As Sora, Ruby, Donald, Goofy, and the newly rescued Weiss made their way deeper into the forest, they eventually came across a clearing with some an unexpected amount of light. Within that clearing was a large house with collected hay for a roof and a fence door in between a hedge arch. The next thing they saw was a garden with a long table filled with trays of tasty treats and teacups besides teapots of odd shapes or sizes, all showing steam coming out the spouts to show they were fresh and large, fancy chairs with plenty of room for at least a dozen people to sit.
"A very merry unbirthday?" Donald read the plaque near the door they entered through with confusion. "What's an 'unbirthday' exactly?" Weiss wondered aloud. Ruby scratched her head in thought along with Goofy. A moment later, she theorized, "Maybe it's... the day you were NOT born?"
Before an unamused Weiss could make any kind of protest, Sora said, "If that's the case then today's my unbirthday." His response drew a giggle accompanied smile from Ruby who replied "Hey, then it's my unbirthday too." And an equally cheerful response from Goofy. "Well whadya know? It's MY unbirthday, too. A-hyuk."
While Goofy, Sora and Ruby all shared a laugh, Donald and Weiss looked on at them with expressions of deadpan disbelief. The frustration brought about by seemingly being the only serious people in this group...that is until Donald looked at the table and saw the delectable food awaiting them. One thing n particular got his attention as he broke all seriousness. "Oh boy! Cinnamon apple pie!" he cheered, dashing toward the delectable baked good. With a deep sniff, he rubbed his belly and began tying a napkin around his neck. "Oh, yum-yum-yum-yum-yum-yum."
"Somebody say cinnamon apple pie?! Leave some for me!" Goofy said when rushing to another seat next to Donald, immediately tying a napkin around his neck as well.
Barely an instant after, Ruby went wide eyed and let out a melodramatically prolonged gasp. What she saw on the table was practically a holy grail in her eyes. A practically gleaming pile of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies stacked as tall as Donald. "MINE!" In a blink of an eye, she zipped to the seat across her favorite snack with rose petals behind her trail and shoveled them quickly. Sora, briefly surprised by the sheer excitement Ruby exuded, couldn't help following suit as he sat down and served himself some tasty looking chocolate cake.
"...Are you all kidding me, right now?" Weiss was so astonished she couldn't even yell at them for this. It boggled her mind how Ruby managed to find not just one, but THREE buffoons just like herself. Weiss couldn't help but pinch her brow with a sight, both at the ever childish behavior of her team leader and at the fact her new teammates were not better than she was. "No wonder they seem to have hit it off so well. Birds of a feather truly do flock together." she muttered with a sigh.
Suddenly a smooth, warm, familiar aroma caressed Weiss's nostrils. Her expression immediately shifted as her nose twitched and sniffed the air. She thought this was a tea party, yet...she smelled the ever familiar aroma of her guiltiest pleasure beverage. "Is that...Coffee?!"
Almost immediately, Weiss's serious and poised personage faded away as she rushed to the seat where she detected the delectable, awakening aroma of the aforementioned beverage. And sure enough, there it was. Coffee with a side of sugar just waiting to be used. Precisely two teaspoons of sugar too! Just how she loved it! Unable to help herself, Weiss sat right down, added the sugar to her coffee, and took an enthusiastic, yet elegant as her sister diligently taught her, sip of her sugar-blessed coffee.
Sora was certainly surprised by Weiss's sudden attitude change. She switched gears even more quickly and sharply than Kairi. Maybe it was a girl thing or something?
Ruby however let out a knowing giggle at her friend's display of 'weakness' as Weiss might refer to it. Which Goofy joined with a chuckle of his own as he took another slice of pie with Donald.
But the relief and relaxation of this moment was not to last. Just as Sora reached for another cake piece, he jumped at the sight of something in front of him. "You guys!"
Everyone looked where he pointed and saw several Shadow type Heartless. When realizing they were surrounded, the gang all got up and drew their weapons. Ruby cleaved one when it leaped at her just as Donald blew up another with a fire spell and Goofy noticed the Red Nocturnes show up. They readied balls of flame and he saw where they were aiming. "Weiss!"
As she impaled a Shadow, Weiss looked at Goofy but noticed the flames coming to her almost too late. Until Goofy ran to her side and held his shield up. Though neither of them took any damage, the heat could still be felt close by. "Toasty." Goofy said with a laugh.
Unfortunately, this seemingly easy victory had a wrench thrown into it as something new came into the scene. A different kind of Heartless. Taller than any of them and so rotund, it almost looked like a massive wrecking ball with arms and legs. The design of it was similar to a Soldier, even having a tin looking helmet on its tiny head. "That one's huge!" Donald exclaimed in surprise, seeing it tower over them.
"So what? We've fought bigger and worse than this!" Sora said confidently as he rushed at it with a battle cry and a mighty swing of his Keyblade. To everyone's surprise, his weapon bounced off the creature's stomach, leaving him staggered and vulnerable. "What?!" The new Heartless looked down at Sora with its unblinking yellow eyes before rearing left arm back and slamming into him, knocking the boy across the ground.
When he came to a stop, Sora pushed himself, shaking his head. He looked back up at the lumbering, rotund Heartless and at his Keyblade wondering what just happened. He was sure he hit the creature. Everyone else was certainly surprised by the development. "Did his weapon just...bounce off that thing's stomach?" Weiss inquired, blinking her icy eyes rapidly.
Unfortunately answers would have to wait as the Heartless began lumbering toward them again. "Hey! Why don't you pick on somebody your own size!" Donald yelled at the Heartless, which suddenly turned its attention to him. "WAK!" Realizing his blunder with that taunt, Donald had to back up his words and waved his staff, unleash a Blizzard. Unlike Sora's attempt to hit it, the icy crystals struck the fat fiend and made it lurch with painful effect. Donald's face and everyone else's lit up when they realized that they had other means of harming the creature.
But they also discovered that this Heartless didn't like it as it suddenly began glowing with a streaming aura of darkness, followed by stomping its feet on the ground and flailing its arms in front of itself, trashing the table and everything on it. "Uh oh, Donald. I think ya made it mad." Goofy pointed out.
"Uh ooh..." Donald bemoaned as he the Heartless slapped its round, balloon-like stomach, and charged in his direction, prompting a panicked series of quacks from the duck as it tried to run away. As everyone else watched the back-and-forth chase with an odd mixture of concern and amusement, or in Weiss's case annoyance, she suddenly noticed something about this Heartless. It was focusing its weight and the force of its attacks forward, but behind... "I've got an idea." she said out loud, brandishing Myrtenaster.
And not a moment too soon since Donald tripped and looked back with another panicked quack at the approaching Heartless. Its attack suddenly halted as a certain, elegantly designed rapier skewered it from behind, making it burst and fade away.
As the rotund threat was quelled, Sora, a now panting Donald, and Goofy looked at Weiss with amazement. "Wow. How did you do that?" Sora asked her.
Giving a twirling flourish of her weapon, Weiss sheathed Myrtenaster and turned to the group. "It seemed like that brutish creature was a physical fighter. I noticed it had durability when your weapon didn't seem to do anything. Except for anything that wasn't solid, anyway," She explained as though it were obvious. "But not only did it focus its attacks from the front, whatever armor it was wearing didn't cover its back. So I took time to make careful aim to strike it where it was more vulnerable."
"You figured that all out on the fly?" Goofy asked with an impressed tone. Ruby grinned and ran to Weiss' side with an arm over her shoulder, getting all chummy. "That's Weiss, for you. Her mind is sharp and her weapon sharper." Her gesture drew an expression of mild annoyance from Weiss, likely giving her flashbacks to the forest where they became partners. "Well, you're not wrong." she said as a bit of pride began to outweigh her annoyance toward her team leader.
"Well, thanks for that." Donald said when getting up and dusting himself off. He at least seemed glad the Schnee heiress was pulling her weight. Weiss gave a silent nod to reciprocate Donald's gratitude.
As the group looked at the damaged table and all the ruined treats, Ruby seemed to register it most dramatically. Particularly how former set of cookies was a scattered bundle of crumbs, and the pitcher of milk was nearby spilled all over the grass. "NOOOOOHOOHOOHOOHOOOOO!" she cried out as she suddenly started bawling her eyes out in a VERY melodramatic fashion.
"Um... Ruby? You okay?" Sora asked in worry. He'd never seen Ruby act like this before. Weiss however... "Ugh. She WOULD be the one to cry over spilled milk and broken cookies." she said, facepalming herself with embarrassment. The leader of Team RWBY. Such an inspiration.
Goofy couldn't help giving Ruby a pat on the head for comfort, not that it did much good. She was completely distraught over the confectionery casualty of this conflict. Donald was more confused than anything else, but at least endeavored to get their priorities back in order. "Well, we can't stay around for long anyway. We've still got to find Alice." A sentiment which Sora, Weiss, and Goofy shared. They'd already gotten too distraced with these treats, yummy as they may have been. "Maybe the people in that house can give us a clue?" Sora pointed out. With no other options, everyone filed into the house to investigate.
"It's just not faaaaaiiiiir!" Well, almost everyone. Weiss let out another frustrated groan as she walked back over to Ruby and dragged the simpering girl by the hood. It seemed that even with everything else that happened to them, some things never change. A sentiment Weiss wasn't sure whether she should be relieved about or concerned about. Knowing Ruby however, it was probably best for Weiss not to think about it...for sanity reasons.
