I’m here, Ruby.
Just in time for Halloween, have this famous creepy fic over on FF.net while AO3 is down for maintenance.
You wouldn’t think from the first chapter being just two lines and maybe 15 words long that there would be enough for almost 90K words of slow horror, but I promise, stick with it for the first dozen or so chapters and you’ll get sucked right into it and be looking closely at every line for clues and explanations. You’ll probably be wondering what the big deal is and click through those first 10 chapters in under a minute but then the penny drops and something is not right here.
There is, sadly, something lost coming into it now that it’s completed – from what I’ve heard, this fic was originally updated daily and the cover art would be changed along the way (I’m not sure if it was also changed every day like a slow corruption or if it was only changed on certain chapters), but the majority of it still hits, IMO. It’s stuck with me for the last year? two? however long it’s been since I first read it.
The why I’m recommending it bullet list:
- probably the actual creepiest fic in RWBY fandom (as far as I’ve seen)
- actually uses the format of being a piece of web-based literature to its advantage
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- technically this was doubly true when it was first published
- like all good horror, doesn’t answer all the questions and leaves the reader with a creeping dread
- despite its size, easily consumed in like a single sitting (will make sense as you read)
- Hello! My name is Ruby Rose! What’s your name?