AN: So, there's somebody writing a thesis in my comments. While I appreciate your enthusiasm, I would like to kindly as you to stop doing that. It's kind of creating a huge mess in the comments section.

I'm also surprised at how few people realized that the man in the black coat from the last chapter was Xemnas. That scene was ripped straight from KH2 Final Mix. Also, it's not the same man in a black coat that's been appearing throughout the story.

Also, to the people who keep asking me about doing a Miraculous Ladybug story, I haven't watched that show and have zero intention to.

I would like to thank Lord Maximus for the help.

And last chapter, we passed and surpassed 1500 reviews! Thank you all so much! Not only that, but this story was added to Fanfic recommendationssection on the RWBY TV Tropes Page! Now this story just needs a page of its own and my life will be complete!

Chapter 78

The man sat on his throne in the Chamber of Repose, looking at Aqua's abandoned armor and Keyblade. The battle currently waged above ground was not a concern of his.

In this moment, the only thing that mattered to him was his old friend.

Was she really his friend? Or was this what was left of Terra influencing him?

He did not know.

"I am reminded of the last time we spoke to each other," he said. "It feels like a lifetime ago to me, now. We met once in the Realm of Darkness. You told me about your family. Your daughters. Your World.

"Remnant," he said the name, slowly standing up and approaching the armor pile. "It's a curious thing. We have never seen any indication that there is a world there. And yet, supposedly, that's where you've been all this time." He reached his hand towards the armor, gathering power into his palm. "We need you back. I need you back. And I have just the way to track you down."

Energy fired from his palm, striking the armor pieces, making them tremble with power. Before his eyes, the armor reassembled itself, slowly standing up and grasping Aqua's Keyblade.

The man smirked.

"What's with them?" Sora asked, stopping in his tracks to look around at the Heartless filling the canyon. There had to be thousands of them, easily, mostly Armored Knights. For some reason, they were all frozen in mid-stride.

"Hey!" Goofy shouted, pointing up at the cliff above them. Sora followed his finger, and saw a Dark Corridor appear, transporting a man in a very familiar hooded black coat. He quickly put his hood down, revealing tan skin and long, silver hair.

It was a face Sora knew well.

He looked identical to Ansem, his nemesis from his journey a year ago. Well, okay, apparently not Ansem, but the Heartless of the guy who used to work for the real Ansem. Whatever.

The man turned to look at them, showing his slightly pointed ears and bright yellow eyes.

"It's the guy who's not Ansem!" Donald announced.

"You mean it's his Nobody!" Goofy corrected him as the man turned his whole body to face them.

"The leader of Organization XIII…" Sora said warily. If he was anything like Not-Ansem, this wasn't someone they could afford to take lightly.

"Wait a minute," His Majesty said. "Now I remember! Xehanort! Ansem's apprentice! The leader of Organization XIII is Xehanort's Nobody!" His Majesty summoned his Keyblade and charged at the Nobody. Sora looked back at Donald and Goofy.

"Let's go!" he said, summoning the Kingdom Key, but then they were quickly surrounded by an army of Heartless. "Move it!" he shouted.

"We can't let Xehanort get away!" Donald said.

"Right!" Sora said, looking back at Donald and Goofy. They smiled at him and gave him a thumbs up. He nodded, and they charged at the surrounding Heartless.

Pyrrha sat alone in her room, absentmindedly rubbing her belly. When she had arrived in Argus a few months ago, her mother had been beyond relieved to see her, especially after seeing what had happened during the Festival. Due to Penny's status as a robot, a lot fewer people held it against her than she thought.

It didn't make the guilt go away.

Penny may have been a robot, but she still had thoughts and feelings. Ruby considered her a friend, so that had to count for something! And still, she accidentally…

She sighed, looking down at her belly and the growing baby inside. She still wasn't sure if she was happy or apprehensive about her impending motherhood. Or scared. Or thrilled. Or all of the above.

One thing she was definitely sure of was that she wasn't ready to tell anyone yet. She hadn't even officially declared her retirement yet, nor had she told her own mother about the baby.

And pretty soon, she would have no choice but to tell people.

The baggy shirts and sweatpants she had taken to wearing due to the colder climate of Argus were doing a decent job of hiding her growing bump, but she knew she couldn't keep this up forever. It was shortly going to become too noticeable.

"Pyrrha!" her mother called from downstairs. "Can you come here? I have something to show you!"

"Coming, Mom!" she called back, hopping off her bed and heading downstairs. She walked into the living room, to see her mother holding two familiar objects.

"Ta-da!" her mother said, holding perfect recreations of Milo and Akuou in her hands. Her mother looked a lot like her, with the same vibrant red hair and green eyes. Except her mother wore her hair much shorter, and she wore glasses. "You said you lost them at Beacon, right? Well, I had a friend of ours make you some new ones based on the blueprints you drew for the originals." Pyrrha looked at her with wide eyes. "Well? What do you think?"

Instead of answering, Pyrrha let out a sob, putting her hand over her mouth to try to stop herself from crying.

"Okay, that wasn't the reaction I was expecting," her mother uttered before putting the sword and shield down. "Pyrrha, honey, what's wrong?"

"I-I can't accept those," she said between sobs.

"Is it because someone else forged them?" her mother asked. "If you want, I can ask him to let you use the forge."

"No, that's not it," she said. "I-I'm not going to be a Huntress anymore."

"But why not? Isn't that all you ever wanted to be?"

"…Something happened at Beacon," Pyrrha said, seeing the confusion on her mother's face. She sighed, and pulled her sweatshirt over her head, leaving her in the less baggy tee-shirt she was wearing underneath it. With the slightly tighter article of clothing, the bump on her stomach was much more obvious. "I'm pregnant." Her mother was silent for a few seconds, looking at her with a stunned expression.

Pyrrha was suddenly scooped up into her mother's arms and lifted into the air, the older redhead spinning them around excitedly.

"I'M GONNA BE A GRANDMA!" Her mother shouted happily. After a few seconds, her mother put her down and looked at her with a beaming smile on her face. "Oh, I'm so happy!" Pyrrha couldn't help but giggle at her mother's reaction.

"You're taking this a lot better than I thought you would," Pyrrha said.

"Well, how else would I take the news that my baby girl is having a baby?" her mother asked incredulously.

"W-Well, I thought you'd be mad," Pyrrha said. "You know, for bring irresponsible and getting pregnant during my first year at the Academy. Or for waiting so long to tell you?"

"Well, I am a little upset about you not telling me," her mother said.

"You're not the only person I haven't told," Pyrrha said in shame.

"So, who's the father?" her mother asked.

"My partner, Jaune," Pyrrha said. "He was my team's leader, and we started dating during our second semester. I got pregnant right before the finals of the tournament."

"…Why isn't he here?"

"… I left him without telling him about the baby," Pyrrha admitted.

"Why?" her mother asked. "Is he a jerk? Did you need to get away from him?"

"No!" Pyrrha insisted. "No, I love him! If I could have my way, I would settle down with Jaune and we'd raise our baby together."

"So, why can't you?"

"From the moment I found out I was pregnant, I knew I was going to quit being a Huntress," Pyrrha explained. "But, Jaune wasn't like me. He hadn't received any training before coming to Beacon. I trained him myself. He said to me that I was the first person to ever believe in him, and it was only because of me that he was able to set out on the path to becoming a Huntsman. But I also know him. If he knew about the baby, then he would drop it all in a second to stay with us. That's not fair to him. To make him give up his dream because of the girl that made it possible to pursue it in the first place.

"So, I left. I broke up with him, and I left, without telling him about our baby." Her mother was silent for a few seconds. Finally, her mother let out a deep sigh.

"I thought I raised you better than that," she said, finally displaying the disappointment that Pyrrha had been expecting. "He deserves to know about his child, honey. Even if you know he would have chosen to stay with you and your child, it's still his decision to make. And honestly, the fact that there isn't a doubt in your mind that he would stay tells me everything I need to know about this boy. But even if it's not the decision you would want him to make, he still has the right to make it. What if you never see him again? Your baby will grow up without a father." Pyrrha's eyes widened at that. "I'm not upset that you're pregnant. Do you regret having a baby?"

"No," Pyrrha said, shaking her head. "I…I want this baby. I want to be a mother, and give it all the love and care it deserves."

"Do you regret who the father is?"

"Absolutely not," Pyrrha said. "I love him with all my heart, and I always will."

"That's what's important," her mother said, pulling her into a hug. "And when the CCT is restored, the first thing you're going to do is call Jaune, apologize for not telling him, and let him choose if he wants to be a dad."

"O-okay," Pyrrha said.

"In the meantime, we have a baby to get ready for."

Sora stopped to catch his breath, leaning against the wall of the canyon as Donald and Goofy caught up with him.

"Where's the King?" he asked his friends.

"There he is!" Donald said, pointing ahead to see His Majesty staring down Xehanort's Nobody.

"Come on!" Sora shouted, running towards the cliff that His Majesty was standing on.

"Your Majesty!" Donald called out as they approached, getting his attention. The king turned around to face the Organization's leader.

"Xehanort!" the King shouted.

"How long has it been since I abandoned that name…" the silver-haired man said, his voice a lot deeper than Sora had been expecting.

"Out with it, Nobody!" Sora shouted. "Where's Kairi? Where's Riku?!" Sora had learned the last time he had visited Twilight Town that the Organization had kidnapped Kairi. He wasn't leaving without answers.

"I know nothing of any Kairi," the Nobody stated. "As for Riku…" he turned around to face them. "Perhaps you should ask your king." Sora looked down at King Mickey in confusion, but rather than offer up any answers, the king chose to instead charge at man. A Dark Corridor appeared around the Nobody, and the king jumped in after him, both of them disappearing.

"He's gone…" Sora said, slumping down in defeat. He slammed his fist into the ground in frustration. The king had been dodgy for a while about had happened to Riku since they closed the Door to Darkness, and he had once again missed his chance to get answers about his best friend. Goofy put a comforting hand on his shoulder. Donald drew their attention to the canyon below them, the area around the twisted castle, once filled to the brim with Heartless. It now stood empty.

"What's goin' on?" Goofy asked.

"Way to fall right into their trap," a new, cocky voice said. They turned around and saw another man wearing the Organization's coat, with wild red hair. He was leaning up against the wall of the canyon pass they had just come from. He was glaring at them with piercing green eyes, with purple upside-down teardrop markings under his eyes. Sora, Donald, and Goofy approached the man, taking up their usual battle stances. The man sighed and stepped away from the wall, slowly walking towards them. "C'mon. It's a set-up by Organization XIII. Xemnas is using you to destroy the Heartless. That's his big master plan."

"Xemnas?" Donald questioned.

"The guy you just saw," the redhead said. "He's their leader. Got it memorized? X-E-M-N-A-S." The gang looked at him in confusion.

"Organization XIII wants to get rid of the Heartless?" Goofy asked.

"Man you're slow," the man said. He pointed at the Kingdom Key, still held in Sora's hands. "Every Heartless slain with that Keyblade releases a captive heart. That is what is the Organization is after."

"So what are those guys gonna do with the hearts?" Donald asked.

"I'm not telling," the Nobody said mockingly.

"Tell us!" Donald demanded.

"You…" Sora said, coming to a realization. "You're the one who kidnapped Kairi!"

"Bingo!" the man said. "The name's Axel. Got it memorized?"

"Where is Kairi?" Sora asked, his voice more pleading than demanding this time. The man rubbed the side of his sheepishly, looking ashamed for some reason. "Please. Just tell me!"

"Look," Axel said with a sigh. "About Kairi… I'm sorry."

"Axel!" a stern voice shouted before a corridor appeared in front of Sora, startling everyone involved. When the portal faded, the blue-haired man with the "x"-shaped scar from Twilight Town was standing before them, his back to Sora.

"Uh oh!" Axel exclaimed, fleeing via his own Dark Corridor. Sora tried to chase after him, but the blue-haired man held his hand out to stop him.

"We'll ensure he receives the maximum punishment," the man said. Sora remembered that this man had told him earlier that Axel had apparently gone rouge.

"I don't care about any of that!" Sora said. "Just let me into the realm of Darkness, okay?!"

"If it's Kairi you're worried about, don't," the man said, turning around to face them. "We're taking very good care of her."

"Take me to her," Sora said.

"Is she that important to you?"

"Yeah. More than anything."

"Show me how important," the man said. Sora considered it for a few seconds, before getting down on his knees and bowing deeply, pressing his hands against the ground.

"Please," he said.

"So, you really do care for her," the man said in contemplation. "In that case, the answer is no."

"You rotten…!" Sora shouted, shooting to his feet.

"Are you angry?" the man asked. "Do you hate me? Take that rage, and direct it at the Heartless." He snapped is fingers, and more Heartless appeared around the man. Sora summoned his Keyblade, falling back into formation with Donald and Goofy. The man slightly spread his arms and looked up at the sky for some reason.

"Pitiful Heartless," he said. "Mindlessly collecting hearts. And yet they know not the true power of what they hold. The rage of the Keyblade releases those hearts. They gather in darkness, masterless and free. Until they weave together to make Kingdom Hearts. And when that time comes, we can truly, finally exist."

"What in the world do you think you're prattling about?" a pompous voice suddenly asked. Sora turned around saw Maleficent appear behind him in a burst of green flames. "Kingdom Hearts belongs to me! The heart of all kingdoms, the heart of all that lives. A dominion fit to be called Kingdom Hearts must be MY dominion!"

"Maleficant, no!" Sora shouted. "No more Heartless!"

"I do not take orders from you!" she yelled, raising her arms and summoning Soldier Heartless to surround the Organization member.

"Fool…" the man said. He snapped his fingers, making a group of Dusks appear to kill the Heartless. The Nobodies turned to look at Sora, before lunging at him. He braced for it, only for Maleficent to appear in front of him. She summoned a wall of green flames between them, cutting him off from the Nobodies.

"While I keep these creatures at bay, you devise a way to vanquish them—Forever!" she shouted.

"Maleficent…" Sora said. He watched as several Dusks grabbed hold of her, trying to drag her to the ground.

"Do not misunderstand me," she said. "I shall have my revenge on you yet." Several more jumped on her, finally bringing her down.

"Maleficent!" Sora shouted, being a lot more concerned for the witch than he ever thought he would be.

"Leave! Now!" she shouted.

"I don't take orders from you!" He tried to charge in to help her, but Donald grabbed his hand to stop him.

"Sora, come on!" he said.

"But… what about…" Sora turned back and saw Maleficent's flames disappear.

"Now then," the man said. "Where did we leave off?" He snapped his fingers yet again, replacing the Dusks with more Heartless. They quickly surrounded Sora, Donald, and Goofy.

"Which side are you guys on, anyway?!" Sora asked the creatures surrounding him.

"The Heartless ally with whoever's the strongest," the Nobody explained. He gestured towards Sora, who then had to defend himself from two of the Heartless. He noticed the glowing hearts leaving the slain creatures. "Yes, Sora!" the man said, sounding pleased. "Extract more hearts!" He disappeared into a Dark Corridor, leaving Sora alone with the creatures the Nobody had summoned. The hearts were swallowed up by darkness as they floated away.

"No!" Sora said sadly. "The hearts!" He couldn't dwell on it for long, as he still had monsters trying to kill him.

"What if everything we've done…What if it was all for nothing?"

James stepped into Dr. Pietro Polendina's laboratory, the man hard at work at the workbench in front of him, working on a mechanical arm. As James walked further into Pietro's lab, he could see a large tube obscured by a tarp. He had fairly good idea what was being hidden behind it.

"How's the arm coming, Pietro?" James asked.

"Ah, General!" Pietro greeted, turning his chair around to face him. Like what had unfortunately happened to Aqua at the Fall of Beacon, Pietro was also paralyzed from the waist, down. However, instead of a wheelchair, his chair had several mechanical legs that allowed it to move more freely. "It's coming along nicely! I'm sure the young lady this is being built for will be back in action in no time!"

"Good work," James said. "I can always count on you. There's someone else injured during the Fall that I need your help with."

"Oh?" Pietro asked. "Who?"

"A woman named Aqua Branwen," James answered. "She's married to an…acquaintance of mine. During the Fall, a building fell on her, and she was paralyzed. I'm going to have her shipped to Atlas for treatment."

"And you want me for it?" Pietro asked. "Whatever for? There are plenty of doctors that can handle implanting a Spinal Bypass."

"We're not using a Spinal Bypass," James said, looking at Pietro with a hard expression. "We're going to use the Organic Reconstructor." Pietro's mouth fell open.

"No!" he said. "Absolutely not! That never made it to human trials! It's far too dangerous! It would be far safer and more effective to simply use the Spinal Bypass."

"Pietro, the Spinal Bypass is for Huntsmen injured in the field to allow them to walk, but it's not intended to allow them to go back in the field. It runs on Aura and might be damaged in battle. She's too important. I need her good as new."

"But she likely won't survive it!" Pietro continued arguing.

"If there's anybody who can survive that treatment, I have confidence that it's Aqua."

"We don't know enough about it yet," Pietro insisted. "We could damage her even further, or far more likely, kill her! I won't do it!"

"Pietro, you seem to be forgetting exactly who it is that provides you with your funding," James said, the implications quite clear. "Without me, P.E.N.N.Y. never would have been possible. Aqua is too valuable an asset. You will use the Organic Reconstructor. Is that understood?"

"…Understood, sir," Pietro said, very reluctantly.

"Very good," James said. "I know you won't let me down."

Aqua sat in her wheelchair next to the coffee table in the living room, her eyes closed and a serene expression on her face. After her injury, they had rearranged the house to make things easier for her. Her bed had been moved into the living room, so it was on the ground floor with the bathroom that had a tub, and Yang had moved into the guest bedroom on that floor, to make it easier to help her. Since Ruby and Qrow were both gone, the upstairs now was virtually unused. An apple was sitting on the coffee table in front of her. Though her eyes were closed, she was concentrating very hard. Slowly the apple began rising into the air.

"Mom?" Yang's voice broke Aqua's concentration, making her open her eyes as the apple fell back onto the table.

"I would say knock next time, but I guess this isn't my room," she said, looking up at her oldest daughter.

"How did you… Wait, let me guess," Yang said as she sat down, putting a piece of paper down on the coffee table next to the apple. It had Yang's name written several times, but very sloppily. "New spell?"

"Not exactly," Aqua answered. "Casting spells is one thing but this was a bit more complicated. When Ruby and I cast our spells we conjure the image of what we want in our minds. It happens instantly. This, however, takes a little more work." She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, focusing on the apple again. "It's a method of using my Keybade as a source of energy and using my mind to conjure what I want. Except rather than casting a spell, I'm using my mind to influence an object in the surrounding environment, making it move without touching it." Aqua explained as the apple slowly floated back up. "I saw Xehanort do this in the Graveyard. Except he was able to lift entire mountains and cliffs out of the ground and command thousands of dead Keyblades, like that cloaked man did when we were there in out dreams. As much as I hate that man, this technique could probably come in handy."

"So, trying to train yourself to conjure mountains now?" Yang asked playfully.

"Have to find something to pass the time," Aqua said with a smile as she focused on the apple floating into Yang's open hand. "Harder than I thought but I'm getting the hang of it. Might make things easier on both of us."

"Like bringing plates and stuff down from the counter?" Yang asked, holding the apple in her hand.

"Maybe even more," Aqua said with a shrug. "I always did say to look for any kind of bright side in even the darkest times."

"Yeah," Yang said, taking a bite of the apple. "Maybe I should see about my turning my only arm into a super one… Think you can summon Hercules for some arm wrestling?"

Xemnas stood at the highest point of the Castle, looking, as he often did, up at the Kingdom Hearts the Organization had worked so hard to create. It had grown large enough to become the moon of the World That Never Was.

"It is done," Saïx said as he appeared from a Corridor of Darkness. "I have ensured that Sora will continue collecting Hearts for us. His concern for Kairi will guarantee his continued cooperation."

"Good," the Superior said, still looking up at the majestic sight above him. "Soon, our work will finally be completed and we will be whole again."

"At long last," Saïx concurred. "And what of things on your end? Do you have your means to locate the woman named Aqua?" They could hear footsteps, and turned around.

"I have found a…suitable solution to that problem," Xemnas said. The two Nobodies watched as a suit of armor carrying a Keyblade walked up the staircase leading to the top, and kneeled before Xemnas.

"What would… you have me do?" the armor asked in a voice Xemnas hadn't heard in years. Aqua's voice.

Xemnas smiled.

Yes, very soon indeed, all their plans would finally bear fruit.

AN: Okay, quick question: How in the FUCK did Mickey forget Xehanort's name? And when he met him as Ansem's apprentice, it was only a year a most after he helped fight him. He didn't notice that this kid had the same name, or looked suspiciously like Terra?

So, we saw a little bit of how Pyrrha's doing, and I kind of had fun writing her mother. I have very little to work with, so I just assume she's very supportive of Pyrrha.

Aqua's also been working on some telekinesis, like what Xehanort had.

And that little detour with Sora. I just couldn't resist. That entire section of that game is my absolute favorite. And since KH2 is my favorite game of all time, that's saying a lot about how much I love that scene.

As always, thank you very much for reading, and I'll see you all next time!