A/N: Okay now, that last chapter was really something wasn't it? Anyway, in this chapter our heroes are going head back to Marco's house and see what they can do to help Janna. Also, I hope you all didn't forget about Glossaryck's message that Star and Marco were supposed to give Rosa? Finally, Star and Marco will get to know who Rosa's Master is. So everyone get that? Good.

Now hold onto your seats, because this is going to be quite the info surprise!

Chapter 8: The mending of hearts and learning of truths Pt.1

As soon as Star and Marco rejoined the others, they started to think of what to do about Janna who was still passed out.

"So, any ideas on what we do next?" Yang asked breaking the awkward silence that had settled in.

"We should go somewhere that Janna can rest and where we also can think things over before we do anything." Weiss said.

"That seems like the best option," Blake said.

"Alright then, so... where should we go then?" Ruby asked as everyone else began to think.

"We could go to my house," Marco says getting everyone's attention. "Yeah, and we could go over things in my room while Janna rests there too since its big enough." Star added.

"Are you both sure it's okay for all of us to just head over to your place like this? What are your parents going to say Marco?" Jackie said. "She has a point, we don't want to be an inconvenience to you guys." Yang said a little worried.

"You guys won't be an inconvenience. In fact, I think my parents would really like you guys. Especially Rosa, since Star has been telling them about her non-stop after we met." Marco said which earned him a light punch on his arm from Star. "Hey! Can you blame me, it was the first time I've seen someone so awesome looking." Star said defensibly. "Besides, you were just as impressed with Rosa as me Marco." She said pocking his chest with a knowing smile on her face.

"Alright you two, take it easy." Rosa said stepping up to them. "If your parents really don't mind their son bringing back a couple or so people, then I don't see any reason why we can't stop on by." She said accepting the offer.

"Wait a minute Rosa, you can't just make the decision on your own like that." Weiss butted in. "How come?" "Because we all need to come to an agreement on this." "Sigh alright then," Rosa says looking to the others.

"Ruby, Blake, Yang, and Jackie, what do you think about Marco's invitation to let us come over to his place for a bit to sort things out?" She asked them already guessing their answers.

"If he says his parents are cool with him bringing house guests, then it's cool with me." Yang says shrugging her shoulders.

"I agree with Yang," Blake said.

"I've been to Marco's place before and I can say that his parents would welcome just about anyone who Marco and Star invite over. So I think it's a good idea." Jackie said agreeing to the suggestion. "Well if Marco and his parents don't have a problem with us coming over, I can't see any reason not to take his invite. Plus, I want see what Star's room looks like! I bet it's really huge!" Ruby said excitedly.

"And the majority rules in favor of Marco's generous offer, case closed" Rosa said triumphantly which got the others laughing while Weiss just sighed in resignation.

"Alright, alright, I know when I'm out voted. Let's just go already." Weiss said folding her arms. "That's… going to take us awhile since my house is pretty far from here." Marco said which caused a few groans from Yang, Rosa, Star, and Ruby.

"We just came out of the biggest battle with some crazy looking shrimp and an over-sized spider. Now, we've got to walk all the way to your place? AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" Ruby complained. "Yeah I'm with Ruby on this one, that fight really wore me out, I don't think I can handle a long walk." Yang added.

Star was about to add on as well, until an idea suddenly popped into her head.

"Hold on guys, I've got a way to make the trip no so long for us." Star said confidently holding out her wand.

"I swear, if you're planning on summoning that giant porcupine for us to ride again," Weiss started.

"No it's not that, but that does sound like a good idea thought." "Oh I wouldn't mind riding him again!" Ruby said optimistically. "I would! I am not riding that thing again, I'd rather walk if it means less likely me falling off in the middle of traffic."

"Okay, did we miss something?" Yang asked. "Ha, let's just say Weiss got a first-hand experience of what my magic is all about." Star said with a silly grin on her face.

"But anyway, I'm talking about using a teleporting spell I just so happen to know that can take us straight to my room super quick." "Wait, Star are you talking about the spell you used when you accidently turned Miss Skullnick into a troll?" Marco asked which Star responded with a "yep".

"Uh Miss who now?" Yang asked. "Miss Skullnick. She our teacher from school who Star accidently turned into a troll." Jackie explained.

"You…turned your teacher into a troll?" Blake asked a little shocked. "By accident, I was trying to help her since she said her boyfriend dumped her, and the spell I used…kind of…went wrong, ha. Anyway, when I tried to change her back with this other spell, it sent Marco, me and her back to my room." Star said. "So, in trying to fix something, you discovered something new." Blake said.

"So you're going be using that spell to teleport us all to your room which is at Marco house, right?" Rosa asked to make sure.

"Yep. But Star aren't you really tired from the other spells you've been casting?" Ruby asked a little concerned. "Well yeah, but this spell is a really simple one. So it shouldn't take a lot to do."

"Are you sure Star?" Marco asked a little worried Star may be pushing herself.

Star saw the worry in his eyes and gave him a reassuring smile while also placing her hand on his shoulder.

"I'm positive Marco. But if it makes you feel any better, if it looks like I'm about to pass out, make sure you catch me so I don't hit floor okay?" She said as a Marco's face started to feel a little warm.

"O-Okay I guess." He stammered out while Star giggled at his reaction.

"Alright everyone, make sure your as close as possible when I cast this spell." Star said as the others got close, while Jackie picked up Janna and slung her arm over her shoulder and carried her.

When Star saw that everyone was close enough, she waves her wand in the air and says "Lightning Change Back!"

A yellow energy field soon envelops the group and then they vanish instantly.

(Diaz Residence, Star's Room)

The group soon reappear in Star's gigantic bedroom with looks of surprise.

"Welcome to my bedroom you guys!" Star says cheerfully as the others look around the astonishingly large room.

"OH. MY. GOSH! THIS ROOM IS SO HUGE!" Ruby yelled completely awestruck by the size of Star's room. "When you said you bedroom was big, you defiantly meant BIG Star. It even has a second floor too." Yang said amazed at what she was seeing.

"I guess we should have expected the room of a princess to be something like this to be honest. I'm guessing you used a spell to make it this way right?" Blake asked looking at the various poster and strange objects that were scattered about the room.

"Yep. I guess you could say I gave this place my own version of the royal touch." Star said proudly.

"And by that you mean royal mess. This place looks like your closet exploded with everything that was stuffed inside. Couldn't you have else cleaned up a bit?" Weiss complained stepping over some clothes that were laying on the ground, while Star rubbed the back of her head grinning sheepishly.

"I keep telling her to try and organize her stuff." Marco says which earns him another friendly hit on the arm from Star.

"Well I like the look of Star's room. It reminds me of mine back in my home world." Rosa said looking around. "You had a room that was also a giant mess?" Weiss asked jokingly. "Ha-ha, not what I meant Weiss. I was talking about the comfortable feeling I get from it. Y'know, when you're most at peace."

"Well I'm just glad you don't mind my mess." Star said happily.

"Well a little mess never hurt anyone in my opinion. In fact, it makes me feel even more at home here." She said as she and Star hi-fived each other.

"Okay, if you two mess twins are done, can we please talk about what we're going to do now?" Weiss said wanting to get back to the matter at hand. "Right, first we should try and see if we can help Janna." Star said as she looked to her sleeping friend who Jackie already place on her bed.

Everyone else started to make their way over to the sleeping girl as well.

"So does anyone have a clue as to why Janna suddenly started to act the way she did? And how she was able to use magic like Star could?" Jackie asked the group.

"That's a good question. Star and Marco, how did Janna act the last time you both saw her?" Rosa asked them.

"Well we both saw her at the end of school year party my parents had couple days ago," Marco started. "Yeah but, she was acting like her normal self that time. Plus, I think she got a hold of your wallet again when you weren't looking Marco." "Seriously? Again?" Marco groaned then checked his pockets. True enough, his wallet wasn't on him.

"This is like the eighteenth time she's done that." "Actually Marco, it's the twentieth time." Jackie said which caused Marco to raise an eye-brow in confusion. "Janna told me last time we hung out. Which reminds me," She said digging into her pockets and throwing a pair of keys to Marco who caught them.

"She told me to give you back your house keys when I ran into you since she got those too." Marco just placed his hand on his head in quiet annoyance, while Star, Yang, Ruby, and Rosa tried not to laugh out loud at the fact that the red hooded boy had his personal things pickpocketed multiple times.

"Alright, if you guys are done laughing at my expense, can we refocus back on Janna here who's…huh?" Marco stopped what he was about to say when he looked down at Janna closely.

"Marco? Is something wrong? You went quiet all of a sudden." Star asked. "Star? Did you ever see Janna wearing this thing around her neck before?" He asks as he shows Star and the others the necklace that had on.

"That's strange, Janna didn't have that when she was at the party." "You're right Star, and last time I checked, Janna wasn't that big a fan of wearing necklaces." Jackie said looking at the strange item.

When Ruby got closer to look at the necklace, she noticed the charm attached to it looked both very odd and familiar to her.

"Hey guys, doesn't this charm look like a key or something?" Ruby said drawing everyone's attention to the key-shaped charm.

"Now that you mention it Ruby, this charm does have a…odd feeling about it that I can't quite place my finger on." Weiss said looking at the charm curiously. "Same here, something about it just…rubs me the wrong way, like I've seen it somewhere before." Rosa said racking her brain around for an answer.

While the others were trying to figure that out, Marco heard a familiar voice in his mind.

'Hey Marco, are you listening here?' 'Huh? Monster Arm? What is it?' he asked confused about the sudden appearance. 'Sigh, you're going to keep calling that until you think of a name for aren't you? Well whatever, I dropped in to tell you what caused your friend to act crazy not too long ago.' He said. 'Okay first, that's great to hear. And second, could you not say she was acting crazy? She…just wasn't in her right mind is all.' Yeah, yeah. Anyway, do you remember when Riku said that Janna's darkness was forced out?' he asked. 'Yeah I remember that why?' Marco said confused at where this was leading to.

'The charm on that necklace…is actually a Keyblade.' 'WHAT?!' Marco said completely surprised at what he was told. 'Could you not scream like that?! Geez.' 'S-So this charm Janna has on her right now is a Keyblade?! But I thought Keyblades were weapons used for good, how is it that this one gave Janna the ability to summon Heartless?' he asked confused about this whole thing until he heard Riku's voice.

'Marco calm down and let me explain alright?' 'O-Okay.' He said calming himself down so Riku could talk.

'First Marco, you need to know that while there are Keyblades that have connections to the light, there are also Keyblades that are tied to the darkness as well.' Riku said. 'I guess that makes sense. So does that mean the Keyblade you had and the Keyblade that I now have are ones from the darkness?' Marco asked curiously. 'No, in fact both our Keyblades are those connected to the realm of light.' 'Really? I just figured since they both of their designs have some demon traits,' Marco trialed off.

'Originally "Way to the Dawn" was a weapon called "Soul Eater" that grew more powerful when the wielder used the power of darkness. I hurt a lot of people because I let Ansem use the darkness in my heart. But after going through my own trials and with help from my friends, I was able to overcome my darkness and Soul Eater became Way to the Dawn.' Riku said sharing his time as a Keyblade wielder to his descendent. 'Wow, I had no idea you had to go through something like that, I'm really sorry that happened to you.' Marco said in a sad tone.

'Do... do you think something like that will happen to me too?'

'Hmph, I doubt that will happen to you anytime soon Diaz,' Monster Arm said cutting into the conversation. 'Not if that princess of yours has anything to say about it. I mean she gave up her wand just to save your butt, I bet she'd do it again if given the chance.' He said with possibly a grin on his face.

'I agree with the former talking calamari Marco, you have not only Star, but other people who will look out for you too.' Riku said assuredly.

'I'm going to pretend I didn't hear you call me calamari again. How about you get to the part where you tell Marco about the stupid charm and how to help sleeping beauty here already yeah?' Monster Arm said getting irritated while Marco and Riku were calming down from snickering.

'Right now Marco, Monster Arm said that the charm on Janna's necklace was a Keyblade, well he's half right. The charm is a Keyblade, but it's only a copy of the original one.' Riku said.

'So this charm is a copy of a Keyblade?' 'Yes, it's a copy of a Keyblade called "The Keyblade of heart", it has the ability to unlock people's hearts releasing the darkness within them.' Riku explained to Marco.

'So if we just take this thing off, Janna will be okay right?' Marco asked hopefully. 'There's more to it than just that Marco, even if you take the charm off, Janna's heart would still be at risk of being lost to darkness due to how long she's been using it to amplify her own darkness.' Riku said which made Marco start to worry.

'Then what can I do to save Janna?!' Marco asked desperately wanting to help his friend from losing her heart.

'You'll have dive into her heart and calm the darkness inside her.' Riku said which immediately confused Marco. 'Did you just say I'd have to dive... into Janna's heart if I want to save her?'

'That's right,' Monster Arm said suddenly rejoining the discussion. 'You see Marco, your friend Rosa might have knocked Janna out, but when Janna fell asleep so did her heart.' He said as Riku followed up.'I'm guessing the strain of having her darkness forced out like that must have tired her out, so when your friend put Janna to sleep, her heart must have done the same thing. You just need to dive into her heart like you did with your own and wake her up.' He explained to Marco who was thinking it over carefully before he asked something.

'So once I dive into Janna's heart, what do I have to do to wake her up? I don't want to do something that'll hurt her.' He said worriedly.

'You'll have to figure that out once you get there. But if you're that worried about going in alone, you could ask one of those girls to go with you ~' Monster Arm said in a sing song tone causing Marco's eyes to widen in shock and surprise. 'Hold on a minute, someone can go with me into Janna's heart?' 'So long as they hold a Keyblade, yes.' Riku said. 'But if you do plan to take someone with you, you have to be careful not to lose each other while inside someone's heart. There's no telling what could happen understood?' he said in a serious tone. 'Yeah, so how do I dive into Janna's heart?' Marco asked.

'You point your Keyblade at the person's heart and concentrate. If two people are diving into the same heart at the same time, then they both have to make sure their focused on the same person.' Riku explained while Marco listened.

'Okay I think I've got it,' Marco said but before he could tell the others what to do he heard Riku say something.

'Marco, I want you to look at Janna's face for a second and tell me what you see.' 'Huh? O-kay,' he said a bit confused at the request. Marco then looks to Janna's sleeping face and was surprised to see a calm and relaxed smile.

'Huh? Why is she smiling like nothing is wrong with her?' 'Ha, tell me Marco, does Janna often joke around with you and Star?' 'Well yeah, sometimes it gets on my nerves. But other times, when I'm feeling down or upset, Janna always finds a way to help me laugh it off.' Marco said as a smile begins to appear on his face. 'But what does that have to do with why Janna is smiling while asleep?'

'Sigh, do you want us to spell it out for you knucklehead?' Monster Arm said exasperatedly. 'You, Star, and the rest of your friends are trying to find a way to help this girl, and she is just sleeping here like her heart is not in danger of being swallowed by darkness.' He said sarcastically.

Marco then began to think of what Riku and Monster Arm were saying. He then began to think of all the times when Janna was with him and Star on one of their crazy magical hijinks, and how no matter how dangerous or insane they were, Janna would always be up for it and smile. That's when it finally came to Marco about why Janna was smiling and he couldn't help but almost laugh at it.

'Un-be-livable, sometimes I really wonder how Janna became so use to stuff like this to the point where she can smile in her sleep.' Marco said as he heard the other two occupants of his heart laugh.

'Okay, I think I know how to wake Janna up now.' Marco said confidently. 'Finally, so what's your plan Diaz?' as Marco was about the answer, an image of rose petals floating around him flashed into his vision then quickly vanished.

'Hmm, Okay I think that will work.' 'What's going to work now?' Monster Arm asked confused when Marco suddenly stopped talking.

'Just an idea that I think I can work into what I'm going to do, I'll talk to guys after I wake Janna up.' Marco says as cuts his connection with Riku and Monster Arm.

'What in the world is he going to pull?' 'That's for him to know and for us to find out I guess.' Riku said simply.

"AAAAAHHHHH! I CAN'T THINK OF ANYTHING!" Marco hears Star and Ruby shout at the same time coming out of his mental discussion with Riku and Monster Arm.

He looks and sees that he was the only one still sitting next to Janna, while others went to different spots of the bedroom to think. He saw Star and Ruby were near the window, both of them pacing back and forth with thinking expression on their faces.

Jackie, Yang, and Blake were by the couch, it looked like Yang had an idea that she wanted to try, but judging from the looks on Jackie and Blake's faces, it didn't seem like they were sold on it.

Finally, he saw Rosa and Weiss by the twisting stairs going back and forth on possible ideas for waking Janna up, but so far it didn't look like they found a concert solution.

He looked down and saw that Janna was still sleeping with that relaxed smile still on her face which seemed to make Marco smile too. He then noticed that his hand was touching Janna's. His face suddenly started to turn a little red as he quickly pulls his hand away from Janna's.

However, her smile didn't leave her face. If anything, her smile looked more like a grin. Shaking his head at her possible antics, he stands up and prepares to tell what he learned and what he plans to do.

"Hey guys, can you all come back around the bed please?" Marco said getting everyone attention when they heard him calling.

"What's up Marco, did you think of something?" Star asked as the others came back around to Janna. "He must have if he was thinking for as long as he has been." Weiss said which confused Marco a bit.

"Dude after we gave up trying to figure out what the charm around Janna's neck was, we all decided to think of why she went berserk in the first place. But when we all went off to think, you just sat there next to her with your eyes closed." Yang told him.

"Yeah, me and Star were trying to get your attention for like 6 minutes, but Weiss and Rosa said you must have been in deep thought and to just leave you be." Ruby said. "They even said that you might find out what that charm was and why Ruby, Weiss, and Rosa got that strange feeling before." Star added.

"Uh, you both do realize that me and Rosa were just speculating about that right?" Weiss said. "Yeah you two, I don't think Marco was that deep in thought about the charm that much." Rosa added which made Star and Ruby a little disappointed.

"Umm actually you guys, I kind of do have a clue on the charm." Marco said, causing everyone's eyes to widen in shock.

"Okay now guys, before I go any further with that, I'm going to explain how I got my Keyblade first. After all," Marco then looks to Weiss, "I did promise that I would talk about that after the fight anyway." Marco says.

"Alright then Marco, lay it on us." Star said excited to know how her friend got his Keyblade. Everyone else nodded in agreement.

"Okay, well it started when I was still stuck to the mall's ceiling," Marco continued with his explanation which involved telling them about diving into his heart, meeting Riku, and finding out he was his descendent. But when he got to the part about his Monster Arm, Star immediately got worried.

"Marco are you sure it's a good idea to trust Monster Arm? Or this Riku person?" She asked a little skeptical about Marco believing what this Riku person said.

"Star I know you have doubts about believing anything Monster Arm says considering what we went through with him, but Riku is a very reasonable person. If it weren't for him, I wouldn't have been able to help the way I did." Marco says summoning Path to Nightfall to his hand looking at it.

"I get what you're saying Marco, I'm just," Before Star could continue, Rosa interrupts her getting close up to Marco surprising him. "You actually met with THE Riku?!" She asked excitedly. "Uh yeah? Umm, Rosa? Do you know about Riku?" He asked once the over-excited red-head backed away from him a bit. "Yeah I can't remember the last time you got this excited over anything before." Ruby said.

"That's for certain, you seem more excited than when you found out about your semblance." Weiss added.

"That's because Marco here, so happens to be the descendent of a well-known Keyblade Master! How can I not be excited about that?!"

"…WHAT?!" the others yell in surprise at what they heard Rosa say.

"So hold on, that means that Marco here is the descendent of a Keyblade Master and he's able to speak with him?" Star says still in shock. "Okay, I was not expecting to find that out." Marco says trying to collect his thoughts.

Weiss quickly refocused and got everyone's attention.

"Rosa not that this is an interesting topic you just dropped on us, but could we talk about this after we deal with Star and Marco's friend?" she said rubbing her temples to ease the slight migraine she was getting. "Oh right sorry about that. So Marco, you also said that you knew something about the charm too, could you tells us that now please?" Rosa asked as Marco came too from the surprise info he heard.

"Uh right. That charm on Janna's necklace, it's actually a copy of a Keyblade called the "Keyblade of heart"." He said. "That charm is a copy of that horrid thing?! Argh! I should've known, no wonder I was getting a bad feeling from it!" Rosa said annoyed she didn't recognize the item at first glance.

Star was confused at why Rosa was upset about the fact that Janna had a mini Keyblade on her necklace.

"I don't get it Rosa, if that charm is a Keyblade then wouldn't that be a good thing?" Star asked. "I agree with Star, I mean even if it's a fake Keyblade it shouldn't be that harmful right?" Ruby said.

Rosa only rubbed her the back of her head to try and calm herself down before looking to Star and Ruby.

"Well you two, that Keyblade does a lot more than just harm a person, it unlocks the darkness in people's hearts." Rosa said in serious tone surprising not only Star and Ruby, but the others as well.

"She's right guys," Marco says, "It's probably the reason why Janna was able to summon the Heartless. It also might have caused some emotions she's kept buried to surface." He said.

"You mean, like her being jealous that I could use magic?" Star said looking down at the ground in a sad voice. Marco only shook his head yes to confirm this, but quickly walked over to Star and placed his hand on her shoulder.

"Star don't worry about that, we just have to remind Janna of all the times we had as friends, that she doesn't need to be jealous of you." Marco told her with a smile on his face. Star smiled back and placed her hand over Marco's.

"Your right Marco, thanks. But how do we do that if Janna is still sleeping?" Star asked.

"Now that Star mentioned it, why is Janna still asleep?" Jackie asked curiously. "Uh Rosa? What exactly did you do to knock her out like this?" Blake asked her red-haired friend. "I only lightly punched her in the stomach, it's not like I was really trying to hurt her."

"Then why is she still asleep then?" Ruby asked. "Janna's still asleep because her heart is asleep right now." Marco said getting everyone's attention.

"Wait, Janna's heart is asleep? Marco what are you talking about?" Star asked confused at what her friend said. "My thoughts exactly, what do mean when you say her heart is asleep?" Weiss said with the others look at Marco with the same question in mind.

"That's what I was going to talk about after I explained how I got my Keyblade. You see," Marco then began to tell the others what Riku and Monster Arm said to him. By the time he finished, everyone's minds were blown away at what they heard.

"Whoa, this is a lot take in y'know?" Yang said scratching the side of her head. "So when I put Janna to sleep, I inadvertently also put her heart to sleep too?" Rosa asked scratching her head in confusion. "Not exactly Rosa, Janna's heart was under a lot of pressure from her darkness being forced out. So when it felt that Janna was no longer drawing on her darkness, it instantly went into a sort of hibernation state." Marco clarified.

"So if we want Janna to wake up, you and possible another person have to dive into Janna's heart and wake her up from there right Marco?" Star asked him. "That's right Star, but the other person needs to be a Keyblade wielder too if I'm going to bring them." Marco said knowing that Star wanted to go with him to help Janna.

"Sigh figures there would be a catch," Star said puffing her cheeks out in mild irritation. "So who are you bringing with you to help or are you planning to go alone?" Blake asked Marco.

"Well I've only got three people here to choose from really but," Marco was going to continue but Weiss cut in.

"But nothing. You'll need someone to help you get a full grasp on the situation when you're in there, so I think its best that I go with you." Weiss said which caused Ruby and Rosa to voice their complaints about that.

"What?! Weiss that's not fair, why do you get to go?! I could be just as helpful." Ruby argued adamantly. "Wait just a minute you two, I've got a bit more experience with a Keyblade here, so I should be the one that gets to go." Rosa said confidently placing her hand on her chest while Ruby and Weiss give a deadpan look.

"Rosa have you even dived into someone's heart before?" Weiss asked which caused Rosa's confidence to falter. "Uh well…no I haven't." "My point exactly, I haven't either but I'd would at least act accordingly on what to do." Weiss explained. "And offence to you or Ruby, but I feel that both of you are a bit too…over the top sometimes."

"WHAT?!/YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME WITH THAT!" Ruby and Rosa shouted.

The three continued to argue, until Yang and Blake came over and got in between them.

"Alright, alright you three, relax already." "Yang's right, arguing isn't going to help wake Janna up. Besides, it's Marco's decision if he wants to bring someone with him to help." Blake said as all three looked to Marco who was staring at the ground with Star next to him patting his back.

The three then stopped arguing as Yang and Blake let them go. They then looked to Marco and Star and bowed their heads which confused them both.

"I'm really, really sorry for acting like that." Rosa said feeling ashamed. "I as well am sorry for acting the way I did just now." Weiss said genially upset at her behavior. "Yeah, I mean you're doing something to help your friend and we're here arguing like little kids so," Ruby then lifts her head up, walks over to Marco and holds her hand out to him.

"Sorry for not taking the whole thing as seriously as we should of." She said with an honest smile.

Star and Marco were touched by their sincerity and smiled.

"Aww it's alright you guys, me and Marco both know you just really wanted to help." Star said. "Yeah, you guys just are really passionate about it is all." Marco added as he brought his hand up to shake Ruby's.

However, when Marco's hand touched Ruby's, a light suddenly shinned from their conjoined hands surprising everyone.

"What the?!/um can someone explain what's going on here?!" Marco and Ruby ask in a bit of a panicked tone.

A thin beam of light then shoots from their still joined hands and hits Janna. The beam then starts to create a white outline around Janna and lifts her off Star's bed. She's then placed gentle on the floor to the side of the bed in a sitting cross legged position as the beam of light disappears and Marco and Ruby's hands stop glowing.

They both let go of each other's hands and stare at them completely puzzled like the others at what just happened.

'What was that just now?' Marco thought as he continued to look at his hand. 'And why did that happen I held Ruby's…hand,' Marco then remembered the glimpse of the rose petal he saw when he was speaking with Riku and Monster Arm.

'Was…was that my heart telling me to take Ruby with me to help?' he thought.

He didn't have much time to think further of it, when he heard Ruby say something to him.

"Um Marco?" she said as his head snapped up when he heard her. "Yes Ruby?" "Okay, this is going to sound a bit weird but," Ruby placed her hands behind her back and started fidgeting in place a little while her head was down.

Marco and the others confused by Ruby's sudden strange behavior. Yang was about to say something, but stopped when she, Marco and everyone else saw Ruby lift her head back up. But when she did they saw that her cheeks had a light dusting of red on them and she was avoiding eye contact with Marco who had to turn away and try and hide his own blushing face.

Ruby took a deep breath before continuing what she was going to say.

"Marco, were you going to…were you going to ask me to help you wake Janna's heart up?" she asked as everyone's eyes widen and their mouths hung opened.

"Umm, Ruby? Can I ask what made you think that?" Marco asked as he reluctantly turned his head to look at the blushing red-hooded girl in front of him.

"I'm not really sure myself, it's just…when you grabbed my hand and that light appeared, I got this feeling that you wanted to ask me to help." She said still not looking directly at him. "Sigh, maybe I'm just imagined it or something."

Marco didn't know what to say at this point. Did his heart really just tell Ruby what it showed him? If it did, then he wondered what the depiction of her he saw when he dived into his heart really meant. Choosing to save that question for another time, Marco decides to accept what has occurred and tell Ruby what he was going to ask her.

"Ruby…you weren't imaging things when you had that feeling I wanted to ask you to help me wake up Janna." Marco said and immediately Ruby's head shot up to look at him while everyone else was shocked.

"Okay, remember when I explained how when I dived into my heart I said I saw those stained glass pictures of my friends?" he asked. "Yeah, you said you saw Jackie, Janna, and me. And that our eyes were closed." Star answered. "Well the thing is there were four pictures." Marco said.

"And you're saying that the picture was of Ruby?" Yang asked as Marco nodded his head.

"But that makes no sense, you and Ruby only just met today how could you know that you might need her help?" Weiss said skeptical about the whole thing.

"Well Weiss maybe Marco's heart knew that if he wanted to help his friend, he's need someone that could help him do that. So his heart reached out to Ruby's and asked it to help." Rosa said. "A person's heart can be unpredictable, sometimes they can lead us into problems and other times they can help find solutions to things we couldn't think of ourselves."

"So what you're saying Rosa is that Marco's heart asked my heart to help him?" Ruby asked as Rosa shrugged her shoulders.

"Yeah maybe," She said before a slight grin appeared on her face. "Or maybe you want to help because you think he's cute." She said which caused both Marco and Ruby's faces to turn bright red and Yang to bend over laughing hard.

"WHAT?!" "I'm kidding, I'm kidding you two ha, geez." Rosa says calming down from her own laughter.

"Alright Rosa, if your done with your joking, can we please have these two dive into this heart and wake her up now?" Weiss said getting irritated.

"Right, so Marco go ahead and ask Ruby again." Rosa said as Marco and Ruby had calmed down from here earlier joke.

"Huh? Oh right. So Ruby, will you help wake Janna up please?" Marco asks holding his hand out again to Ruby. She looks at it for a brief moment, then smiles and grabs his hand with her own.

"Any friend of yours is a friend of mine, yes I'll help you Marco." She says which brought a smile to Marco's face.

"Thanks." "No problem, so how do we go into someone's heart again?" She asks with a sheepish smile on her face.

"Are you serious? Weren't you listening when Marco explained it to us?" Weiss said not at all surprised by her leader's lack of listening.

"Well I kind of spaced out during some of his explanation on that part, sorry ha, ha." Ruby said laughing a little nervously. Marco and Star laughed a little at how Ruby can be an amazing person in battle, but when it comes to social stuff she falls flat on her face sometimes.

"It's cool Weiss, I'm sure Marco doesn't mind explaining again right Marco?" Star said looking to her friend.

"Yeah sure it's no problem really." "Sigh fine then, just be sure to listen to what he says this time Ruby?" "Okay, okay I get it already. Sigh alright my ears are open Marco, whenever you're ready," Ruby said as she took a seat on the couch. "Alright then," Marco makes his way to the couch as well, then sits next to Ruby and begins to explain how he and she will wake Janna's heart up.

"I'm still not too sure about all this." Weiss said. "Sure about what?" Star asked her. "About how Marco's heart asked Ruby of all people to help him with your friend. I mean, it's not that I had high hopes or anything but, if his heart was going to pick someone to help him, I would have thought it would pick Rosa or at the very least you even if you don't have a Keyblade."

Star thought about what Weiss was saying and while it did make more sense for Marco to maybe ask Rosa to go with him, Marco was just putting his faith and trust in what he heard from Riku and his heart, the same way he does with her.

"You have a point Weiss. But, Marco is just a trustworthy person. If someone tells him there's a way to help, he won't hesitate to act. There have been plenty of times where I get in over my head, but Marco always has faith that I'll find a way to fix it. And if I can't, then I know he'll be right there to help." Star says as she places a hand over her heart.

"I mean if you didn't have faith in Ruby you wouldn't be on the same team with her, let only be friends with her right?" she asks Weiss.

Weiss let's out a sigh, then looks over to the couch where Ruby is listening to what Marco was telling her.

"Why is that both you and Ruby have to be so similar in the way you give meaningful speeches?" she said smiling at Star who smiled right back. "Hmm, who knows."

"Okay so, the way diving into someone heart works Ruby is first, you point your Keyblade at the person's heart and focus on that person." "So in this case since we're both going to be diving into Janna's heart, we both need to focus on her right?" Ruby asked. "That's right," Marco confirmed. "So what do we do once we're in her heart?" "Uh yeah about that, Riku said we'd have to figure that part out for ourselves. Like Rosa said, sometimes a person heart can be unpredictable sometimes." "Right, we just need to be extra careful then." Ruby said pumping her a fist into the air with enthusiasm.

Marco rubbed the back of his head smiling at how optimistic the red-hooded girl was.

"Ha, my thoughts exactly Ruby. So are you ready?" Marco asked as he got up from the couch.

"Yeah sure let's go!" Ruby said jumping up from the couch in excitement.

Everyone soon gathered around the sleeping Janna as Marco and Ruby stood a fair distance back.

Star and Jackie chose to sit on both sides of Janna.

"Ha, hey Jackie? Have you noticed that Janna looks so cute asleep like that?" Star said as she was looking at her friend.

Jackie arched an eye brow as she looked at Janna to see what Star meant. When she did, she saw Janna had a serein looking smile on her face as she slept. She felt a smile appear on her face when she saw her friend like that.

"Yeah, I see what you mean Star." Jackie said as a thought suddenly came to her.

"Hey Star?" Jackie whispered as she leans forward. "Hmm? You know if Janna smiled like that more often in front of Marco, he'd probably think she was cuter than annoying don't you think?" She said.

Star thought about it for a second before a cheeky smile soon appeared on her face.

"Oh yeah, your right. Hey Jackie, I just had an idea. What if when Janna wakes up, we try and get her to smile like that in front of Marco? Could you imagine how red his face would if he saw that." Star said as Jackie started to gain a smile at the thought. "I like the way you think sometimes Star."

"Um guys? What are you talking about?" Marco asked causing Star and Jackie to look towards him.

"Oh nothing Marco. Come on Jackie, let's stand clear so these two can do their thing." Star says as she and Jackie moved from in front of Janna.

Marco was curious about what Star and Jackie were talking about, but decided to leave it alone for now.

"Alright Ruby, ready?" Marco says as he summons Path towards Nightfall to his hand.

"Yep," She answers while summoning Fenrir.

"Okay, now remember, focus on Janna and then point towards her heart got it?" "Right."

The two point their Keyblades to Janna and close their eyes and focus.

Marco and Ruby are then enveloped in a white outline, while Janna is enveloped by a light blue one. Two thin light beams then shoot from their Keyblades and hit the spot where Janna's heart is. The white outline around them then glows brighter until both Marco and Ruby disappear into light particles that then fly into Janna.

"Whoa! Did those two really just fly into her?!" Yang said completely shocked at what just happened.

"So that's what it looks like when someone dives into another person's heart?" Blake asked surprised at the phenomenon. "Guess so, now it's up to those two from here on." Rosa said as she sat down next to Star and Jackie who both had the same thought going through their minds.

'Please come back safe, Marco.'

(Janna's Dive to Heart)

Marco wakes up and sees a blackened sky above him.

"So this must be Janna's heart," he says as he gets up to look around, only to see nothing but darkness.

"Hold on, where's," Marco stops and sees Ruby laying on the ground not too far from where he was.

"Ruby!" he yells as sprints over to her. When he reaches her, Marco kneels down to see that Ruby was unconscious.

"Ruby! Hey Ruby come on, wake up!" Marco shouts as he shakes her to try and wake her up.

Ruby then began to stir a little.

"Mm? M-Marco?" She murmured as she began to come too. "Thank goodness, you had me worried there for a second." Marco said as he help Ruby to her feet.

"Ha, sorry about that. So did we make into Janna's heart?" she asked as looked around. "Yeah and from the look of this place, Janna's darkness must be more out of control than we thought. Okay so if we're inside Janna's heart, then what exactly are we standing on right now?" Ruby asks.

"We're probably standing on a platform similar to the one that I saw when I dived into my heart." Marco said. "Oh right, you did say something like that when you were telling us about your Keyblade. So then…where's Janna? If this is her heart, should we be seeing her or something?" "Now that you mention it Ruby, your right." Marco says as he looks around for any sign of Janna.

While Marco looks around the dark space, Ruby starts to get an odd feeling as if someone or something was watching them.

'Something feels off for some reason, what's going on?' Ruby thought before seeing a dark lightning suddenly appear above them.

"Uh Marco? I think something is in here with us and it's up there." Ruby said getting Marco to look above them to see dark lightning crackling in the black clouds.

"W-What's going on?" Marco asks. "I don't know, but something tells me we better get ready to fight!"

As if to confirm Ruby's statement, a large dark blue lightning bolt crashes down onto the platform creating a bright flash of light, forcing the two to cover their eyes. When they feel the light fade, they uncover their eyes.

What they saw standing there was a person who looked to be a man who was giving off a dark menacing aura. He was wearing what looked like dark blue armor and was holding a staff that had a large blade at the end of it. He had bluish green skin and gray hair with bangs coming down from both sides of his face. He had black lines coming down from his eyes that were a brownish yellow color. (A/N: for anyone that's confused right now, this guy is Dark Paladin from Yugioh. I figured that I'd try and pull a dream drop distance here, only this will end differently.)

The mysterious figure locked his gaze on the two youths as a symbol appeared on the front of his armor.

The symbol was a black heart with a red outline that had a spiked "X" in the center of it.

Marco began to panic a little when this person lifted his bladed staff and pointed it at him and Ruby, as if silently saying "you have no chance of winning".

Marco's growing panic would have gotten the better of him, if it weren't for Ruby's voice snapping him out of his worried trance.

"Marco don't let this guy psych you out, remember why you came here? You said you wanted to help Janna and that you'd be willing to do anything you could to do it." Ruby reminded him which caused him to calm down at last.

Marco then took a deep breath and looked back at the armored stranger who had his weapon still pointed at him and Ruby.

"I guessing that you're the reason why I can't find my friend right now," Marco said as he summoned Path to Nightfall to his hand. "If that's the case, then I'm going to have to ask you to either let her go now or," he then mimics the dark stranger by pointing his Keyblade at him. "Be ready for a world of hurt."

"Yeah!" Ruby says as she summons Fenrir to her hand and points it at the figure as well.

Seeing the conviction in their eyes, the armored figure lifted his blade staff into the air and sent a black lightning bolt into the black sky. Seconds later a larger black lightning bolt came down, only this time a defacing roar followed.

Soon after that Marco and Ruby's eyes widen at what was standing in front of them now.

It was a black dragon with raging red eyes and two horns at the back of its head. The same symbol that was on the figures soon appeared on the dragon's head. (A/N: okay yes I'm adding red eyes black dragon too, sue me then all you blue eye white dragon fans. In my opinion, red eyes trumps blue eyes any day.)

"Did this guy just summon a dragon out of nowhere?!" Ruby said completely surprised at what just occurred. "This doesn't make sense, we're in Janna's heart so where did this person come from and how could he…" Marco stopped and realized something when he heard what he said.

'Wait, Janna was still wearing that Keyblade before we dive in here and now suddenly this guy shows up and summons a dragon.' Marco thought as he looks closer at the armored figure and the dragon. 'And they both have that symbol on them that look like…That's it!' Marco quickly looked to Ruby.

"Ruby I think I know where this guy came from." "What he came from somewhere?! Did he maybe follow us in?" She asked. "No, this guy is the combined manifestation of Janna's darkness and the Keyblade that's around her neck." He said. "What?! So this guy could maybe be the reason why Janna's heart is asleep?" "Right, and if we can take him out, then that should wake Janna up." Marco says.

"But first, we need to find how to deal with this dragon." He says trying to come up with something.

While Marco and Ruby were talking, the dragon decide to get their attention by charging a large crimson fireball in its mouth and firing it at them. Thankfully, the two dodged out of the way as the fireball slammed into the spot they were standing at before.

"Okay, that thing has a really low amount of patience. Any ideas yet?" Ruby asked Marco who was still trying think of a plan.

Marco then finally got an idea, though he was not too sure it would work. But if he didn't do something, then Janna's heart would be lost to her darkness.

"Okay Ruby, I need you to keep that dragon distracted while I take out that Heartless Summoner." He says.

"Heartless... Summoner?" Ruby said in confusion.

"Well I mean they both have a symbol on them that kind of tells that they're both Heartless and he just summon another Heartless so..." "Oh I get it, so you just need me to keep Mr. impatient over here busy while you take care of that guy right?" "Think you handle it?" Marco asked. "I'll do more than just handle it Marco, but you might not get to see it!" she says as she bolts towards the dragon.

While Ruby engages the red eyed dragon, Marco turns his attention to now named Heartless Summoner who has been apparently waiting for him.

"Sorry for the wait," Marco says getting into the same stance he took when he fought the Shadow Widow. While the Heartless Summoner spun his blade staff in his right hand and then gets into a one handed sword stance.

"You know, you could at least say something to the person you're about to fight." Marco says not taking his eyes off his opponent.

"You've no hope as it is." the Summoner said which surprised Marco.

"What? What do mean by that?" Marco asked.

"This girl's heart sleeps due to you and another. If you can't mend the wound you created, then this heart will forever be lost to the abyss." He says as he suddenly rushes towards Marco who dodged out of the way at the last second.

Marco quickly brings his Keyblade up to block a sudden over-head strike from the Summoner.

"I don't know what you're talking about, but I won't let Janna's heart sink into darkness! No matter what!" Marco yells as he pushes the Summoner back and charges at him.

Meanwhile, Ruby was dodging fireball after fireball from the black dragon that was flying above her. She was using her speed to dodge, but she knew she couldn't keep running, she needed to find a way to bring it down to ground level.

"If I can just get a clear shot at it," Ruby then notices that the dragon's tail was dangling low enough that she might be able to leap up and grab it.

"That might work. But first," Ruby then swings Fenrir firing off several scarlet slash waves at the dragon who flapped its massive wings creating a rush of wind to blow away the attacks.

Ruby then dashed forward and jumped as high as she could while the black dragon was distracted.

When she was high enough, she grabbed onto the dragon's tail. Ruby then quickly transformed Fenrir into its scythe form and fired a shot to propel herself upward while still holding onto the tail.

When she got high enough, she let go and fired another shot which rocketed her downward towards the dragon who turned around and fired a stream of flames at her. But Ruby quickly swerved out of the way of the fire and continued her dive. She then held her scythe in a reverse grip and hooked the dragon by its neck when she fell past. She proceeded to fire more shots from her scythe which increased the speed of her fall while she dragged the dragon down with her.

Before they reached the ground, Ruby flung herself off the dragon's neck as it crashed into the platform. The sudden impact caused Marco and the Heartless Summoner to stop their fight.

"Hmm, I didn't think that red-eyes would have a difficult time with that small girl." The Summoner said. "That "small girl" is stronger than you think. She's…wait where is-"

Marco stopped talking when a sudden rush of wind and rose petals began to gather into the sky. Both combatants looked up and saw Ruby twirling her scythe above her head with her eyes closed in concentration.

When she opened them, she quickly stopped twirling her scythe and took aim at the still downed dragon.

"EAT THIS!" Ruby then fired her shot which had rushing wind with glowing red rose petals swirling around it as it sped towards its target.

When the shot hit, it caused a massive crimson and white explosion that forced Marco to cover his eyes due to the brightness.

The Heartless Summoner also covered his eyes, but not before sending a black and silver energy stream into the ground towards the explosion.

When the brightness died down, Marco un-covered his eyes as Ruby landed on the ground looking at the billowing smoke where the dragon once was. He immediately sprinted over to her when he saw her fall to one knee.

"Hey Ruby! Are you okay?!" Marco asked when he reached to young scythe wielder.

"Yeah, I'm fine." She said and gave him a smile. "What was that just now?" "Oh, it's a move I've been working on during the time I met Rosa and got my Keyblade. I found out that ever since then, I've been able to generate or gather wind. So I started practicing with it. But it tries me out a bit. Rosa said I need to train my body more so I don't get so easily winded like this." Ruby explained.

"Are you going to be alright?" Marco asked with a worried expression on his face. "I'll be fine in a couple of minutes. Thankfully the move I used doesn't take that much energy." She said which made Marco's eyes widen in surprise. That move looked just as powerful as anyone of Star's spells and yet, it didn't need a lot of energy to use?! Marco laughed a little which caught Ruby by surprise.

"Hey, why are you laughing?" "It's just, we've only met recently and you just keep showing how amazing you can be Ruby." He says smiling at the red and black haired girl who felt he cheeks begin to get warm.

"I must agree with the young man here, I didn't think such a young Keyblade wielder would show such promise." The Heartless Summoner said as he walked over to them.

Marco got to his feet and held his Keyblade at the ready. Ruby tried to do the same, but quickly fell back down breathing a bit hard.

"It seems like she still needs time to recover from that technique she performed. Unfortunately, I don't plan to give you that time." "Ruby already took down you're over-grown black gecko, so I wouldn't be talking tough buddy." Marco said glaring at the dark figure who was unfazed by it.

"Are you so sure that my dragon was defeated?" he asked.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

As if to answer the Marco's question, a familiar sky rending roar was heard.

Marco and Ruby turn and looked in silent horror at what was standing before them.

It was the Red-Eyes Black Dragon Ruby just beat. Except it looked completely different. Its body was now covered in silver armor and it looked to also be wearing iron gauntlets on its claws.

"As you two can see, my dragon appears once more and even more powerful than before."

"B-But how? That attack should have taken it out." Ruby said in horrified shock. "In truth yes; had I not intervened when I did, you're attack would have destroyed my beast." He said which shocked to two Keyblade wielders.

"You see right as your attack hit my dragon, it used its wings to defend itself. However, knowing that it wouldn't be able to withstand the attack on its own, I increased its power so it could survive the blow as well as make it even more fearsome." He said as the menacing metal dragon roared again.

"Now do you both see? Victory for you in this fight is impossible. This girl's heart will sink into the abyss along with you two, where no light can be seen. Now quake in fear and despair as my dragon wipes out not only your hope but your very beings as well."

Marco stood before the colossal dragon as it got ready to unleash a powerful crimson black fireball.

'What do we do now?! This thing is exuding such more power, I'm doing everything I can to keep standing!' he thought as he tried to think of a way to beat this thing.

Suddenly, Marco felt… something. He didn't know what it was, but he suddenly felt fear, sadness, and despair begin to fill his heart.

'Huh? What's going on? Why am I feeling all these emotions all of a sudden? I'm still not giving up, I'm still trying to find a way to save Janna's heart. So where are these negative emotions coming from?' Marco thought in confusion.

"Hey Ruby, can you-" Marco stopped mid-sentence when he saw Ruby looking up at the dragon in absolute fear. He also saw tears coming down her face as he heard her quietly mumble.

"I…I…I don't want…it's my fault. I let this happen…because I wasn't strong enough."

The dragon must have senesced Ruby's fear, because it directed its attack at her. When Marco saw this, he quickly picked up Ruby and moved out of the way as the metal dragon released its attack at the very spot Ruby was at a second ago, creating a massive explosion that almost forced the two off the platform.

"That was close. Hey Ruby, Are you okay?" Marco asked in a worried voice as he held onto her. He saw that more tears were coming down from her eyes as she raised her head to look at him.

"Marco I…" Ruby then looks down at her scythe that soon reverted back to its Keyblade form. Except now it was covered with scratches and burn marks. When she saw this, she closed her eyes which caused the tears to fall onto her Keyblade.

"I'm so sorry, I'm sorry I wasn't strong enough to beat that dragon like you asked me to. And now because of me, you're going to lose your friend. I just…I just," Before she could continue, both Marco and she heard their two adversaries making their way over to them.

"It would seem like the over-powering presences of my dragon's new form has caused you're friend to lose the will to fight." The Heartless Summoner said. "Now you must face both me and my beast alone if you truly wish to save your friend's heart. Of course if you choose to fight, know that we will not hesitate to attack you're now useless partner there." He says pointing to the crestfallen Ruby.

"So, what will you do now boy?" the Summoner asks as his metal red eyed dragon looms over him ready to continue fighting.

Marco sat there silently looking at Ruby who still had her head down looking at her damaged Keyblade.

Marco didn't know what to do now. He didn't have a plan, Ruby looked like she couldn't fight anymore, and now it seems like he'll have to fight two powerful opponents on his own. Normally in a situation like this, Marco would have had the biggest panic attack of his life. Here he was in Janna's heart, trying to save her from falling into darkness, and now it looked like he would be lost to that very darkness that he came here to save his friend from.

But none of that mattered to him when he looked at Ruby's teary eyed face.

When he saw the tears roll down her normally happy and admittedly cute face, it reminded him of the time when he was kidnapped by Toffee and Star came to save him. He remembered how she scarified her wand to save him, but what stuck out the most to him from that time, were the tears that she shed when she performed to whispering spell.

Ever since that time, Marco has been putting himself down for that moment. So he swore to himself that he would do anything he could to insure that he would never let Star or anyone close to him cry like that again.

Marco placed his hand on Ruby's shoulder which caused her to look up to see Marco smiling at her.

"Marco? W-why are you," Ruby stopped mid-sentence as Marco pulled out a handkerchief from his pocket and starts to whip the tears from her face. All the while Ruby is blushing like crazy as Marco finishes.

"There you go," he says as he takes his hand from her shoulder and places it on her head and rubs it.

"U-Umm…what was…I-I mean…M-Marco?" Ruby stuttered out, her face still as red as her hood while she tried to ask Marco why he did what he did.

"You know Ruby, you and Star really do have a lot more in common than you both think." He said which confused her. "What do you mean?" "I mean you both have this happy and bubbly spirit that just makes it hard to see either of you so cry. You both look and do your best when you're smiling if you ask me." Marco said as he helped Ruby stand back up.

"But, I couldn't keep the dragon down long enough for you to beat that guy because I wasn't strong and-"

"I just asked you to keep dragon breath over there busy for me. Though, it would have been pretty cool to see you blast it right off this platform." He said which got Ruby to laugh a little.

"Hmph, I doubt that weak child next to you could have pulled off such a thing against my dragon. Stop filling her head with such worthless praise." The Summoner said drawing their attention to him.

"Worthless? I've only met her for one day. And in that one day, she's shown me just how amazing she can be, so I say she diverse a little compliment and not your negative comments!" Marco yells which surprised Ruby.

"Ruby, do not listen to a word this jerk says. You're not weak, you're a strong huntress who looks out for her friends. In some cases, you're just like Star. You both care about your friends and would do anything to see them happy and safe. Even if that means doing something that's reckless and dangerous. So it doesn't matter what this guy says, all you have to do is fight the way you always do and come out with a smile and I'll be right by your side as you do it too." Marco says holding his hand out to the stunned red-hooded girl.

Ruby looked at the outstretched hand and then to Marco. A smile begins to appear on her face as she brings her hand up and places it in Marco's.

"Thanks, Marco. You're right, I can't let what this guy says get to me." She says. "Exactly Ruby. I know for a fact how strong you are and I know you can get even stronger." Marco said and immediately Ruby's cheeks turned red.

"Y-You really mean that?" "Of course I do." He said smiling which caused Ruby to smile back.

Suddenly a bright light began to shine from their conjoined hands which surprised not only Marco and Ruby, but also the Heartless Summoner and the dragon.

"Marco! What's going on?! Why are our hands glowing again?!" "I don't know, but for some reason it feels different from last time." Marco says as light grew brighter making it hard for him and Ruby to see each other.

"Where did this light suddenly come from?" the Summoner said as he and the dragon shielded their eyes from the growing brightness.

The continued to grow until the entire space was whited out.

"Marco? Hey Marco?" Marco opens his eyes after hearing his name being called and sees Ruby looking down at him with relief in her eyes.

"Oh thank goodness, you had me worried for a second there." "Sorry about that." He says sitting up and looking around to see that he and Ruby were in a white void.

"Where are we exactly?" "No clue. After that light grew, I couldn't see you anymore. Then the next thing I know, I'm waking up in this place and find you passed out right next to me." Ruby said. "Hmm, I wonder why that light suddenly appeared." Marco asked but then noticed was behind Ruby.

"Ah Ruby? Are those our?" "Huh?" Confused by what Marco was trying to say, Ruby turns around to see what was behind her.

When she does, her eyes widen in surprise when she her and Marco's Keyblades in a cross "X". They also had two red orbs floating in front of them.

"Uhh, how long have our Keyblades been floating like that? And what are those red orbs in front of them?" Ruby asked curiously as Marco got to his feet and walked up next to her.

"I don't know Ruby," Marco says as he looks at the red eye of his Keyblade as it looks back at him. "But something in me is saying that maybe we should try touching those orbs." "Are you sure about that?" "Yeah, I mean, why would that light suddenly appear and then we wake up and find our Keyblades crossed like this and these red orbs floating in front of them?" Marco explained.

Ruby thought about for a second and decided to put her faith in Marco's gut feeling.

"Okay then, so should one of us go first or should both touch an orb at the same time?" "Hmm, let's try touching them at the same time." "Alright then."

Marco and Ruby walk up to the orbs. When they do, their Keyblades un-cross from each other and then reappear in their hands. While a bit surprised by the sudden action, the two continued with what they were doing. Marco started to get a little nervous which caused his hand to shake. He looks over to Ruby and she flashes him a reassuring smile which calms him down.

"Okay, on three." "Right, one, two, three!"

Marco and Ruby place their hands on one of the orbs. They feel a sudden surge of energy began to course through them.

Back on the platform within Janna's heart, the Heartless Summoner and Red eyes Metal Dragon stood there in confusion.

"What's going on? Where did those two vanish off to?" he asked.

Then a sudden bright like erupted from the dark sky above them.

"What?!" he said as two familiar people reappeared in front of him and the dragon. Except, they looked completely different.

Marco was now wearing a different outfit than the one he had before.

He was now wearing a black colored hoodie, with silver pauldron-like additions to his sleeves and white lining. He had a navy blue undershirt with a red patch in the center. His pants, similar to chaps, are colored black on the outside, and a navy blue on the inside, and lined with silver-white edging. Red straps crisscross around his pants, held together with a black belt. The pants feature red pockets with a black cross over them. His gloves are colored black on the outside and white on the inside with a red line running around them. He also wears large black-red boots with silver soles, a zipper running across the top, and black straps holding them together with buckles here and there. Around his neck was a golden sun pendent. (A/N:I gave Marco Sora's kingdom hearts 2 outfit. I really wanted to give him Sora's KH3 outfit, but couldn't find a proper description of it. But I did alter some of the outfit to give it a more unique look for Marco.)

Ruby was also wearing a new outfit. It consisted of a white high-neck décolletage blouse. It had the red and black skirt she wore before, but the waist line was replaced with an over bust corset. She had on a black belt with red boarders and brown straps on her blouse. She now wore thigh-high stockings reaching to a few inches below the hem of her skirt, decorated by an image of a long-stemmed rose in place of her full black stockings. Her red-soled black boots now contain four straps and buckles apiece. Her red cloak now had a singular clip on the right shoulder in the shape of the rose emblem, replacing the cross-shaped clips.

Lastly, her hair was slightly longer and maintained the color gradation from black at the roots to red at the tips. (A/N 2: Yep I'm using her volume 4 outfit and before anyone says anything, as the story goes on the rest of team RWBY will get their vol 4 outfits too. Just wait for it.)

"What? Where did they come from?! And what's this powerful aura I'm getting from them?" the Summoner said surprised at Marco and Ruby's reappearance.

When they both opened their eyes, they saw that they were back on the platform. They then looked at each other and were surprised at their new outfits.

"Whoa Ruby? When did you switch outfits?" "I was going to ask you the same thing! Where did you get this new outfit?!" She asked surprised at Marco's new clothes.

Marco and Ruby looked themselves over and were both shocked and amazed at their new attire.

"Wow, this. Is. AWSOME! I mean look Marco, you look even cooler than when you first got your Keyblade." "Ha, thanks Ruby." Marco said feeling a little bashful at Ruby's comment.

"Wait, you thought I was cool before?" Marco asked which caused Ruby to realize what she said as her cheeks turned red for what felt like the third time today.

"Well...yeah. I mean you were pretty cool way before you got your Keyblade, you fought monsters without a weapon and went on cool adventures with Star, who wouldn't think that's cool."

"Well your pretty cool yourself Ruby." Marco said smiling at her. "You got to train to fight monsters and you even made you're own weapon, that's really cool if you ask me." "Okay please stop, compliment me anymore and I think I'll pass out from blushing too much." She said with her hands on her ever redding cheeks.

"Hmph, that was unexpected. I didn't think you two would vanish like that."

Marco and Ruby turned to the voice of the Heartless Summoner and his dragon standing not too far from them.

"It also seems like you both got a hold of something, something...I can't explain. However, it doesn't matter what happened or where you got those clothes from. The result will still be the same as before, I will bring this heart back to the darkness where it belongs." He said pointing his blade at them while his dragon roared behind him.

Marco and Ruby looked at each other, then back at their two adversaries.

"I'm getting the feeling you want a rematch against metal head over there right Ruby?" Marco asked grinning.

"Heh, it's that obvious huh?" "Yep, sure you can handle him this time?" "Sigh, as I said before Marco,"

Ruby then holds her hand out as light begins to gather into it. Then in a quick flash, resting in Ruby's other hand is a second Keyblade.

It had a dark grey hilt and a blade resembling a revolver. At the tip if the blade is a lion's head with a fleur-de-lis as the teeth. The keychain had a dark grey color with another lion head attached at the end.

"I'll do more than just distract it this time. This time he's going down!" Ruby yelled as quickly vanished and then reappeared in front of dragon and struck its chest sending it skidding across the platform. Ruby then landed on the ground holding Fenrir in a reverse grip and her new Keyblade in a normal grip.

"Come on you, let's see who's stronger now! The metal dragon or the sleeping lion?"

While Ruby charged at the metal dragon Marco look on, amazed at his friend's sudden new speed and power. While the Summoner stood there awestruck at the girl's sudden attack.

"Something tells me that dragon of yours won't be getting back up once Ruby is done with him." Marco said causing the Summoner to grit his teeth in frustration as he glared at the young Latino boy.

"Of course that's only after I make sure you don't try and pull anything this time." Marco said summoning his Keyblade and dashing towards his stunned opponent. The Heartless Summoner quickly brings his blade staff up just in time to block the attack.

'What is this? Not too long ago he could barely keep up with my attacks. Now all of sudden his power and speed have increased.' He thought as he managed to push Marco back. 'That girl as well, one second my dragon has her at its mercy and now,' He looks over to see his red eyes metal dragon struggling to land an attack on Ruby who effortless dodge every strike and then counter attacked using her two Keyblades.

"Looks like your distracted," he heard Marco say.

"Hmph, don't get ahead of yourself boy, no matter how much stronger you get, it won't help you if I can summon another beast. Eventually, you will get tired and wear yourself out." He said knowingly, only to see Marco look back at him silently.

Marco closed his eyes and placed his hand on his Keyblade. A red light then began to appear under him as he continued to concentrate. Then he's soon enveloped in a bright light that forces the Summoner to shield his eyes.

As soon as the light died down and he uncovered his eyes, he saw that Marco's outfit was now red and white with a fleur-de-lis emblem on each pant leg and sleeve. However, what really caught the Summoner's attention was what Marco now had in his other hand.

"Y-You as well?" he muttered in silent worry as he saw that Marco was now holding a second Keyblade.

Marco's new Keyblade had a curved, notched blade with a noticeably sharp edge. It had a silver and black color scheme with spikes on the rainguard which was black and rounded, and four more which made up the teeth. The handle had a checkerboard design and the keychain links were three pointed stylized stars and a strange symbol adorned the hilt. The token was a four pointed Silver Star.

Marco looked at his new Keyblade in both amazement and curiosity.

'There's something about this Keyblade that's giving me this weird feeling,' he thought, but shook it from his mind and re-focused on his opponent. 'I'll ask about it later, after Ruby and I take care of things here.'

"I hope you're ready, because I'm not holding back!" Marco shouts as he quickly dashes to the Summoner and brought both his Keyblades down on in a downward attack.

The Summoner just barely managed to dodge but not without having the front of his armor scratched slightly.

'So fast, I barley dodged that!'

"HAAAA!" Marco continued with his rush of quick and powerful strikes as the Summoner was barely able to keep up.

While Marco and the Heartless Summoner were clashing, Ruby was quickly pushing the Red Eyes Metal dragon into a corner.

It tried to rend her in half with a swing of its steel claws, but she easily deflected the attack. She then vanished from sight, but quickly reappeared on the left side of the dragon's head and slashed down blinding it. Ruby then dashed towards the ground and jumped back away from the dragon as it roared in pain. It leveled its one good eye at Ruby before launching a stream of flames at her.

Ruby gripped her Keyblades tightly as she started channeling the wind around them. As the attack threw closer, Ruby crossed her Keyblades in front of her, then quickly un-crossed them firing off a cross "X" slash wave that easily cut through the fire stream and slammed into the dragon forcing it to let out a pain induced roar.

The Heartless Summoner looked in complete disbelief as his dragon hit the ground.

"Impossible! How could that girl defeat my dragon?!" he said infuriated.

"It's because she never gave up and kept fighting." The Summoner then realized he took his attention off of Marco who was now dashing towards him.

"And it's also a bad idea to take your eyes off your opponent!" Marco said as he dashed past the Summoner with holding his Keyblades behind him.

The Heartless Summoner stood there frozen until he heard something hit the ground next to him. He looked down and with pure horror in his eyes, saw his arm laying there for a few seconds before disintegrating into back dust.

"This...this can't be happening, this can't be happening!" he yelled as he held the stub where his arm was with his other arm that was holding his weapon.

Marco turned around and pointed Path to Nightfall at the one-armed Heartless Summoner.

"It's over, Ruby took down your dragon and you just lost an arm. Now release my friend's heart."

The Summoner lowered his head and began to let out a dark laugh which didn't go un-noticed by Ruby.

"Umm Marco? Is everything under control over there?" she asked confused as to why her friend's opponent was suddenly laughing."Not sure, hey, you want to explain why you're laughing? I mean most people I know don't laugh when they lose." Marco said as Ruby made her way over to him.

"You both think you've won? Ha! I'm far from finished." The Summoner said as a black aura began to surround him and the dragon.

"If me and my dragon can't defeat you two separately, then we'll have to try the next best thing."

The Heartless Summoner and Red Eyes Metal Dragon then turned into two black orbs that then merged into each other and slammed into the platform. Seconds later, a huge geyser of darkness sprang up surprising Marco and Ruby.

"What's going on?!" "I have no clue Ruby, but just get ready for anything." Marco said as he and Ruby prepared themselves. As soon as the geyser stopped, a new figure stood before them.

The figure was wearing black and gold armor with a red gem on the chest plate. He was wielding a curved sword and a shield that had the image of a demon on it. His helmet looked similar to the head of the Red Eyes Black Dragon, with a red feather head piece hanging from behind and two red gems on the sides of its helmet which give it the appearance of eyes.

His face being shown through his helmet reveled he had pale skin and lifeless purple eyes.

Marco and Ruby looked at the new opponent as they got into their battle stances.

"So... he could have fused with that dragon anytime, but didn't because he thought that him and the dragon only could beat us?" Ruby asked looking to Marco.

"That's what it looks like. I'm guessing he didn't do it before because he thought it'd be a waste of time and that we're not worth the effort." Marco said which caused Ruby's eye to twitch in mild irritation.

"So he was basically underestimating us, is that it?" Ruby asked as she got into a crouching position which Marco noticed.

"You're planning on bolting straight at him aren't you?" he asked receiving a nod from Ruby. "Well don't. I know you really find it irritating when someone underestimates what you can do, but you can't let that get to you. If you do it will hinder what you're capable of." Marco said locking his brown eyes with Ruby's sliver ones.

After hearing the logic in Marco's words, Ruby takes a deep breath and stands back up next to Marco.

"Sigh, sorry about that." "It's alright, pretty sure if I was huntsmen I'd feel the same way." "Marco if you decide to become a huntsmen, you'd be so strong that people wouldn't think of taking you lightly." Ruby said which made Marco laugh sheepishly.

"I believe you two have talked long enough," the Heartless Knight said as suddenly lunged at them. Fortunately, they both jumped to the side, avoiding his attack.

"Marco, I think for once we should take the bad guy's advice this time." Ruby said holding her Keyblades in a cross guard. "Right, let's do this then!" Marco shouts dashing towards the dark knight.

[Song cue: Dark Impetus - Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep]

The Heartless knight brought his shield up and blocked as Marco swung his Keyblades in a vertical strike. He then shoved Marco back, sending him skidding across the platform. Marco quickly dug Serendipitous Duo to stop himself, then raised the Path to Nightfall to block as the Heartless Knight brought his sword down to try and spilt his skull in two.

"You weren't joking were you? You're defiantly a lot stronger than before." Marco said as his Keyblade was locked with his opponent's.

"Hmph, your only just now realizing that?" the dark knight pushed Marco back again and raised his shield just in time to block a surprise attack from Ruby. He then threw her off to the side and charged down at her with his sword glowing a menacing dark purple.

"Nightmare Ripper!" he then swung his sword firing off several black slash waves towards Ruby.

"Ruby look out!" Marco yelled.

Instead of trying to dodge the incoming waves, Ruby ran towards them. While she was picking up speed, streaks of red and white light began to surround her as she ran. Just as she was about to collide with the attack, Ruby jumped and twisted her body causing her spin like a crimson spiral with red and white rose petals coming off her as she blasted through each dark slash wave.

The Heartless Knight quickly brought his shield up just as Ruby slammed into it and began pushing him back.

"Marco!" She yelled snapping Marco out of his trance to see that Ruby was pushing the Knight towards him. Marco quickly dashed at the Heartless Knight who looked back to see him closing in on him.

'Blasts! So she was pushing me towards him so that they could pincer attack.' He said desperately trying to think of something. That proved to be a mistake on his part as that small distraction caused him to lose focus and for Ruby to capitalize on as she pushed hard enough to crake his shield. The force of the impact sent him flying to Marco who swung the Path to Nightfall in a reverse grip. The Heartless Knight thought to try and use his shield, but instead chose to use his sword.

"Take this!" "I don't think so!" Marco dragged his Keyblade from underneath to do an upward slash, but the Knight did a downward strike stopping Marco attack.

Marco quickly let go of his Keyblade and allowed the momentum to carry him upward.

"What?!" the Heartless Knight said as Marco began to descended fast holding Serendipitous Duo over his head. The Heartless Knight had little choice but to use his damaged shield and try to block the attack.

"HAAAAA!" Marco yelled as he slammed his Keyblade on the Knight's damaged shield. The force of the strike being too much ultimately shattered the shield leaving him defenseless.

"Curse you!" He yelled as he went for a two handed sword swing. But Marco quickly summoned Path to Nightfall back to his hand in a reverse grip and swung upward catching the knight's sword mid-swing.

"Now Ruby!" Marco shouted. The Heartless Knight looked behind him and saw Ruby lunge at him. Marco un-hooked himself from his opponent and quickly jumped back as Ruby soon vanished then reappeared next to him. The Heartless Knight soon fell to one knee with an "X" slashed across the front of his armor.

[Song end]

"This...This can't be happening," The Knight said as he braced himself on his sword to stand up. "How could you two gain such power? What is it that makes you worthy to even wield it?!" he shouted

"It's simple," Marco said.

"Because we're fighting to help save a friend, and we won't stop until she's safe." Ruby added.

The Heartless Knight looked at the determination in their eyes and was impressed with what he saw.

"Hmph, very well then." He said as he stood up straight and took hold of his sword with both hands.

"Huh? How are you able to stand like that after those attacks?!" Ruby asked amazed the dark knight could stand like he wasn't seriously injured. "Ruby calm down." "What do you mean Marco?! Do you not see this guy standing right now?!" "I see him standing, it's just that," Marco was about to say, when the Heartless Knight finished what he was going to say.

"You should listen to your friend girl. The reason he is not on guard is because he knows I've reached my limit."

"Wait, your limit?" Ruby asked confused by what he meant.

"It means Ruby that he used all his power." Marco answered.

"He's right. However," the Heartless Knight holds his sword in a battle ready stance. "Even knowing that, I refuse to admit defeat yet. Now show me this determination that lies within your hearts. Let me see that which makes you both worthy to hold the title of Keyblade wielders!"

Marco and Ruby look to each other and then nodded. A white light then flashes around them for a second before fading. When it did, Ruby is seen still wearing her new outfit, but is now only holding Fenrir. Marco's outfit reverted back to the color it was before and he is only holding Path to Nightfall.

The two then get into battle ready positions.

The Heartless Knight smiles a little, actually looking forward to his finale fight.

[Song cue: This Will Be The Day - RWBY Volume 1]

"COME!" He yells as he quickly lunges at the two Keyblade wielders.

"Let's go Ruby!" "Yeah!" Marco and Ruby then dash at the Heartless Knight ready to end this battle.

"Nightmare Ripper!" the knight shouts as begins shooting off dark slash waves.

"Ruby I got this, you keep moving!" "Got it!" Marco then grips his Keyblade with both hands. He then quickly vanishes then reappears as the slash waves disappear, each one of them cut away in an instant.

Ruby bolted pass Marco and charged at the Heartless Knight who quickly brought his sword up and block a quick series of attacks from Ruby. Even though he had little strength left, Ruby was impressed at how well he was blocking her attacks, however she managed to land a solid hit on his side which caused his guard to fall.

"Marco!"

Marco then comes charging towards the dark knight and lands a solid kick in his stomach pushing back.

"Let's finish this Ruby!" "Roger!" Marco and Ruby then chased down the dazed knight. He sees them coming and tries to defend himself, but was too late.

Ruby sped forward and slashes through him multiple times stunning him. Marco then quickly charges in and slashes him 8 times in rapid succession with the last one sending him flying backward. Ruby then dashes at him while Marco does the same.

"HAAAAAA!" the two slash through the Heartless Knight from both sides. The Knight then falls on his back as his sword lays next to him, broken in half.

[Song end]

The Heartless knight looks up at the darkened sky a smile present on his face.

"Hmm, it seems your hearts were worthy after all." He said in an approving tone. As Marco and Ruby walk up to him, he began to fade away.

"Wait before you disappear, can you tell us how to wake Janna's heart up?" Marco asked. The Heartless knight weakly stretches his hand out. All of a sudden a pink door with a keyhole in the center of it appears in front of them.

"Open the door with your key boy. Once you do, you'll find the girl on the other side. What comes after that, well...seeing as how many times you've made the girl here with you blush, I believe you won't have much to worry about." He said which caused Ruby to blush again for the up tenth time.

"Alright, thank you." He said. The Heartless knight only smiled back in response as he faded away. As he did, the black platform they were standing on changed. It now showed five stained glass pillars, each showing a different image.

One showed Janna with her eyes closed. Two more showed images of Star and Jackie with their eyes closed as well. A third one showed Marco, except his eyes were open. However, the last one is what really surprised Marco and Ruby the most. The last image was of Weiss with her eyes open.

"Why is there a picture of Weiss here in Janna's heart?" Ruby asked. "I honestly have no clue Ruby." Marco said as he walked up to the pink door. "But how about we ask Janna when we see her." He said pointing his thumb to the door.

"Oh right," she said as she walk up next to Marco as he pointed his Keyblade at the keyhole. A thin beam of light shot from his Keyblade and hit the keyhole causing the door to begin opening.

"Well let's go." Marco said as he started walking through the door. "Right." Ruby said following right behind him.

In a flash of light, they find themselves on a dock over looking the ocean at sunset. They turned around and saw that there was also a beach.

"How did we get to this beach?" Ruby asked as she look around the island. "I don't know, but maybe we should-" Marco stopped mid-sentence when he turned and saw something.

"Maybe we should what? Marco? What were you going to-" Ruby turned to see why Marco had stopped speaking as her eyes widened in surprise when she saw what he was looking at.

Standing in front of them was a little girl wearing a turquoise colored T-shirt, yellow skirt, brown boots, and a olive colored beanie hat. She had dark-blue hair and brown eyes that were looking back at Marco and Ruby.

"Janna? But why do you-what is going on?" Marco asked. "Um Marco? Is this Janna? If it is, why does she look like that?" Ruby asked feeling very confused.

"What is it that scares you the most?" little Janna asked getting the two teen's attention.

"Huh? What scares us?" Ruby asked. "Yeah, what's something that would really scare you more than anything else?" "Oh, well...I'm not sure how to answer that. What about you Marco, what scares you more than anything?" Ruby asked him.

Marco then started to think. He thought of all the things that could scare him. But when the images of his friends, his parents, and all the good times he's experienced came to him, he felt a pit of fear in his heart.

"Losing something that's important." He said. "Losing something? You mean like your wallet or something like that?" Ruby asked which caused Marco and little Janna to start laughing. "N-No Ruby nothing like that. I mean something really important that you keep close to your heart." Marco explained pointing to his own heart as a reference.

"Ohh that's what you mean. Your right, I mean the scariest thing for me would be if I forgot about my Mom." "You're Mom?" Marco asked.

"Yeah, she...passed away when Yang and I were really little. She's the reason I want to be a great huntress, so if I suddenly couldn't remember anything about her," Marco placed his hand on Ruby's shoulder and smile. Ruby smiled back in appreciation while little Janna smiled at them.

"You guys look like an old married couple." She said which caused Marco to quickly take his hand off Ruby while their faces turned bright red. "But your answers were alright I guess. Hey! What that's over there?!" she said causing them to quickly look to the left and see...nothing.

"I don't...see anything." "Me either why'd you say that-" Marco and Ruby turned to see that little Janna had vanished.

"Huh? She disappeared. Where'd she go?" Ruby asked looking around for any sign of the little Janna. "Calm down for a second, let's just go down to the beach and see if we can spot her." "Okay then." Marco and Ruby soon made their way off the dock onto the sandy beach front.

"I'll go look over by those trees and you can look near the ocean." "Got it." Ruby said soon taking off to find little Janna. While Marco looked around, up, and behind the large palm trees, allow his thoughts to wander a little bit.

'That was a little strange seeing Janna back when we were in kindergarten. Heh, even back then she was a little sneak, but she was the one person who would talk to me sometimes.' He thought until he heard Ruby calling him.

"Hey Marco? Could you come over here? I found something you might want to see." She yelled loudly. "Did you find her?" "Well, yes and no. Just come over and you'll see what I mean."

Confused by what she meant, Marco made his way out of the mini palm tree forest to where he heard Ruby. He walked for a bit before spotting her and someone else.

"Ruby I'm here, so what did you mean when you said-" Marco stopped speaking when he saw who Ruby was with.

Standing in front of them now was Janna, except she looked like the day she, him, and Jackie first started going to Echo creek high.

She still had her brown boots and olive green beanie hat, only now she had on a yellow T-shirt, blue shorts, and her dark-blue hair was in two pony tails that hung at the back.

"Uhh," "Yeah that's what I said when I found her." Ruby said as she closed Marco's open mouth.

"Hey it's really weird for me too y'know." Young Janna said folding her arms. "Anyway, I've got a question for the both of you." She said point two fingers at them.

"What is the one thing you care about more than anything else?"

"That is another very loaded question." Marco said rubbing the back of his head. "Marco, do you mind if I answer this one?" Ruby asked. "I mean you kind of took the first question, also I think I know the answer she wants to hear." "Oh really? Well sure go on Ruby, this one's all yours." Marco said giving a thumbs up.

Ruby gave one of her own before turning back to the young girl in front of them.

"Okay little red riding hood, what's your answer?" Young Janna asked.

"My close friends," Ruby said smiling which got Marco to just smiled and shake his head while young Janna looked at her with widened eyes.

"Wait, that's your answer?" she asked a little bewildered. "Yeah, I mean my friends are really important to me. You see back in my world, I had to be part of a four person team and well...I wasn't the most socially person on the team at the time. Actually my weapon Crescent Rose was about the only thing I was social with ha, ha," Ruby laughs nervously.

"Crescent Rose? Do you mean that scythe you transform your Keyblade into?" Marco asked. "Yep that's the one." Young Janna started laughing so hard her sides started to hurt.

"You mean...you...you were friends...with an giant hedge trimmer?" She said in between laughs. "Hey give me a break would ya! You try making friends at a school where everyone is older than you sheesh." Ruby huffed while folding her arms.

"Well Ruby you've got to admit, it is a little funny." Marco said trying to hold in his own laughter. "I mean I've heard of people making friends with maybe a stuffed animal or someone that is imaginary, but making friends with a weapon? That is defiantly a new one." Marco said as Ruby puffed out her checks in frustration and turn away as Janna continued to laugh until she fell to the ground.

"But, I understand what your getting at." He said which caused Ruby look back at him and smile while also getting Janna to stop laughing.

"Yeah well of course you would, I mean you, Star, Jackie, and Janna, the four of you look like your all really great friends." "I guess we are." Marco said, scratching his check feeling a little embarrassed. "Hey wait, I just thought of something." Ruby said suddenly. "You four could totally make your own team." "Huh? You mean like you and the others?" "Yeah." She said feeling excited about the idea.

"As great of an idea as this Ruby, only Star and I know how to fight and that's mainly against monsters. Jackie doesn't know anything about that I'm aware of and Janna well," Marco looks at the young version of his friend who raises an eye brow at him in confusion.

"Well...I guess you have a point there," Ruby said rubbing the back of her head before another idea came to her. "Wait a second, you guys could come to our world to train." "Your...world?" Marco asked a bit confused. "Yeah, we could bring you to Beacon so Jackie and Janna could train to fight. That could work right?" "Well maybe, but you'd have to ask the both of them. I can't make the choice for them." Marco said with Ruby nodding her head in agreement.

"Alright, are you two done with your conversation now?" Young Janna said getting the two's attention.

"Oh sorry about that," Ruby said bowing her head in apology. "Ah yeah sorry, guess we just got too caught up in the conversation." Marco said embarrassed.

"Yeah, you both looked like an old married couple or something." She said grinning at the two of them causing them to blush again.

"Could you not say that please!?" Ruby said flailing her arms around while Marco tried to calm his own blush down.

"Okay, okay. Anyway that was a really blunt answer, but you pass I guess." Young Janna said before disappearing which surprised the two.

"Marco what exactly is going on?" Ruby asked beginning to get really confused right now. "I haven't the slightest clue Ruby. First, we meet a version of Janna when she was in kindergarten. Then, we run into a version of her when she was just starting Echo creek high school with Jackie and I." Marco listed off.

As he was trying to figure out what it all meant, Ruby spotted what looked like someone sitting on large palm tree.

"Hey Marco look, someone's over there." "Huh?" Marco looks to where Ruby was pointing to and he sees that there is someone over there sitting on the curved tree.

"That might be Janna! Come on Ruby. Got it,"

Marco and Ruby quickly make there way over to the large curved tree where the person is sitting. When they get there however, they find that it's not Janna sitting there but a different person.

The person was a boy who looked to be older than Marco, but close enough to Ruby's age. He had purple eye and his hair was in a very wild design. It had multiple layers including long blond crooked, pointy locks for his fringe and a set of five large spikes and two smaller spikes colored black with a magenta sheen along the edges. He was wearing what looked like a blue school uniform jacket and pants with a black T-shirt underneath. He also wore a pair of black and white sneakers. (A/N: yep, Yugi Muto, someone sew me now. I'm only using him since...well come on, he's from an anime where you summon monsters in a card game.)

"Um who are you?" Marco asked getting the person's attention. "Oh hello there, did you two need something?" the boy asked. "Ah yeah actually, we wondering if you've seen a friend of mine?" Marco asked the him.

The boy put his hand under his chin and thought for a minute before looking back at the setting sun.

"I may have seen this friend your looking for. But first-"

"let me guess, we have to answer a question first right?" Marco said as the boy laugh sheepishly.

"Well your half right." The boy said. "Wait half right?" "Yes, because this question is for you and only you to answer." The boy said looking to Marco. "Huh? Just Marco? I don't have to answer?" Ruby asked as the boy shook his head.

"Sigh, alright then," Marco says as he walks over and leans against the tree and folds his arms. Marco looked up at the tree and noticed a strange looking fruit hanging from it.

"Am I seeing things or are those star-shaped fruits?" he asked. "Oh those? Yes they are, I think their called a Paopu Fruit." The boy said. "This is the only tree here they grow on." "Really? Do you think I can get a better look at them from where your sitting?" Ruby asked.

The boy smiled and scooted over to make room for Ruby to sit. She then hopped up and sat at the spot that was close to Marco and looked up at the star-shaped fruit.

"Wow, they really do look like stars, and they only grow on this tree?" "As far as I know of." The boy said. "There's even a legend about them." "Really? There's a legend about these fruits?" Marco asked skeptically.

"Mm-hm, do you want to know what it is?" "Yes! Yes!" Ruby answered excitedly while Marco just shrugged his shoulders.

"Well the legend says that if two people share one of these fruits, their destinies become intertwined and they'll remain a part of each other's lives no matter what."

"Wow, that means this fruit must be really important to people who care about someone." Ruby said looking up at the fruits.

Marco mean while began to think on what the boy said about the legend.

'Two people who's lives become part of each others...' Marco then began to think of all the times he'd had with Janna. He thought of the time they first met in kindergarten, the time she scared him with her fake vampire fangs, the time she helped cheer him up when he was having a bad day, and the time she help him and Star during that interdimensional field trip.

"Hey, could you tell me the question now? I think I have a pretty good idea what the answer is" Marco said looking to the boy.

"Are you sure Marco?" Ruby asked him. "Yeah I'm sure. So um? Sorry, I kind of didn't ask your name." "Oh right, I should have told you both from the start." The boy said scratching his head sheepishly.

"Anyway, you both can call me Yugi, it's nice to meet you both."

"Likewise Yugi." "Yeah, same here." Marco and Ruby said. "So Yugi, about the question," Marco reminded.

"Right then, Marco. What do wish?" Yugi asked while looking out at the sunset. Marco looked out at it as well before giving his answer.

"I wish...to recover something important that I lost. That's my answer."

Ruby and Yugi looked to Marco who was looking back at them with a smile on his faces which caused them to smile too.

"A very bold answer," Yugi said. "And also the one I wanted to here from you."

As Yugi said this, another bright flash of light appears, and Marco and Ruby find themselves back on the beach.

"Huh? We're back on the beach? What happened, and where's Yugi?" Ruby asked.

"Hmm, I know I was expecting to find somebody here, but I didn't think it would be two somebodies." A voice suddenly said from behind Marco and Ruby.

Marco and Ruby turn around to the voice and see someone approaching them.

It was as girl wearing the black coat they've seen Rosa wear, except this one had slightly pointed shoulders and closer-fitting sleeves. She had the coat's hood down, so they could see she had blue eyes, fair skin, and black hair that parted to the left side of her face.

"Who are you?" Marco asked the her.

"My names Xion, and if I had to guess...your name must be Marco, and friend's name is Ruby right?" The girl named Xion asked surprising the two.

"How do you know are names?" Ruby asked. "Yeah, and what do mean you were expecting us?" Marco added.

"Hmm, well I only know Ruby from what I could hear when you guys were fighting. As for Marco, I've know about him from the time he was in kindergarten." Xion said stopping in front of them.

"Wait, you've know about me since kindergarden? But I don't remember ever meeting anyone like you. Or maybe I just forgot about you or something?" Marco said scratching his head in confusion.

"Okay, that might explain how you know her Marco, but you said you only know about me from what you heard when we were fighting. Could you maybe clarify what you meant by that?" Ruby asked.

"Sure thing. Hmm...when I said I know about you from when you were fighting, I meant during your fight against... what was that thing called again? The Shadow Widow, right?" When Marco heard Xion say that, his mind immediately stopped and thought of something.

'How could Xion know that name? Blake made sure everyone that was near the mall fountain got away safely. And I'm sure with everything that was going when Star cast her Warnicorn stampede spell, we would have heard someone getting caught in it. Unless wait, Xion said she's known about me since kindergarten, but I've positive I never met her back then. She also said that she only knows Ruby's name from hearing it during our fight with the Heartless...Janna...Summoned.' Marco thought as the realization slowly came to him. 'No way,'

Xion and Ruby look over to Marco and notice his surprised face. While Ruby looked concerned at this, Xion only smiled at him.

"Something tells me that you figured something out there Marco." Xion said which confused Ruby. "Figured something out? What do you mean? What's Marco figured out?" Ruby asked, even more confused than before.

"Ruby, the reason she knows about our fight with the Shadow Widow and your name, as well as knowing about me is because...well, do you remember when I told you guys about Riku?" Marco asked to see if Ruby would get what he was talking about.

"Oh yeah, you said that when you met him inside your heart he told you that you were his descen-dent...Huh!? Wait, wait, wait! Marco are you saying that...Xion is...but then that means..." Ruby stammered out at what she just figured out.

"Okay Ruby relax and breath for a second. I know it's a lot to take in, but let's hear what she has to say." Marco said putting his hands on Ruby's shoulders in an effort to calm her down which seemed to work.

"Alright, I've calmed down, sorry about flipping out like that. I was just...really surprised."

"That's okay, I can't blame you really. I'd be just as shocked as you if I heard something like this." Xion said smiling back at Ruby in understanding.

"So then, you're really," Marco asked.

"That's right," Xion said looking straight at them still smiling.

"My name is Xion, and I am Keyblade wielder. And your friend Janna is my descendent."

Author's Note: Hey you guys! It's been awhile huh? Sorry for such the long wait on this chapter. I recently had to move due to some nonsense from the landlord, so I barely had time to sit down and try to finish this chapter. Good news is I'm all settled in at my new place. The down side beside me making this a two part chapter, is this story may be on break for a bit with thanksgiving and Christmas coming up. plus I'm doing a collaboration story with another writer on this site. So bear with this little break for a while please?

Now to discuss something's about the chapter. First, the moves Marco and Ruby used the finish off the Heartless Knight aka black luster solider, were moves that Sepiroth uses in dissidia Final Fantasy. Second, the part where Ruby summoned up Sleeping Lion meant she was also in Valor form. The Fleur-de-lis symbol is on her Hood, I just didn't mention it is all. Also Ruby's going to be staying in he vol 4 outfit for the rest of the story and don't as I mentioned before the others will be getting their vol 4 outfits too.

Well that's about it I guess, I see you all again for the next chapter. Once more sorry for the long wait. Peace out.