Either a really long one shot, or the beginnings of a long series. It really depends on people's reactions to it.

So yeah, no update on Beddy Tear this week because today is the only day I've had internet. Been saving this for a rainy day, and apparently that's today. Originally a present for someone on devianart. :) Yay Risembool Rangers!

Disclaimer: I don't own either world. Sucks for me.

Hope you enjoy! Pleaasseeeee comment! Makes my day!

Another day, another mission. Roxas wanted to do nothing more than finish his daily mission as soon as possible so he could get to Twilight Town to see Xion and Axel. But first, that would require starting his mission. Maybe he would get lucky today, and end up with Xion or Axel as a partner for the mission. That would at least make the day bearable.

Roxas headed toward the blue-haired Siax, dreading what he might be stuck with doing today. Siax frowned as he walked up to him. No "Hello", "Good morning", "How did you sleep?", just an angry glare. This wasn't unusual though, they had both made it plain early on that they didn't like each other. "Ready for your mission?" Roxas responded with a terse nod. "Alright. You are going with Marluxia today to explore a new world we found. We have no previous knowledge about it, so keep your guard up." Ugh! Roxas suppressed an irritated sigh. Anyone but Marluxia! Siax may have been the person he disliked the most, but Marluxia was definitely the most irritating. How was he supposed to be on his guard when that annoying, pink haired, egotist would be complaining about how he got stuck with Roxas?

Siax was giving him the evil eye, so he nodded, turned-tail and headed over to Marluxia. He hadn't noticed Xion or Axel hanging their "meeting" area where everyone was given missions each morning, so he went to see if he could get Marluxia to hurry up. The sooner he was finished with this, the better.

Marluxia was sitting with Larxene on one of the couches sporadically placed around the perimeter of the room. In this disgusting castle that Roxas was forced to live in, everything was white. EVERYTHING. So Roxas walked across the white floor, as he looked at the white walls, making his way to the white couches. He couldn't help but hate this place, it felt more like a prison than a home. He was sure that Axel and Xion, his only real friends, felt the same way. That's why, instead of heading back here after finishing their missions, the trio always went to Twilight Town, a beautiful little world filled with color. The sun there never set, which left it to bathe the town in red and gold hues for all of time.

In that delightful environment, the trio of friends had found a clock tower as their hangout place. They spent their time talking about anything and everything as the days flew by. Roxas hoped that today would be no exception. The only thing that would stop their wonderful tradition is if his mission took all day. If it ended too late, the others would be too tired to hang around the clock tower and wait for him. Maybe Marluxia and he would be in agreement for once, and he would actually help Roxas finish the mission.

"Oh hey, looky here, it's Axel's little boyfriend." Larxene sneered at Roxas as he walked up. He tried to hide the blush creeping up his neck. Larxene was obvioulsy just jealous that Axel hated her and would rather spend his time with Roxas. He decided the best thing to do would be to ignore Larxene and focus on getting Marluxia to hurry up.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, shrimp; you are way too close." Marluxia stuck out a hand, not seeming to notice the fact that Roxas was about a foot away from it. What an idiot. Roxas thought.
"Look, we've gotten paired up for a mission today, so let's hurry up and go."
Marluxia pulled a face. "And where are we doing, pipsqueak?" Why did always feel the need to call him short?
"Recon. Someone found a new world."
"Oh really? Sounds...boring. I don't feel like going. Just go without me and say I came with you." He turned back to Larxene, who had immediately lost interest in the conversation when Roxas hadn't started arguing with her.
"I can't. I wouldn't know how to get there through the corridor."

Marluxia rolled his eyes and gave an overly dramatic sigh of exasperation.
"You're so useless sometimes, kid." He got up and stood over Roxas, trying to look intimidating. His endeavor failed miserably. Almost anyone else would have been scared to death, for Marluxia was generally a cold-blooded killer, but Roxas was completely unperturbed for reasons unknown even to himself. After a moment, Marluxia quickly realized that he had lost that round. He scoffed at Roxas, and abruptly opened a portal to his right. Without a word, the two left the white-washed castle behind.

Roxas blinked, unaccostomed to the darkness that swallowed them up. He followed Marluxia, who had quickened his pace. Apparently, he wasn't in the mood to fight heartless. The little buggers swarmed in these corridors, and sometimes it was relaxing to come here and bash a few, even though staying here too long would eventually have dire consequences.

"Here." Marluxia stopped so suddenly that he almost bumped into him. Roxas watched his senior hold up a hand and open a new doorway.

The first thing that Roxas perceived was the vast amount of color; a bright blue sky, completely cloud free; a cream colored town, sprawled out beneath him; green grasses and trees spreading in all directions. Roxas always liked going to a new world. Anything was better than that ridiculous castle, to be frank. He wished Axel and Xion were there though, so they could explore their new surroundings together.

The next thing that caught Roxas' fleeting attention was the sheer amount of people. He couldn't remember another world that had so many in such a small space. "There are people everywhere!" he exclaimed, "I'm sure they've already seen us. What are we going to do?" He didn't want to get into trouble with Siax for something so trivial as being seen by people of other worlds.

"We blend in, obviously. To everyone else, we're just foreigners." Marluxia didn't seem worried at all. Yet, that didn't make Roxas feel any better. A girl passed by and smiled at Roxas. Unsure of what to do, he quickly looked at the ground. Marluxia watched him for a moment and scowled. "Kid, you are so boring! Come on, let's do some shopping while we're here. Maybe that will open you up a little."

Obviously, against Roxas' hopes, Marluxia was not of the same opinion as him. Now that Marluxia had been dragged here (as he would so aptly put it), he wanted to stay a while and see everything. That was NOT what Roxas wanted, and he especially didn't want to go shopping.

"Umm, how about you go shopping while I scout? You won't even have to do anything." At least he won't be irritating me the whole time, Roxas thought.
"Now that is a great idea! Good work!" Without so much as a look back, Marluxia pranced off to do who knows what.
Such an egotist. He really does think the whole universe revolves around him. Roxas wandered off in the opposite direction that Marluxia had headed. Which meant heading straight for the center of the town, once he reached it.

Roxas was so curious about the workings of the town that he decided to start towards the center of it. There were a lot of back alleys where he was, and he couldn't help but wonder if local kids hung out in them, like they did in Twilight Town. Roxas peered down another empty alleyway, but it was just another dead end. As he turned to leave, he thought he saw something move towards the back of it. It was covered in shadows, so Roxas couldn't see it properly. He took a few cautious steps towards it, but stopped suddenly when he thought he heard something behind him. Whatever it was, it sounded awfully heavy.

Roxas spun around quickly, and was shocked to find a man in a full suit of armour standing before him. "Hello!"
Roxas cocked his head to the side. How odd. The man standing in front of him was huge; at least Axel's height, if not taller, but the voice coming from the man was no bigger than a young boy's. Unnerved, Roxas backed away from the man. "Oh sorry, did I scare you?" the strange man asked.

Now Roxas wasn't the one to generally pick a fight with the people of other worlds, but he couldn't let it stand when someone hit at his pride.
"I was not scared!" Roxas said haughtily, "I was..." The rest of his thought died in his mouth as he noticed something oddly familiar. A feeling he had whenever he was with an organization member, including himself. The feeling of...emptiness. "You..."

Now Roxas was thoroughly confused. His eyes grew wide, and he took yet another step back. Suddenly remembering himself, he got into a defensive position. He didn't want to chance bringing out his keyblade here, in case of some unknown consequences there could be.

"What is it?" The "man" took another step closer, to which Roxas backed up. Why had he come into an alley with no alternate escape route? This situation was the exact reason why the organization sent it's members in pairs! Where the hell could Marluxia be?

Elsewhere- Marluxia could be seen skipping through stores, stealing whatever took his fancy and threatening anyone who tried to stop him.

Back Alley- "Are you a heartless?" Roxas asked tentatively, although he doubted he would receive a straight answer, no matter what the truth was. He had never heard of a talking heartless before, but Siax had said that the organization had no data on this place, so why couldn't it be possible?

"You can tell?"
What? He was admitting it? Roxas tried to back up again, but bumped into the brick wall that marked the dead end. No escape from here.

"What are you saying, Al? Don't take that kind of crap from a homonculis! You aren't heartless, you're my brother!" a voice called from above. Bewildered, Roxas looked up to find a guy in a red cloak looking down on him. He assumed the unknown guy was trying to look impressive, but Roxas felt he was over-doing it a little.

The guy jumped from the top of the wall where he had been standing and landed with a loud thud! in front of Roxas. He couldn't help but feel that the thud sounded a little weird, but something else had caught his attention before he could dwell on it. The guy standing before him looked more like a kid. A short, blonde kid. Now Roxas knew a thing or two about height. Before Xion had come just recently, Roxas had been the youngest and smallest member of the organization. He knew what it was like to be surrounded by tall people, but this...kid, was even shorter than him! Honestly, he couldn't help but feel bad. Being that short must really suck.

Before Roxas had a chance to formulate what the heck he was going to say though, the blonde obviously realized the height issue as well.
"Don't call me short!" he yelled threateningly at Roxas. He didn't appear to be too happy, and Roxas had a feeling the guy was dangerous when angry.
"Wai-" A blue flash of light cut Roxas short, and before he knew it, a blade was at his throat. What had just happened? Fortunately, Roxas had the element of surprise as well. He called his keyblade, and knocked away the blonde's weapon. He was surprised to see the blonde's blade was literally attached to his hand.
"Brother!" the steel man called. Shorty ingnored him.
"What kind of weapon is that?" the blonde called.
"Why don't you tell me who you are first?" Roxas retorted. He was the one who was on a recon mission, not the short guy!

(Roxas finally realized why everyone felt the need to call him short. He coulnd't help but feel self-satisfied in knowing that he had a height superiority over someone else.)

"Brother!" the armoured man tried again.
"Shut it, Al. I need to concentrate on killing the damn homonculis."

The blonde attacked Roxas viciously, but, to Roxas' great fortune, he had been practicing frequently with Axel, allowing him to have the stamina to fight with the blonde. He had to admit that learning how the guy fought was challenging. Since his blade was literally attached to his arm and his legs were short, he didn't have much reach, which forced the blonde to fight at a very close range. This was the exact opposite if how everyone except Larxene, fought in the organization. Everyone in the organization either had long-range weapons, like Axel's chakrams, or they had freakin huge weapons, like Siax's berserker. Either way, Roxas fought like and fought against, long range fighters since day one. Plus, the guy knew hand-to-hand combat, something that Roxas had no experience with. So, to put it nicely, Roxas took a lot of punishment in that fight.

"Damn homunculi can sure take a hit."
Roxas had no idea what he was talking about, but it sounded like a compliment. He smirked at the shorter guy, which turned out to be a bad move on his part. The blonde lunged forward, ready to stab him through. Roxas wasn't fast enough to do any more than react; he closed his eyes and tried to block it with his keyblade. A clang resounded throughout the alley, followed by a tense, eerie silence.

Roxas opened his eyes tentatively. He didn't feel any pain yet, but he knew if he saw the wound it would start hurting like he wouldn't believe. Instead of seeing a flower of blood blossom across his stomach, he saw the armoured man standing in front of him. If his brother was in front of him, Roxas couldn't tell.

"Al, what are you doing?" the blonde's voice cut through the air like thrown knives. It sounded like they were having an argument. That was great for Roxas, who was trying not to breath too loudly; well, trying not to gasp too loudly. He was hurting.
"Brother, please listen to me. I know you're still angry about Hughes, but I don't think this guy is the culprit."
"Get out of the way Al! He killed Hughes!"
"How do you know?" Another tense silence enveloped the three.
"Why are you protecting him?" Roxas perked up a little. Maybe this would end the fighting right now! He was getting exhausted just standing there.
"I'm not." Or maybe it wouldn't. He swallowed uneasily. He thought of running away as the brothers argued, but he was practically pinned up against the wall by now. Roxas couldn't help but wonder how the short kid had gotten on top of that brick wall. "All I'm saying is that he doesn't seem like a homonculis, he seems like just a normal guy."
"A normal guy who can pull his weapon out of thin air?" the blonde sounded incredulous.
"He doesn't have any wild super powers though. He doesn't seem to heal like the homunculi do either. I mean," the armoured man spun around to face him, "he looks pretty beaten up, don't you think?"

At this, Roxas tried to look more hurt than he actually was. The stupid runt was strong, and without a friend, Roxas didn't want to have to fight him again. Who knows what would happen if he lost.
"Maybe he's from the gate." the man whispered so quietly that Roxas almost didn't hear him. The gate? Another silence and a flash of blue light. The weapon that had been attached to his arm was gone, a metal hand replaced it.
"What happened to your hand?" Roxas couldn't help but ask.
"I think you already know the answer to that." the blonde said menacingly. Already knew? How could Roxas possibly know about something like that? "You came from the gate, didn't you?"
"You mean the corridor?" Roxas figured the must be talking about the corridor of darkness, but how did they know about it?
"The what?" the armoured man asked.
"Did it look like a giant door? Did it tell you the Truth?" Now Roxas was thoroughly confused. What were they talking about? Apparently, the brothers were confused as well. "So who the hell are you?" the blonde shouted. The smaller brother was also impatient, Roxas noted.
"Nobody." Ha. Sickening irony. Roxas wanted to throw up just thinking about it.
"Hilarious. Now who are you?" the blonde was in his face again. Roxas tried to hold back his temper, but he moved his keyblade out of the way anyway.
"I'm Alphonse!" They both turned to give Alphonse an odd look. Odd timing. Alphonse put out a large, gloved hand. Roxas eyed it warily. "No?" he put his hand down slowly.
"We can't trust this guy, Al, he's dangerous."
"Brother, I would be dangerous too if two strange people trapped me in a back alley, accused me of murder, and then attacked me. Wouldn't you?" The blonde was silent. "So what do you say? Why not put that thing away and we can get something to eat?" The blonde pulled a face, as did Roxas, but he eventually agreed. After all, what choice did he have?

After an awkward walk, in which the blonde and he tried to kill each other through glaring contests, Alphonse finally pushed them into a little resteraunt. Alphonse led them to a booth, and the brothers sat opposite him. Roxas looked around, trying to memorize his surroundings so he could describe them to Xion and Axel later.
"So this is Edward." Alphonse indicated the little blonde. "My older brother." Roxas quirked an eyebrow.
"Don't...say...a word..." Edward threatened. Geez, he was touchy.
"So you're not from around here?" Alphonse said suddenly, obviously trying to change the subject.
"Is it that obvious?" He guessed this was probably the reason why the organization didn't usually let denizens of other worlds see them, blending in while wearing a black cloak wasn't very easy, besides the fact that he knew nothing about the place to prove he had been there before.
"Well everyone in Central knows who we are now... Don't tell me you're from Xing? You don't look like Ling and his cronies, though." Edward said excitedly. Roxas' completely lost expression answered his question. He decided, even though he wasn't really sure what to do, that he might as well stick to the mission.
"No, I'm not from here. So what are you two famous for anyway, since everyone knows you?"
"Well, since you asked, I am the Fullmetal Alchemist, a state alchemist of the Amestris military!" he shouted out. As he said this, Edward stood up on the table, posing egotistically. Someone clapped once, but stopped suddenly. A waitress came over and with a dirty look, told him to get off the table.

Roxas couldn't help but laugh.
"I see you're well received." he managed between chuckles.
"Yeah, well things haven't been going all that well lately." Edward was all serious now. Almost melancholy.
"I'm sorry about your friend." A tense silence. Roxas was afraid Edward was going to hit him again. After what seemed like hours, Edward sighed.

"Yeah. He was a good man. He had a little girl and everything. And I couldn't do anything. It's my fault he's dead!" Edward looked down, breathing heavily.
"Don't take this all on yourself brother. It's my fault too. We should've done something." Al said sullenly.
"Like what?" Roxas couldn't help but ask. "What could you guys have done?"
"What?" Edward looked up.
"What did you expect to be able to do for him? It's not like you expected this, did you? What could you have done if you had no idea what was going to happen?" Roxas was intent on this. It just didn't make any sense for them to dwell on what had happened in the past.
"It's our fault though! We told him things... things he didn't need to know! It's what got him killed, I know it is!" Edward looked to be on the verge of tears, but he held them back. He would cry about this later though.

"And why did you tell him?"
"Well...because..." Edward stuttered.
"Because he didn't want us to take the burden on ourselves. He wouldn't stop bothering us until we said he could help." Alphonse said slowly.
"Exactly! Your friend knew he was taking a risk, but he did it for you. He wanted to help you, not slow you down. Even though he probably wasn't out to get himself killed, I doubt he would be happy to know that his death caused you to give up, or start hunting down innocent people." Alphonse gave his brother an accusatory look. Edward smiled sheepishly.
"I guess you're right." he smiled, an unexpected response as far as Roxas was concerned. He thought for sure that Edward was going to hit him. "You're not half bad, you know that?" Edward said. Roxas smiled.
"I'm glad I could help." His first time talking to people of other worlds and he had gotten beaten up, dragged to a restaurant (at which they had forgotten to eat), and had given a grieving duo some good advice. Axel would like to hear this story. Oh no, Axel! "What time is it?" Oh hell, the times were different in every world. How were the brothers to know what time it was in a Twilight Town? "Sorry, I have to go. Maybe I'll see you again?"
"Yeah, if you're ever in the neighborhood, ask for the Elric brothers. Someone will know where we are." Edward smiled and stuck out a metal hand. Roxas shook it.
"Wait, before I go. When we met, Alphonse, you said you were a heartless. You aren't really a heartless, are you?"
"Well..." Alphonse seemed uncomfortable.
"No! He's my brother! He has a heart!" Edward interjected angrily.
"Then...why can't I feel it? It feels like there is an empty hole where his heart should be." The brothers stared at him.
"You can sense that?" Alphonse asked.
"Of course he can't! He's just making that up!"
"But Ed, why would he make that up? He doesn't even know." Alphonse said quietly.
"Shut it, Al! And you, get out! Don't you have someplace to be?" Roxas wanted to figure out what they were talking about, but Edward was right, he did have someplace to be. He ran out, not saying another word to the brothers. Hopefully he would see them again soon, so he could figure out their story.

Where the hell could Marluxia be?

It took approximately twenty minutes for Roxas to locate his recon partner. When he found him, Marluxia was in the process of stealing a pair of shoes.
"What are you doing? You know what, I don't care. Let's go."
"But it's so easy to steal things here! I would much rather hang out here a little longer than go back to that dreary castle." Marluxia said. Roxas sighed. He didn't have time for this.
"Hey lady! This man is trying to steal from you!" Roxas called over to the clerk.
"Shut up brat! You know I could just threaten her if she comes over here, just like I did at the other stores."
"Yeah, but at this store, I'm here. And anything I see has to be reported to Superior. You know I'm a terrible liar." For the record, that statement was not entirely true. Although he wasn't a great liar, Roxas wasn't necessarily bad at it, per se. At least, he didn't think he was. Apparently, Marluxia believed him to be a terrible one though.
"Ugh. Fine." Marluxia dropped the shoes. "Let's go." Marluxia led Roxas to a secluded area and opened a corridor. Within minutes, they were back at the castle. "Have fun reporting to Siax and Superior!"
"Thanks." Roxas grumbled as Marluxia wandered off. As he went to find Siax, Roxas suddenly had an idea. Instead of having to tell Siax everything, who would then twist it before telling Superior, why not write it? A written report would be much better! He decided to ask Axel about it, and went to find someone who could open a portal for him.

Roxas had been right. Axel was interested in hearing his story. As he told his friends what had happened, he licked his melting ice cream, trying not to let it drip.
"Edward, huh?" his best friend asked. "Interesting. I like your idea for a written report as well."
"I think it's a great idea!" Xion added.
"You think it will be all right?" Roxas didn't like the idea of being in trouble with Siax or Superior.
"It should be fine. I don't see anything wrong with it." Axel said.
"O.K" After spending a relaxing few hours with his two best friends, they all headed back to the castle and went their separate ways. Roxas went off to his room (which was also white), and started working on the report.

"My report." Roxas handed the sheet of paper to Siax.
"You wrote it?" he asked. Obviously the idea had never come to him before.
"Is that alright?" Roxas tried his most innocent expression. He didn't want Siax to get any ideas.
"I suppose it's fine. I'll show it to Superior after I've looked through it."
"Fine." Roxas headed off to his newest mission, leaving Siax to read the report alone. It had taken quite awhile for Roxas to remember everything that the brothers had said and compile it, hopefully Siax didn't think he was an idiot.

He had to admit he was a little disappointed his mission wasn't in the world he had visited the day before. Edward's plight made Roxas curious; he couldn't help wondering what the brothers were up to now.

Siax eyed the report warily. He hoped this wouldn't be a complete waste of time.

My Recon Report- by Roxas

World Name- Amestris
We ended up in a city called Central. Has electricity.
Important people- Edward and Alphonse Elric. Famous brothers. Edward is a "State Alchemist". Well known, but not very well liked by the public. Wears a red cloak and has a metal hand. Is shorter than me, and HATES when people even mention his height. Temperamental. Easily irritated. Very dangerous, close range fighter. Uses "alchemistry", unknown what that exactly does. Easy to identify, a flash of blue light is seen when it is used. The older brother.
Alphonse Elric- Guy in a suit of armour. Taller than Axel. Passive to Edward's aggressive. Fighting style: unknown. Unknown if he uses alchemistry. The younger brother.
No heartless seen.

What a waste of time. That kid was obviously as incompetent as his somebody. Hopefully this would convince Superior that Roxas really wasn't needed, since all Roxas did on his mission was socialize with people of other worlds. He couldn't help but wonder if he would get to kill this "Edward Elric". He did sound like a menace to the organization, after all.