AN: So, this chapter is less focused on the main plot of the story and more on just some things that I had fun writing and really had nowhere else to place them. That said, I really had a lot of fun with this chapter and exploring a bit more of the Sora-Ruby relationship as well as a fight scene that I hope you all like. It's a Qrow one, so I was a big fan. Also, it just so happened that I placed some focus on Summer and Raven on Mothers Day, so that's a happy coincidence.
Warden of Lore: I appreciate the enthusiasm. It's great to see this excites people!
Keyslinger Roxas: I think you asked about the Rebirth Theroy earlier, but in case not I'll say it here. I do plan on using the Rebirth of Hearts in the story, though I don't want to say how.
Anyways, enjoy!
Chapter 8: Vacation
Sora stared, brow furrowed, at his opponent. He clenched and unclenched his fists as he relished the feel of the warm, pre-summer sun on his skin. His eyes narrowed and his legs tensed as he prepared to square of against her for supremacy. The sun reflected off of the water to his right, casting mosaics of light into his eyes as the waves caught the sun and bounced it into his face. He crouched, getting ready to jump at the slightest provocation. His eyes flicked towards his right, where his goal floated. His opponent crouched as well, ready to defeat him. Finally, it began, as so many things do, with a noise louder than a gunshot.
"Go!" Nora screamed, and Sora turned on a dime, leaping into the water. He began swimming like wild, as fast as he could; given that Sora had grown up on a tropical island, that was pretty fast. He was almost a quarter of the way to the buoy before the other racer was even in the water.
Unfortunately, his opponent had quite the powerful advantage. Ruby had jumped into the air and dashed through the air in a cyclone of red to land almost halfway towards the buoy. It turned out that her speed on land translated to speed in the water, too. "You aren't going to win this one, Sora!" she shouted as she swam towards the halfway mark. The Keyblade wielder just grinned in response and continued to swim as fast as he could towards the buoy. "You hear me?! I hope you like the flavor of second place!"
Sora almost laughed at that, but his competitive edge wouldn't let him. He was going to win this race just like he won those last races with Riku on the Islands years earlier. Pretty soon, he got into the rhythm of it. His arms moved almost mechanically, pulling him through the water with powerful, long strokes. He was moving like a torpedo, steadily gaining ground on the young woman. He didn't pay attention to that, though, still pushing himself like he was a mile behind. Every time his face came out of the water, he sucked in a huge breath and then propelled himself forward for three strokes, at which point his lungs began to yearn for air. Breath. Three strokes. Burn. Breath. Three strokes. Burn. The process continued mindlessly for a time, and before he knew it, Sora's outstretched hand slapped against the buoy.
He popped out of the water and turned to grin at Ruby, who had hit the floating marker at exactly the same time as him. "Oh, it's on," she said, splashing water in his face. He raised his arm to shield his eyes, reflexively. When he lowered it, she was already on her way back to the cruise liner.
"Oh, yes it is," Sora muttered, grinning widely. He took a deep breath, then dashed off after Ruby. He pulled after her, moving at full speed through the relative calm of the open ocean. His powerful arms dragged through the water faster and faster, pulling him towards Ruby. Soon he was neck and neck with her, almost even. Then he finally pulled ahead, just a little at first. Then Ruby redoubled her efforts and pulled ahead. Then he did. Then her. Finally, his hand slapped against the steps of the cruise liner and he pulled himself up and out of the water just seconds before Ruby herself did the same.
"Victory!" he screamed as his head and chest broke the water. He quickly got his feet onto the boat and raised his fists to the sky, cheering like a maniac. The buoy, floating barely in the air through the power of Dust, suddenly folded up and floated back to the ship's recreational supplies. "Never get in a swimming race with someone from Destiny Islands!" He ran a hand through his hair, which was soaking and plastered to his face, and swept it backwards. He put his hands into the pockets of his bright red swimming shorts and grinned down at the loser of the race.
"Ohhh," Ruby groaned, pulling out of the water and flopping on her back. She breathed heavy, struggling to recover her breath. She was more than in shape, but the buoy had been pretty far away. "I almost had you..."
"Almost isn't quite good enough when you're racing for keeps," Sora said. He smiled dumbly as he looked at Ruby, who was wearing a red and black bikini. He choked suddenly as he realized he was staring and shut his eyes to appreciate the sun.
"You okay?" Jaune asked from the deck above. He was bent over the edge of the boat, struggling against his motion sickness.
Sora nodded and opened his mouth to speak. Only a wheezing cough came out and and he cleared his throat. "Just, um, just swallowed some saltwater," he wheezed. He grinned sheepishly and turned to stare at the ocean, his smile quickly turning to a grimace at his nervousness. "I'm fine." He put his smile back on and turned back around. "Hey, you want the best two out of three?"
"Go race yourself," Ruby muttered, waving her hand at Sora before running her hand through her soaked red and black hair and letting her hand fall again to the surface of the boat. She breathed in as deeply as she could and let it out in a groan of exhaustion. The race had been almost a half mile of open water in either direction. "I gave that my all and you're not even tired!"
"I grew up on an island," Sora said with a nonchalant shrug. Then he scoffed. "What did you expect? A slow, easy race?"
"I grew up on an island, too!" Ruby shouted, her silver eyes glaring up indignantly at the boy who had beaten her.
"Tropical," Sora stated simply, cutting off her protests. He grinned and laced his hands behind the base of his head, closing his eyes and lifting his face to the sun. He sighed contentedly under the sunshine.
"Point," she muttered as she sat up and jumped to her feet. "Fair point. So, what now?"
"They're showing footage from the Vytal festival from twenty-five years ago," Jaune suggested, his voice barely catching as he mentioned the competition. He groaned again and bent over the edge of the ship.
"Isn't that the year your uncle's team took first place?" Ren asked Ruby, who nodded.
Nora shouted gleefully, bouncing up and down in excitement. She squealed in excitement and jumped from foot to foot. "Oh! This sounds so fun!"
"How did you know that?" Sora asked, crossing his arms over his chest and raising one of his eyebrows in interest.
"Ren saw it when they showed the list of all the old winners last year," she explained with a shrug. "He remembers everything! He can still remember this one bad dream I had when I was five and we were together in the orphanage. Oooh, it was so scary, I'm getting chills just thinking about it! Ren, Ren! Did it scare you, too? Tell me it scared you too! Please, come on! RENRENRENREN!"
Sora, Ruby, and Jaune glanced at each other, then back at the other two. "What?" Ren and Nora asked in tandem. As one, Sora, Ruby, and Jaune all breathed in, glanced at each other again, breathed out hurriedly, then turned away to return to the conversation. "What?!"
The silence stretched on. Nora's hand rose, one finger extended. The finger tapped Ren on the nose. "Boop." Her hand drifted back to her side, leaving only a stunned, dumbfounded Sora, Ruby, and Jaune. The only movement anyone made was to blink slowly, and Nora was being completely silent.
"I... think this would be fun," Sora said, breaking the increasingly awkward silence. He turned to Ruby and nodded. "I mean, I've seen Qrow fight first hand. I bet your parents are even better!"
"He did always say he was scared of his sister and my mom," she murmured. She beamed at the others and nodded. "Well, then yeah. Let's do it. I'll have something to hold over Uncle Qrow when I see him get knocked out halfway through." She grinned evilly and tented her hands. "Just what I've been looking for!"
R W B Y
Sora coughed and pulled at the tie that was wrapped around his throat. The showing of the old Vytal festival was, unfortunately, a black tie affair. Meaning the usually relaxed beach bum was being forced to wear a black suit jacket with a button up shirt. He was barely able to get the people at the door to let him in with his necklace on. He grimaced as he tugged at his collar again, the only alleviation to his suffering being that Ruby was commiserating with him. She looked just as uncomfortable as him, stumbling around in her high heeled shoes. "I'm glad someone else hates this as much as me," she said as she nearly tumbled again, echoing Sora's thoughts perfectly. She sighed, gesturing at her red and black dress. "Last time I wore this was at a really awkward party."
"School for me," Sora grumbled as he pulled out a seat for Ruby. She flashed a smile in thanks and he felt that familiar red creeping up his ears, the red that he was used to feeling whenever he was around Kairi. "And I hated it just as much then as I do now." He took the seat next to Ruby as Jaune, Ren, and Nora filed in to sit at the table with them.
"Reminds me of our friend, Sun," Ruby said.
"The Faunus boy who never wore a shirt?" Nora asked, head cocked to the side.
"Nora," Ren said, shaking his head. "He wore a shirt. It was just always open."
"Same difference," Nora shrugged as she grabbed a piece of bread from the basket at the center of the table and stuffed it whole into her mouth. The rest of her words came out as muffled noises.
Sora raised his eyebrow at the idea. He had long since learned what Faunus were, one of those questions that nearly clued his new friends into the fact that he wasn't even from their world. Of course, once he mentioned Donald and Goofy, everything had cleared up. He just claimed they didn't have a name for Faunus because they were just his friends, an explanation that had impressed his friends a lot. It bothered Sora that people hated Faunus just for being different, though the White Fang gave people plenty of good reasons to do so. If he had the chance, Sora would do exactly as Yen Sid and King Mickey told him not to... meddle in the affairs of Remnant and try to help everyone he could.
For now, he would get to watch Ruby's mom, dad, uncle, and sister's mom – what a weird family dynamic – beat the snot out of other people. "I gotta admit, I'm really excited about this," Sora whispered, leaning towards Ruby. "I can't wait to see this Taiyang that your uncle keeps threatening me with."
"He what?" Ruby asked, turning towards the Keyblade wielder with an eyebrow raised. "He... he what?"
Sora palled, knowing that the Huntsman would probably not be happy that he revealed that. "Oh, um... Hey, look, it's starting!" he hissed, pointing directly at the descending screen. The projector lit up – 'Dustvision – a Schneecorp Subsidiary.'
"Again!?" Ruby hissed. She opened her Scroll and began running through the menu for the event. "I bet she even owns this boat!"
"She does. It said so on the banner when we were boarding," Sora whispered back, staring at the screen as it faded to black. Soon, the projector lit up once again and Ruby hushed him, holding her hand up to silence him. She wasn't going to let anything get in her way of watching her uncle get punched in the face... then demolish his opponents. Maybe she wanted to hold something over him, but he was still her uncle and she'd root for him no matter what. Even if the fight was twenty five years done.
"My goodness, this is shaping up to be an excellent year for the Vytal Festival Games," a woman's voice said as the screen began to glow. Soon, a middle aged woman with blazing red hair wearing a shirt of shimmering red and gold sequins. On her left was a younger man, maybe in his mid twenties, with bright blonde hair and wearing white armor. He looked... familiar to say the least. "Don't you think, Argent?"
"Dad?" Jaune muttered, his scroll falling to the table and his eyes wide. The rest of the group turned to look at him then back at the man on the screen. He was nearly the spitting image of Jaune, save his dark brown eyes and the slight differences in his nose. And the warrior's beard on his jawline. "No way..."
"I agree, Flare," Jaune's father said, lacing his fingers in front of him and speaking into his microphone. He turned towards the woman. "I'm excited to see the top team from my old school, Beacon Academy."
The woman nodded then returned her gaze to the camera. "Oh, I agree. Team STRQ's exploits both in and out of class are widely known," Flare responded, nodding enthusiastically. "Team STRQ has the four students with the highest combat aptitude at their school. Combined with the leadership of Summer Rose, the team has already become famous for finishing second at the last Vytal Festival as well as for their escapades in battling the criminal underworld of Vale."
"And he gets angry at us?" Ruby hissed, clenching her fists on top of the table. "He's exactly the same!"
"Indeed," Argent told his co-announcer, overshadowing Ruby's grumbling. "And on top of all that, these kids have mastered some of the most rare styles of fighting in all of Remnant."
"A scythe wielder alone is rare enough," Flare stated, gesturing to bring up a bio and headshot of a smirking young man. Qrow was almost exactly the same as he'd been decades earlier, maybe with hair slightly less gray and with a clean shaven jawline. Though the smirk... well, that was the same. Images of three other people shot up on the screen – a young woman with the same red eyes as Qrow and long black hair, a jovial young man with lilac eyes hungry for battle, and...
"She looks just like you," Sora told Ruby as the woman appeared on the screen. Indeed, she did. The only difference lay with the color of the cloak over her head, a pure white, and the much more timid smile on her face. Ruby smiled and nodded.
The announcers never stopped speaking as Sora turned back to the screen. "... rest of the Team are no slouches either," Flare continued, smiling. She gestured at Taiyang. "A young man who can wield the dangerous shot-gauntlets and control fire with his Semblance – " The image changed to Qrow's sister, Raven. "the school's best Dust manipulator and master swordsman – " The image shifted once again to show the timid smile of Ruby's mom. "and the twin ax wielder with the Semblance of temporary invisibility, I'd say any opponent that has the misfortune of facing off with Team STRQ will have their work cut out for them."
"But that's not to say the other schools don't have their own aces in the hole," Argent admitted. He pressed a button on the table. "Team JETT, led by James Ironwood of Atlas Academy is another frontrunner for the fight, with the group being considered the most disciplined amongst even the Atlesian students. Ether Strong, the team's sniper, and Teal Stone, the heavy weapons specialist, are a powerful duo who work incredibly well together as long range fighter and her defender. The fourth member of the team and Teal's brother, Terra, rounds out the group as the most skilled close quarters fighter in the Atlesian military." The images of the four popped up on the screen: a young man in a white battle suit, a masked woman in black, a young dark skinned man with a serious smile, and another dark skinned man with a scar running over one eye.
"And – oh, it appears the first fight is about to start!" Argent said, waving down the images of another four warriors. "Well, well – we're starting off bold! Team STRQ and Team JETT please report to the arena!"
"Well, that was fast," Jaune muttered as the screen cut to the stadium, and the fight started to get underway. He smiled as the waiter placed a bowl of noodles in front of him. "Dinner and a show! Yeah!"
"Sh!" the rest of the table hissed, causing the blonde to blush and grin sheepishly.
R W B Y
"Well, well, well. If it ain't General Jimmy," Qrow taunted as he and his team walked to center stage, each member letting their weapons rest as the surrounding terrain was chosen. "And his goon squad. How you doin', Jimbo?"
"It is James," the man snapped, taking a half step forward.
"Ah, ah, General Jimmy," Qrow said, moving his finger back and forth. "You should save it for the fight; don't want those specialists you look up to kicking you to the bottom rung 'cause you can't even deal with little ol' me."
"I'm going to enjoy wiping that smirk off your face," Ironwood steamed, returning to the same military attention that his teammates held.
"Stop antagonizing him, Qrow," Raven said sternly. She turned, the same smirk on her face as she looked at Ironwood and his squad. "Don't make his inferiority complex any worse."
"My what!?" Ironwood growled.
"You're right," Raven admitted, holding her hands up and shaking her head. Then she opened her eyes and smirked. At the same time as her brother, she said, "It's your whole damn team that has it."
Even while Team JETT stood across from them, barely containing their rage, Raven was whirling on her brother. She slapped the back of his head. "I said not to do that!"
"Oh, come on! But what about the whole twin thing," he pleaded. He pointed past Raven. "Summer thought it was funny. Come on, right?"
The woman in white made an "EEP!" noise and pulled her hood further down onto her face. Her eyes peeked out from beneath her hood, her twin hatchets dangling at her sides beneath her cloak. Qrow frowned. "Well, Tai, you liked it? Right, best buddy, best pal?"
He smirked and looked ready to nod, until he glanced over at Raven's unamused face. His mouth shut quickly and he shook his head vigoursly. "Tch. Man, you're so whipped," Qrow said, waving off his best friend good naturedly.
"Do you four take anything seriously?!" Ironwood snapped, his gloved fists clenched at his side, squeaking as the leathery grip slid against itself.
"My devotion to never drinking alcohol," Qrow said, pounding his fist onto his chest, then raising one finger to the sky somberly.
"What?" Taiyang snorted. "Qrow, you party harder than anyone on campus!"
"Exactly," he said, nodding. A wild grin broke out on Qrow's face and he shrugged. "I don't even take that seriously!"
Summer looked up from under her hood at her opponents. "Good luck," she said quietly as the two terrains were finally being chosen. The one to the backs of Team JETT was an abandoned city. Behind Team STRQ was a forest of timber. As the beginning of the fight approached and the niceties were out of the way, the hooded Huntress's smile suddenly became confident and her voice raised a little, just enough that STRQ and JETT could hear it: "You're going to need it."
"Excuse -"
"Begin!" Flare screamed from far above, and Teal was cut off when a fiery explosion slammed into his chest, sending him flying into the cityscape behind him. Taiyang just grinned, his fist still smoking from the blast. Then the fight really began.
"Ether, with Teal!" Ironwood shouted, sending the sniper off and running right at Qrow, who was busy pushing his bangs out of his eyes and smirking at the other warrior. As he sprinted towards the scythe wielder, he drew his pistol and fired off a few rounds at Qrow, which he easily dodged."He's mine!"
"Tai, Raven – go deal with the other two," Summer commanded, spinning her hatchets into the form of twin guns. She aimed them at Terra and began firing off a few Dust bullets. "We've got these two." Taiyang and Raven nodded and immediately sprinted off, dodging Terra's attacks and even getting a few of their own in as they ran past him and into the abandoned city.
Qrow lazily dodged every blow of his opponent, trademark smirk plastered to his face the entire time as he did. He made no move to counterattack, continuing to just move past the every attack of Ironwood. "Come on, Jimmy," Qrow taunted, barely paying any attention to the fight. He ducked beneath a pistol whip and rolled to the side. "I was hoping you'd at least give me a good fight."
"And I will, once I show you what it's like when that smirk is wiped off your face," Ironwood growled, bringing his knee up as Qrow dodged, the blow nailing the scythe wielder in the face and causing him to stumble backwards, off hand over his face.
When he removed it, his face was not a scowl but... his smirk. "I'm glad to see this might actually be fun," he said, raising his weapon in front of him. His legs tensed for a moment and he jumped towards Ironwood, ready to knock him out of the fight.
Summer was doing even better than her teammate, easily dodging the every blow from the twin dagger wielder, Terra. Her hatchets would every so often slash into his side, slowly but surely depleting his aura. She raised the two weapons and deflected an incoming blow easily. Using the point of contact, she slid across the ground beneath Terra and looped her weapons around his ankles as she passed him. He flipped onto his face when she suddenly slid up to her feet.
When Terra stood up, he swung his twin blades at where she would be standing. The blades collided with only empty air, causing the warrior's eyes to widen in surprise. He raised his weapons defensively, waiting for the inevitable attacks. He didn't have to wait long, as the young woman appeared for a moment behind him, slamming the blades of both her axes into the middle of his back, sending him stumbling forward. She disappeared after just a moment, and his counterattack hit nothing.
On the other side of the center section, James and Qrow's battle was heating up. Ironwood was firing off at the scythe wielder, who quickly dodged each of the attacks before rushing towards Ironwood again. His scythe – still in sword form – flashed through the air, the leader of JETT barely dodging each blow. Eventually, he caught the edge of the weapon with the curve of his pistol and spun around the weapon, delivering a sharp blow with his elbow to Qrow's skull. He then grabbed the stunned warrior by the neck and belt and threw him into the forested area. He made to follow, but saw his teammate struggling. He snarled and pulled a cylinder from his belt, pulling the pin and throwing it straight up. Smoke began to leak from it, drifting lazily to surround the center of the arena as Ironwood took off after Qrow.
Terra grinned at this, and soon saw movement out of the corner of his vision. He spun on his heel and blocked the incoming hatchets with his combat daggers. "Got you," Terra said with a grin. He brought his leg up and the attack collided with the woman's midsection, sending her flying backwards. She bounced across the ground for a moment before finding her feet again. Summer nodded in agreement, then disappeared again. Terra watched the smoke carefully for the incoming attack, but none came. Instead, he saw her form running towards the forest. He tensed his legs and sprinted after her.
"Where did she go?" Terra asked as he caught up to Ironwood, who was also looking around for his opponent.
"Damn if I know," the team leader growled, unholstering a second pistol and holding the weapons out. He moved in a slow circle, waiting for the inevitable attack. He didn't have to wait long, as a white blur crashed into his side and sent him tumbling into a tree. Terra moved to help, only to feel a staff slam into his forehead and send him tumbling to the ground.
When he opened his eyes, Qrow was smirking above him, scythe now fully extended and hanging over his shoulders. The announcers cut off his impending insult, stating, "Ouch, and there go Ether and Teal – down by both arena knockout and loss of Aura!"
"We let them beat us?" Qrow whined. He kicked the dirt up and shot a glare over at Summer. "Why'd you play around with this guy?"
"I was about to ask the same thing," she shot back, twisting her hatchets so the blades faced away from one another. She then slammed the backs of the weapons together, metal plates sliding into place as they collided. The blades of the weapon extended, and a longer handle popped out from the conjoined bottom. She gripped the new handle with both hands and spun around, chopping through the trees that surrounded them.
"I was bored," Qrow suggested, jumping up and slicing the tops off of the trees so that only the trunks began to fall. As he jumped from each one to the next, his kick sent them flying towards the stunned Ironwood and Terra. The trunks slammed into the ground and Qrow grinned when he saw that neither warrior had lost any Aura – they'd dodged. He put his weapon behind him and fired off the shotgun connected to it, causing his weapon to spin at his back as he fell. When he brought the attack around, it collided with Ironwood's pistols, crossed together in an 'X' to block his attack. "Though, now he has my full attention."
"Good," Summer said, sliding beneath an incoming attack from Terra's daggers. She lashed out with her ax, and Terra jumped over the attack, flipping midair and tossing the combat daggers at Summer. She raised her weapon, deflecting the weapons, then went in for the victory. Terra merely smiled and yanked his arms up. Summer cried out as her feet caught on the wires connecting the daggers – now buried blade first into the ground – and Terra's wrists. He yanked again and shot towards his daggers, towards Summer's falling form, feet first. She rolled with her fall, and he overshot, his blow instead colliding with the back of his team leader's head.
Ironwood stumbled forward, and was greeted by the spinning base of Qrow's scythe, then by a slash across the chest. The scythe collapsed into a sword again, and he dealt a two handed blow that sent both James and Terra flying towards Summer. She dealt a hefty two handed blow to the connected Atlesian students, and they were sent back at Qrow, whose weapon was again a scythe. With a few shots of its gun, the scythe was spinning like a whirlwind again and he brought the considerable momentum around and upward to send James and Terra soaring into the sky, where they collided with the roof of the terrarium and fell to the arena again. As they hit the ground, the bars on the jumbotron representing their Aura levels screamed quickly down to the fifteen percent marker and below.
The arena immediately erupted into cheers, everyone present going wild at the intense skill in battle they had just witnessed. Raven and Tai quickly ran up. "What, too busy flirting to come and help us out?" Qrow jabbed at his sister, whose face reddened.
"As if you two would want our help," Taiyang shot back.
"Tch, yeah. You're right," Qrow said, turning to grin at Summer. The young Huntress' hood was down from the battle, revealing her hair – which Sora noted was actually longer than Ruby's and a shade lighter. Summer blushed suddenly and deactivated her weapons. The hood was quickly pulled back up as she realized that a considerable amount of eyes were focused on her because of her display of skill. "You two probably would have only gotten in our way."
"You want to say that to my face!?" Raven growled, grabbing her brother by the cape and dragging him away.
"You know it's true," Qrow shot back, throwing back his head and laughing heartily. Soon, the rest of Team STRQ was doing the same.
After a few moments Qrow sighed and pushed himself to his feet to walk over to his fallen foe. He rubbed the back of his head and sighed. "Well, you did good Jim – James," he said, holding out his hand. The Atlesian student narrowed his eyes, but took the gesture of goodwill anyways. "Just loosen up, or you'll end up as a general, and who'd want to be a tightass like those guys?"
"ME!" Ironwood shouted, fists raised angrily to the sky at Qrow's jab. "I want to be like those guys!"
Raven smirked. "You would," she murmured. "Tightass." This drew loud laughter from the other members of her team, and even from Terra on the ground.
"Oh, shut up," Ironwood grumbled, moving to help his teammate to his feet.
R W B Y
"Well, looks like you don't have anything to hold over him," Sora muttered as the fight came to an end and the next, which was between a team from Mistral and one from Vacuo, began. He leaned back, his bowl of noodles empty and shook his head. "That was... wow."
"Your uncle is so cool," Jaune whispered, eyes still stuck on the screen. He shook his head. "Jeez."
"What about her mom?" Nora asked, for once at a loss for words. She quietly made fighting noises and slashed around with her arms. "She was awesome! With the little axes that became the big one! That was awesome! Pow, bow, pang!"
"I knew Uncle Qrow was lying!" Ruby hissed. She shook her head disapprovingly. "He told me he didn't really know the General, but it sure looked like they knew each other!"
"The Ironwood guy?" Sora asked. He nodded. "Yeah, they seemed like me and Riku when we were kids. Rivals, but friends."
"Friends?" Ren asked, dumbfounded. "You can't be serious."
"Hey, hear me out," Sora said, hands raised defensively. "They looked like they respected each other, you know. Why, do they not like each other now?"
"I think he once called any members of the Atlesian military, 'Spineless tightwads who should shoot themselves,'" Ruby explained. She put her hand on her chin and leaned against it. "Though, I think he was just trying to insult Weiss' sister."
"Is that the person he got in a fight with in the courtyard last year?" Nora asked as she stuffed more of the bread from the basket into her mouth.
"Nora, where are your table manners!" Ren hissed, struggling with her to try and get the berserker to eat better. Sora, Jaune, and Ruby glanced between each other again, completely silent and stifling their remarks. Ren caught their eyes and shook his head, a movement that warned them 'Not even once!'
"Yeah, it was," Ruby said, nodding her head. She turned to Sora. "Weiss' sister, Winter. She's got white hair, a sword, and a permanent scowl. I don't think she likes me very much..."
"How?" Sora asked, causing the scythe wielder to blush slightly. "You're fun, happy, a great fighter."
Ruby giggled girlishly and played with her hair. "Oh, shut up," she mumbled. She continued giggling until Nora caught her eye, one eyebrow raised. Then Ruby sat straight up and forced herself to stop blushing. "Thanks, Sora."
The Keyblade wielder grinned and shot out a thumbs up. "It's the truth," he said, grinning even wider, "so no problem!"
"Jeez, and I make fun of Ren and Nora," Jaune said, rubbing his forehead.
"Excuse me?" Ren and Nora asked loudly. Sora and Ruby just blushed deeply and laughed nervously.
"SH!" the entire room hissed at their table.
R W B Y
A few weeks later, the ship was halfway through its travels and nearly to the coast of Menagerie, a large, mostly unexplored island south of Mistral. Sora and Ruby were busy not being busy, merely lounging in the sunlight on the main deck of the cruise liner. Sora reached over to the table between their two chairs and grabbed his smoothie, taking a long draught from the fruity drink. It tasted like Paopu fruit, if he pretended a little. When he closed his eyes he could almost remember his home, a place he hadn't seen for months. And even when he had, it had only been a for a few weeks. He hadn't been truly home in years.
Still, this was something he needed to do. Travel around, helping people – it was his calling in life. He sighed in enjoyment and soaked up the sunlight, shoving such heavy thoughts from his mind. He couldn't do anything about it right then, so it was better to just appreciate his time with his new friends. "What are you thinking about?" Sora asked Ruby suddenly. He opened his eyes and looked over at her. She was fiddling with her Scroll and quickly put it down. "What were you looking at?"
"Oh, just..." she sighed and shrugged. "My team."
Sora sat up and slid his feet off of his chair. "I'd love to hear about them," he said, leaning forward and smiling invitingly. Ruby sighed and glanced at her Scroll for a moment, then nodded. She jumped over to sit next to Sora.
"I guess I haven't really talked about them too much, have I?" she asked the young Keyblade wielder.
Sora shook his head. "I've heard about them from others, but you never really talk about them," Sora replied. He crossed his arms and looked down at the Scroll, on which Ruby had just pulled up a picture of four young women. One was Ruby herself, both hands in the air as she fell forward. Another was a very excited looking blonde with lilac eyes. The third was a girl with white hair and a matching dress trying to chastise Ruby and the blonde even while she was being knocked over. Taking the photo was a black haired girl with half lidded eyes that gave her an annoyed look that she used to try and hide her amusement.
"Well, you know her," Ruby began, pointing at herself.
"Really? I don't think so," Sora responded, joking. "Tell me, what's her name?"
"Ha ha," Ruby said dryly. She moved her finger to the girl with white hair. "That's Weiss. She'll deny it if you ever ask, but she's my best friend. She's a Schnee and... her dad took her away before we could get going."
"What's she like?" Sora asked, leaning in closer.
"When I met her, way too serious," Ruby replied. She laughed. "She would yell at me for tying my shoes 'wrong' at first."
"Sounds bad," Sora chuckled.
"It was," Ruby admitted sheepishly. "She got better, though. More fun. She's really good at using Dust with her fencing blade, Myrtenaster. It's how she uses her Semblance, different glyphs for different things. She can speed people up, slow them down, and stop gravity! It's nowhere near your magic, but she's still a great fighter."
"And you jumped off of a giant bird with her, right?"
Ruby grimaced. "Yeah. Yeah, that was her," Ruby said, laughing nervously. She looked back down at the picture and frowned. "The blonde's my sister and the other one is Blake, there we go, done."
"Hey!" Sora shouted. "Come on, tell me about them, too!"
Ruby sighed. "Do I have to?" she whined.
"Yes?" Sora replied.
Ruby sighed. "My sister is Yang. She's... loud," she began, pointing at the picture again. In spite of herself, she began smiling as she remembered their times together. "She fights like my dad, and sadly inherited his sense of humor. If you ever meet her, don't let her start joking. She thinks she's good at it."
"But she's not?"
Ruby shook her head and shivered. "Definitely not," she muttered, looking shellshocked. She looked up and smiled sadly. "Usually she's brave and crazy and has a short, explosive temper. She helped raise me after my mom... passed away. Which couldn't have been easy for her, since her mom disappeared not too long before that. She is – was the strongest person I knew."
"Now who is it?" Sora asked. "Qrow?"
Ruby blushed and shook her head. "You," she muttered, causing the Keyblade wielder to blush just as much. They grew silent for a while, each nervously glancing around. Finally, Ruby broke the awkward silence. "And this is Blake. She uses a sword that folds into a gun and hook. She's... even headed. Serious, but still fun. Private."
Ruby's face suddenly soured. "But that doesn't matter, because they're both afraid now. Blake ran away and Yang hides under the covers like a little girl. Neither of them want to try to fix anything," Ruby said, her voice laden with disappointment. She sighed and shut off the Scroll, placing it on the table again. She shook her head and leaned forward, her chin on her hands.
Sora nodded slowly, eventually placing his hand over Ruby's shoulders. She fought off the urge to freeze up. "I know how it feels," Sora said, trying awkwardly to console her. "But you can't give up on them. They're still your friends, your family."
"I know that," Ruby said, looking over at Sora. "But it still hurts that they'd abandon me like that. I don't hate them I just... I don't understand why they did it. They should be here, with us, trying to fix everything!"
Sora nodded. "Then find a way to tell them that," Sora said, smiling encouragingly. "It's just like Ms. Goodwitch said, right? If you tell them how you feel and just be yourself, their leader, then they'll follow you eventually."
"You think?" Ruby asked with a sad smile.
"I know," Sora said adamantly. He gave Ruby a side hug, causing them both to blush despite themselves. Sora wondered what was going on with himself, but quickly shoved the thought from his head. "Now how about we do something more fun, huh? What do you think sounds good, Ruby?"
Ruby was quiet for a moment as she considered this. Finally: "I like just being here," she said, shutting her eyes and smiling.
Sora took his arm off of Ruby and her eyes opened slightly, annoyed, and watched him go over to the other chair again to lay in the sun. She sighed but threw her feet up onto the chair and leaned back as well. She closed her eyes and tried to get her incredibly pale skin to tan. After a few moments, she began to speak again, finding courage for a moment. He had after all claimed it wasn't like that with that girl, Kairi. "Sora... I... You know, do you maybe want to go get some food? Alone. In a non-friend way?"
There was no response. Ruby frowned. "Sora?" No response. She opened her eyes and glanced over. "Sora – " She sighed. He was asleep.
"You really stuck to that doing nothing, huh?" a voice jabbed, causing Ruby's gaze to whip towards a smiling Nora. The ginger shrugged. "I can respect that. Don't wait, and all that."
Ruby opened her mouth to say something about Nora and Ren, only to be cut off by the ginger. "No!" Nora's glare on Ruby deepened for a moment, before exploding into a smile. "Ren asked me to come over to see what you guys wanted; we're going to pick up food. Unless you want to try that again?"
Ruby palled, courage gone. "N-no," she said, smiling nervously. "Cheeseburgers sounds good!"
Nora shrugged, then nodded before skipping off in the other direction, muttering excitedly about pancakes for dinner. Ruby shook her head in amusement, then looked over at the sleeping Sora. She stood up and poked him in the arm. "Wake up sleepyhead," she said, poking him again.
His eyes slid half open. "Stop it, Kairi," he muttered, waving his arm groggily before shutting his eyes again. "Five more minutes." A few seconds passed and a quiet snore escaped his throat.
Ruby sighed and let him dream of his home. She sat back down on her chair and stared up at the sky, knowing she couldn't be angry or jealous that he was thinking of his home. She wasn't, either. She understood his thirst for his home and his friends, often feeling the same empty burning when thinking of her team, even when she was a little angry with them. It wasn't right to be so far from them when they should be with her, hunting Cinder and – now – Xehanort. And, unlike Weiss, Blake and Yang could be there. General Ironwood had even offered prosthetic limbs similar to his own to all the survivors of the Vytal Festival attack who needed them, saying, "It's what Oz would have wanted." Yang had turned it down in a fit of sullen rage, and though the offer still stood it wouldn't forever. And as for Blake... Ruby had no clue where the Faunus girl could be. As soon as the CCT had come back up, she'd asked Sun if he'd heard from her. He'd angrily replied with a no.
Ruby shook her head to clear her thoughts, trying to focus on the good things in life. She was hot on the heels of Cinder and her crew, and she had even been able to soundly defeat the woman with Sora's help. Once they figured out a way to beat back Xehanort, they would be able to bring all of the pain and destruction that they'd wrought on Remnant to an end. Maybe then all of the damage could be healed. Ruby wondered what she would do then. She wanted to help people, but what would the best way to help be? She wanted to travel the world and help people, but she also wondered if the best way to help people would be to help get Beacon back up and running. Bringing in Cinder would probably guarantee a job there, if she ever wanted one.
She frowned suddenly. What would Sora do? From how he spoke, it sounded like he really wanted to go home, but it also sounded like he had no idea how to do so. Would he travel Remnant, looking for a way home? Or would he try and stay in one place? He did say that his best friends would be looking for him, so the best idea might be to stay put and wait for them to find him. Maybe he'd stick around with her until they found him. She smiled sheepishly. Or maybe he'd go off on his own. She frowned. Whichever it was, she'd understand.
She shook her head. Sora was her friend, so she knew exactly what she'd do after catching Cinder and fixing everything – she'd help him find his way home. That was what a friend would do, even if it meant she'd end up never seeing him again. The thought saddened her, but it was the right thing to do. And for Ruby Rose, the most important thing someone could do was the right thing to help people. It was all she had ever wanted, and helping out a friend meant even more to her.
Ruby sat up straight, fist clenched tight and resolve firm. She would help Sora find his way home no matter what. Then she'd even be able to meet his other friends, like Riku, Donald, or Goofy. Maybe even this Kairi girl that Sora cared for so much. She nodded, excited that she finally had a goal in mind instead of just wandering aimlessly after saving the world. Something a little less dangerous would be a nice change of pace from the world ending fights she'd dealt with since being invited to attend Beacon. The normal life of a Huntress... well, relatively normal. And after that... well, she'd figure that out when the time came. And who knew, maybe she'd get a chance to see Sora again after all was said and done and he'd gone home. He'd always said that he'd never forget his friends, no matter how much time had passed, and she believed him.
"Pancakes!" Nora roared, charging down the deck with precariously balanced food in either hand.
"Nora, slow down!" Ren shouted, sprinting after her.
"Oh, no," Ruby muttered as Nora's foot hit a patch of water and she began to slide across the deck and full speed, the food in her hands swaying back and forth in her grasp as she did.
"Watch out below!" Nora screamed, her leg finally colliding with the chair Sora was napping on. His eyes flew open as her weight flipped his chair and sent him flying through the air, a stack of pancakes slapping him across the face before he fell back onto the deck.
"Ow," he groaned, raising his face. Yellow circles were painted around his eyes in butter and syrup was dripping from his chin.
Nora looked like she was about to cry. "My... pancakes!"
Ren sighed. "Nora," he said, rubbing his forehead in exasperation.
Ruby just watched the entire scene unfold, then suddenly began laughing full force. Sora glanced at Ruby, then Nora and Ren, and finally began laughing at the whole ordeal as well. Nora quickly caught the infection of laughter. Ren sighed, then chuckled once in agreement. "Oh, Nora," he muttered again, leaning down to help her up.
R W B Y
Raven Branwen had been watching Ozpin and Salem from afar for some time, silently observing both of the battles that the two had watched. She knew that she was right in being scared of Xehanort, now. He could fight in a way that she had never thought possible, using abilities she could only describe as... Dark. True, Raven herself was no stranger to the power that Darkness could bring, but after watching his battle with Summer's daughter and her friends... and the boy with a Keyblade, she was starting to fear the possibilities that it contained. It was powerful, true, but whenever she saw Xehanort or Salem call on its power even she grew somewhat afraid. It disconcerted her, feeling that emotion for the first time in so long.
And that fear had brought things to her mind she thought she had long ago abandoned. She wondered, suddenly, just how her daughter was doing and how Taiyang had changed over the past twenty years. The thoughts were ones she tried to bury, but she continually failed. Her daughter and her husband, two people she had tried so hard to not remember. She'd given into weakness once before, saving her daughter on that train, but she had assured herself that was it. She didn't care about Yang and Tai anymore. They were weakness. But that weakness just wouldn't leave her mind. Her concern kept echoing through the darkness despite her best attempts to kill it.
She even cared about Summer's daughter. The girl was the spitting image of her mother, right down to those impossible silver eyes. Those eyes which would drive the darkest evils to hunt her to the ends of the world, whether from the desire to find a way to steal their power or to simply extinguish their light. People with those eyes were, at their Hearts, heroes; pure, unadulterated Lights. So Summer had a daughter just like her, a pure, bright light in the darkness. Hopefully she was better at mellowing out Yang than Summer had been with Raven; it wouldn't do for both of them to have daughters just like them.
Raven shook her head, trying to shove out the weakness again. What had she been doing before focusing on all this? She nodded when she remembered – trying to speak with Ozpin. Salem had gone off into the depths of the Grimmlands, searching for something. It was the perfect time to ask for instructions. He had, after all, been the one to choose Raven for this assignment. She was the brawn that his brain had sent out to search the Darkness for clues, to look in the places that even Qrow wouldn't go for the truth. Salem hadn't revealed much, except her existence, but Ozpin had been grateful for that much even.
"You should hurry if you don't want to be caught," the headmaster said simply as Raven debated with herself. The warrior looked over at the headmaster, who was casting a dry glare in her direction. "Well? Move, Raven."
She nodded and dashed out from behind her hiding place, keeping the Grimm mask on that helped mask her presence from Salem's prying gaze while in the Grimmlands. She crouched next to Ozpin, scowling behind her mask. "Am I finally setting you free?"
"Please," Ozpin said dryly, glaring at her through the lens-less frame of his glasses. "You know the time isn't right for that. As long as I am here, I learn what she has in store for Remnant. I would not trade such a valuable position for freedom when that will be inevitably mine anyways. No."
"Then what, Pin?" Raven asked.
Ozpin sighed in annoyance at her nickname for him. "I have no doubt that your brother is following Ruby and her friends as we speak," the former headmaster muttered, glancing down as he did. "What I need is for those I trust most to know I am still alive, and that our contingencies are still in effect."
"Qrow and Goodwitch?" Raven asked.
"Indeed," Ozpin replied. He glanced up at the sky. "As well as General Ironwood, Corrine Fuscia, and Aride Stole."
"The other headmasters?" Raven asked. She crossed her arms. "You sure they can be trusted?"
"James especially is beyond reproach," Ozpin said hurriedly. "Though Salem does keep mentioning Haven."
"So keep a special eye on Aride," Raven summarized.
"Yes," Ozpin said grimly. "She may not know what is happening, but I do not want to be surprised if she does." He glanced up and studied the horizon of darkness before turning with a worried gaze towards Raven. "She's returning. Go."
Raven nodded and placed her hand on the hilt of her blade. She used her thumb to spin the dust container to the correct spot, then slashed out with the weapon. This opened a corridor of darkness in the fabric of reality, the gaping hole leading out into the rest of Remnant. "I'll return as soon as I'm done," she promised the headmaster, then she jumped through the red and black glowing hole, sealing it shut behind her and leaving Ozpin alone in his chains.
"I hope so," Ozpin muttered to himself, fighting off the very real despair the Grimmlands were trying to impose on his Heart. He took a deep breath and composed his form to look more like that of an increasingly hopeless prisoner, slumping his shoulders and gazing at the stone ground. He thought of Jaune Arc's Dive and frowned. He had such hopes for that boy and his potential as a Huntsman. If he were to fall, the consequences would definitely be catastrophic. Ozpin hoped that alerting Qrow, Glynda, and the others to his survival he may be able to use them to prevent that.
Of course, any prevention would likely be moot if the children somehow made their way into Salem's domain. They were already following Cinder and Xehanort, and Ozpin had little doubt that they were not ready to truly defeat the Darkness. They were strong, true, and brave indeed. But for all his mocking, all of his bravado when faced with Salem, Ozpin knew that they were still fractured. Ruby's closest friends had all abandoned her, while Team JNPR was still one warrior short of being complete. Even with Sora, who was indeed an incredibly powerful Keyblade Wielder, their chances of success were slim. Sora himself showed just as much promise as Ozpin's own students, but he was not at the same level of true masters. Xehanort would easily defeat the boy if it came down to a battle for real survival, of that Ozpin was sure.
"Oh, Oz, are you trying to figure a way out of this?" Salem said, appearing beside him. She clutched his face with her incredibly pale hand and lifted him up by the throat. "Adorable. I can't wait to see what little game you have planned."
"Why is a Keyblade Master here?" Ozpin asked, struggling through the grip on his throat. "How did they get here?"
"Oh, I get to ask the questions, Ozpin," she responded, dropping him and turning away. She took a few steps before stopping. When she looked at him again, her red eyes were glowing evilly. "Tell me, just what do you think to accomplish by sending your little spy to tell everyone you're alive?"
Ozpin froze, not even breathing. "No response?" Salem asked, approaching the headmaster. She grinned and gripped his throat again. "Well?"
"How long?" he finally asked, staring into Salem's dark eyes. "When did you know?"
"Oh... When didn't I, Oz?" she asked, shooting him a toothy, cruel grin. "When didn't I?"