Sora woke up fairly early the next morning. A quick look around the room revealed that Kairi was absent – probably elsewhere in the house. Riku appeared to still be asleep. It didn't take long at all for Sora to remember what had happened the previous night. The thought that something would slip had always been a possibility, but he'd never imagined it would happen like this. He couldn't think of a worse way to have their cover blown.
He stood up and left the room, moving slowly to avoid making noise. He wasn't sure what to expect from everyone. Had Winry already told the Elric brothers about last night? He hoped that they wouldn't be too upset. Considering Winry's reaction, though, that might be too much to expect.
He paused at the top of the staircase, bracing himself for the worst. A few seconds later, he walked down to the first floor.
It was oddly quiet. Edward, Winry, and Kairi appeared to be having breakfast, but there was no conversation. The three of them didn't even look at each other.
Eventually, Winry looked up from her oatmeal and noticed Sora. "Morning," Sora announced, nervously.
"Is Riku still asleep?" Winry asked.
"Yeah," Sora replied.
"He'd better get up soon. Grandma's on the phone checking in with a patient, and I think Al is taking a shower. They'll both be out in a few minutes, so you should get ready to explain everything."
After a brief pause, Winry stood up suddenly and slammed her hands down onto the table. "Sora, go wake him up!" she shouted.
Sora recoiled slightly. "S-sure…"
He ran back up the stairs and into the spare room. "Riku, wake up!" he said, loudly.
Riku sat up quickly. "What?"
"Everyone's ready, and they're expecting an explanation. We need to tell them the truth."
Riku sighed. "Right, that. Just give me a minute."
Sora returned to the kitchen. Kairi and Edward had left the table, but Winry was still there. Her bowl was no less full than it had been when he'd left. She seemed more discouraged than angry right now. She hadn't even looked at him when he'd entered the room. "Winry, are you OK?" he asked, a little concerned.
She glanced over at him, and then back at the table. "Of course not," she grumbled. "I barely slept at all after finding you three."
Sora's existing sense of guilt grew stronger. "Are you still mad at us?" he asked.
"I've cooled off a lot since then," Winry admitted. "But I'm still not happy about all this. I don't think there's any chance I'll be okay until I know what's really going on."
Sora nodded. "I understand."
As her turned around to leave, Alphonse stepped through the doorway. His hair was damp, so he'd probably just gotten out of the shower. "Riku's out of bed, and Pinako is ready," he informed them. "We're all in the living room."
As soon as everyone was seated, all eyes turned to the trio. "First off, I'm really sorry that we weren't honest about all this," said Kairi. "It wasn't fair to you, especially after you told us so much about yourselves."
"We were planning to tell you today anyway," Riku added.
Edward rolled his eyes. "Just cut the excuses and start talking," he said, sharply. "Who are you people? Where'd you really come from, and why are you here?"
"Promise you'll believe us?" asked Kairi.
"Yeah, sure. Just tell us the truth this time."
Sora hesitated for a moment. "Here's the thing. When we said we weren't from around here, we weren't kidding. We're not. We're from another world."
It took a few seconds for that to sink in. "Another world?" Alphonse repeated. "You can't be serious."
Edward gave them a skeptical look. "You mean from space? You're aliens or something?"
"Another world," Riku corrected. "Not another planet. We're just as human as you are."
"The Heartless came from other worlds, too," Sora continued. "When I said they were dangerous, I meant it. They're monsters that prey on people's hearts. That's enough trouble on its own, but there's more. Each world has something like a heart. If the Heartless manage to find it, the entire world is taken by darkness."
"And now they're here," said Pinako, grimly.
"Exactly," said Kairi.
She took a moment to choose her words. "About a year and a half ago, the Heartless came to our world, and it was overrun in just one night. Sora and Riku were lucky and ended up in other worlds. And I…"
She looked over at Sora. "Well, we can explain the details later," she said, quietly.
Sora continued. "Pretty soon, I found out that I'd been chosen to wield a special weapon and fight against the Heartless," he explained.
He extended his arm towards the others, and opened his hand. "I'll show you."
His Keyblade appeared in his hand, along with the usual flash of light. The others reacted with surprise. For a split second, everyone stared at it. Riku tapped Sora's shoulder. "Hey, have you used this since we fought Xemnas?" he asked.
Sora turned towards him. "Not really. Why?"
"Weren't you using Ultima Weapon?"
Sora examined the Kingdom Key he was using. "You're right. Wonder why it changed back?"
Meanwhile, Edward was holding back laughter. "That's your weapon?" he remarked. "A giant key? Seriously?"
"Well…yeah," Sora replied.
He was a bit off-put by that comment. Sure, it was a little weird, but no one had ever pointed it out like that. "I guess I was expecting something a bit more impressive," Edward continued. "Like a huge, glowing spear, or maybe a sword that catches on fire when you say the right magic words. Something that would strike fear into your enemies and make them think twice about picking a fight. This looks more like a stage prop."
Winry grabbed a nearby pillow and whacked Edward with it. "Cut it out," she snapped. "We're here to listen, not to make fun of his weapon of choice."
She took a closer look at the Keyblade. "You're right, though, it does look impractical. Sora, do you use it like a club?"
"It cuts things like a sword," Sora corrected. "I'm not sure how, since it's not sharp…but it does."
He recalled the weapon, and continued. "It works like a regular key, too. It can undo any lock you want."
A quick look around the room made it clear that the residents were finding it harder and harder to believe him. He didn't blame them, but he'd have to think of some way to convince them that he was serious. "I can prove it if you want," he said, defensively.
"Maybe later," said Winry.
Pinako picked up from there. "So what's so special about it? Why is it that you need it to fight these Heartless?"
"Well, only certain people are able to use them," explained Sora. "Me, and Riku and Kairi…we all can. You can fight them with other weapons, but they don't work as well. If you're not using a Keyblade, it won't really destroy the Heartless. They'll just come back later."
This explanation didn't seem to alleviate anyone's skepticism, so he continued. "So basically, when our world was destroyed, I found two other guys who'd been sent to find someone with a Keyblade. The three of us were supposed to go to other worlds and protect them from the Heartless. If you find the "Keyhole" of a world – the way to its heart, basically – the Keyblade can seal it. Once it's sealed, the Heartless can't get to it, and they'll leave once they figure that out. So I went with my friends to do that. We also were looking for Riku and Kairi, along with the guy who'd told my friends to help me out."
He motioned to Riku and Kairi. "We did find them, but it wasn't easy. There was a lot of stuff going on, and all three of us got caught up in it."
"Eventually, Sora was able to restore the worlds that the Heartless had taken, but it took more than a year before we could all go home," Kairi continued. "Like he said, there's a lot that happened. Explaining it all would take a while, but we'll tell you if you want to hear."
Alphonse nodded. "I'd like that. I think it'd make a lot more sense if we heard the whole story."
Before anyone else could continue, Edward spoke up. "If you were able to go back home, why'd you leave again?" he asked.
"You know the guy that Sora mentioned? The one who sent his friends to find him? His name's Mickey, and he's their king," Riku explained. "This world – your world – isn't like the others. It's very isolated, and it's far away from any of the ones we'd seen. Until recently, no one knew it existed at all. So when Mickey found out that there were Heartless here, he sent us to figure out how to get rid of them."
"Mickey, huh?" remarked Edward. "You're on a first-name basis with your king?"
"He's not our king," Riku corrected. "It's a pretty small kingdom, and our home isn't a part of it. Besides, if you're picturing some stuck-up aristocrat, you're way off. He's the kind of guy that prefers for people to use his name."
"Winry, when you saw us last night, we'd been telling him how things were going. We have to go back to our ship to contact him, and the light shows up when we do that," Kairi explained.
After a long pause, Alphonse continued the conversation. "So why didn't you tell us this?" he asked.
"Because just walking up and saying 'Hi, we're interdimensional travelers, can you show us the way to the legions of darkness' wouldn't have made a good impression," Riku reminded him.
Sora shrugged. "Something like that. Since this world is so far away from the others, the King thought it'd be best to avoid telling anyone where we were from."
Another long pause. "I'm not sure what to think of this," Winry confessed. "You're really telling the truth? You're not just making this up to screw with us?"
"Of course we're not!" Sora protested. "The only time I lied was when I said I was from the islands to the south. Everything else I told you was true."
Pinako chuckled. "That wasn't a very good lie, either. I've never met anyone from around there, but I have seen one or two people from southern Aerugo. They don't look anything like you three."
Winry gave her a surprised look. "You knew they were lying?"
"I figured as much," Pinako confirmed. "Only reason I didn't say anything is because they seemed too clueless to be dangerous."
"Guess we didn't blend in too well," Sora admitted.
Edward frowned. "Still, this is all pretty hard to believe. I'd call it total crap, but it explains too much for that to be the case. I mean, how else could you get this far into a country without even knowing its name?"
"It also explains why you didn't have any money or supplies with you," added Alphonse. "That never made sense to me."
Riku shrugged. "Whether you buy it or not doesn't change the truth. The Heartless are still here, and if something isn't done, you'll lose everything. Ask us to leave if you want. We'll do our job with or without your help."
Kairi glared at him. "Riku!"
"I'm serious, Kairi. Making friends is just fine, but our mission comes first. If that doesn't get done, then nothing else matters."
He was right – Kairi knew that. But still, something about his attitude rubbed her the wrong way. "You don't need to say it like that, though," she replied, her voice little more than a whisper.
Winry quickly changed the subject. "Something's bugging me," she interjected. "You keep talking about the Heartless destroying worlds. You don't really mean whole worlds, do you? There's no way anything could do that!"
"That's what they do, though," said Sora. "Not just your town or your country. Everything you know would be gone. Chances are that you'd go with it."
"You're saying everyone on the whole planet would just die?" Edward repeated, his voice cold.
"You'd disappear into the darkness along with this world," Sora confirmed. "It's not the same as dying, but it would mean being frozen in time until the world was restored."
"There's no guarantee that that would ever happen, either," Riku added. "Ours did, and so did the others that were lost, but the circumstances were unique. I'm not sure if it could be repeated."
A look of horror appeared on Winry's face. "No…" she murmured.
Her composure began to crumble, as if someone had hit a switch. Her fists clenched tight, and her eyes squeezed shut. "That can't happen," she said, her voice trembling. "How is that even possible? It doesn't make sense! How can anything…how do we…how are we supposed to – "
"WINRY!"
Pinako stood up, and put her hands on her granddaughter's shoulders. Their eyes met for a few seconds, both of them suddenly silent. "Pull yourself together," Pinako said, her voice calm, but firm. "If this is true – and I'm still not sure I believe it is – then the whole reason these three are here is to stop that from happening."
"She's right," said Alphonse, gently. "I'm worried too, but it's way too early to give up. It's not like you to do that."
Winry stood still for a moment. The sudden outburst had caught the trio off-guard, and at that moment none of them dared to intervene. Eventually, she took a deep breath, and tried to calm down. "Yeah," she agreed. "It's just…everything is finally back to normal. I guess I'd assumed it would stay that way."
Kairi found herself remembering what the others had talked about the previous night, about everything that had happened to them. This wasn't the first time they'd been in danger of losing everything. The nationwide circle's activation came to mind almost immediately. Had things gone differently, that fate would have been worse than the current threat, at least on an individual level. Kairi's parents didn't remember the Heartless attacking. Neither did anyone else. As far as they'd known, all their victims had just disappeared overnight. None of the residents were aware of what had happened, and so they hadn't suffered in that regard. But the people used to create Stones…she could hardly stand to think about that.
"I don't blame you. The idea of everything just disappearing isn't something I'd like to dwell on," Edward replied.
He turned towards the trio. "I want to hear the whole story," he said. "Everything that's happened since your home was attacked. I still don't know what to make of all this, and there's a lot that doesn't make sense."
"That's understandable," replied Riku.
Sora nodded in agreement. "I guess it's only fair. I mean, you told us about what's happened to you."
"Exactly," said Edward. "It's your turn. Start talking."
They began with the day before the islands were attacked. From there onward, it was Sora who did most of the talking. Partway through, Riku had advised him to spend less time describing the details of each world and more time explaining what had happened. After that, it went a lot more quickly. He got up to the Door being closed, and began to describe what happened afterward. "So after that, I went with Donald and Goofy to look for Riku and the King," said Sora. "But then…"
He paused for a moment. This was where the gap in his memory started, and he still wasn't totally clear on why it was there. Before he could say anything else, though, Edward interrupted. "Alright, so there's something I don't get," he said. "What's up with all this stuff about hearts?"
Kairi turned towards him, not sure what he meant. "You're going to have to be more specific," she told him.
"The heart is an organ that circulates blood through the body. It's true that you need it to stay alive, but it's got nothing to do with emotions or personality. The brain takes care of that," Edward reminded them.
Sora seemed a bit annoyed by that. "I know that," he replied, defensively. "I got a B in biology class. The word's the same, but the kind of heart we're talking about is different."
"Yeah, that's what I thought," Edward responded.
Alphonse still seemed confused. "Is this kind of heart connected to the soul?" he asked. "I mean, it has to be. I was the same person without my body as I am right now."
"I'm not sure," Sora admitted. "I thought they were two different things, but…"
He turned towards Riku. "Any ideas?"
"That's what I'd been told," said Riku.
Winry glanced over at Sora. "Aren't you going to keep going?" she reminded him. "You haven't finished explaining. We can sort this stuff out when you're done."
So Sora continued. He'd set out with his friends. After that, though, there was nothing. The next thing he remembered was waking up with his friends in a world he'd never been to. That got some pretty strange looks from the rest of them until Riku cut in to explain. He told them that Sora had been caught up in a series of events that he was largely unaware of. By the time he knew what was going on, his memory had been significantly altered. In order to recover, he'd slept for almost a year. It wasn't supposed to take that long, but things had become complicated. The end result was that he didn't remember what had happened.
From there, Sora took over. He talked about the worlds he'd visited, his struggle against Organization XIII, and his continued search for his friends. At some points, Kairi explained what she'd been up to, and Riku joined in when they got to the events of the World that Never Was. Finally, they ended with their return to Destiny Islands. "Since then, things have been pretty much normal," said Kairi. "Or they were, until we were asked to come here."
After a brief pause, Pinako spoke up. "That's the whole story?" she asked.
"Pretty much," Sora confirmed.
"It's…umm…" Winry began.
She paused. "It's a lot to take in," she confessed. "I've got no idea what to think."
"Do you believe us, though?" asked Kairi.
"I think so. It sounds crazy, but…"
She shifted a bit in her seat. "Hey, could one of you make your weapon appear again? I want another look."
Sora nodded, and his Keyblade reappeared in his hand. "How do you do that, exactly?" Winry asked.
By this point, Sora had done this so much that he didn't really think about it. "I, uh…sort of…call out to it? I dunno, I just focus on making it appear, and it does. I don't know how it works," he said.
"Something like that isn't supposed to be possible," Alphonse noted. "Even with alchemy, you'd have to carry around the materials to make it with."
"Given the way he's holding it, it doesn't seem very heavy, either," Winry observed. "Something that size shouldn't be so easy to carry. You'd probably need two hands even if the metal was something lightweight."
She stared at the Keyblade a little longer. "You wouldn't happen to know what it's made of, would you?"
"No idea," Sora replied. "You're right about the weight, though. I don't have any trouble carrying it."
Figuring they'd seen enough, he recalled his weapon. "From what you've told us, the Heartless usually attack quickly," Alphonse pointed out.
"You're wondering why they haven't been running around in the open," Riku guessed.
"Exactly."
Riku shook his head. "Sorry, but we don't know yet. It's pretty unusual, so there's got to be a reason."
"You'd better figure it out quickly," Pinako reminded them.
"Yeah, I know," muttered Sora.
He looked around the room, trying to figure out what everyone was thinking. "Anything else you'd like to ask?"
"Just one thing," replied Edward.
He looked straight at Sora. "Need any help?"
Sora's eyes widened. For a moment, he looked surprised, but that quickly gave way to relief. "You want to help?" asked Kairi. "I thought you didn't want to get mixed up in things like this anymore."
"That was the plan," Edward confirmed. "Given the circumstances, though, I don't think I have much choice."
A hint of a smile appeared on the boy's face. "I mean, the whole world's on the line. I'm not the kind of guy who could just ignore something like that."
Kairi beamed. "Glad to hear it."
She looked over at Alphonse, then at Winry and Pinako. "What about the rest of you?"
"Count me in," said Alphonse. "I'd be stupid not to."
"Same," agreed Winry. "I'll figure out some way to help."
Pinako sighed. "I hate that it has to be you kids who do all the work," she grumbled. "Couldn't you get help from the military? They're the ones who signed up for this kind of thing. It's worth trying."
"Would they believe us? Even if they did, they've never even seen Heartless. There would probably be heavy casualties even if they did manage to hold their own," Riku reminded her.
Sora thought for a moment. "I think the first thing we should do is find the Keyhole," he suggested. "If I can just seal it, then they won't be able to destroy this world. Once they figure that out, they'll leave."
"Sounds like a plan," said Edward. "Besides, it'd take too long to hunt them all down ourselves."
"We'd have to find the Keyhole first," Riku pointed out. "Sora, most of the worlds you've been to are a lot smaller than this one. Either that, or you only saw a small part."
"He's got a point," Pinako noted. "We don't have time to search the whole world for this thing, especially since we've got no idea where to look."
"I bet it's somewhere in Amestris, at least. If it was somewhere else, then why did we land here?" said Sora.
Winry gave him an odd look. "You don't choose where to land?"
"Not the first time. I think it just sends you wherever you need to be," Sora explained.
"You sure?" asked Riku. "Did you ever confirm that with anyone?"
"Well…no. But that's how it seems."
He looked back at the others. "Anyway, I doubt it's on the other side of the world or anything. We should be able to find it somewhere in this country."
"Any ideas where?" asked Alphonse. "Amestris is still pretty big, so we can't just look everywhere."
"Might as well start here," Kairi suggested.
Pinako shook her head. "This is a small town. It's got no major significance to the country as a whole. Our main industry is wool, for crying out loud! Why would something so important be in a place like this?"
Sora gave that some thought. She was probably right, but it still couldn't hurt to look. "Is there a library here?" he asked.
"Yeah," said Edward. "What, you want to do some research?"
"Why not?" Sora replied.
"True," said Winry. "I can show you the way there if you'd like."
She paused. "Just give me some time, OK? I'm not ready to run around town just yet."
"After lunch?" Kairi suggested.
It was still fairly early, so that would give them a few hours. Winry nodded. "Sure. We'll go after lunch."
