So here is a short chapter. I was busy this weekend so I couldn't write. I also feel like, once again, if I don't write something I'll get too lazy to do so. And if I get too lazy to do so, I'll end up stopping. Hence why I did this chapter.
Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY.
The Curator nods to Decade who summoned a dimensional wall. Walking through was a pretty woman with sandy blonde hair done in a crazed bun. She was wearing an all-black dress as she stepped through the portal.
The wall disappeared as they heard profuse cursing and angry shouts. Decade then used the ability again to have her sit on a chair closer to the villains. Ozpin meanwhile was quiet as he stared at the woman sitting there now.
"Hello, Salem," the Curator said kindly. That surprised Cinder even more as the person before her was her Mistress. Ironwood, Qrow, and Glynda froze at the name.
"How do you know my name?" she asked.
"I know many versions of you. Most are rarely indulging as you were." Decade frowned at his spot.
"A lot of you are so hard to fight. Even I have trouble when you use your full power," the magenta wearing Rider groaned. He rubbed his forehead at the memory of fighting various versions of Salem. Those who retained their full power before the moon shattering were the hardest to fight because of magic.
"Excuse me," Ruby raised her hand, making the three speaking look at her. Salem was even surprised by her silver eyes. "Um, who is she?"
Everyone was indeed curious. Who was this lady that entered the room?
"She is Salem, Queen of the Grimm. The one who is fighting against you lot," the Curator replied easily. Everyone not in the know turned to the woman who was still looking at herself in surprise.
"We should eliminate her right now," Ironwood stated. Most people were staring in shock, unprepared for what they heard.
"Sadly, I can't allow that," the Curator replied, shocking everyone even more.
"And why not?" Raven asked standing up. The two Jaunes looked at each other and sighed. They were already going to tell them sensitive information but they may as well say the entire thing now.
"Because she is necessary for your world," Decade responded. "Your world's story needs her."
That confused so many people even more.
"I am even more confused now," Yang said.
"What I'm trying to say is that you people, the ones we have dragged into this theater, are important to the world," the Curator said easily. "If they die prematurely, the world will collapse. Or in your case..."
"If one of them goes missing, the world starts to collapse," Decade explained as well. "And since this is a multiverse revolving around Jaune Arc..."
"When Jaune exploded and vanished, our world started to collapse," Pyrrha gasped.
"This theater, while originally is used to just record the multiverse as I have been," the Curator started to say, "however as of late I have been using my place to house those without homes or have been lost to their world."
"Like what happened to us previously," Blake pointed out.
"Yes. However, your world started to break apart almost instantly, hence why I had Decade start collecting the people who are important to your world's story."
"You've said that a couple of times already," Ozpin said. "What do you mean the story of our world?"
"Every world has a story," Decade answered this time. "Of how things progress and how things play out. Usually, there are several key players in it. For your world its these people in the room. Of course, things and people can change depending on how the story goes."
"So you're saying...fate exists?" Summer asks surprised.
"It does," the Curator replied. "Destiny, fate, whatever you want to call it. The idea exists and it usually has a say in the worlds."
"I'm hearing a but here," Coco said.
"People like him, the Master of Spirits, or any other multiversal people are something are oddities." Decade smirked and shook his head.
"The best thing to call us are meddlers," Decade explained. "We who can traverse the multiverse can say fuck you to other peoples' fate."
"That's a weird way to say something," Penny tilted her head.
"It means that I can change the fate of others by interacting with them." His eyes turned to Summer who looked a little surprised. "Much you like you."
"So my world is...crumbling?" Summer asked worriedly.
"It is almost dissolved," the Curator frowned. "But once MoS returns to your world it will go back to normal. I give it...a month your time until it has completely collapsed."
"Which could be an eternity before MoS returns since we are affected by time differently than all of you people," Decade explained.
"So you need to save us monsters as well?" Salem asked far more intrigued in a long time. She had lost most of her anger that bred insanity and was closer to her original self.
"You have not been killed or defeated in your world just yet, so yes we need to save you," the Curator replied.
"Such a shame then," Ozpin said. His anger at his opponent growing. "I would have preferred if she didn't have to survive."
"Oh, does my ex-husband have anything to say?" Salem teased. Ozpin glared at her and everyone looked at him.
"You were married to her?" Ironwood asked confused. He had never known his long-time friend was married.
"Before she went insane yes," the other headmaster replied.
"Now where does that leave us?" Raven asked. "There must have been a reason why you had decided to tell us all of this?"
"As much as I find her a complete displeasure, I agree with the bandit," Kali agreed with her fellow mother. This made her frown. The Faunus mother didn't like the feeling of agreeing with that terrible person of a bandit.
Decade snapped his finger and the image of that insane Saphron in her outfit appeared. "This is the reason," he said frowning. "Someone can hop worlds who shouldn't."
"You mean the evil version of me?" Saphron asked. She did not like her. That crazy obsession she had with the younger Jaune was scary. Terra hugged her wife as she shuddered. Adrian cooed and hugged his mom too!
"Yes. Not only that but she somehow could fuse abilities of other people to strengthen themselves," the Curator answered.
"I noticed they couldn't use the full ability of each one," Decade informed the Curator. "I'm thinking that they only get a portion of their powers, hence needing more than one of those weird watches."
"Interesting." The Curator said. "There's also the fact that she mentioned there are more of them. So I'm worried about the multiverse. But also because of their existence, it means your Jaune is going to be busy and won't be able to return home just yet."
"And why is that?" Velvet asked. She wasn't in the know as everyone, but then again, everyone
"Because we saw him on the screen," Ruby said.
"Wha-?" Nora asked. "How'd you know that Ruby?"
"He was the one in the watch theme," Ruby replied. "What I just don't get is I thought he was from another world?"
"That's a thing we need to figure out ourselves," Decade replied. "It seems another multiversal Jaune has a hand in it too."
"No, I mean, how do you know it was him Ruby?" Nora asked specifically causing her to stammer.
"It's uh...I accidentally saw him earlier on my own," Ruby said while shuffling in her seat. "It didn't look good..."
"Didn't look good how?" Weiss asked tentatively. She was indeed worried about her friend. She didn't like that she didn't know what was happening with her friend.
"He was very hurt and tired like he was almost going to die!" The girl felt sad honestly. "But...someone, a version of him who can speak through the screen had a task for him. He also used golden energy similar to what Jaune was."
"So he's out doing...what now?" Ren asked the two other Jaunes. It seems like this was a very sticky situation.
"It seems like he's been tasked with stopping that Saphron's group," the Curator replied. "So until he's done with that I don't think he's going to be going home."
"And that leaves us doing...what exactly?" Roman asked sipping his soda this entire time.
"For the time being you guys are stuck here." He sighed and shook his head. "That means you're going to be watching the worlds until you can leave and your worlds are okay."
"Is there no other choice?" Ruby asked.
"Unless you want to go back to your world and forget all that has happened here while it slowly implodes," Decade said shrugging his shoulders. "Other than that, no."
The audience spoke to themselves and it was agreed that they would take a few minutes for a break to collect themselves. The two Jaunes were left in the room.
"I'll go search for this new threat until Zi-O appears again," Decade said as he began to leave through a dimensional wall.
"And I'll keep them entertained, to say the least. The fact there's an evil group out there in the multiverse is worrying though." The two shared a nod as they left for their own devices.
The screen turns on to show Jaune, Ren, and Team SSSN around a board game for the next world. They had a bunch of booze around them of varying degrees and the box said Red Wyvern Inn.
The next chapter is going to be just a nice little slice of life to get away from all this craziness I had created. Move away from the action for a bit. Also yes, this chapter is going to be a rip off of the board game Red Dragon Inn. Very fun.