Author's Notes: Good evening everyone! I'm so excited to get this next segment of the mega chapter out (as this part was the reason the original chapter had to split up in so many parts - only one more after this that would have made up the original... oops). Special thanks to Mysteriesofthislife for being an awesome Beta and pushing me to become a better writer, as well help get me life back in order. Things have been really crazy on my end, but I wanted to post this before this story was lost in the shuffle that is life. Thank you so much to those who commented on the last chapter; not only do your comments, questions, and theories make my day (sometimes week), but they also help me figure out the general direction this story will go in. TLDR: Feedback = :) As always, please feel free to leave a comment on here or come yell at me at blacklabyrinth07 on tumblr. I always love hearing from my readers. Also, this is the point in the story where I mess with Kingdom Hearts and RWBY lore, so if something seems odd or doesn't fit at first, just go with it... All will be explained in due time. *Insert Evil laughter Here* Anyway, I hope you are all ready for this... Lots of fun stuff happening here. Let me know what you think! Enjoy!


A Duel of Fates

Weiss blinked rapidly, the bright lights from the stadium momentarily blinding her as she stepped out from the tunnel leading from the waiting room. The Huntress paused at the entrance of the tunnels, trying to gather her bearings as her senses were overloaded by the stadium lights and shouts of the crowd. Before Weiss could move from the tunnel's mouth, she was joined by her opponent who appeared withdrawn. The other woman stuck to the shadows of the tunnel, hiding most of her features. Aloy was wearing a stern frown on her face and clearly seemed lost in her thoughts, but otherwise she was not showing any outward signs of distress.

'Or if she is, she's an excellent actress.' Weiss thought to herself as she wiped her slightly sweaty palms onto her combat skirt, her face remaining in its neutral mask. 'I can't stand this silence. Ruby must be rubbing off on me, that dolt.'

"So… Does your Keyblade have a name too?" Weiss asked, her left palm fidgeting with the hilt of Myrtenaster.

Aloy raised her dark eyebrows in surprise, not expecting the white-haired girl to speak to her before the match.

"Your teammate, Titus, is quite the talker." Weiss explained as she shifted her weight onto her other foot while her arms wrapped around her torso in nerves.

A faint smirk could be seen to grace her lips, before the Keyblade wielder glanced down at the blade that was in her hand. "Its true name is Ya'arburnee, although I've gotten used to calling it Yearning Heart. It's a bit easier to remember." The fighter chuckled slightly at the sad attempt at humor, before she slipped back into a solemn state.

Weiss looked at the blade that was being shown to her in intrigue. The Keyblade was curved so that the edge was shaped like a cutlass. The blade itself was formed from Damascus steel, the swirling black and blue pattern seemed to shimmer in the light like dancing shadows. On the opposite side of the curved blade, the teeth were an outline of a heart created in the same swirling steel material. The farthest side of the heart was significantly longer than the other, forming a sharp hooked edge. The hilt of the Keyblade was royal blue with a black thorn pattern that combined to form a black leather grip. The two halves of the hilt's guard were bent into a stylized heart which ended in three points.

A silver keychain hung off the end, the emblem shown was a stylized black heart with the same triangular three points at its base, similar to the blade's guard. The heart was outlined in royal blue which also formed a thorn-like pattern that crossed in an 'X' through the heart.

"What about you? Does your blade have a name too?" Aloy asked as the older girl attached her weapon to her side and leaned back against the concrete entrance to the tunnel behind them.

"This is Myrtenaster. I designed it myself." Weiss withdrew her blade, the intricate design work of the handle and dust cartages catching the light.

"Very impressive, Schnee." Aloy remarked, her voice laced with sincerity as a hint of a smile returned to her lips.

"Did you design your Keyblade too? It looks rather unique." Weiss remarked as she stared at the blade now resting on Aloy's left hip.

Aloy shook her head as her face returned to its previously dark expression. "No, or rather I don't think so. The truth is, I really don't remember where I got this." Aloy glanced over at the Heiress' confused expression, only answering Weiss with a shrug of her own shoulders. "I've always had Yearning Heart. At least, as far as I know."

Weiss cocked her head to the side in question. "What exactly do you mean by…"

But she was cut off from her question by the booming voice of her professor over the loud speakers.

"And now, we have Weiss Schnee of Team RWBY from Beacon Academy, verses Aloy of Team HART of the N.A.R.! Let's show them our support this evening!" Professor Port's voice boomed over the loud speakers as the decimal level rose with the spectators' yells and cheers.

'Well, here goes nothing.' Weiss took a deep breath as she let the crowd's cheers wash over her before walking out to the center steel platform.

Weiss turned to face her opponent. Steel blue eyes locked with her own as the Heiress addressed the Keyblade user. "Good luck, Aloy."

But as Weiss waited for a reply, the Keyblade wielder gave her none as the older girl's frown deepened, before Aloy stepped forward deeper into the arena.

"Alright then…" Weiss muttered darkly as she rushed to keep up with the taller girl.

As soon as both Aloy and Weiss had walked a safe distance onto the center stage, the platform rose so that it stood several hundreds of feet into the air. Weiss walked to the North side of the platform, while Aloy turned to face the South side so that, once in position, both fighters turned to properly face their opponents for the first time. It was then that Weiss took these precious few moments to examine her challenger in the light.

Aloy was tall for her age, towering over Weiss at approximately 6'1''. She had fair skin and sharp steely-blue eyes that stood out from dark brows and sharp features. Her opponent had short choppy hair, cut in a similar style as Ruby's, only with rich black roots that faded into silver with white highlights.

Aloy wore a white long coat that reminded the Heiress of Roman Torchwick's old jacket, only this one had silver fastenings. The coat was worn opened, revealing an embroidered royal blue suit vest that was over a black high colored button-down shirt. A stark white tie was worn around her neck and tucked into the vest, reminding Weiss of some of the more Atlesian fashions.

Before Aloy had turned to face Weiss, the Heiress noticed an embroidered emblem that was stitched on the back of Aloy's long coat. It was the same one as the keychain that hung off Yearning Heart. The black and blue symbol had contrasted harshly against the white of the coat, the emblem being a stylized black heart with a fleur-de-lis at its base. The heart was outlined in royal blue that also made up the thorn-like pattern that crossed in an 'X' through the heart.

Now facing the fighter across the arena, Weiss noticed that this same emblem could also be seen on Aloy's front, crafted as silver metal buckle which held in place a wide black leather belt that slanted over her right shoulder and across her body. The cross-body strap connected with a similar belt that was pulled taught over narrow hips and crisp white pants which were tucked into high black boots. The belts were fastened over Aloy's blue vest, but were tucked under her coat so that her heart-shaped emblem stitched on the back was unobstructed from view.

Weiss stared at the woman before her as something glinted in the lights on her uniform, caused by Aloy shifting her weight from one foot to another.

'Are those keychains?' Weiss eyes narrowed as she stared at the belt that wrapped over Aloy's right shoulder. Upon further inspection, the objects that flashed every time Aloy moved were indeed from small keychains that were fastened in rows down the length of the cross-body belt. Each keychain clasped in such a way that their silver chains created a small drooping loop from the claps to where the metal insignias were pinned in place. From far way the keychains look like medals, giving the stylish appearance an overall effect of a military uniform. Weiss' eyes were locked on the highest placed keychain, whose symbol looked familiar; a large golden circle with two smaller slightly matching circles off-set on its top. Weiss frown as she stared at the golden emblem, unable to remember where she has recognized the stylized circlet.

After a few moments of unabashed staring, Weiss tore her eyes off her opponent. Cut to form, it was a rather dashing look on the Keyblade wielder. Too bad there wasn't much time for admiration for the outfit, nor its wearer.

"Like what you see, Ice Princess?" To the Heiress' surprise, Aloy's grimace had turned to a smirk as the young woman drew her Keyblade from her side; the elongated movement making the attached keychains shimmer in the bright lights, catching Weiss' eyes to their general area.

"You wish," Weiss scoffed. "I was merely admiring the mouse head on your chest. Where did you get it from, a child?"

"It was a gift from a King, if you must know." Aloy reached out with her left hand to briefly touch the keychain's golden emblem. The Keyblade wielder's face darkened as they spun their weapon from one hand to the next, testing its balance once more before the start of the match. The fluidity at which Aloy moved her heavy weapon was an impressive display of dexterity and athleticism that impressed the Heiress. After staring at the ease in which Aloy maneuvered her weapon, Weiss was forced to believe that perhaps she was in for more of a challenge then she fist believed.

Aloy glanced over at the stands where she locked eyes with someone unseen by the Heiress. Aloy's eyes flickered with some hidden emotion before she scowled, as she seemed to be reminded of her previous strife. "But enough distractions, I have a task that I must complete. I'm afraid I don't have time for any more pleasantries." As the Keyblade user spoke, her eyes darkened and narrowed so that her irises flashed like steel from across the platform.

'What's wrong with her?' Weiss thought to herself, as the switch between Aloy's behaviors was giving her whiplash. But before the Heiress could voice her concerns the speakers boomed to life once more.

"Combatants, are you ready?" Dr. Oobleck asked over the speakers.

Weiss withdrew her own blade and twirled it in the air so that the tip pointed to Aloy, before arching Mytenaster in an intricate display of movement towards the audience and up to the press box, before dipping into an elaborate curtsy.

When Weiss straightened her pose to face her opponent, the Heiress was surprised to see her challenger match her blade work in her own version of a complex salute: Aloy spun her Keyblade with her left hand, before bringing Yearning Heart into a sweeping low arch, only to use the momentum to toss the blade behind her back and catch it with her right hand. Aloy then stopped the blade in an upright position so that the Keyblade gleamed in the stadium's harsh lights as the weapon pointed towards Weiss.

The Huntress was unnerved in that fact that during this entire demonstration, Aloy's eyes never broke from her own stare, relying on muscle memory to perform the complex maneuvers.

'… Shit.'

"What a beautiful display of good sportsmanship. Ladies and gentlemen, we are in for a treat tonight. Let's give them a show of thanks with a round of applause."

The crowd roared their approval at Professor Port's words in a deafening wall of sound.

"Combatants, the match will begin in: Three…"

'Okay, Weiss… Remember your training. Back straight, shoulders back, front foot forward. Aloy's clearly taller than you and her Keyblade looks to be heavier, so use that to your advantage.' Weiss ran the mental list through her head as she waited for the countdown to continue. She felt her body naturally shift into a perfect beginning pose as she slightly adjusted her hips into position for a better push off. 'Perfect.'

"Two..."

The Huntress watched with keen eyes as Aloy mirrored her stance, albeit a bit wider to accommodate her height. Her Keyblade gleamed in the stadium's lights as Aloy adjusted her grip on the weapon, the wicked-looking blade stretched out in front of her. Angled to the right, Aloy's body was in perfect counter-position to Weiss' left-handed beginning stance.

"One..."

Weiss' eyes left Aloy to quickly glance to the side of the stands where she knew her friends and teammates were seated. Her heart warmed as she noticed a bright flash of red that contrasted harshly to the tall figure in white. But before Weiss could focus her gaze, she turned her attention back to her opponent. Weiss let go of a breath of air she hadn't realized that she had been holding as she felt her shoulders relax a fraction of a second before the last of the countdown was reached.

"Begin!"

Weiss and Aloy charged across the raised platform in streaks of white, their movements only a blur of color as they swung their weapons in a devastating blow. The young fighters seemed to dance around the arena as flashes of sparks flew through the air; steel meeting steel in a clang of metal. They traded blows with a speed that made them blurred to the naked eye, only the bright flash of sparks and clanging of metal informed the audience that their blows where equally matched.

"Wow! Look at them go! You can hardly tell them apart from up here." Nora exclaimed as she shoved her now empty bucket of popcorn into her partner's waiting hands. She then jumped from her seat to lean over towards the center of the arena.

"I've never seen blade work like Aloy's before." Jaune stated in awe, before awkwardly glancing over to Pyrrha. "Ahh… No offense, Pyrrha."

"None taken." Pyrrha commented as she too was enraptured by the Keyblade wielder's skill. "Aloy is clearly skilled."

"She is a nearly flawless Keyblade wielder," Haruka answered as her eyes stayed locked on her partner below, a hint of a smile on her worried face. "You will find that no matter how flashy her moves may appear, there is no energy that is wasted in her technique. Each movement is precise with the exact level of force needed for each strike and spin so that she can do twice the attacks without tiring."

Pyrrha turned so that she caught Haruka's attention. "You said that Aloy's technique is nearly flawless, but surely your friend has faults?"

Haruka nodded. "Certainly, as does everyone. After all, no one is perfect. But in a fight… She has only one that your friend could exploit. But Aloy would never let it get that far for a simple tournament match."

Winter leaned forward in her seat, lacing her gloved fingers together in thought as she analyzed the fight in current time. "Weiss doesn't have the endurance to match Aloy hit-for-hit. She needs to try to finish this quickly before she tries out."

"I've been working with Weiss on her speed and Yang has helped her endurance." Ruby replied as she watched her partner conjure a glyph to jump away from a particularly hard swing of Aloy's Keyblade. "She should be able to hold her own long enough to figure out a counter-technique."

Ruby paused long enough to watch Aloy use one of Weiss' glyphs against her. The Keyblade wielder used the remaining gravity glyph to jump in the air and push off the black circular surface towards Weiss, who in turn, cart-wheeled just out of reach. Weiss changed the dust chambers in her rapier before firing small burst of fire across the stage, keeping Aloy at a distance.

"That's only if she stays out of reach of Aloy's weapon." Ruby continued.

Winter nodded. "Her opponent seems to be a primarily close-range fighter. Weiss' best chance at winning is long ranged attacks via Dust and her glyphs until she can find an opening for her summons."

Aloy charged Weiss in a blur of white and blue, her Keyblade flashed in the light as she attacked in a burst of slashes in rapid succession at her unsuspecting opponent. Weiss blocked her blade with her own, using her right hand to create a white glyph beneath her feet. She jumped away in a backwards summersault to avoid Aloy, who swung her Keyblade down in the place Weiss had stood a fraction of a second beforehand.

Weiss' glyph had given her the time she needed to rotate on the spot twice before slamming Myrtenaster into the steel surface of the platform. A wall of ice burst from the tip of the blade and spread out in wave of ice shards, forcing the Keyblade wielder to jump into a barrel roll away from the impending spikes.

Using Aloy's dodge as a distraction, Weiss quickly activated several light blue glyphs. The Heiress shouted as she spun her right hand, her movements firing five ice Dust missiles at the Keyblade wielder. Aloy widened her stance as she stood her ground against the barrage of ice missiles aiming to hit her all at once. Yearning Heart was forced into a rapid spin, the blade slicing apart the ice projectiles a hair's breadth before they pierced through Aloy's Aura.

There was a brief pause in the fight as the combatants stood still, their chests moving rapidly to gasp for breath; although it was clear to the audience that Weiss was more worn-out than Aloy. The brief hiatus of the fight seemed surprisingly serene as the air seemed to shimmer, the broken ice Dust missiles showering the fighters in a light dusting of snow.

"What a beautiful display of technique by both competitors!" Professor Port's words broke the tranquil scene before them as both women shifted their weapons back into fighting position.

"Indeed, truly stunning work!" Dr. Oobleck quickly agreed.

"Come on, Weiss. You're doing great." Ruby muttered mostly to herself as she perched on the edge of her seat. "Hang in there, partner."

Weiss took the reprise to catch her breath as she quickly flicked her eyes over at the holo-screen showing that her Aura was depleting rapidly, but still remaining well above the danger zone. The Heiress slowly shifted her right foot forward as she saw Aloy adjust the grip of her Keyblade. Neither fighter moved as they tensed their muscles for the next incoming attack.

After several seconds anxiously passed, it was Weiss who finally broke the unspoken stalemate. Forming a string of white glyphs in a semi-circle, Weiss used the track made by her Semblance to shoot around the Keyblade wielder in a blur of speed, hoping to catch Aloy off guard from behind.

Aloy's steely blue eyes tracked her movement until Weiss was directly behind her. Without warning Aloy turned on the spot, sweeping Yearning Heart into a wide arch at Weiss' exposed midriff. Weiss summoned a white glyph in perfect tandem of her jump, so that the sharp curve of the Keyblade passed harmlessly beneath her feet.

Time seemed to slow down as Weiss effortlessly evaded the sweeping blade, her face inches away from Aloy's as the other fighter had leaned into her strike. Weiss' Aura hummed in response to the other woman's proximity, the short white hairs on her arms standing on end as Weiss focused on the buzzing sensation that almost overwhelmed her. The faintest white glow of her Aura surround her, and much to her surprise, Aloy's own Aura flashed white in response before fading. The action was so brief, Weiss wondered if it was just a trick of the stadium lights, never having seen her Aura react such a way before during battle.

But the Heiress had no time to dwell on the strange phenomenon as she quickly created a black gravity glyph under her feet, effectively blocking Aloy's counter-strike and acting as a surface to jump off Aloy's swinging Keyblade. While jumping off Aloy's blade, Weiss simultaneously trapped Aloy's feet with an identical gravity glyph that forced the older woman to remain immobile. Knowing that the effects of the gravity glyph were only temporary, Weiss used Aloy's momentum from her attack to fling herself across the stage and temporarily out of harm's way, casting a golden glyph at her landing zone.

The moment her feet touched down on stage, the golden glyph at her feet formed a large circle with moving gears that turned into a large clock face. The hour and minute hands on the clock began to spin rapidly clockwise. The whirling of the clock's hands created a low thrumming sound in addition to the wind picking up around Weiss, as she used her right hand to create a circle of white glyphs to surround Aloy. The Keyblade wielder struggled to move her feet, but they remained grounded to the arena's flooring.

Weiss paused for a few precious moments as her body bathed in golden light, allowing the time dilation technique to reach full effect, before using the additional time to speed up her movements. The gravity glyph at Aloy's feet dissipated just as Weiss shot forward and struck her opponent with her rapier, only to bounce off one of her glyphs and change direction to land another strike on the Keyblade wielder; each hit slowly chipping away at Aloy's Aura. A small dust cloud formed from the speed of Weiss' attacks, Aloy unable to defend herself from the relentless assault.

The Huntress was a blur of white as her time dilation technique allowed her to reach and rebound off each white glyph, thus allowing her to strike at Aloy at all angles in a deviating attack. Aloy was thrown into the air as she was struck at all sides, before one final hit forced her to be flung at the far side of the floating stage. The audience seemed to collectively hold their breath as it appeared the Keyblade wielder would be knocked out of the arena.

Aloy's body flew through the air at an alarming rate before she threw her Keyblade into the ground several feet in front of her at the edge of the stage, the curved heart-shaped teeth of the blade biting into the steel flooring panels. Aloy twisted so that her feet landed on the neck and handle of the Keyblade, her body hunched over as the force of her unorthodox landing pushed the Keyblade a foot back in a deafening screech as the Damascus steel of Yearning Heart cut into the metal flooring.

The dust kicked up from Weiss' attack settled, revealing Aloy with her back straightened, balancing perched on top of her Keyblade less than an inch from the floating platform's edge.

Aloy grimaced as her Aura shimmered pure white as the protective life-force lost part of its strength from Weiss' assault. But what drew everyone's eye in the stadium was in Aloy's left hand a new weapon had appeared in flash of bright sunlight.

Weiss recognized the weapon as another Keyblade, the design catching her eye as she took in this new development. The blade had double shafted steel rods, the cross guard forming a small heart before faring out around the handle into two angel wings. The teeth of the Keyblade were comprised of a steel heart that merged with a seven-pointed star that faded from bright neon blue to a rich gold. Hanging off the handle's end was a small star keychain made of small pink and yellow shells tied with a small blue bird's feather.

The Keyblade was as beautiful as it appeared dangerous.

'… Double shit.'

Back up in the stands Titus leaned forward in his seat and rubbed his eyes against the light that radiated from Aloy's new blade.

"Aloy's using Oathkeeper!? Oh, your friend is so screwed…" Titus jeered as he smirked over at the girls sitting behind him.

Blake shifted in her seat as she took in the two Keyblades, her eyes shifting from the blade stuck in the ground that Aloy was balancing on, and the one now residing in her left hand. "What Keyblade was she using before?"

Before Titus could speak, he was cut off by his quieter partner. "Its name is Ya'arburnee." Ryu spoke, his accent thick as he spoke the foreign sounding name.

"But Yearning Heart is easier to remember." Titus shrugged as he turned back towards the match below.

Ryu slowly nodded in agreement. "Yes, as it is the blade's common-tongue name. Aloy rarely uses Oathkeeper and Yearning Heart together. She must find your teammate a worthy opponent."

Winter laced her fingers as she watched this new development. "Come one Weiss, this is no different than my sword and dagger technique. Keep a steady head, little sister…You know what you need to do." Winter muttered under her breath.

Ruby glanced over at the older Schnee sibling. "Is Weiss going to be okay? You've been training with her the last few days, but I'm not sure if she knows how to counter this."

Winter's eyes observed the two fighters below before nodding. "Yes, she'll be fine. Weiss still has a few tricks up her sleeve… One I've been working on with her diligently. As long as she gives herself enough time for the technique, she should be able to get back the upper hand."

Weiss adjusted her grip on Myrtenaster, feeling anxious at the appearance of the second Keyblade. She had been prepared to face Aloy with one blade, but two?! Weiss scowled as she tried to think of a new strategy to counteract the duel Keyblader wielder.

'This isn't good. Come on, Weiss… Think –Think!' Weiss' thoughts on battle tactics whirled in her head as she quickly took in the scene before her. Weiss was skilled with a blade and could hold her own against a master blade wielder like Aloy, but the black and silver-haired woman was secretly a duel swordsman, which meant that Weiss was underhanded in a hand-to-hand combat style match.

'My earlier strategy of using glyphs and Dust-based attacks seemed to work, so I guess I'll just have to try to keep her at a distance until I can think of something.' The Heiress narrowed her eyes as she observed the Keyblade wielder. 'I need to be able to engage Aloy in close combat without being actually near her, that way she'll be distracted by the assault as I look for an opening to take her out… But how can I do that without getting near those blades? ...That's it! This isn't practicing with Winter anymore, but I should have enough Aura for this. I just need a little more time!'

Weiss nodded to herself as she raised Myrtenaster to point at her opponent. Without warning Weiss changed to the white crystals in her Dust chamber and swung out with her blade creating a large wave of wind, followed by casting three light blue glyphs that fired short blasts of ice Dust missiles, hoping to push the Keyblade wielder off the stage's platform. But Aloy held her ground using Oathkeeper to quickly cut down the Dust missiles, all the while remaining balanced on the other Keyblade.

Aloy flashed a brief smirk before executing a perfect horizontal spinning summersault off the grounded Keyblade. While still in midair, Aloy stretched out with her right foot, hooking the handle of Yearning Heart onto her boot. As her left foot touches the ground, Aloy used the momentum of her spin to push off the ground again and launched Yearning Heart forward with her right foot; the Keyblade flying through the air like a javelin targeted on Weiss' surprised face.

Weiss raised her weapon to block the flying Keyblade, barely bringing her own blade up in time – let along cast a glyph for a shield. The Damascus steel deflected off Myrtenaster, Weiss having redirected the Keyblade centimeters from her face causing a few small bangs to be sliced off.

Weiss didn't have time to reflect on her almost decapitation, for while she had blocked Aloy's attack, Aloy had run in a wide circle opposite Weiss' position to collect the deflected Yearning Heart with her right hand, Oathkeeper posed for the attack in her left.

With a mighty yell Aloy launched herself into the air, rotating on the way down so that both of her Keyblades slashed at the Heiress in a spinning wheel of blades. They traded blows in a dance of flashing steel: Weiss jabbing at defensive openings and using glyphs to deflect any other stray hit, while Aloy rushed the Huntress with slashing combos of elaborate blade work. Aloy was ruthless in her attacks thrusting forward with Oathkeeper only to be followed up with a diagonal vertical strike from Yearning Heart. Weiss parried with Myrtenaster, having to create a glyph in her right hand to protect her palm from her own blade's edge as she reached out on the length of her blade to block double vertical hits from above. Aloy's Keyblades rebounded off the two handed guard, only to use the kinetic energy transferred from the blow to spin her blades by their handles and strike out in duel slashes.

With each attack Aloy's speed increased as she effortless wielded both Keyblades in perfect unison. Weiss thought Aloy was dangerous before with one Keyblade, but now Aloy was almost unstoppable. In a last ditch effort to keep up with the whirlwind of blades, Weiss cast another time dilation glyph at her feet to help speed up her defensive parries before casting a gravity glyph to catch Aloy's next strike in mid-air. This disruption of Aloy's advance allowed Weiss to summersault away from the silver-haired woman.

Not wanting to wait a moment as Aloy's Keyblade was still stuck in place with Weiss' glyph, she closed her eyes in concentration and twirled Myrtenaster so that the blade faced towards the sky before twisting on her legs and slamming the blade point first into the stage. The moment the tip of the rapier touched the floor, a brilliant white glyph formed – a beast of pure light roared as it was brought into existence. The summoned Boarbatusk snorted loudly as it pawed a hoof into the platform before charging the stuck fighter.

"What's this?! Weiss Schnee is using the ultimate form of her Semblance: the hereditary ability of Grimm summoning!" Professor Port voice boomed over the roar of the crowd as the audience cheered for the Huntress from Beacon.

"Indeed, the amount of focus and Aura control needed to complete a summoning of this size during a fight is simply amazing. I wonder if this will be the last of this technique we see from Miss Schnee tonight?" Dr. Oobleck stated to his podium partner.

The gravity glyph holding Aloy in place dissipated just as she was struck by the white and blue beast. Aloy's eyes widened as she jumped into a barrel roll to avoid the tusks and spines on its back as the summoned Grimm jumped into a spiraling body roll, the Boarbatusk's spines carving up the steel of the platform in its wake.

"Whoa! Your friend's a summoner too?!" Titus shouted as he pointed towards the glowing Grimm that was being knocked to the side by Aloy's duel blades in a mid-air strike, only to change directions and charge the jumping Keyblade wielder.

Blake leaned forward in her seat to catch the attention of the youngest member of Team HART. "What do you mean by 'too'?"

Before the young boy could answer, their attention was drawn back to the fight below as Aloy jumped to the far side of the platform, only to land in a semi-kneeling position and thrust Yearning Heart into the floor and turning the Keyblade to the side.

For a tense moment, nothing seemed to happen as Aloy bowed her head as she kneeled before the long white-haired Huntress and her summoned Grimm. Suddenly the wind picked up, Aloy's short silvery hair and white long coat whipping around in the storm. All of a sudden Aloy was cast in a rainbow of light as the blinding glow of a kaleidoscope of colors emitted from the base of the Keyblade, the colored lights forming a circular panel of stained glass.

Weiss gasped as Aloy rose to reveal the elaborate fractal mosaic that revolved at her feet, the stained glass casting the Keyblade wielder in a mystical glow.

'This all seems familiar, like a far off memory… Where have I seen this before?'

The colorful images triggered something in the far reaches of her mind: vague memories of colorful stained glass, a mosaic of light surrounded by shadows, the image captured in the glass was someone she should know…

'Ruby, maybe? No. That didn't seem right…'

It was right on the tip of her tongue. The memory blurring in her mind… Or was it a dream?

Weiss was startled back to reality as the stained glass dais was obscured with wisps of shadows, the vapor forming into dozens of pitch black humanoid-like creatures that crawled out of the stained glass portal. The creatures came up to Aloy's waist with each shadow-being having glowing yellow eyes, two tendril-like ears, and small sharp fingers.

Weiss continued to stare in a mix of awe and horror as each creature turned to scratch at Aloy's hands, the exposed skin being cut with razor thin cuts that oozed blood down her finger-tips. Once the Shadows had taken their toll of flesh, their glowing yellow eyes turned to fixate on the shocked Heiress and her glowing summon – the Grimm feeling the nervous shift of Weiss' Aura at the appearance of the shadow creatures. The summoned Grimm pawed the ground as Weiss stood fixated on the bizarre scene before her.

"Ladies and Gentleman, I believe we are witnessing Aloy's Semblance: Shadow Swarm!" Professor Oobleck eagerly shouted over the roar of the audience.

Ryu shook his head slowly, his eyes never wavering from his teammate's glowing form. "They are wrong, that is not Aloy's Semblance."

"I had to put something down on the registration forms." Titus argued as he turned to glare at his partner in exasperation.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Winter asked as she crossed her arms, a deep frown gracing her stern face.

"So that's where the Ice Queen picked up that line from." Yang chuckled to Blake, as Winter shot her a withering look. Yang had the sense to look away and appear sheepish at being overheard.

"You could have at least picked a better name for her summons." Haruka commented.

Titus shrugged. "I was pressed for time, okay? Sorry I suck at naming things. I kind of had my hands full with the paperwork, because someone refused to help!" He shot his partner a sarcastic look.

Ryu shrugged. "You had it handled."

The spectators in the stands were distracted as Aloy's summons had reached the point where the shadow creatures covered almost the entire stage. Removing Yearning Heart from the flooring with a flourish, Aloy pointed her Keyblade at the stunned Heiress as the mass swam of Shadows turn their beady yellow eyes at the Grimm summon and surged forward in a mass of darkness. The white Boarbatusk thrashed around violently, trying to throw off the creatures of darkness, but to no avail. Within seconds the summoned Grimm was overpowered and dissolved into thin air. As if they were of one mind, the Shadows turned their heads so that their gazes focused solely on Weiss, who had taken a step back at the destruction of her Grimm.

Weiss flicked Myrtenaster so that the Dust cartage switched to red. Running two fingers down the length of her blade to ignite the Dust, her blade turn bright red having caught on fire. With a loud cry, Weiss slashed her burning blade through the air towards Aloy's summons. They burst into clouds of darkness once the flames reached them, unable to withstand the heat of the waves of flames.

Weiss glanced over at the holo-sceen and noticed that her Aura was only twenty points away from the danger zone. She would have to be careful to finish the match before she lost all of her Aura.

Something flickered in her peripheral vision prompting Weiss to raise her rapier to block the incoming attack. It was her Huntress instincts that allowed her to block Aloy's right side-swipe, but in doing so Weiss had made the grave error of forgetting Aloy's second Keyblade, which had been turned mid-stick so the flat side of Oathkeeper hit the white-haired girl in the side of the head.

Weiss fell to the ground as her vision swam with dark spots, a pounding headache threatening to disable the Huntress. She glanced down at her body as she noticed her white Aura flicker around her, threatening to shatter at the next major hit. Aloy advanced slowly, a deep grimace crossed her face as she stared down at the dazed Huntress, her Keyblades held aloof at her side showing the woman's growing fatigue.

Aloy approached so that she was only a foot away from the downed Huntess. She gestured with Yearning Heart, so that the Keyblade's sharp point was inches away from Weiss' throat. "I will only tell you this once: Stay down."

Weiss swallowed harshly, her eyes never leaving the cool steely gaze of the older woman above her. "I'm not giving up yet." Weiss proclaimed as she spotted Myrtenaster lying several inches to the left of Keyblade wielder's feet. Aloy scowled at the Heiress' show of defiance.

"Then you're a fool." Aloy growled as she lifted her duel weapons, poised for a final attack. Aloy took a step forward, but before she could strike, her eyes widened in shock and her hands trembled.

"Zyun?" Aloy stared down at Weiss in growing confusion. The older woman glanced away and shook her head. "No, he's not here… Just a trick of the light." The Keyblade wielder seemed to reassure herself, before lifting her weapons and pointed them back at the Huntress who lay before her. "I'm sorry…"

Before Aloy could strike down at Weiss, the Huntress recalled a defensive move Yang had showed her during their last practice bout in Professor Goodwitch's combat class. She had very little practice perfecting the move, but as Yang says, there's no time quite like the present. Shifting her weight onto her right leg, Weiss kicked out with her left foot in a large arch, effectively sweeping Aloy's right leg from under her.

"Hell yeah! I taught her that. Way to go, Weiss!" Yang yelled from the stands as Weiss used a white glyph to summersault away from her downed opponent.

"Nice trick, but you'll need more than that to stop me, Schnee!" Aloy grunted as she regained her balance. Weiss raised her weapon to strike, but hesitated when she noticed Aloy's pupils blowing wide, the woman looking at Weiss, but not really seeing her.

"Aloy?" Weiss' worried voice seemed to go unheard as the Keyblade wielder stabbed both of her weapons into the ground and used her free hands to grasp at her eyes.

"Get a hold of yourself, Aloy. He's not there. They have him… He's not here." Aloy muttered.

"Aloy! Snap out of it!" Weiss shouted as she pointed her rapier at the crazed older woman. "Do we need to call the match?"

"No, no… I need more time. Stop it! I said STOP!" Aloy yelled, before grabbing her Keyblades and running in full sprint at Weiss, a manic glaze over her steel blue eyes.

"What the –" Weiss jumped out of the way as Aloy's blades hissed through the air centimeters from her face. Using the momentum of her dodge, she flicked her Dust cartridge to revolve until it landed on light blue. Slashing her blade to the side, Weiss created a large barrier of ice blocking Aloy's next attack. The Heiress flipped Myrtenaster so that the tip slammed into the ground. As soon as the blade hit the floor, a large spiraling glyph appeared where a giant white Alpha Beowolf crawled its way out of it.

"Wow! I didn't know Weiss got so good at summoning!" Yang yelled as she leaned forward in her seat, as to not miss any action down on the floating platform.

Winter smirked with pride. "She's been practicing with me. Weiss can summon more if she puts her mind to it."

"Something's wrong."

Winter glanced away to look over at her sister's partner who had spoken in a confused tone.

"Aloy's attacks are becoming more erratic. But I don't think it's from fatigue, she seems… angry, or maybe confused?" Ruby commented as she gripped the sides of her chair until her knuckles turned white.

"Weiss will be okay, Ruby." Blake assured her leader. "I'm sure it's just an adrenaline rush."

Ruby shook her head. "I'm telling you, something doesn't seem right. But I'm not sure what. I've just got this feeling right here." Ruby placed a fist over her stomach as she watched Aloy dodge Weiss' advancing Beowolf.

Their attention was drawn back to the Keyblade user as she used Yearning Heart to block the snapping jowls of the Alpha Beowolf. Flipping Oathkeeper with her left hand, Aloy slammed the blade into the ground while still fighting off the Grimm. Within seconds the beautiful mosaic of stained glass had returned, as a dark humanoid being emerged from the pulsating platform. Aloy pulled Oathkeeper from the ground so that she could use both weapons to knock Weiss' summon to the side, giving her enough time to give herself some breathing room.

Weiss widened her stance and held her ground as she faced Aloy's new summon, but what she saw only continued to confuse the Heiress. Aloy's summon was a humanoid creature made from the same pitch black darkness as the previous Shadows, but this being appeared as copy of Aloy herself.

Back in the stands, Nora jumped from her seat, catching the attention of the two teams below. "Wow! Your friend is really not pulling any punches."

"You are right in your concern, Ruby." Haruka's eyes narrowed as she took in the form of Aloy's latest summon. "Something's wrong... She would never summon that for a simple match."

Ryu nodded. "A Heartless of that size and strength would cost Aloy far too much…"

"A what?" Blake asked, having heard the termed used to describe Aloy's summons.

"Aloy can summon creatures of pure darkness, similar to your Grimm. We call them Heartless, as they do not possess a heart… Nor a soul." Haruka explained as she observed the Heartless duplicate of Aloy slowly approach the original summoner. The Heartless' copy of Oathkeeper held at the ready in its left hand, while the shadow Yearning Heart dragged on the stage with an eerie screech of steel on the stage's metal flooring.

Haruka's eyes narrowed at the sight of the approaching Heartless that was slowly advancing on her partner. "But to do so costs her greatly. What are you thinking, Aloy?" The last part was spoken in lower tones mostly to herself, as the leader of Team HART observed the shocking scene below, along with the people seated around her.

Aloy held out her left arm to the approaching Heartless, who in turn used their sinister Keyblade to slash at the offered flesh. The Heartless' attack pierced through Aloy's Aura without resistance, as easily as the smaller Shadows had with their own marks. The white sleeve of Aloy's coat turned red as the gash below the cloth seeped blood through the thick material.

Weiss took a step back as her Beowolf growled at the two opposing Keyblade users. Without warning Aloy and her Heartless took off in a blur of color as each being ran in opposite directions towards the Huntress and her glowing summon. Aloy jumped over towards her summon double who used their blades to push the real Aloy further into the air. She then used the momentum of her fall to turn into a dangerous spiral of blades aimed at Weiss – the Heartless Aloy pivoting to face the ghostly Grimm.

Aloy slashed in a spinning wheel of blades, the Heiress using Myrtenaster to block the two Keyblades aimed at her head. Weiss spared no thought towards her Grimm summon as she focused on the blue and white blur before her. She knew that if her focus was continuously distracted by the real Keyblade user, then her summon would not last long against the Heartless copy's assault. It was when using a gravity glyph to help block a blow, that Weiss noticed the open wound on Aloy's left arm was slowing down her attacks by a fraction of a second.

Seeing her opening, Weiss timed her attack so as Aloy thrusted forward with Oathkeeper, followed up with a diagonal vertical strike from Yearning Heart, Weiss parried with Myrtenaster and used her right arm to grab the arm holding Oathkeeper through its thrust. Weiss turned her body with the forward motion of the strike so that she stepped into Aloy's attack and brought the pummel of her own blade into the gash along Aloy's arm.

Aloy screamed in pain as her Aura flashed white at the blow to her arm, causing her to instinctively drop Oathkeeper to the floor. Weiss tried to jump away while the older woman was distracted, only for Aloy to grab Weiss by her ankle and slam the Huntress into the ground using brute force. Weiss hit the ground with enough power that she lost her breath, Myrtenaster clamoring from her grasp and her Aura flashed around her from the blow.

Weiss' Alpha Beowolf fared no better as the giant beast attacked the humanoid Heartless, only for both summons to disappear into the air as bursts of colored mists. Aloy and Weiss panted heavily, their summons having disintegrated since their summoners had taken too much damage to sustain Aura to their existence.

Aloy was the first to rise, blood dripping freely from her left sleeve as she bent down to grab her forgotten Keyblade. Weiss gasped for breath as she scrambled for her blade, only for it to be kicked aside by the Keyblader wielder. Aloy raised her Keyblades so that the razor sharp edges were a matter of inches from Weiss' throat. Once again Weiss found herself in a precarious situation, only Aloy hadn't made the mistake this time of leaving her front foot forward, and Weiss found herself without the physical strength to fight back.

Yearning Heart shook in Aloy's hand as she pointed the blade down towards her fallen opponent. The audience took a collective gasp as she raised her blade up high for a devastating strike, only to stop with her blade held in the air.

"No… I refuse." Aloy lowered her blades to her side, her defeated form still towering over Weiss who was sprawled on the stage. The Heiress let out a deep breath she didn't know she had been holding as she watched the manic gleam fade out from Aloy's eyes.

Without warning the Keyblade wielder whipped her head to the side, her gaze fixed on something not within sight. Her pupils were blown so wide until there was only a small sliver of blue around orbs of black, sweat littered her borrow while her breaths came out in gasps. Aloy's hands shook until she dropped both of her blades, only to screw her eyes shut and grasp at either side of her head.

"GET OUT OF MY HEAD!" Aloy's shouts broke through the cheers of the crowd, startling the white-haired Huntress.

Weiss scrambled away, scooping up her rapier, but held it away from Aloy, not wanting to spook the silver-haired woman. "What's going on?!"

"Enough of this… We need more time."A sudden calm washed over the older woman as Aloy bent down to grab her blades, ignoring frightened look on her opponent's face. When Aloy next spoke, her words echoed as if joined by a chorus of voices.

"A scattered dream that's like a far-off memory…"

Aloy took a step towards the stunned Heiress and swung Yeaning Heart upward so that the blade pointed towards the open sky in front of her face, Oathkeeper crossed over her other blade facing to her right. Turning the blades in a flashing spiral, Aloy pointed her weapons so that Yearning Heart now pointed left while Oathkeeper was spun to face downwards in a reverse grip. As soon as the movements were completed, a large golden glowing symbol formed at her feet in the style of the four cardinal points on a compass rose. Using only gentle movements of her wrists, the Keyblades rotated in opposite directions arching to form two semi-circles, the movements leaving an after image of blades.

"… A far-off memory that's like a scattered dream."

A low thrumming hum filled the air as the glowing compass rose began to spin so that the circular diagram expanded to form below both of their positions. As soon as Aloy spoke the second line of the incantation, bright white runes and symbols not found on Remnant formed within the glowing circle, lighting up the arena with their mysterious glow. As the spinning compass points reached their peak momentum, a large, neon blue stylized heart formed in the center of the luminescent glyph. With each rotation of the compass' points, the heart's symbol shone brightly as if it was gaining strength from the symbol's movement. Around the edge of the spiraling symbol a dark mist rose to form a cloud of darkness that crept over the platform's stage and filled the air with its shadows.

"I want to line the pieces up…"

Aloy slowly approached Weiss as each set of footsteps brought the Keyblade wielder closer to her challenger. Weiss' limbs felt heavy, as if no amount of struggling would have released her from the enchantment's hold. The world seemed to slow around them, the audience captured in time as all sound was muffled. It was as if a dial on the volume turned the stadium's sound down to the lowest setting. Aloy's hand reached out so that her fingertips were inches away from Weiss' sternum.

"Yours…"

Weiss' heart beat rapidly as Aloy's cold fingertips brushed over the exposed skin over her heart. This action created a blinding flash of light that cut through the clouds of darkness which surrounded them. The glowing diagram beneath their feet shone with the light of the sun, a spark of hope amongst the emergent desolation of the vast wasteland of darkness that threatened to envelope the arena.

"… And mine."

Weiss let out a silent scream as she felt herself fall backwards, but at the moment where her back should have hit the floor of the stage, her body passed straight through the metal. No light followed her on her transition to this other plane of existence. Her vision filled with darkness as she slowly fell to the unseen surface below – For the first time since enrolling at Beacon Academy, Weiss felt truly alone.

[-][-][-]

To the outside world, Weiss and Aloy had suddenly vanished in a flash of bright light. There was a collective gasp from the audience as just as suddenly as the events started, the two fighters were gone leaving behind only an arena consumed with darkness.

"What's going on? Where are the contenders?" Professor Port could be heard on the speaker over the clamor of the crowd's growing confusion.

"Their Auras are not registering anymore!" Dr. Oobleck shouted into his microphone.

"Will someone please tell me what is going on?!" Professor Port's demanding voice boomed over the speakers as he turned around in his seat to yell at the technicians behind him.

"That's Aloy's Semblance." Ryu spoke softly, but his words were heard by the teams sitting behind him.

Ruby stared at the holo-screen, grimacing at the red flashing stats of both competitors that showed their Aura levels were no longer registering on the monitor. From watching the previous matches, Ruby knew that when a competitor was defeated their Aura would simply show a zero marker, not this weird flashing sequence.

Ruby turned to the team that sat below her, placing her hand on Titus' shoulder to grab his attention. "Where did they go?" But before the boy could answer her, he was interrupted by his team leader.

"Aloy took them to the Dive into the Heart." Haruka stated as she abruptly stood up and adjusted her Keyblade which was strapped over her right shoulder.

Winter stood up to confront the anxious looking team leader. "Where are you going?!"

Haruka nodded towards the announcer's press box and VIP section of the stands. "To stop the match – Aloy's going to get herself killed. At this rate, she might do the same to Weiss if I don't try to stop it." She turned around to face her teammates; Titus' face showing his growing concern while Ryu sat with his arms crossed, his expression one of seriousness. "Titus stay here. Ryu, you're in charge until I get back. I'm going to find the Headmaster."

The leader of Team HART took off through the stands as the students sitting in the audience watched her go, their confusion and concern for their friends growing by the second.

[-][-][-]

All of this was unknown to the Heiress as Weiss continued to drift down into the darkness that threatened to eradicate her existence. What light was left from the surface world turned to darkness as Weiss' body righted itself and floated down into place. The moment her foot touched the surface of wherever she was, a swarm of birds flew away revealing a radiant colored platform of stained glass.

The colored glass mosaic lit up the darkness in its brilliance, so much so that it took several moments for Weiss' eyes to adjust to the light and take in the colored scene that lay before her feet. She let out a small gasp as she recognized the woman pictured below her feet as Aloy.

The silver-haired woman was dressed similarly to as she was now, but unharmed and with a contemplative expression etched onto her face. Above her head were three smaller circular mosaics of the headshots of the other members of Team HART: Titus with his trademark smirk, Ryu's stern grimace with his dark hair tied in his signature topknot, and directly above them all laid Haruka with a small smile as she confidently looked down at her standing teammate. The stained glass form of Aloy was standing over what appeared to be her own shattered reflection, the imaged captured by either a mirror or pool of water unseen by the observer.

Weiss stepped closer to the image presented in front of her, wanting to take in as much detail as she could in the unknown period of time she would be trapped here. Indeed it was after a few more seconds of observation that Weiss found that she could not make out the features of the shadow that represented Aloy's reflection – nor could she see the features of the three other silhouettes that surrounded the shattered image of Aloy. Weiss felt unnerved as several things became apparent the longer she stared at the image captured in the stained glass. Aloy's reflection, while truthfully rather indistinct from the broken glass, did not seem to match Aloy's standing form; furthermore the three silhouettes surrounding this shattered likeness also did not resemble the members of Aloy's current team.

Weiss' mind was suddenly filled with flashes of a world filled with darkness, a different stained glass mosaic below her feet. That time, be it a memory or a dream, Weiss knew she wasn't alone… And while her memories were still chaotic, the Huntress knew she wasn't accompanied by Aloy during her last experience with this place.

"I've been here before…" Weiss took a step back in confusion. "Where are we?" Weiss' words seemed to echo slightly as she gazed around the room in wonder.

"We are in the Dive into the Heart… Somewhere far from your world."

To the Heiress' surprise the question was answered by someone standing on the opposite side of the glowing mosaic. After a few seconds of squinting, Weiss recognized the speaker as Aloy herself as she stared down at her likeness captured beneath her feet.

"What do you mean, your world?" Weiss shook her head in confusion. "You talk as if you don't belong here."

Aloy looked away from her shattered reflection to lock eyes with the younger Huntress. "I don't. Not really anyway. This world is one of many, and it's in trouble."

"I don't understand… Why have you brought me here?" Weiss asked as she gestured around at the glowing mosaic below her feet.

"Because I'm desperate!" Aloy shouted, taking a sudden step forward before hanging her head in defeat. Her next words were spoken in a hushed whisper. "I don't know what to do."

"I – I don't understand." Weiss replied, barely taking note to how her voice shook as she answered the seemingly unstable fighter.

"Someone is messing with me head… Making me see things." Aloy answered, her now bloodied fingertips pressing on either side of her skull. "Horrible things…"

"Who is doing this to you?" Weiss asked as she strapped her weapon back to her side and held out her hands in what the Heiress hoped would be seen as a non-threatening manner. "What are they making you see?"

"I don't know what's going on, but they are making me see him, Zyun!" Aloy's eyes darted around as if expecting to see something or someone else with them. "They have Haruka' brother, Zyun. If I don't beat you, if I don't slow you down – if I don't try to kill you, then they will kill him."

Weiss felt herself pale as she heard the orders given to the Keyblade wielder. No wonder the woman had seemed like such a mess before and during their match. "Who has him?"

"Those who control the Heartless." Aloy answered cryptically as she locked eyes with Weiss, ice blue eyes meeting wild steel blue. "Please, we don't have much time. I brought you here to talk, and while time is momentarily slowed down in your world, we only have minutes before the people who took Zyun know what I've done."

Weiss tightened her hands into fists as she stared at the disturbed fighter. Her Huntress training kicked in at the seriousness of the situation. "Aloy, I need you to try to calm down and concentrate. Who sent you to kill me?"

Aloy shook her head and seemed to harden her resolve. "A woman named Cinder and I suspect whoever is manipulating my mind – I'm not sure how, but they're making me see and hear things that are not there. Cinder had the mark of the Heartless on her, but I couldn't find the mind manipulator."

Very little of what was said made sense to the Huntress in training, but Weiss ignored her confusion for now as she attempted to gather as much information as possible from the distressed fighter.

"Are they here in the stadium?" Weiss asked, her mind simultaneously devising a plan to get word out to her teammates as soon as possible. They needed to know what was being said between them here in this strange void; although Weiss had a feeling that if she tried to record their conversation on her scroll, nothing would be picked up by the scroll's speakers. Her attention was drawn back to the Keyblade wielder who was now pacing over the spot directly above her likeness' glass head. The sight was rather unnerving, and while Weiss had a ton of questions about the image depicted in the stain glass at their feet, she had a feeling that now was not the time for such idle chit-chat.

"I'm not sure. Cinder found me before the match. She showed me a picture of Zyun on a cell phone-like devise." Weiss cocked her head in confusion at the unfamiliar term, but Aloy continued in her tirade before the white-haired girl could question the strange comment. "He seemed to be held in a place I didn't recognize, with his body surrounded by Heartless."

Now that caught Weiss' attention. The same term 'Heartless' had been used multiple times now and yet it still made no sense to the Huntress. "He's being held by what now?"

Aloy made a vague gesture towards her cut hands and bleeding arm. "Heartless… They are the same creatures of darkness I can summon." Aloy looked down at her bleeding arm. "Only the one's they control are far more ruthless than the ones I can use."

"Do you know why they want to kill me?" Weiss asked as she tried to keep a calm façade at the unnerving situation.

Aloy shook her head slowly. "She didn't tell me. It could be either used as a distraction, you could be a serious target for them, or it could be so that you wouldn't be involved in their future plans. Honestly, I don't know and I don't believe we'll have the luxury of finding out before it's too late."

'This is bad.' Weiss thought to herself, grabbing her chin while she took in all of this new information. "Okay, so what's the plan?"

Aloy shook her head. "I'm not sure. I couldn't think up a plan without somehow getting you involved, hence why I brought you here with me. Once it became clear that I would not be able to easily defeat you in a fight, I needed a few minutes with you alone and without the possibility of more casualties."

Weiss nodded at Aloy's logic, and yet scowled when she considered Aloy's methods of getting her here. 'Wherever here is…'

"Very well, you have my attention now." Weiss replied, trying and failing at toning down the level of sass that could be heard in the comment.

Aloy flinched at the Heiress' sarcastic words. "I'm sorry, but I was getting desperate. Like I said, I was ordered to take you out – kill you if I could, or they would kill Zyun. And obviously I don't want to kill you…" Aloy paused in her movements as she glanced over at her companion.

"Thank you." Weiss replied, once again lacing her voice with sarcasm.

Aloy waved her off as she continued in her pacing. "From what I figured out, we need to put an end to this battle without having to murder one another. However, if I suddenly stop trying to harm you…"

"Our enemies will know something is up, if they don't already." Weiss finished Aloy's trailing thought.

"Exactly." Aloy slammed a fist into her hand, punctuating her word with the sudden action. "So we need to not only continue with the match, but I need to put on a show so that these Heartless users think I am using my full strength to take you out."

"Meanwhile, I need to try to get the attention of my teammates and sister so that we can warn them of our predicament." Weiss mirrored Aloy's stance as she considered her part of the plan.

"Can you do that? It's not like you can make a phone call in the middle of our fight." Aloy asked as she crossed her arms in question.

"I'm not sure what you mean by a phone call, but I have a system figured out with Winter just for things like this… Although I'll admit this would be the first time using it in battle." Weiss replied as she stared down briefly at her feet.

"But it will work?" Aloy asked as she tilted her head to better look at the younger girl before her.

"Yes." Weiss glanced away from her feet and nodded vigorously, already calculating the exact amount of Aura she would need to complete the task. She should have just enough to get Winter's attention. "And it will be discrete enough not to get anyone else's attention to what we are doing."

"Good. That's good." Aloy took a deep breath as she considered her options. "As for the match itself, we will need to be careful and calculating in our movements. There's one last summon I can use that will be enough to put on a show, but to do so will basically put me out of commission in terms of what you call Aura."

"Then we'll use it, whatever you got planned." Weiss nodded.

"Very well then, I will summon a Darkside for you to face. But just so you know, Schnee, I'm not going to tell you what it will look like, nor what will happen to me because of it, as we need your reaction to be genuine." Aloy stood still as she addressed the Heiress.

"How do you know you'll get the reaction you'll need from me?" Weiss placed her hands on her hips as she replied to the Keyblade user. "And why bother telling me your summon's name then?"

"Oh, I have no doubt your reaction will be genuine." Aloy smirked as she stared at the Huntress' unconvinced look. "And you should always know the name of your opponent, Schnee. After all, names have power in this world and in the next."

"Right… So in order to get us to get out of this alive, we'll need to take both of us out at the same time." Weiss reasoned, resting her hand on her chin again. The action was something she had unknowingly picked up from Ruby after their time as partners together.

Aloy nodded at Weiss' logic. "A double knockout. That way I have no way of further harming you, while you are still technically out of the way."

"You keep saying that… Out of the way. What do you mean by that?"

Aloy shrugged. "Again, I'm not entirely sure... But if they wanted you gone, it can mean nothing good."

Weiss nodded. "Alright, just try to avoid my face. I have enough scars there as is."

Aloy smiled at the Heiress' cheek. "You've got spirit, I like that Schnee. But I make no promises."

Weiss shook her head at the playful banter between them. "How do we get out of here?"

Aloy smiled as she walked up to the shorter girl, reaching for her with an outstretched hand. "Leave that to me."

[-][-][-]

Ruby and Winter both sat at the edge of their seats waiting for the women to appear out of the smoke-like darkness that obscured the arena. It had only been about a minute of time since they had been gone, but in Ruby's opinion that was one minute too long for her partner's absence – something Winter was quick to agree to with the younger Huntress. And yet there was nothing either person could do as Haruka had run off not too long ago, and neither member of Team HART would answer anyone's questions. From the sounds of their replies, they had never seen Aloy do something like this during a fight before. Unfortunately for the Beacon students and military soldier, there was nothing they could do but wait.

Suddenly, Jaune's voice broke their intense staring at the arena below. "Look at the holo-screens! They're registering again."

Sure enough the holo-screens which displayed each fighter's stats had stopped flashing red. Their Aura levels, while still very low, were suddenly working again. The darkness that engulfed the stage slowly dissipated away to reveal two forms which were now standing several yards apart.

"There they are! See Ren, I told you they would be fine." Nora's yelling could be heard over the shouts of the shocked spectators.

Ruby's body visibly relaxed as she spotted her partner down on the floating platform, looking a bit frazzled by the events that had just taken place, but otherwise unharmed. Before Ruby could relax complexly, the two fighters had full on charged at each other in blurs of white and blue, once again engaging the other in close combat.

"What's going on? It's like they weren't even fazed by what happened." Yang commented a few chairs away from her sister as the blonde watched her teammate with apparent confusion.

"Maybe nothing happened to them?" Blake responded as she watched Weiss form a glyph to jump out of the Keyblade's wicked reach.

"A trick of the light then?" Yang replied, not sounding all too convinced by her partner's words.

"No, something else going on." Winter stated, as she stared down at her sister. "Come on, Weiss… Give me something."

"What are you looking for?" Ruby turned to look at the Atlesian soldier who was staring intently at her sibling below. No sooner as the words left her mouth, than Weiss did something that captured their full attention. The white-haired girl had flipped away from a vicious blow to the head by Aloy, only to flare her Aura in three bursts of white light before landing some few feet away.

"Her Aura shattered? But I didn't see Weiss get hit." Blake stated as she narrowed her amber eyes towards the fight, her feline ears twitching below the tied bow.

"She wasn't hit. That was a signal for me." Winter replied. Closing her eyes in concentration, the older Schnee tapped into her Aura reserves so that her own Aura visibly flashed thrice in response. To anyone else watching, the responding action being performed by Winter would have gone unnoticed. But to the older Schnee sister, the message was loud and clear: Contact has been established. Message ready to be received.

Winter wiped out her scroll as she trained her eyes on Weiss' right hand, which free from wielding Myrtenaster, was quickly tapping out a rhythm onto her thigh in rapid succession. Winter quickly typed out the corresponding taps into their translated text on her scroll, the crude Morse code appearing to look like a nervous tick coming from Weiss. The young Heiress continued to tap out a simplistic pattern on her leg while still fending off the skilled Keyblade fighter.

Once Winter realized Weiss' gestures were repeating themselves, she glanced down at her screen to see what the text spelled out: P-E-T-P-U-P.

Ruby glanced over at Winter's screen. "What's Petpup?"

"I'm not sure." Winter frowned as she stared at the screen trying to see the message behind the code. "But it must be important if that's Weiss' message."

Ruby reached up with her left hand to rub her chin in thought. "Well, I don't know what Petpup means, but Puppet is also confusing."

"What do you mean by Puppet? Where did you get that?" Winter asked incredulously at the young Huntress seated next to her. The girl pointed out the text starting at the middle of the word.

"If you read the letters starting from here it spells out 'Puppet'." Ruby answered, oblivious to the bewilderment of the older soldier.

Winter shook her head as she flicked her gaze away from Ruby and over to Weiss' battle below.

"Puppet… Puppet… As in one of them is a puppet? Or a machine?" Ruby asked. "Not that I would know anyone like that…" Ruby continued to say, her voice trailing off suddenly.

Winter slowly shook her head. "I don't think it's meant to be literal."

Ruby let out a sigh of relief and nodded at the older woman's logic. "So one of them is acting like a puppet."

Winter nodded vigorously. "Exactly. I imagine she means Aloy in the case. We can assume then Aloy's actions, or perhaps the reasoning behind them, are not her own." Winter once again closed her eyes in concentration as she flared her Aura twice in bursts of white. Weiss would surely be keeping an eye out for her sister's response, or if not, her own Aura should feel Winter's Aura being activated even from such a great distance. The greater the bond between people, the more their Aura would recognize the other's Aura. It was a strange phenomenon, but in this case it might just as well save someone's life.

Down at on the floating platform, Weiss breathed a quick sigh of relief as she felt Winter's white Aura flash back twice in their secret code: Message received.

Weiss' attention was jerked back to the present as Aloy's blade, Yearning Heart, sliced through the air centimeter's from her face. The strike only having missed because of Weiss' engrained training that made her instinctively duck away from the glancing blow.

"You cannot run from me forever, Schnee!" Aloy shouted towards her fleeing opponent as Weiss used a white glyph to flip away from a follow-up slash with Oathkeeper. Knowing that Aloy's words and actions were now all an act did not detour from the fact that Aloy was still a dangerous opponent. One wrong move on Weiss' part could land her with a matching scar to the face.

Aloy pointed her right Keybalde towards the white-haired Huntress. "If you will not yield, I will make you!"

Aloy dodged a wave of fire Dust that was shot her way as she flipped in the air and landed so that Yearning Heart slammed into the steel flooring of the arena. With a flick of the wrist the Keyblade turned so that the resulting stained glass windows-like portals emerged at her feet.

'I see why her summoning glyphs look like that now.' Weiss thought as she noticed the matching stained glass motif between Aloy's summons and the weird place they had been taken to using Aloy's Semblance. Weiss was surprised to notice that the size of the mosaic glyph was easily three times the size of her pervious summon platforms, the current glyph taking up almost half of the floating platform's surface.

A dark mist emerged from the colorful surface as a huge hand clawed its way out of the stained glass mosaic. Aloy was right in believing Weiss' reaction would be genuine as Weiss felt her rapier lower to her side, along with her mouth hang open in horror as she watched an enormous monster of darkness rip its body from the summoning point. Screams of terror could be heard from the audience as the Heartless slowly emerged from Aloy's summoning symbol.

The Darkside towered over the fighters, almost the size of a small building, with long sharp fingers and pointed feet that ended in quizzical tendrils. Bright yellow eyes shone from a large head that was covered in lengths of shadow strands which moved of their own volition, obscuring its facial features, and reminding Weiss of a tale of a creature with a head full of snakes from legends of old. In the center of the massive Heartless' chest was an open space carved in the shape of a heart. Weiss thought that Heartless was a fitting name for the missing feature across its chest, although it was no less frightening knowing what the monstrosity was called.

Aloy cast her face down and lowered her Keyblades as the Darkside swiveled its massive head towards the Keyblade user. The Heartless lifted a massive claw-like finger at Aloy's stilled form before slashing down with its hand at the fighter's back. Weiss closed her eyes a second before the dark claws reached the Keyblade user's unprotected back.

Weiss squeezed her eyes shut tighter and lifted both hands to cover her ears as blood curdling screams were torn from Aloy's throat. It was a sound that would haunt the Huntress for years to come, as Aloy's screams seemed to echo endlessly in Weiss' ears as the Heartless effortlessly tore through Aloy's flesh.

Weiss gingerly opened her eyes, afraid as to what she might see only to be greeted with the sight of the Darkside towering over Aloy's bloodied hunched form. A pool of blood forming on the platform tiles as gore dripped from the Heartless' claw. Aloy herself had dropped her weapons and crossed her arms over her chest in pain.

Weiss watched as Aloy sank to her knees and slumped forward, so that a deep bloody gash could be seen across Aloy's back from her right shoulder down to her left hip. Her long coat turned red as her blue and black Heartless emblem became covered by the fighter's blood.

"What in Heaven's name are we seeing?!" Professor Port's booming voice echoed over the speaker.

Having completed its gruesome task, the Darkside shifted its soulless gaze onto the horrified Huntress. Weiss couldn't help the involuntary step she took back as the monster of darkness reached for her body, slowly moving its massive limbs towards her still form. Weiss was frozen in fear, having seen the carnage left from the Heartless' strike to Aloy's body. If the Darkside could cause so much damage in one blow to such a skilled fighter, then what hope did Weiss stand against such a creature? Especially since Aloy seemed to not be in control of its actions, the injured Keyblade wielder having not moved from her kneeled position on the opposite side of the arena.

"Stop the match and cut the feed!" Dr. Oobleck's order was heard across the arena and yet the Keyblade wielder's Heartless continued on its rampage toward Weiss' terrified form.

'…shit…Shit…SHIT!' Weiss thoughts shouted in her mind, her fight or flight response causing her body to remain still as adrenalin pumped through her veins and yet hold her immobile as the giant Heartless slowly lumbered towards the frozen Huntress in training.

"Snap out of it, Weiss!" Ruby desperately shouted as she stood up from her chair and leaned over in her seat hoping her pleas could be heard by her terrified partner. "You need to move, now!"

Be it an act of fate or sheer dumb luck, Weiss snapped out of her trace-like state long enough to cast a glyph at her feet to send her flying away from the giant Heartless.

"Okay, Weiss… You can do this." Weiss muttered to herself as she mentally prepared for the only technique she had that could possibly stop the Darkside before it killed her. "You have to do this!"

Weiss tapped into the remaining stores of her Aura, feeling the air whip around her as she held up her blade to her face. Spinning it in a full circle and dropping to one knee, she slammed down Myrtenaster into the platform below. A large white glowing glyph designed with intricate symbols and depictions of revolving swords emerged at her feet and shifted so that it stood directly behind her. Weiss had never attempted to summon any being of this size, but she knew there was only one creature that she had once destroyed that would be able to stand up to the sheer size and power of the Heartless before her.

The air seemed to shimmer around her as the spiraling white glyph behind her shone brightly as a large glowing sword and armored plated arm emerged from the glowing glyph. Weiss yelled as she pointed her own blade in at the Heartless that had advanced towards her, the glowing summoned blade following her command by reaching back and preparing for a side strike.

Time seemed to slow down as Weiss' summon swung its sword towards the Darkside, at the same time the massive Heartless' hand moved through the air in a powerful swipe at the Huntress' unprotected body.

The resulting blows hit at the same time: the summoned sword arm sliced through the giant Heartless' chest just as the Darkside's hand hit Weiss with the force of a battering ram. The massive Heartless exploded into a cloud of dark mist as Weiss' body was knocked aside from the previous hit's impact – the blow being powerful enough to throw Weiss to the far edge of the platform. Weiss' Aura sensor buzzed at zero as her body remained unmoving on the steel tiled floor of the floating stage. At the same time Aloy's Aura sensor buzzed overhead as her kneeling form slumped over onto the floor, Aloy having fainted from her wounds.

Professor Port's voice boomed over the loud speakers posted around the stadium. "It seems we have a double knockout!"

"Can we have the medical staff report directly to the arena, ASAP!" Dr. Oobleck's order was followed by a team of medical staff with two stretchers onto the now lowered platform.

"Oh no!" The Beacon students turned away from the arena to now face an out of breath Keyblade user. Haruka shifted her amethyst eyes at the limp forms of both fighters as they were taken off the stage. "I'm so sorry, I tried to stop it, but I was too late."

There was a momentary pause as Ruby continued to watch Weiss be lead off the platform with a look of horror on her face, Winter faring no better as she glared at the leader of Team HART, seconds away from punching the girl in the face.

Sensing the growing tension in the stands, Yang squeezed her body between the eldest Schnee sister and the still out of breath newcomer. "Come on, we can meet them in the medical room. I know where it is." Yang stated as she led her stunned teammates, Winter, and what was left of Team HART out of the stands and into the bowels of the stadium below.

[-][-][-]

The trek to the designated medical room that was located in the tunnels near the arena below took only a few minutes, but they felt like hours to the worried members of Team RWBY.

The running group of people were met by a volunteer who showed them to the far corner of the room where Weiss and Aloy's still forms lay on cots as they waited for an emergency flight craft to fly them from stadium and to a hospital in Vale. Weiss' teammates, Winter, and the other members of Team HART were quickly ushered to the side of the room away from Weiss and Aloy's unresponsive forms by a nurse, as they all waited for the bustling doctors and nurses around them to give their respective teammates the medical attention they so desperately needed.

As soon as a team of medical staff were busy swarming their unresponsive teammates with medical supplies and tools, Winter used the distraction to turn her anger over at the mysterious team who had gathered together and were talking in rapid and yet hushed whispers.

Winter marched up to Haruka and jabbed her gloved hand at the smaller girl's chest. "What - what was that all about? Your partner almost killed my sister!"

"Yeah! What the Hell was that?!" Yang shouted as she joined the fuming soldier.

"I – I don't know…" To Haruka's credit, she held her ground staring back at the angered Huntresses even as her voice shook in response.

Titus stepped to his leader's side, his worried eyes looking over at his fainted teammate. "I've never seen Aloy go berserk like that before."

Winter took a step back and breathed heavily through her nose until she had calmed down enough to think rationally. "Before that… Thing was summoned, Weiss was able to get a message to me about Aloy being a puppet for someone else. Do you know anything about this?"

Haruka paused in thought as she considered the message before she slowly shook her head. "I'm sorry, but I don't know what that would mean."

Ryu stepped forward to lay a supportive hand on his leader's shoulder. "I am afraid we will not know what happened until our companions wake up." The normally reserved young adult glanced over to address the Beacon students who were watching the medical staff attend to Weiss' beaten form. "I would not worry about your friend. She fought well and has proved herself to be a strong woman. I am sure she will be fine."

Ruby glanced away from her partner's pale face to smile sincerely at the darker man. "Thank you for saying that."

Ryu bowed slightly at the waist. "I speak only the truth."

While Ryu and Ruby were speaking, Haruka had snuck away from the main group to stand off to the side, closer to Aloy's still form. She watched the medical team work on repairing the damage the Heartless had done.

Haruka sighed deeply at the sight of her friend's defeated form. "Oh Aloy, what have you gotten us into?"