Humanity's Dreams
"So kind of you all to come."
Around the girl who sat on a white throne, hovered the four spirits representing the four gifts from the Brother Gods to mankind.
Jinn, the Spirit of Knowledge.
Ambrosius, the Spirit of Creation.
Nimue, the Spirit of Destruction.
And Janus, the Spirit of Choice.
"It's certainly been a while, Drasil." Jinn noted sarcastically. "I see you have picked up some new play things."
"So have all of you." Drasil replied, glancing at each of the spirits surrounding her. "You have all felt it, haven't you?"
"A change is in the air." The elderly face of Janus spoke before the woman face spoke next. "The countless choices of one world has now become the choices of all worlds."
"So, is this your game?" Nimue crossed her arms. "Reset the game? For what?"
"I am the collective will of mankind. When the Brothers created mankind and gave them the gift of magic, they made me." Drasil answered. "I am the link mankind had with the realms of the divine, allowing them the gift of magic. Through that link, I come to know the unconscious dreams and desires all who were created by the Brothers."
"Aside from those who do not come worlds created by the Brothers." Jinn pointed out. "We only learned of the existence of the outside worlds from the intruder, Aqua who now brings more intruders."
"Isn't it wonderful?" Drasi smiled. "Before this, I could only see into one version of the First World. Now I can see into multiple possibilities created by the addition of Aqua and her friends."
"The power to see into the future is only governed by choice." The female face of Janus argued and then the male one spoke. "You are only allowed to glimpse into those futures by way of the dreams and desires of the mortals."
"And yet, I can become so much more now." Drasil gestured to the body she had come to possess. "I foresee doing many great things and I invite the four of you to join me."
"Join you?" Nimue cocked an eyebrow, not looking impressed. "In what?"
"The God Brothers blessed the First Ones with the gifts of Knowledge, Creation, Destruction and Choice but you know as well as I do the four fundamental gifts you represent are not the end but only the beginning. The beginning to many other gifts and aspects that have barely even begun to touch the surface." Drasil explained, looking at her staff. "Now we know, the other worlds offer many more gifts than the brothers even conceded. Working together, we could become so much more than what they had wanted for us to be."
"Turn on our creators?" Ambrosius scoffed. "Who do you think we are? Humans? You remember how well it worked out for that poor woman."
"I am not saying turn on them, I am saying we can become even better than them. We can grow and create and destroy our worlds as we choose to do on barely a whim." Drasil replied. "Why bother now, given the state of the First World?"
"Drasil, you were never an intended part of the experiment." Jinn frowned. "Merely an unexpected but not unwelcome surprise."
"And I plan to continue doing so." Drasil replied as she looked at the crystal ball on her staff which showed the Maidens and the Keyblade Wielders continuing to fight. "The Children of the First World, doing battle with wielders of the key, paving the way for the creation of a New World."
"And how do you plan on that?" Ambrosius asked with a hardened face. "The First World is too deep in sleep to be affected."
"It is not just the First World." Drasil projected the image of eight more worlds. "It is all worlds touched by the Brothers."
The four spirits looked up and saw the worlds forged by their creators after abandoning Remnant.
The desolate world of Nowhere
The camp world known as Camp Campbell
The world where most of humanity mysteriously died in their sleep: Day 5
The futuristic world known as Gen: Lock
The world where Red soldiers fought Blue Soldiers that was seemingly part of an even larger world.
The fantasy world brought to life known Jacklaheart
The world with two wannabee heroes: X-Ray and Vav
The First World: Remnant
And finally, Drasil herself.
"Each of these worlds were made as part of the grand experiment, many of them abandoned." Drasil said before the images of these worlds faded. "And with each new created world the Brothers learned so much before departing to places unknown, even to us. I watch over the worlds connected to but through Aqua I learned that the First World is a nexus from which many more worlds can be made and I have managed to glimpse them."
Drasil projected the image of several other worlds that appeared alongside the First World:
The first one was very much like the First World but showed Team RWBY fighting beside a team known as the Justice League.
The second one showed Team RWBY being pulled into another world by an entity called System XX and fought alongside many powerful warriors, all of them from different worlds.
The third one showed a theater where Team RWBY along with many of their friends, allies and even enemies viewed alternate reality versions of themselves, the number of which were too many to count.
The fourth was a universe similar to the second one, created by System XX and a man named Hazama bringing not four but seven worlds and all the fighters working together to return to their home worlds.
"It's amazing isn't it, how the worlds seemingly made by the choices of mortals are much more interesting than the ones created by the Brothers." Drasil remarked as the images faded.
"Most of those worlds that were created following the First World were deemed failures by the Brothers, left to their own devices." Jinn crossed her arms. "And that's not even accounting for the worlds connected to the First World, like the afterlife or where the Brothers have chosen to live which is outside of our gaze even if you share a minor link with them."
"And yet, the First World is the only one where I can see multiple possibilities, including outside of the ones made by Choice due to being connected to their unconscious minds." Drasil glanced at Janus who glared back. "It is here in the First World I will make my grand vision a reality."
The eyes of the surrounding spirits all widened in surprise but it was Jinn who spoke. "You seek to merge with the First World!"
"I do." Drasil nodded with a pleased smile.
"Are you insane?!" Nimue yelled, losing her composure. "You cannot interfere with mortals like this!"
"Says who? The Brothers?" Drasil rolled her eyes. "They couldn't care less what happens to this world and you know it. What does it matter to them at all? If anything I would be doing them and the mortals there a favor, especially those girls."
"Those girls…" Jinn's eyes narrowed. "You brought the Maiden powers to them when the First World was destroyed."
"I guess it comes as no surprise to the Spirit of Knowledge." Drasil chuckled. "Yes, I guided Ozma's magic to them and sure enough they reacted as I had hoped. And now with Ozma permanently removed as a problem, I can focus on convincing those girls that helping me is helping them as well."
"The Maiden powers…You need their power to reach the First World." Ambrosius actually glared at Drasil in contrast to his usual upbeat self.
"After the Keyblade Wielder restores it from the Realm of Sleep, otherwise I could actually end up succumbing to Sleep myself." Drasil nodded.
"And what makes you think you will succeed?" Nimue summoned a golden ornate sword, matching the relic she was bound to and pointed it at Drasil. "I should just destroy you right now."
"You can try but you won't." Drasil barely even blinked at the sword being pointed at her, even daring to smile at the Spirit of Destruction. "You cannot interfere outside your realm. It's against the rules and you four love being bound by rules."
Nimue growled, reluctantly lowering her sword.
"That's a good spirit. Now since you have refused my generous request I believe it's time for you four to leave. I will grant humanity's desires on my own and become the God the Brothers failed to become." Drasil declared with a laugh.
"You will fail." Drasil's smile faded and she glared at Janus whose elderly male face spoke, followed by the woman's face. "We four might not be the end of the countless gifts these mortals can wield but we see enough to know what their decision will be when you make your offer."
"Oh?" Drasil raised an eyebrow. "And what is that?"
"The Choice…The Choice of this world, the First World and perhaps all worlds will lie in the hands of the very person you have chosen to carry out your agenda." Janus' elder face answered before they vanished along with the other spirits.
Drasil narrowed her eyes before turning back to the fight between the Maidens and the Keyblade Wielders. "We'll see…"
Xxx
"Interesting, interesting…" A man with long platinum blond hair and yellow eyes carefully observed the recording of Aqua in the Chamber of Repose presented to him by Xemnas, who used his powers to create a perfect illusionary recording of the events.
Located in a laboratory basement of sorts, the man was accompanied by none other than Master Xehanort, Ansem the Seeker of Darkness and Xemnas. They had all gathered in response to Aqua's sudden reappearance in the Realm of Light at several different times and each time she disappeared it was through a special golden object she was carrying.
"And this was supposedly created by deities, according to Vanitas." Vexen stated once the recording was done.
"The item she carried was crafted by a deity... and a powerful one at that. Though at the end of the day, it does not matter. Even the deities have their limits, places they are forbidden to travel, rules they are bound by and cannot break. Worlds with more powerful beings, such as us or the worlds of other deities." Xehanort answered, closing his eyes as he considered the recent events carefully.
"And yet they were capable to traverse the Realms without issue?" Vexen questioned.
"A Keyblade wielders control over the metaphysical forces is unrivalled; the divine nature of these 'Gods' has merely allowed them to... skip certain steps. But even still the power of the Keyblade prevents them from simply 'erasing' us from existence and the fact remains that slaying immortals, be they Gods, Titans, Genies or others, is doable by any competent Keyblade wielder. Tedious, yes, but not impossible and while the Brothers Gods of the Yggdrasil Experiment- Izanagi and Erebus- certainly possess tremendous power, they are NOT Titans or Primordials. Their home world and experiment existed long before they did." Xemnas explained.
"Hm, a simple case of a Normal Fish in a Tiny Pond... or perhaps settlers colonizing an empty land... But what of this 'God of Darkness'?" Vexen pondered.
"Erebus may be a God of Darkness, but not the kind we are familiar with. It is like comparing the heart organ to the Heart. Both have similar names, but ultimately, are two different things. Erebus is vulnerable to the Heartless just as anyone is." Ansem, the Seeker of Darkness answered.
"So what must we do?" Vexen asked.
"The puppet must be returned to us while the lost Guardian takes her place among the Seven." Ansem answered. "It stands to reason we will have to monitor the progress of this world and see when we have the perfect opportunity to retrieve them both."
"Vanitas will watch them closely and will act when the time is right." Xehanort stated confidently. "And we can rely on our new friends to help us."
Vexen watched as five unique Nobodies appeared behind Xehanort, raising an eyebrow. "And what has happened to them?"
"Unless the heart is strong, a Nobody's form is always that of a Dusk. As a member of the Organization, we can give power to these blank vessels, allow them to grow stronger and change form." Xemnas said slowly as he stared at the new Nobodies. "These ones however, they had strong hearts but it seems their minds were lost as well as their hearts. Without their minds to shape their Nobodies, they only retained a somewhat basic shape but enough show the difference between them and the normal Husks."
"Indeed." Vexen walked over to the nearest one which happened to be the shortest. "They must have been fine warriors in life for their bodies to maintain their appearance and as you said, Xemnas, without their memories to guide them, their knowledge, their minds are empty. These are more Nobodies than the rest of us."
Judging by the shape of their body, it appeared to be a young girl with short hair, holding a scythe. It's head was shaped like that of a young girl but had no eyes, mouth or even a nose which was the same for the rest.
"A special kind of Reaper. I am sure Marluxia would be pleased." Vexen said before moving onto the next one.
The next one had the shape of a young woman, all though there were at two more like that that appeared at least a few years older than the first one. This one was muscular, clearly meant to be a brawler like a Berserker but still retained its original shape enough to keep its gender with large gauntlets for hands. The next one was primarily black with cat like ears sticking out of the top of its hair with spikes for hands and feet.
"A female Ninja Nobody. Larxene must be very happy about this one." Vexen chuckled before moving onto the last 'female' Husk.
This one was more elegant, looking more like a Sorcerer Nobody, wearing a long robe that was more like a dress, a humanoid face that was black like the others but Vexen could make out a scar making where the left eye would have been. The last one was a knight apparently, wearing white armor and a white helmet over its 'face'. It was carrying a sword and shield with the Nobody Emblem on the shield.
"Basic but likely effective." Vexen said, looking over the others again for a brief moment. "I have never seen a case where Nobodies retain their original forms and yet still become a mere Husk."
"Their minds were lost along with their hearts. I believe that is because they succumbed to a form of sleep." Xehanort stated once Vexen was done.
"Sleep? A world still lost in the Realm of Sleep?" Vexen questioned, bringing a hand to his chin.
"And possibly where our Lost Guardian learned how to awaken." Ansem mused. "She would need to awaken the world's heart or she would succumb to sleep in the same manner as these have." He gestured to the new Nobodies at the end.
Xehanort chuckled. "A foolish master…but what interesting times she seems to have had. If these five were indeed in the Realm of Sleep it makes sense why their Nobodies were born as such blanks."
"And how is that?" Vexen questioned.
"To enter the Realm of Sleep, one must…fall asleep for the lack of a better word and use the Keyblade's power to gain the Power of Waking. Sora and Riku had already been tasked with awakening seven sleeping worlds." Xemnas answered. "They were properly protected while these five were not."
"If their physical bodies had somehow managed to enter the Realm of Sleep it would only be a matter of time before their bodies begin to break down and their minds succumbing to slumber and thus they would be transformed into Dream Eaters." Ansem picked up. "Their bodies and hearts will have returned to the waking worlds, likely as Heartless and Nobodies."
"Amazing." Vexen whispered, looking at the Nobodies in slight awe now. "I had no idea that it was physically possible to enter the Realm of Sleep."
"It is possible and extremely foolish." Xehanort replied as he turned away. "Only one who has mastered the Power of Waking can enter these worlds and awaken their hearts. However we can make these of these lost shells to locate our guardian of light and the thirteenth member."
"Are they to accompany Vanitas?" Vexen asked.
"I have decided that they will." Xehanort nodded with a smile. "I have a feeling that they will be most effective."
Xxx
CLASH!
SLASH!
SLASH!
CLASH!
SLASH!
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"Neo and Ruby yelled as their weapons collided, creating sparks and a shockwave that knocked down several trees.
Neo broke off and gave a hard thrust at Ruby who spun out of the way, slashing her scythes at Neo who bent over backwards, allowing the weapons to fly over her head and tried to catch one of them with the handle of Hush.
"Not this time!" Ruby shouted, letting go of that scythe and creating another in her hand as she tried to slash at Neo's back.
Neo ducked and rolled, performing a hand stand and spun, kicking her feet at Ruby who quickly blocked with both weapons and then slashed at both her opponent's legs. Neo pulled her legs back and crouched down into a ball as she rolled under Ruby's guard and lashed up with both feet, kicking Ruby in the chin. Ruby fell back and Neo jumped up, opening Hush to slow her fall. She landed perfectly on her feet, facing Ruby as she got back up.
Ruby proceeded to spin both scythes in her hands, fire blazing with one and ice around the other. Neo was then greeted with the surprise of three more scythes appear around Ruby in a whirlwind of the elements that that Maidens controlled: Wind, Lightning and Earth.
"I remember watching Penny used her Maiden powers to recreate her weapons." Ruby answered Neo's unasked question, her eyes and magical aura flaring around her. "I consider this my way of honoring her for she what she stood for in life…The very life you helped Cinder cut short."
"In case you forgot, which I am sure you have, she was dead after Cinder knocked us both down." Neo retorted. "I wasn't even after her."
"And you say I don't acknowledge my wrongdoings?" Ruby spat as her eyes flared even brighter. "Everything Cinder did was because you helped her!"
"So did Emerald and you seemed to give her a free pass. As I recall she helped tear the robot girl in pieces the first time when she tricked Pyrrha Nikos." Neo pointed out, keeping her guard up.
"HER NAME WAS PENNY! SHE WAS NOT A ROBOT! SHE WAS A LIVING BEING WHO YOU HELPED TO KILL!" Ruby roared letting go of her two scythes and all five began spinning around her as a barrier made of wind picked up around her.
Neo grunted as she felt the wind slamming into her face, feeling the sheer power behind it. As she looked into Ruby's eyes, she hated to admit it but she felt a small buildup of guilt in her from seeing the pain there.
A pain she knew all too well.
'Maybe…We're not so different after all, Red.' Neo thought before an image of Aqua appeared in her mind. 'Damn it, Aqua. Why do you make me feel these things I stopped caring about so long ago?'
Ruby let out another scream as she shot at Neo, the scythes spinning around her as she flew; ready to shred Neo to bits.
So why was Neo suddenly smirking?
"Stopga!" Neo shouted, pointing at Ruby with her Keyblade.
Ruby was then suddenly frozen in mid-air, trapped in a time spell that Aqua had taught Neo during their training in the Realm of Darkness. Neo then immediately went on the attack, slashing and kicking at Ruby while she was frozen until the time spell wore off.
As soon as it did, Ruby felt all of the hits at once and it caused her to spiral through the air and crash into the ground with a pained scream. "GAH!"
Neo held the Way to the Dawn over her shoulder as she flashed her usual taunting smile. "What's the matter, Red? Suddenly lose track of time?"
Ruby grunted as her Aura shimmered around her and then broke. "What-How-What did you-?"
"And you're supposed to be the team leader." Neo rolled her eyes. "You and I have both learned by now that the Keyblade has some pretty neat tricks. One of them is having spells that can slow or stop time."
Ruby's eyes widened in shock and horror. "S-Stop time?!"
"Yep." Neo answered with an emphasis on the 'p' sound at the end. "All it takes is one word and I can freeze you and beat you down in a matter of seconds."
Of course, Ruby had no idea that Neo's affinity for spells was dependent on her stamina. If she used up too much energy at once she wouldn't be able to even use basic spells. However, as Roman taught her, being a good liar could come in handy, especially in a fight. Instead of overpowering the enemy, you outthink them and make them think you have all the cards.
Make them doubt their ability to win and you can snatch victory from them.
Ruby growled as she slowly got back up, creating two more blazing scythes to hold with her hands. "I'm not giving up…I will not give up to you of all people!"
Neo frowned, having known Ruby wouldn't back down that easily. "Fine by me. Like I need an excuse to keep beating you down."
With that, Neo shot a fire spell at Ruby who easily dodge out of the way of the attack and shot at Neo with her Semblance. Neo slashed slash at her but Ruby split into five smaller spiraling patterns of petals, reformed behind her and slashed her down. Neo grunted as she jumped up and tried to swipe at Ruby but she knocked attack back with her scythes. Neo brought her Keyblade down on Ruby who clashed with her once again.
Both opponents rapidly slashed at each other with their weapons.
"Well, cast your time spell already!" Ruby shouted as they slashed.
"What? And make it too easy?" Neo retorted.
Ruby's eyes widened and then narrowed. "You have a limit, don't you?"
'Crap!' Neo as her back eventually hit a tree.
Ruby tried to give a hard thrust but Neo spun out of the way and kicked her aside.
"I get it now! You need to conserve or build up energy to cast a spell like that!" Ruby shouted as she spun at Neo with incredible speed, smacking her in the face and sending her crashing into a nearby river.
Neo grunted as she got back up and cast a healing spell over herself. "Heal!"
She then charged at Ruby again and attacked but Ruby did a back flip over the attack and both spun, their weapons colliding in a shower of sparks.
"I should have expected you'd try and bluff you're way out of this fight." Ruby shouted as they grappled.
"That's very smart of you to figure out. And how long did it take you to figure out why I was after you all this time?" Neo retorted as she strained against Ruby's weapons. "I had you near the edge of that bridge you made and you still couldn't figure it out, even when it was staring you in the face!"
Ruby's eyes flared as she let loose an elemental blast that Neo dodged by disengaging and somersaulting back.
"A girl who pretends herself the hero of her own story and ignores the suffering of everyone else has no right to look down on others!" Neo shouted after landing on the ground.
"Pretend?! I became a Huntress to save people from the likes of you!" Ruby shouted back, turning to face her.
"You only help people when it concerns you or are in immediate danger which makes you as horrible as me. There was always a town or village being attacked by Grimm, always someone dying, someone being hurt and then there the people who allowed this system to exist. You and your friends never stepped in until they were the ones who were threatened which is why I hated Huntsmen and Huntresses." Neo snarled. "They sure as hell never came to my rescue from my bastard father and my bitch of a mother and guess what? My father was a member of Vale's Council but in reality he was a greedy, spineless psychopath who allowed for the crime in Vale to go up to cover his own pathetic ass. He had everyone in his back pocket and that is why no one came to my rescue when he abused me!
"Those were the people you tried to protect! The people who were in danger that you could see from the monsters or the so-called bad guys! Not me or Roman, the ones who were always left behind, the people you label as 'bad guys' simply because we're not the pure and nice people you imagine yourself and all those so-called heroes out there to be. He was a criminal to you but to me he was my hero because he treated me better than even my asshole parents ever did and you took him from me even if it was a Grimm that killed him! You and Cinder both took him from me and you couldn't have cared less about him dying or who he left behind!" Neo could barely feel the tears slipping down her cheeks. "You act like you are all paragons of virtue and glory but you can't even admit you can't save everyone and when you fail you blame everyone else but yourself! Roman knew he couldn't save everyone and he knew he couldn't stop Cinder so he did all he could into saving and protecting the one thing he cared about aside from himself: ME! That made him my hero and that's what makes you the villain of my story! Because you and everyone like you are always the ones who take the one good thing from me!"
Neo was left panting at the end of her rant, tears flowing freely now as she glared at Ruby. For her part, Ruby seemed stunned by what she had heard from Neo. Those words had struck a chord in Ruby as she remembered how helpless she had felt in Atlas because everyone was fighting each other instead of working together to stop Salem.
Ozpin had kept his secrets and those secrets caused them to walk directly into a war bigger than they could have imagined and got people she cared about hurt or killed.
Raven had abandoned Yang and her father, returning to life as a bandit and murdered who knows how many people because she was afraid of Salem. If she hadn't had left and abandoned her team, maybe her mother would still be…
Lionheart had betrayed his allies and sold them out to Salem to save himself.
Ironwood had gone off the deep end and wanted to abandon Mantle and the rest of Remnant to save himself.
What had she done?
Sure, she lied to Ironwood but she wasn't sure he could be trusted and she was right. He had turned against them, betrayed his kingdom and its people and was willing to bomb Mantle just to get what he wanted.
How could she have freely given him her trust when she had seen how badly that had gone for her before?
Her eyes shot back up to Neo as she tossed Hush aside and held her Keyblade in both hands. "Let's finish this, here and now, Red! You want to kill me so bad, take your best shot!"
Eyes narrowing, Ruby gathered power into her weapons with fire, ice, wind, earth, and lightning dancing around the bladed ends. "Fine! We're finishing this here and now! Show me what you got, Neo!"
Both stared each other down…
And then charged right at each other.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Both screamed as they collided and swung their weapons…
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
…And vanished into a mighty explosion.
