AWAKEN
As she heard those words, Ruby's eyes shot open before the young girl groaned in pain.
"Oww… My head…" the girl said as she tried - and failed - to rub away the pain she was feeling at the back of her head. Before she could process her situation any further, the sound of another person groaning in pain beside her caught her attention.
"Ughh… What… happened to us?" asked Jaune Arc, the blonde in a state of confusion and pain not unlike Ruby.
"Jaune? Is that you?" Ruby asked, the young girl finally opening her eyes only to be met with a bright light.
"Ruby? Is that-"
"Ow, whoever that is, please stop pulling my hair!" came the pained cries of Ruby's partner, Weiss Schnee.
"Weiss, you're here, too?!" Ruby asked, the young girl finally able to get a clear picture of her surroundings. Turning her attention to where Weiss's voice was coming from, Ruby was surprised to see her and Yang on the ground, "Yang! You're here, too!"
Weiss barely had any time to process the situation before Ruby ran full speed into her with her semblance.
"Ruby, you… idiot! How many times have I told you not to do that?!" Weiss said, an annoyed and pained look on the young Heiress's face as Ruby helped her and Yang get to their feet.
"Sorry, Weiss."
"Thanks, Rubes." Yang said as the blonde surveyed their surroundings, "What is this place, anyway?"
"Looks like a normal movie theatre to me." Jaune said, the blonde making his way towards the three members of Team RWBY.
"Vomit Boy? Where did you come from?" Yang asked.
"No clue." Jaune said with a shrug.
"Now that you mention it, this does look like that one place from downtown Vale." Ruby said but before any of them could explore any further, a burst of white light clouded their vision.
"Gah! My eyes!" Jaune shouted, the four teens completely unprepared for what just happened. A few seconds later, the white light faded to reveal four more people who was currently groaning in pain as they did earlier.
"Oww… my… everything hurts…" Nora Valkyrie groaned, the girl sprawled over the body of Blake Belladona, "Ren, save me…"
"Nora, please… get off of me… before I… suffocate to death…" Blake said, the girl looking mere seconds way from death.
"Guys! You're here!" Ruby shouted, the young girl quickly helping Nora and Blake to their feet while Jaune did the same for Ren and Pyrrha.
"Jaune? Where are we?" Pyrrha asked after finally getting her bearings straight, "And why are we in our uniforms?"
"Your guess is as good as mine, Pyr." Jaune said as he observed his surroundings.
"It looks like the movies we always go to during the weekends." Ren said.
"Maybe we're all dead and this is the afterlife?" Nora asked only to be met with looks of confusion from the rest of her friends, "What? It's a perfectly reasonable explanation."
"Nora, why would the afterlife look like a move theatre?" Jaune asked as the group of eight teenagers started exploring the place.
"Well, if we're not dead, maybe this is just a dream?"
"That we're all having at the same time?" Weiss asked, the Heiress scoffing at Nora's idea.
"Well, where do you think we are, princess?" Nora asked, the ginger slightly annoyed at Weiss's dismissal.
"I have no idea but this certainly isn't a shared dream-like experience or the afterlife." Weiss said.
"That was a lot of words when a simple 'I don't know' would have worked fine." Nora said. Fortunately, before things could get any worse, Jaune stepped in between the two girls.
"Guys, come on… I don't think it would benefit any of us if we started fighting here so, can we just make peace?" Jaune asked as Nora let out a sigh.
"Fine. Sorry, Weiss." Nora said, the ginger extending a hand as Weiss took it in her own.
"I'm sorry, too." Weiss said.
"Good. Now that that's settled, let's try to figure out where we are and how to get out of here."
"What do you suggest we do?"
"Let's start by exploring the place, see exactly what it is we're dealing with." Jaune said.
"Should we split up? We could cover more ground that way." Ruby said as Jaune agreed with a nod.
"Good idea. Don't go too far, though. We have no idea who or what could be lurking around this place."
[~]
"So, anything?" Jaune asked as the two teams gathered after having explored the theatre.
"Empty. Every single room in this place is empty. At least, the ones we could get into, anyway." Yang said, the girl shuddering slightly, "This whole place is giving me the creeps."
"Some of the rooms around here are locked. No way to get in, too." Ren added.
"There's some popcorn and soda so at least we won't be starving in the meantime." Nora said, the girl holding a bag of popcorn in one hand and a bottle of soda in the other.
"Ugh, don't they have any… healthier things to eat and drink around here?" Weiss asked as she looked at the contents of Nora's hands with disgust.
"Silly Weiss, this is a movie theatre. Obviously not." Nora said as she stuffed her face with another handful of popcorn.
"We found an exit door but it's locked. We tried to force our way through but that thing was pretty much indestructible." Yang said, the blonde helping herself to a couple of snacks from the concessions. Before the discussion could get any further, a door formed nearby, seemingly from thin air.
"Uh… You guys see that, too, right?" Jaune asked, the blonde rubbing his eyes to make sure he wasn't hallucinating anything.
"Yup." Ruby said as the eight teens took out their weapons, ready to face whatever it was that was about to step through that door. Seconds turned into minutes but no matter how long they waited, nobody had stepped through the door.
"Agh, the suspense is crazy! I'm just gonna open it myself!" Yang shouted.
"Yang, wait! Don't be so…" Blake trailed off, the girl holding her partner back as the door before them finally opened with a loud creak, "… reckless…"
Preparing their weapons for a fight, the members of Teams RWBY and JNPR were wholly unprepared when a man dressed in a black suit, black pants, and black shoes stepped through. What was most shocking, however, was the fact that his 'skin' seemed to be made of the stars, galaxies, and everything else you would see when you looked up at a clear night sky.
"Oh, hello. And who might you be?" the man asked as his voice seemed to be echoing in their minds.
"Uh…" Nora started to say only to be unable to find the appropriate words.
"W-Who are you?" Jaune asked, the blonde stepping forward as Crocea Mors trembled in his hand.
"I am Eternity." the entity in front of them said. When none of the teens could come up with a follow-up question, Eternity spoke up once more, "I'm guessing from your confused expressions that none of you know where you are?"
As all eight of them nodded in response, Eternity let out a hum as he stared at them.
"Well, in that case, allow me to explain: This place has many names but for simplicity's sake, you can just call it the "Multiversal Theatre". As for who I am, I am Eternity, the embodiment of the multiverse."
"Um… Excuse me, Mr Eternity, sir?" Pyrrha asked, the redhead raising her hand.
"Yes, Miss… Nikos?"
"What exactly is the purpose of this theatre and what is the multiverse?" Pyrrha asked.
"Hmm, I see. Well, this theatre is a place to view the different universes that exist and as for what the multiverse is, Ms Nikos, let me answer that question with a question: Have you ever considered a world in which you had chosen a different path in life, one without tournaments and Huntsman?"
"I have, yes." Pyrrha replied with a nod.
"And you, Miss Schnee, have you ever considered a world where the SDC doesn't exist?"
"I… have not. The very idea is… absurd."
"Precisely. This theatre allows you to view how those specific worlds would unfold."
"That's great and all but how did we get here?" Yang asked, "Did you kidnap us?"
"Nothing of the sort, I assure you. You were simply transported you here as your world required a bit of…" Eternity said, pausing for a moment before he continued, "…rebooting, I suppose is the most accurate term to use in this context…"
"Rebooting? Does that mean our world is no more?" Ruby asked, a worried look in her eyes.
"No, no. Nothing so sinister. You see, every once in a while, a universe requires a sort of restart or in this case, a reboot, in order for it to run smoothly."
"What, like a computer?" Nora asked.
"Exactly like a computer. Ten points to Miss Valkyrie for that analogy." Eternity said much to Nora's delight.
"So, what… We're just… simulations? Not real?" Jaune asked, the blonde sounding distressed at hearing that information.
"No, of course not. You're as real as anything. The computer was just an analogy." Eternity said, the entity offering a smile to the eight teenagers, "When I say reboot, it really means that it's necessary otherwise your universe would get infected with a sort of virus."
"What… kind of virus?" Ruby asked.
"The deadly kind. Viruses that exist outside the universe. Please believe me when I say that this action is necessary to prevent a universe such as yours from being infected." Eternity said, a grim look passing over his face, "I've seen what happens to one when a reboot happens too late and it is not something I'm too keen on experiencing again."
"That's all well and good, Mr Eternity, but that doesn't explain what we're doing here." Ren spoke up.
"Well, it's not unusual sometimes for some people to appear here in the theatre when their universe is being rebooted." Eternity said, "However, as this place exists outside the bounds of time and space, there is nothing to worry about. You will all return to your original world once everything is sorted out."
"Will we remember any of this?" Blake asked.
"Yes, of course. After all, if you went around telling people about a man made out of stars and galaxies and a place to view the multiverse, they'd just call you crazy." Eternity said with a chuckle.
"So, what do we do in the meantime?" Nora asked.
"Well, this is a movie theatre. Might I suggest watching a movie or two? The multiverse is vast and infinite. You'll never know what you might see next."
"What do you guys think?" Jaune asked.
"It's not like we have a choice in the matter." Weiss said, the girl about to sheathe her weapon only for it to disintegrate into dust, "Hey! What happened to my weapon?"
"And mine!" Ruby wailed as Crescent Rose disintegrated much like Myrtenaster.
"As I am not the biggest fan of violence, I have seen fit to dispose of your weapons for the time being." Eternity said, "Not to worry, you'll get them all back when you return to your world. Now then, shall we?"
With a snap of his fingers, a door leading to one of the rooms opened before the eight teenagers and the multiversal entity shuffled inside. As they each took their seats, Eternity stood in front to address the eight of them.
"Once again, I do apologize for this inconvenience." the entity said, snapping his fingers before a box of popcorn and a cup of soda appeared in the hands of his guests.
"Um, could I have something more nutritious?" Weiss asked.
"Weiss, come on! It's not everyday we get to have space popcorn and space soda!" Ruby argued, the young girl already stuffing her face full before the movie even started, "Please ignore her request, Mr Eternity!"
"Of course. Now then, without further ado, let's start the first showing." As the entity said that, the lights in the theatre went out before the screen in front of them came to life.
[Sleep Helps A Child Grow]
The scene opened with a view of Vale during the middle of the night before the camera slowly panned towards a small building at the edge of the city. The scene then changed to show a giant black, white, and gray corgi sleeping soundly and above it was his owner, Ruby Rose, dressed in black and red pyjamas.
"Zwei!" Ruby shouted, the young girl's excitement palpable at seeing her beloved dog, "And me!"
"And he's huge!" Yang added, the blonde equally as excited.
"Ugh… Normal Zwei I can handle but a giant Zwei?" Blake said, the girl's expression turning sour at the thought, "No thank you."
As the camera panned over the prone body of Ruby, the girl's eyes suddenly flew open to reveal dark silver irises.
"I can't sleep. Can't sleep at all. I just can't sleep a wink." the girl said aloud, kicking her blanket away before sitting up on her bed, "The harder I try to fall asleep, the more awake I feel. I don't feel like sleeping at all."
Getting up, the young girl then made her way across the small apartment and towards another room. Knocking on the door, the girl slid it open without waiting for a response from the room's occupant.
Interrupted from his sleep by the constant knocking on the door, Jaune Arc looked up from his mattress to see Ruby staring down at him with bloodshot eyes.
"Oh, hey, it's me." Jaune said, slightly embarrassed at seeing him on the big screen.
"Is it just me or does Fearless Leader look older here?" Nora asked.
"Also, what's up with his shaggy hair? That look does not suit you at all, Jaune." Yang said, the blonde failing to contain her laughter.
"Oh, come on. It's not that bad. Right, guys?" Jaune said, looking to his team for reassurance only for them to look away, "Oh, come on!"
"I… I think you look great, Jaune." Pyrrha replied, a strained smile on her face even as she tried not to make direct eye contact with her team leader.
"More importantly, I am curious but is Jaune a lot older here?"
"Very astute, Miss Schnee. The Jaune Arc you see on the screen is 27 years old. In this universe, he, Ruby, and yourself work together as part of the Odd Jobs." Eternity replied.
"Odd Jobs? What's that?" Ruby asked.
"Essentially, the three of you take on any and all jobs that pay money. Not in the criminal sense but the more mundane sense like finding a lost cat, taking care of wasp nests or even exorcism."
"What?" Jaune asked.
"I can't sleep."
"Oh, okay. Don't stay up too late, you hear?" Jaune said, completely missing the young girl's distress, "We have work tomorrow."
Unsatisfied with the response she just received, Ruby knocked on the blonde's a few more times.
"What is it this time?" Jaune asked.
"I can't sleep."
"You said that already. Look, if you can't sleep, just stay up until you get sleepy. That usually works. Just don't bother me." Jaune said, the blonde retreating deeper into his blanket as Ruby continued knocking on his door, "I told you we have work tomorrow so let me go back to sleep already."
Unsatisfied with the response she received, Ruby proceeded to roll over Jaune's blanket back and forth.
"What the hell do you think you're doing, you damn brat?!" Jaune shouted as he sat up.
"I can't sleep. I can't sleep a wink at all." Ruby continued, the girl rolling back and forth over Jaune's body.
"Like I care! Leave me alone already, would you?!" Jaune shouted.
"I can't sleep. I can't-" was all Ruby able to say before the girl rolled herself into the nearby wall. Turning back around to face Jaune, the young girl stared into the blonde's eyes, "Put me to sleep."
"Huh?!"
"Use everything in your power to put me to sleep." Ruby said without any emotion at all.
"Just go to sleep on your own, damn it! Also, is that how you ask somebody for a favor?!" Jaune said as he laid back down on his mattress.
"That mattress you're sleeping on, it looks much more comfortable than mine." Ruby said, the girl looking down at the blonde man, "Switch with me."
"Huh?"
"I said switch with me. You go and sleep in the closet." Ruby said.
"Could you not be so picky?! All mattresses are the same! And I can't possibly sleep in such a small space!"
"Whatever, just move already, would you?" Ruby said, the girl flipping the mattress over and rolling the blonde out of the way.
The whole theatre was filled with laughter by this point, most of Team RWBY laughing at how ridiculous their leader was acting while most of Team JNPR was laughing at Jaune's slight misfortune. The only ones who weren't laughing were Ruby and Jaune.
"Ruby, I really hope you're not like that in real life." Jaune said.
"I'm not! I'm really not!" Ruby said, the young girl defending herself like her very life depended on it.
"Ah, I think I can fall asleep like this. This mattress might just be the thing to put me to sleep." Ruby said, a look of serenity on her face.
"Go to sleep and never wake up again, you shitty brat." the blonde said, a dark look on his face as he went to grab another mattress from a nearby closet, "What is even happening right now? I managed to fall asleep and now I have to deal with all this crap?"
"I can't sleep." Ruby said not two seconds after Jaune's head hit his pillow.
"So nothing changed in the end?!"
"This mattress smells like an old man. There's no way I'll ever be able to sleep like this." Ruby said.
"You're the one who wanted to switch with me!"
"That mattress is new, right? Switch with me." Ruby said.
"This is never going to end!" Jaune said, turning around to face the girl, "Look, just lie still and close your eyes. You'll fall asleep eventually!"
"But Jaune, if you think about and I mean really think about it, what even is sleep? You're just closing your eyelids but your eyeballs are still darting around." Ruby said, as the camera zoomed into the girl's eyes, "It's dark but all we're doing is just staring at our eyelids. It doesn't mean we're asleep. What do I do with my eyeballs if I want to sleep? Should I stare at the inside of my eyelids or should I look up? What exactly should I-"
"Cut it out already! Now I'm the one that can't fall asleep!" Jaune shouted, the blonde visibly distressed by Ruby's rambling as he sat up, "What are you going to do about this? Do I look up? Do I look at my eyelids? How did I even fall asleep to begin with?!"
"Should I cross my arms? Put them at my side? Outside the cover? Inside the cover? How should I place the pillow? Face up? Face down?"
"I said stop it!" Jaune shouted once more only for his cries of protest to be ignored.
"Where do we come from? Where are we going? What's at the edge of the Universe?" Ruby continued.
"She's not even talking about sleep anymore." Weiss said, the girl more exasperated than amused by her team leader's antics.
"But she does raise some interesting questions." Nora pointed out, "Like, where are we going? What is at the edge of the universe?"
"Nora, don't you start." Jaune said.
"Cut it out already!" Jaune screamed, a look of despair on his face as he sat up on his mattress, "I can't sleep at all with you rambling about useless crap beside me! Argh, was it always this hard to fall asleep?! Did we go through such an ordeal every night?!"
"I can't sleep. Jaune, at this rate, I'll never fall sleep again for the rest of my life." Ruby continued on, seemingly unaware of the blonde's own distress.
"Give me a break already, Rubes. I told you we have work tomorrow, right? It's two-thirty in the morning and our day starts at seven. That's only four hours of sleep. No way that's enough for a growing brat like you."
"But Jaune, what do I do? Don't fall asleep before me."
"Look, just stop thinking about all that unnecessarily complicated stuff. Sleep isn't something that you can just force, got it? If you work your sweaty ass of for a whole day, you can comfortably fall asleep. That's just how sleep works, got it?" Jaune said.
"Now that you mention it, I was just lying around all day doing nothing."
"There, see? Problem solved. Your unhealthy lifestyle is what's ruining your sleep schedule." Ruby said, the scene changing to show Weiss vacuuming the place while screaming at Jaune and Ruby to help out with the cleaning.
"Ruby! How could you just let me clean the whole place alone like that?!" Weiss protested as the girl in question backed away.
"T-that's not me, Weiss! Don't direct your anger here!" the girl shouted as she tried and failed to hide herself using her hood, "Besides, I always help you out when you're cleaning our room."
"...I suppose." Weiss said, the heiress calming down.
"If you get it, then go jog around town for a lap or two. That'll get you tired enough to fall asleep naturally." Jaune said.
"You got it. Jaune, I'm going to go for a run. Don't you dare fall asleep before me, got it?" Ruby said, the girl not bothering to wait for a response as she dashed out of the building.
[~]
"Jaune… Jaune…Jaune, I can't sleep. I ran like you told me to but now my body feels so hot that it's impossible for me to fall asleep." Ruby said, the girl panting hard before having a coughing fit.
"Who the hell told you to run at full speed?! I said you had to jog. Jog! Do you understand what jogging is?!" Jaune asked.
"I thought I'd fall asleep faster if I was more tired so I ran fifty laps around town. Sleep is out of the question now. It feels like my all my cells are activated." Ruby said, her sweat seeping through her blanket and pillow.
"Your brain cells are the one that's dying here. Of course you can't fall asleep after exercising so hard! Go take a bath and cool off, already! You're making a mess of my mattress!" Jaune screamed.
"I refuse! I have no time for a bath because I need to fall asleep as soon as possible." Ruby said, the girl curling up under the blanket. A moment later, her stomach began to rumble, catching Jaune's attention once more.
"You sure are a busy person, huh? Especially at this time of night. First you can't sleep, now you're hungry. How does it feel to be this busy?!"
"Shut up! This isn't my stomach, this is just me farting!" Ruby argued.
"I don't care what it is, it's too damn loud. I can't get a wink of sleep like this." Jaune said, the blonde standing up with a tired expression on his face, "Fine, I got it. I'll go make you something to eat. In the meantime, go take a bath and clean yourself up. You stink."
"Food?!" Ruby said, the girl poking her head outside the blanket.
"Everyone feels like sleeping after a heavy meal, right? At this rate I won't be getting much sleep either."
"You're the best, Jaune!" Ruby said, the girl going for a hug only for the blonde to step back.
"I told you, you stink! Go take a bath!"
"This is character assassination at its finest, I'm telling you!" Ruby shouted at the screen, the girl embarrassed by her counterpart's actions.
"Relax, Rubes. It's like Eternity said, it's the multiverse. Anything is possible." Yang said, trying her best to rein in her sister.
"Hmph. You wouldn't be talking like that if that was you on the screen."
"That reminds me, am I in this universe, Eternity?" Yang asked.
"As a matter of fact, you are but your adventures are separate from Ruby's. That's about all I can say without spoiling anything, however."
"Jaune. Hey, Jaune." Ruby called out through heavy breaths. When Jaune turned to see what was going on, the blonde's eyes widened in surprise to see that the girl's stomach had swelled far past its normal size and that Ruby was currently breathing using the Lamaze method.
"What are you doing?"
"I can't sleep at all right now. I took a bath like you told me to but now I'm having so much trouble breathing that I just can't fall asleep." Ruby said.
"Who the hell told you to eat so much that you'd start breathing using your diaphragm?! Of course you won't be able to sleep when you're that full!"
"But… you made… all that food…" Ruby said, "I couldn't… let it go to waste."
"The rest of it was for breakfast! Why did you eat my share too, you stupid brat?!" Jaune shouted.
"This is pointless. I'll just go for a run again." Ruby said, the girl struggling to even get up.
"Just stop it already, will you?! This will just bring us back to square one." Jaune said, the blonde rubbing his face in frustration, "Fine, how about this? You don't have to work tomorrow. Weiss and I will just have to handle it ourselves. Now, you don't have to force yourself to sleep."
"I refuse. I have to get some sleep to take care of my beautiful skin!"
"Someone whose stomach is swelling that much shouldn't be worrying about their skin, damn it!" Jaune shouted.
"...Fine, I get it. I won't make a fuss anymore. You already fed me so I'll just quietly try to get to sleep by myself." Ruby said as the girl laid back down on her mattress.
"Y-yeah…" Jaune said, the blonde doing the same.
"But if it's too quiet, I start thinking about complicated stuff again. You mind if I turn on the radio?" Ruby asked.
"Fine but turn the volume down, okay?" Jaune said as Ruby took a radio out of the closet before turning it on.
"After all that, she's just going to listen to the radio to fall asleep?" Jaune asked.
"Beats running around town for another fifty laps." Ruby added.
"Young Night Train. Welcome, dear listeners, to the late night program where we tell stories that's guaranteed to make you cry within three minutes. Hosted by yours truly, DJ Neptune!" said the voice from radio, "Without further ado, lets get started with our first story, "Sorry, Velvet", submitted by Radio Name Coco."
[Sorry, Velvet]
The scene then changed color to black and white as the camera panned over a normal looking neighbourhood.
"I will never forget the first friend I ever made. Being a shy and quiet child, I used to always play by myself." said the narrator.
"Oh, hey. I guess it's Velvet and Coco this time around." Ruby thought aloud.
"I don't know why but I have the feeling that I'll be crying tears of terror rather than sadness by the end of this." Nora said, much to everyone's confusion.
"Because of that, my father bought for me a friend." the narrator said, as a young girl looked towards the door to their house to see a man with a puppy in his hand.
"Velvet and I, we were always together. We went everywhere together." the narrator said, as the scene shifted to a picture of the girl taking the dog for walks around the neighbourhood to the two of them falling asleep together, "Just like real friends, we did everything together."
"I taught her a lot of tricks but her favorite one was 'wait'. He would wait as long as I told her, even when a feast was laid down before him." the scene then shifted once more, to the girl and her friends surrounding and petting the dog, "I didn't really have a need for other friends besides Velvet or at least, that's what I thought at the time. As time passed, more people came around who were interested in Velvet and before I knew it, I'd made a lot of friends besides Velvet."
"At this point, it didn't take very long for my interest to shift from Velvet to other things," the narrator said, the scene showing Velvet waiting patiently by the entrance, the dog heeding her mistress's order to the letter, "Although she really wanted to come play with us, all I had to do was use her favorite trick against her and she would wait there patiently for my return."
"By chance, my father's store went out of business. Chased by debtors, my family and I were forced to abandon our home with nothing but the clothes on our backs." the narrator said, the scene showing the girl and her parents walking through the rain with Velvet in tow, "Despite being a young girl, I understood then and there what needed to be abandoned."
"Maybe it was because she understood the situation she was in that she started chasing me without pause," the narrator said, the scene now shifting to one where the girl had to leave the dog behind only for the dog to constantly run up to her owner, "In response, I could only deliver the usual order. 'Wait'. That was the last thing I told her to do. Without even looking back, I left her behind in that vacant lot."
By this point, the audience was sobbing and some even had tears rolling down their cheeks as they witnessed the scene unfold before them.
"Poor Velvet." Ruby said, the young girl wiping away a single tear from her face, "I'd hate to ever abandon Zwei like that."
"Me, too, sis. Me, too." Yang said, the blonde sharing her sister's sadness.
"Months had passed and by this point, my family and I were already living in a city far away. Even so, I was unable to stop thinking about Velvet. Velvet had to be fine. I'm sure somebody would have taken her in and took care of her." the narrator said, "Thinking back on it now, I just wanted to put my mind at ease when I went back. I just wanted to see Velvet alive and well so I could erase the guilt in my heart."
The scene then shifted to see the young girl trembling as she witnessed the weakened body of her former pet.
"There she was, waiting as she had always been. Waiting for me to come back." the narrator said as an old man approached the young girl from behind.
"It's quite sad, isn't it? A few people around here had tried to take her in or even feed her but she just wouldn't move an inch." the old man said as the girl started to sob.
"I reached out to pet her and ever so slowly, she looked up to look at me as her tail wagged slowly. After that, Velvet stopped moving entirely." the narrator said before the young girl started crying aloud.
"Young girl, you were the owner, I see." the old man said.
"Velvet, she… she was waiting here for me to return…" the girl said as tears streamed down her face, "Velvet… how many times do I need to apologize to you?! You gave me so much when I was so lonely. You were my first friend yet… I did such a terrible thing to a precious friend of mine!"
"There's no need to apologize, young girl. She was waiting for you to come back and you finally did. She must have been happy to meet her owner in the end." said the old man.
"There's no way that's true! She must hate me! After all, I'm the one responsible for her death!" the girl shouted, her face stained with tears now.
"Velvet isn't dead. She's still very much alive." the old man said.
"Where?! Where is she?!" the girl asked.
"Of course…" the old man said as the girl turned around to face him for the first time, "… she's right behind you!"
The old man's face then morphed into a hideous creature as he proceeded to kill the young girl.
"What the fuck?!" Yang shouted, as she and the rest of Team RWBY and Team JNPR jumped back in fear and surprise.
"What was that?!" Weiss asked, the girl's heart thumping in her ears.
"I knew it! I knew something was off about this story!" Nora said as she hugged her partner for comfort.
"Why in the world did a sad story turn into a horror story at the end?" Jaune asked, "What kind of radio station is this?!"
"Aghhh!" came Jaune's high pitched scream as the punted the radio to the nearby wall, smashing it, "W-what was that? Why did it suddenly turn into a horror story towards the end? Make people cry? It'll make people cry, alright. Cry out of fear, that is!"
Throwing his pillow over the now broken radio, Jaune then tried his hardest to calm himself down, "There's absolutely no way I can fall asleep now. That damn station must be getting tons of complaints right now."
"Not that I was scared or anything." Jaune said as he straightened himself out, "Ruby, no more radio for tonight, got that?! I can't listen to anymore of this-"
The blonde paused mid-sentence as he saw that the girl had fallen asleep and was snoring soundly.
"After causing me so much trouble, she's all asleep now, huh? Well, that's a relief." Jaune said as he picked up his pillow, "Now I can sleep, too."
As the seconds ticked by, Jaune was about to fall asleep before the final scene of the story replayed itself in the blonde's mind.
"Right behind you!"
Startled, Jaune quickly got up, a look of fear on his face.
"C-crap, this isn't good. I'm starting to hear things now. Must be because of the lack of sleep I'm getting. What, now I can't fall asleep? You've got to be kidding me…" Jaune said as he pulled his mattress closer to Ruby's before lying down himself, "R-Ruby, are you awake? You're awake, right? Please tell me you're awake. I really need to go to the toilet right now. Hey! You can't just abandon me like this! After everything I did to help you go to sleep, now you're leaving me alone?! The least you could do is knock me out until the morning!"
By this point, the whole of Team RWBY was laughing at how scared Jaune was acting.
"Don't worry, Fearless Leader, I'll protect you from the things that go bump in the night." Nora said.
"I appreciate that, Nora, but you really don't have to…" Jaune said, a red tint on his cheeks, "I don't get scared that easily."
"That was certainly a fun thing to watch." Yang said, the blonde chuckling at Jaune's misfortune before turning to face Eternity, "What's next, Eternity?"
"Well, before we get started on the next showing, it seems some new guests have arrived." As the entity said that, a burst of bright light filled the room, blinding most of the occupants temporarily.
"Gah! My eyes!" Jaune shouted, the blonde shielding his eyes a moment too late. As their vision slowly returned, the teens were surprised by the sudden appearance of Qrow Branwen, Winter Schnee, Glynda Goodwitch, and their school's headmaster, Professor Ozpin.
"Uncle Qrow!" Ruby shouted, the young girl wasting no time in tackling the grown man to the ground.
"H-hey, squirt… Where are we?" Qrow asked as Weiss went to greet her sister.
"Winter. It's good to see you." Weiss said with a bow.
"Weiss? What are you doing here? In fact, where is here?" Winter asked, the woman immediately unsheathing her saber only for it to disintegrate into dust, "Wha-?"
"Greetings to the all. Please, have a seat and I will be glad to explain your current circumstances." echoed Eternity's voice inside their heads, startling the newcomers.
"Ruby? What is going on?" Qrow asked, the man stepping between his niece and the entity before him.
"Well, it's kind of a long and weird story…" the girl said as she rubbed the back of her head.
[Chapter END]
A/N: And that is a wrap on the first chapter of this new series I just started. What do you all think? Please, give me your honest thoughts on the reviews, I welcome them all.
This was very fun to write and I hope I get to finish the next chapter soon. I already have a few ideas on what I'll have the main cast react to. The second chapter won't be as comedic as the first, I'm afraid. If you enjoyed this chapter, don't hesitate to follow, fave, and leave a review. Cheers