Kingdom Hearts: The Rose Keyblade - New Destiny

by TheNexusNinja

Summary:

Where one darkness falls another rises. Such is the truth that the heroes of Remnant will discover. At the end Salem was defeated and Ruby was the one to bring her down. But at the last moment, Salem vanishes and the victory that Ruby and her friends had worked so hard to achieve was lost. But that was only the beginning. Cast into another world, Ruby must discover the answers to a whole new series of questions. Who is this new dark witch Salem has alligned with? Who is the "Boy chosen by the Keyblade"? What are her own ties to this new mysterious weapon? Ruby will soon discover just how much bigger the world really is and what her role is in the grand scheme of things.

Notes:

Hello, I hope you all enjoy this story. I've long had the idea of how the characters of RWBY would react to being put into the storyline of Kingdom Hearts. I love the Kingdom Hearts series and I'm hoping this will turn out to be a fun story. I'm not super knowledgable about the RWBY series, although I do like the characters, so if I miss a detail or the characters sound off at first, please be kind as I get through more of the series. Some of the worlds may follow more of the movie storyline rather than the games only because I can flush out the details and characters a bit more in depth here. I don't have an update schedule as of right now so updates will be sparadic at first.

Chapter 1: Destiny Resets

Kingdom Hearts

The Rose Keyblade

New Destiny

Chapter One

Chapter 1: Destiny Resets

  “It’s over Salem! You’ve lost!” Ruby gritted through her teeth, breaths shallow with exhaustion. Hundreds of Grim laid slain on the ground around the shorter redhead and her friends. The monster’s queen and creator laid in a heap against a pile of fallen debris. Her eyes blazed with uncertainty and anger. She couldn’t understand how things had gone so wrong, how did this insignificant welp return with such a fiery vengeance? How did they undue all of her work?!

  Salem held her head up high when that cursed scythe slid under her chin. The blazing silver eyes of her adversary meeting her own. Cursed child…if only she knew the true extent of her plans…that bravado would disappear in an instant. The evil witch felt the life force bleeding from her side, a wound from the battle with the scythe currently pressed against her throat. She would survive…if she could get away. She felt the presence of her followers nearby, most likely unconscious or too beaten to move.

  “Do you give up?” There was a glimmer of hope in the girl’s eyes, hoping that this conflict was finally over. Salem smirked, a grim laughter bubbled up from her throat. Her eyes focused on the sky as dark clouds began gathering, strange dark purple streaks melding through them. “You believe…you’ve won this day…but you are wrong…you’ve only set in motion…events that you cannot comprehend…” Her wicked laugh died as a whirlpool of darkness, a purple, black inky swirl that seemed to materialize out of nowhere.

  Ruby’s eyes widened in shock, unsure of what was going on. She moved to swing her scythe, she couldn’t let Salem get away again! By the time her blade returned to strike down the witch though, the woman’s pale body had sunk into the pool of blackness and disappeared into nothingness! Across the field Ruby saw other pools gather under Salem’s cohorts before they too were pulled in.

  “Damnit!!” Ruby heard Yang yell. The young girl turned around to see the shocked and confused faces of her friends, Weiss, Blake, Nora, Ren, Juane, and her sister Yang all looked back and forth to each other trying to figure out what the hell happened. They had been so close! Victory had been right in front of them!

  Yang’s fury was palpable. Her long mane of sunshine hair bristled at their snatched away triumph. “That…That damn…..BITCH!!” Yang couldn’t even muster the words to vocalize her frustration. “Yang!” Weiss scolded her friend before she could really comprehend her own thoughts.

  “How…what…we…we were so close…” Ruby just stared at the ground, her heart sagging in despair, unable to come to terms with their failure yet again.

  The downhearted teens and young adults suddenly had their attention drawn to the sky. A powerful stream of wind started blowing, pulling up dust and debris. The assembled group stared at the sky, just now noticing the growing storm around them.

  “What…What’s going on?” Nora’s worried statement was almost swallowed up by the wind.

  Then, they saw the giant orb of angry swirling energy above them in the sky, breaching the clouds! “WHAT IS THAT!?” Blake had to yell over the roaring wind, clutching at Yang’s arm beside her. Her lover gritted her teeth and turned her head to Ruby, who had moved to stand closer to her friends. “IS THIS MORE BULLSHIT FROM SALEM!?” Ruby shook her head at her sister’s question, “I DON’T THINK SO. THIS FEELS LIKE SOMETHING ELSE!!” The group started huddling together, holding onto each other as the wind picked up even more. Falling to their knees they covered each other, holding onto each other and the ground. Whole chunks of earth were now being pulled from the ground, trees, boulders, everything was being drawn towards the massive swirling vortex of energy in the sky.

  FOOOOMMMMM

  A mighty rumble shook the ground to what felt like Remnant’s core. Ruby’s head jerked up and she felt the air sucked from her lungs. “RUBY!! GET YOUR HEAD DOWN!!” Yang yelled beside her, the blonde looked up at her sister from their hunkered down circle. Ruby didn’t respond, only continuing to stare off into the distance, tears streaking down her face as she watched something in the distance. Yang followed her gaze and her jaw dropped at the sight before her. Giant humanoid begins, at least thirty feet tall, stomping around. Completely black in color, except for their eyes, which showed an eerie yellow. Massive hands ending with sharp claws and dark, probing tendrils wrapped around their heads, completely obscuring their faces, except their bright, unblinking eyes.

  There were dozens of them. Soon everyone was staring at the giant creatures. They couldn’t be Grim, and the group couldn’t process what they in fact might be. They never saw as the ball of energy above them suddenly swooped down and engulfed everything, nor did they feel it as they lost contact with each other. Ruby never even realized when she lost consciousness.

  She never saw as the shadows swallowed her up.

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  An empty void, cloudy shimmering shadows.

  A stained glass platform.

  Ruby’s eyes flickered open, they felt heavy like she was asleep. “Where…where am I?” Only emptiness responded.

  Your world has vanished

  A solemn voice whispered from the void.

  “Wh-what?” Ruby eyes looked all around her, trying to locate the sound’s source. It felt so close to her own ear and yet it felt like it was a million miles away.
  You came here from the light, your heart dived into sleep

 But fear not, your heart and those of your friends were not swallowed by the darkness

 They wait for you

 But first you must take the first step of a new journey

 Can you do it

  Ruby almost snapped at the mysterious voice that of course she could take a step. She suddenly found herself standing up. She didn’t even remember doing that. And now she found that despite her confidence that she could walk forward, her feet felt very heavy. Almost as if they had weights in them.

  She lifted her foot and hesitated.

  Why was this suddenly so scary?

  She set her one foot down in front of the other and the weight seemed to instantly disappear.

  Good

  Now you must choose your path

  A slight rumble followed and Ruby watched as three ornate pedestals rose up from the stained glass floor beneath her.

  For the first time she really studied the glass floor under her and realized what the panes of color created.

  It was her!

  She almost looked asleep, reclining against some invisible chair. Over her shoulder and running along the top of the platform was Crescent Rose! Next to her image were the faces of Weiss, Yang and Blake framed in red circles. The majority of the platform was Ruby’s cloak fluttering behind her, casting a red color to the entire stained glass area.

  “What…What is this place?”

  The Station of Awakening

  A place of beginnings

  A place of the heart

  The pedestals glowed, catching Ruby’s attention again. Now there was an object floating above each one.

  A sword.

  A shield.
 
  A wand.

  Now choose little one

  Choose your path

  Ruby hated things like this. She was never good at making up her mind, that was part of the reason they had gotten into so much trouble in Alex’s world. Now here she was again, at a crossroads she couldn’t hope to know the correct answer to. She turned her head from one object to the other hoping to see a clear choice.

  Her eyes rested on the sword. A short sword with a red and yellow coloring on the hilt. And strangely three circles that made the shape of…a mouse. A very simplistic one, but it was for certain a mouse.

  A sword of strength and courage,
  A blade of terrible destruction

  Ruby didn’t like the sound of that, she wasn’t a warrior at heart. Not really. That was more of her sister's way of thinking.
She went next to the wand, the same mouse head made the shape of the top only with a blue and silver color.

  A wand of incredible magic,
  A staff of wonder and ruin

  Again Ruby passed it by, the concept of magic was…strange to her. The power her eyes gave her was a type of…magic. She wasn’t sure she wanted any more of that.

  She came to the shield, the last of the objects.

  A shield to aid friends,
  A defense to repel all

  Ruby didn’t even question it, she reached out and placed her hand on the shield. Being able to protect her friends was all she ever wanted.

  A blinding light forced her to close her eyes.

  Your path is set

  But the door is not open yet

  Ruby opened her eyes again and saw that the platform had changed to show a woman in a yellow dress with some sort of…beast next to her? And around the edges were household items that seemingly had human faces on them? None of the stained glass made sense to Ruby, but more concerning to her was the small pools of blackness that started appearing all over the surface. Her hands trembled when small forms started rising out of those pools, bright yellow eyes stared, unblinking, black, shadowy bodies twitched, as if unable to hold some kind of energy in check.

  There will be times you have to fight

  Ruby felt a weight in her left hand and looked down.

  A sword, or something like a sword.

  Keyblade

  X-blade

  Keyblade

  Ruby didn’t know what a keyblade was, but she didn’t have much time to question it. A shadow nearby suddenly jumped into the air at her. Claws extended and antenna twitching.

  Ruby instinctively swung the keyblade at the creature. She was certainly more used to using her Crescent Rose, but the sword seemed light in her hands. The blade slashed right across the creature’s chest. Ruby felt the contact, but it seemed like the blade just passed through the creature, there was no blood, no physical mark to show where the blow had been. The creature burst into a spray of dark particles, almost as if it had never existed.

  The other creatures took notice of Ruby and started surrounding her. Ruby grabbed the hilt with her other hand as was well. Then paused. She flipped the grip of her hand holding the sword backwards.

  Suddenly it felt right.

  The other creatures started moving in.

  Ruby took an underhanded swing at a creature approaching from her left, knocking it backwards before it also burst into a cloud of darkness. Using her momentum she spun slightly and brought the keyblade down on top of another creature on her right.

  Staying in one spot Ruby kept turning to take out the creatures one by one as they moved in towards her. 

  Within minutes Ruby was alone again, panting with the sudden rush of adrenaline.

  Well done

  It seems you now how to take care of yourself

  That’s good

  Use this new power to protect yourself and others

  “Just who are you? What is going on?” Ruby pleaded with the voice.

  Find the boy with the key

  For your destiny is connected with his

  Salem was only the first darkness you needed to face

  Your mother faced the same darkness some time ago

  Ruby’s eyes widened in shock. “Wh-What?? Wait! What do you know about my mother? What do you mean she faced the same darkness!?” Ruby spun around, trying desperately to find the source of the voice.

  You will find out soon enough

  Your world is about to completely change

  Now wake up

  Wake up

  Wake up

  “Hey kid! Wake up!!” 

Chapter 2: New World, New Problems

Summary:

Ruby wakes up in a new place and meets new faces.

Chapter 2: New World, New Problems

  Ruby’s eyes shot open at the loud voice and sat straight up.

  And solidly slammed her head into something hard. 

  Pain exploded in her skull. She swiftly laid back down, her head hitting a pillow with a thud. Ruby felt tears stinging at the corners of her eyes, she let out a whimper as she grabbed her throbbing head. Ruby at first didn’t notice the other voice of pain coming from the floor somewhere beside her. “Mother fuggghhnnnn!!! God damn split my fuckin skull open!!”

  “That’s what you get for putting your head right in front of hers Cid.” The second new voice was coming from the side of the room and sounded more than a little amused at the situation. Ruby was still too concerned about her hurting skull to pay much attention though.

  Then a soothing hand was on her forehead. Tender, almost motherly. “Sorry about that, this should help.” Ruby saw a green glow from behind her eyelids. The pain in her head subsided significantly, allowing the girl’s eyes to flutter open. She was in a room of some sort. Almost like a hotel or apartment. It had a red theme, a lot of the accents were a bright vibrant red.

  Ruby’s eyes were then drawn to the calm smiling face just to her left. The gentle hand was still on her forehead, moving some stray hairs from the young woman’s vision. “It’s good to see you awake.” The person was a young woman, with a gentle, melodious voice. She had a long ponytail going down her back with a red bow in her hair. Big green eyes conveyed warmth and kindness. Ruby started feeling less anxious.

  Ruby started sitting up again. 

  Slowly this time, and took in her surroundings. There were several people in the small room, which made it kinda cramped. The other two people, one tall young man and a young woman were watching the other person on the floor. Still holding his head and grumbling. The young woman that Ruby had first seen was kneeling now holding the other man’s head. Ruby’s eyes widened when a green energy formed over the man’s head and solidified into what looked like blooming yellow flowers. The flowers wiggled in the air for a moment before they slowly disappeared.

  The young woman smiled, “Feeling better Cid?” The blonde man on the floor grumbled after a moment. “No worse than usual kid…thanks.” Sitting up, the man called Cid, looked over at Ruby. A pair of goggles was sitting crooked on his head and just below them a large red mark covered most of his forehead.

  “Nice shot girlie. If nothing else we know you can crack some skulls with that head of yours.” Ruby felt herself warm in embarrassment. “I’m…sorry.” Ruby’s hand went to her throat, she suddenly realized how dry her mouth and throat actually were. The other girl that had been standing by a back door turned towards a pitcher on a small table, pouring water into a small glass.

  “Here, this will help.” The girl had short black hair and was all smiles. Ruby took the glass she offered and attempted to drink the water slowly, which turned out to be more difficult than she first thought.

  Ruby’s mind started to catch up with the rest of her body. The first thing she realized, she wasn’t home. This was someplace different. Second, Crescent Rose wasn’t with her, neither was her cloak for that matter. Third, and this was the one that was most prevalent, the memories, or nightmares, she wasn’t sure which started coming back.

  The dark haired young lady started breathing hard and her eyes went wide. The woman with brown hair took note and quickly sat next to her, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder. “It’s okay. You’re safe.” The voice seemed to reach Ruby’s brain and her breathing slowed after a minute. Ruby looked around at the faces of the others in the room. “Where….where am I? Who are all of you?”

  The young man that had been silent since Ruby had woken up had his mouth set in a steely line. Not angry, just guarded. Ruby couldn’t even imagine what he might be thinking. 

  “You’re in Traverse Town. And if you’re like everyone else here, you showed up because your world was attacked by the Heartless.” Ruby shook her head trying to make sense of what she just heard.

  “Where in Remnant is Traverse Town? I’ve never heard of it.” The young man shook his head. “You misunderstand. What I mean is, your world is gone. You’re in a different world entirely.” Ruby was dumbstruck. That couldn’t be true. Remnant couldn’t just be…gone. 

  Your world is about to completely change

  The words from the Station of Awakening came back to Ruby’s mind. In a moment of sheer desperation she touched her arm with the opposite hand, and pinched her arm hard.

  Ruby yelped when sharp pain shot through the pinched nerve endings. None of the others seemed overly concerned about her actions though.

  “Had to check? Can’t say I blame ya. It’s hard to believe the first time ya hear it.” The other dark haired girl reached over and patted Ruby on the shoulder. Ruby turned to look at the girl’s arm. It was real, she was awake. This was real.

  Ruby’s body flopped back on the pillow behind her again. “Another…world…Remnant…gone…” Ruby was in a daze, understandably so.

  The other girl gave her a sad smile. “Yeah…sorry. I know it’s a lot to take in.” Ruby’s blank face turned to the other dark haired girl. “Who…Who are all of you?” The girl’s smile turned bright again. “Oh! I’m Yuffie! The greatest ninja ever! The other girl is Aerith!” Ruby turned to the brown haired young woman who gave her a gentle smile and a small wave. “The guy you conked heads with is Cid!” The older man gave her a nod as he was putting a toothpick between his teeth. “And mister grumpy face over here is Squall.” Yuffie had bounced over to the tall young man by the door. Yuffie had stood on her tiptoes and was attempting to push the edges of Squall’s mouth into a smile.

  The moody young man growled but stood still for a moment, apparently accustomed to the ninja’s antics. After a few moments of attempting to get Squall to smile, and failing, Yuffie finally gave up and went to stand by the back door again, rolling from her heels to her toes.

  “Just call me Leon, I don’t go by Squall anymore.” Leon corrected Yuffie’s introduction before continuing. “We found you in the alleyway behind the hotel while we were having a meeting. Well…Yuffie found you anyway.” Ruby turned back to the ninja, “Thank you.” Yuffie’s smile spread across her face again, “No problem.” 

  Ruby was starting to feel a bit more relaxed now. These people seemed nice enough. “So what’s your name?” Yuffie asked, Ruby stuttered a moment, not even realizing she hadn’t introduced herself. “My name is Ruby Rose.”

  Yuffie smiled again, “Ohhh that’s a pretty name! I have a feeling you and I are gonna be good friends Ruby.” Ruby felt a small smile starting to spread across her face and she nodded in agreement.

  “Now that introductions are out of the way, I suppose I had best try to explain how you ended up here.” Leon then began explaining how every star in the night sky was actually a different world, and the light from the heart of that world is the light that people could see. He then went on to explain that every world was also supposed to be unaware of the others, completely separate, each with their science, magic, beliefs, and time. 

  Ruby listened intently, all of it sounded too fantastical to believe, but the memories of those last moments in her world and the dream that she had in that other place definitely made her think it was more possible than it sounded.

  Then Leon began explaining about the Heartless.

  Ruby’s thoughts went back to those horrifying monsters that she had seen. The idea that not only were there more of them, but that could destroy entire worlds was terrifying. Ruby had shifted in the bed and pulled her legs up close to her body, resting her chin on her knees.

  Leon had finished his explanation and let Ruby sit with her thoughts for a moment.

  “So what happened to my friends?” The other four looked around at each other, before Aerith looked at Ruby. “You were the only one we found.”

  Ruby tried not to think of the worst in that moment. They wait for you

  The voice at the Station of Awakening had been very clear. Ruby took a deep breath. She would find them. She had to.

  “Does the phrase…keyblade mean anything to any of you?” Ruby asked. Hoping to get some other answers to her dream. Leon’s eyes widened in response.

  “Where did you hear that word?” Ruby shrugged, “Just in a dream I had.” Leon closed his eyes in thought, leaning back against the wall.

  “Leon? I gotta head back to the shop, if ya don’t need me for anything else that is.” Cid muttered. Leon’s eyes opened before the young man nodded and moved so Cid could get through the door. Yuffie meanwhile was getting Ruby’s cloak and Crescent Rose, which was in its sniper form a dresser that had been sitting on.

  Leon spoke up again as Ruby got off the bed and started putting her cloak back on. “There’s a king we know. A few of his friends should be arriving soon, I think you should meet them.” Ruby raised an eyebrow, that request seemed…vague. 

  “Sure, I don’t see why not.”

  Meanwhile in an alleyway not very far away. A young boy in a red jumper, black and white jacket and yellow shoes was starting to stir from his own nightmares.

Notes:

A fairly short chapter, but next chapter is when the action starts and possibly our heroes meeting.

Chapter 3: The Boy, the Dog, and the Duck

Summary:

Ruby sees more of Traverse Town, and makes some discoveries.

Chapter 3: The Boy, the Dog, and the Duck



  Ruby stepped outside the hotel and took a huge breath. The cool air filled her lungs. To her surprise, the air even smelled and tasted different to her senses. She had closed her eyes when she had stepped outside and now she opened them. Stars twinkled in the night sky, and Ruby sucked in another small breath. There were so many!

  She couldn’t remember any night sky looking so clear on Remnant. It was as if she could see everything in the universe up in the sky. Every once in a while a shooting star would streak across the sky. Even with how breathtakingly beautiful it was, Ruby couldn’t help but notice…it felt off. None of the constellations she knew were there. The sky just didn’t look the same.

  Someone tapped her on the shoulder.

  Ruby shook her head and turned to see a grinning Yuffie beside her. “C’mon! I’ll show ya to the first district. There’s some nice cafes and restaurants over that way. Then we can go bug Cid!” When Yuffie mentioned restaurants, something clicked in Ruby’s mind. “I…I…don’t have any money…” Ruby blinked owlishly. She suddenly realized that everything she was so used to on Remnant was suddenly…gone. Dust, money, travel, everything would be different now. How would she manage?

  Yuffie seemed to pick up on Ruby’s train of thought though. “Hey, don’t sweat it. Trust me, you’ll get used to things in no time. Leon is kinda the leader of this city right now, so we’ll get you set up in no time.” Ruby nodded her head, that was reassuring at least.

  Yuffie gave a tug on Ruby’s arm and started pulling her along the street. There were quite a few people out that evening, chattering in low voices. Laughing, talking, some smiling. “If you’re like everyone else here, your world was attacked by the Heartless.” Ruby’s mind started drifting again. “Yuffie? Did all these people…lose…” Yuffie’s smile wavered, “Yeah…Like Leon said we’re all here because we lost our homes.” Ruby slowed her walking just a bit. “How…how many?” Yuffie looked down at the pavement and gently kicked a stray pebble with her toe. “Last time we counted it was a few…hundred thousand. The city is pretty big at this point.” Ruby couldn’t even comprehend the idea of so many people without their homes, trying to make sense of all this.

  Yuffie kept talking even as Ruby glanced at one of the markets they passed. “The good news is, the city always seems to have enough space and at the beginning food would just show up where and when it needed to. It’s almost like Traverse Town itself is trying to take care of us.” Ruby wondered if any of her friends had ended up in a different part of the city. The soft orange light that seemed to radiate from every building gave the first district a cozy warmth, almost like a soft hug. There was something calming about Traverse Town, some comfort that just seeped into Ruby’s spirit.

  Things would be alright.

  She was certain.

  Yuffie started walking towards a small cafe that was set under one of the many buildings around the edge of what looked like a town square. Large doors sat between some of the buildings, leading to what Ruby guessed might be other districts. Yuffie pulled Ruby over towards one of the tables and sat down. Ruby looked around nervously before following Yuffie’s example. A waitress appeared not long after that.

  “Yuffie! Good to see you again! I see you brought someone new with you. I take it, you want your usual order?” Yuffie gave the waitress a thumbs up and a wide smile, “Absolutely Vee! This is Ruby Rose, by the way. She just showed up in town today. Thought I’d show her the best cafe in Traverse Town.”

  Vee gave Ruby a sad smile, the dark redhead glancing down. She wasn’t going to get used to that look anytime soon. “Sorry to hear that, we all know what that’s like. Is there anything you might like I could get you?” Ruby looked back at the waitress, she had a friendly face and long brown hair. “I like cookies…” Ruby trailed off after she started talking. Meeting all these new people was starting to wear on her. Vee beamed at Ruby and patted her shoulder, “I have just the thing then. I’ll be right back.”

  Ruby looked over to her right towards the town square. Two lamp posts added to the warm glow and Ruby simply watched as other people strolled through the area. Vee returned with two drinks, for the two girls. “Here’s your Caramel Hot Chocolate, Yuffie, and for you miss Ruby…”  Vee gave Ruby another sweet smile. “A Cookie Dough Frosted Coffee.” Vee gave a short bow and then headed back to the kitchen, leaving the two girls with their thoughts. Ruby blinked at the plastic cup with a straw poking out the top. She picked up the cup and her fingers met a chilly surface. Putting the straw to her lips she took a sip. Her mouth was filled with a cool slushie-like drink that tasted almost exactly like cookie dough. The young huntress let out a sigh and felt the sides of her mouth drawing upwards into a smile.

  Letting go of the straw Ruby felt the cold linger on her breath. “This is really good!” Yuffie’s mouth split into a wide grin. “I know right! So good!” A beeping suddenly interrupted the silence. Yuffie reached into one of the pockets on her shorts and pulled out a small device. Yuffie looked at the text scrolling on a small display and rolled her eyes. Just then a loud siren went off around the area and from what Ruby could hear, the same siren was going off in the surrounding districts. Vee came rushing out of the kitchen with wide eyes. “Another one?” Yuffie nodded her head. “Yep, gotta go meet Leon. Something is up.” Ruby was turning her head from the sirens to Yuffie and Vee, “What’s going on?” Yuffie was pushing several golden orbs, or that's what they looked like anyway. “Heartless sighting. One of the issues we’re dealing with right now.” Ruby’s eyes widened in fear. “They’re…here?” Yuffie nodded solemnly, the cheerful girl’s demeanor having completely changed.

  “Unfortunately. Look I gotta go meet up with Leon and the others. If you can make it back to the hotel, the place we were at before, there’s a vacant room. Number 3 I think. Stay there and keep the lights on. Heartless tend to stay away from the light, unless they are really wanting what's inside. You should be safe there.” Yuffie sped off towards the large door on the other side of the town square and yelled something at another townsperson. The ninja opened the heavy door before slipping through. The other townsperson pulled a handle on the wall next to the door and a large clank was heard.

  “They lock the doors to the other districts during sightings. It helps to keep everyone safe. Those kids put so much on the line for all of us.” Ruby heard Vee, but her eyes were locked on the locked door across the way. Vee put a closed sign and headed back inside to lock up the cafe. Ruby stood alone for a moment. So much of this was bringing back memories of the Grimm on Remnant. Crescent Rose was propped against the table. She reached for it and took a deep breath.

  If she needed to fight, she would.

  Ruby transformed the rifle into its scythe form, she had a feeling melee combat was going to be more useful here than her gun anyway. She retraced her steps in her head and started heading towards the stairs. She passed one of the shops and headed around the back. She remembered heading down several narrow streets but district two wasn’t very far. Ruby saw the large doors and found them unlocked. She blinked for a moment, that seemed strange. Did someone already pass through here and forget to lock the doors?

  Passing through she looked around the abandoned streets. Not far away was the hotel, bright lights flowing from the windows. Not far to go now. She had only taken a few steps when a skittering noise reached her ears. Ruby’s eyes darted back and forth, the noise growing louder. She turned to look over her shoulder. Her eyes couldn’t see in the shadows of the buildings but the movement in the dark corners drew her attention. She moved away from them, but the shadows seemed to follow her! Hunched over beings started emerging from the darkness.

  Familiar claws, antenna, bright yellow eyes materialized out of the nothingness. Ruby’s breath caught in her throat. Those same creatures from the dream world! The Heartless! The creatures paused in their approach, antenna wiggling in the air, almost like they were trying to sense something. Ruby gripped the staff of her scythe. Even if these things scared her to death…she wasn’t going to run. A shadow jumped into the air at her, Ruby swept her scythe to the right, backhanding it with the blunt side into a building. Another swiped its claws at her, and another jumped at her. Ruby pulled the scythe’s blade in the opposite direction, slicing the first Heartless in half before rolling the scythe with her momentum and swinging it downwards over her head, impaling the third heartless through the chest and driving her scythe into the ground. The heartless burst into a cloud of purple and black haze. Ruby pulled her scythe out of the ground and saw several more Heartless crawl from the shadows.

  The huntress started moving again keeping her weapon at the ready moving towards the hotel doors, hoping they weren’t locked yet. Ruby swung her scythe behind her and felt and heard another Heartless burst back into nothingness. Ruby turned to see three more Heartless rushing her. Ruby focused on her aura and pushed herself backwards.

  That’s when something surprising happened.

  Nothing.

  Absolutely nothing!

  Ruby’s eyes widened in panic and tried using her Semblance again.

  And again nothing happened. Ruby’s breathing started speeding up, turning again she saw the Heartless getting closer. She planted her feet. Okay, so her Semblance wouldn’t work here, but she could still fight! With a shout born of frustration and adrenaline, Ruby charged the remaining shadows swinging her scythe widely. She sliced and slashed until any remaining shadows retreated to the dark corners.

  Ruby was panting slightly, but a smile grew on her face at having fought back the monsters. Turning Crescent Rose back to its gun mode she replaced it behind her on her belt and finished walking the remaining distance to the hotel. Her smile faded however as the concern of loss of her Semblance grew again. Why couldn’t she use it? Was it because of this world? Was it because of the loss of Remnant?

  Ruby passed through the door of the hotel, finding the room that Yuffie had told her about. She turned the handle and was only vaguely surprised when it was unlocked. Stepping inside and finding the room empty and well lit, she made for the bed and collapsed, only now realizing just how tired she was. Her eyes started drooping, and her exhausted mind didn’t try to fight sleep. “Maybe I’ll wake up…and this will all be a crazy dream…” .

  Across the street glaring down from a rooftop a pair of golden eyes stared at the hotel. “So she made it after all. And here I was hoping you would finally fall into the darkness and rot Ruby Rose.”

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  Ruby woke with a start at the sound of breaking glass! Ruby whipped her head around trying to find the source of the noise.

  “YUFFIE GO!” Ruby recognized Leon’s voice in the next room. It must be the Heartless again! Ruby launched herself towards the door and flung it open. She made it just in time to see Yuffie and Aerith burst from another room down the hall. “What’s going on!?” Ruby shouted as the two ran towards her. “Another heartless attack, we have to set off the alarm! Aerith and I are headed towards the first district, Leon is working on this one.” Ruby’s face was determined. “What can I do to help?” Yuffie and Aerith looked at each other. Aerith pointed at the exit door at the other end of the hallway. “If you could go check on the third district that would be great. Head out that door and head down the alley right across the fountain square, that should take you straight there.” Ruby nodded and started to move to the other door. Aerith stopped her again. “Here, take these with you. They might come in handy if you get hurt.” The young woman handed three small glass jars with a shimmering green liquid in them. “They’re potions, they will revive your strength and health if things get rough. Just drink them.” Aerith explained quickly.

  Ruby wasn’t completely certain about the glowing liquid, but she trusted Aerith and Yuffie. “Alright, thanks.” The redhead sped off towards the other door. Running outside, she quickly spotted the alleyway that Aerith had told her to look for. Heartless seemed to be springing up everywhere, and Ruby heard a lot of people shouting. She tuned it out and ran towards the alleyway, focusing on what was in front of her for the time being. The alleyway made a sharp right before leading towards another large pair of doors. Which a young man was opening! 

  Alarmed that someone was out during a second attack that day, Ruby started sprinting after the young man. “WAIT! YOU SHOULDN’T BE OUT HERE!” Ruby shouted. The young man either didn’t hear her or ignored her. Ruby pushed herself to run even faster! She made it to the door before they closed again and managed to squeeze through before they swung shut. She saw the young boy turning to the right and running down a flight of stairs. Ruby tried catching her breath before running again.

  “Hey! Wait! You’re not supposed to be out right now!” The boy stopped and turned around. He had spiky reddish brown hair and some of the brightest blue eyes that Ruby had ever seen. He stood just a little shorter than her and was wearing an outfit that looked like maybe he was wearing his pajamas. The boy gave her a confused look! “Wait a minute. Why are you out here?” Ruby was about to respond when a loud explosion went off somewhere above them. Two voices shouted in fear and two bodies started sailing through the air directly at Ruby and the boy.

  Both trying to get out of the way, they ended up colliding with each other just before they got slammed to the ground by the falling bodies!

  In a heap on the ground the four individuals tried getting their bearings. The boy, who was unfortunate enough to be on the bottom with Ruby sprawled on top of him and the two new people on top of her. Ruby was on her back and was beginning to think that she had gotten hit in the head again. The two beings on top of her, one tall, one short, were not…human?

  The short one had white feathers all over his body, and where his nose and mouth should have been was a duck bill!? The taller one, had long droopy ears, what looked like black fur covering his head and a long muzzle with a small black nose at the end, and two buck teeth. Ruby couldn’t even guess what he was supposed to be but he vaguely reminded her of a dog?

  The duck and dog looked rather dizzy for a moment before both of their eyes locked onto something to her left. “Oh! The Key!” The duck’s voice was difficult to understand, but a second later Ruby didn’t need a translation. She turned her head and saw in the boy’s hand was a sword in the shape of a key!

  Find the boy with the key

  Ruby’s eyes widened.

  Then the ground started shaking!

Notes:

Starting to pic up steam now. We'll see how the team works with four people in it now.

Chapter 4: Fight Against the Guard Armor and New Friends

Summary:

Ruby fights against the heartless and their leader in Traverse Town. Ruby gets a new weapon and evil eyes watch the heroes.

The ground continued trembling, Ruby’s head looking around for the cause. Suddenly square pillars shot up from the ground, rising and blocking any pathway out of the small plaza area!

  They were trapped!

  The four staggered to their feet and looked around. The air stayed silent for a few minutes. The tall dog-like being started edging his way over towards his companion. “What’s goin on Donald?” He raised the shield he was holding, hiding his thin frame behind it. Donald, Ruby supposed that was the duck’s name, turned and gave his friend an incredulous look. “How am I supposed to know Goofy! Just don’t let your guard down!” Donald held a staff of some sort defensively in front of him.

  Ruby shook her head, clearing it of distractions. She heard the distinct sound of heartless materializing and soon enough about twelve of the creatures appeared on the wall surrounding the four of them. These heartless were taller than the shadows Ruby had seen in Traverse Town so far. They were wearing blue and purple bodysuits and had pointy shoes. They seemed to be wearing helmets and where the shadows were devoid of any facial features, these heartless had what appeared to be a mouth that was formed by a jagged line.

  The new soldier heartless leapt down onto the four trapped fighters. The boy started moving towards the soldiers and swung the keyblade. His movements had some experience behind them, but nothing too advanced. When a heartless slashed at the boy with its red claws, the boy responded by holding the keyblade in front of himself. The claws hit metal and the boy threw his weight forward, the heartless was thrown back and crumpled to the ground, dazed.

  Ruby turned her focus to the heartless approaching her now. She swung Crescent Rose so that the blunt side hit a soldier into the air. Then, without hesitation she shifted the scythe into its sniper mode and fired at the airborne heartless. A single shot blasted the heartless out of existence. Ruby turned her attention back to the other heartless, but not before hearing the other combatants exclaim in surprise.

  Ruby didn’t have time to apologize and very quickly the others returned to their own battles. Ruby heard a metallic clanking sound and turned to see a shield bouncing around the walls barreling into two heartless before returning to Goofy’s hands. The air suddenly became colder and the huntress saw a flash of blue and white out of her peripheral vision. “Blizzard!!” Donald’s garbled voice shouted before a blast of ice materialized in front of his staff. The duck aimed at the nearest heartless and the ball of ice slammed into its body. The heartless vanished in a cloud of mist and the ice froze against the side of the wall encasing them. Ruby was stunned for a brief moment. The only time she had seen something like that was with dust! How did Donald have that kind of power!?

  She didn’t have time to wonder about it though as the heartless pressed their attack again. Ruby slashed at the remaining heartless in front of her. She didn’t waste any time on this one and slashed at it with three strikes one after the other. The last sent the heartless sailing backwards into the wall where it exploded into nothingness. Between the four of them the soldier heartless were soon wiped out. The four stood catching their breath for a moment.

  “Well…that was…easy.” The boy scratched the back of his head as he turned to face the others. Ruby had a sinking feeling in her stomach though. “I don’t think it’s over yet.” Donald and Goofy looked at each other with worried looks and the boy gripped the keyblade tighter.

  A whooshing sound caught their attention and their heads jerked up to see five pieces of something falling to the ground. They cleared the area and the pieces hit the ground hard, cracking and denting the stone. The pieces of metal, which they turned out to be, then…bounced? Ruby raised her eyebrows when they started twirling in the air. Now she could make out what they were. A pair of gauntlets, a pair of metal shoes, and a cylindrical shaped metal body. A small helmet with a visored mask completed the knight-looking armor. The only thing missing was the knight's body.

  At least that’s what Ruby thought.

  Then the pieces of armor started floating together! Without any physical body to attach them to one another, the metal shoes and body started lumbering towards the four of them! They took defense stances not knowing what this armor was capable of. The armor’s arms kept flipping in midair until it was right on top of them. Then they spread out and the armored body and arms started spinning!

  Ruby and the boy held up their weapons to block the incoming strike but were flung across the plaza. Ruby landed on her back hard and let out a grunt. She heard a loud clang again and saw Goofy landing after leaping at the armor and hitting it as hard as he could. The armor took the hit, and its pieces scattered over the battlefield. She saw Donald start chasing after one of the gauntlets and goofy was blocking the kicks from one of the feet.

  Then she saw the other gauntlet sailing through the air, directly at her! Ruby went to block with Crescent Rose, but she didn’t feel anything beside her! She looked around and saw her scythe several yards away from her! It must have been flung away when she got hit! The gauntlet circled for a moment before closing its fist and barreling down on her. There would be no time to dodge with being on her back. The fist was going to smash her into the pavement. Ruby held up her hand, closing her eyes against the incoming blow.

  Please…help me…

  Ruby saw a flash of light behind her eyelids. A rush of air as the fist closed in.

  CLANK

  Ruby’s eyes shot open. The fist was stopped about a foot away from hitting her. In the young huntress’ hand was a blade red and black, vaguely key shaped. Where the handle was, a guard made of thorny vines protected one side. The vines on the guard ran up the shaft of the blade until it reached the other end, which bloomed into a vibrant rose. Where the teeth of a key would have been sprouted the blade of a scythe, and from the handle of the blade dangled a keychain with a familiar sniper rifle. Ruby was breathing hard.

  The light around the weapon. The creaking of metal on metal reached Ruby’s ears and she strained to hold back the gauntlet. Then a shout came her left and the boy leapt into view swinging his own blade and smacking the gauntlet away. Now that the pressure was off Ruby staggered to her feet and looked at the weapon in her hand. It wasn’t Crescent Rose, but somehow…it felt like it belonged in her hand. The stomping of giant feet caught her attention and she forced herself to focus on the battle now and figure out why she had…

  Blooming Scythe

  The name stuck out to Ruby. Was that the weapon's name? A soft warmth spread through her fingertips. Ruby took that as a sign. She faced the oncoming foot before something else clicked in her head. The armor was keeping them all busy with its appendages, the body though had been lazily floating towards the center of the battlefield.

  “The main body is the weak spot!!” Ruby shouted to the others. They looked from where they had been dealing with the feet and arms and turned their attention to the main body. Donald and Goofy gave determined faces and a thumbs up to Ruby while the boy gave a nod and started moving towards the body. Swinging at the oncoming foot, Ruby smacked it to the side and ran at the main body. Goofy and the young boy did the same while Donald cleared himself of his opponent before beginning to aim a spell.

  “Blizzard!” Another ball of ice sailed through the air and blasted the armor right over the heart shaped emblem on its chest. Goofy, the boy and Ruby followed the spell by hitting it with three attacks! A deafening crack was heard and the helmet, armor body and limbs all dropped to the floor like a ton of brick.

  The giant armor started fading and Ruby watched a large heart shape appear over the giant heartless. Shimmering and shining, it floated for just a brief moment before floating away into the air. Ruby didn’t understand what that was about. But she hadn’t seen anything like that when she had beaten those other heartless.

  There was a tap on her shoulder and Ruby turned her head to see the young boy she had been chasing standing beside her.

  “Hey! Thanks for all the help. My name’s Sora!” He then scratched the back of his head and eyes drifted to the ground. “Sorry about getting you caught up in all that.” Ruby sighed and smiled. “It’s okay, at least things turned out alright.” Ruby heard a rumbling and the pillars that had blocked them in slowly started disappearing back into the ground. As they finished, Ruby was surprised to see Yuffie, Cid, Aerith and Leon standing just by the door to the first district.

  “You guys are alright!!” Yuffie cheered. The others had looks of relief as they approached. Sora beamed as congratulations were handed out and Ruby was surprised when Yuffie gave her a hug. “I’m so glad you all are safe.”

  “We’ve been looking for you all over the place.” Donald squawked. The duck pointed to Sora which seemed to surprise the boy. “You guys were looking for me?” Donald and Goofy nodded before Leon took over. “They too have been seeking the wielder of the Keyblade.” Donald however interjected. “But which one?! She’s got one too!” Donald’s finger moved to Ruby and the girl was a bit unnerved at suddenly being the center of attention. “You have one too?” Aerith asked. Ruby nodded and held up her hand. That same familiar warmth she had felt rushed to her fingers again and Blooming Scythe materialized in a flash of light.

  Leon and the others looked just as confused as everyone else. Leon’s brow furrowed as he thought for a moment. Eyes closed, he tapped his chin with his fingers before responding. “I don’t know enough about the keyblade to explain why there are two of them. But…fate wouldn’t bring two together…unless it needed them together.”

  Everyone was silent for a moment before Goofy spoke up. “Hey! Why don’t the two of you come with us! We can go to other worlds on our vessel.” Sora’s face turned somber then, “I wonder if I could find Riku and Kairi?” Donald perked up. “Of course!” Sora’s face turned hopeful.

  Goofy bent down to whisper something to Donald, which Ruby was close enough to hear. “You sure?” The duck gave an uncertain look before whispering back, “Who knows, but we need them to come with us to help us find the king.” A stomp from Ruby’s foot startled both dog and duck, “Then you had better help us find our friends too. Got it?” Donald and Goofy both at least looked sheepish.

  “Sora, Ruby go with them. Especially if you wanna find your friends.” Leon gave Ruby a smile and nodded towards the still sullen-looking Sora. The boy looked so lost and confused. Ruby knew what that was like. He was going to need a friend right now.

  “You can’t come along looking like that though. Understand?” Donald wagged his finger at Sora’s downcast spirit. Ruby turned her eyes towards the duck again and was about to chew him out. “No frowning, or sad faces. Okay?” Ruby watched as Donald gave a concerned look for just a brief moment. Goofy put his face close to Donald’s and gave a chuckle. “Yeah! You gotta look funny! Like us!” Donald gave an annoyed look to his friend before shoving his face back a bit. “This boat runs on happy faces.”

  Sora continued staring at the ground. “Happy faces?” Ruby wondered how this little pep talk would work with the boy. Sora then took a deep breath before looking up with one of the widest smiles Ruby had ever seen. Showing all his teeth, it was clear that Sora had taken the happy faces part of Donald’s statement as literally as he could. “Plleeeaaasseee?” Sora asked through his teeth, holding out the question for as long as possible. Ruby started giggling, then Goofy and Donald started laughing! “That’s one funny face!”

  Sora began smiling again, “Okay, why not? I’ll go with you guys.” Ruby nodded her head still smiling from the laughter. It had felt like an eternity since she had really laughed about something. “I’m in too.”

  “Donald Duck.” Donald introduced himself, reaching his hand out palm down, “Name’s Goofy.” The duck’s friend mimicked his friend’s gesture. “Ruby Rose, it’s nice to meet all of you.” Ruby did the same with her hand. “I’m Sora.” the young boy laid his hand on top of the other three. “All for one, and one for all.”



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Worlds away……
  Ruins of a once magnificent castle.

  A darkness that permeated every corner of the structure.

  A desolate and desecrated chapel.

  In the center a bright glowing circular pattern.

  A green light that illuminated without breaking the shadows.

  “Those squirts took down that heartless. Who’d have thought it?” A breath of hot air came from a head that was literally on fire. The being’s neighbor gave a flippant wave, his other hand clutching a serpentine staff. “Such is the power of the Keyblade. The children’s strength is not their own.”

  A cruel laugh came from next to them, tendrils waving in the air around the large woman. “Why don’t we turn him into a heartless? That will settle things quick enough.” A slender man next to her cast his bloodthirsty gaze to the scrying circle. “Or we could just slaughter them. It would be wonderful to break their bones one at a time while their friends watched.” The other young man next to him shook his head in bewilderment, the low light catching silver hair. “Must you always be like that? It’s obvious it would be better if we kept them at a distance.”

  Next to the second young man a taller man with a feathered hat was still watching the four within the scrying circle talk. “And the brat’s friends are the king’s lackeys! Swoggle me eyes! They’re all bilge rats by the look of them.” A deep chortle from the final being around the circle, “You’re no prize yourself.” The man in the hat bristled at the insult. “Shut up!!”

  “Enough!” A singular voice rose above the other talking. Two women stepped into the shadows. One woman with a headdress of horns, holding a staff. The other, pale with white hair, her piercing red eyes observing the others in attendance and keeping an eye on her other underlings hidden in the dark corners.

  “The keyblade has chosen the boy. Will it be he who conquers the darkness? Or will the darkness swallow him? Either way he could be quite useful.” The other woman sneered next to her compatrate. “Do not underestimate them however. Ruby Rose is more trouble than she looks. Do not hesitate to bring them down if you must. Cinder! Follow them, for now. But do not engage them alone, remember our true goal.”

  A voice echoed from the scrying circle. The person watching the scene play out from high above. “Yes Salem. I know my orders.”

Notes:

Another chapter down. Next time, Ruby meets our cricket journal keeper and the journy starts for the first world.

Chapter 5: Chapter 5: Departure and the Sea Between Worlds

Summary:

Ruby, Sora, Donald and Goofy head out from Traverse Town.

  Ruby picked up Crescent Rose from the ground and placed back on her belt. The weapon felt strangely warm in her grip, almost like it was…happy…excited? Ruby couldn’t explain it, but the feeling was there all the same. She placed a hand on her chest, she felt her heart beating for a moment. What was going on with her? First Salem vanished, then her world was destroyed, now she was in a new world, fighting new monsters and summoning new weapons out of the blue!? A part of her was still thinking she had hit her head and all of this was some hallucination or dream.

  But it all felt so damn real.

  She could hear the others talking in the background, Sora animatedly recapping the fight with the giant armored heartless. A part of her wanted to really just stop and break down. She was alone and everything was so confusing. Ruby’s breathing got faster and her heart was starting to race.

  “Miss? Are you alright?” Ruby’s eyes snapped open. She hadn’t even realized that she had shut them. She looked around but there was no one in front of her. Her face dropped, she put her face into her hand. “Great…now I’m hearing voices.”

  A small chuckle came in response, “Well not exactly. But I can’t hold it against ya for thinking so.” Ruby looked around her again, this time even more confused.

  “Down here ma’am.” Ruby looked nearly straight down at her feet and was met with another strange sight that made it onto her, the weirdest things to ever happen to me, list. It was a bug, at least Ruby thought it was a bug. It was rather hard to tell with it standing on two legs, wearing a little suit and top hat, and holding an umbrella. Ruby didn’t even know how to respond to this. On one hand, the little being looked rather adorable. On the other hand, this was the second time in one day Ruby found herself being talked to by an animal.

  She really thought she had left all this back in Ever After.

  “H-Hello.” Ruby gave a small wave to the tiny creature at her feet. The bug gave a bow and a tip of his top hat. “Jiminy Cricket, at your service ma’am.” Ruby’s grim thoughts started pausing as she tried to be polite to the dapper cricket. “It’s nice to meet you too.”

  Ruby knelt down and set her hand on the stone floor. Jiminy took that as a sign and jumped into the palm of her hand. Ruby had a sudden flashback to Little and she felt a pang of heartache go through her body. Jiminy must have seen a change in her face. “Are you alright, miss?” The little cricket patted her thumb in a comforting manner. Ruby swallowed a sudden lump in her throat. “Ye-Yeah…you just…reminded me of an old friend.” Ruby felt a tear run down her cheek and quickly went to wipe it away with her other arm. Jiminy gave her a sympathetic look. “I’m sorry miss, I wasn’t  meanin to upset you.” Ruby shook her head and tried smiling. “No...No, you're fine. I just…I guess I just haven’t had any real chance to process everything. My emotions are…a bit crazy right now.”

  Jiminy gave her a smile in return and jumped up her arm to her shoulder. “Well, I’ve been told I’m a pretty good listener, so if you ever need someone to open up to, I’ll be here.” Ruby let out a sigh and nodded her head. “That would be nice, I appreciate it. Where did you even come from though?” Jiminy pointed towards Donald and Goofy. “Oh, I came with them. Queen Minnie asked me to go with them to keep track of everything that happens on their journey. So you’ll see me around. I’m not exactly a fighter though. I got tossed from Goofy when the fighting started and watched the whole thing from up on the wall there.” Ruby nodded through the crickets explanation and started moving back towards the others.

  The group was moving back towards the first district where several people were poking their heads out of doors and windows. The battle had apparently been heard in the other nearby districts. Ruby heard people murmuring and even heard a few claps of celebration. Honestly though, she was just relieved that the danger had passed for the time being.

  “Make sure you all are prepared for the journey ahead of you. We don’t know just how far spread the Heartless have become.” Leon cautioned the five travellers. Jiminy had seemed quite content to snuggle into the folds of Ruby’s cloak and hood, and even now she could hear him quietly scribbling down notes in his tiny journal making comments under his breath about how to organize everything.

  “You might check out the shops around here when you get the chance. They have some pretty neat stuff!” Yuffie pointed to one of the shops behind her. “Make sure you take plenty of food and healing items too.” Aerith smiled and reached out to Ruby. The young woman placed a pouch with a drawstring in her hands. “This is from all of us, it’s about a thousand munny. Spend it how you see fit.” Ruby looked confused for a moment. “Munny?” Leon nodded, “It’s kind of a universal currency. In its normal form it looks like gold orbs, but we’ve heard from others that it will transform into different currencies depending on where you are. If you run into anymore Heartless, keep an eye open. They will sometimes drop some. Don’t know why they like collecting them, maybe it has to do with the shiny material.”

  Aerith took something out of her hip pocket and handed it to Sora, “This is from Leon.” The older boy turned his head away as Sora gave him a thumbs up. She was going to have to ask about that later. “Good luck you guys.” Yuffie smiled, Aerith nodded solemnly, “I hope you find your friends.” Leon stepped forward and put a hand on Ruby and Sora’s shoulders, “Look out for each other. Keep your spirits up.” Ruby felt a pit growing in her stomach at the sudden realization that they were parting ways. She turned her head to watch Sora, Donald and Goofy turn towards the large double doors behind them, a sign hung above it saying See you again. Once again her feet felt like lead. 

  Until a small voice spoke up on her shoulder. “Miss Rose? Are you alright?” Ruby breathed again and turned to follow the others, “Ye-Yeah Jiminy, just got lost in my own head for a moment there.” She didn’t hear or see a response from where he was in her cloak, but his calm voice snapped her back to the moment. The other three had waited for a moment for her to catch up.

  “Our gummi ship is just outside that gate.” Donald pointed to the large double doors. Ruby was still getting used to his voice but she wasn’t having too much trouble translating what he was saying in her head. “The what?” Sora looked confused, “That’s our ship.” Donald responded. “Wait till you guys see it!” Goofy seemed rather excited.

  Donald stopped for a moment as if he remembered something. “Hold on a minute.” Patting at his pockets, he seemed to find what he was looking for and pulled out a small, rolled up piece of paper. “This is for you two.” He handed the scroll to Ruby who unrolled it. “What is it?” The scroll contained what looked like instructions. “It’s a magic spell. I don’t know how magic, if you had it, worked on your worlds, but that’s a basic fire spell. Study it and you’ll be able to use it in battle, or if you need a flame for some reason.” Sora peered over Ruby's shoulders at the scroll. Ruby was getting the idea of what the scroll was saying, and it wasn’t too far from how her semblance and aura worked on Remnant. She was basically using her own spirit and energy to create energy in different forms, but the way it was explaining things on the scroll was going to make this magic mush more versatile.

  “Give Sora the other thing Goofy.” Donald said to his companion, who responded with a confused look, “What other thing?” Donald smacked his forehead with his feathered hand, “The crystal…” Goofy’s face lit up, “Oh right!” Goofy unzipped a pocket on his pants leg and pulled out a small crystal about the size of a small coin, and held it between his thumb and pointer finger. “This here is an ability crystal, you can find'em everywhere. They let you do all sorts of stuff. Guess we should keep an eye for more huh?” He handed the crystal to Sora who held it up and looked through it. Though no one else could, Sora saw himself running then taking a forward dive and rolling across the ground. A crack appeared in the crystal, before shattering. The light from the tiny thing swirled in the air before settling against Sora, who’s eyes lit up momentarily.

  “Sorry Miss Ruby, but I only had one.” Goofy looked rather upset by the notion before Ruby waved her hand. “No-No it’s alright Goofy, and you can just call me Ruby.” Sora seemed anxious now, his eyes kept glancing at the door. “Is that everything then? Let's get going!” Donald gave a grumpy sigh, “Not until we’re ready.” His eyes turned to Ruby as if checking with her first. 

  “Well we probably should get some supplies first. I don’t think it’s a good idea to travel on an empty stomach.” As if on cue four stomachs growled very loudly. Sora looked down as if his stomach had betrayed him while Goofy started chortling.

  The four decided to check out one of the stores Yuffie had pointed out to get food and supplies for the journey. Walking in, there was a sudden chorus of “UNCA DONALD!!” Ruby was startled as three, three foot ducks in brightly colored outfits ran across the shop to dogpile Donald. The blue clad magician let out a squawk as he was tackled to the ground.

  “Huey? Dewy? Louie? What are you doing here!?!?” Donald looked a mixture of pissed off and shocked. “You left us with Unca Scrooge, remember?” The duck in red replied, the one in blue followed up, “Yeah, we’ve been travelling with him all over the place.” The one in green finished, “He left us in charge of this store till he gets back.” Sora and Ruby were both just staring at the dog pile of feathers, Goofy offered them a short explanation. “Those are Donald’s nephews, and Donald is Scrooge’s nephew.” Donald was finally able to pick himself up off the floor, mumbling and grumbling to himself. After the sudden family reunion the nephews returned to running the shop. Huey, the one in red, stood behind the counter as Ruby approached. In short order the group soon had several large crates of supplies ready to be wheeled out to the gummi ship.

  Thankfully the boys had some help in the back, two older ducks popped out and briefly introduced themselves as they started pushing the carts with the supplies, one duck about Donald’s height introduced himself as Fenton Crackshell, the other, who was even taller than Goofy said his name was Launchpad McQuack. They said they both worked for Mister Mcduck and Ruby could only guess they meant Donald’s uncle. Ruby watched them head for the double doors and quickly made the observation that both of the ducks functioned with two left feet.

  Donald mumbled to himself some more, and Ruby was able to catch a bit about “dealing with these idiots all the time in Duckburg” The young woman had no idea what the story was there, but it seemed like Donald had more than a few encounters with Launchpad and Fenton. Finally making it outside the main gate, Ruby was somewhat surprised by the vast empty field outside, she looked down both ways only to see walls surrounding Traverse Town. A long road stretched out from the gate but Ruby couldn’t see an end to it at all.

  Next to the gate however was the most impressive scene. Red, white, orange and yellow, the gummi ship stood out amongst the muted red brick and grey stone of the city it was next to. The ship itself was about thirty feet tall, high enough to where Ruby could walk under the wings easily, and about seventy feet long. In short the ship was huge! Ruby had never seen anything quite like it. As Donald was shouting at Fenton and Launchpad about how they were going to wreck the inside of the cargo area, Ruby walked up and put her hand on the side. To her surprise, the ship was…spongy! It almost felt like gelatin! Unsure of what to make of this weirdness, Ruby stood by the ship and started poking at the hull.

  “Uhhh Ruby? What are you doing?” Ruby nearly jumped when she heard Sora’s voice. Trying to come up with some explanation as to her behavior. She started pointing at the ship. “Ship…springy…umm…spongy…!” Ruby felt her cheeks warm up as Sora’s eyebrows raised, “O..kay…” Ruby heard a quiet chuckle from her cloak and in return quietly blew a raspberry when Sora had returned to the inside of the ship. The cricket in her cloak just laughed harder.

  The inside was a lot more intricate than the outside. Pipes, valves and all sorts of instruments strung the inside, towards the back of the cargo hold, there was a ladder that Ruby could only assume went up to the cockpit. She made her way past the arguing ducks or at least one arguing duck and two that looked like they couldn’t quite make out what Donald was saying and made her way up the ladder. At the top was a handle attached to a door. Ruby opened it and climbed the rest of the way into the cockpit. She was greeted with a round room that gave 360 degrees of sight, panels that ran the entire circumference of the cockpit and three large chairs that were set in the middle.

  “Uhh Goofy? There might be a problem with this setup.” Goofy looked over to Ruby and then at the chairs, “Hmmmm…Hey Donald how do you work that communicator thing-a ma-bob again?” Donald responded from down in the cargo hold, “The yellow button on the left Goofy.” Goofy snapped his fingers, “Oh! Right a-hyuck!” Goofy walked over to one of the larger buttons which was indeed yellow and pushed it.

  “Gummi control! What’s the problem down there?” A furry face appeared on a large screen that came to life across the main view port, right in front of the chairs. “Heya Chip, we uh, got kinda a situation here. See we’re gonna have four flying and uh…” Chip nodded as Goofy started explaining the situation. Ruby was just watching in surprise as another animal she didn’t expect to see was now talking. A squirrel? Chipmunk maybe? She wasn’t sure with how close the face was to the screen. Chip sighed, “We weren’t expecting to be running a taxi service just yet. Give us a sec to boot up the remote functions terminal. “Already warming up Chip.” A female voice called from off screen. “Thanks Gadget, tell Dale and Monty to keep the surveillance and remote readouts up to date, I don’t want them falling asleep again.” Gadget responded, “Zipper has the flyswatter ready in case they need waking up.” Chip blinked a couple of times at that, “Not sure how to take a fly using a flyswatter, but alright.” A screen over to Ruby’s right started blinking on the panels. “Okay you should be getting a configuration setup now.” Ruby waved at the furry critter and moved to the screen, several choices popped up and Ruby selected the one that made the most sense for the group. Two seats in front on either side and two in the center back, with two helms for either front seat.

  Ruby felt the floor shift slightly under her and watched as doors opened up under the chairs. The chairs lowered and the doors closed. While that was going on the panel in front was also shifting, a second helm popped out and shifted to the right while the main helm shifted to the left. Four doors opened up on the floor, and four chairs came rising out of the ground. The area was only slightly more cramped than it had been when they had entered, but Ruby felt a lot better having a chair now. Chip signed off from the main screen and the cockpit was left quiet again. Ruby heard a hissing noise from down below and out of the domed window she saw Launchpad and Fenton moving back towards the main gate. Donald was grunting as he pulled himself up the ladder and looked at the new layout. For once he didn’t complain and just shrugged.

  “Alright, let's get strapped in. We got a lot of space to cover.” Donald took the seat to the left in front, while Sora took the one on the right. Ruby glanced over at Goofy, who was taking the back right which left her behind Donald on the left. The duck started punching in buttons and the engines came to life behind them. Ruby had propped Crescent Rose onto the panel beside her within reach. She felt a knot in her stomach as the ship started rising into the air. Thankfully the seat had hand rests in the back because the young woman was clutching hers to death. Donald pushed the helm forward and the ship started going faster and rising high. The sky zoomed past Ruby and she tried resisting the urge to look back and down. Blimps and planes were one thing, but from the looks of what was going to happen, Ruby was about to do something no one on Remnant had ever done.

  Go into space.

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  The gummi ship became a blinking little light in the sky, just another one among the trillions already there. A lip curled into a snarl as someone watched the ship fly off. “I really just should have killed you earlier Ruby Rose. It would save me a lot of trouble. You’re lucky I have my orders.” Cinder watched the sky for a few seconds more, her one eye glaring at the darkness in between the pinpoints of light. “You have followed my orders well my dear. You need not concern yourself with revenge just yet. I promise, serve me well and you will watch Ruby Rose suffer.” The voice echoed in Cinder’s skull. That promise was the only thing keeping her here at that moment. She had been saved from Remnant’s destruction, but the fact Salem was still alive burned her to her core. “As you wish…Maleficent.” A dark portal opened in front of Salem, and she passed through the swirling vortex of blackness with no hesitation. 

Across the rooftops….
Black coat….
Silent Watcher….
Blooms….
Assassin….

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  Clouds whizzed past and Ruby suddenly had the sudden urge to close her eyes, so she did. She slammed them shut and waited with baited breath. Some part of her expected the entire ship to simply blow up and her body would plummet to the ground. But the longer she waited the smoother the ride became. Eventually it was like everything came to a stand still.
  “Oh wow!” Ruby heard Sora let out a breath of awe. She slowly blinked her eyes open, hesitant to open them. When she finally did, she felt her mind go silent. They were moving through the stars. Vibrant colors and swirling patterns were everywhere and the stars that had twinkled so brightly in Traverse Town were even brighter now.

   Her eyes couldn’t seem to take enough in and there was something new everywhere she looked. She briefly looked behind her and saw what looked like a globular version of Traverse Town shrinking from view. She could see versions of the fountain, the shopping district and the plaza where they fought the giant armored heartless. “That’s weird.” Ruby thought, “Pretty sure that’s not what planets are supposed to look like. Maybe that’s just the spirit of what the world looks like.” Ruby’s attention was brought back to the present by Jiminy jumping off her shoulder and down to the floor. The cricket was an impressive leap as he crossed the floor and made it to the front console.

  “Okay everyone, I get the feeling we’ve got a long journey ahead of us, and Queen Minnie tasked me with keeping it all in my journal. So while we’re flying I’m gonna need you to give me all the details of how you came to be here, where you come from and about the people important to your journey here.” Ruby felt a frown starting to spread across her face. She wasn’t going to enjoy having to fill the others in on what she’s been through, but it was better to get it all out now she supposed.

  Sora started it off, talking about his island home, his friends Riku and Kiari, and how the Heartless had appeared and swallowed everything up. Donald and Goofy filled in some of what their world was like. Overall, Disney Castle sounded like a nice place. Then their attention turned to Ruby.

  She started out slowly, talking about Remnant, Dust, Semblances, and the technology they had. She talked about her friends, and going to Beacon to become a Huntress. Then she moved on to the not so fun stuff. Pyrrha and Penny’s deaths, the destruction of Beacon, her fights with Salem and Cinder, and her journey through Ever After.

  By the end of it, the other four pairs of eyes were staring dumbfounded at her. To already have gone through so much and then be here was a bit overwhelming. Ruby had her arms crossed and was squeezing her own arms, trying to provide herself with some comfort.

  “Gosh Miss Ruby…I’m not even sure what to say with all that. Are you sure you want to come with us at all? It would be perfectly understandable if you wanted to stay in Traverse Town.” Jiminy had put his journal away after getting down what he thought was needed. He left out large chunks of Ruby’s story however. Some of those feelings…were better off not shared with others, not unless Ruby was alright with it. Ruby let out a long breath and tilted her head back. She watched the stars for a moment, thinking to herself about what had transpired up till now. “I need to Jiminy. My friends are counting on me too. I don’t know what’s going to happen…but I can’t just sit and wait for it to happen.” Jiminy nodded. “Of course, my offer still stands though. If you ever need an ear to listen I’ll be right here for ya.”

Donald and Goofy shared a look. When they had met Ruby for the first time they both had the same feeling too. Where had it felt like they met Ruby before, and why did that keyblade she fought with, seem familiar?

  A beeping drew everyone back to the current moment.

  In front of them, coming into view was another world.

  Ruby saw what looked like hedge mazes, a castle and a lot of red, white, and black coloring. Something about the world gave her a feeling of deja vu, and it was very unsettling. She saw the readout under the world on a screen on the main panel.

  Wonderland….

Notes:

A lot of story elements were sprinkled in this one and I hope some of the things I added helped the world feel more lived in rather than RPGish. I also started adding some foreshadowing and behind the scense plot stuff in this one, so please let me know what you think.