"Wow, this place is majestic," Nick quipped as Haruka steered the Gummi Ship through a canyon with multiple crystal formations growing on the walls, shooting at Heartless laser traps on the way through.

"Yeah, there's a lot, and I mean a lot, to do out here in the Ocean Between as opposed to the Lanes," Haruka answered as she flew towards the large crystal sitting at the top of a plateau far above the canyon area, opening fire on it and eventually shattering it. "I can't count how many times Maylin and I have just whittled time away exploring the Ocean, shooting things and finding all kinds of hidden secrets."

"It almost feels like an adventure in and of itself, honestly," Maylin admitted. "Just seeing what kind of cool stuff is just waiting out there for a group of brave adventurers like us to find..."

Maylin glanced towards a large Waypoint Station, an orbiting cluster of rings that served as warp points for the Gummi Ship to make travel just that little bit easier. Just beyond the Waypoint Station, she saw a large structure resembling a city, no doubt another world for them to explore.

"There, there!" Maylin exclaimed. "New world dead ahead!"

"I see it," Haruka replied, piloting the Gummi Ship towards the world in question, which appeared to be a San Francisco-style city bordered by a massive stone wall and dotted by various Victorian-style houses.

"Does that place look familiar to you two?" Nick wondered.

"No clue, to be frank," Haruka answered. "But if it's in our crosshairs, we may as well touch down and see what's going on."

"Yeah, there's a good chance we might find one of those pure hearts down there," Maylin quipped before putting her finger to her chin and doing some thinking. "Now that I think about it, how do you suppose we find these pure hearts? We literally have no idea who could be holding them, light or dark."

"Guess all we can do is play it by ear like we usually do," Haruka stated. "Let's land and see what we can do to help."

"All right, the adventure begins yet again!" Maylin exclaimed.

Nick couldn't help but smile at his friends' antics.


(They can take your world. They can take your heart. Cut you loose from all you know. But if it's your fate... then every step forward will always be a step closer to home.)

The Blue Time Ranger is proud to present:
W.I.T.C.H.: Key to Her Heart III
Story Created: April 17th, 2019
Story Rated: T for Teen

The Dramatis Personnae (cast, if you will)
Bryce Papenbrook as Nick Kelly
Eden Riegel as Marie Kelly
Cassandra Lee Morris as Maylin Rae / Meiling Li
Cherami Leigh as Haruka Rose
Kelly Stables as Will Vandom
Candi Milo as Irma Lair
Kali Troy as Taranee Cook
Christel Khalil as Cornelia Hale
Liza del Mundo as Hay Lin
Serena Berman as Queen Elyon Portrait
Laura Post as The Dark Mother Meter

Story Summary: It's been two years since Nick and his friends became Keyblade Masters and defeated the nefarious Organization XIII. However, an ancient evil is approaching the worlds, the very evil that they became Keyblade Masters to fight. The Dark Mother Meter, once the Elemental Queen of Spring, intends to gather pieces of light and darkness in order to forge an ancient weapon called the χ-blade and unleash chaos upon the worlds. Our heroes must take up their keyblades for one final journey to stop the Dark Mother from ending all of existence. What challenges will they face along the way? Could Meter's motives have something to do with the age of fairy tales? And can Nick and his friends pull through to defeat Meter before it's too late?

On Today's Episode: The trinity (Maylin's term) arrives yet again on the World of Remnant, this time in a harbor town called Argus. Team RWBY and their friends are here, on their way to Atlas to secure the Relic of Knowledge, only for their plans to hit a slight snag when dealing with the stingy Atlas military and, of all people, Adam Taurus, who looks to enact his selfish desires and take revenge on Blake. Could this corrupt soul, blackened by rage and hatred, be one of the hearts that the Dark Mother needs?

And Now, the Obligatory Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to W.I.T.C.H. or any of its affiliations. It belongs solely to Elisabetta Gnone and Disney if we're talking the cartoon. The only things of this story I DO own are any characters created by yours truly for the story. Any characters or things I don't own, I am just borrowing with no intent of copyright infringement, only for the entertainment of my readers. The same goes for any anime, video game, or comic book series that will be represented here. Besides, if I did own W.I.T.C.H., which I don't, why would I be writing fiction on a fan site?

For Today's World: In grand Key to Her Heart tradition, the first stop on this final quest is Rooster Teeth's RWBY. This time we're covering the events of the second half of Volume 6, specifically chapters seven through thirteen, starting from the moment the gang arrives in Argus.


Episode 2: Take the Bull by the Horns

As Yang entered a code on the keypad to lock the Bumblebee safely in the nearby garage along with their makeshift trailer, the rest of the group took their sweet time admiring the city of Argus, knowing that this was their first time here.

Through the bustle of the crowd, Nora pushed her way through when she noticed Oscar. "Cute boy OZ!" Nora shouted, catching Oscar's attention just in time to get glomped by the hyperactive Valkyrie, sending them both tumbling to the ground.

"Over here, guys!" Nora called out, bringing Jaune and Ren in her direction, the two of them having followed Nora through the crowd.

"Are you all okay, everyone?" Ren asked, stepping over to hug Yang.

"We've been worrying ourselves sick!" Jaune proclaimed, giving Blake a hug.

"It's been... well, quite the crazy trip," Yang admitted.

"Understatement of the century," Weiss stated, causing Ruby to giggle.

"Wait, who's the old lady?" Nora asked when she caught sight of Maria, to which she just scoffed. Kids these days, right?

"I'm just glad you're all safe," Blake stated.

"Oh, man, you guys are gonna love this place!" Nora giggled.

As everyone else began conversations of their own, Ruby and Jaune looked at each other, just staring for a few seconds until Ruby threw herself forward to hug Jaune.

"Hey, I promised, right?" Ruby stated matter-of-factly.

"Yeah," Jaune replied, wiping a tear from his eye. "Yeah, you did. It's really great to see you guys."

Ruby smiled brightly, only to gasp at a familiar sight far behind them. Naturally, everyone else in the group followed Ruby's eyes.

"Wow, this place is pretty slick," Maylin admitted as she gazed around the vistas of Argus.

"We've seen a lot of slick places on our travels," Haruka stated. "Just add one more to the list."

Nick glanced far into the distance, not yet noticing that Ruby and the others were waving to them. He recognized the large military base stationed at the very edge of the city, a type that Atlas military often used.

"Girls? Are we on Remnant again?" Nick asked.

"What makes you say that?" Haruka wondered.

"Does that military base look familiar to you?" Nick stated. "Like, an Atlas military base?"

"Wait, wait, what is Atlas doing in this city?" Maylin quipped. "Especially after all the bullcrap they've pulled since the Fall of Beacon! Didn't Weiss say that Atlas' borders were closed by General Ironwood?"

"Apparently the military didn't get that memo," Haruka stated.

Nick suddenly spun around, towards a nearby part of the city wall, where he could see a couple being harassed by a group of Heartless.

"Oh, wonderful," Maylin sighed. "When are these freaks going to learn that you do not interfere with the course of love?!"

"Um..." Nick quipped.

"Long story, Nick," Haruka giggled. "Let's get over there and help them out."

With that, the trinity summoned their keyblades with a flick of their wrists. Nick had summoned Starlight, Maylin had summoned Counterpoint, and Haruka had summoned Divine Rose.

It didn't take long for Nick to notice that the girls' keyblades looked quite different than they had the last time he'd seen them.

Divine Rose now sported a sky-blue handguard with rose vines present on it, with flowers appearing on the rainguard and bottom. The rose vine on the blade had also engulfed the blade, with four roses decorating the blade, with the rose on the teeth developing a second rose. The keychain was now also a rose vine, with a leaf on the rose flower.

Counterpoint now had a guard that was indigo with more starry features, a golden blade decorated with red, magenta, and aquamarine notes, the treble clef on the teeth fading from blue to magenta, and the star on its hat was now a sun.

"I see you noticed our upgraded keyblades," Maylin giggled.

"We know a really good smith who opened up a 'Keyblade Forge' for us so we can use any synthesis materials we find to upgrade our keyblades," Haruka explained. "We'll take you there once you've gotten some more keyblades."

The Heartless that were harassing the young couple noticed the trinity and floated over to attack. There were quite a few of them, resembling the old wizard-like enemies from so long ago.

One type was colored a bright pinkish-red and had a strange glyph behind it, the second type was colored aquatic blue and was surrounded by three spinning orbs of water, the third type was colored bright yellow and held an arcane-looking sigil behind it, and the fourth type was colored bright white and green and was surrounded by a small twister.

"Oh, fantastic, the mages came back," Maylin groaned. "And now they're propagating!"

"Okay, Nick, here's the lowdown," Haruka stated. She always told Nick about any Heartless they'd encountered that he hadn't, to bring him up to speed on what they were up against. "The red one is a Vermillion Samba, which is the fire guy. The blue one is a Marine Rumba, a water mage. The yellow one is a Gold Beat, a thunder artist. And the green one is a Malachite Bolero, a wind fighter. They're a good bit more powerful than the other 'mages', but these guys have one big weakness: they need to conjure up their sigils to perform their spells, so if you can interrupt them with a good 'ol keyblade to the face, they shouldn't be a problem."

"Sounds simple enough," Nick quipped, spinning Kingdom Key in his hands and charging forward to attack the Heartless.

Maylin and Haruka's combo strings had also changed since the last time Nick had seen them.

Maylin started with a horizontal slash to the right, then a downward slash, followed by a spinning slash started from the right side and finishing with a variant of her Magic Hour ability where she thrust Counterpoint to the sky and created two large orbs of magic that revolved around her for two seconds, shredding any Heartless that got close.

One of the Marine Rumbas tried to fly away from Maylin, but she quickly leapt after it and began another combo, consisting of a downward slash followed by two spinning strikes, one from the left and the next from the right, and finishing with a move that resembled Nick's old Magnet Burst finisher, spinning around to create a sphere of magnetic force that drew the Heartless around her in before exploding outwards, sending them flying.

Haruka started out with a quick, upward vertical slash, followed by a slower horizontal slash, then a dashing backflip slash that bumped her opponent into the air, and finishing with a short hop into a 360 degree spinning slash.

A Gold Beat tried to retreat in order to cast a spell, but Haruka simply followed it into the air and attacked it with an upward diagonal slash, then a dashing backflip slash, followed by a pirouette attack, and finishing with a powerful downward thrust that spiked the Gold Beat into the ground.

After about a minute of this relay, the Heartless had been defeated, leaving the couple to shout their thanks as they headed back into the city.

"Well, that wasn't so bad, huh?" Maylin giggled, turning back around to address Ruby, as she'd seen her during their fight...

...only for another Rock Troll to come crashing down right behind her.

"I never learn, do I?" Maylin groaned.

Nick noticed that many of the nearby citizens of Argus were beginning to panic, most likely thinking that a Grimm had invaded their city even if it didn't resemble any Grimm they knew.

"Don't worry, everyone!" Nick exclaimed to calm the crowd down. "We've got this one."

The Rock Troll began to stomp around the area, swinging its massive labrys much like the one Nick had encountered in Heatherfield. Nick swiftly raised the Kingdom Key to deflect the swings before leaping up to attack the Rock Troll's face a few times.

After hopping off of the labrys to dodge another swing and continue his combo, Nick suddenly noticed that the blade of Kingdom Key was glowing brightly.

Nick forced himself to return to the ground to avoid an overhead slash from the labrys so he could try out whatever this was.

"Hey, your keyblade's glowing for some reason," Maylin quipped.

"Whatever this is, I feel like it's gonna be incredibly useful," Nick stated, twirling Kingdom Key in his hands. "Formchange: Second Form!"

Nick's Kingdom Key changed slightly, its colors inverting like the one he'd been given by Aqua during their second visit to the Land of Departure, and his clothes returned to the black and silver ensemble that he'd worn during his entire second journey.

"Whoa! Okay, didn't know I could suddenly do that!" Nick shouted.

"Wait, didn't Strelitzia do this during your last duel?" Haruka asked. "She did exactly this and she got to use all of your moves!"

"Hey, maybe that's it!" Nick quipped, rushing over to attack the Rock Troll, using a Dodge Roll to avoid another labrys strike and confirming his theory that this form allowed him to access all of the abilities he had lost.

And sure enough, when Nick began to strike at the Rock Troll's face, his fighting style had become a mixture of many of the combat abilities he had learned on both journeys, including abilities like Slapshot, Vortex, and even the old reliable Sliding Dash.

While the Rock Troll attempted to recover from Nick's relentless barrage, Nick continued to ravage it with multiple combo finishers, starting with an Explosion, a revolving ring of five magical orbs, then a Stride Break, a short hop back followed by a powerful forward lunge, and then a Ripple Drive, where Nick swung Kingdom Key upwards and unleashed a large explosion of energy around him resembling a ruby-colored prism barrier.

Nick continued his attack by leaping into the air and using many of his aerial combat abilities like Aerial Dive, Air Spiral and Aerial Sweep, and then transitioned into another string of his classic combo finishers, starting with a Hurricane Period, a string of five somersaulting spin attacks, then an Aerial Finish, a rapid flurry of spiraling slashes around him, and finally a Magnet Splash, an updated version of his old Magnet Burst where Nick spun around to create a sphere of magnetic force that drew the Rock Troll towards him before exploding outwards alongside a ring of light orbs.

Deciding that now was the time to finish this, Nick segued into his special attacks, starting off with a Stun Impact, where he slammed his keyblade into the ground to project a bubble-shaped shockwave to stun the Rock Troll, followed by a Sonic Blade, where he lunged for the Rock Troll's face multiple times at high speeds, and ending with an Ars Arcanum, a savage flurry of wicked slashes ending with a spinning buzzsaw strike and an overhead slam that finally split the Rock Troll's faceplate in half and caused it to collapse onto its back before dissolving into little wisps of darkness.

"And that's how it's done," Nick proclaimed, his Formchange fading and returning him to his current outfit.

"THAT WAS AWESOME!" Ruby shouted as Teams RWBY and RNJR approached the trinity.

"It's good to see you guys still got the moves," Yang laughed.

"Naturally," Maylin giggled.

"I'm kinda starting from square one thanks to a cheap shot, but I'm getting by," Nick quipped.

Once everything was settled down, the entire group boarded a trolley to travel through the city.

"Honestly, Argus is a lot bigger than I thought it would be," Yang admitted.

"Argus is actually one of the largest non-capital cities on the planet," Ren explained.

"No way! That's so cool!" Ruby gasped.

"Wait a second, wouldn't it be really freakin' hard to settle such a place away from the main kingdom?" Haruka asked.

"Well, it honestly was until Mantle showed up," Jaune explained. "The early settlement attempts by Mistral... didn't go well, to say the least. But the colonists from Mantle helped them brave the cold climate and return for the goods that Solitas couldn't provide for them."

"The two nations worked together and created this hybrid city," Ren continued. "Even though it falls under Mistral domain, Atlas has a military presence here so they can keep the people safe and keep a steady trade between the two nations."

"Until recently..." Nora quipped.

"So, what have you all been up to?" Ruby asked. "It feels like it's been forever since we've seen you guys!"

"Well, we've been through a lot," Maylin answered. "I don't know how long it's been for you guys, but two years have passed for us since the end of our last adventure. Good news is, we became Keyblade Masters! The bad news... we kinda had to kill that evil future version of Nick's daughter. She really gave us no choice in the matter."

"I'm sure you did what you had to do," Blake replied. "That kind of decision is never easy."

"Then, we fought another big Heartless, but then Nick got side-swiped by a really powerful Demon Tide and lost most of his powers," Haruka continued. "And now we're on yet another adventure, this time to stop an ancient evil witch from forging what's basically the ultimate keyblade and wrecking everything."

"Do you have any idea what she needs to forge it?" Weiss wondered.

"We're not entirely sure, but we know she needs a bunch of pure hearts in order to make it, both of light and of darkness," Nick stated. "That's part of our task, to find these pure hearts and keep them from falling into the wrong hands."

"Hey, I just realized your sister's not here," Ruby quipped. "Is she doing okay?"

"Yeah, she's fine," Nick answered. "She's just got her own thing to do, apparently."

"Okay, so if we can ask, what's been happening with you guys since the last we saw each other?" Maylin wondered. "Considering Blake and Yang are back, well..."

Ruby took that opportunity to explain basically everything that had happened between the fight with the Nuckelavee and now, how the team had finally reunited in Haven and fought off Salem's faction at Haven Academy, even driving the White Fang away, to acquire one of the four sacred Relics brought forth by the brother gods.

There seemed to be something that Ruby was leaving out of the story, but the trinity most likely realized that the left-out part was probably a personal thing, and so they didn't press any further.

Once the storytelling was finished, the trolley slowed to a stop so everyone could hop off and make their way into the city.

"We should probably start looking for a ship," Blake stated.

"So, where have you guys been staying while we've been away?" Oscar asked.

Jaune could only chuckle nervously before being interrupted by a familiar voice.

"There you are!"

The trolley moved away to reveal a woman on the opposite side of the street. She was a young woman with wavy, dirty blond hair and blue eyes, wearing an orange top with a beige vest, light brown trousers with orange stitches on each side, and dark brown boots. In addition, she had a wedding ring on her left hand and a bootlace necklace around her neck.

She was carrying an infant with short black hair and brown eyes, wearing a white and blue long-sleeved shirt with denim overalls and white socks.

Yang blinked a couple times as the realization dawned on her. "Wait, is that...?"

"Hey, Saph," Jaune laughed, waving to Saphron. Ruby squealed happily, stars in her eyes once she made the connection herself.

"Ooh, I can't believe I get to meet your sister, Jaune!" Ruby giggled. The entire group had convened in the house so they could introduce Jaune's sister Saphron Cotta-Arc. "I have so many questions!"

"I can definitely give you the rundown later," Nora giggled.

"Oh, knock it off," Jaune groaned.

"Oh, come on, I love telling the stories of my baby brother," Saphron laughed, pinching Jaune's cheek.

"I am not a baby!" Jaune proclaimed, flailing his arms about, then pointing at Adrian, Saphron's son. "That is a baby."

Adrian didn't seem to take that well, huffing at Jaune even while Weiss and Yang were fawning over Adrian's overwhelming cuteness, making silly faces and baby talk at him.

"So, Saphron, I know Jaune has a lot of sisters," Haruka asked. "Are you the only Arc that lives here?"

Maylin glanced over towards a photo on the nearby bookshelf that depicted all of the Arc siblings, with Jaune himself at the center, sporting pigtails and a rather deadpan expression on his face. Jaune was holding a sign that read, simply, "HELP" in big bold letters, while his sisters did various crazy things around him.

"Yup! Moved out of there the second I was able to," Saphron answered. "Jaune and I are the only two of us that live away from home. I guess he just wanted to be like his big sister, eh?"

Jaune stuttered a few times in order to come up with an appropriate reply, and Saphron seemed to pick up on this.

"Aw, you didn't deny it, right?" Saphron laughed.

Jaune and Saphron continued to pretend fight with each other, pulling each others' cheeks, until the sound of the door opening yanked them from their antics.

Another young woman about Saphron's age was standing in the doorway carrying multiple bags of groceries. She had dark brown eyes and short, dark brown hair with a smooth bang going down her forehead and between her eyes, and was wearing a dark navy collar shirt with a light-blue cardigan, dark-gray jeans and red sneakers, along with red glasses and a wedding ring similar to Saphron's.

"Oh, everyone, this is my wife, Terra Cotta," Saphron proclaimed.

"Nice to meet you," Blake stated.

"Hey there!" Nora proclaimed.

"Likewise," Maylin replied.

"This is quite a party, huh?" Terra teased. "You definitely weren't kidding. Hey, honey, can I get some help with these, please?"

Saphron quickly hopped to her feet to assist her wife.

"Society's definitely come a long way, hasn't it?" Maylin stated.

"No kidding," Haruka answered.

"I seriously don't know why it took Heatherfield and their stupid government agents so long to realize it," Nick stated. "Love is love, right? It doesn't matter who it is."

"Right on the money, Nick," Maylin giggled, thinking back to certain moments from their previous adventures.

Later that night, Jaune, Nora, and Ren were making sandwiches for the group when the trinity returned from a short expedition to clear out some local Heartless from the area. After all, the Heartless seemed to be getting a lot more brazen in their attacks, no doubt due to the approaching darkness of the Dark Mother.

"And you're sure it's okay for us to stay here with you?" Weiss asked Saphron.

"Of course it is, Weiss," Saphron replied. "We're always happy to house Huntsmen and Huntresses here."

"You've all risked so much in order to keep us safe," Terra continued. "It's really the least we can do, especially for such an elite Huntsman like yourself, Qrow. Though, to be honest, I was surprised to learn that you had students helping you out. Is that... you know, legal?"

Apparently, Qrow wasn't paying attention, so Ruby had to bump his arm to get him to answer.

"Uh, of course," Qrow answered. "Just think of it as an extended training mission. Trust me, I was a professor. Even went to the same academy they did. And believe me, these kids are way better than we were at that age."

As Qrow continued to talk, Jaune, Ren and Nora re-entered the room carrying a plate of sandwiches. To no one's surprise, Ruby lit up significantly upon seeing the sandwiches, as it had been far too long since she'd had some actual food.

"Well, not better than me specifically, but a lot of students..." Qrow started, only to be interrupted by Ruby.

"Shush, there's food!" Ruby giggled, already biting into her sandwich.

Saphron and Terra gave each other amused glances, only for Terra's scroll to start buzzing.

Terra let out a slightly annoyed sigh, knowing who was probably calling her right now. "Excuse me for a second," Terra quipped before ducking out of the room to answer her scroll.

"Is everything all right?" Nick asked after taking a bite of his sandwich.

"It's nothing to worry about," Saphron answered. "Terra's a technician for the town's relay tower, but unfortunately, that's also where the military's radar system is."

Saphron looked down at Adrian and started making baby talk to him. "And guess what's been on the fritz lately and who's getting falsely blamed for it?"

Terra poked her head back out from behind the wall, stated "Me" in a deadpan tone, then ducked back behind the wall.

"Ah, you know the higher-ups," Haruka laughed, remembering the Imperial Capital and its wretched government. Hopefully Night Raid had been able to clean house since they'd been there. "Always looking for someone to blame so they don't take the blame themselves."

"So, what's your plan for tomorrow?" Saphron asked.

"Well, we're actually trying to get to Atlas," Ruby answered. "So, we'll probably start at the military base."

Ren and Nora gave each other a rather concerned look at that last.

"Okay, see, thing is, we already tried that, and... it didn't go super great, let's say," Jaune stammered.

"Hey, how hard can it be? Why don't we just try again in the morning?" Haruka replied.

Unknown to the group, a mysterious figure in a black coat could be seen watching them from a nearby window, alongside a man wearing a black blindfold over his eyes.

"You see, Adam? It is exactly as I have foreseen," the cloaked figure proclaimed. "Fate has indeed brought you here to enact your well-deserved revenge."

"But why can't I just slaughter them right now?" Adam Taurus shot back. "She's right there, and I plan to make her suffer."

"Patience, Adam," the cloaked figure reprimanded. "I know how you can go about it, and still get the revenge you deserve."

Adam simply glanced at the figure. "I'm listening."


"I'm telling you, this isn't gonna work," Jaune proclaimed as the group approached the Atlas military base. "I highly doubt they're going to listen to us a second time."

"There's no harm in trying, right?" Haruka quipped. "Maybe we'll accomplish something this time, maybe we won't. But we won't know unless we try."

"That's the spirit, girl!" Maylin laughed.

About halfway down the path that led to the base, Nick suddenly stopped in his tracks.

"Everything okay, Nick?" Maylin asked.

Nick instinctively summoned his keyblade, causing Maylin and Haruka to do the same as a pool of darkness appeared on the ground just ahead of them.

From that pool, a strange-looking Heartless pushed its way out and faced the trinity down. It resembled a witch with a metallic dress, but instead of legs, its bottom half was a large, pink crystal ball, a cluster of pink crystals was jutting out of its hat, and it was carrying a staff with a pink jewel in the center, surrounded by a five-pronged sunburst.

"Oh, lovely," Blake quipped.

"Incoming!" Maylin shouted.

The Jewel Sorceress went to work instantly, swinging its staff to create a barrier of pink jewels around it so it could cast a spell.

"Okay, any ideas?" Ruby shouted, unfolding Crescent Rose.

"I think we're gonna have to remove that barrier before we can get at the big cheese," Yang proclaimed, already thrusting her hands forward to fire shots from the Ember Celica at the crystal barrier, cracking it in places.

While this was happening, Weiss went on the attack, moving in close even as the Jewel Sorceress released the crystals on its head and caused them to fly straight for Weiss. The heiress simply swung Myrtenaster and created a glyph that blocked the crystals, giving Nick the time he needed to leap over Weiss and fire his newly-gifted Thunder spell straight into the Jewel Sorceress' face, sending the large Heartless reeling.

"Maylin, give me a boost!" Nick shouted, and Maylin came running towards him. Nick leaped backwards into Maylin's arms, and the mage immediately tossed him into the air, high enough so he was face to face with the Jewel Sorceress.

Nick didn't waste any time, lashing out with an upward swipe, a spinning hook slash, a diagonal downward strike, and finishing with a spiral somersault attack very reminiscent of his old Hurricane Period finisher. When he fell back to the ground, Nick swung the Kingdom Key around him, shattering a couple parts of the crystal barrier and leaving a wide gap for the rest of the group to start attacking.

"Watch this," Nora giggled, unfolding Magnhild and charging in through the gap in the barrier Nick had made. "I'm gonna break your non-existent legs, jewel thief!"

The Jewel Sorceress slashed twice with its staff, but Nora deftly dodged each swing before swinging Magnhild out to smash it into the crystal ball, cracking it in a few places, before beginning to spin with her hammer extended to attack the crystal ball over and over. Nora finally finished her attack bringing Magnhild down in a vicious overhead swing, shattering the crystal ball and bringing the Jewel Sorceress to its knees, its barrier shattering in the process.

"Pour it on!" Nora shouted.

This was all Maylin needed to hear, dashing forward to attack the Jewel Sorceress while it was vulnerable, eventually blasting it back with a Magic Hour. Before she could fire a spell into its face, however, the Jewel Sorceress' crystal ball underside reformed and it created another barrier around itself.

Haruka slipped in while the Jewel Sorceress was distracted by casting another spell to slam Divine Rose into the ground to unleash a Tremor, in which a massive shockwave erupted from the point where Divine Rose hit the ground and created a small upheaval underneath the Jewel Sorceress.

Ruby lunged forward as the Jewel Sorceress fell to the ground, giving her the time to unleash her Petal Burst attack, where she spun into a small tornado of red roses and shot forward to drill through the body of the Jewel Sorceress, coming out on the other side of the crystal barrier.

"Um, we might have a problem here," Blake shouted, firing Gambol Shroud at the Jewel Sorceress' face as it picked itself up. "This thing just doesn't want to die!"

As Nick leaped away to avoid another barrage of sharp crystals fired from the Jewel Sorceress' staff, he felt something rustle around in his pocket. Reaching in to retrieve it, he saw that it was the Heartbinder that Himerish had granted him.

"Huh, almost forgot about this thing," Nick quipped. "I guess now would be a good time to use it."

Nick clutched the Coil Heartbinder to his chest, the charm radiating emerald electricity around him.

"Give me strength!" Nick proclaimed, focusing his power into the Coil Heartbinder.

("Genesis" by Stereo Dive Foundation plays)

A green circle of light formed on the ground in front of him, resembling something Nick was pretty sure he'd seen before.

The circle pulsed a couple times before someone leaped out of it, and now Nick knew where he'd seen that symbol before, because he recognized his new ally.

It was Mira Yurizaki, an android girl from the world of Tower 47 who had been created by her "father", Shido Yurizaki. Shido had discovered Dimension W, a fourth dimension axis that allowed the world to enjoy infinite energy as they'd always dreamed, only for him to be betrayed by New Tesla and forced to destroy himself with a strange device. Mira worked alongside her partner Kyoma Mabuchi to "recover" illegal Coils and hopefully find out what secrets New Tesla was hiding.

The only difference was that Mira's entire body was sparking with dimensional energy, no doubt due to the influence of the Heartbinder.

And it seemed Mira still recognized Nick, as she smiled brightly before throwing herself at Nick, hugging him tightly.

Nick had developed quite the crush on Mira during their adventure in Tower 47, relentlessly protecting her from the anti-Coil Kyoma and keeping her safe when they stormed the museum.

Mira spun around before shifting into a battle stance alongside Nick, who quickly noticed that his keyblade had transformed into World System, the keyblade that Mira had given him the keychain for.

Maybe some Heartbinders, if they summon allies I've already met, allow me to use the keyblades I got from that world while they're being summoned, Nick thought, as he was sure he'd lost that keyblade along with most of his others when he'd been blindsided by the Demon Tide.

Deciding to shake those thoughts off for now, Nick and Mira prepared themselves as the Jewel Sorceress began to levitate its crystal barrier as a revolving ring of crystal spikes around itself.

"Look out!" Ruby shouted as the Jewel Sorceress fired off three of those large crystal spikes. Nick simply raised World System to block the attack, only for Mira to raise her hands and create a spherical barrier of green light around the both of them, stopping the spikes cold.

"Oh, you're in trouble now," Nick taunted, leaping forward to attack the Jewel Sorceress, only to see that his keyblade was now surrounded by a bright green energy blade, extending its reach at least three-fold. And, as Nick continued to hack away at the Jewel Sorceress, he noticed that the dimensional blade was increasing the power of his hits as well.

The Jewel Sorceress created a wall of crystals in front of Nick, only for Mira to grab hold of him and send them warping forward. The two of them briefly phased out of existence, only to reappear on the other side of the wall.

Nick continued to attack with his enhanced keyblade until it began to glow, which most likely meant it was time for the finale.

"Let's end this," Nick proclaimed.

"Ready when you are!" Mira responded.

Nick and Mira jumped to both sides of the stunned Jewel Sorceress and raised their hands. A large ring of energy shaped like Mira's particular Coil formed underneath the Jewel Sorceress.

"Dimension W, Resonance Activate!" Nick and Mira shouted at the same time. The ring underneath the Jewel Sorceress unleashed a massive column of emerald energy upwards that ravaged the Jewel Sorceress while dragging it into the air.

When the eruption finally ended and the Jewel Sorceress fell back down to the ground, it was so badly damaged that Nick only needed one more strike to finish it off. The Jewel Sorceress fell flat on its face and dropped its staff, the crystal within shattering as it dissolved into wisps of darkness that quickly evaporated.

"There, one annoying Heartless toasted," Nick laughed as Mira walked up and kissed him on the cheek before fading away, her spirit returning to the Coil Heartbinder. World System reverted back to the Kingdom Key.

"Once again, I must reiterate," Ruby quipped. "THAT WAS AWESOME! I've never seen you do something like that before!"

"I guess we never really brought out our summons whenever we were here," Maylin stated.

"Wait, summons?" Yang asked. "There's literally people inside of those charm things?"

"Well, sort of," Nick explained. "These charms that I find usually contained the soul of someone whose world was lost to the darkness, but their hearts were strong enough to survive as either a summon gem or a summon charm that I can channel my power into to summon them to fight by my side. These Heartbinders are probably different, considering this one summoned someone I know is still around."

"Oh, you feeble-minded fool. Still playing with powers you have no hope of comprehending?"

Nick re-summoned the Kingdom Key to his hands to face down this new threat, only to find another black-cloaked figure standing where the Jewel Sorceress had just been.

Before Nick or the others could make a snappy comment, Nick caught a sight of the weapon the cloaked figure was wielding.

It was a keyblade. Moreover, it was a keyblade that Nick recognized.

Darkgnaw, the keyblade that had once been wielded by...

"N-No way," Maylin stuttered. "There's no freaking way that you can still be..."

"I would suggest looking with your eyes before letting your heart take over," the figure remarked before raising her hand to drop her hood.

"W-wait, is that...?" Ruby asked.

The figure in question looked like Marie, but a few years older and with red eyes instead of silver.

"What... the hell... are you doing back here, you monster?!" Nick growled slowly as he faced down Mariko Kusumi, one of three avatars of the ancient deity Izanami-no-Mikoto. The very same Mariko Kusumi who was supposed to be dead and gone after being forcibly separated from her other avatars and destroyed by the light of Kingdom Hearts.

"The particulars are none of your business," Mariko proclaimed. "Just know that I am here to finish what I started three years ago."

"How the flying frack are you still alive, you heartless bitch?!" Maylin shouted, aiming Counterpoint for Mariko. "Didn't Kingdom Hearts freakin' annihilate you?!"

"You can count your lucky stars that I'm not here to fight you," Mariko laughed. "I'm merely passing through to give you all a warning of what is to come. It really doesn't matter what you do. The χ-blade will be forged, despite all of your attempts to stop it."

"Oh? And what makes you say that?" Haruka shot back, brandishing Divine Rose. "Remember, you were constantly bragging about how all-powerful you were, and we still scuttled your plans even after you became Izanami-no-Mikoto. You seriously think you have some unbeatable fail-safe in place to stop us from taking you down again? Because we've knocked down every single 'fail-safe' that villains like you have promised."

"Oh, it isn't some 'plan', little brat. This is merely destiny," Mariko cackled.

"Wait, what do you mean by 'destiny'?" Blake asked, drawing Gambol Shroud.

"Don't you start with me, you bitch!" Nick growled, charging forward to attack Mariko, only for her to vanish completely before Nick could get close enough to strike.

"Of course you would, you freaking coward..." Nick sighed.

"Okay, since I think I need to ask," Ruby quipped. "How the heck is she still alive?! I was there when that giant door of light thing blew her to little bitty bits!"

"That's the real mystery here, Ruby," Haruka answered.

"You think she's time traveling or something?" Maylin wondered. "That's how that other Lily pulled her own plan off..."

"I don't care how she's doing it," Nick growled. "I'm not letting that freak show walk all over us again..."

"How about we let it be for the moment?" Weiss answered. "I'm sure you can take her down again. After all, you're all so much stronger than you were three years ago."

Nick couldn't help but smile as the entire group approached the gateway to the Atlas military base, only for the gates to almost immediately close on them before they could get any closer.

"Come on, you guys, you didn't even bother hearing us out!" Yang shouted, grabbing two of the bars.

Two guards marched up to the gate in unison. "Our orders are clear!" Guard 1 proclaimed. "The Mistral-Atlas border is closed."

"So, please have a good day," Guard 2 proclaimed.

"But..." Yang started.

"A good day!" both guards exclaimed.

"Well, nuts," Maylin groaned.

"Hey, if you don't wanna believe that I'm actually friends with Ironwood..." Qrow started.

"General Ironwood!" both guards proclaimed.

"Okay, okay, General Ironwood, that's fine," Qrow retorted. "Listen, we've got Weiss Schnee with us, and we're trying to get her safely back home."

That got the guards' attention, though they didn't notice Weiss' reluctant look upon hearing Qrow say that. Ruby stepped over and put her hand on Weiss' shoulder to calm her down.

"Approach," both guards stated. Weiss did so, allowing the guards to inspect her, most likely to make sure she was the real deal.

"Either one of them tries anything remotely pervy and they're getting a keyblade to the face," Maylin muttered under her breath.

Haruka giggled to herself, knowing exactly who Maylin was referring to.

After a couple seconds, the guards stood back at attention.

"Very well, you may speak with our commanding officer," Guard 1 proclaimed.

"We will fetch her posthaste!" Guard 2 proclaimed.

The two guards turned around and walked back into the base to inform said commanding officer.

"They were... kind of..." Blake sighed.

"Super weird?" Maylin quipped. "You're telling me."

"Hmmm..." Maria Calavera hummed.

"What's up?" Nick asked.

"Well, now that I think of it, I may know this commanding officer," Maria admitted.

"That's a good thing, right?" Ruby wondered. "If she's a friend of yours, maybe she'll be more willing to help us out."

"Well, I wouldn't exactly call us friends," Maria admitted. "More like... enemies, really."

"Wait, what?" Oscar gasped.

"Yeah, I come through here about once every ten years to get my eyes checked out in Atlas," Maria explained, gesturing to her cybernetic eyes. "Seriously, you bring cashews, cashews, onto one flight, and you're stuck on the 'additional screening' list for the rest of your life!"

"Please tell me you're kidding," Qrow groaned.

"Come on, let's not give up hope," Maria teased. "Maybe she's kicked the bucket!"

Sadly, Maria's hopes were dashed when the gates reopened and the two guards returned, a short-statured elderly woman standing behind them.

"Introducing special operative Caroline Cordovin!" the guards exclaimed.

Maria and Cordovin stared each other down, hoping that either one would either leave or drop dead.

"Witch," Cordovin growled.

"She-devil," Maria shot back.

"Oh, this is gonna be good," Nick quipped.

"I see you've chosen much larger contraband to smuggle this time, eh?" Cordovin laughed.

"Oh, Cordo, you know they say that time can change people, but I see you've definitely still got that stick right up your..." Maria retorted only to be interrupted by Ruby.

"Um, hello, M-Miss Cordovin," Ruby started. "My name is Ruby Rose, and I wanted to know if you'll hear us out about..."

"Sorry, Miss Rose, but I've already heard that story from your other little friends," Cordovin responded before glaring at Nora, Jaune, and Ren. "Speaking of which, why are you back here? Didn't I tell you to leave?!"

"And I told you that we're not going to rest until you let us through!" Nora shouted, being held back from rushing by Jaune and Ren.

"You puny civilians are unable to comprehend the importance of our mission here in Argus, so allow me to explain slowly, with small words, so you simpletons can understand," Cordovin proclaimed, pointedly choosing to ignore Maylin's twitching hand. "This base, that relay tower, and the very safety of Argus are all precious gifts from the glorious kingdom of Atlas! And is my duty to protect those gifts, as I am the only one with the wit and tenacity for such a difficult task."

"Such wit!" Guard 1 exclaimed.

"Such tenacity!" Guard 2 proclaimed.

"This is creeping me out," Maylin sighed.

"Or maybe Atlas just wanted you as far away from them as possible," Maria taunted. She was clearly having fun pushing Cordovin's buttons.

"You're exactly like the rest of these Argus ingrates!" Cordovin shouted. "This city wouldn't even exist without our Atlesian ancestors, and what do we get in return?! The entire world putting a knife to our throats!"

"Hey, stop acting like everyone's blaming you for the Fall of Beacon," Maylin shot back.

"We know your kingdom had nothing to do with it," Ruby responded. "We were there, after all."

"No one's happy about the borders or the embargo, but I know General Ironwood is just worried that it could happen again," Weiss continued.

"The general is no coward!" Cordovin exclaimed. "Atlas is strong. If all of the kingdoms intend to make us their enemy, then so be it! Atlas will prevail!"

"Atlas will prevail!" both guards exclaimed.

"Is that seriously necessary?" Haruka groaned.

"Either way," Cordovin proclaimed. "If Miss Schnee has come to her senses and wishes to return to her family, then the Atlas military will escort her home. However, Atlas will not be responsible for her 'friends' of... questionable character."

Cordovin had glanced in Blake's direction on that last line, and that finally forced Maylin into action, summoning Counterpoint and aiming it straight for Cordovin.

"What was that crack supposed to mean, you old bag?" Maylin growled.

"It means we're done here," Cordovin stated as the gates once again closed, leaving the entire group outside.

"Well... your face looks like a big, dumb boot!" Nora shouted.

"Way to show 'em, Nora," Nick sighed.

"I... I don't..." Weiss started, only for Ruby to step over and hug her tightly.

"Weiss, remember what I said to you?" Ruby stated. "We're not going to leave your side for even a second. We'll get to Atlas one way or another. Together."

Weiss just nodded, kissing Ruby on the cheek and causing the reaper to blush.

"Okay, not to break up the happy lovey-dovey stuff, but what's the plan now?" Maylin asked, letting Counterpoint vanish for the moment.

"What plan?" Qrow growled. "Our plan just got shut on our face three times over. I'm going for a drink."

"Wait, Uncle Qrow, I really think we should come up with something... together," Ruby stated, only to trail off when Qrow simply walked away, ignoring everything Ruby had just said.

"Seriously, what's his beef?" Haruka wondered. "It's not our fault we couldn't get through."

"Yeah, if he's gonna be a big ol' jerky face, then we can just make a new plan without him," Nora quipped. "After all, we've got Ozpin with us! He usually knows what to do, right?"

At the mention of the former headmaster of Beacon, Oscar looked down with a sad expression, and Weiss shared troubled looks with Blake and Yang.

"What is it?" Ren wondered.

The trinity slowly tensed up at this, knowing that this was most likely the one thing that Team RWBY had left out of their explanation of what had transpired since their last visit to Remnant.

"Why do I get this feeling that we're not gonna like what we're about to hear?" Nick asked nobody in particular.

And Nick's suspicions were right on the money, as after Team RWBY had finished explaining what Jinn had told them about the history of Ozpin and Salem back at Saphron's house, Jaune responded by punching a nearby wall, leaving a rather large crack in it.

"Everything we did was for nothing!" Jaune growled.

"That's not true, Jaune," Blake responded.

"Really? Because it sure sounds like it," Nora sighed, lacking her usual energy.

"If Salem can't be killed, then how are we supposed to fight back?" Ren asked. Complete silence met him.

"Wow, great freakin' plan, you guys," Jaune proclaimed.

"Hold on a second, didn't Jinn say 'you can't' when Ozpin asked how to defeat Salem?" Haruka replied. "Maybe she was just saying that Ozpin himself couldn't permanently get rid of her."

"Yeah, think about all these nutballs and whackjobs that have been after Ruby," Maylin continued. "Maybe her silver eyes could be the key, and that's why they're all after her."

"Look, I know that none of this is great, but we're not the bad guys here," Oscar stated.

Jaune spun around and glared at Oscar, causing Oscar to take a step back from the unbridled hostility Jaune was exuding.

"Are we sure about that?" Jaune replied. "He's in your head, isn't he? Did you already know all of this?!"

"Jaune, he had no idea!" Weiss shouted, though Jaune ignored her and reached out to grab Oscar by his shirt collar and smash him into the wall he'd just punched.

"How much longer can we even trust you?!" Jaune screamed. "How do we even know you're actually you right now?! What if we've been talking to that damn liar this whole time?!"

"Jaune, stop it!" Ruby exclaimed.

Jaune raised his free hand back, clenching it into a fist. "ANSWER ME, GODDAMN YOU!"

Jaune lashed out to punch Oscar in the face, only for Nick to summon his keyblade and swing it downward to knock Jaune's fist away just in time. Letting go of Oscar, Jaune glared towards the group, only to see that Nick, Maylin, and Haruka were all pointing their keyblades straight for him.

"Knock it the hell off, Jaune," Nick proclaimed. "Oscar had nothing to do with any of this."

"He's just as upset as everyone else was," Haruka continued. "You really think he asked for this?"

"And consider the pressure Oscar's under, having one of the most legendary people on Remnant basically living in his head," Maylin stated. "We don't need you adding to that pressure by trying to slug him for something that's Ozpin's fault, not Oscar's."

Jaune glanced back at Oscar, who was cowering in fear, and that was all it took for Jaune's anger to immediately dissolve. Muttering a muffled apology, Jaune quickly made his way upstairs to his room, slamming the door shut behind him.

"Is he gonna be okay?" Yang asked.

"I think it'd be for the best if we had some time to ourselves," Ren sighed, and the rest of Team RNJR departed for their rooms, leaving Team RWBY, Oscar, and the trinity in the room.

"He's got a point, you know," Nick stated. "We probably just need some time to clear our heads, so we can think of something to do without getting overwhelmed by all this nonsense."

"W-wait, what are you guys gonna do?" Ruby asked.

Nick slung the Kingdom Key on his shoulder. "Well... what we do best, Ruby, smashing some Heartless," Nick answered.

"Did you... did any of you ever feel like you just wanted to give up?" Blake asked. "Like... you felt it was hopeless?"

"Yes, I have," Nick answered instantly. He knew just the moment that represented Blake's query.

Nick's first visit to the Blue Sky Kingdom, when Marie was still being manipulated by the villain's council. It had only taken a few seconds for Marie to defeat Haruka and Maylin, destroying all of their keyblades in the process.

"How did you make it through, then?" Oscar asked.

At that question, Nick couldn't help but smile. "Because I have some of the greatest friends I've ever had the privilege of calling my friends," Nick answered. "When I was at my lowest, thinking that I couldn't go any further because I lost the weapon I'd used to get that far, when I lost my two best friends to my own sister, my actual summons at the time came out to encourage me and get me back on my feet."

"It's like the Oracle said, Nick, you've got a natural gift for connecting with others," Maylin stated. "And sometimes, we wanna pay back that connection."

"We'll be back in, oh, say, fifteen minutes or so," Haruka stated. "We're just gonna do a loop around the city and whack some Heartless."

With that, the trinity departed, leaving Team RWBY alone with their thoughts.

Ruby turned towards the door to the backyard, hoping to get in contact with Qrow. Seriously, what was his deal?


Nick leapfrogged off of Maylin's shoulders to achieve the required height to slash at an Air Soldier that was trying to be tricky, while Maylin threw spells out to strike the Jewel Princesses, basically much smaller versions of the Jewel Sorceress they had fought earlier in the day but without the staff.

"Yeah, suck my magic, skirt chasers!" Maylin laughed, blasting another Jewel Princess with a Thundaga from above.

"Maylin, we've got Nobodies incoming!" Haruka shouted as a group of Dusks came slithering towards them, flanked by a seemingly new type of Nobody that resembled one of those large statues seen outside famous places, with thick, tree trunk-like legs and feet and tiny arms topped off with what appeared to be parts of a large shield.

"Okay, what's the new kid in town gonna do?" Nick quipped after slicing another Jewel Princess in half and turning to face the Nobodies.

As Maylin proceeded to chop through the Dusks as they leaped towards her, the new Nobody, the Sentinel, stood its ground and placed its hands together, uniting its shield pieces to create a shield in front of itself. Maylin swung Counterpoint towards the shield, hoping to break it quickly, only for her keyblade to bounce off harmlessly. The three Sentinels marched into a wall formation, their shields up.

"Okay, now you're just annoying me," Maylin quipped, moving to flank them from behind, only for the Sentinels to turn around with Maylin, preventing her from reaching their vulnerable behinds. "Oh, come on with this bunk!"

"It seems like we've either gotta get behind them real quick-like, or we've gotta use stronger attacks to break their shields," Nick noted. "And I think I've got just the thing, too. Formchange: Second Form!"

Once Nick had Formchanged, he ran towards the Sentinel and attacked. As expected, his normal swings merely bounced off of the shields, but when he attacked with an Explosion, the blast penetrated the shield, forcing it apart and leaving the Sentinel's body wide open for Nick to lunge forward with a Stride Break and destroy it.

"There we go!" Nick shouted.

Haruka steadied herself as another pair of Sentinels approached her, wiggling their shields as if daring her to approach.

"Yeah, I don't think so, boys," Haruka quipped, the blade of Divine Rose beginning to glow with a violet hue. "Formchange: Rose Whip!"

Haruka swung Divine Rose around her until it transformed into a long whip resembling a rose stem, complete with thorns lining the whip, and a fully-bloomed rose at the end.

"Dance for me!" Haruka laughed, lashing out with the whip in a way that reminded Maylin of Iris Heart. The Rose Whip cracked out and struck the shields, actually doing damage to them in the process. This emboldened Haruka to continue lashing out with the Rose Whip in large, spiraling strikes before taking a step back, then lunging forward with a thousand lashes-style combo finisher that broke the shields of the Sentinels, leaving them defenseless.

Maylin acted quickly while the Sentinels were distracted, getting in close and sending them skyward with a Magic Hour so Nick could finish them off with a jumping spin attack.

"And that's the end of them," Haruka giggled, releasing her Formchange.

"I kinda wished there were more of them, honestly," Maylin admitted. "I wanted to come up with a cool Formchange and smack them silly!"

"On to the more important question," Nick stated. "Why are there Nobodies still running around? I thought Organization XIII had been controlling them, and we wrecked every single one of those hoods."

"Guess they're more of an independent now," Haruka answered. "And at least it seems like there's a lot less of them compared to the Heartless right now."

"That's a good thing," Maylin quipped as the trinity began to walk down the nearby street. "We've already got enough on our plates dealing with the Heartless."

Haruka glanced towards the nearby park they were passing by when they noticed Nora and Ren walking up to Jaune, holding hot drinks in their hands. Haruka looked up, towards whatever Jaune was standing in front of, and gasped when she realized it was a statue of Pyrrha Nikos, a member of Team JNPR who had perished by Cinder's hand during the Battle of Beacon.

"Jaune, hey, why did you..." Nora started, only to gasp in shock when she and Ren noticed the statue as well.

"I'm... I'm really sorry, you guys. I've been such a terrible leader and friend... I just..." Jaune stated, but his friends weren't having any of that.

"Jaune, you need to stop beating yourself up," Ren proclaimed.

"We know what you said to Cinder, back at Haven," Nora continued, leaning over to hug Jaune. "You're just not being fair to yourself, that's all. We love you, just like we loved Pyrrha. We're teammates, heck, we're more than teammates, we're practically family by now."

"We just don't want to lose you, too," Ren admitted. "We don't want to lose anyone else."

Jaune looked back up at Pyrrha's statue, pondering the words of his friend as he did so.

"I think... she probably knew she wasn't going to win," Jaune admitted. "That she probably wouldn't walk away from that fight with her life. But... I think she also knew that she was the only one who could try."

"So she did," Ren answered.

"And maybe we should, too," Nora stated. "Pyrrha may not be by our side anymore, but we're going to fight like she is."

"I'm sure she will be, in some strange way," Jaune replied.

"We should probably check in at the house," Ren stated.

The trio turned around to return to Saphron's house, only to notice the trinity standing there.

"Um... how long have you three been standing there?" Nora asked.

"A couple minutes," Maylin answered. "We didn't want to intrude on the moment."

"Honestly, we feel really bad that we weren't there to help," Haruka stated. "We really felt like we could have changed the tide of that fight if we'd been there..."

"Hey, we know you can't always be to every single world you've been to," Ren answered. "Such is the life of world travelers like yourselves, right?"

"I guess all we can do now is keep on fighting until we can finally bring Cinder down for what she did," Nick stated.

"Hey, how about we get back to Saphron's house before we all catch a cold?" Jaune asked.

"Good idea," Maylin replied.


Ruby could only sigh in annoyance at the sight before her.

"I've never seen him this bad," Yang groaned. Ruby could only sigh in disappointment at the sight of a passed out Qrow flopped on the stairs of a random house.

"Come on, let's just get him up," Ruby groaned as she and Yang grabbed Qrow's arms so they could haul him to his feet.

"Ugh..." Qrow groans, rubbing his eyes. "Wait, why am I on the stairs?"

"Probably because no one's home, Uncle Qrow," Ruby quipped. "We've been out practically all night looking for Oscar."

"Wait, Oscar?" Qrow wondered.

At the sounds of footsteps, Ruby looked behind them to see Jaune, Nora and Ren approaching them, with Nick, Maylin, and Haruka following closely behind them. Flanking the two groups were Saphron and Terra, with Terra holding Adrian.

"I'm sure this would look great to the neighbors," Terra sarcastically quipped, only for Saphron to lightly jab her with her elbow.

"Any luck?" Ren asked.

"Not here," Blake responded. "How about you?"

"Don't worry, we're not going to Atlas without him," Jaune proclaimed.

"We?" Ruby repeated, to which Nora, Jaune, and Ren smiled at each other.

Jaune looked over at Saphron, a confident smirk on his face. "Sorry we're not gonna be staying," Jaune stated.

"Oh, you're not sorry," Saphron teased.

"Come on, let's get out of the cold," Terra responded.

"Wait, what's going on here?" Nick asked. "I think we skipped a few chapters."

As if answering Nick's question, the door to Saphron's house opened up, and everyone gasped in shock when they saw who had opened the door.

"I was wondering when you'd get back, you guys," Oscar stated, now wearing a fancy green coat over his usual outfit.

The trinity wisely stepped to the side as the seven students screamed in joy before literally lunging forward to tackle hug Oscar back into the house.

"Good thing we stepped aside, huh?" Nick quipped. "I can't begin to count all the times you tackled me, Maylin."

Maylin just giggled as the trinity followed their friends into the house.

"You had us worried sick, Oscar!" Weiss exclaimed.

"Are you doing okay?" Ruby asked.

"And what are you wearing?" Nora asked with a big grin.

Terra smelled something delicious, glancing towards the kitchen. "Oh, is something cooking?" Terra asked.

"Um, yeah it is," Oscar answered. "I figured you guys would appreciate a nice, hot meal after spending all day... looking for me, apparently."

Jaune figured it was up to him to get the ball rolling. "Honestly, it's my fault we were out there looking for you," Jaune sighed. "Oscar, I am so sorry for what I said and... what I almost did. What I said was way out of line, and..."

"Don't worry about it," Oscar replied. "To be frank, I've been scared of pretty much the same things you all have been these past few days. I don't know how much longer I'm going to be me, but... I did some thinking, and I do know that I want to do whatever I can to help you all with whatever time I have left."

"That's good," Jaune admitted. "This team just isn't the same without you, Oscar."

Everyone smiled at the exchange, until Ruby caught a glimpse of Qrow walking up the nearby stairs. "Where are you going now?" Ruby proclaimed, sounding like she was done with Qrow's nonsense.

"Don't want to rain on your celebration," Qrow groaned.

"Look, you've been gone all day," Ruby shot back. "Why don't you just sit with us?"

Qrow just sighed before turning around again. "Look, Ruby, I'm glad that you kids worked out... whatever that crap was," Qrow answered. "But the truth of the matter is, we're not any closer to Atlas than we were yesterday."

"Actually, I might have an idea," Jaune admitted. "But it's kind of a... 'no turning back' sort of idea."

"Let's hear it," Ruby quipped.

"Well, with Cordovin on watch, only Atlas airships would have the clearance to leave for Solitas," Jaune explained. "So... we... um... steal an Atlas airship."

Naturally, most of the group was shocked by Jaune's brazen suggestion.

"That's not just breaking the law," Weiss stated. "That's definitely worse."

"How would we even get onto the airfield?" Yang asked.

"Um, I haven't figured that part out just yet," Jaune laughed.

"Hey, we really don't have many sensible alternatives, do we?" Maylin replied. "After all, desperate times call for desperate measures, don't they?"

"Okay, you know what? All of you need to stop!" Qrow growled. "If this thing goes south, we're not going to be able to just fight our way out of it. This is the freaking Atlas military we're talking about. For all of your sakes, just drop this dumb plan, all right?"

"I want to hear him out," Ruby shot back.

"Ruby, listen..."

"I WANT TO HEAR HIM OUT," Ruby near-shouted, shocking Qrow into complete silence. "I understand that you're trying to protect us, that you're worried we can't pull it off, but frankly, right now, I don't really care what you think. Just because you don't have any ideas, doesn't mean we're out of options! Ozpin hasn't been here to guide us, but we've still made it this far anyway! We've been in all kinds of trouble before, but we didn't need an adult to save us or tell us what we had to do. We just did it our way! And I say we do it our way. And if you think you can keep up with us 'kids'... we'd be happy to have you."

Maria couldn't help but laugh. "Looks like you didn't give her enough credit, either," Maria stated.

"All right, what's the plan, guys?" Nick proclaimed. "Looks like it's time for a heist."

"Ooh, this is the best part of the heist movies, the actual heist itself!" Maylin giggled. "Oh, I can't wait!"


The next day, the group had returned to the Atlas military base to enact their plan. Weiss could be seen walking alongside Cordovin and Saphron (once again holding Adrian), dragging a large luggage case behind her while being escorted by the two guards.

"I was relieved to hear that you came to your senses, Miss Schnee," Cordovin proclaimed. "Many of us here in Atlas were devastated when we heard you would be attending... Beacon Academy."

The disdainful way that Cordovin had mentioned Beacon Academy nearly made Maylin jump out of her hiding spot and zap Cordovin with a Thunder spell.

"Knowing that you'll be coming back home to Atlas just warms my old heart," Cordovin gasped dramatically.

"Could she be any more of an old ham?" Maylin quipped from her hiding spot.

"Shush, Maylin, we don't want to be discovered just yet," Haruka answered.

"I guess I figured... it was just time to get my act together, return to my roots," Weiss answered, hoping Cordovin couldn't hear the mixture of annoyed and frustrated in her voice.

"Oh, I can't wait to see you following in your sister's footsteps," Cordovin proclaimed. "I'm going to send two of my best guards to escort you home personally. Make sure that General Ironwood hearts that last part."

With a not-so-subtle wink, Cordovin walked away, leaving the two Nubuck guards to assist Weiss.

"Okay, Haruka, remind me again why we're here instead of with the others?" Maylin asked while watching the guards try to heave Weiss' rather heavy luggage.

"We're making sure that nothing goes wrong on this end thanks to the Heartless," Haruka responded. "I'm sure Nick can handle himself with the others. He's never steered us wrong before, has he?"

As Maylin and Haruka watched Saphron and Adrian create a distraction to get the guards off of Weiss' back, Maylin realized something.

"Hey, as long as we're here, why don't we see if we can find any of those pure hearts that the Oracle mentioned?" Maylin asked.

"Yeah, I never thought of that until now," Haruka quipped. "We have no idea where these pure hearts that Meter needs are."

"That was close," Weiss sighed before getting a call on her earpiece from Ruby.

"Is everything okay up there?" Ruby's voice asked.

"Call me heavy, you stupid..." Maria's voice resounded from within the suitcase. "That's all muscle! Just let me at 'em, I'll show them a thing or two about heavy..."

"We made it on board, Ruby," Weiss answered.

While all of this was transpiring, Ruby, Jaune, Nora, Ren, Oscar, Qrow, and Nick were waiting out by the cliffside that separated the forest from the ocean.

"All right, we're gonna start watching our scrolls," Ruby stated to the rest of the group. "The instant Weiss is our of the comm tower's range, that also means she out of the radar's range."

"And that's where Blake steps in," Yang quipped to her scroll. She and Blake were driving the Bumblebee towards the radar array tower. "We're almost to the drop off point."

"Remember two things, okay?" Terra's voice resounded on Yang's scroll. "The radar box is separate from the rest of the communications equipment, so if you disconnect it the right way like I told you, it won't take out comms for the whole city. And second, this conversation never happened, got it?"

"Don't worry, this isn't the first time I've disabled Atlas security," Blake laughed, even though Terra didn't look amused.

Once the Bumblebee had parked at the specified point, Blake immediately hopped off.

"Are you sure I shouldn't come with you?" Yang asked. "I have no idea what may be lurking out there."

"More intruders means we're more likely to be spotted," Blake answered. "Besides, stealth isn't exactly your strong suit..."

Blake stuttered under the glare Yang was giving her. "I-I mean, you're still great, and I'll hurry back, and..."

Yang, in response, just smiled as she leaned over to hug Blake. "Just go, silly," Yang teased.

Blake smiled back at Yang before dashing into the forest.

"I'm heading in on foot," Blake stated into her scroll. "This shouldn't take too long."

"Yes! The plan's working!" Jaune exclaimed, only to settle down when he noticed Nora and Ren giving him funny looks. He cleared his throat before continuing. "I-I mean, um... roger that."

Nora and Ren just rolled their eyes at their leader's silliness. Nick watched with amusement, his right hand out just in case he needed to summon his keyblade.

After a few minutes, Ruby looked up to the group when she saw Weiss' signal vanish from her scroll.

"All right, you guys, this is it," Ruby proclaimed before tapping her earpiece. "Blake, it's showtime."

No response came.

"Blake? Can you read me?" Ruby asked, starting to grow concerned. "Yang, what's going on?"

"Not sure," Yang answered, glancing towards the relay tower, then back to her scroll, only to see Weiss' signal returning.

"Ruby, we're in trouble," Weiss' voice resounded. "Cordovin is on to us, and, unfortunately, Maria is not helping!"

A crunching sound could now be heard over the scroll.

"Is... is she eating cashews?" Nick though. "Seriously, lady?"

"You hear that, Cordo?!" Maria exclaimed. "That's the sound of me frankly not giving a damn!"

"Guys, why is the radar still up?!" Weiss exclaimed.

"We have no clue! Blake's not responding!" Ruby answered. "What do we do now?!"

"Keep the ship in one piece," Yang stated as she revved up the Bumblebee and took off to find Blake.

Nick suddenly sensed a strange darkness from far off. It didn't seem too strong in terms of strength, but very foul and wretched, and the mere thought of such a darkness unnerved Nick something fierce.

That can't be good, Nick thought. If whoever that is gets to Blake, she might be in trouble.

His mind made up, Nick summoned Starlight to his hands and began racing down the nearby pathway.

"Hey, where are you off to in such a hurry?" Nora asked.

"I just felt a really foul darkness over that-a-way, by the relay tower," Nick answered. "Whatever it is, it's not a good sign. Can the rest of you handle things here?"

"As best as we can," Ruby proclaimed, readying Crescent Rose for a battle.

Nick saluted to his friends, then rushed off through the forest to hopefully intercept this strange entity.

It felt like pure darkness, without any light to speak of, Nick thought as he continued to run, cutting through random Heartless on his way there. Wait, wait... pure darkness, no light. Could that be one of the hearts the Dark Mother's trying to find?!

Hoping he'd make it in time, Nick quickened his pace, only to stop when he saw Blake in the middle of the forest, facing down a red-haired man with a blindfold over his eyes.

"Why did you have to come into my life and ruin everything?!" Adam shouted, waving his katana, Wilt, and his rifle, Blush, towards Blake.

"You're the one who's been stalking me all over Anima!" Blake shot back. "I don't want anything to do with your life anymore."

That was enough to goad Adam into attacking Blake, their blades clashing again and again even as Blake leaped to the top of a nearby platform.

Nick followed the fight as best he could, silently gauging when the best time to step in would be, as from what Blake had told him about Adam, this fight seemed very personal.

After crashing back down through some tree branches during the fight, Blake and Adam once again locked eyes with each other.

"Just let go of the past, Adam," Blake proclaimed. "Do it for yourself if nothing else."

"You mean just forget about everything?!" Adam shouted. "Is that what you did, just threw all of the memories away?! I already let you go once, Blake, and I'm never going to make that mistake again."

The two combatants rushed each other, their blades clashing again and again until Blake heard the distant sound of an explosion from behind her. Taking her chance, Blake used Gambol Shroud to grapple through the trees, towards a safer place to fight.

"Is running all you know how to do?!" Adam growled before giving chase.

Nick charged after Adam, having felt that same foul darkness coming from him and realizing he was the source of it. Has he really fallen that far into the darkness? Nick thought. It feels like he willingly gave himself to the darkness, and that's a scary thought.

The aerial battle continued as Blake continued to leap across the tree branches to evade Adam's wild attacks until Adam managed to catch up and attack, though Wilt only sliced Blake's trench coat. Nick kept up his pursuit, staying slightly behind the battle so that Adam wouldn't notice him, focused on Blake as he was, until they all came out of the forest and onto a large, natural stone bridge in front of a waterfall.

Deciding to hold off just a little longer, as he still had the element of surprise on his side, Nick watched Blake battle her former boyfriend and mentor, using her Semblance to evade the trickier slashes, until Adam caught Blake's wrist while blocking her katana with the barrel of Blush.

"You know, I wouldn't have to do this to you if you would just behave for once in your life!" Adam growled, flinging Blake's cleaver away and smashing her across the head with Wilt's hilt, knocking her back several feet.

"But you're selfish!" Adam shouted, kicking Blake in the side multiple times for each word he emphasized. "You're a coward! You're a filthy liar!"

Blake, however, simply picked herself up despite the vicious attacks. "You're delusional," Blake proclaimed.

Adam let out a mighty bellow of rage before activating his own Semblance and swinging Wilt so hard and fast that when Blake brought her katana up to defend herself, Wilt's blade snapped it cleanly into two pieces, said pieces clattering away from Blake.

And that's my cue to get moving, Nick thought, raising his keyblade and charging in to join the battle.

Adam stopped approaching Blake so he could remove the blindfold that was covering his eyes. Blake gasped in shock when she noticed that his left eye was viciously scarred by a brand labeled "SDC", no doubt the Schnee Dust Company.

"People hurt me long before I met you," Adam stated. "Many different people, in many different ways, but none of them hurt me quite like you did. You didn't leave a scar, though. You left me alone. So, how about you tell me, Blake? How does it feel to know that you're helpless and alone?"

Adam took one last step towards Blake, letting out a loud cry of fury as he stabbed Wilt towards Blake's abdomen, only for Nick to plant himself firmly in front of Blake and slash Starlight upwards to counter the strike.

"W-what?!" Adam shouted, giving Nick the opening to push Adam backwards with his new technique, Speed Slash, a flurry of three lightning-quick spinning attacks, and put some space between them.

"She's not alone," Nick proclaimed. "HEAL!"

A bubble of green energy surrounded Blake, healing the wounds that Adam had inflicted on her and allowing her to stand up again.

"Thanks for the assist, Nick," Blake stated.

"Hope I didn't arrive too late," Nick quipped.

"I'd say you're just in time," Blake replied.

Nick readied his keyblade for a fight. "Let's mess him up."

Adam roared loudly before charging towards Blake, aiming Wilt for her neck, only for Nick to dash over, duck under the slash even as Blake bent backwards to avoid it, and smashed the pointy end of Starlight into Adam's stomach. This attack dazed Adam enough for Nick to go on the offensive, landing four clean hits before leaping into the air and coming down with a Blitz-style attack that knocked Adam back towards the bridge.

"How about you stop interfering, boy?!" Adam shouted. "This is between me and her!"

"Sorry, but even if it's not my business, when someone tries to hurt my friends, it becomes my business!" Nick shot back, Starlight's blade glowing brightly. "Formchange: Second Form S!"

Adam attempted to slice Nick apart with an overhead strike, only to be pushed back by the burst of energy from Nick's Formchange, giving Nick all the time he needed to go on the attack once again.

"Be careful, Nick!" Blake shouted as she watched Nick strike out at Adam, only for him to block most of his regular swings. "His Semblance lets him absorb energy through his sword, store it up, and send it back whenever he wants!"

"Wait, he gets to dish out damage without even feeling it?" Nick exclaimed. "Man, that's cheap."

Adam blocked another overhead slash, but Nick retaliated with a Ripple Drive that sent Adam into the air, allowing Nick to channel his accumulated energy for the finisher.

"Block this, bitch! Ancient Light!" Nick shouted, thrusting Starlight above him and summoning five large pillars of light around him that rapidly damaged Adam, followed by surrounding them both with a spherical field of red light. Dozens of ethereal keyblades danced around within the sphere before exploding outwards, ravaging Adam's body and forcing him back to the ground.

Blake could suddenly hear the sound of a motorcycle approaching rapidly, and signaled to Nick to move.

"Don't tell me you cowards are fleeing!" Adam taunted.

"Nope," Nick shot back.

"Just priming our tactical advantage," Blake teased.

Before Adam could ask what they were talking about, Yang barreled off of the nearby cliff before hurling the Bumblebee straight into Adam's body, sending him into a tumble even as the Bumblebee fell into the river below.

Yang skidded to a stop in front of Blake, staring down Adam as he picked himself back up.

"You again," Adam growled.

"It's okay, Blake, you just catch your breath for a second," Yang stated. "I can hold this freak off."

Nick joined them as well, raising Starlight into a battle stance. "Room for one more?" Nick teased.

"Always," Yang replied before activating the shotgun on her prosthetic arm.

"It's good to know that you remember we have some... unfinished business to conduct," Adam proclaimed.

His heart... I can actually feel his heart, Nick thought. Is that because it's practically overflowing with darkness? That's not any sort of good, which means we need to end this quickly.

Adam made the first move, delivering a flurry of quick slashes that pushed Yang back a few feet, only for Yang to strike back, landing a few punches on Adam's stomach and even one across his head.

Yang lashed out to push Adam back before firing a few shots at him that were quickly blocked by Wilt. Yang ducked and weaved around each slash to punch Wilt's blade, only for Adam to shove her back towards Blake and ready his Semblance, swinging hard enough to unleash a blood-red energy blade that sliced through the air and pushed Yang back towards the edge of the bridge.

When the blast faded, Yang was still standing, the only damage being a few scratches on her prosthetic arm.

"Leave us alone," Yang growled. "This is your last chance."

"Do you really believe that?" Adam taunted, noticing that Yang's left arm was trembling slightly. "Or are you just trying to scare me off you don't get yourself killed trying to protect her?"

Nick raised Starlight, ready to attack again, but Blake stepped up and took Yang's hand into her own.

"She's not protecting me, Adam, and I'm not protecting her," Blake proclaimed. "We're protecting each other."

Blake and Yang smiled at each other before glaring back at Adam. Nick took a stance behind them, Starlight at the ready.

"You knew you couldn't win two on one back at Haven, you know," Adam taunted. "What makes you so sure you're going to walk away from this one with your lives?"

"I don't have a choice, Adam," Blake shot back. "I have people who actually care about me, and I made a promise that I'd never leave them behind ever again. So there's no way I can die now."

Yang couldn't help but smile at that.

"You know, she made a promise to me once, that she'd always be at my side," Adam growled. "Look at how well that held up."

"Did she make that promise to you?" Yang shot back. "Or was it to the person you were just pretending to be?"

Adam didn't have a rebuttal for that, opting to just stay silent.

"So I wasn't good enough for you, is that it?" Adam stated.

"You know it's more than just that," Blake responded.

"You've obviously made your choice," Adam proclaimed. "And I've made mine."

With that, Adam rushed his opponents once again to resume the battle. Blake and Yang coordinated to attack Adam from both sides while Nick flanked Adam with rapid keyblade strikes until Adam spun Wilt around him to push all three attackers away.

Blake grabbed the broken katana of Gambol Shroud and tossed it for Adam, only for him to deflect it back at her. Yang quickly grabbed Gambol Shroud's pistol and used the ribbon to swing Blake around so she could attack with her cleaver, only for Adam to kick her backwards into the cliffside of the waterfall, depleting the last of her Aura in the process.

Blake immediately grabbed onto the edge of the stone bridge, hanging on for dear life.

"Blake!" Yang shouted.

"Oh, now you're asking for it," Nick growled, brandishing Starlight.

"Moment of truth, Yang," Adam laughed. "Do you think you're faster than you were at Beacon?"

Yang trembled slightly at this, causing Adam to crack a grin.

"Didn't think so," Adam proclaimed, launching himself forward to slash at Yang, even though Nick raised Starlight to block the attack and strike back with another Speed Slash.

"Just give it up, stalker boy," Nick taunted. "You're seriously outclassed here."

"Oh, is that right?!" Adam bellowed. "Your Aura's gotta be running low by this point, and you know it."

Nick said nothing, as Adam obviously didn't know that Nick didn't have Aura, not being from Remnant, but decided to stay silent to keep an advantage.

"Come on and hit me already!" Adam shouted, leaping over Nick and rushing for Yang, who swiftly dodged each slash Adam made. "What in god's name does she even see in you?! You're just a filthy coward, same as her!"

Adam unleashed another Moonslice from Wilt that Yang couldn't possibly dodge at such close range, failing to notice that Yang's eyes had just turned a fierce shade of red. The Moonslice connected with Yang, kicking up a thick cloud of dust around her.

Hoping to end this with just one more attack, Adam rushed forward, parrying another keyblade strike from Nick, and swung his sword down, intent on bisecting Yang...

...only for Yang to catch the sword with her prosthetic hand, her hair glowing brightly.

"Gotcha," Yang quipped, lashing out with her other hand and punching Adam in the stomach so hard that he went flying back without his weapon. The instant Adam landed on the ground, his body jerked with red sparks, indicating his Aura had been completely drained by that last attack.

Despite this, Adam picked himself up, ready to continue fighting, only to realize too late that Yang still had his sword.

"I might not be faster than you," Yang admitted, her own Aura depleted. "But I'm smarter than you."

Yang tossed Wilt over the bridge and into the lake below. Adam frantically chased after his weapon, only for Blake to jump back onto the bridge and uppercut Adam's chin, causing him to stumble backwards.

While Adam was dazed, Blake and Yang dashed over to retrieve the broken pieces of Gambol Shroud's katana. Adam attempted one last-ditch attack, only to be swatted aside by Nick, giving Blake and Yang all the time they needed to impale Adam from both sides with the pieces of Gambol Shroud.

Adam looked down at his bleeding chest in disbelief as Blake and Yang savagely yanked their blades out, spilling Adam's blood all over the ground. Adam stumbled toward the edge of the bridge, falling to his knees. He whispered Blake's name one last time before his eyes rolled back and he slumped forward, the last of his life draining away as he fell off the bridge and into the water below, his body hitting the cliffside with a sickening crunch for good measure.

Ouch, Nick thought. Couldn't have happened to a better asshole, honestly.

Blake fell to her knees, the stress of the chase and battle finally catching up to her and causing her to start crying. Yang was over there in a flash to hug her partner tightly.

"I... I'm not going to break my promise," Blake sobbed, returning Yang's embrace. "I swear..."

"I know you won't," Yang responded, gently rubbing Blake's back.

Nick opted to just stay in his spot and let the girls have their moment.

"Yang... I wanted to apologize to you so badly," Blake admitted.

"For what?" Yang asked.

"For leaving you behind at the Fall of Beacon," Blake answered. "I didn't want to leave, but I was afraid Adam was going to hurt you even worse if I stayed... I didn't want you to be a target because of my mistakes..."

To Blake's surprise, Yang simply leaned over and kissed Blake on the cheek, causing her to blush brightly.

"Too many people have left my life, honestly," Yang proclaimed. "But you know what the difference is with you, Blake? ...you came back. That's enough for me."

Nick smiled, happy that the two of them had fully reconciled their issues since the fall of Beacon.

"NICK, YOU NEED TO GET OFF YOUR KEESTER AND HIGH-TAIL IT BACK TO THE CLIFFSIDE ON THE FRACKIN' DOUBLE!" Maylin's voice screeched through Blake's earpiece, jolting the two girls to their feet.

"Holy crap, Maylin, what's with the ear-piercing shouts?" Nick responded.

"Let's just say that in fighting off Cordovin's giant robot, we may have invited an even bigger problem to Argus," Haruka's voice resounded. "If Blake and Yang are with you, bring them with. This problem may require some triple threats."

"We're on our way," Blake answered. "This sounds bad, you guys."

"From Maylin's screeching, it must be," Nick quipped. "Let's move."

The trio immediately raced back through the forest, completely unaware that a black heart was floating up from the lake that Adam's corpse had fallen into, eventually floating into Mariko Kusumi's hands.

"You poor, simple-minded fool," Mariko cackled. "You played right into our hands. Now we are one step closer to achieving our goals. Eh, I'll let them off easy for now. We will meet again, boy, hopefully when you're in more of a mood to listen."

A corridor of darkness opened up behind Mariko, allowing her to walk into it.

Sure enough, when Nick, Blake, and Yang returned to the rest of the group, they were met with a very interesting scene. A giant mech, no doubt Cordovin's, was lying disabled against the cliffside, and out in the distance, what could only be described as a Godzilla-style Grimm could be seen slowly ambling towards Argus.

"Um, what exactly is going on?" Blake asked.

"Please don't tell me that's a giant Grimm," Yang groaned at the sight of the Leviathan.

"It is," Weiss sighed, gesturing to Cordovin's disabled Colossus. "And we might have wrecked the only thing that can stop it."

Maylin glanced at the Leviathan and smiled. "Eh, I've seen bigger."

"Now's really not the time for sarcasm," Jaune stated matter-of-factly.

"Hey, I'm serious," Maylin countered. "We've taken down bad guys that were far bigger than discount Godzilla out there."

"Regardless, we need to stop that thing before it destroys Argus," Haruka stated. "Let's get in the ship and brainstorm an attack plan."

"THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT, YOU WRETCHES!" Cordovin shouted, pounding on the control panel in frustration.

"I'm so sorry..." Blake stated.

"Don't be. This isn't your fault," Yang replied.

"Yeah, you're safe. That's all that matters," Ruby stated, leaning over to hug Blake.

"I guess I've gotta be the bad guy and say it, huh?" Maria proclaimed. "Getting the Relic to Atlas is still priority one right now, and this is the perfect opportunity to zip straight over there. We're probably not going to get another chance."

"No way!" Yang exclaimed.

"We can't leave Argus to get destroyed by that thing," Weiss continued.

"Wasn't it you who said that a Huntress is supposed to protect people to the bitter end?" Blake quipped, to which Maria just smiled.

"We need to head for the Leviathan," Ruby proclaimed. "Jaune, are you and Ren able to mask our ship?"

"We can manage," Ren replied.

"You got an idea, Ruby?" Jaune asked.

"I'm thinkin' of one," Ruby responded.

"Eyes up, everybody!" Maylin shouted. "Discount Godzilla is on the warpath!"

The Leviathan resurfaced from its swimming pattern, letting out a terrifying roar that reverberated through the city of Argus. In response, pillars rose from the ocean around the city and electricity lanced between them, forming a hard-light Dust barrier to halt the Leviathan's progress.

Apparently, the Leviathan wasn't impressed, stopping in its tracks only to unleash a gigantic laser blast from its mouth that scythed through one of the poles powering the barrier, destroying it and creating a gap in the barrier for the Leviathan to march through.

"Well, that didn't work," Maylin quipped.

"We're going to have to hit it while it's stopped at the next barrier," Ruby proclaimed. "Jaune, Ren, it's your turn! Go for it!"

Jaune and Ren nodded before combining their Semblances to mask the airship from the Leviathan's presence as it continued to march towards the next barrier, allowing the ship to slip through the air battles between the Atlas air forces and the other flying Grimm that had followed the Leviathan.

"Crap, it's about to fire! Pull up!" Qrow shouted.

The ship weaved to the left to avoid the blast from the Leviathan's mouth, once again destroying the barrier by attacking a power pole with its mouth laser.

"Damn it, that's all we've got," Jaune groaned as he and Ren collapsed to their knees, their Auras drained from the effort.

"It's on the move again!" Haruka exclaimed. "We've got to stop it here! It's now or never!"

Ruby thought for a couple seconds before glancing at Weiss, who nodded in understanding.

The Leviathan continued to march towards Argus, only to notice something approaching it rapidly.

"Okay, Ruby, you just concentrate on doing your thing," Nick stated. Nick, Maylin, Haruka, and Ruby were all riding on a gigantic Queen Lancer that Weiss had summoned for them. "The three of us are gonna fight Discount Godzilla and keep its attention away from you. Whenever you're ready, do your silver eye thing and blast that Leviathan to heck and back."

"Roger that," Ruby giggled. Eventually, the Queen Lancer stopped about halfway between the Leviathan and the remaining barrier, allowing the trinity to jump off of the Queen Lancer and fall towards the water. Maylin thrust Counterpoint downwards, creating a large platform of light around the Leviathan so they could all land on it.

"Hey, ugly!" Maylin taunted, causing the Leviathan to glance down at her. "Yeah, you, kaiju ripoff! You wanna come down here and say that to our faces?!"

The Leviathan roared loudly, almost sounding like it was accepting that challenge, and readied its claws for battle.

("Rising" by Casey Lee Williams plays)

"All right, any good weak spots to go after?" Haruka asked, swinging Divine Rose to parry a strike from the Leviathan's tail.

"My first guess is the head, but we'd need to climb the thing to get to it," Maylin replied, firing a Firaga spell into the Leviathan's flank, causing it to slow down in its wild flailing.

Spotting an opportunity, Nick dashed to the back of the Leviathan and, after jumping over another tail lash, leaped off of the tail to land on the Leviathan's back and actually start wall-running up the beast.

"Hey, look at fearless leader go!" Maylin exclaimed.

"Why didn't I think of that?" Haruka wondered.

Even as the Leviathan tried to shake him off, Nick continued to run up the beast's back until he reached the head, landing firmly in front of the Leviathan's face.

"Hey," Nick teased. The Leviathan roared angrily in response to this, until Nick thrust Kingdom Key into the space between its eyes, causing it to lurch a few steps back. This gave the nearby Atlas air fighters the precious few seconds they needed to fire missiles into the Leviathan's body, hoping to do some damage.

The Leviathan reached up to snatch Nick, but he easily dodged the grab, firing a Thunder spell into the hand before leaping back over to attack its face a few times.

Meanwhile, back down on the 'ground', Maylin and Haruka had decided to attack the Leviathan's legs in order to bring it down enough so they could join their leader.

"Whoa! Not nice, buddy!" Maylin proclaimed, avoiding an arcing kick before blasting the offending leg with Blizzaga and causing the Leviathan to lose its balance and ungracefully flopping back into the sea. Nick made sure to leap off when he felt the Leviathan falling, landing on the light platform and rolling the instant he touched down to minimize the impact.

"Where did it go?" Haruka asked, only to get her answer when the Leviathan popped up to the south of the platform, firing its mouth blast into the air. After a beat, the blast exploded into multiple smaller lasers that began to fall onto the platform, forcing the trinity to stay on the move.

When the barrage stopped, the Leviathan began to once again march slowly towards them.

"I think we're making progress, girls," Nick quipped.

"But we need to let that thing get just a little closer so that Ruby can blast it whenever she's ready," Haruka answered.

"Speaking of which, what's taking her so long?" Maylin wondered.

"She's probably gotta concentrate something fierce to do it when under pressure like this," Haruka answered. "And she's gotta think of very specific happy thoughts to trigger it, like what she did to fry the Apathy."

"Ooh, I am glad we didn't have to deal with those eldritch nightmares," Maylin gasped, shuddering slightly at the mere mention of the Apathy.

"Heads up, girls!" Nick shouted. "Kaiju boy's back for round two!"

The position of the Leviathan this time seemed to present a tactical problem, however, as Nick knew he couldn't run up the beast's front without getting plucked off mid-run.

"Any ideas, girls?" Nick asked.

Maylin stepped forward, Counterpoint glowing brightly. "I've got one," Maylin giggled. "Formchange: Magic Blasters!"

Maylin grasped Counterpoint's handle tightly, then wrenched her hands apart, splitting Counterpoint into two identical copies before twirling them in her hands. The twin blades were surrounded by musical notes and magic sparks before metamorphosing into two trumpet-like guns decorated with treble clefs and music notes.

"Try me now, big dude!" Maylin exclaimed, gliding around the platform and rapid-firing her Magic Blasters, bullets of solidified magic energy launching from the barrels and homing in on the Leviathan's face, forcing it to try and swat the bullets away to no avail.

After a few more barrages, Maylin unleashed her combo finisher, firing off two large spheres of magic from the blasters that flew towards the Leviathan and exploded grandly, causing the Leviathan to roar in pain.

A bright flash caught the trinity's attention, and they glanced upwards just in time to see Ruby fling her eyes open and unleash the light of her silver eyes, engulfing the Leviathan and instantly turning it to stone.

"Holy crapbaskets," Maylin gasped. "That was cool."

Ruby looked back at the city of Argus, which was still standing, only to jerk her gaze back when she heard the sound of cracking stone, horrified to see the Leviathan attempting to break out of its stone prison.

"No..." Ruby gasped.

"Oh, come on! Why won't you freaks just die and stay dead?!" Maylin shouted, aiming her Magic Blasters for the Leviathan.

"I'll take it from here!"

The trinity followed the source of the voice, only to see Cordovin and her Colossus approaching the Leviathan, its disabled cannon arm now detached. The Colossus began running towards the Leviathan, its left hand transforming into a gigantic drill.

"After all, I swore to protect the people!" Cordovin shouted as the Colossus thrust its drill into the Leviathan's side, and weakened as it was by Ruby's silver eye attack, the Leviathan couldn't defend itself, screaming in agony until it slumped over and evaporated into black mist.

The citizens of Argus who were watching the battle began to cheer, while Saphron and Terra just stared at what they'd seen, quite honestly surprised.

"Wow," Maylin quipped, releasing her Formchange and clutching Counterpoint's handle. "That was definitely the drill to pierce the heavens."

Its job done, the Colossus walked over to Ruby, still standing on Weiss' summon.

"Thank you for helping," Ruby stated. "And... I'm sorry for what we did."

The cockpit of the Colossus opened to reveal Cordovin standing at attention. "The Atlas military can handle the stragglers," Cordovin proclaimed.

"What, um... what exactly are you saying?" Ruby gasped.

To Ruby's surprise, Cordovin managed a genuine smile. "I'm saying that I don't think anyone would notice if one more ship went missing in my lengthy report," Cordovin explained as she turned the Colossus around to join her fellow soldiers in fighting the remaining Grimm.

Much later that night, the Manta airship could be seen flying towards its destination.

"We should have just enough fuel to get to Atlas," Maria stated after checking all of the readouts.

"Thank you so much, Miss Calavera," Ruby replied.

"Hey, Ruby?" Qrow started, about to take a drink from his flask, but ultimately deciding not to. "You did great out there today. Just don't give me a heart attack like that again, got it?"

"I love you, too," Ruby laughed as she hugged Qrow.

"You weren't half bad yourself, Dusty," Maria teased.

"I feel like they did all the heavy lifting," Qrow admitted.

"But you were there to help when everyone asked for help," Haruka replied. "And you were there to catch them when they fell, quite literally if my memory serves."

"Thanks, kid," Qrow sighed. "And, honestly, it was pretty awe-inspiring to see the Grimm Reaper in action."

"Hey, you should have seen me when I was your age!" Maria proclaimed. "That would blow your mind."

"Awww, do you guys really have to leave?" Nora groaned. "Why don't you stick with us and see Atlas for yourselves?"

"Tempting offer, but I really think we need to hit the road," Haruka replied. "Our work is sadly never done, after all."

"And considering we still need to find miss hood and figure out how the hell she's still alive and kicking," Maylin continued. "If she's still around, god only knows who else from our past could be lurking."

Ruby quickly dug into her pocket and pulled out a keychain she'd bought from a local antique shop before the 'great heist', as Maylin eloquently phrased it. "Then, how about you take this with you?" Ruby stated, handing the keychain off to Nick. "We're pretty sure you know what to do with it at this point."

Nick took the keychain and attached it to the base of Kingdom Key, then held it aloft before slashing it through the air, Kingdom Key transforming into a brand new keyblade in mid-swing. The handle guard resembled Yang's prosthetic arm connected to a hilt that looked like the hilt and handle of Myrtenaster. The blade resembled an elongated version of Gambol Shroud's cleaver topped off by the drill from the Colossus, with teeth resembling Akouo, Pyrrha's shield. The token, connected by a keychain of silver orbs, was a fully-bloomed red rose. As Nick studied his new keyblade, the name Team Formation came to mind.

"That's cool," Oscar admitted. "So... do you have multiple keyblades that you can use?"

"Usually, but I lost most of the ones I'd collected when I lost my powers to that Demon Tide," Nick answered, switching between his three keyblades as he mentioned them. "So all I've got are my default keyblade, Kingdom Key, and my, shall we say, 'past life' default Starlight. And now this one."

"Honestly, it's quite the long story," Maylin quipped.

As the airship continued to fly through the night sky, Mariko Kusumi could be seen standing on a rock formation jutting out of the ocean, alongside a few other figures completely covered by black cloaks.


"I wonder how Nick's doing?" Marie asked herself as she continued to explore the caverns, hoping to find some way out of this forsaken maze of tunnels and back out into open air. Despite her immunity to the dark world's corrupting effects, she still didn't like the feeling she got, of the darkness all around her trying to pull her down into it even if it couldn't.

Realizing she was losing her focus, Marie lightly slapped her cheeks. "Focus, girl, you've got a job to do," Marie stated, summoning Moonlight back to her hands just in case any Darklings tried to jump her.

"I've had enough of those things for one lifetime, thank you very much," Marie quipped as she began to descend a formation of stairs towards a wide-open cavern area.

To her surprise, though, Marie could see what appeared to be a gigantic tree in the center of the cavern, halfway through decomposing and absolutely destroyed by whatever had happened to its world.

Scattered around the giant tree were the remains of three large cities. One appeared to be a ruined coastal village, the second resembled the dock and ferry of a port town, and the third seemed to be a city covered in snow.

"Oh, man, what happened to these worlds?" Marie asked nobody in particular.

Before Marie could get any information about the wreckage, a horde of Neoshadows surrounded her, their intent frighteningly clear.

"Um, yeah, how about no?" Marie proclaimed. "Formchange: Crescent Staff!"

One of the Neoshadows leaped towards Marie, spinning its body around as it did so, but Marie simply spun Crescent Staff in her hands to form a whirling barrier that knocked the Neoshadow away.

Taking advantage of her chance, Marie waded into the swarm of Heartless, swinging Crescent Staff wildly to bash any Neoshadow that tried to get close to her.

One Neoshadow attempted to sink into the ground and slither up behind Marie to catch her off guard, but she simply slammed the jewel of Crescent Staff into the ground above it, unleashing a shockwave of purple crescent moons that forced the Neoshadow above ground. This gave Marie all the time she needed to slice it in half.

Once the Neoshadow horde was cleared out, Marie prepared to release her Formchange, only to be kicked towards the wreckage by a larger Heartless.

The Heartless in question was a large, draconian creature with predominantly dark green skin, save for its belly, which was tan, and its wings, feet, and the tip of its tail, all of which were brown. Its body was rather thin, while its three-toed feet were quite large, each sporting yellow talons. Its wings seemed rather short and bulky when compared to its feet and tail, and its wingtips were vaguely reminiscent of the Nobody symbol. The Tailbunker's tail ended in a large, misshapen club with three conical, yellow spikes on it, and its head was V-shaped and flat, and it had beady yellow eyes on either side of its head, and its Heartless emblem was imprinted on its chest.

"Oh, the bird came to play," Marie quipped, realizing that this Heartless looked incredibly similar to the Dustflier, a Heartless that Maylin and Haruka hated immensely.

The Tailbunker quickly rushed Marie, only to be bonked in the head by a swing from Crescent Staff, then bashed by four more swings before it decided to simply retreat, flying around the edges of the cavern.

"H-hey, get back here, freak show!" Marie shouted, trying to think of a way to catch the Tailbunker until she noticed that her staff was glowing brightly.

"Hmmmm... does this thing have another form in it?" Marie wondered. "Well, let's not waste time and find out. Formchange: Moon-a-rang!"

Marie clutched Crescent Staff with both of her hands before yanking it apart into two parts, both halves surrounded by sparkles of magic before shrinking down and then expanding into two large boomerangs in Marie's hand, each shaped like a crescent moon.

"Oh, yeah, now we're talkin'!" Marie exclaimed, tossing both Moon-a-rangs for the Tailbunker, catching it in the back and forcing it to descend. The Moon-a-rangs swiftly returned to Marie's hands so she could throw them again, eventually causing the Tailbunker to crash into the ground near the wrecked dock.

Not wasting time, Marie ran towards the crashed Tailbunker, avoiding the fireballs it was now shooting from its mouth, and got close enough to start slicing at the Tailbunker's body with her Moon-a-rangs with rapid slashes and spinning strikes.

After a few more strikes, Marie prepared herself for her finishing move, holding out both of her Moon-a-rangs as they grew larger and larger, and twirling around like a ballerina dancer would, her Moon-a-rangs slashing at the Tailbunker with each spin. After a while of this, Marie leaped over the Tailbunker and threw her Moon-a-rangs straight downward, cutting the Tailbunker into three halves that quickly dissipated into wisps of darkness.

"And that's the way the bread is sliced," Marie giggled as the Moon-a-rangs returned to her and reformed, then reverted into Moonlight.

Marie jumped down from the cliff she was on to the ground near the giant tree, only to see a light at the opposite end of the cavern. Upon closer inspection, Marie noticed that the light was coming from what looked like a floating heart.

"If that's not the strangest sight I've seen all day..." Marie quipped to herself before realizing something. "Wait, wait, isn't that one of the hearts I'm trying to find?"

Deciding to take her chance, Marie chased after the floating heart, making her way out of the cavern and onto the edge of another cliff face that overlooked the Dark Ocean below.

"Whoa, check out the view," Marie giggled.

Marie had only taken two steps towards the pathway that led back down the mountain when a gigantic Darkside appeared in front of her, only this Darkside was also colored shades of purple.

"Oh, you've gotta be kidding me," Marie groaned.

The Dark Follower reared back and threw a powerful punch into the cliffside, forcing Marie to dive away from the punch. Thankfully, the Dark Follower's hand was now stuck in the spot it had punched, giving Marie time to strike at the hand with a few quick slashes until the Dark Follower wrenched its hand free.

The Dark Follower clutched its palm, gathering energy into its hands before firing it in the form of multiple dark spheres, all of them aimed at Marie. Watching them carefully, Marie swung Moonlight at each one that got too close to her, sending the spheres back to the Dark Follower's face and dealing damage.

After finishing its energy sphere attack, the Dark Follower dipped down so that its head was level with the cliffside and roared at Marie, hoping to intimidate her. This intimidation tactic was met by way of a keyblade to the face, forcing the Dark Follower to simply throw a punch that Marie easily parried.

After a couple seconds, the Dark Follower decided to throw another punch, but Marie jumped back from this one, causing the Dark Follower's arm to get stuck in the ground.

Sensing her opportunity, Marie hopped onto the Dark Follower's hand and began to run along its arm to the creature's face, where she was free to lay into the Dark Follower's face, ending with a jumping slash from Moonlight that knocked the Dark Follower backwards, forcing Marie to jump back to the cliffside.

For the finale, Marie channeled her dark powers until they formed into a wavy sphere in her free hand.

"Eat this, purple man!" Marie exclaimed, thrusting her free hand forward and unleashing her Dark Firaga attack, the ball of black and white flames screaming through the air until it came into contact with the Dark Follower's face and exploded violently, sending the Dark Follower crashing to the ground below as it faded away.

"And just as predictable as the others," Marie laughed. "But now, back to business."

With the Dark Follower out of her way, Marie made her way down the winding path until she reached the new area of the Dark Ocean where the heart had finally stopped.

"Um, excuse me, whoever you are?" Marie asked, once again surprised when the heart apparently responded to her.

You can sense me?

"Um, duh? I've been following you throughout those caverns, ever since I fought those Darklings," Marie answered.

Have you come to free me from this realm of darkness?

"Yeah, the Oracle tasked me with coming here to find certain hearts, since I'm pretty much immune to corruption by darkness," Marie continued.

The Oracle? You know Himerish?

"Wait, you know him?" Marie gasped.

I, and the others like me, have been imprisoned in the dark world for uncountable years, betrayed by one we once called our friend.

Marie, after a few seconds of thought, gasped in shock, as she had guessed who this heart most likely belonged to.

How exactly will you take me out of this place?

"I'm thinking of a way, but for now, how about you take refuge in my heart until we find a way out of this nightmare world?" Marie offered.

You... would share your heart with mine?

"I did the exact same thing with my brother once," Marie answered. "After I, shall we say, 'died', my heart took shelter within his until I was back on my feet."

You are far too kind, my dear.

The heart floated forward, eventually absorbing itself into Marie's body. Marie once again felt that feeling she'd felt while resting within Nick's heart, the feeling of warmth spreading over her entire being.

With that settled, Marie continued to cross over the Dark Ocean's beaches, hoping to find a way to venture deeper so she could find the other hearts.

And if this heart is for who I think it is, then that must be why the Oracle wanted me to find them, Marie thought. But if that's true... what exactly happened that made Meter do this to them? They were her friends! ...then again, when you're consumed by selfish desires and dreams of power, that kind of stuff tends to fall by the wayside. I'm just glad I never ended up like that...

Shaking off those thoughts for the moment, Marie crossed over another dune to find the way forward in the form of a bridge that connected this beach to the depths of the mountain.

Clutching the handle of Moonlight tightly, Marie crossed the bridge, hoping she could find the other hearts before it was too late.

To be continued...


Keyblade get!

Team Formation
Base Strength: 7
Base Magic: 4
Ability: Reprisal Boost (Increase the damage you deal with reprisal attacks by 50%. Stack the ability to increase the effect.)
Formchange 1: Sinister Scythe (Transform your keyblade into a scythe for multi-hit attacks with wide range and the ability to fire at faraway targets.)
Formchange 2: Grand Gauntlets (Transform your keyblade into powerful hand gauntlets for crushing melee attacks.)
Description: A keyblade with an emphasis on strength, representing the ideals of the warriors meant to save the world from the Creatures of Grimm.


Keyblade get!

Divine Rose H
Base Strength: 8
Base Magic: 3
Ability: Finishing Plus (Allows you to perform consecutive combo finishing moves. Stack the ability to allow more combo finishers.)
Formchange 1: Rose Whip (Transform your keyblade into a whip to reach faraway targets and perform area-of-effect strikes.)
Formchange 2: Petal Blades (Transform your keyblade into rose petal swords to unleash concussive crowd-control attacks and defend from all angles.)
Description: Haruka's keyblade, representing a girl who yearns for the freedom to soar unchained through the skies.


Keyblade get!

Counterpoint M
Base Strength: 4
Base Magic: 9
Ability: Magic Combo Thrift (Reduce MP cost by one point with each successful spell cast.)
Formchange 1: Magic Blasters (Transform your keyblade into dual trumpet guns to fire homing shots and explosive charged attacks.)
Formchange 2: Spell Staff (Transform your keyblade into a powerful staff that allows you to imbue your melee attacks with magic power.)
Description: Maylin's keyblade, representing a girl who longs to protect her friends through the sacred art of magic.


Keyblade get!

Kingdom Key N
Base Strength: 5
Base Magic: 3
Ability: Full MP Burst (When your MP is full, increase the power of your first magical ability by 50%. Stack the ability to increase the effect.)
Formchange: Second Form (Transform your keyblade to access your abilities from previous adventures.)
Description: Nick's keyblade, representing a kind-hearted warrior who seeks only to protect what he cares about.


Keyblade get!

Starlight N
Base Strength: 6
Base Magic: 5
Ability: Full MP Burst (When your MP is full, increase the power of your first magical ability by 50%. Stack the ability to increase the effect.)
Formchange: Second Form S (Transform your keyblade to access your abilities from previous adventures.)
Description: A keyblade that survives from antiquity, representing Nick's past life as a keyblade wielder from the age of fairy tales.


Link get!

Mira Yurizaki, the Adorable Android
MP Required: 100
Description: A link focusing on offense, Mira allows you to call on the power of Dimension W to enhance your keyblade attacks and defend from all angles.
Anime of Origin: Dimension W (2016)
Commands:
Dimensional Strike: Press X to attack as normal, only with dimensional-enhanced strikes that extend range and power.
Dimensional Barrier: Press and hold [] to defend against attacks from all directions.
Dimensional Warp: Press [] while moving to warp ahead through attacks.
Dimensional Release: [FINISHER] Press /\ to unleash the energy of Dimension W all around you, punishing enemies with an upheaval of light. Your Magic stat determines damage.
Abilities:
Doubleflight: Press O after a jump to perform a second jump.
Combo Master: Continue your attacks even if your swings miss the enemy.


On the next episode...

Haruka: Well, well, familiar territory!

Nick: You've been to this world before, Haruka?

Haruka: It's been a while, but yeah. Wonder how the Black Bulls are doing?

Maylin: Aw, it doesn't look like Noelle's getting any closer to confessing to Asta.

Haruka: Hey, it's not her fault that Asta's got his heart locked on that nun from his village.

Nick: Um, does this Asta character realize that nuns aren't allowed to get married?

Maylin: Asta's stubborn. Nothing else to it. ...um, Nick? Is everything okay?

Nick: What... the hell... are YOU doing here?! As if Mariko Kusumi wasn't bad enough! Next time on W.I.T.C.H.: Key to Her Heart III, "True Magic"!

Nick, Maylin, Haruka & Marie: May your hearts be your guiding key!