Dead By Roselight
Chapter 6: A New Friend
Yang could only stare at Vicky with wide eyes. She had almost lost all hope of finding her sister, yet now she was staring at a person right in front of her, who apparently knew Ruby. After everything she had been through, the blonde found it almost too good to believe.
''D-Did you just say Ruby?'' Yang asked, hoping to get a confirmation from the blue-haired woman. ''As in Ruby Rose?''
''The one and only,'' Victoria answered with a smile. ''Black hair with red tips, big silver eyes, wears a red cloak and has a lovable personality. Does that sound like we are talking about the same person?''
The blue-haired woman was suddenly surprised, when the blonde grabbed her shoulders without any warning and looked at her straight in the eyes.
''Where is she!?'' Yang asked as she started to slightly shake her savior. ''If you know where she is, you have to tell me! I came here to save her and bring her back home!''
''Whoa whoa! Calm yourself!'' Victoria said as she pulled the brawler's hands off her. ''I'll tell you as much as I can, but not now. We currently have bigger things to worry about.''
''You're right! I almost forgot!'' Yang said and started to get up, but her legs were still shaking from the poison she had inhaled earlier. ''We need to go and find Weiss and Blake! They're still out there! Jaune and Pyrrha could be out there as well!''
Victoria stopped the younger lady from leaving by pulling her down, which wasn't difficult thanks to Yang's weakened state.
''Hold your horses there! There is absolutely no way that I'm letting you go out there and get yourself killed!'' the blue-haired woman said in a stern voice. ''You're still suffering from the Clown's poison and can barely even stand! What do you think you can accomplish in such a condition!? Nothing! So right now, we are going to do the only thing we can do and hide here for the time being! Understood?''
As much as she hated to admit it, Yang knew that Victoria was right. If she went to look for her friends, all she would do was get herself killed. The blonde was still feeling the effects of the poison the killer had used on her, so she wouldn't do much good by throwing herself into danger once again. All she could do was hope that her friends would be alright.
''So what are we supposed to do?'' Yang asked. ''Are you going to tell me about Ruby?''
''Maybe not now, but I will tell you about her later,'' Vicky answered. ''Right now, I think it's better if I tell you about this place and how it works. Get you to understand the rules of this place.''
''Rules? What do you mean by that?'' the blonde asked. ''I don't think there are such things, considering what I've just seen.''
''By rules, I don't mean things like laws or anything like that,'' the blue-haired woman answered. ''I was talking about the rules the boss of this world has set up for us. I don't know if you've seen it, but there's some sort of a creature that seems to control this whole place. When someone gets sacrificed to it, you get to see a part of it.''
''Hang on, you mean those creepy spider legs that took my friends!?''
''So you have seen it then. I'm sorry about what you had to go through, but there's really nothing you can do about it. I can't even offer any encouraging words over the fate of your friends, as no one knows what happens to them. All I can say is that it's most likely nothing good.''
Tears fell from Yang's eyes upon hearing about what had happened to her friends. Deep down, she had hoped that she would hear about a way to save them, no matter how unlikely it seemed. The fact that Nora and Ren were most likely gone for good was heartbreaking for her.
''Don't take this the wrong way, but you don't really have the time to mourn right now,'' Victoria said with a hint of sympathy in her voice, knowing what the blonde girl was going through right now. ''We are currently in one of the realms with a killer hunting after us. We need to focus on surviving now, if we are to make it out of here alive. There will be time for everything else later.''
''O-Okay... If you say so,'' Yang managed to say while wiping away her tears. ''So, what can you tell me about this place? How did I get in here and how do we get out of here?''
''I can't really answer either of those questions, because I don't really know,'' the blue-haired woman answered. ''All I know is that the thing that controls this world, The Entity, is somehow able to pull people from our world to it's world. It can do it all around the world as well. I personally got pulled into here while I was sleeping in an abandoned house in Mistral.''
''I was in a forest in Atlas myself,'' the brawler said with wide eyes. ''How is that thing able to reach around the world so much?''
''Hard to say, but considering how it's able to create and control this place, I think it's not all that surprising,'' Victoria answered. ''Anyways, when Ruby was still around here, she actually came up with a theory. She had been asking a lot of people about their circumstances when they got pulled in here. It turned out that all of us were dealing with a lot of negative emotions before coming here. I had personally just become homeless and had been dealing with a lot of shitty emotions at the time because of it.''
Yang let out a small gasp upon hearing this. She herself had been desperately searching for her sister before being taken to this world. A thing that had been breaking her from the inside for the last couple of years. If what Ruby had discovered was true, then it made perfect sense as to why she was taken here. Not to mention, how Ruby got taken here.
''And... how do we get out of here?'' the blonde asked, hoping that her new friend knew of at least some possible way.
''I have absolutely no idea,'' the blue-haired woman answered with a sigh, telling Yang immediately that she had been here for quite some time already. ''I've been running around this place for a long time and I've never even found a clue as to how one can escape from here. I wonder if escaping is even possible at all.''
''It is possible. I know it is,'' the brawler stated, causing Vicky to look at her with a raised eyebrow. ''One of Ruby's friends got out from here. His name was Jonathan.''
''John actually got out of here!?'' the blue-haired woman asked excitedly. ''How did he do that!? Do you know!?''
''I'm afraid I don't,'' Yang answered. ''He gave us a message from Ruby, but he then killed himself.''
''...What?'' Victoria asked in shock over hearing about her comrade's demise. ''Why would he...? He wanted to see his family so badly. Why would he do something like that?''
''He didn't return to his own time. He actually came to my time after escaping from here. Since none of his family or friends were alive anymore, he committed suicide,'' the blonde explained. Upon seeing her new comrade look at her in confusion, she said, ''He was from a noble family that died out about a hundred years ago.''
Vicky slumped down to the ground, having been absolutely devastated from hearing about Jonathan's sad fate.
''Dammit... I remember some people saying that they recognized his last name. I didn't think much of it. Just that it was some coincidence or something,'' the blue-haired woman said in a sad voice. ''I just hope he's with his loved ones now.''
Yang decided to be silent for a moment, allowing Victoria to mourn the loss of her comrade. She personally knew how painful it was to lose someone, so she was going to allow her savior to have some time for herself, even if the situation wasn't the best for it.
''The others won't be happy to hear about this, but I've got no choice,'' Vicky said after a couple of seconds of mourning. ''I suppose I should just do what I was supposed to do and start teaching you how this world works.''
''Oh right. You said something about rules,'' the blonde said. ''What exactly are those rules?''
''Well, the way things work around here is that there are areas known as realms,'' the blue-haired woman began to explain. ''These realms are closed-off areas, where we face one of the killers. Each killer has their own realm, like The Clown has this carnival.''
''By killers, you mean that there are more of them?''
''Exactly. We don't know how many of them are there precisely, but there are many of them. You can't kill or really harm them. The only thing you might be able to do is slow them down, but that's about it. It's best to run away from them for the most part. Most Huntsmen don't survive for long in here, as they are not used to being defenseless without their Aura and are then caught off-guard by the killers. Some are even so hardheaded that they fight back even without their Aura.''
Yang thought back on how she herself had stubbornly tried to save her friends, even when she knew that her Aura was gone. She had almost lost her arm and her life because of it. When those with power suddenly lose it, they don't want to believe it, even when it's true. The brawler had learned that through the hard way.
''So, how do we get out of here?'' Yang asked. ''I ran back to the entrance that I used to get here, but it was blocked off. And there's a fence surrounding the whole area, making it impossible for us to escape.''
''There are two exits, which you can use to escape from a realm,'' Victoria answered. ''However, in order to open them, you first need to get power running into them. In order to do that, you need to find a generator hidden somewhere around the realm and get it going.''
''I met someone who was talking about a generator!'' the blonde said, remembering the man that she and her friends saw. ''So we have to find the generator, turn it on and then go through the exit?''
''It's unfortunately not that simple. After you find the generator, you have to fix it. Once you have done that, you can go open the exits. However, it takes time for the exit to open and it causes a lot of noise, making you a perfect target for the killer.''
''Man, there's just problems at every turn, aren't there?'' Yang said with a sigh. ''Should we go look for the generator now?''
''No need for that. My friends are most likely handling that right now,'' Vicky answered. ''We've been doing this for some time now, so it shouldn't take them long to get it done. We have our own strategy when it comes to handling these situations.''
Before the brawler could ask what her new comrade was talking about, they suddenly heard a noise that sounded like a siren. Yang looked at Victoria, who had a small smile on her face. It was obvious that she knew what was going on.
''It's the exit signal!'' the blue-haired woman said in an excited voice. ''My comrades must have managed to fix the generator and opened the gate!''
No further words were needed as the two ladies got up and started to make their way towards where the sound came from. It didn't take long until they reached the edge of the carnival and saw a large gate leading outside. Both Yang and Victoria hid in nearby bushes, wanting to first make sure that it was safe for them to proceed.
''Looks safe enough to me,'' Yang said and was about to get up and make a run for it, but was stopped by Vicky.
''Not so fast, friend,'' the blue-haired woman whispered. ''Take a closer look towards the left side of the exit.''
The blonde looked at the place she was told to and saw what her comrade was talking about. The Clown was standing in the shadows, waiting for people to come running to the exit.
''Shit! Why does he have to be there!?'' Yang cursed silently. ''Do you think we should try to run past him? I mean, he is very fat and probably not all that quick. I think we could make it.''
''That's not happening,'' Victoria answered. ''As slow as he may seem, The Clown can be surprisingly fast. Not to mention, his worst trait is not his speed, but his special ability that you've had a taste of. It's the poison bottles he throws at people. Once you breathe that stuff in, it's only a matter of time until you're practically unable to move. If he sees us, he won't hesitate to throw one of them at us.''
The brawler bit her lip out of frustration. The exit was so close yet so far away. If they made one wrong move, they would get caught and sacrificed to whatever the thing that had taken both Nora and Ren was. In order for them to escape, they would have to find some way to distract the killer. The problem was that they didn't know how to do that.
While Yang was thinking of possible ways to escape, there was a sudden sound that came from a branch snapping in half. Yang, Victoria and even The Clown looked at where the sound came from, and found Weiss hiding behind a nearby stand. The heiress' eyes were wide upon realizing that her cover had been blown.
A sadistic grin spread over The Clown's face, as he found his next victim. He pulled out his knife and started to make his way towards Weiss, who had started to run away.
''It's Weiss! I have to-!'' Yang whispered and was about to go help her teammate, but was stopped by Victoria.
''Yang, don't!'' the blue-haired woman said. ''I know that you want to go save your friend, but there's literally nothing you can do! If you go help her, all you're going to accomplish is get yourself killed along with her!''
''But I can't just leave her!'' the blonde tried to argue back.
''You have to. And you know it,'' Victoria told the younger lady, her face showing just how serious she was. ''In this world, the one thing that matters most is survival. In order for you to survive, you're going to have to make this same decision over and over again. If you want to get out of this world and see your loved ones again, if you want to find Ruby, you will have to make this decision, no matter how much you hate it. Believe me, I know from experience.''
Yang stared at her new comrade with wide eyes. Through her entire life, she had never been one to run away and leave others behind. Whether it was Ruby, a friend or even some unknown person in trouble, the brawler had always been ready and willing to help. It was her principle to be the one to take a hit rather than let someone else take it for her. However, now she would have to betray that principle or lose everything. No amount of teaching from Beacon or wisdom from Qrow and her father could have ever prepared her for this.
With a heavy heart, Yang followed Victoria to the exit and out of the carnival. The blonde could only hope that it was not only the right thing to do, but also worth it.
Author's notes: This chapter became a bit of an explanation dump, as I felt it was needed to have someone explain to Yang a bit of how the world works. Sorry if it was a bit boring, but I felt it was necessary. There will be more stuff explained on the world, but it will be done in a different manner. Can't say how it will be done just yet, but it won't simply be through another OC.
Hope you enjoyed this chapter and will check out the next one.
Until next time.
RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth and Dead by Daylight belongs to Behaviour Interactive.
