A/N: Ah, I'm so sorry I'm late with this update! I've been doing tons of stuff over the past few days, and when I finally got to take a break today I realized I hadn't updated this fanfic! Gomen! Ah, well, enjoy!

Disclaimer: I oweneth nothing.

Chapter 8

Crona returned to the house he was staying at to find Medusa waiting for him. Normally, Medusa stayed in Suoh Mansion number one, but she had forbidden Crona to stay with her to avoid arousing suspicion; people would quickly start to question why Chairman Suoh had one day decided to take in a random child, and Medusa didn't want anyone to suspect that something was up. So, Crona was forced to stay in a nearby house by himself while its current residents were out on vacation, and Medusa rarely visited him there.

Therefore it came as quite a shock to Crona when he opened the door and saw Medusa sitting on the living room couch, chatting with an unfamiliar woman. They turned when they heard the door open and Medusa smiled at Crona.

"There you are! Come over here, Crona," she commanded, gesturing with her finger for him to come closer to her. He walked over and stopped in front of the couch, gripping arm and casting nervous glances at the unfamiliar woman. She had long, black hair, a low-cut dark green dress, and a strange tattoo in the center of her chest.

"Crona, this is Lust," Medusa said, gesturing to the woman, who smiled. Crona noticed that she had almost the same malicious grin as Medusa.

"Nice to finally meet you," Lust said, and Crona could only force himself to nod quickly.

"This is the woman I was telling you about- the one who sent Edward and Alphonse here so that they could create the philosopher's stone," Medusa explained. "She's going to be staying with us to help the Elrics behind the scenes."

Crona vaguely recalled Medusa telling him about a woman who was working with her in her plan to make the stone. He stared at Lust, wondering if she was a witch as well. Although, he was getting a different vibe from her soul wavelength than he got from Medusa's, so he didn't really believe that she was a witch.

"Does he always stare at people he just met like this?" Lust asked, sounding bemused as Crona continued to look at her.

"Crona!" Medusa snapped, and the boy immediately shrunk away from her voice. Medusa smiled apologetically at Lust. "I'm sorry about him; he's . . . not a very social person."

"Oh, it's alright, he seems like a good kid," Lust commented. Medusa's gaze flicked to her son.

"Yes, he's been very good so far in helping our plan along," she said. There was silence for a moment, and then Medusa cleared her throat, bringing Crona's attention from the floor to her face.

"Well, Crona, if there's nothing you need to report to me, then I'd like to spend a little more time discussing things with Lust, so you can leave." The witch gestured to the doorway. Crona started to take a step towards it, but then he hesitated, gripping his arm tighter.

"Um, a-actually, Lady Medusa, there is something I need to tell you . . .," he said slowly. Both Medusa and Lust sat up straighter, seeming interested.

"What is it?" Medusa prompted when Crona didn't continue.

"Uh . . ." Crona looked around nervously, as if searching for the words to tell her. Just as Medusa appeared to be getting annoyed, Ragnarok shot out of Crona's back, making the boy double over in pain. Lust jumped, startled by this sudden appearance, but Medusa reassured her.

"Don't be alarmed; it's just the Demon Sword I told you about," she explained, and Lust nodded in recognition.

"Ah, yes, I remember; you said he was a part of Crona's bloodstream."

"Yes, Ragnarok is his name."

"I see."

While this conversation was taking place, Ragnarok had once again taken to bullying his Meister.

"You idiot!" the Demon Sword yelled, tugging on Crona's hair. "Why don't you just tell her what you can do? Making her wait is just getting her angrier!"

"Ow, Ragnarok, don't pull my hair!" Crona whined, trying unsuccessfully to dislodge Ragnarok's hands from where they where clamped onto his pink locks. "If you pull too hard my hair will fall out, and I don't know how to deal with that!"

"Then just tell her about your alchemy!"

"What's this about alchemy?" Lust asked, instantly tuning into their conversation.

"Uh-"

"Crona found out that he can do alchemy," Ragnarok cut in, knowing that his Meister wasn't going to be able to utter those words anytime soon. Said boy tensed, shooting Ragnarok a terrified look as Medusa and Lust's mouths fell open.

"Is this true?" Medusa asked, addressing her son. Crona nodded meekly, but the witch seemed unconvinced. "Show me."

"I . . . I can't . . .," Crona said quietly, and then he yelped and took a step back when Medusa stood up threateningly.

"What do you mean you can't?" she snarled. "This is very important information! You'd better not be lying to me . . ."

"No, Lady Medusa, he can do alchemy!" Ragnarok spoke up quickly, knowing that if Crona was punished, he would be as well. "What he's trying to say is that he needs a transmutation circle to show you! But he can do it; I saw it myself!"

"They're probably telling the truth," Lust said, standing up and putting a hand on Medusa's shoulder as the witch eyed Crona and Ragnarok suspiciously. "I only know of a few alchemists who don't need to use a transmutation circle- Edward Elric, for one- but it's pretty uncommon."

"That may be, but this is Crona we're talking about," Medusa said, and Crona stared dejectedly at the floor. "He can't do anything except wield Ragnarok, and he even has issues with that sometimes."

"Well, if he's your son, then that means he's the son of a witch," Lust pointed out. "You never know; maybe he has some untapped magic power that just manifested itself in the form of alchemy."

Medusa looked from Crona and Ragnarok to Lust, debating whether to believe them without any actual proof. Eventually, she sighed and sat back down on the couch.

"Alright, I'll take your word for it," she said, and Crona relaxed slightly. Medusa narrowed her eyes at him. "But you will show me that you can do alchemy tomorrow."

"Yes, Lady Medusa," Crona agreed, bowing his head again.

"This can definitely work to our advantage," Lust commented, sitting down as well.

"Yes," Medusa agreed, her mouth curling up in a malicious grin. She gave her son a stern look. "Crona, Lust and I need to discuss this; go take a walk or something and come back in about two hours."

"Yes, Lady Medusa," Crona said again, wincing as Ragnarok disappeared into his back.

"Bye, Crona," Lust said, smiling slightly and making Crona very uneasy. With a quick wave, he hurried out of the house.

As Crona walked down the street, he realized that he had no idea of where he was going; the only places he really knew about were the school and Tamaki's house. The school would surely be closed for the evening by now, and he didn't want to just randomly show up at Tamaki's house.

I suppose I could head over to the store, he thought, frowning, But it's a little far, and I don't know if I'll have time . . . Come to think of it, I forgot to check what time it was when I left, I was in such a hurry-

"Crona?"

A faint voice calling his name brought Crona out of his thoughts. He looked around and saw Haruhi standing across the street, waving to him. Crona blinked in confusion at Haruhi's outfit- a tan, knee-length dress that tied around Haruhi's neck over a light brown tank-top and a few random necklaces draped over everything. Crona had been under the impression that Haruhi was a boy- after all, the kid was in the Host Club- but now he was having second thoughts.

"Hey, Crona!" Haruhi said once she'd made her was across the street. "What are you doing out here?"

Crona just continued to stare at her.

"Haruhi, why are you wearing that outfit?" he managed to ask after a moment. "It's so . . . girly."

"Oh, right, I guess you haven't figured it out yet!" Haruhi laughed, making Crona even more confused. "Well, while I may be in the Host Club, I'm actually a girl. You see, I broke a really expensive vase from Ouran a while ago, and I have to pay it back somehow. As to why I'm paying it back this way, well, that's kind of a long story."

Crona merely blinked as she finished her explanation, trying to absorb all of this information.

"So . . . you're not a boy?" he asked after a few seconds. Haruhi smiled and shook her head.

"Nope. Sorry for confusing you," she apologized. She knew that Crona was already flustered enough as it is without having to process the fact that the person he'd thought was a boy for a little over a week was actually a girl.

"But . . . you're a Host . . . and a girl," Crona sputtered, looking utterly confused. "How . . . oh, I don't know how to deal with all of this!"

He clutched his head and sunk to his knees, not wanting to have to think about this revelation on top of all his other problems. Everything he was supposed to do and everything he had learned ran through his head at once: he had to find the pure soul and create the philosopher's stone; he had to become friends with the Elric brothers; he had to make sure not to blow his cover and reveal what he was up to while infiltrating the school; he found out that he could do alchemy, and Medusa was sure to ask him to do something with this talent for her plan; and now Haruhi was telling him that she was a girl.

When he got down to it, Crona realized that he had a lot to think about.

"Um, are you okay?" Haruhi asked hesitantly when Crona didn't move after a few minutes. She reached out to touch his shoulder, when suddenly she heard a car drive up and stop next to her. She looked up and realized that it was a sleek, black limo. She groaned, knowing that it belonged to at least one of the six other Hosts. Sure enough, the first thing she saw when the windows rolled down were two shocks of orange hair, followed by two identical grinning faces.

""Hi, Haruhi!"" the twins chorused, waving.

"Hey, guys," Haruhi replied, turning her attention back to Crona, who was staring up at the limo like a deer in headlights. Haruhi then realized that from his viewpoint, Crona couldn't see who was inside. Just as she was about to reassure him that it was just the twins, Hikaru and Kaoru poked their heads out of the window.

"Whoa, hey there, Crona!" Hikaru said, surprised to see Crona crouched on the ground.

"What are you doing down there?" Kaoru asked, raising one eyebrow. Crona slowly stood up, trying to push everything except what was happening right now to the back of his mind.

"Um, well, I was . . .," Crona trailed off, trying to think of what to say, but Haruhi stepped in to help him.

"He realized that I'm a girl and got a little overwhelmed," she explained. The twins gave Haruhi a condescending look.

"Well, you're not really doing much to hide that fact," Hikaru pointed out, eying her outfit.

"Yeah, why are you dressed like that anyway?" Kaoru asked.

Not that we're complaining- she looks so cute! the twins both thought at the same time, but for once they didn't say what was on their minds.

"My dad made me wear it," Haruhi explained, rolling her eyes at the memory. "I just had to head out to the store, but he insisted that I wear this. He wouldn't let me out of the house otherwise."

""Yeah, we can see Ranka doing that,"" the twins nodded. They then looked at each other, grinned, and looked back at Haruhi and Crona.

"If you guys need a ride home, we'd be happy to give you a lift," Kaoru told them.

"No thanks, I'll be fine," Haruhi said, and the twins pouted.

"I'm sure Tono would say otherwise," Hikaru said. "He'd probably be worried about his darling daughter getting kidnapped."

"Yeah, by you two," Haruhi snapped back. "Seriously, guys, I'm fine."

"Alright, alright, whatever," Kaoru said. He looked at Crona. "What about you, Crona? You need a ride?"

"Where do you live, anyway?" Hikaru asked, and Crona immediately averted his gaze to the ground.

"Oh, around . . .," he said, remembering that Medusa had instructed him not to reveal where he was staying. The twins frowned at him.

""Around . . .?""

"Don't push him for information, guys," Haruhi spoke up. "You know he doesn't like it."

"Okay, okay, so do you need a ride or not?" Hikaru asked, grinning as Haruhi started to get worked up again. "Last chance . . ."

"Actually, I-I'm not going home," Crona said. "I'm supposed to stay out for two hours."

""Who told you to do that?"" the twins asked.

"And at this time of day- it's already dark out here!" Haruhi pointed out.

"Well, my m-mother said I had to," Crona explained, and the twins and Haruhi just stared at him.

"Whose mother tells their child to go out walking for two hours at night?" Hikaru asked.

"Especially when it's dark?" Kaoru added. Crona looked at the ground, gripped his arm, and started to bite his bottom lip. The twins realized that their questioning was getting to be too much for the boy to handle, so they backed off.

"Well, why don't you just ride around with us for a little while," Hikaru suggested. Crona glanced at him, his eyes wide.

"Oh no, I wouldn't want to impose . . ."

"You're not imposing!" Kaoru assured him. "We just don't want you to be walking around in the dark for two hours."

"I'll go with you, if you want," Haruhi said, putting a hand on Crona's shoulder. The twins' faces immediately brightened.

""Haruhi, you'll come, too?""

"For Crona's sake, not yours," she snapped.

""Wah, Haruhi, you're so mean!"" they cried, their expression turning sad, but Haruhi could still see the spark in their eyes that let her know that they enjoyed aggravating her.

"Oh, stop crying," she said, and then she held out her hand to Crona. "Do you want to go?"

"We'll be sure to get you back in time," Kaoru reassured him as Hikaru opened the car door.

"Well, okay . . .," Crona said, somewhat reluctantly. He took Haruhi's hand a followed her into the limo, leaning over to avoid banging his head on the low doorframe.

The twins shut the door and motioned for the driver to go, and they were off. The twins tried to talk to Crona, but he seemed to be lost in thought once again, so they left him alone. Instead, they settled for asking Haruhi about commoner food, and what it was like to shop at a commoner supermarket. Crona managed to drown out their laughter and Haruhi's flat-toned answers as he thought about what Medusa and Lust were discussing.

All he knew was that whatever it was, it was going to involve him, and he had to be ready for anything. He could never tell what Medusa's plans were going to be, and he just hoped that this one wasn't too out of his league . . .

After their alchemy lesson with Crona, Ed, Al, and Tamaki decided to head upstairs to get started on their homework. Not that Ed was actually planning on doing it; after all, he was only going to be there temporarily, so why waste his efforts on homework when he could be searching for clues to the stone? He really wanted to find out more about this "pure soul" he and Alphonse had heard about right before they'd found themselves in this strange world. Heck, that was the reason they'd went to Lab 5 in the first place! They claimed to be looking for a clue to the stone, but they'd never mentioned to anyone what that clue had been- Ed hadn't even told Roy Mustang when the Colonel had questioned him.

Edward and Alphonse had come across a mention of the pure soul in their research, and soon after had received a mysterious note directing them to the room in Lab 5 which had turned out to be a broom closet at Ouran Academy. The strange thing was, the note had had the symbol of a homunculus at the bottom, a detail which had greatly intrigued the brothers. They had ventured to Lab 5 with caution, unaware if it was a trap, but it had turned out to be not a trap, but . . . well, they still didn't really know what it had turned out to be. A portal to another dimension was Ed's guess, since there were things in this world that Ed and Al would never have even dreamed of, like these things called "computers" that could connect to something called "the internet."

Ed was thinking of their sudden appearance in Tamaki's world as he opened the door to his room. However, as soon as he entered the room, he noticed something was wrong. It was cold- no, more than cold, it was freezing. Ed quickly deduced that this was caused by the open window next to the bed, the curtains billowing at every gust of wind. He wondered if one of Tamaki's maids had come in and opened the window, though why they would open it on such a cold night as this Ed had no idea.

Ed went over to the window and clamped it shut, shivering as one last gust of wind flowed through the room. He sat down on the bed and frowned when he noticed something white fall onto the floor. Curious, he picked it up and realized it was a note card. He turned it over and noticed a single line scribbled onto the card in black ink:

Don't search too hard; the pure soul is closer than you think.

Under this sentence was a symbol that was all too familiar to the young alchemist: a dragon with two small wings forming a circle around three triangles covering three more upside-down triangles.

"The homunculi symbol!" Ed gasped, realized that it was the same writing as the one that had told him and Alphonse to go to Lab 5. He quickly jumped off the bed and ran to the door.

"Al! Al! Come here!" he called, flinging the door open and charging down the hallway, forgetting in his excitement that Alphonse's room was right next to his.

"Brother, what is it?" Al asked, coming out of his room. Ed showed him the note and he gasped in surprise. "I-it's the same as before!"

"Yeah, I know!"

"What's with all the yelling?" Tamaki questioned sleepily, emerging from his room and rubbing his eyes; apparently, he'd been taking a nap.

"Tamaki, check this out!" Ed said, thrusting the note in Tamaki's face. The Host King blinked, rubbed his eyes, and frowned, staring at the note.

"'Pure soul?' What does that mean?" he asked. Ed clicked his tongue in annoyance.

"The pure soul! You know, the thing we're looking for! But more importantly, do you-"

"Brother," Al cut Ed off when Tamaki continued to stare at them in confusion. "We told him about our past, but we never told him why we're here right now, remember?"

"Oh, right," Ed said. He shrugged, grinning at Alphonse. "Well, I guess it's time for another explanation, right, Al?"

"Mm-hmm," Al nodded, and then the brothers turned to Tamaki.

"Tamaki, remember how we told you that we've been trying to restore our bodies, and we've found something that can help us achieve that goal?" Ed asked, and Tamaki nodded. "Well, it's called the philosopher's stone, and it's an object that people claim can defy the laws of alchemy and completely ignore the rule of equivalent exchange."

"There's something that can really do that?" Tamaki breathed, amazed.

"Some people believe so, but others are skeptical," Al explained. "Personally, the stone is the only hope we have at this point of reclaiming our original bodies."

"Yeah, but unfortunately everything has a price, and the stone is no different." Ed looked at the ground sourly. "To create the stone, you need human sacrifices- lots and lots of human sacrifices."

"That's horrible!" Tamaki gasped, putting his hands to his mouth. Ed laughed cynically.

"Yeah, well, alchemy isn't always as innocent as making little horses out of wood," he said, and Tamaki could hear the bitterness in his voice.

"Anyway," Alphonse spoke up, knowing his brother was starting to feel the regrets of their past once again. "When we found out what it took to create the stone we were devastated, naturally. We could never sacrifice hundreds of lives just to get our two insignificant bodies back . . ."

"Hundreds . . .?" Tamaki echoed, his face paling at the thought of that many people perishing to create just one object.

"Yup, hundreds," Ed confirmed, having regained his composure. "So, we started looking for other ways to get our bodies back. After searching for weeks, Al and I stumbled across the mention of something called the 'pure soul.' It piqued our interest, so we started doing some research on it.

"We came to find that it wasn't a thing, but a person, and more specifically, a person that had something to do with the philosopher's stone. You see, by creating the stone by using the pure soul, only one soul would be lost; the pure soul is so powerful that it can create the stone all by itself, without needing to sacrifice any other souls."

"So we figured that if we found the pure soul, we'd be able to create the stone without taking hundreds of lives!" Alphonse finished the explanation. Tamaki was silent for a moment as he processed all of the information.

"But, if this is all true, then you'll still need to sacrifice the pure soul- a human life," he pointed out, frowning. "Surely you wouldn't . . ."

"Of course we wouldn't kill anyone!" Ed snapped, not believing that Tamaki would even think such a thing. "Once we find the pure soul, we'll figure out a way to make the stone without actually killing them. We're not quite sure how at this point, but we'll figure it out eventually! Right, Al?"

"Right," Al agreed. Ed glanced at Tamaki and scratched the back of his head sheepishly.

"Although, at this point we're not exactly sure how to even find the pure soul." He laughed. "That's how we ended up here- we heard there was a clue to the pure soul, and in turn the philosopher's stone, in this room at a place called Lab 5, and like we explained before, when we went through the door we ended up at your school."

"So now you finally have the whole story," Alphonse said. He chuckled at Tamaki's lost expression. "Sorry, too much information at once?"

"No, no, I'm alright, I just . . . wow, I mean . . . that must be one powerful soul if it can take the place of hundreds," Tamaki said, and Ed and Al nodded. Tamaki then glanced down at the card still clutched in Edward's grip. "So, what's so important about that card then?"

"Well, besides the fact that someone obviously knows more about finding the pure soul than we do, this symbol is the mark of a homunculus." Ed tapped the symbol at the bottom of the note card, and Tamaki stared at it questioningly.

"'Homunculus?'"

"They're artificial humans," Al explained. "Beings created from the bodies of people brought back to life through alchemy."

"Oh," Tamaki said. He wondered if Ed and Al's mother had been turned into a homunculus, but he didn't want to ask; he was already overloaded with information as it was. Plus he didn't think the brothers would really want to talk about it. So, he just settled for asking: "What do they have to do with the pure soul?"

"It's not so much the pure soul that they have to do with as it is the stone," Ed informed him. "They want to use the stone to turn themselves 'human.' They've realized that we wanted to create the stone as well and have been following us ever since. One of them must've followed us here . . ."

"But can't they just make the stone and find the pure soul themselves?" Tamaki asked as Ed muttered a curse under his breath. Alphonse shook his head.

"No. They can't do alchemy."

"Oh," Tamaki said again. After a moment of silence, Ed tightened his grip on the note and looked at Al and Tamaki, his gaze determined.

"We've gotta find out who left the note," he told them. "It might not even be a homunculi; it could be someone working with them, or someone just using their symbol to try and fool us. Whoever it is, they know how to find the pure soul. Come on, Al, let's go."

"Whoa, whoa, hold on!" Tamaki exclaimed, grabbing Ed's arm as the boy started to walk towards the stairs. "Where are you going at this time of night?"

"Out to town," Ed replied, trying to pry Tamaki's hands off but failing. "We have to see if anyone knows where the homunculus or whoever left the note is! Maybe someone in town will!"

"You can't leave now!" Tamaki said, knowing that it wasn't safe to be walking around at night, no matter how nice his neighborhood was. "It's already dark outside!"

"I don't care! Let go!" Ed tried once again to jerk his arm out of Tamaki's grip, but the tall blonde refused to let go. Ed could swear he heard the creaking of straining metal.

Thank god it's auto mail, Ed thought, or my arm probably would've been wrenched out of its socket a while ago. Once again, I've gotta admire Winry's handiwork.

"Brother, I think Tamaki has a point," Al piped up, and Ed glared at him. "Think about it! Everybody's probably gone home by now; we should just wait until tomorrow when everyone's out and about."

Ed stared into his brother's glowing eyes for a minute, and then sighed, defeated by common sense once again.

"Alright, fine, we'll wait until tomorrow."

"Yay!" Tamaki exclaimed, happy that Ed and Al would be safe for the night. He gave Ed a hug, actually lifting the boy off the ground a few inches.

"HEY! Put me down, will you?" Ed yelled, and Al started laughing. Tamaki released him and Ed dropped to the floor, landing on his feet with a grunt.

"Ah, sorry, mon ami!" Tamaki apologized. Ed straightened out his shirt, glared at Tamaki, and started to head towards the stairs.

"Where are you going now, Ed?" Al asked. Without looking back, Ed replied:

"The kitchen. I'm starving!"

And with that he descended the grand staircase, his mind buzzing with questions about who had left that note and, if it really was a homunculus, why they didn't just contact him directly instead of leaving secret letters. It was all very strange . . .

A/N: Woot, Chapter 8 is done! Look foward to the next chapter in two weeks! And review, please! ^.^