You'll never guess what I added. Well...maybe you will. Parental!RizaEnvy. Muahahahaha. Authoress insanity, w00t. Envy's angsty scene in this chapter was inspired by the song "Let It All Out" by Relient K, which I listened to on a loop while writing.

So, moving along. Thanks to Bar-Ohki, YourFavoritePlushie, Tenshi Elric, Renneh, Assena, jenelric, Guardian Angel of Wolves, Tia Ordona, Phantom of the Pie, Tinkerbelle TB, Katty, Houran, rose, and Clawdia for reviewing. You people stop doubting Juliet!

And now, the next chapter, eh?


12: A Relenting Big Brother

"I'm glad to see the mission was successful," Juliet said cheerfully, wheeling into the dining room. "I'm Juliet Douglas, and this is my house."

"A pleasure to meet you," Roy said, shaking her hand.

"Where are the others?" Juliet asked, noting that only Roy and Riza stood before her now.

"Hohenheim and Alphonse are catching up, Izumi's calling her husband, Envy's taking a nap, and I'm not sure what Edward is doing," Riza said truthfully.

Juliet nodded. "Good. I think that we can rest for the rest of the night, but tomorrow we'll need to meet up again and discuss our next plan. Obviously, Dante will have tracked you in any way possible, so there's no doubt in my mind she knows where we all are now. She'll wait a few days before attacking, so that gives us a chance to plan."

"What a mess this has become," Roy sighed, running a hand through his hair.

"It was unavoidable," Riza said.

The door opened, and Izumi poked her head in. Her arm had already been cleaned and bandaged. "Juliet? May I speak with you?"

Juliet nodded. "Is something wrong?"

"Yes. I just spoke with my husband on the phone. He says that our house was attacked by a group of people. I suspect they're from the gang."

"Did something happen?" Riza asked in alarm.

"No. My husband is quite capable. However, he, my other son Roth, and our neighbor Winry are now in a car, trying to find a hiding place. Is it all right if they come here?"

"It's more than all right," Juliet replied. "I might not have enough rooms for everyone to have their own, but they're welcome to come."

Izumi nodded. "Thank you. They're on Willow Street; can you give him directions from there?"

"Yes. Hand me the phone, please."


Edward pulled open the medicine cabinet and read the labels on all the bottles, boxes, and jars. Nope. None here. Of course, it was entirely possible that Juliet didn't have any, and even probable. But he could still hold out hope. Juliet's real hair color was a much lighter brown, so maybe...

He stepped out of the bathroom, trying to remember where the fourth one was. As he did, he saw Riza going into the room he was sharing with Envy. As far as he knew, Envy was in there, taking a nap. What was Riza planning to do?


Envy closed his umbrella and slung it over his shoulder. The rain had stopped, and he hadn't turned up anything. He supposed it was time to head back to the car. He didn't want Lust driving off without him AGAIN.

He made his way back to the bridge and had just started to cross over it when something caught his eye. He stopped and glanced over the edge of the bridge's railing. He thought he had just seen something, like a hand, waving or something, but he wasn't quite sure. However, it deserved a look.

Envy went back to the other side of the bridge and started down the steep side. The grass, of course, was wet, and long enough to tickle his knees and leave thin streaks of water. Envy glanced back up at Lust's car, ensuring that it hadn't driven off, and finally made his way to the bottom.

The bridge went over a small stream, but directly underneath the bridge, on either side of the bank, were two concrete ledges. Envy had no clue what they were for, but the one next to him had a person on it. Excitement surged in him as he stepped over the tall grass, making his way to the concrete ledge. A flash lit up the sky for a brief moment, but Envy ignored it and stooped down to peer under the bridge.

There he was, finally. Edward Elric, age ten, the object of all Envy's searching. The boy had obviously seen better days, because even in the darkness, Envy could tell he was dirty and malnourished-looking. He was huddled into a ball, hands over his ears, and seemed to be counting to himself.

A loud crack of thunder startled Envy, and he jumped a little. Poor Edward leapt nearly a foot in the air, and squeezed his eyes shut tighter. Envy leaned in closer, just to make sure without a doubt that this was Edward. But yeah, it was him.

"Well, well, what do we have here?" Envy said, announcing his presence.

Edward jumped again, and Envy thought that he was entirely too skittish. The younger boy stared at Envy with frightened golden eyes. 'This kid thinks I'm going to shoot him or something,' Envy realized. So, he tried to calm him down and get him talking.

"It's raining. Shouldn't you be at home?" Envy said.

Edward took a deep breath, seeming to draw little bit of courage from somewhere. "I don't have a home." His voice came out tiny and frightened.

Envy already knew that, but he didn't need to freak this kid out. "No?" he said. "Where's the family then, hmm?"

Edward blinked rapidly, then looked away. He looked so sad and pitiful that Envy almost wanted to go find some sweet old lady to adopt him. "I don't have a family."

So Edward had completely cut off ties with Hohenheim. Good. Great. Excellent. "Is that so?" Envy said, trying to keep Edward talking. "Then that makes you a homeless orphan, doesn't it?"

"I-I guess," Edward answered.

Envy realized that in his current position, he might look like a hulking, intimidating threat to Edward's safety. So he scooted under the bridge and crouched down next to Edward, more at eye-level. Edward turned around to face him, and still looked scared. What else could Envy do?

"So what's your name then, huh, kid?" Envy asked.

Edward looked hesitant, but he finally answered. "...Edward."

Finally. They had gotten somewhere. "Elric?" Envy asked, just wanting to shut up the last paranoid doubts in the back of his mind.

Edward nodded, looking a little less afraid. "How...how did you know?" he asked.

Envy stuck out a hand. "Congratulations. I'm your older brother."

Edward stared at him like he had announced he was from Mars. "...My...what?"

"Older brother," Envy repeated. "I'm Envy."

"I didn't know I had an...I had an older brother," Edward stammered.

"I'm not surprised," Envy said. "That bastard you call a father probably wouldn't want to mention it. I'm the son he's ashamed of."

"But why?"

"He abandoned me. Just like he is with you." Envy shifted on his feet, which were starting to complain. "Listen. I know you're probably not in the best of spirits right now. With what's happened to you, I'm not surprised. But you don't have to be alone. You can come and join my family."

Edward eyed him. "Yours?"

Envy nodded. "We'll accept anyone. You'll have food, clothes, and a place to stay."

Edward seemed to contemplate this, but then he lowered his head. "I don't deserve a family," he said, looking down into the dark water. "I destroyed my own."

Was that what he thought? Envy shook his head. "It doesn't matter," he said. "I'll take care of you. Okay?"

Slowly, Edward lifted his head and looked at Envy. He had tears brimming in his eyes. "You won't leave?"

"Of course not." Envy extended his hand a little further. Poor Edward. He must have felt as though he had the weight of the world on his shoulders. But he didn't have to worry. His big brother Envy would handle everything.

Edward's arms were tucked between his stomach and his legs. He unfolded one arm and hesitantly reached out a hand. At the last minute, he paused, as if still weighing the situation in his mind, but finally took the plunge and put his hand in Envy's. His hand was as cold as ice, but Envy still held it as he backed out from under the bridge. Edward uncurled from his ball and followed.

A flash of light made Envy turn his head upwards, and he could feel Edward's entire body tense next to him. Edward pulled his hand from Envy's and covered his ears. Not a second later, the thunder cracked, still startling Envy even though he had known it was coming. Edward jumped again and hid behind Envy, as if the thunder was trying to hurt him.

"It's okay," Envy said, taking hold of Edward's arm. "Come on. There's a car up there."

As if on cue, Lust blew the horn. Envy looked up and saw that he could see the car from where he was, and he resisted the impulse to flip her the bird. Instead, he half led, half-tugged Edward up the slope and back onto the level ground.


Envy opened his eyes. The dream lingered in his mind, not having started to fade yet. The moon was full, and it cast enough light into the room that Envy didn't feel the need to turn on the lamp. The digital clock on the nightstand read 2:02 AM. His legs were sore from beating goons up, especially after her had just barely recovered enough to be useful. He sighed and flipped onto his back, stretching first one leg and then the other into the air.

Well, it was official. He had just fought against his mother's gang. He had passed the point of no return. So either Pride's side won, or he was going to die. What an ultimatum.

But what about after that? If the side he had chosen actually won, what would he do? He had no one to call family, except Pride, but Pride didn't count. Maybe he'd end up a hobo after all.

A tiny glimmer of an idea wormed its way into Envy's mind, but he pushed it away. There was no way he was staying with the NRA and her husband. Absolutely not. He didn't like her. No, he hated her. She drove him crazy, always caring, always asking questions that made too much sense, helping to destroy his sense of purpose in the world. In her own gun-themed way, she was much too much like he had always thought a mother should be. Even considering staying with her simply shone a glaring spotlight on the inadequacies of his own mother. How she had yelled at him, called him names whenever he did something wrong. How she had forced him to toughen up by throwing him into such dangerous situations. How she had sent people after him to punish him if he ever failed in his duties.

It made him want to scream. How dare she do that to him? Wasn't she supposed to care about his well-being? To want what was best for him, not just what she wanted for him? To help him through tough times instead of throwing him to the wolves? To not go to such drastic measures to teach him the error of his ways? She should be kind, loving, compassionate. Like moms were supposed to be.

Like the NRA was with Pride. And like how she was trying to be with him.

With a growl, Envy sat up and clenched his fists in his lap. How come his thoughts always went back to her? She was nothing but trouble. It was her fault that this whole mess had happened. If she had just left Pride alone in the first place--

But, if she had left Pride alone, Greed would have killed him. And then what?

There was a knock on the door. Envy looked up. "Come in," he said, crossing his legs and resting his gloveless hands in his lap.

The door opened, and there stood Riza, as if conjured up by his thoughts. "I came to see how you were feeling," she said, walking into the room. The moonlight coming through the window caught her blond hair and made it shine.

"Just peachy," Envy replied, taking off his headband. He hadn't removed it in a while, and he had to tug some life back into the matted part of his hair.

"Your limbs? Are they any better?"

"Yeah, they're all right," Envy said, unceremoniously pulling tangles out of his hair.

"Stop that," Riza commanded, and the way she said it actually made him stop. "You'll tear all your hair out that way." She walked over to the bed and sat down, producing a comb.

Envy stared at her and edged away.

"I'm not a poisonous snake, Envy. I'm just going to comb your hair."

Slowly, uncomfortably, Envy relented, letting Riza move to sit behind him. She started combing out tangles at the bottom of his hip-length, forest green hair, working her way up. Envy stared moodily at the wall, wondering why he was letting her do this.

"Hohenheim told me that Dante is your mother."

Envy stiffened. "Is that why you're so hostile towards me?" Riza went on. "Is it a sense of loyalty to her?"

"Hell no," Envy answered. "I've lost any loyalty to her."

"Still, you're so resistant towards me or anyone helping you. Why is that?"

"Why do you think?" Envy replied. "We don't--didn't trust outsiders. We knew that they were dangerous."

"You mean you were told that we're dangerous."

"Whatever."

Riza stopped to carefully undo a particularly stubborn knot. "Does it scare you to have someone care about you the way mothers are supposed to?"

Envy didn't answer. "Does it?" Riza pressed.

"If I say I don't want to talk about it, will you shut up?"

"If I take my gun and point it to your temple, will you talk to me more respectfully?" Riza countered.

Envy shifted. "Well, you know what I mean."

Riza nodded, starting to comb his hair again. "Yes I will. I'll respect your decision."

"Then I don't want to talk about it."

"All right. Let me finish your hair and I'll leave."

Envy lapsed into silence, balancing his elbows on his thighs and resting his chin in his hands. Riza silently combed his hair. Now, without the support of the headband and having every single tangle combed out, his hair seemed much less unruly, maybe even a little normal if that were possible. Riza worked her way up to Envy's scalp, pulling what seemed like the very last tangle free, and then ran her comb through the hair, straightening it some more. Envy almost fell off the bed when he realized he was relaxing under her hair care. She was so nice to him. Too nice.

"Why don't you hate me?"

Riza stopped combing and looked up. Envy was still faced away from her. "I turned Pride into the person he is now."

"His name is Edward," Riza said, "and it wasn't only you. It was your mother, and other members of her gang, not just you."

"I was the one in charge of watching over him," Envy said, sounding angry. "Hell, I was the one who found him and brought him to the f...the...you know. It is too my fault, and you know it. You're just trying to be nice. Which is another thing. You're so nice and concerned, like you're our mother."

Riza resumed putting the finishing touches on Envy's hair. "Well, I'm not your mother, but I care about you all the same," she said.

Envy suddenly pulled away from her, off the bed, and stood, facing her. His face was angry, but to Riza's shock, there were tears in his eyes. "But why?" he yelled. "Why can't you just leave me alone so I don't have to keep comparing you to the kind of mother I should've had! Why do you have to--to--I don't know, be so much like a mom! Will you go away if I tell you I hate you? Will you?"

Riza sat calmly and faced him as he fumed. "No," she finally said. "I probably wouldn't."

"Well, I hate you anyway! I hate you for destroying everything! You ruined my life! My mother wouldn't want to kill me if it weren't for you! I have no home, no family, no nothing, and it's all your fault!"

Riza stood. "You have your brother," she said. "You have me. And when this is over, you'll have my home. If that's my fault, then I'll take the blame."

Envy whirled and stormed from the room, slamming the door behind him. He left her standing there, watching him go. How could she? How could she be like that? Why wouldn't she get mad and threaten to blow out his brains? Call him names? Maybe even hit him? Why did she have to be so different from Dante? Why?

Envy didn't stop until he had made it to the back staircase, that led down to Juliet's kitchen. He sat down on the top stair, and finally let the tears go. Screw everything; he was sick of it all. He put his face in his hands and let the tears roll silently, still trying to catch his breath from expending so much energy stomping away.

A sound made his head snap up, and he saw Pride a few feet down the hall. "Go away," Envy snapped in his no-discussion-whatsoever tone.

Pride didn't move. He looked solemn, and as if he were resigned to something.

"I said go away!" Envy yelled, his voice straining already.

Pride shook his head and started to advance.

Envy rose on his feet to meet him, fists clenched. "Damn it, Pride, you'd better listen to me! I don't have time for you! Go away!"

Pride ignored him.

"I swear, if you don't get the hell away from me right now, I'm going to--"

Envy never did finish his sentence. He cut off as Pride suddenly made the last few steps one giant step, walked up to Envy, and simply hugged his waist.

"Let go of me!" Envy snapped, pushing Pride by the shoulders, trying to dislodge him.

"Envy, you're such a dumbass."

Envy paused.

"You act like it's a bad thing that the little world Mother isolated us in has been broken open. That's like a blind person being mad that someone gave them the ability to see. So what if that's all you've ever known? You really want to pass up this chance? No more being brutally punished for making mistakes. No more killing people, or wondering if people will try to kill us. No more having to live in the night, using titles, trying to rule people. We can just be normal. We can start over."

Envy's arms dropped.

"If we make it out of this alive, we can do what we want with our lives. Whatever that is. Envy, I want to go to school."

Envy stared at the wall.

"I want to grow up and have a family. And I don't want to worry about someone coming to blow up our car just because I decided not to be a part of the gang. And I want you to see what a real family should be like."

Envy glared at the wall.

"You don't have to forgive Dad right away. I know that'll take time. But what do you have against Riza? The only thing she's doing is offering you something better. Different isn't bad, Envy."

There he went with the logical thinking again. "I hate you too," Envy said without any feeling behind the words.

"I know," Pride replied.

They remained where they were a moment, until Envy had the presence of mind to rub off the dried tear streaks on his face.

"Will you at least give Riza a chance?" Pride asked, looking up at him. "She really wants to help us. Roy too, I think."

Envy sighed heavily. "Am I to assume to won't let go until I agree?"

"Damn straight."

"Fine. I'll try to be a little more open-minded."

Pride smiled up at him. "Glad to hear it."


"This place is so big!" Roth said excitedly, bouncing around and touching stuff.

"Roth, stop that," Izumi said sternly. Her husband loomed behind her imposingly.

Juliet smiled at the 11-year-old's eagerness.

"Wow! A breakout?" Winry said in astonishment. "And everybody's okay?"

Riza nodded. "It went very well."

"That's amazing."

"ROTH!" Izumi roared, as her younger son tried to climb the curtains, seeming to want to test their strength.

"Roth, you will stop immediately," Sig Curtis boomed, striding over.

"YOU WANT ME TO KILL YOU?" Izumi demanded.

"Has anyone seen Brother?" Alphonse asked, poking his head in the room.

The occupants shook their heads as Sig pried Roth off the curtains.

"What a lively child," Hohenheim commented as Roth ran in place in mid-air, his dad holding him up with two huge hands.

Alphonse pulled back out of the room, sighing. He wondered where Edward was. He didn't want to admit it, but he didn't like not knowing. After all, he had been forced to not know for almost ten years. Now that Edward was back, Alphonse didn't want to lose him ever again.

"Alphonse?"

Alphonse turned and saw Winry had come out of the room, closing the door behind her. "Hey," she said.

"Hi, Winry," Alphonse greeted, smiling. The bandage on his cheek crinkled up a little.

"So...this is a pretty big mess, isn't it?"

Alphonse nodded. "I have a feeling it's going to get bigger before it's over," he commented.

"Do you think...it'll turn out okay?"

"I'm confident it will. We'll beat this gang, and then both of my brothers can live peacefully. And so can my dad, and the Mustangs, and everyone," Alphonse said firmly.

Winry nodded, her gaze drifting across the carpet. "You know, when I first met your Edward at Riza's house, I didn't like him," she said. "I thought he was a total delinquent, like a crook or something. But now, it's like he's actually the victim after all. I feel kind of bad for some of the things I said about him."

"It's okay," Alphonse said. "Brother's past was pretty tough, but then again so was mine. We both had to find our own ways to survive what happened to us."

"What did happen to you?" Winry asked. "I heard some stuff about your biological mom being killed, and supposedly you were supposed to be too, but I don't really get what it all means."

"What it means is that eight years ago, the leader of the gang tried to kill Dad's family," a new voice interrupted. Winry and Alphonse turned to see Edward walking down the stairs, hands in his pockets. "She wanted revenge on him from leaving what she calls her family, so she had his car rigged to explode. Mom got in, and Al did too, but Al got back out before it blew up. That's how our family got scattered."

Winry blinked. "Oh. I'm so sorry, I had no idea."

Edward shrugged. "Well, that was my original aim. I never wanted anyone to know. I blamed myself for the whole thing."

"What?! But why?" Alphonse exclaimed.

"I had overheard Dad and Dante talking, about an hour before it happened. She threatened him, pretty vividly actually. I blamed myself because I had had an idea of what was going to happen, but I didn't talk to anyone about it. I was just going to let Dad handle it," Edward explained.

"But you can't blame yourself for that," Winry pointed out.

"I know that now, but I was just a kid then." Edward closed his eyes and sighed.

Envy suddenly appeared on the stairs, stepping down two at a time as if taking them one at a time was for children. He knocked Edward on the head. "It didn't help matters that Mother latched on to his way of thinking and ingrained him in it more," he commented.

"It sounds like this, Dante? That she's the common denominator behind everyone's problems," Winry said, crossing her arms.

Alphonse nodded. "Then, she's the one we're supposed to target?"

"Without her running everything, the f..."

"Gang," Edward supplied.

Envy sighed. "Whatever we're calling it, it would probably fall apart and be easier to defeat if we got rid of her."

Edward patted Envy's shoulder, as if he knew something about Envy's being able to say that that Winry and Alphonse didn't.

"Wow," Winry commented. "I wish I could help you guys. I mean, this sounds really dangerous."

"Don't worry, Winry," Alphonse said, bestowing a sunny smile on her. "We'll be all right."

"Yeah." Edward suddenly produced a smile that matched Alphonse's. "Our family--the real one--is tough. We can handle it."

Winry blinked again, then her cheeks flushed under the brightness of two Elric smiles. She hoped it would turn out as well as they thought it would.


Hmm. Another long chapter, with a kind of strange ending, but who doesn't have those once in a while? So, we're slowly moving to the inevitable ginormous fight scene, where there's a lot of punching and kicking, shooting and blood, screaming and passing out, yadayada. Catch you next time!