"Right. Saber, welcome home..." King jokes plopping the crystal into the screen.

"Ahh. That one, fine go ahead..." Saber says reluctantly. To everyone watching her change in demeanor could only mean something bad.

'Her hesitance is showing. Yet, her mental resolve seems to be intact, perhaps I can learn something from this afterlife' Salem thinks silently tapping on her seat.

"If I may? You sound awfully disturbed and hesitant about hell, if you escaped why come back at all?" Ozpin asks looking at the recordings thumbnail.

"Because Roman's precious partner, got injected by a lethal poison who's creator resides currently in hell. Roman dies, gets the formula for the antidote, get the hell out of hell, and save Ruby Rose. Unfortunately, he got stuck in his own cell and I had to... Rescue him..." Saber says conjuring a glass of wine in front of her.

"Then why do you look so happy here?" Summer asked pertaining to the thumbnail of the recording.

"Its a trap, like it always has been..." Saber answered through gritted teeth.

"But you're a goddess. How could you have possibly fallen into a trap?" Raven asked skeptical of Saber's answer.

"If you could hold your daughter again, even knowing its just an illusion... You'd have done the same." Saber says pointedly at Raven.

"Regardless of my personal feelings for the place. Like I said its hell, it ain't going to go well, regardless of what you might hope... But since I'm somehow the expert of hell loops, I'll explain as we go." Saber says leveling her gaze to the screen.

The screen pops up to reveal...

Roman sobbing as he stabs Mercury with azrael's blade.

"I know. I know it hurts you more than it hurts me." Mercury deadpans at the sobbing Roman.

"What the-" Roman exclaims in confusion.

"I gut wound like that, should have killed him by now. Is it aura?" Hazel asked in confusion with a hint of fear.

"No. Its hell..." King responds matter-of-factly.

"That doesn't really explain anything-" Winter says before being cut off by the recording.

"I- please forgive me brother, I had no choice..." Roman tries to reason.

"Is this what it feels like to be cared for? Man, its gross" Mercury says. Although the curiosity for new techniques kept him interested in watching more.

"Do you really believe that?" Mercury asks him seriously. Making Roman shake his head in denial.

"No..." As an uncontrollable force pushes him to stab Mercury again.

"What!?" Everyone seemingly asked at the same time.

"What's going on? Why'd he suddenly stab him again after all that apologizing?" Summer asked with distress.

"Welcome to hell, sweetheart. The most efficient prison in the dimension unfortunately." Saber says her arms wide open.

"So what happens? How do people end up in hell and how are they tortured, I mean do they just stab a loved for eternity or what?" Qrow asks seriously.

"How do people end up in hell? Well their own guilt or those unredeemable ones the Silver City sends down. As for their punishments? Well that depends on the persons conscience." Saber answered.

"By our own conscience, you mean?" Raven asked a bit uncharacteristically unnerved.

"Yes. For example, Ozpin gets sent to hell, he'll relieve all his lifetimes as he leads his followers to their deaths in the hands of Salem. You can relieve it over and over again, make different choices, but it will always end in the deaths of all those people who chose to sacrifice themselves for your goals." Saber points out.

"Not that Ozma's life isn't already a hell loop in its own right." King points out.

"So the Roman onscreen experiencing his own hell loop after killing Mercury. But why does he feel guilty about it?" Weiss asked with intrigue.

"Because he believes he had a different choice. And that guilt that he didn't choose correctly that led to his brothers death is what led him to his own hell." Saber explains.

"Certainly didn't help the fact that he killed his brother for the safety of your counterpart Ruby." King points out. Making Ruby flinch that counterpart or not, she had been the reason of someone's death.

The elevator dings... Revealing Salem walking towards the two angels.

"Lucifer!"

"Wait. I thought you were his mother." Mercury said pointing at Saber.

"Yes. I didn't really have a body at the time after escaping hell, so I kinda just jumped into the body of a recently deceased attorney named Salem." Saber clarified the confused audience.

"So that isn't some random corpse then..." Roman sighed with relief.

"Naturally." Saber responded to the thief.

"Mum?" Roman responded coming out of his trance. Stepping back Roman looks at her confused.

"What're you doing here?"

"I'm your rescue party of one. You don't believe ng down here, not anymore." Salem responded, looking at Roman's eye.

"Anymore?" Neo signed with confusion both for her and her boss.

"Quite. I neglected to mention, but my dear son Roman was the King of Hell and my former warden." Saber responded with a hint of bitterness.

"So as king what was his job exactly?" Roman asked curious about his counterpart.

"His job was to watch over the damned and all their filth, vilified for all eternity. He's seen it all, from Nazi war crimes to gruesome massacres... Yes, I'm not being dramatic that's actually his job." Saber answered before anyone could follow up.

"But look. Look what I've done..." Roman answers still stunned from the loop.

"Oh no. He's not snapping out of it." Jaune says looking at the guilt fueled exchange.

"Funnily enough, the cells containing the hell loop isn't locked. Anyone could come in and out." King says to the audience.

"So why don't they just get out then?" Ruby asked the other host.

"Because Red if I had to guess. The loop keeps you trapped in guilt so you either begin to think you deserve punishment or it assimilates you into thinking its all real." Cinder snickers at the 14 year old.

"I... Couldn't have worded that better myself actually." Saber says a bit stunned at the accurate explaination.

"This Mercury isn't real. I wish it was, I so badly want to see my son again. But its just a part of your hell..." Salem reasons. Approaching Roman slowly, who begins to stab Mercury in gut again.

"No, you were just trying to save us. This isn't your fault." She continues, subtly getting in between the fake Mercury and Roman.

Blinking.

Roman snaps out of the trance as he composes himself. The fake Mercury stares back at Salem, who looked right back.

"Its mine..." Salem says as she turns to face the fake Mercury.

"Oh no. Not again..." Saber mutters to herself trying hard to look away.

"Its as if the room itself pulls everyone into its little scenario...." Ozpin says quietly, feeling an odd sense of Deja Vu.

"You mentioned the other Roman kill the other Mercury because of the other Ruby. Care to elaborate?" Weiss says looking a bit concerned.

"You say other a lot, don't you? Fine. Because Mercury wanted to eviscerate our dear Saber, when Roman refused to hand her over he threatened Ruby instead. It ended up with a brief altercation that ended with Mercury getting eviscerated instead. And he hasn't gotten over it since...." King says, finishing his story about the scene in front of them.

'No wonder Saber thinks its her fault! She was the original target, after all." Ruby thought, looking over at the goddess next to her.

"That. Actually explains a whole lot..." Summer breathes out, not knowing what more to say.

"I'm to blame for all of this." Salem gasps, touching the cheek of the fake angel.

"Ever since- Ever since, I've returned, I've been. I've been manipulating you, stoking your anger against your father in hopes that, using you against him..." She says, her eyes filled with regret and sorrow.

Turning back to the fake Mercury, she looks at the fake in sorrow as she continues,

"But I've just made things worse! I pushed you and that human Ruby closer knowing it would crush you when you learn the truth. And now look at us, stuck in this prison while Ruby is dying!" She lets out her frustration.

"And I never tried matchmaking again." Saber chuckles bitterly. Trying to humor the situation.

"Can't argue with that, your holiness." King laughs taking another bucket of popcorn.

"Wait Wait Wait. So all this time, since you apparently left hell you've just been matchmaking Roman and Ruby in hopes that it'll crush him enough when he learned the truth so he'll side with you for something." Cinder said with barely concealed glee.

"Well, there was that one time, I tried to blow her up and that time I won the court case for her father's murderer, trying to split them apart..." Saber listed on and on.

"Man. That's evil..." Mercury said with a bit of reservation.

"Gee. Cinder we get it our host pretty chaotic neutral, don't need you pining for a literal goddess other than our very own right here." Tyrian laughs maniacally, causing Cinder to glare at him though not without a subtle hint of a blush on her face.

"No, I killed Mercury, because I had to. To save you, to save the detective. And I need to save her now! Mum! Mum! We need to leave" Roman says as he dashes for the elevator. Not noticing the distracted and tearful Salem.

"Mum!" He calls after her.

"Why would we leave? Mercury is right here. I can stay, be a happy family." Salem replies in a daze.

"I missed you so much mother." The fake replied.

"And there you have it... The sucking you in and never leaving phase." Saber glares at the screen.

"That place looks like an absolute nightmare. Using your own guilty conscience against you and slowly sucking you in." Winter says, followed by a few nods and murmurs of agreement from everyone else.

"Its so brutally effective at being a prison. That it makes you want to stay and never leave once your in." Ironwood says, thinking if something similar could be possibly be implemented in Atlas thanks to their robot technology.

"Don't even think about General Ironwood... I will burn Atlas to the groud if you even as so much use a prototype similar to a hell loop." Saber threatens the misbehaving general, who quickly scrapps the idea of a hell loop prison.

"Mum! Mum! You pulled me out of my guilt, no time to get stuck in yours, come on!" Roman says as he drags his mother away from the fake Mercury.

"Don't abandon me. Not again, please..." The fake Mercury tries, grabbing onto Salem's hand as Roman whisks her away into the elevator.

"No. Lucifer, no please! Mercury, my son! My sweet boy!" Salem cries out as she tries to break free from Roman's grasp.

••••••

"I... I think, I may need a moment." Saber says, standing up and leaving the room.

"Okay. I'll man the fort, while you cool off." King says.

"Is she gonna be fine? Maybe we should go after her." Ruby says, wanting to follow after the goddess.

"She'll be fine, just need space is all. In the meantime we can watch a few more something else while she cools off. How do y'all feel with seeing another one the georges from earlier" King says. Turning back to his audience.

"Sure"

"Meh"

"Oh, great another song..."

"Shut up, they're fun."

••••••••
Next Chapter:

You'll be back- Hamilton
••••••••

Have a nice day/evening/ afternoon