Smiling a bitter sweet smile, Xander watched as Ed held his brother, and silently wondered what it would be like to have that kind of love, unconditional and unwavering no matter what. He thought he had it once, but his dreams crumbled to dust around the stake he had held as he watched Jesse crumble to dust right before his eyes.

Al shifted slightly in Ed’s arms, and Xander suddenly realized that Al wasn’t wearing anything with an embarrassed flush. Glancing around, he dug his spare jeans out of his backpack and grabbed Ed’s long red coat before approaching the brothers to drape the coat around Al’s shoulders, hiding him from the rest of the room.

“Here,” he offered, holding out the jeans. “You looked cold.”

Red flooded Al’s face as he ducked his head in embarrassment even as took the jeans and started to wiggle into them as Xander politely turned his back to give the young boy some privacy to dress.

“Okay, how did a kid do that?” demanded Buffy, storming over to glare at the brothers and the strange design they were sitting in. Xander stepped between the blond Slayer and the Elrics as he quietly kicked the red stone towards Al as he prepared to distract Buffy with a weak joke to give Ed time to get Al to safety. “And what’s so special about that red stone?”

“And why is your right arm robotic?”added Willow in an interested voice.

Suddenly, the floor squeaked in the hallway and Xander hissed “Troll alert!”, grateful that Willow had cast a spell on the hallways leading to the library to alert them whenever Snyder was patrolling after school hours so they could hide their Slaying activities. Buffy and Willow scrambled for their school books as Xander snagged Ed’s black jacket and tossed it at the startled boy before pointing at the chalked design. “Anyway to quickly get rid of that?”

Nodding, Ed grinned at Al and clapped his hands, sending that blue lightning into the design which transformed the chalk into ordinary dust which was scattered with shuffling feet until it was impossible to tell that anything unusual was there before. Xander guided Al towards a table, tugging the red coat a bit more closed around him as he placed an open English book before the boy and jerked the chair next to Al out, gesturing for Ed to take it.

“Act as ordinary as possible,” instructed Xander, scrambling for his own books. A quick glance at Roy showed him in his blue uniform pants and a black tee shirt but his uniform coat was folded on a chair that was slipped under a table along with his gloves. A glimmer of red caught Xander’s attention and he scooped up the stone, shoving it in his pocket as he slid into his seat just as the doors opened to admit Principle Snyder, glaring at everyone there.

“Another tutoring session, Mr. Giles?” Snyder sneered, his eyes flickering around the room and Xander glanced at the brothers to find them bent over the English book, acting as if they were studying, sending up a silent prayer that they were able to catch on as quickly as he’d hoped.

“One of the reasons I stay late,” Giles reminded the little man as Snyder stalked over to the tables. “Students are always welcomed to study after school.”

Snyder stopped and glared down at the twin blond heads bent over the book. “A bit young to be in a high school library, aren’t you boys?”

Holding his breath, Xander watched as Al looked up with big innocent golden eyes and unflinchingly met the troll’s stare. “My brother is fifteen and I’m fourteen, sir,” he politely replied. “What age do you require for high school students?”

Snyder snorted and folded his arms, looming over the seated blonds, dark eyes flickering to their long hair, and Xander blinked when he realized that Ed’s hair was no longer braided and wondered briefly when it had been taken down.

“You two are trouble makers and I will not have some young thugs who think they know everything in my school.” Snyder turned his glare up some only to have Al blink at him in innocent confusion. A faint movement caught Xander’s eye and he looked over to find Roy standing near the table with his white gloves on once more, tense and prepared to intervene. “And there is no possible way for you two to be fifteen and fourteen so that makes you a liar as well as a troublemaker.”

For some reason, the sound of the chair scraping across the wood as Ed stood up to face Snyder sent chills of apprehension down Xander’s spine and he wondered if it was too late to hide somewhere safe. Like Alaska.