Right real quick I just want to apologize for the two week delay in posting this chapter. Turns out when I posted the prologue our truck hadn't arrived at Dollar General, followed by the thing not arriving until Tuesday AFTER my shift, and our manager being called to work at other stores all totaled up to me having to work every day that week.
And then we repeated this last week so I'm enjoying my day off because it's looking like we'll be repeating this shit again this week. Oh what fun…
Anyway I hope you all will enjoy this chapter because this will answer a number of your questions… Also the Gorilla Faunus was a reference to a certain youtuber and I'm a bit disappointed no one said anything.
And as I wrote this I soon began to realize I'm still doing more world building… Oh well, gives me more time to plan out the Gloomy Manor (And rewatch a playthrough of the game.)
[[]]
[Ruby's New Mansion]
While all of this was going on in Evershade Valley, night had fallen in the quiet island of Patch.
Deep within the forest's of Patch stood a mansion, one that (legally) belonged to one Ruby Rose.
After E. Gadd had destroyed the original haunted mansion created by King Boo, he had personally designed and funded the construction of Ruby's new mansion.
It was smaller than the original one, with much fewer rooms and only two stories high instead of the original three stories, and the basement only held what was needed for the mansion's power and water needs… And also doubled as storage.
Ruby had added her own two cents to the mansion's designs, there were admittedly more bedrooms than originally, one for each member of Team RWBY and JNPR, (in case they decided to stay over), a room for Tai and Summer, and a room for Qrow. All of which was what took up most of the second floor
Ruby had opted that aside from the kitchen and dining rooms, they really only needed the indoor gym (Though now a fair bit larger to add more equipment for some acrobatic training on Summer's suggestion), a workshop/armory (Soundproofed), a library for Blake, the music room for Weiss, and the living room now replaced the foyer- All making the Mansion feel like just a large home than a mansion (According to Weiss at least).
In the living room of the mansion was Ruby Rose, in her usual huntress attire, sitting on one of the recliners with a sad look on her face, Crescent Rose on her lap, Zwei sitting on Crescent Rose and the T.V. in front of her playing a documentary about the mysterious Huntress known only as the Grimm Reaper.
Ruby had wanted to get some sleep, but with everything that happened lately Ruby was having a hard time lately.
Vale had been heavily damaged, Professor Ozpin was presumed dead due to the destruction of Beacon, and after Yang had gotten her arm cut off Blake had run away, both of which combined to cause Yang to suffer from PTSD and to become somewhat anti-social.
Added in were occasion flashes in Ruby's mind on Pyrrha's near death experience and seeing first hand the death of Roman Torchwick, gobbled down by a massive Griffin right as he was ending a speech on how he would adapt and survive, and all of this totaled into Ruby having a hard time sleeping.
The only saving grace Ruby had so far was that she had gotten a letter from Weiss, which stated that Weiss was now officially the C.E.O. of the Schnee Dust Company- Using only a part of the money she had gotten from the gold diamond Ruby gave to buy out the company from her father, but also throwing her father out into the snow, replacing the entire board of directors with guidance from Winter and her butler, Klein, and was currently going all out in improving the conditions for the mines and the Faunus working there, and her mother was at least switching the wine bottle back down to the wine glass.
But at the current moment the only company Ruby had was Zwei, Crescent Rose, and whatever Elemental Ghost was floating through the room, which thanks to the scented candles in the room should only mean a Fire Ghost- If she saw a Water or Ice ghost, then that meant someone left something on or running that shouldn't.
Right now Yang had locked herself in her room, Tai had gone over to Professor Port's place to spend time with Port and Oobleck, Summer had chosen to go on a late night patrol, and Qrow was passed out on the floor of his room last Ruby checked.
Ruby sighed as she pet Zwei, "Well Zwei, I guess it's just you and me tonight." Ruby said as a Fire Ghost floated right between the faces of the two, Ruby's eyes trailing the ghost, while Zwei turned his whole head to watch the ghost, "Still have no idea how you can see those guys." Ruby muttered as she looked down at her belt and the three medals she had hooked to said belt.
The T.V. the suddenly turned to static, catching Ruby's attention, "Huh?" Ruby muttered as she stood up, picking up Zwei and Crescent Rose as she did.
Most of the technology in the mansion was Gadd Tech, meaning it was designed by Professor E. Gadd specifically to not go kaput whenever a ghost was around, this included the T.V.
Ruby slowly approached the T.V. and the moment she was close enough to reach for the small projector and manually change the channel the image changed.
"Ruby!" The voice of E. Gadd announced on the T.V. as the image became a green hue image of E. Gadd.
"Hwah!" Ruby cried out as she jumped back, landing on her back, with Zwei and Crescent Rose being tossed airborne for a moment, Zwei landing on Ruby's stomach with Crescent Rose firmly clenched in his mouth.
"Sorry for the scare." E. Gadd said as he started clicking on a keyboard below the screen, "But I need your help. We have an emergency on our hands."
"An… Emergency?" Ruby asked, standing back up with Crescent Rose now in her hands, Zwei still firmly holding the weapon.
"Yes, Evershade ghost's have gone hostile." E. Gadd said, "I'll explain more when you get here. I'm preparing the Pixelator, hold still for a sec."
"The Pixel- Huh?" Ruby asked before the T.V. started glowing green. Then in a brief flash, Ruby and Zwei were frozen before quickly being turned into pixel-like cubes and being sucked into the T.V.
[Evershade Valley- E. Gadd's Bunker]
A camera aimed itself at an empty space in the middle of the control room and with a green light, pixels begam to shoot out, forming Ruby and Zwei in mid air, once the two were completed, gravity took back over and the two fell to the ground, Ruby landing on her butt while Zwei landed on his feet before looking at Ruby and promptly sat down.
"What the…'' Ruby muttered as she looked around the Bunker, which was dim, most likely so that Madame Clairvoya, who was in the room with them, could be comfortable.
"Are you okay?" E. Gadd asked.
"I'm fine…" Ruby muttered as she stood up, looking around the room with caution.
"Don't be tense." Clairvoya said, "The bunk itself is made out of solid iron and was soaked in salt. If anything I need to be the one tense because unless the door is opened I'm stuck in here."
"Anywho, it's been too long since we last talked." E. Gadd said, "How are things?"
Ruby's face fell at that, followed shortly by E. Gadd's as Ruby began to explain what happened.
"I see…" E. Gadd said, "I'm sorry I couldn't have helped, I've been here continuing my research into the Paranormal."
"It's fine professor." Ruby said, "But what's going on here? You said the Evershade Valley ghost's went hostile. How?"
"Of course." E. Gadd then pointed to one of the screens, the only one with a purple frame, and on the screen was the purple wireframe image of a moon, "See that on the screen? That there is the Dark Moon."
"Despite it's rather evil sounding name, the Dark Moon has a positive effect on ghosts." Clairvoya said, E. Gadd looked at her for a moment with a pout on his face, but decided to let the local explain. "It's a major part of life, and I use that term loosely nowadays, here in Evershade Valley."
"How exactly?" Ruby asked.
"It has a pacifying effect on ghosts if you want to be general about it." Clairvoya said, "To be more thorough, however, the Dark Moon's power helps hold together the minds of the ghosts who have been here long enough that they've lost their sense of self identity. Ghost's that have existed for so long that they've forgotten not only their name, but their genders and even if they were humans or Faunus."
"Yikes…" Ruby muttered, she certainly did not want to exist long enough that she'd forget who she even was.
"As I said, the Dark Moon helps those types of ghosts keep a hold of themselves so they don't go… More than a little crazy." Clairvoya explained.
"It's amazing." E. Gadd said excitedly, "I've made leaps and bounds with my research thanks to the Dark Moon… Until tonight."
"What happened?" Ruby asked, a bit concerned about what happened.
"Well, as I was escaping from the Gloomy Manor that I was doing my research in, I found at the very least, a key component in the cause of the Ghost's going mad." E. Gadd said as he pulled a large iron box from under the desk.
"Behold." E. Gadd said as he opened the box, revealing a deep purple crystal that had purple electrical energy running across is, "A fragment of-"
"UUAAAGH!" Clairvoya suddenly cried out as she grasped her head, causing everyone to jump, her eyes flickering between gold and pure white. E. Gadd quickly slammed the box shut and hopped out of his seat, running over to the ghost, whom collapsed to her knees when the box shut
"Clairvoya!" E. Gadd and Ruby shouted.
"I… This is worse than we thought…" Clairvoya gasped.
"What do you mean?" Ruby asked as she looked at the box.
"That was a fragment of the Dark Moon." E. Gadd said, "I thought it was just a disruptive energy around the fragment suppressing its power but now…"
"Whatever that energy is…" Clairvoya gasped, "It's doing more than disrupting its power, it's inverting it… What was once holding together the minds of those who lost themselves, is now tearing apart the minds of those who still know themselves…"
"Like you…" Ruby said in realization.
"I have a way to clean the shard thankfully but…" E. Gadd muttered looking at Clairvoya, who then reached out and grabbed Ruby's hand.
"Don't worry." Clairvoya said, "I was planning to do this once everything was fixed up… But there is someone I want you to meet, young Rose."
"There is?" Ruby asked.
"Indeed, it's a good thing you have Crescent Rose with you." Clairvoya said, then turned to the professor, "You clean that shard, and I'll take Ruby to meet a local who surely hasn't gone mad."
"How can you be sure?" E. Gadd asked cautiously.
Clairvoya smiled, "The old man's workshop isn't nearby where any of those shards were falling." Clairvoya said, "Plus he wouldn't leave his workshop for them anyway."
E. Gadd nodded, "Very well."
"We'll be back soon." Clairvoya said as she began to lead Ruby out of the Bunker.
E. Gadd sighed and pressed a button as a pedestal rose up from the floor, "I guess it's just you and me again for a while Zwei." E. Gadd said with a smile.
Zwei simply barked, he liked the funny old man.
[]
"How far is he?" Ruby asked as she attempted to peer through the thick purple fog.
"Not much farther." Clairvoya said, "I know the location of his workshop by heart.
Ruby believed Clairvoya, in part because this was the one ghost that was never actually hostile to her, and in part due to the all too familiar sound she could hear.
The clanging of a hammer on metal.
Soon the fog parted and Ruby stood in amazement at the sight before her.
It was an outdoor workshop, the back wall lined with dozens and dozens of swords, barrels full of swords, a blacksmith's furnace sat to the side, next to it an anvil.
Sitting on a crate behind the anvil was a large ghost.
This ghost was a largely built man with a deep red body, Oriental Mistralian Armor covered his arms while a blacksmith's apron covered his body, golden orbs for eyes, and a small deep red beard was on his chin. His face seemed hardened, and deep red hair dangled across his head, occasionally moving in front of his eyes, but not bothering him in the slightest. He had just finished hammering an odachi on the anvil in front of him, before frowning and gently placing the sword in one of the barrels.
"Shinku Muramasa." Clairvoya announced, getting the attention of both the blacksmith, and Ruby.
The Blacksmith focused on Clairvoya, "Seer." Muramasa said, "I see you've come back to the Valley."
"I have… Although something has destroyed the Dark Moon." Clairvoya said.
The Blacksmith ghost looked into the sky and saw it to be empty of all but the stars, "So it would seem." Muramasa said, "Now then, what brings you to my workshop, Seer. I'm no glass maker, I cannot give you a crystal ba-" It was then Muramasa noticed Ruby, who gulped as she noticed the blacksmith ghost focus on her.
Muramasa slowly put his hammer down, "You, child." The ghost said firmly, "Come here, what is your name?"
Ruby slowly approached the ghost, "R-Ruby Rose sir." Ruby said.
The blacksmith reached out a hand to Ruby, then stopped himself, "You look so much like… Are all women in the family cursed to look like their mothers?"
"I beg your pardon?" Ruby asked.
Muramasa ignored her question, "Is that your weapon?" Muramasa asked, looking at Crescent Rose.
A glint of glee formed in Ruby's eye as she unfurled Crescent Rose into it's scythe for, "Yep, Crescent Rose, I made her myself." Ruby said with a smile on her face.
"May I see it for a moment?" Muramasa asked, his voice growing softer.
"Um… Sure." Ruby said as she held out Crescent Rose.
Muramasa took the scythe in his hand and slowly began to examine it, before long a smile on his face, "I may not truly understand modern weaponry, but this weapon is well made, even your blood was put into the weapon." Muramasa said.
"My blood?" Ruby asked, then her eyes widened as she remembered.
Back when she was forging the pieces of Crescent Rose she had accidentally cut herself, her aura not active, and by the time she had noticed a fair amount of her blood had already spilt onto the half formed blade of Crescent Rose. To this day she still doesn't know how she got cut, she had searched everywhere she had worked but couldn't find what had cut her. According to Summer, she had done the same thing when she made her first weapon.
Muramasa began to laugh aloud, "It would seem one of the secrets to my art is still used today by my kin, even if they are unaware of it." Muramasa said with a chuckle.
Ruby blinked twice, "Wait… What?" Ruby asked, "Your kin?"
"Indeed child. My kin." Muramasa said, "I had thought it a mere coincidence, perhaps to one of her sisters, but…" With that Muramasa stood, or at least floated up so that he no longer sat down, "This is proof, you Ruby Rose, are a descendant of Floria Rose, Or as she was originally named Granfloria Muramasa, my daughter."
Muramasa then put a hand on Ruby's shoulder, kneeling down to meet her at eye level.
"You are my descendant. You Ruby Rose, are the blood of the Muramasa Clan." Muramasa said, a smile on his face, "You have no idea how much of a relief it is to know my kin live on to this day."
"I'm… Your great granddaughter?" Ruby asked, more to herself than Muramasa.
"Give or take a few generations, but yes." Muramasa said, returning upright, "And there is much I wish to pass down to you but…" Muramasa looked at the empty sky, "I do believe there is something much more important that needs to be done."
Ruby nodded, "It was nice to meet you sir." Ruby said, "But…"
"Don't give me that 'sir' nonsense." Muramasa said firmly, "If you insist on being formal then refer to me as Muramasa or Grandfather… Or whichever variation of that you prefer."
"Um… Okay Grandpa." Ruby said, a smile appearing on Muramasa's face, "But you're right… I need to do something about the missing Dark Moon."
"Then you had best get on that." Muramasa said as he grabbed a kodachi from one of the barrels, "But before you leave, I require your blood." Muramasa then held out the kodachi to Ruby.
"W-what?" Ruby asked, slight fear tinging her voice, "Why?"
"It is tradition in the Muramasa clan to gift unto our children a sword when they come of age, one forged for combat with the blood of the one to wield it forged into the blade." Muramasa said, "I could not forge a blade for my daughter before she left, so I will forge one for you."
Ruby nodded in understanding and took the kodachi, Muramasa holding out a bowl under Ruby's empty hand, which she lowered her Aura to cut the palm of, let some blood drip into the bowl, then sealed the wound with her Aura.
"Thank you." Muramasa said as he sat back down, "I have several regrets in my life… At least with this, one of those regrets shall be relieved of my mind."
As Muramasa said this, the fog around them lifted, even Muramasa was caught off guard. "I didn't mean it like that." The blacksmith grumbled before sorting through his materials, what he had left at least.
"That is our cue." Clairvoya said, "E. Gadd must have cleansed that Dark Moon fragment… Thank goodness."
"Okay." Ruby nodded and started to leave with Clairvoya, she looked back at Muramasa one last time, "I'll see you later Grandpa." She said happily.
Muramasa gave no verbal response, and he had already made his way to a table and had begun to design his next blade. He refused to work blindly on a weapon for his kin like all the other blades he had in the workshop… Save for one.
Muramasa looked up at one of the blades on the wall, an odachi, the pattern on the scabbard having long since faded. Muramasa reached up and grabbed the hilt of the sword and unsheathed it.
Only a foot of metal came out of the scabbard, a clean slice having sliced through the blade a long time ago.
Muramasa clicked the blade back into the scabbard and looked at what materials he had, then turned to the crate he sat on and opened it, pulling out an axe. Metal he could reuse, but he needed to find some wood for a scabbard.
[]
Ruby and Clairvoya returned to the Bunker, E. Gadd proudly held the Dark Moon fragment in his hand, the crystal now glowing a much brighter shade of purple. Zwei was currently trying to hop into E. Gadd's currently vacated chair to no avail.
"You've returned." E. Gadd said happily, "How did your trip go?"
Ruby smiled, "Pretty good all things considered." Ruby said, "And some of the fog around the place has lifted."
"Criminy!" E. Gadd said as he put the Dark Moon piece on the pedestal he used to clean it, the pedestal lowering down as he did so, then he hopped onto his chair and turned on one of the screens, revealing a birds eye view of Evershade Valley, the fog around the Bunker, Muramasa's Workshop, and a moderately sized manor had dissipated. "Ruby, do you know what this means?"
Ruby looked at the map, "I can walk to that mansion over there?" Ruby said, pointing at the building on the map.
"No." E Gadd said with glee, then pausing a moment, "Well, yes you could walk to the Gloomy Manor, but no I have something better. The Pixelator!"
Ruby glanced at the camera she had been teleported into the bunker from, stepping a bit to the side while Zwei simply sniffed in dissatisfaction of the device and trotted out of the room.
"But more importantly, this means we can solve most of our problems by fixing the Dark Moon." E. Gadd said, "Probably all of them if whatever broke the Dark Moon is guarding a piece of it."
"I'm sensing a 'but' here…" Ruby muttered.
"I'm afraid so Ruby." E. Gadd said, "All those ghost's out there will need to be contained. And that's where you come in Ruby."
Ruby groaned, "Why me?"
"Sorry." E. Gadd said, "But the assistant's I came here with are probably all still stuck in the places I had them assigned to, and I'm not getting any younger."
"Okay." Ruby said with a sigh, she wasn't as afraid of ghost's as she used to be, but that fear is still there.
"Excellent. It'll just be like old times." E. Gadd said, "Sadly however the Poltergust 3000 is… Useless here."
Ruby went white as Weiss's hair and her pupils vanished in fear, "What?" She squeaked.
"I'm afraid it seems the ghost's of Evershade Valley have grown accustomed to our initial flashlight method." E. Gadd said, "I'm not sure if it's because of their age or the fact this was a well lived location and the ghost's have gotten used to it, but regardless, simply aiming your flashlight at them won't work any longer."
"Thankfully a new Poltergust was the first thing E. Gadd developed." Clairvoya pointed out, "Just because the Dark Moon keeps everyone calm doesn't mean everyone isn't always nice."
"Great!" Ruby cheered looking around the room, "Where is it?"
"It's… In the Gloomy Manor." E. Gadd admitted, causing Ruby to freeze, "I'll admit perhaps not the wisest of choices I have had, but I was working on a new piece for the Poltergust 5000 at the time when things went haywire."
"Do you still have the Dustboy Horror?" Ruby asked, hoping she could at least have a way to communicate with the professor.
"No." E. Gadd said, "The Dustboy Horror was fine tuned specifically to the Mansion Trap. I've got something better for you."
Ruby raised and eyebrow as E. Gadd pressed a button on his seat, and a drawer popped open next to Ruby, who reached in and pulled out…
"Is… This a Twin Screen?" Ruby asked as she pulled out the slightly blocky original model TS.
"More than that, I got it cheap at a garage sale before I started this research trip." E. Gadd said, "This customized TS has an interactive map of the key locations of Evershade Valley, Gloomy Manor included, and just like the Dustboy Horror I can communicate with you through it. With an updated ringtone. I call it the Twin Scream"
'You need to work on your naming conventions professor.' Ruby thought as E. Gadd pressed a button on a nearby keyboard, allowing Ruby to hear the ringtone.
[Luigi's Mansion Dark Moon: Dual Scream]
Ruby let the ringtone sound for a minute before following it's on screen directions and hanging up on the demonstration call.
Ruby pocketed the Twin Scream and handed her Scroll over to E. Gadd, who in turn passed her a flashlight, "Figured you didn't bring yours on account of the suddenness of this whole thing."
"I didn't." Ruby admitted hooking the flashlight to her belt, smiling at the familiarness of its tether allowing her to quickly pick up and drop the flashlight.
"Now then." E. Gadd said, "I've marked an important location on the TS's map, that is where I last left the Poltergust 5000. At least I'm pretty sure I left it in the garage."
Ruby shivered, if E. Gadd was wrong she did NOT want to wander around a manor full of ghosts with no way to defend herself.
"Alright that should be everything I have at the moment." E. Gadd said, "I'll have the Pixelator drop you off outside the Gloomy Manor, where it should be the safest for you. Ready?"
"As ready as I'll ever be." Ruby admitted as the camera behind her flashed green. And with that Ruby's body was turned into pixels and sucked into the camera.
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Professor E. Gadd's Ghost Dossiers.
Subject: The Clockwork Soldiers
Information on this subject is mostly speculation, as information about these three entities in one cannot be obtained from them directly, and most ghost's do not seem to know much about them.
Solid information however has been gleaned from their actions.
First in foremost is their form- Despite being spectral entities they act very similarly to a normal toy clockwork soldier, down to their movements and action, and do not talk. This leads me to believe that they were once actual normal toys, possibly from Evershade Valley due to the amount of paranormal energy there, and through the absorption of such energy manage to gain a form of pseudo like.
When in the presence of children (Thanks to one of my assistant's kids volunteering), or during the daytime, they seem to revert to their original form as toys, but once night falls or the child leaves they quickly return to their adult sized spectral forms.
They are also highly aggressive toward Grimm, the reason however is unknown. Perhaps it is a habit they develop while being toys, with children playing Huntsman with them. Conversely a more… Morbid theory lies in their original owner being killed by Grimm and the paranormal energy within the burst out resulting in this form.
Further Information will be difficult to obtain.
Threat Level: Minimal (At worse one must be aware of friendly fire)