Chapter Text
“Wow…” Sora gazed up at the large castle in awe. Throughout his adventures, he’d seen plenty of castles and each one had their own unique flair. Beast’s castle was strong and intimidating, Radiant Garden had a very busy and protective aura, and Disney Castle was vibrant and welcoming, if a bit cartoonish. (now that he thought about it, a lot of his friends seemed a bit cartoonish… weird.)
But this place was HUGE. It was bright, busy, and intimidating all at once! Silver spires rose up to the sky, dozens of people were walking all over the place, and it was decorated with bright shades of green.
“Look at this place, guys!” Sora’s eyes gleamed like a kid in a candy store. “This is amazing!”
“Uh… yeah,” said the gargled voice of an anthropomorphic duck. Donald Duck liked to believe that he was the straight man/waterfowl of their odd trio despite his short temper. “But weren’t we supposed to go to Olympus Coliseum?”
“Oh! Right,” Sora scratched his cheek. “I guess so. I mean, I just followed what Goofy said.”
“May your heart be your guiding key,” Goofy tried to quote sagely but failed due to his natural goofy voice.
“Well we shouldn’t take any detours then,” Donald lectured. “We’re on a mission, and Master Yen Sid told Sora to go to Olympus Coliseum, right?”
“Right!” Sora nodded before his confident face dropped. “I mean… I’m pretty sure…”
“Wak?” Donald stared at the spiky-haired teen. “What do you mean? Master Yen Sid told you to go to Olympus Coliseum, didn’t he?”
“Well...sorta,” Sora hung his hands behind his head. “I mean, he didn’t exactly say what world it was. I just assumed he meant Hercules.”
Donald stared at him, bill agape. “We have an important mission to get you ready to fight against Xehanort and save the fate of all worlds, and you just ‘assume’ where we have to go?!”
“Basically,” Sora shrugged. “I mean, it works out pretty well, usually.”
Sora didn’t have time to elaborate as he was tackled by a clump of angry, white, feathers.
Goofy managed to pry the angry bird off of Sora’s face, now decorated in scratches and sporting a black eye.
“Now Donald, just calm down,” Goofy suggested, holding the magician at arm’s length.
Donald’s blusterous babble eventually calmed down into a ragged breath. “Okay…” he breathed Goofy set him down. “We’ll just get back on the gummi ship, go back to Master Yen Sid, and ask him properly where we’re supposed to go.”
Donald pulled out a clicker-type device and clicked the button...nothing happened. Donald clicked it again… and again… and clicked it some more.
“What’s up?” Sora asked as he finished applying the last band-aid.
“The teleporter isn’t working!” Donald growled, shaking the clicker.
“Teleporter?” Sora raised an eyebrow.
“Yeah,” Goofy chuckled for no other reason other than he’s Goofy. “How do you think we get on and off the gummi?”
“Huh,” Sora scratched his head. “I just thought it sort of happened.”
“Well, it doesn’t matter now since the stupid thing is broken!” Donald yelled as he threw the device on the ground and began stomping on it in a massive tantrum.
“Well, it’s definitely broken now…” Sora stated, looking at the broken bits.
The relative silence of the trio was interrupted when a loud BOOM shook the earth. “What was that?” Sora turned and saw a big fireball rising into the air. Natural curiosity taking over, Sora ran towards the explosion, leaving Donald and Goofy in the dust.
Sora came across a courtyard with two teenage girls in the middle.
The younger girl was dressed completely in shades of red and black. Her near-gothic style of dress reminded Sora greatly of the style of Halloween town, but with a lot of bright blood red, especially in her ragged hood. Her combat-ready boots and belts made it clear she was ready for combat. Her petite face was small and childlike with eyes that were the color of silver, framed by short black hair with red faded tips.
The older-looking girl chose a style of pure blinding white. White dress, white bolero jacket, white high-heeled boots, white sash. The only color changes were the red lining the inside of the jacket and pale blue snowflakes adorning her skirt. Even her hair was pure white and tied into an off-center buntail on her right side. Her sky-blue eyes and pale petite face were twisted into a scowl as she glared at the younger girl.
“Unbelievable! This is exactly the kind of thing I was talking about!” the pale girl shrieked.
“I’m really really sorry…” the black and red girl mumbled, poking her finger together.
“Ugh! You complete dolt!” The white girl continued to glower. “What are you even doing here? Aren’t you a little young to be attending Beacon?”
“Uh...” the small girl tried to speak.
“This isn’t just any old combat school, you know,” the older girl interrupted. “This isn’t sparring practice, we’re here to fight monsters! So watch where you’re going!”
Sora could no longer stand by the side. “Hey leave her alone!” he yelled as he ran up. “She already said she was sorry so back off!”
“Excuse me?” the rude girl looked as if Sora had just spit in her food. “I’d expect well-educated people to butt out of other people's affairs.”
Sora narrowed his bright blue eyes. “Who died and made you princess?”
“It’s heiress, actually,” a fourth voice interrupted. The three turned to an ebony-haired girl with amber eyes. She had a white blouse, but everything after that was a deep black. From her vest to her high-heeled boots, topped off his a black bow on top of her head.
“Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee dust company: one of the largest energy propellants in the world.” the new girl stated like Wikipedia. Her amber eyes betrayed no emotion.
“Finally, some recognition,” Weiss Schnee gained a smug look.
“The same company infamous for shady business deals and controversial labor force,” the girl continued with narrowed eyes.
The heiress sputtered. “What-- How dare- nerve of- Ugh!” she snatched a glass vile away from the girl with the bow and stormed off.
“I promise I’ll make this up to you!” The red-hooded girl called out to Schnee’s retreating figure.
“Well, I guess I’m not the only one having a rough first day…” The hooded girl sighed. “So what’s your name-” she turned to the black-haired girl but said girl was already walking away.
Sora winced. Yikes, seems the people in this world weren’t the most welcoming. Sora reached out to console the girl when he suddenly felt his ear being yanked on. “Ow ow ow ow…” Sora cringed as Donald pulled him away. “What the heck, Donald!” Sora managed to pull his ear free.
“Don’t you remember?!” Donald hopped up and down. “No meddling in the affairs of other worlds!”
“What?” Sora raised an eyebrow. “But we’ve meddled plenty of times!”
“That’s because Maleficent or the Organization were also messing with things,” Donald argued. “But we’re not even supposed to be here! It’s best if we keep a low prof-”
“Ahem”
Sora, Donald, and Goofy who had just caught up with them, turned to see a Woman in her twenties with her blond hair tied into a bun. She was dressed like a secretary with a white blouse and skirt, with the odd addition of a purple cape and a riding crop at her side. Piercing green eyes glared at them through small spectacles. “If you three would come with me, please.”
She turned on her high-heeled shoes and walked off. Donald glared up at Sora as if to say this is your fault. Sora gulped nervously. And Goofy just looked confused. Nevertheless, the trio followed the woman.
They followed her until they came to a large tower. The woman held up a small rectangular device to what looked to be a keypad. There was a ding and an elevator opened up, the woman walked in and Sora and pals followed.
The elevator ride up was awkward and silent. Sora was considering starting a conversation but he did not like the way that lady was gripping her riding crop.
The elevator could not have reached the top fast enough. The group walked out and-
“Whoa…” Sora, Donald, and Goofy marveled at the office. It was like they were inside a giant clock. Dozens of gears interlocked and ticked together in perfect unison. The world-hopping trio would gaze at the inner machinations of the office longer if someone had not cleared their throat.
At the end of the office near the window, a man sat at his desk. He had tousled silver hair and pale skin. He wore a black suit unbuttoned over a dark green vest over a lighter green turtleneck. He smiled kindly at the trio, a stark contrast to the glare of the woman who decided to stand next to his desk. “Sora, Donald, and Goofy I presume?”
Sora blinked. “You know who we are?”
The silver-haired man nodded. “Yen Sid speaks highly of you,”
THAT startled the trio. “You know Master Yen Sid?” Donald quacked.
“Yes,” The mysterious man smiled. “He and I go quite a ways back.”
Sora wasn’t actually that surprised. The man had what he liked to call a “Wizard Feel”. A certain aura around someone that conveyed knowledge beyond their years. Someone who could actually read the pages of the crazy book of the universe. Merlin had it, Yen Sid had it, and even Rafiki from Pride Rock had it.
“My name is Professor Ozpin,” the man introduced himself. “Welcome to my School.”
“School?” Sora scratched his head.
“Yes,” Ozpin nodded. “You see in this place, monsters of darkness are quite frequent.”
Sora narrowed his eyes. “You mean the Heartless?”
“Sort of but not quite,” Ozpin shook his head. “We call them the creatures of Grimm. While they do lack a soul and are attracted to negative emotions, they cannot steal another's heart.”
Sora let out a breath of relief. “Well, that’s good.”
“Make no mistake,” Ozpin narrowed his eyes. “They are still plenty dangerous. That is why we have academies like these, to teach people how to combat the Grimm.”
Sora nodded. “Right.”
“Now…” Ozpin paused to take a sip from his coffee mug. “Why do you think that Yen Sid sent you here?”
“Uh…” Sora scratched his head, and his expression grew sheepish. “Well...we didn’t exactly mean to come HERE exactly…”
Ozpin did not look annoyed by this statement, he actually looked rather amused. “Then I wonder why Yen Sid contacted me, telling me to expect you?”
Sora blinked. “Wait…THIS is where he wanted us to go?”
Ozpin nodded as Sora chuckled. “So I WAS right.”
“You just got lucky,” Donald grumbled.
“So…” Sora crossed his arms. “You’re able to help me get my lost strength back?”
Ozpin frowned and shook his head. “No. Only you can regain your lost strength, which will take time.”
Sora deflated as he slumped over in disappointment.
“But…” Ozpin took another sip. “What better place to relearn than at school?”
“Huh?” Sora’s head perked up.
“I may not be able to help you regain your lost strength, Sora, but I can offer you a place at my academy,” Ozpin smirked. “It is the perfect place for you to practice and regain your abilities, and maybe learn some new ones. Free room and board shall be available to all students. The cafeteria serves three meals a day and all Huntsmen and Huntresses are free to interact with each other outside classes.”
Sora rubbed his chin in thought. He could try to regain his strength on his own, or he could go to this academy that trains heroes where he’ll get his own bed and free food and make lots of friends- Wait, why was he even second-guessing this?
“I’ll do it!” He smiled with total confidence.
“Wonderful,” Ozpin gave his own smile. “But there is one little problem, teams are usually divided into groups of four.”
Sora lost his confident look as he looked between Donald and Goofy.
Goofy was currently counting his fingers before he looked up. “There’s only three of us.”
“Which is where I come in,” a new voice said behind them.
The trio spun around to see the newcomer. “Axel!” The three cried.
Axel was wearing what looked like a modified Organization XIII coat. The sleeves were cut off with fingerless gloves added. The zipper was undone showing a fire orange vest underneath. He wore army green pants with black combat boots. He completed the look with a yellow scarf around his neck.
Axel shook his head. “How many times do I gotta say it? It’s Lea now, got it memorized?” He tapped the side of his head for emphasis.
“Well, Axel is a whole lot easier to memorize,” Sora rubbed the back of his head.
Axel/Lea sighed. “Fine. Whatever.”
“Good to see yah Axel-Uh I mean Lea,” Goofy greeted.
The fiery redhead sighed. “Look if it’s that hard for you, just call me Axel.”
“Alright, Axel,” Sora nodded.
“Your clothes are different,” Donald noted.
“Well, yeah,” Axel shrugged. “Couldn’t hold onto all those zippers and belts forever, unlike some people I know…” he glanced at Sora.
Sora glanced down at his attire. There was an awful lot of belts.
“Ah! That reminds me,” Sora turned back to Ozpin. “Yen Sid said to give you these,” Ozpin pulled a black suitcase and laid it on his desk.
A massive smile split Sora’s face. “Awesome!” He laughed as he grabbed the suitcase. It was time for a wardrobe change.
“Once you change into that, I suggest going to the announcement hall with the rest of the students,” Ozpin explained.
“Right,” Sora nodded as he slung the suitcase over his shoulder.
Sora pulled on his gloves to make sure they were on tight. His new outfit wasn’t too dissimilar to his old one, only significantly fewer belts with red lining the edges. There were dozens of people in the announcement room but he and his odd group of friends still stuck out.
“Have you figured out how to summon the Keyblade yet, Axel?” Goofy asked the spikey-haired fire-wielder.
Axel shook his head. “Nah, Merlin thought it’d be easier for me to figure it out if I surrounded myself with lots of different hearts, so he sent me here.”
“But won’t it be a problem for you?” Sora raised an eyebrow. “I mean- This school is about fighting monsters, is you can’t summon your Keyblade…”
“Hey!” Axel interrupted with a miffed face. “Just because I can’t quite get a grasp on my fancy key sword doesn’t mean I’m defenseless,” he summoned one of his chakrams for emphasis.
Sora nodded, seeing his point when he overheard a female voice absolutely dripping with sarcasm. “Yeah, and we can paint our nails, try on clothes, and talk about cute boys like tall, spikey, and scraggly over there,”
“Are they talking about me?” Sora wondered. He followed the voice to see the same two girls he saw in the courtyard, the white prissy one pointing her thumb in his general direction. Though they were now accompanied by a third.
The new girl had messy blonde hair that cascaded all over her back. She certainly dressed how she wanted, like a party girl still ready to throw down at a moment's notice. Her frame was certainly leaner than the other two girls. It reminded Sora of Tifa, a girl trained to get up close, personal, and deck you in the face.
“Really?” The young red and black girl's silver eyes shone with hope.
“No,” The white girl shot her down with no hesitation.
“Hey, you’re that mean girl!” Sora butted in on the conversation.
“Excuse me?!” The pale girl looked thoroughly offended.
“Yeah, Weiss Sneeze,” Sora deduced.
The blonde and brunette girls sniggered as the white-haired girl looked ready to blow a gasket. “It’s Weiss SCHNEE, one of the most powerful families on Remnant!”
“Never heard of you,” Sora shrugged.
Weiss began looking like she was contemplating whether it was good to throttle someone on the first day.
The blond girl then stepped up to Sora. “Well I like you already, I’m Yang,” She said, holding out her hand.
Sora kindly returned the gesture. “Nice to meet you, I’m Sora.”
“Uh… Hi Sora,” The silver-eyed girl came up. “I’m Ruby, Yang’s sister, I was also in the courtyard remember?”
“Oh, yeah,” Sora’s eyes widened. “You’re the girl that exploded.”
“Wow, you really DID explode,” Yang looked down at her sister, slightly impressed.
“It was an accident! All I did was sneeze!” Ruby flailed.
“In the presence of highly volatile dust,” The Schnee girl found time to interject.
Sora shrugged. “If there was dust around, I’d probably sneeze too.”
Weiss stared at him as if he’d grown a second head. “Do you not know what dust is?”
“Uh…” Sora scratched his head. “The stuff that builds up on your books if you don’t wipe them?”
“He’s not wrong,” Ruby pointed out.
The apparent heiress ignored her. “How do you not know what dust is? It powers our cities, it helps us fight Grimm. We use it to summon fire and lightning!”
“Wow, really?” Sora’s eyes sparked with excitement. “That sounds cool!”
Weiss facepalmed. “If you don’t know what dust is, how do you expect to fight the Grimm?”
“Same way I’ve always fought monsters,” Sora wrapped his hands around his head. “Whack them until they disappear.”
Now all three girls were staring at him, mouths agape. “Um...” Yang broke the silence. “Hey Sora, pal, what training academy did you go to before Beacon?”
“Training academy?” Sora wondered. “I didn’t go to any academy, I’m self-taught.”
Weiss’ eye twitched. “If these are the kind of students that get into Beacon, maybe I should have stayed in Atlas.”
“Atlas? What’s that?” Sora asked. “Some kind of ice cream?”
“Please...stop talking,” Weiss held her face in her hands. “I can actually feel my brain cells dying.”
The four were interrupted by the sound of someone clearing their throat. They turned around to see Ozpin standing at the top of a podium in front of a mike. “I'll...keep this brief. You have traveled here today in search of knowledge--to hone your craft and acquire new skills. And when you have finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people,” He looked out to all the expectant crowds. “But I look amongst you, and all I see is wasted energy, in need of purpose – direction. You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step.” He stepped off the podium. “I leave you with Ms. Glynda Goodwitch.”
The woman from before, with the riding crop, walked up to the mike. “Students will gather in the ballroom tonight. Tomorrow your initiation begins. Be ready. You are dismissed.”
As the students began to disperse Yang commented. “He seemed...off.”
Ruby nodded. “Almost like he wasn’t even there.”
“Maybe it was a test,” Sora looked down in thought. “Testing the strength of our hearts before the year even begins.”
Suddenly a male student popped up next to Weiss. “I’m a natural blond, you know?” He bragged in some attempt at flirting.
Weiss’ palm once again met her face. “Definitely should have stayed at Atlas.”