ch.4

The Real World

Ed and Al had been living in this new world for seven years now. At first they had been living in Germany trying to help as many people as they could. The brothers found that they had never fit in anywhere. They were too different from this world and moved from place to place. Right now, they were living in America. Ed had just rented an apartment. The time was 8 AM and the Elrics were eating breakfast at the table.

"What's for breakfast, brother?", Al asked eagerly.

"Not much", Ed responded. "I made some eggs and french toast."

They had both been eating for a while and Al thought this would be a good time to reveal his discovery. He had been searching for a way back home ever since they arrived in America. Through his research he began to look into the supernatural. There had been several myths about a creature named the djinn. He hoped that these creatures were real and that they could grant his wish to get them back home.

"Ed?"

"What is it Al?"

"I've been doing some research and I think that I may have found a way back home."

"There is no way back home. Once the gate was sealed, that was it."

"Anyways, I've been looking into the supernatural. There are myths about a creature called a genie, or a djinn. They have the ability to grant three wishes. I was hoping that we could investigate and see if they were real or not."

Ed slammed his fist on the table. "Why can't you ever leave this stuff alone? Can't you just be content that we're stuck in this world now? It's been seven years and there's no way we can get home. Besides, if these things are real, you don't know if you can trust them."

"I know", Al answered. "I just thought that we should look into it. Don't you miss anyone back home? Don't you at least miss Winry?"

Al saw his brother blush at her name.

"Of course I do. Not a day goes by where I don't think of her or any of our friends. I just thought it would be best if we just enjoyed living in this world. There's no chance of us getting back home. I just don't want to get my hopes up."

"There's a warehouse close to this apartment. I thought I could look into it. I've heard rumors about djinn living in buildings like that."

"Don't look into it. You don't know what you'll find there."

"I have to try and get back home. This is no different than trying to get our bodies back to normal."

"That was completely different."

"No it wasn't. That task was just as impossible and we pulled it off."

"Whatever you say. Well, I'd better head off to work."

"You got a job?"

"Working at a restaurant."
"Well, good luck brother."

"Thanks Al." His brother got up and looked at him. "Don't go looking into that stuff."

His brother left and Al was now by himself. He was also looking for a job, but couldn't find one yet. He was going to find if the djinn was real whether Ed liked it or not. Al glanced at his watch and saw that a half hour had passed. He ran downstairs and began walking to the warehouse where he thought the djinn might be.

He went to the warehouse and walked inside. The hair on his arms instantly shot up from the cold breeze that swept throughout the building. The smell got worse and worse as he walked down the hall way. He got to the end of the hall way and slammed into someone. He looked at the person who he had bumped into.

The person had shaggy brown hair that covered his ears. They were also extremely tall. A few years ago Ed would have been extremely jealous. His eyes soon glanced at a knife that the person was holding in their right hand.

"What are you doing here", the guy asked.

"I'm looking for a djinn. I'm trying to get back home. I came here because I heard they grant wishes."

"If you're looking for a wish, then you've come to the wrong place. You're more likely to end up dead." The person looked around and stared down the other hall way. He then turned back to face Al. "Stay back. I can take care of him."

The person charged the creature, which Al assumed was the djinn.

They both got into a huge fight. The djinn threw a punch at the person and he blocked it, and threw his knife at him. They dodged the knife and punched him in the stomach, sending the person flying down the hall way. Al was about to go help them when he felt someone grabbing him from behind.

No matter how hard he tried to move, the thing behind him wouldn't let go. Using his peripheral vision he saw that the person behind him was just like the djinn who the other person was fighting. A hand soon appeared in front of his face. He watched as the hand suddenly turned blue. Within a few minutes of struggling, Al began to close his eyes and passed out.

Al began to wake up after what felt like an eternity. He woke up in a bed and began to look around. He was at his home in Resembool. Cool water began to drip down his forehead. Al looked for the source and found a washcloth placed there. As he sat up he grabbed the washcloth and placed it on a table.

"How did I get back here? Did my wish get granted?"

He walked out into the room and saw his brother, Ed. He also saw Winry and his Mom at the table. Ed was only ten years old as was Winry. He looked at his own body and noticed that he was shorter as well. Ed and Winry were fighting over a piece of left over pie on the table. His mother smiled at him.

"Alphonse, why don't you take a seat at the table?" Al slowly walked over to the table and sat down. "Are you feeling better? You had a really bad headache."

"I'm doing all right", he lied. He had no idea what was going on. This wasn't what his wish was supposed to be like. He began to remember that the person in the hall way told him that the djinn were evil creatures. Even though this wasn't his wish, this didn't feel very evil to him.

His brother began talking to him. "We were all going to go for a walk after this. Would you like to come Al?"

"Sure. I would love to."

After eating, the three of them went on a walk through the hills. They had been lying on the grass looking up at the sky.

"Brother, can I ask you something?"

"Sure, what is it?"

"What's going on? Is this some kind of dream?"

"This is no dream. This is what we are always like. You must have had a pretty big headache. How about I give you another one? Would you like to fight?"

"You're not going to beat me this time."

"What is it with boys always fighting?", Winry complained.

Ed and Al got up and began sparring. He began to remember what it was like fighting his brother back then. He was always better than he was. Ed was faster and stronger; at least until he was put in that suit of armor.

His brother began coming at him with punches at kicks. Al had a hard time blocking them, let alone throwing a counter attack. Ed threw a kick and he finally pushed it aside. He saw an opening and threw his fist into his brother's stomach. His brother was caught by surprise, but quickly recovered. A fist then came flying into his nose and blood spurted out from it. He covered it and sat down.

"Mom's not going to like this", Ed said.

"I certainly don't like this brother."

As he covered his hands over his nose he noticed someone standing further down the hill from him. The person almost looked like a ghost. He then recognized that it was the same person who he saw earlier in the warehouse. Al ran to him as fast as he could and caught up with him. The person put his hand out and Al grabbed it.

The world suddenly shifted and changed to something completely different. He looked down at his hands and noticed that the blood was gone. His height had returned to normal as well. He then glanced around at the new world before him.

It looked like he as at a school. Several people had backpacks on. There were several buildings around him. He glanced at the person next to him and noticed that it in fact was the person who was in the hallway.

"How did this happen?"

"I warned you about the djinn. They feed on our most hidden desire and make us believe that we are living it. Whatever you saw back in your world, wasn't the real thing. That world was a make believe one, created by the creature that you were trying to ask for help."

"I had no idea. I'm sorry."

"Don't worry about it."

"So, how do we get out?"

"My brother was also trapped in one of these worlds. He got out by killing himself. I tried to do that as well, but it didn't work. I guess these creatures have made it more difficult to escape. I wanted to bring you back to ask for your help. The djinn are dangerous and I thought I could use an extra hand."

"I'll help you get out of here. What's your name?"

"My name is Sam Winchester. What's yours?"

"Alphonse Elric. Where exactly are we?"

"Stanford", Sam replied. There was a look of sadness in his eyes as he said the word. "We should get going if we want to get out of here."

"I'll be right behind you."

Ed was exhausted. He had been working as a waiter for about five hours now and the place was extremely packed. He hated this job, but he figured it would have to do until the brothers found some place else to live. Ed was heading to his last table and then he would finally be able to go on break. He glanced up from the menus and saw a guy and a girl sitting there.

His eyes were definitely playing tricks on him; he could swear that the person at the table was Winry. She turned and saw him. There was a long pause before anyone spoke. The other guy coughed and began speaking.

"Well, I'd hate to interrupt this staring contest, but could we get something to eat?"

"Edward? What are you doing here?!"

"Winry! How did you get back?"

"So, I take it you two guys know each other?"

"Edward is from my world", Winry said with a smile on her face.

"I see that you've been keeping up with the automail business." He glanced at the person's right arm and looked at the automail. He knew that they must have performed human transmutation. Ed decided that now wouldn't be a good time to talk about this. He knew that he had no right to look down upon them for doing that act, since he and his brother had done the exact same thing.

"Yeah", Winry said. "So, where is Al?"

"I'm not sure. He's probably at the apartment that we're staying at. I'll write the number for you."

He then passed the number to Winry. He then glanced at the guy sitting next to her. "So, what's your name?"

"Dean Winchester. Could we eat now?"

"Yes, of course. We should get together after my shift."

"Sounds good to me", Winry said excitedly.

Ed had now finished his shift and the three of them were walking back to his apartment.

"I just called Al. He wasn't at the apartment", Winry said.

"That's weird. I wonder where he could be?..."

"What is it?", Winry asked.

"He said that he was looking for a way back home. He mentioned trying to find some supernatural creature called a djinn. I bet that's where he is now."

"That can't be good", Dean said. "My brother Sam was at a warehouse doing some looking around. Djinn aren't too be trusted. No supernatural creature is."

"Al thought the djinn were good creatures who just granted wishes. He said he had done a lot of reading in mythology."

"The myths are usually a bunch of crap. People twist the lore around and make these creatures all nice and cuddly. There's no such thing as Casper the Friendly Ghost."

"There has to be something we can do", Winry said.

"We'll go looking for it", Dean responded. "Their weakness is silver dipped with lamb's blood. Once we find that, we can kill the evil son of a bitch."

"I'm coming to."

"Your brother was already kidnapped. Are you sure you want to come along?"

"He's my brother. Of course I'm going to help him."

"These are the other two brothers I mentioned. They used to get in all sorts of trouble when they looked for the Philosopher's stone", Winry pointed out.

"That thing exists?"

"Yeah. I guess that's another piece of mythology that was twisted around. The lore is a bunch of crap as well."

Al and Sam had been looking for a way out of the dream world for a long time now and had still found nothing. They were both sitting on a bench, trying to think about what there next move would be.

"Sam?"

"Yeah?"

"You said that your brother was coming right?"

"Not only my brother. There's a girl named Winry Rockbell with us."

"Winry? She has short blond hair, cute, and about average height?"

"Do you know her?", Sam asked curiously.

"Yeah. She's from our world. It's a long story, but we get trapped inside of this alternate dimension."

"Small world."

"What I don't understand, is why don't we just wait for them to help us? It doesn't seem like there's a way out of here."

"Because the longer we stay the more chance we have of dying. The djinn is probably feeding on us right now. They create our wishes so that they will be able to feed while we are distracted. We have to get of here as soon as possible."

"Well, I'm glad I didn't eat any lunch before this conversation."

Al saw Sam look around the campus. He had talked about leaving, but it almost looked like Sam wanted to stay. Just then, a beautiful girl with blond hair walked up to him.

"Hey Sam. How's it going?"

"Hey, Jess."

Jess and Sam kissed for a while. While Jess was flirting with Sam Al began to think of other ways to get out of here. He tried thinking about all of the mythology that he had read and finally came up with an idea. Jess asked Sam if he wanted to walk with her, but he passed on it. She smiled at him and she walked off in the direction she came.

"She seems nice."

"Yeah. Did you think of anything?"

"I just remembered watching the movie Aladdin. I remembered that the genie in the movie was bound to a lamp. Maybe there's a lamp in this dream world as well. If we can destroy it, then we can get out of here."

"Good idea."

Just then, they saw a girl with a backpack walking by. Inside of her backpack was a golden lamp sticking out. Sam and Al started walking towards her. She noticed them and began running through the campus. Sam and Al chased behind her. Al saw Sam run off in a different direction, probably trying to cut her off. He decided to stay behind and wait.

A few moments of running had passed and Sam came out of no where. He tackled the girl to the ground and the lamp skidded across the sidewalk. The girl kicked Sam and quickly got up. Al ran over to the lamp and began smashing it against the wall. It slowly began to break apart. He looked behind him and saw that Sam and the girl where still fighting. The lamp had now broken and the girl began to grow tattoos all over her body.

"I guess you figured out my secret. Nice work. I never expected anyone to find out about the lamp."

"You shouldn't underestimate us", Sam replied. Why do you think so many monsters have been killed?"

The dream world began to disappear. Al woke up from the dream and found that he was being bound to a pole. He was exhausted and extremely hungry. He glanced over at Sam and found that he was in the same condition as he was. Al tried to free himself from the ropes, but to no avail. The djinn was right in front of Sam. She seemed to be exhausted as well.

"I see that people have come to rescue you. This was all planned. We wanted to avenge our kind from being killed by you Winchesters. We thought we could lure you here and lead you into a trap."

Al could hear several noises coming from the hall outside. The brawl sounded like it was getting pretty nasty. He suddenly saw a knife go through the djinn's stomach and she fell to the ground. Behind her was a guy. Soon, Ed and Winry both stood next to him. Al and Sam were soon freed from their bondage and were taken back to the apartment.

They were all standing in the main room, and no one was speaking. Ed finally broke the silence.

"So, is there actually a way to get back home?"

"There is an angel named Castiel. He brought me from our world to this one", Winry explained.

"Will he be able to bring us home as well?"

Dean was staring at the window and finally walked away from it. "Well, let's start praying." He closed his eyes and started speaking. "Hey Cas, we would like it if you would come over." Nothing had happened. "Hey Cas? Where are you?" Castiel still didn't show up.

"Maybe he's busy?", Sam suggested. "You probably got him hooked on Busty Asian Beauties."

"I guess we just have to wait."

"So, what do you we do know?", Al asked.

"We look for something to hunt. Winry mentioned that you guys like to get in trouble. Well, this is the perfect job for you. Welcome to hunting."