Chapter 3
A Time for Explanations

Alex raised an eyebrow. "You take spares along with you?" Alphonse nodded as he pulled out a red trenchcoat from his hollow armor and passed it over to Edward, who put it on. "We have to," Alphonse replied nonchalantly. "You wouldn't believe how quickly he goes through them."

Erica snickered as they walked out of the city of Lior. "Well, that does explain why you tore it off," she admitted. "That's always been a riddle of mine..."

Edward gave her a strange look. "Huh? Why would that have always been a riddle for you?" Alexander and the Kingdom Hearts crew squirmed uneasily. Edward continued. "Did you already know I was going to do that?"

Alexander slapped his forehead automatically. In hindsight, that had probably been a bad move. In his defense, though, Erica's remark had been an even worse move. In any case, attention was immediately drawn to Alex.

"Hmm..." Alex groaned when he realized his mistake. "I guess it's finally the time for explanations, isn't it?" There was a mutual agreement. Alex sighed. "Alright, which questions came first?"

Edward glanced at Erica. "Well, one of my first questions was how Erica already knew about all this stuff in advance." Erica shrugged. "Like I said, you wouldn't believe me if I told you."

Riku shook his head. "No, I think it's better if they're told. Even if it sounds far-fetched, it's the truth, and the only explanation." Sora nodded, and turned to Alex. "Alexander's pretty good at explanations. Why don't you give it a shot?"

They now had the Elrics' complete and undivided attention. Alex sighed as they walked on through the desert. "Alright... Well, firstly, you should be told that there are many other worlds besides this one."

Edward was skeptical already. "Other worlds? How is that possible?" Alex anticipated this, so he summoned his Lockshield. "Because something like this can't possibly exist in this world, now can it? You're an alchemist; you should be well aware of the laws of this world. And the summoning of such a weapon with these properties simply shouldn't fit those laws, right?"

Edward scowled. "I'll admit I don't have an explanation for those weapons yet. You called them the Keyblades and the Lockshield?" He paused. "What were those techniques you used earlier? Sora's command of thunder, Riku's fire technique, and the strange reflective skill of yours. And what was that when you changed form?"

Alex grinned. "Magic. Nothing else to it. Sora used a magic called Thundaga. Riku's technique was called Dark Aura, and it's a skill specific to him. Mine was called Reflega, where I can create a barrier, and return the damage inflicted on that barrier against my enemies around me. There are other spells: Firaga, Blizzaga, Magnega, and Curaga."

Sora nodded. "Curaga is a healing spell, obviously. I used it to heal Erica's gunshot wound, remember?" The Elrics looked back at Erica, who hesitantly nodded. "Well, then it has to be magic," Alphonse reasoned. "No kind of alchemy can heal a wound like that instantly."

Alex went on. "Anyway, that form change earlier was called a Drive. A special ability that belongs to these garments right here," he explained, tugging at his jacket for emphasis. "Sora's garments have the same magical properties. Anyway, the Drive is when I combine with one of my comrades to increase my power. The form you saw was Valor Form, one of the five Drive Forms. It's one of the basic Forms, and it focuses on attack power and speed. I used it because I knew the speed boost would help me fight off that chimera."

Edward slowly nodded. "Alright, so there are other worlds out there, from which this 'magic' stuff comes from. How does that have any bearing on Erica's little 'premonitions'?"

Alexander rubbed the back of his neck. He was getting to the hard part. "Well... the fact remains that all of these worlds in this universe are derived from... video role-playing games. Video games from our universe, the real world Erica and I came from."

Ignoring the Elrics' reactions, he went on. "Erica and myself are what we call Interferences. Basically, someone whose heart somehow connected with the game's content, essentially turns it into a reality, and ends up getting sucked into the game. Naturally, the Interference usually makes slight changes to the storyline."

Edward was shocked. "You... you mean we're just part of a game? And you all are these 'Interferences'?!"

Alexander shook his head. "No... This world is a reality now, thanks to Erica. The game only covers a very small portion of the events here. What your lives were in the past is still your own, with no change on anyone's part."

Alex looked back at his comrades. "Oh, and my friends here aren't Interferences in the literal sense. They're actually from a separate game universe." Kairi nodded. "We're actually from a different game, called Kingdom Hearts II. It was the universe Alexander entered first."

Alphonse nodded slowly. "I think it's starting to make sense... You're able to use magic and all that because you're following laws that belong to a different universe, which allows that kind of stuff to happen."

Edward furrowed his brow. "So... basically... you and Erica know about these details because... you played through our game before?"

Erica nodded vigorously. Alex sighed. "Well... there's something else I should mention. This game we've entered... it's actually based on an anime and manga series. Called Fullmetal Alchemist, I might add. Erica... is a fangirl of that series. She's played the games many times over, so she has it pretty much freakin' memorized."

Edward chuckled. "I'm flattered. What about you, Alexander? Are you also a fanboy?" Alexander did a take. "Huh? What? No, of course not!" he spluttered angrily. "It's a good series, but I don't draw half-baked transmutation circles on paper in my spare time! And yes, I've played through the game, but that's because the game has pretty interesting gameplay!"

Sora chuckled. "He's not a fanboy. He's a dedicated gamer." Alexander growled incoherently in response. "Thank you, Sora," he muttered sarcastically.

Alphonse mulled it over. "So you and Erica are Interferences that made this universe a reality. And Sora, Riku, and Kairi accompanied you into this game." He paused for a moment. "Wait, if Erica was the Interference that entered this game, why did you come here?"

Alexander glanced back at Erica. "Unlike Kingdom Hearts II, this game has elements that can be incredibly deadly in reality. I came here to make sure she made it through alive. My friends from Kingdom Hearts were kind enough to lend their assistance. There's plenty of fighting in this game, so we'll need help to get through this."

The party walked on in a relative silence. Soon, they had left the desert and were starting to walk along an actual road. "Where are we going?" Kairi asked the Elrics.

"East City," Edward replied. Alphonse nodded. "We were sent to Lior to investigate the Philosopher's Stone. Too bad it was a fake..." Edward scowled for a moment. "Yeah, the jackass Colonel at East Headquarters is not gonna be too nice about that..."

"Oh, right!" Sora exclaimed, bringing attention to himself. "You didn't explain what the Philosopher's Stone was!" Alphonse nodded. "Right, the Philosopher's Stone. It's a legendary alchemic amplifier. It's supposed to be able to ignore the law of Equivalent Exchange and even bypass the taboo of human transmutation."

"So you need the Philosopher's Stone to be able to return you two to your original bodies?" Riku inferred. Edward nodded. "That's right. It's the only way." He glanced back at the Kingdom Hearts crew. "Alright, we've had our turn. Time for you guys to explain something. What exactly are those creatures that we fought earlier? You called them Heartless and Nobodies."

Alexander smirked. "Maybe it's a good thing we explained the Interference concept to you guys first. My explanation will make more sense this time." He cleared his throat, then launched into the explanation. "Anyway, the Heartless and Nobodies are the enemies we fought in Kingdom Hearts II. Life is made up of the body, soul, and heart. 'Heart', as in the proverbial one: the center of the spirit, so to speak. Anyway, when the heart becomes overwhelmed with darkness, it leaves the body and soul behind. The darkness consumes it, and a Heartless is created."

"The Nobodies are the leftover body and soul of something that became a Heartless. Normally the body and soul fade out of existence, but there are times when the person in question had a particularly strong will. In that case, the body will eventually begin to move with a will of its own, and a 'Nobody' is born. Because they shouldn't have existed in the first place, they technically don't really exist at all." Alex took a deep breath to recover from the long explanation.

Edward took that to be the end of the lecture. "So those Heartless and Nobodies belong to the Kingdom Hearts universe... Wait, why are they here in the Fullmetal Alchemist universe?" Edward grinned at the last few words. Having a whole universe named after his alias sounded really cool to him.

Alex sighed. "A miscalculation on my part, actually. I couldn't get into this world directly, so I had to come in through the Kingdom Hearts universe, so that I could travel between the worlds. It seems that there is a connection formed between the two universes, and that allows those creatures to enter this world."

Sora nodded to confirm this. "That's actually the main reason why we came along. You see, only the Lockshield and Keyblade Masters and those affiliated with them can fight the Heartless and Nobodies."

Alphonse looked a little surprised, but, again, it was hard to tell through the armor. "So... if we fight with you guys, we can fight those enemies?" Alexander nodded.

Erica felt a little left out. "Why are there so many explanations going on!?" she exclaimed irritably. "I can't say a thing without interrupting!" Alex glared at her. "To get them over with now, Erica," he scolded her. "Just have a little more patience. I told you, I'm experienced at giving explanations. Leave them to me."

Edward laughed a little. "You have experience in this kind of thing?" Alex also chuckled. "Yeah... In the first few days of being an Interference, I wasn't very strong. So all I really contributed to the protagonists was information."

Alphonse got an idea. "Let me guess... we can't tell anyone else about you guys being from other worlds?" Riku nodded in agreement. "We should keep at least some degree of world order. Besides, you guys are the main protagonists of this game, right? It's of no concern to anyone else."

Edward nodded slowly. "What about your weapons? Won't people question that?" Sora shook his head. "We usually just let them take it for granted. Who knows; someone might just think it's some kind of alchemy and leave it as that." Edward laughed. "True. I guess we don't need to worry about that, then."

Erica spoke up again. "Hey! There's going to be a lot more fighting going on, so I'll need to fight too!"

Alexander scowled. "For once, she's right. I'm honestly a little sick and tired of her being dead weight while we're doing the work. And constantly watching out for her when she can't defend herself." He sighed. "Unfortunately, we don't have any weapons readily available. And you sure aren't in enough shape for fisticuffs, Erica."

Erica glared at him. Kairi made a suggestion: "Hey, Edward, why don't you transmute Erica a weapon? You made a lance earlier; how about you make one for her?"

Edward considered it. "Well... alright. But let's wait until we actually run into trouble. If there's one thing I don't need, it's an armed and dangerous fangirl within ten yards of me." At that, they all had a hearty laugh at Erica's expense.

The party walked in silence for another good long while. Now the surroundings slowly became a highway, with a large city in the distance. Some dark clouds loomed on the horizon.

Alexander decided to break the silence. "One thing you should keep in mind, Edward," he stated, "is that light and darkness are very real, active forces in the universe. They can be powerful, yet rather subtle too. And with Kingdom Hearts II in the equation here, that's doubly so. So be on your guard, okay?"

Edward rolled his eyes, but fortunately at the front of the group facing away from him. "Hey, I'm the main protagonist of this game, as you say. I don't need you telling me what to do. As far as I'm concerned, the spotlight's mine, okay?" he asked, glancing over his shoulder to grin at him.

Alex couldn't help but grin back. "At least you've got things in perspective." He looked at the city in the distance. "That's East City, right? Looks like we're almost there." Gazing at the dark clouds steadily approaching, he added, "Doesn't look like we'll find much peace there."

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