His body trudged forward in a sluggish manner, his shoulders drooped and his arms hung limp at his sides. His weapon the Oblivion dangled precariously from his loose grip, the tip of the dark keyblade dragging through the dirt as he walked.

His body ached and groaned from exhaustion, his feet and legs both in a constant silent plea for their owner to stop, to sit and lean against one of the many trees he passed on his journey through this seemingly endless forest.

Roxas was more tired than he had ever been before in his life. His magic supply depleted and his body still recovering from his last battle not 15 minutes ago. The entire day he had been fighting large dark representations of common creatures he'd encountered on other worlds, mostly massive black bear-like monsters with a tough gray armor coating the outer parts of their body.

He had deduced that these were this world's equivalent of heartless from the way they dissipated after being slain. Never before had he seen a heartless take on such a detailed yet fragile form before.

Just as this thought crossed his mind, he heard a deep growl emanate from the tree line on his right.

His tired eyes shifted and met the glowing red eyes of the wolf-like heartless only a few feet away baring its sharp white fangs

"...Fantastic…" he grumbled just as the beast lunged at him.

Instinct took over as energy surged forward that Roxas didn't know he still had. His feet sidestepped to the left avoiding the oncoming claws as his arm brought down the keyblade on the back of the creature's neck as it passed. The monster's head rolled a couple times before being halted by a tree, a few seconds later the limp corpse and severed head began to dissipate into black particles rising into the sky.

Roxas took a few moments to observe this process, mostly due to the fatigue his body was having as he had already witnessed this black rising dust over a hundred times today.

The only reason he didn't succumb to the exhaustion was because he had no place safe to properly rest. If he sat down for a half hour to get a good nap in he was certain that one of these never ending monsters would attack when he was unconscious. He would have summoned a dark corridor to leave had it not been for his magic being completely depleted to the point the he was sure he had strained something just summoning the portal to get to this place.

"...Boy an elixir would be great right about now...:" He mumbled to himself.

Just then he heard what sounded like distant voices out somewhere deeper in the forest. His eyes widened at this, he'd not seen or heard any signs of civilization or even people at all during his long trek through these woods. In the back of his head he'd started to believe that this whole world consisted of nothing but thick woods and heartless.

He took off in a sprint, or at least, the best his body could do to imitate what a sprint should look like in his tired state. His legs awkwardly shuffling as quickly as they could as he headed in the direction of the shouting.

He didn't plan to actually confront whoever he found, the first thing he had been taught in the organization was to stay clear of people, but maybe he could tail them until they led him to place where he could finally get some rest.

A shout of pain escaped his lips as he was flung forward and into the trunk of a tree. He arose slowly only to find a group of bear-like heartless awaiting him. The lead heartless and who he assumed had been the one to provide him with the quickly forming bruise running along his back roared, triggering the group of five to charge.

Roxas met the lead one halfway, burying his keyblade into the beast's side and then dragging it down the rest of the way. It collapsed to the ground as he pulled the blade out of the dark gash left from his efforts. Just as he did so the next heartless rose onto its back legs demonstrating its massive stature and swiped one of its impressive paws at the Nobody. Roxas responded by diving underneath the arm and towards the monster's feet, once there he pushed off the ground in a massive leap slashing his blade up through the belly and torso of the beast in one long swipe.

The heartless collapsed almost immediately from its wounds but another quickly took its place. Before Roxas could touch the ground he felt a claw catch his side and send him barreling into a tree as he shouted out from the pain. He crumpled to the ground as his injuries and fatigue were finally taking their toll.

He shakily stood up, using the oblivion for support and barely had enough time to deflect an oncoming set of massive claws with his keyblade. Being already off balance the blow sent him stumbling to the ground where this time he could not find the strength to rise again.

His tired eyes watched as the figures of the remaining three heartless stood over his body, all of which roared and bore their teeth as they did so. One lifted its massive arm with claws ready to deliver the final blow as Roxas's half shut eyes just stared with quiet resignation.

I guess this'll be saving the organization some trouble…

Suddenly, a booming sound echoed throughout the treeline as a bullet exploded out of the side of the creature's head. It collapsed with a loud thud as the the others faced the direction of the bullet.

They looked just as stunned as he was.

Not three seconds later a second bullet found its mark within the skull cavity of the heartless standing at the foot of Roxas's tired form, it fell in a similar manner to the first. The last remaining Heartless roared ferociously before charging in the direction of where the shots had been fired from. Before it could get too far Roxas saw a blood red blur intercept the beast and embed what looked like a large mechanical scythe into the creature's neck.

The last thing Roxas saw as his eyes began to slowly shut due to exhaustion was slowly falling rose petals and the crunching noise of feet running towards him.

Roxas awoke to the warmth and sound of a crackling fire. He opened his eyes to see that the sky was black and the moon held high in the sky. He slowly sat up still groggy from his nap and as he turned he noticed a girl sitting close to the fire wearing a long sleeved thick black blouse with a high collar and red trim on the sleeves. Her eyes were staring into the fire and her knees were pulled up to her chest as she sat patiently.

He saw her notice that he was awake and watched as she nervously stammered "H-hey! How are you feeling? You okay?" she quickly got to her feet and helped Roxas stand up. His arms and legs still ached, but he could feel that at least some of his energy had returned.

"I'm fine," he responded, brushing off his black coat and wiping away debri that had gathered on his gloves and boots. He turned and scanned the immediate area around them; no one else in sight "Was it... you who helped me?" he asked.

She smiled and nodded enthusiastically "Yeah that was me and my baby!" with a flourish she pulled out what looking like a small rectangular box from behind her waist which quickly transformed into the scythe he had seen earlier "I heard your shouts and came running, I figured that you might need my help and that maybe you'd want to be my partner if you did."

He stared blankly at her for a moment, not knowing exactly what she meant "Thank you for saving me... but I don't know what you mean by me wanting to be your partner."

Her smile quickly turned into a frown and her tone shifted from cheerful to disappointed "Oh… I'm sorry… I just figured since you were all alone that you needed a partner for the exams, I guess you already made eye contact with someone else and you two just got separated or something… and now it's probably too late for me to find anyone else since it's dark out." as she spoke her head and shoulders drooped.

Roxas stared at the girl's frown for several seconds, something about this girl… reminded him of someone and he instantly decided to try and cheer her up "Hey," he said getting her to look back up "I may not know what you're talking about with this partner business, but you did just save my life. If I can help you in any way please tell me." he knew he was going against the rules set in place by the organization, but seeing as he was no longer a part of their organization he presumed it wouldn't be so bad to break some rules.

"You don't know what I'm talking about…? You don't remember Ozpin telling all of us about the rules of picking our partners?" she gave him an inquisitive stare.

He shook his head and began "I think you might be confusing me with-"

Before he could finish she blurted out "Did you hit your head or something? When I found you you did look pretty banged up. What do you remember?"

Roxas started to speak before stopping himself. He didn't know anything about this world aside from the trees and variants of heartless that it contained. He didn't know if he could come up with a convincing enough story without sounding like he didn't belong. Although he wasn't dead set on following the organization's rules anymore, it didn't seem wise to open with 'yeah I opened a corridor from another world to escape here from an organization who wants me dead now that I betrayed them, that and there is a silver haired boy who apparently wants me dead as well.'As he thought this he reflected back to that strange event leading to this place.

He recalled how the silver haired boy had referred to him as Sora, he recalled him transforming into an older man, one with a darkness that Roxas was caught off guard by. He remembered how draining the darkness was as it gripped him tightly, how he just barely managed to break out at the last second before losing consciousness, slashing wildly with both keyblades to buy him the few seconds he needed to summon a corridor and escape. He hadn't had the time to think of a specific world to go to, the only thought he had formed before creating the corridor was 'far away from here'.

It had brought him here as a result. Tired and drained of his energy and magic seemingly from what that darkness had been doing to him, but at least safe from that man for the time being.

Roxas realized he must have been silently thinking for quite a while as the girl waved her hand in front of his face calling out "Heeey, you there? Sheesh you must have really banged your head hard if you're this spaced out."

"Sorry," he exclaimed "I was just trying to remember is all. Maybe I did hit my head since I can't seem to remember too much." he said trying to sound friendly. He was in a tough position still, while he was a little rested, he still didn't have a clue as to where he was or where any aspect of civilization was. He could leave via dark corridor, but he didn't know of any worlds that the organization didn't know of already, they would track him down in an instant. He wanted to stay, at least for a little bit, and in order to do that he needed to find somewhere where there were people. If he stayed he needed to go along with this girl until she lead him to somewhere he could set up a base of operations safely; otherwise he would be stuck in this forest until he found himself collapsing again.

"Do you remember your name?"

"Yes, my name is Roxas," responding to her growing smile with his own. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but she definitely felt like a friend of his for some reason.

She stuck out her hand smiling brightly "Well my name is Ruby, Ruby Rose! It's nice to meet you Roxas! Maybe we'll have someone take a look at your head when we get back to the academy, see if they can help ya,"

He shook her hand and responded"Maybe,"

While he wasn't keen on going to this academy she mentioned, he definitely wanted to know more about this world. He had never seen this world before, never been sent on a mission here and as far as he knew none of the other organizations members ever made mention of the place, he definitely would have heard it from someone had they encountered the same heartless he had so far. New types of heartless were generally recorded in their data base as to better prepare members for their upcoming missions and he had never seen any of the ones he was encountering so far. Maybe that meant that this world had been left untouched and unknown by organization 13.

Maybe that means I'll be safe from the Organization here...

By the time the two had made their way to the academy Ruby had told him was called 'Beacon' the sun had begun to creep over the horizon. Roxas was astonished at the sight of the school as it appear to resemble a massive medieval castle over any learning institution he could imagine. As they made their way down the long stone walkway to the front entrance Roxas knew he was drained and could tell from Ruby's slow sluggish steps that she was tired from the walk too.

The Trek was difficult for Roxas to say the least. He didn't struggle fighting off the Heartless who he'd come to find out were called Grimm in this world. Ruby and he were more than a match for any rogue Grimm that came their way. Both were equally impressed with the other's he found difficult were the lulls in excitement in between each battle. She wanted to know about him, about his weapon and where he learned to fight along with several over facts pertaining to his life. He stuck closely to the head injury excuse, telling her that he couldn't remember no matter how hard he tried. He got the feeling that this girl was really trying hard to make a friend out of him from how much she shared in regards to her family namely her sister Yang who he was told he would meet in the school.

As they entered the school all heads turned to look at them. It seemed morning classes were just about to start so the halls were filled with students. It wasn't long before the newly arrived duo were approached by a middle aged woman wearing white long-sleeved pleated top and a black high-waisted skirt. She bore an aura of authority as she walked up to the two, and from the way Ruby responded Roxas gathered that she was important.

"Ruby Rose," the woman spoke "You spent all night to complete the challenge and-" she looked to both of Ruby's empty hands "Even failed to return with the artifact Ozpin instructed you and all the students to find. What happened?"

Ruby began to stammer in her efforts to explain herself "W-well you see Roxas here was hurt and I wasn't strong enough move him by myself and I didn't think it was safe for me to go and look for anyone else with him out cold and then-"

"Okay, okay." The woman raised her hand in a gesture to tell Ruby to stop "I'm sure you had your reasons. Ozpin has requested to speak to you. Both, of you." as she said this she turned to Roxas, eyeing him suspiciously "I don't know who you are young man but you better mind your manners. Under normal circumstances we would just turn away a stranger like you. Ozpin must have good reason to meet with you in person."

Ruby looked between the two confused "What? Wait he's a part of the freshman sent into the Emerald forest right? I mean I know I don't remember seeing him there but…" Ruby turned and looked at Roxas confused "Right?"

Roxas quietly shook his head "I'm sorry."

Ruby looked hurt, and Roxas didn't like it. Before he could say anything to remedy the situation the middle aged lady who Roxas would later come to know as Glynda Goodwitch interrupted "I'll escort you two to Ozpin's office now, please follow me."

The office was spacious with a large desk towards the back positioned in front of what looked like a large balcony. The man sitting at the desk held a calm demeanor, peering over at Roxas over his dark glasses.

A smile crept along his face as the three approached "Thank you Glynda For bringing these two to me. You can continue now with your prior tasks."

The woman nodded in response before turning and leaving out of the same exit they had come in from, leaving Roxas and Ruby to stand awkwardly side by side staring at Ozpin.

"Hello Ruby," The silver haired man said with a friendly smile.

"Hi," Ruby said with a quiet wave.

"And hello young man, I don't believe we have been properly acquainted." he leaned into his hand cupping his chin and resting its weight on the desk.

"I am Roxas."

"I see, and I also see you have made a friend of my young student Ruby here, should I be under the impression that you two met in the forest?"

Ruby nodded "I found him fighting off some Ursa by himself and jumped in to help. He passed out afterwards though so naturally I had to wait till he was okay again. He hit his head I think so he doesn't remember much though. But we made it back alright! "

Ozpin nodded still smiling faintly "Well done Ruby, I understand now why you were late completing my test. Let me just reassure you now that you passed with flying colors. You demonstrated true characteristics of a Huntress by protecting this young man. Well done Ruby."

Ruby's smile beamed as she stood proud of herself. Roxas smiled too. He was glad she was feeling better after the exchange downstairs.

Ozpin continued "Now Ruby you do have classes to attend to as it is still the first day of school. I will excuse you for the classes you've missed of course as I called you up here but you shouldn't dawdle. Besides, I would like to talk to your friend for a bit."

Ruby nodded "Okay! I'm off to class! Can't wait to tell Yang about all of this… bye!" with a small wave to Roxas and Ozpin the girl entered the elevator before pressing what looked to Roxas like all the buttons. The door shut.

Ozpin Chuckled briefly before addressing the young man in front of him "So Roxas, I'll get down to what I really want to know. Who exactly are you?"

"Huh? I um hit my head like Ruby said… I don't remember much." Roxas responded trying to act confused.

"Oh? Is that right? Well I saw how well you did in the forest using that strange looking weapon of yours. Do you remember where you learned to fight like that?"

Roxas shook his still not sure how to answer that "I don't know. "

Ozpin expressed an outward sigh at the boy's response "So you're telling me that you remember absolutely nothing at all?"

Roxas nodded "I'm sorry,"

Ozpin simply nodded before he pressed a key on his desk and out popped as hologram of what looked like video footage of the same forest he and Ruby had just escaped from. It was taken at angle above, possible from the top of a large tree. Nothing happened for a few seconds, a few leaves rustled from the wind, the sound of grimm scurrying about. Suddenly a dark flame erupted from the forest floor, the corridor organization members utilized to get around. Not seconds later Roxas came bursting out of the portal with it closing behind him immediately after.

Roxas remembered those seconds just after he had entered this world for the first time. On his hands and knees panting from the exhaustion of barely escaping the grips of that silver haired boy who wore the same black coat as he.

"I had that forest installed with cameras nearly everywhere to watch over my students as they went through the trial. I had to make sure none of them were too seriously injured. You can imagine my surprise when I saw you for the first time."

Roxas nodded, wide eyed in disbelief.

"So, I ask again Roxas. Who are you? Where are you from? I don't believe that you don't remember, I believe that you don't want to say."

Roxas remained quiet for several seconds. He was nervous but not scared. The tone in the man's voice felt serious, but not hostile by any means.

Roxas said in a low voice "I… I'm kinda on the run from some people."

Roxas decided to partially tell the truth. There were people trying to kill him, and he was on the run along with other goals.

"Who are these people chasing you?"

"They are people like me. They wear coats like the one I'm wearing."

Ozpin paused, his eyes narrowing to a thin slit. Roxas knew that the man wanted a better answer than that, but he was unwilling to give it. Ozpin's face relaxed as Roxas assumed he understood.

"Did they train you to do what you did out in that forest? From what I can tell, you exhibit skills of that of a Huntsman."

Roxas shrugged "They kinda trained me. Not really though, and I'm sorry but I don't know what a Huntsman is honestly."

Ozpin's eyebrows scrunched in confusion "You don't know what a Huntsman is? Where are you from?"

Roxas shook his head "I'm... not from around here…"

"Hmmm…" Ozpin appeared deep in thought "You don't know what a Huntsman is, would you like to find out?"

"Huh?"

Ozpin chuckled "This school is meant to train students into Huntsmans and huntresses, people capable of protecting the good folks of remnant from those who would wish to do harm. It sounds like people similar to those who are after you."

Roxas remained quiet, only delivering a small nod to indicate he was indeed listening.

Ozpin paused a moment before asking "Why are they chasing you?"

"...because I left. Anyone who leaves the Organization will be hunted down."

"Hmmm…" Ozpin sat inquisitively, his interest rising "Such a young man to be in such a serious dilemma… I am willing to help you if you're willing to accept it."

"How?"

"I can enroll you as a student of Beacon academy," as he said this he gestured to the room and by extension the school.

"Why would I want that?... Why would you want that?" Roxas asked honestly. He knew he would learn about this new world from attending a school based around it, but he could tell that this place wasn't the average school he'd seen before on his missions to Twilight town.

"Well attending Beacon Academy will train you to be a capable Huntsman with skills that may aid you in dealing with these people who are after you. I told you that I saw what you were able to do to those Grimm out there, and if these people really are like you I can imagine that they are definitely a serious threat. Not to mention you will have the protection of the entirety of Beacon's faculty and I assure you that we are very capable of defending ourselves. "

Roxas paused, replaying Ozpin's words in his mind as he considered the thought.

A place to stay… a place to hide… somewhere I wouldn't stand out or draw attention to myself with my abilities...

Roxas found a single question rushing to mind lips "And what's in it for you?"

Ozpin's smile brightened "I'm always looking for talent in the world of Remnant. You are definitely talented from what I saw. Not to mention as a Huntsman I would not be doing my job if I did not help you with your problem. And lastly you are intriguing, like with many of my students I think I'd like to see how you mature into a Huntsman."

Roxas only nodded in response, thinking over what he should do.

"So Roxas, do you accept my offer? You will be provided for here along with given a dorm and proper materials so that you may succeed at my school. What you do from there however will be up to you."

Roxas took a few seconds to think it over. He did want to learn about this world and why it had never been touched by the organization before. There wasn't anything saying that he had to stay if he chose against the idea later. He had no place to go either, he had been wondering before he fought the boy with the silver hair for something that would help him succeed in his goal. Was this what he had been looking for?Who knows? Maybe he would be able to learn something that could help him face Xemnas and the organization. Then he would finally make things right again. He decided he would leave as soon as he decided he didn't need this place anymore, as soon as he knew he was strong enough he would go.

With a deep breath, Roxas came to his answer " I accept."

Author's note: Hello readers! Thank you for reading through the first chapter I've written in quite a while. That probably means that littered throughout this chapter are many grammatical errors as well as a few spelling errors and I sincerely apologize for that. I do not have a beta reader for this story, so if anyone is feeling up for the task, please contact me with a PM!

Regardless I hope you enjoyed, if you did please review! If you didn't, still review! I appreciate both positive and negative criticism! It helps motivate me to write the next chapter. I will respond to any and all reviews via a PM or review corner in the following chapter.