King: I feel this might be getting out of hand. Oh well~! I find it humerus. Tickled to the tibia toes~ But I ain't no bone head. Let's this going. Hope you have a skele-ton of fun~ Hope you all have a good time.

Inspiration: Undertale

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Blake smiled to herself as Adam went on a tirade about the last reality. They couldn't fight here, so she was enjoying watching him squirm and be unable to do anything about it. Adam was a violent creature fueled by spite. It was nice to see his venom made useless and his fangs broken off.

Yang smirked toward her partner, "You can be pretty cruel, you know that?"

Blake returned to her usual expression, but it was hard not to smirk, "I have no idea what you mean."

Tai chuckled at their antics. "So, how does that screen thing decide what to play?"

Ruby shrugged, "King said they play at random. There used to be this filter thing that would sort through different versions and worlds, but it broke… Somehow… I have no idea…"

Tai just laughed again and tussled Ruby's hair, "Still, I liked that Montagne guy. Seemed like a cool guy."

Yang scoffed, "In that one…"

"Huh?"

Ruby had to explain it as Yang was still very much unwilling to bother with it, "There was a version a while ago where Jaune's dad was a real mean dude who used Jaune to get what he wanted."

Tai blinked. Then blinked again. "Well then… Wait, he was your friend's father?"

"Yep."

Gira tapped his chair and placed a hand at his chin in thought, "Montagne… Why does that name sound familiar…?"

Blake turned to her father, confused, but her thoughts were interrupted as the screen flickered to life again.

The screen opened to a familiar stained-glass hallway. This time, however, it was Adam making his way through the hall. He carried a bloodstained knife at his side as he walked.

Adam smirked, "Seems about right."

How many had he killed on her way here? In a way, he supposed it didn't matter. He put down more than enough so far. All that remained was their king… He suddenly stopped glaring to something off camera. "And the jester…"

The camera panned to the right to reveal a skeleton in a Pumpkin Pete's hoodie. His pin-point blue eyes seemed to glow beneath his skull as a golden energy flowed out of his head.

"There's Jaune!" Nora laughed. "He looks so weird!"

Ruby smiled, "Okay. Yang was this character last time. So, I guess we get to see what's up with this version…"

Jaune placed his bony hands into his hoodie's pockets. "Turn around."

Ruby blinked. "That didn't happen last time."

"Haven't you done enough? Aren't you satisfied yet?"

Adam just smirked and held his knife tighter, ready for a fight.

Jaune sighed. "Guess I can't keep that promise after all…" He took a deep breath… somehow… and the blue pins he called eyes disappeared into the darkness of his sockets. Memories flooded into his mind. So many deaths. So much suffering. "It's a beautiful day outside."

Mercury raised an eyebrow, "That's a little weird…"

Cinder begged to differ.

"Birds are singing… Flowers are blooming…"

Emerald couldn't help but feel something was off, "Is… is he okay?"

"On days like this… kids like you…" A bright, burning blue fire erupted from his left eye socket, forming something of an eye, "Should be burning in Hell."

Sienna finally joined the conversation. "And there's the twist."

Jaune took a hand from his pocket and rose it upward. A mass of bones shot up through the ground and buried themselves in Adam's chest. Adam was caught completely unaware as his blood shot out from his wounds. His form flickered, a videogame-esc heart shattered in half, and he was suddenly back at the entrance to the hall. Adam growled and picked his knife up again. He wasn't about to let that… that - whatever the hell he should call him – win! He refused!

As he stormed into the hall again, Jaune was tapping his foot. "How many times are you going to tr this? 100 deaths, 22 of them in this room alone. Just give it up…"

Adam glared toward the skeleton, choosing to draw his knife.

Jaune sighed again and cracked his neck. "Let's get this over with."

Adam crossed his arms and groaned. "He'd be doomed if I had my sword."

"It's not actually you Adam." Sienna replied. "This is a version of yourself, but not you."

Jaune raised his left hand out to his side, his fire-formed eye glowing brighter. Adam suddenly started to drag on the floor toward the wall. He fell against the stone and rolled up onto the surface as though it were a floor.

Nora gasped. "Oh my gosh! How is he doing that?!"
Ren tapped his friend's shoulder, "I don't think he is. See Jaune's hand? It's pointed toward the wall in question. It's likely Jaune is holding him there, in a way."

"Okay… but is Jaune doing that?"

"No idea."

Jaune's eye flickered as the wall beneath Adam started to crack. The murderous psychopath dodged as a series of bones shot up from the ground. Adam readied his knife and jumped off the wall and toward Jaune. A large, almost dragon-like skull came between the two. Adam kicked off the skull as it opened its jaw. It wouldn't catch him so easily. Then he noticed the inside of the skull was glowing between its jaws. A burst of energy shot out and the heart split in half again.

Now it was Ruby's turn to gasp. "Was that a weapon?! How did it work?! TELL ME!"

Tai laughed a little, "Has she been like this through a lot of these?"

Yang nodded. "To be fair, there have been some pretty crazy weapons."

"How crazy?"

"Laser swords…"

Ruby was suddenly between them, "Lightsabers!"

"That… Rocket hammers, some weird sniper/assault rifle combo, dust canister gauntlets… Crazy stuff."

"Sounds it…"

Jaune sighed. "Let's get this over with." He flicked his hand to his side again.

This time, however, Adam was ready. He rolled on the wall and ran as the bones rose up.

Jaune didn't bother to watch him as he ran. He knew Adam's every move already. Jaune just sighed. How many times are we going to do this? He swung his hand to the other direction and Adam fell across the hall to the glass surface, becoming his new floor. More bones shot out from the glass and another large skull started to fire lasers. Jaune groaned. Adam was starting to figure him out. His patterns… "Okay…"

Adam eyed Jaune waiting for the next move. Next should be a swing to roof. I'm ready for you this time! He'd died too often in this room. Jaune moved his hand and Adam braced himself for his upward climb, only to slam into the floor proper. What?!

The group wasn't sure what was going on, but they were able to pick on a few things. First, this version of Adam and Jaune have been fighting for a long time at this point. Second, every time Adam died, he reappeared back in the hall like it never happened. The key being that so did Jaune. Third, Jaune seemed to have been following a set pattern for a long time, and Adam was learning it. Finally, Jaune just defied that pattern.

Adam growled as he stood again, "That's not how it's supposed to go…"

"I know. I was supposed to send you upward. Unfortunately for you, this isn't some video game where I have to follow a set pattern. I've been treating this like a game, but it's not. I finally decided to get my bony ass in gear." Jaune raised his hand again, this time outward. The blue flame surrounded his hand and he snapped it shut, releasing a magical shockwave of fire. Jaune was unaffected being made of magic and bones. Adam, however, was not so lucky.

Adam fell back onto the cold stone, his body burning slightly. He was able to mitigate the damage, only for a pair of skeletal arms to shoot up from the ground and grab his wrists, holding him down.

Jaune glared toward down toward Adam, finally removing his other hand form his hoodie. Interwoven between his bony fingers was a long black ribbon, one his sister would never be seen without.

Yang blinked and turned toward Blake. Blake just started up to the screen, her ears twitching beneath her own ribbon. There was no confusion. It was the same piece of fabric.

Jaune's eyes, or lack thereof, was filled with hate and pain. "I know… that no matter what I do, you'll just die and reload over and over again until you figure out my patterns. But I'm not going to give you that curtesy. I have one job now. To keep you here and kill you as many times as it takes to break your Determination."

Qrow paused mid-sip of his drink. "That's… that's messed up…"

Ozpin sighed. "No kidding…" Ozpin knew what it was like to die over and over again. The key difference being he would be reborn within another, to live their new existence as one being. This, though? This was twisted.

Jaune growled. He knew if he killed Adam again, he'd have to go back and recognize this situation again. He'd be stuck in his pattern long enough to only act on muscle memory. If that happened… the kid would find a way through his defenses or a way to wear him out first. Jaune closed his eyes, somehow, and started to think.

"How does a skeleton close his eyes?" Yang asked.

"I swear to god, Yang…" Blake's eye twitched, "If this is a set up…"

"No. I'm serious! How is that possible?"

Her team was so used to her dumb jokes, they found this hard to believe.

Jaune needed to break Adam's spirit. But killing him would put him back at square one… He had an option, but he didn't like it. His hand gripped tighter around the ribbon. I don't care anymore… Jaune's eyes reopened and burned with his undead fury. "Blake believed there was good in you, you know… That you could still turn this around. But you kept charging forward like the spiteful little brat you are."

Sienna snickered a little. "Maybe it is Taurus…"

Adam turned toward her, "Lady Kahn!"

"Oh, calm down. It's a joke you bullheaded pansy."

Yang and Tai had the biggest shit-eating grins right now.

"And you killed her… Her last words were how she knew you'd turn yourself around, move away from all this. But you didn't. You just kept going. Killing more and more of us. So, here's what's going to happen." Jaune used his powers to force Adam to a standing position, but one that left him restrained by the skeletal hands. "I'm going to make an honest man out of you. I'm going to make this hurt until you beg for Hell. You're going to leave this world and choose to never come back."

Adam's sight suddenly filled by bone. As his health fell, he screamed out in pain. He knew this attack. He couldn't escape. He'll die soon enough and respawn. Adam's eyes went wide seeing his health bar. It was back at full, only to start dropping. As he got close to death, a green magic would heal him completely, so he could suffer longer.

Adam only grew angrier. "I refuse to believe that he…" His thoughts were cut off by his counterpart screaming out in agony. It was a horrid, bloodcurdling cry that could come only from a tortured man. A man longing for the end.

Ruby shook in her chair, grabbing her father's sleeve. "Dad… I'm scared…"

Tai placed a comforting arm on Ruby's shoulder, "We're all scared, Ruby."

As Adam cried for mercy, Jaune simply glared into the mass of bone and blood, "You didn't spare my sister. Why should I spare you?" After a while, the screams went silent. Jaune waved his hand and the bones fell away, with no body to be found within. "Finally… I'd call it a rage quit, but I already said this wasn't a game… Guess the tale ends here." Jaune sighed. "Didn't even get to make a good joke… I hate being serious…"

The screen fell black. After a moment, it turned to static.

Gira raised an eyebrow, "Is that supposed to happen?"

King suddenly reappeared, his crown off axis, "WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME?!" After a moment of static, he sighed. "You can't be serious… Know what? Fine!" King spit out three new orbs of magic. One was a light tan, another a bright hazel color, and the last was akin to industrial copper.

Kali looked up toward the orbs, "What are those?"

Blake's eyes narrowed. "How we got here. Which means we have company."

"Oh! Any one you know?"

"Kind of hard to tell…"

To Cinder, however, a much easier tell. "Why…" The three orbs popped to reveal the rest of Salem's cohorts: Tyrian, Hazel, and Watts, respectively. "God damn it…"

Watts looked around at the theater. "I must say, this is a rather impressive set up. But I do wonder how we got here."

"Doesn't matter." Hazel glared at the Headmaster sitting in the stands. "Does it… Ozpin…"

Ozpin stood and walked out to the side, glaring back at Hazel.

The massive man was about to throw a punch at the headmaster but was caught off guard when a black liquid fell onto his shoulder. He looked up to he the form of King, leaking black ooze. King shot out the black sludge onto the floor and it started to pool beneath him. The sludge started to rise up and form into a tall woman with white hair and pale skin. Her skin was adorned by black veins and her eyes were bloodied pools in a sea of black death.

The students of Beacon felt a chill go up their spines. Many of the adults felt a similar emotion. Only a select few sprung into action. That is, until King burned brighter again. "NOBODY MOVE!" Once he had their attention, he began. "Alright… explanations first…"