Author's note-Gomen for not posting in so long. School's had me bogged down, and I've hardly had time for much else (including karate and writing.) Especially with the exams and graduation tests one week after the other, with exams all crammed into one week, graduation tests in the next…who plans these things?.! –sigh- Anyways, I haven't been having too much time to write, and now the actual game will be coming out. I'm just gonna say that once that happens this will end up becoming an AU. I have no intention of stopping the ficceh. Now, for the disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts. Now, on with the fic!

"I'm gonna kill you!"

The voice had been so innocent and cheerful… Did this little girl even known what death meant?

But before he even had the chance to ask, the girl lunged at him, slashing one of her daggers. He jumped back in a dodge, reluctantly summoning his keyblade. What was he going to do? He didn't want to have to fight a little girl…

The doors suddenly flew open, Tam standing in the doorway, her closed fist held out. "Sora, get out of here now!"

Sora turned to see vines beginning to poke out from between Tam's fingers. He hesitated, but then decided to take her word for it and ran out. He paused once outside and turned, expecting Tam to follow. Instead, the doors slammed shut, trapping Tam inside. "Tam!" he exclaimed, running over to the doors and trying to push them open. However, as hard as he tried, his attempts were futile.

Tam was locked in…

Riku sat by the fire of the town in Cosmo Canyon. He could hear the crackle and pop of the flames; he could almost feel the heat on his face.

…Well…if he could feel…

He could tell it was night by the sounds around him. The coyote howls off in the distance, the chirping of crickets nearby.

Padded footsteps drew close and then stopped beside him. After a couple of moments of silence, Red XIII spoke.

"Do you want to help out your friends more?" he asked.

Riku 'looked' over at him, but then nodded. "Yeah…"

"Then follow me…"

Riku stood, following the cat. They headed up the stairs and turned into a shop. Red XIII headed over to the back and opened up a trunk, pawing through the contents until he found what he had been searching for. Taking the item in his mouth, he carried it over to Riku and dropped it into the boy's palm.

"This is called summoning materia," Red XIII explained. "More specifically, it is called Odin."

Odin…how fitting. The lightning crackling around the materia brushed and sparked against Riku's hand without giving any pain. "How do I use it?"

"Like any magic. When Odin is summoned, your heart will sync with the spirit you have called. But it can only survive in the world for a period of time before it must return to the materia," Red XIII explained.

Riku nodded. "I'll be sure to keep that in mind…" he said, slipping the orb into his pocket.

Red XIII nodded, then said, "Riku…this isn't a very commonly-known fact, but I was once a White Knight of Gaia. I watched Prince Yukiro and his brother grow, and I fought until Gaia's fall. In the final battle, like Vincent, I was captured and taken here. Put through experiments and then sleep, I was found in the canyon years ago."

The cat looked up at him with a slight sigh. "The last time I saw the young prince, he was no older than the age of nine. After that, I suspect that it had been about ten years for him in this world. In spite of the time that has passed, he has hardly changed at all. He's still the stubborn, determined, hot-tempered boy that he's always been. But…something troubles me…"

Red XIII lowered his head. "Due to the events that's transpired, his heart had started to become bitter and cold. If he is not careful, then it will become tainted with darkness. Being the prince of light, he is also the incarnation of light. Should he die or be tainted, then the very existence of light will cease to exist. I would go with you and Vincent and the prince, but I unfortunately have other duties here. This is now my home, and I must protect it from suffering the same fate as Gaia. As of this moment, without ceremony, you are unofficially a White Knight."

Riku raised an eyebrow. "Isn't it only supposed to be royalty that can knight people…?" he asked.

Red XIII smiled. "That's why I said 'unofficially.'"

"Oi, Riku. Vincent and I are waiting for you. Quit standing around," came Yukiro's voice from the doorway. Riku turned, seeing the intense light of Yukiro's figure, then nodded.

"Alright, I'm coming," Riku said. As he 'watched' Yukiro turn and walk off, he 'looked' down at Red XIII. "Hey…thanks. This Odin summon should help out a lot…"

Red XIII nodded. "Just be sure to use it for the right reasons… Remember, you've got a job to do…"

Riku nodded as well. "I'll remember that. Don't worry… I won't let you down…" With that, he turned, starting after the young prince.

Night didn't last long in Amestris. The light of dawning day was finally beginning to shine down, much to the travelers' relief. Kiyoshi, who had fallen asleep in the chair without realizing, stirred. His blue eyes slowly opened and he blinked sleepily, yawning. Not remembering where he was for a moment, however, he bolted up, startled and looking around.

The suit of armor sitting nearby suddenly looked over, and Kiyoshi could've almost sworn it smiled. "So, you're awake…" Al said cheerfully.

Kiyoshi nodded. "Yeah…" he said, blinking again. He looked about the empty room. "Where'd everybody go…?"

"Kairi and Tifa are sleeping upstairs. Brother went off to the library a little while ago, and Hyotoko went with him," Al explained.

Kiyoshi frowned worriedly. "But…what if the Heartless attack…?" he asked worriedly. He wasn't sure if the Heartless would attack during the daytime, but…if they did…

"Don't worry. Brother can handle himself, and I'm sure Hyotoko can, too…" Al assured him.

Kiyoshi thought on this for a moment, then nodded in agreement. "That's for sure…" he murmured, remembering some of the sparring sessions his friends had. Taro was probably the strongest out of all of them…but he had to admit that Hyotoko could definitely hold his own in a fight, injured or not. He did have incredible stamina and determination... "Alright…" he said.

He looked down at his wounds and frowned, then climbed to his feet and winced slightly at the pain that the injuries caused him. He wobbled slightly-he had more energy now, yes, but he was still somewhat weak. Oh well. At least now he had enough energy for this…

He took his staff from his back, holding the end with both hands and pointing it up into the air above him. Al, meanwhile, looked on curiously.

Kiyoshi closed his eyes and focused, or at least tried to the best he could, visualizing his wounds healing quickly, as well as the end result, a healthy uninjured body. He imagined a light that swirled around him, the magic all around that floated invisibly through the air, and focused his own chi, tying them into each other, magicks combining.

"Heal!"

A green glow floated around him, all of his wounds healing in hyperspeed. When the spell faded, Al could only stare with surprise.

"What the… How did you do that?" Al asked.

Kiyoshi looked over and smiled. "Easy. It's magic," he replied simply. "All I have to do is focus my chi and mix it with the magic around me. Then I envision the spell that I need taking place as well as what I want as the end result and then say the verbal. My staff is used as a focus to help cast the spell. Our friend Aerith taught Kairi and I back in Traverse Town, so this is actually the first time that I ever actually performed it, or any kind of magic, for that matter. Of course, the bad thing is…" He suddenly wobbled again. "…Is that it can take a lot of chi-especially if you're a beginner…"

"Hey, be careful," Al said, getting up and helping Kiyoshi back into the chair. "You still need your rest…"

"I need practice…" Kiyoshi muttered. "If I'm ever going to become a healer and mystic…"

Al tilted his helmet curiously. "Healer? Mystic? But can't you already heal?"

"Healers and mystics can do more than just heal themselves. Healers can heal others, too. And even more helpful are mystics-people that can fight with magic. Once I'm better at this, I can learn spells that will let me manipulate fire, lightning, ice-all that sort of stuff." He nodded, then looked a bit sheepish. "You see…I'm not very good at physical fighting, so I would probably be of more help if I was better with my magic…"

Al wasn't all too sure what to say. Growing up learning alchemy with his brother, they both had a healthy amount of skepticism toward things like magic. "Well…good luck with that," he replied. He nodded. "Just keep practicing and believe in yourself. I'm sure that one day, you'll become the greatest mystic I know." And the only one… he added as a silent afterthought. He didn't say it out loud, of course. Even if he and his brother didn't believe very much in magic, Kiyoshi did. And it was Kiyoshi's dream to become a great mystic and healer, so he should be encouraged to follow it.

Kiyoshi nodded. "I will," he said, the determination in his blue eyes looking a bit renewed. He then smiled and stood. "I think I'm going to go see Hyotoko and Ed… When does the train arrive?"

"Let's see…" Al said, looking over at the clock. "In about an hour. Are you sure you'll be all right out there on your own? Maybe I should go with you…"

Kiyoshi shook his head. "Nah...don't worry. Besides, you've got to look after Kairi and Tifa," he said. "Don't worry. I'll be back soon…" Before Al could argue, he hurried out of the house, looking around. He had only been walking down the street for about a minute or two when he suddenly stopped and blinked. "Wait a minute…" he muttered, looking around. "Where is the library, anyway…?"

His eyes settled on a child standing in the street up ahead. He frowned. "A kid…?" he muttered. "But…I thought this place was abandoned…" He hesitated for a moment before taking a few steps toward the child. "Um…e-excuse me…" he started.

The child turned, showing that it was a boy with long black hair and violet-blue eyes.

Kiyoshi took a couple more steps forward. "Um…I'm looking for the library…could you tell me where it is?"

The boy paused, as if in debate, then suddenly grinned a somewhat unsettling grin. "Sure. Just follow me," he said, walking down the street and turning a corner.

Kiyoshi hesitated for a moment. It wasn't really a good idea to go with strangers, but…this was just a kid. A kid that hardly looked any older than him… What could be the harm in following? He then nodded, taking off after the kid.

He turned into an alleyway, looking around and frowning slightly. "Hey…this is just an alleywa-" His sentence was cut off and his eyes widened as his wrists were snatched from behind, being pulled behind his back in a steel grip. He tried to twist around to look up at his captor, and saw that it was the kid and a man…or a woman…that had long green hair and violet eyes with an evil look in them. He frowned, beginning to struggle and squirm. "H-hey! Let me go!" he shouted.

The man smirked. "…No."

Something suddenly hit Kiyoshi on the back of the head…hard. He saw stars exploding in front of his eyes before he was plunged into darkness, going limp with unconsciousness.

Envy tossed the unconscious boy to Wrath. "Wrath, go take this boy to Lust," he instructed. "And then she can take him to our master..." There was the crackle of electricity as he shrunk, his eyes becoming blue and his hair becoming completely black, shortening to shoulder-length and softening so that the palm tree-like life to it was taken away. His close changed, looking more like Kiyoshi's black ninja outfit than Envy's usual skort and tank top.

He turned to Wrath, grinning with a maliciousness that was quite foreign to the one he was copying. "I've got to finish up my job here," he said with Kiyoshi's voice, sounding a bit strange with the innocence and nervousness/worry completely gone.

He reached out, grabbing Kiyoshi's staff off of the boy's back. Suddenly he grimaced, dropping the staff and looking down at his suddenly-burnt palm, which was already beginning to heal. "…Forget it…" he grumbled. He looked over at Wrath. "Just get going…"

Wrath nodded, hurrying off down the street.

Envy smirked, turning and heading the opposite way down the street. Finally reaching the library, he paused outside the door for a moment, using centuries of acting experience to put on the nervous and innocent façade of Kiyoshi, then stepped inside, looking around.

"Hello…?" he called. "Ed? Hyotoko?" He walked until he reached the books on alchemy. It wasn't hard to find them-even if he didn't know where they'd be, their faintest of sounds were loud in the eerie silence of the large empty library.

When he found the boys with their noses buried in the books, he smiled, tilting his head slightly. "There you guys are…"

Ed looked up at them and blinked. "Kiyoshi, what are you doing here…?" he asked.

"I wanted to check up on you guys and remind you that the train will be coming, soon…" the boy replied.

"And the girls?" Hyotoko asked, glancing up at him.

"Al's with them-don't worry…"

Hyotoko raised an eyebrow. "I'm surprised that you actually came alone…" He then stood, placing the book back on the shelf.

Envy-or rather, Kiyoshi now-shrugged, beginning to scan the shelves.

Ed stood, walking over to him. "What are you looking for?" he asked curiously.

"Stuff on heart fragments…" Kiyoshi replied. "I heard that they can help us…" He then frowned slightly. "But I can't seem to find anything on them…"

Ed blinked, but then smiled. "Well…don't worry about it. If you like, we could probably ask Sheska about it. She's bound to know something about them…"

Kiyoshi smiled. "Really?" he asked. He then nodded. "Okay…"

Meanwhile, Hyotoko was watching the small boy from off to the side, a slight frown on his face. Something was wrong…but what?

Author's note-As I said, sorry for taking so long to post. Hopefully I'll have the next chapter out soon, though I guess we'll just have to wait and see. I will say though, the more reviews, the faster the chapters. And as for Wrath coming into the story... Well, now that I've seen the whole series, I'm going to set this a bit later in the FMA timeline than intended. But...Hughes is not dead! With the magical...author...powers invested in me... -sweatdrops- So, anyways... Now to respond the reviews!

Namine3419, Taro can feel his booboo…just not as much as he should. It's very faint… -smiles and sweatdrops- Heh…yeah, I agree. Machi ish pretty creepy… Cute little kids are creepy…probably because they will one day rule the world with their cuteness. And yeah…the big monster fights are cool, but still difficult to write. –swirly eyes- And hopefully I won't have to write any boss battles again anytime soon. But hopefully I'll be getting better at it as I go along. –nodnod-

Yes, Kingdom Alchemist…Taro got acidated. –smiles and sweatdrops- I'm so mean to my characters, aren't I? And yeah, whatever his name is, lol… Originally, when he first came into my mine and my friend's role-plays, his name was Toro…and then we didn't use him for a long time, and we forgot his name for the most part. So I took a wild guess…it wasn't until a long time later (just recently) that I remembered what his real name was…but I like Taro better. –grin- And yeah, Sora does get himself into trouble, but what more can we expect? –pokes Sora voodoo doll- And yes, I completely agree…the milk must die! –joins the riot-