Hey, everybody! Welcome back! Here's the next installment. Hope you enjoy. Again, credit where it's due. I got a lot of help from Lyemi for this chapter, so thank you very much, Lyemi! Anyone else who wants to help with this story, please feel free to offer me suggestions. Feel free to PM or e-mail me. I also go by bigfattux on Yahoo and ReincarnatedAlphonse at the animelab chatroom, so drop me a line, or just say hi. Either way, heh.

Ed one stared at the person who looked just like him in silence. It was annoying. This guy thought and did everything that he did, but it was in reverse! When Ed one would turn right, Ed two would turn left, and the two would end up running into each other. One was right-handed, and the other was left-handed. Even further, they both ate with two different hands, and often bumped elbows, causing each other to spill their food and yell at the other for it. Something had to be done.

Ed one walked into the bathroom, where there was a full length mirror, and stared into it. There was no reflection, though that made sense since his reflection was walking around loose. He motioned towards his double. "Hey, you, Ed Two, come here!"

Ed two stared at him and muttered something about him not telling him what to do, but eventually gave in and walked over. Ed one motioned for him to look into the mirror and tell him what he saw. "I don't see anything," said Ed two.

"Wrong!" said Ed one, slapping Ed two across the back of the head. "Can't you see the disclaimer sitting there? It means that Melissa doesn't own us...me." With that, he proceeded to run off before Ed two caught on to what was going on.

When he finally DID catch onto what was going on, he took off running after Ed one, though he was long gone. Regardless, Ed two began shouting after him, "You idiot, what are you talking about? There was no disclaimer in the mirror!"

The little group suddenly materialized out of nowhere, and everyone immediately gripped their heads as if trying to prevent them from exploding. Well, Roy TRIED to grip his head, but he was the only one in the group without one.

"What's going on, Ed?" said Winry, frantically gripping ahold of her head and moving to kneel on the ground, as she was beginning to be overcome by overwhelming dizziness. It didn't make any sense. Al had supposedly enjoyed the demon home world. He hadn't said anything about constantly changing, unstable scenery that gave one a headache just to be in it.

"You. Guys. Are. Just. Confused," Ed said through gritted teeth while frantically holding his head together, "Get. Your. Act. Together!"

"What are you talking about, Ed?" asked Winry, not even bothering to look up at him for fear she'd have to behold the crazy scenery before her and get a migraine. Ed simply got up and began walking away like he had when he had first brought Al here. Winry noticed his presence leaving, and called out to him. "Ed, Edward! Please, don't leave me here! Ed, come back, Ed!"

Then a hand was placed on her shoulder. Winry dared to open her eyes for a second to see Al standing there beside her. "It's not Brother's fault," said Al, "It's ours. He gets this way every time we mess up the scenery and he can't do anything about it."

"What? How is it our fault?"

Roy then stepped up. "Wait...could this be an astral plane? Do our thoughts control the scenery here?"

Al blinked a couple times in surprise. This was the first time he had seen or heard Roy since he had become a ghost. This plane apparently had something to do with allowing him to see ghosts without problem. It also surprised him a bit that Roy had figured out the situation so quickly...but that was probably because he was now a ghost...a native of the astral.

"Um...yes...that's exactly what's happening. For some reason, human thoughts are stronger here than demonic thoughts, so we tend to overpower the demonic interpretation of what the land should look like. That wouldn't be such a big problem if we'd just all work together and think the same thing."

"Wait," said Winry, "Are you saying that our thoughts cause things to happen here? That sounds kind of cool...but...that's impossible!"

Silent Hughes finally stepped up and interjected into the conversation. "The boy's right. Thoughts control everything here, and your thoughts are stronger than ours in this realm, for some odd reason. You guys need to work together or we're not going to get anywhere. Now come on, straighten up, and think alike!"

Winry jumped. It was a little weird to hear Hughes get that bossy...but then, he was probably getting a headache like they were, so she couldn't really blame him. Winry licked her lips, and said, "Okay...so, um...what do we think about then?"

Hughes put his hand under his chin for a second as if trying to think, perhaps trying to remember what the land before them usually looked like. After a moment, he snapped his fingers, and told everyone present to stand around in a circle, and to lean inward so that their heads were touching each other. This was rather awkward and hard to do, but everyone followed his orders without question. Even Roy did so, though, being a ghost, it wasn't as hard for him to do as it was for the others.

Hughes then bent into the circle as well, and touched his head to the heads of those nearest him, which happened to be Al and Winry. Hughes closed his eyes. A moment later, both Al and Winry jumped in surprise, especially Winry, who had never had this done to her before. Al understood that this was a form of demonic telepathic communication, as Ed had done this to him before, but he still wasn't used to it.

Soon, everyone had received the same image, and Hughes instructed everyone to begin assembling their thoughts to resemble that image, since they needed to be thinking alike. Everyone stood upright, and did their best to look out at the scenery, which was still constantly shifting uncontrollably. They took a deep breath, some closed their eyes, and everyone began slowly working towards aligning their thoughts. This was the first time they had ever needed to do so, so it wasn't easy.

Slowly, but surely, the landscape before them smoothed out and became calm and serene, just like the mental image they had been sent. Everyone present breathed a sigh of relief.

Winry scratched the back of her head. "Wow, I can't believe we actually DID that! I mean...how could we possibly change the land just by thinking about it?"

Al smiled at her. "I did it singlehandedly when I was here with brother the first time. It's easier to do when there's just one person. In this world, it allows you to do whatever you think about. The 'scientific' laws of this place allow for that."

While Winry continued staring in awe at the place, Ed came walking up. "Hey, I'm sorry for running off like that. You guys did a good job of uniting your thoughts. That must've been challenging for you." Edward got various shrugs and other gestures in response, including from the ever-present but completely silent Riza. He then smiled and motioned for everyone to follow him.

As everyone was walking along, Al happened to glance down and saw a little pink bracelet on the ground. Curious, he picked it up. It looked like those little plastic bracelets back in Amestris that were all the rage right now, though it didn't have any words printed on it as so many of them did. He smiled. It was kind of cute, actually, pink or not. Like he had always said, real men wear pink. So, he slipped it over his wrist and continued walking on.

The little group had just barely entered a wooded area, when they were disrupted by a random demon appearing in front of them. "Bakanuri...I had heard that you might be here."

Edward crossed his arms. "Yeah, well what are you going to do about it? When I'm on my own turf, there's not much you can do." He then proceeded to jut out his chin in defiance, as if daring this intruder to make a move against him.

The other demon laughed a menacing laugh. "You have a lot of spunk, don't you, Bakanuri?" He then waved his hand as if signaling to someone, and just like that, a large number of other demons suddenly appeared around the little group. "You may be on your own turf, but so are we. Surrender yourself and your friends over to us, or face the consequences."

Edward uncrossed his arms and instead placed them on his hips, still a very defiant gesture, and said, "And just what would the consequences be of defying you?"

The lead demon laughed his demonic laugh again, and held up a very old looking skeleton key. "I hold here the key to Cushtano. If you don't surrender yourself, you will be sent there."

At this, Edward paled and looked to be starting to shake. Winry noticed this reaction on his part, and turned to Hughes to ask him what this 'Cushtano' was.

"It is a place of eternal exile and torture which no one has been able to escape from, not even the strongest demon sent there." Winry continued to look at him, as if searching for further explanation. Hughes lowered his head and sighed. "You have heard of it in your world too...only you call it by a different name. You humans call it 'Hell'."

I hope that you enjoyed this chapter. Please leave a review, and let me know your thoughts. The faster I get the reviews, the faster I'll update, hehe. So please, leave me some reviews, okay? Thanks.