AN: I'm so glad that everyone liked last chapter so much! I was so proud of what I came up with, and I'm happy that everyone liked it! But, I want to address the most frequent question I got, and I'm considering going back to edit the last chapter to make it a little clearer. I realized that I didn't make it quite clear from what the Master said that sealing the Keyhole would send Remnant back to the Realm of Light, not just keep it safe from Salem, which is why Oz never had Aqua or Ruby seal it. That and the fact that the Spring Maiden vanished right before Aqua showed up.

Anyway, onwards!

Chapter 121

Ruby didn't have time to stop Yang before she tackled Ozpin to the ground, grabbing him by the throat with both hands.

"You son of a bitch!" Yang screamed, slamming the back of Ozpin's head into the ground. "You lied to us! Salem can't be killed! What was it all for?!"

"Yang, stop it!" Riku yelled, he and Tifa running up to pull her off the boy. Ozpin sat up quickly, clutching his throat in pain, coughing, and gasping for breath.

"What did Mom die for?!" Yang yelled, tears streaming down her face. "I lost three mothers to this fucking war! It was all for NOTHING!" Yang finally stopped fighting back against Riku and Tifa, and just fell to her knees, weeping openly.

"It…it wasn't…" Ozpin tried to say.

"Aqua was here for twelve years," Riku said. "You knew the whole time exactly how to find the Keyhole. Why didn't you every had Aqua seal it and put an end to this whole thing?"

"I…" Ozpin hesitated.

"Just answer the question," Tifa said.

"Remnant was supposed to be Salem's prison," Ozpin said. "If Aqua had sealed the Keyhole, Remnant would have been brought back into the Realm of Light, and she would have been freed. I couldn't risk it as long as she was alive."

"So, then…" Ruby said, prompting Ozpin to look up at her. "What is your plan to defeat Salem?"

"I… don't have one," Ozpin said. Suddenly, Uncle Qrow punched him in the face, sending Ozpin flying back into a nearby tree.

"Qrow!" Tifa yelled.

"No one wanted me…" Uncle Qrow said. "I was cursed… I gave my life to you because you gave me a place in this world… it was everything before I met Aqua…And now she's gone… I thought I was finally doing some good…"

"But, you are!" Ozpin insisted.

"Meeting you… was the worst luck of my life…"

Ozpin looked at Qrow in disbelief, but then he looked down, dejected.

"Maybe you're right…" Ozpin said, before his eyes glowed and Oscar was given back control. Oscar immediately grabbed his cheek in pain from Uncle Qrow's punch.

"What happened?" Ruby asked.

"He's… gone," Oscar said.

"That bastard!" Yang yelled. "Tell him we're not done yet!"

"No, this is different," Oscar said. "He's gone. It—It's like he's locked himself deep inside my head. Our head?" Oscar grunted and grabbed his head. "I hate this! I want it to stop!"

"He just left us?" Weiss asked.

"What are we gonna do now?" Blake asked.

Yang roared and launched a fireball at a nearby tree, blowing a hole through it.

"Enough!" Miss Calavera suddenly yelled. "We need to get a move on. It'll be dark before we know it, and every one of you is spewing negativity!" She walked up to Oscar and used her cane to help him up. "There's a trail over there, trails usually lead somewhere."

"Lady, I don't know who you think you are but—" Yang tried to say before being interrupted by the old lady slamming her cane.

"No buts!" I understand that you're upset. Honestly, I'm still coming to terms with the fact that this entire world exists just to imprison one woman. But, if we don't move, we die. And I'll be damned if I've lived this long just to die out here in the cold!"

"She's right," Ruby said. "Come on."

The group scattered amongst the crash, gathering whatever supplies they could carry while Miss Calavera hopped onto Bumblebee's seat. Ruby and Tifa walked over to Oscar, still rubbing his bruises from when Yang and Uncle Qrow hit him.

"Heal," Ruby said, and Oscar's body was surrounded by a green glow. In an instant, his bruises disappeared.

"Are you okay?" Tifa asked, leaning down to his level and wiping the grime from his face.

"…I think," Oscar said. Ruby offered the handle of Ozpin's cane to the boy, and he took it.

"I'm just going to be another one of his lives, aren't I?" Oscar asked.

"Of course not," Ruby said. "You're your own person."

"Don't lie to him, Ruby," Uncle Qrow said, taking a swig from his flask and walking away. "We're better than that."

"Hey, you can at least try and comfort him," Tifa said. "He's a kid."

"I just slugged him in the face," Uncle Qrow countered. "I doubt he'd want my comfort anyway."

Ruby looked back at Oscar, who was looking down at the ground sadly.

"What am I gonna tell Nora?" he asked.

"I think that's all the proof you need," Riku said.

"What do you mean?" Ruby asked.

"He has Nora," Riku clarified. "He has people he cares about, and someone that cares about him. Does your relationship with Nora have anything to do with Ozpin, or was it all you?"

"It was me," Oscar said.

"That's what I mean," Riku said. "That's all the proof you need that you aren't him."

"…Maybe…" Oscar said.

Ruby gave him a reassuring smile before she and Riku rejoined the others. But she heard Oscar mutter something to himself.

"…But for how long?"

Sora groaned as he opened his eyes, and felt a nasty bump that he tried to rub, but his hand wouldn't move. His eye sight gradually came back, and he could see that he was sitting in a chair, with his wrists tied to the arms of the chair.

"Huh?" he asked.

And then he was suddenly splashed in the face with water. He quickly looked up and saw two women glaring at him, one with short black hair, a single amber eye, and a limp left sleeve, indicating that she was missing that arm. The other one had shoulder-length blue hair and blue eyes, and was the one holding the bucket.

"I was already awake, but okay," Sora said. "So, uh, what's going on?"

"We're going to ask the questions here," the black-haired woman said. "Who are you?"

"Uh, I'm Sora," Sora said.

"Never heard of you," the woman said, rather quietly. "If you're one of Salem's, then you're new."

"Who?" Sora asked. "I've never heard of Salem."

"A likely story," the woman said. "If you don't work for Salem, then what are you doing here? Are you a bounty hunter?"

"No," Sora said.

"Then you're either a thief or a peeping tom," the black-haired woman said.

"Hey, I'm not either of those things!" Sora insisted.

"So then what were you doing in our room?!"

"Uh…I can't tell you," Sora said. Of all the times for the World Order to stop him!

"This is getting us nowhere," the blue-haired woman said, and Sora noticed that her voice was very monotone, and her face had a blank expression.

"You're right," the black-haired woman said, before she walked next to Sora's chair and kicked it over. A burst of flame appeared in her hand, and a weapon appeared, pressed against his neck. A type of weapon that Sora was very familiar with.

"Hold on, is that a Keyblade?" Sora asked.

"You know what this is?" the black-haired woman asked. "How?"

"I've got one, too," Sora said, twisting his hand and summoning the Kingdom Key.

The woman's eyes widened. "…How do you have one of them? I thought there were only two Keyblade wielders on Remnant."

"Wait, this is Remnant?!" Sora asked excitedly. The two woman gave confused looks to each other before the black-haired one looked back to him.

"…Yes?" she said. "Where else would we be?"

"Uh…" Sora said, his eyes widening in a panic as he realized his mistake. "…Nowhere?"

The black-haired woman's eye narrowed. "I'll ask again. Who are you, and what are you doing here?" She pressed her Keyblade closer to Sora's neck, and a flame started traveling the length of the weapon as a flame erupted from her eye.

"Okay, okay, I'm looking for my friend Riku," Sora said. "He disappeared when he went looking for a woman named Aqua."

The flames stopped as the woman looked at him in surprise. "Aqua?"

"You know her?" Sora asked.

"I'm asking the questions, here, kid," Cinder said. "And why was he looking for this 'Aqua'?"

"Well, uh," Sora said, hesitating for a second. Could he tell her about the Keyblade War? She clearly didn't know other worlds existed, since she was confused about where else he would be other than Remnant. But she had a Keyblade. Ultimately, he decided that it wouldn't hurt to tell her. "The Realm of Light needs her."

"Okay, so, let me see if I have this straight," Cinder said, having picked Sora's chair back up and righting it. "You claim to be from an entirely different world, and this 'Aqua' is also from other world."

"Yup," Sora said.

"And she went missing 12 years ago, and now there's this evil Keyblade Wielder named 'Xehanort' that's trying to destroy the Realm of Light, so Riku came to the Realm of Darkness to look for Aqua, went missing, and then you happened to find a portal on your home world that sent you here."

"Yes," Sora said. Cinder growled in anger before summoning her Keyblade again and pointing it at his throat.

"You honestly expect me to believe all that?" Cinder asked. "If you're going to lie to me, you'd think you'd at least come up with something believable."

"I'm not lying!" Sora insisted. "Here, you can try using my Gummiphone!"

"Your what?" Cinder asked.

"My Gummiphone," Sora said. "If you call Riku, he can back me up."

"What's a Gummiphone?" Aqua asked.

"It's in my pocket," Sora said. "Right side."

"…Fine, I'll humor you," Cinder said, reaching into the pouch attached to his left leg. It was a bulky device, but Cinder could at least recognize the similarities between it and her scroll. She pressed a button on the side, and the screen lit up. She quickly found the green "call" button and pressed it, pulling up a list of contacts.

There weren't a whole lot there.

King Mickey

Chip and Dale

Riku

Kairi

Ienzo

Cinder quickly found the one labeled "Riku" and pressed it. After several second, an error message displayed.

"It says it can't reach him," Cinder said.

"What?" Sora asked. "That's weird. Did something happen to his phone? Uh, try King Mickey."

"King?" Cinder asked, raising an eyebrow. "Whatever." She clicked on the contact, and after a few seconds, a video call started.

"Sora! Oh thank goodness, you're okay!" a high-pitched voice said on the other end.

But the face that appeared made Cinder yelp in surprised and drop the device.

Staring through the screen, was a large, talking, anthropomorphic mouse, with big round ears on either side of its head.

"W-What the hell is that thing?!" Cinder yelled, looking at Sora.

"That's King Mickey," Sora said, as if that explained anything.

"Sora? You there?" the voice said on the other end of the phone. Cinder looked at it uneasily, and looked over to Aqua, who gestured for her to pick it up. Cinder bent down, picked up the phone, and looked into it.

"Hello?" she asked.

"Huh?" Mickey asked. "Wait, you're not Sora."

"I'm not," Cinder said. "I'm Cinder."

"How do you have Sora's phone?" Mickey asked, his voice growing concerned. "Did something happen to him?"

"I'm fine, Your Majesty," Sora said. "Hey, can you point it this way?" Cinder did so, and swung the phone around so Mickey could see him. "Hi," he said, waving his restrained hand. "I made it to Remnant."

"You did?!" Mickey asked in excitement. "Wait, why are you tied to a chair?"

"Because he showed up in our room without any warning," Cinder said. "He said you can corroborate his crazy story, so I called you. So, what's he doing here? And your stories had better match."

"She has a Keyblade," Sora said. "I told her the truth."

"…Okay," Mickey said. "So, Sora disobeyed orders to go find his friend Riku, who disappeared when he and I went into the Realm of Darkness to find a way into Remnant, so we could find Aqua and bring her back. A man named Xehanort is trying to start something called the Keyblade War, and that'll destroy everything! We need Aqua's help."

"That matches up pretty nicely with what Sora told us," Aqua said.

"Wait, I know that voice," Mickey said. "Aqua?! Is that you?!"

"Wait, what?" Sora asked, looking at the blue-haired woman.

Cinder sighed, before pointing the phone in Aqua's direction.

"Aqua, it is you!" Mickey said excitedly. "Why didn't you just say so earlier?"

Aqua blinked at the phone for a few seconds. "I don't know who you are."

"What do you mean?" Mickey said. "It's me, Mickey."

"Never heard of you."

"What?" Mickey asked. "You are Aqua, right?"

"…She is," Cinder said. "But, she lost her memories, and she doesn't seem to be able to feel anything."

"What happened to her?" Sora asked.

"She was turned into a Heartless. Suddenly, when I saw her again, she was like this."

Sora and Mickey were silent for a few seconds.

"Aqua," Mickey said sadly. "We were too late."

"…That isn't Aqua anymore," Sora said.

"What do you mean?" Cinder asked.

"When someone with a strong heart turns into a Heartless, they leave their body and soul behind. That can get back up, and can't feel any emotions. We call them 'Nobodies'."

"Nobodies?" Cinder asked.

"Yeah," Sora said. "They don't have hearts, so they can't feel anything. That used to be Aqua, but she isn't really anymore."

"…I see," Aq-uh, Aqua's Nobody, said.

"Yeah, you're going to need a new name, then," Cinder said.

"Yeah," Sora said.

"…Ash," the blue-haired woman said.

"Hm?" Cinder asked.

"Call me Ash."

"Why?"

"Ashes are what are left over when the fire is snuffed. I'm what's left when the spark is gone," she said. "Ash seems fitting."

"I like it," Sora said. Cinder looked at…Ash… sadly.

She really didn't know what the true ramifications were when her Grimm arm turned Aqua into a Heartless. But now she was faced with the reality that Aqua was truly gone, only to be replaced by…well…

An empty shell.

"…I'm sorry," Cinder said.

"Why are you apologizing?" Ash asked.

"I was the one that turned Aqua into a Heartless," Cinder said.

"Wait, what?" Sora asked.

"My mind was being controlled by a woman named Salem," Cinder said. "I fought Aqua, and she was able to free my mind. But part of my body still wasn't under my control, and it turned her into a Heartless."

"It wasn't—" Sora tried to say, before Cinder interrupted him.

"I don't need your pity," Cinder snapped. "It was may fault that Aqua was turned into a Heartless. It's my fault that—"

"That I exist?" Ash asked, surprising Cinder. "It's your fault that I exist. So I supposed I have to thank you for that."

"She's got a point," Sora said.

"…" Cinder wasn't quite sure what to say about that.

"So, uh, what are you and Ash going to do next, Cinder?" Mickey asked, trying to defuse the awkward air.

"We're going to find Ruby," Cinder said. "We're… old friends."

"Can you take Sora with you? Looking for another Keyblade wielder might help him find Riku."

"…Fine," Cinder said, before glaring at Sora. "But he stays in his own room."

"No problem."

"Great!" Mickey said. "Sora, make sure you stay in touch!"

"Will do!"

"Well, I'll see ya. We have some work to do on our end."

"Bye," Cinder said, before ending the call.

"…So, uh, are you going to untie me now?" Sora asked.

"Are you guys doing okay?" Ruby asked, seeing that Weiss, Riku, and Tifa seemed to be shivering more than the others.

"My clothes are magic, so I'm pretty sure I won't get frostbite," Riku said, rubbing his exposed arms. "But I grew up on an island, so this is still way colder than I'm used to."

"How are Yang and Blake okay with this?" Weiss asked, using her arms to cover her exposed stomach. "How do you dress like this normally?"

"Well, I have a pretty high body temperature," Yang said.

"…" Weiss gave Yang a contemplative look. Yang sighed.

"I'm okay with it if you wanna snuggle," Yang said.

"…I'll pass," Weiss said, after several seconds of hesitation.

"What about you, Tifa?" Blake asked, since Tifa was easily wearing less clothing than anyone else.

"I'll be fine," Tifa responded. The snowfall suddenly picked up, sending a chill down everyone's bodies.

Uncle Qrow sighed. "Doesn't look like this is gonna let up."

"I just wanna get this stupid Relic to Atlas," Blake said.

"Let's hope we don't have to walk all the way there," Weiss said.

"I thought trails led somewhere," Yang said sarcastically, looking at Miss Calavera.

"Do you have nothing better to do than to harass a defenseless old lady?" Miss Calavera asked.

Ruby suddenly heard a creaking sound. "Everyone, quiet," she said. "Did you hear that?" Everyone stopped walking, and they noticed a gate leading to a large farm. The sign above the gate read Brunswick Farms.

"Well, at least one good thing happened today," Blake said.

"It looks abandoned," Weiss said.

"But the shelters look intact," Tifa said.

"Better than nothing," Riku said.

"Come on," Uncle Qrow said. "I think we could all use some rest."

Everyone filed through the gate and onto the farmland, but for some reason…

…Ruby couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong.

AN: So, Aqua's Nobody finally has a name: Ash. I was never going to call her Quaxa, because that was the Organization's naming scheme.

So, Sora is going to be travelling with Cinder and Ash, and the other group has approached Brunswick Farms. I have stuff planned for the rest of Volume 6, and I'm excited for it!

I want to remind everyone that this story has a Tv Tropes page! I'm honestly curious to see how people perceive stuff in this story, and I think that's a great way for me to find out.

As always, thank you very much for reading, and I'll see you all next time!