The Smiling Cat

"Where am I?"

She found herself standing in a strange void like place that felt familiar for some reason.

Her eyes then widened in shock. "Wait, this was where Oz was brought by the God of Light before…"

Before she could finish her sentence, a familiar person appeared before her. "Weiss!"

"Winter!" She rushed up and hugged her old sister who hugged her back. "I am so glad to see you!"

"I am glad to see you! I thought you were dead!" Winter actually cried while hugging the sister she had thought had died.

They both held each other for a moment, crying into each other's shoulders before they finally parted.

"What happened? I saw Cinder knock you off the path and into the void." Winter said, wiping her tears away.

"We woke up on some sort of strange island." Weiss answered, copying her sister's actions in wiping her tears away. "We've been trying to find a way back." She looked around. "What is this place?"

Winter had a sad look on her face. "I have been here…When Penny died and transferred her Maiden powers to me."

Weiss then looked at Winter, her eyes slowly widening. "No…"

"I'm sorry-" Winter was cut off as Weiss hugged her again, her arms squeezing tightly around her sister's body.

"Please tell me it's not true!" Weiss whimpered into her sister's shoulder. "We are trying to get back to help-"

"I'm sorry Weiss." Winter said as she hugged her sister back. "After you left, we struggled to get all the refuges into Vacuo…And then they came."

Weiss pulled back slightly, looking into Winter's eyes. "They? You mean Salem and Cinder?"

"Not them." Winter shook her head. "Some other force…Just as dark as the Grimm but much worse. They spread all over Remnant and….We never stood a chance."

Weiss' eyes widened even further in horror. "No…"

"I'm so sorry, Weiss." Winter said sadly. "But there's nothing to go back to."

"NO!" Weiss screamed as she hugged Winter tightly again. "We were going to find our way back! We were going to find our back to you…"

Winter sadly hugged her sister back. "I know, Weiss. I am so sorry. I am sorry I ran off and left you and Mother with Jacques, for not standing with you against Ironwood and for not being the kind of sister you deserved."

"No!" Weiss pulled away. "It wasn't your fault, Winter. It was ours. I ran away to Beacon to get away from him because I couldn't stand him anymore. You tried to help me in any way you could and it's not your fault I fell."

Winter smiled sadly as she cupped her sister's cheek. "I'm glad though that I get to see you one last time and that you're alive."

"Winter…" Weiss sniffed as she grabbed her sister's cheek.

"All I have left to give is the very same gift Penny gave me to protect from Salem." Winter continued. "It's yours now."

"No!" Weiss gripped Winter's hand. "I don't want it! Please, there has to be another! Please don't leave me!"

"I won't." Winter said with a saddened smile as she started to fade. "Penny said she would become part of me when she gave me this power…and now we'll become part of you."

"Winter!" Weiss cried and sobbed as her sister vanished, leaving her with the power she had been given to protect. "WINTER!"

She woke up, screaming in pure agony, her heart breaking from the loss of her sister and the family she had just got back.

Now all she had were her friends.

And the power of Winter.

Only now there was no point in having it.

Their world was gone.

All that was left was the pain.

A pain she would do anything to get rid of.

Even if it meant freezing her heart.

Xxx

"So who are you? A survivor from the others who fell here like us? I didn't think anyone else survived being blasted off the Central Pathway."

Aqua was sitting at an icy table, shivering a bit from the ice made chair but shrugged it off as she conversed with her 'host'.

"Oh where are my manners?" The girl gestured to herself. "I am Weiss Schnee, former heiress to the Schnee Family and the current Winter Maiden."

She sipped from her glass with liquid being some sort of fruit drink. "Would you like a drink?"

"…No thank you." Aqua carefully answered. "I'd prefer water if you wouldn't mind."

"Easy." Weiss made a gesture with a hand, creating glass made of ice and she twirled a finger inside it, creating water.

Aqua could feel the raw magic the girl was wielding to just make a single glass of water. It was similar to the power that the red hooded girl she had met earlier had used. While it wasn't stronger than the likes of other magical users like Maleficent or Xehanort it was still powerful enough that Weiss and that other girl would likely become forces of nature if they could master it.

Weiss then made a gesture and the glass of cold water floated over to Aqua who gratefully accepted it. "Thank you."

"I've been going through the numerous fruits and coconuts on this island." Weiss waved off Aqua's 'thank you' as if she hadn't even heard it. "The raspberries are the only ones that can give me the slight feeling of relief."

Aqua stared closely, seeing the girl as she sipped the glass and noticed the dazed off look in her eyes.

This girl was intoxicated.

Whatever she was drinking likely had something in that was similar to alcohol enough to cause such an effect.

"It's the only suitable drink I can make around here, aside from…" Weiss gestured around them. "My new home. What do you think of it?"

"It's…" Aqua tried to find the right word. "Chilly."

Weiss actually chuckled as she took another sip. "Yes, I suppose you could say I got it from my father. He always liked keeping it cold in his study. I've only now started to understand why he liked it so much. Cold numbs everything, including your feelings."

Aqua felt a great sense of pain and anguish from the girl. She was trying to numb her feelings, become apathetic to what has happened to her.

She once read a book saying that while pride was the father of all sins…

Apathy was the mother.

"You mind telling me a bit about your family?" Aqua suddenly asked.

Weiss glanced at her for a second before shrugging. "I suppose. What do you want to know?"

"How about whatever comes to your mind when you think of them?" Aqua suggested.

"Well…The first word that comes to mind is…" Weiss put the glass down. "Dead."

Aqua's widened slightly. "…Dead?"

"Along with everyone else back home." Weiss poured herself another drink. "Father was dead before we got here…Not that it is a bad thing. He was a cold hearted ruthless and selfish bastard anyways. The world was better off without him."

Aqua just stayed silent.

"Mother was a drunk most of my life, mostly because she found out Father had only married her for her money, not that we all didn't suspect that from the very beginning. She couldn't handle it and turned to drinking, ignoring her kids when they needed all because she couldn't put her own problems aside for the sake of her son and daughters." Weiss smiled as she took another sip. "I kind of understand why she did now. Too bad I have none of the real thing to help me block out reality. I was kind of looking forward to it. My brother, a backstabbing little Daddy's boy, trying to kiss his feet just so he could hopefully one day get a pat on the head and a 'That's my boy' from him."

Weiss threw her head back and let out a small laugh, surprising Aqua.

"Like that was ever going to happen." Weiss took another sip. "Bastard would have left him to die in the blink of an eye."

Aqua could only stare as Weiss let out a bitter laugh.

"So what is your story?" Weiss asked, leaning her face against a palm. "A refuge from Atlas who is left to wander this crazy world?"

"Something like that." Aqua admitted, taking a sip out of her water.

"Well, you're welcome to stay as long as you'd like." Weiss gestured grandly to their surroundings. "My home is always open to anyone who has none. It's not like I have anything worth stealing. Say, were you a Huntress?"

Aqua raised an eyebrow. "In a way."

"Perhaps we can spend some time bonding together. I wouldn't want to have my skills go rusty." Weiss leaned back with a smile. "You are familiar with my family's Semblance?"

"I…" Aqua trailed off.

"Well, don't worry. I won't be fighting you." Weiss held up her hand and summoned a glowing glyph. "Might as well put them to use so they aren't wasted."

(Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep OST Monstrous Monstro –Arena Ver.-)

Aqua jumped up and stepped back a suit of white glowing armor appeared behind Weiss, growing in size as it stepped over the table. Aqua jumped down into the snowy garden and summoned her Keyblade while watching as the armor grew larger, even becoming bigger than Gantu. Weiss settled back on her chair, watching as she sipped her red raspberry drink. The suit of armor approached Aqua, brandishing a giant broadsword, giving one spin in its hand before it swung its blade down.

Aqua summoned a barrier around her and the sword shattered on impact.

Weiss raised an eyebrow at that, watching as Aqua pointed her Keyblade at the armor. "Fire!"

A single large fireball hit the armor in the chest and dispersed in an explosion of flames and light particles.

"Impressive." Weiss noted, summoning another glyph.

This time it was a giant armored pig with large tusks. Aqua recognized it as being similar to the Grimm creatures she had fought before.

As the creature charged at her Aqua made a line along the ground with her Keyblade. "Seeker Mine."

A line of orb shaped lights traveled along the line Aqua made and she turned away, keeping her back to the charging boar. As it touched a few of the orbs there was a blast of light that sent it flying up into the air. Aqua then spun around and threw her Keyblade at it, watching as it impacted the boar through the chest and it shattered into a shower of light particles like the first one.

"Hmph, you make it look so easy and yet I fought like a novice against that one." Weiss scoffed, looking in only a semi-interested gaze.

Aqua watched as Weiss summoned another glyph and watched as a giant hornet appeared. The hornet flew around the garden, keeping Aqua in its sights while Aqua focused her gaze on it. It aimed its stinger at her and fired. Aqua cartwheeled to the side, watching as the stinger impacted the ground and was then retracted back to the bother it was attached to by a long tether.

It fired again and Aqua somersaulted back to dodge. Only when it impacted the ground Aqua rushed ahead and grabbed it, being pulled off the ground as the hornet retracted its stringer. It could only let out a surprised screech as Aqua leapt up into the air and swung her Keyblade down, slashing it in two. Aqua fell and landed perfectly on the ground while the hornet dissolved like its predecessors.

"Impressive. You must be one strong Huntress. Shameful you were not around to help us." Weiss noted stoically. "We could have used the help."

Aqua watched as Weiss summoned another glyph and from it a pair of large blue glowing wings appeared, followed by the body of a giant bird that shot up into the air with a loud screech.

"This can be considered the final one." Weiss noted, lightly shaking her red drink.

Aqua looked up, keeping an eye on the giant bird as it circled around the garden, letting out a loud screech as it stopped and spread its wings out. From its wings, razor sharp feathers were launched and fell towards the Keyblade Master like rain. Aqua summoned a barrier that blocked the feathers before they could hit her. The barrier held out, deflecting the feathers that scattered across the garden and vanished mere seconds later.

"You seem to carry a lot of abilities. Too much for one mere Semblance." Weiss noted absently. "Is that magic you are wielding?"

Aqua said nothing, focusing her attention on the bird as it swooped down, brandishing its claws to either grab or skewer her. Just as Aqua was prepared to move, a pink blur jumped up from the roof and delivered a kick to the bird, sending it crashing past Aqua into the ground. The blur landed next to Aqua, revealing it to be a familiar girl to both.

"Neo." Weiss frowned; looking at the girl who faced her upon hearing her name. "So you associate yourself with the likes of her. I would be angry if I was still capable of it…But I'll settle for the both of you getting skewered."

Aqua spun around as the bird lifted its head and tried to eat Neo. Aqua's Keyblade was surrounded in a bright light as she thrust it forward, stabbing her glowing weapon through the bird's head. It immediately dispersed as Aqua's blade came out the other side.

(Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep OST Monstrous Monstro –Arena Ver.- Ends)

Weiss just stared at the two as they now looked at her. "To think my first visitor would bring me such unwanted company."

Neo just glared up at the Winter Maiden.

"But it gives me the opportunity a long overdue score." With a wave of her hand, Weiss started conjuring a blizzard around the two, intent on freezing them to death while she watched. "You both can be the newest additions to my Winter Garden."

Aqua quickly summoned her armor and glider, grabbing Neo and took off into the air. Weiss watched as they escaped her blizzard which dissipated on her command.

She leaned back in her chair and took another sip of her drink.

Xxx

Aqua flew away from Weiss' mansion, landing in the middle of the forest surrounding the giant tree, watching as Neo hopped off and dismissed her armor and glider upon landing.

Aqua sighed as she walked to a tree and sat down against before looking at Neo. "What made you come along and help me?"

Neo just stared at her before closing her eyes and shrugged.

"You don't know?" Aqua raised an eyebrow.

Neo turned away.

"I don't believe that." Aqua said simply.

Neo pulled out her device and typed out her message. Maybe I figured I owed you for saving me from Little Red. Or maybe I thought you were my best shot at surviving her and the others.

"You mean like Weiss?" Aqua asked.

And the other two.

"So there are four of them." Aqua sighed and closed her eyes. "And they all want you dead."

Neo walked over and sat down next to Aqua as she typed out another message. Blondie up and left her team, I haven't seen her for a good while and the Kitty…

"You know I have no idea what any of that means when you just label them with nicknames like that, right?" Aqua asked dryly.

Neo rolled her eyes and just typed another message. It's my thing but fine. Little Red is named Ruby, Ice Queen is Weiss, Kitty is Blake and Blondie is Yang.

"That makes things slightly easier. What nickname did you have for me?" Aqua asked curiously.

Blue.

"…That's it? Just Blue?" Aqua asked, almost sounding disappointed.

All I got. Your hair and eyes made it easy.

Aqua sighed and shook her head. "You really have this penchant for annoying people, don't you?"

Part of my charm. Neo shrugged and made a small smile.

"Until everyone wants to kill you." Aqua muttered.

Neo frowned when she heard that but didn't argue on that one. The two just sat together, staring out at the ocean. Aqua had just remembered that this world had two suns and thus the days lasted a little longer.

"Is what she and the girl named Ruby said true?" Aqua asked suddenly. "That you helped get them stranded here."

Neo scowled and looked away.

"If you really want me to protect you, I deserve the truth." Aqua stated.

Neo was still for a moment before she typed out a message.

A rather long message.

The truth is that it doesn't matter now and I don't need to break down and spill my guts to you, even if you did save my life one time. All you need to know is that all my life I had nothing and then I had one thing that was taken from me, a single light, a single friend and it was taken from me. He was the only to ever care for me and even if Red and her friends were not directly responsible she still had a role to play in his death.

She would say she and her friends were trying to protect people but they created the circumstances that brought them here. I am only here because I made the mistake of trusting someone else outside of the only person I could ever truly trust and they betrayed me like all the others have. As for Red and her friends, they not only set up the circumstances that led to them being stranded here but they even made it so the people they were trying save lost their homes in the first place.

They think they are heroes but they caused a lot more damage believing they were the only ones on…our world that were the only morality on the entire planet. Worst of all, they only act to save the people who are in immediate danger from the monsters or the so-called bad guys but spare not a single thought to the people suffering behind the scenes or the ones who think they might be in the wrong. They are as big the liars and hypocrites they have painted the people around them and they've only started to realize just how bad they messed up.

Reality sunk in hard for them and they've all snapped under it. You saw Little Red, she's gone mad now that there isn't a world to save anymore and blames me for it because I wanted to avenge my friend and she still has no clue why I went through all the trouble tracking her down and thinks if she cuts my head off it will somehow make things better. Ice Queen has decided to literally freeze her heart because the reality is so painful she would rather not feel anything at all. I don't know what happened, aside from them saying that our world was destroyed but in the end they pictured themselves the heroes of their own story while they are the villains in mine while my friend was my hero because he knew it was pointless to try saving everyone.

The world is a cold and cruel place; it doesn't care for heroes and those that do always die before their time.

That's all I can say on that.

Aqua looked up at Neo who was glaring as she took her device back. She doubted that was entirely how Neo had felt but it was enough for her to understand what was happening.

As for what happened to their world…

Aqua wondered if there world had been swallowed by darkness but she wouldn't know for sure unless she asked Drasil.

All Aqua knew for sure was that Neo was driven to avenge a friend and the people she blamed for his death blamed her for their loss of their home and being trapped here so they all have chosen different ways to cope.

The girl in the red cloak, Ruby sought to kill Neo, ironically to avenge what she had lost which is what Neo to try to kill her in the first place.

And Weiss chose to abandon her feelings and waste away in her icy home, her heart becoming as cold and brittle as the ice she surrounded herself in.

Did she even want to know about the other two?

"Tell me something, Neo." Aqua suddenly said. "You hate them for the death of your friend and for being pretend heroes…But were you acting in a manner that would have led to a lot of people getting killed?"

Neo glared and turned away.

"You did, didn't you?" Aqua sighed. "You were taking part in something bad, something dangerous and you didn't care for the lives that would have been destroyed."

I did what I had to, to survive.

"Is this surviving?" Aqua gestured around them. "Stranded somewhere with no way home while being hunted? How is this better?"

Neo gritted her teeth. So I should have done what they did? Sign myself up for a fight that they couldn't hope to win? Risk my life for people who wouldn't give a damn about me.

"There's a difference between living and surviving, Neo. Living is being with what matters the most including friends and family, surviving is only ensuring that you might make it, living only to die another day." Aqua said calmly. "If nothing else in life matters, what would be the point of surviving at all?"

Neo could only glare but a voice interrupted from above. "Good question."

Both Aqua and Neo jumped to their feet, stepping back and looking up to see a dark figure crawling along the branches of the tree, looking at them with yellow eyes.

"What would be the point indeed?" The person, a girl around the same age as Weiss, asked with a grin. "Poor little Neo, soon to lose her head and guilty of so much, rationalizing her reasons with one flimsy excuse after another."

Aqua immediately summoned her Keyblade. "Who are you?"

"Neo and her friend called me kitty or cat…My friends call me Blake and I think I prefer that if you please…" The girl then jumped off the tree branch, landing in front of the two on all fours. "Or if you don't."

She was dressed in all black, wearing a tight black body suit with short black hair and surprisingly black cat ears poking up at the top of her head. She had slightly tanned skin, no doubt from the sun and yellow eyes.

She was smiling at the two as she slowly walked forward on all fours like an actual cat. "Feeling better after escaping dear old We-ice? You're not out of the woods yet! Ruby's a stickler for justice! She won't forget the two of you until she remembers!"

Aqua raised her Keyblade slightly, making Blake halt.

"Fancy weapon." The cat like girl snickered as she leaned forward and sniffed the edge of the Keyblade. "Is it yours?"

Aqua watched as the girl's golden eyes flared with purple fire. "You are like those other two, Ruby and Weiss, aren't you?"

"Am I?" Blake stopped and had a quizzical look on her face. "I mean, Ruby and I have black hair but she has red tips. Weiss didn't mind the occasional book but she was never into the same stuff as me. Do you like books?"

Aqua shared a look with Neo who made a 'cuckoo' sign, pretty much saying that this girl named Blake had gone crazy like the other two in her own way.

"As for me, you could say my mind is…a bit fuzzy." Blake snickered as she rolled around on the ground. "You know, because I got cat ears and I act like a cat?"

She let out a laugh as she rolled around the ground a few times.

"I'm a little messed up but that's only because I'm just waking up! The lights are still on but you'll see the night soon! Darkness rises when light falls, Black the Beast descends from shadows!" Blake laughed and sang at the end. "From the shadows, I descend upon the world and take back what you stole! Reclaim our destiny as the heroes that could have been!"

Sand started pick up as a wind suddenly blew around Aqua and Neo.

"Don't you just hate it when sand gets in your hair? Well, that's kind of expected when you are on the beach. Sand gets…everywhere!" Blake threw her head back and laughed.

Aqua and Neo covered their faces to keep the sand out of their eyes.

"The shadows will be here soon! Are you prepared for the worst? If not…" Blake jumped to her feet as a gust of wind lifted her off the ground. "Too bad!"