[C*%$o!#w#?a&$r:!d?s]
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It took Ruby several minutes before she finally stood up, still keeping her mother's cloak gripped tightly in her hand Ruby left the room and made her way back into the hallway.
"Okay, I've got a key for the first floor, the last rooms there actually, and a key to the last room back near the entrance." Ruby muttered looking at the Dustboy Horror, "I'll use the new shortcut and rush down to the first floor rooms, then get the room by the study."
Ruby nodded to herself before taking off down to the more lit room- She had gotten rather accustomed to the ghost rats and bats to the point they didn't bother her (Although when an entire swarm of ghost bats took off it made her jump just from the sheet sound of it in the rather quiet rooms.)
After she made a quick stop to grab some extra ice element, simply because she felt she needed to have an element at full charge, she made her way back to the well lit floor and unlocked the newest room, The Billiards room.
"Hey, a pool table." Ruby said looking at the main focus of the room, though she noticed there were only three of the balls on the table, "Great, the haunted mansion doesn't even have a full pool set."
Then she noticed a pool cue floating around the table, Ruby slowly lifted the Dustboy Horror up and saw the ghost holding it, a blue, slim ghost wearing a black vest over a white shirt, with the sleeves rolled up, and blue hair with a pair of weasel ears poking up. This was Slim Bankshot.
Slim looked over at Ruby and smirked, before he placed the cue ball on the pool table and shot it off at the other three balls, paranormal energy filling the three colored balls and sending them flying across the room, which all bounced toward Ruby.
Ruby quickly ducked down as all three balls slammed right where Ruby's head would be, dissipating when they did.
Slim laughed, quite maliciously, as that happened, before he charged the pool cue with energy once more, this time however he held it out for Ruby.
"You want me to try?" Ruby asked, getting a nod from Slim, along with an arrogant grin. Ruby narrowed her eyes at the ghost, realizing he was taunting her, so thus she decided she wouldn't quite play by his rules.
Grabbing the pool cue, and the cue ball, Ruby made her way to the end of the table as the other three balls reappeared. While Ruby knew she couldn't bounce the balls like Slim, she had a plan.
Ruby sent the balls flying, the charge in the cue being expended as she did, the three colored balls left a blue trail as they bounced randomly.
Slim began to laugh loudly as, clearly, Ruby had no idea how to really play pool, only to be cut off when he noticed several rose petals around the room and Ruby holding one of the balls.
Slim's eyes widened in fear as Ruby hurled the ball at him, the paranormal charge of the ball allowing it to physically make contact with his forehead and knocking him for a loop, and exposing his spectral heart.
With the ghost stunned, Ruby quickly began to suck the pool player into the Poltergust, and similarly to his life, Slim did not have much power, just skill, and thus he was pulled into the Poltergust with little resistance.
"That'll teach you to make fun of me." Ruby said as the lights in the room turned on, along with a chest appearing.
After opening the chest, and after calming down from seeing the massive diamond stored inside, she collected it's contents before beginning her search for the Boo in the room, which was ironically hidden in the pool table.
The Boo however was crying, much to Ruby's confusion, "I'm…" The Boo sniffed, before it grew a maniac grin, "Boohoo!" The Boo then began to cackle at it's joke.
Ruby was not impressed and the rather weak Boo found itself imprisoned in the Poltergust.
"These Boo's are really starting to get on my nerves." Ruby muttered at the horrible joke.
Entering the next room Ruby realized it was filled with old film reels, a large white cloth screen, and a projector. With no ghost's coming at her, Ruby couldn't help but feel drawn to the old projector.
"Wow… This looks like something my great grandmother would use." Ruby said, despite not really knowing her great grandmother… At any end of her family.
However when Ruby touched the side of the projector the device jumped and turned on, constantly rattling at it lit up the screen.
"Wah!" Ruby cried, "How do I-" Ruby was cut off when she heard the sound of a ghost appearing, but when she looked around she couldn't see any ghosts.
"Huh?" Ruby muttered right before a purple grabber suddenly became visible as it zipped from right in front of her to behind her and wrapped its arms around her neck.
Ruby tried to grab the arms, only for her hands to go right through them. Thinking fast Ruby grabbed her flashlight and pointed it at her face, closing her eyes and turned the light on and after what felt like the world's longest second the ghost vanished.
"They're invisible… Like the mirror room." Ruby gasped.
The ghost appeared in the room again, and once more Ruby could not see it, however Ruby could see a shadow on the screen that matched the ghost.
"I don't understand how that's possible…" Ruby muttered before she flashed the ghost, the light forcing it to be visible as Ruby sucked it into the Poltergust, "Hang on… E. Gadd said they're painted ghosts by that one ghost... " Ruby then realized that even though they were ghosts, they were still technically paint, thus they could block light in a sense.
A second ghost appeared, this time in front of Ruby, and she could see the dust get pushed away from when it 'appeared' and Ruby caught it without even needing to look at the shadow.
"One, one…" Ruby said as she realized a pattern, "That must mean… TWO!"
As Ruby had called out, two of the huggers appeared, and Ruby tactically backed up to the screen and closed her eye, "One, two, THREE!"
On her count of three Ruby leaped forward toward the projector, causing the two ghost to end up grappling with each other. The two then had a split second to look at each other before Ruby blinded them and caught the two ghosts.
However the lights did not come back on, instead a trio of ghost's appeared.
Ruby decided to work carefully, she aimed her light around the room and quickly found two of the ghost, but instead of capturing them, dissipated them with the light before quickly catching the third before the first two came back. Then repeated the process by removing one from the room so she could catch the second one, and then caught the last one when it came back.
With the lights on, a red chest appeared in the room, to which Ruby quickly opened and gasped.
"Myrtenaster." Ruby said as she pulled the rapier out of the chest, though the Dust chambers were empty, so either the ghost's had taken all of it, or Weiss used it all in an attempt to harm them somehow. "Heh, she probably refused to believe that ghost's existed and thought they were the result of someone's Semblance."
Ruby sighed as she slipped the rapier onto her hip and began to look around the room for the Boo, which was hidden in the cabinet with the film reels.
"Fresh, clean… ShamBoo!" The Boo cackled, right before it was captured.
Ruby smirked, and then left the room- Making a quick stop by the plant in the backyard just to see how it was doing.
But surprisingly enough the plant in the backyard had already turned into a flower bud, surprising Ruby, "Is ghost energy actually making this grow faster." Ruby muttered as she grabbed the nearby bucket to water the plant, causing it's bud to bloom open and reveal a large red flower nearly as big as Ruby's torso.
"I gotta come back and see this in a few minutes." Ruby said to herself.
Afterwards Ruby dashed all the way back to the Foyer, went to the second floor, and entered the hall and unlocked the last door in that hall.
Revealing a boys bedroom, with a bunkbed.
"Whoa." Ruby muttered looking around the room.
"Hello!" A pair of voices called out in sync, causing Ruby to jump in surprise.
"WAH!" Ruby cried out as she turned around, and was a pair of identical boys, a little shorter than her, both with blonde hair, the only difference was that one of them wore blue, the other red. Naturally they were both ghosts. Henry and Orville.
"Hi." Ruby said.
"Want to play some Hide and Seek?" The twins asked, laughing as they did so.
"Sure?" Ruby asked.
"Great!" The one in red, Orville, said.
"You'll be it." the one in blue, Henry said, "So you step outside real quick and we'll hide."
Ruby didn't even get a chance to protest when the twins physically pushed her out of the room and slammed the door shut.
"Okay! We're ready!" The twins shouted from their room.
'But I just got pushed out here.' Ruby thought to herself before stepping back into the room, only now there were five boxes in the room. "I'm guessing you guys are in the boxes?" Ruby called out.
"Hey how did you know!" One of the twins called out, as one of the boxes vibrated from the force of their voice.
"Henry!" The other called out, his box vibrating as well, "These boxes weren't in the room before!"
The voice of Henry was silent, "Oh right." He muttered.
But alas it was too late, Ruby had seen which boxes had shuddered, and with her Semblance, flipped the lids of the two boxes, "Found you!"
"Hey no fair!" Henry cried out.
"Sorry, I was Hide and Seek champ with my big sister." Ruby said with a grin, "She could never find me." Ruby's smile then faded for a second, 'Well, up until she cheated and called out that she was gonna steal my cookies.' Ruby thought.
"Cheater!" Orville cried out, "You're gonna get it now!"
With that the twins dove back into their boxes, before coming out riding wooden toy vehicles, Henry driving a toy car and Orville flying a toy plane.
Ruby went wide eyed as Orville pulled out a bomb and threw it at her.
"Hey!" Ruby called out as she pulled out the Poltergust, only to have to avoid getting run over by Henry.
Deciding that Henry was the bigger threat at the very moment, as Orville couldn't stop his plane to aim, Ruby began to focus the suction of the vacuum on Henry, who suddenly locked up when the strong suction was focused on him, and his toy car ripped out from under him.
Oddly enough Henry gave absolutely no resistance when the Poltergust caught him and was instantly sucked in.
"What the heck?" Ruby muttered looking at the Poltergust, "Was he… Was he afraid of the suction?"
Ruby looked up in time to see Orville make another bombing run, only for Ruby to aim the Poltergust at him. When the suction winds caught onto Orville he too locked up, even as his plane flew off without him and the other twin was sucked away just as fast as the first.
The lights then came on, and a red chest appeared in the room.
"What the heck just happened." Ruby said as the dartboard in the room fell off.
"Oh that's simple really." The Boo said floating next to Ruby, "Henry and Orville are afraid of a lot of things, wind, water, fire, ice, heck before they were ghost's they were afraid of the dark."
Ruby raised her eyebrow and looked at the Poltergust, "Weird." Ruby muttered, then her eyes went wide as she looked at the Boo that explained this to her. "Um…"
"Huh? Oh right, ahem." The Boo said before flying to the center of the room. "Call me Booris, und be avraid!" The ghost called out menacingly, before slumping, "To be honest I'm beat." Booris admitted, "I've been playing Hide and Seek with those two for an hour now, and I'm always It!"
"Uh…" Ruby stuttered, this was the first time one of the Boo's actually talked to her.
"Just vac me away and save us both the struggle okay?" Booris asked.
"Sure." Ruby said as she aimed the Poltergust at Booris, sucking him into the vacuum before looking at the chest in the room. Opening it to reveal Yang's Scarf.
"That's got to be everything." Ruby said as she wrapped the scarf around her own neck for the time being, "I should probably get back to Madame Clairvoya now." Ruby said as she left the room.
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Ruby really only turned on her flashlight in Madame Clairvoya's room just so she wouldn't trip on the carpet.
Ruby then sat down in front of the crystal ball as the ghost appeared in front of her.
"So, you've collected the last of your friends' belongings." Clairvoya said.
Ruby nodded, setting on the table Yang's Scarf, Myrtenaster, Summer's letter and cloak.
"Let's start with this, I can feel this is something you want to hold on a bit longer for." Clairvoya said, taking Summer's Cloak. "Oh, handcrafted by Summer Rose herself even, this is magnificent work."
"I'll… I'll tell mom you said so." Ruby said.
Clairvoya handed over the cloak as she chanted for the spirits to lend her their power, as her hands began to glow.
"I can see the last two imprisoned souls here, both in paintings, one in an alter, the other…" Clairvoya hesitated, "Come on you stupid- Ah a Balcony, surrounded by a ring of the dead… And now the spirits leave me."
Ruby raised an eyebrow, "Already?" Ruby asked as she picked up the letter to hand to Clairvoya.
"Yes unfortunately." Clairvoya huffed "King Boo is already sapping the local spirit's of their power, plus this isn't exactly my home where the Spirit were… Energetic to say the least." Then she held up her hand for her chant, then returning the letter to Ruby, whom pocketed it.
"Hmm… Your sister, I can heard her crying." Clairvoya said, "She's scared, not of the ghosts, but for you little one. And your mother... " Clairvoya lurched back and covered one of her ears, "Sheesh I've heard banshee's that are quieter than that. Your mother is releasing a lot of pent up rage at King Boo at the moment, so at least she is fine."
Ruby could only chuckle at that, doing her best to her own spirits up.
"And now the Spirits are gone." Clairvoya slumped, "I swear the spirits of Evershade Valley aren't NEARLY as lazy as these fools." Clairvoya picked up Yang's Scarf next, "This… I can feel the love in this, it is a bond between you and your sister is it not?"
Ruby nodded, "Yeah, it was the first gift I got Yang that I bought all by myself." Ruby said, "She still wears it to this day."
Clairvoya smiled under her veil as she not only returned the scarf to Ruby, but even wrapped it around her neck for the young girl, before restarting her chant.
"Hmm… It seems the spirits are cheering for you." Clairvoya said, "And from what they are saying, you've managed to capture enough of the Boo's to weaken their collective power enough that they can seal the Boo's inside the rooms they hide in."
"Really?" Ruby asked wide eyed.
"Yes!" Clairvoya cheered, "It seems me calling on them has spurred some kind of action from these lazy lumps… And they're gone again." Clairvoya slumped, "It seems my power is reaching its limits for the night as well."
"Really?" Ruby asked worried.
"I am fine child." Clairvoya said waving off Ruby's concern, "Unlike all the other Ghost's in this mansion my power comes directly from the Spirits, and with King Boo sapping their power I am not as powerful."
"Got it." Ruby said.
"Now then." Clairvoya said lifting up Myrtenaster, then tutted in disapproval, "Typical modern noble's weapon. A factory produced piece of steel with no emotion poured into it whatsoever. Muramasa would be ashamed."
"Muramasa?" Ruby asked.
"A man from Evershade Valley like myself, a blacksmith to be precise." Clairvoya said, "He would put his heart and soul into every tool he made, and his rage, will, and hope into every weapon he made. Had some attitude problems but a nice man none-the-less." Clairvoya handed the weapon over to Ruby as she began her chant.
Clairvoya was silent as she looked into her Crystal Ball, before her eyes went wide and the orb exploded, causing Ruby to cover her eyes and step back, while Clairvoya only covered her eyes.
"Cheap glasswork." Clairvoya muttered, "I've seen her countless times and that didn't happen to my old ball."
"What did you see?" Ruby asked.
"The Grimm Queen." Clairvoya said, "And King Boo kneeling before her, she gave him his crown and when he took the crown a shadow blackened my orb and… well." Clairvoya spread her hands.
"Yeah." Ruby muttered.
"Well, even if I had any power left I can't very well do much without a crystal ball to make sense of anything!" Clairvoya howled. Then the ghost took a deep breath (Despite not having lungs.) "Now then." Clairvoya took the stand that held the crystal ball and tossed it to the side, revealing a key had been hidden under it, "I will give you this key, and in return I want to go back to my painting." Clairvoya said.
Ruby's brow creased, "But, I… I don't want to just jam you into the Poltergust. Can't I just let you go?" Ruby asked.
"Young one, this room is where I am my strongest to resist King Boo's influence." Clairvoya said, "If I leave it, I'll likely become a danger to you. Not to mention the Boo hiding in here."
"Right him, but-" Ruby started.
"Furthermore." Clairvoya said, as she raised her arm, then snapped her fingers.
The sound filled the room, and purple metallic thorns suddenly grew and covered the doors, sealing Ruby in the room.
"I am not asking." Clairvoya stated flatly.
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Sorry this took so long guys, but my computer had cut off twice the day after I had posted my last chapter and after that second time I just decided to leave it alone.
I've only now come back to it and it seems to be working well enough so far but… I've got no idea how long it's gonna last.
Hopefully I will get a new one around February, when prices start dropping back to sane levels and stock actually refills.
But for now a few things I want to say.
I have a reason as for why Myrtnaster was what Weiss had lost. You'll know why soon enough.
Second, yeah I changed the Slim Bankshot 'fight', I can't have Ruby just be a mindless aggressor all the time.
And I did change Henry and Orville a bit too (Also I can't believe I never realized the word play that was their names toy car driving Henry named for Henry Ford, and the plane flying Orville named for Orville Wright) Because let's be honest, in most people's first playthrough you probably wouldn't think to use the Poltergust on the boxes to see where they were hiding. Plus since they are afraid of wind, then the suction of the Poltergust would terrify them.
Now as for Clairvoya… I'm actually building out her character so I can bring her back in the Dark Moon story. Why? Honestly just to fix that a bit more… And to have some more friendly ghost's help Ruby in that story.
Still until next time everyone, I'll be doing everything I can to finish this story.