Hi there! This is a fanfiction I've been wanting to write for a long time, and hope you enjoy it! Leave me reviews if you want me to continue it or not!
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters, I am just responsible for the plot line and the turn of events that is to aspire.
"So, Matthew," the man on the other line of the phone drummed his fingers idly against the wooden desk, humming a "hmm" in reply. "Enlighten me. What exactly is this 'profound, genius invention' thing you called me at two in the morning for?"
"I had the calculations and formulated computer programming written out for months," a faint voice responded, his words running together in a hasty excitement. "I made a major breakthrough in technological gaming, Gilbert! This may be a once in a lifetime thing!"
"What the actual fuck are you going on about?" Gilbert groaned out, a hand snaking out from the covers of his bed and hitting the lamp. "Listen, you have two minutes to grab my attention before I hang up."
"To put it simply, I may have developed a sort of video game in which the player enters another reality, and is able to toggle the senses and make it seem as if you are there for real! I can't explain the depth of it over the phone, so I need you to be here as soon as you can. I have almost finished the gaming scripts, and need someone to test it!"
"... Gilbert? Are you there?"
"I know you're a computer wiz, birdie, but I didn't expect you to do this," Gilbert mused, and flopped onto his back, yawning. "I'll catch a flight tomorrow. I have nothing else to do anyways."
"Really? Great! I'll have the nooks and crannys of the machine all sorted before you get here!"
"... Hm, yeah. Can't wait. Later." Gilbert hung up the phone, exhaling a sigh. Matthew must have been pulling his leg, because it seemed unreal that someone could grasp enough knowledge to make such a thing. But, since he doubted his friend would drag him there as a joke, he decided to go along with it, anticipating for him to show up and find that the machine was a bust or something.
The next day, Gilbert had arranged a flight to Torronto, giving his brother Ludwig a short snip-it of his friend's late night discovery.
"How can someone have enough time and knowledge to make that?" his brother skeptically announced his doubt, eyeing his brother as he threw a backpack of his shoulder.
"I don't know. He called me last night freaking out over it and I doubt he would make it up so, ja, I trust Mattie's word," he explained, although he himself remained a bit skeptic of it all. Matthew was a computer major, and devoted his time to it. So maybe it was possible. "I'll be back on Saturday. Kesesese~ Don't miss me too much, Luddy!"
- x - x - x - x - x - x - x - x - x -x - x
"Mattie, you home?" Gilbert called out after knocking on the door four times, finger repeatedly pushing against the doorbell. "Hellooo~?"
Abruptly, the door opened, and a stumbling boy beckoned the other in hastily. "Gilbert, Gilbert! I just got done rewiring the circuit, and dusting off the equipment. Come in!" The albino waltzed in, hands shoving in his pockets. Upon closer inspection of the home, one would honestly be astounded that such a youthful male would posess such a wide variety of computers and wires. But of all else, you could hardly miss the chair placed in the middle of the living room, with wires and buttons on it.
"Is that supposed to be an electric chair?" Gilbert inquired anxiously, but Mattie shrugged it off with a chuckle. "That is where you're going to sit, and that helmet there with the screen shows you the visual sense of the alternate reality. I've designed it so that those wires send signals to your senses and make it seem as if you are moving. It tricks your brain into thinking you are actually there. Cool, right?" Gilbert stood awe-struck at the computer screens, five of them running with numbers that you could not possibly read as they went by. The main computer screen had a green bar, and white letters flashing the words "Installation complete".
"Gilbert, please position yourself in the chair. I need to get this just right in order to test it," Gilbert followed the other to the slightly uncomfortable looking chair. After he sat himself in it, he found himself getting a heavy helmet strapped on his head, feeling the other strapping wristbands around him, and flinching as it occasionally shocked him a bit. "Okay, this is kind of some nerve-wrecking shit," Gilbert laughed uneasily, and his eyes fixated themselves on the screen before his eyes.
"Now, I have your brain waves being portrayed here on my screen. If at any time they surpass the normal level of activity, I'll be sure to shut the game off. No need to worry!" Matthew stated reassuringly, and Gilbert relaxed himself, anticipating the machine to blow up at any moment. He was slipped on the headphones, and before he knew it, his vision went black.
A sudden surreal explosion of color appeared, and he watched as buildings formated, streets lined up accordingly, the sun slipped from the blue color of the sky and illuminated the nature existing around him. He looked around, and it felt as if he was awakening from a long overdue nap. His muscles ached as he stretched them in front of him, his head pounded, and his eyes blinked at the sight of a new surrounding.
He appeared to be by an abandoned alleyway, noting it to be between a flowershop and a thearter of sorts. He couldn't believe what he was seeing - it felt as though it were all real, and he had been transported into another town.
"Excuse me? I do not mean to intrude, but, are you alright?"
Gilbert hesitantly looked up at the shadow of a figure behind him. There before his eyes, a brunette man with a feminine face and violet orbs meeting his, he couldn't believe what he saw. The man had a blue coat on, a scarf bundled on his neck, and gloved fingers tapping along what could have been probably a violin case. The other had a remarkably skinny frame, with a soft, curt voice that he barely caught wind of.
"Oh, uh, I'm fine," he remembered that the other awaited an answer, and in an attempt to redeem his composure, he stumbled to his feet. He hissed as he did, his knee threatening to give out on him, but it was lucky that the other instinctively kept him up. "... you seem to be injured," the other pursed his lips in a frown.
I apologize for that! Matthew's voice stammered in his head, a hesitant laugh followed. The game still have a few minor bugs.
"I, uhm, tripped back there. On a rock." He mentally slapped himself for offering such a wimpy excuse, but the violet eyed stranger registered the situation, and spoke.
"My home is not too far from here. Perhaps you come with me and I will get you some bandages," he offered politely, "My name is Roderich Edelstein. And you are?"
Gilbert shrugged off his previous behavior, retaining his hot-headed self once more. "I'm Gilbert. Gilbert Beilschmidt," he said, smirking toothily.
"Charmed, I'm sure," Roderich replied in a mutter, "Do you live around here? I'm afraid I have not seen you before."
Gilbert stammered, "I, uh, just moved here. From, a place."
Roderich's brow furrowed only slightly, "Ah, well, that explains. I work at the thearter over there. I conduct for the local musical's orchesta." Gilbert, from first glance, could assume that he did something like that. His cleanly and prestige appearance gave off that sort of vibe.
"Awesome. So, uh, tell me. What is this place like?"
"It's a fairly nice town. The people are kind and the festivities are fun to take part in. I have met a good deal of people." Roderich's eyes glanced down at the other, and his eyes darted towards the other's injury. "Heavens, your bleeding. Let's go now," the brunette swung the other's arm around his shoulder, and helped the other limp down the sidewalk.
Once they turned the corner, a line of houses welcomed him, and they reach the most secluded one on the hill. A house would be an understatement. The building was more of a mansion in itself. Once they crossed through the almost picture-perfect front lawn's garden, Roderich fiddled with the keys and opened the door into his home. The place was perfect from head to toe. Portraits lined the halls, with a chandelier in the main room. One room was solely dedicated to the grand piano in it. This guy was sure big on music.
In the living room, Gilbert presumed it was, he was placed on a couch, and Roderich rummaged through a first aid kit for bandages. Once he found one, he lifted the other's pant leg and found his knee scraped. Once disinfected and gingerly covered up, Roderich sat down beside him, curious eyes examining the stranger.
"So, do you do this often?" Gilbert piped up suddenly after moments of silence.
"I beg your pardon?"
"Do you just randomly help random people on the streets and let them in your home?" Gilbert smirked, chuckling a bit.
"Well, you were sitting outside an alleyway with a pained look on your face," Roderich hastily explained in his defense. "Besides, you don't look like much of a harm."
"Heh. Looks can be decieving. I could have been a robber or something," Gilbert said jokingly.
"A robber? In this town, how rare it is to find one of those," Roderich mused curiously, and shook his head. "What a terrible host I am being. I haven't even asked if you wanted something to drink. What would you like?"
"Do you have any beer?" Gilbert inquired, sitting back in the couch and lifting his injured leg on the coffee table. Roderich flinched at that.
"No, I do not have possess any alchohol. I will bring you water," he stood up, "Also, please remove your dirty shoes from my freshly polished coffee table." Just as he was about to go into his kitchen, Gilbert cleared his throat.
"Uh, also, Roderich," Roderich's head turned and he blinked in question, "Thanks for helping me out."
Roderich, for the first time since their meeting, flashed a soft smile. Maybe it was only out of politeness, or out of genuine kindness. It caught Gilbert off guard. "It was my pleasure."
Suddenly, Gilbert's vision was warped, and his breathing hitched, as he felt himself back in a place he had almost forgotten existed. His helmet was lifted, and he felt somewhat dissapointed that he was back. "So, how was it?" Matthew beamed excitedly, checking over the albino's behavior on the screen.
"It was... amazing. Why did you turn it off?" Gilbert questioned, irritation detected by Matthew in his tone.
"I didn't want you to stay on it too long," he responded, a bit put off by the other's annoyance. "I was going over your gameplay and wasn't aware of one of the character's malfunctions. I need to reset the data for it," he said.
"What character?"
"The Roderich character."
Gilbert almost jumped at that, and shook his head. "No! There's nothing wrong with him!" He caught himself in the midst of paniking, and quickly retained his composure. "Just leave it alone, I liked poking fun at him. And he was... out of the ordinary. In a good way."
"Gilbert, it's a computer generated set of numbers, not an actual person we're talking about here."
"What's the harm in letting him be there though?" Gilbert retorted, "He's really interesting. Maybe a little too prissy but that's about it."
Matthew furrowed his brow, fingers tapping quickly on the keyboard to bring up a set of numbers. "The computer must have messed up and added extra to him. The characters in the game are supposed to have a certain range of emotions, as to keep the game balanced and all. This one seems to have more though."
"It's not an issue though, right? It just makes him more interesting to have in the game," Gilbert hoped his defenses were working for Roderich's favor, and Matthew eventually gave up. "Well, the game's database seems to be balancing correctly, so I'll keep it."
Gilbert smirked, and got up from the chair, grabbing his things. "That game was great. Can I come back tomorrow?"
Matthew seemed astounded in the other's fascination towards it, but nodded his head. "O-Of course! I need to keep collecting information on it, so that'd be great!"
Gilbert smirked, and said his goodbyes as he exited the home. Roderich Edelstein... The name kept running through his head, and he felt the anticipation for tomorrow brewing inside him. I can't wait to find out more about the mysterious music man.