Chapter 38: The χ-Blade War
Salem raised her hand above her head, forcing the ground beneath her feet to rise towards the sky. It was going to begin very soon, the battle for the Light of the Remnant and, by extension, the eternal future. The arena of battle grew from the Dust infused dirt, purple crystals glowing with evil from the inside. The crystals grew around the χ -blade's shattered form, holding it in place. She would need it nearby for when it would become hers completely. She brought her hand down to her side, though she did not stop shaping the world around her. Stairs carved themselves out of the huge block's sides, stretching all the way to the ground a hundred feet below. She turned towards the stairs and saw that at the foot of the stairs stood a young man with blonde hair, the boy with his Heart locked away. Salem waved her hand in front of her, and a dozen explosions of Darkness appeared in the distance, filling up the void of space. Hundreds, if not thousands, of Heartless fell from the blackened skies to form her army. From the ground she pulled a thousand Grimm to stand at their sides, creatures of lesser Darkness she could use to bolster their numbers and distract Ozpin's lowest underlings.
She lowered her hand to her side and clenched it into fist, summoning the Kingdom Key to appear in a flash of brilliant Light. She smiled at the battlefield, excited for what was coming. As much as she wanted to finally claim her victory, she found she almost desired the battle itself more; to destroy Ozpin and everything that he had built over the centuries was not her goal, but it was very sweet icing on the cake. She continued to watch for any sign for the arrival of Ozpin's 'heroes,' and was soon rewarded.
Inky portals of Darkness the size of buildings appeared from nowhere behind the Grimm, and the battle was begun. Then another. A wave of white metal and black glass began to rush from each of the portals, filling the world around Salem with robotic warriors and mech armored soldiers from Atlas. The Grimm roared and rushed the androids, with the androids responding to this violence in kind. Blue lights flashed out from the portals as more and more of the opposing army began to approach. Grimm fell by the dozens, their android enemies. The robots moved to defend the humans amongst them, likely increasing the loss of military hardware at the expense of saving the unskilled humans. It seemed that Sora was rubbing off on Ozpin and his servants, convincing them to prevent death at any cost. Even if it endangered their own odds and risked increasing the Heartless' numbers.
Not that it mattered, she supposed. The droids, the Grimm, the Heartless. They were nothing. The battle between the Atlesians and Salem's own forces of Darkness was merely backdrop to the truly important battles that would rage. Sora and his friends would fight Salem and her slaves, completing the χ -blade in the process. Anyone and anything else present during this war was merely a distraction meant to slow down Ozpin's children for a few precious moments when necessary. Salem watched the battle continue as the gateways that had been opened finally shut and the noise of the war entered a crescendo. Still, however, Ozpin and his children did not appear. Salem raised her hand in front of her and boredly summoned a fireball to her hand. "Ozpin, where are you?" she hissed before letting it fly towards a mass of Atlesians. This waiting was getting old.
A ring of burning light came from behind Salem and flew towards the large, black fireball. Salem turned as, simultaneously, a feeling of incoming danger ran through her mind. Her Keyblade was brought around and she held it with both hands to block the Firaga that had been sent her way. It exploded against her weapon, flames cast off in every direction off of the Reflect wall her weapon had summoned. Even as this happened she could hear the swirling disc of light collide with her own attack and nullify it, causing a similarly sized explosion in the distance.
"Finally, you arrive, Ozpin," Salem said. She flicked her weapon out to her side and glared at the group of people that had come together to attack her.
Standing at the front of the group was the boy, Sora. His right hand flashed and the Thief's Keyblade appeared within it, the weapon known as 'The Master Keeper.' He looked confident, powerful, and assured that this fight would be the last time they met. To his right stood the girl with the Silver Eyes. She looked just as determined as Sora, perhaps more so given the fact that Salem was in control of her mother's body. Unfortunately, the sight of the young woman with Keyblade and eyes glimmering with Light had the side effect of eliciting joy in Summer's walled off Heart. Joy that Salem was quick to stamp out as she tightened the chains holding the woman's Heart hostage. Ozpin was at Sora's left, looking as calm and collected as he always did. He was glaring at Salem from behind his green sunglasses, a combination of disappointment and anger in his eyes. His students stood behind him, a girl with a large hammer, a young man in green, a serious woman with white hair, a woman with glowing yellow hair and red eyes, a Faunus girl in black, a boy with blue hair and a gun, a young Faunus with a golden tail and hair, and a man with blonde hair slowly fading to silvery gray. Flanking the group were Ozpin's bird and a blonde man in a brown leather vest. "Well, if it isn't the ragtag group of heroes who've come to stop me." Salem shook her head and raised her Keyblade offensively in front of her. She noticed another two, hiding behind the others. "Ah, and villains. Thank you for bringing me Cinder's children. Hunting them was growing so old."
There was no response to her mocking, save for a lightning fast attack from Sora. His Keyblade crashed into Salem's and the woman felt herself be pushed back a few inches towards the stairs; her shadowy cape flew out from her shoulders, trailing a cloud of Darkness as it fluttered. This is... odd, she thought to herself. Sora was not her equal, and yet it appeared he was a viable threat to her power. If only she had not been so arrogant and allowed Jaune to leave, there would be no threat, small as it may be. Salem shoved the young man off of her and he backflipped to land beside Ozpin and the others again. "No witty repartee this time, Sora?" Salem mocked. She slid her legs apart slightly and steadied herself again. They were testing the waters with one another already. She could not afford to have all of her enemies interfere, however. It was entirely possible that Ozpin and his students may be able to tilt the battle out of her favor by aiding Sora and Ruby.
Fortunately, Salem had a way around that problem.
Salem lashed out with her off hand, summoning an explosion of Sparks that shot towards the group before her. Simultaneously, she moved as quickly as she could manage to make her move. Sora and Ruby together deflected the Sparkga sent their way, and the distraction was successful. Salem appeared behind Emerald with Keyblade raised. "Em!" She brought her Keyblade down to strike the girl, but was surprised when the boy in silver shoved her out of the way. The blow instead collided with him and he was knocked unconscious.
Salem lashed out with her hand to catch the boy by the shirt, then jumped back and held her weapon to her new hostage's throat to ensure she was not attacked. "Now, now... You don't want to me to kill him, do you?" She was sure that they valued his life, the life of the man who had betrayed her and brought them here.
She was no longer sure that was correct. "And?" Yang asked gruffly.
Emerald turned on the blonde and snarled. "Wh-what!?"
"Leave him alone, Salem." Well, at least Sora valued the hostage's life. The others would listen to him. And listen they did; they froze at his words immediately and leveled their glares on Salem. They were hungry for battle.
"No." A doorway of Darkness appeared beneath the feet of Salem's enemies. Sora jumped when he noticed this, trying to attack Salem before they disappeared. Salem scoffed and easily batted him back into the portal with the Kingdom Key. He disappeared shortly after those he traveled with, leaving Salem alone with her hostage. "Hurry, Thief." She tossed Mercury off to the side and raised a cage of Darkness around his form. "I will be waiting."
R W B Y
Sora tumbled out of the portal with a loud yelp, plummeting towards the ground far below. He saw the others falling below him, towards the battlefield far below filled with Grimm and robots duking it out for supremacy. Sora twisted mid-air and dismissed his Keyblade, allowing him to calmly glide to the ground without interruption. He stopped gliding when he heard Ruby's voice. "DAD!"
Taiyang was currently trapped in a bubble of Grimm and Heartless, the creatures fighting off the others as they moved to save him. He was fighting with one of those huge gorilla Grimm Sora had seen on the eastern coast of Mistral, and it was clear he was not going to win. The monster was the exact wrong kind of creature for him to be fighting one on one, a beast that was built to withstand the brawling techniques he used in combat. That was not going to stop him from trying to kill the monster.
The man's fist collided with that of the Beringel, the blow creating a huge burst of energy that flew out from between them. Taiyang grinned and brought his other fist up, this time catching the Beringel on the inside of its arm. The Grimm's arm flew wide, but no damage could be seen on its flesh and every blow traded seemed to only serve in making it angrier. Taiyang grinned at this and floated beneath a blow from the creature's fist, avoiding the blow by the slightest breadth of a hair. He came to stand straight up outside of the creature's arms and lashed out with his own fist. The creature's arm snapped at the elbow this time, and Taiyang felt the fire of pride erupt in his chest. A fire that was cut off when the monster turned faster than he thought it could and its massive hand crashed into his body.
Sora angled himself straight down as soon as he saw this, willing himself to fall faster. He summoned the Master Keeper and pointed itself behind him, firing off Firagas that would speed him up and rocket him straight towards the Beringel. He wasn't going to let anyone die, not this time. He spun and raised the Keyblade above him when he got close enough, and hit the ground a moment later. There was a massive explosion of dirt and Light that sent Grimm and Heartless flying to their deaths for dozens of yards. When the dust finally cleared, Sora was standing beneath the Beringel with his Keyblade placed on the ground. The Grimm seemed to shudder for a moment until Sora stood up. The creature's body split apart vertically, and its two halves disappeared a moment later. The young man turned and ran towards Ruby and Yang's father.
"Dad!" the two young women snapped, sliding to a stop above their father. Yang bit her lip. "Dad, wake up!" Ruby raised her weapon above her head and cast a cure spell, causing the visible bruising and bloody wounds on the man's body to disappear. He did not, however, regain consciousness.
"Dammit, already?" Qrow growled to himself. He looked over at the pyramid like building of crystal all the way across the battlefield, then turned to Emerald. "Can you get Sora, Ruby, and the others there?"
"I've been trying!" she snapped. She shook her head and took a deep breath. "I... I think she blocked the Corridors."
"Then we're going on foot, it seems," Ozpin stated.
Qrow shook his head and said, "Not me. Somebody needs to stay with Tai and get in touch with Jim. Tell him there's been a change in plans." He looked around at everyone and shrugged. "Someone needs to do -"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Emerald interjected angrily. She placed her hands on her hips and glared at Ozpin. "She has Merc, we need to go!"
"She's right," Qrow admitted after glaring at her for a moment. He crouched and pulled his friend over his shoulders before unclipping his sword from his belt. "I'll take Tai and get him somewhere safe."
"But, Uncle Qrow -"
"Go, Ruby!" he snapped suddenly, cutting off any arguments. Ruby's head fell and she missed Qrow turn around to leave. The man sighed and shook his head. "Ruby, I'll keep him safe, so don't worry about us. You just make sure you stay safe, and I'll catch up as soon as I have Jimmy watching out for him."
"If nothing else, Miss Rose," Ozpin said to the hesitating Ruby as everyone else began to sprint towards the place where Salem waited for them, "this will give Miss Polendina another ally and keep the two of them much safer than if they were with us. Your father is a powerful warrior, but he has always been delicate if his mental state is adversely affected. Seeing Summer's face likely is the cause of this."
"Y-yeah," she muttered, conceding the point to the Headmaster. Her eyes were locked on Yang, which slightly annoyed the older girl. Finally, Ruby took a breath and turned towards the place where Salem waited, steeling herself for the coming battle and forcing herself to . "Let's hurry."
"He'll be okay, Ruby," Sora said when she caught up to him.
Ruby nodded. "I know," she admitted. She still sprinted past him and summoned her Keyblade to her hand, needing to take out her anger on something. She shot herself forward with her Semblance towards the nearest Heartless and sliced it cleanly in two. The monster roared before being consumed by an explosion of fire, a result of the spell the girl with the glowing eyes had coated her blade in before attacking. It made her feel better. She slowed down and came into step with Sora. "He's with Uncle Qrow, after all, so of course Dad will be okay!"
Sora blinked once, then let a huge grin erupt across his face. "You know it!" he agreed, shooting her a thumbs up as they ran.
"Well, aren't you two adorable?"
Ruby groaned. "Yang!"
"Uh, that, um, that wasn't me," the blonde said from behind them. Ruby and Sora looked up and summoned their weapons. They slid to a stop, the others doing the same behind them, and soon found themselves face to face with one Adam Taurus. His blade was drawn and clenched in a shadowy, ever changing fist. Darkness floated from his shoulders and his sneer could have frozen lava with its icy intensity.
"Hello, animals," he said coolly. He twirled his blade and raised it before him. Sora raised his Keyblade and readied for battle, Ruby doing the same at his side.
"No, don't worry about this." A pair of hands pushed the two Keyblades down and Blake forced herself past the two so she could stand between the group and Adam. She drew Gambol Shroud and its sheathe, then entered a battle stance. "Adam is my responsibility, and it is well past time that I dealt with him."
Yang looked ready to protest, but stopped and shrugged. "Whatever. I already got to beat the crap out of the idiot," she said, shrugging.
"But I haven't!" Sun bounced ahead and leaned on Blake's shoulder, grinning mockingly at Adam Taurus. "'Sup, Wackjob Terrorist!?"
Taurus did not let this faze him. "Go," Blake said again. She looked over her shoulder at Ruby. "We have this."
Ozpin was the first one to respond. "Then best of luck, Miss Belladonna," he said, bowing his head slightly. "We will see you when this is all over."
"I'll buy the fish!" Yang grinned, earning a small chuckle from her partner. Yang sighed and grabbed onto her sister's arm, dragging the younger girl along in an attempt to get their momentum up again.
Ruby resisted for a moment before running after her sister. "Do us proud, Blake! We believe in you!"
"Destroy that scoundrel," Weiss finished for the team.
Neptune waited a moment. "Um... Good luck, Sun!"
"Have fun, guys! See you soon!" Sora shouted. He grabbed Neptune's arm and dragged him off as well. "Don't take it too easy on him, okay?"
"You? Take it easy on me?" Adam asked as the larger group passed him. He smirked at Blake. "Please, my love, don't make me laugh." He widened his stance and allowed Blake and Sun a moment to do the same.
"Adam, she's trying to destroy the world. Everything," Blake begged, trying to appeal to the man she'd known forever ago. Sun stood by silently, but only because he knew it was important to her. "It's not too late to surrender."
"Better no world than one where I have to suffer the Hearts of humans and their pets," Taurus snapped. Then he tensed his legs and rushed the two Faunus, his red blade glinting in the nearly dead Light. "You're all rabid animals who should've been put down years ago!"
R W B Y
Sora dodged around the incoming blow of the Wyvern Heartless, slashing one of its wings off as he slid past the creature. Weiss came up behind him, summoning a glyph above and one below the stunned Heartless, and unleashed her attack. A beam of light appeared between the two glyphs and the Wyvern was completely engulfed until nothing of it remained at all. Weiss landed softly and turned her blade on an approaching Grimm, readying to stab through the Razorback's weak belly. Sora, meanwhile, had summoned a storm using Thunder. The electricity arced down and stunned a swarm of tiny, bullet shaped Heartless, sending them tumbling to their deaths at the magic laced bullets of Ren's StormFlower.
Sora stopped moving and looked up at the place where Salem stood, so far away. He almost felt like they weren't getting any closer, even though he knew they were. The young man shook his head and ran towards the next monster that blocked their path, slicing the Defender's shield in two with a single, Light infused blow. The shield exploded in the Heartless' hand and it was thrown backwards from the force. Nora yelled excitedly and ran behind the creature, bringing her hammer around to slam the Heartless into the ground. The monster exploded in a cloud of Darkness, leaving the woman to giggle and move on to the next one. For perhaps the millionth time, Sora found himself wondering if Ren was a lucky guy or if the ninja should be worried about his future safety. Sora once again decided the answer was both.
Sora let his gaze drift out to the ring of battles taking place beyond the battlefield. People were getting hurt for him. Ozpin had pointed out they knew the risks when they got involved; while they all wanted to survive, saving the lives of those they loved was a happy ending for many of them, just not the happiest ending. It took the courage of a strong Heart to risk death for another, and finding the Light in the face of Death was how the fallen would find any happiness in their ending. Sora's grip on the Keyblade in his right hand tightened and he couldn't stop his weapon from drifting up and towards the mass of monsters. The very least he could do was give them a chance to have their happiest endings.
He twisted the Keyblade in his hand and a hundred streams of light shot from the tip of his weapon, dancing through the air and arcing towards the enemy. They shot through the Heartless and Grimm fighting the Atlesians, effortlessly destroying the creatures. Every one that died by the hand of this spell exploded in a violent burst of Light, the energy passing over the Atlesian soldiers and mechs without incident but burning away the Heartless and Grimm unlucky enough to be caught in its path. Sora took a breath and turned away from the battle's edge to continue the advance towards Salem; he had done his part to help those people for now. His and Ruby's job was to stop Salem – that was the best way to get rid of these Grimm and Heartless and save all of their lives.
Sora turned and looked across the forest towards where Ruby was talking with Kairi and Riku, both of the girls laughing at something the white haired boy had s–
Sora's eyes widened and he threw himself to the side, causing the illusion around him to instantly shatter and become replaced with the battlefield once again. He rolled to his feet just as an explosion of Dark Fire appeared where he had been a moment before. He jumped towards his enemy before the others could see what had happened to him, slashing through the Grimm and Heartless that would occasionally get in his path. After a few seconds, his weapon collided with the girl's umbrella. "Neo," Sora growled. The girl's brown and pink eyes crinkled with amusement and she twisted around Sora to try kicking him in the back. He responded faster than she thought he could and caught her heel with his free hand. He tossed her back and she had to unfurl her umbrella and drag it across the ground to keep herself from falling down.
But even as she stopped sliding backwards, she felt a cold feeling travel up her body from her heel. It only took a moment for the world to completely invert and she was torn from the ground to dangle in the air from her left foot. The mute's eyes widened in surprise and she drifted around midair until she was forced to stop by the white haired heiress holding her there. "Well, that was almost depressingly easy," Weiss muttered coolly as she glared at Neo. The criminal rolled her eyes at the little girl's bravado. Neo brought her umbrella up and slapped it across the girl's face, sending her spinning to the ground. Sora moved to attack Neo but was surprised when Neptune got into the fight ahead of him and slammed an electrified trident into the woman's back.
"Go," Neptune ordered Sora. He glanced over his shoulder at the Keyblade Wielder as Ruby and the others joined them during a lull in the fighting. "We have this covered."
Sora assented. "Be careful – she can make illusions so real you can't trust your eyes," he warned. Neo pushed herself to her feet and glared at Sora, murder sparking from her eyes.
"Weiss..." Ruby muttered upon seeing that evil flashing from Neo.
Weiss stomped her foot and pointed at Ruby. "Don't insult my skills, Dunce! I'm more than enough to deal with a common criminal like this girl, even without Neptune!"
Sora and Ruby glanced at one another. "... Okay," Ruby agreed. When she got angry enough, Weiss was even more fiery than Yang. There was no changing her mind when she was like this, and that was coming from Ruby. She hated that they had all just reunited and were already splitting up again, but knew there wasn't another option.
"Don't worry, it's just like the train," Weiss assured Ruby.
Yang frowned. "Didn't we lose that fight?"
Weiss turned a fiery red. "Just shut up and go!"
"Kay, just remember to keep a cool head!" Yang shouted. Neo glanced at the blonde and shook her head disapprovingly. "Stay frosty! Icy you're gonna do great!"
Neptune sighed and shook his head. "Just... Just go," he muttered, then he shifted his weapon back into its rifle form and placed himself directly opposite of Weiss with Neo placed between them. He aimed the barrel of the weapon directly at the criminal's head while Weiss entered her own battle stance. "It's not even right to make the criminal hear Yang's jokes."
"I... Whatever," Yang growled. She turned around and began to sprint away, the others following suit a moment later. "I don't need to be insulted by someone who's afraid of water, dammit!"
"Your friends are real charmers, you know that Snow Angel?" Neptune muttered dryly without taking his eyes off of Neo. The criminal twirled her umbrella around her hand by the crook and glanced at the two goody two shoes on either side of her.
Weiss snickered. "Oh, come on... They're your friends, too."
Neo stopped twirling her umbrella. She knew she couldn't kill Sora; he had one of those Keyblades now. She'd have to make herself content with murdering some of Little Red's friends, instead. The blade extended from her umbrella's tip and she grinned menacingly. This would be fun.
R W B Y
The Heartless' claws tightened on the rocky outcropping it was using to hide itself from the children. It could remember Sora, to a very minor extent, because of Xehanort's decaying memories. The bandages wrapping around its form fluttered in a breeze carrying the Darkness and noise of the surrounding war. The Heartless hissed hungrily, feeling out the hundreds of Hearts that surrounded it. Each one was filled with its own emotions that it cast across the entire region, each one a beacon for a Heartless' hunger. This Heartless could feel every fiber of Darkness that permeated its being calling for it to find a human and devour its essence completely. It was in the nature of the creature to hunt down that Darkness, after all.
However, it had something else it had to do. Another will pressed upon what little remained of its mind, commanding it to do something other than what its nature demanded of it. The Will, the most powerful Darkness that was present on the battlefield, had told the Heartless to wait on the path the Will had created to funnel Sora towards her. She had been very adamant about the order, taking careful consideration to ensure the order stuck in its mind. It still would attack the humans out there in the battle at times when a particularly powerful flare of Darkness would appear, seeking out the originator of the feeling and devouring its essence before any of the other Heartless could manage to do so. Another stream of Darkness appeared on the outskirts of the battle and the Heartless' yellow eyes flashed with desire.
Eventually, the hunger it felt grew too great to be held back. Once again, the creature launched a blood curdling shriek into the sky and rocketed off towards the battles. Its shadowy tail trailed behind it, moving with the same sharp and sudden turns that its body made when snaking around the creatures and robots on the battlefield. The monster came across the first of the humans after only a few seconds, the fleshy being standing among a dozen or so robots and doing its best to hold off the Grimm and Heartless that swarmed. Xehanort's Heartless hissed and erupted from the wall of monsters, swinging its claw through one of the robots. The android's metal body bent inward, shrieking as if surprised by the sudden blow. There was a sudden explosion from where the creature had stood, electricity and flames bursting from within its frame. The Heartless ignored the un-living contstruct and made right for the human at the center of the group. The human turned his gun on Xehanort's Heartless, surprised at the sudden attack, and blue streams of energy began to glance off of the monster's body. The droids followed suit a half moment later to defend the human and the Heartless was beset by blasts from every side.
Xehanort's Heartless growled angrily and dashed out of the death zone, moving fast enough to avoid every shot that came its way. The blue streams of energy flew around the Heartless' inky form, narrowly shooting past the creature's trailing tail. The creature growled to itself and swiped at the now distant droids with one of its claws, summoning a blade of Dark energy that flew towards them. The droids froze when the energy hit them and, a moment later, exploded as one. The human raised his gun in front of him and was thrown backwards from the force of the explosion. He was immediately set upon by Grimm and Heartless, the creatures trying to destroy or devour him. Xehanort's Heartless growled jealously and rocketed towards the growing pile of monsters. It slammed into the creatures, savagely attacking with its claws; the monsters were torn to shreds by the Heartless' claws and disappeared in explosions of shadow moments later. Soon, the Heartless reached the bottom of the pile and found the terrified gaze of the human. It opened its grinning maw, a terrifying hunger in its eyes, then tore the man's Heart right out of his chest. The Heart rose from the monster's hand and the creature feasted on the sheer terror in the man's eyes.
Its head turned as soon as the man's body began to fade away into sparks of Light that floated away to be replaced with a Heartless' form. Xehanort's Heartless suddenly felt the urge to seek out a specific Light, the one that the Will wanted it to seek out. Those that traveled with Sora and the Bright Light, their advance towards the Will was to be slowed by the Heartless. The Heartless growled and turned to cut another robot in two. Its lust for the Heart of humans burned bright enough to resist for another moment before the Will pressed even more heavily upon it and it was forced to concede. The Heartless rose into the sky again, its shadowy tail coiling around its form for a while as it reached out for those two too bright Hearts. It was not very difficult, as the two Keyblade Wielders stood out on the battlefield like infernos amongst candles. The monster's tail stopped coiling and it turned in Sora's direction. It growled hungrily and then rocketed towards the Hearts at full speed.
It appeared in front of the group moments later, one of its huge claws raised as it rushed towards them. It wanted their Hearts, it wanted their Hearts! Sora raised his Keyblade before the creature was even near, ready to deflect the attack that he was sure was coming his way. He was susprised when the Heartless shot right by him and crashed into the ground at the middle of their group. Everyone jumped away from the point of impact, with the two who were at the back getting separated from the others. The young man in green hit the ground and rolled backwards and back up to his feet. The girl with the hammer landed heavily beside him and the two aimed their weapons at the Heartless.
"Xehanort!" Sora shouted from behind the creature. It wanted to turn towards him, it wanted to claim the Keyblade Wielders' Hearts, those strongest of Hearts. But the Will pressed upon its desires again and its hunger was redirected once more towards the two who had been separated from the group. "Your Nobody was expecting me to get rid of you."
The Heartless glanced at him, then back at the two warriors waiting for it to attack. "Sora -"
The Keyblade Wielder let his weapon disappear. "I swear, if you guys say that we should go on without you, Ren, I'm going to get angry," he said simply with a smile on his face.
"Just cause you've heard it a thousand times doesn't mean you shouldn't," Nora pointed out. She raised her weapon just in time to catch the Heartless' claws on the hammer's head, then she summoned down up an Aerora to send the monster flying away. "And come on, would you really let us try to fight Salem with you?"
"You're scary smart sometimes, Nora," Ruby pointed out.
Ren raised his weapons and fired off a stream of bullets laced with Confusion at the Heartless. It roared out in pain and fell to its side, trying to drag itself in any direction it could in its pain. "At least if we take this thing out we'll be doing something useful," Ren stated. He let his weapons fall to his side for a moment and he looked over at Argent. "If you see Jaune, tell him that we miss him."
"I'll make sure he remembers, you two," Argent replied. "But I'd rather you kill this thing fast so you can tell him yourself."
"Deal, Old Guy!" Nora shouted, then she leaped towards the Heartless with her hammer raised above her head. "Woo hoo!"
R W B Y
Jaune Arc's eyes slowly swept across the landscape of the battlefield before him, waiting for Sora in front of the stairs just as Master Salem had ordered him to do. Memories flashed in his head, saying he should probably be bored doing something like this. At the moment, however, he couldn't feel anything other than rage that Salem directed; he was simply doing what had been commanded of him. He would likely kill anything that Salem had not explicitly ordered him to keep alive, as everything in the World inspired her rage and, thus, his. Jaune's hand tightened on the Keyblade at his right side and a black flame ignited along its blade. The air seemed to grow colder around the young man's shoulders and the leather of his gloves squeaked quietly against the black metal in his hand.
It had been some time since this war had begun, and Jaune could hear faint screams. He thought they were coming from the battlefield, but he wasn't quite sure that was right. Not that it mattered anyways, his Heart couldn't give off any kind of response to the noise echoing through it. He could not quite hear them through the huge walls Salem had put up in him, the steel dividing his inner being muffling the noise beyond recognition. Jaune's yellow eyes locked onto a group of six people approaching from across the battlefield at full speed. The screams paused for a moment and turned into begging that he ignored.
"Wait, is that –?" The person asking the question cut herself off and slid to a stop in front of Jaune, a young man with spiky brown hair, a slightly older young woman with green hair and scarlet eyes, a young woman about the same age with long blonde hair who was grinning wildly, and an older man with gray hair and a serious face were with her. The girl with the glowing, silver eyes and dressed in red laughed excitedly. "Jaune! It is you! You're here to help us stop her, right?"
Jaune didn't respond, though his grip on his weapon tightened. His gaze passed over the woman and her overly happy grin for a moment and he took a step to the right. "Jaune?" the man beside the girl asked. His head cocked to the side in confusion and his spiky brown hair shook from the movement. "Jaune, I know you saved my life. I wanted to say thank you." The young man straightened up and walked towards Jaune, hand stretching out to land on Jaune's shoulder comfortingly.
Before it could touch him, however, Jaune's Keyblade lanced up. Sora dashed backwards a step and summoned his own blade to block the attack and twist to slash at Jaune's head. The blonde brought his weapon up with both hands to block the attack, leaving the two in a blade lock for a moment. Blue eyes met yellow and Sora gasped. He jumped away again and dismissed the Master Keeper again. "What's wrong?" a blonde man asked, running to catch up to Sora and stopping beside the younger man. His eyes locked on Jaune and widened. "Jaune?"
Jaune didn't respond, instead keeping his eyes locked on Sora and Ruby. He blinked once, but other than that remained still as stone. "Jaune it's me – It's your father."
Jaune felt a spark of anger and something else flash in his Heart and he turned on the man. His yellow eyes burned even brighter while staring at the man who looked almost exactly like him. "I don't think Jaune can hear us," Sora stated after a minute or two of Jaune glaring angrily at his father. He shook his head. "His eyes are yellow."
"They're blue," Argent pointed out dumbly.
"Not right now." Sora looked over at Argent. "They're yellow."
"Like Xehanort's?"
He looked over at Ruby. "Yeah." He turned back to Jaune and crossed his arms. "It means that there's nothing awake in there but Darkness right now."
"Vomit boy's being pretty quiet right now," Yang said, pointing out the other weird thing about Jaune. "Usually we can't get him to shut up."
"He is being pretty quiet..." Sora's eyes widened and his face got angry and serious. He said, "Oz, could she have..?"
The gray haired man nodded. "Keyblades do allow one to control Hearts, and Salem certainly would be willing to do it."
"Would you like to share with the rest of the class?" Emerald Sustrai snapped.
"She locked his Heart away."
"Jaune's in there somewhere, but... he can't do anything?" Argent asked. His fists began to shake at his side. "That monster would do that to my son!?" Argent's hands moved faster than anyone expected and his sword and shield were at the ready immediately, the crest of his family somehow shining even in the low light of the Grimmlands. "I'm going to kill her!" He sprinted towards the stairs.
"Argent!" Ozpin snapped in warning.
It was too late for the man to stop, but he did raise his shield in time to protect himself from the sudden blow. Jaune's Keyblade slammed into the shield's face and Argent was sent backwards. Argent's feet dragged through the ground until he came to a stop in front of Sora, a small dent at the top of his shield. "He's weaker than before," Sora muttered upon seeing the dent.
"This is weak?" Argent asked Sora, stunned. Sora nodded and a huge smile grew across Argent's face. "Haha! That's my boy!"
"Your timing could be better, Old Man," Yang said. She raised her fists and prepared for Jaune to rush them, the others following suit, save Ruby, Ozpin, and Sora. Yang looked over in confusion. "What are you guys doing?"
"He hasn't attacked us yet," Ruby pointed out. Jaune looked towards her and slid further to the side, as if opening up a path. Ruby's eyes widened with understanding. "He's... He's letting us through."
"But if Salem is in control... why?" Sora asked.
Ozpin frowned. "The χ -blade must need more conflicts to be completed, which means -"
"We still have a chance!" Sora shouted. He sprinted right past the calm Jaune without thinking. The blonde let him past without incident, causing the others to look at one another before following Sora one by one. Ruby first, dashing past him faster than he could have responded anyways. Emerald tentatively went next, raising an illusion that made her invisible just in case. Jaune's Heart was too divided for him to even see the illusion, but he let her pass. Ozpin moved by the young man calmly and collected. Just as Argent and Yang began to walk forward, however, Jaune stepped into their path.
"So he's not here to let you guys through," Yang said. She raised her fists and glared at Jaune, Argent raising sword and shield beside her. "He's here to keep everyone else out."
"Fine. I wanted to talk to my son, anyways," Argent stated. "He's grounded and we're throwing away the key."
"Was that supposed to be a joke?" Sora whispered to Ruby.
"Just be glad Yang didn't -" Yang began to laugh. "... Never mind."
Sora shook his head, snickering at the two humor-deaf warriors. "Well, I guess it's on us." He looked up at Argent and Yang. "Jaune is fighting to hold back, so just help him break out completely."
"But still... be careful, Sis!" Ruby shouted.
"Aren't I always?" Yang asked with a shrug.
"..."
"Yeah, yeah," Yang muttered. "Why don't you and your boy toy just go save the world or something."
"I guess we are key players!" Ruby shouted before turning to sprint up the crystal stairs. The others laughed behind her; Sora especially, though Ozpin and even more surprisingly Emerald, were snickering too.
"I... I don't think it's funny," Yang muttered as she clenched her robot fist.
"What, you think I do?" Argent inquired just before Jaune flew towards his father, blade aflame in his fist.
Sora and Ruby ran side by side up the crystal stairs, hoping that those they had left behind would manage to help Jaune. Ozpin and Emerald were a few steps behind them, trying to keep up with Sora and Ruby. The two Keyblade Wielders were moving slightly slower than usual to allow the two to keep up. "Ruby?"
"Yeah?"
Sora smile was directed up the stairway towards the shattered moon. "I'm glad I got to meet you."
Ruby smiled in the same direction. "Me too."
They continued to run in silence until reaching the top, at which point the two summoned their weapons and stared at Salem. She was standing at the center of the arena she had created, flanked at a small distance by the remains of the χ -blade encrusted in crystal to her right and Mercury unconscious within a cage of Dark Fire to her left. Ozpin and Emerald arrived a half second later and also readied for battle. "You certainly took your time, Ozpin," Salem said, an amused smile sneaking onto her face.
Ozpin did not respond, knowing to do so would only feed her ego. "Merc!" Emerald shouted. She rushed forward and slid to her knees beside the cage. "Merc, wake up!"
Salem ignored the green haired girl and took two steps towards Sora, Oz, and Ruby, only to stop when they raised their weapons again to prepare their defenses. "Oh, please. You know you have to defeat me quickly or the χ -blade will be complete." Salem grinned evilly and said, "You have no time to scout the extent of my abilities. You will be entering this battle blind."
Salem threw her hand out to the side and summoned the Kingdom Key. "I, however, know the extent of every ability any of you could possibly possess."
"Then I guess we'll have to learn on the fly!" Sora snapped. He and Ruby moved so quickly that they practically disappeared, leaving behind only a sudden cloud of dust where they had stood a moment before. Salem smirked and twirled her Keyblade, summoning up a glow as they separated suddenly. A pair of gold and silver hatchets rose a moment later, their blades the teeth of the Kingdom Key and half the Kingdom Key's guard present around either of her hands, to catch the two Keyblades rushing towards her neck.
"I doubt your Hearts are strong enough for it to matter."
AN:
I know that this chapter was shorter and slower than usual, but don't worry: the next two chapters are pretty much all fight scenes. Next chapter is the supporting fights set up above and chapter 40 is VS Salem. I've also come up with one possible name for the spin-quel, and the title is a thousand times better when I think of Yang saying it. Or worse, I guess. I'll try to have the name 100% down by the epilogue.
Responses!
To brave kid: Thanks!
To Soul's Release: Thanks. I wanted a way to make Ruby using Keyblade Transformations significantly less of an 'Ex Machina' moment; I'm glad the sparring scene turned out well despite its flimsy origins.
To warrior of six blades: I'm glad to have inspired you! Yeah, I thought that despite Ruby having more of a formal combat training, Sora has just been at this for so long and he was a natural fighter that he would win. As for Penny, I feel like if/when she comes back that exchange with someone is inevitable. It's probably easy to forget she isn't human given that nobody thought she wasn't until it was revealed, so a casual mention will slip out sooner or later.
To gamelover41592: Thanks. I hope these last chapters are as good as the 37 that came before them!
To kingofclubs8129: Don't worry, Jaune isn't a Heartless or a Nobody! It's more like... Remember Zack Fair in Birth By Sleep? It's like that. As for Qrow/Winter, the two will pop up together to annoy/cheer up one another in the epilogue.
To Mysterrymuffin2: That's actually a pretty great compliment. I hope that I can manage to successfully pull off the ending to the level I want to because, as anyone who's played ME3 will attest, endings are apparently really damn hard to do well.