Heart of an Alchemist
(A/N)
Disclaimer: ...
Hey guys I was just sitting here on my holiday break, watching my New Naruto DVDs(whoo! 142 episodes! Plus season specials) and thought, "Hmm, I haven't updated in a while." So here it is, I hopeyou like it!
Have a blessed Christmas!
Chapter Ten
Sora, Goofy and Donald huffed and puffed as they struggled to keep up with Winry. Even though she was only speed walking she was still way ahead of them.
"Winry…. Wait up!" Goofy choked, carrying the heavy box full of puppies in his arms.
"Yeah, you don't even know where you're going!" Sora exclaimed.
"Well then, you ought to tell me, NOW!" Winry snapped.
"Why should we?" Donald asked.
"Why?" she said through gritted teeth. "You mean like why shouldn't I pound you all right here into mincemeat for not telling me about Ed! Let's just call it payment, shall we!" Winry spat. Pulling out her Tonfa guns, the three boys raised their hands in the air as if under arrest, with no doubt that she would shoot right now.
"The big door on the right!" they told her. Winry pushed it open as easily as if it was the door to a dollhouse. Running after her, the three kept a fair distance.
"The brown door on the left," Sora told her as they entered the first district. Winry spun on her feet, hardly pausing for him to say anything. Sora, Donald and Goofy finally were able to keep a steady pace behind her.
Slamming the entrance door to the hotel, Winry looked at all the different doors with disdain.
"Which one is it?" Winry shouted, not noticing that the three hadn't even come past the entrance door yet. "WHICH ONE!" she yelled just as Sora had entered.
"I-I'm not sure!"
Winry threw out a loud, angry groan and began marching to the first door. Throwing it open, nothing was inside but some cleaning supplies. The next door had a number '2' on it. She threw it open and found a green room with no one inside. The next door was crimson red with a little gold line design on it. Throwing it open she saw an entirely red room and a brunette haired man inside.
"Where's Ed?" she demanded angrily with the gunsin her hand, not even caring if he had even heard the name before.
"A little young to be playing with guns now, aren't we?" Leon said calmly with a bored expression, his back leaned against the red wall. This made Winry even more furious.
"I asked you a question! Now give me an answer!"
"Keep your voice down," said Leon with just the slightest hint of annoyance.
"Winry, slow down!" Winry looked over as Goofy, Donald and Sora slumped through the door and collapsed on the floor, the little puppies barking loudly.
Leon tugged the guns free from Winry's grasp. "You really should be more careful with these."
"Give those back!" Winry reached up, but Leon held her far enough away to where she couldn't reach them.
"Leon, we've got the tea," announced a woman in pink, following a blond boy, carrying a tray, into the Red room.
Ed gasped, "Winry?"
She turned around. "Edward!" A smile lingered on her lips for a moment, but it was immediately thwarted away by an angry frown. She marched up to Ed and gestured to the box of parking puppies, "You know where these pups go right?"
Ed was somewhat surprised by the question but answered truthfully, "Yes…"
"Good." Winry grabbed the tea tray from his had and placed it on the bed. Taking the box of puppies from Goofy, Winry pushed it into Ed's arms and him out the door.
The room was silent for a moment. "She seems…. outgoing," said Aerith. The others in the room let out a little sigh.
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The town was empty and quiet. Neither Winry nor Edward knew what to say as they walked down the stairs and onto the Dalmatian's house. Some of the pups gave little barks while the others began to grow tired and snuggled next to each other.
"So," Ed began, searching for something to say. "Where'd you meet Sora?"
Winry was relieved that he broke the silence. "Uh, in a world called Deep Jungle. I woke up there when I first left Central. What about you?"
They rounded a corner and Winry pushed open two blue doors for Edward. The two walked into a room with two Dalmatian dogs sitting in a corner. The instant they walked in the door, the little pups barked joyfully. The dogs sat up and barked backed, running to them. Ed placed the box on the ground and let the little puppies climb out and greet their parents. The mother nuzzled the noses of her pups and the father licked them all with greeting.
Winry and Edward sat against a wall and watched all the dogs play together. "You never answered my question," said Winry.
"Oh, I met him on his world. It was called Destiny Islands, nice place." Edward relaxed a bit while thinking back to the peaceful island.
Winry thought of what to say in response. "What about Al? Is he here with you?"
Edward's face grew solemn. "No, he isn't. I'm… hoping that he'll be on one of the other worlds that we visit."
"But…. What if he isn't? Are you really so sure that he's going to be there?"
Edward paused. "Yeah… I'm positive."
"How?"
"Hah! No problem, Ed. We'll find your friends, I promise!"
Edward stood up. "'Cause, Sora promised. What more reason do I need?"
Winry smiled, thinking back to when she and Sora had promised to look out for each other's friends. "Yeah, that kid's always happy to help. Pretty dang curious too."
"Yep, you should've heard him when he was asking about my Automail. He wouldn't shut up. I pretty much had to explain what metal was to quite him down."
Winry giggled. "It must've been a pain in the butt for you to explain alchemy to him then."
Edward paused. "Actually now that you mention it, he didn't ask too much about alchemy."
"Really?"
"Yeah, he just asked what it was and was it hard. I thought the questions would pile on after that but he didn't ask anything about how I can do it or… anything else or that matter."
"Hmm, weird, oh well." Winry stood up next to Edward. "Come on. I think these guys will be okay."
"Right, I also think you owe someone an apology," Edward added as they walked out the door.
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"Mmm! This is great tea Aerith! Can I have s'more?" Sora asked sipping down another cup of Aerith's tea.
"Me too," Goofy added.
"Me phree!" Yuffie exclaimed while munching on one of the donuts she was sent to get.
"Of course, there's plenty. Oh, Leon don't you want to try some?" Aerith asked, pouring more tea into the three's cups.
"No thanks," he said looking slightly irked.
"All right," she said a little disappointed. "Come in," she said as a knock came to the door.
The door opened and Edward and Winry walked into the room. "Everybody," Edward began, "This is Winry. That's Leon, Aerith and Yuffie," he said pointing them out. Yuffie and Aerith gave a friendly wave. Leon tossed the Tonfa guns across the room, Winry barely catching them.
"Be more careful with those next time," he said, grabbing a donut from a box set next to Yuffie on the bed.
"Right, oh I'm sorry about earlier everybody."
Aerith smiled, "That's all right."
"Whu haffened eawier?" Yuffie asked with a large piece of donut in her mouth.
"Nothing special, don't talk with your mouth full, Yuffie. Oh yes, Edward, Winry, we're going to be moving out of the hotel and onto a vacant house in the third district."
"Is it bigger than here?" Edward questioned.
"No, but there will be less people around and no one will be bothering us for our gil- er munny."
"Oh, do you need help moving anything?"
"Just a couple of things, it's nice of you to ask."
Leon pushed himself off the wall and walked for the door. "Sora, Donald, Goofy, I want you three to follow me. We'll meet the others later."
The three hopped off the bed and followed him. "Where are we going, Leon?"
"For a walk."
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"So you found the Keyhole."
"Yeah, two of them, the Keyblade locked them automatically," Sora explained.
"Good. All of the worlds amongst the stars have a Keyhole; this town must have one too. The Keyholes lead to the heart of the world. The Heartless enter through the Keyholes and do something to the worlds core."
"What happens if the Heartless get to them?"
"It disappears in the end."
"What!" Sora, Donald and Goofy yelled together.
Leon led them down to the alleyway and they stopped by the bars of the drainage hole. He pulled his Gun-blade from the strap on his back, warmed it up and fired at the bars. The bars went flying, Leon crouched slightly and walked through the hole. The three others followed him. The hole emerged into a large area with water all around and a gray and green stone footing.
"So you're saying that if we don't get to all the Keyholes in time they'll disappear!" Sora asked jogging after Leon through the knee-high water.
Leon stopped on a large gray-stoned area that was dry. "No, I'm saying that if you don't get to the Keyholes in time they'll disappear."
"What? Why me?"
"Because you are the one with the Keyblade, no one else."
"Great, no pressure."
"Sora, I think you and your friends should go to as many other worlds as possible, seeing them would serve you well."
"Com'on Sora! You can do it!" Goofy said. "We might find your friends too!
"And the King," Donald added.
Sora nodded, "OK. Let's go!"
"Wait, Leon look at this." Goofy pulled the four Gummi blocks from his pocket and showed them to Leon. "These ones are different from the other Gummi blocks. We thought you might know what they're for."
Leon examined them for a moment. "I'm no expert on ships. Talk to Cid, he should know."
"Thanks Leon," Sora said as the three turned for the exit.
"Sora." Turning around just in time, Sora caught something in his hands.
"What's this?" A little green stone with a strange glow sat in his hand.
"That stone has some mysterious power. I've been carrying it around for a while. I want you to hold onto it."
"Well, how do you use it?"
Leon paused. "Go talk to Cid."
'Great, he doesn't know either,' Sora thought. He turned around and shot for the exit with Donald and Goofy.
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"You've gotta be kiddin' me!" Cid yelled. "Y'all got the collective brain cell of a brick if ya ain't got no clue what a Navigation Gummi is. This here thingamajigger updates your coordinate database for locations in known interspace. Let's ya go where no man has gone before and all that jazz."
"Oh," said Sora, not really understanding what he was saying but knew it was good.
"In any case it wouldn't hurt to get it installed. Not like it'll crash your system or nothin'.
"So you'll put it in for us, Gramps?"
"I told ya before, need any help an' I'll lend ya some muscle. And I ain't never broken a promise before, bad business that is." Cid dug for something behind the counter. "Now, onto the matter o' yer payment. There's a delivery job I need you kids to run fer me."
"Payment!" Donald and Sora exclaimed.
"Hey, ever heard of 'equivalent exchange'?"
"Alright Gramps, calm down."
"Just shut yer yaps and deliver the goods." Cid handed them a brown hard-back book with a white space on the front and a golden latch.
"What's this?" Goofy asked.
"An exchange diary or something?" Sora suggested.
"Hell no! Just take it to the old house on the outskirts o' sector three. Leon also knows another way there but he's somewhere else right now, no point in hunting him down. Anyway I'm countin' on ya ter get it there."
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"Gawrsh, the door won't open," Goofy said pushing on a large door with a clear flame symbol on it.
"Stand back," Sora said, "I'll handle this." He took the Keyblade out from his belt and pointed it at the door. Sora stood waiting for it to glow or something else. Pushing the door again, Goofy asked, "What'cha doing Sora?"
"Nothing. How are we gonna get in then?" Sora asked. Donald looked at the door.
"All right, all right you two, get out of the way." He lifted up his wand and a flaming ball shot from its end. The clear flame on the door began to lightly glow red and yellow.
Goofy pushed it and it creaked open reluctantly. "Hey, it's unlocked, let's go. Good job, Donald."
"Nothin' to it," he said smugly, walking after Goofy.
"Yeah, yeah, just watch where you point that magic lollypop stick," Sora mumbled after them. Through the door was a large, cave-like area with a giant pond. In the middle of the pond was a house that looked like a big hut wearing a giant witch hat. A trail of large stepping-stones drifted in the water leading to the house. The three walked to them and hopped onto each, trying not to fall off. Making it to the other side, they found the front door blocked with a jumble of wooden boards.
"Now how are we gonna get in?" Sora asked.
"Over here, we can crawl in the window," Goofy said. Crawling inside, they found a large, empty, gray room with a dais in the center.
"Looks like nobody's home."
"There's something weird about this place," said a gentle voice. Sora whirled around.
'KAIRI?'
"It sorta reminds you of the Secret place back home, doesn't it?" Kairi said.
"Huh? Kairi? How did… how are…"
BAM!
The wall behind Sora burst to pieces, dust and debris flew all over.
"Phew!" A tall man wearing a blue pointy hat and robes coughed and swished his hand around, trying to clear the smoke. He placed his hands on his knees for a moment, his long white beard brushing against the floor. "Nearly missed my landing, I did!" He brushed his robes free of some dust when he spotted Sora. "Oh, you arrived sooner than I expected." The man swiped the book away from Sora's grasp and examined it. Sora whirled back around.
'Wha… where'd Kairi go!'
"My, the binding's almost as good as new! Highwind's become very proficient with book restoration, hasn't he? Ah well, look at this place! It's filthy! I might as well clean up while I unpack." The man pulled a thin stick that looked like a wand from his pocket and pointed it at his bag. "You kids might want to watch where you step," he added to the three. He then flicked the wand and the bag opened up a on its own. Small objects, which looked like miniature versions of furniture and such flew, out of the bag and danced around the room, steadily growing larger and larger. Then the man pointed to certain objects as if directing them to areas of the room. Soon everything was settled and in place.
The man gave a little huff as if he had actually unpacked and placed everything around with his bare hands. "Come now, all of you sit down. I'll get you something to eat."
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"My name is Merlin. As you can see I'm a magician of sorts," said the tall man after they had all settled in their seats and a plate of food sat in front of them. "Your king requested that I grant you some assistance."
"And do you know where the King is right now?" Donald asked.
"That, unfortunately, I do not. We parted some time ago.
"I do know the purpose of his travels though. There spreads, as we speak, a discord across all creation. Your king seeks a means, by which it may be quelled, that the end of days shan't envelope us in darkness. In any case he asked me to provide you all a lesson in the art of magic. Mind that you pay attention, Sora."
Sora looked up from his tea, "Eh?"
"You've done well yourself, learning to manipulate the Keyblade on instinct alone. But that reliance on instinct denies you the full capacity of the weapon. Conscious control of the blade's functions is essential to your cause. You mustn't forget your dream…"
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Sora, Donald and Goofy wiped their plates clean and hopped up from their seats. "Thanks for the meal, Merlin we gotta get going."
They headed for the door when Merlin shouted: "Wait! Sora, what's that in your pocket?"
"This? It's just a weird stone a friend gave me." Merlin took it from him and examined it. "Wait there a moment." Merlin tapped his wand against a green, pumpkin-shaped carriage. Green and blue sparkles flew from the carriage. They swirled around like a mini tornado next to Merlin and a round woman in a light blue, hooded dress with gray hair appeared when the sparkles faded.
"What is it Merlin?" she asked.
"Look here," he said handing her the stone. Her eyes grew sad.
"Oh, poor thing. It's been turned into a summon gem."
"A summon gem?" Sora asked.
"Yes, when a world is consumed by darkness it vanishes. But it seems that this inhabitant had such a strong heart that it was transformed into a summon gem, instead of vanishing with his world. His heart lies within that gem."
"Can he regain himself?" Donald asked.
"Yes, but only his spirit. Even to do that you would need someone with a great deal of magic." The woman looked at Sora and saw the Keyblade hanging from the back of his belt. A smile lit on her face. "Young man what is your name? And your friends too?"
"I'm Sora. That's Donald and that's Goofy."
The woman handed the summon gem back to Sora. "Well, I am the Fairy Godmother. I think you should take care of this one. Here." The Fairy Godmother raised up her own magic wand and said the words, "Bibbity Bobbity Boo!" Sparkles flew from her wand and swirled around the gem. It vanished into more sparkles and flew around the Keyblade. "There, now you have the power to summon him. But mind you, you need to practice your magic much further."
"I can help with that! And if you really want to learn a good deal of magic I suggest you go to this world." Merlin flicked his wand and a blue piece of paper appeared in Sora's hand.
"All right!" Sora said, slipping the paper into his pocket. Donald, Goofy and Sora walked for the newly made 'exit'.
"Now if you need any help, mind you come to us."
"Sure thing, Merlin."
"Oh, before you leave, if by any chance you come across the pages of this book along your travels, do return them to me. Once an entire world existed between these pages. It would be a crime to simply let it vanish into obscurity." The trio looked at the book a bit surprised that an entire world could be contained in a book.
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"Cripes, the things we gotta look for just keep getting bigger and bigger," Sora whined as they walked into center of the third district.
"Not a problem, really," said Donald.
"Yeah, Gawrsh, we'll just have to tackle 'em one at a time," added Goofy.
"Sounds like a plan." They all looked at each other with a smile. "CRAP!" Out of nowhere a Soldier Heartless leapt onto Sora's shoulders and clasped its claws around Sora's neck. Before anyone had time to react a sword flung passed Sora's neck and sliced the Heartless in two. The Heartless's severed body vanished into smoke.
"Come on, Sora! Don't be spacin' out like that! It's freakin' pathetic. I thought I taught you better."
Sora whirled around to a familiar face. His blue-eyed gaze met an icy-blue one. "I've been looking all over for you, Sora."
"RIKU!" Sora ran towards his silver-haired friend and threw out his arms as if ready to hug. Riku prepared for Sora to squeeze the life out of his lungs, but instead the life was squeezed out of his cheeks. He slapped Sora's fingers away from his face.
"What the hell do you think your doing?"
"Oh, it's really you! Riku, I thought it might be some cruel dream!"
"Cruel, huh? Come on, I'm not that ugly!"
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"So, Kairi's not with you?" sighed Sora.
"I thought she was with you," Riku replied.
"Just look on the bright side. We've finally made it to the outside world. We're free to do whatever the hell we want. No one can stop us. I'm sure we'll run into Kairi in no time as well. Don't worry just leave everything to me. With me around you won't--"
Slash!
Swinging passed Riku, the Keyblade slashed a Heartless in two. It fell down and disappeared into smoke.
"Leave it to who?" Sora asked smirking.
"Sora did you just…"
"I've gotten better, haven't I? I've been preparing for a rematch with you ever since I went searching for you and Kairi! All thanks to these guys!" Sora said motioning to Donald and Goofy.
"Our Sora here's the chosen one by the Keyblade!" said Goofy.
"Yeah, who would've thought it?" Donald added sarcastically.
"Really, now?" Riku didn't seem all too excited. "So this is the Keyblade I've been hearing so much about, huh?" Riku said with the Keyblade in his hands.
"Hey, give it back!" Sora whined, surprised he had gotten it out of his hands so quickly.
"Catch." Riku pulled his arm back as if to throw it, but when his arm extended out the Keyblade disappeared into smoke.
"Huh?" A puff of smoke appeared in front of Sora and the Keyblade appeared in his arms.
"Gawrsh, how'd he do that Donald?"
"Probably using one of those functions Sora hasn't mastered yet, that Merlin was talking about. I wonder though…"
Sora stared at the Keyblade for a moment.
"Hey Sora, did you get our note?" Sora turned around and saw Edward walking up to them.
"Note, what note?"
"The one telling you to come here when you were done talking to Cid."
"Oh, no, I was just talking with Riku. You remember Riku don't you Ed?"
Edward and Riku looked at each other, but didn't seem the least bit happy to see each other. "Yeah, I remember."
"Oh, you've gotta come with us Riku! We've got this really awesome rocket-thingy. You can ride with us if you want."
"Ain't your decision to make, Sora! You should be glad I let this shorty come along!"
"Donald! He didn't mean it, Ed!"
"No, no, I'm OK," Edward said with a clenched fist.
"Come one Donald, he's my friend. Right, Riku?" Sora turned to where Riku was standing, but he was gone. "Riku? Riku! Ed did you see where Riku went?"
"No."
"Crud. Gone and slipped off again. I thought I'd finally caught up to him too. Stupid Riku."
"Oi, Sora…" Donald began looking for a way to cheer him up.
"Oh, well, could've been worse! I mean at least he wasn't injured or nothin'! At his rate we might run into Kairi too. Er, something wrong, Donald?" Sora looked at Donald who had a dumbfound look on his face.
"I'm startin' to suspect you're bipolar, kid."
"Oi, Ed! I thought you were gonna bring them back! I didn't think I'd have to come too!" Yuffie yelled at them from a few feet away. "The new place is all set up so you can come now!"
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"Oiyo! The great ninja Yuffie-chan makes her grand entrance!" Yuffie said playfully entering the new 'HQ' as Yuffie had called it. Leon, Aerith, Winry and Cid sat around a table staring at their laps with solemn faces.
"Kinda gloomy in here, don't ya think?" Sora said.
"Maleficent's in town," Leon said.
Sora heard Yuffie catch her breath and Edward gritted his teeth together while clenching his fist. "Who's Melice-somethin'?"
"Maleficent. She's a witch kid. O' course if ya change the first letter to a 'B' it'd fit even better," Cid said.
"It's 'cause of her," Yuffie said, "That our hometowns were shattered."
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"You see. He doesn't care about you anymore. He has new friends," said a tall, dark figure. Riku stood staring at the window with Sora and all the others inside, letting the woman's words sink in.
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"Bein' the kindly gent that I am, I took pity on 'em and took 'em with me on my way offworld," stated Cid. "Ended up here in this town. Drove us off the planet with a full-blown-Heartless-infestation, she did."
"Maleficent seems to demonstrate a certain interest in Ansem's Reports," said Aerith. "As the data recorded in it represents the most extensive documentation of the Heartless known to exist. I can only imagine
that she intends to use the knowledge for evil. Though we cannot yet determine her motive, the pages that have fallen to her should now be numerous."
"In that case all we gotta do is find the rest of the pages, right? We can stop her!" Sora exclaimed.
Cid's face lit up. "I like your thinking,' kid. Real positive an' all. Your Gummi ship's all ready to go so go get 'em tiger!"
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"What are you doin' here? I said that blondy could come but nothing about you," Donald said to Winry.
"Hey, I'm coming no matter what you say, and I'm defiantly not letting Ed out of my sights. Besides it'll be good to have me around. Cid's been teaching me a little somethin' about these Gummi ships so I can help out around here!"
"Fine, fine, just don't take anything apart. At least the stars look good from here. Hey Sora, what're you doin'?"
Sora stared out the window of the Gummi ship. "Darn, Riku…" he mumbled, "Wonder if he's mad or somethin'… the heck's with him anyway?"
"He's still at it!"
Goofy jumped up next to his short duck friend. "Hey Donald!"
"Yes Goofy?"
"We're almost to another world!"
"Really which one? Hey Jiminy, come here!"
Jiminy hopped up onto Goofy's shoulder and peered out the glass. "Hmm, I've seen this one before. Just let me check my journal." Jiminy flipped through the pages of the miniature journal until he found the right profile. "Ahh, here it is. As I thought, this world is called….."
(A/N)
Oh deary me, what world could itbe! It's a mystery all right! Now watch as the great Detective Caita-kun solves this mystery! Don't worry, I watch way to much Detective Conan to screw this case up.
Review! And Merry Christmas!
Bloopers- These are a couple of mistakes I made while typing this chapter
Leon pushed himself off the wall and walked for the door. "Sora, Donald, Goofy, I want you three to follow me. We'll meat the others later."
-They're going to MEAT them later? I wonder what he had in mind...
"No, I was just talking to Riku. Oh, that's right, Riku this is Edward. Edward this is Riku."
-Hmm, either Riku and Ed have short-term memory loss (get it, "short") or Sora doesn't think highly of their brain capacity.