The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting. -Sun Tzu
The Talk.
She just arrived while she was asleep. After waking up in her father's house in Patch, she spoke with him to find out the aftermath.
The dragon was frozen on top of Beacon Tower, Grimm were being pulled towards it so the school was no longer safe and no one really knew what had happened in Vale except for seeing Atlas military personnel shooting people.
It was a mess, everything relating to the attack was a mess and no one had any answers for her. Blake had left and Weiss was taken home by her father.
Yang was in the house, but she all but refused to leave her room for anything. Jaune, Ren and Nora were living in the large house with them. They were just as lost and had nowhere to go it seemed, not until things got sorted out. So her father had offered them a place to stay.
The others had all gone home, coming from other Kingdoms meant that they had somewhere they could go to, though a few of them were trying to help with the different situations and Ruby had been able to speak to her friends a little.
Everything that happened on top of the tower was a blur, she remembered seeing Pyrrha die and then nothing, her head hurting painfully and the next thing she knew, she was awake in her bed at home in Patch.
Her uncle told her about a legend Ozpin had told him, she also thinks that he knows more than he's letting on, but she was just too tired to find out.
It hurt to see her sister feeling broken, and when she didn't reply to her as she left it just hit her that little bit more, but she couldn't say anything.
Going back to her room she crawled back into bed and slept the rest of the day away. It wasn't until the next morning she discovered another houseguest they had.
"Ruby, your sister doesn't know. And well, the others know but won't say anything. Someone arrived a couple days ago, while you were still asleep." Her father, Tai said.
"Who?" Ruby asked, curious as to who else could have arrived and why her sister doesn't know.
"You can't tell Yang, ok?" He said, reinforcing this point.
"Um…ok. What's going on?" Ruby asked, getting scared.
"That girl you fought, and your sister fought. I think her name was Neo. She showed up out of the blue. Didn't say a word, I won't know why but Qrow invited her in and she's staying in one of the rooms. Won't come out, or speak to any of us." Tai explained.
"What…what does she want?" Ruby asked shakily, having forgot about her fight and what had happened on board Ironwood's ship until her name was brought up.
"No idea. She hasn't spoken, but Qrow is convinced it's something to do with you. We're too worried to tell Yang, because…well you know." He replied, smiling awkwardly at the end as he knew his youngest knew what he was talking about.
"I um…" Ruby said, trailing off. Still in her long black pyjamas, she had some sort of idea why the girl was here but she didn't understand it. Why would she come here? How would she know where she lived? Ruby thought to herself.
"Ruby? Ruby?" Tai tried, seeing Ruby's eyes go a little glassy, "Are you ok?" He asked in concern.
"Yeah…yeah I'm fine." Ruby said, not all there.
"If you don't want to speak to her, or not want her here I'll kick her out. She hasn't done anything, but Qrow seems to trust her, for some reason." Tai said.
"No, I'll talk to her. I…I think I know what she wants. Which room is she in?" Ruby asked, steeling herself for the conversation.
"Downstairs bedroom." Tai answered, referring to the only bedroom on the downstairs floor.
Ruby nodded and got up, still dressed in her pyjamas she moved out of her room and down the stairs. Everyone else seemed to still be in bed or at least in their rooms so when Ruby approached the door she knocked gently.
Not hearing anything she opened the door slowly and looked inside to see a pink and a blue eye staring at her.
Ruby entered the room fully and closed the door behind her, not taking her eyes off of Neo's. Said girl was still in bed, underneath the covers but looked wide awake as she stared at Ruby.
"Um hi…Neo, right?" Ruby asked awkwardly.
Pale blue eyes immediately found her own silver ones, Neo was wearing much the same as what she had when Ruby had last seen her.
"Hi." Ruby said awkwardly again, waving a little bit.
Neo didn't move but just stared at Ruby, her eyes piercing into Ruby's skull. But it wasn't hateful, nor did it hold any ill intentions but simply curiosity.
"Can I sit?" Ruby asked, pointing at the bed.
This got a reaction, though minuscule. A small nod gave Ruby her permission and she sat down facing Neo. "Um…I don't know where to start exactly, you're here because of Roman aren't you? You want to know what happened?" Ruby asked, playing with her hands as she struggled to meet Neo's eyes but found that she needed to.
Seeing another nod, Ruby started to speak again. "Um, once you had…well flown off he got angry. He was hitting me while I was down, yelling at me about the world and how unfair it was…is. While he was talking, neither of us noticed a Grimm land on the wing just behind him." Ruby said, pausing as she remembered watching Roman getting eaten and it seemed Neo worked out what she was going to say as Ruby could see her eyes watering.
"The Grimm ate him, nothing left. I was next, but I managed to get up and knock it back with enough force it crashed into the ship, it went down. Hard. I got off in time and made it to Beacon, and well…I'm sure you know the rest." Ruby said trailing off a little as she was unsure what to really say next now.
Looking at Neo, she found that the tears were falling now and she was crying, hands covering her eye.
Acting on instinct Ruby moved forward to pull Neo into a hug, putting the smaller girls head against her shoulder while she wrapped her arms around the girl, whispering soothing words to the crying woman.
Ruby didn't know how long it had been, but she knew that it was now dark outside. But Neo had stopped crying now, but hadn't moved from her position against Ruby.
"I'm sorry." Ruby said softly, not sure what she could say to comfort the woman.
"He was the only person I have…had in the world." Neo said, her voice was soft and small, mixed with raspy from her crying.
Ruby realised this was the first time she had heard Neo speak, but chose not to mention it at this moment but instead allowing Neo to speak.
"I…I don't know what to do without him…I've got no one." Neo spoke again, her voice full of nervousness and sounding scared.
"You haven't got no one…I…you've got me." Ruby said, starting out nervous but got more sure as she spoke.
"What?" Neo said, shocked as she leaned back to look up at Ruby who was smiling at her.
"You've got me…I'll help you." Ruby said again.
"But…but why? I'm your enemy." Neo said in shock.
"Why did you want to hurt me? My friends?" Ruby asked.
"I…Roman was working with Cinder, where Roman goes I follow." Neo said softly.
"Do you still want to hurt me? Or my friends?" Ruby asked.
"…No…" Neo said, even softer than before.
"Then I don't care. I want to help you, any way I can." Ruby said, smiling side at the girl.
The two remained silent as Neo buried her face into Ruby's shoulder again, returning the hug this time as Ruby smiled at the girl.
After a little bit of time, Ruby spoke up once more but this time on a different note. "You spoke. I've never heard you speak before." Ruby stated.
"I…I only speak to those I trust." Neo said, muted slightly by Ruby's shoulder.
"I'm glad you trust me." Ruby replied back, hugging Neo tighter.
The pair fell asleep like that, though having fallen laying down with Neo laying on top of Ruby. When the morning came, they were woken up by the sunlight streaming in to the room through the window.
Upon waking up, Ruby remained there until Neo woke up. She was glad that her father was giving them breakfast in bed over having to go out and see everyone, though it made the next part just that little bit harder.
"I'm leaving." Ruby stated once they had finished eating.
"What?" Neo asked, her voice losing the raspy tone.
"My uncle, he gave me a lead on where to look or who caused everything…I've got to ask the others, but…if you want to, come with us…I mean it's up to you but if you want to, you can join us." Ruby asked nervously, unsure what Neo's reaction would be.
"Are…are you sure?" Neo asked, hesitating slightly.
"Of course. We're not sure exactly who's behind this but we want to find out. Don't feel like you have to join us, but the option is there." Ruby said again, making sure it was clear.
"I…I want to…whoever was behind it killed Roman…or put him in a position to die. I want to stop whoever did that." Neo said firmly, her voice having a little more strength in it.
A few hours later, they had all gotten their stuff together. Jaune, Ren and Nora had gathered what little they had with them alongside their weapons on them and were waiting outside. Neopolitan, who didn't have anything but her weapon and what she wore carried a small bag with some supplies in it as well as clothes Ruby had that could fit her, although float a little.
Lastly came Ruby, who silently closed the door before turning to the others. Smiling wide at them all she put her hands on her own backpack and started to lead the way.
As they were moving down the path, she saw a black crow in the air fly over them before she felt a gloved hand slip into her own.
Looking away from the crow, Ruby smiled warmly at the nervous Neo. Who was clearly unsure about the other three Hunters but soon they all started talking casually though Neo didn't contribute at all except for a few sounds. Her hand never leaving Ruby's.
A/N
So I'm back, laptop is all sorted now and had it back about a day now. New chapter of Immortals next week and I'll be doing some catch up in writings that I've had ideas for since I've had no way to write it.
This was something I've had written, or at least in part written since episode eleven though I've left it alone. I had a second idea written since then which is where the dragon is slain and Beacon is still active and stuff, so I've titled this on my computer as the spoiler talk.
Anyway I've got to get to bed, got some stuff to get done for Saturday and unless I don't post anything more then it won't be until Tuesday you'll see something from me.
Until next time.