Готовый перевод Комната Историй / The Room of the Stories: Пролог

Prologue
* * *

It was a very ordinary day for the novice Hunters and Huntresses of Beacon. On this day, there weren't many classes, so the students went about their business. Many were sitting in their scrolls, others were having fun with their friends and team, and still others were doing self-development.

But even so, on such an ordinary and seemingly normal day, events were happening that could turn the very future of this world upside down.

And in the center of it all were fourteen people. Twelve students, one professor, and the director of this institution. They were the ones who would learn many things that might not only give them a new perspective on their own actions, but also help them in their future actions.

And maybe... maybe the tragic actions that will take place in the future can be changed to the better outcome they all were currently in.

* * *

The RWBY team was moving towards their dormitories, but they didn't notice that they turned the other way, and then started walking down a completely unfamiliar corridor. At some point, they stopped at a door that didn't exactly lead to their room, but to their surprise, the door unknowingly opened.

It was only after entering it the four girls woke up from their dreams and realized that they were not in their room.

"What?” Weiss stopped, not understanding why they were in an unfamiliar room, and then she stared at her friends in surprise. "Where are we?"

"I don't know,” the young team leader looked around the room. "We're supposed to be in our room..."

"But we're obviously not in it!" Weiss raised her voice, then turned to Yang. "Did you do this?!"

"Hey, Weiss Cream!" Yang raised her hands resentfully, not paying attention to the way Weiss wrinkled her nose at her nickname. "If I did anything, I certainly wouldn't have led us all into an unfamiliar room!"

"She's right,” Blake interjected. "Yang couldn't resist giving us a few secrets about a future prank. Remember the shampoo?"

Weiss wrinkled her nose and nodded turning her attention back to Ruby, who was already looking around the room.

"Hey! What are you doing?!" Weiss walked over to Ruby, grabbed her arm, and started to lead her toward the door. "You can't just walk through someone else's room like that!"

"But the door opened! Then there was no one here!" Ruby protested. "And look! It's not even a bedroom. it's some kind of ... I don't know, living room?"

"Exactly!" Weiss grabbed the doorknob, continuing in her usual tone. "So we have to get out quickly, lest we be punished for trespassing."

Ruby sighed.

"All right, Weiss, then open the door."

Silence was the answer for Ruby. Blinking, the RWBY team leader stared at Weiss, who continued to stand by the door without opening it. Blake and then Yang, also stared at the heiress as she continued to stand there doing nothing.

"Weiss? Isn't it time to open the door?" Ruby patted her partner on the shoulder.

"А? Yeah, you're right,” Weiss said in a weak tone, and then in the silence everyone could finally hear the heiress twirling the knob, apparently trying to open the door.

And afterward, white as a sheet, Weiss stepped back from the door, staring at her team in horror.

"It's not opening..."

"What?” they all said in a dazed tone, and then Ruby walked quickly to the door and tried to open it as well. But like her partner, it didn't work. Ruby even tried pulling on and off, thinking the door was already open, but that didn't help either. "It's locked."

"We are dead,” the heiress said in a weak voice. "We have trespassed, and now we are locked in! Oh God, oh God, what to do?!"

Weiss was on the verge of hysterics when a heavy hand appeared on her shoulder. Turning her head, she stared at Yang, who was smiling at her confident and mischievous smile. Somehow, instead of confidence and hope, Weiss felt even more despair.

"Don't worry, we'll get out soon, we just need to use a little bit of force,” Yang said the last thing as she stood near the door. Ruby was already behind Blake, and only Weiss was staring at Yang with horror, still standing in the same place.

"No!” Weiss's shout was muffled by Yang's strike, which hit the door with all her might. Except that what everyone thought was going to happen didn't. The door continued to stand unharmed, and Yang, on the contrary, flew off the door straight at Weiss, who could only widen her eyes in horror as she watched and felt the yellow core hit her.

And now both bodies flew off in the opposite direction of the door. Ruby and Blake could only clap their eyes, staring in surprise and incomprehension at the scene.

"What just happened?" Blake asked her leader in a daze. She shrugged, and then Ruby rushed to her sister and partner's aid. Blake only shifted her gaze to the door, which had become much more interesting and mysterious. From the beginning of the day, she had sensed a strangeness in what was going on, and now, that strangeness was growing exponentially.

As she got closer to the door, she slowly touched the knob and tried to open it. But as with the others, it didn't work. After thinking for a bit, the black-haired girl tried using her Aura. But Blake didn't use her Aura like Yang, but “more subtly and carefully” so that if she made a mistake, it wouldn't fly off the door like a cannonball.

Even so, the door remained closed.

"Oh, what was that?" At this time, Yang tried to stand up, but the dizziness made it impossible. She fell to the ground again while making a rough sound. "Did I get hit by a train?"

"No,” Ruby tried to lift Yang, but she only groaned again. "You tried to open the door, but it wouldn't open."

"How!!!" Yang raised her voice and then stared at the door. "What the?! How is this even possible?!"

"Argh..."

"Shut up Weiss, I need to process what I lost to the regular door,” Yang interrupted a groaning Weiss. The blonde blinked. Afterward, she stared beneath herself.

" Weiss!" Ruby and Yang said in unison,

"Kill me..."

"No! Weiss, don't die!" Ruby fell to her knees and took her partner's hand. "Don't die! Don't die! Please! Yang didn't mean to kill you with her weight!"

"Hey!” Yang shrieked.

"I... I saw a light,” Weiss opened her eyes. After a moment, she stared into the void. "It was so yellow...and big...and it was moving toward me....."

"Аh?" Ruby blinked. Afterward, she looked at her sister. "Yellow?"

"I thought I was going to die... die before I knew what it was like to live...."

"Uh, Weiss?"

"I feel so bad, Ruby,” Weiss continued. "Please promise me that you'll avenge me..."

" Um, girls," Blake piped up.

What? You don't see Ice Angel dying here,” Yang said with a grin, sitting on the floor and watching the scene between Weiss and Ruby. Except that as soon as the last words were spoken, Weiss seemed to wake up. Blinking, she sat up abruptly and looked around.

"What has just happened?" In her polite and impatient tone, the heiress said.

Ruby and Yang exchanged glances. Blake just sighed.

"Nothing like that,” Ruby said quickly, but Weiss was focused on Yang's mocking smirk. "Yes, Yang? Yes?!"

"Yes, yes, sis,” Yang said with the same smirk.

"Girls!" Blake finally raised her voice, causing everyone to stare at her. She pointed to the door. "We're still trapped."

There was silence in the room. Weiss went pale again, Ruby swallowed the lump in her throat, Blake stood silently by the door, and Yang... Yang jumped to her feet and started crunching bones in her fists again.

"Thanks for reminding me, Blake,” Yang said with a wide smile as she walked toward the door. Blake stepped aside to avoid repeating Weiss' mistake. The heiress also jumped up from the floor, and ran sharply to the right wall, not wanting to meet the yellow core again. Only Ruby looked at her sister with concern.

"Yang? Maybe you shouldn't..." Ruby suggested quietly.

Yang raised her fist and struck the door again. And just like last time, she flew back toward Ruby, who easily dodged the quick projectile.

"What is that door!!! - With a sharp shout, Yang stood up again and with already red eyes ran towards the door again. A bang and a flight. This continued for a full twenty minutes until even the yellow-haired fighter was tired. "What the... nonsense! No door could resist such blows!"

"Except this one,” Blake said with a grin, even as her partner began to growl like a beast. In fact, Blake was getting tired of her partner's constant attempts to destroy the door, instead, she wanted to explore the rooms, but because of Weiss, she couldn't do that. They'd already gotten into the wrong places, so what did it matter if she explored the rooms some more?

Ruby sat on the floor, also tired, feeling boredom cover her like a blanket. They'd been here for almost half an hour and hadn't made any progress toward the exit. Only Yang's constant flying, amused and disturbed the team leader. A quiet exhale came out almost silently. Ruby was getting tired of being in this room.

Even Weiss was tired of being here, but what could she do? Yes, they had broken into an unknown room, but did they have to investigate it, in case they saw something they shouldn't have? And just for that, they could not only be punished but kicked out of the Academy. But for some reason, her team didn't realize that.

"And what to do?" Ruby spoke up again, slowly shifting her gaze to each of her friends. "Well, we're stuck here, and there's no knowing...."

At that moment, the door opened again.

Each of the RWBY team widened their eyes to see Ms. Goodwitch enter the room. As if they were in a horror movie, each of them felt the ground go out from under them, especially that included Weiss. She stood dead white and silently cursed Yang and all her friends.

And every one of them had the thought, ||“This is the Goodwitch Room!!!”

"What are you doing here?" Glinda frowned, side-eye noticing that she was not in her room. It made her frown even more, and then stare at her students. "I demand an explanation."

"Uh, you see,” Ruby spoke up, knowing that her team wouldn't have started this conversation. Well, and she's the leader, isn't she? "We were on our way to our room, but somehow we came to this. um... we didn't want to sneak into your room, Ms. Goodwitch!"

"Ms. Rose, first of all, how could you not tell your room from another? Secondly, how could you open this room without the proper scroll? And thirdly, why are you still here if you realized the room was not yours?" Glinda squinted at the four girls.

“Uh, well,” Ruby started running her eyes from corner to corner. “We realized right away that the room wasn't ours, we just somehow got into the room... the door must have been unlocked!” Ruby didn't know how they did it, the door really probably wasn't locked.

"Okay, let's say that's true. Then why haven't you left this room?" Glinda stared at the young leader. Silence was her answer. She raised an eyebrow when she noticed Yang, Weiss, and Ruby blushing. Blake coughed, forcing the professor to pay attention to her.

"You see, as soon as we entered the room, the door was closed. And even with Aura, we couldn't get out."

//“Couldn't get out?” - Glinda thought in surprise. "With Aura, any novice Hunter could break down not just a door, but even a wall.

"Closed?" Glinda said, trying to figure out if it was true or not. Yang blushed harder, which made the professor pay attention to her.

At that moment, the door opened again, letting in a foursome of students very familiar to both Team RWBY and Glinda.

"О! Is there a party here?" Nora shrieked.

Jaune squeezed in beside Nora and opened his mouth in surprise.:

"What are you doing here?" Jaune froze dumbfounded, staring at the people in their room. Behind him was Pyrrha, who stepped aside and stared at the five people with interest. Except, unlike her leader, the champion immediately realized they weren't in their room. "Uh, Ruby?"

Jaune asked Ruby, who was also speechless, in the same tone. The only thing on her mind was that now not only the RWBY team would be punished, but also the JNPR team. //“Oh my god, Jaune! Why did you come at this very moment!!!

Glinda coughed, causing everyone to turn their attention to her.

"Mr. Ark, what are you doing here?" Glinda asked, glancing at the four girls behind her.

"Like what?" Jaune blinked stupidly. "This is our room, of course, we'll be there!"

"Ahem, Jaune,” Ren patted the blond on the shoulder, making him turn around, and then said: "This isn't our room."

" How is it, not ours?!" Jaune turned around and looked around. Only then did he swallow the lump in his throat. "It really isn't ours..."

Ruby and her team blinked in surprise, and then each of the four felt an unknowable shiver go through them. Each of them looked at each other in turn, and then they all looked at the door. The room was open, for it had just been entered, but there was a strange feeling in all four girls that this was not true.

"So, if I may, would you all please leave this room,” Glinda glanced at her students.

"Oh, yes, of course,” Jaune nodded, turned around, and took the doorknob to gently pull it open. Except, instead of opening the door remained closed showing no change. "What the...?"

Ruby turned pale, her team also followed suit, and only now, did Team RWBY realize that they were trapped. Again.

"Is the door closed?" Weiss asked in a doomed tone.

"Yes,” Jaune said dumbfounded, turning around he raised an eyebrow. "How did you know that, Snow Angel?"

Weiss didn't even pay attention to the idiotic and insufferable nickname as her eyes slowly began to film over and her voice became so quiet that only Glinda, standing closest, could hear.

"We're closed, we're closed again."

//“Closed?” - Glinda frowned. “Right, they did say something about that, didn't they?”

With a glance at the JNPR team, causing them to immediately step aside, she went to the door and tried to open it. It didn't work. Glinda squinted and began to use her Aura and Semblance to open the door.

Jaune who was watching the professor at this time, quietly asked Pyrrha:

"What's going on here?"

"I have no idea. Maybe they know?" Pyrrha nodded toward Ruby and her team. Jaune paused for a few moments, then nodded.

“Then let's find out what's going on here!” nodding decisively Jaune led his friends.

"Are you sure it's not a surprise party?"

"No, Nora. This isn't a surprise party,” Ren said, moving at the back of the four of them.

And while the teams were talking to each other, Professor Goodwitch stood by the door and felt shocked. No matter how hard she tried, the door remained closed and unharmed. At one point, she even wanted to throw her strongest telekinesis at the door so that it would just bounce off the walls. But something in the back of her mind told her that it wouldn't change anything or even make things worse.

In the end, she stared silently at the door, not even having the strength to admit to herself that they were indeed trapped.

She would have stood like that if a voice from outside hadn't called out to her. Glinda turned and stared at the two boys who were the leaders of their teams. Frowning, she wanted to tell them to stay out of her way but didn't. Instead, she coughed and asked:

"What did you want?"

Ruby and Jaune exchanged glances and then asked in one voice what was troubling them.

"Are we traped?"

Glinda turned away, not wanting her students to see the look on her face, as even she didn't know what was happening now. Beacon wasn't supposed to have rooms like this that couldn't open. The only place students could get stuck was the infirmary. And that was where they rarely got in, and in most cases, only for a few days.

Shaking her head, Glinda turned her attention back to the leaders who were watching her closely. Sighing, she opened her mouth....

To hear the distinct creak of the door.

Abruptly turning around, Glinda, Ruby, and Jaune all shouted in one voice:

"Don't close the door!"

"What the hell!!!" The green-haired girl in Haven's uniform screamed as she stepped backward. Unfortunately, the guy behind her shrieked and staggered backward, almost falling on the little girl, who in turn managed to dodge the falling guy. The door was unable to do so.

"Shit!” Jaune was cursing whoever it was when he saw the door close again on the silver-haired boy. "Why did you close the door?!"

"Ah, what are you even talking about!' The guy stood up, rubbing his elbow and silently swearing at the girl with green hair. 'What the **** are you even doing here?!"

"Language!" Ruby shrieked.

"What?” Mercury and Emerald asked in unison. The little girl blinked and then smiled. "Why you...? What the hell?! Where did we end up?!"

"Ahem, mister,” Glinda squinted, trying to remember the young man's last name. "Black, please do not use this vocabulary, as it is not the best way to talk."

Mercuri blinked and then nodded, cautiously examining the professor with his gray eyes. His gaze slowly traveled from the teacher to the other students until his gaze stopped on Emerald, who was also looking at him with red eyes.

"And so, what is this Huntress Club?" Mercuri turned away from his partner, glancing with a slightly raised eyebrow at the students and the professor. "If it is, I must have entered by mistake, sorry."

Smirking, the boy turned around and grabbed the doorknob. Pulling it open, Mercury was about to leave the room when he realized the door wouldn't budge. With a sharp arch of his eyebrows, he tried to open it with a little more force, but it wouldn't open.

"What the hell?"

"That's the trick,” Jaune said, causing the three newcomers to stare at the blond man. "The door is closed. It closed the moment you walked in and let go of the handle. That's why we yelled for you to keep it open."

There was silence.

"In general, Mr. Ark is right,” Glinda nodded as she approached the door, causing the three students to step aside. "This door can't be opened normally, even using Aura, it's not real. Look."

Glinda decided to show the new arrivals at once why they couldn't get out of this room with brute force. Raising her hand, the professor heard the shouts of the RWBY team before she sent out the usual wave of telekinesis. Which, at the same moment, came back at her causing her to fly backward, and it was only through experience that she was able to stop her flight in mid-air without taking any serious damage.

Landing softly on the floor, she turned back to the RWBY team, who were staring at her with their eyes widened and mouths hanging open. After a slight hesitation, she turned back to the Haven students, who were also staring at her with their mouths open.

"This is what happens to those who try to open the door with brute force,” the professor said in a serious tone, looking at each of her students. The only thing she did was to focus her attention on the newcomers so that they would realize what they had gotten themselves into.

"Wow,” Mercury said quietly so only the little girl and Emerald could hear him. "I never thought I'd get to see the professor fly."

Emerald wrinkled her nose at the guy's words, and afterward, she stepped aside for Ruby, ignoring how her partner started a conversation with the quiet girl, who remained silent with a slight smile.

"Uh, Ruby?" Emerald smiled. "What's going on here anyway?"

"Ah,” Ruby faltered, trying to remember the red-eyed girl's name. "Emerald? That's your name, isn't it?" Ruby sighed with relief when she got an affirmative nod. "Well, you know, we're stuck here."

"I noticed,” Emerald lifted the corners of her lips slightly, causing Ruby to blush.

"Well,” Ruby hesitated again. She looked around." My team is just sitting and resting, though we want to get out of this room as soon as possible... Ren and Nora,” Ruby pointed at the black-haired boy and the red-haired girl. "Right now they're talking about sloths, Pyrrha and Jaune are talking to each other... Well, and Professor Goodwitch is trying to find a way out. That's about it."

"Hmm,” Emerald nodded, glancing at her team. Mercury, meanwhile, was talking to Neo, who stood silently near the wall, and seemed interested in the topic of conversation... or the simple situation they were all in. The red eyes focused back on the silver ones. "Thank you for that. It's just that we are new here, after all. And, sometimes, the differences between cultures are so big it's surprising."

Ruby nodded.

"Yeah, Weiss was such a pest when we first met,” Ruby said as if she were making a point. A moment later, her eyes lit up. "Tell me about Haven!"

Emerald blinked, sensing her mistake of starting a conversation about differences in cultures. But still, if it would help to get closer to one of the goals...

She smiled and then nodded.

"Okay, why not?" Emerald pointed to the side. "But let's get out of the way first, I don't feel like talking in the center of the room."

"Okay!"

"What does mean no?" Mercury frowned when he saw the short girl shake her head. "You really can not move out of the room? But how is this even possible?"

The guy stared thoughtfully at Neo, who did not react in any way to the news she told him. In fact, she could very well be lying. Why? Mercury didn't know. Neo always behaved separately from them, the only one she served was Roman, and even then, “serve” is too strong a word... partnership? Perhaps. Mercury could never understand this sweet tooth.

They were both too different. And it’s not just the absence of some body parts.

Turning away, the guy looked thoughtfully at the students locked in this room. Everyone looked pretty tolerable, especially considering they could be here for an unknown amount of time. Hell, they don't even have a toilet here!

"And what is this thief doing?" Mercury said with only his lips, looking at Emerald, who was telling something to the red-haired girl with a smile. An unexpected thought appeared that made him unable to contain his grin. Although, he did not try to do this. "Has anyone found a new Cinder?"

"..." Neo also smiled, although the guy could not understand why exactly.

"Okay,” Mercury said. "I wonder what Cinder is doing?"

And as if laughing at him, the door slowly opened, letting a beautiful girl with hair as black as night into the room. And it wasn’t just her hair that made her pay attention. More precisely, hair was not what people first noticed. And not only men but also girls. Mercury still could not contain some thoughts, that could definitely lead him to immolation. Why could Emerald not hide her feelings and thoughts, but he should have?

Oh, yeah.

He is a stupid, preoccupied man without an iota of compassion or sophistication. Damn, he is located in the Academy, where every girl is beautiful to the point of losing consciousness, and not all of them are students, let to note! And he’s also one guy on his team, which includes the body of a goddess, a thief with beautiful... eyes, and a killer who is quite skilled in using her body.

Mercury could only sigh and wonder how his thoughts drifted to the topic at hand while the action around him continued.

"Don't close the door!!!" Glinda, Team RWBY, Pyrrha, and Jaune shouted almost in unison.

"What...?" Cinder stopped as shouts erupted around her, telling her not to close the door. She stared in surprise at the group of people holding the door with one hand. The action seemed to ease the tension in this room.

"What's going on here?" A voice asked with interest and confusion. Except it wasn't a woman's voice, but rather a man's. And the owner of that voice was standing right behind Cinder. The black-haired seductress quickly moved away from the door, towards the familiar faces, so that she could use Neo's Manifestation to move with any luck, though Cinder's face didn't change in the slightest.

"Ozpin,” Glinda said, somehow relieved, looking at the familiar face of the headmaster. Ozpin only watched the students looking at him with interest, as if he had done some feat. Because of this he couldn't help but feel uninformed.

He didn't like the feeling.

"So, what are you guys doing here?" lifting his coffee mug to his lips, Ozpin asked the crowd around him.

"It's nothing like that,” Ms. Xiao Long said quickly. "We just had a little chat and decided to go to our rooms, right guys? Bye!"

Yang tried to walk out the door when she accidentally tripped and fell right on the door, which no one was now holding. And as if in mockery, the door shook and closed, causing everyone but the newcomers to feel despair and anger at the one blonde.

"Ouch?" Yang said quietly, feeling her heart sink somewhere near her heels.

Ozpin watched perplexed as the students looked desperate, even Glinda couldn't hold back the nervous tic that usually accompanied the long and unbearable work behind reports and papers. Shuddering at the thought, the headmaster took a sip of coffee and walked to the door.

//"Perhaps they all wanted to leave the room? Then why don't they?" - several thoughts ran through the headmaster's mind as he turned the handle of the door and pushed it aside. The silence became oppressive. A drop of sweat rolled down his back as Ozpin mentally scowled. “Did I make a mistake?”

"FREEDOM!" Nora shouted, grabbed Ren, and ran for the exit. As if waking up, everyone else moved as well, except Cinder, who was still staring at the absurdity in shock and incomprehension, and Glinda. Ozpin only had time to dodge to the side as Nora and Ren flew out of the room. They were followed by Miss Schnee and Miss Belladonna. Somewhere between the strange silver-haired boy and the little girl, was Miss Rose, who in turn was holding the green-haired girl's hand. Behind came the Mistral champion and the Ark boy. And only after that, came Miss Xiao Long, who had managed to be stepped on at least ten times.

Ozpin himself could only stand back and drink his coffee while this was going on. In the end: He, his deputy, and the stranger from Haven remained in the room.

Taking another sip of coffee, he raised an eyebrow and looked at Glinda.

"So, are you going to tell me what was going on here?" the director asked with a smile.

"Eh, later,” Glinda said moving toward the door.

There was a scream.

Glinda's eyes widened, and she took off and ran out of the room, apparently trying to find out who was shouting. Ozpin, on the other hand, stayed where he was, not paying much attention to the fact that he was closer to the door.

Taking another sip of coffee, Ozpin stared at the beautiful girl and then smiled.

"A student from Haven? Fourth? Third year?" Ozpin decided to keep the conversation going. The girl blinked, then smiled.

"Third, Director."

"Mmm,” Ozpin nodded thoughtfully and turned away, remembering his old friend Leo.

"Ozpin!" Unfortunately, Glinda's sharp shout made him sigh and move towards the exit. "I need your help!"

"I'm coming, I'm coming,” Ozpin said as he left the room... to find himself not in the hallway, as he should have been, but in another and much larger room. Looking around with interest, he noticed not only a large round table in the middle of the room, but also several bookcases standing near the walls. Taking a sip of coffee, he paused for a moment, and then stared at the students and his deputy.

They were all looking at him, as if trying to ask him for an answer.

"Ahem,” Ozpin coughing and taking a few sips of coffee again, unknowingly noticing that the coffee was almost gone, smiled. "So, who's going to tell me what's going on here?"

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