Disclaimer: No I do not own any of the IPs that appear in this story.
Kingdom Hearts: The Sisters Remnant
Ruby Rose is a Wolf Faunas why? I have a reason but it would be a spoiler so I'll tell you at the end of book 1. For now it's because I feel like it.
Just so you know, the Darkside is actually a powerful heartless, unlike in the game where it gets near enough instakilled…
Also attacks cause actual damage to the surroundings.
-Chapter 1 Start-
She was falling through a yellow sky, that was how it had begun, just falling. The world was laid out below her, the island of Patch directly beneath her, the ocean stretching as far as the eye could see to the right and the Kingdom of Vale standing to her left.
The wind whistled past her face, blowing her golden locks back, trailing like streamers behind her head. Her eyes were beginning to sting, the cold air drying them out, causing her to flip and look into the sky.
The sky was dominated by a golden sun, the rays of light causing the yellow sky. Suddenly a ball of darkness appeared within the core, it's tendrils spreading throughout the light causing the sky to darken, allowing the stars to be seen.
Thousands of stars were splashed across the heavens, swathes and rivers of light illuminating the darkness. The chilly wind turned into an arctic gale as the darkness spread further, the edges of the wind actually tinted with darkness.
The darkness continued to spread, consuming the stars one by one, the stars blinking and fading in quick succession, the world fading to black.
In a flash everything changed, she was standing in the clearing behind her house, she could see Ruby, her father and her Uncle Qrow standing around the clearing facing away from her. Taking a step forward she yelled in greeting, getting them to turn around and smile with Ruby running up to her. Ruby hugged her before turning to face the men as the sky darkened.
The darkness descended once more engulfing the ground around them, a circle of grass being left clear around her and Ruby. They huddled together, staring in fear as the darkness rose and began to engulf their father and uncle, their forms turning darkened and obscured before the world vanished in a burst of light.
She was falling again, almost to the water this time, the sky above and the ground below each darkening as they were consumed. She absently noted that Ruby was falling in the distance separate from her, travelling towards the water as well.
With a crash she broke the water's surface, surprisingly she felt no pain from the impact, the only sensation emerging from the force that began to drag her below the surface, a certain target obviously in mind.
The final thing she saw was a stained glass platform rushing to meet her, the image of a black haired woman with red eyes imprinted within it.
Her feet lightly touched down on the glass platform, a far cry from her plummet. There was an inky blackness surrounding the surprisingly we lit platform as a light streamed down from seemingly nowhere. "So much to do, so little time." A female voice spoke, it was slightly high but not overly so, high yet young, obviously belonging to a young adult. The strangest thing was that the voice wasn't speaking rather it was reverberating within her chest. "Take your time, don't be afraid, the door is still shut."
"Okay… this is different." Yang spoke, her voice reverberating throughout the void. Glancing towards the centre of the platform she saw that the light was focused in the centre. "Well, I thought I wasn't supposed to walk towards the light." She spoke frowning as she got no response. "Fine then."
Walking forward she stopped in the centre, staring at the face of the woman who was depicted in the platform, her face looked unusually like Yang's…
"Power sleeps within you." The voice spoke, dragging her from her thoughts. "If you give it form, it will give you strength."
At that moment the platform began to shake as pedestals rose from the glass three items appearing, floating above them. The first was a sword, emblazoned on the handle with her burning heart symbol. "The power of the warrior. Invincible courage. A sword of terrible destruction."
The second was a staff, the head bearing the burning heart this time. "The power of the mystic. Inner strength. A staff of wonder and ruin."
Finally there was a shield, the heart displayed proudly across the front. "The power of the guardian. Kindness to aid friends. A shield to repel all."
"Choose well."
The weapons were all hanging kind of of eerily above the pedestals, each almost having a presence drawing her towards them. The sword had the strongest pull, almost calling to her. Walking up to the pedestal she reached forwards, grasping the sword's hilt. "Is this the power you seek?" The voice whispered to her, causing her to nod, the weapon vanishing in a burst of light. "Your path is set, now what will you give up in return?"
"Give one up, why would I give one up?" She asked out loud, the void absorbing her echoes.
"To gain is to lose and to lose is to gain." The voice spoke, a feeling directing her forwards. "Whenever something is gained, something else is lost, even if you don't realise it at the time. Please choose wisely."
"Well that doesn't sound good." She muttered to herself, walking towards the staff. As awesome as 'a staff of wonder and ruin' sounded she really wasn't feeling that connected to it.
"You will give up this power?" The voice asked, receiving a nod before both the staff and the shield vanished. "You have chosen the power of the warrior and have given up the power of the mystic."
At that moment the pedestals collapsed, falling into the glass, cracking it around their bases before it began to shatter the platform rapidly disappearing into the void before she too was falling. This time the fall felt far more controlled, she stayed upright, falling towards a yellow glass platform, this one was emblazoned with a picture of her father, his sunny blond hair and violet eyes standing out. Her descent ended with a light thud as she landed, her knees bending slightly in reflex.
"You have gained the power to fight." The voice spoke, the sword appearing in her right hand, the blade felt perfect in her hand yet it still felt like something was missing.
"I'm more of a fist fighter but this feels great." Jabbing the blade forward she ran through a few basic combinations, the ones that she could remember Qrow teaching her anyway.
"That's it, you've got it." The voice spoke encouragingly. "Use this power to protect yourself and others." That was when it happened.
Suddenly a small amount of shadow appeared on the ground in front of her, before it raised itself into a three dimensional form. It looked vaguely humanoid, with two eyes, two arms and two legs but otherwise it had an almost perfectly spherical head only marred by the two spindly antennae branching off just above its eyes. The body was slim, looking too thin to support its body. (Shadow)
"There will be times when you have to fight." The voice spoke as two more Shadows appeared. "Keep your light burning strong." At that last word the Shadows moved, leaping towards her, their hands blurring as they tried to swipe her.
"Nope." Yang grinned as she ducked under the attacks, swiping the blade to catch the backs of the Shadows, sending them sprawling across the platform. She fully turned before diving forward, slamming an overhead blow on one shadow, causing it to burst into smoke.
The two others seemed to glance at each other before fading into the glass, the pillar was uncomfortably silent as she glanced around, looking for the two Shadows. "Behind you!"
She quickly spun around, only just dodging the attack, a group of five shadows had appeared, attempting to sneak attack her. "Hey, now that was just rude." She snarked, laughing glibly as she swung back around, only to stop at the sight that inspired horror.
A lock of hair.
A lock of blonde hair.
A lock of her blonde hair.
"You monsters." She whispered quietly as they turned and prepared to dive at her. The quickly stopped, looking confused as Yang's eyes turned red, her hair beginning to glow brightly with a few black sparks appearing near her fists.
Her scream of rage as she dived forwards was closer to a roar, the shadows recoiled slightly as Yang slammed the sword into the first shadow, the being exploding into nothingness as she readjusted the sword to drive it into a second. Shadowy claws scraped across her back, causing her to swing around, slamming her opponent with a two handed slash. The final two stood just a few meters away, looking scared and confused at this turn of events.
"Do you want some too?" She growled at them, causing them to fade into the ground. Unfortunately instead of vanishing as they had before, a pool of darkness was created beneath their forms, spreading rapidly until it engulfed the entire pillar.
"Remember, just as you should be wary of the darkness in others, you must remember your own darkness can be even more dangerous." The voice whispered as Yang's leg sunk into the previously solid floor. "But should you tame it, you may change everything."
The darkness gained a purple tint as she passed through, the darkness clinging to her chest and spreading up her face, drawing her deeper into it. It smothered her, it's sickly, cloying feeling enveloping her as it penetrated her to the core. It was suffocating, the tightness around her chest crushing the air from her causing her to gasp in pain.
It was as the darkness began slipping down her throat that a warm pulsing began in her chest. The warmth began battling the darkness, pushing it back and trying to expel it.
It seemed to last for an eternity, yet also only an instant, the mild twilight her body seemed to reach before everything was consumed by the light.
When the light vanished she found herself on another platform, this one contained a picture of her Uncle Qrow, his feathered black hair resplendent with his gray streaks, his light red eyes looking tired, even in stained glass.
"Don't worry, the day when you will open the door is both far off and very near." The voice spoke up, as she panted in panic after the darkness had consumed her. 'If you keep moving forward, you'll make it through."
"What door? What are you on about?" She screamed up at the completely black sky, deeply unsettled by what had happened. "What do you want from me?"
"Matters of the heart are always mysterious, what one thinks they want may not be what they actually want." The voice whispered. "Hold your bonds close and keep moving." With that he went silent, leaving Yang to slowly calm down from where she lay.
"What the fuck?" She swore before standing up, her sword appearing in her hand. Without letting her centre herself a shadow burst from the ground, quickly followed by nearly a dozen more completely surrounding her.
Not waiting for them to move she dived forwards, spearing one of the shadows on the end of the sword. Rolling out of the lunge she twisted around, skidding across the ground slightly as she swivelled to face the horde. A shadow almost swam across the ground, disappearing beneath her legs forcing her to dive forward its claws scraping the back of her legs as she barreled into the group, her sword flashing through four of the shadows.
Her feet skidded across the glass, trying to find purchase on the smooth surface, causing her to spin around several times on the suddenly slick surface. A long and loud squeaking noise emanating from her shoes as she slid, stopping abruptly as she found her footing, turning her feet to the side to brake.
The shadows had dispersed by the time she had turned around, seven black streaks gliding across the ground towards her. She twisted, performing a one handed handspring with her left hand flip over the emerging shadows, dodging the several creature lunge. Rotating on the ball of her right foot she swung catching two more of the creatures, the small, inky black clouds that exploded off of them obscuring her vision.
Almost immediately things went wrong.
Suddenly one of the shadows burst through the fading smoke, claws raking across her stomach before it's body fully slammed into her, sending her crashing to the platform, the glass cracking and scraping along her back. Before she could recover the other four shadows dived onto her, their ethereal claws scraping across her flesh, the wounds seeming almost phantasmal, the wounds feeling like they were on her soul instead of her body.
The cold was piercing, yet also heavy, like she was cut all over and submerged in oil. The almost inky shadow was slowly creeping into her body, closing in on her core. The shadows slowly began to lose their cohesion, almost liquefying on top of her covering her body in liquid darkness, engulfing her body.
She couldn't breath, her lungs seized with the stabbing cold of the darkness.
She couldn't see, her eyes covered in the inky muck that veiled her vision.
She couldn't move, her body trapped in the almost tar-like secretions of the living shadows.
'Remember your light, hold fast to it in the darkest of times.' The voice whispered into her ear. 'Even in the greatest of darkness there is light.' As the voice spoke a warmth began to build in her chest, steadily spreading throughout her body. 'Keep your heart strong and you will never fall.' At that moment the warmth exploded forth, light shining from her chest and burning away the darkness.
She lay on the glass for what seemed like too long, yet not long enough, just breathing heavily, her eyes wide and unfocused, just taking in the light around her. Her fist slowly unclenched, a shudder running through her body as she slowly began to shake, her breath turning harsher as she shook more.
"Why?" That one word pierced the void, her shuddering breaths slowed briefly as her fists slowly unclenched. "Why am I here? This isn't a dream, I would have woken up by now if it was, what do you want from me?" Her voice was quiet as she finished, but still seemed loud in the void.
The voice was noticeably silent at the questions, the feeling in her chest turning from fear to a fiery anger. "Why, why, why, why, why?" She quickly flipped over onto her hands and knees, punching the ground with her right hand at each word, the glass cracking and breaking as dark sparks began forming over her arm, arcing across her skin.
'The day when the door will open is both far off and very near, you must be ready.' The voice finally spoke up, whispering within her chest. 'Although you will face great darkness, don't be afraid, so long as you hold onto the light the darkness will not be able to take hold. But beware, the closer to the light you get, the greater the shadow becomes.'
"What does that even mean?" She yelled looking forwards, her eyes blazing red. "I need to be completely light to escape darkness but the more light the worse the darkness. That's…" She just screamed in frustration as she finished, punching the ground once more, a large crack spreading across the entire platform.
'Come on, you're almost done.' The voice encouraged her, a light appearing over her before moving into the darkness, a colourful mosaic path of glass appearing out of the darkness. 'So long as you keep walking forwards you will make it through.'
She took a rough breath in, forcing herself up. "Fine, I'll finish whatever you're talking about. But if you're messing with me…" She let the statement hang, as she got to her feet, the sword appearing in her right hand.
The cracked grass crunched beneath her feet as she walked to the new bridge, the crunching changing to a dull thud as her feet met patchwork glass, the seamless transition between colours having an otherworldly effect. The path circled and spiralled forth from the pillar of Qrow circling to a much higher one that ever so slightly glowed with a pale silver light.
'What even is all this? If it was a dream I would have woken up when all those things jumped on me, the entire near death experience thing.' She mused briefly as she walked, as small sharp squeak sounding as her boot slid slightly. 'This can't all be in my head can it?'
'Of course this is all in your head.' The voice chimed in, causing Yang to pause briefly. 'But that doesn't make this any less real.'
"Really, that old line?" She yelled to the world around her. "If you're trying to be all mysterious you should stop using clichés." A feeling of amusement was the only reply. Rolling her eyes she continued walking forward, slowly but surely ascending to the final platform.
A white cloak dominated the glass platform, the red lining only making it stand out all the more. The figure was fairly young, late twenties at the most, the visible head was something that Yang was intimately familiar with, having seen it nearly everyday on her sister. The fur on her wolf ears was even the same shade, onyx tipped with red. But the slightly different lines in the cheeks and nose told her who this was. "Mom?"
Her face was illuminated by a pillar of light, or rather her face was illuminating the area with a pillar of light. The light spilling forth, and removing all the shadow but her own.
'The closer you get to the light, the greater your shadow becomes.' It was sudden, her shadow became impossibly black, stretching and gaining monstrous features. It's back arched, lifting from the ground and gaining a semi-viscous mass that was slowly solidifying, the shadow gaining size until it was nearly 50 feet tall.
It's fingers elongated, each tapering to a point becoming a wicked pair of claws. What was originally the shadow of her hair had mostly wrapped around its neck and face forming a facemask, the remaining hair became even more wild, flowing everywhere with little rhyme or reason. It's chest vanished forming a heart shaped hollow, a small flap of skin-like shadow lying just above. (Darkside) 'But don't be afraid.'
"This is not good." The blonde whispered to herself, readying her blade. "How can I kill something that big?"
Almost immediately the darkside reached back with its right arm, a dark aura bursting into life around it as it clenched its hand into a fist before bringing it down, thundering towards her. Her knees immediately bent in response, allowing her to spring away, launching herself to the side and away from the point of impact. A wave of darkness sprung forth from the impact, somehow holding a concussive force, forcing her to jump upwards and over it.
From her position in the air she could see the darkside once more. Its arm was buried up to the shoulder in the platform, a pool of darkness spilling forth as its other arm braced to pull itself up. Flipping as she reached the peak of her jump Yang descended, her feet hitting the darkness and sinking slightly, like she was landing in mud, just as the darkside began to pull itself up.
Clenched in its hand was a red ball of energy, a corona of darkness surrounding it. "That doesn't look good." She whispered, before running forward, slamming her sword down on the creatures hand, black smoke rising from the point of impact. Her sword had cut through its wrist, but only barely, the width of the sword blade had sunk into its shadowy flesh but that was still barely a tenth of the way through.
The sword was jarred loose as the darkside rose, not even reacting to the nick in its arm, slowly raising the ball into the air. 'Okay, remember Uncle Qrow's lessons, when slashing don't use too much of the blade, if you slash with too much of the blade it'll get stuck.' She thought to herself before jumping back up. 'Let's try attacking its head.' Her left foot landed on the knee of the darkside, allowing her to leap upwards, grabbing hold of one of the creatures bangs, using it to swing up to its shoulder.
The first strike was sloppy, a single handed cut as she tried to keep her footing, the darkside barely noticing as it released the ball of energy upwards, the energy rushing into the sky and expanding into a giant red and black disc. The energy beginning to rain down balls of shadow that sent out corona's of power as they landed.
The second strike came after she had stabilised herself, this time striking with much more force, a burst of smoke rising into her face, the acrid smell and taste causing her to choke, nearly losing her footing.
The third strike slammed into the beasts neck, the swing falling lower than intended. The strike was enough for the Darkside to take notice, the giant beginning to try to shake her loose.
The fourth strike was almost immediately followed by the fifth and the sixth, a three hit combo thundering into its head before she jumped off, the shaking having reached a near untenable level. Her feet skidded as they hit the glass, a divot caused by the balls of energy tripping her before she could recover.
Her world exploded in pain, a fist nearly five times bigger than her slamming into her prone form, her body digging into the glass platform as it cracked and splintered beneath her. Her stomach was bleeding profusely as several sizeable shards pieced through the skin, her lifeblood splattering across the pillar. "No, not like this." She whispered, pushing herself up and turning around to face the gargantuan monster. "I-i won't lose like this." She stuttered, lifting her sword and fully turning to face it.
In a flash of light the sword vanished, her hand jerking as the blades weight disappeared. She looked at the hand in horror for a moment before jumping backwards, narrowly dodging another punch. "No…" She whispered, her head slowly inclining to look at the towering figure. "Not like this!" She screamed, charging forwards and leaping onto the creature, her eyes red and her hair glowing brighter than a thousand suns.
Her fists slammed into the monster's arm, the creature letting out a groan as it tried to grab her. Before the hand could reach her she was already moving, launching herself up the body, landing in its shadowy hair. Her left hand wrapped around the strands, the darkness slowly beginning to seep through her skin.
"Why! Won't! You! Just! Die!" She screamed, each word punctuated with a punch, the darksides head barely twitching in response. On the final punch the darkness struck, the strands suddenly wrapping around her fist keeping her in place. "Let go!" She screamed, trying to rip her arm back. The limb losing strength as the cold shadow made it go numb, her struggles becoming more and more token.
Her bones creaked as the giant hand wrapped around her, the darkness around her arm disappearing as the hand fully gripped her body, the pressure causing her bones to creak and groan. This time the numbness from the shadow did nothing, her nerves firing on all cylinders as her body was compressed from all directions, her body crunching as her bones gave way.
Her bones splintered.
She screamed.
With a yell she surged up, her blanket falling to her stomach as she sat up. Sweat glistened on her skin as her scream transitioned to heavy breathing, her breaths gasping and desperate.
She was in her room, the sloped roof, the wooden panels on the walls, the sound of her sister sleeping fitfully to her left, everything was as it should be. "What a dream." She sighed, falling back onto her pillows, letting out a deep breath.
"What dream?" An amused voice spoke above her as a figure began to lean over her. A clunk sounded through the room, followed by two brief yelps of pain, as Yang burst up, her head colliding with the speaker.
She had long, straight, chestnut hair going down to the small of her back. A pair of large rabbit ears rose from her head, adding nearly a foot and a half to her height, their fur also the same chestnut as her hair. Her eyes were a rich brown, almost sparkling even as she was wincing in pain. Her nose was a cute almost button shape, even as it was scrunched up.
"Geez Velvet, what are you doing sneaking around my room." Yang groaned, rubbing the right side of her forehead. Velvet's eyes were now closed as she rubbed circles around the area of impact, small sparks of aura flashed from her fingertips, attempting to sooth the area. "V, come here." She sighed reaching her hand towards the girl.
"No I want to do it myself." She replied, the sparks increasing in frequency as she focused more. Slowly the area of impact, which had started to redden, faded to her natural, smooth cream colour. "There."
"Now you just have to get it faster." Yang nodded, the girl nodding happily. "What are you doing here so early?" It was eight o'clock in the morning during their summer break. It was only August 3rd…
"Happy Birthday Yang." The older girl smiled widely as understanding bloomed on the blonde's face. "How's it feel to be fifteen?"
"The same as fourteen?" She questioningly responded, getting a small giggle from the rabbit girl. Any reply was cut off by an explosion of rose petals.
The room shook as the bed was upended, the two girls were dragged along, slammed into each other by the whirlwind of petals. The shock of the crash and crunching of the wood panelling filling the air as they collided with the wall. The sawdust cloud tickled their throats causing three sets of coughs to start up.
The door slammed open, Taiyang and Qrow rushing through at the giant crash, taking in the devastation. "Ruby!"
"Yeah?" Her voice asked with trepidation from the bottom of the girl pile.
"You're cleaning this up." Her father simply stated, looking at the groaning pile and the crushed wall.
"Okay." She agreed, far too happy for the situation. "But I don't know how to fix the wall."
"Your Uncle and I will deal with that." Tai sighed, already counting the cost of this. "Are you all okay?" He asked as the dust cloud faded and fully revealed all three of them.
The trio were dishevelled, the dust settling over their bodies, their clothes were ripped and torn, both Ruby and Velvet having cuts on their faces with blood dripping down their pale skin. Yang on the other hand just looked minorly annoyed, her aura shimmering as it shielded her skin, the sawdust disintegrating as it landed on the shield.
"Yang, go have your shower. Ruby, Velvet let's get the two of you cleaned up before breakfast." Tai ordered walking up to the pile and pulling them up. "Up you get." He groaned out, hauling Velvet and Ruby to their feet. "We're having pancakes."
"Is Coco planning on turning up?" Yang asked as she pushed herself up to her feet, running her hand through her hair to remove some of the wood chips.
"She'll be meeting us at the usual spot at some point, her parents are both at home this morning." Velvet replied, her hand sparking again as she tried to heal her head wound. "So she'll be there sometime during lunch."
"Awesome." Yang said as she stretched, her hands on the small of her back and her stomach forced forwards until a series of pops sounded through the room. "I'll go have that shower."
"You go do that." Her father sighed as he examined his younger daughter's head, brushing his fingers over the split skin. "Breakfast is in a half hour."
"I'll go get the panelling." Qrow sighed before taking a swig of his hip flask, turning around and walking out with his habitual slouch.
Yang glanced over Velvet, noting the blood beginning to drip onto her shirt. "V, you can use one of my shirts, that one has blood on it." She told the girl, pointing at her wardrobe. "See you at breakfast." She nodded walking out the room.
"C'mon let's get you two cleaned up." Her father's voice floated down the hall after her. The sound of the girls shuffling out of the room, groaning at their growing headaches.
Just another day in the Xiao Long-Rose family home.
-Chapter end-