(Play Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep OST - Aqua's Theme)
Weiss looked over Ruby, recovering in the infirmary, wondering just how things had gotten to this. Of all the things Ruby had had trouble with combat was never one of them. And as much as she wanted to chide Ruby for being overconfident, Cardin was never one of the more challenging opponents. Sure he had strength and skill, but his arrogance and his temper always kept him from being a truly dangerous opponent, and yet somehow here she was, looking over her team leader who had somehow just barely came out on top.
Weiss's hands clenched into a fist as she looked at her leader's beaten form, while most of her wounds had healed up and the bandages would be off by tomorrow, the Schnee heiress
cursed under her breath. How did Cardin get so strong? Why were Ruby's injuries taking so long even with the nurse's healing semblance, and why did Glynda tell them earlier that Ospin wanted to speak with Ruby as soon as she woke up, instead of waiting for her to fully heal!?
"How's she holding up?" came a voice from behind her. Weiss turned to see Yang and Blake walk in, holding snacks and drinks. Following close behind them was team JNPR also carrying snacks as well or in Nora's case a stack of pancakes… a lot of pancakes
"I made pancakes!" Nora said cheerfully.
"I made pancakes," Ren stated.
"I made Ren make pancakes!" Nora said in the same cheerful tone.
Ignoring her orange hair friend's behavior, Pyrrha handed Weiss a drink.
"Is Ruby doing ok?" the former champion of Mistral asked while casting a worried glance towards the sleeping Ruby.
"Well, she seems healed up, more or less. But she still hasn't woken up." Weiss said, taking a can of iced tea. "But the strange thing is that her aura isn't regenerating as fast as it should."
"Isn't that what the nurse said about her when she got back yesterday? When she said she was attacked by some Grimm in the ruins?" Jaune noted.
"I'm starting to wonder if it was really Grimm that attacked her in the first place," Pyrrha noted.
"Well, we're not getting answers until she wakes up. Cardin's still quarantined, and I don't think he's even up anyway." Blake mentioned.
Everyone just looked at Ruby, the victim of something they didn't understand.
"What's going on…," Jaune muttered while looking down in shame, a feeling of frustration building up. For the whole two weeks that things started getting weird for his first friend. The sleeping problem, the strange changes in her mood, and now her Aura acting strange every time she fights something! And all the while Jaune couldn't help the first person that was nice to him, even when she helped him to work up the nerve to stand up to Cardin.
While the former farm boy stewed in his own self-anger the rest of team JNPR started getting comfortable for the all-nighter they were about to do.
"Man you think they would make more comfy chairs for people while they wait," Yang said as she tried to get comfortable in the stiff seat she was in. Nora who was next to her deciding to give up on sitting in her chair decided to just make herself comfortable on the floor.
"You're telling me!" yelled the hammer wielder. "The floor is way better!"
"To be fair the nurse's office only keeps the patients' comfort in mind," Blake muttered out with a flat look. "And not some teens staying the night."
"I hope the nurses have been keeping the room clean…" Weiss muttered, a bit annoyed at the redhead's carefree nature.
"Hey, at least we've got the day off, right?" Yang said, trying to keep the mood light.
This only earned her some withering looks from the rest of the group and even a small groan from the unconscious Ruby.
"You guys suck," pouted the blonde boxer.
"Well, at least we know she's going to recover just fine," Blake smirked.
"I'm glad that we get to hang out, but boy can this get boring sometimes, huh?" Nora said, sprawled out on the floor.
"Nora," Ren sighed out. "We're here for Ruby, not fun."
"We could do both," muttered Nora with a pout.
While they all conversed none of them noticed that Ruby wasn't lying quite so still anymore, something happening in her dreams.
(song end)
~~~~~~(with Ozpin and Glynda.)~~~~~~~
(play Kingdom Hearts BBS OST The Silent Forest)
"Are you sure we need to talk to Ms. Rose tomorrow?" Glynda asked her boss. An uncomfortable look on her face as she questions her superior's judgment. "Would it not be better to just wait for her to get some more rest, so she can be in a better state of mind when we ask her about her use of magic?"
While Glynda tried talking Ozpin out of rushing Ruby, the headmaster simply drank from his mug as he gave Glynda a side glance. Sighing the aged man set his drink down as he gave his trusted assistant a stern look, something he rarely did, which caught Glynda off guard being on the receiving end of one.
"Glynda," Ozpin began. "I understand you're worried for Ms. Rose, once we ask about her use of magic we will end up having to reveal to her information only we know, and in doing so we will be dragging her into the true battle we have been fighting."
"Then why!?" Glynda argued. "Why are we doing this? I know Ms. Rose was going to be brought into our inner circle later once she's a fully-fledged huntress, but you said so yourself, you wanted her to still have a childhood before then!"
"I know," Ozpin said as he slammed a palm on his desk, causing Glynda to jump from the sudden action. It was rare to see Ozpin show such a level of anger like this. "But things are different now! Ruby has magic, something that should be impossible without being a maiden. The only ones who can are me and…, her. Yet we saw in the video that Ms. Rose cast a low-level fire spell in her fight with young Winchester."
"But… why now? Why so soon?" Glynda asked, concerned for her superior.
Ozpin calmed down but looked no less concerned. "I just… I can't help but feel like time is running out."
(song end)
As he said this Ozpin looked out his window and noticed something peculiar. Namely that the sky was dark and clouds seemed to be gathering. "Glynda… what was the weather forecast for today?"
"Partly… cloudy." Glynda replied, only just now noticing the clouds that were starting to swirl as they came together.
"Glynda..., sound the alarms," Ozpin ordered as he saw black creatures appearing through dark portals and even some falling from the sky. "We have to get to Ms. Rose at once."
~~~~~~~~~~~(back with the group)~~~~~~~~~
Yang spat out her root beer in shock as the alarm blared. "Dang it!"
"That's the emergency alarm!" Pyrrha shouted. Shooting up from her seat along with the other minus a still sleeping Ruby who was groaning out and squirming in her bed.
"What's going on!?" Jaune shouted over the alarms while hearing the sounds of people running down the halls outside. "Are we under attack!?"
"Who would be attacking one of the most secure places in Vale?"
Right then Weiss' scroll rang, and she opened it up, shocked to see who was calling her. "P-Professor Ozpin?!"
"Ms. Schnee, is Ms. Rose awake yet?" he asked in a tone that clearly showed he was concerned.
"Wh-What? Um, no she's-"
Just then Ruby shot up, screaming like she was still having a nightmare, her arms and legs flailing.
"Ruby! Are you alright!?" Yang asked, rushing over and placing a hand on her shoulder to try and comfort her.
"Ms. Schnee, listen to me very carefully," Ozpin said, catching her attention. "We need to see Ms. Rose immediately. Keep her safe, and all of you arm yourselves. Beacon is under attack."
"By what? Grimm?" Ren asked.
"No, something else."
"What?" Nora asked.
"... I don't know. Keep your wits about you and stay on guard. Good luck." Ozpin finished, cutting the communication.
"What's going on?" Blake said as she helped Yang to calm down Ruby, who was trying to shake her older sister off her. Said blond was trying her best to calm down her sister who was kicking and screaming. "Why does Ozpin need us to get Ruby to him instead of evacuating or getting ready to fight!?
"I don't know!" Weiss screamed as she tried calling the headmaster back, but all she got was her scroll telling her the line was busy."
"Well, we need to do something!" Jaune yelled as he tried to help Yang and Blake try to calm down Ruby, only to receive a kick to the face from said girl who was now using her speed semblance to try to escape. Thankfully Pyhhra was near to catch him.
"Jaune!" Pyrrha cried while Yang and Blake increased their efforts to calm down Ruby.
"Dammit, Ruby!" Yang said to her struggling sister, while Blake let out a few hiss while dodging Ruby's flailing limbs.
All this became too much for Weiss who still couldn't get ahold of Ozpin. Letting out a growl in anger the Schnee heir slammed her scroll down, then got up and walked towards the screaming girl.
"Weiss, what are you about to do?" Blake asked before Weiss raised her hand up and swung down.
*SMACK!*
"SNAP OUT OF IT, YOU DOLT!"
Everyone just stared at Weiss, stunned. Ruby, meanwhile, looked equally shocked until tears started welling up in her eyes. "Weiss, that hurt!" she whined.
"And for once I am legitimately sorry about that."
"Um… Why is everyone trying to hold me down?" Ruby asked. "And why is the alarm ringing?"
"Do you not remember screaming your head off for the last ten minutes?" Jaune asked while rubbing his jaw from the kick Ruby gave him during her little episode.
"To be fair, it was closer to five," Ren commented.
"Either way you're saying you don't remember what just happened?" Yang asked while crossing her arms and sending her little sister a worried look.
"I… I just remember feeling scared. Like something horrible was coming."
"Everyone… do you hear that?" Pyrrha asked.
"Hear what, the alarm?" Nora asked.
"No… Listen," Pyrrha said.
Everyone listened for a moment, but aside from the alarm, they didn't hear anything.
"... Where's the sound of everyone else evacuating?" Blake asked.
Everyone looked to the gap of the gap at the bottom of the door and didn't see anything to indicate there was anything moving outside.
"Maybe we should-" Jaune began only of something black to move towards them from under the door. The thing looked like a shadow was somehow moving by itself, before it stopped and raised itself up off the ground, taking a shape that Ruby was all too familiar with.
"No. NO!" Ruby screamed in horror. The black creature focused on her as it leaped at her, claws extended.
Yang cut it off, striking it in the face with a right hook that sent the creature flying to the corner of the room, where it smashed into the wall before disappearing into black dust.
Everyone was silent again, until-
"What? The. HELL WAS THAT!?" Yang shouted.
"No! Why are they here!?" Ruby shouted, looking absolutely horrified.
"Ruby… you know what those are?" Blake asked.
"I… I…" Ruby stuttered as she tried to think of a way to tell her friends that the monsters of her dream were attacking her school or the fact this isn't the first time she's seen them outside her dreams.
"Guys!" Jaune said in a panic as he cracked open the door to peek outside. "We should get a move on, things don't look so good."
To show what he meant the blond swordsman open the door fully to show that the halls were completely empty. The rest of the group including Ruby followed Jaune outside.
"What's going on?" Weiss muttered as she looked around before turning her gaze towards a window. "Where did everyone go? And why aren't any bullheads flying either towards or away from the docks."
During an attack or emergency, there should be aircraft either flying away with as many people or flying towards the school with backup to beat back the enemy. But none of that was going on and that was setting off alarms in her head.
"Even the alarm has been shut off," Ren said as his body tensed up as they all walked through the empty halls. Every fiber of his being was telling him something wasn't right. Even the happy go lucky Nora wasn't able to act like her normal self as the orange-haired girl stuck close to him with her eyes darting around for any attack that might come.
Letting out a huff Yang quickened her pace. "Whatever is going on we need to get our weapons and see why Ozpin wants to see my little sister so bad."
"Yang," Blake muttered as she caught up with the angry blond. "I know you're upset but we need to have a clear head right now."
"And?" Yang said as her eyes flashed red for a split second. "How can I be calm while all this strange stuff is going on, and the fact that my little sister seems to know something and is not telling any of us?"
"I know," the faunus said. "But we won't get any answers with how you're acting, besides…"
(Play Kingdom Hearts BBS OST Destiny's Union)
Blake then gestured towards the back of the group towards the trembling figure of Ruby who was looking like she was about to faint ether from whatever was scaring her or from her still-healing injuries. The sight alone was able to snuff out any anger from the blond boxer as she stared at the sorry state her usually strong-willed little sister was in.
Letting out a sigh Yang slowed down, letting Blake and the others go ahead of her as she soon walked at a slow pace alongside Ruby.
After a second the blond member of team RWBY looked towards her sister.
"Hey," Yang said in a soft tone. Getting her sister's attention, said silver-eyed girl glanced up nervously letting Yang see the fear in her eyes. A jab of pain hit Yang's heart when she saw her little sister so scared. Someone who would run headfirst into a horde of Grimm with a smile on her face was now more scared then Yang has ever seen her and the blond boxer hated the fact she didn't know what was going on, though it seems Ruby was barely any better as well.
Letting out another calming breath the brawler of the group stopped herself and her sister, this, in turn, made everyone else stop and turn to the two, but no one said anything, deciding to give the two sisters time to talk.
"Look," Yang said while placing her hands on her sister's shoulder and looking into her eyes. "I don't know what's going on, or why Ozpin needs to see you, or why we just saw a monster that I'm pretty sure wasn't a Grimm that YOU seem to know about."
Hearing this made Ruby try to look away in guilt but was stopped when Yang gently grabbed her face so Ruby could see the supportive smile on Yang's face.
"But that doesn't matter right now," Yang said before giving her sister a hug. "Right now we need to get to our weapons, get to Ozpin, and find out what's going on. Then after that you can tell us what's bothering you when you feel up to it."
Tears soon fell down Ruby's cheeks as she returned the embrace. Everyone else smiled as it seems Ruby was calming down even for just a little bit.
"I'm sorry I didn't say anything. But the truth is, I don't really know much." Ruby began. "I just… They're the things from the dreams I've been having recently, and I just didn't want to believe something from my dreams could be real."
"Wait, so you've been dreaming about these things? They're the reason you've been having sleep problems?" Jaune asked.
Ruby nodded. "I fought some of them at the ruins, too. I didn't tell you because… I mean, it was crazy to even think that things from my nightmares had become real. I don't know what they are or what they're called, but Aura doesn't hold them off as much as other things. Those little ones aren't that strong, but there are ones that are a lot stronger. They're dumb, though, dumber than Grimm." Ruby explained. Then she gulped. "And… and there's one from my dreams I haven't seen yet. It's huge, building-sized even. I just hope it stays as just a nightmare…"
(song end)
The group went silent after that. But before anything else could be said Nora spotted something.
"Guys look," the hammer user shouted as she pointed down the hall.
Standing at the end of the hallway was another one of the little monsters that attacked them in the nurse's office. The little thing shifted in place as it stared at them with its beady little eyes.
Everyone got ready for a fight as they glared at the tiny creature who just stood there and watched them. After a while, the group relaxed their guard as the creature didn't seem to want to fight them.
"It's not doing anything," Nora muttered. "Why isn't it doing anything?"
"No clue," Weiss said as she pulled out her scroll to mess with it again while still keeping an eye on the small little shadow.
"Well if it tries anything I'll just smack it around like I did the last one," Yang muttered as she pushed Ruby behind her as to keep the injured girl safe.
"Yeah," Jaune said with a nervous chuckle. "Besides it's only one of them."
And as soon as those words left the former farm boy's mouth two more popped up from around the corner.
"Three," Jaune corrected. "There are three of them but no biggie, we can still take them."
As if taking on a challenge five more showed up. Now the group was getting worried, and before Jaune could say anything else a blow to the ribs from Weiss silenced him.
"Say one more word and I'll freeze your legs," Weiss threatened.
"Maybe now would be a good chance to-?" Ren began before dozens more of them began to show up and they all began to rush the group.
"Run!" Blake shouted.
With that, the group bolted towards the opposite direction as the swarm of monsters. Everyone ran as fast as they could with Yang even picking up Ruby so she wasn't left behind with her injuries slowing her down.
"Hey, wait a second, why aren't we using our rocket lockers?" Nora asked as she reached for her scroll.
"What do you think I've been trying to do this whole time!?" Weiss shouted, still fiddling with her own scroll. "I can't get a connection! I can't even contact anyone!"
"They're gaining on us!" Jaune cried, the creatures slowly closing the gap between them.
"Tell us something we DON'T know!" Yang shouted as she tightened her hold on her sister as she picked up speed.
"Quick!" Ren shouted as he pointed towards a pair of hallway doors left wide open. "Through there!"
With no time to say anything else, the group rushed through the doorway before Jaune, Nora, and Pyrrha turned to slam the thick wooden doors shut.
"Brace yourself!" Pyrrha shouted as she and the other two put all their weight on the doors. As soon as they did they were nearly knocked off when the dark creatures slammed into the closed door.
For a second everyone thought the door would give in but the door withstood the assault. But that didn't stop the creatures on the other side from at least trying to bust it down if the rapid sounds of them bashing against it was in indication.
This went on for 5 agonizing minutes as the three at the door held it close with Yang putting Ruby down to joining in to keep the little monsters out. Thankfully the after a bit the banging sound ended and the four students didn't feel anything trying to get through.
"Is…," Nora gasped out. "Is it over?"
"I hope," Jaune gasped out. He felt like his arms were going to break every time that tide of little monsters slammed against the door. "I don't think I could last another second keeping them out."
Catching her breath from all that running Weiss was able to speak out. "We shouldn't stay around in case they come back,"
"Agreed," Blake said with a nod. "We need to get to our lockers and get our weapons and get out of here, and find the nearest bullhead."
"But what of Professor Ozpin?" Pyrrha pointed out. "He instructed us to meet up with him."
"And what?" the cat Faunus hissed out. "Be stuck in his tower with a horde of monsters chasing us?"
"Guys," Ren spoke up, breaking up any fight that might off broke out as he did. "Look…"
The young man gestured for everyone to look out the window and as soon as they did…
They wish they hadn't
"Oh my…," Pyrrha gasped out as she covered her mouth in horror as she and the rest of the group looked down at the courtyard in muted horror.
Outside the window the group so countless more of those dark beings along with other types. Some ruby recognized like the ball-shaped ones, and some she didn't like a few bats like ones.
"I…, don't think we'll be able to get to a bullhead," Weiss muttered. Really wishing the locker call button was working right now.
"H-how did so many get here!?" Pyrrha cried out. "This many should have been seen by someone!"
"Whatever is going on we need to-!" Yang was saying before everyone heard crashing from the door again. Turning towards the sound the group saw the door being forced open inch by inch as the small arms of the shadows were clawing at the door.
"We have to run!" Jaune shouted but before anyone could make an attempt to flee the door flew open for a swarm of those shadows to come literally flying towards them in a twister like fashion.
To some, it even looked like a demonic tide sweeping towards them. Knocking everyone to the side as easy as swatting away some flies as the tide of small creatures made their way towards Ruby before sweeping her up and flying outside the window, shattering it in the process.
"RUBY!" the group shouted as they saw their youngest friend being yanked outside by the twisting mass of shadows. The young girl in red cried out as she was slammed into the ground where she was soon pounced upon by the waiting dark beings who didn't hesitate to claw at her defenseless form.
"Ahhhhh!" screamed Ruby as more and more of the little monsters jumped on her to claw at her. Her vision was soon going dark as her consciousness was soon fading.
'Someone… help,' she thought through the haze of pain she was going through. As her vision went dark, either from the pain, or her vision being obscured by the mass of monsters on her.
But in the darkness, a voice familiar to her shone through as it repeated what it said all those nights ago when she was battling that giant monster in her dreams.
But don't worry.
The words though simple were able to light a spark in ruby as she started to struggle through the mass of darkness. Swatting away the dark creatures around her as a small light shone in front of her. This spurred the young girl even further as her struggling became more fierce as she smacked a few more monsters off her.
For you have the greatest weapon of all.
(Play "Night of Fate - Kingdom Hearts")
The light in front of her grew brighter by the second as the trapped girl reached out her hand to grasp it. The light soon became blinding as she wrapped her hand around something metallic, grasping it with all the energy she had left, red wearing teen yanked back with all her might as even more light blasted out.
Soon the light in Ruby's hand soon took shape as the dark creatures surrounding her burnt away from the waves of light. When it finally solidified she had to take a moment to process what she was looking at.
The object most closely resembled a sword, but it had more additions to it, like the guard going around the entire handle in a circle, and instead of having a sharp edge it had three spikes sticking out on one side. She heard a jingle and looked to the bottom of the object, seeing a keychain of some sort. It took her a moment to realize she was looking at the symbol of the Vytal Festival, a combination of the symbols of all four Huntsmen Academies, each color-coordinated. After that the shapes of the weapon she was holding clicked: each part of it was made from the Academy symbols. The guard was the lantern symbol of Haven, colored yellow. The flame in the center helped to support the handle, which was the white staff of Atlas, extending all the way through the lantern and beyond, ending in the crystal head. The three spikes sticking out of one side of the staff were orange, and were obviously the three swords of Shade, but only from the hilts out to the blades, like the handles were inside the staff head. All the way at the bottom, replacing the base of the lantern was a green symbol of Beacon in all its glory.
"What in the-?" she muttered, only for the voice to once again echo in her head.
Keyblade…
"Key… Blade?" Ruby sounded out. A key that's a sword? She thought. And then it hit her, what the object in her hand now reminded her of the figures on the ruin carvings.
"This is a Keyblade?" Ruby muttered as she looked at the weapon, but suddenly a jolt went up her spine as she looked up to see more of those monsters charge at her.
Heartless!
'Heartless?' Ruby thought for a split second before slashing at the three Shadows that leaped up at her. Her new weapon sliced through them as if they were nothing.
"Woah," Ruby gasped out. Not even the sword in her dreams could cut through them like that. Though those thoughts would have to wait as more of the little shadows sprung at her and even a few of the Darkballs charged at her with their fangs bared, ready to chomp down on her.
She didn't give them the chance as she swatted the Shadows away, killing them in the process before charging towards the Darkballs with a shout before tearing through the first two with only a few slashes and blocking a tackle from a third one before knocking it away and into a group of Shadows, causing them all to fall.
Though the easy part of the fight soon ended as bigger versions of the shadows popped up. With longer antennas and limbs with way more intimidating claws at the end. It was even more muscular and even had faint blue veins on its body.
These Heartless were way tougher than the ones she fought before. In addition, they were a lot smarter and hitting a lot harder as well, something Ruby soon found out when one of them distracted her by attacking with its claws from the front long enough for another to pop up from a dark portal to knock her to the side.
Letting out a grunt the silver-eyed girl was able to twist in the air so she would land on her feet. Sadly the Neo Shadows were relentless and both charged at her.
But Ruby was getting the hang of this and was seeing a pattern in how they fought. They might be smarter than their smaller kin, but they still seem to mostly rely on instinct and go with a pattern of attack that works. Because they were trying to set her up for the same combo as before but now it wouldn't go as plan as Ruby blocked and dodged the first Neo Shadow with the help of her semblance, and when the second one popped up behind her like before she quickly leaped over it as it tried to slam into her only for it to crash into its partner.
Pointing her keyblade at the two Heartless, feeling the same warm feeling in her chest from her fight with Cardin earlier Ruby shouted.
"FIRE" shouted the silver-eyed girl as a fireball shot from the tip of her keyblade just like last time, but a bit bigger, and it was far less draining as well.
'Is the keyblade making things easier?' she thought as she saw the ball of flame consume the two Neo Shadows. This had the bonus effect of having the other heartless halt in their attack and just focus on circling around her. Not out of fear but more than likely realizing their prey wasn't something they could just charge at recklessly.
As the two enemies stared each other down, more shadows and neo shadows taking the place of the two she burned alive, Ruby heard the call of her friends.
"RUBY!" Yang cried. "Don't worry we're coming!"
She looked up to see Yang was calling down from the room she had been pulled out of. As she did two things caught her eye, both of them terrifying. The first was that above her in the sky was a massive black ball of energy, looking like some sort of ominous moon. She swore she could see trees, rocks, and water begin to be sucked up into it. The second and more immediate problem was that she could see all of the Heartless in the area and some that were about to climb up the wall towards her friends… and they were all headed towards her.
Ruby saw movement out of her peripheral vision and noticed two Neo Shadows spinning in the air, picking up speed, before rocketing themselves at her. She ducked under them, then turned to face where they landed, focusing once again. "FIRE" she shouted, hitting one in the back with another blast.
Ruby took the chance to see that Yang was preparing to leap off the floor and make it to her, something Blake and Weiss were trying to stop.
"YANG, STOP!" Ruby shouted, catching her attention. "They're all coming for me! Get your weapons first!"
"But-!"
"GO!" Ruby shouted as she saw the two Neoshadows were preparing their spinning attack again. She waited until they launched themselves at her before dodging by diving in between their attacks before rushing towards Ozpin's tower in the distance.
"RUBY!" Yang screamed, trying to jump out the window in pursuit of her sister but was held back by Blake and Nora.
"We need to get our weapons, Yang!" Blake yelled as she held her blond teammate from committing suicide by jumping into that horde of monsters without her weapons.
"I don't care!" Yang shouted, struggling to break free. "I got to go after her!"
"And then what!?" Nora shouted as she pulled Yang away from the window. "Get yourself eaten!? At least Ruby has a weapon and is shooting off fireballs!"
"Nora's right!" Jaune said. "We need to get our weapons before we can do anything else."
"Then what!?" Yang yelled. "We just let Ruby get eaten or worse!?"
*SMACK*
Everyone stopped to look, seeing that Weiss had slapped her. "... Good to know that works with both of you. I'll need to keep that in mind."
"Weiss, what are-?" Yang began only to be cut off.
"You need to calm down," the heiress said, cutting off her blond teammate. "Right now you need to focus on getting your weapon so you're not dead weight."
"And what about you Weiss?" Pyrrha asked. "You can't be thinking of going after Ruby instead?"
"Well someone needs to look after the dolt," Weiss said as if it made perfect sense.
"That's insane," Jaune shouted. "You're just as worst off us without a weapon!"
Weiss simply held out a hand as a glyph appeared dancing above her palm.
"You sure about that?" she muttered with a raised brow before closing her hand, crushing her glyph. "Not hurry up and get going before any of those monsters show up."
"Weiss…," Yang called out. Stopping the white themed girl from jumping out the window. Said girl turned back towards the blond brawler who fixed Weiss with a pleading look.
"Make sure you both come back safe," she begged.
Weiss simply nodded before turning back and started to climb out the broken window.
"Now get your weapons along with mine," Weiss said as she jumped out the window onto a waiting glyph. "I have a teammate to babysit."
With that, the Schnee heiress jump down using a few more glyphs to stick the landing before running off towards the same direction as her wayward teammate
'Don't do anything stupid Ruby,' Weiss thought as she chased after her friend.
~~~~~~~~~(with Ruby)~~~~~~~~~
"Why did I just do something so stupid!" Ruby cried out as she dodged a dive bomb from one of the Neo Shadows. "Where was the entrance to Ozpin's office?" she thought aloud as she kept trying to find her way around the hedges and fountains she found herself in. "I could've sworn Beacon Tower was right by the gardens. Where is the ex-?"
She yelped as a Neoshadow crashed into the ground next to her. She dodged to the side only for its partner to slam into her back, knocking the wind out of her and sending her tumbling. She struggled to recover, turning her keyblade to one and casting another fire spell before moving to run again, only for the other Neoshadow to cut her off and charge, claws raised.
"Ruby!" shouted a voice as a large glyph appeared under Ruby that shone brightly with such intensity that it forced the Neo Shadows back.
"Weiss?" Ruby asked as her teammate ran towards her. Avoiding any Heartless with the help of her glyphs. "What are you doing here!?"
"Saving you!" Weiss shouted she helped leader up before the two had to jump out of the way of a charge from a Darkball. "Though I admit I did it to keep your sister from getting you both killed with her reckless fighting."
"Well thanks," Ruby said as she slashed away a few Shadows and blocked an attack from a Neo Shadow. "But unless we can get past all these Heartless we won't be able to get to Ozpin's office!"
"Heartless?" Weiss questioned as she summoned a glyph to block a Darkball before jumping out of the way as it started to crack as a few more Darkballs started slamming into it before it shattered. "Never mind I'll ask later!"
"Thank goodness," Ruby grunted out as she parries an attack from a Neo Shadow before shooting it point blank with a Fire spell. "I don't know how I know the name either, or why I have this Keyblade."
"Keyblade?" asked in confusion before letting out an eep as she barely dodged a swipe from a Shadow, which got kicked away by the glyph user. "Darn it Ruby, stop saying weird things while we're fighting for our lives."
"Sorry!" the red-themed girl cried out as she sliced through a few Darkballs and Shadows before getting knocked back by three Neo Shadows. "This is getting crazy!"
"We need to get away from these Heartless," Weiss shouted as she tried to summon another glyph for her and Ruby but it was quickly swept over by a horde Shadows, Weiss quickly turned the platform glyph black, making it into a repulse glyph which she soon used to send the Heartless on it flying into the air.
"Really wish we had back up!" Ruby said as she killed any Heartless that got close, but it wasn't enough as the two girls were getting surrounded, and soon they would be overwhelmed.
"AHHHH!" Weiss cried out as a few Shadows slipped through her defenses and jumped onto the white themed girl.
"Weiss!" Ruby shouted as she tried to help her friend but was intercepted by a Darkball slamming her into the ground as a few Shadows soon dogpiled on her.
Everything seemed lost as the two were being overwhelmed by the horde of Heartless. Ruby tried to crawl her way towards Weiss, but the Neo Shadows kept her in place as every Heartless around them converged into one spot to finish them off.
(SONG END)
Then suddenly from one of the school towers, a small light flashed from the top of the tower before flying up into the air. It started to arch in the air before splitting into hundreds of more lights that started to fall on the area where the girls and Heartless were. Those lights were revealed to actually be shard-like projectiles of light that tore through every Heartless in a devastating display of power as each 'bullet' killed a heartless as soon as they made contact. Each shot took out more and more Heartless as they either tried to defend only for the light bullets to tear through them or flee only to meet the same result. The only ones who were safe from this onslaught were Ruby and Weiss, the only time the attacks came close to them was when the Heartless on top of them were struck down from the overwhelming attack.
And as soon as it began the rain of bullets stopped, leaving only the two girls left standing after every Heartless was wiped out.
"R-Ruby?" Weiss groaned out as she tried pushing herself back up with great strain. Looking around she spotted the groaning figure of her leader who was also trying to get up with the help of her Keyblade.
"Weiss?" Ruby mumbled out as she stood up while digging her Keyblade into the earth as a means to keep herself steady. "What happened?"
Limping towards her leader the white themed girl focused her Aura to heal herself, taking note of how slow the process was going. At least it was working fast enough to numb the pain she was feeling and letting her walk normally as she made it to her teammate.
"I have no idea," the Schnee admitted as she helped Ruby stand up straight. "But… at least we don't worry about Heartless for a moment."
"Not for long though," Weiss muttered out as she tried to pinpoint where that attack came from. There shouldn't have been any way for a weapon to have that kind of range of power, not even Atlas' scientists have been able to make energy-based weapons like that.
Shaking her head from those thoughts, the white-themed member of team RWBY pointed towards the main tower where Ozpin's office was located.
"The path is clear now," she said as she pulled Ruby along. "Hurry before more show up!"
"R-right!" Ruby said as she and Wiess ran towards Ozpin's tower. All the while never noticing the cloaked figure watching them from one of the rooftops.
(Play "Organization XIII" Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 ReMix)
Said figure watched the two girls leave as he unsummoned a pair of bow guns with a flick of his wrist.
"Heh," the cloaked man said. "My age must be catching up to me if I'm getting sentimental enough to help those pipsqueaks."
From the corner of his eye, the cloaked figure noticed a large dark form makes its way towards the same tower as the two girls. Knowing what that large figure was made the man laugh.
"Oh boy, one problem after another!" he laughed as he turned around and walked towards a dark portal.
"Well, I helped the little Keyblade wielder out already, she and her little snowflake of a friend are on their own," he said as he walked into the portal. "Hopefully, if they are lucky, then they might survive to be of some use later."
With the thoughs final words the man let out one last chuckle as the portal closed behind him. Leaving this doom world.
(SONG END)
_(sometime later. The entrance to Ozpin's tower.)_
"Finally," Ruby panted out, as she and Weiss approached. "Now we can finally get to Ozpin."
"Now we can hopefully get some answers," Weiss muttered. She also noticed that large chunks of land and even pieces of buildings were starting to get sucked up into the black void above. 'Let's just hope it's not too late to matter.' Weiss headed for the door and was about to pull it open when she noticed something: Ruby wasn't next to her. She turned back to see that she was staring off to the side, mouth open and eyes wide. "Ruby, what are you wasting time for, you do-?" Weiss began, only to be cut off as she finally saw what her teammate was seeing.
A massive Heartless lumbered towards them, starting menacingly with its yellow eyes. An enemy Ruby was far too familiar with.
"No… No, please…" Ruby whimpered.
"Ruby! Ruby, snap out of it!" Weiss shouted as she ran over her teammate. "Ruby, pay attention to me! Listen to me, you dolt!" she shouted as she grabbed Ruby's shoulders and shook.
"Wh-What?" Ruby stuttered, snapping out of her trance.
"You fought this one, right? In your dreams? How do we beat it?" Weiss demanded.
"I… I don't-"
"Ruby!" she cut her off. "I'm here with you. We can beat this thing together. How does it fight? What weaknesses does it have?"
Ruby looked at her friend for a moment, seeing the support she was offering, and gathered her wits. "It's slow, but it hits hard. It can fire energy blasts from its chest, and it can summon those small Heartless. Its hands and its face are the weak points."
"Got it. I'll hang back and use my glyphs to give you a boost up to its face and keep the smaller ones off you. I don't think I'll be able to block its attacks."
"Right." Ruby nodded.
(Play "Destiny's Force - Kingdom Hearts")
Ruby gripped her weapon and charged the Darkside while Weiss readied herself. The Heartless stopped and raised its fist, ready to slam it down. Ruby stopped and waited, being well outside of its range as it smashed the ground, causing a pool of darkness to spread. As Shadows began to rise out of the pool Ruby ignored them and jumped up the Heartless' arm to its face. She attacked its face relentlessly, doing what she could to stay balanced on its shoulder.
As it stood up Ruby struggled to stay on, but then saw a glyph show up as a platform for her. She leaped up to it and a few more appeared, making a staircase to the Heartless' face, where she continued her attack, getting in as many quick and powerful strikes as she could, slicing away at the tentacles covering its face.
After a few seconds of the assault it got on both knees and leaned over, energy starting to gather at the hole in its body. Ruby used her semblance to make the jump back to the ground safely as well as put some distance between her and it, just in time for it to lean back and fire blasts of energy at her. The blasts curved towards her, but they weren't quite homing so she was able to use her semblance to dodge out of the way. She did the same with the second volley, only to notice one flew above her head and kept going, she turned and was horrified to see it was going after Weiss.
"Look out!" Ruby shouted, just in time for her friend to summon a glyph as a barrier in front of herself. Though the attack was blocked the energy blast exploded, shattering the glyph and hitting Weiss with enough force to send her flying backward landing hard on her back. "NO!" Ruby shouted, running towards her, only to hear another round of energy attacks heading towards them. She could tell by the paths they were taking that they were splitting to hit both of them. 'No, what do I-!?" she thought, only for an idea to come to her. She readied her Keyblade and used her semblance to launch herself into the air at the projectiles. "Back at ya!" she shouted, striking them all with her weapon. Just like she hoped, they all went hurtling back at the Darkside, hitting it in the face and even causing it to stumble back.
"Yes! Alright, time to finish you off!" Ruby said as she charged the monster, who managed to recover. She saw it raise its arm and stopped, staying back out of the range of anticipated range of attack, easily dealing with the Shadows in the meantime. To her surprise, instead of smashing its fist into the ground, it plunged it's hand into it up to the shoulder, like it was looking for something to pull out. And pull something out it did, a massive ball of dark energy that it held in one hand. As it raised the ball of energy it steadied itself with its other hand and then the mass of power exploded. Ruby looked up and it took her a moment to realize what was happening. Balls of dark energy were now raining down from above. They weren't fast, floating down almost like snowflakes, but they were everywhere. She used her semblance and Keyblade to dodge and deflect them away, but she had made a fatal mistake. She was so focused on all the projectiles she didn't notice the creature's massive fist until it smashed her into the ground.
Ruby felt her Aura deplete, her breath knocked completely out of her, and her Keyblade flew out of her hand. She struggled to try and move, to catch her breath, but it was all she could do to even gasp for air. She was helpless as the Heartless grabbed her in its hands, lifting her off the ground, before squeezing. Ruby finally found her breath, just in time to scream in pain.
"NO! GET AWAY FROM HER!" Weiss managed to turn her head to see Weiss, bloodied and bruised, but sprinting at the Darkside. "YOU LET GO OF HER!" As she charged some Shadows appeared to cut her off. Without missing a beat Weiss grabbed the Keyblade off the ground and with as little effort as Ruby had before, destroyed them. All the while a light had been growing from behind her, which Weiss only now noticed was a glyph, much to her own shock. The Darkside was preparing to step on the young heiress, only for an armored arm weilding a massive sword to appear from the glyph and with no hesitation slice one of the Darkside's arms clean off, dropping the red-themed girl and causing the Darkside to stumble back in pain.
"Ruby!" Weiss shouted and dived towards her friend, managing to catch her before she hit the ground. She turned in time to see the arm disappear back into the glyph and for it to vanish soon after. "I… I did it. Winter, I actually did it," she muttered.
"Weiss…" Ruby gasped out. "What was…" Ruby tried to ask more but groaned in pain. Weiss gently set her friend on the ground before stepping between her and the Heartless, who was now starting to prepare for another attack.
"Don't worry, Ruby," she said, taking her fighting stance with the Keyblade. "I've got-" She was cut off by the Keyblade disappearing in a flash of light, only for it to reappear back in Ruby's hand. "What in the-?"
"Huh… Guess I'll have to finish this after all." Ruby tried to get back up, groaning in pain as she struggled to get to her feet. Weiss came over and gave the girl her shoulder to steady her rise. "Thanks. You can still get me in it's face, right?"
"Hmph. Can I?" Weiss smirked.
Ruby smiled. "I understand that this time," she said as she took her stance. Weiss took a few steps behind her and summoned a staircase of glyphs up to the Darkside's face. Grunting through the pain, Ruby sprinted up the path before leaping off the last step, stabbing her keyblade into its eye. As it struggled in pain Ruby let out a fierce battle cry as she stabbed the weapon into the monster's face over and over again, holding onto the tentacles cover its face for balance. Eventually, the monster fell over backward, slamming into the ground before finally dispersing into nothing, leaving only Ruby to lay sprawled across the ground.
(SONG END)
"Ruby!" Weiss called as she ran over, helping her exhausted friend to her feet.
"We did it… finally…" Ruby panted out.
"Yeah, let's get to-" Weiss began, leading her friend towards Ozpin's Tower, only to realize with a shock it wasn't there anymore. "Wh-What? Where did-?"
"Weiss, look!" Ruby pointed out to the horizon. Where there should have been more ground and more land there were only deep chasms into an empty void, masses of land floating above it as they were slowly destroyed, being sucked into the mass of energy above. Some she could recognize as the remnants of Beacon, or the Forever Fall, but almost everything was gone. "What's going on?"
'We must've not noticed with all the fighting,' Weiss thought. 'Oh Gods, it's the end of the world.'
As soon as she thought that she noticed she wasn't touching the ground anymore. She panicked as she began floating slowly up into the air, only for her to begin to rise faster. "Ruby!" she cried out, reaching out to her friend.
Ruby stashed her Keyblade where she normally kept Crescent Rose and leaped up to grab Weiss' hand. They grabbed onto each other, holding onto each other's arms for dear life. "Don't let go, Weiss! Don't let go!"
As everything they knew was being destroyed and they were sucked into the unknown the two friends desperately clung to each other, all they had left. Then, fate dealt a cruel hand as a mass of debris came rushing up at them, hitting both girls with enough force to knock them loose from each other.
"WEISS!"
"RUBY!"
That was the last thing either of them heard before they got sucked into the void.
~~~~~~~~~(Meanwhile, far away)~~~~~~~~~
The boy sat and stared out the window, enjoying the clear night and the stars above. He wasn't really looking at them however, or even the small island in the distance. He was thinking more about the plans he and his friends were finally putting into action. They had just started gathering materials for the raft, preparing to sail to other worlds. Maybe they'd see the world that his friend was from, even if she didn't remember any of it. Even still, it would probably take a couple of weeks to get done and fully stocked.
Just then, something caught his eye. A star was twinkling in the night sky. Then, after a moment, it wasn't there anymore. He blinked for a moment before rubbing his eyes, looking out in the general area that he thought he had seen the event. There certainly wasn't anything there, but was there ever? Starts don't just go out, right?
'Must've been imagining it. I better get to bed so we can get some work done tomorrow.' he thought before heading to bed.
The first key has been awakened.
An adventure awaits.
But will it be an adventure of light and friendship
Or a tragedy waiting to happen.
Only one way to find out.
Down the path towards Kingdom Hearts,