Hi i know it has been a long time, and i really should focus on the other chapter stories i have going rather than starting anything new. however i have come to the conclusion that Xilon only bothers to give me insperation when i am stressed and dont have time for it, and makes me do it anyway. my seinor high school year and the summer were fun and i had time... well in two days i start college classes, just moved in yesterday... Xilon should be back soon. anyway to any readers thank you! thank you so much and please hang with me a little longer!

oh and this came to me because my mom mentioned that she partialy had kids just to have an excuse to play with the cool kid toys. anyway that led to me thinking about what i did as a little kid and lets be frank who never built a pillow fort? so i thought lets make the Elrics do it... but then i wanted to build one even though i was moving to college... kids have all the fun but i don't care i built one anyway it was awsome!

Xilon: i love how she gives me no credit for this insperation blast... i hate her...

Oh! right standard i have yet to buy off FMA so no i do not own anything!

Al sighed softly having 'woken' up from his trance state that substituted for sleep since he was put in the armor. Glancing out the window he could tell that it must be around midnight. Before he would have had to check a clock but he had spent enough time watching the moon and stars that he normally could get a rough idea of what time it was without one now. He sighed again, he would have read but as his night vision was no better than a normal human's he couldn't without risking waking his sleeping brother with the light. And who was he to deny Ed that, let alone how the luxury of having a soft, warm bed was not always afforded Ed.

Thinking of his brother Al glanced over to the other bed where Ed was snoring softly. He had pushed the covers down to around his waist and was lying on his stomach with his flesh arm dangling off the side of the bed. Ed's feet both poked out from the bottom of the covers too. Al sighed softly before standing as quietly as he could and walking over to his brother's bed. Al gently lifted Ed's dangling arm placing it back on top of the mattress. Ed yawned, stretched a little before rolling over onto his side mumbling something in his sleep before settling down again. Al then pulled the covers back over Ed's feet and up to around his shoulders.

Al watched his brother sleep for a little bit, gently brushing the wayward bangs out of his brother's face and wondering what it felt like to sleep. And thinking about how long it had taken him to learn how to do anything right in this body. For a long time Al had usually ended up grabbing things too hard, not knowing his own strength at all. For a few months Ed, who refused to admit that the bruises must hurt, was black and blue from more than just learning how to use the automail. Ed had told him that they would learn together, since he had to learn that with his automail hand himself, but if Ed hit or grabbed Al too hard, Ed was the only one that might end up hurt. It was not fair.

Al left the room making his way to the roof and stared up at the sky watching the stars and the moon. It was not fair at all, Ed was dying, this life was killing him. Al saw what was happening, saw how every night there was less of him. It was not even the weekly, if not daily fights for their lives against terrorists, sociopaths, murderers, and others out to get them for one reason or another. It was not the at least once a month visits Ed took to the ER, how often he nearly bled out, how close some of those wounds that left scars all over him came to hitting something important. While that all played a part that was not what was killing his brother.

Al saw how Ed's very soul was infested with parasites.

Parasites that were killing his brother and trying to replace him.

Al hated being in the armor for many reasons. There were the obvious things like not being able to feel, or taste, or smell, and how every sound echoed around before he heard it. There was not being able to sleep, and not being able to offer the comfort of a hug or warm touch to people who needed it, the inability to smile or cry or frown or anything when he really wanted to. There was how strangers who saw him though he was scary of freakish, or even more adult than he was because of his size. That all bothered him greatly, but what bothered him most was how this armor was a symbol and rallying cry for those parasites on his brother.

Most people who met Ed now would likely see a cocky child prodigy with a sharp toung and short temper. They might see a teen playing grown up for fun or a boy with a touch of Napoleon syndrome. They might see a cynical young man who was sometimes apathetic to the point of extreme cruelty, or the young soldier who would knock down anyone who got in his way. But that was not Al's brother, that was the evil Fullmetal parasite.

People who knew even a little of the brothers' past, or caught Ed when Fullmetal had let off the attack for a moment might see a child forced to grow up to much too soon too fast and resenting every moment of it. They might see the grief and the crushing guilt that came from someone too young witnessing things now one should ever have to even think about. They might see a haunted and hollow young boy who had lost it all and now tried desperately to cling to what he had left and scrape out a little for himself. Or a lost orphan trying to find his place in the world. But that too was not truly Al's brother, that was the Despair parasite.

Al's brother had parts of both those parasites but Edward was so much more than that. Edward was amazingly kind and extremely sensitive. Edward had a very strong sense of right and wrong, and the deep seated need to correct any mistake. Edward was the kind of person who would come to anyone's aid if it was within his power. Edward was also very responsible, after their father had left he had, to some extent been a father to Al, the strong male role model Al needed, and after their mother died Ed took care of Al like he was both parents and an older brother. Edward never complained about being forced by circumstance to be Al's parent, and he never asked why the world apparently hated him. He dealt with things as they came, tried to plan ahead as best he could in a crumbling and shifting world, and make up for where he stumbled in the past.

It was Ed's heart that made him vulnrable to Despair, and his responsibility and the circumstances that made him vulnerable to Fullmetal.

Yes Ed was sensitive about his height, yes he hated milk, and yes he had a short temper. Al saw that, he was not so naive as to think his brother infallible but that did not change the fact that Edward was his dear sweet brother, now was dyeing beneath those parasites.

What Al wanted to do was tell Ed that they should stop this, stop looking for the stone and just live content with what they had. There was no proof that they could ever succeed, no proof that either would survive much longer. Even if they did get back their bodies, even if they both had a pulse, Al was afraid that his Ed would have already been irrevocably consumed and replaced by one of those parasites. Al wanted to nurture away the despair parasite, and to just plain crush the Fullmetal one, if his brother left the military then Fullmetal would have no reason to exist anymore. Al could live with this body if only he could keep his brother; losing Edward was too high a cost for anything.

But Edward would not do that; he would not give up until he had exhausted every opportunity to fix his mistake. Al knew that if he were not there Ed would have no reason to keep looking. But Al also knew that if he left, it would definitely kill Ed. Despair would kill Ed without Al, and then Fullmetal like the evil bastard he was would swoop in and take over leaving nothing of Ed left but his body.

Al was startled out of his thoughts by a blanket thrown over his shoulders. He looked to the side and saw Ed in just his thin cotton T-shirt and thin cotton pajama pants sit down next to him looking up at the stars.

"Brother? What are you doing up? Did I wake you?"

"Naw, don't worry about it"

"… you should go back to sleep, you need it"

Ed snorted softly "quit being such a mother hen would ya, I'm a big boy Al I can take care of myself"

Al laughed at the comment which sounded incredibly like a little boy trying to convince a parent that they were old enough to do something they wanted.

"What's so funny?" Ed asked looking a little indignant as he frowned at Al.

"Nothing Brother, it's just…"

"So what's bothering you?" Ed interrupted staring at Al intensely.

"Bothering me? What do you mean there's nothing…"

"Al, you are a terrible liar, ok so are you gonna tell me or do we have to spar for it?"

"Ed it's the middle of the night, we'd wake someone up"

"So you'll tell me then, good" Ed smirked and nodded looking self important.

"That's not what I said brother" Al said with a sigh.

Ed looked at Al intensely like he was studying something for a little bit before he smiled softly "don't worry Al, I'm not gonna leave you" Ed said softly locking eyes with Al, and if Al had any doubts about who he was talking to they were gone, only Edward knew him that well. Then Ed shivered a little.

"You should take the blanket" Al said moving to shift it off him.

Ed shook his head gently "I'm fine Al, you're the one who needs it more"

"Brother, you're cold, you know I can't feel…"

"you're cold too" Ed said, Al was about to retort that 'because he was metal he was always cold but he couldn't feel it so just take the blanket already, stupid brother,' but Ed continued on before he could "and I don't mean your body Al, you've been thinking cold dark thoughts and you need to warm up"

"… Are you feeling alright brother?" Al asked wondering where his brother was pulling that logic from.

Ed chuckled softly "I'm fine Al, Remember when we were little and we built that awesome fort out of pillows and blankets and just about any piece of furniture we could push close enough and books to hold up the blankets?" Ed asked.

"yeah" Al replied slowly, he did remember that and the fort was awesome they had managed to make it take up the whole living room even if it was a labyrinth of chairs and book piles and pillow blockades.

"Remember why we built it in the first place?" Ed grinned as if he was about to prove some major point, Al still felt a little lost how did a pillow fort from their childhood have anything to do with anything?

"… Hadn't we watched a scary monster movie?" Al asked not quite sure.

"Yep"

"And we were afraid of the monsters"

"Uh huh"

"So be built it to hide"

"Exactly"

"But what does that have to do with now?"

Ed sighed and stood up "Al build yourself a fort to keep those monster thoughts away"

"… Brother"

"No Al, it's a scientific fact that pillow forts are the best way to keep monsters at bay" Ed said looking like he was giving a lecture to preschoolers.

"… That doesn't sound really scientific"

"It worked for us then didn't it?" Ed smirked "and pillow forts have been protecting kids since the first kid put one up!"

"But brother those monsters weren't real to begin with" Al tried to reason.

"yeah, and those thoughts of yours that you don't want to tell me aren't either so why shouldn't it work just the same, I know a pillow fort can't keep the real ones out, but I'll sleep easier knowing that those phantoms you are conjuring up will not get you until I can stop them" Ed said smiling softly.

Al though about it for a little bit before he laughed again. "Brother that sounds really childish"

"It's working aint it?" Ed grinned before yawning eyes drooping halfway. "And like I said Al, I'll always be your brother no matter what, nothing will take me away from you."

"Get some sleep brother"

"You'll be ok till morning?" Ed asked a hint of worry in his voice.

"Yeah, of course, I've got my fort right?"

Ed smiled sleepily "that you do, night Al"

"Night brother"

Ed walked back to the room and Al followed, Ed crawled back into bed and quickly fell back asleep while Al set about building the fort from the desk and his bed. Crouched inside Al watched his brother and if he could he would have smiled. It was silly and childish but they were kids and the fort made everything seem safer if only for a little while.

Al would help Ed fight despair, and Ed relived of that load could take on Fullmetal any day because no one as caring as Ed could ever be eclipsed by a fiend like Fullmetal.

Al chuckled softly thinking how people who knew Fullmetal though Ed immature because Fullmetal tried so hard to be grown up while being a teen, when the hilarious part of it all was that Edward who was a kid was more mature than almost anyone gave him credit for. Ed had sensed his brother needed him, and had comforted him not only older brother to younger, not only best friend to friend but also adult to child. Ed had basically told Al to remember his age, and while most fourteen year olds did not build pillow forts any more they both had missed a lot of those years and were missing time. So for the night Al was a kid and safe knowing his brother would be there in the morning, and the next, and the next, and so on.

"… b-b-brother?"Al squeaked glancing around the room.

"Yeah" Ed replied looking cautiously under his bed.

"… the mon-monsters aren't really gonna get us are they?"

"… I hope not Al"

"I'm s-scared Ed"

"…" Ed nodded silent agreement too old in his mind to admit it out loud but just as scared as Al sounded.

"Mom was right we shouldn't have watched that movie" Al muttered.

Ed looked around noticing the closet door open just a crack, he vividly remembered a slimy green hand with long sharp claws and warts all over shooting out of a closet and snatching people in to eat them. He gulped knowing that while his parent's were out shopping he had to look after Al. what kind of parents left their defenseless and very eatable children home alone, did they want them to get eaten by scary monsters?! None the less he bravely crept closer grabbing a toy truck as a weapon and approached the door. Al saw this and shrieked. "No don't do it brother you'll get eaten!"

Ed glanced back at Al with a terrified sort of thanks-for-the-vote-of-confidence-as-if-i-was-not-already-scared-out-of-my-pants kind of look before gulping and continuing even more cautiously to the door. He reached it and peeked in ready to bolt at the first sign of monsters. Reasonably assured that this particular closet had no monster inhabiting it for the moment he slammed the door shut to keep it that way, breathing a shaky sigh of relief.

"I wish mom was here" Al whimpered.

"don't worry Al, I know how to keep us safe till they come home" Ed said sounding more confident that he felt after looking around the room a bit more "come on grab all the blankets and pillows you can"

It started out as one blanket and the couch with two chairs and some pillows as defensive walls. But even for children as small as they were two people under that was cramped and rather than risk internal feuding that would end in one or both devoured they decided to enlarge the structure. It ended up taking about an hour because they got really into trying to outdo the other and adding customized defenses like the toppling book pile of doom in the event that the perimeter was breached by those monsters. Eventually they were exhausted and curled up under the one blanket that had not been recruited into roofing or walls, and a spare pillow falling asleep.

A little while later their parents came home seeing the fort and the boys curled up back to back asleep just visible from the doorway.

"My look at that" Trisha said rather impressed with her boys ingenuity although she suspected they had snuck over to that older boy's house to watch that monster movie.

"… A pillow fort"

"A pillow castle looks like" Trisha smiled reaching in to pet her son's heads. Before she looked at her husband sensing his distress. "What on earth is wrong now honey?"

Hoenhime looked sad "pillow forts are meant to keep out monsters" he muttered.

Trisha sighed and rolled her eyes "stop saying that about yourself honey, you are a great man, and a great dad, a few pillows and blankets can't stop you, because. You. Are. Not. a. monster." she said slipping around the stucture to get to the kitchen. Hoenhime looked at his son's sadly, he almost tried reaching in to pet them like his wife had but stopped, even if the pillow fort couldn't really keep him out, he did not want to risk killing the magical safety of the pillow fort for his boys and let a monster in.

Trisha from the kitchen watched that and sighed wondering how long it would take to convince him he was not a monster.

The end.

...Ya know to be honest... i don't know where that end came from... oh well i kind of like it... anyway PUSH THE PRETTY BUTTON! please... :}