-- (Meaning, it’s no longer the dream/memory anymore.)

Groggily, Ed opened his eyes. Blinking heavily and yawning, his vision started to clear. Immediately, his eyes widened. Firstly, when had he fallen asleep? When did he end up in a hospital bed? And, most importantly, why was he in Envy’s arms? Hadn’t a deranged, cannibal scientist just kidnapped him? Ed lay perfectly still for almost a minute before the earlier events returned to his mind.

Without even a moment’s hesitation, Ed bit down on Envy’s arm.

“SHIT!”

Ed unclamped his jaw, glaring viciously at the startled Envy. “You have a lot of explaining to do, you bastard!”

“What did I do?” Envy asked, rubbing his abused arm.

Ed twitched. “First you kill me, then you drag me into the Gate, then you manipulate and confuse the hell out of me, then you decide it’s time to run off and leave me alone in there and then I have to hear from your shrink that it was all a joke!”

Envy opened and closed his mouth several times.

“Explain what the fuck is wrong with you!”

“If I didn’t kill you, you’d have killed me, you opened the Gate yourself – even if I might have helped – which is instant death anyway. I didn’t manipulate you, you’re an emotional retard so of course you were confused, it was an accident, what shrink?” Envy ranted, before pausing to observe Ed’s face. “And if it was a joke, wouldn’t I be laughing? I wouldn’t do this…” And then he kissed him.

Ed relaxed instantly, kissing back desperately. His finger curled around Envy’s shoulders, as their bodies became closer and closer. Just as he felt Envy’s tongue brush his lips, Ed pulled away. He observed Envy closely before bowing his head.

“Muraki said you were laughing at me. Me and Al. He said you told him everything,” Ed swallowed heavily. “I got so mad… I didn’t know what I was doing! I couldn’t control myself! And… and then he said we’re not even human.”

“He convinced me I was schizophrenic,” Envy replied. “I couldn’t connect what had really happened and what was imaginary. But I never told Muraki directly.”

Ed buried his face in Envy’s chest. “But we’re human, right?”

Envy hesitated. “Didn’t I ever tell you that Father created Hohenheim?”

Ed blinked. “What…?”

“He was a failure. Too humane to be useful, too inhumane to stick with a family,” Envy explained. “But you’re human, even if a bit less than most of ‘em.” (3)

“And you?”

“I dunno.”

“Muraki said Tsuzuki’s not human either (4),” Ed added. “But… he doesn’t act like a monster. And I know you’re not a monster. Not really.”

Envy sighed. “How’s this; it doesn’t matter, so long as you’re here.”

“Corny.”

“Good.”

The door burst open.

“Edo!” Tsuzuki sang happily. “You’re all better!”

“Yeah,” Ed agreed sheepishly.

“I was gonna bake you a “Get Well!” cake but Hisoka wouldn’t let me,” Tsuzuki announced.

“Anything Tsuzuki cooks is poison.”

“’Soka-a-a-a-a-a! Meanie!” Tsuzuki whined. Ed was once again struck with the half-dog hybrid in his mind. “What happened to being all nice and “I love you, Tsuzuki”?”

Hisoka blushed. “Idiot!”

“About time you sorted that out,” Ed sighed.

“You’re one to speak,” Envy muttered. “Only took you about a decade.”

“Well excuse me! Maybe if you hadn’t been stalking and trying to kill me!” Ed cried.

Tsuzuki and Hisoka exchanged glances. Chuckling, Envy threw his arms around Ed. “You were loving any attention I gave you, Edo, and you know it!”

“So what?”

Envy laughed, loud and maniacally, before kissing Ed’s cheek.

“Don’t laugh so loud in my ear, dammit!”

“Elric, Envy,” Hisoka interrupted, sounding almost regretful. “Your names are in the kiseki (5). EnmaDaiou (6) won’t let you stay any longer.”

Ed and Envy exchanged glances. Smiling, Ed slipped out of Envy’s grip and off the bed. He held his hand back expectantly.

“Let’s go, then.”

Envy nodded, lacing their fingers together.

--

(1) He blew it up a few times. One time he was possessed by a demon, the other it was because Terazuma Hajime called him names.

(2) An easy and extremely painful way to get home-made tattoos! Don’t try it, I’d say.

(3) The whole thing about Hohenheim being a Homunculus? A theory. Based off the manga, since he kind of gets shot a few times and doesn’t die, has absolutely no empathy and is plain weird.

(4) In the anime, Muraki says that the blood of demons runs through Tsuzuki’s veins. In the manga, he rants for a dozen or so pages. He says Tsuzuki was his grandpa’s patient, that his grandpa was involved in top-secret government activities and that Tsuzuki’s DNA doesn’t match a human’s. I concluded that Tsuzuki was created through some government experiment and then probably placed in a woman’s womb.

(5) List of the dead, just in case you forgot. (I frequently do -.-;;)

(6) King of Meifu.

--

Uwaaaah! It’s over! –bursts into tears- MY BABY’S ALL GROWED UP!

Thank you to all reviewers, alerters, favouriters and readers. You’re all wonderful and I love you all! Here’s a list of the first three, since I can’t track the readers.

I LOVE YOU ALL!

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Mwah! My love goes out to you all! CAKE FOR Y'ALL!! -shoves cake in your face-