Happy Holloween everyone! Yes that was a pun, and I feel no shame for saying it :) I wanted to thank you all for sticking with me for these last few months, and I decided that it was time for a break from the main story plot.
I thought that the last chapter was a good place to pause so I could write you all this Halloween special. I don't know if you would call this an Omake or not, but I'll let you all decide that. This special has NOTHING to do with the main story, and is purely for my own personal amusement. Plus, it's Halloween and this story is half Dark Souls so why wouldn't I write it?
Okay well it's time for the Halloween special. Enjoy everyone!
Mirror, Mirror
It was the annual Beacon dance. Where students and teachers were allowed a chance to unwind and get away from their daily lives of school and fighting the creatures of Grimm.
Most of the students had found dates to bring and were currently dancing and having the time of their lives on the dance floor. Sadly, not all of the students had secured themselves a date to bring to the dance.
Jaune Arc was one of those students.
His original plan to ask Weiss out had all but been cancelled when the esteemed heiress decided to ask Neptune instead. Jaune was heartbroken and didn't even know why he was here.
Standing alone at the punch bowl while holding a cup of punch and less actual dancing was a good way to describe it.
Jaune sighed to himself as he looked around the entire gym at all the happy faces and laughter. Despite not really enjoying the dance (at all), Jaune would admit that both Yang and Weiss did a fantastic job setting up the whole thing. The decorations were all well placed, the food looked both fancy and appetizing, and to top it all off the girls managed to combine both classical and rock music to keep the dance interesting.
As the blonde knight continued to observe the gym, he spotted his friend and fellow team leader Ruby. His jaw dropped when he saw that she actually had a date with her.
Not saying that she was ugly, infact she was really cute if Jaune was being honest, but the fact that Ruby was just really shy when it came to stuff like boys as far as he knew.
When Jaune looked at her date, his jaw fell even further as he saw that her date was none other than their new professor and friend Tyrell. He had a stunning dark grey suit on with a clean white undershirt along with a neatly fashioned black tie. He wore matching dark grey pants and brown shoes.
As Jaune continued to look at both his friends enjoying each other's company, he didn't notice the second figure walk up to him.
The figure tapped Jaune on his shoulder which seemingly brought him back out of his thoughts.
"Y-yes?" Jaune asked a little startled at how he hadn't notice the figure until now. The figure was male and wore almost the same exact attire as his friend/teacher, but instead of dark grey, the figure's tux was light grey, a black undershirt with a white tie along with light grey pants and black shoes instead. What caused Jaune to give the man a strange look was the fact that he wore what looked like a medieval knight's helmet on his head with the visor closed.
"Hey buddy, you look a little down over here by yourself. You seem to need a little happiness for tonight." The stranger said with a crisp Mexican accent.
Jaune was confused, and weirded out as well, and replied, "Umm no thanks. I'm perfectly happy with just standing here… by myself." Jaune finished in self pity, but the stranger didn't leave as he wrapped an arm around his shoulder like they were friends.
"Come on amigo! Why stand here and sulk all night, when you could be having the time of your life." The stranger said as he somehow took a drink of his punch without spilling it all over his tux. Jaune raised a brow as he was now starting to feel uncomfortable around this man.
"Again, no thanks. If you don't mind I think that I'll just walk over… there." Jaune said with no actual destination in mind. He just wanted to get away from this guy.
After maneuvering his way through the crowd of smiling faces, Jaune found himself seated in a lone stool in the corner right next to a nice potted plant. Once he was comfortable Jaune let his mind wonder a bit.
He didn't get far however, as the stranger literally popped up from inside the potted plant. "Amigo, please allow me to help you enjoy yourself this night. I knew how it felt to be alone, but after meeting him I never felt alone again and enjoyed my life."
Jaune wasn't sure what was stranger, the man who was acting like they were friends since they were children, or the fact that the same man popped out of the potted plant like he was the plant himself!
Also, why did his voice sound somewhat familiar?
Taking a sigh, one of annoyance, Jaune said, "Look, I appreciate… whatever it is that you're offering, but I'm really not in the mood for games tonight. Now please leave me alone." With that Jaune stood up from the stool and walked away from the potted man.
After making his way through the crowd again, Jaune found himself at a set of stairs that lead up to one of Beacon's many balconies. Deciding that he needed some fresh air, Jaune walked up the stairs.
…
When he reached the balcony, Jaune was thankful that it was empty. Walking over to the railed ledge, Jaune looked over Beacon's large campus. The lights that filled the larger towers and small street lamps lit up at night made Jaune feel like he was living in a fairy tale of sorts.
"Beautiful, isn't it?" A voice said to Jaune's right.
The blonde boy nearly had a heart attack at how this man seemingly appeared out of nowhere. His visor was pointed to Jaune as the blonde sent a glare at the man.
'How does he manage to sneak up on me without me noticing and, more importantly, how does this guy keep finding me?!' Jaune thought furiously as he grabbed his still fast beating heart.
"What do you want with me?!" Jaune shouted as he was tired of this man and his strange behavior. The man with the knight's helmet turned his head so that he was looking out over Beacon's campus just as Jaune had been just a moment ago.
After a few moments had passed, the man turned his visor back towards Jaune and said, "To make a friend happy."
"But I don't even know you!" Jaune shouted, but it was lower in volume compared to the previous one. The stranger shook his head as if disappointed before looking back at Jaune.
"We may not know each other by time, but we do through soul Jaune." The stranger said his name which caused Jaune to grow a little scarred of the situation as the stranger somehow acquired his name.
"First off, how do you know my name? And second, what does that even mean?" Jaune asked in a calmer voice than he had a few minutes ago.
"Neither matter as I have come tonight to relieve you of your sadness and loneliness Jaune Arc." The stranger said in a dramatic tone as he pointed his right index finger at Jaune as if accusing him of a crime.
"If I let you help me, will you go away?" Jaune asked, now tired of this strange man and night. He now just wanted to go back to his team's dorm room and go to bed.
"Of course my amigo!" The stranger said cheerily as he produced a cup of punch from his back pocket. Then, the stranger extended his hand containing the punch, and said, "Drink this punch, and all of your troubles will disappear."
Jaune took the cup of punch from the man and eyed it suspiciously, and not entirely trusting it. 'It could be a trap of sorts, or just punch.' Jaune thought as he continued to inspect the seemingly harmless liquid.
As if reading his thoughts the stranger said, "Do not worry, my friend, this drink is no ploy to drug you or anything else you might think of. It is simply the ticket to a night of fun and excitement. This I assure you." The stranger finished as he placed a gentle hand on Jaune's shoulder as the boy continued to inspect the cup.
'Trap or no trap, this has been the most exciting thing all night so far. Besides, I'm tired of this man's persistence and ninja abilities.' Jaune thought as he finished the cup of punch in one go.
Nothing.
Nothing occurred as Jaune looked at both the man in front of him and the now empty cup that he held in his hand. "Well, that was a little disappointing." Jaune said as he now just looked at the man with a blank stare.
The man said nothing, but Jaune had the feeling that he was smiling underneath that helmet of his.
"Before I go, what was your name?" Jaune asked as he tried to take a step away from the balcony, but found that he couldn't move his feet.
"That is not important now, my friend, just let the punch do its work." The stranger said in what sounded like a far away voice that Jaune had trouble hearing. His vision began to sway from side to side. Soon left became right, and up was down.
Jaune tried to focus on the stranger, but was having trouble when there were four of them swaying around. "Wh-what was i-in that pun-ch?" Jaune asked lazily as he too sounded far away and darkness began to enclose itself around his vision.
"Just a little something to help you… get the night going." The stranger said. Mexican accent gone and replaced with a much deeper, demonic like voice.
Jaune fell to his knees, but was gripping the railing of the balcony for support. He swung his head to look up at the stranger, but that was a feat on its own as his head felt incredibly heavy at the moment.
His cloths seemed to have changed, but Jaune couldn't describe them as he was almost unconscious. The same knight's helmet stayed atop the stranger's head with no visible changes, but if there were they were impossible for Jaune to see as his vision grew darker.
Grabbing onto the man's leg Jaune asked once more, "What's your name?" This time the stranger kneeled in closer to Jaune, who still held onto one leg. So close that their heads touched. The cold metal of the helmet gave Jaune a small chill down his spine.
Since Jaune couldn't see his face due to the helmet, it was hard to tell if the man was saying anything at all, but if he had Jaune didn't hear it as he drifted off into darkness.
…
The blond knight awoke to find himself safely in his own bed inside his team's dorm room.
"Who are you?!" Jaune screamed and bolted right up in bed as he remembered meeting the mysterious stranger that offered him a drink. He got no response however as there was no one currently inside the room save for himself.
"Guys?" Jaune called out to see if any of his teammates were just in the bathroom, or changing inside the walk-in closet. Still no response. This began to worry the young leader as he removed the covers off his form and got out of bed.
He was surprised to see that he was in his regular combat gear instead of his tux that he had been wearing at the dance. "Huh, that's strange. I could have sworn that I was wearing the tux Ren loaned to me when I met that guy at the dance."
Suddenly remembering the dance, Jaune exclaimed, "The dance! What time is it? What day is it?" The blonde knight quickly made his way over to the only window that the dorm room provided and removed the blinds that were drawn. "Huh?" Was all Jaune said as he looked out to a clear and beautiful night sky over Remnant.
'I guess that explains that someone must have found me after I lost consciousness and brought me back to my room, but that still leaves two more questions. How did I end up in my combat gear, and who brought me here?' Jaune continued his thoughts over what might have happened after the mysterious figure gave him that cup of punch.
After a few minutes had passed and not coming any closer as to what happened, Jaune decided to make his way out of his team's room and find someone to answer his questions.
After locking the door, Jaune went over to team RWBY's dorm room to see if anyone was home, and possibly shed some light on his current situation. Jaune knocked on the door a few times and waited.
No response.
He then tried again, this time a little louder, but was still met with the same result. "Girls? Hello? Ruby, Yang, Blake, Weiss. Anyone home?" After waiting in silence for a few more minutes, Jaune eventually gave up and decided to walk down the hallway.
Along the way he tried other team's rooms, but each and every one of them resulted in no response. Jaune was beginning to feel a little nervous at the lack of responses. 'Surely the dance should have ended by now. Right?' Jaune thought to when he looked out the window earlier, he couldn't see the moon and thought that it would be dawn within a few more hours.
He even checked the time on his Scroll and confirmed that it was almost two hours past midnight. When he saw the time displayed on his Scroll Jaune's nervousness began to turn itself into full on worry.
'Its past midnight?! Where is everyone?! Surely they would have ended the dance at eleven o'clock at the latest.' Jaune thought frantically as his walk soon turned into a small run as he ran through more and more hallways to find any signs of Human (or Faunus) life.
"Hello?! Is anyone there?" Jaune half-shouted as he continued his search through Beacon for his own team, team RWBY, or anyone for that matter. What felt like hours of searching turned out to only add up to fifteen minutes as he had almost explored all of Beacon.
The only places that he has yet to check was the Headmaster's office, the teacher's lounge, and… the gym where the dance had been held. Jaune face palmed at his own stupidity for not only avoiding the probably one and only place where everyone was sure to be located, but for also wasting all this time in a wild goose chase.
After taking a long sigh Jaune dragged his feet towards the gym, which was located on the opposite side of campus from where he was now.
When Jaune eventually arrived at the same hallway that lead to the gym's entrance (with sill no one in sight, believe him, he checked), the one he walked down before he met the stranger, Jaune was both excited and a little worried to still be hearing music coming from behind the closed doors.
It was a relatively short hallway and soon Jaune could see what appeared to be rave lights flashing from in-between the cracks that the doors couldn't cover. As he drew closer to the doors, Jaune could hear what sounded like singing coming from inside the room.
Since it was coming through closed doors, the voice was muffled and he couldn't make out the words very well. All he could hear were the words "Spooky," "Scary," and "-tons." The young leader only caught half of the last word, but he didn't care really as he was now determined to finally see if life lay behind those doors.
When Jaune arrived at the doors, he was happy to hear the sounds of cheering, dancing, and clinking? Taking a deep breath to prepare himself for some unknown reason, Jaune gripped both handles and pushed both doors open.
Jaune Arc was feeling multiple emotions at the sight that layed before his eyes. He felt confusion, surprised, sick, fear (and a lot of it), and the smallest sprinkle of happiness. He felt confused at the sight that was before him as well. He felt surprised at what the sight had to offer. He felt sick due to what the sight was doing to his stomach. He felt fear as every head in the room that was not his own turned towards his direction; even the music had stopped playing. Finally, he felt the tiniest bit of happiness, because he accomplished his goal of finding life behind the gym doors.
Sadly, the lives that were before him were also dead at the same time.
When Jaune had opened the door, he expected to find his friends, peers, and teachers all dancing at two in the morning for who knows what reason. What he didn't expect, was a room full of alive (reanimated?) skeletons. Alive skeletons that had all been dancing before they all looked at him as if he were a two-headed Grimm.
After having a nice starring contest with an entire room full of living bones, Jaune Arc did what could be called the craziest thing to do for one in his position. He talked to the room full of undead skeletons.
"Uhhh… hi?" Was all Jaune said to the now uncomfortably quite room. He wasn't sure whether to feel relief of more fear as one of them responded.
"Sup bro! Come on in and PAAARRRRTAAAYYY!" One random skeleton screamed as the music began to play again and the skeletons just went back to dancing as if a living teenager hadn't just come through the gym doors.
Jaune still felt scarred out of his mind, but still he felt the tiniest bit better that the skeletons didn't react in a negative way. Jaune looked around the gym and was surprised that the room remained practically the same when he saw it when there were humans and Faunus occupying the space.
The only differences were the people had been replaced by walking, talking skeletons, and a new DJ now controlled the music in the back of the room.
Jaune grew pale when he saw the hulking mass of bones that was currently operating the DJ system. It stood up higher than an Ursa on its hind legs and wore a long black coat that covered its entire hunched back, but showed the blonde knight its exposed front. Jaune had to squint his eyes a little to see that the new DJ's torso was made out of entire human skeletons.
Another terrifying feature that caused Jaune to pale further was the large curved blade that seemed to be acting as the DJ's right arm.
Jaune couldn't move from his spot as he was too stunned, and terrified, to move a single inch. "What was in that punch?" Jaune asked himself as he continued to overlook the scene that was displayed before him.
Skeletons covered the entire dance floor with all of them dancing like there was no tomorrow, a terrifying new DJ that looked like he could cut Jaune in two with his sword, and a song that was starting to become very annoying to the blonde knight as it not only did the lyrics describe what he was feeling, but he felt that the song kept on repeating itself.
"Spooky, scary skeletonssend shivers down your spineShrieking skulls will shock your soulSeal your doom tonight"
"This has to be a dream. This has to be a dream. Please let this be a dream." Jaune repeated multiple times as he thought that he was about to have a mental breakdown. That was until a cold liquid was splashed into his face. "Hey!" Jaune said as he looked to the one who splashed the water in his face.
Jaune immediately regretted it as he soon saw that it was one of the skeletons from the party, but this one seemed different. It wore a pink tropical t-shirt that just barely came below its loin area (but thankfully covering it) and wore what looked like a sombrero and a straw had made a love child. It also wore yellow sunglasses that covered its eyes. "You looked like you were about to have a breakdown there pal, so I decided to cool you off."
The voice sounded like it belonged to a male, and its voice sounded surprisingly human to Jaune, but he ignored that as he said, "Thanks I guess?" Jaune had to hide his cringe as the skeleton actually smiled. The molars of its jaw moved upwards and formed an actual smile, one that Jaune was having trouble looking at.
"No problem… what's your name?" The skeleton asked as he took a sip from the cup he was holding. Jaune's left eye twitched as he saw that some of the liquid stained the shirt, but from the inside of the skeleton.
"J-Jaune Arc." Jaune sputtered out as he looked at the floor before asking, "A-and y-yours?" 'Why am I so nervous? Oh yeah, there's a room full of the living dead and your talking to one right now you idiot.' Jaune thought to himself as the skeleton put a boney hand on Jaune's right shoulder. It chilled him to the bone.
"First off, you need to take a few deep breaths and calm down a little Jaune. Can you do that for me?" The still unnamed skeleton asked, and Jaune nodded as he did just that. It barely made him feel any better, but it seemed to be enough for the skeleton to give him his name. "The name's Frank. Nice to meet you Jaune Arc." Frank removed his hand from Jaune's shoulder and now extended it for Jaune to shake.
The young Arc hesitated at first but, reluctantly, took hold of Frank's boney hand and shook. Jaune almost couldn't contain his yelp as Frank's fingers closed around his hand like a death trap.
"So what brings you to the party Jaune?" Frank asked as he let go of the young boy's hand, much to Jaune's relief.
After taking another deep breath to control his nervousness a little more, Jaune replied, "I actually don't know why I'm here to be honest. I was in Beacon's gym during the dance when a stranger dressed in a suit and tie, and also wore a knight's helmet, walked up to me to offer a cup of punch. After pestering me for so long about it, I caved in and took a drink. Next thing I'm waking up and finding myself in an empty Beacon. After looking around and finding no one, I eventually came here and saw a room full of skeletons." Jaune wished that he hadn't used the word 'skeletons' so casually as Frank lowered his glasses to reveal his hollowed eye sockets as he looked at Jaune.
Jaune could actually feel Frank's 'eyes' piercing through him as if he actually had them in his head.
"Well… I can't really answer as to why you are here Jaune, but maybe the Ravelord can answer your questions." Frank said as he pushed his glasses back up and covered his 'eyes' once again.
"The… Ravelord?" Jaune said with uncertainty as he gave Frank a confused look. Frank nodded his head in confirmation as he informed Jaune of who the Ravelord is.
"You see the big ol pile of bones operating the DJ system? That's Ravelord Nito; he's the one that makes sure that the party never ends." Frank pointed to the large pile of skeletons that Jaune had seen earlier. He audibly gulped when he again saw the large sword arm on the Ravelord.
"Make sure the party never ends?" Jaune repeated what Frank said as he gave the tropical skeleton an odd look.
"Yup. You see Jaune, as long as Nito keeps on playing that song on the DJ system, the night never ends. So the party never stops!" Frank said the last part with another smile as he then poured the rest of his drink down into his awaiting mouth. This time Jaune did cringe when more splatters stained the inside of the shirt.
"Y-you think that he'll be able to answer my questions Frank?" Jaune asked with uncertainty as to what the Ravelord might know of his predicament.
"I can't say that he'll be able to answer all of your questions. Like how you're so terrible with woman, or how you have low self-esteem, probably not how you-" Frank didn't get to go on as Jaune shouted at the skeletons with a small blush on his face.
"How do you know that?!" Jaune demanded, but Frank's only response was laughter.
"Well now I do! Ohhh the look on your face Jaune. Come on, let's go meet the Ravelord." Frank grabbed onto Jaune's wrist and began to drag him through the dancing crowd of skeletons. Jaune was repeatedly shoved, poked in multiple places by random elbows from the movements of the dancers, and nearly tripped a few times, but both he and Frank made it to the Ravelord.
He was more terrifying up close. Now that Jaune was (unfortunalty) closer to the Ravelord, he could see even more of his horrific features. It looked as if he were made up of dozens of human skeletons, with only a few for show as the rest were hidden behind his black coat. Jaune observed that the coat itself was made out of what looked like Nevermore feathers and some type of black fur.
'Beowulf maybe?' The knight thought to himself as he continued to observe the Ravelord. Jaune noticed that each visible skull that made up the towering terror had glowing red eyes, but one skull stood out from the rest. It sat in the middle of where a head would have been and was at least four times larger than the other skulls. Another feature about said skull was the dark blue flames that glowed brightly inside the sockets.
Those flames seemed to be looking directly at the terrified knight as Frank motioned at the Ravelord. "Hey, Ravelord Nito! I got a human here who has a few questions for ya!"
The blue flames directed their gaze from Jaune for a few seconds as they looked in Frank's direction, but were soon back on the blonde knight as Jaune stiffened a bit. The flames quickly snuffed themselves out and were replaced by the glowing red ones just as the other skulls had. However, those blue flames returned to a skeleton located further down the body as its red eyes disappeared and were soon replaced with blue ones.
The smaller skeleton literally stepped out of the mass of bones and stepped out from underneath the great Ravelord, however, this one wore its own form of clothing just as Frank has.
The skeleton wore a black feathered coat just like the main body, but also held a cane with a grey (you guessed it) skull on the tip. Out of nowhere, the skeleton pulled out a top hat and placed it atop his head as he walked in front of the two.
"Enjoying the party Frank? Have you tried the soul screamers yet? I heard that Jeremy just created a fresh batch." Nito asked as he gestured over to where Jaune assumed a snack bar would be located, but that didn't matter as Jaune cleared his throat and looked over at Frank.
The tropical skeleton gave Jaune a surprised look, which was hard to tell from a skeleton's face, as if he just appeared out of nowhere. "Oh I completely forgot! Ravelord Nito, this is the human that I mentioned just a minute ago. His name is Jaune Arsh." Frank said as he pointed a boney finger at Jaune.
The young man tried to put on as confident a face as he could to try and be kind as he introduced himself to the Ravelord. 'Well dad, you always said that confidence worked on women. Let's see how it can work on the undead.' Jaune thought as he extended his right hand and said, "The names Jaune Arc, short, sweet, the ladies love it."
Nito gave Jaune a face that was hard to describe, especially on a face with no skin. It looked like a mixture between interest and something else. "Well it is a pleasure to meet you Jaune Arc. Now what brings a human like you here, to the land of the Dead?"
Jaune had trouble breathing at the name of where he was currently located. 'Is this the afterlife? Oh gods please don't let this be the afterlife! Please!' Jaune kept his stupid confident smile as he said, "Ummm… I was actually hoping that you would be able to answer that question for me." Jaune gave a nervous laugh after he finished talking, but it didn't help him in the least as he lowered his hand.
Nito brought up a puzzling finger under his chin as he thought about what might have caused Jaune's predicament. All three waited for what felt like eternity, until Nito snapped his boned fingers together with a look that shouted 'eureka!'
"I got nothing." Nito said bluntly as Jaune's face went from fake confident to real sadness. Anime tears strewn down his face like a waterfall as he fell to his knees and buried his head into his hands.
"I'm sorry?" Nito said as his skeletal face had a look of disgust as Jaune's tears began to pool around the boy and closer to both Frank and Nito. "Frank, why don't you take him back to his room? Once he's calmed down, he can come back to the party and enjoy himself."
The tropical skeleton nodded in agreement as he bent his knees and grabbed Jaune's left shoulder and said, "Come on Jaune, let's get you to bed pal."
Nito began to walk back towards his main body when Jaune murmured something. Curious, Nito turned around to face the once sobbing boy and said, "What did you say Jaune? I couldn't quite hear you."
"-said that's r…" Jaune mumbled as Nito now walked back to stand in front of the human yet again.
"I'm sorry Jaune; could you please repeat that for me?" Nito asked as he leaned in closer to better hear him. Jaune lifted his head a little more and spoke a little louder.
"I said that's real fuc...k…ng…N…" This time Nito caught more of the message, but again asked for the blonde knight to repeat himself one last time. Nito leaned so far close that both human and skeleton were mere inches away.
Jaune was tired of the whole night's events. How he had no date. Healous of his friends and their happiness. And really tired of that song that must have been on its fifth roll since he came into the gym. Jaune looked up with an angry look in his blue eyes as he looked into Nito's burning blue ones.
"I said that's real fucking NITO!" Jaune shouted right into the Ravelord's face. He immediately covered his mouth in shock as not only was Nito silent, but Frank along with the rest of the room of skeletons heard him over the music. A few jaws dropped, and in Nito's case, it really did drop.
The pun was so shocking that the mass of skeletons that served as Nito's main body let its sword arm down. Right over the DJ system.
All Jaune remembered next were screams of the damned, the sound of swords being drawn, and burning blue eyes that promised the knight death.
…
It was all a blur to Jaune. The hallways of Beacon Academy looked blended together into a strange color of beige and brown, but that was of no concern to Jaune as he rounded yet another corner that lead to his hallway.
Jaune didn't even know that he could run as far and fast as he had been. As soon as the pun had escaped his lips, the mass of skeletons that was Nito dropped its sword arm right onto the DJ system. Cutting it right in two.
After that Jaune had the sense to immediately start running as he heard, and saw, swords being drawn from most of the party members. He only got out by the skin of his teeth as he had to duck and roll his way to avoid the curved swords swung at his head.
He didn't escape unscaved however, as some of the swords had caught his hoodie that he wore underneath his combat gear. Rips and tares racked across his clothing in various areas and even a few managed to cut him. Thankfully his Aura kicked in and managed to heal those minor wounds.
Jaune popped back into his room where this nightmare began, to grab his weapon Crocea Mors which was lying underneath his bed for no reason.
As he was catching his breath Jaune thought to himself, 'Probably should have brought this along with me in the first place, but who can really blame me? Oh right… no one, because I woke up in the land of the freaking DEAD!'
Holding his family heirloom in his right hand, and securing the sheath/shield onto his opposite arm, the young Arc set off to… where exactly?
He didn't know where to go to escape this place, and he had already pinched himself (twice) while he was running away from the mob of angry skeleton people to see if this all really was a dream.
Making sure that the door was locked to JNPR's room, Jaune began to pace around the room to try and figure out what his next plan of action would be.
'Okay, the best way to try and figure out how I got here is to probably retrace my steps right?' Jaune thought as he tried to recall everything that had occurred ever since he entered the dance.
'So I arrived at the dance, nothing there was weird. I was… alone and stayed near the punchbowl,' Jaune thought as he recalled himself wallowing in his own self-pity while at the dance. 'I saw Tyrell and Ruby dancing together, and then…'
A light bulb clicked sparked to life above Jaune's head as he snapped his fingers in an 'eureka' moment. "That mysterious man gave me that special punch that caused me to black out!" Jaune shouted in excitement, but he quickly covered his mouth as he heard what sounded like clanking bones walking down the hallway.
"Did you hear that?" An unnamed skeleton asked.
"No Steve, for the eighth time, I didn't hear any noise. Every other time you think you hear a noise it ends up being either a squeaky floorboard, or an undead rat running around." A second skeleton said in return.
"But Carl I swear that I heard what sounded like a human just now." Steve said as Jaune slowly eased his way into the room's built in closet, praying that the two skeletons wouldn't find him.
"No. My bones ache from following you around when you think that you hear something." Carl said. The two skeletons were right outside JNPR's room as they continued their talk.
"Come on Carl! I know that the human we're looking for is in here! Do you really want to walk away from the possibility that the human is in here, and have to tell the Ravelord that we've failed?" Steve questioned as Jaune silently prayed that Carl wouldn't go along with Steve's idea and they would both leave.
His prayers were only halfway answered.
"You can check out all the suspected noises until the undead sleep for all I care. I'm going to go get a drink." Carl stated as a single pair of skeletal footsteps walked away.
"Okay bye Carl! Now, let's see what behind door number nine." Steve said unaffected as he placed his fingers around the lock. Jaune's heart was pounding as he heard the sound of the door opening and closing.
"I know you're in here human. I can smell ya." Steve whispered to himself, but Jaune heard it anyways for being so close.
'First off, how?! You have no nose. And second, gross.' Jaune thought as the sounds of the skeleton's footsteps moved across the room. Jaune heard him messing around with each of the four beds in his search, but after a few minutes and coming up empty, Steve slammed his fist against the closet door in frustration causing Jaune to jump a little.
"Darn it! Well I guess that nine isn't my lucky number. Oh well, maybe I can catch up to Carl if I hurry." Jaune let out the smallest of breaths as he felt relieved that Steve would be leaving, "But after I check the closet of course." Jaune's heart reached his throat as the knob began to turn and soon the door began to slowly open outwards.
Out of sheer fear and stupidity, Jaune barreled himself out of the closet and into the surprised skeleton. Well, as surprised as you can look when you have no facial features, or face.
Jaune had already drawn Crocea Mors and bashed the skeleton in the head with his retractable sheath. Jaune felt happy, and a little guilty, as a large crack appeared from the point of impact. Steve was knocked out cold as far as he could tell.
Jaune didn't linger on it too long as he knew where the mysterious man was most likely to be. As Jaune walked out into the hallway, he heard a familiar voice.
"Hey Steve, I think that I might have a clue where that human-" Carl stopped mid-sentence as both he and Jaune looked at one another. Carl then pointed his finger at Jaune as if accusing him and shouted in a demonic like voice, "HUUUMMMAAANNN!"
…
Jaune was currently running away from the horde of skeletons that were giving him pursuit. Jaune only looked back once, but he regretted it as he saw what looked like an entire army was after him.
Thankfully, he saw the light at the end of the tunnel, or hallway for this matter as the elevator that lead to the Headmaster's office had its doors wide open as if it had been waiting for him this whole time, but they soon began to shut.
Jaune sprinted even harder as he noticed that the doors began to close, and the horde of the undead was drawing closer and closer.
'Faster legs faster!' Jaune thought as he pushed himself harder than he ever had before. He had to shift his body to fit into the small gap that was now the only opening into the elevator and his salvation.
Once he was inside, Jaune looked back just in time to see the horde coming at him in full force. One of the skeletons almost made it through, but the doors had shut closed, crushing its skull as if it were made of glass in the process.
Jaune was panting hard as he slowly used the support on the side to pull himself up. He hadn't even hit the button yet, but the elevator began to move up on its own. When it was halfway up to the Headmaster's office, Jaune had a nice view of the land of the Dead.
The sky had changed from a midnight black to what was a mixture between black, orange, and purple as the shattered moon that Jaune was accustomed to seeing hung overhead. The only difference in the moon was the half skull face that had a wicked grin plastered across it as its one glowing red eye seemed to be looking directly at the young Arc.
Jaune gulped as the elevator reached the top of the tower. When the doors opened he was surprised to find that the room was practically the same. The only differences were a few cobwebs strewn about, and the absence of Ms. Goodwitch who usually sat at the desk outside Ozpin's office.
Jaune couldn't help but feel a sense of dread as he stepped off the elevator and made his way over to the two large doors leading to the Headmaster's office. He hadn't noticed it until he was closer to the doors, but two door knockers laid on each door. Both knockers represented some sort of goat demon that Jaune had never seen before.
Not sure if he should just enter or not, Jaune reached out with his hand to grab the ring held underneath the right knocker. However, before he could even grab it, both doors swung slowly open.
Once they had opened enough to allow him in, Jaune slipped through between the doors and entered Ozpin's office. Again, the room was mainly unchanged, save for the now broken gears that layed above the office and the cracked clock face behind the Headmaster's desk.
Shifting his gaze onto said desk, Jaune noticed that the tabletop was cracked in certain areas, and even a few of the cog pieces jutted out of the desk. The Headmaster's chair was replaced by a large black leather business chair, which was currently turned to face away from Jaune.
"So, Mr. Arc, what brings you here to my office?" Asked an all too familiar Mexican accent. The mysterious figure wearing the knight's helmet turned to face Jaune with his arms resting on each armrest. He almost the same as well, the only difference being that both his tux, pants, and tie were black and the undershirt was a maroon color.
"You!" Jaune shouted in both accusation and a little surprise since he wasn't completely sure if he would be right in coming here first.
"Yes, me. Now what brings you here Jaune?" The man asked as Jaune gave him a look that asked 'are you serious?'
"Why am I here? That's what I've been trying to figure out ever since I woke up here!" Then pointing an accusing finger at the man Jaune said, "I know that it was you that put something in that punch. Just tell me. Who are you and why did you do this to me?!"
The man remained silent for a while as Jaune then said in desperation, "Please."
"You really don't know do you?" The man sounded less concerned than what Jaune had hoped he would be.
Jaune then responded by saying, "No I don't. So why can't you just-" The blonde knight was cut off by a large banging sound that erupted from outside the office. It came from the elevator. Immediately the doors leading out of the office closed abruptly and a locking sound could be heard as the doors sealed themselves shut.
"It seems that your new friends have found you amigo." The man said with slight amusement in his voice as Jaune made his way over to him filled with both anger and fear as a banging began to rasp on the doors.
Jaune looked into the thin visor that hid the man's eyes. Panic was starting to settle itself into the pit of his stomach, and he was out of patience. Slamming his hands down onto the desk, Jaune demanded in a slightly panicked voice, "Tell me w-who you are… now."
Jaune wasn't sure why he wanted to know this man's name so badly, but he felt that if he knew then everything would go back to normal.
The man took a long sigh as he slowly stood up from his chair and looked at Jaune. "Since you are clearly too… mediocre to figure it out by now, then I will tell you. Also…" Looking over Jaune's shoulder towards the door, the man noticed the chips of wood breaking apart from it. "It seems that your friends want to come and say hello."
Jaune looked behind to regard the doors and his panic grew as a large piece of the right wooden door flew off from another loud banging. Turning around to regard the man Jaune said, "Thank you."
The man raised both hands and had placed one on either side of the helmet. Slowly, the man took it off and revealed to Jaune who he was.
Jaune was both shocked and horrified.
Standing right in front of him was a young man with slightly long blonde hair, deep ocean blue eyes, and the one thing that Jaune had always strived to attain but could never get. Confidence.
Jaune Arc was looking directly at himself.
Jaune opened his mouth to say something, but no words came out as he just continued to stare at his opposite. "Surprised? I thought that this would come out as the least surprising after the night we had amigo." Jaune two said with a bemused grin on his face.
"W-we?" Jaune the original stammered as his mind was beginning to crack from all the events of the night.
"Allow me to explain." Jaune two then walked around the Headmaster's desk to stand in front of Jaune. "I am you, and you are me, such is that we are the same person. You, however, are the one in control of our body." 'For now…' Jaune two thought as he laughed sinisterly on the inside. "I am the incarnate of what you want to be Jaune, and what your father always wanted you to be. A hero."
This got Jaune to momentarily gain some confidence of his own as he sent a sharp glare at his 'twin.' "I am a hero." Jaune said without hesitating.
Jaune two's smile grew a little more as he then replied, "Sneaking your way into the academy is not what a true hero does Jaune." This seemed to cause Jaune to lose his brief confidence as he looked away from Jaune two's eyes and at the ground instead.
Walking up to Jaune, Jaune two placed a hand on Jaune's shoulder and said, "I can help us Jaune. In fact I have been helping us this whole night."
Jaune looked back up and away from the ground as he asked, "How?" Jaune two's smile lessened somewhat to a happy grin as he removed his hand and walked over to the broken clock face, staring out at the creepy moon.
"When you felt so down at the dance, you created me. Well, I was always with you Jaune, but your slow fall back into what might have been a depression caused me to appear physically to you. I figured that if I knocked you out, then I could have you face all your inner demons in combat." Jaune two explained.
A larger bang issued itself from outside the double doors, this time taking off a small chunk of the left door in which both Arcs could see a red eye appear through the small hole.
"We both see how well that went." Jaune said with self-pity as he focused his attention back onto his 'twin'.
"That is the seed of depression taking its place inside your heart Jaune. I can remove it, but only if you allow me to." Jaune two said while making his way back over to the blonde knight. Jaune the original could have sworn he saw his 'twin's' eyes flash red like Yang's did when she was angry. As he strode closer towards him, Jaune blinked and found they were still as blue as his own.
"How do you plan on helping anyway?" Jaune questioned as he crossed his arms while feeling a little suspicious.
His twin answered by holding his hand out to shake hands and said, "I am the incarnation of the confidence you lack Jaune. By accepting me, you will gain the confidence that you have always lacked when facing with your peers, your friends, and your family. All you have to do is just shake my hand, and this nightmare will end, and you will wake up a new man." When Jaune still held a suspicious look his twin added, "I promise."
Jaune didn't get to answer right away as bone arms and swords breached through the doors and were scrambling around like chickens with their heads cut off. Then, a massive curved sword penetrated through the middle of the doors before slamming itself down the line and opening the doors.
Jaune saw dozens of glowing red eyes that appeared in the doorway, but the pair of eyes that scarred him the most were the blazing blue flames that belonged to the Ravelord. It didn't help that anything beyond the doors was pitch black, so the glowing eyes were much clearer to see.
"We do not have much time Jaune! Your demons come for you. Accept me so I can save you!" Jaune two brought the original's attention back to him. His hand still sticking out to shake.
"What will happen to you though?" Jaune asked with both worry, and concern, for his twin seeing that he was trying to help him escape this nightmare.
Jaune two flashed Jaune a confident smile as he said, "Don't worry about me amigo, I'll be just fine. Now let's get you out of here my friend."
Jaune smiled in return as he grasped the awaiting hand firmly and shook it. A white light appeared out of nowhere and blinded the young Arc. Jaune raised his right arm to shield his eyes.
Jaune expected that the light would wake him up, but when it had disappeared, Jaune removed his arm to see that he was still in the nightmare version of the Headmaster's office. Jaune two was still smiling at Jaune as the young Arc asked, "What happened?"
The confident smile that held itself over his twin's face grew into a sinister one as he replied, "You just handed your soul over to me Jaune."
Jaune grew as white as a ghost as he repeated the words his twin had just said. "Handed my s-soul over?" His twin laughed like a madman as he walked past Jaune and towards the awaiting army of skeletons. Jaune thought that they would attack, but they did no such thing as they parted out of the way for his twin.
As they did it, Jaune saw that the elevator had been opened, and was the only light that illuminated the darkness where the undead stood. His twin was already standing in it and as the doors were closing he said one last thing.
Jaune didn't hear it through his ears, but in his head instead. "Now it is my turn to live in your place. Do not worry; I will make sure that we live a full and wonderful life. Goodbye, Jaune."
When the doors closed completely, both the room outside and the Headmaster's office grew pitch black. The moon had set and Jaune could see the burning red and blue eyes staring at him through the darkness. Jaune Arc fell to his knees in defeat, and the undead charged.
…
Jaune awoke to find himself in JNPR's dorm room. He was happy to see that he wasn't the only one in it though this time. Pyrrha was currently applying a damp washcloth to his forehead as he noticed that he was underneath his bed sheets.
"You're awake. Thank goodness." Pyrrha allowed herself to smile as all her worries washed away at seeing him awake.
"What happened?" Jaune asked in a weakened voice.
"Neptune found you lying out on the balcony during the dance. Apparently you were knocked out, but after taking you to the infirmary, they said that no drugs or toxins were within your blood that could have caused you to black out. Nora, Ren, and I brought you back here to see if you would wake up." Pyrrha explained.
"How long was I out?" Jaune asked as he sat up slowly, feeling a little dizzy at first, but he shook it off and focused all his attention back to his partner.
"Thankfully only an hour or two, but you still gave us a scare there Jaune. Don't do that again." She gave him a serious face that Jaune quickly nodded to. Her face softened as she smiled again and said, "Well the dance is over and everyone is getting ready for bed. I'm going to do the same. We can talk to the others about this in the morning."
At that Pyrrha began to walk away, but just before she left the room Jaune said, "Thank you for taking care of me Pyrrha. I won't forget this." He shot her a small smile that seemed to make her blush lightly before she said, "Uhhh… goodnight Jaune."
"Goodnight my Spartan." Jaune said coolly which caused her to blush further and slam the door quickly as she left with different emotions running through her.
Jaune stood up and walked over to the window where he could still see the shattered moon. Its pale glow illuminated all of Vale as the blonde knight looked into the window. His eyes flashed red for a brief moment, and after they returned to an ocean blue, Jaune chuckled to himself as he walked away from the window.
The reflection stayed in place however as the real Jaune Arc stood with a blank expression on his face as the undead stood behind him.
Well that one was fun to write. I apologize if Jaune seemed to be a little OOC at points in the story. I decided to wait until it was a little closer to Halloween before I released this chapter, so sorry for the longer delay. God I need to stop apologizing so much, I'm sorry abo- nevermind.
I recently watched the first episode of RWBY Volume three, and I really enjoyed it. I think that Monty's brother did a good job at voicing Ren. What did you guys think of it and what do you want to see from this volume? I personally want to see a little more development with team CRDL as they mainly went scarce after the Forever Fall episodes in Volume one. They only played one part in Volume two for ONE episode for crying out loud! Come on RT, I know that you guys can flesh out your characters better than that. I'm probably only saying this after reading a few CRDL based fics like "Redemption" by RainStorm4, but those characters have more potential for the show and RT isn't using it. (Okay, maybe they will later in the third volume, but until then I'm up to see more of CRDL.) Well this turned into a mini rant. My bad lol.
Next update we will be back to the main story plot for "FDTA." I'll talk to you all again soon!
P.S.- Let me know if you guys would like to see a Christmas special in the future :)