Gamer4 in. Halloween's-a comin' up- we're running short on time. Let's get right back to gettin'!

Episode XII

The Room

One Hour

"JAUNE!" Ruby cried. "Why didn't you leave while you still could?!"

"Because he didn't believe," the real Jaune said gravely. "Probably still doesn't, come to think of it."

As if to confirm their fears, Jaune simply gave a small smirk. "One hour, huh? Okay, I'll play your game, Whit... ley?"

He trailed off for a very simple reason- he suddenly couldn't hear anything. Not even his own voice. "...Hello?" he mouthed, the screen itself going silent to mimic his sudden deafness. "Hello?"

"That room isn't soundproofed!" Ruby whimpered.

"Even if it was, he'd be able to hear himself, you dunce," Weiss rolled her eyes.

Jaune approached the window, opening it up and peering down. Thirteen floors below, he made out the heavy traffic passing through Vale- but couldn't hear it. Only... very faintly...

He considered leaning further out, but choice was removed as the window suddenly slammed shut on his fingers. He let out a scream that pierced his own ears, at least returning his hearing.

The audience jumped. "Dirty trick, dirty trick!" Yang snarled.

Jaune screamed and cursed as he used his good hand to lift the window, which had smashed his fingers rather badly, particularly the index and middle. He rushed into the bathroom, angrily swatting at the shower curtains, leaving a trail of blood, before turning to the sink to wash off his hand.

After a few seconds, the faucet seemed to break, the water pouring out in jets- boiling hot jets. Jaune let out another scream of mixed pain and fury, struggling to turn it off unsuccessfully, before grabbing every towel from the nearby rack and using them to plug up the sink.

"Oh, dear," Pyrrha whimpered. "The prelude is over... the real games have begun."

Jaune hurried back into the bedroom and opened his bag, pulling out a bandana and hurriedly wrapping it around his injury. Just as he finished tying it, the radio began blaring again.

"The best is yet to come, and babe, won't it be fine? The best is yet to come, come the day you're mine!"

In mixed fury and (thought he'd not admit it to himself) a steadily-growing fear, Jaune collapsed onto the bed, grabbed the radio, and ripped it out of the wall.

The music stopped, but the countdown did not.

"Renny... I don't like this room anymore," Nora whimpered, cuddling up to Ren as tight as she could. Ren began running a gentle hand through her hair.

A phone rang- Jaune first picked up the one by his bed, but heard only a dial tone. Feverishly, he cast it aside and ran into the living room, picking up the phone by the window.

"Good evening, sir," came a very polite female voice. "We apologize- there's been a delay in the kitchen, your sandwich may be a few minutes late."

"Sandwich?" Jaune asked, taken aback. "What sandwich- I didn't order any-" he paused, taking deep breaths. "Listen, you win, okay? I need to check out- I'm hurt."

"He still doesn't get it?!" Weiss shrieked indignantly.

"Would you believe it yet?" Blake asked skeptically. "I'm pretty sure you only believe now because of the framing."

Weiss turned red and didn't answer.

Nor did the woman on the phone, as it happened. "Understood, sir. We can certainly substitute your side- would you like some fries? Coleslaw? Mac-"

"FORGET THE DAMN SANDWICH!" Jaune burst out. "I'M HURT, CAN'T YOU UNDERSTAND THAT?! DO I NEED TO SPELL IT OUT FOR YOU?! I'M DONE, I'M CHECKING OUT, CALL A CAB TO THE NEAREST HOSPITAL!"

If Jaune's outburst was surprising to the audience, it was still nothing compared to the woman's response:

"Sir, I will not tolerate you speaking to me like that."

"It's not the actual staff he's talking to," Jaune stated what they were all thinking, remembering how much everyone had tried to keep him out of the room in the first place- surely, they'd leap on any chance to get him out now.

"YOU IDIOT!" Jaune roared. "WHAT DO I HAVE TO DO TO GET THIS THROUGH TO YOU!? I'M HURT! KEEP UP THIS ACT, I CAN TALK TO WEISS SCHNEE AND HAVE THIS WHOLE PLACE SHUT DOWN!"

"He must be truly under duress," Blake commented. "I can't imagine he'd try using Weiss's name like that otherwise."

"He'd better not," Weiss agreed, trying to sound huffy while masking her desire to chew her own nails.

The woman seemed to only recognize one word- "Ah, Schnee? Would you like to speak with Mr. Schnee?"

"Yeah, wonderful, put him on!" Jaune threw his hand up in the air. At least it would feel better yelling at him.

The phone was replaced with muzak. As Jaune waited, he found himself looking over his shoulder. He sensed something near him- he saw nothing, but the hairs on the back of his neck were standing on end.

When the muzak went to a dial tone, he threw the phone down. Screw proper procedure, it was time to go.

"Yes! Yes!" Ruby cheered. "Get out of there!"

"It's already too late," Blake muttered ominously.

Jaune grabbed his bag, threw everything into it that he'd taken out, and rushed to the door. He fumbled with the knob, which wouldn't turn, before finally taking the key out and forcing it in. For a while, the key didn't turn either, until the handle broke off. Jaune stared in open-mouthed horror as the remainder of the key was seemingly sucked into the door, from which it did not return.

"Ohhh... I hate it when Blake's right," Ruby whimpered.

"...So do I," Blake admitted.

He didn't let it throw him off too much- he grabbed a pair of scissors from the kitchen and began struggling to pick the lock- he eventually heard a satisfying 'click!' and grabbed the knob- which came off in his hand.

All thoughts of pride or decorum abandoned, he began pounding on the door, screaming for help- he pulled back his foot and delivered several sharp kicks, but it was like trying to kick down a brick wall. He looked through the peephole, but was met with another eye, seemingly glaring back into his, causing him to reel backwards and nearly fall over the couch.

Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted the window. He dashed to it and began waving out for the building next to him. "Hey! Hey, you! Help!"

In a darkened room across the street from him was a man sitting at a desk. As if hearing his pleas for assistance, the man rose and turned to face him, still shrouded in shadow as he... began matching Jaune's movements exactly.

"What?" Pyrrha asked, befuddled.

Jaune seemed just as weirded out, but every move me made was mirrored by the man across the way. Jaune glanced to his side, and picked up a flashlight, attempting to shine it onto the man's face- it didn't reach, but the man mimicked his movements, picking up a flashlight and shining it onto his own face- which was identical to Jaune's.

"How... how far does this room's power extend?" Weiss asked, sounding truly rattled.

The other Jaune did not looked panicked- he was glaring back at the Jaune in 1408, paying no mind even as a deranged woman approached from behind and chopped his head open with an axe, as the original Jaune watched in horror.

There was a prickling on the back of Jaune's neck- he turned just in time to duck out of the way of the exact same woman swinging the exact same axe. He stumbled over his bed, landing heavily on the ground, spinning to raise his hands in self-defense- but the woman had vanished as quickly as she'd appeared.

"So much for subtlety," Blake attempted to cover her creeping dread with a hiss.

For a full minute, Jaune remained on the ground, struggling to get his breathing under control. Finally, he rose to his feet and returned to the window. The lamp the other Jaune had picked up was still casting light, revealing that the other him had disappeared entirely- dead or otherwise. Jaune turned and picked up a lamp of his own, unceremoniously ripping it out of the socket and tossing it out of the window in a desperate bid to attract attention.

It plummeted for several stories before seeming to... simply implode out of existence. Jaune closed his eyes, slowly turning to the table he'd taken it from, and opened them to find that the lamp was back, pristine as though he'd never touched it. He collapsed back onto his bed, vigorously rubbing his eyes with his wrists. "I'm losing my mind..."

"Anyone would be, with all this going on," Ruby whimpered, mimicking Nora by hiding behind Yang. Yang forced herself to stay strong, refusing to tremble in front of her sister.

"Jaune?" came a distant voice, causing Jaune to leap to his feet, looking around with wide eyes.

"What?" Nora squeaked, peering out over Ren's shoulder.

"What?" Jaune wondered, eyes widening.

"That's... that's me!" Pyrrha finally voiced their thoughts.

"Jaune, where are you? Keep talking, help me find you!"

Jaune squeezed himself into the corner. "No... no, nononono... it's just... this can't be happening... none of this is real..."

He stumbled out into the living room, glancing from afar at the clock radio- it had been fifteen minutes so far. It already felt like an eternity.

He looked around, and found his gaze drawn back up to the vent. "If there's a camera... that's where I'd put it..."

At the thought, anger coursed through him. "Are you enjoying this, Whitley? Are you enjoying this, you sick fuck?!"

"He still thinks this is all fake?" Weiss screeched.

"Of course he doesn't," Ren shook his head. "However, in this state of mind, he's willing to grasp any straw to avoid facing the awful truth."

Jaune, however, had suddenly broken into a smile. "Of course... Whitley."

He returned to the bedroom, looking at the large bottle of alcohol. "Did you ever take a drink of this? I don't think you did. You dosed me, you bastard- you dosed me!"

His shaking started to settle as he finally alighted on a rational explanation for everything that happened so far. "Very funny... but that makes it simple. I just need to wait this out- wait for it all to get out of my system."

"That may be a better idea than we think," Blake suggested. "The room doesn't seem to be actively harming him- it's trying to scare him into hurting himself. If he can just bunker down and treat it like a bad drug trip, he might get through the rest of this unscathed."

"And Vale Weekly might elect him sexiest person alive," Weiss snorted. Jaune winced, and Pyrrha glared at her.

He attempted to collapse into bed- and, as if that were a cue, the tv began flickering to life. He looked at it, and his breath stopped. The image on screen was that of a rooftop overlooking Beacon Academy, over which he and Pyrrha were dueling. He was, for a change, getting the upper hand on her, until, with a smirk, she swept his legs and left him on the ground.

A look entered Jaune's face- a look of mixed fury, terror... and abject despair.

"This... this is something that actually happened!" Jaune gaped.

"Our training..." Pyrrha nodded.

"I think we're about to get some insight into how our Jaune became that Jaune," Ren noted.

The Pyrrha in the tv giggled as she helped him to his feet. "Well done!" she praised. "Your swordplay has improved immensely!"

"Couldn't have done it without ya," Jaune responded as he brushed himself off.

"So, are you ready to move on to aura?"

"I'm... actually thinking we could skip aura tonight," Jaune replied bashfully, rubbing at the back of his neck. "I might just... go on a jog or something."

Jaune's jaw dropped- as did Pyrrha's. All of a sudden, they knew what the Jaune on screen was being forced to relive.

"Come on," Pyrrha countered. "I know you get frustrated, but you must keep trying! I'm sure we'll discover your semblance any day now!"

"That's... not it," Jaune admitted slowly. "It's just... dumb."

"What is it?" Pyrrha pressed, stepping forward and placing a hand on his shoulder. "Jaune, you know you can tell me."

And, as pain continued to riddle its way into 1408 Jaune, pain appeared on tv Pyrrha's face with Jaune's answer: "It's... Weiss."

"Oh," Pyrrha's face fell. "What... what about her?"

"What about me?" Weiss asked indignantly.

"I... asked her out to the dance... she shot me down. Big surprise, right?"

"He was devastated," Pyrrha recalled with a pointed glare. "He put everything on the line, and got shot down because somebody thought he was out for her money!"

"I-" Weiss faltered, but took the refuge offered when Phoenix the white-and-orange kitten jumped up onto her and began purring without provocation. Nacho did the same for Pyrrha, while Trico took a new napping station on Jaune's head, body draping down over either side.

"Good kitties," Crazy smiled.

"Huh... didn't know they'd do that," Georgie commented.

"Can I finally tal-" Stephen started to say before the screen started again.

"Oh," tv-Pyrrha looked even more put out. "Well... I believe the saying goes, there are plenty of fish in the sea?"

"Easy for you to say," Jaune grunted, turning away. "You've probably got guys clamoring over each other to ask you out!"

"You'd... be surprised," Pyrrha almost whispered.

"Please," Jaune scoffed. "If you don't get a date to the dance, I'll wear a dress!"

As the scene played out, the Jaune in the room slowly climbed towards the screen, reaching out, trying to touch Pyrrha, only to be stopped by the unyielding glass. Tears filled his eyes as terrible pain coursed through his entire being.

"It's not the events of the memory itself causing this," Ren surmised. "There's more to it."

Watching his reactions, the others were hard-pressed to disagree.

As the screen finally flickered off, Jaune reached out to pick up the bottle of liquor, but paused as he recalled what he had just deduced. Before he could lay any further plans, he looked up to spy another man in the room- glowing bright blue and flickering as if he, too, were on a tv screen- a rather old one that had been worn away by time. He glanced at Jaune, giving him enough time to take in the old-fashioned clothing that would fit right in about a hundred years ago.

"Oh- a ghost! It is a ghost!" Nora yelped, almost happy to finally have some sort of explanation.

"I don't think so," Blake shook her head. "This guy isn't causing anything- it's more like a... a vision."

The man didn't really seem to be meeting Jaune's eyes- merely looking in their direction by happenstance, before turning away and leaping out the window without a second thought.

"Not a ghost... it's like a... a recording," Pyrrha summed up, hands over her mouth. "A vision of what happened to another guest before..."

"What it wants Jaune to do now," Yang growled, narrowing her eyes and wishing whatever was causing all this would appear so she could punch it, already.

Jaune turned and saw another figure in the living room- a woman this time, sobbing uncontrollably as she climbed out onto the ledge just outside the window. Unlike the man, she hesitated momentarily, but just like him, she, too, took the plunge.

"No, Jaune!" Ruby called. "Don't give in!"

As Jaune slowly stepped into the living room, he heard something he'd never thought could sound so wonderful- a baby crying, reminding him that he wasn't truly alone- there was a woman right next door. He could even hear her attempting to shush the child- he rushed to the wall and began banging against it. "Ma'am, ma'am, can you hear me? I need help!"

"How's the room going to twist this around?" Weiss pondered cynically. Some of the others wanted to chastise her, but understood that she was, essentially, correct.

With every rap against the wall, the baby's cries grew louder, while the woman gave no signs that she heard his struggles. The cries simply kept growing louder, and louder...

Louder, even past the point of possibility. Soon, Jaune felt as though his eardrums were about to bleed as the sharp cries seemed to be piercing them with knives. He fell backwards, grabbing the nearest thing he could reach and throwing it against the wall with all his might. He fell to the ground and covered his ears, but didn't need to- the second the chair crashed into the wall, the crying ceased altogether.

He rose and looked to find a crack in the wall- a crack that seemed to be bleeding.

"Whitley was right," Pyrrha shivered. "This is no grimm- no grimm could do anything like this."

Even Blake, who'd once had an encounter with a particularly nasty grimm in a mirror, nodded- even that monstrosity wouldn't be capable of half the things this room was doing.

Jaune stared at the blood oozing from the wall, but was distracted when light fell across his face. He turned to see that the door to the bathroom suddenly wasn't open on the bathroom anymore- it was instead a brightly-lit room with white walls, nothing within but an old armchair, within which was an older man, snoozing with his head on his chest.

"Don't go into the light, Jaune!" Ruby whimpered.

"He will," Jaune admitted. "He'll want to know..."

Step by step, Jaune made his way in. The man seemed to jolt in his rest, whispering to himself, "I want to die... to be free... to see her again... I can't smell anything... I hate this place... how did it come to this? How did I get here?"

Slowly, the man looked up and met Jaune's eyes, revealing that he, too, was Jaune- a much older and more decrepit Jaune, almost skeletal, as if he hadn't eaten or seen the light in ages.

"I... I don't understand," Jaune whispered.

"...As you are, I was," the old Jaune rasped. "As I am, you will be."

Jaune stood up and pulled away, quickly finding himself back in the bathroom, normal as ever.

"That... was that a vision of the future?" Ruby squeaked. "He... he's going to be in there..."

She didn't finish the thought, nor did anyone else. It was too horrible to ponder.

Jaune collapsed onto the toilet, glancing at the sink- still packed with towels. Water was still forcing itself through, mixing with his blood and dripping down onto the floor. He fumbled as he pulled out his scroll.

"...Maybe I'm not real," he whispered. He rose to his feet and staggered into the living room, collapsing onto the sofa. "This could be just a... very vivid nightmare. I don't remember going to sleep... I don't remember fling in, either. Was that today? Yesterday? Time is... blurring together."

"Maybe I didn't fly in... maybe I took a train. But... I remember getting breakfast... I was at... or... I ate..." He fell back, looking up at the ceiling. "No... I don't..."

"He's losing it," Yang noted sadly.

Jaune glanced to the side, his eyes drawn back to the crack in the wall- a crack that was now pulsing gently, as if the wall itself were breathing.

"They say... you can't die in a dream," he mused, rising to his feet and approaching the wall.

"NO!" Ruby began flapping her arms. "NONONONONONONONONO!"

An acrid smell penetrated Jaune's nose as he approached the wall... it was like... oil. Scorched engine oil. He reached out and touched the 'blood.'

...Nothing happened. He pulled his hand back and smelled the liquid- sure enough, it was the source of that smell.

He turned around and opened the window, peering out.

"NO! DON'T GIVE UP, FEARLESS LEADER!" Nora cried.

"I don't think that's what he's doing," Jaune assured her gently.

He eyed up the wall, gauging the distance between his two windows- bedroom and living room- to the best of his ability. He turned around and returned to the room, where a map of the floor was erected on the door. He took in what information he could. "Okay... let's say... eighteen feet. I can make that, I can make that."

"He's going to use the .ledge?" Weiss pondered.

"Looks like his plan," Blake nodded.

"That's... surprisingly clever," Weiss admitted.

Jaune opened the nearest window he could- the one in the living room- and began to climb out onto the ledge. He spoke into his scroll. "For posterity, if I slip and die, it was an accident. The room. Did not. Win."

"At least he's got his priorities sorted," Weiss rolled his eyes.

"Damn right," Yang pumped her fist unironically. "Live or die, that room ain't getting the better of him!"

Jaune held his breath as he very carefully stepped out onto the ledge. He struggled to force back images of him plummeting to his death on the pavement thirteen stories below into his subconscious. That wasn't going to happen- he'd find his way into that woman's room, and explain to her as best he could. Worst come to, Whitley could back him up. He didn't think about the broader implications- not now. For now, all he needed to focus on was surviving.

Ruby, Nora, Pyrrha, and Jaune were all biting their nails. Everyone else was leaning forward intently.

He hugged the building as tightly as he could, and began to sidle along. Inch by painful inch, he drew away from the window, making his way towards the opposite edge.

The ledge was narrower than his foot- it was surely any second now that he'd slip, or the old building would break- crap, that was right, the building was old, they couldn't even keep the thermostat working properly, and here he was, climbing around the ledges-

No. He couldn't think about that. He had to focus on the task at hand. Four feet from his window. Five... six...

The wind was blowing. He hadn't accounted for that, either. He was on the thirteenth floor- of course there'd be wind blowing around this high up. All it would take was a particularly harsh gust-

Seven feet. Eight. If his calculations were correct, he ought to be beyond the room's influence by now. He looked ahead to the window which was his goal-

It was gone.

Not only was the window gone- the buildings on either side of the Austin Hotel had vanished, replaced by an infinite wall stretching for eternity in either direction. The only windows remaining were those that would lead him back into 1408.

"THAT'S CHEATING!" Yang burst out, looking about ready to grab the couch and throw it through the screen.

Jaune didn't share her anger- on scene as he was, he only had fear. "Shit... oh, shit... oh, shit!"

With nothing else to do, he turned and began shuffling back towards the (relative) safety of the room.

The trip back seemed much faster than the trip out here- it wasn't long at all until he was about to climb into the window-

until he saw a woman right in front of him, rushing at the window, causing him to slip and nearly fall, only barely managing to grab onto the ledge.

"JAUNE!" It was hard to tell who'd screamed the loudest- everyone had except Ren, Blake, and Jaune himself- who seemed on the verge of passing out.

Jaune watched as the woman- no, not a woman, another vision- climbed out onto the ledge, looking down... and jumped, passing right through him on her way into oblivion. Like the lamp before her, she seemed to implode into herself before touching hte pavement.

Jaune looked back up and his heart leapt- the window was beginning to close. Slowly, almost teasingly, it was easing itself shut.

"No!" Ruby moaned. "Not like this!"

The sight sent a surge of strength through Jaune's arms- he heaved himself upwards and managed to clamber through the window just before it closed. He collapsed in a heap on the ground, unwilling to force himself back up right away.

"He's not getting out of there, is he?" Ruby lamented.

"The odds do seem stacked against him," Blake admitted mournfully.

"But that's when we hunters thrive!" Nora shouted. "Come on, Jaune-Jaune, you're the fearless leader, you can find a way out of there!"

Jaune only returned to his feet when he spied something out of the corner of his eye- he rolled over and pushed himself up, shambling over to the door, where the map of the floor had changed- it had been entirely blacked out, with one exception- the room itself was as perfect as before.

"That room is mocking him," Yang growled. It wasn't enough for the room to make clear efforts on his life, it was taunting him the whole time- it made her blood boil.

Jaune bowed his head and peered through the peephole again- there was no eye this time. Just a simple brick wall.

The sound of electric crackling met his ears, causing him to spin around- but rather than the lights all going out, the room shifted in color- a color he didn't recognize, couldn't describe... it made his eyes ache just to look at. The room had changed again- the window he'd just attempted to climb through had been sealed by brick and mortar- when he ran into the bedroom, that window had vanished altogether, replaced by flowery wallpaper.

"Trapped!" Pyrrha gasped. "Completely trapped!"

"What's that color?" Ruby asked, rubbing at her eyes. "It makes my eyes hurt!"

"I don't recognize it either," Weiss admitted. "As far as I know, that color doesn't exist!"

Jaune produced his scroll again, collapsing on the bed. First, he attempted to make a call- no signal. He'd figured as much. Next, he opened the recording app and rewound everything he'd said in the room thus far. Losing my mind... hotel rooms are naturally creepy...

"Strangely, the bedroom has no window."

His hand slackened, and the scroll clattered to the ground as he sunk into his mattress. 'The bedroom has no window.' The words rang in his head again and again. The bedroom has no window.

"This room's power is truly terrifying," Pyrrha noted, heart racing. "Even able to affect the past..."

"At this point, I kinda hope I really am just going insane," Jaune admitted.

CRASH!

Jaune leapt to his feet and turned towards the living room- which had vanished. It was as if the portal between the bedroom and living room had transformed into another screen, showing him and Pyrrha sprinting through courtyard- the buildings around them burning as they were overcome by grimm.

"What... what's this?" Blake asked, truly caught off guard this time.

"Another memory, clearly," Ren pointed out the obvious, "but a memory of what?!"

"Okay, I think I have Glynda's number," the other Jaune gasped as he produced his scroll. "It... it's gotta be in here somewhere..."

As he ran his finger all over his scroll, he glanced back to Pyrrha. "Pyrrha, what was all that?"

Pyrrha opened her mouth, trembling. "I... I..."

A noise echoed from Beacon Tower, something like a rocketship taking off. Jaune looked back, eyes widening in disbelief. "But... Ozpin..."

"There's no time," Pyrrha lamented, tears tracing their way down her cheeks. "Jaune... go. Get to Vale. Call for help there."

"What?" Jaune objected. "What are you gonna do?"

Pyrrha only looked up the tower.

Jaune shook his head. "No... no, Pyrrha, you can't- you saw how powerful she is!"

"Who?" Ruby cried. "Who's too powerful- what's going on?"

Georgie coughed. They looked at him, and he threw his eyes between them and Crazy. I'll tell you later, once he's gone, the look said. They accepted it... for now.

"Pyrrha," the Jaune in the vision said, "I can't let you do thi-"

Pyrrha interrupted him with a kiss. Jaune looked shocked,

but not nearly as shocked as the audience. Ruby looked particularly affronted, but Pyrrha was on the verge of covering her eyes- and potentially Jaune's, as well.

Finally, she pulled away. "I... I'm sorry."

Before Jaune could object, she'd pushed him into a locker behind him.

"Why'd you do that?!" Ruby cried, even more affronted than before.

"No..." Jaune gasped. "NO!"

Pyrrha began dialing in a location to the locker. "NO, PYRRHA, NO! DON'T DO THIS!"

The locker took off even as he continued to scream. Pyrrha's eyes filled with tears as she watched him go.

"Pyrrha..." Nora whimpered. Ren locked his arm tightly around her, rocking her gently back and forth.

The Jaune in the room heard his own inner thoughts echoing in his ears- what sort of kind, loving god would let her just... die?

"...Pyrrha," he whispered.

"So... this is all because... because of what happened to Pyrrha?" Weiss repeated.

"That... would seem to be the case," Blake nodded, almost wanting to cradle Jaune herself. She knew the pain of loss all too well.

With another crackling, all the light in the room vanished, and everything went silent.

A voice came through the darkness: "Jaune? Jaune... come to me, Jaune... you must be so tired..."

"Don't use my voice on him like that, bitch!" Pyrrha hissed, now just as furious at the room as Yang was. Tormenting her crush was bad enough, but to use her likeness and voice to do it was beyond the pale!

Jaune staggered through the room, feeling along the walls for a light of some sort- finally, he found a switch, and just like that, the light was back- that same odd-colored light. The first thing he saw was a mirror, and reflected in it was that crazy woman again, approaching him with an axe- until he turned around, and she was gone.

"Who is that woman?" Yang snarled. "Maybe she's behind it?"

"No... I doubt it," Blake shook her head. "I think Whitley's right- this isn't a ghost. Ghosts were human once. This is just an evil room."

Jaune became conscious that the room was growing cold- very cold. He rushed to the thermostat- it was stuck at about forty degrees. No matter how hard he played with it, the temperature refused to change. He returned to his bag, pulling out his long-beloved Pumpkin Pete's hoodie, feeling an immediate surge of warmth as he donned it.

He returned to the bedroom and picked up his scroll again- to his surprise, when he turned it on, he saw the barest trace of signal. He leapt on the chance, dialing the first number he could think of- Lie Ren. The scroll rang twice, and then, an image of Ren appeared in a window to the scroll's left. "Hello?" he asked, looking very tired.

"Renny..." came another voice. "Come back to beeeeed..."

Everyone turned with raised eyebrows towards the dynamic duo in question, who had suddenly turned a bright red.

"In a second!" Ren called back, before returning to his scroll. "Now, who is- wait, Jaune? Jaune, is that you?"

Jaune had rarely been so relieved. "Yes, Ren- yes, this is me! It's Jaune!"

In the blink of an eye, Nora had appeared at Ren's side. "JAUNE-JAUNE?" she cried, all traces of weariness gone from her expression.

"Yes, Nora, yes, it's me," Jaune nodded quickly, whispering without fully understanding why- as if the room might hear what was happening and cut off his connection again.

"Where've you been, Jauney? It's been a year! Oh, does this mean you want to finally meet up again? Oh, it'll be just like the old days- we'll get Team RWBY and Oscar and Ilia and-"

"Listen," Jaune interrupted. "I'm trapped... trapped in this room, this... this place."

"Oh, where is it this time?" Nora asked excitedly. "A lighthouse? An old mansion? Or a manor? Y'know, what even is the difference between a manor and a mansion? It's so weird, y'know-"

"Nora," Ren placed a hand on her shoulder, attempting to calm her. "Don't flood the poor man, let him get a word in edgewise."

"Call the police!" Jaune hissed through his teeth- it was getting colder and colder in here, even the hoodie not doing as much as he'd like to keep it out. "Call the police, and send them to the Austin Hotel!"

The feed was very slow and laggy- it seemed that very little of his plea had actually gotten through, but Ren had heard one thing. "Austin? You're back in town?"

"That's great!" Nora cheered. "We can just go to where you are-"

"No!" Jaune shook his head violently. "DON'T come here! It's dangerous- I'm in danger- call the police! Austin Hotel, Room 1408!"

"Jaune, slow down, I can barely-" Ren started, before two things happened in quick succession: the connection cut out entirely, and just to rub salt in the wound, the sprinklers kicked in, raining cold water on him.

"NO!" everyone screamed, as the hope that had entered them upon seeing Ren and Nora's faces was ruthlessly crushed.

Jaune's reaction matched theirs. "NO!" he yelled as he threw his scroll across the room in anger.

The lights began flickering again, and the cold intensified- a glance at the thermostat showed that it was only slightly above freezing. Jaune let out a near-bestial cry as he grabbed a chair and threw it at the ceiling- he knocked the sprinkler askew, and the lights came on once again. While Jaune was looking up to confirm that the water had stopped, his eyes fell on what seemed like his last hope- the vent.

"After the window, I can't imagine the vent will go much better," Weiss whispered, not vindictively, but sorrowfully.

"Try anything once, right?" Jaune shrugged in a tone of equal despair.

With his knife and a flashlight clenched between his teeth, it took Jaune only a few minutes to climb on the table and open up the vent. Internally, he had misgivings similar to Weiss's, but a conviction similar to his other self's- he used his upper body strength to hoist himself into the vent, the intense cold immediately being replaced by a claustrophobic heat.

"Fair warning, anything up here," he called out, loud as he dared, "I've got a knife!"

He crawled with it in his hand, careful not to cut himself as he crawled through the tight space.

It was a labyrinth up here, and the tights spaces gave him no reprieve as he struggled to determine the best way out of here. Instinct led to him avoiding certain passages- particularly those that insects seemed to have made home- and towards others.

"I don't like tight places," Nora shuddered.

"Me neither," Ruby agreed- if there was one trope she hated watching, it was the air vent escape. The idea of being so tightly enclosed was horrific to her.

Jaune finally located a vent where a dark-haired woman was sleeping on a sofa. "Lady! Lady, help me out of here!" he pleaded, banging on the grate as hard as he could.

The lady stood up- it was Ruby Rose. The room around her shifted to a forest, through which she moved, Jaune's vision following like a television screen.

"That's me?" Ruby looked surprised.

"A few years older, for sure," Yang pondered, looking at Ruby's outfit. Her cloak was more tattered, the combat skirt a little more suited for the outdoors, and... a couple other things...

As Ruby came to the edge of a clearing, she heard a voice: "Alright, Jaune, just like we practiced: follow these instructions. Shield up!"

In the middle of the clearing was Jaune, his scroll propped up against a stump, as he followed the recorded Pyrrha's instructions to the letter.

"Keep your grip tight! Don't forget to keep your front foot forward. Ready? Go!"

With a scream of anguish, Jaune swung his sword.

"Again!"

Jaune yelled and thrust forward with his shield.

"Aaaaand again!"

Jaune screamed as he brought his sword down as if on an invisible opponent's head.

"Okay! Now, assuming you're not cheating, we can take a break."

Jaune breathed heavily as he collapsed next to the stump, picking up the scroll and staring into it.

"I know this can be frustrating, and... it can feel like so much effort to progress such a small amount... but... I want you to know that I'm proud of you. I've never met anyone so determined to better themselves. You've grown so much since you started training, and I know this is just the beginning."

The recorded Pyrrha looked bashfully to the side. "Jaune... I... I... I want you to know that I'm just happy to be part of your life. I'll always be there for you, Jaune."

She stopped, and without missing a beat, the scroll rewound back to the beginning. "Alright, Jaune, just like we practiced!"

The audience looked on with an ache in their hearts. Nobody felt like they could say anything to this.

The Jaune in the vent was little better off- he was struggling to fight back tears as he climbed over the vent he'd watched all this through, and continued on his way.

He came to another T-junction- both directions seemed to stretch on forever, but he could hardly just sit here forever.

He turned right and scrabbled his way forward for what felt like a solid ten minutes, where he came upon another T-junction. Right- nothing. Left-

He screamed. Down the left passage was a mangled corpse, seemingly mummified by potential years of decay in this obscure corner of the hotel's vents. Whatever clothing it had been wearing had decayed away- the only hints to its identity were a few stray tufts of blond hair that had managed to cling on.

And it was moving right towards him.

"CAN'T THIS THING DEC IDE IF IT WANTS TO DO SAD OR SCARY?!" Yang snarled- hiding her fear, as ever. Nobody else was really bothering.

Jaune crawled to the right as quickly as he could- if this was a mummy, it wasn't the traditional slow-moving type- it was pursuing him with great ferocity, carrying with it the rotten odor of a thousand open graves. Jaune refused to look back, no longer concerned with where he was going, only with getting away from this thing.

Twice, it reached out and grabbed his leg- the first time, he managed to slip away- the second, he kicked out and seemingly destroyed its head, unleashing an even more noisome odor. He turned and continued on, seeing a gap and falling through it head-first, crashing into a table that buckled beneath him enough to save him, but not enough to spare him from unconsciousness. Everything went black.

XXXX

One chapter left- it will, of course, be up on Halloween. We'll wrap this one up, then move on to the viewer's choice- the poll will go up with the next chapter. Until all that happens, Please R&R, anything welcome, Gamer4 out!