Chapter Nine

Ansem the Wise:

The Rightful King of Radian Garden

Sora, Riku, Kairi, and the others were walking down the hall they thought led to Ansem's study. They were following the two brothers that were with Cloud earlier. Ed stopped and turned around angrily.

"What do you what?" he asked arrogantly.

"Brother!" Al looked down at his older brother in surprise.

Ed sighed. "Sorry, can I help you?"

"Uh, yeah, could ya tell us where we can find Ansem's study? We need t'see him!" Mickey spoke up.

The short alchemist looked at every single one of them and then put his hands in the pockets of his jacket. "Why do you need to see him?"

"Look, we helped him defeat Organization XIII a few months back! We heard he was still alive." Sora replied.

"Oh, you must be Sora, Donald, Goofy, Riku, Kairi, and Mickey! Glad to meet you! My name is Edward Elric; a State Alchemist from Traverse Town. This is my younger brother, Alphonse."

"It's a pleasure to meet you!" the suit of armor greeted. Tidus and Wakka were shaking seeing the suit of armor. It almost seemed as if it were alive.

"My name's Selphie and those two are Tidus and Wakka." She introduced herself and her friends. The two just stood there with their teeth chattering. "They're just afraid of you brother, Eddy. Don't mind them."

"Do NOT call me Eddy!" Started to blush and acknowledged it. "Well, anyways, now that we've gotten the introductions here done with, I'll take you guys to see Master Ansem."

Sora still couldn't believe. For the past few months he thought that the king was killed trying to convert Kingdom Hearts into data. 'Finally, we'll get the truth!'

They all stopped in front of a door. Ed turned around and faced the others. "I'll go let him know you guys have arrived." He told. "Wait right there!" Ed and Al entered Ansem's study and shut the door. After a few minutes, the door opened up. "Alright, you can come in now!" Everyone entered the study and looked at all the books and canisters that contained various chemicals. Sora noticed a particular one labeled "RED WATER." 'What could that be?' he thought.

"Ah! Everyone! I am glad you have made it here safely and in such short notice." A kind old voice said to them. Out of an aisle of books a man in a white lab coat, and a purple scarf walked into the room. Everybody's eyes widened as they saw the man. He had a dark tan, long silver hair, and amber eyes. The voice matched the man they were hoping to see, but the appearance was not expected.

"Ansem the Wise, is it really you?" Mickey asked.

"Yes, it is I."

"But, why do you look like Xehanort's Heartless?" Riku questioned the old king. His eyes showed he was frightened. 'I don't think I want to know why.' He said to himself.

"It was young Edward here that made it possible."

"What!? How did he do it? He wasn't there." Donald was dumbfounded.

"I thought I would get some questions. I saved some of the debris from the explosion." Ansem grabbed a piece of metal off of his desk and handed it to Mickey. There was a strange kind of pattern. It was a circle with various circles, triangles, and runes inscribed on it.

"Oh, you had a Transmutation Circle on it!" Mickey figured it out.

"Trans…mutation Circle?" Kairi wondered.

"I'll clear it up for you!" Ed spoke up. "Transmutation Circles allow alchemists to perform Alchemy. They transmute different objects and replace them with something different with equal value. It is even possible to transmute a lesser metal, such as tin, into gold or silver."

"Gawrsh, sounds complicated." Goofy said.

"But, there is one thing I needed to get this body." Ansem started again. "I needed an incomplete Philosopher Stone, to transmute my dying body into this one. I chose the body Riku had at the time and this is why I look like I do now."

In a dark room, two teenagers stood before a man in a black and white coat. The hood was up, but two amber eyes pierced through the shadows of it. The two teens were about the same age. One was a boy and the other was a girl. They both wore black coats, boot, and gloves. Their eyes shone through the shadows of the hoods. The female had green eyes and the male had turquoise eyes.

"My apprentices…" the man spoke wearily. The two stood at attention.

"Yes, Lord Xemnas?" They asked in unison.

"Go to Hollow Bastion and find out any information you can. Dress so as not to draw attention to yourselves. This evening, attend the ball that Ansem the Wise is holding. Find out anything that may hinder my plans."

"But, Lord Xemnas… How would you know if there is a ball this evening?" The girl asked.

"That old fool always holds balls when something monumental occurs."

"Such as…?" The young man asked without much of a care.

"The restoration of Radiant Garden…"

The group heard laughing coming from the halls. Then five people walked into the study. The leader of the group was a young adult with short, spiky brown hair. He had a scar going down the bridge of his nose, a black leather jacket with fur on the collar, a white t-shirt underneath that, black jeans, and a silver lion pendant around his neck Cloud walked a bit behind him. He still had the look in his eyes that he was still pissed at Ed. Cid was talking to a man in a black outfit and red cape. A young adult female was walking beside Cloud looking at him with a concerned look in her eyes. She wore a black leather top, a black apron-like skirt that almost touched the floor in the back, and a pink ribbon on her arm. She had beautiful brown eyes, and long dark brown hair.

"Ah, the Restoration Committee!" Ansem looked at them all with a smile.

"Leon!" Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Mickey exclaimed in unison.

"Oh, hey guys!" he replied.

"Nice to see you guys again!" the woman waved at them.

"Hey Tifa!" Sora greeted. "Nice haircut, Leon!" He noticed that the gunblade wielder had shorter hair than the last time they met.

"Thanks, but just call me by my real name now." Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Mickey looked at each other in question to see if they remembered Leon's real name. "It's Squall; Squall Leonhart."

Sora and the others started laughing nervously as they remembered it at the last second. Kairi, Riku, and the others just laughed.

"So," Goofy started up again. "Who's the fella with the cape?"

"The name's Vincent Valentine. I carry out various missions just like Hono."

"What!?" Sora and Donald shouted. "Hono?"

"Mr. Valentine, I wish you wouldn't reveal things that I was just about to get to."

"My apologies, Master Ansem." Vincent acknowledged in his raspy voice.

"Yes, you see… Hono is one of my agents that go to various worlds to complete missions that are to protect the World Order. But he is too rebellious. I was the one who sent him to your home, Sora, Riku, Kairi. He decided to complete the mission his way, so I am guessing he was attempting to kidnap Kairi, as Mr. Valentine has explained to me correctly, right?"

"Yeah, the bastard went and knocked her out and sealed the Keyhole in our world also." Riku added to the story.

Ansem closed his eyes in disappointment. "I thought as much, I should have kept him here, until after you all came. You see, I am Wise Guy. I used that codename to be able to not be recognized by hackers or the enemy."

"So, you didn't order Hono to kidnap me?" Ansem shook his head. Kairi thought to herself in anger. She just wanted to claw that jerk to make him pay for lying and causing harm to her.

"So, Le… I mean Squall, where's Yuffie? She's usually around with you guys isn't she?" Sora asked.

"She's on a mission to search this new world with her partners. She said their Gummi Ship crashed on that world and they're gonna be stuck there for awhile." Squall replied. Sora looked down in gloom. He missed Yuffie's cheerful demeanor and big smile. Donald, Goofy, Mickey, and Kairi started to look down at the floor now.

"Hey, now stop that, all of you! This ain't no time to be all sad n' shit!" Everyone's eyes were now on Cid after he said that.

Tifa just shook it off. "What Cid's trying to say is 'Why not stay awhile and come to the ball tonight here in the castle?" She gave them kind smile.

Everyone nodded their heads and smiled. Sora looked over at Kairi and wondered if she'd be willing to dance with him.