The grounds of Blackwell were covered in Heartless. Thankfully most of the students had already escaped into the school's interior, and the few that hadn't were already on their way. Including Maxine, who Ruby noted was wearing… pastels? What the heck did she do? Questions for later. Ruby rushed to Maxine, knocking Heartless out of her way all the while.

"What the hell is going on, Maxine!?" A girl with a blonde boy-cut questioned.

"It's Max, never Maxine," Maxine shouted back, "and never mind! Just get inside!"

"Max!" Ruby shouted as she got close.

"Excuse me? Who is this?" The mystery blonde asked.

"Just get inside, Victoria!" Maxine shoved the girl through the doors.

Ruby reached Maxine and didn't hesitate to ask, "what the heck did you do!?"

Before Maxine could answer, a shadow jumped at her. Ruby noticed and quickly dispatched it. "I don't think we have the time for me to explain," Maxine deduced.

"Come on!" Ruby grabbed Maxine's hand and dragged her away. "The Heartless are after you, the least we could do is draw them away from everyone else!"

The wave of Heartless followed them across the campus, but they only got so far before they were cut off by more monsters. "There are so many of them!" Maxine cried.

"Where is Chloe!?" Ruby wondered aloud. Even without the punk wielder, Ruby was holding her own against the horde. At some point, the horde seemed to realize they were losing, and their attacks suddenly stopped. The Shadows retreated just under the ground and began to gather a few feet away, slowly becoming a single, larger black mass. The mass began to rise, slowly towering above them and staring down with piercing yellow eyes. It had powerful arms, wild tendrils coming off its head, and a heart-shaped hollow in its chest.

"A Darkside," Ruby observed.

The giant Heartless raised its fist and brought it down, aiming right for the Keyblade wielder. Ruby tried to block but failed, the attack sending her skittering across the ground. She recovered quickly and jumped back to her feet. Before the Darkside could raise its fist again, Ruby jumped on top of its wrist. She dug Crescent Rose into the creature and began running up the arm, dragging her Keyblade through its skin the entire way up. Once she reached the shoulder, she wrenched Crescent Rose free and leapt past the Darkside's face, slashing it as she passed.

The Darkside fell to its knees and gathered energy within its empty chest. The energy soon released in dark bolts that homed in on Ruby. Ruby batted two of the blasts back at the Darkside with a few swings of her Keyblade, but not the third. She was thrown back by the blast as the first two bolts returned to the Darkside, both of them taking damage in the rally.

The Darkside raised its fist once again. Ruby didn't care to see whatever attack was next and decided to try and interrupt the creature. Her eyes passed over her Keyblade as she tried to think of a spell that could interrupt a Darkside. What is powerful enough that can be cast quickly!? All the more powerful spells require extra cast time, and it's not like I can just enhance a normal…! An idea suddenly interrupted Ruby's train of thought. Oh. Right.

Ruby jumped back to her feet and raised Crescent Rose, pointing it straight into the air and gathering the necessary magic energies down the blade. She locked eyes with the giant monster and cried, "Lux Thundaga!"

A golden bolt descended from above the Darkside, striking it squarely and staggering it successfully. Ruby watched carefully with Scan to determine how much damage her spell had done, and she was far from disappointed. Emboldened, Ruby jumped back onto the beast and ran up its arm once again.

The Darkside tried to shake her off, but its movements were sluggish after the Light-infused blast. Ruby continued until she was on top of the monster's head. There, she plunged Crescent Rose into the Darkside's head and gathered as much of her remaining energy as possible.

"Lux Firaga!"

Ruby woke up in Maxine's dorm room, sore but alive. The early morning light filtered in through the window, illuminating Maxine's worried features. "You're awake!"

Ruby sat up slowly, shaking the cobwebs from her head. "Is the Darkside gone?"

"Is it gone? For a moment, I thought you were gone!" Maxine explained, "there was this massive, golden explosion, the Heartless vanished, and you literally fell nearly four stories. It was like watching Kate all over again… I don't even know how you're alive."

"Us Keyblade wielders are… very durable." Ruby explained. "Speaking of, did Chloe ever show up? I'm surprised she didn't run right over here like I did."

"About Chloe… I may have… fixed things with her?" Maxine confessed carefully.

The feeling of unease in Ruby's gut was not appeased. "Explain."

"I found a new power… I can use a photograph I'm in to travel all the way back to when it was taken."

"Okay? So what?"

"So what? I can change things from years ago now!"

Ruby blinked processing slowly. "That… shouldn't be possible. No amount of time magic can… alter reality. Just what kind of magic do you have?" Maxine was about to say something, but Ruby interrupted her, "never mind, there's a more important question. What did you change?"

"I… saved William's life. Chloe's dad. She might just be at home now, spending time with him."

Ruby didn't know how to respond. She had studied time magic and the flow of history, and Maxine's powers flew in the face of the rules of nature. How could she change history like that? How is this new reality sustaining itself inside the old? All of Ruby's education seemed to fail her in the face of the impossible. She walked over to the window, trying to calm her mind with deep breaths. "Huh. The air seems a little still…" she noticed.

"Well, if you're okay, I'm going to Chloe's," Maxine announced. "I need to know if it worked."

Ruby didn't respond right away, instead staring up at the sky. The cogs turned in her brain, one theory after another being shot down. She needed more information. "Yeah," she finally responded, "I'll meet you there. I just wanna check a few things first…"

Before Maxine could question further, Ruby leapt out the window and onto her Keyblade Glider. Maxine watched Ruby recede into the sky and ultimately decided there was no point in wondering now. Ruby would tell her whatever she found at Chloe's, and Maxine herself had a very good reason to head to Chloe's herself right now. She couldn't help but smile as she left, looking forward to her crush's reclaimed happiness.

Less than an hour late Ruby was knocking on the door to Chloe's house. The door was answered by a kind looking man that could only be the famous William. "Well, well, we're popular today, aren't we? So, what brings you here?"

"I'm a friend of… Max's," Ruby fibbed slightly, not knowing how different things were in this reality. "She told me that she planned to stop by here today?"

"I see," William nodded. "Well, I'm sure Chloe will be glad for the additional company! Come on in."

The differences became obvious quickly. For starters, William led Ruby past the stairs up to Chloe's room. Next was the photos on the wall, showing a happier and blonder Chloe growing up with her dad. Then came the empty savings jar that Ruby swore was half full in the original timeline and a desk overflowing with rejected loan applications and overdue medical bills.

The feeling that something had gone very wrong with Maxine's latest stunt only grew as Ruby was led to the door that once led to David's office in the back of the garage. The door opened, and Ruby gasped. In this timeline, the back garage was completely isolated into it's own room, dressed in warm colors. Accessible furniture that surrounded a high tech medical bed where Chloe lay with various tubes and wires connecting her completely immobile form to expensive looking medical equipment.

"Hey, sweetie!" William announced to break the awkward air. "You got another visitor, a friend of Max's. I'm sorry, I never got your name?"

The young wielder quickly adapted, "it's Ruby. You must be Chloe! Max has told me a lot about you."

"Right! She's been telling me about you too!" Chloe caught on. "It's almost like we already know each other."

"Well, that's good!" William smiled. "You three will be fast friends in no time! I'll let you be. Don't have too much fun!" William closed the door behind him, giving the trio some much needed privacy.

Ruby approached the foot of Chloe's bed, looking over the state of her friend. "Well, I'm not going to ask the obvious question…"

"Yeah, totally not okay," Chloe answered regardless. "Apparently dad got me a sweet truck for my sixteenth, but I only had it a few weeks before some prick ran me off the road…"

"But… then you would have been like this since before leaving with Axel?" Ruby pointed out. "I still remember you being at the castle clearly, there's no conflicting memory."

"You guys trained at a castle?" Max couldn't help but ask.

"Did we?" Chloe asked. "God, my memories are a mess right now. I know the broad strokes, but so much was re-written I can't separate one set of memories from the rest. I wasn't even sure you were real until you came through the door, Rubes."

"Have you tried summoning Rebel Soul?" Ruby asked.

"I can't move my hands. Well, I can't move anything below my neck," Chloe explained.

Max's face fell. "I'm so sorry, Chloe… I thought bringing William back would make everything better…"

Chloe frowned. "Max, you don't have anything to apologize for."

"Well…" Ruby interrupted. "She did kind of trap us in an impossible timeline…"

Chloe turned to Ruby, a bit confused. "I thought I was supposed to work on being more responsible? Or did that conversation in the junkyard not happen? I am hella lost…"

"You're on the right track," Ruby assured, "but don't overcorrect and start taking responsibility for things you aren't actually responsible for. What Max did may be a response to your actions, but you didn't tell her to try reviving your dad. She made the choice to change history."

"So… you're saying we both made mistakes?" Chloe asked, just to be sure. "Alright, I think I understand. Still learning this whole 'mature adult' thing."

"I'm happy you're growing, but can we back up a second?" Maxine cut in. "I have a couple questions. 'Trapped'? And 'impossible timeline'?"

Ruby sighed before responding to the easiest one first. "I wanted to take a second look at the sigil I told you," she looked to Chloe, "about. But I couldn't leave…" she hesitated, her eyes passing over Maxine, "Arcadia Bay. When I tried, I suddenly found myself flying right back without really meaning to. I couldn't tell you how I got turned around."

"Alright, that's kinda unnerving," Chloe nodded, to the best of her ability at least.

"And?" Maxine led.

"What you did should be impossible, Max," Ruby explained. "Time magic just isn't capable of this."

"Not ours, but don't, uh… local magics tend to work differently?" Chloe pointed out.

"Max isn't breaking the rules of magic, she's breaking the rules of reality," Ruby emphasized. "That's no simple feat, even for Keyblade wielders. And Max has done it, as far as I can tell, completely by accident. And without the normal cost…"

"Cost?" Max asked cautiously.

"The last time someone changed the course of history," Ruby continued, "they were expelled from reality. They ended up in a place that's nearly impossible to return from. But all three of us are clearly still in Arcadia Bay, so that hasn't happened…"

Silence filled the room until Maxine had a thought. "Are you sure?"

"About what?" Ruby asked.

"That we haven't been 'expelled'? You said you couldn't leave Arcadia Bay, right? What if that's because… nothing else exists here?"

"So… like we're stuck in a pocket dimension? Like Dr. Who?" Chloe questioned skeptically.

"Actually, Chloe, it isn't so crazy an idea…" Ruby pondered. "Places have been split like this before. Mostly through dream states and data replication, but there are a few other examples… and it would explain why we weren't lost outside reality. Max's changes have always been small until now. Tiny bends that reality was able to handle. So, when she made a large change that Reality couldn't handle, Arcadia Bay split in two to quarantine us."

"Really?" Chloe was amazed. "So what, there's another Arcadia Bay where versions of us that didn't change history are still running around? Or are the three of us missing from the real Arcadia Bay?"

"This is mostly educated guessing, I don't have all the answers. But it's the only theory I have so far that makes sense. There's just one last question I have…" Ruby paused to look toward Maxine. "Just who are you?"

"Me? What do you mean?" Max questioned.

"The very world seems to be bending over backwards to grant your every wish," Ruby observed. "And the Heartless chase you while ignoring everyone else on Arcadia Bay. What makes you so important?"

"I don't know… and if it were granting my every wish, Chloe wouldn't be like this," Maxine pointed out.

"I'm not accusing you, I'm sorry if it came off wrong…" Ruby conceded. "It's just that none of this makes sense."

"Speaking of my condition," Chloe cut in, "what are we going to do about it? Will Cure heal this?"

"Nothing that extreme," Ruby shook her head.

"I could go back again? Try and warn Chloe about the accident?" Maxine suggested.

"And make a third Arcadia Bay we can't leave? Chloe and I can't stay here forever," Ruby argued.

The two fell silent. Chloe's eyes roamed toward the door, the cogs turning in her brain. "The world doesn't revolve around me."

Ruby and Maxine turned toward Chloe.

"I think I know what we have to do," Chloe continued. "We have to return to the real Arcadia Bay in Reality. Max, you have to go back to that day, and you have to…" She struggled to finish her thought.

"Let William go," Ruby finished for her. "If our personal histories synchronize with the original timeline, we might just return instead of branch out again."

"What? No!" Max shook her head. "No, we just got William back! I can't let him die again…"

"You won't be killing him, Max," Chloe assured. "Seeing dad again is incredible, but it's not real. Even this," she gestured to her immobile body with her eyes, "might just be a sign from the world that this isn't right."

Max couldn't speak. Ruby put on as comforting of a voice as she could before supplementing, "it's the only way."

Max sighed heavily. "Alright… if you're sure, I'll do it."

"Just… let me do one thing?" Chloe asked hopefully.

Ruby nodded. "I'll send him in, and Max and I will go to your room, your real room. We'll give you a few minutes, and then make the change from there."

Chloe nodded and watched Max and Ruby file out of the room. A moment later, William entered with a trademark comforting smile.

He sat down next to his daughter, his warm eyes meeting her own. "Hey, kiddo. You wanted to talk?"

"Yeah, I did. And it might not all make sense, but I want you to just… listen, okay?"

"Alright, whenever you're ready," William complied, never losing that smile.

"I just want to tell you… how much I love you. And I do love you. So, so much…"

"Hey, now… this isn't goodbye, okay? We'll get through this-"

"Dad, please," Chloe begged, tears stinging her eyes. "I need to do this. I love you, and I miss you so much. I… haven't been okay for a long time. But I want to do better. I'm going to do better. For mom, for Max, and especially for you. I don't know if you'll still know all this from wherever you are an hour from now, but I promise that I'll try to be someone you can be proud of."

"Sweetie…" William spoke softly. "I'll always be proud of you. You've been so strong through all of this. Whatever the future holds for you, as long as you carry that strength, there will be nothing you can't accomplish. And no feat I won't be proud of. You're my precious daughter, and I'd give my life if it meant you could live yours…"

"I know dad…" Chloe sniffed. "I'd hug you right now, but…"

"Hey, I got you," William stood up and carefully embraced Chloe. "No dad is ever too old to hug their daughter."

"… I love you dad."

"I love you, too, kiddo."

Chloe could only enjoy the hug for a scant few seconds before the splitting headache came. She cried out in pain as the world blurred around her. When her scenery started coming back into focus, she swore she saw both the empty version of her bedroom and her real, punk-decorated bedroom. The two seemed to slide toward each other, with the empty version fading away slowly. When the headache finally passed, Chloe was in her real bedroom, in her enchanted clothing, with Ruby and Max in the room as well.

"Are we back?" Chloe asked.

"We'll have to look into a few things to know for sure, but it looks like it," Ruby answered.

"Guys?" Max interrupted, pointing out the window. Chloe and Ruby looked outside to see the Darkside rising.

"Right on cue," Ruby noted and summoned Crescent Rose.

"Alright, someone has had to have seen some of this crap by now, right?" Chloe wondered. "I mean, the people in this town are dumb, not blind."

"We'll just have to take care of it before they realize it's real," Ruby shrugged. "You ready?"

Chloe looked to her hand and summoned Rebel Soul. Confirming she was indeed still a wielder, she smiled. "Always."

Without any further delay, the pair leapt out of the window and into the fray.