When nightfall came, finding a place to stay was actually somewhat difficult.

Primarily, the issue was about currency. Konata couldn't remember what kind of money they used in this world, and even if she had, they simply didn't have any. Going out and finding spare change on the street was out of the question. The idea of sleeping outside when they were in a city rather than out in the wilderness was quite simply unappealing. So, remembering how they'd been able to pay for the food in Tull, she tried offering the hotel owners some gold instead of money. A few places hadn't been willing to accept it - surprisingly - but they finally came to an establishment where they verified that it was, in fact, real gold coins and accepted them for the night.

That would do for the three guys, Konata figured as she walked the streets alone. But she couldn't sleep, so she decided to take a walk.

Her thoughts were clearer out here. Maybe over the past two years she'd just grown to enjoy walking around town at about midnight, but the stillness was good. It made it seem like there was less pressure on her, even though this was such a mess...

Kagami, Tsukasa, and Miyuki. They were all still out there somewhere, and she'd eventually need to get them back. Of course, one of them was probably back home by now, which made it a little easier, but the other two would still be out in parts unknown.

But first was the problem of Haruhi. Thinking of her gave Konata a twisting, restless feeling like something needed to be done immediately, but there was nothing that could be done. Koizumi was still carrying the light novel they had found at the waystation. That was their only clue.

She turned around the corner of the sidewalk, the only figure on the bleak and empty streets. Going over the details of how she arrived in Haruhi's world in the first place. When she really thought about it... It all fit together exactly how Jason said it did. Konata was the only one who would have brought them to that world. And could she just ignore everything that happened since then?

It was then she saw the large, official-looking building in front of her with the flight of marble steps and pillars in front of the doors. It only took a moment to recognize the library, and this building in particular was the First Branch - the same one that had burned down early on in the series. Which meant...

"We're probably right in the middle of things," Konata muttered to herself. An interesting thought. As long as she was going to be a part of the Fullmetal Alchemist world, it might as well be at an interesting time.

Deep down she really wanted to stick around in this world, just to see the sights for a little while. It still excited her when she was in one of these worlds that she knew everything about, because she'd always find that there was more to discover about them and it was all infinitely more interesting than the world she had been born in.

That library held all sorts of secrets about the study of alchemy. Things like transmutation were accepted as a legitimate form of science here without debate. Which, Konata thought, was far more preferable than regular science back home.

At this hour, there would be nobody inside. There wasn't any reason for her to check it out, it was all just books that she didn't really need to look at. The idea was interesting, but not so much that she needed to go inside. She was about to turn away and see what else she could find when she noticed a light in one of the top windows. Not a stationary light in one of the rooms, but one that was moving, as somebody was searching for something. Candlelight, which was a fire hazard. Especially if a fight was going to break out.

And if it was late at night...

Considering the possible consequences of stepping into the scene from the anime that she was almost positive was going on right now, Konata finally decided that she did in fact feel a need to go meddle in things that didn't necessarily concern her. She crossed the street and tried the door, noticing that the lock had been smashed open. Yes, it did seem as if...

What was the name of the book she was looking for, again?

Chapter 30

A Wall Between Us

This world was...

"No... It can't be..." Kagami said.

Maybe except for the lack of fog, this world seemed nearly identical to the last one. Empty streets, abandoned buildings, and most importantly, no people. As she looked around, she noticed that her hair was its regular color again. Maybe that was a step up from the last world... But she was not in the mood for a repeat performance.

"This again? How boring," Rei said.

Kagami wished she could call it that. Boring was fine. She wanted boring.

"So what do we do now?" Kagami said. She shifted her arm, pushing the strap of the duffel bag back up securely onto her shoulder. "Do we just wait for those sirens to come back on and repeat the whole process?"

"This can't really be the same place, can it?" Joshua said. "I mean, there are tons of worlds that look like yours out there. We're definitely in a different one."

"Yeah, I guess you've been doing this longer..." Rei said. She brightened. "So how about we look around? Maybe there's something useful here."

Kagami stretched. She looked up at the clouds, since they were able to see the sky clearly. It was actually just mildly overcast, nowhere near as thick of a grey layer as Silent Hill had been. They all seemed to be moving in one direction, and she traced the path with her eyes. Following it down towards the ground, it seemed to go right along with the street they were on.

"Maybe we should start heading this way..." she said offhandedly.

"Uh... okay, then!" Rei said. "That's as good a plan as any."

"We're staying all together this time?" Mikuru asked.

"Yeah, that sounds like a good plan," Kagami said. "I'd really prefer not getting lost again."

In the past day she'd grown accustomed to utter silence, such as that of the town they were now in. Had it really only been a day? Finding herself in the hospital shortly after arriving in that world seemed like weeks ago. And standing in her bedroom, talking with her mother about what to pack for the move to Nagoya, not realizing what was really in store for her future... That seemed like it was a different lifetime. But it had most likely only been four or five days.

"Welcome to Topeka," Rei announced suddenly.

"What?" Mikuru said.

"The station. We're in Topeka, Kansas, in says." Rei pointed out the building to their left. A huge train station, nothing like the modern ones Kagami was used to using in Tokyo. This one was across from an overgrown jungle of a city park that hadn't been mowed in ages.

"A train station, right?" Joshua said. "That's probably the way out of town, if I'm correct."

"I doubt it's still being used. Just look at it." Kagami was referring to the broken windows, the illegible graffiti scrawled on the bricks, and tattered American flags still hanging on at half-mast in front of the building.

"We'll check it out anyway," Rei said, and was already on her way inside.

"Wait, not so fast. What if it's like the other places?" Kagami said, putting a hand on her shoulder to stop her.

Rei looked at her with a carefree grin on her face. "I don't see any fog, and nothing's tried to kill us yet. Can't you just be happy that this place is normal?"

If "normal" could be used to describe what was inside. The inside of the building echoed, and dust was floating in the sunlight that filtered down through cracks in the ceiling. At one time, this station would have been packed with travelers but now only contained four visitors... and two dead bodies seated on a bench that looked as if they'd been there forever.

"W-We need to get out of here," Mikuru said, not taking her eyes off the bodies. They were dry, and had been naturally mummified, the eyes squinting at them. How did people die in a place like this? And why would they just be left there?

"Relax, it's not like they're going to start moving or anything," Rei said.

"I don't get it," Joshua said. "Either of you have any idea what happened here? I mean, this isn't what these kinds of places are usually like."

Something glinted by the point where the wall met the floor. Kagami broke away from the group momentarily to see what it was. A car key, although she didn't recognize the logo of the manufacturer, along with a red rubber keychain with the words "Nozz-A-La" printed on it in a fancy English script.

"What's that?" Rei's voice suddenly behind her nearly made Kagami jump away in surprise. A smile came to her face. "Whoa, someone's old keys? We could totally use that! Nice find!"

"You're saying we're just going to find the car these go to? Do you realize how hard that would be?"

Rei shook her head. "Ye of little faith. We were meant to find those keys, and we're going to find the car, too. It's fate."

"I don't believe in fate."

"Well, tough. Any idea what kind of car it's for? I don't recognize it..."

"Hey, did you guys see this? Get over here!" Joshua was calling them over. He stood in the doorway leading out onto the platform, right in front of the tracks.

They found Mikuru there with him, obediently following him and trying not to get lost. They were standing by a blue metal box, one of those newspaper dispensers. Those seemed to be invented for interdimensional tourists, weren't they?

"What is it?" Kagami said, stepping over to take a better look at the paper inside. She didn't have any American money to pay for it, but wiping off the thick brown layer of dust let her see the front page of the Topeka Capital-Journal through the window. She crouched down to see what it said.

"CAPTAIN TRIPS" SUPERFLU RAGES UNCHECKED, huge block letters declared, taking up half the page. Below it, in slightly smaller type, it continued to say, Govt. Leaders May Have Fled County, Topeka Hospitals Jammed With Sick, Dying, Millions Pray For Cure.

"Everyone here..." Mikuru started to say.

"They all died from some kind of virus..." Kagami finished. She didn't need to read any more. The empty town and corpses in the station told the rest of the story better than any news story could have. "Wait, this thing isn't still in the air, is it?"

"Just tell me if you start to get a cough," Rei said.

"It's not funny." Kagami picked away at some dirt caked into the corner of the window, revealing the date of publication. "This all happened in 1985, it says."

"But... Nothing like that ever happened..." Mikuru said. The expression of fear on her face was truly pitiful. "That's even before... um... What year is it now?"

"It's impossible to tell, unless someone shows up and tells us," Joshua answered. "Judging by the state of those bodies, it could've been over a decade ago that all that happened."

Kagami realized she was still holding the keyring they'd found. What good was it trying to go anywhere, if the country had been struck with a plague like this? There was always a slim chance that someone might have survived, but it wasn't likely given the current state of Topeka. Nobody had bothered cleaning this place up.

Rei seemed to be considering the same options, but chose a different solution. "So let's get going already! It's obvious there's nothing here." She had already headed off back into the inside of the station.

Giving a final glance to the deserted train tracks, Kagami wondered if anything would ever travel on them again. She followed Rei back inside, giving a more suspicious look at the two people on the bench. What had it been like, contracting a flu while the hospitals filled up with people who just weren't getting any better? Imagining that kind of a situation was disturbing, and she tried to push it away. Focus on matching this logo on the key with one on a vehicle, and with any luck getting away from this place.

They continued out the door, passing by the flagpoles again and the city park across the street. Rei stopped, and turned around to look at the others who had been following.

"Alright. Where do we go?"

"Hm? I thought you had some sort of plan..." Joshua said.

"I did, too. It's a big town, I didn't realize that. Where do we even start?"

The clouds were still following the path down the street. They had thinned out and let some more sun shine in, making it pleasantly warm. A rusted street sign was tilted to the side, the same direction as the clouds and everything else. It pointed the way to their destination, everything was moving in towards some central point.

"This way," Kagami said. "Don't you notice how everything's kind of...?"

Joshua shrugged. "I'm not sure what you mean, but fine. You just have a feeling or something?" he said, raising an eyebrow.

"I guess that's what you'd call it, yeah."

"Fine by me."

They were coming into the center of town, and one of the first things Kagami noticed was a green pickup truck with a body slumped down over the steering wheel. It had probably been in there, baking over countless summers. There were more cars parked along the side of the street, most of them empty, but none of them matched the key. It was a crazy idea, they'd just find what car this went to and take it?

"Uh... Rei, did you even check the parking lot back there?" Kagami said.

"I... kind of did a quick sweep, I didn't see anything." Rei wasn't looking at her.

"What? I thought you were - We need to - " Before she could say "go back," she considered the idea that they'd be going against the flow, away from where they were headed. But no, there wasn't anything guaranteed to be up ahead just because the clouds moved that way, was there?

"Can I see it again?" Joshua said. She nodded, handed the key over to him, and he inspected it. "What exactly are we looking for? I'm not much good with these things..."

"That logo on the head is probably going to be on one of the cars, but I haven't seen it yet... Probably on the front or back, see?" Kagami explained. She gestured to the other cars, ones that had symbols on them that she recognized. None of them matched the key. It must be a rare brand, like some sort of expensive luxury vehicle or something.

The street seemed to go on forever, cars placed intermittently along either side. Just about all of them were from manufacturers she'd heard of, and they were just like cars she might see driving along back home. Some of them were at parking meters. No tickets on the hoods, Kagami noticed. Though they must be years over the time limit.

"Are we sure this is even a real key?" Kagami said after a long silence. She was beginning to have serious doubts.

"It looked like it, at least..." Rei said absently. Something caught her attention. "What's that white one, up there?"

"It's..." Kagami looked around for the model name on the back. "It's a Spirit. Wait, that logo... Isn't it?"

She'd never heard of a car called a Spirit before, just like she'd never seen the manufacturer from the key before. The red Nozz-A-La keychain hung down, and she realized how much it resembled Coca-Cola. So this was what they meant by alternate universes, wasn't it? Everything was just slightly off from the way the real world was, unless you counted the huge difference of the superflu.

"Can I see that? Thanks!" Rei yanked the key out of Kagami's hands while she was lost in thought, and jammed it into the driver's side lock. It didn't work, so she frowned, and turned it over. It slid in cleanly. "Alright! We've got it!" She opened the door.

"I don't believe it. That actually worked," Kagami said, her eyes wide.

"Good. Who's driving?" Joshua said.

"You're the adult. Can't you do it?"

"Heh. I have no idea how these work. What about you? Rei, Mikuru?" He eyed the others.

"Um... I don't know either... I'm sorry..." Mikuru said.

"That's fine, I wouldn't want you to suffer a breakdown while behind the wheel anyway..." Rei said, ignoring Mikuru's reaction. "I figured Kagami could do it, right?"

"You can't be serious... I haven't..." Kagami had never driven a car, but maybe she could figure it out by common sense. But really, couldn't someone else do it?

"It can't be that hard, right?" Rei said. "Go ahead." She held out her arm, inviting Kagami to take the driver's seat.

Kagami threw her heavy bag into the seat, but didn't get in. "Fine... But we need to fill it up with gas. And the battery's probably dead. Now I'd like to see what we're going to do about that." She looked at her bag, which had landed printed-side up. NOTHING BUT STRIKES AT MID-WORLD LANES.

Rei had lifted up the hood, and was searching for something in the mess of metal boxes, tubes and fluid tanks. Kagami watched her for a moment, then realized she must be trying to find the battery.

"Here it is," she said, and placed her hand right on it. A burst of lightning shot out - magic, Kagami remembered, of course she knows magic, just like Konata - and for a moment the car's lights flashed on a bright white before fading back off. "That should work for a while... I think there was a gas station down the street. Let's go check it out."

"This... You... There is absolutely no logic as far as you're concerned, is there?" Kagami said.

They had said their farewell to Negi, and stepped through the door into the new world. Miyuki noticed her hand constantly reaching into her pocket to feel the card inside. It had become like a good luck charm of sorts, although it was more than that. Hopefully she would still be able to use it even without Negi there. He had said she would be able to, but magic was still so new to her, having a teacher there was the only way to confirm she was doing everything correctly.

It looked much as she had feared an alternate reality could look.

The wastelands stretched out around them, cracked dirt and sand devoid of any healthy plant life. In the distance, the ruins of a large city jutted out from the flat horizon like a row of rotted teeth. Nothing else could be seen in any direction, just that one city. Modern skyscrapers looking like they had been abandoned for thousands of years... And a strange thumping noise could be heard, maybe coming from the city, maybe somewhere else.

"It sounds like a good beat," Spike commented. "Actually, it almost sounds familiar."

This was what should have looked normal. Three dimensions, no strange hair colors. But in a world like this, Miyuki almost missed the cute animated style. Maybe the past few days had gotten her used to it.

"This world is corrupted," Nagato said cryptically.

"Corrupted?" Miyuki repeated, gazing across the landscape at those sad buildings.

"Regardless, it would sound as if there are people living in that city," Alucard said. He had pulled his goggles down in the sunlight. "Unless they left the music on for the past couple of centuries, of course."

Spike was humming a tune, then grimaced, and tried another one. "I know I've heard this somewhere." He fumbled in his pockets and took out a cigarette and a lighter, and Miyuki tried to get away from the smell, just gradually increasing her distance so she wouldn't seem too rude. It was a terrible habit, regardless.

They started to hike across the wasteland towards the city, the drum beats growing consistently louder. If not for the recognizable sound of modern equipment and a rock pattern, it would have sounded tribal. But this wasn't some native village, it was what was left of a city much like her own hometown. Miyuki started to remember those last few minutes she had spent in Tokyo. After all that had happened there, maybe that's what the city in her world looked like. But no... Konata had somehow repaired everything, according to that Ayanami girl's account.

"I've got it," Spike suddenly announced. "Man, this is an old one..."

"You remember the song?" Miyuki asked.

"Yeah, it's a real oldie. Released early a century ago, I think. Ever heard of 'Velcro Fly,' ZZ Top?" he said.

"I'm afraid I'm not familiar..."

"Nevermind. It's just the drum part, none of the guitar or vocals, but I'm almost positive that's what it is."

"How interesting..." Miyuki said. Nearly a century old? That would place it in... the turn of the century? No, she had almost forgotten. Spike was from far in the future.

The drums never stopped, never took a break. It was a fast-paced pounding, nearly maddening, and as they approached what appeared to be an old bridge crossing a chasm into the city Miyuki noticed her hand sliding once again into her pocket, searching for Negi's card.

She'd been to countless different instances of space and time, and seen some pretty strange things along the way, but the library was probably the one place Konata was not used to being in. In fact, next to school, a library was probably among Konata's least favorite places to be. Circumstances were different, and she had come inside on her own will, but the entire feeling of the place was uncomfortably stiff and intellectual.

There seemed to be nothing but shelves of books. Many of them were old, leather-bound hardcovers of considerable thickness, with titles in faded gold lettering. She took one off the shelf at random, and opened it up. Nothing but words, small print and a large vocabulary. She sighed and placed it back. She didn't even know how to start looking for that book that Edward was going to need...

Although she couldn't hear what was being said, there was the unmistakable murmur of voices from one of the upper floors. That meant that more than one person was here, which, if her memory served her correctly, meant that there was very little time to work.

How were these books even organized in the first place? It didn't seem to make any sense. She started down one row, impatiently scanning the titles.

Her footsteps seemed loud in the quiet library. The voices were still conversing upstairs, but nothing was happening yet. She continued down another row, reading author's names, titles, subjects, trying to make sense of the huge collection. Each shelf was packed more books than anyone could read in a lifetime. Konata doubted she could even plod through one of these books in a lifetime, but that was beside the point.

Her hand ran over the spines, still not seeing anything relevant in the titles. Konata was so focused on them that she didn't even notice when she ran straight into a ladder, sending it clattering to the floor. Konata held her breath, certain that they must have heard her...

Red light filled the building, coming from another room up above. Obviously they had their own problems to deal with. This was it, the library was going to be burned completely to ashes within less than an hour, most likely. Maybe trying to find Dr. Marcoh's book was a useless pursuit, they'd get by without it, they had in the original series -

Regardless, Konata continued looking, even as the sounds of fighting increased in volume above her and the red flash gave way to an orange glow of flame. There were the sounds of shelves being blasted apart, and clouds of dust filled the air. The sounds moved just a few shelves down from where she was. They were right there.

"Come on..." Konata started to move faster, even less carefully than before.

Her exact memory of this episode wasn't perfect. She couldn't even remember the exact title of the book, except that it was about the exact process of creating a Philosopher's Stone. The Elrics needed to have that information, and she was going to be the one to give it to them if this building didn't collapse before she could find the right book. But it hadn't been labelled as being about alchemy, it had been disguised as -

There was a loud crack above her as the supporting structure of the building collapsed. It shook the foundations of the library, books fell off the shelves into heaps on the floor. There was no way to find anything in here anymore, it was impossible. And then it hit her- directly on the head, and she let out a small grunt of pain and her hand shot up to where it was still throbbing with pain.

She looked at the book that had done it, sitting on top of the piles of other volumes. Tim Marcoh's 1000 Recipes For Making Magic In The Kitchen.

Or, in other words, cleverly encoded research notes for accomplishing something much more like real magic. She remembered this part now.

"Of course..." she said, smiling a bit. She'd wanted to find it, so here it was. She picked it up off the floor and held it close, now realizing just how far the flames had spread. Maybe it would have been a better idea to find Scar and Lust instead, and prevent them from destroying the Library in the first place. But she had the book, this was the only one that truly mattered, and she was getting out of here.

Konata ran past the shelves, hearing more disheartening cracking sounds up above. The smoke was becoming thick, but realizing that maybe that would help her to get out unseen -

As she left the library behind and came back out onto the street, Marcoh's notes in hand, her sense of accomplishment fell short at the sight of a few state alchemists who had been aroused by the commotion and now stood pointing pistols at the extremely suspicious girl who had just stepped out of the torched First Branch.

Surrounding Tsukasa and Kyon were three demons, who looked much scarier in person than they had on the small screen of the COMP. Behind where she stood were the angels, but Tsukasa wasn't focusing on them - her eyes were fixed on the enemies in between herself and the door to the next world. It was all starting to seem like a really bad idea. She didn't know much about commanding the few demons she had, and the leader of the enemy horde was so powerful... Nyarlathotep, the Crawling Chaos...

How did she suddenly know that?

She turned that question over a few times as everything was still, everyone waiting for someone else to strike first. She looked at her demons. Cerberus, kind of like a white lion with a snake's tail... Seiryu, that was one she regretted getting, it was a huge Chinese dragon with a long snakelike body, a real one, not like the kind in a parade or something... And Tlaloc, who had looked kind of silly in that stone mask in the picture, but really was kind of scary, like a deranged blue monkey or something... But the moment of stillness didn't last long, because apparently Kamina got bored.

"What are you waiting for? Let's get it started!" he yelled suddenly, spinning around with his katana drawn and attacking a demon that was several meters behind him.

It fell, but as it did, the entire battlefield was set into motion.

Everything was a blur. She could see the red shape of Dante's coat and the silver glint of his blade as he took on demons five at a time. The angels were flying forward, striking with both lighting and spears. Kamina had just about vanished in all of it, but they could still hear him, at least. Every once in a while a glimpse of his spiky blue hair or tattered red cape would be visible. He was moving fast.

A few demons tried to come straight at her, but Cerberus leaped at them, tearing them apart with his fangs. Tsukasa jumped back, reminding herself that this vicious thing was protecting her. Seiryu flew around above, blasting down lightning bolts that seemed to be striking dangerously close.

"We're heading straight for the door. You see where it is?" Kyon shouted, attempting to keep his voice above the din of battle.

Tsukasa nodded, watching one of her demons shoot a burst of ice at one of the enemies... It was all happening so fast, it was hard to tell which ones were good and which ones weren't.

"We're going to make a run for it. Once we get there, we're going straight through. We're not waiting for the others, they can make it on their own. Got it?" He was breathing heavily, probably as scared as she was, but at least able to keep his head.

"But... We don't know what's in there..." Tsukasa said.

She heard Dante saying something, far off in the distance, then a burst of rapid gunfire.

"It doesn't matter. You want out, right?" Kyon said.

There was a break in the mess of fighting as the angels repelled the demons back, momentarily clearing a path. Tsukasa heard Kyon tell her to run, and, although she didn't think she would be able to, she did. Cerberus turned its head towards where she was going, and ran alongside her. It was almost like having a huge, mythological guard dog.

Tsukasa's head was directed at the ground, just focusing on where her feet were going. She knew the general direction of the door.

"Hey! Where are you two headed?" Dante said. They had come right to where he was standing, still fighting off some sort of humanoid figure with a horse's head as he talked to them.

"We're making a run for it," Kyon said. "Look, it's really not important if we win this battle - "

"I get it. Just go, I'll hold them for you. You sure the angels don't notice that you're trying to escape?"

That was right - the angels had said not to try to leave the city, and the door was right in front of the barricade. If they were headed that way, it would look like they were headed out, and then what would happen? Tsukasa looked around, but the angels seemed preoccupied with the demons.

"That's why we're running," Kyon said. "I don't think they notice."

"Then hurry, damn it."

Tsukasa didn't need to be told. There was a burst of flame coming from somewhere - a magic attack, demons could do those, she remembered - and Cerberus turned its attention in the direction it came from. She couldn't tell which demon had attacked, but Cerberus went after all of them. It was leaving her, and Tsukasa found she didn't want to move forward if it wasn't there, but it quickly returned to defend her.

"Please don't do that, just keep on defending me... alright?" she said, not sure if it comprehended. But - surprisingly - it nodded. "Um, okay..."

"It's just up ahead," Kyon said. "Are you ready?"

She held the COMP close to her, it would have been impossible to pry her fingers off it. They just had to dash a few meters ahead. She looked to the side, and saw Kamina fighting head-to-head against Nyarlathotep, sword against claws. She was worried about him, he was like their leader. But the door to safety was right ahead, and she found she was still more concerned about that.

"L-Let's go," she said. The demons seemed to be moving in on Kamina, defending their own leader. Shouldn't they be backing him up? Her own demons were pretty powerful, they could help him... But she didn't want to risk it.

Kyon took a look back, making sure the angels weren't looking. "Right. We're out of here."

He started running, and Tsukasa followed up behind him, trying not to trip as she summoned the demons back into the device. They vanished into red pixellated clouds. Kyon thrust open the door, and they dashed blindly into the darkness as she felt the heat of a lightning bolt strike right behind them.