"Okay. Which way?" Just as Ruby was pondering where to go, the sound of glass shattering caught her attention. To the right of the exit to Cid's shop were the doors to the second district; the general direction she was certain the noise came from. She followed it to an alleyway where a big fence blocked the rest of the way. Thankfully she had a way of getting over it. Pulling out Crescent Rose, she activated rifle mode, aimed at the ground, and pulled the trigger. As she fired, the force and recoil propelled her upward enough to go right over the obstacle and land on the other side of the fence.

As she landed, she ran along the side of the small waterway flowing across from the hotel, where she found the glass fragments. She wasn't sure what to make of it, but the sound of commotion from another district gave her hope that someone had managed to fight off these Heartless creatures. Possibly even the bearer of this Keyblade Cid told her about. "Oh please be the Keyblade wielder. Please be the Keyblade wielder. Please be the Keyblade wielder"

Before she continue running, Ruby prematurely skidded to a halt as she was cut off by a group of Shadowy Heartless. A much larger group of them than she expected, and seemingly 'led' by one of those Soldier Heartless. They must have been drawn here by whatever fighting occurred here before. A confirmation, though not a very welcome one, that the Keyblade wielder had indeed been here.

Switching Crescent Rose to scythe mode, Ruby desperately swung at the Heartless as they stalked toward her...only for the blade to phase through them as if it were passing through thin air. The Soldier responded in kind by heaving its body back before lunging forward, slamming its foot into Ruby's head. She cried out in pain as the foot impacted against her, sending her stumbling backwards. The Heartless pressed this momentum, surrounding her within moments, eager to tear out her frightened heart.

Ruby's breathing picked up as she was converged upon like a helpless fawn surrounded by a pack of wolves. Nothing worked on these things. Her weapon was useless. She couldn't do anything.

'Then play the part and die, like every huntsman in history!'

The final words of Torchwick resounded within her mind against her will, drawing a helpless whimper from Ruby. This couldn't be how it all ended for her. Not after everything that they went through back home. It couldn't just end with her homeland's destruction from the Grimm and her world's consumption by the darkness. It just couldn't. Was this really all she was fated for?

"Ruby. I've made more mistakes than any man, woman, and child on this planet. But at this moment I would not consider your appointment to leader to be one of them. Do you?"

Suddenly, the voice of Torchwick was overwhelmed by the voice of her mentor, Professor Ozpin. The day after she was made leader, and she already began to doubt herself after her spat with Weiss, only for Ozpin to banish those doubts a mere moment later...Her whimpering ceased as one by one, his voice was joined by other voices.

"Ruby, I think you have what it takes to be a good leader. Just know that I am going to be the best teammate you'll EVER have." Weiss. Her first friend at Beacon. A relationship that started off rather...explosively.

"Aren't you the girl that exploded?" The day she met her future teammates...and made a bizarre first impression on Blake from the aforementioned explosion.

"I'm so proud of you!" And Yang...Her beloved sister. One of the very first people she ever trusted and truly loved in the lonely world they grew up in. Ever bright, confident, brave, and tough as nails. She was the first one to truly encourage her as leader of Team RWBY at Beacon along with Professor Ozpin.

Yes...That's right. Ruby was a leader. She didn't know where they were, but her teammates were out there somewhere. And she couldn't give up. Not on herself, and definitely not on them. Standing up, Ruby clutched Crescent Rose tightly in her hands, looked right at the shadowy foes approaching her, and stood ready. The front-most Heartless had enough of waiting and chose to lunge at her, and in a split second, Ruby's gaze snapped to the lunging creature, and with a brave shout, she dashed forward, swinging Crescent Rose...and sliced the Heartless clean in half! The split halves of the shadowy creature burst into small clouds of dark mist before dissipating into the air.

The realization crashed into Ruby that she actually managed to not only strike them, but actually slew one. And just like that, she was no longer helpless prey. She was a huntress again.

She didn't have time to ruminate on the feeling as she saw three of the Shadow Heartless lunge at her, with practiced precision, she sung Crescent Rose around, snagged the back of the Heartless's heads in the blade, and decapitated them with one swift stroke. In that moment, she saw an opening in the ranks, such as they were, with the Heartless. She immediately used her semblance to dash through the opening, just as the Heartless all lunged at her. She wasn't going to let these creatures slow her down. She needed to find the Keyblade's chosen one.

Thus to expedite her search, she used her Semblance to dash up onto the rooftops, running as fast as her legs could carry her with her eyes peeled. Leaping from roof to roof, running along district walls, Ruby's search soon bore fruit as she saw a boy with spiky brown hair, around her age if not a bit younger, running through the streets with..."A giant key! That has to be him!" she exclaimed to herself. He seemed to be in quite a predicament as the Heartless were relentlessly chasing him as he desperately ran toward what appeared to be the second district of the town.

Not waiting around to let the Heartless overwhelm him, Ruby leapt up in the air with the aid of her Semblance, leaving a trail of rose petals as she ascended. Her silhouette faintly outlined in the starlit sky as she switched Crescent Rose to rifle mode, twirled it around as she aimed for the Soldier Heartless chasing the boy, and fired upon it. The shot struck true, destroying its head, followed by the rest of its body bursting.

Sora jolted with surprise as the moment that loud bang rang out through the district, the Heartless on his tail was suddenly destroyed. As he entered the new district of town, he took a moment to collect himself. A moment that was interrupted when suddenly something landed in front of him. To his relief, it wasn't a Heartless but a person. A girl in fact. One who looked almost his age much to his surprise.

"You okay?" the youthful girl asked before suddenly doubling over with her hands on her knees, panting. "Whoa. I should be asking you that. Uhh...Who are you anyway?" Taking a moment to collect herself, the girl looked back up at Sora and straightened herself out. "Sorry. I guess I pushed myself too much trying to catch up with you...or well, find you I guess. Uh, anyway. My name is Ruby. Ruby Rose. Sorry if this sounds like a weird question, but are you...the Keybearer?"

Her inquiry surprised Sora, though he answered a moment later with, "Y...Yeah. My name's Sora. How did you know that I'm-?"

"Well uh, I kinda just guessed that by the giant key in your hand." Ruby's elaboration made Sora realize that...well the giant key in question was a bit of a giveaway." "I mean, unless giant keys are a bit more common here? I wouldn't really know since I just got here myself. I mean, maybe it's kind of like a common weapon, tool, thing here? Really weird weapon, I gotta say. Doesn't look very practical if you ask me. Pretty on-the-nose name too from what I can see." Ruby's sudden divergence from what he assumed to be the real subject surprised Sora. Was she...critiquing his weapon?

"Oh! Uh...Sorry. I'm a bit of a nerd when it comes to weapons. I'm sure it's a useful weapon despite its unusual look." It seemed that Ruby's social awkwardness was rearing its head again. Not to say Sora's befuddled expression made things any better as he struggled to simply make sense of this girl. "Uhhh, well, yeah. I guess so." But awkwardness aside, Sora wasn't sure why, but apart from this rather unusual introduction, there was...something familiar about this girl. But what?

Similarly, Ruby felt an air of familiarity toward this Sora. As if she'd seen him somewhere before, or at least heard him going by how familiar his voice sounded. She figured out he was the boy she heard earlier at Cid's shop, but again, WHY he was so familiar...she had no idea.

Then suddenly...it hit them! "Wait..." "Hang on..." Both of the young teenagers' faces shifted with expressions of incredulous recognition as they realized why the one in front of them looked so familiar.

"You're the girl/boy from my dream!"

While the two youths were experiencing that epiphany of recognition, the other party searching for the wielder of the Keyblade was wandering around a higher portion of the district. Donald and Goofy still had no luck finding the 'key', but they weren't about to give up. And a moment later, they were literally forced to not give up as the two of them looked behind themselves to see a batch of Heartless pop out of the air and rise from the ground. "Gawrsh, are these the Heartless guys?" Goofy said, nervously brandishing a round shield emblazoned with the emblem of King Mickey. Donald reached behind himself, bravely procuring a staff with the head of a faceless, pointy hat toting wizard, not about to bend before these Heartless. "Let's go get em, Goofy!"

The fight, such as it was, between them and the Heartless lasted barely a moment. Donald, not being the most calculative or rational thinker, shot them with a much larger ball of fire than he intended. In doing so, the limited space caused the blast to launch them off the edge of their elevated position, screaming comically as they plummeted.

Sora and Ruby perked up at the noise and saw the cause falling right down toward them, the latter realizing how close it was coming and turned to make a run for it but ended up being dogpiled by them. Ruby flinched and winced at the impact and immediately ran in front of them to see if they were alright. "Oh my gosh! Are you all alright?"

Sora looked uncomfortable to say the least, while Donald and Goofy were so dizzy they were seeing stars. They dizzy pair regained themselves when they noticed something else. The very thing that they were looking for! "The Key!"

Before anyone had a chance to say or do anything else, everything started shaking around parts of the ground shot up because only specific corners of the area were blocked off by perfectly rectangular pillars. Atop them were Soldier Heartless who leaped down as soon as they emerged and surrounded trapped quartet. Sora, Donald and Goofy scrambled to stand with their weapons drawn as Ruby took out her own. Knowing right away the other two seemed combat ready, Donald spoke to them. "We'll fight together!"

Though confused and befuddled by the fact that they were now chatting with a duck and...dog person, Sora and Ruby weren't going to turn away assistance. Especially as Heartless came pouring in out of the woodwork to attack them.

Now with more space to fight, Donald could more easily gauge the usage of his magic, and Goofy could make use of his shield. Not just as a defensive tool, but as a bludgeoning weapon. Sora, despite clearly being the least experienced among all of them, was swinging with much more certainty and force. "I think I'm getting the hang of this!" he said with surprise, pivoting and swinging at a Heartless that jumped at him from behind.

Ruby was undisputedly the most experienced fighting among them. Her expression was focused, her movements were sharp and smooth, her strikes fierce and precise. And possibly more than a little flashy as she snagged one of the helmet headed Heartless with Crescent Rose's blade and fired, shooting a shadowy one in the head, and bisecting the heartless caught on her blade as she sailed toward the wall, rebounded and kicked a heartless right into the fountain which had a curious statue of a lady-like cockserspaniel and bloodhound. A curious detail that some people might likely miss.

Unfortunately, the wave of Heartless wasn't their only problem. A clanging sound grabbed the attention of the quartet, making them look up to see a bizarre batch of striped, metallic shapes of varying shades of purple and lavender, larger than they were falling from the sky. When they hit the ground, they realized that these things were metallic appendages, clawed hands and crab claw-like feet, which converged upon a cylindric torso to form a limbless body. Upon which they saw a distinct symbol of a black heart mixed with a fleur de lis with a red outline and an X on the torso. A moment later, a round head in the shape of a helmet fell to the top of the torso, completing the creature's body. It was safe to assume this one was the leader.

"Oh no. Not again." Sora said as he slowly took a few steps back.

One of the claws became a fist and shot right at him. Bracing for impact, Sora held his Keyblade horizontally to attempt blocking. It worked and the giant Heartless' limb retracted back. Donald saw an opportunity and shot a fireball at it, seemingly doing effective damage. The two feet stomped hard across the ground towards him but Goofy intervened with his shield held close to protect his comrade.

Ruby tried looking for an opening but with an enemy like this, it was difficult to find one given its limbs were practically their own sentient life forms. Her first instinct was to strike at the torso, which she did when making a leap and attempted cutting through. She managed to land a hit but for some reason it didn't do as much damage as she would have liked. As if there was something strengthening its durability.

She jumped back when one of the claws swiped at her and retaliated, managing to cut through with greater ease. That's when it hit her. "Hey! There's four of us and that thing has four limbs, right?! Everyone focus on one part of it then we rush the body itself!"

Donald looked to Ruby with uncertainty and asked, "Are you sure about tha-AAAK!" but let out a pain filled quack when he was kicked in the butt and toppled over by one of the boots. "Donald!" Goofy, in concern for him, rushed over and pulled out a small vial filled with a glowing green liquid and uncorked it before dousing Donald in it. "WAK! Goofy, that's not how it's supposed to be used!" Despite Donald's annoyed protest, the liquid suddenly glowed and dissolved across the duck's form. And much to everyone's relief, Donald got back up, right as rain.

But the relief couldn't last as they still had a Heartless leader to deal with. Sora looked at the creature again, his eyes fixing on it with a more determined expression as he nodded to Ruby. "It's better than just running around! Let's go!"

With their plan set, such as it was, the four of them all put their focus on respective limbs. Goofy drew the attention of the hands, using his shield to protect himself while he knocked against the left hand. Sora and Ruby swiped at the Heartless's feet as Donald launched a fireball at the hands attacking goofy. That allowed the captain of the guard to get a few more hits on as one hand reeled back. As if picking up on their strategy, the giant heartless put its sharp hands at its side in a diagonal position, and suddenly began to rotate them at a rapid speed at its side, making Goofy flop backwards with practically a squeak of surprise.

Not only was this thing bigger and tougher, but it seemed smarter as well. But it was clear that it didn't like what they were doing, so they had a way of combating it. Yet it too had several tricks up its sleeve. Something they realized when Donald let out a loud "WAAAAK!" as he suddenly found himself running from...the Heartless's independently moving feet. Sora and Ruby gave chase, but despite their sustained assault, these feet weren't stopping their pursuit of Donald.

What were these Heartless?! They'd only seen a few different kinds of them so far, and already they were getting more bizarre. Ruby broke off from the feet, shifting her eyes back and forth between the body parts to find some kind of vulnerability. "There's gotta be something we can do to make its limbs vulnerable. But what?"

Donald and Goofy seemed to be reaching their limits while Sora and Ruby were running out of ideas. Sora gasped when suddenly the torso lower began spin rapidly in Ruby direction as her gaze shifted to the arms and legs. By the time she looked back at the torso, it was already zooming in her direction to ram into her. "Look out!" Sora shouted, lunging toward her and pushing her out of the way. As the body of the Guard Armor was inches away from him, he instinctively raised his weapon in a diagonal angle to try and block it. The force of impact sent him back a little though the torso suddenly jerked up up into the air. Its hands and feet suddenly zoomed in the same area before everything fell like a ton of bricks and slammed the ground..

"Uh, what just happened?" Goofy said, scratching the side of his head in confusion as the metallic Heartless seemingly remained still. Ruby, Sora, and Donald stared in equal confusion at the sudden stillness of the large Heartless. "Did...I do that?" Sora wondered aloud. Was his block really that effective against this thing somehow?

A sudden twitch from the metallic body parts threw everyone back on their guard. "It's not done yet! Let's hit it while it's down!" Donald shouted, rushing to the pile and started clobbering it with his staff. "Take that! And that! And some of this, ya big palooka!" His charge...didn't seem to do much against it. "Uhhh, Donald? Shouldn't you be uhhh-" "I don't have any magic left, Goofy! Now stop standing there and help me!" Sora and Ruby immediately snapped to action, jumping in and swiping, slashing, cleaving, and thrusting their weapons.

Goofy meanwhile was fishing through his pockets for something, letting out a small chuckle as he pulled out a small, square vial with a deep blue liquid. "Here ya go, Donald. This should help ya-WOUUOWAAOOH!" But as he uncorked it and stepped forward to give it to Donald, he ended up tripping over one of the Heartless's fingers, landing on it shield first. A fumble which...amazingly enough seemed enough to destroy the hand!

Donald on the other hand...The item flew out of his hand and splashed all over Donald's head, making his flurry of attacks stop but leaving him as one displeased duck. Fortunately it had the intended effect all the same, and Donald hopped back to unleash another burst of fire from his staff at one of the feet, incinerating it and making it poof into the same dark misty substance as its hand. To which Donald looked to Goofy and gave a cheerful, "Thank you!" to his clumsy companion.

Dumb luck, perhaps. That was the best description what happened with Goofy and that vial full of energy. But Sora and Ruby couldn't slack off, amusing as the display was. So Sora raised his Keyblade and swung in a downwards chop once, a thrust for the second blow, and made a mighty leap on the third strike. That caused the second hand to burst and vanish.

Ruby smiled with excitement no that they were finally getting somewhere. With her scythe pulled back and her stance lowered, she pulled the trigger to send herself whirling forward and cleave the remaining foot, skidding to a halt behind the Guard Armor. "Alright. That's all of them. Nothing left but the body, so let's take it out!"

Following her lead, Sora nodded and ran to one corner. Donald ran to another side and Goofy, after standing back up, moved with his shield up at another. The downed giant Heartless was surrounded at four corners from the ones fighting it and was about to be gang rushed until it flipped back up in the air and looked with its helmet like head focused squarely upon them.

"What the-" Ruby cried as she and the others skidded to a halt when they realized too late that they delayed too much. "Uh-oh..." Donald said with wide eyes and a droopy frown on his beaked face. Whether it actually was or not, the Heartless seemed quite displeased about its recent amputation.

So it retorted with the same torso spin as before. Donald and Goofy ran away as fast as their legs could carry them as it chose them as its first targets. This time it moved so fast, there seemed to be swirling light blue energy around it. Sora was sure that this time the attack was stronger. He had to do something or else they'd be trampled, or worse.

He flinched when suddenly a gunshot rang out. He turned to see Ruby with her weapon switched back to the firearm mode he first saw when they met. Her well placed bullets eventually made the torso wobble and lose balance for a moment, though that wasn't enough to stop it as it looked in her direction. Which was just what Ruby was hoping for. "Now!"

As Ruby yelled that out, Sora paused, not sure what she meant. But in the nick of time, he saw the opening she left him and took it, running towards the Heartless. "Take this!" With every bit of strength he could muster, Sora leaped up and swung the Keyblade diagonally across the emblem emblazoned on the Guard Armor's chest. The torso shuddered more violently than before, followed by suddenly stopping and falling to the ground. The Heartless's head rolled off its body and finally, it went still. Half expecting it to rise again for that tornado spin, the quartet were surprised when suddenly, a bright shimmering light began to rise from the top of Heartless's torso. The source of that light...was a big, shimmering, crystalline heart similar to the one that appeared from that man who was attacked. But this time, there was no Heartless to rip it away. Instead, now free from the clutches of these dark creatures, the heart drifted upward and disappeared into the night sky.

With that, the Guard Armor's torso slowly dissipated in streams of light until there was no trace of it. Sora and Ruby weren't sure what just happened, but one thing was clear. They won. "...YEEAAAH! GO TEAM!" Ruby cheered with a joyful hop. Her enthusiasm drew a trifecta of surprised looks from Sora, Donald, and Goofy, to which the jazzed huntress calmed down and gave an awkward chuckle. "E-Eheh. Sorry."

Of course now that they were out of danger, it was time for a few explanations for the young, confused Keyblade wielder. And perhaps a few more for Ruby as well.