AN:

Surprise! It isn't a Sora chapter... Yeah, I know that's what most of you were expecting, what with that little cutaway to Ozpin at the end. I tricked you! Maybe. I dunno. Moving on, Jaune. It's a Jaune chapter. The Jaune chapter, actually. Big, hopefully heart-wrenching, plans. I mean, as you can tell from the chapter title.

Just the one chapter, though, not like the Ruby couplet before this and the Sora couplet after.

Anyways, I did most of this over the weekend and pounded out the rest when I got sick and couldn't go in to class.

Responses!

To gamelover41592: Thanks! Uh, Adam... He's more on level, I guess, with some of the Villain Council characters from the first game in terms of Darkness, so stronger of Heart and Darkness than most, but nowhere near Riku or Xehanort.

To goddragonking: Thanks! I hope that the writing stays good.

To CraZramblinGhost: Yeah, Papa Schnee... Anyways, I'm glad that my Emerald and Mercury are good. If I start on the spin off after this story end, they'll show up a lot. I'm also happy that the humor last chapter was a good offset for the meatier, sadder bits.
Don't worry about Papa Schnee. He and the Atlas Council are going to have a trial after everything with DISC is sorted out, so he'll get his eventually.
Yes, Penny did get upgrades to her combat programming and hardware, which is how she was able to keep up with Ruby and Cinder, but she was also more efficient without any of the human her splitting her concentration. I hope to stay brilliant!

To warrior of six blades: Yeah, I feel for Skye and Ava, too. It would suck to live in interesting times and be the main actors in deciding history.
Winter's family guilt is going to influence her epilogue/ending decisions a lot, especially since her father is going to be in prison for his crimes. Someone needs to make up for it, and she's not going to make Weiss shoulder that burden.

To Guest: Great, I'm glad it made up for the slower chapter before it! Sora will not have a sidekick type character, but Skye is going to show up outside of the Keyblade War time period eventually, and in an important way for the Keyblade's Chosen.

To Kingofclubs8129: Ruby is more like a reborn Kairi, in a way. Since in KH lore everyone is made up of a Body, a Soul/Will, and a Heart, the way I'm going about it is that Ruby is the same Heart with its memories wiped mostly clean, and a different Body and Will. So if she died it would actually be death, even if Namine was around. Of course, given how weird Namine and the other central Nobody characters are compared to other Nobodies, I'm not a hundred percent sure how the lore would work all the time. Ah, KH lore, I love you but you confuse me...

To kf17: I've got a plan, a little, for a spin off more than a straight sequel. The events in this will be important, but Sora probably won't be the main character of that story. He'll be there, of course, but I want to do something a bit different.

Chapter 33: Do You Believe in Destiny?

Salem stared at the book that she held open in her hand, smiling down at the pages detailed with the portraits of monumental Heartless from deep within the Realm of Darkness. With her thumb, she deftly flipped the page to study the next demonic creature. It seemed that Xehanort had created more types of Heartless following her departure from that time, ones adorned with an emblem inspired by that of the χ -blade and covered in more colors than simply red and black. She ran her free hand across the page, taking in the creature on that page. From its description, this Heartless was beyond huge, a walking mountain that even dwarfed the creature awakening in Vale. It was a huge and stony creature shaped like the skeleton of an elephant. Its tusks were sharp and spiny, tipped with a silvery metal, while its main body was like a savanna of its own, coated entirely in grass and dotted with huge trees. At the center of its back was another body reminiscent of an evil looking shaman or a monkey of some sort with a two faced mask. Salem smirked, and this creature was not the strongest or even the largest described in the Journal. That honor went to a Heartless Xehanort had fused with, a being of Darkness created from the shattered Hearts of entire Worlds.

Salem moved to the page describing that being and the Realm of Darkness itself. Once the terror and Darkness within the Hearts of Vale's citizenry reached a truly fevered pitch, releasing the full force of its power and fully awakening the Dragon from its frozen slumber, her plan would truly be in its final stages. She waved her free hand and the Black Dust coating the ground beneath her coagulated, forming a stand upon which she could place the book while she awaited the terror that Atlas' DISC was going to inspire. Salem loved how easy it was to see what humans would do, the Darkness in their Hearts always finding a way to devour the Light in the face of even the smallest amount of adversity. If it had not been for Ozpin and those few like him, the Worlds would have fallen away long ago. But the Hope they inspired could not outlast them, something easily seen in the aftermath of Ozpin's 'Death.'

Salem glanced over at Jaune and smiled. He was leaning against a nearby wall of Dust, arms crossed over his chest and eyes locked on the shattered moon above. No doubt he was pondering the girl for whom he was willing to cast off his friends. She recognized such loyalty was tenuous, of course. What one was willing to sacrifice for the sake of those they loved was always balanced by the question of what they would forgive. Despite this, Salem was not worried. His abandonment of his friends had created a precedent in his behavior; at this point, he likely believed they could not forgive him. He had grown immeasurably in power since that first meeting, from little more than a boy filled to the brim with rage to someone on par with any of Ozpin's old students. Save, of course, for the one that succeeded him.

At the thought of that young man, Salem growled and clenched her fists. The Thief. She had been so close to achieving her ultimate dream when he had surprised her with his power. A Keyblade not beholden to her, one that had freed Ozpin's. With it, they had severely weakened her by the time the χ -blade had been in her grasp. Truly, she had underestimated the lengths to which Ozpin and his student would go in order to defeat her. That was not a mistake she would make again. As soon as she had the χ -blade, he and his students would die. Until then, he would be unable to find her. Magical barriers of Darkness and mists that confused any who entered them pervaded the dragon shaped continent that rested between Vacuo and Vale, making traversal of its lands impossible unless one could use a Corridor of Darkness to enter its confines. All those who could do that worked for her, save a single powerful Nobody who cared little for waging war against Salem.

Salem next turned her attentions to the broken weapon with its blade buried in the Dust. It was just within arm's reach, the shattered remains of the χ -blade. She had used immense amounts of Black Dust, the remains of Hearts and Keyblades borne of the purest Darkness, to repair the weapon. However, even with the almost endless piles of Darkness she had used it seemed she was barely any closer to repairing the weapon. She had replaced perhaps half of the six missing pieces of Darkness in the weapon, leaving three more of those to say nothing of the four shards of Light she needed to balance the weapon's abilities. She could gather those once she began the final battle, just as she had taught Xehanort to do so many years before.

"Argh!"

Salem smiled and turned to look at the Maiden who had just come into her presence, the young woman panting heavily and clutching at her back. Her servants stood to either side of her, their eyes locked on the place where Cinder's hands had tried to reach. Salem walked over to her student and let her own eyes lock on the young girl's back. "So you claimed the power of the last Maiden from where Schnee had imprisoned her," Salem noted simply as she continued to stare at the glimmering Keyhole at the center of the woman's back, the result of holding he power of all four Maidens.

The Maidens, the four women who had inherited not only most of Ozpin's magical prowess, but also the Keyhole of this patchwork Remnant. By sacrificing his Keyblade, the man had somehow managed to fracture the Keyhole itself. Salem could not use it to destroy the Heart of the world unless the power was concentrated in the hands of a single woman, something Ozpin had managed to make impossible. A woman could only naturally inherit one of the four fragments, so Salem had simply found a way around that inheritance. With those gloves, she had created a way to birth a single Maiden. Sadly, her earlier attempts had failed, and she thought finding someone who could hold all four fragments may have been impossible. She had nearly given up before she found Cinder Fall.

"Just in time." Salem smiled, tapping her foot as if in time with the single, powerful crescendo of destruction far away in Vale. She breathed in, as if she could smell the Darkness that accompanied the pain, and laughed. Salem turned slowly and walked slowly towards the Book, her dress and cape swaying with every step she took.

Cinder frowned and stood up slowly, her entire body shaking with exhaustion. "Just in time for what?" She grimaced as the pain ran up her spine once more, nearly sending her back to her knees. Emerald and Mercury caught her just in time to keep her from slamming face first into the ground, steadying her. She pulled away from them and held herself up; she refused to be weak.

"The book," Jaune grumbled. He looked over as the mute criminal and the Faunus terrorist came out of the shadows as well, his eyes narrowing on the two of them. He hated to find himself standing with them, though not nearly as much as he hated standing beside Cinder Fall. He wanted to annihilate her, to kill her with his own two hands. He was strong, however; he could stand with people he despised until he had what he wanted. He looked up at the moon again and shut his eyes. "It's going to open a door, remember?"

Cinder's fists quaked at her sides. She could not believe that Salem was still so obsessed with this boy, this child. She gasped and stumbled to the side once again. "Oh, Cinder, I suppose we should keep you awake for this," Salem said, further infuriating her former first student. The Kingdom Key flashed into the ancient woman's hand and she approached the young woman. Cinder screamed and fell to her knees again. The glimmering on her back intensified, the light shooting out feet away from her body to create the image of a Keyhole in the air. Almost in tandem the Keyblade in Salem's hand did the same, its tip beginning to shine with bright and powerful Light. Salem shook the weapon and the Light disappeared as suddenly as it had come. Instead, she coated her weapon in Darkness and waved it over Cinder's head. She had a destiny to fulfill, but it would not do to be completed by Salem's hand. The Darkness wafted over Cinder, coating her entire form in its energy and causing the Light on her back to quietly slumber.

The Keyblade disappeared. "Is that better?" Salem asked sincerely, holding her now empty hand out to the Maiden. Cinder blinked in surprise; the pain in her back was completely gone! She nodded and placed her hand in Salem's, letting the ancient witch pull her to her feet. "Good, then we can continue."

She walked back to the book and placed her hand upon its opened pages, wordlessly letting her blackened nails drag across the image of the deepest Darkness. This book was the last connection to a Heart long forgotten and shattered by time, a deep Darkness that could only be reawakened by untold anguish that came in the throes of a thousand lives stolen in an act of pure foolishness. Salem summoned her Keyblade to her left hand and raised it towards the moon, keeping her right hand placed flat on the center of the open book the entire time. Her Heart yearned for that untold Darkness so far away that filled the hearts of millions. She wanted to be fed, to be filled to the brim with its power so she could sate her hunger for just a moment.

The Keyblade reacted with that burning desire and began to glow with fiery power. Darkness burned at its core and launched itself into the sky, the beam of energy arcing towards the shattered moon above. Jaune looked down as his chest constricted, though he couldn't tell why. Something in him felt... wrong. He shoved the feeling down as he had for months and looked up once more. The Darkness seemed to be calling out to its kind, the energy creating spiderwebs of Darkness across the eternally black sky. They were barely visible against that starless dome. Occasionally the purple tinged veins would pulse, the only sign that the energy was being gathered from Vale's screaming, terrified Hearts. The entire thing lasted just less than a minute before Salem brought the bubbling ball of Darkness at the tip of her weapon, the sphere ready to burst with its power. She placed the ball on the surface of the book, and it seemed to devour it whole, energy immersing the pages in inky destruction.

When the entirety of the energy finally disappeared, Salem took a step away from the book. The Keyblade fell at her side, dangling loosely from her fingers. A wild grin spread across her features, despite the silence that was continuing to grow. The book was not responding, it was just a silent bunch of pages. Jaune looked towards Salem, studying her wild eyes, the burning desire that was rarely present in her insane, spark-less soul. "What are we -"

The air pulsed around the book, the Darkness of an entire forgotten universe accompanying it. The pages of the book seemed to drift out of the binding, floating upward towards the moon. Each was as black as the sky above. From one page exploded a creature of pure Darkness, a silver clad knight with a blue and red Heart insignia emblazoned across its chest. Its yellow eyes locked on Jaune for a moment, then it disappeared in a burst of inky smoke. Another creature appeared from another page, the paper shredding in its wake before the creature disappeared as well. Soon the pages exploded like popcorn, creatures appearing and disappearing in bursts of shadow. "Yes..." Salem muttered. Her grip on the Keyblade tightened and her ornate hair seemed to drift upwards from sheer force of hungry emotion. The pages rose faster and faster now, the creatures appearing were larger and larger every time. "Yes..." Salem's voice grew more frantic, her eyes wider. Then the book was empty, no pages left to drift to the sky. Salem took a half step forward... "Yes..!"

Pure Darkness exploded from the empty hard cover of the Journal, and Jaune felt himself be tossed about like he was in a hurricane. The world was drowning him in its Darkness, an ocean he was unsure he could even survive. Jaune..! He felt the ghost of fingers drag across his arm for a moment and his eyes flew open. The world was straight again, the energy from the book long since disappeared. "It's..." He looked up and saw that the sky had filled with entirely new shapes, spheres of beautiful colors made less so by the pure evil that burned in their mixing. He felt his bones chill, until he saw Cinder pushing herself to her feet. The image of a shattered Pyrrha ran through his thoughts and that chill was replaced with enraged fire. The Darkness above no longer seemed so chilling.

"Darkness in its purest form. I've never seen it before," Salem said, stretching her hands out to the sky. The Keyblade in her left hand clanked and she laughed exuberantly. "It's... It is beautiful, Oz..."

Then, as with any so purely dedicated to Darkness, her entire being turned on a dime. She aimed the Keyblade at Cinder and her smile became a quiet smirk. "Now, for the next part of the plan."

Cinder took a half step back in surprise, wondering what was about to happen. Salem turned and pointed the weapon at Jaune next. The Knight's steely gaze turned from Cinder and he felt his own Keyblade jump into his hand. "Cinder, Jaune, do you know why I created the two of you?"

"So we could fight," Cinder responded simply. Jaune couldn't help but agree; what other reason could there be?

"No... This war is decided by Keys, by power and by number," Salem explained. She lowered her Keyblade to the ground and it disappeared. "More than a thousand years ago, Ozpin and I arrived on this world. It was powerful, the fragments of a thousand worlds that had survived what should have been their death. Only the most powerful Lights could survive the death of Kingdom Hearts, and the patchwork Heart of Remnant became stronger for it. The Darkness that needed to be overcome to simply survive had crafted a powerful Light." Salem walked back over to the husk of the book and the people behind her all exchanged a confused glance. "But it was a patchwork, back then. Still... temporary and yet to be cemented. So, as a way to stop me from finding that Light, Ozpin sacrificed everything he still had from our home. The Keyhole, the only way to access a world's Heart, be it for Light or Dark, was fractured into four pieces. His power sacrificed and placed into the Hearts of four young women who renewed his belief in humanity, he wandered this world as a teacher, sure he had defeated me, but still obsessed with protecting what he had created. I started a war to get it from him, and he responded by creating schools of warriors to prevent me from doing so. So I planned around that, finding someone who would serve me and bring those fragments together once more." Salem picked up the book's remains and slammed it shut with her hand. "Cinder."

"She's villain monologuing," Mercury whispered to Emerald. "I'm... getting a little worried."

"And now I need that lock opened so Darkness can, when I desire it to, seek it out," Salem said. She turned around and gingerly placed the cover on the ground before slamming her foot into its face. "Which unfortunately means, Cinder Fall, you are no longer necessary."

The Maiden's eyes widened and she took a step back, trying to summon a portal of Darkness. She failed, and looked down worriedly at her hands. "Oh, I'm not going to kill you," Salem said, smiling at her student. "What I did to keep you from dying at the hands of the Keyhole, it's now keeping you here. I am only going to keep you here. He is going to kill you." Cinder's eyes followed Salem's finger all the way to Jaune Arc. The blonde was staring, more than a little surprised, at Salem.

"Then I suppose I don't have anything to worry about," Cinder growled. She brought her hands up and a pair of blades appeared out of the Black Dust on the ground, ready to kill the Knight.

"Neither do I," Jaune responded. His bones continued to burn with rage and he glared at Cinder before entering his own fighting stance. "I've been waiting for this."

R W B Y

The First Great Keyblade War

Death echoed through the countless screams of the young Keyblade Wielders meeting their ends on the battlefield below the glimming Kingdom Hearts, their Hearts finding release as they were struck down by the rage – no, the hatred of those they once called their closest friends. With every moment that passed, a dozen more of the warriors passed into the next world and faded from existence. Their power rose from their hatred, each blow feeding the destruction of the barrier containing the ancient χ -blade floating not far off. Beneath the weapon and its emerald barrier were a trio of warriors fighting to decide the fate of those that survived the war.

Just like those children, these three had once been friends. Family, almost. Despite what they all may have claimed, they had loved each other and supported one another despite whatever Darkness came. But those bonds could last only so long when one of the people it connected wanted to destroy them. At a point, not everyone can have a happy ending, and that possibility had long since passed for this trio.

"I haven't seen a glare that angry in a long time," Salem noted when Skye delivered a massive two handed blow with the Master Keeper. The two Keyblades thundered against one another, the air exploding around them. The two warriors pushed as hard as they could against one another and Skye's glare deepened. "What's got you down, Thief?"

"You hurt Ozpin," Skye growled quietly. He struggled against the woman's blade, though the two of them did not move at all. Equals in battle. "You promised you wouldn't."

"Did I?" she asked. She shrugged and jumped out of their blade lock, casually dodging the incoming swipe that Ozpin was aiming at her head. She slid to a stop a few feet away and grinned at the two men in black coats standing across from her on the battlefield. "A different time, a different dream." She raised her empty hand in front of her and fired an explosive ball of Dark fire at her opponents, her hand flying backwards from the backlash of the attack. Skye jumped ahead and slapped the attack away with his weapon, causing the Darkness to fly across the battlefield and crash into a mountain. There was a quiet hiss, then a huge portion of the mountain disappeared in a sudden and powerful explosion of Darkness.

"W-wow," Skye muttered, his eyes locked on where the explosion had landed. He glared at Salem. "I know you're trying to kill us, but isn't that overkill!?"

Salem snarled and moved to attack him, only to be surprised when a scorpion's tale slashed at her throat. She bent at the knees and slid beneath the attack, pulling herself up with her core and spinning towards her attacker. Her eyes met Ozpin's for a moment before she brought the Kingdom Key down with both hands. The weapons slammed into the ground and his weapon was suddenly pinned to the ground by her blade. He pulled as tight as he could, railing against the strength of the woman. She gasped in surprise when both of the Keyblades slowly began to rise.

Apparently it was not fast enough for Ozpin's liking, however, as his right hand released his grip on his Keyblade so he could deliver an elbow shot to her temple. Even with the resistance her Keyblade gave her, it was a surprising blow. She hissed and raised her hand. "Enough!" she snarled, motioning with her Heart to pull her creation from his hands.

The Keyblade kept coming.

Salem jumped backwards, barely breaking out of her frozen state to avoid the blow. That wasn't possible, the Keyblades she had created were beholden to her! They needed to listen! She turned around just in time to deflect Skye's swipe at her skull, then spun around Ozpin's next attack. She understood when she had a moment to breathe: the Thief's new weapon. "I'm not the only one to betray Ozpin though, am I?" she inquired mockingly she let her weapon fall to her side and pointed at the younger man with her free hand. "You created a weapon just as strong as the Kingdom Key, which means you know how a Keyblade is created. You are just as Dark as I am, Thief!"

Ozpin growled and raised his weapon in front of him again, rushing Salem with a flurry of blows from every side. "No, Salem, I forged the Master Keeper," he snarled. He slapped her weapon down and tried to stab his blade into her chest. The blade grazed despite her attempt to dodge, and she was sent spinning across the battlefield. She bounced twice, clouds of dust flying out around her when she returned to the air. On the third landing, she dragged across the ground, to the edge of the cliff that overlooked the Keyblade War – now with perhaps half of its combatants remaining.

Salem pushed herself slowly to her feet and glancing into the sky above so she could see the χ -blade. The weapon flared up for a moment as the deaths and destruction echoed out from her War, calling out to the moon so far above. She sighed and shook her head. This was not going well, it was not going well at all. Salem gritted her teeth as the two warriors ran at her, side by side. They mirrored each other down to the way they ran, with their Keyblades raised above their inner shoulders.

Salem sprinted at them in turn, her Keyblade trailing behind her and her hand raised in front of her. She coated it in energy and threw it forward, creating portals of Shadow in the path of her adversaries. From within the doorways erupted creatures of pure Darkness, Heartless. "Perhaps an even playing field would be nice," she grunted as the Novashadows tore themselves from the Darkness and launched themselves at Ozpin and Skye.

She glanced between the two warriors of Light, unsure which of them would be ideal to battle first. She decided on the greater of the two threats, the one with a weapon capable of matching her own. Skye had already destroyed two of the half dozen Heartless assaulting him and was working on the third when she appeared above him as little more than a group of thin black lines. She slashed down at his head, the blade approaching his head to kill him. "Reflect!" Salem's blade slammed into the bright wall of Light and she was suddenly thrown backwards. She flipped midair and summoned up a Corridor of Darkness behind her, falling through it and appearing behind Skye just as his reflective wall disappeared. She stabbed at the middle of his back, sure he wouldn't be able to stop her this time.

Skye was faster than she thought, however. He spun to the side, reaching out with his off hand to grab one of the Novashadows trying to kill him and throwing it into the attack. The Heartless exploded in a cloud of Darkness and just like that only three more of the creatures remained to attack him.

Skye used the momentum of Salem's attack to slap his weapon into her face. She roared in pain and stumbled backwards. "How did you get so strong!?" Salem snarled as she opened her eyes and blocked his next attack. She shoved him away and her weapon clanked in her fists.

The Thief merely grinned as he was tossed away and spun as he moved, delivering quick, sharp attacks to the Heartless that she had sent after him so that they disappeared in explosions of Darkness. "Well, that was easier than I thought it'd be," Skye said as he landed. He looked over at Ozpin and laughed a few times. "Damn, are you taking it easy?"

The gray haired man shot his student a glare, but nevertheless lashed out faster than usual with his Keyblade and destroying the Heartless that had attacked him all at once. "I was hoping this would have already been resolved," Ozpin stated as he prepared to fight with Salem once more.

"Well, I was only trying to stall you, not win," Salem pointed out. She looked out at the battlefield. "Watch your students, Oz. Watch as they destroy what little hope you clung to." Ozpin couldn't help himself. He glanced at the battlefield and froze. There were no warriors left, the lives of every member of the Unions that had engaged in the war had been extinguished. Oz could see corpses and Keyblades stretching as far as the eye could see, including four very familiar ones at the center surrounding a Starlight and the body of a single young warrior. Ira, Invi, Gula had laid down their lives in meaningless battle. Even Aced, the traitor, had fallen.

"No..." Skye muttered, staring at the weapons of his fallen friends. He clenched his fist and turned back to Salem. "I'm going to – Where..?" He looked up in worry. In their moment of weakness, Skye and Ozpin had become distracted from their true goal. The complete destruction that had covered the battlefield should have made them realize that Salem's true goal had been freed. And, indeed, she floated above, dangling from the handle of the χ -blade. "No!"

"Yes! My Destiny at last!" Salem shouted excitedly. He pulled the regal weapon from its place in the heavens and brought it down to her side. She smiled and dismissed her Keyblade to its home deep in her Heart. The sky, already darkened by the destruction of the Keyblade War that had raged beneath it already for hours, became pitch black. The Light glimmering from Kingdom Hearts seemed to invert, the once black outline of the source of Light becoming pure white and its body inky black pockmarked by white craters. Salem laughed excitedly and aimed the weapon at Ozpin and Skye. "Now, to figure out how this thing works."

Skye jumped up to stop her, bringing the Master Keeper around to slap the χ -blade out of her hands. Salem merely sneered as he came, and casually flicked the χ -blade with her wrist. The blade of the weapon came down, slamming into the blade of the Master Keeper and sending Skye back at the ground faster than he could respond. Stone shattered beneath him, creating a sizable crater where he had landed. Salem laughed boisterously and slowly lowered herself to stand opposite the slowly recovering Skye. She walked towards him, not even stopping when she slapped him away with her off hand. He cried out in pain even as he crashed through stone and landed in a heap at the center of the crossroads of Keyblades. "Your student cannot stop me. You cannot stop me," Salem said as she neared her true prey. Ozpin snarled and raised his Keyblade defensively in front of him. Salem snickered and used the weapon in her hands to smash through his defense. His Keyblade flew from his hands and tumbled down the cliff. Before he could summon it back, he felt a hand on his throat lift him into the air. The man struggled vainly against the vice strangling the life out of him, his fingers trying to pry Salem's hands open. She shook her head and her grip tightened further, strangling the resistance from his body. "You cannot stop anything." She summoned up an aura of frost around her fingers, and a cloud of Dark Blizzard magic appeared around the pained form of Ozpin. It coagulated after a moment, and soon Ozpin was covered completely in ice. Salem turned and tossed Ozpin after his student.

The frozen Keyblade master could only watch as he soared over the final resting place of four of his students, his eyes frozen open by the force of the spell. "Oz!" He felt an explosion of heat slam into his body, melting the ice that had enveloped him. This was followed closely by a shield of hexagonal light that surrounded him. He turned his gaze to the Keyblade Wielder who had saved him, locking eyes with Skye before his shield hit the ground and shattered from absorbing most of the massive impact. Still, it did not absorb it all and he fell a good foot into the ground. He pushed himself up, hissing in pain and grasping at his now broken ribs.

Skye slid to a stop beside him and looked up at the slowly approaching form of Salem. "I don't like our odds, Oz," he shouted. "She's gone from zero to ass kicker in five seconds flat."

"You know, Oz, I'm not without mercy," the woman said before the man could respond. She slammed the blade of her weapon into the ground and leaned against it. Ozpin noticed with a start that the weapon was just as tall as she was. "Before you die, I'll let you in on a little secret so you can pass on in some semblance of peace."

"Wow, gracious," Skye muttered dryly. He lowered his weapon slightly nonetheless, both he and Ozpin knowing that her droning on would be free time for planning their next avenue of attack.

"I know," she agreed unironically. "You see, Oz and Thief, your friend, the traitor one, he didn't betray you completely of his own volition." She moved to the other side of the χ -blade and pulled it from the ground with her left hand, holding it backhand for a moment. "You see, Keyblades have unique abilities to control Hearts, especially ones as strong as the Kingdom Key. I may not have controlled him, but I pushed him to do it. I altered his Heart, for a single moment, and sent him down a path he no longer believed he could escape. At the end, once he had lost himself enough, it was all him. But at first it was all me."

"You monster!" Skye screamed. He was no longer able to control his righteous anger. He rushed the woman and swiped at her head, only for the woman to softly dodge it.

"He was the easiest one to control, nothing like you. He was weak of Heart, jealous and greedy of, well, you," Salem taunted, not bothering to fight back. She sidestepped the blows of Ozpin's successor and slapped his sword away effortlessly. "You I feel no reason to allow a kind death – You were the reason that I was able to so effortlessly undo their bonds."

"Don't listen to her," Ozpin said, appearing behind Salem in a blur of black lines. He attacked her at the same time as Skye, both of them slashing horizontally at either side of her head. The woman moved even faster, somehow, and their blades crashed into one another instead. The two disengaged immediately and glared over at where Salem now stood still. She flipped her weapon to a forehand grip and smiled. "You trusted them, it is not your fault."

"I know that. They're my friends. They're still at my back no matter what!" Skye shouted. He took a step towards Salem and the woman's grin faltered for a moment. Behind the young man, for a moment, she could see those other students. Ira, Gula, Invi. Even Aced stood at his back, their Keyblades dangling at their sides and serious glares locked on Salem.

That... should not be possible, Salem muttered internally before the others disappeared. She took a breath and held the χ -blade in front of her once again. It doesn't matter, I was imagining things, or perhaps the χ -blade's connection to Kingdom Hearts is... Bah!

"And you're not alone anyways." A portal of blinding pink Light opened at Skye's side, and a trio of people walked out. Two were children with Keyblades and the other was another familiar face.

"Ila, guys, you shouldn't be here!" Skye shouted worriedly.

"I take it these are your students, Skye," Ozpin noted. He kept his Keyblade locked on Salem so she couldn't attack.

"After... after everything that happened, I needed to do something," Ava said sadly. She clenched her fist and looked over at the center of the battlefield where the others' Keyblades rested, lifeless. She raised her hand and summoned a Keyblade to her side. "Hope you don't mind, but I thought I would borrow this since mine wouldn't be much help."

Skye sighed. "As long as you can come up with a name for it," he said. He gestured at his old Keyblade, then turned his attention to his students. "And you two... You better be careful, or else!" They nodded and Skye nodded happily. He turned to Salem. "Now that that's over, we aren't letting you hold onto that thing for another second."

I don't recognize those Keyblades, Salem muttered of the weapons in the children's hands as she rushed her opponents. They don't seem like the one in Skye's hand, they're... natural. How is that possible? She slashed down at Skye's head and was surprised when his Keyblade moved faster than she could respond. How..?! She was cut off when it slammed into her face and she was sent flying.

She righted herself a moment later and tried to get her bearings. This was just a minor setback, this could be – She turned when the hair on her neck stood up, and her vision was blacked out by Ozpin's Keyblade slamming into her eyes while coated in flames. She screamed in rage more than pain as she plummeted to the ground. Powerless Keyblades dug into her flesh as she slammed into the ground and slid down the crossroads at the center of the battlefield. She grimaced in pain and tore them out of her body when she finally got to her feet. Her slowly returning eyesight could recognize them as the ones she had made for Ozpin's four other students. Maybe this wasn't just a minor setback. She needed a way to tactically retreat, to escape this battle. The χ -blade glowed in her mind, revealing a path out. Time travel! With that, she could –

Ava ran up behind the χ -blade wielder and raised her borrowed weapon above her. "Holy!" the younger woman snapped.

"Oh, no," Salem groaned as huge pillars of light began to explode all around her, one after another grinding her willpower down. She had the χ -blade and she needed to RUN!? What was happening, it was as if... as if their Hearts had grown stronger with what she had revealed. It was as if the Hearts of all those they had lost now stood with them. Her eyes widened as the final explosion burned at her flesh – it hadn't been her imagination. The Thief really was supported by his friends.

Salem stumbled out of the explosion, clutching at her side. The χ -blade dragged through the dirt behind her and her breathing grew increasingly labored. "No, I will not run!" she screamed. She raised the ancient guardian of Kingdom Hearts above her head and aimed it at the moon above. "I'll destroy all of you right here and now!" She summoned a ball of Light and Darkness to the tip of the weapon and laughed maniacally. "I'll destroy everything!"

"Not on our watch!" one of the children shouted. Salem turned on her heel to impale the boy, but his Keyblade slapped her weapon from her hands. Her eyes widened in surprise as the weapon flew through the air. Salem roared in rage and kicked the boy away from her before raising her hand to summon the χ -blade back to her grasp.

"I'd rather it be gone, Salem!" Ozpin's Keyblade, glowing and spinning so fast it was just a solid circle of slightly green Light, slammed into the χ -blade and it was shattered.

"NO!" Salem screamed. She ran towards the weapon as its blade began to disintegrate, piece by piece. Thirteen spheres of pure Darkness rose slowly from the weapon, drifting towards Kingdom Hearts. Seven gems of the brightest Light next escaped the weapon's form, swirling around the battlefield. One drifted lazily towards Ava even as the others rocketed across the entire globe. It collided with the younger woman's stock still, surprised form and she glowed brightly for a moment. When the glow disappeared, so too had the orb.

Salem roared at the sky in rage, but stopped when she saw that the darkened moon of Kingdom Hearts above had returned to its usual color and was now... disappearing. "Even in victory, Ozpin..." she muttered. She let her gaze fall on him and she grinned. "I wish I could stay, but the odds aren't my favorite right now." She raised her Darkness coated fist and a portal of pure Darkness appeared beside her. "I will travel back, and do this the right way." She turned to make her escape and rewrite the past.

"No! I won't let you escape me again!"

"Oz, stop!" Skye shouted. Salem turned around and her eyes widened when she realized that Ozpin was rushing her, trying to tackle her to the ground. She began to backpedal in the hopes she could escape before he got to her. "Don't fight her alone!"

"I have to stop her!" Ozpin shouted back, his rage filling his eyes behind his green glasses. Salem began to topple backwards when the back of her foot hit the intangible surface of the portal, but it was not soon enough. Ozpin's shoulder hit her chest, and the two of them tumbled into the portal just as Kingdom Hearts above completely receded and a wave of Darkness washed over the entire World.

R W B Y

Cinder was the first of the two to initiate battle, slashing at the Keyblade Wielder with both of her weapons one after another at his head. Her only chance at this battle was keeping this blonde Keyboy off balance. The moment she gave him an opening, he would annihilate her without a single moment of hesitation. It's what she would do after all.

Jaune effortlessly sidestepped her attacks as if they were moving at a snail's pace, his blonde hair trailing as he kept his rage filled eyes locked on Cinder's determined features. Cinder growled at herself. She had been hoping to use her experience with her swords to keep her safe against Jaune in case he decided to unleash some sort of Keyblade magic later on. If he did, her only defense would be her own accrued magic. Playing her hand too soon could be just as bad as playing it too late.

Nevertheless, she was getting nowhere in her fight with the blonde. She slashed one more time at the Keyblade Wielder's head, knowing she would miss. She brought her other hand up, glowing a verdant green, as he slid past her attack. Jaune's eyes widened as he felt the vines explode from the ground to coil around his ankle. He flailed for a moment, his arms and legs flapping about wildly as he tried to regain his balance. It seemed no matter how much he tried, he couldn't completely get rid of the clumsy child inside.

Taking advantage of the opening she had created, Cinder swept both of her weapons at the boy's midsection in hopes of destroying him. This was it! By killing him, she would show she was worth more than him. She would receive his Keyblade and be free of her Destiny... forever. "Nice try," Jaune cut in. He simply took a step back, tearing the vines from the ground as he moved. The magical plants withered away around his leg, torn away from their roots, and he used his Keyblade to slap Cinder's now pointless blows up and away.

Cinder gasped, knowing this was the end. He was going to take this opening to kill – Cinder brought her weapons down, and Jaune just watched disinterestedly. He was playing with her! "What was it like when you killed Pyrrha?" the blonde asked. He didn't move, he didn't even hide the glaring holes in his defense. Every bone in Cinder's body ached to rush forward and exploit them, but she knew in her Heart it would be pointless. He would move faster than she could perceive and just block her every blow, leaving her more tired than before and with nothing to show for it.

Cinder ignored the question and instead tossed an explosive ball of Dark Firaga and her own Fall Maiden flames at the ground, creating a huge explosion and a cloud of Dust she could escape into. If she couldn't hope to match him in a head to head battle, even with a little bit of magic, then she would fight in a way he couldn't understand. Knights fought head on with any enemy that came their way. It was time to behave like an assassin. She faded into the rising smoke, waiting for the best time to attack the blonde.

Jaune didn't respond to the distraction. He continued to stare at where the woman had been a moment before, letting the cloud drift around him. "I want an answer. What was it like when you killed her? She was amazing, so she must have fought back. Gotten a few hits in. Hurt you," he continued speaking, voice cold and level. "So tell me, what did you do?"

"I didn't even try," Cinder growled from within the smoke. She dashed away from where she had been standing before a Blizzard spell froze it solid. "She got hits in, but only because I let her. I pitied her enough for that." That time it was another Firaga that exploded where she had stood, filling the sky with even more smoke.

Cinder continued to move smoothly through the cloud, positioning herself behind the quietly angry blonde. After a few moments, she quietly combined her weapons into a bow and crafted an arrow at the center. She ignited the tip with explosive, Dark fire and snarled before letting it loose at the small of his back. She would cripple him in a harder to defend region, then attack him when he was down. Victory would be hers.

Jaune turned around and caught the arrow with his open hand. "Then I'll do the same to you," He growled. He let the magic contained on the tip of the weapon explode in front of him, and Cinder took a worried step back. The explosion dissipated after a mere moment, and Jaune walked out of it unscathed. He threw the blackened remains of the arrow to his side and took a slow breath. "Now, I'm going to give you one free shot here. I want you to listen close, Cinder Fall."

Cinder growled and raised her blades in front of her defensively. This had to be a trick. "I want you to hit me. As hard as you can," he said, smirking at the woman who had destroyed his life. He gestured at his chin with his open hand. "Now, you might be thinking that you'll give it half. 'That'll be all it takes. He's only human, after all.' Don't. I want nothing less than everything you have. Now."

Cinder took a step back. "Clock is ticking," Jaune growled. He dismissed his Keyblade and held his arms out to his side. "Come on, try me."

"You little..." Cinder growled. Fine, he wanted everything she had, then she would make him regret his hubris. She dropped her swords at her side and raised her hands in front of her. She would use everything she had to destroy him. She would use the power of every Maiden to wipe him from existence! Her hands began to glow, as did her eyes, with the colors of every Maiden's power at once.

Water exploded from the ground in front of her like a geyser, the spout shooting up dozens of feet into the sky and causing rain to tumble down around her. From there, she created a huge tube of vines around the geyser so that the full force of its blow would be directed only at him. Next, she froze the opening of the geyser solid, stopping the water and causing immense pressure to build in the geyser as she continued to summon water. Finally, she began to create a blazing fire within the geyser, increasing the pressure even further until, finally, the ice exploded upward. It flew through the tube at unbelievable speeds, turning with the vines and firing directly at Jaune, followed by a gust of steam and water. "DIE!"

The ice slammed into Jaune a moment later, with enough force to demolish titanium. "There... you're dead, you stupid boy," Cinder growled, panting heavily from the exertion of magic. "You got what you wanted. You're with that girl again."

"Not yet." Cinder's jaw dropped when Jaune shoved the ice off of him and stood up, not a scratch on him. He rubbed his left forearm and shook his head. "You may have bruised my arm with that one. It was better than I thought you could give me."

"H-how did you?" Cinder asked blankly.

Jaune didn't respond, instead summoning his Keyblade again and rushing the woman. She backpedaled, panicking as she realized she couldn't do anything to stop him. She vainly tried to summon a Corridor of Darkness with which she could escape, and nothing appeared.

Jaune slashed overhead at her, barely giving the woman enough time to dodge. "Y-you don't have to do this!" the woman shouted, hating herself for begging now.

Jaune ignored her and swiped again, this time much faster. Cinder tried to dodge again, only for the blade to slam into her arm. Her Aura disappeared from that single blow, and the rest of the force shattered her arm at the elbow. The woman screamed in pain and fell to her knees, only stopping her cries when she felt a cold Keyblade on her chin. It pulled her up to stare into Jaune's eyes, blue and angry. "You're finally going to get what's coming to you," Jaune growled.

Cinder looked over at Salem, quivering with rage when she saw the ancient witch's smug smirk. Cinder wordlessly looked back up at Jaune. This had been... inevitable. Salem had told her she could escape her fate, but... "Do... do you believe in Destiny?" Cinder quietly asked Jaune.

He raised the Keyblade above his head, its tip already glowing with a huge ball of Light energy that would unlock the Keyhole and destroy her. "No," he said simply, then he brought the Keyblade down at her, teeth pointed at the ground and its tip aimed at Cinder's Heart.

Jaune..!

The blonde stopped just before the blade could reach Cinder, though not by his own volition. He felt a pair of slender, strong hands holding his arm back. Someone had stopped him. Jaune took a shaky breath and looked over his right shoulder.

Every molecule of air in his lungs left in a single breath as soon as he did. Standing behind him, holding his arm back to keep him from murdering Cinder Fall in cold blood, was Pyrrha Nikos. Her green eyes were filled with tears and her red hair was loose, a style she had never had in life, but it was her nonetheless. The girl slowly shook her head, her grip on his arm tightening. "Do it now, Jaune," Salem commanded. Pyrrha shook her head slowly.

The blonde breathed in for the first time in what felt like hours to look at Cinder once again. He continued to take in shaky, broken breaths every few seconds as he suddenly found himself at the crossroads of his future. He hated her. He wanted to kill her. It wasn't even that he was being told to do it, he wanted it more than anything. Yet, somehow, he... he didn't... he didn't know what to do. He knew it would be wrong to just murder her right there, for some reason, and he hadn't cared a moment ago. Why did he care now? Why did he suddenly care that, even if Pyrrha came back, she'd hate him?

Cinder stared at him for a moment, then began to laugh cruelly. "Oh. Oh, I see," she said. She laughed again. "Well, isn't that just so typically hypocritical of you Huntsmen."

"W-what?" Jaune asked, shaking his head to clear it.

"You can't kill me, the woman you hate the most, when I'm unarmed and broken in front of you. You can't kill the person who killed the woman you love because, what, it would be wrong to do it like this? To execute me in the service of an ancient evil?" Cinder mocked. She laughed dryly and shook her head. "You claim to have morality, but you ignore its rules whenever you want. You won't kill unarmed people when you hold the blade, but you're more than willing to kill millions of innocents when its a dragon or an army doing the dirty work?"

Jaune's gaze fell to the ground and he shut his eyes. Oh, God, what did I..? What did I do? He wondered, shellshocked. They'll never forgive me – I'd never forgive me.

"If you can't kill me, then what are you even doing here?"

Jaune looked down at Cinder. "I..." He looked over his shoulder. Pyrrha was gone, but he still felt like she was there, like her sad, green eyes were locked on him. She had been begging him to stop, to become better. To fix this. But could he? If he couldn't, was there even a point to trying?

Jaune.

The blonde let out all the breath stored in his lungs and the Keyblade disappeared from his hand. As if everything in him had just withered away, he tipped backwards and landed on his back with a thud. "That is... disappointing," Salem noted. She walked up to stand beside Jaune, looking down at him. "Ah, but you've done everything else I have asked. You still have a place in my plans." She summoned the Kingdom Key to her hand and spun on her heel, burying the tip of the weapon in Cinder's chest. "You, however, do not." Salem twisted the weapon in her hand and unlocked the Keyhole that rested in the woman.

"Cinder!" Emerald screamed, jumping forward. Salem looked over at the green haired girl who was drawing her weapons, readying to fire at the ancient witch. "I'll save you."

"Please," Salem muttered sarcastically. She pulled the weapon from Cinder's chest, causing the woman to sputter as the weapon exited her form and tore apart her Heart to unlock the pathway to the Heart of Remnant. Salem raised her Keyblade and launched a Dark Firaga at the green haired girl.

Shit, Emerald thought as the black energy approached her.

But the blow never landed. Instead, a bubble of solid, hexagonal Light appeared around her. Standing just in front of her, also within the bubble, was Mercury. "Okay, so, that worked better than I thought it would."

"What the hell is this!?" Emerald snapped.

"Talk later, open portal to run away now!" Mercury commanded. Emerald opened her mouth to protest, but Mercury cut her off. "We can't save Cinder, she's already dead. We can save ourselves."

Emerald shut her mouth and nodded begrudgingly. She hated this, but she had seen Cinder get stabbed through the Heart. The green haired thief waved a hand in front of her, and a portal of Darkness opened beneath their feet. The two of them fell through it and the Light Reflect spell disappeared with them.

"Well, it's not as if they mattered," Salem said with a shrug. She watched the portal close and looked over at the dying Cinder, her body beginning to turn into sparks of Light rising towards the shattered moon. "And now, the last shard of Kingdom Hearts will return to its home, just in time for the χ -blade to be reborn." Salem knelt beside Cinder and ran a hand through the dying woman's hair as a proud mother would. "You were everything I had ever hoped, Cinder Fall. But it's midnight; time for you to disappear." Salem stood up and backed away, avoiding Cinder's hand that reached out for her to stop, to help.

Salem turned to Jaune, who was now standing and staring at the ground. "Do you have everything you need from Vale?" he asked quietly, his voice defeated and broken.

Salem took a deep breath. She was disappointed, but it mattered little. He had unleashed the destruction of Vale, of millions of innocent lives, knowingly. The guilt would keep him at her side, at least until her plans were completed. No matter what happened, he still belonged to her. "Yes," she said finally.

Jaune turned and sprinted away, summoning a portal of Darkness. "I expect you to return, Jaune."

He slid to a stop in front of the portal and looked at the ground sadly. "I... I have nowhere else," he said quietly. Then he ran through the portal and Salem was left alone.

She looked up into the sky, staring at the Keyhole that now rested across the surface of the moon. She waved the Kingdom Key above her head, locking it for now. The Heartless would seek it out and destroy it, if they could. Her plans demanded that this world remain a little longer, until she had all the Hearts she needed to complete the χ -blade. "Do I believe in Destiny?" she asked the nonexistent corpse of Cinder Fall. She smiled as she imagined the weight of the χ -blade in her hand once more, the feeling of controlling an entire universe. "I believe in my Destiny."