Dead by Roselight
Chapter 31: The Rose
With a surge of newfound strength, Yang began to follow the trail of rose petals on the ground. A smile was on the brawler's face, as the thought of finally finding her missing sister had made its way to her mind. The pain from her injuries and her exhaustion had practically disappeared completely with her only focus being on seeing Ruby after all this time.
As she was making her way down the trail of rose petals, Yang wondered what would be the first thing that she would say to Ruby? Would she apologize for what had happened back in their world, which had led to this whole mess? Would she tell her about the redhead's comrades and how they had all sacrificed themselves for the sake of not only getting out of this world, but to also find Ruby as well?
One thing was certain to the blonde, though. She was not going to miss this chance to get her little sister back. She would take Ruby with her out of this horrible world and they would return home.
The trail of rose petals soon led to a forest that made following it a bit more difficult, but Yang didn't care. She was ready to climb mountains and swim across oceans to find her sister. Nothing would stop her at all.
However, the trail eventually ended at the edge of what seemed to be a clearing in the forest. The brawler looked around in confusion, wondering where the rest of the petals were, but couldn't find any. Whatever this place was, Ruby would most likely be here. Yang only wished that the petals would have led her directly to her sister.
The blonde looked behind her and noticed that the path she had been following was now blocked by trees. This must have been one of The Entity's tricks to trap her in this area. Upon seeing this, worry started to make its way to her heart. If The Entity of all things wanted her to stay here, it couldn't mean anything good. If that was the case, Ruby could also be in danger. There was no telling what perils waited for you in this place.
With no other options, Yang made her way to the clearing. As she was walking through the area, she couldn't help but feel that the place was somehow strangely familiar. Despite everything looking dead and dried up all around her, the brawler felt like she had seen the place around her somewhere before. This didn't make any sense to her, but she also couldn't ignore the feeling she had.
After walking through the clearing a bit more, Yang noticed a house up ahead of her. Seeing as it was the most likely place where she could find Ruby, the blonde quickened her pace a bit.
However, as she got closer to the building, Yang realized something that forced her to stop out of absolute shock. The house wasn't just any house, but her home from Patch. She had somehow ended up at her own childhood home.
For a moment, the brawler could only stare with wide eyes at the building in front of her. Despite looking like it hadn't been maintained at all, causing the house to look like it was abandoned and rundown, it was still recognizable enough for Yang. She could only wonder just how this place had ended up in this world.
After finally composing herself, the blonde walked up to the front door and opened it. She stepped inside and looked around. Everything was just like she remembered. The living room, the kitchen, all the places were where they were supposed to be. The only difference seemed to be that a thick layer of dust covered everything and much of the furniture seemed to be damaged. There were also what appeared to be large slash marks everywhere, like someone had gone on a rampage with a sword.
Yang took a step forward and heard the sound of glass cracking, as she stepped on something. She looked down and saw a picture frame that had fallen to the floor. Picking it up, the brawler took a closer look at the picture. Much to her surprise, it was a picture of team RWBY. She remembered that she had sent a picture of her team to her dad soon after their team had been formed. It seemed like he had decided to frame the picture.
Putting the picture frame down, Yang went on to investigate the house. After finding nothing on the first floor, she decided to go investigate the second floor. As soon as she got up the stairs, a horrible smell hit her nose. It was the smell of something rotting.
Trying to pinpoint where the stench was coming was difficult, but the brawler was able to discover that it came from Ruby's room. She walked up to the door and grabbed the doorknob. After gathering her courage, she opened it slowly and carefully.
What Yang saw on the other side almost made her throw up.
The whole room was filled with dead bodies. They had been brutally cut up to the point that no one could recognize any of them anymore. Cut off body parts were everywhere and the floor was stained red with blood.
Yang stepped back from the door with a horrified look on her face. As she was trying to compose herself from what she had seen, she heard the sound of something metallic being dragged over the floor. The blonde looked to her right and saw something that made her blood run cold.
It was Ruby, but no longer was she the same, happy and lively girl she used to be. This Ruby was something completely different. Her skin was pale like on a corpse and her eyes were completely black, no longer the bright, silver orbs they were. Yang could also see what looked like black veins on the redhead's face and hands, as well as what seemed like black blood drip from the side of her mouth. Ruby was also dragging her scythe with her, covered in rust but still sharp enough to be used as a weapon. But the most frightening thing about the scythe-wielder had to have been the look on her face. A rage-filled grimace that was filled with nothing but anger and hatred at whatever she was staring at.
Yang felt all hope evaporate from herself, as she realized that her little sister had turned into a killer.
"Ruby… No…" the brawler said in disbelief, hoping that this was all just a bad dream.
However, the only response Yang got from her sister was an angry scream, which was followed by Ruby raising up her scythe to attack.
The blonde was barely able to duck under the swing of the scythe before turning around and running to the stairs. Just as she was about to start running down the steps, Yang felt a sharp pain on her back that knocked her down the stairs. Ruby had tried to slash her again with her weapon, but had only managed to wound her prey. The wound was big and would leave a scar, but it was at least not fatal.
Yang fell to the floor at the bottom of the stairs and struggled to get up. She was barely able to roll to the side in time to avoid Ruby's scythe coming down on her. The blade imbedded itself to the floor, leaving the red-cloaked girl to struggle with freeing her weapon.
While Ruby was preoccupied with her scythe, the brawler was desperately crawling to the front door in the hopes of escaping. As she was doing this, she felt her hand get cut up by something sharp. She looked down and saw it was the picture of her team she had found earlier. Upon seeing the picture, Yang immediately remembered the terrible treatment they had put Ruby through, and what it had led to. This sudden feeling of guilt took away any will she had left to escape and caused her to stop in her tracks.
Meanwhile, Ruby had finally managed to free her weapon and she was once again ready to go after her prey. But instead of seeing her blonde prey trying to run away, the redheaded killer was surprised to see her sitting on the floor, facing towards her.
"I have no right to escape your wrath, Ruby," Yang said in a quiet tone with a sad smile on her face. "After all, this whole mess is my fault in the first place. You deserve to have your revenge for what I did to you."
Ruby began to slowly walk up to Yang while dragging her scythe behind her.
"While Weiss and Blake also played their part in what happened to you, I should take most of the responsibility over what happened," the brawler continued as tears began to fall from her eyes. "Not only did I fail as your teammate, but I failed as your big sister. I had promised your mother that I would look after you, but I didn't keep that promise. This is the only way I'll ever be able to face Summer again."
Ruby was now right in front of Yang and was readying her weapon for another attack.
"I hope you can forgive me someday," Yang said as she looked up at her sister. Her face still had a sad smile on it and she was still shedding tears. "Just know that I love you, my precious baby sister."
Ruby began to bring down her scythe and Yang closed her eyes, waiting for the end to come. However, when she didn't feel any pain, the blonde opened her eyes and saw that the blade of the scythe was just mere inches away from her neck. For some reason, Ruby had stopped herself at the last second.
"R-Ruby?" Yang called out to her sister.
Suddenly, the scythe-wielder's body began to shake, like she was in pain or something. Her grip on her weapon tightened so much that blood began to drip from her hands and she began to grit her teeth. Then, without a warning, Ruby threw her weapon to the side and began to scream in agony, while holding her head and thrashing around as if in agony.
"Ruby, what's wrong!? RUBY!" the brawler called out to her sister again, worried over what was happening to her.
Whatever seemed to have bothered Ruby stopped, as she ceased to thrash around, scream and fell to her knees. The only sounds that came from the redhead were heavy and exhausted breaths.
"R-Ruby?" Yang called out to her sister again, while carefully inching towards her. "What happened?"
"Y… Y-Yang…" Ruby managed to say as she looked up at her older sister. Yang's eyes went wide as she saw that the younger girl's eyes had returned to the bright, silver orbs they used to be. A pained smile was on Ruby's face as a couple of tears fell from her eyes. "It's… good to see you… big sis…"
Upon seeing how her precious baby sister had turned back to what she used to be, Yang quickly made her way to Ruby and pulled her into a tight hug. The brawler was openly sobbing out of happiness, as she held the redhead after so many years.
She had finally gotten her sister back.
"Oh Ruby, you're finally back!" Yang managed to say while sobbing. "You have no idea how much I've missed you all this time! Now you're finally back and we can go home!"
As the older girl kept rambling through her sobbing, the younger one gently patted her older sister's back in a comforting manner. Despite being happy over this reunion, Ruby couldn't help but feel a bit sad, as she knew what was to come.
"Yang, I'm happy to see you as well, but I'm afraid this will be the last time," the scythe-wielder said, stopping the blonde's ramblings. "I don't have much time left, so I need you to listen to me."
"W-What are you talking about, Ruby?" Yang asked after pulling back from the hug, so that she could look at the younger girl's face. "We are going back to our world! Now that I've found you, all we need to do is-"
"It's not possible for me anymore," Ruby said and shook her head slightly. "When The Entity turned me into one of its killers, a connection was formed between us. It's almost like an invisible string that holds my life, and now that I've broken out of The Entity's control, it won't let me go free."
"I-I'll figure out something!" the brawler yelled desperately, not willing to give up now that she finally found her sister. "Whatever this string is, I'll find a way to remove it! I will save you, no matter what! Just leave it to your big sis, okay!?"
"It's no use, Yang. This is it for me," the redhead said. "Even now I can feel The Entity try to take over me again. I won't let that happen, so it's going to get rid of me."
"No, no, no, NO! I WON'T LET THAT HAPPEN!" Yang screamed as loud as she could and once again hugged her little sister as tightly as she could. "I FINALLY FOUND YOU AFTER ALL THESE YEARS, AFTER ALL THE THINGS I HAD TO GO THROUGH! FOR YOU TO JUST DISAPPEAR LIKE THAT IS JUST NOT FAIR! I WON'T ACCEPT IT!"
"I'm happy to have at least this last moment with you, Yang. I truly am. You have no idea how happy I am for this," Ruby said as tears began to fall from her eyes again. She then gently pushed her big sister away from her, so she could look at her properly. "But time is limited and I need to tell you something important. I ask you to just listen to me for now, okay?"
Somehow, the silver-eyed girl's words reached the blonde, causing her to stop her hysterical rambling. Yang silently stared at Ruby and gave a simple nod as a sign of her listening to the younger girl.
"There is one realm that you need to go through in order to escape this world," the scythe-wielder began to explain. Her voice started to sound slightly pained, like telling this information was hurting her. "That realm holds the most dangerous killer in this whole world. Do not underestimate him even for a second or you'll lose your life."
"I know all this, Ruby. I've read your notes that told about all of this," the brawler said. "However, your notes also mentioned that I'd need a key in order to escape, and Weiss has that key."
"Weiss? She came here, too?" Ruby said in surprise, but realized something about what her sister had just said. "Hang on… Why is it a bad thing that Weiss has the key?"
"I don't know why, but for some reason Weiss betrayed me," Yang answered with her anger slightly rising from thinking about the white-haired girl. "She tried to sacrifice me to a killer in order to escape."
"Weiss… Why?" the redhead mumbled sadly. "I'm afraid it doesn't change the fact that you need the key. It's the only thing you can use to escape from this world. You need to somehow get it from Weiss and use it on a special door that is located on a hidden part on the wall surrounding the realm. It's hidden behind some thick bushes, so you should be able to find it by going along the wall."
The older one of the two sisters nodded in understanding. She then remembered something that was also mentioned in the note that talked about the realm she was about to enter.
"Ruby, your note said something about a hatch. What is it?" Yang asked. "Is it a way out of this world as well?"
Upon hearing the hatch get mentioned, Ruby's eyes went wide with fear and her body went stiff. Whatever was down there must have scared her big time.
"Yang, do NOT go down the hatch! Understood!?" the younger girl suddenly yelled. "If you go down there, you will never come back from there! Avoid the hatch at all costs, okay!?"
"Why? What's down there, Ruby?" the older girl asked despite being taken aback by her sister's reaction. "What is it that makes that place so dangerous?"
"That is where The Entity lies," Ruby answered. "When I was turned into a killer, I was first dragged down to where that thing was. I don't understand what that creature is, but I do know that it's way beyond anything any of us could handle. You have to promise me that you will not go down there, okay?"
"I understand, Ruby. I won't go there," Yang said. "But I refuse to give up on saving you. I came here to get you back and I will not return without you, got it?"
"Yang, I-" the redhead began to say, but was suddenly cut off by one of The Entity's limbs appearing from above her and piercing her body from behind. Ruby's eyes went wide and blood fell from the corners of her mouth, as the spider-like limb went through her back.
Upon seeing what just happened to her sister, Yang could only scream in horror.
"RUBY! NOOOOO!" the older girl yelled and tried to hold onto her little sister, but was unable to stop her from being dragged away by The Entity.
As Ruby was taken, the building around them began to crumble into dust. It was most likely caused by The Entity getting rid of the redheaded girl. Since the realm's killer was no good anymore, her realm wasn't needed either.
Just before she disappeared completely, Ruby used the last of her strength to let out some rose petals from her hand. After that, she disappeared into a portal, like every other victim that had been sacrificed to The Entity.
Seeing her sister disappear, Yang fell to the ground in despair. The one person she had wanted to save even if it meant sacrificing her own life was now gone. The brawler had not even been able to apologize to Ruby for what she had done, let alone tell her about all the people that had helped her get here. Frustration, sadness, despair and anger were all swelling inside Yang, causing her to cry, scream and even hit the ground beneath her.
In time, the blonde's cries became nothing but whimpers and she curled up on the ground, hoping that this whole nightmare would just finally end.
As she was wallowing in her sadness, Yang felt something softly fall on her cheek. She looked at what it was and saw that it was one of Ruby's rose petals. The brawler looked around a bit and soon found a new trail of red rose petals, which had been made by Ruby.
With a heavy heart, Yang got up and started to follow the path laid before her. She had realized that despite how she herself was feeling, none of the people that had lost their lives so far wanted her to give up. In fact, they all wanted her to continue and make it out of here.
The blonde swore that she would make it out of this world. She would then find the families of all the people that had died helping her and would go tell them about their brave sacrifices. She owed it to them.
Yang also needed to make a certain heiress pay for the things she had done.
Author's notes: I decided to have the whole thing with Ruby get resolved with just this chapter, as I am not only trying to finish this story, but I also didn't really have any material to make it longer. I tried to make this a bit of an emotional chapter for this story.
The next chapter will reveal who the final killer is. I was originally planning to have a hint of it at the end of this chapter, but decided not to do it. You'll see who it is in the next chapter.
Anyways, hope you guys had good holidays and that you'll check the next chapter.
Until next time.
RWBY is owned Rooster Teeth and Dead by Daylight is owned by Behaviour Interactive.