"Envy, what's going on?" Wrath asked, slightly frightened. He had seen the yard.
Said boy moved aside a few strands of emerald-tinted black as he worked, plugging the PlayStation into the television upstairs. "First we're sucked into a video game that looks like the house, then we have a fight to the death with Greed who no longer exists, and the yard is a mess as if the fight was here! But it was here! But then again, it couldn't be! There's no way we could naturally do all the things we did in that fight! Either way Greed is gone and WE killed him!" he sat back and switched on the power, "I'm getting some answers outta that little blue-haired punk!"
"I wanna go with you guys!" Wrath piped up, "I wanna know what's going on!"
Ed and Envy looked at each other. "Well, I guess it wouldn't hurt...?" They plugged in another controller for Wrath just as the disc finished loading.
"There is an active controller connected to slot three. Do you wish to add a member to your party?"
Blip.
"New member, please enter your name."
Blip-blip-blip-blip-blip.
"Your name has been recorded. Do you wish to load saved data?"
Blip.
"Loading data..."
aeaeae
"I'm sure nii-san will be happy to hear you're letting us stay longer, Uncle Roy," Alphonse smiled at the dark-haired man driving the car. (1)
"Yes, well, I have a date tonight I could use an opportunity to get rid of you boys." That might have sounded like an insult to anyone else, but Al knew from That Smirk and the look he gave him that Roy was joking. About getting rid of them, that is. Not the date part. Everyone knew Roy was a chick-magnet (a/n: -cough-manwhore-cough-). "I'll come back to get you tomorrow afternoon."
"Alright." Al turned to look out the window, still smiling. Just like Ed and Envy were good friends, Wrath was one of Al's best friends that he didn't get to see very often, considering he lived so far away and Uncle Roy was always either busy with work or something else to take him for a visit. Everyone else knew Ms. De Clare was too wrapped up in research-type things to be involved in her children's lives. (2)
Al was ecstatic; he was going to spend the next two days with Wrath, and his mother wouldn't care because she probably wouldn't come out of her room the whole time anyway. It was almost creepy; most times Al had been there he'd never seen her, and the small chances he did weren't enough for him to even picture her face in his head. But she did seem nice enough whenever he did come face to face with her, and the children never much complained, so he figured it was alright.
The car took a sharp turn as the dirt road started twisting around large oak trees, that gave Al a start and jarred him from his thoughts. He threw his questioning look at the driver.
"Damn, forgot about that," Roy muttered, to himself more than the blonde boy beside him, "These winding roads are hell on my car."
"Sorry," Al said quietly, "that I made you come out here."
Roy gave him a look, "You've nothing to apologize for. You deserve to visit your friend, I just wish I could've brought you and Edward at the same time and not..."
As the car came into view of the house, it became VERY apparent something had happened since Roy dropped off Ed that morning. Lack of trees and a new crater hole, for example.
The two slowly got out of the car and gaped at what they saw. "What the hell happened here?"
aeaeae
"Wow..." Wrath nearly whispered, "You mean we're inside the game? It looks just like home!"
"Yeah, that's what I said," Ed added.
"Nata!" Envy called out, "Nata, you little twerp, get out here!"
He spotted a blur of colors down by the pier across the field, and ran towards it, "Nata!"
"Hello Envy," the child said in an almost depressed tone. Envy was going to comment on it, but remembered what he was there for. "Why-!"
"This place," Nata interrupted instead, "It's so beautiful..."
"Eh?" Envy blinked dumbly for a minute until he shugged it off, grabbed him by the front of his complicated-looking coat thing and demanded, "Tell me what happened to Greed! Why does Wrath not remember him...and why does it look like a meteor hit my yard!"
"Whatever happens in the game happens in the Sec- Real World. If there's an enemy that you slay here, their other self in the Real World disappears."
"Wait, does that mean that everyone has another self in the game? Could we meet our other selves?" Wrath asked, sneaking up behind them.
Nata shook his head, "There's only one of each person in this world. As long as you're playing, you're the only you here." (3)
"Then if I stopped playing, there'd be another me in my place?"
Nod.
"Freaky..."
"And it means that this game is dangerous!" Envy interjected, "When we go back I'm tossing this disc! But first, tell us how to get Greed back!"
Nata gave him a strange look, "You can't just bring a monster back."
"What, there's some stupid quest we have to go on first?"
"No- you can't bring a monster back."
Envy's eyes widened, "Then...Greed..."
aeaeae
"Hello? Nii-san? Wrath? Envy? Anyone?"
"The house looks deserted," Roy commented, closing the front door behind him and Al.
Al ran over towards the staircase, "I'll check upstairs."
Roy nodded his head as Al ascended to the wooden cabin's second story, "I guess I'll go look outside again." Outside, he took a walk around the yard once more and stood in front of the crater. "How the hell...?"
"Nii-san?" Al called, as he climbed to the top. The first door on his right was open and noises could be heard from the room, such as pages turning and pen scratching. "Ms. De Clare?"
Dante continued to write without acknowledging him.
Al tried again, "Ms. De Clare? Do you know where your sons are, or my brother?"
"Haven't seen them, child," she said curtly. She continued to write.
Al nodded in response, even though she couldn't see him. He figured she wouldn't know anyway. She probably had no idea that anything happened outside, either.
aeaeae
Ed, Envy, Wrath, and Nata all sat at the edge of the dock, doing...nothing really. Shock, depression, and confusion has temporarily consumed them. Envy was the most out of it. Because he had found this disc in the river and insisted to play it, his brother was gone and now they were all in danger of the same fate. That is, unless they 'beat the game'. But where to begin? He didn't even completely understand the situation. Nata is a gate to the real world, so just keep the monsters away from him. But how do you beat it? You can't possibly kill off all the monsters or everyone in the real world would be dead too. And the NPC made it sound like the game has been played before...didn't he mention someone's name?
"Nata."
Nata jumped, "Yes, Envy?"
Envy stared hard into his eyes, "You said this game had been beaten before, didn't you? By some guy named...uh..."
The child perked at that, "Kaito?"
"Yeah. How did he do it? Without killing everyone, I mean."
"You don't need to destroy all the monsters. Specific area bosses are your designated enemies. Merely defeat them and you are successful."
"Was Greed a designated area boss?" Ed asked quietly.
Nata nodded to him, "Yes. Area Master Greed was to be the first of your opponents."
"I see," Envy looked back at the water again and stared at his own expressionless face, "Then it couldn't be helped, could it? We had to beat him..."
Wrath went over and hugged Envy, "I'm sorry."
Envy just shook his head sadly.
Nata was about to say something to him but stopped. He swiftly turned to face the field where there was a shadow approaching them. "Envy. Edward. Wrath," he said quietly, "The next area boss is here."
The three players turned around and hastily drew weapons. They shielded their eyes at the bright evening sun, trying to make out the identity of their newest enemy.
While the two siblings still couldn't recognize the silhouette, Edward dropped his weapon with a dull thud on the dock, eyes wide in disbelief.
"...Uncle Roy?"
aeaeae
1 - Oh goody, it's Uncle Roy. By the way, his car is a Mustang. X)
2 - That is Dante's last name, isn't it? Or one of her incarnations, at least. Wasn't one of her more recent identities Victoria de Clare or something? That's the only name I know for her other than Elric...but that'd be confusing with Ed and all so that's Dante's name from now on!
3- I'm not positively sure that's true, but hey it's my story and I'll lie if I want to.
A/N: YOSH! Cliffy! It's short, but, whatever. Gets the job done.
Side note: I was thinking of making Envy's parents Dante and Hohenheim, and then Ed's parents could be Roy and Riza or something- maybe make Winry his sister- but that's just weird. I mean, could you picture it? Edward Mustang. XD So to avoid the confusion of where he should be put, I just killed off Hohenheim altogether. Ed and Al are orphans under the care of their uncle Roy, while Envy and his siblings just have a (kind and semi-caring yet neglectful) mom. Also, Envy's only siblings are Wrath and Lust, not to mention for a short time Greed. I killed off Gluttony and Pride for obvious reasons, and I got rid of Sloth for nearly the same reason as Hohenheim; if I gave the Elric brothers their mom, then where is Sloth? Or if I had Sloth, why can't Trisha be alive? And I can't very well have them BOTH...so then neither. Lust is Envy and Wrath's sister but she's studying abroad or something. She exists but isn't there.