Empty In Remnant

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

Answers to questions will be at the bottom. If you don't want to see the answers to questions that may be bit of a spoiler (not big ones though) then ignore it and go straight to the A/N at the very bottom.

In this chapter, we'll be looking at Vanitas's life at Signal for the next year. However, only the parts needed. I don't want to make a full blown arc out of this part of the story. I have no idea how many words this chapter is going to have, but I'll bet there's going to be a lot.

Also, since I'm not going to address it within this chapter, Vanitas is now 14 at the start of this chapter. At the end of the chapter, he'll be close to 15, give or take a month or two. Feel free to imagine him with his normal voice at some point.

After this chapter, I'll be heading back to the 3-4k words per chapter format. Making stuff this big makes me rush some stuff more than usual. Like a lot. So uh expect some lack of details in some parts.

Oh yeah, since this is a chapter about Signal, you should expect some misinformation. And non specifics...Why the hell did I make a chapter about Signal? *Despairs*

Btw, rule of thumb: If it takes me about a month to release a chapter, expect a huge chapter like this one.

Chapter 6: A Year of Learning

After having obtain the use of Aura, Vanitas began using the power it provided him. It took a bit to get the most use out of it, but after a month of practice, he could definitely say with confidence that he knew how to channel it.

It was a simple case of focusing to direct the energy towards the area of the body that the user wanted to be augment. If he wanted to hit something really hard, he would direct the energy to his arms. If he wanted to run fast, he would direct the energy to legs. It was very simple.

However, other than augmenting his speed, he didn't have many opportunities to exercise this new found power. While he had at one point considered testing his strength against the other residents of the orphanage using the power of Aura, he decided against it. Not only would it be overkill, it would have likely led to a very quick trip to the local Juvenile Detention Center. If that happened, his chance to become stronger via becoming a Huntsman would be nil.

After all, who would want to take a chance on someone with a criminal record?

Thus, the only time he would be able to utilized Aura to its full extent would be at Signal and, later, Beacon. And so he waited. The time flew by and soon, it was the end of Summer and the beginning of Autumn.

And it was at this point where Vanitas took his first step into a brand new life.

Vanitas left the orphanage early in the morning, making sure to pack some supplies beforehand. The amount of supplies that he needed to take with him was so much that he almost resorted to getting an additional bag to hold them all before he finally managed to stuff all of it in. Barely. When he was done, the backpack looked as though it was ready to explode at any given moment. It wouldn't though, he'd already tested it.

Within his backpack contained various textbooks and other necessary school supplies, like pen, paper, pencil, and all that jazz, that was needed so that he can succeed in combat school. Since he was going to be living in a dormitory at Signal, he also packed mundane necessities such as clothes, toothbrush, and other things of that nature as well. It wouldn't do to look like a slob.

Initially, he was not going to bother with informing other people in the orphanage of his departure. However, as per his deal with Ozpin, which he grudgingly followed, he was obligated to inform the orphanage of his departure. He had left a note at the door of the man who owned the building with a message stating that he was going to Signal. After fulfilling that obligation, he quickly moved on.

As he walked from the residential district to the port at the other side to the city, he began to entertain the thoughts of how the other residents would react to his sudden departure. He wondered how the other residents would feel as a result of him leaving.

He sighed.

If he had to be honest, they would probably feel happy. Really happy. And why wouldn't they? He had spent close to a decade making every other people around his age as fearful of him as possible. He had spent every moment getting into as many fights as he could get away with with his fellow man and had spent almost just as much time on relentlessly mocking the faunus for their animal traits. The caretakers didn't like him either, seeing as he caused them no end of headaches and extra paperwork. Now that he's gone, they all wouldn't have to worry as much. In fact, they would probably hold a party in celebration of his being gone.

As Vanitas thought more and more about the inhabitants of the orphanage, he began to get more and more irritated.

'Well, forget them,' he thought dismissively. 'I don't need them. I got bigger things waiting for me.' It's not like he cared. And it's not he would have ever gotten along with the people inside the orphanage. They were all just so pathetic. In fact, chances are, he would never see any of them ever again. So there was no point thinking about it.

Dismissing his thoughts, Vanitas then continued onward to his destination.

A Girl Wearing Red

Vanitas arrived at his destination. Having passed the entrance to the harbor, he noticed that there was a lot of people just waiting around the area. Some were sitting down, others were standing around, but the one thing that they all did was wait. Many of them happened to be around his age as well. Chances are, these people that appeared to be loitering are also students of Signal, waiting for the passenger ship that would take them all to Patch, the island where Signal Academy resided.

Following the example of everyone else around him, he found an empty spot with hardly any people and sat down. He took out both his scroll and ticket. He looked at the time first and then his ticket. According to his scroll, it was about seven in the morning and according to his ticket, the passenger ship that is supposed to take him to Patch is scheduled to come by at seven thirty before leaving at eight.

'Great,' he thought sarcastically. 'Thirty minutes of waiting.'

He was not a very patient person, especially when he was bored. Despite the fact that he only had to sit down and wait only thirty minutes to board the ship, he found that he could not stand sitting down and doing absolutely nothing.

'Forget this.'

Vanitas got up, grabbed his bag, and began explore the area, intending to kill some time by doing so.

For twenty or so minutes, he wandered. As he did, he found that there really wasn't anything interesting going on. There were some people, some humans and others, Faunus. There really wasn't anything or person that caught his attention at the moment. Well...except for one person that was a few distance away from him.

This girl was around his age. She has brown hair and black eyes eyes. Her skin was somewhat tan unlike his own. She appeared to be somewhat taller than him. She was also wearing a cap.

To any average person, she would look like an everyday young, average, ordinary person with no animal traits whatsoever. And who could blame them? This particular person went out of her way to mask her own animal features.

But Vanitas wasn't an average person. Having spent most of his life living in an orphanage that took not only human orphans, but faunus orphans as well, he was well versed in the various methods the faunus used to cover up their appearance. As such, he could easily see through any disguise a faunus may put on. Or, at the very least, have a strong basis for suspicion. So, as far as he could tell, the girl had signs of being a faunus.

What gave it away? It was the cap.

Ordinary, just wearing a cap isn't suspicious all by itself. It was the fact that she kept touching and making adjustments to it, as though she was uncomfortable wearing it. That was what set off alarms. A faunus's ears are sensitive so it would stand to reason that, if she was indeed a faunus, that the cap she was wearing was making her hypothetical second pair of ears uncomfortable. However, it is possible that he was thinking too much about it. It could be that she was just a normal girl who was simply not used to wearing a cap.

Still, he wanted to know.

He took a moment to ponder if he should go and have a 'talk' with her. And by talk, he meant sneak up behind her before running by and quickly snatching the cap to confirm whether or not she was a faunus. He hadn't done something like that in a while considering that he had spent the past three months focusing entirely on training. He checked the time and saw that he had about ten or so minutes to go before the ship arrives.

'Hmm...ten minutes,' he spent a few quick moments deliberating before quickly coming up with an answer. 'Eh, I got enough time. Why the hell not?'

He needed the distraction.

Vanitas quietly sneaked behind the girl. It took him a few minutes to do it, but that was only so he could sneak in such a way that he would not look suspicious at all. Once he was in position, he quickly snatched the cap from the girl with his right hand, revealing a pair of short, round, furry ears.

After quickly confirming that she was a faunus, Vanitas bolted off like a puma, intending to disappear into the crowd. As he ran, he heard the girl screamed as she realized that her cap was stolen.

'Man, this feels good.' he thought. Feelings of elation welled up from within him.

However, before he could savor the moment even more, he heard a pair of footsteps coming at him from behind. He looked over his shoulder, fully expecting that faunus girl whose cap he just snatched to be chasing him. However, what he found was that girl whose ears he had just revealed was not the one chasing him. Instead it was a girl in red and black clothing with red hair so dark that it almost looked black that was the one who was chasing him. She also had silver eyes.

"Geeeeeet baaaaack heeeeeeere!" She shouted somewhat dramatically.

'Ho. Ly. Crap.' he thought in surprise.

Someone was actually standing up for that faunus girl. And what's more- She was actually catching up with him. No one he ever knew could have done that. Then again, everyone he knew so far was weak so it wasn't fair to compare this mystery girl to them. Quickly looking behind him once more, he saw that the girl was just behind him.

In response to the girl's approach, he turned on his Aura and began applying more pedal to the metal. He had recently figured out how to use it without outwardly manifesting it so no outline appeared. He channeled some of the energy to his legs, allowing him to run faster. He bobbed and weaved around the crowd, trying his utmost to shake off this mystery girl. After five or so minutes of this, he looked behind once more. What he saw surprised him for the second time this day.

"You're not getting awaaay!" The girl shouted.

The girl was still behind him. And though there was a decent amount of people between the two of them as a result of him suddenly turning on his aura, he could tell that the girl was slowly but surely catching up to him. He snapped his head back to the front.

'Is she using Aura?' he thought. To him, it was the only possible explanation that could explain how this girl was not only keeping up with him, but catching up to him as well. Either that or she was just naturally that fast.

As he continued running, an intense feeling came to him that caused his heart to flutter. It was a sensation he hadn't felt in a relatively long time. He felt more energetic. He felt a boost in energy that did not come from the Aura that currently providing him additional speed. As soon as it came, he recognized it. And as soon as he recognized it, he put a large smile on his face.

It was excitement.

"Ha ha ha!" He was enjoying this. He really was. Finally, something was challenging him and causing him to exert actual effort. The sensation was so exhilarating that he was actually laughing in joy as a result.

Seeing that the dark red headed girl could keep up with him, he decided to milk this for all it was worth. But before he could, he heard a very loud honking noise.

HONK! HONK!

It was the sound of very loud horn, signaling the arrival of the transportation ship meant to carry people from Vale to Patch.

'Aw,' he thought in disappointment. 'And it was just getting good too.'

Seeing as his fun was cut short by the arrival of the ship, he didn't see the point of hanging on to the cap of that faunus girl any longer. He tossed the cap behind him, intending to make his way to the ship. Taking a look behind him one last time, he saw that the girl stopped chasing him to grab the cap that he had just thrown away.

When he did, the girl stopped following him. Soon, he quickly disappeared into the crowd and made his way to the ship that would bring him to Patch.

A Sparring Match

A few days after that particular event, Vanitas was in Signal. Shortly after attending student orientation,

The first day was filled to the brim with various academics like math, language, and other such courses. The third day, in comparison, was decisively more exciting.

It was really easy to see why he was quite excited for sparring class. It was quite simple, really. He wanted to fight. He wanted to see if the other students were capable of putting up a good fight compared to the people who he had fought before. And not only that, he also wanted to see how strong he was in comparison to the other students. A sort of measuring stick for his growth so to speak.

There was an arena, a circular ring, in the middle of the room. Around the ring and slightly above it was a place where people, such as other students, could sit and spectate the people fighting in the ring below. The whole thing very much resembled a coliseum.

Yet despite his initial excitement, it soon turned to anxious anticipation as the teacher explained to the students that before they would be allowed to peruse the sparring arena, they must learn how the equipment that are used worked. Not only that, they must also learn the rules that they must abide by as well. He also said that because of this, they would only have time for a couple matches.

He really hoped he could participate in at least one of them.

The professor's a man with short black hair, black eyes, wearing black long sleeved shirt that was covered by his black jacket. He wore black pants. The man was tall and was developed somewhat muscularly. He had a somewhat light complexion.

Vanitas, along with other students, were sitting down while their teacher lectured them on how the equipment worked. Vanitas, already knowing how the equipment worked as a result of having done his homework, so to speak, before hand, did not listen. Instead he chose to scout out the competition. Looking at the others, he was mostly unimpressed.

Judging by their body language, a couple of students seem to be nervous, indicated by their constant fidgeting and other such actions. Why they were like that, he did not know, though he suspected that it was because they were green. Some were being inattentive, dozing off. Others were being attentive to the teacher, taking down notes on what the man was saying. A certain few, like him, held themselves with confidence and appeared eager to start sparring. It was possible these students had battle experience like him. If so, then these were the people he needed to fight.

After checking out the other students, Vanitas returned his attention to the man in charge of the class. He had finished speaking about the equipment in the room and what role each item had. Now he was explaining the rules.

"Alright, everyone. Listen up! What I am going to say next is important! Everyone paying attention?" The man looked around the room. After making sure he got the attention of everyone in the room, he continued. "Okay, here's how it's going to go down."

The man explained the rules of combat. He explained that there are only two ways to win. The first was to deplete the opponent's Aura until it was in the red zone as any attacks while it was in the red state would surely break the protection Aura would normally bring. The second was to have the most Aura remaining when the time was up. He also explained various safety rules. After explaining, the man quickly got on with it.

"Okay, students. Now that you all know the rules, we should have enough time for a couple of matches."

At this, many of the students, including Vanitas, were on the edge of their seats.

"Since we do not have as much time as I would have liked, we will only be able to do five matches. Today, the participants of these five matches will be determined by a lottery system." He brought up his scroll and began touching it. The projection behind him changed- showing flashes of each student's portrait for a brief moment before moving on to another one.

"Now before I start randomly pairing you guys and gals up, do any of you have any questions?" A couple of hands shot up, his included. Unfortunately, he didn't get picked.

"Are we going to be using weapons, professor?" a random student said.

"No, we will not," the man quickly responded. "At least not for now, anyway. As you progress through the year, you will eventually be able to craft your own weapons. When that time comes, only then will all of you first year students will be allowed to use weaponry in the arena. Until that time comes, however, you are to fight unarmed. Got it?"

A collections of nods can be seen and a collection of yes can be heard.

"Excellent. Any more questions?"

No one rose their hands.

"Okay," the professor said. "Now we can start."

The man pressed something on his scroll. On the projection screen, the switching between student portraits got slower and slower. Meanwhile, Vanitas crossed his fingers, hoping that he would get lucky and be able to participate in the first match. Soon, it eventually stopped.

It landed on both him and a girl named Ruby Rose.

"Vanitas. Miss Rose. Please come down to the arena."

Within the circular arena, Vanitas, Ruby, and the professor were standing by.

Vanitas faced his opponent, Ruby, and looked at her. The girl was wearing a look of nervousness on her face as if she was uncomfortable being in the spotlight, even if it was forced on to her randomly by the system.

A tinge of familiarity hit Vanitas from within. The girl looked familiar to him somehow, he thought, but he didn't know why. Why did it felt as though he had seen her before? He looked at her in the eye and saw that it was silver. It was then that a sense of recognition suddenly smacked Vanitas in the face.

'Ah.' he thought. 'It's that girl from the harbor.' It's no wonder why he recognized her. He had already encountered this girl before. He also noticed that she was slightly taller than him. Looking at her face, which had a surprised expression on it- gaping mouth and all, it seemed as though she recognized him as well. She let out a short gasp before speaking.

"I know you," She said. "You're that guy at the harbor!"

He responded in a nonchalant tone.

"Yeah, and?"

"How could you do something like that?" she said to him.

"Do what?" He knew full well what she was referring to. But he decided to play dumb and pretend he did not know what she was talking about.

"What?" She said in a stupendous tone. "You mean you don't even remember?!"

"Not a clue," he lied.

Before anything more could be said, the professor interrupted them.

"Alright, kids, settle down." The professor said. He turned to Ruby and spoke. "I don't know what your problem is with this young boy, miss Rose, but please, leave it at the door."

The professor scolded the girl, making her red in the face. This made Vanitas smiled somewhat deviously as a result.

After that, it was back to business.

"Now both of you, take out your scroll." He and Ruby both took out their electronic device. "Connect your scrolls to the system wirelessly and set it to monitor your Aura." Both of them did. When it was finished, both of their Aura was displayed on a projection for all to see. The Aura meter was displayed in percentage. At one hundred percent, it was displayed green. It would reach yellow upon reaching sixty percent and would turn red upon reaching thirty.

"Alright, you two." the man said. "I want a nice, clean fight. You two got that?"

The two nodded.

"Good! Now get into position."

The two moved to their positions. The two were both several feet away from each other.

Vanitas put out two arms in front of him, fist raised. Ruby did the same.

"You got ten minutes," the professor said. "Begin!"

At first nothing happened. For Vanitas, it was because he was waiting for the girl to make the first move so he could gauge her skill in combat. For Ruby, it might be because she was nervous. To confirm this, he looked at her. Her body was shaking slightly and her eyes had a slight uncertainty to them. To him, this indicated that his hypothesis might be true.

'Damn it,' he thought. 'Of all the people I had to face, it's someone that's as green as grass.' He had expected his first fight here to be someone with some modicum of skill or confidence. Instead it was with someone who was inexperienced with combat.

'Tch. I'll end this quick.' There was no point in dragging out a fight that had no challenge to it.

Thus, he made the first move.

The spiky black headed boy made a beeline straight for the girl and threw a quick punch with his left hand as a feint, making it look like he was aiming for her face. Knowing her speed, he half-expected the red headed girl to dodge to the side. However, instead of doing that, the girl merely put up her arms to protect her face and locked up her body in place. She even closed her eyes, as if waiting for the impact.

He quickly pulled his left hand back and threw a punch with his dominant hand instead. This time, he aimed it at her gut. The attack landed and Ruby was struck in the gut, knocking the wind out of her and causing her to quickly collapse onto the ground.

On the projection which displayed both his and the red headed girl's Aura, it showed Ruby's aura dropping by twenty percent.

'Man, that is just pathetic.' he thought. 'Twenty percent from just one little punch?' It really would be a mercy just to end it quickly.

He walked towards Ruby and crouched down to the ground. He talked to the girl lying face down.

"Hey, you," he said. "Do you wanna give up now?" he asked.

There was a slight mumble that sounded an awfully like a no. The girl shook her head, confirming that she was not finished yet.

"You sure?"

She put her head up, this time speaking clearly and looking at him in the eye.

"No, I won't give up." She said in a determined yet defiant tone.

"Hmph," he frowned. The girl had more spirit than he thought. "Fine then. Have it your way."

He backed off a few distance from Ruby, allowing her to get up. When she did, he made a beckoning motion towards her with his left hand, as if daring her to come at him. Soon enough, the girl made a dash straight towards him. She moved fast, quickly closing the distance between the two of them in a few seconds. He had expected this, however, and immediately lowered his body. He made a counterclockwise sweeping motion with his right leg, knocking the sliver eyed girl down to the ground once again, this time on her back.

The golden eyed boy then followed up with a quick stomp with his right leg, aiming at her chest. Ruby quickly rolled out of the way, however, and causing Vanitas to succeed in only hitting the floor with his foot, giving the girl enough time to get up from the floor. The girl made another dash for him, only this time she jumped and extended her right leg at him while closing up her left, performing a flying kick in the process.

Vanitas rolled underneath the attack, dodging the attack entirely. Ruby landed on the ground. But having miss in her attempt to hit Vanitas with a flying kick, she stumbled on the landing. He quickly decided to take advantage of this moment of extreme vulnerability by performing a flying kick of his own. Using Aura to boost his speed, he ran. Then, he jumped, doing the same thing that the silver eyed girl had just done but better.

Ruby, having just recovered, turned to look at Vanitas.

BAM

And received a boot to the face for her trouble.

She was sent flying straight through the air. Eventually, she hit the ground, landing on her back. Having stars in her eyes, the girl was hardly conscious. Out of pain, she made moaning sounds.

"Ugggh..."

Seeing as the girl was down, he took a quick peek at the projector. For the girl, her Aura gauge was in the red zone at ten percent. For his, it was in the green zone at ninety five percent, which was strange considering he hadn't been hit at all during the fight.

BREEEEEEEEET

A very annoying whistle sound throughout the air causing Vanitas to lose his train of thought. He turned and saw that the person who was blowing the whistle was none other than the professor. The professor then stopped, helped Ruby up from the ground, and announced the winner.

"And we have a winner!" The professor said. "Everyone give a round of applause to Vanitas!"

CLAP CLAP CLAP

"And of course, let's not forget about Miss Ruby Rose as well! Give her a round of applause as well ladies and gentlemen!"

CLAP CLAP CLAP

"Just before I let the two of go, tell me, do you two have anything to say to each other?"

"Ugggh..." was Ruby's nonsensical reply.

"Interesting. What about you, Vanitas? What do you have to say to her?"

Vanitas turned to Ruby.

"You suck at fighting," he said bluntly.

A sad whining sound can be heard emanating from Ruby.

"Well..." the professor said. "That's kinda mean, don't you think?"

"Hmph. Whatever. Can I go again?"

"No, you can't go again. You just had a turn. Let someone else participate."

Exasperated, Vanitas left the arena and returned to seats situated above the arena.

Soon, class ended. In the months that followed, he continued to participate in class, easily winning against the other first year students. He was hardly challenged. And even though he had opponents who surprised him slightly from time to time, he had quickly adapted, putting his first year peers into the ground.

A Conversation

For the next few months, Vanitas focused all of his time into his training and studies. Outside of sparring in sparring class as well as group projects in and out of the classroom, Vanitas rarely interacted with the other students. Instead he preferred spending his time finishing off all of the assigned homework quickly and then using the rest of the time to train both mind and body.

This has not gone unnoticed by his teachers.

They spent time discussing about the black haired boy. Test scores, sparring results, Aura manipulation, anything really. And after talking about all of this came to this conclusion: that the boy's skill level is far above his first year peers.

Together, Vanitas's teachers had a quick chat with the headmaster of Signal Academy. They convinced him to consider bumping the boy up to Signal's second year course or perhaps even the third year course.

Vanitas was in an office. The headmaster's office to be precise. Surprisingly, for the first time in what seem to be forever, it wasn't because of his less than desirable behavior. This time, it was regarding his place in Signal Academy, whatever that meant.

He was sitting across from the principal, a older man with a beard and a distinctive baldness. He spoke.

"Vanitas, correct?"

The boy nodded.

"Do you know why I have called you here?"

"Something about my place in Signal Academy?"

"Very close, but no cigar. Vanitas, I have called you here because of your performance."

"Uh huh."

"It has come to my attention that you are outperforming your fellow classmates."

"Which class? Academics? Practicals courses? Sparring class?"

"All of them."

"Wow.

"Yes. Wow, indeed. Since you're outperforming your fellow peers by such a wide margin and subsequently making them all look bad in comparison, I've decided to give you a choice, Vanitas."

"What choice is that?"

"I would have already begun explaining it to you had you not just interrupted me, young man." He cleared his throat with a cough. "Tell me, Vanitas. What would you prefer? To be moved up to a higher level course and potentially no longer be the leading student? Or would you prefer to stay on the normal path and remain at the top?"

"I would prefer the former, actually."

"Really? Tell me why."

"Simple. Being at the top constantly is boring. Reaching towards the top with other people vying for it is much more exciting. After all, what's life without a little conflict? So, if you're offering me a quicker way up, I would like it if you tell me what I would have to do."

"Hmph. I like your answer, young man. Very well, here is what you have to do. In a couple of months, during the weekends, you will be given two tests. One is the written examination. I am quite sure that you can pass it easily enough. The second test is a little bit harder."

"Is the second exam about fighting?"

"Yes, young man. It is about fighting. In the second exam, you will be fighting against one of the many professors in this academy. The professor will, of course, be holding back. And in case you're wondering, you needn't worry about winning or losing as the purpose of the fight is to gauge whether or not you're capable enough to handle higher level of combat."

"Oh, believe me. I'm ready."

"That has yet to be seen. Now stop interrupting me, young man. I was about to explain one last detail. Before you can take the combat test, you will need to create a weapon of your own as the test requires it. Got it?

"Got it."

"Good."

A Weapon

Halfway through the year, Vanitas finally had an opportunity to craft his own weapon. The teacher of the weapons class had just assigned all of his students to create a weapon of their very own.

Initially excited, he quickly went through many designs of his very own. However, he then quickly found that none of the designs he had created satisfied him.

A sword, a large hammer, greaves, gloves, guns, none of these type of weapon was satisfactory to him. Sure, he could just create a weapon, use it, and probably achieve some great results despite there being a lack of a...click for lack of a better term. But if he wasn't happy with it, then what would be the point of using it?

There would've been none.

However, as luck would have it, an inspiration came to him in a dream. He dreamed of a weapon with a black and red color scheme with varying shades of grey along the middle of the weapon with gear cogs decorating the weapon at various points.

The handle of the hilt is red, along with the guard which resembled a red and black cog. At the very bottom of the weapon is a key chain. It was made up of multiple miniature cogs ending with two half cogs connected to each other to resemble an S. The cross guard of the weapon is grey, adorned with a demonic blue eye. After that was the shaft. It too was grey, though straight in the middle of shaft was another cog. And along the shaft were two chains at the bottom and top of the shaft arranged in such a way that it was shaped like an X. At the very top of the shaft was another demonic blue eye. The weapon ends with another slightly bigger gear at the top of the weapon.

The weapon had an overall shape of a sword. Strangely enough, the whole thing reminded him of a key and a blade, what with the key chain at the bottom and all. If he had to put a term to it, he would call the weapon a 'Keyblade'.

Soon after, he woke up and put the design of the weapon on paper lest he forget it. After school, he gathered all the materials he thought he would need to craft the weapon at the very next weekend. After hours and hours of meticulous working and planning during the week, the weekend finally came. He made his way to the school's forge and began crafting his weapon. He spent a long time in there, making sure

And soon after that, he forged the weapon, dubbing it 'Void Gear.'

Unlike the weapon in his dream, this weapon had slight changes made to it. For one, there was no key chain attached to it. On the handle, there was a trigger. There were no demonic blue eyes on the weapon either. The top of the weapon, though still maintaining its gear-like appearance was changed to become a container that accepted dust. That way, if he ever needed to use dust in tandem with his normal attacks, he could simply just press the trigger on the handle, flip his weapon horizontally, and swing. It was interchangeable too, so if it ever broke, he could simply just replace it. Other than that, the weapon otherwise perfectly resembled the one in his dream.

Vanitas now had a weapon that he would be proud to bring to the test.

A Test

Months after that conversation had taken place, weeks ever since he had crafted his weapon, on the very last day of the two day break allotted by the weekend, Vanitas had made his way to the academy's sparring arena where his sparring class typically frequent. The day prior, he had gone to the school's testing center where he took the school's placement test electronically. He felt as though he had done rather well as he had finished quickly with little to no difficulty.

CLANG

Now, he was thirty minutes into combat with Professor Branwen, one of his teacher, in the school's combat arena. He has gray spiky hair, with a red tattered cloak. He wears a gray dress shirt, black dress pants, and black dress shoes. His weapon, almost as tall as the man himself, is a large metallic blade that the man had no trouble holding with one hand.

Given the nature of weapons made in this day and age, it probably has an alternate form as well. He just hadn't seen it yet.

Vanitas swung at the man with as much force as he thought was needed at the man, aiming to strike him in the chest. The man brought his weapon up in a defensive position. When he was just about to make contact with the large weapon, the man shifted his weapon to his left, bringing Vanitas's weapon to his right as well. The result was that Vanitas was now off-balanced. The man decided to take advantage of this and swung his weapon downward forcefully at Vanitas.

However, Vanitas saw this move coming. Instead of attempting to regain his center and meet the professor head on in a dead lock, he instinctively cartwheeled to the right, avoiding the downward swing. He swung his weapon again at the man, determined to land a hit. The man, however, blocked his attack. Professor Branwen shifted his weapon upward, causing Vanitas center to be shifted upwards. Instead of going in for a swing with his blade, the older man decided to follow up with a slightly faster attack. He took a quick step forward, lifted up his other leg and shot it outward like a bullet. The attack landed, striking Vanitas in the chest. Vanitas was sent flying backwards across the arena.

Mid-air, Vanitas managed to recover and land on his feet.

"You're doing good, kid!" The man yelled from across the arena. "Most students would have probably been taken down by now!"

Vanitas didn't respond to this encouragement. He was too busy planning how to best this man in combat.

'Perhaps I should...No that would never work. Perhaps if I...no, that wouldn't work either.' The man across the field was good. Really good. One of the best, the man had said. He's so good, in fact, that he hadn't managed to land a single hit yet. He kept trying to come up with ways to get an edge over the professor, but the man was able to repel him each and every time. Not only that, the man was able to land hits on hand from time to time.

To say that he was impressed would be an understatement. Though the man claimed that he was holding back, if this is the level of skill and power that a huntsman possess, then he really couldn't wait until he got to Beacon Academy.

Quickly deciding that planning wasn't going to get him anywhere, Vanitas decided to throw caution to the wind and go all out. He poured his Aura into his weapon and swung it at the man's general direction. The black Aura released itself from the blade, flying directly at Professor Branwen. Just after throwing it at the man, Vanitas dashed towards him.

Professor Branwen guarded himself against the Aura wave just as he hoped for. The energy wave made impact against the large greatsword, creating a sort of smoke or mist that would likely impair the man's view of him. Vanitas jumped into the air, bringing his weapon in the air with two hands while flipping it horizontally. He pressed the trigger near the top of the handle, prepping the blue dust inside the teeth of his weapon.

He slammed his weapon downward, creating a large pillar of ice. It was large enough to have encased his teacher up to his waist...had it actually managed to hit him.

Vanitas looked up and saw that the man was not currently encased in the large pillar of ice. Nudging himself a little to the side from his current position, he saw that the man was quite a few steps away from him. He probably back stepped, avoiding the attack entirely as a result.

"Pretty nice, kid. You used your Aura to launch a ranged attack. Then while I was preoccupied guarding against it, you came in for the kill." He pointed to the large ice pillar. He made a whistling sound, as if impressed. "Look at the size of that thing. If that had hit, I would've been out for sure! Still...did you think of what would have happened if you hadn't hit me?" He said, referencing Vanitas's current precarious situation.

"...Yeah." Vanitas began lifting his weapon, the top of which was currently encased in heavy ice, using Aura to boost his strength. "Arrgh!" He let out a grunt. Soon, the weapon was freed from the ground, though not without consequence.

The ice pillar was still stuck onto the weapon. In a way, it made his entire weapon resembled a war hammer, with the ice pillar effectively acting as its head. The bottom of the pillar was the blunt side and the top acted like an very long pick. It was extremely heavy too.

It was okay, though, as he was planning on it.

"Wow." The professor said.

Vanitas rushed at the man once more, bringing his weapon in for a downward swing. Professor Branwen put up his guard again. The two weapons met once again, causing the ice to fracture. The man attempted to throw Vanitas's off-balanced once again, but due to the combined weight of both his own weapon and Vanitas's icy make shift hammer, he could not do this. Noticing this, Vanitas quickly relented and pulled back his weapon and, with a quick pirouette, swung it at the man's stomach.

The man quickly adjusted his sword to block the attack. The make shift hammer met the blade, the sheer force of it pushed Professor Branwen back a good distance away from Vanitas. He continued to press the offensive towards Branwen, flipping his weapon horizontally once again to make use of the rest of the ice pillar. He jumped into the air once more and swung it downward at the man. The man, however, countered it.

Somehow, he managed to slid himself close to Vanitas, avoiding the large ice pillar that was currently being used as a pick, and took hold of the black haired boy's weapon with his free hand.

"Your offense is pretty good...for a student." The man complimented him. "But just how good is your defense?"

The man slid his weapon to the top of Vanitas's weapon, where the base of the ice pillar is, and flipped the switch on his own weapon, causing his large metallic blade to turn into a large scythe. The transformation caused the ice pillar to sliced clean off, making Vanitas's eyes widened.

'Crap,' Vanitas thought. He pulled and tugged on his weapon, trying hard to get it free from the man holding it in his hand. However, the huntsman turned teacher was much stronger, utilizing both natural strength and Aura to maintain his hold, preventing Vanitas from freeing

The man then let go of Vanitas's weapon, but not before delivering a powerful kick at the boy's chest. Once again, the boy was thrown backwards. And once again, the boy managed to recover in mid air and land on his feet.

After recovering, the golden eyed boy looked up. He saw the professor coming at him with an insanely huge scythe. Immediately, he knew he had to go on the defensive. The man swung at him repeatedly, performing twirls, slashes, and any other things that can be done with a scythe. Instead of attempting to parry these with his weapon, he focused entirely on dodging the quick attacks. He continuously moved backwards, performing a cartwheel to the side each time he got to close to the wall.

He continued to do this until he began feeling a slight numbing sensation in his body and a brief lapse in consciousness. He noticed that he was starting to breathe heavily and that there was a distinct lack of energy in him. Not Aura energy, just energy in general.

'Urgh...' In this state of exhaustion, there was a lack of judgement. Due to this lack of judgement, he made a mistake of throwing out an attack when he shouldn't. And due to his tiredness, this attack, a quick horizontal slash to the right, came out slow and without proper grip. This extremely pathetic attack was easily repelled by Professor Branwen, who swung his own weapon at it, instantly disarming Vanitas in a flash.

Vanitas blinked.

'What just happened?' he thought. He couldn't think of anything more as a large intimidating scythe stopped short of his neck. He looked up at the man wielding the scythe-sword.

Professor Branwen spoke.

"The match is over, Vanitas." He removed his scythe from Vanitas's neck area, transformed it into its inactive state, and placed on his back in one smooth motion. As he did, Vanitas let out a breathe that he didn't know that he was holding.

Afterwards, Vanitas took a quick moment to catch his breath. After doing so, he asked the professor a question.

"What's...the result?" he asked.

"Well, Vanitas," Professor Branwen began to explain. "You've managed to press a good offensive against me. You've did a good enough job defending yourself against my attacks. Not only that, you have great stamina as well seeing as we've been fighting more at least more than thirty minutes. I mean, sure, I've been holding back, but you did well. All in all, I say you definitively deserved to be at least the third year course, if not in Beacon Academy, already."

"So...I pass?"

"Yes, Vanitas. You passed. Congratulations!"

A Man in a Black Coat

Close to the end of the school year, during the weekend, Vanitas was currently at the Dust til Dawn store.

Why?

He needed to stockpile dust while he still can. There have been talks around the school that some people in Vale have been hitting up Dust stores. Rather successfully too, seeing as the price of Dust have been steadily increasing ever since he got the memo.

It used to be that he could get a couple pound of dust for only fifty Lien. Now he would be lucky if he could get a single pound of that same amount.

After making his way to the store at night fall and purchasing a rather substantial amount of dust, which was contained in two large vial containers which were also contained in a plastic bag, he exited the building.

He held the bag containing the vials in his left hand while holding the case containing his weapon in his right hand.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a tall person in a black coat snatched his supply of blue dust right from him and ran off. It happened so suddenly that Vanitas was left stunned for a moment or two before he regained his bearings.

No longer stunned, Vanitas felt enraged at having been robbed. Enraged by this act of theft, he began chasing after the thief.

The chase went on and on.

After a while, he finally chased the thief into a corner. Or rather, a tall empty warehouse. Taking out his weapon from its case and abandoning it outside, he proceeded inside the building ready to lay down some hurt to the person that slighted him.

Inside the dark warehouse, Vanitas made a quick inspection. He noted that inside the building, there was hardly anything in it. The only thing worth noting was how dank the place was and the vials of dust he had purchased laying on the floor in the center of the building. With the fact that the thief that had stolen his dust was nowhere to be seen noted, he looked around in suspicion.

He looked left. He saw nothing of note. Then, he looked right. Still nothing. Hell, he looked behind him as well and there was still nothing.

Vanitas looked at the vials located at the center. He was obviously being set up for a trap. Regardless, he needed that vial. He couldn't just go back and buy some more vials. The stuff was expensive!

No, He wasn't going to give up now. No matter what happens, he will not admit defeat to something such as this.

He approached the vial cautiously. When he got close enough to interact with the vials, he heard a sound of a round being discharged above him.

Reacting quickly, he dodged out of the way, rolling to the side while simultaneously grabbing and placing the vials in his pouch. The round, which had a red coloration and shaped like a diamond, hit the ground where Vanitas was just standing. After a second, it dissipated.

After getting up to his feet, he immediately got into battle position. He looked above, scanning for the person that had just fired at him. However he could find no one hiding above him.

'Strange,' he thought. 'Where is he?'

He was sure that the sound originated from above.

"Oh, what's the matter, kiddo? Looking for someone?" A masculine voice that sounded both laid back yet cocky came from behind him. Vanitas turned around to face the man that had stolen from him, who was approximately a few distances away from him.

"You!" he shouted. He shifted out of his stance to point his weapon at the strange man.

"Me." The man responded sarcastically while pointing his thumbs at himself.

"You shouldn't have stolen from me," He went straight into making threats at the man. In an attempt to make himself sound more threatening, he lower his voice. "Cause now, I'm gonna beat you down." He said as he glared aggressively at the man, hoping to intimidate him.

"Oooh...scary." The man said, still maintaining his sarcastic manner. The man was not intimidated. Undeterred, the boy continued.

"But before I do that...tell me...what the hell do you want from me?!"

It was a good question, seeing as the man not only took the time to not only steal from him, but also led him to an abandoned warehouse where he was had to walk into a trap in order to bring him out. There was a motive here and he wanted to know what it was.

The man suddenly burst out laughing, slightly confusing Vanitas.

"Ha ha ha ha ha ha!" After a while, the stopped. Looking at him, the man spoke. "Man, for someone who looks just like him, you sure don't act nice at all. You remind me more of someone else, though, what with that angry look and all."

"Huh?" The boy was even more confused. As a result, he resumed glaring intensely. "What are you talking about?!" He shouted.

"Ha ha ha ha!" The man burst out laughing again. "There it is again!"

'This guy isn't making sense,' he thought.

"Heh," the man stopped laughing. "Tell you what, kiddo," he put both his hands up and two strange looking weapons suddenly materialized in the man's hands. In response, Vanitas got into battle position once more. "If you really wanna know why I got your attention..."

Vanitas held his weapon at the ready.

"You're gonna have to fight me for it."

The battle had begun. But the fight did not go off instantly. Instead, the two combatants were staring at each other, analyzing each other, gauging each other, and other such terms. When one of them would make a major move, the battle would begin.

The boy looked at the weapons that the man in the black coat was holding in both hands. As far as he could tell, the two weapons appeared to be a some sort of gun. What type, he couldn't really say. None of the models that he knew of matched the look of the guns that were currently in service.

What he could say about the weapons was that the two guns certainly held a resemblance to crossbows and that the things that was shaped like a diamond underneath the guns were likely the amount of rounds he currently has. He has about six shots in each gun, meaning he had twelve shots in total.

After looking over his opponent, Vanitas began his attack. Using the power of Aura, he boosted his speed. Using his enhanced speed, he darted across the warehouse and slashed at the man in front of him.

The man in front of him suddenly disappeared, as if he had warped out of existence. Vanitas missed, hitting nothing but the air in front of him and ended up fumbling as a result.

'What?!'

He heard four shots being fired from behind him. He turned but he was unable to put up his guard fast enough. As a result, there was nothing he could do but rely on his Aura to take the hits for him. The four rounds hit Vanitas. The Aura took the hit, preventing the rounds from embedding themselves into his body. The rounds landed on the ground and, after a few seconds, dissipated.

"Argh!" Vanitas let out a quick cry of pain. Despite the Aura deflecting the rounds, it could not absorb all of the force that the round exerted when they impacted his body. As a result, some damage leaked through. Quickly recovering, Vanitas put his weapon up in front of him, placing himself in a defensive stance.

This time he would have wait for the mysterious man to make the first move.

The mysterious man fired his two weapons again, shooting a two round bursts from both of his guns.

Vanitas dodged out of the way, quickly rolling towards the man and getting back up just as quickly. He slashed at the man in the black coat only to get the same thing that happened last time happen to him.

The man vanished, making Vanitas hit the air again.

'Again?' he thought in frustration. 'Is teleporting this man's semblance or something?!' Vanitas let out a growl.

"Oh, what's the matter, kiddo?" He turned to find the man talking smack to him in a mocking tone. "Can't land a hit?" He said as he aimed his weapons once more.

Knowing what was likely going to happen next, Vanitas rolled out of the way just as the last four shots rang out, avoiding the shots.

All shots have been fired from the man's weapons. The man began to reload. Now was his chance to land a hit! Once again, Vanitas quickly poured his Aura into his weapon raised and swung it at the man's general direction. The black Aura released itself from his weapon, taking the shape of a crescent wave, and flew at the mysterious man in black that was currently reloading. It got closer and closer until suddenly-!

Nothing. The man teleported once more, a few steps away from the spot where he just was rather than teleporting behind him. Vanitas spat out a silent curse upon seeing this.

"Not gonna work, kiddo," the man said in a irritatingly playful tone. "If you wanna hit me, you gotta try something else."

'Tch!' This was getting really annoying. Ever since the battle started, every time he would try to make a move, the man would just teleport out of the way, avoiding his attack entirely. And he could tell that playing it defensively would do no good. Even if he were to play it defensively, there would be no change in the flow of battle. All it would do is prolong it. And the longer the battle becomes, the more likely he will be hit again. If he was anyone else, there would probably be no chance for him to win.

But he wasn't just anyone else. In terms of talent, skill, power, combat in general, so far he's been number one. He would not lose, not like this. There was only one thing he could do. There was only one thing left to try.

Bullet deflection.

To the average person, this was an impossible task. For Hunters, this was standard. For Vanitas, who had spent all his time at school honing his skills though sparring and combat simulations, it was certainly possible for him as well. However, this usually was not a good idea. Hitting bullets while they are in mid flight is horrendously dangerous. The smallest error can easily result in getting hit and, in the worse case, even death.

But if he was to get an edge on this battle, if he wanted to win, it appears as though he would have to hit the bullets right back at the person who shot it. It would require strength, speed, and an fast reaction time. He would also have to use Aura to enhance his reflexes to the point where he could reliably deflect the projectiles right back at the man shooting at him. It would drain him to be sure as doing that would take a lot of Aura. However, if he wanted to win, he would have to do it.

Vanitas stood in place in a defensive position and watched the mysterious figure. His weapon was raised, ready to strike once the time was right. He waited for the man to take the shot. The distinctive sounds of four shots being fired was heard.

He instantly charged himself with Aura and reacted to the attack. He moved to the right so that he would not get hit if he failed while simultaneously swinging his weapon horizontally left to right at the projectiles. He smacked the rounds, sending them flying at the man.

"What?!" The man shouted in surprise. In his moment of surprise, he had unwittingly allowed the deflected bullet to hit him.

"Urgh!" The bullets hit the man, causing him to drop his weapons and go down on his knees. Seeing that he finally had a concrete opening, Vanitas dashed at the man, his weapon raised to attack. He hit the man in the black coat with a quick thrust attack first, following it up with a strong overhead swing downward, and then ending it with a vertical upward slash, performing a back flip in the process.

After the last hit, the man was thrown across the building. He crashed, hitting the wall with his back before landing on the ground with his knees. After that, he quickly got up to his feet and re-materialized his weapons.

"Ha ha ha. Man, you're good!" The man said. "You actually managed to hit me. You know how hard it is for me to get hit?" Despite taking a full combo from the boy, the man acted as though he was unharmed. He let loose a small chuckle. "Ha ha ha, I gotta say, kid. You're pretty good. I know I'm not acting like it, but it actually did hurt. Looks like you're more than just target practice."

"Is that..." Vanitas took a quick breath. "Is that supposed to be a compliment?!" Vanitas, not particularly liking the man's quip, quickly responded in a hostile manner. He was breathing with slightly more effort than usual. The act of using Aura to enhance his body's ability to deflect the projectiles clearly had taken its toll on him.

"As if," he said. The man in the black coat dismissed his weapons, causing them to disappear from his hands.

'What?' Vanitas thought in surprise. 'What is he doing?'

"Hah. I'd like to play with you a little bit more, kiddo, I really would. But I got no more time to spare. After all," a dark portal appeared from behind him. "I got places to be and plans to enact. But don't worry kiddo, I'll be back. Might not be tomorrow. Might not be next month. Hell, maybe not even next year."

The man began moving backwards into the portal.

"But know this, kiddo- The Organization's got its eyes on you now."

The man was at the very edge of it now. Before he stepped into the portal, he gave a wave and one last statement.

"Be a good boy now!" The man stepped into the portal.

Not wanting to let him get away, Vanitas ran towards the man to try to land one last hit on the man. However, though he was not too tired, he was tired enough to not have instantly closed the gap like he had did before at the beginning of the fight. By the time he had reached his destination and swung, the man had disappeared into the darkness, leaving behind nothing that would indicate that the man, himself, was there in the first place.

The black haired boy was shaking. Not in relief, not in happiness, not in any positive emotions. Looking at the spot the man once was, he threw his weapon at the ground in anger.

"Argh! Damn it!" he shouted. "He got away!" He let loose an angry scream, letting out all his anger. "Aaaaaaaaaaaaah!" After a while of doing this, he stopped.

Vanitas, standing silently alone in an empty warehouse after throwing his fit, felt hardly anything now. Deep within him, he could only feel a sense of disappointment and, not surprisingly, confusion.

He had questions. Lots of them.

For instance- what was that shadowy thing that the man in the black coat used to get out of here? Why did he take an interest in him? What was he going on about when he start blabbing about how he looked like someone else? And most importantly, what exactly is the Organization?

He was embroiled into something big. He could feel it in his guts. Now...he has to know.

An Invitation

After meeting and fighting the man in the black coat, Vanitas had spent a week or so in his spare time looking for him.

He had looked in the South East district of the city, where he fought the man, but had no luck finding him. He had done some asking around in the criminal underworld about a group called 'The Organization' and people dressed in black coats. On both counts, there was little to no information

And so, with a heavy heart, Vanitas was forced to let the issue go. At least for now. If any new information were to come up regarding both topics, he would re-pursue it. Until then, he had to focus on what remained of the school year and on getting stronger as well.

For the rest of year, the golden eyed boy trained. Eventually, one day, he received a sudden e-mail from Ozpin. Curious as to how the man had gotten a hold of his email account and the contents in the message, he opened it.

Hello, Vanitas. This is Professor Ozpin from Beacon Academy. I'd bet you're wondering how I got your email, correct?

'Correct.' he thought.

I would answer, but for reasons I cannot explain, I cannot divulge that information. So let's just say that I have my ways.

'Of course.' Vanitas rolled his eyes.

I've been hearing many things about you, young man, from many of my associates within Signal Academy.

'Oh, really?' This caught Vanitas's eye and he began paying the message his undivided attention.

Many of them are good, yet there are some things that are of some concern. Such as your lack of friends.

'...'

But that is not why I have contacted you. I'll keep this brief. You see, I've been told that you are skipping straight to the third year course in Signal Academy. I've also been told that you've put up quite a fight against Professor Branwen as well. Regardless of the fact that the man held himself back, it is still an impressive feat for a student to be able to fight him as well as you did. Because of these two reasons, I have decided to give you an offer.

'An offer?' he thought. 'What kind of offer?'

Young man, I would like to extend an early invitation to Beacon Academy to you.

'What?' Vanitas's eyes widened. 'Really?'

As Headmaster of Beacon Academy, it is well within my power to let you attend my academy at a younger age. If you accept, you will become the youngest huntsman in training in the history of Beacon Academy.

I graciously await your reply.

The message ends there.

Vanitas was pleasantly surprised to say the least. At this point, it was a no brainer on what he would do next. He quickly typed up a message on his scroll and sent it to Ozpin.

If you want to skip the answer segment to prevent any small spoilers, scroll down to the bottom.

LightJak: If I happened to create a original team just for Vanitas, they probably won't be reminiscent of both Riku and Kairi in either looks or personality. The whole Sora/Riku/Kairi dynamic wouldn't work with Vanitas. Well, the Vanitas in this story, at least. Can't say anything else beyond that.

Ashbel: Considering Vanitas's personality, his relationship with the cast of RWBY will certainly start out bad. The only exception to this is Ozpin since he was the one that introduced the world of Huntsman and Huntresses to him and even then it's not an amicable relationship. Vanitas may or may not join one of teams from the show or a original team. Can't say anything more than that.

The Baz: Not sure if the question is rhetorical or not. Still gonna answer. First off, I don't mean relationship or pairing in the romantic sense of the world. I just meant relationship as in friendship. With that said, it would take a person willing to overlook all the flaws that Vanitas has to even have a chance of forging such a bond with him. That would be a miracle in and out of itself.

Antex: In the order asked, 1) It's not that Vanitas disrespect the Faunus. It's just that the Faunus tend to be easier targets for him though I can say with certainty that if Vanitas ever meets Blake and finds out what she is, shenanigans will likely happen. 2) First part has been addressed above. As for the part concerning the possibility of Vanitas joining team RWBY, can't say. 3) Can't say, but I can say this. Change is brought about as a result of constant interactions with other people.

DPSS: The Unversed are a product of Vanitas's unstable emotions. In Kingdom Hearts, emotions come from the heart. In RWBY, semblances are a more specialized projection of Aura, which comes from the soul. As such, Vanitas's semblance will not be the Unversed. As for his semblance, can't say. If all you're worried about is Vanitas not summoning Unversed every time he gets angry or sad like he should be, don't worry. There is a reason why they haven't shown up yet but they will certainly be making an appearance. Just...not now. Or soon. Or even later. You're just gonna have to wait and see.

Raximus: He'll definitely bring out the Keyblade at some point. Later on, yes. Now? No. And when he does summon it, it'll be Void Gear. Anything else would just be weird.

Puzzle: From the two shows? No. Having characters from RvB appear would likely break the magic that is KH. As for the other show you mentioned, I don't know what that is.

A/N: First, commentary and then some news.

Commentary: First off, for this chapter, I decided on a little show and not tell regarding Vanitas's penchant for harming others. I wanted to show Vanitas choosing to hurt someone in a playful, if definitely cruel, manner.

Initially, I wanted a scene where Ruby and Vanitas would meet inside the ship heading to patch and have them not like each other from the get go. I didn't do this cause it just didn't feel right. So I got rid of it.

Vanitas fought Ruby in a battle, if you could call it that. I remembered Ruby saying she was completely hopeless in combat before Qrow trained her, so I made her really bad in her sparring match against Vanitas as a result.

After that, all the other scenes in school are to show Vanitas's skill in battle. Whether it be close combat, ranged, or even in a verbal smack down, he's got the skills to pay the bills.

I really god damn hoped I did Qrow some god damn justice. Especially considering I don't know his personality or fighting style at all.

Vanitas meets a man in a black coat that dual wields a pair of exotic looking guns. We all know who this guy is, hopefully. Right? It was a bit hard writing this battle. Ranged vs melee is usually not fun to write. I also felt that I could have written more...interesting things for it. Ah well, what's done is done. Place your bets on why he's in Remnant and when he will appear again. I dare you.

Since Vanitas went from a Year 1 course to a Year 3 course within a single year, one can expect Ozpin to take notice of this. As such, Ozpin, impressed by Vanitas's diligent efforts and skills, allowed Vanitas to join Beacon early. Hurray! Of course, that was just an excuse I needed to put Vanitas in Beacon at age 15.

News: Oh man, oh man. I got some good news and uh...other news, I guess. Or it could all be good news. It really depends on your perspective.

Good news is that we are out of the prologue phase of the story. This means we are now going to be seeing a lot more interactions between Vanitas and the other cast. Huzzah!

Other news is that what I am going to try to do is not force Vanitas into the plot of RWBY. What I mean is that I want Vanitas to have his own role in this. I don't want him to feel as though he's just tagging along for the ride so to speak. He'll have his own story in this world. What this means is that you all should expect some original stuff to happen in lieu of repeats of scenes from the show. I'm pretty sure everyone knows what happened within the show already.

So yeah. There's that.

Also slight spoiler- next chapter won't be the continuation of the story. That's next month. The next one, which should come fairly early, is more for elaboration of one of the plot points of this story as well as setting up a plot point farther down the line.

Thanks for reading Empty in Remnant. If you liked the story, please fav, follow, or review.

PEACE OUT!