Disclaimer, I do not own RWBY or any of the franchises referenced in this work

Hello and welcome to my first fic. Inspired by all the multiverse fics like Arcs of the multiverse, endless possibilities etc and here's my take on it. A collection of ideas that's been floating around in my head for a while. Leave a review if you enjoyed it. Once more welcome and enjoy your stay.

Chapter 1: Bloody evolution

Inspiration: Bloodborne

Pain.

That one word summed up Ruby's current existence. One moment she was busy doing maintenance on her pride and joy Crescent Rose and the next she was near the bottom of a pile of bodies. Pained groans came from the others stacked above her, Yang, Blake and team JNPR sans their fearless leader.

"Get… off me… you DOLTS!" A muffled scream came from her unfortunate partner at the very bottom of the stack. Ruby's only response was a small 'oof' as Yang's elbow jabbed into her side during her own attempt to escape.

With some difficulty the seven managed to extricate themselves from the mess of limbs and bodies. Rising to their feet, they found themselves standing in an empty theatre with a blank screen.

"My pancakes! Where'd they go? RENNY! MY PANCAKES HAVE BEEN KIDNAPPED! WE NEED TO GET THEM BACK!" Nora grabbed Ren by the shoulders and started shaking him violently, the delicious steaming pile of pancakes she was about to devour conspicuously missing in action.

"Nora no. We can get more pancakes later. Where are we anyway?" Ren booped Nora on the nose to calm her down before looking around. "I don't see any exits, and where's Jaune? He was with us before… before whatever happened to bring us here."

"Your friend is indisposed at the moment but fear not, he's perfectly fine." A white orb sprang into existence in front of them. "He might join you later or he might not, it all depends on the boss."

"Gah! Who are you!?" Yang readied Ember Celica only to watch in shock as they crumbled into dust before her.

"There will be no violence in this place… unless I decide that it has entertainment value, you will get your weapons back when you leave. Haven't had a proper name in centuries but you can address me as Blank, I am the caretaker of this establishment."

"Hmmph so why have you brought us here exactly?" Weiss questioned the orb as her hands grasped for a missing Myrtenaster.

"Oh you're all here because I'm bored."

"E-excuse me!?"

"This place doesn't get many visitors nowadays and watching movies alone on the big screen is fun the first couple of times but it gets stale real fast. So I thought I'd bring in an audience just for laughs. Relax, time is frozen outside this space, once you return, everything will be exactly as you left it."

RWBY and NPR exchanged unsure glances but decided to take their seats anyway, without a clear way home and in the presence of some kind of reality warper, it was best to just play along for now.

"So… what are we watching exactly?" Pyrrha asked, doing her best not to fret about her missing teammate and not so secret crush.

"So glad you asked, it'll be a collection of adventures of Jaune Arc across the multiverse. Every film takes place in one of three things, a completely separate universe, a possible future or an alternate reality." Blank replied as the lights began to dim.

"Heh? The adventures of vomit boy eh, might be worth a couple of laughs if nothing else. So you got any- oh I guess you do." The blonde brawler began munching on popcorn as a bucket magically appeared in her arms. The others did their best to make themselves comfortable as the screen came to life.

"Oh yes Paleblood… you've come to the right place." An old man wearing a top hat spoke as he wheeled his chair over to a figure lying on the table. "Yharnam is the home of blood ministration."

A wet cough came from the figure and a familiar voice spoke up. "Gah… I don't have much time left, can this cure my illness?" A round of coughing wracked Jaune's body and his hands came away bloody when he wiped his mouth.

"But of course, you only need unravel its mystery. But where's an outsider like you to begin? Easy, with a bit of Yharnam blood of your own. But first you'll need a contract."

"Wait, what's wrong with Jaune-Jaune?" A look of worry crossed Nora's face as she watched her leader sign a contract while fighting back another round of coughs.

"The Jaune Arc of this universe is dying from a terminal illness, Paleblood is the only thing capable of curing it. Blood ministration will suppress the effects of the illness until he can be cured but… well you'll just have to watch."

"Good, all signed and sealed. Now, let's begin the transfusion. Oh don't you worry, whatever happens, you may think it all a mere bad dream." The old man began to laugh as Jaune's vision started to fade. Iv drips feeding the vaunted 'Yharnam Blood' into his system. Unable to hold on to consciousness any longer, the unyielding grasp of slumber took him.

An indeterminate amount of time later, Jaune returned to the waking world. The old doctor was nowhere to be found and the clinic was shrouded in darkness. Letting out a small groan, his attention was drawn to his left by a strange sound.

Lacking the strength to get up he could only watch on in muted horror as a beast emerged from a rapidly widening pool of blood. The giant blood drenched wolf began pacing over to him slowly, claws raking long furrows into the ground, leaving little to the imagination about his imminent fate.

"Come on, come on, get up you dunce." Weiss muttered under her breath, she didn't have the best impression of the Arc but that didn't mean she just wanted to sit around and watch someone she knew get slaughtered by a monster.

The audience watched with bated breath as the wolf lifted its claws and reached for the incapacitated Jaune before exhaling a collective sigh of relief when the beast spontaneously caught fire and fell back.

Jaune watched as the beast thrashed about, flailing its burning limbs as the rest of its body was enveloped in the all-consuming fire. The wolf fell to the ground and twitched several times before being reduced to ashes and Jaune relaxed slightly when the fire didn't spread to the rest of the room and no new monster came to menace him.

His breath hitched when he saw a tiny hand grasp the side of the table he was lying on and an ugly imp like creature pulled itself into view. Still unable to move his limbs, Jaune struggled weakly as more of the imps began crawling up. His vision started to fade again and the last thing he saw before the darkness claimed him once more was one of the creatures directly overhead, its mouth open and a maw filled with too much teeth.

Ruby 'eeped' and pulled her hood over her eyes, unable to watch any further. The others weren't in much better condition, a green tint colouring several of their faces.

"Aha, so you've found yourself a hunter." A musical voice intoned and Jaune snapped awake clutching at his chest in panic.

"I'm… alive?" His breathing slightly ragged, the blonde patted himself down and found nothing amiss. There was no sign of the pool of blood, the ashes of the giant beast or any of those… things left lying around.

With a small grunt, he slipped off the table and took a few tentative steps around the room, a small smile grew on his face as he felt the energy coursing his veins. "I… I feel alive. The sickness… it's gone? Ah… hahhahaha… hahahhahah!"

Unable to contain his mirth, Jaune started laughing, feeling better than he ever had in the past. Even before he came down with his illness, he didn't recall ever feeling this good.

"Wait that was just a dream? Booo! What kind of horror movie is this!" Yang complained and chucked a handful of popcorn at the screen, watching in mild amusement as the snack evaporated into thin air before it could connect with anything.

"W-well it's fine isn't it, Jaune's safe and he's cured… right?" Pyrrha said, unsure of what to make of things.

"heh heh, not quite." Blank chuckled and replied.

Looking around the deserted clinic, Jaune picked up a small note covered in near illegible scrawls. "Seek Paleblood to transcend the hunt? What does tha- ahh!" Jaune clutched his head as a spike of pain shot through it.

Stumbling down the stairs, the initial euphoria of being alive had faded, leaving behind only a vague sense of wrongness. "My… my memories, what did… ugh…"

Jaune filed it away as a possible side effect of the treatment process but his mind felt clouded as though he was still dreaming. He could recall his name, and the fact that he was here for a cure to his illness… what was his illness again?

"Can't remember… I am… oh shit." Jaune's thoughts came to a screeching halt as he reached the floor below, there in the corner was one of the massive wolf beasts feasting on a corpse.

Taking a step back in panic, he winced when he heard glass crunch underfoot. The wolf stopped munching and turned to regard the shaking interloper, a growl exiting its throat as it shifted its bulk to face its new prey.

Sheer terror giving him a burst of strength, Jaune sprinted for the exit, desperate to make it to the safety that would hopefully be on the other side. Ducking as the wolf sailed overhead and smashed into a wooden cabinet, turning the furniture into kindling with one blow.

Running out into the streets, he barrelled out the main gate of the property and started screaming for help with the beast hot on his tails. Rounding a corner, he encountered two strangely deformed humans, one wielding a sickle and another molotov cocktails.

With a snarl, the man with the molotovs hurled them at the beast. Jaune winced again as the inhuman roars of the burning beast hurt his ears. Breathing a sigh of relief as the beast turned and ran, he approached the duo to thank them for their assistance.

"T-thanks for the assist. What the hell is going on heurk!" His question was cut off as a sickle buried itself in his throat before being violently ripped out. Sinking to his knees clutching his throat in a futile attempt to stem the flow of his precious lifegiving fluid.

A second strike rent open his back and planted him in the ground, lying in a slowly expanding pool of his own blood. As darkness claimed him yet again, the last thing he could make out was one of the men screaming how it was all his fault.

The audience watched on in shocked silence as their friend was brutally butchered for no reason at all. Ruby was hugging her knees and shaking in her seat while Yang tried to comfort her. Pyrrha was grabbing for a non-existent weapon while Nora began raving about breaking legs and then breaking everything else. Ren himself watched on with a blank expression but the hands tightly balled into fists spoke volumes. Weiss and Blake were relatively better off but even they wore an expression of distaste.

"This… is foul. To be murdered after being cured of a disease? Is this some kind of joke? What's the point of that!" The Schnee heiress questioned the floating orb.

"The world isn't fair miss Schnee, there aren't always happy endings, I think you of all people would know this. But relax, this story isn't over yet, far from it in fact." The screen began to brighten again and drew the attention of the audience.

Cold.

That was the first thing Jaune felt as he lifted his face from the floor. He found himself standing in a garden of sorts, several tombstones lined the path he had awoken on and a cozy little house sat at the end of it.

"I… died… is this the afterlife?" Jaune questioned as he looked around. A giant full moon hung overhead and beyond the garden, the world was shrouded in mist. He could make out several pillars reaching for the heavens in the distance but that was it.

His eyes were then drawn towards a doll propped up against a wall. Dressed in a simple outfit with long flowing white hair, it appeared for all intentions and purposes nothing more than a simple doll someone had left outside. There was an itch at the back of his mind telling him that the doll was more than it appeared, that he was missing something in plain sight.

"I'm a doll?" Weiss stared incredulously at the screen as Yang stifled a small giggle at the unexpected sight. Jaune was 'alive' and poking fun at Weiss's expense was preferable to recalling Jaune's earlier execution.

"Not quite. You are… elsewhere in this universe. This is just a construct in your image."

Ignoring the doll for now, Jaune followed the path towards the building since standing around wasn't doing anything and there really wasn't anywhere else to go.

He stepped back in shock as the cobblestone floor began to bubble and those imps from his dream emerged from the ground. Their tiny hands raised towards him as they offered up a silver cane and a pistol.

Gingerly picking up the proffered items, a brief burst of clarity cut through the fog in his mind as the knowledge on how to use the weapons came to him. Taking a few practice swings with the cane as the imps disappeared back into the ground, he flipped a switch on the cane mid swing, converting it into a serrated whip that cracked through the air.

Hitting the switch again and slamming it to the floor, Jaune returned it to its cane form and hummed in satisfaction. He was pretty sure he'd never used a… 'trick weapon'… in his life despite his clouded memories but the weapons felt right in his hands.

The threaded cane and hunter's pistol, the names floated into his thoughts the same way he knew the cane was a trick weapon, whatever the heck that meant.

Ruby narrowed her eyes in thought as she inspected the weapon on screen. "A cane that changes into a whip? It's not crescent rose but I suppose it gets a pass. But what kind of gun is that, it's so… old fashioned… and not in a good way."

"The technology of this world is twisted as is most other things in it. On the one hand you have guns that are centuries out of date and on the other you have the trick weapons which are something of a midpoint between traditional weapons and the mechashift weapons of today." If Blank had arms he would have shrugged, but incomprehensible as it was, it added to the charm.

"Hello?" Jaune called out as he stepped into the building. A man in a tattered green suit and cloak sat hunched in a wheelchair as though awaiting his arrival.

"Ah-hah, you must be the new hunter. Welcome to the Hunter's Dream. This will be your home, for now. I am... Ozpin, friend to you hunters."

The man chuckled and sat up straighter. "You're sure to be in a fine haze about now, but don't think too hard about all of this. Just go out and kill a few beasts. It's for your own good. You know, it's just what hunters do! You'll get used to it..."

"Professor Ozpin? Huh. I guess even in another world he's still guiding the next generation of hunters." Ren muttered under his breath as he made comparisons between this Ozpin and the one back in Beacon, noting the similarities. "I wonder what secrets you're hiding."

"O…kay? What is this place anyway? And… what the hell is going on with me? I… died I-I mean I remember dying at least and why is my memory a mess?" Jaune shuffled nervously as he fired off a barrage of questions.

"My, my, you're a curious one, aren't you? Well this was once a safe haven for hunters. A workshop where hunters used blood to enhance their weapons and flesh. We don't have as many tools as we once did, but... You're welcome to use whatever you find. ...Even the doll, should it please you…"

Weiss blanched at Ozpins' statement. "N-no. The headmaster did not just suggest…"

Yang cracked up in laughter at the sheer audacity of Ozpin's words. "Makes you wonder doesn't it, if our Ozpin has a doll like that for his own-"

"Xiao Long!" Weiss roared in fury as her face coloured a vibrant shade of red, whether from embarrassment or anger it was impossible to tell. "Don't you dare finish that sentence!"

"Kidding! Kidding." Yang held up her hands in mock surrender as a Cheshire grin spread across her face. "But Ozpin isn't the one to worry about here is he. Wonder what vomit boy will do now that he has his own snow angel doll."

The deathly pallor returned to the heiress' face as she stared wide eyed at the screen. Thoughts on how to mangle Jaune Arc if he so much as looked at the doll in an indecent manner ran through her mind, each more violent than the last.

"You're a dead man Arc. A dead man."

"Okay… I'm… just going to ignore that last bit. What do you mean enhance weapons and… flesh…"

Ozpin chuckled again before replying. "There is power in the blood young hunter. Every kill you make, every drop of blood you spill, they add to your strength. Return here, to the hunters' dream to convert the echoes into true power. You'll know what to do when the time comes."

"Kill!? I don't want to kill anything!" Jaune recoiled in shock, he came to Yharnam in search of life not to become some kind of murderer.

"Heheheh… you don't have a choice young hunter. The moon's blessing is upon you, your soul is now bound to this place and only by completing the hunt will you be set free. Such is the price of using the old blood."

"Old blood? What old blood!? You're not making any sense!"

"The blood that now flows in your veins. You did just have a transfusion did you not?"

"I… I… that was just… I was just trying to cure my illness!"

"What you sought the old blood for is irrelevant. Some come in search of power, others like you come in search of a panacea. It all ends the same way. Either you become a beast or you become a hunter of beasts. You've seen it haven't you? Both the middle and final stages of the blood curse?"

Jaune bit back a retort as he recalled the two wolves that nearly killed him and the insane misshapen humans that actually did. His right hand rose unbidden to rub his throat where it was torn out.

"I could set you free from your bond, but that way lies beasthood. Then it falls to some other hunter to finish you off. Your choice young hunter." Ozpin casually shrugged and spoke as though he were discussing the weather instead of a life altering decision for Jaune. As though he'd had the same conversation many, many times in the past, and Jaune had the sinking suspicion that that was the case.

"What kind of choice is that? I become a monster either way." Jaune bitterly spat out.

"Well, in one of those choices you retain your mind. It's not that bad really. Out on the streets of Yharnam nearly everyone is infected with the scourge of the beast. You'd be doing them a favour really, freedom from a cursed existence." Ozpin's lips curled in distaste, either at the fate of the men turned beasts or perhaps something more…

Shaking his head to ward away old memories and regrets, Ozpin continued his little speech to Jaune. "Besides, once you've completed the hunt you'll be released from your bond and free to return a normal human again. And all this will simply fade away like a bad dream with the ray of dawn."

"And just how do I complete this hunt? When I've killed every beast in this land?"

"No, no. Beasts are a curse and a curse is a symptom. End the one responsible for the outbreak to finish the hunt. You'll know what to do when the time comes… but that's a long way off. You lack the strength and skill to even reach it let alone kill it. Go, return to Yharnam, kill a few beasts and grow strong with the blood of your prey."

"And… what if I'm not strong enough, what if I die?" Jaune mumbled as he thought back to his death. Sure, he'd somehow cheated death once but that didn't mean-

"Oh you are beyond death now young hunter. When you die you simply awaken again from the dream. There are only two ways this ends, you give in and yield to the scourge, become yet another mindless monster to be exterminated. Or…"

"Or?"

"Or you persevere and crush your enemies with your ability to ignore death and learn from every failure. The streets will drown in an ocean of blood, it's up to you if you wish to ride the tide to freedom or be swallowed by it."

Jaune's face scrunched up in a bitter smile. "I suppose I don't have a choice do I. My mind… the blood and this place is messing with my mind isn't it. I can use weapons I've never held before and… a part of me is demanding I go out and start slaughtering prey."

"All the better to make you a hunter young one. You always have a choice, even if you don't like the consequences. It's a question on whether you can live with yourself after making that choice. One last thing, you are resistant to the scourge, not immune. Never forget that."

Jaune didn't bother dignifying the old man with a reply as he turned his back on Ozpin and marched out of the workshop. Weapons clutched in white knuckle grips, he acted on more of the knowledge that flowed into his mind and knelt before one of the tombstones he'd passed on the way up before reaching a hand out.

The world rippled around him and his vision faded away again, a familiar darkness rushing to claim him as the ground seemed to just fall away.

"That's… disturbing. I can't imagine what that must be like for Jaune, it's like… like…" Blake struggled to find the words to describe what she just watched.

"It's like being condemned to be a huntsman until all the Grimm on Remnant have been eradicated, unable to even die permanently to be free from the duty. And if he gives up…" Ren grimaced and quietly gave thanks that huntsmen of Remnant actually had the option of retirement… even if most retirements were of a more final sort.

"If he gives up, he becomes a Grimm to be killed by his former comrades. This… this is damnation. It's a living hell. I… destiny cannot be so cruel, it cannot." Pyrrha stared blankly at the screen, this wasn't a fate she'd wish on anyone, to see it happen to her crush physically hurt her.

"Wait if fearless leader grows stronger with the blood of his enemies, does that make him a vampire?" Nora asked curiously in an attempt to lift the heavy atmosphere with some humour.

"No he isn't… actually now that I think about it, he is kind of a vampire. Not vampire classic though, he doesn't drink blood if that's what your curious about, more… inject it directly into his system. And he doesn't turn to dust under the sunlight either."

The noise died down as the screen came back to life, showing Jaune waking up on the same table he was lying on in the beginning.

Jaune sat up and stared at the objects in hand, a pistol and a transforming cane. "Not a dream. Damn."

Getting to his feet, he switched the cane to whip form for greater range and crowd control before heading down the stairs, taking great care to place his feet where they wouldn't break anything.

Sure enough, at the bottom of the stairs sat the wolf. Aside from several large patches of bloody flesh where the fur had been burned off, the wolf was very much intact. Tending to its wounds, the beast hadn't noticed its former prey had returned as a hunter with murder in his eyes.

Raising his cane whip, Jaune let his strike fly, the serrated blades on it tearing through the wolf's fur and flesh with minimal resistance, ripping large chunks of it free and drenching the surroundings in blood.

The pained roar no longer grated on his ears but were now glorious music to his triumph. Striking again and again and again, Jaune continued to inflict damage on the beast.

Quickstepping out of the way of a frenzied lunge, the hunter felt a sense of clarity descend on him as the world sharpened in hyper focus. It was like he could see everything happen in slow motion, dodge, strike, dodge again, counter. The moves simply flowed without much need for conscious thought.

Seeing an opening to finish things, the blonde took it instantly. Firing his pistol while the wolf was mid lunge, the quicksilver round impacted and burrowed into flesh, searing and poisoning the immediate area and sending the beast rearing into the air in shock at the sudden agony.

Dropping his whip, Jaune stepped forward and stabbed his right arm into the beast, old blood enhanced strength and flesh easily punched through the weakened body of the wolf. Twisting his hand inside the wound, Jaune felt a pulse of energy rush through his body, down the arm and into the beast. Ripping his arm out, he was rewarded with a spray of blood as the wolf's insides exploded outwards, the blood in the body violently seeking escape courtesy of Jaune's technique and ripping its way free of the body, shredding everything in its path.

Jaune took several deep breaths as he watched the remains flop onto the floor lifelessly. He'd done it, his first kill. It was glorious, the rush of victory, the taste of power from the blood. He wanted, no he needed-

Jaune's fist introduced itself to his right cheek and he spat out a small wad of blood. The pain quickly clearing up his muddle thoughts before fading away and for that he was thankful. That bloodlust he felt at the end, instinct told him that led down a road he did not want to go.

A small shudder wracked his frame as he recalled Ozpins' last warning, about being resistant and not immune. "I have to resist this all the way?" Jaune gulped and took a few moments to steady himself before moving off.

"Damn, vomit boy can fight." Yang commented as she watched Jaune start slaughtering a path through deranged infected citizens of the city, fluid dodging allowed him to avoid gunfire even at point blank range.

"I don't like this." Ruby said as she continued to hide behind her hood. Her expression alternating between wanting to cheer for her fellow team leader and trying not to throw up from the senseless violence.

It was disturbing watching her friend straight up ignoring lethal blows to continue fighting on, fatal injuries including being shot through the eye, having his throat opened again or being stabbed through the heart. None of those put the hunter down as long as he didn't pass an unknown damage threshold.

And those wounds simply knit together or shimmered and returned to its original state as he fought on and inflicted damage to his opponents. When too much time passed between sustaining damage and counterattacking though, the wounds stopped healing and that was when Jaune would inject himself with a vial of old blood, regenerating or erasing the damage sustained.

Ruby winced again as she watched Jaune sail through the air when he wound up blindsided by a hammer blow from a giant hunchback only to get up and walk off the damage. One violent blood explosion later and there was no sign Jaune was ever injured aside from being soaked in blood.

Jaune spat at the corpse on the floor before climbing the ladder in front of him. Pausing midway to stare at the sun hanging just above the horizon, he frowned at it. "Something's screwy with this place, I've been doing this for hours now and the sun still hasn't set. I don't think it's moved at all actually."

Shaking his head to clear away his idle thoughts, he resumed the climb and found himself standing at a locked gate he'd passed by earlier. Humming as he grabbed the lever, he yanked it back and unlocked it, just as he was about to pass through, a voice drew his attention.

"Who… are you? I don't know your voice, but I know that smell… Are you a hunter? Then please, will you look for my mom? Daddy never came back from the hunt and she went to find him, but now she's gone too I'm afraid. I'm all alone, and scared, the incense is running out too."

Jaune looked up and noticed a young girl in a red hood staring at him through the window. Unlike every other human he'd fought and killed in the streets of Yharnam, the girl wasn't deformed nor was she completely insane and it felt good seeing a friendly face for the first time in forever. Ozpin and the doll didn't count.

"Hey! Look Rubes it's you. Awww you look adorable!" Yang hugged her sister and began kneading her knuckles into the poor girl's head.

"Ah hey! Cut it out Yang!" The hooded reaper struggled valiantly against the stronger girl to no avail.

"Your dad's a hunter too? Yeah I can keep an eye out for them."

"Really? Oh, thank you! My m-mom wears a white hood and she has a red jewelled brooch. It's so big and… and beautiful. You won't miss it. Oh, I mustn't forget... If you find my mom, give her this music box. It plays one of daddy's favourite songs. And when daddy forgets us, we play it for him so he remembers. Mom's so silly, running off without it!"

"Sure thing kid. I won't let you down."

"I'm not a kid! My name's Ruby and I'm almost ten years old now!" The young Ruby pouted at Jaune and the hunter couldn't resist giving a small laugh and reaching through the window to give her a head pat.

"Of course, of course. I'll look for your parents, stay inside the house. Streets aren't safe anymore."

"Okay mister hunter. I'll be good I promise."

"Name's Jaune Arc, short sweet and rolls right off the tongue. Just sit tight and I'll be back before you know it." Jaune waved goodbye to the nice little girl and continued his journey, music box safely secured inside his… wherever the hell his equipment disappeared to until he needed them.

While team RWBY was busy cooing and sniggering over young Ruby, Nora was frowning at the screen as Jaune continued his bloody crusade. "I have a bad feeling about this."

Groaning in slight pain as he was sent flying through several barrels and out a window. Jaune leapt up in time and grappled with the almost completely turned monster. Unable to resist its inhuman strength for much longer, the hunter inhaled deeply before giving in entirely.

Propelled forwards by its own momentum, the beast found itself being flipped overhead by Jaune and sent tumbling over the edge of the roof. Jaune winced lightly with every meaty 'thwack' as the body bounced of the walls and ledges before ending with a splat at the very bottom.

Soft clapping made him aware that he wasn't as alone as he initially thought. A woman dressed in a variant of a plague doctor's outfit was leaning against the far wall.

"Oh, a hunter, are ya? And an outsider? What a mess you've been caught up in. And tonight, of all nights. Prepare yourself for the worst. There are no humans left. They're all flesh-hungry beasts now."

"It's professor Goodwitch, I wonder if all of us are going to make an appearance in it soon." Blake quietly muttered.

Noticing Jaune hadn't made a move to leave yet, Goodwitch chuckled and raised her head to regard the new hunter. "Still lingering about? What's wrong? A hunter, unnerved by a few beasts perhaps? Heh heh... No matter, without fear in our hearts, we're little different from the beasts themselves. But enough trembling in your boots. A hunter must hunt."

Having said her piece, the veteran hunter leapt over the edge and when Jaune rushed over to check, there was no trace of her to be found anywhere. "Well that was… interesting, still she's not wrong I suppose. The sooner I get back to hunting, the sooner I can be free of this accursed place. I… damn, forgot to ask about Ruby's parents. Never mind, that's two sane people I've met so far, my luck must be picking up."

"Oh I have a really bad feeling about this." If binge watching all those horror movies in the past had taught Nora anything, it was that things would always get worse, actual happy endings were practically unicorns.

"Nope nope nope." Jaune sprinted past a massive pig in the sewers. What the hell a pig was doing there and how the hell it became big enough to occupy half the drainage system wasn't something he was interested in finding out. All he knew was there was no way in hell he was fighting that thing in an enclosed space again, as far as deaths went, being squashed to death was one of the less pleasant ways to go. he'd be back when he was stronger, damn pig had already cost him too many blood echoes when it caught him off guard the first time.

Dashing up the ladder at the end several rungs at a time, he gave the pig the finger as it smashed into the wall and failed to dislodge him. "I'll be back for you later jackass!"

Sneaking behind one of the hunchbacks and a lone shield wielding infected human, Jaune assassinated both with back stabs and gave a massive ball soaked in oil and pitch a light push. The ball erupted into a blazing inferno as it caught fire courtesy of a fallen torch and the flaming ball bowled over the unsuspecting people at the other end of the bridge.

Feeling the familiar rush of power from the kills, Jaune elected to punch himself in the face again to ward off the bloodlust. It felt like he was getting better at pushing it out of mind, whether that was a good thing or not remained to be seen.

Ascending the stairs and executing several beasts unfortunate enough to stand in his path, he could hear the sound of tearing flesh growing louder. "Are the beasts fighting each other or is it another hunter?"

Emerging from the alleyway, he was greeted by the sight of a hunter hacking the head off one of the beast infected with an axe in the middle of a cemetery. A dozen corpses lay scattered around him, each one chopped to pieces as well.

"Beasts all over the shop. You'll be one of them, sooner or later." Taiyang Xiao Long ceased his butchering to regard Jaune. The teen gulped as the other hunter towered over him by a good half metre at least.

"Dad? Damn what happened to him." Yang asked as she took in the sight of her father. He looked too much like the deformed humans Jaune had been mowing down on his way here.

"Well… at least he's alive?" Ruby ventured.

"Don't say that! Now you've gone and jinxed it!" Nora shouted and pointed a finger accusingly at Ruby.

"Woah woah, I'm not turning into a beast any time soon. You're a hunter right? Do you know a… ah shit I forgot to ask for a name." Jaune face palmed as he realised he forgot to ask Ruby for the names of her parents.

"Heh, it doesn't matter anymore." Taiyang listed to one side with a far off look in his eyes.

"Uh sorry? I'm not sure what you meAN!" Jaune screamed out as he barely dodged a sudden swing from the axe. Eyes widening at the sudden offensive, he threw himself to the side as Taiyang raised his pistol and pulled the trigger.

Instead of a single bullet like every other gun he'd encountered in the mad city so far, a spray of shotgun pellets burst out instead and the blast sent him flying.

Hacking out a bloody cough, Jaune stabbed a blood vial into himself to heal his injuries as he hurried to stand. "What the hell are you doing!? I'm a hunter like you! Why are you attacking me!?"

"Hunter? Hunter. HUNTER!" Taiyang leapt forwards with a snarl, his axe elongated mid swing and once again caught Jaune off guard, the axe blade bit deep and sent him sailing through the air and several tombstones.

Injecting himself with blood again, Jaune backed up the stone steps in a bid to put some distance between him and the clearly insane man. "I don't want to fight you! I'm just trying to find Ruby's parents!"

"R-ruby?" Taiyang grabbed his head in pain and swayed on his feet before roaring again and rushing towards Jaune, the light of insanity burning bright in his eyes. "I… ahhhragghhh!"

"Shit. Damn it all!" Jaune opened fire with his own pistol and bit back a curse when Taiyang merely shrugged off the impact instead of being staggered like everything else he'd faced so far.

Striking with his cane, Jaune did his best to survive the relentless onslaught and counterattack where he could. He didn't want to hurt the man but his opponent sure as hell wasn't making it easy for him.

A mistimed dodge saw him take the axe to the chest again and as the air was forced out of his lungs, he was sent flying again, this time over the edge of the platform and onto a lower one.

Opening his eyes once the pain subsided, he found the glassy eyes of a woman's corpse staring back at him. But that wasn't what caught his attention. His breath froze and a small whine was all that he could muster when he saw the white hood and red brooch.

"No."

A vertical line down her chest from where a bladed object had introduced itself and subsequently cut through the clothes and the organs behind it left no doubt as to the cause of death. No mistake, he was painfully well acquainted with the weapon that did it after all, the same one that just sent him over the edge.

"M-mom?" Ruby gasped out upon seeing the broken form of her mother Summer Rose lying in the dirt. She was only dimly aware or Yang pulling her into a tight hug saying that things would be okay. This was too painful to watch, even if it wasn't 'real'. A small sniffle later and Ruby sank deeper into Yang's embrace before the tears could fall.

"You- R-ruby's mom…" Jaune's eyes flashed red as he stared at the hunter that leapt down to meet him with a raised axe. "I'll kill you… I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU! YOU HEAR ME!"

Cane in hand, Jaune charged Taiyang with an inarticulate roar. The two hunters duelled on the outcrop, a space far too small for such an encounter, neither giving ground as they sought to beat each other into the dirt. One driven by beast induced madness and the other by white hot rage of failing his first and only friend in this god forsaken city.

Shooting Taiyang's hand with his pistol to stun the veteran hunter, Jaune shoulder tackled him over the edge before leaping downwards with his cane stabbing in for an execution strike.

Winded from the blow and the fall, Taiyang was unable to react in time to stop Jaune from burying the silver cane in his stomach and nailing him to the floor. Eyes still blazing red, Jaune channelled the power in his blood to his fists and began raining hammer blows onto the downed hunter, seeking to bash his skull in.

Grievously wounded as he was, Taiyang refused to just roll over and die. Grabbing hold of one of Jaune's bloody fists, the man tossed the younger hunter away with one swing, the scourge granting him ever increasing strength as more of his humanity was stripped away.

With one final inhuman roar, Taiyang forced himself to rise, pulling his body straight through the cane nailing him into the floor. Soaked in the blood of his enemies and himself, the man grabbed his head and shuddered, yellow bands of light forming around him.

Jaune snarled and emerged from the pile of shattered tombstones he landed in ready for round two. Fuelled by his anger, he didn't even flinch when Taiyang's body exploded in a shower of blood and gore and a giant werewolf emerged, wearing the tattered remains of his hunter's outfit.

"Damn beast, it's all your fault! Die! Die! Die! Die! DIEEEEE!" Jaune rushed forwards and began pummelling the former hunter with his bare hands, the adrenaline in him forcing out the pain of Taiyang's counterattacks.

Their struggle wrecked the already damaged graveyard to a point where it was impossible to tell what it was prior to the fight. Every gravestone had been reduced to rubble and every tree either uprooted or turned to splinters.

And still the two fought on.

In their blood fuelled rampage, the duo were evenly matched at first but slowly Jaune began to get the upper hand as Taiyang couldn't keep up the Jaune's ability to heal through combat or blood injections, lacking both of those things as it were.

Finally things came to an end when Jaune was too slow in dodging a claw swipe. The blow ripped through his chest and sent him crashing into a wall, leaving a spiderweb of cracks behind. Raising his head with a bloody grin, Jaune extracted a Molotov cocktail from and hurled it straight into Taiyang's open maw.

The bottle burst when the werewolf chomped down on the foreign object, spreading the burning liquid all over its body and down its throat.

"F-filthy beast, you're weak to fire aren't you!?" Jaune roared and emptied his supply of molotovs, hurling everything at the mutated hunter to finish it off.

Injecting his last vial of blood to heal, Jaune staggered over to where his cane was still planted in the ground. With a mighty wrench, he pulled the weapon out and strode over to the burning body of the werewolf, undeterred by the heat or the stench of burning flesh.

"This one's for Ruby." Lifting his weapon overhead, Taiyang let out one last mournful howl as he stared up at his executioner. It sounded very much like a cry of 'I'm sorry' to his ears but the hunter was beyond caring at this point. Whatever man the beast used to be was gone, all that was left was to put it down like a rabid dog and put his ghost to rest.

Bringing the weapon down in one final two handed blow, Jaune drove the cane through the skull of the beast, pulping it and bringing the monster down for the last time.

As the rush of power signifying a kill arrived, it brought nothing but bitterness this time. He failed, what the hell was he supposed to tell Ruby now. Poor girl's mom wasn't coming home anymore, and he never found her father either.

Walking over to the corpse of Summer Rose, Jaune retrieved the pendant and resolved to deliver it to Ruby. He cursed his inability to do anything more and the 'victory' tasted of ashes.

RWBY and NPR were silent as the movie continued playing. Hunters in training they might have been, this was a level of brutality none of them had ever seen before. Ruby was still shaking quietly while Yang herself wasn't much better off despite her brave front.

In this universe, her dad just butchered her mom and turned into a monster only to be put down by a friend. Her emotions were running haywire now and she didn't like it in the least.

Continuing past the graveyard into Cathedral ward proper, he found the caretaker seated in a corner surrounded by burning incense that warded off the beasts of Yharnam. After confirming that the place would serve as a safe haven for the uninfected, Jaune turned back to return to Ruby. He couldn't save her mom, but perhaps he could still protect her.

Jaune sighed and closed his eyes, focusing inwards to return to the hunter's dream. When he opened them again, he was standing in the ever familiar scenery of the garden lined with tombstones.

"Ah, welcome home good hunter, what is it you desire." The Weiss doll greeted him as he approached, if it noticed the bitter expression on his face it made no mention of it.

"I need more strength… I have the damned echoes for it." Jaune said and then remained silent as the doll raised its hand to work its magic. A rush of strength shot through his body as he felt the well of power stored up inside him diminish, becoming part of his physical strength instead.

"It is done, may you find your worth in the waking world good hunter." Bidding the doll farewell as he stormed up towards the workshop, he found Ozpin in his wheelchair with the ever present smirk that Jaune wanted nothing more than to wipe away.

"Ah welcome back young hunter, how fares the hunt?"

Jaune initially ignored the old man to focus on repairing his weapons, the cane having taken a severe beating in his fight against Taiyang.

"You never said anything about rogue hunters turning into beasts."

"Did I have to? I believe I already mentioned it, there are only two ways to leave the role of a hunter, either complete the hunt or become a beast. And if you turn, another hunter will be there to free you from the curse. Resistance isn't immunity."

Jaune fixed Ozpin with a baleful glare before sighing and returning to his work. Much as he despised it, the old man was telling the truth. He did mention that at the beginning, he just didn't think he'd get a first hand view of it in person.

"Why? Why does it have to be this way?" Jaune complained aloud and was moderately surprised Ozpin gave a straight answer, or as straight as he would ever get from the old man anyway.

"We are born of the blood, made men by the blood, undone by the blood. The old blood removes the feeble limitations of humanity, it allows us to evolve beyond what we are. Good becomes great but…"

"Bad becomes worse, right?"

"Indeed. Without petty limitations, the inner beasthood of mankind is left to run wild. The old blood merely sets the beast within free and changes your form to match that beast. You could say it's the truest reflection of humanity there is."

"And the cure?"

"Death… or the loss of your humanity. Once, I believed humanity could move past its baser instincts, to evolve into a higher lifeform, time and time again I've been proven wrong. Nothing has changed, nothing ever changes. Do try your best to succeed before you lose yourself as well young hunter."

Jaune remained silent before grabbing the repaired cane and heading out, intending to return to Yharnam and… find some way to break the bad news to Ruby.

"W-well at least Ruby will be safe now right?" Weiss asked nervously and gulped when Blank remained silent.

The blonde hunter made it back to Ruby's house and hesitated to knock on the door, unable to muster the courage needed to face her. But, the decision on whether to knock or not was taken out of his hands when Ruby herself opened the door.

"Ah mister hunter, I thought I recognised that smell. H-have you found my mom and that yet?"

"I… no. Not yet, but I'll keep looking." Jaune's eyes fell when he looked upon Ruby's wide smile, he couldn't do it. He couldn't dash her hopes. The jewelled brooch inside his pocket weighing heavily on his soul.

"Oh… okay. I can wait, but isn't there something I can do? Maybe mom and dad are stuck out there waiting for me to find them. What do you think Jaune?" Ruby asked with an innocent smile on her face and Jaune's heart cracked upon recalling the poor woman he couldn't save in time. And her father might have been among the people slaughtered by that insane hunter as well…

"I… I don't think it's a good idea to try and find them. I… you're running out of incense right? Umm… in the cathedral ward, we… we can go there, you'll be safe there and… and if I find your parents I'll direct them there okay?"

"Okay mister hunter. I know the way there myself, I'll just collect my things and be on my way." Ruby rushed back into the house to gather her stuff as Jaune remained waiting outside, a look of pain on his face.

"Yeah… just take your time Ruby, I'll be waiting for you here." Completely absorbed into his own thoughts of failure, Jaune failed to notice a scourge infected dog sneaking up on him until the beast had its fangs buried in the back of his neck.

"Arg get… off… me!" Unable to reach the dog with his weapons, Jaune struggled with his sudden passenger as spots clouded his vision from the pain and his air supply being cut off. Flailing around like a drunk, the first indication he made a horrible mistake was when his feet found air and both him and the dog fell over the ladder he had to climb to reach the house in the first place.

Smashing into the ground several stories below with a sickening crunch, both hunter and dog died on impact.

After a few seconds of darkness that accompanied every death, Jaune woke again fully refreshed and healed. Cursing his lack of awareness, he became acutely aware that he just died and left Ruby alone in her home, a Ruby that had already made her intention to travel to Cathedral ward on her own… through the beast infested streets.

"RUBY!"

Rushing off towards her house screaming her name, his worst fears were confirmed when he found the house empty and the incense burner extinguished.

Panic started to set in even through the haze in his mind and he started searching for clues on which direction the young girl had taken.

Dashing from place to place and only pausing to slaughter beasts foolish enough to stand in his path, he desperately searched the area for any sign on the red hooded girl only to come up short.

He cursed when he was blindsided by one of the giant hunchbacks and had a half brick smashed into his face. Yelling in pain and anger, he stabbed his arm into the hunchback and hurled the man overhead, riding the body down into the sewers and smashing it to pulp when it acted as a cushion.

A monstrous grunt announced the arrival of the same giant pig he'd avoided earlier. "I DO NOT HAVE TIME FOR THIS, GET OUTTA MY WAY!"

Hurling himself onto the massive beast, his flailing whip and point blank blasting of the pistol ripped the monster's hide to shreds as he vented his frustration.

Pain flooded his system when the pig bit down on his left arm, shattering the bones within instantly and forcing him to drop his gun. Snarling incoherently, Jaune dropped the cane and arranged the fingers of his good arm into a wedge before ramming it into the pig's left eye.

Firing a wave of energy, the pig's skull burst in a shower of grey goop and the rest of the beast fell onto its side. Panting from the exertion, Jaune felt his left arm reset from the damage dealt and watched as the pig's body began melting away into sludge instead of retaining its form like the other beasts he killed so far.

Several half-digested corpses and articles of clothing were left behind as the pig dissolved, the remains of the pig's earlier victims.

Jaune was about to move on when one item in particular caught his eye. A bloody tattered red hood still wrapped around a corpse far too small to be an adult.

"No… no… nononononononono… this, this is my fault? I… I didn't kill the pig earlier… I… I…" Jaune sunk to his knees and cradled his head in his hands, eyes wide open and unblinking.

For a moment he simply knelt there in frozen silence.

Then the screaming started.

"I… Ahhhh… ahhh… AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

With that last shot the screen went dark and the lights came back on. Weiss and Pyrrha were busy voiding their stomachs into buckets that magically appeared in front of them. Yang's hair was blazing and her eyes were pure red, she was hugging Ruby with every bit of force she could muster to make sure her sister was still with them.

Nora was bawling and Ren was gripping his seats hard enough that the armrests were starting to deform.

Blake was the only one who could speak and immediately directed her ire towards Blank. "What, exactly was the point of that movie? Did you bring us here just to torment us?"

"Nothing of the sort, I'm just a caretaker, I have no control over what happens in those universes. Some are good, some are bad, happy endings not guaranteed. Feel free to take it as a lesson if you will, you can't save everyone no matter how hard you try. Past mistakes have a habit of catching up with you eventually, but then you don't need me to tell you that now do you miss Belladonna?"

Blake snapped her mouth shut with an audible click as her past with the white fang was raised again.

"We'll take a short break, feel free to refresh yourselves. Washrooms are at the back of the theatre and feel free to ask for any thing you want to eat or drink. Next movie will play once you're all back."

Cast list:

Jaune Arc as the hunter

Ozpin as Gehrman the first hunter

Weiss as the doll

Taiyang as Father Gascoigne

Summer as Gascoigne's wife

Ruby as Young Yharnam Girl

Glynda Goodwitch as Eileen the crow