The next morning Weiss was still tense and clearly upset. Breakfast was quiet, but today they were joined by Sage, who had finally been let out of the hospital. He was built like a truck and was friendly. Scarlet tried to make conversation with her multiple times, but Neo didn't feel much like talking after what she had heard last night. In fact, she was zoned out for most of the morning, not focussing on the lectures or her surroundings. Ruby, Blake and Yang couldn't quite figure out what had happened to the two other members of their team, who weren't talking and weren't focussed. After lunch, they decided to skip going to the tournament, and headed up to the room.

"Alright you two," Blake began, "What's going on?"

Weiss and Neo exchanged a look.

"What do you mean?" Asked Weiss. "Nothing's going on? We're just both tired, right, Neo?" She nudged Neo lightly.

"Yep…" Neo trailed off, wondering whether to tell the others what had happened last night. But then she'd have to tell them what Weiss told her, and it was pretty obvious Weiss wanted to deal with this alone and keep it a secret. "Yeah, we're just tired, I guess." She stretched for effect, and felt a short stabbing pain where she had been injured just a few days ago, right beneath her lung. "Can I just take a nap now?" She went over to her bed, laid down, and fell asleep.

A few hours later, she was woken by Yang. The curtains were closed and the lamps lit. The clock told her it was half an hour till dinner.

"Hey, you slept for, like, six hours, you wanna come downstairs and have some dinner?" The brawler was sat on the bed next to her.

Neo sat up and yawned widely, looking around. The rest of the room was empty. "Sure. Hey, where is everyone?"

"Weiss said she had something to do, and Blake and Ruby just went to the library. They wanted to play the Remnant game with ream SSSN, I think."

Neo stood up, dragging Yang up with her. "Let's go down and see them, okay?"

"Sure…"

Down in the library, Neo and Yang found Ruby noisily protesting Sun's capturing of her air fleets, Blake quietly chuckling and Sage looking confusedly at his cards. Scarlet was draped over a nearby chair, scroll in hand, rapidly firing messages at someone. Weiss and Neptune were nowhere to be seen.

"Hey, Guys! Look who woke up!" Yang sing-songed at them. Scarlet jumped up to greet Neo, earning a split-second glare from Sage, which no-one but Neo and Blake noticed. Neo shrank back into her clothes, shrinking herself self-consciously as Scarlet stepped towards her.

"How are you feeling, Neo?" He asked gently, as though she was an invalid. For a second she thought about giving him a tongue-lashing, but then realised no-one knew about what had happened.

"Can we talk somewhere else?" She asked him, similarly to the way she had when they had first met. He nodded, and followed her out of the library and into an empty classroom.

He turned to her, confused. "So what did you want to talk about?"

She sat down on the desk, crossed her legs, and drew on the power and confidence she relied on in battle. She waited until she felt the colour flooding into her eyes, then blinked, allowing them to change. He stared back at her sudden transformation, from meek little Neo to angry, prepared Neapolitan. "Tell me something," She said, the power running through her voice as it filled the room, "Did you actually want to go on a date, or just hook up with me?"

He blinked himself, surprised, "I wanted to take you out on a date. Why? What happened between last night and now to make you think otherwise?"

She smirked. "I received an anonymous phone call last night. From your room." Understanding filled his eyes. "How about you stop screwing around with literally every girl you see?" She hopped off the table. "I mean; did you really think that it would work on me?"

"If you're talking about the girl- "

"What else would I be talking about?" Her eyes narrowed.

"What exactly did you hear?"

"Enough."

"That's not an answer, Neo." His voice had gone cold and hard, as had his eyes. "If you didn't stick around to hear the whole conversation then who are you to judge?"

Neo was confused. "Whole conversation?" she felt her anger give way to curiosity.

"If you didn't hear the end, I told her to piss off." He thawed a little. "She's my ex-girlfriend. She moved here from Mistral, and thinks we should go out again now that I'm here for the festival. She keeps doing shit like that."

Neo let her guard down. She was sure he was telling the truth. That was one of her skills; she knew lies before they were told. "So why was she in your room? And why did the rest of your team walk out and leave you two alone?"

"They don't think I should have broken up with her. See, her sister is Neptune's ex, and both of those girls come from a supposedly important, prominent family here in Vale, and Neptune seems to think they shouldn't have broken up. You know what he's like, he flirts with anything, that hurt her feelings. Anyway, Sun thinks that I'm being irrational by breaking up with Militia."

The name sparked a memory for Neo. "Melanie and Militia? The Twins?"

"That's them. You know them?"

Neo sighed. "Why would you get involved with those two? My god, what is wrong with you people?" She started pacing, but paused y the desk she had been sitting on. "Oh, my god."

Scarlet moved closer to her, and took her hand. "I guess you don't like them, then. I guess you don't want me to ask why, But Neo, you have to know I'm not cheating on you."

"You couldn't cheat on me anyway because we aren't together!" Neo made no effort to pull away from him, though, and gasped when he pulled her into a gentle kiss. She closed her eyes as his soft lips made contact with hers. He stepped backwards and she opened her eyes, looking at him in a completely different light. Before, he had just been a sexy, accented, foreign guy, but now he was closer than ever, and she honestly felt she was in love with him.

He smiled. "Are you sure we can't be together?"

She felt herself smile back despite her stomach doing backflips. "I guess I could reconsider."

They kissed again, but this time it was less gentle. Neo pressed her body against his, longing for closeness. He picked her up and she wrapped her legs around him, and he moved over to the wall and pressed her against it. She moved more ferociously now, her hands roaming his chest and shoulders as her hips rocked and he kissed her neck and shoulder. She whispered slightly, her eyes half closed.

"We should do it." He whispered to her.

She glanced around. "Not here."

He stopped kissing her and let her down. "How about we head into Vale, to find a hotel?"

"I can work with that."

Neo and Scarlet lay back in bed, both panting heavily after their endeavours. Scarlet had taken her to a seafront hotel and paid for a master suite for the night. They had both messaged their teams to tell them they wouldn't be back till the morning. Neo sat up, wrapping the bedsheet around her chest. Scarlet reached out and touched her back. "How did you say these happened?"

She felt comfortable discussing it with him, despite having hidden her scars for years. "Well, as a kid I was told I had to sell my body to earn my keep. When I couldn't do it, they beat me. Usually with a whip, or a blade, or something else that would take time to heal, so I would remember not to rebel again. It didn't work, and no one wants someone who's physically messed up, so they made me train as a fighter. It messed me up more than just physically, though, cause now I have this personality thing." She pulled her knees up to her neck and rested her chin on them. "I guess I got lucky, though. Some kids went insane with those beatings. I just got a psychopathic tendency."

Scarlet rolled onto his elbow and rested his head on her forearm. "Your scars are a part of you. I know you probably hate them, that's why you hide them, but they're always going to be there. Besides, we're all damaged, physically or not." He began kissing her arm, then her shoulder, then her neck. They both lay down, and Neo rested her head on his chest as he stroked her hair, his other arm wrapped around her.

At around 6AM, Neo snuck back into the team RWBY dorm, certain everyone would be asleep. Instead, she found Weiss sat up in bed, reading a book, her scroll close at hand. She looked up at Neo.

"Finally much!" She whispered, jumping up as grabbed Neo's hand, pulling her into the bathroom. "Where were you?"

Neo looked at her friend guiltily. "I was out… with Scarlet."

"The whole night? What happened? I thought you were pissed off at him?"

"He explained what happened. And I think I know why Neptune's acting weird, as well."

Weiss' eyes grew bigger than they already were. "Spill!" She demanded.

"Supposedly, his last girlfriend broke up with him and he kinda wants her back." Weiss started. "And her sister is Scarlet's ex, but he broke up with her, and now she's basically stalking him. Supposedly, Neptune and Sun think it's a good idea if they date again."

"NOT okay." Weiss started pacing. "What the hell is Neptune's problem? What, one girl isn't enough for him? He wants his ex and another girl as well? That's it, I'm breaking up with him." She pulled her scroll out of her pocket.

"Wait!" Neo grabbed Weiss' wrist. "If you do that now, he'll know something's up. Scarlet walks into the dorm, then his girlfriend calls him to break up with him?"

"So?"

"So you think it's a good idea to drop Scarlet in it?"

"Hey, he thinks they should be together, so why the heck not?" They had forgotten to whisper, and a knock came from the door.

"Weiss? Um, it's kinda early, do you think you could keep it down? Saturday mornings are for sleeping!" Blake opened the door and peeped in. "Oh Neo, you're back!"

"Hey Blake." Neo rubbed her eyes. "Sorry about the noise. We'll be back in bed in a few minutes, okay?"

"Take your time, guys, just keep it down." She backed out of the bathroom and closed the door.