CHAPTER 3

The trio had been wandering for hours now. Even Tamaki had lost his vibrant energy as the time passed slowly.

"Haruhi… Haruhi… Daddy's tired now, Haruhi. Be a good girl and come to daddy's arms-"

Ed finally cracked.

"WILL YOU EVER SHUT UP!? We've been wandering for hours now, so I doubt you'll find Haruhi any time soon! And wait… I thought Haruhi was a boy."

Tamaki cried out and tried to cover his slip up.

"WHAT? DID I CALL HARUHI A GIRL? SHE IS NOT A GI- GAH! I MEAN HE'S NOT A GIRL! WHAT GAVE YOU THE IDEA THAT HARUHI WAS A GIRL, YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW HER-"

Dark sighed.

"Give it up, Tamaki. You've called Haruhi "daughter" for the last few hours now. We know she's a girl."

Tamaki's face flushed. He sighed dramatically and kept on walking. Ed, now calmed down, finally attempted to have some sort of conversation to keep up their spirits.

"So, Tamaki, you don't really look like a dad. How is Haruhi you're daughter?"

Dark answered this question.

"Let me guess, you only love her like a daughter, but are in no way related to her."

"That's not true! Haruhi is in my host club, and everyone in the host club is my family, therefore, Haruhi IS my daughter!"

Ed gave a long sigh.

"If I knew what the hell a host club was, I'd probably have some sympathy for you. But now you seem like a total idiot."

Tamaki grumbled.

"Still, I love my daughter, so I am going to find her no matter what it takes!"

Though he didn't intend for it, Ed felt a small twinge of sympathy for Tamaki. He was willing to find Haruhi no matter what it took, just like Ed would do anything to find Al again. He suddenly wondered what Dark was looking for.

"So Dark, is Daisuke you're brother?"

"No. It's a little more complicated than that. If I told you, however, your minds might just reach the point of insanity."

Ed gave a smirk.

"Eh, I guess you're right. I'm pretty sure we've all through the weirdest experience of our lives today, any more and we might crack."

"It seems he's already at that point."

Dark was referring to Tamaki, who was still calling out Haruhi's name and waving his arms up in down.

"Who can blame him? He's been taken away from the person he loves."

Ed looked up, trying to find some sort of sky in all the blackness.

I wonder if Winry's all right. He thought to himself.

Suddenly, he heard a familiar clink.

He stopped in his tracks, looked forward and squinted his eyes.

"Al?"

Dark and Tamaki stopped in their tracks behind him.

"Edward? What's the matter?"

"Didn't you two hear it?"

Ed listened for the sound again. He heard another clink, this time louder.

Soon, those clinks turned into clanking footsteps, getting louder and louder.

Ed smiled and ran towards the footsteps.

"AL!"

As he ran, Tamaki and Dark ran after him.

"Edward, WAIT!"

Edward heard the clanking footsteps get faster, heading towards him.

"AL! Thank goodness you're safe-"

Ed stopped dead in his tracks. Barry the Chopper had his axe right above his head.

"Well, if it isn't the Fullmetal Alchemist? Finally! Something to CHOP in this god-awful place!"

He swung the axe down.

Ed dodged the attack, just as a boy with orange hair knocked Barry to the ground.

"GOD- DAMN IT! WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU? WE FINALLY FIND OTHER PEOPLE, AND ALL YOU WANT TO DO IS CHOP THEM TO PIECES!"

Behind the angry orange- haired boy was a boy with black hair wearing a suit.

"Honestly, you two are the dumbest people I've ever met."

Ed was freaked out. All three of them had the same voice, just like he had with Dark and Tamaki.

He got up and pointed to the new trio.

"Okay, who the hell are you?"

All three of them looked at Ed. Barry got up and said,

"Of course you know me, Fullmetal. I'm Barry the Chopper, the one who almost succeeded in chopping up you and your little girlfriend."

"Kyo Sohma. If you know a way out, please tell me so I can get the hell away from this psycho."

"Jimmy Kudo, detective. I agree with Kyo on that point."

Ed, Dark and Tamaki all nervously laughed.

"Actually, we have no idea how to get out of this damn place. We were hoping you knew that…"

The Barry trio stared down at the Ed trio with fiery glares.

Kyo was the first one to yell.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DON'T KNOW? SO WE'VE BEEN WANDERING AROUND THIS PLACE FOR NOTHING?"

"GAH! NOW I'LL NEVER BE ABLE TO CHOP UP BEAUTIFUL WOMEN AGAIN!"

"Great, now we have no chance of being saved."

Kyo pointed to Ed.

"How the hell did you think WE would know the way out?"

Ed yelled back.

"WHAT? We only just met! Why would you immediately assume we knew the way out?"

"It's no use, you both are total idiots."

Ed and Kyo both felt shivers go down their spines. They both knew that voice.

They turned to the source of the voice. A little boy with brown hair stood with a frown on his face.

"You both think you're so smart, but in reality, you can't even find you're way out of this dump. How pathetic."

Ed stared at the boy, then he saw the glint of metal come from behind him.

"Brother!"

Ed smiled and ran towards Al.

"Al! I thought you were lost! I spent hours looking for you-"

Ed was interrupted when he fell flat on his face. The boy had tripped him.

"BROTHER!"

Al came down and helped Ed up. He looked to the boy.

"Come on, Hiro. That was cruel. He's my brother."

Hiro scoffed.

"I wouldn't care if he was your grandma. It's his own fault, running into me like that, threatening to knock me down."

Ed couldn't believe it. How could such a mean boy have Al's voice?

Al looked back down at Ed.

"Brother, I so glad your okay. I'm sorry I had to leave you like that."

Ed sighed.

"It's okay, Al. It wasn't your fault. I'm just glad I didn't have to get you this time."

Al laughed a little. He looked up and saw the others.

"So, I see you've made friends."

"Looks like you have, too. Though Al, I have to admit, you pick better strays than friends sometimes."

Hiro scowled at them both. Suddenly, Ed noticed another figure behind Al. He had blond hair and blood red eyes. Al noticed Ed staring at the boy and said,

"Oh, I guess I have to make some introductions. That boy over there is Hiro Sohma."

He pointed to Hiro.

"And this is Ion Fortuna."

Ion smiled and gave a little wave.

Ed smiled back. At least this boy seemed nice.

Al suddenly whispered to him.

"Brother, I know this sounds weird, but they both have my voice. I don't know why, but after I woke up, we found each other, and decided to go searching for you. Well, I wanted to search for you. They wanted to find some girls they knew… Kisa and Esther, I think."

Ed stifled a laugh.

"Trust me, Al. It's not as crazy as you think. Dark and Tamaki over there have the same voice as me, and those three over there all have the same voice."

"But Ed, what could this mean?"

"I don't know, Al, but all I do know is that we have to find a way out of here soon before we all go crazy."

"There's also something else I've noticed, brother. These people look completely different from any person we'd see. Some of them have big heads and eyes, and some of them have weird hair. How is this possible?"

"Dark concluded that we were from different worlds, and I think that's the case for all of us. There is the possibility that more than one world exists. But still, this whole thing is mind blowing. These people seem to come from different times, and they talk about places I've never even heard about. And what's more, they came here the same way, being swallowed up by darkness. There's no way this can be a hallucination. There's something going on between all of this."

Ed soon noticed that Tamaki was behind him. He was staring up at Al with huge eyes. He soon smiled and said,

"Ah! So you must be Edward's older brother!"

Before Al could say anything, Ed was already crumpled to a heap on the floor. Tamaki looked down at Ed and got the message at once.

"Oh! I'm sorry! I meant, so you're Edward's younger brother, right?"

"Smooth." Hiro chided.

Suddenly, they all heard footsteps around them. They seemed to be gathering closer and closer towards the nine of them. Tamaki looked around and said,

"I say. Is this some sort of cosplay convention?"