exeggutorhead | IC Contact

Besides the sciences and politics and the names of places...I'm not sure it's too different at all.

[He lets out a noise that's almost a sigh. He had wanted to believe that she might have given any thought at all to taking that away from him...but at the same time he'd known that wouldn't be true.]

I didn't think so. She...told me what she did, later. When I came looking for him.

[There's a deep bitterness rising in his voice.]

And that they had gotten the Stone.

How strange...

[Lust isn't sure what to say. She doubts he'd like to hear about the conversation that preceded the opening of the Gate.]

He was terrified, I think, when he realized his fate.

[A pause.]

Things just...happened that way.

[Another area she isn't sure what to say in. She let them get away, after all.]

[No, he really doesn't. And hearing that Hohenheim had been frightened, confronting the Gate...it's something that does help, a little. But it doesn't change the fact that he hadn't been there to see it.]

[And it's starting to occur to him who to blame for that.]

...I know the gist of what happened. Pride decided he'd mention it to me.

[He pauses too.]

I'm not...it's not you I'm angry at.

...how much did he mention?

[Maybe not much, if Envy isn't upset with her at all.]

That you let them get away with the Stone after it was made, and that was why you'd been sent with Sloth and Wrath to get it back.

[He mutters an admission.]

...I was angry, then.

She wasn't going to use it for us, anyway.

There would have just been more killing and more war and for what? So she could live forever and keep taking things from people and using people? I was done.

You had a right to be angry.

And you had a right to get out. You were right to try.

[She and Greed had both been right, even with where it got them in the end.]

...Lust, how much do you know? About me?

[Lust hesitates. She could feign ignorance, but she hates to be dishonest in the midst of honesty. She's sworn to Greed not to reveal that he told her anything, but she has a way around that.]

I heard enough to make assumptions. It's not my place to ask.

[Luckily, he accepts that explanation and doesn't even think about Greed having told her anything.]

But I can't leave you in the dark. Not with him here now.

[Not like he had back in Amestris.]

Hohenheim...that bastard's the one who made me. Is that what you figured out?

That was a conclusion I drew, yes. I...don't think I'm very much in the dark, to be honest. Enough was said, enough little pieces made sense when looked at in the right light with new information...

You don't have to say it.

[Envy lets out a breath.]

You always have been the smart one.

[But...he sounds grateful. She probably does have the right information, and after having to explain it once already to Heather he's not very eager to put it to words again so soon.]

They spoke, beforehand, that's all. They didn't care what I heard - if they even remembered I was there.

[She doesn't even feel as though she's twisting the truth. Greed only shared the truth about Hohenheim, it was the conversation between the old alchemist and their master that allowed Lust to fill in the last piece. Men don't just spontaneously have children on their own.]

You're better than them both, you know.

[...oh.]

[He's glad that this isn't video, because his face just did something particularly undignified. He's quiet for a long moment.]

You think so?

Of course I do.

You are.

[She won't deny Envy's done horrible things, but he's only the product of his raising. He's nothing but a victim who had no recourse but to become something of a bully in defense Something he's made great strides at overcoming, removed from toxic influences.

What was their excuse?]

Look at what you've done with your life. The people in your life. You're better than either of them could ever hope to be.

[Envy swallows hard. He's not sure how to respond at first, and when he does it comes out in a burst, his voice harsh and wavering slightly.]

But how can you say I'm better when I helped her pull you in! I lied to you too, I...

[She can't see it, but he's got a hand tangled tightly in his hair. He makes a noise that's almost a laugh, because what other sound can he make?]

You should hate me for what I did.

[He would hate him.]

[She wishes for the first time that they were face to face for this. Physical comfort is still strange and new, mostly an idea rather than a common practice, but the urge to touch Envy in comfort is strong.]

You did nothing different than any one of us.

I can't claim to know what it was like for you. But I know what it was like for me, for less than two decades and I was just some lucky find from some stranger in the desert. I can only imagine what you went through.

I hate her. You...you're one of the first things I can remember giving a damn about. One of the only things I gave a damn about, for a very long time.

[Envy's instinctive reaction is, as always, to say that no, he'd been fine and it wasn't that bad and he'd known what he'd been doing with Dante.]

[But somehow, he can't bring himself to say it right now.]

I bought into it, you know. That we weren't capable of feeling or caring about anyone. It was easier.

I don't know how you did it, but you got in anyway.

You weren't alone.

[These kinds of conversations are difficult at best, somehow moreso with Envy.]

And you aren't alone now. I...think of you as my family.

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