Empty In Remnant

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

Boop.

Alrighty, here's the first chapter of the Volume 1 segment of RWBY.

I have no idea how much things are worth in RWBY. Like, how much Lien would it take to buy a single cup of insta-noodle? Knowing would so...helpful in some cases. Eh, I'll just have to assume. So for now, until I get an accurate grasps of it, I'll just assume that one Lien is the equivalent of one U.S dollar.

More commentary at the very end.

Chapter 8: Welcome to Beacon Academy.

Vanitas was in the Dust til Dawn store. Currently, he was attempting to buy some more dust for his weapon. It had been months since he had last purchased dust and his supplies were starting to run low. Though the price in Lien of Dust in town lately has been increasing steadily due to the increase in Dust theft, his left over money from the UFC had always enabled him to gain more dust. However, due to more ludicrous prices on Dust that were getting even more higher as time passes by, his wallet is quickly becoming an empty well...so to speak.

Because of that, he was forced to haggle. It...wasn't going well at all.

"Hey old man!" Vanitas shouted. "How come you're charging so much for Dust?!"

"Haven't you heard the news, boy?" The old, bald at the top of his head, man who looked as though his eyes were always closed said.

"Yeah, but at those prices, you would be lucky to find a person even willing to buy Dust." he argued. "I mean - come on! Fifty Lien for just a couple of grams?! What do you take more for? I mean - do I look like I'm made out of money?"

The man's put on a troubled expression and sighed.

"Look, I'm sorry, kid," he said in a sympathetic tone. "But you know how it goes. There's a high demand for Dust, but at the same time there's not a whole lot of it to go around because of the robberies. It's simple supply and demand."

"Yeah, I know that. But come on, man. I've been a frequent customer for almost a year! You could at least give me some sort of discount for that, right?"

"Sorry, kid. I can't do that. It's against policy."

Vanitas gave an intimidating stare and directed it at the old man. He also growled aggressively, showing his displeasure. At the sight of this, the old man flinched.

"Sorry," the old man said with a bit of fear evident in his voice. "I really am. But until either the criminals committing all the robberies have been caught, the price of the Dust, here or any other store in Vale, is going to keep rising and rising with each passing day."

Despite being angry at being unable to a get a decent deal, Vanitas could not refute that argument. He let up on the glare and sighed.

"Screw it," he said to himself quietly. "I'll just make due with what I have." The old man seem to have heard him, given the way his expression relaxed. Vanitas then proceeded to leave the store.

As he was about to reach the door heading outside, another person came in. It was a girl dressed in combat skirt along that was black and red, the same colors as he wore, along with a red cloak. She also had those distinctive silver eyes.

'Ruby.'

Judging by the way she had quickly put her hood up and moved to the right side of the store, she seemed to be avoiding him. Could she be afraid of him?

'Hmph. Coward.' he thought. Seeing that there was nothing else of interest, he left the building and began walking to the nearest public transportation. As he walked, his thoughts wandered and eventually, it fell on the topic of the girl he had just ran into.

He didn't like Ruby. Not at all. Neither her personality nor her combat ability made a positive impression.

The girl was...well, to be perfectly honest with himself, he didn't know exactly why he disliked her so much. Perhaps it was because of the way she had confronted him about his misdeeds the very first time they met. Perhaps it was because they have the exact same color scheme going with their clothing. Or perhaps it's because of the way that she's so god damn optimistic all the damn time!

Vanitas clenched his teeth.

Like, seriously! There is nary a bad bone in her body. No desire to lie, no desire to do anything resembling a bad deed, and generally acting like a happy go lucky person. It was like the world always seem to be half full in her eyes.

'I swear, she's like a child or something!'

As for her combat prowess-

At first, he was impressed with her. She did, after all, managed to keep up with him when he nicked that Faunus girl's cap a year ago. And as the previous year went by, she had gotten even faster. Faster than a speeding bullet, that's for sure.

However, that first impression quickly soured. When he had fought her for the first time, she was...well, let's just say that she was a major disappointment and that it completely ruined any positive expectations he might had have for her.

Sure, after a whole year, she did indeed get better, he won't deny that. And her skill with the scythe is definitely top-notched. He should know. He had fought her more than just a couple of times, all of which ended in his victory. But in the end, she was still weaker than him, and in his eyes, that made her as appealing to him as a dead fish left out to rot in the sun. That is to say - not at all.

And so he continued walking, believing that it was the last time he would ever see her again...or at the very least, a long while.

EMPTY IN REMNANT

A few months ago, Vanitas had received an e-mail from Ozpin, detailing an offer. The offer was simple. He could either wait until seventeen years old like most normal would be Hunters and attend Beacon Academy then or, through the older man's grace, attend the prestigious academy at the young age of fifteen years old.

He had accepted the man's offer, of course. He coveted strength, power, and all the other synonyms of the two word. He could have stayed behind at Signal, but what point would that served? As a result, he was on the airship heading to Beacon Academy.

As he walked around, he noticed that there were a awful lot of people on this ship. There was so much that it was kinda giving him a sense of eagerness.

There was a reason he felt like this.

These people, just for the mere fact that they are going to Beacon Academy, are likely to be some of the strongest people he'll ever face. After all, from what he had gathered from few conversations that he had with Ozpin in the past, Beacon Academy seem to be a place where the strongest people are trained. As a result, this combat facility is very likely to contain people who will be able to match him blow for blow unlike the many people he had fought against in the past.

While wandering the airship, the holographic projection to the side, close to the window, began showing the news. Currently, a male voice was speaking the recent dust robbery that had occurred in the area.

The robbery the man on the news was talking about took place at the Dust til Dawn store, just a little after he had left.

'Man, that's strange.' he thought. 'I was just there.' Then, he sighed.

"The robbery was led by the nefarious criminal, Roman Torchwick, who continues to evade authorities." The disembodied voice said. "If you have any information on his whereabouts, please contact the Vale Police Department."

Vanitas glared at the image of the man that was being displayed.

'Damn it, I should've stuck around! If I had, I would've been able to capture him.'

Upon learning that this man, Roman Torchwick, was responsible for the string of dust robbery in Vale, he instantly made an note of the man. Something or later, he would have to find this man and put a stop to him.

Not because he was a goody two shoes or something like that. He had a personal, if somewhat cheap, reason for it.

Ever since dust stores everywhere in Vale have been getting hit by the robberies, the price of dust have been getting higher. The usage of dust, though not at all necessary, was a complement to his own fighting style as it gave him multiple options in a fight. If he ever had the time or the opportunity, he would find and shut the man down. If he doesn't, he definitely won't be able to buy more Dust.

"Back to you, Lisa."

The scene within the holographic projection then changed to an image of a news reporter, Lisa Lavender.

"Thank you, Cyril. In other news," the image in the background changed, showing a picture of a group of Faunus. "This Saturday's Faunus Civil Right's protest turned dark when members of the White Fang disrupted the ceremony."

'Tch.' He scowled at the subject of the news. 'Animals.' He didn't like the Faunus. He had always found their kind to be weak. If not in body, then in spirit. Why else would they congregate into a pack like the animals they are?

"The once peaceful organization has now disrupted -"

The image began to fade and soon - a projection of a blond woman with green eyes hidden away behind a pair of glasses took its place. She wore a long white blouse that, for some explicable reason that he could not come up with, reveals part of her chest. The lower half of the outfit was a short black business-like skirt with black stockings, ending with black boots. The entire outfit was finished with a tattered purple cape that covered a bit more than just her back.

The projection of the woman began to speak.

"Hello and welcome to Beacon. My name is Glynda Goodwitch. You are among a privileged few who have received the honor of being selected to attend this prestigious academy. Our world is experiencing an incredible time of peace. And as future Huntsman and Huntresses, you have a duty to uphold it. You have demonstrated the courage needed for such a task, and now, it is our turn to provide you with the knowledge and the training to protect our world."

The image of the tall woman then faded along with the projection, leaving only the view of the city in his sight.

Suddenly, he felt his scroll vibrate. He took it out of his right pocket and found that he once again had received an email from Ozpin once again.

'Huh, strange.'

He opened it and found only a message consisting of only a single line.

Vanitas. Come see me immediately after you get off the ship.

Attached to the message was a document detailing directions of how to get to the man's office after disembarking from the ship.

'Weird.' He had expected a little more than just one line of text. 'Oh, well.'

After memorizing the directions to the Headmaster's office, Vanitas continued on and walked to his assigned cabin, planning to wait out the rest of the ride in solitude. Along the way, a tall blond guy who looked just about ready to throw up ran past him. At that, he couldn't help but give a look of disgust at the sight.

'Absolutely disgusting.'

As he continued to move, he unknowingly walked past two girls, one with dark red hair and another with long yellow hair.

One of whom took notice of him.

"...I really hope that Vanitas is not actually coming to Beacon Academy..." Ruby muttered somewhat quietly. She was a nervous wreck at the moment. While wandering the airship that was currently heading to Beacon Academy, from the corner of her eyes, she thought she saw a black spiky haired boy. The brief image reminded her of Vanitas, a boy she did not particularly find easy to be around, and caused her to turn around and look.

'What am I doing?' she thought to herself. 'There's no way he could be here.' Ruby thought. Despite this, she began feeling anxious. The thought of Vanitas caused a feeling of dread to well up from inside of her.

'Oh, god, I really hope he's not here.'

Despite having a less than stellar opinion of the black haired boy, it wasn't like she hated him. However, she did not like being around him. Vanitas is...abrasive...and really, really hard to interact with. She was also scared of him too. The angry glares he gave out every so often were so intimidating!

Ever since they met each other for the first time in sparring class back at Signal, he had always shown disdain towards her. Well, actually...now that she thought about it, it wasn't just her that got that sort of treatment from him. From what she saw and heard about him, he had acted just as cold and mean towards everyone else, so maybe that was just how he was. Though now that she's thought of it, it still wasn't a comforting thought at all.

The voice of her older sister suddenly rang out, interrupting her thoughts.

"What's the problem, little sis?" Her sister, Yang, asked.

She wasn't sure if she should tell her. Despite the thought of Vanitas being at the school as her struck her as somewhat troubling, it seemed somewhat minor.

"Uh..."

"Come on, sis. You can tell me what's up." Yang said in a comforting tone.

Encouraged by this, Ruby told Yang what was troubling her.

"Um...it's Vanitas."

"Oh." Yang said in understanding. During her first year and last year at Signal Academy, she had told her older sister about her encounters with the boy. She'd told her about their first encounter at the Vale Harbor, she'd told her about their first actual meeting with each other at her first sparring class, and she had also told her about the various times the boy had wronged her in one way or another.

"Yeah..."

The blond girl, nodded, showing that she sympathized with her plight.

"Well, don't worry about that guy." The tall blond began to comfort her. "After all, you're heading to Beacon Academy and he's all the way back at Signal. So just kick back, relax, and forget about him!"

"Well..." Ruby rubbed the back of her head with her right hand. "That's the thing. I can't. I think...I think I just saw him wandering the ship."

"What?" Yang said in confusion. "Really?"

Ruby nodded.

"No way that's possible, Ruby. After all, like I said, he should be back at Signal. And besides, if he was coming, then Ozpin would've told you about another kid coming to Beacon, right?"

"Yeah," That was true. If Vanitas, like her, was coming to Beacon Academy, then Ozpin would've told her about it. Still, she couldn't shake off the feeling that it wasn't the case. "But...what if he is?" she asked.

"If he is coming, then just tell me if he tries to start anything." Yang flexed her right arm, showing off her strength. "If he tries to mess with you, then just leave it to me. I'll make him regret it!"

Ruby blinked. Then she let out a small giggle.

"Heh. Okay." She smiled. Yang always knew what to say. After a brief moment of silence, she spoke once more.

"Hey, sis?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks."

It didn't matter where, when, or why. If she was ever in any sort of distress, her older sister will always be there for her.

SOME TIME LATER

Ozpin, in his office just underneath the Beacon Tower, was sipping from his mug of coffee while waiting for Vanitas. Glynda was in the room as well.

Earlier he had sent a message to Vanitas while the young boy was onboard the ship heading to the academy, asking him to come to his office immediately. The reason for this was because he had wanted to ask a few questions regarding the boy's exceptional growth. In just one year, the strong yet unskilled boy that he met in the orphanage had became a distinctive force of nature capable of holding his own against Qrow. Granted the man had been holding himself back immensely at the time, but the point still stands.

Vanitas, like the girl who he had given permission to attend Beacon to the other day, holds great talent and skill.

Yet he was curious. How did he get so strong within just a single year? In Ruby's case, it was because her uncle, Qrow, had trained her. But with Vanitas, it just seem to have come out of nowhere.

Was the boy trained by someone in particular? Was the boy taking some sort of performance enhancing drug? Some sort of mystical magic thought of only in medieval fantasies? Or perhaps, it was just the result of pure, unadulterated combination of talent and intense training.

While pondering on the possibilites, he felt a small tremor and heard a distant yet distinctive sound of an explosion from behind him. He swiveled his chair around to the window behind him and looked out from his tower. When he did, he saw a small crater in the middle of the courtyard.

At first he thought it might have been an attack. However, the lack of additional explosions coupled with the fact that the damage seem to be relatively minor convinced him otherwise.

'It was probably an accident.' Ozpin thought.

"Glynda," he said. "Remind me to get someone to fix that."

The woman nodded her head.

"Very well."

After that, nothing happened for at least a couple or so minutes.

Sooner or later, the man heard a ding from one of the elevators that led directly into his own office and with it, the black haired boy that he had called up to his office arrived.

"Welcome, young man," he said to the golden eyed boy. "I take it you did not find it difficult to find my office?"

"Nope." Vanitas responded.

The boy had a frown on his face. Strange. Did he do something to irritate the boy already? Or perhaps the boy happened to have a permanent scowl on his face. Considering the young man's ill attitude the last time he had saw him, the latter seem to be more likely.

"Is that...the boy?" he heard Glynda quietly say. It seems after ten years, she still remembered him. Then again, it was probably the eyes. Those golden yellow orbs of his tend to be very distinctive.

Vanitas spoke to Ozpin.

"So old man, why did you call me here?" the boy asked in a rude fashion.

"Watch your tongue, young man!" Glynda, his unofficial secretary, shouted sternly at the boy. She began to reprimand him for his rudeness. "You are in the presence of-!"

"Glynda..." he cut her off before she could say anymore to the boy. The blond woman noticed his tone and the implications behind it.

"What? But, Headmaster-!"

"Yes, I know. The boy is exceedingly rude, but I rather prefer him to speak his mind." At this, Glynda fell silent. Ozpin then turned his head to Vanitas and spoke to him.

"To your question, young man, I had simply wanted to welcome you to Beacon personally. That, and I wanted to talk to you. Please, take a seat." He gestured towards the chair that was in front of his desk. The boy took the seat and sat on it.

"Hmph. Well, I'm here now. So, what do you want to talk about?"

He smiled.

"Many things, Vanitas. However, since I have to do an orientation soon, we'll have to keep this short. Before we begin, do you have any questions?"

"Just one." The boy turned his head ever so slightly at Glynda. "Does she really need to be here?"

A small look of mild offense appeared on Glynda's face. She began to open her mouth, presumably to reprimand him, only to close it. Instead, she directed a very disapproving stare at Vanitas instead. At this, he became slightly amused.

'I can tell she's going to have her hands full with him.'

He returned his attention to Vanitas and instead of simply answering to the boy, he asked a question in response to his question.

"Why do you ask? Is her presence disturbing you in some manner?"

"I don't like her," the ridiculously rude boy said rather bluntly. "She seems way too uptight." From the corner of his eyes, he swore that one of Glynda's eyes was twitching from what he could only assume was some sort of intense disapproval.

"Now, now, Glynda, calm down." He said soothingly. "As to your question, young man, I would much rather prefer to have her here."

The golden eyed boy rolled his eyes.

"Alright, fine." he said. "So what are we talking about?" The boy made himself extremely comfortable and placed his foot on his desk. This...displeased him somewhat. Not as displeasing as having someone insult his coffee, but it was a close second.

"Young man, I ask that you remove your foot from my desk immediately." The sudden stern tone that he used seemed to have thrown the young boy in front of him off guard given the way that he had imminently removed his feet from the top of his desk. "Thank you." He continued to speak as if nothing happened. "As I've said, I'm keeping this brief. So let's just get to the meat of the subject. Tell me, Vanitas, how did you get so strong in such a short time?"

"Huh, why do you ask?"

"Just curious."

The boy's eyes narrowed. The man assumed that it was due to annoyance.

"Is this an interrogation?" Vanitas asked.

"Oh, no. I'm just genuinely curious. I mean, after all, it isn't everyday a fifteen year old boy gains admittance to a Huntsman Academy. Even more so when the academy in question normally accepts people aged seventeen or more. Granted, I was the one who made it possible in the first place, but only because I recognized your potential. Still that alone does not answer the question. How did you get so skilled in just a short period of time?"

"Hmph. Shouldn't it be obvious?" The boy said. Instead of responding with words, Ozpin simply chose to stare at the boy in the eye, signifying that he wanted a proper answer. At this, the boy closed his eyes and crossed his arms, as if placing himself in thought. After a brief moment or two, the boy began to speak once more. "Ozpin. Remember when we first met? When I was thirteen years old?"

Technically, the first meeting was when the boy was roughly four years old, but the boy didn't need to know that.

He nodded. The boy continued.

"You told me, did you not? You told me that I was strong and that I had talent. All that I was lacking was training. So, that's what I did. Train. I trained myself to use Aura all by myself. I trained myself with various fighting styles and weaponry." The boy looked him in the eye. "Day in, day out, I trained myself, in both mind and body, to be the very best that I could be at the given moment. That's how I got so skilled."

'I am impressed.' Ozpin thought. He really was. The level of dedication that the boy had just shown him was rare indeed. But there was one thing that worried him. It was something that was implied, no matter how small it may be.

"Tell me, Vanitas, do you have any friends?" He asked inquisitively.

"What does that have to do with anything?" The boy said instantaneously. The look on the boy's face, one of annoyance was plastered on it. Yet at the same time, there was a bit of anger attached to it. It was likely that the boy was touchy about the subject.

"It's nothing." He didn't have much time, so he decided to let it drop for now. He looked at clock that was on his desk. "Oh, would you look at the time." At that, the boy asked a minor question.

"Is that all for now?" The boy said, returning to his rude tone of voice.

"Yes, that will be all. I'll be seeing you and the other students off tomorrow at the School Initiation."

"Yeah, whatever." With that, Vanitas made his way to exit.

When Vanitas was gone, having departed to the orientation that will be taking place at a later time, Glynda, with a inquisitive look on her face, asked him a question.

"That boy...is he?" The unspoken words, he assumed, were 'Is he that boy from ten years ago?'

'I supposed I should explain,' he thought.

"Yes, Glynda. That is indeed the boy we've found in that forest ten years ago."

"How," she asked with some level of disbelief. "Why?"

"I can't say now," he said, referring to the student orientation he will be giving soon. "Do not worry though. I intend to tell you soon after, okay?"

After giving a small frown, she nodded.

"Very well, Headmaster."

AFTER ORIENTATION

After the surprisingly quick orientation given by Ozpin, Vanitas had a quick dinner from the mess hall and then went to the Academy's ballroom where the rest of the first years, like him, were to go to bed for the night.

Taking claim of one of the sleeping mats given by the school, Vanitas, after changing to more bed friendly clothing, immediately set off to the realm of sleep. He had a feeling that he was going to need as much energy as he could for tomorrow. And so, he was among the first to fall unconscious.

Unfortunately, however, that did not last very long.

There was several voices. All of them females. Two...no...three! Then another came in, making it four. Three of these voices were unfamiliar to him. One of them, however, sounded very familiar. He could not place his finger on it, but it was suspiciously familiar. At least three of them seem to be in a heated argument of some kind. He didn't care about that though.

Cause he was angry. In fact, he was livid with rage. It was the sort of rage one got when one's sleep was rudely interrupted.

Damn it! He was trying very hard to get some damn sleep! But apparently, some people are unable to realize that in order to function properly, people like him need at least seven to eight hours of sleep in order to function properly in the morning!

Despite that, he kept his eyes shut. Hoping very desperately that the people who could not keep their voices down would eventually get tired and shut up, he waited. He waited, and waited until it became apparent that these four people would not SHUT THE HELL UP!

"Whoever is talking, shut the hell up!" He lashed out angrily.

In a exaggerated, slightly comical yet smooth fashion, Vanitas immediately got up from his sleeping mat, grabbed his pillow that was provided to him by the school, and threw it forcefully in the general direction of the noise hoping that would get whoever was talking to shut up.

The pillow flew into the air. As it was making its way to its destination, one of the girls, a short girl with black-red hair turned around as a response to his words. Then the pillow he had threw smacked her right in the face. Then, after the pillow made it to its destination, it fell off the girl's face, revealing one of the four people (or was it three) that weren't being quiet.

At that point, both his and the girl's, whose face he had just smacked with a thrown pillow, eyes widen in varying level of disbelief.

'Oh, no/ Oh, crap,' were the words thought by both Ruby and Vanitas at the exact same time. The ballroom was completely silent after that.

I might make the word count of the Beacon Initiation chapter, like chapter 6, much longer. Approximately about 7-8k words. Probably more. Quick spoiler: though this is going to be very obvious given the clues beforehand. It's gonna be full of new scenes because of what happened during the first chapter.

You guys won't see Organization XIII for a while. But when they do pop up again, expect some shit to happen to Vanitas and, by extension, the rest of the cast because of it.

Commentary time:

0) Unknowingly, Vanitas is projecting his hatred of Ventus onto Ruby. Poor Rubes.

1) Though Vanitas was in the same hallway as Ruby and Yang, he didn't notice because he didn't expect one or the other because: a) he thought Ruby was still at Signal. b) He doesn't know who Yang is.

2) Did I nail the shy, nervous side of Ruby? I sure hope so.

3) I hope that Vanitas feels like a consistent jackass to all you readers. That should be the feel of him at this point of the story. He's a dynamic character though so he'll change as the story progress. If he starts feeling two-dimensional, or flat, as a character, let me know.

4) I'm gonna have Peter, Oobleck, and Glynda remember Vanitas and the Remnant instead of having them somehow forget about it. Will probably have some sort of repercussion down the line.

5) Ozpin has got something planned for Vanitas. It could be something simple. Could be something not as simple. But it will definitely be important.

6) As I am sure you have noticed, there is either a lack of scenes from RWBY itself or major variations of it. As I've probably said before, I like to keep things relatively new. I mean, no need to rehash scenes that we've already seen, right? That being said, they still happen. I'm just not gonna show it.

7) Vanitas's got some major attitude problem. I've shown some of this with the limited interaction he had with Glynda and Ozpin. You can infer more of his jackassery from Ruby.

8) I would fucking love it if someone did a cover art for this story. Just a simple hand drawn or computer generated drawing of Vanitas and Ruby side to side or back to back. Headshots. No body shots. If worse come to worse, I could always draw it myself. But I'm a bad drawer, so it would take time for it to come out looking half decent. Time that could be spent working on this fic.

9) First one to accurately guess what's gonna happen during the Beacon Initiation chapter(s) gets absolutely nothing but the satisfaction from accurately predicting what's gonna happen.

Heads up - since Fallout 4 is out, my updates will probably slow down. Or not. It really depends on whether or not I feel lazy.

Thanks for reading Empty in Remnant. Please leave a review, fav, or follow. I like seeing the numbers go up.