AN: Wow. Over 50 Follows from the first chapter alone. It makes me really happen that people are so excited to see more of this.

Now I would like to address a point made by Spartastic 4. He pointed out that Aqua shouldn't know what the Heartless are, since Mickey had to tell her what they were in 0.2. I completely forgot that she didn't know that, but it makes no sense to me. If Aqua wan't taught what the Heartless are, then what was she being trained to fight? I consider that to be a plot hole, so for the purposes of this story, I'm going to pretend that she knows what the Heartless, and possibly the Nobodies are.

Again, for story purposes, I'm going to act like Aqua has a basic understanding of the Age of Fairy Tales and the Keyblade War. Xehanort gave her a basic rundown, and I'll say that Yen Sid filled in the rest off-screen.

Anyway, here's Chapter 2! Enjoy!

Chapter 2

Aqua stood in front of Ruby and Yang's house, trying to work up the nerve to approach it. She had to ask Taiyang a question, one that she knew he likely wouldn't take well. She was going to ask him if she could train Ruby. She knew that it was a very reckless thing to ask of him, especially since Ruby was only five. But Ruby was now in possession of one of the most powerful weapons in the world, and Aqua was the only other person in this world that had one. She was the only one who could teach the girl how to use it, and it was imperative that she learn. The only potential roadblock was convincing her father to let her.

She took a deep breath and approached the front door of the large wooden cabin. She knocked on the door, expecting a tall blond man to open it, but she was instead greeted by Ruby herself, who smiled as soon as she saw the blue-haired woman.

"Hi, Miss Aqua!" Ruby greeted cheerfully. Aqua squatted down a little bit so she was at eye-level with the five-year-old.

"Hey there, Ruby. Is your dad home?"

"Yup!"

"Great! Can I come in? I have something to talk to him about."

"Sure! Come on in!" Ruby stepped aside to let Aqua in, and the inside of the house was exactly the same as Aqua left it yesterday. There were still empty alcohol containers strewn all over the place, and there was a general sense of neglect.

"So, where's Yang?" Aqua asked.

"She's in her room. She's grounded," Ruby said with a pout. Aqua was surprised that Ruby seemed genuinely upset that her sister was in trouble.

"And where's you dad?"

"Daddy's in the living room." Ruby showed her the way, and they were greeted by the sight of the girls' father asleep in a chair, a half-empty bottle of whiskey on the table next to him. Ruby walked up to her father and lightly tapped his shoulder.

"Daddy?" She was answered with a sleepy grunt. "Daddy. Wake up. Miss Aqua's here." He slowly opened his eyes.

"I'm awake," he said groggily, rubbing his eyes to help him wake up. He looked up and saw Aqua standing in the middle of his living room. "Aqua? What are you doing here?"

"Hello, Taiyang. There's something I need to talk to you about." He looked at her for a few seconds, and she noticed that his eyes looked almost lifeless. She figured that this much alcohol and grief would do that to someone. She couldn't help but feel angry at him again, which she tried her best to suppress. How could he act this way? How could he let his grief get the better of him like that? Didn't he know his daughters were grieving, too? After losing Summer like they did, they needed him now more than ever. And what was he doing? Getting drunk.

"Ruby, why don't you go upstairs and play with Yang? Aqua wants to talk to me."

"Okie dokie!" she said cheerfully, running off to go see her sister.

"So, what do you want to talk about?" Taiyang asked her, and she noticed his words were slurring again. Or was it still? Come to think of it, had he stopped drinking since the day before long enough to even sober up? She had to fight the twinge of anger again.

"I'm sure by now Qrow told you what happened yesterday?"

"Do you mean the weird monsters that attacked you guys? Yes he did. Thanks again for keeping the girls safe, by the way."

"You don't need to thank me. And that wasn't exactly what I was referring to." Taiyang's eyebrow rose in confusion at that.

"Then what?"

"Did he tell you about the weapon that Ruby summoned after the Heartless showed up?"

"Yes, he did," Taiyang said warily. "A Key Sword or something."

"Keyblade. I have one, too. That's what I want to talk to you about."

"What about it?" This was it. The moment of truth. She took a deep breath in preparation to ask the question she came out here to ask.

"I would like to ask for your permission to train Ruby to use her Keyblade." His jaw fell open. He stared at her for a few seconds, clearly trying to wrap his head around what she just asked.

"Excuse me?" Evidently, he couldn't comprehend it.

"I would like to train Ruby to use her Keyblade."

"No. Absolutely not." That was what she was afraid of.

"If I may explain—" She began.

"No, there's nothing to explain. She's five. If you want her to learn how to use that thing so badly, wait until she goes to Signal. And that's even if I allow either of those girls to become Huntresses. After Summer died, I'm all of sudden not very fond of the idea."

"Taiyang, with all due respect, I'm the only person in the world that can teach her how to use that weapon. If I'm correct, then we're the only two people that have one."

"That's great. You can wait until she's 13 and goes to Signal."

"She might not survive until she's 13 if she doesn't learn how to use it!" She wasn't expecting to have to raise her voice, but she couldn't help it. He needed to understand how important it was for Ruby to learn.

"Explain," he said simply.

"I have reservations about teaching a child that young to fight, too, believe me." He was about to interrupt, but Aqua held her hand out to stop him. "However, the Keyblade doesn't grant us the luxury of waiting. The creatures that attacked us in the woods are called the Heartless. The Keyblade attracts them like a beacon. I understand that you are against a five-year old learning how to fight, but regardless of your wishes, the Heartless will come for her. And if she isn't ready, they will kill her." Taiyang simply stared at her, trying to process what she said. "I'm a Keyblade Master. I can teach her, and she'll need it to—"

"Get out," he interrupted.

"What?" Her eyes widened.

"Get out. Get out of my house. I'm not going to sit here and listen to you tell me that my daughter, my five-year-old daughter, needs to go learn how to use some mysterious weapon just to stay alive. Get out of my house."

"But—"

"Leave!" he yelled, and Aqua knew she had no other choice. Without saying another word, she turned around, walked out the door, closed it behind her, and leaned back against it, letting the back of her head hit it with a thunk.

Well, that could have gone better, she thought in disappointment. She looked out towards the road and saw none other than Qrow approaching the house.

"Hey, there, Wonder Woman," he said. "Just the person I was looking for. What are you doing out here?"

"I had to ask Taiyang for something, but I'll have to try again."

"Well, I need you to come with me. There's somebody who wants to speak with you." Her breath hitched. Did he contact the authorities? Was she too suspicious? "Don't worry. It's nothing bad. My boss just wants to have a few words with you." Reluctantly, she nodded her head, and gestured for him to lead the way.

Aqua was brought to a small room in the same hotel she happened to be staying in, but it was much smaller and on a lower floor. Qrow had told her to take a seat, and then left to retrieve whomever wanted to see her. She wasn't waiting long. After a few minutes, Qrow walked back in with presumably this mysterious "Boss" of his.

He was a man who, despite his full head of shaggy silver hair, appeared to be in his late 30's. He was wearing a black suit with a green shirt and scarf underneath it, and small black sunglasses. Interestingly, he carried a cane with him, despite clearly having no trouble walking. He took a seat in front of Aqua, with Qrow sitting next to him.

"Aqua Eraqus, I presume?" the man asked her. I would take a little getting-used-to hearing her Master's name attached to her own.

"That's me," she answered with a slight bow of her head. "And whom am I speaking with?"

"Seriously?" Qrow asked. "You don't know who this guy is?"

"No. Should I?" Aqua asked, slightly tilting her head to the side in confusion.

"This is Professor Ozpin," Qrow explained. "Headmaster of Beacon?" He was met with a blank stare. "The most prestigious Huntsman Academy in Remnant?" Still no sign of recognition. "That not ring a bell?"

"I'm afraid not."

"Damn. Where the hell are you from, anyway?"

"Uh, far away."

"Far enough away that you've never heard of Ozpin, or Beacon?"

"Very far away."

"Indeed," Ozpin interjected. "While I would love to talk about her lack of recognition of me, I would like to talk to Miss Eraqus about the abilities she demonstrated for you yesterday."

"You mean my magic?" she asked, shocking both Qrow and Ozpin, thought the latter showed it a little better.

"Wait, you just freely admitted that you can use magic?" Qrow asked incredulously.

"Is that a problem?" Aqua asked.

"It is only a problem because magic is not supposed to exist in this world," Ozpin said, and Aqua realized she had made a huge mistake.

Oops, she thought.

"But yes, I wanted to talk to you about your magic," Ozpin continued. "How long have you have you been able to use magic?"

"Since I was a child," Aqua answered. "Technically, my magic isn't a natural ability of mine. I can only use it thanks to the Keyblade."

"The Keyblade?" Ozpin asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Let me show you," Aqua said. She held out her hand and summoned the Master Keeper. Ozpin actually looked genuinely surprised that she summoned a weapon out of thin air.

"Interesting," he said, eyes still wide. He quickly composed himself. "I've never heard of a weapon like that, and I am, shall we say, very well-versed in the history and folklore of Remnant. Tell me, how did you come by this 'Keyblade'?"

"I didn't really 'come by' it. The Keyblade chooses who gets to wield it." Aqua dismissed her Keyblade after saying this.

"What?" Qrow asked. "You mean the weapon is sentient?"

"Honestly, I'm not really sure how it works."

"And whatever the criteria is, you met it at an early age and that Keyblade chose you to wield it," Ozpin surmised.

"That's the gist of it," said Aqua. "Although this one technically isn't mine. I lost my original Keyblade. This was my Master's but I inherited it when he…" she trailed off, the painful memory of learning of her beloved Master's death still fresh in her mind. The man that raised her, that taught her everything she knew. And then he was killed. And by Terra's own admission, he had helped Xehanort kill him. What had happened to her friend. She couldn't help the pang of guilt that arose. If only she had done more to help Terra.

"I'm sorry to hear that," Ozpin expressed condolences. "Back to the topic at hand, there was one occurrence that really made me wonder. You used your magic to heal yourself. Why was that necessary? Why didn't your Aura protect you?"

"My Aura?" Aqua questioned.

"Do you know what an Aura is?" Aqua shook her head. "What about Semblances?" She shook her head again. Ozpin and Qrow shared a look.

"Where did you say you were from again?" Qrow asked.

"Very far away?" Aqua offered uncertainly.

"'Very far away' as in, 'not from Remnant'?" Ozpin asked. Aqua immediately froze. She wasn't supposed to tell anyone about other worlds, to maintain the world order, but he had somehow figured it out. Aqua could only stare dumbly at the man before her.

"How did you know I'm not from Remnant?"

"I didn't. You just told me." Aqua was dumbfounded. The existence of other worlds was the most closely-guarded secret to any Keyblade wielder, particularly one of Aqua's rank, but somehow this man, this "Professor Ozpin" had managed to guess it! Was she really that bad at keeping it a secret, or was he just that good?

"I seem to have struck a nerve," the professor said to her. "I am sorry. I didn't mean to cause you distress."

"I'm fine," she said after a few seconds. "I just wasn't expecting you to guess the one thing I'm never supposed to tell anyone about."

"So, why don't you tell us how you arrived in Remnant?" She sighed deeply before answering his question.

"You might want to strap in. It's a long story."

"I suppose it's a good thing that I'm a fan of long stories," Ozpin said with a smirk.

"Ages ago, our world was once one," Aqua began. Ozpin leaned forward in his chair, clearly paying close attention. "The world was filled with Light, and the people were happy. At the time, there were countless Keyblade wielders. For reasons we still don't fully understand, the Keyblade wielders eventually began to fight over control of the Light, which caused Darkness to form in their hearts. This conflict eventually exploded into the Keyblade War. In the course of the War, a powerful weapon called the X-Blade was forged."

"Keyblade?" Ozpin asked.

"No, X-Blade," Aqua said, making an "X" shape with her index fingers. "I know, it's confusing. Anyway, the X-Blade was used to Summon Kingdom Hearts, the source of all Light. But by then, the Darkness had grown too powerful. Kingdom Hearts was swallowed up, and the world was destroyed by the Darkness. There were small amounts of light that survived, and the people the light belonged to used it to rebuild the world in a fragmented state."

"What do you mean by 'fragmented'?" Ozpin asked.

"The world was separated into distinct domains, which were then walled off, to guarantee that if one of them fell to Darkness, it would stay contained. This also divided the world into two Realms: The Realm of Light, and the Realm of Darkness. I was born in the Realm of Light, and ended up here after falling into the Realm of Darkness." As she finished her story, both men looked at her. Qrow was looking at her with incredulity, but Ozpin's expression was much harder to read.

"What a fascinating story," Ozpin said after a few seconds. "I never would have guessed that other worlds exist besides our own."

"There's a reason for that," Aqua said quietly.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Qrow asked.

"During my training, I was told explicitly that the world order must be maintained. One of the main ways to maintain that is to never mention that other worlds exist, but I guess that doesn't matter anymore."

"So, since you came from another world, I assume that means you can leave this world whenever you feel like it?" Ozpin asked.

"I don't think I can. I lost the means to travel between worlds." She was referring to the losses of both her armor, which protected her from the Darkness in the Lanes Between, and her original Keyblade, the Rainfell, as without it, she no longer had a Keyblade Glider. And there was a bigger problem. "Even if I had my original means of travel, I got to this world by falling into the Realm of Darkness, so I assume that it's located in that Realm. Normally, travel between Realms is impossible, or at least I don't know how to do it."

"Then how did you cross Realms to get here?" Qrow asked.

"Someone else opened a portal and I followed him in. He returned to the Realm of Light and I was left behind, so the only way I'm leaving is if he learns where I am and comes back for me." And hopefully by then, Terra will be back in control, she thought.

"So basically, you're stuck here," Qrow said.

"Basically."

"Well," Ozpin said, "I'm sorry to hear that, but I think we can work with that. I have a proposition for you, if you'll hear it." Aqua didn't like the sound of that.

"What kind of proposition?" she asked warily.

"There is a, let's say, growing darkness in Remnant. It threatens to destroy humanity and everything we stand for and built. I'm looking for particularly strong warriors to join me in helping to put a stop to it. I would be honored if you agreed to help us."

This was what Aqua was afraid of. Getting roped into another world's problems. She knew she had to refuse. Her teachings forbade getting involved. Besides, she still needed to convince Taiyang to let her train Ruby. She didn't have the time to get involved in something like this. There was only one way that she could help.

"This growing darkness you mentioned," she said. "Is it from Remnant?"

"I think you might be the only thing that isn't," he replied with a small smirk.

"Then no, I can't." His smirk disappeared.

"Can I ask why not?"

"World order," she said simply. "I can only get involved if the threat to a world is foreign. Otherwise, I have to let the locals handle it."

"Surely with your power, you could help any world that is in trouble," Ozpin tried to argue.

"And if we get involved too much, the worlds would begin to rely too much on our power, and we can't be there every time. The people of the worlds would quickly forget how to help themselves." Ozpin stared at her, clearly disappointed by her answer.

"Is there any way I could convince you otherwise?"

"It would go against everything I've been taught."

"Then I suppose there's nothing else to say," Ozpin said as he stood up. "It was nice to meet you, Miss Eraqus."

"I'm genuinely sorry that I couldn't be of help." Just then, they heard a ringing sound. Qrow reached into his pocket and pulled out a small device that appeared to be a white rectangle. He pressed a button on the center, and it expanded, a clear screen filling the space between the thin white lines at the ends. He held the device up to his ear.

"Hello?" he asked into the device. Aqua had no clue what he was doing. "Yang? What's wrong?" He listened for a few moments, and then his eyes widened. "What?! We'll be right there! Just hold on!" He put the device back in his pocket, and looked at Aqua. "Come on, Wonder Woman!" he called to her. "Looks like those Heartless things are back!"

Aqua and Qrow ran back to the Xiao-Long/Rose Household as fast as they could. When they made it to the front yard, they were met with a truly distressing sight.

There were several Heartless attacking the family. Taiyang was unarmed, doing his best to try to fight them off with his bare hands. Yang was taking cover behind him. Ruby was a small distance away from the other two, and was surrounded by some of the Heartless. She had managed to summon her Keyblade, most likely purely on instinct, and was flailing it wildly to keep the Heartless at bay. There were two varieties of Heartless. The Shadows from the woods the day before, and a taller variety. They were more humanoid-looking, with distinct arms and legs, claws at the ends of their fingers, long antennae sticking out of the top of their heads, and they had the same bright yellow eyes as the Shadows. These Heartless were called Neoshadows. There were four of them, and they were all surrounding Ruby.

"There you two are!" Taiyang said in relief.

"Uncle Qrow!" The girls called out in unison.

Qrow drew his sword and Aqua summoned the Master Keeper.

"Qrow! Help Taiyang and Yang!" Aqua yelled. "I've got Ruby!" Qrow nodded in confirmation, and they both charged at their respective targets.

Aqua raised her Keyblade to strike at one of the Neoshadows, but it retreated into the ground as she swung. Instead of letting that stop her, she just kept up her momentum and attacked a different target. She swung as hard as hard as she could, impacting the new Neoshadow in the chest, sending it flying. While it was in midair, she pointed her Keyblade at it.

"Freeze!" she shouted, and several large crystals of ice flew towards the Neoshadow, freezing it solid, where it fell harmlessly to the ground. She would finish it off later.

The first Neoshadow was still in the ground, so she turned her attention to the remaining two. One of them tried to swipe at her, but she propelled herself to the side, causing the creature's claws to pass by harmlessly. She delivered a series of attacks with her Keyblade to the creature's chest, causing it to fade away in a puff of black smoke. She noticed that the first Neoshadow was about to surface so she grabbed the other one by the antenna, jumped up into the air, and hurled the creature into the first one as it resurfaced. While both creatures were stunned, she grabbed her Keyblade with both hands and slashed through both of them on the way to the ground, killing both monsters. Finally, she looked back at the Neoshadow she had frozen earlier, and threw her Keyblade at it with all her might, shattering the Heartless instantly. Her weapon dissipated as it hit the ground and reappeared in her hand.

She looked at the two men, and saw that they had finished off the smaller Shadows. Taiyang breathed a sigh of relief and checked to see if Yang was OK, while Qrow took a quick survey of the area to make sure that there were no more Heartless. Aqua dismissed her Keyblade and then heard a high-pitched squeal next to her.

"THAT WAS SO COOL!" Ruby yelled excitedly, jumping up and down next to Aqua. Her Keyblade had been dismissed as well. "You were all like 'Hwaaaaa'," she said, swinging her empty arms as if she had a sword in her hands. "And then you all 'Wa-cha'!" She continued to mimic the blue-haired woman's actions. Aqua giggled while she watched the red-clad girl. She really was precious. That wasn't entirely what caught Aqua's attention, though.

I never noticed it before, she thought, but the Light that this girl carries really is incredible.

Yang ran past Aqua and practically tackled her little sister in a hug, clearly full of relief that Ruby was safe. Taiyang and Qrow walked towards her.

"Damn, Wonder Woman," Qrow said. "That was impressive." Taiyang just looked at her in shock. "And I thought the stuff you pulled yesterday was good." Taiyang finally seemed to snap out of his stupor.

"That was incredible," he said. "How did you do all that?"

"It's thanks to the Keyblade," she answered solemnly, hoping he'd get the hint.

"So this is the kind of stuff Ruby will be capable of?" he asked.

"Right." He appeared to be in thought. He snapped out of it quickly.

"Anyway, that's twice that you've saved my daughters. I don't think there's any way I can thank you enough."

"I told you last time, you don't have to thank me." She suddenly felt something slam into her leg, so she looked down and saw that Yang had tightly wrapped her arms around her leg in a hug. Ruby looked at her for a second, and then hugged Aqua's other leg.

"Thank you," Yang said. "You saved us again."

"Yeah, thanks," Ruby said.

"It was no problem. I couldn't let those monsters gobble up such adorable girls," she said playfully, causing the sisters to giggle.

"Those things were here for Ruby, weren't they?" Taiyang asked her.

"Yes," Aqua answered solemnly. "They were drawn to her Keyblade." He didn't say anything in response to this. Suddenly, the three adults heard loud grumbling sounds coming from the stomachs of the two girls.

"Tai, seriously?" Qrow asked, completely flabbergasted. Tai looked down in total shame. "When was the last time they ate?"

"I know, all right?!" Tai snapped. "I fucked up!"

"Swear," Ruby said innocently. His daughter's voice instantly dissolved Taiyang's anger.

"I'm sorry," he said. His tone sounded like a man completely defeated.

"Look, Tai," Qrow said. "Why don't Wonder Woman and I take the girls off your hands for a little bit? You look like you need it." Taiyang was quiet for a few seconds.

"Fine," he said finally.

"Is it OK?" Aqua asked. "I don't want to overstep."

"It's fine for you to take the girls for a little bit, as long as Qrow is with you. If I'm being honest, today gave me a lot to think about." Qrow looked down to the sisters, who had finally let go of Aqua's legs.

"You hear that, girls?" he asked. "You get to hang out with Aqua and your favorite uncle."

"Yay!" Ruby yelled excitedly. "We get to spend time with Miss Aqua!" Yang seemed happy, too, though not quite as enthusiastic.

"Please, Ruby, just call me 'Aqua'," The blue-haired woman said. "You calling me 'Miss' makes me feel old."

"OK!" the girl said, her usual cheery demeanor still firmly in place.

"How old are you anyway?" Qrow asked, making Aqua blush.

"You don't just ask a girl how old she is," she said sheepishly. She didn't notice, but Qrow actually blushed a little bit as well at seeing her embarrassed. "But if you must know, I'm 18."

"Wow," he said. "And you're already this strong?"

"Yeah," she said, still a little embarrassed to be getting so much praise. "I've had years of practice. Plus, you know, ancient mystical weapon and all that. But, thanks."

"No problem. Now, come on. Let's get the girls something to eat." Aqua nodded her head, and the two of them began to lead the girls into town. Aqua saw movement in the corner of her eye.

Looking up, she saw a singular black bird perched on a tree branch. A raven, if she wasn't mistaken. Only this one had blood red eyes. And it was staring right at her. It watched her for a few seconds before taking off.

Qrow had to admit, circumstances notwithstanding, it was nice just going out to eat with his nieces. Aqua, too. He was very wary when she first appeared the day before, and if he was being honest, he still was a little bit. Could you blame him? The girl had just shown up out of nowhere with a mysterious power. He initially thought she was a new Spring Maiden, since the current one disappeared and she clearly used magic, but he never would've guessed that she was from another world. There was always the possibility that she was still a threat, but he wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt. After all, she had saved his nieces twice in two days. If that didn't earn her his trust, nothing would. Plus, Ruby seemed to really like her. He supposed he would just have to keep a close eye on her, then.

It was a good thing she was easy on the eyes. He couldn't help but steal glances at her. Thankfully, he had walked behind her. Not only did it mean she couldn't see where he was looking, it gave him a fantastic view of her backside. Her shorts were very tight, and her stockings left just enough thigh exposed. And now that she was sitting in front of him, he had full view of her chest. Qrow silently thanked whatever deities are still out there that she told him she was 18. Otherwise, what he was doing would've been much creepier.

The four of them were sitting in a booth at a burger joint, Qrow and Yang on one side, Aqua and Ruby on the other. The young girl was bombarding the poor woman with questions, but Qrow had to admit, she was handling it like a champ. When Ruby gets excited about something, not many people can stand to be around her. But Aqua was answering her questions with the same pleasant smile on her face the whole time.

Wonder Woman just kept impressing him.

"How did you freeze that monster?" Ruby asked. "Was it your Sem—Sembl—"

"Semblance," Qrow helped.

"Yeah, that!" Aqua looked at the girl with a playful expression on her face.

"Can you keep a secret?" she asked the girl.

"Yeah! I'm great at keeping secrets!" The girl said. "I never once told my daddy that me and Yang sneak a look at our birthday presents every year."

"Ruby!" Yang said through gritted teeth, trying to get her to stop talking.

"You two do what now?" Qrow asked, his eyebrow raised.

"Nothing…" Ruby said sheepishly. Aqua giggled. Oh yeah, her laugh was cute, too.

"Are you sure you can keep a secret?"

"OK that doesn't count," Ruby pouted.

"OK, I guess I'll tell you," Aqua said with a sly smile on her face. "It was magic." Ruby gasped, a huge smile plastering itself on her face.

"Really?" she said excitedly.

"No way," Yang said. "Magic doesn't exist." Qrow couldn't help but chuckle at his older niece's attempt at being grown-up by pretending she didn't believe in magic. "What's so funny, Uncle Qrow?" she asked.

"She's telling the truth," Qrow told the blonde-haired girl. "It really was magic. Yesterday she used fire and healed herself. No Semblance can do all of that."

"Really?" Yang asked in disbelief.

"Soooooooo coooooooool," Ruby drawled, looking at Aqua with sheer awe in her eyes.

"Do you want to know the best part, Ruby?" Aqua asked. The girl nodded her head rapidly. Qrow wondered how she didn't give herself whiplash. "You can do it, too." That made Qrow pause.

"I can?"

"Yup. That weapon you summoned? It's called a Keyblade. I have one, too. It's a ancient, mythical weapon that gives its wielders many amazing abilities. One of them is the ability to use magic. Real magic. With training, you can do it, too." Ruby had stopped asking any questions, and just stared at the woman with the biggest smile Qrow had ever seen, and there were practically stars in her eyes. But something Aqua said bothered him. What did she mean by "training"? She didn't seriously expect to train Ruby, did she? She was only five. This might present a problem.

He pulled out his flask and took a swig.

At Qrow's suggestion, Aqua had taken the girls back to her hotel room, their Uncle in tow. He really was serious about them taking the girls off Taiyang's hands for a bit. The girls were sitting next to each other on Aqua's bed, watching a movie on her T.V. Aqua and Qrow were seated at the table near the bed, but they could also see the movie. According to Yang, it was an action movie starring an actor named Spruce Willis, in which his character is a cop that gets caught up in a terrorist takeover of an office building. She thought it was far too violent for kids their age to be watching, but Qrow seemed to think it was OK.

Aqua still wasn't sure what to think about the girls' uncle. He clearly cared a lot about them, but he also came across as very irresponsible, what with his drinking and letting them watch this Spruce Willis movie. Granted, she had only known him for two days, so she supposed she shouldn't judge him yet. Then again, it's not like she was a good judge of character in the first place.

After all, she had trusted Xehanort, hadn't she?

She reached into her pocket and pulled out her wayfinder. Just like last night, she held it up in front of her face, letting the lamp light reflect on the glass.

"What's that?" Yang asked, snapping Aqua out of her trance. "It's really pretty."

"It's a good-luck charm I guess," she said.

"Does it work?" Ruby asked.

"Don't know yet. I made one for my two friends. These were supposed to help us find each other, but…" she looked down to the floor, letting her sentence trail off.

"It'll work," Ruby declared very matter-of-factly. Aqua looked at her confused. "You just need to believe it'll work, and it will. You'll see them again." A smile crept its way onto Aqua's face.

"Thank you, Ruby," she said. The girl gave her a huge smile back, and went back to watching the movie. Aqua stood up and began to move towards the balcony. "I'm gonna get some fresh air," she said as she opened the door and stepped outside.

She leaned up against the railing, holding the Wayfinder up to the moonlight again.

Terra, Ven, she thought. Will we see each other again? I hope we will.

But do I deserve to see you again? After all, if she was stronger, none of this would have happened.

If she hadn't been knocked unconscious, Ven wouldn't have been possessed and wouldn't have lost his heart. If she was stronger, she might have been able to stop Xehanort. If she was faster, she could have saved Terra, and not been trapped here. If she just told Terra, then she…

"Means a lot to you, huh?" a gruff voice said suddenly, causing Aqua to yelp in surprise. She turned to the side and saw Qrow standing next to her. He chuckled. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." Aqua took a few deep breaths to calm herself down.

"What's up?" she asked.

"You're looking at that thing like you've got stuff to get off your chest. Wanna talk about it?"

"Are you sure you want to hear it?"

"I'm a good listener."

"OK then. I made Wayfinders like this one for my friends. We trained together. Their names are Terra and Ven. Ven was like a little brother to me, and Terra, well…" She looked off with a sad smile on her face, blushing a little at the thought. "I like to think we could have been more than friends."

"What happened to them?" Her smile disappeared.

"Ven is asleep right now. He lost a part of himself. He's safe, but I don't how to wake him up.

"And what about Terra?"

"The last time I saw him, he wasn't himself. I know he's still in there somewhere. I just wonder if things could've turned out differently if I just told him how I felt?" Qrow took a swig from his flask.

"I know the feeling," he said.

"What do you mean?"

"All I'm gonna say is that I've been mourning the loss of Summer longer than anybody else," he said, taking another drink. "Anyway, what were you at Tai's house for earlier?"

"I was asking him to let me train Ruby to use her Keyblade."

"Beg pardon?"

"You saw what happened. The Heartless were at their house because they sensed Ruby's Keyblade. She has to learn how to use it or they'll kill her."

"Makes sense, I guess. How'd he take it?"

"He said no. Several times."

"Figured," he said, placing his hands on the railing on the balcony. For some reason, he seemed to be gripping the railing so tightly his knuckles turned white. He relaxed a few seconds later. "So, you can really teach her how to do all that stuff?"

"I can. I promise."

"Fine." Aqua sighed in relief. "I'll talk to Tai in the morning."

"Thank you so much, Qrow," Aqua said, grasping his hands in gratitude. He blushed. "I won't let you down." She realized a second later that she had grabbed his hands, and quickly let go, blushing profusely.

"No problem," he coughed in embarrassment. "Now let's get back inside. Is it cool with you if the girls stay here tonight?"

"Yeah, it's fine."

I swear I will do all that I can to help that girl. I have to get this right. The two of them walked back into the room, where it looked like to movie was starting to wrap up.

"Hey girls," Qrow said. "Looks like you're gonna be staying with Aqua tonight." The girls visibly perked up at hearing that. "I'll head back to your house to pack a bag and be right back."

"Uncle Qrow," Yang called. "Can you get a book so I can read Ruby a bedtime story?"

"Sure, kiddo. Which one?"

"The Four Seasons."

AN: And that's Chapter 2! I hope you guys enjoyed the Die Hard reference.

So, we've got a little foreshadowing to future events. A certain character will show up soon, and there seems to be something going on with Qrow. I have plans for the character I teased.

Since a lot of you were looking forward to Aqua info-dumping Ozpin, I had to get a bit creative with him finding out about the other worlds, since Aqua can't tell anyone. So, he used the fact that she knows so little about Remnant and cryptically said that she's from really far away, and guessed that she was from another world.

If you guys have suggestion for how I can improve my writing, they are very welcome and much appreciated.

Thank you guys for reading. See you all next chapter!