Dead By Roselight

Chapter 3: Forest Of Mist

It had been about two days since Jonathan Copperhawk committed suicide in the hospital, thus taking away any leads team RWBY had to their missing leader. The boy's death had led to the three girls of RWBY to being taken by the police for questioning, as they were the last ones to talk with Jonathan before his death. Even the others in their group were questioned, as there were suspicions that the girls may have done or said something that drove Jonathan into taking his own life.

However, none of that really mattered to Yang. She couldn't care less even if she were to be arrested for what had happened, as she only cared about finding her dear sister. And now that might be impossible. The blonde was starting to lose hope for ever finding Ruby.

Right now, the group from Beacon was staying in a hotel that was in the city. Glynda and Ozpin had told their students to wait for them there, awhile they would go check out something. Both team RWBY and JNPR had their own rooms for themselves, as they were large enough to hold an entire team.

In the room that was for team RWBY, the three girls were trying to pass time in an uncomfortable silence. Blake was reading a book she had brought along and Weiss was doing maintenance on her weapon. But while they were actually doing something, Yang was simply sitting on her bed and staring at the floor. It was obvious to the blonde's teammates that their friend was deeply saddened by something.

''Yang, it wasn't your fault,'' Blake said in an attempt at comforting her partner. ''You couldn't have known that he would go so far as to take his own life. You shouldn't blame yourself-''

''I don't give a shit about what happened to that kid,'' Yang suddenly said in a low voice, shocking her teammates. ''Why I should I care about what happened to someone that I haven't known even an hour? All I cared about was finding where Ruby is. And now thanks to his little stunt, the only clue we had is gone.''

''Y-Yang... I understand that you're upset about this, but don't you think that you're being a bit too harsh?'' the cat faunus asked with wide eyes, unable to believe what her partner had just said. ''I mean, we might not have really known or anything, but he was still a human being-''

''SO WHAT!?'' the blonde roared in anger as she stood up and her eyes turned red. ''Whatever or whoever he was, we came here in order to find Ruby! We didn't come here to mourn and feel sorry for someone we barely even talked to! Tell me why I should give a rat's ass about him, while Ruby is out there, alone and hurt, without us being able to help her at all!?''

Yang's angry rant was suddenly stopped by a slap to the face. However, it didn't come from Blake. It was Weiss who had enough of her teammates ranting. The room fell silent as both Blake and Yang stared at the heiress with wide eyes, while she was glaring at her blonde teammate with tears falling from her eyes.

''Do you think you're the only one that's hurting? That you're the only one in pain?'' Weiss asked while trying to hold back her anger. ''Well, let me tell you something. You're not the only one that's hurt. Not a day goes by where I don't pray that Ruby would be finally found, so I could at least try to make things right between us again. Almost every night I am haunted by nightmares of what happened that day and I just wish I could go back in time and prevent it all from happening. Not only that, but I'm sure Blake feels the same way. However, the way I see it, we're at least doing our best to respect Ruby's memory, unlike you.''

''W-What do you mean by that?'' Yang managed to ask in a shocked voice.

''Did you hear what you just said? You just said how you didn't care at all about how that boy killed himself and you even went so far as to angrily rant about him. Do you really think that's the big sister Ruby was proud of and loved?'' the white-haired girl asked, leaving the brawler speechless. ''Didn't think so. So how about you start acting like the person you are supposed to be, so that Ruby might be happy about seeing you again?''

Having nothing to say back at Weiss, Yang simply muttered a quiet apology to her teammates and sat on her bed, going back to staring at the floor. The three girls were in complete silence, until Yang's Scroll let out a beep, telling her that she just received a new message.

''It's from Ozpin. He says that he might have an idea on where to start looking for Ruby,'' the blonde said to her teammates with a hint of hope behind her voice.

Some time later, the group from Beacon was heading towards a new destination onboard their Bullheads. Right now, they were heading towards the forest where Jonathan had been found at. Ozpin had explained that searching the forest could provide them with new clues that might possibly help them find Ruby, if not allow them to find her in the forest itself.

It didn't take long for the group to arrive at their destination. The Bullheads landed near the edge of the forest, where both team RWBY and JNPR, along with Ozpin and Glynda, got off. They all looked around their surroundings, but didn't see anything out of the ordinary. It seemed like a regular forest.

''Students, may I have your attention for a moment?'' Ozpin called out to the teams, who stopped to listen to the headmaster. ''This forest is currently our best option for finding clues to Ms. Rose's current location. Since the boy who told us about her was found here, we believe that it's possible to either find Ms. Rose herself or information on where she is. Both of your teams are to go there and search for anything that can lead us to finding your missing classmate.''

''Excuse me, Professor?'' Jaune called out. ''While I understand that the boy was found here, is there any other reason for us to believe that we can find anything useful here?''

''Indeed there is,'' the white-haired man answered. ''Not only is this the place where Jonathan was found at, but old records show that this is the last place he was seen at. It is highly possible that whoever was responsible for their disappearances could be using this forest as a base of some sort.''

''How much time do we have?'' Yang asked, not really caring about any specifics. All she cared about was finding Ruby.

''You all have about one week to find anything. After that, the search will be called off,'' Ozpin answered. ''Any other questions?''

No one seemed to have anymore questions, as all of the students remained silent. Before he would send off his students to their mission, Ozpin walked up to Yang and handed her a strange device. It was cylinder-shaped and was about the same size as a small flashlight. The device also had a yellow button on the top.

''This is a transmitter that will give us a signal, once you press the button,'' the headmaster explained. ''Press the button, once you either find Ms. Rose or get into trouble. We will then send help.''

The blonde girl gave a nod and put the device into one of her pockets. With everything ready, Ozpin gave the order for his students to begin their mission. Both the headmaster and Glynda watched as their students ran into the forest and soon disappeared from sight. After that, the two professors started to head back to the Bullheads.

''Do you think they will find anything?'' Glynda asked as they were walking.

''I really hope they do,'' Ozpin answered. ''Otherwise, all of our work will have been for nothing.''

Meanwhile, the two teams of students were going through the woods at a fast pace. Teams RWBY and JNPR had quickly split up after entering the forest, as they wanted to cover more ground that way. The Huntsmen and Huntresses were certain that their teams could handle things on their own, if something were to happen, and they could also contact each other with their Scrolls, if they needed to. Both teams had been given a compass and a map of the known area, so they wouldn't get lost.

Team RWBY was searching furiously for any possible signs that could lead them to something. Yang was especially looking around as much as possible. If it were up to her, her team would look under every rock and tree for anything that could lead them to Ruby.

However, as the day went on, the three girls were unable to find anything. And when night started to approach, they had to end their search for the day. Despite Yang wanting to look around even more, the three girls had to stop and get ready for rest.

While Weiss and Blake were more than ready to get some sleep, their blonde teammate was not. Yang was sitting by the campfire, staring at the flames without moving an inch from her spot.

''Yang, you need to get some rest,'' Blake called out to her partner. ''I know that you're disappointed that we haven't found anything yet, but we will continue the search, okay? Ozpin gave us a week to do this, so we still have plenty of time to find something.''

''I know, I know,'' Yang said with a sigh. ''I just... I'm just worried about Ruby. The more time we waste, the more danger she has to face all by herself. I don't only want to find her, I also want to find her alive. You guys saw the video, right? Wherever she is, she's not safe. She was asking us to save her, and the more time we spend away from her, the less likely it'll be that we get to her in time.''

''Yang, like I told you before, Blake and I feel the same way,'' Weiss told her teammate in a comforting tone. ''We all want to get her back safe and sound, but we have our limits. If we don't rest enough, we might not be able to help her when we do find her. The best thing we can do for Ruby right now is get our strength back and look for her tomorrow.''

''...You're right, Weiss,'' the blonde said after a moment of silence. ''You guys go to sleep first. I'll stay up a little longer.''

Seeing as their teammate had decided to listen to reason, both Weiss and Blake went to sleep. Now that she was alone, Yang sat still, only staring at the campfire's flames. Eventually, even she started to get sleepy and she laid down on the ground next to the fire, before drifting off into slumber with her last thoughts being about her missing sister.

When Yang woke up, the first thing she noticed was that there was mist around her. While she didn't start to panic because of it, the brawler was still slightly alarmed by it. Not only would the mist make it harder for them to find Ruby, it would also make traveling the woods dangerous, as they might not see some of the dangers that the forest might have.

However, as Yang got up, she started to notice more strange things around her. One of these things was that there were no sings of the campfire her team had set up last night. There was no ash or burnt pieces of wood anywhere on the ground. But as she looked around more, the blonde realized that the area she woke up at was completely different than it had been when they set up their camp. The trees and other plants were completely different than before.

Yang started to look around for her teammates, hoping that they were alright, but didn't see them anywhere. While she could understand one of them being away from the camp, she couldn't believe that both of her teammates would just leave her behind like this. If there was one thing the blonde knew about Weiss and Blake, it was that they were very loyal and trustworthy. Neither one of them would just leave her alone in the woods without waking her up and telling her first.

''WEISS!? BLAKE!? WHERE ARE YOU GUYS!?'' Yang called out but no one answered. She then took out her Scroll, but was unable to reach anybody, whether it was her own team or team JNPR. Seeing as there was nothing else that she could do, the brawler went out to find her missing teammates.

As Yang was going through the woods on her own, she realized that something very strange was going on. It seemed like she had been somehow transported into a completely different place, as the the thick forest she had previously been in had somehow changed. Not only were there fewer trees and bushes around her, they were also in bad condition, like the plantlife around her was dying. The blonde also noticed that it was still dark, despite the fact that she had slept for several hours.

Yang also had this strange feeling in her body, like something about herself had changed. It was like something was missing, but she was unable to tell what.

Suddenly, there was some rustling in a nearby bush, causing Yang to ready herself for a possible fight. The blonde raised her arms and readied her gauntlets, waiting to attack whoever appeared from the bushes. Luckily, the person to appear was none other than Weiss.

''Geez, Weiss, you scared me there for a second,'' Yang said with a relieved tone. ''Where did you and Blake suddenly disappear to?''

''I was hoping you could answer me that,'' the heiress replied. ''The moment I woke up, I was in this strange forest that we never went to. I couldn't see either you or Blake anywhere, so I decided to go look for you guys. Not only that, but I can't reach anyone with my Scroll.''

''You neither, huh? I guess that means we have no other choice than to go look for the others,'' the blonde said. ''I've got a bad feeling about this, so I think it's in our best interest to get the group back together.''

''That's a good idea, except for one problem. Where do we exactly start looking? God only knows how large this area is, and we have to look not only for Blake, but team JNPR as well.''

''That's... a good point. Do you still have our map and compass with you?''

Weiss nodded and took the items out of her pockets. The two girls looked at the map and around themselves. It was now perfectly clear that they were no longer in Atlas, as the information one the map was completely different from what they saw around themselves. Weiss then looked at the compass, only to find it spinning uncontrollably, meaning that it was completely unusable for them.

''Well, that's just great,'' Yang grumbled sarcastically. ''Guess we have no choice than to pick a direction and see what comes up.''

The two girls began to walk, hoping that they would find something along the way. It didn't take long for them to get out of the forest and end up on a field of tall grass. Like all the plants in the forest, the grass was also very dried up and looked like it was dying. The two members of RWBY continued on their way, until Yang suddenly stopped.

''Is something wrong, Yang?'' Weiss asked, only to be shushed by her teammate.

''Listen. I think I hear something,'' Yang answered.

Both girls stood still and listened carefully. There was indeed some sound coming from somewhere. After some time, they realized that it was music.

''Do you think there are people here?'' Weiss asked.

''Possibly,'' Yang answered. ''It's at least worth checking out.''

Weiss nodded and the two girls started to head towards the music. As they got closer, the music got louder and more clear to them. Once they had gotten close enough, they realized that it was carnival music.

''Is there a carnival in the middle of the forest?'' Weiss wondered. ''Who would put something like that here?''

''Don't know. Don't care. All I know is that there could be people out there that can help us out,'' Yang said. ''Not to mention, some of our friends might have heard this music as well and might be heading here.''

The two girl headed towards the carnival, not knowing that they would only find the beginning of their nightmare there.

Author's notes: Alright, in the next chapter, we are finally going to get into some Dead by Daylight stuff. I am finally done with setting things up, so we can get to the things I'm pretty sure you guys are waiting for.

I'll try to get the next chapter up as soon as possible. It might take some time, so I hope that you guys can wait.

Until next time.

RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth and Dead by Daylight belongs to Behaviour Interactive.