II Hunger-Starvation
It was weird to Edward that Heinkel's stomach growled louder than Darius's did. He would've thought that with Darius, being, well, wider in all directions, there'd be more of a reverberation. "Can't you quiet that down?" he snapped.
"I'm hungry, too," Darius said. "Those rabbits we had last night weren't enough."
"You're both part wild animal, aren't you? Can't you live off the land? I should have you finding food for me!"
Heinkel rubbed his belly. "I knew we should've stolen those pies off that window sill at the last town."
"Tch!" The last town had been two days ago, and the pies would've been long gone. Besides, Edward didn't like stealing. If they had money to pay, it would be different, but now that he couldn't access his military account, they were screwed. "We're not stealing. These people work hard for their food."
"We could've done something to work it off, if you hadn't been recognized," Darius said, favoring Edward with a long look.
"Maybe you should do something so you don't look so much like you," Heinkel added.
"Yeah? How do you think I should do that?" His arms folding, Edward jutted his jaw out, determined not to lose this fight.
"That ponytail, for one," Darius flicked a thick finger at him.
"Stilts, for another," Heinkel sniffed.
"Who are you calling so tiny no one sees him unless – wait, I'm that recognizable?" Edward considered it. He hadn't really ever thought about it before – the watch marked him as a State Alchemist, his red coat was pretty memorable. And Al…who wouldn't remember Al? But he hadn't done all that much to make a name for himself, had he? Liore, yeah; and Youswell. The fights in Rush Valley and Central City.
Heinkel rubbed his temples. "Now his head's going to swell even more, isn't it?"
"Dammit."
"Hey!" Edward flashed his teeth at them, and didn't back down when Heinkel stiffened and Darius glowered. "I haven't got that much of an ego!"
"Uh, huh," both men said dryly, exchanging glances.
"Look, I'm at least providing us something to eat. You two are hard to feed! If I was just hunting for myself, I'd have food left over!"
"You're the one who needed our help, remember, Ed?" Darius asked, cracking the knuckles of one huge hand. "We could've left you in that mine."
"Or with the surgeons, and let you get caught when the soldiers came looking," reminded Heinkel.
"Yeah, we could've been on our merry ways if you hadn't sent me out to get money to pay the surgeons," Darius reminded.
"So? You agreed to that," Edward said. "And you could've thrown me to the wolves if you wanted, but you came up with the idea of kidnapping me!"
Darius's face was practically unreadable, but he twitched his eyes sideways. "We're in this together," Heinkel shrugged. "Besides, you're probably our best bet of getting out of this without the military prosecuting us for being deserters."
"And you're not that bad at rustling up food for us," Darius admitted, glancing down as his stomach rumbled. "Hmm."
"Yeah, yeah, you're hungry, I get it!" Edward flapped a hand at them as he started out toward a copse of trees. Maybe, with some luck, he'd be able to find some rabbit trails, maybe some mushrooms, so they could have some sort of supper.
