"Ya know, this is kinda like when we searched for Leon to help us find the key. Now we're searching for Sora all over again." Goofy's remark did little to ease Donald's annoyance as the two of them sat on the bench near the fountain where they discovered the Keyhole. They'd not seen head nor heel of Sora or Ruby in all the places they'd searched. "We're supposed to be searching for Ruby. Why'd he have to go and take off like that?" Donald moaned with frustration.

"Hey guys. What's going on?" As if by some bizarre cosmic coincidence, Donald and Goofy were treated to the soft-spoken voice of Ruby. "Oh, we're just tryin' to find you and Sora, Ruby." Donald snapped up realizing what Goofy said, and looked to their left to see...There was the huntress they'd been searching for. The instant it registered in Goofy's head, both wizard and captain blurted out, "Ruby!" The sight of the huntress looking much more relaxed and happy was as much a relief as seeing she was unharmed. "We found ya! Are ya okay? We were worried about ya." Goofy's words, while well meaning, made Donald arch a brow. Clearly it was more like SHE found THEM since they were just sitting around. "I'm alright now. Thanks to Jiminy." Ruby answered with a small nod to the cricket who hopped out of her hood with a cheerful tip of his hat. Though it didn't exactly answer WHY she ran away, Donald decided they could deal with that later. "Well it's good you're feeling better." he said, choosing to focus on positives for once. Something Ruby certainly appreciated as she smiled at the two.

Before anyone could speak more, the sound of a familiar bark made Ruby turn on her heels. A bark she'd know anywhere. And sure enough, the moment she turned, there was the black and white furred form of a corgi dashing at her at full speed. "Zwei! Hey boy!" The dog immediately leapt higher than anyone would expect of such a stubby legged breed and immediately hopped into Ruby's arms, peppering her with giggle inducing licks. A sight which warmed the hearts of Donald and Goofy as they smiled.

"There she is! Donald and Goofy found her!" The voice of Yang soon caught their attention as sure enough, pouring in through the gate to the district was the rest of Team RWBY and Team JNPR. "Ruby! You oka-Ack!" Jaune didn't even get to finish his question as he was suddenly shoved to the side by an incensed Schnee. "You dunce! Do you have any idea how much you set us back by running off like that?!" As expected...Weiss was Weiss. And as per that, Team RWBY knew what she really meant. "What Weiss means is we were all really worried about you Ruby. Her and Yang especially." Blake's correction made Weiss's cheeks light up bright red. "S-Shut up, Blake! Like you're in a position to say such things! You pulled a stunt like this as well, you know!" Blake simply sighed as Weiss tried to deflect her embarrassment. One which did little to prove Blake's point wrong since she was worried back then as well. So Weiss groaned in defeat, accepting that she was well and truly beat here. "B-But...Y-Yes, I was worried too. Are you proud of yourself?...Don't you dare do that again." Her tone softened noticeably despite its demanding edge.

Ruby couldn't help smiling as she looked a her teammates, along with Donald, Goofy, and Jiminy. "Thank you, guys...I'm so happy to have you all." Zwei hopped out of her arms as Ruby reached forward and gave everyone the biggest hug she could muster. One that everyone returned, even Weiss. A sight which made Team JNPR smile fondly. In the midst of this, Jiminy noticed someone was missing. "Wait a second. Where's Sora?"

Everyone's relieved expressions vanished when they realized that Sora was indeed absent. Pyrrha turned to Donald and Goofy and asked, "Wasn't he with you both?" "Well, he was." Goofy said apologetically. as Donald sighed, tapping his webbed feet in an irritated fashion. "But he just up and left us before we could even begin looking for Ruby. We've been spending more time trying to find HIM instead." he explained further, clearly not too happy with the boy's disappearing act.

"Oh come on!" Weiss said with frustration as her clenched fists shot down to her sides. "What is up and with everybody ditching everybody all of a sudden?! Aren't we a team?!" Her angry rant drew a sly smile from Yang who teasingly said, "So you admit you care about all our well beings, you big soft serve." Weiss winced as the small blush returned to her face, once again unable to deny the truth of her own words. "W-Well of course! What kind of teammate isn't concerned for the safety of the group that she fights beside?" A statement which only drew a myriad of smirks from her fellow Remnant denizens. "Awww, isn't that just the sweetest?" Nora cooed playfully, much to Weiss's flustered chagrin. "Q-Quiet, Nora!"

"I know you care, Weiss," Jaune said as he emerged at her side a little closer than Weiss would have liked. "It's the same for me. Why, if something happened to you, I'd be so distraught that I'm not sure I could go on in life. What do you say we watch each others backs from this point forw-AAAAAAA!"

Fortunately his failed attempt at being romantic was cut short as Weiss used a glyph to send Jaune flying and crashing into the water of the fountain. Jaune gasped for air when he resurfaced, leaning over the edge and panting. "Work on your respect for other people's personal space, first." Weiss ordered, her brow twitching with annoyance all the while. Jaune could only weakly raise his left hand and reply with a weak, defeated thumbs up as Pyrrha helped him out of the fountain. "W-Will...do." Nora and Ren could only look at their leader with a pitying shake of their heads. If only Jaune could see what was right in front of him.

Ruby's silver eyes however soon caught notice of the very boy they were discussing emerging from the nearby alleyway. "Sora!" she called out with relief, causing everyone to turn all at once to see Sora approaching with a shameful frown on his face. His right hand was holding the spot of his torso where Cinder struck him. "Sora!" The spiky haired young boy looked up when Goofy rushed over to him, the others following suit, when they noticed he seemed to be injured. "What happened to ya? Where'd you go?"

"I..." Sora said, hanging his head again. "I thought I saw Kairi." His answer caused everyone to go silent and listen. "...I ran after her, but...I realized too late that it wasn't actually her." The look on his face and his demeanor drew looks of concern from his friends. "What do you mean?" Ren asked. Sora seemed hesitant to answer, which made everyone much more concerned. "What happened, Sora?" Ruby asked, laying a hand on his shoulder. Sora looked back up at everyone, struggling to find the words. "Well...When I tried to talk to what I thought was Kairi, I realized at the last moment that something felt...off. I had a strange feeling that I wasn't actually looking at Kairi. That's when these three weird people suddenly appeared out of nowhere. One of them was...well, a grey haired guy with metal boots. Another one was a girl with dark skin, green hair, and red eyes, and then the third was..."

Sora stopped when suddenly he, Donald, Goofy, and Jiminy noticed that their Remnant companions' moods had changed almost instantly. Their faces were askance with shock and rising fear. "Guys?" Sora said, exchanging a look of confusion and concern with Donald and Goofy. Pyrrha suddenly reached forward and grabbed Sora by the shoulders, her green eyes burning into his surprised blues. "Sora, the third one. Did she have black hair, yellow eyes, and wear a red dress?" The dire tone in her voice was unlike anything Sora had ever heard from her. He managed to eek out a response of, "U-Uh, well yeah. Why?"

And in that moment, the thing that Pyrrha and everyone else feared most was realized. "Oh no...She survived the destruction of Remnant..." Pyrrha said, her voice barely above a horrified whisper. The memories of the fall of Beacon flowed back into everyone's minds; the death of Amber and the failed transfer of the Maiden's powers being particularly fresh in Pyrrha's mind.

Sora, Donald, and Goofy of course were clueless, yet highly worried as to what this meant. "You guys know her?" Their silence was a telltale sign that what they knew of these three, the red dressed woman in particular, was anything but good. Even though they seemed too shaken by the revelation to answer him, Sora needed to know. "Who is she?"

"Cinder Fall. A most detestable person."

Everyone turned to Ozpin approaching them, one hand upon his cane and the other holding a cup of coffee, freshly made from the way the steam was rising from it. "As cruel as it may sound, I had hoped she'd be among those who fell to the darkness when the Heartless came. At least then we wouldn't need to worry about her until after restoring Remnant. To make matters worse, she's accompanied by her two minions, Mercury Black and Emerald Sustrai." he explained, taking a sip from his coffee.

If someone of Ozpin's standing was saying such things about these people, and the reactions of Ruby and her friends were any indication, Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Jiminy realized that these three must have been VERY bad news. "Okay but who are they exactly?" Sora asked. "A trio of megalomaniacs who caused deadly creatures to invade our city of Vale. They sought a great power within its borders and to cause destructive chaos within." Ozpin explained, briefly glancing at Pyrrha who could only avert her eyes with shame.

However, what he said before that caught the attention of Team RWBY's leader. "Professor," Ruby said, gaining her Headmasters attention. "You said that Remnant could be restored. How?" Ozpin paused, sipping his coffee again before answering.

"I've had a hypothesis for a while now. When people are turned into Heartless, it doesn't seem as though they die. Not in the common sense of passing on, anyway. A captured heart is released upon the destruction of a Heartless. But why? Wouldn't it have vanished the moment it was forcefully taken out of a person's body, which fades when it's heart is taken?" Everyone exchanged a look of surprise at the professor's words. How long had he been working this out? Before they could ask, Ozpin continued speaking. "So where then does that heart go when it's released? Does it simply vanish? I don't think so. Nothing is every truly gone. There are multiple ways things remain even if they might not be visible to the naked eye. What if the Heartless are merely keeping the hearts in a prison of their own body? Would that mean the destruction of a Heartless sets the heart free? If so, can it return the body from whence it came? If so, then that would suggest the body too can be restored."

"So...people can be people again even after being Heartless?" Ruby asked with a hopeful smile. "Not just people, Ms. Rose." Ozpin stated as he turned to face her. "What else has a heart?"

Ruby paused, rubbing her chin contemplatively. "Well...um..." It took a moment before suddenly it clicked in both her and Sora's heads. "Worlds!" they said in sync. Worlds had hearts too! That was why the Heartless were constantly searching for the Keyholes!

Ozpin nodded at their answers. "Precisely. If my hypothesis is correct, then not only may a person be potentially restored, but the worlds that have been lost to the Heartless may be saved as well." Everyone's faces lit up with surprise and hope. "Then...if we find the way to do that, we could bring back Remnant and all go home!" Jaune said enthusiastically. Pyrrha however did not share that enthusiasm. "But then...that's also what Cinder wants. And if the world is restored, she still has a chance to obtain the power she covets." Ozpin nodded solemnly in response. "That is correct. Which is why we must be ready when that day comes. Beacon was destroyed by her and the grimm she and her cohorts unleashed. Such a tragedy cannot be allowed to repeat itself."

Sora, Donald, and Goofy looked at the group from Remnant with great concern. Their faces all held expressions of morose rumination and pain. The memories of their world, their home's destruction was fresh in their minds. Sora couldn't imagine how much more painful it was for them than even for him his island was destroyed. It made him all the more worried for Kairi as well, and Donald and Goofy all the more worried about the King.

A small cough caught everyone's attention as a figure walked in from a nearby alleyway. The figure was...was a lavender eyed rugged, unkempt man with black hair and a stubble, a button-up white and grey tailcoat with a black cuffs, black pants, black shoes, a bandage-like cloth along his right wrist, upon whose hand he wore a ring on his index finger and one on his ring finger, a cross shaped pendant around his neck, and a shredded red cape strangely reminiscent of Ruby's. "Jeez, Ozpin. Scare my nieces and the Keyblade Master more, why don't you? You really know how to talk to kids." he spoke in a low, smooth raspy voice.