Chapter 22
"The what?" Ichigo was confused. "What do you mean, the minus worlds?"
"Worlds have lives." Demyx paused.
"Your point?" Scar glared at the exhausted man.
"They can live long or short, depending on its inhabitants. Usually, it dies since its heart is stolen by a heartless, or by age. There are worlds that die because some idiot kills everything in sight of it. Once a world is destroyed by any means, they enter the minus phase. They are unable to join the living and are considered "dead" by your standards."
"Our standards?" asked Ichigo.
"You consider life to breathe, to eat, to drink, ect. While there are things like viruses that bring the question of life around, there is one thing that makes you think that the other person next to you is living. A heart, or rather, having a heart, convinces others that you are alive. These worlds have lost that sense of life because it is almost like a world of heartless in flesh. Their purpose is no more, so why have a heart to care?"
Ichigo pondered on this. "So you aren't joking..."
"No. Anyways, the neithermen have found a way to open them up. These worlds cannot be opened by conventional means. Ansem once tried to do so when he was a scientist, but it failed. You need more than a keyblade or some fantasy weapon."
"But why open it at all?" Scar asked.
"Wait a minute!" Ichigo widened his eyes. "This sounds crazy...but what if..." His voice trailed off. Ichigo cringed as he remembered how Vanitas and Master Xheanort entered that world.
Scar, disturbed at the situation, pondered for a moment. "What are these "neithermen" doing here?"
"They were here to alternate history...but at the same time," answered Ichigo, " There are over a ton of paradoxes that they could have landed us to. I don't get it... is it that you can only enter one paradox that..."
"What are you talking about?" Demyx was staring at Ichigo, confused.
"There are paradox univer-" Suddenly, Ichigo jumped up.
"What is it?!" Scar noticed the change in the shinigami's mood.
"I got it! I think I know-"
A roar was heard. Before the three could move, a couple of people approached them.
"Well, if it isn't our pet broken free," mumbled a woman. She had beautiful black hair and long fingernails. Both Scar and Ichigo backed up, seeing a sign at her chest.
"A...another homunculus?" whispered Scar.
"Another one?!" Ichigo pulled both his blades out.
"Hmmm...can I eat them, Lust?" asked the fat one.
"Gluttony!" Ichigo recognized the thing from the last world.
"No, silly. You won't want to eat them now. We have to capture-"
"Not today!" Scar threw a flash bang. As both homunculus recovered, they noticed that the three were gone.
"Find them!" cried Lust.
Meanwhile, a boy and a suit of armor were walking around a pavilion.
"So, what leads do we have for the stone, Al?" asked the boy.
"Edward, how should I know? I exhausted every thought in my brain and I still don't know what to do. Maybe I could try to communicate to the me in that place..."
"That happens by chance, Alphonse."
Alphonse was sad. "I'm sorry, brother."
"Don't beat yourself for it." Edward looked towards the military base. "What's that?"
He saw a duck, a dogman, and a boy with a gigantic key. They were accompanied by Colonel Mustang and Lt. Hawkeye.
"So, Mustang... visited the circus?"
Sora glared at him. "Never knew that he was-"
"Oh, trust me, what you see is what you are getting." Mustang smiled. "Told you he was small."
"SHUT UP!" Edward tried to tackle the colonel, but Sora pushed him back with his hand.
"Forgive my brother," interrupted Alphonse. "Hi, my name is Alphonse, but I go by Al. He's Edward...or Ed. Yes, I am made of -"
"They already know." Hawkeye eyed Sora. "He's a "keyblade" wielder."
"A what?"
"This is a keyblade." Sora showed Al. "It helps slay the powers of darkness!"
"Right..." Edward rolled his eyes. "So he can do alchemy?"
Mustang stepped forward. "Kind of. You'll see. I want you two to travel with us to the laboratory that was abandoned years ago. I believe that there are secrets that pertain to the philosopher's stone."
"Sure!" said Al.
"Oh, come on. We have to waste time for this?" Ed did not want to go, but a look from Al convinced him. "All right, we'll go."
Meanwhile, in an abandoned village, Ichigo and the other two were hiding.
"That could have been intense." Scar grimaced. "We have to be careful. That Gluttony was an experiment. He can absorb others into his stomach."
"How do you know this?" asked Ichigo.
"I looked at the stolen information. That leader Wrath, he has several other allies, along with details."
"Ok. So who was that chick we faced off against?"
"Ughhhh...You are such a teenager. Anyways...she is Lust. She shreds foes with her nails."
"Yeah, we know," said Demyx. "But is there anything special about her...?"
"There's something special about all of them. Before that, though..." Scar paused. "Ichigo, what did you figure out?"
"I figured out something for all the worlds. This is a theory, but it could explain how they broke that barrier..."
Scar and Demyx edged closer to him.
"Whenever any of us travel to a different world, there are always paradoxes. What happens to those paradoxes? Why is it that we keep seeing others from the outside world there? And why is it that we see them the way it was meant to be?"
"Meant to be?" asked Scar.
"Yes. I somehow ran into two of my friends, who were brainwashed. Apparently, they landed in the same paradox as mine. Chances of that happening are slim, unless it happens to be that once someone travels to a different world, that paradox is chosen."
"So I'm...not me?" asked Scar.
"No, you are what you are. Paradoxes are meant to differ by small or big choices. But if only one universal paradox was chosen..."
"...the others become part of the minus problem?" finished Demyx.
"Yes. Maybe, one of the neithermen took advantage of this and were able to break this Barrier of Foundation or whatever because it was weakened by all the paradoxes."
"If that's the case..." Scar looked down on his intel. "Then this is going to be a headache...According to this, there are clones of homunculus with different powers..."
"What?!" asked Ichigo.
"Yeah...and if your theory and Demyx's information is correct, then they can only become...heartless-"
"No." Ichigo stared at the two. "Heartless implies that there are signs that there was a heart."
"What are we facing then?"
A set of footsteps echoed across the village.
"Shhh!" Demyx and the others hid and watched. Before their eyes came an man with an eyepatch. His spiky hair have bells sticking on the top. He carried a jagged sword, grinning as he looked around. In one slash, he ripped apart the building hiding Ichigo.
"Kurosaki...I found you!"
"Yeah, you did!" Ichigo pointed his blade at the large man. "Kenpatchi, its time to finish this!"
Scar and Demyx sneaked their way out of the village. "Where to?" asked Demyx.
"First, we need to find a certain man..."
"Don't you feel bad?" asked Demyx.
"Ichigo can handle this. You felt the power he wields. He can stop this guy."
"Where does he know him from?"
"Do you care for that now?"
Demyx sighed. "Nah, let's go to that place..."
They ran past a sign. On it, there was two words: Amestris ahead.
"Let's finish this, Kenpatchi..." Ichigo got out his two swords. "I know that you were brainwashed, but you can't resist fighting just me, right?"
"I don't care about those two clowns or these control freaks that delude themselves. I care only..."
The ground trembled as both shinigami raised their sword.
"...to settle the score."