Dead By Roselight
Chapter 28: Nightmare Begins
Yang kept following the markings Ruby had left, eventually finding herself in front of a row of lockers. One of the lockers had the letters "RR" carved into its door, which the blonde assumed stood for "Ruby Rose." Without wasting even a second, Yang opened the locker's door and looked inside. It was almost completely empty, except for a crumpled piece of paper at the bottom. The brawler was certain that this was one of her sister's notes, so she picked it up and opened it, hoping to find some valuable information in it.
What Yang saw turned her face pale.
I am writing this as a warning to anyone who ever comes to this realm! You might be fooled to think that this place is safe by not seeing any killer, but that is far from the truth! This is the most dangerous realm I have ever entered since I came to this world!
What you need to understand is that the killer here works very differently than others. You are unable to see him at first, but that is just a distraction meant to lull you into a false sense of security. That's when the killer starts his attack by making you feel tired and sleepy.
You might wonder what this is supposed to mean, but you have to think about it. Have you ever felt like you needed to sleep in this world? I personally know that I've never before felt the need for that before I came here. My theory is that The Entity is somehow able to provide our bodies with the energy we need, so we don't have to take breaks between going through the realms for the sake of sleep. This way it can keep us going for as long as it needs.
However, this realm is different, as you start feeling tired almost as soon as you come in here. That's because the killer of this realm, The Nightmare, attacks you in your sleep. Once that happens, all hell breaks loose.
When I came to this realm with my comrades, we soon started to feel tired and eventually decided to take a break. This proved to be a fatal mistake, because almost as soon as Zoey had fallen asleep, things turned bad for us. Cuts began to appear on her body, like invisible blades had started to slash her. She screamed in pain and agony before finally dying. Once she had died, the whole realm around us changed and the killer appeared in front of us.
Now it's only me and Jonathan. Francis lost his life to The Nightmare, before we managed to get away from him. We are going to try and get the key that is hidden here, so we might find a way out of this world for good.
Whatever you do in this realm, DON'T FALL ASLEEP. That is the key to surviving in this realm. As long as you manage to do that, you should have a chance.
Ruby Rose, leader of team RWBY of Beacon Academy
Yang's hands were trembling as she finished reading the message left behind by her sister. It all made sense to her. How they had all begun to feel tired so suddenly, the lack of a killer and the strange things she had seen. They were all just part of this realm's killer's trap and they had been completely unaware of it.
"Oh no... Lucy and Victoria!" the blonde said to herself with her eyes wide, before running back to her companions.
Back with Lucy, the cat faunus was walking through this new version of the realm she and the others had entered not too long ago. Her whole body was covered in sweat from the heat that surrounded her. Lucy was also trembling quite a bit, as she was scared of what was going on and where the others had gone to. None of the things she saw made any sense to her, as she tried desperately to find signs of anyone.
Suddenly, the pink-haired girl noticed something move from the corner of her eye. She wasn't sure who or what it had been, but it seemed like it was a full-grown man. This made her think of Bill immediately and a small bit of hope made its way to her. With nothing else to follow, Lucy went to where she had seen the person, hoping to see the old soldier.
However, as soon as she reached the spot she had thought she had seen Bill at, the cat faunus didn't see anyone there. Instead, it was just a dead end. Lucy's heart sank over not finding one of her companions and assumed she had just been seeing things.
The pink-haired girl began to walk back the way she had come, but stopped upon hearing footsteps heading towards her. This time there was no mistaking it. Someone was definitely there, which caused a small smile to spread over Lucy's face.
The sound of the footsteps was coming from a corridor that was completely dark, thus not allowing the cat faunus to see who it was. This didn't matter to her at the moment, as the hope of not being alone took her over.
"Yang, is that you!?" Lucy called out hopefully, but didn't get any kind of a response in return. "Victoria? Bill? Weiss? Who is it?"
Despite calling out all of her companions names, the pink-haired girl received no answers. Worry started to creep its way to her heart, as she couldn't understand why any of her comrades would remain silent like this. This caused Lucy to back up a bit, fearing who might be getting closer to her.
The person finally reached the end of the corridor and stepped out of the darkness, revealing themselves completely to the cat faunus. Her eyes went wide from terror over what she saw.
It was a man of average height, wearing a red and green-striped sweater with gray pants, brown shoes and a brown hat, just like the person Lucy had seen earlier for less than a second. However, this man was clearly not normal, as his whole body was covered in horrible burns, and on his right hand was a glove that had four razor-sharp blades attached to it like claws.
"Oh my god..." the pink-haired girl said in terror over the sight of this man.
"THIS... is god, pinkie," the man said with a sadistic smile on his face, before he began to chuckle in a menacing way.
Lucy immediately realized the danger she was in and started to run. She didn't look behind her at all to see if the man was still chasing her, as she was too busy trying to navigate the realm she was running through. The cat faunus didn't stop running after what felt like an eternity to her to catch her breath.
Once she had stopped, Lucy took a moment to look around herself a bit. She had been running so frantically that she had ended up on a platform above the ground floor. There was also a handrail on the edge of the platform to prevent people from falling down. No matter how much the pink-haired girl looked around herself, she couldn't find the burnt-covered man anywhere.
"Now that wasn't nice, kitty. I didn't even get to introduce myself," a very familiar voice suddenly said from behind Lucy, causing her to look behind her and see the man standing there. "My name is Freddy, and this is the dream world. And in this world I am THE KING!"
The burnt man tried to slash Lucy with the blades on his glove, but the cat faunus managed to barely avoid it. Unfortunately, she accidentally stepped back towards the edge of the platform, causing her to fall over and hit the floor hard.
Lucy had managed to survive the fall, but she was still badly hurt. She began to desperately crawl on the floor in an attempt to get away, but she didn't get far until her way was blocked by a pair of legs. The pink-haired girl looked up and saw Freddy staring down at her, a sadistic smile still on his burnt face.
"Not so fast, little kitty," Freddy said while playing with the blades on his glove a bit. "We haven't even gotten to the good part yet."
Lucy crawled backwards, trying to get away from the killer, only for him to step on her leg and hold it in place. This caused the cat faunus to scream in pain, which seemed to only excite Freddy, as his smile grew. He obviously enjoyed making his victims suffer.
At this point, Lucy began to hope that her second personality would come in and take over, as it was the only way she could save herself now. But no matter how much she tried, the change didn't happen. The pink-haired girl was starting to panic, as this didn't make any sense to her at all. Her other personality would often get activated by way less stressful situations, yet despite being at the mercy of a killer wasn't causing the other Lucy to appear at all. It just didn't make sense.
"What's the matter? Expecting the little friend in your head to come and save you?" Freddy asked in a taunting tone, shocking Lucy. "Well, I'm afraid she won't be much of a help!"
Out of nowhere, the burnt man suddenly pulled out another Lucy, hanging her limp body up in the air by holding it from the hair. Lucy's eyes went wide with terror and she screamed upon seeing the state this other version of her was in. The other Lucy's whole body was covered up in cuts with blood all over her. Her eyes had also rolled to the back of her head, showing nothing but white to anyone who looked at her face.
The cat faunus' screams caused Freddy to start laughing like a maniac, as he took full pleasure from his victim's terror and suffering.
Suddenly, the other Lucy's eyes rolled back into their normal position and she looked down at the Lucy on the floor. A wide, insane grin spread over her face and she was suddenly let go by the killer, allowing her to fall on top of the real Lucy. The copy girl immediately straddled the terrified faunus and put her hands around her throat and started to strangle her.
"What's the matter!? Aren't you glad that you finally got me out of your head!? I thought that this is what you wanted, as it would make you "normal" again!" the crazed Lucy ranted with an insane grin on her face while strangling the girl underneath her. "You were always acting so weak and pathetic, hoping to get sympathy from those around you! Always crying about your terrible fate of having to deal with me, but you never hesitated to use me when you really needed me! Well, I'm out now and the way I see it is that I DON'T NEED YOU! TIME TO GET RID OF THE DEAD WEIGHT DRAGGING ME DOWN, FINALLY!"
Lucy could feel her copy's grip around her neck grow stronger, until it suddenly stopped. The cat faunus felt something wet fall to her face and soon realized that it was blood. Freddy had used his bladed glove to stab it through the other Lucy's body, killing her instantly.
"Kind of have to stop you there, junior. As much as I enjoy a good catfight like any other guy, I prefer to kill my victims myself," the burnt man said as he threw the other Lucy's body away, before turning his attention back to the real girl. "Now, how about we see just how many ways there are to skin a cat?"
Lucy screamed in terror as Freddy began to wildly attack her with his bladed glove while laughing like a lunatic.
Back in the real world, Victoria had just been sitting next to Lucy, completely unaware of what was happening to the pink-haired girl. As far as she knew, her companion was just sleeping with nothing strange happening at all. Lucy's body had jolted a couple of times, but the blue-haired woman had just assumed that it had been due to the young girl's dream.
However, Lucy suddenly began to scream like she was being tortured. Before Victoria could do anything to help the cat faunus, Lucy's body was suddenly lifted up in the air by some unknown force. The pink-haired girl was spinning around and looked like she was struggling against something, when cuts began to appear all over her body. All Victoria could do was stare with wide eyes, as her companion was being butchered in the air.
"VICKY! LUCY!" Yang yelled as loudly as she could while running towards her two comrades, having been alerted to their plight by the screams she had heard. "WHAT'S GOING ON OVER THERE!?"
Upon reaching Victoria, the blonde looked up to see what was happening to Lucy. She began to yell at the cat faunus, calling out her name and telling her to wake up, in the hopes of her waking up from her nightmare.
However, it was too late for Lucy, as four deep cuts suddenly went from her chest all the way down to her waist. Once these cuts appeared, the pink-haired girl stopped screaming and her body went limp, before she fell down dead.
For a moment, all Yang and Victoria were able to do was stare at the dead body of Lucy, as shock had frozen them in place. The brawler managed to soon break out of it and turn to her still living comrade. She needed to tell the blue-haired woman about the danger they were in and fast.
"Vicky, we need to go," Yang said, getting Victoria's attention. "It's not safe here anymore. We need to get out of here and quick!"
"W-What do you mean!? What just happened!?" Victoria asked, still in shock over what she had seen. "Lucy was just sleeping next to me and then suddenly THIS happened! Just what the hell is going on here!?"
"It's the killer of this realm. They did this," the blonde answered. "I read about it in a note from Ruby that I found. The killer inside this realm causes people to fall asleep and then kills them inside their dreams. That's what happened to Lucy."
"O-Okay, but why isn't it safe here anymore?" the blue-haired woman asked. "I get that the killer is a very dangerous one, but aren't we safe as long as we stay awake?"
"The note said that this is only the beginning. Once the killer has claimed their first victim, the realm changes and-"
Yang didn't even get to finish her explanation, as they suddenly heard all the boilers around them turn on. The pipes rattled, steam could be seen coming from different places and the heat around them began to rapidly rise.
"Oh no..." the brawler said with wide eyes.
Meanwhile with Weiss and Bill, the two had been going around the realm, looking for anything that could prove useful to their group. So far, they hadn't really found anything that seemed all that useful.
As they were walking, the veteran kept sending suspicious glances towards the heiress. He had a strange feeling about her and was about to find out whether he was right or not.
Weiss noticed the stares she was getting from her partner and decided to ask about it.
"What is it?" the white-haired girl asked. "You've been glancing at me every now and then. Mind telling me what that is about?"
"Nothing much," Bill answered, trying to hide his true intentions. "I'm just a bit curious about you, that is all. It's not everyday you get to work with a celebrity like yourself. I mean, an old soldier like me meeting the heiress of the SDC? Doesn't seem all that likely."
"Well, this isn't exactly a normal situation that we are in, is it?" Weiss replied. "Once you get here, it doesn't really matter who or what you are. We are all treated the same by this world, as nothing but sacrificial lambs for the slaughter. In this kind of situation, it's best to just work with what you have in order to survive."
"How open-minded of you," the veteran said. "Would this mean that you consider yourself equal with all of us, since we are all in the same boat here?"
"Trust me on this. I am not about to let my status back in our world get in the way. It wouldn't be of any use to me at all. I just try to focus on my goal and nothing else."
"I see. That sounds good, but I can't help but wonder about that a bit. You see, there are some things about you that I find a bit odd and don't really go all that perfectly with what you just said. I may be old, but I still notice a lot of things, especially things that I have experience with. I've seen many battles through my time in the military and they have taught me a lot. Some of which are things most people could never learn. One of these is the ability to judge a person's character through small bits of the way they act and carry themselves. It was very handy when I needed to pick out those that I could trust and those that I couldn't."
At this point, Weiss stopped walking, with Bill doing the same. The heiress stared at the old soldier with narrowed eyes, wondering what he was going to do.
"Just what are you implying?" Weiss asked.
Bill turned around to look at the white-haired girl and was about to answer, but something suddenly stopped him. The realm began to change around them.
Author's notes: I decided to have Freddy talk as that is a big part of his character. Instead of being a big, silent killer that just cuts down everyone in his path, he taunts and torments his victims. While this isn't in Dead by Daylight, I felt like using it here to make him a bit more unique and to make him more like he was in the films.
Some of you have been making guesses as to what killers will appear next, especially when it comes to the one who is in the second special realm. While I'm not going to reveal anything here, I'll say that after Freddy we are going to see two more killers. After them, this story will be on it's very last chapters.
Until next time.
RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth and Dead by Daylight belongs to Behaviour Interactive.