Chapter 2
The Temple of Leto

The party stood in the prayer hall of the temple. One of the senior black-suited cultists, called Cray, came out to greet them. "Father Cornello is doing a favor for Rose," Cray explained. "He's a very busy man. You should consider yourselves lucky."

Edward nodded. "I appreciate it. I promise it won't take long." The cultist nodded. "Yes, I know. It will all be over in a second. ...Just like this!" And, with that, the cultist pulled out a gun from behind his back and shot at Alphonse, shooting the armored helmet clean off, and knocking the armor to the ground.

All of the party got into fighting stances as more cultists came into the hall and surrounded them. Rose screamed, "Cray! What are you doing?"

"Rose, Father Cornello gave the word," Cray explained. "The hammer of God has fallen on these heretics. It is Leto's will!"

"Wow... you're god is mean," Alphonse remarked. Cray was surprised. "Hm? Who's there?" he demanded, staring at the armor. Slowly, Alphonse's body picked itself up off the floor. In the process, it leaned forward, revealing the insides. Or rather, the lack thereof.

"What the–!?" Cray exclaimed. Rose was completely shocked, as were the Kingdom Hearts characters. "You're... empty?" Rose gasped almost inaudibly. "No one inside...!? I-I don't understand..."

"A hollow, moving, talking suit of armor?" Sora mumbled. Riku glared at Alexander. "Alex, I'm guessing there'll be an explanation sooner or later."

Alphonse put on his helmet and stared at them. "This is my punishment for setting foot on holy ground. We made a mistake... and we're paying for it. Both of us are." Kairi glanced at the other brother. "Edward, too...?"

Cray growled. "Grr... You freak! Kill them! Kill all of them!!!" That was the cue. Erica and Rose found someplace to hide, while the others got into fighting stances. Those that wielded weapons summoned them. "Well, if the cat ain't finally out of the bag!" Edward remarked. "Let's get 'em!"

"Time for some magic, guys!" Alex shouted. Sora, Riku, and Kairi nodded. Sora pointed his Keyblade at one cultist and shouted, "Thundaga!" A large bolt of lightning struck the cultist, also shocking the others around him. Riku shot a few blasts of dark fire at a cultist with his Dark Aura ability. Kairi, not really having any magic, just slashed at a few cultists with her Keyblade. She was getting better, but slowly. Alex blocked a couple of bullets with a Reflega spell, using the reversed damage to knock the cultists back.

Even then, there were still many cultists left. Edward got an idea. "Over here, Al!" he shouted after kicking away another cultist. Alphonse nodded. "Coming!" he shouted, running over to Edward.

Edward stepped onto Alphonse's hands, and Alphonse boosted him up into the air. The young alchemist clapped his hands together, and an orange light started to shine from it. "Here we go!" he shouted as he fell back down to the ground and landed, placing his hand on the ground. Out of nowhere, large stone fists began popping out of the ground, punching the cultists and doing massive damage all over the place.

It effectively knocked the rest of the cultists out. The stone fists crumbled, and the party looked over the damage. Rose just stood there, shocked. Riku faced her and smirked. "So there's your god at work."

Rose shook her head slightly. "No! This must be some mistake! Father Cornello couldn't possibly give such orders..." Alphonse sighed. Erica groaned.

"Father Cornello is a compassionate man," Rose insisted. "He reached out to me and saved me when I became alone in this world! And Father promised me that he would bring Cain – my love – back to life! He promised me!!!"

Erica just about lost it. "Oh, for cryin' out loud... You see all this and you still want to believe in your fake prophet?"

"But..." Rose tried to respond, but her voice trailed off. Edward gave her a meaningful look. "Rose... do you have the courage to see the truth?"

Alphonse closed his armor up, and nodded at Edward. "Okay. I'm ready, Ed." The plan had worked; Rose was nowhere to be seen. Edward nodded back. "Alright. There's gotta be a way to go farther into the temple." He said this because they had already tried the other doors in the prayer hall. Those doors were sealed. "Let's look around," Edward suggested.

Erica grinned. "I think I know a way!" she shouted, running over to one side of the hall. Sora, Riku, Kairi, and Alexander rolled their eyes. Erica apparently wasn't good at subtlety.

Erica pointed at a raised platform, with a ladder reaching up into the balcony above them. Alphonse nodded. "I think we can go up that ladder." Erica grinned at him. "Of course!"

Edward stood on Alphonse's feet again, and Alphonse gave Edward a boost up to the platform. From there, Edward helped everyone else up too. They all climbed the ladder and walked to the other end of the balcony. They found a door there, and they walked through it.

The party entered a long hallway, stretching further east into the second floor of the temple. "Cornello must be down this hall," Sora supposed. Edward grinned devilishly. "The prophet's a verrry busy man; I don't wanna keep him waiting – let's hurry up and pay him a visit!" Erica giggled foolishly, making Alex groan.

More cultists waited for them down the hall. Unfortunately for the enemies, the party vastly surpassed them in battle. Sora, Riku, Kairi, and Alexander had already been through one adventure, and had earned plenty of experience along the way. In gaming terms, they had started the game at a rather high level. Edward and Alphonse were no amateurs either. Edward's quick transmutations, especially, helped out in turning the tide if they got surrounded.

They rounded the corner and walked through the large door to the west hall. Edward went around another corner and stopped. There was pretty much nothing else in the hallway. "Now that's odd," Edward remarked. "Where'd all the henchmen go?" He started to walk forward, but Riku stopped him. "Wait a minute, Edward," Riku advised him. He pointed at some red lights on the walls. It was hard to tell at that distance, but it looked like they were... machine gun turrets. Judging by the red lights, they were most likely automatic, and activated by some kind of motion sensor.

"It looks like some sort of booby-trap," Alphonse noted. Edward seemed rather impressed. "Wow. The prophet must be keeping some hardcore secrets in here. Let's see what I can do..."

Edward walked toward a torch that was just out of sight of the first turret. The young alchemist clapped his hands together and placed them on the torch. In a large flash of blue sparks, it turned into a large cannon. Edward jumped right behind the cannon and manned it. Taking careful aim, he shot a cannonball at the first turret. A large explosion occurred upon contact, and all they could see what a broken turret when the smoke cleared. Edward grinned, and started shooting at the other turrets. It wasn't long before all of them had been destroyed. The path was now clear.

They walked through the following passage, finding a stairway down into the west hall of the first floor. The party noticed a green statue on their left up ahead. The statue was of a tall, bearded man wearing a toga, and carrying a large staff with a sun symbol on the top end. Suddenly, the statue started to walk forward, slowly turning toward the party.

Kairi gasped. "The statue's moving!" Edward rolled his eyes. "Another one of the prophet's 'miracles', I guess..." Alphonse ignored his brother's remark. "What do we do?" he asked. "It doesn't look like we can beat those things through normal attacks." Edward nodded. "They do look hard," he replied, "but they're also on the slow side. We'll just have to use that to our advantage."

The statue slowly walked toward them, raising its staff to bring it down on one of the six fighters. Erica ran away and hid behind the door they had just came through. Edward waited until the statue started to bring its staff down... Then he spun to one side, the staff's sun symbol cleaving into the ground where he'd been a second ago. Edward slammed the palm of his right arm into the statue's side. There was a loud banging sound, and the statue was pushed back quite a bit. A few more rounds of this tactic, and the statue shattered into small boulders.

The party stood in the center of the two intersecting hallways. Three more statues from each other direction suddenly became mobile, and they were quickly surrounded. "Aw, man," Sora muttered. "There's more of them." Alphonse glanced at them. "It won't be easy fighting them one by one..." he pointed out.

Edward shrugged. "Yeah, I'll use alchemy to finish them off!" As the statues slowly approached them, Edward ran toward a small urn, and clapped his hands together. He quickly placed his hands on the urn, and it turned into a small spherical bomb. Edward paused, and transmuted the bomb again. This time, it appeared as a bunch of dynamite. Edward picked the group of explosives up, grinning. "That's better."

Edward quickly lit one of the bombs and shouted, "Watch out!" He hurled the lit explosive at one statue. When the dynamite hit the ground, it promptly exploded, and the damage made the statue crumble into small rocks. He started throwing more dynamite... which turned out not so well. While a lot of them were on the mark, a few managed to find their way into the fighters' paths.

Alex had the misfortune of having one land a couple feet away from him. Well... a simple Elixir took care of the damage that followed, but Alexander's mood wasn't healed in the least. Erica couldn't help but chuckle at Alex's slightly charred spiky hair. (Alex wasn't mad that it was burnt; the fact that it had remained spiky still ticked him off a bit.)

The party continued to the egress through the next door. Edward suddenly stopped in the middle of the hallway. "Hey, wait... what's that funny smell? Something sweet... and sour..." Erica suddenly paled.

"Smell?" Alphonse repeated in confusion. Then he paused. "Hold it, Ed. What's that black thing over there? Is it a puddle?" Everyone looked at the spot Alphonse indicated. There was a small black circular puddle on the ground, and Alex could've sworn that there was a faint red aura around it.

"Puddle?" Sora muttered, staring at the strange obstruction. Half-joking, Edward remarked, "It's not like it's been raining inside, or the maid's been cleaning the temple hallways..." Erica began to make some faint, high-pitched, incoherent noises.

"I don't know..." Alphonse replied. "And another thing... Doesn't it feel like someone's watching us?" Edward sighed. "Now you got me paranoid."

Riku nudged Alexander. "Can you feel it?" Riku asked. Alex barely nodded. "The darkness surrounding this hall... it's most likely the..."

Erica suddenly snapped, in the metaphorical sense. "Of course someone's watching us, you idiots! It's the Golems, for Pete's sake!" With that, she started running toward the door, leaving the others confused, but wary. Erica running away meant that there was a battle waiting to happen.

Suddenly... something stuck its head out of the "puddle." It looked around for a second, then popped out of the dark ring, with its entrance disappearing under it. It was only a foot tall, and completely black. It was apparent that this creature wasn't organic. It had bright round eyes, and a red transmutation circle on the top of its large, round, smooth head. The head made the creature look rather top-heavy, because it's body and limbs were rather thin by comparison. It had no hands or feet.

"Waaaagh!" Edward screamed in a disgusted tone. "What are these things?"

"New type of Heartless?!" Sora demanded, summoning his Keyblade. Alex shook his head. "No, these are..."

"Eeek!" a scream came from behind them. Everyone looked, and saw Erica in front of a bunch of small dark figures. These also had bright round eyes and large heads, but these had claws and less scrawny bodies. It was definitely familiar. Alex groaned, his Lockshield appearing in dark smoke. "Here's our Heartless. Right on cue." Riku nodded and summoned his Keyblade as well, along with Kairi. Edward and Alphonse faced the small Golems, while the Kingdom Hearts crew faced the Heartless. Erica stood between the two groups of fighters, totally defenseless.

"M-monsters!" Alphonse exclaimed, glancing between the two groups of abominations. "Ed!" Edward nodded. "Stay sharp! It looks like they're all comin' for us!"

With that, the battle began. The only Heartless that managed to appear were Shadows, so those were taken down relatively easily. Relatively, as in relation to the Golems. They were surprisingly nimble, even if they only had one attack. They would slam their large heads into whoever they were attacking, knocking the victim back a long way. Not only that, but those Golems had quite a bit more health than the Shadows, so they lasted much longer.

But they were obviously first level creatures of their kinds, so they were defeated with little injury in the long run. The Shadows faded away into darkness, but the Golems dissolved into the ground, leaving behind a small mound of mud.

"Well, that's wasn't that bad," Alphonse admitted. "But I wonder what they were?" Eyes turned to Erica. "You seemed to recognize them, Erica," Alphonse added. "Do you know?"

Erica slowly nodded, paused, then shook her head. "I know they're called Golems... but I'm not really sure exactly what they are. I never really... looked into it." Alex rolled his eyes. Erica only played the game for the sake of playing an anime-based game. She didn't really bother to figure out the minute details, like Alexander had done for Kingdom Hearts II on occasion. That's why he had made so many explanations; he had studied that much.

Edward shook his head, grumbling irritably. "I've never seen creatures like those before. They obviously weren't human, but they didn't look like any sort of animal..." He glanced at the Kingdom Hearts crew. "What were those other ones that you guys fought?"

"Those are Heartless," Alexander started, feeling an explanation coming on. "When the heart – the proverbial heart, not the organ – is removed from the body and soul, the darkness takes it and turns it into one of those."

Edward was confused. "The... proverbial heart?" Alex shrugged. "It's a long explanation, and I don't think any of us have the time."

"Could those... Golems have been the product of the Philosopher's Stone, too?" Alphonse wondered aloud. Sora quickly asked, "The Philosopher's Stone? What's that?"

Edward shrugged. "Back at ya. It's a long explanation, but we don't have the time." He nodded at Alphonse. "Anyway, that must be it. Cornello must have made those inky-black monsters. Man, I hate tasteless transmutations."

Alphonse seemed to look away a little. Both Alexander and Erica knew what his reaction was. Edward's remark had come across as rather ironic, because tasteless transmutations were obviously his forte.

Edward glared at the path ahead. "Well, we can clear that up when we meet Cornello." Kairi nodded. "Let's hurry." The party started running. Right before Erica went through the door, she looked back to see a bright green figure floating in the air where they had previously stood. The figure seemed to be female. It had blue-green scales all over its body. Bright green hair flowed freely behind its head, defying gravity along with its body, and its left eye shone a bright red. Erica shuddered, and resumed running, trying to catch up with the party.

Other than that, the rest of the path was rather uneventful. Uneventful, if you ignore the short bouts of fighting that occurred in the hall. One way or another, the party arrived at a large door with the familiar sun symbol engraved on it.

Edward looked up at it and grinned. "This must be the room that Rose told us about – where we could find the prophet. I guess it's finally time to have a face-to-face chat with the grand high windbag himself."

Alphonse knew what a "face-to-face chat" translated to in Edward's mind. So he quickly chided him, saying, "Now, be on your best behavior, Ed. We should watch his moves, and–" Edward cut him off. "I know, I know. He is the prophet, after all. I'll be good." With doubtful looks on their faces, the rest of the party followed Edward through the large door.

They found themselves in a large grand sanctum. Cornello himself stood on a raised section of the floor on the other side of the huge room. "Welcome to our sacred temple," he greeted them with practiced kindness. "What would a State Alchemist want here? Have you come to hear a sermon?"

Edward glared at him. "I don't have time for sermons from a con man! Your ring – it's the Philosopher's Stone, isn't it? I'll put this as simply as possible – hand it over!"

Alphonse sighed. He had held out some small hope that Edward would keep his promise of "I'll be good." He shouldn't have bothered.

Cornello seemed to drop the kind act, and his expression suddenly became a sneer. "Hm. So the State Alchemist sees through everything..." He held up his hand, displaying the ruby ring. "Indeed! The legendary alchemic amplifier is in my hands," he declared.

"We've been searching for ages," Edward explained. "We'll keep quiet about your swindles if you hand over the stone, so..." Cornello interrupted him with a cruel laugh. "Hahahaha! That is utterly absurd! Those citizens are my faithful servants. Do you think they'll listen to you?"

Alphonse suddenly let out a small gasp, and looked away slightly. Sora summoned his Keyblade in bright light, and pointed it at Cornello. "Spare us the self-righteousness!" Sora shouted at him. "Now I'm starting to feel sorry for all the people who believe in you."

Cornello was a little surprised by the sudden presence of Sora's weapon, but he grinned wider at the accusation. "The believers do not even realize that the miracles are nothing but alchemy. No need to sympathize with such fools. The only use I have for them is merely as pawns for war!"

"Father!!!" Rose's voice suddenly cried out. "Is that... is that true!?" Alphonse knelt down and opened up the front of his hollow armor. Rose quickly climbed out of it and glared at Cornello, who was immensely surprised. "What... Rose!?" Cornello exclaimed quietly to himself, at a loss for words. "W-where did you c– ...How?"

Rose had been hiding within Alphonse's hollow armor the whole time. She had heard the entire conversation, including Cornello's confession of his true nature. "Are you saying that you're not going to grant my wishes through your miracles?" she demanded. "Is Cain not coming back from the dead!?"

Cornello grunted. So much for his pawns of war; now he was in check. "...True, I am not a commissary of God. But with this stone, I may have the power to revive your fallen love..."

Rose gasped in surprise. Alphonse, having finished putting his armor back together, panicked. "Rose! Don't listen to him!" Cornello suppressed a grin. "Rose, be a good girl and come to me... I am the only one who can make your wish come true. Remember Cain. Now come!"

Rose didn't say anything, but she slowly walked up to Cornello's balcony and stood beside him, avoiding the gaze of all of those present. Erica groaned. "What an idiot..." she muttered. Alex rolled his eyes.

"Rose..." Kairi muttered, stunned by this turn of events. Riku sighed. Sora looked on with a worried expression. Edward growled in annoyance. Overall, it was clear that things were definitely not looking up.

"I'm sorry, you all..." Rose muttered, just barely loud enough for them to hear, still avoiding their gaze. "But this... this is the only hope I have..." Cornello chuckled, his grin at its widest now. "Heh heh heh. Such a good girl... And now... Perhaps its time to defeat the heretics who threaten my order."

A stone gate to the party's right slowly rose up. Some kind of creature started to walk out of it. Rose gasped. The Kingdom Hearts crew stared at it. Edward kept a steady glare on it. Erica watched in amazement, but Alexander kept his guard up.

Cornello displayed the ring some more. "Quite a powerful stone, as you should well know, boy. For instance, I can easily forge something like this."

"A chimera..." Edward muttered. It had a lion's head, a well as a lion's forelimbs, but the rest of it was reptilian. Rather large reptilian. Alex had to admit that it was a clever combination: Claws and fangs, as well as a sturdy hide. The perfect gladiator beast.

Cornello waved his hand, gesturing at the party. "Go get them, my beast! Rip them to pieces!" The chimera growled, then lunged forward. Alexander readied himself, but then he realized where the chimera was headed. "Erica!" he shouted, glancing toward his defenseless sister. He panicked when he realized that the chimera was too far gone; he couldn't protect his sister in time.

Erica shrieked as the beast lunged at her. But, to the others' surprise, there was instead a clanging sound. Erica looked up, and gasped when she saw the chimera chewing on Edward's right arm. The young alchemist had stepped in to protect her.

The chimera continued to chew through Edward's sleeve, but the boy didn't even blink. This seemed to confuse everyone, with the possible exception of Alphonse, who only looked on... almost knowingly.

"Why are you toying with him!?" Cornello demanded of the chimera, confused and outraged. "I command you, stop playing with your food and tear off his arm!"

The chimera continued to chew on the arm, but in vain. Edward's expression had no emotion. "What's the matter, you poor bastard?" he muttered. "Can't get a good taste?" On that cue, Edward thrust his right foot into the chimera's sensitive underbelly, sending it sprawling onto the floor on the other end of the room, visibly stunned.

Rose just stared at the chimera, incredibly confused. "Rose," Edward hailed her. Rose looked at him as Edward continued. "Don't look away." He reached up for his torn right sleeve, and began to rip it off over his right arm, revealing the metal beneath the cloth. "You need to see what happens... when you try to bring a human back to life. When you cross into God's territory, or whatever the hell it is..."

Everyone else just looked on in shock. "Mechanical limbs..." Cornello muttered. "You're automail..." He began to shout, "I see! Now I understand you! You are the Fullmetal! The Fullmetal Alchemist!" Edward's metal right hand clenched into a fist as he glared at Cornello, with a loud clinking sound resonating throughout the entire hall dramatically.

"Mechanical limbs!?" Kairi gasped. Sora stared at Alex. "How is that possible?" he demanded. Alexander gave them a quick summary. "Well, Edward's right arm and left leg were pretty much cut off, so he had to get artificial limbs. There are still nerve impulses coming from the brain, so all one smart mechanic has to do is create a nerve system within the automail that'll respond to those impulses."

Riku nodded. "Well, that part makes sense. I guess the rest is mechanics, though." Alex nodded back solemnly. He didn't completely understand it himself.

Cornello finally regained control of himself. "Well, that does answer a riddle of mine. Why the military would give a pup like you such a stern title: 'Fullmetal'." Putting his grin back on, he continued, "See, Rose, these two miserable boys dabbled with the most forbidden taboo in alchemy – human transmutation!" Rose gasped.

Alphonse lowered his head. "In the process, I lost my entire body... while Ed lost his left leg to the other side."

"The other side...!?" Rose repeated in shock.

"With his left leg gone," Alphonse continued, "Ed transmuted my soul and bound it to this suit of armor – sacrificing his right arm." Edward chuckled. "Heh... the two of us try to revive one dead person, and look at us now..." He glared at Rose, displaying his metal arm for her to see very clearly. "Rose... this is what happens when you try to bring back what's dead. Do you really want to go through with that?"

Rose broke down, unable to make any further reply than just high-pitched gasps. Cornello growled, annoyed by this conversation that was making Rose's faith in him waver. "Grr... Silence! Just shut your mouths! You are simply a sorry pair who stepped on the toes of God and were rejected! But this time, I'll make sure you pay Leto a permanent visit! Mince them, my chimera!"

Everyone's attention turned to the chimera, which had now recovered. It pawed against the ground, preparing for another quick charge. Erica hid behind a pillar at the side of the hall. Edward clapped his hands together, and placed one on the ground. In a display of blue sparks, a lance rose out of the ground, and Edward brandished it.

Edward charged at the chimera with his lance first. The chimera didn't seem to be ready yet, so it tried to back away. But Edward was faster than the chimera could walk backward. The alchemist stabbed his lance into the chimera a couple of times, but it didn't seem to do much damage. Edward then clapped his hands together and placed them on the lance. In blue sparks, it became a double-edged staff, with two long blades jutting out from the handle in the middle. In that same second, Edward spun the lance around in a combo attack, slashing the chimera many times over.

The chimera seemed to have taken more damage now. Sora charged now, swinging his Keyblade. But the chimera was ready this time. As soon as Sora approached, the chimera swiped its large claw at him. The claw caught Sora in the chest, sending him flying back.

Alphonse, Riku, Kairi, and Alexander charged at the chimera as a group. The chimera suddenly stood up on its hind legs and opened its mouth wide. A stream of flame billowed out of its mouth, burning the fighters and sending them back again.

"You're getting nowhere like that!" Erica shouted. "Try something else!" Alexander panicked. "Idiot! Don't call attention to yourself!" But it was too late. The chimera noticed the defenseless girl's voice and charged past the party, heading straight for Erica. Alex had an idea, but he had no time to warn the others.

"Give me strength!" Alex shouted. His head and limbs snapped back, and light shot out from his body. Kairi disappeared in that light. When the light faded, Alexander's clothes were a bright red color. He quickly ran after the chimera, brandishing two Lockshields. This was his Valor Form. In his right hand, he held the Heartless Seal, the original design. In his left, he held the Kingdom Copy, the design of which was a golden color with a silver Disney emblem in the middle. While the Keyblade had keychains, the Lockshield had designs.

The Valor Form gave him increased speed, allowing him to reach Erica before the chimera did... barely. He blocked the chimera's charge with both Lockshields, and he struggled against the beast's strength for a moment. Then Alex brought one of the Lockshields back, then snapped it across the chimera's face, knocking it away. Alexander followed through with the attack, going into a rather long combo. For the finisher, he spun around with both Lockshields, slashing the chimera many times over and throwing it back. Edward came up behind the falling chimera and clapped his hands. "How about this!?" he shouted, as a bunch of stone spikes rose out of the ground, bashing the chimera.

The chimera fell to the ground, stunned. Alexander reverted, and Kairi reappeared next to him. Edward and Alphonse were slightly confused by the Drive Form. Cornello just stood in his place, shocked. "H-how could my chimera be defeated!?" he demanded in disbelief. "Grrrr... rrrrgh!" Cornello groaned. "You snotty brats are such a pain!!!"

With that, Cornello turned around and started running up some stairs behind him, which led to a door at the far right. A secret passage. "Wha!?" Edward mumbled, surprised. "Where does he think he's going? You're not getting away from me!"

Edward started running after Cornello, leaving the others behind. "Ed! Hold on–" Alphonse shouted after his brother. Rose came down the stairs and stared at Alphonse. "Wait, please! I still can't believe what you said... How much you had to sacrifice to transmute a life..."

The party turned to face her. Alphonse began to explain, "The basis of alchemy is 'equivalent exchange.' In order to gain something, you have to pay the equivalent price." Rose nodded, slowly taking this all in. "Then, if that's the case..." she inferred. "Both of you have paid a hefty price... You must have gotten your–"

Alphonse averted his gaze. "Our mom was so nice... She was the best. We just wanted to see Mom's face again. See her smile, just one more time." He paused. "But our transmutation was a failure. The Mom that we transmuted... didn't look like a human being."

Rose and the Kingdom Hearts characters gasped at that. Alphonse shook his head, as if to digress away from the past. "We've given up on bringing her back, but Ed still wants to get my body back the way it was before. I want to get Ed's body back, too. But even that's a risk that could cost us our lives."

Rose looked away, shocked by the horror of it all. Alphonse nodded. "This thorny path is our fate... So you see, Rose... This path is not for you to follow." With that, Alphonse began to walk away, following the path Edward had gone.

"Um..." Rose tried to start, but she couldn't find any words to say. She just sighed, taking it all in. The Kingdom Hearts characters glanced at Alexander and Erica. Erica, in turn, glanced at Alexander.

So alchemy's not the perfect magic we thought it was, Roxas admitted. Riku grunted. "If this universe has laws that allow a person's body to be such a price, yet leave his soul..." he remarked, trailing off. Sora nodded. "Well, their mother must've been really nice, if they wanted to break a law to revive her."

Erica sighed. "Enough of this mushy stuff. Let's get going already!" Alex glared at her, and dragged her out of earshot of Rose. "Look, Erica," he explained harshly. You may have seen this many times before, but for the others it's a first time thing. Give them the courtesy of being able to go through their grief, or whatever they go through. Okay?"

Erica looked away, but slowly nodded. Then she asked, "Hey... how come you are able to use Drive Forms, like in KH2?" Alex grinned, and patted his jacket. "Magical garments. Given to me at about the same time as Sora got his new costume. I can even do Final Form, or Anti Form." He shook his head. "But there's no time for that. Let's catch up with the Elrics before they get too far ahead."

The entire party entered the secret passage. Down the hall, there were many Leto cultists waiting there for them. "We have orders from Father Cornello!" one of them shouted. "Not one person is allowed to pass beyond this point! We are the shield of the Sun God! We shall not fall back, even if our bodies are to perish!"

"Did you hear that?" Kairi asked the rest of the party. "What are we going to do?" Edward grinned. "Ever heard of bowling, Kairi?" Alphonse did a take. "Huh? Bowling?"

Edward stepped forward to face the cultists. "So you're not going to budge, huh?" he challenged them. "Well, I've got two tons of steel that's about to say otherwise!" There were several small metal fences in front of him. Edward clapped his hands and transmuted one of them into a large steel ball. With a pause for thought, he transmuted it again. Now the steel ball had spikes. With one punch, he sent the ball rolling toward the cultists.

The cultists were too firm in their resolve to panic, so they ended up getting mowed down by the huge steel bowling balls that Edward sent at them. With that obstacle out of the way, they moved on.

They came to a large door, and they saw that it led to the east hall of the first floor. Edward and Alphonse broke into a run, with the others not too far behind. Edward reached the fork in the hall, and headed toward the right... which led back to the sanctum.

"Not that way, Ed!" Alphonse shouted. "Turn left!" Edward stopped in his tracks, and immediately started running the other way. But in the process, he ended up slamming his face into Alphonse's metal backside. Alphonse and the others had stopped.

Edward clutched his face. "What... are... you... doing, Al!?" he stuttered angrily. Alphonse pointed ahead. "Just... look." Edward looked, and did a take. There was a woman standing there in front of the party. She had pale skin, long silver hair, and wore a brown and white dress, with a green cloak. She also had a certain... glow about her, making her seem... inhuman in a way.

"Who... are you?" Sora asked hesitantly. The woman didn't answer. After a moment, she started walking toward them. The others flinched and stepped away, but Edward, his pain forgotten, just stood there and waited for her. Erica had also stayed put, but only because she had seen this before many times.

The woman stood right in front of Edward. Slowly, she held her hand out, which slowly opened up to reveal something on her palm. Edward stared at the woman for a moment, then looked down into her hand. There was a ruby ring there. Edward glanced up at the woman's face again, but she made no motion.

Hesitantly, Edward reached out and picked up the ring. "Careful!" Riku hissed as Edward touched it, but nothing happened. Edward held the ring close to his eyes, inspecting it. Everyone else gathered around him to look at it as well. Edward looked back up at the strange woman. "So what do you want me to do with th–?"

His voice suddenly cut off. The woman was nowhere to be found. Everyone except the Interferences gasped in surprise, looking around for where she might have gone. "Where'd she go?" Edward demanded.

"Please..." the woman's voice lingered in the air around them. "Stop him... I beg you...!" Edward continued to look around, but gave up. The strange figure was gone. "What the hell... was that?" he asked.

Alphonse glanced at Edward. "We weren't... hallucinating... were we?" he wondered hesitantly. Edward shook his head. "No... it was the real thing. I've got the proof right here in my hand."

Alexander shrugged as Edward stared at the ring. "She sure was pretty..." Alphonse remarked. Sora glanced at the strange ring as well. It had a deep red ruby in it, with strange markings on the inside of the jewel. The band had the shape of a dragon, with the head biting the tail that was wrapped around the ruby. "What could this ring be...?" Sora asked, voicing the others' questions.

Riku thought about it. "Do you think this might be the same ring as Cornello's – the one fitted with that thing you called the 'Philosopher's Stone'?" Edward shook his head. "I don't think so. This isn't the Philosopher's Stone. I don't feel any power of the sort."

Alphonse's shoulders drooped slightly. "Oh. Too bad. But I guess that would have been too easy." Alexander shrugged. "Still, it doesn't look like any old ring. The picture inside the gem looks kinda like a transmutation circle. See?" he added, pointing at the jewel.

Kairi looked closely and gasped. "Wow, you're right. I wonder what it's for..." Erica stomped her foot on the ground. "Hey! What are we doing!? We still have to find the prophet!" she pointed out.

Edward nodded, pocketing the ring. "Yeah. Let's look at this ring later. Let's go, guys!" Without further hesitation, the party started running down the hall.

They reached the temple egress. To the side, there was a large door open. One quick look made it clear that it led to the temple courtyard. "The door's open..." Sora mused. "Do you think he went this way?"

Alphonse seemed to consider it. "But we don't want to end up outside in the plaza... unless the prophet ditched the temple to go outside." Edward shook his head. "Nah, he's not the type of guy to just turn tail. He must be planning some kinda dirty trick."

Alexander summoned his Lockshield and hefted it over his shoulder. Grinning, he remarked, "But it's no trick if you see it coming a mile away! He has no idea who he's dealing with!"

There was a mutual agreement to that statement, and the party quickly ran out to the courtyard. Cornello stood on a platform above the courtyard, right in front of a green statue of Leto. Edward faced him and grinned. "We finally gotcha, you false prophet! You and your bunk religion aren't going anywhere!"

"Heheheheh..." Cornello chuckled. Then it became an evil laugh. "Bwahahahahaha! Foolish little nose-picker... Blindly chasing after me, only to fall into my trap!"

Edward was a little surprised. "Huh? What trap?" Cornello held up his hand, which had the Philosopher's Stone's ring on it. "Behold... the power of God!!!" A bright red light flashed from the stone.

Suddenly, the ground began to shake a bit. Four tall white statues of Leto in the courtyard started to move, slowly walking toward the party. "Woah!" Edward exclaimed. "The statues are even bigger...!" Alphonse noted.

"Gahahahaha!" Cornello cackled. "Do you understand my power now? Not even a State Alchemist can top the power I possess! Now you will die, and I shall become God Himself!"

Edward shot a deathly glare at Cornello. "You couldn't do a damn thing without the stone, ya third-rate swindler! I'm gonna crush you and your delusions to pieces!"

Alexander brandished his Lockshield and faced the tall Leto statues. "Erica! Find some cover, now!" Erica nodded, and started to run out of the courtyard. But he fell back when she reached the gate. "What the...?" she mumbled, getting up. She placed a hand on the wall, and several hexagonal shapes flashed where she touched.

"Oh, no..." Alex muttered, seeing the barrier. This not only meant that Erica was trapped with them, but a Kingdom Hearts II barrier also meant...

"We have Heartless!" Sora shouted, summoning his Keyblade. Sure enough, Shadows and Soldiers appeared in the courtyard. Riku suddenly summoned his own Keyblade. "Nobodies, too!" Alex suddenly had half a mind to swear loudly, but he refrained from doing so as Dusks began to appear in the courtyard with them.

"Nobodies!?" Edward repeated in confusion. Alex rolled his eyes. "I'll explain later! You and Al focus on the statues! We'll take care of the Heartless and Nobodies!" With that, the battle started.

Alexander dashed over to Erica just as a Soldier was about to attack her. Alex cut it down, and stood in front of his sister, ready to defend her. "Stay close," he ordered her. Then he started slashing wildly at the Dusks that were approaching. Quickly, Alexander spun around them using the Reversal technique, temporarily confusing them. Alex used the bought time to hack and bash the Dusks to a pulp until they disappeared.

Soon enough, all the enemies in the courtyard were gone. Sora, Riku, and Kairi had taken care of the other small fry, and Edward had used a cannon to blow up the statues. Edward faced Cornello again. "Not to be a heathen or anything," he remarked with a smirk, "but I'd say your god's battling 0 for 2."

"Grr... You won't get away with this!!!" Cornello screamed. Edward got back into his fighting stance. "Get your ass down here, ya crook! I'm gonna show you that I'm way out of your league!"

"Cocky little brat... I'm going to kill you!!!" Cornello retorted, jumping down from his platform into the courtyard. The barrier around them came down, and many Leto cultists entered the arena. Edward ran back to his cannon and transmuted it again, reloading its shots. The others focused on Cornello and the cultists. Cornello was surprisingly quick, and he could transmute his cane with the power of the Philosopher's Stone.

He transmuted it into a rocket launcher, and aimed it at Kairi, who was currently slashing a couple of cultists. But before he could fire, a cannonball from Edward's cannon hit him and exploded, sending him flying back and making his weapon revert to the cane.

Alexander focused on protecting his sister, who often ended up surrounded by cultists. The cultists were rather weak in comparison, so Alex was able to handle them by himself. The rest of the party was now able to focus on Cornello.

Cornello swung his cane, knocking a few of his attackers away. Then he transmuted his cane in bright red sparks, and it became a large machine gun. The party was quick to get out of Cornello's path when he started firing. Unfortunately, the bullets were now headed for Alexander and Erica.

Alexander saw the bullets coming, and blocked them with his shield the best he could. Erica suddenly gasped as she was thrown back. Alex whipped around to face her as the firing stopped. "Erica!" he shouted, running over to her.

Erica clutched her right shoulder. One of the machine gun bullets had pierced her there. Alexander clenched his fist tightly around the handle of the Lockshield. "That flippin' little..." he muttered. He turned around to face the so-called prophet. "Cornello!!" he yelled.

Alexander started running toward Cornello, who didn't quite see him coming. "Don't you dare..." Alex muttered, lifting his shield up, "...ever hurt..." He was now close enough for an attack. "...my sister!!" With that, Alexander started a barrage of slashes, hitting Cornello as much as he could, his power fueled by his sudden rage. It was almost like the time when Alex had used Saïx's phantom claymores to break the Nobody's berserk. That rage was all he could focus on.

Alexander jumped back as his mind cleared, and he glared at the weakened Cornello. He glanced back and saw Sora using Curaga on Erica. Well, at least she would be fine.

"Erg... Erggggg..." Cornello groaned from the pain. Edward grinned. "I told ya. We're way out of your league." Cornello slowly shook his head. "I won't... I won't give up... As long as I have the stone, I can make as many miracles as–"

Cornello tried to use his ring again. But the second he did, there was a bright flash. "What!?" he shouted. He fell to his knees, clutching his arm. "Aaaaaaaagh!!!" he screamed. Everyone gasped. His arm had become hideously deformed. There were tubes, enlarged arteries, and those sorts of creepy stuff sticking out of his engorged arm. "My arm! My arm!!"

Edward got over his surprise, quickly analyzing what had happened. "Shaddup! It's just a rebound! What's the big deal if you lose an arm or two? Just let me see the stone! The stone!!!"

Sora tapped Alexander on the shoulder as Edward and Alphonse ran toward Cornello to inspect the ring. "What did he mean by a rebound?" Sora asked. Alexander shrugged. "I think it's what happens when alchemic amplifiers go out of control. It makes random and usually painful transmutations to the user. It would make sense, because Cornello was able to ignore the law of equivalent exchange for a while. But now that it went out of control, he's now basically paying that price. At least, I think that's how it goes, more or less."

Alphonse gasped. "It shattered..." Indeed, the deep red stone had fallen from the ring, laying on the ground in pieces. "Wha...!?" Edward mumbled, quite shocked by the news. "The Philosopher's Stone is supposed to be flawless! How could it ever break!?"

"Easy," Erica remarked, rubbing her tender shoulder. "It was a fake." Alphonse could only nod. "Yeah... a fake..."

The party stood on the other side of the courtyard, watching Cornello struggle with his deformed arm. "Just another wild goose chase..." Edward remarked. Glancing at Alphonse, he added, "And here I thought we could finally put you back in the flesh again."

Alphonse shook his head. "No, Brother, you'll be the first we'll fix. That automail's so tough on you." Edward sighed. "Nothing left to do... but start the search again."

"You never should have come here..." a voice accused them. It was Rose, on the verge of tears. "Father Cornello gave us hope. What right did you have to take that away?" Suddenly, she fell to her knees and started to cry. "Rose..." Sora mumbled.

"What do I have to live for, huh?" Rose demanded amidst her sobbing. "Now that I know Cain won't come back... You tell me that, Ed!!!"

Edward shook his head. "You'll have to decide for yourself. Walk on your own. Move forward. You've got a good, strong pair of legs, Rose. You should get up and use them." Rose continued to cry, not replying to Edward's words, though it was apparent they had struck her. With that, Edward began to walk away, leading the others away with him. It was time they left Lior.

As they approached the courtyard's gate, Edward suddenly stopped. "Wait a minute..." Alphonse stopped as well, along with the others. "Huh? What's wrong?"

Edward seemed deep in thought. "That stone might have been fake... But I wonder how Cornello got his hands on it." Riku grunted. "Hm. Good question. We could always go back and drag it out of him..."

"WHA!? AAAAAGH!!!" The scream came from behind them. Everyone quickly turned around and saw Cornello. Edward did a take. "...What the hell!?"

Cornello was sinking into a black swirling mass, and large black arms were pulling him down into it. The arms had red transmutation circles on them, much like the small Golems from earlier had. As the party ran toward him, the arms slowly pulled Cornello deeper and deeper into the black mass... until it had consumed him completely. Alexander suddenly felt sick to his stomach. Cornello's life... had just been snuffed out.

"Wha... what... what was that?" Edward demanded as soon as he could make a coherent sentence. "What just happened to him!?"

Erica suddenly gasped. On the platform in front of them was the strange scaly woman Erica had seen before in the temple's egress. The mysterious woman made a strange long sound, like a cross between a growl and a hiss.

"Ed! Be careful!" Alphonse warned his brother out of habit, his voice wavering in fear. Edward stared at the mysterious woman. "Did you... did you do that?" he asked her hesitantly.

The figure made another strange hissing sound. Then a green light appeared under her, and she started spinning around, melting into the light. Within a few seconds, she had completely melted away.

"Wha...!? Wait a second!!!" Edward shouted. But the mysterious woman had disappeared. Kairi mumbled, "She... she melted away..." Erica rolled her eyes. "No duh, Sherlock."

Alexander glanced at his sister. Is it just me, or did it look like Erica had seen that woman before? And not just through the game? Joumae asked. Sora, Riku, and Kairi heard this, but they made no apparent moves. But there was some suspicion toward Erica from the quartet now.

Edward shook his head. "I don't understand any of this... What the hell is goin' on here!?"

Disclaimer: I only own Alexander, Joumae, Erica, and the Lockshield. Every other element of this story belongs to their respective owners. Namely Square-Enix.