Dead By Roselight

Chapter 13: The Wraith

Time seemed to slow down for Yang, as she watched something she could only describe as a human-shaped monster appear out of thin air, accompanied by the ringing of a bell. Whatever this creature was, he was incredibly tall with thing and long limbs. He was also dressed in rags and had dark gray skin with some white markings over his face. But the most frightening thing about this monster had to be the items he was carrying. In his left hand was a large bell and in his right hand was a club that had been made from the skull and spine of a human.

The creature had appeared so suddenly that no one in the group was able to react fast enough. Had the situation been any different, someone in the group could have possibly prevented what was going to happen next. Unfortunately, that wasn't going to happen, as the creature lifted up it's weapon and brought it down upon it's victim. Howard wasn't even able to look behind him to see who was attacking him, before the club smashed into his head. Blood and bits of the black-haired man's brains flew all around him, before his lifeless corpse fell to the ground.

Upon seeing one of their comrades get killed, the rest of the group was finally able to snap out of their shock. Graham shouted something, most likely and order for everyone to run away, yet it didn't reach Yang. The blonde was frozen in shock, as she sat still and stared at the monster that had just killed someone she had just been talking to.

Yang was certain that she would die, as she was a perfect prey for the killer. Despite how much she wanted to run, her body wouldn't move. The fear and terror going through her body were holding her still. The creature only needed to take a couple of steps towards her and she would within striking range.

However, much to Yang's confusion, the killer didn't start moving towards her. Instead, his attention seemed to be focused on something else entirely. The brawler followed the monster's gaze and saw what he was looking at. His eyes were focused on Phillips, who staring up at the killer in complete terror. Tears were falling down from the boy's eyes and he was struggling to scream, except his fear stopped any sound coming from him.

Yang immediately realized what the killer was going to do. Even if she was an easy prey, so was Phillips, who was actually closer to him. Upon realizing this, a new feeling took over the blonde's body, completely replacing the fear and terror she had been feeling previously. This was the feeling of protectiveness that Yang had built from being Ruby's older sister her whole life. Now this feeling was making her protect Phillips, causing her to dash towards the boy, pick him up and run away, missing the killer's attack only by a narrow margin.

With the purple-haired boy in her arms, the blonde started to run as fast as she could towards the direction the rest of the group had ran to. As she was running, Yang heard the familiar sound of a bell ringing and looked behind her. She saw how the killer seemed to disappear into thin air, with the bell's sound accompanying him.

"What the hell is that thing!?" Yang asked, completely freaked out by the disappearing monster. "Where the did he suddenly disappear to!? And how did he appear out of nowhere!?"

"T-T-That's The Wraith!" Phillips managed to answer. "He uses his bell to turn invisible, so we can't see where he comes from!"

"What!? Seriously!?" the brawler yelled. "What am I supposed to do against that!?"

"There are a couple of things you can do while facing against The Wraith!" the boy began to explain. "Even when he turns invisible, he isn't completely invisible! You can see his faint outline as he moves around, but it's difficult to notice! Not only that, but you can see his body brushing against things like grass, which tell you his location! And lastly, he can't attack while he's invisible! He always has to ring his bell to turn back before he can attack you!"

"That's some good information!" Yang said. "How do you know all that!?"

"Our group has faced him numerous times, which allowed Ruby to pick up certain things that helped us face him!" Phillips replied. "She collected everything she could into that diary of hers!"

For a moment, Yang could feel pride swell up in her chest. Even after everything she, Weiss and Blake had done to her and getting trapped in this world, Ruby was still doing her best to help people. The redhead was truly born Huntress.

After running for some time, the blonde decided to stop and take a quick break in order to catch her breath. She put Phillips down on the ground and leaned against a tree, while panting heavily. Yang looked all around her, trying her best to see if The Wraith was anywhere nearby. Seeing no signs of the killer, the brawler sat down on the ground, hoping to build back her stamina a bit.

Yang looked at Phillips, who was sitting next to her, and saw that the boy was quite shaken by what had happened. It was at this moment that the blonde noticed all the blood that had splattered over Phillips' face when Howard died. Yang realized how her young companion must be terrified, considering how he had just witnessed someone die right in front of his eyes.

Deciding to try and comfort Phillips, the brawler put her arm around his shoulders and pulled him into a warm hug. She hoped to provide at least some sort of comfort to calm him down.

"Hey. It's going to be okay. I'm here for you, okay?" Yang whispered to the boy in a comforting tone. "I'm sorry about what happened back there."

"Y-You mean H-Howard?" Phillips asked in a scared tone. "I-It's okay. A-After I came here, I've seen m-many people die right in front of my eyes, so-"

The boy didn't get to finish his sentence, as the blonde suddenly pulled him into a tight hug with both arms. It was like she was trying to shield him with her own body.

"Even if you have seen it many times already, it doesn't make things easier," Yang whispered. "Besides, you shouldn't have to get used to something like that. I may have chosen to become a Huntress, so facing death and horrible situations is something I should be ready for. You shouldn't have to do something like that."

The two survivors stayed like that for a moment, with the brawler holding the boy until he had calmed down. Once she could feel him somewhat relax, she let him go.

"T-Thank you, Ms. Xiao Long," Phillips said politely. "If it hadn't been for you, I would have surely died."

"It's okay, Phillips," Yang said back with a smile. "And you can call me just Yang, by the way."

"O-Okay. I'll keep that in mind," the purple-haired boy said with a slight smile, which soon disappeared when he remembered their current situation. "We should probably start moving soon. T-The Wraith could be anywhere near us and we need to find the others."

"How did that monster suddenly catch us off-guard like that?" the blonde girl asked. "I thought that the area we are currently in was supposed to be a safe zone of sorts. Did we somehow accidentally end up in his area or something?"

"N-No. All killers have their own realms that they inhabit. The Wraith's realm is an abandoned junkyard, so we are not there," Phillips explained. "The only reason that a killer would attack us here is that we have stayed here for too long, causing The Entity to release one of the killers after us."

"Did we stay around here that long? Didn't feel like that to me."

"Hard to say. I'm not exactly clear on what kind of rules The Entity follows. There is also the chance that-"

*SNAP!*

The sound of a branch being stepped on and breaking in half, stopped Phillips' explanation. Both he and Yang went wide-eyed and silent from the sound and started to furiously look around, fearing that The Wraith could be nearby. For a moment, neither survivor made any sound, as they did their best to hear or see the killer. After a while of not finding anything, both of them relaxed, thinking that they were safe.

"I guess that was nothing. We should-"

Yang was cut off by a new sound, but this was much more terrifying. It was the familiar sound of a bell ringing and it came from very close. The blonde didn't even bother looking around to find The Wraith, as she simply grabbed Phillips and ran away, narrowly avoiding the killer's club once again.

Running through the forest as fast as she could Yang tried to lose The Wraith, while carrying her young comrade in her arms. She could hear the loud sound of footsteps behind her, telling her that the monster was chasing after her. As she was running, the brawler tried her best to think of a way to somehow escape, but nothing came to mind. She was essentially defenseless in this world, so all she could do was run.

Suddenly, Yang noticed something ahead of her. They were getting closer to the edge of the forest, which was followed by an open field. The blonde didn't know why, but for some reason she could tell that she needed to get there. This caused Yang to speed up, allowing her to reach the forest's edge much quicker.

It didn't take long until the blonde had managed to get out of the forest and enter the field. Unfortunately, as soon as she reached the field's edge, she tripped on a rather large rock, causing her to fall down. For a moment, Yang laid on the ground, dizzy from the fall. But as soon as her mind was cleared, she remembered the killer that had been chasing her. She looked behind her in panic, expecting to see The Wraith running up to her, but only saw the killer standing still at the edge of the forest, staring at her.

"What the...? Why isn't it moving?" Yang asked while standing up. "We are right here, pretty much on a silver platter for him. Why would he give up so suddenly?"

"I don't think it's about giving up. It's probably more likely that he just can't go any further," Phillips explained while getting up as well. "We are probably close to the realm of another killer, so he can't come any further. All killers have their own areas and don't enter the realms of others."

"I guess that makes sense... By the way, are you okay?" the blonde asked, worried that her young comrade might have been hurt in the fall. "That was a pretty nasty fall. I'm sorry if you got hurt because of me."

"I'm okay. Only a little bruised," the purple-haired boy answered. "Besides, you saved my life two times, so I'm not about to start complaining."

"That's good to hear. Now come on. Let's get away from here. That guy might not be able to get to us, but he's still giving me the creeps."

The two survivors started to make their way away from The Wraith, leaving the killer behind to stare after them. Once they had gotten away far enough, they heard the ringing of a bell, telling them that The Wraith had used his invisibility and had most likely left.

Yang and Phillips walked around the field they had arrived to, hoping to find the rest of their group somewhere. Due to the panic The Wraith had caused with it's sudden attack, the two survivors had gotten separated from the whole group. They might have headed somewhat towards the same direction Graham and the others had run to, but it wasn't certain that they would see any of their comrades. To make matters worse, they couldn't try calling out for any of their comrades, as other killers could be nearby.

Luckily, after some time, the two survivors noticed a group of people in the distance. They picked up their pace and began to run towards them, hoping that it was their comrades they were seeing. Much to their relief, this turned out to be the case. The two survivors were also happy to see that everyone had made it out alive, with the exception of Howard, of course.

"Yang! Phillips! You guys made it!" Victoria yelled happily as she ran up to meet her two comrades. "We were so worried over you two! We thought that The Wraith might have gotten you both!"

"It nearly did, but we managed to get away from him," Yang said with a smile, happy to see that the others were safe.

"Yang actually saved me, and not just once, but twice!" Phillips told Victoria happily, but then a sad expression came over his face, when he remembered the comrade they had lost. "But Howard didn't make it..."

"Howard's loss pains us all, but we have to move on," Graham said in a comforting tone, as he walked up to the two newly-arrived comrades. "I know this is going to be especially hard on you, as you and Howard often worked together in fixing the generators. I'm afraid that we are going to have to rely on you a lot more from now on, but it can't be helped. Out of all in our group, you're the best suited for fixing those machines."

"I-I understand..." the purple-haired boy said while looking down at the ground, feeling a heavy burden on his shoulders.

Yang frowned a bit at how the blonde man had talked to Phillips. The way she saw it, the boy was already burdened enough with having to survive in this nightmarish world, along with having to cope with the loss of someone he knew. Placing more burdens on the boy couldn't be good.

However, before Yang could say anything about how she disapproved of the way Graham was handling the situation, the blonde man spoke again.

"But remember, Phillips, you are definitely not doing this all on your own," Graham spoke up. "You still have all of us with you and we will help you to the best of our abilities. You don't have to worry about everything, as we will be here for you."

"A-Alright... Thank you..." Phillips said with a small smile.

Happy to see that her young friend wasn't so saddened anymore, Yang managed to smile a bit. The situation they were in might be horrible, but they couldn't afford to lose hope. Once they did, all would be lost.

"Also, while you and Yang were away, we might have found out what caused The Wraith to come after us so suddenly, despite the fact that we hadn't stayed in the safe zone for all that long," Graham suddenly said, getting the attention of both Yang and Phillips.

"Oh, that reminds me. When we were hiding from the killer, Phillips was about to tell me about something that could have caused that monster to come chase after us so suddenly," the blonde girl said, thinking back on the conversation she had earlier with the purple-haired boy. "Can you tell me what happened?"

"Certainly. The reason for The Wraith coming after us so suddenly is because of our new friend," the blonde man explained, as Bill dragged a new person to them by the back of his shirt. It was a young man in his early 20's with short brown hair, who was wearing a yellow west over a white T-shirt, green cargo pants and black combat boots. "This here is Brad. We happened to run into him while running away from The Wraith. He was hiding behind a tree we ran past and took him with us. Turns out he had been hiding there for quite some time. Isn't that right, Brad?"

"Well, what should I have been doing!?" the brown-haired man yelled angrily. "I've been running around this nightmare of a world with monsters behind every turn, so can you blame me for hiding!? I'm no fighter, so all I can do is either run or hide!"

"That wouldn't be a problem, except your hiding got one of our buddies killed," Bill said as he glared at the newcomer. "You're lucky that the others stopped me from making you pay for that."

Before Brad could defend himself, Yang decided to step up to him and speak up.

"Listen, Brad. I understand completely your wish to simply hide from all of this, as I've seen the horrors this world has. I'm not even going to blame you for Howard's death, as I doubt you had any way of knowing about what was happening," the blonde girl said. "However, hiding is not going to save you in here. Right now, we need to work together in order to get out of here alive."

"Oh really!? And how exactly are we going to do that!? Did it ever perhaps occur to you that there is no way out of here!?" Brad asked in a sarcastic tone.

"I don't know how it's done, but I know it can be done," Yang answered. "I've actually met someone that was trapped here and managed to escape. The whole reason as to why I am in here is to rescue my sister from here."

For a moment, the brown-haired man was silently staring at the brawler, thinking about what she had just told him. While he still had his doubts about her claim of there being a way out of this world, the idea was still very tempting. He didn't want to stay in this horrible place for any longer and he would do anything to get out of here. Right now, the best option seemed to be to join this group and hopefully escape this world.

"Alright, that sounds promising, but what exactly are we going to do?" Brad asked. "How are we going to find the exit from this nightmare?"

"That is something we are going to find out," Graham answered. "Right now, we don't know how to get out of this world, but we are working on finding it out. I would recommend for you to come with us, as you're going to be safer in a group and you'll have a better chance of getting out of here."

With their new member now tagging along, the group of survivors started walking again, hoping to find something that would help them escape this world.

As they were moving, Yang couldn't help but think about her sister. Ruby was still out there, trapped in this world as well. While the blonde was willing to do anything she could to save her, she couldn't say the same thing about her comrades. Brad certainly didn't seem like he would care about the missing Huntress, and there was no knowing if any of the members in the group felt that way, too. If it ever came down to choosing between Ruby and escaping, how many would choose saving the redhead? And more importantly, if Yang didn't have any help, could she save her sister on her own?

Yang could only hope that she wouldn't have to find out.

Author's notes: This will be all we are going to see of The Wraith, so don't expect him to appear again in this story. The reason for this is that there are so many killers that could be fun to use that I don't want to use any of them multiple times.

As for why The Wraith stopped following Yang and Phillips, the reason is that he got too close to another killer's realm. The way things work in this story is that each killer inhabits their own hunting grounds, where they chase the survivors and one can find the generators hidden there. The killers also have some of the area surrounding these hunting grounds as part of their own realms, but they don't enter these areas, except for special circumstances. This is when a survivor has been hiding in a non-hunting ground area for too long, causing The Entity to release the closest killer from their hunting ground. What essentially happened is that Brad was hiding in The Wraith's non-hunting ground area for too long, causing him to be released, which was unfortunate for Yang's group, who were in the same area. However, once Yang got into the area of another killer, The Wraith couldn't chase her anymore.

Now to reveal the references of last chapter's characters:

Lucy: As I suspected, a lot of you managed to guess this one. She is based on the character from the anime series "Elfen Lied".

Howard and Phillips: Both are named after the famous horror author H. P. Lovecraft, whose full name is Howard Phillips Lovecraft.

Eloy: He is a character from TeamFourStar's "TFS At The Table" series. He is a donkey centaur bard character that Ben "Hb2ik" Creighton played in the series.

Congratulations on anyone who managed to get any of these correctly. And now, who can guess where Brad comes from? I'll give you a hint. He is a minor character from a popular horror video game series. The game he appeared in was on the original PlayStation.

Until next time.

RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth and Dead by Daylight belongs to Behaviour Interactive.