Arc: Convergence Arcanum Chapter 4, a rwby fanfic

Chapter 3 – HALLOW I, Arrival Below

Ruby was walking from the bathroom only to run into Wiess as she herself was walking from where she had come from, "O-oh Wiess, sorry to almost run into you, I was just finishing in the bathroom, you?"

"Well, I went to go check our rooms and the other facilities after I had gone, and I will say that it was quite … eye-opening I guess you could say," Wiess said, having seen the large recreation center as she waited for the viewing to continue, "so Ruby, what are you going to do now."

"Well I guess I was also gonna go look at our room to, but I guess you could tell me about it since you were th-!"

"Viewing is recommencing, everyone come on back," Mirai stated, sending the alert through the speaker system.

"Or we could go see the next viewing, could be interesting," Ruby stated, earning a deadpan look from Wiess.

"Ruby, the only way we are even going back is to watch these viewings in case you forgot," Wiess bluntly stated, and Ruby could only nervously laugh in return, which gave Wiess an exasperated yet bemused feeling, then she took Ruby's hand and said, "come on, let's go."

Ruby for her part, simply let the heiress lead her back, a warm smile on her face from the gesture.

Soon they had returned, the screen now active and flickering with light, and Mirai already returned and waiting for the group.

"Well, it appears everyone is here, and we can all begin," Mirai stated before she continued on, though the grim look on her face was quite worrisome to the assembled group, "I wish to caution you all, the reality we will see will be darker than the previous one, both figuratively and literally, for the Jaune Arc in this reality was 'dealt a bad hand', that then led the Arc of this realm to face a much darker path."

"What happens, what is going to happen to Jaune," Pyrrha stated, the previous reality was bad and left on a bit of a cliffhanger but knowing that this reality would be darker made her far more worried.

"Well, to put it simply something bad happens to him in the beginning, and he ends up doing something to prove what had been done to him wrong and ends up getting in a very darker set of circumstances because of it, circumstances that lead to sudden change and a new reality," Mirai stated, "but you will have to see for yourself, because we are about to begin."

"Just wondering but does Jaune become a girl in this one to," Blake stated, wondering if it would be a recurring theme in the realities they see.

"You will just have to see for yourself, because it's showtime," Mirai talked, pointing out the screen starting to clear, the image soon coming through, and the group then took their seats as the image cleared.

The new viewing began.

Jaune Arc cut down another Beowolf, doing what he could from his training with Pyrrha taught.

"Guh," a soft whimper came from Jaune as tears fell from his eyes, trudging through the forest of Forever Fall, the blade he had was heavy in his hand, but it felt much firmer than Crocea Mors had, and he focused entirely on trying to get through the forest.

"HAAH," he swung the blade down on another beowolf, making his way further through the forest, trying his best to reach the temple, his desire to prove himself to the only person he had left now driving the young man as he made his way through the thick brush.

The one he was trying to prove his worth to …

… was himself.

For he now had no one to left who he could turn to.

The group looked at this version of Jaune Arc, and they all felt visibly worried at the actions of this Jaune Arc, and what had happened to him.

"What happened to him, why is he like that, and what does that mean no one left," it was Pyrrha who wanted an answer to what was happening.

"Listen, and know that there are many worlds that are very much unkind to many individuals, Jaune Arc included, and what you will see is but one of many misfortunate fates that befall his existence," Mirai pointed out as the viewing continued.

He once had good friends, a strong team, and had made friends with the sister team to his own, team RWBY, though it was mostly with the fellow leader of the other team, and he felt that his fellow member, Pyrrha Nikos, was a good friend that he had come to truly respect and care for.

But then, in an instant, it was gone, all gone.

"Why, why did I have to do that, why did I lie, why did I ever think those stupid transcripts were ever a good idea, DAMMIT," Jaune cursed out loud, the memory of his transcripts discovery still a terribly memory in his mind.

He was found out, and it was Glynda Goodwitch who discovered the falsified documents, and had reported it to the Ozpin and the Council of Vale, and with that everything fell apart.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry everyone, please," the young knight recalled the reactions of those he saw as his friends after they discovered his lie.

"Why, why did you lie to everyone, to me, why," the hurt eyes of Ruby Rose were like searing knives into his soul.

"You stay far away from my sister, you lying creep," Jaune honestly didn't know what hurt more, the figurative punch to his gut from her words, or the literal punch to his face from Yang's Ember Celica encased fist.

"I knew that you never belonged here Arc, and now everyone knows it, now do me a favor and get out of my sight" Wiess angrily stated, her anger at Jaune Arc very clear, and it hurt Jaune deeply.

"You don't belong here," that simple and blunt phrase from Blake stung, though not as hard as the others, but it stung very deep.

The reactions from the assorted group, was obvious.

"Wh-why did, but I, I wouldn't, bu-but-," Ruby was beside herself at seeing this realities Ruby speak to Jaune in such a way and the hurt it brought Jaune hurt her in return.

"Wh-What the heck, why would I do that, this is bull," Yang stated as she saw what her other did, to her it seemed like a slap to her face.

"I know I hated Jaune, but that is going too far, this has to be fake," Wiess was outraged at this, not believing she could do such a thing.

Blake honestly had no words to say about her other actions.

"You can, and in this reality you did, though the reason it was like this is due to the RWBY in this world having a much lower tolerance to deception and bad deeds, so you end up taking slights such as Jaune's false transcripts much more seriously," then Mirai glared at Blake, making her feel terribly uncomfortable, "though strangely you didn't take it as personally when Blake's ties to a terrorist organization, which I take as being far more horrible than any falsified paperwork, came up later on."

Blake could only gulp as the rest of team RWBY felt quite saddened by this very true statement, while NPR, who had been glaring at the team for what they said to Jaune in the reality, and only frowned deeper at this true statement.

"Though if you think that it was only them, prepare for some real disappointment," Mirai said in a hard tone.

It hurt, more than anything he felt before, but it all paled to the worse that happened.

"Jaune, I wanted to believe in you, that you truly belonged here at Beacon, but I was wrong, so please Jaune, just leave," Pyrrha's words hurt, it hurt him so deeply, he truly felt like he wanted to die right then and there.

Jaune softly brushed his cheek, remembering the blow from Ren when he found out about his lie, his words hurt worse, "Stay away from Nora and myself, don't ever come near us again."

Nora said nothing, but followed Ren as he left, with a very disappointed look on her face.

With that, team JNPR was broken, and Jaune lost his team.

Tears, more than she had ever shed, spilled from the eyes of Pyrrha, seeing herself throw away the man she loved, and all but shunning him for such a fickle and empty thing.

Ren and Nora honestly fared little better, seeing them throw away their friendship with Jaune as though it meant nothing.

Jaune truly felt like it could not become worse than I did, he had just lost his team, he lost his friends, and his dreams were shattered.

Yet fate seemed to have a truly sick and twisted sense of humor.

Jaune was left shocked and broken while his sword and shield, Crocea Mors where on the desk of Ozpin, the man with a saddened look on his face while Glynda only glared at the boy.

"Mr. Arc, no, Jaune, I am sorry to have to tell you this here and now, and I wish this would never have happened, but I must confiscate your weapon from you, and give you a message from your family, one that I wish had never come," Ozpin then handed Jaune a letter, with one last parting phrase, "I'm sorry."

It was later that Jaune found that it was a message from his family, one filled with disappointment and anger for his actions, stating that he was an embarrassment and disappointment to their family, that he would steal the heirloom of their family and commit a crime to get into an Institution that he should never have gone to, but the ending of the letter had hit him worse than everything that had already occurred.

Disowned, Jaune had been removed from his own family, and now had nowhere to turn or to go.

If Jaune didn't feel like he wanted to live then, he truly wished he was dead now, and that feeling only got worse from there.

With hollow eyes and broken spirit, Jaune honestly looked at himself in a mirror, then he smashed the mirror with his fist, his Aura not even working as he said what those who were truly in a bad way would say.

"I don't even deserve to live."

"This is too much, pl-please, someone help him, please," Ruby could only whimper out her plea as she saw her friend slowly come apart at the seams, wishing she could go and comfort him in some way.

The others fared little well, or worse.

"He, his family, why would they, but it, why," Wiess honestly had no idea what to say or think anymore, and honestly was taking it pretty bad as she had felt that because of Jaune's continuous flirting with her and continuous annoyance she felt that something bad should happen to the young knight, but what happened here however, "this is just too much, it's horrible."

"This is a joke right, they don't really mean any of that, it can't be like that right, and I-that punch it, it was, was," Yang wanted to deny what was happening, to say that it was all just a terrible joke and not really happening to Jaune, but one very sharp glare from Mirai and a holographic message from the facility intelligence drove the point home, especially since the message said it all.

'IT'S NOT A JOKE'

Blake just said nothing, she herself had not known Jaune very well, due to keeping to herself most of the time, but to see someone suffer so much and that she was part of it really weighed on her heart, another mark on her already long list of bad deeds in her life.

"Jaune, why, why did this, why did I, no," Pyrrha was in a truly despairing mood, seeing herself give up on Jaune, seeing his whole life fall apart, it was honestly the worst thing she could have seen.

Nora was crying into Ren's shoulder as she could not stand seeing her leader suffering in such a way, and Ren to feel his heart ache at seeing the man he thought of as a brother suffering so greatly for so little a crime.

"Just think, this is only the beginning of his nightmare," Mirai's offhanded comment caused the group to fear what was to come.

It was then that Jaune then decided to do this, having left Beacon Academy, having overheard that Ozpin would be in a long meeting with the council and most of the staff was busy with other matters, he made his way to the cliffs of beacon, where he first began.

There he found the launch platforms were still working, having tested a large rock he found, and with that he launched himself into the deepest part of the Emerald forest. Though before he went on his obviously suicidal crusade, he found a weapon that had been left discarded in a bush, likely from a student that had quit and tossed it away, the weapon being just a simple longsword with a leather hilt.

With the thrown away weapon, he made his way through the forest, using the weapon with all the skill he could, even as his emotions drew in the local Grimm, with Beowolves and Ursas charging through the forest at the night, though Jaune would cut these creatures down, he was also being dealt damage that tore at his clothes, cracked his armor, and several gashes appeared that seemed to take much longer to heal than normal.

This was to prove to himself, if not for a moment, that he was a hunter, that he had what it took to be one, and that he could have been what he had always desired to be.

Through all of this, he finally reached the temple, he proved to himself that he was a hunter, that he could have made it if he had been given a chance, and as he stood at the center of the temple he shouted up to the heavens above, even as a storm started and soon he was hit by a deluge of rain.

Though now that he had made it, he had no idea what to do now, nowhere to go or to even belong …

… he had nothing and was now alone in his life.

He wallowed so deeply in his despair, that he did not even notice that the ground beneath the temple was breaking.

Jaune was snapped back to reality as the ground suddenly caved in under him …

… and then screamed out in pain as a large bone claw clamped down on him, courtesy of a heavily armored ancient deathstalker, larger and more armored than even the one Jaune had helped to kill during initiation.

The scorpion Grimm screeched loudly as it heralded its arrival, then it looked at the knight for only a moment, and then …

… it dug itself into the ground, using its claws to tear at the earth, each sweep slamming Jaune into the ground and it burrowed itself through the ground until both it and the knight were both out of sight.

With that, the area around the shattered temple became silent once again, the monster and the knight were now gone, the only witness to the event being a small camera in one of the trees used during initiation.

The teams of RWBY and NPR were left staring at the screen in silent horror, seeing their friend in such a horrible state was already something they could not fathom, but …

… but THAT, the sounds of tears falling in silent fear at the knight's fate were palpable.

"Before you start soaking the ground with your tears, Jaune is not dead, as this is literally the very start of his journey so he is in fact alive," whatever feelings of joy they could have felt from this news were violently crushed and destroyed by Mirai's next words, "though between then and when things start looking up for Jaune … he will honestly wish he had died there."

CHURN-RRNNNN-CHHRRNNN

"AGGHHHH," Jaune could only yell out as his body was dragged through the earth, his Aura already on the brink of completely failing and his body being pulverized by the shifting dirt and rocks as well as being viciously squeezed by the Ancient Deathstalkers claw.

After what felt like an eternity, the deathstalker broke through solid rock into a cave system, the impact causing Jaunes Aura to briefly collapse and sharp rocks pierced his back, leaving him with basically no Aura and in serious pain.

Yet he would not give in and die, not yet.

"RAAAGGHHHH," Jaune hefted the longsword, which was now chipped and cracked and stabbed the blade into the joint of the deathstalkers claw, piercing the connecting tissue.

SKKRRRRYYYYYAAAAA

The screech of the Grimm permeated the tunnel they were in and causing the deathstalker to violently flail its limb around, causing Jaune to be violently swung in every direction, but he only dug the blade deeper into the tissue, desiring to see the claw break apart from his efforts …

… unfortunately, …

KR-BING

… his sword broke first.

In that instant, as he witnessed his only weapon shatter to pieces, feeling his heart fill with despair at what had happened, the deathstalker hefted its claw back, and threw Jaune at the far wall in the back of the tunnel with great force.

Jaune slammed into the wall, a large indentation being formed from the impact, and to Jaune two horrible things happened …

… the last of his Aura was finally used up, and the protective barrier fell with a loud snap …

… and Jaune coughed out a large amount of blood as he felt immense pain in his chest and right arm, due to his ribs breaking and his right arm shattering from the impact.

Jaune fell onto the floor, blood dripping from his mouth as he struggled to stay conscious, his right arm hanging limply by his side, the broken sword having fallen next to the broken limb, and he was having a hard time trying to breath and felt his body have a mix of cold, hot, pain and numbness, he knew it was bad.

SKKKRRRRYYYYAAAAAA

No, it was worse, as he saw the deathstalker give out a loud screech, before it started to make its way over to him down the long tunnel.

"JAUNE, RUN, GET OUT OF THERE," Pyrrha screamed aloud at seeing the sight of her leader and crush (yes it was obvious) as he was left practically maimed and at the mercy of a monster that even she doubted she could fight, much less win, against.

"RUN FEARLESS LEADER, RUN AWAY," Nora yelled out in panic, seeing that Jaune was now all alone and badly hurt at claws of a monster, one that was still after him.

Ren could only look in stark horror as he saw the man he thought of as a brother about to die at the hands of a monstrous Grimm, dredging up horrible echoes of his past.

Team RWBY were in a chaotic mix of screaming for Jaune to get out of there and worrying about his fate as they watched in silent fear of what was going to happen to him, Ruby and Yang both yelling for him to get out of there, Wiess actually having tears in her eyes seeing someone suffer so immensely and Blake could only grit her teeth in frustration at seeing a person she knew about to die in a truly terrible manner.

Jaune was in more pain than he ever knew in his life, he couldn't feel his right arm now, he felt pain every time he took a breath, and his legs were both feeling weak, like they could break at any time.

Yet he knew he had to get up and run … NOW!

Jaune managed to grab the broken blade from its hilt and then began to limp his way to rather deep and dark crevasse that was next to him, the darkness from the crevasse set off some warning bells in his head at the danger that may lurk in the darkness …

SKKKRRREEEEEEE

… a warning bell that was drowned out by the inhuman screech of the Ancient Deathstalker that was rapidly approaching him.

Jaune didn't even try to stop as he leapt into the darkness, falling a short distance onto solid stone, his legs barely taking the impact, but he managed to lift himself up, but to his horror found himself looking over the cliff of a deep, dark pit that seemed to be bottomless considering how dark it appeared to be.

CHHRR-RRRRR

The rocks behind him were starting to fall, the cliff was a sheer drop, there was no way out, Jaune was trapped with no way to escape.

'This is it, this is the end,' Jaune realized that it was here that he would meet his end, it was in the dark depths of the earth in a dark pit that he would meet his end.

Then Jaune saw a small outcropping above the cliff on the wall near the crevasse, and saw he could scale up it even with one arm, and with this knowledge …

… he acted.

GRRROOOAAA-DDRRGGGGGG

The Deathstalker tore its way onto the cliff, the creature making its way over to the edge of the cliff, and peering down into the darkness, wondering where its prey had gone to.

"If I am going down," Jaune spoke, which drew the attention of the deathstalker, which turned to see its prey leaping at it from above, arm held high, "I am taking you with me!"

Jaune thrust the blade with every bit of strength he could muster and the little Aura he had left.

SCHK

The blade penetrated in a gap between the plates on the deathstalkers head, sinking to the hilt into it delicate internals of the monster, which reared back and roared, throwing Jaune onto its back, the boy holding the hilt of the blade in a death grip.

The monster thrashed around, trying to through the human off its body, but its thrashing soon took both it and its prey over the edge of the cliff …

… and plunging down into the darkness.

"JAUNE," screamed Pyrrha, seeing Jaune fell down the cliff with the Grimm, Ruby was also wide eyed with fear and awe, Wiess held her hands over her mouth seeing Jaune about to die but yet also about to go out in truly inspiring way, Blake didn't know what to feel about what was happening, and Nora was cheering for Jaune to win and Ren was with Nora on what he wanted to happen.

The pit … was DEEP.

Jaune didn't know how long it had been when he fell along with the deathstalker, but he knew it was a lo-!

BA-KAM

The deathstalker slammed into a large jutting rock that seemed to come from nowhere, and was still falling down the pit, the fall seeming to go for miles, and the darkness becoming even thicker as they fell.

Yet Jaune didn't let go of the blade, no matter how the Deathstalker thrashed as it fell, no matter how many times they slammed into the walls of the pit or into the rock spires that Jaune honestly believed ware coming out of – oh there was gravity dust in the rocks so they are floating rocks, wow.

KA-BLAM

One impact sent Jaune and the Grimm into a darker crevasse, and the two slammed truly hard into a jutting piece of rock, the impact tearing off a large amount of the deathstalkers armor and its left claw, but the impact also rattled Jaunes bones and almost made him lose his grip on the blade, but he still held firm and continued to hold firm through the fall.

Then the two fell into a massive cavern, larger than anything Jaune had ever seen, well he couldn't really see, but he felt how large it was as he fell.

"Grrr, damn you," he yelled as he fell, seeing that the darkness beneath was becoming clearer as the two fell, and the he briefly saw jagged shapes beneath.

The moment he saw, he gripped the sword as tight as he could, the deathstalker tilted in a way that both would be impaled instantly.

"Not yet," Jaune said, and just as he could all but touch the jagged stones, Jaune used the very last amount of his strength to force the deathstalker upward, with Jaune now on top of i-!

SKKKRRRRCCHHHHHH

CRRRNNCCCHHH

Jaune's vision became flecked with spots, and his whole body had become numb, he could hardly breath, and he felt nothing from most of his body, a terrible cold assailing him.

However, he could feel enough to know that the monster had gone still beneath him, and was able to turn his head enough to see jagged rocks piercing through the deathstalker, the monster was now completely dead.

Jaune did it, he won, he defeated an Ancient deathstalker … by himself.

What little of what he felt soon made him aware that he was smirking at this, and he uttered, through pain and numbness.

"N-not a … bad way … t-to go … out," the words came out pained and unsteady, but the underlying satisfaction of his actions were clear.

For in that moment, he had done it.

He had succeeded in defeating a powerful monster, and he did so on his own.

He did have what it took to be a huntsman.

'I did have what it took to be a hero …

… though, there is still so much more I wanted to do …

… I at least wanted a chance at love, though I guess that's gone now."

The assembled group were crying openly now, seeing Jaune emotionally broken at the beginning had been incredibly hard to look at, doubly so when they realized their selves in this reality had been the cause of this.

Now …

Seeing Jaune physically broken, it to see him being brutalized and beaten by such a monster and the fact that he had to go to such terrible lengths to defeat it, leaving him in such a terrible state.

"I-I'll ne, I'll never say anything about leg breaking again," Nora stated, having heard the impact, and hearing what she knew were all of Jaune's bones breaking, including his legs, it made here realize how horrible those words could be.

"It's okay Ruby, i-its fine, i-it'll be f-fine," a sobbing Yang held her sister close, Ruby having seen how much abuse and damage Jaune ended up getting through what she saw as a horrible fight, with her friend being viciously mauled by a monster and then being left practically dead trying to fight it. Yang was not doing well either, she had known Jaune was still a good individual, and no matter what he may have done, it would never warrant something like what he had gone through.

Wiess and Blake were beside themselves, seeing the person they had trained with be left in such a broken state, being pushed so far emotionally and then physically. No crime he could have done, short of ACTUAL heinous acts, should ever merit such a terrible fate, not the flirting, the transcripts, none of it.

'Maybe just going on one date with him wouldn't really be that bad,' Wiess though, she already knew where her feelings had been going, even though she won't admit it (yet), but it would not hurt to at least give those who truly meant what they said a chance.

'I have to confess, I need to tell him how much he means to me,' Pyrrha herself had honestly made up her mind, she decided that the moment she got back to Remnant, she would confess to Jaune, no if's, and's or but's about it.

"Let's continue."

Jaune lay against the back of the deathstalker, its body slowly beginning to fade away, simply staring upward into the darkness of the massive pit, feeling as his heartbeat as it kept beating, and found that it was starting to slow down, the coldness over taking his body.

"Even though I proved I could do it, the others won't know, and even if they did, would they ever believe it," Jaune stated as he spoke to himself, his fears and worries soon coming forth, seeing the disappointment, remembering the hatred, feeling the despair.

"Would they even -," Jaune felt his dread reach its peak as he gazed up, and suddenly, atop the stone pillars jutting up from the ground …

… were team RWBY, Nora, Pyrrha and Ren, and even the deputy headmistress of Beacon, Glynda Goodwitch.

If it were normal, if things were still okay, he would have been more than overjoyed to see them.

Now though, with the sever scowls on their faces, and the rage in their eyes spoke that they were not happy at all to see him.

Then he felt a sudden sense of weightlessness, falling as the deathstalker finally dispersed into ashen dust, and he felt himself be pulled downward.

Then as he fell, they all uttered a phrase all at once, and what they said …

… caused Jaune's heart to swell up …

… with DESPAIR!

"WHY ARE YOU STILL ALIVE!"

VWHOOH

Jaune fell, now thankful that the numbness had reached his face, because he did not want to know what his face looked like at that moment.

"… why …"

SPLOSH

"… ah, so it was … water?"

As he sank, the liquid around him became thicker and darker, the liquid taking on a darker hue as he descended through the darkness, unable to move, to feel, nothing in the darkness.

As he fell, he could only feel the emptiness and hurt that built up as he remembered their words.

"you're not strong."

This thought rippled from Jaunes mind into the surrounding liquid, and coalesced beneath Jaune as weaving darkness he could somehow see …

VRRRCCCKKK

As he passed through, Jaune felt as though something shattered and fell away from him, that something had been taken away, leaving a gaping emptiness inside.

"You're not special."

VRRRCCCKKK

A louder shattering happened within, and he felt as something deep within him just fell away, now gone, never to return.

"Heh, the only thing you had was that you were at least kinda tall, and even that is wasted on you."

VRRRRRCCCRRRRAAAACCCKKKK

Like a shattering piece of stone, Jaune felt his whole existence just break apart, and when it happened, he felt his whole existence become much smaller, weaker, lesser.

"The sword and shield of my father is wasted on someone like you, it was never yours to wield."

SNAP

Within Jaunes mind, he felt all the knowledge, all the training he put into trying to use his grandfathers' weapon … gone, just gone.

"You don't deserve to have such a name like Arc, your own name is too good for someone like you."

KRRRRCCCHHHH

Jaune saw his name, the one thing he truly felt was his and his alone, fracture apart, and re-appear, though this time, feeling alien and foreign to him now.

"Your sisters were such a pride and joy to joy to our family, why couldn't you have turned out like them, why did you have to be born like this, it would have been better …

… if you had been like your sisters."

KRRRAAAASSSSSCCCHHHHKKKK

A final massive, resounding crack resonated through the darkness, as '?' broke through to the 'surface' …

… and fall straight onto a hard-stone floor, the viscous liquid dripping all around …

… her.

The now, small, weak, empty girl could only crawl pitifully as the thick, viscous fluid clung to her body, barely able to stand, still feeling the pain and soreness ache through her new body, reaching out to-!

"AAHHH"

Her hand recoiled, with five bleeding points in her small hand, the pain going deep into her.

Thanks to being in darkness for so long, her eyes adjusted to the darkness, and finally saw what lay … all around.

'?' had fallen on a single rock platform roughly four meters across, and surrounding the platform …

"Thorns, nothing but thorns."

In a small, shuddering voice, the girl saw all around her, massive, twisting, gnashing thorn branches, the thorns easily several inches long, the whole area around her surrounded in the twisting roots.

She was trapped, alone, with no help … and no hope.

A small, weak, shuddering, hurt, young girl in a body that was basically a kids, covered with strips of cloth from what remained of her clothes and the damp cold liquid clung to her shaking body, with a name she remembered but one that was no longer hers.

She was now trapped on this rock, in a place she didn't know, weak and alone with no one to save her.

"Who would come anyway, for a nameless, weak nobody like me," the girl could only look down, on her knees as her hands, her small hands, balled into weak fists, and then a drop of clear liquid fell …

… followed, by another, and more, the girl now openly crying, trapped in this place, with no one to come for her.

"Ugh, guh, agh-agh, uuuuUUHHHHH," '?' cried out, she lost everything, her friends, her home, her name, her identity, she had nothing left to lose …

… except.

She looked up to the thorns again, one in particular, jutting out long and pointed just a short leap away …

… the girl now stood, staring at the massive thorn.

"It would be quick, quick and painless."

"STOP!"

It was hard to determine who screamed first, the exact voice, or who was the loudest, but Mirai knew that it was loud.

"Enough, this is enough, this is horrible, its sick and vile, why would, I, I ghh-ghhhh," Wiess could only ground out her frustration, seeing her others actions cause such suffering and pain, and driving an individual to such a terrible path, "please, just stop."

"Were done okay, this show is over, just shut it off okay, shut it off," Yang was furious and sorrowful, seeing what had happened to Jaune, to make him like that, and that she was part of it.

"I-I'm, I did, I was, no-no, please, no," Ruby was almost catatonic with sorrow and hurt, seeing Jaune so broken, hurt and alone, reduced to a shell off his (now her) self, and she (her other self), played a part in reducing Jaune to such a state.

"This is too much, this is just … just, let's stop this and watch later, please," Blake said, wanting to stop the horrible viewing, to stop the scene.

"It's, just, why did this, why would they, ugh, this is horrible," Pyrrha, crying but trying to stay strong, was falling apart at seeing the one she loved to be broken and reduced to such a broken state.

"Fearless leader … please, don't," Nora begged for Jaune to not kill 'herself', and to stop what was happening to 'her'.

Ren was silent, his face holding back a roiling storm.

"The viewings come in sequence, they start and stop in a way that is almost uncontrollable, if you don't look now, the reality will actually begin a 'bleed-over', meaning that elements of that reality will enter here, and instantly merge to the most familiar thing from its source reality, which happens to be you guys, and trust me when I say this, I went through it once, and it was more horrible than any of you can imagine, so you either view now, or suffer greatly for not viewing," Mirai stated, as she pointed out this event happening, but some would have none of it.

"That is bull-shit, you're making it all up, this 'bleed-over', viewings, all of it, it's all bull," Yang yelled, her eyes had become red, holding Ruby close to her, her anger now clouding her thoughts.

"It's not bull-shit, this had happened, to me, directly, when I thought the exact same thing, the thing tha-," Mirai was interrupted, by Wiess.

"No, enough, were not viewing anything anymore, this is all just some sick joke, this is all made up, its on a screen for brothers' sake, it's a lie, its. Not. True." Wiess yelled out.

"Y-yeah, this is fake, it's not real, it's just a lie, a lie that you are telling us," Nora yelled.

"I would never do any of that to Jaune, none of that happened, it's a lie, and your lying to us, just for some sick sense of humor, isn't it," Pyrrha was stuck in her own denial, unwilling to believe what was happening, which she believed was all a lie, a sick and terrible trick being played on them, on HER.

"Shut this thing down, this isn't true, none of it is true, not even the first viewing, it's all just a lie that you made us watch, so shut it down and send us back, NOW," Ren screamed.

"This isn't a lie, a joke, a prank, or whatever the hell you all are trying to think it is, it's happening and if you don't look then it wi-," then Mirai went quiet, her face now switching from angry to scared, her eyes widening as she looked at the group.

Yang spoke.

"Huh, what is it, can't say anything, finally going to admit that this is a li-GHFGHHAAAAHHHH," then Yang seized up, her body shaking furiously and erratically.

"Y-yang, your squeezing, what's wr-RRRRYYYYAAAGGHH," Ruby than screamed out, her body also then seized with pained shaking and convulsions like Yang.

"Yang, Ruby what's go-OHHAAGGHEEEE," Wiess was left screaming in horrible pain, as she started to shudder and convulse, collapsing onto the floor as her body.

"W-what th-EEEGGGHHHYHYYYAAAAA," Blake was soon falling to the ground, convulsing as well as ripping pain tore through her whole body.

"Yang, Ruby, Wiess, Blake, what's going on, what g-g-g-g-GYYYYAAAAAA," Pyrrha then was also screaming in agony as she convulsed onto the ground, her whole-body writhing in agony.

"Pyrrha no", "Nora we have to ge-YYHHHHAAAAAAA", "AAAGGGHHHH, MAK-IIIII," Nora and Ren soon joined them in convulsing in pain on the ground.

"It's the 'bleed-over', the energy from that reality, including the thoughts and emotions of yourselves in that reality are being drawn into you, look at your arms, legs, your bodies, look at them," Mirai screamed at the writhing individuals.

"HRK, GRRRIII, RRRKKK," they all gazed to look at their bodies and the others, and saw to their horror and agony, a shifting material that shifted rapidly from gray, black, white and charcoal in a way similar to the black-white static image of a television, only the shifting was in the real world and blossoming out on to their bodies.

Yang lifted her arm up through the pain, and saw to her agonized horror as a second arm made of the material seemed to come into being stretching from her elbow, and gazed in horror as the others had legs and arms that seemed to form and split at their joints.

"AAHHHHGGGGGGGG, AAAAGGGHHHHH," they all gazed at Ruby who screamed aloud and could only look in horrified silence as a second head seemed to materialize from the base of her neck behind her head, the head made entirely of the shifting material, but with a rapidly morphing shape in place of a mouth, the 'mouth' releasing broken and distorted screams erupting from the inhuman extension.

"What is happening," Wiess ground out, her voice coming out warped and distorted, "make it STOP!"

"There is only one way to stop this, we need to continue the viewing, that's the only way to stop what is happening to you," Mirai screamed over their warped yelling, "we need to see the rest of the viewing!"

"F-Fine, just do it," Wiess yelled as she shuddered in pain.

'?' slowly made her way over to the edge, she was ready to jump, to finally just end it rather than suffer in the long run.

She only needed to jump.

"Just jump … its simple"

"just jump …"

"jump …

"Jump?"

'?' teetered near the edge of the platform, trying to take those few steps … only to fall backward, and back away from the edge of the platform, going back to the middle.

"I can't … I can't do it … I just can't," '?' said, realizing that she did not wish to die, and that she wanted to live, even though the situation is what it was.

"I don't want to die, but I'm still trapped here, I can't end it, I can't escape, I can't do anything … *sniffle*, wh-what do I … what can I?"

"Aww, is the little baby gonna cry, boo-hoo," a mocking voice came from behind '?', and she swerved around, and to her horror, saw the apparitions of RWBY, NPR and finally Glynda Goodwitch herself, and 'Yang' wasn' done yet, "your such a weak little bitch, you can't even end yourself right, and that was the easiest thing to do."

"Now Yang, we should recall how much of a dumb, low-bred animal this is, it probably can't even understand what we're saying, much less do anything," 'Wiess' tore into '?', and a smug sense of superiority dripping from her venom-laced words.

"Hehe, it looks kinda cute curled up like that, it's almost like Zwie, though Zwie actually does things, this thing can't do anything," the sadistic words of 'Ruby' were quite horrible to hear.

"This thing couldn't even pass such a simple test, much less even survive in the world, honestly why is it still living," 'Blake' was entirely apathetic to '?' plight, not even remotely considering her a living being, much less a sentient creature like her.

"Ahahaha, such a weak and small thing, it could break just by being punched, my hammer would wreck it completely, right Ren," "Yes Nora, it would probably break even from being slapped, much less from a fist, it would just break to pieces if you used your hammer on it, we want it to last, don't we," Ren and Nora talked aloud, bringing further despair to '?'.

'?' backed away, until she was at the center of the platform, then she realized that someone was in front of her, she looked up …

… and wished she had not.

"Honestly, I wonder how desperate and foolish I was to have ever seen anything in you, I must have had the lowest standards in existence to have had anything to do with something as weak, pathetic and lowly creature like you," 'the voice of the one person who once meant so much to Jaune Arc hurt '?' immensely, though not s much as she had thought, but 'Pyrrha' wasn't done yet, "Now I know better, now I know that I should have even associated or even known you … you lowly, pathetic insect."

'?' could only stay rooted to that spot, as it then saw the dark material suddenly bubble up around it, and the apparitions still surrounded it, now giggling maniacally as the black fluid began to harden around it, leaving it stuck in a hardened prison of warped black material, and it felt it's body become heavy with pain and numbness.

Then as she was ready to pass out from the pain, '?' suddenly realized that the final apparition was coming closer, and gazed upward to suddenly look into the dark eyes of the apparition of 'Glynda Goodwitch', and she had a terrifying sadistic smirk on her face.

"I hope you don't expect any form of peace, because you will only experience the suffering you should have suffered from the very beginning," '?' could only weakly try to talk back, only to feel herself fall into the darkness of unconsciousness as the material fully swallowed her form, and Glynda's final words haunted her until she passed out.

…

*gasp*

'?' reawaked, now in a place of complete darkness, not able to see anything around her, and on a coarse hard ground, the tattered clothing still on her body.'

Then a deep red light erupted through the darkness, and in an instant, she gazed up …

… only to see 'Ruby' now holding her weapon, Crescent Rose, which was now more warped and sharpened, standing in front of her, with a sick and twisted visage of joy on her face, and then more lights came on, each a different color.

A yellow light revealed Yang.

White revealed Weiss.

A light with a blackish hue revealed Blake.

Gold revealed Pyrrha.

Pink for Nora.

Green for Ren.

Then in a burst of strong violet, Glynda was revealed atop a platform, soon revealing them all trapped in a twisted version of the Beacon combat arena, and around the arena, screaming jeers and crying out for blood and carnage were countless faceless black silhouettes, all looking like a shadow brought to life, dripping with black fluid.

"Now then, to all gathered her, this battle will now commence," 'Glynda' screamed as the platform ascended high above the crowd, "this battle will be between Team RWBY …"

YYYEEEEEAAAHHHH

"… Pyrrha Nikos, Nora Valkyrie and Lie Ren …"

YYYYYEEEEEEAAAAAAHHHH

"… against the insignificant insect."

BBOOOOOOOOO - "Go die fucker"

'Glynda' looked around, the twisted smile widening more as the crowd was further whipped into a frenzy …

… the she gazed at '?', who was terrified beyond all comprehension, as she then raised her whip to the sky.

'?' desperately pleaded for her not to …

… a plea that went unheard.

"BEGIN," Screamed Glynda as she brought the whip down, "KILL HER."

HYAAHAHA," 'Ruby' maniacally said as she swung her weapon.

SQUERSH

A gout of black liquid exploded outward, and the scene became a blur of pained screams, slicing blades, pounding fists, gunshots, explosions and finally the rending of flesh and splashing of liquid.

"Yes, yes, die, die you worthless insect, die screami-iiiiaaaahhh, stooooppp, stop it, stop iiiiieeeeheheh, bleed and suffffaaaaahhh, nooooo," Wiess screamed, the brutality of what was occurring was playing out on the screen, and Wiess writhed in pain as the emotions, violence and horror of herself on the screen tore through her mind and body using the bleed over as a medium to do this.

She was not alone in this suffering though, as the dark nature of the other selves on the screen tore through RWBY and NPR.

"Hah, such a pathetic little shit, haha, look at how it breaks so easily, loooooooooaaaaahhhh, SHUT UUUPPPP, get the hell out, get ooouuuaaaaaahahahaha," the darkness of Yang's dark self, tore into her, and Yang fighting as hard as she could against it.

"Fun, this is fun, so much ffffffnnnooo, NOOOO, STOP IT, STOP IT, PLEASE NO, NO MORE, NO MOOAAAAAAHAHA, this is the best, you guys have got to trriiaaAAAAHHH, STOP IT," Ruby screamed aloud as she powerlessly saw the horror being inflicted on Jaune and was forced to experience the twisted joy of her dark self.

"HRK, HIK, NO, NO, NOOooohh, such brutality, such pain, it's like a scene from a book, and the best part, is that I play a role toooooOOAAAAHHHH, NOOOOOOO," Blake fought against her violent self's malice, but it still shined through into her, the warped mind of her dark self, forcing Blake to experience and feel what she did not want to.

"AAAAHHH, STOP, DON'T, I'M SORRY, I'M SORRY, IIIIIIIIII am not sorry to do this to you, I hope you suffer immensely from this, now diiiiiaaaaAAAHHHHH, I'M SORRY, PLEASE STOP," Pyrrha's screams echoed through the room as she profusely begged and apologized for the actions of her dark counterpart.

"NO, DON'T, ENOUGH, I'M SORRY, I WON'TSAY IT EVER AGAIN, JUST STOOOOOOAAAaand that's the other leg, now that's how you break them and good, and your still alive to, goody, then we can keep on goiiiiiiIIIAAAAAHHHHH, STOOOOPPP." "DAMN YOU, STOP IT, LEAVE HER ALONE, STOP IIIIIIiiit's time to switch now, and don't worry, we still need you to suffer more, and this much is nowhere near ennnNNOUGH, ENOUGH, THAT'S ENOUGH, STOOOP," Nora and Ren were in agony, the actions of their others and the energy of the bleed over tearing into the minds and bodies, the pain beyond excruciating and the trauma of their other selves actions tore into their minds.

"Okay, so the tiny spot of goodness is that you are not linked to your other reality selves, but rather you are linked to the trauma and despair induced mental apparitions that were based of this realities Jaune Arc's final interaction with your other selves and his mounting despair, which took on the form of those malevolent dark personas that you are currently linked to you now via the bleed-over, which is unfortunately the bad news," Mirai explained to the assorted group over the pain of the bleed-over, all of them writhing as the nightmarish beatdown on the screen played out. "Just hold on, we are reaching the main shifting point now, though what happens next will be incredibly painful …"

… unfortunately, the pain will be less emotional and more physical, and it will be bad for you guys."

SKRA-BAAMMM

'?' was smashed into the center of the arena, her body practically mutilated and left a broken mess, dark black liquid dripped from countless injuries onto the floor of the Arena and dripping out to the surrounding ground.

"THAT IS THE END OF THE 35th ROUND, YANG XIAO LONG HAS BROKEN THE MOST BONES IN THE WORTHLESS WORMS BODY, SECOND ONLY TO NORA VALKYRIE IN MOST DAME DEALT, RUBY ROSE LEAD IN MOST CUTS TO THE BODY, WITH BLAKE BELLADONNA AND LIE REN BEING SECOND IN THIS DAMAGE AREA. WIESS SCHNEE LEADS HER OWN IN TERMS OF DUST RELATED DAMAGE DEALT, BUT OVERALL DAMAGE GOES TO THE CHAMPION OF BEACON, YOU KNOW AND LOVE HER, PYRRHA NIKOS!"

YYYYEEEEEEAAAAHHHHH

The screams of the crowd and the words of Glynda became lost on '?' as she could only lay on the ground, her pain and despair welling up, truly wondering what she did wrong, why was this happening, what had she done …

… why?

'he…'

'. lp..'

'hel …'

'plea … elp'

Then '?' felt her neck get roughly gripped and was then lifted of the ground, hanging limply from the grasp of the one holding her.

"MISS XIAO LONG, YOU HAVE HAD YOUR TURN ALREADY, IT IS NOW MISS NIKO'S TURN," the voice of Glynda called out.

'help'

"Hey, I haven't even done nearly enough damage that I was planning to do, cant you bend the rule a bit, I know everyone else wants to see more carnage, AM I RIGHT," Yang's declaration received a scream of approval from the 'audience'.

'help me'

"ALLRIGHT MISS XIAO LONG, YOU HAVE MADE YOUR POINT," Glynda cleared her throat to announce again.

'please'

"IN A STUNNING TURN OF EVENTS, YANG XIAO LONG WILL BE FIGHTING ONCE AGAIN," a loud cheer erupted from the crowd.

'please …'

"Yeah, tear that thing apart sis."

'help'

"That thing deserves only the worst punishment possible, don't give it even an ounce of mercy Xiao Long."

'please help'

"Make sure to leave some for us to, it's fun to actually do some of what you see in books in real life."

'please help me'

"BREAK EVERYTHING, ESCPECIALLY THE LEGS!"

'please …'

"Make sure there is something for us, we need to let out a lot of hate."

'please … save'

"That thing doesn't deserve anything, it actually sickens me to have associated with such a thing, Yang … destroy it."

'Please, save me'

"All right you heard, you're with me for another round, lets make this one especially bloody."

'save me'

Yang then held the girl up tightly by the neck, chocking '?' making it very difficult to breath.

'Save me'

"Now," Yang's Ember Celica cocked itself, the shotgun now ready to unleash its lethal payload into the broken girl, "YOU-!"

'SAVE me'

"-DIIIEEEE!"

The arm shot forth, the fist literally in '?' face as '?' mentally screamed aloud.

'SAVE ME'

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO," the scream of RWBY and NPR echoed through the room, "STOOOOOOOPPPPPPP!"

The fist was about to hit when …

'…'

'…huh'

'?' opened her eyes, white with a black iris and no other colors, and found herself in a hallway, a dark and cold hallway filled with cold wind, but with a soft light coming from the end of it.

'?' felt her broken and damaged body refuse to budge, the pain keeping her down, and the despair eating at her soul.

Yet, when she looked at the light, she felt a warm and gentle presence, and a strong sense of assurance, like a natural effect from the light that promised her something, promised with assurance of what it gave.

'?' moved, feeling only one arm move, but she forced herself to move along the floor, the going was slow, the pain was great, and the cold cut deep into her …

… but she refused to stop, and continued making her way down the hall, the pain and agony were eating into her, but slowly she felt the pain …

… was decreasing.

Had she tried looking at herself, she would have seen wisps of gold-flecked light slowly close up her injuries, seep into her skin, and mending her broken flesh and bones as she felt her body become stronger and the pain fading faster.

'?' soon managed to stand and walked unsteadily to the source of the light, limping slightly and holding her side with her now working left arm while supporting herself with her right arm on the wall of hall way, her side the most hurt by the attacks of RWBY and NPR.

'?' kept going, moving more quickly and smoothly as she made it to the end of the hall, and enters …

… heaven?

Around her was a warm light of a sun in the sky, a few clouds in the amber colored sky, and she stood on a platform with a polished surface, slightly reflecting what was around, though the light was mostly reflected on the surface.

Yet it was the center of the platform that drew her full attention, with a pedestal at the center, and on the pedestal was what seemed like a long shard of solid light, floating in the center of the platform.

'… do you seek it; do you seek salvation …'

A soft yet powerful voice echoed out from amber sky, echoing out from the expanse as '?' looked around for the source, but stopped, realizing that rather than the voice coming from somewhere …

… the words just appeared within her mind, from the realm around her.

'… it is here that you shall find the means to your salvation, but it is how you use it, how you wield this power, through your will, strength and morality that you shall find what you truly seek …

'?' slowly made her way up to the shard of light, but before she could grasp it, she asked but one question.

'Why help me?'

She received an answer.

'… because of what you are, what chose to be, and what you are capable of being, no more no less …'

'… we will meet again, -, at that time you will have found your salvation, your path, …'

'… and your future.'

'?' hesitated no longer, gripping the shard, and the room erupted in light, the warm mix of gold-white light blossoming outward, and coalesced around '?'s body, healing the last of the injuries and then blossomed outward in a cascade of light.

The light parted, revealing the arena and 'Yang' bringing her fist toward her face.

'?' gripped the rod as time started again, but just before Yang made impact, '?' spoke, she did not know the language, but she knew the meaning.

Release

'Yang's' fist made impact, and … broke apart.

Light surged forward from '?', and from '?' skin, the light pulsed outward, and 'Yang's' arms, from where she gripped '?'s neck and from the rest of her other arm down, broke into pieces, shattering apart as her Ember Celica gauntlets were ruptured apart, falling to the ground as the shells in the gauntlets exploded, sending the superheated metal of the shots straight back into Yang.

'Yang' didn't even have time to look surprised as the light shattered her Aura and arms, leaving her completely defenseless as the dust rounds in her gauntlets blew up all at once, sending the superheated metal and explosive force straight into her body, blasting into her chest, stomach and face, with the metal cutting deep into her flesh and the blast tearing away large portions of her flesh.

'Yang' had been completely mutilated in an instant … but it wasn't over yet.

THRUUUUUUAAAAAAAAAMMMM

The light blasted outward, tearing apart the arena and blasting Yang like a cannon ball straight into Glynda, blasting her off of her platform and smashing deep into a pillar in the arena, the pulse blasted away the rest of RWBY and NPR, but it didn't just blast them.

A small shudder near their person.

"What the fu-!"

BTOOOOOOOOMMMMM!

Followed by thunderous explosions as their weapons and sections on their hips and backs … exploded.

"GYAAHHHHHHAAAARRGGHHH, G-ghodhs ith hursch, kieant fhel fasche, nhumbsh …" Yang chocked out, the strange material now completely black and covering her arms, torso and face, leaving her unable to properly speak or move.

"AAGGGHHHHH," "YYYAAAAAAHHHH," AAAARRRGGGGHHHH," "GHHHYYYYAAAAAAA".

Screams erupted from the others in the room, the black of the matter now spread all over their bodies, leaving them screaming and in pain, the assorted guests were left collapsed either on their seats or on the floor, twitching in pain as the material transferred the pain and memories of their dark selves that were now mutilated beyond by what had happened was transferred to them.

"ITS NOT OVER YET," Mirai yelled out.

"GRYYYYAAAAAHHHHH," the apparitions screamed out in pain and agony, the same agony that they inflicted onto '?' earlier as explosions erupted from their weapons and -!

'OUR AMMO!'

Through the tearing pain, the apparitions realized what it was that had exploded, and left them near mutilated, the dust ammunition in their weapons and on the ammo belts had exploded all at once, and when the pulse hit them it had weakened their Aura, leaving them far more vulnerable to damage.

The ammunition explosion finished the job of wiping out their aura and eviscerating their bodies, leaving them in a broken and mangled state with their weapons basically destroyed when the ammunition they had prepped on their weapons, which were loaded with highly explosive and incredibly powerful types of dust ammo at the time.

'Nora's' hammer, 'Ren's' gun-knives, and 'Weiss's' dust using, and infused rapier were destroyed and blasted through the whole area or into the bodies.

'Blake's' gun-katana was also blasted apart, She had been holding the weapon at the time, but had brought it up in an (obviously) foolish attempt to defend herself, and now had a mutilated hand and the blade was sunk deep in her left shoulder, so deep it couldn't be removed, not without intense medical aid.

Only 'Pyrrha's' and 'Ruby's' weapons survived (partly) intact, though the gun function had been destroyed and the weapons were twisted from the damage, leaving them difficult to hold, and that didn't count the wielders who were themselves without Aura and with deep burns and torn flesh from the dust ammo explosions on their ammo belts and patches.

Yet they still stood, 'Yang' and 'Glynda' were getting back up after the impact, 'Glynda's' own Aura flickering from having to wear the damage of 'Yang's' impact and their impact with the wall, but they were now re-!

SCCCHHHRRROOOOOOMMM-CRRRMMMMMBBBLLEEEE

A second pulse of light blasted out, slamming into them and knocking down everyone in the room, including the 'audience' …

BRRRIICCCRRRMMCRRRRBLLLLEE

… and the entire arena broke apart, the whole thing coming down, 'RWBY', 'NPR', 'Glynda' and the 'Audience' could only look in shock and terror as several tons of rock, steel and more came right down on their bodies …

… all except '?', who was now beneath a dome of light, one that protected her from the falling debris.

The assorted apparitions couldn't even run as the whole building came down on them, crushing them to death.

'Nora' tried to run, only to trip on a crack that ripped through the floor, only registering that she was falling …

KRRRSSSSSCCCHHHH

… just as a massive chunk of debris completely crushed her entire torso, ending her.

"GAAAHHHAAAUUUUUHHH, HAAAAAHHH, guuuhh," the dark material burst out from Nora's body upon the death of her dark self, leaving her now squirming in pain as the dark material dissipated into nothing, "th-that … huuurrrt."

'Blake' tried her best to avoid the falling the debris, moving as swiftly as she could, even with a blade in her shoulder that was slowly cutting into her as she moved, she could st-!

SKKRRSSHHH

A falling debris fragment hit the blade, causing it to tear through her flesh and causing 'Blake' to stumble as the agony of th-!

SKKKRRSSSHHHHHH

Her thoughts were ended as chunk of rebar lined debris punctured and crushed her at the same time, smashing her body apart, ending the apparition's existence.

"AAAAGGGHHHHHHHHH, GUUUHHHH, AAAaaahhhh," Blake felt her body get torn into with sheer pain as her apparition died in such a brutal and violent manner, the pain only abating when the dark material in her body dispersed into the air and vanished from existence, "ugh, so … much … pain, hurts … everywhere."

'Yang' was barely able to turn when …

KRRSSSCCHHH

… a large piece of debris, a mix of metal support and solid rock, crushed her left leg, leading to Yang falling onto the ground.

"GRAAA-AAAA-KRRR-GRAAAA-GUUUU, GRRLLBBSSHHH," several large chunks fell onto her body, each impact crushing her bone muscles and everything else, until she vomited her pitch black blood and her skin split open, causing black blood and crushed flesh and bone to leak out.

"MRGLE, MRAKE ITRSCH SCHTR-!"

CRRRNNNNCCCHHHHH

A big chunk of metal laced debris fell corner first on her head, the impact split her head open like and overripened melon, killing her at last.

"GGGRRRRUUUGGHHH, uuughh, agh," Yang was left twitching from the sheer agony of her apparitions long and drawn out death, the pain and hurt left her plastered on the ground, unable to do anything but twitch in pain, even as the 'bleed-over' material finally disappeared from her body and reality, "so much hurt … 'uuggh', nothing but hurt … pain all over … can't move anything … at all."

The others were also left as collapsed messes on the ground, although.

"Okay, looks like Weiss, Ren, Ruby and Pyr-!"

"GYYAAHHHHhhhhaaaaaaahhh."

"Correction, now its Weiss, Ruby and Pyrrha's apparitions that are still alive, Ren's apparition just bought it," Mirai grimaced at the image shown, "ugh, a steel girder, terrible way to go."

The falling debris soon stopped, and '?' could now see the … large greyish, clouded sky above and the dark inky abyss below as she saw the whole 'arena' was just on a huge platform, floating in the middle of this dark abyss of a reality, though in the distance stood a soft light, gleaming in distance.

RUMBLE

Then it turned back to the broken remains of the 'arena' and saw as several large rocks floated upward …

… only to collapse down haphazardly, revealing the forms of 'Ruby', 'Weiss', 'Pyrrha', and 'Glynda'.

'They look like hell,' '?' thought, seeing that the survivors of the collapsing Arena were all in horrific shape.

'Ruby' had lost one of her eyes, a quick look revealed that a sharp piece of metal had pierced her left eye, her right arm was mangled with cuts and injuries, her legs had heavy lacerations all over and there were large burns and deep injuries around her hips, likely from when her dust ammo exploded. Speaking of that, her weapon had several parts blasted out of it, which left the weapon jammed mid-transformation, leaving many open and sharp metal pieces sticking out of the weapon, with 'Ruby' now struggling to keep a hold on her mangled weapon without cutting herself on it.

'Weiss' was now far from resplendent, the damage from the pulses, her dust exploding on her, and the debris from the arena had left her a mutilated shadow of her former self, her outfit was ripped and torn, with black blotches blooming out onto her clothes from her many injuries. Her right arm was deeply charred, her failing 'Aura' barely stopped the damage from Myrtenaster's detonation, leaving her arm with many burns and multiple deep cuts from the fragments, there was also her left arm, which was better off but only slightly, with several large cuts and a deep gash from the falling debris of the 'arena'. She was slightly unsteady due to a multitude of deep cuts and large gashes caused by the falling debris.

However, what caused '?' to worry … was 'Pyrrha'.

Though also relieved as the only greater threat, 'Glynda', basically sacrificed herself by trying to either stop or tank most of the debris, leaving many pieces of metal and rock puncturing her body or leaving large gashes, bleeding profuse-…

PAFF

'Glynda' fell over, and her body then darkened before breaking down into a pile of powder, the powder as black as the apparition's existence.

'Glynda' was gone.

'Pyrrha', for her part, was the least injured of the survivors, her armor had been broken at certain points and multiple deep cuts were on her body, they were not as heavy as the others and she was still standing tall, though in obvious pain, and her weapon Milo was still intact, though no longer able to shift, leaving it in spear form, while her shield had a crack on it but no real damage.

Also she was seething with rage.

RRRRRMMMMM

The barrier that was around '?' also dissipated, so there's that as well.

"You … you … YOU, you worthless little piece of filth, what was that power, what did you do to us, we are what's important, we are the special ones, you don't deserve to hold such power," 'Pyrrha ground out in rage, as she prepared to attack '?' ready to annihilate '?' even without her 'Aura', "I will kill you then I will take that power and place it where it belongs, with the truly special ones … such as us."

"You tell them PyrACK, still hurting, hurt that piece of trash for me Pyrrha," 'Ruby' said through the pain of her injuries.

"Kill it, kill that thing, smash it apart, break it to pieces, just kill it," 'Wiess stated, grinning at the victory to come, seeing Pyrrha was still up and ready to fight.

The two cheered for the victory of the strongest and 'Pyrrha grinned madly as she made ready to skewer '?' with everything she had.

'?' tried to make ready to defend, though with no knowledge of combat and a glowing rod of metal for a weapon, she knew the odds were against her, and she braced for the pain …

… then the voice echoed in her again.

'… do not feel fear, for you are not alone in this journey …'

'Pyrrha dashed forward, ready to skewer '?' while 'Ruby' and 'Wiess' cheered her on.

'… and the one who will by your companion in this journey as you will theirs …'

'Pyrrha' now stood almost in front of '?' who simply stood her ground with tears in her eyes, holding the metal rod. Ready to swing at 'Pyrrha', an attempt that left her chuckling inside.

'… that one is now …'

Pyrrha thrust forward, ready to impale '?', eyes wide with glee and insanity.

'… here.'

SHHHKKKRRRSSSSSCCCCHHHH

"GRRYYYYYYAAAAAAHHHHHHUUUuuugghh," Pyrrha screamed aloud as the others saw her grip her head as the material burst from her body and disperse into the air, before she curled up on the floor and held her head in her hands in agonizing pain, "agh, urgh, ugh, aaah, I'm …. Ah, I'm sorry."

Pyrrha lay collapsed on the ground as the pain abated very slowly, while the others from where they lay now looked at the screen, seeing what had happened.

"One down, and there it is," Mirai quipped.

"…"

No words were spoken, nothing was said, neither from '?' or from 'Ruby' and 'Wiess', who could only look in adject horror at what they now saw.

It was a … bug?

Standing on two legs, but covered in a deep black chitinous armor, but a white head that seemed more like a spiked helm with two black circles that seemed to be eyes, a ragged dark grey cape that gave off the appearance of insectoid wings, and it had two arms that ended in three claws arranged like a humans hand, with one acting as the thumb and two as fingers. Its height made it to be about '?' height, so about the size of a ten to fifteen-year-old.

Yet it was what was in its right 'hand; that drew the attention of the assorted individuals.

It had the appearance of a small lance, or a large bolt, the weapon was essentially a long circular cone with an uneven bottom with a pole sticking out from the bottom, the whole thing was pure white, making it a white lance …

… a lance that was buried into the back of 'Pyrrha's' head, having instantly killed her as the 'bug' came down from above, driving its lance into 'Pyrrha's' head before she could drive hers into '?'.

'Pyrrha' was dead.

Leaving all three with their unknown newcomer.

"Wha … what the hell are you, what did you do," 'Ruby' screamed at the thing, desiring an answer from the 'bug'.

"N-no, no, th-this can't, it can't be, yo-you, you will pay for this you damn BUG," 'Weiss' screeched as she yelled at the newcomer.

However, the 'bug' paid the two apparitions no mind, completely ignoring their existence, and turning to face …

… '?'.

'?' for her part, was a bit startled by the 'bugs' interest in her, but it had saved her, and it didn't seem to be threatening her in any way, plus she felt referring to it as 'bug' was a bit rude and racial in her mind, which made her feel bad.

"I-oof, ow, okay still hurting, but yeah I agree with referring to someone as their species is kind of a racial problem, but at least she has the excuse of not knowing what it really is and feeling bad about that so tha-ayee, still in pain, still hurting," Blake went back to lying down, the others now looking at and trying to make sense of their friends savior.

"Now things as really moving along," Mirai stated as she looked at the screen.

The bug then pointed its lance at '?', with '?' stumbling back, now worried that she would now have to fight this thing, and 'Wiess' and 'Ruby' were still irate about it killing 'Pyrrha' but now thought that was indeed with them, and was going to attack their enemy.

Yet it didn't, it didn't move, just held the lance pointed at '?'.

Then '?' noticed that the metal rod she was holding was starting to both glow and felt a bit warm in her hand, and she held it as it glowed.

Then she saw the 'bug's' own lance glowed as well, with small glyphs appearing at certain points on the lance, then the 'bug' lightly thrusted the lance, and it thrusted at the metal rod that '?' held.

'?' thought that maybe it wanted the rod, and then took it in both hands and held it out the 'bug' thinking that maybe that it wanted it.

The bug shook its head from side to side, the sign that '?' and any human took for the answer 'no'.

Then the bug, much slower, made the movement of pointing the lance at '?', doing this at least three times.

'Does it … want me to do that to?'

'?' then held the metal rod in the same way the 'bug' held its lance, lucky that the 'bugs' hand was similar to a humans hand, and managed to grasp the rod at one end in her right hand and the pointed it to the 'bug' like how its lance was pointed at her.

Then she noticed the glow from both her rod and the 'bugs' lance intensify, with the light becoming near blinding but somehow manageable to her, and the bug showed no sign that it was bothered by the light …

"GRYYYAAAAAHHH!", "IT BUUURRRNNS!"

… 'Ruby' and 'Wiess' however, were being scorched by the radiant light, their dark skin blistering and tearing as they were bathed in the radiance, and they backed away to anything they could find to avoid the scorching light.

Then the light dimmed and '?' found in her hand not the rod of glowing white metal.

In her hand she held a lance, similar in design to the one held by the 'bug', now parallel to its own lance … no, not a lance.

The weapon as not a lance or any mere weapon, '?' acknowledged this as fact, and became more assured of this fact as she felt memories start to form in her mind, memories and knowledge that began to fill the void that had been left inside her existence, yet instead of ridding her of the empty feeling, the feeling instead began to feel more like a natural part of her, like it was naturally meant to be there and that it was something she knew was normal for her.

Returning to the weapon, she came to further understand that the weapon was not a lance, nor was it of mundane construction.

The knowledge came to her, imbuing with the knowledge of the weapons power, of how it's purpose in fighting was but a secondary function, for its true purpose was beyond any armament that '?' had known of or would ever know of, a purpose that surpassed any known weapon of the world she once knew, going beyond the strength, function and power of any weapon of Remnant.

This was not a mundane weapon … it was a mystical armament, a true, REAL, MAGIC WEAPON!

It's true name, was the 'Dream Nail', and its true purpose, was to allow its wielder to pierce through the veil of reality and enter the realm of dreams …

… "This lance, no, this Dream Nail, with it one can strike an individual with its aetheric power and gain entry to the realm of the dreams, the place where one is at the peak of one's strength, the home of one's 'true-self' or the place where the individual is their real, honest, unbiased and unhidden self …"

"… yet is also hidden away, locked within their own shell, the shell of ones ideals, the individual that one wishes to be, that one tries to rise to become and be seen by all others as, the 'ideal-self' the individual that only truly exists within ones dreams, acting as a shell that encapsulates the 'true-self'."

'?' looked at the 'bu-no.

'?' looked at the 'one who would be her companion', a shadow of a smile gracing her lips as she lowered her Dream Nail, with her (yet to be) companion doing the same with its own Nail.

"I don't have it, the 'ideal-self', I have no 'self I dream to be', all I have now … is me," then '?' looked to where two wounded and scarred apparitions had emerged from behind a long piece of rubble, "… and my regrets."

My 'companion-to-be' said nothing as it turned to face the apparitions of 'Ruby Rose' and 'Wiess Schnee', and held up its dream nail as the two apparitions get ready to fight with what little they had left, 'Ruby' getting into position to charge at the both of us, while 'Wiess' had several glyphs appear, though they were all shooting type-glyphs that fired elemental dust and most were flickering in and out of existence.

'?' and her silent companion said nothing as they both took a stance, though '?' was not a steady as she had no shoes left yet her feet were uninjured due to the healing effects of the radiant light, and she felt herself naturally relax into a thrusting stance while her companion held its Nail slightly like a sword, yet its calm and still form showed that this was its natural form of fighting, the dark 'eyes' of its mask-like face bore into the apparitions, causing both to quake with fear at its gaze.

It was then that a feeling started to take hold of '?', the feeling of energy that seemed to radiate from her own body and flow throughout her body, and coalesce in her being, and this energy was linked directly to her Dream Nail, and she felt as she and the Dream Nail became further united in body, yet her mind was still her own, aware of what was happening within her, and what it meant.

'So, I am becoming my weapon, my weapon and I function as a singular self, my weapon, my Dream Nail is me, and I, the Dream Nail.'

'?' now focused her gaze, the apparitions now feeling the change coming from '?', feeling as all the fear she once held for them disappear, now replaced with a powerful conviction, and a strong sense of will and focus.

"Th-THIS, this changes nothing, you will still be a worthless loser and always will be, nothing will change that, NOTHING," 'Wiess' shrieked at '?', expecting her to get angry, or rush forward in some way.

Nothing, '?' neither responder nor even seemed to acknowledge her words.

"Yeah, we are going to grind you both to the dirt, both the worthless insect and the actual insect, you will both die here," 'Ruby taunted, trying to get a reaction from them.

Nothing, no response, the just stood before the two, waiting for them to attack … waiting for the first move.

"Well, say something, or are you to much of a lonely loser to say anything," 'Ruby' tried again.

Nothing.

"Say something, you vile wretches," Wiess screamed at them both.

"…"

Nothing but near silent breathing.

"Those vile pieces of crap, I'll kill them, I'll kill both of theeeeaaagghhh, y-yeah, keep t-talking, y-you w-w-wont b-be talking fo-for m-m-much l-lo-longeeerrr," Wiess ground out through the apparitions ranting as it expressed its desire to kill the person who was once Jaune and the bu-um, the not Jaunes companion.

Ruby just grit her teeth, not letting a word out and refusing to speak any more of her apparitions disgusting curses.

The others were mostly focused on the fact that there was supposedly 'magic' in the reality they were seeing, and that the one they were watching, the 'former Jaune Arc' was now wielding a magical weapon that could allow someone to enter ones dreams.

"To be clear, the Dream Nail, while still being incredibly powerful, has some limits, the main one is that it can only perform it's dream spell on an individual that is either asleep or unconscious, though once inside, the wielder usually ends up in conflict with the ideal or 'dream of being' version of the individual in the dream, and they must defeat this person to succeed, though it ends up being bad for the dreamer, as the Mystic enchantments of the dream nail can essentially 'eject' the wielder while the dreamer remains asleep or unconscious, though the wielder still suffers some backlash from being defeated, mostly light injuries and a strong sense of vertigo, but once it passes one can try again and again, until either they succeed or the individual starts to awaken," Mirai said, allowing the allotted group to learn the main function of the of the arcane weapon, then Mirai smirked as she added some new information, "though that is its primary function, its true power stems from how it acts as a powerful catalyst to abilities of immense power and strength, the likes of which are only achievable by those who wield mystic power that only a minute few can ever match, or by beings that to simple individuals such as humans, these beings have gone by the name …"

"… demon …"

Before the group could speak regarding this so-called immense power that was so great, Mirai finished her statement with her last words …

… words that sent a shiver up the spine of all present.

"… and … GOD."

The groups silence at this claim was palpable, and they did not utter a retort at the sheer seriousness of Mirai's tone, so serious that they knew she was not joking.

"The conclusion to this viewing is drawing near, let us finish it," Mirai stated as she and the others watched the screen, the twitching Ruby and Wiess also twisting around to see the ending.

"Gaah, this is going nowhere, let's just kill the bug and continue torturing our own bug," 'Ruby' claimed loud and proud, still thinking everything was going 'their' way.

'?' and her companion simply stared at the apparitions, two sets of eyes, one hollow and empty, the other focused and cold, neither made a sound or gesture as both simply stood in their position of battle, waiting for their opponent's to make the first moves.

"Your right, let's just kill the intruder and then take it nice and slow with the worthless one, we'll make that pile of living garbage regret EVER doing this to us," 'Weiss' declared, though with nothing to back up her claims, given 'hers' and 'Ruby's' state.

No response, no movement, no reaction, just a silent, empty stare, and resolve that resonated with that emptiness, but held a conviction stronger than any other.

"I'll end this …"

'The fight …'

"… RIGHT NOW," 'Ruby' shot forth, dark petals fluttering in her wake as she dashed at the two, traveling at speeds that only a trained individual could track or even perceive, and she believed the two were neither …

… she was wrong, for only one was not able to perceive her speed, at first but now …

'… begins.'

… THEY could.

SLIIICCCEEEE

'Ruby' swung her weapon, the warped Crescent Rose, fully believing she had cleaved the two in half, expecting that 'her' speed had easily allowed her to end them both.

Except …

'Huh, where di-?'

"RUBY!"

'Hu-!'

BBSSSHHCCRRRKKKK

"GYYYAAAAAAAAaaahhhh, guh, uh," Ruby could only moan and lightly whine as the dark material dispersed from her body, burning to nothingness as she simply lay down, though Yang came and helped her into her seat, Yang herself having recovered enough to move though not very quickly.

"Agh, th-thanks Yang, hah-hah, and th-thank you, J-Jaune, for finally stopping her," Ruby thanked before she felt the need to rest for a bit, though she still watched the viewing to its conclusion.

'Ruby' lay on the ground, dead.

'?' and her unnamed companion removed their Dream Nails from the body of the dead apparition, having leapt above and speared through the embodiment of despair and watched as it burned away and died.

Leaving only one.

"You, you, you, you," Wiess lifted both hands up, ready to fire a barrage from her glyphs, "YOU VILE PIECES OF SH-!"

SCCHHRRIIISSSHHH

'Weiss' blinked, seeing only the 'bug' before her, yet her real target and source of anger (and existence) was nowhere to be fou-!

SPLLRRTT

'Weiss' realized two things …

… 'her' left arm was on the ground several feet away from 'her' …

… and a large gout of black blood was erupting from her shoulder, the one where her arm used to be.

"G-GR-GRRYYYYAAAAA, MY ARM, MY AAAARRRRMMM," Wiess shrieked, seeing the source of her rage, the worthless thing, holding its new weapon, the weapon glowing with a white glow as '?' gazed impassively at the apparition of the Schnee heiress.

"You, I WILL END YOU, YOU-YOU FU-!"

SKKRRRSSHHH

"AAAAAHHHHHHH!"

'?' watched as 'Wiess's' right arm collapsed in front of her, having moved near instantly using the power that flowed through her new form, and something else, an almost instinctive knowledge on how to use the Dream Nail, the knowledge mixed with the power, allowing her mind and body to execute the strikes and attacks that brought out the full strength of the Dream Nail.

"GRRUUHH, mrgle, GREEECCHH," a gout of dark black fluid erupted from the mouth of 'Wiess', blood pooling on the floor and dispersing into the air.

BLAMPH

'Weiss' fell onto the floor, literally disarmed, and in a puddle of her own blood, the life in her body slowly ebbing out of her.

'?' looked at 'Wiess' moving the Dream Nail as is to finish her off …

… only to lower it down, now just looking with a sad and dispassionate gaze and the 'thing she once feared' that lay dying in a pool of its own blood on the ground.

"Ugh, finrsshh, frrsshh, issch, gruuu, frrsch ischh …'

'?' just looked at the dying thing, her 'companion' joining her in looking at the dying thing.

"… grrsch, vrrsscchh, urschh … ithrsch krrsch … plrrssch …"

They only watched silently as it faded, its words a garbled and indiscernible mess from its dark blood flowing from its mouth, yet they did not need to wait for long.

"… grrsscchh … Plschrr … hrpsch … hrrrk … rrk …. Urr …"

"RRRRUUUUuuuaaahhhhhhRRRRRAAAHAAAHHHhhhh, hah-hah-haaaahhh," Wiess lay where she was, laying splayed out on the ground as she felt a massive strain and a deep emptiness come through her as the dark material faded from her body into the air, "haah-haah, so that-ah, is what-hah, dying-ugh, feels … like, oww."

With the death of the apparition of Wiess, RWBY and NPR were now free from the influence of the dark material, and all of them where now slowly, yet steadily, recovering from their ordeals, yet it would be a while before they all fully recovered from what happened to them.

"You have been freed from the effects of the 'bleed-over', but the conclusion to this viewing must be done, so let us continue to the end," Mirai turned to the viewing, as did the others as the reality continued.

"…"

It was over.

'?' watched as the apparition of Wiess crumbled to nothing … and disappeared.

They were gone, the apparitions created from the despair of the one known as Jaune Arc … were gone.

Now all that was left was the broken and ruined remains of the mindscape of the one who was gone …

… the broken dream in the hollow mind of what was once 'Jaune Arc'.

The world slowly seemed to fade, the grey expanse and the black darkness now replaced by a lightless expanse of pure nothingness, and the platform was now a flat and featureless slab on which her and her 'companion' stood upon.

A place emptiness, of a lost life, a lost identity, and a lost existence.

"… no."

'?' moved to the very center of the platform, standing at the very center of the fallen mind …

… and she then raised her Dream Nail, the Nail radiating a mixture of both the radiant light and the living emptiness as it swirled around her and the Nail, her Companion stood a slight distance away, its cloak swaying in the gust created by '?' Dream Nail.

'?' then pointed the Dream Nail down … and drove it into the platform.

SRRROOOAAAAAAMMMMM

A pulse of pure Radiant light and Living darkness pulsed out in every direction, the two energies surging through the emptiness, trying make this empty world into something … and yet …

'It's not enough, it's not enough, it won't make it … I don't know what to, huh.'

Then she saw her insectoid companion stand before her, and in its clawed hand, it held its own Dream Nail, surging with its own power …

… power greater than what '?' was using, and of a purity that '?' knew that her unknown 'companion' was unimaginable leagues above her in terms of power.

Then the unknown insectoid being thrust its Dream Nail … straight into the ground, directly in front of '?' and parallel to her own Dream Nail, and the energy surged forward, linking to '?' own Dream Nail and into '?' herself.

'?' herself felt her eyes widen, her irises changing, her left iris now a light grey and her right iris now a dark grey, one of light, another of darkness, and the power that was around her SURGED outward.

RROOOOOOAAAAARRRRRRR

A mighty sound came about as she felt the world fill with the two energies, both now beginning to make the world around them both.

Yet at the same time, she felt something else come through her, as something within her also went through her 'Companion', both aware of this and knew the other was aware as well.

SKRROOOOOAAAAAA

It didn't matter, the pasts they held no longer mattered, all that counted now, for the both of them …

… was their future, one they would meet …

… TOGETHER!

Light and Dark swirled around the two, then pulsed outward in all directions, the dark gained vigor and shape as it formed the reality itself, and the light surged through all, animating the reality and building the empty world.

The light and dark continued to surge out, and then in a matter of moments, it slowly died down, and all became still and calm, the only sound being the wind that blew through where the two stood.

'?' and her unnamed 'companion' looked out to the world around them, finding that the platform had become larger, and the many other empty platforms had come into existence, some with smaller platforms that one would need to hop from one to another to get to the large platforms, while some larger platforms were linked to one another by pathways, yet all were flat and had no real feature atop them, though some were either of constructed stone, grass expanses, or had nothing atop them .. yet.

The platform the two stood atop however, was a work of a dedicated stone mason, the surface had a slightly uneven tiled pattern, tall pillars, seven in total, all pointed in a way that made them resemble Dream Nails, at a distance between the center and edge of their platform.

At the center of the platform, standing tall and true, a statue of smoothed stone, showing '?' unnamed savior, holding the Dream Nail before it, in a way similar to how Knight hold their blades in front of their face when either making a vow or commencing a battle.

The expanse was now much more calm and serene, yet dark and expansive, with a radiant sun illuminating the restored dream scape, yet there was an ever present darkness on the other side of the horizon, made up of dark storm clouds in the distant horizon, the platforms appearing to be suspended in a sky that continued for infinity, and that '?' felt could hold far more than what it did.

The last thing that she saw on the platform, between the fourth 'Nail' pillar and the edge …

… was a bench, just a simple metal bench with the metal frame supporting some smoothed pieces of firm wood.

The unnamed being walked over two the bench and sat down on one end of it, then looked at '?'.

'?' looked back, smirked a little, and walked over to the bench, sitting on the other end of it, finding that the seat and back were far more comfortable than they appeared to be.

Then '?' saw as light started to be emitted from her 'compa-no, her companion as it seemed that the seat was giving of a sort of restorative effect, and '?' witnessed as the light seemed to flow in small veins from the bench into her body, making her feel refreshed, warmed and restored.

Then she saw her companion rise from the bench, now with a bit of a healthy glow that offset its naturally dark visage.

'I do feel bad that I will have to use it to address it, since it is completely genderless, neither male, female or otherwise, so the first thing I should do is try to put a name to it,' '?' thought as she got up and followed her companion to the front of the statue, and shook her head in an exasperated manner, 'that may be a bit impossible, considering my companion has no voice either … hah, and I thought my life was bad."

'?' just trotted over to where her companion stood, though became aware of how little she was wearing, with the few strips of cloth that still covered her almost falling away, with the black flu-no, it was Void, the living darkness that emerged from nothingness, that is the true name of the dark material that covered parts of her body.

'?' was now beside her companion, standing with them before the statue, wondering what was happening now.

Then her companion began to glow with white light and beneath them, a large pattern, many time more intricate than the glyphs of the (true) Schnee's sprung into existence beneath them, the circle glowed with many unknown letters and curved patterns as the light began to grow stronger.

'?' knew what she needed to do, and from her body, she tapped into the new power that flowed through her body, the energy that now made up her existence and was a key energy that flowed through the reality of her companion …

… SOUL, the radiance within, the light that was the core of the existence of the denizens of the world she would now enter.

'?' SOUL flowed out of her body and into the mystic sigil that pulsed with light, light began to rapidly fill '?' vision, until it completely filled where they were, yet '?' still knew where her companion stood, and as the light became completely blinding, she spoke once more.

"Thank you companion …"

"… you have freed me from the nightmare…"

"… and allowed the light that is me, to be restored …"

"… now I will aid you in your journey, to the very end …"

"… though now, I must awaken and prepare myself …"

"… so that I may fight by your side, and learn the truths of the reality you hail from …"

"… the reality known …"

"… as HALLOWNEST."

The light became completely blinding, and soon '?' began to feel strong sensations throughout her body as she finally awoke.

'I wonder what I will encounter first?'

"… Uhh, you guys okay, you've been pretty silent, in a bit of a worrying way, more so than last time" Mirai talked to the allotted group where staring intently at the screen before turning to Mirai, in a creepy 'all eyes on one person' type deal.

Nora spoke.

"Still … hurting, hurts all … over, talking hurts to, but … everything is … difficult to put in words."

Blake was next.

"Y-yeah, the … way that their power … works, that Void … a-and SOUL, I d-don't think anything o-on Remnant can really co-compare."

Yang came next.

"I 'erk' c-could take them i-in a straight fight, 'guh', b-but judging by your g-gaze I think th-there may be more to it than what we are seeing … right?"

"Indeed, Yang, the powers of that reality are, like many others, an source of infinite potential and possibility, like many other powers in all existence, and what you have seen so far is but I tiny drop in an almost cosmic-level ocean," Mirai emphasized this by spreading her arms out, and an image of a starry sky came up on a wall behind her, then it flickered off and Mirai returned to her seat, "but, for now, we will be seeing the reality of the world that 'the one who was once Jaune Arc' is awakening to …"

"… now."

"…"

".. erk!"

TING-TING

"Grk-urk."

TING-TING-TING

"Rrk-uuhh."

TING-TING-TING

CRRRRMMMBBBLLEE

"GAH"

'?' felt herself fall forward, onto a soft yet firm floor, and felt an incredibly soft and fluffy feeling as she lay on the soft ground.

"Ah, you have awakened safely, this is truly an occasion worthy of jubilance."

'?' turned her head to look at the speaker …

'A … moth, yep, it is a large human-sized, mostly purple, moth … that is talking in a language I know I never heard yet understand clearly … and it has a hammer and chisel in its 'arm-legs'?'

Then'?' noticed that there were flecks of a deep-black, rock-like material on her body, now mostly broken off, and craned her neck to see a rather sizeable chunk of rock that she knew she had been trapped i-!

CRRMMBBLLEE

'Ah, it fell apart.'

The large rock crumbled to pieces, now collapsed onto the ground in a heap.

"My time tending to the graves have given me much experience in the shaping and molding of rock, though liberating thee from though prison was not a simple task, nor was the task of transporting it to my abode."

The moth spoke once more, an even, sagely female tone that spoke of much experience and a large breadth of knowledge from within.

"Such an interesting form, pale with no shell, much of the body appears quite soft, certain parts seem to be an excess of flesh that is compounded at certain points, though hopefully not to a severe amount, four appendages, two for locomotion and two for environmental manipulation, five extension for each both for support and manipulating."

Also, she, at least I think it's a she, has no sense of, wait she isn't even same species so she probably wouldn't understand those things, maybe?

"Only real form of natural insulation appears to be solely located on the top of what appears to be the cranial region holding the brain, difficult to hit but still quite a tempting target for those wishing you harm, though with a body like yours, damage to any point could prove quite fatal, especially given your current physical state."

'?' looked down at herself and grimaced at what she saw.

'That's why I feel so sore all over.'

Her body was shown, her limbs slender, skin was soft and pale, small hands, legs that where thin yet held some muscle, and proportions similar to that of a well-developed child of fourteen or fifteen, some errant strips of cloth barely covered her (though she honestly didn't care at the moment) …

… and all over were deep scratches, cuts, sores, bruises, and some burn marks, all terrible injuries.

The only reason '?' didn't notice how badly hurt she was could be attributed to the fact that her body felt numb all over, and she felt herself sitting down on one of the softer cushions, the pain starting to come back as she felt herself start to tear up at the pain.

Then the moth sat itself before her and spoke to '?'.

"Breath, allow yourself to calm, and focus on the center of your existence, reach in where you feel the its presence within."

'?' nodded and slowly began to breath in and out, calming herself as she sat on the soft cushion, a calm expression on her face as she breathed in and out, while also trying to do what the moth had told her, looking for the 'presence', one she now knew.

'That light, the light within, the guiding energy that flows through my existence, my life …"

"… my SOUL."

As she tapped into the light that flowed through her, she felt the energy pulse through her body, and the pain began to recede from her body … but not fade.

'I knew it, the wounds are either to numerous or to deep, even with this light, it will take a long while before I can properly walk or even move … much less fight.'

A saddened look passed over '?' as she realized her current physical state, and felt tears flow from her eyes.

'How will I help my companion now.'

"Ah, it has returned."

A gust of wind and a flapping of fabric signaled the arrival of a new individual into the tent, '?' gazed up …

… looking into the 'eyes' of her savior and companion.

"You have returned Knight, have you succeeded in finding what you sought."

The now named Knight simply nodded, before it turned to '?', looking at her as she wiped away her tears.

It approached her, then ruffled its hands into its 'wing-cape', no they were wing's …

… and from the wings, it pulled out a large amount of what seemed like a near transparent fabric merged with a very smooth white membrane as '?' saw small vein like patterns within the material.

The Knight held it up to '?' … and she took it in her hand.

Everything happened rather quickly after that.

'?' was slightly startled when the material seemed to spring to life, coalescing around the hand and arm that she held it in, but the surprise passed she felt a sharp stinging, followed by a cooling numbness as the material continued to wrap itself around her body, covering her up entirely as it wrapped up her body, completely covering her from head to toe, finally ending before it could wrap up her head, allowing her to see the Knight bringing the large chunks of what she knew was solidified Void, and placed the pieces around her body.

'?' witnessed as small tendrils came out of the material now covering her whole body minus her face, for now, and picked up the pieces of Void one by one …

… she saw as the pieces all turned back into their liquid form, attach to the material covering her body, before it hardened again, becoming a sort of armor piece, and more came.

The Void attached itself to her whole body, forming over the SOUL fabric as '?' decided to call it, and the void worked its way up her whole body, covering her in a dark armor made of Void, and then it reached her head.

She felt a part of SOUL fabric at the back of her head open, and felt her hair hang loose, her hair the color of charcoal, though slightly pale as it didn't seem quite healthy, the SOUL fabric formed a band around the hair, tying it into a sort of low ponytail.

Then came her face, and she closed her eyes as the material covered her nose and mouth, taking breaths as she let the fabric cover her, and the felt as a solid substance formed over her face,

She then breathed.

Finding that she could still breath normally, as she then felt air coming from the SOUL fabric into her nose and mouth, and she opened her eyes, finding that she could still see, but could tell she that her vision was not natural.

"As the flow of SOUL and Void reach a balance within, thou body, thou shalt gain the vision of what has become thee."

As if on cue from the 'Moth's' words, '?' found her vision to change in a very drastic way, finding that she could perceive around herself in such a way that she felt that she was looking up, down, left, right, back and forward at almost the same time, though her vision remained singular and focused largely at a specific point.

Then her vision seemed to shit … to behind herself.

'?' was stunned as she now seemed to be looking at … her back, seeing the low ponytail of charcoal colored hair as it reached her mid-back, the hair coming through a special slit in the armor that was only big enough for the hair to fit through.

She also saw how some of the SOUL fabric spilled out from an triangular opening in the back of the armor, darkening into a 'wing-cape', similar to the Knight's own wings, though not as ragged (not yet at least).

'?'s vision shifted again, and she now looked at herself from the front, and saw that her face was now covered by a mask …

… one that was similar to the 'face' of the Knight, minus the horns, though similar pitch-black eyes, though that was probably from the layer of Void beneath the mask.

The armor now covered her whole body, and she felt strength flow through her body as the aches and pains faded into a dull pulse that echoed through her whole body.

'?' stood up, her armor making little sound as she stood up, standing at the same height as the Knight itself, and in her right hand, now in a Void armor gauntlet, in a soft flash of light, her Dream Nail appeared, having shifted out of the physical plane until she called upon it.

'Now … I am ready now.'

Though she spoke know words, she saw the slight nod of the Knight, acknowledging that '?' could now start braving the wilds of the land known as Hallownest.

"Before thy leaves on thy journey, could thee spare some time to learn the history of this land, of the ones who call it home, and of the fate that befell the mighty kingdom that once held dominion in this land."

'?' looked at the Knight, who only looked back, before it chose to sit on the ground, and '?' looked at the 'Moth' nodding in confirmation, but then realized that she should have asked for the 'Moths' identity, though she realized she could not do that now.

"Ah, it was rude of me not to give my name earlier, it's Seer, that is who I am."

'?' nodded thankfully at the 'Mo-Seer, and then sat down cross-legged as Seer then began to tell the story of the land, of the history of Hallownest.

(Though the Knight and '?' were not the only ones to hear the tale.)

All was quiet as the viewing progressed, the assorted group taking in what they heard as the talking mot-Seer explained the entirety of the stories of the land known as Hallownest to the (former) Jaune Arc, the group completely silent at what they heard, having recovered enough to know properly listen to and also talk about what had occurred, and even the knowledge that Seer was giving to the (former) Jaune Arc, listening with rapt attention to the story of the land.

"Okay, so Jaune or whoever he/she is now, is in a land that is largely underground, in a land that is inhabited by giant bugs, from those that can talk and act like people to vicious giant monster bugs, and they can use magic … damn, now the Grimm sound kind of nice to have compared to that place," Yang noted, now just sitting quietly on her chair as the continued with the explanation, including some tidbits that really jumped out, "and that place also has … gods?"

"No, Seer stated that the 'Higher Beings' were god-like, wielding power that was like a gods but not actually a god, which I don't know whether it is just stories or if that is all actually true," Wiess said.

"It seems like it, considering that the kingdom was ruled by two of them, one called the Pale King and the White Lady, who were both higher ones, and were known throughout the whole kingdom, though I'm not sure what to really believe, considering that it is a completely different world and all that," Blake noted these facts as she looked at the viewing, listening intently to Seer's tale of the fallen kingdom of Hallownest.

"I-ow, hah, It's still sad though, that the kingdom was once so large and prosperous, but then it was destroyed by that … infection, that it turns peo-, well bu-, no, people into either violent and murderous monsters, makes the monsters even more violent, and even brings dead people to life so they can attack others, it's horrible," Ruby felt saddened upon hearing of the infection, a thought shared with the group, and the horrors that came to be because of it, "and what it does to them, filling their bodies with the weird orange stuff, turning them into empty husks that can only kill others who are not infected, and it can even infect people in their dreams … why would something like that even exist!"

"Well, it does, and it destroyed the kingdom and is also still spreading everywhere, taking more lives and causing more death, not even the Grimm could match such a horrifying thing, at least I hope not," Pyrrha truly hoped that such a thing didn't exist on Remnant, the Grimm were already bad enough as is.

"Looks like its coming from somewhere, and it looks like fearless leader and her new friend are the ones that can stop it, looks like she really traded up from hunting Grimm to literally saving a whole kingdom, well her and the Knight actually, go get em fearless leader!" Nora had managed to gain back her peppy spirit and cheered for the success of her leader and her leaders' friend.

Ren was mostly in his own thoughts but agreed with Nora in hoping for his leader and brother/sisters' victory.

"This is all I know in regard to thy quest, to gain entry to the source of this affliction, you must find Dreamers whose existence holds the seal to the source of this affliction in place, and I am afraid that you must end their existence to gain entry to the heart of the ailment and end the threat of this affliction."

Seer then gazed at '?' before explaining once more.

"You 'one who is unknown', you will face a great deal of trials and tribulations in your journey with the Knight, I wish to say that you must hurry in your quest to end this plague, but I implore thee to gain as much strength as thou can, seek out the secrets of this land, find out as much as thou can along with Knight, for even within the darkest depths of this land, there maybe means that can allow thee to complete thy quest while sacrificing as little as possible."

'?' was a bit confused but quickly understood what Seer meant, being able to fight better and knowing more could help greatly along the way, and since the source was surely something both powerful and terrifying, having as much knowledge, skill, strength and mystic attunement would aid immensely in ending the infection in quick and decisive manner, also '?' believed that there was likely something regarding the source of the infection that was out in the world, something that the Knight and herself were better off knowing rather than going into the fight immediately without even knowing what they were getting themselves into or if other options existed that could allow for the infection to be ended better way.

'Okay, first is that the Knight and I will get a lay of the land, try to get as much knowledge about the infection as possible, hopefully help others along the way, find what we can to make future battle more quick, try to get a grasp on how any enemies we meet fight around here, see if we can find any secrets that could help us along the way, and stop the infection right at the source,' '?' nodded to herself as this seemed like a pretty solid plan.

Yet a question still lingered, and yet again Seer knew what she seemed to be thinking.

"I apologize, but not even I know why you had been brought to this world, why you yourself were chosen, nor even the methods that were used to bring thee here, I only know that another would stand and fight by the Knight's side on his quest, and it was thee who fought side by side with the Knight against the many foes and tribulations that will came, this knowledge is all can offer, I deeply regret not being able to provide thee with further insight."

'?' did not remotely blame Seer for her predicament, as she knew that Seer had helped her and provided her knowledge of what had occurred, even helping her attune to her SOUL.

'?' would go with the knight, and fight many a terrible foe along the way, but she would stick through it to the end, be it success, or just the end.

The Knight now stood, and began to walk to the entrance, looking at '?' as she followed the Knight, Seer telling them as they left.

"If you feel like it, please return when you can, I have several items that thou may see value in, but I will need payment in exchange for my wares, one must make so form of living to survive a world such as this."

'?' nodded back at Seer as she followed the Knight out of the tent … and found herself within the mouth of a cavern the tent had been placed within.

'Oh, oh my.'

'?' looked around, finding herself within a deep cavern that had a hole in its ceiling that seemed to lead somewhere else, and the edge of the cliff had several artistically made fence posts that were to keep those who didn't want to fall, from falling.

The Knight said nothing as it strode to the edge of the cliff, and '?' thought it would jump to the other just a short distance away …

… it didn't, it dropped, straight down, like a plummeting stone, straight down.

'?' could only blink as she looked down into the darkness, watching the Knight fall until she could not see him in the darkness, then …

THUD

She heard the impact, but kept looking, wondering if this was a normal thing for the Knight or a mistake.

The soft glow of the Knight's SOUL imbued Dream Nail waving in the darkness signaled that the Knight was okay.

'?' took a deep breath … and stepped off the edge.

VWHOOOOHHHHH

She fell for a relatively long while, and saw the bottom come up fast.

Then she felt a surge through her body as SOUL built up, and the moment she hit the ground, the SOUL in her body pulsed, dampening the impact, just leaving her lightly dazed from the fall, but otherwise completely fine.

'Kinda like Aura, though more versatile,' '?' thought once more, then became alert noticing the Knight had its Dream Nail out and ready for a fight, '?' bringing her own Dream Nail up, preparing for anything.

A loud incessant buzzing and several loud shrieks alerted her to the arrival of the beasts of Hallownest.

KRAAAWWWW

'?' looked up as five large flying insects with long sharp mandibles, a relatively thin body, and two small black eyes glared at us as the flying predatory insects darted at us ready to tear a chunk out of us.

'Move'

The instinctive command caused '?' to dart out of the way of the attack …

'Strike'

… then swing her Dream Nail into the attacker, the nail releasing a pulse of energy on impact, leaving the creatures exoskeleton cracked and leaking …

… a bright orange fluid.

'Their infected'

Then '?' moved just as the fourth tried to end her life along with the third.

KROOMM

'?' witnessed the Knight end the life of one of the insects, and saw the body explode into a mix of the insect's exoskeleton and infection fluids.

The creatures moved rapidly and fiercely, but where also predictable and always flew in a straight line at their target, they were like Beowolfs in a way, except they were insects and could fly.

'Focus on the fight'

This hit '?' just to barely leap over the fourth insect as it passed beneath, thrusting the lance into the injured first, ending it in a burst.

SKRM

'?' turned as she witnessed the third hit the Knight as it finished off the second insectoid beast, leaving the Knight with a slight gash in its exoskeleton, which leaked out pure Void, but sealed quickly as the Knight focused its SOUL into repairing the damage and then dispatched the third immediately after.

Then '?' realized she had been distracted.

SKRM

'Guh'

A stabbing pain from her shoulder told her she had been hit by the final insectoid beast, and saw it prepare to strike her again.

She only leapt above it as it passed beneath and stabbed into it with her Dream Nail, the creature left barely alive (though it was no longer truly alive according to Seer's warning about those infected) and scraping along the ground, and straight at the Knight.

BKROOM

A single stab from the Knight ended the final insect beast, leaving them alone at the bottom of the pathway.

'?' noticed that there were some rounded pieces of metal that looked almost like coins.

She turned and saw the Knight picking up the metal pieces and decided to grab up the pieces as well, a small input of knowledge from the Knight through whatever method of communion they had telling her that the metal pieces were a form of currency in Hallownest, one that was still used even now.

'?' finished collecting the metal pieces and saw as the Knight was getting ready to head off again.

'So, this is the start of my journey, and this was but a taste of things to come,' '?' thought to herself as she gazed into the tunnel that went deeper into the unknown, that would take her along with the Knight deeper into the land of Hallownest.

She looked back up, to where Seer's home was, and smiled slightly.

'We will save this land Seer, both of us,' following her thought, she followed behind the Knight as they continued deeper into the cavern …

… toward greater peril, deep secrets, and discoveries greater than they would ever know.

The viewing blinked off; the reality had been viewed to the current viewings end.

"Like the last, this is only the first part to other viewings from this reality, which will be quite a viewing if I may say so, and I hope this has taught you that these viewings are not just some little form entertainment or something to punish you for crimes not your own, they are linked and woven from their realities to your own, each own seeping into your reality, your world as we speak, and the effects that bleed over can be quite harmful and deadly if not viewed this way, you were like that this was a more benign form of bleed over," the statement shocked the assorted group as they heard what she said, saying that what had happened to them was a supposedly benign thing, which left them fearful of what the worst thing was, "I truly want to help you in returning to your own reality as well as finding out why this happened, but you must also understand that the realities we perceive now are not going to be nice or pleasing, and its essences of these terrible realities that are currently linked to your own reality now, but right now while the viewing is being sorted I would like you all to visit the medical ward which is currently over there."

Mirai pointed to an opening that appeared, with a shimmering glow, revealing a medical room with beds, large tubes of softly glowing fluid, and also several small cute looking egg-like drones with little nurse hats on top and three metal extensions that hovered around their frame.

At the back of the room, they saw another person, a young woman in a sort of customized medical outfit, made to allow for ease of movement with short sleeves and a knee length skirt with several pockets woven in, while functional due to a sort of body glove worn beneath that radiated a sort of protective energy as a hologram from a wrist device, the girls hair being an auburn color with light green eyes.

"Emma, hellooooo," Mirai called out as Emma was jolted by being called, looking to see that she had company.

"Oh, Mirai, so these are the ones you called ahead about," Emma said as she looked at the assorted individuals that were now standing in front of the entrance to the medical ward.

"This is them, just need to ask if you can check up on them, first time suffering from a bleed over, don't want to take any chances," Mirai stated.

Emma nodded at this, "all right then, just pick a bed and we can begin looking you over," the young medic said as the egg-like nurse bots used manipulator limbs to guide each of the members of RWBY and NPR to a bed as they found themselves quite tired and worn out from the viewing and 'bleed over' to make any comments.

"I need to greet some newcomers we have coming in, so just focus on recovering for now, take care you guys," some tired waves and a slightly tired 'see ya' from Nora followed as the opening closed, and Mirai then turned to the now opening wall as the newcomers came into view.

A rueful smirk spread on her lips.

"Hah, I knew you would get here eventually, but not even I thought it would be this quickly, but I digress," Mirai straightened up as she gazed at the two newcomers.

One was a woman with her blonde hair held in a tight bun, wearing an outfit that basically screamed disciplinarian and also said a few more things that were quite uncouth to either say or think, piercing green eyes looking at Mirai through a set of spectacles on her face, though not with any real sort of harsh critique, just expectant of their presence her.

The other was a man who seemed to be of advanced age given his grey hair, but maintained an almost unnaturally youthful visage, wearing an unbuttoned black suit over a green vest and light green undershirt, a scarf with a small cross-like pendant, black trousers and carried a cane that seemed to have been through a lot.

Mirai knew who these individuals were and why they were now here, especially the seemingly warm looking Professor-like man, who she knew was far more than what he seemed.

Before words could be raised from either, Mirai spoke first.

"Welcome to Quanta Aeterna Professor Ozpin and Glynda Goodwitch, before we can start with any questions you have for me that were not answered along the way, I would like to give my own question to you, one that is key to the reason of your arrival here in this place you have found yourselves, would it be okay if I ask you this question," Mirai finished as she waited for their response.

It was of course Ozpin who answered.

"You yourself stated that this question is part of the reason why we are now here, so I do believe knowing it would at least help in giving us a clearer picture as to our current presence here, so please, ask away," The Professor stated, Glynda just folded her arms under rathe eye catching assets and waited for the question.

"Thank you for that Professor, so here is the question," Mirai cleared her throat and then looked at them both as she asked the question, one she had given before but would need to give to all who would come later one.

"Do you know the name … Jaune Arc."

WHOOHH, that was intense, sorry for taking so long, a mix of this coronavirus and setting the chapter up left me with quite a mental load to get through, but her is the new chapter, hope you enjoy.

As for the source materials for my chapters, I find it more engaging when the readers try to look for information regarding what I write, with the hope that it gets their creative juices flowing as well, though given how many hints I put in this chapter, it should be pretty quick to find out what the source of this chapter was.

Well, see ya in the next one.