Hello, Fanatics, I'm coming at you with a new chapter!
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Ch. 22: I kill some fools
Ruby, Third person:
Ruby got use to the whole "hovering" deal surprisingly fast. After some tentative, wobbly trials, she got the hang of it and was off the the weapon's workshop. She noticed that hovering was much faster than walking, and reached her destination quickly. Looking around, she saw that the storage closet that held the best equipment was glowing slightly. She grinned widely.
"Sweet!" She flew towards the door and fistpumped, "Got it in the first try!...Now what do I do?"
Ruby sat there for a bit, but quickly grew bored and decided to pass the time with one of her favorite hobbies: Weapon maintenance. She pulled out Crescent Rose and spun it around until it was in full scythe mode. The change was immediate, suddenly she grew back to her normal height, fingers and all.
"Woah!" She shouted in surprise, "Not that I'm complaining, but why am I suddenly normal?"
She heard footsteps from behind her.
"Probably because you're a lot scarier with that oversized knife-on-a-stick." Said a very tired Weiss carrying a large briefcase.
"Weiss, what are you doing here? And what's with the briefcase? AND DON'T YOU DARE CALL MY SWEETHEART-"
"Well…" Weiss interrupted, "it's a long story…"
Weiss, flashback:
Weiss finally arrived at her dorm room and looked around. She saw that Yang's closet was wide open, while Gray and Yang were looking around inside. She was about to make her presence known when Gray said something about home movies, opened a door, and the whole room was suddenly filled with lewd noises. Too many noises to just be Gray and Yang doing….that.
Not wanting to find out, Weiss instead searched for a door with a glow in it. After only a few moments, she found that the briefcase she kept her dust in was glowing. Knowing immediately that it was her's, she picked it up and left before she could be caught eavesdropping on a maybe-intimate moment. Deciding it would be best to pair up with someone, she went down the list of candidates. Gray and Yang were...busy, and Darce was stuck in the cafeteria, which left Ruby and Blake. Blake was no doubt in the library, and Ruby would probably be in the workshop. Her mental map of the school told her that her partner was closer, so she sprinted out of the dorm building and ran.
Present:
"And I'd rather not waste time telling it. Have you found your door?"
In response, Ruby gestured with her newly acquired thumb towards the closet.
"Yeah, over there. I got bored, so I was thinking of working on Crescent Rose."
"Um, Ruby, you do realize that this is a dream, right? That's not actually your scythe, so anything you do won't translate to real life."
"Oh, that's fine, I work on her all the time in my dreams. It's more to just pass the time."
"I...see." Weiss replied simply.
'That makes way too much sense.' She thought in her head.
Just as Ruby was about to open her mouth to say something else, there was a loud crash as a shot broke through the window and ricocheted off the wall only a few inches from Weiss' head.
"Holy crap!" Ruby yelled and tackled Weiss to safety behind a worktable.
The announcement speakers crackled to life.
Yang:
"Gray, I said I was sorry!" Yang apologized to a glowing bathroom door.
Gray gave no response and Yang wondered, not for the first time, if he hadn't gone through one of the many doors inside the one in front of her. After Gray escaped the ropes and beat the living shit out of that nightmare doctor, he'd surprised Yang by picking her up, throwing her out of the door, and locking it behind her. That had been five minutes ago, and he hadn't made a peep since he shouted "GO AWAY" about four minutes ago.
"GGGGGGrrrrrrraaaaaa-" Her pleading was interrupted as the speakers in the hallway began saying something in a voice that almost sounded like Darce's, but...different.
Blake:
Blake was gently squeezing Darce's bespectacled subconscious for information.
"You watch this web-series a lot?" She asked
"All the time." He said in his usual distracted tone, still not even looking at her.
"And one of the main protagonists is a cat faunus named Blake?"
"Mmhmm."
"What happens to her?"
"Stuff." He replied.
Blake bit her lip in concentration. She noticed in the beginning of the questioning that the more vague the question, the more vague the answer. She needed to be more specific.
"Does she ever get free from her past?"
"Not in the first two seasons."
"What about after?"
"I don't know, I never saw the third season."
"how…" She sighed, deciding to ask one last question, "How would you react if someone you trusted went into your head and learned all your secrets without your consent or knowledge?"
"I'd probably feel really betrayed. Going into someone's head like that is the ultimate breach of trust and privacy."
Blake sighed, starting to feel guilty. The information she'd learned was literally world-changing, but that didn't excuse how she'd obtained it.
She was pondering whether or not to explore the library a bit when the speakers turned on.
Darce:
"Do you have any nines?"
"Go fish." Lumen said after looking through his hand.
I picked up a card from the deck.
"Got any kings?" He asked.
"Nope, go fish. Do you have any twos? Oh and, while you're at it, I think I've figured something out about you."
"And what would that be?(Yeah, here)"
"You said earlier that you've been going by two names, I think I know who you've been playing as.(Sweet, any threes?)"
He chuckled a bit.
"What gave me away?(Go fish. Eights?)"
"Mostly the eyes, but you really could've done something about your voice, all you did was get rid of that pseudo-chicago accent of yours. I'm surprised none of the others recognized you, especially Gray.(Go fish. Do you have any aces?) Though, I suppose there were a bit distracted."
"Well, they're not the most observant bunch of angsty teenaged protagonists.(You're on fire, kid. Here)"
The speakers above them, making me jump a little.
"Look alive, Sunshine." Puck said in a sinister tone. I immediatly realized what Puck was doing and facepalmed.
"Please tell me he's not-
"109 in the sky, but the pigs won't quit! You're here with me, Dr. Death Implying!"
"He is." Lumen said almost apologetically.
"I'll be your surgeon, your proctor, your helicopter! Pumpin' out the slaughtermatic moves to make you die!" Puck continued.
"He's using my memories to make an awful parody of a good song." I complained as I rubbed my temples.
"A system failure for the masses, anti-matter for the master plan! Louder than God's revolver and twice as shiny. This one's for all you hunters: all you dust-mages, and grim-reaper-wannabes! Listen up!" The speakers went dead.
My eyes widened and a cold chill ran down my spine.
"That's Weiss and Ruby."
Gray:
"That's Ruby!" I heard Yang cry,"Gray, if you can hear me, I need you to guard my door while I go help Ruby!"
I heard a few footsteps as she ran to her sister's rescue. Just as I was going to open my door and leave, my scroll buzzed. It was a text from Darce.
"The Hunters go marching five by five. Hurra! Hurra!"
"What?" I asked outloud.
My scroll buzzed again, another text:
"The Hunters go marching five by five. Hurra! Hurra!"
"That's the same thing, Darce." I said, letting my irritation show in my voice.
"The Hunters go marching five by five. The little one took a swan dive, but the rest kept marching all through the school, in the search for me."
Oh...not Darce, Puck. This is bad. It buzzed again, this time it was a picture.
"Oh my god!" I shouted in horror.
Puck:
There's something wrong with my head
Everything's so….
Funny
It's like I'm high
But at the same time
I've never been clearer
I needed to kill them
they were getting in my way
they needed to die
They wanted Mab to fail
Mab can't fail
I can't fail Mab
I found the red and white ones in a workshop
I had a sniper rifle for some reason
I didn't question it
I just fired
And laughed
I kept laughing until I stopped shooting
I kept shooting until they were dead
They needed to die
So they died
Only one didn't
The red one protected the white one
With her body
The white one cried for a bit
Then picked her up
and ran
Even as her white became red
But not before I got a picture
So I sent it to my target
With a little something
To add my particular flare
Like signing an art piece
So that he knew how good I was
And maybe come with me peacefully
Maybe Mab would like it too.
I followed the white-turned-red one
Silently blending with the shadows
She met the yellow one
And the yellow one, too, turned red
Maybe red was contagious
Red isn't my color
So I keep my distance
I quietly chuckle to myself
Lining up my next shot
The Hunters were marching four by four
Hurra! Hurra!
The Hunters were marching four by four
Hurra! Hurra!
The Hunters were marching four by four
The big one now breathes no more
But the rest kept marching
All through the school
In the search for me.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Two shots to the back
One to the head
The yellow-turned-red one died instantly
The white one screamed and dropped the red one
She ran again
I wouldn't kill her
Yet
She still needed to lead me to her little black friend
And Him
Before I follow her, I take another picture
And sent it to my target
And I laugh.
Blake:
Blake discovered that the books in here weren't books, but memories and knowledge.
Right now she was reading about American history and learning Earth's culture. On the surface, Earth shared a lot of similarities with Remnant. But deep down, they couldn't be further apart. It almost sounded like a paradise: No Grimm, no dust mines, no White Fang, no Roman Torchwick. But it also seemed so...empty. There was no dust, no aura, no semblances, no huntresses or huntsmen, and no faunus. Instead of discrimination of faunus, the humans discriminated each other based off skin color! And being too colorful wasn't seen as self-expression either, it was seen as childish and rebellious. Earth entranced and baffled her at the same time. Just as she was getting to a large part about something called "Shipping", the door burst open and Weiss crashed through, covered in blood.
"OhmygodBlakethey'redeadthey'realldead!" Weiss cried and sobbed into Blake's shoulder.
"Weiss, calm down." Blake said as soothingly as possible with this sudden surprise, her instincts telling her to comfort her friend.
"Ruby and Yang are dead!" Weiss was in a full on panic and cried uncontrollably while practically clinging to Blake.
'Shit, there goes half of us.'
"Shh, shh, it's okay." Blake patted her back awkwardly, "It's all a dream, remember? They're fine. Right now they're waking up in the real world and probably just munching on the snacks you and Ruby brought us before we got suck into this."
Ruby:
Ruby was sitting in a chair, munching on snacks as she watched her friends sleep on the floor. Yang suddenly jerked awake and sat up.
"What happened?" She asked, looking at her surroundings.
"You probably died. Cookie?" Ruby offered.
Yang looked at Ruby for a very long moment before leading up and tackling her sister in a bear hug.
"Oh my god, Ruby, don't you ever scare me like that again!" Yang cried, crushing her little sister with her love.
"Y-y-y-a-a-a-n-n-n-g-g-g...a-air…" Ruby managed to choke out.
Yang quickly released her, but still gave her a concerned look.
"I thought you were dead." Yang explained simply.
"Yeah, not so much." Ruby said with a wide grin, "I'm fine, Yang."
"Alright, alright. Weiss tells me you sacrificed yourself for her, care to explain?"
"She's my partner, and I knew I wouldn't really die, so I just went for it, ya' know?"
"Rrrriiiiggggghhhhtttt." Yang said slyly, "It wouldn't happen to be related to the reason you look at her in a certain way when you think nobody's looking, would it?"
"W-w-what? I-I don't know w-what you're talking about!" Ruby said, a furious blush spreading across her face.
"Sure, Ruby. Sure."
Maybe whiterose? depends how things play out. Anyway, I'll see you next week! Make sure to follow, favorite, review, PM, and Vote!