I know I usually upload at a far different time of day, but fuck it. My story, my rules, and I can break those rules if I want. Maybe this way I'll wake up to some follows, favs and feedbacks.

...it may also mean there are more minor mistakes than normal, as I haven't taken as many edit reads as normal. I finished writing this, like, ten minutes before uploading it.

Enjoy surprise late night drop!

Since he wasn't stopping at Ruby's home, Mickey decided to follow normal protocol and leave the Gummiship high in the atmosphere and beam down planetside. Of course, when visiting a world for the first time it could be hard to be accurate with the landing zone. That's how the King found himself moving through some place called Vale while searching for 'Beacon Academy'.

There was something strange about Remnant, Mickey caught on quickly. He had visited enough worlds to know his appearance wasn't exactly the norm, but for one reason or another that never seemed to come up before. But he swore once every couple of passers by, someone would shoot his ears a curious look. A few of the looks were downright dirty, and one person called him a filthy 'something', but it wasn't a word he knew.

After deciding he needed to ask someone for directions, he kept an eye out for someone that appeared friendly and grabbed their attention. "Heya!"

"Oh, hey… you lost?" the man asked.

"I guess you could say that," Mickey nodded. "I'm lookin' for 'Beacon Academy'."

"Beacon? Really?" the man didn't seem to believe him.

"That's right. I'm meetin' a friend, and that's where they're at!" Mickey explained.

"And you don't know where Beacon is?" the man cocked his eyebrow.

"Well… I suppose you could say I'm new to town!" Mickey responded enthusiastically.

The man still wasn't sure he believed everything the strange mouse said, but he figured it was common enough knowledge that there was no harm in providing it. Even if he does want trouble, what could he get up to in a school filled with buff, young fighters? "The big castle up the cliff," the man finally pointed. "That's Beacon."

"Oh. That's easier than I thought!" Mickey smiled. "Thank you!"

"Yeah, sure," the man scratched his head, still unsure over the interaction as he watched Mickey walk away. "You're welcome."

Ruby's afternoon class that day was Glynda's sparring class. After having to blow off Port's class for the King's call, she decided she may as well show up. She had to at least appear a studious student, if only for the sake of the other students. Of course she didn't actually participate, and she had a feeling Glynda secretly excluded her from the sparring randomizer. As such, she was free to peek out the window when someone wandered on to Beacon campus. Someone she had been waiting for all day.

"Professor!" she shouted, uncaring that she was interrupting an active spar, "may I be excused…" she hesitated for a beat as her brain finished inventing her excuse, "for the bathroom?"

Glynda barely batted an eyelash. "Yes, but could you come here first? I have a message to deliver, and you'll be in the halls anyway."

While Ruby dashed down, her team leaned their heads together for a quiet discussion. "Do you think this has anything to do with that weird call she got the other day?" Weiss asked.

"Gods, I hope so…" Yang muttered. The other two shared a look of confusion. Yang clarified, "that device she answered on? That's the communication device she uses to contact her masters."

"So a Keyblade Master is coming?" Blake put together quickly. "Really?"

"Seems so," Yang smiled. "But not one I know. I got a peek of them over Ruby's shoulder and… they definitely weren't familiar."

"An actual Master…" Weiss thought aloud. "Given what we've seen Ruby do… I can't imagine just how strong they'll be."

"Any stronger than Ruby and they could probably break the school in half. By accident," Blake quipped.

"I don't know…" Yang opened up on something that had been on her mind for a while, "I have some idea about this stuff, and seeing how much Ruby has improved this year… I do wonder if she's not far from closing the gap herself."

The weight of the theory wasn't lost on Weiss or Blake. They may have no idea how strong a Keyblade Wielder could be, but to be a 'Master' of anything was an incredible accomplishment.

Ruby reached the desk while her team were still whispering to each other. She spoke with Glynda quietly so the two students in the sparring ring wouldn't hear them. "Is there really a note?"

"Not as such," Glynda confirmed, "I just wanted to ask if I should actually be expecting you back?"

"Probably not," Ruby admitted. "In fact, I might have some very good news for the next meeting!"

"Brothers knows, we've precious little of that in recent months," Glynda sighed, "Well, don't let me hold you up."

With Glynda officially releasing her, Ruby dashed through the halls and out the front of Beacon. She tore across the courtyard, zeroing in on her target. Unable to contain her excitement, she literally jumped at the small King. "Your majestyyyyy!" She landed practically on top of Mickey, her knees dragging on the ground while her arms wrapped tightly around the Master.

Mickey played the unexpected hug-tackle off well, patting Ruby's back with a chuckle. "It's good to see you too."

"You don't even know how much… Even after the call this morning, I had a hard time believing this was actually happening…" Ruby confessed. After a moment she seemed to regain her senses and leapt back to her feet in embarrassment. "Sorry…"

Mickey only chuckled. "So, this is your home world?"

"Yup!" Ruby nodded, "Welcome to Remnant." Her smile fell, "so, not to rush anything, but… I've been waiting months for a Master to tell me what's next."

"Well, I'm still a little fuzzy on just what happened to the Land of Departure," Mickey thought aloud, "plus there's this big threat on Remnant?"

"Right…" Ruby nodded, "I guess I have a lot to catch you up on."

Mickey looked around the courtyard. They were alone for the time being, but it wasn't a very private place. "Is there a safe place to talk?"

"Yeah, follow me," Ruby turned to lead Mickey away, while shooting Yang a text to make sure RWBY dorm stayed private for a while.

She laid everything out. Starting with how the Land of Departure was overrun and how she was cast across the Ocean Between. She told him about how Ozpin bugged her into joining Beacon and her first tenuous weeks at academy. She informed him about the Maiden Thief and the person in the black coat. She confessed to him about her alliance with Ozpin's group, about Remnant's magic and Maidens, and the secrets she divulged in return. After she was finally done recounting to the present, her and Mickey sat in silence for a solid few minutes.

"So," Ruby finally broke, "how much trouble am I in?"

"Whaddya mean?" Mickey asked.

"The World Order?" Ruby reminded him. "My pact with Ozpin is a huge violation!"

"Welp, technically you didn't break World Order," Mickey pointed out, "'cause they still don't know about other worlds, right?"

"But what about everything I've said about magic and the Keyblade?" Ruby inquired.

"It sounds to me like you did what you had to do," Mickey rationalized. "You weren't in an easy place to be, even for Master."

Ruby couldn't believe her ears. "It can't be that easy? This is our golden rule I've broken!"

"Ruby, it doesn't work like that," Mickey told her.

The statement confused the young wielder. "What do you mean?"

"World Order isn't a written law that we police and punish for," Mickey elaborated. "Usually magic isn't even an issue, most worlds do have their own. And this is hardly the first time we've had to inform a World about Darkness and the Heartless. But things will happen because of it, and if those things are bad things…"

"It'll be my mess," Ruby deduced, "and my job to clean it up, right?" Mickey nodded. "But what if there's no mess?"

"Then you'd be luckier than I was…" Mickey confessed.

Ruby looked up in surprise. "You broke World Order?"

"To an old friend," Mickey nodded. "His students overheard, and those students ended up filling half of Organization XIII."

"Wow…" Ruby remembered reading about Organization XIII in Jiminy Cricket's Journals. An excellent resource for recent Keyblader history. It was sobering to hear even the best could make mistakes.

A silence grew between them until Ruby spoke up again, "so, not to sound like a broken record…"

"Right," Mickey nodded, his voice turning serious. "Unfortunately, we don't know much about the one in the Black Coat. We can't do anything about them until they show their hood again."

Ruby nodded, "That makes sense. What about the Masters? Are we going after them?"

"Not we," Mickey shook his head.

Ruby's heart sank. "So after all this, even a Master showing up, I'm still supposed to just… sit here? Waiting!?"

Mickey's eyes narrowed at the young girl. "The Dark Realm is far more dangerous than anywhere you've been in the Realm of Light! It's no place for a trainee!"

"So basically, nothing has changed…" Ruby grumbled, turning to glare out the window. "This is starting to get frustrating…"

A knock at the dorm door interrupted Ruby and diverted both hers and the King's attention. "I understand there are things we can't know," Weiss's voice sounded through the door, "but can I least come inside to change?"

Ruby looked to the King for confirmation. Mickey nodded. "Come on in," she shouted.

All three of her teammates piled into the room, and all three stopped to stare at Mickey. Weiss was the first to speak up, "you're a Keyblade Master?"

"Weiss!" Blake scolded.

Weiss suddenly looked mortified. "Oh, no! I swear, it has nothing to do with that!"

"Even so, it was still rude…" Blake scowled.

"Guys!" Ruby tried to take control of the conversation before it got out of hand. Gesturing to the King, she properly announced him, "ahem… May I formally introduce you to Keybade Master, Mickey Mouse!"

"Your last name is seriously 'Mouse'?" Yang grinned.

"Yup!" Mickey answered with all the enthusiasm in the world. "Is that strange?"

Mickey's unshakable optimism disarmed everyone. Yang could only reply with an awkward and honest, "y-yeah, it is."

"Gotcha," Mickey nodded.

Ruby used the break in conversation to continue introductions. "Your Ma-hah-ster Mickey," she coughed slightly as she corrected herself, "Master Mickey, this is my team! My partner Weiss Schnee, my sister Yang Xiao Long, and her partner Blake Belladonna."

"Pleased to meet'cha!" Mickey smiled.

"The honor is ours," Weiss tipped her head to him. Having gotten over her initial shock, her upbringing took over and gave the newcomer the respect deserved by a Master of anything.

Blake crossed her arms in thought. "So… what does a Master being here actually change?"

Ruby's smile fell. "Less than I'd hoped," she lamented.

"Well, him just being here won't magically make things better," Weiss rationalized. "He'll still have to… you know…" Weiss struggled to find a more elegent way to explain. "…Do things," she failed.

"And apparently I'm not allowed to join him on those things," Ruby grumbled. "I'm stuck here. Again."

"Well, there is your Maiden Thief," Mickey spoke up. "I have an idea about that, at least."

Ruby turned back to the Master in surprise. "Seriously?"

Mickey nodded. "You said you felt Darkness fall over the school when 'Atlas' and the visiting students arrived. Now, I understand how the sight of warships can spread fear and anger, but have you considered that the Darkness blanketing the school comes from your Darkness-using enemy?"

Realization dawned on Ruby's face. "I… I hadn't. But that would mean-" Pieces of the puzzle started to click together in the young wielder's head. "I think this is something I have to tell Ozpin."

"I'll trust your judgment there," Mickey assured. A smile found his face. "I kinda wanna meet this fella myself anyways."

"He'll definitely want to meet you." Ruby pulled out her scroll and sent a message to Ozpin to call a meeting ASAP. "Hopefully, a meeting can be held soon."

Emerald was on edge. Ever since Cinder had gotten that new 'darkness' or whatever she called it, the woman had only grown more frightening. Emerald owed Cinder everything, and would do anything for her. And while it would hard for anyone to claim to woman was a saint, lately she seemed downright… sinister. All the adoration in the world couldn't blind the thief from the sense that this woman just wasn't the Cinder she knew anymore. She had even taken to using her, Mercury and, Neopolitan as 'test subjects' for her new abilities.

She was subjecting Mercury to something that could only be described as torture when a black void suddenly opened in the middle of their room. The void vanished as quickly as it appeared, leaving behind a gangly stranger in a heavy black coat. Emerald and Neopolitan drew their weapons while Mercury made an effort to stand that was doomed to fail.

Cinder watched the boy fall back to his knees before turning to face the intruder herself. She smiled, "I was wondering if I'd have the chance to see you again."

Emerald blinked. "You know this person?"

The hood obscured their face in darkness as it always had, but Cinder could tell her guest was staring at her. "Another light has arrived," the enigmatic creature finally spoke.

Cinder cocked an eyebrow. "Meaning?"

"Another Key," the figure clarified. "And not one you can beat."

"Perhaps not," Cinder spat, thinking back to her bitter draw against Ruby. The dark woman held up a hand wreathed in black flame. "But soon."

The figure didn't respond. Cinder couldn't help but feel uncomfortable as she felt them stare into her very being. "You're losing control."

"Excuse me?" Cinder scowled.

"You're going to lose yourself," the figure continued, unintimidated, "and no one will be able to help you then."

"Oh please…" Cinder's arrogance bled through, "why would I need to fear a tool?"

The figure cocked their head, taking a look at the nearly broken boy on the other side of the dark woman. "I suppose, at this rate… you'll find out."

With that cryptic remark, the figure vanished in another dark cloud. The strike Emerald had been trying to sneakily set up the entire conversation passed through empty air. The thief quickly scanned the dorm. "Where did they go!?" By the time the green haired subordinate turned back to her boss, Cinder's scowl had softened to an unamused glare. "Who were they?"

Cinder huffed. "I intend to discover just that someday," she answered. "But first…" she turned back to Mercury.

"Look, boss," Mercury pleaded, "I'll admit I've got some weird kinks… but maybe we can take a breEEEAAAAAHHH!"

Mercury writhed in pain once more. A malicious grin stretched across Cinder's face as her eyes glowed a bright yellow.