AN: Okay, so it took a little bit longer than I thought to do another update for this story, but the next one's finally here, and it turned out to be one that I was not expecting to do for this until much later on.
Weiss: And why would that be?
AN: Because today's Meeting is actually a sneak peek at the future of one of my other story series: the Keyblades Unleashed Series to be exact.
Blake: Aren't you already doing a RWBY and Kingdom Hearts crossover though?
AN: Yes, but this is something I had planned for the future of the Keyblades Unleashed Series for a little while now. For those of you who don't know, the Keyblades Unleashed Series, it a Kingdom Hearts AU Series that explores my interpretation of how the Kingdom Hearts story would have played out if certain factors had been different. The series itself begins with Keyblades of Future Past (I know, not the most original name), leads into Kingdom Hearts: Dual Keys, and is currently on Kingdom Hearts: Keyblade Legion. The remaining titles and their summaries, as well as the ones for the stories I just named, are all on my profile page if your interested or just need a quick overview of what happened in each story.
Ruby: What about that crossover that Blake mentioned.
AN: Ah yes, the newest of my crossovers, Remnant of the Key. If you like stories that take place Post-KH3, be it with a twist or two, or otherwise, then I would like to say that is a story you would enjoy reading. It certainly seems like a lot of people have so far based on the reviews I've gotten for that story.
Speaking of reviews, glad to see so many of you enjoyed the first Meeting from last chapter, and while I appreciate that you all want to offer ideas for future Meetings, let me just remind you that I've already got several ideas that I want to do first before I start taking requests for this, assuming I can do any of them.
Now then, as I said a moment ago, today's Meeting takes place in the future of the Keyblades Unleashed Series, namely during the story entitled, Kingdom Hearts: Beyond the Worlds.
Yang: And as such, we've prepared a special edition of the parody theme song you have lined up for that story!
AN: Yep...wait, what?
Yang: [holds up disc with a label that says, "Kingdom Hearts Beyond the Worlds Theme: RWBY Meetings Edition"] We couldn't resist, and I'm sure people are curious about what you have in mind for at least a few of those other stories.
Ruby: Come on! Let us play it for everyone before we start today! Please! Please! Please! [starts giving author her cute puppy face]
AN: [tries to avoid succumbing to Ruby's cuteness before finally turning to her teammates] She's not going to stop until I agree, is she?
WBY: Nope.
AN: [sighs] Okay.
Ruby: YAY! [quickly grabs disc from Yang and slots it into the player before turning an expectant look to the author]
AN: What? [sees Ruby continue to give him the same look until he finally catches on] Oh, right. Uh...play that funky theme music, Ruby!
Ruby: ...Eh, it'll work. [hits play]
[cue opening theme for Power Rangers Dino Charge/Super Dino Charge extended version]
[0:00-0:07] Sees gummi ship flying off through unknown parts of interspace before pausing before very strange worlds unlike any seen before in KH, and then flashes through headshots of Sora and the other Keyblade masters.
[0:08-0:11] Split screen of each of the three trios assuming various fighting stances, or just fighting, until it stops with a headshot of Master Xehanort outside the Palace of Nightmares
"Kingdom Hearts, Keyblade Masters. Kingdom Hearts, Keyblade Masters"
[0:12-0:33] Shows each Keyblades Unleashed character being introduced with scenes of them fighting in the background/off to the side, until it ends on the team being seen armoring up as lyrics play
"Across worlds filled with strife, we are fighting to ensure they survive!"
"Fighting back against the force of darkness's might!"
"Now there's only one chance, to save all family and friends."
"And keep the power of the light shinning bright!"
[0:34-43] Shows the various trios [Destiny, Wayfinder, and Twilight] Racing out of the gummi ship on Keyblade Gliders before showcasing them each fighting various enemies Heartless or otherwise.
"Go go Keyblade Masters!"
"We will never stop."
"Go go Keyblade Masters!"
"It's time to rise up to the top!"
[0:44-0:48] Shows the full team charging into battle before cycling through each trio and ending on Sora standing at the lead of the full group in a manner similar to when he stood at the forefront of all his friends when he confronted Xemnas and Xigbar in Dream Drop Distance.
"Masters forever! Go Beyond the Worlds, all together!"
[0:49-0:58] Goes through each of the Keybearers again, along with a few clips of Donald, Goofy, Mickey, and Namine (The last two summoning their Keyblades like they're about to join the fight), before the camera zooms in on Remnant to show Ruby standing in a field with her cloak flapping in the wind.
"Kingdom Hearts, Keyblade Masters. Kingdom Hearts, Keyblade Masters."
[0:59-1:18] Runs through intros of Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang (Think of the first images you see of them in the Vol. 5 theme song for visual), before introducing Jaune, Ren, Nora, Qrow, and Oscar/Ozpin while guitar-solo runs
[1:19-1:28] Shows the Keyblade wielders fighitng alongside various members of the RWBY heroes as lyrics begin playing again. Destiny Trio with Team RNJR, Qrow, and Oscar; Wayfinder with Yang and Weiss; Twilight with Blake and Sun.
"Go go Keyblade Masters!"
"We will never stop."
"Go go Keyblade Masters!"
"It's time to rise up to the top!"
[1:29-1:34] Shows Sora and Ruby look to each other and grin before taking battle stances at the lead of their respective teams, all of them ready to fight before they all charge as one.
"Masters forever! (Forever more!) Go Beyond the Worlds, all together!"
[1:35-1:38] Shows Sora, Kairi, RNJR and Weiss battling the Heartless along with Cinder and her crew; Roxas, Xion, Lea, Blake, and Sun fighting Adam and the White Fang; Aqua, Qrow, Ventus, and Oscar engaging Lionheart and Hazel; and finally, Yang, Riku, and Terra clashing against Raven.
[1:39-end] Cycles through both Keyblade Masters and RWBY Heroes as the final lyrics run, until finally ending on a group shot of the fully assembled team and cutting to the title card, which reads "Kingdom Hearts: Beyond the Worlds: RWBY"
"Kingdom Hearts, Keyblade Masters. Kingdom Hearts, Keyblade Masters!"
"Kingdom Hearts Beyond the Worlds!"
Yang:...Well, what'd you think?
Ruby: [bouncing in place with an excited grin as she giggles happily]
AN:...Not bad. Very nicely done, and teases even more about what I have in mind for when we reach that story than even the Meeting episode does. I still wanna know how you guys got into my video editing room, but I do admit, I'm impressed. Now, if there's nothing else to say or do, Weiss, if you wouldn't mind doing the introduction this time.
Weiss: Very well...Today RWBY meets the heroes of the Keyblades Unleashed Series, in a special sneak preview of the future of lyokoMARVELanime stories.
That felt a little long-winded.
AN: Yeah, I realized it as soon as you said it out loud. Oh, well, on with the adventure, everyone.
I do not own anything from any of the RWBY franchise or any other franchise mentioned in this story.
The Keyblade Unleashed Series Heroes
(A Special Sneak Peek at the Future of Said Series)
Ruby Rose was feeling a little let down, which was quite a turnaround from the mood she was in just a few hours earlier. After all the struggles she and her friends had been through, including finding out that people were after her because of how she activated her silver eyes during the Fall of Beacon, how some old fairy tales and legends were very much real, her Uncle Qrow getting poisoned, and that one last Grimm attack they had been through, she was sure that things would only be going uphill for them now that they had finally made it to Haven. It turned out that idea was a little misplaced, because all of the Huntsmen of Haven, teachers and students were absent, and Professor Lionheart was not going to be able to help them retrieve the Spring Maiden from the Branwen Tribe's camp any time soon. Sure, she did not really understand the full scope of how important it was, but from what Qrow had told her and the others, and how he reacted when Lionheart had told them how hard it would be to get the council to send someone out for a raid on said camp, she was able to at least understand the basics of everything.
Still, it was hard to believe that they had managed to get as far as they did. After the Fall of Beacon, Ruby was not entirely sure what to do. All she knew was that her team was split up, Pyrrha and Penny were dead, Beacon was gone while Vale was still being overrun by Grimm, and the only lead on the people responsible was here at Haven. Since that last one was the only thing that she could do something about, and she was not one for sitting around doing nothing for too long, Ruby had not hesitated to try and make her way to Anima, and then Mistral. She had not been too keen on getting Jaune, Ren, and Nora involved, considering that they had lost a teammate for good while all of hers were just scattered across Remnant, but they were more than happy to help even before she had finished asking them. Sure, she had no clue on what they could do after getting here, but thankfully, she was able to get at least a few more ideas when Qrow finally joined them. Now, they had hit another roadblock, and she could not see any way forward at all. It did not help that Qrow had gone off somewhere for a drink after the meeting with Lionheart, but maybe the walk back to the house would at least give one of them an idea. Like she had said in her most recent letter to her sister, Yang, if they gave up every time they lost, then they would never be able to move forward.
The peaceful walk back to their temporary abode in Mistral was brought to a swift halt when the four friends of Team RNJR (Ranger) heard screaming coming from nearby, and without even thinking, Ruby raced away to see what was going on. Her current teammates were right behind her, but when they came to the scene, they were left in shock at what they saw, and it was not because of the crowds of people that were fleeing in fear. No, the reason was the monsters that were causing all the panic. The best way to describe most of them would be to call them living Shadows, while others took on various other forms, with the one common feature among all of them being their beady, glowing yellow eyes, and how many of them had a heart-shaped symbol somewhere on their bodies. Jaune, Nora, and Ren may have fought Grimm plenty of times before, but they did not remember ever seeing any creatures like these before, and that was why they all drew their weapons a little more anxiously than usual.
Ruby on the other hand definitely recognized these beasts, because she had fought them a few times in the past alongside their enemies. "It can't be," Ruby whispered. "What are the Heartless doing here?"
"Ruby," Jaune asked, having only just heard her enough to know she was speaking, but not what she had been saying.
The silver-eyed Huntress-in-training's only response was to pull out and unfold her scythe in a quick flourish of movement, and shout, "Do whatever you can to get people away from here, or at least away from the Heartless! And make sure that they never get a chance to so much as scratch anyone, including yourselves!"
"Wait, how do you even know what these things are," Jaune asked.
"No time to explain! Just move," Ruby shouted, and with that, she blasted herself forward into battle, swinging her scythe at several Shadows the second she was in range.
The rest of Team RNJR just looked to one another before they ultimately shrugged and followed her orders. Unsurprisingly, Nora managed to take out several Heartless at once with a few easy swings of her hammer, some of which included very explosive strikes, while Ren peppered a lot with his pistols so that they were too distracted to notice either him or Jaune moving in close to slash them apart. At the same time, Jaune was taking the most action in keeping the civilians safe, as he deflected more than a few attacks or Heartless away from a fleeing civilian with his shield, but he still made it a point to attack whenever he could. He had not gotten all that work done on his weapons just so he could sit back and watch as his friends fought. Still, even with Ruby's advice, the fight was not all that much easier.
Whatever these Heartless were, it was clear that only Ruby was having a great deal of luck in getting rid of them, and even then, it seemed like every time they destroyed one another five would take its place soon after. It did not help that some of the Heartless were not so easily destroyed, as Nora learned when Magnhild actually bounced off one of the large ones after she attempted to bash it away. The Large Body, as she heard Ruby call it, had then launched itself forward, and would have flattened the powerhouse of Team JNPR had Ren not pushed her aside just in the nick of time. Afterwards, the two childhood friends/recently turned couple had made sure to pepper the Large Body's back with as much firepower as they could, allowing them to realize that was where it was weakest, but getting behind the other Large Bodies proved easier said than done.
The fact that several of the Heartless were able to fly around and attack from above did little to help matters. Sure, some of them did prove to have lightning attacks, which allowed Nora a chance to power up for stronger attacks, but at the same time, they were also immune to said element, much like others who could use elemental attacks turned out to be. This made it all the more difficult for Team RNJR, since it meant that they could not use some of their more special Dust ammo against them without getting creative, and with more and more Heartless appearing every second, it was starting to look like these things would end up succeeding where so many Grimm had failed throughout Team RNJR's travels across Anima.
Eventually, it became even more clear how outmatched the brave kids were when Jaune and Ren eventually dropped to the ground after a particularly hard hit from one of the airborne Heartless, and much to their surprise, not only had Nora fallen soon after, but she ended up having just as hard a time getting up again as they were. The only one left able to so much as remain upright at this point was Ruby, and she had been forced down onto one knee while struggling to keep her scythe up in a defensive position. As she panted, Ruby looked around at their battleground, and muttered, "Where are Sora and his friends when you need them?"
She was starting to think her question would go unanswered, especially when Jaune shouted out a warning to alert her to a Dual Blade that was about to pounce on her, until suddenly, she heard someone roaring loudly as they slashed through both the Dual Blade attacking her, and several other Heartless afterwards. A second later, that same person turned and pointed his weapon at one of the larger Heartless, and fired a blast of black flames right at it, which split apart to ignite several of the dark creatures at once. After that point, the swordsman in question drew his blade back, and unleashed a powerful swing that destroyed several of the Heartless at once.
With his most recent attack at an end, Ruby was finally able to get a good look at her rescuer, and immediately recognized him. Not that it was too hard, considering that he had not changed a bit from the last time she saw him. He still wore the same short-sleeved, black hooded jacket with gold buttons and a checker pattern at the hem, blue, cropped trousers, with the same pattern at the hem, black glovelettes and high-top boots, white V-neck shirt, and sky blue shoulder armor with gold highlights. Add in the fact that his sword was in the shape a black and silver car key, and the fact that she did not know anyone other than Mercury Black who had silver hair, and it was no surprise that Ruby would smile at seeing this particular friend. "Riku."
"Hey Ruby," Keyblade Master Riku greeted in return, but he made no move to engage any of the other Heartless.
As it turned out, Riku did not need to try and fight said monsters, because a short time later, a woman's voice could be heard shouting, "Wave of Radiance!"
In an instant, a wave of energy seemed to wash over the area, reenergizing and healing Team RNJR while simultaneously weakening, and in some cases even destroying the Heartless as it passed over. Even after the energy wave had passed, it did not seem to do anything to stop the ability's caster from rushing in and slashing through several weakened Heartless in a manner that Ruby felt was similar to the way that Weiss fought. Of course, the girl responsible for this rescuer was very different from Ruby's white-haired partner, and not just because of her attire either. Said girl showing this as smiled quite a bit once she turned to Ruby, letting a small laugh slip through her lips as she parted her short, auburn hair to one side. Like Riku, the redhead had not changed a bit from the last time Ruby saw her, as she was still wearing the same unique hooded pink-and-black dress with black ruffles on one side of the skirt and plaid on the other, black shorts that reached her mid-to-low-thighs beneath said skirt, thick belted boots, pink segmented armor piece with white highlights on her upper arm, thin white bracelets on her left wrist, and thick wristband on the other. Also like Riku, her sword was just as Ruby remembered, still retaining that skeleton-key-like design with the flowery decorations and overall harmless-looking design reminded Ruby a little of the beach.
"Your turn, Sora," the redhead calmly stated as she looked someone behind Ruby just seconds before the last person of this trio shouted out his attack.
"Command Style: Destiny Blaze Finisher," the person shouted, and right after that, one could see a red and black blur racing through the battlefield, unleashing several slashing attacks as he went. After pausing to perform a brief back flip, the person rushed forward again and performed a powerful cross-slash that wiped out several Heartless at once. Standing up straight the boy responsible for this last attack turned to grin at Ruby in the way that she knew only he could, his spiky brown hair and crown necklace waving a little in the wind as he turned.
Just like with the other two, the boy before Ruby was exactly as she remembered him. He still wore the same black and grey jacket with red lining on the hood, sleeves, and zipper, black tanktop with V-neck style collar, a pair of gauntlets that were similar in coloration to his jacket and left his hands exposed, with grey circles on the backs and yellow, buckled straps around the wrists, black cargo pants with grey pockets and red bands wrapped around each leg, black and yellow shoes, and black, red, and silver spiked-shoulder armor on his left shoulder. The key-shaped weapon in his hand was still in the shape of a simple skeleton key, and also still possessed its silver blade, crown-shaped teeth, chain, and token, with a green and orange guard that was tipped with orange circles at the bottom, and a pair of smaller circles with a sun and moon shaped symbol on either side at the top of said guard.
"No worries, Ruby. We'll take it from here," the spiky haired boy said. "You help make sure everyone stays clear of the area."
"You've got it, Sora," Ruby nodded in return just as her old friends had rushed forward to engage the Heartless again. She then looked to her stunned teammates and said, "Come on. You heard the man. Let's keep everyone safe, RNJR."
"Hold on a minute. Who are these guys," Ren asked, sounding a bit more incredulous than he normally would when speaking. Not that you could blame him, considering what he had just witnessed.
"They're some old friends of mine, and they're experts when it comes to dealing with the Heartless," Ruby explained as simply as she could. When it looked like the other three were going to ask for a little more details, she sighed and said, "Just trust me!"
Hearing Ruby take her commanding tone like that pushed all thoughts of interrogating either her or these three strangers from the remaining members of Team JNPR's minds, and they quickly set to work helping the remaining civilians. It did not stop them from seeing the three new arrivals display both incredible swordsmanship and powers unlike anything that they had seen before. Sure, they had seen similar styles being used by other Huntsmen and fellow students, but the way these guys fought seemed to be on an entirely different level in comparison. Add in the fact that they were shooting out all kinds of elemental and energy blasts, and in ways that could never be possible with Dust as far as any of them knew, and the three were all now determined to pry answers out of either Ruby or these guys as soon as the fight was over.
Still, even with the new reinforcements, Ruby knew that it was only a matter of time before someone got hurt if they did not finish the fight fast. So, once the last civilian was finally cleared out, Ruby began doing what she did best as a leader, and started analyzing everything around her from the combatants, to the battlefield, and to everything she knew about what each person on her side was capable of. Taking all of that in, it was a simple matter for Ruby to come up with a plan, but she had to be sure of one or two things before they put it fully to work. Not that it would leave certain parts of said plan unusable. "Try to corral the remaining Heartless together in one big group," Ruby shouted to her teammates, getting nods from them in return before they raced into action. Ruby then cut down several Heartless until she reached the redhead and asked, "Kairi, do you guys still have the line-up of royal attacks?"
Knowing what Ruby was referring to, the redhead, named Kairi nodded with a smile, having figured out what the cape-wearing Huntress had in mind. "Just say the word," Kairi told Ruby.
She was still not sure how they did it, but Ruby knew that Kairi was already relaying instructions to her other two friends without even saying a word. Not that it mattered, so long as it helped speed things along and got the job done, and she soon raced in to help the rest of RNJR round up the Heartless, while giving the other three the time they needed to ready their attack. With a few sings and blasts from their weapons, along with the destruction of a stray Heartless or two, Ruby's team had soon managed to get their job done, and when she turned to the three Keyblade wielders, Ruby saw that they were all set, and waved for her friends to move clear.
"NOW," Ruby shouted to her three old friends.
Upon hearing that, Sora, Riku, and Kairi all aimed their swords at the Heartless, waving them over the dark creatures for a few minutes, before they all shouted out the names of their attacks.
"Jack of Spades," Riku cried out as several energy beams erupted from his weapon, all taking the shape of a spade symbol found on typical playing cards.
"Queen of Diamonds," Kairi followed up as similar beams shot out from hers, with the difference being that the beams were in the shape of four-pointed diamonds.
"King of Hearts," Sora finished as he did the same as the other two, though his beams came in the shape of a heart symbols.
Under the assault of this royal flush of attacks, the Heartless were all soon wiped out, unable to withstand the power behind these three attacks. There was a straggler or two left, but a few quick, easy shots from Ruby's sniper rifle put them out of commission easily enough, and rendered the area clear of all Heartless at last. Seeing that the fight was over, everyone stowed away their weapons, with the three swordsmen doing so by making their blades disappear in flashes of light, and while Jaune, Ren, and Nora still had questions, it looked like they would have to wait until after Ruby had a proper reunion conversation with these strange friends of hers.
"Sora, Riku, Kairi," Ruby cheered happily as she rushed over to them. Once upon a time she probably would have jump-hugged them all one by one, but that attitude had been tempered quite a bit since the Fall of Beacon. That did not mean she did not at least give them each a normal hug though. "It's so good to see you guys again!"
"Great to see you, too, Ruby," Sora grinned in return as he returned the girl's hug.
"Yeah, it's been way too long," Kairi agreed. She then looked the smaller girl over for a minute before she added, "By the way, I love your new outfit. It really seems to showcase your status as a Huntress."
"Aw, thanks," Ruby replied while brushing her bangs back a little out of shyness. Not that many people had really commented on her new look since she switched to it, so she was not used to receiving many compliments about it these days.
At that point, Nora could not contain herself any longer, and she immediately rushed forward to get right up in the faces of the three recent arrivals, startling them with her sudden appearance. "All right, buddy, just who are you people? How do you know Ruby? What were those things? What kind of swords were those? How'd you do all that crazy stuff just now? And do you guys like pancakes," Nora rapidly asked, moving quickly from one member of the trio to the next as she did.
"Nora! Please, at least give them a chance to answer," Ren lightly scolded. With his friend somewhat calmed for the moment, Ren looked to the mystery three with Jaune and was about to offer some form of a simpler way of questioning, when something very unexpected happened.
"I'm Sora; this is my best friend, Riku, and my girlfriend, Kairi. We know Ruby because she helped us out of quite a few tight spots a while back. Those monsters are creatures of darkness known as the Heartless. They're called Keyblades. Magic and quite a bit of practice and training. And yeah, we do," Sora confirmed, answering all of Nora's questions almost as quickly as she had asked them.
Ren and Jaune could feel their jaws dropping as they gaped at the boy actually being able to keep up with Nora's hyper-speed questions, while Nora could only grin happily at the fact. "I like that one," Nora informed Ren.
"Why am I not surprised," Ren smiled in response once he got his jaw back up off the ground.
"Wait a minute. When did Ruby help you guys out? Was it sometime after the Fall of Beacon," Jaune asked.
"No, it was while we were at Beacon. Just a little while before the Vytal Festival, too," Ruby answered on the three's behalf.
"Then how come we never noticed?"
"That's…a little harder to explain very easily," Riku replied. Before he could be questioned further on it, he managed to switch topics by saying, "Before we say anything else, do you mind if we ask who you are?"
"Oh, right," Ruby exclaimed just seconds later. "Guys, this is Jaune…"
"Hey," the blonde knight nodded with a small smile.
"…Ren…"
"A pleasure," the green-clad ninja lightly bowed.
"…And Nora…"
"Hiya," Nora cheerfully waved.
"…And put us all together, and you get the heroic adventurers of Team RNJR," Ruby proudly declared with a smile.
"RNJR? I thought you said your team was called RWBY," Riku recalled, and from the look of their confused expressions, it was clear that Sora and Kairi were thinking the same thing.
"Oh well…it was, but…" Ruby slowly started to say, only for her smile to completely fall into a frown as she thought back to all the events that had lead her and her friends here. In the end, she found that all she could say was, "A lot's happened since the last time I saw you guys. It would take quite a while to really cover it all."
"Then I guess it's a good thing we happen to like long stories," Sora reminded Ruby with his usual easy-going expression and pose. "Besides, we've got a few things we need to take care of here, too, so we've got some time to spare for catching up."
Hearing that brought a smile back to Ruby's face, and with that, the group of seven all turned to return to the house Team RNJR was currently staying in once again. Only this time, a few of them had a small spring in their step as they walked due to the joy of being reunited with old friends.
In Another Part of Remnant (Time Unspecified)
Aside from her brief flash of tremors afterwards, that fight Yang had against the idiots who pointed her in the direction of her mother's camp had been a good stress reliever. Not only that, but it helped prove that her time training with her dad had helped her improve quite a lot since the Vytal Festival. Instead of just barreling through everyone, Yang had been able to think of the fly, find a way to end the fight more quickly by working around the obstacles in her way as she went, just like Taiyang had taught her, and now, she was in the clear for the rest of her trip to the Branwen Tribe camp. The only things she would have to worry about now would be any fool that was dumb enough to touch her bike while she talked her mom into sending her to Ruby via the portals that her mother made with her Semblance, convincing her mom to do that, and of course, any possible Grimm she encountered along the way. That last one did not seem like too big of a deal though, because she had not seen a single Grimm since she and her now unconscious guide got into the area.
Her hopes of avoiding the Grimm were quickly dashed though, when the sound of fighting reached her ears, and while she would have preferred to avoid anymore of the bandits that made up her mom's tribe, she knew that the quickest way to the camp was a straight line, and she did not want to waste anymore time in reuniting with her sister. They had already been apart for far too long in Yang's eyes, so it was no surprise that she decided to open up the throttle some more and rush forward with a roar of Bumblebee's engine. What she found upon arriving at the battle that was currently unfolding though, was not what she had expected at all.
The monsters she saw definitely had skin that was as black as a Grimm's, and their eyes radiated the same kind of malicious intent, but that was where the similarities ended. For one thing, most of them did not have the bone-like armor, and for another thing, most of them had very simplistic, almost humanoid appearances, save for the antenna. Others did have armor, but it actually looked like regular armor as opposed to armor that was made out of bones, and possessed blades for hands, along with a strange heart-shaped emblem somewhere on their bodies. Rounding out this collection of oddities was a number of little creatures that looked a lot like archers, and they made it a point to keep their distance while shooting arrows at the people they were fighting. Speaking of which, Yang had actually parked her bike at the edge of the battlefield so she could get a better read on the men in question, and while it was clear that they were swordsmen, Yang could not remember ever seeing swords that were shaped like giant keys before. At least, not outside of the drawings that Ruby had made after those weird dreams she used to have back in the day at Beacon.
The taller of the two was a very muscular man with long, brown hair and tanned skin, and from the way he fought, it was clear that he was more of a powerhouse fighter, much she was. His attire consisted of a tight, high-collared black shirt, over which he wore of a pair of criss-crossing red straps, a pair of hakama-like pants that were dark grey near the top and tan on the rest, and a belt that was tied together with a strange, gold badge that was shaped like a heart with a sharp cross at the base. On his arm was a set of pointed shoulder armor, along with a dark colored gauntlet that had small pieces of red in some places, and to round out his look, the man wore dark brown and gold armored boots. His key-shaped sword was colored dark brown and off-blue, and had teeth on both sides of the blade's tip, along with a hand guard that took on a wing-like shape. Hanging off the end of the handle was a silver chain, on the end of which she could just barely glimpse a token that looked like a black rock fragment with a red gem in the middle.
Turning to the other man, Yang could see that while he was not as muscular as his taller friend, he did still have some muscle on him. Something more akin to a runner or swimmers build if she had to guess. In addition to his spiky, blonde hair, the man also had a neatly trimmed blonde goatee, and also wore a set of spiked shoulder armor much like his friend, though the big difference that Yang could see at this distance was that it was colored dull green and grey. In terms of attire, the blonde man seemed to wear a sea-blue shirt, along with what looked to be a lightly armored, dark red vest, over both of which he wore his own set of criss-crossing straps, which were colored gold and held in place by a badge identical to the one that the other man wore on his belt, save for the fact that it was colored green. Continuing on with his attire, the man also wore a silver trench coat that went down to his knees, and had an off-white pleated pattern on the inside of the collar. His cargo pants were held up by a silver belt, and were colored black with some red lining around his knees and pockets. Rounding out the look, he wore a matching set of wrist bands on either wrist that had a black and gold checker pattern, with a pair of fingerless, silver gloves on his hands, and a pair of armored dull green and blue boots that Yang had almost mistaken for normal street shoes. He wielded his own key-shaped sword in a reverse grip, and from what Yang could see, it was colored mostly dark grey and dull gold, with a narrow green gem embedded at the base of the blade's shaft, just before the guard that extended a quarter of the way up the shaft. The teeth of the blade were all pointed and splayed out from the tip of the blade in a wing-like shape. Like the other man's blade, the blonde's had a token dangling off the end of a silver chain, though this one looked more like a green gem with silver flurries of wind circling around it.
Yang had no idea who these guys were, or if they were part of the Branwen Tribe, but from what she could tell, they definitely needed an extra hand in dealing with these monsters. Sure, stopping to help would probably hold her up in achieving her goal, but it was her job as a Huntress, in-training or otherwise, to help those in need whenever she could. So, with a quick pump of her shotgun gauntlet and the shotgun in her prosthetic arm, Yang dismounted her bike, took a running start, blasted the ground to send herself flying forward, and leapt into the fight with an explosive entrance that destroyed at least three of the living shadow monsters in one hit.
The two swordsmen only paused for a second in surprise at her arrival, but they seemed to pay it little more mind than that when Yang said, "Sorry to crash the party, but I just can't ever seem to pass up a chance to beat down some monsters."
From that point forward, the three were going to town on the shadow creatures, with Yang delivering several kicks and punches, the latter of which packing an extra bang since she fired off some rounds of fire Dust bullets whenever she attempted a hit, and the swordsmen continuing with what they had been doing. Not that Yang was really paying too much attention to the two after that, but she could still hear the sounds of ice and fire suddenly coming from their direction, indicating that they were probably using those kinds of Dust in the fight. What really surprised her though was when the blonde man suddenly summoned a small torrent of water to shoot at the monsters, and not in a way that would indicate he was using Dust either. The next strange thing came when the taller man suddenly began glowing, until a faint aura appeared around his body, as he shouted something that she did not quite catch, but after that aura had fully formed, the man's strikes had become faster and seemed to pack more of a punch. If that was not enough, other one suddenly began glowing a little too, but his shinning aura did not stop at one level, but instead seemed to expand further until a set of light swords appeared behind his body like a set of wings.
Yang had actually just managed to destroy another one of the sword-hand monsters when the muscular man suddenly leapt up with his blade drawn back and his aura shinning, and shouted, "Command Style: Critical Impact Finisher!"
When the man finally dropped to the ground again, his blade came down as well, and released a strong shockwave that wiped out several of the monsters at once the minute that the blade struck the ground. As impressive as that was, his friend could only smirk in amusement as he said, "Not bad, but I'm gonna be taking the win on this one." He then knelt down before he leapt into the air while shouting, "Command Style: Wingblade Finisher!"
In an instant, the light swords that were surrounding the blonde were thrown down at the ground, forming a circular pattern of light, and he immediately dived down into the center of it. The minute that the blonde hit the ground, an explosion of light exploded outward, nearly blinding everyone in the area, while encompassing the blonde and the monsters around him with its brilliance. When the light faded, nearly all the monsters had been destroyed save for one or two of the humanoid looking shadows, who apparently thought that Yang would make easy prey. She could only roll her eyes in annoyance at the big mistake that these creatures made, and immediately flipped herself over the creatures, using her gauntlet to ensure she would land behind them, and then spun around so that she could fire off a powerful blast from her prosthetic arm's shotgun as she threw one last hit. Said blast actually served to blast the shadow monster she hit into the other, and destroyed them both upon collision, clearing the area entirely.
Folding up her weapons into their inactive state, Yang took a deep, calming breath while grasping her shaking, left arm with her robotic right one, and prepared to take her leave. At least she was going to, until the blonde swordsman commented, "Impressive moves back there."
Yang turned to the man and his partner, noticing that both of their swords had seemed to have vanished completely when she faced them, and stared at them in silence for a moment before she finally spoke. "Thanks. So, what now? Some threat to take my money or maybe my bike? Because that didn't work out for your friends a little while ago, and I really don't have time to beat down anymore idiot bandits."
The swordsmen exchanged an unsure glance with one another before the taller of the two admitted, "We're not bandits, Miss. We don't have any interest in taking anything of yours, be it by stealing or otherwise."
"And yet you just happen to be in Bandit territory, this close to the Branwen Tribe's camp," Yang pointed out, her voice showing just how skeptical she was of the claim.
"He's telling the truth. It doesn't really matter to us where they are or who they're with. If the Heartless are around, then we're going to fight them," the blonde replied. When Yang gave him a curious look, he quickly explained, "That's what those creatures you just helped us fight are called; the Heartless. They're after the darkness in people's hearts so that they can drown those people in darkness, creating more Heartless once they do."
"Got it. I'll be careful then," Yang replied before making her way to her bike. She then climbed aboard and prepared to continue on her way when the taller of the two stopped her.
"I wouldn't go that way if I were you," the man advised. "A small group of Heartless actually broke off from the one we were just fighting. There's no telling how many of them there are now."
"With any luck, very few, considering that it was Aqua who went after them," the blonde confidently replied.
"Somehow I doubt that," Yang cut in, getting the two's attention. "You said that these Heartless are drawn to the darkness in people's hearts, right? Well, you won't find many hearts darker than those of the bandits in the Branwen Tribe, and to some extent, their leader as well, Raven Branwen. If they got to any of Raven's tribe members, then your friend's probably in a lot of trouble right now, especially since that's the direction their camp is in."
"All the more reason why should avoid that area. If this Branwen Tribe or their leader is as bad as you say, then I don't think it would be safe for you to go in there, no matter how good you are in a fight," the dark haired man advised.
"Possibly, but I doubt it. I'm a Huntress. And more importantly, I'm Raven's daughter," Yang revealed.
That got surprised looks from both of the men, along with an exchange of those same expressions just a second afterwards, and Yang figured that was the end of it. Boy was she wrong, because the blonde was soon speaking up again. "At least let us go with you. We've had a lot more experience fighting the Heartless than you've probably had…"
"Seriously? I just told you that I've been trained to fight monsters," Yang interrupted, a little irritated that these guys were slowing her down.
"The Heartless are a much different story from what you've been training to fight," the brunette countered. He then stepped a little closer and said, "Besides, we just told you that my best friend, his wife had gone that way to try and stop some Heartless that broke off from this group we were just dealing with. We know that she can hold her own, but that doesn't mean we aren't still worried about her."
Now Yang was a little more sympathetic to the two, and after hearing about how important that friend of theirs was to the two of them, she just could not say no to letting them tag along. She was able to at least say one other thing. "Just don't slow me down or get in my way, and don't expect me to give you ride on my bike, either."
"You don't have to worry about that," the blonde reassured her and his sword from earlier then appeared in his hand in a flash of light, much to Yang's surprise. Furthering her surprise was how after he tossed it just in front of him, the blade actually changed it a flying waveboard that he immediately hopped onto, and not only that, but the other man did the same with his own sword, with the only difference being that his turned into a flying motorcycle. "See, I told you," the blonde smirked with pride, having seen the awestruck look that was undoubtedly planted on Yang's face after that.
Hearing his comment helped Yang get her head back in the game, and she was soon smirking a little at the blonde and his friend in approval of their choice of rides. "Not bad. I'm Yang, by the way. Yang Xiao Long."
"Nice to meet you, Yang. I'm Terra, and this is my brother in all but blood, Ventus," the brown haired man introduced with a nod of his head.
"You can just call me Ven," Ventus informed his fellow blonde. After Yang had nodded in response, he could not help but smirk as he said, "Now, race you guys there?"
"Oh, you are so on," Terra promised with a grin of his own.
"Please. Both of you are gonna be too busy eating my dust," Yang grinned as well, and with that, the three rocketed forward towards the bandit camp.
The race to the Branwen camp ended up being too close to call, but none of the three racers were too concerned with that, as the camp was almost completely overrun with Heartless, and not just the Shadows, Neo Shadows, Bizarre Archers, and Stalwart Blades that Yang had helped Ventus and Terra with earlier either. There were several bigger ones as well, which the two men identified as Helmed Bodies and Satyrs. In the midst of battling all of these monsters though were two women; one which Yang figured was probably Aqua by the fact she was using a key-sword like Ventus and Terra did, and a woman in red and black armor with long black hair and white helmet hiding her face that Yang recognized from various different pictures that she had seen in the past.
"MOM," Yang shouted as she ran to help the women, blasting her shotgun gauntlet and the shotgun in her prosthetic arm into the ground so that she could flip over the Helmed Body in her way before she kicked said Heartless as hard as she could before landing alongside both of the two women. Ventus and Terra soon followed after, with Ventus tossing his Keyblade through a few Neo Shadows, while Terra just powered through the Satyrs that dared to stand in his path.
Upon realizing that the blonde girl was next to her, the black haired woman sheathed her sword for a minute and removed her helmet, revealing a face that looked so much like Yang's, along with a pair of red eyes that gained a very small bit of warmth amidst the steely cold at the sight of her daughter. "Yang," one Raven Branwen acknowledged with a smile. "Not quite the family reunion I would've hoped for, but it's still good to see you after so long."
"I'd argue that you could've come to see us sooner, but right now, we've got monsters to take down, so we'll talk later," Yang replied as curtly as she could at the moment, even if she was shaking a little at the sight of her mom's face.
"Couldn't have said it better myself," Aqua agreed, and it was at this point that Yang finally turned to take in the other woman's appearance.
A good deal of Aqua's attire held various shades of blue in it, which probably should not have surprised Yang too much, but what she did find interesting was that Aqua had blue hair that looked natural, and shimmering blue eyes that felt very warm and comforting, despite their hardened state as Aqua looked amongst the Heartless around them. In terms of her actual appearance, she wore a dark, navy blue shirt that accented her womanly figure in a way that almost made Yang jealous, along with tight black pants that almost seemed like a second skin with how they hugged her legs. Wrapped around her waist was a blue sash that was interwoven with a white strip of cloth, silver pointed boots with a sharp hook on the outer side of each, and a long light blue waist coat that was lined with white. Like her friends, Aqua wore a pair of intersecting straps over her chest, hers being colored pink, and she also wore the same badge as the other two on the intersection point of said straps, like Ventus, though hers was colored blue. Rounding out her outfit, Aqua wore a pair of tan, fingerless gloves on her hands, while a small, segmented armor piece was worn on each of her upper arms.
Looking to her key-shaped weapon, Yang could not help but think back to the weird dreams Ruby had told her and the rest of Team RWBY a while back. She mentally shook that aside though so that she could better study the weapon in question. The guard of Aqua's key-sword was circular with somewhat jagged edges, with the upper half being colored black, the center grey, and the bottom white. The shaft of the blade was thin and navy blue in coloration, save for the tip, which was silver. From what she could glimpse, the base of the shaft had to diamond-shaped bumps, while the teeth of the key-sword were comprised of a rectangular frame with four short, blunt spikes, all of which were navy blue. She could not get a full view of the token on the end of the blade's silver chain, but from what she could tell, it very closely resembled water droplets.
Having completed her quick study of Aqua, Yang finally turned to Ventus and muttered, "So that's your wife, huh?" When Ventus nodded in reply, Yang could only smirk and say, "You've got good tastes."
"Yes, he certainly does," Aqua smiled at her husband teasingly, earning her a blush from Ventus that was accompanied by a small smile.
"Focus! I'd rather not have my camp overrun by these things to the point where all the panic attracts the Grimm," Raven scolded the three.
"Wow. She's quite the people person," Terra grunted with a small look in Raven's direction.
"Trust me, Terra, you have no idea," Yang quipped in return while shooting her look at her mother.
It was at that point that several Satyrs suddenly charged them, forcing Terra to jump in and block them as best he could, while Ventus and Aqua both blasted the others with powerful gusts of wind. When Terra finally forced his Satyr back, it was sent careening towards another part of the camp, until it finally crashed through a few tents and revealed an area that seemed to have been made into a haphazard prison. What really surprised Yang and her three new acquaintances though, was the person inside of the cage, though it was more so in Yang's case, since she recognized the imprisoned girl instantly.
"Yang?" Weiss Schnee gasped in surprise.
"Weiss?!" Yang exclaimed, just as surprised to see her old teammate as the Schnee heiress was.
All the fighting seemed to have paused at the girls' sudden reunion, until Weiss finally just rolled her eyes and muttered, "Alright, well, subtlety is out."
Barely even a moment later, the cage Weiss was in collapsed from a massive, glowing knight with a large sword suddenly growing up from within it, freeing Weiss from her confinement, and allowing her to join up with the others. When the knight followed alongside of Weiss, Yang just knew that her friend had something to do with its creation, so when the Atlesian girl finally came to stand with them, she just had to ask, "What is that?"
"Don't worry about it," Weiss reassured her. "What are you doing here?"
"Well, aside from helping some new friends fighting off these monsters called Heartless, that's my mom and she can take us to Ruby," Yang explained, not noticing how the three strange swordsmen had all started exchanging looks between one another at the mention of her sister's name.
"Excuse me, but what makes you think I can do that," Raven questioned, honestly wondering how her daughter could think she would be able to send her to Summer's kid.
"Because Ruby's with Qrow, and your Semblance lets you open a portal to people that you've made a special kind of bond with, among which are me, Dad, and Uncle Qrow," Yang stated as simply as she could. When Raven gave Yang a look that demanded how she knew that, Yang simply said, "Dad told me."
"Tai…" Raven whispered irritably.
"Wait a minute," Weiss interrupted, having barely processed much more beyond what Yang had just informed her of. "Your mom kidnapped me?!"
That was something that Yang did not know, and she could not stop herself from turning an angry glare on her mother as she snapped, "You kidnapped her?!"
"Okay, clearly we've all got a lot that needs to be talked about, so anyone else think it's high time we end this," Terra interrupted while casting a look to his two friends.
"Yep," Ventus and Aqua both replied.
"Terra, you take the big ones," Ventus instructed.
"Only if you get the ones that are stupid enough to think they're safer if they fight us from a distance," Terra quipped with a smirk.
"And I guess I'll handle the rest," Aqua finished with a tired tone, though her smile betrayed her true feelings. Right after that, Aqua had raised her blade up into the air and shouted, "Thundaza!"
Upon shouting that one, strange word, Aqua seemed to have called down a rain of powerful lightning bolts that destroyed a great deal of the Heartless in one blow, while causing some minor damage to the surrounding area. Nothing too bad though, much to Raven's relief, though she was a little skeptical about just how much she and her tribe would be able to repair once these three were done, especially after seeing Terra transform his sword into a massive cannon. When some of the Bizarre Archers prepared to fire on him, Ventus quickly came to the rescue by imbuing his sword with what looked like a faint aura of wind, and tossed it at them. Not only did he destroy the ones that were targeting his friend, but a few simple motions of his hand seemed to allow the wind currents around the blade to carry it through various other foes as well before it finally returned to Ven.
With any enemies that could impede him now cleared, Terra zeroed in on the remaining Helmed Bodies and Satyrs, built up a great deal of energy at the cannon's barrel as it formed into a massive sphere, and then fired a powerful blast that destroyed all of the remaining Heartless in a single blow. Sure, there were one or two stragglers, but they were easily taken care of after being cut down by one single strike from each of the three swordsmen. After taking a moment to make sure that they were cleared of all enemies, Raven looked to the three and said, "Not bad. I've seen quite a few extraordinary things while my brother and I were doing Ozpin's dirty work, but you three…well, you're definitely a first in at least one or two ways."
The first response Raven received ended up being Aqua aiming her Keyblade right at her, as she replied, "And you won't ever again unless you agree to release the girl and let us all go on our way."
"And by that she means send me to Qrow so I can go and make sure that my sister is safe," Yang clarified.
Raven merely looked between the two women for a minute before she leveled her gaze on Aqua and said, "You really don't want to test me."
"Actually, that's the other way around," Ventus corrected as he came to stand alongside his wife, his sword still at the ready, while Terra took up a position on his other side. "You don't want to cross a Keyblade wielder in general, Raven, and you definitely should never cross any one of us."
Raven just continued to hold an even gaze on the three, while studying her daughter and Weiss out of the corner of her eye, before she finally just sighed and motioned for one of her men to hand over Weiss's sword. Once the Schnee heiress had her blade in hand again, Raven fixated her gaze on the group of five and said, "In my tent. All five of you. Now."
"Why," Yang asked.
"…If you're really going after your sister, then you need to know the truth," was all that Raven said before she marched into her tent, leaving the five to their own devices for a little bit.
Once she was sure that they had a moment to themselves, Yang turned to apologize to Weiss for whatever her mom had put her through, only stop short when Weiss suddenly hugged her tightly. Yang was naturally surprised by this, having never expected something like this from the ice queen, as she and so many of their other friends had called Weiss in the past, but what really surprised her was how much Weiss was shaking, almost like she was on the verge of tears. That might have been a little more true than Yang realized as the only thing Weiss could say after a little bit came with a great deal of emotion that she had never once heard from the rich girl before.
"I missed you so much," Weiss whimpered, already feeling like tears were going to start falling at any minute. Whether they were of joy, relief, or just the ones she had been holding in after all the tough times she had been through recently, Weiss did not care. All she knew was that she was finally back where she felt most at home: with one of her teammates; one of her friends.
Realizing this, Yang could not have felt more touched, and it showed when she smiled happily and hugged Weiss back just as tightly as she replied, "I missed you too."
The three Keyblade wielders all smiled silently as they watched the reunion taking place before their eyes, while the glowing knight slowly vanished into thin air, and they remained silent for a good amount of time, allowing the two members of Team RWBY to really bask in the relief of finally being together again. When the two finally broke apart, Ventus finally stepped forward to ask a question that had been bothering him for a little bit. "Um, Yang, correct me if I'm wrong, but I could've sworn that you said that your sister's name was Ruby," the blonde recalled. "Would that be as in Ruby Rose?"
That surprised both Weiss and Yang, and the latter quickly asked, "You know Ruby? Do you know where she is?! Have you seen her?!"
"Whoa, whoa, settle down," Terra attempted to placate before the blonde got too excited.
When the girls had placated their reactions to a reasonable level, Aqua took the chance to explain, "We know of Ruby, but we've never met her personally, assuming that it is the same girl we're thinking about."
"Dark hair that gradates to red, red cloak with a hood, and carries a large red and black scythe that's also a gun," Weiss described as quickly as she could.
"Yeah, that's her," Ventus, Terra, and Aqua all said as one.
At Yang and Weiss's looks of demanding, Ventus explained, "She helped out some friends of ours a little while back when we were dealing with a serious situation that the Heartless were also involved in, and if I know both mine and Aqua's former apprentices, then they've either met up with her at some point recently, they're going to soon, or they're already with her right now."
"And just who are these friends," Weiss asked.
Aqua, Ventus, and Terra all shared a smile between themselves before the lone female of the Wayfinder Trio asked, "Have either of you ever heard the names Sora, Riku, or Kairi before?"
In yet Another Part of Remnant (Time Still Unspecified)
Blake may have started out with very hopeful and optimistic expectations, but after the day she had been having, that hope and optimism had quickly dwindled. Then again, maybe Sun's confidence in his ability to get a few people to sign up for helping them to save Haven Academy from the impending White Fang attack had raised her spirits a little more than she had originally thought, but that was not necessarily a bad thing. Still, she had thought that she would have been able to get at least one person in all of Menagerie to sign up and join the fight, even if it was asking a lot of them. Sure, Menagerie was a safe haven for many, if not all Faunus, but after what she had seen during her time away from home, Blake knew that it was not going to last if they just stayed here thinking that what happened out in the rest of the world did not directly affect them. All she had to do was try and prove that to these people.
It was proving easier said than done, as she stood on the docks and watched several people either walk or swim away once they heard or realized why she was there, either because they were scared of the idea, or felt that it was asking too much for them to leave the safety of Menagerie to try and defend some of the people that they had come here to get away from in the first place. Blake was just about to go join up with Sun for a brief lunch break, when someone from behind her asked, "Hey, why the long face?"
Turning to the speaker, Blake found her eyes resting on an odd trio of Faunus. The speaker himself looked to be a fox Faunus, given his ears and tail, was tall, and had wild red hair that was styled in slicked-back spikes. His attire consisted of a sleeveless, hooded black vest worn over a sleeveless dark grey and red plaid button-down shirt with a short-sleeved black shirt underneath that, blackish-red pants, and black mid-calf boots, while an orange and red gauntlet adorned his left arm. His two companions were clearly much younger, though were still obviously close friends from what Blake could tell, and looked like they were twin siblings.
The boy had dark blonde, spiky hair, along with some cheetah spots running along his skin, and wore a black, grey t-shirt, black high-collared jacket, over which he wore a second, unzipped white jacket with a number of black block designs and a red pleated design on the inside of the collar, black and beige colored pants, grey and black shoes with red straps, and a black and white wrist band on his left wrist, while the index and middle fingers of said hand were adorned with rings that were one of the two colors. On his shoulder, he also wore a simple, armor piece, though his was a smoothly rounded piece of shoulder armor with the beginnings of spikes taking shape at the tops, colored silver and black, and had a cross symbol on the inside of the dial in the center that matched the one he wore as a zipper for his black jacket.
Finally, there was the girl of the group, and also the shortest of the three. Her Faunus characteristic was a set of black cat ears, but Blake could tell from past experiences that they were meant to be those of a panther. It certainly helped that she could see the faint signs of claws at the tips of the other girl's fingers. She had short black hair that parted to the right, with some tucked behind her right ear, and was decked out in a sleeveless double-buttoned, collared shirt and black belt, with a short white skirt underneath along with matching pair of shorts that reached just to the tops of her knees, black boots that came halfway up to her knees with a beige color to the upper fifth, a white sash with a faint, grey wave pattern that wrapped around her waist, and her own set of armor that rested on her shoulder and was colored sea-green with light blue highlights, with a very strange looking emblem on the inside of its dial that Blake almost missed due to how small the dial in question was.
Realizing that she had spent a little more time studying the three than she probably should have, Blake gave herself a mental slap back into reality and replied, "I've been trying to get people to sign up and help defend Haven Academy from the attack that Adam Taurus and the White Fang are planning to launch soon, but no one's too willing to leave the safety of Menagerie, let alone fight against the White Fang in defense of a human school."
"Well, why not just ask the leader of Menagerie to send whatever soldiers you already have to help," the blonde asked.
"If we could do that, we would have, but unfortunately, Menagerie doesn't have any formal army for my father to send out, so we need volunteers to help with this," Blake replied. She found it a little strange that the boy would say that, and quickly came to one conclusion. "You three aren't really from around here, are you?"
"Just arrived today, actually," the redhead confirmed. "We're actually from some place that's very well removed from the rest of the world, so we aren't all that up-to-date on the latest news and gossip that everyone else is familiar with."
There was something about the way that he said that Blake found a little funny, so she could not help but at least let out a short giggle in response. Any worries she had about offending the three were put at ease when the three just gave small grins in response, but it did not stop her from frowning again when she thought about one of the reasons as to why she was so desperate to find people to help with this. "If we don't get some help to stop Adam and the White Fang, it'll be the Fall of Beacon all over again, and as someone who not only fought through that battle but somehow managed to survive it, I can't let that happen," Blake continued to explain. Her mind then went back to the sight of one of her best friends having her arm cut off, despite her best attempts to not think about that horrible moment, and she then whispered, "Adam's already hurt so many people, because of his intentions or because of me. I won't let him hurt anyone else the same way he already has others."
Apparently she had not been quiet enough, because the other three seemed to have heard it, and the girl soon stepped up and held a hand out to Blake. Confused at the gesture, Blake only quirked an eye at the ravenette, her cat ears further emphasizing that confusion with the way they twitched in response, prompting the girl to say, "You're taking down signatures on that, right? Let me see it so I can sign mine and my friends' names on there."
Blake could hardly believe her ears, and since she had more than one pair, her hearing was really good, but she still handed over her Scroll to the girl. A minute later, the girl had typed three names onto the list that Blake had set up for the volunteers and handed it back, and the cat Faunus could only grin at seeing that she had been serious when she made that statement. "Roxas, Xion, and Axel," Blake read aloud, just to confirm it a little better.
When she read out the last name, the redhead groaned loudly as he said, "Why'd you sign me on there under that name, Xion? I've told you guys it's Lea, now. You can call me Axel if you want, but at least have the decency to sign my real name on stuff like that."
"Sorry, force of habit," the girl, now identified as Xion shrugged in return. "We've just got it too well memorized."
"She's right," the blonde, who Blake assumed was Roxas laughed in agreement.
His laughter drew a small glare from the redhead, though whether she should call him Axel or Lea, Blake was still unsure, while the man himself retorted, "Laugh it up, Zombie-Boy."
"So, should I call you Lea or Axel," Blake finally asked.
"It's Lea. That's L-E-A, just to be clear. Got it memorized," the redhead replied.
"Uh…Sure, I suppose," Blake nodded as she made the correction on the spreadsheet.
"Good, because if these two aren't going to use it, someone has to, besides a small number of our other friends," Lea grinned in approval. "So, any chance we can lend you a hand with getting more signatures?"
"I wouldn't mind the help, but I was actually about to meet up with a friend for lunch. You're welcome to join us if you want," Blake offered.
"Thanks, we'd appreciate that," Xion accepted on the three's behalf.
"Assuming we wouldn't be too much trouble, Miss…" Roxas added, trailing off at the end so that they could get her name.
"Belladonna. Blake Belladonna," the young Huntress-in-training replied with a smile.
Afterwards, the four made their way to the stand where Sun was waiting for them, and after a few quick introductions, they had all gotten a drink at the very least and sat down at one of the nearby tables. When she asked the monkey-boy she had grown so close to how much luck he had getting signatures though, Blake felt her spirits drop again when Sun reported that he had not been able to convince anyone to sign up. It did not help that he revealed how he had tried a lot of different tricks to better convince people, either, because if Sun's exuberance and spirit could not convince people, Blake had to wonder what would.
The time that they spent waiting for their food to be prepared was then mostly spent with Sun complaining, or more accurately ranting about how so many people did not want to help them with the matter, until he finally just got right to the point of what really frustrated him. "How can they just sit around and do nothing with the White Fang getting ready to attack," the leader of Team SNNN demanded.
"Because not everyone is like us," Blake calmly explained. "The Faunus here in Menagerie – the ones that weren't born on the island – moved here because they were tired of fighting, of having to struggle constantly. Menagerie is filled with people that just want to be left alone, and here we are, asking them to put the rest of the world before themselves."
"Huh, sounds kinda familiar," Lea mused, surprising Sun and Blake a little. "A while back, the three of us were part of this group of…people, who were different from everyone else, and most of them joined up because of a promise to help us change that. You could say that they were promising to change us from being a bunch of nobodies into being someone that actually mattered and existed, but if you were to ask a good number of them to help out the people who basically casted us aside like that, and you'd be hard pressed to find someone who was willing to do so. We were content with just keeping to ourselves and focusing on achieving our own goals, but ask us to lend the common man a helping hand, to put others before ourselves, and you'd have a really hard time getting many of us to line up and join in."
"Huh…Sounds like you guys have had it rough," Sun noted.
"You don't know the half of it," Xion muttered with a sad look to the side. Roxas seemed to have heard her, and quickly reached over to pat and rub her shoulder soothingly, much to her relief.
Blake could not help but smile a little at the moment between these two siblings, who had earlier confirmed for her that they were in fact twins, but it did not keep her mind off of the big problem that they were facing. "The real problem here though, is that whatever happens at Haven is going to affect them whether they like it or not. If Adam gets his way and Haven falls, it's only going to make things worse for the Faunus. Everywhere."
Something in her voice must have given her away, because Lea eventually commented, "You know, whenever you've talked about this Adam guy, it almost sounds like you know him. Was he a friend of yours or something?"
"…Yes," Blake admitted after a few seconds with a sigh.
"Hey, you don't have to talk about it if you don't want to," Sun interjected, shooting the redhead a slightly reproachful look as he did, to which Lea quickly raised his hands in peaceful surrender to show he had not meant any harm.
"No, it's okay," Blake reassured her good friend. "Adam and I…we were partners back when I was in the White Fang, right up until I finally left."
"You were part of this White Fang group," Xion exclaimed in surprise.
"Yes. I was born into it, really, considering that my father was the leader back when the methods the group used were more peaceful, but after stepping down for a new leader to take over, their methods became much more violent, especially in operations that Adam led. After seeing all the bloodshed that followed in our wake though, I decided to leave and try to really make things better for everyone by becoming a Huntress. I'm still trying to do that, but it hasn't gotten any easier since what happened to Beacon."
"So why didn't you leave when your dad did," Roxas asked.
Blake seemed to think about that for a minute before she finally answered with a question of her own. "Have any of you ever met someone and thought to yourself, 'They are the personification of this word.'"
"Uhhhhh…" was all Sun could say, not really understanding the question, and voicing that same confusion for the other three as well.
Blake must have realized this, because she was quick to simplify it for the four. "Okay, well, I remember getting to know Ruby and thinking, 'This girl is the embodiment of 'purity.'' After a while, I saw Weiss was 'defiance,' and Yang was 'strength.'"
"What am I," Sun asked, curious as to what word the girl had assigned to him.
Blake could only smile with a slightly teasing glint in her eye that neither Xion or Roxas missed, and said, "Jury's still out on that one, but I'm leaning towards 'earnest.'" That seemed to be satisfactory for Sun, much to Blake's amusement, and she was able to take some strength from that as she continued on with her explanation. "At first I thought Adam was 'justice,' then I thought he was 'passion,' but over time I realized I was wrong. He wasn't any of those things. He was 'spite.' Not 'hatred', not 'rage', 'spite.' He won't accept equality, only suffering for what he feels the world did to him, and his way of thinking is dangerously contagious. And honestly, that both scares and worries me, especially for the sake of the other friends I left behind when I left the White Fang."
Hearing that drove all four of the others to silence as they mused over what Blake said, none of them really sure what to say, until finally, Lea broke the silence. "Have you given up on those friends," he asked.
"What," Blake questioned.
"The friends you left behind after quitting the White Fang. Have you given up on them," Lea elaborated.
"No, of course not. I want to help them the same way that others have helped me from drowning in guilt and fear, even though I tried to push them away out of concern for their safety. It's about time I saved my friends and not the other way around, anyway," Blake replied.
"Good," Lea smiled in return, surprising the two Faunus. "That group I mentioned earlier, they were not the people that they really claimed to be. They were hurting others, even some of their members, all for the gain of a single madman with delusions of grandeur, to put it mildly. Despite that, I thought it would be better to stick with them, knowing that turning on them would get me and my friends destroyed." He then pointed to his two friends and said, "That didn't stop these two squirts. The minute they realized something was wrong and that they could do something to help make things right, they didn't hesitate to pack up and bail out. Of course, the group wasn't too willing to let them go, but they made the mistake of assigning me as the one to either bring them back or take them out. I wasn't about to let my best friends suffer anymore, especially when the reason was for doing the right thing, not just for them, but for so many others, so, without them even knowing, I became a double agent, feeding information on the group to the people who came to rescue Roxas and Xion for as long as I could, while keeping other unique individuals safe from various parties, because I promised these two that no matter what happened, or how much they ran, I would always be there to bring them back, not to the group, but to me."
"And we can never be grateful enough for that, Axel," Xion smiled happily.
Roxas nodded in concurrence, before he turned to Blake so that he could take the reins of the conversation. "We definitely know where you're coming from when it comes to having a first impression abolished. Using your example of people that are personifications of certain words, I would say that the first real father figure I had, mine and Xion's teacher, Ventus, would be someone that I eventually came to think of as the embodiment of 'friendliness,' and his girlfriend, now wife, Aqua was 'strength.' Of course, I still think Xion's boyfriend Riku is 'arrogance'…"
"Roxas," Xion admonished, prompting him to laugh a little, showing that he was not entirely serious. In fact, if Blake had to guess, she would say that Roxas viewed Xion's boyfriend in a similar manner to the way that her father viewed Sun. Still, there was something about the name Riku that tickled her mind a little, like she had heard the name somewhere once before. She put it aside when Xion picked up where Roxas left off. "Seriously though, I'm pretty sure that he relates Riku to the same word that I do: 'selflessness.' And if we were to compare some of our other friends to certain words, I would say that Kairi is 'kindness,' and our brother Sora…well, it's hard to go with just one word. Honestly, I'm thinking that maybe 'optimism' could work, or maybe even the same word you used for your friend Ruby; 'purity,' because it's hard to really find anyone who's light shines as brightly and purely as Sora's."
Blake could only silently gasp at hearing that last name, as it served to clue her in on where she had heard the name Riku before; the same place she had heard the other two that Xion mentioned, and she made a point to question the two about it later on. The only reason why she was not right now was because Roxas had taken over once again. "The leader of that group, known as the Organization, though, I'd say that if we were to use a word to describe him at first, it would probably be 'assurance', or 'hope', because he always seemed so certain that following his lead to achieve his goals would get us what we were hoping for. Boy, were we wrong. He was only ever interested in helping himself. He was never 'rage', or 'hatred', or even 'curiosity' like would probably claim to be. Honestly, I would label him as 'insane' or 'evil.' If it weren't for Ventus and Sora, we probably never would have realized it until it was too late, and we're glad that they did help us, because we can repay that kindness by doing the same for them when they need us to, and for others when given the chance."
"Do you really think it is possible to help them though? I mean, we haven't really had much luck convincing anyone around here to go to Haven and save them," Blake pointed out.
"Positive," Roxas reassured with a nod. When Blake and Sun seemed to remain skeptical, Roxas decided to add a couple more words of wisdom to his assurance. "Hakuna Matata."
"Uh…what," Blake asked in return.
"Ha-who-na Ma-what-a," Sun attempted to repeat, only to fall very short.
"Hakuna Matata. It's something that Roxas and I learned a while back when we were journeying with our older brother and some of our other friends that means 'no worries,'" Xion explained. "Whatever happened in the past is already over with, and we can't do anything about it except move on, put it behind us, and work as hard as we can now to build a better future."
Blake still seemed unsure about that, and said, "I'm not so sure if it'll be that easy. My own past isn't exactly filled with much more than pain and suffering." The next thing she knew, Lea had reached over and jabbed her in the forehead with two fingers. "Ow! What'd you do that for," Blake demanded.
"Doesn't matter. It's already in the past," Lea informed her.
"It still hurts," Blake pointed out.
"So what? Sometimes the past hurts, but that doesn't mean you should run from it. If anything, it would be more helpful to learn from it," Lea replied, already rising to repeat his earlier actions. This time though, Blake not only dodged him, but also caught his arm in order to further prevent him from trying anything else. That must have been what the redhead was hoping for, as he smiled brightly like he had just won a huge prize. "See? And if you can learn from your past to do better, then I'm sure any real friends you have that are still in the White Fang can do the same."
Blake just had to smile as she released Lea's arm, and nodded to the three in thanks just as their food order was announced as ready. Sun quickly stood up to grab their orders, and came back just as quickly, passing everything out so that they could enjoy their quick lunch break as fast as possible before he and Blake got back to work on getting more signatures. After a few minutes of eating in silence though, Blake decided that it was time for her to address the matter she had thought of earlier.
"Hey, Roxas, Xion," the cat Faunus said, getting the twins' attention. "You mentioned earlier that you had an older brother named Sora, right?"
"Oh, yeah. Crazy thing is that we didn't even know about him until some point after meeting Ventus," Roxas replied. "Why do you ask?"
"It's just that…my teammate and team leader, Ruby had mentioned meeting someone by that name once. I doubt it's the same person though, considering that I'm pretty sure she dreamed the guy up, unless your brother fights monsters with a giant key," Blake replied. When the two exchanged a few looks with both each other and Lea, Blake's ears seemed to fold in on themselves to showcase her suspicion, as she asked, "He…doesn't, does he?"
"Well…not alone, anyway," Roxas admitted. "And more to the point, he's not the only one with a weapon like that."
"The three of us have got one, too. Of course, in Roxas's case its two Keyblades," Lea revealed while throwing a playfully jealous look at his best friend.
Roxas just shook his head in response to the redhead's comment, while Xion asked, "You're sure that your friend mentioned meeting someone by the name Sora, though?"
"Yeah, but I'm pretty sure that it was just a weird dream," Blake confessed.
"Trust me, if she says that she met Sora at some point, then she probably did. Our big brother's got a habit of making friends in more ways than you can imagine, sometimes without even leaving his home," Xion half-joked in response.
Now Blake was curious, and she could not help but ask for the three to tell her a little more, unaware of just how incredible a story that they would be able to spin for her until after they started.
To Be Continued in Kingdom Hearts: Beyond the Worlds…
AN: Okay, so I'm sure all of you Keyblades Unleashed Series followers have now gotten a good idea of some things to expect when we reach Beyond the Worlds, along with a few other things, but let me go over those details for you all now.
The first of which being the big one I'm sure everyone's noticed: yes, Ventus and Aqua will have gotten married by the time Beyond the Worlds has taken place, and also for the record, Sora, Riku, and Kairi will have all been named Keyblade Masters as well. Moving along, I'm sure you all noticed that there were at least a few people who got costume changes on the Kingdom Hearts side of things. Just to be clear, in the cases of most of them, that would only be the addition of some variety of Keyblade armor. This would be in the cases of Sora, Riku, Lea (aka Axel), and Roxas, as they still retain their final looks from Kingdom Hearts 3. Lea's being the look he was sporting post-game-story. In terms of other characters, like Kairi and Xion, while their appearances are mostly the same as they were by the previously mentioned point, there are one or two changes that make their outfits a little more battle-suited, with my own personal touch added in. Finally, there's the matter of Ventus and Aqua's new looks. Those are completely original stylings that I myself came up with, and they will start sporting those outfits when the Keyblades Unleashed Series reaches its version of KH3 (Meaning Kingdom Hearts: Trinities). I may try my best to actually create an illustration or two of those new looks later on, assuming I ever get around to creating an account on DeviantArt, but for now, I hope you can all just work with whatever your imaginations provide for you. And before you all ask, yes, Terra is the only one who's appearance hasn't changed at all from what we've seen in the past. Or at least the only one among the characters who showed up here. The same could also be said of the other heroes who will appear in this story of this series, but then again, how often have we seen Donald, Goofy, or Namine change their looks, and why would you want to change Mickey's KH appearance that much from canon?
I hope no one was too disappointed from how little action there may or may not have been from the various guest stars, but keep in mind, this is a sneak preview of what's to come in the Keyblades Unleashed Series, so I've got to keep some things under my hat. Also, another thing I should mention is that this whole thing was told from the RWBY cast's point of view, so expect a few differences between this and when I post the actual, full story for Beyond the Worlds.
Ruby: Um, can I ask why it seemed like I already knew at least Sora, and why the rest of my team acted like they didn't believe me when I told them about it?
AN: You can and did, and I will provide an answer. The reason is because, Sora or at least one member of the Destiny Trio will acquire the ability to summon Ruby Rose via Heart Binders in Kingdom Hearts Trinities, and since only Ruby would have been called in, while other worlds are supposed to be a secret, and space travel is impossible for Remnant, it only makes sense that the rest of Team RWBY would have a hard time thinking that it was anything more than a dream. Boy are they in for a few surprises.
Yang: You know, after seeing it happen in the theme song, I was kinda hoping that we could at least get a glimpse of me fighting my mom with Riku and Terra.
AN: Hey, like I said, gotta keep at least a few things under my hat for now, so I'm afraid that you guys are gonna have to wait a little bit longer for some of the really good stuff that takes place in that story. I know some of you may or may not be too fond of the fact that it'll be taking place during Vol. 5 of RWBY, but hey, look on the bright side, at least you'll get to see a little bit of Pre-Vol. 4 RWBY when Ruby appears to backup the Destiny Trio in Trinities.
Well, I'd say that wraps up this Meeting chapter, which means all that's left to do now is to wait and see who shows up to work with Team RWBY and their friends next time, and what kind of adventure it'll be when they appear. It's kinda fun writing one-shots like this, to be honest. But for now, if you want to see more Kingdom Hearts and RWBY action, check out Remnant of the Key, and as for this little one-shot series...
Please read and review, and I'll see in the next colorful adventure!
