Humankind cannot gain anything without first giving something in return; to obtain, something of equal value must be lost. That is Alchemy's first law of Equivilent Exchange.
For all that I've lost, I haven't gained a single thing back; for in less than 24 hours, I had gained love, and lost it. After that, nothing could ever be the same again.
There's just too much that time cannot erase.
~~~~~A~o~z~o~r~a~~~~~
The distant shrill of someone's desperate cry out to us caught my attention. I weakly turned my head to where the shouting was originating from, trying to see through my blurred vision. A rescue boat! It took longer than I had wanted for this to sink into my brain. Salvation! But I needed to get their attention...
"Megan?" I choked out, turning back to the unmoving brunette.
I poked her still form several times, wondering how she could possibly fall asleep at a time like this. Satisfied when she let out a small groan from my constant poking, I craned my neck in the opposite direction, searching for the crewman with the whistle frozen in his mouth. Seeing him about ten feet away gave me some hope. Some. I looked back at Megan. If I got off the big door, her side would tip over from the lack of equal weight on my side. And I would need their attention! But... how?
I blinked, an idea dawning on me suddenly. I could make an Alchemy flare! Hah! Beat that, Edward! Carefully shifting my weight and position on the big door, I brought up my hands and clasped them together. The brilliant blue light that followed was clearly enough to get the boat's attention, as they dutifully changed direction to come back to me. I clapped several more times, sending a burst of bright cobalt light out each time.
~~~~~K~e~t~s~o~~~~~
"Mom!" Rachael cried, seeing a woman leave her home at the sight of the three of us.
I let the girl down from my arms - I had been carrying her - and she sprinted across the street to the woman, apparently her mom. Rachael leaped up into her mom's arms and they hugged for a long time. While the hugged, Rachael's mom mouthed a 'thank you' to Sora and I, so I just nodded before turning and walking away, Sora falling in step next to me.
"...Now what?" He asked once we were out of hearing range of Rachael and her mother.
"We should find a way to get off this world, "I said, not entirely sure myself.
"Well, maybe that train goes here, "Sora shrugged uncertainly.
"...What train?" I pryed, genuinely confused.
"I dunno... the one... with the... stars 'n... blue... 'n... it, like, goes through the worlds... 'n stuff, "Sora shrugged again, trying to find a way to explain the train in question.
"...That was so descriptive, Sora, "I commented sarcastically after a brief silence.
"Shuddap."
Before our argument could continue further, a bright flash of deep purple light occured, and a teenage boy with ebony hair covering one of his eyes was suddenly in front of us. My eyes briefly widened in surprise before they narrowed dangerously at the dark-haired teen.
He smiled in mock-happiness to see the two of us, "Hello, Ketso." He nodded at Sora, "Narusuke."
"Who?" Sora questioned immediately.
We both ignored him, "Hello, Kanynt." I ground out, fist slowly clenching and unclenching. Kanynt. My half-brother. He hates me for no reason! Well, I guess he has a reason... but he doesn't have to hate ME! Go hate on Gerd! Or... Yuna. Or both! But not me. >.>;
"So... have fun here?" Kanynt asked, a malicious grin growing on his features.
"Fun-filled beyond belief, "I growled lowly, folding my arms over my chest and effectively death-glaring Kanynt.
He frowned in mock-hurt, "Aw, come on, Ketso! I was just gonna tell you where Riku was so you can go off and find him. And get shot by midget aliens."
"Where's Riku?" Sora asked with concern lacing his voice, and, for the infinate time, I wondered about his sexuality.
"On Halo..." Kanynt said innocently. Only not so innocently.
"Halo?" I repeated. I knew where that was! And if I didn't, I'm sure one of my maps had that place on it! But... that place had guns. I clearly remembered the guns. And the aliens... and the... Flood... My eye twitched.
Without another word, Kanynt was gone, and his place was a train; most likely the one Sora had mentioned before. I blinked, as did Sora. The brunette beside me finally shrugged, stepping on the steps of the train with a last glance in my direction.
"That was convenient."
"What about the Covenant?" I asked immediately with another eye twitch.
~~~~~R~i~k~u~~~~~
The kids around the campsite had explained, rather excitedly, that we were on some place called "Halo". By the way they described the aliens and the "Flood" that lurked here, I figured there wasn't anything good to be said about Halo, the exception being its name. It had taken a few minutes for me to learn all their names; there was so many of them! Little midgets... everywhere... The only tall ones were the hair-stealers. >.>;
Don't be jealous, my everything.
I TOLD YOU NOT TO CALL ME THAT!
*ahem*
The girl christened "Noelle" had tackled me several times in the same fashion Megan had Kaze. Piku had kicked me in the shins a lot already, stalking off and mumbling something about milk. And the pistol-wielding girl, Sabrina, kept giving me this "You're not supposed to be here" look, as was the silver-haired teen beside her, the one with the blindfold and the sniper rifle grasped tightly in his hands. Yami, er something. And then the Silver kid. Easy name, considering his hair. So, there were three kids with silver hair, now...
But silver is MY color...!
The taller, Piku-clone who had been drooling over the Gummi blueprints was Kat, and the redhead that had been looking over her shoulder was Amme. There was another redhead, too. She was always either looking over Amme's shoulder or talking to Yami. She kept asking questions, and I could tell he was constantly getting more annoyed. Rhea, er something like that. Rianne... Raine... R-something...
Sabrina got up from her place on a bench to study me minutely, "You're not supposed to be here..."
I raised an eyebrow, "I'm not?"
"Well, NO!" She exclaimed, waving her arms, and she turned briefly to death-glare Yami, who shrugged uncertainly, muttering something about paint and ice cubes under his breath.
Rhea was restlessly wringing her hands and caressing the silver bracelet about her arm lovingly, and I leaned towards Sabrina, "Is everyone here a lunatic?"
She took a step away from me, wary of our close proximity, "Yeah, pretty much."
~~~~~A~o~z~o~r~a~~~~~
We were aboard the Carpathia now, and Megan was still fast asleep beside me. I had convinced the crew of this ship she wasn't dead, but I had yet to confirm my affirmation. Impulsively, I shoved my hand in my pant pocket, bringing out Rose's necklace that had fallen from her coat when I flipped over the big door. Before it fell into the Atlantic's dark depths, I caught it and pocketed it for later. Now, I gazed at the complex diamond carefully, and the rain suddenly came down in a light drizzle. It was night, and we were almost to New York.
Seeing Lady Liberty in the distance, I nudged Megan lightly, and her mis-matched eyes fluttered open almost immediately, "Uh, wha...?" She grumbled out, but shot up at the sight of the gem in my hand.
"Where'd you get that?! Did 'joo steal it?!" She almost yelled, eyes wide.
"No!" I defended instantly, "I don't steal. I flip over big doors, but I don't stoop to the level of a thief. Unlike some people."
I'm looking at 'CHOO, Dark!
You know you love me.
Never! And you confuzzle meh with teh Sora issue.
Good. Because I don't get it, either.
Go back to sleep, DNAsshole. >.>;
You have chaffed my pride and broken my heart, Aozora. D:
>.>;;
Megan carefully reached out for the necklace, so I dropped it in her hand, and she fumbled with it before straightening, gazing at it in absolute amazement.
~~~~~M~e~g~a~n~~~~~
On a sudden impulse, Diamond Dust was in my hand, and I hoped no one else but Aozora was currently aboard the deck as we were. Unhooking the snowflake from my weapon, I suddenly clipped on the necklace, and it actually changed.
The first thing that caught my eye was the enormous diamond that served as the blade itself, that same deep blue color as the original gem. The shaft seemed a normal diamond color and material, at least until I saw the water sloshing noisily about inside of it. "Heart of the Ocean" flew across the true shaft beneath the dark waves in shimmering silver letters. The handle was similar to that of a pirate's sword, only the true necklace lay in it's diamond casing, serving as the Keyblade's Keychain.
"Well, "Aozora finally spoke up after a long, stupified silence, "someone was certainly bored."
~~~~~~~~~~
Yes... yes they were...
<.< >.>;
Sorry it took so long. Spazzing... so much spazzing...
Whoever sees this first, get on MSN. I'm sick and lonely. ;-;
AMME! YOU BE SICK!...Er... Sicker. ;-;-;-;-;