Chapter 4: No Pain, No Gain

"Wait here." Raeloph said angrily as he walked to the weapons area, Alphonse still on the ground. As Alphonse sat up a pain pierced through his spinal chord. 'Agh, hey prism, activate that heal please.' Alphonse said to prism.

{Affirmative: Heal booster currently working at 2 times boost.} Prism responded as Alphonse felt some things shift back into place. Raeloph walked over with a two bo staffs.

"We'll spar with these, get up and follow my stance." Raeloph said as he threw a staff to Alphonse whose reflexes haven't recovered.

"Ow..." Alphonse said quietly as the staff hit his chest. Alphonse got up and walked into the sparring area with the staff, ignoring his pain. 'Jeez, this guy is worse than a drill sergeant!' Alphonse thought to himself.

{Agreed, however, you know as well as I, that he isn't himself.} Prism said.

'yeah, yeah, doesn't mean it's okay!' Alphonse retorted to Prism as he followed his father's stance. The stance is similar to the usual horse stance, just with your hands in different placement due to the staff.

"You will use that stance for now..." Raeloph said as he changed his stance into a Cat Stance. "Use whatever strikes come naturally, I will tell you if they are terrible." Raeloph stated as he came at Alphonse. Alphonse responded to the attack faster than he responded to the staff, but not fast enough, the staff hit his solar plex, causing him to start gasping for air. Alphonse didn't only start gasping for air, it felt as if his strength was zapped and he couldn't think straight. Raeloph moved back into stance looking at Alphonse for a few seconds before going to strike again.

A sideways strike. It hit the top of Alphonse's head, at this moment it felt as if his consciousness was outside his body, even if it was only for a second. 'Prism! What's going on?!' Alphonse asked as his senses went back to normal.

{ERROR, ERROR, ERROR: Unknown power has restricted information access.} Prism said in a much more robotic tone than usual.

"Well. That's just wonderful!' Alphonse yelled to himself as he tried to get back into stance and face his father.

"You're more resilient than I thought..." Raeloph muttered beneath his breath as he went to strike.

'Downwards... Okay, I'll block it.' Alphonse thought to himself as he put the staff upwards horizontally, allowing Raeloph's staff to hit Alphonse's staff. A slight grin appeared on Alphonse's face. Raeloph didn't even take a moment to react, however, and he pulled the staff away and hit Alphonse's solar plex again, making him lose focus and feel the same sensation as before.

As Alphonse hit the ground, nearly unconscious, Raeloph said. "We'll end it for today... Although that block wasn't terrible, you should've done more."

{Well, that wasn't terrible, now was it?} Prism asked as Alphonse's sight went black. When Alphonse woke up Cedra was leaning over him.

"Are you okay brother!?" She asked as she looked up. Cedra is small, even for her age, standing at 2'1", and if you look at her you would think she barely eats. (Average height of a 2-year old, 33.5" [2'-9.5"] for girls and 34.2" [2'10.2"] for boys.)

"He's fine for now Cedra." A warm voice spoke. As Alphonse regained his senses he noticed that his mother is using healing magic on him. As he focused on her face he saw tears forming at the edge of her eyes as she mumbled something the Alphonse couldn't hear, but it was clearly in a bitter tone. "Cedra, please get your brother some water." She said as Alphonse started to feel all of his pain come rushing back.

'I... Didn't realize it hurt this bad.' Alphonse thought to himself.

{Yes, a mixture of chemicals such as adrenaline were blocking your pain receptors from properly emitting pain signals for the past 14 hours.} Prism said.

"Mom, how long was I out?" Alphonse asked.

"About 14 hours, why?" She said with a curious look on her face.

"Half a day..." He mumbled "Has he done anything to Cedra?" Alphonse asked with a rushed tone as he tried to get up. Pain shot through Alphonse's back, chest, and head as he fell back to the bed.

"Calm down, she's fine." She said.

"Mother, here's the water!" Cedra said as she walked back in carrying a clay cup.

"Thank you Cedra, now it's time for bed." Alphonse's mother said. "Tilt your head up so you can drink some water." She told Alphonse. Alphonse followed as instructed and the cup was put up to his mouth.

'The water isn't normal.' Alphonse stated.

{Affirmative: This water is a magical compound that was dissolved in water, it appears your mother slipped it in while she was talking to your sister.} Prism stated.

Alphonse's mother looked at the expression on Alphonse's face. "So you noticed... You're as perceptive as your father..." She said as a gloomy look encroached her face. "You should be healed for the most part now. I want to speak with you." She said. Alphonse looked over to Cedra, who as already fallen fast asleep.

"Okay." Alphonse responded as he got up. Alphonse and his mother walked out into the hallway.

"There's something I've never told you, and I know you probably won't understand most of it now, but you will understand someday..." She said as she and Alphonse walked over to the stairs. "Our clan, the Amythest Wolf's, we've never had great luck with twins. The first twins born into our clan nearly destroyed their own town before being banished and starting a war with the humans, the next, they were greedy, they nearly destroyed our entire clan with their ambitions, and the twins born into our clan before you and Cedra, they were banished for an unforgivable crime, later on they had apparently started a sect and started hunting our clan. Alphonse, you and Cedra are the fourth twins in our clan's recorded history, and every set of twins before you has caused devastation... It's become somewhat of a superstition that twins cause major damage to our clan, they even think that you two are going to bring an end to our clan, well they would, if they knew you existed Alphonse..." She said. Alphonse's mother looked at him as tears started to form.

"So, in other words, twins are believed to be evil and cause massive loss of life, because of that, only one of us are able to be known to te public, and Cedra was the one that is known to the public?" Alphonse asked. Edrit looked at Alphonse with a stunned expression.

"I guess you're a lot smarter than I thought..." Edrit said. (For those of you who didn't read the prologue, or can't figure it out, Edrit is Alphonse's mother.)

"Well, I've had to learn quite quickly, if I didn't..." Alphonse paused as he looked down. "I'd probably be dead." He said with an emotionless tone. "I'm gonna go do my training if I don't... Well, you know." Alphonse said as he walked the rest of the way down the stairs. Edrit looked down at the stair she's been sitting on.

"I'm sorry, my son..." She said quietly.