Chapter 1: Piggy

She didn't know where she was. She had once known, but she was rapidly forgetting. What was she forgetting? Was it important? What even was her name? She couldn't wrap her mind around any given concept that she knew she should have known. Everything she had learned was disappearing at a rapid, exponential pace that she didn't think was possible. To make it worse, her vision was blurry as she staggered down a long hallway, frequently leaning against the walls for support when her legs tried to fail her.

Panting heavily as she shuffled along down the hall that only seemed to be getting longer, a myriad of jumbled thoughts reverberated throughout her mind. Nothing's turning out the way I planned, said one such thought. What does that even mean? Nothing can stop me now! What is going on? I don't care anymore! What did these thoughts mean? Were they her own thoughts? Were they fragmented memories? Were they echoes of who she had been before now? None of it made any sense to her, and at that moment she sincerely doubted any of it would ever make sense. She felt like she couldn't even trust herself. Why? What was going on?

For every time she faltered in her steps, she leaned against the wall and forced herself to straighten up before she continued to walk forward through the haze that was her vision. Were there even any lights on in this hall? Or was that moonlight that gleamed and illuminated the hall? She could barely see, or think for that matter, so she couldn't properly answer that question. Once more she staggered and she reached out to catch herself on the right hand wall. Unexpectedly, the "wall" swung inward, revealing itself to actually be a heavy wooden door. The sudden lack of support forced her to fall into the room that the door lead to. Crawling and unable to force herself to stand back up, she made her way deeper into the room before she kicked the door shut. Gotta hide! she thought. Why? Why did she need to hide? She didn't even know what she was running from, or she even was running from anything.

The door shut with a loud blam as her foot forced it shut, and she made her way to the center of the room where she ultimately stopped crawling. She felt ill at her stomach like she was going to vomit. Gagging a couple of times, she managed to put her stomach under control and she avoided that disgusting outcome, though barely. Breathing heavily, she tried to force her eyes to remain open. Her lids grew heavy, however, and she soon found herself embracing a darkness that she could only assume was akin to death, or something similar at the very least. It may have been a very powerful sleep that she was falling into, but her mind simply couldn't process that concept at the moment. Growing still and lying on her stomach, her head slumped over as she lost consciousness. I don't think I'll be coming back.

Ruby's eyes slowly opened as she woke up. Taking in her surroundings, she felt a wave of confusion and nausea wash over her before she placed her hands on the ground to push herself off from her stomach. "W-wha?" she asked aloud. Her head throbbed, aching painfully as though she had been clubbed. Looking around, she found herself in the center of what appeared to be and old study; she had been laying on a cold, pale, stone floor that was decorated only with a single red rug. Behind her was a heavy oaken door with an older style latch, like it was built in the early 1800's, and on her left was a old stained glass window that was tinted with many colors; a pale moonlight seeped through the glass. To her right was a wall covered entirely in dust bookshelves, and directly in front of her was what appeared to be a centuries old solid wood desk; an unlit candle, a stack of papers, and an inkwell rested upon it. A grandfather clock that read as Eleven O'clock rested beside the desk.

Standing up, she staggered briefly as the blood drained to the rest of her body after lying on the floor for what must have been hours. Her joints cried out in irritation from their apparent stiffness, and every move she made forced the spaces between her bones to pop loudly. Glancing around herself, she looked for something, anything she recognized. She honestly had no clue where she was or how she got here. Approaching the desk, barely able to see in the moonlight, she sat down in the chair and search the main drawer for anything helpful. Luckily, she found a box of matches that was only half empty. Striking one of them, she lit the candle to better illuminate the room.

The walls were a similar cold, grey stone as the floor and were barren of any real decoration, say for the tattered curtains on the window. Ruby sat still in the chair for a few minutes, uncertain of what to do. Where am I? she asked herself mentally. Standing up to stretch her legs, she casually stuck her hands into her skirt's pockets. She was surprised to feel a piece of paper in her left pocket. That's odd. I don't usually carry things in my pockets...do I? Pulling it out, she saw that it was an old, yellowish paper. Returning to the desk, she unfolded the paper and read the note written on it by candlelight.

By the time you read this, you'll have forgotten where you are and how you got here. Hopefully. That's good if you have. That means the poison worked and you have no recollection of what transpired here over the last month. I'm sure you have lots of questions, but I am inclined to not give any answers. Trust me, you don't want the answers to any of your questions, no matter how curious you may be feeling about the matter.

What happened here was horrible beyond comprehension, and you're better off forgetting the whole thing. That's why I made the poison to begin with. Upon drinking it, you should have lost your memories. I'm sorry, but there's no way to erase memories with pinpoint accuracy. I only pray that you still have the memories that you cherish, and that you've only forgotten the bad. If that is not the case, then I do apologize. On the plus side, that means you can start fresh, and forget about this place completely.

I've done everything I can to help you, but now it's up to you. You need to get out of this place. Escape. Leave and never look back. It won't be easy. There are things in the shadows. Things that I'm not proud of, but they will be hunting you, just as they hunted me. If you're reading this, then that means that I'm safe for the moment. Hopefully you never meet me, or learn of the things that happened here.

Ketzerei Manor is massive, and is filled with mazes of halls and paths. Even I didn't fully explore it before I made the poison. It may take time for you to find an escape route, but if you retained any of your former brilliance, then I believe that if anyone can find a way out of this hell hole, it's you.

Good luck.

Your Past Self

-Ruby Rose

Her jaw dropped as she finished reading the note. I poisoned myself? she thought. Why would she do that? What was so bad that she wanted to forget everything? How much damage had the poison caused? Racking her brain for any memory of this place, this Ketzerei Manor, she was surprised the find that she could remember nothing about it. Her most recent memory was from when she and her friends had first put their dorm room together. Upon seeing how little space was left, they had haphazardly strung the beds up to make rudimentary bunk beds. How long ago was that? If her memory was correct, and there was plenty of evidence to support that it may, in fact, be wrong, she believed that the day in question happed at the beginning of her first semester, so it was sometime in August.

She shook her head quickly, pushing the topic from her mind. If there was anyone or anything that she could trust right now, it was herself. She may not know why she poisoned herself and forced her own mind into a state of amnesia, but one thing was certain.

The letter to herself seemed frantic.

To perform a quick experiment, Ruby found a quill in the desk and dipped it into the inkwell, signing her name next to the original signature on the note. Looking at her handiwork, she came to a definite conclusion; the handwriting was, in fact, the same. However, her more recent signature was crisper and cleaner from the casual pace of which she wrote. The rest looked like it had been hastily written on short notice. In all likelihood, she had probably just drank the poison when she wrote it. There was a sense of urgency behind the note, and clearly an element of fear. What was she so afraid of? Hopefully you never meet me, or learn of the things that happened here, it had said. Ruby decided to trust her former self, even if she didn't understand her own motives. She clearly wanted to escape from this place. Whatever happened here must have been terrible.

Folding the paper up and returning it to her pocket, Ruby picked up the candlestick and retrieved the match box; she didn't know if she'd need more or not, but it wouldn't hurt to have them on hand. Turning, she approached the door and reached for the old iron door knob.

And she froze in place.

Something felt ominous about the door. Maybe it wasn't the door itself, but rather what may be on the other side. There are things in the shadows, the note read. She didn't know what it meant, but she didn't like the sound of it. Surely she was being paranoid; she'd been in this room presumably for hours and nothing had come or gone in that time that she knew of. So, she assumed that the other side of this door must be safe. Yet, she couldn't quite convince herself. Taking a deep breath, Ruby pressed her ear against the door to see if she could hear anything.

Five seconds. Ten seconds. Twenty. Thirty. Nothing happened. That should mean it's safe. Right? She still couldn't prove it to herself. You're just being paranoid, she thought. Still, she felt the need to crouch and look under the crevice of the door. Barely a few centimeters off of the floor, she could barely see anything from the other side. She could see the light from what she assumed was another moonlit window in what might have been a hall or another room. It appeared safe enough.

Until she saw a shadow move slowly and deliberately across her field of vision. Her heart skipped a beat and she forced a hand over her own mouth to muffle her own gasp as she scrambled away from the door. What was that? she asked herself. It was too deliberate of a move for it to be anything inanimate. She tried to reason that maybe it was a curtain being gently blown by the wind of an open window, but in the death like silence she never once heard the wind. Glancing out of her own window, she could see a flag pole on the ground below barely poking into her field of view; the dark colored banner wasn't moving. No wind, she thought. That means no open window.

Maybe she could sneak out through the window. She realized that this plan was flawed as soon as she approached the multicolored stained glass. It wasn't the kind window that opened. Sure, she could break it, but upon further inspection she saw that she was several stories high with no clear way to climb down the building; this place may be called a manor, but it seemed more like a castle. Plus, the sound of breaking glass would surely alert whatever was in the hallway.

Ruby began to pace the room, frantically in thought. Think, Ruby, think! How can you get out? You don't have your weapon, so you can't fight anything. Did the note say anything about this? Pulling it back out, she reread it, scanning it for clues of any kind.

Ketzerei Manor is massive, and is filled with mazes of halls and paths. Even I didn't fully explore it before I made the poison.

It's massive, she echoed mentally. And it's filled with mazes of halls and paths. What does that mean? She pondered over the statement for what felt like an eternity, but the clock proved that mere minutes had passed. Paths...Paths... A click resonated within her mind. Paths! There must be secret paths! The rational part of her brain mocked her, saying The only creappy manors with secret passages are the ones in children's stories, but she refused to accept that possibility. She refused to remain trapped in this solitary room.

Her first suspicion was, of course, the book cases. Toying with every book she could touch, she tried pulling books out, putting them back, arranging them into different patterns, and even pulled every book off of one of the cases, but to no avail. She wanted to groan in frustration, but feared that whatever was outside of the room may still be lurking and listening. Half an hour had gone by, and she was exhausted. Sitting down at the desk, she held her head in her hands. How the hell am I gonna get out of here? Glancing to the right of the desk at the grandfather clock, she stared at the face and watched the seconds hand tick by, listening to the rhythmic tick tock tick tock of the pendulum.

A thought struck her at that moment as she let the hypnotic and peaceful sound wash over her. What if...what if it's the clock? Once again, the rational part of her brain ridiculed her, telling her that there is no easy solution to this predicament. The only way out is through the door behind you, it said.

Ignoring herself, she stood and approached the old clock, carefully and quietly opening the front to reveal the weighted pendulum and the gongs that signaled the passage of the hours. Everything looked as it should. She looked at the clock face and pried it open to reveal the gears that twisted and turned the hands to tell the time. Everything seemed to be in order here as well, until Ruby noticed something in the back of the clock. Is that a switch? she asked herself. Reaching for it, she grabbed hold and pulled with all her might, finding a surprising amount of resistance; it clearly hadn't been used in what must have been decades. After a moment, it made a sudden click as she succeded in flipping the switch.

The sound of larger gears turning reached her ears, and the clock slowly began to slide to the right, revealing a small hole in the wall that lead to hidden, narrow passage. Eat it, brain! she thought, mocking the side of herself that was originally mocking her. Picking up the candle stick, she slid her way into the passage and found another similar switch from within. With a fair amount of effort, she flipped it and was satisfied that the clock was sliding shut once more; she didn't want to risk being followed by...whatever was outside of the room.

The passage was long and snaky, as well as covered from top to bottom in dust and cobwebs; Ruby could only guess at how old this building must have been. After several minutes of squeezing herself through this narrow stone corridor which seemed to wind in a downward slope, she finally made it to what appeared to be a dead end. A switch on the wall, however, proved that to be false as she pulled it down and opened a panel in the wall. Exiting, the opening was under a set of stone stairs, and she found herself in what appeared to be a grand entrance hall.

Three large stone columns reached high to hold up the arched ceiling, and where a forth one should have been there was a pile of stone rubble; it had collapsed a long time ago. There was a large set of double doors directly in front of her, with two large stained glass windows on either side that began several feet over her head, and ended at the ceiling. She smiled. That was easier than I thought it'd be, she thought as she ran towards the doors and attempted to open them.

The doors were several feet taller than her, made of solid iron, and were locked shut. Unless she found the key or suddenly gained super strength, there was no way she was getting out from here. "Damn it," she muttered in frustration. Turning around, she saw several wooden doors all over the room, as well as a few doors at the top of the stone stair cases. She had no clue where she should go to start searching for a way out, and even the note in her pocket said that her past self didn't even know of every place in this building. How did she, a young girl suffering from amnesia, hope to find anything in this castle of a building?

The only way out is through, her brain echoed, repeating what she thought earlier. What did that mean?

A sudden headache came upon her, and she dropped to her knees in agony, unable to think straight. Suddenly her vision went dark, and a myriad of images came to her.

"Why did you ask us to come here, Mr. Ozpin?" she asked.

"Professor," he corrected. "Your team shares an interest in ideals. I figured we could work together on a project that has been in the works in my family for quite some time." He lead Ruby into the main entrance hall; grand though it was, it seemed as though it was in a state of disrepair to her. "Pardon the mess. I've been away for far too long. Welcome to Ketzerei Manor; the home of my ancestors."

"Wow!" Ruby exclaimed with a smile. "I had no idea your family was so well off! I mean, you run a school, so you must be rich, but I didn't know that it extended to your family."

Ozpin looked at her with sad eyes. "I'm afraid it doesn't I'm the last left in my family. I've done my best to maintain the estate, but with no one to help it's proven quite difficult." He flashed a quick smile. "But, we're here to turn that around. Not just for me and my family, but for yours as well. And miss Schnee's, and Miss Belladonna's. We're here to better the world, Miss Rose."

Ruby nodded. "I don't know about the girls, but I know I'm more than happy to help!"

"Thank you," he said to her. "The rest of your team should be on their way. They should join us in a day or two. For now, why don't I give you the tour? Let's start with..."

Ruby's vision returned, and she found herself in a cold sweat. A...a memory? Was the poison she drank not as effective as her past version had hoped? It didn't matter right now. She remembered that Ozpin had invited her and her team to this manor some time ago, but she still couldn't remember why. On top of that, she now had the first place in mind that she could search. "The main library," she muttered, looking to her left where the hall was that would lead her to the library. Turning on her heel, she started her trek across the estate to search for the key that would lead to her escape.

She paused momentarily, however, when she heard a blood curdling, bone chilling scream come from somewhere deep within the estate. She didn't know who it was or why they might be screaming, but of two things she was certain. The first being that it was very clearly a woman.

The second was that she sounded like she was in an immense amount of pain.

Author's Notes

Yay, I'm taking that dark turn again in my stories! Who wants a mysterious mystery of mysteriousness? I love detective stories, especially when lazed with horror! YAY FOR SCARY STORIES! And, as we all know, the best scary stories are full of unknowns. What's going on? Where are we? Why are we here? If the answers to those questions is "I don't know, but I don't like it" then we're on the right path.

So, as such, I'm borrowing from my all time favorite scary stories, be they in literature, movies, or video games. You may already recognize elements from Amnesia: The Dark Descent. It's not the only source of inspiration for this, but it's settings and themes are a heavy part of it. Many other horror stories will have their themes and aspects touched upon, but I probably won't talk about them, as they won't be as obvious as Amnesia. I only mention it because it's so obvious at the start.

Also, as usual, I've made a music playlist to listen to while I write this, and that playlist has influenced the flow and naming nomenclature of the story, from the stories title itself to the chapter titles. Every single chapter will be named after a Nine Inch Nails song, because there are few artists (at least in my personal iTunes library) that can hit such amazingly dark notes as Trent Reznor. As such, I'm not gonna bother telling you the song title or the artist, because the artist is obviously Nine Inch Nails, and the songs are the chapters.

Leave a review or PM me to let me know your thoughts so far. I greatly appreciate feedback so I can learn from my mistakes and know what I'm doing wrong. I also like to know what I'm doing right, so I can, you know, keep doing that.

Just remember: The only way out is through...and down.

Till next time.