Dead By Roselight

Chapter 5: The Clown

''NORA, WATCH OUT!'' Ren shouted as loudly as he could while sprinting towards the ginger girl.

The clown brought down his knife and blood was spilled. Nora's eyes were wide in shock, as she saw what happened. Just a second ago, she had been standing still, completely defenseless against this new threat they had encountered. Next thing she knew was that her childhood friend had pushed her away and was now getting slashed by some maniac.

Nora fell to the ground with Ren on top of her. It took her a couple of seconds to realize what had just happened. Right now, her best friend was badly bleeding from a wound to the side, while the attacker was looming over them with a grin on his face.

''REN!'' the hammer-wielder screamed as she held the wounded boy in her arms. ''REN, TALK TO ME! ARE YOU ALRIGHT!?''

''N-Nora...'' Ren struggled to say. ''Get out of here...''

''Not without you!'' Nora yelled and pulled out her weapon. However, unlike how everyone expected her to handle her hammer, the ginger girl was unable to properly wield it. For some reason, Nora was struggling just to keep her hold onto the massive weapon and couldn't properly lift it. ''Ungh! Why is it so heavy!?''

''NORA, WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?'' Yang screamed in both fear and anger. ''STOP MESSING AROUND AND USE YOUR WEAPON!''

''It's not her fault,'' Blake said in a terrified voice, getting the attention of her two teammates. ''It's this place. This world that we are now in. For some reason, we can't use our powers here, as we don't have Aura anymore.''

''What do you mean we don't have Aura!?'' Weiss asked in a shocked voice.

''Something around here blocks us from using Aura,'' the cat faunus answered. ''When that clown attacked me, I tried my best to fight back. However, because I didn't have my Aura to strengthen my physical abilities, I was unable to properly use my weapon or use my Semblance. And when he attacked me, I couldn't protect myself with Aura like I normally would. In short, we can't fight him at all.''

''Then what are we supposed to do!?'' Yang asked in a panicking voice.

''The only thing we can. Run,'' Blake answered.

While the three members of RWBY were having their conversation, Nora had been desperately struggling against the clown, but was unable to do anything. Without any Aura to strengthen her, the ginger girl couldn't wield her weapon the way she should, resulting in her exhausting herself by making just a couple of slow and weak swings, which the clown was easily able to avoid. The killer himself seemed to be content with just watching his prey struggle helplessly, as a twisted smile was on his face as he kept avoiding Nora's attacks.

However, the clown had enough of toying with his prey, as he readied his knife for another attack. Weiss saw this and tried to summon one of her glyphs to protect her friend from harm, while praying that it would work. Unfortunately for the heiress, she was unable to summon the protection Nora needed, which resulted in the ginger girl getting stabbed in the stomach.

Nora's eyes were wide and she coughed up blood as she fell to the ground. The others watched another one of their friends go down in terror. For years, they had faced Grimm and other dangerous foes without any trouble, yet now they were dropping like flies. For the first time in their lives, the five students from Beacon could feel utter despair slowly take over them.

''NORA!'' Ren screamed as loud as he could and tried to crawl over to his childhood friend. ''HANG IN THERE, NORA! I'LL COME OVER THERE!''

The raven-haired boy's crawling was stopped as the clown grabbed him and lifted the boy over his shoulder. The killer then took hold of Nora's leg and started to drag her behind him. With his newest victims in his hands, the clown turned around and began to leave.

''HEY! LET THEM GO!'' Yang yelled and prepared her gauntlets. Without her Aura, her Ember Celica felt like weights had been strapped to her arms, but she still managed to keep her arms up and ready. ''I'M NOT GONNA SAY IT AGAIN! PUT THEM DOWN OR I'LL MAKE YOU PAY!''

The clown either didn't hear or didn't care about the blonde's threat, as he simply continued to carry his prey. This angered Yang to no end, which made her attack her opponent.

''Why you fat bastard!'' the brawler growled as she readied herself to shoot at the clown.

''Yang, don't! You're going to-!'' Blake tried to warn her partner, but Yang didn't listen. She was too focused on making the clown pay for what he had done.

Yang thrust her arm forward in a punch and a shot flew from her gauntlet. However, while the bullet hit it's target, the weapon also damaged it's user. Without any Aura to protect her from the recoil, Yang was blown backwards from the force. She fell to the ground and began to scream in pain, as her arm almost got dislocated.

''GODDAMMIT! SON OF A BITCH!'' Yang screamed as she held her arm. ''I ALMOST LOST MY ARM! WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!?''

''I already told you! We can't use Aura in here!'' Blake yelled. ''Without your Aura there to protect you, you took all of your weapon's recoil when you fired! We are basically on the level of defenseless civilians here!''

''Aura or not, Yang still managed to shoot that bastard!'' Weiss said with a hint of hope in her voice. ''That blast hit him in the back of the head! There's no way he could survive that kind of damage!''

''If all it took was to damage him, I wouldn't be in this condition,'' the cat faunus said. ''We can't win against him. Our only option is to run.''

Weiss and Yang looked towards the clown, not believing their teammate's words. However, they were horrified to find that the killer was still standing. Yang's attack had hit him and even damaged him. In fact, half of the clown's head had been blown off, yet he still remained standing. The sadistic killer simply looked back at the three members of RWBY with a grin, while the lost part of his head was being repaired on it's own.

The three girls could only stare with wide eyes and horror as the clown continued to walk away, carrying with him their two friends. As they were being taken away, Nora managed to give team RWBY one last look.

''Please... help us...'' the ginger managed to plead as tears fell from her eyes, before she disappeared behind one of the stands, along with the killer and Ren.

Yang was about to run after the clown, hoping to save her friends, but something took hold of her ankle and held her back. The blonde looked down and saw Blake holding her leg and looking up at her with pleading eyes.

''Don't go, Yang,'' the cat faunus practically begged. ''You can't save them anymore. I hate to say it, but there's nothing we can do for Ren and Nora anymore. We need to use this time to-''

Blake was cut off by her partner pulling her leg from the raven-haired girl's hold. Yang looked down at Blake with pure fury in her eyes, having been enraged by the idea of abandoning their friends.

''HOW CAN YOU SAY SOMETHING LIKE THAT!?'' the blonde yelled in pure rage at her partner, ''Weren't you always the one who hated running away!? The one who wanted to start acting bravely!? HOW CAN YOU NOW EVEN SUGGEST THAT WE ABANDON OUR FRIENDS, YOU GODDAMN HYPOCRITE!?''

''Believe me, I hate the idea as well!'' Blake tried to argue. ''I know we should go after them and try our best to save them, but we can't! You saw how strong that thing was! There is nothing we can do! Besides, it may already be too-!''

''I DON'T NEED TO HEAR THIS SHIT!'' Yang shouted and turned to face the direction where Nora and Ren were taken. ''Any decent human being should do everything they can to save their loved ones, no matter what! But I guess you're too much of a coward to realize that! Stay here, if you want! I won't abandon anyone anymore!''

Before either Blake or Weiss could say anything, their teammate ran away after the killer, leaving the monochrome duo behind. Weiss went to her faunus teammate's side and tried to help the wounded girl.

''Dammit! This isn't how it was supposed to go!'' Weiss cursed as she desperately tried to bandage up Blake's wounds. ''We were supposed to come here, get Ruby back and return home! How did it become such a nightmare!?''

A hand took hold of the heiress' wrist, stopping the treatment she was giving Blake. Weiss looked down and saw that it was Blake herself, who had stopped her. The cat faunus was giving her a sad look.

''Weiss... you can stop now,'' Blake said. ''There is nothing you can do to save me anymore. You should just get out of here while you still can.''

''But- But I can't just-!''

''Leave me? Yes, you can,'' the raven-haired girl said, cutting off her teammate. ''It's the only thing you can do to help me. The big problem with some of the equipment that Huntsmen carry is that their medical supplies are limited. They rely too much on Aura and thus leave behind otherwise necessary things. No matter what you do, you can't save me anymore.''

Realizing that her teammate was speaking the truth, pure despair washed over Weiss. The thought that she would have to abandon her friend in such a state was something that the heiress couldn't believe would ever even cross her mind. Yet now she knew that it was realistically the only thing she could do. No matter how she treated Blake's wounds, she would only be able to delay the inevitable. Tears started to fall from Weiss' eyes as she was put in a position where she would have to do one of the worst things she could imagine.

''Don't blame yourself. It's not your fault,'' Blake said in a comforting tone, hoping to ease her teammate's pain even a bit. ''I know you don't want to do it, but you have to. Otherwise, we are both going to die. Please don't let me be the reason that one of my teammates die. At least grant me that.''

Meanwhile, Yang was running around the carnival, looking for the clown that had taken her friends. Since she had been held back by Blake for a moment, the blonde had lost sight of the killer and was now having difficulty in finding him. There were many places he could have gone to with Nora and Ren, so it was very hard to figure out where they were.

Suddenly, a loud scream broke the silence. The scream sounded like it came from a man, so Yang assumed that it was Ren. The sound came from a large circus tent that was located in the middle of the carnival. Knowing that her friends were in grave danger, Yang ran towards the tent, hoping that he would make it in time.

What the brawler saw in the tent made her blood run cold.

The clown was inside the tent, along with Nora and Ren. However, there were also hooks that were hanging from the pole that held up the tent. At that moment, Ren was hanging from one of those hooks with his shoulder having been pierced by the metallic object. It seemed like Nora was about to face the same fate, as the clown seemed to be trying to lift her up while standing in front of another hook.

But the thing that truly horrified Yang was something else. As Ren was hanging from his hook, something appeared from above him and attacked him. They were black and sharp at the end, and resembled the legs of a spider. The strangest part about these things was how they seemed to appear out of thin air. You couldn't see any sort of a creature above Ren, only a thick, black smog where the limbs came from. The raven-haired boy desperately tried to struggle, but the spider-like legs impaled him and then dragged his lifeless body up to the tent's roof, before disappearing without a trace.

The sight was so surreal and horrifying to Yang that she was unable to move. Not only was she facing killers that they couldn't defeat, but there was also something else, a being that was most likely even more dangerous than the killers. The blonde could do nothing but stand in horror, as the clown hanged Nora from a hook as well. The ginger girl screamed in agony from first being impaled on the hook, before the spider-limbs appeared again and took her with them.

With his victims having been taken care of, the clown turned around and saw his next prey. A grin appeared on his face, as he pulled out his knife and began to walk towards Yang. The brawler managed to snap out of her daze and saw the approaching killer. She immediately turned around and started running.

Yang was running on auto-pilot now. Her fight or flight instincts were practically screaming at her to run as fast as she could. In her terrified haze, the blonde even dropped her gauntlets in order to gain more speed. Right now, they were nothing more than useless weights holding her down. No matter how precious her weapons may have been to her, her movements were so automatic that she didn't hesitate even for a second to drop them.

Eventually, Yang made her way back to where she had left her teammates. However, she could only see Blake laying on the ground there, while Weiss was nowhere to be seen. Knowing that the clown was most likely just behind her, the brawler ran up to her partner, hoping that she could save at least her life.

''Blake, where's Weiss!?'' Yang asked while panicking. ''Wasn't she supposed to be here!?''

''No. She left,'' the cat faunus answered. ''I asked her to run away and leave me behind.''

''WHAT!? Why would you ask something like that!?'' the blonde asked with her panic increasing. ''Aren't we a team!? Aren't we supposed to help each other!?''

''There's nothing that can save me anymore. You should have already realized that,'' Blake said. ''You should just do what Weiss did and-''

The raven-haired girl was quickly cut off by Yang. The brawler lifted up her partner so that she now had Blake's arm around her shoulder. She then quickly started to make her way through the carnival in the hopes of escaping.

''Shut up! Just shut up!'' Yang yelled at Blake. ''I've already lost two friends today and I am not about to lose a third one, okay!? We are going to get out of here and get you some help!''

The two girls were moving as fast as they could around the nightmarish carnival, hoping to find an exit of some sorts. Yang herself was trying to find the entrance she and Weiss had used when they first came to this place. If she were able to find it, she might be able to get herself and Blake out of there.

However, Yang's hopes of escape were crushed upon finding the entrance. When she and Weiss had come through there, the entrance had been completely open. Now it was blocked by what seemed like black spikes rising from the ground. There was no way to get around the entrance either. The blonde girl hadn't really paid any attention to it before, but the whole carnival seemed to be surrounded by a very tall fence with barbed wire on top of it. Escape was simply impossible.

''Yang, just leave me already,'' Blake told her partner. ''While there might be a way out of here, you won't be able to find it while dragging me around. Just leave me here and save yourself.''

''NO! I won't accept that!'' Yang yelled and looked around. She noticed that there seemed to be some kind of a locker next to one of the stands. The brawler carried her partner there and put her inside it. ''You just wait here for a second, okay? I'll find us a way out of here.''

After hiding Blake, Yang ran to the entrance again. She figured that if there was no exit, she would just have to make one herself. The blonde tried her best to either remove the black spikes or to find a way through them, but it wasn't working. She didn't have the strength to remove the obstacles nor was there any way she, let alone Blake, could maneuver through them.

Before Yang could go and look for another possible way of escaping, a glass bottle suddenly flew out of nowhere and shattered next to her. The bottle released a thick, purple gas that made the brawler start coughing immediately upon breathing it. Yang started to get out of the cloud of gas, but it was difficult. Not only did the gas obstruct her vision, but it was also making her dizzy and lightheaded. It took all of her willpower just to stay up.

Eventually the blonde made it out of the gas, but she fell to her knees soon after that. She was still coughing a lot and was struggling to stay conscious. However, her situation was only going to get worse, as she looked up and saw none other than the clown looming over her. The killer had a sadistic grin on his face as he readied his knife to strike down his helpless prey.

Before the clown could strike Yang down, Blake jumped onto his back from behind. The faunus girl used one of her arms to cover the killer's eyes and hanged on for dear life.

''YANG, GET OUT OF HERE! NOW!'' Blake yelled while the clown was thrashing around wildly, trying to get the girl off his back.

''But- But I can't just-!'' Yang tried to argue but was cut off.

''GODDAMMIT, GET GOING ALREADY!'' the raven-haired girl yelled angrily, tired of her partner's stubbornness. ''I ALREADY TOLD YOU THAT I CAN'T BE SAVED! NOW DO SOMETHING SMART FOR A CHANGE AND SAVE YOURSELF!''

Tears fell from the blonde girl's eyes as she regretfully forced herself on her feet and ran away. Despite doing her best to escape, Yang was having a lot of difficulty in doing so. The gas that she had breathed in earlier still had an effect on her body. She was still coughing a lot, was struggling to stay up and was even facing difficulty in staying awake. It was only thanks to her fear filling her with adrenaline that she didn't simply fall unconscious.

''It wasn't supposed to be like this. It wasn't supposed to be like this!'' Yang muttered to herself. She was starting to get delirious from everything she had gone through. ''First Ren and Nora, and now Blake! All I wanted was to find Ruby! WHY IS THAT SO WRONG!? WHAT DID WE DO TO DESERVE ALL THIS!?''

The blonde's ramblings were suddenly stopped when someone suddenly grabbed her from behind one of the nearby stands and pulled her there. Yang was about to scream, but her attacker had a hand covering her mouth, thus silencing her. The attacker was also holding her still with her other arm and legs wrapped around Yang.

''Shhh! Be quiet! Do you want him to find us!?'' Yang's attacker suddenly whispered angrily, revealing that she was a woman. Upon hearing her words, Yang immediately stopped struggling and went silent.

As they both stayed there in silence, they heard the sound of footsteps walk past them. The blonde girl didn't even need to see who it was, as such heavy stepping sounds could only come from the clown. Once the killer had walked past them, the two ladies remained still and silent, in case he was still nearby. After a couple of seconds had gone by, Yang was finally released from her attacker's grip.

''Sorry about that. It was the only way I could save you from that guy,'' Yang's savior explained. She was a young woman, who was a couple of years older than the brawler. She had short, blue hair and red eyes, and she was wearing a white, sleeveless shirt, dark green cargo pants, white sneakers and brown gloves. ''Name's Victoria, but you can call me Vicky. Everybody does.''

''T-Thanks, Vicky,'' Yang said, still a bit shaken after having to run for her life. ''But why did you save me? You put yourself at great risk by doing that.''

''Well, while I do understand that I should look out for myself in this crazy world, there are a couple of reasons that make me do the opposite,'' Vicky answered with a small smile. ''However, the biggest reason for me to save you is that I owe a big debt. Hell, even after this, I don't think I'm anywhere close to paying back what I owe.''

''Owe me? How is that possible? I have never met you before.''

''I didn't say I owed YOU. I owe somebody else. Someone who has saved and helped me more times than I can count.''

''But... who could that be?''

''It's Ruby, your sister.''

Author's notes: As some of you may already have guessed from this chapter, I won't be using any of the actual survivors from Dead By Daylight. The reason for this is that the other survivors will mostly be nothing more than pretty much meat for the slaughter, so I don't want to stress over getting their characters correctly for this story. I also feel that a lot of those survivors would just feel strange, when placed around RWBY characters and their universe.

Also, Weiss isn't dead, if you were wondering about that. I haven't fully decided what will happen to her, but I plan to use her a bit more for this story.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter and check out the next one in the future.

Until next time.

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