Gamer4 in. Y'know, my greatest fear this month was not getting this chapter up in time- Wave Existence knows my computer made that very possible. I'm getting this one started a couple days early- this is going up on Halloween, come hell or high water!

Episode XIII

The Room: Express Checkout

Right as Jaune was collapsing onto the table on the screen, there was a bright flash of light and a colossal crash from the outside. Everyone jumped- hosts included. Crazy, who still had Nala on his lap, screeched as she tore it up in her fright.

"The HELL was that?!" Yang shouted.

"What makes you think I know?!" Crazy threw his hands up.

"This is your world, isn't it?"

"Well, yeah, but that doesn't mean I know everything that goes on in it!" Crazy countered.

"Maybe you and Stephen should go check on it," George suggested.

"Wait, don't I get a say in-" Stephen started.

"No," George interrupted. "No you don't."

"Come on, Stephen," Crazy sighed as he rose to his feet. "Maybe we can stop by Target, get a new pair of shorts while I'm at it..."

The second they were out the door, George turned to the others. "Now..."

"What happened in that world?" Jaune demanded immediately. "Why is Pyrrha dead, and why did you want to show it to us?"

"Because... it's not exactly your future, but the only real difference is that this world doesn't have aura in it. Aside from that, everything played out pretty much the same."

"So... it is possible that Pyrrha could die in our future?" Ruby gasped, silver eyes stretching wide.

"...Yes. If none of this ever happened- if things continue the way they were, with no change... she'll die."

"I'm not gonna let that happen!" Nora snarled immediately, leaping to her feet.

"Me neither!" Yang snarled, smashing her fists together.

"...What else happens?" Pyrrha asked softly, earning surprise from her fellows.

"Huh?" Jaune asked, caught off guard as anyone else. "Pyrrha, we just found out you're going to die in the future, and you're asking-"

"My death didn't happen in a vacuum," she pointed out. "There was far more to it than just that. George... what else happens?"

George sighed. "It's a long story... I can't tell you everything. I'm risking Crazy going ballistic telling you as much as I have."

"You mean he wants things to happen that way?!" Weiss narrowed her eyes, gripping for the rapier that still wasn't there.

"No, of course not!" George shook his head. "He hates it as much as you do, but... telling people their own future is risky. He's afraid if he tells you too much, meddles too much with your world, things could get even worse."

"Can't he just snap his fingers and make things better?" Nora asked.

"What, you think we're gods, or something?" George snorted. "That he can wave his hand and make everybody who was dead come back to life? Yang said it herself- if push came to shove, she could beat the crap out of him, no problem."

"I did say that, didn't I?" Yang reflected.

George put a hand to his chin. "I think... we might be able to talk him into telling you more, doing some more to help you. But it would take time... and a very powerful story. A certain universe..." A smile began to form on his face. "'Stand tall and seize your destiny.'"

"Huh?" Ruby tilted her head, confused.

"That's what he needs to hear- 'seize your destiny.' Don't worry about it right now- we'll get to it after this Halloween special. Just... a... second..."

The door opened, and Crazy and Stephen were back.

"Wow, didn't expect to find-" Stephen started.

"So, what was it?" Nora asked, not hiding her sudden distrust very well- none of them seemed too keen on hugging Crazy after learning what he'd been keeping from them. If Crazy noticed, he didn't comment- honestly, it didn't seem like he did.

"Long story, I'll tell ya after Halloween," he shrugged, resuming his seat.

"Will you?" Blake asked skeptically, narrowing her eyes dangerously.

The animosity flew over Crazy's head. "Yup, sure will. Let's get this universe wrapped up, shall we?"

The guests glanced between themselves, wordlessly promising they would get to the bottom of this before they left, but ultimately acquiesced... for now.

Jaune was unconscious for less than a minute before waking up with a groan, rolling his eyes around to take in his location. "Urgh... home, sweet home," he muttered as he rolled over, forcing himself to his feet.

"I'd think he'd be a little more panicked," Blake pondered.

"Inside, he probably is- I think it's just his way of trying to keep calm," Ren suggested.

He rose to his feet, struggling to maintain balance. The room was still lit with that odd, impossible color, and the windows were still bricked up. "I need... I need..."

He groaned, rubbing at his eyes. "I need a freaking drink."

He staggered to the refrigerator and opened it- but it wasn't shelves of cool food and drink he found on the other side, but a small room- a miniature replica of an office, within which stood a doll-size Whitley Schnee, smirking up at him.

"I thought I'd check in, make sure the accommodations were to your liking."

"Is that actually him?" Ruby asked, aghast.

Weiss shook her head. "Another vision. He'd never get this close."

"The room is taunting him again," Pyrrha snarled.

"YOU KNOW GODDAMN WELL HOW I FEEL!" Jaune broke down, screaming into the fridge. "WHAT THE HELL DO YOU WANT FROM ME?!"

Whitley remained unfazed, tucking his hands into his pockets as he sauntered closer. "You're asking all the wrong questions, Mr. Arc- it's not about what I want, it's about what you want."

"What I want?!"

"You sought this room out- you brute-forced your way in."

"As part of a job- I was doing my job!"

"Your job, hmm? As the man who believes in nothing? Your job, Mr. Arc, is to shatter people's hopes, just as yours were."

"BULLSHIT!" Jaune screamed, eyes growing red with madness.

"Why do you think people believe in ghosts? For fun? For the thrill of a chill running up their spine? Children's things, Mr. Arc- the root of belief in ghosts is hope- hope that there's something after death, something that will bring meaning to all the pain and misfortune of life.

"How many spirits have you broken, Mr. Arc? How many hopeful lights have you snuffed out- just like Ms. Cinder-"

"THAT'S NOT WHAT I WANTED!" Jaune screamed again. "WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM-"

Before he could even finish the question, Whitley- the entire office- disappeared, replaced with the normal contents of the fridge. Overtaken by a sudden fury, he began seizing everything in sight and flinging it out. "WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME?! WHAT DO YOU- I WANT... A FUCKING... DRINK!"

There was a quiet solemnity over the audience as they watched their friend descend into madness, until finally, Weiss raised a finger. "Hold a moment... Cinder... you mean, Cinder's the one who...?"

Crazy blinked, then slowly turned towards George, brows furrowing. George quickly began innocently whistling.

Jaune took a step back, slipping on a fallen can of beer and collapsing into the bed, looking up at the ceiling.

He rose back to his feet, grabbing two items from his bedside table- the bottle of liquor and the bible. He gulped some of the former, before holding the latter close to his chest. "Our Father, who art in heaven... hallowed by thy name... thy kingdom come..."

He opened the pages, to find them all absolutely blank.

"I bet the room's having fun with this," Yang snarled, fingers twitching. "Dangling hope in front of him, always snatching it away at the last second..."

This time, Jaune didn't even react- he simply began mutely ripping out the pages, one by one.

"You were the first person to ever believe in me, you know that?"

Almost against his will, Jaune raised his head to look into the next room, which had once again shifted- he and Pyrrha were leaning against the wall at the edge of one of Beacon's many courtyards, eating cotton candy.

"Oh... not again," Pyrrha whispered, raising her hands to her mouth. She couldn't bear to see images of herself being used against her crush.

Jaune's hand tightened around hers, earning her some comfort, at least.

Past Jaune looked rueful as he continued. "Even when I told my parents I was coming to Beacon, they told me not to worry if I ended up having to move back home. How depressing is that?"

"Jaune... is that true?" Ruby glanced at him, watery-eyed. Jaune nodded, leaving all of Team RWBY stunned. JNPR, who'd already had an idea of what his departure was like, remained silent.

Pyrrha responded gently. "I'm sure they didn't mean-"

She gasped and dropped her cotton candy when she noticed Jaune's hand on hers.

"I guess..." Jaune continued, "what I'm trying to say... you've always been there for me- even when I didn't deserve it. Look... I can tell that there's something on your mind, so... I don't know... how can I help?"

Pyrrha smiled warmly and lay her head against his shoulder. "You're already doing it," she said blissfully.

The scene abruptly shifted, leaping years forward in time, to Jaune punching a wall. "I should have known right then! I should have known something was going on! What did I give her? Pretty words- fat lot of good those do in the end!"

"Jaune-" Ren started, but Jaune ignored him.

"Destiny," Jaune spat. "That's what she talked about, the last time we really talked. 'Do you believe in destiny?' To her, it wasn't about fate that you worked to escape, it was a final goal! Well, who figured her goal was to die on top of that fucking tower?!"

"She did it for us, Jaune," Nora tried to intervene, an alien teary look on her face. "Not because of some greater plan-"

"Of course it's not some greater plan," Jaune agreed. "There is no greater plan- no good god would have let that happen to her. There is no god, and if there is... they're not out to help us. Maybe if she realized that, she'd... she'd..."

At a loss for words, he stormed out of the room, leaving a stony Ren and tearful Nora in his wake.

"Jaune..." Pyrrha was beginning to sob. Her Jaune wrapped an arm around her, feeling rather stone-faced himself.

The Jaune in the room collapsed onto the sofa, sobbing. He only stirred when he heard a clatter in the wardrobe. Wordlessly, reluctantly, he crossed to it and opened it up, revealing a tiara of sorts on the lower shelf- identical to that which Pyrrha had worn throughout her career at Beacon, before it was cut so cruelly short. Struggling to even move, he picked it up and headed into the bathroom, where he did his best to clean it under the sink, cradling it almost like a newborn child.

"Jaune..." Weiss bit her tongue- for reasons she couldn't quite identify, it was causing her some severe pain to see him like this.

He only stopped when he noticed his breath fogging. Becoming fully cognizant of his surroundings, he found that the entire room had gone white- not through light, but ice- everything was encrusted with ice, as though a vast blizzard had gone through it. When he moved, his shoes fought against a clear inch of snow.

"Into the ninth circle of Hell," Blake noted ominously.

"But... isn't- er, Heck supposed to be hot?" Ruby asked.

"In 'Dante's Inferno,' the lowest circle of hell is a frozen wasteland," Pyrrha answered, nibbling on her finger. "In the center, the Devil himself, encased in a block of ice."

"We finally gonna see the man behind the curtain?" Yang cracked her knuckles eagerly.

Blowing on his hands for warmth, Jaune made his way to the thermostat, proudly displaying negative five degrees fahrenheit. He returned to the center of the living room, where he placed the torn pages of the blank bible, producing a lighter and beginning a fire. He used the remainders of the bible for fuel, and once that was gone, he began throwing in bits and pieces of the files Whitley had lent him, full of information on the room- information he hardly needed anymore.

"Nine... the ninth level... or was it six? This is six... or five... goddamn five... did I ever tell you about my sister that got eaten on the Atlas turnpike?"

He curled up under the blanket from the bed, muttering further nonsense to himself. "I hear it's... amazing when the famous... stuffed purple worm in flapjaw space... with the tuning fork... does a raw blink on hari-kari rock. I need... I need scissors... Sixty-one."

"I fear his mind has finally broken," Ren closed his eyes in resignation.

"Jaune? Jaaaauuune?"

"Nora?!" Everyone perked up.

Jaune's eyes widened- he produced his scroll, wiping away the frost that had formed on it to see a picture of Nora, somehow back in contact with him.

"Nora!"

"Oh- great, you're back!" Nora grinned. "Ren, I got through to him!"

Ren quickly appeared. "Jaune, what happened?"

"Later- did you call the cops?"

"Yes, we did- they're at the hotel right now. You did say 'Austin,' right?"

"Yes, yes, room 1408!"

"Jaune, they're in 1408 right now- it's empty. There's nobody there."

"GODDAMNIT!" Yang screeched.

Jaune's head collapsed onto the floor next to his scroll, eyes overcome with despair.

"Jaune? Jauney?" Nora butted in. "We got holda Team RWBY, y'know- we're all ready to help you out, wherever you are, but... where are you?"

"In my coffin," Jaune whispered. "I'm... I'm having trouble thinking, but... I'm supposed to die here..."

"You're not going to die," Ren objected, a note of urgency entering his voice- the equivalent of anyone else going into hysterics.

"Ren, we gotta stop him!" Nora yelped. "Austin hotel, right? We can be there in fifteen minutes!"

Jaune craned his neck around to look at the alarm clock, visible even through the ice- it showed that he had seven minutes left.

"And what happens after that?" Ruby whimpered. "He just... drops dead?"

"It seems too simple," Ren shook his head.

"Maybe he gets to go if he survives?" Nora suggested hopefully.

"I very much doubt it," Weiss shook her head.

"Too late," he shook his head. "Too late-"

"Fifteen minutes is perfect."

Jaune blinked- his scroll was divided into two screens right now- one showing Ren and Nora, the other showing his own face- but his own face was no longer following his actual movements. It had been taken over by some outside force, speaking words he wasn't saying.

"Come up! Right now! I've always known I can count on you, and I need you more than ever!"

The real Jaune shook his head. "No... no... stay away!"

"I know it's been a few years, but I need you- can't explain it over the scroll, we need to talk in person-"

"No, no, don't listen to him!"

"Whitley's the manager, he'll slow you down, don't talk to him, just come right up to the room!"

"NO! DON'T COME TO THE ROOM! DON'T COME TO THE ROOM! DON'T COME! SHUT UP- NORA, DON'T LISTEN! REN! STAY AWAY!"

"We'll be right there, Jaune!" Nora 'assured' him, and her feed cut out. The other Jaune's lingered long enough for him to smirk at the real thing, giving a sly wink before disappearing as well.

"This room's power is... truly horrifying," Weiss shuddered.

"We need to work out a codeword for situations like this!" Nora decided. "That way, nobody can trick us-"

"The room can read his mind, Nora," Ren reminded gently. "Odds are, it would be able to replicate any codeword we can think of."

"Oh," Nora sunk back into her seat, looking crestfallen.

Jaune leapt to his feet. "No... you can't have them!" he yelled, before being violently thrown back to the ground as the floor began to heave like the deck of a ship. The ceiling and walls began to crack, large gaps appearing in the floor as the living room and the living room alone tossed. Through every crack came that foul ooze, reeking of burned engine oil.

Then it was rain- harsh, cold rain that washed the snow away, revealing changes in the paintings- the teacher's sclera had turned black, the book she was reading from bound in human flesh, the children's faces fixed in horrified screams. The Atlesians were chasing a naked faunus, running for his life pursued by gun-toting horsemen and snarling dogs. And the ship... the ship had become more detailed, revealing the terrified faces of the crewmen- except for the wide, cackling face of the woman who'd attempted to plant an axe in his skull.

"Tell me when it's over!" Ruby squeaked, hiding behind Yang's hair. Weiss and Blake had grabbed each other, as had Arkos and Renora.

Snarling in fury, Jaune grabbed a chair and tossed it at the painting of the ship, which shattered like a window, allowing all the oceans depicted within to tear out and flood the room. Jaune closed his eyes against the tide, struggling to swim upwards in an effort to escape the flood, until at last...

He found himself flopping onto a sandy shore, coughing and hacking up water. He took deep breaths of beautiful, beautiful air before opening his eyes and finding himself on a beach, under a bright, vibrant sun.

A young man rushed over to him. "Hey- hey, you alright there?"

Jaune shook, chest heaving, heart racing, and finally sinking into blackness.

"Wait... what happened? I missed it!" Ruby wondered, returning from behind her sister.

The others were equally dumbstruck. "I don't think watching would have helped much," Weiss admitted, struggling to wrap her head around what she'd just seen.

"He woke up on the beach, much like at the beginning, but this time, passed out- likely due to shock," Ren diagnosed.

"The beach?" Ruby asked. "But... then... how... huh?"

"Yep, that's what we're wondering," Yang agreed.

The next time Jaune awoke, it was to find himself in a large white room, in an apron, hooked up to a great deal of machinery. Looking at his feet, he saw two people with him- Nora Valkyrie, fast asleep in a chair, and Lie Ren, pacing around. He, of course, was the first to notice Jaune's wakefulness. A smile of relief crossed his face. "At last, he awakes," he said, pulling up a guest chair and sitting next to Nora. As Jaune continued to struggle to speak, he gently shook her. "Nora, he's awake."

Nora sat bolt upright immediately. "He is?!"

"Yes, and if you want it to stay that way, it'd be best to calm down."

"Oh- right. Sorry," Nora smiled sheepishly.

Finally, Jaune's brain caught up with the rest of his senses. "Am... am I out?!"

Ren put out a hand. "Calm down, there, Jaune, calm down- you don't want to put yourself back in a coma."

"You've been out for a week!" Nora provided helpfully.

"A week?" Jaune asked, looking out the window. "This isn't Vale..."

"Noooo," Nora agreed. "Why would they take you all the way to Vale, silly? You nearly drowned in Vacuo, you went to a hospital in Vacuo!"

"We weren't on scene, of course," Ren admitted, "but according to witnesses, you fell off your board, and it decided to give you a whack. A surprise on our behalf- we didn't even know you surfed."

"So, wait... it was... all just a dream?" Ruby asked, almost hopefully.

"I'm not a fan of that plot development in general, but I think I can accept it, just this once," Weiss smiled.

Jaune's lip began trembling. "You... you came all the way out to Vale... just for me?"

"Of course!" Nora declared, as if it should be obvious. "We'd never abandon our fearless leader in his time of need!"

"Damn straight!" Nora whooped, pulling her entire team into a giant hug.

"Not in Vale... I'm out, I'm out," Jaune sighed, leaning his head back on the pillow.

"Out? Whaddya mean? You keep sayin' that- you're out, you're out?"

"I... I was in Vale... I was trapped... dying... in the Austin Hotel..."

"Austin? There's no Austin Hotel," Ren blinked.

"Must have been a nightmare!" Nora decided.

"But it was so vivid-"

"You were in a coma," Ren reminded him. "Perhaps such a lucid dream was to be expected." He smiled, and placed a hand on Jaune's shoulder. "Get some rest- I have a hunch you'll feel better afterward."

And under their caring faces, Jaune was able to get to sleep without nearly as much trouble as he'd expected.

XXXX

Well, that's it for the Halloween special- hope you've enjoyed, and all. Next time, we'll have some more lighthearted stuff to ease the tension a bit. Until then, Please R&R, everything under the sun embraced, Gamer4 out.