Chapter 8: The Space Station

Everyone was quiet for a couple of seconds before Edward clutched his head and let out a strangled yell. "What the hell? This doesn't make any sense. The world… the world isn't flat!"

"How was is this even possible?" Mikasa demanded to know.

Toph looked spooked. "I-I don't know…" she said uncertainly. "It was a lot like what happened yesterday. One second everything was normal and the next the earth just… ends."

"Where do we go now?" Mine asked, folding her arms, annoyed at this new twist.

"How about there?" Takuya suddenly said. The fog had started to dissipate around them, giving them greater clarity of their surroundings and the young boy had wandered a little away from the group. He was currently pointing towards a large grey building in the distance. Nearby it, there was a small forest with another tower-like object extending over the treetops.

Ren blinked. How had they not noticed that before?

Perhaps it was another obstacle put in front of them?

Toph shifted her feet and frowned. "Um, it's a really big building. I… I think it's empty?"

"You think?" Edward stared at her.

She scowled. "What do you want from me? It's a weird building! I don't know what it is!"

Ren squinted, noticing a large logo attached to the side of the building. It was blue and red with four letters in white… "NASA," he read aloud, before blinking.

Mami and Takuya glanced at him. "NASA?" Mami repeated. "You mean that NASA?"

Takuya squinted himself. "Y-yeah… I recognize the logo."

"You mind filling us in?" Mine asked. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"It's United States governmental agency," Mami explained. "It mostly studies outer space and launches telescopes and people into space."

Edward's eyes bugged out. "How?" he asked incredulously.

Mami laughed nervously. "Um… I don't know the exact science… to explain it simply… they place astronauts into space shuttles and shoot them straight up until they break the atmosphere."

"Do you realize how much force would have to be behind that?!"

She blinked. "Um… yes. They use very large… rockets," she explained rather lamely. She pointed to the white tower in the midst of the forest. "I think that's one over there, in fact."

Mikasa frowned. "What is it doing here?" she asked Ren and Takuya, thinking that they may have some answers that weren't so… complicated.

Unfortunately, Ren shook his head. "I have no idea," he answered honestly. Haru's father, one of the Phantom Thieves' targets, had a Palace similar to a futuristic space station. But Ren assumed that a regular American NASA office building wouldn't be anything similar to that. "But there could be something there," he continued.

Mine folded her arms. "Like what?"

"People," Ren suggested.

Mine glanced at Toph. "Don't look at me," Toph exclaimed. "I don't know anything about this. This is outta my area of expertise. If there are people inside, I can't tell."

Edward glanced over the edge of the world, before sighing miserably. "Well we're not jumping past this gap anytime soon," he admitted. "If you think this 'NASA' place may have something, then I'm willing to try it out."

"Let's get going then," Takuya insisted, practically bouncing up and down from excitement. As Ren said, if there was the possibility of other people, that wasn't a just cranky old man and slow granny, then he wanted to meet them.

Slightly encouraged by Takuya's enthusiasm, the group headed towards the building. However, as Ren got closer, he started to notice some more strange things about it. It was completely silent. He couldn't hear people bustling around as they did their jobs or the whirring of machinery. His heart fell as they finally reached the entrance. The building looked decrepit and abandoned.

Mikasa raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure about this?"

Ren waited for a moment, in a vain hope that someone, anyone, would suddenly walk out, before answering her. "Not… anymore more," he admitted.

"They could be somewhere else?" Mami suggested, pointing a finger towards the rocket nearby. "Maybe they are all near the rocket?"

Toph shifted her feet. "Maybe?" she said uncertainly. All the strange metal around here wasn't really helping her gather information.

An idea suddenly occurred to Takuya, in the midst of his disappointment. "We could also find something that could let us communicate with someone else inside," he suggested. "They've got to have some sort of high-tech telephones inside!"

Toph shook her head. "Nuh-uh. No way."

"What's wrong?" Mine frowned.

"I can't go in there," Toph insisted. "I'd be practically blind!"

"Are you not blind?" Edward asked, only eliciting a glare from Toph.

She focused on Mami. "I'm heading to the rocket," she suddenly announced. "There's no way you can make me go inside."

Everyone exchanged a look. "We could split up," Ren suggested.

"That's the last thing you should suggest in a horror movie," Takuya grimaced.

"I'll go with Toph then," Mine said, glancing uneasily at the decrepit building. She shared Toph's apprehension. "See if there's anything there."

"I suppose I'll go with them," Mikasa offered. Like the two she shared some uneasy feelings about entering that building.

When no one said anything else, Ren looked around at the group. Mikasa, Mine, and Toph were going to the small forest, while he, Morgana, Edward, Takuya, and Mami were heading inside the building. "Okay," he said pulling out his phone, checking to see how much battery he had left, before placing a timer for three hours on it. He handed it to Mikasa, who glanced at it curiously. "We'll meet at the rocket," he explained. "If we're not out before that makes a sound, then something has happened to us."

Mikasa nodded. "Understood," she said, gripping his phone tightly, as Takuya pulled out his own cellphone, checking the time, making a mental note to check it while they were exploring.

After some quick good-byes, the group split up, with five of them heading into the NASA building and the other three circling around the building to reach the nearby forest.

Unbeknownst to them, two figures were atop the building looking down at them. They both wore black leather hooded coats, with the hood pulled over their faces, so that it was hard to make out the details of their faces. One of them was peering over the side, observing the group as they parted ways and the other was sitting down, lazily tuning a sitar.

"Looks like they're splitting up," noted the more observant one. "Too bad, Demyx. Looks like we don't get to team up after all."

Demyx glanced over the edge. "Wasn't there supposed to be eight of them, Xigbar?" he asked. "You know the one with spike black hair? Wasn't he like an alien or something?"

Xigbar sighed. "Keep up with the story, will you. He's gone. Defeated. Wasn't willing to follow the route laid out for him."

"And are we going to do that?" Demyx asked. "Follow the script? Is that what Xehanort wants us to do?"

"Oh, that old man has nothing to do with this."

Demyx narrowed his eyes. "Then why are we doing anything?"

Xigbar waved his hand. "Listen," he instructed. "You, me… The two of us are just unimportant pawns in this pilgrimage. All we have to care about is fulfilling the roles we were assigned and if we manage to win, then we'll think about what to do next." He glanced at Demyx. "Everything will work out in the end. No need to worry."

Demyx huffed and stood up as a dark portal formed behind him. "Fine," he said, rolling his eyes. "Just don't expect me to take this seriously, then." He went through the portal and vanished leaving Xigbar alone.

A smile graced the Nobody's face, as he folded his arms. "So, you wish to fight a god now do you?" His mind recalled certain keyblade wielders who had fought gods before, but even they would have trouble making a stand against the god that he had met. "In that case, let's first see how well you do against me. Then, perhaps, you'll have a chance." With a smirk, he walked through the portal and vanished.

Xxx

Starting at the entrance, there was first a small reception area, leading into a dark hallway. Ren glanced around with a frown, as Morgana hopped from his left shoulder to his right, to try a light switch near him. The cat flicked the switch up and the fluorescent lights flickered on, letting them see better. "Well they left the generator running," Morgana quipped.

Edward was looked around the room with wide eyes. "You're saying this place was some sort of research center?"

"I suppose," Mami said with a shrug.

Takuya cupped his hands around his mouth. "Hello! Anyone there?!"

Silence.

The boy looked deflated, so Ren placed a hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry," he assured him. "There's got to be something here. Something that can explain our situation a little better."

Takuya nodded. "R-right…"

Morgana jumped onto the reception desk, off of Ren's shoulder, and looked down the only hallway in front of them. There was a small visitor's map nearby which the cat checked. "Looks like this hallway leads to the control center," he informed Ren, who relayed the information to the others. "Past that is a planetarium apparently."

"A control center for what?" Edward asked.

"For the space shuttle outside probably," Takuya guessed. "Like the ones you see in movies."

"Right…" The young alchemist sounded unconvinced, though he still followed the group as they headed deeper into the building.

The only sound they could hear was of their feet on the tiled floor, as they walked. An eerie silence settled upon them as they passed doors that led to empty rooms and offices. Edward glanced at each one with a raised eyebrow. "You know for a supposedly high-tech organization from where you're from, it's not really that impressive," he complained.

Takuya gave him a weird look. "What were you expecting?"

Edward opened his mouth, paused, before closing it again with a sigh. "I don't know," he muttered. He glanced at Mami. "Your science… it's a lot more advanced than what I'm used to."

"We don't have anything like what you can do, though," Mami assured him.

"Is it possible to bring back the dead?"

Mami flinched at Edward's sudden question. "What?"

"No one can bring back the dead," Ren said solemnly. "There isn't any science that can do the impossible."

Edward gave Ren a hard stare before laughing, though it sounded shaky. "Yeah, you're right," he said, with a shake of his head. "Sorry for the impromptu question."

Takuya and Ren exchanged a look, as Mami just stared at Edward as if he was crazy. However, before any of them could say anything, Edward suddenly pointed forward. "Hey," he said. "Is that the control center you mentioned before?"

Ren looked to where Edward was pointing to find a glass door, near a sharp right turn of the hallway. Next to it was a plaque reading, "Control Center." Momentarily forgetting, what they were talking about, Ren and the others hurried their pace to the door and flung it open, hoping to see some sign of civilization.

It reminded Ren a lot of the room he had seen in old videos of the first moon launch that America had done. Except with a lot more advanced technology and no people in sight. "Well it wasn't like we expected anything different," Mami said with a sigh.

"Let's search the room," Ren suggested, already turning on a large monitor close by. "See if there are any clues." Using the mouse, he clicked on the icon of the file on the monitor and began to browse.

Both Mami and Takuya nodded and split off, leaving Edward standing there marveling at the technology that Ren was using. Ren ignored him, as he adjusted the files so that the newest created would be at the top. However, they all seem to have been last edited or created on April 21st, 2017, which was far from the date that Ren last remembered.

Takuya was having a little trouble navigating a computer that was more advanced than the ones he was used to, but Mami quickly raised her head and glanced at Ren's direction. "They all end on April 21st," she announced.

"Same here," Ren called.

Morgana frowned, as he hopped onto the table. "Is that date special?" the cat wondered aloud. However, Ren shook his head. He had a feeling that it didn't matter.

Edward was peering over Ren's shoulder. "How about that?" He said pointing to a folder that was dated April 27th, 2017. "I assume that's something more recent in your calendar system?"

Ren nodded silently and opened the folder only finding several video files, labeled as, "Logs," and numbered accordingly with the oldest one created on April 23rd, 2017. "They're all audio logs," he said, clicking on the first log. There was a small crackle of static, as Edward, Ren, and Morgana leaned in, eager to listen.

"…Log 1. We have arrived. The beginning of our journey, as he says. We were attacked the moment after it explained everything. A… baptism, it called it. But… one of us is dead. He died after fighting that monster. We managed to kill it but as I understand that is only the first step. For now, the four of us are making camp. I'm making this log, as a sort of record, for what we did for this world. End Log 1."

Ren exchanged a looked with Morgana, who could only shake his head. Even he had no idea what the man making the log was talking about. With a sigh, Ren clicked on the file for the next log.

"…Log 2. We have encountered the public today. We conversed with the crowd and one of us almost made it angry, but we managed to keep the encounter civil until we reached the devotees. They offered us shelter and food, along with our next destination. Currently, we're sleeping on the floor of their living room. We're lucky to have not lost anyone this day. End Log 2."

Ren frowned. Could they be talking about the monster from before, what Muriel had referred to as the "Crowds?" The laissez-faire attitude of the speaker unnerved Ren, but he clicked on the next log, nevertheless.

"… Log 3. Another one is dead. We encountered people who wished to test out faith. They killed them without mercy. There was more water. We didn't manage to defeat them, but we managed to escape. We lost everything. The offering. We will go to sleep hungry tonight."

"Oh, please god, please grant us some mercy."

Ren clicked on the last log, a growing feeling of unease creeping through him.

"… Log 4. I'm the only one left alive. Tom… my friend, killed Jacob. He lost his faith in you and believed that death was the correct end for us. I… I had to kill him before he killed me. I found this building in the middle of this vastness. How cruel. I may have worked here at one point, but that feels so distant and long ago. Oh, please god, please have mercy on my pitiful life-!"

In the background, something screamed, making Ren's skin crawl.

"… I suppose this is a punishment for my failure. I'll be uploading my logs to this computer in hopes that someone may find it useful. Still, please accept my apologies. I apologize for failing to make this pilgrimage. I apologize for failing to guide everyone on the correct path. I apologize for being unable to prostrate myself in your presence. I apologize, most of all, for being unable to give this vast world, floating endlessly in the void of space, a name."

There was another scream before the log cut out. Ren, Edward, and Morgana were left staring at the screen in disbelief. "What…?" Edward croaked out. "What the hell was that?!"

"Was it interesting?" Mami asked as she and Takuya wandered over.

As Ren stood up in the chair, he noticed a small stain on the headrest of it. It was a dark red and it seemed to have seeped into the fabric of the chair.

A chill ran down his spine.

"We should leave this place," he finally said, at the same time that Morgana and Edward noticed the small stain. "I don't think we're going to be finding anything here." He shook his head. "This was a dead end."

Takuya blinked. "We're leaving already?"

Mami looked between Edward and Ren before nodding, understanding that they were worried about something, even if she didn't understand the context. "There was a map near the entrance," she said. "If we keep following the hallway, we'll eventually reach the planetarium. If I remember correctly, there should be an exit there."

"Then let's hurry," Edward said, before turning towards Ren. "The log… it mentioned a 'crowd.' You think could be referring to that monster we encountered before."

Ren nodded. "The person who recorded it mentioned that they fought something else the next day," he mused. "Right after they were offered shelter and food."

"I have a suspicion it might be referring to that old couple back in the farmhouse," Morgana said. "Which suggests we've been manipulated into coming here."

Edward scratched his head in an aggravated manner. "Argh! I can't believe this! Is this whole thing a trap, then?!"

"Perhaps." Ren's tone and face were grim. "We have to get out of here and convene outside with the others before anything bad happens." Though even as he said those words, he couldn't help but feel like they were already too late.

Xxx

Mine, Mikasa, and Toph were already at the base of the rocket. They had to go through a rather dense forest and wade through a nearby shallow river to finally reach it, but now that they had, they found themselves rather stumped. "Is there anyone nearby?" Mikasa asked Toph.

Toph shook her head. "No," she answered. She half-heartedly kicked the ground, as a chunk of rock rose from the ground, so she could sit. "We're all alone here."

"So, this was a waste of time," Mine complained, though she found it hard to tear her eyes away from the space shuttle that towered above her.

Mikasa also couldn't move her gaze away from the contraption. "It's so tall," she murmured, her mind flashing back to how Mami and Ren talked about it. The very concept of space travel didn't seem to faze them, and they were more surprised to find it here in the middle of nowhere.

Mine folded her arms and gave the rocket a skeptical look. "How could people even build this?" she wondered aloud. Imperial Arms were incredible feats of creation, but she was unaware of one that could transport people into the sky. Plus, Imperial Arms were made from Danger Beasts. The way that Ren and Mami had described it, these space shuttles were plentiful.

"It must've taken a bunch of money to make," Toph said, placed her hands behind her head, looking relaxed. "It's made out of a lot of metal and I can't even tell what some of them are. All the money with my family wouldn't be enough to make something like this. You'd need all the money in the Fire Kingdom to even get everything…"

Mine glanced at Toph. "Are you rich?" she guessed.

Toph shrugged. "Oh, I guess. I ran away from home to be the Avatar's earthbending teacher."

"That makes… sense," Mine said a little slowly.

Mikasa was still staring at the space shuttle. "It's amazing," she said.

"Human ingenuity is rather amazing, isn't it?" A voice said from behind them.

All three of them whirled around, to find that a shimmering dark portal had formed behind them. Out stepped a figure wearing a black leather hooded coat, with a hood pulled over their face. "Who are you?" Mikasa demanded, tensing almost immediately.

Instead of answering, the figure reached up and pulled his hood down revealing his face. It was a young man, with cyan eye and dirty-blonde hair styled into a sort of mullet. "Nice to meeta ya," he said, raising a hand in greeting. "Name's Demyx. Otherwise known as the Melodious Nocturne. Also known as Rank IX of Organization XIII… well used to be." He let out a sigh and shrugged. "At the moment, I think I'm just a backup member… but whatever, I doubt you know anything about it."

Mikasa relaxed slightly at the sight of another person, while Toph exclaimed, "Great! Another person!" while have a wide smile on her face.

Demyx glanced at the space shuttle. "It is rather impressive," he said. "Though I suppose where I'm from travel between worlds is a lot more common from your world…?" He scratched his head. "Wait, no, what did it call it… another dimension…? Another universe…?" He then shrugged lazily. "Aw well. Something like that. I'd ask Xigbar to explain better but he's busy entertaining your friends."

Mine frowned. "What are you talking about?"

"What didn't you get the memo?"

"Memo?" Toph echoed.

A smirk graced Demyx's face. "I'm here to test you."

Demyx raised a hand towards them. For a second nothing happened, but from the corner of her eye, Mikasa noticed something wrong with the nearby stream. Droplets of water from it were rising into the air, like magic. Then, all at once, they all rushed towards Demyx's outstretched hand forming something. It looked like some sort of stringed instrument more than a weapon. He spun it in his hands a couple of times, gripping it so that it looked like he was going to start playing it.

"Just so you know…" Demyx said cheerfully, as he plucked a string. From beside him water rose from the ground, before forming into a copy of himself, just made out of water.

"I wouldn't call myself the best teacher."

Xxx

It didn't take the five of them that much time to reach the planetarium. It had been two right turns and down a hallway, before they finally reached the double doors that marked the planetarium. When they entered, to their surprise, they found a man standing in the center, looking up at the projected night sky on the ceiling. He cocked his head back to look at the group. "The stars are out in full force tonight, huh?" he quipped.

Takuya blinked. "You're…" He stepped forward only to be stopped when Ren placed an arm in front of him. The young boy stared at Ren, only to find the teen's face uncharacteristically hard.

"Who are you?" Ren demanded.

The figure chuckled, before pulling his hood down. The man wore a black eyepatch the covered his right eye and had a large scar running from his left eye down to his left cheek. He had dark hair with several gray streaks through it and yellow eyes, which focused themselves on Ren. His mouth split into a wide grin as he wagged a finger at Ren. "Come on, kid. Hasn't your mom ever told you it's more polite to introduce yourself first?"

Ren narrowed his eyes. "Ren. Ren Amamiya," he finally answered.

The man snorted. "Forget it," he said, just as Takuya opened his mouth. "I know all of your names. Edward Elric. Takuya Kanbara and Mami Tomoe." He smirked, as he started to pace along the length of the wall. "Even that other guy who died."

Morgana frowned. "Other guy?" the cat muttered.

"Name's Xigbar. I'm a Nobody of Organization XIII." He bowed lazily, before shrugging. "Not that it means anything to any of you, I'm sure." He glanced back up at the ceiling for a moment, before focusing back on the small group. "I'm guessing that you know why I'm here?"

"You're supposed to be a test," Edward said. "Like that recording from before explained."

"Recording?" Xigbar sounded confused before he suddenly snapped his fingers. "Oh, you mean by that group of astronauts before me. Yeah, I may have not been the one to kill them but, in the end, I heard they were nothing but failures."

A flash of light enveloped Mami as she transformed into her magical girl outfit. "Failures?" she asked testily, tensing up.

"Yeah." Xigbar grinned. "But that isn't what you are, right? The seven heroes having defeated a being of pure chaos and survived the anger of the masses, finally make their way here to be tested. And none of you have died, yet. If that isn't a triumph then I don't know what is!"

"Are you the guy who's been behind all of this?" Edward asked.

Xigbar shook his head. "Sorry, but I'm as much as a pawn as you four are. At the end of the day, I'm just here to do what I was told to do regardless of whether I lose or not."

"By who?" Ren questioned.

The Nobody shrugged. "By who else." He pointed up at the ceiling. "The very god of this world."

"You don't have to follow its orders!" Takuya insisted. "We could work together and get back home together."

Xigbar blinked, before laughing, as Takuya recoiled at the reaction to his plea. "I know someone else who would've made that same exact offer in your situation. He just wouldn't shut up about the power of friendship and how it was more powerful than anything." He pointed at Takuya, while Ren stepped in front of the young boy as protection. "You remind me of him."

Takuya blinked. "I-I do?"

A smirk slowly stretched across Xigbar's face as he raised his right hand. "Unfortunately for you, this world isn't so forgiving." He snapped his fingers.

The room shook, as Ren transformed into his Phantom Thief outfit and Morgana hopped off his shoulder. "What's going on?" the cat cried, struggling to keep his balance.

Ren looked up to see that the projection of the stars on the ceiling had vanished. The walls and the ceiling of the planetarium continued to shake, before suddenly blowing apart and flying off in the air, into the night sky around them.

Ren's eyes widened as he looked around at their new surroundings. The NASA office building behind them had vanished, and now all he could see around him were millions of flickering stars and hundreds of differently size asteroids hurtling in the space around them. As his stomach churned, he looked behind him to see a large blue and green sphere slowly spinning on its axis. Even behind that, he could see what he could only assume was the Sun.

"Sp-Space?!" Morgana let out a strangled cry. "We're in outer space?!"

"H-Hey, what the hell?!" Edward yelped, as he began to float up, his body now uninhibited by gravity.

Ren glared back at Xigbar only to find a weapon pointed at him; a strange crossbow-like weapon colored a light lilac. He froze, as Xigbar grinned. "Well then… I suppose the test's begun."

Ooo, boy, what's going to happen next?

Reviews and criticism are appreciated.