The first thing Alfred felt was the wind. He grunted, frowned, eyes still closed, and when they opened tiredly they immediately had to shut again. The light was almost blinding; it took him a few seconds to realise it was the sun.

With a slight squint this time, he found himself staring up at trees and birds and a very blue sky. He was outside. Why? Alfred had no idea.

More than a little confused, Alfred climbed to unsteady feet and gave his surroundings a quick look. He was in some kind of forest, trees visible wherever he turned. Grass and flowers were beneath his feet, a huge, glittering lake was in the distance and the calls of birds could be heard overhead. The area was beautiful and green, but that didn't matter to Alfred.

He had just woken up in an unfamiliar forest—there was also the small fact that he was still in his pyjamas. How had he ended up here? Besides a drunken night out or a camping trip gone wrong, he really couldn't think of a good explanation for the change in scenery. The last thing he could remember was... was...

He sighed. Alfred could remember getting up earlier that morning and opening the door to see his brother, but the rest was blurry at best. What happened? How had he gone from his flat to being unconscious in some weird forest?

Well, there was no point in just standing there. He might as well look around.

When Kiku walked in on the empty room, his mind went through a variety of emotions with the most prominent being confusion. A quick search of the flat only puzzled him further. Alfred and Matthew were gone; he hadn't seen them leave, hadn't heard the front door open and the game was still playing. Where they could have disappeared to was a complete mystery to Kiku, though the fact they couldn't be bothered to tell him they were leaving was a little annoying.

He put the tub of ice cream on the computer's table and sighed. The game must have been going through a cutscene or something since the character on screen was moving on its own.

Wow, Kiku thought, squinting at the monitor, he looks a lot like Alfred-san. He even has the ahoge...

From what he could tell amongst the jumble of pixels that formed scenery, the man was wandering aimlessly around a forest. That was all that happened for the next few seconds, Kiku watching curiously until...

"Hey, Mattie? Kiku? You guys here? C'mon, answer me!"

Kiku jumped back in absolute shock, and he gaped at the screen with wide eyes. A text box had appeared with these words typed inside, but that wasn't the problem here. All too clearly, Alfred's voice had emitted from the computer as if he were standing right there.

"What..?" Kiku voice was quiet, realisation dawning. "N-no, that's not... that's not possible..."

He couldn't just wait around for a sane explanation, however; he needed to make sure himself. It was probably a joke, anyway. Alfred was just pulling a prank on him and somehow got Matthew in on it. Kiku would go around thinking his friend was actually in a video game, and then Alfred would jump out and laugh at how Kiku had fallen for it so easily. That was it. That had to be it.

Even so, Kiku stepped forward. He made sure his voice was clear and audible as he called out, "Alfred-san?"

Alfred froze. A little stunned, he spun around and felt a twinge of disappointment when he saw no one standing by the trees. He definitely definitely heard Kiku's voice just then. The sound had reverberated around him in such a real way that it was impossible he imagined it.

But he couldn't see Kiku anywhere. Wherever he was, it wasn't here. Hell, the voice could have come from above him for all he knew.

"K-Kiku?" Alfred turned around again hopefully. "Where are you?"

All was silent for a moment, and then, somehow more resigned—"Alfred-san..."

"Dude, seriously, " Alfred said, now scowling, "you're kind of freaking me out here. Where. Are. You."

"I'm freaking you out?" Alfred heard what could have been a sigh before Kiku continued. "I... I'm still in the apartment, Alfred-san."

"Huh? Really? Then how come I can hear you? Where am I?"

"I-I really don't know, but... This isn't some kind of joke, is it?"

"How can it be a joke if I don't even know what's going on? Okay, look, I promise I'm not pranking you or whatever, so can you please tell me where I am?"

"Oh." That was it. That was all Kiku said in reply. This pretty much confirmed what Alfred already knew: he was in trouble.

"Alfred-san," Kiku eventually said, "please don't panic. I'm sure there is a logical explanation for this and also a way to get you out of there..."

Alfred frowned. "Um, what?"

"You see," Kiku's tone was hesitant, "this is probably very, very hard to believe, but I think you are actually inside Forgotten Shadows. You are inside the video game right now, Alfred-san."

...

"Um, what?"

"Alfred-san, there is probably a way to get you out of there," Kiku said quickly, "so don't panic. Everything's fine; don't worry. I-I'll call the police or the fire department or a programmer or something, so..."

But Alfred wasn't listening anymore. He stumbled forward, giving the area a wide eyes stare, and he put a hand against one of the trees to steady himself.

"A-Alfred-san?!"

"Right," Alfred said suddenly, his tone unreadable. "Right. So what you're saying is that this, all this," he gestured to the nature around him, "is a video game. I am literally inside a video game right now. That's what you're saying."

"Yes, that's right."

Alfred could only stare. This was all impossible, something that would only happen in an anime or a bad fanfic or, well, a video game. The whole situation was confusing, strange and, as said before, impossible. Very impossible.

And yet, despite it all, Alfred grinned.

"Oh my God," he said, "I am actually inside a freaking video game! Seriously, this is awesome! I'm gonna get to fight monsters and save people and all that! I'm living the dream right now, Kiku, I'm living the dream!"

"...Alfred-san, please don't joke around. This is a very serious situation!"

"Believe me, I'm not joking!" This was, in all honesty, the most amazing to ever happen to Alfred. He couldn't even begin to imagine the possibilities, and...

"Wait." Alfred blinked. "Hey, where's Mattie? Is he with you?"

"O-oh." Kiku sounded nervous. "He... he isn't with you?"

Alfred gave one last glance around. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure he's not."

"He's definitely not here; I would have thought he was pulled in there too... Could the two of you have been separated?"

Now frowning, Alfred wondered where, exactly, his brother could have been. If he thought logically for a second he had to admit his knowledge of the land was almost non-existent. Matthew could have been anywhere in the whole world of Forgotten Shadows, and he had no idea where to even begin searching.

"Well," Alfred said, smiling again, "I guess I better start looking!"

—Chapter end.

Yay, an update! ^0^ And Happy New Year, everyone! X3

I'm glad that people seem to like this so far; the plot should probably move forward a little more by next chapter :) I hope this chapter was okay ^^'

Well, please review and tell me what you think ^0^