Chapter 3: Rory

Pain flared over my left temple. I groaned and tried to roll over. I was lying on something not-comfortable: cold, wet, and bumpy. As my senses returned to me I realised I was lying on grass. Rain fell and chilled my already shivering body, as if it were mocking me. Ha ha. You're cold. You're wet. Now you're even more cold and wet.

I tried to remember what had happened to me. My head felt like it was stuffed full of cotton. I vaguely recalled playing catch with a thermos full of soba… I caught it, and then…

Blam. A sword hilt to my face.

Never try to tease Yu Kanda. Especially where there's soba involved.

But how had I ended up outside?

Heck, where was inside? I couldn't see any signs of civilisation through the trees. Kristina had a few trees near her flat, sure, but not this many. And although it was summer, the forest was blisteringly cold, and the rain frigid. Where on earth was I?

A soggy sheet of paper caught my eye. I picked it up.

To Rory Stockhelm and whomever else it may concern:

Mr. Stockhelm, we apologise for the inconvenience. We at the S.O.I.B. appear to have made a slight error in our calculations. Dimensions PE XXVIII and PE VII (your dimension) are on a collision course. We are not sure of the cause, so we have extracted you from your previous mission (along with Dimension PE VII inhabitants Reyna Fartroth and Kristina Celeste, and Dimension PE XXVIII inhabitants Allen Walker and Yu Kanda) to investigate. We realise you are not formally part of the S.O.I.B., but you are the closest to the situation, and sending others would have taken valuable time. Please investigate as to the cause of this potential collision and fill out the report we have included. Press the button on the pen to send in your report. We appreciate your help!

P.S. Again, our intern's peppermint tea spillage poses the problem of possible damage from backlash. In light of this, we have included a few more vials. Given the unstable nature of the two worlds at the moment, you and your companions will likely not end up in the same place. Search out natural dump points for space-time rifts, and you will find them soon. Good luck!

Signed,

Simon Troffle

Dimensional Stability Branch

Society Of Interdimensional Balance (S.O.I.B.)

I glanced around. A thin paper packet sealed in a waterproof plastic bag lay next to a ballpoint pen and a vial of no-more-papercuts-juice.

I came up with some rather colourful nicknames for Simon Troffle.

A low rustle in the bushes brought me back to my surroundings. Shivering, I warily approached the disturbance, wondering if it was one of my friends.

It wasn't.

With a guttural cry, a hideous monster flew at me from the bushes. Terror pulsed in my throat; I cried out and fell to the ground. I had just enough rational thought to recognise it as an Akuma, with its white, despondent face and the black pentacle on its forehead. Then it lunged.

I'm not going to glorify myself. The absolute and shameful truth is, I screamed like a little girl.

Trembling with fear, I ran from the misty clearing as fast as my legs would carry me. I often stumbled and fell, but I was pumped full of so much adrenaline that it did nothing to inhibit me. I felt neither pain nor cold- just the feeling that my heart was going to burst out of my chest. Flashes of purple light flew past me, illuminating the forest in sombre violet. All I could do was run, and pray that the next flash of purple would hit a tree, and not punch a hole in my head.

"This way!" Someone grabbed my hand. I was too utterly terrified to take in any details about their appearance, but I ran blindly after them, my vision going red. I could feel my pulse in my neck. My heart was pumping fear instead of blood.

Just as we made it out of the trees, my body decided it couldn't handle anything more, and my knees buckled. As my vision grew dark, my last coherent thought was, I knew I should have taken Gym.

When I came to my senses, whoever had led me out of the forest was gone. So was the Akuma that had been chasing me. I stood up shakily, checking that the vial and the papers were still in my pockets. Sighing with relief, exhaustion, and just the general need to sigh, I picked a direction (away from the forest) and started walking. However, before I'd made it very far, I saw a flash of light through the trees.

Keep in mind, I'm stuck in the world of -man, where demons run amuck. I'd just been attacked by one of these demons. I was not in a hurry to repeat this experience.

So I did the logical thing.

I ran toward the light.

~Chandler~

"Are you okay?" asked a voice. A groggy, incoherent noise spilled from my lips before I removed my hands from my eyes and saw my friend Rory before me; I rose to my feet and wrapped my arms around him.

"Rory! I'm so happy to see you!" I released him from my embrace. "But how did you get to Amestris?" I glanced around at the mossy trees and forest critters around me. "Wait…"

"This isn't Amestris. And it's not Earth, either." He looked away. "At least… not as we know it."

"Yeah, I just got that. But not the Earth thing… What?" I inquired.

"We need to move. There's… kind of… a demon chasing me."

"DEMON? What have you done, Rory!" I exclaimed.

"It's not my fault! Blame Simon Troffle, whoever he is! I bet he's having a good laugh right now, drinking peppermint tea in his little office of Dimensional Stability!"

"Oh, yeah, sure. Just blame some person you made up in that crazy little mind of yours."

"I'm not lying! You can read the letter!" He waved a soggy piece of paper at me. The bushes behind us started to rustle.

"Yes, because a piece of paper is proof of a person's existence." I chuckled with disbelief. Suddenly, curiousity overtook me. "Show that to me!"

The rustling grew louder, whatever was lurking in the undergrowth was drawing nearer. Rory glanced nervously behind us. "We really should go. Now."

"What are you talking about? It's not like there is something chasing us or... Oh, yeah… Let's go."

It was a bit too late for that. A huge monstrosity burst out of the undergrowth, metal cylinders sticking out of its enormous, round body. Its face was deathly pale, open in a silent scream; a black star adorned its forehead. I stumbled back and gasped. "What… How…" I began breathing loudly, my eyes wide with fear. A small squeak escaped from my mouth, "Rory—"

He clutched my hand so tightly that it almost hurt. "Chandler— run."

We ran. Straight into the side of a cliff (not literally, of course). The monster closed in, seeing that we had nowhere to run. I didn't know what to do. Before I knew what was happening, Rory stepped forward, confidently staring down the beast.

"Level One!" he shouted, his voice clear, with only a hint of fear. "Who authorised you to go human-hunting by yourself? Where is your Level Two Akuma?"

The monster looked taken aback. It spoke, its voice raspy and terrible, like nails on a chalkboard. "Our mission was completed. I was seperated from the group-"

"Were you not told that all Akuma are to congregate at Edo?"

"No. I was not."

"Idiot!" Rory scoffed. His expression was not at all nice. I inched toward the cliffside, beginning to feel a tiny bit afraid of him.

"Who are you?" The monster's- the Akuma's- voice contained the same note of fear I was feeling.

"Are you stupid?! I am Rory Stockhelm- the fifteenth Noah!"

I stared.

The Akuma stared.

Rory stood motionless, a bead of sweat trickling down the back of his neck. He shouted once more: "Now get youself and your squadron to Edo before the Earl gets angry!"

To my utter amazement, the Akuma turned and left.

"Rory… what was that?!"

He smiled tiredly at me, his face showing how much strain he'd been under. "A big fat lie."

I gaped at him. "You lied to that thing?! You could have been killed!"

"But I wasn't."

I wanted to call him an idiot; I wanted to slap him across the face for being so reckless. But everything just seemed to coalesce into a big lump of emotion in my throat and I gave him a teary hug. He squirmed uncomfortably, but he didn't push me away.

"Thanks, you big idiot," I muttered. "If you weren't such a nerd, we probably would've died."

"My nerdiness saved the day, huh?" We both laughed, even though neither of us found it very funny. Rory collapsed against the cliffside. "That is enough stress for one day. I am done. Done, you hear me?"

That's when the figure in black appeared.