"Look at the time, Ozpin," Glynda said, pointing to the numbers in the bottom corner of the camera monitor, "Do you know what that means?"
Changing the ice pack for his head, Ozpin gave her the most logical answer. "I believe that means it is only 30 minutes until midnight. Our contestants' time within that home is soon coming to an end."
"Oh no, Ozpin," Glynda gave him the most passive aggressive smile of all time, "It means that you can look forward to at least a year's worth of humiliation, pain, and punishment. Not just from me, but from James as well. I believe even Qrow would not mind having his own turn."
"Honestly, I just want some booze. I couldn't give less of a shit anymore."
"Of course that is all you worry about!" Taiyang snarled, "That's all you ever worry about! I work hard every day to take care of my girls and you just go out and fill your gut with that poison every night looking for tail!"
"Calm yer tits, Dad of the Year. Don't make me bring out the sleepy time rag again."
"Please, calm down everyone," Ozpin said, "Holding resentment towards one another is not what we want to demonstrate right now. If everyone in the penthouse could put aside their differences and be friends, why can't we do the same?"
The three others shared a look, then stared at Oz.
"Cuz none of 'em forced me to be an accomplice to grocery store robbery."
"Because my daughters would never send someone to mug me."
"And because none of them are as incredibly incompetent as you are," Glynda finished. The miniature roasting had made Ozpin at a loss for words.
But what could he say anyways? They weren't wrong.
Literally shrugging it off, he sat back in his chair and looked at the cameras. He had seen Pyrrha Nikos and Jaune Arc leave the basement a minute or so ago, perhaps leaving to do what the young folks called 'marijuana'. Or maybe it was called 'coitus'. He could never remember which was which.
Still, regardless of what pain was to be inflicted upon him in the upcoming days, he would know that he had won this bet with Salem. That, the happy faces of those involved, and a shiny new GameGirl Advance DS from the witch herself was all the reward he needed for this past month.
It would make up for him having to see the White Fang Lieutenant pelvic thrusting all over the karaoke stage right now. Oz wouldn't mind one bit if the cameras would crash right now so he could get that sight out of his eyes.
When the cameras actually did go out, Oz thought he may just have psychic powers. Perhaps Glynda activated her telekinetic powers to crash the system.
Then Oz realized that was impossible right now.
"Um, Oz…" Taiyang asked, with a hint of worry, "What happened to the cameras?"
"Perhaps they ran out of battery power?"
"All of them at once?" Glynda pointed out, just as the dozens of static camera feeds turned a deep shade of purple. A familiar insignia faded into them, one Ozpin recognized all too well.
"That's Salem's emblem…!" Qrow was gritting his teeth, "That bitch is gonna sabotage us!" Branwen grabbed his sword from underneath the table, kicking the door open as Ozpin reached out to stop him.
"Qrow! Wait! You two cannot enter that house!"
"Screw the rules! I ain't letting those kids get hurt!" Qrow looked to his brother in law, "Tai! We're going in!"
"You didn't even need to ask," Taiyang replied, cracking his knuckles, "I might not have a weapon on me, but my fists wouldn't mind punching that bitch's face in!"
"But Qrow! My GameGirl! Me winning it from her depends on the outcome of this bet!"
"…YOU'R WHAT?!"
Before Qrow, Tai, and Glynda could rip Ozpin apart for risking the lives of children for a video game system, they were interrupted by an inhuman shriek. Just as suddenly, the van was struck by a force equivalent to that of a semi-truck, rolling over and throwing the four adults and all their belongings against the walls of the tiny interior. Once it stopped and settled on its roof, a bright yellow stinger pierced through the canopy above them, ripping it off and exposing Ozpin and co. to the night sky.
"Is everyone alright?!" Qrow yelled out, pushing a chair off from on top of him. He glanced from right to left, spying Glynda prone underneath the large camera monitor screen. He tried to run over and lift the heavy object from off her legs, but the strike of a huge scorpion tail into the capsized van halted him in his tracks.
"A Deathstalker!" Taiyang shouted, "And it's huge! Where did this thing come from?!"
Oz knew the answer, but figured it was best to not let Taiyang know about his first sighting of the beast when it slew the van's previous owner. Right now, they needed to take care of this beast. It had grown much larger than the last time he had seen it; its tail was at least as tall as the penthouse when raised up in an arched position. "Qrow! Taiyang! I will help Glynda! You two eliminate this threat!"
The two former members of Team STRQ burst out of the van, Tai blitzing the Grimm in its multi-eyed face while Qrow attempted to hack through the tough hide of its tail. Even after a spinning flurry of slashes, his scythe barely left a scratch on it.
"Damn!" Qrow cursed, narrowly dodging the Deathstalker's stinger as it whooshed past him and punctured a clean hole through his cape. Descending down, he looked into the van as Ozpin pulled Glynda from the wreckage, and spotted another black shape creeping into the van. "Oz! Behind you!"
Without looking back, Ozpin dodged the lunging beast, Glynda in his arms. He laid the Goodwitch down gently, whipping his signature cane out from inside his sleeve. It was a good thing he had kept his weapon hidden in secret after all; it was the same reason he had knowingly let Roman Torchwick keep his Melodic Cudgel on him while in the house. Even when all might seem at peace, Ozpin knew something like this could very well happen.
"All right, foul beast," Oz pointed his cane at the strange Grimm turning back to attack, "I must put you out of- NO."
His cane dropped to the floor, right at his shaking feet. Oz froze as the beast's fluffy tail straightened out like an arrow, and the giant buck toothed rodent let out a sharp screech.
Ozpin knew that black squirrel lurking outside the van all these weeks was meant to be feared.
"What's going on out there?"
Half-dressed, Jaune peered out the door of his room to gaze out the window. There was some kind of commotion going on in the woods out there. Two Grimm must have been clashing over territory of something. What else could it possibly be?
"Come on, Pyrrha…" Jaune turned his attention back to what he had been waiting for what felt like eternity on. She must really be getting herself ready for him; it had been at least five minutes now, and his loins couldn't take it anymore. "Let's go surprise her… Yeah, she'll love that!"
Sneaking down the hall to the bathroom on his tip toes, Jaune grinned when he saw Pyrrha had left the bathroom door wide open. Slicking his hair back and clearing his throat, Jaune burst in through the opening with arms ready to pull her into him.
"C'mre, Pyr- PYRRHA!"
Jaune tripped over himself as he frantically dropped down to Nikos' prone, bleeding form, cradling her close. He brushed her hair from off her face, quickly grabbing a cloth to place over her cut forehead. As he reached over for the rag, he was just as shocked to see Penny on the floor beside her, hurt but nowhere near as badly as Pyrrha. "Pyrrha! Wake up! Pyrrha!"
Pyrrha's eyelids opened very slowly, fluttering weakly as she reached up to grasp Jaune's hand. "J-Jaune… Puh… Penny…"
"She looks okay. What happened to you?!"
"It… ngh…"
"Pyrrha!" Jaune held her closer as she passed out again. He felt a small tug on his shorts, and saw Penny pushing herself up. "Penny! What is going on?!"
"It is Virulet..." Penny said quietly, her eyes shooting wide open, "Virulet! He is going to kill our friends!"
"What are you talking about?! Who's Virulet?!"
Penny put her hands on Jaune's shoulders. "You must go. Take Pyrrha Nikos away from here to safety! I will help…
"Whoa!" Jaune barely caught Penny with his free arm as she nearly fell on her face from being on such low energy. She was surprisingly heavy, for someone of her build. "Sorry, but I gotta get you both outta here! You can explain it to me on the way!"
"Not... enough time…"
"They'll be okay. Trust me."
Whatever was going on right now really made it hard for Jaune to believe his own words. Something in this house was definitely not here to wish Ruby a happy birthday.
"Anybody up for an encore?" the Lieutenant happily asked his audience, who made not a single peep. He looked at Ren, who looked immediately turned his face from him. "Well… I thought it was pretty good."
As the big guy awkwardly made his way off stage, the main act was doing her best to hold herself together. Cinder peeked out from the movie curtain, having snuck back there to change into the dress she had sewn for this occasion. The fifteen or so people out there were started to multiply into one hundred in her nervously exaggerated vision.
One person stood out from the rest. Emerald was staring right at her, seeing her amber eyes through that tiny sliver of curtain. She mouthed something to Cinder, brushing her hair back and smiling.
That was just enough for Cinder.
She took a deep breath as two bright lights pointed onto her spot on stage, everyone gathering in front of it. She strode out slowly, basked in the slight heat of the blue lights above that sparkled off her flowing black dress. This was her moment to shine. This was putting the past behind her once and for all, a new life with Emerald and her friends.
Cinder was ready for every minute of it.
"She's so pretty…" Ruby gasped, "Is she really going to sing?"
"You'll see," Weiss smiled, putting a hand on her best friend's shoulder.
Cinder looked at her teacher and the birthday girl, nodding slightly at them. She took in air through her nose, feeling her lungs fill, and opened her mouth to begin the first verse…
She heard it before anyone else.
It sounded like paper brushing against paper, the sharp whistle one of her own arrows might make as it shot through the air at its target.
And when she felt the blade pierce through her throat, all the air and energy she had brought into herself for this song vanished.
Nobody had a chance to cry out as they saw Cinder grasp her neck the moment the narrow blade exited from it. As the half-Maiden buckled to her knees, her mouth gasping for even the slightest bit of air, her attacker revealed himself from behind the curtain.
A variety of metal blades and pipes arranged in a humanoid shape, he was held together by purple energy pulsating and sparking between his silver components. What one might call a tail writhed and curled behind him, spiked at the end akin to a certain dinosaur. His fingers were made out of the familiar blades of Penny Polendina's weapons, one of them retracting into place through use of her steel strings. His 'head' was a fusion of human and insectoid features, kitchen knives and forks rattling and grating on each other like the mandibles of a leaf-cutter ant in place of a mouth. Burnt-out fuses and wires hung over his face loosely like long, greasy hair; his beady purple eyes were fixated on the housemates with intent to kill.
"Mwah-ha-ha! Sorry, fleshbags!" Virulet cackled, flicking Cinder's blood from his finger, "But I just hate happy endings!"