Chapter Thirteen

Mabel turned to the window. When she did, she saw Envy dragging himself slowly up the hill.

"Ed, come here. That's Envy."

"Oh, ugly little bugger, isn't he?"

"You can't say that to him if you want his help. He thinks he looks handsome like that."

Envy had reached the door and pulled it open, walking in as if it was his house.

"So, what did you brats have to say about Hohenheim?"

Ed was about to say something just as rude back, but Mabel popped her hand over his mouth. Al saw this and decided to take a more diplomatic approach.

"We think that we know where he went. We want to know if what you've seen agrees with our guess."

"And what did you guess?"

Envy still stood in the doorway, without closing the door.

"Why don't you come in? We can sit and discuss this over a map."

Envy scoffed. "I'm invited in now? And like this? It's sad." But he did come in and shut the door.

They all sat around the table.

"So? Or are you going to make me wait longer?" Envy said.

"We think he may have gone to Drachma." Al said.

"Why?"

"Before he married our mother he had been in Xerxes, and before that in Xing. Now that he's gone, it makes sense that he's gone to Drachma."

Envy leaned forward, his eyes narrowing. "And do you think that he's had children in these other countries, or that you're special?"

Ed stiffened, and Mabel kicked his foot.

"We don't know. It's possible." Al said, just as stiffly as Ed looked.

Envy sat back. Mabel knew from having lived with him that he felt inferior to the Elrics, and wildly jealous of them. So if they had admitted superiority, he probably wouldn't have said anything more to help them, and would probably have tried to trick them.

"From what I've seen, you're right. He could have gone to Drachma. The question is, where in Drachma has he gone? Drachma is nearly three times as large as Amestris. Even if we're right, we could still never find him."

"Even so, it's better to look than to sit back and hope that he decides to come back. But now that our mother is dead, he might not ever come back."

Mabel smiled. This was the right thing to say. Good job, Al! This was another sticky point for Envy, or rather, the same one as the last but slightly different, he had always wanted Hohenheim to come back for him, and for Al to admit that he probably wouldn't come back for them either put them on more equal footing. Now, as long as Ed didn't mention that he thought Envy was ugly, they'd almost certainly have his help.

"And how do you plan to get into Drachma?" Envy asked.

Al pointed to the map he had spread on the table. "There's a slight pass here. It hasn't been used in ages, so there isn't a guard there, but we might still be able to get over it."

Envy dropped his palm onto the table. "I like it. I'm coming too, we can leave as soon as you're ready."

Ed jumped up, angry. "Who said you were coming?!"

"I did. Just now. I'll be back tomorrow, it'll be better if we go sooner. If we wait until winter even we won't be able to get through." And then Envy jumped up and darted out the door, so as to not let any of them argue with him.

Ed was still spluttering and angry when Mabel stood up and pushed her chair back from the table. Al didn't look all that happy either. Mabel waited for one of them to say something, but neither of them did.

"So, will we be able to get everything that we need tomorrow?"

"He can't just come with us!" Ed burst out.

"Is it really that bad? He's been tracking Hohenheim for years longer than you've even been alive. I'd say we're better taking him with us."

"But..."

Al still sat without speaking.

"Do you have a real objection to his coming?" Mabel asked.

"It's not just him, I don't want anyone else coming. It our business, not his." Ed said.

"I'm worried, that if we show up with Envy, Dad will think that we've become like him, and we won't be able to even talk with him after that, much less get the philosophers stone from him." Al said.

"What do you mean?" Mabel asked, sitting back down.

"Well, I know that, before us, he and our mom had a son, but he died very, very young. Dad performed human transmutation to try and bring him back, but it didn't work, and instead he made a homunculus. He didn't want a homunculus, so he left it behind, but it always followed him, trying to be the son that he didn't want anymore."

"So if Envy does come with us-" Mabel said.

"I think that whatever little bit of Dad might want to see us again would get wrapped up in his disgust for Envy. A few times, while we were still here, Envy would find Dad alone and try to talk to him. Neither of you ever heard his voice after one of those meetings, neither did Mom, because he never told her, but it used to scare me, the amount of disgust that he could have for someone."

Mabel and Ed were quiet. Ed hadn't sat back down, but he hadn't moved to go away either.

"But the worst part is, without Envy, I don't think we'll be able to find Dad."

"I can see now that it's more complicated than I thought," Mabel said. "But I still think that we don't have too much of a choice. If we're doing it at all, we've got to do it now. And now that Envy has said he's coming, I don't think that we can dissuade him."

"Maybe," Ed crossed his arms. "But I still don't like it."

"Well, we can at least go shopping and get the supplies we need."

"Yeah, I guess."

But, as it turned out, Mabel was not able to go with them. Most of the supplies would not be sold in Resembool, and she was already starting to get tired. So in the end, she and Ed went to bed, and Al went walking to go get the supplies for them.