Ask what Weiss is talking about.
The group froze, looking over at Weiss in shock. Jaune?
"Weiss...What do you mean?" Ruby inquired hesitantly, "WQ told us Jaune doesn't exist. How can he be the dead entity?"
Weiss lingered a moment before explaining. "He isn't. He was. This corpse is an entity. This entity was Jaune. This entity's origin is Jaune. Jaune doesn't exist, this entity is dead; they have both met their end."
"But, how do you know this?" Ruby asked.
"I don't know how, but I can see it. Like...I suppose you could say it's like looking back at the entity's history, all the way back to its human state."
Check Jaune's Inventory.
It won't open. After a few tries, Ruby manages to get it open, but it's not in good condition. It appears to be empty.
Examine scraps in Weiss' inventory.
When Ruby asks her for them Weiss hands them over without hesitance. The note is covered in dried blood, much similar to those that were found earlier. It doesn't make much sense…Pyrrha had the rest.
Ask Velvet what's got her attention.
Resuming their walk to the offices, Ruby didn't know that something was going on with the rabbit Faunus. Velvet then strode alongside Ruby.
"Ruby...Can I talk to you?" The tone in her voice implied that this conversation would be private.
Once they were a decent distance away Velvet looks at Ruby, rubbing an arm nervously before she starts. "About Weiss..." She says tentatively.
"Yeah?"
"I know it wasn't technically Weiss, but... that entity WQ - she ate someone." Ruby has no response to this, and just listens as Velvet continues. "A person... someone we knew."
The reality of the situation weighs heavily on Ruby's mind. "Christ. Yeah."
Velvet fidgets a bit before going on. "The question that bugs me is... should we tell her? I mean, we don't really know how much she remembers, if anything. If she doesn't remember, is it right of us to keep her in the dark? We'll have to choose between keeping a huge secret from her, or telling her an awful truth."
She makes a good point.
"Yeah. I'll think about it." Ruby assures her.
"...If it was me, I'd want my teammates to tell me something like that." Velvet states in a quavering voice.
The mention of her team reminds Ruby that they had found Velvet alone in the cafeteria. It never crossed her mind before to ask about where the others were.
"Velvet, your teammates... I'm sorry I forgot to ask sooner - where are they? Do you know?" Velvet's face became grave, tears brimming her eyes as she seemed to reminisce something terrible. Realizing her carelessness, Ruby felt guilty for dredging up old pains.
"Velvet? Oh...Oh man, I'm sorry, I didn't know if-"
Her apology was cut off when Velvet spoke, her tone a low mumble. "No, it's, it's okay." After inhaling an unsteady breath she answers somberly. "They didn't make it."
Ruby stays with Velvet until she completely calms down. The two then rejoin the rest of the group, though Velvet keeps to herself.
Talk to King.
What is happening to him?
What do the horns mean?
Pester him until he gives.
It doesn't take a lot of pestering before King starts talking.
"...Ｆｉｒｓｔ ｏｆ ａｌｌ, ｌｅｔ ｉｔ ｂｅ ｋｎｏｗｎ ｔｈａｔ Ｉ ｈａｄ ｎｏ ｉｄｅａ ｔｈｉｓ ｗｏｕｌｄ ｈａｐｐｅｎ. Ｆｏｒ ａ ｌｏｎｇ ｔｉｍｅ ｎｏｗ, Ｉ ｈａｖｅ ｂｅｅｎ ｃｏｎｆｕｓｅｄ ａｎｄ ｓｃａｒｅｄ. Ｉ ｓｔｉｌｌ ａｍ, ｂｕｔ Ｉ ｔｈｉｎｋ Ｉ ｋｎｏｗ ｗｈａｔ'ｓ ｈａｐｐｅｎｉｎｇ." King reaches up a hand up to touch one of the longer horns as he continues. "ＷＱ ｗａｓ ｎｏｔ ｗｒｏｎｇ ｗｈｅｎ ｓｈｅ ｌｉｋｅｎｅｄ ｉｔ ｔｏ ａ ｗｅｅｄ. Ｓｏｍｅｈｉｎｇ ｈａｓ ｔａｋｅｎ ｒｏｏｔ ｈｅｒｅ. [Ｔｈａｔ Ｇｕｙ] ｅｘｉｓｔｓ ｈｅｒｅ ｎｏｗ. Ｍａｙｂｅ ｈｅ ａｌｗａｙｓ ｄｉｄ. Ｂｕｔ ｈｅ'ｓ ｇｒｏｗｉｎｇ." His next words become more cryptic. "Ｈｅ ｗｈｏ ｓｈｏｕｌｄ ｎｏｔ ｅｘｉｓｔ - Ｔｈａｔ Ｇｕｙ ｉｓ ｉｎ ｈｅｒｅ. Ｉｎ ｍｙ ｈｅａｄ. Ｉ ｄｉｄｎ'ｔ ｋｎｏｗ. Ｉ'ｍ ｓｏｒｒｙ. Ｈｅ'ｓ ｃｏｍｉｎｇ ｔｏ ｋｉｌｌ ｙｏｕ."
"What do we do? There has to be a way to stop it!" Ruby exclaims.
King looks to her sadly. "...Ｙｅｓ. -Ｗｅｌｌ, Ｉ ｄｏｎ'ｔ ｋｎｏｗ ｆｏｒ ｓｕｒｅ ｂｕｔ Ｉ ｔｈｉｎｋ..." His eye looks down, away from Ruby's determined gaze. "Ｙｏｕ ｓｈｏｕｌｄ ｋｉｌｌ ｍｅ ｎｏｗ."
"What? No!" Ruby didn't want to kill King. He's been with them during most of this nightmarish environment, always lending a hand even when it wasn't required for him to do so. Without King, many things would've gone wrong for them. Though Ruby knew it would eventually come to this, she still wished for another way. "There has to be something else-" Ruby attempted to argue, but King would have none of it.
"Ｒｕｂｙ." He said forcefully, stopping her from saying more. "Ｐｌｅａｓｅ. Ｇｒａｎｔ ｍｅ ｔｈｉｓ ｏｎｅ ｗｉｓｈ." He nearly begged.
Put King out of his misery.
King stood before her, his large eye focused on the ground, unable to make himself look at Ruby. "Ｒｕｂｙ." He uttered solemnly, prepared for the inevitable.
He looks up at Ruby, a relieved look in his eye when he hears the whirring and click of a weapon activating.
"Ｉ'ｍ ｇｌａｄ ｙｏｕ ｕｎｄｅｒｓｔａｎｄ."
"King..."
Shoot King, before Monarch arrives.
Ruby wasn't sure who this 'Monarch' was, but it must've been [that guy] King had mentioned earlier. The one who was coming to kill them.
Ruby closes her eyes, gripping Crescent Rose tightly. "I'm sorry." What she was sorry for, she wasn't quite sure. There were so many things that she could say as her final words, and all she could manage was 'sorry'.
"Ｐｌｅａｓｅ, ｈｕｒｒｙ!" King urged her frantically.
Shoot King, before Monarch takes full hold.
We can explain to the others later.
This needs to be done NOW.
Ruby opens her eyes, a resolve firm in her mind. She looks at King with determined eyes.
This has to be done.
Kill King.
Before Ruby is able to raise her weapon, Weiss cries out. Ruby turns to find her clutching at her head. In the same moment King is in a similar fashion. Moaning in agony as he covers his face. Ruby watches the spikes on King's head grow exponentially as he's doubled over.
The two recover simultaneously shortly after, and Ruby finds King is no longer himself. Where his Eye/Mouth would be is now a blank orifice, seemingly scribbled out in red, as if to emphasize King's erasure.
Hands still clutching his face, he moves one to grip a corner of his head. The part has been severely cracked by the growth of the thorns. Without any hesitance a sickening crunch is heard as he pulls off the corner entirely. Blood sticks to the piece, and is splattered and pouring everywhere on King and his immediate surroundings. Ruby can see a tuft of something pale poking out of the exposed area.
Everyone is struck by a collective shock, unable to act in any way. More of King's head cracks and splinters, and are pulled away like the first. They simply watch the events unfold before them as 'King' takes apart the rest of his head.
KILL KING.
TOO LATE.
WE'RE GOING TO DIE.
As the thoughts ring in her head, Ruby blinks several times and snaps out of her stupor. She raises her weapon with nervous hands and takes aim. While the being in front of her removes a final piece attached to it, Ruby puts her finger on the trigger. When it looks at her with menacing red pupils, she fires.
As the bullet flies toward its mark this new entity moves its arm, so fast it's almost a blur, and a small explosion erupts suddenly. As the smoke clears it is obvious that the entity remains mostly unharmed.
Its arm is blackened with slight burns, and a large scorch mark sizzles on a wall next to it. It straightens itself, and looks directly at Ruby with a sinister smirk. Blood flows from the thorns protruding from its head to travel down its face.
"ＲＵＢＹ."
Ruby feels some sweat trail from her forehead down her cheek, as she listens to its voice. It sounds...
"Ｄｏ ｙｏｕ ｋｎｏｗ ｗｈｏ Ｉ ＡＭ?"
Realization dawns on Ruby's face, as well as the others, the fear in their hearts growing stronger at each syllable.
Its voice, sounds exactly like Ozpin's.
All of the smoke having cleared by now, it made the figure perfectly visible. The thorns on his head encircle it like a crown. His ears are pointed, and his razor fangs seem to gleam with the satisfied smirk he wears at their reactions. In the middle of its forehead is a third eye, an 'X' acting as the pupil.
Everything about this creature screams Ozpin, from the clothes it wears, to the spectacles that rest on its face.
If Ruby's thoughts were right, they were so screwed.
A/N: a bit longer than usual cuz of update 0100 hype. There's this neato burrito vid that you can watch, which depicts the rise of Monarch. Go check it out.
youtu,be/xLvtNCAF6zY Just replace comma with period.