The hooded man was gone, and Cinder along with him. Sora sighed with frustration alongside Donald and Goofy. They had so many questions, but there was nothing they could do now that they were gone. But he did noticed something laying where the hooded man previously stood. A large piece of paper. The trio shuffled over to it with Sora picking it up and looking at it. Sure enough, it was... "Another report from Ansem?" Donald said, noticing the title at the top.
Goofy looked to where Ruby laid with a worried glance. As curious as he was about what the report said, this wasn't the best time or place. "We'd better skedaddle, fellas. Ruby needs help." he said.
Sora folded the report and pocketed it before walking over to Ruby and slinging one of her arms over his shoulders. As Goofy did the same with her other arm, Donald walked over to where their beloved friend Pyrrha once stood and picked up her tiara. All three of them gave one last look at the smoldering spot, the memory haunting them still. They shared a moment of mournful silence before Sora spoke up with an equally mournful tone. "Let's go."
"Uhhhh, go where?" Donald asked, frowning with worry. The portal that led them here was gone, and he didn't see a clear way up or down, apart from the obvious...which would have been a very terrible idea.
"Ruby!"
Suddenly Weiss' voice rang out from the area where the Wyvern once stood. A moment later, one of the Schnee heiress's glyphs emerged, heralding said huntress to hop into the room with a frantic look on her face. "Sora! Donald! Goofy!" she exclaimed, relieved to see the trio was alright. "I'd have gotten here sooner but the Grimm weren't giving me much choice but to fight them" she said, dusting her skirt. "And besides that. Everyone else is heading to the Gummi Ship, so we'd better rende-" Weiss stopped short when she suddenly noticed the state her leader was in. "Ruby! What happened to her?!" she exclaimed with worry. But before any of the trio could answer, Weiss realized that there was someone missing from the group. The very person Ruby ran up to aid. "And where's Pyrrha?"
Sora, Donald, and Goofy didn't have the heart to answer. All three of them looked down sadly. Before Weiss could ask what was wrong, she looked in Sora's left hand and immediately realized with great sorrow why they said nothing. The realization struck her harder than a charging Goliath. "No..." Despite her attempts to remain strong, Weiss could feel the tears at the edges of her eyes. Pyrrha Nikos, one of their dearest friends, was dead.
Weiss couldn't stop herself from trembling with with grief. She found herself reminiscing about the day she first met Pyrrha. The way she tried to get in her good graces just because she viewed them both as the most superior students at Beacon. Not exactly the best mindset perhaps, but such was Weiss's short-sighted and self-absorbed thought process at that time. Ever since that time, she and her teammates came to know her and the rest of Team JNPR as stalwart, true, loyal, and wonderful friends. Even Jaune, as annoying as she found him. But now, she was gone. And unlike their world, and those who were taken by the Heartless, there was nothing they could do to bring her back. The painful gravity of that realization caused a tear to slide down Weiss's scarred eye. "Pyrrha..."
Sora couldn't stop his own tears from falling as he felt a stream of unimaginable guilt wash over him. "I...I couldn't do anything...I couldn't save her...I couldn't stop Cinder...I failed her...I failed you all..." The guilt was audible in his voice to all three of the conscious parties.
"Sora, don't say that. We did everything we could..." Goofy said, trying to assuage the boy, but it didn't work for a moment.
Donald found himself reaching toward the boy, attempting to comfort him. "Sora, it's not your fau-"
"No!" Sora shouted, shocking Donald and Goofy as tears began flowing from his eyes. "If I'd just been a little quicker, or stronger, I could have stopped this! I could've saved her! I could've...I could've done SOMETHING!" Sora's harsh words toward himself shocked Donald and Goofy. Her death had hit him so hard...and just when everything seemed to be going so well for them too. He closed the Keyhole, saved Hollow Bastion...but he couldn't save Pyrrha "...Some Keyblade Master I a-"
SLAP
Donald and Goofy went bug-eyed as Sora's face lurched to the right from the force of Weiss smacking him across his cheek. Silence filled the room as Sora looked back at the white haired young woman, unsure what to say in response to...well, THAT.
"Listen to me, Sora," Weiss said with a soft, trembling voice. "I understand you're upset. I am too. I'm sorry about that, but it was the only way I could get you to stop. Now is not the time to go blaming yourself or putting yourself down," her tearful gaze turned to her unconscious team leader. "We need to get Ruby back to the others and leave this world. We'll head back to Traverse Town and regroup to rest then figure out what to do next from there."
Sora's surprise from Weiss's sudden slap faded a little faster than the stinging that wracked his cheek. Thanks to that though, he managed to calm down enough to think about her words, and eventually nodded in understanding as he wiped his tears. "Right...Let's go."
As they gathered together, Weiss created a Glyph platform for them to help them descend safely. Sora and Goofy followed with Donald right behind them. It took time but little by little, Weiss' glyph helped them get down to the front gates.
As luck would have it, the rest of Ruby's friends emerged from the front gates, with Jaune having caught up with them thanks to the halls being cleared of Grimm. The large group looked up at the shimmer of Weiss's glyphs and saw her with Sora, Donald, and Goofy. "Hey guys!" Nora called up to them, only to be hushed by Ren. They didn't want to attract any attention if there were still Heartless or Grimm about.
As they the foursome landed, everyone's attention was immediately drawn to the unconscious huntress in Sora's arms. "Ruby!" Blake cried out as she rushed forward along with Jaune.
Weiss stepped up and lay a hand on Blake's shoulder. "She'll be fine, Blake. She's just unconscious. I'm not sure how though..." she explained, looking at her unconscious partner. All she saw was a bright light, and then the wyvern turning to stone before it crumbled from...something.
While Ruby's safety relieving, Jaune's ultimate concern was for a certain red haired huntress...who he anxiously noticed wasn't among the group. "And what about Cinder? And Pyrrha? Where are they?"
The four he addressed hung heads sorrowfully, too hesitant to speak of it. Sora barely found the strength to answer him, or Nora and Ren who were just as frantic to hear about their teammate's status. The agony of the event still so fresh in Sora's mind as he struggled to find the words. "Jaune...Cinder was taken by this...strange guy in a black coat. And Pyrrha...She..." Sora didn't have the heart to finish. The answer came regardless as Donald pulled out her tiara...and showing it to everyone.
In that instant, Jaune, Nora, and Ren's hearts shattered to a million pieces. As the shock and realization set in, Nora threw herself against Ren, who could only raise a hand up to stroke her hair as she wept. Jaune however...he was taking it far worse. His entire world seemed to crumble around him as he dully reached toward the golden headdress, his hands trembling and eyes watering.
It pained Sora, Donald, Goofy, Jiminy, and Weiss to see it, as the instant he grasped it, Jaune sank to his knees and let out a sorrowful cry. The tears spilled out of his eyes as he realized in that moment, Pyrrha was dead. For once, Weiss had no remarks to say about Jaune. If anything, she now felt horrible for all the harsh things she said about him at Beacon. Everyone stood in silence, mourning Pyrrha's death. But Jaune most of all. The loss of the most beautiful and most precious person to him in all of Remnant...the person whom he blindly never even realized how deep her feelings for him were until it was too late...It was too much to bear.
Yet they had to bear it. They had to go back and regroup at Traverse Town before they did anything else, let alone go to stop Ansem. "Come on...Let's go." Leon said as he continued on ahead as he carried Yang. As much as they wished they could give the teenagers time to grieve, Yuffie and Aerith knew they all had to get back to Traverse Town. So they followed Leon to the gondola leading back to where the Gummi Ship awaited.
Sun lay his hand on Blakes shoulder, earning a sorrowful glance from her...only for her to look away, as if ashamed of herself. Ashamed of her own failure. She walked after Leon as well, her eyes tearfully fixed upon Yang's unconscious form the entire time.
Realizing what was on her mind, Sun gave a small sigh as he looked toward Neptune with a solemn nod. Neptune nodded back, following his friend to the Gondola as well, both of them looking back at Sora and the rest of the group sympathetically.
Jaune, still sniffling with sorrow, eventually picked himself up to follow after them. Ren and a tearful Nora reached out to him, but he simply walked past them, following Leon's group. Eventually, the remaining two members of Team JNPR found the strength to walk after their leader.
Weiss found herself following Jaune's movements more intently than she expected. She could only imagine the pain and turmoil going through his head right now. Not to mention what would be afflicting Ruby whenever she woke up. She looked over at Sora who held her in his arms, and as their eyes met, she reached forward and gave Sora a hug, prompting him to tearfully lean into her as he kept his hold on Ruby. Donald and Goofy sorrowfully beheld the embrace. They all new that despite Weiss's words earlier, he was still shouldering some of the blame for all that had happened, but that didn't need to be so. And as Weiss released him, they gently pat Sora on the shoulder and side, letting Sora know he didn't h ave to bear all of this on his own. That they were still here.
Sora took a deep breath and nodded to the other three, securing his hold on Ruby as they joined everyone else at the gondola. When they finally beamed back into the gummi ship, nobody spoke a single word on the way. The silence of the void of stars outside filled the ship, and not a single cheer or sound of joy was shared among the friends who had come so far together.
When they arrived back in Traverse Town, the group made their way to the hotel where Sora met Leon and Yuffie. Ruby and Yang were brought to separate rooms, with Sora, Donald, and Goofy watching over their dear teammate. Zwei gave a sad whine at the corner of the bed, especially concerned about the welbeing of his owner.
"You think she'll wake up?" Donald asked with concern.
"I sure hope so." Goofy said with a sigh. They still had no idea just what she did, or why it would've rendered her unconscious.
But they all knew what the hardest thing to do of all would be when she did wake up...Sora looked down at Ruby, wiping a stray tear from his eye as he softly said, "Ruby...I'm sorry." For now, all they could do was wait. "How's everyone else doing?" Sora asked, trying to keep his mind on other things.
"Neptune told me Yang is still unconscious." Goofy said sadly. Along with Ruby, Yang was probably going to wake up with the heaviest weight on her. Losing her arm to Adam the way she did...Goofy blinked as he did his best to push that thought out of his mind. "Sun said that Blake wants to be alone. Neptune said the same thing about Weiss. Ren and Nora...they told me that Jaune doesn't want to talk to anyone." Goofy said as he hung his head with a glum expression.
"Sun and Neptune are gonna tell Qrow and Winter about what happened." Donald spoke up as he walked through the room, slouching sadly. "I'll go check on Ren, Nora and Jaune again." With that, Donald opened the door and walked into the hallway.
Sora watched Donald leave before glancing back to Ruby. He passed a glance at Goofy as he sat down on a nearby chair, saying, "I'm gonna wait till Ruby wakes. You go with Donald, Goofy."
The guard captain looked to his spiky haired friend with that ever worried expression on his face. "Are ya sure?" he asked, earning a terse nod from Sora. Though he was reluctant to leave two of his best buddies alone, he accepted Sora's decision. "Okay, Sora. We'll be back later." he said as he walked to the door and joined Donald out in the hall.
Goofy and Donald headed to the room where Nora and Ren were. But as they opened the door and stepped inside, they realized...Jaune wasn't with Ren and Nora. "Hey, where's Jaune?" Donald asked.
"We...don't really know. He just stood and left. We asked him where he was going, but he just walked right out without even looking to us." Nora said, sitting at one corner in a slump. It was clear she had been crying again from the faint tremble in her voice, and the redness of her eyes.
Ren was by the foot of a bed, hanging his head with his hands to his knees. His stoic self nowhere to be seen as he too spoke with an undercurrent of sadness in his voice. "I saw him out the window and noticed he was going to the first district. I don't know what he's going there for, but...maybe he just needs time for himself."
Donald and Goofy looked at each other, both feeling quite worried. Jaune was the most affected by Pyrrha's death apart from Ruby. It would be one thing if he just wanted to be alone, but if he didn't even tell his remaining teammates what he was doing..."Maybe we should go find him, Donald." Goofy suggested. Normally, Donald might not have been too worried, but with everything that happened thus far...he agreed with Goofy, nodding before leading the way out of Ren and Nora's room.
When they entered the first district, they immediately began looking for Jaune. It didn't take long as, a moment later, they saw the blonde running through the streets with every ounce of speed he could muster...toward the gates where the Gummi Ship was. But...he wasn't actually going to...A moment later, they realized that he actually was!
"Wak!" Donald cried out with shock before darting forward.
"Jaune, wait!" Goofy called out, running after Donald.
Their words were little more than wind to the distraught huntsman in training, as a moment later, he was engulfed by a beam of light. Donald and Goofy realized with shock, and the familiar sound of the Gummi Ship blasting off, that..."Oh no! Jaune just took the Gummi Ship!" Goofy exclaimed.
"We've got to tell Sora!" Donald said, turning and running as fast as his webbed feet could carry him, with Goofy following. Without their ship, they couldn't stop Ansem. They had no idea what Jaune was thinking, but they had to find some way to get it back.