FINALS WEEK. I'M GOING TO DIE. I'M GOING TO DDDDDDDDDIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEE! Hopefully, in the meantime though, I hope you can enjoy this chapter :)

Prince Alphonse Elric of Amestris was very annoyed.

It had nothing to do with the fact that his brother had disobeyed and disregarded their father's specific orders by bringing his secret girlfriend to a public ball in which they were supposed to be finding women among the Xingese court to fall in love with and marry leaving him the only one to fulfill that duty, no it did not.

The punch was bitter. It was affecting his mood.

He glared, somewhat reproachfully and somewhat jealously at his brother, the only other male blond in the room who was twirling around expertly with the only female blond in the room. Everyone else had long black hair and dark eyes that looked almost black. As if he needed another thing to set him apart from everyone else, he had worn his best clothes. Everyone else was wearing their best clothes too, but the definition of what "best clothes" entailed was very different.

It also didn't help that, being brutally honest—NOT rude liked Ed said—none of the girls he was supposed to be "falling in love with and marrying" were… interesting. Not to him. They were all very accomplished at music, manipulation, politics, manipulation, grace, but they just didn't inspire him. If he had to marry a woman for an alliance he would at least like her to be interesting to talk to.

And as if all of this needed an icing to the cake, his (highly annoying) friend Ling, also known as the Crown Prince of Xing, knew exactly what they had been ordered to do and had made many jokes about the situation and taken every opportunity available to tease him about it.

Speaking of which… Al hurried in the other direction. Ling had directly caught his eye and started heading towards him.

After pulling a number of elaborate turns and trajectories to the entrance of the ballroom, he was about to congratulate himself on having successfully avoided the annoying Prince when he literally collided with a young woman just entering. She didn't fall, but she did trip and stumble. There was a light tinkling and he saw one shoe fall off her foot.

She opened her mouth, probably to curse at him and his ancestors (a very serious curse to the Xingese) when he cut her off.

"Would you like to dance?" Even Ling wouldn't interrupt to talk to him if he was dancing with someone. Even with all the teasing, Ling actually did really like the idea of Al marrying a Xingese woman, mostly because it meant that he wouldn't have to marry an Amestrian. If he saw him dancing with this woman…

Girl, he amended when he took a better look at her. She looked like she was 19 or so, so almost a woman but not quite. She was very pretty, though half of her face was covered with a small mask. He could still see her large dark eyes through it and her long dark hair was piled up into a crown of braids. The skin that he could see, which was mostly just her face, neck, and hands, was pale and smooth.

"Excuse me?"

"Dancing. In the middle of the dance floor. Together. Would you like to?" She stared at him in confusion. Rightly so, he had to realize. After all she had just walked in the door and he had knocked her over and immediately asked her to dance.

"Um, okay. Yeah, sure. I'd be delighted," she answered finally. "But let me get my shoe first."

"Allow me," he said trying to correct his faux pas. He bent down on his knees and grabbed the glass shoe. She reached out for it and he in turn reached for her foot. Blushing, she held it out and lifted her skirt high enough for him to slip the shoe onto her foot.

"Now, do you want to dance?"

Something about him offering to fetch and put on her shoe had made her more affable towards him, and she gladly placed her hand on his arm as he led her towards the middle of the floor. Al glanced behind them and noticed with a smirk Ling watching them with an incredulous look on his face.

"May I know the name of my captor?" she asked, placing her hand on his shoulder as he put his on her waist.

"My name is Alphonse," he answered, smiling as he grabbed her hand and took a step forward. She matched in perfectly.

"And you're Amestrian?"

"How could you tell? I was so certain I fit in!" She laughed and he smiled. She had a nice laugh. "Seriously," he continued in the same tone, "tell me what gave it away! The hair? I could shave it off…"

"No!" she laughed. "I don't think you would look very good as a bald. It was the way you're wearing your sleeves. No respectable Xingese man would wear sleeves with plain gold cufflinks. They would have to have some jewel on them. I didn't even notice the hair," she joked back. He laughed this time.

"What about you?" he asked, smiling. "What's the name of my prisoner?"

"That's not really important is it?" she asked slyly. He twirled her around and she was smiling when she swung back into his arms. "What are you doing here? Xing doesn't get too many Amestrian visitors." He noted the change in subject, but didn't comment.

"I have a friend here. My father— It's been a long time since I've seen him. He invited me and my brother to Prince Ling's birthday party."

"Who's your friend?"

Dangit.

"Uh… Prince Ling? We've been friends since we were— well, since I was fourteen."

Al bit his lip after saying this. He wasn't sure how she was going to react to the information. He was practically saying "I'm close friends with the future leader of our country! You want to tango next?" Thankfully she only faltered slightly her step.

"You're serious?"

"Unfortunately. I don't know if you know this, but he's pretty annoying."

"So you must be pretty important," she said, not reacting to his comment. "If you're childhood friends with the Prince…"

"Uh… yeah. I'm actually… Prince Alphonse Elric, is my full title."

"… Prince."

"Yeah." Al almost wished his hand wasn't entwined with hers so that he could cross his fingers. Please don't start trying to seduce me or anything, he begged silently. It's happened enough tonight.

"So are you going to be taking the throne or…"

"No, I'm not going to. My older brother Ed is going to inherit it, unless something were to happen to him. Which I would really prefer not to happen. I love my brother." Even if he can be extremely annoying sometimes.

"Is he here?"

"He's the only other blond male in the room," Al answered nodding towards where his brother was still dancing with Winry, completely unaware of the other vultu— girls watching him. Now that he was looking around he noticed a few women giving his partner the evil eyes as well. If she reacted to form though, she wouldn't be around to stay competition. Ed probably wouldn't look twice at her.

"You should be happy."

… That wasn't according to prose.

"That you love your brother so much. The royal family of Xing holds a lot of animosity towards each other. With so many children it's not too hard to believe. It's rumored that a few of the royals try to hide their children so that they can avoid being assassinated before they can take the throne. I think they're just rumors though, most of them would rather stay as close to the Emperor as possible. I don't think the idea of family love has ever occurred to any of them."

"That's not true," Al argued. "Ling's actually talked to me about this once— and please don't ever tell anyone in court about this because he was very depressed, fifteen, and very vulnerable. One of his brother's had just tried to kill him. Not personally, but there was no denying that his brother was responsible. It was only because of my brother and his guard's quick work that it didn't work. Ed had to have almost immediate medical care." She was watching him with interested eyes, prompting him to continue.

"I found him in a tree, hiding from everyone else. He didn't want them to see him cry. He was in tears because he wanted to have a brother that he loved as much as I love Ed. It was pretty heart-breaking."

She didn't respond, just looked thoughtful.

"What about you? You'd have to be a member of the court to get invited—" The corners of her mouth twitched slightly. "—but you were surprised when I said I was friends with Ling which means you aren't too high up. Are you far enough away from the madness to have a relationship with your family?"

"Unfortunately no. Both of my parents died and I live with my step-mother and sister. I hate my step-mother with a passion. Sometimes my step-sister can be bearable and I can almost think about considering the possibility that we might ever be friends, but then she'll do something to make me want to hate her all over again."

"That's unfortunate," Al answered. "I don't know what I'd do if I hated my brother. I get annoyed with him certainly, I get annoyed with him a lot—"

"Are you annoyed with him right now?" she asked, cutting him off. He looked at her in confusion before smiling and nodding.

"How could you tell?"

"The way you said it. What did he do this time?"

"It's like you already know us," he muttered before answering. "My father's been worried about Xingese relations for a while. One of the orders he gave us before we came here was to make an effort to, and I quote, 'Capture the heart of and marry some young and important Xingese flower.'"

"Ah. Is that why you asked me to dance?" she asked, looking almost as weary as Al had felt when he thought that she was going to try to seduce him.

"No actually. Ling was trying to talk to me, either about food or a woman he danced with and I knew he wouldn't dare come within five feet of me if I was dancing with a very pretty lady." She blushed slightly.

"Well I'm happy you chose me as your scapegoat."

"I'm glad I chose you too. This had been the most fun I've had all night."

There was a brief silence as they finished the last few steps of the dance. When the music ended they both began to clap with the other couples. She bowed to him and he did likewise. Then she smiled and began to move away to find someone else to dance with. Almost of its own violation, Al's hand shot out and caught her arm.

"Another dance? Please?"

She stopped and stared at his hand on her arm, then at the large clock, and back at his hand again. Then she raised an eyebrow and he blushed, letting go of her arm. "Please."

"Okay," she said finally, biting her lip.

"Thank you," he said sincerely. "I wasn't joking when I said this was the most fun I've had all night. Seriously, dancing with you has been the highlight." She blushed again. "So what do you like to do with your free time? I'm guessing you do all of the basics: music, politics, art…"

"Actually I'm an alkahestrist," she said, biting her lip again. She was really cute when she did that.

"Seriously?"

"I know," she blushed. "It's not really 'For Girls', and most of them aren't interested in it, but—"

"No, I think that's amazing!"

"Really?"

"Yeah. I'm an alchemist myself. It's similar to alkahestry, but we use tectonic energy instead of life force. I'd be fascinated to learn more about it. Would you mind?"

"No," she answered, smiling genuinely. "It would be an honor and a pleasure. It's really quite simple, actually. The whole principle and hinge on which alkahestry swings in the Dragon's Pulse."

"What's that?"

She frowned slightly and looked down, obviously thinking. "Can we go outside? I think it might be easier to explain it out there."

He nodded and moved his hand from her slim waist to the small of her back and started helping her to escape the crowd of dancers. If it had been anyone else she would have felt patronized, but the way in which he did it— so innocently and honestly— was more sweet than childish. They wiggled their way through the people until coming to the garden that was connected to the ball room.

"Do we come out here to escape the dancers, or because there's a real purpose to coming here?" he asked, raising an eyebrow as she made a beeline for a bench located under a tree.

"There's a real purpose. That much qi around us… it would make things difficult to explain." The confused look on his face must have amused her because she started laughing.

"I'm sorry, I just realized how confusing this must be for you. Not many outsiders are familiar with the principle of qi in the first place."

"No, I really have no idea what you're talking about."

"Sorry. Qi is… it's like you said when we were dancing. Qi is life. Every living thing has it. No one's quite sure whether it is the qi that makes you alive or if being alive is why you have qi, but you will never find a living organism without its own signature. Even the tiniest germ."

Al nodded, ready to commit all of her information to memory.

"And all of the qi connects together. It comes from the mountains and flows through the forests and the animals. Though you, through me… Knowing how to recognize these pathways and use them is what makes alkahestry unique." He nodded thoughtfully.

"And there. I sense it."

"… I'm sorry, what?" he asked, cocking his head. What did she mean "she sensed it"?

"You have to sense it to be able to use it. So go ahead. It helps if you do this," she said, pointing at her temples sharply.

"… Once again, I'm sorry?"

Two hours later led them to fighting between the urges to laugh until their sides hurt and yelling in anger and frustration. She couldn't figure out how to explain it to him so that he could understand it and he couldn't understand a word of what he was supposed to be doing.

"You have to sharpen your senses!"

"I told you, I can't!"

"Yes you can!"

"Explain it more academically!"

"You have to go whomp!"

"I don't know what you mean!"

Finally she made a command decision and started laughing. He joined in a few moments later.

"I don't think I could get this through your skull in a year, let alone one night!"

He laughed a little, heart beating faster than normal, and not just because of the laughing. "Is that an offer?"

"What?"

"Is that an offer? Taking a year to get it through my skull? Because I'd be willing to let you do it." The smile stopped and she stared at him, blinking incomprehensively. Then her eyes widened slightly.

"You want—"

Then the bell rang out. It was the first strike of midnight. She stopped mid-sentence and turned chalk white.

"No, no, no, no…"

"Oh." Al tried to smile but his lips weren't really into it, let alone his eyes. "That's fine, if you don't want to. I understand…"

"No, that's not what I—" she tried to say but the bell rang again and she glanced at it worriedly. "I want to it's just…" She bit her lip again and Al had to look away.

Then she did something Al had not been expecting.

At all.

The small Xingese girl pulled his head towards her, which in and of itself was bold and risky. Then she smashed her lips against his.

Al's eyes widened and he felt his heart almost stop. For sure his eyes lost focus which was the reason he didn't notice her running through the garden and away from the palace after she pulled away.

"Wait! Come back!" He shouted, standing up and running after her. He saw her glance back at him before she sped up. What was going on? Why did she just kiss him and then run away? Why was she running away at all?

"Come back!"

He saw her trip and immediately felt bad for the thrill of joy he felt. That trip could be what slowed her down enough to catch her. He was pretty fast himself.

But apparently she was still faster because after picking herself up she continued to run and managed to make it into the thick crowds of people on the streets a good distance in front of him.

"No…"

The people were staring at him, some in confusion, some just plain curiosity. Al nodded at them then turned around and walked back up the path. There was no hope whatsoever of actually being able to find her in the crowd she had disappeared into, even in her dress. They were just too crowded. Not for the first time, Al cursed the nature of Xingese streets.

He wouldn't have noticed it if he hadn't been staring so intently at the ground.

A shoe.

Her glass shoe.

The exact one he had put on her foot.

"Hey Alphonse!" an annoying chirpy voice said and Al didn't need to look up to know that the Prince of Xing was approaching him. He paid him no attention, instead bending down and picking the shoe up.

"I saw you coming out her with that girl… so who is she? Is she the one? Come on Al, you've got to give me info!"

"… I'm going to find her."

Ling blinked in confusion. "Excuse me?"

"I'm going to find her," Al said again, looking up with a determined blaze in his eyes. "Even if I have to fit this shoe on every single woman in Xing, I'm going to figure out who she was."

Back ramrod straight, Al marched away from the Prince who was staring at him blankly.

"You mean she didn't even give you her name?"

If you think you're going to be polite by not sending me a review so that I can focus on my studying so that I can get a good grade on my finals and therefore the class (I have to get 100% on my chem final if I have any hope of getting an A in the class... so... no hope at all but...)... don't.

Distractions welcome.

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