This dream was LONG and took pretty much the entire chapter. I'm going to have to add like 2 or three in the next chapter to get the plot moving. When I wrote this one, I didn't expect it to take so long to get through. I even cut out some extra stuff that didn't add a lot. Even so, it just kept going, but it was a dream full of inner turmoil, so that was to be expected. Also, the person who coined the term, RWBY-Doo, you win the internet. I laughed way too much at that and couldn't get it out of my mind. Congratulations, good sir.
Thanks to NeoShadows for Betaing.
If you continue to enjoy my stories, feel free to check out my p a treon.
P a treon . com (Slash) Darkbetrayer
Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY.
"Adam Taurus?" Jaune didn't recognize that name, but he saw Weiss flinch and straighten up next to him. "Who's that?"
"He was a terrorist that wrecked fear into the kingdoms for years before he was finally cornered," Blake explained. "Rather than being captured, he took his own life in this house. Ever since then, nothing has grown around here. Anyone who attempted to live in the house either ran out, disappeared, or ended up dead."
"And… you want us to go in there?" Jaune asked tentatively. "Is that a good idea?"
"To be fair, the guy who died tripped down the stairs." Yang shrugged. "The rest of the people Blake bothered-…"
"Interviewed," Blake interjected, eyes narrowing.
"Fine…interviewed… just said they didn't feel right and weird voices kept them awake." Yang amended after Blake's outburst.
"People keep saying ghosts aren't real, but if we catch one, we can totally be famous!" Ruby bounced up and down giddily. "I got all our ghost-catching equipment in the car. I spent days researching how to properly build our paranormal gear to both seek and capture those spooky baddies, so now's the perfect opportunity to test my sweet babies out!"
"Ghosts aren't real." Weiss flatly blurted out and then blushed as Jaune glanced at her. She was too used to saying things like that to the real Ruby, it just came out. Being a dream, ghosts could totally be real. With a murderer's ghost being the topic though, it sounded like this was not going to be a pleasant dream.
"They are too!" Ruby whined like your typical child. "I got so much ghost-catching equipment too! They wouldn't sell it if ghosts aren't real. But they were kinda plain and didn't work, so I took them apart and made them my own. I redesigned them to look cooler and added some extra oomph." She ran to the vehicle and opened the drunk, pulling out multiple bags. "I got one for each of you!" Ruby began passing out large duffle bags to each person. Red for her, white for Weiss, black for Blake, yellow for Yang, and blue for Jaune.
At least the dreamer didn't give him and Yang the same color bag. That would just be lazy.
"Let's go in already," Yang suggested, looking at the sky. "It seems like it's going to rain any moment."
"Yes, the sooner we investigate, the sooner we learn the truth." Blake agreed, leading the way. Ruby and Yang instantly followed her, with Zwei trotting cutely behind them.
Even if the two Huntsman in training were still puzzled by the sudden turn of events leading them both into diving into a dream, Jaune and Weiss went along with the others.
"So… who is Adam Taurus?" Jaune whispered to Weiss as they followed a good distance behind the others.
Just the repeat of the new name on Jaune's tongue caused a visible chill to stiffen the icy heiress's shoulders.
"He's a terrorist who is part of the White Fang." Weiss muttered softly. "Unlike Blake, he represents the worst part of that organization. Sort of the reason I had issues trusting Faunus in the first place. He's wanted all over Remnant for murder, destruction, and much more. He's one of the main reasons people see the White Fang as violent. I lost people I knew when I was younger to him when he sent a message to my father and Atlas…"
The girl shivered and Jaune put his hand on her shoulder.
"It's okay, it's a dream. This is all… I'm going with Blake's… imagination."
"You think it's Blake's dream?"
"Unless Ruby or Yang know about him, it's not them." Jaune shook his head. "And since it's not mine or yours, that only leaves one viable option. I mean, unless you want to consider Zwei as being some kind of special White Fang agent."
Just the thought of the adorable trotting corgi being some scary masked villain caused a tiny giggle to be heard from Weiss. Still, she was stiff and shivering, as if she was truly about to confront some kind of terrible phantom at the next corner.
"Of course, there's a small chance the real dreamer is inside the house." He looked at it as Blake began to unlock the door. "But I think it's Blake. You said she was once a White Fang member, so it's the only logical conclusion. Something must have triggered her into dreaming up such a weird scenario tied to her past. So, we just have to carefully navigate our way through this."
"Can we just… wake up?" Weiss asked softly.
"Umm, usually I get kicked out when something seriously shocks me or if the dreamer wakes up," Jaune considered. "I don't really know how to wake up short of trying to kill myself and see if I wake up. In all the time I've had my Semblance, I've never really had the chance to test it out. I tend to just stumble my way through it and kinda just wing it. "
"You died once?" Weiss gasped. Since he didn't tell her the subjects of his dreams, she didn't know what everything he went through.
"Accidentally." Jaune lied to soothe her worries. "The dreamer protects themself, not me. It's just, since this is the first time I jumped straight to a second person's dream, and you're with me, I'm not sure how this is going to work."
"Ah… I see…"
Weiss understood his meaning. If he woke up, would Weiss get stuck in Blake's dream? Probably not, but it was still a risk.
"So we just follow Blake then and let her dream play out?"
"Yeah, acting the part as best you can helps move it along." Jaune nodded. "Though, this is a dream, so weird stuff can happen. Try not to get too shocked. Also, anything you see here…"
"I keep a secret." Weiss spoke the words before he could. "I know."
"You two coming?!" Yang called out. "Or do you want to make out in the rain?! Blake wants to get started."
Lightning cracked across the sky and the rain began to fall.
"Anything else I should know?" Weiss muttered as they rushed to the safety of the building.
"Careful what you say," Jaune whispered back. "The subconscious might take what you say and make it a reality."
"You've done that a lot, I suppose."
"Understatement of the year." The boy chuckled.
Once they gathered inside the dark house, Blake flicked the light switch. The lights above them flickered a couple of times before fully turning on, casting the living room in a soft glow. There was old, flowery patterned furniture, like the kind of decoration Jaune expected to see at his grandmother's house. There was no TV here, just a coffee table, two soft-looking couches, and a couple of sofa chairs. The kitchen was visible through one doorway and another led to a hallway, with stairs in the far corner leading upstairs. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary and everyone filed in, taking their seats as Blake pulled out a rolled-up sheet of paper.
"Okay, here's the layout of the house," Blake told them. "We're in the living room, the kitchen is obviously there, and down that hallway, you'll find a study, bathroom, junk room, and closet. At the end of the hall is a door that leads to the garage. There are also stairs leading down into the basement. Upstairs there are four bedrooms and another bathroom. Pretty simple."
"Kind of a small house, isn't it?" Weiss commented.
"We can't all grow up in mansions." Blake glanced up for a moment before circling some locations.
Yang and Ruby giggled as Weiss blushed. Zwei barked happily and jumped into Weiss' lap, letting her pet him and cheering her up. Blake glared at the dog for a moment before continuing. Seemed that even if she disliked the cut dog, she couldn't get rid of him even in her dreams. Which was good, considering Zwei helped to ease any anxiety welling up in the heiress.
"Our job is to search for evidence of supernatural phenomena to see if this house is haunted. In each of your bags, Ruby packed a small handheld detector like this." She pulled out an electronic device with a small sonar screen and flashing lights. "This should detect ectoplasm or ghostly residue."
"Ewww, sounds gross." Ruby shivered.
"It's like ghost boogers!" Yang whispered loudly.
"EEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWW!" Ruby wailed.
Weiss rolled her eyes. Even in a dream Yang and Ruby were so immature. Reaching into her bag, she prepared to pull out her device to play along, when she realized it wasn't there. In fact, nothing resembling ghost-detecting equipment was in there. Instead, the items were soft or made of paper.
"What is this?!" The heiress demanded, pulling out some fancy dresses and wads of money.
"Ruby…" Blake sighed and looked at the girl. "You said you packed everything."
"I did!" Ruby protested. "I must have grabbed Weiss' day pack by mistake!"
"Day pack…?" Weiss blinked and mumbled those words as she looked at Jaune, who was trying not to laugh. It must have been a dream thing and she quickly looked back at her team.
"Ruby, you messed up mine too!" Yang was digging through her backpack. "You took my shower bag." Inside were hair care products and a bath towel.
"Hehe, oops!" Ruby stuck out her tongue and tapped her head. "Well, I accidentally grabbed my snack bag, so would anyone like a cookie?" She opened her bag to show the piles of sweets in there.
"Watch this," Jaune softly whispered to Weiss and then couched to address the room. "I'm glad I packed my own bag." He reached in and pulled out the ghost-detecting device. "I got one, Blake."
Weiss gaped at him before collecting herself and changing her expression to glare at him, more out of irritation than anger. Jaune figured he probably could have warned her, but it was easier for him when he was the last person and knew what to expect. He doubted Blake would have thought Ruby would mess up so badly, so it was either part of the dream's plot or some silly cross-connections between things in her subconscious.
For the boy who possessed a dream Semblance and had grown familiar enough to manipulate the small gears of the dreamer's world, he was able to do something so simple. It shouldn't have surprised Weiss.
"I'm glad someone was paying attention." Blake sighed, her expression exasperated as she stared at Ruby.
"Eep!" Ruby pulled her hood over her head and shrunk down in her seat. Literally shrinking down to about one-fourth of her size. Weiss could only watch in fascination while something this tame didn't even register on Jaune's radar.
…Mini Ruby was cute. Not Zwei cute, but cute.
"Looks like we'll have to split into two groups." Blake decided. "Yang, Ruby, and I will start at the top of the house, while Weiss, Jaune, and dev-... Zwei will start at the bottom."
"You want us to take the basement?" Weiss spluttered.
"We could," Blake shrugged, not looking too concerned. "But if a cobweb gets into Yang's hair, the entire house will go up in flames."
"You want to risk that, Ice Queen?" Yang grinned and high-fived Blake.
"Ugh…" Jaunne saw the look in Weiss' eyes that showed she was reminding herself this was all a dream. "Fine, whatever."
Jaune was a little surprised Blake set them up like this. Sure, sending him and Zwei off was one thing, as they weren't part of Blake's team. But Weiss too? Did that mean something or was she just splitting the group down the middle? Weiss was thinking the same thing as she stared at Blake.
"Let's get to it, gang!" Yang fist-pumped the air and picked up mini Ruby. Wasn't a chibi Ruby this time like in Yang's dream, just a small one.
A lot of people seemed to think Ruby was small. Maybe it was the way she held herself.
"Shall we get going?" Jaune pointed to the dark hallway and the even darker stairwell leading into the cold scary basement.
"Do we have to?" Weiss muttered, looking around.
"Could stay here, but no telling what will happen. Again, it's better to play along with the rails of the dreamer than go off track. Not like there's a reason not to. It's just a little mystery." Jaune replied with a shrug.
"It's not real," Weiss sighed and Jaune wasn't sure if it was to herself or him.
The two of them entered the hallway and flicked the light switch. The lights did go on, which made Jaune feel better about the situation. If this was a horror dream, the lights would flicker ominously and then stay off so they were engulfed by darkness. At least they could see what was happening. However, once they were in the basement, things would probably change. Normally he would have preferred going with the dreamer, but it didn't look like this was the case. It at least meant Blake's secrets were safe from them for now. Jaune was just reaching the stairs leading into the dark void…
"Grrrrrrrrrr."
Turning around, Jaune noticed Zwei staring into the bathroom, growling.
"What's going on?" Since Weiss was behind Jaune, she was the one who peeked into the bathroom.
"AHHHH!" She jumped back and reached for her hip where she normally kept her rapier.
"What's going on?!" Jaune ran forward to block whatever was in the bathroom from reaching Weiss.
"Something moved in the mirror." Weiss began to calm down. "Ugh… I hate jump scares! So juvenile. Ruby showed me one of those videos once and I destroyed her bag of cookies as punishment."
"Did you see what it was?" Jaune turned on the light as he stepped inside. It was a small bathroom with just a toilet, a shower stall, and a sink with a mirror. Slowly approaching the mirror, he took out the device Blake had shown them and held it up. It began to beep and the screen showed a line going up and down periodically. That's when he realized his mistake. "I didn't ask how to tell if it detected something."
"It will probably be obvious," Weiss answered, sounding reasonable. "I've been meaning to ask, how did you get Blake to give you the device?"
"You can help manipulate dreams a little by suggesting things," Jaune answered. "Not a lot, as the dreamer still has final control, but if it's reasonable, the dream might help. Depends on the person. Some of the time I got a lot of help." Velvet's dream stood out when it gave him those cool exploding boomerangs. "That's why you need to be careful what you say out loud. You could give the dream ideas. And those ideas just might bite back; trust me."
"Ah… so stick to a need-to-know basis. Like following a script." Weiss nodded as she accepted his response.
"Doesn't look like anything is here, so let's go downstairs."
Jaune and Weiss left with Zwei trotting along beside them panting happily. Weiss had to pet him and call him a good boy a couple of times for protecting them, which Jaune found cute. None of them noticed what happened behind them once they departed. As they left the bathroom and started down the stairs into the basement, the bathroom lights began to flicker. Slowly at first before shutting off completely. Movement in the mirror happened again as a pair of red eyes started to glow in the dark.
Red light blazing with pure hatred.
"Schnee…" Came the rough scratchy voice from the mirror.
Meanwhile, Weiss was still attempting to get her bearings as they traversed the dream by heading down a seemingly endless flight of stairs.
"How far does this go down?" The white-haired girl muttered.
"First infinite spiral staircase, huh?" Jaune chuckled and then sobered up under her death glare. "The dream decides and usually has a purpose."
"Well, as long as it isn't a trap or anyth - AHHHHH!"
She forgot Jaune's warning. You don't say anything unnecessary out loud in someone else's dream. The subconscious was aware of them and their actions. It was entirely her fault as not only was she reminded about that rule, but she and Jaune had discussed it a lot. Thus what happened next, Weiss had no choice but to accept her punishment. The dream did indeed seem to have been listening.
And the stairs suddenly collapsed into a perfectly smooth slide.
"Weeeee!" Jaune laughed as he went before Weiss with Zwei somehow appearing in his lap, barking happily as Weiss screamed.
The three of them slid down the spiral slide for a few minutes before finally reaching the bottom with a thud.
"Ugh… I feel like I should hurt, but I don't?" Weiss groaned, standing up and stretching.
"We're not really here, so the pain is in our mind, not our bodies," Jaune explained. "But really serious injuries, it can hurt and when you wake up, there might be some lingering effects even if you're okay physically. Kinda like, what's it called? Phantom pain! You know, your brain is sorta tricked into thinking it's hurt when it's not."
"Good to know… where are we?" Weiss looked around. "This should be the basement, but it looks like a storehouse."
"Don't use logic here."
"Right, still, this is all fascinating."
The two of them, well three with Zwei, were walking through aisles of boxes, dusty items, paintings, toys, pretty much anything imaginable. More than a basement, it was like an old warehouse someone had been using for decades, just tossing their junk inside. Jaune was looking around for anything that jumped out, like a bright light or color, noise, really anything that would tell him what the subconscious was leading to. If Dream Zwei would just bark at something, it would be at least some sign.
Weiss on the other hand was taking in everything.
"Wait!" An arm smacked against Jaune's chest as Weiss made to stop him. "Let's go that way." She pointed down a side aisle.
"Uh, sure?" Shrugging, Jaune didn't have any better idea so he just let her lead a bit. "What did you see?"
"This." Weiss stopped before a large dusty painting. So raggedy, covered in dust, and stained, that it was hard to make out what it was about. "I don't know… I just feel this is something we should be looking at."
"ARF!" Zwei barked and wagged his tail.
Well, that was a clear clue if there ever was one.
"Let's see what we're dealing with." Jaune stepped up and pulled his sleeve up to gently wipe the dust away while trying to avoid damaging the painting any further. The dirt and grim came off effortlessly to reveal a boy about their age, with spiky red hair, bull horns, and blue eyes. Well, Jaune assumed they were both blue, as one was just a hole. He was also wearing a lot of black clothes. His shirt, jacket, and pants were all heavy in that color.
"That's Adam Taurus," Weiss stated. "He's younger than I know, but I've seen pictures of him enough times in Atlas. Why would Blake have this picture of him?"
"I think I know."
Jaune didn't want to explain what he knew, he just hoped Weiss would understand. If Adam Taurus was much older now, this painting could be a memory leaking into the dream. Which means that Blake knew Adam as a kid. Since they were both in the White Fang, it was pretty obvious where they met. The extent of their relationship seemed to be more than just acquaintances though, as the Adam in the picture looked happy. Jaune's eyes slowly lowered down from his face to his body and noticed one arm was reaching back into the dust and grime of the rest of the painting. Frowning, Jaune began to wipe off more of the dirt until a small girl with black shorts, a purple shirt, and cute cat ears was revealed.
There was no mistaking Blake.
"They're holding hands." Weiss could not hold back her surprise in her voice. "It's… they were close when they were younger?"
"Most likely." Jaune nodded and stepped back to view the painting as a whole. Adam was pulling a laughing Blake along behind him through a meadow. "Dreams can be misleading, but with us knowing Blake's past and you knowing Adam is part of the White Fang. I think it's a pretty reasonable guess."
"They went opposite directions then." Weiss turned her attention back to the painting. "Blake left the White Fang because she didn't believe in violence, while her childhood friend Adam is the cause of it."
"Adam seems older than Blake though," Jaune examined the painting himself too. "Maybe she had a crush on him."
"I wouldn't doubt it." Weiss shook her head in exasperation. "I've had crushes on people who turned out to be scum because of infatuation." She realized what she said and quickly added on some more. "I wasn't a very good judge of character when I was younger, or even recently if I'm being honest."
No names were given, but Jaune could easily deduce what she meant.
Holding up a hand, he stopped her.
"Weiss… I understand. I came on too strong and acted like an idiot. Of course, you would have said no if a random guy asked you out like that. Then I decided to not take the hint. It was my fault so you don't need to walk on eggshells about that. Let's just both learn from that time and move forward, maybe help out our friend we're stuck with."
"R-right." Weiss nodded and seemed to resolve herself. "This area seems important, so maybe we should check around here?"
"I feel weird digging into her past, but Zwei wants us to." Jaune pointed to the dog sniffing on the ground and leading them to a couple of boxes. Out of nowhere, he started barking at a dusty sealed one. "Okay, okay. Fine, you win."
Since Blake hated Zwei, he wasn't sure what the point of having Zwei point out her secrets was. Maybe even her subconscious thought that the dog was supposed to embarrass her. That was some seriously deep hatred for such a huggable little doggie.
"What's in the box?" Weiss asked, looking over his shoulder as Jaune tore open the crate.
"It's…" Jaune coughed a few times as dust exploded in his face. "Dolls…?"
"Dolls?" Weiss repeated, reaching in and picking up a small wolf plushie with red eyes. "Wonder if Blake liked dolls as a kid?"
"Who knows?" Jaune pulled out a couple more. A silver fox, a yellow dragon, and countless other ones. Some were more used than others. The yellow dragon was slightly torn like it had been carried around for ages. "Let's put it back. Messing with Blake's memories, even in a dream, doesn't sit well with me."
"You're right." Weiss put the doll she picked up back and Jaune closed the box. "We should be focusing on finishing the dream so she wakes up."
"Well, if the ghost appears, maybe it will?' Jaune shrugged. "For now, we keep looking until something happens. Try not to dig too deep into Blake's past. This basement has stuff relating to her past memories I think."
"Well, it shouldn't be too hard unless there's a movie theater with a show about her and Adam's relationship." Weiss scoffed and then covered her mouth. "Oh, no. Do you think that went too far?"
"Uh, just…just turn around."
When Weiss noticed Jaune facepalming, she slowly did as instructed.
"Really?"
It was Weiss' turn to imitate Jaune's actions. Followed by an audible facepalm.
A large movie theater appeared behind them with rows of chairs, a large screen, a projector levitating in midair, and the smell of popcorn wafting at them. They could easily sit down and watch the show, which had already begun playing. The two children from the painting were talking, but neither Jaune nor Weiss could hear them from their position. They would have to get closer, but Jaune wasn't moving, and neither was Weiss. Sharing a look, they both knew they weren't doing this.
"Thanks!" Jaune called out. "But Blake's our friend and we don't want to see her secrets until she's willing to share them. Besides, we need to go back to finding out about the ghost in the mansion."
"Who are you talking to?" Weiss whispered as the movie theater went dark all of a sudden. The show turned off and the lights instantly vanished. "And how are you doing this?"
"Practice." Jaune grinned. "We're in a dream and anything that exists is part of the subconscious. Which means it's still Blake. Assuring her we're only here to help to prevent any… like… the way bodies fight infections? We don't want to be an infection."
"That makes sense, I suppose, since dreams can do just about anything." Weiss agreed. "Though… based on what you've told me, you've done some crazy stuff to interfere."
"Yeah, getting chased by angry people is not fun." Jaune chuckled weakly, thinking back to Cinder's dream when he did interfere.
"Okay, so let's get back to catching that ghost and ending this dream." Weiss made a fist and turned away from the rows of items containing Blake's memorabilia. Zwei whined a bit but followed them, looking a little depressed. Jaune was now sure Blake's mind was making that poor corgi someone who only wanted to bother her and get Blake into trouble.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
A high-pitched scream made Weiss and Jaune both jump into the air.
"That was Ruby!" Weiss gasped, recognizing the high-pitched voice that she had heard so many times. "She's in trouble!"
"Let's go!" Jaune didn't need to think about it as he took off with Weiss quickly joining him. Behind him, Zwei barked before jumping into a box and vanishing.
When they reached the stairways, the slide had turned back into a normal spiraling stairway leading upstairs. Without breaking their stride, they bolted up the steps as fast as they could. Jaune was panting slightly when they reached the top, but at least it wasn't an endless stairwell. It was at most a couple of stories. However, he skidded to a stop and looked around. They weren't in the old house anymore. No, they were now in a huge mansion that dwarfed Weiss'. It seemed to be stretching out endlessly to his right, left, and straight ahead. Archways made it look like the same stretch of hallway was repeating over and over.
"How-..." Weiss closed her mouth and shook her head after seeing the sight. "Better question: Which way?"
"RUBY!" Jaune yelled. "BLAKE, YANG!" He shouted in each direction and listened.
"JAUNE! WEISS! HELP US!"
"That way!" Weiss pointed down an endless hallway.
Jaune raised a hand, but Weiss was already moving. Pumping his legs afterward, the boy didn't dare suggest the voice was either a trap or a distraction. With dreams, anything was possible. Blake and the others could teleport around the mansion instantly. Still, what other choice did they have? Jaune followed Weiss and hoped Blake's dream was more structured. No one was immune to nightmares and Jaune had once seen the nightmare locked away in Blake's mind.
Wait…
That monster he saw once before, was that Adam? Or some representation of Adam in Blake's dream? It resembled the guy but was also half Grimm. If Weiss was right about Adam being a murderer, then maybe Blake made him out to be a monster in her subconscious. It wasn't part of her main dream when she and Yang enjoyed themselves. This time, the man was the main subject of her imagination. With what they found about their relationship, Jaune wouldn't be surprised if Blake thought about Adam constantly.
Not necessarily a good thing.
"RUBY!" Weiss shouted as they drew close.
"W-Weiss…" Ruby blubbered and fell to her knees. Next to her, Blake was standing there, frozen and not moving. Yang was nowhere to be seen.
"What's going on!?" Weiss ran forward and hugged her partner. "Shhhhh, calm down. Tell me what happened."
"W-We were investigating when Yang was pulled into a closet by a ghost!" Ruby wailed. "I tried to pull her back, but it was too strong." Her watery eyes suddenly dried out and her expression turned fierce. A look Jaune could never remember seeing on her face. Ruby pointed at Blake, her hand shaking. "Blake just ran away! Like a coward! She didn't even try to help and now Yang is gone! She just stood there and didn't even say a word!"
"Huh?" Weiss and Jaune turned toward the raven-haired Faunus.
"I…" Blake couldn't answer them as she just looked away in shame. "I'm sorry…"
"You should be!" Ruby stood up and started berating her. "If you actually helped instead of running away from your problems, we wouldn't be in this mess! Yang would still be here! What is wrong with you? Don't you care?!"
"Ruby!" Weiss hissed. "Stop that! This isn't like you!"
"Why aren't you yelling at her too?!" Ruby demanded to know, rounding on Weiss. "You don't like her because she's a Faunus, right? Now you have even more reason to hate her! She let our teammate get taken by a ghost! If she didn't want to come here in the first place, Yang wouldn't be in trouble. Just like always, it's her fault! We have to suffer because she's too scared to do anything but run away!"
Oh.
Ohhhh.
Jaune began to see what was happening. All of Blake's insecurities were being manifested through Ruby. From what he knew, Blake and Weiss made up after their fight and some encounters with the White Fang at Vale's docks. Weiss' father tended to be racist and a lot of people believed Weiss was. If she was, she overcame her prejudices by now. The thing with insecurities is, no matter how much people knew they weren't rational, a part of your mind would always worry about them. Something Jaune was familiar with all too well.
Weiss didn't have his experience in dream interpretation, but she was a hell of a lot smarter than he was. She was already putting the pieces together, even if she didn't know what to do. Instead, the heiress turned to him for guidance. Again, showing how much Weiss had changed since first arriving at Beacon. Jaune was sure she would never have asked for help like that.
"Ruby, this isn't going to help anyone." Jaune put a hand on her shoulder. "Anyone would be shocked to discover ghosts are real. There's a good chance I would have frozen too. Blake's our friend and we know she's going to help us get Yang back." Looking over at Blake, he gave her a reassuring smile. "We trust her completely. Right, Weiss?"
At first, she didn't seem to understand why he was saying the obvious, but then it clicked.
"Of course!" Weiss agreed firmly. "We have to teach that pesky ghost no one messes with Team RWBY, and we'll need everyone to help." Since they needed to encourage Blake and direct her to a positive outcome, Weiss came up with another idea. "Let's go back down and grab the bags. You have ghost-hunting equipment in there, right?"
"We do… Well, Jaune and I do." Blake agreed with some reservations. "That will have to be enough. Let's go."
"Oh, Blake. It's quite amusing to see you have false hope of escaping."
Everyone froze as the mocking male voice echoed around them. Like a superball, it bounced from surface to surface.
"Is that...?" Jaune started to ask.
"Adam…" Blake bitterly hissed.
"Ghosts are real, save me, Weiss!"
Before Weiss could react, Ruby jumped into her arms, seemingly having completely forgotten she already knew they existed when Adam took Yang. Weiss was too dumbfounded to stop her and ended up with Ruby wrapped around her for dear life. Dream logic at its finest with the young girl and Weiss had no choice but to go with it. Besides, she was too busy looking around for the source of the voice.
Then everything went dark as all the lights went out. Pitch black devoured all light like they had been swallowed whole by some massive beast in one swift gulp.
Ruby's scream hurt her ears and Weiss dropped the girl.
"Ow!"
"That's for making me deaf," Weiss growled, before remembering it wasn't the real Ruby.
"Show yourself!" Jaune yelled out. He needed the lights back on to continue this dream, which was quickly deteriorating into a nightmare.
"Silence, Human!"
"MMMM!" Jaune touched his face and felt his mouth had vanished. His eyes widened in horror as he quickly touched his smooth skin. The dream was way too powerful and there was nothing he could do about it.
"Adam, just stop!" Blake yelled into the darkness. "You don't have to do this. Just move on-"
"Like you moved on from me?!" The bodiless male voice boomed and Jauen was forced to cover his ears. He couldn't see anything in the pitch-black void around them and with his mouth gone, words were useless for him too. "How you left me after promising we would change the world together?"
"You changed, I had no choice!" Blake shouted back to the bodiless phantom.
"You always had a choice and you chose to abandon me. Walking into this domain was a mistake. I'm going to make you go through the same pain I did. Let's start by taking away the people you care about."
"Blake, run awa-..."
Yang's voice rang out for a moment before they heard a wet gash and silence.
"One down."
"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNGGGGGG!" Ruby's wail was like icy water that washed through Jaune's body. A painful scream Jaune never wanted to hear again. Then following the echoing cry of despair, the lights came back on to let them all see once more.
"We have to get out of here," Weiss stated instantly. "Somehow…"
"Yeah…"
Jaune's mouth had returned and he looked at Ruby and Blake. Blake was frozen in fear and Ruby had fallen on her knees, crying. Seeing his best friend's face in such pain hurt him, even if he knew she wasn't real. Still, they had to do something.
"Blake! We have to get going." He put his hand on her shoulder and started shaking.
"He's right…" Blake mumbled to herself, her words dry and weak as she collapsed on her knees next to Ruby. Amber orbs had grown dim, growing faint as if they were dying out "I'm a coward. I just run away from my problems. Because of me, Yang's dead…"
SLAP!
Blake staggered back as Weiss slapped her across the face.
"Weiss!?" Jaune gasped in his astonishment at the craziness that just happened. Did she think that would wake Blake up? Actually, shouldn't a shock like that wake someone up? Why were they still in the dream?
"The Blake I know isn't a coward!" Weiss angrily growled. "She's a smart, determined girl who isn't afraid to argue with me day and night for her beliefs. She might have made mistakes, but she would apologize and make up for them. And one thing's for sure, she wouldn't leave a friend behind. So stand up and let's get out of here! Together!"
Blake and Jaune both just stared at her as Ruby sniffed and looked at the ground.
Then slowly, Blake raised her hand and Weiss helped her up.
"You're right," The raven-haired girl wiped her eyes with her sleeve. "We'll escape and stop Adam. Let's grab our ghost-hunting equipment and get him!" Blake's words were getting stronger. "Thanks, Weiss."
"Hey, what are friends for?" Weiss smiled and patted Blake's shoulders.
"YOU RATHER BEFRIEND A SCHNEE OVER YOUR OWN KIND?!"
Turns out, that was not the correct response. The entire building shook violently and dark red liquid began to run down the walls, followed by a pungent rusted smell. A suffocating pressure began to weigh down on them, one Jaune had felt multiple times before. Ren's dream stood out, but also Velvet's dream. This seemed to be a more common occurrence than he wanted to admit. It was a dream's warning of danger. Something big was coming, like the climax of a good book. They had to get out of there and regroup quickly. However, Ruby didn't seem to want to move and, dream or not, there was no way he was going to leave her behind, so he did the only thing that made sense.
Reaching down, he picked up his friend and tossed her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.
"Let's go!"
Weiss didn't answer except with a nod because her hand was covering her mouth from the rancid odor all around them. For a moment, Blake didn't seem to be moving, but the moment Weiss started following Jaune down the infinite hallway, she picked up her pace to match them.
"This way!" Blake gestured, to their right. It was a good thing she was leading because Jaune had no idea what direction to go since every corridor looked the same and continued on indefinitely. The sound of maniacal laughter echoed around them and a statue appeared out of nowhere to fall in front of them. The Huntresses and Huntsman-in-training jumped over it easily enough.
"Adam's too powerful here."
"What do you mean?!" Weiss yelled over the laughter.
"I think when he died, his soul fused with the building so as long as we're inside, he has complete control." Blake replied loudly in return as she ducked down another hallway to her right. "He's not planning for us, for me, to leave. You three can still make it out."
"We're not leaving you!" Jaune countered instantly.
Blake blushed and looked ahead before pointing to the left this time. The hallway actually hit a dead end, which theoretically should have been seen through earlier endless hallways, but dream logic overrode common sense. Blood continued to pour from the walls, causing their feet to splash with every step. The smell grew stronger and Jaune's eyes began to sting as the door slowly drew closer. For a brief moment, Jaune had the wild delusion that right before they got to it, it would shoot away, forcing them to chase it.
Weirdly, it didn't.
Was it because Weiss and Jaune gave Blake courage or was it because something else was happening? Either way, he was glad because carrying Ruby was tiring. Not that his best friend was fat or anything, but running at full speed carrying a girl, no matter how small, was awkward and difficult. Blake yanked the door open and they stumbled in, tripping on each other. Weiss had crashed into Jaune's back, causing him to fall onto Blake through the door.
Only to end up back in the living room of the original house.
They fell out of a closet, yet no one had time to second-guess it. Blake instantly lunged for the bags sitting on the furniture. Whatever equipment was in there, only she knew. But the moment her fingers were about to grab the fabric, the bags shot up into the air and spiraled around the ceiling, as if controlled by telekinesis. Jaune jumped up to grab the one flying above him but missed.
"You can't escape, my darling." Adam's laughing voice mocked. "You and I will spend eternity together, but first we need to get rid of the garbage."
The lights began to flicker as windows rattled and floors creaked. A loud bang made them jump as the closet door flew open again. From it, a long monstrous hand made of darkness emerged with pale white bone claws. It could have been a Grimm's hand, but instead of black fur, it seemed to be pure intangible darkness. Reaching forward, it stretched out at superhuman speed and grabbed Weiss around the waist.
"AHHHH!" Weiss yelled out reflexively. "HELP!"
"Weiss!" Jaune shouted, grabbing her hand.
"Don't let go!" Seeing her partner in trouble finally broke Ruby out of her mental block. She launched forward and grabbed Weiss' other arm. "I'm not losing you too!"
"The Schnee poisoned your mind so she must be destroyed!"
"NO!" Blake shouted, her eyes flashing. "Not again! I won't lose anyone else to your anger and hatred!"
Blake charged forward and stabbed the monster's arm right below the hand with a knife that she drew from her hip. It sank deep into the flesh, spraying pitch-black liquid all over the floor. An earsplitting shriek threatened to split their heads open. At least the monster claws opened up and released Weiss, causing her to crash into Ruby and Jaune. The hand bounced around and spasmed before being pulled back into the closet, with the door slamming shut.
A deep, resounding rumbling shook the world in a great earthly tremor of pure rage.
"You dare!?"
"I told you, that's enough!" Blake shouted with a swipe of her stained knife. "We're through; we're done. I have new friends who actually care about me. Unlike you, who can do nothing but grow angry and blame others. I left you, so why can't you get it through your head that I want nothing to do with you?! If you cared about me, at all! You wouldn't be trying to destroy my happiness!"
"I'm saving you!" Adam thundered with such might, the walls cracked. "The humans have weakened you, turned you into their loyal pet. You think they care about you? You're nothing more than something to toy with, to make them look better and less guilty!"
"That's utter nonsense!" Weiss yelled out with an adamant stamp of her heel. Jaune was glad she was here because if anyone could reprimand a mass murderer, it was her. She also knew Blake in ways he didn't due to them living as a team.
The Snow Angel's shoulders tensed again, feeling the weight and malice of the bounded phantom now bearing itself down upon her tiny frame. She couldn't help but gulp as she heard the rasp of a sharp blade whisper in her ear. She felt around her abdomen, recalling the terrible grip of a monstrous hand threatening to crush her.
But she did not back down. Icy blue eyes glared at the invisible devil's horns and challenged it with all the grace of a proper Schnee.
"If anything, Blake's grown stronger being with us! She's opened up to us and now that I've seen you, I can see why she was scared too at first! All you are is anger and hate. How's that any different than the anger and hate she had to suffer through as a Faunus? How was she supposed to change the world if all you wanted to do is kill it?!"
"SILENCE!"
Blake was staring at Weiss, wide-eyed, in shock at what she was saying.
"You think we're corrupting her?" Weiss let out a short condescending laugh.
She felt braver. Stronger. More determined in the face of a terrifying entity she had once grown up haunted by her own nightmares. To the fear once left to poison her heart and turn her into the same mindset as her father, she broadly grinned as if to mock both the phantom and her previous self.
"If you asked my father, he would say Blake is corrupting me. That she was making me weaker. Just like you, he spouted nothing but hate and anger, hoping to shape me into following after him. Just like you, he wanted to get rid of what he didn't like. Your circumstances may be different, and you may have suffered greatly because of his practices, but you're exactly the same!"
This was not a defense on her father's part. This was not calling Adam Taurus wholly evil. She had skipped over any hope of better understanding the young boy with red hair and horns frolicking in a meadow with a pretty girl in hand. That's perfectly fine. Maybe one day she'd come to learn who Adam Taurus was instead of some haunting ghost clinging to Blake's memories.
Adam Taurs wasn't creating the nightmare.
Blake Belladonna was responsible for the ghosts.
Right now , she was challenging the remnants of Blake's old fear and doubts. She was excusing those old and tired ghosts for the good of her friend's peace of mind.
"Thanks to Blake, and others at Beacon, I was able to change my way of thinking. Blake's my friend and it doesn't matter to me if she's a Faunus or not. Sure, I wish she would be more open with us, but we all deserve to share at our own place. Change isn't corruption. It's even alright if you're a bit scared. But it isn't wrong; you can take it slow all you like. But, if you're her enemy, if you're the reason why she's still hesitating! Then you're my enemy too!"
"YEAH!" Ruby jumped up and stood next to Weiss and Blake. "Team RWBY will always stick together, so you better give us Yang back!"
"Never!" Adam roared from all around them. "If I can't have Blake, no one will! You'll all die here and she and I will be together in hell! I am one with this house! I am one with her world!"
Red hot flames erupted all around the, bursting from the cracks in the floor and walls. The wallpaper began to bleed black in color, the furniture was hissing with thick dark smoke, and the ceiling began to melt like chocolate exposed to a flame. Heat washed over them, pressing down on them like a heavy blanket, making it difficult to breathe. The color red was cast over everything like a curtain, coloring the world in crimson blistering jealousy and anger.
Adam was planning to burn them all alive rather than letting them escape. How great did Blake see this guy's obsession? Was it just Blake over exaggerating or was Adam really like that? It was impossible to tell with his limited knowledge. Jaune really hoped it wasn't the latter, for Blake's sake.
"What do we do now?!" Weiss yelled, before coughing from the smoke.
"The door's locked!" Ruby cried out, smashing against the wood. It might as well have been made of steel.
"The windows too!" Blake grabbed a burning chair and hit it against the glass. The weak wood shattered against the indestructible barrier.
"Any bright ideas?" Weiss rounded on Jaune, before jumping to the side to avoid a burning wooden beam from crashing down on her.
"I'm thinking!" Jaune looked around for a way out. All the doors were shut, the windows frozen in place, and they couldn't break them down. Ruby was slamming herself against the door to no avail. She may not have been the strongest person in the world, but a wooden door shouldn't have been able to stop her when she was serious. "Blake! Do you have anything that can help?!"
"It's all in the bags!" The girl yelled back as she pointed against the door alongside Ruby.
Right… the bags flying above them and now on fire…
Think, Jaune, think. Jaune racked his brain for any idea. I need to do something that works with the dream. Didn't Adam give us a clue? He said something about being part of this house. Looking around, Jaune realized that while the door and windows were immune to the fire and destruction, the rest of the building was slowly coming down…
…including the walls.
"Look out!"
Jaune ducked at Weiss' warning and a white glyph appeared, knocking away another flaming beam that fell from the ceiling. Luckily Weiss had her Semblance or Jaune would have found out what happened if he died in someone else's dream after dragging Weiss with him. But that white light triggered something in his mind. There was a weakness that they could exploit, but he would need Blake to realize this.
"Blake!" Jaune yelled. "Adam fused with the house… *cough*..., so if we destroy it, we destroy him!"
"But the doors won't break!" Blake shouted back in a panic, choking on the smoke after she took a deep breath.
"The… walls!" The smoke was getting denser and Jaune was finding it hard to break and talk. "Weiss… use your… glyphs… propel me… through the wall!"
"You?!" Weiss looked at him like he was crazy.
"My Aura can take it… ack… hurry!" Jaune braced himself, hoping Weiss would trust him.
Gritting her teeth, Weiss pointed at the boy and a large white Glyph appeared behind him.
Wasn't the first time Jaune was propelled by Weiss' glyphs. They once fought in combat class and she blew him away with one whenever he got close to her. He never did get used to the sudden propulsion when he instantly changed directions. At least he had a few seconds of warning to flare up his Aura. Oh, wait… he never did determine if Aura was working here. Weiss' glyph was, but did that mean…
Didn't matter because he never got a chance to say anything else as he was suddenly flung forward.
Instantly his eyes closed and his knees came up as his arms wrapped around them. The boy became a large manside cannonball a moment before he smashed into the flaming wood. First a wave of heat washed over him and then the painful force of hitting a physical barrier. Though the pain was fuzzy, as it wasn't really happening, he just imagined it in a dream. Still, being a dream person himself, he 'felt' it, but he also felt the wood give way. Cool air washed over him and he opened his eyes.
He was outside.
The rain was still going on and while it wasn't raining as heavily as before, the wind had picked up. Trees were leaning over from the force and Jaune felt the air pushing him back to the house. The dream didn't want him to leave, but he did it in a way that made sense. Spinning around, the boy glanced at the hole in the flaming wall as he quickly pushed himself up out of the mud. The entire house was on fire, sending great billows of black smoke into the sky. Weiss and Blake were emerging from the hole, followed by Ruby.
"You won't escape!" Adam's voice boomed.
"HELP!" Ruby yelled as the wall closed around her. "It's sucking me in!"
Blake and Weiss grabbed Ruby's arms and tried to pull her out, but it was no use. Jaune had barely taken a step forward when Ruby was pulled back into the house, like a piece of spaghetti being slurped up. The girl was yanked away from her team and the hole instantly filled up with black charred wood. The fire's roared with even more intensity, forcing Weiss and Blake back.
"Noooo, Ruby!" Blake screamed.
"Two of your friends are dead because of you!" Adam's voice laughed. "And you're next! You'll never escape me!"
Then the smoke above the flaming house began to form together. It was already dark, but the light from the fires surrounding the house lit it up under the night sky. The smoke was converging and forming a solid shape. Spiraling around a center point, a large torso and head began to emerge, along with arms. It was quickly becoming humanoid in appearance. Every passing second made the smoke seem more and more solid. It soon became apparent who the enormous body belonged to.
Adam.
Except, his face wasn't like the portraits. It looked like he had a white mask covering his face. The entire face and not just part of it. Red veins spread out through the white material and his red eyes were glowing behind the eyeholes. The mask almost looked like it was part of his face. If it wasn't for his hair and bull horns, they might have mistaken him for a grimm. Okay, he was probably a cross between those two because of it being Blake's nightmare.
From his beaming red eyes, dark smoke bellowed out of the slits of the mask. Tar black ash dripped out from the open, manic, grin of the smoking body as it bore down upon the tiny figures like some great burning demon escaping from a crack in hell.
"Flee, my dear Blake." Adam mocked. "That's all you can do."
The world as a whole creaked and godly force punched down upon them all.
A heavy pressure fell on Jaune's body to the point his vision rattled like he was a gong struck by a hammer. He couldn't help but grit his teeth and hiss in pain. It was like gravity just increased along with a heavy blanket being wrapped around him. A feeling he was all too familiar with due to his dream diving, but not nearly this powerful. Next to him, Weiss seemed to be feeling it too, as she was clenching her teeth and looked uncomfortable.
"Don't listen to him Blake." Jaune hissed, noticing Blake backing up with shaking eyes. "That's what he wants. If we leave, we can't save Ruby and Yang." The heavy pressure still hung over them, but at least Blake stopped. As he learned from Ren and Velvet, if the dreamer fought back, it would actually aid them in defeating the nightmare and ending the dream.
"What do we do against that?!" Blake asked in a whisper, looking up in the air as Adam laughed. He raised a hand and a large sword was forged from the smoke and ash. The fire beneath him continued to roar in blazing inferno. "LOOK OUT!"
Jaune and Weiss dove one way, while Blake dove another.
A second later, the large sword was brought down between them, leaving a deep scar in the dead earth. Shockwaves blew all three of the teens away as dust and dirt was sprayed upon them like torrential waves.
"Ugh, take this!" Weiss got up on knee and forced a glyph, propelling a large rock at Adam. However, being made of smoke caused the projectile to go right through the smoke body. "Damn it! He's a ghost! How do we beat him?"
"We need Proton Packs!" Jaune blurted out.
"...proton what?"
Jaune stared at her.
"What?!" Weiss demanded to know. "What are Proton Packs?"
"Are you serious?" Jaune blinked at her. "You've never seen Ghostbusters? Like who you gonna call?"
"I've seen Ghostbusters!" Weiss growled. "But why are you wasting our time with movie references?"
"We need to trigger something Blake knows to fight a ghost!" Jaune called back over the roar of the wind and flames. Turning to Blake, Jaune had to shout even louder to reach Blake, who had been separated from them. "BLAKE! Get the Proton Packs! It's the only way we can beat a ghost!"
"But they were in the bags!" Blake's voice was full of panic.
"Well, crap…"
"JAUNE! STOP GOOFING AROUND AND MOVE!"
Weiss' warning rang out as Jaune glanced up. The great sword that ghost Adam was wielding was coming back down, this time at him. It was like one of those final boss fights in a video game where the boss did huge dramatic actions. Easy to dodge, but should you get hit, your life takes a beating. However, as he tried to dodge by jumping to the side, he found his legs frozen to the ground. Not literally, as if Weiss got upset at him and used Ice Dust, but he literally just couldn't move his legs. The dream was preventing him from moving out of the way.
"Ah… shit…" Jaune closed his eyes and gritted his teeth.
"NOOOO!"
A force collided with his side and he was propelled through the air as Blake tackled him. A moment later, the sword smashed down and caused another powerful shockwave that sent them flying. Jaune much preferred this over being smacked by an oversized weapon. Looking up at the sky as he lay on the ground on his back, he turned to Blake.
He breathed a sigh of relief to find she was knocked onto her side too. Filthy, bruised, and stained with splotches of ash and some pecks of ember, but alive too.
"Thanks for the save." He grinned at her.
She smiled through a pained grimace.
"Can't let my reading partner get killed." Blake muttered, scratching her cheek. "And this is all my fault anyway. If only we still had the Proton Packs."
"Can't anyone get them?!" Weiss asked, rushing over to them and helping Jaune to his feet.
"Ruby and Yang were taken, so no…' Blake clenched her hands tightly into fists.
"What about Zwei?" Jaune asked, thinking fast. "He's a good boy who can fetch. Ruby told us so himself."
"Like that lousy mutt is going to show-"
"ARF!"
Blake, Weiss, and Jaune turned around to see Zwei pop his head out of the ground like he was coming up from a rabbit hole. Panting with his tongue hanging out, he then reached into the hole with his mouth and pulled out a bag. A large duffle bag that Blake and Ruby had brought into the mansion. Weiss and Jaune stared as Blake backed away, her bow fading to reveal a pair of cat ears.
Even as a demonic, smoke-embodied, burning apparition of her murderous friend loomed over them with a great sword of brimstone straight out of hell in hand, the bookworm had the gall to pout stubbornly at the heroic dog.
"I'm still not petting you!" The cat girl hissed.
"He's got the packs!" Weiss took the bag and opened it. Inside were several metal backpacks with switches, dials, displays, and other random electronic stuff. Attached to them was a hose that connected to what looked like a scifi gun. "Here!" She tossed one to Jaune and Blake, before taking one for herself. "There's one left!"
She informed them as she strapped on her own Proton Pack.
"Arf!" The moment they had taken their eyes off Zwei, the corgi had put on the last pack on his back, as he stood on his hind legs with the gun in his paws. "Bark!"
"AWWWWWWWWWWWW!" Weiss gushed, briefly forgetting the seriousness of the situation. "Who's a good ghostbuster?! Who's a good ghostbuster?! Is it you? You adorable widdle ghostbuster, you?!"
"Snap out of it, Weiss!" Blake snapped. "We need to spread out and shoot him all together. He's too big for any one of us."
"R-Right!" Weiss was blushing as she pulled herself together.
The four inexperienced ghostbusters had to spread out anyway because once more, Adam sliced the ground where they had just been standing. Every strike was leaving more and more deep trenches in the area around the burning house. Soon, they wouldn't be able to move around easily without falling into one. But they just needed a few more seconds to get into position. Jaune and Weiss were on one side, while Blake and Zwei were on the other.
"What would you have done if Blake didn't know about Ghostbusters?" Weiss asked, raising her Proton Pack Gun.
Jaune slowly looked at her with a resolute gaze.
"Weiss… everyone knows Ghostbusters. They might not have seen the movie, but they know of it. Anyone who tells you otherwise is a liar and you shouldn't be friends with them." Jaune raised his blaster. "Get ready! We need to all fire at once."
"Got it!" Weiss held up her own blaster and aimed at Adam's spirit. She may not be familiar with using a gun, but a target that big would be hard to miss.
"FIRE!" Blake yelled, pulling her trigger.
A yellow and red beam fired from the end of her blaster. The laser wobbled back and forth as it flew through the air and crackled with purple electricity. Jaune pulled the trigger of his own weapon, adding a second beam to the mix. Weiss went a second after him and all three beams collided against Adam's body. The force disrupted the smoke and the lasers began to wind around the monster like rope. However, it was far too big and their attacks were doing little more than annoying Adam.
"You won't stop me, humans! Blake will be mine!"
"Where's Zwei with the fourth beam?!" Jaune shouted, sweating as he tried to hold his own blaster.
"ZWEI, STOP LICKING YOURSELF AND SO SOMETHING USEFUL!" Blake screamed and drew Jaune and Weiss' attention.
"Woof?" Zwei looked up from licking himself as he sat on the ground. Jumping to his back feet, his small front paws professionally operated the blasted and a fourth beam joined the fray. This time, there was a noticeable difference, as Jaune felt the weight pressing down on him lessening a bit. The attacks were working, but they needed something to finish him off. Maybe a container to drag him into? Or was he too big?
"You used to love me Blake, and now you want to destroy me? Have you given up on your dream?" Adam's voice rang out in anger. "Everyone who gets close to you will be hurt, that's who you are. One day, your friends will all die and it will be your fault! That won't ever change! So, why try at all?!"
Even as the binds around his body tightened, the demonic spirit lifted the greatsword of searing flames high above his head. The tip of a burning symbol of hatred pierced the heavens and signaled it was done with them. With one swing, it would get rid of the world Adam hated. Only flames would remain. An old ember refusing to die out.
"Shut up!" Blake yelled back, her eyes narrowing angrily. While her hands shook, the gun never wavered. "I've had enough of you! Your attitude, your anger, your hatred, the way you always tried to control me! Always rejecting my way of changing things for the better! Weiss proved to me that anyone can change! She's one of my closest friends now! As if I'd ever let you, or anyone else, hurt her!"
"Really?" Weiss turned in shock.
"Shhhhh." Jaune whispered. "Let her deal the ending blow to this nightmare."
They had already prevented this dream from turning into a full-fledged nightmare by giving Blake support. Though Jaune had to admit it was mostly Weiss and her defiant attitude to the stupid things dream Adam was saying. Besides, since it was Blake's dream, it was important to fight her own inner demons as much as possible.
Even though he dreamed about being the hero, he would never take the spotlight from someone else desiring with all their heart to be their own hero.
"I'm sorry I couldn't convince you!" Blake continued to yell as she blasted Adam with the laser beam. "I saw you descend into madness and I did nothing. I can't make up for that, but I can make sure I don't let anyone else fall like you do. So please, Adam. Just move on… and stop dragging more people into your mess! JUST LET THAT DAMN FLAME GO OUT!"
This was something personal Jaune knew he shouldn't ever bring up.
"SHUT UP!" Adam roared, as he moved to slam the massive flame blade upon them. The red eyes behind the Grimm mask were glowing brightly as copious amounts of smoke gushed out through the slit of his mask. "You're too far corrupted! Just like this world! You must be purged too! EVeryinG. AlL Of IT! I wILL reDUCe iT All tO CindERS! jUst LikE YoU REDUcEd mY HeArt tO aSh and SmoKE! OnLY mY FlAMe wILL ReMaIN!"
"You're a fucking hypocrite!" Blake shouted back.
Wow, Jaune couldn't remember ever hearing Blake curse.
"He's not stopping!" Weiss yelled out, panic seeping into her voice. They were slowly sliding back as Adam bent back to get a good swing.
Thinking fast, Jaune could only come up with one good option and he hoped Blake knew enough about Ghostbusters to know the reference.
"We need to cross the beams!" The boy declared. "Blake, Weiss, Zwei! On three!"
"Are you mad?!" Blake looked at him like he was an idiot. "Don't you know what will happen?"
"We don't have a choice!" Jaune shot back. "One! Two…! THREE!"
For a moment, he thought Blake would argue more, but as he and Weiss moved their beams together, Blake followed suit. Zwei happily wagged his short little tail and did it too. The four yellow beams with purple lightning collided together and then merged into a much bigger and bright light. Adam was just bringing down his sword when the new united blast collided into his chest. An ear splitting howl was heard as Adam's body bucked.
The sword dropped from his hand and was about to land directly on Blake. Jaune and Weiss yelled out in horror, trapped in place by their positions to even reach out to the stone faced Blake. The shadow of a titanic flame fell upon her to snuff her out.
Yet Blake stood determined under the might of the searing hot blade and didn't budge. She went as far as to glare definitely at the shadow and crimson flash.
Slicing hell tapped her forehead.
And shattered to pieces. The hellish symbol of malice crumbled to dust like it was sugar struck by a spray of water. Carpets and curtains of hot sulfur whished around her, bellowing as the hot wind flowed around them.
Blake was fine, her attention purely on Adam,
"WHAT… IS… THIS!?" Adam demanded, pain lacing his echoing voice.
"It's time for you to find rest!" Blake explained seriously, glistening tears running down her cheeks as smoke swam past her figure. "Permanently…"
"NOOOOOOOOOOO! Stop this, Blake! Didn't we love each other?!" Adam's body began to break apart, yellow cracks spreading through his body and emitting light from it. The darkness around them seemed to be lightening up and the heavy weight was all but gone.
"We did, now it's just an obsession on your end. So, please: burn out and leave me to carry on with new, much sweeter flames. I promise I won't forget who you once were. But I refuse to let you keep hurting me or anyone else anymore." Blake muttered, yet her words seemed to be carried on the wind around them, so Jaune and Weiss heard it perfectly.
"Hold on tight." Jaune warned Weiss, trying not to listen to Blake's vocal monologue. "It's about to get messy."
"What are you-...?!"
BOOOOOOOOM!
Adam exploded, sending a powerful wave of heat over them. The force was enough to lift them off their feet and fly into the air, rolling around on the ground. Light followed, blinding them all and Jaune was rubbing his eyes as he lay on the ground, his body not wanting to move. It felt like minutes passed while he lay there before his energy finally returned. Slowly, he pushed himself up, blinking away the white blindness. Weiss was next to him, slowly rising too. It looked like both of them had been affected the same way. However, Jaune noticed Blake standing in front of the house, no longer on fire. It was just a burned-down, blackened ruin.
"I'm sorry, Adam." Blake muttered. "For what I did when I left. But you hurt my friends, there's no forgiveness for that."
"AHHH! I almost died!"
Jaune saw Blake jump into the air as from the wrecked house floor, bright blonde hair appeared as the black floorboards shattered from a well placed fist. Yang climbed out of a hole, and dragged her younger sister after her. Both girls were covered in soot, dirt, and ash, but otherwise looked fine.
"Yang! Ruby!" Blake dived forward and wrapped her arms around you. "I'm so glad you're okay!"
"Nothing can kill Yang Xiao-Long!" Yang laughed adamantly, hugging Blake back.
"Is Weiss okay?!" Ruby looked around and saw Jaune and her target walking toward them. "WEISSSSS!"
"Oh no…" Weiss muttered, her eyes widening just before a red blur crashed into her, knocking her to the ground. "Get off, Ruby!"
"Hehe, sorry!" Ruby hopped up and rubbed her neck. "I was just so worried about you."
To Jaune, it seemed like Blake really thought something was going on between those two. However, he got another sight as he turned and saw Blake and Yang making out in the rubble, lips and arms locked together. Shaking his head, he turned away, only to see Weiss gaping at them.
"B-Blake… likes Yang?" The heiress spluttered.
"Weiss, you need to understand that a lot of people dream about Yang, this is nothing new." Jaune snickered. "Sorry to disappoint you. But, come on. You've seen Yang, right?" He didn't rub in the fact that Weiss had a few slip ups in her dream with Yang.
"Ugh… fine, whatever." Weiss crossed her arms and looked away, face burning bright as the sounds of make out grew heavier "So how do we get out? Dreams over, right?"
"Well, I was kind of hoping she would just get scared awake, then we just sort of fall into a void to wake up back in our bed," Jaune admitted, thinking things through. "I don't know how to wake up on our own easily. I've died or just been scared out of my mind."
"Think of something, I don't want to stand out here in the dark forever!"
"The sun is rising!" Jaune pointed to the horizon, snickering, only to get smacked by the annoyed girl. "Mercy!" He held his hands up. "Okay, I have an idea that might work."
"Do it." Weiss shooed him toward Blake.
Sighing, Jaune walked over to Blake, who finally separated from Yang.
"Thanks for helping us out, Vomit Boy." Yang grinned at him, causing Blake to turn around.
"Well, I came to have Blake admit something to me now that we proved ghosts exist." Jaune forced a grin back.
"Oh, you two made a bet?" Yang asked.
"Uh…" Blake didn't remember it as it never happened, but the dream logic was working. "Yeah, he came to prove ghosts were real."
"Blake has to admit comic books are the superior types of books." Jaune grinned and crossed his arms. "So go ahead. With feeling."
Blake stared at him for a second, her expression shocked and horrified.
Then the world vanished and he and Weiss were falling into the void.
Nearby, he heard Weiss screaming from the sudden drop, but it would be over soon enough. Jaune closed his eyes and spread out his arms, waiting. It didn't take long for Jaune to wake up in his bed, the morning sun just beginning to peak into the room from the windows. Opening his eyes, he noticed his phone buzzing slightly as it received a text message from Weiss. Figuring he could ignore it until later, he stared at the ceiling as he considered everything that happened. Of course, he tried not to dive too deep into Blake's personal issues with Adam. Jaune focused on how his Semblance was growing.
He could wake people up in their dreams.
People could travel with him to others' dreams.
There was so much he could do with it and now they knew how he targeted people. Maybe it was time to tell his friends about his Semblance? Knowing that wanting to learn about other people was the trigger, there would be less random dream hopping. Of course, some of his friends like Nora and Ruby would probably want to have cool dream adventures. At the same time, the moment he revealed it, Yang, Pyrrha, and Blake would probably put together that he saw some very personal dreams. Yang might kill him to hide those secrets.
Fear was a powerful motivator to keep this quiet. Things he saw in their dreams weren't things they wanted to share. Blake had a lot of deep issues with Adam and their history was so intertwined, no wonder she couldn't forget him. It was people like Adam, if Weiss was right about his being a murderer, that made it hard for Faunus to be free from discrimination.
There was so much to unpack, but there was one thing that brought a smile to his lips.
Blake was so scared of admitting comic books were real literature that she forced herself awake.
Feel free to leave a review, comment, suggestions, or ideas, I love reading them. If you have a question you wish to ask and would like a quick answer, feel free to message me directly. I try to respond to those within a day or two. Comments, I tend to respond to in the next chapter.
Dark: This dream lasted way too long, but I just kept writing it. Wasn't planned to be an entire chapter, but turning from Scooby-Doo, to Haunted Mansion, to GhostBusters was pretty entertaining.
NeoShadows:...You know, I can't help but feel attacked by the whole not knowing Ghostbusters' bit. It's perfectly normal! Also, how dare you not leave me room to jam in a jinkies; ya bastard.