Welcome to Gaia! :: View User's Journal | Gaia Journals

A regular March day. The winter snow had all but melted away and the weather was warming up. Gaian crime was at a historic low, and everyone was pleased with their lives. Gaia was at peace, something that hadn’t happened in the history books. This not only meant more time to relax, but also more time to be with my friends. The Nagakuras were chatting about fashion, and not theirs, the dog I had gotten for them. He was dressed like a flower to celebrate spring starting to come around.. The poor guy was too depressed and embarrassed to be very active. Cassie and Calista were searching for more people like Cassie, lycan outcasts who need support to survive. So far, they hadn’t found any of them still breathing.

In the meantime, I had been sparring with Teresa and teaching her some of my fighting techniques. She was good from the start and kept catching me off guard with lighting fast kicks and spins. Unfortunately for her, her moves were canceled out by her clothing and automail. The joints in her automail were effective, but easily got caught in her jeans. This usually lead to either torn pants or a crappy attack. After a while of convincing, I finally got her into shorts. Her hip would catch every now and then, but she was skilled enough to use it as a feint. Her mechanic was a joke, and I planned on taking her to see Winry for a much needed upgrade. Until then, we sparred with what we had.

I dug my foot into the firm ground as I blocked Teresa’s spin kick my with my right arm, producing a few sparks. I countered with a left hook, but she spun, using her leg to spin my arm down and lower my guard. She brought her other leg around and managed to hit my hand, planting it firmly against my face with her heel. She smiled at the hit, but I smiled too. To win, sometimes you must take a hit. I spun my hand and grabbed her ankle, proceeding to spin and toss her through the air. She flew like a rag doll before straightening herself out and landing perfectly. She turned to face me right as I tackled her to the ground. We rolled momentarily before I had her pinned to the ground. We were panting and sweating as we stood up and dusted ourselves off.

“Jeeze,” I said wiping the sweat off my brow, “you’ve gotten really good!”

“Yeah, but you still beat me every time.” she said, sounding a little depressed.

“True, but-”

“But HIS teacher always beats him, right Michael?” I turned to see Jennifer, my teacher, walking towards us.

“T-Teacher!” I shouted out of surprise, “It’s great to see you again!” She took a fighting stance and trust her hand forward, motioning me to attack. “I-I dunno,” I said nervously, “we were fighting for quite a while and I’m pretty tired right now so-”

“If you’re not attacking then I am!” she shouted, charging me. I swallowed hard. I was so screwed.

After about a half hour of getting tossed around, I walked inside to change my clothes. I picked out an old dark blue shirt I owned and a different pair of black pants. I headed towards the bathroom and splashed water on my face. I got beat badly. Every attack I through was countered, then got hit by another attack. There was no chance of blocking her moves because she knew all of mine. She was stronger than anyone I had ever known, yet every time we fought, it felt like she was holding back a little bit. She was teaching me as we fought, giving me new moves and ideas. She was the best teacher anyone could ask for. Soon I’d ask her to train Teresa, that way we can stop more crime should it arise. After all, the world needed Ray and his sidekick.

Teresa walked in as I walked out of the bathroom. “I’m just gonna freshen up a bit.” she said to me as she walked on by. I nodded that it was alright when she said “Oh, and there’s someone out there to see you too.” I went to ask who, but she had already closed the door. I shrugged it off and headed outside with a coke bottle.

Everyone was talking to this young boy. He was short with brown hair, and didn’t look like he could be much older than seven. I walked up as everyone turned to me.

“You didn’t tell me you had a little brother Michael?” Jenn said to me. I unfortunately chose the moment before to take a sip of coke, which proceeded to go flying into the air when she said that.

“B-brother!? I don’t have a brother!” I said stunned. What little could would want me for an older brother?

“But Mike, he’s just-”

“So cute!” the Nagakuras said after one another. I looked at the kid who looked up to me. His eyes sparkled and his face was too adorable for the Nagakuras to leave alone. But something with his eyes did seem familiar, and yet somehow intimidating. I looked back up to Jenn, who’s eyes told me she noticed it too. This boy was familiar to us.

“He’s…not my real brother.” the little boy said as he looked down. We all stared at him with questions popping into our heads. “We were …like brothers…”

“What do you mean like ‘brothers’?” Mayuno asked.

“We were as close to brothers as could be…before…before…” he seemed like he was going to cry.

“Before what?” Jenn asked.

“Before…I died.” was what he muttered out. We were all taken aback by what he had said. He was so young and little, and yet he had already died? How could someone die and be walking and moving still?

Jenn stood in front of me. “If you’re dead you would have rotted away at least a little by now. How are you still young and fresh?” I felt strange when she called a dead person fresh. I could see it, but it made her sound like some monster, and after what I went through with my mother I didn’t want any part in monster hunting.

“This isn’t what I really look like.” he said quietly. He looked into my eyes and I froze. I recognized who it was instantly. It was the boy I tried to bring back to life so many years ago. The best friend who was as close to a brother as I’d ever get. The one person in the whole world I had trusted with every secret.

“Sean…” I whispered to myself. The boy’s face grew a wicked smile as his body grew. He was soon a teenager with white hair, just shorter than mine. A large clump of hair hung over his face, covering his left eye, but not his smile. His clothes hand changed from little kid wear into a long white coat, black jeans, and a belted shirt that was the same color. There was a holster on his left side along with a sword scabbard, but there was nothing in either of them. I found that I had run out of time to examine his looks when I noticed a boot coming right for my face.

I leaned back and dodge the blow, the Nagakuras screaming as the transformed boy attacked me with ruthless strikes. Each one was aimed at my face, and none of them were being held back. He was fighting for everything he had, and I was still in shock. I still didn’t believe he existed like this. I remembered Edward saying something about a homunculus. A product of a failed human transmutation. It was weak around human remains, and some had special powers. I remembered fighting this one before, and knew that stabbing it through the heart wouldn’t kill it. I clapped my hands and turned my arm into a blade, figuring that if the heart couldn’t be destroyed, the brain was still an option. I jumped off the side of my house and leaped over him, swinging my arm as I flew through the air. I made a deep cut in his arm and slid as I took another shot for his head. He swung his arm up, and there was a sound of clashing metal.

“His arm…” I heard Jenn say in disbelief. I glanced forward and saw that his arm was a blade similar to mine. He had no hand and his blade was growing right out of his elbow, but it was still extremely similar.

“What, are you surprised? You knew I couldn’t be harmed like that, didn’t you?” I recalled the time he looked like my father on the rooftop in the city. I had gone for a direct blow through his chest, but it deflected of his stomach. He could strengthen the bond between the different materials in his body so his skin was impenetrable. We pushed each other away.

“Who or what are you!?” I shouted, charging him again.

‘I’m the mistake you made, the sin you committed,” he said as he blocked my blow, “but you can call me ‘Sean’ for old times sake.”

“I was right.” I said, jumping away from his attack, “you’re a homunculus created when I tried to bring Sean back.” I ground my teeth together thinking about that dreadful day. “Why are you attacking me! You’re alive aren’t you?”

“WRONG!” he screamed. He leaped at me for a heel smash, but that attack was actually a feint for his real attack with his bladed arm. I barely managed to block it before he had me pinned to the ground, the only think blocking his blade from my head was my hand holding his bicep back. “As soon as I was born I was cursed with your sin. I’m doomed to live amongst people who fell love, feel happy, content, completed inside. Meanwhile all I have is an undying hate for you, which will disperse the moment I kill you!”

“Then I’ll have no trouble disposing of you!” I shouted, swinging my arm at him for a punch. I managed to connect with his shoulder, sending him into a spin. I kneed him in the back to send him into the air, and snapped my left hand, causing an explosion that send him flying into the air. I hadn’t held anything back, so I was sure he was dead. That was when I heard the sound of the air spinning. I looked up to see him burst through the smoke, both arms made turned into blades. I leaped back as he drove them into the ground, but in a split second he had thrown a huge chunk of earth at me, pinning me to the ground. He leaped up into the air, ready to pierce my skull when I clapped my hands and placed them on the earth on top of me. It shifted into large spikes, aimed for his body. He spun so his feet landed on them, and he stood on top of the razor sharp spikes, looking down triumphantly.

I swung my arm and shattered the spikes, sending him into the air and freeing myself. I had made a mistake, as the broken spikes allowed him to kick them back at me. I dodged a few before hacking the rest into pieces. I swung my left hand forward again and snapped, this time making a bigger explosion then before. He still leapt out, unscathed and ready for the kill. I needed to do damage somehow, but I had no way of breaking his body yet. He was invincible, and it was only a matter of time before I ran out of energy. I needed to use my keyblades. I knocked him away with a strong stab before turning my arm back to normal.

“Screw this!” I shouted, flinging both arms to the ground as my keyblades appeared. I swung with all my might, striking him each time. They seemed to be damaging him internally, but his outer body remained as hard as ever. With two blades I managed to spin and use one as leverage to perform a stronger attack. He was going to lose if I could keep it up for a bit longer. Then I noticed his eyes. He wasn’t looking at me, but my friends. I wasn’t allowing him to get a chance to attack them, and then I heard my front door open. Teresa walked out and was instantly grabbed by the homunculus, his blades crossing under her throat.

“One small step-JUST one, and I’ll slice off her pretty little face.” he said with a twisted grin. I gripped my blades, knowing he had finally gained the upper hand. Then I saw Teresa’s face, and felt really sorry for the homunculus for a moment.

“Get your sick arms off of me!” she shouted, swinging her automail leg up to kick him in the face. A direct blow knocked him to the ground and she spun to step on his chest. He let her stomp on him for a minute before swinging his arms in a cross formation. Teresa stood there for a second, trying to see what he did, but nothing happened. She laughed at his feeble attempt to hurt her and went to kick him again. She took a step back and her automail leg shattered.

“T!!!” I shouted as I dove to her side. She was breathing quickly and looked at me, stunned and confused. I looked at the homunculus. “You…you b*****d.”

“Yes yes, I suck, but you know what will suck more?” he said turning his blades into arms, “When you watch that little sparkle in her eyes fade.”

I summoned both my keyblades and prepared to defend Teresa. He leaped into the air and tried to stab me from above, but I was too fast to block his blow and send him flying forward. We traded blows for a few moments before I kicked his foot out from under him. That brief stumble allowed me to smash my Dark Kingdom Key on his head, sending him into the ground hard. He spun and grabbed my blade, ripping it out of my hands and leaping a few feet away.

“This is a nice blade you have. This will be the first thing I take from you.” The blade suddenly flashed.

“Give that back!” I swung my arm forward but the blade refused to appear in my hand. He let the blade disappear and reappear in his hand a few times before he looked at me with a smile that said “Tough luck.”

“Now we’re a little more evenly matched.” he said as he held his blade towards me.

“Not by a long shot!” I said, charging him with my other blade. I’d take my blade back through brute force. I swung my sword but he deflected it and landed three blows almost instantaneously. His skills with a blade were better than anything I had ever seen. I blocked a few blows and managed to stab him in the chest, but the blade refused to go through. This let him land several hits on my torso and two on my head. I hit the ground hard, panting for air. I was exhausted. I realized I had dropped my keyblade and saw him pick it up.

“This will make a fine blade as well.” The blade suddenly sizzled with black electricity, causing him to cast it away in pain. “What? Why can’t I gain control of this blade?”

“Because that’s not a normal keyblade.” I heard a voice from behind me say. I turned to see my father. “That was my old sword when I used to slay demons. When I connected that chain I found with the end of the sword, it opened a gate to all the worlds. It’s not a Keyblade in a sense, but a sword that can unlock whatever it user wants, much like a key.”

“Old man, what can I do with this?” I said, hoping he’d tell me how to use the blade to it’s fullest extent.

“Think of it more as a sword, and less as a keyblade.”

“More of a sword, and less as a keyblade.” I said in my mind. I clapped my hands and touched my DarkFire seal on my right hand. The seal lit up and transmuted the blade into a scimitar. It looked like the Dark Demon Slayer still, but only curved and lighter.

“A new blade won’t help you now!” the homunculus shouted as he charged me. I blocked his attack and managed to land a blow. He didn’t think anything of it and went back to attacking. I was a little bit faster, and managed to block all of his strikes before cleaving him and making a long wound across his chest. It healed instantly and he charged me again. This time my DarkFire seal acted on its own accord and snapped up, grabbing the homunculus’s face. Suddenly it exploded, leaving my hand and arm intact, but sending the homunculus flying. He dug his hand into the ground as he stopped moving. Suddenly he covered his mouth, a shiny red liquid drizzling out.

“Damnit, guess I underestimated you.” he coughed out. A few chunks fell into the dirt. “Next time we meet…I’ll take more than just your stupid blade.” A large black wing sprouted from his left shoulder and with one flap, he took off. I would have chased him, but I had to worry about Teresa. I ran to her side.

“Are you ok T.?” I said calmly.

“Yeah, he just got my leg…that’s all.” she said. She sounded like she was still badly hurt though. I realized it must have been hard having lost her leg twice now.

“Don’t worry, I’ll get you fixed up real soon.” She nodded sadly. “Mayuno, Miome, Teacher, help Teresa inside and make sure she’s comfortable. I’ll be in soon.” Mayuno and Miome helped her up while Jennifer opened the door. As they went inside I walked over to my father who was examining the spot where the homunculus had fallen.

“What are you looking at?” I asked as he stared at the ground.

“This.” He lifted a red stone, covered in similarly colored goo.

“What is it?” I asked, taking it from him in my automail hand. It sounded like a rock when I hit it with my metal finger.

“I’m not sure, but I think it gave him power.” I studied the rock before I wiped it off on the ground and put it in my pocket. I knew someone know knew a lot about homunculi and automail, so I’d ask him about it when I went to see him again.

“Why did you come here old man?” I said sternly.

“I came to give you this.” he held out a small chip. “It’s for a prototype armor, much like the one Zero has. It gives a weapon to it’s user that can launce out small fireballs. They don’t do much damage, but they’re much larger and harder to dodge than bullets.”

“And why would I need this?” I said. I knew he didn’t know I was Zero.

“I thought you might like it. I recognize that girl with the metal leg. She broke into the Federation Weapons Facility not too long ago. I figured if they came for her, you’d need some way of defense. Give it to her. I’m sure she’ll thank you.” I shook my head as I thought that my father was trying to help me pick up women.

“I’ll see you later.” I said as I walked inside. The last thing I heard him say was “Just make sure you treat all those girls right!” I slammed the door. I still hated him.

I walked over to the couch they had laid Teresa on. She was holding the small piece of automail that the homunculus hadn’t sliced off. She was covering her face which was very pale. I knelt beside her and looked in her eyes.

“Don’t worry, I’ll take you to my mechanic in a few days. They’ll give you the best damn automail you can think of.” She nodded before covering her face again. I patted her shoulder “Don’t worry, I’ll get you all fixed up.”

“Can’t you just transmute another leg?” Miome asked.

“Yeah, wouldn’t it work the same way?” Mayuno asked as well.

“Unfortunately no. I can transmute something that will attach to her leg, but automail had wires that sense nerve impulses and other movements. I don’t know how they work or what they’re made of, but if I knew automail inside and out, I might be able to make one.”

“But wait a second!” Mayuno said.

“How can you transmute your arm then?” Miome asked. They obviously thought on the same wavelength.

“When I transmute my arm, I only transform the plate on the outside, not the inside. If I transmuted spiked knuckles from my hand or sharp fingers, I’d only do the plates on the outside. If I transmute my whole hand, I actually use only the plates and leave everything on the inside concealed in my arm. There’s a lot more I can do as well, like-” I was interrupted when Jennifer placed her arm on my shoulder.

“While I’m sure you’d love to go on Michael, I think you should get some rest. You two can leave now.” The Nagakuras looked at her, stunned that she was giving them orders, but left all the same. I made my way to the bathroom and pulled out some medical equipment. I took my shirt of and accessed the wounds. A few nicks and scratches, nothing I couldn’t handle. But I had a busted up rib and my left hand hurt a bit. I wrapped my chest and hand up before walking back into the living room. Teresa hadn’t moved at all, but Jennifer was watching me carefully.

“What, did I do something wrong?” I asked as I grabbed and apple.

“Do you know what that thing is even?” She was dead serious.

“I have an idea, but I’m not sure.”

“What is it?”

“I’m not su-”

“WHAT IS IT!!?” Teresa was suddenly involved in the conversation. She looked back and forth at us, waiting for another fight to break out right over her. She was scared.

“It’s a…a homunculus.”

“Homuncu…you mean a living doll?”

“Sort of. I heard it’s created when you perform a human transmutation. I’m not sure how it became the way it is now, but I know for a fact that I killed it before.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean when I first performed the forbidden.” I remembered back to when I was still a kid, my best fried, dead. “I didn’t want him to die. I needed his support. So I figured I was good enough to bring him back. I used the dark arcane of elven magic and flames to mix the ingredients together. But when I did the transmutation…I…” I grabbed my right shoulder, feeling the automail. “I thought it was a zombie. It came towards me and I panicked. I threw my left hand up and…I used DarkFire alchemy. I started to transmute things just by brushing against them. When I got my automail, it automatically moved by itself and tried to destroy the place. Had I not etched in the seal on the back of my hand, I probably would have killed a few people.”

“But you killed that thing. So how is it still here?”

“I stabbed it through it’s heart once before. It seemed to have no effect and it flew away. You saw me stabbing him, I couldn’t pierce his skin.” Then I remembered the fight I had with it when he took my father’s form. He could move the iron atoms in his body so he could deflect blows. What if he could do the same with carbon, and calcium, all the other hard substances mixed together to form an impenetrable shield. But how could I stop him.

“I’m staying with the Nagakura’s for a while.” Jennifer said as she walked towards the door, “If you need anything you had better call me first.” She wanted me to call her if that thing came back.

“Yes Teacher.”

“And Michael…”

“What?”

“…your skills have improved. It would have killed me, but you managed to drive it off.” She walked out the door and let it close behind her. I smiled, she was great. I walked over to the window and looked outside. The sun was already gone, and the sky was turning black. I decided to help Teresa get to her room. I walked over to the couch to see her with her hand on her head crying.

“Come on now, I’ve only been training you for so long, and I barely stood a chance. You did a great job today!”

“He took my leg…”

“But I’ll get you a new one.” She looked at me, her eyes sparkling in the light. “I swear it.” She smiled. I wiped her tears away before saying “Now lets get you off to bed.” She went to get up, but I picked her up in my arms instead. There was not a chance in hell I’d let her hop to her room. I carefully carried her through the door way and laid her on her bed. Then a thought occurred to me.

“Maybe you should just sleep in those clothes tonight.” I said awkwardly, “I mean…I can’t help you change. Well I could but, I can’t. Maybe Cassie would help. But she’s not home and you should sleep. Just…just sleep in those.” She laughed at me.

“You know you’re a nut right?”

“Hopefully with no screws loose.” I said, lifting my automail. We laughed. “I’m going to take a ride for a bit. I need to clear my mind.”

“Be careful.”

“Sure thing. Goodnight Teresa.”

“Night Mike.” I walked out and closed the door before grabbing my coat and heading to my garage. I jumped on the Fenrir and went to the city. The streets were pretty much empty, but I just wanted to coast for a while. How was I going to beat something I couldn’t damage? And most of all, how could I protect the ones I cared about? Something was going to go wrong, and I knew that sooner or later, I’d have to clean everything up.