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It has been a few months since I lost my right arm. Along with it, my father must have taken the materia. On my counter there was just a pile of scrap metal. A pile that used to be connected to my right shoulder. My entire arm exploded in front of my eyes. I tried using alchemy to repair it, but some of the pieces must have disappeared, as the transmutation always fails, and the arm deforms even more. My keyblade won’t transform, and I can’t use alchemy without a circle either. I’m almost totally defenseless.

And with being one of the only people in all of Gaia to have a right arm attachment, I can’t get a replacement. Nor can I fix the arm, as the materials that are inside it need to be almost exact, or the whole arm must be changed. Instead of having it sit there, I transmuted all of its components into a ball, the plastic wiring on the inside, the hard metal on the outside. It was big, but still fit in my coat pocket. I basically moped around, depressed from the loss of my arm. Twice, I had put my desert eagle to my head…and twice it jammed when I pulled the trigger. It wasn’t luck, it was fate. I wasn’t meant to die yet, but how could I bring Calista back. I couldn’t use alchemy without another arm, and without the DarkFire seal, I was weaker at alchemy than normal.

As I sat on my couch pondering what to do, my keyblade appeared in my hand. Naturally, I wrapped my hand around it, and it started pulling me towards the gate. Why not, I could see what would happen. I was on my way there, and the keyblade kept pulling me faster and faster. When I got to No Man’s land, I decide it was time to head home. The blade came in front of me and pushed me towards the gate.

“No, I can’t, I’m too weak.” I said, not realizing I was talking to a sword. It persisted. “Go away you stupid…” I tried to throw it away, but when I let go I felt a tug on my arm. I looked at my arm to see that the blade’s key chain had wrapped tightly around it. This day was about to go from bad to worse. As I dragged me off I kicked and yelled. I must have yelled too loudly, because a werewolf came out of the forest and pursued me. He was gaining fast, but just before he took off my leg, I pulled myself upward onto the blade itself, almost like I was surfing on it. Cursing the werewolf, I looked forward and saw the Gate to Kingdom Hearts. The color was a dark gray. I thought about jumping off, then decided to take my chances with the gate, rather than that with the werewolf. As I flew into the gate and off the blade, the werewolf lunged, only to bounce off the barrier around the gate and run away whimpering. I laughed and looked ahead, only to feel like I got smashed between some walls and knocked out cold.

I began to stir, and found myself lying in a field. I looked at my left arm and saw that the blade was long gone, and I couldn’t summon it for some reason. I looked up to see something I rarely saw: a cattle. It looked at me and mooed, but considering I had barely any energy, I barely stood up to see people running towards me before I passed out again.

I woke up in a house. I was lying on a couch and as my arm fell off, it hit something furry. I looked down to see a dog. It stood up, and I saw it had an automail left leg. I was intrigued, and as it barked, I noticed it was highly complex and well made at that. Just then I heard footsteps from another room.

“So you live eh?” a woman’s voice said. I looked over to see a short woman with a pipe in her mouth. She had light purple hair that was bunched up in the upper back, and had glasses that almost hid her eyes completely. “We thought you were done for.”

I slowly sat up, still groggy. “Thanks ma’am, your hospitality is appreciated.” I went to wipe my forehead on my sleeve when I noticed my coat wasn’t on me. “Excuse me…um.”

“Pinako, and you are?”

“Oh, excuse me lady Pinako, my name is Mike. Um, you wouldn’t happen to know where my coat is, now would you?”

“We had to take it off of you. After all, you appear to be missing an arm.” Pinako said smiling widely. She was a bright one.

“Please, I don’t need one. I have one in my coat pocket…although it’s busted.”

She pointed to the table. The metal orb that was my arm sat there. “You mean this ball of steel?” she said confused, “You can’t possibly mean that this was your arm at one point of time?”

“Well, if I had some chrome, titanium, and steel, I could put it back…though in my world those are hard to come by.”

“Your world?” Pinako said, confused and excited, “Are you from the other side of the gate?”

“How’d you know about the gate!” I asked, confused. Was this a place where people could wield keyblades like me?

“My niece lost someone to the other side. Two boys that are brothers had lost their bodies trying to bring their mother back. One day the older one disappeared, then not long later the younger one was gone too.”

I then realized that they’d gone through the alchemic gate. I guessed that if they had tried to bring someone to life, it was with alchemy, and therefore this world had an alchemic gate. That wasn’t my problem though.

“The younger one had lost his body, and the older one sacrificed himself to get it back. He was always such a reckless boy.”

Wait…so there was a successful human transmutation? Then…maybe he knew how I could get my arm back! I had to try.

“I have to open this gate and find him.” I said to her, standing up.

“I’m afraid that you can’t do that. The gate was destroyed on both sides. To open it you need to use alchemy, and after the destruction of the gate, alchemy was erased from this world.”

“Well then, all the more reason I should try.” I said, pulling some chalk out of my pocket and drawing on the metal sphere on the table. She watched me as I placed my hand on it, then jumped back slightly as the sphere turned into a busted automail arm. She stood there stunned, then smiled.

“Well then, if you’re going to get my boys back, you’ll have to get that arm fixed. Winry!” she shouted upstairs. I heard someone’s voice upstairs groaning. It was a girls voice. “Winry, come on down. We have a customer.”

After a few moments a girl came down in a light purple nightgown. Her long blonde hair was down and messy, but she was still very beautiful. She looked at my automail attachment, then at the arm on the table. She examined every piece of it and laughed at the seal on the hand. “It’ll take about two weeks.” she said, obviously tired.

“Winry…this young man can still perform alchemy.” Winry stopped dead in her tracks, the whipped around saying, “Show me.”, quite angrily too. I drew a circle on the ground and placed my hand on it. The word “Alchemy” was etched into the hardwood floor. Winry yipped, either from delight or from being frightened. She grabbed my arm and ran upstairs.

“Um…what was that about?” I asked, confused by the situation.

“I’d say your arm will be done in a day or two.” Pinako said laughing slightly.

“Ok, but why is she so excited?”

Pinako took her pipe out of her mouth. “The older brother who’s on the other side…she had feelings for him, and he left without saying goodbye.”

That’s why I was part of this puzzle, something wrong had been done, and I had to fix it. If the gate was destroyed, I could open a portal with my keyblade. This is why I was needed here. In Inuyasha’s world, I had to help them get the Shikon Jewel back together. Here…I had to get the two brothers on the other side of the gate.

“What are their names…that way I can bring them back when I get to the other side.” I said, sounding very serious.

“Edward and Alphonse Elric.” She said quietly. Obviously they had a big effect on the people in this world.

For the next few hours we talked about them, their adventures and some of mine. I learned more about this world, like how the government was changed and places were made better thanks to the Elrics.

“When my arm’s done, I’m going to go find them for payment for the arm, as I have no money.” I said, spinning my finger on the table.

“Even if you try, Winry won’t charge you. She just wants to see Edward again.

“She will.” I said. I looked over to see her standing on the staircase, staring at me with tears in her eyes. She walked over to me as I stood up.

“You’re…going to the other side…to get them, aren’t you.” she said quietly.

“If you fix my arm I will.” I said smiling. I looked down at her to see her head bowed, tears streaming down her face. She slowly hugged me, whispering “Thank you.” I followed her back upstairs to see the automail arm, sitting there, good as new.

I ran my fingers across it. “You did a fabulous job!” I said. For a young woman, she was highly skilled. The arm was better than it used to be.

“It’s not done yet. I have to add more chrome so it doesn’t rust.” I picked up the arm and slammed it into the socket, the pain flowing through my body vigorously. She went to help me, but I pushed her away. “I’m good, this happens a lot.” I flexed my arm as the pain went away, and it worked better than normal. There was no delay in reaction, it moved when I wanted it to move exactly.

I placed my hand in the chrome she had, and the seal on my hand glowed as it was absorbed into the automail, giving it a brighter shine. Winry stood there, amazed at the alchemy.

“Now, about those Elric brothers. You wouldn’t happen to know where I could make a gate, would you?” I asked. Winry smiled. “I know someone who’ll help us.”

After an hour of preparation, we headed off into the town. We boarded a “train”. It was like a really huge car that ran on a rail. It was steam powered and moved fast. The entire ride I had my head out the window, watching the world fly by quickly. When I pulled my head in, Winry laughed at my hair. When I got steamed after she said “It makes you look taller.”, she quieted down and reminisced. It must have been about Edward, because she looked sad.

For a whole day on the train, we talked about Edward. She seemed to care for him, but when I asked if she loved him, she just said “He’d never feel the same as I do.” and pondered off.

We arrived in a place called “Central”. It was the central city of this world, and we walked into a state building. We strolled through till we met a man with dark brown hair in the back, but light brown hair in the front. He had a cigarette hanging from his mouth. He seemed happy to see Winry.

“Good to see you again Miss Rockbell.” he said. He seemed cocky but polite all at the same time.

“Hello Jean.” Winry said. “This is my friend Mike. Mike, this is Lieutenant Jean Havoc.”

“That’s Lieutenant Colonel now Winry.” He said cocky like. He shook my hand and noticed the automail. “Another boy with automail huh? You sure like your men short and metallic Winry.”

“WHAT!?” we both shouted at the same time.

“I don’t like him like that!”

“WHO THE HELL ARE YOU CALLING A PINT SIZE FLEA BABY!”

He laughed.

“We’re looking for Roy, have you seen him?”

“You hadn’t heard? He was stationed to the South, but disappeared. Armstrong may know where he’s at though.”

“Then that’s where we’re going.” Winry said, grabbing my arm and dragging me off.”

“Uh, nice meeting you Lieutenant!” I shouted to him.

“Good luck with Winry little guy, she’s a handful!” He said, laughing as he walked away while I struggled from Winry’s grasp.

“LET ME AT HIM, LET ME AT HIM!!!” I stopped when she smacked me over the head with a wrench. “OW, WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR!?”

“Just come on!” she said, annoyed at my attempts for revenge. We boarded another train, though this time I sat in a way that if I saw the Lieutenant Colonel out the window, I’d be able to lunge out after him.

“Don’t even think about it.” Winry said, eating some orange syrupy stuff she’d picked up at the train station. I groaned from disappointment and lied down across the seat. Just then someone knocked on the window behind us. I got up and it was Jean again. I quickly pulled the window up, saying “Back for more?” angrily.

“Not now bean sprout.” he said, putting his hand on my head to hold me off. “I actually wanted to give you this.” he handed me an envelope. I placed my right hand on it and opened it with alchemy. Havoc smiled, obviously happy someone could use alchemy these days. I started reading it. It said something about being notified that I was accepted to try for the State Alchemy exam.

“What the hell’s this for?” I ask curiously.

“It allows you to take the State Alchemy exam to become a state alchemist. If you pass you can join the military and get a state alchemy watch that boosts your transmutations.”

I almost leapt out the window. “Boosts alchemic transmutations!?” I said excited, but the train began to move and I missed the rest of what he shouted to me. I pulled myself in through the window and sat down, disappointed. I looked over at Winry who had her hands balled up on her legs and her head bend down so I couldn’t see her eyes. A sole tear dripped down the side of her face.

I put my arm on her shoulder. “Winry, what’s wrong?” I asked, concerned that she’d hit me with the wrench again.

“You can’t…” was all she said.

“Can’t what?” I asked, confused about what she meant.

She wiped away her tears, which came back quickly. “You can’t…become a state alchemist.” she said, sobbing a little.

“Why not? If my transmutations are boosted then I might be able to bring Edward-”

“You could get killed!” she shouted. Luckily, we were the only one’s in the car.

“Winry…if you had the slightest idea of what I went through in my world, you’d think it was a miracle I’m still here.” I got up and sat next to her, putting my right arm around her. “Besides, now I have the best automail ever. There’s no way I’ll die.”

She smiled a little before leaning into me, falling asleep soon after. We sat like that for the whole ride.

The train stopped twice before we reached our destination. I woke Winry up and we were on the move. We walked through some desert area to reach a town called Lior. Apparently it was a nice village before the prophet declared war on the military and the town was almost brought to ruins. Now it was again a bustling town, now known as “The Little Paradise of the Desert”. When we walked in, that just what it was.