AN:
Hey, sorry it's been a while. I had tests and then Thanksgiving so I didn't have much time to write anything over the past few weeks. Sadly, I probably won't be able to write one by the end of next week either. Finals and all. But, you never know. Maybe I'll get through it during my breaks from studying. Hopefully, because what happens next chapter is one of my favorite parts in this story. There have been a few questions as to whether things would ever look up for Sora and the others, and that time is next chapter. We're on the upswing now.
Responses!
To gamelover41592: Well, Jaune was never completely gone. Once Salem used the Kingdom Key to alter his Heart in that first moment of betrayal, he was set on a path and he kind of was too afraid to escape it until last chapter. Now it's his guilt holding him back from fully returning to the Light.
To goddragonking: Thanks. I hope I don't screw up the home stretch, because that's always the hardest part of any story.
To ChaosMarauder & Chaos-Guard: Yeah, I maybe watched DBZ Abridged like a good seventy million times while writing the last chapter, so that part was etched a little too deep into my brain. Heh.
To Guest: Yes, I suppose it was a little anti climactic, but Pyrrha saving him is going to be important to the resolution of his character arc in this story so I wanted to set that up a little so it wasn't just out of left field. Um, I am unsure if Jaune is Riku, as the only person I specifically set out with a reborn Heart in mind was Ruby. I don't have any plans to make his Heart's prior owner known, so maybe.
To warrior of Six Blades: Yeah, I came up with it because it was the only reason I could see for Jaune really ever going full Dark for the first time. The guy wears a Rabbit sweatshirt for Pumpkin Pete's sake! Sure he has Darkness in him, but I don't get the feeling that he'd ever let it control him fully. Don't worry: Jaune's already starting to see the Light so his father and the others are definitely going to be able to smack the last bits of sense into the guy's head.
To Kingofclubs8129: Yeah... I love Cinder too, but sadly this is it. Her Heart wasn't consumed by Darkness like it would need to be for a Nobody and Heartless to be created, it was shattered completely. She's gone. I'd considered having it be different and didn't totally decide until I wrote the chapter, but I chose this for a few reasons. First, Death kind of loses its meaning when everyone comes back, even the villains. Second, I felt like the only way I could go for her now was a redemption arc, and I wouldn't want to do that. This Cinder was a bit of an ode to her Vol 1-3 character. Pure, unadulterated villain. Now that she's lying to Salem and not completely killing Ozpin, she's different, and I'd rather just watch to see what Rooster Teeth has planned because it'll be great!
Chapter 34: DISC
Vale was bustling, busy as it was on any day of the week. The new Beacon Academy was out of class for a long weekend. The Council wanted the Huntsmen in Training around the city in order to keep the people calm. They hoped the presence of extra warriors visible among the populace would help counteract the uneasy feelings that still existed following the battle days prior in Vale's central square. The power that had been unleashed had terrified the entire populace, with every explosion rattling buildings blocks away and the final, impossible beam of Darkness that shot into the sky making them feel that there was nothing anyone could do to protect them. That it had not happened in the intervening days was the only comfort they could take. Either this enemy was defeated or had retreated, though the tension still remained.
Sora yawned and leaned back in his chair, lacing his fingers at the base of his head. He hadn't slept very well the night before, worried as he for Ruby. Breaking into Blue Fairy would be no joke, especially with Salem's lackeys out there and Jaune still not sure who he really was. Sora leaned forward when he finished yawning and looked out the window at the giant Scroll mantled on the side of a tall building. Some advertisement for Schnee Corp and its uncountably many subsidiaries was playing out on it, listing the advancements in Dust manipulation that had been created over the past year by their scientists. Sora couldn't hold in another yawn as the voice coming from the Scroll continued droning on.
"I see you are being quite productive today." Sora stretched his arm across his body and peered over his shoulder. Ozpin was standing just behind him, staring out the window as well, though his eyes were locked on Beacon tower.
"Eh, not anything we can do until we hear from Qrow and Ruby," Sora pointed out as he switched to stretch his other arm across his chest. He jumped out of his chair and leaned his back against the window. "What have you been doing?"
"Planning our next move. Trying to find Salem. Much of Remnant is still unmapped even to this day," Ozpin explained with a frown. "The Grimm prevent most attempts to travel too far from the cities, to say nothing of Salem's own abilities."
"How hard can it be to find the only place in the world that always has a night sky?" Sora asked dryly.
"Considering she can shape the world around her with her Darkness, obscure it and hide it? Incredibly." Ozpin glanced at the ground. "I am... sorry, for what happened with Mister Arc."
Sora smiled and shook his head. "He isn't thinking straight," Sora said.
Ozpin glanced at the ground. "Perhaps..." he said, thinking back to what Salem had done to Aced all those centuries ago. "Still, I am sorry. If I had done a better job training you thus far, you would have summoned the Master Keeper. You could have kept the Journal – your reminder of your friends – if... if only I was better."
"Oh, chin up, Oz," Sora said, walking over and slapping the man on the back. Ozpin glared over at Sora, who began to grin wide. He walked over to the window and threw it open so he could lean out and look out into the world again. "Come on, let's -"
He was cut off when the world around them began to shake suddenly, the building trembling beneath their feet. Sora yelped and lost his balance, tipping out of the window. "Sora!" Ozpin shouted, rushing to the opening to try and stop the young man's fall.
"I'm okay!" the young man shouted back. He was halfway down the building, his blade buried in its surface. "Meet me down there." Sora looked down and concentrated hard, a magenta surge of energy flying from his palm. He tore Fenrir from the building's wall and began to free fall until he kicked the wall and flipped away, landing lightly in a windowsill across the street. He held his hand out and grabbed onto the gutter at the corner of the building and slid down it to reach the ground safely in just a few seconds. "Okay, that was pretty easy." Then another tremor hit and Sora fell on his face. "Dammit..."
"Sora, you fell out of a building? Are you trying to beat Jaune for 'Clumsiest Swordsman?'" Nora snorted as she ran through the front door of the building with Ozpin, Ren, Blake, and Sun. They came to a stop beside the young man, Ren and Sun leaning down to pull him up to his feet.
"There are more important things to focus on, Nora," Ren pointed out. He looked over at Nora and smiled fondly at a memory. "Though if he is, he should try more than a little harder than that."
Another tremor hit before she could respond and a scream of panic rose from the crowds around them. Nora caught Ren when he started to tip over and flashed him a flirty smile, while Sora made sure he kept his footing beside the stony Ozpin and incredibly dexterous Faunus duo. "Okay, is Vale famous for earthquakes and none of you told me?" Sora asked, hoping that was it.
"No, Vale is not known for any type of seismic activity," Ozpin whispered, his voice hoarse and terrified. He looked into the distance and shook his head. We have to get to the tunnels.
"Hello, People of Vale. My name is Jacques Schnee." The entire city went quiet, the result of a large face with a very loud voice speaking directly to each and every one of them.
"Oh, perfect..." Ozpin mumbled before looking up at the Scroll above them, where a far too large image of the Schnee Corporation's CEO was staring down at an entire city. Other Scrolls across the city began to suffer the same fate, he noticed, when he pulled out his own Scroll to call Qrow. With a growl he activated the secure line on the machine and Schnee's face cut out in his hand, though it remained everywhere else.
"You have probably been wondering what is happening and why your home is currently experiencing earthquakes. The more astute among you would also likely want to know why the quakes are getting stronger. Simply put, that would be because of me. It is a device known as DISC that is capable of causing massive seismic waves and igniting the entirety of the Dust deposits beneath your city." Jacques stopped speaking and bit his cheek. The man shut his eyes and took a long, slow breath before finally continuing. "Approximately four days ago, a battle occurred within the city limits of Vale. The consequences of this duel were visible even all the way in Atlas, and resulted in a release of concentrated energy greater than any we have recorded since the weapons unleashed during the Great War eighty years ago. The energy release was harmless, to humans and Faunus at least. Instead, as I learned shortly thereafter, it had far worse effect. The Dragon that attacked Beacon is no longer sleeping."
"What!?" Ozpins shouted.
"Did... Did Jaune know?" Ren asked hollowly.
Sun snarled. "That idiot!"
Did he know? Sora wondered.
"I am not doing this for the safety of the world, however. That is the only reason that the Atlesian Council agreed to my plans, but I enacted it for one reason alone: I would do anything to protect my family." Schnee shut his eyes and shook his head. "This will weigh upon my conscience forever, because I have just discovered I am willing to trade a thousand lives for those of my children and wife. I believe many of you can understand that."
Ozpin shook his head and looked at the ground. "Jacques..." he grumbled. He twisted his hand when his Scroll suddenly began to ring loudly, Qrow's face appearing on the center of the screen.
Ozpin answered the call and lifted it to his ear. "Oz! Oz, DISC wasn't in Blue Fairy!"
"I am aware," Ozpin muttered on the other side of the line. The ancient warrior stared up at the image of Jacques Schnee on a huge Scroll screen at the center of Vale.
"... is why I am telling you that this is not the way I wanted this to end. But with the Dragon on Beacon waking up, we have little choice. Either we destroy it and Vale in the process now, or we risk all of Remnant." He wearily ran his fingers down his mustache and chin. "I hope this will give you the time you need to make peace." Then the screen went black and the tremors started, followed immediately by panicked screaming and rioting. Sora glanced into the crowd and was relieved to see that the Huntsmen and Trainees in the crowd were busy trying to maintain peace. Most of them, at least.
"I am all too aware," Ozpin said before turning towards Sora and the others who stood with him. "We will call you when this is over, or..."
Qrow was quiet for a while, the only noise the static resulting from Vale's tower shaking because of the Earthquake. "You guys better live or I'm killing you."
Ozpin nodded. "... Goodbye, Qrow. It's been an honor."
The ancient warrior pocketed the blade and frowned. "We need to get to Beacon Academy. Now. It's our only chance to stop this," he told the young warriors. He looked up at the cliff atop which his school sat, no longer the symbol of hope it had once been.
"And how are we going to get to the top of the cliffs fast enough? By foot, it could take days!"
Ozpin smiled down at Blake, who had asked the question. "I at least was smart enough to prepare for this possibility, Miss Belladonna," he said to the young woman. He raised his Scroll in front of him. "We just need to speak with one of your more... strict professors."
Half an hour later, the group was huddled together in the cramped back of a bullhead. "I'm sure that you could have set this up on your own, Ozpin," Glynda Goodwitch stated simply, her eyes locked on the older man's.
"Can I not enjoy the company of friends in times of danger, Glynda?" he inquired dryly from where he stood beside her.
"Focus," Glynda growled. "This is no time for you to be making jokes."
"Indeed, but it would seem spending time around Sora is starting to have an effect on me," Ozpin admitted with a shrug. He clenched the handle of the cane and looked around at the young warriors who were busy checking their equipment. "It was not completely a joke, Glynda. I appreciate your council in times such as this."
Goodwitch smiled and placed her hand on Ozpin's shoulder. "Thank you, Ozpin... If you only listened to it more often."
Ozpin smiled. "I thought you said this was no time for jokes."
"I said it was no time for you to be making jokes," Glynda repeated simply.
"Where are we heading, Oz?" Sora asked the professor.
Ozpin looked over and nodded. "I suppose I should explain before we arrive," he acknowledged. "The entrance to the tunnels is only accessible from the one place I was sure no one would ever go exploring at the school."
"Professor Port's office?" Nora suggested earnestly.
"The basement, obviously," Ren corrected his partner.
"We had a basement!?" Nora shouted, nearly deafening everyone in the air ship. The pilot was even disturbed, with the ship veering sharply to the left when her scream rang out.
"Obviously," Blake said, her voice barely betraying her intense annoyance with how the ship was continuing to sway violently from side to side as the pilot tried to regain balance. "The school's at the top of a cliff over a hundred feet tall and we know already know there's a vault beneath the school. It stands to reason there was more than just one machine resting down there."
"Oh... then why didn't you just call it the vault, Ren!?" Nora shouted in mock annoyance. She smacked the back of his head playfully. However, given her intense strength, even a playful rap still ended up leaving a bruise across his scalp.
"She, uh, she's got a point," Sun admitted.
"How do we get there then?" Sora asked, grimacing as he watched his friend start to bleed profusely from where Nora had hit him.
Sun tossed the former Keyblade Wielder a dry glance. "Why do you even bother asking at this point?"
Sora laughed and shook his head. "Where the Dragon is?" Sora supplied.
"Duh!" Nora noted, raising her hands suddenly and accidentally smacking the back of Ren's head again. He fell face forward and Sora cautiously raised Fenrir to cast a Cure on the ninja.
"Well, it's not like it's the first dragon I've killed on Remnant," Sora said with a shrug while Ren began to heal.
"That was pretty cool," Sun said as he thought back to Ruby and Sora bisecting the huge monster with a pair of Keyblades. "Wish I could do that..."
"Oh, but then you wouldn't need my help." Blake patted the monkey Faunus on the back.
"Yeah..." He looked up at her in surprise. "Wait, was that a hint of obvious flirting?!"
The ship veered to the side once more, with the ship's pilot snapping a few choice curses as it did. "What the hell is this stuff?" The ship veered wildly again. "I can't keep dodging these... meteors!We've got to set down."
"What the hell is... what!?" Sora snapped as the door to the bullhead's bay began to slide open. Falling from the now pitch black sky were huge blocks of odd, multicolored matter. It seemed to be like gelatin, with yellows and blues that seemed to melt as the air hit it. Despite that, the material still seemed incredibly dense and solid, as evidenced by how it was so easily shattering the ground. The crystalline spires of the material were coming out of thick, black stones that glittered quietly in the light of day. There was no mistaking this incredibly unique material, not for Sora. "Gummi blocks..?" The only time he had ever seen Gummi blocks appear in this form had been in the End of the World back in his first adventure or the Realm of Darkness later, which could only mean one thing.
"She's used the Journal," Ozpin finished for Sora's mind.
Sora activated Fenrir and began to sprint towards the door, backflipping out of the ship with the belief the others would be right behind him. He gasped as he tumbled through the air towards the ground dozens of feet below; the tremors were way worse over here than in the city itself. The Gummi blocks falling from the sky were shattering the ground beneath the Grimm's feet, sending groups of the creatures either tumbling into the rocky interior of the cliffs, or forcing the ground to explode from the pressure and sending them into the air. Sora spun midair as a Beowolf flew towards him, its claws extended, and used Fenrir to slice cleanly through the incoming attack. He continued spinning when he passed the creature and it began to fall above him, slashing through its chest and neck until it disappeared in a burst of black Dust. Sora turned back to the ground and aimed Fenrir directly at the ground. "Fire!" An ball of flames erupted from the tip of the blade, hitting the ground. A dozen Grimm shrieked and disappeared in the resultant explosion. Th Firaga that hit the ground sent a bubble of hot air upwards and Sora's descent was slowed. He landed, a little harder than a normal person could take, and ran immediately into battle.
"He's certainly... back to normal," Glynda noted as they watched Sora continue.
"Seriously, I need to set down or we're going to die. All of us!" the pilot shouted. The bullhead even swerved out of another huge Gummi block's path to emphasize the point. This was not enough to save them, however, as another meteor came out of practically nowhere and sliced right through the wing.
Ozpin and Glynda reacted almost instantaneously, with the two of them grabbing the less experienced warriors and pulling them from the bullhead. The younger warriors were tossed into open air to perform their own landing strategies. Ozpin and Glynda wordlessly moved smoothly together, Glynda jumping out of the ship after the others while Ozpin hastily collected the pilot and followed her, barely a second behind.
Glynda reached out with her Semblance, her Aura enveloping the large hunk of burning metal, then spun mid air and flicked her riding crop towards the center of a large group of Grimm coming for Sora. The metal streaked through the sky, another burning meteor, and slammed into the ocean of black and white masks. The Grimm never stood a chance at survival and were vaporized long before they could hope to over run the young man's position.
Meanwhile, the warriors in training – Glynda reminded herself that, perhaps, their training had ended long ago – were easily responding to the change in circumstance. Blake had been attacked by a rather large Nevermore upon beginning her fall, and had nearly been snapped in half by its huge beak. She had responded quickly, however, using her Semblance and some magic to dodge the blow and land safely on the creature's back. The shadow she had left behind exploded in a burst of Dark energy, leaving the creature headless. The Faunus girl wordlessly wrapped her ribbon around the throat of a Nevermore and began riding its decaying body to the ground. Of the children, she was the only one capable of utilizing Darkness, a fact that Sora had found entertaining despite Ozpin's worries, claiming it made her 'seem even more like Riku.' Sun meanwhile was jumping from one glowing, ethereal copy to another so he could slow his momentum, the copy of Light falling to the ground beneath him and taking a dozen Grimm each with them when they exploded. He landed with a wide grin and caught Blake as she plummeted the last dozen feet through the nonexistent body of the creature she had killed. "Hi," he told the girl.
Ren was acrobatically jumping from Grimm to Grimm, wrapping Stormflower's blades around the throats of Gryphons and decapitating them as he swung to attack the next creature. He fired off a volley of Confusion laced bullets at a larger one and ran along its back, jumping off when the creature angled down sharply and began clawing at its bretheren. Nora, meanwhile, had elected to simply scream in joy and drop straight towards the ground with her hammer out. She hit the ground almost hard as the meteors and quickly began racking up a kill count to rival Sora's already impressive numbers.
Glynda and Ozpin landed beside each other at nearly the same time on a branch of a tall tree. The older man was holding the pilot over his shoulder and gingerly placed the man over the wood upon which they crouched. "Stay here, the foliage should protect you from the flying creatures and the height from those upon the ground. For now," Ozpin told him. The pilot nodded dumbly, which Ozpin and Glynda took as a good sign before jumping from the tree to regroup with the others.
Sora had watched the entire event out of the corner of his eye, certain that Glynda and Ozpin would be able to figure it out. Still, the Magnega he had been holding on the tip of Fenrir to stop the Bullhead from falling before they could rescue themselves dissipated and he returned to lengthening his lead over Nora. "Children!" Glynda shouted a moment later over the sounds of battle, the growing rumbling of the earth beneath their feet, and the echoing booms of Gummi colliding with stone. There was a burst of energy from where she stood, and the Grimm surrounding her and Ozpin were thrown away. "We are running short on time!"
Sora nodded and sprinted towards her, slashing at the Grimm that got too close as he ran. The others converged with him and they all slid to a stop around Ozpin and Glynda. "Good, now..." The woman raised her riding crop and flicked it across her chest. The ground beneath them creaked and groaned for a moment before slowly rising. "Hold on tight." Sora barely had time to jam Fenrir into the stone beneath his feet before the stone flew at break neck speed towards the school under the control of Glynda's Semblance.
"Maybe we're going a little fast!" Ren shouted, though it was drowned out by the whistling wind.
Sora yelped when his feet lost their grip on the stone and he was suddenly being dragged along by his sword. "Woo hoo!"
Nora was in the same position, though she was laughing even harder than the former Keyblade Wielder. Ren sighed and kept hold of the stone as best he could, only back flipping off of it when they were inside the ruined atrium of Beacon Tower.
He landed and immediately noticed something was wrong. The ground beneath his feet was nowhere near as hard as it should have been, and he could feel his own Aura slowly but steadily decreasing with every moment. He was the first to understand, and was incredibly worried when he did. "Professor, no one is going to survive going down there!" he shouted as the others dismounted the stone that had crashed into the wall.
Blake was the next person to put it together. "The DISC's vibrations in the cavern below the school are intense enough our Auras can't keep even us safe here, at the closest point above ground." She looked over at the somber Headmaster. "Going down there would be suicide."
"Ozpin, did you know?" Glynda asked, her voice burning with anger.
"I did not believe DISC would activate this quickly," Ozpin muttered in denial. He shook his head. "I doubt the person who heads down now will survive."
"If you can even make it to the machine," Glynda snapped. She grabbed the headmaster's sleeve and shook her head. "This is suicide, and it won't help anything!"
"It might," Ozpin responded.
"Guys..." Sun said as he stared at the empty elevator shaft.
"Shh, Mister Wukong," Glynda growled, cowing the Faunus. She returned her attention to Ozpin. "Our efforts would be better serviced evacuating the city and destroying the Grimm here to prevent further deaths. You cannot throw your life away simply because you are tired of how long it has become."
"Hm, Professors," Ren tried to interrupt, though he simply received the same angry glare from Ozpin and Goodwitch.
"PROFESSORS!" Nora screamed, finally breaking through.
"What!?" they shouted in tandem, spinning around and catching sight of what the young warriors were talking about. Sora was standing on the lip of the elevator shaft staring down it. He turned around and smiled. Ozpin took a few shallow breaths. "Sora, what are you doing?"
"Well, none of you guys could get close to DISC, right?" he asked with a sunny grin. "Seems to me that all I need to do is summon a Keyblade and I'll be able to do it without a problem."
"Sora, this is not the time to tempt fate," Goodwitch warned. She took a step towards Sora in the hope of stopping him.
"You're right," Sora admitted with a shrug. "But if I have a chance at this, I'm going to try."
"Sora don't -" Ozpin was cut off when he realized how quiet it had become. The Grimm were not attacking them. He looked up slowly as the building around them began to creak and groan. The Gummi had stopped falling, and the DISC vibrations had begun to vibrate at a more specific frequency designed to ignite the caverns of DUST underground rather than cause earthquakes. So what was causing the building to move around them?
A huge stone slab crashed to the ground between Sora and Ozpin and the former Keyblade Wielder glanced up for a moment before looking back down. "Can you guys handle this?" he asked worriedly.
Ozpin continued to stare at the dragon as it began to move, shaking off its years long sleep and turning its eye on the warriors below it. "We have to," Blake said quietly.
Ozpin knew she was right. He looked back down at Sora and realized that they had no choice. Ozpin slowly nodded. "Go." The brown haired boy grinned and jumped backwards into the elevator shaft just before the dragon shook once more and the stone covered the shaft, separating Sora from the others.
"You said you wanted to try to kill a dragon," Blake remarked dryly.
"It suddenly doesn't sound so fun..." Sun groaned as the creature leaped from the top of the school and landed with a thundering crash in the main square of Beacon Academy. The warriors turned to watch it fall, the Grimm leaking from its flesh and the others beginning to lumber towards them. "Nowhere near as fun." Then the Dragon roared, its massive jaw partially unhinging to communicate the full force of the scream. The warriors felt themselves slide back a few inches from the force of its breath. Soon the other Grimm roared and charged the Huntsmen.
"I think it sounds like a lot of fun!" Nora shouted as she hefted her hammer over her shoulders.
"I must admit, I am intrigued as well," Ren said, readying for the upcoming battle as well. "At the very least, we will make that creature wish it had never attacked Beacon Academy."
"Sounds like a fine endeavor," Ozpin said. He looked over at Glynda and smiled softly. "Another fight sound good, Old Friend?"
Glynda glared at him for a moment before sighing and raising her riding crop in front of her. "I bet I can kill more than you, Ozpin."
The headmaster smiled softly. "I doubt that."
R W B Y
? ? ?
Ozpin groaned as he slowly felt consciousness return to him, accompanied by a bright light that turned the entire world behind his eyelids a dull red. He pushed himself up and groaned when the blood suddenly all rushed from his head. He opened his eyes to tunneling vision that caught a pair of tan clad legs sprinting through a doorway of many different shades of brown. Ozpin shook his head and looked around. He saw his black coat was folded neatly on a table with the green-black blazer that completed his ordinary outfit resting beside it.
Ozpin looked down at the green scarf that was still tied around his neck with the broach placed at the center. He had worn it every day since he'd met Salem, and now... Honestly, he wasn't sure if she was alive. If he was even alive. He looked around the room once more, catching sight of the heart shaped imagery that covered the walls and the gold filigree that outlined the windows.
He stumbled to his feet and felt his vision begin to tunnel again, but after a moment it cleared up and he was able to walk normally to the table to collect his blazer. He slid it on and buttoned it before reaching out to grab the coat. His hand froze just a few inches above it. With the χ -blade gone, it felt as if the coat belonged to a different man. His hand retreated from the special fabric and he turned to walk out the door and find someone with whom he could speak.
He took a right on a whim and walked down the hallway, almost immediately entering into a wide open room. A large, green crystal of some sort was floating in the center of the open space, glittering in the light that the huge windows cast on it. A series of gold rings spun around the gem, drawing a field of energy from within it that flickered as Ozpin approached. He watched it spin for a moment before turning his attention to the large door on the other side of the room and the shrine that was mounted above it.
Ozpin felt a smile slowly drift across his features. Skye had somehow found him! There it was, plain as day, the first Keyblade that Ozpin had bestowed upon his first student, the ram's head staring out from amidst a series of golden key facades that swarmed together in different arcs. When the door began to open beneath it, Ozpin turned his smile on the warrior entering the room. "Skye, it's so good –" Ozpin summoned his Keyblade and raised it in front of him when not Skye, but a tall man in blue robes walked out, an oddly shaped beard of graying black trailing to the center of his chest. As soon as he saw the Keyblade in Ozpin's hand, he entered a battle stance as well and summoned up a Keyblade. Ozpin growled and took a step back. "Who are you? Where did you get the Master Keeper? Where is Skye?"
"I believe I should be the one asking the questions," the old man said, his baritone voice echoing through the room. "After all, it was my student and I who found and saved you. Though we had no clue you were a Keyblade Wielder; I was unaware anyone else trained our kind."
Ozpin narrowed his eyes on the man, then glanced down when a young man with dark skin and black hair ran through after him. "Master, what's going on?"
"Eraqus, back to your room," the man commanded, not moving at all from his fighting stance.
"But Master Yen Sid -"
"Now!" the old man snapped, immediately cowing the young man and sending him running off. The man shook his head when Eraqus finally was gone. With a sigh, he lowered his weapon. "Children..."
Ozpin did not lower his weapon. "Yes, a trial I understand all too well," Ozpin admitted. He redoubled his grip on Sting. "Now who are you?"
Yen Sid grunted in annoyance. "Persistent, aren't you?" he grumbled. The old man sighed and nodded. "A trade, perhaps? I will even go first." He held his hand straight out in front of him and dismissed the Master Keeper as a sign of faith. "You don't seem the Dark type."
Ozpin said nothing, but nevertheless dismissed his weapon and stood up straight. "Who are you?" he repeated resolutely.
Yen Sid scoffed and shook his head, but answered regardless. "Yen Sid, Master of the Keyblade and Master of this... School, I suppose."
"So he's your only student?"
"I believe it is my turn," Yen Sid noted with a twinkle in his eye. Ozpin hissed, but eventually gave the other man the go ahead. "Good. Who are you?"
"Original," Ozpin noted, earning a laugh from the man with the Master Keeper. "I am Ozpin, Keyblade Master." He looked up at the Keyblade above the doorway. "I trained the man who used that."
Yen Sid's eyes widened when he followed Ozpin's gaze. "That is... impossible," he noted, moving his gaze down to meet Ozpin's. "That Keyblade is the oldest ever forged. It has been passed down for... generations from Master to Master. Just like my Keyblade."
Ozpin glanced down. Salem had claimed she was going to travel back, do things 'the right way.' Had she been serious? Had she found a way to travel through time? That didn't make sense though; given how Yen Sid was talking, she had sent him tumbling forward instead of back. Well, the world of Keyblades often made things very confusing. Therefore, the simplest answer in this case was likely the right one. Time travel... Ozpin hoped he would not have to memorize the paradoxical rules that went along with this. "Nonetheless, I did train him. For decades..." Ozpin smiled sadly. "I suppose this means that he and Av – Ila at least made it out alive."
"Skye and Ila? I am afraid I do not know these names," Yen Sid explained. He placed his hand on his chin. "Where are you from? What World?"
Ozpin nodded. "You would not know it. If this is the future, then the Keyblade War shattered it long ago." Ozpin walked over to the doorway and looked up at the weapon above it. He sighed, "Daybreak Town is long gone by now. I wonder what of it remains?"
"You have my condolences," the other man said from behind Oz.
"Hm..." He shook his head and turned around. He could not think on that pain. He may have lost everyone he cared about, but for now the more important problem at hand was that if he had survived it was very likely that Salem had survived as well. If he didn't find her, it was likely she would find a way to jump back in time to secure her victory over Ozpin and Skye. "I thank you for your aid, but I must leave. I have an enemy that I must find..." He began to return to the room where his Black Coat was folded so he could grab it and begin his hunt.
"Unfortunately, I can't allow that. You may heal quickly, even for a Keyblade Master, but you are not well. You can barely stand, can you?" Yen Sid responded, stepping into Ozpin's path.
"That is not the case!" Ozpin retorted, stepping forcefully towards Yen Sid. It only took two purpose filled steps before he was toppling face first to the ground. He was stopped by one of Yen Sid's hands grabbing his jacket at the middle of his back.
"I have a feeling we were guided to one another. There are many things you need to learn about the Worlds, Ozpin, before you go into them, and many things that you will need to even travel. I will help you, but you must recover. Do we have an areement?"
Ozpin sighed and allowed himself to be lifted to his feet. "If I have no choice, then I have no choice. I agree."
...Elsewhere...
Salem stood in the shadows, ignoring the constant pain that was coursing through her left arm. Oz's interference in her Time Portal had done something terrible to her, weakening her and shattering her body. She could only hope that the same happened to him. Or maybe he had died. That would have been a nice improvement. She took a moment to glance down at her arm, which was in the process of completely deteriorating. If someone saw only her liver spotted hand, they would assume she was incredibly old. And it was spreading.
She shook off the concern and returned her attention to the spot on the sand once more. The young man who looked just like Aliux had disappeared from the shore line in a flash of Light, leaving behind someone in a brown burlap coat and no physical form. Once the young man had disappeared, the creature had leveled its gaze on where she was hiding for a full minute before disappearing in a flash of Darkness. What an odd creature, all things considered. She clenched her good fist and waited. She recognized the portal he had created as a time travel doorway, and from the feeling she got when the brown clad being had glared at her, the young man with white hair was due to return eventually.
Speaking of which, the setting sun was blocked out from Salem's field of vision when a swirling vortex of Darkness suddenly appeared. There was a loud shout of surprise as the boy was thrown from the portal followed closely by a concussive wave of Nothingness – a force she had learned of from the χ -blade – that sent him flying across the beach. The boy tumbled through the sand and lay still beneath the bridge leading to another, smaller island. Salem returned her attention to the portal for a moment and watched the wave of incredibly powerful Nothingness force the portal to collapse in on itself. Salem bit the inside of her cheek and frowned for a moment, but quickly shook it off and walked towards the boy.
She crouched next to his unconscious form. From what she had observed, this World was one of many that had been created from the destruction of the χ -blade in her fight with Ozpin, and this boy wanted to see them all. She scoffed. This separation had bred a hunger in the hearts of many denizens of the different worlds, a desire to become complete: their own Hearts echoed the hunger the Hearts of their homes now felt. The Light had tried to save itself by spreading out, making it harder for the Darkness to destroy it all, and in turn had created even more Darkness. "Wake up," she commanded. She nudged the boy's shoulder and growled. "Wake up." She slapped his shoulder and stood up slowly. He still would not awaken. She decided instead to study the boy.
He looked exactly like a younger Aliux, with his long white hair and deeply tanned skin. He even had the same arrogant look on his face despite being unconscious and slightly wounded. Far more interesting, however, was that he held the power of an awakened Keyblade in his Heart, a trait that he had not had before his trip through time. She took a step away from the boy and flicked her wrist, summoning the Kingdom Key to her right hand in a flash of light. "Wake up," she demanded once more, this time placing the weapon above the young man's head and sending a small shower of electric sparks raining down on his body. The white haired boy yelped in pain and was torn from unconsciousness a moment later.
"Wha? Where am I?" he shouted, looking around in confusion. He shook his head. "Home... but...? I feel like I've forgotten something important..." He looked up at Salem and his eyes widened. He scrabbled backwards across the beach, surprised by her appearance, and raised one hand above him defensively. "Who are you?"
Salem threw the tip of her Keyblade into the ground and advanced on him. "I am Salem. Your name, boy?"
The boy glanced down before lowering his hand. He pushed himself to his feet and suddenly grew far more arrogant, his gaze locking with disgust on the Kingdom Key. "I am Xehanort," he said with a smirk. He frowned and examined the Keyblade closer. "What is that thing?"
Salem cocked her head to the side. How would he not know? Eventually, she smiled to herself. This could be very useful, very useful indeed. Whatever had happened to her following her own trip though time, or perhaps the destruction of the World that was, had prevented her from opening any portals back in time. This meant her only chance at securing the χ -blade was to reforge it in this time, or rather to create an acolyte who could do it for her. That would distract from her presence in this time at the very least, especially if Ozpin had survived the trip as well. "It's a way for you to get off this world forever. That's what you want, isn't it?"
R W B Y
Sora plummeted straight down the center of the elevator shaft, occasionally launching firagas behind him to increase his speed. He had to get to DISC as soon as possible, which meant he had to go fast enough that hitting the ground at that speed would leave him flat as a pancake, if he didn't correctly time his attempt to slow down. Eh, he'd be fine. He held Fenrir out in front of him and shot a Sparks spell out in front of him to light his path. He still had a little ways to go before he was close enough to the ground for him to slow down, so he just kept falling.
Sora grunted in surprise when a cold, Dark hand wrapped around his ankle and he was brought to a sudden stop. He looked up and was greeted by the gleaming yellow eyes of a Heartless. The creature chittered for a moment, then pulled hard. Sora slashed wildly at the creature to try to escape its grip, only for the blow to go wide. Sora tried to attack again, but was pulled through the Heartless' portal of Darkness before he could do anything.
It was like drowning, moving through the inky Darkness. It pressed upon him from all sides, its pressure building ever greater. He was sure that, if he stayed too long, he would die from exposure alone. The claw around his leg did not let go, however, and he was soon thrown out of the corridor and into the air. He gasped when he could finally breathe again, only for the air to be immediately crushed from his chest when he crashed against the wall. "Ugh, Heartless," Sora growled. He pushed himself up and grimaced when pain ran down his arm. A quick cast of Cure healed him and illuminated the room around him. Large lights dangled from a ceiling far above and the room showed signs of a serious battle. He looked over his shoulder and caught sight of the mangled remains of a machine. "Well, at least it let me go down h -" He fell to his knees. It felt like all of his internal organs were rumbling inside him.
Sora pushed himself back up to his feet. He didn't have time to worry about DISC slowly killing him, though he would definitely get back to concentrating on that when he could. Sora would just have to hold himself together until he could find and deactivate the weapon. Sora raised his weapon above his head and called down a storm of Thunder. The energy rained down from the ceiling, crashing into the lights and supercharging them with magical energy. They glowed bright, illuminating the entire vault with brilliant yellow light, and exposing the Dark bodies of a dozen emblem Heartless, returned courtesy of the reborn Realm of Darkness. Sora gritted his teeth and ran towards the Heartless with blade raised above his shoulder.
He slashed down at the first Soldier that attacked, the blow colliding with its spinning helmet to stun it. He slashed horizontally through its body before it could recover, and the Heartless exploded in a sudden burst of Darkness. Sora continued rushing the other creatures, sliding beneath a the swooping attack of an Air Soldier and clipping one of its leathery wings as he came to his feet. The Heartless crashed to the ground and Sora turned instead to a different one, using Fenrir to deflect a heavy sword strike from a spiny, gray Armored Knight. He bathed Fenrir in a coat of Thunder and slashed through the creature's armor like butter, destroying it effortlessly. A small trio of soldiers rushed him next, and Sora fired off a volley of Blizzard spells to freeze them solid. He turned around when he saw a barely visible sihlouette appear at the corner of his vision and try to get around him. He jumped out of the path of the next attack, allowing the Heartless' blow to demolish the frozen Soldiers. Sora came to his feet while simultaneously decapitating the Air Soldier he had clipped earlier. He looked back at the creature that had just attacked him and saw the Stealth Sneak – a giant chameleon Heartless – turn visible once more.
It disappeared a moment later and jumped away. Sora tried to track it, only to be attacked by another Air Soldier and a quartet of Gargoyles, the leathery creature dive bombing him while the purple Gargoyles moved to surround him and attack from all sides. Sora rolled beneath the Air Soldier's attack and came to his feet behind it, ready to destroy it. He was thrown off when a pair of sharp, purple wings slammed into his back and sent him tumbling forward through the air. He snarled in surprise and righted himself mid air, slashing as he did at the Gargoyle in front of him. It nimbly dodged the attack and, with both claws, slammed Sora towards the ground.
He hit it with a heavy thud only made worse by another wave rumbling through the ground and shaking his bones. Sora hissed and pushed himself up to his knees, failing when he first tried to move to his feet. He used Fenrir to deflect another blow from a Gargoyle and finally managed to reach his feet. He ran towards the Air Soldier, making sure to keep track of all the Gargoyles as he did. His diligence paid off, and he dodged the many blows of the Heartless as he approached the Air Soldier, managing to sidestep a swipe of its claws and bury Fenrir crossguard deep into its chest. He spun and decapitated a Gargoyle that underestimated him. "Only three of you left," he said with a grin, eyeing the now hesitant Gargoyles.
He was thrown off of his feet again, this time by a claw almost as large as him crashing into his back. He soared over the Gargoyles, hitting the ground and sliding to a stop when his back hit the Machine. "I meant the Gargoyles, I didn't forget about you," he snapped when he pushed himself to his feet. He readied Fenrir again and summoned down a Thundaga storm. The Gargoyles, being in the air, naturally attracted the electricity and they drifted slowly to the ground. Sora noticed the Stealth Sneak had gone invisible again, so he charged the Gargoyles and, with one Light bathed blow, destroyed two. The other was slightly stronger than its peers and recovered in time to avoid the blow. It swiped at Sora's head and he ducked beneath the blow. He brought Fenrir up in a two handed blow that sliced the Heartless in half, causing it to disappear as every other Heartless did.
He looked around the room, searching for the last of the Heartless so he could begin looking for DISC. He caught a break and jumped to his right, avoiding a massive creature that landed where he had been. He fired a Blizzaga at the place where he had been standing, freezing one of the creature's hands to the ground. The Stealth Sneak became visible as Sora rushed it, struggling to escape its frozen binding. It gave up and lashed out with its tail at Sora's head. He raised Fenrir and covered it in Sparks, each of the small spells exploding upon contact with the Heartless' tail and burning it away. Sora spun when he got close to the creature and delivered a blow with as much force as he could into the Heartless' head, finally destroying it.
Sora landed lightly on his feet a second later and took a heavy breath. "Well... finally," he groaned before standing up and letting loose another heavy sigh. His moment of respite was cut short, however, when a huge, black hoof appeared from a large Heartless portal in front of him. It crashed into the ground near Sora, shattering the stone. Sora yelled out in surprise and tried to avoid the crumbling of the ground. He jumped ahead to try and get safe, but the stone he had aimed for crumbled away before he could reach it and he began to tumble into the Darkness. "NAAGH!" He looked up towards the Light and whimpered when he saw that the rest of the Heartless had come through its portal.
The creature was huge, with multi toned purple flesh. A pair of huge tusks came up and arched forward from its mouth, centering around a large black horn at the center of its head. It had four black hooes and the emblem of the Heartless at the center of its chest. A Behemoth. Sora hurriedly tried to deflect the incoming hoof of the creature that came near him, only to be slapped away by the force of the blow. He bounced off of the wall of the tunnel he was now falling through and crashed into the Heartless' chest. He buried Fenrir into the center of its emblem in an attempt to do any kind of damage, but it did nothing. His situation grew worse when the Behemoth became bathed in energy and bright yellow light arced from its body. The Thunder sent Sora a few feet further from the creature, into another blow from its hoof. Sora cried out in pain. He had to find a way to get above the monster...
His eyes lit up and he reached down to his belt, grabbing hold of the Wayfinder. "I really hope this works!" he shouted as he summoned a bright white Light from it. The Light engulfed his body and, a moment later, wings made out of elemental Keys formed at his back. He grabbed hold of the one made of stone and made it fly upward, pulling him above the Behemoth. He turned around when he finally was directly above it and tossed the key at the horn on the creature's head. The key flew true, followed close by the other blades. Each of them shattered upon contact with the shield guarding the Behemoth's weak point, until – with the collision of the final one made of Darkness – the energy field disappeared and the Heartless was stunned. Sora roared and raised Fenrir behind him as he plummeted towards the Behemoth, bathing the blade with Light and delivering a two handed blow that shattered the horn. The Heartless roared in pain before it, too, disappeared like its brethren. Sora grinned and slammed into the ground harder than he would have like.
"Ow..." Sora groaned. He stood up and grimaced. His ribs were broken. Again. And he wasn't sure he could summon up another Cure to heal himself. He tried and found he had been correct. The pain remained. He looked around, vision blurry, for the DISC, eventually catching sight of the dim blue light coming out of the ground nearby. Sora smiled and began to limp towards the weapon so he could save Vale. "I'm gonna do it. I am going to do it." He was stopped short by a vibrating wave of energy so powerful it was visible as it rolled out from the DISC's location. Sora felt every part of his body shudder in pain and he felt blood begin to leak from his nose. Still, he would not surrender. He took a shuddering step forward, right into another wave. He stumbled backwards and began to cough up globules of blood. He steadied himself, though he wasn't sure that he had. The world was bobbing back and forth in front of him. "I... am going... to do it..." He said as he took another step forward. His toes dragged across the ground, eventually catching a stone. He tripped and fell forward. He saw the stone of the ground growing closer and closer, but he couldn't move his arms to stop himself from falling. His body just wouldn't respond.
Then he hit the ground and, instead of being solid rock, he found himself falling through water. Sora grunted in wonder as he began to plummet like a stone through the ocean. He looked up – or down, he wasn't sure at this point – and saw a stain glass image of a familiar looking woman wearing a red cloak. Her Keyblade was dangling from her left hand and she looked as if she was leaning against a wall. Across from her was a young man in a black coat. He was standing with his back to Ruby and a black Keyblade with a bright blue eye hanging at his side. "Ruby. Jaune..." Sora realized what was happening now. He was... he was in his own Heart. He continued to fall towards the pillar, his coat fluttering as he grew closer. He began to slow a few moments later and spun to land softly on his feet.
Sora looked down and saw he was standing at the center of Ruby's Keyblade's hand guard. When the hair on the back of his neck stood up suddenly, he looked over at the other side of the pillar where his shadow ended. "You need Darkness to survive." The shadow was congealing and growing a form of its own. Sora's eyes widened when he saw the creature begin to pull its way out of his huge shadow, only for what he expected to instead be replaced with a shadow that matched him in size and shape, its yellow eyes and monstrous grin familiar to Sora. His Anti-Form. "You need me to make it out."
Sora took a deep breath. "No. I don't," he retorted shakily.
The creature of Darkness crossed its arms, the move making it look exactly like Sora when he did the same. "You're falling apart out there," his opposite pointed out, its toothy grin growing more evil. It took a step towards Sora and cocked its head to the side. "Come on, you can't do it without me."
"N-no," Sora said, even more shaky now.
His Darkness sighed and shook his head. "What about Ruby?" It waved its arm in front of Sora and revealed an image of Ruby, though not entirely. The girl's skin had grown even more pale, and black veins ran across her face. A red diamond was at the middle of her forehead. Her red and black hair had turned a pale white, and her silvery-white eyes had become black and red. Ruby's red cloak was on the ground, forgotten and torn. In her right hand was the χ -blade, glowing with Dark power. "Salem will destroy her, just like Summer." The image disappeared and Sora's Darkness extended its hand once more. "Unless we survive. And you need me to do that."
Sora glanced at the ground. He... The Darkness was right. He reached out slowly for its hand, then stopped suddenly. "No." He looked up into its eyes. "Ruby's strong, even without me." He then brought his hand up, a bright red light flashing in his hand as he slashed at the creature's face. The Darkness avoided the blow and moved a step away to observe Sora standing with Crescent Rose in his right hand, ready for a fight.
"Fine... Then I'll just devour you." The creature turned, somehow, even more Dark and began to grow at an exponential rate. Sora took a half step back as the Darkside slowly brought itself up to its full, massive height. Sora gulped when he met the his counterpart's gaze, then raised Crescent Rose in front of him
"Bring it on!"
This only seemed to anger the Heartless, as it had already bathed its fist in pure Darkness and aimed it at Sora. Then it began to bring it down to crush him. "Come on!" Sora shouted before jumping straight up at the fist with his weapon at the ready.