After the two girls got over their embarrassing moment from their others, they continued the subsequent viewing.
[T&$r?!#u*~e%#A$?!r%~t]
"This one is called 'True Art'." Weiss says as she finished another message.
"What does that mean? Is it talking about the Portrait Ghosts?" Jaune asks.
"Only one way to find out." Yang says as she gestures to continue watching.
Ruby let out a short breath as she walked through the now-lit first-floor halls. Ruby had no idea why these halls were now lit, but if it meant not dealing with the ghost mice and bats, Ruby would take it.
"Why are the halls lit?" The viewing Ruby asks.
"It's a haunted mansion. No need to question the small details." Blake points out at the horror theme logic.
Either way, Ruby made her way to the end of the hall past the washroom, where she stared at the single door with a clover imprinted on it and the metallic vines growing over it. Just like with the door in the Foyer, the light on the vines began to pulse faster and faster before dissolving and allowing Ruby to slide the key the keyhole and unlocking the door, and stepping out into the Courtyard.
"Another weed-whacked!" Nora cheered.
Taking a moment to look around the courtyard, Ruby noticed a pair of statues, an old well, a fountain, a little birdhouse… and an outhouse for some reason.
"There's even an outhouse?" Ruby gagged at the thought of doing the business outside, granted there's a cover but still gagged at the idea.
However, Ruby found herself doing a double-take at the birdhouse as she noticed a piece of paper stuck in it.
"What's that? A piece of paper?" Nora asks.
"Might be something important." Pyrrha said.
Ruby found herself walking toward the birdhouse, only to stop as a small pale wisp-like ghost floated in front of her, not intending to hit her, but just randomly floating around.
"Another ghost!" Ruby squeaked, waiting for her other to catch it.
"But it's not doing anything." Ren pointed out.
"A pacifist like Clairvoya?" Oobleck guessed.
"Huh…" Ruby said as she watched the wisps for a few seconds before she continued to the birdhouse.
"J..t...e...h.r...o…"
Both Ruby and Yang froze at the sound of the voice from the viewing. Despite its faintness, they can tell it belonged to someone deep within their memory. Even the professors are shocked to hear the familiar sound.
"That voice…" Ruby whispered in shock.
"Ruby…? What's wrong?" Weiss asks her team leader to see the shocked look in her partner. The same can be said for Blake checking on Yang.
Before Ruby could say anything, Yang cut in. "Nothing's wrong. Just keep watching." Despite her rude interruption, her tone was firm. Her previous shock turned to an intense manner, saying that she doesn't want to waste more time as if she was trying to confirm something.
No one said a word, and they continued the viewing but can't help but be worried for the two.
Ruby froze at the sound of that voice. It was faint, very faint, but it sparked an almost forgotten memory within Ruby's mind as she looked to where she heard the voice coming from.
The well.
"The voice is coming from the well." Port points out.
Ruby ran toward the well and, barely taking note of the ladder, jumped into it. When she landed at the bottom, she noticed an old lantern and a tunnel that Ruby quickly ran down, and upon reaching the end of it, found a small gap that looked like the inside of a lion's maw, the sharp fangs stopping Ruby from sliding through the gap.
"How ominous…" Ozpin comments, knowing that there is something special about the particular place.
"You okay, Ruby?" Jaune asks her friend, never seeing her act like that despite it being her other.
"I-I'm fine." Ruby says without looking away from the screen. Despite what she said, everyone could tell she is nervous for some reason.
Ruby peered through the opening and noticed the room was rather well lit despite Ruby having never been in there before. Looking to her right, Ruby noticed a door with a Diamond shape on it, and when she looked to her left she-
Ruby's entire brain came to a halt. Against the far left was hung a gold-framed painting, the subject of which was a woman with dark red hair and a pair of silver eyes.
"Mom?" Both Ruby and Yang said in shock and disbelief, and everyone else was surprised by this.
'Mom.' Ruby thought as her mind was flooded with thoughts.
"Mom!" The viewing Ruby cried out as she quickly rushed to the screen and held it as she took a closer look to confirm if it really is her late mother. Yang quickly joins up with her sister, comforting her and knowing if what she is seeing is real.
Everyone was shocked by this revelation but not as shocked as the ones who personally knew Summer Rose.
"Ozpin!" Glynda turned to the headmaster, who was shocked by this as well as her.
"She's alive in this timeline… so Summer was the one Madame Clairvoya was referring to." Ozpin mutters while the ()WB(), JNPR, and Zwei tried comforting the two girls and a quick explanation of what's going on.
After a while of calming down, Ruby and Yang are back in their seats, and Zwei was snuggling on Ruby's lap, this time to comfort her.
"Have you two calms down now?" Port asked, concerned for his students.
"We're fine, Professor Port." Ruby says with a small smile as she hugged her corgi.
"Sorry about that." Yang apologized.
"No need to apologize, Miss Xiao Long. What you did was understandable." Oobleck says also still shocked that Summer is alive in this world except that she has been held captive by ghosts all this time.
"Are you ready to continue with the viewing?" Ozpin asks the two, they answered with a nod.
"Hueh he he he." Laughed King Boo as his entire focus was on Summer Rose's portrait, "After all your precious little rose has been doing, I can't even begin to consider that thought." King Boo mocked, "I'm willing to let go of her little friends she saved if only to let them feel the despair of not being able to save that silver-eyed runt."
Ruby and Yang narrowed their eyes towards the King of the Boos hating him for mocking their mother and threatening the alternate Ruby.
Summer noticed Ruby, barely recognizing her daughter if not for the fact she knew her own face as well as she did, "So you're just going to assume you'll beat her the same way you beat me?" Summer growled, "You only won because I had nothing to fight you with! Plus, from what I've heard…" Summer's face turned into a smirk, "My little Rose has been throwing your minions into the slammer left and right. Isn't the power of your kind the fact they get stronger in numbers?"
"Oh! Burn!" Yang laughed, seeing that the fight in Summer Rose has not wavered at all.
"Yeah, Mom! You said it!" Ruby cheered. She may not remember much of her biological mother, but she's happy to know she is just as everything she was told about her.
"Despite the years away from her family, she still recognized her own daughter." Glynda says, smiling at that fact.
"And it would seem she is giving information to her daughter." Port points out seeing what Summer is doing.
King Boo growled at Summer, "You best toss aside your hopes right here and now!" King Boo shouted, "The little runt is an absolute coward! She trembled at the sight of me!"
"That's not true! …ish…" Ruby denied but muttered the last part since because she's technically still a bit afraid of ghosts.
Blake heard the last part thanks to her traits and silently chuckled.
"And you ran like a little chicken from the sight of her." Summer challenged.
"I see Mrs. Rose still knows how to deliver a comeback." Ozpin lightly smirked, seeing his previous student still the same despite being an alternate version of themselves.
"Raaah!" King Boo roared as several objects in the room began to tremble- With Ruby taking it as a sign to get out of there before the King noticed her.
"So this is the power of King Boo… well, at least one of them if there is more to his ability." Oobleck says as he took note of this new information.
Ruby stumbled away from the gap in the wall until she reached the center of the well, where a hanging purple ghost flipped down and laughed as it dropped a bomb, the fuse of which was instantly doused when Ruby mindlessly aimed the Poltergust at the ghost and bomb and fired a large blast of water- dissolving the ghost and ruining the bomb.
"Wow… you didn't even look at that ghost at all." Jaune blinked, surprised at how easily the alternate Ruby caught the ghost without looking. Then again, after what the other Ruby just went through, it would be strange how the other would act learning that the dead mother is still alive.
As the lantern came on and a key appeared, Ruby slumped against the ladder and looked down the hall she had come from.
"Mom… She's been here this whole time." Ruby muttered, "Trapped in the basement of a mansion for so many years…" Ruby closed her eyes as she took a deep breath.
Even the viewing Ruby was trying to calm down from that fact. Her mother may not be around, but she was glad and saddened that her alternate version's mother is alive but imprisoned for so many years.
"Isn't the power of your kind the fact they get stronger in numbers?"
Ruby focused on those words before opening her eyes and the Poltergust, "One at a time, every single Boo." Ruby said to herself as she stood up, her eyes gleaming ever so slightly, "Don't worry mom, I'm coming for you."
"Yeah! What my other said." Ruby said, believing her other can do it while not noticing her eyes also slightly gleamed.
Most of the audience did not notice that particular small part; however, Ozpin and Glynda knowing full well what that meant.
Grabbing the Key, which unlocked a door back into the Mansion, Ruby climbed the ladder and returned to the courtyard. As she approached the dead tree near the birdhouse, a trio of the hanging ghost's appeared, only one of which didn't drop a bomb. Ruby released water from the Poltergust and did a quick spin, dissolving all three of the ghosts in an instant and lighting up the courtyard, as well as allowing a chest to appear by the well.
"Another treasure chest." Weiss huffed while slowly getting used to the numerous ghost encountered the alternate Ruby was facing. "I swear Ruby, if this keeps up, your other may be set for life! And you haven't even graduated from Beacon yet."
This made the viewing Ruby chuckle nervously but not liking the idea don't get her wrong she still dreams of being a Huntress, but it doesn't hurt that she has the money to back it.
Ruby, however, made no attempt to go toward the chest for the moment and instead pulled out the sheet of paper from the birdhouse.
"Oh! It's not Lien or a key this time." Pyrrha points out.
"A letter?" Ruby muttered as she looked at the paper, then began to read it.
"A letter?" Everyone echoed in confusion, wondering who wrote it.
To my family.
If you've managed to get this, then I'm sorry I can't be there for you anymore. I've been chased by something that is calling itself the king of ghosts. I guess Professor Gadd was right about his theories on Ghosts.
I don't have much time to write this before he finds me in this mansion, but he seems to be using the crown on his head to manipulate the ghost's in the mansion. The Ghosts seem to be getting stronger, but the king is enhancing their emotions, making some of them more aggressive. But he seems frustrated as a surprising amount of them aren't aggressive in the slightest, preferring to keep doing what they've refused to go to the afterlife for.
Ruby, Yang, if either of you are reading this, I'm sorry I missed so much of your lives. I can only hope that whatever happens to me doesn't leave a burden on your shoulders, and Yang, please, don't bother going after Raven, she's-
"A letter from mom!" Ruby says in surprise while also sad and happy that this version of her mother was trying to give away information to any victim who enters the mansion but was also wondering about what the last part meant for Yang.
"But it's incomplete…" Yang said as she narrowed her eyes at the last part. She knew that Summer wasn't her biological mother but was also confused why she didn't want her to meet with her birth mother. A part of her wanted to find Raven, but another part wanted to listen to Summer's request. She is so conflicted right now she doesn't know what to do. 'At least I could probably use this to make uncle Qrow answer my questions.' The blond thought maybe using this idea since Qrow wouldn't want to turn away Summer's final request, even if it's from an alternate reality.
Ruby figured her mother ran out of time to write the letter. "Still, this is useful." Ruby noted, "In fact, maybe Madame Clairvoya can help use this." With that in mind, Ruby pocketed the letter, looted the chest in by the well, and then unlocked the door back into the mansion- Specifically the Rec Room.
"That's right, with Madame Clairvoya's ability, it can have a clearer clarity of the situation." Oobleck comments.
The first thing Ruby noticed was the amount of exercise equipment in the room. Exercise bikes, punching bags, weights, even a treadmill that, for some reason, had a key haphazardly on the belt.
"Now, this is my kind of room." Yang smiled, liking the room, while Nora agreed with her.
"Of course, you would." Blake rolled her eyes.
Then Ruby noticed that the weight in the middle of the room was being lifted up, repeatedly.
"Another Portrait Ghost!" Weiss gasped.
"And I'm guessing it's a bodybuilder." Nora comments.
"Oh, great." Ruby muttered as she pulled up the Dustboy Horror to see the ghost. The best word to describe the ghost was buff, blue skin with blonde hair, a purple tail, a red shirt, and a barrel-sized chest with arms to match.
This was Biff Atlas.
Yang whistled. "Well, well, isn't he quite the looker."
"Ew! Yang!" Ruby gagged at her sister's action.
"What? Just saying what I see." The blond grinned.
Ruby looked around the room as she walked over to the treadmill to take the key, noticing Three punching bags surrounded biff. Ruby had an idea- If Biff, and most likely all the other Ghosts in the Mansion, could interact with the environment, perhaps the environment can interact with them.
"Very true! Most of the Portrait Ghost have followed this pattern." Oobleck points out.
After grabbing the key, Ruby quickly turned around and took a running leap at the sandbag between her and Biff, drop-kicking the sandbag and causing it to slam into Biff.
"A dropkick?" Weiss raised a brow at Ruby's choice of attack, making the reaper blush.
Biff was sent tumbling through the air, dropping the barbel he was lifting, and after a moment righted himself and looked at Ruby with some irritation in his eyes… Before spinning his arms around trying to hit Ruby.
"…Now that's just sad." Yang deadpanned. She liked the muscles but was disappointed that the ghost is fighting so ridiculously.
"Wow…" The viewing Ruby muttered at what she's seeing. "Even I can fight better than that without a weapon."
"Wow…" Ruby muttered, not particularly afraid of Biff, "Even I can fight better than that without a weapon.
"Hey, a perfect echo!" Nora laughed along with the others making Ruby blush.
Ruby proceeded to slam into sandbags, causing them to slam into Biff, two more times until the wind was knocked out of the ghost entirely, allowing Ruby to easily capture the Ghost as he could barely put up a fight after the relative beating he took.
"That ghost can take a punch, can he?" Jaune comments even he can take a beating like that.
"After watching that, I would guess so." Pyrrha agreed with her partner.
"At least she managed to catch another one." Ren said.
As the lights came on, Ruby looted the chest that appeared, checked the key's door, which apparently was the key to the locked door that led back into the first-floor halls (So now she had a shortcut), and then checked her Boo Radar.
Because the best chance she would have to save her mother was to capture every single Boo in the Mansion.
"Don't worry, mom… my other is on her way." Ruby muttered hopefully.
The Boo Radar led Ruby to one of the Exercise bikes, which, after Ruby kicked, revealed the Boo hiding in the room.
"It is I, fair Booregard!" The Boo declared with a hint of refinement… Before that, refinement dissolved into a panicked shriek as Ruby focused down the Poltergust on the ghost, capturing it without much hassle.
Yang laughed, and the others just groan. "Hate them but can't deny their names."
"Of course, you would." Weiss rolled her eyes.
"That's one less Boo." Ruby said as she put the Poltergust away and left the Rec Room and entered a dark hall, to which Ruby took a moment to unlock the door back to the lit halls of the first floor, then looked at the stairs ahead of her.
"Looks like I'm going back to the second floor." Ruby said to herself.
With that, the scene ended, giving some thought to everyone in the room.
"So… that was quite the episode, huh?" Jaune says.
"I know…" Ruby muttered as she felt emotions starting to build inside her. "Mom being alive and all."
"I believe this would be a good time to have a break and continue this tomorrow." Ozpin announced, seeing the state of the young Rose and along with her half-sister.
Everyone agreed with the headmaster. They packed up all the seats and left the room, leaving only the headmaster and headmistress.
"Ozpin… I have another letter for this one." Glynda slowly said as she showed the letter to Ozpin.
The reincarnating wizard took the letter and began to read it out loud.
'Dear Ozpin,
If you are reading this letter, then you have reached the point of Summer's state.
I can only imagine how all of you would be surprised as I was by this fact. It gives me the joy to learn that she is alive despite her captivity with the Boos in this timeline.
I… honestly not sure if I should do this or not, but I have decided to give you coordinates of the Mansion's location on Patch with a long debate.
I don't know if you will find anything in that part of the island. Honestly, I don't know if this will help in any way, but from what I learn from this discovery of the multiverse, the possibilities are infinite, and I hope I genuinely hope this may help you in more ways than one.
Your friend, .'
This shocked them both after Ozpin finished reading the letter, and what's more, there was a second page showing the said information.
"Ozpin…" Glynda was the one who broke the silence. "What… should we do?"
The headmaster didn't say anything as he was in deep thought after what seemed like hours. He looks up to Glynda with his decision. "Contact Qrow, tell him he has a side mission."
To be continued…
Next Update: RWBY Reacts to Fate Series (Fate Zero)