Dead By Roselight

Chapter 29: Freddy's Coming

Weiss and Bill watched with wide eyes as the realm around them changed drastically. When they had first come there, the place had been cold and dead silent. Now the whole realm seemed to be almost coming alive, as there was noise everywhere and the heat had risen up so much that it was like in a sauna.

"What in the hell is going on here?" Bill wondered as he watched the changes happen around him. He then realized that the others could be in danger. "Shit! We need to get back to the others! I don't what this is, but it can't be good!"

The veteran began to run back to where they had come from with Weiss following after him. However, the heiress soon noticed something that caught her attention and caused her to run in a different direction, which was noticed by Bill.

"What the-!? Weiss, where the hell are you going!?" the old soldier yelled at the white-haired girl and ran after her. "Get back here, goddammit!"

Meanwhile, Yang and Victoria were looking at how the realm was changing around them as well. The blue-haired woman was confused as to what was going on, but she could tell that it was something bad. The blonde, on the other hand, knew what was happening and felt dread creep into her heart over what was coming.

The two ladies suddenly noticed something. It looked like ash was coming out of the wounds on Lucy's body and they were coming together to form something. As the ash kept coming out, both Yang and Victoria could see that it began to form into the shape of a man, kneeling next to their companion's corpse.

It didn't take long for the ash to completely take the form of Freddy, who looked up at the two ladies with twisted smile on his face.

"Hello there, little ladies. My name is Freddy and I would like to ask something from you two," the burnt man said with a chuckle. "You see, I don't all that many visitors here, so I tend to get a bit bored. I like to play some games, but when I played with your kitty friend here, she got dead tired quickly and couldn't continue. Would you like to play with me for a bit?"

"Why you sick, twisted-!" Victoria said angrily and was about to attack Freddy, but was stopped by Yang.

"Vicky, no! It won't do any good!" the brawler said. "As much as I want to, we can't beat this bastard! We need to get out of here and quick!"

"That's a shame... I have always liked fighters. They make this so much more fun," Freddy said as he laughed a bit. "But I don't mind playing tag either. After all, it is one of my favorites along with hide and seek. I'll even give you girls a ten second head start. Better make good use of it."

Both Yang and Victoria ran as fast as they could from the killer, who had begun to laugh like a maniac. The laughter echoed through the realm, sending chills to the two ladies.

Yang tried her best to think of a way of getting out of the mess they were in, but couldn't think of anything. It looked like their situation was looking very grim.

Back with Weiss and Bill, the old soldier had chased after the heiress to what seemed like some sort of a special room. If he were to make a guess, this room would normally be used by someone with a higher status that would oversee the place or something.

Much like the rest of the realm, the place seemed to be empty and abandoned, but there was one thing that stood out, which Weiss had noticed. There was a rather large and shiny key hanging on a hook on the wall, which the white-haired girl wasted no time in getting her hands on.

"Weiss, what the hell are we doing here!?" Bill asked angrily. "Haven't you seen what's going on around us!? We need to go back to the others right now! God only knows what's happening with them!"

"I came here to get what we are looking for," Weiss answered, looking over the key she was holding. "The whole reason we came to this realm was so that we could get our hands on this key. If we didn't get it, this all would have been for nothing."

"Well, if anyone got killed while you went to get that, I doubt it will do them all that much good," the veteran said. "Now come on! We can't waste anymore time here!"

As Bill began to run back to where they had come from, Weiss shocked the soldier by going in a different direction.

"You can go to the others, if you want. I've got better things to do," the heiress said without a hint of emotion in her voice.

"WHAT!?" the veteran yelled angrily. "What the hell do you mean by that!?"

"I mean that I am going to find a way out of this realm, as well as this whole world," Weiss answered. "The others might be dead already, so it would be best to use our time and effort on something more useful. I don't know about you, but I'm not going to die here like some pig that was brought to be slaughtered."

"Don't you dare, Weiss!" Bill yelled at the white-haired girl, but his threat went ignored, as Weiss simply ran off on her own. "Shit! Goddammit!"

Instead of going after the heiress, the veteran chose to run back to the others. He could always deal with Weiss later, but his other companions needed help first.

He just hoped that he could get there in time.

Back with Yang and Victoria, the two ladies were running for their lives through the heated boiler room, hoping to get away from the killer. After running for some time, the two of them started to slow down, having been running so much that they were out of stamina and needed a breather.

"Okay... I think we might have gotten away from him," Victoria said while trying to catch her breath. "Now what do we do?"

"Hard to say. In order for us to get out of here we still need to find the generator and fix it. Only then are we safe from that bastard," Yang replied. "However, we also need to find the key that was mentioned in Ruby's note. Otherwise this has all been for-"

Before the blonde could finish, the two of them suddenly heard something. It was the sound of someone crying and judging by the sound it was a boy. All thoughts of escaping were pushed back for the moment, as the two ladies instinctively decided to go help whoever it was that was crying.

Following the sound of someone crying, Yang and Victoria came to a corridor where they saw a young boy crying alone with his back turned towards them.

However, this wasn't just any boy, as the two ladies' eyes went wide upon recognizing him. This was Phillips, who had died back in The Nurse's realm.

"Phillips? Is that you?" Yang said in disbelief while taking a couple of careful steps towards the boy. "It's me, Yang. Is that really you, Phil?"

"Yang, there's something wrong with this," Victoria said in a scared tone, not moving towards Phillips at all. "Phil's dead. This has to be some sort of a trap."

The blonde either didn't listen or didn't care. All she knew was that the young boy she had failed to protect was in front if her now, appearing to be alive. This was almost too good to be true.

"Phil? What's the matter?" Yang asked as she put a hand on the purple-haired boy's shoulder. "Are you hurt or-"

Phillips suddenly turned around, showing his face to the brawler, who was shocked by what she saw. The boy's face was completely pale and his eyes had been carved out, leaving behind bloodied, empty holes. To make everything worse, he also had a knife sticking from his neck where Sheila had stabbed him.

"You were supposed to look after me. You were supposed to protect me," Phillips said in a ghostly voice that sent chills down Yang's spine. "Why did you leave me alone? Why did you let Sheila kill me?"

Yang stumbled backwards in horror, terrified of what she was seeing. To her, this was one of her biggest mistakes coming back to haunt her. Ever since Phillips had died, the blonde had been blaming herself for what had happened. Guilt and fear were mixing within her, stopping her from moving.

"He's not the only one you've failed," said another familiar voice, causing Yang to look to her right and see Eloy emerge from the shadows. Much like Phillips, the donkey faunus' face was pale and he was also missing his eyes. There was also a bear trap on his right leg. "If you hadn't left me on my own, I wouldn't have run into that teammate of yours to be used as a sacrifice. It's because of you that happened."

"W-Wait... What?" Yang managed to ask despite being terrified, having noticed what Eloy had just said about Weiss.

"And what about me?" another familiar voice asked, this time from the left. It was Graham now, who had the same look as Phillips and Eloy, along with a hatchet in his back. "I actually sacrificed my life for you, thinking that you would be able to keep the others safe. Now look at what has happened. Your team is scattered and Lucy is dead. No wonder you lost your sister."

Tears were running down Yang's face as what seemed to be ghosts of his dead comrades were now blaming her for all the bad things that had happened to them. Unfortunately, the blonde found herself agreeing with them which froze her in place, as she didn't know what to do in order to make up for her past mistakes.

"SNAP OUT OF IT, YANG!" Victoria screamed as she pulled the dazed girl up on her feet. "You have to stop listening to their lies! None of the things they're saying are true! None of the things that happened have been your fault!"

The blue-haired woman began to drag Yang back the way they had come, only for them to be stopped by a new group of people. This time the two survivors saw Blake, Jaune, Nora and Ren standing there with similar looks as the ghosts of their three dead comrades.

Now that they were surrounded, Yang and Victoria were quickly swarmed upon by the seven dead people. Both ladies were being grabbed and pulled by the cold, dead hands of their deceased comrades, which eventually led to them getting separated from each other. No matter how much they struggled, neither Yang or Victoria could break free from their attackers' hold.

Once the two had been separated, the sound of someone walking towards them calmly could be heard. Freddy was making his way to his now captured prey with a sickening smile on his face.

"Well, isn't this just heartwarming? It's a reunion of old friends. How nice," the burnt man said with a chuckle. "I hope you don't mind me using a little help in our game. I was sure you two would love to see them all again."

"You sick bastard! What did you do to our friends!?" Yang yelled angrily, as she was held down by Blake and Ren. "I thought they were all dead!"

"Oh, they are all dead for sure. It's just that you're in a rather special place right now," Freddy began to explain. "You see, once I get to release my full power, I get to make dreams into a reality. This dream world is my domain that I can control as much as I want, and it even let's me know some interesting stuff. Like how you, blondie, have lost quite a few of your buddies along the way."

Yang was gritting her teeth from anger. Not only had this monster used her dead friends against her, but he had pretty much desecrated them. If only she had her Aura, she would be pounding Freddy's face into a paste with her fists.

"Did I hit a nerve? Don't be angry. You'll be seeing all of your friends soon enough," the killer said before walking up to Victoria, who was held still by Graham and Eloy. "Now, how about we do something that you are very used to already? I'll kill your friend while you get to watch. I'm pretty sure you've gone through this quite a bit already, so it's nothing new really."

Victoria struggled fiercely while Freddy was making his way towards her. Unfortunately, all of her fighting was in vain, as her dead comrades were too strong for her. It didn't take long for the burnt man to reach his captive.

"So... You got any last words for me?" Freddy asked with a chuckle. "I had to ask, since a lot of people say some really funny shit just before dying. I could practically write a whole book about them."

"I won't give you the satisfaction," the blue-haired woman said angrily and even spat at the killer. "Do what you want with me. I won't scream or do anything else a sick bastard like you would enjoy."

"Oh! A challenge! Haven't had one of those before! This will be interesting," Freddy said with a sick smile before stabbing the blades on his glove through Victoria's left leg. Despite the pain, she held back her scream, hoping to at least take away the burnt man's enjoyment at least a bit. "Let me give you a piece of advice. You should never challenge a person who has a hold over you, like myself. Because they will do EVERYTHING to prove you wrong."

What happened next was nothing more than pure sadism, brutality and violence, as Freddy used his blades to cut, slash and stab every place in Victoria's body. Yang saw all of it happen right before her eyes, as she screamed and begged for it to stop, but it wouldn't. The killer was fully enjoying himself and wouldn't be stopping at all. Not until his work was finished.

However, despite Freddy not believing her, Victoria never screamed or cried a single bit. She somehow had the willpower to struggle through the whole torture session without giving in at all. Towards the end, her lack of screaming could have been from the heavy blood loss from the nightmare man's relentless assault. But whatever the case might have been, the blue-haired woman had stayed true to her promise through the whole thing.

"Well, shit! I gotta give you some credit lady. You really didn't break down. Even a sick bastard like me has to admit that it's quite impressive," Freddy said as he looked over what he had done to Victoria. "But as fun as this was, I have to say that our little game's over. No point playing with a broken toy, after all."

The burnt man raised his glove up in the air, preparing to deliver the final blow, when he suddenly sensed something and stopped. His face twisted into an angered glare, like something bad had just happened.

"Oh, you have got to be kidding me... Just when I was having fun some asshole has to go and start messing with the goddamn generator!? I never get to truly enjoy myself around here," Freddy said to himself in an annoyed voice. Suddenly, the ghosts of Yang's deceased companions suddenly disappeared, letting her go free. "Sorry, kid, but Uncle Freddy has some shit that he needs to take care of. I'll leave you here with your friend and come back once I'm done."

Then right before the brawler's eyes, the nightmare man's body turned into blood that immediately fell to the floor and disappeared.

With Freddy now gone, Yang could finally get to Victoria and help her. Unfortunately for the blonde, there wasn't much she could do for her friend. Not only was she lacking the equipment she needed to treat the blue-haired woman's wounds, but there were so many deep wounds all over her body and she had lost such a large amount of blood that it was a miracle she was still alive.

"Oh God... No... Vicky, I-I'll figure something out! There has got to something I can-!" Yang began to desperately ramble, hoping that there was even a slim chance that she could save Victoria. The blue-haired woman soon cut off her ramblings.

"No, Yang... It's... It's too late for me now..." Victoria struggled to say as she was coughing up blood. "You... You have to get out of here... Okay? You... still need to... find your sister..."

"B-B-But you saved me! I wouldn't be here, if you hadn't helped me! I can't just leave you like this after all you've done for me!" the brawler argued as tears were now falling from her eyes.

"You can... and you have to..." the blue-haired woman said. "We... We all knew that any moment here... could be our last... Whether it's me... Graham... Lucy... Eloy... or anyone else... None of this is your fault... J-Just promise me... one thing, alright?"

"S-Sure... What is it?"

"Make sure you find... Ruby... and tell her that... we were all grateful... for everything she did for us... Can you do that?"

"Yeah... I'll do that. I promise."

Once she had gotten Yang's promise, Victoria closed her eyes and died from her wounds. Upon seeing another one of her friends lose their life in front of her, the blonde began to weep uncontrollably.

Yang didn't know how much time she spent crying over the death of Victoria, but at some point she was broken out of it by a familiar voice calling out for her.

"YANG! VICKY! LUCY! ARE ANY OF YOU HERE!?" came the sound of Bill's voice, calling out for his comrades.

Meanwhile with Weiss, the white-haired girl was finishing her repairs on the realm's generator. Once she was done with that, all she would need to do was find the exit gate and get out of the realm. After that, Weiss could move on to the other realm that was mentioned in Ruby's note, which possibly held the way back to her own world.

The heiress connected the last two wires and the generator was fully powered up. The engine rumbled as a sign to show that the repairs had been completed perfectly. Weiss stood up with a determined look on her face, ready to move forward in order to achieve her goal.

However, before the white-haired girl could leave, something strange happened. Blood started gushing out of the generator, almost like the machine itself was bleeding. Weiss took a few steps back while staring at this strange phenomenon with wide eyes. She didn't know what it was, but it couldn't be anything good.

Suddenly, a man stepped out of the geyser of blood and stood before the heiress.

"You really shouldn't have done that, whitey," Freddy said angrily while glaring at Weiss. "Because I'm going to make you regret doing that."

Author's notes: Sorry for the wait. I had some problems that kind of prevented me from working on this chapter, so it took a bit longer than it should have.

First, I had some personal problems weighing me down, but I luckily found help from some great people on this site. Special thanks to Beloved Nightmare Union, Alucard45 and Pearl Darkness for helping me out.

Second, I've had some health issues since the beginning of last week that really kept me away from working on this story. While I'm still not fully recovered, I have at least gotten past the worst, so I should be able to put more work on my stories now.

Until next time.

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