Please note that this takes place directly after Neo's last appearance in volume 3, and I hope to write what I imagine she was up to up until she reappears in volume 6 across the whole fic. I'll most likely stick to whats canon in the show, but that might change depending on where the story goes.
As Neopolitan dangled from her parasol, she grumbled to herself. Or at least she would have, had she been born with working vocal cords. Instead she just thought angrily, and with a scowl on her face, unlike the smug smile that was usually plastered on her mouth.
She had been bested by a little schoolgirl who, despite looking the part, was two years younger than the rest of her school year at Beacon Academy. Neo, a world class fighter, thief, and highwayman had been outsmarted by a huntress-in-training. Well, with any luck, Roman would of finished things up with "little red", as he affectionately called her, by now and would be on his way to scoop Neo out of the air in an Atlesian airship. After all, Neo wasn't going anywhere other than down, and very, very slowly. Unfortunately, she wouldn't get to see Ruby Rose's head fall limply against the floor at the foot of Roman's combat prowess, as Ruby had been smarter than she thought possible of a girl her age and pulled open Neo's parasol, which had carried her way with the wind. If Neo was to be honest, she thought the girl had been just as good at fighting as the rest of the students at the school, despite being younger. She had to hand it to the girl, she was a worthy opponent.
About 10 minutes passed, and Neo began to worry. What if Ruby had beaten Roman? What if Roman simply didn't care enough to come and get her? What if they had both been devoured by a Griffon? Although the thought was small and somewhat insignificant, it began to grow like a tumor the more Neo thought about it. She fished out her scroll from her back pocket, fumbling and nearly dropping the thing down to the forest below. She opened it and hovered her finger over the "Call" button. She weighed out the possible outcomes in her head. Roman could have finished with the fight, disposed of the body, had a party, and be on his way to help right now. Alternatively, however, he could still be in the middle of a heated battle and the buzz of the scroll could throw him off balance or distract him. Despite what people thought, Neo and Roman were not incredibly close. They were friends of course, close friends at that, so Neo thought it would be best if she didn't get him killed the first time something went wrong. Neo thought that if given time, maybe they could've got a little more... intimate, but for now, she had to direct her thoughts elsewhere, like how not to fall into a Grimm filled forest. She hit call.
One ring. Two rings. Three rings. Fou-
The phone answered, but there was no one speaking on the other end. Roman wasn't an idiot, despite what he may let on, and he knew that when Neo called, he had to speak first. And last. And everywhere else in the conversation too. No voice on the other end of the line meant one of two things: Someone else had picked up the scroll, or-
Her thoughts were interrupted by a loud and sudden screech on the other end of line.
-or the worst had happened to Roman. Another loud whine crackled out from the scroll, sounding like metal grinding against a saw blade. The one thing that Neo thought was least possible had been the outcome. He had been killed by a Grimm. Knowing him, it was probably in the middle of a charismatic and also time wasting monologue, lasting just long enough to get himself killed. Neo's heart sunk. She now knew that no one was coming to save her from above, and no one was going to catch her when she fell. She was just floating idly in the sky, waiting for a rescue that would never come, hanging from a parasol that was impossibly slowing her descent. Whilst Neo stared off into the distance, her heels clicked against something hard, and, surprised by the sudden sensation, her knees buckled and sent her tumbling down a large boulder. She quickly launched off of the solid surface mid-roll and used her parasol to float down again, this time paying attention to where she was going. Nailed it. She hit the ground and stood for a few seconds, taking in her surroundings. She was in the middle of the forest surrounding Beacon, with the only discernible landmark being Beacon Tower itself and the top parts of the academy. After a few moments, making sure that the surrounding forest was devoid of Grimm, she collapsed onto her rear, drawing her knees up to her chest, leaning her chin on them, and resting her parasol on the ground next to her legs. She sat like this for almost an hour, waiting for something to bring her out of deep thought. During this time, she thought of what would happen now. She weighed out her options, wondering what the best course of action would be. She could do practically anything illegal, being a connoisseur of all things morally incorrect, and a lot of legal things too, but she mentally agreed with herself that legal plans of attack are usually the most boring. Most of all, she thought of Roman. It struck Neo as a surprise that the man she had worked beside for these last few months had made such an impression on her mind, and it was most surprising that, now she came to realize it, she had always thought of Roman like that.
I guess you never know how much you love something until you lose it, huh? Neo pondered to herself, inside the confines of her mind.
In the end, she agreed to not dwell on the past, or at least do so when in a comfy bed at an inn that she hadn't paid for. Eventually, she settled upon hiking it to the nearest town that wasn't anywhere near Beacon, and bedding down for the time being. Then, something weird happened. A brilliant white light erupted from the top of Beacon Tower, enveloping most of the academy and turning the giant Wyvern atop the tower to stone. A white light, followed by Grimm turning to stone... Then it hit Neo like a truck rolling down a hill. Ruby had silver eyes. It had struck her during their first meeting, and she had later looked through Ruby's info and confirmed her suspicions. Despite this, she didn't think that Ruby would know how to use them yet, if at all, without a mentor. The only time Neo had ever heard of silver eyes being used was decades before she was born, when the Grimm Reaper had taken out a large pack of Beowolves about to attack a small and undefended town in the outskirts of Vale. Still, despite only hearing about the phenomenon once in passing, the story of the silver-eyed warriors was the stuff of legend. Fearless leaders, able to destroy massive groups of Grimm with the literal blink of an eye. The description was unmistakable, always a flash of white light, followed by any Grimm caught in the area turning to stone, but never any humans or faunus. Ruby Rose, a silver-eyed warrior. This was just what Neo needed to snap her out of her thoughts, and she realized that after the whole thing had boiled over, they would come looking for her. Not wanting to have to waste anymore time on killing any huntsmen that came to find her, Neo picked up her parasol, stood up, stretched her back and began walking south, away from Vale. And away from her past.