Remnant Hearts

By: Kuroyami Fukaikuro

AHAHAHAHA I'M NOT DEAD, JUST LAZY
Also, ten fucking pages of GoogleDoc, hope you enjoy.

Chapter Two: Diplomacy

After finding their way to Beacon, Sora and company were met by Roxas at the school gates; he had been stuck with greeting duty.

"About time you all got here," Roxas said as they approached him.

Sora turned to the group behind him. "I told you guys the castle was the way to go!" he said.

Lea sighed. "Yeah, yeah, Sora, you were right. No need to rub it in."

Sora smiled triumphantly and turned to fist-bump his Nobody. "By the way, Roxas," he asked, "what made you and Ven decide to come to this place?"

Roxas turned and motioned for the group to follow. As they walked through the school grounds, Roxas began to tell them what had happened. "So you remember how I left to fight the bird-thing; which is apparently called a 'Nevermore' on this world?"

"Yeah," Lea said. "How'd that go?"

"To sum things up, I jumped into its stomach and blew it up from the inside with my Limit Break."

"Cool."

"So anyways, at the top of that cliff face, that girl in red, who is named Ruby Rose, and her color-coded friends were talking to a guy who turned out to be the Headmaster of this place, an Academy. His name is Ozpin. I'm not sure if it's his first name or surname, since it's the only name he goes by."

At this news, Sora got serious. "How well known is this academy?"

"It's got students from all around this world."

"Does Ozpin get involved with this world's politics? And if he does, how involved does he get?"

Roxas shook his head. "I'm not sure. However, its students graduate to become 'Hunters' and 'Huntresses', who serve as this world's protectors. I don't know what exactly they teach here, either, besides how to fight this world's natural monsters, which are called Grimm."

"Did you find anything else out?" Riku asked.

"While the students attend the academy, they're put in teams of four. Ruby and her friends, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna and Yang Xiao Long, became one team- called Are-Double-U-Bee-Why, pronounced ruby; and the blonde guy, Jaune Arc, became leader of another team along with Nora Valkyrie, Pyrrha Nikos, and Ren Lie- Jay-Enn-Pee-Arr, pronounced juniper.

"Apparently, they were the only groups to officially pass the test; it was canceled after the influx of Heartless. I'm not sure what criteria led to the other teams' creations; I wasn't told anything."

"That's enough serious talk!" Lea interjected. "We're about to establish official relations with this world. If this Ozpin guy's important, we can't have him perceive us as a threat."

"Lea, the eight of us fought off- no, exterminated an army of Grimm and Heartless." Riku said. "And I'm sure he's heard plenty from that Ruby girl and her friends. There is absolutely no one who would just trust us."

Lea sighed dejectedly as Roxas chuckled at his expense. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

Ozpin sighed, rubbing his temples. Glynda placed some papers in front of him before returning to her own desk. Glancing down at the papers, he took a deep gulp of coffee before returning to his work.

A knock at the door alerted the teachers to visitors. "Come in," Ozpin said.

The door opened. Ventus led the group inside, as he had been waiting for them outside in order to not disturb the teachers. Sora and company entered, their eyes darting around the room in curiosity. Ozpin's work office, separate from his official office, was piled high with various papers, and maps and news clippings covered the walls.

"Welcome," Ozpin said, drawing the groups attention as Glynda raised her eyes from her work. "I assume Roxas and Ventus have introduced us."

"Right," Sora said. "Headmaster Ozpin and Glynda Goodwitch."

Ozpin nodded. "I assume you're Sora, but what about the rest of you?"

"I'm Riku."

"Kairi."

"Terra."

"Aqua."

"Lea. For such a technologically advanced society, based on what I've seen so far, you don't seem to use it much. Why is that?" he said, motioning towards the piles of paper around them.

"The papers you see are those that have yet to be processed. They're student transcripts and other documents. Glynda and I go over them one at a time and put their information into the computer by hand in order to ensure that what's on record is completely accurate." Ozpin said.

"You process all of this by hand?"

Ozpin nodded again. "I'd rather suffer through the work now than potentially have to deal with any sort of dire error later on."

"You must be very dedicated to what you do."

"Of course."

"Anyways," Sora interjected, "it's nice to meet you."

Ozpin turned back to Sora."Indeed."

"Now that the pleasantries are over and done with, let's get down to business," Riku said.

Ozpin clasped his hands in front of his mouth, leaning on his elbows. "Yes, let's. First of all, what are your intentions? I understand that you're not from Vale, to say the least. Where do you come from, and what do you plan to do here?"

"That's a bit of a long story," Sora said.

"What's the short version?"

Sora opened his mouth to speak, but Lea butted in, elbowing Sora. "Don't worry man, I've got this," he said.

Sora shrugged. "All right then, what's your version of things?"

Ozpin raised one of his eyebrows in anticipation as Lea took a breath.

"Well," he began, "we are all capable of wielding the Keyblade." For effect, he summoned the Dancing Flame. Ozpin imperceptibly narrowed his eyes at the sight of the weapon. "Those creatures in the forest, the ones that aren't native to this world; they're called the Heartless. They are creatures of Darkness. They can be defeated by conventional weapons, but only a Keyblade will fully destroy it.

"Or, at the very least, they have to be killed within… what units of measurement do you use on this world?"

Ozpin held up a ruler from his desk and said, "This is one foot."

"Alright then, 'feet'," Axel muttered for a moment, figuring out the distance. Once he had, he said "A Heartless technically doesn't have to be killed by a Keyblade. Just within a two hundred feet radius of one.

"But anyways, since the Heartless lack Hearts, they are driven by a mindless desire to steal the Hearts of other living beings. This includes the Heart of a world."

"The Heart of a world?" Ozpin asked.

"Yeah. Your world isn't the only one that exists. There are a bunch of others, and they all have their own Hearts. If they didn't, they wouldn't be able to sustain life, and they'd fall into Darkness.

"The Heartless can steal the Heart of a world by flooding the world's Keyhole with Darkness. You seeing a theme yet? Keyhole, Keyblade?"

"So," Ozpin said, drawing a conclusion, "your duty as wielders of Keyblades are to travel around the worlds and prevent their destruction by using the power of the Keyblade on a world's Keyhole."

"Yep," Lea replied, nodding. "There was a bunch of other stuff with a guy named Xehanort using Darkness himself, and trying to conquer all the worlds with Darkness, but that's its own story; fully explaining that would take at least a few hours. Longer story short, we went to war with him, almost lost, but pulled through in the end."

"So what are you doing here?" Ozpin asked. "Or, more specifically, what are you all doing here? There are eight of you; shouldn't you all be travelling individually, in order to help as many worlds as possible, as quickly as possible?"

At this, Riku stepped in. "Travel between the worlds is difficult. There are several ways to go about it, but one of them is too risky, one of them requires a Keyblade art lost to history, and the last is basically a space-ship that has to carry all of us."

"Well, the Keyblade art he's speaking of isn't technically lost," Aqua interrupted. "Terra, Ven and I can do it. Basically, we transform our Keyblades into personal transportation vehicles. However, teaching it is nigh impossible, as it requires a series of lessons and procedures that none of us fully understand. To attempt it regardless would be dangerous, as a person's Keyblade is directly linked with their Heart, and to tamper with it without understanding it could result in one losing their Heart."

"I see," Ozpin said. "Why don't you three just use that technique to travel by yourselves then?"

"Well, the technique allows us to travel between worlds. But as of yet there's no way for us to reliably communicate from distant worlds, although we are working on improving that technology."

"I suppose that's an adequate explanation for why you travel in a group. But if your purpose is to use the Keyblade on the Keyhole, what's keeping you from doing it immediately?"

"This world is surrounded by Darkness," Terra explained. "It's not just the Grimm or the Heartless; Darkness is in a lot of the Hearts of this world's denizens, and that Darkness masks the location of the Keyhole from us. Believe us, we've narrowed the location down to Vale – that's what this kingdom is called, right?" he said, glancing at a map "- that's why we landed here. But the exact location escapes us."

"I find it rather suspicious that Remnant's first Heartless incident directly coincides with your arrival. Would you care to explain that?"

"Sure," Sora said. "Xehanort tried to use Darkness to control the worlds. But it was more than that; by controlling Darkness, he could control the Heartless. While he was alive, the Heartless were slightly more docile, as they did only what he made them do. But now that he's gone, they're free to rampage again."

"That's quite a lot of information to process."

"There's one more thing, actually," Roxas said. "The Heartless aren't the only creatures you should worry about. When a Heartless steals the Heart of someone with a strong will, the lingering will in the person's body will create a new entity: a Nobody. Nobodies are similar to Heartless in that they seek Hearts, but they do it for different reasons. Heartless seek hearts out of instinct; Nobodies seek Hearts out of a desire to become a whole person again."

"What are stronger, the Heartless or the Nobodies?"

"Nobodies. A Heartless moves and attacks purely based on instinct. Nobodies, however, have sentience, if not sapience."

"How do I differentiate between Heartless and Nobodies?"

"Nobodies are generally light colored - most of them are a pale white, with some gray fringes. A few of them have a light pinkish hue, and some have a bluish hue. Also, they look really… fluid."

"Fluid?" Ozpin asked, genuinely confused.

Roxas looked at Lea. Lea nodded in response, and snapped his fingers. A white circle appeared on the ground, and grey thorns heralded the presence of an Assassin Nobody.

Ozpin and Glynda stood up, their weapons raised. Ozpin glared at the group, fully prepared to fight them all to the death. They weren't entirely sure if the creature that had appeared was one of the aforementioned Nobodies, but they assumed that if Sora's group had control over them, they likely had negative intentions.

"HOLD IT, HOLD IT!" Terra shouted, catching both Ozpin and Glynda's attention. They turned to him, still staring daggers. "Calm down, okay? Roxas and Lea each have control over a type of Nobody."

Ozpin looked at Roxas, who sighed before summoning a Samurai Nobody.

"Why can you control those types of Nobodies?" Ozpin asked.

"Because we were Nobodies once," Roxas replied cooly.

Ozpin's gaze relaxed, though his voice was still tense as he asked "And now?"

Roxas scoffed. "Don't worry, we're human now. It's not like we can each control every kind of Nobody. I can control these Samurai and Axel can control Assassins because we were their masters while we were Nobodies. And even now, they know who their masters are."

"Shall I assume that you will not use this power to antagonize the people of Vale?"

"You can assume whatever you want. I don't intend to misuse my powers. I never have, and I never will. But what I intend, and what becomes necessary for victory, are not always the same thing."

Ozpin continued to observe the young man carefully for several seconds before setting his cane down, opting to trust him. After a moment's hesitation, Glynda did the same, setting her crop down on the desk within reach.

Ozpin took another moment to calm himself before continuing the conversation. "And the Heartless?"

"Heartless come in two types; 'Purebloods' and 'Emblems'. Purebloods are a solid inky-black, and have the same 'fluid' look as Nobodies. Emblem Heartless are easily identified by a red symbol. Do you have a spare sheet of paper?" Upon being provided with one, Roxas drew a red heart with thorny crosses through it and a flowery flourish at the tip.

Ozpin paused and nodded, allowing all of the information to sink in. After collecting his thoughts, he decided to move to another topic, saying "So, I assume you will be on this world for a while."

Sora nodded, his hands clasped behind his head. "You seem to be taking this pretty well. Most people aren't so open to the idea of other worlds."

Ozpin spread his hands. "Well, you've provided quite a lot of evidence to support the fact that Remnant is not alone in the universe, your very existence and your abilities being the strongest argument. But as I was saying: You will be spending quite some time on this world. You've introduced yourself to me, and I'm sure you're aware of the potential ramifications of doing so. So what's your next move? Will you continue to associate with Beacon- serve as allies, if you will? Or," and at this Ozpin's tone became cold, "are your intentions in this meeting to, perhaps, warn us to stay out of your way?"

At Ozpin's words, the group all looked at Sora. Feeling their stares on his back, Sora collected his thoughts before replying evenly. "We, as wielders of the Keyblade, will be a neutral, independent force from Beacon and Remnant. We'll take no active part in any of your conflicts. Not to say that we'll just stand idly by if some serious incident occurs- if we are in the area, we will intervene and aid this world's authorities. But we're not going to go out of our way to search for criminals or fight in armed conflicts between the people of this world.

"We just got through with a war, Headmaster Ozpin. We don't want to rush into another one."

Ozpin nodded satisfactorily at Sora's response. "A wise plan. Well then, what will you do for food and lodging?"

"We can manage on our own."

"Well, if you need lodging, there's an old dorm we don't use anymore on the western end of Beacon's campus. We haven't cleaned it since we shut it down, but it's completely satisfactory in terms of utilities -that reminds me, Glynda please reconnect the dorm to the utilities- and building can also provide you food from the cafeteria."

Sora glanced back at the group. Everyone nodded before Sora turned and said "I think we'll accept your offer."

"Very well. Just give me a moment to get the key." He began to stand up, but was cut off by Sora.

Sora shook his head. "No worries. The Keyblade can handle that sort of thing too."

"Is that so?" Ozpin's left eyebrow rose above its partner in interest. "In that case,

They nodded in agreement and left.

After they had left, Ozpin turned and met Glynda's eyes.

"Did you get all of that?" Ozpin said.

"Yes," his lifelong friend replied, "but I honestly don't know what you'll be able to do with what amounts to a fantasy story. I mean honestly, a man with the power of darkness itself?"

"Their story may seem unbelievable, Glynda, but their strength is real. You saw the videos of what they did. You experienced… Holy. With power like that, they have no reason to lie. They could single-handedly conquer or ruin Vale, or perhaps all of Remnant if they so wished."

"So what will you do about it?"

"Well, obviously, I'm going to compile whatever information we have on them based on what we've experienced and what we can get from those recordings. With that, I should be able to make some contingency plans. I'll also send the information to Qrow."

"What do you expect Qrow to do?"

"Honestly, Glynda? I don't know. But he has access to connections and information that I don't. He might be able to figure something out."

"What about Ironwood?"

"Ironwood won't believe me, not now. You know he doesn't trust me, or anything I send him. He'll have to see them in person first."

Glynda sighed. "I suppose you're right."

"Hmm…"

"What?"

"Something worries me. What Sora said, before they left. That they won't need keys to get into the dorm - likely because the Keyblade can unlock it. If it can do that, who can tell what the Keyblade can't unlock?"

"You think our security measures are inadequate?"

"I think… that it's a possibility. As I said, their story is questionable, but their power is real. We'll have to continue our observation of them and make plans accordingly."

"Very well sir, but in the meantime, we should finish this paperwork."

"Oh, right…"

"Were you hoping that I'd do most of the work while you talked to them?"
Ozpin coughed, taking a swig of coffee before reaching for another stack of paper. "Of course not."

Tired but driven, the pair continued their work.

Sora and crew arrived at the dorm as the Gummi Ship descended from the clouds to land next to the dorm before shimmering and assuming the appearance of a Bullhead.

The hatch opened, and Donald and Goofy came out. "Hey Sora!" Goofy called out.

"Hey guys!" Sora called back.

"It's good to see that the Camo-Gummi Cid installed still works," Riku observed.

"So what happened?" Donald asked.

Lea began to explain to them what had occurred inside Ozpin's office, coincidentally avoiding the manual and magical labor that everyone else set out to do. Meanwhile, Sora and the rest began moving luggage from the Gummi Ship to the dorm.

"Riku," Roxas called from one of the back ends of a dorm hallway. As he approached, Roxas nodded to a ceiling corner. "You see what I see?"

"A camera," Riku noted.

"Yeah. There are more in the rooms. I'm almost certain that's part of why this dorm was shut down - maybe even the main reason. They seem to be off, but I don't know for sure."

"In the rooms too? Ozpin seems exceedingly paranoid."

"My thoughts exactly," Roxas said, nodding his head. "Especially since these aren't new. Judging by the layers of dust on some of them, they've been here since this dorm was in use."

"Hmm." Riku paused to think, absently scratching his hair. "They're off now, but that doesn't mean they'll stay off."

"Yeah, if they can reconnect the dorm to the utilities from that office, who's to say that they can't activate the cameras from there too?"

"You think they will?"

"It's likely. We really haven't given them much reason to trust us all that much. Even when you consider how much we've told them, there's still so much that remains unclear."

"That's true. What should we do about this? Should we let the others know?"

Roxas glanced at him, narrowing his eyes as a touch of disgust colored his expression. "Of course. We can't just keep them in the dark, especially about something this serious. Besides, just because no one else has noticed now, it doesn't mean they won't notice later. It's better they know know, so they can be aware of it and plan their own actions accordingly. Heck, Aqua or Donald might have some kind of spell that can disrupt electronics like these."

"If they don't?"

"Then we'll just have to be careful if the cameras ever turn on. If they do turn on, then of course we'll confront Ozpin."

"Confront him? And do what?"
Roxas paused at this, shutting his mouth in contemplation. What would they do indeed? He'd been so tired of people trying to watch him and control him, but now, with the possibility of turning such a situation around, he had no idea what he would do or say.

"I don't know," he finally responded. "But it would be better than just letting it slide and allowing him to just watch us."

Riku nodded slowly. "Agreed. But they're off right now - we should get back to work and tell everyone about this while we do."

"All right. I'll handle this back area - you go tell everyone."

"Okay. Call us if you notice anything significant."

"Right." As Riku walked off, Roxas opened the windows of the hallway before casting Aero, moving the winds around to gather the dust in the area and toss it outside.

"What shall we do, my Lord?" A young woman wearing an simple maid outfit asked, kneeling on a rooftop before her master. The outfit's dress fell to her shins, with the sleeves extending to her wrists. The outfit was completely utilitarian, with no excess frills or any other hint of aesthetic design. It was colored a solid black, with the occasional white trim on various edges. Leather was sewn onto it like a gambeson, providing some defense. Pauldrons, vambraces, and greaves completed the outfit, attached to their respectable body parts with leather straps. Hanging from each side of her hips in sheaths were a pair of bladed Jitte, with a main blade length of one-and-a-half-feet and a secondary blade length of six inches.

The woman herself was tall, exactly 6'8". Her hair was black, though the occasional gray strand shone bright in the moonlight, testaments to her struggles. Her eyes were a light brown, much like her skin, a reflection of her birth country. She was by no definition fat, though her toned musculature caused her outfit to stretch in a way that implied she was, and her shoulders were slightly wide for a woman.

Her master regarded her for a moment as he thought about that very topic. The Keyblade warrior had made contact with some of the people of Remnant, and though the exact number was small, the significance and importance of the people he had met was plainly obvious. So how to proceed? Kingdom Hearts had told him to watch the young man, and to make sure he did his job properly. But what exactly did that entail? He understood Sora's job well enough: go to worlds and seal their Keyholes. But his own mission was far less clear.

Finally, he made a decision. He would not simply watch from afar, remaining inactive as Sora and his entourage made their rounds through the worlds. He had things to do, goals to achieve, and he would not sit idly by as the Keyblade warrior sluggishly moved from planet to planet, taking the time to solve each tiny, insignificant problem as it came up.

No, he would be an opposing force to the young man, someone that would drive him to action, someone who would make his job contain a sense of urgency.

He looked down at the young woman. "We are meant to watch over the Keyblade warrior, but inactivity will help no one. The others should come back soon with information; we will make plans then."

One by one, his allies returned to the rooftop, some kneeling, others standing idly. As they recounted what they had learned, the man noticed one recurring piece of information.

"Roman Torchwick," he muttered, "a well known and wanted criminal. But apparently, skilled enough to evade capture despite his infamy." He looked down at the woman and issued his command: "Find Roman Torchwick, and then lead me to him. We shall be the force that opposes the Keyblade warriors, a force that will drive them to move quickly to fulfill their duty."

"Wouldn't it be easier to just reveal ourselves to them and help them in their duties?" Another young woman asked, this one wearing a simple combination of a T-shirt and military-grade fatigue pants, with greaves lining the inside of the pants and pauldrons and gauntlets in place. A pair of custom made .45 ACP caliber pistols hung from holster under her arms, and a .50 caliber revolver, also custom made, hung from a holster at her hip. A Heckler and Koch 416 series assault rifle hung diagonally across her torso, held aloft by a shoulder strap and cradled in her hands.

Her hair was cut short, in a symmetrical bob-style cut. It was a solid black, and her eyes were a dark brown, to the point that most initially thought they were black as well. She was shorter than the other, being 6'4" despite being several years older than the other woman. She was incredibly slim and toned, with her muscles defining the shape of her clothes.

"No," he replied easily. "Befriending him might provide some immediate boost in his capacity to operate, but it would be short lived. In time, he'd grow complacent -perhaps it would be appropriate to say 'even more so than he already is', given how he handled the Heartless and Grimm earlier today- and the boost to their operating speed would slow. As antagonists, we'd serve as a true motivation for him to take his work as seriously as possible, and to handle it as quickly as possible as well.

"Now go, and find me Roman Torchwick!"

The woman in the maid outfit nodded and left, leaping from the rooftop for another as she began her search. The other sat down and sighed, seeking relaxation after all the work she had been put through. The other members of the group chatted idly amongst themselves, trusting in their leader.

"You're sure this is the best option?" the young woman in the T-shirt asked once more, internally hoping that she wouldn't have to work as much under his chosen plan.

"Honestly? No, not really. But it's the most efficient for achieving our goals."

She nodded once before pulling out a flask and taking a swig. "I guess that's the best I can hope for, in this universe," she muttered quietly to herself before taking another drink.

End of Chapter.

All right! That's that for now! Reine de la Mort, thank you for your work editing this chapter, and I'm sorry it took so goddamn long for me to actually work on it. In order to not waste any more of your time, I won't ask you to continue acting as an editor, though I will continue to write the story in the Google Doc folder I shared with you, so if you ever feel like leaving a criticism, feel free.

Later!
-KF