Start: Chapter Two

I.

After our initial conversation, Arthur didn't talk much. He just lay there on his bed, occasionally throwing up strange, unreal beings. He would stare at them, his mouth moving, but no sounds coming out. Every once in a while he would look over at me and make like he was going to talk, but then decide otherwise.

I wished he would. I had a lot of questions, but I wasn't sure how to talk to him. He was just so different in demeanor from Gilbert and Ludwig… And I had hardly any contact with other humans for four years.

Finally he propped himself up on a shoulder and looked fully at me. His green eyes were wide, full of questions and excitement, and I decided to judge him as younger than me. Though of course, you can never tell, as Gilbert could still get such a look and was my elder.

"So, Roderich… What's it like out there now? I've been here for years… Seen three birthdays in this room. How has it changed?"

I studied Arthur for a moment, turning over the questions in my head. I was astonished that he had been here for so long, and felt bad that I didn't have much to say. It wasn't as if I had paid attention to the world much. It wasn't like I had been just trying to get to the next day or anything.

"The lights are brighter and the world is grayer. The rich have bigger TVs and smaller music players. The noises are louder and the silences last longer. The people are more accepting, less accepting, genius, brainless. Some norms lay out houses for us, some scream for the creepers if they even suspect that someone is a muttie. It's not much different… But it's a world away from what it was."

There was silence for a little while, but it was less of one that spoke of not knowing what to say, but one that thought things through and took in new information. I could feel Arthur trying to make sense of my words, and I wondered why he I had said them.

The door opened and suddenly the room was full of magical creatures again. Glancing over at Arthur, I saw that he was on his feet and got up as well, raising up my hands and gathering power up from the depths of my mind.

From across the room, an angry voice called, "Put the damn fairies away Arthur, it's time for lunch. My God, you don't need to get all freaky every time, now do you? You know we have meals and someone has to open the damn door for you to go to them!"

Rolling his eyes, Arthur let the illusions slip. I lowered my hands and peered through my glasses at an irritable boy across the room, hands crossed over his chest, gold eyes narrowed. A creeper loomed over him.

"Oh, stop it Lovi, don't be so upset just because you are on meal duty. Means you get to say hi to all of our friends!"

Another boy walked into the doorway, bouncing on the balls of his feet and beaming a huge smile our way. "Come on Arthur it's time to… Oh, hello! Who are you?

All of a sudden he was in front of me, chocolate eyes boring into my violet ones, unnatural curl of hair that defied gravity – much like a cowlick that I had – bouncing from his quick flight. I flinched when he gave me a hug, not having ever really received one from anyone but my brothers. But I quickly calmed, a feeling of happiness entering me, and I had a sneaking suspicion that it was coming from this boy.

This was broken by a cloud of anger and the words of this 'Lovi' at the door. "Let go of my brother, crazy bastard!"

The hugger let go and turned around with a wail of, "Lovino, no one wants you making them angry! Quit being such a trickster! You interrupted my happiness!"

Looking towards Arthur, he quickly moved towards me and whispered into my ear. "Lovino and Feliciano. They control the emotions of anger and happiness. Don't mind them, they are just here to bring us to lunch."

He gestured toward the door and forward I walked, wondering what I would find on the other side of it.

II.

Despite wanting so much to help, Alfred seemed to be very easily distracted. He asked for food constantly, stressing particularly that he wanted a hamburger. He was also quite clear on the fact that he was "the hero," despite not being the oldest in the room, and all of his plans being entirely unfeasible.

But he did have one talent that Gilbert was grateful for. The ability to talk. With him filling the silence, it was easier not to remember and Gilbert found himself speaking more and more. And once he even caught Ludwig laughing, not loudly, but enough. When asked about it, Ludwig told him that it was just that Alfred reminded him a lot of a younger Gilbert.

Thinking about it, Ludwig just added the word younger to be nice. Gilbert still acted in such a way, most of the time. Just not now. Not when there were more important things to be considered. He at least knew when to be serious.

"How about we build a giant robot, and tell it to smash the building to rubble. But just before it does, I'll fly through and bring everyone out!"

He stared at Alfred for a moment, trying to figure out how this was different from any of the past twenty plans he had gone over. "And how would you get people out?"

He grinned. "There is someone I know who controls gravity. Everyone would levitate!" Gilbert watched his face fall. "Wait… He only controls the gravity around himself."

Deciding to ignore Alfred for a little while, Gilbert leaned back and started to play with the fire. Snap, watch it glow, douse it. Snap, feed it a bit, curl it around a finger douse it. He never was burned by fire. It was like a part of him.

"It's like a little heartbeat. A rhythm. Pulsing. Just add some melody to the background and it is a song."

Gilbert sat up straight, looking around frantically for the source of the voice. He hardly noticed Alfred and Ludwig staring at him, Ludwig's blue eyes worried. But he knew he had heard it. Roderich's voice.

"Start on middle C, I should think. Make that 'Do'. And go into some triads. Just a simple melody. Make your fire come alive."

The words were familiar. And thinking back, they were something that Roderich had said. Years ago. Just a few days after they had left home.

"Gilbert… I feel like we are being followed. If ever we lose sight of one another, I want you to know that I believe in you. I know that you will try to find me. And I will look for you."

"Just listen for the music. Triads. Do Mi Sol Mi Do. Listen, and you'll know how to help."

"But music needs rhythm, brother. Music needs… A heartbeat."

Gilbert was on his feet in a heartbeat. "Alfred, we need to get close to this place. Can you get us there without being caught?"

Nodding slowly, the boy levitated slightly, cleaning his glasses on his shirt. "Yes. But why? We don't have a plan."

"And we won't think of one at this rate. I'm needed there."

Ludwig stepped over to Gilbert before he could rush out the door, gripping his wrist and holding his brother back with his unnatural strength. "What do you mean Gilbert? Don't go rushing into things without telling me."

Gilbert looked at Ludwig and ruffled his blonde hair affectionately, like he had when the boy was six. "Music needs a heartbeat, Ludwig. I happen to know the precise rhythm that a certain violet-eyed 'aristocrat' likes to build his notes around."

III.

The sound of high-heeled shoes taking steps across the floor echoed through the hallway. Turning a corner, the brown-haired woman walked up to a door and pressed a thin finger against a pad there. She stepped back and allowed the door open before entering.

She approached a glass screen and pulled a microphone up to her face. Peering through the window, her dark green eyes searched out a small figure crouched in the shadows. A thin smile turned up her lips, giving her an almost wolf-like appearance.

"I have come to visit you, my child," she crooned in a voice sickly sweet with false affection. "Would you do something for your mother, dearest? Will you help me with something?"

A thin face turned toward the screen, belonging to a small, brunette boy about eighteen. He was blindfolded, fabric wrapped tightly around his eyes and tied in the back, and his hands were chained against the wall. A sort of small frown appeared on his face.

"You are not my mother," he said softly. "I saw her die. You are merely an intruder in the body she used to occupy. Don't lie to me. You can't lie to me."

The smile vanished on the lady's face, anger instead appearing. "Listen brat. I'm just trying to survive, like every one of us out in this pathetic place we call Earth. I can help you. I can get you out of here. I can change how the world sees your kind… Our kind. But I need your help. And I will get it whether you cooperate or not."

The boy turned his head away. "What do you need me to dream of this time?"

A look of relief briefly flitted across the woman's face. "The fire boy. And Alfred, if you find them together. We need them both here."

"Perhaps I will not have to dream then," came the nearly whispered answer. "You have had me watch Gilbert – that is his name – so much. Now that Roderich is here, he will not be far behind. It is merely a matter of finding where he hides."

Leaning forward, the woman's very existence spoke of eagerness. "Dreamer, can you find where he will be? If we get this boy, then there is only one other Elementalist in the States. We will be so close."

"I can find him."

The woman let her excitement fade into quiet professionalism. "Thank you, Dreamer. I will not forget this." She turned to leave.

Hearing her footsteps receding, the boy turned back to the direction of the window, despite not being able to see. "Parazita," he said, voice raised slightly.

The steady clicking of the shoes stopped and the woman turned back, a stricken look of fear on her face. "Yes Dreamer?" she said softly.

"Let us be done with the lies. You are not my mother, and you have never been her. So, you may call me by my real name."

Sighing, she returned to the microphone so that he could better hear her. "I suppose, considering who you are, I could agree to do such a thing. What is your name?"

"Understand that by me knowing your name and you knowing mine, an alliance has been formed. I can do more than merely see things in dreams. If you do not live up to what I ask, even if I am trapped here, you will be plauged by things you have only seen..." His lips turned up slightly, "In dreams."

Bowing her head slightly, Parazita considered this. "You know my name. I feel it only fair that I know yours. "

Smiling, the boy nodded. "Very well then. I am Heracles."

End: Chapter Two

Author's Note: I'm so sorry it's been so long! School... I apologize! Just know that come summer, updates will be must faster.

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