Just a heads up, but this version of Across the Worlds is gonna be cross posted on AO3 and links to my Tumblr will be there as well. If you wanna look it up I'm nyacat39 over on Tumblr.

Chapter 1:

Blue eyes snapped open as the body they belonged to, shot up off the cold and dusty tiled floor into a seated position. Long blonde hair cascaded around the figure and a portion covered the left half of the person's face, yet the cobalt eyes darted around their surroundings and taking everything around them in. Despite the pounding in their head and the strange soreness of their muscles, the person… No, the teenaged boy forced himself to mentally map everything around him.

A window, big enough to crawl through to the right of me, about five paces away. Two beds, one turned over with rips and tears, the other has dried blood on it. Turned over one is close enough to touch while the other is about one and a half meters away. One door on the left, and a ransacked wardrobe on the other side… where the hell am I? The blonde teen thought to himself and brought a calloused hand up to his pounding head. The mouth on the palm twisted into a grimace, much like the one on his face as he tried to recall everything that happened before waking up.

I… was outside, yeah. That sounds right. My arms felt healed enough to do some missions properly again. What else though? Wait…

Trying to piece together memories through a pounding headache was hard enough for the blonde… but something finally clicked into place and shut down his original train of thought.

WHY THE HELL IS A HOSPITAL BED COVERED IN BLOOD?!

Scrambling up to his sandal clad feet, the blonde took better stock of the room he was in. Finally registering the dust that lightly coated most of the room, and the faint smell of decay coming from beyond the door. Then quickly, yet somehow still quiet enough to make no sound, and light enough to not disturb the dust… the boy moved to the door and carefully opened it.

The hospital itself was much like the room he awoke in, abandoned for sometime, yet even more long dried blood stains splattered across the walls and floor. Yet unlike the room… he saw body parts. Arms, legs and even a head in one instance. All scattered from what he could see and in varying states of decay.

The head however was what held the blonde's attention the most at the moment. For its rotting face, half lost to either time or some creatures stripping it of the flesh, sat frozen on what could only be assumed to be a nurses desk… with a last look of pain and horror in its features.

"I need to get out of here, hm…"

Picking up his pace, the blonde practically flew quickly yet quietly through the halls only stopping once to stare at a sign in confusion. It was written in a language that the boy had no knowledge of. There were arrows pointing in multiple directions, yet hell if he knew where any of them went.

"I should just blow a wall up and get out, hm…." The teen muttered to himself… but then a critical memory hit him.

The last of his explosive clay was used to blow himself, and the Uchiha brat, up.

The teenager, Deidara, felt his heart stop. His brain processing the memory… yet found it conflicting with the very fact he was up, he was breathing and he was a complete body and not bits and fragments (if any) within a 20 kilometer radius. Then again, looking down at himself, only now did he notice the lack of a black cloak decorated with red clouds. Leaving his purple crop top shirt over the standard ninja mesh shirt, and the noticeably emptier gray clay pouches on his hips exposed to the world. The discoloration and burn scars from the "donated" elbow were gone on his right arm, along with the black thread from the recently deceased Kakuzu to hold it together. The polish he remembers applying on his nails the day before, was chipped and cracked in a way that happened during rough battles.

"What the actual hell?" Louder than he actually meant to go, Deidara struggled to figure out just what was going on. Nothing was making sense to him right now. He was so distracted that were it not for the years of paranoia drilled into him, he would have completely missed the groans and hisses that started up. Would have missed the sounds of stumbling, and shambling footsteps making their way towards his location. Turning his head slightly in the direction of the noises, the blonde bomber's eyes widened as he caught sight of one of the things that was ambling towards him.

You've got to be shitting me…

A corpse. A rotting corpse with what had to be mold on what was left of the skin. With yellowed bone poking out in some patches of completely rotten muscle and skin. Was somehow up, was somehow walking towards him with sightless eyes. With rotten teeth bared and a breathless hiss coming from its hollowed out throat. And worse yet, there were more stumbling from behind it. All equally decayed. All equally still shambling about.

A tactical retreat was clearly in order, as the bomber quickly turned back to where he came from and sprinted. Having to sidestep from a moving corpse that practically jumped out from a half opened room he briefly passed, and twisted his body to avoid its outstretched arms.

Where the hell did these… things come from?! A scowl crawled onto Deidara's face as he kept a good distance from the undead hoard that kept crawling out from practically every corner of the hallway. He then began calculating how to get out of this death trap, when his eyes caught sight of the room he originally woke up in. The window inside now at the forefront of his mind as the blonde bomber threw himself inside the room. Raising his arms up to shield his head, without slowing down, while also focusing his chakra into his body, Deidara jumped at the window. The resounding crash and the feeling of some glass cutting into his arms followed immediately after…

Along with the feeling of wind whipping around his body as the blonde fell from the fifth floor.

Shit…

Though he fell, the bomber wasn't entirely concerned about the impact. No he was more annoyed that he never checked how high up he was before leaving the room. His chakra could help him minimize the damage from the landing, but that didn't mean he wouldn't still feel the pain with the small amount he already charged up.

The next couple seconds were as followed:

Deidara attempted to correct his landing position, just so he wouldn't land face first on the ground below. Getting only so far as to at least be facing the sky instead of the ground below, but not having enough time to get into a position to land on his feet.

From what he saw below momentarily, there was a chance he could snag a tree branch of a, admittedly disappointing looking tree compared to the massive ones of the Fire Country. The other option was directly onto a concrete sidewalk which was the least ideal outcome.

In the last second however, just as Deidara was pretty sure he definitely over shot the tree… it felt like something caught him just before hitting the ground below. It was abrupt, and surprising enough that Deidara had no clue what to brace for. Thus, with the feeling of something on his back, and another locked under his legs, the bomber felt his head snap backwards from the cut off momentum. Causing a new pain to form in Deidara's head and neck, but sparing the rest of his body at least.

"Fuck… that hurt, hm…" The blonde groaned from pain, raising a hand to his head. Fingers moving the hair that covered the left half of his face slightly, trying to slowly ease away the pain. A faint realization that his forehead protector was missing was soon overshadowed by what his blue eyes saw when they opened up.

He was being held by someone. No…more accurately, he had been caught by someone. Deidara's eyes narrowed as he began to register the other, what he assumes to be, teenage boy's appearance.

Long ink black hair that was tied into a ponytail with a white ribbon, with bangs that rested on the left yet didn't cover the other teen's more rounded face. Had to be somewhere between 15 and 18 from what Deidara could pick up in the black haired boy's features. A wardrobe as dark as night itself with the shirt, under a long black trench coat, having white accents around the high neckline. And finally from what Deidara could see from his position, were inhuman violet-red colored eyes.

Easy on the eyes and at least he's not a rotting corpse. The bomber thought… though one major thing was bugging him about the person who caught him. The guy had been staring at Deidara's face the whole time.

"... Who the hell are you staring at, hm?"

….

What the hell hit us? Were one of the the first, echoing thoughts of the black haired teen when he woke up to a pounding headache while laying on a sidewalk.

Whatever it was really hit us good if both of us are feeling like our head's been bashed in… That's what it's feeling like for you right?

Top it off with a morning after hangover, then having to regrow your own head because those last five shots of whisky really screwed you over and you got it down to a T kid…

… You're losing body privileges if we ever go near a bar Greed.

The shared body laughed as Greed took control and pushed their body up and onto their feet. Their left hand, with a tattoo of a winged serpent eating its own tail on the back, brushing off some presumed dirt from their coat and black pants.

"Like you could completely stop me from having a good time Ling."

Greed I'm legally not old enough to drink! Therefore your body privileges are revoked when at bars!

Rolling his eyes, both internally and with their shared body, Greed then took to looking around their surroundings. Nothing was seemingly familiar enough to him… and looking out to the road on their left, left him staring at a car that was vastly different in shape and design to any other car he'd seen before.

"Think we could steal it?"

Maybe? I mean we've not tried driving and the chimera's… Ling trailed off before memories made themselves known. Greed… we were in Central Command before all this weren't we?

Greed blinked, and thought about it for a bit before he remembered the night fighting his oldest sibling… watching his younger one get eaten by their oldest sibling. The morning after making it into Central to fight Father. The rematch with Wrath… losing Fu. Taking down the military attempting to breach their position and then… It was a bit fuzzy after that, but the main point still stuck.

They were not in Central anymore.

Look around, we might find something to tell us-

"Who said you get to call the shots?" Greed questioned, annoyance clear in his voice. On the inside Ling could only give an annoyed frown.

You got any better ideas then?

"..."

That's what I thought.

"Shut up pissant…" Despite not liking being told what to do, even Greed had to admit that looking around was their best course of action… for now at least.

The area around them was deserted, a city with no life milling about. There were small trees on the sides of the sidewalk blocked off by small fences. Abandoned cars spread across the roads and dried blood was visible on some of the cars hoods, even on the ground in some areas. Disturbingly enough were some decayed body parts poking around some areas, and the distant smell of smoke over the clearer scent of decay.

It's… like a large scale tomb.

"Yikes…" Was all Greed could articulate… though in the distance he spotted a rather large building. The last large building he saw had been central command, so by process of elimination that building had to be important enough to check out. Yes many of the building's around him were tall, far taller than anything he'd seen before in central… but the one he saw was much wider in scale, thus had to have some kind of importance.

Without even saying a word, Greed began walking towards the building. His eyes trailing along the whole walk there as he was taking every little thing in. Ling meanwhile was feeling a cold feeling in his gut as the picture continued to darken their environment.

You think… Your Father did this?

Maybe… Wouldn't put it past Pops…

That did nothing to lessen the horrible feeling settling over their shared body. Though Greed acted more aloof, through their shared connection Ling could feel the homunculus was feeling just as much dread as he was.Let me take control for a bit.

Greed hummed a bit, thinking it over before mentally stepping back and letting the young Prince take back control of his own body. Anyone watching would see the difference in how Ling held himself, compared to Greed. While Greed had a more relaxed stance that also gave off a whole "I run this place" vibe, Ling's "relaxed" stance to a more well trained eye was more of a front. A way to have other people let their guard down, all while he himself is quietly poised to strike when and if needed.

With Ling now in control, the prince took a calming breath before focusing on sensing for any Qi in the area around them. Normally in what should be heavily populated places, he can feel each ping of life energy of the people that lived there, a feel for their daily routine etched into their own soul, a rainbow of energy and different feelings… and yet while attempting to sense any Qi here, it felt like he was casting a fishing line into an empty puddle.

There were no traces of life in any of the building's around them, not even a faint impression to say someone might have been there recently but left… no. The city itself was dead, and the lack of anything pinging back on his senses was beginning to suffocate Ling in dread.

Until he finally felt something.

Further ahead in the large building Greed had been walking them towards, there was a faint Qi signature. As if whoever it was there was sleeping peacefully in this desolate place.

Find something?

Yeah, further ahead in the… I think it's a hospital now the more I look at it.

Alright, move aside then. I'm taking back the wheel.

Greed, now back in control, picked up the pace to get to the hospital. Answers were needed after all, and whoever was in there was their best bet at possibly getting them. As they began getting closer to the building, Greed was so preoccupied looking for a door they could use that he didn't notice a spherical object in his path… until he stepped on it and completely lost his balance, slamming face first into the cold hard cement.

On the inside, Ling was trying not to laugh.

Not a word to anyone about this…

No promises.

Red sparks danced across their face, healing a broken nose and stitching together a couple scrapes, as Greed pushed their body up and then turned to glare at the item that caused him to have an unpleasant fall.

It was a metallic sphere, small enough to fit in the palm of a hand, but big enough that one's fingers only covered half of its surface. Seams went across its reflective surface much like a puzzle cube but with faint indents in some places that looked to be like finger holds. Not too far from where it had been was a severed boney hand that's fingers looked to have broken completely from Greed stepping on the orb. The object however seemed to not even have a crack or scuff mark to prove its part in the personal crime Greed felt that it committed. Though despite his misgivings… the sin couldn't help but feel curiosity over it.

"The hell is this thing?" The homunculus asked out loud, picking the sphere up and twisting it around in his hand to look the whole thing over.

Beats me. But it does make me think of a puzzle cube. Ling supplied mentally furrowing his brow while both occupants of the same body looked it over. We should get back to finding the person in that hospital though.

Greed let out a small humm of agreement, and pocketed the item so they could look over it more in detail later. Completely unaware of a faint light that turned on in the device for a second before going back to its slate gray coloration.

The device would also be forgotten about for a while as when Greed got closer to the building, a loud crashing sound was heard from above. Looking up, Greed only had a split second to register a human from coming down at him and thus acted by holding out his arms and catching the body before it hit the ground.

His knees buckled slightly, yet still holding firm enough to keep both Greed and the person he caught up. Once the initial shock of having to catch someone wore off, Greed turned his gaze to the person he caught and practically all thoughts turned off and was unable to register the words that the person muttered while reaching a hand up to their head.

The person had sunkissed skin with long, flowing blonde hair that would reach the middle of the person's back, yet some of it seemed to be pulled up into a high ponytail and there was some fringe that went past the person's chin and covered the left of their face. Blue eyes surrounded by long dark lashes opened up and seemed to meet his own eyes.

To Greed, the expression on the person's face was adorably confused and their appearance accentuated from the light of the setting sun reflecting off of the glass shards that were in the blonde's hair and on the ground.

To Ling however, he could clearly see skepticism, distrust and a faint amount of fear clear in the blonde's expression… Ling also clearly picked up the annoyed tone when the man (judging from his voice alone) questioned just who the hell they were looking at.

The next words though, Greed did pick up even in his stupor.

"Also put me down, hm."

What did he say before that?

You… You were seriously out of it weren't you? The guy was asking about you staring at him.

Greed hummed in acknowledgement as he set the blonde down with a surprising amount of care. Once the blonde's sandal clad feet, though the sandals were more like open toed shoes in design, Greed straightened up and gave a grin.

"Sorry about that. I got lost in the fact that an angel fell into my arms."

"... What?" Both Ling and the blonde man questioned at the exact same time… in the exact same disbelieving tone and Greed could swear both had the exact same "Are you serious right now?" expressions with what he was seeing from the other person…and what he was feeling from Ling in their shared Soul Space.

….

Deidara was just plain lost at the moment.

Did… did he seriously just flirt with me? What? What is even going on right now?

The questions kept piling up in the bomber's mind. Well… at least until the distant groans and hisses started to register in Deidara's ears once again, reminding him of the dangers he attempted to escape from.

"… the hell was that?"

Evidently the noises from those corpses also registered with the black haired idiot, and Deidara had half a mind to just leave him behind. However the more rational part of his mind reminded him that he had no idea where he was and this idiot was the first, non dead person he'd seen since waking up. A choice had to be made.

"You wanna stay to find out, hm?"

But Deidara knew his choice wasn't just for him to make alone. The bomber saw a contemplative look cross the violet eyed stranger's face before shifting into one of disturbed shock.

"What the-"

"Get moving, yeah!" Deidara cut in and began running in a random direction away from the hospital. The more rapid footsteps that followed closely behind was more than enough to tell the blonde that the stranger was following him.

"So you got an idea on what the hell those things are back there?"

"Not alive I'll tell you that much, hm."

"I mean aside from the obvious." Deidara had to hold back a laugh at that response. Though the blonde bomber did make note that the man in black was just as confused on those creatures as he was. "Also, you know where we are? I mean we're obviously not in Central that's for sure."

Deidara blinked and actually turned his head to look at the black clad teenager in confusion.

"The hell is Central, hm? I thought we were somewhere in the Land of Fire, yeah."

"The hell is this Land of Fire?" The violet eyed stranger shot back, equally confused and Deidara found his blue eyes staring into the other's own. The bomber watched as the man's face scrunched up slightly before letting out a sigh. "... fine. Hey Blonde-"

"Deidara, hm."

"Huh?"

"Don't call me Blonde, hm. My name's Deidara, so use it."

"Got it, call me Greed."

"Would have thought your name would be "Lust" from you flirting with me earlier, yeah."

That comment alone seemed to cause Greed to laugh. It was loud, boisterous and the sound alone nearly made a smile come to Deidara's lips… until the now familiar sounds of groans and hisses began once again, this time louder as more walking corpses began to crawl their way towards the streets the two were running through.

Greed to his part, stopped laughing almost immediately and swore under his breath at seeing more of those rotting beings.

"Any ideas on taking these things out?" The question was asked while sidestepping a quicker, less rotten corpse attempting to jump the darkly dressed man.

"My normal method, hm. Unfortunately I'm out of supplies at the moment to send any of these corpses to an artistic end, hm." Deidara responded easily, even while practically jumping away from another lunging corpse.

"Oh, uh cool but… I was kinda asking the annoying Prince that's a shitty roommate." A pause, and before Deidara could even think to ask Greed spoke up again. "Well you are!"

Oh how much Deidara wanted to turn his head to give an unamused stare. How much he wanted to stop and question Greed on what he was talking about. Alas, getting away from this hoard of corpses was way more important.

Then his eyes caught sight of something. A Fire Escape on a building with the ladder to the ground hanging low..

These things can barely walk as is… climbing will be worse for them.

"Over there, yeah!"

Seeing where the bomber was pointing after his shout, Greed seemed to let out a chuckle.

"That could work."

The duo quickly, and seemingly effortlessly made it to the base of the ladder. Then quicker than should be physically possible, the two climbed up to the landing with barely any effort after jumping to the ladder and Deidara pulled said ladder back up as a precaution. The duo then raced up the entirety of the escape until they reached the very top… and even then both Deidara and Greed jumped once again to pull themselves up onto the roof of the large building.

Now on top of the roof, both teens stared down at the mass of walking corpses for a couple beats. They only relaxed when it was obvious that none of the pursuers were even attempting to try and find their way up towards them.

"Good eye spotting that ladder." Greed grinned towards the blonde, violet eyes practically shining with mirth as he eased his way into a seated position.

Deidara could only respond with a satisfied smirk as he followed suit in sitting down in relative safety with this strange man. Letting a comfortable silence fall between them.

….

I think we can start asking him questions now. Ling pipped up after Greed sat them down, the blonde Deidara following suit not too far from them.

In a minute, let's just relax for a moment. Greed sighed internally and turned his head up from looking down at the rotting corpses below, to casting his gaze across the city scape before them.

All around them the city looms, cold and leering. The building they found themselves on was tall, yet there were still taller buildings around. Cracked and broken windows were spotted among some of the structures Greed could see, though at least one of them has smoke coming out of it somewhere in the distance. Between two towering buildings the setting sun was visible with its brilliant hues saturating the dead gray city below its gaze.

The clouds around the yellow-orange sky hung with a purple hue and all Greed can think of is how dark it will get soon. Along with how much harder it would be to travel at night now. That then devolved into him thinking about his last traveling companions.

Wonder what Ed, Gorius and Mr. Lion are up to now.

"You mentioned a place called Central earlier, yeah?"

The sound of Deidara's voice brought Greed out of his own personal musings and caused him to focus on the blonde. Only for violet eyes to meet cobalt as Deidara, though sitting in a relaxed, or as Ling would point out as subtly prepared to jump and run or strike if needed, position the blonde had turned his head to look directly at the homunculus.

"And you mentioned something about a land on fire."

"Land OF Fire, hm." Greed couldn't help but chuckle a little at the disgruntled look that crossed the blonde's face while correcting him.

"Yeah that, is that someplace beyond Amestris or something?" At the confused furrowing of brows, Greed decided to continue. "Doesn't sound like someplace in Xing. Ling told me most of those places are named after the clan's there. Sounds too warm for something from Drachma as well… Creta maybe? Never been personally… Any of those sound right?"

"I've literally never heard of any of those places you're talking about, hm." Now it was Greed's turn to furrow his brow in confusion, even Ling in their shared soul space was equally confused. "Do… the Hidden Villages mean anything to you then, hm?"

"Uh…"

"I'm taking that as a no, yeah." Deidara sighed, bringing one of his hands up and rubbing at his forehead as a contemplative look crossed his face.

Hey Ling…

Yeah I got nothing either. I mean, I guess these "Hidden Villages" are doing a good job living up to their name.

Thought so.

"What about the Elemental Nations, hm?" Greed blinked at the sudden question.

"The what?"

"Shit, hm…" Apparently Greed's answer was somehow the wrong thing to say as Deidara pushed himself up and began pacing the length of the roof. It was only then Greed noticed how the blonde's footsteps seemed to barely make a sound, something he remembers from a couple people he only recently met in person… but was very familiar, and worrying to Ling. They were the footsteps of a trained assassin.

Despite the now sudden hesitance in the two, they did still hear Deidara muttering to himself. As if the assassin was trying to piece together what they were all possibly missing. Something about borders of the "Land of Wind" and "Unknown territories beyond the Land of Stone" popped up here and there, yet the blonde seemed to have trouble connecting any of them to what little information Greed shared. Not to mention it had Greed's own head spinning with places and foreign locations he has never heard of before.

I think I have an idea.

And what would that be?

Let me talk to Deidara a bit.

Greed frowned, but thought about it for a moment.

Two minutes, no more or I'm taking my body back by force.

It was my body to begin with Greed.

Greed rolled his eyes before lightening up in his control enough for Ling to easily step back into control of their body.

As soon as Ling was back in control, he quickly began sensing the qi around them and had to bite his own cheek with worry when all he could sense was Deidara's and none of the walking corpses below. Then again it did make a little sense to him that what should be dead was deprived of life force… It was still terrifying in its own right. However he was on a time limit and really didn't feel like fighting with Greed to keep control of his body.

"Hey Deidara."

The sound of Ling's voice caused the mentioned teen to pause in his pacing and snap his full attention towards the prince with confusion once again appearing on his face. Most likely from the change in voice, and maybe even from how Ling changed how Greed positioned their body was splayed out relaxed, into a lotus sitting position.

"I have a very important question."

"... What's the question Greed?"

"Ling right now actually, but I'll explain that after this." Ling couldn't help the laugh that came out of him at Deidara's further confused expression. "Do you know what Alchemy is?"

What kind of question is that?

"Is that some kind of jutsu, hm?"

… Never mind, what question is THAT?

"No, it's a science… but a well known one across the country and even in my own country of Xing." Ling could see the contemplative look crossing Deidara's face.

"In that case… Do you know anything about Ninjutsu, yeah?"

"First time I'm hearing of it." Ling beamed, causing an annoyed look to cross Deidara's face. "I'm being serious though, I've never heard of it."

Neither have I!

"And neither has Greed."

"... Right, hm." Deidara stated with a note of disbelief in his tone, yet still wore a contemplative look. "However, that should be impossible with ninja being as common as they are, hm."

"Oh! You mean like the trained guards of Xing? They usually get described as ninja, but I don't think I've ever heard Fu or Lan Fan mention anything about Ninjutsu before." Ling mused out loud, though internally he was remembering a conversation he once had with Ed while they were on the run. It was a short one, as it was mostly an excuse from Ed to complain about Ling eating all their rations… again.

...

"Do you think Parallel world's exist?" Ling asked after glancing at the back of a random book he found in a bargain bin, talking about something involving a person dying and being sent to another world? Ling couldn't honestly remember as the summary was rather weak in his opinion. Even Greed scoffed at it!

"If they did then I WISH WE WERE IN THE ONE WHERE YOU WEREN'T A GLUTTON WHO EATS EVERYTHING AND LEAVES ME WITH THE BILL!"

...

Good times. Could have done with more food, but regardless… it definitely brought to attention exactly what Ling was thinking about, and what he wanted to ask the blonde, possible assassin in front of him.

"Do you think Parallel world's exist?"

…

If this was the first question Greed, (or was it Ling now?) asked, Deidara knew he would have laughed in the black clad teen's face… now though after questions that had answers that made no sense to the bomber… Well Deidara was seriously thinking about it now.

It could explain… a lot actually. Deidara thought, his eyes glancing down to the metal carriage like contraption on black roads surrounded by concrete. Then to the few corpses that were milling about strange buildings that kind of reminded the blue eyed ninja of the architecture of Amegakure… but with less pipes that helped drain the eternal rainfall of the lands and even less eye motifs hanging around or decorating the buildings as a whole.

It just… makes the most sense at the moment.

"Before now, no, hm." Deidara finally answered Ling's (Greed's?) question. Putting a hand to his chin as his last memory came to the forefront of his mind again. "… Though with careful consideration I think I'm willing to believe in them, yeah."

"Just like that?" Greed (Ling?) questioned, seeming to be surprised.

"You're the one who asked the question, hm."

"I know, but I was kinda just… I dunno expecting more of a reaction? Like maybe laughing in my face and calling me an idiot like Greed?"

"I mean, you're not the biggest idiot I've met, hm. Though probably in the top ten of the weirdest, yeah."

"I'm gonna take that as a compliment!" The black haired teen laughed, and before Deidara's eyes he saw the boy's entire posture change. Along with how sharp the smile on the other's face went and the opening of those violet eyes (when did he even close them earlier?).

"I'm gonna follow the Prince's lead and assume you're talking about him."

It's like Zetsu but more confusing… Deidara thought, mentally marking down the different pitches in both Greed and Ling's voices he heard… Though unless he heard Ling's voice more often it might still startle Deidara enough into thinking someone else was there.

"Now, you going to tell me about your world or what?" Greed grinned, leaning forward in clear interest in hearing more about a world beyond his own. Then again Deidara could understand that feeling pretty well.

That's what the two, or rather technically three, of them did for the rest of the night. One would ask questions about locations mentioned before, the other would answer before asking their own questions in turn. It built up a rather interesting set of concepts in their minds… though neither of them got around to asking for anything personal between them.

Such as Deidara avoided asking anything about how Greed and Ling co inhabiting their own body and how that worked, along with the strange tattoo on their left hand… and they both seemed to avoid asking Deidara about if he was a ninja or what types of jutsu he specialized in, or even what village he might have belonged to.

Near the end of their conversations, as a full moon hung high in the sky, Greed looked down upon the shadowed ground before squinting at something Deidara couldn't see from his own position.

"That a light down there?"

Deidara's eyes narrowed slightly as he moved closer to where Greed was to peer over the smooth stone-like edge of the building they were atop. Down below in the waves of darkness that the moon's light were unable to even touch, a single beam of light broke through the tides that swallowed up the surroundings below. And it seemed to be coming closer to the building they were sitting atop of.

Deidara and Greed both glanced towards each other, a silent debate on going down to check it out, or stay up on the roof. However the looming fact they still had no answers about this world at all was still very evident… so Deidara was the first one to lower himself onto the fire escape once again. Greed soon followed with a sigh and when they were three landings down with four more to ground level, they saw the light down below, bright and yellow. As well as the sound of a woman's voice as the light seemed to move around where the ladder was once hanging down.

"Shit!" Was the one word they could make out from the woman below.

"Hey sweetheart!" The sound of Greed's voice snapped Deidara's head towards his companion's position. In the moonlight Deidara could see an almost flirtatious look on the other's face… and a deep, annoyed feeling bubbled up in the bomber's heart.

Did he only flirt with me earlier because he thought I was a woman?! Fucking bastard!

Before Deidara could even open his mouth to chew Greed out, the light from below shone right up at them, causing Deidara to raise an arm to protect his eyes long enough for them to adjust to the light shining in them.

"You trying to get me killed up there?" Deidara heard the girl below ask, annoyance clear in her tone. A harsh hiss was heard not long after her question and soon her tone shifted from annoyance to panic. "Shit, send down the ladder! Send it down now!"

Eyes now fully adjusted to the light the girl was shining down below, Deidara acted quick and practically jumped down to the lowest platform and let down the ladder he pulled up earlier. As soon as it was halfway down to the ground, the bomber felt a weight latch onto the ladder and pull itself up. Taking that into account, Deidara soon moved out of the way for the woman to fully pull herself up onto the metal frame. While down below the sounds of the undead started to make themselves known once again.

"Fourth Floor left window, it's a safe zone. I'll chew your friend out for his idiocy there." The blonde watched as the woman pointed her light, a flashlight, up towards a window next to Greed's silhouette above.

"Wait what the hell did I do?" Greed questioned, his tone and posture reading utter confusion yet getting no response from the woman and an unseen annoyed look from Deidara as they both climbed up towards him. "Deidara come on, you got any ideas? We're both confused over here."

"Dunno, but I've got some words for you as well, hm." The blonde let out in a clipped tone, sending an annoyed glare towards the black haired teen who looked flabbergasted at the sudden hostility.

"Huh? Wait, why are you mad now?"

Deidara ignored him, taking in what little he could make out of the woman he helped up from the moon's light and flashlight she had shining in front of her as she reached over to open the window.

Her hair was down to her shoulders, though some of it was pulled up into a messy bun and it seemed to be two toned in color with her roots and a couple inches of hair at the top being a darker shade then the rest. She was wearing a dark tank top that had some foreign writing on it that has definitely seen better days with a couple rips and fading on the lettering. There was a jacket of some kind tied around her waist and draping over some loose and equally worn looking sweatpants that had a rip on the left knee area, while the ends of those pants were tucked into a well worn pair of black boots with buckles on them. There were bandages wrapped around her forearms and fingerless gloves on her hands… and more notable was the big, full looking backpack held to her back with straps and a buckle at the front.

Before Deidara could make any note of her face, the girl pulled herself towards the window and squeezed her way through the opening and disappeared into the darkness of the building.

Not too long after Deidara found himself following after the woman, after all she seemed to know more about this place then he and the two-for-one teen put together. Information was the most important thing at the moment, and he wouldn't pass up this chance for it.

Once inside the room a small light turned on in the corner, illuminating a small bedroom as well as the figure of the woman…. And her face which caused Deidara to stare with recognition.

While the brown roots were different, as well as the fact that the blue that made up the rest of her hair was fading to make room for the dark brown that was clearly her natural color… her brown eyes looked more orange in the glow of the small battery powered light. The little studs on her face and ears glowed as well to accentuate a familiar, frowning face.

"Konan?"

….

Further in the dead city a man sat near a burning fire pit. Chain link fences with barbed wires tied around the top and wooden boards reinforced the security of the perimeter as the man cooked up some meat he managed to find.

"This look good enough for you?" He asked out loud in a cheerful tone while pulling out a small stick of the meat. The recipient of said question was a small black cat with a white tipped tail, one red eye and a bell tied with a red ribbon around its neck.

The cat leaned in and sniffed at the offered food, then proceeded to start biting at it making little "Mer" noises while eating. A laugh came from the man as he set it down for the cat to finish eating. Dull yellow eyes illuminated with joy while watching the little creature enjoy its meal before being turned back to his own, still cooking food.

"Shame we couldn't find anyone else today, huh?" This question earned him a little huff from the cat. "I'm serious though. Maybe they would know how to get home from here… or where to find more supplies."

Shifting around, the man's dog tags clinked together against his army jacket, while his black combat boots gently crunched against the dirt below. Scared and calloused hands covered by black fingerless gloves reached out and shifted through a dull green bag.

"I mean, I think we've gathered as much as we could from the general area… but we're definitely starting to run low on food rations."

"Mrmph."

"Well not for you of course, but I gotta have more than just meat from animals we find scuttling around." the man laughed as he pulled out two bottled waters, and a small bowl. "Plus we are starting to get low on water… so we might have to go further and abandon our little camp here."

"Myeah!"

"I know, I know. Dangerous… but I'd like to think I'm getting better at managing it! So what harm is it to trudge further into the city?"

"Mrm…"

The man sighed, reaching a gloved hand up to the back of his head and ruffling his lime green hair that poked from underneath his green army beret. All while the single eyed cat stared at him.

"Okay, okay. If I start panicking too much, I promise to find a safe spot and try to calm down. Sound like a good idea to you little one?"

"Ma."

"Great!" The green haired man laughed as he opened one bottle up and poured the water into the bowl he set onto the ground. Some low groans and hisses from the undead began to get clearer outside the secured campsite, eliciting a sigh from the man. "You enjoy your water alright kitty?"

The cat to its credit seemed to just nod at the man and calmly go about lapping at the water provided for it, while the army man went back into the bag… and pulled out a knife and sharp piano wire. A wicked grin broke out across the man's face and showed off his unnaturally sharp teeth as a cruel sounding laugh broke out of his throat.

"Time to rip these maggots apart."

Omake: The Writer's Corner

Hey Gin.

"JESUS! Ya ever heard of knocking writer-san…. Wait Writer-san?!"

Sup bro, cool card tower. Been a while huh?

"Five years since ya said ya were gonna do a remake…"

Well you know how it is. You think you thought out how to improve an old, chaotic as hell fic, only to struggle by trying to add too much structure and control that it just… ya know doesn't flow as well as it used to. Then suddenly years later it just clicks that you just go with the chaos.

"No I actually don't know about any o' that writer-san. I ain't a writer."

… You do realize we're live right?

"... Shit. Shit! I'm not ready! Why didn't ya warn me?!"

Well I mean… It's been years! Like shit man, I forgot but uh… if you need I can just… do the writer thing to give you some time to get ready?

"Yes, please, go!"

Okay, okay.

You, the reader, find yourself in a well decorated room. To the left there's a wall of bookshelves, neatly organized with both books from around the world, and trinkets ranging from little glass figures to small displays of artifacts. To the right are fewer bookshelves with only books that frame a large fancy red leather sofa. Before the sofa in the middle is a long glass coffee table that has a decorated glass snake in the middle, curled around itself and stained a gorgeous blue with red inlay around the head and base. There are also two red leather chairs before the leftmost wall of bookshelves.

Right in front directly north is a large TV Screen that takes up the wall. A mahogany desk with a tall card tower stacked on the right most corner and a fancy chair sits in front, empty and waiting for the host to take their place.

"Thank you fer that~"

A man, tall with short silver hair grinned. His crystal blue eyes are closed and give him more of a fox like appearance, while he wears a rather nice looking gray three piece suit with a teal colored tie and white undershirt. This is the host of this segment, Gin Ichimaru.

"Ah, right, yer in the zone now. Anyways ta all ya new readers out there, Welcome! To all the old ones that decided ta come check this fic out fer nostalgia or ta see how much has changed, welcome back!" The silver haired man made his way to the chair behind the desk after his greetings and-

"Ya know this is so much better than the blank void of the original. Real lonely there to ya know."

Gin… please.

"Oh and why haven't ya introduced yerself either writer-san~?"

Gin I'm basically the narrator and writer I'm not supposed to-

"So anyways sitting on tha couch like a gremlin with a laptop perched on their knees is writer-san with their fading purple hair. Tired looking ass and-"

GIN NO!

"Alright, alright I get it. Too much insanity at the moment. I'll let ya get back ta the writer thing." Gin laughed, and leaned back comfortably into his chair.

"So, for those that don't know. In tha original "Across the Worlds" fic, there were a bunch of "Omake" segments like this one, where Writer-san and I would give little fun facts about the story and all that happens. It got a little chaotic and well, now Writer-san's planning ta try some assorted little extras for future chapters. If they make them."

Okay screw you on that one… But seriously I'm posting this with like at least 4 pages of the next chapter done so you can't get on my ass about that.

"Aaaw look at ya being all responsible and prepared now!"

… shut up, please.

"Can't, I'm the host."

At least stop laughing at me…

"Alright, I'll try." Gin cleared his throat, before adjusting in his seat, then pointed towards the screen. "I'll get on with some fun-facts then."

On the screen images of the desolate city the main characters found themselves in appear and circled around the different angles.

"This world that we're currently viewing with tha main cast was the first ever world Writer-san ever thought of. It was actually based on an old Anime Club prompt they had back in High School if I remember correctly."

Yeah, prompt was "What anime characters would you want on a Zombie Apocalypse Team, and what Characters would not work." and well… I got a little too into it. Though back then I had trouble building up backgrounds or even building up everything I wanted to do for the world.

"Yeah, that. The zombie's have been upgraded and changed a bit, and as ya can see the world is now more properly formed."

An image of a rotting Zombie appears on the screen.

"The zombie's now have different reactions depending on tha level of Decay. Example, tha ones in the hospital Deidara found himself in were heavily decayed and thus only had a sense o' hearing left. They also had slower reflexes and unable to move faster than a shuffle."

An image of a completely random figure with a bite mark appears on the screen next.

"Where as a freshly turned person would be much more dangerous as they got access ta sight, smell, hearing and they can actually run. Though I do gotta ask Writer-san… why the mold?"

Oh uh… Kinda my own personal spin I guess? Like my original inspiration was kinda Left 4 Dead and some classic Zombie movies and stuff. And I also honestly see some of these decaying bodies developing mold or lichen on them depending on their locations.

"Right, well then."

The image changes to the orb Greed picked up.

"Another really big change is the orb from the original as well. Now ya can't see it cuz they really wanna just remain a "Narrator" but they're giving me a glare right now so I can't spill all the details… but I will say that the orb has been both upgraded and downgraded at the same time. More details on it will come in following chapters."

The screen goes blank as Gin leans back in his chair once again.

"Since this is still tha first chapter, that's all the fun facts I can share for now. I mean unless writer-san has anything to share themself."

… This chapter was written with, like… three songs I wanna recommend playing on repeat. The songs are:

Evil by Letdown

Monster Made of Memories by Citizen Soldier

And Tokyo Ghetto by E ve

They just got me energized enough to actually write and all that.

"Nice. I think that's about it fer now don't you?"

Yeah… it's honestly been fun doing this again.

"I can imagine! Now then Readers, thank ya for reading! Hope y'all enjoyed and we will see you again in the next update! Bye Bye!"