Castle Bleck, night
Ruby woke up in a strange place. It was like someone painted Beacon black. Looking around, she saw her teammates on the ground, unconscious.
"Hey, wake up!" she yelled. The others woke up and got onto their feet.
"Where are we?" Weiss asked.
"I don't know, I just woke up here!" Ruby answered.
"Welcome, welcome!"
The group looked up and saw a masked figure floating in the air. "A pleasure to meet you all. Ruby, Weiss, Blake, Yang."
"How do you know our names!?" Weiss asked as she got into a fighting stance.
"Well, you could say i'm a fan of your work. I have brought you all here so I can help you."
"Help us how?" Blake asked.
"By having you watch cartoons."
(Silence)
"Hmm. Not a fan of cartoons, are we? Well, you don't really have a choice here. Besides, this particular show will help you all in the long run."
As if by magic, the group was strapped down in movie theater chairs, equipped with popcorn and soda. "Enjoy."
Megalomanic
Noun
1: A person with an obsessive thirst for power.
Blake and Weiss knew this word all too well.
Judgement Hall
The scene opens to a well decorated golden corridor. On one side of the hall was a child with closed eyes. On the other was a boy with snow-white skin and a smile. His eyes were completely black, save for the white dots in the center.
"Listen and hear a song the birds are singing. Sit down a while and watch the flowers blooming. A pleasant breeze flows by, leaving a trail of DUST."
"Why is he singing?" Weiss asked.
"It's his theme, MEGALOVANIA."
"Yeah, i'd probably sing my own theme song if I had one." Yang admitted.
"Why is it called MEGALOVANIA?" Ruby asked.
"You'll find out."
"This is your fault, right?"
Bones erupt from the floor. The child jumps out of the way only for large blasters to cut their life short.
"Standing in the corridor. Who thought we'd be here like this together? On a gorgeous day like this I ask: 'What is it that you want?'."
From a flash of golden light, the child returns, completely unharmed.
"What just happened?" Weiss asked, dumbfounded.
"T-they died." Ruby said, a bit scared by the blasters.
"But that can't be right, right?" Yang questioned.
"That's the human's power. Every time they die, they'll come back. An old friend called this ability DETERMINATION."
The thought of a semblance like that was harrowing for everyone in the room, even the one showing them the episode.
The child keeps trying to either slash or stab the pale boy with their knife, only for him to dodge and send off a barrage of bones.
"I believe there was a time. Where we could be pals and things were better. Eating bad food, enjoying laughs. Can we go back to that?"
"Wait! They were friends!?" Yang screamed.
"Yang, I may have more power than all of you combined, but my ears are still relatively normal. And yes, they used to be friends. Just goes to show, people can betray you." The figure remembered what Leo did as it said this.
The boy's eye flashes blue as multiple blasters spawned behind him.
"If you're in there listening, kid... Just RESET the timeline and let's please forget all of this."
"RESET?" Ruby asked.
"I knew this question was coming... The child has DETERMINATION."
"What does being determined have to do with RESETs?" Weiss asked.
"No. The child is literally the living embodiment of DETERMINATION. With that kind of power, they can control time. At least, to an extent."
This left the room silent as they wondered how a semblance like that existed.
The scene changes to a snowy forest as the child stands in front of a tall, pale boy. They cut his head off before crushing it into dust beneath their shoes.
"Even after what you did he still believed in you. Till the end."
"What-what was that?" Blake asked.
"That was the reason they are fighting. The child has murdered countless people. Sans is here to unleash his Judgement."
'So the boy's name is Sans.' They all thought.
"Why did the body turn to dust?" Weiss asked.
"Sans belongs to a group of faunus called 'Monsters'." Blake tensed up, hearing the word Monster as a descriptor for faunus. "When they die, their bodies turn to dust."
"Looking at your face right now, that expression tells me I can't afford not to care anymore."
Sans launches more bones, two of which the kid deflects.
"Turn this path around, wipe your dirty hands clean. Give up."
The kid gets slaughtered countless times from bones and blasters.
"Dear gods." Ruby says, unable to look at the violence.
"Please don't come back. If you're my friend. Please."
The child stands before two buttons. RESET and CONTINUE. A tear going down their face, they put their hand over the RESET button.
But before they can press the button, their arm is restrained by a black tentacle. The screen expands, showing a child in a green shirt being the cause.
When the video cuts back to the Judgement Hall, the child in the green shirt has replaced the other one.
"What was that?" Blake asked.
"Yeah, I can understand how that could be confusing for you. Basically, the first kid wanted to RESET, bringing the timeline back to the start and reviving everyone. But the kid in the green shirt had already gone so far with the killing spree. They weren't about to start now."
The rest of the group still had trouble processing this, but they kept watching anyway.
"Listen and hear a song the birds are singing. Sit down a while and watch the flowers blooming. A pleasant breeze flows by leaving a trail of- How could you have done this?"
More bones are shot, but the child either dodges or deflects all of them. Sans tries his luck by using Blue Magic to send them flying into a wall of bones, but they use their knife to slow and eventually stop their movement. Once they stop, they scare Sans with a warped grin.
"WHAT THE HELL!?" Yang screamed.
"Yang. Volume."
From behind an invisible barrier (not THAT one) the first child pleads "I'm sorry" to Sans, but he didn't hear them.
"Is there still a glimmer of hope? Will you choose to do the right thing? Please now bud, if you're there, have a change of heart."
"Is it just me, or does it look like Sans is getting tired?" Yang asked.
"That isn't gonna be good for him." Ruby said, fearful for what might happen.
"Listen and hear a song the birds are singing. Sit down a while and watch the flowers blooming. What a nice day."
The first child breaks through the barrier and protects Sans from the second child's attack.
"I'm sorry. Take my Soul, and fix my mistakes." the first child said before turning to dust, leaving nothing behind but their Soul.
'What in-' Everyone was thunderstruck at this.
"Monsters have the ability to absorb human souls."
"WHAT!?" everyone yelled.
The second child jumped to get the Soul, but Sans got to it first. When he opened his eyes, they were both glowing bright blue.
"aren't ya missing something, buddy?" Sans asked as he revealed he had access to the RESET button. "but first." Sans snapped his fingers, causing a large bone to impale the child through the sternum before they were blasted into oblivion.
"get dunked on, you megalomanic."
"Well, what did you think?"
R: "I liked the song. And i'm glad Sans and the kid are okay."
W: "The music was indeed calming, despite the undertones it had."
B: (Silent)
Y: "I liked those blaster-thingies!"
Up next: Yet Darker