AN: Heyyo. The Yang chapter! Woohoo! Hope you like it!
To gamelover41592: Thank you very much! I hope that the funny keeps on going. Papa Scnhee will be... soon. He'll be getting a much bigger part in the next arc of the story, which is about the time Argent is going to be introduced in full.
To goddragonking: I'm happy the direction is appreciated. I hope it keeps being great!
To Gravenimage: Thanks! I hope they get better and better.
To grimlock987: I don't have plans for Sora to get a metal arm at the moment, but I definitely understand the love for robotic prostheses. They're just inherently awesome, and it's hard to make them suck. Ed and Al... I love those characters, I believe that was the first anime I ever watched all the way through. DBZ is infinity long, and my dad was weird about Naruto when I was a kid. They won't be showing up in this story, though I am thinking about maybe doing a spinoff style story. Maybe they'd show up there if I decide to do it.
To warrior of six blades: Yang's on her way right now. As for Sora, his... thing is a lot like the events in Aqua's bonus chapter in BBS, where Ven's and Terra's Keyblades save her.
To The Shadow Man: Yeah, it would be possible, but I don't think I'm going to do it. Sora's old friends are gone, and how he gets over it is going to be important to how Jaune eventually gets his head screwed on right.
To Guest: It won't be a summoning gem, but Sora is going to learn a lesson about not being sad about his friends soon. 26 and 27 are going to involve him figuring out a couple things and discovering why he keeps going on. But, yes, Sora's old friends are gone. They live on in him, though.
To Kingofclubs8129: No, no plans for Namine and Roxas right now. I feel like Namine and Roxas are destined to wind up alive again as their own people so they aren't really part of Sora or Ruby like they were part of Sora and Kairi in KH2 onward.
Chapter 25: Yellow
"Scathing eyes ask that we be symmetrical, one sided, and easily processed. Yet every misshapen spark's unseen beauty is greater than its would be judgment..."
The Heartless made an angry clicking noise as it dodged the strike from the six, magically built Keyblade facsimiles that struck down at it one after the other. The creature was like a shadowy snake, spiraling through the area between each weapon to get closer to Sora and strike at him. When it finally got close enough, the young man raised Fenrir in front of him and stabbed the blade of Light through his opponent's palm. The Heartless immediately shrieked and retreated, the wound on its hand bubbling and smoking from the power of the Light.
Sora didn't give the heartless any time to breathe, however, and the six weapons powered by the glowing Wayfinder on his left hip shot after the creature like bullets from a gun. They crashed into the ground one after the other when the monster melted into the ground and drifted slowly to the right, leaving it open for an attack from Sora's weapon as it rematerialized. The creature hissed and summoned a wall of solid darkness to block the attack, the blade getting stuck halfway through and leaving Sora open to a blow to the chest from the monster. His hands slipped from Fenrir and he crashed into the ground, the keys forming a wall in front of him that blocked the destructive beam of Darkness coming towards him. It wasn't until the smoke cleared and the keys separated that he knew what he was faced with. "Xehanort's shadow?" Sora wondered aloud as he studied the creature. He wondered for a moment how that was possible, but he figured it out. "Salem."
He saw Fenrir still buried in the wall of Black Dust and one of the weapons floating above him floated suddenly into his hand – the one made of pure wind. Somehow, the weapon was solid at its center despite the fact it was only made of air, with a familiar weight to it that Sora appreciated. The young man grinned and ran towards the tireless monster. His weapon slashed up and bounced off of the creature's claws, a trail of flaming sparks rising into the sky from the sudden impact. Sora swept his other hand forward and the other five floating weapons glanced off of the creature's shoulder, sending it into a spin until it melted into the ground and retreated into the shadows. Sora brought the Keyblades down, spinning around him like a wall to defend himself with. He ran over to Fenrir and pulled it free, the wall falling apart as he did. He let go of the windblade in his off hand and it returned to the defensive wall.
Ozpin, meanwhile, had taken a few steps back and was standing stone still as the fight dragged on. He knew that this was a good sign, this summoning of Sora's oldest Lights back to the forefront of his Heart. Sora may not have been born on Remnant and, thus, likely had no real 'semblance.' However, he did have the rare and extraordinary ability to draw on the strength of those he cared about no matter how long it had been since he had seen them. What Sora was doing now was borne from the fragments of those Hearts that still resided within him eons after their passing. And it was a sign that Sora's connection to the Keyblade had taken a key step towards its fruition, a single step on a long path, but an important creation of momentum nonetheless. As much as Oz wanted to help that young man in his battle with the monster of pure Darkness, he knew to do so would only slow that growth or, worse, stifle it for the foreseeable future.
So Ozpin took a step back and took stock of their time. They had taken perhaps twenty minutes to get to the statue, another five retrieving the hidden locker. Sora had spent fifteen minutes looking at the various items within, during which time the creature had started its attack. The battle so far had taken up another fifteen minutes. Seeing as the full three hours they had been given by Glynda was clearly not truly going to be given, that gave them an hour. Maybe an hour and a half if they were lucky. This left him stuck in a difficult position: if Glynda returned with an army, that would lead to dozens of casualties. Which meant if this dragged on too long he would have to try to help the young man no matter that they both wanted the fight to continue without Ozpin's interference.
Sora growled to himself as he continued to wait for the Heartless of his one-time sworn enemy to attack him again. The ground beneath him began to buzz with the power of Darkness and Sora dove instinctively to the side, the magical keys shooting down at the portal of Darkness. The Heartless was greeted by each of the six weapons slashing through its flesh and pinning the creature's body to the ground. The Heartless struggled uselessly against its bonds and Sora was soon jumping out at it and trying to bury his weapon hilt deep in the creature's evil grin. The creature's claw tightened around the weapon pinning its left hand to the ground, the weapon made of pure stone. The key groaned under the pressure and shattered after a momentary shudder. Sora felt a claw slam into his side and he dragged through the cobblestone face firsta moment later, the light on Fenrir dying out as he did. "Ow," he groaned as he pushed himself to his feet as best he could and held the weapon out in front of him.
The Heartless was already upright, tearing the weapons from its body and advancing on Sora. The young man took a deep breath and felt his eyelids droop; the energy flowing from his Wayfinder fizzled and disappeared. The weapons that were still whole either disappeared or fell apart without the magic holding them together. The Light emanating from the weapon in his hand remained, however, the only sign that his old abilities had begun to return. It had to be enough to destroy this creature, or he wouldn't survive.
Unless of course he was saved by someone else. Which, given his immense level of luck, he was.
A beam of red energy flew through the air and collided with the creature's head, leaving a smoking hole in its skull. The Heartless turned slightly to look at its attacker and was greeted by another red blast of energy colliding with its body. The monster flipped through the air and crashed into the ground, rolling to a stop a few steps away from where it had stood. Sora followed the beam of energy to its source and gulped when he saw a figure dressed in a familiar black coat – not unlike the one Sora himself was currently wearing. It raised one gloved hand and fired another blast of red energy, the Heartless folding itself around it and hissing. It melted into the ground, a shadow, and it quickly disappeared into a newly formed portal of Darkness. The black coated figure lowered its hand and cast a glare at the retreating circle of Grimm. "Scared of true Darkness," the figure noted before its hand flew up to its chest and he fell to his knees. His hood fell off to reveal a broken but familiar face.
The figure had one burning yellow eye, the other pure white and sightless. The left side of the being's face was drooping and broken, while the right side of his tanned visage was young and smooth. A white mane of hair dangled down his back and shoulder on the right side, while the left looked burned and melted into his scalp. Sora could only assume that the rest of the Nobody's body was the same. Sora walked over to his savior and lowered his glowing blade to the being's neck. "What should I call you this time? Xemnas, Xehanort, Ansem?" the young man asked while Ozpin walked up to stand beside him.
The figure brought its good eye up to meet Sora's. "Whatever it is that you want. After all, who I am is not important, Sora. Only my message is," the Nobody explained coolly. It grimaced in pain and tried to stand up, only to stumble forward again. Ozpin caught the figure and steadied him. The Nobody looked up and nodded gratefully at the man.
Sora's gaze softened as he watched the broken shell falling apart in front of him. Fenrir fell to his side and he took a breath to calm himself. "What are you doing here?"
"Is this any way to treat the one who saved your life?" the Nobody asked dryly. It sighed after a moment. "I may have no Heart, but I retain the will of Xehanort. Vengeance especially." Fenrir and its glowing blade rose again. "No, not you. I – He didn't want that. At the end, before he became... that, he hoped I would find you before I was destroyed completely. I barely succeeded. What I do here will likely be the last thing I do at all."
"Why do you want me, Nobody?" Sora asked, furrowing his brow and trying to figure out what the broken Nobody could possibly want..
The Nobody looked over at Ozpin. "I wish to help you reclaim what you are, Sora."
R W B Y
Ruby finished strapping her boots up just as they neared the Atlesian Military Headquarters. Winter had let Ruby, the only one who had difficulty fighting in her current dress, use the limo's changing machine. Winter was very proud of the machine, and said that she had used it dozens of times when she had to change on the way to a fight. Aside from the fact that it had laced up her corset way too tight and that she had to put her boots on by herself, it was an awesome machine. Ruby kicked the door open again and her Keyblade appeared in her hand – for once because she had summoned it.
The Headquarters was surrounded by rubble from far above, having fallen due to the explosions that still rattled the building far above. Ruby looked up when another explosion rang out above her and raised her Keyblade above her head, summoning a huge wall of Light that protected both her and her incoming allies from the rubble that resulted. "What kind of Dust did you use for that?" Weiss asked when the rubble bounced with dings off of the Reflega wall.
Ruby looked over her shoulder at her partner and grinned. "Magic!" she said, remembering when she had this same conversation with Sora so long ago.
"There's no such thing as magic, Du -" she was cut off by a hand on her shoulder. Weiss looked up to the source to see Winter's no nonsense face giving her a look that showed yes, magic is real. "You're kidding."
"No, kidding is my department," Qrow said just before the wall fell and he ran ahead with Ruby.
"He's right," Neptune told Weiss before shrugging and following them. "Don't worry, Snow Angel, I had trouble with it too at first."
"And you... like this boy?" Winter asked simply.
"You're one to talk," Weiss retorted, running after her partner and Neptune. Winter let a scowl grace her features for a few moments before she smiled and followed her younger sister.
"The main elevator will likely be deactivated as a result of the attack," Winter explained as she sprinted past Ruby and Qrow. She slid to a stop and pointed at the wall. "Qrow, if you would be so kind as to break through this wall so we may continue."
The Huntsman raised an eyebrow but pushed himself in front of Winter anyways. He raised his greatsword over his shoulder and prepared to smash it through the wall. "Wait!" Winter snapped just before the weapon slammed into the wall. She looked around and cleared her throat, turning around to point at the other side of the hallway. "Um, this... this wall."
Qrow glared at the woman for a moment before rolling his eyes and swinging the weapon over himself and crushing a hole into the wall. Rubble bounced off of the stairway that was revealed and Neptune groaned. "We're gonna have to walk up like... forty three flights of stairs to get there!" he shouted angrily.
"Well, you," Ruby said, walking forward and standing at the center. She waved with a silly grin and shot upward in a torpedo of flowers. Winter shrugged before she summoned glyph after glyph and was soon bouncing from wall to wall almost as quickly as Ruby was.
Qrow smirked and looked down at Weiss and Neptune. "He's your dead weight," Qrow told the young heiress. He shrugged and disappeared to be replaced with a small crow. The bird cawed and began to flap its way up through the building.
Weiss stared after the man and clenched her fists. "Dead weight!?" she snapped, summoning a huge glyph beneath their feet.
"Um, Weiss, are you sure that this is a good IDEAAAAAA!" he screamed when the glyph suddenly shot them straight up and past all of those that had been with them. Ruby watched with wide eyes when Weiss and a screaming Neptune flew past her and up, up, up past even the floor on which they were supposed to stop.
"Silly Weiss. This isn't a race," Ruby said when she bounded onto the target landing. She laughed and pointed at herself. "But if it was, I would win!" Her Keyblade reappeared in her hand she smashed through the wall to the medical area. She couldn't wait on the others to start saving her sister, so she dashed through the opening and readied herself for battle.
Standing at the end of the entry room, slashing a long blade against a thick metal barrier that led further into the operating rooms, was a tall woman. She bright red hair with pitch black high lights that reached to base of her back. She wore black armored bracers and pauldrons over a red mini dress. Thigh high black boots and a pattern of bloody feathers hanging from her belt made her look very familiar. There was no scabbard at her side for the weapon she wielded. The woman stopped after slashing one more time against the wall, allowing Ruby a clean look at the blade. It was a very long, very strong looking Katana. The cross guard was built in the shape of a stylized cross going into a an upside down and incomplete Heart at the bottom. The blade of the weapon was deep black on the edge that created an ombre into silver at the back. The hilt was wide enough for a two handed attack, though it was not heavy enough to prevent one handed use as Ruby could clearly see.
The figure turned around and revealed a black and white mask that covered her entire face, not unlike one that graced the skulls of Grimm. Behind the two eye holes of the mask were blood red eyes that remained icy despite their fiery color. "Uh... I'm going to honest, I was expecting a huge, scary bird monster. With four arms," Ruby said while she stared at the intruder. There was no response from the woman, simply her head cocking slightly to the side. "Wh-what are you doing here? Why do you want the Gener -"
"I'm here for the girl," the intruder responded hoarsely, her voice a gravelly monotone. "She needs to die."
Ruby's eyes widened. "Here for – " Ruby narrowed her eyes and raised her Keyblade beside her head, tip pointed at her enemy. "I won't let you touch my sister!" She roared and appeared next to the woman, slashing her weapon horizontally at the woman's legs. The katana rang loudly when the weapons collided. She flicked her wrist and Ruby stumbled forward. The young woman lashed out with her foot and used the wall to flip over. She shot a blast of Sparks at the katana wielding intruder before landing lightly and rushing at the intruder again.
The intruder simply sidestepped each of the Sparks and slashed out with an impossibly fast sword attack. The black weapon left an afterimage, it moved so fast. The Keyblade and katana collided, singing once again, and the two began to trade blow after blow faster than anyone else could manage. "You're fast," Ruby said as their blades locked against one another. Ruby began to slide back from the force of the woman's attack. "Er, and strong. Great."
"But she's also alone," Qrow said, his weapon over his head as he soared towards the intruder. The woman turned her eyes towards him behind her mask and spun, kicking Ruby up and towards Qrow. The man quickly sheathed his weapon before he cut his niece in half and caught her, the two of them hitting the wall with enough force to leave cracks up the surface. Qrow groaned and dropped Ruby, the two of them hitting the floor on their feet. "Not that it matters apparently."
"No. No it doesn't," the woman responded, twirling her weapon until its tip was pointed directly at the two caped warriors. She shot forward, ready to impale the two and claim her victory. She was only stopped when she rebounded off of a huge, floating glyph. Weiss and Winter ran in, followed by Neptune firing his gun at their soaring opponent. The woman's sword slapped each attack away and was soon followed by a razor thin blade of Darkness that created a wall of black flames her opponents could not penetrate. "Given time, I would lose. But once I do what I came here to do, I will be able to kill each of you with little issue." The intruder turned to the barrier and readied her weapon. It became surrounded by an aura of black flames, and she stabbed forward. The weapon became buried in the attack and the Darkness began to spread through the wall like cracks. Moments later, it exploded and the woman walked through the gaping hole.
"Yang!" Ruby screamed desperately. She threw herself against the wall of flames and bounced off of it, screaming out in pain. Qrow caught her and glared at the wall, thinking the same things as her.
There was a loud explosion and the intruder flew out of the hole in the wall, crashing into the ground. Footsteps followed her and a blonde woman with a wild grin followed, her hands smoking at her sides. She exited the broken wall and slammed her fists against one another, causing sparks to fly out to float around her head. "Did I hear you threatening my sister? That is a bad move, Lady," Yang Xiao Long said, advancing on the woman. Her hair began to burn and rise like fire, her eyes turning a burning shade of red. "A seriously bad move."
The intruder stood up slowly and readied her blade in front of her. "I never actually threatened them. I only desire to kill you," the woman responded coolly. She jumped forward and slashed at Yang's head for a death blow, an attack that was easily blocked by Yang's new arm.
The arm was a combination of the bright yellow making up Yang's hair and a deep black that made it look like the prosthetic hand was really just a bulky glove. The machinery in the hand whirred and the top knuckles of the middle and ring fingers peeled back to reveal twin barrels of a shotgun. "Click click," Yang said before slamming her fist towards the woman's face. There was a resounding BOOM as a ball of flames shot from the robotic fist.
The intruder was far too close to manage a dodge, and for the second time a blow from the young woman's fist sent her flying. The intruder flipped herself to her feet midair and landed without a single noise. Her mask was smoking, a burn in the center that looked as if it were spreading. "That's twice I've slammed you down," Yang said, cocking her arms back and ejecting a pair of red shells that clattered against the ground. "Seems to me that I should know your name before you strike out and die."
"Morrigan," the intruder responded after a momentary pause. She stood up and swung her blade out to her side. She bowed lightly and angled the tip of her weapon at the young woman once again. "I am not doing this to satisfy bloodlust. I must become stronger to become whole."
"Yeah, good luck with that one, Crazy," Yang said, hair still on fire and eyes bright red. "You know, you pack quite the punch behind that sword. Good." Yang ran forward and brought her left fist down in a haymaker. Morrigan sidestepped the attack, only to be surprised when the gun of the weapon fired and the younger woman's elbow slammed into her mask, shattering it from the intense strength of the blow. Yang grinned and spun around to see the woman covering her own face with her free hand. "Where's the woman who was going toe to toe with Qrow, his Ice Queen, and my sister all at once? This is just disappointing."
Morrigan's red eyes flared. "You want the woman who can kill all your allies?" she asked, her voice containing a hint of anger.
"Oh, did I touch a nerve?" Yang mocked, a grin crossing her face. "And I thought I was fiery. Ha! Get it?"
Morrigan stood up straight and let her left hand fall, and with it fell Yang's mocking grin. "That's not..." Yang whispered, taking a step back. She was deeply confused and terrified, her hair and eyes returning to their normal coloring. "No. No way. No. You can't be -"
Yang Xiao Long was being forced to stare at the visage of her dead mother, red eyes and over serious face the same as the one she had thought she'd never see again. Yang shook her head and forced a smile. "Okay, fine."
"Fine?" Morrigan asked, confused.
"You look like Mom. I had some issues to work out anyways," Yang said, getting back into a fighting stance. She fired an explosive ball of energy at the woman and followed it, trading blows with the woman who looked like her mother. Each of Yang's attacks was sidestepped by the swordswoman while Yang used her Semblance to absorb the force of those she blocked with her own weapons. "And you're stealing the look of a dead woman, so one more reason to lay the smack down." Yang lashed out with her foot and the woman's leg slid back, leaving her open to an uppercut from Yang.
That was when the woman revealed her other skills. A wall of energy appeared where Yang's fist was heading so that the blow connected instead with a wall of glowing hexagons. "No. I am not stealing anyone's 'look,'" Morrigan explained, her voice a monotone again. She kicked the younger woman to the ground and brought the tip of her blade down to Yang's throat. "I did not think killing you would be this difficult. I thought I would not care. I am the evolution of Raven Xiao Long, I was created when she lost her weakness. It seems some of it still remains."
"What?" Yang asked. She laughed and shook her head. "As if, Crazy."
"I just thought you should know," Morrigan said. She shrugged and raised her sword and grabbed it with both hands. "It seemed the human thing to say, but what would I know. I'm just a Nobody."
Her attempt to kill Yang, however, was stopped when Yang raised her new prosthesis in front of her and smiled. "Boom." All the knuckles on the fist opened up to reveal shotgun barrels and a single, impossibly loud explosion of fire slammed into Morrigan's head. She flipped head over heels and was greeted by a pair of winged claws grabbing hold of her.
"Yang, that thing attacked us!" Ruby shouted from beyond the fire. Yang didn't quite hear her, as she was busy staring at a monstrous, bird like creature with four arms. Morrigan was struggling against the creature's grasp, her sword gone, and slamming a fire covered fist into its face. The monster shrieked and grabbed Morrigan by the ankle, swinging her violently around before throwing her through unceremoniously the wall and out into the cloudy sky of Atlas.
The creature lumbered after her, but stopped at the edge of the building for a moment to cast a glance at the young woman behind it. Its yellow eyes seemed to turn a bright red for a moment as it cocked its head to the side and cooed quietly. It's quiet look belied the intense struggle that was evident from the creature's shaking; it wanted to attack, to kill everyone present, but something within it was holding it back. The creature hissed and leaped from the building, disappearing into the night. Yang breathed heavily and barely noticed as her sister crashed into her shoulders and began to ask if she was okay. It didn't make any sense, but... but she felt like that monster thing was her mom.
"Is the fight over, then?" a man's voice asked as he walked into the waiting room. Everyone looked over to see a portly old man in a lab coat and Atlesian military dress enter. He had a long, gray beard and a completely shaved scalp. Standing beside him was General Ironwood, whose right arm was sparking slightly, its wiring exposed. The man sighed and walked up to Yang, grabbing her new hand and shaking his head. "I told you to wait a few days to use it. You've exacerbated the damage at the nerve connection points and reopened the Aura channel. It will take two hours at least to fix this, not to mention the week of rest you should already be taking!"
"It can wait a moment, Doctor Polendina," Ironwood cut in coolly. He groaned and lifted his arm to keep it from dragging down on his body. "You can help her when everyone who needs it has medical help. And we cannot get that here, not anymore."
Ruby's, Weiss', and Yang's eyes exchanged glances, but it was ignored. "Quite right," the man agreed, taking his coat off and tearing it in two with a concerted effort. He wrapped it around Ironwood's shoulder to hold his prosthetic arm up before bending down and offering Yang his hand. The old doctor smiled kindly down at her with his eyes shut. Ruby thought his smile looked a lot like Penny's. "Let me help you."
R W B Y
Sora crossed his arms and glared at the Nobody, feeling both pity and hate as he stared at the deformed face of the man who had been trying to kill him for years. The Nobody's one good eye turned to him and blinked lazily. Just like most new Nobodies, there was nothing in him. "You want to help me summon my Keyblade?" Sora asked distrustfully. He laughed and shook his head. "I don't know what game you're playing, Xemnas, but I'm not falling for it."
"Give him a chance, Mister Nomura. He did aid us against a Heartless, after all," Ozpin said calmly. He placed his hand on Sora's shoulder, his own face also communicating distrust. "And if he is lying, I will destroy him myself."
Xemnas laughed and shook his head. "I'm sure," he said, though his Heart wasn't in it. Well, if he had one it wouldn't be. "What I did to the Heartless took all the energy that I still had; I am not sure I could even mount a defense against the two of you." Even as he said this, a patch of his pure white hair separated from his scalp and fell to the ground. "I despise wasting time and effort, so I would like to impart what I can to help you." Another patch of hair fell out and Xemnas' face grew annoyed. "Sooner would be better than later."
"Fine," Sora assented. He uncrossed his arms and clenched his fists at his side, inches away from drawing Fenrir once again, just in case he needed to fight. "What do you want to tell me?"
"Sora, you must swear to listen to what I have to say. I do not have the time to fight with you on this," the Nobody explained tiredly. He closed his good eye and he took a long, slow breath. "Promise me."
Sora nodded and said, "Fine." He wanted this to be over so he could get back to trying to claim his new Keyblade and return to saving the world.
Xemnas nodded and opened his eye. "Good. Then you should know that what the two of you are trying in order to summon Sora's Keyblade will not help in the slightest." The Nobody groaned and slowly pushed himself to his feet, his bones audibly creaking within his body from even this small act. He was right: he was not long for this world. He raised his hand and summoned a flickering flame of Darkness, and Sora grabbed Fenrir. Xemnas let it go a moment later and shook his head. He explained, "Apologies, I mean no harm. I merely meant to show you what you need to be a true master."
"Darkness!" Sora snapped in disbelief. Xemnas let his head fall and he shook his head. "I'd never become a Dark Keyblade Ma -"
"You promised to listen!" the Nobody snapped, a fraction of his old personality shining through in the impatience. He looked over at Ozpin, who had remained silent despite what the Nobody had said. "You were never able to defeat her without the aid of your greatest student, and even that was pyrrhic."
Ozpin sighed and nodded. "Continue."
"But -" Sora began to protest.
Ozpin brought his hand up to silence the young man. His voice firmer this time, he once more told Xemnas, "Continue." Sora huffed and crossed his arms, resigning himself to the fact he had to listen to one of his greatest enemies chastise him for being weak. And it wasn't meant as an insult this time.
Xemnas bowed his head in thanks to Ozpin and returned his attention to Sora. "Your Heart is one of the strongest I have ever found in any World. But you are weakening it every day that you do not touch your Darkness, that you do not look upon it."
"Because it makes people evil," Sora retorted, gesturing with one hand at the Nobody. "It made you."
"It did. But I am not imploring you to use Darkness, young man," the Nobody responded in his same monotone. "Though that would be ideal, I am merely suggesting you should stop denying it. You are not like the Princess, a being of pure Light. You are not perfect, and running from the fact that this part of you exists only blinds you from who you truly are."
Sora's eyes widened and he brought his fists up, shaking them emphatically. "I'm not running from anything, Xemnas!" he shouted angrily.
"Yes, you are," Xemnas responded quietly. The Nobody sneered and pointed at Sora. "Because you are afraid of becoming that creature again. You know you cannot control your Darkness right now, so you ignore it as a child would. Like a coward would."
"Shut up!" Sora snapped again. He shoved the Nobody and turned around. "I don't have to listen to lies like this."
"He's not wrong." Sora turned to glare at Ozpin with betrayal in his eyes. The gray haired warrior sighed and leaned against his cane. "He is not wrong. You are afraid, I have seen it ever since I have started to train you. Every movement contains hesitation, because you worry that everything you do will tap into your Darkness."
Sora wanted to argue the point, but he found he couldn't. He was afraid. He had never been particularly good at controlling his Darkness, and had instead just locked it away. And all that work had been for nothing when Salem just unlocked those doors and it had all flooded out in a murderous rampage aimed at his own friends. Were those walls still down and was that... thing still ready to leap out at a moment's notice? "Then what do we do?" he asked, for the first time ready to listen to whatever it was the Nobody had to say.
Ozpin smiled almost imperceptibly. It was good that Sora was willing to listen; it showed he was growing. Xemnas broke the silence a moment later: "Ideally, you would allow me to impart my knowledge about the use of Darkness, but you are not ready to accept it and I do not have the time to change your mind. Instead, all I can give you is the knowledge you are running from yourself. And knowledge about who Salem is." Xemnas looked down at his bad hand and grimaced. "It's happening. I'm fading." He looked back up at Sora and sighed. "She is the most powerful proponent of Darkness that has ever lived, with a desire to refashion Kingdom Hearts and deliver it wholly into the hands of Darkness. She wants to see what a world devoid of Light could be."
"How does she use Light then?" Sora asked.
"It is the only thing that can cast shadows, young man. You must never let her have the book, Sora. It contains all she needs to cast the greatest shadows back into this World, something to which even her two Heartless and those others they have created can compare," Xemnas responded, his form already growing see through while Nothingness swirled around him. The Nobody looked up at the sky and frowned. "I wonder what will become of me when you destroy my Heartless."
"Wait! You said there were two Heartless!" Sora shouted. He ran forward and tried to grab the dying Nobody's shoulders to anchor him. Sora stumbled through the man instead. He turned around. "Where is it?"
Xemnas looked down at the young man. "Heartless hunt those with Keyblades jealously. The Princess will need your help before long." And then he disappeared in a sphere of Darkness, and Xehanort's chances at a return were no more.
R W B Y
Ruby stared intently – and probably looked more than a bit creepy as she did – at the man working on Yang's prosthetic arm, studying his face and pondering whether she should even begin to ask questions about her friend. On the one hand, he would probably be happy to meet someone who was close with his daughter. On the other he probably didn't want to be reminded about her death. But! But maybe he wanted to know more about who his daughter had been becoming. And, while Ruby didn't really want to admit it, she hoped that he was doing something, anything, to try and find a way to fix his daughter. It didn't seem fair that Ruby was finding her friends again but she still couldn't find a way to help Penny. Qrow, who was sitting in the corner talking with Winter and General Ironwood, had told her it was a bad idea. So had Weiss, who was sitting beside Ruby waiting for Yang to get all fixed up.
"How is that?" Doctor Polendina asked Yang. He took a screwdriver out of her prosthetic and looked up at her expectantly. "Is that good?"
Yang looked up and began to flex her new fingers. She bit her cheek and frowned. "Nah, it still feels loose, like it's not responding fast enough."
"I see," the Doctor mumbled as he reinserted the screwdriver and began to tighten it again.
"YOW!" Yang shrieked suddenly, pulling her arm away from the rotund doctor. Her hand was spasming wildly and her face was contorted with pain. "Ow ow ow ow ow ow ow! Too tight! Too tight!"
The Doctor grabbed her by the shoulder with his left hand and yanked it down so he could access the screwdriver still stuck in his patient's arm. "No, you have to stay still," he commanded with enough firmness to even get Yang to listen. Her hand continued to spasm, but she resisted the urge to fidget from the pain that came with each overdone movement of her fingers. He turned the screwdriver counterclockwise twice and the spasms stopped. He removed the tool and let go of Yang's shoulder. "Now, is that better?"
Yang clenched and unclenched her hand before a grin graced her features. "Just right," she asserted happily. She stood up and clenched both her fists before launching into a series of punches. "Oh yeah, I'm ready to kick some serious butt! What do you think, Ruby?"
Ruby didn't respond, her thoughts instead having turned to wondering why a Heartless – a being of Darkness obsessed with killing Keyblade Wielders whenever they could – would save her and Yang from a dangerous swordsman who looked and fought like Raven Xiao Long. When she had tried to call Sora to ask about it, the call hadn't gone through. She'd called Nora and the Berserker had told her that Sora was still out at Beacon. "Ruby!"
"The answer is fourteen Ursai!" she shouted, her go to shout for when she was called on in Port's class. It usually worked for her there.
"Ruby, I said 'I'm ready to kick some serious butt! What do you think, Ruby?'" Yang told her sister. She crossed her arms and rolled her eyes at her younger sister. "Don't tell me I'm as boring as Professor Port, Sis!"
"No. No... yes," Ruby joked. She scratched the back of her head nervously. "Yeah, you'll be great! You were amazing against that crazy Morrigan lady!"
"I think she was going easy on me. She took out Qrow, Weiss, her crazy sister, Neptune, and you with your brand new Keyblade. I'm good, but I'm not that good yet." Yang blushed and shrugged humbly, though Ruby could see she was absolutely dying to talk about how awesome she is. Ruby raised her hands as if to say go ahead, and her older sister smiled. She laughed, saying, "Ah, you're right. I might be the best. Ever. At anything. Ever. No, not might. I am. Fists of fury coming in hot, right?"
"Your sister is quite the interesting young woman," Doctor Polendina told Ruby as Yang continued to compliment herself. "Very... lively."
"Crazy is the word I would use," Weiss cut in.
"Crazy fun," Ruby finished for her partner. She grimaced. "But yes, also crazy."
"I've never seen anyone take to a prosthesis as quickly as her. She must be very strong willed," the doctor noted. He looked over at Ruby. "Forgive me, but you are the young woman who saved Haven, correct? Where is the young man you traveled with?"
"Vale. He's looking for something important," Ruby responded. She looked at her feet for a moment, then back up at the doctor. This would either go very well or very badly. Time to find out which! "Doctor Polendina, are you Penny's father?"
The entire room grew incredibly quiet, and the doctor's smile became forced. Even Qrow and Winter were staring nervously over at the young woman and the doctor. "You knew Penny?" Ironwood asked. He walked across the operating room with hands clasped behind his back and glared down at Ruby. Ruby gulped nervously before nodding. Ironwood narrowed his eyes and moved to speak. Ruby was saved, however, by the sudden ringing of Ruby's Scroll.
"Oh, thank God," she muttered when she saw Sora's name on the screen. She was already out the door when she said, "Gotta take this bye!" She sped down the halls and slid to a stop in a vacant room just in time to answer her Scroll and bring it to her hear. "Sora! Did you find the book?!"
"Ruby, good! I was worried – eh, never mind. Yeah, I have the book now. I had to fight a Heartless to get it," Sora explained, his voice full of relief that Ruby was okay.
"You too?!" Ruby shouted in disbelief.
"You're sure?" Sora's voice had lost the relief and regained its terror. "He wasn't lying..."
"Who?" Ruby asked, grabbing her Scroll with one hand and pulling it around to her other ear. It was her turn to get worried about Sora.
"I'll tell you in a bit. What happened?"
"Uh, it attacked us outside of where we met up with Weiss. She's good by the way. Can't wait for you to meet her! Anyways, it was maybe seven feet tall with an empty Heart carved out of its chest. Four arms, two had wings two had swords instead of hands. Big scary bird face. Reddish armor on its hips and shoulders," Ruby explained, her voice changing from excited to almost clinical as she described it. "And then... some woman who looked just like Aunt Raven showed up and tried to kill Yang! And then the Heartless attacked the woman and they disappeared. It was a really weird and eventful night."
"What? Um... a weapon, did she have a weapon? The woman? What did it look like?" Sora asked anxiously.
"Katana, had a weird, thorny symbol on it. Black and silver," Ruby detailed. She nodded. "You sound scared."
"The woman was a Nobody. When a person becomes a Heartless, if their Heart is strong enough they leave their body behind to become a person who should never have existed. The Nobody has their memories and personality and, sometimes, their desires. Most don't have any emotions, though. They just have this desire to be whole, whatever that meant to the person they used to be." Sora took a shuddering breath. "Ruby, I'm sorry. But the Nobody is Raven's."
Ruby groaned and her shoulders fell. "Qrow said she always wanted to be strong. She ran away because she thought Yang made her weak." Ruby shook her head in sad acceptance. What was she going to tell Yang? "But why did the Heartless help us? You said they just want to kill things."
"Kind of. But not always. If a connection is strong enough and Light enough, it can... I don't know, keep someone's Heart alive in the Darkness. It happened to me once with... my old friends," Sora said, fighting off his sadness. He made a noise that almost sounded like a shrug. "I'd guess that the Nobody is trying to kill those feelings by killing Yang, but Raven's Heart is holding onto it as tight as it can. But this is good."
"How?!" Ruby asked, confused by how Yang's mom trying to kill her could possibly mean anything good for anybody.
"If you kill the Heartless and Nobody of someone, they come back." Ruby grinned wider than she thought she could; Yang and their dad were going to be so happy! Sora laughed with her a moment later, happy for some good news himself. "Raven's not dead, she's waiting to be put back together again."
"This is great," Ruby said, biting her cheek to hide her tears of joy. "Anything else happen to you?"
"Heh. I had my own Nobody problems. Turns out my Heartless was Xehanort, and so was the Nobody," Sora explained wearily. He groaned. "And just when I thought I was done with him."
R W B Y
Adam Taurus was standing among his lieutenants, both trusted and otherwise, vainly trying to come up with a plan of attack for the Atlesian capital. His alliance with Cinder and her human faction had already damaged his standing, but the devastating loss at the hands of that black haired human had completely tarnished his credibility with the White Fang. Adam was far too close to losing all of his power that remained. "No. Vacuo has nothing to offer. An attack on Atlas would allow us to plunder their newest technologies and prepare for the real war," Adam growled, removing his mask for a moment to rub the bridge of his nose. If he said go right, his new enemies in the group said go left, even if a bomb was to the left screaming out its countdown.
"And Vacuo has the highest percentage of Faunus in any Kingdom. We should recruit there before being so bold," one of his opponents responded, her lips curled up in a smirk.
"The Vacuoni Faunus have refused, time and again, to join us. Vacuo is kinder than most Kingdoms, even if they support our oppression. We are terrorists to them."
"Then we force them to help us. After long enough, they will see the truth of our message and help us anyways," the woman retorted.
Adam fought off the urge to decapitate her right then and there. It would be bad for morale, after all, if he resorted to something like that. Still, it would be quite the show. Her blood flying everywhere, head rolling uselessly across the ground. He smiled thinking about it. "What do you find so funny?"
"Your absolute idiocy," Adam responded dryly. "We represent victory and justice for the Faunus cause. If we kidnap and conscript our own kind, we will become villains for any who would want to join us. If you had half a brain, you would know that." He pointed at the woman. "You would destroy this organization just to disagree with me." He readied himself to continue his castigation of the woman, but stopped when he heard something. A moment later, the sounds of a struggle erupted outside of their tent and Adam shook his head. He held up his hand as his most trusted liuetenant reached for his chainsaw. "We have familiar guests." Adam turned and exited the tent.
Standing over the unconscious, or perhaps dead, bodies of the White Fang HQ guards were three cocky looking figures. Cinder was dressed the same as when they had last spoken, aside from the yellow jacket she was wearing over her dress. Her apprentices had not changed anything, except that they did not look nearly as happy to be around her. "Cinder. Company. It has not been nearly long enough."
"Look, I'm not interested in whatever petty reason you hate me now. I'm human, you lost your arm, your girlfriend is still running around with humans. It doesn't really matter to me," Cinder said, eyes and voice bored. "Honestly, I have things that I would rather be doing as well. Getting you to help me is not what I want be doing. It's boring. Dull. He could have done it, it fits his personality after all."
"Enough. What do you want?" Adam asked even while the lieutenants exited the tent. Those opposed to his agenda drew their weapons. He thought about letting them attack and get murdered, but decided against it. "You would only bloody their weapons." The Fang lieutenants dropped their weapons hesitantly. To Cinder once more: "What do you want?"
"I have to go through with all this?" Cinder grunted. She shook her head and groaned. "Fine. Fine. Revenge. We killed the woman who did that to you, so not on her. But you could always kill her daughter, brother, husband, and... husband's daughter. Everyone she knew. And then I'm sure you could go after your girlfriend to kill her, hm? Yes or no, I don't have the time to debate this, okay. Three. Two. One -"
"Fine. Let's go," Adam said, taking a step forward. He looked back at his lieutenants, especially the more vocal woman. "We will not be attacking Vacuo. You will wait for me or I will kill every one of you who I deem unworthy of my attention. Traitors have no place in our movement."
He turned back to Cinder. "Should we continue to stand here, or are we in a hurry?" he inquired, earning a dry laugh from his 'business partner.'
"And here I was worried I would have to convince you. It seems your moronic underlings did that for me," Cinder noted. She groaned gratefully and held her hands out. "Let's get going then."
R W B Y
Sun was smiling contentedly as he curled up in the corner of the Faunus bar and ate his banana split. His shirt was open and rolled up; despite his friends insistence that Vale was about to get very cold, it was still pretty hot. At least he had places like this to cool off in while Ozpin and Sora hunted for a book the month before or Ren and Nora did... whatever pretty much all the time. Besides, Faunus in the underground tended to know where to find each other. If he met the right lowlife, he could maybe track down a black haired cat Faunus. Sun groaned and slammed his forehead into the table. She was a former member of a terrorist group that not even the governments of every Kingdom were able to track down. He was screwed.
"Look, you're obviously not asking about the book anymore are you?" a woman asked. Sun looked up, a tiny bit confused by the familiarity he felt when he heard it. He craned his neck, trying to get a view of the person in the next booth. His spoon scooped up some ice cream and he sloppily put it in his mouth, barely even paying attention to it. Sun let his spoon drop into the bowl again and silently jumped over to the other side of the booth. "Cause I'm flattered, but..."
"No! No, I... love... books?" the man at her table suggested. Sun scoffed and curled around the corner, feeling bad f saw a book on the corner of the table, a lynx Faunus' clawed hand on the book's top. He smiled at the girl in the booth and shrugged. "I um... was wondering... can I read it and then talk to you about it?"
"That still sounds suspiciously like a date," the lady responded in a monotone. Sun could basically hear her sarcastically raised eyebrows at that point. There was a sigh from the girl, who – at this point – Sun could see was a blonde. He was slightly disappointed, but kept turning the corner anyways as if compelled to. His eyes widened upon seeing the girl's yellow eyes and black cat ears. "I've got a..."
"Blake!" Sun shouted, cutting the woman off. He laughed excitedly and scrabbled over the back of the booth, landing with an unceremonious thud on his face. He propped his head up on his hand and bent his knee so his right foot was flat against the booth. He grinned charmingly and waggled his eyebrows. "Hey there gorgeous. Long time no see."
Blake Belladonna just stared dumbfounded, her eyes shifting between the Lynx Faunus and Sun. She took a few shallow breaths and she opened her mouth to speak. "I... I... I have to run," she mumbled, jumping out of the booth and sprinting out of the door. Sun watched her go, his smile slowly turning to a frown.
He looked back down at the table and then back up at the other Faunus. "Well, she left you the book," he pointed out, earning an angry snarl from the other Faunus. Sun sighed and rolled out of the booth and to his feet. "Welp, better follow her." He patted the other Faunus on the back. "Better luck next time." He reached into his pocket and tossed a Lien card onto his table before sprinting out after Blake.
Sun slid to a stop and shivered just outside. The warm day had turned cold. "Dammit," he growled, looking around and buttoning his shirt up. After a few minutes of fruitless searching, the young man growled to himself and realized she'd ditched him. Sun groaned and kicked the street; he'd lost her again. Sun sighed and began to walk back to the apartments, hoping the others might help him track her down better. Ozpin would probably have some ideas. He didn't notice the woman hanging from a black grappling hook on the wall of the building, beyond the lights. Blake Belladonna shook her head and began to climb up the building.
"Sorry, Sun. I can't go back empty handed." She stared down at Sun for a while and fought off her desire to follow the monkey Faunus. She sighed eventually and began to slowly climb her way to the top of the building, jumping onto the roof. She sighed and looked out over the city, annoyed she had to start over. As soon as anyone higher up said they had met a cat Faunus named Blake, Adam would find out and try to hunt her down. If she wanted to be of help, she'd have to change her disguise and reingratiate herself with the White Fang members in Vale again. Still, Blake was never one to whine. "I'm not going back empty handed."
Then she felt a dull thud in the back of her head and everything went black.