Thanks for all the wonderful reviews minna! You all give me the drive to write more::hug:
I'd like to thank my best friend, darkfairyofdoom, for beta-ing this story for me. A hug goes out to her!

BANG!!

Edward slammed the door open and stormed into his slave chamber.

"Aru, you won't–"

He blinked, realizing he was talking to the walls.

"I guess everyone is working. . ." he mumbled to himself.

He sighed and walked back out of the stone chamber, letting the door fall close behind him.

'I guess I'll just go to the laundry room. I'll probably be early, but better to have to work extra than get caught roaming the halls and being forced to draw someone else's bath!' he thought sourly.

He reached the laundry room, and to his surprise, saw other slaves doing work. "What. . .?"

"You! By the door! What are you doing here?"

A guard stormed over to him. "Don't you have duties to attend to?"

Edward had to keep himself from glaring as the man towered over him. "This is my duty sir. Breakfast then laundry. I just–"

He was cut off as the guard's hand made sharp contact with his face.

"How dare you get here late! Now get to work you little mongrel!" barked the guard as he shoved Edward forward.

Ed nodded hastily. "Yes sir." he replied as he grabbed a basket of laundry and walked swiftly to the nearest vacant washing tub.

He put the basket down and walked around the tub, then started pumping water into it. Once it was full, he placed a washing board inside and started cleaning.

He glanced at the guard that had smacked him out of the corner of his eye. He was talking to another guard. Then, to Ed's horror, the guard pointed to him. The other guard looked toward where his companion was pointing then nodded. They parted ways.

Ed bit his bottom lip and started washing the clothes harder. 'I was late! Here I thought I'd be early and I was late! It's all that prince's fault! Why can't he just draw his own bath? Why does he need a bath every day anyway? I don't take a bath every day, and I'm fine!'

He grumbled to himself as he wrung out the shirt he was washing, then put it in a basket. He grabbed another article of clothing, a dress, and started washing again. He gritted his teeth when he realized what he was washing.

'Stupid. Damn. Female. Clothing! I hate it!'

He started scrubbing harder, narrowing his malice-filled eyes at the outfit. Today was not a good day.

"Are you okay?"

Ed looked to his right and saw a young boy sitting there.

"I'm fine." he said, wringing out the dress and putting in the basket with the shirt. He grabbed another shirt to wash.

"What did you get hit for?" the boy asked.

"I was late." he said a bit angrily. Wasn't it obvious?

"You weren't that late. . ."

Edward shrugged. "Since when did that matter?" he asked rhetorically, a scowl still on his face.

The boy was silent and Ed assumed the strange conversation had come to a close. He kept washing until the laundry basket was empty. He picked up the other basket, filled with the clothes he had washed, and stood up. He started walking to the other side of the room, vaguely noticing the boy that had spoken to him was now following him.

He set the basket down with a group of others sitting on the floor by the wall. Next to them, a young slave girl was standing on a stepladder, leaning out the window. Outside there was a clothing line on a pulley, so every day someone would have to lean out the window and put clothes on the line as they came so they would dry properly. To Ed, it seemed like a very boring job. Not that cleaning the clothes wasn't boring too.

"I just set it here?"

Ed looked down and saw the boy holding his basket of clean laundry.

He nodded, realization dawning on him.

Ed waited as the boy put down the basket, then headed back to the front of the room to grab another basket of laundry. The boy followed him.

Once he was back to his tub, he sat down and started to wash, as did the boy.

"You're new here, aren't you?" Ed asked.

"Uh-huh."

Ed nodded, the pieces falling together. It wasn't that unusual really, he'd had children follow him around on his duties before, and they followed Aru around like chicks following a mother hen. What else were they to do? Children didn't know what to do, and it wasn't like the guards told them how to do the work. He had had the same problem himself when he was younger, though he had never followed anyone around like some children did.

"Does everyone get hit if they're late?"

Edward turned, breaking himself off from his thoughts, and faced the boy. "What?"

"Does everyone get hit if they're late?" repeated the boy.

"Oh. Yeah, they do. But don't worry." he added, seeing the solemn expression on his face. "Just do everything the guards tell you and you should be fine."

The boy nodded and started cleaning, not saying anything more on the matter.

The hours passed slowly, as they always did with laundry duty, but eventually the job was finished, and all the slaves were to either go back to their chambers or onto another job, depending on their schedule.

Edward silently wished the boy luck and although he knew that the quicker he got his first beating, the quicker he would learn to adapt to life as a slave, he couldn't help but hope that any mistakes he made would go unnoticed for at least a little while.

He walked toward the door with all the others, noticing the boy was trying his best to keep close to him, but when he reached the door someone grabbed his shoulder and roughly pulled him aside.

"You're easy to pick out with those limbs of yours, did you know that?"

Ed looked up and found himself face to face with the guard that had been looking at him earlier. The guard grabbed his good arm in a painfully tight grip and dragged him through a door, into another room. He latched the door behind him. "Why were you late?" he asked, not letting go of Ed's arm.

"I was given a new duty sir." Edward said, averting his eyes.

The guard's grip tightened. "This concerns me, how?"

"The time my duty ends clashes with the time laundry duty begins sir." he said, fighting the urge to wince. His arm would definitely be bruised.

"Well, I guess tomorrow you'd better run, shouldn't you?"

"Yes sir."

The guard let go of his arm and stood regarding him. For a moment, Ed almost thought he was going to get off. And why shouldn't he? He had a perfectly valid excuse.

The guard backhanded him across the face, using enough force to knock Ed to the ground.

Ed grimaced and started to pick himself up off the floor. 'Almost forgot. Valid excuses don't matter here.' he thought grimly.

Before he could stand, the guard stepped on his back, pressing him back to the floor.

"You'll run next time, won't you?"

Ed nodded.

The guard bent down, keeping his foot on Ed's back, and grabbed his hair, yanking it so Ed was looking at him.

"You'll run, won't you?" he asked again, spittle flying from his mouth onto Ed's face.

"Yes sir." Edward choked out.

"Good boy." The guard let go of Ed's hair and removed his foot. Edward could feel his eyes piercing through him as he got to his feet.

"You've learned your lesson?"

"Yes sir."

"And if you're late again?"

"If I'm late again, please whip my back until I bleed sir."

The guard nodded, seemingly satisfied. "Good, now out of my way." He grabbed Ed's arm and threw him into the wall, then calmly unlatched the door and walked out of the room.

Ed pried himself off the wall and glared at the guard's retreating figure. He left the room in a hurry, and went out into the hallway.

As he walked down the hall, Ed held his automail hand against his swelled cheek, letting the coldness of the metal sooth the pain. Having a metal arm was good for that at least.

---------

"Nii-san!"

Ed gave his little brother a faint smile as he walked into the slave chambers. "Hey Aru."

The younger boy had shot to his feet the moment Ed had entered the room. The others in the room looked up to regard him as well.

"Nii-san, where have you been? I got your note, but Vic said you weren't at work this morning, and I haven't seen you all day! I've been so worried!" he rambled.

"Thanks for worrying, but I'm fine Aru."

"But your face. . ."

Ed rubbed his flesh arm nervously. "It's nothing, just a little bruise."

"Edo, your shoulder is bleeding. . ."

Ed looked at Winry, who had been the one to speak, then gazed down at his flesh shoulder, noticing a small trail of blood running down. He licked his thumb and wiped it off. "No big deal."

A boy sitting in the corner of the room snorted. "Serves you right for being so stupid. Slaves that skip out on work get beat, you know that."

Winry hit him over the head. "You would know about being stupid, wouldn't you Vic? Now shut up. I'm sure Edo had a good reason."

Vic huffed and rubbed his head, glaring silently at her.

"Winry's right. You had a good reason, right Nii-san?" Aru asked as he approached his brother, inspecting the cut on his shoulder.

"I was assigned a new morning job."

Aru instantly broke his gaze away from his brother's shoulder and looked at Ed's face. "A new job?"

Ed nodded and walked over to the far side of the small room and sat down next to Winry, Aru trailing close behind him.

"What kind of new job?" Winry asked, pulling her legs to her chest and resting her arms on them.

"And why did you get beat, if not for ditching work?" asked Vic curiously, leaning forward.

"It wasn't a beating, it was a light scolding. Nothing serious. And it's because I was late to laundry duty. As for my new job, I'm taking over Natalie's job. I guess she messed up or something, where is she by the way?" he asked, silently surrendering his arm to his brother who had noticed the bruise there too.

"I haven't seen her all day." Vic said solemnly as he leaned back against the wall.

"Oh, I-Ow! Watch it Aru."

Aru let go of his arm. "Sorry Nii-san. I didn't realize it was that bad. . ."

Ed rolled his eyes. "It's not. So stop worrying, alright?"

"Edo. . ."

"Hmm?" Ed turned to look at Winry. "Yeah?"

"Natalie's job. Didn't she-"

Ed hurriedly clamped his hand over her mouth and leaned toward her. "We'll talk about it later, okay?" he whispered angrily in her ear. The last thing he needed was to get teased by everyone he knew for having to wear a dress and pretend to be a girl. And he would to, Vic was a blabbermouth.

Ed yelped and pulled his hand away. "You bit me!"

"You put your hand over my mouth!"

"But you bit me!"

"Maybe I couldn't breathe!"

"You have a nose!"

Vic sighed heavily as the two bickered with one another. "Of all the people for me to have to live with. And for my whole life!" He threw his arms up in a dramatic gesture of anger.

Aru laughed good-naturally, smiling as he grabbed his brother, holding him back as he went into a rage.

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING A LITTLE SHRIMP THAT STAYS INDOORS SO THE WIND WON'T BLOW HIM AWAY?"

"YOU! I'M CALLING YOU A LITTLE SHRIMP THAT STAYS INDOORS SO THE WIND WON'T BLOW HIM AWAY!"

Vic looked wearily at the group as Winry hit Ed over the head, Ed flailed around angrily at her in his brother's grip, and Aru clung to his brother, restraining him, and trying to persuade Ed that hitting girls wasn't right.

Vic sighed. "Geez, and here I thought Edo wouldn't act up much since he was hurt. I'm such an idiot. . ." he mumbled to himself, running a hand through his hair. "Hey guys, as much fun as you all seem to be having, don't you think we'd better get going? Work to do, you know."

---------

The next morning came as swiftly as any other morning. Ed was the first to get up, making himself get up when the sun hit his face instead of simply rolling over and going back to sleep like the others.

He grumbled under his breath and reached around blindly for his clothes, not wanting to open his eyes yet.

"Nii-san?"

Ed opened his eyes and turned around. "Aru? Don't worry, it's not time for you to get up yet. Go back to sleep." he said, turning back around and grabbing his clothes. Assuming Aru had done what he said, he took off the tank top he wore to sleep and threw it aside.

He heard a sigh. "I knew something was wrong. . ."

Ed spun around to face his brother, who was sitting on the floor where he had slept. "Aru, I told you to go back to sleep."

"Nii-san, there's a big bruise on your back." Aru said, ignoring Ed's request.

Ed blinked then looked over his shoulder, attempting to see his back. "Really? I didn't notice."

Aru frowned and threw the thin piece of material that served as his blanket at Ed, hitting him in the face.

Ed caught the blanket as it fell away from his face and glared. "What the heck was that for?" he asked, throwing the blanket back in a half-hearted attempt to hit his little brother.

Aru caught the blanket and pouted. "For lying to me. That's a mean thing to do Nii-san, you know I don't like it."

Ed huffed. "I don't know what you're talking about." He turned around and grabbed his shorts, pulling them on.

"Yes you do!" Aru huffed. "Your back hurts, that's why you slept on your stomach last night. You never do that. Why didn't you tell me Nii-san?"

Ed sighed and sat down in front of his brother. "It's no big deal Aru. It happens all the time, you know that."

Aru frowned and looked at Ed pitifully. "But still. . ."

Ed grinned and ruffled Aru's hair, then stood up. "I have to get going." he said, turning away from Aru and walking toward the door.

"Anou, Nii-san?"

Ed turned around at the door. "Yeah?"

"Aren't you going to do your hair? It was down yesterday too. . ."

Ed's face fell. "Can't. Lost my rubber band."

"Oh. Do you want mine?"

Ed smiled. "Thanks Aru, but I'm fine."

"You sure?"

"Positive. Besides, you need it more anyway. Your hair is longer than mine."

"I guess so. . ."

"See you later Aru."

"See you Nii-san. Have fun at work." Aru said, plastering a large smile on his face.

Ed glared at him, making Aru giggle, then left the room. Before the door closed he heard Vic groggily complain to Aru about the two of them being so loud.

He had told Winry and Aru about his new job yesterday, when they were cleaning the kitchen. They both seemed to find the idea of him in a frilly dress amusing, though Aru had shown more sympathy than Winry, who didn't even bother to pretend she wasn't laughing.

But despite that, Winry had actually been a good source of information for him. Apparently, Natalie had told her quite a bit about the job.

And quite frankly, the things Winry told him scared him in a way like never before.

He had felt a large wave of gratitude toward Prince Roy when he realized how tremendously generous the prince had been. He still thought he was a jerk, cause you know, he looked like one, but still, the sentiment was there.

He shivered at the thought of doing the things Winry had described. And to make matters worse, he had to deal with both the princes today, and while Prince Roy had been generous enough (or conceited, in Ed's mind it was a strong possibility that the prince just didn't want a disgusting slave to touch him) Ed couldn't be sure what the other prince was like.

He soon came to his destination, standing in the hallway, looking at the all too familiar door from yesterday.

'They should put a sign out front that says "Warning: Hell ahead."' he though bitterly, opening the door and walking inside.

"There you are! I was wondering when you'd get here. Try to be a little more prompt next time dear. Here, put this on."

No sooner had Ed walked into the room he suddenly found in his arms an elegant purple material embroidered at the bottom with dull yellow flower buds.

He watched the maid, the same one as yesterday, buzz about the room, taking care of odds and ends and rummaging through the cabinets, pulling out and putting away things Ed had never even seen before. He unfolded the material to reveal it to be some kind of fancy bathrobe.

He raised an eyebrow, but nonetheless, turned around so his back was facing the maid and started to undress. He slipped the robe on and held it closed, since it didn't have a tie to hold it.

"Ahh, miss? Is this-"

He didn't have time to finish as another piece of material, this one the same dull yellow as the flower buds, was thrown toward him. He managed to catch it barely, then held it up for inspection.

"That's the belt. Put it on, quickly dear, quickly."

Ed messed with it for a bit, trying to put it on correctly. He was pretty sure this thing wasn't a belt, despite what the maid had said. It certainly wasn't like any belt he'd ever seen.

Eventually the maid saw his dilemma and came over, hurriedly helping him put it on, and adjusting the outfit a bit.

When she was finally done, she turned to the counter and grabbed the pink brush she'd used the other day and started fussing with his hair.

After a moment, the maid stood in front of him and looked at him with an appraising eye. "Perfect." she said, turning around and putting the brush back.

Ed touched the back of his head, trying to find out what she'd done. His fingers ran across two sticks.

"What's. . ."

"Oh, don't touch it dear!" the maid cried when she turned around to discover Ed fiddling with his hair. She grabbed his wrists and forced them down. "You'll knock out the chopsticks!"

Ed blinked as the maid turned back around, satisfied that she had kept him from destroying his hair.

"Chopsticks, ma'am? I'm not sure I understand. . ."

She didn't bother turning around. "What don't you understand honey?"

"Chopsticks are eating utensils. . ."

"That's right."

". . ."

Ed silently waited for an answer, but got none. "Ma'am?"

"Yes dear? Here take these." she handed a pile of supplies similar to supplies he was given yesterday, the only difference being the color of the soap.

"Yes." he said, taking the objects presented to him. "Um, about the chopsticks. . ."

The maid sighed, sounding exasperated. "What about them sweetheart?"

"Well. . .why did you put an eating utensil in my hair ma'am? I'm afraid I find it a bit. . .odd."

Actually, he found more than a 'bit odd.' He thought the woman was downright loony.

"They're used as an hair accessory too sweetie. Didn't you know that?" she asked. "No, I suppose you wouldn't, would you?" she said, answering herself before Edward could.

Ed simply raised an eyebrow, doubting her words. Who in their right mind would want to wear chopsticks in their hair? Of all things? Chopsticks weren't even pretty, they were just plain pieces of wood that broke easily.

"Well, don't just stand there all day. Get a move on dear. The prince will be here soon." she pushed his upper back gently, nudging him along.

Ed nodded and walked to the door he had entered yesterday. He reached out to turn the knob and-

"No no. Not in there. The other door hon."

Ed paused to look at her questionably. "But, I went in this room yesterday. . . didn't I?"

"Yes yes, that's the young prince's bathing chamber. The elder prince's is over there."

"Oh." was all he said as he crossed the room to the other door.

"Oh! And the elder prince doesn't like his water as hot as the younger. Just so you know hon." she called out.

"Ah, okay." he called back. He didn't really care, but he thought he should at least say something so she knew he had heard her.

He was a bit curious why the princes needed separate baths. It wasn't like they had to bathe at the same time or anything. And they were brothers, so they shouldn't have any fear of germs or something, though, one of them could have a disease he didn't know about.

Ed opened the door, closing it behind him as he walked inside. He set down the towel and soap he had been given next to the bathtub which, he noted, was basically a replica of the one in the other room. In fact, the whole room was basically a replica of the other.

'What a waste of space and materials.' Ed thought sourly, starting the water. 'Oh well, at least it'll be easy to remember where everything is. . .'

Once he had the water to his tastes, he stood up and walked to the corner of the room, where he found a bucket. He walked back to the tub and filled it with water, knowing from his time with Prince Roy that it would be needed to rinse the prince's hair.

Once it was filled, he set it aside, next to the towel. He sat down crossed-legged next to the pile and waited for the tub to finish filling itself up.

Turning off the water once it had filled and settling back down, this time in a kneeling position (he had found sitting crossed-legged a bit uncomfortable in the tight robe), he sighed and stared down at his lap.

He would have to be careful of his hand again today, luckily the robe he was wearing had large sleeves that would help hide it from view.

'Why the hell am I wearing a robe anyway? I though I was supposed to be wearing a dress?' He sighed. 'Not that I'm complaining. . .' He wriggled around a bit, trying to get comfortable. 'It is a little hot though. . .'

As time passed Ed let his thoughts wander, pondering on what this other prince would be like. So far, all he really knew was that he was older than Prince Roy. Which didn't really help him, seeing as he didn't know how old Prince Roy was.

In the end, he had become so absorbed in his musings that he had failed to notice when another body had entered the room. He remained ignorant even as the person approached him.

Then, suddenly, Ed felt something circle around his waist, pinning his arms to his sides. He visibly stiffened.

"Hey, relax." A voice purred in his ear. "You're new here, aren't you?"

Not trusting his voice, Ed opted to shake his head, though he did so a bit stiffly.

"Really? Well, you're new to the job. I know that much."

Ed opened his mouth to respond, only to discover his voice had abandoned him for the moment.

'What do I do? Is this the prince? What if it's not? Why is he- And why won't he let go? What do I-' Ed's thoughts raced through his head in a jumbled mess, not aiding his situation in the least.

He held his breath as the person shifted, placing his hand on Ed's chest.

"Your heart's beating rather fast. I wonder why. . .?" the person purred seductively.

Ed clenched his eyes shut. 'What do I do? I don't want him touching me, I don't want him touching me, I don't want this disgusting voice touching me!'

Then, to Ed's vast relief, the arms around him disappeared. He slowly opened his eyes.

The person had stood up and was entering the tub. Ed quickly adverted his eyes.

He heard the person, who he now was a hundred percent sure was the prince, chuckle.

"What's wrong? You're not shy, are you?" Following the statement, Ed heard the prince hiss and mutter something about the water being too hot.

Ed swallowed a lump in his throat and forced himself to look up.

"No need to be shy. Believe it or not, you're actually quite pretty. Very flat though."

Ed didn't know what he meant by 'very flat' but at the time, he didn't much care either.

"So, what's your name?" The prince had turned, and was now resting his arms on the side of the tub.

"E-Elric." Ed mentally chastised himself for stuttering.

"Elric. . .?" The prince made a prompting gesture.

"Edo. Elric Edo."

"Edo huh? That's. . .kinda cute." The prince nodded to himself. "Edo. Yeah, I like it."

"Thank you sir."

The prince made a humming sound that Ed assumed he was supposed to take as a 'your welcome.' "Well, I guess you should be getting to work, right?" The prince grinned.

Ed paled considerably. He opened his mouth, but once again, found his voice had abandoned him.

The prince, still grinning, raised an eyebrow. "Is there a problem?" he asked.

Judging from the look on his face, Ed was pretty sure he knew exactly what the problem was.

"Ah, I-" Ed bit his bottom lip. Deciding he couldn't trust his voice, he did the only thing he could and picked up the bottle of shampoo. His hand was shaking.

The prince, no doubt, saw this. Just as Ed was about to poor the contents of the bottle onto his hand, the prince took the bottle from his grip.

"Tell you what. As you've probably noticed, I'm a very nice, generous, likable guy. And since you're so pretty," He reached out and stoked Ed's cheek as he said this. "I'm going to let you just relax for a while. Sound good? I'll wash myself on my own," He emphasized this by pouring some of the shampoo into his palm. "And you can just. . .observe and keep me company.

Ed fidgeted slightly. He had a feeling the prince's 'generosity' was most likely going to have a price somewhere down the road, but what else could he do? He slowly nodded. "Thank you sir."

The prince gave him a cat-like grin. "My pleasure, Edo."

Ed forced a small smile. It was awful to hear his nickname said like that, in such a disgustingly seductive voice. He distantly thought of when Prince Roy had said his name and unconsciously decided the younger prince had the better voice of the two by a long shot.

The prince started washing his hair, not saying anything more. Ed had a feeling that the 'keep me company' part of the deal meant making conversation. He sighed. Well, he had to at least try.

"Uh, sir?"

The prince glanced over at him with a pleased look in his eyes. "Yes Edo?"

Ed looked down so the prince wouldn't see him cringe. "Well, my work. . .keeps me very isolated from the rest of the palace and the higher ups such as yourself and his highness, the king. . ."

"Go on."

"Ah, well, I never hear anything about anyone. Maybe you could tell me some things. . ."

Ed fiddled with a bolt on his right hand, making sure it stayed out of view. He really didn't care about the higher ups of the palace, and the prince didn't look like he cared to tell either, but that was all he could think of to say.

The pleased look on the prince's face seemed to die a bit. "Like what?"

"Um. . ." He tried to think. 'As you've probably noticed, I'm a very nice, generous, likable guy.' That's what the prince had said, he seemed to love himself quite a bit. . .

"Like, uh, what your name is, sir?"

The prince blinked at him. Edward guessed he had probably caught him off guard with the question.

"You don't know my name?"

Ed shook his head. "No sir. Nor do I know the king, my master's, name."

The prince's eyebrows furrowed. "Is that so?"

"Yes sir."

"Wouldn't one normally be more curious about their master than anyone else?"

"Yes sir, but I'm afraid I find myself more curious about you sir."

Ed felt disgusted with himself, feeding this man's ego like that, but nonetheless, it was the right thing to say. The prince grinned; his eyes holding a pleased look once more.

"Really?"

"Yes sir."

The prince chuckled and reached out of the tub. Ed stiffened as the prince placed his hand on the back of his head, then he felt something cascade down his back and shoulders.

The prince pulled his hand back, holding a tie and two chopsticks. "You look much more lovely with your hair down, did you know that?"

Ed was at a loss for words. "No sir. . .ah, thank you." The words weren't very heart-felt, not surprising since Ed, to his disgust, found himself a tad afraid of the man in front of him.

The prince reached out and stroked Ed's hair, causing the young slave to stiffen.

Thankfully, he didn't seem to notice.

"Well, if you must know. . .," He gently fingered the ends of Ed's hair. "My name is Kimbly. Prince Mustang Kimbly."

Ta-da! The mystery has been solved! The second prince, and Roy's brother, is Kimbly! Bet no one was expecting that, huh? I kinda surprised myself with the choice. lol. (incase you're all wondering, I'm thinking of just going with the whole 'one looks like the mother, the other looks like the father' theory.)
I hope you all liked this chapter! Please review!