Chapter 17: Psycho in my Head

Ruby still explored the town in Weiss' dream not knowing that she was right under her nose the entire time. That and she had no idea that things were about to take a whole new turn for her and possibly Scarlet.

The Klein bots were being updated on putting up wanted posters of Scarlet and Ruby, some had even started searching around for the two. Ruby scanned around as she was puzzled, she knew that she'd have to leave the dream to report back to the others in the real world.

"I don't see anything around that will help me find Weiss, what do I do?" Ruby mumbled to herself, she went back to where Pyrrha and the other two were at, this time she had seen Jaune with them.

Scarlet was on a roof top scanning the area ahead, she noticed the Klein bots putting up wanted posters, she even saw the ones searching for them. She reached into her pocket and threw a coin as another door had appeared in front of her. "Short cut from point A to point B." She jumped down as she tore the poster off the wall. "Hmm, what's this? Red Queen. Ara ara, it seems I'm popular for Weiss' dream then. The choice in style and clothing matches what I'm wearing now." She closed her eyes as she pondered for a moment. "I think I get the picture now, when myself and Ruby hadn't been sent into Weiss' dream. These mirror versions of ourselves existed, but once we came in. We took their bodies... interesting."

It seemed like she was actually spot on with her theory, she carefully studied the poster for Ruby next taking in what she had on currently. She was about to take another coin out of her pocket until a Klein bot spotted her, cursing under her breath. Scarlet jumped up from wall to wall until she made it back onto the roof. The Klein bot couldn't even reach her now, but spotted Ruby trying to talk with the sillies behind the bars.

Ruby hadn't noticed as she had her focus on team JNPR. "Hold on you guys, I'll find a way to get you all out... then you can-" She was cut off as she spotted Whitley hanging upside down. "What the?" She walked over to where he was at until she noticed the Klein bots. "Yikes!" She started to run for her life as she used her semblance to dash off.

"A semblance?" Whitley asked himself, he grinned as he had to tell Weiss the news. "Now... where the hell is the Red Queen?" He flapped his bat wings and flew around searching for Scarlet.

Ruby left a trail of rose petals behind her as she dashed around with her semblance. "I need to find a place to hide and then get out of here."

Scarlet just watched from where she was at and decided to help Ruby just this one time. Sighing she threw another coin as a pay phone appeared, she picked up the phone to call Shion, on the other side Shion picked up their phone.

"Yes?" Shion asked puzzled, they listened to what Scarlet was saying as they nodded their head a bit. "Okay, just hang on then." Putting the phone down they started to type on their computer.

Yang, Blake and Ozpin were confused at what was going on, but instead they heard a small gasp of air from Ruby as she had woken up. In the other room Scarlet woke up as well, and in that same room with her was Hero.

"So... did you find what you were looking for?" Hero asked puzzled as he cleaned behind his ear and purred.

"No, but I have an idea where." Scarlet answered, she smirked knowing where she'd have to get to next. Time wasn't really what she was focused on, it was the fact that Shion stated their semblance had a time limit and everything else. "Seems like Ice queen's dream has variations of us, well... not you of course."

Hero sighed but didn't really ask what Scarlet meant by that, instead he waited and listened to what was going on in the other room.

~~~

Ruby and the other two took a small break for lunch, but of course Ruby was going to go back inside Weiss' dream to get a better understanding of where Weiss would be at, but she needed to pin point where. Yang was puzzled as to what Ruby had told her and Blake about team JNPR being locked up behind bars, and how they didn't speak either.

"So, you think me and Blake exist in Weiss' dream or?" Yang asked puzzled.

Ruby wasn't sure, she hadn't seen any traces of Yang or Blake in Weiss' dream, she shrugged her shoulders as she looked at her two teammates. "I don't know, maybe... maybe not."

"Even if we are, what makes you sure that we weren't locked up or killed?" Blake asked, clearly this got under her skin. She knew there was conflict between the Schnee's and Faunus.

"Remember what Shion said, this new Grimm feeds off anger. We don't need you to be in the same boat as Weiss." Ruby said while she ate her lunch. "Besides... I had to go in on my own... yet it felt like I wasn't there alone."

Yang shivered at the thought of being watched on a lone wolf mission. "Maybe the Nightmare was watching your every move?"

It wasn't long before team JNPR joined them for lunch, Ruby explained to them about their mirror versions in Weiss' dream. Though when Ruby mentioned being watched, Pyrrha chirped in like her usual self.

"Well, the Nightmare was watching our every move when we were saving Jaune." Pyrrha said. "Maybe it was doing the same with you, but it was easier to find where Jaune was at, if you're dealing with a bigger layout of things. It would be easier to find out if taking pictures would help build a map?"

Ruby thinks about this for a moment as she took Pyrrha's advice and nodded her head a little bit at the idea. "Yeah, that sounds like an awesome idea. Will you guys be coming by or?"

"Can't." Ren said as he looked at Ruby. "We have a little task to take care of, but after that we might be able to swing on by to find out what's going on."

Not far from their table, Scarlet was sitting by herself eating her own lunch. Of course it was raw meat and chocolate, no one questioned her as to why she was eating raw meat. They just assumed her stomach acids were strong enough to break down any harmful germs from the raw meat, after she had finished eating she went back to where Shion was at.

"I'm going back in." Scarlet said as she went into the back room where she was before. "I have an idea where the Grimm is, getting into the area will be a lot of fun." She climbed onto the yarn web as the yarn wrapped around her.

Shion sighed as they went back to waiting for Ruby to return with Yang and Blake. They wondered why they were even helping a Grimm catch another one, Ozpin was out of the room so that was a good sign.

Scarlet found herself back in the same location she had been before when she had entered Weiss' dream. A snowy cliff side, which meant one thing. Either the same events would be playing out like usual or being completely different, Scarlet went over to the edge of the cliff and sure enough the same train hijacking event played out. "Interesting, of course I could take the train into town to make this easier.... But letting my sister struggle in finding out what to do and how to get things right is always so fun." She glanced around as she noticed the door Ruby had put up and the one she had as well. "Time to test to see if this door leads me into town." She walked over to the door and opened it, once she stepped through she was back in town.

Once she was back in town, it had seemed the Klein bots were on guard now. Whitley wasn't anywhere to be seen either, but this gave Scarlet an idea. Of course back inside the Manor the same thing played out again with Weiss entering the room having her coat and hat taken off, followed by her hair being brushed. But something was different this time, the room was slowly getting covered in darkness and thorns, of course this was the Nightmare Grimm making sure what time there was being counted down would be enough for it to take Weiss into a deep slumber.

~~~

Back out in the town, Scarlet whistled and jumped down from the roof. "Looking for me?" She swung her guitar weapon at the Klein bots and smirked while doing so, sure it may not have been Black Rose in hand but it still did some damage either way.

Whitley had just flown in as he noticed what was going on. "Oh no, Red Queen is here!" He yelled and started to turn back, but something caught him before he could. "What the?"

Scarlet snickered as she dragged Whitley back down and towards her. "Hello Batsy, a little slow on returning to Weiss are we?" She placed her guitar down and started to squeeze Whitley in her hand, she brought her other hand over and cupped it against her other hand. "Say, what would happen if I broke every bone in your little body? Would Weiss come out and play?"

Whitley cried out in pain as he struggled to get free from her grasp, but his tiny bat body was fragile and he didn't have enough strength. Scarlet snickered again as she continues to crush and break Whitley's body in her grasp, she decided to end his suffering as she snapped his small bat neck with her thumbs.

"One Schnee down, and it looks like I have to deal with another. Jacques Schnee." Scarlet mumbled as she noticed the statues standing around were in fact Jacques, she didn't really know how to deal with them yet. She sniffed the air as she could smell Weiss' scent. "Ara, seems like she's been watching... how interesting... So she's coming out to play after all."

Weiss had indeed watched what had happened, it seemed like the Jacques statues had mini spy cameras built into their eyes, their heads turned every now and then to scan the area. Scarlet climbed up to a high area in the town to get a better view of things, it wasn't long for Weiss to make herself known. She used her glyphs to shoot shards of ice towards Scarlet.

"Scarlet!" Weiss yelled out looking up at one of the buildings. "I know you're there Scarlet!" She then jumped up to the roof as she didn't see Scarlet anywhere, she glanced around for a bit as she had forgotten how many buildings there were.

Scarlet stepped forward on one of the higher buildings as she glanced down. "You speak my name, but you do not know me! I am Scarlet, the one true Grimm Queen!" She jumped down and landed in front of Weiss with a sinister grin. "I am a destroyer, and I do not fear you!"

Weiss had sweat drop down her face as she backed up, she scoffed as she was going to go in for a fatal attack. Scarlet noticed this as she swung her guitar at Weiss knocking her sword out of her hand and followed that with a hard kick to the gut. Weiss spat up blood as it splattered onto Scarlet's boot, she slid backwards on her side as she hit the wall of the neighboring building next to the one they were both on.

Scarlet cackled as she walked over to Weiss and slammed her foot down onto her face. "Why don't you be a good girl and hand over the Nightmare Grimm, or things will get worse for you." She twisted her foot on Weiss' head and laughed at her pain, she enjoyed hearing the sound. It filled her ears like music. The screaming of pain and cries were all she needed to hear, but she still needed to locate the Nightmare and take it before Ruby made her return to the dream world.