AN: Yo! Here we are, the penultimate chapter of the first half of the story, and he's already stronger than Xehanort...
I like this chapter a lot, especially its fight scene. It's the longest single battle sequence I've had in a while. Next chapter is when everything else will be revealed: what Xehanort really wanted Sora to see, where Sora's friends are, and even why Sora found the statue of Ozpin so familiar way back nine-ish chapters ago. After this, the game is going to change a lot.
To Gravenimage: I agree that it may be too predictable for Salem to be inhabiting Summer, or not what the show is planning on doing. It is only a theory after all. I think it works the best out of all of them with the Kingdom Hearts mythos. I also agree that not a lot of info is present – after all, if everyone believed Raven was dead who's to say that Summer is? I originally thought Winter Maiden as well, but (and, given studios these days, they could be lying) they said that their similarities in appearance were coincidence.
To gamelover41592: I LOVE Qrow x Winter. I think it's my first OTP...
To 7: Sucks, right?
To warrior of six blades: I'm really glad that my choices for the spells that each of the Huntsmen in Training have mastered are logical. I probably spent just as much time thinking that up as I did writing the rest of it.
Ruby fighting her mom. It does suck, huh? But she's not the only one who is going to be forced to confront terrible secrets next chapter. Whether she overcomes them...
As for Qrow and Sora's decision to keep it a secret, I would have done it too. For Sora, though, it's more a contrast to how – in CH17 – he said you should never keep a secret. When it's personal, even he has flaws.
To sethman610: Yeah, Tai made a stupid decision because of his fiery temper. I'm guessing he's at least a little like his eldest daughter in that regard.
Chapter 19: Twilight Hour
Yang Xiao Long was slowly and angrily packing her clothes into a couple of suitcases.
Okay, you got me. That's not really accurate.
Yang Xiao Long was slowly and angrily packing her clothes into a veritable mountain of suitcases and bags. Most of the bags were filled with old stuff or things she didn't want to take with her on her journey, so she was only using a couple for travel. She had mainly filled them to continue shoving her anger in her father's face and show she was serious about leaving... permanently, once her flight took off the next morning for Atlas. The younger Xiao Long was dressed in her black and white leather jacket and the outfit that went with it, the right sleeve rolled and tucked in snugly against her still bandaged wound. Her hair was glowing a bright yellow, as it had for nearly every day the past week. To go along with this, her eyes were the red of a bloody sunset that conveyed more pain than anger. Zwei was rolled up in a ball in the corner of the room, snoring quietly as he waited for attention from the young woman. She tossed another folded outfit into her next bag and zipped it shut, something which was not the easiest thing to do when it was filled to the brim with clothes and shoes.
"I wish you'd reconsider... this," Taiyang said while gesturing at the mountain on top of his daughter's bed. He had been standing silently for the longest time, waiting for his daughter to talk to him. To yell at him. Anything except just give him the cold shoulder. She was too fiery for that, and it worried him in an entirely new way that she had elected such a cool manner of letting her anger out. "It seems rash, Firecracker." She stopped packing for a moment, but didn't look up at her father. After a half moment's hesitation, she elected to ignore him and continued to pack.
Taiyang made a noise halfway between a growl and a sigh of exasperation, knowing his daughter was not going to let this go. Still, he'd always been better at talking than shutting up. "I know that you're angry with me right now, Honey. Believe me, I even understand why," he began to explain. He paused momentarily; his daughter hadn't even responded, so now he was wondering if she was even listening to him. He shrugged and decided it didn't matter – he wanted to say what he had to say. "But when you're older, you'll understand that you can't trust people who always run away when the going gets tough. They don't stop running away, no matter what you think you can do to help them."
That got his daughter's attention. She stopped moving again and even cast a momentary glance at her father. There was significantly less light coming from her hair now, though it was still burning quite bright. "She's still my mom," Yang muttered coolly, her hands unzipping the next bag. She picked up a pair of pants and examined them for a moment, then tossed them over to her travel bag. Yang shot her father a disappointed glance. "Why can't you admit you're wrong."
"Because -"
"Not a question," Yang cut in as she folded up the outfit she'd worn almost every day at Beacon – at the attack – and put it into the storage bag.
Tai considered this for a moment, then decided to answer her non-question regardless. "I'm not wrong, Firecracker. You can't change people who run away, because they'll never stay long enough to change when things get tough," he explained. Yang could almost taste how bitter her father's words were at that moment. Taiyang wearily sighed. "Raven may have given birth to you, but a mother is someone who stays, Yang. Summer, she stayed."
"So I'm not allowed to know my mom!?" Yang snapped, her hair glowing again and starting to float. An aura of flames began to spark around the young woman's shoulders, matched by the angry intensity in her eyes. "She came back, Dad! Maybe this time she would have changed! Would have stayed!"
"I told myself the same thing every time!" Tai snapped back. He stomped forward, unafraid of his daughter's fiery temper; she got it from him, after all. "And it never happened, so don't go around criticizing me for things you have no idea about. I am your father, and despite what you think I know better than a girl who hasn't seen enough of the world to even be scared."
"Really!?" Yang shouted, swinging her arm back and sending unpacked bags flying everywhere. There was a loud, confused yip as one landed on Zwei and trapped him in darkness. His barks of surprise and confusion went ignored. "At least I'm not an old man who's so afraid of the world that he's already a burnout!"
Hurt flashed across Taiyang's face, and Yang knew she'd gone too far, but she couldn't stop herself. The anger just kept flowing. "You aren't the only one that lost Mom, or Summer! Ruby and me lost them, too, but that didn't stop us from going out and trying to make it so that wouldn't happen to anyone else! Uncle Qrow said you used to be the bravest man he knew, but I wouldn't know it looking at you. All I see is a coward hiding in his cabin hoping that the world stops reminding him it's out there!"
Taiyang's breathing became measured and he steeled himself as his vision blurred. He blinked back the tears that came with his daughter's rage and disappointment. "I guess I was wrong. You're more like me than Raven," he said with a tone of finality. Then he shook his head and walked away from Yang's room.
Yang watched him go, her heart slowly sinking. "Dammit," she groaned. She slammed her hand into her forehead hard enough to shatter trees, but it didn't do anything to her. "Why did I say that? Stupid, stupid idiot!"
She looked down as a bag slammed into her leg and a whine of confusion erupted from beneath it. In spite of herself, Yang let out a small laugh and kicked the bag off of the yipping animal. Zwei was rolling around on the ground, paws swiping at the air where the bag had been moments before. He stopped midbark and cocked his head to the side, as if embarrassed by his behavior in front of his human. "And what do you think about all this?" she asked the dog. She leaned down and scratched the dog's chest, making him snort happily and wriggle around joyfully. Yang smiled sadly and continued to scratch the dog's exposed belly. "Did Dad make the right choice here?"
Zwei groaned and rolled onto his feet. It shuffled from side to side for a moment, then the deceptively powerful dog jumped up Yang's arm to tackle her to the ground and lick her face comfortingly. "Ah, thanks, Buddy," she said, scratching behind the dog's ears before pulling him into a hug. Zwei whined and nuzzled into her neck, his fur giving Yang a comfortable scratching sensation along her throat. The young woman sighed contentedly, but knew she should probably stand up and continue packing. Unfortunately for her, the dog on her chest had begun to snore loudly. Yang sighed and decided to let Zwei have a couple more minutes of peace. Honestly, she was enjoying it just as much; it would probably be one of the last times she had a chance to be with Zwei until after she'd gotten her arm replaced and tracked down her mother. Yang snugly gripped the fur of the dog and nuzzled into him with a sigh.
Then her Scroll very suddenly, and very loudly, rang out from her pocket. The silence before that had been so comfortable and unending that she shouted out and threw her arm up. Zwei yipped in surprise as her hand, still clenched tight over his fur, flew up and sent the dog flying. He barked as he soared through the air until he landed against the wall above her bed with a dull thud. "Zwei!" Yang shouted, sitting up quickly and running towards where she had accidentally thrown the dog. She searched for a moment, ignoring the ringing of her Scroll for a moment while hoping Zwei was okay. She needn't have worried, however, as the unnaturally durable dog popped up from beneath her covers with its natural smile on its face. Yang sighed happily, then straightened up as she remembered her Scroll was still ringing. She reached into her pocket.
"Hello?" she muttered as soon as the device reached her ear.
"Yang!" Ruby's voice screamed into the young woman's ear. Yang yelped and turned down the volume on the Scroll, ear ringing. "How are you!? How is everything going!? Are you still mad at me!? How was your meeting with Aunt Raven!? I can't wait to see you again!"
"Ruby, slow down," Yang said, voice full of laughter at her little sister's excitement. She hooked the device between her shoulder and ear before sitting next to Zwei and scratching his head. "And why would I be mad at you? You saved Haven and destroyed a huge monster! Do you know how good a wing-woman you'll be now?"
"You're not mad?" Ruby asked. A sigh of relief came from the other end of the line. "Then why did you get all scary serious after our last call? You just got that frowny 'I'm a big, angry monster' look you used when I annoyed you as kids and stomped off."
"'I'm a –?' Hey!" Yang shouted indignantly. "I do not. Besides that was my 'Time to kick ass and take names' face."
"I think those are the same..." Ruby muttered quietly.
Yang decided to ignore that. "I decided to take that Atlesian General up on his offer for the robot arm. I needed to train, of course, but now I'll be a Cyborg Badass!" Yang explained. She smiled smugly. "That's twice the badass. And since I was already twice the badass of everyone else, that's four times the badass."
"Says you."
"Says everyone." Yang smirked victoriously. She rolled Zwei over and he snorted as she scratched his stomach again. Yang's smile grew softer and she continued: "I'm coming to help out soon, so you better prepare that boyfriend of yours for a HurriYang."
"That was... Wow. You've actually gotten worse at making jokes, haven't you? I knew being around Dad would be bad for you," Ruby remarked dryly. Yang made a noise between a growl and a scoff, and Ruby picked up on the anger prevalent in her sister's voice. "What happened? What's wrong?"
"So you knew Mom was coming back and you didn't tell me?"
"Thought it would ruin the surprise?" Ruby suggested lamely. "... Surprise?"
Yang laughed dryly. "Well, it was a good surprise. At least until Dad got involved."
"What!? What did dad do!?" Ruby shouted, nearly deafening her sister again. Her voice lowered like she was trying to keep Taiyang from hearing their Scroll call. "Is... is he dating someone else?"
"No, he just acted like a huge jerk," Yang muttered angrily. Zwei whined when her hand stopped moving and nipped at her fingers until she started to pet him again. Yang sighed in exasperation at the question Ruby would undoubtedly ask, begging her older sister to explain what and how and when and why and where. "Mom showed up while we were training in the forest. Lady just jumped out from behind a tree like she hadn't been missing since I was born. Heh. Dad almost shot her in the face before finding out it was her."
"From what I've seen of her, that would have been bad..." Ruby remarked simply, drawing a laugh from her sister. Ruby laughed back. "She's scarier than Uncle Qrow sometimes."
"Where do you think I get it from?" Yang said, completely serious. She groaned and continued her tale. "After we saw her, I thought it would be good. You know – show up out of the blue, rekindle an old romance, hilarious highjinks surrounding your twenty year old daughter's decision to throw a huge party while you go out for a night on the town."
"So... a movie?" Ruby suggested in confusion.
Yang grunted. "I guess it is a movie," she muttered dryly. Sometimes Ruby just couldn't understand jokes or references. She stopped petting Zwei when her neck began to cramp up, ignoring his whining to move the Scroll to the other ear and shoulder.
"So then... why didn't a movie happen?" Ruby asked. Yang could practically hear the sympathetically comforting look on the younger girl's face.
"Little Sis, how are you still such a kid?" Yang asked. She respected Ruby's ability to refuse changing for the sake of the Darkness in the world. "Most real stories don't have happy endings. Dad got angry and said she'd run away again. That she'd always run away before and it wouldn't stop." Yang's voice had grown bitter as she considered her own friend – she cut off her train of thought. "Said I couldn't handle her staying then running away again. Me!" Yang huffed and lowered her hand to scratch the still irritable Zwei.
"Did they fight? Is that why you're so sad? Mad? AH! Smad." Ruby sounded proud of herself, as if the gibberish she'd just spouted was a real, impressive word. If it wasn't connected to fighting, she didn't care to double check it.
"No, that's not why I'm... smad," Yang said, laughing underneath her breath despite the pain that came with the topic of conversation. "It's that she didn't deny any of it. She stood there and let Dad say she would leave, that she would hurt us, and she didn't fight back. She didn't try to prove him wrong. She just decided Dad was right and that she wasn't worth our time!" Yang curled up, hand on her Scroll again. "It felt like she didn't even want to stay." Zwei whined and nuzzled his way into her lap, licking her elbow to calm her. "Why didn't she stay?"
"I bet she's wondering, too, Yang," Ruby supplied, the words and Zwei helping the blonde bombshell to quiet the fears in her mind. The worries that she was why people kept running away. Stupid, she knew, but the biggest fears are often the stupidest ones.
Ruby, even over the CCT line, seemed to understand what was running through her sister's mind and quickly changed the topic. "So, if everything goes right you'll get to meet Sora soon."
Yang smiled and stretched out, much to the joy of the panting Zwei. "Oo-ooh," she singsonged mockingly, troubles at least diverted from her thoughts if not truly forgotten for the moment. "How is your boy toy? Any K-I-S-S-I-N-G going on?" She laughed as the blood audibly rushed to Ruby's cheeks over the Scroll line. "Ha! There is isn't there!"
Ruby mumbled something in response. "I can't wait to meet the boy who convinced Ruby 'Everything's Better Alone' Rose to try a relationship." Yang chuckled. "At least he looks cute enough for you, Rubes. I've been practicing my 'Scary Sister' speech in case he's not good enough, though. What do you think sounds scarier – throwing him weaponless into a pit of Grimm, or breaking his legs and making him listen to Jaune's singing?"
"Yang!" Ruby shouted in disbelief. There was a brief pause. When Ruby's voice returned it was more joking than anything else. "You know we all agreed Jaune's singing is cruel and unusual punishment, no matter the crime!"
Yang laughed heartily at that. "Okay, fine. I guess that means I have to get rid of half the things on my list, then," she joked with her little sister. "Kill joy."
"It's wrong to torture people like that, Yang," Ruby admonished again, only half joking. Jaune's singing could probably melt the bone plate off of a thousand year old Goliath. "How dare you even consider it?"
"It'd be fun to watch," she noted in response. Yang glanced up with a pained look and shivered fearfully. "As long as I had earplugs, at least."
The two girls laughed together for a while, then slowly grew quiet. "You know, if you don't kick enough butt when you take down that Xehanort guy, I'm going to have to make up the difference when you help me start training with my new arm," Yang threatened. "I won't be embarrassed by a little sister who decided to take it easy just because she knows a guy who can shoot fire from a giant key."
"Oh, I think you'll be a little surprised by just how much butt I can kick now, Yang," Ruby replied proudly. "I've got some new tricks you won't be able to touch. I think you should be worried about training with me. I'm a magical genius."
"Not going to even try to understand that one," Yang said simply. She sighed. "Okay Genius, could you say 'Hey' to Qrow for me? And if you see Mom tell her she's a huge idiot for listening to Dad. We're waiting for her to come back, even if the Old Man won't admit it."
R W B Y
"Okay, I will, Yang," Ruby said, her face in one of the biggest smiles Sora had seen on her since the dance. She laughed and nodded. "Okay. I love you too, Big Sis. See you soon." With that, the young scythe wielder pulled her Scroll from her face and hung up with no loss of joy.
Sora smiled at her and leaned against a pillar lining the dock where their bullhead had set down, thinking that her conversation with her sister must have gone over really well for this sudden display of joy. For a brief moment, Sora's own joy died down as he remembered that her joy would quickly fade after the battle with Xehanort and Salem. He still was not comfortable with hiding from Ruby that Salem likely was in control of her mother's body, and he would do anything he could to save Summer in his fight with Salem. But he wouldn't risk Ruby's life, even if it meant she hated him for lying or – worse – destroying her mother. He thought he understood why Qrow kept so many important secrets, then, but it didn't make him any less angry with himself for failing to follow through whenever he decided to tell Ruby the truth.
However, Sora decided to shove those thoughts from his head. "So? How did her meeting with Raven go?" Sora asked as Ruby pocketed the device and walked down the dock towards where their group was congregating. Qrow was busy haggling a sale's price for the bullhead, which they would no longer need. The arena itself would be floating back to Haven in a few hours, and Qrow wanted enough money for a fast flight in first class back to Vale. Everyone else was double checking their weaponry and making sure that they would be as ready as possible for the fight to come.
"It didn't," Ruby remarked, her face souring. Sora grimaced. "My dad apparently decided to act like a big baby and ran her off before they could talk!" The young woman growled and stomped her foot. "Urf... why would Dad act like such a... a... damn moron!" She 'eep'ed and covered her mouth. She looked nervously at the ground. "I mean... Oh, I said what I mean!"
"I'm sorry, Ruby," Sora said, standing up and hugging her. He let go after a moment. "How did everything else go? I don't think she's still angry at you, is she? … Is she?"
"Never was apparently. Determined," Ruby explained, grabbing Sora's hand and leading him towards the others. She looked over and began to smile again. "She's going to get a new arm and come help us! Well, with whatever comes next, I guess, since we are going to kick some butt today!"
Sora laughed with her and nodded. "You know it!" he agreed boisterously. He smiled slyly. "Want to make a bet who kicks the most?"
Ruby returned this question with a dry look as retort. "Oh, yeah. A Huntress fighting a magic terrorist she couldn't beat last time or someone who might be the strongest person in the universe going head to head with someone he crushed before all this training. How could that not go my way?"
"You never know!" Sora exclaimed happily. He hugged her with one arm around her shoulder and laughed again. "You were scary before you could use magic, and now? Cinder won't know what to do when you show off your moves. I'd bet any of you could beat her now, but you'll really lay the beat down on her!"
Ruby blushed. "Oh, stop..." she said, and her words fell away to unintelligible mutterings as they usually did when she had been complimented.
"You really think we'll do good too?" Sun asked, appearing beside them in a burst of Aero-based wind. Ruby's cape fluttered from her shoulders in the sudden explosion of air. He crouched nimbly atop one of the pillars lining the dock and grinned down at the now messy haired Sora and Ruby. "Is that more a compliment for us for learning, or for you for teaching us?"
Sora grinned. "... Both?" he suggested with a shrug.
"Impressively handled," Sun complimented, jumping down from the pillar and stuffing his hands in his pockets. "It'll be nice to fight them without getting my ass handed to me."
"And hopefully there's no water this time!" Neptune shouted from the end of the dock, as close to the water as he could be while still being entirely on dry land. His body was stiff as a board. "I will not swim through water to fight anyone. Ever. Again!"
"Okay, buddy. Just calm down!" Sun shouted, waving at his jittery partner. "I know. No more water." Sun turned to Sora and Ruby and grimaced. "I really hope there's no swimming, for his sake. He's barely comfortable using the water gun thing you taught him."
"I can hear that! I am not afraid of it!"
"You can't hear me!" Sun muttered back, gesturing at the large distance between the two.
Neptune growled. "I don't fear you!" he shouted. "Why would I be afraid of you!"
"Ha, I'm right!" Sun muttered, pumping his fist victoriously. "I win. I win. Uh huh. Uh huh. Go Sun!"
"You're worse than Yang," Ruby grumpily told the blonde Faunus. "And that says a lot."
"Let me have this," Sun begged, falling to his knees and clasping his hands. "He's too cool usually!"
Sora laughed. "Fine. I guess you can have this one for now," Sora said, holding his hand out and helping Sun to his feet. The Faunus was smiling at his victory, even if Sora had given it in a combination of pity and joking. Sora let the happiness linger for a moment before letting it end with a dangerous question. "So, how's Jaune doing?"
Sun's face soured into a worried grimace. "He's... better. I guess," Sun half lied. Jaune indeed looked better and calmer, though never when Sora or Qrow were around. When either of them were near, Jaune would grow quiet and cold until they left. "Still really angry. But a little bit better. He still hasn't talked to you, has he?"
Sora cast a glance at Jaune's back and frowned sadly. "No. No he hasn't," the Keyblade Wielder said with a heavy sigh. Despite how he kept shoving the matter from his mind, this kept reminding him of how he was hiding secrets from Ruby. He looked back at Sun and shrugged. "He's stubborn and he won't say sorry until we apologize for whatever we did."
"But you didn't do anything," Ruby pointed out.
Sun nodded in agreement with the young Huntress. "Yeah, you only tried to help."
"What's the saying?" Qrow abruptly cut in as he walked up, sliding a quarter dozen max price Lien cards into his wallet. He traded a momentary, knowing glance full of pain with Sora before continuing. Unlike the young man, he and his sister were nearly masters at compartmentalizing their personal worries and their duties. "'The road to Hell is paved with good intentions.' It doesn't matter who's actually right or wrong to Jaune. Sora thinks he did the right thing, Blondie thinks you sided with me over him."
"But I said you were wrong!" Sora protested, before immediately feeling like a hypocrite when he heard Ruby's laughter. For the thousandth time, he almost caved and told her the truth. And for the thousandth time he froze just before he could when an image of a corrupted Summer murdering her own daughter flashed through his mind.
Qrow sighed and scratched his chin, noting Sora's poorly hidden fear and worry. Unlike the Huntsman, Sora was unprepared to hide the truth around others; lying wasn't really in his blood. "There'll be tons of time to fix all this later," he said, more about what was terrifying Sora than on the topic of the situation they were talking about. He shrugged and crossed his arms. A light sea breeze ran through the air and his cape fluttered before he looked over at his niece. "How'd Yang and Tai's meeting with Rae go? She's been pretty tight lipped about it, and I'll be honest – there's a pretty big reason Tai wasn't our leader. He's kind of an idiot."
"Hey!" Ruby snapped, earning an unapologetic smirk from Qrow. She sighed and let her gaze fall. "Fine. He was an idiot. Yelled at Raven until she ran away and now Yang isn't talking to him. With good reason – there's no guarantee she'd run away again!"
"Oh no. Rae would run away again eventually," Qrow explained bluntly. He looked down at the angry faces of his niece and her friends. "What? I've known the woman since day one – running away from the people she loves is what she does best. When we were eight, she ran away from home for three weeks because she didn't get a pony. When we were in our second year of Beacon she skipped the entire month of Finals after fighting with Tai and we had to beg Oz to let her take them when she got back. Give her a battle or revenge and she will follow through better than anyone. Give her ten minutes of anything emotional and she disappears faster than she can even teleport."
"But she wants to change!" Sora protested.
"And I hope she does. I love Rae. She's my sister, after all," Qrow explained calmly. His Scroll began to beep and he took it from his pocket. Before checking it he sighed sadly. "Ravens don't usually change their colors, though." He looked down and grunted. "Speak of the Grimm. Rae sent me an address for our meet up. Come on."
R W B Y
Xehanort noted that the Grimmlands were what he could easily consider the ugliest place he had ever seen. The sky was deep, star-less black obscured by deep red mists and clouds. Huge, sharp crags erupted from the ground as deep silhouettes so that no one could tell if they were real or merely shadows cast from far away. The ground itself was composed of cracked, dry stone that groaned under every step and exploded into black Dust every time a small vibration erupted. Large, terrible crystals grew from the ground and shined with an energy more Dark than Light. If it were not for the fact that the lack of any Light made the Darkness seem... less, Xehanort might have felt stronger. As it was, it sapped even his strength and will. Salem's little fanatic, however, seemed to grow stronger with every moment spent breathing in the damp, cold air in the the bleak region of the Remnant.
Then Xehanort noted that, suddenly, the air had become markedly warmer and more comfortable. He summoned his weapon to his hand, cursing his bad luck: so close to his goal, with one chance to defeat his most dangerous enemy and this was the moment that Sora had elected to enact his attack on the Dark Keyblade Master. The rip in space appeared a few moments after Sora's energy had signaled his arrival, the red and black vortex opening not far above Xehanort's party. Cinder's gaze followed the old man's and her eyes widened. "Scatter!" she commanded, Emerald and Mercury doing as suggested and running away from the portal. Xehanort moved his Keyblade to his left hand and raised it above him, charging up a reflect wall to try and deflect the brunt of the attack from himself and his... 'allies.'
Yet again, however, he was not prepared for the strength that came through the portal. The strength of the wall shattered suddenly when a Keyblade Wielder slammed into the wall, weapon elongated with a bright blade of white light that illuminated the young man's steely and triumphant gaze. There was a momentary intake of air when the blade and shield connected, the hexagons bending inward under the pressure of Sora's attack. Then, a moment later, the blackened air exploded outward and the glowing wall of energy shattered into a thousand sparks of light.
Xehanort stumbled backwards in surprise and pain, his Keyblade shooting backward and crashing into the ground. Sora fell toward the ground with hands raised above him and the air rippling through his clothes and hair until he landed with a heavy, powerful thud. Black Dust shot outward from the place where he landed, and the young Keyblade Wielder slowly stood up straight. His face became plastered with a grin as the other three began to surround him and ready themselves for battle. Xehanort knew such an act was pointless, as Sora had become far more powerful than any non-Keyblade Wielder could ever hope to become. "Never thought I'd say it's good to see you again, Xehanort," Sora noted, victory shining out from his eyes. The portal above continued to swirl threateningly.
"Boy," Xehanort muttered with a low voice, raising his Keyblade defensively in front of his body. He gestured at the young man's calm, steady, and powerful demeanor. Despite the danger suddenly posed by the young man, Xehanort could not help but smile. Going over the scenarios in his head, the old man came to the conclusion that the appearance of the young man – if handled immaculately – could in fact be considered a boon. He looked around and shook his head, then returned his attention to Sora. "Come now, we both know you are not here alone. There is no point to such a showy entrance."
"You sure about that?" Sora asked. He put one hand on his hip and grinned. "It got you all to stand around like idiots."
Xehanort looked around in surprise. He had noticed, of course, but had not truly taken note of it. In their distraction by the appearance of the large portal above and the subsequent rush to gain an advantage over the lone Keyblade Wielder, the group had been quick to focus on the lone portal above as the source of any future enemy reinforcements. In a matter of seconds, however, portals had opened behind each of Xehanort's group and the old man understood he had underestimated Sora yet again. Flames, ice, and other elements exploded out from these new tears in space towards the four of them.
Xehanort was quick enough to turn and summon a Reflect wall that intercepted the attacks coming his way, a pair of swords that slammed into his defensive barrier and ricocheted over him. A middle aged man and woman with deep black hair landed beside Sora at the ready. One held a blood red katana nearly as long as herself and the other a greatsword of similar length. Both had heavy, scarlet eyes filled with fear they had overcome.
The other members of Xehanort's party, however, were not nearly so lucky. An explosively powerful blast of water slammed into Cinder's back and sent her flying over Sora. Thunder rained from above over Mercury, sending electricity coursing down his spine and locking him in place until a huge hammer crashed into his back. Emerald was thrown similarly when she suddenly found herself floating in the air, suddenly weightless, before a pair of glowing, golden figures crashed into her and exploded. The three warriors soared over Sora and slammed into each other, falling moments later towards the Keyblade Wielder and his allies. The three of them readied their weapons, and unleashed a simultaneous blow as the falling warriors neared. Cinder, Mercury, and Emerald collided with each weapon with a heavy clang before they were sent flying back towards the warriors now standing in front of the quickly closing portals.
Cinder tumbled across the ground and made it to her feet before she stopped moving, sliding to a stop in a crouch right in front of the young Silver Eyed girl with her scythe and a blue haired young man shouldering a gun at her face. Mercury flipped midair and landed heavily in front of the blonde knight – his face a steady scowl – and a young woman who looked incredibly excited to bash Mercury's skull in with a hammer. Emerald herself landed much like her mentor, though considerably less elegantly, only to be greeted by yet another glowing explosion so she tumbled to her feet. A golden haired Faunus with a red and gold bo staff draped across his shoulders and a young warrior in a deep green uniform with pink striped hair. The warriors at Sora's side glanced at each other for a moment, then dashed in different directions – the woman towards Mercury and the man towards Cinder – leaving Sora and Xehanort alone.
And then the battle was upon them. Sora appeared in front of Xehanort in a flash, Keyblade swinging down in a one handed overhead slash. Xehanort raised his Keyblade with a moment to spare, the resulting shower of sparks bathing the two Keyblade Wielders in the heat of their own anger and desire to defeat the other. They pushed as hard as possible, neither willing to give ground but both knowing exactly how the fight would end. "Have you enjoyed my gift, Boy?" Xehanort asked, grunting in exertion as he struggled against the superior strength of the younger man. He fought off an increasingly sharp pain in his left knee and pushed off with it. "Have you found anything interesting in it?"
"You aren't going to distract me with that empty book, Xehanort," Sora responded gruffly. He disengaged their blade lock and spun around the stumbling elder warrior to deliver a sharp blow to Xehanort's lower back – just below where the remains of the χ -blade hung. Xehanort tumbled onto his knees and forced himself to his feet in time to deflect a Firaga that Sora had let loose at him. "I'm going to beat you, then I'm going to beat your 'Salem' lackey, and then I'll find my friends."
Xehanort steadied himself and fired a block of black ice, the Dark Blizzaga freezing even the dim light around them. Sora hit it with a Firaga and used the resulting steam as a smoke screen. "I sincerely doubt you will ever find your friends," Xehanort said earnestly. He jumped out of the way of Sora's next attack and tried to counter, only for it to be easily blocked. Sora flicked his wrist and the old man momentarily lost his grip on his weapon. He wheezed in surprise and summoned it back in a burst of shadows to prevent his imminent death at the tip of the younger warrior's Keyblade.
"You can't slow me down with lies," Sora replied, voice resolute. Xehanort sighed – this was pointless.
Elsewhere, the young warriors with whom Xehanort traveled were faring no better than he in their battles. Cinder herself found herself at a substantial disadvantage to Neptune, Ruby, and her Uncle. Despite her use of magic – both Autumnal and Dark – she was losing ever more ground to the Silver Eyed warrior and her allies.
Cinder jumped around another incoming blast of water, trading a blast of flames with its blue haired caster. He groaned and – with a look that showed he was torn between getting hit or nullifying the attack – turned the stream of high powered water on the black flames. There was a huge hiss as the flames and water created a blackened steam cloud, obscuring the blue warrior. But he was a distraction, as Cinder now found herself beset on both sides by scythe wielding Huntsmen. She was stunned by the sudden, twirling attacks that moved almost faster than she could respond to them.
Qrow's weapon was the one that came closest to hitting her at any given moment, forcing her to expend more effort to deal with his attacks than with Ruby's, which in turn allowed her much more dangerous attacks – ones cloaked in flames and ice and Light – to inch ever closer to her. Cinder back flipped over the next one of Red Riding Hood's attacks and constituted huge glass shards from the ground. After a moment, they were drenched in black lightning and red flames that she sent at the two scythe wielders.
Ruby turned into a torpedo of red and roses, disappearing and reappearing a moment later a dozen yards away to fire at Cinder with her sniper rifle. Qrow merely returned his weapon to greatsword form and allowed the shards to crash into the flat of his blade harmlessly. From there, he activated the shotgun in his blade and fired at the woman from the other side.
Cinder remained in the air, flames bursting into existence at the base of her heels to keep her aloft, and summoned powerful barriers to her hands to block the projectiles of Dust energy. Protecting herself from the two scythe wielders, however, had left Cinder wide open to other attacks. A powerful stream of water crashed into her chest again, this time electrified. She shouted out in pain, her body seizing up under the assault. Bullets slammed into her body until the electricity stopped. She hit the ground, though the stream of water had not stopped, just slowed, and was keeping her drenched. A half moment later, the water was frozen over from its source and Cinder was left half-conscious and frozen in a block of ice.
Mercury, meanwhile, was faring the worst. His skill in battle was considerably less than Cinder, despite the fact that it was indeed great. This meant that, when confronted with the new magical abilities of Nora and Jaune, alongside the incredible skill of Raven Xiao Long, he was being quickly and easily defeated.
It was all he could do to dodge the devastatingly fast attacks coming from the adult woman's katana, the black and red moving just as fast as he could at top speed. Her face was a steady snarl, and it became clear that the woman held a more personal animosity for him than for his compatriots. "Don't tell me I kicked your puppy," Mercury said, trying to get the woman to say something. All he got for his troubles was a blade lock with his boot that ended with a hammer colliding with his skull. He flipped in place, and was upside down when he felt a triangular block of metal crash into his chest and send him right back at the hammer. It crashed into him and he landed face down in the Dust. There was a sudden upward pull as a glowing orb of light dragged him upward magnetically, spinning him around until he could barely think. As soon as the spinning ceased, there was a sudden, cold pain in his prosthetic legs preceded by a bright red flash. He crashed and tumbled aura-less across the ground again, followed by the smoking remains of his robotic legs. "Dammit!" he cursed before looking up at the smugly satisfied face of Raven Xiao Long. He grinned nervously. "Um... Best two out of three?" His answer was blackness brought about by a hammer to the face.
"That was for Ren!" Nora snapped, slamming the base of her weapon into the Dusty ground.
Emerald struggled to use her illusions and the magic she had learned against the equally quick and crafty fighters with whom she was faced. The golden maned Faunus was the warrior fighting in close, using a powerful Aero to bolster his defense and deflect any of her attacks that came his way. It was, admittedly, an extremely clever way to nullify the immediate benefits of her illusions. He did not have to worry if the attacks that she sent his way were real or not, as the real ones would be deflected by the buffeting winds long before they could have reached him. All the while, he was using his pair of gunchuks to slowly erode her Aura and give the green one time to fire off poisoned Dust bullets that weakened her even further.
She tried to unleash a few illusions at the green one, but was stopped short when a ball of golden energy collided with her. Suddenly, up was left, down was up, right was inside. Nothing made any sense. Colors were wrong, depth was off, and shapes were melting. When she tried to move her fingers, she ended up crouching. She could feel in the back of her mind that this was some sort of magic the green one had hit with her before she could hit him with. An illusion of its own. She was snapped out of it when a bo staff slammed into her midsection and sent her crashing on top of Mercury.
Sora grinned as he saw the last of his friends' opponents go down. Xehanort did as well, despite his anger that his pawn had been defeated. "You trained them to use magic. And in such a short amount of time!" he shouted exuberantly, almost proud of the young man, as he tried to block the blade of Sora's weapon. He failed and stumbled to the side, one hand raised to create a small but dense reflect wall that deflected the incoming death blow. Xehanort grimaced in pain and worked to his feet again. "They may be ready for what is to come, if you have me."
"We don't need your help." Sora shouted. He broke through the Reflect and Xehanort roared in pain as every bone in his frail left hand shattered simultaneously. He fell back to his knees and dismissed his weapon to clutch at his wrist.
Xehanort looked up at the panting Sora, who had paused to glare down at him. "Salem is beyond you alone. Beyond your friends," Xehanort explained through his pain. His yellow eyes were full of worry. "You believe me a monster. Fine. But I want existence. Light and Darkness must exist. She desires only Darkness. We could be allies against her. We must be allies against her."
"Why? I beat you," Sora responded bravely.
"You think..?" Xehanort laughed dryly and said, "Give me the boy. The Darkness radiates from him. He could be of use to you but only if his body is mine. Weigh everything that remains against his life. The Remnant, it is closer to what I want than anything before it. Light and Darkness, struggling for power. Nearly equal. It cannot be allowed to die. It is all that remains, Boy. We have been gone far too long for you to rely on your dead friends to save you."
Sora narrowed his eyes. "You're lying," he growled, denying the old man's claims. Sora's Keyblade rose into the air. "And I'd never let you have anybody, especially not one of my friends." He looked up and took a deep breath. "Magneza!"
Xehanort gasped as a blinding, black and yellow orb of force pulled him upward at a speed much greater than he had expected. He yelled, the forces as he approached the epicenter beginning to tear him apart. There were more cries of surprise and pain as those he had traveled with slammed into him, spinning nearly as quickly as his body. They slammed into each other over and over, destroying each other.
Then the attacks began.
Xehanort saw, even through the violent spinning, a streak of red surrounded by swirling flames slam into Cinder's ice covered body. Bolts of lightning crashed into all of them, followed by a black and red streak – Raven. Explosive clones of the Faunus collided with each of them, slamming them into each other over and over again. A stream of water hit them from below as the Magneza died out, sending them flying upward into a wall that Xehanort could only describe as a Refleza – the energy of the barrier generating painful attacks of Light that electrocuted the four of them and sent them towards the ground. As they fell, they were riddled with poison bullets so they could not recover.
Then they were confronted with the last thing they saw before they blacked out completely – a huge, glowing hammer of gold and silver formed from the magically transformed Kingdom Key. It slammed into their collective forms and they slammed, unconscious, into the stony visage of a darkened and destroyed mountain.
Sora and his friends dropped from another portal nearby and readied their weapons, anticipating some sort of retaliation by the group of villains and mass murderers. No such attack came, and the group lowered their weapons. "We did it," Sora said, quiet triumph resonating in his voice.
"Indeed you did."
Sora and the others whirled around and readied for battle yet again, only to be faced with what could only be described as a huge problem – a wall of purple, white and pink swirling energy. A portal. It flew forward before any of them could react further, and the Light consumed them for a moment to be replaced by... pretty much an identical area to where they had been before. It was hard to tell in the Grimmlands' ruined landscape whether they had moved, but the mountain they had been near moments before was now miles away.
More important than where they were, was the who was with them. Sora felt another indescribable pang of familiarity when he saw the imprisoned man, whose arms were encrusted in the purple gemstones native to the area, a long gray beard disguising the weary pain from his face that was apparent in his shoulders. He wore a green vest with a gray dress shirt beneath it. A pair of broken spectacles hung from his ears, one of the emerald green lenses shattered and empty. His head slowly turned and his eyes became filled with horror at the new presence of his allies, his eyes fixed on Ruby's resolute face.
Sora understood why, and locked his gaze on the other person present on the temple like plateau upon which Ozpin was restrained. The woman was incredibly pale, skin nearly melting into the color of the energy around her palm, save for the deep black veins snaking their way up and down her skin. She was wearing a deep black and blood red dress that seemed to melt into the shadows beneath her feet, a cape rolling down her shoulders behind it that draped to the floor as well. Her eyes were blood red, but the more surprising part was that the region that should be white was instead as black as night. Her hair was pure white and done up in a looping design that was incredibly familiar to Sora – it hit him after a few moments and he looked over at Jaune out of the corner of his eye. He had seen this woman's hairstyle once before, a silhouette present in Jaune's Dive to the Heart. He shook his head and decided he didn't know what that could mean, despite the fear worming around in his gut.
But most worrisome was that Qrow had been right. The angle of her chin, the shape of her eyes. It was incredibly close to the structure of Ruby's own face, if it had been twisted by a sneer of disgust and condescension. Of an all consuming hatred for everything, and a distinct lack of any sort of sanity in her gaze. He only saw it because he knew what he was looking for, but it was clearly there. He looked over his shoulder and saw that, to his relief, Ruby did not recognize her. She hadn't seen her mother since she was two, maybe, and beyond that she didn't even know to suspect. She was safe.
"Ah, the Master of the Keyblade. The great and powerful Sora!" Salem said, the energy around her hand fading slowly. Her face lit up in excitement as her gaze traced over all the other memebrs of his group. "You are looking for me, correct? Congratulations! You've found me!" She walked down the steps of the plateau that she shared with her captive, each step like the movement of a shadow, quiet and sleek. "Now, you probably want a prize for your success, for keeping Hope so long that you'd find your precious Ozpin and save the Remnant. Well, your reward is that I'm offering you a chance to surrender and serve me. Think it over for a moment."
"Run!" the man that Sora now assumed was Ozpin shouted.
"Not until we take her down," Sora said, stepping past Ruby and deciding that – if he got the chance at least – he'd take the battle into Salem's Heart to try and free Ruby's mom. If he could give her that, maybe the lie wouldn't matter... The Keyblade Wielder readied his weapon and narrowed his eyes at Salem. "I'm not letting any bad guys win."
"Even if it means you never see your friends again?" the witch retorted, a cruel grin deepening on her face. Sora felt his heart flutter with pain; why did that sound so... final?
Sora clenched his eyes for a moment, then opened them with new resolution, ignoring that it was Ruby's mom up there. "You're going down, Salem."
The witch smiled, appearing far more lucid than she had moments before. "Oh, am I? I can't wait to see how that happens. Come and get me, Keyboy."
Sora roared angrily and ran towards Salem with weapon raised. She smiled and clasped her hands in front of her, grinning evilly down at Sora and relishing in Ozpin's pleas for the young man to not do this alone, to not do this without an army of Keyblade Wielders at his back. Sora had been underestimated a thousand times before and surprised everyone each time. Why would he stop now? "Oh, this is going to be fun," Salem muttered, twisting slightly so that her hand was pointed directly away from Sora, channeling power through it until it began to glow with the power of Light. Then she brought it forward and a beam of light shot towards the young man. "And I rarely have any fun."