Author's Note-Wow, I didn't realize it had been so long since my last update. And I have noticed something... Today is Dark Rain's one-year anniversary! Yay! So, here's a nice long chapter to celebrate. And a bag of confetti and a piece of cake. -grin- By the way, I'd like to say thanks again to everyone that's reviewed so far. Without your support, I probably would have ended up dropping this story during one of my writer's blocks. But I haven't, and now that I've gotten through those hard parts so I can write easily again, I'm glad. Thanks! -smiles- Other than that and the fact that my computer's being all screwed up (as usual) I don't have much to say here, other than a reminder that I don't own, so you don't sue. So here's the chapter!

Kiyoshi groaned. "Are we there yet?" he whined, looking up from the sketchbook that Aerith had gotten for him.

"Hm?" Kairi asked, blinking back at him. She was sitting in the copilot's seat. Tifa was snoozing in one of the cots, Kiyoshi had been lying in one of the cots, doodling in his sketchbook, and Hyotoko was sitting in the pilot's seat, flipping through the instruction manual for what had to be the zillionth time, as if trying to memorize it. Every now and then he would look up and just stare off into space, zoning out. Kairi felt sorry for him. He must have had a dozen things to straighten out, to decide what to believe and what not to believe. And not only that, but…

He must be thinking about Sakura… Kairi thought.

"I asked if we were there yet," Kiyoshi repeated, interrupting Kairi from her observations.

"Oh! Um…to be honest, I'm not sure. I don't think I've ever heard of Tokyo…" Kairi admitted. She turned to Hyotoko. "Hey, Hyotoko? Just how long is it going to take to get to Tokyo?"

Hyotoko blinked, being snapped out of his thoughts, and looked over at them. "Huh?"

"She's asking if we're there yet," Kiyoshi said helpfully.

"Oh. Well…" Hyotoko sat forward in his seat, pressing a few buttons on the control panel. "That mostly depends on how close Traverse Town is to at least Twilight Town. I think it was practically a few days to get to Twilight Town from Tokyo," he replied. "It would probably be best for you all to find something to amuse yourselves with."

Kiyoshi sighed, his head dropping back down to rest on his sketchbook. Kairi leaned back in her chair, staring out at the infinite vastness of space. The stars…there were so many. Which one were her childhood friends on now?

Her musings were interrupted yet again by a shuddering of the ship. Kiyoshi sat up, looking around. "What happened!" he exclaimed.

"I'm not really sure," Hyotoko replied, looking out the window, searching for the source of the problem.

"I completely forgot!" Kairi gasped.

"Wha…?" Hyotoko asked, blinking over at her.

The ship gave another shudder. "Heartless ships! There are Heartless ships up in space!"

"Crap!" Hyotoko said. He looked down at the map and radar, only to see their ship surrounded by a bunch of flashing dots. "How could you forget about something like that…?.!" he demanded. He shook his head, then, without looking up from the control panel, began to hand out orders. "Kiyoshi, wake up Tifa and then both of you come over here and buckle up. And somebody, preferably somebody with good aim, take the weapons station."

Kiyoshi nodded and awoke Tifa. Tifa groaned.

"Ugh… Are we there, yet?" she asked groggily, sitting up and looking around.

Kiyoshi shook his head. "Uh uh. We're under attack!"

Tifa frowned, looking down at him. "Under attack…?.!"

"Yeah! We're being shot at by Heartless ships!"

"Hey! We're gonna need someone to take weapons ship, soon. We're not gonna get out of this just by good maneuvering!" Hyotoko said tersely.

"Well, I don't know about guns, but…sure. Why not?" Tifa said, hopping into the chair of the weapons station as Kiyoshi sat down into one of the chairs and buckled up.

Crash!

"Too late-we're going down!" Kairi cried.

"Going down?.! To where?.!" Hyotoko demanded.

"Right there! That planet, I think!" Kiyoshi said, pointing to the windshield and over at a world nearby.

"What? Oh, now I see it," Hyotoko said. "Well, uhm…everyone make sure they're buckled up. I'm losing control of the ship."

"You mean we're going to crash?.!" Kiyoshi cried, a fearful lookin his eyes.

"I hate to be blunt, but most likely," Hyotoko replied. "From the looks of it, it seems that they've taken out one of our engines."

Kairi frowned, looking around at the control panel. That's when an idea struck her. "What about the shields?"

Hyotoko glanced over at her. "What about them?" he asked.

"If we hit the planet with the shields on, won't that provide us with at least a little bit of protection? Maybe slow down the ship a little to lower the force of our impact?" Kairi suggested.

Hyotoko frowned at her. "Yeah, but if we did, it could cause major damage to our shield system. And in the end, that's all that's really keeping the Heartless from totally blowing us out of the sky. We wouldn't be able toe leave the planet."

"We'll be able to fix it! In the long run, it's a whole lot better than ending up dead," Kairi reasoned.

Hyotoko paused, considering for a moment, then nodded. "Good point. Okay, here goes," he said. He studied the control panel for a few moments, then turned the shields up to maximum power.

Kairi glanced over at Kiyoshi, whose knuckles were white from gripping the arms of the chair, whose eyes were tightly shut. Poor kid. He's probably remembering the last time he crashed… she thought. "Hey, Kiyoshi? Don't worry. Everything will be okay, you'll-"

And then everything went black.

"So…we were right. This place is a ghost town…" the blond said quietly.

"What could have done this…?" his younger brother wondered.

"If not an army of chimeras, then a psycho alchemist on the rampage," the blonde suggested. He frowned, observing the area. "Strange, though. There's no blood anywhere. And there's barely even the signs of a struggle. It's as if everyone just dropped everything and left…"

The younger brother turned to his sibling. "Niisan, you don't think the next town will be like this, do you…?" he asked.

"No telling. Best we can probably do is just catch the next train and see," the blonde said, crossing his arms, eyes closed, his typical thinking position for considering.

"But the next train won't be arriving until tomorrow…" the younger brother reminded.

"Right. I suppose we should look for refugees to pass the time…at least until nightfall. And let's not forget to look for information on the stone. That is why we came here, after all," the blonde reminded, starting down the street again.

The younger sibling began to follow, then glanced up at the sky, seeing something streaking down. "…Niisan?"

"Yeah?"

"What's that…?"

"Hm?" Amber eyes turned up to look into the sky. Before he could reply, the falling star-if that's what it was-slammed into the ground a couple blocks away. The explosive force of the impact was enough to demolish a building or two (which they hoped was abandoned) and throw up a huge dust cloud. Both sweatdropping and exchanging glances, they ran over to the source, stopping at the edge of the large crater. In the center was what looked like a colorful, somewhat large (about maybe the size of a refrigerator truck)…spaceship?

The blonde hesitated for a moment, frowning as he thought this over. Then he looked up at his younger brother. "Let's check it out," he said, starting over to and down into the crater. His younger brother sweatdropped, then sighed and followed.

"Okay, niisan…"

The blonde scaled down carefully. When he was close to the bottom, he called, "Hello? Is anybody there?"

"I think the real question is if anybody is even still alive in there..." the younger brother stated.

He had a point. Despite that the ship probably should have suffered a lot more damage than it did, it was still pretty smashed up. The entire front had been crunched tightly, like a tin can. The whole ship was smoking and sparking, and occasionally a blue light would flicker around it. The windshield was smashed, and the door was probably jammed.

The older brother nodded, moving a bit closer. By now, he couldn't have been more than five feet away from the door. "Hello? Is anyone even alive in there?"

"Hello?.! Is somebody out there?.! Help us, please!" a young voice came from inside the ship.

The blonde's eyes widened a bit. "A kid…?.!" he muttered. He frowned. "Alright, hold on. We're going to get you out. Is anyone else in there with you?" he called.

"It's just me and my three friends, but I don't think any of them are moving!"

"Well, just hang in there!" The blonde turned to his younger brother. "Hey, think you can check out the front?"

"Yeah, okay," the younger brother replied, starting over to the front.

"Now, to get this door out of the way…" the blonde muttered, clapping his hands together and placing them on the door of the ship. There was the crackle of energy, then suddenly a hole formed. It wasn't too big, but big enough. He climbed through, peering through the darkness that seemed only lit by the sparks of the ship and the ever-dimming light outside. Sharp pieces of metal and glass could be heard crunching under his boots. He just hoped that none of them would pierce his left boot.

"Hello?" he called, looking around. One of the seats jerked, a head popping up and turning to look at him.

"Over here!" the child called.

The blonde climbed over something. It felt like a cot… "How injured are you…?"

"Not too injured. …Mostly cut up…" the kid replied.

"Can you get out?"

"Yeah, I think so… I mainly couldn't get out because of the lack of exits."

"Well, we have that mostly taken care of…"

"Alright, thanks." With that, the boy unbuckled his seatbelt, sliding out of his seat and almost into the back of the chair in front of him.

"Careful. The floor is at a slight tilt, so…" the blonde warned.

"Okay…" the boy said, climbing his way out.

The blonde grabbed onto the now-empty seat, clinging on to look around. In the seat beside his and diagonal to his, he saw two girls, badly cut and unconscious.

"Niisan!" the younger sibling cried.

"Yeah?"

"The kid up front-I think you're right behind him-he's hurt really bad. Not only is he cut up, but there's a long shard of glass that seems to have gone entirely through his shoulder!"

"What?.!" The blond frowned. "Do you think you can get him out? There's two others in here that need help. Besides, you can probably get to him at a better angle."

"Yeah, okay…"

About ten minutes later, everyone was out. The young boy that had spoken earlier was huddled off to the side. Indeed, he was cut up badly and looking quite afraid. When the blonde fully emerged from the ship, the boy's eyes widened.

"Taro!" the boy exclaimed.

The blonde and his younger brother exchanged glances. "Um…no," the blonde said. "My name is Ed. Edward Elric…"

The boy blinked, then brushed some black hair from his eyes and tried to wipe some of the blood away from his eyes, wincing from the pain. "Oh… Sorry. Just with the amber eyes and blonde hair, you looked a lot like my cousin, Taro. But Taro's hair is short and spiky. And he's a lot taller-"

"I AM NOT SO TINY THAT YOU COULD MISTAKEN ME FOR A DUST MITE!" Ed yelled, eyes glowing red and going into evil chibi mode.

The boy blinked again, shrinking back meekly. "But…I didn't say that. Taro is tall. He's sixteen," the boy amended. Of course, the boy could see now that height wasn't the only difference. Ed did have amber eyes and blonde hair like Taro, but his hair was long, tied back into a braid and his bangs were long. His shirt was black and white, and over that he wore a long red coat and white gloves. And well...the boy had to admit it. Ed was short. The boy was only a few inches shorter than him.

"…Really -.-;…" Ed said.

The boy nodded. "My name is Insei Kiyoshi…" he said. "And my friends' names are… My friends!" he exclaimed, eyes widening. He jumped up from the large rock he had been sitting on, wincing again.

"Calm down. We got your friends out-now they just need medical treatment, like you," the younger brother assured him, stepping forward. "And as soon as possible…" he added quietly.

Kiyoshi looked over at the younger brother, still alarmed, but now at the fact that the younger brother seemed to be in a huge, dark gray suit of armor with long white hair in a ponytail and a loincloth, and now he had the realization that they could very possibly be…

He glanced back over at Edward, then back at the younger sibling.

Ed blinked. "…What?"

Kiyoshi glared. "…Are you a Heartless?" he demanded to the younger brother.

The younger brother sweatdropped, his red eyes becoming dots as he put a hand behind his head and the other hand up in defense. "What? Uhm-"

"And are you a Dark Knight? A Non-Existent?" Kiyoshi demanded, turning his glare on Ed, fingering something in his pocket. "Are you associated with the Heartless in any way?"

Ed frowned. "What?.!" He marched over to the boy and promptly hit him over the head, making the boy fall back down onto the rock.

"Ow!"

"Niisan -.-;…" the younger brother sighed, sweatdropping.

"We just saved you and all of your friends, so just who are you calling heartless?.!" Ed demanded.

The boy blinked, frowning. "Just who am I…" He suddenly looked quite surprised. "No! I'm talking about the monsters, not the trait!"

Ed and his brother exchanged glances. "…Monsters…?" Ed asked.

Kiyoshi frowned. "You mean…you guys don't know…?"

Ed blinked. The younger brother seemed to decide that he should probably introduce himself, before any more wrong assumptions could be made. "Um, well… My name is Alphonse Elric, but you can just call me Al. I'm his younger brother," he said, pointing down at Ed.

Kiyoshi rubbed the back of his head a bit sheepishly. "Oh… Sorry about that. With all the armor on, I thought you were a Heartless…" he apologized.

"It's okay," Al assured him.

"So, Kiyoshi…can you stand?" Ed asked.

"Last time I checked…" Kiyoshi said, standing up. He suddenly wavered; the ground began to rush up at him-

"Woah. Easy there," Ed said, catching the boy. "Last time you checked was a couple of minutes ago, and by now, you've probably lost a lot of blood." He looked up at the sky, then over at Al. "It's already getting dark. We're going to need shelter."

"Yeah, okay. But how are we going to carry all three of them to shelter if you're helping Kiyoshi?" Al asked.

"Hm… Well-"

"I'll walk," Kiyoshi interrupted. The brothers both looked over at him. Ed blinked. "You guys help my friends. I'll walk with you guys on my own," Kiyoshi continued.

Ed smiled. "You know you're too weak to. Don't be too proud and too stubborn to accept some help when you need it."

"It's not that." Kiyoshi said. He frowned, lowering his head. "It's just…I promised my friend I'd be strong… And even though it's been nearly a week since then… I have yet to fulfill it."

Ed sighed. "Fine, but if you start to wobble or slow us down, we're using another method. Got it?"

Kiyoshi nodded, straightening. Ed turned to Al. "Hey, Al, you get the two girls. I'll get the boy."

Al nodded, picking up the two unconscious girls. "All right. But be careful with the boy; his injury looks pretty serious," he said.

Ed nodded. "I will," he said, going over to the other boy. He couldn't help but flinch when he saw him. Al was right. The boy did have a long shard of glass sticking through his shoulder. And that added to other wounds… Well, let's just say that all and all, he was in pretty bad shape.

Carefully, Ed picked up the boy and nodded. "Right… Let's go."

And with that, they started off.

Author's Note- Heheh… If you can guess the world they're in now, I'll give ya a cookie. Demonsurfer, yes, I agree with the rock thing. So does metal, of course, that's usually with fight scenes. Oh, and my bishi of the week doesn't really last for a week, just until I go into a new anime phase, which could range from a couple weeks to a couple months. -smiles and sweatdrops- Congratulations for getting 100th review! You get pocky and two plushies of your choice. Everyone else gets a one plushie. Doghouse, yes, I do hate Kairi. I hate her a lot. Unfortunately, as an author trying to get everyone in character, I can't really have favorites. And about the diamond thing, well…they do say that diamonds are a girl's best friend, heheh. –grin- Well, I shall try to update soon, so please review. Ja ne!