Empty In Remnant

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, RWBY, or any other works associated with them.

This chapter, we got a time-skip and a glimpse of Vanitas's new life. Be forewarn, however. Half is like exposition and info dump. By the way, whenever Vanitas talks after the time skip, imagine Sora's voice from KH1. Gonna bet it's gonna be weird.

Chapter 3: A Lad's Life and a lot of info dump.

Ozpin looked at the orphanage as he approached it. There was a gate, a large area past it, and finally the orphanage itself. It was a fairly huge facility. It was about four stories tall and quite wide. It appears to have plenty enough room for the young child he was about to send in.

He looked behind him and saw the young child. The lad was trailing behind him as they walked from the gate to the entrance of the orphanage. When they reached the front door, he knocked, the door opened in response, and he was soon greeted by one of the orphanage's caretaker.

"Hello, Mr. Ozpin!" At the sound of the man's loud voice, the boy hid himself behind Ozpin's back. "How are you?" he asked Ozpin.

"I'm doing quite well," he responded. He moved slightly out of the way so that the boy wasn't directly behind him. "This is the boy I've told you about." Ozpin showed the man the child hiding behind his back.

"Ah, so this is the young boy who will be living with us."

"Yes," he said. "I expect that young boy will be treated well?"

"Of course," he said. "You have nothing to worry about."

Ozpin nodded at the man before looking at the young child. He went down on one knee and began to talk to the boy.

"Young man, this is where you will be living. I know that you may not like this...but this is the best chance for you to have a proper life." To be honest, Ozpin didn't know what the boy want. The child was mostly unresponsive and didn't seem to have an opinion regarding his situation. The only time he would respond was to questions regarding the boy, himself. Even then, the boy didn't know much about himself.

The black haired boy, like with most conversations, didn't respond to his words.

Ozpin stood up and looked at the caretaker.

"I'll be leaving him in your hands," he said. "Take good care of him."

Ozpin departed, leaving both the caretaker and the boy alone in a somewhat awkward silence. The caretaker, in an attempt to break the ice, asked the boy a question.

"Well, hello there young boy. What's your name?"

"..." was his silent response.

"Well, come on now, young man, don't be shy. I don't bite."

"...Vanitas," he said.

"Vanitas, huh? Just that?"

The boy nodded.

"Well Vanitas, it's nice to meet you," the man said. He reached out for Vanitas and offered his hand. "Let's go inside and get you familiar with the place."

Many years passed since Vanitas was placed into the orphanage. During that time, his personality surfaced as a direct result of interacting with others. However, this wasn't a good thing as he then began to bully both humans and faunus alike. For humans, he enjoyed picking fights with them. For the faunus inhabitants, he preferred to relentlessly tease them about their animal traits.

As with any other person, he wasn't like that in the beginning.

Several weeks after he was first introduced to the orphanage, Vanitas was quiet, obedient, and didn't start any conflicts. However, some would go far as to say the boy was too quiet. He had never really talked to anyone. He never willingly played with any of the other children as well. As a result of this behavior, the other children began to dislike the black haired boy. Soon, a congregation of children, both male and female, began to take action.

At first, it was just verbal. A tease here and a rude remark there. However, Vanitas never showed any reaction to it. It seemed as though that he had merely ignored them, causing the collection of children to become exasperated at his lack of a reaction. After seeing that their collective attempts to fluster the boy failed, their efforts to get a reaction from the black haired boy escalated.

Soon, it began to get a little physical. Whenever Vanitas just happened to pass by near them in one of the facility's many hallways, some would walk by him and forcibly bump into his shoulder. Sometimes, some of them would stick a leg out whenever he walked by and cause him to fall on the ground. However, even with the physical actions that they were taking, the boy did not really react to the actions that they took.

This caused what was supposed to be a small tease into a much more physical form of bullying.

The first time it happened, Vanitas was shoved around by the other boys. It was also the first time Vanitas began to show an actual expression besides a blank vacant stare. For an entire week, this continued to happen. Each time it occurred, it escalated. Each day, the pushing got harder and the words spewed during such times got even harsher.

The golden-eyed amnesiac found himself apprehensive of these situations and their frequent occurrence. However, he was young and thus, he did not know what to do. He didn't think of asking an adult for help and as such, no one but him and the ones instigating the bullying knew.

The bullying continued until, at the very end, Vanitas snapped. On the last day, while the black haired boy was surrounded from all sides, a boy with brown hair was roughing him up while the crowd was jeering at Vanitas. The golden eyed boy became unhinged and finally spoke for the first time ever since he was introduced to the orphanage and its inhabitants.

"Stop it," the boy quietly said.

These two words felled on deaf ears.

"Stop it," he said it again, this time with more force to it. He was punched in the face for his trouble. Then it happened.

As if on instinct, the black haired boy immediately leaped at his assaulter, tackling him down to the ground. This act was apparently so surprising that some people immediately fled the scene. Vanitas then proceeded to repeatedly introduce his fists to the brown haired kid's face. He did it again and again and again with a deranged smile on his face until he was pulled off the kid from behind by one of the care takers of the orphanage. The kids that fled the scene had gotten their attention so that they would stop Vanitas's counter-assault.

"Everyone," the caretaker, who happened to be male, said. "What the heck is going on here?" The congregation of children, who were there because of a mutual dislike for Vanitas, weren't gonna rat each other out. So instead, what they did was pinned the whole thing on Vanitas himself. They claimed that the Vanitas had suddenly just attacked the brown haired boy for no reason.

The caretaker, not being very bright, believed their words without checking both sides of the story and had taken it upon himself to hand out an appropriate punishment for Vanitas. He decided that the boy was to go without dinner for the night and while everyone was eating, Vanitas was to be forced to sit in a empty room the orphanage had dubbed 'The Time-out Room' and reflect on his actions.

That night when everyone except Vanitas was eating dinner, the boy was brought to the room and was told to reflect on what he did.

In most other people's shoes, the person undergoing this type of punishment would have most likely not reflect on what they did and would just simply wait out the punishment. However, Vanitas, stimulated from feeling emotions for the first time, actually did some reflecting.

From the very first time since he had opened his eyes, he had felt nothing. He had felt nothing when it was discovered that he had no memories of his past. He had felt nothing when the man wearing the green scarf had dropped him off in this strange place. And he still had felt nothing when he was being harassed by the other children.

However, when he was being pushed, shoved, and punched by the others- he had felt something flared up from within him. It was an odd feeling. It was strange, in fact. He didn't what emotion that was, but the sensation had made him feel nauseated. Was it fear that he had felt? If it was, then he didn't like it very much.

Then another emotion flared up from within him. Instead of making him nauseous like before, this time it had made him feel...different. More powerful, in fact. The best way he could described it was that he had felt as though something had taken control from inside him and it led him to react with violence. Anger, perhaps?

When he had retaliated and commenced a beat down on the boy who had punched him, he felt something else. Another emotion. Whereas the previous ones made him feel weak and out of control, this one was different. He had felt something lift up from inside him. A sense of elation. Was it happiness? If so, then did he take delight in harming other people?

Thinking back on it, he remembered wearing a smile on his face. If he had smiled, then he had obviously felt good about what he had done. If it felt good, then should he continued to do it? Or was it wrong to do so? After all, the care taker seemed to thought that what he had done to the boy was bad.

Then he thought back to that first emotion. Fear. Again, he didn't like it much. And the reason he even felt it in the first place was because of the others. It made his stomach churn. He didn't want that to happen ever again.

He also took note of another thing. When he had jumped on the boy and began attacking him, everyone just kinda looked on in silence, stopping their jeers in the process. When he was forced off the boy he was blindly beating into submission, he had also noticed another thing. Everyone that was involved had a strange look on their face. It was a strange and twisted expression. Their mouths were agape and their eyes were wide. Not only that, some of them were actually turning their face away from him. Such reactions. Could it have been fear? If it was, was it because he had reacted with violence that had caused them to react like this?

If so, then he knew what to do. In order to never feel weak again, Vanitas would instill fear in the hearts of the other children. He would teach them that he was not one to be bullied. Instead, he would be the bully.

For the next decade, Vanitas would become the scourge of the orphanage.

Nine Years Later

It was about to be the end of school year and Vanitas couldn't wait. Summer was about to start. Just one more day and he wouldn't have to put up with anyone from middle school again! Or...at least for a few months. After that, he would have to deal with people in a high school environment, something he didn't like to do. But hey - he'll deal with that problem when he gets there. For now, his plan was to wait out the day until the last bell rang.

However, some prick who thought he was tough wanted to pick a fight with him. Sadly for the idiot, he wasn't the type of person to refuse an offer like that. After all, he did like fighting. Though some, like the teachers, would say he liked it a little too much.

So during lunch, he went to the rooftop where the fight was going to take place. When he arrived, he found not only the idiot that invited him up there, but also some other people looking to beat him up as well. Unfortunately for them, he wasn't afraid of such paltry things like being outnumbered. In fact, he welcomed it. It would only served to further humiliate them when they lose. So he charged in, fist raised, ready to wreak some havoc upon the poor fools before him.

Needless to say, he won.

However, it was somewhat of pyrrhic victory as the leader of the group soon revealed that the main goal of the group was not to beat Vanitas to a pulp, but to get him into trouble with the school authorities. Soon, school officials came, rounded up everyone, and began handing out proper punishments.

It was then he found himself in what he currently considered to be the most annoying place possible. The doctor's office. It wasn't that the place itself was annoying. Often times, it's where he got himself fixed up after after a fight or two. No, what made it annoying was the doctor stationed there.

The damn doctor fancied himself as a psychologist. As such, the man tended to ask annoying questions and constantly tried to psychoanalyzed him. And when Vanitas asked where he got his qualifications, it turns out the man had only taken a few classes in that particular field!

Sadly for him, he was being forced to sit in the office with him for the remainder of the day while playing twenty questions with a doctor that wished he was a psychologist.

So, after getting checked over for any possible injuries by one of the few nurses working in the school, he was forced to be seated across this man.

The man wore a standard doctor's outfit with no discerning features except for a lone pair of glasses. Vanitas, meanwhile, wore a red shirt with a black, somewhat baggy, short.

"Vanitas, Vanitas, Vanitas," the annoying doctor started. "How many times have you ended up in my office? Once, twice? No...three times a week for three years. And it's always for the same reason. Almost never have I seen you in this room without an injury on your face."

"Uh huh," he said, not really bothering to care. This is how it starts. First, the wannabe starts bullshitting about how much of a misbehaving miscreant he is.

"And the bullying. My goodness, Vanitas. I don't know how you've done it, but you've managed to physically harass over five people at once. This is arguably worse than time you've caused that faunus child to have a mental breakdown in front of the whole school."

Then the idiot starts putting on a accusatory tone.

"You know, you're really lucky. Most people would be expelled for this kind of behavior. Yet somehow, you're still here. Any idea why?"

"Well...I don't know, doc." Vanitas said with a smug tone, no longer wanting this conversation to be one-sided any longer. "But from what I hear, it's because I happen to have good grades."

"Yes, I've heard." The man said with force in his tone. "From what my colleagues say, you're apparently a very bright young man- which is why they won't touch you. They apparently don't want to jeopardize your 'bright' future. But you do have to admit, it's surprising to see such behavior coming from one so intellectually gifted."

"Yeah, yeah," he said. "Are you going somewhere with this or are you just telling me stuff that I already know?"

"If you must know, then yes. I am going somewhere with this," the doctor quickly said. He took out a clipboard, some papers, and a pencil. Recognizing his actions, Vanitas began to audibly groan.

'Oh, great. He's gonna ask me questions,' He sighed internally. 'This is so gonna be fun,' he sarcastically said in his head.

"Haven't we already done this before?" he asked. "I mean, come on, you already know what my response is gonna be."

"Yeah. A whole bunch of empty answers with no real meaning to them. But come on, Vanitas. It's your last day here. Why not humor me for a change?"

"Yeah, no," the black haired boy quickly responded. "I'm not interested in giving you my life story."

The doctor looked exasperated as a result of his response. He sighed before he finally spoke once more.

"Vanitas," he said. "How about I make you an offer?"

"An offer?" Vanitas questioned.

"Yes, young man. Well...more of a deal." The man began to elaborate. "See the clock?" He pointed to the side. Vanitas looked, and saw that it was just a couple hours before school ends for a couple months. The clock read twelve in the afternoon.

"Yeah," he said. "So?"

"Officially, I'm supposed to keep you in here until school ends. However, if you were to humor me and my curiosity, I would be willing to let you get out of school a little earlier than usual."

The offer grabbed Vanitas's attention. The prospect of getting out earlier did sound appealing as he had somewhere to be today. And the timing to get in was really strict. If he accepted his offers and just give him some quick answers, he wouldn't have to worry about that. However, just to be sure of the validity of his offer, Vanitas asked a question.

"Are you sure you're allowed to do that?" he asked.

The wannabe psychologist answered quickly in turn.

"It's the last day of school, Vanitas," he said. "And after today, this school won't be seeing you anymore." He threw his hands up in the air and shrugged his shoulders at the same time. "Who cares?"

The man had a point there, he had to admit.

"Alright, fine." He agreed to the offer. "But don't get the wrong idea. I'm only doing this because I have somewhere to be today."

"I can live with that," the man said. The man prepared himself to jot down Vanitas's answers. "Let's see...hmm... where is it? Ah. Here we go." He cleared his throat. "Alright, Vanitas- since you've decided to humor me, I've decided to ask you only three questions.

Vanitas groan.

"That's still three too many," he said before sighing. "Let's just get it over with already."

"Impatient, are we?" he said with a playful tone. "Alright, fine. Let's begin. Question one- what do you want out of life, Vanitas?"

"Strength."

The doctor jotted what Vanitas said down.

"Okay, on to the second question. What is the single most important thing to you?"

"Strength."

"Again?" The doctor said while simultaneously jotting stuff down on his pad.

"Yeah," Vanitas said. "Got a problem with that?"

"Hardly. I was just expecting more variation in your answers," there was a brief pause before he continued. "Perhaps you'll answer this next question differently. What is the one thing you are most afraid of?"

Vanitas's answer, like to the first two questions, was swift.

"Being weak."

"Hmm...I see. Very interesting. Would you care to elaborate on that?"

"Nope."

"I see," the man said in some disappointment. After a brief pause, the man spoke once more. "Anyway, thank you for finally answering my questions."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Are you gonna let me go now?"

"Of course. I am a man of my word. Just let me write a doctor's note and you should be good to go." He quickly jot down a note and handed it to Vanitas. "There you go."

Vanitas snatched the paper from his hand.

"Great. Hope to never see you again."

Vanitas took his stuff and left the room, out of the school, and ran towards the next stage of his life.

In the afternoon, in the shady part of the city of Vale where criminals, delinquents, and other shady sorts congregate to, there was a building. To the unsuspecting eye, this tall metal building appeared broken, derelict, and seemingly abandoned. However, this was merely a ruse. Within this seemingly lifeless building held a secret.

There, underneath this broken building, lies an underground fighting circuit.

This underground fighting circuit, UFC for short, attracted many types of people, both human and faunus, of varying backgrounds. Almost all of these people tended to be youths that have led less than stellar lives. As such, many who have came to UFC were simply there to make some quick Lien. There were two ways. The first is to gamble on the outcome of the match. The second way was to participate in the matches themselves. Though it may not have a higher payout compared to gambling- to those who frequently win their matches, it is a great source of income.

On the other end of the spectrum, however, were people who weren't quite in the UFC for the money. These people, for whatever reason, competed not for the monetary reward, but for the sake of fighting itself. To these people, the opportunity to hone their bodies through and the thrill of battle are on top of their list of priorities. The money earned from winning their matches was just a bonus on top of that.

Vanitas was one such person.

SMACK

Inside a dimly light circular caged arena, surrounded by an audience crying out for blood, were two teenage boys. A tall faunus with traits reminiscent of a canine were fighting against each other and Vanitas, who was somewhat shorter. Despite this disadvantage in height, the black haired boy had just thrown a fast punch at the dog faunus's face, knocking him down to the ground.

"C'mon, doggie. Stand," Vanitas taunted the other boy while he was on the ground.

"Fuck you," the faunus boy growled at Vanitas before getting up.

'Another easy win," Vanitas sighed internally. From what he could tell so far, this match, like the ones before it, seemed like it was going to be an easy one as well. In his heart, he felt somewhat disappointed. An easy match was good and all, but the main reason he's even in the highly illegal UFC was to get stronger. He couldn't get stronger if he wasn't being challenged properly.

"I'm gonna beat you down, you little runt."

"Fight, fight, fight!" the crowd around them roared.

Feeling rather bored, he decided to humiliate the faunus in front of him. Why? Earlier, in the UFC's locker room, the faunus came up to him and declared that he was gonna wipe the floor with him and now he just called him a tiny runt. He didn't like that the dog had the guts to trash talk him so he decided to pull out all the stops. He's gonna trash him until the faunus starts bawling.

Using both of his hands, Vanitas beckoned for the dog faunus to run straight at him by extending his arms out in front of him- palms facing upwards- and motioning his fingers towards himself.

"Come, boy," he said while gesturing. The faunus, knowing the implication of both gesture and words, reacted with anger. Face red and facial features skewed by anger, the teenage faunus launched himself at Vanitas, intending to tackle him down.

Vanitas saw it coming, however, and he reacted appropriately. Just before the faunus could make impact with his body, Vanitas quickly side step to the right, avoiding the attack altogether. The faunus, who charged at him, was unable to stop himself from moving. As such, the faunus darted right past him and face planted himself straight into-

CRASH

-the interior of the steel cage that surrounded them in this arena. After a very brief moment, the teenaged faunus felled to the ground on his back. Sensing an opportunity, Vanitas quickly approached his downed opponent and promptly stomped his right foot onto the boy's chest.

"Ack!" The pressure and pain caused from that action caused the boy to suddenly scream out in pain. In response, the crowd's cheering seemed to have gotten even louder.

Vanitas, before continuing, looked down and took a look at the boy. What he saw disgusted him to no end. Just a moment ago, his opponent was flying at him with anger and now...there was still a look of anger there but there was something else too. When he looked into the boy's eyes, he saw it.

Fear.

'How disgusting,' Vanitas thought. He stomped down on the boy's chest once more.

"Ack!"

"Man, oh man," Vanitas started. "What happened to all that energy you had before the match? Weren't you the one that claimed that you were gonna beat me?" Vanitas raised his foot. "Hmph, for someone who was barking so loudly, you sure have no bite." He began kicking the faunus boy with great force while he was down. His opponent was powerless to resist.

In the Underground Fighting Tournament, participants were to fight to the finish. For some people, this could mean that the match was to the death. For most people, however, it just meant until one of them passed out. The reason being is that in actual fights, one side is left standing while the other was either dead or knocked out. Following this rule, Vanitas continued to kick and kick until it was determined that the battered boy had passed out, making Vanitas the victor of the match.

After collecting the Lien he earned from winning, Vanitas made his way back to the orphanage, his 'home' if one could it that. On the way back, he was thinking about today's event. To be more specific, he was thinking about how disappointing it was.

'Tch. Another quick match,' he thought. 'I spent three hours waiting for that match and that's all I got? Just a bout that didn't even last five minutes?' He sighed internally. 'Man, talk about pathetic...oh well...at least I got something out of this.' He patted his right pocket, which was full of Lien.

Vanitas sighed again, this time audibly.

'Tomorrow's a new day. Maybe I'll be able to fight someone stronger, then.' Given the track record of the fights he's gotten so far, it seemed unlikely.

The black haired boy soon made it to back to the orphanage. Oddly enough, however, one of the care takers, a female, was standing outside the door, which was open. Upon closer inspection, his somewhat slightly pale skin paled even further.

'Oh, crap,' he thought. 'It's her again.' The lady who he was referring to had a tendency to be extremely annoying to him. She was blond with blue eyes. Despite being one of the new care takers of the orphanage this year, she took her job far more seriously than everyone else did. As such, she was opposed to shenanigans that he was always up. The bullying and the relentless teasing that he always instigated, that didn't fly with her. However, she also felt that deep within, he was actually a very decent person. Because of that feeling, she felt the urge to 'discipline' him, so to speak.

Apparently she was waiting for him because when she noticed him, the lady immediately called out for him.

"Vanitas!" The lady shouted at him. "Where have you been?!"

He immediately pulled out a bullshit answer.

"Nothing."

She didn't believe him.

"Yeah, right. You were hanging out with the wrong crowd again, weren't you?" She crossed her arms.

"Nope," he said. "I was just hanging out in the city."

"Oh yeah? Doing what?"

"Uh..." He didn't have a proper follow up for that.

"Don't you lie to me, young man." She sighed. "Anyways, I wasn't waiting for you just so I can chew you out. There's a surprise for you today, Vanitas."

'Wait. What?'

"Oh, really?" he asked. "What is it?"

"You've got a visitor today!" She said with a slightly louder inflection in her voice. Vanitas's eyes widened and he began to feel suspicious.

'Is it a cop?' he thought. Vanitas was a part of a highly illegal fighting circuits that pit minors against each other. It wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility that the person was indeed a cop or someone of that nature. Still, the lady doesn't know that.

"Why is he here?" Vanitas asked. The care taker shrugged her shoulders in response.

"I don't know. He didn't say," she explained. "But maybe if you're lucky, he'll adopt you." She smiled as she said this.

"I doubt it," he said. "Probably just someone wanting to complain about me."

"Oh, come on. Don't be like that, Vanitas. You're never going to get anywhere in life if you get all mopey." She tapped her head with the index finger from her right hand. "You got to think positive."

An unknown, male, voice rang out from behind her.

"Good advice, ma'am." A man with grey hair, a green scarf, and was wearing a odd pair of spectacles appeared from the door behind the care taker. "You would do well to follow that advice, young man." The lady turned around and said something to him.

"Oh, thank you for the praise, sir."

"Who are you?" Vanitas asked bluntly. The care taker turned to Vanitas with a somewhat disapproving look on his face.

"Vanitas," she said. "Don't be so rude. Say it nicely."

"Urgh."

"It's quite alright," the man said. "It is a reasonable question, one that I can easily answer." He cleared his throat with a cough. "Young man, my name is Ozpin. I am a huntsman as well as the Headmaster of the one of the most prestigious combat school, Beacon."

He thought that the introduction was a bit excessive, but whatever.

"Alright," Vanitas said quickly. "Why are you here?" The man smiled at his inquisitive question.

"I would tell you, young man, but I don't think the doorsteps will be a great place for holding such a conversation." The man who introduced himself as Ozpin turned to the care taker and asked her a question. "Ma'am, is there a place where the young man and I can talk in private?"

"Oh yes, there is," she said. "Both of you, come with me. I know the perfect place."

Yeah, I'm ending this chapter right here.

Man, that was a lot of words. First time I've hit 5K in one chapter. What a slog.

I got some commentary for this chapter, though, if you want to read it.

First off, those three questions asked by the doc were questions from KH1. It was also a way to show what Vanitas values.

Secondly, making up some stuff for the story was taxing as well. Stuff like the orphanage, UFC, and shit was somewhat difficult for me. Hopefully none of that shit broke immersion.

Thirdly, as you may have noticed, there are quite a few instance of foul language. In this story, I'll probably use it consistently for the not so upstanding characters like Vanitas. Hopefully, you, the readers, won't have too much of problem for this.

Now that is over, here's a question for this chapter: What do you guys think will happen at the very end of this story? I mean, it's a bit early for that, but-I would like to hear some predictions.

And for those who are wondering-no worries, this story will definitely be completed.

Thanks for reading Empty in Remnant. PEACE!