This one is quite a bit shorter than normal, and sorry this took like 49 years to be added, I've been busy and dealing with a lot. Next chapter may take some time (Less than this one took) But it'll take me a few it'll probably be up on the weekend. I want to pile it into one chapter instead of splitting it up.

"They aren't from here, Sora, Riku and Kairi are from another world entirely, but Sora wants to give us his all, Pyrrha so you must do the same. Tomorrow, if you wish to I will explain everything that I have planned thenIncluding your future"

It was odd, for her anyway to hear all of this, hard to accept but as she thought more and more about it, it started to seep in. as she sat up that morning.

"Today's the day, huh?"

Riku woke up early at the behest of Ozpin, playing the role of a bystander wasn't his cup of tea personally. Riku had guardianship of his younger keyblade wielding friends because he was a master, they weren't. Simple as that, and he had to overhear the plan to relay to Yensid as well as the fact that Sora probably wouldn't return. So, when he decided to come alongside Qrow to meet the candidate for this kingdom's guardian he didn't realize it'd be the next day hours before he'd ever see himself awake in most situations.

"How much longer," Riku groaned to his left was Qrow who glared back at the teenager

"A better question why is he here, Ozpin, this isn't something some kid who isn't even from here should be listening in on!" The echo from the decently sized office irked the silver haired teen. He didn't want to be around loud noises so early.

Instead of acknowledging the older man he ignored him and kept his eyes glued ahead to the headmaster.

"I'm bringing her in, I trust you two can keep it civil enough?" Looking to both men they nodded much to Qrow's disdain.

"Very well, you may enter"

Sitting under the shade of the tree Sora spent most if not almost all of his time recalling last night. Now alone with his thoughts he knew he had to be there for his team, even if they all didn't share his comradery he still wanted to prove his worth.

With the pain – the darkness in his shoulder gone over the course of his lackluster snooze under the stars, which still confused him, it should still hurt, Vanitas was still inside him still…

Right?

As for Ruby…

"I mean – I like you, as a friend of course! I mean it would be weird if I meant it in another way, right?" She laughed off her words much to his annoyance.

"I don't know why I said that, that's probably weird isn't it? I mean-"She stopped talking for a moment, her body was already in an awkward position as if she could get up and leave at any moment and he'd just be left alone to his own devices.

"Feelings are feelings, Ruby if you feel a specific way, you're better off speaking out if you hold them in you may regret it" She seemed to be in thought after these words after a while

Sora himself realized how hypocritical his words were, even after all this time he chose to ignore the feelings he had for one of his best friends up until now, where he wasn't sure what he felt.

He had more to think about, after this fight with Xehanort, like explaining to his friends why he wouldn't return. He couldn't tell them he felt like a failure during that fight. He couldn't tell them that every time he saw them he felt like he wanted to curl up and disappear into nothingness, or that he did fall so that he wouldn't be here to have to suffer this way.

He loved his friends, he withheld this information because of that.

He knew though without a cause, without a fight he didn't know if he had meaning other than being a failure in his own eyes to his two closest friends, which is a majority of why he wanted to distance himself. He felt terrible, he almost became the one thing he's been fighting against this whole time. At least here, he felt he could have at least to himself, a normal life.

He couldn't lie to himself or them anymore about it.

He couldn't bare lying about being happy in that world when he was so close to losing himself to his own failures.

"I'm – I'm going to get some sleep, are you staying out here?" With a simple nod Ruby sighed to herself relenting on berating him for putting his health in danger and walked back toward her dorm.

"Good night, Sora" He felt a tug in his chest as she walked away.

"I" He called out stopping her she stood rooted in place.

"Why would I take what you said any other way than how you mean it?" Ruby's face contorted into a full-blown blush.

Sora wasn't one for flirting, in fact if that was a class he obviously skipped it hell, probably never heard of it. He did however want her to know he took everything as it was and wouldn't look at her any differently.

"Yang would probably strangle you for saying that" Ruby tried down playing as much as she could, Kairi was still around, it was clear to her she loved Sora, her feelings couldn't compare to that and it wouldn't be fair to get in the way of his choices. Hers was but a seed to Kairi's garden.

He sat there for a moment, knowing full well she was deflecting his words, for a reason, was this the last time they'd speak like this? As she finally took a few more steps away he couldn't let his question go unanswered.

"I'll talk to you later, right?" His words reached her, she contorted into a look he wasn't familiar with but smiled brightly, walking up with a form of grace in her step.

"Now why would you think I wouldn't?" Sora faltered for a moment thinking over the obvious reasons only known to him and a select few. "If you knew the conflicts in my heart, would you still say that?"

"After everything that happened, no matter what. I'll be by your side" She turned away bashfully as only a sharp breath left the brunette, she felt it was time for her to turn in when strong arms wrapped around her.

"Thank you, Ruby" He was close. Too close. She could feel his torso ease and relax against her back as he held her, it felt more intimate than any other form of physical contact they had. She went rigid before finally relaxing into the hold, her face staying as red as her namesake.

"J-Just don't be late for Yang's fight today, it's the start of the single's matches!" She squirmed away from the brunette's touch. A twinge of pain surfaced in his eyes for a moment before leaving as soon as it appeared.

"I'll be there, no way Yang could win without us cheering for her!" his voice seemed to not match his facial expression. He sounded like he was trying to hide something teetering on concern.

Despite this she smiled and nodded happily.

"I'll meet you there, it's at seven pm don't forget" If he wanted to tell her, he would she wouldn't pry into it.

"What if I told you, the four maidens existed, and the power of magic did exist?" Pyrrha's eyes grew wide. Riku was skeptical of this whole situation, he knew she was strong, but anyone could take her place as a champion. If she was such a strong symbol there was no reason to sacrifice her own free will they had other options, she could retain her way of life.

"Just like the keybladers are chosen so are maidens, these maidens are able to use magic and access superior feats of strength" He paused as he stood up walking toward the entrance of his office and motioned for her to follow.

Glenda and Ironwood joined later that morning but motioned her through the situation. Riku honestly had no idea why he was here at this point but followed as they spoke about the power as if –

"You're talking about all of this, because you intend to have her inherit the power, don't you" Ozpin was the first to look at the silver haired teen,

"But you aren't sure if it'll work, you don't want to bet everything on it working, that's why-!" He finally understood.

"You want a failsafe, is that it?" He grit his teeth

"Riku, even if she became the champion, he would still be needed" He was growing irate

"What do you mean, Ozpin, you say that like it's absolute, like without him-"Ozpin nodded Ironwood looked toward his friend with concern, the headmaster said nothing but continued on into a sealed off location within beacon.

The holder of autumn was in what looked to be comatose similar to the princesses of light they saw before, it all clicked but he was still defiant.

"She's been gravely injured we can't let her out, half of the power was taken, that's why before it gets too late we want to try and transfer the power artificially into Pyrrha, that is our only hope" Ozpin looked back to the redhead with something akin to sadness in his tired eyes

"Riku, with these two leading the fight, we might stand a chance" Riku looked to his plea with trepidation

"You're hiding something, what do you intend to do to my friend" Ironwood stepped up at this question

"Someone has to light the way for everyone else, Riku we believe that someone is your best friend"

"These two, should Pyrrha accept will be our beacon of hope."

"That's stupid, you don't need him, you want him you don't have faith in your own plan!" Riku growled out in frustration

After a moment of silence, a singular voice shattered it

"I'll do it," Riku turned toward the red headed heroine with utter shock

"You could die!" He bit back the rest of his words

"We might all die if I don't try!" He glared hard thinking about his past, knowing his best friend went to the extremes to save his friends, even at the cost of his own life – he wouldn't let someone else follow suite.

"Then, let me take care of the ones your going after, don't let one of your own take the blunt of this" He turned away from the girl conviction in his emerald eyes

"I'll be the one I'll- "Ozpin raised his hand

"Only women are capable of being taken in as an elemental maiden, if you intended on staying and fighting a fight that isn't yours- "

"-It's not Sora's either" Ozpin gripped at the bridge of his nose in frustration.

"While that was at one point true, he made his choice to stand with us," General Ironwood spoke stepping forward causing the silver hared teen's eyes to glaze over in annoyance.

"He fought you, he doesn't want to go back, if you force your hand or overstep here you'd lose him, I humbly suggest," He took another step forward

"You trust your friend on his choices, Riku. Xehanort wants something here he needs something from us so it's better this way" The aforementioned teen grit his teeth, his hand twitching to summon his keyblade but he stayed it. He could try, he could try and force his friend home and let this world fall to whatever hell it was meant to fall to. But Sora would never forgive him. They needed his help and Sora was willing to give it as much as it annoyed him. It was also against the rules, Yensid said to persuade not to force. It was Sora's path, not his own but he couldn't give up yet.

As much as the way they went about it made him angry, he couldn't do much but grin and bear it for now, he knew allowing him to help was the only thing he could do. They'd be going home by early tomorrow either way at that point, it would be up to Yensid on what actions they took. He couldn't overlook his word.

"The only other option we have here, is having you release her heart and hoping it gravitates to Pyrrha"

Glynda after witnessing all of this did feel sorry for the young man but, she'd use every tool at her disposal to make sure Beacon – the dream they worked so hard for, to continue. Ironwood was being a bit more – heavy-handed with his words but in truth she knew he cared and was trying to make sure nothing befell Beacon academy.

"Feeling a bit worried about the kid?" Crowe chimed in to the blonde

"He came here knowing that there was a possibility this could happen," Crow scratched his cheek looking at her open scroll

"See, I'm hearing you and everything but that still doesn't explain why you aren't you know, stepping in, you're just playing- "She glared back in his general direction

He stammered for a moment before a shuttering breath came out

"All I was going to as is why you're playing a dating sim about wooing pigeons…" Glynda gave him a pensive look that quickly convinced him to keep quiet

After the conversation continued for what felt like an eternity for Riku the two teens made their way back, toward the would-be arena for the upcoming fights. He couldn't shake his concern and wanted to find a way for her to withhold her means of giving up what could possibly be her own life.

He saw a lot of Sora in her, and that worried him.

"You still have time, to change your mind, you know." She looked toward him with a knowing smile stopping her stride to look at him fully

"I know, but, this is my home, I have to fight for it, especially when I was born to do just that" Riku gave her a skeptical look

"Then what about Sora? You do know full well he'd be fighting alongside you" She looked toward the ceiling for a moment in thought before returning to the teen in question with a smile plastered on her face.

"After what Ozpin and the others said it's pretty clear Sora considers himself apart of this and cares deeply. If you saw how far he went for team RWBY, Despite being from another world." She paused for a moment remembering the words Ozpin spoke to her about.

"Ah It was quiet weird hearing about that from Ozpin before all this but – he led with saying you two aren't from here and that if I wanted to know more about you both and saving this kingdom. At first, I was skeptical but after everything I've seen I don't think I can deny that anymore. I know he wants to help us, and to me it seems like you're doing this for another reason altogether, aren't you?" Despite being caught red-handed Riku gave her a look of concern.

"I see, so my words, won't reach…" A hidden resolve formed in his eyes

"My intent is pure, but I can't let my friend go down this path, all this is going to do is change him for good. I know it but…" With a sigh and downcast eyes, he shook his head.

"Trust your friend, Riku. You have to believe in him, even if you don't know what the outcome will be." He went silent for a moment, clearly weighing over the words and sighed to himself

"I'll be leaving now, Pyrrha, I hope you do well tonight I'll be cheering," Worry filled her system as he walked away

"We'll see each other again." Was the last thing he said before opening a door to darkness and vanishing within it.

"You are such an enigma" She said to herself as she started walking again down the corridor. She still had someone she had to talk to about all this, her team.

Around five pm Sora made his way back to Beacon, groggy and sore from sleeping the way he did. Normally he'd be weary of going to see the girls but, today was the big day. Why wouldn't he go? Not only that, after the last fight they had in the arena he had to be there to make sure things didn't get as dark as they did.

This is past tense, just really didn't want to use italics for this.

Weis and Yang just entered as the duo for team RWBY and Sora was on standby.

Ruby was having a conversation with her friend Penny, which he was relayed to as finding out she was a robot. Her Mail ordered friend found him an anomaly but fairly attractive and Penny wanted to find a way to stay at Beacon. Sora found the whole thing to be quite comical but stayed neutral toward the situation seeing as Ruby felt the former annoyed her a bit and the latter made her anxious.

Eyes trained on the fight about to ensue he made a simple gesture of holding her hand squeezing ever so slightly letting her know he wasn't going to let that deter him from being by her side. Her face betrayed her unease with the reddening

"Nothing like that is going to change anything, but, after all of this, if you really want Penny to stay here, we should help her!" He gave her a nice-guy pose to which she laughed at.

But that didn't keep her from responding.

"It's harder for someone like her to join because of her you know being all beep boop beep" Sora himself couldn't help but laugh at her attempt at being a robot with a mighty chuckle did he fall to the ground in a fit.

"I – I can't believe you, you just did that!" His words came in between gasps of air. She gave him a deflated look to which he sheepishly smiled at after catching his breath and standing to his feet.

"I want her to stay but, I know it'll be difficult and – "Sora gave her a pat on her should startling her out of her thoughts.

"We'll do it, I promise" his words resonated with her and she smiled brightly at his words of encouragement

As the contenders met in the arena Sora walked up toward the arena himself

"You're Weiss Schnee, the heiress, hear you're pretty good with dust" He could make out the conversation.

At the praise she grew coy

"I try" Sora wanted to laugh at her change in stance and bashfulness Yang gave her a genuinely confused look

"My father used to own a dust shop of his own, till' your dad ran him out of business" The young man known as Flynt scoffed

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that" It was rare to hear genuine remorse out of the dust princess, but this was one of the few times Yang no less Sora heard it.

"Sure, you are" Flynt's words were dripping with sarcasm

"Hey why don't you-"Yang started but the girl Neon cut her off

"Hey why don't you, that's what you sound like" Sora walked up looked to both girls with a shrug which was Yang's exact response

"The hell is this, are we resorting to mocking now?" Sora barked at the two

"Who is this, your personal errand boy? Can't fight your own battles yourself?" Weiss laughed elegantly at this. However, Sora was the one to respond.

"Believe me, I could take you both on without either of them stepping in, but that wouldn't be fair now would it?" Sora placed his hands behind his head in trademark fashion before closing his eyes and looking off to the side disinterested.

"Someone's cocky" Neon's voice screeched into his ears A scoff was his response

"It's not cockiness if it's factual" It came out a lot more serious than most things the brunette said in a competitive environment.

However, after this turned his back on the two, Neon feeling antsy began berating Yang again

"You should try roller-skating, might take you awhile though, since you're top heavy" Yang glared

"Oh, here we go," Ruby rolled her eyes in annoyance at the storm they caused

"Brownie, juice me" The brownie in question gave her a quizzical glare before reluctantly transferring some of his strength to the blonde through Aura. It didn't seem to physically make her any stronger if anything he felt something sinister whisper into his ear as the light fizzled out and a faint purple aura took its place for a moment.

"Suffer…" Instead of registering it he chose to ignore it for a later time.

The fact that Yang asked of all things just made it more serious, she wasn't in the mood to play around, but, he was concerned with the growing cold feeling in his chest.

This didn't help her from getting beaten by Neon, a girl who constantly berated her. Weiss was holding up a bit better, but not by much however. She was able to deflect Flynt's damage and make a counter attack of her own which seemed to mimic that of Cloud's own omni-slash in Sora's eyes.

"How does she – did I ever use that attack?" The other fight however was one sided Yang was letting the girl Neon get to her causing that pool to grow larger it felt akin to darkness. Things however didn't hit the fan until Flynt used his semblance, taking Weiss out by sending a blast of flame into a stalemate and taking her weapon hostage after she collided with the hot ground. He turned his attention to Yang.

"Damn it, I can't let this continue, she's going to boil over the edge!" Sora ran toward the arena seconds too late as Weiss threw herself into the flames near them to try and take Flynt out.

"Sora, the rest is up to you and Yang!" She shouted as she summoned her semblance and shot a blast of ice toward the teen

"Tag!" She cried out before the flames consumed her. Much to Sora's dismay Yang seemed too absorbed in her fight to notice too much until the announcer made note of the swap in

The brunette glared as moments later, Flynt emerged from the flames with little to no Aura.

"Damn it!" Sora hissed as he stood next to his blonde partner

"Yang we should try-"He noticed her eyes, she was incredibly angry. She wasn't focused on him at all he felt her aura run through him, but it felt like acid in his veins, and that cold dark feeling expand into every corner of his body. His eyes flashed between red and yellow until finally he transformed.

This form didn't even feel like his own, he felt like he was just watching his body moving without his say so, fortunately it wasn't anything life threatening but, it scared him. The fact that he could lose control of his power if someone was experiencing negative emotions?

His clothing dyed black his hair to match his eyes didn't feel like his own. He shouted out in pain as Yang's rage filled him. Flynt started using his semblance and Neon blasted toward him at full speed intent on taking him out first.

In an instant he was gone, blurs of purple after images and claws instead of keyblades slashed through the bodies of Neon and Flynt, luckily for them it was only through Aura and not through flesh.

His head even after returning to normal was filled with such raw negative emotions, much heavier than he thought Yang would think of at that point, it couldn't just be her, right?

She wouldn't

She wouldn't want to leave them broken and battered on the ground, that wasn't the Yang he knew, right? That wasn't his friend.

He walked over to her, her eyes finally returned to the violet hue he was used to and she smiled, albeit more subdued than normal.

She made way over to the center and pulled Weiss from the crevasse she managed to get herself stuck in and they bowed the crowd erupted in cheers. The announcer cheered delighted at the victory, but it felt – unjustified.

Sora was stuck flabbergasted at what took a hold of him, was that Yang's rage or his inner daemons?

Ever since that fight and the aftermath in which he was ostracized from the group dorm he was concerned for Yang, he had to make sure she wouldn't succumb to darkness in her heart, despite her fun-loving demeanor it was clear to him – she could easily fall and her anger at him yesterday only proved that it was possible she'd lose herself to her emotions.

"I can't let that happen, it would break Ruby's heart"

Little did he know, going to the arena to witness the fight up ahead would drastically change him for good.

And his friendships would begin to fracture.

"You saw it too right, during that fight, she was showing signs, I think you made the right choice, master" Xehanort looked at the teen in question

"Which is where you'll come in my dear Vanitas. It must've been hell living inside of that retched boy for so long, all of those things you had to endure, at least you managed to escape, I must say, I didn't think you'd seep out while he was asleep that night. Didn't think the wound was even deep enough."

"I don't know how long this will last, but for the time being this form will hold from the energy that girl provided the other day, it's enough for this plan, master" Xehanort knew he was smiling so hard right now.

"Then we will proceed as planned, commence the operation, Cinder" The young woman from the shadows, even in darkness she was like a shadow, moved out into the light,

"As you wish, master Xehanort" She smiled but bit her lip to keep herself from laughing.

"They will soon know war today, it sparks"

The brunette ran the last stretch toward the arena as quick as he could. Making it in time to see the remaining competitors for the singles aspect of the tournament, he rushed up the stairs as cheers erupted from the crowd.

"Yang!" He called out to the blonde who gave him a quick look before huffing and looking away,

"Yang, please listen to me, you can't fight in this, let someone else take over, your-"He was grabbed so quick he couldn't continue to speak.

"What are you trying to say, Sora" He wanted to make a cocky remark but dismissed it.

"Yang, there is darkness growing within you, if this continues you may get taken over, please just let someone else take over for now!" She scoffed

"I'm fine, I'm better than ever, I can fight I don't need you babying me, whatever you think you see in me isn't there! Stand back and watch or go play hero somewhere else!" Sora grabbed a hold of Yang's raised hand causing her to wince and eventually drop her teammate

"I'm only trying to help but if you really want to do this, I won't stop you, don't – no Yang I won't let you do this I can't. No one would forgive me, I wouldn't forgive myself if I let you make this mistake!" He brandished his keyblade

"You're going to fight me? Because I won't agree to throw in the towel, this isn't just for me it's for all of us, and you're going to hinder that?!" She shouted

He knew he was getting in the way of what could be a potential win for the team, but he couldn't let her risk falling deeper into her anger, ever since Xehanort spread his darkness onto each of the girls on mount Glenn she progressively gotten worse with her anger issues.

"First it was Ruby, then Weiss now Yang, Blake is the only one who hasn't had darkness spread- it seems I was wrong in thinking the darkness Xehanort used back then was gone for good, damn it! He was seeping darkness into them one at a time, probably to gage the strongest to the weakest and now..."

Sora was about so speak again when Riku of all people appeared from a door to darkness, looking over the group surveying Yang the most he grabbed a hold of his friend

"Don't mind us, carry on" Riku bowed before storming off with his best friend

"Riku, what are you doing here, why did you-"He placed a finger on his friends lips

"The walls have eyes and you just need to wait. If you don't let this go the way they planned you won't get your chance you need to play along, Sora as much as you don't want to." Sora was close to mouthing off but, if Riku knew about the darkness…

"So, you know about Yang?" He looked toward the arena

"Know? I could feel it when I got close enough. Xehanort might be banking on her rage, she gets so angry she could easily get consumed by darkness, but you and I both know he won't act just yet he wants her to be at her angriest and most vulnerable."

"You mean –"He glared toward the monitor above

"He might try and use this fight to get her to trigger her darkness for all we know, so it's best we stand on guard, I know you don't want to, but we have no other choice right now."

"We'll save Yang"

I'm going to try and cover the rest of this arc quickly, sorry for the slowed down pace of the chapters!

I didn't have time to really spell check everything unfortunately, I'm starting the next chapter later!