Hellooooo, everybody! Before I begin, I would like to say a few things. First off, this is my first story ever, so while criticism is welcomed (and helpful in most cases), I would greatly appreciate it if you keep the flaming to a minimum.

Secondly, I know you're probably expecting the predictable cliché for these types of stories: Ruby and/or her teammates are Keyblade wielders and are taking Sora's role. Well, that's not happening here. Sora is still the main character and he still travels to other worlds, but the Keyblade and its history is not the general focus of the story. The main focus will be centered on the concept of souls and certain subjects from the RWBY mythos that I do not wish to reveal at this time. I know most people will be turned off because Sora won't be using the Keyblade, but I promise the alternative will be just as interesting (hopefully).

Thirdly, I know the general premise of the story is similar to the original script, but I do plan on making many changes to the plot to suit my needs and hopefully motivate you enough to continue reading. So before you hit the back button after reading this, I do ask that you at least give it a chance before you go.

Okay, now that I said my spiel, on with the show!

Prologue: Dive to the Soul

For so long he's thought about it: the other worlds. Do they truly exist? He knew that he and his friends always played with the idea of traveling beyond the horizon, searching for new lands and new people, if only for the reason of leaving behind the world they already knew, the world that no longer held interest. Honestly, while the thought of new discoveries made him feel excited, it also scared him. They didn't know what awaited them beyond the shores of their home, or if they could even survive it. So many questions, so little answers.

His eyes slowly fluttered open, slowly taking in everything around him. Everything was pitch black; it felt like he was falling into deep water. A part of his mind told him that he should be scared, but he didn't feel like he was drowning. He could still breathe, even though that should have been impossible. It was all so confusing.

"I've been having these weird thoughts lately," said the boy, his lips barely moving. "Like is any of this for real or not?"

As he fell deeper and deeper into the abyss, away from the light of the surface, he closed his eyes and allowed the coolness of the 'water' to wash over him.

And then he opened his eyes again.

He wasn't underneath the water any more, but rather on the shoreline of a beautiful tropical island surrounded by a vast sea of clear blue water, loose sand brushing up against his shoes. Leaning forward, he stared at his reflection in the lapping water. He was young, probably only starting his teenage years, with chestnut brown hair that somehow spiked everywhere and had the power to defy gravity. A red jumpsuit, white coat and gloves, and large yellow shoes made up his attire, but the piece that drew him the most was the silver necklace around his neck. He knew it was given to him a long time ago by someone, but he couldn't remember their face. The necklace was silver and etched into the shape of a flower – like a rose.

He saw something out of the corner of his eye standing in the middle of the ocean. He looked up, temporarily blinded by the sunlight, and stared at the back of a boy he knew. His silver hair glistened in the sun, giving it an unnatural sheen. His blues jeans and yellow/black sleeveless shirt were sprayed by the salty water, but he did not seem that concerned. There was something around his wrists – bracelets by the look of them – but he did not remember the boy ever having such a thing before.

The boy just stared at the water, almost with a sense of longing, before a wave began to rise off into the distance, growing large as it approached. The silver-haired teen turned nonchalantly toward him and held out his hand for him. Gasping, he rushed out into the ocean without a second thought. He was so close, he could almost touch the silver-haired boy's fingers, but the wave crashed down on top of them before he could reach. He was thrown back underneath the water, but the silver-haired boy floated calmly, still offering his hand to him. He tried ever so desperately to reach out to him, but the waves were too strong and they were pushed farther away until they could no longer see one another.

He breached the surface not long after, gasping for air but not feeling like he had lost any breath. He looked out at the horizon and noticed that the sun was starting to set. How long had he been down there?

He turned his head back to the island and noticed someone else was waiting at the shore; his chest felt light and warm. A girl was waving to him, trying to call his attention. She was very pretty from her short red hair to her dazzling white smile. Her clothing was simple: white tank top, short purple skirt, and shoes. But glistening just above her breast was a small white pendant reflecting the ray of the falling sun. His memory returned to him again. She had that necklace for as long as either of them could remember; she never took it off for any reason, like a charm.

He waved to her and sloshed his way back to the sandy shoes while she stood by and giggled; that feeling of warmth returned in his chest. Their laughter was short lived when the girl's eyes suddenly became focused on the sky. Curious, he followed her gaze towards the red-purplish backdrop. There were a few shooting stars, nothing abnormal, but then he noticed something large falling towards them. As the object got closer, he was stunned when he realized the falling object was…himself.

He inadvertently took a step back and suddenly found himself falling backwards into nothingness; it was as if the ground had disappeared beneath his feet. He reached out a hand to the girl above him, but the sky suddenly rippled and she was nowhere to be seen. And then, without warning, he was plunged headfirst back into the dark waters.

He drifted and drifted with no end in sight until his feet touched something solid. He looked around, but did not see anything; everything was shrouded it complete darkness. He took a step forward and suddenly and explosion of red erupted from where he touched. Piece of the darkness ripped away and transformed into a beautiful storm of red petals, all flying towards the darkness above. When the storm had passed, he realized that there was now light and beneath his feet was a small platform that looked to be made from delicate glass; he was almost afraid to touch it.

An image was formed from the glass on the platform. Dozens of smaller circles surrounded the largest circle in the center, each one baring a unique emblem: a burning heart. In the central circle was the image of a girl – no, a woman – whose hair was wild and unruly, but glistened with a golden shine that rival the sun. She was very beautiful – even more beautiful than his friend – but those burning red eyes scared him; it made her beautiful face seem evil. There was a shadow hovering over the woman's shoulder, embracing from behind with one pale arm wrapping around her waist, another pair of blaring red eyes staring at her with desire and hunger.

"You've finally awakened…" said a soft, almost ethereal voice.

"What the?" the boy sputtered, snapping his head left and right. "Who's there? Show yourself!"

"It's been so long, Sora, but there is still so much to do," said the ghostly voice.

"How do you know who I am?" asked Sora apprehensively. "What's going on?"

"There is still time," said the ghostly voice. "Don't be afraid. The door is still shut. It's time for you to step forward. Can you do it?"

"Do what?" asked Sora.

But the voice didn't answer. Instead, a beam of light radiated from the darkness, illuminating the spot where the blonde woman and the shadow met. Sora was very much confused, but there didn't seem to be any point in stalling; it wasn't like he had anywhere else to go. So he stepped forward until he was standing directly under the spotlight. Once he did, four pedestals emerged from the floor in each cardinal direction. Four lights rippled above the platforms and left behind different items. The one directly in front of Sora was a pair of metal gloves, the one on his left was a katana, the one on his right was a scythe like the kind they used for farming the fields, and the one behind him was that thin sword they used in fencing at school – a rappy ear, he thought they called it.

"Power sleeps within you," aid the ghostly voice. "If you give it form, it will give you strength. Choose well."

"Wait, so am I supposed to choose one of these things?" Sora asked the sky, and naturally he was given no response. "Of course you don't answer me. All right, let's start with this one."

The first one he approached was the metal gloves. They didn't look like anything special – just some burlap with metal stitched on top of it. He took the gloves off the pedestal and then the voice returned.

"The path of the fighter. Unrivaled strength. A weapon of uncontrollable destruction. Is this the path you choose?"

Sora hesitated. Having unrivalled strength would be nice – he could finally beat his best friend in a fight – but at what cost? Uncontrollable destruction? The very thought made Sora's stomach churn. So he chose to replace the gloves on the pedestal and stepped away, walking across the platform until he was in front of the rappy ear or whatever it was called. It hardly looked like a weapon that would be useful in a fight, but he also doubted it would cause much damage as well. He grasped the foil by the handle and looked it over.

"The path of the guardian. Kindness to aid friends. A power to protect all. Is this the path you choose?"

This one sounded much better than the last; Sora didn't hesitate to say "Yes" before the foil evaporated in his hand.

"Your path is set," the voice reaffirmed. "Now, what will you give up in exchange?"

"I have to give up something, too?" said Sora, and, predictably, the voice went quiet. "If this is the dream, it's the weirdest one I ever had."

His first thought was to give up on the gloves, but curiosity drove him to check the remaining two before making a selection – what he gave up would obviously affect him somehow. He gravitated towards the farming scythe since he seemed like the least useful when it came to a fight. He grabbed the tool by it wooden handle when the voice returned:

"The path of the adventurer. Power the eye cannot see. A tool of wonder and ruin. You give up this power?"

Once again, Sora hesitated. Power the eye cannot see? Did that mean being able to see things that no one else could? Or did it have a completely different meaning. Sora didn't know, but he chose to wait until he heard the final path before he made his selection. He put the scythe back on its pedestal and walked across towards the katana. It was easily the coolest weapon of the four, but Sora had a feeling it had some hidden meaning behind it. Sora grabbed the katana and the voice said:

"The path of the shadow. Unshakable resolve. A blade of isolation. You give up this power."

The katana was cool and unshakable resolve sounded great, but a blade of isolation? Did that mean he would be alone? Sora couldn't bear the thought of never being able to see his friends. That is what made it easy for him to say "Yes" to the sky voice and watched the katana dissolve like the foil.

"You have chosen the power of the guardian. You've given up the power of the shadow. Is this the form you choose?"

"Yeah, I guess so," said Sora hesitantly. "But what does any of this have to do – "

Before Sora could finish his question, the pedestals suddenly collapsed into the floor, making loud crashing sounds. As he looked around, he realized that the floor was shattering around him. Panicking and left with nowhere to run, Sora fell through into the endless abyss of darkness below. He didn't know how long he fell or why he couldn't scream when he wanted to, but before he realized it, there was another light in the sea of darkness; he was approaching another platform.

As he slowly descended onto the new territory, he took the chance to get a good look of the picture presented in the glass. The emblems around the central circle were now blackish-purple flame, but it also resembled a billowing flower. The central picture was of three people, or more specifically, three different versions of the same person. In the middle was a child who was glaring up in spite, the version on her left was a teenager with an unreadable expression staring off into the distance, and the third was a grown woman with her back turned to the others, leaving her face unseen. The few things they all had in common was the wavy black hair, piercing yellow eyes, and the pair of cat ears resting on top of their heads.

Sora landed safely on his feet and the foil appeared in his hands in a flash of light.

"You gained the power to fight," said the ghostly voice. "Use this power to protect yourself and others."

"Protect them?" Sora repeated. "Protect them from what?"

"There will be times you have to fight," said the ghostly voice. "Keep your light burning strong."

As the voice was speaking to him, Sora leaned forward when noticing something unusual about the floor. He was staring at a shadow that, at first, he thought was part of the girl's black hair until it started moving. The shadow raised itself up off the ground and took form. The animal looked close to resembling a small dog, but the sharp, flesh-ripping fangs and the masks made from red-and-white material.

The dog monster leered up at Sora through its mask and growled, lunging at the spiky-haired boy. Reacting purely on instinct, Sora stabbed his foil ahead and punctured the mini monster through the forehead. The dog monster collapsed on the ground and evaporated into a black mist.

"What…was that?" asked Sora, looking stunned.

"Behind you!" the ghostly voice warned.

Sora spun around quickly and just in time to raise his weapon in a defense position as another dog monster lunged at him. He pushed the animal away and did a quick check of how many monsters he was suddenly up against. There were at least four of them, but none of them seemed all that tough, especially compared to the people he had been fighting back at home. This would be easy.

The first dog monster scrambled back onto its large-nailed paws and growled, charging at the spiky-haired meal. Sora sidestepped the animal, and then spun around to make a quick jab at the back of the beast's neck; the monster dissolved in an instant. The second dog monster jumped into the air with its teeth presented while a third one was rushing him from the ground, aiming for his ankles. Sora did a light jump off the ground to avoid the one beneath him and stabbed the other dog beast inside its open mouth, destroying it. When he touched ground, he spun around on his heel and stabbed the third dog creature through the head to kill it. Now that just left one. Sora turned on the tiny dog monster as it stared up at him with its creepy death mask. It had just watched him effortlessly destroy its friends; there was no way it was dumb enough to attempt an attack on its own. And he was right, in some ways.

The dog monster didn't attack Sora, but instead flattened itself into the floor until it transformed into a puddle of darkness. And for that one moment, Sora thought he had won the fight, but then he realized what the monster had planned. The darkness was spreading; it was covering up the entire platform; and Sora was in the middle of it. The spiky-haired warrior was quickly pulled in. He struggled to get out of the black pool, but it was like trying to break free from quicksand. And after several seconds of hopeless struggling, Sora was once again pulled under into the depths of the abyss.

Sora's eyes shot open and her shot up, gasping for breath that he didn't know he was holding.

He did a quick look around, almost scared that he would start seeing more of those dog creatures. Instead, he suddenly found himself on another platform. He stood up and stared down at the new image presented to him, almost shaking at what he saw. The emblems were replaced with white snowflakes and in the center was a young, almost-fragile woman with hair as white as snow with one long strand tied up in a sideways ponytail. She was very beautiful in a delicate sort of way, but the jagged scar running down her left eye marred that beauty. Her eyes were closed and her hands were folded in a prayer as dozens of those…monsters surrounded her, their clawed hands reaching around to pull her closer toward them; they all looked hungry.

It took a moment before Sora realized he wasn't alone. Much like the pedestals in the first station, there were four people standing in each of the cardinal directions, all of them with blank expressions and impassive gazes centered on him. To his front was a beautiful woman with burning-red eyes dressed in red and a sword at her side; she looked like an exact copy of the woman on the first platform. To her left was a tall and scary-looking man with reddish-brown hair dressed in a well-made tuxedo suit, wearing a mask over his eyes similar to the monsters Sora just saw. Directly behind Sora was a woman that looked like she could be an older version of the girl in the glass, standing tall and poised in regal attire with her white hair tide into a bun and draped over her left eye. The woman on Sora's right was the biggest mystery: he couldn't see anything underneath her lengthy white cloak other than a few sparse red hairs that peeked through the hood.

"Um…excuse me," Sora said timidly when none of them said anything. "Um…are you guys all right? Do you know where we are? Hey…hey, can you say anything."

"Not just yet, Sora," said the ghostly voice. "The door has not been opened. First, tell me more about yourself.

Asking to know more about him at this point seem strange, Sora thought, because it already sounds like it knew enough. Regardless, Sora approached the first person in the queue of people, which was the black-haired in red.

"Uh…hello?" said Sora slowly.

"What's most important to you?" asked the woman.

"What's most important to me?" Sora repeated, rubbing his chin in thought. "Well…I guess my friends would be very important."

"Is friendship such a big deal?" said the woman.

With that final quip, the woman vanished. Sora blinked for a moment, wondering what that was supposed to mean, but decided it was pointless to try and make any sense of anything from here. He walked over and approached the only man of the group; he looked very dangerous up close.

"What would you want to change?" asked the man.

"Change…change…," Sora muttered. "I guess I would want to change the world?"

"Do you think changing the world will make a difference?" said the man.

And then he too vanished. This was crossing weird and heading straight into creepy territory. Sora approached the stern looking woman next, suddenly feeling like he was being called into the principal's office by the way she looked at him.

"What do you want out of life?" asked the woman.

"I guess…to be stronger," Sora answered with a hint of hesitation.

"To be strong, huh?" remarked the woman before she vanished.

That just left the one woman in the white cloak. It was strange, Sora thought, as he approached her. He had never seen this person before, but there was a hint a familiarity about her that Sora couldn't shake. He still couldn't see who the person was underneath the hood because she was making an effort to hide herself. Sora couldn't tell if she was shy or he just wasn't meant to see her.

"What are you afraid of?" asked the hooded woman.

"I guess being indecisive would be a real problem," said Sora, shrugging; there wasn't a whole lot he was afraid of…except those black creatures.

"Being indecisive? Is it really that scary?" said the woman.

And like the others before her, the hooded woman vanished out of existence, leaving Sora alone on the platform only able to stare down at the frail woman about to be devoured by the monsters. And then the voice returned to him.

"You want friendship. You want to change the world. You want to be strong. You are afraid of being indecisive. Your adventure begins at midday. Keep a steady path and you'll come through."

"That doesn't sound too bad," said Sora pleasantly.

"The day you will open the door is both very far and very near," said the ghostly voice.

Just then, a light appeared on the opposite side of the platform and glided its way through the darkness beyond. As the light passed over, small steps made from the same glass as the pictures formed a curving staircase. And off in the distance, Sora could faintly make out a fourth platform waiting for him. The voice said nothing to him in response to this, though he supposed that the objective was too obvious for Sora not to understand. He dashed up the staircase in record time, already knowing that the glass was disappearing behind him without having to look back.

Sora jumped onto the platform as the final piece of glass disappeared underneath him and was presented with a new picture for him to observe. This picture was very different from the first three. Whereas the others showed scenes of despair or remorse, the image seemed almost…peaceful. The emblems were shapes like the pendent on Sora's necklace except in red and a whirlwind of rose petals was painted on. In the center was a young girl around his age with short, reddish-black hair with a large red cape wrapped around her. She was leaning onto one side of the platform with her eyes closed, giving her the impression that she was sleeping.

The light was shining very bright from where he stood it was almost blinding. But he knew he had to get closer; the voice was definitely leading him towards something.

"The closer you get to the light, the greater your shadow becomes," said the ghostly voice.

A thrill of panic suddenly rose up when the voice said that; did it just lead him into a trap or something?

Sora spun around on his heel and looked down at his shadow, now realizing that the light was stretching it halfway across the platform. And then the shadow began to move of its own accord, rising slowly from the floor as it began to change shape. Sora started to back away slowly, never taking his eyes off the monstrosity.

"Don't be afraid," said the ghostly voice.

Easy for him to say, Sora thought. He wasn't the one facing down a behemoth of a monster. The creature became fuller and thinner with every second that passed; flesh altered into feathers, arms sprouted wings beneath them, and a large tip was growing from where it's face shoulder have been, forming into a beak. But like all the monsters that came before it, the shadow would develop the familiar white-and-red death mask over where its eyes should have been.

This was too much for him; he wanted to escape, but there was no way off the platform without falling into the endless darkness. He doubted it would have mattered much since the monster had finished its transformation and a twenty-foot bird-like beast now screeched in his ears.

"Don't forget…," the ghostly voice spoke as it faded away.

"Am i…supposed to fight that thing?" said Sora nervously, looking down at his weapon, which was looking very pathetic right now. "It's okay…it's okay…this is just a dream. It's not like it can hurt me, right?"

The bird monster screeched again and swiped its feathery wing across the platform, slapping the spiky-haired boy across the face. Sora was thrown clean across the area, coming very close to falling over the edge. As he sat up, he felt something warm and wet sliding down his cheek. He wiped it away with his hand and stared; his fingers were colored in something red – his blood. The bird had hurt him, he was bleeding. And if he can bleed, he can die.

Panic rose in Sora's chest once more as the bird monster took another swing at him, this time using its three claws to cut across the glass, leaving massive scratch marks on the surface. Sora tucked and rolled forward to barely escape the monster's reach before pushing back up on his feet and stabbing the bird with his weapon that he still didn't know the name of. The pointed tip punctured the monster's feathers, but the beast itself gave no indication that it felt anything. The monstrous bird flapped its wing and swatted Sora away; his piercing weapon was thrown out into the darkness where he could not see.

"No!" Sora cried with his hand outstretched, hoping in vein that his weapon would return.

The bird monster reared its head again with an echoing shriek and it stretched both wings as far as they could go. The bird beast then brought its wings together and created a powerful gust of wind. Sora flattened himself against the surface of the platform, but there was nothing to hold on to, nothing to give him a grip. He was moving closer and closer to the edge. The bird monster flapped its massive wings once more and the spiky-haired boy was finally thrown off by the pressure of the gale. Sora tried to scream – every fiber in his body told him it was the proper response – but nothing would escape his open lips. It was as if the fear had robbed him of his voice.

So there he was, falling into what seemed to be an endless pit of black with no possible end in sight. It seemed like falling would have been the worst part of the whole experience, but he could not have been more wrong. The bird monster had not wanted to give up its prey so easily and bounded over the edge of the platform, diving after him into the pit of darkness. Sora flailed his arms and legs as if it would make any difference, but it didn't. The bird beast was getting closer and closer while there seemed to be nothing around to save him. It was in that moment that it finally dawned on him: this was how he was going to die.

"Don't be afraid…"

The bird monster was on top of it; he could see the yellow in its eyes.

"You hold the mightiest weapon of all…"

The bird opened its beak, hover on either side of Sora's chest.

"So don't forget:"

The bird monster closed its beak; Sora could feel the pressure weighting on him as his vision went black.

"You are the one who will open the door."

And then he died.

Okay, so that wraps up the Dive to the Heart sequence. Overall, I'd like to think I gave it my best shot, but I still think there might have been a lot to improve on. You might have noticed that there were some parts of the game that I might have skipped; that was because it didn't seem relevant to the story. I'm sure people who are reading this closely was able to pick up the symbolism in this chapter; they are going to be very important in the future. And I'm sure many of you are going to be saying "if there is a door, then it must have a Key, which is why having a Keyblade would make more sense". Trust me; I already worked that part out, mostly. It will make more sense down the road.

Anyway, next chapter is the Destiny Islands and a sneak peek at (confidential) and (confidential) at the (confidential), which will set up the rest of the story. Hopefully some of you people will still be around to see them. Until then, please read and review.