Chapter 2: Down into the Darkness


Crying wasn't something new to her. She'd experienced sadness countless of times and had always been forced to let go of it in the form of crying.

Once she'd recalled seeing Adam be wounded and branded. Once after she'd had a fight with her parents regarding the White Fang and left them behind. Once after she left Adam behind on the train.

Those had all been pivotal moments in her life that weighed down on her heart, granting her the strength and willpower to continue moving forwards in life. It was her actions, and the consequences of such, that finally lead to her being here, in Beacon, where she truly belonged. She'd become strong since then.

Funny how a single story had practically made her cry all over again. Might not have been the most heartbreaking thing in the world, but man was it done well.

Once she was truly done, she pulled away from Jaune, wiping at her eyes. "Thanks…"

"Yeah, no worries. And sorry, again. I really didn't think the story would have somehow ended up being emotional for you."

"I… like to imagine myself in those kinds of settings to really experience the story," she said back, smiling a little. Her fingers brushed across the book's cover. "And I guess… when I really thought about how someone in our life could be put through that sort of pain… I just didn't like it."

"It wasn't that graphic, was it?"

"No, it wasn't. But you know how it is."

"Yeah," he hummed. "Sometimes, it's the things that we don't see that's the worst. Our minds just fill in the blanks, and whatever we think of are usually the worst things."

That was exactly it. It's why horror built on a non-opaque concept always ended up being one of the scariest things ever. What you can't see, you try to imagine just what it looks like, and the surrealness and lack of absolute certainty would be enough to get underneath your skin.

Blake sighed, slumping in her seat a little. "Man… That was one hell of a ride… Started off really nicely at first, then it turns into an absolute nightmare fuel. Talk about unexpected."

Her friend patted her on the shoulder. "For a moment there, I thought you were reliving some memories at the start. You looked really…" He struggled for a word, eventually settling on: "Happy. You were reminiscing."

"I was," her smile came much easier. "I was remembering the days back when I was a little girl, living in Menagerie with my parents. Back before I even thought about faunus equality and was just focused on enjoying myself. It was… pleasant."

Though certainly would be a terrible thing to discover that her joy came at the cost of someone else's life. She shuddered at the thought, praying desperately that there was no such place in Menagerie. No. There wasn't. She would hold true to that faith.

"That was a good story… Eight out of ten."

"Two points missing for..?"

"Making me cry," she smirked back, making him roll his eyes. "And for the fact that it was a little less psychological than I expected."

"True. Stories like those usually present something far more demented, and this one didn't really fit the bill. Just went to show how something good can have something dark going on behind the scenes," his face took on a showing of displeasure. "Let's hope that something like that doesn't actually exist."

"You and me both."

Sighing, the two simply bask in one another's presence as they listened to their surroundings. With this being so quiet, there was nothing to hear, save for the sound of their breathing and her own heartbeat.

Strange. Jaune isn't the closest of friends, and certainly one of whom she'd only begun to know due to their shared interest over stories—and apparently horror, to her surprise. That she'd openly cried in front of him was… well, it was certainly a little embarrassing, but not much worse than she'd expected.

Perhaps it was the fact that he was a big brother, so being with him literally felt like being comforted by family. Put like that, it wasn't so bad.

Although, she would sooner jump over a cliff if anyone else found out about this. Thankfully, it seemed like Jaune was of the same mind as her.

"If this ever gets out, the amount of teasing material Yang would get over the both of us would drive me insane," Jaune said with a grimacing look. "And Nora. I'd prefer if we just kept this secret."

"Yes, I agree with you a hundred percent," god, she could kiss him. But she won't, because that would be weird and Pyrrha likes him, and he likes Weiss. She did not need to get involved in his love triangle fiasco. "Well, now that that's over with, what do you want to do now?"

"Me? Well, I'm heading back to work on some assignments. Then I'm thinking of asking Nora with some help for bodybuilding," to emphasize that, he flexed his arm. Nothing showed. "Since I'm not the fastest, I may as well make myself stronger to hit harder and tank hits better."

"Playing the support role, eh? That's not a bad idea."

"Yeah. Whatever little I could give, I'll do my best in it."

"Hmm. Well, have you thought about getting a firearm of sorts?" Her question made him quirk a brow. "It'd at least give you a ranged option and take on people that are too far away for you to reach them. Or, you know, keep them away from you long enough for support to come over."

"That's…" He paused. "Actually a pretty good idea," he ended saying, a smile materializing. "I suppose I'll ask Ruby for some advice, though I'm thinking something small for me to use in one hand. I'm not proficient enough to use anything bigger," asking Ruby for help in that one, huh? Why did she have a feeling that that would go disastrously..?"

Oh well. Ruby was a weapons expert, so she'd probably have a lot of ideas swimming around in her head, although it was her enthusiasm that worried her. Here's to Jaune managing to make it work somehow.

Without much other reason to stick around, the two made their way out of the library together, chatting the entire time about the philosophical nature of happiness and the extent of which humanity would go to secure such for everyone. The concept of one person and the many clashes in that moment.

Good thing she wouldn't have to worry about that here. There was enough to be stressed over, and adding some secret conspiracy involving a suffering kid would not help in the slightest.


Lunch was a weird part of school. On the one hand, it's a relief for anyone who'd opted to skip breakfast or needed a quick respite from classes. On the other, it's just a reminder that the day isn't over and there were a couple more lessons to be had, which had an effect on ruining one's mood at times.

Blake particularly didn't mind it. If anything, the opportunity to be done with tall tales of Grimm-slaying in the olden days was good enough.

"But he might be an adept fighter. He could be playing it off to make himself seem disarming, when the opposite could hold true. It takes strength to somehow capture a live Grimm."

"Perhaps, though it still doesn't excuse his… ahem, quirks. I do believe that, as a professor, he has a responsibility of actually teaching us, not concocting fantastical tales that are just going to lull people to sleep."

Weiss had a point there. For whatever he'd managed to achieve before, that shouldn't really be an excuse for him to just go full grandfather mode and tell stories from his past. They're in Grimm class, for crying out loud! They should be learning about Grimm, not the reason as to why he lost his sock during a dance session!

The rest of the day progresses without anything out of the usual. She isn't as behind her studies as Ruby, who's trying her best to keep up and is doing relatively well thanks to Weiss' guidance, and Yang, who tends to slack a little at times and loses interest in anything non-fighting related faster than you could blink. So she typically finishes her work on time and is left with ample time of relaxation.

The next few days go just like that, where there's typically not much else to it and they're nearing the weekends, when there comes one particular night that she comes upon Pyrrha in the hallway—or, well, more like the redhead had been searching for, if the way she was walking straight for her was any indication.

"Pyrrha. Is something the matter?"

"Sorry. I was wondering if you saw Jaune or not."

"Jaune?" She asked. It wouldn't be all that strange for him to be on his own from time to time, though with how Pyrrha was acting, perhaps something was not of the usual. "No, I hadn't. What made you ask me to begin with, anyway?"

"Sorry. I just hoped you'd passed by him or something," she shook her head. "I do apologize. To explain, Jaune told me that he was working on something. He'd said so before he left, though he's been away for quite some time already. I'm just concerned he's not gotten into trouble."

A fair point. Being the weakest in the group, Blake dreaded to imagine if there was anyone in their year or older students deciding to pick on him. Cardin came to mind, but the guy was a racist to faunus. Jaune hadn't done anything to get on his bad side, so that technically shouldn't be the case.

"Maybe just wait for him back in your room? Or even message him on his scroll."

"He specifically asked me not to message him. Said that he'd be using it for something, and he didn't want to be interrupted at that time," she sighed. "Then again, I'm probably just being too nosey… Sorry for that," she said with an embarrassed smile.

Man. Someone would have to be blind not to realize just how deeply her adoration with Jaune went. Literally puppy love, one could say, though she wouldn't be saying that out loud. Embarrassing the champion wouldn't exactly get her in trouble, per se, but she wasn't Yang.

"No worries. Either way, just wait for him back in your room. I'm sure it's nothing dangerous. He's not an idiot. Plus, it's not like we can leave Beacon at this time. Miss Goodwitch would have his head if that happened."

"True," she giggled. "Well, thank you, Blake. I feel a little better with your reassurance. I suppose the rest of us will just wait for him to return," her body dipped low in a little bow. "Good night, Blake."

"Um, yeah. Good night to you too."

When the two girls parted, Blake had a moment to wonder just what was it that Jaune was trying to do, though eventually shrugged it off and made her way back to her room, thinking on the next thing to come out of that blond knight's head.


A week and a half comes and goes, and at that point, Blake realizes something incredibly shocking about herself.

She was impatient. And she was going to demand the next story out of her friend, even if she would have to lock him in his room and get him to start writing again.

If there was anything that she'd thought herself capable of, it was that she could be capable of waiting a little long for something. As it turned out, everyone—herself included—had a limit, and being forced to wait for a whole week had done well to grate on her nerves.

The first two days had been fine, Jaune mentioning to her that he was still 'working on it'. Fine. Though he managed to finish Omelas three days after they'd met shouldn't have meant that that was his speed of work. Everyone needed time to truly perfect something, and she was content to let him have that.

On the fourth day, she had to fight the urge to ask him about his story. She did it anyway at dinner, though obviously in secret since he didn't want anyone finding out. His response had been the same, though he'd been a little embarrassed for the delay and apologized for the long wait. That was fine.

Now, though, it was finally a Tuesday, and still no news? She can't accept that.

Blake had managed to last thanks only in part because she'd been absorbed in the books she had on her possession, though even she couldn't help but lose focus every now and then since all she had were romance, romance, ro… okay, apparently repetition really does bore the heck out of one's mind, and this was no exception. A change of pace was all but necessary.

She'd thought about going downtown to buy a new book, although she wasn't really feeling in the mood for it. She'd gone to Tukson's plenty of times before, though there was a surprising lack of horror for sale in his place. She couldn't choose to go anywhere else since faunus reception wasn't… well, it wasn't the worst, but it wasn't the best either. Sure, she hid her faunus traits, but it just wouldn't be comfortable for her.

It was well over two in the afternoon at this point, and the faunus girl opted to just push out the thought from her head by doing some reading on a history assignment Doctor Oobleck had given them two days ago. Something about the Colour Revolution…

When a ping came from her scroll, snapping her out of her reading. She rubbed her eyes to do away with the little headache she'd gotten, then turned her eyes over to her scroll. Amber eyes widen immediately.

Jaune Arc: Heyaz, Blake! This is me, Jaune!

Jaune Arc: This is Blake's scroll, right? Just want to be sure.

Wait, when did Jaune—oh, right. Back when he and Ruby tried to introduce their teams to each other, they'd all agreed to share their scroll numbers, even making a group with all of them in it. Typically, it was Nora, Yang, Jaune and Ruby chatting on the group, with Weiss and Ren being the helpful ones to remind them of any assignment or quiz, while she just responded to any question.

Grabbing her scroll, she messaged him back.

Blake Belladonna: Yeah, it's me.

Jaune Arc: Oh, cool! I was worried I got the wrong number, or something.

She rolled her eyes at that.

Blake Belladonna: We literally traded numbers on the second day, Jaune. Of course this would be the right number.

Jaune Arc: Right, hahaha! Sorry about that. Hey, listen, you want to meet me in the library later? Maybe a little late? Sometime around six?

Another story. The implication of such couldn't have been clearer, and she couldn't have possibly typed her response any sooner.

Blake Belladonna: Sure. Same place?

Jaune Arc: Yeah! See you later.

He added a thumbs-up after. His name, previously coloured, then went grey, indicating that he'd gone offline. Blake found herself smiling a little, admittedly excited to see what else he had in store. 'Horror stories. Didn't think I'd be into that, but I'm not complaining,' she then turned to look at Weiss, who was the only one in the room and was sat at her desk, writing something in her diary. The sisters were elsewhere, likely trying to get a snack or something. "Weiss, I'm heading out for a bit. You don't mind?"

"Don't worry. I'll watch over the room. I don't exactly have anything else to do either way," she stopped writing to shrug back at her.

"Thanks. Message me if you need anything."

"Of course. Take care."

With that out of the way, she quickly got dressed up and went off to meet Jaune.


Jaune looked a little more excited than usual. Somehow, she was able to make that distinction thanks to the way he practically bounced in his seat a little when he saw her, nor the way his smile was a little bigger than usual.

Hah. He's literally like a child. A really tall child, but still, a child nonetheless. At least in spirit.

"Hey."

"Hah. We've used that greeting so many times already. Hasn't it gotten old yet?"

At his words, she simply smirked back, taking a seat beside him this time—much easier than to sit opposite of him. "Oh, I don't know. Thinking about spicing it up?"

"I dunno'. Maybe a 'How you doing?' or a 'Howdy', though you and I just aren't the kinds of people who actually use those phrases."

"Absolutely. You'll catch me dead before I ever say 'Howdy' like some kind of cowboy."

"Fair enough," he chuckled. "So yeah, I've got something new that I've worked on, and I'm really excited to show you. In fact, I'm sure it's going to be much scarier than the other things you've read, thanks to…"

Slowly, he slipped his hand into his bag, slow for effect. Blake recognized that and hissed at him, making him sweat-drop as he opted to pull out the surprise a little faster.

It was his scroll.

"O…kay?"

"You're not being as surprised as I was hoping you would be…"

"I mean, it's your scroll. What's the point?"

"What's the—Okay. I suppose that's fair," he sighed with a nod, only to then put on a determined look. "I've been giving it some thought, and I know that trying to make a written work scary might be a little too hard for me at the moment. The best I can do is probably do at this moment is make unsettling stuff, like I have been doing thus far."

Well, that was concerning. Sure, it was nice to know that he was motivated to do much better with his story-writing, but if they were going to be so much scarier than what he's achieved thus far, then she was not sure if she'd be getting any sleep from now on.

Not like she'd had any nightmares, as far as she could tell. If anything, she had one good dream about her childhood in Menagerie after reading Omelas, though the closest to a bad dream that she'd had was seeing a little girl sitting in a room, screaming like a banshee as she tried to escape.

…Okay, that one had been bad. And though she hadn't woken up screaming herself, she'd been rather sweaty that morning and feeling a little shaky. Even Ruby had noticed, though she was quick to excuse it on the room's cold temperature. Urgh. She hated Project Libitina.

"So, I thought that, if I wanted to make it really scary, I needed to supplement it in some way. At least, for a little while, until I can get the hang of it. So, why don't I use my scroll to help?"

"And… how will you do that?"

"Well, first, I'll need you to read the story," he pulled out his book and laid it out in front of her. "Go for it."

Nodding, she accepted his book and flipped to the latest section. The Stairwell, it was called, which was… a little mundane-sounding. Unlike the first few instances that involved an infection, science experiment and a fantastical city with a dark secret, this one was a little lacklustre.

"Don't judge it before you even read it," Jaune pouted, seemingly able to catch the meaning behind her expression. She winced, muttering a quiet apology before she began reading.

This one was written in the same format as Eyerot; a report of sorts with the same sections as before. There were all the strange symbols that were indicative of things she didn't understand, and a drawn photograph of a stairwell. The perspective was that of the person looking down the flight of stairs, though a complete blackness was present, making it absolutely impossible to see anything past the five flight of stairs. That alone made her uncomfortable already.

The reason for the complete blackness was explained in the first paragraph under the 'Description' header; in it, its supposedly mentioned that subjects within the anomaly are subjected to a visual range of around 1 flight and a half. A lighting source would be required to illuminate the way, though even then, it would be ineffective of doing much.

The anomaly practically absorbed the light. Even brighter lighting devices just wouldn't work. That wasn't good.

Subjects report and audio recordings confirm the distressed vocalizations from what is presumed to be a child. Urgh. Why do all the stories have to have children in them? If only it was an adult, then maybe she wouldn't be as perturbed. Likely something to do with how something so young and supposedly disarming somehow manages to be twice as scary when it does.

It's something along the lines of how what we've come to expect and accept as natural end up being completely thwarted. The sheer dissonance to the naturality of order leaves a person experiencing a loss of calm, and such is the same here. Children aren't meant to be scary, but when they are?

Urgh. Not good. Not good at all.

The last paragraph mentions something about a video recording. Four of them, in fact, conducted by Class-D personnel. Seeing her confusion, Jaune explained. "They're basically criminals. Worst of the worst, who then get taken to be used for experiments. Dangerous ones, like this one, basically. They're put through the worst kinds of things, usually ending up in their deaths, though with what some of them had done, you could say that they expect it."

"Jaune… Did someone hurt you when you were a kid?" She asked, genuinely concerned.

"What? No! Don't be ridiculous!"

"I'm not. Do you need help? Anything at all?"

"Blake, stop questioning my state of mental health and get on with the story."

"I'm practically finished," she said, returning him his book. "I'll admit, this one was really short. Shorter than Omelas, so there isn't much content to work with. But it's definitely unsettling," as is everything. And man, is he good at doing that. "Seriously, I don't like that you keep using children as a scare factor. It's creepy."

"Hey? Why stop if it works?" Chuckled the boy. "But okay, now's the time to kick up the scare. You ready?"

Oh, goodie. Just what she needed before she heads off for sleep. "Sure… What do you have in mind?"

"Like I said. This," he patted his scroll, then moved it over so that she could have it. "Is the surprise. I'll just grab a pair of earphones, and you'll be watching a video I made."

When she says that, Blake perks up. "A video? When did you have the time to make it?"

"Quite recently. I'd been working on it. First recording the stuff, then editing them later on…" Wow. He really put a lot of effort into this one. "Well, it's nothing massive, I'll tell you that. But I think it'll be good."

"Well, you've only ever said that all the time, though you haven't lead me astray just yet. Let's give it a shot."

Accepting the offered earphones, she plucks them into her human ears. Jaune has her calibrate his scroll a little, adjusting the volume so that it wasn't too loud. She was a little surprised by the fact that he only ever used it at a volume of ten decibels. That's surprisingly soft, and he simply said that he had relatively sensitive hearing.

Well, good on him not to set his volume so loudly. At least then, he wouldn't have to worry about losing his hearing any time soon.

When she was done, he opened his gallery and navigated to a separate file from everything else, aptly labelled 'Story Projects'. In it, a single video titled 'The Stairwell'.

"I know I wrote that there were four recordings, but with the fourth one redacted, there technically should have been three," he chuckled, rubbing the back of his head. "I only managed to get one out, though. Sorry."

"No, it's fine. That you managed to do this at all is impressive. Good work."

"Thanks! Alright then, I'll leave you to watch the vid. I'll keep quiet for now."

Nodding, she taps on the video. It enlarges, taking up the entirety of the screen in a square dimension, black borders on each side of an intensely dark grey thing.

Something clicks, sounding similar to an old recording device. Afterwards, text begins to form on the grey square, detailing the operation; a personnel by the identification number of D-8432, a 43-year-old man, who was assigned his number for his mishandling of an entity of which its number is blacked out, would explore the stairs. He would carry with him a seventy-five watt flood lamp that would last a full twenty-four hours, a handheld recording device fitted with a live transmission system, and an audio headset for him to communicate with a doctor.

Afterward, the video begins in full, as the person holding the recording device (likely Jaune using his scroll) steps through a door of sorts and onto the first platform. A beam of light shoots downwards, but it barely reaches far enough. She can't even see the second platform.

It's fucking dark…

Blake blinked. 'Is that… Jaune's voice?' Wow, that sounds really good. There's an echoey effect added to make him seem distant, trapped in a spacious area. He sounded annoyed, with an underlying tone of unease. She never thought voice acting was a part of his skillset. Plus, is he swearing? God, that was a little unreal.

Is your flood lamp functioning properly?

And that must be the doctor. There's a clear difference in their voices; where the inmate sounded echoey, the doctor's voice was clearer, more calm and collected.

The inmate swings the light to the side, illuminating a corridor to show perfect illumination. He swung it back inside the stairs and found nothing. He confirms to the doctor that the lighting device was working perfectly, before he is told to continue.

Blake did not enjoy this in the slightest. The ambience is incredibly quiet but ever present, the feeling incredibly authentic, leaving her to feel as if she was in that very moment, climbing down the stairs. The footsteps rung out, not helping in any way. The hairs on her arms already feel as if they were standing up. She didn't like it one bit.

The perspective begins to move as Jaune descends the stairs and into the darkness. The light illuminates as much as it can, but from some smart editing work, she and the inmate can barely see beyond the next few flight of stairs. Everything is so grimy, so horribly dark and bland that she can't make anything out. All that she has to rely on is the bare minimum that is visible.

The device turns around. A full one-eighty degree before he continues to go down some more. He is just about to go down the next flight of stairs before he suddenly stops. Blake quirks a brow.

Reason for stopping? The doctor asks immediately.

You hear that? She didn't. There's a fucking kid down there. Sounds like one.

'Well, thank god I'm not hearing anything then,' just the quiet, windy sound that large spaces have, and that's enough to make her uncomfortable. Anything more, and she was going to tear both her ears off.

Could you please describe the sound? The doctor asked.

It's young, of course it is. Can't be a darn adult for a second. Either female or a very young boy. It's crying and sobbing and saying… A pause, followed by more pauses as he tries to listen to the voice. Eventually, he manages to get everything out. Please… help… Please… Yeah, it keeps repeating that and crying.

Can you estimate its distance from your current location?

Uhh… Fuck, I don't know, um. Maybe two hundred meters down?

The doctor took a short moment to make note of it before instructing him to descend the stairs once more.

Seriously, what is wrong with this doctor? Guy may be a criminal, but this sure as hell feels way worse than straight up execution. At the very least, the end result is undeniable, but this? The anxiety might as well kill the poor fool with a heart attack.

She had no time to think further on the situation as the camera moves. The inmate descents the stairs again, footsteps echoing. Another thirteen steps to reach the landing, when gradually, a young voice is picked up. The sounds and words alternated, so far away from down below that her heart practically froze up.

'Oh, come ooon…' She moaned in her head, face twisting in an uncomfortable manner. 'Really, Jaune? Really? Did you have to do this to me?'

Can you still hear the crying? The doctor asked after some time. The inmate responded with an affirmation. We're picking it up as well, so was she. Even if she technically didn't want to hear it at all. Please continue down, please don't. Stop if you notice any changes in the audio or environment.

And so, the subject keeps going down. One flight of stairs become two, and two becomes three. Strange. Just where was this recorded?

The camera jolts a little, making her jump in her seat.

Is something wrong?

No, no… Just lost my footing a little. Keep going down?

Yes. Keep going.

He continues going down, ever the dutiful (or resigned) volunteer (forced, more like). She counts each flight that he goes down, making a total of twenty-two flights before he stops to inspect his surroundings. The voice from before had practically become permanent, showing no signs of change. And though she'd gotten used to it, she wasn't any less comfortable with it.

I'm not getting any fucking closer to the kid… He curses. He really isn't. The voice had remained consistently far, showing no difference in proximity.

Noted. Please continue.

What was it about the darkness that scared a person? The inability to see what hid in there? That was probably it, and doubly so for her, who should have excellent night vision thanks to her faunus heritage. Yet here she is, clutching a scroll in her hands and trying to peer into the darkness but seeing absolutely nothing. It felt incredibly uneasy.

Shit… This place just keeps going down.

Indeed. We haven't been able to determine a final level, though it's approximated to be a hundred flights down, yeah, sure. Keep telling the guy who's likely about to die that.

Fifty flights of stairs have been descended. The video's timeline indicated thirty-four minutes, and holy crap has she really been watching the video for that long? Time was a crawl, but that they'd gone this long was amazing.

Doctor, tell me what the fuck I'm supposed to be looking for.

Nothing for certain at the moment. At the moment, we just want to determine if there's any physical changes to the environment as you continue descending the stairs.

Damn it, so do I need to—Fuck! Oh, fucking shit!

Blake yelped, scroll almost slipping out of her hands as she watched it. The perspective was moving left and right, but the floodlamp was focused directly below. She stared.

And instantly, everything in her body was screaming at him to run.

The inmate stared down. A face stared back—and only a face, suspended mid-air at the bottom of the flight. It should have been human, yet for the complete absence of a mouth, nostrils and pupils. The light shone down on its face, illuminating it as a grey still image of sorts that made no move, no sound. Just stared at him.

Stared at her. Blake physically felt like leaping to her feet and running.

Can you describe what you see? Not the time, doctor!

Um, fuck… It's some sort of fucking person's face, and it's looking right at me… Wow. Props to Jaune for his voice acting. He sounds terrified out of his damn brains. Fuck, fuck, it's looking right at me..!

Is it moving?

Ahh… N-No, no it's not. It's just staring at me. Fuck, that's creepy as hell.

Hmm, the doctor pauses. Very well. Please approach and further illuminate the entity.

Like fucking hell I'm going to—

The face immediately moves towards the camera, practically right in the lens.

Blake shouldn't have screamed in that moment. She did, though. She screamed. Screamed just in time for the inmate to scream into her ears.

Her fingers still held on tight, watching as the person began running up the stairs, swearing even more profanity. The child's crying had grown louder, all the while as the creature was following him!

'Run, run, run!'

The camera swung back for a moment, and she almost screamed again when she saw the face zooming right towards her—him. Towards the camera. The camera was thrown left and right as he continued his speedy ascent, but she kept seeing that pale face, following after them at an astonishingly fast pace.

Her knees tensed, her shoulders hunched as she watched him. Ten flights up. God, of course he had to go down so much! Stupid doctor telling him to go down and down!

Fuck fuck fuck! It's following me, fuck!

Turn back. You need to—

The inmate did the smart thing to just ignore the rest of the doctor's instructions, drowning out the other man's voice with his own loud cursing. His feet stampeded on the stairs as he kept running up and up, unable to handle the situation no longer and choosing to preserve his life instead.

Would he even be alive, though? Wouldn't he be collected by an officer and be sent to execution for choosing to go against orders?

No. Right now, the aftermath doesn't matter. All that did was getting out of that fucking place.

"Please, please, please, get out of there..!" She whispered hastily, bouncing in her seat. "Get out of—Oh my god!"

The face got too close to the camera, but the inmate kept running up, footsteps echoing loudly throughout the area. He'd gone up forty-five flights already. Just a little more!

By the time he reached the door, he practically slammed his whole weight through it, falling to the ground in the process. The recording device shook frantically as it collided with the floor, whitened, then blacked out. The child's voice disappeared with it.

Blake was still reeling. Thankfully, that seemed to have been the end of the video, which promised no more stress. The girl sighed loudly, slumping back in her seat.

"Oh, god, that was so horrible…" She groaned. Shaky hands reached up to remove the earphones, setting them down on the table. "Jaune, you really outdid yourself this time. That was the most stressful thing I ever—Uh, Jaune?"

Her friend looked oddly terrified, though she wasn't sure why. It wasn't like he watched the video with her. That was until she noticed how he wasn't staring at her, but behind her.

No. No no no, not like this. She'd just been done with that horror video. If he thought to go the extra mile and somehow recreate the horror IRL, she was physically throwing herself out the window.

And yet, blasted curiosity demanded that she turn back, even if slowly, to stare the thing in the eyes. She was not going to scream. She was not going to scream. She was not going to

"Well, Miss Belladonna. I have to admit, your little shriek from earlier was quite something. If I had to guess, it must have been something rather fearsome, wasn't it?"

Oh… Oh thank god, it wasn't the pale face. Although, she wasn't sure if it was any better that it was Miss Goodwitch, who, in that moment, looked incredibly unimpressed and physically ready to throw her out of the library herself.

Slowly, her gaze moved over to Jaune, who shook his head left and right in very stiff, very slow motions.

Well… damn.


Author's Notes:

I remember the library back in my school, and the concept of 'don't make noise' practically didn't exist. They were all noisy like no one's business, and the librarian couldn't exactly do anything about it. Felt bad for her.

In any case, this was the next chapter! There are quite a number of SCP stories that I enjoy, this one being one of them. Eyerot was a complete random choice, but this one is more well-known compared to a few others.

The reason why I only involved one recording when it should have been three was for two reasons; one, it's just Jaune making this, and while he's portrayed as willing to put in the effort in this story, he's still just one dude, so there was no realistic way that he would have been able to do it right. And two, the third recording would be using a woman as the inmate. I opted to just ignore that and just do two.

Also, I found a recording based on the first document made on Youtube, and damn was it well-made. Practically sounds like the real deal. It's made by TheVolgun. I implore you to give it a listen as you read this, in fact. Really gets you into the mood.

Honestly, the concept of just going down a never-ending stairs in the dark is scary enough. Add in the environmental sounds, the appearance of some creepy face and a kid crying down below? Nope.

Now, a concern that I'm most of you are certain to have regarding the usage of this particular story—particularly because I practically used most of, if not all of the conversation—is whether this is allowed or not. Though the SCP Foundation is categorized under the Creative Commons trademark, I have to admit that I don't know the full details of how it works, so I wanted to be really careful with this one.

Basically, as you noticed, much of the conversation is just copied from the official wikidot website. However, rather than completely copy them, I made sure to either remove some or alter them to avoid complete similarity to the original document.

I hope that the way I presented this story was acceptable. However, should anyone feel threatened by the way I approach this, I first offer my apologies and am willing to alter the entire portion of the chapter so that it's completely different to avoid complete similarities with the original. Be sure to leave behind a comment on what you feel about this.

And finally, a few shoutouts to some of the people in the reviews!

To X3runner, thank you for the story suggestion! I believe you are referring to The Watcher in the Rain, which sounds too good to pass up. I'll give it a listen sometime soon, yeah? And to everyone else, go ahead and share any suggestions you have. Who knows? I might write a chapter about it… and do it the justice it deserves, hopefully.

Noth Lyv, lmao, that would be possible. But nah, I'm not intending to portray Jaune in that way. Pretty sure there's plenty of stories out there that have already made him twisted that way. This is just a chill story. But your suggestion was pretty sick, not gonna' lie.

Racattack Force, thank you for the kind words. I say this once again that I suck at writing horror because this is my first time, but I've always loved how they manage to put people in the right mood and leave them restless. I want to practise that, and I suppose this is a good way to do so. Plus, if more people get to read cool stuff? Then I'm all for it.

Lord Terronus, yo! I'll say for a fact that I try and write characters as true to their canon selves as much as possible sometimes, and I'm glad that you liked them. Jaune and Blake vary greatly from one another in terms of personality, so if you think I managed to catch their personification well, then all the thanks to you, friend.

And that's it for now. To the rest of you, be it those who've left a comment or just read the story, for those who favourited and followed it or not, I'm happy that y'all gave this story a read regardless. I just enjoy writing stories for fun, and if y'all enjoyed them? Then I'm happy to serve.

Also, give the other stories on this website a read too. Trust me, there are so many good stories on this website made by so many talented people.

Welp, that's enough rambling from me. I'll be seeing y'all in another chapter. Peace!