Revenge Best Served Cold

by LiamLegendsG88

Summary:

She was alone again. She lost the one thing to help her escape the misery. Roman is gone. Neo will make that burning bitch pay for what she caused. Well, her first attempt at revenge didn’t go very well. This time around, Neo’s meeting with Cinder goes a bit different. Instead of agreeing to work with her, Neo ran. She ran straight into the arms of the only people she thinks can help her kill Cinder. Little Red and her band of misfits.

Notes:

She was lost, alone, scared. Working with Cinder doesn’t really seem like an effective solution to any of those problems. So why not go to Ruby and her friends instead?

Chapter 1: Prologue

POV Neo

Everything has gone to shit.

Beacon was totally leveled in the attack.

Guess Cinder’s plan wasn’t a bust after all.

Cinder, the crazy bitch, why did Roman ever agree to work with her in the first place?

Oh, right, she’d probably have incinerated our asses if he didn’t.

Roman wouldn’t let her do that to me, he wouldn’t let anyone do that to me.

Hopefully he’s still ok, that crash looked pretty nasty.

Fortunately I was already launched off the airship by that stupid red child.

Roman probably took care of her after I flew off, he gets pretty fucking pissed when I’m in Trouble.

Whatever, I’ll find out what happened to Little Red after I’ve found Roman.

Where the hell is he?

Seriously, where is he, I can’t find him any-

Uh-oh

I make a dash behind the remains of a wall nearby.

People are all over the area, guess this is where all the staff and students were meeting up after everything started falling apart.

I can see that weird boy with the blonde hair, the really lame one.

One of the professional huntsman that Cinder specifically warned us away from engaging is there, he seems to be handing the kid something.

And the kid suddenly just started crying.

Guess he lost somebody during the attack.

Speaking of losing somebody, WHERE THE FUCK IS ROMAN?!

I swear, when I find him, I am going to do some very unsavory things to his ass when we get back home.

…..ok this is starting to get concerning.

Why haven’t I found him yet?

Cmon, it’s Roman, he’s dressed in white and has bright orange hair, he’s a bit hard to miss against the grayed out remains of Beacon.

Whatever, just keep searching Neo, you’ll find your dum-dum eventually, and then you can drag him back home and snuggle up to him.

Damnit Roman, please be ok.

You have to be ok.

I don’t have anyone else to go to.

I continue to make my way through the remains of Beacon.

Eventually, I finally manage to get to the crash remains of the Atlas airship we so expertly hijacked.

Neo and Roman 1, Ironwood 0

Doubt the general is ever gonna hear the end of this whole clusterfuck. He lost control of his robot army and his command ship went crashing down, that must be so embarrassing.

Whatever, just focus on finding Roman, you can gloat later Neo.

Hopefully after all this is done, we can just go home, and forget about that bitch Cinder.

I still remember the day she came to us.

I was more than a little pissed when the first thing Roman said to her was “Well, hello, gorgeous”.

Honestly, I would’ve skewered her then and there for even daring to draw Roman’s attention away from me, but alas, business is business, can’t go offing somebody who wants our services, we’ve gotta get by somehow.

Starting to regret letting her live, we got stuck in some REALLLY deep shit because of her, and we had no way out. If I just slit her throat quickly and quietly, it would’ve been over, but no, now we’ve got to serve some great evil that wants to tear everything down. Honestly, it’s a bit terrifying.

I know Roman only took the deal with Cinder because we’d be fried if he didn’t, but honestly, that probably would’ve been better than working with her ashy ass.

Now, I’m walking through the remains of Beacon academy, looking for the dumbass that I’ve decided to spend my life with.

Why did I even do that again?

Oh right, because Roman actually cares about me.

Unlike Father.

I’m so glad him and mother are dead.

And hopefully Cinder up and died too in that massive explosion of light atop Beacon tower. We’d be so much better off without her fucking our lives up.

We were doing good before she waltzed in and took control, we were thriving, we were happy.

I was happy.

After so much misery, I was actually happy.

And now Cinder is taking that away from me.

She’s taking it away from US.

Speaking of us, FUCKING HELL ROMAN, SHOW YOUR DAMN ADORABLE FACE ALREDY SO I CAN SLAP IT SILLY.

And then something catches my eye.

A small spot of red among all the black and gray of Beacon’s ruins.

Oh no.

When I finally make it over, I see what that patch of red was.

It was Roman’s hat.

That dorky, stupid bowler hat that I picked out just for him.

I still remember making his outfit. It took a lot of time and a lot of effort, but it was all worth it.

Everything was worth it for him.

I owe him so much.

I owe him everything.

He is the one thing I have left in this world.

No other family, no other friends.

No other home.

It’s just him. It’s always just been me and him.

But then Cinder had to come in to our lives.

And now, as I clean off the blood stains from Roman’s hat, I finally realize.

Now…..

Now it’s just me.

I had one thing to help escape the misery.

But now…. Now it’s all disarrayed.

Cinder, you took my whole life away.

You sent me back to NOTHING.

And now… now.

Now you’ll pay.

Cause you know what they say.

Kill for kill.

Eye for eye.

Blood for blood.

I finally finish wiping off all the blood from Roman’s hat. I notice his scarf lying not too far away.

Well…. At least I have something to keep his memory alive.

At least I have something to keep me going.

….I have nothing.

He’s gone, he’s actually gone.

What am I supposed to do now?

I have no life away from Roman.

He WAS my life…. He was the only thing keeping me alive.

Well…. guess I’ve gotta carry on.

I can’t just die before I’ve made Cinder pay for getting Roman killed, now can I?

I’m honestly hoping she’s still alive.

Cause I want the pleasure of killing her for myself.

I want to cut her throat and watch her crawl away.

I want her to suffer like she’s made me suffer.

I want her to die exactly how she deserves.

Slowly and painfully.

Chapter 2: New Choices Made

Summary:

Neo’s attempt at revenge against Cinder didn’t go quite as planned. Now that she’s definitely solidified herself a spot on Cinder’s shit-list, Neo knows that it’s probably smart to find some allies. Unfortunately for her, the only ones that fit the rather tall bill she’s looking for are Little Red and her band of losers.

Notes:

Neo’s perspective of her fight with Cinder in V6 (painfully underrated fight) and the major divergence that occurs right after.

POV Neo

Finally, after a damn year of waiting, I’ve finally found her.

Cinder fall, here she is, standing just below me, clearly surprised to see me.

Lil’ Miss Malachite is as reliable as ever, she got Cinder right where I want her.

And now, it’s time for her to pay.

“Neo?”

Yes, indeed it is.

And you, are dead.

My illusion drops right off the banister it was posted upon and crashes right into Cinder, shattering like glass upon impacting her.

And than I come out to play, charging at her from her right, managing to push her back a bit.

“What are you doing?!”

Oh Cinder, darling, you really haven’t figured it out yet?

That’s just sad.

I continue to attack Cinder, wow she really isn’t good at this, eventually I manage to knock her back into Lil’ Miss’ table.

I can tell she’s enjoying the show, she always did enjoy a good brawl while waiting on a meal.

Cinder’s going on the offensive now, pushing me back and slamming her fist downwards.

It’s pathetically easy to block, it-

Hold on?

Is your arm Grimm?!

Wow Cinder, you have stooped to a new low.

She continues to try and hit me.

Oh poor girl, she doesn’t know just how much better I am.

Seriously, every single attack you make is-

Ow

Ok, that kick in the jaw hurt a little.

Whatever, I don’t go down after one hit.

Small as I may be, I’m anything but frail.

The both of us have landed on the counter to the bar.

Oh, look, an ashtray.

Hope you can catch Cinder.

Of course she doesn’t, she just lets the damn thing shatter against her arm.

Oh, but here comes the next one.

Ok, ok, actually managed to catch that one, but alas, all that did was leave you-

-Open. Damnit, this close to slitting her damn throat.

She’s better than I expected. Not as good as me of course, but she’s actually putting up a decent fight.

Whatever, gotta keep on the offensive, don’t let her get a chance to counterattack or-

-And I’ve gone flying.

Really Cinder, throwing?

Maybe don’t throw the girl whose weapon was basically made to help her avoid being thrown.

Seriously, how dumb are you.

Ooo, back on the offensive now, are we?

Have you still not realized that I’m just-

Oof.

Ok, you actually managed to pin me to a table, not bad Cinder, but if you really think that’ll be-

Uh-oh

I only barely manage to avoid the flaming fist that Cinder thrusts down when she bounces off the ceiling towards me.

Ok, a little too close for comfort there.

Whatever, I’m back on my feet now, and we can-

“That's enough, ladies!”

Of course NOW she gets sick of my performance.

“I love dinner and a show, but it's time to take it outside.”

Alright, you want us outside?

I’ll take it outside.

I bounce myself off a chair, up towards the banister Cinder is currently perched atop.

She goes to swipe at me, that was a mistake.

Her strike falls so far under me that it’s actually sad.

And that screw up gives me the perfect opportunity to-

-aaaand there we go.

I leap off her arm and land behind her.

I then put Hush around her head, and flip her over me, straight through a nearby window.

Now I can really get serious.

When I jump after her, I shatter the illusion I created on impact with the ground.

Cinder seems a little impressed at this.

Good, she recognizes that I’m just out of her league.

“You've gotten stronger... So have I.”

Wow, if that isn’t the corniest line I’ve ever-

There is a fireball coming at me.

It harmlessly disperses upon impacting Hush, like most projectiles that have been fired at me.

If that’s your idea of “stronger” than I’m a bit disappointed.

Cinder’s dropped her guard now. She’s clearly interested in why I’m here.

During my slow saunter towards her, she seems to get the idea.

Guess dropping the squeaky clean illusion that hid Roman’s hat helped her piece it together.

“I don't have time for your misplaced blame, girl. I didn't kill your boss. If you want revenge, take it up with "Little Red".”

Don’t even use Roman’s nickname for her.

You don’t deserve to.

She barely has time to summon some weird looking swords before I’m on the offensive again.

Shes barely even attacking now, I’ve clearly put her on the defensive.

“You're not the only one with a grudge against Ruby!”

Oh I know, but much more prominently is my grudge against you!

Stupid bitch.

And boom, right to the nose, she goes staggering back.

And then something unexpected happens.

“Listen!”

Out of nowhere, I get blasted back by some sort of shockwave.

“We both want that girl dead.“

What the hell was-

Cinder…. Is floating.

“So quit wasting your time fighting me and let's discuss how we kill her together.”

Well bollocks. This must be the coveted “Fall Maiden power” that Cinder never shut the hell up about while me and Roman worked with her.

Speaking of, did she just ask me to work for her again?

….. I need to think.

Just feeling this maiden power of hers, I can tell, if I try to fight her like this,

I’m fucking fried.

But also, do I really want to work with her again after she got Roman killed?

Fuck no.

There is one other option.

One option that I’m not particularly fond of.

But at the moment it seems like the best choice.

Sorry Cinder, but due to previous poor experiences working with you, I must deny your offer.

So, I turn around,

And run like hell.

“Such a shame, your abilities would’ve proved so useful to me.”

I can already feel the heat of the approaching fireball.

And then, boom.

My illusion shatters when it gets struck with the ball of heat.

“Stupid girl, you can’t hide from me forever.”

She’s not wrong.

“You’re lucky that I have more important business to attend to right now. When I’m done with Ruby and her team, you’re next.”

I can hear Cinder walk away from the alley I’ve hidden myself in.

Well fuck.

Guess I put myself on the devils hit-list.

Only one thing to do now if I want to ever get another chance at revenge.

I’m gonna have to go talk to Little Red.

Well…. Not really talk I suppose, I can’t exactly do that.

Notes:

Neo’s gonna be looking for Ruby and the gang. Being so deeply involved in Remnant’s criminal underworld, she can find them with ease. Expect the meetup next chapter.

Chapter 3: Down On The Farm

Summary:

After a lot of searching (that I don’t feel like writing) Neo knows that Ruby and her friends are headed to Argus. Unfortunately, during the long journey, she is stuck in a snowstorm and forced to take shelter. Fortunately for her, she seems to have stumbled upon a certain farm full of terrifying abominations from our worst nightmares. It’s time for Neo to greet little Red at last.

Notes:

Neo will finally be meeting Ruby and the others (I say finally like it’s been more than 2 chapters).

POV Neo

Of course I get caught in a damn storm.

I think the universe just likes fucking with me at this point.

Seriously, my train gets derailed on the way to Argus, and now on the walk there I get caught in a storm.

Does reality just hate me or something?

Whatever, I’ve just got to make it there, I’m not THAT far, so it shouldn’t be too long of a journey.

Though I’ll probably turn into an icicle by then.

I refuse to die a death as ironic as freezing.

I need to find some form of shelter, and I need to find it soon, I’m freezing my ass off out here.

I really wish the outfits my semblance materialized were actually real, then I could just make some heavier snow gear and I’d be fine.

Whatever, I need to find somewhere to stay until the storm clears.

Now if only I could see properly, but the damn snow is blocking most of my vision.

Doesn’t help that all the damn trees are covered in even more snow, making them blend in with the stuff falling.

And then something catches my eye.

A fence of some sorts.

Looks like I may have found that shelter I needed.

Eventually, I manage to spy a sign posted above the fence.

“Brunswick Farms”. Huh, alright then, I appear to have stumbled across a farming village.

I make my way past the sign, closer towards a large farmhouse in the center.

I can see a fire going through one of the windows. Guess the residents are still here. That may complicate things.

And then something catches my eye.

Right outside of the farmhouse, sits a bright yellow motorcycle.

The exact same motorcycle that Little Red’s sister rides.

Well now, it seems my luck has finally turned back around.

Peeking in through the window, I can see an old lady with cybernetic optics and a young boy sitting on the furniture.

I don’t recognize either of them, guess Little Red is picking up strays now.

I’ve got to be quiet about this.

I can quite easily stay out of sight, it’s not hard to give myself a little invisibility with my semblance, but I can’t exactly mask my sounds.

So I very slowly make my way over to the front door, and with immense caution, I slowly grab the doorknob and turn it.

I open the door just enough for me to slip inside, any more and the winds might start causing a ruckus and drawing people towards the entrance.

And then very quietly, after I’ve slipped past the door, I slowly and carefully close it behind me.

Turning back inside, nobody seems to have been alerted.

Good, so long as I’m light on my feet, I should have free rein to wander around and look for Little Red.

And then when I finally do find her, I may as well give her a little scare.

If I’m working with her, I’ve gotta make sure her combat skills are still up to snuff, don’t I?

Speak of the devil, there she is, looking through a pantry of sorts.

Time for me to bait the trap.

POV Ruby

I really hope they have something good to eat here.

Seriously, I haven’t had a proper meal since Haven…. Which honestly wasn’t that long ago, but it sure feels like ages ago.

I’m absolutely starving.

I think we all are.

So far, our search is going…. well, not great.

“Ruby, there’s another room here.”

Weiss gets my attention.

“Oh, you think it might be a kitchen?”

“I sure hope so.”

She opens the door and we both enter the dark room.

None of the lights are on.

I turn on the flashlight on my scroll and scope out as much as I can.

Are those wine bottles?

Weiss uses a burst of fire dust to ignite the candles sitting unlit around the room.

After they’re all lit, we finally find out where we are.

We’re in a bar.

…..oh.

I really shouldn’t let Uncle Qrow find out about this room.

“On second thought, maybe we should keep this room closed.”

Weiss looks a bit confused when I say that.

“Huh?”

“I'm just... Not sure how well my uncle's taking all of this.”

She seems to understand now. I guess that makes sense, considering what she’s told us about her mother.

Alright, let’s go look around some more, there’s another room connected to the bar.

“ Come on, we'll never get to Atlas on an empty stomach!”

I walk towards the next door, with Weiss following me after a short pause.

As I open the other door, Weiss speaks again.

“Ruby? Are we really still going to Atlas?”

Uh… why is she asking me this now?

“Why wouldn't we be?”

Yeah, we’ve got a world to save, we can’t just sit around and-

“I mean... you heard what Jinn said. If there's no way to kill Salem, then what's the point in all of this?”

I… Weiss, whats gotten into you?!

“Weiss, you can't be serious.”

She sighs briefly before changing her tune.

“Sorry, I- I don't know what I'm saying, I'm just really tired and I really, really hate this place.”

Guess that’s fair, we did kinda find a bunch of dead bodies here.

Eventually we enter the next room, it’s much smaller than the bar.

“Anything in there?”

Looking around with my flashlight again, I see….

“More alcohol... At least we'll never have problems starting a fire.”

These people seriously had a drinking problem.

“What's that?”

Weiss’ question catches my attention.

We look down and find a metal cellar door sticking out from the ground. It’s chained shut for some reason.

“A wine cellar? Great.”

Of course it is, these people had a HUGE drinking problem.

I’m honestly thinking about just heading back now and-

FINALLY.

I let out a yelp and bolt over to the shelf of cans I found.

“What? What is it?”

“Food!”

I grab a can and hold it out for Weiss to see.

“Canned food?”

She sounds offended at the notion, heh, guess she’s still that princess from Atlas deep down.

“Oh trust me, you put enough salt on anything, and it will taste juuust fine.”

“Well, I guess it's better than nothing.”

Weiss walks over and picks up several cans from the shelf.

“But I still seriously hate this… uh, Ruby.”

“Yes W-“

Right in front of the pantry door, a large bowler hat is just sat on the floor.

A very familiar bowler hat.

“That wasn’t there before, right?”

I go over and kneel down to inspect the hat.

“N-no… it wasn’t…. This… this looks like Torchwicks’s ha- WEISS!”

And out of nowhere, a pink umbrella strikes Weiss in the back of the head.

“GAH!”

She stumbles towards me and nearly falls over, dropping the cans in the process.

I go to help Weiss back up, only to be met with the same umbrella wracking me in the face and knocking me to the floor.

And who was holding that umbrella?

Who else.

“NEO?!”

She gives me a quick wink before again swinging her umbrella at me.

I manage to avoid her attack and reach for Crescent Rose.

Neo sees me reaching for my weapon and charges.

Behind her, Weiss stands up again.

I nod towards Weiss, and she creates a glyph of gravity dust between me and Neo.

When Neo steps into the glyph, she’s suddenly hoisted into the air.

I finally whip out Crescent Rose, and swing it straight at Neo.

Only for her to shatter like glass on impact.

What just-

“RUBY, DUCK!”

I do so without a second thought.

Behind me, Neo is standing, having just barely missed me with yet another strike from her umbrella.

I roll to the left, and Weiss charges at Neo.

Neo manages to catch the hilt of Myrtenaster on the back end of her umbrella, using that as leverage to swing Weiss around.

And straight towards me.

I manage to avoid her with my semblance, and fly behind Neo.

She quickly unfolds her umbrella, and jams it backwards into my face to stop me from attacking.

Before I can even realize what happened, she’s already gotten behind me, and I can feel her umbrella being hooked around my hood.

Neo pulls me backwards, and flips me over her back and onto the floor.

I hit the ground with a loud thud.

Looking up after I make impact, I see Neo staring down at me with a smirk.

Weiss suddenly jumps at Neo again.

Only for Neo to casually swing her head to the right, just barely avoiding a stab.

She then swiftly kicks Weiss square in the gut, before back smacking her with her umbrella.

I manage to get back up and once again grab Crescent Rose.

I swing it around in a circle in front of me, causing Neo to jump.

And when I’m done swinging, I feel Crescent Rose get exponentially heavier.

Neo’s landed on top of it.

And she quickly delivers a hard kick to my face.

Fortunately, it wasn’t hard enough to knock me over, so I’m able to steady myself by jamming Crescent Rose’s blade into the ground.

I the fire off a few shots at Neo.

She casually unfolds her umbrella again, which easily takes all the hits without any damage.

What is that thing even made out o-

Neo the rushes at me and slides down to the ground.

While sliding, she spins herself slightly, catching my legs with hers, causing me to lose my grip on Crescent Rose and fall face first onto the floor.

Neo manages to stop herself and quickly stand back up.

Just in time to duck a slash from Weiss.

And counter with a devastating kick to the jaw.

I think that kick actually made a sizable dent in Weiss’ aura, because it flickers a little while she flies back.

Things aren’t looking so good about now.

Weiss was totally knocked out with that last kick, and I’m still on the ground.

I flip myself over to look at the approaching Neo.

She holds her umbrella out towards me.

Well… guess this is it.

I close my eyes and wait for the oncoming attack.

Only for nothing to happen.

When I finally open my eyes, Neo is still there, but she’s…. offering me her hand?

“Uh…. What?”

She shakes her hand slightly.

I…. Guess I better take it.

I grab onto her hand, and suddenly, Neo hoists me back up onto my feet.

Almost immediately, I forget about Neo and rush over to Weiss.

She’s waking back up.

“Ugh… Ruby?”

“WEISS! YOU’RE OK!”

“Y-yes, I’m fine, don’t shout so close to me.”

“Oh, s-sorry.”

I can hear a quiet noise behind me.

I turn and see Neo typing something on her scroll.

Weiss grabs towards Myrtenaster, which was on the floor next to her.

Neo holds up one of her hands, and turns the other to show us her scroll.

She’s written something.

‘I suppose I should apologize for that, I just needed to see if your skills were still sharp’

“Wha- what do you want Neo?”

She’s once again typing something.

After a short while, she once again shows us her scroll. Ive gotten Weiss back on her feet by now.

What I read next quite thoroughly shocks me.

‘I want to help’

“WHAT?!?”

“HUH!?”

Weiss is just as confused as I am.

“YOU want to help US?!”

She shakes her head up and down after I ask her that.

“….why?”

She goes to type something again, but suddenly the door to the bar slams open.

Blake and Yang barge in with their weapons ready.

“RUBY, WHAT’S GOING-“

They both freeze at the sight of Neo.

And Neo… she just smiles and waves at them.

Blake aims Gambol Shroud at Neo.

“B-Blake, wait!”

“Huh?!”

“She’s not here to fight… even if she just kicked our butts.”

“Excuse me, what the hell?!”

Neo nods in agreement.

“She says…. She says she wants to help us.”

Yang’s response gets a laugh out of me.

“THE FUCK?!”

Notes:

Hope everybody is ready for Neo to help the gang with the Apathy next time.

Chapter 4: Fragile Alliance

Summary:

Neo’s presence causes a bit of tension among the group. Nobody really trusts her, but Ruby is willing to give her a chance. Neo appreciates the offer, but she’s a bit annoyed by Ruby wanting to become her friend. Neo doesn’t do friends anymore…. Not after Roman…. Never again. Hopefully she’ll be on the side of the heroes before the Apathy decide to show their terrifying faces.

Notes:

Neo’s initial impressions among the whole group. Nobody except Ruby is happy that she’s here.

POV Neo

Well, there sure are a lot of death glares being thrown my way right now.

Blondie especially, guess she remembers how badly I kicked her ass back on the train.

I certainly remember, quite well. It’s hilarious to think about every single time.

Nobody else seems to like me either.

The Princess clearly didn’t appreciate the beatdown earlier.

Kitty is getting very defensive over Blondie.

And the drunkard is just staring at me from the back of the room.

The old lady and the boy don’t seem to know who I am, so they don’t appear to be too angry, just concerned.

The only one not eyeing me with malice or worry, is Little Red, still as suicidally naive as ever.

Blondie is the first to pipe up.

“Yeah, I’m not buying it.”

“Me either.”

And the kitten automatically sides with her.

Saw that coming. The two of them are basically glued at the hip.

The Princess adds onto their doubt.

“Yeah, after the unnecessary beating, I’m not really liable to trust you now.”

Eh, fair enough, I didn’t really NEED to pummel them.

And then Little Red says something a bit surprising.

“W-well, I think we should give her a chance.”

Everybody, including me, is left flabbergasted by that.

Did I hit her a little harder than I intended to?

“Ruby you can’t be serious!”

“I am serious Yang, we’re the heroes, we’ve gotta try and see the best in people.”

Blake immediately tries to refute that.

“Ruby, sorry, but seeing the best in people doesn’t always mean seeing the real them.”

She has a point, I’ve met a lot of bad apples who seemed all candy sweet on the outside.

And going off of the creeper from the White Fang I had to work with and how he always obsessed over Blake, I take it she has firsthand experience.

“Well that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t give her another chance, everyone deserves a second chance!”

Yang says something that kinda ticks me off.

“Do you think Cinder deserves a second chance?”

Even just saying that bitch’s name is enough to irritate me, but comparing me to her?

Blondie, you are so lucky I need your help, otherwise I’d just slit your throat in your sleep for that one.

I think everyone can tell just how much the mention of Cinder triggers me, because they all seem on edge now.

Except the drunkard, he’s currently taking a swig from a bottle.

I was never one for alcohol, always preferred sugar over…. whatever the hell is in alcohol.

Roman tried not to drink around me too often, he knew I didn’t like the stuff.

….great, now I’m sad.

“Look, if she wanted to kill us, she probably would have killed us by now.”

Yang once again argues against me.

“Ruby, somebody not wanting to kill us doesn’t make them a good person.”

“Well…. Still, she at least deserves a shot to do better.”

And than Qrow pipes up

“Alright kids, I think we’ve had enough arguments about what makes a good person for one night.”

Little Red then makes an offer.

“L-look, let’s just give her the night, and if everything is still in order by tomorrow morning, she gets to stay with us.”

“And if it’s not?”

“Then we can kick her out.”

Eh, fair enough.

“That’s ok, right Neo?”

I nod. I can work with this.

“OK! So are we all in agreement?”

Yang is the first to respond.

“Fine, whatever, I honestly don’t care anymore.”

Blake follows her.

“Ok…. Yeah.”

And than Weiss.

“I…. Suppose we could use all the help we can get.”

Yeah, you could, because you put up a pretty piss poor showing earlier.

“ALRIGHT, Uncle Qrow, you on board?”

“Yeah, whatever.”

“OK, GREAT!”

I shake my hands next to my head and open my mouth in mock excitement.

And than Little Red turns to me and speaks.

“Now, Neo, before we go to bed, can I talk to you for a minute?”

I roll my eyes, but I do nod yes.

“Great, cmon, the rest of you can get ready to go to sleep, this won’t take too long.”

Ruby then stands up, grabs me by the arm, and begins dragging me out of the main room into a different one.

We eventually arrive in a room across the hall, where she stops and turns to me.

“Hey, Neo…. Thank you, for offering to help us.”

I once again roll my eyes.

“R-really, I know…. That you probably don’t really like us… and after what happened to Torchwick you probably hate me especially… but… I’m glad you want to do the right thing.”

I mouth a sigh and pull out my scroll.

I type that I just want to kill that bitch Cinder, I honestly don’t really care what else happens along the way to do that.

“O-oh… well, just know, you’re still being a big help coming along with us, I r-really appreciate it…. Thank you.”

Whatever, I’m not part of your posse Red, I’m just here because I can’t kill Cinder on my own.

“Alright, we should…. Probably get to bed now, and then we can take off to Argus in the morning.”

Yes, we should, I don’t wanna stay here any longer than I have to.

This place doesn’t sit right with me.

We hear a voice calling from the other room.

“Ruby, you two almost done in there?”

“We’re coming Uncle Qrow!”

Ruby again grabs my arm, dragging me back into the living room.

When we get there, most of the others are already lying down, ready to sleep, with the exception of Qrow and the old lady.

I think her name was Maria, or something like that.

She’s currently reading the diary that the owner of this farm wrote.

Qrow then speaks up again.

“Alright, you kids all get some sleep, I’ll wake you all up before sunrise.”

He eventually leaves out into the room across the hall from the Living Room where we all are currently. He takes another swig from the bottle he was holding as he leaves.

Yeah, that guy has issues.

Red goes to lie down next to her sister, who is somehow already fast asleep.

Before she puts the blanket over herself, she turns to me and speaks again.

“Hey, Neo… really, thank you…. For offering to help us.”

I roll my eyes again and go to lay down on the vacant couch.

Like hell am I gonna sleep on the damn floor.

….she can’t really be this thankful that I’m here, right?

The first thing I did when I got here was kick her and the Princess’ asses…. Why is she so happy to see me?

Does she honestly think I can be a good person?

Yeah, like that’ll ever happen.

…..I chose this life…. I can’t go back now.

I’m too far gone.

Bah! Who cares even if I am.

What I’m more concerned about is why I’m so damn tired.

Eh, I probably just need a good nights sleep.

And then we’re finally off to Argus in the morning.

Notes:

I ended up moving the Apathy stuff to chapter 5 because I wanted more of Neo interacting with the gang before those terrifying nightmare demons appeared.

Chapter 5: The Will To Live

Summary:

Things are going….. ok for Neo so far. Ruby and the others haven’t tried to kill her, so that’s…. Something. Wanna know what will try and kill her? The Apathy. Let’s see how an unbreakable drive for one thing and one thing only holds up to the draining of one’s will.

Notes:

Time for the Apathy, aka the most HORRIFYING THINGS IN ALL OF RWBY, seriously, Michael Myers would piss his pants at the sight of those fucks.

POV Neo

I feel like absolute shit.

Why does everything feel so shitty today?

I thought getting a good night’s sleep would make me feel better, but if anything, I feel even more like trash, what the hell?!

And why the hell is everyone else still asleep?! Didn’t the drunko say he’d wake us up before sunrise?

Oh who am I kidding, he probably drank himself in a booze-induced coma.

I can see Red stirring on the ground.

Guess she’s waking up on her own too.

She gasps pretty loudly when she wakes up. The hell was that about? Is she seriously that on edge?

She begins looking around, seeing everyone else asleep.

And then, I softly whistle at her.

She jumps at the noise, nearly falling on her back while turning around to face me.

“O-oh, N-Neo…. You’re still here.”

I shake my head in agreement. I guess she wasn’t actually expecting me to stick around.

Eh, fair enough, I haven’t really given her any reason to trust me yet.

“I-I’m gonna go check on Uncle Qrow, can you wake the others up?”

I nod at her.

“Great, ok.”

She begins to stand up, I do the same, getting off the couch and grabbing Hush, which I leaned against the arm of it.

First, Red walks over to the living room window and pulls it open.

The princess mutters to close it in her sleep.

Red then leaves the room to go check on her drunk uncle.

Her drunkle… heh, sounds like something Roman would say… alright, gotta wake the losers.

And then, specifically going to Blondie first, I begin waking the other idiots up.

By whacking them over the head with Hush.

I don’t hit them with a lot of force, just enough to stir them out of their slumbers.

After I hit Blondie, she somewhat wakes up, seeming pretty annoyed by my method of awakening her.

“Freaking…. 5 more minutes.”

I whack her again.

“OK! Jeez, I’m up…. Oh, it’s you.”

When she finally catches sight of me, she clearly isn’t happy to see I stuck around.

I walk to the right, not giving a damn how she feels.

Next, I go to whack Blondie’s Kitten, figured she’d want her partner up first.

Before I can swing Hush at them, an arm grabs it.

I turn back around, and Yang has a rather firm grip on my parasol.

“Don’t…. I’ll wake her, just… get the others up, without whacking them, mkay?”

I roll my eyes slightly, and then gesture towards Blake, inviting Blondie to wake her sleeping beauty.

She gets up rather quickly at the offer, going to pet her kitty till she wakes up.

I then walk over to the princess.

And promptly whack her too.

“I said no whacking.”

I turn to look at Yang, whose already woken up her pet.

And then immediately, I walk over to the boy, I think his name was Oscar.

And then I whack him too.

“Huh?! I… oh…. Morning.”

Next, the old lady.

I walk over to her and raise my umbrella.

Only for her to grab it when I try to swing it down on her.

…..ok then

“I can get up myself.”

She does exactly that, letting go of Hush and bouncing out of her seat.

By now, everybody is awake, and we’ve all begun getting our gear ready.

Red comes barging back into the room.

“Alright, let’s get ready to go everyone.”

I can hear Blondie groan behind me.

She must really be in a shitty mood today.

Ruby then walks out of the now open front door that her drunken uncle opened.

I snap my fingers at the others to get their attention and begin following Ruby.

Behind me, the sound of sluggish footsteps is heard.

The only one really keeping pace with me is Maria.

Wow, is everyone else really that tired? The hell have they been doing all this time.

Turning back to face them, and yes, they really are that tired, because they all look like zombies.

Blondie and Her Kitty especially, what the hell did they do last night?

Whatever, I don’t give a damn, I just wanna get out of here, this place gives me the creeps.

After the longest walk to a door I’ve ever had to walk, I can finally see the damn Sun again.

“Hey, Neo, can we get some help please?”

Ruby gets my attention.

Her and her uncle are trying to push a flatbed trailer over to the front of the house.

I walk over to her and the drunko and grab onto the back of the trailer.

Ruby and Qrow also grab onto the trailer, and we begin pushing.

I notice the Princess using fire dust to weld something onto Blondie’s motorcycle, probably a makeshift trailer hitch for this thing.

The Oscar pipes up, sounding absolutely lifeless.

“Can we just go back to bed?”

Man, you must’ve slept like shit.

Blondie’s Kitten speaks up next.

“If we're all so tired, maybe we should make breakfast?”

Oscar retorts.

“You wanna make it?”

I doubt any of us do.

“Not really.”

Saw that answer coming.

We finally finish pushing the trailer up behind the bike.

Red sounds as infectiously cheerful as ever.

“You guys got the bike ready?”

Though her cheer is less infectious than normal apparently, nobody seems to share her energy except me and Maria.

And then drunko speaks.

“ Well, it's done now. So let's hook this thing up and-“

After they rest their foot on the side of the trailer, a wheel pops, strangely the one on the opposite side that he was leaning against.

Maria’s next words are my thoughts exactly.

“You people are just beacons for bad luck, aren't you?”

That seems to hit drunko a bit too close to home, cause he storms over to a nearby fence posts and plants his ass in the snow.

Blondie then says something that feels painfully true right now.

“I'm starting to think the universe just doesn't want us getting to Atlas.”

Red sighs and tries to lighten the mood.

“It's just a flat tire, I'm sure there's a spare.”

“ It's not just that, it's everything. Storms, crashes, monsters... I'm so tired...”

And of course, the Kitty chimes in after Blondie.

“Me too. It feels like we're always having to fight to get by.”

I’ve spent every day since I turned 18 like that, I can admit, it does get a bit…. exhausting after a while.

Red once again tries to make things better.

“Yeah. But that's what we signed up for.”

“We signed up to try and save the world, not just... delay the inevitable.”

Oscars words remind me of something.

Salem.

I honestly forgot about her. She was Cinder’s terrifying boss.

And then the Princess chimes in.

“Last night, I... I couldn't stop thinking - why are we even going to Atlas?”

Good question, I still haven’t been filled in on that yet.

“Weiss, we have to.”

Do we really though? Seriously, what are we doing again?

And then Blondie stands back up and speaks.

“Why? Ozpin hid the Relics behind giant doors under enormous schools, but... how long would it take Salem to find a Lamp in the middle of nowhere?”

Oh, right, the relics. Cinder mentioned those a few times back when we were working for her.

Red pulls that weird lamp off her belt and gazes at it for a bit.

“I am…. really…. tired….”

Aren’t we all.

And then she walks over to the nearby well.

And holds the lamp over it.

Alright, guess she’s doing that now.

I can see her hesitate a bit.

And then suddenly, she jumps slightly, dropping the lamp.

“No! No! No! I didn't mean to!”

The Princess tries to calm her down.

“Ruby, it’s ok.”

“No! No, there's something down there! I saw it, it was looking at me!”

Red peeks back in the well.

Blondie walks over to her sister and places a hand on her shoulder.

Speaking of her hands, how am I just now noticing her prosthetic?

“Hey, it's okay. You just said you're tired. It's probably nothing. Now let's go.”

Ruby doesn’t take to kindly to that, swatting her sister’s hand away.

“What's wrong with you?! We can't just leave, we have to go down there! We have to get the Lamp back! Oh, what was I thinking?!”

Qrow then pipes up again.

“All we have to do is fix this trailer. Hey, farm boy, check the shed for a spare.”

“I'm not leaving without the Lamp!!”

……

Wow, wasn’t expecting that from Little Red.

Blondie’s Kitten offers to go down with Red.

The Princess follows suit.

And then drunko gets pissy.

“Fine! Get the stupid Lamp. Oscar, fix the stupid tire.”

He gets up and begins walking inside.

Maria asks where he’s going.

“Where do you think?”

He shakes his flask as he disappears inside.

Serious issues.

I sit down in the porch next to Maria. Hell if I’ll be going down in that damn well, I’m not getting Roman’s hat dirty.

“Stupid…”

Maria opens the diary of the owner to this place and begins reading a passage.

I follow along, reading with her.

Red and her gang all hop down into the well.

Whatever, good luck getting mud in your boots, I ain’t going down there.

Oscar exits the nearby supply shed with a spare tire for the trailer.

He looks at me, sort of expectantly.

The glare I shoot back seems to scare him.

I go back to reading from the diary with Maria.

Something about the place’s owner being introduced to something by a hunstman.

Turning the page, we see a creepy looking illustration.

Ew, that looks like a Grimm that Roman told me about, I think it was called…..

The Apathy.

Exactly what is said on the page above the illustration.

Oh…… shit.

Maria must know about them too, because I can hear her audibly gasp.

Well, guess we’ve gotta go save the gangs asses.

I run over to the well, grabbing Hush off the porch in the process of getting up.

Maria isn’t far behind, she’s pretty fast for an old lady.

And then, I jump in, opening Hush to float down gently, landing at the bottom with a very unsatisfying splash in the dirty water.

Maria lands behind me, somehow not phased by the drop at all.

“CMON, MOVE IT, WE’VE GOTTA GET TO THEM QUICK”

The two of us quickly make our way through the tunnels.

After a short run, we find RWBY, and also-

-A metric fuck ton of Apathy.

Roman was right, those things are really fucking creepy.

Red and her team all look like they’re on the brink of passing out.

Maria then shouts at them all to run.

The gang turn to look at us.

“NOW!”

Maria and I both run, with Ruby shouting at the others to go as well.

The lot of us begin running through the tunnels, searching for a way out.

Eventually, we can see sunlight poking through an opening.

Only for more Apathy to block the way.

Ah Fuckberries.

Suddenly, a nightmarish scream rings out.

Hush suddenly feels much heavier… everything feels so much heavier.

“This way!”

I turn to red, and see her directing us towards another tunnel.

We run down the tunnel, making our way through more of the wet labyrinth.

I nearly get caught by an Apathy swiping at me, but fortunately, a swing from Hush easily severs the damn things arm.

Eventually, we find ourselves in a large room.

And at the end of the room, is an even larger flock of those things.

We all begin running in the opposite direction.

Only for another scream to ring out.

Ruby’s team and Maria drop on all fours.

I barely manage to keep myself standing, using Hush as support, though I lag behind the others a little.

No, I am not dying here.

I begin moving to escape, slowly, but I’m still moving.

I can’t die here.

As I limp, I can hear Blondie complaining ahead of me.

And suddenly, Maria speaks up.

“An exit. An exit!”

Red screams at us to come on already.

Me, Blondie and the Princess all begin moving.

And suddenly, I hear metal dropping behind me.

Turning around, I can see Blondie’s Kitty laying down, weapon on the ground, just… giving up.

Ruby calls for her to move.

“Blake... get... up!”

“It’s fine…”

The Apathy begin reaching out for her.

…….am I really about to do this?

Yes, yes I fucking am.

With the last bit of juice I have left in me, I swing myself towards the cat Faunus, and grab onto her arm.

I stab Hush into the nearest Apathy, pushing them away, and then, I pull back with the arm I’m grabbing Yang’s kitten with.

She moves out of the Apathy’s reach, but unfortunately, as I pull Hush out of the freak’s body, I fall back, and find myself unable to get up.

I cannot believe I just did that…. Is this seriously how I die? Helping one of Red’s loser friends survive?

Sorry Roman… guess I won’t be getting back at Cinder….. see you soon Dum-Dum.

And then, I can hear somebody crying my name, and the room fills with a blinding flash of light.

And then, after the light dissipates, I find myself able to move again.

Almost immediately, I stand back up and book it away from the Apathy, who clearly didn’t like whatever that light was.

I rush past the kitten getting up off the ground and picking up her weapon. I further rush past Weiss, making my way to the stairs Maria pointed out, only to see something rather disappointing.

Weiss tells everyone exactly what that was.

“They're locked!”

Behind us, Blondie rushes in, telling us to get out of the way in the process.

She goes to punch the door, but another scream from the Apathy stops us dead in our tracks.

Blondie and the Princess both collapse, and I’m brought down to a knee, again needing Hush to stop myself from collapsing as well.

I turn to Blondie, she begins reaching for the cellar doors that block our way.

I try to stab at the chains with Hush, but I can’t gather enough energy to do anything beyond a limp poke.

Without Hush to support my weight, I collapse onto the stairs.

You’ve gotta be kidding me.

I still can’t believe this is how I die.

One of the most feared criminals in all of Remnant, and I die like a b-

Another blinding flash of light fills the room.

And again, I’m able to move properly.

Next to me, Blondie crawls up the stairs, and blasts the door open with her prosthetic.

None of us wait for even a second, me, Maria, and all of Team RWBY rush up the stairs, and out into… the house again.

“We're back in the house?”

The kitty’s annoyed tone is one of share… y’know, if I could speak.

We then notice Qrow, passed out at the bar.

Red rushes over to him, shouting at him to get up.

He wakes up in a bit of a foul mood.

“Hey! Get off me! What are you doing here?”

Maria says exactly what we’re doing.

“We're leaving, you idiot! Come on!”

Blondie and her pet follow Maria out of the house, but I can hear Weiss say something behind me.

“Not yet...”

I turn to her, and see her grasp a few bottles of booze from the nearby shelves, chucking them at the cellar door.

Oh, oooooh, I see where this is going.

I decide to help out a bit, grabbing a few bottles and throwing them myself.

I can hear Qrow complaining behind us.

Eventually, Weiss launches a burst of fire dust at the alcohol, catching it on fire as multiple Apathy emerge from the cellar.

Flaming Apathy. Never wanted to see that.

The two of us rush out to see Ruby trying to drag her uncle away.

“Stop it! Stop! What's wrong with you?! What's...”

He sobered up pretty quick at the sight of the flaming nightmare abominations.

Speaking of them, before I follow the others out, I turn back to them.

And flip them the bird.

Only then, do I follow the others out of the house.

Outside, we all pile onto the flatbed trailer, which Oscar has thankfully repaired and latched to Blondie’s bike.

And in no time at all, we’re off, fleeing from the burning nightmare house.

That was….. certainly something.

Something I hope to any gods above listening that I never have to relive.

Maria begins to explain the Apathy to the others.

“The Apathy. They're not strong or ferocious. They drain your will to go on. Bartleby's estate was hemorrhaging money towards the end. He wanted to cut costs on Huntsman protection, but in order to do that, he needed everyone calm... always.”

Roman warned me about them, he said that he saw somebody get torn apart by a horde of them once… nasty shit.

Oscar continues to read from the diary, explaining how the owner got the Apathy into the waterways in the first place.

“ My guess is they made their way beneath the estate through the water tunnels that Bartleby sealed up the next morning. Bartleby's plan worked. No one was angry or sad or scared. No one was anything. And then... no one was left.”

Using Apathy as a drug like that, what kind of psychos lived on that damn farm?!

Everyone begins apologizing for being all depressed earlier.

After a quick exchange I wasn’t really listening to, Ruby asks Maria a question.

“Miss Calavera? How do you know so much about the Grimm? And in the tunnels, you knew exactly what to say to make me... to make my eyes do that. How?”

The hell did she do with her eyes exactly?

“Well, isn't it obvious, girl? I had Silver Eyes.”

….and that’s important… why exactly?

Notes:

I was waiting to get to the Apathy, honestly this was one of my favorite parts to write. I always wanted to see if somebody with a will as unbreakable as Neo’s would fair any better against those nightmare fucks.

Chapter 6: Awkward Impressions

Summary:

Now that the Apathy fiasco has been dealt with, we can finally get to Argus, where Neo can get around to meeting JNR. Hopefully the painfully awkward first impression with them won’t go terribly.

Notes:

It’s absolutely going to go terribly.

POV Neo

Well….. that was one helluva story to hear sure.

Who knew, this old bloke was the legendary Grimm Reaper.

One of the most famous huntresses in all of history, and she’s riding with us.

Roman told me that he probably would’ve either asked for her autograph, or ran for the hills if he ever got to meet her. Knowing him, he’d probably do both.

With how shocked drunko currently is, he was probably a pretty big fan of hers.

“I can't believe it. You... You're the Grimm Reaper, you were a legend! And then you disappeared...”

Yeah, I was always confused about that, how d-

“How exactly does a legend just disappear?”

…..ok, Oscar beat me to it.

“You never used your name, never showed your face. Lots of us thought you were just layin' low. Eventually, we just came to accept that you were probably dead. But the stories about you, I based my weapon off of yours. I wanted to be as good as the Grimm Reaper.”

Yeah, I was right, Drunko was definitely a real big fan of hers.

“Well, I'm nothing but a disappointment, so you're well on your way.”

Ouch. Double burn, hit both herself and booze-for-brains with that one.

Then the pussycat pipes up.

“How can you say that?”

I mean, she’s kinda being an ornery old coot, but disappointing when taking her reputation into consideration.

“Child, a Huntress is supposed to protect others to the bitter end. But after I lost my eyes, I only ever looked after myself. Even after my surgery, I was too afraid to fight. Afraid someone would find me again, finish what the others started. You shouldn't aspire to be like me, especially when some of you are clearly stronger already.”

Yeah, she kinda dropped the ball when she bailed.

“It's... comforting, seeing that your generation seems up to the task of inheriting this world. I'm just sorry I didn't do more to leave it in better shape.”

And then, Red decides to join the conversation.

“Well, maybe you can do something now. Teach me to use my powers the way you did.”

Oh, yeah, her anti-Grimm flashbang eye thing.

Maria turns to Ruby, but before anyone can say anything, Red’s scroll suddenly goes off.

When Red takes out her scroll, she takes one look at it, and lets out an excited gasp.

“It’s Jaune!”

Jaune…. Jaune… oh right, the blonde idiot boy who can’t fight for shit.

Everyone else in the trailer seems a bit confused.

Weiss questions how he’s contacting us.

Red answers her scroll.

“Uh, hello?”

And then, a painfully whiny voice that just screams “emasculated” comes through from the other end.

“Ruby! Oh, thank you! I've been checking my Scroll for your signal since we made it to the city!”

“The city? Wait...”

Eventually, we make it over a small hill, and on the other end of that hill, after who the hell knows how long, we’ve finally made it.

Blondie decides to give us a grand introduction.

“Ladies and gentlemen, we have arrived in Argus.”

The short remainder of the drive to the city is agonizing, I just want to get inside the city’s walls already.

When Blondie finally parks her bike in a garage and we all get off the damn trailer, I’ve never felt so relieved to be in a major city in my whole life.

After a shit ton of traveling, we’re finally here.

I gotta admit, Argus is still as pretty as the last time Roman and I visited a couple years back.

The sightseeing is cut a bit short by the most overly energetic voice I’ve ever heard in my entire life.

“Cute! Boy! OZ!!!”

Oh, great, it’s sparky.

The hyperactive ginger suddenly barrels through the crowd and catches poor Oscar in a tackle hug.

At the sight of the other two coming over, I decide to linger behind the others a bit, blending into the crowd while the rest of the gang go to meet up with Jaune and his group.

Hugs aplenty are had, emotional reunions are exchanged, and I continue to hide among the nearby crowd.

And then, Nora decides to ask about Maria.

What she says next destroys any plans I had of hiding from Jaune and his group.

“Well, I’d say I’m only the second most interesting person these jokers picked up on the way here.”

Ah shit.

Well, guess the cat’s out of the bag. And I ain’t taking about Blondie’s kitty.

Slowly and awkwardly slinking out into view of the three losers I haven’t properly met yet, I stand there, and wave.

This is easily the most awkward wave I’ve ever done.

And then, they all reach for their weapons.

“WAITWAITWAITWAIT, SHE’S WITH US!”

Ruby decides to step in front of me before any of Jaune’s gaggle can charge in and get demolished.

All of them look absolutely dumbfounded by what Red told them.

“….come again.”

“L-look, I know it’s weird and unexpected, but Neo’s with us now, she’s here to help.”

I’ve already gotten a firm grip on Hush’s handle, but seeing the three stooges unwind and get back into normal standing positions after that helps me loosen up enough to let go of my favorite murder weapon.

Ok, well, that was just about as awkward as I expected it to be.

Oh crap, golden boy is walking over to me.

When he finally reaches me, I find myself having to look up to make eye contact with him.

He is way too tall for how much of a pansy he is.

“Hey… Neo, I… uh….. guess I’ve gotta introduce myself to you now. I’m Jaune, my teammates are Nora and Ren, I… suppose that it’s good to see you on our side. The gods know we need all the help we can possibly get nowadays.”

The awkwardness of this whole introduction is palpable.

I am so glad when it gets cut off and we make our way onto a trolley.

I decide to sit by myself, a bit away from the rest of the gang.

It’s probably better if I stay away from, that way I can avoid ruining another emotional moment for them.

The gang are having a bit of a talk about the history of the city, blah blah blah, I’ve heard it all before.

I’m hoping I can just wait it out until we get to wherever we’re staying, but the sound of somebody sitting down next to me ruins that idea.

Turning to my left, I see Jaune has sat down in the open seat next to me.

“Hey, look, I know that we’re probably not your friends or anything, and I know you’ve probably heard this from Ruby already, but… thanks… for helping out, we’ve lost a lot of good people recently, so we’ll take as many new members as we can add to our group.”

Huh…. Oh…. Right…. His girlfriend… I forgot about her.

Damn….. well, it’s a bit hard not to feel a bit sorry for him after the recollection of what happened to Mrs Nikos.

I decide to avoid looking at him any further, I don’t want to relate to any of these losers any more than I do already.

Eventually, the Trolley reaches our stop, and we all begin piling off of it and onto the sidewalk.

“We should probably start looking for a ship.”

Yeah, Kitten has a point. The earlier we get to Atlas the better.

“So, where have you guys been staying?”

Huh, yeah, Oscar raises a good question, where the hell have these mooks even been staying?

And then, a female voice catches our attention.

“There you are!”

As the trolley pulls away, across the road we see a blonde woman holding a baby in her arms, waving in our direction.

“Hey, Saph.”

Jaune’s nervous wave back at her is rather amusing.

As is Red’s absolutely starstruck face at the sight of the girl.

Well, it’ll be good to not be the most awkward one of the group for a while.

————————————————

I was right, this is hilarious.

Watching Jaune flail around and get mad when his sister calls him a baby is absolutely priceless.

As are the awestruck faces everyone makes at the sight of little baby Adrian.

…..I wonder what Me and Roman’s child would’ve looked like……

…….Whatever, j-just…. Save those thoughts for another time.

“So Saphron, you're the only Arc living here?”

Oh please tell me there’s more of them here, I wanna see Jaune get embarrassed more.

“Yep! Moved the second I could. Jaune and I are the only two living away from home.”

Darn.

“I guess he just wanted to be like his big sis.”

“I, uhh…”

“ Aw, you didn't deny it!”

Ok, nevermind, I guess I get to see more anyway.

After a brief playful scuffle between the siblings, we hear the front door open.

Turning towards it, we see another woman enter the house with a few bags of groceries.

“Everyone, this is my wife, Terra Cotta.”

We all greet her… well, everyone but me, I can’t really say hello.

“Why, hello there! Wow, quite a party, you weren't kidding. Hun, can I get some help please?”

Saphron jumps up off the couch and makes her way over to help her wife in the kitchen.

After a bit of waiting, Jaune and his team decide to go in and help the couple prepare food for the gang.

“And you're sure it's alright if we stay with you?”

“Of course, we're happy to house Huntsmen and Huntresses.”

“ You all risk so much to keep people like us safe. It's the least we can do. Especially for such an elite Huntsman like yourself.“

Terra turns to the drunkard at that last sentence. Yeah, fair, he’s easily the most renowned huntsman in the room right now. And probably the only person here whose ass I can’t kick.

Even in spite of the chronic alcoholism.

“Although, I will say I was surprised to learn you had students helping you. Is that even... legal?”

Huh, good question. I don’t think it is.

Qrow wasn’t even paying attention, so Red has to give him a bit of a nudge to get a response out of him.

“Uh, of course. Think of it as an extended training mission. Trust me, I was a professor. Even went to the same academy as them.”

Ah, loopholes in the legal system, my favorite.

“Let me tell ya, these kids are way better than we were at their age.”

I give it three seconds before his ego makes him take that back.

“Well, not better than me specifically, but a lot of students--“

Yep, fortunately, Red shuts him up with a sandwich.

About damn time, I haven’t eaten a thing in like…. 4 days.

While we’re all busy eating, Terra gets a call on her scroll.

“Excuse me, I'll be right back.”

She gets up and exits the room to answer the call.

“Is everything ok?”

“Oh, yeah, it will be. Terra's a technician for the town's relay tower. Unfortunately, the military's radar system is also housed there. Guess what's been on the fritz lately and who's getting falsely blamed.”

Saphron baby talks that last sentence to Adrian.

And Terra popping back in to reaffirm that she’s the one getting blamed gets a bit of a silent chuckle out of me.

“So, what's your plan for tomorrow?”

“Well-“

Red swallows the food in her mouth after starting.

“ We’re trying to make our way to Atlas. We'll probably start with the military base.”

Sparky and the quiet one both share rather concerned looks with each other.

And then Jaune pipes up.

“So, we kind of already tried that, and... it didn't go... super great.”

And then Blondie goes and jinxes everything.

“Come on, it couldn't be that bad...”

————————————————

The next morning, after we have the gate to the base slammed in our face, I can confidently say-

Yes, it absolutely was that bad.

Notes:

It went terribly.

Chapter 7: What Keeps You Going?

Summary:

Neo and the gang are barred from entering the Atlas base. Now what are our heroes to do? Get mad at each other because everyone’s on edge. Hopefully Neo can help make Jaune feel a bit better.

Notes:

This is where we finally get to the Neo and Jaune bonding moments.

POV Ruby

“Come on! You didn't even hear us out!”

Yeah, Yang is right, how can you bar us from entering without even knowing why we wanna enter!?

“Our orders are clear: The Mistral-Atlas border is closed!”

“Please!”

“Have a good day!”

Well those orders are stupid.

“But-“

Before Yang can finish, the guards cut her off.

“A GOOD DAY!”

Qrow decides to try and help the situation.

“Hey, if you don't wanna believe that I'm friends with Ironwood-“

Once again, the guards take over.

“GENERAL Ironwood!”

“Yeah, General Ironwood, then fine. But look, we have Weiss Schnee with us and we're trying to get her home safely.”

Uhhh, I don’t think Weiss appreciates that very much Qrow. She clearly doesn’t want to go home.

The guards quickly turn to each other, before looking back to us.

“Approach!”

Weiss, after sharing a quick confused and nervous look with Blake, decided to walk to the gate.

The guards spend a bit looking her up and down… weirdos.

“Very well!”

“You may speak with our commanding officer!”

“We will fetch her at once!”

And then, they turn away and rush off.

…..ok then.

“They were… kind of-“

I decide to voice my feelings about them.

“Super weird? Uh, yeah.”

Maria grumbles lightly to herself.

Oscar asks her what’s wrong.

“Well, I... may know this commanding officer...”

Oh, perfect!

“That's good, isn't it? If she's your friend, then maybe she'd be more willing to help us.”

“I wouldn't exactly call us... "friends".”

Oh….. oh no.

“Acquaintances?”

“Not quite.”

“Colleagues?”

“Warner.”

“Enemies?”

Yang is uneasy when asking that one.

“That’s the one!”

Darn it.

“Wait, what?!”

“Oh, yes. I come through here about once every ten years to get my eyes checked up in Atlas. You bring outside cashews on one flight, and suddenly you're placed on the additional screening list for life!”

Ok, honestly, I’d probably also be enemies with somebody if they did that to me.

Qrow’s words reflect how we’re all feeling right now.

“You've gotta be kidding me...”

“Now, now, let's not give up hope yet.”

Why not? Is there-

“Maybe she’s dead.”

…….what?

POV Neo

I try my best to hand behind the rest of the group. It probably would be safer not to be noticed by anybody in the base, given my…. Extensive criminal record.

Though considering how well things are going so far, I doubt Red traveling with one of the most wanted criminals in all of Remnant would even make anything worse.

Oh, wait, the gate is opening again.

Those two weird guard are…. Doing some sort of crazy introduction routine.

After they finish, there’s a bit of a pause.

And some tiny lady comes scuttling out from between them.

……..is that the commander of the base?

Wow, Atlas must really be scraping the bottom of the barrel these days.

Though with how Remnant has basically gone to shit recently, it’s not exactly hard to see why.

The short hag seems to be arguing with Maria. Red has to cut Maria off before she says something, guess it was either rude or lewd.

And then, after a bit of a conversation, she shouts over towards the back where I’m standing.

“What are you doing back here?! I thought I told you to leave!”

But… I didn’t-

And then, right next to me, I can hear sparky’s signature ear shattering shouting.

“And I told you we wouldn't rest until you let us through!”

Turing to my right, I see Jaune and his posse, the two boys having to hold Nora back from pouncing at the old hag like a rabid dog.

“Nice to see you again as well!”

This is clearly not going well.

That old bitch just keeps rambling on and on about the “glory of Atlas” and all that other bullcrap that is sick and tired of. Her two bumbling guards follow along with everything she says, looking like absolute lummoxes in the process.

God this hag insufferable.

And also intolerant, given her calling the kitten a “questionable character”.

I guarantee that Blondie isn’t happy about her precious pet being degraded like that.

…..and I just realized that I called her a pet….. fuck.

And then, the gate slams yet again.

Next to me, Nora again begins shouting.

“Oh yeah? Well, your face looks... like a big dumb boot!”

Wow, nice work, truly an impeccable comeback to Mrs…. Cordovin I think, and her endless bitchiness.

“Way to show her, Nora...”

Me and Jaune’s group all make our way to the rest of the gang. And then Drunko begins walking away from us.

Red decides to try and figure out our next move.

“So... where are we going now?”

“Yeah, what's the plan?” Nora adds on.

Meanwhile, Qrow is being as pessimistic as usual.

“The plan? The plan just got shut on our face three times over. I'm going for a drink.”

Not the worst idea given how horrendously everything has been going so far.

Red decides to go and try and bring her uncle back.

“ Uncle Qrow, I really think we should try and come up with something... together.”

And he walked away before she could even say the word “together”.

“What's his problem? It's not your fault we can't go on.”

Yeah, golden boy has a point.

“If he's gonna be a jerk then we'll just come up with something without him. I mean, we've got Ozpin with us! He usually knows what to do.”

Wait… what?

Ozpin… is here… WHERE?!

And why is Oscar so dejected suddenly?

————————————————————

W-well….. that was a bombshell and a half.

Oz is inside Oscar’s head, and we’re trying to stop an UNKILLABLE WITCH from DESTROYING REMNANT

WHAT THE FUCK DID I SIGN MYSELF UP FOR?!?!?

Jaune is probably a little more mad about this than I am, given the pretty sizable crack he leaves in the wall when he gives it a punch.

“Everything we did was for nothing!”

“That’s not true.”

Uh, yeah Blake, yeah it kinda is.

“Really? Cuz it sure does sound like it.”

Yeah, Nora’s right, we’re fucking screwed!

“If Salem can't be killed, then how are we supposed to win this?”

There is a very deafening silence that follows. It’s only broken when Jaune decides to really get pissy.

“Wow... Great plan everyone!”

Oscar attempts to calm the situation.

“Look, none of this is great, we know. But we're not the bad guys here.”

Well, maybe you guys aren’t, I’m still definitely a bad guy…. No going back for m-

“Are we sure about that?”

Ok… Jaune sounds…. A lot more intimidating that he usually does.

“What?”

“He's in your head, isn't he? Did you already know about this?”

Ok, the way he’s walking over to Oscar has me a bit on edge.

“He didn't know any of it!”

Are we sure about that Weiss?

And then, Jaune grabs Oscar and slams him into a wall.

“How much longer can we even trust him?!”

G-gods, chill out! This is not helping!

“How do we even know it's really him?! What if we have been talking to that liar this whole time?!”

“JAUNE!”

Wow… Ruby sounds….. angry… really angry.

Jaune lets Oscar go after a short pause, before stomping his way upstairs. We can hear a door slam after a few seconds.

“Is he... gonna be okay?”

Yang, does it look like he’s gonna be ok? No, no it doesn’t, because you just dropped the most terrifying bombshell ever known to man on us.

Nora has begun clambering up the stairs as well.

“I think it would be best if we had some time to ourselves.”

Ren has a very good point.

And so, as he begins to make his way upstairs as well, I follow him.

Eventually, we find Nora waiting outside of a closed door.

“Ren, we… oh… you’re here too.”

She glares at me slightly when she says that.

Ren holds out a hand in front of me, seemingly guarding me from her death stare.

“Nora, she’s in the same position as us. All of this was just dropped on her and now she’s concerned, it’s only fair that she gets time to process this all as well.”

“R-right… sorry.”

….Huh…. That’s probably the first time in a while somebody ever bothered to defend me like that.

Last time was… what… over a year ago?

When Roman was still here.

It feels….. nice to have that sort of defense again.

W-whatever, we’re up here to help Jaune and process things, reminiscing can wait.

And so, Nora decides to open up the door.

Inside of the room, we see Jaune, sat down on a couch, bashing the back of his head lightly against the wall.

“H-hey, Jaune…. You doing ok?”

“No Nora, I’m not doing ok, nothing is ok.”

“L-look, Jaune, we know this is a lot, we’re all going through the same thing right now, and we-“

“NO, YOU AREN’T!…. This isn’t just about Salem, this isn’t just about Oz, this is about every damn thing that I’ve had to put up with ever since I decided to get off my ass and try being the hero!”

Wow…. He is…. Really upset.

“I’ve spent the past couple of years being the world’s punching bag, being the one that takes all of the damn abuse and gets NOTHING as compensation. I spent all the time at Beacon being the butt of every joke, the one who fell down over and over again, the idiot in charge of people who needed him to be better!”

“Jaune, please, we-“

“Ren, just shut up! I’m. Not. Done….. after all of that, after all the BULLSHIT that I had to deal with, you wanna know what I got out of it?! I HAD TO FIND OUT THAT THE LOVE OF MY LIFE DIED TRYING TO SAVE THE DAY, BECAUSE I WAS TOO WEAK TO HELP HER…. I was too weak to do anything…. And now…. I’m too weak to stop the end of the world.”

……Gods…. These poor kids…..

They’ve been through a lot, haven’t they?

And so, I decide to go over and take a seat next to Jaune.

He turns his head slightly to look at me.

“What do you want? You gonna tell me to man up or some crap like that?”

And then, gripping Hush tightly, I whack him over the head.

He lets out a quick shout of pain. Nora looks like she’s about to pounce on me, but Ren holds her back.

Jaune gives me probably the angriest death stare I’ve ever seen.

“What the fuck was-“

He stops as I pull out my scroll and begin typing. After a little bit, I show him exactly what I’ve typed down.

‘Look, Jaune, I know you’re going through a lot, and none of us can really say we’ve dealt with the exact same thing you have. But just because you suffered in your own way, doesn’t mean that all of us aren’t suffering as well’

He looks a bit sorrowful after reading that. Unfortunately for him, I’m not done.

‘You’re not the only one who lost people… who lost everything. When Roman died, I had NOTHING left. No home, no family…. Nowhere to go, nothing to escape the misery. My whole life was disarrayed. You still have a family Jaune, you have people who want to stand by your side until the end of the world. I’m not saying you should just push down the pain for their sake. You should let them know exactly what your pain is, so they can help you…. I can’t do that with you all… I’m not one of you….’

He looks directly into my eyes, seeming a bit upset after reading that last sentence.

‘I think that you shouldn’t lash out like that when you’re suffering. Because honestly, you were kinda a dick to Oscar. As justified as it was, it really isn’t the right way to go. You shouldn’t fight with your family, you should ask them for help… and help them when they’re suffering. Suffering together is always better than doing so divided. I used to have somebody to suffer with, and I would give anything to have the opportunity to suffer with him again.’

The damn finally breaks in his head. The tears are flowing now.

“G-gods…. Guys I’m…. I’m sorry… I just-“

Nora and Ren both sit down on the opposite side of him. Nora giving him a big hug when she does.

“Jaune, it’s ok…. It’s ok… we’re all scared, we’re all under a lot of stress. We can’t always control our feelings… we’re only human.”

Nora pulls Ren into the little group hug.

Well, it looks like my job here is done. Guess I should go downstairs and-

As I try to get up from the couch, I feel something gripping onto my arm.

Turning back, I can see Jaune’s hand clutching my wrist.

Before I can pull myself away, I find myself being brought down towards the three of them.

And then, suddenly, I’m added to the group hug.

“Neo…. Thank you…. I-I really needed that.”

Yeah yeah, you’re welcome golden boy, can I-

“I know you probably don’t think you’re really part of the group yet, but…. After that… you definitely are in my book.”

O-oh…… that was…. That was Unexpected.

“You shouldn’t have to deal with this alone either, you need our help just as much as I needed yours.”

….he’s not wrong.

And so, for the next few minutes, I just let myself be caught in the group’s crushing bear hug.

Honestly…. It feels really nice.

When we finally decide to break apart and head downstairs, we come down to see Blondie and her kitten in a bit of a panic.

“What's going on?”

Jaune’s inquiry is met with a rather disturbing answer.

“It's Oscar. He's missing.”

Notes:

No, this still isn’t a Silent Knight fic.

Chapter 8: Lost Souls, Forever Kindred

Summary:

With Oscar missing, it’s time for the gang to try to find him within the expanse of Argus. Trauma and feels ensure, and Neo realizes that her and Jaune are more alike than she thought they were. Meanwhile, it’s about time we caught up with what Cinder was up to.

POV Cinder

Well, this is just absolutely perfect.

I’m stuck here, in the slums of Mistral, alone, with no way to get back to Salem.

Absolutely fucking great, perfect, exactly the bullshit I needed to fuck my life up even further.

I swear, it feels like a fire’s started inside my head from all the damn stress.

So I guess I have to walk the streets like a fucking rat until I find some way to get back to Salem.

I wish there weren’t so many people here, then I wouldn’t have to hide myself like a coward.

As soon as I get out of this damn market, I am getting something new to wear.

Now I just need to get through this crowd, and then I can-

Somebody grabs onto my arm.

I turn towards whoever had the balls to do that, only barely holding myself back from torching the bastard the second I look his way.

“Hey there doll, you look like somebody who’d enjoy a good, high quality TV broadcast.”

Great, a TV salesman, one of the most infuriating types of people to ever walk this damn world.

“The Atla-50, straight from the factories at Atlas, and graciously brought here to Mistral for your enjoyment.”

And by “graciously brought here”, I know damn well that he means “smuggled illegally”.

“Now with tons of amazing bonus features, all of which you can find with just the press of a button.”

And then, he pulls a remote with one large button on the top.

It looks…. So much…. Like….

“Just one press of this button, and you get a full menu.”

And then, at the click.

“NO!”

I find myself staggering backwards, falling to the ground, instinctively clawing at my neck with my human hand.

“….jeez, you ok lady?”

Fucking hell, get a fucking grip.

She’s gone.

She can’t hurt you anymore.

Nobody will hurt you ever again.

“I’m fine, piss off.”

I manage to rise to my feet once again, and begin quickly walking away.

After a few more seconds of walking, I finally find myself escaping the crowd. Taking the opportunity, I slink into a nearby alleyway and sit down.

Damnit, get it together.

You can’t be hurt by them anymore.

Whatever, I need to find a way back to-

-Salem

Before be, floating there with its bulbous globe head and numerous tentacles, is a Seer Grimm.

Well then, it appears like my luck has finally clawed its way out of the trash.

“Ah, young Cinder, good to see you still in good health.”

“Mistress Salem, it is… good to see you too.”

“It would be a shame to risk the powers of the Fall Maiden falling into less capable hands.”

Through the orb of the Seer, I see Salem, sitting there, with a devious smirk.

She is clearly unhappy with me.

“Y-yes Mistress.”

“Hopefully you can continue to prove your capability in Atlas.”

“A-Atlas?”

“Yes. I’m sending Emerald to retrieve you and then the two of you will join Watts and Tyrian in Atlas.”

“Y-Yes Mistress.”

“I am giving you another chance, I suggest you don’t disappoint me again.”

“Of course.”

“Good, now I suggest you prepare, you will be retrieved soon.”

And then, the Seer begins to float away.

Well, it appears I’ve been given a shot at redemption. This time, I suppose I’m expected to gain the power of the Winter Maiden.

Very well, if that is what the Mistress wants.

But first, I am in desperate need of a new outfit.

———————————————

POV Neo

For fucks sake, where the hell is this kid?

“This city's enormous, he could've gone anywhere.”

Yeah, we know Ren.

“This is all my fault... I overreacted.”

Mhm. You definitely did Golden Boy.

“I still don't really understand what happened. Was it about the mission?”

“It's... kind of hard to talk about.”

“I know, I know, "top secret". Did he... do something wrong?”

“No... he didn't. We just got some new information and... it's going to be a lot harder than we thought.”

Understatement of the fucking century.

“I mean, if it was easy, then it wouldn't be important. Right?”

Saphron does have a point. Most things worth doing aren’t easy.

“I think we're all just a bit unsure of what to do next.”

You guys are just “unsure”, I’m here questioning my entire life.

“You could... stay in Mistral, get your licenses at Haven, and come back to Argus. There's a lot of good you can do here. I know your mission is important, but it's not like you're the only ones who can do it. It's not the only mission that needs doing.”

Does she…. Think I’m a student like the rest of these jokers?

N-no, she can’t. I’m not the huntress type.

…..I’m not a good enough person to be one.

W-whatever, not like there’s any worth in being a good person for no reason.

Alright, let’s just… get back on the conversation. I think Jaune’s reiterating how complicated this whole thing is.

Saphron lags behind me and the three stooges a bit before we stop to see why.

“Well, uh... I should go pick up Adrian from daycare. I'll let Terra know what's happened, and we'll meet you later. Good luck.”

After a bit of a pause, we all kinda just stand there, awkwardly, sadly.

“Hey, there's a cafe over there. Why don't we get something to warm up?”

Yeah, I could go for some coffee right now, I’m fucking beat.”

“I'm okay. You three go on ahead.”

Guess I’m part of that “you three”.

Jaune walks over to a nearby bench and takes a seat.

“You don't want anything?”

The two lovebirds share a quick glance at his lack of a response.

“We'll be right back.”

Yeah, cause I really need a pick-me-up.

The walk to the cafe isn’t too bad, the line inside is a bit more annoying.

Seriously, there was like, 15 people there and most of them just wanted a single iced coffee or a donut.

Whatever, eventually, we procure my deeply desired hot cup of White Chocolate Mocha. Oh, and some assorted other coffees and hot drinks for the rest of the gang. Whatever they got, Sparky probably shouldn’t be allowed to have caffeine.

A little more pressing than the issue of hot drinks…. Where the fuck is Jaune?

He isn’t on the damn bench anymore.

Great, now we gotta look for him t- Oh, wait, he’s just over there, standing by that weird statue in that park nearby.

The three of us all make our way over to him.

“Jaune?”

He turns towards us when Ren calls for him.

After noticing us, he looks towards a bouquet of flowers sitting to his left on the ground. I dunno why, but he does.

“Jaune, why did you-“

Nora’s sentence is cut off with a gasp.

What, why are you all so-… oh.

Before us, the figure that statue resembles, the late Pyrrha Nikos.

Right… she was part of their team. I think her and Jaune were either lovers or at the very least IN love.

“I'm sorry. I've been a terrible leader, and a terrible friend, and I-“

Ren cuts Jaune off before he can continue.

“Jaune, this has to stop.”

“We... heard what you said to Cinder, at Haven. You're not being fair to yourself.”

Wait, he fought Cinder?

“We love you, just like we loved Pyrrha. We're teammates, family.”

“We don't want to lose you too.”

…….wow….

T-these guys…. They really are a family….. they really don’t want to watch each other fall apart….

Like me…..

…Roman wouldn’t have wanted me to fall apart either.

I pull out my scroll and begin typing.

The three of them all turn to look at me.

After a quick pause, I finish, and turn my scroll to them.

‘I obviously never knew Mrs Nikos. Hell, I barely know you all. What I do know, is that losing a part of your family, losing somebody you love… it’s never easy. Despite that, I also know that you can’t just give up because of that, you need to keep pushing on. Pyrrha wouldn’t want you to tear yourself apart like this, just like Roman wouldn’t have wanted me to if I was in your situation… hell, I was in your situation. I felt alone… like… I had nothing keeping me going… but then I found you guys… I-I… your family… you all deserve so much better.”

“Neo….”

He turns back to the statue after that.

“I think... I think she knew she wasn't going to win. That she might not come out alive. But... she also knew she was the only one that could try.”

The others pick up after him.

“So she did.”

“Maybe we should too.”

“Yeah, we should.”

The three of them all smile as they look at the statue. I can’t help but grin a bit as well.

“Pyrrha may not be by our side anymore, but we can fight like she is.”

“And in a way... she will be.”

Y-yeah… as long as we remember them… fight for them… they’re never really gone, are they?

I guess Roman will always be with me.. even if he isn’t here right now.

And then, Jaune turns to me.

“Neo… you said… that “our family” didn’t deserve this.”

I nod my head. I did indeed say that.

“Well, Neo, since you’re part of that family now, I think it’s only fair if you help us push through it.”

W-wait, w-what?!

“You’re one of us now… you’re part of the team… and we’re all glad to have you by our side in this.”

I-I….

G-gods damnit kids, you made me cry.

After a few seconds, I pull Jaune into a hug. The other two join in around us.

Gods….. it feels good… to have a family again.

We break apart after a while and Ren hands Jaune his drink.

“We should check back in at the house. Come on.”

The lovebirds begin to walk away, but Jaune lingers for a bit, staring back at the statue of Pyrrha. I decide to wait up for him.

I can faintly hear him say “thank you” before he walks after us.

He’s really trying his best to move on…. Guess I should too.

———————————————

After briefly stopping to pick up Saph, Terra and Adrian, we make our way back to the house.

When we eventually get there, Team RWBY, the old lady, and the drunko are all outside.

After a quick exchange, we figure out they had just as much luck finding Oscar as we did.

“Don't worry, we aren't going to Atlas without him.”

Yeah, the Golden Boy’s right, we don’t leave family behind.

“We?”

Yep, sorry Red, you’re stuck with us.

There’s a quick little chat between Jaune and his sister, before suddenly, the front door opens.

“Oh, I was wondering when you'd get back.”

Standing in the doorway, rocking a pretty stylish new duds, is one Oscar Pine.

And then, basically everyone screams his name and pounces on him.

Poor boy, he’s gonna suffocate under that hug pile.

Reunions are had, info is exchanged, and Jaune apologizes for being a total bloody pillock earlier.

“It's my fault we were all out there in the first place. Oscar, I am so sorry for earlier. I was way, way out of line, and what I said-”

“No, it's okay. These past few days, I've been scared of the same things you were. I don't know how much longer I'm going to be... me. But I did some thinking, and I do know that I want to do everything I can to help with whatever time I have left.”

“Good. This team isn't the same without you, Oscar.”

No it isn’t, we need our little mascot.

After a bit more conversation and a funny little casserole mishap, we turn our attention to Qrow making his way upstairs.

Red decides to try and stop him.

“Where are you going now?”

“I don't want to get in the way of your celebration.”

“You've been gone all day! Just sit with us.”

Yeah, it’s honestly the least you could do.

“Look, Ruby, I'm glad you kids worked out, uh, whatever all that was. But the fact is, we're not a single step closer to Atlas.”

So what, we’ll figure something out, I’m sure if we-

“Actually, I think I have an idea. But... it's sort of a "no-going-back" kind of idea.”

Alright, looks like Jaune has something.

“Well, let's hear it.”

“With Cordo on watch, only Atlas airships have the clearance to leave for Solitas. So... we... steal an Atlas airship.”

……….

Wow, stealing from the Atlas Military.

I’m so proud of you Golden Boy.

“That's not just breaking the law. That's... that's definitely worse.”

Of course the Princess has to ruin the fun.

“How would we even get onto the airfield?”

“That part I haven't quite figured out yet. But I-“

I tap Jaune on the shoulder and cut him off.

He turns to me, and watches while I gesture at myself and activate my Semblance.

When it’s done doing its magic, I stand there, in the same uniform the airfield techs as the base wear.

“O-ok, looks like Neo has that partially covered, we can-“

And then booze-breath cuts the conversation short.

“Okay, stop. Just... stop! Look, if this thing goes south, it's not something we can just fight our way out of. This is the Atlas Military we're talking about. For your sake, just drop this.“

Ah please, I’ve fought those jokers in the Atlas Military countless times, this’ll be a breeze. Seriously, they’re total pusho-

“I want to hear him out.”

….wow, you too Red? Guess I’m rubbing off on this little gaggle of heroes.

“Ruby...”

“I want to hear him out! I know you're trying to protect us, that you're afraid we can't do it, but right now, I don't really care what you think!”

Damn, savage. Way to go Red, put that twit in his place.

“mean we're out of options! Oz hasn't been here to tell us what to do, but we still managed to get this far anyway. We've been in bad situations before, and we don't need an adult to come save us or tell us what to do. We just did it our way! And I say we do it our way.”

Everybody smiles at that last sentence, even me.

“And if you think you can keep up with us "kids"... we'd be happy to have you.”

So long as you’re sober.

And then Marie lets out a laugh behind us.

“Looks like you didn't give her enough credit either.”

She has a point.

Alright, time to get back to my specialty.

And steal from those bleeding Atlas sods.

Notes:

Neo’s good now? Well, that’s a turn of events. Fuck Cinder I guess.