Just as I thought I'd have enough time to catch up on replying to all my awesome reviewers after Christmas. I'd just finished the final revisions on this chapter when I found out that I need to take an emergency trip north today. I wanted to get this up today anyway, so I had just enough time with all the packing and stuff I need to do to run this through a spelling and grammar check instead of doing a more detailed proofreading myself, but it looks like I won't have time to reply to any reviews today. :(

Anyway, here's the chapter for you all.

Chapter III

Ed let his brother into his chambers, which were made of a single stone room with tapestries adorning the walls. In the middle of the room was Ed's bed, a large mattress on a wooden frame, topped with pillows and blankets. The room was also furnished with a nightstand, a writing desk, and a bookshelf attached to the wall.

Ed didn't know how it looked to someone who'd been raised like Al had, but he suspected the effect would have been better if his room was clean. Currently, Ed's bed was unmade, his belongings were scattered over the floor, crumbs and rodent droppings were scattered across the room, and dust had built up on all the furniture.

"Somehow, I never pictured a castle as quite this messy," said Al.

Ed nodded slightly. He'd known Al wouldn't have as clear of a picture of life at Central Castle as he should have, having been raised away for his own safety. "I said I haven't had a servant in a couple weeks, and I've never had to clean my own room. I barely know how to dress myself."

Al knelt down on the floor and started gathering shirts that were covered in dried sweat. "Then I guess it's my job to take care of this now."

Fidgeting, Ed watched Al gathering laundry for a few moments before he turned to the door and placed an enchantment on it that left it glowing faintly red. Then he walked across the room and gathered other pieces of dirty laundry there. He brought the gathered laundry to Al's pile. Al looked up, raising an eyebrow. "You're really a prince like me. If you have to clean, I guess I should have to clean too."

After all the laundry had been gathered, Ed started picking up his sorcery books. "Hey, Al. Can you read?"

Al looked at what the prince held in his hands. "The only book I ever saw in my life before today was at Dublith Royal. It was a history book that the workers there taught us all sorts of things out of it, like about good and evil, and the seven evil spirits, but they were the only ones in all Dublith who knew how to read."

Placing a book on the shelf, Ed said, "Maybe it's a good thing you came to this castle after all. You probably would have been safer in Dublith, but there are some things you really have to know as a prince that you couldn't learn there. I'll have Mustang teach you to read, and I'll give you access to my magic and sorcery books. If there's a way for us to keep up your combat training under Father's nose, I'll find that too. Even if we have to do it behind sealed doors every time."

Al bit his nails. "Brother, I'm a servant right now. If anyone finds out about any of this, I'll be killed, won't I?"

Ed scowled. He planted his feet firmly into the ground, and stood as tall as he could, being so short. "Al, if they come after you, I'll start the fighting, 'cause there's no way I'm letting my little brother be killed for acting within his birthright."

Al looked away. Was he really that uncomfortable with the thought of learning magic? Oh, right. Al knew he would have to watch Tucker burn the next day.

"How about I give you an extra gift while I'm at it, to help keep you safe? The extra one wouldn't be dangerous for you to have."

After a bout of silence, Al nodded.

"Great! I'll need you to kneel down, just so I can do this, you know?"

"Kneeling's only proper," Al said, the faintest trace of a smile on his lips.

Rolling his eyes, Ed put his hands on Al's head. "Alphonse Hohenheim, from now on out, you have access to my powers for your protection. I also give you some extra resolve to use at your discretion." Ed stopped. He knelt down and leaned into his brother's shoulder, getting some sweat on the back of Al's tunic. "Whew, that took more than usual."

Al slowly turned, working his arm under one of Ed's, letting him lean against the front side of his shoulder instead. "Brother, you look exhausted."

Ed waved it off. "Must have been giving you magic and an extra gift at the same time or something – it just took more than I expected to do the two together. I'll be fine after I get some rest."

Ed was back to full strength by the burning the next day, but Al, expectedly, wasn't doing so well after what he'd witnessed for the first time. Ed gestured for one of the kitchen staff to come to him and whispered, "I know Al's a servant, but I need you to warm some milk for him. Get him a slice of that cake from the other day if there's anything left of it too. He's too shaken up by Shou Tucker's burning to be of any use."

The kitchen boy blinked. "Your Highness?"

Ed just put a finger over his lips and winked. With a bow, the kitchen boy went off to fetch some water.

The prince had his brother sit down next to a wall, where Al pulled his knees up toward himself and wrapped his arms around his legs. Ed sat down next to him. "That won't happen to you, Al." Ed spoke slowly and quietly, his eyes darting around the room, looking into all the shadows.

Al was quiet, frowning into his legs.

"I'm on your side, and so is Mustang. He wouldn't burn you, and neither of us would let anyone else put you to death either."

The princes sat in silence until the kitchen boy brought Al a small dish with a slice of a slightly dried cake and a simple cup with the warm white liquid Ed had ordered inside. Ed let Al sip and nibble at his comfort food, keeping an eye on the kitchen's entrances.

He caught a glimpse of a thicker part of the shadows forming beneath the door.

Ed stood up and stretched. "Well, that's it. I thought I saw a rat or something in my chambers last night, and I want you to catch it. Come on."

Getting up, Al nodded and went to put his dishes by the sink. He followed his brother through the hallways, keeping his arms wrapped around himself.

Ed was keeping the thick shadows in his peripheral vision.

"Brother..."

The older prince stopped sharply and spun around. "Sh!" He put an arm on Al's shoulder and made a show of looking up and down the hallways, although he already knew they were being spied on.

"Al, I am glad you're here, but you've got to be careful where you say what," he whispered. "You never know if someone just around the corner will happen to hear us. I don't know why Dad had you banished, but I do know it's dangerous for you to be Prince Alphonse right now. When it's my time to inherit the throne, I'll make sure you get your rightful status back, but until then you have to be a servant."

Ed took his hand off his brother's shoulder, eyes moving subtly to catch a glimpse of a narrowed eye hiding in the shadows. "I don't know what I'd do if I lost you," he said for its benefit. "Come on, we have a rat to catch."

He led the way to his chambers, sticking close to Al just in case. Ed breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the shadows retreating, but he didn't dare to say anything until they were inside his chamber and he'd magically sealed it. "What did you want to say to me?"

Al clutched at his clothing as his brother rushed them through the hallways in silence. His brother didn't speak to him until he'd pulled them into the princely chambers and had put the faintly red seal on the door. "What did you want to say to me?" he asked, turning around.

Al made himself release his grip on his clothes after running his thumb over the charm hidden beneath them one more time. No matter how dangerous it was, he wanted to be there for his family. "Brother, I'm not so sure I want to learn sorcery." Sorcery was too dangerous – he'd have to rely on his combat training if it came to fighting, but he could still help his brother without ending up like the servant he'd seen that morning.

Ed frowned and looked at the door. "They already want you dead. They heard us talking in the hallways – they know you're Prince Alphonse. If you get killed for learning sorcery, all it's going to be is an excuse."

Al's thoughts started to drift toward that morning, but they stopped when his brother shook him hard. "I'll protect you, alright?"

Al bit his lip and gave the older prince a shallow nod.

Ed kept his gaze on Al. "I'll protect you, but you've got to learn to defend yourself too, and sorcery is a fast way to become capable of defending yourself even a bit." He strode across the room and pulled a book off the shelf. "Come on, Al."

Al hung back. Looking at the floor, he asked, "I've ruined everything, haven't I? By calling you Brother back there."

Ed didn't answer. He turned the pages of the book until he seemed to find what he was looking for and stopped. "This one ought to be manageable." He crossed the floor, set the thick book down on the writing desk, and gestured for Al to join him.

Al plodded over to where Ed was looking at a set of pages with black and red words on the left and an illustration on the right, but he did have to remind his brother of something. "I can't read."

"I know, which is why I'm going to teach you myself. I just wanted the picture to help you out."

Al took a better look at the illustration. It showed a cloud near the ground with a swordsman stepping out of it, in front of a man whose hands were clapped together in front of him, as though in prayer.

His brother started to tell him more. "The spell allows someone with good intentions to call on helpers from another realm for immediate protection. It should allow you the chance to get away at least. The spell's easy enough to remember; the hardest part is that you need to see it very clearly in your mind and trusting that it will happen."

Al was still looking at the picture. "The being looks almost human."

"Yeah, they take many forms, but they often look human. If you close your eyes, can you see it coming to protect you?"

Closing his eyes for a moment, Al shook his head. "I can imagine a cloud appearing, but I can't imagine a specific being coming to protect me."

Ed sat on the bed. "Al, who do you trust most in the world?"

Al closed his eyes again and faces floated through his mind: the dark eyes and stern face of his mother as she taught him how to dodge knives; the stoic face of his father as he silently watched him wrestle a pig for his father to slay; the sweaty, smirking face of Roy Mustang as he dismounted his steed near the Curtis' home.

"My family I guess."

"Can you see your family coming to protect you?"

Al nodded.

"Good. Pick one and envision a being like them stepping off a cloud, wielding a sword. Imagine you're in danger."

Al closed his eyes. He shook his head. "I'm sorry, Brother. I just have don't have a good enough idea of what this is supposed to look like."

Ed got off the bed and came to stand beside his brother. "Alright, Al, but pay attention."

When Al turned his head, he caught a small smile on his brother's face as he inhaled deeply. Closing his eyes, Ed brought his hands together. "I look to you." Immediately, there was a cloud solidifying into what looked like King Van.

The being stayed for just a moment before dissipating back into the air. Ed frowned at the spot where it had disappeared for a moment before wiping the expression off his face and turning to his brother.

"Who did you think about?"

"Our father. Our real father." Ed carried a full smile on his lips. "Are you ready to try picturing it again?"

"Yeah." Al closed his eyes. This time, he saw himself in one of the dark corridors between his brother's chambers and the kitchens – one with a tapestry depicting a snake on some kind of staff – and was being approached by an angrier version of the one impersonating King Van.

Al forced his eyes away from the approaching violet-clad form and onto the snake on the tapestry. He clapped his hands together, and a cloud spewed forth from it, passing King Van and solidifying into the man he'd called father since childhood.

"Brother, I can see it." Al opened his eyes and saw Ed beaming at him.

"Great! Do it again. Only this time, clap and say I look to you."

Closing his eyes again, Al focused on Sig Curtis materializing from a cloud, a sword at the ready. He clapped and repeated the spell's words. When he opened his eyes, there was a cloud in front of him, parts of it condensing into foot-like shapes. And then it dissipated.

Ed only had one thing to say. "Again."

It was a long day of teaching Al magic. By bedtime, both boys were fatigued.

Ed could understand Al's being tired – his brother's body was not used to handling magic yet. He'd broken up Al's practice with mini-lessons on how magic works in general, especially with the workings relevant to Al's own safety. The rules of belief and the rules of souls and the like.

Ed flopped backward on his bed, lying sideways across it. He patted the free space next to him and Al joined him a moment later. "I must be having my first," Ed frowned, remembering his weak magic from the day before when he'd cast the spell on Al's eyes, "second, off day or something. Magic is not usually so draining for me."

"You weren't the one doing the most magic – only a few demonstrations."

He huffed. "I gave you access to my magic, didn't I? It wasn't possible for me to give you your own. Even if I'm only half-sorcerer and have limited access to the realm magic comes from, I usually have enough in reserve that it's not that big of a deal."

Ed could see Al push himself up out the corner of his eye. "Are you okay?" Al asked him.

"I'll be fine. It only takes a few hours to completely refill my reserves."

Al said nothing. He didn't relax either.

"It should be temporary, okay? Look, let's call it a night if you're that worried. We could both use some rest anyways."

Al got off the bed and offered Ed a hand up. Ed didn't take it. "I'm fine, okay? I'm sorry I worried you about nothing. Let's get you safely to bed."

The crown prince put a hand on his brother's back and steered him through the door, releasing the seal as he went through. He walked him all the way to the servants' chambers that night, watching the corridors with his eyes and his instincts, but they didn't run into anyone hostile. He tensed up when they finally reached that door – inside would be more dangerous for Al, not safer. Ed would feel better if he could stay with his brother himself.

"Al," he said, "I'm going to seal your chambers. Nothing should be able to get in without being too obvious that it's up to no good, but you're not going to be able to get out in the morning either, so just wait for me. Please stop the other servants from panicking."

Al shot him a look. "Your magic..."

Ed interrupted him. "It's fine. I'm just a bit tired, and your safety is more important anyway."

With much worrying from Al, Ed managed to shoo his brother into the servants' quarters and place a seal on the door. Ed frowned once the seal was on the door. What was Al doing worrying about his magic when he should be worrying about his own safety anyway? Father and his helpers weren't likely to forget the way Al had called him Brother in the hallways.

A knot in his chest, the young prince made his way toward Mustang's chambers and knocked on his door. The knight answered a few moments later, hair full of static, wearing his night clothes.

"Ed?" Mustang yawned, covering his mouth. "What is it?"

"Al's cover is blown."

The knight stood there and blinked, as though trying to comprehend with a sleepy mind what Ed had said. "What? How?"

"He called me Brother in the halls. Pride's shadows were there."

Mustang frowned. "Where's your brother now?"

"In the servants' chambers with a seal on the door. I taught him how to summon a minute of help, but Father's still going to try to have him killed some way or other." The prince met Mustang's dark eyes. "I'd like to talk to Dad about what to do – the war has definitely become more important."

The knight nodded, placing a hand on his chin. "I can arrange it. But what to do about the dungeon guards this time..." His eyes lit up, a smirk spreading over his face. "Go watch over your brother for a few more hours. I know of a woman near the castle who doesn't mind being woken for business if the price is right. She sells a drink that will take care of the guards."

Ed's posture relaxed. "Madam Christmas?"

Mustang didn't need to answer verbally to confirm it. "I'll come to you when it's ready." He closed his chamber door, and the prince backtracked to the servants' hallway.

Ed knew something was wrong before he even arrived. He could hear faint slithering sounds, as though something was trying to squeeze under the door. Mentally running through his repertoire of offensive spells, the prince picked up his pace. When he rounded the corner, he saw a snake trying to force its way through his weakening red barrier. Envy.

Clapping his hands briefly together, Ed slammed them down on the castle's cold stone floor and commanded it to drive the snake away with a mild quake. But the snake wasn't deterred for long.

As the snake tried to strike the door, Ed kicked at it. "Al," he called. "There's a magic snake loose out here, trying to get under the door. Get everyone on the lookout."