A Mysterious Mansion

The shattered moon shone down upon the giant mansion, illuminating its windows, and giving it even more of an ominous feeling than it already had.

Six shadows walked down the long, winding path to the mansion’s great iron doors. The only distinguishing features of the group was the orange and pink hair of the two in front of the group as they were illuminated by the moon.

What the group didn’t seem to notice, however, was that there was a seventh shadow creeping towards them, before one of the shadows vanished, followed by another and another until only the two in front were left, who didn’t seem to notice that their companions had vanished as they reached the doors. They opened the doors, requiring some effort, and went in, the shadow slipping in before the doors closed shut with a loud bang. Everything went quiet as the moon continued to shine down upon the land.

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Ruby Rose sat up as she felt a vibration, shielding her eyes as she became temporarily blinded by the light of her scroll. Groggily, she sat up, grabbing it and checking what was on it once her vision had adjusted. She squinted as she took in a picture, but she couldn’t completely tell what it was of, as it was dark.

“Ruby…” a quiet voice said. Ruby looked towards the source to see her teammate Weiss Schnee looking up at her. “What are you doing?”

“Somebody sent me a picture.” she told her.

“This late?” Weiss asked. “What of?”

“I’m not sure yet.” she said, looking back at it. She could make out the shape of a person, but she couldn’t yet tell who it was.

“Well, try to figure it out, or go back to sleep.” Weiss said, laying back down. But Ruby didn’t hear her, as she suddenly realized the figure looked familiar, and just as she figured out who it was, Weiss spoke again.

“Hey, where’s Blake?”

Ruby’s eyes shot up as she looked around the room, seeing her sister, Yang Xiao Long, but not seeing her other teammate, Blake Belladonna.

“She’s...in the picture.” she said.

“What?” Weiss asked as she got out of bed and went to up to Ruby’s to see for herself. Once her eyes adjusted, she was also able to make out Blake’s figure in the picture.

“Who sent it?” she asked. Ruby left the picture to check, but there was no name for the sender.

“It doesn’t say.”

“Well, we gotta find her.” Weiss said as she went over to wake up Yang and explain the situation to her. No wide awake at the danger her friend could be in, Ruby got dressed and grabbed her weapon, Crescent Rose.

After being made aware of the situation, Yang quickly got dressed as well and grabbed her gauntlets, named Ember Celica. Weiss joined her as she grabbed her rapier, named Myrtenaster. When everyone was ready, they opened the door and Ruby ran out, quickly crashing into Jaune Arc, the leader of the team next door, Team JNPR, and falling to the floor on top of him.

“Ow ow ow…” Ruby said as she got up. “Jaune, what are you doing?”

“I was going to get a drink, but I heard you guys were up doing stuff.” he explained. “What’s going on?” Once again, they explained the situation. “Well, give us a minute.” he said, turning towards his door.

“Wait, what are you doing?” Weiss asked from behind Ruby.

“We’re coming with. She’s our friend too.” he said with a smile, before he went inside to inform the rest of his team.

Soon enough, Team JNPR all came out and stood ready. Ruby led the group down the halls, studying the picture once more to try to figure out where it was. It was on a hill overlooking the city, as she could see it in the picture.

“I know where she is.” she said quietly, and put the scroll away as they continued on their way to save their friend.

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“Damn.” The raven haired girl cursed as she wandered the halls of the giant mansion. She had somehow lost them, even though she had been following them pretty closely. They had turned a corner and just vanished.

This girl, Blake Belladonna, continued down the seemingly endless maze of hallways, until she reached a wall. A dead end. Blake sighed as she turned, but then froze.

She couldn’t explain it, but she felt something. Something was here that she couldn’t see. Blake slowly moved into a battle stance as she drew her blades, named Gambol Shroud. She stood there, still and silent as a statue.

“You can sense me…” a voice said. It was deep and smooth, and made her feel slightly dizzy. “Too bad it won’t save you.” Blake cried out as a shadow lunged, swallowing her whole.

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The group walked down the winding path to the mansion, stopping as they took in four White Fang goons.

“Yep, Blake was definitely here.” Ruby said. They stared at the mansion. It was enormous, and in another world, it could be likened to an 18th century Victorian house. They walked up to the great iron doors, and pushed them open, slipping inside. Everyone took a moment to admire the room they were now in. It was dark and spacious, with clean black and white tiles on the floor, a chandelier hanging from the ceiling, and a large staircase leading up to a set of doors. On their left and right were two more sets of doors.

Suddenly, the doors behind them slammed shut, making Ruby jump with a yelp as she hastily took out her weapon in its scythe form. Once she realized it was just the doors, she put away her weapon and laughed sheepishly.

“Should we split up?” Jaune suggested.

“We’re in a mysterious mansion that wasn’t here a day before that our friend went into in the dead of night for some reason.” Lie Ren, another member of Team JNPR stated. “I think we should stick together for now.” Everyone nodded, and they silently made their way up the stairs to the ornately decorated set of doors. They pushed them open with a creak and went in.

As she stepped in, Ruby was hit with a wave of nausea, causing her vision to spin as she fell to her knees, holding her hand to her mouth as she tried not to vomit.

But, almost as suddenly as it started, it ended. With deep breaths, she stood, and looked around to see Weiss doing the same.

“W-Weiss? Are you okay?” She asked. Weiss looked up to her and nodded. They caught their breath.

“Wait, where are the others?” Weiss asked. Ruby quickly turned to see everyone else was gone, as well as the door.

“The door’s gone.” Ruby said, turning to Weiss. “We’re trapped.”

“Well, let’s just keep looking for Blake.” Weiss said, deciding to try and stay calm. She turned and continued down the hall, Ruby close behind.

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Cinder Fall watched as the two teams entered the mansion. She smiled. Everything was going exactly as planned.

Emerald Sustrai and Mercury Black stood next to her, awaiting her orders.

“Go. Follow them. Do what you want.” she said, and the two nodded, quickly making their way to the mansion, where Cinder continued watching.