A few, short timeskips in this chapter just to move things along a bit. Don't worry, it won't be boring for much longer. Enjoy!

It was nearly three hours later, and most had found some or all of the ones they came with. Some, like Daisuke and Satoshi, had never split up, but came across numerous others, all of which they regarded warily (in Satoshi's case) or just deemed strange (in Daisuke's case). However, some had yet to find their companions, and panic was starting to set in that they may never see their friends again.

"Have you found the rest of your comrades?"

"Comrades? You mean my friends?"

Benawi rubbed his head, "Yes, your friends."

Bo shook his head, "No, mister, I haven't."

"You can call me by my name, you know," the samurai general pointed out, "It makes me feel.. old."

"Oh, sorry, but um..."

"What is it now?"

"I don't know your name."

The green-eyed man blinked, "It seems I forgot to introduce myself in the confusion. I am Benawi, samurai general of Tusukuru."

"Wow," Bo remarked, "that's a neat character, but I don't think I've heard of the samurai general race. And what's Tusukuru? Is that a guild?"

Benawi blinked a few times, "A...guild?"

Bo nodded, "Yeah, you know.. like Raven or Canard."

"I've never heard of these places," he confessed, feeling very foolish. He had thought he had quite a knowledgeable range of geography.

"Well, they're not places," the young boy said, "They're guilds... kind of like clubs. You must be new."

This time, Benawi couldn't help but sweatdrop, "New to what?"

"The World."

"The world? But you're younger than I am, how can you say I'm new to it?" For dignity, this conversation was killing him, but the general couldn't help but be intrigued by what the hell this kid was talking about.

"Not the real world, I mean the game, The World."

"I don't know what you're speaking of, I've never played any game."

"Wow," Bo said again, "You're really into this, aren't you?"

"It's not a game," a voice said, approaching them.

"Haseo," the young boy said, relieved. The teen nodded to his fellow player and stopped next to him with Endrance in tow.

"We are no longer within The World," the dramatic boy said quietly, "In fact, we may no longer be within the reality that we know at all."

"What are you three talking about?" Benawi asked, shaking his head, "You're confusing me."

"Bo, Endrance, and I, we're all players in an online game called The World," Haseo explained, "Somehow, though... it seems that our players and characters have become one and been teleported out of the server."

"On...line?"Benawi thought, wondering what foreign things these people were talking of, "Perhaps they are from a different time? But that's absurd. Still, this whole situation is odd, to say the least."

"Have you seen any of the others?" Bo asked, looking to Haseo.

The gray-haired boy shook his head, "Only Endrance, who said he followed me right in after."

"I came in right after you two, but I didn't see anyone around when I got here."

Haseo rubbed his head and shrugged, then looked to Benawi, "So where did you come from?"

"I am from Tusukuru, my name is Benawi," the general introduced himself once again.

"Tusukuru?" Haseo repeated, "Never heard of it, but I'm Haseo and this is Endrance."

The uninterested boy spared Benawi a glance before looking back to Haseo, "We should find the others, shouldn't we?"

The crimson-eyed boy nodded in agreement, "Yeah, they have to be around here somewhere."

"Farewell," Benawi spoke up, nodding to each, "I hope you find your comrades."

"What a weird guy," Haseo muttered as the out-of-place male walked away.

"Do you think everyone else is okay?" Bo asked, looking worriedly up to his friend.

"I'm sure they're fine," Haseo assured him, "Everyone can take care of themselves, and besides, we haven't actually seen any real danger yet, right?" This seemed to comfort the boy as he nodded and the three continued on their search.

---

"Al? Al!" Ed's panicked voice rang through the empty hallways. He glared at the man next to him, "This is all your fault, Mustang, if we hadn't come to this place, Al wouldn't-"

"Wouldn't what?" Roy cut him off, "Be lost? You really think with all the horrors he's seen, that he won't survive being lost in an old mansion?"

"That's not the point, he's never had to face any of that alone!" Which was the plain truth-- Ed had made sure his brother was never alone to defend himself; he always made sure that Al was protected and taken care of. Honestly, it was probably why he himself got hurt so much, but he knew if his brother could still be scared by the thought of a haunted house, then it was all worth it. It meant that Al was still his younger brother and that he hadn't become hardened and cold like Ed-- that was the last thing the elder brother wanted.

"Fullmetal, calm down, I'm sure he's around here somewhere. Perhaps he found someone else that was lost, as well." Since the two had stepped inside, they had come across a variety of strange people. Two very oddly dressed people that spoke of online games and PCs, then another couple with a girl even shorter than Ed and a boy that seemed to like teasing her about it as much as Roy did Ed. All in all, the two males had concluded that this place was far from as empty as it seemed, and far from as small as it seemed.

"He just better be alright, or I'll kick your ass," Ed muttered and turned down another hallway.

Just as he stepped around the corner, he smacked into a large plate of metal, which squeaked and spun around. "Brother!"

"Damn it, Al, why are you standing right around the corner where people can just walk into you?!"

The suit of armor rubbed its head sheepishly, "Oh, sorry, are you two alright?"

"Besides a minor headache, fine," Roy told him, shooting a glance to the headache-causer.

"So you're alright, too?" Ed asked, looking to his brother, "Why were you just standing there like that, though?"

"Oh, that, well I saw someone down the hall that I thought might be you and I called out to him, but when he turned around..."

Ed tilted his head, waiting for an answer, "Well? When he turned around, what?"

"He looked a lot like you, but he had a really cold look in his eyes and when he spoke, it sounded...demonic." If Al was in his own flesh, he would have shivered at that point from the memory.

"Demonic?" Ed repeated, then turned to Mustang, "Just what kind of place is this and what did Al see?"

Roy quirked an eyebrow, "I don't see why you expect me to know."

"You're the one who brought us here!"

"Brother, keep your voice down," Al chided, "What if it comes back?"

"Thisisn't fun, Mustang, get us out of here," the blonde demanded.

Roy looked around for a few moments, before back down to Ed, "And how would you propose I do that? We're lost and incase you haven't noticed, there aren't any windows."

"Wha..." Ed spun around and realized his superior was right-- the hallways looked all the same and there was no way to tell how deep into the house they were. Other than that, the lighting from the lamps inside the house were the only light that they had to see by. "Wait a minute... lamps? This place is supposed to be abandoned isn't it? Why is there still electricity coming into here?"

"Maybe it's not abandoned?" Al whispered, a hint of fear lacing his voice.

"We've run into other people that thought it was empty, too," Roy pointed out, "I doubt so many people could be wrong."

"Those people weren't normal, they kept talking about a different world than ours," Ed reminded him, "Roy, just where the hell did you take us?"

---

"It looks like a dining room," Satoshi muttered as he and Daisuke stepped into a large room with a long, wooden table stretched down the center.

Daisuke nodded and looked around, "Maybe we should stay here for a little bit, I'm getting kind of tired."

"Alright, but we should turn back soon," the bluenette said, taking a seat on the corner of the table.

"Yeah, this place is a lot bigger than I tho-"

"Shh," Satoshi hissed suddenly, standing up and turning his attention toward the far wall.

Daisuke inched closer to his friend and glanced at him, "What is it?"

"I heard voices," the bluenette muttered under his breath.

"Well, there are other people here, right? Maybe they know how to get out."

"Come on," Satoshi said and began slowly inching his way towards one of the four doors that led into the dining room.

Daisuke followed him and glanced over his shoulder as the knob began to turn. Both boys halted simultaneously as the door began to creak open and both red and blue orbs were trained on the door. Each second that passed by pulsed in time with their racing hearts. They knew others were in the house, but this didn't feel like a friendly force that was entering the room.

"It's getting cold," Daisuke thought, wrapping his arms around himself.

"Daisuke-kun,"Dark answered, "Let me take over, I don't like the looks of this."

Daisuke bit his lip and glanced to Satoshi before quickly squeezing his hand and closing his eyes. As Satoshi turned to look at his friend, Dark was instead in his place. The bluenette wasn't at all confused at what happened, and was nearly on the verge of letting the angels handle this situation on their own. However, as much as he wished to run and hide, he wasn't sure releasing Krad would be the best thing for the time.

"It's freezing in here," Dark muttered, "What's going on?"

"It just started getting cold," Satoshi whispered to him. Both were still waiting on the mystery guest to arrive, but the door seemed to simply hang half-way open instead of being pushed the rest of the way. Satoshi also noted to himself that he didn't hear the voices any longer, "Maybe they changed their mind?"

"No, wait," Dark said suddenly, tense and alert, "What's that sound?" From the open door, the two could hear a guttural moan that sounded like a zombie from some cliche movie. Dark narrowed his eyes while Satoshi actually took a step back.

"What's wrong, Satoshi-kun," Krad said mockingly, "Afraid of the big, bad beast?"

"I'm not afraid of anything," the bluenette snapped back, "I just thought I'd let Dark take care of it."

"Why don't you let me out? I'll make quick work of everything in here."

Satoshi ignored the comment and watched as Dark approached the door and in an instant, swung it open. On the other side was an empty hallway that stretched down to either end of the house and ended in a set of stairs on either side-- one going up, and one going down.

"You think there's something in the basement?" Satoshi wondered, glancing towards the descending staircase.

"It's possible," Dark shrugged, "but I'm not getting involved in it."

"What were those voices we heard?" Daisuke wondered, "What if someone went down there and is in trouble?"

"Then we'd hear them scream," Dark chuckled.

"That's not funny, someone might be-!"

"Daisuke-kun,"the thief cut his tamer off, "Think about it, there's only two sets of stairs down this way, if anyone was through here, they'd already be upstairs or downstairs, right?"

"Well, yeah, but..."

"Don't worry about it, I'm sure everything's fine. Besides, you don't want to leave Satoshi-kun here all alone, right?"

"No..."Daisuke was silent after that, and Dark turned to Satoshi.

"So, we're waiting here for what, exactly?"

The ice-eyed boy glanced to the angel before turning his back to him, "I'm waiting for Daisuke to come back out, I don't know whyyou're still around."

Dark shrugged, "Daisuke said it's too cold out here, so looks like you'll be waiting a while."

Satoshi sighed in annoyance and was about to comment on that when more voices interrupted him. This time, though, the voices were clear and the two boys could tell that they were nearby whereas before they were indistinct and seemed to be coming from a distance.

Sure enough, moments later three people ventured in from the door to the east (Satoshi and Daisuke had come from the north while the stairway door was to the south). The first to enter was a young girl with long, pink hair and a sword ready at her side. Her eyes trained on the pair as soon as she entered the room, and she immediately became defensive. More interesting Satoshi found, though, was something growing from either side of her head.

"Are those... wings?" he muttered. He had never seen anyone other than Krad and Dark that had wings, and certainly no one with miniature wings replacing their ears.

Touka regarded the two with extreme caution, "Hakuoro-sama, stay back."

Someone, still outside the door, spoke in return, "What is it, Touka-dono?"

"Come on," a third voice, ready and willing to fight, said eagerly, "we can take them."

"Oboro," the one known as Hakuoro said, "calm down."

Touka watched the two boys as she walked slowly into the room. Followed behind her was Oboro, and then finally the emperor, who seemed not near as tense as his subordinates. "Who are you two?" she demanded.

Dark grinned slightly and Satoshi mentally kicked himself for not stopping Daisuke from letting the playboy at. The purple-haired angel approached Touka, who immediately drew her sword and, with Oboro, positioned herself in front of Hakuoro.

"Relax, young lady," Dark chided, "There's no need to be so tense anymore, I'll keep you safe."

Touka blinked a few times before a blush rose to her cheeks and she held her sword out toward Dark, "Who do you think you are, speaking to me like that? You're such a pervert."

"That's about right," Satoshi agreed, quietly. However, his comment drew Hakuoro's attention.

"So what are you two doing here?"

Satoshi ignored him and Oboro, like previously, narrowed his eyes, "What is with all the people around here? First you ignore your manners and then you directly turn your attention away from my brother when he's speaking to you?"

"It would appear, from their dress, that they aren't from around here," Touka said, looking Dark up and down (just a bit more warily now).

"Where we are from is none of your business," the bluenette replied. Though, he was beginning to wonder why everyone felt they needed to attack him and whoever he was with.

"Do you not know who this is?" Oboro demanded, motioning to Hakuoro, "Show some respect before I make you!"

"Oboro, show some restraint," the masked emperor said, "There's no need to make enemies out of everyone."

"Maybe they are the enemy," the brunette pointed out.

"If they were the enemy, they wouldn't be so...unexperienced," Touka commented, glancing to Dark.

The amethyst-eyed boy chuckled and winked in her direction, "You must be mistaken, I'm very experienced."

Touka blushed again and hid her face while Oboro became even more outraged, "Don't talk about things like that in front of my brother!"

Hakuoro sighed and took a seat at the long table, "You two wear me out."

"And we still haven't found Benawi," Touka commented, "Are you sure it's alright to rest here?"

"It's fine," Hakuoro assured her, "Benawi is very capable." She nodded and took a seat with him. Oboro, not wanting to remain higher than his lord, sat also, though remained in the position to pounce at any moment.

Satoshi sighed and rested against the table while Dark leaned against the back of Touka's seat. The girl turned and blinked, "Just what do you think you're doing?"

The thief glanced over his shoulder and winked again, "Just relaxing." This caused the Evenkuruga to flush faintly again and Hakuoro to chuckle to himself.

---

Within the next two hours, it seemed the company had nearly tripled in size. Tabby and Sakisaka had found their way to the dining room, as well as Atoli, Raenef, Erutis, Ayumu, Hiyono, and Kousuke. Each were growing concerned about their still-absent friends, and many attempted to go out searching, only to be held back by others.

"Why isn't Eclipse here yet?" Raenef wondered, looking to Erutis.

The girl only shrugged, "It's not like any of us knew where this place was or intended on coming here."

"So, you mean he might not be coming at all?"

"I want to go look for Haseo," Atoli said, stubbornly. She had repeated her new mantra about ten times, and each time was shot down by Sakisaka.

Said man shook his head, "No way, you'll get lost or hurt or something and it'll turn into one big mess. Besides, it already looks like most are ending up here. Just wait and he'll be here."

The cleric sighed to herself and slumped back down in her seat. Silence settled over the group and no one seemed ready or willing to do any introducing. In fact, most seemed nearly hostile to the others and kept to themselves or their friends. Those who were naturally friendly and usually would approach others simply remained quiet and glanced around every now and then.

"This situation is really tense," Hakuoro thought, "If something doesn't happen soon, it'll become like a miniature war zone in here."

And so tensions rise. There will be yet another factor in this little prison of a house, though, and it will be introduced in the very beginning of next chapter. One or two more and that's all. It won't be a very long fic, but I'm really amazed that I could write this much in so short of a time. I don't want to ruin it or lose interest, which is why I'm keeping it short. I'm a little hesitant about posting these three chapters now and giving myself the opportunity to slack off, but I suppose we'll see just how lazy I am. XD, hope you enjoyed!