Did you think the post storm was over? No, it shall not end, a reckoning is not to be post inevitably.

Ruby swung Crescent Rose in another sweeping strike, slashing through all three of the shadows before marching to the shade of a tree with purple leaves. Summoning her glider, Ruby grabbed a bottle of water fell back into her chair. Fishing out her Scroll, she activated the recording app again and began to speak into it between gulps of water, talking in short bursts to save her energy, "Shadows are in higher concentration. Why? What they looking for? Keyhole? Race against time? Sun isn't going down. Thermometer says it's almost two hundred degrees. Be dying if not for Keyblade. Master was right, Tidal lock."

Ruby coughed, wincing against the heat and drumming her free hand against the throne and then it hit her.

Duh.

Silently, Ruby willed the ship to rise, her Keyblade armor forming around her as she did and sealing with a hiss. The ship lifted into the air…

And before she could get more than a dozen feet off the ground, a group of five smaller shadows leapt onto the tip of the boat from the buildings. Ruby grit her teeth and summoned Master Defender to her again, refusing to move as they approached her so the ship wouldn't drop. Master Defender hummed in her hand, ready for the charge.

The first rushed forward, golden claws bared for her throat. Master Defender moved in a streak of black and scattered rose petals, severing the arm and then decapitating it. The next two came at once, only for the black lattice to dice them to pieces.

"Is this," Ruby asked, huffing under her armor, staring at the low Aura gauge of her Scroll with one eye. She really, REALLY needed to stop going on missions when she was tired. It was gonna get her killed one of these days. Maybe even today, if she was unlucky, "The best you got!?"

The last two charged, one high and one low. Ruby grit her teeth, she couldn't do a shotlock with-

Crescent Rose… but what about-

Master Defender hummed like a tuning fork, energy surging up her body and into her chest. Ruby grinned, a pair of silver chains ending in golden spikes launching from behind the chains and ran threw the two creatures, causing them to detonate. Ruby slowly lowered her Keyblade, huffing a laugh.

I said it before and I'll say it again, the Master said in her head, I'm a sink or swim mentor, Lux. That's your Keyblade now, maybe you should start acting like it?

"Maybe," Ruby said, "but it was Master Eraqus's fir-"

Yeah, and it's not unheard of for the student to take up the Master's Keyblade. Your mouse friend did it, why shouldn't you? Ain't that the best way to honor him?

"Maybe," Ruby said, biting her lip and running a hand down Master Defender, "Maybe."

- X Braig X-

Braig stepped through the ice covered streets of Jerusalem, flames rolling off his left hand and letting him see in the eternal night.

"I know you're here~" Braig singsonged, taunting his prey. A salvo of heavy thuds came from a rooftop behind him, before stopping suddenly. Braig whipped around, Chaos Ripper clashing with a white longsword as he stared into the red eye of the salt white creature. It had, at one point, been human, or at least a body. Now it wasn't, "You poor son of a bitch, you're not even really alive anymore, are you?"

The beast moved with supernatural speed, sword whirling towards Braig's neck. A contemptuous scoff came from his mouth and he leaned back, dodging the swing of the sword and grunting as the beast drove a kick into his gut and sent him flying back with strength belaying his lanky, almost wiry frame. Summoning one of his arrowguns, Braig twirled it, aiming at the beast, "Say good-"

Braig's one eye widened as the creature rushed forward and was on him in seconds, not stopping as Braig's shot blasted a hole in the right side of the head and sent white dust floating before vanishing into the air. Deflecting the attack with Chaos Ripper, Braig wasted no time warping away from the follow up kick.

Taking a moment to catch his breath, Braig's hand clenched as he considered things. He couldn't see the red eyed bastard in the dark, and it was a damn moonless night, day, whatever, but if he cast a fire spell, he'd be sending up a literal flare for his locatio-

Braig teleported as the red eyed monster suddenly appeared in front of him, leaping onto the second story building in one movement. Braig couldn't help the grin that spread, "Well, that makes things easier! You've got some night vision or the like, don't you? Firaza!"

A ball of blue flames the size of his hand launched at the building Red Eye had been on. The minute it hit, it exploded outwards into a whirling vortex of fire and shrapnel. Red's silhouette turned towards him, sword bared before it exploded from the conflagration, white skin blackened and flying off. Braig dodged backwards, letting the sword dig into the rooftop as the flames continued to lick from one roof to another.

"Quaza!" Braig slammed his foot into the ground before he warped away, the building exploding below Red Eye's feet and taking the buildings next to it with it.

"Just lie down and die already!" Braig ordered, firing a salvo down. Red Eye's sword danced, deflecting the shots, "The Master could have told me you were such a resilient bastard."

The red eye glowered at him, the other half of its face having healed to a scarred mass of white salt-flesh. If the thing had a mouth, he was sure it would have been twisted into a snarl.

This was gonna be annoying, he could tell. He just hoped Ruby and the Master were doing better than him.

-X Ruby X-

Ruby landed with a thud, pushing off the throne and moving towards the fire escape of the building and throwing it open. Sliding inside, Ruby dispersed her armor with a huffing and yanked off her black coat, draping it across the landing and sliding down. She needed to rest. She didn't know what time it was, but it had to be… had to be late, she'd been looking for hours, and Beacon had only let out at three.

Food first, then water, then rest.

Grabbing a pouch, Ruby grabbed the nutrient heavy bar inside and ripped open the packaging. Swallowing it in three quick bite, Ruby immediately followed it with two bottles of water.

This fire escape was less hot than outside, it'd have to do as a campsite for the next few hours. Otherwise she was gonna collapse from heatstroke, soon and hard.

And given all the shadows that had been chasing her, that would be a death sentence. But they might be able to find her here so…

Ruby summoned Master Defender in one hand, driving Crescent Rose into the building with the other to block the way up and touched the wall, "Barrier."

A glassy barricade rose up in between the stairs and her. Ruby dropped her hand and pressed herself against the wall, Master Defender resting against her shoulder. Her eyes flickered shut, letting her slowly drift into sleep.

- X Yang X-

Yang pushed herself out of bed with a sigh, pacing as she stared at where Ruby should have been. Blake popped up from her bed, watching the messy red sheets, "She didn't come back last night?"

"No," Yang said, "and I don't know why."

"Keep calm," Blake said, "There's a logical explanation to this. Maybe the Corridors aren't working again? Maybe Ven needed extra help? Or Mickey?"

"I don't know," Yang said, "but unless it's the first, wouldn't she at least drop by and left a message or something?"

"I don't know," Blake said, chewing her cheek, "I really have no idea. But… if she was in danger, We'd have to know in some way, right?"

"Maybe?" Yang said, "I didn't feel like anything was wrong when she was dealing with Xehanort."

Pyrrha rested a hand on her shoulder, "Everything will be alright. I'm sure."

"And we'll help take care of her if something goes wrong," Blake said, "She needs to relax more often."

"Seriously," Yang said with a nod, "Seriously."

-X Braig X-

Braig dodged under the attack from Red Eye, meeting the beast's glowing red eyes. And he did mean beast, because as the eternal night dragged on, and the destruction of Jerusalem with it, Red Eye had slowly but surely abandoned what little human facade it had.

Five red eyes stared out at him, two in the slowly healing scared mess of a right side and three on the other side. Jagged teeth bit at him from a tongueless mouth, wicked talons gouged into the ground from multiple six long arms, two legs and a whip-like tail lashed against the buildings that had come to be dwarfed by the main body of Red Eye, thorns sprouting along it as the salt-like skin cracked and crumbled. Braig spat as he warped again, dodging the massive claw strike that turned the building he was on to a pile of rubble, "What kinda asshole doesn't have high rises in a post-modern cit- son of a bitch!"

Braig grit his teeth as the beast's tail wrapped around his leg, thorns ripping into his leg as he was forced upwards and dangling toward the mouth. Fuck that, he wasn't dying to some motherfucking-

"Gigaflare!" Braig snarled, an explosion of energy bursting off his arm and down the throat. Red eye dropped him, opening its mouth as if to roar as smoke rose from Red Eye. Braig's hands flashed up, shadow magic forming in one and light in the other, "I told you to lie back and just fuckin' die already! Holy! Unholy!"

Both spells blasted into the massive monster's chest. Giving Braig a second to teleport away and summon both arrowguns to him, magic surged around him and he aimed straight down, "Let's try this, eh? Last Testament Barrage!"

Dozens of shots flew, not particularly accurately, but when there were so many, and with so much strength, there didn't need to be. Each shot that hit home blasted a limb off Red Eye, or large chunks of the torso when possible. Finally, the monster dropped under the hail of what could generously be called gunfire and convulsed, folding into a ball of the salt-like substance. Braig summoned Chaos Ripper and touched down with a rough landing, the leg he had been grabbed by practically ripped apart.

What… what are you?

Braig didn't dignify the thing in the orb with an answer, limping forward and tightening his grip on Chaos Ripper. A brown eye hardened as he grabbed the sword with both hands, swinging it for the orb where a black barrier formed.

This isn't… this is not right!

"Because you're God?" Briag growled, "or you think you are?"

I am-!

"Nothing!" Braig snapped, "You're nothing. Never were and never will be! You're just a scared kid's imagination of what kind of god would let the world be destroyed, so that's all you know how to do. Destroy, destroy and destroy again! But it's humanity's fault, isn't it?"

We didn't create yo-

"You've never created!" Braig cut it off, driving Chaos Ripper into the barrier so hard it cracked, "not once. Just watched and judged and destroyed!"

And you haven't the same? I can see-

"Nothing!" Chaos Ripper shattered the barrier around the monster, "You! Are! Nothing! Like! Me! Nothing! Nothing!"

Braig watched the ball begin to crumble before he lashed out with another Firaza, the magical energy burning away what little life remained. It landed on him for a second, trying to worm it's way into the weeping wounds only for Kingdom Hearts to flash across his vision and send the burning dust recoiling with a whispered.

I'm not the only one who watched worlds burned when they could have stopped it, Luxu.

Luxu hated that he couldn't find any response to that as he watched the fire wisp out. Turning, he limped towards an open portal as Jerusalem burned around him. He needed something like a- like a-

A red feather floated out of the portal and into his hand. Braig stared at it for a long second before crushing it into his wound and not bothering to hide the pained hiss. Something like that.

Thanks, Phoenix.

-X Ruby X-

Ruby's eyes flickered open, staring through glass windows at the city. Behind her, a heavy figure landed and stepped next to her. Heavy wings draped around him like a mantle, clawed feet scraping the ground as he settles next to her. The voice that comes out is as deep as it is calm as they looked over the city, "It's beautiful, isn't it?"

"I guess," Ruby said, staring out over the city. It was a bit hard to see past the ghostly memories of the ruined city in its place, "What happened to ruin it?"

"A sin viewed as necessary," the figure said, eyes flicking towards Ruby. The scales and irises were pitch black, while the pupils were a bloody red, "unfortunately, they were wrong. Hold on tight."

"What's-?" Ruby said.

"Just do it," the demonic figure said, feet curling into the ground with a crack and offering her his arm, "You will thank me. I've watched this before, and will assuredly do it again. Robert wasn't wrong, tis the splendor of a thousand suns detonating."

Ruby took the leathery arm seconds before something came screaming down from the sky in the distance. The next thing she knew, her eyes were burning with pain and everything had gone white and then black, something hitting her and spitting against her Aura.

Ruby let go of the hand, staggering back and clutching her eyes. Oh, no… no, no, nonononono!

"That… is entirely my fault," the leathery beast said, "I forget that while the dreams can't harm me, the same isn't true for others. I'm sorry."

"What was that!?" Ruby demanded, clutching her eyes. Still nothing but darkness.

"Flash blindness," the strangely familiar man said, "let me see your eyes. They're far too beautiful to remain blind, and one will be more so.

Ruby's hands dropped, feeling something pour into her eyes and dull the pain. Slowly, her vision came back to her and revealed the winged creature leaning over her.

"Thanks," Ruby said, standing up and taking the offered hand and looking around. The glass of the observatory had shattered, smoke billowing in the distance, "What… is that how Shinjuku was destroyed?"

"Yes," the demon said, "and we're where you need to be. Now, wake up, Ruby… you have a world to save.

Ruby's eyes opened, staring at the horde of shadows clawing at Crescent Rose. The blade had become chipped and worn through her rest, and was becoming more as the shadows gouged into it. Ruby stood with Master Defender in her right hand, eyes tight as magic roiled within her chest. Crescent Rose vanished in a flash of fire, appearing in Ruby's left hand. The moment it did, the damage fled the blade. Shattered teeth reappeared, chips in the blade filled in.

"C'mon," Ruby said, stepping forward, "Let's go."

The barrier shattered outwards, the department store behind it being sent flying like it was hit by the wall before the heart of a tempest, and Ruby's dance began anew.

-X Riku X-

Riku dodged Sora and Tidus's attacks, holding onto the wooden sword Ruby had given him with one hand. Swinging the sword up, Riku let Selphie's jump rope wrap around it as she swung it wide. Wrapping his free hand around the rope, he tugged it from her hand.

Tidus took the opportunity to swing the long stick at his head. Riku's… uh… what did Ruby call it? A bo… bo… whatever, his toy sword caught the attack.

Push like it was a clock, eventually they had to drop the weapon or hurt themselfs-

Tidus dropped the staff, rubbing his wrists. Finally, it was just Riku and Sora. Riku adjusted his grip on the sword and began to move. One, an overhead swing that made Sora stagger as he blocked it, two, a strike to the arm from the right, three, same arm, other side, four, and swing from below that knocked the toy sword from Sora's hand. Five, press the sword against the side of the neck, "I win!"

"No fair," Selphie huffed, grabbing her jump rope, "How'd you get so good?"

"It's because I've got the best teacher ever," Riku said, smiling widely, "She knows all about swords."

"I wish Ruby'd teach me," Sora said.

"She'll do it one of these days," Riku said, picking up Chirithy, "I'm sure. She's actually supposed to be here today, maybe she'll teach you?"

"Ya think so?" Sora said.

"Yeah," Riku said with a nod, "She's just busy at school normally! Or fighting monsters called Grimm! I saw some of them, they were big and mean and-!"

-X Ruby X-

Ruby would be willing to give literally anything to be fighting Grimm on Remnant right now. Left kidney? Done. Lung? Done. Freakin' eyes? Double done.

Because right now, she was looking up at a giant shadow the size of the department store she had just been in. And the shadow, in turn, was looking down at her. Slowly, it raised a hand, ready to crush her.

Oh, this wasn't gonna be fun.

Ruby activated her Semblance, dodging the attack and sending a Malice Strike rising from Master Defender. The blast sent the shadow staggering backwards and slamming into a building. Ruby's eyes swept over the skyline as she rushed up the side of a building. Something told her fighting this thing wasn't gonna be nearly as easy as either of the monsters from the Dives.

Probably because it actually had legs, and could get up if she knocked it over. Which was exactly what it was doing, and would probably get her killed if she-

There! A rusted tower in the distance, with a broken observatory! That had to be it, it had to be-!

Ruby dodged another blow, kicking off the ground and activating her Semblance while crushing space whenever possible. Exhaustion dragged at her despite having only woken up less than an hour ago. She hated this place.

She hated it so freakin' much. Everything seemed wrong here, with shadows writhing through the streets below her, others climbing up the walls to get to her and some flying towards her. Ruby kicked off the roof as several razor sharp, cloth-like tendrils drove into where she had been. Landing on the tendril, Ruby moved up it in a flash of her Semblance, pulling the trigger on Crescent Rose and sending a point blank Malice Strike through the stone skin of the orb and rushing over it, landing and continuing on with a tired gasp. Her body hurt, her Aura hissed and popped in her ear.

She had to… had to get to the tower. Before her Aura broke, because if that happened, she was dead.

Freaking sink or swim mentor bullsh-

Ruby dodged around another shadow, flipping Master Defender and slashing through it with the black sword as she went. Once this was done, she was having a long conversation with the Master about appropriate timing for these jobs.

Ruby wasn't sure how far she traveled in the dance and weave of the battle, focusing on that and that alone. With each shadow that approached, that wasn't one of the giants, she carved through them without pausing. For each giant, she did her best to avoid them, knocking them off balance when needed. Exhaustion gripped her as she finally made it to the tower's base.

Ruby took the stairs three at a time, huffing as the shadows tried to follow her. Reaching the seemingly familiar observation deck, Ruby walked towards a glowing keyhole splayed across the center of it. Dropping Master Defender, Ruby gripped Crescent Rose with both hands and plunged it straight down. There was a long, tense moment of silence, then a pulse of light exploded outward with a resounding click, the shadows disintegrating as they were hit by it.

And Ruby was sent flying backwards and out of the building, towards the skittering horde of shadows, too exhausted to move.

So this was it. This was how the Master got her kil-

Before she could finish that thought, there was the hissing rush of fire and a blossom of heat before she plunged into a familiar blackness. Ruby crashed into the ground with a tired gasp of air, staring up at the blue sky and closing her eyes as the agonizing heat that had been her companion the last… however long finally vanished. Above her, she heard pacing before a familiar voice spoke, "C'mon, Lux. Do you really think so little of me that I would leave you out high and dry to die?"

"Maybe?" Ruby said softly, staring up, "How long was I there?"

"Three days, give or take? You literally slept through one day, not that I blame ya. You came within a hair's breath of heat stroke and me aborting the whole project."

"I feel like I'm about to die," Ruby said truthfully, every bone and muscle in her body aching, her head felt like it was on the brink of splitting in two and her skin felt hot.

"What part of 'hair's breath of heatstroke' did you miss?" The Master said, missing almost all of the bite she would associate with the man, instead he leaned down and handed Ruby a bottle of something, "here, drink this. It's not gonna fix everything, but it'll dull the pain enough for you to get something to eat and drink."

"I never want to go back there," Ruby said, fumbling with the stopper of the golden bottle. Elixir.

"That's convenient," the Master said, unstopping the bottle for Ruby, "because I'm never sending you back there. We got what we needed done on all fronts. Braig's already hard at work back at the Garden, I did what I wanted, and you sealed the Keyhole. So check, check and check, we're good to go. Now drink up and let's go. There's this western style diner here that I love. Oh, and by the way."

"What?" Ruby asked in exasperation, only to get a Black Coat dropped across her chest.

"You left that in the 109. Since I figured you wouldn't ever want to go back to that place, I grabbed it for ya."

"Oh," Ruby said simply, before downing the elixir, "Thanks."

"You're welcome, now, let's go!"

- X Kyoka X-

Jiro Kyoka looked up from where she was picking at her eggs. She didn't particularly like this stuff, but it was her dad's birthday, and he picked up a fondness for it while touring. Still, you could always amuse yourself with people watching the type of people who went to a western restaurant in Japan. Mostly tourists, some using their phone to give stilted orders.

But the people who entered weren't that, and Kyoka couldn't help but wonder if a pair of American heroes were visiting. They were both wearing heavy black trenchcoats, the taller having a hood pulled over their face while the other, but the other one was interesting. Brown hair that ended with red, skin that looked like it had been given a bad sunburn across her face and armor over her right arm. But Kyoka couldn't help but wonder what type of Quirk could lead to a silver eye with with a red pupil in one eye.

- X AN X-

Thoughts? Questions? Opinion? Good? Bad? Meh? And do remember the TV Tropes page.