Ok, you may have noticed that I changed it from 'Chapters' to 'Episode' Because really, it feels like a series rather than a book. There's no definite plot, so...I don't know, it just feels right this way. :P

Now, edxwin cannon had a good point. I keep torturing poor Al and Ed gets off scott free...really, I must hate Al deep down. Oh well.

Ed needs a little conflict...let's hook him up, shall we.

Enjoy. ;P

Episode 19 - Dark Horse

Ed sat at his kitchen table, picking splinters from the old shovel, which he protested against using until his father bought a new one, out of his hand. One had become infected so he was doing his best to get it cleared up before it got worse.

"Edward." His father spoke from the doorway. "Did you remember to put the garbage on the curbe?"

Sighing, he responded with displeasure. "It's Al's job to take out the garbage this week."

"He's sick." Von defended Al's position.

"Yeah, and that's not my fault." He argued.

"Take it out." He demanded.

Rolling his eyes, he went right back to getting yet another splinter out of his hand. "I'll do it in a minute. If I take it out now, it'll just dig these splinters in farther."

"Now Ed." Another demand.

"Hey, if you'd have replaced the shovel like I request before we moved, I wouldn't have a million splinters in my hand." Ed did his best to reason.

"Hurry it up then, get it out before it gets dark." With that being said, Von left the doorway.

Ed groaned in frustration and pain. He didn't understand why he had to double his work load just because Al was sick. He had also managed to get the big splinter out. Playing surgeon with a sewing needle was the easiest way to dislodge splinters.

Had his father just asked him to do these things, rather than just demanding them, he would have been more than happy to oblige without argunment. It was one thing to be diciplined, but it was another to just be used. He severly dislined it. So he argued his point.

Whenever a situation like this happened, Ed seemed to get dumped on a lot by his fahter. He knew he played favorites, and babying Al when he was sick was something he ended up doing. Of course, his mom was like that when he, himself, was sick, so as much as he hated it, he knew he shouldn't complain.

Managing to dislodge the final splinter, sun still sitting on the horizon, he headed for the garbage bin to pick up the trash bags. Upon reaching the curbe, something caught his eye, a car. It was sleek looking, nice hubcaps and beautiful sleek black in color. He managed to tell the type of the car, only by the insignia on the back. He wasn't really into cars, so telling them apart just by how they looked wasn't something he could do, unlike his brother.

It was a black mustang.

Ed didn't stare at it, just admired it outside of his prerefrial vision. It drove on by, not stopping, just slowing down momentairly and then it kept going. Paying it no mind, he went back up to the rear of the house to grab the last two garbage bags. He shut the lid to avoid the cats from getting in there, and once more, headed to the curbe to drop the refuse. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of the same black mustang rounding the corner yet again.

'Why is he looping the block?' Ed thought for a moment. He then came to the conclusion that the driver might be looking for someone's house and may be lost. Not being that outgoing, he opted for not helping the confused driver and went back into his house.

Ed laid down in his bed, covers pulled up tightly, ready to drift off to sleep at any moment. Al still was bed ridden and hadn't left his room except to use the washroom or to get a drink of water. Sitting up once again, he got off of his bed and headed towards Al's room, purely out of concern, he wasn't trying to see if he was up on the computer, laughing that he faked sick with an online buddy. He peeked in to see Al setting up Winamp on the compter to play a little music. "You're still up?" Edward questioned. It was only shortly after ten, but he wasn't feeling good, so this was late for him.

"Yeah, my headache is keeping me up. I figured a little music would help keep my mind off of it." Al turned off the monitor and allowed the speaker to stay on, the first song it randomed to was Crawling, by Likin Park.

Seeing that his brother wasn't faking anything, he continued on with casual conersation. "I was thinking." He began. "Maybe you have food poisoning. I mean, you only started to feel sick after lunch, right?"

Al sat at the edge of his bed and thought for a moment. "Maybe...but I didn't really eat anything out of the ordinary. Just the same sandwidge mom made for me. You ate one too."

"Huh...odd. I mean, heat exaustion clears up when you get hydrated and cool down...are you still fevreish?"

Al nodded. "I feel cold and it's 22 in here. So I must." His brother approached him and placed a hand on his forehead. "Warm?"

"A little. Do you feel any better?" Ed took a step back, he really didn't want to chance catching anything.

"Not really...but I don't feel any worse...maybe it's the flu? The season's changin soon right?" Al looked out his window, the sky was a deep navy blue, stars speckeled the sky in various locations. "Hmm? What's that?" Al leaned to the head of his bed and peeked out the window. "Ah! It's a mustang. Nice."

"Well, you don't seem too distressed...wait...what? Is it black?" Ed peeked out the window from behind him.

"Looks it...why? You know em'?" Al questioned, he could see his brother's face grow concerned.

"Nothing...I'll let you get some sleep. G'night." Edward said as he vacated the room.

"Alright then. Night." Al said as he closed the door.

Ed stood there for a second. Normally he didn't think about things like this. But with Clause's new attitude toward him this morning, and the whole incident with Al just 'blowing over' in a day, made him think, conspiracy.

Retreating to his bed once again, he looked out his window once more, the same car was circleing the block again. Ed quickly shut off his light and peered out through the curtain, just to see if he could get a glimpse of who was in the car.

Carefully, he stared, patiently. Before he could see much of anything, nothing more than an outline, the car took off down the street, squeeling it's tires as it did so.

Ed was disgusted with the irritating, and utterly useless, display of testosterone. "Asshole." He muttered as he laid back down.

Alphonse requested he stay home for at least one day, just so he could recuperate properly. With ease, the folks let him stay and accosted Ed to pick up any work he might have missed.

Of course, Ed didn't mind doing so, in his opinion, Al needed all the knowledge he could get. Though he would never say that. He loved his brother, he didn't want to go out of his way to belittle him. Though if he did so, it would end a lot of arugnments a lot quicker if he did. Though Ed digressed, he was bigger than that kind of person. Al put way too much emphasis on sports and not enough on actual school work.

The day passed and he managed to talk to both Kain and Breda, gathering up the homework from them. Al had a gym class, so the teacher just ended up making a lame joke that his homework was to get better. She even wrote him a sticky note and glued it to a piece of paper. She was a good teacher and held no quam with him, even after what happened between him and her daughter. Ed really admired that, and was thankful at the same time.

If she disliked him, it would mean that the basketball team wasn't going to be an option. Staying on her good side was the best way to go. And it wasn't difficult either, she was a 'just do you work and don't misbehave' kind of teacher. She didn't want you to stretch above and beyond what you were capable of, she just wanted you to do your best. She was strict, but fair. A great teacher to say the very least.

Ed walked down the stairs at the back of the school with his group of friends. They chatted quietly amongst themselves. Just then, something caught Ed's eye that made his blood run cold.

"What's wrong?" Aria looked in the same direction as Ed. Just like Ed, her blood also chilled and her heart even felt like it stopped.

"That guy was driving around my block last night and parked outside my house...who is he? Maybe I know him." Ed was confused and slightly unerved.

"H-he's..." Aria stammered.

"It's that bastard." Leo snapped as he watched the car carefully. "It's Roy."

"Roy?" Ed questioned and recalled that name from Winry as well.

"My ex'." Aria said, taking a few steps back.

The car suddenly came to life and pulled into the parking lot, gunning it's tires on the pavement as it did so. The youth behind the wheel, and the only person in the car at the time, got out of the car. He looked to be a bit older than they were. He was definitly a college student, his blazer was a dead give away. "Good afternoon folks...Aria." He greeted the group in a saucy manner.

"Fuck off dude, don't start anything." Leo stood fast in front of Aria.

Roy waved a hand at him. "I'm not here to see her. I'm here to see my man, Edward."

"Who are you again?" Ed was confused.

"I'll explain. Come with me." In a strangely friendly manner, he wrapped his arm around Edward's shoulder and walked away from the group. "Edward. Buddy, pal, friend."

"I reiterate, who are you?" Ed didn't show any sign of weakness; he was use to dealing with bullies, and showing you're intimidated was a sure fire way to get yourself jammed into a locker.

"How rude of me. I'm Roy, I'm your firend...and I'm also Winry's friend." He stated bluntly. "And from what I'm told, and what I've seen, you're a friend of her's too. Am I right in saying this?"

Ed nodded. "That's right. I help her out with Bio. She's a nice girl." Honesty was also another good hand to play.

"That's really nice of you, and yes, she is nice...you know what would be great. If I could date Winry. Don't you think that'd be great Ed?" He was a very strang youth, talking as if he had known Ed for years.

"Actually no." There was that honesty again. "It's actually kind of sleezy, how old are you? Ninteen, twenty?"

"Twenty." He answered.

"Well, I think it would probably be best if you dated someone your own age, maybe in your own school. Makes life easier to get by. I mean, you do seem like a jerk." Honesty wasn't always the best answer though. But showing a little backbone really went a long way at times.

Roy snickered to himself. "That hurts. Alright, change of plans." He glared down at Edward. "We are no longer friends. If I catch you around her, I'm going to flatten you, got that short stuff." He poked Ed really hard in the shoulder as he spoke.

"We have some classes together and really, I think she's allowed to see whoever she wants there, Roy." Ed smiled at him.

"You want to play that way? Fine!" Roy quickly lined up and landed a fist right in the middle of Ed's stomach. "Winry's mine! Got that!?"

Ed, without flinching, nodded in disbelief. "Sure she is Roy. Anything else?"

Roy was stunned at Ed's lack of response, he hit him pretty hard and not so much as a batted eyelash. "No...I think I got my point across." He took a step back.

"As pointless as it was." Ed scoffed.

Roy tapped him in the face once and then headed off to his vheical and sped off out of the parking lot.

"Ed...you alright?" Aria approached him from behind and gave him a tap on the shoulder.

Finally not being able to hold it any longer, Ed doubled over in a coughing fit on the ground, clutching his stomach in pain.

Take that Ed! ...I'M SORRY! (Hugs little Ed plushie)

I don't think I hate Al, I just love Ed that much more. Sorry Al.

Anyway, we'll just put Al's little issues on hold, they'll hold for a little longer. And this is a nice segway. :P

Tell me what you think.