If this hadn't been such an intense discussion from the very start, maybe she would have missed it. But she's been paying a lot of attention. And so, she catches that moment. Almost more from the faintest sound of his muscles shifting than from the look of his face.
When he speaks, her throat tightens, too.
She can't-- won't-- mention the conditions of the deal she made with Envy. Even if those conditions were pretty much rendered broken by the circumstances since the deal was made... she's not going to tell Alphonse Elric that she only-slightly-blindly promised to help Envy murder their father.
"... People never do anything without a reason... but they don't have to be good reasons."
She pauses, letting out a long sigh and raking her fingers through her hair.
"... I'm not gonna try and tell you that your dad's a monster. It's... honestly not my place to. Or even my business."
Even if, as early as Envy's first confessions, the first information she'd ever gotten about his dark origins, she'd always suspected that the father who abandoned him was probably responsible for harming others, too. A tiger don't change its stripes, and Heather has no sympathy whatsoever for Hohenheim.
"... But there's something else I think you should know. ... When I died, the very first time? ... It was strange and complicated, but... the man who straight-up went through the gates of Hell to try and get me back... what he got back wasn't his daughter. The parts that made her up... those were still there. I was her, but... I also wasn't. And he knew that. He knew, deep down, that what he got back was something else. Something... maybe even monstrous. ... He wasn't wrong. I was different, and dangerous. And I know the temptation was there-- he wrote about it in his letters to me later on. That there were times he almost killed or abandoned me... or god forbid, left me back there in Hell."
Not with Dahlia-- god forbid. That bitch was already dead, by that point. If only Envy had been so lucky. .. But then again, it had been Harry Mason who'd made Dahlia's death possible to begin with. If he'd cut and run...
"... But he didn't. He kept me. Raised me, taught me. Loved me like his very own daughter. Even when he had to sacrifice so much to protect me, even when in the back of his head I'm sure he knew that he could have lived a happy, normal life by leaving me on the doorstep of a hospital and trying to forget I ever existed. ... He's the reason I couldn't kill that woman from my past. He's the reason I'm here, able to talk and laugh and carve out a life for myself. He's the reason I didn't turn into a monster."
She trails off for a moment, again. Picking out the words, because this next part is important.
"... That's why Envy and I work, Al. I know you're worried, but I said earlier that there were a couple of things I wanted you to take out of this conversation-- well, this is the second one. The biggest-- maybe the only-- difference between me and Envy is that I had help. I had a father. ... And Envy... didn't. That's it. That's the difference."
no subject
When he speaks, her throat tightens, too.
She can't-- won't-- mention the conditions of the deal she made with Envy. Even if those conditions were pretty much rendered broken by the circumstances since the deal was made... she's not going to tell Alphonse Elric that she only-slightly-blindly promised to help Envy murder their father.
"... People never do anything without a reason... but they don't have to be good reasons."
She pauses, letting out a long sigh and raking her fingers through her hair.
"... I'm not gonna try and tell you that your dad's a monster. It's... honestly not my place to. Or even my business."
Even if, as early as Envy's first confessions, the first information she'd ever gotten about his dark origins, she'd always suspected that the father who abandoned him was probably responsible for harming others, too. A tiger don't change its stripes, and Heather has no sympathy whatsoever for Hohenheim.
"... But there's something else I think you should know. ... When I died, the very first time? ... It was strange and complicated, but... the man who straight-up went through the gates of Hell to try and get me back... what he got back wasn't his daughter. The parts that made her up... those were still there. I was her, but... I also wasn't. And he knew that. He knew, deep down, that what he got back was something else. Something... maybe even monstrous. ... He wasn't wrong. I was different, and dangerous. And I know the temptation was there-- he wrote about it in his letters to me later on. That there were times he almost killed or abandoned me... or god forbid, left me back there in Hell."
Not with Dahlia-- god forbid. That bitch was already dead, by that point. If only Envy had been so lucky. .. But then again, it had been Harry Mason who'd made Dahlia's death possible to begin with. If he'd cut and run...
"... But he didn't. He kept me. Raised me, taught me. Loved me like his very own daughter. Even when he had to sacrifice so much to protect me, even when in the back of his head I'm sure he knew that he could have lived a happy, normal life by leaving me on the doorstep of a hospital and trying to forget I ever existed. ... He's the reason I couldn't kill that woman from my past. He's the reason I'm here, able to talk and laugh and carve out a life for myself. He's the reason I didn't turn into a monster."
She trails off for a moment, again. Picking out the words, because this next part is important.
"... That's why Envy and I work, Al. I know you're worried, but I said earlier that there were a couple of things I wanted you to take out of this conversation-- well, this is the second one. The biggest-- maybe the only-- difference between me and Envy is that I had help. I had a father. ... And Envy... didn't. That's it. That's the difference."