Chizi: So, we're back, finally.

Zilo: Sorry for the wait, everyone!

Chizi: Many thanks to Azelf, Zorva, Furorensu-Chan, Pumpkin2Face, Yibbs, The Dark Vampire Princess, Koinu-chan, Hell-bound-Bitch-Triss L Oddy, peppaminty, Spycier and Aro the Evil Demon, chibimillo, darkshadowgirl, cwizumi, and KingofHeartless for reviewing and for your patience.

Zilo: And now...chapter time!

6: Truce Or Truth?
In which there is a lot of talking

"…And that's how you four got here," I finished, my arms crossed.

Nothing but silence greeted the end of my condensed explanation. I'd kept it short and sweet, only using the good old "advanced piece of technology" explanation, and that Ricky (and Cassie) had used it to summon everyone and that they were, quote, "as far away from where you belong as you can get" without saying the names of any actual places. Somehow, I'd managed to stay calm, despite the fact that Lust still held me at nailpoint. I'd even managed to inch towards the kitchen, and now I was oh-so-calmly clearing away what was supposed to be dinner.

Ricky and Cassie were both being safely guarded by Al, who hovered over them protectively at the living room entrance. Ed stood in front of all three of them, halfway between them and Lust, arms crossed, looking like an impassable wall of short scowliness. According to my wristwatch, it was almost 11:00. Envy was quiet in the guest bathroom, though I honestly hadn't heard a peep out of there this entire time.

No one else seemed willing to say anything, "So," I went on, "now we've got to figure out a way to send you all back, and you guys running around destroying sh—uh, things, and stabbing us, doesn't really help."

"And why should I believe what you're saying?" Lust asked me, finally breaking everyone else's silence.

"Why the hell—heck—would I make up something so God-stupid and weird?" was my answer.

Lust considered this. "All right, let's say I accept your version of events. Just how are you going to send us back?"

"Well, that's what we were working on when you showed up and started breaking stuff," I shot back. Yes, I was confident enough to speak in such a tone to Lust the Homunculus with Nails of Death. I don't know how.

Lust raised a brow. I swallowed, remembering the situation I was in, and reminding myself not to smart off at her. I glanced quickly at Ed, but amazingly, he nodded slightly at me, as if to encourage me to go on. Seriously? When one wrong move equaled One-Eyed Joey?

"All right then. What's your next move?" Lust challenged me.

"Me? Well, my next move is to somehow get you to put your hand down," I replied honestly, putting the plates in one nice stack.

I thought I saw the corner of Lust's mouth twitch, but I wasn't sure. Thankfully, she withdrew her nail and let her hand fall. I let out a huge sigh of relief, and I thought I heard Ricky do the same.

This was progress. Progress was good. But I had to stay on top of things. "Thanks. Now, look, I'm not expecting you all to set your differences aside and become bosom buddies or anything. All I want is for you all to not kill each other until we get you home. Can we agree on that?"

I looked expectantly from Ed to Lust and back. Ed had a scowl on his face now. Lust had a hand on her hip.

"Please, guys. As crazy as it sounds, we all need to work together to set things right. You guys can see that, right?" I tried.

Al, I wasn't worried about too much. He had a more reasonable head on his shoulders, er, no pun intended. I just hoped I could get Ed and Lust, and then maybe—maybe—Ed and Envy, to call a truce for now.

"You're right," Al was the first to say, like I knew he would.

"There's no way it's gonna work," Ed argued.

"Well, that's the way it has to be. We can't do this with everyone plotting murder. Especially not in my house," I replied as I pulled some plastic containers out of the cupboard.

"And what makes you so sure this will work?" Lust asked me.

"I'm not sure, but a temporary truce is better than a small war. If there's any solution to find, we'll find it faster on agreeable terms," I said.

"And what's to stop me from killing all of you, and finding my own way back?" said Lust.

I swallowed, but stood my ground. "Go right ahead and see how well that works. Trust me, you won't get far."

"Oh, really?" Lust said.

"Yeah, really," I shot back, sensing she didn't believe me.

Lust considered me again. I stared back at her, willing my face to be confident and strong and not all weak and freaked out. I heard a noisy yawn behind me, and turned to see Cassie leaning against Ricky and rubbing her eyes. Oh, right. It was really late.

"Okay, um…look. Can we all agree on a temporary cease-fire at least for tonight? Tomorrow morning we can hash this out a little more thoroughly," I tried next.

Ed and Lust eyed each other. "I might be willing to agree," Lust finally said, "if you tell me what you did with Envy."

"Envy. Right. Oh, damn. Dang, I mean." I turned to Ricky. "Will you get Cassie ready for bed? And, like, go fix yourself up and crash?"

"I'm not sleepy," Cassie insisted sleepily.

"Sure," Ricky said to me uncertainly, reaching down with his good hand and taking hers. He looked like some sort of disaster survivor, with bloodstains on his left sleeve and arm, but maybe the wound hadn't been as bad as we'd thought before. "You'll be okay?"

"Yep," I assured him. I wasn't entirely certain, but I had the feeling I'd be able to negotiate everyone into this truce I was proposing. At least I hoped so.

Ricky looked around at everyone again. Cassie's head was already sinking and bobbing, like a bobblehead. He edged away, and it didn't seem like Lust intended to stop him.

"Come on, guys, I'll show you Envy," I said, pulling her attention towards me in case she changed her mind. On impulse, I threw a piece of now-cold sautéed chicken onto a plate. I don't know why I thought about feeding Envy, but I did. I guess it's just my general awesomeness. That done, I waved for them to follow me as I headed for the guest bathroom.

"Um…" I heard Ricky say. I looked over at him, and realized he was looking up at what used to be our stairs, which was now a slide that ended in a platform just below his neck.

"Oh, for heaven's—would you mind fixing that?" I sort-of snapped at Ed.

Ed gave me a look, but he walked over, clapping his hands together on the way. He reached up and touched the platform, and in a wash of blue light, we had our staircase back. I made shooing motions at Ricky, and he rolled his eyes back and started up the stairs, guiding our half-asleep sister.

"What's the food for?" Al asked me when I came back over.

"Oh, right, you don't know. Well, when Envy got transported here, he was kind of, um, different," I hedged as I went to the bathroom door.

"Different how?" Lust wanted to know.

"Well, I dunno, powerless and shi—iiiiistuff," I said, my mouth automatically scrambling to fix up the swear, even though Cassie wasn't around.

"Powerless?" Ed repeated.

"Yeah." I unlocked the bathroom door, pulled it open, and turned on the light. "Try anything and your ass is grass," I announced inside before I stuck my head in.

Envy was still in the tub, still nice and wrapped up like a duct tape mummy. He glared at me, then blinked in surprise. I felt the presence of three other people looking around my shoulders and over my head to see in the room.

"What in the world?" Al said in wonder.

I heard a series of snorts and snickers from Ed, like he was trying to cover up a laugh.

"Envy, how did you get in this mess," Lust said, sounding almost exasperated.

"Me? This isn't my fault. Now get me out of here already," Envy griped at her.

"Nice look you got going there," Ed smirked, still holding back laughter.

"You'd better watch it, pipsqueak," Envy snarled.

"Don't call me small, you—"

"Want some chicken?" I interrupted, waving the place in Envy's direction.

"I'd rather die," was Envy's response.

"Oh, I see how it is, you ungrateful rapscallion," I said. I can't tell you what it was, but something about the general mood—Lust acting like a weary mom, Ed taking digs at Envy, Envy unable to murder me in retaliation—made me want to joke.

"How did Envy lose his powers?" Al, the only one still being serious, wanted to know.

"Actually, I don't know. Ricky summoned him, so Ricky is who might be able to tell you," I replied, pulling off a piece of the chicken and eating it. Maybe I'd make Envy want it if I started nibbling at it.

"How did this happen?" Lust murmured, sounding like she was talking to herself.

"Okay, here." I went over to the edge of the tub and set the plate of chicken down on it. Envy glared at me. "Hey, I'm being nice enough to feed you, dude," I retorted as I backed out of the bathroom.

I closed and locked the door and then turned around to face the Elrics and Lust. "Okay, so there was Envy. Can we have peace tonight now?" I asked Lust.

Lust glanced at me, but she seemed to be lost in thought. "Fine," she finally said, turning away and looking around for something.

I breathed a sigh of relief. One hurdle down, for now anyway.

The next step was to settle everything down for the night. I pulled our air mattress out of the closet for Ed and went about finding sufficient pillows and blankets. Lust wanted nothing except a chair to sit in, so I rolled the office chair over for her, and she took it and planted herself next to the bathroom door, like she planned to guard Envy.

Ed and Al were nice enough to alchemically fix everything that had gotten busted up in the last brawl of the day. Ricky eventually came downstairs in a fresh shirt, his injury bandaged up, and helped us clean up.

I was working mostly on autopilot, trying to make sure everything was just right. I didn't realize how sleepy I was until Ricky stopped me from putting the plates in the fridge. "Joey, maybe you should go on to bed," he said to me.

I checked my watch, and was sleepily surprised to find that it was almost 2 in the morning. "Oh, wow, it's really late," I said, smothering a sudden yawn.

"Go ahead and get some rest; we've got it under control," Ed told me.

"Mmm," I sort-of agreed. I glanced at my brother, and then at the Elrics. "You sure you've got it over control?"

"I think you mean under control," Ricky corrected me.

"We'll be fine, honest," Al assured me.

"Well…okay. G'night." I managed to make my way up the stairs, hearing Ricky call goodnight after me. When I reached the top, I poked my head into Cassie's room. Ricky seemed to have successfully put her to bed, and she was sleeping soundly in the darkness. I made my way to my room, pushed my door shut behind me, and threw myself facedown on my bed.

It was hard to believe we'd actually made it through today. What was even harder to believe that any of today's events had actually happened. Would I wake up tomorrow and find out it had all been a really vivid dream? Part of me hoped so. I wasn't the kind of girl who wanted to be thrown headlong into potentially dangerous situations, anyway.

Sleep time, I commanded my brain. I didn't want to think about things anymore. I wanted sleep. A few moments later, I got my wish.

When I peeled my eyes open, it was still dark, but not quite as dark as before. My body felt stiff, and my knees hurt a little from having my legs dangling half off the side of the bed. I flipped over, then sat up, realized that a call to nature had been what had woken me up.

I pulled myself out of bed, adjusting my clothes—then grimacing as I realized I'd slept in them—and left my room. Everything in the house was dark and quiet. What a relief.

Or was that how it was supposed to be? Maybe it had all been a dream.

I peeked into Ricky's and Cassie's rooms on the way to the can. Both were peacefully asleep under the covers. Afterwards, I was heading back to my room when I realized I was thirsty. I padded downstairs and into the kitchen. Without having to see, I could navigate our kitchen and get myself a glass, then get some water from the dispenser built into the fridge.

When I had finished the water, I put the glass in the sink, then headed back towards the stairs. I had my foot on the bottom step when I paused, my eyes drifting towards the living room. Was it a dream or not? I thought. Let's find out for sure.

I changed direction and went into the living room. Once I was there, the weak light and my adjusting eyes combined so that I could see outlines well enough. And sure thing, there was a light-colored head sleeping under a dark blanket on the air mattress, which was spread out behind the couch.

So it WAS real, I thought.

There was a noise. "Joey?" a quiet voice asked.

I jumped, startled, and turned back towards the entrance. Al was sitting in the corner. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," he said.

"Oh, no, it's no problem," I replied, keeping my voice low so I wouldn't wake Ed up.

"Is everything okay?" Al asked me.

"Yeah, everything's cool. I was just…well, honestly, I was checking to see if I dreamed all of yesterday," I said honestly.

Al laughed once. "I guess it all is pretty amazing," he said.

"You're telling me," I said, a laugh also in my voice.

Our laughs died off, but there was still a comfortable silence between us. I was glad that Al was here; he was nice and he could kick ass.

"So," Al finally said, "do you think anyone else we know will show up here?"

"I hope not. I think we've got enough going on as it is," I said vehemently, sitting down cross-legged next to him.

"Yeah," Al agreed.

We were silent a little longer. "You think you'll be able to figure everything out soon?" Al asked next.

"I want to. I hope so. I know you guys probably want to go home and all. We'll try hard, honest," I told him.

"I know you will," Al said, sounding as thought he had faith in me. "But I do think we could probably help you guys. Brother's really smart, and not to brag, but I am too. Even if it's unfamiliar technology that caused all this, we could probably still offer some advice."

I bit my lip. He was probably right. "Yeah. I'm just worried about what the whole truth might do to you guys. It's kind of…well, it's kind of earth-shattering-ish, I guess."

"Is it really that bad?" Al asked, his voice quieter.

"Yeah. When—if—when—whatever, if and/or when you find out, it'll probably change things for you. A lot," I said.

Al was quiet for a while. I shifted a little next to him.

"I think we would rather know, than be in the dark," Al finally said. "Ignorance can cause so many problems for a person. And, if the situation were reversed, wouldn't you want to know?"

That was just it. I would. I knew I would. I felt bad for doing this to them. "I'm sorry," I said. "Look, let's get it all out tomorrow over breakfast. Sound good?"

"Sure," Al said with a slight nod.

I looked over at him and smiled, then frowned as something caught my attention behind him. Well, to be more accurate, the lack of something caught my attention. I stood up, realizing that the chair was empty, and the door was open.

"Al?" There was a hint of fear in my voice.

"What?" Al asked, catching on.

"Where's Lust?"

Zilo: Really? Another cliffhanger?

Chizi: Ah, shut it, cliffy queen!

Zilo: Not me, not me!

Chizi: True and you know it!

Zilo: ANYways, see you all next time!