Note: My first concept for this story was drastically different from the project you're now reading. Originally, the story was supposed to take place from the perspective of Pyrrha.
The idea was that she would constantly be trying to contact Jaune, not realizing that she was actually dead, and each time she only succeeded in terrifying him. It was essentially an inverted ghost story. When this new idea started coming together, I ditched that whole concept pretty quickly, but I thought it would be interesting to bring up.
While I don't really know for sure, I'm pretty certain that concept has been done before. I mean... everything has been done multiple times over already, but that one seems like an especially obvious idea.
Who knows, maybe I'll turn that into a future project later on, but I doubt it.
Floor 1
Jaune jumped at every creek and moan the old building made. He kept checking over his shoulder to reassure himself that he was not being followed by whoever was peeping on him in the restroom. Of course, there was nothing going on aside from his own paranoia.
He had reached a point where he was beginning to wish a Grimm or Cinder Fall would jump out at him. At least it was better than this constant feeling of dread brought onto him by the mere fact that aside from that creeper in the bathroom and that enigmatic receptionist, there was no one around.
Despite his growing apprehension, Jaune crept past each and every floor. He kept his eyes away from the narrow window built into each door as the last thing he wanted to do was scare himself even more by looking down those dark corridors.
As he reached the fifth floor, however, his temptation got the better of him. He stopped and looked through the door's window. There was only a couple of lights on in the hallway ahead that dotted the path. Everything else was cast in shadow.
Doors lined the walls, all but one were shut. Jaune gulped at the sight of one apartment door that upon further examination, appeared to just barely be cracked open. It was far too dark for him to see if anyone was actually peeping at him. For the sake of his own sanity, he assumed it to be vacant and decided to move on.
He backed away until he nearly tripped on the first step leading up to the sixth floor. He twirled around and started up the next flight of stairs only to stop in his tracks in response to a faint but audible sound. It came from somewhere behind him. It sounded like a thud or perhaps a door being slammed shut.
Jaune slowly turned and approached the window once more. The first thing to catch his attention was that the door just down the hall had been closed.
Without thinking, Jaune full on sprinted up the stairs. He did not care how much noise he made so long as he got to Room 666 without any more weird events unfolding then it no longer mattered to him.
Jaune wanted to scream when he reached the top floor. Not out of fear, but sheer frustration. All of that tension and build up as he braved his way up to the ninth floor only to find it locked.
At first, he thought the door was jammed as he had never heard of an apartment complex that would actually lock its denizens on their respective floors. Surely enough, he noticed a keyhole just above the doorknob.
"Come on," he exclaimed. His voice produced an unnerving echo in the stairwell. "Pyrrha! Can you hear me!? It's Jaune!"
Jaune's screams for attention grew louder when he managed to spot Room 666 through the window. Unlike the other floors, the ninth level appeared to be one single corridor. There was a sole flickering light on at the very end of the hall illuminating a marked door. The numbers on the door practically glowed, allowing Jaune to see them even from such a great distance. They taunted him.
"Hey! Open up!"
Jaune was about to continue his yelling when he heard an unfamiliar male voice quietly speaking out just down the stairs. Even over his own shouting, he was able to hear it. He froze in place and fell quiet the moment he heard it.
"What's all this yelling about?"
Jaune slowly turned his head and peered down the flight of steps just below him. Surely enough, he was not alone.
A tall man in a black cloak stood down there, staring right back up at him. He wore a bizarre black hat that looked like something he would find on the stereotypical witch. The most striking feature about the man, however, was his face.
The stranger wore a mask. A detail that surprised Jaune has he somehow did not notice it right away. The mask looked to be made of leather. It was not traditionally colored, though. In fact, Jaune found himself pondering about what sort of animal he acquired the material from as it did appear to be rather exotic.
The mask itself was nothing short of horrifying to behold. While the sewing of the leather was expertly done, the mouth area was what drew most of Jaune's attention. The lips of the mask had been curved upward to form an impossibly wide smile. Two staples, one on either cheek, held that wicked smile in place for all eternity.
A confrontation was the absolute last thing Jaune wanted to deal with especially when it involved this oddball. He gulped and despite his own fear, Jaune was able to formulate a coherent apology.
"Sorry," Jaune said, flinching as he spoke. "It's just, this door is locked but there's someone on the other side that I need to see as soon as possible. You wouldn't happen to have a key would you?"
"I get it," the stranger stated calmly. "Just try to keep it down because people are trying to sleep. If it's a key you seek then talk to Julia."
"Sorry about that," Jaune repeated once more. "I'll go do that then."
Just as Jaune was about to back away from the guardrail that kept him from falling over the edge of the stairs, the stranger spoke out to him again.
"By the way, I've never seen you around here before. Who are you?"
"My name's Jaune. Nice to meet you… uh..."
"Lux. My name is Lux. Oh, and come to think of it. I have seen you once before."
Jaune stood there, frozen in anticipation. He was almost certain they had never met before, but he was intrigued.
"Back in the restroom," Lux informed before abruptly turning away and walking back down the stairs.
Before Jaune could say anything, he heard the loud sound of what he assumed was the door to the eight floor being shut. A lone clicking sound indicated it had also been locked.
Jaune immediately ran back down the stairs. He skipped the door to the eight floor for fear of running into that strange man again, but every following floor, Jaune tested the locks.
Apart from the door leading to the lobby, all of them were locked.
Jaune reached the lobby and sprinted over to the front desk. Julia did not bother looking up at him regardless of how much noise he made. After realizing that he would probably be waiting for an eternity just to get her to look up from her book, he spoke out.
"The door is locked! I can't access the ninth floor! You got a key right?"
To Jaune's horror, she calmly shook her head.
"What do you mean," Jaune shouted. "You just lock them in at night!? Why do those doors even have locks!?"
Julia lifted up her right hand, revealing a long, rusty key in her palm. Jaune immediately swiped it out of her hand and examined it without saying a word.
"There's the key to the first floor," Julia finally spoke up. "If you want to access the ninth floor, then you need to find the key which will be on the eight floor. If you want to find the key to the eight floor then you'll need to search through the seventh floor, and so on and so forth."
"What kinda system is that," Jaune asked in a frustrated yell. "Why can't you just use a skeleton key or better yet, just leave the doors unlocked!?"
Julia rolled her glazed eyes at him. She looked at him as if he were a common household pest. Not exactly the best customer service he had experienced in his life.
"Did you think it would be so easy," she coldly asked. "You make the effort to show up in that fancy armor of yours and you honestly thought you could just waltz your way up to the top floor, sweep the fair maiden off her feet, and be out the door before dinner? Sorry to say but it won't be that easy."
Jaune glared at the ghostly woman. His eyes darted toward the key in his hand. He let out a defeated sigh, knowing this was going to be all the help he would get. Just when he was about to turn around and walk off, Julia's voice stopped him in his tracks.
"I'll give you one more hint," she said quietly. "You see those doors over there?"
The receptionist then pointed toward the set of double doors on the opposite side of the lobby. The only doors he currently knew of that was would lead back to the outside world, and likewise, back home.
"Those doors are always unlocked."
After making his way back to the stairwell, Jaune breathed in heavily as he leaned his back against the door and slid down to the ground. He was almost positive that she was up there. He stared longingly up the winding staircases.
If not her, then there was something worth finding. He still wondered if whatever was up there in Room 666 was worth all of this trouble and potential danger. Just about everyone he spoke to on the matter insisted that pursuing such a suspicious letter was not the best of ideas. Jaune recalled the oddly passionate reaction Lie Ren gave after reading that demented parchment. That stuck with him far more than Ruby's attempt to go with him.
Right on queue, Jaune jumped at the sensation of his phone vibrating in his pocket. He figured out what was going on and groaned to himself. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone only to find a message had been sent to him. He read the caller ID, Ruby, and opened the message.
"Where are you!? We've been worried sick! Don't tell me you went there alone! Give me the address and we'll be over there to back you up!"
With a tinge of guilt, Jaune wrote out his own response. He could not quite figure out his own reasoning for not informing anyone else, but he felt compelled to leave the others out of it.
"Don't worry. I'm just out with some friends. I threw the letter away. It's cool."
The second it was sent, he received a response. He was amazed at her ability to type back. He wondered how she even had time to read his brief reply before sending that new message.
"No offense, but your small group of friends are all in the room with me. Don't lie to me. Just give me the address or get the hell out!"
Before turning off his phone, Jaune texted one final message to her. "Sorry, but I'm not leaving without her."
He then promptly switched off his phone and shoved it back in his pocket. Jaune then stood up and glinted toward the suspicious door that led down to the basement.
"Well, it could be worse, I guess," he told himself. "I could be going down there."
Jaune then mustered up all his courage and then headed up the stairs, away from that creepy basement.
He reached the first floor and after peeking through the door's window to make sure nothing was preparing to jump out at him, he inserted the key into the hole and unlocked the door. Slowly, he pushed the door open. It produced an eerie and unnecessarily loud creaking sound. He cringed in response.
"Spooky," he told himself as he slipped inside.
He tried to leave the door open just to keep from making any more noise than he already had, but the thing swung shut anyway. Jaune nearly jumped out of his skin when the door slammed back into place.
Jaune scanned the halls around him. There was no one in sight and he wanted to keep it that way. Quietly, he tiptoed down the corridor leading straight ahead as the hall to his right was a bit too dark for his liking.
Every creek under his feet sent chills down Jaune's spine. It seemed nothing he did was successful in minimizing noise. Jaune assumed it to be paranoia, the few times he saw something move out of the corner of his eye or a shadow dance just as his gaze shifted toward a new direction
Upon reaching the end of the hall, Jaune was forced to make a tough decision. The hall diverted into two paths, one leading to his right and the other to his left.
Cautiously, he stopped just before stepping out into the opening beyond. Jaune did not dare keep walking when he had no idea what could be lurking right around either of those two corners.
His heart began to pound as he carefully checked his corners. He poked his head out and looked to the left but there was no one down that way. Jaune then turned to his right and immediately let out a scream.
Not but two feet away from him stood a tall figure in a hat, most likely male, who was dressed in black. He stood like a statue in front of an apartment door before Jaune started bellowing. The man carried a lever-action rifle in one hand which only made Jaune feel even more threatened.
Ironically, the stranger let out a scream of his own and twirled around to face Jaune which only caused Jaune to scream louder. That, in turn, caused the man to scream louder as well.
A literal screaming match.
Jaune was horrified by the person's face, or rather, his lack thereof. The individual standing before Jaune had no skin on his head. Jaune found himself staring at an animated skeleton. The person had no flesh nor any organs. Only bone.
Jaune completely lost his balance and stumbled to the ground. Eventually, he stopped screaming. The skeleton was pretty quick to stop shouting as well.
"Good heavens, boy," the skeleton stated in a male tone, only confirming Jaune's initial assumption. The skeleton sounded as if he were out of breath despite not having any lungs to speak of. "You scared the daylights out of me!"
Jaune looked as if he were offended by that statement. "I scared you," he asked in disbelief.
"Kid, you came out of nowhere and started screaming like a lunatic for no apparent reason," the skeleton reminded him. "I'd say that would be enough to give an old man, the heebie-jeebies. Er… not that I'm old or anything!"
Jaune was speechless. He had no idea where to even begin with this situation. His first question had to do with the man's missing flesh but he was far too shaken up to ask.
"I… uh… um… uh..."
His many attempts to say anything all ended in failure.
The skeleton ignored his awkwardness, although, he did seem rather interested in Jaune which probably was not a good thing. The skeleton tilted his skull curiously and spoke out once more.
"Well, you don't look quite dead yet. On the contrary! You look alive to me. What brings you here?"
"I'm looking for someone," Jaune stated.
Suddenly, something clicked. He recalled the lifeless look Julia had in her eyes and her pale complexion. It looked as if she were going through early stages of necrosis. He then remembered the strange man on the stairs, Lux who also did not look quite right.
He stared up at the skeleton. Jaune's brain finally managed to process the fact that this person was not in costume. He was talking to a dead man.
"Wha… where am I?"
The skeleton held out a helping hand for Jaune without saying a word. Hesitantly, Jaune took up the offer and with the skeleton's help, he hoisted himself back onto his feet.
"Name's Morgan! And yours?"
"Jaune."
"Welcome to the neighborhood, Jaune," Morgan politely stated. His tone suddenly darkened after that warm introduction. "So, you're searching for someone else, eh? I should have guessed. There's a heavy cloud of grief looming over your head. Such a thing shouldn't be the case for someone as young as you. Who is this person? Perhaps I can point you in the right direction."
Jaune slowly shook his head. He had to fight back a few tears as he mustered his reply. "I already know where she is. The woman in the lobby told me she was on the top floor. Now, I'm just trying to get to her."
"Already become acquainted with Julia then, have you? Bless her little heart even if she doesn't always like to show that she has one. So, how did you find this place, Jaune?"
The question caught Jaune off guard for whatever reason. He wiped his eyes which had become habit anytime Pyrrha's face crossed his mind. He had mentioned her several times and done just fine up until now. He could not help but wonder why he was only just starting to break down.
"My friend. She sent me a letter telling me to come here. She gave me the address and everything. I thought it was a trap at first, but Julia told me she's here. If that's true then I can't leave without her."
"And this woman just so happens to be on the top floor," said Morgan. Jaune genuinely could not figure out if it actually was a question or a conclusion given Morgan's bizarre tone, but he nodded regardless.
"That's going to make things very difficult for you, kid. I should warn you that not all of my neighbors are particularly sociable. Some of whom are downright deadly, no pun intended of course. Honestly, if your friend was asking you to come here of all places then I wouldn't really call them a friend."
Jaune ignored that last remark. He was still only barely keeping himself together. Between the haunting memory of Pyrrha and the undead man standing before him, he most certainly had a lot to think about.
"Wait a minute," Jaune asked desperately. "You're still not explaining anything to me. Where is here!?"
Morgan pondered his question for a moment. However, it did not take long for him to collect his thoughts and say something.
"That's a bit complicated, especially for a mortal such as yourself. I tell you what, though. I was actually on my way out for a little late night hunting in the woods out back. I also accidentally left my key back at the deer stand. The same key that will get you to the second floor. If you want, you can come with me and we can talk on the way. Otherwise, you can wait here until I get back but I'll probably be gone for awhile."
While nervous about the offer, the thought of already obtaining another key so soon was appealing to Jaune. He covertly touched his blade which was still sheathed at his side.
It gave him all the confidence he needed to simply nod his head.
