Scarecrow and Beckett looked over Weiss' body for any clue as to who killed her. Castle had taken Ruby off to the side, the younger girl having gone from screaming to simply crying, and the writer had volunteered his services as a shoulder. "Things were going so well." Ruby sobbed. "Why did this have to happen now?"

Castle pulled the girl in for a hug, the reaper gladly returning it as she sobbed into his chest. "Ruby, listen," Castle said as he rubbed her back. "I can't tell you why this happened, but what I can tell you is that Beckett will find out who did this. We'll find them Ruby. Don't worry."

Ruby looked up at the writer. "You really think so?"

Castle put on one of his rare serious faces as he looked down to the girl. "I'm sure of it."

Beckett looked over to where Castle was comforting the young girl. If only she was as confident as he was. This was a type of murder she had never seen before. Weiss had no defensive wounds, so it was unlikely she fought back, her wrists had both been cut in the same place at the same angle on both arms so it was unlikely she did it to herself. And finally, there were her eyes. She'd seen blood in an eye before, but never like this. Usually that kind of thing was a result of a head injury, but the heiress didn't seem to have one, and the amount of blood that seemed to come from her eyes was a lot more than anything she'd seen before.

"What do you think, detective?" Scarecrow asked, bringing Beckett out of her head.

Beckett cast her eyes over the body one last time before she turned to the author. "She definitely bled to death." Beckett said. "The only question now is how? What happened?"

Scarecrow stroked his beard as he considered the question. "I wish I could tell you." He thought aloud, looking at Weiss' terrified face, her mouth contorted in a silent scream and her eyes widened and leaking blood. It was as he was looking at the eyes, however, that something caught his eye. "Beckett, where is the rest of her team? I have a question for them."

Beckett pointed towards Blake and Yang, both currently talking to Crona and Kurumu. "They're over there, why?"

"Weiss has makeup on." Scarecrow answered.

Beckett looked at him with confusion. "Of course she does, she's a rich teenage girl."

"True, but she's got a lot more on now than she ever did for the rest of the night." Scarecrow said, running a gloved finger over Weiss' face. When he showed it to Beckett it was covered in a white substance.

Beckett scooped up a bit of the substance herself, looking it over with a critical eye. "Is this... white foundation?"

"You probably know it better than I do." Scarecrow said. "Why would Weiss wear that? She's already white as a ghost."

Beckett couldn't help but wonder the same thing. "Have Young ask Yang and Blake, I'll get Castle to question Ruby."

oxoxoxo

DAM and Zivon turned the late general Erwin Frundsberg on his front as they searched his body. "Looks like there was only the one wound, but it went all the way through him." Said Zivon. "The wound in the back is bigger, so it's likely the entrance wound."

"Uh, guys," said Jaune, nervously. "Should we really be out here alone?"

"Don't be so nervous, nervous Jaune." DAM said. "There's three of us out here, so we're not really alone."

"Gee, that helps." Jaune said sarcastically.

"Both of you shut up." Said Zivon, still searching the body.

"How do you know so much about murder investigations?" Jaune inquired.

"I'm just going by what I've seen on detective shows." Zivon replied as he continued to search.

Jaune then turned to DAM. "Why aren't you doing anything? Isn't Batman supposed to be a detective?"

"Well, technically yes." DAM responded. "But he's got a different way of getting information than most of the cops that you know."

"Well, it couldn't hurt to try it."

"If you say so." DAM said. In under a second he had Jaune hoisted up off the ground and had smacked the great helm off his head. "Who killed him!?" he demanded, going back into his 'Batman' voice. "Who did it? We all know it wasn't you so who did it? Who?!" DAM roared, shaking the knight with every phrase.

"Enough!" Zivon yelled. "Check his hands."

"Why?" DAM asked, setting Jaune on the ground but not letting go.

"Erwin here has blood on his teeth and it's not from coughing it up." Zivon explained. "The pattern's all wrong."

DAM immediately grabbed both of Jaune's hands and searched them for any sign of a wound. Nothing. "He's clean."

"Thought so." Said Zivon. "I think I can tell how he was murdered. The footprints on the ground here indicate there was some kind of struggle. The killer grabbed him, and covered his mouth. Erwin bit down and struggled to get free before the killer stabbed him. Looks like he twisted the blade and pulled it out, making him bleed out faster."

"Any idea who it was?" asked Jaune as he slowly backed away from DAM.

"No." Zivon answered. "And that's what worries me. We need to get back to the others. Draw your weapons and stick together. Hopefully whoever it is doesn't try to attack the group. Get a picture of the body, we might need that later."

"What about Erwin?" asked Jaune "We can't just leave him here."

"If we try to take him with us it'll only slow us down." DAM said "I'll write him back when it's safe to do so, likely once we catch this guy."

"But-"

"The longer we stay out here, the bigger a target we paint on our backs." Said DAM "Come on, we need to get back to the group and make a plan."

Jaune nodded as Zivon took a picture of the body with his phone. "Done," he said, drawing his kilij. "Let's get going."

Jaune and DAM nodded and followed his example, Jaune drawing his sword and DAM pulling a Batarang from his utility belt.

As the three walked off, they were blissfully unaware of the pair of eyes on them. It seems they had found his work. They knew he was here, but they didn't know where. Good, that was the way he would keep it. Keeping to the shadows, he began to follow them. He knew they would lead him to the rest of the group, and that was just what he wanted. After all, what better place to hide than right under the noses of his future victims?

oxoxoxo

"Ruby, I need to ask you something." Said Castle.

The young huntress initiate had stopped her sobs and was now simply wearing a melancholy mask, one that would see tears if she looked at the body of her teammate and partner. "What is it?" she asked sadly.

"You and Weiss were close, right? Do you know what kind of makeup she wore?"

"Well, we did attempt a 'girl's night' once, so I did see her collection at one point." Ruby replied.

Castle reached into his pocket and pulled out the evidence Beckett had given him. "This is white foundation. It was found on Weiss face, do you recognize it."

Ruby shook her head. "No, I've never seen it before. And what do you mean Weiss was wearing it? I helped Weiss with her costume and she never put this stuff on."

"How did it get on her face then?" Castle mused.

"I don't know." Ruby replied sadly.

"Listen, Ruby, I have to go help Beckett. Your team probably needs you right now. Go to them." Castle said.

"Right." Ruby responded before running off to her sister and her partner.

Castle only shook his head before approaching Beckett. "Find out anything Castle?" she asked.

"Yeah." Castle replied "Ruby had never seen that kind of Makeup on Weiss before. Not only that, but she helped Weiss with her costume and she didn't put it on."

"Yang and Blake said the same thing." Young said as he approached the group. "Never seen anything like this before, not on Weiss and not in her collection."

"So, what, did the killer give her a pointless makeover and then kill her all in those few seconds when the lights were out?" Beckett summarized.

"It is a possibility." Said the Doctor, approaching the group.

"How?" Beckett demanded.

The Doctor opened his mouth, but closed it just as quickly. "No idea, really."

Beckett sighed and turned back to Weiss. "Any crazy theories Castle, I could use on at this point."

Castle put a hand to his chin and thought. "Perhaps we're dealing with some kind of evil spirit." He thought aloud. "The kind of evil spirit who hates bright colours, pop music, and not being the center of attention. So when Weiss got up on stage, in a bright coloured outfit and gained the attention of the entire party with an up tempo pop song, the spirit couldn't take it anymore, cutting the power and leaving her in this state."

The group was silent for a moment. The Doctor then spoke up, saying "I think I like his idea."

"Me too." Scarecrow added.

"Oh for the love of..." Beckett said, applying head to hand. "This isn't the work of an evil spirit, and when the others get back, we'll see that these two murders were done by something very human and with a human motive."

"I don't know about that, Beckett." Said Zivon, entering the group. "Whoever cut our power definitely wasn't human. They used a razor to cut the wire, any human who did that would have been shocked to death the moment they tried."

"So you think whoever cut the wires and killed Erwin wasn't human either?" Scarecrow asked.

"No, whoever killed Erwin was human." Zivon said. "We found traces of blood on Erwin's teeth, likely from his attacker. So whoever it was bled like a human."

"So what you're saying is we have two killers on our hands?" Scarecrow asked.

"Pretty much." DAM confirmed.

"Damn." Muttered Young.

"Yes?" Replied DAM.

"Not the time." Beckett scolded.

"Excuse me, gentlemen." Said the Doctor. "Mind if I take a look at the body? I'd like to give my opinion on it."

"Why?" Zivon asked.

"Well, I am a doctor, perhaps I can find something you missed."

"You sure you want to risk it?" DAM asked.

"Now that you mention it, perhaps you and a few others could join me." Said the Doctor.

DAM sighed, but Zivon nodded and called out "Ben, Crona, Jaune, let's go."

"Where are we going?" asked Crona.

"The Doctor wants to look at Erwin's body, we're taking a group for the strength in numbers." Zivon answered.

Ben nodded. "Understood, let's move out."

Jaune nodded and walked back to the group.

"Jaune, wait!"

The knight turned to see it was Pyrrha who had called out to him. "What is it Pyrrha?"

The Amazon stepped up to Jaune and pulled him into a tight embrace. The two remained that way for a few seconds before Pyrrha lightly pecked Jaune on the lips. The knight's face lit up a brilliant scarlet as Pyrrha said "Come back to me, okay?"

"Yeah, sure." Jaune mumbled, still dazed.

Pyrrha smiled and pecked his lips again before walking back to her team, ignoring the amused look from Maria.

"Good luck guys." Said Scarecrow. "Young and I will keep an eye on things here."

"We will?" Young asked.

"Yes, we will." Scarecrow said "Also, go wake up Kratos. The last thing we need is to be attacked without him up."

Young sighed. "I'm on it."

Scarecrow nodded and walked back to Weiss' body, looking for any sign of who could have killed her. As the others left, Castle, in a moment of curiosity, watched after them, looking for the form of the Doctor. His curiosity peaked, he wanted to see what his number was before he maybe, possibly, probably died. Unfortunately, just as he found Eleven in the group, the large frame of Ben moved in front of him, blocking his view.

Damn. The writer thought.

Little did any of them know that the one who had followed DAM, Zivon and Jaune back was now following them out, always staying just far enough behind them that they didn't know he was there. After all, why stay here, when another of his targets was leaving now. No sense in letting such an opportunity go to waste.

The walk to Erwin's body was unsettling, at best. To Crona, however, it was one of the most terrifying things he'd done in a while. The studio lot had completely lost power, plunging the lot into darkness aside from the odd torch and DAM's flashlight (just how much did he have in that utility belt?). Not only that, but it was far too quiet. The air was still, with the only sound being that of the group's footfalls as they made their way to the grisly site, and every time something so much as blew in the wind, it was someone coming to kill them. Because of this, Crona did what he thought was the safest thing to do: stand in front of the massive Ben Aparte who was acting as the rear guard to the group. He had his musket presumably loaded and the bayonet on the end looked ready to stab should anything appear. Still, Crona was Crona, and any darkness was still unnerving to him, reminding him too much of the dark room his mother would leave him in on the occasions of his failures.

Jaune was another matter. Yes, he had been trained as a huntsman. Yes, he had fought monsters undoubtedly worse than any normal human could be. Yes he currently held a large sword that could cleave a man in two if need be, but that did not mean he WANTED to have to. There was something eerie about walking through an empty, dark and silent area that could put any man on edge, and nervous, awkward Jaune was certainly not an exception to this rule.

Then there was Ben. The giant had been afraid this would happen since dinner, ever since he had felt someone watching him. He only wished he had either brought his sword with him or perhaps raided the Deadliest Warrior of Fiction armoury for something a bit more effective than a musket. Should anything happen, he had only one shot, so he had better make it count if he had to take it. To worsen his mood even more, the skinny, nervous form of Crona stood right in front of him, right arm grasped in his left hand so hard he swore the boy would tear it off. His nervous twitches were not helping Ben at all.

The body had been exactly where they had left it before. At least I can cross zombie plague off the list of things going wrong tonight. Zivon thought to himself.

The Doctor immediately went to work examining the body as the others began to patrol the area. Eleven looked over the corpse, examining the poor man from head to toe. This was a fairly clean kill, one shot being enough to end it all. That wasn't a good thing. That meant they were dealing with a professional, likely a serial killer or perhaps a hitman based on the nature of the kill. There was no way to know if whoever killed him was still here, so it would likely be a good idea for the group to stay together.

A shuffling noise caught the Doctor's attention. The Time Lord rose to his feet and cast his eyes about the lot. The immediate area seemed empty enough aside from their group, but there was still that sense that they were being watched.

Then, something changed. The once silent air was suddenly broken by a strange sound, as if someone was whispering to them.

Ch ch ch ch ah ah ah ah ah

"Suddenly I think some deadly warriors would be rather helpful right now." The Doctor muttered, looking at DAM.

"Where the hell are they, anyway?" Zivon asked.

DAM merely looked at them and shrugged. "No idea."

oxoxoxo

Hannibal ran for his life.

The fools had opened the door, they let the demon in! What were they thinking? Now it was able to torment him again as it was right now, stumbling quickly after him, spoon in hand and bleached white face a mask of anger and determination. The fortune teller was right, the Ginosaji would never stop.

Back at DAM's studio, Robert E Lee, Isaac Brock and Gustavus Adolphus watched as Hannibal made a break for it, Brock watching in confusion, Gustavus scratching his beard in bewilderment and Lee applying head to hand. "Well," said the Confederate general. "We'd better go get him."

"Agreed." Said Brock. "Gents, let's mount up."

oxoxoxo

"They said they'd be here, but they're REALLY running late." He said.

oxoxoxo

When the lights went out again, Young knew things had gone horribly wrong.

Things had been going so well too. Scarecrow and Beckett were consulting on the murder of Weiss, Ren and Pyrrha were comforting Nora (who for some reason hadn't taken off her costume helmet), Castle, Yang and Blake were making sure Ruby was okay, Vlad and Team EMAD were on watch for anything out of the ordinary, and Kurumu was doing what she always did when she was alone: fantasizing about Crona.

Then a strong wind had blown through the pavilion, extinguishing the candles once again and plunging the area back into complete darkness. Sounds of panic began to set in before Scarecrow called out "Quiet!" The Pavilion was instantly silent as Scarecrow hit his wizard's staff against the ground, the tip producing a bright light and illuminating the area.

That was when the screaming began. Young heard it from two sources. The first was Nora, and the second was from what she was screaming at.

Floating next to Team JNPR and holding the now limp, bloodless and made up form of Pyrrha Nikos was a pale apparition. Its wrists were slashed, and dripping ethereal blood as it cried tears of blood. Its face looked very made up, covered in white foundation and eyeliner, both being messed up by its tears of blood and dripping down onto a black shirt with some unidentifiable graphic on it. The spirit dropped Pyrrha's corpse to the ground with a bloody 'splat' before turning to the party as the guests drew any weapon they had on them.

Young readied his costume's electric powers as he turned to Scarecrow who was looking at the spirit with what might have been fear in his eyes. "No." The author whispered. "No, you're dead. We killed you last year!" He shouted at the creature.

"What do you mean?" Young demanded. "What is it?"

The spirit didn't give them a chance to answer, turning to the authors and screaming out a single word, its screeching voice tearing at the sanity of all the guests as they covered their ears to escape the noise. "PREEEEEEPS!" It roared before flying away, leaving an elongated trail of black substance in its wake.

"Young," Scarecrow said "Go check Pyrrha, see if she's alive."

"Alright," Young said "but what was that?"

"I'll explain later, now go." Scarecrow said firmly. "I need to make a call."

Young ran off as Scarecrow took out his phone and dialled Zivon's number. "Hello?"

"Zivon, its Scarecrow. I found out what killed Weiss." Said Scarecrow.

"Really? How? What is it?"

"It came back." Scarecrow said. "Pyrrha's dead. It killed her, apparently it didn't stay dead after Christmas last year."

The other end was silent for a few seconds before Zivon's voice came over the other end. "Hold on, I'm putting you on speaker. Are you sure it was-"

"It's her. It's Tara Gilesbie."

"WHAT?" Came the voice of DAM over the phone.

Young's head shot up as he heard Scarecrow say the name over the phone. Anyone who had been on Fanfiction long enough knew the name of one of the most infamous badfic authors of all time: the girl who wrote My Immortal. If she was here... "Are you sure it's her?" Young asked.

Scarecrow's only response was a nod. "I'm going to get the rest of the guests to the fight club. Young and I will meet you there." Scarecrow hung up the phone and turned to the new author. "Gather up the guests, we need to leave, now."

"I heard." Young confirmed. "Why the fight club?"

"With the amount of weapons we use there, there has to be something we can use to fight her off until we find out how to get rid of her." Scarecrow explained.

oxoxoxo

Zivon slipped his phone back into his pocket before turning to the rest of the group. "Drop what you're doing and let's go, we need to get to the fight club."

"How did that creature get here?" Eleven wondered aloud.

"I don't know." Zivon mused. "Maybe not all of My Immortal was destroyed last year."

"Even if that was true," Said Crona "how did it get here."

Zivon was about to say something when he was distracted by a whistling sound. He turned to the source to find a certain co-author of his whistling innocently. "What did you do?" he demanded.

"Okay, but you can't be mad at me." DAM pleaded.

Zivon rubbed his temples and groaned. "Just tell me..."

"So I might have found a piece of the charred remains of My Immortal after Christmas last year." DAM said, awkwardly twiddling his thumbs. "And I just might have secretly smuggled it into the party with one of my characters as a practical joke."

Everyone turned to look at the historian in disbelief until the Doctor said what was on everyone's mind: "That was the worst idea I've ever heard."

"I concur." Said Jaune.

"Y-yeah." Crona stuttered.

"Sorry man." Ben agreed.

"Alright." Sighed Zivon "Who did you give it to?"

DAM thought for a moment. "I think I gave it to Vlad."

"Alright," said Ben "So we go to the fight club, meet the others, burn the piece and-"

Ben was cut of abruptly by the machete that burst from his chest and the glob of blood he coughed up as he fell off the blade, the light leaving his eyes as he bled out, drowning on his own blood. His fall revealed the figure behind him, dressed in tattered dark pants and a coat of the same colour and state, his face obscured by a white and red hockey mask, all of his clothes spattered in the blood of his victims. And in his hand, was the bloody machete he had used to kill Ben and presumably Erwin. The killer advanced on the group, but an unlikely saviour came to their rescue.

"None shall pass." Said Jaune, standing in front of the group, sword pointed at the killer.

The killer said nothing, merely answering Jaune's challenge by extending his own blade. Before any of the others could do anything, the killer struck, slashing at Jaune's throat with his blade, a shot blocked by Jaune's sword as the knight made an attack of his own, knocking the machete aside and stabbing at his foe's heart. The Killer leapt away from the attack and responded with one of his own, charging at the knight and slashing at his arm. Jaune tried to raise his balde, but he wasn't fast enough, the blade raced at his arm, blade ready to slice through flesh.

That was when it was blocked, Jaune's aura flaring and stopping the blade, the momentum of the attack sending both men to the ground.

The rest of the group rushed to Jaune's side, ready to take his place, but Jaune rose on his own, showing his opponent his still intact arm and saying "Not even a scratch."

Seeing that the odds were heavily against him, the killer took the option that seemed most logical: retreat. There would be other chances to kill his prey, preferably when they were alone.

DAM watched as the killer ran off. "Are we going after him?"

"No." Said Zivon. "We have something more important to do. Scarecrow wants us to meet him at the fight club, so let's get going."

oxoxoxo

Scarecrow and Young had just finished getting the guests together and ready to leave when it happened.

Teams RWBY and JNPR were saying goodbye to their teammates, the others comforting them as they mourned and the authors promising to rewrite them when this was over.

That was when an inhuman shriek split the air from the direction of the gate. The entire guest population turned in its direction as a horde of... creatures began to shamble in. Each one appeared to have once been human, but they were long dead, faces sunken and bodies decayed, their clothing falling apart. But the army of the undead wasn't the scariest part, no, it was their appearance. Each of the ghouls was dressed in entirely black clothing with faces covered in makeup, regardless of the gender of the ghoul.

It was obvious what they were. "They're with her." Scarecrow said. "Time to go."

No one was in any mood to argue as they all bolted away from the horde. As soon as they did, a cacophony of shrieks, roars and hisses came up from the horde as they broke into a run after the guests.

"Thin the ranks!" called Scarecrow, firing a bolt of magic into the horde, killing a handful of ghouls and making others trip over the bodies.

Thatch began to draw his flintlock pistols, firing two shots into the crowd and dropping a zombie with each one. He drew the other two as he began to run again.

Beckett drew her service pistol (never leave home without it) and began to open fire. Each of her shots dropped a creature, but still it barely made a dent in their numbers.

That was when the inhuman scream returned, this time with a voice. "POSRZ!"

"She's getting closer." Young said, firing a bolt of lightning into the undead.

"I can hear that." Scarecrow replied, firing off more magic.

The two watched as Kratos, his hippie costume still on charged headlong into the horde, bellowing a battle cry and swinging the Blades of Chaos (They couldn't be removed after all). Zombies were falling by the dozens with every swing, but more and more appeared with every swing. Scarecrow realized no one was escaping like this.

"You all go!" He shouted. "Run! NOW!"

"And leave you here?" Castle demanded in disbelief.

"While what, you go down fighting?" Blake said as she smacked a ghoul with her golf club.

Scarecrow slammed his staff into the ground, a massive barrier of grey light emerging, the horde of the undead banging on it as they tried to get through. "Go, now! I don't know how much longer I can hold this!"

"We can't just leave you here!" Ruby screamed.

"You'll never escape otherwise!" Scarecrow yelled back, a bead of sweat falling down his forehead. "Go! Get to the fight club!"

Young reached out to the other author. "Scarecrow-"

"GO!" he roared.

Young nodded and gathered the rest of the guests. They began to run as the screaming of Tara began anew, her spirit floating above her army, sending out waves of dark energy as she did. Young looked at where the waves ended, painting whatever they touched black and rearranging it in horrific ways, making everything as emo as possible.

Tara bore down on the vastly superior author, glaring down at him from behind his shield. Suddenly she screamed and slmd in2 da shild ruining the grammar and spelling as she did. She tacked gen, hitng teh shell nd darkening were she did.

"You cannot pass!" Scarecrow roared. He slammed his staff into the ground, making a massive fissure between him and the zombies.

Tara scremd at him and shot the shield like a gazzilion tims wit a gun she had.

The barrier held as Scarecrow continued to hold her back, but signs of exertion were beginning to show. "I am a servant of the story arc, wielder of the might of the plot."

Traa shit at him agen, teh sheld blinking ungothicaly.,

"Shitty goth stereotypes will not avail you, flame of badfics!" Scarecrow shouted as he lowered the barrier and fired a blast of light magic at Tara.

Teh gottic grl cried whn se wuz hit, shoting scrcow wit her gun.

Scarecrow raised his staff to block the attack, but it was noticeably more difficult as he cried out in exertion.

"Hurry," said Young, herding the rest of the characters toward the fight club. "Go, now!" He turned back to the fight between Tara and Scarecrow, ready to help should he be needed.

TaEnogy rord at teh wiz.

"Go back to the depths of the internet." Scarecrow declared.

Tara creamed nd ran at hm fast and madly.

Scarecrow raised his staff, a bright light forming at the tip, and cried out "YOU! SHALL NOT! PASS!" And slammed Tara over the head with his staff, sending her into the chasm he had opened. Tara screamed in pain as she fell, the light dragging her downward. Panting in exertion, Scarecrow turned back to the rest the rest of the group as Young rushed over to help him.

Suddenly, a tendril of darkness wrapped around Scarecrow's leg and dragged him over the edge of the pit, Young running even faster to him. "Scarecrow!"

Scarecrow grasped at the edge of the pit, but he was quickly losing his grip. "Run, you idiots!" he harshly whispered as he was pulled over the edge and into the darkness.

Young burst into motion, trying to grab him as he was pulled over, but he just missed as Scarecrow was dragged down. Young rose to his now shaking feet and looked across the fissure to the mob of gothic zombies on the other side. Rage taking over for a moment, he roared in anger and hurled a lightning bolt across, nailing a zombie in the head and sending it to the ground.

Realizing that someone would need to tell the others about Scarecrow's fate, Young looked down into the chasm one last time before running to the fight club. Flinging open the doors, he bolted inside and slammed them shut. Looking around the poorly lit club, he saw that DAM and Zivon's group had already made it and had powered up the emergency generators. It wasn't much, but it was at least some light. Zivon calmly walked up to the still shaking young author and put a hand on his shoulder. "What happened? Are you alright?"

Young shook his head, still shocked at the events that had just happened. "No. No I'm not."

"What do you mean?" DAM asked. "And where's Scarecrow?"

Young said nothing, merely looking to the ground in shame and sadness.

Zivon noticed the look and took Young deeper into the fight club. "Come on. Tell me everything."