AN: Wow, sorry this took so long. I've been super busy with tests and essays and interviews the past... what, month? Jeez, it was a long April. I hope it was good for everyone. Oh! May the Fourth be with you, for all you Star Wars fans. If you haven't read my Star Wars stories, I will advertise them here just in the spirit of the day. I like them, other people like them.
As for this, I like this chapter. We're only a few chapters until we reach Haven, and that'll be fun. There's going to be a Huntsmen battling tournament when we get there, so leave some suggestions for OC entrants that Ruby, Sora, and the others to tangle with while they investigate.
To Keyslinger Roxas: Yeah, I have also noticed I made Xehanort a little OP. That was an accident, but I try to retcon that a little in this chapter. Give it an explanation that was kind of in the back of my mind. I'd always thought he was going easy on Terra, fighting just enough to anger him. When he fought Aqua, Terra was keeping him from fighting at full strength. But I agree, I did make him a bit too much without a viable explanation. Flowmotion will probably show up.
To Warrior of Six Blades: I agree, I wish that the decisions of the Keyblade were a little more concrete. Sora already has a stronger Heart than Lea, but he wasn't chosen naturally? It's weird, I agree. Maybe you have to want its power for some reason beyond the sake of power itself? Sora wanted to save his friends, Riku wanted to overcome his Darkness, Lea wants to save Isa and Roxas and Xion, and Xehanort wants to – he claims – balance Light and Dark. Maybe it's about wanting to change the World and having the Will to do it? All conjecture at this point, though.
Chapter 7: Dive
Xehanort walked slowly along behind the three children who had been sent to find him and bring him to Salem, examining the peculiar vial of black, shifting Dust in the palm of his hand. Until such a time that he would be able to examine the substance in a laboratory, with tools for examination and recording, he could only produce conjecture about Black Dust. Given his high degree of intelligence, it would of course be an incredibly educated guess, but the hypothesis would have no support until he could do more meaty experiments. That said, he had discovered much of interest since obtaining the Dust, especially in the aftermath of his battle with Sora.
Most importantly was how the material responded to the presence of his Keyblade. Whenever the old Keyblade Master channeled Darkness through his weapon, the Dust responded with a shiver and began to oscillate at the same frequency as the energy traveling down the Keyblade. Through that, the old man was able to control the material, finding he could keep it from fading from existence as it usually did when its host organism – the Grimm – perished. He was even able to shape it and control it, to an extent. When he rebuilt some of the machinery he had left behind in Radiant Garden oh so long ago, he'd be able to do so much more with the Black Dust. Perhaps the Heartless could walk upon the Remnant; they were superior weapons in a war against Light and a good distraction otherwise.
Of even more interest was how the χ -blade reacted to the Dust substance. The Darkness that the weapon had been trailing, leaking almost, since its blade was shattered seemed to seek out the Black Dust whenever it was outside of its vial. Seeing this, the old man had decided to take a quarter of his supply and leave it out in the presence of the χ -blade. The wisps of Darkness had coiled from the broken tip of the weapon and trailed down to the Black Dust. Moments later, the peculiar substance was gone and Xehanort had felt a wild surge of energy throughout his entire body. It occurred to him that this must have been similar to whatever it was that Sora had done during their battle, the pellet of Yellow Dust eliciting a reaction from within his Heart.
However, Xehanort was quick to notice that it was not him that the Black Dust had strengthened; rather, the χ -blade itself had been reinvigorated. He had observed that, as the Dust had come into contact with the weapon, the χ -blade had created an aura of Dark energy simultaneous with Xehanort's own jump in energy. He had been incredibly pleased with that. Having the remains of the ancient weapon was already contributing to an increase in his own power, but coupled with this new development his next fight with Sora and his allies would be much different.
Sora... Xehanort had not expected the boy alone to be much of a problem. He had started off fighting the young man as he would have fought any Keyblade wielder who had yet to fully achieve the Mark of Mastery. He had assumed that the success of the boy in their previous battles lay with his uncanny ability to unite so many against him across the Worlds. The real threats had been the Mouse, Yen Sid, or Riku. Sora was an annoyance... or so he had thought. The boy's Heart was peculiar, healing Ventus' all those years before and then bringing Nobodies back into existence from Nothing. But again, Xehanort had assumed the greatest power Sora truly held was in bringing stronger warriors to the Fore. Yet it appeared this was not the case. He had not merely become the uniting link of the seven Keyblade Wielders united against Xehanort, but also, it would appear, the core of their fighting force. He was much closer to achieving his full potential than Xehanort had ever assumed he could without acting as one of his Vessels.
He cast a glance down at the children sent to collect him as they struggled to summon their Darkness. Grimm tossed them around like toys. He scoffed down at their tumbling forms; they'd have to succeed, or they'd die. "Try harder, children," Xehanort tossed out boredly before returning his attention to the weapon in his hand. "Wouldn't want you to end up six feet under."
R W B Y
Sora frowned as he spun his left arm in a circle, trying to stretch out the leftover pain from the fight. It hurt a little still when his arm was raised above his shoulder, and it wouldn't do to get into another terrible fight with the forces of Darkness when he wasn't at full strength. On top of that, he had to get a lot stronger. He hadn't expected Xehanort to still be that strong. Maybe the χ -blade's shattered remains still had enough power in them to strengthen the fallen Keyblade Master. If that was the case, Sora would have to get a lot stronger before he could be completely comfortable in taking on Xehanort again.
But that wasn't what he was occupying himself with at the moment. For now, he had to worry about Jaune. During the fight, all it had taken was a few words from Mercury to send the Knight tumbling into the embrace of Darkness. Sora had been surprised at the sheer amount of it that had been present; for most people to give in that far to Darkness was the same as asking to become a Heartless. Maybe the people from Remnant were somehow incapable of becoming Heartless unless a Heartless was what devoured their Heart? Or maybe Jaune's Heart was just that strong. Jaune reminded Sora of Riku and Terra because of that. So, because of this, Sora had made a decision. Probably a bad one, or at the very least one that would make for a complicated and interesting adventure.
Sora looked out into the distance for a moment, his gaze locking on the town on the edge of the world's curve, nearly dipping beneath the horizon. They still had most of the money from taking down Junior, so they didn't need to work for their tickets. There were a few days left before their boat departed for Mistral, a cruise that they'd be stuck on for almost a month as it traveled to the various islands that dotted the ocean between the two continents. In fact, the boat was going to sail far south, nearly touching an island Ruby had called 'Menagerie' before looping up again. They'd actually stop just outside of their final location, Haven Academy. But before that, Sora had to keep the young Jaune Arc from accidentally falling into the Darkness once again when they were on an enclosed, floating space.
"And you're sure this won't hurt?" Jaune asked as he laid down on the grassy floor. Sora's gaze snapped back towards Jaune, and he stood hesitantly still. Finally, the Keyblade Wielder nodded a little too quickly. Jaune sighed. "Comforting."
"Ren, are you ready?" Sora asked, turning towards the quiet ninja.
"Skeptical at how possible this all is, but otherwise good to go," Ren replied slowly.
"Good," Sora said, summoning the Kingdom Key to his hand. He turned to Ruby and Nora, who both held their weapons at the ready. "We should wake up in a few hours at the most, but you won't be able to wake us until we've finished what we're doing."
"And what exactly are we doing?" Jaune asked from the ground.
"Ugh, Jaune! Ren and Sora are going to turn into ghosts and enter your mind!" Nora shouted excitedly. "Duh!"
"N-Yes? Wait – No. We're going to enter your Heart," Sora corrected. "And not as ghosts. We're friends, so we're already in your Heart. With the Keyblade, we can jump in to help you out. We're going to try and help you come to terms with the Darkness in your Heart. You need to be able to control it or suppress it at the very least; you were too dangerous to your friends when you used the Darkness."
"How come that Xehanort guy could use it and stay in control?" Jaune asked.
"I don't really think he is," Ruby said, frowning at the ground. "When he was fighting Sora, it looked like he took real pleasure in making every hit hurt."
Sora nodded solemnly. "It's not only about winning to Xehanort," he said, brow furrowed. "It's about destroying them completely. The more he hurts someone, the crueler he is when beating them... the more he enjoys it. When the Darkness has a hold on you, it's like you want to hurt everyone around you. Especially your best friends."
Sora sighed and turned back to Jaune. He held the Keyblade out in front of him and motioned for Ren to grab hold of the handle as well. The ninja looked between Jaune, Sora, and the weapon for a moment, then nodded and placed his hand on the weapon. "Keep us safe, Nora," Ren told the pink hammer wielder with the hints of a smile on his face.
She snorted once. "Oh, you know I will silly," she said, a little flustered by it. She gestured, her face growing calmer. She smiled at Ren. "Go ahead. We'll be waiting for you."
"Right," Sora said, and the tip of the Keyblade began to glow above Jaune's chest. He smiled disarmingly down at the Knight. "Um... well, I'm excited to try this for the first time."
"Yeah, it's always good to learn new – Did you say first time?" Jaune asked. Then the light shot from the tip of the Keyblade. "I'm not sure if I'm comfortable -" He was cut off when the energy collided with his chest, and the world for Sora, Ren, and Jaune suddenly flashed into a brilliant white and everything disappeared.
R W B Y
Jaune blinked hard as the bright light slowly faded. He was still laying on his back. "Huh, you know, I didn't feel anything. Are you sure it worked?" he asked. The light slowly faded completely, and the only things that he could see was... nothing. The world was completely black above him. "And the bright light made me go blind."
"Or you just haven't stood up and looked around," Ren said, moving into Jaune's field of vision with one eyebrow raised. Sora followed suit quickly, hands behind his head and grinning down at the blonde. He and Ren both lowered a hand to Jaune, and together pulled him up to his feet. Jaune and Ren turned towards the Keyblade Wielder. "Where are we, Sora?"
"This is the Station of Serenity. It's the first Station of your Heart. People important to you will be on the ground at all of the stations." Sora explained.
"How many stations are there?" Jaune asked, walking around and staring at the stain glass designs beneath his feet.
"Five or so," Sora responded as he turned slowly and looked at the faces present on the station's ground. "Wow. That's a lot of blonde girls."
"Yeah, I have seven older sisters," Jaune explained dryly. "I don't think they fit the 'serene' theme." He looked around at each of the faces and frowned. "They're all very... Older sisters."
"I doubt having such a large family was that bad, Jaune," Ren remarked somewhat enviously. He walked along the edge of the platform before gazing down the edge.
Jaune also did a circuit, though along the circle connecting the frames containing the faces of his sisters. Sitting between them was a white shield with a rising sun of gold – Jaune's shield. "What are we looking for?"
"Um, I'd move towards the center of the circle a bit more, Jaune," Sora said, watching the Knight move in a circle.
"Why? Are pillars going to appear out of nowhere and make me – Oof!" Jaune fell backwards and landed on his back as three stone pillars appeared from the ground. He looked up at the closest one, where a sword floated in a circle of shimmering light. It was his sword, albeit shinier and purer as if it was brand new. "Um... will millions in Lien fall from the sky?" He looked around. "No? Dang." He turned around to look at the other two pillars. On top of one was his shield, also as unblemished as the day it was made. Finally, there was a gold and red weapon floating above the last one. "Pyrrha..."
Jaune shoved himself to his feet and stumbled towards the final pillar for a moment. His hand shot out to grab the weapon, quickly pulling it from the light. The light surrounding it disappeared, and the pillar that it had been hovering above faded away. Jaune barely noticed, cradling the red and gold weapons in his hands. Sora studied the weapon as it bobbed back and forth; it seemed to be some kind of spear. Most of the handle was gold, extending outward from a red, hand sized sword hilt. Given everything he'd seen so far, Sora was sure the javelin could transform into other weapons.
Sora's belief was confirmed when the blonde spun the weapon in his right hand, causing the golden extension to slide into the red. The blade extended slightly, forming a red and gold sword in his right hand. "Miló," Ren muttered when Jaune twirled the weapon again, causing it to extend into a rifle.
"What is that?" Sora asked Ren.
"Miló," Ren explained as Jaune spun the weapon to again turn Milo into a sword. "It was... it was Pyrrha's weapon."
"Oh," Sora muttered. His hands fell to his side and he shifted nervously. Pyrrha. All of Jaune's anger and hatred seemed to trace back to his late lady love. The Keyblade Wielder was suddenly worried about being present in Jaune's Heart. While connections with people could help hold one in the light, Death caused those connections to snap suddenly. They would reach out for the emptiness where the connection had once led, finding only Darkness. Overcoming that would be a difficult prospect for Jaune to accept. But he didn't need to overcome it, not completely. Every Heart had Darkness, and every person needed to come to terms with it. Or try, at least.
Jaune looked up nervously, his hand clutched around Miló's hilt. "So what happens next?" he asked before laughing nervously. "Is this all we came here for?"
"Um... no," Sora replied. He pointed at the other two pillars, both of which were beginning to dissolve. "These weapons are things that keep you safe. They represent parts of you – very important ones." Sora gestured at the sword in Jaune's hand. "Obviously the people who always made you feel the safest."
"Yeah, that sounds about right," Jaune replied hollowly. He sighed and hefted the weapon onto his shoulder. "Grandpa's sword, Dad's shield... Pyrrha." Jaune grew silent and stared at the ground for a moment. He chuckled nervously and looked back up at Sora. "So what now?"
"Indeed. I also wonder what happens next in this... I don't really know what to call this place," Ren said, throwing his hands up at the emptiness surrounding them.
Sora grimaced and summoned the Keyblade to his hand as the shadows began to intensify beneath Jaune's feet. "Um... We fight," he explained. The shadows separated and began to accumulate in a circle around the three, congealing and growing like a cancerous mass.
"Do you care to explain what this is?" Ren asked in a worried tone, his twin guns raised apprehensively.
"Darkness," Sora muttered. He glanced over his other shoulder at Jaune, who held Pyrrha's weapon before him in both hands in sword form. "Some of yours."
"Oh," Jaune muttered worriedly. The circle of shadows began to pull themselves off of the ground, creating yellow eyed, ant like monsters swarming over one another. "That's... not good."
"The Darkness in all Hearts," Sora muttered, a flash of anger and recognition in his voice. He moved back until he was back to back to back with Ren and Jaune. "Heartless."
"You mean the monsters you used to fight?" Jaune asked nervously.
"Yeah," Sora replied as one of the closest lunged at him, yellow orbs glaring at him hungrily. He slammed the Keyblade into the creature's head, causing the Shadow to explode into a shower of shadowy wisps that floated away. "Be careful, they aren't like the Grimm – they've got their own powers." He slammed the Kingdom Key down on the next that jumped at him, destroying it too. From the corner of his eye he saw Ren firing a series of bullets into the wall of shadows, keeping most of them at bay.
"These are strong opponents," Ren muttered when one tried to claw through his throat. He barely brought his twin weapons up to cut through the Shadow and kill it.
"Be careful, they can turn into shadows," Sora said as he fired off a Firaga towards the mass of writhing Shadows. The resulting explosion burned away some of the Darkness, though most of the Shadows had already been melted to the floor. Those ones had avoided the attack. "And you can't hurt a shadow."
"Is there any other incredibly terrifying information we should know!?" Jaune snapped as he spun Miló into its javelin form to keep the Shadows further from him than its short sword form could. He impaled the next one to come at him and the jabbed the blade through the one behind it.
"Um... These are the weakest ones?" Sora suggested with a nervous chuckle.
"Just... just don't answer me next time I ask a question," Jaune suggested hoarsely.
"Agreed," Ren said simply.
"Heh," Sora chuckled as he deflected another Shadow. "So... this is only the first station."
"What did I just say?" Jaune shouted as he cut through another Shadow.
"You didn't ask," Sora retorted defensively, casting a Thundaga into the mass of Heartless. Dozens of the creatures shot into the air, scraps of their bodies floating away as they died. "I just said – no asking involved!"
"I might hate you," Jaune muttered.
"I confess, I definitely do," Ren muttered dryly.
"Was that a joke!?" Sora asked, not even bothering to respond given that the stoic ninja had just cracked a sarcastic joke. "Hey – answer me!"
R W B Y
Ruby glared down the sights of Crescent Rose, carefully watching for any Grimm that may come running. Sora appeared to inexplicably draw the monsters towards him in surprising numbers. So far, they hadn't been attacked while they'd been in an inhabited area, only in the forest. Despite being so close to the harbor, Ruby wasn't sure if the Grimm would stay away. "Whatcha thinking about?" Nora asked from the other side of Sora, Jaune, and Ren.
Ruby shrugged. "Just keeping an eye out for Grimm," she replied. She heard a noise and turned to aim her gun at it, but sighed as a rabbit bounded across her field of vision. She sighed and let the tip of her weapon sag a little. Ruby ran a hand through her hair and sighed. "No, that's not true. I'm thinking about everything that happened with Xehanort and Cinder."
"Yeah, it was scary," Nora admitted, her feet shuffling across the ground as she remembered the fight. After that, the usually talkative and incredibly loud young Huntress had grown uncharacteristically silent. The events of their lives since Sora's arrival in the forest on Patch had grown increasingly dangerous, which said a lot for that particular group of Huntsmen. It was enough to scare almost anyone.
Except Ruby. She'd always been extremely calm under pressure. Even the end of the world, terrifying murderer chasing you down kind of pressure. Xehanort was cause for worry, but at the end of the day every villain was afraid of the Light, and they always had been. "That's true," Ruby said regardless, willing to accept that most would rightly fear the man. "But I mean all that happened. Everything Sora and Xehanort can do... it's not normal."
"And magical silver eyes is?" Nora asked.
"Excuse me?" Ruby asked, turning around to stare, confused, at Nora.
The young woman chuckled and turned around. "Ruby, I understand you don't know anything about it either, but whatever it is you can do is able to do is crazy, too. Maybe its magic! Ooh! Pull a rabbit out of a hat!"
Ruby laughed and turned back to watch for Grimm. "I don't think it really works like that," she replied. "Maybe we should ask Sora about it; he can use magic too, after all."
"Is that all you want to ask him about?" Nora asked in a teasing singsong.
Ruby's face turned the same color as her namesake. "I – N... Is it that obvious?"
"To anyone whose name doesn't rhyme with mine," the hammer wielder replied dryly. "You're acting like you're on your first real crush."
Ruby didn't respond, and the silence grew deeper. "Oh, right, I keep forgetting you're two years younger than us," Nora said, half-bemused as she did. "So... your first real life, in the person, non-celebrity crush. And it's someone who literally fell out of the sky."
"Okay, yeah, I've heard it from my sister too many times," the scythe wielder responded. "'Ruby, friends – and boys! – aren't just going to fall out of the sky!' Well, I showed her." She scoffed and crossed her arms in amusement.
"Yes. Yes you did," Nora admitted. She shrugged. "Though, it makes sense for you to meet boys who fall from the sky – you did make friends with Weiss by being thrown off of a cliff."
"Yes. Yes I did," Ruby muttered. She stuck the blade of her scythe into the ground and leaned against the weapon for a moment. "Of course, everything I've done has been almost as weird. A Dragon who lived inside of a mountain and a criminal with bad fashion sense traded out for swords shaped like keys and an old guy with bad fashion sense."
"Really?" Nora asked. "I thought the ice cream girl had flair!"
"Torchwick," Ruby continued.
"Oh... Yeah," Nora agreed, her hammer tapping against the ground for a moment. They remained quiet for a while. "So what are you going to do about it?"
"Sora?" Ruby asked. She shrugged and pulled up her hood. "Nothing. There's this girl on his island that he's in love with. Talks about how their destinies are connected forever by this star shaped fruit and how he held her heart or something."
"So it isn't serious?" Nora asked sarcastically.
"I get the feeling it's about as serious as you and Ren," Ruby replied.
"We're not – oh, never mind," Nora groaned, finally resigning herself to the fate of being constantly mistaken for being in a relationship with Ren.
"Oh, it's about as obvious as I am," Ruby shot with a grin.
"No it's not," Nora muttered too quickly. "You're about as obvious as you are!"
"That makes no sense," Ruby replied dryly.
"You make no sense!"
"Okay. Jeez," Ruby said, trying to calm the berserker. "Your secret is safe with me."
R W B Y
"There is no secret!" Ren hissed as the moved towards the floating stairs at the edge of the second Station, this one adorned with the emerald towers of Beacon with the assorted members of the staff lining the ring surrounding the image. Compared to the first Station, not much had happened there. Except for both Jaune and Sora pointing out that Ren obviously had a thing for Nora. The only thing related to Jaune's inner Darkness was his long since conquered fear of amounting to nothing in life, represented by Soldier like Heartless.
"If they're all as easy as this one – "
"The last one won't be," Sora interjected as he led the group across the floating pathway. He laughed at Jaune's groan. "But the others should! Don't worry, it's easy goings until we hit that one."
"What makes it so not easy?"
Sora laughed nervously. "You face your deepest Darkness, and I have a feeling it's a fight we'll only be able to provide support for," Sora explained. He reached the next pillar and stepped onto the gold and white stained glass. He walked over to a trio of silhouettes over the center of the same rising sun insignia present on Jaune's shield, the three shadows arranged in a triangle. The one at the head was a woman in a long dress and with ornate, looping hair; her form was surrounded by an evil, bloody glow. The one to the left was glowing yellow, hair cascading down like a waterfall. The left arm from almost halfway down was outlined blood red. The last was different, the shape of a man with heavy armor sticking out from his shoulders; his form had only a sharp outline of silver instead of a glow, but it was brilliant anyways. Sora turned around as he neared the center of the pillar and raised his arms. "The Destination, the third of the five Stations. And the first of the group of three Stations of Calling."
"So these forms represent people with whom Jaune has yet to be fully connected?" Ren posited, one hand on his chin. "The destination of his Heart, then?"
Sora shrugged. "Huh. I guess that is why Master Yen Sid called it that," he muttered. Sora crossed his arms over his chest and grinned. "Yeah, let's go with that!"
"What's going to happen on this one?" Jaune asked as he looked between the three silhouettes. "Do you have any idea who these people could be?"
"Jaune, I have a feeling that your guess would be better than ours," Ren noted. "This is your Heart after all."
"So you must have negative clues," Jaune muttered, placing his hand on top of the sword handle at his hip. He turned around towards Sora. "What's next?"
"We fight our way to the last Station – Awakening," Sora explained. He sighed as the Shadows began to erupt from the ground once again. "Well, here we go." He summoned the Keyblade to his hand and slashed an incoming Shadow. There were a lot fewer this time around, probably only fifteen – including the one Sora had just killed.
Ren dove past an incoming group of Shadows, lashing out with his guns as they flew above him and below him. The twin blades easily cut through the creatures of Darkness, causing their forms to disintegrate while he fired off a burst to cover Jaune's back.
Not that the young man needed it, however. He was expertly fending off the creatures that came at him. In fact, he seemed to be the main target of the Heartless, with at least ten of them going after him. Sora was starting to feel a little left out because of it, but it was heartening to see that his training sessions with the knight had been so useful so far. Jaune was defending against attacks from behind, both sides, and the front all at once. Whereas he had once been a stationary fighter, now he was moving around, presenting a much more difficult target for the Heartless. He was still a knight at Heart so his movements remained slower than the lightning fast moves Sora was used to making, but what he didn't dodge he could block or even just take the hit.
Sora slapped the last Shadow jumping towards him towards the ground, shattering it into a thousand wisps of darkness when it hit the ground. Floating stairs appeared at the edge of the station after just a few seconds. "That went a lot faster," Jaune said in excitement as he sheathed his weapon. He raised his hands above his head and whooped. "We're getting better at this!"
"Yeah we are!" Sora shouted, crossing his arms and grinning at Ren and Jaune. He looked over at the floating stairs. "Stay on your toes." He took off, sprinting towards the pathway with Jaune and Ren close behind. He ran across the winding stairway, Keyblade raised at his side, knowing that this was only the beginning. Everything had been easy so far, but it was only a matter of time before Jaune had to deal with his real Darkness.
A few more of the minor shreds of that Darkness appeared after a while, shadows jumping out from the emptiness surrounding the stairway as the group ran. Sora blocked the closes incoming creature and kept running. "Let's run!" Sora shouted over his shoulder. He cast a Reflega quickly, causing the next wave of Heartless to crash against the wall of Light and rebound into the bottomless pit. He glanced back at Ren and Jaune who were easily dealing with the waves of Heartless, then turned again and sprinted away. He made it to the next station and turned around, waiting for his friends to make it there too.
Danger interceded, however, as a puddle of Darkness appeared on the stairs in the center of Ren's path. A small, sharp claw appeared out of the nothingness. "Ren!" Sora shouted, running back to help. He was too late, however, and Ren's leg was slapped to the side. Sora's eyes widened in worry; this may have been in Jaune's Heart, but there was some level of Danger anyways. He wasn't going to make it to save the ninja.
Luckily, Jaune was right there. He dived forward, hand wrapping around Ren's ankle just as he began to fall past the edge of the stairs. Ren whipped around, dangling dangerously above the chasm. "AAAH!" Ren screamed, louder than anything else he had ever said.
"I gotcha buddy!" Jaune shouted back, fist clenched as tightly as possible around his friend's leg. "Hang on!"
"I don't have much choice, Jaune!" Ren retorted, dangling upside down. He looked up and raised his guns, shooting the Shadows that tried to attack Jaune. "I've got your back."
Jaune grinned back at his friend, not showing the pain. Despite what Ren could see, the Heartless were successfully attack Jaune's lower body; Ren's defense was only helping to protect Jaune's upper body. "Good job," Sora muttered to himself as he approached. He raised his Keyblade and twisted it midair, casting a Reflega around Jaune and Ren to protect them. To the pair: "Pull him up, I've got both your backs!"
"Thanks!" they chorused. Jaune pushed himself up with his right hand, pulling his friend up slowly onto the pathway. Sora was moving quickly behind his friends, Keyblade flashing with pure light as he slashed the elongated blade at the incoming group of Darkness, the lightning quick flurry of attacks that Donald and Goofy had coined as Ars Arcana. The weapon moved faster than usual, and as if it had its own mind, and left no wisps of Darkness behind when they destroyed the remaining Heartless. The creatures took notice and more appeared to attack Sora, who turned the attack into more spins, slashing through large swaths of the incoming Shadows until none remained. The golden glow slowly disappeared from Sora's Kingdom Key, and he grinned when no more Heartless came to attack.
He turned around to the stunned Ren and Jaune. "Let's keep going, huh?"
Jaune sighed. "Why am I even surprised?" he asked no one in particular.
R W B Y
Sora, Ren, and Jaune soon arrived at the last of the Stations – Awakening. The other two Stations of Calling – the first adorned with Ruby and a group of girls that Jaune had said was her team, and the second by Ren and Nora – had been quiet, with only a few Heartless appearing before they had been able to move on. Jaune and Ren had taken this as a good sign. Sora... not so much. He knew from personal experience what was coming. As they reached the final step, he grabbed Ren's shoulder and let Jaune move on by himself. "What is it?" the other young man asked.
Sora shook his head and pointed towards Jaune, who was moving slowly towards the person who lay across the center of the Station. She was a young woman with hair of an almost crimson red done up in a pony tail. Her face was a kind one, with a small smile ever present that stretched into her deep green, sparkling eyes. On her left arm, which was in the foreground, was a small, round, bronze shield. Miló was held in her right hand, its blade appearing above her raised right knee. Both of her legs had armor up to her upper thighs, a deep bronze that matched her shield; black, high heeled boots covered that armor up to the middle of her calves. There was a black pouch on her hips and a red, flowing stream of fabric coming down from her right hip. Her upper body was clothed in a tight, armored corset and two black gloves. A bronze, armored necklace adorned her throat and there was a crown of the same color tucked beneath her hair. "Pyrrha?" Sora asked, one eyebrow raised.
Ren nodded slowly and stayed put, merely turning to stare at the crestfallen, saddened Jaune. "She's gone," he muttered, falling to his knees beside her face. ""She's gone!"
The figure began to fade to black, Darkness growing and reaching out at her edges as her features disappeared. "Jaune..." Ren cautioned to no avail.
"She's gone and she's not coming back," Jaune muttered.
"What's going on?" Ren asked.
"We're in his Heart," Sora explained with a suddenly serious face. "That means everything here is exactly how he feels. There's no hiding your true Heart inside your Heart."
"We have to help him," Ren hissed.
"And we will," Sora replied slowly. "He has our strength with him already; our Hearts are already connected with his. Wait, and believe in him. If we need to we'll help him out."
Ren remained quiet for a moment, then nodded and returned his attention to Jaune, who was staring at the black silhouette where Pyrrha had been a moment before. Sora wasn't worried, no matter the danger. Jaune was his friend, and he could do anything. Especially conquer his own Darkness. "She's gone!" Jaune screamed, surging to his feet and spinning around... to be greeted by a shadowy silhouette of the young woman herself. His eyes widened and tears began to accrue in his eyes. "W-wha – Pyrrha?"
The young woman didn't respond, instead remaining completely still. "Sora?" Ren asked worriedly. He got no response.
"Pyrrha, is that you?" Jaune asked again, taking a step towards the young woman. Her eyes slowly opened, revealing only glowing, yellow circles of rage. Jaune froze for a second, then took another step forward.
"Does even know where we are anymore?" Ren asked Sora, voice low. Sora shrugged. "What do you know?"
"She's his deepest Darkness," he replied evenly, his fingers tightening on Ren's shoulder to keep them both from running to help immediately.
"Pyrrha..?" Ren asked, then turned to stare at the shadow of the young woman. "But she made him better."
"And what do you get when you turn off a light?" Sora asked.
Ren grew deathly quiet and stared at the hole where Pyrrha's Heart had once connected to Jaune's. "Pyrrha, it's me! Answer me!" Jaune yelled, moving quickly towards Pyrrha's silhouette.
He was immediately thrown back by a black of black wind, his body flung across the Station and sliding to its very edge. He raised his head slowly and stared up at the young woman with wide eyes. "P-Pyrrha?" the young blonde asked, voice laced with fear. But she was no longer Pyrrha. The form of the young woman was warping, growing as black energy lanced out from her shoulders and the ground at her feet. She grew slowly taller and her hair coiled like snakes. A large hole appeared in the center of her chest: an empty Heart.
"She's his Darkside," Sora said sullenly as the deepest Darkness of his friend towered above them all, yellow eyes glowing vibrantly against its pitch skin and the matching black abyss beyond the edges of the Station of Awakening. Its huge arms shuddered with barely restrained power and it took a slow, ponderous step backwards before unleashing a huge, angry roar.
Jaune pushed himself to his feet, clumsily trying and failing to pull Miló from its place at his hip. "P-Pyrrha..."
"You can do it, Jaune," Sora whispered, summoning the Keyblade to his left hand and pointing it at the knight. "I believe in you." The blonde knight stumbled backwards and stared up at the deepest, most painful Darkness of his Heart. "We all believe in you."
R W B Y
Salem was pacing back and forth, bored, as she waited for her bishop to arrive. "What's the matter, Salem? Are you nervous about your pawns?" Ozpin asked wryly from his chains, a caustic smile plastered across his face. "Perhaps my smaller, more honest Soul has done what you believed impossible?"
"I very much doubt that," she replied coolly, though she didn't stop moving. "We both saw their battle. Though I can't say I expected another Keyblade wielder to follow Xehanort."
"Ah, a wielder of Light," Ozpin said, glancing up through the single shattered lens of his glasses. "Just as I said, the best of humanity inevitably find one another. And with a Keyblade Master on her side, Ruby will not lose."
Salem opened her mouth to retort, but froze as a wave of Darkness ran over the world. She cocked her head to the side. "Huh," she muttered in excitement. She grinned evilly over at Ozpin, whose face glowed with worry; he had felt it as well. "Well, let's see who that was." She walked over to stand beside her prisoner and waved her hand. A portal of Darkness erupted before them and the image of a young man confronted by a huge, black monster appeared before them.
Salem turned towards Ozpin and smiled. The man's face was stoic, as it usually was. But Salem knew him well enough to know that he was not calm. "Oh..." she said, mock surprise in her voice. She grinned cruelly. "That's one of your little students, isn't it?"
"I am a headmaster. I have taught many," Ozpin replied coolly.
"Oh, you give nothing away, as ever," Salem said, nodding slowly. She walked behind Ozpin and around to his other side. "If I didn't know you as I know you, that is. You learn the names of all you teach, Oz."
"Only my friends call me Oz," he spat, turning to glare at her with rage filled eyes.
"Oh, Oz... I'm the first one who called you that," she said with a nasty smile. She sighed and shrugged, then turned to look up at the image of the young man's Heart. "I haven't felt a Darkness that strong since... well, he was also your student, wasn't he?"
"Enough!" Ozpin roared, jumping towards her with a wild expression, trying to hurt her in any way he could. She was just out of his reach, however, his headbutt stopping just shy of her unflinching nose. "Do not mock me, Salem. You would do well to remember I bested you all those years ago."
"Indeed you did," she admitted. "Then you gave away almost the power you had left. Now even my... pawn, was it? Yes, even my pawns can defeat you. How the mighty have fallen."
"Enough," he muttered, turning away and closing his eyes.
"Oh, come now, Oz. You're watching this. Watch, yet again, as one of your students gives in to the Darkness. As you fail, yet again," Salem said, grabbing Ozpin's face. When she pulled her hand away, Ozpin's eyes were frozen open to stare unblinking at his next failure. "Though, I suppose you should be used to it by now."
R W B Y
"Gah!" Jaune cried out as the Darkside's fist crashed into his side, sending him flying to the other side of the Station. He dragged across the ground, stopping just shy of the edge. He groaned and placed both his hands beneath his body, struggling to push himself to his feet. "Pyrrha! Stop!"
"That's not Pyrrha, Jaune!" Sora snapped, sweeping his hand to the side. "The real Pyrrha, she's still in your Heart no matter what! But this isn't her – you have to let Pyrrha go. She's dead, you can't change that!"
"No!" Jaune responded, turning towards his friends. "I won't give up hope! Never! There has to be something I can do! I can stop this, change it! I can get revenge, I can fix this!" He was hit in the back a moment later and tossed away again, rolling across the ground before laying unmoving at the Darkside's feet.
"You can't curse the world because of death, Jaune," Ren commanded. He raised his hands to his head andgrowled. "Would Pyrrha want that!? Would she want you to hate everything, to want to kill for revenge?"
"Jaune!"
The young man's eyes widened and his head snapped up. Standing behind the Darkside was a young woman with scarlet hair and a kind smile. She nodded at him and his Heart stopped for a moment. The Darkside barreling down at him was frozen, Sora and Ren were stopped mid shout. There was only the young red head smiling at Jaune, the man himself... and Miló glowing with the strength of Pyrrha's Heart beside him. He smiled back at her as she faded away... and his hand came down to grip Miló.
He shoved himself to his feet and raised the weapon above him towards the incoming fist of the Darkside. "Jaune!" Ren screamed, trying to rush towards his friend.
Sora pulled the ninja back by his arm, then barely ducked in time to dodge the wild punch that came his way. "What are you doing!?" Ren snapped at Sora.
The Keyblade wielder grinned and grabbed Ren's other wrist. "He's got this," he said, gesturing towards Jaune with his head. Ren turned just in time to see the huge fist of the Darkside crash into Jaune full force.
"JAUNE!" Ren screamed, tearing away from Sora and running towards his fallen friend. Then he stopped and gasped as there was a flash of light from the place where the Darkside's fist hovered. "Jaune?"
The Darkside was thrown backwards by a sudden explosion of light, crashing to lay prone on the floor of the Station. The one left standing was Jaune, who held a bronze, circular shield in his left hand and Miló in his right. He was staring at the ground, blonde hair obscuring his face. He slowly raised his gaze to meet Ren's stunned face and Sora's approving grin. "Toldja," Sora shot at Ren He sat down on the steps and pointed. "He has our strength, and the strength of all those people his Heart has ever connected with. Family, friends, allies. He doesn't need our help because he already has it."
Ren sighed, then nodded. "Let's watch," he said, sitting down next to Sora. He raised his fist. "You can do it, Jaune!"
The Knight grinned back before turning to the recovering Darkside. "Now, how about we see how round two goes?"
The creature didn't respond, instead opting to swing its huge arm towards the young man. He merely moved the shield and angled it upward, allowing the huge arm to glide above him while he raised his sword to carve through its wrist. The Darkside roared in pain and its arm pulled upward in reaction. Its head crashed into the ground once again and Jaune rushed towards it, sword raised and ready to attack.
The Darkside responded quickly, Darkness pooling at its back and flooding the Station with Shadows. Jaune barreled through the smaller Heartless, Miló flashing in the dim light to easily cut through them. Shadow after Shadow fell to his blade, disappearing into the Darkness as they were destroyed. "How is this possible?" Ren asked Sora as Jaune twirled and destroyed the creatures that surrounded him. "You said she was his Darkness, but now her weapons are his Light?"
"Well that's the thing about Darkness," Sora said, turning from Jaune cutting off the fingers of the Darkside's incoming fist. He smiled at Ren and summoned the Keyblade to his hand. "At the Heart of the Deepest Darkness, one can find the purest Light. There's always hope when it's hopeless, courage when you're most afraid. Love when all you can feel is hate. Light, when all you can see is Darkness. Pyrrha's loss is Jaune's deepest Darkness. But Pyrrha herself? Right now, she's Jaune's brightest Light."
Ren glanced at the ground before nodding. "You know, like Nora for you."
"We're. Not. Together!" Ren growled at Sora out of the corner of his mouth as he fixed his gaze on Jaune once more.
"If you say so," Sora said with a shrug before he watched Jaune once again.
Jaune was fighting like a true Huntsman, easily fending off all of the attacks from every side. Shadows fell like ants at to his blade, and the queen of the hive fared little better. His onslaught of quick, powerful attacks was easily breaking through what little defense the Darkside had. Jaune was inching closer and closer to the creature's head, where his blade could finally kill it. "I don't know what you are," Jaune said, his voice full of a new confidence that he was not used to having, "but you are not going to win this fight."
The Darkside responded with an angry growl and brought its fist up to smash into Jaune. The young man merely lashed out with his shield arm, the weapon snapping the Darkside's arm at the elbow and the remaining momentum pushing him towards the Darkside's head. "You should never have taken on Pyrrha's face," he growled, anger in his features as he flew towards the monster's unblinking and evil gaze. "And it's the last thing you'll do!"
The Darkside tried to push itself out of Jaune's path, but it was a fruitless effort. Jaune was already too close to fail, and Miló pierced the Darkside's eye. There was a flash of light and time around Jaune and the monster seemed to slow for a moment as Sora and Ren continued to watch. "At the end of the day, the Light in anyone's Heart can destroy the Darkness if you give it just a little bit of effort. That's why I believed in him, and I wanted you here. He needed to know you – his best friend – believed in him."
Ren nodded and smiled softly. "I have for quite a while," he said, watching his friend with a smile. Jaune's face was alight with a triumphant grin, a look that had rarely graced his features. "Ozpin believed in him, so I will too."
R W B Y
"Ha! Ha ha ha ha ha! HA!" Ozpin roared triumphantly, mocking the enraged woman at his side. "It would seem you, yet again, deeply underestimate my students. I shouldn't be surprised: it's something of a... pattern with you."
"Is that so?" Salem asked, her scowl deepening as she watched the young man's Dive to the Heart fade away as he awakened. She ran through the events she had seen over and over again, the words she had heard from all present echoing through her mind. Her scowl deepened again for a moment, then drifted slowly to a smile. "Oh, I somehow doubt that." She raised her hand, and Ozpin could suddenly blink. He shut his eyes tight, fighting off the dryness as much as he could.
"Oh, you do?" Ozpin asked, one eyebrow raised. "Interesting. And here I thought you hadn't changed. After your betrayal it was never your strong suit. Growth, that is."
"Just as yours was never your intelligence," the woman replied, walking away from him. "You were always just stupid enough to trust children with power and responsibility beyond their wildest dreams. And, just like last time, it will inevitably burn you."