Hello there people of the Earth! How are you…? Good, great. So, this story is not mine. Well, it is now. It was originally by user Shirayukiz. He/she stopped writing this two years ago so I asked if I could take over and I got the okay. If you've read the original then you might notice some changes. I didn't know what to do with those parts so… yeah. I hope it's to your liking.
Disclaimer: I don't own FMA or SAO… or the plot… for now! It will be mine soon MAWHAHAHA!
"Ed, can't we just have the chance to act like NORMAL kids for once?" Al begged, walking down the street with his brother. He had been begging his brother to buy a new game that had recently come out called Sword Art Online, a virtual reality game where you fight with swords and whatnot. Al could tell that Ed was close to caving and buying it.
"For the thousandth time Al NO! We have to look for a way to get our bodies back, we don't have time for this!" Ed retorted his face filled with annoyance from Al's constant begging.
"Pleeeeease brother?" Even though Al was a suit of armor, you could tell that he was making puppy dog eyes.
"Oh, fine, greez! I'll buy the stupid game, happy!?" Edward growled.
"Yes! Thank you brother!" Al cheered, unable to stop himself from jumping in the air. He and his brother watched as people gave them weird looks.
"..No problem." Ed's face turned up in a little smirk at seeing Al's little happy dance and they went off to buy the game, running to get in line. When they got there, the line was already huge. It came outside the building and wrapped around the corner. The two brothers quickly ran in line behind a black haired kid that was also waiting in line. People gave Al strange looks, but Ed would glare at them and they would turn away. Finally after what felt like forever, they reached the counter where the game was being sold.
"Aren't you guys lucky! You got the last set of nerve gear and SAO! Here you go! That will be $350 please," the clerk said passing them the bag with the games. Ed shot Al a dirty look, which once Al saw put his hands up in surrender and passed the woman the money before going back to the hotel they were staying at. Once they were there, Ed dropped the bag on the floor carelessly and flopped onto the bed, sighing.
"Brother, I'm going to set it up, okay?" Al looked over to his brother.
"Yeah, yeah sure. I'm just gonna take a nap, wake when you got it ready, okay?" Ed muttered, closing his eyes and rolling over, not bothering to even take off his boots.
"Okay, good night brother," Al said before walking out of the room with the bag, leaving Ed to his thoughts.
It was late, around 7 pm, when Al when walked back into Ed's room, watching him fitfully toss and turn in his sleep before walking up to him and shaking him gently.
"Brother it's set up. Come on, wake up," Al said softly. Ed groaned before sitting up and rubbing his eyes tiredly.
"Alright, alright let's get this over with," Ed muttered grumpily. Al rolled his eyes internally and led him to where he set up the nerve gear.
"Now Ed, don't go making look taller or something weird like that," Al playfully teased him, poking his shoulder.
"Aww, but Al what's the point if can't be taller!?" Ed groaned before taking the nerve gear from his younger brother. "So, we just 'link start' right," he asked while lying down.
"Yep," Al responded. "Alright here we go!"
"LINK START!"
Ed and Al both appeared in the game, Ed looking the same way as ever with the exception of his automail which had been replaced with real, or rather, virtual limbs. He looked over at Al only to be in shock. His avatar that he created looked like would if Al had a real body.
"Al! Y…your body!" Ed tackled his brother in hug. After releasing Al, Ed to the time to look around. The place was bustling with people, some at shops while others were just talking to each other.
"This place might not be so bad after all…" Ed muttered quietly before Al started tugging him along to look at everything, eventually bringing them to an open field. No one else was around except for two other people talking farther down, and it was pretty quiet.
"It's so cool here brother! We can act like normal kids and talk to other people our age!" Al suddenly exclaimed happily. Al was really the only one talking with other people, as Ed wasn't very good at talking to other people. The only other person that was his age was Winry.
"Yeah, it is pretty nice here, huh…" Ed sighed out loud. "I almost don't want to leave…" He admitted quietly.
"Me neither. But we have to get our bodies back, not just have them in a game," Al whispered to Ed, even though the other players around didn't seem to know that they were even there. Suddenly, the boys were teleported away, and Ed and Al stared at them confusedly. Ed broke the silence first.
"I guess we better log out. We're just wasting time in the real world. We can't afford to procrastinate any longer." Al nodded sadly before they both opened the menu, only to find that the logout button was missing. Al tilted his head to the side. "Brother, what…?"
"That's why those people teleported… but that means-"Ed was cut off suddenly as they both were teleported away too.
When they reached their unknown destination, Ed and Al were surrounded by what looked like every player in SAO. They were all gathered in the Town of Beginnings' main square. A small text box reading, 'system announcement' appeared in the sky. It started to multiply, forming a dome and turning the sky red. Suddenly a thick liquid started oozing from the sky. It heavily resembled blood. The Elric brothers knew its appearance well.
"Brother," Al spoke, his voice was shaking, "W…what's going on?"
"I don't know, Al but whatever it is, is can't be good," Ed responded. The red goo started to swirl around and formed what looked like to be an upside down flower bud. It opened up and a giant person stepped out wearing a red cloak that blocked his face. Suddenly he spoke.
"Attention, players. Welcome to my world," the figure boomed. Mutters broke throughout the crowd but were quickly silenced as the figure spoke again. He introduced himself as Kayaba Akihiko, the man that created Sword Art Online, and explained that the logout button was missing on purpose, saying that they had to clear all 100 floors before they could leave. As Ed took this all in, he wanted to scream. He had to finish this stupid game or they would be stuck in here forever? What about their bodies! They didn't have time to waste on this stupid snuck a look at Al and could tell he was thinking the same. He quickly placed a hand on Al's shoulder to try and console him, but before Al could respond Kayaba continued with one last thing.
"If you die in this world you can no longer be revived. Your avatar will be lost forever and at the same time your brain will be fried. Finally, I've left a present for you in your inventory."
Everyone started checking their inventories, and Ed cautiously did the same, finding a mirror. Curious, he used it only to find it turned him into what he looked like IRL, returning his automail. He looked to Al only to see a text box that read 'error' above his head. Unlike everyone else, Al kept his avatar's appearance.
"Good luck, players…" Kayaba called out before disappearing. The sky reverted to normal, leaving everyone in a shocked silence. Suddenly, one girl dropped to her knees shouting "No!" and everyone came out of their shock, starting a riot, people pushing and shoving, trying to deny what just happened. Ed grabbed Al's hand and ran, running straight into the two other boys from before. Ed promptly fell on his butt, before jumping up and muttering a quick apology. He was about to leave when the boy with red hair spoke.
"Hey wait a sec. Where did you get that metal arm? I never heard of an item like that before." Ed made a fist with his auto mail and said, "It's not an item, okay?" He turned to his brother. "Come on Al, let's go." The boy was about to ask for more information but by the time he opened his mouth, Ed and Al had already disappeared.
So did you guys like it? I'm kind of excited to write this. I needed something new to work on. So the next update might not be for a while. I will more info in my bio, so check there. Once again a big thank you goes out to Shirayukiz for letting me take over this. I have nothing else to say so bye-bye!