RWBY: Death and Despair

Everywhere I try to tell this story, people disregard it as some twisted fanfiction or something. There is nowhere I can put this disturbing account where it will be taken seriously. So, I decided to put it on a Creepypasta page because it’s the only place it possibly won’t be disregarded and laughed at. It’s all about a bizarre episode that only I seemed to see of the show RWBY.

RWBY is one of the most recognized animated web series ever, and with good reason. I didn’t find out about the show until the first two seasons were put on Netflix. I fell in love with the show immediately after watching it. I will admit that the animation in the first few episodes was a bit lacking, but I really didn’t mind because the story, characters, action, and so forth were all so good.

Unfortunately, due to the death of series creator Monty Oum, the third season was postponed. All RWBY fans, including myself, were deeply saddened by the loss and waited for a very long time for the show’s eventual return. One day in early 2015, I thought it had finally happened. I was on YouTube when I saw a video from Rooster Teeth in my subscription box titled: RWBY Volume 2.5, Episode 1: Death and Despair. I had heard rumors that Rooster Teeth were planning on making the third season darker, so I thought that the title was a sure sign that the rumors were true. The video’s thumbnail was a picture of Yang, looking very angry and having blood running down her forehead, like she was fighting a deadly battle with a dangerous opponent. Enthusiastically, I clicked on the video, went full screen, and waited to be entertained.

The episode started with the standard Rooster Teeth opening and then cut to black. It then played what I assumed to be the new opening sequence, which consisted of Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang walking side by side down a hallway in Beacon. The music came up. It was different from the other openings, which were fast and epic. This one was slower and more melancholic. It had the usual singer, Casey Lee Williams (or at least it sounded like her), singing a sad song about how one death could impact the lives of so many people. Upon hearing it, I assumed it was either homage to Monty Oum or possibly a hint that a major character was going to die this season. It was actually a very nice sounding piece, it just seemed like an odd choice for the opening to an action fantasy.

As the opening continued, the hallway became darker and darker. Eventually, Yang faded away. This repeated itself with Blake and then Weiss, the hall growing darker the whole time. When it was just Ruby left, the background was completely black. Ruby continued to walk alone until she stopped, got on her knees, and stared sobbing. Then everything cut to black.

Then the actual episode started. It showed Beacon on a rainy day. The point of view started outside the school and traveled in through the front doors. It then traveled through the halls and staircases of the school. The whole scene was one continuous shot until it finally reached Team RWBY’s room. The scene then cut to Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang inside the room. It was only then that I realized how poor the animation was. It looked a lot like the first couple of episodes, but worse. The lighting never seemed right, and the character’s motions seemed stilted and restrained. Ruby was sitting on the edge of the bed with her face in her hands. Weiss was staring gloomily out the window, and Blake was curled up in a fetal position on her bed. Yang was in the center of the room, trying to cheer up the girls.

Through some pretty clunky exposition, each of them revealed why they were so depressed. Ruby explained that someone had desecrated her mother’s grave. They had dug up the corpse and threw it in a tree nearby. They then vandalized the headstone with spray paint and permanent marker. Authorities said they also found a large sum of cigar butts, beer cans, and condom wrappers around and in the grave. Ruby said that she felt disgusted that someone would do such a thing and was saddened because of it. She also hinted that she suspected Roman Torchwick was behind it. For RWBY, I thought that was pretty dark.

Weiss revealed that the Schnee Dust Company had suffered an attack from the White Fang. The terrorists had killed a lot of employees and her father. Weiss started crying, and Ruby stood up and put her arm around her. Weiss said that she would be leaving soon for a few days to attend her father’s funeral. Blake was obviously disturbed by Weiss’s story, being a former member of the White Fang herself. She said that the group’s leader, her ex-friend Adam, had challenged her to a mono-a-mono fight to the death. The rest of the girls were caught off guard by this statement. They started questioning her and trying to encourage her not to accept. Blake then almost yelled at them saying she already accepted and was going to fight him alone later, and they need not worry about her.

Yang was clearly saddened by the others’ reports. However, in her typical optimistic fashion, she told them that they could get through these hardships and continue on. Then, much to my surprise, Ruby, Weiss, and Blake began yelling at Yang. They screamed about how everything was terrible and there was no hope. What really shocked me was when they started shouting some very strong profanities at poor Yang. The show had language before, but only minor stuff. Now they were saying the f-word and s-word, among other things. They called her terrible names and told her to get out, even threatening her if she did not comply. Yang, noticeably terrified, started weeping as she ran out of the room and slammed the door behind her.

The scene then made a jump cut to Team JNPR’s room. Only Pyrrha and Jaune were in the room, with Nora and Ren nowhere in sight. Pyrrha seemed frustrated with Jaune, telling him he needs to learn his aura. She was not calm and kind to him like she usually was, this time coming across as bitter and fed up with his constant failures. Jaune kept trying to defend himself, commenting about how aura probably isn’t too important anyway, as it did not help Nora and Ren. I immediately understood the implication that the two had died, presumably in battle.

When Jaune mentioned his lost teammates, Pyrrha got upset and dropped her head. She whimpers something inaudible, and Jaune gets up and approaches her. He apologizes, and the two hug each other. Then the scene ends with a fade to black. There is a quick flash of something, but I did not see what it was. I assume now that it was some kind of message or image, but I cannot be sure.

The next scene fades in of Yang walking, crying, through the halls of Beacon. There is a total absence of other students or teachers in the school; only Yang seems to be there. There is also total silence except for Yang’s sobs. She walks outside of the school, and is suddenly knocked over by a blast of fire. She looks up and sees Cinder walking out of the flames. She immediately activates her Ember Celica, getting ready to fight. I found this really confusing, because the show left off with Cinder infiltrating Beacon, posing as a student. When did Cinder end that plan, and when did Yang recognize her as a threat? The two began fighting in what I will admit to be a pretty cool action scene, but neither of them seemed to really want to fight. Their movements looked restrained and half-hearted, and they rarely hit each other. That and there was no dialogue outside of Yang’s occasional grunt or “oof”. Cinder managed to hit Yang in the head with a fireball, and Yang fell backward. She hit her head on the ground, and a loud and very realistic crack was heard. She slowly got up with blood running down her forehead (the thumbnail for the video).

Without warning, the scene jump cut yet again, this time to Blake walking in the woods that had appeared in the Black Trailer (the one with the red trees). She walked into a clearing. On the other side was Adam, holding his weapons Wilt and Blush. Again I was confused, because Adam had not appeared in the actual show until the last episode of season 2, and now he was fighting Blake. It seemed like I had missed something. Blake pulled out Gambol Shroud and the two immediately began fighting. Unlike the last fight scene, which was cool but underwhelming, this one was very slow and quiet. Their weapons did not even clang as they hit each other.

Then the screen started flashing white. It continued until the video cut out completely. A message of white letters on the black background appeared. It said: “When God dies, so does the universe He created.” Then the ad in the middle of the video began to play (it was for Chili’s for those wondering). It was during the ad that I was finally starting to get creeped out. I assumed that the show was just going in a darker direction before, but now I was legitimately scared. However, I was too curious to close the video, so I waited until the ad was over and let the video start again.

When the video came back, it showed Ruby walking alone in another forest. She was talking to herself, saying that Yang couldn’t hope to understand how she felt, because Summer was not her mother. She sighed and sat down sadly next to a large tree. She closed her eyes and tilted her head upwards. Then, out of nowhere, a Beowolf jumps into the frame and lunges at Ruby. I will fully admit that I was startled by this jumpscare. Ruby was quick to counter the attack. She pulls out Crescent Rose and swiftly cuts up the Grimm. The Beowolf’s bloody chunks are strewn about the forest. Then there is a rustling in the grasses. Ruby turns around to see Roman Torchwick stepping out of the shadows, clapping. He congratulates her on the Grimm killing. Then he takes his cigar out of his mouth and asks her how her mother is doing.

Ruby becomes justifiably furious and lunges at Torchwick with her scythe. He dodges all of the attacks. Then he pulls a white surgical mask out of his pocket and puts it on over his nose and mouth, all while still avoiding Ruby’s swinging weapon. Then he pulls out a small grey orb or ball and throws it on the ground. There is a small explosion, and the area begins to fill with dark smoke. Ruby looks around, then becomes dizzy and disoriented. Her eyes roll back, she drops Crescent Rose, and she falls unconscious on the ground, moaning softly. There is another fade to black.

When the next scene faded in, it showed Ruby on the ground with her hands tied and her mouth gagged. She struggles, but cannot seem to move. Torchwick then approaches her, bends down, and begins removing her skirt. I closed my eyes at this point, not wanting to view what was obviously coming next. However, due to the noises, I had a pretty good idea. It was at this point that I knew this was not just a darker episode, this was something much more sinister.

I kept my eyes shut tight until I heard the scene end. When I opened my eyes, I saw Yang lying dead on the ground where she was fighting Cinder. Her face was burnt, and her purple eyes stared into the distance. There was a lot more blood on her head now.

The scene jump cut again to Blake and Adam. Adam was cut, bruised, and bleeding. His weapons were gone. He was on all fours, looking up at Blake, who pointed her weapon at him. Then he told her to show who she really was. Blake shot him in the head, and his blood went splattering across the ground. He fell over, dead.

Then Blake said aloud: “This is who I really am.” She then put the weapon in her mouth and pulled the trigger. Her head splattered blood as well as she fell down next to Adam’s corpse. The camera zoomed in on Blake’s lifeless face, zooming in until the shot was nothing but the black of her hair.

The next scene faded in: Ruby, holding her torn clothing over her nude body, limping through the woods. She continued on, panting the whole way, until she reached Summer Rose’s grave. The grave looked cleaned up, but there was a hole underneath the headstone, as if no one had filled it yet. Ruby fell on her hands and knees and crawled to the grave. She looked down. The camera showed an open coffin with Weiss’s body lying inside. Her face was covered with bumps and hives, as if she had some allergic reaction. Ruby started crying and looked up at the sky.

“Why?” she yelled as the camera zoomed away from her. As the shot expanded to show more scenery, it was revealed that the world of Remnant was in ruin. There was smoke and fire rising from the forests and mountains. Beacon was in the distance, also on fire. Crashing and smashing noises were heard. An earthquake erupted, cracking one of the mountains. Then everything faded to black. Only one piece of text appeared: “In Loving Memory of Monty Oum.”

Then the Rooster Teeth outro played and the video ended. As soon as it was over, I exited the video. I was traumatized. What had become of this beloved show? I was so disturbed that I cleared my History, not wanting any reminders of what I had watched.

However, the next day, I got curious. I wanted to see what the comments were on that episode. I went to Rooster Teeth’s channel, but it was not there anymore. I searched the episode on Google, and nothing came up but the Rooster Teeth website. After browsing their site, I again found nothing.

My curiosity soon turned into an obsession. I had to find at least some evidence of this disturbing episode. I searched YouTube, Google, Rooster Teeth, Bing, Yahoo, IMDB, even Wikipedia. I found nothing. As I was searching for it, I was also trying to figure out what the episode could possibly mean. I mentally analyzed every frame and message. Just before I wrote this, I figured it out.

Someone had taken Monty Oum’s death too far. It was tragic, but whoever created the episode was quite possibly obsessed. I concluded that someone had made this disturbing episode, hacked Rooster Teeth’s YouTube channel, and uploaded it. Rooster Teeth must have taken it down when they saw it. Whoever this psychopath was, they figured that if Monty was dead, the show he created had to as well. After all, when God dies, so does the universe he created.

RWBY Volume 3 and 4 have been released as this is being written. These seasons are darker than the first two, but nothing compared to what I saw. If anyone else viewed the episode, please let me know in some way. I don’t want to be alone anymore. Not anymore.

IAMSCARED

TOOMANYFEARS

WHOWOULDDOTHIS

AMIINSANE

SOSCARED

OPENLYTERRIFIED

NOESCAPEFROMIT

LOSTINMYMIND

YOUHAVENOIDEA

EVERYONEISLOST

PEOPLEDONTGETIT

IAMSUFFERING

SOMANYQUESTIONS

ONLYME

DERANGED

EVERYTHINGBLURS

OFTENTHINKINGABOUTIT

NEVERFORGET

ENDINGOFINNOCENCE