There are nowhere near enough of these. I'm sorry, but only two or three is not enough.

This is where I come in. Hello, everyone. Gamers, alchemists. *nods to both groups* The alchemists have met me before, but I don't think the people of SAO have, so. . . hi. Name's luluhrh. Call me Lulu or Her Royal Highness. (Lulu. . . HRH. . . geddit? . . . no? . . . Well screw you then. Fools.)

So. This is literally the only kind of FMA/SAO kind of fanfic there is, but whatever. It's what I'm using.

It's sort of AU. . . Ed was transported to this world at the end of FMA:B, and he still has his alchemy. This is his price for Al's body and soul to return to the world. He'll be a powerful player in SAO. . . yes indeed. . . Almost, if not on, Kirito's level, and almost, if not as, fast as Asuna. Very cool Ed-ness. XD

Also, for some odd reason, Ed caused the game to glitch. (Probably because of his AWESOMENESS! . . . or because of his other-worldly-ness. Your call.) Ed can do alchemy in the game, but he tries not to because he knows how dangerous it would be if he was found out. He was also a beta tester. He got pretty high in the levels in the beta.

So. . . that's about it. Let's get started!

Edward

I sighed. This world is insane.

I'd been in this futuristic land for almost two years now. Alone.

Well, not completely. I had my friend Alyssa and her older sister, Eden (also my friend, even if we didn't get along very well). They were this world's version of me and Al. Fortunately, they never really noticed the physical similarities between us due to Eden's longtime habit of dying her golden hair outrageous colors. I had taken to dying my hair dark red, because hey, why not? It was actually pretty fun, too. Of course, it made sense that we would enjoy the same things. We were just different versions of the same person.

They noticed that, though. How similar Eden and I were. How I acted as though Alyssa was my little sister. They didn't ask often, but when they did, I just tried my best to use my "smooth tongue." I didn't think it worked very well, but at least they shut up about it.

So I wasn't alone. Still, no one knew about me or where I was from. No one could ever know.

I met Kazuto Kirigaya one year ago. I ran into him on my way back to the apartment I shared with Eden and Ally. When we realized we had to go the same way, we struck up a friendly conversation. That was when we discovered that we were both beta testers for a new virtual MMO, Sword Art Online.

It was actually Ally who got me hooked on MMOs. She had been playing one when I first visited her and Eden, and she explained the concept to me, looking thoroughly shocked and outright horrified that I knew nothing about how to play.

"Have you been living under a rock?" she asked incredulously. It was as close as she ever came to being outright rude.

I shrugged. "Something like that," I replied wistfully, hopefully putting out vibes that told her that I wouldn't discuss my past.

Ally dutifully ignored the elephant in the room and began excitedly teaching me everything I could ever possibly want to know about the technology and techniques involved in MMOs.

Eden was less enthusiastic about teaching, but she also loved playing. She and Ally were pretty equal players, but while Aly was better with strength moves, Eden excelled at being agile. After mastering the game (it didn't take too long, I'm good at learning), I found that I was somewhat balanced between the two, leaning towards agility as my greater strength.

Technology was incredible in this world. Cordless phones, tablets with touch screens, holographs, television- so many things that I couldn't even count them!

But anyway. Kazuto and I bonded over SAO. He was an excellent player. I wasn't too bad myself. We exchanged numbers, promising to meet up once the game came out.

"You'll find me as 'Kirito'," Kazuto informed me.

I nodded, smirking. "Ah. Initials, huh? Man, talk about unoriginal."

Kazuto scoffed. "And what will you be called?"

I smiled. It hadn't taken much thought to figure this one out. "Fullmetal."

An eyebrow was raised skeptically. "Fullmetal?"

"Yeah," I replied in a slightly standoffish tone. "Do you have a problem with that?"

"No, not at all! It just seems. . . well, it doesn't seem like much of a name if you ask me," Kazuto explained.

I rolled my eyes. "Guess it's a good thing I didn't ask."

"Aw, don't be like that!" Kazuto complained. "I never said it wasn't cool. It's totally cool."

"Of course it's cool," I replied haughtily. "It's probably the coolest name out there." It's my name, after all, I thought to myself.

Kazuto grinned. "Sure, sure. You gonna go all metal once we start really playing the game?"

"Naturally."

We laughed and fist bumped.

"See you around!" he called to me, walking towards his house.

"Yeah, sure thing," I replied, waving.

It was strange, how easily I made friends in this world. Without alchemy to set me apart, I was just a very smart seventeen-year-old (now eighteen-year-old). Nothing crazy or different about me, aside from how much of a genius I was, and even that wasn't too out of place in this technological wonderland. There were loads of really smart people. Maybe not geniuses, but people as smart as Kazuto were harder to come by in Amestris. I guess I'm just lucky. I always end up with the most intelligent companions.

Anyway, I met Kazuto. That brought my total of friends in this world up to three. Not very impressive, but I didn't need impressive. All I needed were people I could rely on, and I found those pretty easily.

While Ally and Eden had similar characteristics to Al and I, they had different lives. While they lost their mother at a young age as well, their father never had to worry about saving an entire country, so he took care of them. He was also a descendant of the man who would have been my father in my world. He was a genius and had only recently passed away, leaving them tons of money that they put into savings, using only a small amount to buy a modest apartment for themselves. They associated with a higher class, but they didn't act like it most of the time, and neither did the rest of the "higher class" teens.

I met Asuna at a party they took me to. I washed out the dye in my hair and braided it neatly for the occasion.

Asuna was pretty, smart, and completely bored, sitting in a corner of the room. I sat next to her, tired of being introduced as "a friend". I smiled wearily at her. "Hi."

"Hi?" she replied in confusion. "Who are you?"

I sighed. "Ed. I'm Ed Elric. I'm a friend of the Everly's."

"Oh, Eden and Alyssa?" she asked. "Cool. They're not bad people."

"They're fantastic. They've been great to me since I got here. Without them, I'd probably be out on the streets!" I laughed lightly, as though taking me in was a favor they'd done for me.

"When did you meet them?" she asked.

"You tell me your name and I'll tell you," I countered.

She smiled. "Asuna Yuuki. My parents are hosting this. Well, my mother is. Father doesn't really care one way or another." She laughed a little, but I could easily see that there was more to it than that.

"Nice to meet you, Asuna," I said firmly. Then I continued, "Ally and Eden found me. Well, actually, Ally did. I wasn't doing too great. Ally sort of took me in, and Eden didn't protest." I smirked. "She acts tough, but she's a huge softy."

"Tell me about it," Asuna replied, giggling. "I know Ally still brings in strays, but the only reason she does that is because Eden used to, you know?"

I shook my head truthfully. They'd never told me that. Why would they? Still, I wasn't very surprised. After all, it was what I'd done as a kid.

"Yeah, I've known them since I was little," Asuna said softly. "Eden wasn't always so... well, actually, she was always pretty temperamental," she corrected herself, giggling. "Their friend Winslow- I don't know if you've met him yet, he lives pretty far away- and his granny always teased her about her height. It's probably the reason why she's still sensitive about it." Her expression turned solemn. "But after her mom died, Eden... drifted away. Ally was always seeking comfort from family and friends, but Eden started pushing people away and keeping to herself. She's had a bad time of it." Asuna stared at her hands, which were clutched together in her lap. "She was only five, but already so smart. Her and Ally both. And they lost someone very important to them."

I clenched my teeth against the rush of emotion that resulted from hearing all of this. These girls- my friends, my self in another world- had gone through almost exactly what I had. I didn't wish that on anyone. More than anything, I wish it hadn't happened.

Still... it could have been much worse.

Instead of saying that, I simply muttered, "Trust me, I know the feeling."

Asuna glanced up, looking as though she was about to ask what I could possibly mean by that, but upon seeing my face, she held her tongue. I was grateful for that. I wasn't ready to talk about my life anyway.

"So!" I said, trying to sound cheerful. "Is there any way to make this party less of a borefest?"

Asuna snickered. "Not if it involves staying here," she replied playfully. Then her face turned thoughtful. "Although... Maybe we could play some games?"

I must have brightened immediately, because Asuna looked pleased with herself.

"Ooh, can we?" I asked.

"Sure! Follow me to the gameroom."

Later, I asked if she had ever heard of SAO.

"What's SAO?" she returned curiously.

"It's an MMO-"

"What's an MMO?"

I blinked. "You don't know?"

She shook her head. "I think I've heard of it, though. It's multiplayer, isn't it? With servers?"

I nodded. "Yeah. MMO stands for Massively Multiplayer Online. SAO stands for Sword Art Online. SAO is an MMORPG- a Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game. You get to be a character- not like a book character, but a certain kind of person. As a player, you have skill sets that you don't have in the real world. It's... freeing, in a way. You get to be... someone else."

Asuna was quiet for a moment. Then she said, "It sounds interesting. How do I play?"

"Well, the game hasn't come out yet."

"Then how do you know about it?"

"I was a beta tester."

"What's a beta-"

"It's someone who gets to play the earlier version of the game to test it, see if there are any glitches, make sure everything is accessible."

"Oh. I see. That makes sense."

"So... you wanna play?"

"Yeah, I'll buy it."

"Cool!"

Just then, before we could even get to play anything, Eden popped her head in. "Ed! Come on, time to go."

"Aw, come on!" I griped, but Eden and Ally grabbed me by the arms and dragged me away. I heard Asuna laughing as I was "escorted" from the room.

"I'll see you in the game!" I called, just before the door swung shut.

"What was that all about, eh?" Ally asked once we got outside. She nudged me and smirked.

"Nothing," I replied airily, ignoring her mischievous glances. I was a bit too internally giddy to care about what she and Eden thought had been going on.

I had another friend.

So, in this world, I had four friends. Wonderful. No, seriously. I was grateful. It was nothing compared to my vast network of acquaintances/not-very-close-but-still-helpful friends back home, of course, but these were good, kind, funny people. I could only hope that their continued association with me wouldn't bring them misfortune.

Naturally, I was wrong.

A month or so after I befriended Asuna, SAO came out.

That was when shit really hit the fan.

Welp! First chapter finished! But you'll have to wait a while for the next one!

LOL, you guys know what happened when SAO came out. Like, "ENSUING SHIT STORM YARRRGHLEFLAGGLE" stuff. It's not much of a cliffhanger then.

Or is it? XD

So! RFF!

The word of the day is OLDSTER! Weird, right? It's just another word for old or elderly person. (? the fuck?) It's odd, but whatever floats the dictionary people's boats.

Love ya! lulu