Chapter Ten: Neopolitan
re:Bound
A Fanfiction by Allison Illuminated
Chapter Publish Date: 11/11/17
The white foam sank into the black sands, the tide receding under the shattered moon's watchful gaze. A seagull soared overhead, blending into the clouded skies. Screams of mirth and laughter came from the waves below, and boats bobbed lazily on the calm ocean.
A young girl laughed as she ran along the boardwalk ahead of two adults, spreading her arms wide like the soaring bird above her. "I'm flying! Mommy, look at me~!" Clambering onto a wooden bench, she teetered on the edge.
She was short, even for her age. Her brown hair fit perfectly with her bathing suit, which was hidden under a pink shirt with a cartoon cat emblazoned on the front. She would have been utterly unremarkable had it not been for her striking multicolored eyes – one a light pink and the other layered brown.
The woman scooped the girl up into her arms and squeezed her gently. "Come on, silly, we have to get home soon."
She struggled in her mother's arms. "Aww, but I wanna play more!"
The man shot his wife a pointed look. "Honey, we need to be getting back home. You know our vacation ends tomorrow, and I have a hunting contract on the other side of Anima to prepare for."
The girl spotted a colorful pink awning and squealed in excitement. "Oh, ice cream, ice cream!"
The man was ready to say no, but the woman shot him a look. "Of course, love."
A bell dinged as they entered the shop, and the shopkeeper looked up. "Hello there. Who's looking for something sweet today?"
"What do you want, sweetheart?" the man asked as he hoisted her up to stare down at the flavors. "It looks like they've got vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry. You can get-"
"All three!" The girl grinned cheekily at the shopkeeper, who winked back at her.
"No, there's no way-"
Her mother smiled playfully, ruffling her daughter's hair. "Well, it is our last day on vacation, I don't see why not."
The man looked ready to retort but deflated and smiled slightly. "I suppose so. One scoop of all three in a cup for the little one, please."
Lien and sweets changed hands, and the young girl squealed in excitement as she snatched the ice cream and dug in. The shopkeeper cursed and backed away as her eyes shifted color from brown and pink to pink and white. "What the hell, did her eyes just change color?"
The young girl was too oblivious to notice as her parents both stiffened. Her dad's hands tightened on a sheathed weapon at his side, and her mother pulled him away from the man before he could go after the shopkeeper. "It's called heterochromia, her eyes are almost always different colors. Honey, le-"
A bellowing siren went off as a dull explosion rocked the ice cream parlor.
"Bandits..." the shopkeeper whispered as people started sprinting towards the beach. "Hold on one second, I'll put the dividers down!"
The man ran to the door before the metal blockers started to fall, holding it open as he pulled out his weapon. "They found us. I knew this was a bad idea! Stay here, you-"
His wife shook her head violently. "You're insane. I have aura, let me help you! If you fall, then-"
The parlor turned red for a moment, and the young girl screamed as she felt steel against her neck. "It's a bit too late for that..."
The voice was harsh, yet oddly familiar. As the young girl's assailant said her father's name, Ruby couldn't make it out – like a fog had settled over her words.
She was still screaming, screaming even as Neo pleaded for her to stop, to leave, to disappear.
Why had she watched Summer leave, again and again and again and again and again and-
The man spun around wildly as her mother screamed in horror and backed away. "Raven Branwen, let go of my daughter!"
"Get into the street if you value your daughter's life!" she barked.
The young girl started sobbing hysterically as her parents slowly backed away from her out of the store. The ice cream slipped out of her hands and fell to the floor, and some slipped out of the bowl although most stayed inside.
"Move."
The girl shook her head, nearly in shock.
Strong hands gripped her shoulders, and she found herself staring into a pair of red eyes. Raven glared at her and said, "Your parents are about to die, and I'm not about to play babysitter with you. When I tell you to move, move."
The girl still didn't budge. Raven's fingernails dug into her shoulders, but she glanced down at her midriff and her gaze softened. Reaching down, she picked up the fallen bowl of ice cream and gently placed it in her hands. "Will you come now?"
Sniffing, the young girl nodded.
A circle of bandits in the middle of the road surrounded the young girl's parents. She clutched her bowl in her arms as two bandits jumped to get out of Raven's way. She walked up to a man with gray-black hair and pushed the young girl towards him. "Their daughter."
"Excellent work, Raven," he said as he pulled her towards him.
"Thank you, father."
Starling Branwen nodded at Raven, and she unleashed her sword as she walked towards the young girl's parents. A bandit had taken away their weapons, and they were on their knees in the center of the circle. "How did you find us?" the man called desperately. "We used fake IDs, everything!"
Raven smashed her foot into his face. Although his aura took the blow, he was knocked to the ground. "It was laughably easy to put an Aura Tag on you. We know about your little raid mission. We know your team was the one who tried to assassinate Starling. Nobody messes with the Branwen tribe and gets away with it."
"Raven, please… I knew you at Beacon, we're supposed to be protecting mankind, not this!"
She slashed at his fallen body, and his aura broke. His wife screamed, and the girl watched with silent horror. "The tribe – my family – always comes first," she snarled, and her father nodded in satisfaction.
"Raven, stop playing with your prey and get this over with. I don't want anything to… complicate the situation."
She lifted him up off the ground by the collar as he called his wife and child's name and yelled, "I love you!" Turning to stare into her blood red eyes, he spat to the side and said, "Does Taiyang know about this?"
Raven's sword plunged forwards and into his stomach. He screamed as she yanked up and twisted, then dropped him to the ground and watched as he slowly bled out onto the concrete beneath her. "No, and he never will."
His wife screamed. The young girl stared numbly at her father's body as Starling placed a hand on Raven's shoulder as she walked over to her. "Men, do whatever you want to the woman," he said, "Just make sure she understands why nobody lays a hand on the Branwen tribe. Everyone else, take the lien and get out of here before the Grimm come."
The girl stared at her mother as she desperately screamed for her. A group of bandits seized her and dragged her into a nearby alleyway, and she was gone.
"Father, what should we do with the girl?" Raven asked as she sheathed her sword.
Starling hummed thoughtfully as he knelt down next to the girl. "Darling, what's your name?"
She stared frightfully between them as Raven's face darkened. "Darling? You're kidding, right? Do you remember what he did to our camp? Men are dead, she deserves-"
Starling shook his head and pointed at the dead man's body. "He got what he deserved, and so did she. The little one is not guilty of their crimes. Again, your name?"
The two Branwens stared at the girl, who shook her head. Raven scowled and turned away. "We should just kill her, it's a loose end."
"Or we could use her for the experiment."
Raven froze and turned back to her father. "I thought we weren't going through with that. It's dark, even for us. There's a reason it's been banned for deca-"
"Raven, look at me."
She glared at him, wavering as she stepped forwards. "What?"
"Do you love Tai?"
Raven flinched back but nodded after a moment. "Yes."
Starling bowed his head slightly, then looked back to the young girl. "Qrow was lost to the tribe ever since Ozpin took him in, and much of the burden you two once shared has been placed on you. After the attempt on my life last month, it is clear that your protection is no longer enough to protect me. After all..." He gestured towards her stomach, which Raven held and looked away. "Once I'm a grandfather, Tai will need you."
"The tribe always comes first."
"Yes, but your family is still important to me." Starling sighed, shining with weariness and hope. "Now, child, can you please tell me your name?"
The girl shook her head, pulling her small bowl of ice cream to her chest as chocolate stained her shirt.
"Neapolitan."
"What?"
Raven gestured at the girl dismissively. "We have to call her something, and it's a color. Besides, clearly she's attached to it."
Starling frowned. "Raven, can't you choose something more fitting to who she's going to be?"
"Father."
"Yes?"
"Are you seriously telling me that Neapolitan is not cool enough?" she growled.
He grinned mischievously at her. "We're bandits, not Schnees. Surely you must understand."
"Neopolitan, with an O. She can go by Neo for short. I'm going to leave now, are you coming or do you want to walk back?" Raven waved her hand, and a portal opened up behind her.
"I suppose that works." Starling gripped Neo's shoulder firmly and guided her towards the portal. "Neopolitan, you belong to us now. Say goodbye to your father, because I guarantee you'll never see him again."
The last thing Neo saw before disappearing was her father's body, lying in the middle of the street until the swirling crimson enveloped her and she was gone.
The mists swirled across the barren cliff's edge, crackling with black and white energy as Neo's aura swirled violently around the frosted world. Curled up into the snow, Ruby's pale body shook as she cried away from her world. Her back trembled with phantom pain as she extended the puckered red scar down her back further than it could go, biting more than the cloying cold filling her ears.
Neo's white coat billowed out behind her as she stood at the cliff edge. She closed her eyes and led her face to the Remnant moon, sinking in the dusk behind her. This is Summer's grave, isn't it?
Ruby didn't respond, all too aware of the granite slab looming between her and Neo.
"I don't know my real name."
"..."
Neo slowly sank to the ground, draping her legs over the edge of the cliff. Unfurling her umbrella, she held it against the seething wind to stave the snow away. "Th- That memory, it-" That was the first thing I remember and the last time I ever saw my parents. Rose, you- You asked me once why I talked about all of your teammates like I knew them. The truth is… Neo took a deep shuddering breath as she stared down into the abyss below. Yang's grandfather was the first one.
N- Neo-
Yeah?
Ruby dug her finger into the snow, shuddering as the deep numb soaked through her aching body. "You saved me," she whispered as flurries clung to a loose strand of hair blowing in her face.
Boots dug into the sinking drifts, and the wind stopped as Neo stuck her umbrella into the snow. Tears gathered in the corners of her eyes as Ruby turn to stare up at her. "You're wearing clothes now. Why?"
Neo choked out a laugh. "Because it's winter, you idiot, and everything-" Everything is different now.
Ruby tried to keep her composure, but a tidal wave of pain and sorrow washed her into Neo's arms. The sun broke through the gray clouds above, filtering through the clear parasol as the two girls clung to each other in the snow. They held tight in the cold, two lives irreparably broken yet bonded.
I'm sorry, Rose.
Ruby.
Huh?
"Call me Ruby. Dad… Dad used to call my mom his little Rose. He used to bring her bouquets sometimes, so our house would smell like flowers. And then she would laugh, and she made the best cookies, and I- Mom, I-"
Neo squeezed her tighter as Ruby let out sobs she had been holding back since Summer had left. Your mom was incredible, Ruby. You were so lucky to have her when you did.
The snow slowly accumulated on the umbrella, shading the iced world below in blues and dreams.
Why did you show me that?
Neo gulped, and she pulled away from the embrace. "Ruby, I- I'm tired of lying to you. I can't anymore."
Ruby shook her head. "I don't understand."
"Then let me show you."
The world was a spiraling maelstrom of pain, spinning through her mind like a murder of crows dancing over the Pales of Atlas.
For it is in passing that we achieve immortality. Through this, we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all, infinite in distance and unbound by death.
Neo's shrieks of agony rose through the camp, flailing wildly on the table she was pinned to by Starling Branwen's hand. Light ripped its way across her body, arcing like electricity.
I bind your soul, and by my shoulder take thee for my own!
Neo's body contorted as aura exploded to life around her, black and white violently shrinking as a golden glow shone around her body. Then the light was gone, and she slumped back to the wooden table.
His name was Starling he was fifty-one years old and leader of his tribe of bandits since sixteen she remembered how his father brought him to the edge of the forest and looked out on the village and said "all of this will be yours one day" she remembered how he was thrown to the Beowolves at ten with a sword and a newly unlocked aura and was told "if you survive you will be fit to lead our people our everything there is no room for week in the tribe the tribe is your life our life we are the tribe the tribe comes first" she remembered the first time his sword sank into the sallow flesh of Grimm how he sang with his primal joy as the sword came out of his first kill a civilian he had shot his bow and he had acted on instinct yes there was the child and his wife behind him but he was protecting the tribe his tribe he was the tribe when his father died and left him with nothing to something she remembered Lilac how she laughed when she was sad and how she squirmed beneath him when he took her as his own she was good to him she remembered Qrow and Raven how they cried and ate and walked and talked and fought and his wife was long gone but it didn't matter he was the tribe the tribe came first and one day they would be the tribe so he taught and trained and fought for his life as the world closed in around them they could not be weak they could not stand idle any longer the tribe was everything he was the tribe when they came for him he would be ready when Qrow left him forever he didn't know the true meaning of the tribe had he ever been the tribe and he was getting old and they kept coming for him but he would not fall they would not fall and he would make sure Raven would lead his people to his dying breath so he created her he would have her protect him that was her job her mission she was the tribe young as she may be and-
Neo screamed in pain as five decades of memories tore through her head, swirling in an incoherent mess, blocking out everything else she could see and feel and drawing her deeper into her own mind.
"Stop screaming!"
A wave of green energy slammed into her body. Now more than ever, she wanted to explode into the world around her, but she couldn't. She tried, but her mouth would not open and she couldn't scream and she couldn't breathe and and and and-
"Neopolitan! Stop hyperventilating and calm down so I can talk to you!"
Neo's throat clenched as her emotions were buried under a wash of aura and green. She didn't know what was going on, but she felt so empty. Why did she feel empty?
"Father." Raven pushed off the wall of the tent and drew her sword. Neo stared at it blankly as she pointed it at her throat. "Are you alright? I will kill her if you want to undo the process."
The Branwen leader looked conflicted for a moment, and it crossed her mind that maybe she should be afraid of the sharp metal sending a warm trickle down her neck. Brown aura pushed into her mind, not as hard as the initial wave but her head still pounded with a raging fury. "She's only six… Raven, put your sword down, you're scaring her."
Raven stared at her father, whose expression held something she was afraid to understand. "What… does it feel like?"
"I- I know her, Raven," Starling said reverently as he considered Neo. "I've never felt this connected to another person in my life."
Neo shrunk back as the two adults considered her. "What happened? Why can't I feel anything?"
The bandit leader drew a sharp breath in. What do you mean, you can't feel anything?
She yelled and covered her ears as the alien voice rocked through her mind. What? Who are you? Why are there voices in my head?
I am sorry, Neopolitan. It was not my intention to block off your emotions when I told you to calm down.
Neo swayed from side to side dangerously as the brown aura probed deeper into her psyche. Her head was so noisy, battered by memories of things she knew nothing about. Tears leaked out as the aura scab over her feelings was slowly pulled back.
Warmth. A distant comfort from a memory of home, perhaps, or the rough polyfiber of the rouge gauntlets pressing against her back. She sank into Raven's embrace as she started to sob again, and the huntress said, "She's a child, Father. If you're going to keep her, we're going to have to take care of her. Let her cry, she will have the rest of her life to learn about the bond."
A chorus of confusion united the camp as their leader and his enforcer emerged from the prison tents, the later carrying a crying child in her arms. The elder Branwen stopped at the edge of his tent and boomed out, "We are not to be disturbed unless huntsmen or Grimm are at our doorstep!"
Neo rubbed at her eyes with her fists as a tin was offered to her. Taking it, she sniffed and lifted the lid up. Inside, chocolate chip cookies were neatly stacked up. Lip quivering, she took one and bit into it, then shoving the rest into her mouth as the flavors burst in her mouth.
Raven watched her passively, fiddling with the hilt of her sword. "Do you like them? They were made by my friend Summer."
Neo nodded as Starling entered the tent and sat down on another couch adjacent to them. He sighed heavily as he unstrapped his weapon from his side and laid it on the table between them. "Neopolitan, are you ready to talk?"
"Talk about what?" Neo asked as she grabbed another cookie.
Starling bowed his head. "Under normal circumstances, you would have died in that village alongside your parents. The Branwen tribe does not discriminate against those who have wronged us. Man, woman, child – anyone foolish enough to get in our way. However, these are not normal circumstances."
Raven was leaning against the side of the tent, never taking her hand off of her weapon. "In the past year, there have been a number of attempts on Father's life. I am pregnant, so he needs a protector."
Neo blinked. "Me?"
"Yes."
That was incredibly confusing. "Why me?"
"It's my semblance," Starling said, his aura glowing brown around his body. "In the kingdoms, they would have had me killed, or jailed for life. From a young age, I swore to myself that I would never use it, but I feel I no longer have a choice."
"What is it?"
Aura bonding.
There was a deathly silence as fate sealed around the young girl on the faded couch cushion.
"You were the perfect subject," he whispered with a morbid fascination. "Bridges burned, no aura, young and innocent. You didn't even have a name, or at least, you couldn't say it – it's too late for that now. The technique is dangerous, and I was half convinced it wouldn't even work. But it did, and now you belong to me."
"Belong to you?" Neo echoed faintly.
Starling leaned forwards. "An aura bond is an irreversible connection between two souls, which can only be ended by the death of the bound individual. It opens up our minds, and allows the bonded into the other's mind." It allows us to communicate by telepathy, "to see each other's viewpoints, as well as memories."
She frowned and cocked her head to the side. That's weird, I thought it would be something really bad! "Why is that bad?"
"Because I have complete control over you. Stand up!"
Neo's body glowed green, and she was jerked to her feet. Her head burst with pain again, and her entire body trembled in instinctual fear she couldn't control. She held up her hands to see the green fade away to nothingness, then stared up at Starling in fear.
"That's not natural." Raven abruptly pushed away from the side of the tent and cut a portal in the air. "I hope you understand what you're playing with. I'll be with Tai." Stepping away into the vortex, she left an eerie silence in the tent.
"There's nothing you can do. If I die, the bond will just pass either to my killer or the last person I was thinking of," the bandit leader said.
"I wanna sit down."
"You may."
Neo slumped down onto the couch, lost and confused. She was so tired, but when she closed her eyes the presence didn't disappear. Why wasn't it going away? Why couldn't she make it go away?
A heavy hand rested on her shoulder, and she looked up at Starling's imposing form. Neo. Your mission, the only reason you are alive, is to protect me. Starting as soon as possible, we will begin to train you to protect me and the tribe. The tribe always comes first.
Why?
The bandit leader turned away. "This is your life now, Neo. I hope that you are grateful, although it won't matter for you whether you are or not. I have to address the tribe now, so take your time to think about it..."
Ruby's chest clenched as the memory faded to black and the snowscape came back into focus around them. Neo was clutching her knees to her chest, rocking back and forth. I'm sorry… I'm sorry about all of it. I was so afraid when you took me, I- I wanted to hide, I wanted to be in control for once in my life! I wanted to be free, but I couldn't!
Neo…
Her head whipped up, her eyes white with explosive despair. If you were one of them, it would have been easy. You would have known about my curse, you would have shut me down and fucked me to high hell before sending me out to brutally slaughter your enemies. Even with Roman, that's what I did. Who I was. And then you came.
Ruby reached out to comfort her, but Neo slapped her hand away.
You were never my master, Ruby. You were a victim, someone to be killed and discarded. Neo's voice was jagged ice in her head. At first, I punished you for what you did to Roman. I wanted you to kill Jaune. I wanted you to let me slit his throat, to watch the blood spill down his chest and know that you, Ruby Rose, were the one who had caused it. I wanted you to use me. I needed you to use me. I need you to be just like them, just like Starling, just like Roman, just like everyone else who's ever been in my head.
"D-don't say that-"
I fed you nightmares. I trained you like they did to me. I hurt you. I ridiculed you in front of your combat class. I did everything in my power to make you hate me, to make you want to kill me. But you didn't.
Neo rose to her feet and pulled her umbrella out of the snow. Ruby watched her, unsure of what she could say or how to say it.
After all of that, you cared enough to cook for me, to worry about where I was sleeping, to still care for me as a human being.
"Of course I did!" Ruby exclaimed.
Don't say that like it's nothing!
Snow blew between them as the sun disappeared behind the clouds once again.
After that night, I stopped sending you nightmares. I tried to start fixing things. I couldn't stop combat training because of Harkan, but- You still didn't understand the bond, how it worked, so I thought I still had a chance to make things right. I-
"It was too late, wasn't it?" Ruby asked softly, her cloak waving in the wind behind her.
Neo nodded slowly. I should have known you would never be like them. When you spiraled, it just happened so fast, Ruby. I couldn't stop it, and you weren't getting any better, and then I slipped up in training and let myself get angry at you. When you made me stop, I was so petrified. And then it was too late, and you were gone, and- She tensed, then ran forward and threw her arms around Ruby. "I'm so sorry," she whispered. "Sorry for everything."
"Neo..."
Ruby didn't know what to say, so she just held tight to Neo.
Neither of us ever deserved to be broken. Fucked up. That night, after you fought Weiss, I thought about it. About telling you everything, when I told you I wanted you to be just like them. I wish I had. I wish I had been strong enough to see it.
"Well, we're not dead yet, are we?" Ruby said, and Neo shook with harsh laughter and tears.
No, we aren't.
It took a long time before Neo was able to calm down enough for Ruby to talk. She asked, "So this is what an aura bond does? It lets us talk like this?"
Yeah. I'm not sure, but I think the only reason our surroundings feel so real is because of my semblance. The flickering, all of the illusions – I can't do that with a normal person. My normal semblance makes illusions that everyone can see, but you're the only one who can see me when I follow you around.
"And I can really… control you?" Ruby asked.
When I came to comfort you in the hospital and after your fight with Weiss, when you stopped me from taking Jaune, all those dreams that ended early – that was all you commanding me unconsciously.
She swayed unsteadily as the full implications of her power over Neo occurred to her. "Do you- I think I need to see- see myself do it before I can believe you. Do you mind?"
Do it.
Ruby took a deep breath. "Neo, tell me more about Yang's mom."
Neo stiffened as her body glowed green, then returned to normal. Really? That's it? I thought you might try to make me… well, do something.
"But I'm not like that, Neo. I never have been." Ruby's fists clenched as she held Neo's gaze. "I- I may never be that girl in Dust Till Dawn again, but I don't want to, to, to own you. I couldn't do that to anyone."
She would never innocent or naive again. That much, Neo had taken away from her. But maybe she was something more than that now. Maybe everything was changing for a reason.
What do you want to know?
"Everything," Ruby said. "I don't know anything about you or her, Neo. She's Yang's mom, and- Maybe we could find her as a team someday, and she also knew Mom and was with my dad, plus she's Uncle Qrow's sister. So anything, I guess."
Neo smiled slightly. I guess it would be easier to show you than to tell you again. Just… Thank you. For everything.
Alright, now we're going to work on push ups again.
Neo panted as she doubled over, sweat dripping off of her short hair onto the dirt training ground. Her body burned after an hour of physical training, just another in three long months of physical training. She had managed to make it one lap around the camp this time, but it hurt so much and she hated it! She hated the training, and she hated the bond, and she hated Starling for it.
"Neo, I know you heard me," the bandit leader said as he walked towards her. As per usual, a small group had assembled around their workout, but Starling only was paying attention to her. "Let's work on push-ups now, okay?"
Her eyes burned as she jutted her chin and looked at him defiantly. "I don't wanna."
A murmur went up among the assembled crowd as the elder Branwen's eyes narrowed. "What did you just say?"
"I said, I don't wanna do the pushups!" she yelled at him backing away until he forced her to stand still.
"I see."
An armored fist slammed into Neo's head, sending her tumbling to the ground in a wash of pain. Black and white lightning burned across her body as her world spun. Reaching up, she wiped the dirt and dust off her forehead.
That was the first time Starling had ever hit her.
"Neo, do twenty-five pushups now. No breaks. After that, we're done for today," Starling snarled before turning tail and stalking across the camp away from her.
She was forced up from the ground as she started doing the grueling exercise again. She was already far beyond where she would have normally given up, and by the twentieth rep her arms gave out after each one. Once she finished, she slumped back to the ground in exhaustion.
He hit her. Starling never hit her – nobody had ever hit her on purpose, to hurt her.
"Neo?"
"G-go away!" she yelled at Raven, who knelt down at her side and pulled her up out of the dirt.
The older woman sighed as she brushed the dirt off of her face, her belly swollen from seven months of pregnancy. "You're filthy. Come with me."
Raven's portals were just as strange as they had been the first time Neo had used them. One second she was in a dusty bandit camp, and the next she stood outside of a cheerful yellow house in the middle of the woods. She stared around in wonder as they walked towards the front door and Raven pressed the doorbell.
Clattering noises came from inside of the house, and the door flew open as a man with sandy hair exclaimed, "Rae! I thought that you had work to do today."
"I still am, Tai, I just need to use the house for a bit," Raven said coolly. Neo peeked out from behind her nervously, and Taiyang gave her a funny look.
"I thought you guys didn't do kids."
"We don't, usually. Can we come in?" she asked, and he hurriedly swept them into the house and closed the door behind him.
The living room was a cheerful affair, filled with warm colors and paintings of distant landscapes. Raven unclasped her sword and set it by the doorway, sighing as Taiyang narrowed his eyes at Neo. "What the hell have you guys been doing to her?" His wife didn't answer, and he walked up to her and tried to brush her hair out of her face. Flinching, Neo backed away from him, and he whipped around to glare at Raven. "Rae, why is she filthy with a black eye? More importantly, why is she here?"
"She needs a bath. We will discuss this after she is cleaner than she is right now," Raven said firmly as she guided Neo up the stairs and into a white tiled bathroom.
As she pulled her filthy clothing off, Tai leaned against the doorway and crossed his arms. "She's not yours, is she? Because that might cause some pro-"
"My father used his semblance."
"Oh." He looked back at Neo, meeting her eyes before inhaling sharply. "Oh."
Raven shook her head as she deposited the six-year-old into the running bath. "I told him that it was an awful idea. I told him that it would paint a target on his back, for the authorities and for all of the other bandit tribes. Does he listen to me? No, of course he doesn't. We're twenty-six now, Tai! If he expects me to lead someday, he needs to listen to me sometimes!"
"Wait, wait, wait a second." He shook his head as grime started running off Neo's body into the water. "You're telling me that your fifty-year-old man – my father-in-law – is inside her head."
"Yes."
"You do realize how fucked up that is, right?"
"Yes."
Taiyang took a deep breath as he watched the sullen young girl who was silently watching them from his bathtub. "Does Qrow know?"
Raven glared at him, but he met her scarlet glare evenly. "Qrow lost the right to know when he walked out on our tribe. Maybe if he was still around to clean up the mess instead of traipsing around with Oz, he would."
He bit his lip and turned away from the bathroom. "I need to think. I need to talk to Summer, she- she'll know what to do." Raven tried to protest, but he raised a hand and cut her off. "I'll make her keep it a secret, but we both know Qrow will find out as soon as he makes it back to civilization. I hope you're ready to deal with that."
Neo's eyes were drooping as Raven sighed and turned back to her. Sleepily, she whispered, "Mommy, I wanna go to sleep."
Raven gaped at her as she started washing her hair. "I'm not your-" she started to say, but Neo had already dozed off in the soft morning light. Her eyes softening and holding her hand against her stomach, she murmured, "But I'm not even done washing you yet..."
Neo, are you ready?
Neo smoothed the dress Starling had taken from one of the finest boutique (or what was left of it, at least) and smiled. Yes, I am.
She was seven, now, although she hadn't gotten any taller yet. Starling liked telling her how much she had improved recently, and she carried as small dagger at her side in a white sheath at her side. Her hair was longer, reaching just past her shoulders.
Remember, this is a privilege that I'm taking you with me. If Raven hadn't asked me to, I would have left you behind to train, understand? Don't embarrass me or the tribe.
Right!
A rift opened in front of them, and Neo followed through and into the open clearing around Raven's house. People were gathered in and around the entryway, but they stepped aside as Starling entered the Xiao Long household proudly and made a beeline for Raven.
"So there we were, hanging from the cafeteria rafters when- oh, Starling!" Taiyang exclaimed as he saw his father in law. Starling boomed in laughter as he embraced Tai, while Neo made a beeline for Raven.
Raven's face was tired as she cradled a baby in her arms, but she smiled as the young girl threw her arms around her legs. "Hey, Summer, can you take Yang for a second?"
A woman with silver eyes and black hair shot her a look as she took Yang and gently cradled her. "Rae, who's that?"
Neo looked to Starling, who nodded, so she clambered onto Raven's lap and exclaimed, "I'm Neo, who are you?"
Summer's eyes widened as she introduced herself. "Wait, Raven, is this the girl Tai told me about?"
"Yes. Neo, how have you been? I've been a bit too busy to come around to check on you lately," Raven said with a wry smile as she gestured at the small child in Summer's arms.
She grinned and took her sheathe from her belt. "Look at what Starling got me!" she exclaimed as she held it out for Raven to see.
"Yes, I'm sure our wonderful father 'got' you that."
Raven and Starling both whipped around to see Qrow walking towards them, hands in his pockets as he stared directly at Neo. Raven gently pushed her off her lap and said, "Neo, why don't you go play outside for a moment. I think we're going to have to have a talk with my dear brother for a second."
Neo stared at Qrow for a second before she grinned and slid off of her lap. "Okay!" she chirped before running outside and sitting down to focus.
It hadn't taken her long to figure out that if she tried really hard, she could see what Starling saw as it happened. Sure, she could see his memories afterward anyways, but it didn't change how cool it was to see it in real time.
"Qrow." Starling's voice was strained as he glared at his son.
Qrow's voice dripped with disgust and sarcasm as he said, "Oh yeah, I heard about your little experiment, Father. Good thing for you I decided not to tell Oz, because otherwise all three of you would be dead."
"Leave Neo out of this," Raven growled as she got to her feet. "Nothing here is her fault, and if it wasn't for her good-for-nothing parents-"
"Calm down." Summer's voice cut like steel as she stepped between the two siblings. "We are not having another one of your famous Branwen arguments. We're here for Yang, not your despicable father's actions."
"You dare-" Starling barked harshly, only to pause as Tai laid a hand on his arm.
Qrow looked ready to keep arguing, then deflated and laughed hollowly. "After all of these years, you're still our leader, Summer. Still keeping us in line."
Summer shrugged and smiled at him. "C'mon, can't we just be Team STRQ for a second and forget about that whole mess. Yang won't be an infant forever..."
"Before you stands a man who has attacked out lifestyle!"
A roar went through the assembled bandit camp as Starling forced the unarmed hunter to his knees. Neo fidgeted at his left side nervously as Raven stared straight ahead, stoic, at his right.
"And now, he will be sentenced to death for his crimes!" Starling roared as the huntsman started crying on his knees. "However, this will not be a normal execution." He stepped back and gestured to Neo. "Today is Neo's right of passage to become a true member of the tribe. She will be the one to kill him!"
Raven's aura flared around her as she desperately fought to keep composure. Neo squeezed her eyes shut as she drew her dagger and thrust it to the sky, eliciting cheers from the crowd as she brought it to the hunter's throat.
The man looked up at her desperately, then gasped. "No, you can't be. Are you his daughter?"
Neo's hand trembled as she stared down at him, at his brown hair and electric blue eyes. I- I can't-
You will.
No, please, I don't want to, I-
Neopolitan, kill him.
Her hand glowed green, and the dagger slid into his unprotected throat. Blood covered the blade as the man slumped to the ground, never to rise again.
Unable to resist, she lifted the dagger to the sky once more before thrusting it into her belt and dashing off of the stage and behind the main tent. Falling to her knees, she puked into a bush at the edge of the camp, tears falling as her stomach roiled.
She had just killed someone. She had just taken a human life.
Somebody pulled the hair out of her face and held it behind her head as the rest of her lunch came up. Digging her fingernails into her palms, she brought her knees closer to her chest.
"I threw up after my first kill too."
Raven sighed as she knelt down next to Neo and pressed her fingers to her cheek. Neo shook her head, unable to comprehend what she had just done.
"This life… Sometimes I wish that I could just go live on Patch with Tai. I wish I could spend all of my time with Yang, go on missions with Qrow and Summer, all of it," she said softly. "But I have a duty to the tribe, and so do you."
"Raven," Neo sobbed as she threw herself onto the Branwen woman, who held her tightly.
"I was eight too when I had to take my first life," she whispered. "Yang is one, and I can't even imagine doing that to her. Neither one of us chose this life, Neo, but the tribe always comes first. The tribe always has to come first..."
"Raven, what did you do to Tai?"
Neo peeked out from behind the tent flap as Raven and Qrow went at each other with a fury she had never seen before. Sword met scythe in an intricate deadly dance across the camp, knocking into boxes and collapsing tents.
"You know what's been happening!" Raven shrieked as she ducked and weaved around his brute force attacks. "The death threats, the other tribes, they're mobilizing! They know about Neo, Qrow! Tai was in danger, Yang was in danger, the tribe is in danger. How did I have a choice?"
"So what?" Qrow launched a massive overhead strike that Raven caught with her blade before slamming her foot into his chest. He rolled as he hit the ground and charged back at her once again. "You're just going to walk out on him? Do you have any idea how fucked up he was when I left to find you? He was sobbing all over Summer, and then Yang started crying too! Are you just going to leave your one-year-old alone for the rest of her life?"
"They are in danger. Because. Of. Me!" Raven used her semblance to appear behind Qrow and send him flying again. "And Neo isn't ready to protect Starling yet! Neo doesn't stand a chance against what's coming – not one fucking chance. The tribe always comes first, Qrow. I don't know when you forgot that, but-"
"When I realized what we're up against!" Qrow went back on the offensive, tearing through Raven's defense and landing a series of blows on her. "You're too busy making your little warrior that you haven't even noticed what's happening beyond the kingdoms. Oz is doing everything he can to stop an assault that's going to happen in our lifetime, Rae! You can't tear us apart, not now! We need you back. We need Team STRQ again! Me and Summer can't do it all alone."
"We are going to war, Qrow!" Raven flipped over his strike and raked her sword down his back. "The tribe needs me more than you do right now. I don't have a choice! Do you even understand how many assassination attempts there have been in the last month?"
"ENOUGH!" Neo jumped out of the way as Starling strode out of the main tent and in between the two siblings. "Both of you are disgracing the tribe, fighting like this! Raven, you have overstepped your bounds. Leave, now."
Raven's eyes flashed, but she sliced a portal into the air and stepped away.
"And I suppose that you're perfectly fine with the fact that she just walked out on her husband and your only grandchild, huh?" Qrow sneered as he hefted his scythe at his father. "Because it's not fucking okay!"
"SILENCE! You do not have the right to come into this camp! You lost that right when you left the tribe," Starling boomed.
"Doesn't change the fact that my father and my sister still live here," Qrow said dismissively as he held his scythe over his shoulder.
"Yes, it does."
Qrow blinked. "What?"
"You're disowned, Qrow Branwen." Starling drew a massive broadsword from a scabbard at his side and pointed at him. "You haven't been my son since you left the tribe. For your entire life, I have taught you that the tribe always comes first. You chose to ignore that, to betray us, to sell your soul to Ozpin. I have given you more chances to redeem yourself than any other man, woman, or child in this camp, and you left them in the dust."
Qrow's face filled with shock, then raging anger. "You can't do that! I'm your son, I put up with your bullshit for years! I killed people for your stupid tribe! I'm trying to save the fucking world, father, you-"
"I'm not your father, and you have no right to call me that," Starling snarled. "Get out of my camp before I make you."
He flinched back as if he had been struck. "You know what? Fine! I was done with your stupid tribe years ago. Can't you see that there's more to this world than your savage little corner? Don't you care at all about protecting people? I hope you all fucking die, and you know all what my semblance is."
For the last time, father and son turned away from each other and vanished into the darkness.
Starling, are you okay? Neo asked the bandit leader quietly.
Her captor suddenly looked old, older than she had ever seen him before. One day, you'll understand it, Neo. Not the pain of killing, but the pain of pushing someone you care about away. I can't begin to explain it to you.
"Father, are you listening to me? I've never seen Qrow drink like this. Hell, I've barely ever seen him drink." Raven chuckled to herself. "Well, there was that one time at Beacon- No, that's beyond the point. He's barely left that bar all week. You have to do something, anything."
"I don't have to do anything," Starling said quietly. "He's no longer my responsibility. Rae, have you given any more thought to what I said?"
She stiffened. "I can't, you know-"
"I'm getting older, Raven." He slowly rose from his seat and walked to look out over the camp through the tent flap. "I miss your mother and your brother every day, but there's nothing I can do to bring them back. If you don't go and give Tai and Yang another chance, you're going to regret it for the rest of your life."
"It's not too late, Father!" Raven said. "You can still find Qrow, talk to him – I can bring you there myself, and we can still fix-"
Starling shook his head. "No, but you still can. Go. Now. The longer you wait, the more they will slip away."
Raven paused for a moment, then nodded. "Alright. I'll give them another chance." She walked over to Neo and hugged the girl, then smiled at her father. "Thank you."
The portal open and closed, and a still silence filled the tent.
"Well, Starling Branwen, that was rather heartwarming," a masculine voice intoned as a steel blade bit into his throat. "Such a shame, really, that Raven is never going to see you or your little slave again."
Ruby's head jerked up as the memories faded to black. "He just… died? Like that?"
I was nine. Neo bowed her head as she dug her fingers into the snow. That was the first time the bond changed. You are the sixth person who I've been connected to.
"So, that's it? You never saw Raven again?"
I did. After her father was killed, she tried desperately to get me back for a while. That almost got both of us killed. Then- then she would come in secret, and we would talk, but I couldn't hide those memories forever. The worst one, he- he found out, and he forced me to tell her- Neo took a deep breath, and Ruby walked towards her once again. With the physical contact, she calmed down slightly. Thank you. I had to tell her that I hated her, and I never wanted to see her again. I think she knew he made me say it, but it still hurt her. I haven't seen her since that night.
"That's so awful," Ruby whispered. "All of this is just awful."
Not all of it. Neo's eyes shone as she grabbed Ruby's hand. I can show you your mom, Ruby. I don't have a ton of memories of her, but I do have a few. Besides, Raven was more of a mom than my real mom ever was to me. I don't have as much with Qrow, but-
"Is that really why Qrow is a total alcoholic?"
I guess so.
The conversation lulled as Ruby thought about everything she had just seen. To see her parents, their old team – it was almost surreal.
"Neo, why am I here?"
Neo's face fell. You're in a coma right now. Whatever that silver power did to your body and your aura, it's stopping you from waking up. I've been watching you, you're on Patch right now. Yang and Tai are really worried about you.
"Oh." I'm cold, can we go somewhere else?
The world around them shifted to a peaceful wooden clearing Ruby recognized from near her house. Neo settled down onto the dappled forest floor, lying on her back with her sword at her side. Ruby, when you wake up… What's going to happen? To us?
"I don't want to be enemies anymore," Ruby said as she sat down beside her. "I don't know what would happen if I snapped again, if I-" She stopped short and swayed in place. "Oh my god, I killed Cardin."
No, you-
"I killed him. I've killed two people. Two people."
Stop. Warmth flooded Ruby's heart as Neo pushed a burst of calm across their bond. Ruby, that's my fault for pushing you that far and Harkan's fault for killing him. Nobody else's. He attacked you. He bullied you. There was nothing else that you could have done.
"But what about Crescent Rose?" Her expression was bleak as she swirled the dirt around her fingernail. "She was my baby, and now she's gone."
Neo put her arm around Ruby and nestled her head on her shoulder as the silver eyed girl started softly crying again. Don't think about it like an ending. Crescent Rose, she saved your life and she also took lives away. For a weapon, that's a fully lived life. You cared so much about her, and it's not your fault she's gone.
I'm so sick of crying, Neo.
I am too.
"Can we- can we try being friends, maybe?" Ruby asked, slowly calming down with the rise and fall of Neo's chest.
Neo snuggled up against her and nodded. I've never had a real friend before, at least, not that I can remember. I guess we could give it a try.
"I'm going to have to go back to Beacon after I wake up."
We'll figure it out when you do.
"And we still have to do something about Harkan."
That's what training is for, right?
Ruby sighed as she said, "And then, after everything makes more sense, maybe we could look for Raven, or figure out who your parents are. Someday, at least."
Someday. Right now, though, neither one of us is going anywhere anytime soon.
She nodded, then pulled away from Neo and got to her feet. "I know where we should start. We never got to do this properly."
What do you mean?
Ruby smiled at her. Her cloak was ripped and bloodied, but still whole. Shattered, yet somehow still breathing. Broken, but connected in the dark.
She held out her hand to the girl before her, who was alien in a way she knew everything about. "It's nice to meet you! My name is Ruby. Ruby Rose."
Neo got to her feet, and their hand joined in imperfect unison. Thank you, Ruby. My name is Neopolitan, and I can't wait to be your friend.
The forest breathed its leaves into the sky, and spring sang with all the joy of illusion and loss it knew.
Ozpin looked up as the doors to his elevator slid open. His eyes widened as Qrow walked into his office and slumped down into a chair by his desk. "Qrow, this is certainly a surprise. You are back quite early. News?"
"Lots, and you're not going to like it." The Branwen son growled. "First off, I'd like to know what on earth happened to my niece under your watch."
The headmaster sighed as gears turned around them in the endless circle of time. "An old evil, an evil that I thought had been forgotten but seems to have emerged once again. I have my suspicions, but I believe you might have the information that will confirm them. I was a fool, just as I always have been, and I will need to give her some serious explanation."
"Well, what I originally was going to tell you – by text, mind you, walking to Beacon from the Grimmlands is a pain in the ass – is that the queen has pawns."
Ozpin took a sip off his coffee as he leaned back in his comfy chair. "I suspected as much, but thank you for confirming that. I assume you would not have returned prematurely for just that."
"Nah. What happened was I woke up one morning to find that Ruby had killed Vale's most dangerous criminal and was accepted into Beacon! Around that same time, things started getting crazy out there, so I did some more digging. You know what I figured out?"
"Tell me."
"Roman Torchwick was one of those pawns."
A deep sense of dread filled Ozpin as he set his coffee down. "That is grave news indeed."
"Yeah, Oz, ya don't say." Qrow pulled out his flask and took a swig before glaring directly at Ozpin. "Look, buddy, you and I are going to have a serious chat about your mental health care and Ruby at this school, but I found something more important out."
"What?"
"I tracked Torchwick's close henchmen down. Got them to talk to me. And they told me something about his left hand, something I've been searching for since- for a long time."
Ozpin raised an eyebrow as Qrow took a deep breath. "What about his left hand?"
"Tell me, Oz. How much do you know about my father?"
End of Volume One
Date Completed: 11/11/17
Chapters: 10
Word Count: 58k+
Reviews: 48
Follows: 194
Favorites: 108
Views: 8,844
Communities: 3
re:Bound Volume One – Soundtrack
SHATTER: Mark The Graves – Linkin Park (The Hunting Party)
FALSE IDOL: This Will Be The Day – Casey Lee Williams and Jeff Williams (RWBY Soundtrack Vol. 1)
FLICKER: Intention – Kiiara (Low Kii Savage)
BLACK AND WHITE: Blackout – Linkin Park (A Thousand Suns)
UMBER: Lifelines – I Prevail (Lifelines)
RUMORS: Dream – Imagine Dragons (Smoke and Mirrors)
FRACTURE: Taking Over Me – Evanescence (Fallen)
LAST LEVEE: Red Like Roses Pt. 2 – Casey Lee Williams, Sandy Casey, and Jeff Williams (RWBY Soundtrack Vol. 1)
FOREVER FALL: Summoner's Rift – Dangerkids (blacklist_)
NEOPOLITAN: Wish – Nine Inch Nails (Broken)
ENDING: Wings – Casey Lee Williams and Jeff Williams (RWBY Soundtrack Vol. 1)
STREAM THE SOUNDTRACK ON MY YT CHANNEL - Link on my profile
[A/N] First and foremost, I want to thank everybody so much for reading and enjoying this story. It's my great joy as a writer to be able to bring worlds to life, and I'm grateful for everyone and this platform for helping those ideas grow and prosper. Having active support makes writing so much easier and the final product so much better, and that's thanks to you.
To celebrate the end of Volume One, this chapter is about double the length of a normal chapter. Also, the play list at the end is my gift to you guys – I know there are people who really enjoy playing suggested songs alongside chapters, and that's what I've been listening to as I've been writing this story.
Although the second semester of Ruby's time at Beacon is split across two volumes in the show, Volume Two of re:Bound will combine the two seasons together. Things are about to get crazy. It's Time To Say Goodbye for now, but the first chapter of Volume Two is coming next Saturday! Thank you again so much for reading!
Signing out, Allie
[Edit 2/11/18] Grammar
Estimated Update Day: 11/18/17