Sky selected a book from the shelf in front of him and opened it. He was going to start reading, but was distracted by a giggle. Looking up, he spotted a girlish face peering at him through the shelf. Surprised, he jumped back and dropped the book.

"Hello, cutie!" Miltia smiled. "What are you doing today?"

Sky bent down and picked the book up off the floor. Straightening back up, he looked at Miltia's smiling face for a moment while trying to think of how to respond. Realizing that he had nothing, he simply placed the book back on the shelf. He ignored Miltia's disappointed whimper. He turned around to walk out of the library, only to see Miltia skipping around the bookshelf and stopping at his side.

The girl watched him expectantly. "So, where you going?"

He groaned. "I was going to go back to my room, but I don't think I want you sitting at my door waiting for me."

Miltia nervously played at the edges of her school uniform shirt. "Well... uh, you wouldn't have to if I... if I was in the room with you."

Sky shook his head. "No, I know what you're up to. It's not gonna work on me, so you might as well stop trying." He walked away, content to leave it at that.

After a moment, she ran to catch up with him. "You mean to tell me that love won't work? I disbelieve you, sir."

"Believe it." He kept walking, exiting the library. "I'm not falling for you or your plans, no matter what they may be."

Miltia ran around in front of him and started walking backwards. "Aww, now that's just no fun."

Sky didn't respond, but he could tell she was waiting for him to say something. He just kept walking through the halls, with her walking backwards just ahead of him. On a whim, he kept walking instead of turning a corner. Miltia kept backing up until she bumped into the wall, and he turned and started walking faster while she was distracted.

Seeing that she was losing track of him, Miltia called out after him. "Wait! Where are you going? Don't leave me alone out here!"

Sky ignored her voice coming from behind him, walking as quickly as he could in the hopes that she would lose him. Unfortunately, she caught up a few seconds later.

"Hey, don't scare me like that. I thought I was gonna be stuck all alone in the halls."

He shook his head. "Look, stop following me. It's creepy and it's also getting annoying."

"But... but..."

"Go find your sister. I'm sure she knows what to do with you."

Miltia just pouted. "But she's no fun."

He sighed. This girl was taking far too much to shake. "Is there, by any chance, some way to convince you that I'm not fun either?"

She looked like she was thinking about it for a moment before she answered. "Become Melanie."

"Okay, that's not funny. I-" A sound from down the hall suddenly caught his attention. He lowered his voice to a whisper. "Do you hear that?"

Miltia immediately went silent, probably glad he was talking to her about something other than getting rid of her. She listened for a few seconds before shaking her head. He was sure he had heard something, so he decided it was only proper to search for the source of the sound.

Turning a corner in the hall, he saw the source of the sound. Miltia followed closely behind him as they stepped closer. The nearer he got, the better he could hear what was happening. There was a dark shadowy figure at the end of the hall, hiding in the shadows. A pair of bright purple eyes watched them from the dark, but the sound continued as it had before. He identified the sound as crying, but it didn't match the look of the eyes. There was someone else crying.

As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, Sky saw what was in front of him better. It was Ren, as he had started to suspect, but Ren was simply standing silently. Standing in front of Ren, leaning on him, was Pyrrha. She had buried her face in his shirt, sobbing uncontrollably. He could only guess she hadn't noticed him yet.

Some words managed to come through Pyrrha's crying. Sky couldn't properly interpret them, but he could tell that she was trying her best to apologize to Ren. The boy receiving the apology, though he didn't look exactly happy, did look like he had accepted Pyrrha's plea. He had his arm around her, holding her gently and comforting her. As much of an impact as it had had on Ren, it seemed Nora's death had hit Pyrrha even harder.

Seeing that there was no way they could help, and that Ren was willing to accept the apology, Sky and Miltia turned and left quietly without disturbing Pyrrha. Once they turned the corner and had walked a good distance Sky started talking, though it was more to himself than to Miltia.

"I suppose that's good. I don't think those two will try to kill anyone. I was worried Ren might after what happened."

Beside him, Miltia nodded thoughtfully. "Although, that gets me thinking... we should make sure of what everyone else is up to. Figure out who is hanging around with who."

He just shrugged. "You go ahead. I'm gonna turn in for the night."

Miltia watched him head off for his room for a moment before calling out after him. "Why do you keep running away from me?"

Not even turning back to face her, he called back his answer. "Because you creep me out!"

Instead of letting it get her down, she forced a smile and waved excitedly as he left. "You'll like me better once you get to know me!"


Ruby looked up at the sound of someone entering the library. Seeing Dove, she shrugged it off and went back to reading the book Melanie had earlier discarded. Around the table she was seated at Jaune and Velvet had gone and found books of their own interests, and Melanie had fallen asleep. A moment later, however, the three readers were disrupted by Dove.

The boy looked them over for a moment before plucking the book out of Ruby's hands and tossing it across the table at Melanie. She woke up with a start, flailing her arms and lurching forward, hitting her face on the table. She yelped in pain and pushed herself back, holding her nose. Her face had turned red from either the book or the table. She glared at the four people who were now all staring at her.

"Which one of you fuckers did that!?"

It took a second for them to respond, but both Velvet and Ruby quickly pointed at Jaune. Before it could even sink in that they had so suddenly turned on him, Jaune felt Dove grab him and toss him to the floor. Melanie jumped up and dived after him, only to be caught by Dove. Jaune looked up to see the girl being kept only inches from him, her hands snatching at the air as she snarled and growled at him.

Letting out a sigh of relief when he realized she wouldn't get him, Jaune stood up. Once he had recovered, he gave Ruby and Velvet an accusing glare. "Thanks a lot, you two. She could be eviscerating me right now."

Melanie stopped struggling against Dove, who had a tight hold on the collar of her school uniform, and gave Jaune a look that chilled him. "I was thinking more along the lines of castration."

Jaune took a step back from her. "Okay, I didn't even throw it at you! I don't know why they pointed at me!"

Dove spoke in a helpful tone. "I didn't see Jaune throw it. Perhaps some invisible force ripped the book from Ruby's hands and flung it right into your face. It could be the ghost of any number of people. Maybe even Nora or Carl."

Melanie glanced over her shoulder at him. "That's ridiculous, you asshole! Who threw the fucking book?"

"Here we go... so... apparently I'm dead. As you probably know, that sorta sucks. But that's why I'm here right now."

The five students froze at the sound of the voice. It was dull and echoed eerily around the library. It sounded distinctly ghostly, and was very much Nora's voice. It kept speaking, but whatever it said was drowned out by the sound of five students scrambling for the door in a panicked stampede.

Once they were outside of the library they ran into Blake and Cardin. The resulting pileup was comical, yet painful for most of those involved. Velvet, having been left at the back, only crashed into the pile and fell onto her rear. Ruby's legs were sticking straight up out of the pile as if she had dived in after the fact.

Jaune found himself under the crushing weight of four bodies, which was a painful experience in itself, but when he opened his eyes her was faced with Blake's golden stare. She didn't seem to be in as much pain as him. Her face only displayed surprise and confusion, as well as a little embarrassment.

Jaune tried to smile as best he could. "Hi."

Though her face showed hardly any pain, Blake's voice was definitely strained. "Get off."

Velvet, the only person who could move with any amount of freedom, stood up and grabbed Ruby around the ankles. She pulled Ruby free, but at the expense of the younger girl's dignity. Both landed on the ground, and Ruby immediately let out a disparaging cry and covered herself. Realizing what she had done, Velvet quickly reached into the pile and retrieved Ruby's shirt, handing it back to the girl.

Once Ruby had restored her modesty, and only then, Velvet reached in again and pulled Dove off. Once he was removed the others had much more mobility. Cardin quickly rolled off and righted himself, and Melanie shoved off of Jaune's back. Unfortunately, Melanie's actions also forced Jaune down onto Blake.

Everyone froze when Blake let out a sound that was disturbingly close to a moan of pleasure. She silenced herself right away, but it was too late. It had been brought to everyone's attention that Jaune's hands were on Blake's breasts, and they had been the since the crash. Jaune hadn't even noticed until Melanie had gotten off. In spite of all the numerous ways his life was currently in danger, Jaune felt that this was the best moment in his life up to this point. He did have hopes that it wouldn't be too long before something better happened, but not many.

"Oh, wow. Is this a spectator sport?"

Jaune and Blake looked up at the same time, seeing Miltia standing over them. Before either could think of what to do or say, Cardin pulled Jaune off of Blake and tossed him aside. He then reached down and offered his hand to Blake, a gesture that surprised everyone. Once he had helped Blake to her feet, he turned to the crowd that had come from the library.

"What were you guys in such a hurry about?" Their reactions made it quite clear that he wasn't going to get an easy answer, so he grabbed at Jaune again and lifted the boy off the floor by his shirt. "Why were you all running?"

Jaune choked a bit before Cardin dropped him, but it was Ruby who answered. "There was a, uh... a ghost... in the library."

"A ghost..." Cardin seemed taken aback at the answer, but quickly recovered. "Are you kidding me? You're all running around like headless chickens because you think you saw a ghost?"

"We didn't see it, we heard it. It was voices." Dove grimaced, knowing Cardin wasn't going to respond well to that.

Predictably, Cardin snorted at them. "Oh, so you heard it. Then it must be true."

Miltia looked to her sister. "You heard it too?" Melanie just stared at the ground, giving a slight nod for confirmation. Miltia turned to Cardin. "Maybe we should go take a look. I don't think my sister would lie about something like this."

Blake nodded, having recovered from her recent traumatic experience. "We should at least find out what it was that they heard. It might even be a way of escape. They could have heard people outside the building."

Velvet spoke from the back of the group. "But it wasn't just any voices. It was Nora."

Cardin couldn't deny that that had sent a shiver up his spine, but he tried to rationalize it. "You're probably all overreacting, but Blake's right. We should at least check to make sure if it's a way out of here or not."

"Wait!" They all looked to Miltia. "What if it is a way out?"

Cardin shrugged. "Then we leave."

Blake nodded. "Yeah, what's so hard about that?" The others stayed quiet, thoroughly convinced that it was in fact a ghost.

Miltia shook her head. "But the others..." None of them looked like they had caught on to what she was saying, so she explained. "The others will be stuck here if we leave. Skye and Weiss and Pyrrha and Ren. They'll be trapped!"

Melanie waved her hand at her sister, signaling for her to shut up. "Why would they be stuck here? If we can get out, which I doubt is the case, but if we can they should be able to as well."

Miltia groaned, losing patience. "But if it is a way out, and we take it, Deadb3ar will definitely close it off and probably take out her anger on anyone who's left behind! If we send people to get them once we find that it's a means of escape, Deadb3ar will stop them, maybe even kill them!"

Blake looked up to Cardin. "She's right. We need to get everyone there all at once. Otherwise, we're risking their lives and our own."

Cardin sighed in defeat. "Alright, go get them. The rest of us will wait outside the library."

Miltia nodded. "Okay, but... I can get the other three, but I don't exactly know where Weiss is."

Velvet squeezed past Cardin. "I know where she is. I can get her."

Without even acknowledging her, Miltia turned and bolted off in the direction of Sky's room. She could get Ren and Pyrrha along the way. Velvet ran down a different hall, heading for the greenhouse. They both heard Cardin calling after them.

"If you're not back in ten minutes, we're leaving without you!"


Author's Notes: Major setup chapter here. I'm still setting up for stuff, but it's picking up. I'm now promising eight trials in this story, so you shouldn't be asking whether or not they escape but rather what's going on in the library. MERE MORTALITY CAN'T KEEP NORA FROM TALKING!

So, an awesome point to anyone who can figure out where I got the "There's a ghost in there!" thing from. Five awesome points to anyone who can guess what's actually going on in the library. (It's not Alter Ego/Nora 2.0) Ten awesome points to anyone who can figure out where the next murder is gonna come from. Twenty to anyone who can tell me the exact plot for the next several chapters.