Last chapter's title: A line somebody says in the My Hero Academia manga (HEAVY SPOILERS, LOOK AT YOUR OWN RISK)


Ch.7 - False Face Hides

"Haha! So I'm assuming you are a follower of the Oracles?" Charlemagne tried guessing Sun's affiliation.

"A follower? Nahhh I'm not one to be a follower of any sort of group though I am quite a fan of the Paladins."

Weiss raised an eyebrow to his response, "A ruffian like you being a fan of a chivalrous squadron of knights?"

"Weiss!" Ruby didn't like how her teammate was being right now. "Aren't the Paladins that group of knights personally chosen by your father to represent the Oracles, Charlemagne?"

Charlemagne nodded his head. "Precisely! I'm technically a member of the Paladins as well though my father wanted me to attend Beacon as a way to better relations with Vale. I would've probably either gone to Atlas Academy or stayed with the Paladins alternatively, but I love the adventure of coming to Vale much more!"

"And that was a good choice on your part, man." Sun added, "I wouldn't even bother ever going to Atlas with that cold weather and the Faunus mistreatment there. But you Paladins and the Oracles are chill." This garnered a smile from Charlemagne.

"Though, where is that other girl? Your Faunus friend."

RWY and Charlemagne were rather surprised with how Sun knew already. The girls saw that he only glanced at Blake for a second the previous day yet that was enough for him to see behind her disguise.

"We're looking for her right now. She ran away last night after some drama." Ruby responded with Yang nodding. Weiss looked away with her arms crossed as Sun connected the dots together.

"She and the Schnee, I'm not surprised." Sun concluded, which made Weiss a bit irritated.

"Well what can you expect from someone who has ties to the White Fang?" Weiss defended herself.

"Weiss, we've told you so many times already. Blake didn't want to live that life anymore, she isn't with the White Fang." The apparent frustration in Yang's voice was present.

"Whatever. It's noon time and we need to eat." Weiss quickly brushed off her teammate's statement and walked towards the food district. Everyone else looked at the Schnee with uneasy eyes.

Yang, with her pent up frustration, looked ready to march at Weiss and give her a piece of her mind when Charlemagne put a hand on her shoulder. "Yang, I don't like Weiss' attitude at all either, but blowing up won't make it better."

"And we're gonna let her continue to be a whiny bitch?!"

"No." Charlemagne said in a firm voice, "we do not want more fighting within your team unless you want to risk the possibility of being split up and reassigned to other teams. I doubt they'd let a potential unregulated three-person team stay at Beacon" That seemed to make Yang hesitate with her decision as she loosened a bit. Ruby put a hand on Yang's other shoulder.

"Not now, Yang…" Ruby then continued walking towards Weiss' direction. Frustrated, Yang let out a long drawn sigh before grumpily following Ruby. Sun and Charlemagne took in the rather somber look Team RWY had.

"So how are they gonna fix this? Ice Queen doesn't look like she's warming up anytime soon." Sun asked.

Charlemagne inwardly snorted with how quick it took for Sun to pick up the patented 'Ice Queen' nickname Weiss was known for having. "A hell of a lot of contemplation and time. But my teammate has some words to say and so do I as fellow Atlessian royalty."

"At least your family seems a lot cooler than the other families in Atlas."

"Right?" Charlemagne answered with a smirk. Weiss overheard Sun's last comment and had a mildly annoyed face on it but made no comment.

After a few minutes of walking within the food district, they settled upon a cafe that was in the middle of its lunch service. In the heart of the food district, the "Fox Den" was a popular eating spot, especially for the Faunus which the cafe allowed with open arms. Yang has gone there once with her friends during her time at Signal and she absolutely loved the food and atmosphere. She had thoughts of bringing their three teams to this place eventually so she wanted early opinions from the group.

"I think I'll take my leave here." Sun announced to the group.

"Awww, you don't wanna stick around? This place is really good!" Yang said in response.

"Nahh, maybe later. I still have much of this city to discover. I hope you guys find Blake! Later!" With that, Sun traversed up a building and went on his merry way. Due to the amount of business, the estimated wait time for their table would be an hour, so the gang decided to kill time splitting up and looking for Blake until their table is ready.

Weiss wandered off with finding Blake not on her priority list. For all intents and purposes, she was still upset about this whole ordeal and wasn't quite at the point of wanting to process Blake's perception. After all, who would now easily trust somebody who has or had connections to a group that had painted her, her family, and their associates with a red target? She felt that nobody around her right now really understood having to live with that...

"Weiss."

"Of all people…", Weiss sighed as she looked back and saw her fellow Atlessian student expectantly waiting for her acknowledgement.

"Yes, Charlemagne?"

"Oi, told you to call me Charlie! Anyways, I wanna have a word with you if you don't mind."

Hearing the insistence in his tone already made Weiss guess that he wanted this talk to happen. Even though she didn't want another Charlemagne lecture right now, it seemed a bit inevitable like last time. They found a secluded table in a small park to have their conversation in.

"Weiss, about Blake…" Charlemagne began to say, but Weiss immediately cut in.

"You're going to tell me that I have to apologize for my beliefs on the White Fang? I'm sure your family is aware of the enemies we have and just because you are in the one royal family with a good relationship with the Faunus doesn't mean it'll be easy to fix a relationship between a Schnee heiress and an affiliate of the White Fang. So sorry I'm a bit defensive right now." Weiss vented all of this out.

"How could I trust her if she kept her past and who she really is from us all this time, huh?! If she managed to escape Sora, who knows how she could be prevented from enacting a discrete vendetta she might have?" Her heartbeat was racing with the frustration that rose with each word. Charlemagne couldn't really blame her in the sense that she felt stress from possibly being in a vulnerable position.

But Blake is a victim to discrimination as Weiss is to her family. The degree of severity might be different but Weiss is clearly affected by a mentality cultivated in the Schnee household; a mentality of unyielding pride and privilege that many wealthy Atlessians hold and that especially goes for the Schnee family. Although the question that lingers in Charlemagne's mind remains:

"Her mindset with pursuing a Huntress career doesn't go in line with becoming the future head of the Schnee Dust Corporation. She's taking a career path more similar to Winter, yet unlike her older sister she has not fully made peace with what she wants to do. Are you really trying to disassociate yourself from the actions your father has taken with the company, Weiss?"

"Because you've said that Weiss," Charlemagne spoke up, "I'm sure there could've been plenty of opportunities where you could've been taken out of the equation with your logic."

"You think she would've done it on campus with the level of security Beacon has?"

"She could've done something as early as the Initiation where we were all in the Emerald Forest if she really was still taking part in the White Fang's affairs. I think you're jumping the gun too soon."

"Are you really trying to invalidate my worries? The innocent don't run, Charlemagne!" Weiss planted her hands on the table and stood up in anger.

"And instead of just playing victim with your fears, start to think about what Blake might be going through!" Charlemagne mirrored Weiss except with a more powerful voice. The silence was tense as the both of them were locked into a staredown. Fortunately, nobody was around to be in the vicinity of this because they probably would've felt that a real fight could've happened right there. At last it was Charlemagne who cut the silence.

"Tell me… what do you hope to get out of this whole Huntress thing?"

There was a slight pause for Weiss' response as she tried to muster her words, "...To become more than my father's image and return the Schnee Dust Corporation to its former glory, as its rightful heiress. All the heinous acts done like the shady business practices, the deceit—"

"And what about the treatment of Faunus? What do the Faunus mean to you, 'future heiress' Weiss Schnee?"

That question struck a chord with Weiss. It was a question that she didn't anticipate so bluntly though she isn't ignorant of what the company has done to Faunus workers. She managed to muster a response albeit a bit shaky, "I… I don't think they're all bad, contrary to what you might think from my father. But how would this change my feelings about the White Fang? After experiencing all the consequences caused by them?"

"Maybe you can start thinking about what Blake's side of the story is about. I'm thinking that you two might have a bit more in common that you really think. Think more clearly: a Faunus who is an ex-White Fang member defects due to clear dissatisfaction with the current state of the group and joins a combat academy. Isn't that a bit like you joining this academy to add distance from your father and preaching the previous state of the Schnee Dust Company?" Charlemagne tried reasoning with Weiss.

Weiss was about to counter this point if Charlemagne didn't continue, "You said yourself that Ozpin might've known Blake was a former member of the Fang. My father told me that Ozpin has many connections amongst the entire kingdom of Vale, so digging up a bit of Blake's personal info wouldn't be hard for him. I wouldn't be surprised if Blake was personally invited by the man himself. Now is this just a sudden jerk reaction despite Ozpin's insight, or does your father have more of an influence on your way of thinking than you thought?"

Ozpin's public reputation was one of the main reasons why Weiss decided to attend Beacon. The man was pretty tight-lipped from what she has heard of a couple times but I guess that goes with so many affluent individuals with all the reasons they might have. With a sigh, Charlemagne looked at his Scroll and noticed the time was close to their reservation window. "We should head back to the cafe, don't wanna be late." Weiss was silent.

"Weiss," the girl looked up at Charlemagne, "you're a good person and I can see you don't share the same opinion on Faunus like a whole lot of racist scumbags. Nobody can tell you that your fear and anger of the Fang is invalid, but remember that it started out as a non-violent group just like how your family's Dust corporation had better leadership before your father. Maybe Blake is becoming a Huntress to fight for what the White Fang should've stayed as. It's time you give Blake a chance to make up for her mistakes."

The heiress pondered on his words before responding, "And what if you are all wrong in the end, Charlie?"

Charlemagne gave one final statement before walking back to the cafe, "That's for you to talk to Blake about."

Weiss followed Charlemagne a handful of seconds later, having a lot in her mind to think about. As frustrated and stressed as she is about the entire situation, Charlemagne made her aware of apparent similarities she would've never come to by her own, but it didn't mean she would want to talk to Blake yet. The two of them eventually reached the cafe where Yang and Ruby were already waiting.

Yang took the opportunity noticing that they were walking back together to tease them, "Heyy~, back from your short date so soon?"

"Excuse me?!"/"That's not it! I just came across her when coming back here!" Weiss and Charlemagne respectively said, getting Weiss out of her thoughts. While Yang continued to tease on, Ruby noticed that a cafe employee was finally calling out Yang's name as she put her name as the reservation.

"Hey guys!" Ruby got the attention of her sister and two friends, "Our table is ready! C'mon!"

Yang lit up, "Oh cool! You guys are so gonna love this place." The party was led to their table by a young-looking girl that looked to be around their age. She had a usual fair-looking skin tone with warm purple eyes. Her blonde hair was tied into a messy ponytail style as she let her bangs and side bangs remain free. Most importantly, she had a pair of fox ears that were on a very light shade of gold. Yang seemed to recognize who this girl was.

"Hey, aren't you the owner of this cafe?" This seemed to pique the interest of the rest of them.

Joyed by the recognition, she put on a genuinely warm smile and waved at them, "Hello! My name is Ava and I will be helping you four today!"


Blake was really bored. She does acknowledge that all she really does is read a book when she isn't sleeping, training with the team, or doing anything in regards to school. Sora and Charlemagne didn't seem like book-worms so there wasn't any novel that they brought with them to Beacon in their room. So there Blake was, sitting on the luxurious sofa and thinking about her situation since that really is the only thing she could do right now to pass the time.

"What can I even say to Weiss… does she think of me as a terrorist now? I really screwed up this time..." Blake buried her face into her knees. She was hopeful that the sisters on the team were more understanding though she didn't exactly know what they could be thinking right now so maybe they also felt betrayed in a sense. However, she did know that she's been within her own head for so long that it looked as if the sun was beginning to approach the horizon.

"I've been thinking that long, huh…" Blake murmured before hearing the door to the room being unlocked. Using her enhanced hearing, it sounded like Sora and Charlemagne went down the hall without her team or JNPR. The door finally opened as Team King entered the room.

"Hey Blake! How have you been holding up?" Sora noticed Blake sitting on the sofa.

The Faunus gave him a tried smirk, "Well I have been holed up in here for the weekend with no books to read. How are the others?"

"Haven't the foggiest where you are, Blake." Charlemagne answered. "All of em are worried about where you might be and I had to give Weiss another talk. She certainly might be thinking about this right now, but hopefully she's more willing to give you another chance." This got Blake's cat ears to perk up a bit.

"I see…"

"Anyways! I discovered a spot in this campus that you two would definitely love, and hopefully we get the entire gang to join in the future!" Sora interjected, very excited and eager to show them.

"Eh? We just got back to the room." Charlemagne responded.

"And what if I get spotted by my team or JNPR?" Blake also responded.

"We came back earlier so they're still in the city looking for you and now is the best time to go. Can we go? Pleeeease?" Sora looked very insistent to go, looking more like a begging little kid.

Charlemagne and Blake couldn't really believe what they were seeing. Someone who was very capable in a fight resorting to these tactics to get his way, but they didn't have it in them to refuse their friend right now.

"Ok then." Blake finally responded, walking to the bathroom to change into her usual outfit she washed and dried earlier.

"Alright, chief! Where are we headed?" Charlemagne shook his head in amusement.

"You'll see when we get there!" Sora exclaimed happily.

So after Blake got changed into her normal attire, the three of them headed out of the room to where Sora was leading them. Only Teams RWBY, JNPR, and Velvet had any involvement with this whole situation so Blake was safe to walk around the campus as long as she wasn't spotted by anyone Teams RWBY and JNPR might ask about her whereabouts. It didn't take too long before they were walking up the stairs of a tower while Blake and Charlemagne were starting to understand what Sora might show them. To Sora's inevitable joy, their expectations were met greatly once Sora led them to the spot. Blake watched the view from their spot on the tower with silent awe and Charlemagne…

"Woaahhh! This view is so cool! You really have an eye for sick views to catch this sort of view! We can see the city over there and all of campus!"

"This sunset is so beautiful…", Blake simply said.

As the two admired the view, Sora took a seat between them and grabbed the sea-salt ice cream he had in his pockets. Carefully ripping the wrapping off the three bars, he made a notion to Blake and Charlemagne to sit down.

"Here ya go guys. The icing on the cake!" Sora gave them each an ice cream bar.

"This is sea-salt ice cream. Apparently this flavor was invented in Atlas a couple weeks ago and I got my hands on these from someone I just met today who got these delivered to her. She said it was getting popular there."

"Sea salt on ice cream…" Blake looked at her ice cream weirdly.

"Well it wouldn't hurt to try this thing out if it's the craze of Atlas right now." Charlemagne decided to take his first bite into the ice cream as did Blake. They took a few moments for the flavor to settle in their mouths before giving their collective input.

Charlemagne took another inspection of his bar, "Man! This thing really gets to you with the saltiness in the beginning!"

"But then the sweetness comes in and washes the salt away." Blake had to admit, it wasn't a bad flavor combination. "This isn't bad." She got a sound of confirmation from Charlemagne as they continued eating their ice cream.

Sora wanted to see their reactions to the ice cream first before eating. Judging from how similar their responses were from previous reactions to the ice cream he has remembered, this added another reason to question the eerie coincidence… or was it? He finally took a bite of the ice cream after such thought.

That one bite brought a surge of memories as the ice cream tasted pretty much identical to what he's had back in his realm. Some of them were Roxas' and Xion's memories of them sitting on the Twilight Town clock tower eating ice cream with Axel. Sora even noticed right now that the seating order felt the same: Sora/Roxas in the middle, Blake/Xion to his left, and Charlemagne/Axel to his right. It really felt natural to Sora that he somehow unintentionally got even their specific seating order down.

He was unaware that he'd been looking at his ice cream for a straight minute as it started to drip. This caught the attention of Charlemagne.

"Yo, Sora. Are you trying to melt the ice cream with laser vision? It's melting!"

Sora immediately snapped out of his stupor, "Oh sorry about that! Hehe… I was also thinking about how they got this flavor but just spaced out a bit too much!" He took a few quick bites to make up for his slightly less frozen bar. make up for the melting ice cream. The three of them sat and ate in silence as they took in Vale's sunset, really reminding Sora of the view from the clocktower. If there was a way to honor his friends back home, it was to continue this tradition with his friends on Remnant. He was glad there was enough space for their three teams plus a few more people.

"Hey…" Blake broke the silence, "I'm sure you two know a good amount about the White Fang of now, but how much do you know about the Fang I swore loyalty to?"

"Hmm… I'd like to believe you joined during the time they set their basis on non-violent protests until change in leadership burnt that idea to the ground. It would've been really awesome with collaboration between the White Fang and the Oracles but sadly we aren't on the same page." Charlemagne gave his piece.

"I would occasionally hear of White Fang talk on our island. Never thought they were once a peaceful group 'til I got to Vale and learned more," Sora said with an improvised lie.

Blake was silent for a bit and gave the sunset a long view before continuing, "I joined the protests as a young kid, believing that what we were doing was going to make a change. Even with the rocks that were being thrown our way, I… we pushed past it; me and Adam."

Sora recognized that name from the night he pursued Blake, "Adam, was he a friend?"

"I… don't even know anymore. He was the one person I considered like an older brother with us initially having the same goals. But somewhere along the way, he changed. As our protests became more desperate, so increased the opposition. I heard he was in a group with my father that was being ambushed."

"Your father, wasn't he a leader of the Fang at one point?" Charlemagne asked which got the surprise of Sora.

"Yes. He would usually be accompanied by a squad with outside business which included Adam. That day, I heard he was forced to kill one of the humans." Blake took one last bite of her ice cream. Everyone felt the weight start to set in.

"My father was of course not happy about that, but the soon to be next and current leader, Sienna Khan, approved of it and made it seem it was the right move. I think that day awakened something in most of the followers. I think the radical-minded wanted this… which includes Adam. Soon, compromises turned into hostage situations that had no restrictions on whether anybody could walk away alive or not. The vision of equality for Faunus turned into supremacy for Faunus. Adam dyed his hands with blood, the same hands that would pet my head and ears when times were good. Th-this bow is more than just hiding my ears."

"You don't want to be reminded of Adam do you? To separate as much as you can from anything relating to him?" Sora guessed right on the money.

Blake just silently nodded, her ears twitching under her bow. "That day when I ran away was the day I donned this bow. As long as I fear the day Adam might try to bring me back, my Faunus ears will remain bound so I don't have to look at the ears that were pet by a killer everyday in the mirror."

It was at this time that Charlemagne remembered what he talked to Weiss about earlier.

"Blake, would there be any chance that the possibility of getting rid of the bow ties into what you want to get out of in this Huntress-in-training thing?"

The Faunus took time to think before giving her answer, "What I want to use this opportunity for is the equality of Faunus through the credibility of a Huntress that graduated from Beacon. I want to revert the White Fang back to its former glory because if I feel I can do that, then I feel I can stand up to Adam. Once I've dealt with him, the bow comes off."

Blake's answer seems to satisfy Charlemagne in that he has once again one upped Weiss' skepticism of Blake's allegiance, though he wasn't fully on board with the whole thing; something akin to Weiss' inconsistent mindset for trying to accomplish a goal. It was Sora who voiced it.

"But your desire in wanting the White Fang to go back to its former ways shows your pride in being a Faunus. The bow kinda destroys the perception of the pride you have."

Blake shrunk with that being mentioned, "I-it's just I don't want to be reminded of Adam—"

Sora pressed even more, "Wouldn't you feel better confronting and besting Adam with your ears free of the bow? I think he'd be even angrier seeing you hide your ears—"

"I don't know!" Blake furiously threw her ice cream stick off the tower. The air was extremely still for what felt like an eternity. While the boys were still in shock, Blake realized her outburst and let that settle in. She put her knees at her chest as she started to shed tears.

"What good am I if I'm going to keep pushing people away? Running away and avoiding when it gets too hard…" Blake was going to continue to deprecate herself until she felt a pressure on her head.

Specifically her bow.

She slowly looked up from her knee and saw Sora patting her head and giving light rubs to the area of the bow that directly covers the ears. His touch was delicate and being a cat Faunus, petting that area felt really good. So suffice to say it automatically comforted her as she loosened and returned to a more regular sitting posture. This also allowed her to notice that Charlemagne moved from his spot to kneel next to her.

"Everything is going to be fine, Blake. We know you are scared, but that's what we are all here for. Me, Charlie, your team, and JNPR will have your back; I think even Weiss will turn around. So maybe with us in your mind, that bow might start to feel more foreign." Sora gave a very warm smile, one to match the sunset.

Charlemagne went to wipe Blake's tears with his thumb, making sure to not be too hard. "Do we have to tell ya again? We all have your back, Blake! Trust in us and we trust in you. Our bond is something you should tighten even more instead of that bow!" The Magnus heir gave a big smile.

For the first time since the downfall of the Fang, Blake felt there were people outside her family and formerly Adam who understood her good intentions and accepted them. Sora and Charlemagne were sure the first ones to jumpstart her development into improvement, but now she felt more hope that her allies at Beacon will affect her for the better even more than she expected when she was admitted into this academy.

"Yes, I am still scared, but I feel safer with them now. I even feel… that I could talk to Weiss now." Blake gave Team King a small but bright smile.

Down at the base of the tower, the ice cream stick that Blake threw was now hidden within shrubbery. The shadows and leaves slightly obscuring the stick didn't stop the word "Winner" being shown.


A sudden shift in scenery is done with a similar ice cream stick being in the same position of the frame except now it's being held by someone.

The man in the black coat.

Night has fallen already as the man looked to have enjoyed a bar of sea salt ice cream before noticing the "Winner" on the stick too. He stood on one of the high cranes posted in the docks.

"Heh, lucky me." Despite the wind and air resistance from up high, he tossed the stick aside as it landed perfectly in a trash can. His concealed face then faced straight forward: towards the direction of Beacon. He was expecting someone.

"Let me face, let me face, let me face my fears…"

Sora was just relaxing on his bed while listening to more of Utada's songs. He didn't know but he felt such a strong connection to her music since he can relate so much to the themes she sings about. So while he was relaxing on his bed, he wasn't going to necessarily sleep yet. Blake decided to sleep a bit earlier because she was drained from earlier and Charlemagne wasn't in the room because he wanted to check up on his combat gear.

Despite his intentions, he was droning out to the point he temporarily slipped into the realm of Morpheus. He'd wish he did and didn't because what he saw next hit a bit too close to home.

All he saw initially is when a TV is static before montages of visions flashed and alternated between static and visions.

The armored forms of Ven, Terra, and Aqua going into a portal that looks like it suspiciously leads to the Realm of Darkness.

What looks to be Roxas and Xion holding their hands over their own hearts trying to reach inward with Lea looking at them with anticipation.

Mickey seemingly in a conversation with Master Yen Sid, the wise man in deep thought but was shaking his head. This resulted in Mickey looking downtrodden, which was also shared by Donald and Goofy in the same room.

Riku overlooking the sea surrounding Destiny Islands, fists clenched.

Kairi, who seems to be fast asleep in what looks to be like Ansem the Wise's study. Sora gets a better look at Kairi's face before she abruptly opens her eyes to show a heterochromia of red and blue. Sora's perspective shifts to a very familiar scene of Vale's docks. He frantically looks around before looking up.

Five individuals stand on the five cranes. Four of them wear ancient looking robes with animal masks, but the fifth… the fifth…

Is wearing an Organization XIII coat, and the last thing Sora sees is a fraction of a second of golden eyes opening.

"Watch me cry, all my tears."

Sora abruptly rose as the last track of the playlist ended. Understandably, he was completely shaken with what he'd seen. Heavy labored breaths filled the room with Sora in a cold sweat.

"What in the worlds was that?! Don't tell me.. that I really saw my friends in real time! And someone from the Organization lived and is on Remnant!? How!?"

Sora took off his headphones and stood up to look at the window. He looked at the clock and saw it was 8:30 pm. Team RWBY hasn't come back from Vale yet he heard Team JNPR come back already.

He really felt… that he has to go to the docks ASAP.

In a state of determination, Sora quickly grabbed his usual attire and changed quickly in the bathroom. The noises were loud enough to wake Blake up and when she opened her eyes, she saw Sora walk out the bathroom door. It definitely looks like Sora was completely in the zone because he did not notice Blake slowly rise from the bed she has been borrowing from Charlemagne. After grabbing a few Keychains, Sora was out of the door.

Blake only thought for a few seconds before coming to a thought, "Something is very off about Sora."

So she too quickly grabbed her combat attire and changed into it. She was out of the dorm in a few minutes and walking towards the lockers. She could eliminate the chance that Sora was heading to the lockers because he doesn't necessarily need his locker all the time with having at least a few Keychains easily accessible to him at all times. She needed to grab her gear though so she made a quick detour to the lockers before heading towards the Bullhead launch pads where she guessed Sora was heading.

As she got to the fountain area, she did notice Sora standing where the launch pads were, but it didn't seem like any of the Bullheads were coming immediately so it surprised her when Sora simply jumped off the edge and used his Semblance to quickly traverse towards Vale's direction.

"I need to notify them now."

She looked at the Bullhead timetable and noticed that a Bullhead should arrive in about 20 minutes, which should be enough time for the people she'll ask for help to arrive at the Bullhead launch pads. It seems that both recipients of her call picked up.

"Charlie, Velvet, I need you two to listen to me right now…"


Having to navigate through the woods between Beacon and the city, it took Sora a half an hour using Flowmotion. The people were not ready to see his Glide yet and he might as well stay consistent with his primary mode of traveling when on foot to be something he has told many to be his Semblance. Reaching the forest line, he emerges and traverses down the hills to reach the outskirts of the city of Vale which was on the opposite side of Vale to the docks. It took another 5 minutes to reach the heart of the city, where Sora had to catch his breath for constantly using Flowmotion at near its max output.

"I'm halfway through the city, and a minute of rest should be enough for me to reach the docks without feeling winded." Sora stood on the top of a building in the commercial district. In that minute, he reflected on the so-called dream he had. Were they accurate visions of what his friends were doing?

"They felt so real. The visions were a bit fuzzy with Aqua's group, but they became more clear as they went on. Riku and Kairi's were the most clear. Are the bonds of our hearts letting us see each other?" Sora held a hand to his heart. "But what about the one with Kairi? Those different colored eyes, the people in the masks… the man in a black coat?" He looked towards the direction of the docks; there he might find his answers. As he progressed onwards, he noticed a rather peculiar sight. It looked to be a female White Fang member running along the alleyways, seemingly heading towards the docks too.

"I'm starting to think all these 'coincidences' are more of a setup." Sora thought as he started to tail the White Fang member from the roofs. As discreet as he was trying to be, he had this feeling that the White Fang member knew she was being followed if the occasional head motion at his general direction was any indication. Sora somehow loses sight of her when they approach the general vicinity of the docks much to his ire. For some reason, this section of the city was eerily not busy at all. He kept all of his senses sharp in order to pick up anything of note as he traversed further into the docks.

A clack of a heel was heard. Sora turned his head towards the sound to see the White Fang member he pursued here rushing at him unarmed.

"Woah!" Sora got into a stance which only amounted to the White Fang member breaking into what seems to be like glass before any contact was made.

"What?" This only got Sora to be extra alert as he looked around to see if the individual was anywhere around him. "Show yourself!" Sora held the Kingdom Key keychain in his hand, ready to pop it out at a moment's notice. What he wasn't expecting was his head to suddenly be assaulted with static like his dream. He held his head in mild surprise. This mental assault didn't last long as it soon subsided and Sora took some deep breaths. He felt a presence above him and some clapping, looking up to see who it was. This made him immediately draw out Kingdom Key as this was officially Keyblade wielder business.

The man in the black coat stopped clapping as he stared down on Sora from his position on the crane. Hands behind his back while looking completely calm.

"How is someone from the Organization here?! Who are you?!" Sora shouted at the coated man. The man decided to stay silent which angered Sora even more. "I have had enough of this!" Finding a way up the crane, Sora leapt up ship containers while keeping his eyes on the man. The man's view followed Sora as well as he held his position. With a last leap, Sora landed on the crane the man was and wasted no time rushing at him for the first strike. Kingdom Key missed the man's head by a few inches as Sora tried following up for subsequent strikes. The hooded man effortlessly wove around Sora's onslaught of attacks with his hands behind his back. Not a second later, the man finally used a hand to grab a hold of the center shaft of Kingdom Key and fling his arm out, launching Sora away.

"Gahhh!" Sora didn't feel pleased that he was just effortlessly thrown by the mystery man. He noticed his trajectory was heading towards a crane hook line. With a mid air flip, he repositioned himself to grab the hook as he began swinging around. With a quick application of Fire on the tip of his Keyblade, he began looping faster until he released his grip of the hook and shot towards the mystery man in an attempt to blitz him.

With Sora being very close in almost a blink of an eye, the man raised his arm. Metal clashed with metal and Sora in that instant knew what he set his eye on. Another Keyblade… but not just any Keyblade. It didn't need a name when he already knew enough of what that Keyblade has been through. The clash ended with Sora disengaging and landing on the crane.

"Xe...Xe-Xehanort?"

The man held out the No Name Keyblade as he looked at that and then looked at Sora. He then utters his first words to Sora in a mutter loud enough for Sora to hear but not loud enough for Sora to recognize the identity.

"Xehanort was only a piece of this puzzle. He already played his role."

Sora widened his eyes before noticing something behind him. He turned only to be knocked down from the crane by an unknown force as he fell towards the ground.


Well god damn, I managed to squeeze this chapter out finally. College work really started to pick up so despite a bit more production on this chapter I was still getting delayed from real consistent progress until this week. Well with everytime I'm being held back, more ideas start to formulate and consolidate. I also took the liberty of finally watching Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory cutscenes since I don't have the game but I really want to know the story of post KH3 ReMind. I was pretty much glad I did watch the cutscenes because what was being told just gave me more justification on how Sora managed to get to Remnant as well as better times connecting the RWBYverse to Kingdom Hearts.

Actually, if you're reading this part then you know Sora isn't the only person who made their way to Remnant other than the man in the coat, which everyone pretty much has two guesses and yeah it's really simple but I'm dragging out an official reveal for the sake of the characters in the story :)

Like I said a bit before, Melody of Memory opens up massive implications of the bigger picture outside of the scope of Kingdom Hearts we've been accustomed to and I'm pretty glad that my future ideas could be less bullshit because of them LOL

But yeah anyways, hope you guys like the update and I'll catch you all in the next one!

Peace!
REternal