Dead by Roselight
Chapter 32: The Final Realm
Yang was making her way through the misty wasteland with a face full of determination. Despite the pain of her wounds and all the exhaustion, both physical and mental, the fire in her eyes was not disappearing. The blonde was going to fight through this last realm and face Weiss in order to escape this nightmarish world. She needed to do this for everyone that had helped her get to this point. She had sworn to find their families and friends, and tell them how all her comrades had bravely fought until the end. They at least deserved to be remembered as the heroes that they were in her eyes.
Yang especially needed to tell her father what had happened to Ruby. How she had become a savior to many other unfortunate souls trapped in here, and how she was able to fight back even when things had turned for the absolute worst.
However, what the brawler would first need was some medical equipment. She could feel the blood flowing out from all of her wounds that she had gotten throughout her journey. If she were to face the last killer, the one that was known as the most dangerous one, she was certain it wouldn't end well for her. Before doing anything else, Yang would need to search the realm for something to fix herself with and stop her wounds from bleeding.
As she was following the path of rose petals Ruby had left behind with the last of her strength, the blonde suddenly noticed something glowing in the distance. It was a small light that could be seen through the mist. Once she had gotten close enough, Yang was able to see what it truly was.
It was a jack-o-lantern, like the ones used during Halloween back in her own world.
Seeing more lights in the distance, Yang was certain that she was now close to the last realm. She picked up her pace a bit and followed the path that was lit up by the pumpkin lanterns, eventually arriving into the realm itself.
Much to the brawler's surprise, the realm didn't seem as terrifying as the ones she had been through so far. In fact, this realm seemed to be nothing more than a regular suburban neighborhood.
The buildings that could be seen all around the realm didn't seem to be in any sort of a bad condition. Neither were the yards, the cars parked on the side of the road or anything else. If she hadn't known any better, Yang would have thought that she was in a normal, quiet neighborhood with nothing wrong going in it.
However, she did know better, and now was not the time to be left standing around, admiring your surroundings. The blonde quickly made her way into one of the nearby buildings and began searching it for anything she could use.
Meanwhile, Weiss was walking through the same realm as quietly as possible. Now that she didn't have anyone left that she could use for her own protection, the heiress knew that she needed to be extra careful. The only reason she had made it out alive from the last realm had been only because she had people with her to be used as sacrifices. Since that option was now out of her use, it would be much more difficult to get rid of any killer that would be chasing after her. To make her situation even worse, this realm was supposedly the home of the most dangerous killer of them all. Any mistake would surely be her last.
Weiss took the key that she was carrying with her out of her pocket and looked at it. In all honesty, it didn't look special at all. Just a regular key that had a bit of rust covering it. It was kind of hard to believe that this was the one thing that would let one escape from this world and return home. The white-haired girl gripped it tightly before putting the key back in her pocket. She was going to make sure NOT to lose it. She had sacrificed way too much for it.
A sudden scream brought Weiss out of her thoughts and caused her to hide behind a nearby car. She looked towards where the scream had come from and saw a young woman with curly blonde hair stumble from behind one of the houses. The woman was holding her side where there was a large bleeding wound. It seemed like the heiress would get to see this realm's killer soon.
The blonde woman was unable to run due to her wound and had to lean against a streetlight. She was looking around frantically, trying to find the killer that was chasing after her. Even Weiss was trying to look around a bit to see where the killer was.
However, neither the white-haired girl or the woman were able to see where the killer came from, as he was so silent that they only saw him once he was right next to his next victim. The blonde woman looked behind her to see that her pursuer had suddenly caught up to her without her noticing at all.
Weiss' eyes went wide upon seeing how the killer had just practically appeared out of thin air. One moment of not paying attention and this man would use it fully to his advantage and sneak up on you. His stealth skills were practically superhuman.
The killer was a very large man and he was wearing a dark blue boiler suit, along with dark brown shoes. His head was covered by a mask that resembled a human head, but it was painted completely white and had dark brown hair. You couldn't see his eyes at all through the mask's eye holes, as they were so dark all you could see was empty blackness. In his right hand the killer was wielding a very large knife as his weapon.
This was the killer of the final realm, The Shape.
Before the blonde woman could even scream, The Shape grabbed her by the throat and lifted her up in the air. The woman tried her best to struggle, but the killer was far too powerful for her. The white-masked man then pierced his victim's body with his knife, killing her. Once the woman's body had gone completely limp, The Shape simply threw her away like a piece of trash.
As this all went down, Weiss had been watching the whole thing with wide eyes. Nervous sweat was falling down her face as she did her best to analyze her opponent. It seemed like this realm's killer specialized in being silent and catching his victim's off-guard. This would make him a very difficult opponent to handle, as you would never truly know if you had managed to shake him off. The heiress understood that she would need to find the way out of this world fast if she wanted to stay alive.
Weiss was silently observing The Shape from her hiding spot, waiting for him to leave so she could go and continue looking for the way to escape. It seemed like she would get her chance to move soon as the killer turned around and started to walk away, but stopped after only taking a couple of steps. Before the white-haired girl could do anything, The Shape suddenly looked behind him, directly at her. Weiss immediately ducked behind the car, hoping that she had not been seen.
'Did he notice me!? How!? I was as silent as Blake! There's no way he could have heard me!' the heiress thought to herself in a panic, wondering if her cover had been blown.
After hiding for a moment, Weiss carefully peeked from behind her hiding spot to see if the killer was still around. Much to her relief, he was nowhere to be found. The white-haired girl let herself calm down, as it seemed like the worst had been averted.
However, just as she was about to get up and leave, Weiss heard something right behind her. It was a faint sound, almost inaudible, but she immediately recognized it. It was the sound of someone breathing.
Quickly looking behind her, the heiress saw that The Shape had somehow been able to sneak right behind her without making a sound. He had had his knife raised up, ready to stab his next victim. Luckily for Weiss, she was able to get out of the attack's way just in time. The knife hit the side of the car that the white-haired girl had been using for cover, allowing her to make her escape.
As Weiss was running, a single question was going through her mind. How was she going to get out of this?
Back with Yang, she had managed to find medical supplies in the house she had searched. The blonde let out a pained sigh as she bandaged up her wounds, stopping the bleeding. It was a painful and unpleasant process, but it was completely necessary.
Now that her injuries had been treated, Yang could go and look for Weiss. The white-haired girl had the key that she needed and she was not going to let the one who betrayed her be the only one to escape from this world. The brawler was going to make Weiss pay for all the people she had betrayed and sacrificed for her own survival.
However, there was a big problem with this. While Yang was certainly the strongest one in their team, she was wounded and exhausted from all the abuse this world had put her through. Even if the heiress was similarly tired, her state was still much better than the blonde's. If she were to take on Weiss, she would need some kind of a plan to do so. The problem was in figuring that out.
Just as she was about to leave the house, Yang noticed a chest that had been pushed into a corner. Knowing that they could hold helpful tools in them, she decided to go and investigate it. It didn't take long for the brawler to actually find something.
"Yeah. I think this is just what I need," Yang said to herself before taking the item and leaving the house.
Meanwhile, Weiss was desperately trying her best to get away from the killer chasing after her. It was proving to be a lot more difficult than one would anticipate, as The Shape was a master of moving silently without being noticed. One moment, he would be walking behind you, until you looked away for just a second. In that small amount of time, he would have completely disappeared from sight and would be waiting for you to lower your guard. Once you did that, he would appear out of nowhere and cut you down.
The heiress had almost been caught by the white-masked man a few times and had only narrowly escaped. She couldn't let this go on for much longer, as she was certain that the next time she let her awareness slip, it would be her last mistake ever. Weiss needed something to get the killer off her tail and she needed it fast.
Suddenly, the white-haired girl heard some rather familiar mechanical sounds nearby. It was the sound of a generator being started up. There were apparently other survivors in this realm, who were trying to escape in the more common way. This gave Weiss an idea and soon headed towards the sound with the killer right behind her.
Having reached the front door of the house where she heard the sounds coming from, the heiress made a quick stop in order to check if The Shape was still coming after her. Just as she had expected, the tall killer was heading straight towards her with his knife ready. With the killer's location confirmed, Weiss went inside the house and headed to the second floor, as the noise was coming from there. As she had assumed, there was a room on the second floor that had the generator in it with a group of survivors working on it. There was also an open window in the room that the white-haired girl was planning to use.
The group working on the generator could only look on with surprise, as Weiss suddenly dashed through the room and jumped out of the window. The heiress grabbed onto a tree that was just outside the window, allowing her to land safely. Just as she made her landing, screams could be heard from inside the house, as The Shape found the other survivors. With the killer now occupied with some new prey, Weiss could finally go and continue looking for the way out of this world.
However, the white-haired girl wasn't able to look for long, until her investigation was suddenly stopped. A hand suddenly came from behind a corner and grabbed her jacket's collar, pulling her with it. Weiss soon felt her back get slammed against the wall very roughly and how her body was lifted up. At first, she was fearing that the killer had somehow managed to catch up to her already, but that soon proved to not be the case.
The one holding the heiress up was none other than her teammate, Yang Xiao Long, and the blonde girl didn't look happy at all.
"Hi there, Weiss," Yang said with a voice dripping with anger and rage. "Surprised to see me?"
"A bit maybe, but I'm mostly annoyed by what you're doing," Weiss answered with barely a hint of emotion in her voice. "You do know that this realm is dangerous, right? Instead of wasting time like this, we should be looking for the way out of this world. There's no point to this."
"No point? A waste of time!?" the brawler repeated while gritting her teeth. Her grip on her teammate also got tighter. "Do you have ANY idea of what you've done!? You betrayed me and the others! Used us as sacrifices for your own survival! Because of you, Bill is dead! Don't you care one bit about that!?"
"I'm afraid I don't," the white-haired girl answered without any hesitation. "I barely knew any of the people that you were traveling with. This world isn't so kind as to allow those who try to act like heroes to survive. I've come to realize this and you should have done so too. Why should I care about some person that is practically a stranger to me?"
"…Then what about the people that aren't strangers to you?" Yang asked as her anger was slowly growing. "What about Blake or team JNPR!? Or better yet, what about Ruby!? She kept fighting until the very end without falling down to your level! If you actually cared about any of them, you would have never-!"
"I do care about them. Every single one. That is exactly why I've done all of this."
Weiss' sudden answer brought a stop to the blonde girl's rant. Yang could only stare with wide eyes at the heiress, wondering just what she meant.
Author's notes: And the place for the last killer goes to Michael Myers, also known as The Shape in Dead by Daylight. The reason I chose Freddy and Michael as the last two killers was based on who they were. While the game has plenty of great original killers, Freddy and Michael (along with Leatherface) are the killers that served as the inspiration for many of them. Without them, there would have never been any Dead by Daylight.
The reason I chose Michael as the last killer also followed similar logic, as the original Halloween jumpstarted what is known as "the golden age of slashers." This is why I felt it was necessary to include Michael as one of the killers. Not to mention, even the DBD lore seems to refer to him as the strongest killer out there, as he can apparently disobey The Entity.
I know I've left out a good amount of killers from the game, but I could have never included all of them. I know some of you are disappointed by not seeing your favorite appear, but I hope you understand that I couldn't have shown them all.
Anyways, I'll try to get the next chapter done soon. We are getting very close to the end, so I'm hoping to finish this story soon.
Until next time.
RWBY is owned Rooster Teeth and Dead by Daylight is owned by Behaviour Interactive.