Young Writers Society

"That's so cool!" Ari whispered, now easily grinning from one ear to the other. She knew battles were never easy, but that battle sounded like the type that she'd want to be involved in: the fate of universe at stake, with your closest friends, and a plethora of crazy, neat things going on! And moving skeletons? That was something she had heard about, but she had never gotten a chance to actually see them!

And then there was the really cute part about Aegeas and Kellach kissing each other after it was all over.

"Have you been together ever since then?" she asked.


"I wasn't planning on it," the unnamed man said. Kaito felt a jolt of fear run through him as he looked in his direction with a smile on his face; the combination of the magic and inhuman speed was giving him a really bad feeling. He could see from a single glance at Aquarius's face that he was feeling the same way, and the way he hurried on over to him and threw his arms around his waist was even more of an indicator.

"Who are you?" Kaito asked.

"My name is Alex," the man said. "What about you two?"

"I'm Kaito Shion, and he's my god Aquarius," Kaito said, his grip on his shoulder tightening when Alex looked at the water god. He could try making a run for the window, but Alex would easily catch up to them - he was simply too fast. And even if they did, then what? There was the woman that Alex had been with, but, thinking back, Kaito didn't trust her much either. Something about her felt just as wrong as this man did, and he wasn't going to risk throwing himself and Aquarius in harm's way.

"Kaito like the vocaloid?" the man slowly asked, spinning the knives absentmindedly in his hands as he walked over to where they were standing. "You do look like what he would if he was real..."

Kaito froze. Why did this guy have to know about Vocaloids? "You'd, uh, be surprised how many times I've heard that," he awkwardly said.

He turned his attention to Aquarius. "I've never heard of a god named Aquarius before," Alex commented. He crouched down ever so slightly so he was able to easily look Aquarius in the eye. "What's your religion?"

"R-Religion?"

"He doesn't have one," Kaito weakly said, taking a step back with Aquarius in tow. Alex gave him a curious look. "I'm his only chosen. That's-That's how I know."

"Chosen-" Understanding seemed to suddenly dawn on Alex. The knives stopped spinning, and he took a step back in the direction of the semi-unconscious panther as he looked the two of them over. "You're not from my reality. That explains it."

Kaito opened his mouth to ask what he could possibly be talking about, but then realized that Aquarius had mentioned ending up in situations like this in the past. He had encountered gods that weren't like the gods of Minecraftia, and had interacted with people from Earth.

The man stuck his hand out.

"Let me reintroduce myself," he said. "I'm Apophis. I'm an Egyptian god of darkness."

Kellach set his head on top of Aegeas's. Looking up and smiling, Aegeas said, "We were together long before then, but we haven't been apart ever since." The smile faded ever so briefly. "You know, most of the time."



Lowering his arms, Lunis groaned. "I'm still here, y'know," he mumbled. "Gonna take care of y'all, and find Mal and get him to fix this leg, and, and..."

He passed out.

She didn't miss the way that the smile faded for a brief moment, but she was the type of person who thought it was best to focus on the good and not the bad - especially when someone seemed to have something on their mind that upset them. "That's really romantic," she commented. She wanted to say more about them, but then Zion suddenly tapped her on the shoulder.

"I think we should go downstairs, they said. It was hard for most people to tell, but Ari easily translated the way their body seemed to turn as them looking at the other people present in the room. "I've been hearing noises coming from below us. I don't know what's going on, but something tells me we don't want to be caught off guard later on.


Kaito, Aquarius and newly revealed Apophis all exchanged looks with each other after the brief speech was abruptly concluded by the panther passing out. "Something tells me he was just threatening you because he's as confused as you were," Apophis slowly guessed. Kaito was still trying to wrap his head around this entire situation. He was talking to Apophis. Wasn't that the giant snake that was supposed to destroy Ra? It was downright disturbing to see him as a human, and even more disturbing when he thought of what he was capable of.

Kaito gulped. What if he decided that he and Aquarius were enemies?

Apophis didn't seem to notice his fear. He was too busy observing the panther. With a flick of his wrist, darkness erupted from the ground and wrapped around the unconscious man's body. Kaito and Aquarius quickly hurried out of the way as the darkness followed Apophis to the window. A pillar of darkness appeared in front of him, and he went to step down on it - only to stop when he saw that Aquarius and Kaito remained in the room.

"Are you coming?" he asked, gesturing up at the upper floor with a nod of his head.

The two exchanged nervous looks, then hurried on after him.

A few moments later, they were climbing off the spurts of water and darkness into the room they had been in earlier, the panther being carefully deposited on the floor near the lion.

"How many people were down there?" Aegeas said. He shuffled out from under the bar, Kellach still grabbing onto him. Grabbing and sheathing his swords, he leaned back to force Kellach off. Then Aegeas frowned. "And were they friends or enemies?"



Mal looked down at Lunis, then back up at the others. Especially the pillar of darkness one man had arrived with.

He started walking backwards to the door, fumbling around in his robes for his staff. "No no no no no no," he said, finding what he'd been searching for and yanking it out. It was small enough to reach up to his knees (and really more suited for channeling energy than actual fighting), but he raised the smooth, blunt end at the attackers.

"Get back!" he said, hitting the door. He used his free arm to search it for the doorknob. "I know how to fight! Kinda!"

His paw wrapped around the doorknob. Stepping forward, he yanked on it, then slipped through the doorway and sprinted down the hallway, robes fluttering behind him.

Ari and Zion exchanged a look, trying to determine how many people were present on the floor. "There were three other people down there earlier," Ari said. "Two women, and a guy named Alex - Alex was pretty nice, and seemed to know them, so I think we can call them friends."

"But we have to account for the noises we heard," Zion pointed out. They turned their attention to the ladder that led to the lower floor. They started to wander over, but came to a stop a foot away. "I would add a few more people to the number of people present, but I can't figure out how many are down there."

Ari joined them and peered down at the lower floor. "I don't know if they'd necessarily be enemies, but there definitely is some kind of fight going on down there-"

Something suddenly burst up from the lower floor. Ari gave a startled cry and bumped back into Zion, who struggled to remain standing as the darkness coated the room. She had never seen anything quite like it before. At least, that was what she initially thought. The darkness moved with a speed unlike anything she had ever seen before, and it covered every visible inch of the room in black.

Then countless eyes opened up all around them, blinking and turning about to get a look at each of the room's occupants. Ari bit back a terrified scream as she clung to Zion - she know those eyes! It should have been impossible, but she knew them!


Kaito, Aquarius and Apophis all exchanged looks after the panther's purported friend went running out into the hallway. "I'm going to go out on a limb and say that he was more terrified of my magic," Apophis assumed. He turned his attention to the panther. After eyeing the destruction in the room, he grabbed his limb body and began to carry him towards the door. "I don't think this is the most sanitary place to be leaving someone in."

Kaito and Aquarius gave quick nods of agreement. Kaito knew that he should be terrified of the god, but Apophis was seeming more and more like a good person. Maybe he just accept that he wasn't anything like expected, and that darkness wasn't a bad thing-

As if his thoughts had conjured it into existence, darkness suddenly shot down the hallway and into the room. It wasn't like the darkness that Apophis had manipulated, or even Janos' - this darkness clung to every inch of the walls, ceiling and floor. Apophis came to a stop in the doorway. Aquarius clung to Kaito. And then two screams erupted simultaneously from the chosen and his god as eyes began to open all around them, scanning the room and its occupants.

Apophis turned his head back, looked down at his shirt, and then at the darkness.

"This-This can't be happening," he stammered.

Kaito glanced down at his shirt.

It was a Fullmetal Alchemist shirt, featuring the homunculi and Father.

He looked back at the darkness and the eyes.

"Holy sh-"

He was cut off by the sound of Aquarius whimpering. "Kaito, what's going on?" he asked, clinging to Kaito's jacket as he buried his head in Kaito's chest.

Kaito and Apophis exchanged a look and both gulped.

"It's a homunculus," Kaito whispered.

It took a second for Aegeas to realize that the darkness that sprouted from the floor wasn't exactly normal. Well, more like it took him a second to realize there was darkness at all, given how quickly it was moving. He pulled out a scimitar as it covered the walls, watching it swallow up the room.

"What the f-" Kellach said, cut off by the eyes that peeked out of the darkness.

Aegeas immediately jumped back from the closest one. Wrapping an arm around Kellach and pulling him close, the otter lowered the tip of his blade to the nearest eye. He knew it wasn't the safest idea, but it also wasn't like he had anywhere to escape to. Besides, how would this thing respond?



Oh crap. He thought he'd escaped, but the darkness that shot ahead of him in the hallway told him otherwise. Mal instinctively leaped for the nearest wall, crouching down and burying his head under his arms and the folds of his robes. Better to go down without seeing his killer.

All of the eyes turned to face Aegeas, staring at him and the weapon that would ultimately do nothing to stop the homunculus responsible for the shadows. "That won't do anything," Ari said, her voice high with fear as she continued to cling to Zion. Now all of the eyes turned to look at her instead, the one that had been previously underneath Aegeas shifting ever so slightly to avoid getting stabbed. "It-It's a homunculus, and homunculi can regenerate."

"This one's weakness is light - or the lack of it," Zion added. Ari was grateful she had gotten her shadow to watch Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood; she could barely think straight right now, but Zion thankfully remembered Pride's abilities and weaknesses.

But for an evil homunculus who loved to gloat, Pride was oddly silent.


"We need to get all the lights out," Apophis said. He was trying to think things through - come up with some kind of strategy - but it was hard when a supposedly fictional villain had suddenly come to life. But following through with the plan was easier said than done. They had dealt with Pride in the anime and manga by extinguishing the lights. The main source of light in this room was the window, and the entire ship was likely covered by the homunculus.

Kaito - who was almost certainly lying about his name - looked like he had come to the same conclusion. He had paled even more, and now was in the process of frantically searching the room for something to cover the window with. When that approach seemed to fail, he turned back to Apophis. "We can't cover the lights here!" he exclaimed, panic clearly written across his face.

Aquarius whimpered again at his side.

"Maybe it'll be easier wherever the container is," Apophis guessed. He peeked out into the hallway. All he saw was more darkness, the other Apophis, Auryon and the panther's supposed friend, who was now cowering up against the wall. "I don't see the container out in the hallway!"

Kaito glanced down at the eye beside his foot. "I don't get it - this isn't like Pride," he muttered, leaning down and tentatively poking said eye. Aquarius yelped when the eye darted a few feet away, and all of the eyes turned to watch Kaito. "It's like Pride's scared-"

The shadows and eyes bristled with annoyance. "I'm not scared," was the indignant reply - the voice childish and masculine, but with a creepy, strange echo that made Aquarius somehow cling to Kaito even more than before.

"Isn't it already dark in here?" Aegeas said, stepping away from the eye. Holding Kellach closer (and ignoring Kellach starting to push back), he stared at the various eyes until a voice drifted through the deck of the ship.

Aegeas lowered his sword. "It's scared? Of us? Why?" he said. The voice had obviously said the opposite of that, but he recognized that tone of voice and that denial.



"Well, I am!" Mal said to the voice. He refused to move an inch.

"If we can see each other, it's not dark enough," Ari quietly said, watching the shadows from Zion's side. "Pride's power comes from being able to form shadows - even if there's a little light, there's enough to make them-"

"I'm not scared," the voice repeated, this time with a little more force than before. As it spoke, the shadows suddenly receded back down into the other level of the ship. Light flooded the room through the open windows. Ari glanced at them before her gaze dropped down to the ladder that led to the lower floor. She knew it was stupid to go into something like this without the foggiest idea of how she was supposed to fight against a supposedly fictional character, but she also knew that something was off.

She had to figure out what that something was.

She climbed down the ladder, Zion hurrying on after her.


The darkness suddenly receded. Apophis, knowing that Pride had a tendency for dramatics, took a deep breath - if he was right, the homunculus was about to appear as its container. The small, light footsteps of a child that echoed down the hallway a minute later were testament to that. Still carrying the panther in his arms, Apophis exited the room to greet the homunculus. He was more than a little frightened, but he was the only one who could deal with something like this. No one else present - as far as he knew - had his immortality. He could hear Kaito and Aquarius hesitantly following him out.

A boy appeared.

Apophis swiftly walked over to the cowering man and deposited the panther next to him, then turned his attention to the small child before him. His clothes weren't nearly as pristine as they were in the manga and anime - he was wearing a pair of what looked suspiciously like elevator boots, a cloak and clothes that were all covered in dirt and grime. Even his short black hair was different, with tufts sticking up here and there to create an overall messy appearance.

He heard someone else approach.

He glanced over his shoulder to see Ari coming near, her shadow - apparently sentient - following close behind. He turned his attention back to Pride. Now that they were standing face-to-face, the homunculus didn't look all that terrifiying. If anything, Pride looked like just a kid. A little, murderous child who was glaring daggers up at him, but a child all the same.

"If you know so much about me already," the boy said, "I guess there's no harm in letting you see my container."

The voice no longer had that eerie echo, but there was something even more disturbing about hearing someone so young talk so maturely.

Holding a paw up to the light, Aegeas blinked as the desert came into view again. And, sure enough, despite the fact that the creature had run away, Ari and Zion were already making their way down the ladder, Kellach right behind them.

Aegeas grabbed Kellach's shoulder. "What are you doing?" Aegeas hissed, gesturing back to the desert behind him. "We can get out of here!"

"But doesn't it like light?" Kellach said, spinning back around. "I get you're scared and all, and it's kinda cute sometimes, but she sounded like she actually knew what she was doing."

Trying to ignore the burning in his cheeks, Aegeas opened his mouth to argue, but hesitated. Kellach was making some good points. Even if it did sound like another one of those stupid adventures they kept getting into.

"And I'm pretty sure those clouds are getting closer?" Kellach said, pointing out one of the largest windows.

The brown wall in the distance was all the motivation Aegeas needed to run for the ladder, pulling Kellach along.



That was odd. Why wasn't he dead yet? At least, he was fairly sure he wasn't - he could still hear that strange voice.

And then that feeling he was being watched faded away, replaced by the sound of footsteps and a child's voice. Most importantly, he felt something being set down beside him. Something big and furry.

Opening his eyes and peeking out over his knees, Mal glimpsed Lunis spread out beside him. Eugh, and the panther looked even worse than he'd thought. Beyond the bent leg, the paw was buried in splinters and shards of metal. Reaching for his staff, Mal scooted along the ground to lean over Lunis. The lion cringed as he plucked out splinters and watched blood pour down Lunis's foot. He was going to have to heal the bastard, wasn't he? But first, he was going to have to make sure the situation was safe. So he focused his ears on the conversation as he worked.

New people had arrived. There was a girl among them - one who couldn't have been that much older than seventeen years old - and Kaito tried to push aside the knot of envy in his chest. She was obviously terrified by the threat posed by Pride, but she looked so good. Her hair was cut into a cute bob, and her clothes were all were so casual. Kaito's hand clenched at his side.

Aquarius, seeming to notice his chosen's sudden mood change, slipped his hand into Kaito's much larger one. "It won't be long," Aquarius promised, his voice little more than a whisper. "Claire's almost done with the potion. And then you, Katy and Sebastian can all go back to normal."

Kaito gave a small nod - the thought of having to wait longer was an unbearable one.


Apophis continued to stare down at the child before him, waiting for the homunculus to make the next move. When Pride just continued to stare up at him with a glare, he realized that this conversation was going to be even more difficult than expected.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

Pride studied him for another moment. "Funny. I was going to ask you the same question."

"You have nothing to do with us ending up here, do you?" Apophis guessed. Pride just gave a nod in response. He withheld the urge to groan; part of him hoped that the homunculi were somehow responsible for this mess, even though he knew that was likely impossible. Pride was just in the same boat as the rest of them; the homunculus had been brought to this place by same random unknown person or force of nature.

"I don't even know who you are," Pride said. Interestingly enough, the homunculus sounded almost exasperated. "So, no, I didn't bring you here. Now that we've gotten that out of the way, who are you and why do you know who I am? Are you state alchemists, or some of the military's dogs?"

Apophis exchanged a glance with Ari and Katio, both of whom shifted uncomfortably at the question.

"Do you work with Father?" Pride continued, sounding increasingly more frustrated when no one gave a response. A groan left the little boy's lips. "You know the other me."

"O-Other you?" Kaito hesitantly asked.

"Selim Bradley, I think," Pride said. "That was the name he was using, according to Roy. He looks just like me, only wearing a different-"

The homunculus stopped, gaze dropping down to Apophis's shirt. Apophis felt an instinctual need to cover it up with his jacket, but the damage was already done. Pride quickly bridged the little distance left between the two and stared at his shirt - namely, stared at the drawn version of Pride.

"You have him on your shirt," Pride slowly said. "You have all of them on your shirt. Why would you wear them on your shirt?" The voice started to echo ever so slightly, and darkness began to emerge from the container's feet, little eyes staring accusingly up at Apophis. "They're murderers who don't care at all about humans, and they're meant to be just as much of a secret as we are. Who are you, and what the hell is wrong with you?"

The otters slid down the ladder and ran down the hallway just in time to catch the tail end of some angry kid's conversation.

Oh, a kid.

A kid controlling darkness.

A kid controlling darkness with a strange and angry voice.

Aegeas froze, hiding behind Ari and peeking over her shoulder. He could see Kellach slip into the darker side of the hallway, blending in the shadows.

Cursing under his breath, Aegeas hoped that Ari knew what she was doing, because he suspected that he and Kellach had a far better awareness of what that creature was than she ever could.



As much as he would've liked to let Lunis recover on his own (and suffer for a few months), Mal didn't want to anger the panther in this strange and unfamiliar place. Any one of the many wounds on Lunis's leg could become infected, and Mal didn't have the bandages or herbs to deal with that. And Lunis would probably murder him if the panther woke up with a single leg, or at least abandon Mal to the desert.

Holding his staff in his hands, Mal cast out a steady stream of light that emanated from his head, reflected off of the staff's tip, and hit Lunis's foot. As he closed his eyes and concentrated, Mal could feel the scratches and tears stitch themselves back together. Blood ran back into the wounds, claws snapped back into place, and splinters shot out into the hallway.

The light faded away. Shaking and gasping for breath, Mal fell onto his hands and knees. He hated this part. He hated feeling so dizzy and nauseous and uncomfortable in his own fur. And, when he found the energy to glare at Lunis's body, he was disappointed to find the panther hadn't even woken up yet.

"G-get up," Mal hissed, pulling himself onto his feet. He shook back and forth violently as he pulled back a leg to kick the panther. "Y-you bas-"

When his foot was only a few inches away from Lunis, the panther suddenly grabbed the limb and pulled. Mal tumbled backwards, hitting his head against the ground.

As the lion groaned, Lunis pulled himself up. "What did I miss?" he said, looking everywhere but at Mal.

"You missed Pride showing up-" Kaito started to say, only to fall silent when Pride's glare - and the glares of the shadows - landed on him instead of Apophis. He gave a small yelp and stumbled back, bumping into the wall behind him with Aquarius.

"I want answers," Pride demanded, swiveling his head back to face Apophis. He was so small compared to the god of darkness, but still managed to look far more intimidating.

"My name is Apophis," the god replied. "I have them on my shirt because I..." He scratched his head, thought for a moment and then let out a heavy sigh. "I don't know how I'm supposed to explain this."

"Then figure a way out," the boy hissed, shadows growing ever so slightly at his feet. "They're a military secret-"

The homunculus faltered. He studied the shirt for another minute, the darkness retracting into its container as he took a step back. He surveyed the group in front of him with a hardened gaze, and then promptly let out a groan. "This is another reality," he said. Kaito was surprised by how quickly he had come to the conclusion. "Their lives must be a story to you, and that's why you're wearing them on your shirt."

"Er, yeah," Apophis hesitantly replied.

Another groan. "I should have known."

"You're taking this surprisingly well," Apophis hesitantly added. The girl who was being used a shield by a humanoid otter nodded in agreement, and the shadowy figure beside her did so as well. Aquarius let out a quiet whimper when he noticed the shadow person - another reminder of Janos.

"I ended up in another reality where my siblings and I were evil," Pride said, a very tired tone to his young voice. "At this point, I'd believe anything."

"So you're not going to kill us?" Kaito hesitantly asked. "Just to, uh, clarify things?"

Pride gave him a deadpan look.

"I'm not a murderer," he said.

"Oh," Kaito replied. "That's good."

Lunis blinked. "So," he said slowly. "I can't remember what all happened in the last hour or so, but I'm getting the impression it didn't end well, so you better explain to me what's the deal with these realities. Oh, and why you're just going to believe that he's not a murderer. I can say that, and murdering people was my job description for a little while."

He internally winced. It was a lot more daring of him to say all that, but the healing process had left him feeling stronger and more clear-minded. If nothing else, he could probably fight his way out of this.