Okay, i'd like to point out that this story is what would happen if chapter 45 of the other book is ignored. also, i'll be updating the profiles on my profile page again later.

kinda wish this chapter was better... and longer...

Chapter 2: explaining.

Location: Riftside.

Character: Light.

"Okay, so how the heck did you end up in the store, Edward?" Light asked as he searched through a military vehicle. "Oh, and can you wield a gun?"

"Well..." Edward seemed a little flustered that Light asked. "Don't ask. As for the gun, I don't need one."

"I didn't ask if you needed one, I asked if you can use one."

"No. I haven't even touched one before."

Light tossed a small pistol to Edward after he found it under a seat. "Well, consider this your first lessons then."

Edward threw it back. "Light, I don't need one, alright?"

Light caught it and threw it back again. "Edward, you'll need this eventually. If you have any abilities, that's fine, but eventually, you will need some sort of weapon to back them up."

"I'll just make one then!"

"Huh?"

"...You seriously never heard of Alchemy, have you?"

"Nope. If you're talking about special abilities, I know about magic and Psychokinesis, but that's it."

"Psychokinesis? Was that that huge ball of fire you made out of thin air?"

"Yep."

"Okay... so that's Pyrokinesis, right?"

"Yes. I've also got Electrokinesis, a friend of mine has Cryokinesis -" Light noticed that Edward looked confused over that last one. "Controlling ice with his mind."

"Oh."

"And there's Aerokinesis."

"That's Air?"

"Yep."

Light nodded. "Okay, that's all I know about psychokinetic abilities... your turn."

"Huh?"

"What're your abilities?"

"Oh." Edward looked around. "Well, like I said, my ability, I guess you could call it, is Alchemy... it's more of a science than a psychokinetic ability or a magical ability."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning-"

a piercing shriek filled the air. Light looked around. "Oh crap... okay, we need to go. Now. Before whatever made that sound gets here."

Before Edward could say anything, Light had grabbed the collar of his shirt and started running in the general direction of the barricade.

"Okay okay, okay! Stop dragging me!"

"Sorry." Light let go and kept running, listening to make sure Edward was right behind him.

Light skidded around a corner – and crashed into an infected. It grabbed Light by the shoulders, and he reacted by somersaulting and kicking it off of him, firing off a coupe rounds with the luger while he was at it.

The infected fell against the ground, head split open and blood pouring everywhere.

"WHAT THE HELL?" Edward yelled, grabbing Light by the jacket and glaring at him. "Why the hell dd you just kill a guy that was just standing there -"

Light's eyes widened. "Edward... unless you turn around right now, that 'guy just standing there' is going to tear your head off..."

"Huh?" Edward spun around. "HOLY CRAP!" he yelled, ducking as the now headless zombie made a grab for him.

Light got up quickly and grabbed Edward. "You know what, let's run." He yelled.

He skidded to a halt as one of those dragon-mutant-freaks dropped from a building. "Oh, my gosh..." was all Edward could say. "What the hell..."

"No time to explain!" Light yelled, waving his hand in a clawed-uppercut motion. Blood-red lightning bolts shot up from the ground and impaled the beast, tearing it to shreds and sending it flying at the same time.

Two more jumped down from the buildings, tongues lashing. Light noted that these two seemed a bit larger than the last.

Suddenly Edward clapped his hands together. To Light it looked like he was praying. "Light, I got this!"

"What do you mean you got this-"

Edward slammed his metal hand against the concrete. Next thing Light knew, blue lightning was dancing along the concrete and the grounded distorted, then huge spears made of concrete sprang up from the ground, impaling the two creatures and killing them instantly.

Light just stood there. Whoa... he looked around. "Um, I think we should get going; usually if there's more than one of those things, there are a couple dozen more."

"Yeah, sure... what was that thing anyway?"

"Um, a mutant, obviously... what the heck was that you just used?"

"Alchemy."

"Oh, so that's your ability..." Light started walking, walking past the distorted parts of the street. "How'd you manage this?"

Edward looked around then followed. "Alchemy is the science of understanding matter." he said simply. "It has three stages; construction, deconstruction, and reconstruction. As long as I know what the material is made out of, I can re-make it into whatever I want, within limits obviously."

"Wow. That'll be useful..." Light mutters. "What limits, exactly?"

Edward picked up a crowbar. "For example, take this crowbar. It's made of steel and weighs about 5, 6 pounds. Now, I can take this and," Edward set it on a nearby car and clapped his hands together before setting one hand on the crowbar. Blue lightning flared up again and the crowbar seemed to melt, then reformed into a solid block of metal, with another, much smaller block of something beside it. "Turn it into a solid block of steel weighing the same amount."

"What about the block beside it?"

"Oh, that's the plant-based paint."

"Oh."

"And I can take this block." Edward clapped his hands together again. Light noted that whenever Edward did that, his metal arm made a ringing noise. "And, for example, turn it into a sword." he finished, placing his hand on the steel block and turning it into a several foot long sword. "Or a couple of daggers." the sword melted into three daggers, one smaller than the other two. "or a rifle made of a carbon-based material. Doesn't work, though..." the three daggers melted and reformed as a rifle with a foot-long barrel. "Now you've probably noticed that each time I transmute this, the weight stays the same, right?"

Light nodded. "Yeah, so you can make basically anything out of any material, so long as the material matches the weight of what you're trying to make."

Edward nodded. "Nice to see you caught on quick." he said. "usually people don't catch on that fast. And no, not anything. I can't change inorganic matter into organic matter, and vise versa. Also, I can't create something out of thin air; unless the air is heavy with carbon, that won't work." he shivered. "What time of year is it? It's freezing!"

Light didn't really register until just now that Edward was wearing nothing but thin black clothes. "Um, it's in the middle of january." he said. "Maybe I should find you a coat or something..."

"Yeah, that'll help."

Light began walking. "Well, let's try to get back then. I'll find you some sort of jacket... what happened to your arm? The not-metal one." he asked, remembering that it was in a splint.

Edward looked at it. "oh... it's broken." he said. "Got into a nasty fight with a Homunculus."

"They actually exist?"

"Yep... hey, Light."

"Yeah?"

"You don't really have to call me Edward... it could just be Ed."

"Fine."