AN: I'm glad you guys are liking this arc so much! It's a lot of fun!
Once again, thanks to Lord Maximus for the help with this arc.
Chapter 63
"What do you mean she kicked you out?" Yang asked.
"She refused to listen to me," Ruby said. "It's like she couldn't tell that it's not real. She thought I was the fake. I couldn't even use my Keyblade to try to prove it."
"Is her mind somehow being altered?" Professor Ozpin asked.
"Whatever it was, she doesn't remember anything. When I mentioned Beacon and Merlot, she had no idea what I was talking about."
"Well, what now?" Weiss asked.
"What do you think?" Ruby asked. "I'm going back in."
"What makes you think it'll be any different the second time?" Blake asked.
"I have to try!" Ruby shouted.
"Not alone you're not," Yang said. "I'm going with you this time."
"Yang, they were ready to attack me," Ruby said. "I can't let you go in, too. What if something happens?"
"If something happens, you're going to need me there with you," Yang argued. "You said you can't use your Keyblade in there. You're gonna need protection." Yang's gaze suddenly became much harder. "Besides, she's my mom too, you know. Just because you're the one with the Keyblade doesn't mean you're the only one who can do anything."
Ruby's eyes widened.
"…You're right," Ruby said. "I'm sorry."
"Don't worry about it," Yang said with a small smile. "Let's go save Mom."
"Do you two have an actual plan?" General Ironwood asked.
"Well, if Mom won't remember who she is, we'll just have to make her," Ruby said. "If we can get her to listen to us, maybe we can snap her out of it."
"Blake and I will hold down the fort here," Weiss said. "Good luck. You bring the Professor back safe and sound."
"Will do."
"Who was that girl?" Aqua asked to the others gathered in the Land of Departure's throne room. "And what did she want?"
"She wanted to take you away," Larmina said, clinging tightly to her mother. "She doesn't belong here."
Why did she keep saying that?
"Well, she's gone now," Aqua said.
"The nerve of that girl," Ruby said angrily. "Impersonating me like that."
"Let's hope she takes the hint and stays out," Terra said.
"What do you mean?" Aqua asked. "Stays out of where?"
Aqua blinked and she was back home, on Patch, getting out of bed.
Wasn't she just at the Land of Departure?
She shook her head, looking beside her at her husband, still laying in bed. She gently kissed the side of his head.
"Wake up," she whispered.
"Mm, five more minutes," Qrow muttered. Aqua giggled.
"Come on, lazy bum. I'm about to make breakfast."
She practically dragged him downstairs and into the kitchen, only to notice that two of the dining table chairs were missing.
"Where are the chairs?" she asked.
"I think Ruby said something last night about wanting to build a blanket fort in Mina's room," Qrow answered. "Needed the chairs for support." Had she? "Don't you remember?"
She didn't.
"Of course," she said, a little uncertainly. "I must have forgotten."
Ruby and Yang landed, surprisingly enough, in their own backyard.
"Why does this place keep shifting around?" Ruby asked.
"Who cares?" Yang asked. "You know the plan. Get in, grab Mom, get out."
"Yeah, I don't think so," Yang's own voice said to them. The sisters looked ahead of them and saw copies of themselves standing in the doorway of the back door, staring them down. Between them was the little girl, Mom and Uncle Qrow's supposed daughter.
"Wow, this is weird," Yang said, looking at her copy. "Good-looking, though."
"You're not too bad yourself," the fake Yang said. "Why did you come back?"
"Why do you think?" Ruby asked. "We came to get our mom back."
"Didn't you get the memo?" Fake Ruby asked. "She's not your mom anymore. She's ours."
"Only because you brainwashed her!" Yang yelled.
"Shhhh!" the little girl said, putting a finger over her lips. "Mommy and Daddy are sleeping. Don't wake them up."
"Listen here, you little brat," Yang said, approaching the girl. "She's not your 'Mommy'. You don't even exist!"
"Don't talk to my baby sister that way!" 'Ruby' said, summoning her Keyblade and pointing it at Yang. Yang put her fists up in the air, but then the fake Ruby smirked and used her Semblance to speed past her, tackling the real Ruby and holding her Keyblade against her throat.
"Ruby!" Yang shouted, turning around after the fake version of her sister. When her back was turned, her own clone slammed into her back, pressing her face into the ground and wrenching an arm behind her back.
"Ah, ah, ah," the fake Yang scolded. "I don't think so." The fake turned towards the little girl. "Keep Mom busy, Mina. We'll take care of these two."
Ruby grunted as she was thrown into the shed, followed by Yang. She noticed that there were two kitchen chairs already set up inside.
Were they expecting the sisters to come back?
Ruby's clone roughly picked her up and shoved her in one of the chairs, roughly tying her arms behind her back. Yang's clone had done the same to the real Yang.
"I thought we were lucky with just Mom but now we have the whole family," "Ruby" commented, finishing tying the real Ruby's wrists and moving on to her ankles. "Don't worry, I'm sure you'll love it here soon enough."
"Doubt it!" Ruby retorted. "We're not stopping until we save our Mom. And stop calling her Mom!"
"Why? We were created from Mom's feelings and memories of you. We're as real here as you are," "Yang" said, wrapping rope around the real Yang's chest to secure her to the chair.
"Yeah, cut theses ropes off me and we'll see how real you are," Yang growled.
"Well, this pretty much sold it," the fake Ruby said as she summoned Crescent Rose. "After all, how can a fake summon your Keyblade?"
Ruby just glared at her.
"Why are you even doing this? Don't you care for her? You're supposed to be me, but you're tricking her." The Fake Ruby frowned. She dismissed her Keyblade, and began wrapping rope around the real Ruby's chest.
"We were made from Mom's memories and her heart's deepest desires from when she was brought here by what you call Kingdom Hearts, but it's not enough. It was only after Kingdom hearts brought her here and delved into her heart and mind that it began to understand why it exists."
"What do you mean?" Ruby asked, flinching as the rope around her chest was tightened and cinched.
"Ruby" waved her hand and their surroundings suddenly changed into Merlot's lab, with the people he had captured turning into Heartless.
"Do you remember this?" she asked. Ruby and Yang were caught by surprise by this memory.
"Yeah, this is Merlot's lab," Yang said. "We tried to save those people but we couldn't… So we killed them."
The fake Yang nodded. "And set their Hearts free. Especially those killed by you and Mom. That's what led to this."
"What?' Ruby asked as the memory vanished, leaving them back in the shed. "You mean… the hearts of those people Merlot turned into Heartless… But why?" The fake Ruby held up Crescent Rose.
"Kingdom Hearts didn't know why either, as least until it found Mom. The Heartless you destroyed were made from the hearts of those people. They were artificially made with the same mindless desire to collect hearts, but there's so much more to them than even Mom knows."
"Those hearts should have vanished but they didn't," the fake Yang continued. "They couldn't because something compels them to stay. Something called them to Beacon where they gathered into what you call Kingdom Hearts."
Ruby and Yang were shocked by this revelation. The hearts of the people experimented on by Merlot were what created Kingdom Hearts? They created the very thing that took their mother?
"But why? Why come together and why take our mom?" Ruby asked.
"Thanks to Mom being here we might have our answer," "Ruby" answered, showing an image of Amber under the school.
"Amber?" Yang asked. "The Fall Maiden? She brought those hearts together?"
"Close but we're not sure," the fake Yang answered. "The hearts felt a great power that called them to Beacon where they gathered, so it might be her. Either way, Kingdom Hearts is driven to find it which is why we now stand here. When Mom came into contact with it, trying to understand Kingdom Hearts brought her here into this world, forging it from her memories and wishes. We were created as part of this reality so Kingdom Hearts could work on the next step to finding this power."
Ruby wasn't sure she liked where this was going. "Why does it need her just to find whatever it's looking for?"
"Simple. It wants to integrate itself with her," the fake Ruby answered. "It wants to merge with her." Ruby and Yang's eyes widened at that.
"What?!"
"Surprising, huh?" "Yang" chuckled. "That the so-called Kingdom Hearts wants Mom as its host."
"Then why take her? Why put her in this dream world?" Ruby questioned. "What is it doing to her?"
"You really are a bright one aren't you?" "Yang" said with a chuckle, sharing a look with her "sister". "I see why the Keyblade would choose you. Well, as Mom said this isn't the real Kingdom Hearts, but it was powerful enough to create this world. When it read Mom's mind and heart, it learned what she knew and crafted this reality to keep her from fighting back."
"Even as we speak, Kingdom Hearts is slowly merging with her," the fake Ruby said. "But the process is slow and if done too quickly Mom's heart would be fractured, like how Ven's was. So while it works to integrate itself the world will make sure she won't feel any pain until it's over. After that we won't be needed anymore." Ruby felt a sudden chill at that last part.
"Why?"
"The longer Mom is here the sooner she begins to forget about the reality outside of this. Soon she'll forget all about Remnant, the Maidens, the Keyblade, Xehanort, and even you," "Ruby" answered, much to the horror of the sisters. "By then her heart will be fully subsumed by Kingdom Hearts and driven only to seek out the power that brought all the hearts here."
"And what's going to happen to us?" Yang asked.
"We can't let you talk to her, that's for sure," the fake Ruby answered. "Just being around Ruby the first time weakened our hold over her. We can't risk you waking her up. So you're going to stay here until we can figure something more permanent to do with you."
"Who knows? Maybe Kingdom Hearts can take you as well, and the three of you can still be together," the fake Yang said. "But in the meantime, we have a mother to keep blissfully unaware." The doppelgangers headed for the shed door, leaving the real Ruby and Yang behind in their chairs.
"We won't let this happen!" Ruby yelled.
"You can certainly try," her clone said, stepping outside and moving to close the door.
"Hey! Get back here!" Yang yelled, but the shed door was closed and they heard the lock latch. "HEY!"
AN: So, since Kingdom Hearts has never been consistent when it comes to what exactly it is, this one is a lot more sinister.
As always, thank you very much for reading, and I'll see you all next time!