Chapter 1: The End...

"A smaller, more honest soul... It's true that a simple spark can ignite hope, breathe fire into the hearts of the weary; the ability to derive strength from hope is undoubtedly mankind's greatest attribute. Which is why... I will focus all of my power...

"To snuff. It. Out. How does that feel? Knowing that all of your time and effort has been for nothing? That your guardians have failed you? That everything you have built will be torn down before your very eyes?

"Your faith in humanity was not misplaced, though. When banded together, united by a common enemy? They are a noticeable threat. But divide them, place doubt into their minds? Then any semblance of power they had will wash away.

"Of course, they won't realize at first. Like you, they'll cling to their fleeting hope, their aspirations. But this is merely the first move. So send your Guardians, your Huntsmen, your Huntresses. And when they fail, and you turn to your smaller soul? Know that you send her to the same pitiful demise.

"This is the beginning of the end, Ozpin. And I cannot wait, to watch you burn."

R W B Y

Small, ephemeral tornadoes of sand and ash would appear and disappear, drifting lazily across the tortured landscape. The sky was darkened completely so that only the moon far above was gleaming; it did so with such brightness that it seemed unnatural and disturbing while at the same time soothing and commonplace. The darkness that surrounded it permeated even the physical world, casting shadows through the mountainous landscape and across the entire world. The remains of a long forgotten war were illuminated by the moon as the clouds far above drifted slowly, revealing the fragmented and rusted remains of countless fallen warriors partially buried beneath the dirt. The battlefield was separated into four quarters, a crossroads opening up towards the four cardinal directions at the center. This was a shrine to the fallen, a place of remembrance and a warning that the same mistakes that had brought such ruin ages before should never be repeated. It was meant as a place of peace.

Right now, however, the war which had annihilated all life on this plain was raging once again. The young man jumped backwards, just in time to avoid the massive stone that had crashed into the ground where he had stood. A thousand ancient weapons flew into the air, twirling dangerously as they plummeted back to the ground. Rushing at his enemy, the young man leaped into the air and jumped from weapon to weapon, defying gravity as he neared his floating nemesis. As he reached the last of the falling blades, he looped the weapon around his leg, sweeping it forward to spear through his enemy. The old man merely laughed and raised his hand, lazily shattering the defunct blade. Then the man brought his own ornate weapon down to crash into the young man's. The air itself seemed to crackle and burst around them before exploding outward from the sheer force of the blow.

The two began to trade more of the massive blows, sparks of static electricity forming from the sheer pressure of blade against blade. Those far below, the allies of both men, would occasionally stop and watch the proceedings in awe and terror. These two polar opposites, young and old, dark and light, were fighting to decide the fate of so much more than a single battle. The moon flared, its light illuminating the battlefield and the twenty warriors who fought beneath the gaze of the heart shaped moon. No, this war would decide the fate of all worlds. The Light had put its faith into a child, the Darkness into a frail old man, but no one else present could hope to match the two.

"Had you fought me in the years to come, you could have won," the old man taunted his adversary, his voice dripping with condescension and hate. The old man laughed at the determined, calm look on the young man's face. "But now? You are just a child, while I am a Keyblade Master. I am the χ -blade master!" The old man spun in the air, his long coat trailing behind him, and brought his blade around to crash into the young man's, sending him flying towards the mountainside in the distance. The χ -blade hummed and the glow of the moon above grew brighter.

The weapon was magnificent, the epitome of power. Darkness and Light made one to conquer Kingdom Hearts and bring complete knowledge and power to its wielder. It was formed in the shape of two keys crossing in an X, combining the baskets of the weapons into the handle. A snowflake-like pattern of light erupted from the blades of the two keys and a blade of light from the area between the ends of the keys. From the bases of both keys flowed chains that came together in a single link, culminating in a red and black heart covered in the same 'X' as the keys on the weapon made.

The old man flew after his prey, tossing pillars of stone at the young man large enough to demolish the mountain itself, much less the boy. However, the young man was not one to be underestimated. Even as he hit the mountain, he had rebounded to jump towards the old man again. He brought his weapon up, slicing clean through the building sized slab of stone, sending the two halves of it careening across the landscape. The gargantuan stones crashed through the mountain, tearing chunks of the quiet sentinel off in explosions of stone and dust. The young man shot an explosion of flames downward, preventing his descent and allowing him to crash shoulder first into the old man's chest. "You'll never be the master of the χ -blade or of Kindom Hearts, Xehanort," the young man told the old man, twisting midair to bring their weapons together again. "It's like I told you once – you'll never understand that Kingdom Hearts is Light!" The young man used the momentum of their blades crashing together to deliver an ax kick to Xehanort's head, sending the man rushing to the ground. There was an explosion of force as he hit the ground, forming a huge crater far below. The young man could see the glints of light from the moon above catching on the ancient weapons that had been thrown upwards by the crash. As he fell, however, he noticed the weapons weren't falling at all. "Reflect!" he shouted, bringing his Keyblade up as a torrent of the ancient weapons flew toward him, crashing into the clear wall around him and glancing off harmlessly.

It was hard for the young man to believe, sometimes. Just a few short years before, he had been a normal kid living on his island, hoping to see other worlds. It had taken his home getting destroyed and the appearance of the Keyblade for him to actually get his wish. Though he had been able to fix his home, the Keyblade had stuck with him and had become part of him. The weapon was shaped, as it logically would be, like a key. The basket of the weapon was a square around the black handle, though the golden metal was thicker at the base. The key extended into a silver blade with teeth shaped like the reverse silhouette of a crown. A chain extended from the base into three circles that the young man thought looked oddly similar to the head of one of his friends.

Then his shield shattered, and the keyblades of long dead warriors crashed into him, slashing into his body and sending him, bruised and battered, towards Xehanort. "No, Sora, what you don't understand is that the result of every light is a deep darkness!" the man snapped, bringing his hand up to catch the young man by his head. He brought the young man's entire body slamming into the ground, shattering stone with a loud crack! "You fight for that which only delays the truth and power of Darkness. You fight for weakness and transient 'hope.' You fight for a universe that disregards power. And just like it, you are weak." He slammed Sora into the ground again, the young man's brown, spiky hair snapping wildly back and forth as he was slammed again and again into the stone.

"Maybe I am weak," Sora responded quietly, freezing the old man. Then suddenly Xehanort gasped in pain and was thrown back by an explosion of light. He quickly righted himself, however, and let himself float to the ground in an aura of Darkness. "But that's why I have friends!" The young man stood shoulder to shoulder with a short duck wearing a wizard hat and a lanky dog in knight's armor. Sora himself was clothed in snow white and black, twin Keyblades of the same opposite colors in either hand. "They can be my strength and I'll be theirs!"

"Then their strength shall fail with yours!" Xehanort snarled, rushing forward, χ -blade ready to pierce Sora's chest. The young Keyblade wielder was not there when Xehanort arrived, though; Sora had disappeared into thin air.

"Now!" the young man shouted, twirling in the air. Xehanort's eyes widened as he saw the young man was not holding his Keyblades, instead his hands were clasped with those of the lanky knight. As he continued to spin high above, Sora let the knight's hand go and the Dog-man shot with his shield before him like a bullet right at Xehanort. The elderly Keyblade master tried to sidestep, but he was barraged by a series of flame spells from all sides. He was thrown between the explosions, grunting in pain as his flesh was seared and he was forced back into the path of the knight. Xehanort caught sight of the Duck-wizard commanding the explosions of magic around him, though he also guessed that Sora was getting his fair share of attacks in as well throughout the entire endeavor.

When the knight and his shield hit Xehanort, he was already off balance from the barrage of spells. He slammed into the ground with enough force to leave an imprint and was dragged through the stone headfirst until he and the knight stopped more than a dozen yards from where they had collided. "Did we get him?" the wizard quacked. The knight shrugged and bent down to check, only to have Xehanort's white gloved hand wrap around his throat.

"You have been a thorn in my side for far too long, boy," he told Sora as he floated back to his feet, deflecting the spells of the Duck right back at their caster, sending the diminutive wizard flying back. "Hm... roast duck. Well, I think its time we end this as it began. Between the three of us." The elderly warrior turned and threw the knight.

"Goofy! Donald!" Sora shouted, reaching out and running for them. He fired off a Blizzaga to distract Xehanort as he tried to reach his friends, but that spell didn't even annoy the elderly villain.

"Not so fast!" Xehanort snapped, instantly appearing in front of Sora. He elbowed the young man in the face and sent him flying, but the Keyblade wielder righted himself and began to float with the aid of the Keyblades that had returned to hover across his back. "Now, as I was saying, we should all be here for this, hm?" The elderly man raised his hand and covered it with a dark aura before swinging it down. A rift in reality, a black shadow, appeared and a young man with white hair and a Keyblade tumbled out.

Sora recognized the man before he had even hit the ground, running over to protect his best friend with both Keyblades at the ready, spinning to create a constant Reflega wall around them. "Riku!" Sora gasped. "Riku, are you okay?"

"I'll be fine," the white haired boy replied, pushing himself to his feet and wiping blood from his face. He looked around at the wall surrounding them and then, as if he suddenly felt embarrassed for having not said it sooner, muttered, "Thanks."

Sora grinned and laughed disarmingly; it had been no big deal at all, he was saying. Riku wondered how he could do that in the middle of a battle that was about to decide the fate of the universe. Of course, Sora had always been like that – a Light even when everything was at its darkest, dragging everyone around him back to the Light no matter what they had done. Riku was evidence enough for that. "We have to stop him," Riku finally said, returning to the task and glaring at the puppeteer who had engineered the near destruction of the entire universe more than three times.

"We can do it," Sora said, bringing the twin blades to his hands, wielding them backhand and letting the wall around them drop. "Together."

"Together," Riku agreed. As Sora jumped forward, distracting Xehanort with quick, powerful strikes from the twin Keyblades, Riku began to summon the strength of his heart to the tip of his Keyblade. Light swarmed to the tip of the weapon, condensing at the tip and approaching critical mass.

As soon as it did, Riku raised his Keyblade, a pair of wings – the blade the leathery blue and red of a demons and the teeth the gleaming white of an angel's, a weapon of Twilight – and a beam of light erupted from the end. Sora jumped out of the way at the last second; he'd been standing between Xehanort and Riku to prevent the old man from seeing what was happening. Xehanort laughed in response and deflected the energy with the χ -blade in a move so fast that both Riku and Sora were worried he'd already been blocking, sending the powerful stream of energy careening through the air and into the mountains. The beam hit the faraway stone and, for a moment, nothing happened.

Then there was an explosion of light on the side of the monolith, and the mountain slowly but steadily began to crumble to dust. Riku, Sora, and Xehanort all braced momentarily as the city sized cloud of ash and dust rushed towards them, obscuring everything and causing dust and debris to slash across their skin at high speeds. Sora and Riku growled to themselves, putting their hands up to protect their eyes from the rapidly moving fragments in the air, unfortunately leaving them wide open to attack.

Sora barely reacted in time, jumping away from the attack that had been aimed right at him. The χ -blade slashed through the ground where he had been, leaving behind an insidious stream of Darkness to rise like thick, black smoke from the ground. The next one came from his left, and he barely brought his black Keyblade up to block it in time, the jarring blow sending the weapon flying from his hand and him stumbling away.

With a quick flick of his wrist, the Keyblade returned to his off hand and looked around. His eyes widened as he saw a huge shadow creeping up from behind his friend, the shape of the χ -blade raised above its head. "Riku!" Sora shouted, moving like lightning to deflect the attack that rushed at his best friend from within the dust cloud. The twin Keyblades clashed with the weapon they emulated, bringing sparks of light and shadow into the air. Sora struggled against the sheer force that was pressing down on him, but failed to stand up to Xehanort's strength. The χ -blade slammed down with even more force, suddenly sending Sora flying backwards and right into Riku. The two tumbled through the dust cloud, skidding across the ground and bouncing to a stop side by side.

"You both were prime choices for vessels," the old man said, invisible within the dust cloud once again. Riku barely made it to his feet in time to block another attack. Wordlessly, perfectly understanding each other such that neither was sure if the idea was his own or the his friend's, the young men stood back to back, deflecting the glancing blows that came towards them. Xehanort, Seeker of Darkness, was playing with his prey. "Such powerful hearts, such overwhelming desires for strength. And you were from my home, my islands. It was destiny!"

"But neither of us gave in," Sora retorted. He pointed one Keyblade up "Wind!" The dust cloud suddenly dispersed and the two young men looked around wildly for their enemy.

"No, you both did!" Xehanort shouted from above. Sora shoved Riku out of the attack's path and brought his Keyblades up in an X, catching the χ -blade between them. The force of the blow instead broke right through his defenses, crushing Sora down into the ground, a crater around the two combatants. Xehanort laughed maniacally and brought his free hand up, then swiftly and savagely down onto Sora's face. Again, again and again, crushing the stone beneath Sora's skull into dust from the raw power of the blows. "I used your friend to gather the seven princesses. I used you to summon me here. You both made this possible, handing Kingdom Hearts to me!"

"But we found our ways back," Riku shouted, leaping from the edge of the crater and rushing down at Xehanort. An explosive Firaga flew towards Xehanort, who lazily tossed Sora right into its path. The young man screamed in pain, flying from the explosion and directly back at Xehanort. Laughing, the old man caught Sora by the head and tossed him again at Riku. The two boys collided, hard, and crashed into the reverse-dome wall of the crater. Riku struggled to his feet in front of his friend, holding his Keyblade up to protect the two of them. "We led each other back to the Light!"

"But only because I created you both!" Xehanort growled, growing tired of the game "You would not be here, you would not be Keyblade Masters without me! Sora would never have been given your birthright had I not existed! You would never have claimed a new Keyblade if you had not accepted my Darkness within you!" The old man fired his own Dark Firaga wordlessly at the young men, the spell barely being deflected by Riku. The white haired boy raised his Keyblade, bringing the chiming of bells and a green light to the area. Xehanort watched disinterestedly as Sora made his way back to the land of the conscious.

"We made ourselves!" Sora rasped, stumbling to his feet. He moved uneasily towards Xehanort , slashinghis twin Keyblades. None of the blows came close to hitting the old Keyblade Master, who moved out of the path of each blow at the last moment. Sora, however, was getting stronger with each moment. Despite himself, Xehanort found he was starting to have trouble sidestepping every attack.

"I am done with these games," the old man growled, swinging his weapon up to crash against the next blow of the Keyblades, sending Sora tumbling through the air. The young man righted himself almost immediately. "You are annoying me; bow or I shall burn the Princess to nothing!"

Sora's eyes widened as he landed on the ground. "Kairi," he muttered, glancing over at Riku, who also was glaring at Xehanort with anger. He turned back to Xehanort, eyes full of anger. "You won't touch her!" He roared a battle-scream and appeared before Xehanort, stunning the old man with his speed. He had not been expecting this.

"I made you, and I made her," Xehanort growled, barely dodging the rapid and precise, yet furious strikes raining down on him from Sora's twin Keyblades. He brought the χ -blade up, deflecting the next attack before striking Sora in the gut with his palm, shoving the Keyblade Wielder back. Sora's feet skidded through the stone, leaving a straight trail in front of him. "You are mine."

"We don't belong to you," Sora snapped, running at Xehanort again.

"It's in spite of you that we became who we are," Riku said from the other side of their nemesis, now attacking just as quickly. Xehanort turned in surprise, barely able to bring up the χ -blade in time to save himself from certain defeat. Sora had been playing the part of distraction to let his friend get into place for a flurry off sneak attacks. And now Xehanort was stuck trying to defend himself on two fronts, from the twin Keyblades on one side and from the Twilight warrior on his other. It was not going well for him, even with the omnipotence of the χ -blade in his grasp.

How is this possible? Xehanort asked himself, now struggling to keep up with the now in-sync attacks of the two young men. Moments before, he had been demolishing them. Yet now... now they were focused, driven. It was as if their hearts, and the hearts of all they had touched, suddenly were all fighting together. But... that wasn't possible, was it? "And what are you?" the old man asked, yellow eyes flaring with hatred as he blocked another of Sora's attack with lightning like reflexes, countering with a deathblow that hit only empty air. "Children! Children who fight for meaningless nonsense like hope! You are smaller hearts!"

"More honest hearts," Riku growled, looping the teeth of his weapon around the χ -blade's edge and slamming it to the ground. Xehanort's momentum tugged against the weapon, but Riku's grasp was firm; the old man stumbled to the ground, hand gripping the χ -blade that was now buried blade-first into the stone.

"And maybe that's all it'll take to beat you!" Sora yelled, swinging both his weapons into Xehanort's weapon.

"NO!" the Seeker of Darkness screamed, raising his hand to try and catch the Keyblades. He succeeded, but only in preventing one of the weapons from destroying his plans. The black Keyblade collided with the χ -blade, shattering the blade and consigning Xehanort's decades upon decades of planning to Oblivion.

All was gone for a moment. There was nothing. No light. No darkness. No sound. No silence. Everything was... frozen, as if all of time were observing this moment with bated breath. The χ -blade had been broken once again. Light and Dark had been fused and shattered, stretched and compressed into this weapon to hold all power, all realities, and it had been broken. Not destroyed, but broken. Still, all was frozen.

Then, the world suddenly started back up. The blade of the χ -blade that had been separated from the rest of the weapon compressed to a single point, all of its energy sucking in for a moment, then the shadows and light that had been contained exploded outward, sending Riku, Xehanort, and Sora flying apart from each other.

Sora groaned as sense and feeling returned to him. He tried to push himself to his feet, but groaned and clutched at his side – it felt like something was broken. He looked down out of instinct and nervously noted that he was no longer in his Final Form. He wondered if the explosion and fainting were responsible for having pushed him back to his normal power level. "Riku!" Sora groaned, looking around for his friend through the ash raining from the sky. He couldn't see his white haired brother in arms anywhere. Though, neither did he see Xehanort. "Maybe it's finally over. Maybe he's gone." Sora was not nearly that lucky.

"You have destroyed everything!" Xehanort spat, slowly approaching the young man still stumbling to his feet. The jagged remains of the χ -blade remained in the old man's right hand as he advanced on the boy who had annihilated everything he had spent decades building. Xehanort had betrayed his closest friends, stolen the lives of countless, and destroyed his own time stream for this power and all it took was a single boy to lay ruin to everything? "Everything I have spent my entire life creating, you have made ruin in a mere moment. Not even Eraqus himself was this vexing, you... boy! You wish to be a Keyblade Master, to stop Darkness? Then die at the hand of that same Darkness, like all others before you!" The man brought the χ -blade upward slowly, threateningly. The jagged edges caught the ambient light of the battlefield, glinting menacingly even in the deep darkness. "I name you my enemy, the only worthy one I ever faced. I name you the Seeker of Light: a fool, a child, and now – dead." Then the old man brought it down, rushing towards Sora to finally do away with him.

Sora grunted in pain and brought his Keyblade up, but at that point he knew it was far too late. He was going to die. I hope Riku and Kairi don't cry, he thought to himself, still bringing the Kingdom Key up to block. That's not how you should remember friends.

However, Riku was not too late, crashing into Xehanort's side and sending the two of them tumbling away just as the χ -blade neared Sora's throat. There was a shout of pain as the weapon slashed wildly and randomly across Riku's chest, causing the young man to lay, unmoving, on the ground. Blood began to pool around the body laying face down in the dirt. "Riku!" Sora shouted, mind suddenly clear and the pain in his body ignored. He ran towards the old man, slashing as Xehanort jumped away from Riku's prone body. "RIKU! Hold on!"

"Sora!" Donald Duck shouted, the voice rushing towards the two boys from the clearing cloud of ash. Sora looked up, tears in his eyes, his own thoughts on how to remember friends already forgotten. Donald Duck and Goofy were accompanied by the rest of their allies, King Mickey at the front without his Keyblade in his hand.

"Riku!" a woman shouted, rushing past Mickey from the group and sliding across the ground to kneel next to Sora and Riku. Sora looked up at Kairi sadly, the two unsure if their friend was going to be okay.

"Guys, Riku. He's..." Sora growled at himself and turned the other young man over. There was a large gash across the white-haired Keyblade Master's chest, bleeding profusely. Sora quickly raised his Keyblade and green light flashed around him, suddenly fixing the huge wound on his friend's chest. And, he noticed, whatever pain had been in his own side.

Kairi leaned down and hugged her friend close. "King Mickey, is he going to be okay?" she asked, clutching at him. Sora was holding his friend's head off of the ground, praying he'd survive.

"I hope so," the royal mouse squeaked. He sighed and turned to gaze at Xehanort, summoning his Keyblade – a palette swap of Sora's own. "You're beaten, Xehanort. Surrender!"

"Surrender?" the old man asked, clutching at his side. Sora smiled – despite the wound Riku had suffered, he had obviously harmed the Dark Keyblade Master too. Xehanort laughed and an aura of Darkness began to grow around his shoulders, devouring the little light around him. "To you fools and weaklings? Never!" The old man swiftly swiped his hand in front of him, sending a blade of Dark energy at the group who had brought themselves together to defeat him. Sora slashed through the energy with his weapon, saving Kairi, Riku, and himself, and was already rushing towards Xehanort ready to end it.

"Sora! Stop!" Kairi shouted, putting down Riku so she could help her other best friend. "Don't fight him alone!"

"I have to stop him!" Sora shouted over his shoulder as Xehanort began to open a door to the paths of darkness. Sora's eyes narrowed as he approached the man. "I won't let you escape!"

"Begone, you damn child!" the old man snapped, shooting another ball of Darkness at Sora. The young man just batted it back at its creator, but the old man was already through the portal of Darkness.

"No you don't!" Sora shouted, leaping forward and through the closing portal.

"SORA!" Kairi, Donald, and Goofy screamed, rushing forward as the portal shut completely. But it was too late – Sora and Xehanort were gone, and so were the remains of the χ -blade.

R W B Y

The young woman in the red cloak walked through the forest, hood pulled low over her head. She was uncharacteristically quiet, the struggles of the recent times weighing heavily upon her shoulders. The weight of the world was upon her and, despite not knowing it, she surely felt it. She glanced up at the crow that cawed anxiously far above as the wind shifted suddenly. The young woman stopped, feeling the shift in pressure; it unnerved her. "Ruby!" a worried, nasally voice shouted. The young woman turned at the calling of her name towards the three rushing towards her: a clumsy blonde young man with a sword at his hip and white-gold armor over his black sweatshirt and blue jeans, a bouncy and excited redhead with a huge grenade launcher strapped across her back wearing a tight dueling blouse with heart insignias across it and a pink skirt, and a quiet, dark haired young man in a jade shirt with guns strapped to his hips.

"Sorry," Ruby replied, grinning sheepishly and pulling her hood down. Her dark hair, an almost black brown highlighted with deep crimson, swept around her face, with her bangs sweeping across her forehead to partially obscure one of her striking silver eyes. She clasped her hands behind her, laughing nervously. She was wearing a black combat skirt, accented with a red slightly brighter than the red in her hair. There was a red and black machine strapped to the small of her back, a sniper-rifle ready to extend into a scythe at any moment. "I must've been lost in thought." She chuckled nervously. "Sorry..."

"Oh, it's fine, Ruby!" the other young woman laughed. "Ren does that all the time – he's so quiet sometimes that you might just forget he's around until – BOO! He appears out of nowhere all of a sudden, like a ninja and you get really surprised and -"

Lie Ren put his hand on Nora's shoulder, quieting her. "It's fine," he said, ever the man of few words.

"We need to stay together, though," the blonde boy urged. "Splitting up isn't a good idea, not with Cinder still at large."

"Jaune, we'll be okay," Ruby said, knowing what was on the boy's mind. "Why would Cinder even be looking for us?" She frowned as the same memories ran through her mind. "Pyrrha... she wouldn't want us to be afraid."

"But -"

"Look," Ren urged, interrupting the two. Ruby and Jaune glanced over at the young man, who was pointing up into the sky. They followed his gaze and frowned.

"Hm. A shooting star?" Nora asked. "Oh! Make a wish, let's all make a wish!"

"I don't think so," Ren muttered. "No, it's heading for us."

"Then we should probably... run!" Ruby yelled, rushing away with her friends at her heels.

"AAAAHH!" another voice screamed.

"What was that!?" Jaune asked, glancing over his shoulder. He yelped as he noticed the falling star turning midair. "Is it following us!?"

"Looook ooouut!" the other voice shouted again as the shooting star flew right over the fours' heads. The group stumbled to the ground, following the star with their eyes as it crashed into a nearby tree, sending tree dust and splinters flying everywhere. The Auras of the four young warriors caused what would have been mildly painful and incredibly annoying, to merely lance off of their skin painlessly. They glanced between each other, entirely unsure of what in the name of Dust had just happened.

"Did the... shooting star just..?" Nora asked, pushing herself to her feet, for once at a loss for words.

"Speak? I believe so, though it is impossible," Lie Ren responded, already standing. He had spoken more words in that moment than Ruby had ever heard him speak at once – again rare.

"Then let's go see if it did," Ruby said, serious. She had been itching for some action to take her mind off of things. Ruby Rose quickly used her semblance to shoot forward in a blur of roses, simultaneously dashing forward and clearing the cloud of dust in the forest around them. She appeared a moment later, scythe at the ready to defend against whatever creature had been within the falling star.

"Um.. er... Oh! 'Who goes there!?" She asked, striking her best hero pose. She giggled to herself, back to her old self for a moment.

The tree's wreckage stirred. "I'm Sora," a young man said, pushing the huge tree trunk up and off of his body. He was wearing black, tattered clothes that looked like one couldn't quite tell what they had been, only barely functional at that point with no remains of whatever style they had once had. They looked like they were burned at their tattered edges and – still on fire!?

Ruby watched, stunned as the strange boy revealed himself to be completely unharmed, save his completely destroyed clothes. He was grinning widely despite the painful crash he'd just survived, with spiky brown hair sticking out in every direction covered in wood fibers. He stuck his right hand – this one had a glove on it still – to Ruby for a handshake. "What's your name?"

Ruby stared, dumbfounded, at the young man. She'd seen a lot of craaaaazy stuff since starting her first term at Beacon – a dragon Grimm the size of a building, someone get their leg broken at the knee but then walk around in a plan to destroy Vale the next day... she'd even seen Weiss smile once! That had been almost scary, and Ruby had wondered if it meant the beginning of the end of the world. But this boy? He looked to be no older than she was, which wasn't the surprising part. The surprising part was that he was looking right at her like they'd known each other forever, despite being complete strangers. Ruby didn't make friends super easily, so she would have remembered if they'd met before. Also, she would have remembered meeting someone who could turn into a shooting star! How awesome! She squealed internally. "Well? I'm betting you have a name, right?" She shook herself from her thoughts to look at the still smiling Sora, who was waiting patiently and smiling as kindly as anyone could.

"Oh, I'm Ruby Rose," she replied, blushing slightly and rubbing the back of her head. She twirled her scyther around her body and into its travel mode, stowing it on the back of her belt. Ruby glanced over her shoulder at her also stunned friends and introduced them in turn, pointing at each of their slackjawed faces. "And that's Jaune Arc, Lie Ren, and Nora Valkyrie. But... who are you?"

"Who am I?" Sora asked, putting his hands behind his head and considering the question. He laughed happily, like the answer was the simplest thing ever. "Well, like I said, I'm Sora!"

"But what are you?" Jaune asked, gazing and pointing dumbfounded at the demolished tree behind him.

Sora turne from the tree and laughed nervously. "I'm -"

Sora was interrupted by a roar nearby. "Grimm!" Nora shouted, pulling her grenade launcher/hammer hybrid – Magnihild – from her back and readying it as a dust grenade launcher. The trees nearby rustled, shaking as the monsters began to collide with them during their wild rush towards the humans they hunted

Ruby looked back at Sora, face serious and eyes steely. "Stay back, we're Huntsmen," she said, twirling her scythe around her and holding it at the ready. She checked the ammunition in the weapon's sniper-rifle, then slammed the clip back in. "We'll keep you safe."

"Keep me safe?" Sora asked, dumbfounded and amused. "Hm... so that's what that sounds like..."

Then the Grimm appeared from the edge of the forest, jumping onto the path. Ruby jumped forward, cleanly cleaving the quickest Beowolf in two, the creature already fading away to nothingness as she moved on to attack a Deathstalker with Jaune. Nora was laughing nearby, acrobatically slamming her huge hammer into the face of a Boarbatusk, shattering the bone-like mask that was its face. Ren jumped over the redhead, swinging his the sickles of his twin guns – StormFlower – across the chest of an Ursa bearing down on Nora, firing a burst of Dust bullets into its chest as he did so, sending it to evaporate into nothingness just as Nora slammed her hammer into the Boarbatusk and sent it flying into another one. She turned Magnihild into a grenade launcher once more and fired a single heart-emblazoned grenade at the two Grimm, sending them squealing to their doom.

Jaune had come into his own as a fighter, Ruby noted as the two took on the huge, scorpion like Grimm. He had held the creature off on his own and was now gaining ground – not as much as Ruby herself, but a significant amount regardless. He slashed his sword – which, with his shield was called Crocea Mors – to deflect the incoming stinger of the Grimm. Ruby twirled around him as he recovered from blocking the blow, slashing around with her scythe – aptly named Crescent Rose – to keep the Deathstalker's claw from cutting Jaune cleanly in two.

"Ren, get the tail. Nora, give us an opening!" Ruby shouted, slashing Crescent Rose across her body to block another pincer attack. Jaune dashed backwards, making room for Nora to leap onto his shield and use it as a springboard to leap into the air. She fired Magnihild behind her as she jumped, sending her flying even further into the air using the force of the explosion.

Meanwhile, Lie Ren flipped over a reaching pincer that reached out for him. He landed nimbly atop the claw, easily spinning around the next attack of the Deathstalker from its tail. The yellow tip slammed into the body exterior of the Deathstalker's claw, glancing up and giving Ren time to loop the blades of StormFlower around the tail. When the Deathstalker brought its tail up to attack again, he braced himself and pulled down as hard as he could, firing the twin guns to add momentum to the blow; the tip of the tail groaned and creaked for a moment then, with a squelch slid clean off of the Grimm's body. The yellow spear dissolved into black Dust, and the Deathstalker shrieked in pain, writhing and sending Ren flying through the air. He curled up in the air, spinning until his feet landed against a tree branch and he rebounded to the ground.

Of course, this had all given Nora time to gather speed and get an opening. She was falling from high above, firing Magnihild behind her to get as much momentum going as possible before finally making contact with the last of the attacking Grimm. As she neared, she fired another blast and used the energy from the explosion to bring Magnihild around her even more quickly, slamming it into the Deathstalker's head with enough force to shatter stone. Old Deathstalkers are made of tougher stuff, however, and it merely fractured the bony mask of the Grimm. It shrieked in pain as Nora rebounded off of it, landing with an excited smile next to Ren.

Ruby slashed through the next pincer to attack her, cutting it cleanly in half and making it considerably less dangerous. Wordlessly, Jaune grabbed a hold of Ruby's spinning scythe and she whipped him around, letting him fly shield first into the Deathstalker's cracked face plate, completely shattering the last armor of the creature. This let Ruby jump up after Jaune, twirling her weapon to bring it down on top of the opening before firing a series of sniper bullets right into the newly weakened point. As soon as the second bullet was fired, the thick hide of the Deathstalker was punctured and it began to fade away to nothingness like the rest of its kind had. Crescent Rose crashed against the ground, Ruby still standing on top of it, as the last vestige of the Grimm's body faded away.

"Good job," Sora said, watching events with interest. He smiled and flashed a thumbs up at the proud, slightly panting group of warriors. He sounded impressed, though not awestruck. "I was expecting some great fighting from you guys, but I wasn't expecting that kind of teamwork. You guys are pretty good at this."

"Like I said: we're Huntsmen," Ruby said, stepping off of her scythe and glancing over at Sora again. She smiled and blushed regardless. "But you think so?"

"You could give some of my friends a run for their Munny," Sora said with a laugh. "And that's– wait, did you hear that?" There was another roar, louder and deeper now. He frowned and glared up at the forest as the trees began to bend over.

"Oh, no," Ruby muttered, twirling Crescent Rose back to a ready position. However, she was quickly thrown backwards as a Goliath, a huge, elephantine Grimm, punched through the trees and ran right for the star-boy. She tried to slash at it as she flew through the air, but the Grimm ignored the blow; it only cared about Sora. Ruby worriedly pushed herself to her knees, the world swaying from the force of the impact even still. "Sora! Run!"

"Why?" the boy asked with a laugh, raising his right hand behind him like he was about to throw a spear. There was a flash of light that originated in his hand and he threw his fist forward, sending the light blurring into a circle that sped towards the monster. Was this a semblance of some kind? Was he a... was he a hunter, too? As soon as the light reached the monster, the Goliath groaned and began to turn to black Dust, the remains of its life suddenly extinguished. The light spun out of the back of the Grimm, apparently having burrowed through its entire body. Then it disappeared, the light flaring up again.

The light simultaneously flashed in Sora's hand once more, leaving only a simple, gold and silver key the size of a sword draped across his shoulders. "Well, that was a nice warmup," he said, grinning at the four dumbfounded warriors. He glanced around, smiling even wider. "What's next?"

R W B Y

Sora frowned as he examined the clothing in the Patch Island store, a shop appropriately named the Patch Job with a patchwork shirt as its logo. He was used to outfits that were more fit for the warm, tropical climate of his home on Destiny Islands. Back there, if you couldn't swim in and go to school in it, it probably wasn't the right choice for your day to day wear. Of course, the weather in this region of the world known as "Remnant" was pretty chilly at the moment, with snow falling outside at that very moment. He'd noticed as they'd led him to the store; he'd been nearly frozen as they'd entered. Though that could also have been from the fact his clothes were mostly rags covering his body at that point.

"So..." Ruby muttered, rocking back and forth on her toes at Sora's side. She had been nice enough to offer to pay for the clothes, so Sora had agreed to answer her questions – of course, he would've done that anyways. She'd been pretty quiet for a good twenty minutes, though, unsure of what to say.

Sora turned and smiled at Ruby. "What do you need?" he asked before turning back to the pants. He tentatively picked up a black pair of jeans his size and tossed them over his shoulder. These'll do. Oh, I need underwear. He looked over at Ruby again and blushed. He didn't exactly want to buy them right in front of this girl, though...

"Well..." Ruby began, rubbing the back of her head sheepishly for a moment. Then she pounced forward, grabbing Sora by the shoulders and stopping him from looking at a shirt to by. "Tell me all about your awesome weapon!"

"The... Keyblade?"

"Is that its name?" she asked, smiling widely. She looked super excited.

"Well, that's what it is. I think this one's name is the 'Kingdom Key,'" he explained. He paused for a moment and, honestly interested, asked "What about your weapon?" He hadn't seen someone use a scythe since... ever. Well, unless you counted the events that went down in Castle Oblivion, but Sora had only heard about that from Lea just a little while before the battle with Xehanort. The young Keyblade wielder sure didn't remember fighting the rest of Organization XIII, or a clone of Riku. He kind of wished he did – it sounded like a ton of fun, if occasionally sad.

"Crescent Rose," Ruby said, pulling the inactive crimson weapon from her belt. She cradled it lovingly, like a mother with a child. "She's my sweetheart. I built her myself."

"You built that?" Sora asked, leaning towards the weapon appreciatively. He laughed excitedly.

"Of course... didn't you build the Kingdom Key?" Ruby asked, glancing up.

"No... it... chose me," Sora said with a shrug. He grabbed a white shirt from the pile that looked to be the right size then continued on to the next area for a longer sleeved hoodie.

"That's how I feel about weapons, too!" Ruby squealed happily. She was excited someone understood how she felt. "They're extensions of who we are, of who we want to be! It's like they choose us just as much as we choose them!"

"I agree, but that's not what I meant. No, I mean it literally chose me," Sora replied, flipping through the selection of sweatshirts for the right one. "I have a strong heart, so the Keyblade chose me to wield it."

"Ha! That's..." Ruby frowned at Sora's confused stare. "You're serious. The Keyblade chose you? How?"

Sora shrugged. "Well, it was supposed to go to my best friend Riku, but he... did some pretty bad things," he replied, saddened as he remembered his friends. He didn't even have a Gummi Ship to get back to them in. He smiled to himself, dispelling the sadness. Then he'd just have to wait for them to find him on Remnant, wouldn't he. "But he made up for it. Anyways, the Keyblade's connected to me."

"So where is it?" she asked, grabbing his hand and looking over it. "Where's the wire connecting you?"

Sora laughed. "I get why you'd think that," Sora said, pulling his hand away, blushing slightly. "I gave up trying to understand the how a long time ago. I know it's not here, but if I want it to -" he held his arm out and light flared in his left hand, summoning the Keyblade to his hand once more "- it

comes to me."

"That. Is. So. Coool!" Ruby squealed. She leaned over the Keyblade and began to examine it like a woman possessed. She walked along the length of the weapon and stared intently at the teeth for almost ten minutes. Finally: "Can I... Can I see it?"

Sora smiled and immediately handed the Kingdom Key over to the girl. He trusted Ruby – she had risked her life to save him, a complete stranger, without a second thought, so she couldn't be that bad. Besides, he could just summon the Keyblade back if worst came to worst.

Ruby tentatively took the weapon, holding the handle in her left hand and the end of the blade with her right hand. After a few moments of tracing the outline of the weapon, she gripped the handle with both of her hands, doing quick, expert maneuvers in the small area without hitting anything on the shelves. "It's weighted perfectly," she said, awestruck, as she stopped. She turned it upside down and held the Keychain in one hand. "And I mean perfectly. Like impossibly perfect."

"Yeah, magical weapons of infinite power will do that," Sora muttered, not quite loud enough for Ruby to hear.

"What?" she asked.

"Nothing," he replied maybe a little too quickly while grabbing a red hoodie and putting it over his arm.

"What is this thing?" she asked, holding the Keychain up so Sora could see what she meant.

"Oh, that?" he asked. "Well, if I put different Keychains there, it'll change the Keyblade's shape and uses. Stronger hits, better magic."

"Pfft. There's no such thing as magic," Ruby said, laughing.

"Coming from someone who can turn into a torpedo of rose petals?" Sora jabbed jokingly.

"That's my semblance," Ruby replied. She frowned."You should know that. Unless... Where are you from?"

Sora froze and looked up, nearly panicking. "Uh... Uh..." he groaned, searching for an answer. Donald, Goofy, King Mickey, and Yen Sid's words ran through his mind aain – "Don't let the worlds know about other Worlds!"

"Uh... Far away?" he supplied.

Ruby frowned and leaned in, her eyebrows a 'V' of determination. Sora tried to swallow, but his throat was dry as she stared him down. Her hand came up, a single finger raised, and the entire world seemed to condense on that single fingertip. Sora felt more than a little afraid in that moment of the small girl his age. "Okay," she said, suddenly giving him space and laughing at his scared face. "You can tell me later. For now, what are you doing here, and how did you get here? I don't think I've ever seen someone survive becoming a shooting star."

"I'm following someone," Sora said, frowning. He grabbed a pair of fingerless gloves that reminded him of the ones he used to have, a pack of underwear, some socks, and a black vest before heading over to the shoes.

"A friend?" Ruby asked.

Sora shook his head and stared at the ground. "The opposite," he said, growling as the memory of Xehanort came to mind. "I know he came here, just a few seconds before me. But he wasn't around where I crashed... Speaking of, you haven't seen an evil, old bald man named Xehanort with yellow, burning eyes, a shattered sword with Keyblades on it, and an outfit that just screams 'I'm the bad guy!' have you?"

Ruby frowned and shook her head sadly. "Not unless you've seen a lady named Cinder who wears red Dust sewed into her clothes and goes around murdering and destroying everything in the world that represents good and order," she half-joked, half-growled as her own dark memories came to her mind. She shook her head to clear her head. "So, sorry, but no."

Sora nodded. "So you're chasing someone down, too, huh?" he asked. He looked away from the shoes after grabbing a pair of black ones with yellow accents.

"... Yeah."

Sora sighed and ran a hand through his hair as he and Ruby walked over to the register. He turned to the young woman as she paid and smiled. "You know, I think I'll help you," he said, standing up tall. "Well, as soon as I get my new clothes on. It's kind of cold here."

Ruby looked over to him as her card was taken, scanning lien from her account. "What!? No, I can't ask you to do that. It's too dangerous," she said, the Huntress in her urging her to keep Sora safe. Even if he had killed a Goliath by himself.

"Ruby, I can handle myself," he replied, obviously referring to the same moment. He grinned and collected the clothes from the counter. "Thanks."

"Don't mention it," the guy at the register said.

"Thanks, Ruby," Sora said as they approached the changing rooms. He walked into the nearest one and began changing.

"Look, Sora, I can't ask you to come with us anyways. It's... this is a pretty big deal. People our age have already died," she explained sadly.

Sora didn't reply for a while. "I know what it's like to lose friends," Sora said quietly. He paused for a moment. "But the only way through is to trust other people. Believe me, I know."

"But still..." Ruby said. "It sounds like you really need to find this Xehanort guy."

"Well, if it makes you feel better, I'm not just coming with you guys for your sake." Sora said, exiting the changing room. He had black fingerless gloves with white crossing over the tops in an 'X' pattern, a yellow and black belt attaching to two red pouches on his thighs, and a red and black sash of cloth from his old clothes wrapped around his waist as a belt. The black vest was open over the red hoodie, and his usual crown necklace was hanging just under the zipper that was just open enough to reveal the white shirt below. "I mean, I would, but I've found that helping people with their bad guys almost always leads to me finding mine. I mean, half of my job so far was just wandering around helping people until Xehanort or his goons stuck their noses where they didn't belong!"

"And what was your job?" Ruby asked.

Sora smiled proudly. "Making hope."

R W B Y

"Burn I might," the tortured man said, looking up with tired, withered eyes. His voice was weak, rasping and hoarse from days without even the barest necessities in the flame-scorched hellscape he had come to call dungeon. "It is indeed easier to destroy trust and hope than it is to create them, and you are certainly a master at doing so. Perhaps even that smaller soul may not be capable of standing against you. Not alone."

His eyes hardened, filled with hope and a victorious smile stretching unhampered across his face. "But she will not be alone, will she?

"Because those who embrace order, those who embrace Light..? They are never alone. They attract each other, across the universe. Indeed, it is as you said: humanity is nothing without hope, without each other. But the kind and honest, the kind of people who will inevitably rise against you? They create hope.

"Make no mistake, in this war, we have not even made our first move yet. So send your Destroyers, your Shadows, your Monsters. And when they fail? When you finally look upon this smaller, more honest soul? Know that she will send you to the same pitiful demise to which she sent your followers. This may be the beginning of the end. But another name for an end, Salem? A new beginning."

"We'll see," the woman retorted heatedly, her red eyes flaring up like the flames that surrounded her. She turned away from the headmaster of Beacon academy to stare up at the long shattered moon keeping vigil in the sky. A black streak shot over the remains of Remnant's satellite, causing the woman's face, covered in black, vein-like streaks from her eyes outward, to be graced with an equally dark, knowing smile. "We. Shall. See."

AN: So here it is, the first chapter of my Kingdom Hearts x RWBY crossover. I hope that this first chapter is enjoyable, and if it is please drop a review. I do want to say that, as a concept, I was inspired to start this when I started reading Light of Remnant by ImSoAwesome. If you haven't read that KHxRWBY crossover, you should. It's a really good story full of laughs, emotions, and great action sequences that all fit really well with both franchises. As soon as I started reading it, I nearly slapped myself – KH and RWBY are so similar thematically that they fit together almost naturally, and I was stunned I hadn't noticed before. Again, if you haven't read Light of Remnant, do it – it's great and about to wrap up its amazing story.

Side note, this is the longest Fanfic chapter I've ever written, so I'm excited about that. I'm thinking this Fic will be updated less frequently than my others, but the chapters will be longer.