Smaller, More Honest Souls Chapter 5: The Seeker of Darkness, a Kingdom Hearts + RWBY Crossover fanfic

AN: Hey everyone, I want to say that I love the outpouring from the community so far. It's really kind of funny to see the difference between the three story groups I post in – this one definitely has the most community interaction so far.

Now for responses to questions!

To Keyslinger Roxas: Don't worry, I totally plan on introducing some of Sora's awesome new powers that we've seen in the Kingdom Hearts 3 ads so far, but I'd like to see a few more trailers for them or maybe even get a chance to play if/when a demo is released and even more in the official game. I want to get a better feel for them before I jump right into tossing Space Mountain into the mix. As for the other Keyblades showing up, I'm of a mind with you. While the Kingdom Key will remain Sora's "default," since there have been cutscenes in the past that change the equipped weapon back to it thus suggesting it might be what he "actually" uses, once Sora figures out his Drive Forms the other ones will be showing up more and more. Like in the first chapter, Final Form will use what I always thought of as the "standard" Synch-Blade pair of Oathkeeper and Oblivion. Valor will be Kingdom Key and Star Seeker. The others aren't set in stone so far, but I'm thinking Two become One for Wisdom since it doesn't have Synch-Blade, Ultima Weapon for Limit, and Master will show up in this chapter. One of my favorite Keyblades, Fenrir, might show up later, too, or at least something that is based on it.

And honestly, I update on a cycle usually. By doing a chapter for my Star Wars story, then my Elder Scrolls story, then this one and repeating, I've found it helps me think up new ideas for the other stories in the cycle and to even finish the chapters faster. Also, it ensures that I never fall behind too far in any of them!

Finally, here comes the next chapter. We're almost halfway to Haven now, so please, read, enjoy, and drop a review so I can know what I'm doing well.

Chapter 5: The Seeker of Darkness

Sora groaned as light began to leak through his closed eyelids, the dull red interspersed with spots of black and purple that flashed with every dull thud of pain that throbbed across his entire body. He groaned again when the noise of an explosion slammed through his eardrums, instinctively forcing his eyes open and causing the sounds of the entire world to become nothing but a loud, sharp ringing noise; the Kingdom Key was a few feet away from his outstretched hand, covered in dirt. The heat from the fires pressed into Sora's back and he growled in discomfort. With a wavering hand, he reached out and grabbed the Keyblade, panting heavily as he did. Then he turned the blade down and jammed it into the ground as a way to help him stand. The world swayed painfully as he got to his feet, each eye perceiving the surrounding forest as turning in opposite directions. The Keyblade wielder closed his eyes and shook his head, violently trying to clear his mind.

He opened them again and fought to hold in his fear. Xehanort was advancing on him, cruel, black Keyblade dragging across the floor of the forest, casting echoing screeches every time the metal dragged across a stone. As well as he could, Sora pulled his Kingdom Key out of the ground and brought it in front of him defensively. It was shaking from side to side, rattling around in his loose grip. Xehanort laughed and began to monologue to the young Keyblade wielder, contorting his hands in a way that made Sora's hurt and cackling at the sky. Then he raised his Keyblade at Sora and placed his other hand behind his back before continuing with his speech. Jeez, villains and their monologues, Sora groaned inwardly, still trying to blink off the double world he was seeing. Where are Ruby and the others?

As if in response, he saw the red clad girl dash through his field of vision, then dash again when a fireball woman in red landed where she had been a moment before. The woman's feet were surrounded by dying fires as she landed, likely meant to kill the other young woman. Cinder, Sora thought instinctively. He returned his attention to Xehanort. "... at right, Sora?" The man asked, right before rushing at the Keyblade wielder. Sora dove to the side, barely dodging the blow in time. He rolled back to his feet, but his vision slid to the side and he fell to one knee. He felt like he was about to blow chunks. He struggled to remember – how had it gotten like this?

R W B Y

Two and a Half Hours Earlier

Sora grinned as he walked down the forest pathway with his friends, the five of them trading embarrassing stories. A surprising number from all of them were at Jaune's expense, though he took it like a champ, even managing to dole out a few that made everyone else blush in embarrassment. "... and then he tries to introduce himself as 'Jaune Arc. Short. Sweet. Ladies love it,'" Ruby said, her voice taking on the same tone as her friends as she copied him.

"He introduced himself that way to every girl in school," Nora pointed out. She was barely containing her thunderous laughter as she continued the story. "Even Coco. Yatsuhashi almost punted him through a wall."

At that, everyone laughed. Sora didn't know who those people were, but the idea of the story itself was funny enough. The Jaune that Sora had met was much more... reserved than the one that their friends kept telling stories about. "Oh, you think that's bad?" Jaune asked. He smirked and pointed at Ruby. "She accidentally blew herself up... and then for the first week of school told people to call her Craterface!"

Sora snorted at that and stumbled, the laughter throwing him off guard. "You... asked to be called that?"

"I don't... know... how to... people!" Ruby protested, her face turning a blazing maroon. She quickly joined in with the laughter as well, doubling over and clutching at her gut as she remembered how some of the other students had called her that for the rest of the semester. Deciding it was time for the others to join in on the fun again, Ruby looked over at Nora. "For future signaling reference, just what noise does a sloth make?"

"Oh, dear," Ren muttered, placing his hand over his eyes.

"You... Told them!?" Nora asked, a look of mock horror on her face. Sora couldn't help himself and summoned a flash of magic lightning down behind her, just to add to the mood. Nora went with it, forcing her voice to break. "How could you betray me like that?! You've broken my heart."

"Every time someone brings it up," Ren muttered to himself, though he was chuckling slightly at the events as well. He stood up straight. "I'm still not sure if sloths make much noise."

Ruby and Jaune glanced at each other, stifling laughter. Sora knew what came next would be the funniest part of this little story. As soon as Nora began to speak, they joined in. "That's why no one will expect it!" Sora laughed at this, though not as hard as the others. He was guessing that he had to be there for it to really appreciate the joke, but it was still pretty funny. He could imagine just how Nora would have said it, and – even better – meant it. He thought it summed her usual character up pretty well. Sora smiled as he watched his friends continue to trade stories, glad to see that the change from how they had been acting three weeks earlier. It was like they were brighter. Happier. Sora was sure he was doing his job right if that was the case.

He opened his mouth to tell a story of Jaune's, one he'd learned when the knight had taken one too many hits during a training session, when it happened. The air grew cold, and the shadows around them in the forest began to darken. "Guys," he warned, his voice a low, worried growl. They couldn't hear him over their conversation and laughter. "Guys!"

They turned at the worry in his voice. "What's wrong, Sora?" Ruby asked, her hand already on Crescent Rose. He raised his hand, one of his fingers up, and pressed it to his mouth. He wasn't usually one for being quiet, but the feeling of the Darkness that was approaching was too familiar, too oppressive to try for anything else. He dropped his hand and let the energy of the Keyblade appear in his grip, ready to fight against whatever it was that was coming. "Did you hear something?"

"Do you feel that?" he asked quietly. The shadows began to grow darker.

"Now that you mention it..." Jaune muttered, shivering. The others noticed it one by one as well, the cold aura of a powerful Darkness advancing towards them. They drew their weapons and arranged themselves in a circle, looking around anxiously for whatever it was that was coming for them. Sora tensed as the leaves nearby rustled, and he raised his Keyblade, ready to fire off one of his spells. The leaves rustled again, and the entire group spun to fire at the one spot simultaneously. Sora sent off a burst of different spells, Firagas, Blizzagas, Gravigas, while the others launched their bullets and grenades and sniper rounds at whatever was coming. Except Jaune, who pretty much only had a sword. They stopped their screaming and firing a moment later, and a harmless rabbit bounced out from behind the treeline. The entire group's eyes just followed the small animal as it slowly made its way across the forest path, stopping midway to stare up at them. It cocked its head to the side, its small nose twitching up and down before scratching at its face with one of its fore paws. Then it slowly continued bouncing away.

"That. Was. Embarrassing," someone said from behind the group.

Ruby's eyes lit up with anger and she turned on her heel, reloading her rifle as she did and getting a shot off at Mercury before he could dodge. Unfortunately for her, the attack was easily deflected by someone she didn't recognize.

In front of the smirking, silver haired criminal who stood shoulder to shoulder with Emerald and Cinder Fall herself, was an old man. He wore a long, deep gray and charcoal overcoat with huge pockets and way too many straps. His hands hands were in white gloves that tucked into his coat and shirt, which had huge, white cuffs. His eyes were a burning, sulfuric yellow that seemed to both clash with and complement his mocha skin tone. He was holding a twisted hunk of black metal in one hand, the weapon covered in swirling, white veins; a twisted farce of Sora's own weapon, in many ways. A Keyblade. Strapped to his back was a large 'X' made out of two Keyblades identical to Sora's, with a rusting, snowflake-like pattern erupting from between them. It had a jagged blade from which inky, Darkness smoked. And, to top it off, he had the most cliché bad guy goatee of all time.

Sora narrowed his eyes and slowly put himself between the man and his friends. "Xehanort," he growled as he raised his Keyblade defensively. He looked at the others until his eyes fell on a rather attractive, if cruel looking woman. "And you must be the infamous Cinder Fall." Sora cast a look over his shoulder to see how the others were doing. Jaune looked like he was barely containing his rage. But he was containing it. Sora's glare returned to Xehanort. "I knew it would just be a matter of time until I found you."

"Who the hell's this chump?" the silver haired one asked the green haired one. "Emerald, he looks like a wimp, huh?"

"Mercury," the girl hissed in reply, her kurasigama-guns gesturing between the two Keyblades. "I doubt that."

"Right," he responded sheepishly, returning to a ready position and bouncing from side to side.

"Who is this person, Xehanort?" Cinder finally asked, her eyes drifting over each of the children disinterestedly. Her eyes settled on Ruby for a moment, and a flash of something dangerous went through her face, but it was quickly hidden and her eyes locked on Sora. Specifically his weapon. She wondered if she could find a way to use one of these weapons, then? Would it make her more powerful? Powerful enough to escape her Destiny? "How does he know you?"

The Keyblade master didn't respond. He ignored her question and smiled evilly at Sora. "I knew I would find you here," he said, still standing with his weapon in its guard position. "You followed me through that portal, even if it meant never seeing your friends again. I must say, that's either incredibly brave or absurdly stupid, boy."

"Someone has to stop you," Sora retorted, trying to think up a plan. The fight was five on four, which meant one of the enemy could get locked in a two on one fight. The question was... who? Sora wouldn't let anyone else try to fight Xehanort; they were strong but... well, he was barely even that strong. The silver haired guy and the green headed girl seemed to be taking orders, given how they glanced at Cinder every few moments. So they had to take out Cinder before those two. She'd be the one they double teamed in battle. Whatever he did, however, he had to keep Jaune out of that fight. He frowned and whispered just low enough that only Ruby, was standing just next to him, could hear. "Two on one with Cinder. Don't let Jaune fight her. Stay away from Xehanort." Ruby thought about protesting for a moment, then stopped and nodded slightly before conveying the information to the others. Jaune let out a quiet, indignant scoff. To Xehanort: "Why did you come here?"

"Oh, yes, I'll reveal all that I know to you right now. Right here. And then we'll fight, and... you'll win," Xehanort said before cackling. He narrowed his eyes on Sora. "Is that how you think this is going to turn out, Sora?"

"You forgot about me finding a way to drag you back to Master Yen Sid and King Mickey," Sora growled. He took a step forward and changed his grip on the Keyblade so he was ready to attack. Then he dashed forward, slashing at the Keyblade Master, only to have his attack blocked by Cinder. He pushed against her and she began to lose ground to him.

"Don't bother," Xehanort told her quietly. He summoned a portal of Darkness beneath the woman and she disappeared, causing Sora to stumble forward into Xehanort's attack. He raised his Keyblade just in time to block it. Another portal of Darkness appeared a moment later and a shocked, worried Cinder appeared where she had been standing a moment before. "Go play with the kids." Cinder's eyes narrowed in annoyance at that, but she looked back at Sora – a mere child who was glaring at Xehanort like they were equals and long time enemies – and knew she was horribly outclassed at the moment. She scoffed and motioned for the others to attack before jumping off to fight with the Silver Eyed girl.

"I was hoping to run into you soon," Xehanort said as his Keyblade and Sora's crackled, their opposite energies snapping wildly at each other. Sora took a deep breath and held in his response, instead focusing on whatever it was he was going to do in this fight. He'd only won before because of Donald, Goofy, and Riku. But on the other hand, Xehanort had also had the χ -blade then, so his power would be a lot lower now, too. All in all? Sora wasn't quite sure how this fight would go. All he knew was that he needed to win it.

Sora took a step back from Xehanort, who did the same, still grinning maniacally, and the two entered their respective ready stances. "So was I," Sora responded before launching himself at the man. Their Keyblades clashed with the sound of thunder, sending a huge explosion of air rushing away from them. There were shouts of surprise as the energy released caused the other combatants to lose their footing and fly through the air. Sora stopped pushing first, letting himself spin with the sudden shift in momentum to attack Xehanort from the other side of his head. The Keyblade Master merely laughed and raised his Keyblade defensively, easily blocking Sora's attack.

"You've gotten stronger, Seeker of Light," Xehanort said with a dark grin. He laughed and shoved Sora off, the younger Keyblade wielder tumbling through the air before righting himself and skidding across the dirt. He raised his Keyblade in time to deflect a powerful blow from Xehanort, then lock blades when another came down. "Though not strong enough." The Keyblade Master twisted his Keyblade and dragged it back, catching the Kingdom Key in his weapon's teeth and using the connection to throw Sora again. As Sora flew through the air, Xehanort raised his left hand; a moment later it flew back from the sheer force of the Dark Firaga he had unleashed. Sora's eyes widened and he raised his Keyblade, casting a Reflega. The Dark spell pushed against the wall he had summoned for a moment, then seemed to hitch on something and flew upward. The fire dragged through the tree branches, igniting them, then exploding above the tops of the trees. Black fire rained down, leaving burning cinders on the dirt around them.

"I'm strong enough," Sora replied, and he rushed back at Xehanort. "To beat you!"

Ruby, meanwhile, was teamed up with Nora against Cinder, and the two of them were doing their best to keep her occupied until Ren defeated Emerald and could help them out. Ruby crouched and spun beneath a spray of glass shards the woman had summoned, spinning Crescent Rose along her back as she did. As soon as she cleared the attack, she stood and used the built up momentum in her weapon to slash down at Cinder, who merely scoffed. The wind picked up in the path of Ruby's scythe and her weapon – and her by extension – was thrown away by a small tornado. "What was that!?" she shouted, slamming Crescent Rose into the ground to stop herself.

Nora didn't have time to guess, as she was now unleashing her own devastating blows on Cinder. Or they would have been devastating, had any of them connected. Every time that the girl brought Magnihild around, Cinder would lithely step just out of her reach or roll beneath the attack. With an angry growl, the redhead slammed her weapon into the ground, something that Cinder hadn't been expecting. The earth shattered around the two, then a circle of it crumbled and began to fall. Cinder flailed in the air for a moment, then caught herself with a stream of fire from her feet.

Ruby didn't know what was going on with the woman, but she wasn't going to let it faze her. As Cinder began to rise from the hole, the villainess summoned a ball of fire to her outstretched palm and pointed it at Nora. Ruby arrived just in time, getting a successful shot off on Cinder. Her scythe crashed into the woman's midsection and sent her flying into a nearby tree. The fireball went wide as Cinder flailed, her hand pointing towards Xehanort as the fireball went off. He barely took time from his fight with Sora to lazily neutralize the attack.

"Why do you always interfere!?" Cinder screamed as she tore herself out of the tree trunk, the tree suddenly igniting in flames and quickly burning away to ash. Ruby didn't answer, instead readying her scythe to attack again. "Every time I do anything, there you are."

"I could say the same to you," Ruby finally retorted. There was a loud bang and she rushed towards the criminal, scythe extended behind her for a heavy attack.

At the same time, Ren and Emerald were engaging in a quick fight between ninjas, the two effortlessly dodging every one of the other's attacks. His twin guns slashed down through air and she lashed out with her chains. The two easily ended their own attacks and dodged the death blows, landing back to back. Ren was the first to understand and looped his arms over Emerald's shoulders. He lifted her up and jumped. "Let me go!" she shouted.

He hit the ground with her beneath him, then rolled to his feet and used the momentum to throw her away. "If you insist," he remarked, running after her and firing off a volley of his Dust bullets after her. She gasped in pain when they collided with her midsection and she tumbled into the darkness of the forest. Ren waited for the inevitable counter attack, and easily dodged the two chains that flew out of the forest, even firing off a few bullets towards where they had come from. However, his eyes widened when he saw another pair of chains and sickles flying at him from his left. He twisted mid air to dodge them and saw yet another pair flying at him from behind. He growled to himself and reached out to grab one of the chains to dodge again. However, his hand passed through the weapon and he continued to fall right into the path of... more fake chains. He gasped in surprise as the illusion passed through him, but his surprise couldn't last long as another pair of sickles slammed into his back from where he had thrown the girl and he was soon buried face first in the trunk of a tree. He pushed himself out and narrowed his eyes. "Illusionists..."

"So, you're that redhead's boy toy, right?" Mercury asked Jaune as he tried to break through the blonde's powerful defense, to little avail. Jaune set his brow and tried to ignore the criminal's remarks, counterattacking whenever he could. "The dead one who used to be on cereal boxes. Oh, what was her name?" He lashed a kick out at Jaune's head, but it was deflected by the blonde's shield. Jaune twisted the shield so that, instead of stopping, Mercury would skid along it and be unable to stop himself. Then he brought his sword down on Mercury's leg with a grin, knowing he'd destroyed his enemy's weapon.

Or not. "Wow, I underestimated you," Mercury said as the sword dinged uselessly against his leg. He grabbed hold of Jaune's arm and twisted around it midair so he could loop his legs around Jaune's throat and bring him down. He jumped away from the prone knight and laughed. "Which is hard to do when you're fighting the weakling of the group."

Jaune opened his eyes and pushed himself to his feet. "What..." he began. "Did you just say?"

"You know, I feel a little offended that they think I am the weak one of my team," Mercury continued, a smug, shit-eating grin on his face. He gestured between himself and Jaune. "I mean, I had to purposely lose for that blonde bimbo to beat me. You really think that you can take me if Red and her sister couldn't? Hell, I can't believe she's lasted this long against Cinder. Longer than Cereal Box did, at least."

Jaune couldn't take it anymore. He rushed at Mercury with a wild, angry battle cry, his wild slashes coming down to kill the silver-haired boy just moments after he had left that spot. "Ooh, close, but not close enough," Mercury taunted as he ducked under another wild swipe. He raised his leg to block the next one and used the collision to deliver an ax kick to Jaune's head. Imagine his surprise when he hit the shield instead. Jaune stared at the ground, his sword at his side. "Hey, earth to idiot."

"You made a mistake," Jaune growled, raising his gaze to glare angrily at Mercury. The assassin froze at what he saw. Jaune's eyes were filled with a lot of rage, burning with the same kind of hate that Xehanort's did on a good day. "A big mistake."

Mercury gulped. He wasn't sure why, but he was starting to get that feeling, too. Of course, that didn't stop him from continuing his poorly conceived onslaught of insults. "You know, Cinder says that Cereal Box was glad to die in the end. Probably so she could get away from you."

He was immediately shut up by a sword blade to the jaw. He gasped in pain as he stumbled away from Jaune. He checked his Scroll on the underside of his wrist – that one hit had taken out more than a quarter of his Aura reserves. He glanced up just in time to duck beneath an equally powerful blow from the swordsman before dashing away. He fired off a few shots from his boots, but the blonde just walked through them like they were nothing. The silvery bolts just glanced harmlessly off of the kid's shoulders. His Aura must be... massive, Mercury thought to himself. He jumped away again. Okay, time to start thinking and fighting. This was going to be an interesting fight for once.

Without a word, Mercury ran from Jaune right towards Emerald. "Hey, Round the World!" he shouted at her. She glanced in his direction, casting a sarcastic glare at him about being unable to beat Jaune by himself. In response, he just gestured at Ren, who was effectively learning the ins and outs of her illusionist semblance. She sighed and tossed the chains towards her old partner. He grabbed them and wrapped them around his wrists before jumping and letting Emerald control where he went. He fired off some of his Dust mines every so often as she continued spinning him around her until a silvery wall surrounded them, Jaune, and Ren. The Swordsman barely noticed, however, and made his way into the path of the chains. He brought his sword down on top of them and they began to loop around as he buried his weapon tip first into the dirt. Mercury let go of the chains and soared into Jaune's chest, landing a kick and bouncing off. The blonde didn't even look fazed.

"Then... how about this!" Mercury said, pointing up. He brought his hands down and the mines began to flood the area, flying towards Ren and Jaune. Ren did his best to dodge them, only getting hit by a few. Jaune just stood there, taking blow after explosive blow all while glaring right at Mercury.

"Uh, Merc," Emerald said, grabbing his shoulder and trying to pull him away.

He gulped. "You do care," he replied, stepping away with her as Jaune advanced slowly towards them. He didn't bother pulling his sword from the ground as he passed it, instead unlatching his shield from his arm and gripping it by the sides, as if he were going to use it as a bludgeoning weapon.

"Jaune!" Ren shouted, trying to snap his friend out of whatever was consuming him.

Sora turned as he heard that and cursed to himself. He fired a Stopga off at Xehanort. The old man dodged, but did not follow Sora. He instead stopped and began to examine the other young man. He dispelled his Keyblade as he waited for Sora to return and glared at Jaune Arc, at the massive Light and Darkness warring in his Heart. It was like looking at Terra or Riku all over again. Xehanort chuckled darkly to himself: the Remnant became more and more interesting with every moment that he walked its surface.

Sora ran towards the blonde warrior, who was still shrugging off attack after attack like they were nothing. "Jaune, stop!" he shouted as he sprinted past Ren. He brought the Keyblade up to block one of the silvery wisps rushing at him and kept running. "Jaune, don't do this!" The blonde didn't listen, still advancing threateningly towards Emerald and Mercury. The green haired girl fired a few shots at Jaune, but he angled his shield and they ricocheted back at her. Mercury jumped in their path and deflected them with his leg.

"Damn it," Sora growled. He jumped forward as quickly as he could and raised his Keyblade. "Reflect!" Jaune's shield that was coming down crashed into the wall of light, and the bubble containing Sora, Mercury, and Emerald flew back to crash into a tree, where it shattered. Sora raised his Keyblade defensively and looked over his shoulder at Mercury and Emerald, then back at Jaune. The blonde swordsman had physical darkness rising from his shoulders, tendrils of the wispy, inky blackness coiling upward. Riku... Sora furrowed his brow and let Jaune advance. "Jaune, snap out of it!"

"I'm going to kill them for what they did to Pyrrha," Jaune growled, ignoring Sora's pleading. He just kept walking slowly towards them.

"Jaune!" Sora snapped again. He rushed forward, brandishing his Keyblade. The weapon collided with Jaune's unbreakable shield and rebounded with a clang. Sora turned on his heel and slashed diagonally upwards. The weapon crashed into Jaune's shield at the bottom, twisting it and forcing it flying into the air. Sora dashed forward with his Keyblade outstretched. His hand and weapon glowed as he summoned a spark of Light magic running along it. The blade of the Kingdom Key extended as he attacked, driving a bright white blade through Jaune's chest. The air shimmered around the young man as the shadows slowly began to disappear, Sora's Keyblade having locked his heart from the Darkness... temporarily. Sora caught the blonde as he fainted and turned to angle his weapon at Emerald and Mercury. "Don't. Touch him." They glanced between each other and nodded fearfully. They didn't want to risk angering someone who had just fought with Xehanort and hadn't died immediately. Sora slowly dragged Jaune over to a tree and leaned him against it.

"Nora, take over with this," he shouted, glaring at Mercury and Emerald.

Ren materialized beside him. "What did you do?" he asked, torn between threatening and thanking Sora for attacking his team leader.

"Later," Sora told Ren. His eyes were already fixed on the hungry, skin crawling grin that Xehanort was flashing in his direction. Sora frowned. No, at Jaune. Sora got ready to run. "Deal with them then help Ruby." Then he took off, Kingdom Key flashing threateningly and colliding with Xehanort's demonic weapon.

"Is that hate I see in your eye, Sora?" Xehanort asked mockingly. He raised his Keyblade like lightning and deflected Sora's next attack, letting them ricochet off and drift slowly before appearing suddenly to block the next assault. He brought his Keyblade down, letting Sora's run through the opening in the center before twisting it to the side. Sora felt his Keyblade get torn from his hands and saw Xehanort grab the Kingdom Key by its handle. He swung both the weapons around at Sora as he tried to summon his weapon back. Sora ducked beneath the attack just in time, feeling the weapons glide through his hair. This gave Sora the time he needed to concentrate on summoning his weapon back and launching a vertical strike at the Dark Keyblade Master.

Xehanort grunted when the weapon crashed into his body, sliding all the way up to his chin. His goatee crumpled and he flipped, landing on his chest a short ways from Sora. "I keep underestimating you," Xehanort grunted while he forced himself up to his feet. He twirled his Keyblade in his hand before raising beside his head. Sora's eyes drifted from that weapon to the one strapped across Xehanort's back. The Dark Keyblade Master noticed, and chuckled softly. "I see you've noticed the χ -blade. Or, what's left of it after your attempts to destroy it."

"It... it should be gone," Sora muttered. He glared into Xehanort's evil, yellow eyes. Their gazes met with almost physical sparks of lightning and fire. Sora dropped his Keyblade to his side and swept his off hand in front of himself, as if denying what he was seeing. "Master Yen Sid said that breaking it at all should have made it disappear after a few minutes! If it's still here..." Sora glanced up to reassure himself. No, Kingdom Hearts wasn't glistening in the sky above. "H – you know, I don't know if I care about the how. I'll just take it from you and figure it out later."

Xehanort laughed at that. "As if a child like you ever could," he retorted, already dashing towards the young Keyblade wielder. Sora growled and raised his Keyblade, deflecting the blow. He dashed back and slashed out with his sword, causing one of the trees to begin falling.

"Tttimmmm-bbbberrrrrr!" Sora shouted as it fell, landing on his shoulders. With a grunt and a heave, he tossed the ancient tree at his opponent. Xehanort continued running right for Sora, only stopping to drop to his side and slide beneath the attack before quickly making his way back to his feet. Sora grimaced as the tree crashed through others, causing birds and squirrels to run away in fear. But he couldn't deal with that right then. He rushed at Xehanort again and their Keyblades clashed.

Should I use it? Sora wondered as he continued trading blows with the other Keyblade wielder, every one creating an echoing boom whenever the weapons collided. He subconsciously reached towards the energy in the back of his Heart, almost deciding to try for a Drive Form again. But he quickly stopped. He caught sight of the others fighting their opponents. Ruby was holding her own against Cinder, even managing to get off a few of her own shots against the criminal, nothing serious, but she was safe. Nora was slowly gaining ground on Mercury, who kept casting nervous glances at the still unconscious Jaune. Ren was on equal footing with the green girl, trading blows at a nearly one to one rate. Sora jerked away from the power and slashed at Xehanort again. He grinned as Xehanort's weapon faltered slightly from the blow. Don't need to.

"Thinking you stand a chance, Sora?" Xehanort asked when he noticed the younger man's goofy grin. The old man snarled and flipped away from another of Sora's attacks, launching a Dark Firaga at the boy as he did. Sora merely twisted in place, letting the attack crash into the blade of the Kingdom Key. Sora took a step forward and slashed upward, deflecting the attack back at its caster. Even as he did, however, another Dark Firaga flew at him from and he was forced to jump to the side. The resulting explosion burned away a cluster of trees and sent black flames raining down around them. The magical flames rarely ignited any flames on the other trees, the ones that did flickering out just moments later. Sora gasped as Xehanort appeared above him. Sora raised the Kingdom Key as quickly as he could, barely catching the resulting attack. "That's a dangerous lie to believe."

"Why here?" Sora asked just loud enough for Xehanort to hear. Sora tensed his legs and with all of his might shoved the man's weight off. Sora jumped to full height and charged Xehanort, unleashing a flurry of attacks faster than most could see. Xehanort was able to dodge each of them... barely. "Why come to this world?"

"If you don't know that by now, you'll have to wait and see like the rest of the Remnant," Xehanort responded with an evil grin. He twisted his Keyblade to a backhand and brought it down over head and into the Kingdom Key's basket. Sora's guard faltered suddenly, and he was forced to one knee. He was barely able to look up in time to notice a black boot streak into his face before all went dark.

R W B Y

Qrow watched the fight far below with a tense sort of interest. Ruby was busy fighting against Cinder Fall all by herself. She was fighting a Maiden of Autumn, someone who had taken out Oz... and she was doing pretty damn well. Of course, that probably meant that the woman was holding back, cautiously trying to understand just what Ruby's skills were. Qrow didn't blame her; he'd seen Summer use her Silver Eyes a few times. Nothing like what Ruby had unleashed on the Dragon Grimm, but it was pretty scary none the less. That Ruby was even doing well against Cinder's half-best, Qrow decided to take as a compliment of his teaching abilities. "I'm the best damn teacher in the world," he said, incapable of staying serious even when his niece was in mortal danger. Of course, maybe that courage was really just the alcohol running through his veins.

Qrow turned his attention from Ruby and Cinder, looking at the other combatants one at a time. Lie Ren and Nora Valkyrie, warriors who had grown up together in an orphanage. They'd trained together every night for years before eventually getting a scholarship to Signal and later to Beacon. Good complements, with his cool head and wordless demeanor offsetting the girl's own manic personality and 'hit first, ask questions never' ideology. That didn't stop him from being clueless about how she really felt about him as well, nor her from having the bluster to ask. There were bigger things on their minds anyways.

The man narrowed his eyes when he saw the other two kids. Mercury and Emerald, if he remembered from the Vytal Festival. "So I guess you aren't crazy, eh Firecracker?" he breathed, thinking back to when Yang had viciously attacked Mercury without reason. Here he was, his knee perfectly fine. Helping Cinder. For a moment he wished Yang had snapped him in two. Now he was losing ground to Nora. Emerald meanwhile was trading blows with Ren, a perfect match.

And Jaune... Qrow had been really worried about Jaune for a moment there. Sure, he'd come a long way since faking his transcripts to get into the school, but he wasn't sure if the kid was ready for this. Whatever had happened during his fight with Mercury... he was starting to believe that was indeed the case. He'd even attacked Sora in his march to kill Cinder's goons. Qrow frowned as he remembered. Jaune had been that Nikos girl's boy toy. No wonder he got so angry... but if he kept endangering Ruby like that.

And there was that other guy. From how he looked, he was sure that this was the Xehanort Sora had described. He had laughed for a moment when he'd seen him – cliché villain didn't even begin to describe it. Of course, that didn't detract from how terrifying he was. Even as far away as he was, Qrow could tell that the guy was bad news. He scared Sora, and Qrow wasn't sure if he'd like to go toe to toe with Sora again. His fear only increased when he saw the guy shoot a huge, black fireball from his hand. "Ho. Ly. Sh. It," Qrow muttered, the resulting explosion even reaching him. Pine needles began to rain down around the battlefield.

Then Sora was taken out. "Damn it, I -" Qrow began. He tore his weapon from his back, then froze. Sora was pushing himself back to his feet. And he stood like something was about to change. Deciding to trust his niece and her friends for a few more minutes, Qrow clipped his scythe to his back again and crouched to observe. "What do you have planned, kiddo?"

R W B Y

He opened them again and fought to hold in his fear. Xehanort was advancing on him, twisted black Keyblade dragging across the floor of the forest, casting echoing screeches every time the metal dragged across a stone. As well as he could, Sora pulled his Kingdom Key out of the ground and brought it in front of him defensively. It was shaking from side to side, rattling around in his loose grip. Xehanort laughed and began to monologue to the young Keyblade wielder, contorting his hands in a way that made Sora's hurt and cackling at the sky. Then he raised his Keyblade at Sora and placed his other hand behind his back before continuing with his speech. Jeez, villains and their monologues, Sora groaned inwardly, still trying to blink off the double world he was seeing. Where are Ruby and the others?

Sora forced himself to his feet and cast a Cure. "Get behind me!" he shouted, raising his Keyblade defensively. He stood at the ready with his weapon before him and waited for everyone to listen. Xehanort just snorted and motioned for his own group to retreat as well.

"What do you have planned?" Ruby asked as she drew close, Nora and Ren dragged along in her wake.

"Go hang back with Jaune," Sora said, beginning to grin. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a dispenser of the Dust he had bought. Yellow. He glanced over his shoulder at Ruby. "The wait's over."

Ruby stammered for a moment, not sure what he meant. Then it dawned on her. "We'll go handle Jaune," she agreed, grabbing Ren and a protesting Nora to go protect the unconscious swordsman.

"I was wondering when you'd try this again," the dark Keyblade Master laughed, swinging his Keyblade to his side and grinning cruelly.

"Why don't you come and get me before I can... if you're afraid," Sora taunted. He lowered his Keyblade to his side. "Just try it, come on. Free shot, no Keyblade to protect me."

"Don't move," Xehanort commanded.

"Sora! What are you doing?!" Ruby shouted.

"Oh, shut up, Old Man!" Cinder snarled. "He's an idiot boy. Kill him and we're done." She raised a fireball to her hand and loosed it at Sora.

"Gotcha," he said with a grin, and the light exploded around him, blinding everyone present. There was a scream of pain as the fireball bounced back and collided with Cinder.

"Now," Sora said as the light began to clear. Ruby stared in surprise when her sight fully returned. He was standing before her in different clothes – no the same clothes, just differently colored. His vest had turned a bright yellow, and his sweatshirt was now a deep black. His pants were mostly yellow, but it slowly faded in an ombre to black starting at the mid thigh. Silvery crosses dotted the black, increasing in number as the black darkened. The yellow and black on his shoes had switched, so they too were more yellow than black.

But the biggest change was his two Keyblades. In his right hand was a mostly silver one, built much more like a sword. The basket was a charcoal pentagon and the outer edge of the blade was gunmetal gray. The teeth was a fleur de lis and the tip of the weapon was a screaming lion. In his left, a more simple red sword. The hilt was an angry, fish like face that turned into a deep red blade. Three spikes flared out from the back. The basket looked like the feet or maybe the body of the creature on the hilt. "Now," Sora said again, "you woke the Sleeping Lion. Let's see if you can deal with my Guardian Soul." He groaned. "Okay, um... let me try that again. You... I -"

"Wait, are those the Keyblades' names?" Ruby asked, earning a sheepish grin from Sora. "Well, that was a bad pun."

"Now, all of you attack at once," Xehanort commanded. He was tired with the inane proceedings. He began raising his Keyblade to attack once again. "I've been waiting to analyze this special skill of yours again, Sora."