One night. Ruby Rose had hoped to have just one night where she could read her new comic books without fighting any crazy moms, a sadistic witch, or other servants of Salem. After all, the previous night was when the White Fang's attempted attack on Haven Academy occurred with Salem's forces attempting to acquire the relic of knowledge.
They were defeated, the White Fang ultimately defeated, and her team got reunited! She threw a party to celebrate the reunion the next day, which her uncle took to with gusto. However, Ruby couldn't help noticing that Yang was standing as far away from Blake as possible, trying to pretend she didn't even exist.
It was good that there was a party yesterday, as their newest friend Oscar Pine, possessing the soul of their former headmaster Ozpin somehow, told them he had an announcement. Ruby hoped it was taking the relic away. For one thing, Salem's forces would try attacking the academy again if they remained and besides, Ruby had become bored with sitting around a house for weeks without going out and trying to save the helpless villagers from the increasing numbers of attacks from the creatures of Grimm.
But when she lay on her bed and fell asleep, she suddenly had a sense of falling. She opened her eyes and the only way to describe what she saw was like being in the eye of a hurricane while staring at a night sky, and the clouds swirling with a deep purple color. "Aah!" Ruby fell onto her back and tried crawling away but realized that the 'ground' was neither hot nor cold; in fact, it felt like thick air. Ruby lifted her hand and looked down and saw the same thing as well. Furthermore, she was fully dressed in her combat attire.
By now, Ruby was truly baffled. She shakily stood up, and looked around. Where was she? Ruby then heard her Uncle Qrow Branwen's voice. "Ruby? Ruby!" The huntress-in-training followed the sound of his voice. She saw him emerging from the clouds, holding his sword in front of him.
"Qrow!" She ran to his side and stood at his side. He barely gave his niece a glance before returning his attention to his surroundings. Seeing what he was doing, Ruby pulled out her weapon, Crescent Rose which is the possibly the most oversized weapon possible, before calling out to her friends and teammates.
Then, appearing from the clouds around them, came other sillousettes before they solidified. Her teammates Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna and Yang Xiao Long. Others appeared as well; her newest companions Jaune Arc, Lie Ren and Nora Valkyrie. What surprised her was the presence of Oscar Pine, Sun Wukong and both of Blake's parents, Kali and Ghira Belladonna.
"Ruby? What's going on?" Yang asked, lifting up her fists.
"I'm not sure." Ruby looked around, fearful of what would happen next. She looked at Oscar, but judging by the confused look on his face, he had no idea what was going on.
"Where are we?" Ghira asked, looking rather agitated.
"We are in the fifth dimension beyond anything your world had ever known." The group looked around, searching for the source of the voice. "It is as vast as space and timeless as life itself. This reality serves as the foundation of science and what you call the supernatural stretching from your darkest fears to the peaks of intelligence. It is a place where literally anything and everything is at your fingertips."
Suddenly, the clouds shifted and condensed on a single space. They swirled further and faster. Ruby stared at the scene, terror taking over her body. The clouds then dissipated and left a man standing in front of them. He was about 6 feet tall, with long black hair that is combed straight back, with freshly pressed black pants and a black three-piece suit with a white dress shirt underneath combined with black leather boots. The man himself was pale, even paler than Weiss if that was possible with a long nose, slender fingers, and deep brown eyes. He watched them closely then gave a ghost of a smile. "Hello. It is nice to meet you."
Sun stared at the man. "What the hell did I just watch?"
Yang's eyes flashed red and she fired off several shots from Ember Celica. The man lifted up his hand and the bullets froze in midair. Clenching his fist, the bullets froze. "Don't do that again, or I will destroy all your weapons."
Yang was ready to fire yet again, but Jaune grabbed her arm. "Stop it!" He then looked to the man. "Who are you?"
The man nodded in appreciation. "Some call me…Ben. As for this place, I am but a caretaker. You wonder why I have brought you here, so I will answer your question. You are at a crossroads where the choices you make will affect your journey. Some doors have closed, changing those who passed through for better and for worse, and many more doors have opened to you. The question is, which one will you take?"
"What does that mean?" Weiss asked, glaring at Ben harshly.
"It means that you have faced the forces of Salem, and won. However, you will not be lucky every time you face the witch that has plagued your world for millennia."
"What witch? What do you mean?" Ghira demanded only for Kali to shush him. He realized his own actions and stopped himself from anything further. Still, he questioned what Ben was referring to with witch and became immediately worried for Blake for becoming a huntress, and by extension being involved in this war of shadows he heard of.
"That doesn't make any sense." Weiss stated, taking a step forward. "How can I know this isn't a dream? And if by some sort of strange miracle this isn't a dream, why would you take an interest in this world?"
Ben chuckled and gave a smile to Weiss. "You are very clever, Weiss Schnee. I can assure you; everything you see and feel is real. Here is proof." He then pointed a finger at Weiss, who screamed in agony before falling to her knees, steam rolling off her body in waves. "If this was a dream, you would be awake by now. As to why you are here and why things are going to happen the way it happens, all will be explained in due time. Please, follow me." Ben turned around and walked into the clouds, and walked through to disappear.
The group look at each other. "I say we follow the creepy dude! It's not like we're going to a windowless van or something." Nora then led the charge into the mist and disappeared.
"Nora." Ren shook his head, facepalming slightly, then followed her into the mist. The rest of the group looked at each other.
"Come on. I'd like to know what this Ben wants to show us. What do you say?" Ruby then walked to the mist and made her way through. The rest of the group looked at each other, confused and very uncertain by what should be done.
"Ruby!" Qrow shouted before she ran into the mist and disappeared. He cursed under his breath. "I don't trust this."
"That makes two of us." Ghira said, before looking at Qrow. "Ghira Belladonna."
"Branwen. Qrow Branwen. Let's go." Qrow, for some reason, felt instinctively drawn to the mist and walked through.
Shakily, everyone else followed suit and where they found themselves at was unbelievable. "Can you believe this?" Ruby was geeking out over the red leather seats all facing a giant screen, feeling each seat.
"I can assure you, Ms. Rose, that they are be very real. Please, make yourselves comfortable." No one did, staring at Ban who sighed in exasperation. "I suppose I should explain what is going to happen. Your dimension is but one of an infinite span, all connected by my home here. You will experience things you will not be comfortable experiencing, but I will assure you that it is all for a reason. You have been focused on your task so staunchly that you had not considered other alternatives, methods to address it. Through access to my world, I will allow you the ability of this screen to watch other worlds."
"That has to be the dumbest thing I have ever heard in my life!" Yang and Kali shouted before the two women looked at each other sheepishly. This whole situation was so bad, it almost seemed like it came out of a bad Fanfiction story.
"Many worlds… I've heard of theories of other worlds, but no concrete proof had ever bene recorded on Remnant. Besides, are any of these 'worlds' similar to our own?"
"I repeat myself. While things may seem inconsequential or even insane, everything in the multiverse happens for a reason. You get free movies out of this too. Keep in mind, however, that most of these worlds have no Aura, have a different type of semblance involved. As for Faunus… you are the only world who possesses them at all."
Ruby sat down and pulled out a pair of 3D glasses from the cup holder. Shakily, everyone began to find their various seats. Ruby, Weiss, and Blake sat on the front row of 3 aisle seats on the right-hand side of the makeshift theater while Yang sat in the middle seat in the center, not wanting anywhere near Blake.
The Faunus kept quiet, but they were nervous about being told that they would not see any other Faunus in other worlds. How are they supposed to take that news?
Ghira, Kali, and Sun sat behind Blake directly while Ren, Nora, and Jaune sat behind Ruby. Oscar, the newest member of the group, decided to sit next to Yang because why not? As for Qrow, he sat on the other side of Yang and glared at the screen. "Alright, so what's the cost of this? Do you want us to throw money at you or something?"
"No, Qrow Branwen. What I intend on doing is opening a portal in different worlds so you can see the past, present, or future of different universes. When they are finished, I shall come back and provide some context as to why things happen the way they do. Unfortunately, as some worlds are harder to view than others, I might be able to adequately explain everything if it happens at all."
Qrow nodded. "Before we start, do you mind topping me off?" He held out his flask. To his surprise, he felt the flask become heavier in his hands before looking down at the flask.
"Also, between viewings, you may visit the bathroom, the concession stands to find snacks and other foods, and have 30-minute breaks between views. How many worlds we see, I have not yet determined. Just keep in mind, by the time we are done, we will see whether anything changed. Are you ready?"
Silence. What do you say to a supposedly immortal entity offering to show you the multiverse for mysterious reasons? Still, they were interested to see where this was going. "Bring it on!" Ruby stated, grinning widely.
Ben looked at her, and while it was subtle, Weiss picked up something sinister behind his expression. "Let us begin. The first world we shall see is a world that has seen much conflict. But it is through that conflict that a new warrior is born." With that, Ben vanished form their sight.
The room became dark and the screen turned on. A tie-die of colors swirled on the screen with several indiscernible lines fusing together to form two words 'Feature Presentation.'
The screen turned black, then the game officially began.