I do not own RWBY, Dead By Daylight, or any of the characters of either franchise (or other franchises, in Dead By Daylight's case).

Note: This chapter was written before I watched Devstream #78, so nothing from the upcoming Wraith Cube will be implemented here.

Ruby's day wasn't going great. Her "nightmare" had taken it's toll on her, evidenced by the absentmindedness and aches that she suffered from. More than once, she'd run into someone or tripped over something just because she wasn't fully in the moment.

Currently, she was sitting in the lunch hall with her teammates, getting some lunch and writing in her journal. She had eaten a lot that day already, but she was starving after she woke up, so she thought there would be no harm in eating a little more. She gulped down another spoonful of the soup they were serving, writing down what she experienced in her dream.

She noticed out of the corner of her eye that Team JNPR had sat down with them. She looked up, waving and smiling a little as they sat down, then began to write again. She finished off her soup, getting up to put the bowl on the conveyor belt to the kitchen.

As she came back, she noticed that her teammates weren't as engaged in conversation as they normally were. Weiss was hunched over her scroll, avoiding eye contact with Ruby. Blake had a her face stuck in a book, but she seemed tense and less focused on reading than she seemed. Even Yang, the most outgoing and talkative person she knew, was silent, eating very quickly and throwing the occasional glance over at Ruby. SHe gave them an odd look, but sat down and opened her journal again.

She flipped back to the page she was writing on, but set her pen down when she noticed a sigil stamped onto the page. It was made up of three markings, one above the next: a dot, a wave-like line, and an inverted 'W'-like shape, all close together on the page. It seemed to be a silvery-grey color, but it was only visible from a few angles. Ruby looked at it closer, brushing the sigil with her finger to see if some residue would come off.

She suddenly felt an otherworldly chill ripple across her body as she pulled her hand away, followed by the sound of multiple voices sighing in a whisper. She looked around, shocked, before noticing that everyone in the cafeteria was outlined in a glowing colorful barrier. She tried to bump Yang on the shoulder, but she pulled back screaming as she saw her now-invisible arm. She fell backwards, the chair she was sitting on going with her and crashing to the ground.

Yang, Jaune, Blake, Pyrrha, and Nora looked over. Ruby sat up as they began to look around for her, backing away from the table. "Uh, guys? I'm right here-" she said, her words being cut short as silver-orange claw marks began to appear, going from her to the exit of the cafeteria. She stood, grabbing her journal and walking towards the doorway.

As she stepped out into the hall, she heard a ghostly whisper echo around her. Startled, she looked around, but only seeing the orange scratches leading her down the hall. She began to follow them again, but she kept throwing glances over her shoulder to make sure no one was following (though she wasn't sure why she was, considering that she was invisible). As she got further and further away from the cafeteria, she began to see the orange scratches more frequently and hear the ghostly whisper almost constantly. She began to run, trying to catch up with whatever was making the scratches, but the thing always seemed to be two steps ahead of her.

She burst outside, looking for whatever was making the scratches. She lost the scratches while wading through crowds of people, so she relied on the whisper to find her way. She twisted and whirled as she looked for- there! The scratches covered the doors to the library, almost obscuring any detail of the doors themselves. She ran for them as if they were going to disappear, slamming through the doors.

She looked up, looking around the room. She noticed that the scratches had continued for a ways, ending at one of the tables nearby. Her sudden entrance had shocked some people, but many were confused as they couldn't see who came in. Ruby stood, but she approached the end of the trail with caution, concerned about not seeing what caused the marks. She walked slowly, peering at the scattered pages with hesitation as she sat down.

They were yellowed, older than most of the books in this library. Some of them detailed sigils and what that meant, others detailed ways to access the "spirit world" through rituals or Aura. All of them were handwritten, with somewhat rushed and hard to read handwriting and not detailed sketches. Ruby looked them over, then stuck them in her bag and began to scan the rest of the library for anything suspicious.

Suddenly, Ruby heard the rattle of bone behind her as something collided with the back of her head. She was thrown forward from the blow, scattering everything on the table and smashing her head into the table in the process. She groaned as her vision became blurry, and she collapsed to the ground, slowly losing consciousness.

As her vision faded, she saw a pair of bandaged and bloody legs standing close by. She tried to turn her body towards them, but her eyes closed and her body went slack as she faded into unconsciousness.

Ruby woke to pain. She felt sore almost everywhere, and where she wasn't sore, a sharp, stabbing pain replaced it. The back of her head throbbed with pain as she opened her eyes to an intense bright light. She raised an arm to block her vision, blinking a few times to let her eyes adjust to the light. When she could see, she looked around, noticing that she was sitting in a recliner in the library. She shifted, rubbing the spot on the back of her head as she looked around.

She sat up, looking closer at her surroundings. She could guess she was on the second level of the library because of the chair she was in and the few people, but she didn't know in which section she was. She felt her journal and the leather-bound book resting in the chair beside her, but she didn't grab them just yet, instead lowering the footrest in the chair and slowly attempting to stand.

Her legs weren't stable, but she managed to stand fully while resting a hand on the armrest of the chair. She attempted to take a step forward, but her legs almost gave out underneath her, forcing her to rest most of her weight onto the desk beside her. She managed to stand again, grabbing the two books and pocketing them as she slowly made her way across the bookshelves. As she finally got to the end of the section, she had regained her balance and all of the pain she had been feeling had vanished (for the most part). She took a deep breath, smiling and turning the corner- only to plow straight into Blake, knocking them both over.

The books Blake was holding spilled across the two of them as they fell, landing with Blake on top of Ruby as the books fell onto them. Blake grunted in pain as a book smacked her in the back of the head, then glared down at the younger human underneath her. Ruby briefly had a mental image of the bone-masked man in her dream kneeling down in the same way Blake was, but she pushed it to the back of her mind for the moment as Blake stood and began to gather the novels that she had been carrying. Ruby scrambled to help, and the two sat in the silence of the library for a while afterwards.

"...Sorry about that." Ruby finally said, rubbing the back of her neck sheepishly. Blake sighed, nodding after a moment. The Faunus girl lifted the books, setting the stack on a nearby table and turning to Ruby again.

"You should probably go tell your sister that you're alright. She's been worried about you since you pulled your little vanishing act." Blake said, looking at Ruby in a way that was impossible to decipher. Ruby frowned, confused for a moment, then her eyes widened as she remembered what had happened earlier that day.

"SorryBlakegottagoBYE!" the girl in red said rather quickly, disappearing in a red blur and a flash of rose petals. Blake stared after her for a moment, smirking slightly before picking up the stack of books and walking into the small yet relaxing space Ruby had just left.

Ruby sped past doors, up stairs, and around corners as she searched for her sister. Appearing visibly in a flash of rose petals, she looked around the hall she had landed in. She spied the number on one of the doors, nodded, and then disappeared in another burst of petals. She reappeared right in front of the door to her room, slamming it open and startling Weiss.

"Ruby! Don't do that!" the heiress screamed as she dropped the things she was holding. Ruby let out a squeak that kind of sounded like an apology as she stepped back, moving out of the way as Weiss walked out of the room. The silver-eyed girl walked back into the room, sitting down on her bed and pulling out the leather-bound book she had found. She stared at the cover of the book for a moment, then opened her drawer in the nightstand and tossed it in. She shut the drawer and fell backwards onto her bed, letting out a long sigh as her muscles relaxed and her mind began to wander. She relaxed, and as her mind drifted away, her eyes closed and she fell asleep.

Ruby woke slowly, stretching out her joints and limbs as she woke up. She felt well rested, but she didn't feel safe. Something felt… off, in a way that she couldn't quite put her finger on.

She sat up, looking around the room. She didn't notice anything out of the ordinary, other than the three new books on Blake's bed, but even then, she didn't feel at ease. She shrugged it off, blaming it on the weird dreams she'd been having.

Sliding down from her top bunk, she grabbed her Scroll from the windowsill and flipped it open. The time on her scroll read 6:05. 'Oh crap,' she thought, resting her face against her palms. She had slept for a while, even if she didn't feel like it at all. She made sure that her Scroll was charged, checked up on all of her classwork, and then left for the cafeteria, feeling more than a little thirsty as she recalled how much running around she'd been doing that day.

She arrived to the cafeteria, perking up almost instantly as she smelled a very familiar and delicious smell: chocolate chip cookies. She immediately forgot about all of her worries, dashing inside and grabbing as many as she could carry. She threw them all onto a large plate, grabbed a few other small dishes, and sat down at an empty table. She wasted no time digging into the large pile of cookies, and was about to shove one more into her already full mouth when it was plucked out of her hand by her sister.

"Come on, Ruby! Lay off on the sweets." Yang said, tossing the cookie into her mouth and sitting down before her sister could react. Ruby grumbled as her hair was ruffled, trying in vain to duck out from under the hand. Yang laughed, continuing to ruffle Ruby's hair for a few more seconds, before pulling her arm back and resting it on the table.

"Yang! You know I don't like that!" Ruby pouted, causing her sister to chuckle at her antics.

Yang sighed, locking Ruby's silver eyes with her lilac ones. "And you don't try hard to stop me when I do it." she retorted, causing Ruby to frown even more than she was. Ruby let out an irritated grumble, causing Yang to chuckle a little. "So," Yang continued after a moment, "how's my little sister doing?"

Ruby glared at Yang for a moment longer, then sighed, blinking a few times before regaining her normal smile. "I'm alright. Just been a little tired is all." she said, shoving a few cookies in her mouth after she finished speaking. Yang let out a "hmm," looking away from Ruby for a moment. The two sat in somewhat awkward silence for a moment, looking at anyone but each other.

Finally, Ruby spoke up. "So, about disappearing at lunch today-" she started, stopping as Yang gave her a sideways glance.

"What about it?" Yang asked, not catching Ruby's sudden hesitation as she added, "I totally get it. Yesterday was pretty stressful, and you needed a little time to collect your thoughts." Ruby was about to continue, but found herself nodding in agreement. "I was a little worried, but Blake told me where you went. You don't need to explain it to me." Yang continued.

Ruby relaxed, happy that Yang hadn't pressed her about it, but also a little confused as to why she was hesitant to tell Yang about what happened. She didn't really feel like speaking right then, so she rested her head on Yang's shoulder in a silent show of gratitude. Yang was slightly surprised at the gesture, but didn't oppose to it, and so they sat for a while.

Eventually, Ruby sat up, smiling at her older sister as she began to eat again. Yang smiled back, and the rest of their meal was eaten in silence.

Ruby laid on her bed as she listened to her teammates prepare for sleep around her. Weiss was already ready, having eaten her meal quickly and using the extra time to shower and prepare for bed. Blake had just gotten back from showering, quickly changing into her nightclothes as Yang left for the shower. Ruby was ready as well, though she wasn't prepared to sleep just yet, instead using the small window of time before Yang got back to look through the journal she had found.

She had learned a little from it, but most of it was confusing or made no sense to her. Most of the journal was full of ramblings about the 'nightmare', as the author called it, and most of it was things of his experiences. She'd stuck the pages she'd found with the other out-of-place pages, which detailed things from the setting of traps to which types of game could be snare by what to what needed to be used as lures to catch what. She couldn't make sense of any of it.

She gave up on trying to decipher the book, hopping down from her bed and stowing it with her other belongings. She grabbed the strange bracelet she was supposed to wear and climbed back up to her bunk as Yang came back, the blonde brawler's hair shimmering and flowing as she walked to her bunk.

"Everyone good?" Blake asked, setting her book down and moving to the lightswitch. Receiving three noises of affirmation in response, the Faunus girl flipped the switch, blanketing the room in total darkness save for the moonlight streaming through the curtains. Ruby slipped on the bracelet, throwing the covers over her in the process so no one could see.

Ruby woke to a campfire. She didn't recognize this place, but it seemed safer than what she woke up to last time she woke up in a dream. She was silently glad that she didn't wake up in the middle of nowhere with no one around this time-

"Oi! Oi! She's waking up!" an accented voice called from some distance away. She didn't recognize the accent, but she didn't have time to think about where the voice was coming from as Dwight came into her vision, kneeling down beside her and looking at her through his glasses.

"Hey, hey. It's alright, we're safe." He said softly, putting a hand on her shoulder as she attempted to sit up. He briefly looked away from her, shouting to someone out of her sight. "Claudette! Come here and help me!"

Soon, a young, dark-skinned woman wearing a fitted maroon shirt and a pair of jeans appeared in front of her. Ruby guessed that this was Claudette, but she didn't have time to ask as the woman began to peel bandages off of Ruby's shoulder. More people began to appear in her vision, either going to sit on the other side of the fire or passing Claudette and Dwight medical supplies.

Once Ruby was properly patched up, Dwight helped her get onto the stump she had been leaning against. She was given a brief introduction to everyone around the fire, some more openly than others. She mentally decided not to trust Ace, as he seemed a little less trustworthy than he looked.

"Alright. That should be everyone." Dwight said, looking around at the assembled group. Ruby nodded, hesitating after a moment when she realized that one person she knew was missing. Before she could voice her question, however, everyone felt a strong pull upwards as the smell of burning flesh sizzled through the air.

Meg, David, and Quentin all stood, walking towards the center of the small area and grabbing a few things, such as medkits and toolboxes on the way. As they reached the center, everyone else stepped out of the campfire's light. Ruby hastily stood and left the center as she noticed this, and just as she left, she began to hear a familiar heartbeat as thick, dark fog began to flow into the area around the campfire. One at a time, the three people were covered by the fog, disappearing from view within in a matter of seconds.

As the dark fog began to dissipate (the three people that were there distinctly absent), everyone walked back into the light, sitting down on the various logs and benches around the fire. Ruby hesitantly followed suit, glancing awkwardly at everyone else before letting her eyes settle on the fire. Many questions flowed through her mind, so many that she couldn't even put any of them into words. She simply sat still for a while, staring into the fire, until Nea spoke up.

"So, how much did Dwight 'n' Bill tell ya about this place?" the punk girl said, and Ruby took a moment to think about her response.

"Well… there's the generators, which we need to fix to get out. Then there's the hooks, which the murderer guy has to put you on when he catches you. Uuuh…" she trailed off, thinking harder as she tried to remember. "Flashlights blind the killer, look for traps, and listen for a heartbeat. Other than that, I'm not sure."

Nea nodded slowly before speaking up. "Alright, you know the basics. Make sure you know these things, and we can point things out to you in the next trial. For now, let's-" she was cut off as the pull occured again, but this time, Ruby felt the pull much stronger.

She stood, joining Nea, Dwight, and Ace in the center. Ruby grabbed a flashlight, stowing it in her pocket as the fog began to surround them. Dwight vanished first, looking much less prepared than Ruby would have expected. Nea vanished next, tossing a somewhat tarnished coin into the fire before she disappeared. Ruby had only seconds to wonder how it would feel before she was smothered by the dark fog.

It was cold, so cold that Ruby began to shiver and shake as she felt the ground disappear from under her. She wrapped her red cloak, which was far shorter and a few shades darker than she remembered it, around herself as darkness encased her, carrying her to the fresh hell that awaited.

Ruby woke up on the ground nearby a hook. She decided to steer clear of it, putting as much distance between it and her as she could before hiding again. She noticed a distinct difference in this place from the last trial she went through, because this place had more visible light, the sky resembling early twilight rather than midnight forest. She briefly noted that they were in a junkyard with lots of crushed cars and cold metal.

She found a generator, immediately setting to work on it as she scanned the area for her friends (and the killer, while she was at it). She didn't hear the heartbeat, but she did hear furious growling at one point, causing her to break off of the generator and hide behind a stack of crushed cars and jagged metal. She didn't see anything as she heard it slowly go away, so she headed back for the generator at a crouch, careful not to make much sound.

As she worked, she began to hear a bell ring. Distantly at first and for only four chimes, she began to hear it more frequently and far closer. Eventually, she felt a slight tug at her attention as she had the generator almost complete. Turning away for a second, she noticed that someone- Dwight- had been hung on a hook on a nearby hill, his screaming only interrupted by the bell again. She left the generator for just a moment, but she had left two wires incorrectly crossed over some of the more delicate parts of the machine.

She yelped, leaping back and covering her face as sparks and various parts exploded from the generator. She quickly worked to undo the damage, seeing distantly that one other generator had already been powered. As she worked, she knew that that explosion was loud enough to be heard from where Dwight was hanging.

She bolted from the generator as she heard the growling again, this time coming straight for her. She ducked back behind the wall of old metal, listening as she heard the bell ring once again. This time, she heard the heartbeat of the killer thunder into existence from really close by. She risked a peek over the remains of a red car as she heard the killer approach.

The Trapper, as Dwight called him, was, in every sense of the word, a brute. This… thing in front of her looked more like a beast than a strong, powerful killer. It was tall and lanky, reminding Ruby of a tree, but it moved with a purpose. It had on a black cloak, but other than that, it appeared to be wearing only blood-soaked bandages. It carried a human skull and spine with a large blade emerging from the roof of the skull's mouth, which Ruby presumed to be it's weapon, but it also carried a heavy iron bell carved to look similar to a skull.

It moved fast, rushing towards the generator and driving it's foot into it, before searching around with it's glowing eyes. Ruby noticed as it searched that it appeared to have white face-paint marked onto its face, but she couldn't understand why. After a few seconds of searching, it struck the bell with its weapon, and it vanished into thin air, the heartbeat fading with it. Ruby waited until its footsteps faded, then darted back to the generator to continue her work.

'Aw crap,' She thought as she worked, throwing a glance over her shoulder every so often to make sure it wasn't coming back. 'Now I have to worry about invisible tree things?!' She started to work faster, wanting to be out of there as soon as possible. She heard another generator roar to life as she finished hers, and she let out a sigh of relief as she wiped the sweat from her face.

Now wasn't the time to celebrate, as she heard the bell ring once more, this time far closer than earlier. She sprinted off, running for another generator as the tree-looking hunter ran after her. She dove over a partial wall made out of scrap metal, ducking down as she heard a blade swing above her. She stumbled to her feet, making a hasty run for the building nearby as the killer chased after her. She leapt for the window, hoping to clear it before the killer reached her.

Unfortunately, her hope was in vain as the killer lunged forward, catching her leg in his left hand as she leaped forward. All of her forward momentum stopped, and she slammed into the windowsill hard before she was pulled back through and hoisted onto her pursuer's shoulder.

"No!" she cried as she began to struggle, but it was in vain as the apparition threw her onto a nearby hook. It gave her a long look, and, while almost impossible to read, she could see sadness in its eyes as it once again struck the iron bell and vanished into the fog.

Ruby's encounter with the Wraith has begun. Let's hope she can get out…

Happy belated Turkey Day to all of you as well, since I couldn't post a chapter last week. Thank you for liking this as much as I do and sticking with me through all of this!

Reviews:

MiukiAkiyama: Thank you for the kind words!

Commando60: Thank you for the encouragement! And don't worry, I don't plan on stopping anytime soon.

HydraLightning: Thanks! I do plan on adding them in, and I'm currently rewatching some of their movies to get their portrayal in this as close as possible. I really look forward to adding in Michael and Freddy in (though I'm still not sure which Freddy yet, the poll is up though), but I have mixed feelings towards Leatherface.

RandomName3064: Thanks! As far as I know, Salem controls the Grimm (or, at least, they obey her when she needs them to), but that doesn't mean that the Entity didn't have a part to play in their creation. As far as Salem's connection, both Salem and Ozpin are implied to be incredibly old (judging from the recent episodes, that is). And both of them would know of the Entity, even if they'd never met It before.

Shaneman17: Who says something followed her? But to answer your question, it might work that way, it might not. It might be that they are attracted to the high amounts of negative emotion coming from the Entity, but they would certainly give It a wide area to work Its claws when it shows up. We'll just have to wait and see, won't we? But the heads will be rolling soon enough, don't you worry.

Xstream-kun: Thank you! I do plan on introducing all of the killers in this (Ruby may not face all of them. If another killer drops while I'm writing the trials then I'm probably going to wait to introduce them), and hopefully all of the Survivors will get a little screen time too.

Ultimate Kuuga: Yep, Philip Ojomo himself is up next, though if you've read this far, you've probably already noticed.

Anyways, I've officially maxed out the character limit for my grammar/spell check software on this chapter, so I apologize if it's less grammatically correct or doesn't flow as well as other chapters. Also I can't write accents to save my life, so I'm sorry if I offended any of you readers by butchering your accent.

Once again, I am completely open to suggestions as to things I can change, lineups for each match (who goes in with Ruby, basically), and which killers Ruby should fail to get away from. I love listening to my fans, and I'd love to hear your feedback!

Having said this, I'd like to leave you with a question that you can answer, and it's one I'd really like answers for: Do you guys think I'm not writing enough in my chapters and/or rushing through a lot of the stuff you guys want to see? I've reread this multiple times, and each time I keep thinking that there isn't enough in here or that I'm rushing through a lot of stuff, and I'd like another opinion (or several) on this topic.

That Random Demon, signing off!