Smaller, More Honest Souls: Arc of Redemption

by MasterCaedus

Jaune Arc would have done anything to get back the woman he loved. And he did do anything; he did everything and it still wasn't enough. He lost his way, and could only find it for the sake of his friends and family. Now he has a chance to fix everything: Sora & Oz send Jaune with Yang to find her mother's Nobody and protect the worlds. But even a past you confront can haunt you.

18. Hollow Victories

AN:

Hey, sorry this took so long. I was busy with finals, and writing my first DnD campaing, the graduating, then settling into my new job. It's been hectic, and I've only found found time to write in the past few days. Still, now that I've settled in, I think I have an actual way to write. I hope it's more common to put a chapter up, but it might be hard sometimes. Still, I'm not giving up. I love the SMHS stories a ton.

In other news, happy Fourth of July everybody!

Anyways, time for some long overdue responses.

To Gamelover41592: I'm glad you liked last chapter, and the last joke especially. To my (non-existent) shame, my sense of humor and Yang's are pretty much the same, so it's nice to occasionally have a good one.

To Guest: I don't think relating to OJ is a problem for the story. In my opinion, you need to have a way to relate to even the most insane characters because even insane humans are exactly that. Human. It might be twisted sometimes, but they have human desires and hopes.

To Guest Chapter 1: That's fair, though I would disagree that he had no romantic interest in Pyrrha whatsoever. He clearly did throughout season three and at the end of season two. Maybe it wasn't love, maybe it was. I certainly believe in love at first sight, and even more so in terms of Kingdom Hearts, Fairy Tales, and RWBY, so I don't think it's that much of a leap.

To scmk: Oh, I'm sure that Yang's sense of humor will land her in trouble one day. It has for me. I also agree with you in terms of OJ being worse than the director and that there is some manner of similarity in what they are doing. And you're right about those differences in reality, and that's going to come into play later.

To cturner971/Chretner: IT'S SO GOOD TO BE BACK, TOO! Don't worry about missing a chapterly review, as I clearly can't make a monthly chapter to my own shame. I'm sorry about leaving you hanging, but I'm glad you're excited for the next chapter. So am I!

To Rev1395 Chapter 6: Oh, hell yeah, those worlds will be revisited. Every world is revisited at least once, most of them twice.

Chapter 18:Hollow Victories

"This... isn't Soul Society," Yang remarked, glancing around the large, white, and empty expanse of sand that surrounded them. The sky had no stars, or at least none that were visible. When they had arrived, they could see them glistening before they were sent beneath the cover of some ancient Darkness that obscured this world.

"What gave it away?" Jaune asked dryly. He tripped over his feet and fought to keep his footing as he tried climbing up a dune. He yelped and landed face first in the sand. "Ow..."

"I think... the lack of swords. Yeah, that did it," Yang joked. She groaned and picked Jaune up, carrying him all the way up the dune before she put him down. "If you like me, Jaune, could you find a better way of telling me than falling for me?"

Jaune was trying a new response to these jokes – no response. He narrowed his eyes and gazed at the horizon. "Is that... a castle?" he asked quietly. He looked over at Yang. "Do you see it?"

Yang turned an angry glare towards him, and did not respond at all. "Wh- You're angry I didn't even groan?" Jaune wondered as he met her glare. Her eyes narrowed. "Fine... groan?"

Yang sighed, disappointed still, but turned her gaze towards the horizon. She frowned and pulled out her Scroll, zooming in with the camera function. "That's not a castle... that's... What's bigger than a castle?"

"A palace?"

"A mountain!" Yang shouted. She shook her head and pocketed the Scroll. "Whoever lives there has one tiny problem."

"With out luck, Aizen just heard you insult him..." Jaune groaned, slapping a palm over his forehead. He looked over at Yang's unashamed grin. "You're way too proud of such an easy joke."

"Every joke deserves to be told," Yang said with a bow.

Jaune shook his head. "Just when I thought you might be developing a better – not good, but better – sense of humor," he groaned, wagging his finger at Yang during his interjection into his own sentence before returning a hand over his eyes.

"Maybe you're getting a better sense of humor," Yang remarked, voice light with laughter.

"Don't even suggest that!" Jaune hissed. He knew it was true, but... Ugh, he didn't want his sense of humor to coincide that much with hers!

"Look, I – "Yang stopped and looked around. She bit her cheek and held one hand up to her ear. "Do... you hear that?"

Jaune stopped and focused on his ears. "Is that..?" It sounded like a thousand small somethings grinding together. Stone, of some kind. It made him think of the feeling of... "The sand!"

His warning came too late, however, as both he and Yang were thrown into the air. "Aaah!" Jaune shouted as he soared upward, summoning the Keyblade as his upward flight began to slow down. "What is that!?"

It was a monster, almost three stories tall and made entirely of sand. It had a horrifying, evil mask for a face with a gaping maw of a mouth filled with sharp, pointy teeth and the top of its head resembling a rook from chess. Its body was human shaped, with a 'loincloth' gathered around its body. And there was a massive hold in its chest. "INTRUDERS!" the monster screamed, one of its massive arms soaring up to swat at the two warriors. Sand fell from its arms as they moved, but they mostly retained their shape even as they approached Jaune and Yang.

"Hell if I know!" Yang snapped, readying Ember Celica. "Is it a Heartless?"

Jaune swiped at the arm with the Keyblade, picturing carving it apart like he had seen Sora do with buildings larger than this. The Kingdom Key slammed into the monster's waiting arm, the blade slicing cleanly through sand –

Only to get stuck in the middle of the massive arm. "Uh... Oh, God..." The sand began to draw his Keyblade further in, swarming around the weapon and up his arms. "AGH! Yang, help!"

"FIRAGA!" Yang shouted from above, having been thrown farther than the heavily armored Jaune. A ball of pure flames rocketed past the Keyblade wielder, slamming into the sand monster and exploding. The creature shrieked in pain and rage, tossing Jaune away as it reacted viscerally to the damage done to it. Yang landed beside Jaune and pointed up at the creature with her thumb, the super heated crater on its chest turning into warped and broken glass through which they could see warped versions of the far away towers. "Clearly, I'm amazing!"

The monster roared and the glass exploded into a thousand pieces, falling to the ground as sand swarmed up from the ground to replace what was lost. "When it comes to the types of enemies we fight, he goes against the grain," Jaune said. He shuddered. "I... worked for that one? Ugh..."

"You get used to it," Yang said. She slammed her fists together and grinned as her eyes turned blood red and her hair began to catch aflame.

Jaune groaned and readied the Keyblade again. "Let's just kill this thing," he groaned, raising it above his right shoulder.

The two charged the monster together, running straight at the incoming claw of sand rocketing towards them. Yang jumped between the thumb and index finger, her hair trailing through the fingers and leaving behind a tiny trail of glass along the side of its hand. Yang lashed out with her fist, sending another fireball at the creature's face and causing a portion of its head to explode and leave behind a crater of glass as it roared in pain. Jaune was behind her, carving through the finger of the glass monster's hand, moving past it and landing on the monster's arm so he could continue running up the monster's body. "At least I can cut that off," Jaune muttered to himself as he cast a glance back at the hand, sand already flooding to replace the destroyed finger. He groaned and tried his best to ignore it, turning his hand instead to the other hand swiping down at him from above. He leaped forward, soaring just past the claw and approaching Yang, who was falling now.

"Give me a boost?" he asked, holding her hand out.

Jaune nodded in understanding and held his Keyblade out, letting her grab onto it and spinning mid air. He released at the top of the arc, sending both her and the weapon soaring back at the monster's shrieking, gaping maw that now reached down to its chest. "Eat this!" Yang snapped, a fireball larger than her earlier Firaga coating either hand. Her right hand, then her left, flew forward to launch the magical attacks. The creature roared and devoured the explosions, glass coating its mouth and shattering under the pressure of its bite to become finely ground sand itself. The monster's claw shot up from the sand beneath Yang and wrapped around her, its claws locking tight enough that she couldn't escape even with all of her strength.

"Yang!" Jaune shouted, sprinting towards her to try and get her out of the growing whirlpool of sand. He threw his Keyblade out in front of him, trying to summon up a Blizzaga to freeze the ground and give him a temporary path, only for it to fail as only a small burst of snowflake shaped ice flew out, a Blizzard spell at best. His foot hit the ice nonetheless, and it was swept away by the force of the swirling and he was immediately dragged in. "DAMMIT!"

He was soon dragged towards the center, arms length from Yang herself. "Jaune, you okay?" she sputtered, trying to keep her head above the sand as she reached out for him.

"I –" he coughed and tried to get above the sand as well. "I should be asking you!"

"Well... I was..." she admitted through the sand she was struggling to spit out. She reached as far as she could and somehow managed to grab onto his hand. "J-Jaune... Gotta... fight..!"

"Yang, we've got to..." his head dipped under the sand and he tried to claw his way up, only for her to yank him up.

"Yang, we've got to -" But Jaune couldn't say anything more, a black and pink swirl of energy exploded around Jaune and he flew upward, soaring out of the whirlpool. "YANG! What the hell!?"

Yang stared up at him, still treading sand. Well... I didn't think this through. And then she sank beneath the sand as it pulled her too deep and the world turned black.

Above, Jaune was freaking out. "YANG!" he screamed, vainly struggling against the spell still holding him aloft. He summoned the Keyblade and blindly slashed, trying to find a way to cut out of the spell, only for it to send him spinning, face turning a dull green. "Yang, you have to fight! Come on!"

"Dance, Sode No Shirayuki!"

Jaune blinked in confusion at that. "Uh, what?" he wondered, before the whirlpool was frozen solid, then shattered in an upward explosion. Ice chunks flew everywhere, containing the sand that made up the monster and sending it soaring away. And, unfrozen because of the fire trailing from her head, was a semi-conscious Yang. "Yang!" He reached out, dismissing the Keyblade and trying to grab her hand. "Yang, I -" Then the spell ended and he fell right past her. "Oh, God!"

As he tumbled towards the sand, he pondered the many questions he would never be able to answer. What was the best flavor of Pumpkin Pete's? Who had defeated that monster? And finally... wasn't it Yang's birthday soon? This whole screwed up time thing was not helping him keep track.

Luckily for him, he had a chance to find the answer to these questions. Which, by the way, were respectively cookies and cream, Rukia Kuchiki, and very. "Oh, hi," he said from Rukia's arms. She blinked and dropped him, disappearing in a blur of lines. Jaune yelped as he hit the ground and she returned a moment later, Yang's unconscious form held over her shoulder. "Uh... Rukia, right?"

"What the hell happened to you two?" she asked before carefully putting Yang down next to Jaune. She stood up again, brandishing her snow white sword for a moment before letting the white fade, floating upward like snow in the wind to reveal a much more simple katana – a Zanpakuto, if Jaune remembered right. She twirled in once and stuck into the scabbard on her left hip. She was dressed now exactly as Ichigo and the Soul Reapers had been, all black with white underneath. Sandals with white socks. "You stood up to my brother before and that Hollow gave you trouble?" Her confused features turned angry and she slammed the side of her hand on the top of Jaune's head, eliciting a cry of pain from the Keyblade Wielder. "How dare you insult Soul Reapers like that!?"

"Agh! I'm sorry!" he shouted in reply, throwing his hands up to block the repeated blows. "Please, I'm sorry!"

"You'd better be!" she snapped, finally relenting. She yanked Jaune up. "You two are going to help me find Ichigo in this place now!"

"Wh – He's here?" Jaune wondered through the sweatshirt yanked over his mouth. He smiled. "Well, what kind of friend wouldn't help?"

"Ugh... I've eaten grain before but this just awful..." Yang groaned, pushing herself to her feet and shaking her head.

Rukia grimaced. "Is she okay? That sounded... crazy," she said as she let go of Jaune's hoodie.

"Honestly? If she hadn't made that joke I'd be more worried," he replied after breathing a sigh of relief.

He walked up and hugged Yang, picking her up slightly. Yang yelped and her eyes went wide, surprised at the sudden affection. "I'm so glad you're okay!" Jaune hugged tighter for a moment, then dropped her and glared into her eyes. "But next time, don't do something stupid like separating us!"

Yang groaned. "Fine..." She sighed and shook her head. "Now who saved -" Yang blinked then looked past him at the clearly confused Rukia. "Oh! Samur-ice! Hey!"

S M H S

The group had traveled for hours through the empty expanse of Hueco Mundo, through sand. And sand. Some more sand. Oh, almost forgot.

Sand.

Yang was getting exhausted by this whole annoying side of this world. Ugh, she just wanted one thing to happen. After that Hollow thing – some sort of monster like the Heartless where the Soul instead the Heart got corrupted – attacked, there hadn't been anything interesting for the entire day. Eventually, after making some sort of progress towards Las Noches, the giant castle at the center of Hueco Mundo, they had decided to make camp.

Jaune had removed his armor to prepare for sleep, knowing that resting in it would be a huge, painful problem. He still remembered the aches from trying to sleep in it once before. Never again.

This had given him and Rukia something to bond over. Cartoon rabbits. The Soul Reaper girl was obsessed with anything rabbit themed, apparently, and had immediately assaulted Jaune in an effort to learn where he had gotten the sweatshirt and if he would be able to get one for her somehow. He promised he'd try, if only to calm her, then had begun explaining how much he loved the cereal. That had only caused another round of questions on if he could get her some of that, too.

Eventually, Yang had grown bored of that, too. After starting a fire with her magic and unrolling her sleeping mat, she'd slammed her hands together, the resulting clap cutting off the warrior's questions and giving Jaune some breathing room. "Okay... so, what's happening. You didn't talk much while we were walking."

Rukia sighed and suddenly became very business like, her serious face reminding Jaune eerily of Byakuya's glare. "Of course, you deserve to know." She altered her position to sit on her shins, hands resting atop her knees. "So... Aizen's Arrancar –"

"His what?" Jaune asked, raising his hand above his head.

"Is he..?" Rukia began, turning to ask Yang only to see she also had her hand above her head.

Rukia sighed. "What do you two know about what's been going on since we last met?"

Jaune scratched his cheek. "Um..."

"We've been dealing with personal demons," Yang clarified quietly, though her tone made it clear she didn't want to explain further for now. She laid down on her chest and propped herself up with her elbows. "We haven't had a lot of time to pay attention to stuff here."

Rukia glanced between them, then nodded. "Okay. I get it," she said, understanding and not asking any questions about it. "Well... ever since you helped Ichigo save me, Soul Society has been preparing for war. Aizen's declaration created chaos, and Ichigo running around crazy didn't help much. Still, eventually the Soul Society was able to start investigating everything that Aizen had been planning. For centuries, apparently."

"That... is the second longest evil plan I've heard of," Jaune said simply.

"Seco – that's absurdly long!"

"Eh, try 1000 years," Yang remarked with a grin. "I think we win."

"A thousand years... I will have to hear about this eventually," Rukia said, intrigued and rubbing chin. She shook her head. "Ach! But later." She sighed and nodded. "Anyways, the eventually found out that he had planned to create creatures called 'Arrancar.' These are monsters created from Hollows using the Hyogyoku. Hollows that look human. Hollows... that have the powers and strength of a Soul Reaper."

Rukia shivered and moved closer to the fire. "They attacked us, they..." her hand went to her gut and pain flashed across her face. "It wasn't even a fight."

"Are you okay?" Yang asked. She placed her robotic prosthetic against the white sand "I know what... fighting someone before you're ready can do to a person."

Rukia looked over and nodded, a sad look of understanding flashing through her eyes. "I will be fine. I am ready now."

Yang nodded. "I know that feeling, too," she said, offering a real grin.

Jaune frowned, worried, and turned his gaze to the castle. "So this is, what, a vengeance mission?"

"No. It's a rescue mission," Rukia said, her own gaze turning towards Las Noches as well. "They took one of Ichigo's and my friends, kidnapped her during an attack. It was Orihime, do you remember her?" She clenched her fists against the black cloth she wore. The tiny woman growled, annoyed at someone. Probably Ichigo. "That idiot was told not to search for her, to not rescue here and -" Her features softened. "So of course he went, and I couldn't leave him hanging."

"What is it with you guys getting kidnapped?" Yang asked irreverently in an effort to ease the tension.

"Yang!" Jaune hissed in disbelief she'd ask that.

Rukia glowered for a moment, then shook her head. "It does seem to be a pattern, doesn't it," she muttered dryly. She chuckled and shook her head, slightly amused by the entire situation. "Maybe next time we'll be going to rescue Ichigo instead."

Yang laughed once. "He'd make a funny damsel in distress!" she said, imagining it with a smirk.

"So... what kind of thing should we be expecting?" Jaune wondered, deciding to be the one to break the good mood because someone had to. "On a scale of... Ganju to your brother?"

Rukia grimaced. "The Espada? Byakuya. The others? Kukakku?"

Jaune groaned, it was going to be a long day. "The Espada? How many of those guys do we get to fight?" Yang asked with a grin.

"There are ten."

Yang blanched a little. "Oh... I was hoping you'd say like... three or four?"

"Ten," she repeated.

Jaune groaned and fell face first into his bed mat. Of course he'd be up against ten Byakuyas with his abilities on the fritz again. "This is going to be a long few days," he groaned.

S M H S

Jaune and Yang peeked over the edge of a huge sand dune, staring down at the entrance to Aizen's mountain sized castle with Rukia at their side. "It looks unguarded," Jaune pointed out cautiously. He and the others ducked behind the dune. "Which seems odd. We haven't seen anything since that sand guy three days ago."

"Maybe Ichigo cleared out the guards when he came this way?" Rukia suggested. She frowned and placed a hand on her chin. "He's gotten a lot stronger recently, but... I don't know."

"Not enough of the building randomly destroyed? Too few dead monsters? No trails of his blood and staggering, limping footsteps?" Yang asked bluntly. She glanced over at the annoyed glare from Rukia and laughed. "What, too real for you?"

"Regardless," Rukia growled, "Jaune's right. There's no way that we're going to get in there without a fight. This has to be a front to get us to drop our guards before an ambush."

"Wow, someone admitting I'm right. What are the odds?" Jaune asked dryly. He looked over at Yang. "You want to try it? Just once?"

"Ha! In your dreams," Yang shouted mockingly.

"Probably true," Jaune groaned, completely missing the connotation of what he'd said until Rukia and Yang started snickering. The Keyblade Wielder groaned and turned red. "Screw it, I'm just going to charge." The Keyblade Wielder vaulted over the top of the sand dune and began to slide down the other side, sand kicking up behind him. He held the Keyblade out behind him and struggled to maintain his balance, until his foot hit a small stone and got stuck. Jaune yelped and flipped through the air, landing face first and beginning a long tumble of heels over head and vice versa as he rolled down the side of the dune and eventually landed in a heap at the bottom.

Predictably, Yang and Rukia did the same as him although they managed to slide down without a single problem and came to a full stop with minimal effort. "I hate you more now," Jaune grumbled through the sand filling his mouth.

Yang's retort was cut off as it was born, replaced by the dozen Heartless that had burst into existence around them. Ronin armor clinked and their swords readied to attack. Darkness exploded into existence along the edge of the blades and the Heartless shrieked in their hollow, broken voices. Yang grinned and slammed Ember Celica into weapon mode. "Ready to take that hate out on something that deserves it?" she asked, casting a glance towards Jaune, still half-buried in sand.

The Keyblade wielder scrabbled to his feet, sand flying off of him as he readied to fight as well. "One of these days, I'll blow right by the ambush they have prepared. Just 'zoom!' Already at the boss room," Jaune grumbled angrily.

"Then let's get moving," Rukia said sternly, drawing her Zanpakuto in a single, smooth draw. She jumped forward, blade cleaving one of the Heartless cleanly in two before it could even react.

It was at that point that the battle broke out fully. The Ronin charged forward, different elemental energies channeling along their blades, and began to match blades with the three warriors.

Yang easily dodged the trio of blows that came her way, showing just how much stronger during their travels. The blades did not even come close to hitting her as she sidestepped them without any effort. She brought her knee up to the handle of the sword one of her opponents held in its hand, slamming it into the pommel and sending it soaring out of the creature's grasp. The fist on her other side snapped up and snapped its neck with a single blow. It faded away into Darkness immediately, destroyed by a her unyielding might. She turned her attention on the other two Ronin, who were returning to combat stances. Yang brought her fists up and cracked her knuckles. "Ready for more?" she asked. The Ronin glanced at each other, then charged her again, blissfully unaware of their quickly approaching deaths.

Jaune was faring... less well. He felt sluggish and slow, and... well, he hadn't wanted to let Yang see it, but he'd been feeling sick during their trip on the Gummi Ship. It was weird, but it almost felt like all the progress he had made had just... vanished. He had reached a point where, before, he could have annihilated every one of these Heartless alone. Now, though, he couldn't even manage to get a blow of his own out. "SOL!" Jaune screamed as a blade arced towards his head. He threw his left arm up to block the attack and let a blade coated in Dark flames glance off of the buckler's surface. He jumped back, missing any opportunity to counterattack, in order to avoid a vertical slash from another of his three opponents. The third charged in from behind and slashed at his back, crashing into his armor and causing him to stumble forward from the force.

Jaune turned and regained his footing just in time to bring the Keyblade up to block another sword attack, the blades glancing off one another in a shower of sparks created from Light and Darkness. He shoved as hard as he could and the Heartless staggered back a step, giving him just enough time to jump forward and land a powerful smack to the creature's masked face. The mask cracked and spun, blinding the Heartless for a moment. Jaune, over eager perhaps, moved to slash again only for another Heartless to crash into his side as it jumped away from a pillar of ice that exploded from the ground, Rukia's now silvery-white Zanpakuto glinting with energy. One of the other Heartless was in the middle of the ice, frozen to death by the magic she had used that, eventually, turned it into a glowing Heart drifting ever so slowly upward through the pillar.

Jaune cursed to himself and stumbled up to his feet, trying to get into a ready position to fight off the Heartless, all four of them, surrounding him. "I, uh... I warn you, I am... Oh, no."

The four Heartless froze when a single slash of silver carved through them almost simultaneously, leaving a very confused Jaune staring at the black smoke and crystalline Hearts floating towards the sky. He blinked and followed the Hearts for a moment before looking down at his apparent savior.

"I am glad my weakness has not made me like you," Morrigan said, swinging her sword of Nothingness out to the side as it disappeared in a flash of black and white. She brought her arms over her chest and glared at the blonde Keyblade Wielder, red eyes unamused by his blundering. "Arc." Her head drifted towards the stunned blonde brawler a few feet away. "... Weakness."

"Mom...ish," Yang responded coolly, though her eyes were a flaming red. She crossed her arms over her own chest and Jaune did a double take – she and Morrigan looked exactly the same. "What, no hug for your darling daughter?"

"Oh, I do see a resemblance," Rukia said as she sheathed her Zanpakuto. She bowed to the Nobody. "Thank you for saving our friend. He is..." she stood up and cast a glare at Jaune. "Out of sorts."

Morrigan's gaze turned towards Rukia. "That boy is always out of sorts."

"I am right here, you know," Jaune grumbled, earning no response from any of the women around him.

Morrigan looked Rukia up and down for a moment, slowly examing her garb. "You're dressed the same as that Ichigo boy," she said simply. She looked over at the castle, emotionless face not changing. "You have many enemies here."

"You've seen Ichigo?!" Rukia asked, eyes widening.

"What you thinking of joining them?" Yang asked angrily. She jabbed her finger into the Nobody's arm, causing the red head to turn a glare similar to annoyance at the girl. "You'd get plenty of chances to kill me with them, wouldn't you?"

"Wait, you're going to try and kill your daughter?" Rukia snapped as she was clued in to everything going on. She quickly grabbed hold of her Zanpakuto hilt, only for Morrigan's blade to appear at her throat.

"I have no intention of attacking my weakness here," she plainly stated, red eyes boring into purple. "Not when to do so would create further threat to me." She glanced over at Jaune and Yang. "Have you tried to access your ship recently?"

Jaune frowned. "Uh, n – Wait, is this like when the Soul Reapers locked down the Soul Society?"

"The owner of this place, this 'Aizen,' he set up a barrier," Raven's Nobody explained. She lifted her right hand and moved it past her left. "He wants people to enter this world, but not to leave. I believe he was trying to lure in Ichigo and others of his kind."

"He wants the Soul Reapers here? But... why?" Rukia wondered. She shook her head. "We're the only ones who could possibly stop him. Why risk having his plans interrupted?"

"Because you are not a threat to his plans," the Nobody explained as she crossed her arms. "If I am going to judge your people's power and skill by you and Ichigo, at least."

"What happened?" Rukia asked, an edge of worry running through her voice. "Where is he?"

"He and his friends were defeated in a battle yesterday. From my scouting, the three of them are still under the care of the person that defeated them."

"And where were you that entire time?" Rukia asked angrily.

"I made my escape when it was clear they could not defeat this 'Espada 7' character," Morrigan explained. She shrugged off Rukia's angry glare. "Simply put, I decided it was better to escape and wait for an opportunity to leave this place or rescue them if need be. With you here one of those options is available and will lead to the other."

"Real selfless," Yang remarked with an eye roll. "I can tell you've got quite a big Heart."

Jaune couldn't help but laugh at that one, earning a confused glare from Rukia and a grin from his partner. "You have the wit of your father," Morrigan muttered.. She gestured at the door. "Now, would you like to save your 'friends,' my weakness?"

"I love my mom's nicknames," Yang said with a sidelong glance at Jaune.

He shrugged back. "Better than grandma nicknames," he said jokingly.

"True, Grandma does call me and Ruby the weirdest things."

"You two are so weird," Rukia muttered in disbelief.

"And soon to be dead."

The group whirled on the source of the voice, their weapons either exploding into being or being drawn from where they rested to point at the enemy. It was a tall, muscular man with dark skin. White spines came out from the top of his head in a small mohawk that seemed to match the substance of the teeth-like necklace he wore. Purple tatoos rested above serious, golden eyes. He wore a tight, form fiiting shirt of white with black accents that reminded Jaune of the shirt that Ren wore when they first met. He wore white hakama with pitch black socks and sandals beneath. In his right hand was a katana – a Zanpakuto. Dangling from his left, the unconscious forms of Ichigo, Ishida, and Chad. His eyes came to rest on Jaune. "Except for you."

"Let me guess. Aizen owes me?" Jaune grumbled. He shook his head. "Thankfully, that was somebody else."

"Owes you? No! Lord Aizen wants to find a way to take that key away from you!"

Jaune sighed. "Of course he does." Jaune readied the Keyblade in front of him. "Well, that's not exactly how this works, okay?"

"Lord Aizen will find a way," the man remarked simply. "His power and knowledge are not bounded by the limits of children."

"But you're about to be killed by these children!" Rukia snapped. "Dance, Sode no Shurayuki!" A circle of white appeared below the Arrancar, its perimeter stopping just short of the Soul Reaper's unconscious friends, then shot up to surround the Seventh Espada. Rukia narrowed her eyes angrily at the ice pillar before it shattered. "And now you're dead."

Morrigan turned around, blade drawn defensively, and jumped behind Rukia. There was a loud clang as metal met metal and the Nobody tensed her legs to take the brunt of the attack, wind blasting past her from the pressure but otherwise saving the young Reaper from the Arrancar's blade carving through her body. "You thought it would be that easy?" the Nobody growled to the surprised trio with her. "Don't be stupid! He's stronger than any one of us on our own!"

"Sounded like it hurt you to say that!" Yang shouted as she leaped over her mother's Nobody and slammed a fist down on the Espada's head, sending him skidding backwards through the sand. Yang landed where he had been standing a moment earlier, and raised her fists into a defensive position again.

The Arrancar jumped forward, slashing at Yang again, only for his head to be slammed to the side by the familiar sight of Jaune's gold and silver Keyblade. He hit the ground and tumbled to the side, rolling to a stop on his feet as he regained his footing. "Do not -" he was cut off bt a blast of freezing air, the cold surrounding his joints and freezing him in place momentarily, letting Morrigan sprint forward and stab at him with her telescoping blade. The attack pierced his left shoulder, sending blood flying out of his back before the blade disappeared and reappeared in Morrigan's hand to try and decapitate him.

"Enough!" An explosive force flew out from the man's body, sending sand and the warriors fighting within it sliding away from the Hollow and giving him space. He groaned and placed his free hand over the stab wound that had gone cleanly through his left shoulder. His eyes glanced over each of his opponents in turn, at which point he growled, "You'll pay for that." He spread his legs and put his sword out in front of his body, letting go of it. Instead of falling, however, the sword remained where it was.

"Attack, now!" Morrigan snapped, having recovered from the blowback first.

The other three nodded and leaped after her, weapons raised. The man had barely begun to turn his his head at a horrifying angle before Morrigan's katana sliced through the arm she had damaged before. The man screamed and his head snapped back into place, sword falling to the ground. "Wha -?" he screamed as his blood splattered across the sand. "But every Soul Reaper allows their opponent to unleash their full power!"

"Well, we aren't Soul Reapers," Yang said with a smirk as she launched herself forward with twin Firagas, letting her Sparkga cloaked feet collide with the Arrancar's chest, shredding his shirt and leaving a blackened burn across his body, bleeding wounds in the shape of her bootprints square at their center with a hole between them.

Jaune laughed. "What kind of idiot lets his opponent get to full power?" he inquired as he, finally, was able to coat his blade with light and slice through the Espada's other arm. He slid to a stop and turned around, raising the Keyblade again. "I mean, until you stopped moving and gave us an easy target I was worried we might have some trouble with you!"

"I am a Soul Reaper, but I am far more concerned with my friends over there!" Rukia snapped from where she stood, her Zanpakuto pure white and held in front of her, ribbon dancing in the wind. "Now, Dance! Sode No Shurayuki!" A white circle inscribed itself across the ground around the Arrancar, who was having trouble moving from the pain of his lost arms and ruined body. "First Dance, White Moon!" And then the pillar exploded upward, capturing the Hollow within. After a moment, it shattered, and so did the monster within it.

Yang scoffed. "Moron," she mocked the Espada. She looked over at Ichigo and the others, then sprinted over with Morrigan, Rukia, and Jaune not far behind.

The Soul Reaper sheathed her Zanpakuto and passed the brawler after a moment and slid to a stop beside Ichigo, grabbing his shoulders and shaking him violently. "Wake up! You're disgracing the Soul Reaper name!" Rukia snapped as she continued to assault her friend. She raised her right fist and slammed it down on top of Ichigo's skull, causing both Yang and Jaune to flinch. "Idiot!"

"Should we stop her?" Jaune wondered in a whisper towards his partner.

Yang snorted. "Hell no! I'm not taking those punches for him," she replied with a shake of her head. She turned towards Jaune and grinned. "Though, this does give me ideas if you ever fall unconscious!"

"You could just use a Cure on me," Jaune suggested dryly. He jerked his head towards Ichigo, Chad, and Uryu. "Or you could do it on them."

"Why don't you do it?" Morrigan inquired suddenly from his right. Jaune nearly leaped intot he air, surprised at how close her voice had suddenly become.

He took a deep breath to calm himself and met her cold, red eyes. "I... can't. Nothing's working right," he muttered, self-loathing leaking through his voice. He shook his head and held the Keyblade up in front of him. "That guy who saved us from you. He's a different me, but -"

"I don't care, why" Morrigan replied, crossing her arms and looking away from him. "And neither should you. Eliminate your weakness. Carve it away. Only then will you be whole."

"That would be almost inspiring if you didn't think I was your weakness, Mom," Yang mumbled pointedly. She groaned and threw up her hands. "Okay, okay. Time to Ichigo and heal the Strawberry."

"Ugh, that was so bad..." Ichigo grumbled from the sand. The group turned in surprise as he pushed himself up and out of Rukia's hands. He rubbed the back of his head and looked over at Yang. "So bad that it woke me up."

"See, laughter is the best medicine," Yang told Jaune, deciding to take this news how she wanted.

"I don't think that's what he meant," Rukia pointed out, though she was simply ignored by Yang.

"Maybe another one will wake up Chad and Uryu!" Yang shouted.

"NO!" the entire group, Morrigan included, shouted desperately. Jaune sighed. "Just... no more? Use a Cura, please?"

Yang turned an eye towards him. "Party pooper," she grumbled, though she still walked towards Chad and Ishida, raising her hand above her. Golden flowers and green light exploded into being above her palm, swirling around her and enveloping all three warriors. Ichigo felt all of his aches leave him and his wounds sew themselves shut, while Chad and Ishida slowly began to awaken.

"Wh-where are we?" Ishida wondered through a groan. Chad did not say anything,s imply sitting up and groggily looking around.

Rukia helped Ichigo to his feet before moving on to help the others. "Outside of Las Noches."

"What happened to that large Arrancar that took us out?" Ichida wondered. "One minute we were heading to save Orihime, and the next – unconscious."

"That guy? Eh, he was easy," Yang said, crossing her arms and grinning cockily at the Quincy archer.

Jaune laughed nervously. "She doesn't speak for all of us," he said quietly. He shook his head. "Though he did stand around for a minute hoping to power up, which gave us the perfect moment to get the jump on him."

"You just attacked him while he powered up?" Ichigo asked, dumbfounded.

"Well, it was that or get captured like you idiots," Rukia snapped, slamming her fist down on the taller boy's head once again.

"Ow! What the hell, Midget!?" Ichigo snapped, getting close to the shorter Soul Reaper. "First you say you have to follow orders and not help me, and now you're here beating me? Make up your mind!"

"Make up my mind? I'm here, aren't I!?" she retorted, drawing her sleeve up to prepare for another punch.

Yang and Jaune traded a look. "Well, it's nice to see you two haven't changed," Jaune said in an effort to break the tension.

Almost like they hadn't even been arguing in the first place, Rukia and Ichigo turned towards him. "You have, Jaune. You seem... I don't know. Tired?" Ichigo said. He walked up and examined the Keyblade Wielder closely. "What happened? When you left, you seemed pretty excited."

Jaune laughed nervously. "A lot happened," he said, voice low. "I, uh, you remember that creepy guy who looked like you?"

Ichigo's face quickly became annoyed and pained. "Oh, I've talked with him... way too much." He sighed. "Why?"

"Well, I have one of those. Except... he's outside of my Heart. And, maybe, you know, trying to annihilate the universe."

Ichigo stared blankly at the Keyblade Wielder for a while. Then he broke out into laughter. "Wow, I guess it's business as usual for us, huh!?" he asked through guffaws. "First Aizen now, what, Dark Jaune? DJ?"

"Uh, we call him OJ," Yang supplied.

Ishida frowned. "Like... the juice?"

"Huh. I guess so," Yang said, quietly surprised she hadn't noticed that. She quickly grinned. "I'm going to juice that joke for all it's worth!"

Jaune's chin hit his chest. "Dammit, Yang."

"I do not mean to intrude, but are we going to come up with a plan?" Morrigan cut in, ending the conversation of, in her mind, children. "The only way to escape this place is to defeat Aizen here and now or find whatever he has used to lock this world away from the others, neither of which we can do without a plan."

"And we need to find Orihime," Chad tacked on somberly from where he was sitting in the sand.

"... Of course," Morrigan said.

"First, is no one going to point out that she ditched us?" Ichigo finally asked with a growl aimed at Morrigan. "Left us for dead after we got knocked out!"

"And it is good I did, else these three would have been captured as well," Morrigan said, a cold and angry edge to her voice. 'And you would be dead, most likely."

"I -"

"She's right," Rukia admitted begrudgingly. She crossed her arms and turned to glare at Morrigan. "She found us and helped us defeat that Espada. Without her, we wouldn't have made it. At least, not all of us."

"A tactical retreat was a useful idea," Ishida agreed simply. He resettled his glasses with one hand. "And it is clear she is not on Aizen's side, so working with us is in her best interest."

"No one else is coming," Chad pointed out.

Jaune looked around, realizing everyone had turned their heads towards him one at a time. He sighed and shook his head. "So what do we know about this place?"

"It's full of nine more guys, most of them stronger than the guy who snuck up and knocked us out," Ichigo grumbled, casting another glare at Morrigan for abandoning them. "A ton of Heartless, Aizen, and his Soul Reaper underlings."

"It's a maze that we have no knowledge about how to traverse," Ishida added tiredly.

"And it's the size of a city," Yang said, looking up at the walls. She looked back down. "Oh, and we can't escape if we run into too much trouble."

Jaune groaned and let his chin hit his chest. "Great." He shut his eyes. Plan. A plan. Need a plan... Oooooooh, that might work. He lifted his eyes and looked around the castle, eventually letting them settle on what looked like a window shut tight on the wall some dozens of feet above. If there was one there... "Okay. I have a plan. Maybe."

"Lay it on us, Good Boy," Yang said, leaning on him with one elbow. "I'm all ears."

"How do you feel about... splitting up?"

Yang's grin disappeared. "Jaune..."

"Me and half the group through one of the upper windows on the outer walls. The other half of the group goes through the front door. We both head for the central tower and then head up it together. It makes sense that would be where Aizen, Orihime, and the lock will be. Get me there with my Keyblade and I can unlock it, and we can go and get more reinforcements if necessary. And if we're in a tight spot, then we could get out. After we find the lock we'll decide what to do."

"And the teams?" Yang asked, already worried, her sentiments echoed on every face. Even Morrigan's.

"Me, Ichigo, Rukia. You, Morrigan, Ishida, and Chad on the other. Both teams need someone who can go all out at the front – you and Ichigo. A skilled secondary – Morrigan and Rukia. Ishida and Chad won't be surprised a second time, and they've been through the front door a little already, so they'll be able to guide you for a little while. That leaves me with Ichigo and Rukia, because Ichigo can at least give me an idea of where we're at compared to where you guys enter."

"I hate it,," Ichigo grumbled. He rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Why split up?"

"The danger will be heaviest at the center tower, which means we can catch the enemy in a pincer and attack them from behind. If we're lucky, that surprise attack might give us the edge we need," Jaune explained. He gestured up at the window closest, though it was a good twenty yards from the front gate. "We'll enter through there so we're at least a little close to each other the whole way through."

"If need be, we can blow a hole through the ceiling to meet you guys and we can regroup. It might not be the worst idea anyone has come up with," Morrigan admitted, though it looked like it pained her to do so. "Though... must I be paired with my weakness?"

"I'm not happy about it either!" Yang snapped coldly. "Trade me out for -"

"No," Jaune growled, hoping Yang would get the message. Sora had said Nobodies could slowly regrow their Hearts, especially after their Heartless was destroyed. He hopd that pairing the mother and daughter together might somehow... jump start that process. He thought the woman already had some emotions. Mostly just 'angry' and 'annoyed,' but it was a start. Plus, the Nobody had an obsession with being the one to kill Yang, to the point she would protect the blonde if anyone else tried to kill her. Maybe by protecting her through this castle, the positive emotions might start cropping up. "This is the way it's going to be."

"... Fine," the women with identical faces growled, turning and pouting away from one another.

R W B Y

"Lord Aizen," a monotone voice intoned as the large door slid open, bringing bright light into the dark room. Heartless that had congregated here hissed and jumped back into the shadows, desperately trying to avoid the burning energy that was their opposite. A thin man with pale skin walked into the room, deep black hair cascading down his face. Thin green lines traced down his cheeks like tear stains from the same colored eyes. A bony protrusion like a samurai's helmet curved out from the left side of his head. He had a tight, long jacket on with a single thin line that traced down to its end, shortly above the large black cloth belt at the top of his white Hakama. A pale green Zanpakuto sat in its similarly colored sheathe at his left side as he entered and bowed to his master. "It would appear that the intruders were able to kill Zommari Rureaux and have entered Las Noches proper."

"Hmm... how interesting, Ulquiorra." The light of the opening doors ran through the room, resting on a man sitting on a large, white throne. The Heartless seemed both simultaneously intrigued and scared of this man, writhing and rushing towards him, only to rush back and leave a perimeter of open space around him. "Ichigo and Rukia, I expect."

"Yes, Lord Aizen," Ulquiorra continued. "Though, it would appear that they have other warriors with them – a two women and a young man."

"Do not keep me waiting in suspense, Espada 4," the lord of Las Noches commanded with a smirk rushing across his features. "Nor our guest..." He gestured with one hand at the young woman standing nearby, her palms pointed at a small circular object on a pedastal. "I am sure Miss Inoue would love to hear about Ichigo and his friends."

The girl stopped what she was doing for a moment and the light in the room dimmed, though she quickly continued and everything became normal again. "Yes, Lord Aizen. One of the women has bright red hair and a Zanpakuto that has the same abilities as Ichimaru's, though she does not wear the robes of a Soul Reaper. The other is blonde and seems to lack tact in favor of brute strength."

"And the boy?"

"He is blonde as well, though he wields the Key."

Aizen's smirk disappeared. "Which key?"

"Silver and gold."

Aizen's smirk returned slowly. "Good. That Key seems to hold great promise. Promise I wish to make my own," the Soul Reaper traitor said. He stood up from his throne and held his hand out in front of him. "A Keyblade could unlock the full power of the Hogyoku now, and the doors of the Soul King's home would be like paper before a fire."

"Should I send some of the Espada after them, Lord Aizen?"

The villain scoffed. "No, I have a feeling they will have to deal with other invaders quite soon. You should find them at the center tower, at the Lock. Wait for Ichigo there," he sat down and turned towards Orihime. "Take her with you. After all, I have little use for her now that she is finished and stalling with her task."

"What, but I -" The young woman, her burnt orange hair moving wildly as she turned. She took a half step back. "I haven't been -"

"Please try not to insult my intelligence, little girl. It isn't nice," he said with a sickeningly false and sweet smile. Aizen turned back to Ulquiorra. "Bring the boy with the Keyblade to me when you're done. Alive. I would love to see what lets him control a weapon of such power."

"And the others?"

"I have no use for any of them. Dead or alive, none of them are strong enough or intelligent enough to warrant any worry on my part," Aizen explained with a shrug. "Do as you see fit, Ulquiorra. I give you my blessing."

"Thank you, Lord Aizen," the Arrancar said with another bow, a hint of joy coming through his monotone voice.

R W B Y

A figure in a long black coat looked over the large castle, silently fuming as he watched Jaune and his friends invade. "Trying to keep me from my prize, Jaune?" OJ growled. He shook his head, though his eyes remained stuck on his counterpart. "Gaining fools for allies and running from Pyrrha like this? How dare you..." He stood up straight and turned, running headfirst into a large man.

"What the hell are you doin' here!?" the large man snarled, his fist glowing black as he held it back and ready to fly into OJ's face. There was a large, artistic '10' on his massive left shoulder and a hole the size of OJ's head in the center of his chest. He was huge, with crests coming out from the top of his bronze head and another bone jaw existing on the outside of his jawline. There was a sword tucked into the black cloth belt holding up his white hakama.

OJ just rolled his eyes and walked past him.

"Wha –? Hey, no one ignores Yammy!" the man shouted, rage filling every word as he turned and launched the massive ball of energy from his fist and at the back of OJ's head. It exploded on contact, sending dirt and energy soaring throughout the air. Yammy glared at the smoke cloud for a moment before laughing cruelly. "Looks like I didn't even need to ask what you were -"

His words were cut off as a golden spear flew out of the cloud, slamming through his chest, the tip exposed through the Hollow hole in his chest, before exploding in a burst of Darkness that burned at his flesh. "Agh! AGH!" the monster of an Arrancar screamed, blindly swatting at the energy that was spreading throughout his body. "Get it off! Get it -"

He was cut off when the spear disappeared, and the figure he had attacked appeared out of the smoke, a golden sword in one hand and a red and silver shield in the other. "Then I suppose you have my full attention, Yammy." Then he swung at the giant's throat, black energy coating the blade. "For the next two seconds."

Yammy swatted the blow away, thankful that the Darkness had stopped spreading throughout his body, though where it had spread was still poisoned and injured. "That's it, you insect, I'm gonna kill you now!"

"I doubt that," OJ growled as he threw the shield past Yammy's arm. The sword in OJ's hand vanished, and the shield did as well, replaced in a burst of black with a swirling Keyblade flying right at the Arrancar's neck. "Goodbye." Then a Dark Firaga exploded from the Keyblade, leaving OJ all alone on the roof.

The warrior summoned the Keyblade back to his hand and turned to leave again. "Hopefully I don't run into any more of these distractions," he growled to himself. He shook his head and swirled the Keyblade, breaking through the lock and summoning a portal of Darkness. "This one is too well guarded for now, especially with Jaune here. I better look for one of the other items I need and come back here when I can. I think the one in that animal world might be a good start."