Edit: So the site is acting a bit wonky, and because of that many of you are not actually seeing the update. This is my second attempt at reposting, the notice for chapter 14 you might have seen was because I messed up the first time around. Either, I don't think there's much that can be done until whatever is causing this is fixed.
/
Howdy folks, how's it going?
Hope you all have been keeping safe as things seem to be getting rough again.
Another rotation, another update. You know, it was only after I was close to being done with this chapter that I realized how oddly fitting it is to the current season. A true Halloween coincidence, I believe, but I'll let you be the judges of that.
As always, shout out to Chaos for his help.
And as always, I own neither RWBY nor LoL.
Now, enjoy.
/
I can't sleep…
I can't wake up…
Are you trapped here as I am…?
Do you hear him too…?
Please, I beg you…
Help…
Me…
A malevolent chuckle rumbled, cutting through the whispers in this fractal nothingness. Pin pricks of baleful red light pierced through the darkness, surrounding him like predators stalking prey.
And try as he might to run, to escape, his body would not listen, standing there frozen, heavy as lead.
Then, the shadow, the horrible shadow, rose up before him, a wicked claw reaching out as madness burst into being all around…
"All alone…"
/
He woke up with a start, thrashing and struggling against his bindings in mindless, abject horror, his screams of terror only kept from the outside by the soundproofed walls of the room. Myriad sensors were quick to register the sudden spike in activity, and pretty soon the door opened, letting 3 people in, each bearing an expression of nervous concern, as they made to push down the thrashing man and administer the sedative.
"Mr. Sycamore, please! It's alright, you are awake. It was just a nightmare and-"
"HE'S STILL DREAMING!" The patient yelled, manic, trembling eyes locking with the ones of the speaker. "HE'S STILL DREAMING! YOU MUST STOP THE DREAM-"
His ravings were cut short as the sedative took hold, the man's eyes rolling to the back of his head as he slumped into dreamless slumber with a distressed, whining groan.
With the episode dealt with, the doctor allowed himself a weary sigh, even as one of the nurses approached him, clearly as worried and lost as he felt.
"This is the 12th breakdown this week, Dr. Rosa. I am not sure how long we'll be able to keep this up…" She said uncertainly. "What are we going to do?"
The man did not immediately answer, pulling a handkerchief out of his pocket to nervously wipe away the sweat in his brow as he oversaw the other nurse checking on the bindings restraining the patient. It might seem like an extreme and appalling measure, but they'd learnt that lesson the hard way when the first victim had tried to claw her own eyes out in her blind panic.
"I honestly do not know." He was forced to admit. What he did know was that this could not go on much longer…
/
As the early morning light shone through the windows of the infirmary, Ruby opened her eyes, instantly lucid and aware of her surroundings. It had been a couple of days since she first awakened to this place, her own exhaustion and the doctor's insistence in making sure there was nothing wrong with her (strictly physically speaking, he'd said, dismissing her "obviously insane mind" as a lost cause. Jerk.) forcing her to stay lying down the whole time, with only the regular visits from her team and friends and the occasional entry of a student that had suffered a training accident, and who generally started feeling very uncomfortable when they realized she was there, breaking the monotony. Even with her usual indifference to such things, even she was beginning to grow a bit restless, Merle having more than once incurred the annoyance of the good doctor by flying all over the room in an attempt to stave off boredom.
He was doing exactly that when Dr. Foster came in again, to the grumpy man's immense chagrin.
"I thought I told ya to keep that darn feather duster in check or I'd be kickin' it out." He grunted, which earned him a series of offended sounding squawks from the bird as he made to land on the bed, to which the man couldn't help but raise a curious brow at her.
"He, no it." She clarified, although the reason why Merle had come out male when he was a literal fragment of her own being was a mystery which she lacked both the metaphysical knowledge to understand and the curiosity to care about.
"Darn aura-awakened critters, trouble waitin' to happen the lot'o them…" Dr. Foster grumbled in exasperation, before shaking his head and deciding it was not worth his precious time. "Anyway, girl, given your total lack of apparent physical injury, I'd say it's high time I let you get out of here."
That had Ruby and Merle perking up in interest.
"Settle down there, dead eyes, that don't mean you're out of the woods yet." He continued, making the bird flop backwards in exasperation even as he consulted the file in his hand. "I can't for the life of me figure out what made you black out like you did, but if I had to guess, I'd say it probably has something to do with your… condition. And I do so hate the thought of being unable to resolve a mystery. Oh, and leaving a patient potentially untreated too, I guess. And so I'd very much like to have you do an MRI, just to check on the current state of your head. I understand it's nothing you ain't familiar with."
"…Now?" She inquired with a slight tilt of her head.
"Do I look like I got the proper equipment for it just lying around here, brat? Ozpin doesn't allow me that big a budget, the cheeky old bastard…" The clearly unamused man groused, before pressing on. "No, I've reached out to some contacts over in Vale, and am ready to schedule you an appointment at a clinic. Heck, I'd have done it already, but there's this annoying little thing called consent that's necessary if I am to avoid a lot of needless annoyances such as getting Goodwitch off my back. So, what say you?"
For a moment, Ruby honestly considered saying no, if only because she did not like how much of a meanie the doctor tended to act, but that tempting thought vanished as quickly as it appeared, for the girl had come to realize something during her convalescence.
In all the time since she'd had that dream, that tug at the back of her mind had been growing stronger. Strong enough now, in fact, that she could actually feel it coming from the city's general direction.
How did that old saying go? Two birds, one stone?
Merle threw her an unimpressed look at the thought, but still, Ruby nodded her consent.
"Fantastic." Dr. Foster stated, with no real emotion in his drawled tone. "I'll set it up."
/
"Sooooo…" Yang started, somewhat awkwardly as they stood out on the street staring up at the front of the clinic. "Is this the place?"
Ruby gave a little nod, considering the building that clashed in both its stark, sterile white color scheme and Atlesian design with the surrounding, older, more traditionally Valean buildings of this part of the city. It looked as out of place as a beowolf amidst a flock of sheep, but that was inconsequential before the far more pressing matter of the incredible coincidence that was facing her right now.
That the pull in her mind seemed to be coming from this place.
Well, she called it a coincidence, but Ruby did not really believe on such things. There was something going on here…
"This is indeed the place." A voice replied. "Kingsrest, one of the best clinics and medical research facilities in the kingdom. They've got an impressive track record in the investigation and treatment of neurological disorders, from what I know."
"Beeboop!"
"Squawk!"
…
…
It was only then, as her sister eek-ed in alarm at the sudden, unexpected input, that Ruby realized she could not move. Something was keeping her pinned in place. Something that felt suspiciously like a pair of arms hugging her from behind…
"What the heck, Penny, what are you doing here?!" Yang questioned frantically, identifying her sister's current holder even as she brought a hand to her chest to calm her racing heart from that fright.
"Salutations!" The redhead replied cheerily, settling her chin on top of the shorter girl's head and not even reacting as she struggled to break free, Merle trying to avoid a similar situation with the ball and thus too busy to help her out, the two flying around in circles directly above them in impromptu game of cat and mouse. "I have just arrived here, actually. Once I learned that Ruby was gonna be out in Vale again, I just had to come to check on her myself."
"Penny, let go …" Ruby muttered, clearly unamused, as she tried to kick free of her mechanical captor, an adorably funny scene that belied the strength that was actually being exerted by both parties. It was a wonder how Yang didn't seem to question the metallic clang at the redhead's legs being struck…
"If you insist, friend. It is a shame though, you are rather pleasantly huggable, a remarkable improvement, I dare say." Penny acquiesced after a final friendly squeeze, finally allowing Ruby to turn and see the softly smiling android. "Though I sure am glad to see you up and about, Ruby."
"Penny, what doing here?" The red-cloaked girl asked. The timing of the champion seemed just a little too convenient to the situation, but her suspicions were put to rest by the confusion that spread upon her freckled face.
"Uh, I told you already? I came to see you, wanted to make sure you were alright." Penny replied, hesitating slightly. "Is… there a problem?"
"Not you." Ruby replied, shaking her head, then looking around. "But… something wrong."
Now that she took the time to pay some attention, even beyond the pull, something did not feel right. There was… a general sense of wrongness in the air, something that felt familiar, almost like…
Considering her words, the redhead followed her in looking around, her entire demeanor suddenly a lot more serious. Even the ball, seemingly reading the mood, stopped its pursuit to return to her side, much to Merle's relief.
"I'm not picking up anything." She said, her pupils shrinking and growing minutely as she surveyed the area, indicating her using things other than her senses. "Although from what I heard, there seems to have been some unrest in this specific area of Vale lately…"
"Uh, what do you mean unrest?" Yang rejoined the conversation, realizing that a lot of what her sister and the odd Atlesian were implicitly saying was flying right over her head.
"Apparently, there's been some strange occurrences going on in the neighborhood," Penny explained. "Things like bouts of inexplicable narcolepsy followed by sudden ad violent mania have been reported. From what I gather, the clinic's been picking up any such cases."
"And you know this how…?" The blonde asked, somewhat dubiously.
"The CCT network."
"…But you're not even using your scroll."
"Don't worry about that." The android waved away the confused statement, returning her attention to the red-cloaked girl. "However, it would seem that you're on to something, Ruby. What do you wish to do?"
The red-cloaked girl silently mulled over the question, contemplating the building before them. It was at that point that, amidst the feeling so similar yet so unlike her own, amidst that incessant tugging at the back of her mind, she suddenly felt something else.
That keen sensation one gets when they feel like they are being watched. And a not entirely unfamiliar one to her at that. She looked up.
There they were, on the roof, the wolf-masked girl in the white cloak, sitting at the edge, swinging her legs in an all too cheerful innocence, the massive bulk of the purple spectral lamb-masked beowolf behind her, both of them staring right back, one with all the demeanor of a curious child, the other with that of a waiting predator.
Something was most definitely not right here.
"Going in." She announced, making to enter the clinic. The other two girls followed, one wondering what might be happening, the other wondering how what was meant to be a simple checkup seemed to be turning into something so much more complicated.
/
The lobby, decked with a large waiting room with plenty of seats, a fair few TV screens and magazines, and kid-friendly posters on several health procedures littering the walls, was the kind of place that seemed like it was trying to put in the effort to look welcoming, but said effort was falling flat on account of the decidedly unwelcoming sterile design. The fact that it was completely deserted, save for the one nurse at the reception desk, did not do much to help that impression, even more so because the woman looked so haggard as she stared blankly into nothing that she didn't even seem to realize the trio were there even as they approached her station.
"Excuse me?" Yang ventured politely, causing the woman to startle as if she had just woken up.
"Oh goodness, I am so terribly sorry for that, we have had some busy times around here lately." The woman said embarrassedly as she recovered, gracing the girls with a kind smile that did nothing to hide how she seemed to be struggling mightily against the urge to yawn. "Welcome to Kingsrest clinic. What can I do for you today?"
"Uh, yeah, we had an appointment for an MRI. For Ruby Rose, by request of Dr. Foster of Beacon Academy?" Yang explained, gesturing to her younger sister, to whom the nurse glanced before quickly averting her gaze.
"R-right, please give me a moment to check the records…" She requested nervously as she turned to the computer and began typing away. "Rose, Rose… Ah, yes, here it is. The first such exam we've had scheduled in a fair while. Uh, what a coincidence… Anyway, please, take a seat. The doctor in charge of the procedure will be with you shortly."
"Alright, thanks." The blond replied, and after a moment's hesitation, decided to further add: "Are you feelin alright, ma'am? You're looking kind of out of it."
"Oh, I appreciate the concern, dear. It's like I said, we've had some very busy times around this place. We're all kind of feeling the burn here." The woman answered, sounding appreciative of the concern.
"What could be giving you such excessive amounts of work if by your admission you're not getting that many appointments?" Penny asked casually, causing the woman to flinch rather noticeably.
"Oh, uh, well… I am afraid I am not at liberty to say." She stammered out nervously. "Please, just wait for the doctor to get here…"
"That will be quite unnecessary, Miss Opal, I'm here already." A jovial, if weary-sounding voice replied.
All eyes turned to the direction of the stairs as the speaker approached. He was a short, pudgy, clean-shaven older-looking man, with neatly cut dark hair crisscrossed with greying locks, a pair of thick-rimmed glasses on a rather large nose, his ears dark-furred and rounded at the tips marking him as a faunus, and the white gown and ID tag in it marking him as a doctor.
"Why, good afternoon, ladies. Doctor Marco Rosa, at your service." The man introduced himself with an amiable smile, his eyes glancing in between all 3 of the girls curiously. "I take it one of you is Miss Rose, yes?"
"Me…" Ruby replied, raising her hand.
"Why, let me just say, I am delighted to make your acquaintance, Miss Rose. I must admit I was quite curious when Doctor Foster spoke to me of your situation, it's not often that Beacon requests such procedures. I also found the similarity between our names a funny coincidence, if I'm being honest." Dr. Rosa chattered on, before seemingly realizing that the girl in question was quietly observing him.
"Is there something you find curious, Miss Rose?" When the girl and the bird on her shoulder both tilted their heads, the man's smile turned into an amused grin. "Oh, no need to be surprised, I've been at this for long enough to read the cues even if you can't manage to fully express them. I can tell that you wish to ask something, so, by all means, go ahead."
"Ears…" The girl muttered simply, making it clear what exactly she had been looking at and not really noticing the mortified look her sister threw at her.
"Ah," The man intoned with a knowing nod, far from offended, in fact even flapping the appendages in question with an amused smile even as he threw his arms open and gave a slight, theatrical bow. "Yes, you're not the first to express confusion about them, Miss. Not many people can guess at a glance what I am, I tend to make a game of guessing it with younger patients that drop by, in fact. If you want to know, well, I happen to be a tapir faunus. My mother was an eagle, and my father was a horse, and somehow here I am. How does that work? I have no idea!"
None of the girls responded, two of them staring in open confusion at the man's eccentric demeanor and the other not giving much of any sort of reaction besides tilting her head further, while the nurse simply rolled her eyes in familiar exasperation.
"A tough crowd, I see." The doctor commented, taking the silence in stride. "Anyway, I do believe we have strayed a bit. After all, there's an exam to run, no? If you'll follow me, Miss Rose, we'll get you sorted out in a jiffy. Although I must insist that your pet stay behind. We are still a respectable clinic, and we have finished renovating the building just recently."
Merle gave an offended squawk at being called a pet, but even with a somehow perfectly projected grumpiness the bird still took flight and nestled himself in one of the nearby waiting chairs. Satisfied, the doctor made for the stairs.
"If you'd follow me then."
Ruby took a moment to glance at her company, Penny giving her a friendly nod, her sister a more uncertain one.
"Back soon…" She mumbled as she made to follow the man.
Leaving the other two girls to go sit down, opposite to each other. Yang stared in growing confusion as the redhead gently grabbed her sister's crow and placed it on her lap, petting the bird softly, as if she were a puzzle that the blonde could not quite figure out.
The confusion and resulting frustration must have been plain to see, because with a whirring boop of her weird drone thingy, the girl stared back at Yang with a friendly smile.
"Is there something you need, Yang?" She asked curiously.
"…Ok, I am just going to go ahead and say it." The blonde said, deciding it wasn't worth bottling it up any longer. "Who are you? How do you know my sister? How did you know what was happening back at… the docks? Why are you always trying to hug my sister like she's someone you haven't seen in ages? How do you even know her?! She's never… she has never had friends, much less any "old" friends… How did she accept you so quickly?"
The redhead did not immediately reply, wisely deciding not to bring attention to how increasingly frantic the older sister had become during her questioning, her friendly smile morphing into a more blank, contemplative demeanor as she blinked once, twice.
"Well, if I am being totally honest, I had never seen Ruby until we all met a few days ago. I just happened to confuse her with someone else I knew before, who happened to be a mutual acquaintance of ours. And as for the hugging, well," She said, sounding slightly embarrassed even as she kept gently petting the bird. "I did not have the most companionable of upbringings, and that has left me… a bit touch-starved as a result, so sometimes I may go a bit overboard. But I have no ill intentions, if that's what's worrying you, nor any romantic inclinations towards her, if this is one of those "concerned older sibling" things. I just really want to be her friend because she reminds me so much of my past, and the physical contact is just a way in which I like to express my friendliness."
"What acquaintance? What past? What does Ruby have to do with any of that?" Yang pressed, increasingly more frustrated at how every answer seemed to spawn new questions. How was it possible for so much to be happening in her sister's life and of her not to notice one damn bit of it?!
"Well…" The redhead hesitated, looking suddenly rather contrite. "My apologies, but if she hasn't told you, it is really not my story to tell. You'd be better off just talking to her about it. If I may say so, I think she'd be happy to explain."
Yang opened her mouth to angrily continue pressing, nearly standing up due to her mounting frustration, but it was obvious to her that the odd girl was not going to elaborate any further, and that, even as empty as the place was, it would not do to cause a scene. And so she relented, leaning back in her seat as she was once more left to stew on her frustrations and regrets.
On the bitter thought that, try as she might, she just kept failing her sister…
/
A while later, Ruby returned to the lobby, followed closely by the doctor. Penny could not help but double take when she noticed the blank-faced girl was quietly sucking on a lollipop.
"I appreciate how calm and collected a patient you were, Miss Rose." The man was saying amusedly as they were coming down the stairs. "I've had many a patient far older than you that wasn't nearly as well-behaved going into the machine."
"Is fine…"
"The results of the MRI will be forwarded to Dr. Foster within the next couple of days. He will inform you of the results, but if you'll allow me to provide a sneak peak, from what I've seen there's not much to worry about." He continued, whispering that last part in a mock conspiratorial tone. "Now then, I'd say we are done here, and I'm sure a clinic is one of the last places where you 3 young ladies would like spending your day in, so off you go now."
Ruby did not immediately reply, considering the man with a quizzical head tilt as Merle found his perch on her shoulder once more. Dr. Rosa had been nothing but affable and polite the entire time, and while as far as she could tell he was being genuine, there was an underlying current of apprehension and tiredness that she found hard to miss. Odds were high that there was an connection…
"Something wrong…?" She asked, drawing a confused look out of the man. "Seem nervous, tired. Place feels wrong. What happen?"
"… Ah, quite perceptive, aren't you, Miss Rose?" The portly man conceded with a rueful smile, the weariness he'd been trying to conceal suddenly far more apparent. "It is as Miss Opal was saying, we've been… dealing with an issue of a sensitive nature here at the clinic, and all the work round the clock is taking its toll. It's nothing you should concern yourself with however-"
The doctor's assurances were interrupted by the blaring of an ambulance's siren in the distance, making the man stiffen and break into a nervous sweat. The phone at the reception then rang, and the nurse swiftly picked it up.
"Dr. Rosa, another case! They're bringing it now!" She called out, to the man's further distress.
"Oh no…" He muttered nervously, before once more addressing Ruby and her approaching companions. "You children should leave now. Have a good day."
Before anything else could be said, the doors slammed open as paramedics wheeled in a thrashing, screaming woman, her face a mask of pure terror as she struggled against the binding they were struggling to strap on her. As if everything else suddenly ceased to exist, the doctor and the nurse immediately joined them in their course towards the elevator barking out orders and curt questions, leaving the trio to their own devices in the suddenly empty lobby.
"…What the hell was that?" Yang asked, fairly creeped out by what she had just witnessed. Uncomfortable memories came unbidden to the forefront of her mind…
"Seems to me this is one of those sudden cases of mania that I mentioned previously." Penny answered pensively. "Can't say I was expecting something quite that bad…
Despite everything, the blonde could not help but throw as glance in her sister's direction. That whole scene had seemed hauntingly familiar…
"Not me." Ruby, her eyes glued to the elevator doors, answered the unasked question tonelessly, making the blonde flinch, although she did concede the point. "Similar…"
"Indeed, this is all looking rather familiar to you as well, isn't it?" Penny inquired of the red-cloaked girl, once more dropping all friendly bubbliness for a dead serious demeanor. "This could be something much more serious than it already appears to be. And I'm getting the feeling the staff might not have the right tools to handle it. What do you wish to do?"
The red-cloaked girl did not reply, standing there, in statuesque stillness, for a fair while. Then, she moved forward, towards the stairs, and looking completely unsurprised by the development, Penny followed. Yang made to call to her, but hesitation stayed her hand even as she tried to reach out, and after a brief struggle with herself, the blonde reluctantly decided to follow.
Up the stairs the trio went, muffled yells and shuffling noise becoming more and more apparent with each step. Eventually, they reached the top floor, and as Ruby opened the door, the trio witnessed chaos.
This floor of the clinic seemed to be some sort of recovery wing, a long hall filled with rooms on either side. Screams were coming from nearly every one of those rooms, loud and wailing and filled with terror, with no coherence or rhyme or reason to the dreadful chorus they formed. Nurses and doctors and security staff, looking spent and haggard each and every one of them, kept running and from one room to another, barking out requests for equipment or medication, making the screams in one room cease, only to start up again in another.
"What the hell…?" Yang muttered in quiet horror as she stood frozen at the sight. So occupied and focused were the staff that the girls had entered the premises unopposed. Penny was looking around in pensive silence, while Ruby, one the other hand, was feeling rather… confused.
The pull… was not stronger in this floor, despite the obvious madness ensuing around her, rather…
"Wait… you!" A familiar voice called out in surprise, the trio turning to see Dr. Rosa approaching as swiftly as his girth allowed, pulling a handkerchief out of his gown's pocket to wipe the sweat off his brow as she reached them. "What are you young ladies doing here? This area is off-limits!"
"Sir," Penny said, in full serious mode, pulling out of her pocket a badge and a card, which she handed out to the confused man. "I am Penny O.R. Polendina, special agent of the Atlesian military, and by the authority granted to me by this position I am requesting access for me and my two associates. Just what is going on here?"
Ruby did not miss how increasingly more scared the doctor was feeling during the android's introduction, peaking as he inspected the badge and card. To his credit, the fear was quick to give way to a weary resignation.
"I see," He said with a weary sigh. "I supposed it was only a matter of time until we stopped being able to keep this under wraps. If you'd follow me to my office, I will explain."
/
"I can't say for sure, when this all started." Dr. Rosa said gravely, sitting at the desk of his modest office in an otherwise empty section of the clinic, one that by his own explanations was still being refurbished after the recent renovations, while Penny and Ruby sat in the chairs before him, Yang opting for the couch a bit further back. "But I think the first signs were shortly after our most recent research begun, a few months ago."
"What did this research entail, exactly?" Penny inquired professionally, accompanied by a whirr from the ball.
"We were studying the possibilities of sleep-induced aura therapy." The man replied, clearly getting into the swing of things with this topic as he began explaining. "You see, sleep is a process through which our bodies' systems can recover and remove waste that formed during our active, waking periods. It is meant to refresh, to heal, our bodies and minds for another period of activity. And aura, as I am sure you are all aware, provides a relative increase to its wielder's regenerative capabilities for as long as it is active. I have thus been working on the theory that, allowing a person to sleep, while keeping their aura active and circulating during the process, could result in a complimentary enhancement to sleep's own healing properties, and an overall marked improvement to the person's physical, mental and possibly spiritual health."
The man reached into a drawer in his desk, pulling out a stack of papers he handed over to the redhead, who begun skimming through it.
"This is the paper I've been working on regarding this subject. We gathered some volunteers, huntsmen and civilians alike, even awakening auras for the later, and while they slept, we used certain aura boosting chemical cocktails to keep it flowing, monitoring their bodily functions, and their brain activity. One common factor that was quickly discernible through checking for the latter was that this process facilitated the patients dreams in all stages of sleep."
"A fascinating idea." The android commended sincerely, and despite everything, the man smiled appreciatively. "So, what went wrong?"
"Honestly? I have absolutely no idea." The doctor admitted ruefully. "Even when we got started, before the renovations, some anomalies were detected. A few of the volunteers would report a strange voice in their dreams, and then later own show signs of lethargy, spending more and more time asleep even outside the trials as the months went by, with no apparent reason far as we could determine. Eventually, even the nurses and assistants around the clinic during this period would report strange sensations, even awake, like something was watching, trying to speak, just outside of ear shot… Then, just last week, everything turned for the worse."
At that, Ruby and Penny shared a meaningful glance. Last week, he said. The timing was far too convenient…
"All the lethargic volunteers we had under watch suddenly woke up in a manic frenzy, screaming and raving and sometimes even trying to self-mutilate, which is why we've taken to keeping them bound, for their own safety." The man said without noticing, hands trembling even as he struggled to continue. "And try as we might, we simply could not find a cause for it, nor a way to stop it. We can sedate them into a dreamless sleep, but this is a stopgap measure that never lasts too long."
"Your paper names 12 different volunteers." Penny replied, after a moments consideration. "The number we saw on the last floor seemed superior."
"And therein, I afraid, lies the worst part of this mystery." The man admitted, now fully exuding a fearful nervousness. "Whatever is causing these… psychotic episodes, whatever it is that this experiment has unleashed… it's spreading. Some of our staff have been affected, and then civilians living in the neighborhood and, and if this keeps spreading, we… we don't know how to stop it…"
"I take it that is why you have tried to keep this all under wraps?" Penny inquired, to which the man nodded regretfully.
"We did not want to cause a panic among the populace. That would make an unseen threat within the city draw in the Grimm without, and that would simply be a recipe for disaster. We've been discreetly picking up any and all cases in the area and rushing to come up with a solution, but as your presence indicates, we are running on fumes, running out of time, and we still do not know what to do…"
"My apologies, that seems like a very rough situation." The redhead said, not unkindly.
"Yes," The man accepted tiredly. "And now, if you'll excuse me, I need to get back to trying to find a solution. I do not wish to go down in history as the man who doomed Vale, you see."
"I understand, doctor." Penny replied with a nod, as the man got up and made for the door. "One last question, though."
"Yes…?"
"Is there anything in common between these psychotic episodes?"
…
…
"Yes." The man answered. "They all say, in one form or another, that the dream must end."
And with that he was out the door, leaving the girls once again to their devices.
"…They are not equipped to handle this." Penny said conclusively after a minute of sepulchral silence, turning to the girl sitting beside her. "You know it, don't you? This feels far too familiar to be a coincidence."
"Yes…" Ruby mumbled quietly, deep in thought. "Must stop."
"I agree, but how do you propose we go about it? By my estimate, we're no better equipped to handle the situation ourselves, even if we may be more knowledgeable." The ancient android admitted. "This was never my field of expertise, even back then."
"The dream… Saw it…"
"What…?" Yang interjected, sounding thoroughly lost. "Ruby, what are you saying? That you also saw whatever's affecting those people…?"
"Yes," The red-cloaked girl replied with no hesitation. "After docks. Confusing then, but now…"
"So you too fell under the influence of this… affliction, although it does not seem to be affecting you negatively…" Penny stated ponderingly, before her eyes widened briefly in realization. "You're thinking of going under again, aren't you?"
"Feel pull still, in back of mind." Came the muttered reply. "It… strongest here. If sleep, may find solution."
"A bold move." The redhead considered, her serious express growing concerned. "But one not without a considerable amount of risk. If we're dealing with what we believe to be dealing with… You've showed no ill effects so far, but that's no reason to believe it can't happen."
"No more options, must try." Ruby said simply, turning her head to stare blankly at the girl sitting beside her, even as Merle nested himself in her lap. "Trust you keep watch."
"…Eh, not like I can think of any other way. I can't exactly go myself…" Penny relented, a mirthless smile on her face at the implications. "Yes, I suppose you can count on me for that. Good luck in there, Ruby."
Giving a nod that she meant to be encouraging, and even as her sister stood up to protest in confusion, Ruby closed her eyes…
/
The hazy fields of unspeakable nothingness spread all around her, as far as vision allowed in this place so detached from the laws of the waking world. As last time, the familiar thrum to the inexplicable cacophonies that whispered in unborn, unheard voices brought to her an odd feeling of… nostalgia.
As before, she took a step forward, then another, then another, each step causing the nothing to writhe as if in agony, as if seeking to escape, as if mere notion of movement, of something, was anathema to it.
But even in this realm of ever-constant chaos, of ever-changing stasis, she could feel, with senses that by rights should not have availed her here, that two things were different since last time she'd come here.
For one, the pull, that odd, whispered call, was nowhere to be felt.
For another, this time, she was not alone.
"Well, well, well…"
Before her, the misty darkness churned, as if something were trying to pierce the veil. Something that, in a moment of horrible stillness within the dark, came into being, something that was definitely familiar.
Like a shadow that had gained life of its own, it stood, floating mist giving way to a torso plated in armor of darkest night, limbs whose all too human proportions were ruined by the monstrous, serrated blades that grew out from them. And a face that was little more than a blank canvas of darkness, marked only by twin streaks of white that balefully stared down at her.
"At long last," The shade's insidious whisper rang out, nothing more than a pure resonance of scorn. "The prodigal son returns. Or I suppose I should say daughter now? Such human concepts are so utterly meaningless either way…"
"Nocturne…" She said simply, standing neutrally in the face of the Eternal Nightmare.
"Ah, so you remember me, I suppose that means we can skip the introductions." The shade said, its words a mere parody of politeness. "After all, how could any of our kind not know about Fiddlesticks, End of Man? About Fiddlesticks, First of Ten?"
"Not him." She said, and even in the blankness that was the demon's face, a disgusted sneer was plain to see.
"Oh, is that denial I hear, First?" It retorted mockingly. "How utterly ironic, coming from you. How utterly… human."
"What you planning?" She inquired, not rising to the provocation, as the shadow began circling around her, much like a hunter looking for an opening…
"This place, lies between dream and reality, mind and matter." Nocturne begun, speaking as if it wasn't even acknowledging her presence. "Too far away from the mortal realm to openly influence it. Too far away from the other side to catch their notice. It has been my sanctuary during all this time, however much that mortal concept can influence this place."
"Their?" She voiced curiously, and this gave the shadow pause, its eyes staring at her with what might have passed for bewilderment.
"…You don't know." It stated more than asked, letting loose a rumbling, mocking laughter at the apparent realization. "Oh, how utterly, deliciously ironic. Alas, it is not relevant to the current situation nor would I be inclined to speak of it even if it were, and at any rate…"
The darkness rippled, and for the briefest moments, the whispers could be heard once more, moaning their pleas for succor.
"Imagine my surprise when after ages here, I once again feel a conduit, my joy when I realize someone in the mortal realm journeyed too deep once again. Once again, the same old mistakes, letting me in." The shade's head moved in the way one would while rolling their eyes contemptuously. "More proof of mortal folly, as if any were needed."
"The research…"
"Oh yes. A way back into my hunting grounds, beckoning to me like water in the desert? How could I resist?" The demon inquired rhetorically, casually scrapping its blades against each other as he circled around. "It was, unfortunately, not an immediate thing. The conduit, present as it was, was too weak. For a while, I could do little more than nudge it here and there, assert the tiniest bits of my influence… Until about a week ago, in mortal plane time."
Its eyes flashed in her direction, lines thinning in a reflection of twisted mirth.
"Oh yes, the ripples of your actions on that day reached as far as this place. Your fear widened the cracks, allowing me to slip through and haunt the mortal dreamscape once more. I suppose I ought to thank you, if not for the fact that I can guess you are here to stop me. Can't stand a little competition, can you?"
"Not him." She said again.
This time, the demon gave no response other than a chuckle, so positively dripping with malice that the resulting ripples made monstrous shapes surge through the infinite nothing.
"You were once the greatest of us," it mused, even as everything about his faded form begun looking more and more like a predator awaiting the right moment to pounce. "The very first, come into being at the dawn of creation itself. Never was one of our kind so much… And yet here you stand, choosing to be so little… So weak… So very…"
She tensed imperceptibly.
"…Human."
And then the demon lunged.
She leapt of the way, the wicked serrated blade missing her face by a hair's breadth. Her scythe sprung in her hand as she landed, unleashing its crescent waves of power as she swung. They struck nothing as Nocturne's form melded with the ambient darkness, leaving no trace of his presence behind.
"For ages, I have languished away in the dark." His voice echoed out, coming seemingly from everywhere and nowhere. "I will not be denied my sustenance, least of all by a disgrace to our kind!"
It was only well-honed instinct that allowed her to bring her scythe up for a parry, sparks lighting up the recoiling nothingness as smooth silvery metal met barbed demonic blade.
"What happened to you? Here you stand, passing for a mortal, working to protect them, you who once hunted them like all of us. How many lives did you end, throughout the ages? How much blood nurtured your fields? What made you turn your back on what you are?"
She swung at him, only for his form to vanish and reappear further back. He shot his arms forward, and as if it were a mere extension of his will in this nightmare realm, the darkness came surging towards her in a relentless tide.
"It is downright pitiful, to see you brought so low."
She tried to move out of the way, calling upon her own dark winds to mitigate the attack, tried to spread her own influence upon this space, but the surge was unyielding under the command of the demon of nightmares, empowered by his will shaping this place of dreams abandoned by sanity, pushing her back, pressing down on her, forcing her to buckle.
"You think fear will avail you here, in my domain?" The shadow mocked as it kept up the assault. "You can't bring fear to what brings fear in turn, you are nothing but the tool through which I hunt!"
By the time if finally relented and dissipated, the sudden lack of resistance and the exertion had her on her hands and knees, her scythe dropped and vanished, her head down, obscured by her red hood, her entire being seemingly exhausted, spent.
"If I were capable of such a thing, it'd be a mercy to put you out of this misery."
The demon approached her then, with the slow certainty of a predator that knew the prey was cornered and the kill was assured, casually considering one of its blades, then looking down at its opponent.
"How did the mortal expression go…? Ah yes… how the mighty have fallen."
The blade swung down…
…Only to be blocked by a grasping hand.
The demon's eyes widened in shock. The hand in question, currently trapping its own arm in a vice grip, was not one of girls own, tiny, frail, human ones, but something much like his own, a claw of darkness, distinguished only from the surrounding by the faint, ghastly green glow within it, all the way down to where it sprouted from the girl's shoulder blade.
The demon realized that his arm would not budge, and with a roar of pure, undiluted hatred, he tried to swing his other one, only for it too to be stopped in its tracks by a second spectral limb, leaving the eternal nightmare immobilized, a realization that had it shrieking in rage as it struggled and thrashed in a futile attempt to break free.
"Are you… done blustering…?" She asked as she ever so slowly got up and raised her head, her left eye unleashing its baleful flames. "Because if I… have fallen… what does that say… about you?"
"Ah, and so you come out to play at last." Nocturne hissed angrily, amidst its struggles. "Do you think that you can hold me down for long? This is MY realm! Even you cannot face me here and-"
"Wrong." She cut him off, making the shadow stare down at her in surprise. "I am not him… just the bearer of… what he left behind. And even if… I wasn't… you are nothing… to me. Nothing more than… an illusion I enforce. You never had… any hold over me…"
At her words, the darkness once more rippled, only this time, more than the dark, unspeakable mist of nightmares, it took a more definite form, one not unlike fluttering wings of a million, million unseen crows, overtaking the dread place, wrestling control from one demonic presence to another. Suddenly, in this place where law and reality did not apply, it was not the shadowy monster that stood as tall as infinity before the girl, but to the shadow's distress, to the demon's dawning realization, it was the other way around.
"Or any hope… against me…"
And the demon, so caught off-guard by the sudden reversal, by the sheer realization that even after so long bidding its time it was never in any real control, could only bellow out in a mad rage as its struggles to break free from the girl's shadowy grip redoubled.
"UNHAND ME!" The rippling shade demanded in outrage. "UNHAND ME RIGHT NOW!"
"…As you wish."
The girl pulled.
And with a horrible, ripping noise, the demon's terrible, wrathful bellows turned to shrieks of agony as its body went one way, its arm the other. The shadowy limb that held the greater portion tossed it away, sending the wraith into a tumble from which it barely managed to steady itself, floating weakly in this nothingness, painfully holding the ravaged stump where its arm should be, staring back at the missing limb still in the grip of the girl, now slowly fading into the nothingness.
"How…?" It asked weakly, it whispered tone uncomprehending. In the shimmering, white expanses that were its eyes, for the first time since an age long past, something very much akin to fear shone.
"Leave." The girl replied, the ghastly light of her eye flaring ominously. "Now."
…
…
…
"…Fine." The nightmare hissed hatefully, averting his gaze first in submission, as its ethereal form slowly begun sinking into the darkness. "I will return to the shadows. You wish to stop the malaise spreading in the mortal realm? Go ahead, I will not stop you."
That made the girl blink in confusion, which only made the demon sneer.
"Oh yes, this corruption? I am not the cause, just another symptom, drawn in just like you were." It hissed derisively, only its face now visible as it threw her one last, hateful glare. "You may wear this mask, deny it however much you want… But you will never be a part of them. Sooner or later, one way or another, your precious little charade will end…"
With that last, spiteful promise, the Eternal Nightmare vanished, leaving no trace of its presence behind. Leaving the girl once more alone amidst the formless shadows, where she took a moment to bring one of the shadowy claws to eye level, where with but a curious thought the fingers wriggled, as if they were but another extension of herself. This, was new, but something to consider later.
For with the demon's retreat, the darkness seemed to still, the unformed chaos rippling all around fading with it into a true nothingness, an infinite expanse of emptiness as far as could be sensed. And amidst this now calmed realm, the pull returned, closer now than it had ever been.
Suddenly, she once again was not alone.
A person stood before her, his back to her. She tilted her head, considering the new presence. There was nothing much noteworthy about the bald, elderly man other than the fact he was wearing nothing but a hospital gown.
"I can't sleep…" The man moaned pitifully after what seemed like an eternity of silence, as he turned towards her, his face a rictus of sorrow marred by empty eye sockets. "I can't wake up…"
Before she could even speak, his entire form crumbled into dust, and that dust grew and expanded to engulf the nothingness, taking form and shape all around her. She stood there passively as piece by piece, a place she recognized as one of the halls of the clinic took shape around her.
"I don't know what happened…"
She began walking, the only way she was allowed, further and further into the hall. As she passed, what seemed like a perfect facsimile of the real place became more and more decayed. Paint peeled from the walls, the ground grew cracked, chairs and tables and beds rusted over.
"I've been calling for help for so long…"
Black ooze begun creeping through the cracks, giving the place a not-insignificant similarity to the insides of a rotting carcass.
"Please, can you help…?"
Eventually, she found herself facing the end of the crumbling hall, a dead end if not for the familiar door present there.
"I know something's wrong, but I just can't stop dreaming…"
She turned the knob, and opened the door…
/
Ruby's eyes opened instantly as she shot up to her feet.
Before either Penny or Yang could overcome their momentary shock at the sudden movement, the red-cloaked girl vanished in a burst of petals and feathers, dashing out the door of the room and up the stairs, up and up until she reached the recovery wing. Only there did she stop, her body coalescing right before a startled Dr. Rosa and the nurses he'd been talking to.
"Miss Rose, what are you- Ack!?"
Before he could finish, the red-cloaked girl caught a firm grip on the back of his neck, and heedless of his frightened protests, begun dragging back the way she came.
"M-miss Rose, what are you doing?! L-let me go! S-stop!"
Seeing the commotion, a couple of security agents tried to stop her, but a quick flaring of her power left them both frozen in fear. No one else found the courage to try.
By the time her sister and the android had caught up with Ruby, she was already halfway back down, carrying the terrified man down the stairs.
"Ruby, what are you doing?!" Yang said, aghast at her sister's sudden, almost frenzied behavior.
"Miss Polendina, help! Miss Rose has gone manic!" The doctor pleaded.
"…I do not think she is." Penny replied calmly, startling both the man and Yang. "This behavior does not match the patterns of other victims, from what I saw. I dare say this is something else."
Then she turned aside, letting the younger girl pass by unimpeded, unheeding of the doctors blubbering pleas, and then calmly following behind. Soon, they were back in the doctor's office, and Ruby finally let go of the man, roughly dropping him in front of his desk.
"P-please," The man pleaded, pitifully. "What are you d-doing?"
The girl's scythe came to her grip, as she stared down blankly at the utterly terrified faunus.
"Ending the dream."
She raised her weapon, the baleful green glow suffusing the blade, and as the man screamed in pure terror… She swung it down on the ground, causing a cloud of debris to shoot upwards and briefly obscure the room.
And when the dust settled…
"N-no…" Dr. Rosa whispered, as the secret hidden beneath was left plain for them all to see.
The wrapped corpse, buried beneath all the plastic and metal, filling the room with the stench of decay.
"Mr. Carter…He… He was one of the first 13 volunteers for the experiment…" The doctor said sorrowfully, in the tone of a man who simply no longer had the necessary energy to spend. "A homeless man, from around the neighborhood, eager to accept in exchange for food and a place to sleep. It… it was only far too late that we realized he had a blood clot in his brain… He died in his sleep. It would doom any research, and as a Faunus I'd never get a chance anywhere else… I panicked. Took advantage of the renovations to hide him here…"
A shaft of pure light suddenly embedded itself in the body, and Ruby turned towards the entrance, where she saw the white-cloaked girl, bow in hand. She gave a cheery little wave, then turned and skipped out the sight. No one else seemed to have noticed. Suddenly, the feeling of inherent wrongness that permeated the building vanished. In the back of her mind, Ruby could almost hear one last, relieved sigh…
"You left him alone… In the dark." Ruby told the man, her sister staring in horrified shock down at the body, Penny with grave seriousness. "Confused, lost… on the brink of death… with aura active… his semblance manifested."
She gave the doctor a long, blank look.
"It was his dream."
/
Dr. Rosa's name stems from the Portuguese expression "Sonhos cor-de-rosa", which is how we say "Sweet dreams", but would more literally translate as "Pink dreams", while his being a tapir faunus is a reference to the dream-eating Baku. He isn't a bad person, just a man who made a big mistake while messing with something he shouldn't have.
Also my apologies to any readers from medical and/or neurological backgrounds for any inaccuracies/inconsistencies in theory and procedures you may find, I must admit my research this time around was not very thorough.
Anyway, hope you guys enjoyed this spoopy chapter. Next time, two new players, one already introduced, one only hinted at, will join the game…
Before that though, next up we have Beneath a Broken Moon next month.
Cya all on the next one.