Chapter 1: Edward

"Alphonse?"

"I told you, you can call me 'Al,' Fletcher."

"Oh, r-right. I'm sorry, Alphonse- I mean Al!"

Alphonse could see his roommate's blush without even having to look over at the other desk.

"What did you want, Fletcher?" He hadn't meant to sound so annoyed, so he turned around in his chair and smiled at the other boy across the room.

It didn't seem to help much, though, as the smaller blonde just blushed some more and stuttered an apology for bothering him. Really, sometimes he was just too sensitive; though it could be cute sometimes.

"No, Fletcher," Alphonse reassured the boy, "It's okay, really. What did you want to know?"

It took him another few moments to work up to actually asking his question. "You did really well on the math test the other day, right?"

"I did okay, yeah."

Fletcher knew that wasn't true, but he wasn't about to dispute his roommate's modesty either. "Well, I didn't do that great so...I was wondering if, maybe, you could help me study for the next one?"

Alphonse could have laughed, if he didn't know that the shy little boy would probably misconstrue it as Alphonse making fun of him. "I dunno, Fletcher. You think the Head Mistress would mind me giving you extra help?"

The way the smaller boy paled, it was obvious that hadn't been the right answer either, and Alphonse quickly tried to rectify the situation before poor Fletcher had a heart attack. "No, no, Fletcher, I was only kidding. She won't care; why would she? I'll help you study, don't worry about it okay?"

His only answer was a meek little nod and he regretted now putting the idea into his roommate's head.

"Hey, Fletcher," the blonde spoke up again, leaving his desk and crossing most of the small room, "It's almost dinnertime, right? Why don't we start heading down to the mess hall?"

That seemed to lighten the mood a bit, and in a second the two boys were out the door, laughing and talking quietly with each other; the threat of the Head Mistress secondary on their minds, for the moment.


The cafeteria, or "mess hall" as the students had deemed it after one class had rebelled and started a food fight during lunch (or so the legend went), was as plain as any other cafeteria in any other school in the world: Basically just a large, rectangular box, it held long tables with uncomfortable wooden chairs enough to seat every student in the school at once. Well, it had to, because all of the meals were scheduled for one set time during the day. The room was monitored by every last one of the teachers, and the Sins.

This wasn't their official name, of course, just a nickname that some nameless student years before had come up with that just so happened to stick. Their official titles were Guardians, but they each had these ridiculous code names based on the old idea of the seven deadly sins; hence where the nickname had come from.

Their basic function in the school was, as so many a student had joked, the glorified hall monitors. They patrolled the grounds of the school, day and night, seeking out troublemakers. Some students suggested that the Sins weren't human, with how well they spotted mischief; they seemed to see and know everything that went on at the school and appeared when you were certain that no one had been there just a moment ago.

Wrath, Gluttony, Lust, Greed, Envy, Sloth, and their leader, Pride.

These seven Guardians were in charge of punishing the students that disobeyed the rules. Until a more serious crime was discovered; then you were sent directly to the Head Mistress.

Alphonse had learned early on that it was probably better not to cross the Sins, and he was disconcerted to find that they were already at the door of the mess hall, watching the line of students waiting to go in for dinner.

He'd made the mistake of breaking a rule when he'd first come to the school, thinking no one would know; but, somehow, Envy had found out, and he'd spent the next three days in solitary confinement. He never did figure out how Envy had done it, but he'd learned his lesson: If he wanted to break a rule, he had to make absolutely certain, without a doubt, that no one could find out. Though he had yet to come up with a way to accomplish that.

Especially now with Envy deciding he needed to keep a close eye on him.

Which was exactly what he was doing as the line finally started moving into the cafeteria and Alphonse and Fletcher passed him by the door. The man gave him a truly vicious smile, eyeing him as he passed by, and the boy did his best to ignore him and the nervous glances Fletcher was giving him.

The two followed the line up to the sad excuse for a buffet in silence and then carried their trays to their usual table near the far corner of the room, trying to look as innocent as possible to the teachers and other Sins they passed.

The other students greeted them with little more than a nod or a smile as they took their seats.

"How'd you do on your math test, Fletcher?" Russell was Fletcher's older brother and he looked it. His hair was only a shade or two lighter blonde, and their eyes were the same shade of blue, like the river that shut them all in. He was just as old as Alphonse, but truly tall for his age, and possibly a little too old as well.

Fletcher blushed at the question, but answered obediently, "Not so well, but Alphonse promised to help me, right?"

The boy blinked at his roommate and had a mind to correct him about his name again, but figured it would all be for naught anyway. Let Fletcher call him whatever he felt comfortable with, he would anyway.

"That's right," Alphonse nodded and turned to Russell, "I did pretty well on the test, and I don't mind helping him."

"And what are you getting in return?"

Both boys blinked at Russell in confusion. They hadn't talked about Fletcher doing anything for Alphonse in return...because the thought hadn't crossed their minds. The taller boy could read this easily on the others' faces.

"Equivalent Trade, Alphonse. You can't just do something for Fletcher without getting something back; then it leaves him in your debt."

Alphonse was completely taken aback by that and, though he understood the logic in it, he wasn't really comfortable taking anything from his roommate when he'd only asked for a little help with one of his classes. But before he got the chance to interject, the girl sitting beside Russell stabbed him with her spork.

"Cut it out, Russell. You know you shouldn't talk like that. What if someone heard you? You wanna get stuck in solitary confinement again?"

"Geez, Winry! You didn't have to stab me. Besides, no one heard; and it's not like I'm actually doing anything. They can't punish us for talking."

"They can, and they have. You know that, Russell."

The older boy sighed in defeat, still rubbing his arm where Winry had poked him. She was right, he knew she was right. The problem was, she also knew she right.

And she also noticed the way Russell kept rubbing at his arm. With a devious grin to the others, the girl pressed up against the younger boy's side, fingertips dancing over the "wound" as she batted her eyelashes at him. "Awwwwww," she cooed in her best baby voice, "Ith wittle Wuthell hurted? Doeth he want Winwy to make it allllllll better?"

The other kids snickered as Russell turned a shade of red more familiar on his brother. It was the dark girl sniggering to Winry's side that changed the conversation again.

"Whoa. Speaking of 'little,' look who's finally back."

Suddenly everyone's attention turned away from the two blondes, all of them following Panina's gaze to the wooden double doors at the entrance to the cafeteria.

It seemed Pride, himself, who wasn't often seen with the other Sins, had taken it upon himself to escort a student down. Another blonde, who looked like he was probably in the elementary school, though, even from so far away, Alphonse could see those mysteriously golden eyes were older than the boy appeared to be.

Conversation continued, if slightly subdued, throughout the rest of the cafeteria, but Alphonse's friends had suddenly gone silent, watching the new boy and the oldest Guardian. Or...Alphonse assumed he was new; but the way his friends were watching him, he got the impression that they knew him somehow. But he'd never seen the boy before, and surely if the others knew him, then he would have recognized him too.

It finally became too much when Panina shoved her tray over to the seat next to him and crawled under the table only to reappear in said seat.

"Hey, guys," he asked finally, "Who is that?"

Fletcher was the only one that even looked as if he was going to answer, "That's Edward."

Alphonse glanced back at the boy and then back at his roommate. "So you know him?" A nod. "But...how? I've never seen him before."

"He's been in solitary confinement," Russell explained without looking away from this Edward boy.

Alphonse thought about that for a few moments but shook his head. "That still doesn't explain how I've never seen him."

"Al," Panina turned to him, holding his gaze and trying to make him understand, "You haven't seen him, because he's been in solitary confinement."

Realization slowly began dawning on the boy. "He's been in solitary confinement," he clarified, "At least since I came here?"

Both Fletcher and Panina nodded solemnly, while Winry and Russell watched Edward's slow progression towards their table.

Alphonse was still having trouble believing it. "That kid, Edward or whatever, was in solitary confinement for a month?"

This time, the blonde let his friends' lack of answer, answer him, and he too turned to watch the strange boy head straight for their table, with Pride at his back. As they reached the students' table, Edward turned down it, the Sin remaining at the head and watching the boy until he'd sat down in the chair Panina had vacated.

No one said a word, watching Pride as he made his way back out of the cafeteria, making even the teachers nervous as he passed them by. When he finally passed through the wooden doors, pausing only a moment to exchange a few words with Envy who grinned over at them, the group finally settled down some and shifted attention to the blonde who had finally joined them.

They all watched him as he began eating, though no one dared say a word, perhaps too afraid of what might happen, or unsure of even what to say. It was Edward who finally broke the silence, though he seemed unaware of it anyway, "Hey, Win, y'gonna eat that?"

Winry glanced down at her semi-stale roll and shook her head; but before she had the chance to lift her hand to give it to him, the blonde had already bitten off half of it.

But it worked, whatever spell that had been cast by his arrival was suddenly broken, and the others soon began returning to their meals.

"You always stuff your face whenever you come back," Panina pointed out laughing, "What, do you just not eat while you're down there?"

"I don't blame him; we may get leftovers up here, but down there it's only leftovers of leftovers."

Everyone grimaced at Russell's evaluation, even Fletcher who'd never actually been to solitary confinement himself.

Edward, however, just grunted noncommittally around a mouthful of semi-stale roll and fake mashed potatoes. "Too busy thinking."

It was at that moment that the newcomer seemed to finally realize the presence of someone he didn't know. Alphonse figured it was probably because he'd been all but staring at the other blonde since he'd come into the room, fascinated by this person who'd been in solitary confinement since Alphonse had first come to this school, and claimed to have been too busy thinking while there to eat the sad excuse for food that they'd provided him with.

He found himself looking into sharp golden eyes that somehow seemed to hold the knowledge of the world in them, though this boy couldn't have been much older than Fletcher. Yet they measured him, just by looking in his own eyes, and it sent a shiver down the taller boy's spine. It wasn't unpleasant, and yet it wasn't wholly pleasant either -- it just was -- and still Alphonse found he had to turn away, dropping his eyes to his tray as he poked around the unidentifiable food with his spork for something semi-edible.

"Who're you?"

Alphonse was taken aback by the rudeness of the question, asked as if he had no right to be at the table, but just as he was about to retort, Fletcher cut in.

"Oh, I'm sorry! Edward, this is Alphonse. He's my roommate."

"Roommate, huh?" the smaller boy asked, those same yellow eyes now traveling up and down what they could see of the stranger, though not showing any reaction to the slight frown on Alphonse's face. "You new?"

"Not anymore," this time it was Panina who'd spoken up, "Maybe if you'd spend more time up here with the rest of us, you'd know that."

This was it, Alphonse waited for the expected question to come... But Edward just snorted and turned back to his dinner. This boy, whom he'd only known for a total of about seven minutes, somehow was the strangest person he could ever remember meeting. It wasn't that Alphonse wasn't relieved not to have to share his story again with yet someone else, but all of the students he'd met up to that point had all asked the same question upon meeting him: "So, what'd you do?"

He just couldn't figure out why Ed hadn't, though he didn't seem to be particularly interested in anything else anyway. But, then again... Of course Alphonse didn't really want to recount why he was here again but, perhaps he wasn't the only one. Maybe the reason Edward didn't ask him, was because he didn't want to be asked either...

Just as he was starting to begin to think he understood the smaller boy, though, Edward caught him staring and scowled, "What?"

No, Alphonse decided, he just wasn't interested.

The rest of dinner was spent in mostly friendly conversation, both Edward and Alphonse doing their best to ignore each other's existence while everyone else seemed to do their best to try and respect that, for the time being. Winry and Russell updated Edward on everything he'd missed while he'd been "away," while Alphonse took a napkin and pencil and started showing Fletcher how to do some of the problems that had been on their test. Panina jumped back and forth between conversations, interjecting bits of information here and corrections there. The conversations were finally broken up when a bell sounded throughout the school indicating that it was seven o'clock, and their dinner hour was over.

The students were dismissed table by table to keep the confusion and traffic jams to a minimum. The four blondes and Panina were the last to be dismissed, farthest from the door as they were. The Guardians had already left to begin their patrols of the rest of the campus, and most of the teachers had departed with the other students to escort them back to either the dormitories or the library (the only two approved locations to be during the two-hour time between dinner and curfew).

Last to leave, as always, was a young handsome teacher; an object of lust for those interested, and loathing for those not. Blessed with naturally good looks and a deep sensuous voice and charming smile that could melt anyone within viewing range, it was a mystery to everyone why he taught a subject so cold and unfeeling as math. And yet, the majority of the students you would ask would say that their favorite subject was his. The man's students was basically split into four categories: Those that did well so they could earn his attention, those that did well to show him up, those that faked not understanding the material so that they could ask him for help, hopefully in the form of a private tutoring session, and those that faked not understanding simply to spite him.

Five sets of eyes lit on this man as he made his way over to their table, one hand resting in his pocket while the other reached inside of his jacket to retrieve, what appeared to be, several sheets of paper.

"My, my, Edward," he purred, walking straight up to the boy, black eyes dancing as he fiddled with the papers in his hands, "So nice of you to return to us. I believe this is yours."

"Bastard. How'd you know I was back today?"

The man just smirked as the test was yanked from his hand. "Now, you mustn't use such vulgar language, Edward. We wouldn't want you to end up in punishment yet again."

"Yeah, whatever," the blonde grumbled, shoving the test into his pocket and leaving the rest of his friends behind as he headed towards the door.

The dark-eyed man just smirked after him before turning to the remaining students. "Alphonse, I hear you're to be tutoring Fletcher, is that correct?"

Flushing a bit at the question, he quickly nodded, impressed for not the first time at his teacher's seeming psychic abilities, "Y-yes, Master Mustang; if-...if you don't mind...?"

Mustang chuckled low in his throat in a way that made the blonde feel as if he were just a little boy again and had said something amusing without realizing it. "Of course I don't mind, Alphonse. In fact, I have no doubt that, with your help, Fletcher will be passing all of his tests up to graduation."

Both boys sank slightly into their seats, trying to hide their reddened faces. Luckily, Winry decided to take that moment to try and bring Mustang's attention to her.

"Master Mustang," the girl said, clearing her throat a bit and doing nothing to hide the attractive flush on her cheeks, "I was wondering if we could go over the homework from the other day. I didn't really understand all of it."

Russell, whose arm had settled around Winry's shoulders at some point during the meal, quickly withdrew it, a look of disgust on his face as he listened to her flirt with the teacher again. Panina seemed to feel the same way as she crossed her arms and focused her attention impatiently on the door, as if willing it to come closer and force them all out.

"Well, Winry," Alphonse heard Mustang answer, "It seems that a majority of your classmates didn't understand the homework, so we'll be going over it again in class tomorrow."

Winry looked decidedly disappointed, while Russell looked like he was trying to hide a look of triumph. It worked better after the girl elbowed him in the side.

Mustang finally stepped back and gestured towards the door, officially dismissing the group, though Winry was the last to leave.

"I have some work to attend to," the man called once they'd all passed through the double doors, "I trust I can count on all of you to head straight to your dorms, correct?" Of course his expression clearly stated that he knew they wouldn't have even thought of heading anywhere else anyway. Nevertheless, they all nodded, and Mustang headed down the corridor in the opposite direction; presumably, Alphonse thought, towards his office.

Conversation started up again as the five friends made their way from the cafeteria in the secondary building to the dormitories in the third. They occasionally stopped to talk with other familiar faces as they walked, but they didn't separate until they came to the fourth floor, where the boys' rooms were.

Goodbyes were exchanged and promises to meet the next day for breakfast, at the usual table, and then the girls continued up the stairs to the ninth floor, leaving Alphonse with the two brothers.

Once they were left to their own devices, any conversation had died down, both Russell and Alphonse falling into their own thoughts, and Fletcher not daring to disturb either of them. He didn't know what Russell was thinking about, but Alphonse couldn't get his mind off of that Edward kid.

Who the heck was he? Had he really not eaten a thing the three weeks he'd been in solitary confinement? What in the world had he done that had sent him to solitary confinement for three weeks in the first place? And, for that matter, why was here?

Alphonse was tempted to ask Russell, as he had in the past proven himself the most knowledgeable of what was going on at the school, but at the same time, he'd also seemed very closed-mouthed about Edward, with what little he'd been asked already. But Fletcher seemed to know at least something about him, so Alphonse said goodnight to Russell and then waited until he and the younger boy were back in their room to finally ask.

"Hey, Fletcher?" He waited until the younger boy turned around to continue, "What's that kid's story? Edward?"

The younger boy looked almost like a puppy as he tilted his head in confusion. "What do you mean?"

Oh, there were so many things that Alphonse could have answered that with, but maybe it would be best to stick to one question at a time. There was no way that Fletcher could know anything about what Edward had done while he'd been in solitary confinement, and it would probably be rude to ask him, or anyone besides Edward himself, why he'd been sent to the school. So that really only left him with one question to ask.

"Why was he sent to solitary confinement for so long? I don't think I've seen anyone get punished for more than a few days while I've been here."

Fletcher turned pink, turning away under the pretense of taking his pajamas out of his trunk. "Oh, I don't know," he mumbled, trying so hard to sound uncaring, "Why does he ever get sent down? I mean, Russell always jokes around that Edward spends more time in solitary confinement than he does in class."

It was a lame attempt at a joke, and both boys knew it; Alphonse just couldn't understand why his roommate was so uncomfortable all of a sudden. What exactly had Edward done?

"He really gets into trouble a lot?"

"Yeah, Winry's always saying how he's a glutton for punishment and he probably does it on purpose."

"On purpose?" Alphonse asked disbelievingly, "Why would he get into trouble on purpose?"

"I don't know," Fletcher answered, buttoning up his pajama shirt, "Panina says that he's just trying to get on the Head Mistress' nerves or that-..."

The way the younger boy clapped his hand over his mouth, Alphonse realized that whatever Fletcher was about to say, he hadn't meant to, and that seemed more promising than anything else he'd told the older boy.

"Or that what?" Alphonse prompted, watching his roommate carefully.

The entire back of Fletcher's neck was nearly purple he was blushing so much, and the next words came out of his mouth in such a rush, Alphonse had to run it through his head a few times before he was able to pick apart the words, "That he's meeting one of the Guardians down there and-... Well-... Y'know..."

'Y'know'? He knew? It took the blonde a second to make the connection between his roommate's flushing and his vague answer, and he found himself blushing himself. Of course Panina had said that.

Turning to his own trunk, Alphonse sighed and forced the frustration out of his voice so that Fletcher wouldn't think he was angry with him. He really wasn't; he was annoyed with Edward, for being so damn mysterious.

"Fletcher, could you please stop telling me what everyone else keeps saying about him? I just want to know what he did to get punished for so long."

"Alphonse..."

There was a certain tone in the younger boy's voice that caught his attention more than anything. Fletcher had been nervous before, that was just a part of his personality, but Alphonse had never heard him sound...scared. The expression on the boy's face, he saw when he turned around, was almost pleading in its uneasiness, and Alphonse found himself at a loss for words, just waiting to hear what the other boy wanted to say.

"Alphonse, I don't know," Fletcher reiterated, wringing his hands in front of him and, though his eyes darted away, they always returned to his roommate's. "I asked Russell when it happened, but he just told me that it wasn't for me to get involved in and he didn't want me asking again. I know he knows, but, Alphonse... I don't think you should ask him either; I don't want you to get in trouble."

A long silence stretched between them, and Alphonse very nearly crossed the room to gather the younger boy in his arms, he looked so scared. He decided to settle, however, on simply smiling reassuringly, and accepting his warning, "Alright, I promise I won't ask him."

The relieved smile that answered him just about lit up the room; but still, despite the warning and his roommate's anxiety, all Alphonse could think as the two boys got ready for bed, was the same thing that had been running around his head since dinner had ended:

Who was this Edward kid?

To be continued...