Young Writers Society

"Yeah," Jaron said, tilting his head in the direction of the door while keeping his eyes on the device. "That's how I could make a room for Aegeas. And it just, doesn't matter if I can remember it or reverse engineer it if it doesn't make sense in the real world. It's going to be so much harder to make, if not impossible, depending on what it is."



Fyrsil shook his head. "Separated hundreds of years ago," he half-whispered, before moving his gaze from the ground back to the brothers. "At least you're getting back together? Hopefully?"

"...You do have a point," Robin conceded. "But at least you can make fidget cubes and fidget spinners! Those definitely work in the real world - I always use them on my world, and there's not a single bit of magic attached."


"We are," Envy confirmed with a nod.

"They already found me," Greed said, gesturing at himself with a finger. "It was entirely accidental, but it's one homunculus down."

"...We thought he kidnapped Alphonse Elric," Envy said. Greed shot his sibling a glance; it was clear that they had bounced back to their usual self, and were wasting no time in teasing him.

"I just wanted to show him kittens," Greed defended. "It wasn't my fault he forgot to call his brother."

"You tried fighting Edward, Reyes and Izumi when they came to get Alphonse," Envy pointed out, giving a mischievous smile.

"Edward tried breaking my shield, Reyes tried stabbing me, and Izumi tried breaking my house," Greed argued back; he was happy they could fall back into their usual banter.

"Well, you do look like a mob boss," Envy nonchalantly shot back. "And the Devil's Nest was shady..."


"His Blessing is nothing special," Zogin grumbled. "Just a little bit of darkness, just like Mage. But it's what he's willing to do as a person that's more the problem. If it'll help him achieve his goal, he'll threaten, kidnap, and even kill."

The fox thought for a few seconds, then nodded. "I can make these, sure" he said. "They're super basic, and even if I forget anything, I can just make a different version of them."



Fyrsil threw up his paws. "I know it's weird to be focusing on this instead of them trying to tear your house down," he said, looking at Greed, "But you wanted to show him kittens? Just because, or was there any reason?"



"Then why were you hanging out with him?" Arlais said. "Please don't tell me this is another Mage situation, where you think he's bad but then it turns out you didn't know something or you know some bigoted people." Arlais wanted to say that Zogin was kinda bigoted, but that'd probably just anger Zogin.

"Maybe it'll help breaking everything down into basics?" she suggested. "Then you can think about all the big parts and put them together to make whatever you come up with up here-" She tapped her forehead. "-come to life after things go back to normal."


"Oh, there was a reason," he reassured Fyrsil. "Him and his brother used to be apprenticed to the local alchemist. She also runs the local butcher shop, so I'd see the two most of the time when I went to get some meat. I hadn't seen them in Dublith in ages when I suddenly ran into Alphonse on the side of the road, and I remembered just how much he loved cats. So I offered to show him them. He's...different now, and I wanted to see if it was still really him in there."

Greed rubbed the back of his head.

"...I know that sounds stupid," he admitted. "But it wasn't just that - I genuinely wanted to hear the kid happy. He sounded a little distracted when I was talking to him, and I could tell that he had gone through a lot since I saw him years ago."


Zogin let out a sigh.

"It's a long story," she admitted. "One that none of us really want to tell. But the short of it is that he forced himself into our lives, tried kidnapping Soul, and now we're stuck with him for who knows how long. So I'm not sad that he's decided to wander off again - it means I don't have to deal with him for awhile."

"That's what I was already doing," Jaron said, frowning, "But if the little stuff is wrong - if one gear is out of place, or I forgot about the tension somewhere, or a spring is exerting a little more force than I thought - the big stuff won't work either."



"That's, fair enough," said Fyrsil. Well, that was a little less entertaining of a story than he'd been expecting. "I'm hoping you didn't just walk up to him and say 'hey, it's nice to see you again, want to see some cats?'"



"I just don't want anyone else to be able to deal with him for awhile," Arlais said. She took a deep breath; she wasn't against running into the ship on her own and looking for him, but having company would be nice. Especially since it sounded like he was a little more capable of fighting than she was. "And why is he still bothering you, anyways? Does he still want Soul?"

"...That's a good point," Robin admitted.

She fell into silence, gaze traveling around the room as she tried to think of how to continue the conversation. After a few moments passed, she was suddenly struck by an idea. "Since you can do literally anything here," Robin slowly began, "what's something crazy or impossible that you wouldn't normally be able to do, but want to do anyways?"


Greed stiffened.

"He did," Envy confirmed.


Zogin glanced over at her partner.

"...He does," Soul quietly confirmed.

"I don't think that's ever going to change," Zogin declared. "We tried getting rid of him after the kidnapping, but he's probably older than us all by several centuries - he knows how to sneak around. He just keeps showing up when we least want him to-"

Soul suddenly nudged her with his shoulder. She went to shoot him a glare, but then he nudged her again when she started to open her mouth to continue her rant.

"Janos is over by the lake," Soul whispered, "and I think he can hear you from over here."

She turned to see the angel in question walking along the lakeside - thankfully out of reach due to Soul's fear of water.

Jaron blinked. "I, uh, don't know," he said slowly, looking up at Robin. "I never thought about that. Do you have any ideas?"



Burying his head in his paws, Fyrsil groaned. "Why did you think that was a good idea, especially if you knew what his family and friends were like?" he said.



Catching what Zogin and Soul were whispering to each other, Arlais's eyes darted to the figure by the lake. The otter let out a deep breath. "Well, someone's going to need to talk to him," she said. "To figure out what all he was doing on the ship, if he was doing anything. Until then, we can always go into the ship and avoid him, if you're both fine with that?"

"Not yet," Robin said. "But, if you give me a minute, I'll definitely come up with one or two of them."


"In my defense, I didn't know what they were like," Greed protested. "It had been centuries since I saw Envy, and I didn't know about Reyes, so I had no idea that they were traveling with the Elrics. And I still had it in my head that Ed and Al were these cute little kids, not a state alchemist and a..."

He fell silent. It wasn't his secret to tell.


Zogin let out a groan.

"...We should go talk to him now," she relented. "We could avoid him, but I'm just going to keep thinking about him being outside."

Soul gave a hesitant nod in agreement.

"I could always make the house bigger, or add something to the lake, or change up the weather?" Jaron said, resting his head on Kendrik's shoulder. The fox closed his eyes and smiled faintly. "I'm just, pretty happy with what I have."



Whoop, it looked like there was a bit more there than Greed was willing to talk about; Fyrsil could respect that. "That's fair," he said, looking back up at the brothers. "As long as you were, y'know, at least a little cautious about asking someone you haven't seen in years if he wants to see some cats."



"Alright, I guess we can be the people to talk to him," Arlais said. Trying to stifle a sigh, she waved for the others to follow as she walked over to Janos. She didn't have a good feeling about this conversation, but at least they were confronting him.

Robin crossed her arms. Those were definitely options, but this was the opportunity of a lifetime. She had to make this fun. "...What about an all you can eat buffet, with food you could only dream of?" she asked. Technically it wasn't hard for her to get her hands on whatever food she wanted, but this was a lot easier than sneaking into places.


"I'm as cautious as I can get," Greed reassured him. "I didn't show the tattoo, gave my alias as my name to jog his memory, and even showed him some proof - one of the kittens had snuck into my pocket, so I showed him that one before we headed back."


Janos watched as the trio approached. Though he hadn't heard the entirety of their conversation, he had heard just enough - and seen the glances they gave in his direction - to understand that he was the subject of it. Even though Soul refused to reveal the full truth, he was certain that Zogin and Soul had given enough of his story to make Arlais uneasy.

They would never understand.

But he hid his aching heart between a nod of his head and a greeting when they were close enough to easily hear him. "Hello," he said. He kept his gaze on Arlais; looking at Zogin made him feel a guilt he never could ignore, and Soul...

...He wasn't sure how he felt about Soul.

Kendrik smiled; it almost looked a little strange on the hound's face, but Jaron liked it.
The hound didn't smile unless he felt safe and secure. "Ya know yer talkin' to someone who forgets ta eat half the time, right?"

"Yeah," said Jaron, cheeks stinging. "I'm, not really a food person."

"Or a sleep person," Kendrik said.

Jaron nodded, giving a sheepish smile.



Well, at least Greed had been a little cautious. Besides, the otter got the feeling that these cats were a little different than the ones he was familiar with, so he might as well ask about them. "What's the deal with the kittens, anyhow?" Fyrsil said. "Do you just like having cats around? What are they like?"



"Hi," said Arlais, the little hesitance in greeting a kidnapper seeping into her voice. She stopped in front of him, standing up straight to make herself look a little taller (not that she felt especially tall compared to him, or anyone else). "Is it fine if I ask what happened after you walked away from everyone else on the ship? Just because we were told that a, less-than-friendly person is making its way over here."

...She had been really loving the idea of a buffet, but she couldn't let them know how selfish of a suggestion that had been. "I'm not much of a sleep person, either," she agreed. There wasn't really a need for it, especially given her...side job.


"What do you mean?" Greed asked. A confused look flickered across his face. Beside him, Envy adopted a similar expression.


He looked over at Zogin and Soul. If he had any doubts earlier, they had certainly been quelled. Arlais did know his story to the extent that the two knew it, and fully believed that he would join forces with whoever this unnamed person was. It hurt, but it was what he deserved.

And it had been a long time since anyone had truly liked him.

"I just walked around the ship," he said. "I was...thinking."

"It's kinda hard to sleep when I could be building things," Jaron said, voice fading a little. He didn't mind when Kendrik pointed his lack of sleep out, especially because the hound had the same habits he did (and liked to tease Jaron). Somehow, a stranger bringing up not sleeping made him feel a little uncomfortable. Jaron decided not to bring attention to it. "But yeah, I can make one of those buffet things, I just, don't really know what foods to put in it?"



Whoop, and now they were a little confused. "I mean, what do the cats do?" Fyrsil said, moving his paws out of a force of habit. "Do they eat and sleep a lot? And why do you like keeping them around? Are they pretty friendly?"



"Okay?" said Arlais, putting on a very small smile (anything larger would feel a little too fake, although smiling at all was dishonest). "Did you run into anything weird while you were walking?"

She crossed her arms again and began to pace around the room.

"Food's a definite," she said. "Like...pizza and hamburgers. And maybe a rotisserie chicken! And chips, and soda - no wait, that's a drink. Though lots of drinks would be good, too...Oh! You can get some wine, and those fancy cheeses and crackers - I haven't had those in ages."


"The kittens do eat and sleep frequently, and they're pretty friendly," Greed confirmed. "They're cute. All of them are tiny enough to fit in the palm of my hand, and the rest of my friends love them, too. It's hard to find a living creature that likes all of us, but those kittens have no problems with anyone - they even like Dolcetto, and he's a dog!"

Envy glanced over at their brother.

"...Greed adopts whatever he can," they finally said. "The kittens didn't have a mother. It's not just kittens, either - he unofficially adopted his entire group, and probably did the same with the Elric brothers."

"I had to," Greed said. "I couldn't help. Back when I first met them, Edward and Alphonse's dad was nowhere to be found, their mom was dead, and Izumi might be a good teacher, but she's not the nurturing type. Someone had to step up to the plate and make sure they had a chance to be kids."


He shook his head.

"I just saw the ship," he said.

Jaron put on a very weak grin. "I'm, not sure what all of those are," he said faintly. "Pizza? Hamburgers? Soda? And I'm not completely sure I can make them taste like what you want them to taste like? Unless I can convince your mind that it's exactly what you want, I guess. I might be able to do that; this whole mind stuff is weird and complicated"



Fyrsil winced - at least he'd had his family. The Elrics losing their mom had to be painful, to say nothing of a missing dad. "It sounds like you did a pretty good job?" he said. "Except for the part where they came back and tried to pick a fight with you, but you did have those kittens. And they really do sound adorable. They kinda remind me of a smaller and friendlier version of someone I know. Also, are dogs like kittens? What's Dolcetto like?"



Now Arlais looked back at the others, smiling uncertainly. She didn't have any reason to disbelieve Janos. Blunt as he was, he sounded pretty honest. Arlais wanted to know if the others felt the same way about him.