Nervous hands worked their way around the keyboard in front of their owner. With every tick that came with fingers pressing down on the cases, her heart started pumping just a bit faster. She had done this many a times before, but no matter how experienced she was with what she was about to do, she couldn't help but feel a little excited. Tonight she would not only record her misadventures through her gaming venture, but she would do it live.
While the page of the livestream loaded, she made the last arrangements that needed to be done. Her headset had been planted on her head a long time ago, while the microphone was neatly placed in front of her mouth. There was no need for herself or her watchers to miss out on the action. The only thing that was left to do now, was to click on her game of choice and then start livestreaming.
After the game loaded, she decided it was time for action. This day – or night actually – couldn't be avoided, but she had to give herself credit for being able to postpone it until now. Tonight, however, was the night things were certainly gonna change. And she wasn't sure if it was gonna change in a good way. With a heavy sigh she decided to head butt the issue and finally started on her task at hand.
"Why hello and good evening to all you RWBYers out there! My name is Ruby Rose and I will be your host for tonight!" she greeted her viewers enthusiastically. There were a lot of them already visiting her livestream and she hadn't even started playing. Never had she thought their channel would grow as big as it was now. Who knew people thought they were funny? Especially Weiss. Good ol' uptight Weiss let go whenever she played a game and recorded it for her viewers.
Being well known also meant playing games the players suggested and since Ruby's department was filled with horror games, she was forced to play this one game she dreaded to play ever since it was released. Of course every horror game meant no good to the seventeen-year-old, but people wanted to see others freak out in order to not feel bad for freaking out themselves and Ruby was willing to sacrifice herself for their entertainment.
Besides, this was fun. Right?
"A lot of you wanted me to play Slender: The Eight Pages and to be honest, I don't really wanna play it, but since you guys insisted on it… I'm ready to sacrifice another one of my pants." She could read a lot of the comments she was receiving on just welcoming her viewers and starting up, but she decided to not get distracted any longer. "Many people have already played this and I don't see why you want me to still do it… But your wish is my command. I know a lot about good ol' Slendy, been doin' my homework lately, but I haven't played the game yet."
Her mouse now hovered over the start button. The only thing she needed to do was click on it and then let go, yet her mind screamed not to do it. Her heart already throbbed in her throat and she hadn't even tasted the action. Yet. "Wish me luck," Ruby squeaked right before she finally found the courage to begin.
The screen faded into nothing but black, but not a second after there was sound – indicating that the game hadn't froze, much to Ruby's dismay. It was the sound of footsteps and crickets that filled her ears. Sounds she couldn't escape, because she was wearing a headset. Everyone would tell you it was to grasp a real experience, but the girl was doubting if she really wanted that.
"Okay… So far so good," she whispered into the microphone. The black faded and soon, a scenery was seen on the screen. Several trees surrounded her and she could see the sandy path that led straight ahead. Grassy patches were seen next to the path, but Ruby couldn't see very much of it due to the fact of the dark atmosphere the game had. Much like other horror games it was very dark, but at least she was granted a flashlight at the beginning of the game.
"I was told to stay on the path," she breathed, knowing the advice and the path itself had a purpose. "So that's what I'm gonna do."
With the flashlight still burning bright, she kept going forward and occasionally glanced back to see if something was behind her. Many people in the chat warned her to not look behind and stay focused on the things ahead, but of course she wouldn't listen.
She was a teenager. It was only natural for her to be stubborn and do what she wanted.
The one moment Ruby relaxed, she saw a big tree standing in the middle of the road. It was probably three times the size those regular trees had and if her research taught her something it was that unusual looking things held a note.
"Guys!" she gasped. "I think I found a note!" Ruby firmly pressed the w key and shift at the same time, making her character sprint towards her destination. The downside of the sprint function, however, was the fact that the camera would look down whenever you started running. Ruby didn't understand why it was programmed that way, but decided not to whine about it and just play. She wouldn't do a better job at it anyway.
Once she reached the tree, she immediately clicked the little sheet of paper attached to it. It appeared on her screen once again, this time bigger than it was just now, covering almost the entirety of her vision. Something was sloppily scribbled on it and in between the few words that were on it, a small circle with two crosses in it was drawn.
"Always watches," Ruby muttered as she read the note. "No eyes." A shiver ran along her spine.
"How can he see when he has no eyes? I don't understand the functionality of this creature!" she exclaimed as she turned away and proceeded to run towards a random direction. After all, the given advice was to not stand by idly whenever you were in possession of notes. "I've got a note though. This means he spawns right? Now it's getting real."
Ruby twisted and turned many times, desperately searching for the remaining seven notes. She wanted this to be over and was hoping to not encounter the enemy of this game. Somewhere she just knew that would mean game over, even if she had the time to escape. She was not going to risk that.
"I SEE A NOTE, I SEE A NOTE!"
Immediately running up to it and swiftly clicking away, she managed to grab the second note in the game. This one simply said 'leave me alone' and had a black figure next to the words. "Leave me alone? How about you leave me alone. I'm just here to… To clean up nature! You're the one who's ruining it with attaching pieces of paper to trees!"
The next ten minutes the seventeen-year-old spent wandering aimlessly, muttering to herself and her audience but not finding anymore notes. Until the gods heard her silent prayers and gave her access to the house. "Nnnnoooot so sure if this is what I was hoping for," Ruby mumbled, slowly making her way to one of the open spaces. There was no way this was going to end well, was there?
Carefully approaching it and eventually walking through it, she eyed every corner of the screen suspiciously. "Slender still has to show his face," she commented, paused, and laughed. "Not that he has one," she added. Quickly turning around the corner, she inhaled sharply and backed away from the screen, only to laugh nervously and embarrassed afterwards. "Just a chair. Nothing to worry about."
This game was scarier than she had initially thought. She had to take a moment to recover from a jumpscare a chair had initiated. Yang would have laughed straight in her face if she had been here to see that.
Once she thought she was okay again, she decided to walk further inside the house, but before she could do that her screen started flicking as if someone held a magnet against it and the sound suddenly increased too. Ruby couldn't exactly describe what she heard, but it was loud and almost made her jump out of her skin. The screen once again switched and the well-known no-faced man became visible.
Not that the girl noticed any longer, since she already threw off her headset and screamed aloud. "WHAT IN THE NAME OF– OH GOD N– SWEET PIECE OF–"
Not long after somebody burst into the room, almost knocking the door out of place. Yellow hair swiftly moved around as their owner looked around the occupied space. "What what WHAT?" the newcomer yelled. "WHAT HAPPENED?" Purple eyes locked with silver ones as the two girls finally looked at each other. "EXPLANATION PLEASE?"
"I was– Well I– They wanted me to play Slender and–" Ruby tried finding the right words, but only managed to speak a few before switching to a new explanation, desperately trying to tell the tale of her short and scary adventure. Her sister, however, already understood what she had meant, especially after hearing the name of a famous faceless guy.
Yang tried to contain her laughter. "Pffft. Don't tell me you were scared," she said, walking towards her little sister and the computer. Ruby eyed her angrily. "So what if I was?" she spat. "Like you wouldn't be."
A chuckle was the only reply she received, before the blonde shooed her away with a hand. Ruby complied and let her sister take her seat, giving her the headset and smirking to her older sister. She knew Yang wanted to play in order to show her there was nothing scary about the game, but she also knew how it would end. This usually happened and if this went the same as all those times before, then Ruby was in for quite the show.
"Oh," she muttered as she remembered something important. "I was also kind of livestreaming, so…"
Yang nodded, placing the headset on top of her head and getting into a comfortable position on the chair. "Waddup homies," she said into the microphone now in front of her lips. "Heard Ruby was scared shitless so I'm gonna show how it's really done."
"Language," Ruby merely commented on her sisters speech. She was already used to the big talk and since she could have her revenge soon enough, she just let it slip by. Just this once.
"Whatever," Yang responded and clicked away. Soon after the start credits were shown and the game started. "Eight pages, right?" she asked, although she didn't really need an answer. Much like her baby sister, she hadn't really played Slender up until now, but she had seen videos of people playing it.
Instead of wandering around aimlessly like Ruby had done, Yang immediately ran towards a direction and found her first note. She didn't even care what was scribbled on it, as she clicked it right away from her vision when she collected it. Moving fast towards her next destination she grinned widely, because she heard the groan coming from her little sister even though she was wearing the headset. "Easy peasy. Can't believe you had trouble with this, sis."
Standing behind her older sister, Ruby remained silent. No matter how great Yang was at this game, she just knew her sister wasn't going to make it until the end. Not without encountering Slenderman, at least. That was the moment she was waiting for. Sadly, Ruby had to watch how the blonde picked up a second note and soon after found the third note without any trouble at all. Was this even real? Yang even stayed calm; that Ruby could deduce from the way she chatted with the livestreamers.
"See? There's nothing scary about this game," the blonde said as she picked up her fourth note. This time, however, she lifted her hands from the keyboard and mouse, as she turned around to eye the girl standing awkwardly behind her.
"What are you doing?" Ruby yelled as soon as she noticed. "You're still in- game!"
"Oh jeez, lighten up a little. Nothing's gonna happen." Yang rolled her violet eyes and turned her attention back to the computer screen. The second she did so, the screen started to shake and an inhuman sound filled her ears. Slenderman soon filled the screen to show it was a game over.
The older girl didn't take it lightly, because she screamed and instinctively punched forward, effectively smashing her hand through the object what was once known as a computer screen.
Ruby, whom first laughed at her sister, soon gasped in horror as she saw what happened to her personal purchase. "Yang!" she yelled. "Are you kidding me?! I bought that from my own money! You don't see me punching your stuff!"
"Sorry! It just… Caught me off guard!"
"I'll catch you off guard!"
Without warning, the seventeen-year-old launched forward and grabbed her sister in a hold. Yang let herself and Ruby fall to the ground, where they continued wrestling until another individual dared themselves into the room. Both girls didn't need to look up to check who it was, since the groggy voice already said enough.
"What is going on here? What is all this ruckus about?!"
The two of them stopped mid-action, Yang now being on top of Ruby and holding her down with one arm, the other one resting on the floor next to her baby sisters head. She looked over her shoulder to see Weiss standing in the door opening, her arms folded over each other and her stare as cold as ice. As always.
Ruby also peeked over Yang's shoulder to see the newcomer, but had more trouble doing so. "Yang decided it was a fun idea to smack my computer," she groaned, trying her best to push the girl off of her. "Getoffofmeyou'reheavy," she huffed. The blonde placed more weight onto her, making Ruby regret her comment.
"You did what?" Weiss asked, ignoring the silent pleads of her friend.
"Oh, like you're one to talk," Yang replied, shrugging. She loosened her grip on the girl underneath her, who took the opportunity to quickly make her escape.
"Excuse me?" Weiss frowned, letting her arms now loosely hang next to her body, but her glare still as cold as ever. She walked further into the room, her blue eyes still focused on the blonde on the ground. She had no idea where Yang was going with this, but knowing her, it was not something she was fond of remembering.
"You set it on fire once, remember?" A smirk now gracing her lips, Yang eyed Weiss with a victorious look on her face. Shots fired.
Weiss wasn't going to give in just yet, because she had a perfect explanation and a legit reason why the computer had lit on fire that evening. It wasn't specifically her fault that it had happened – she was there at the wrong moment.
"I do remember, but no. I didn't set it on fire. I didn't even trigger the fire. The computer exploded, alright?" she shot back. "Those things aren't normal, but they do happen."
Of course Yang wouldn't be the annoying little – who exactly isn't that little at all – brat she was if she let Weiss win this argument. Immediately after the other girl had defended herself, she had new accusations at the ready, giving the heiress a hard time to hold herself together. Ruby just stared at the two girls in silence and finally stood up after two minutes to retreat out of the room. It was her room, but she didn't want to waste any more time listening to their bickering and just left them there. Maybe Blake wanted to play a Smash Bros. match with her.
A/N: Oh man, I've been busy with this for a couple of days. I don't know what it was, but I had a hard time writing this. Not because I didn't like the idea, obviously. I have no idea why to be honest. Anyway, this one idea popped into my brain a particular evening and when I discussed it with a friend, it became an even bigger idea, so I just HAD to write this.
I hope I did well with the grammar and stuff. I don't have a BETA or someone who wants to double check this for me, so reading it over three times is all I can do for y'all. I MIGHT continue writing on this if I get more ideas, so if you want to read more of this 'AU' then please suggest some! Tell me what you'd like to see and I'll see what I can do n_n Until then I'll treat it as a one shot for now.
Also, for the people who want it; I have a Tumblr! It's .com~