The aircraft landed a long way from everybody else. It was better that way. After a minute of inactivity from the vehicle, the rear doors opened for its occupants, who quickly skulked off towards the colosseum. Once the pair had found themselves a sheltered corner, Emerald started to properly attend to Neo's wound. The older woman had fought against Mercury for her friend whilst they were heading to Mountain Glenn and knocked him out with relative ease. They had planned to dump him defenceless amongst the Grimm as he was instructed to do to Emerald, but the boy had tightened the screws on his prosthetic legs so tight that neither girl could undo them so they threw him out with them still on. The only problem for them was that he wasn't completely unconscious, just faking it and he grabbed Neo by the leg as he fell, bringing her with him.
The mint haired girl remembered setting the aircraft steady and bolting to the open doors, watching from above as they landed. Merc had paralyzed himself after landing on a rock with very little Aura reserve due to the fight with Yang earlier, shutting down any function of his torso downwards. The ice cream themed girl was trying so hard to escape that see failed to raise her Aura in time and gashed a rather nasty cut on her side; it was visible even from a good 30m above them. Being the only one of the two able to move, Neo hobbled over to her ex-teammate with rage fuelling her and adrenaline blocking out all the pain that would inevitably come as soon as it had worn off. She took out her parasol and...
Emerald didn't watch what her friend did to the boy, she hastily ran back to the controls and started lowering the aircraft so that the woman could make her way back inside. She didn't ask, mostly because once Neo was inside she stayed out of the view of red eyed girl for the fly back to Beacon, and that when the pair got there and snuck out of the vehicle carrying med-kits, she could see that her friend was covered in a little bit of her own blood from the fall, and that there were many large splatters of sprayed blood across the woman's body – the dry red stains a stark contrast to the creamy white of the outfit and pale complexion. She tried her best to clear and dress the wound, her mute friend wincing at each shot of pain that flew to her brain. Once it was wrapped up nicely, the woman immediately tried to get up and continue what they had planned to do, but she was halted by another wave of pain.
"Hey, take it easy Neo." A desperate look was shot at the young girl as she sat down again, who was returning with a caring glance. "We're still going to do it, don't worry. I will try and find where he is whilst you stay here, then I'll come back and we'll go together." The woman started signing to her friend,
"No. Find Roman. Together..." she would have said more, if not for a rough voice cutting through the silence.
"No need to go lookin' kid, I can take you to Roman." The girls turned sharply as Qrow stood there behind them.
Now, Neo was a gifted fighter and was equally as great at telling what sort of fight she would be in for. When she was on the train, she easily outclassed the blonde she was fighting, so she toyed with her. A lot. If it's not going to be as clean cut of a fight like that one was, she'd take things much more seriously. However, if there is a fight she knows she can't win – like when that woman showed up on the train before her kill – she will run to fight another day. And seeing Qrow, she didn't consider any of that. She grabbed her parasol and threw herself at him, adrenaline kicking in once more and numbing the pain in her side. As the blood-coated blade extended from the end of it, the woman thrust her weapon at the man. But Qrow was not much worse than his sister when it came to fighting. Had Neo been in the right frame of mind she would have known this and would have stayed back. She wasn't, so she didn't. He dodged the attack with minimal effort and as the woman kept swinging and missing with each wild strike, Qrow started making conversation with the dark-skinned onlooker, his flow interrupted every now and again when he needed to dodge a particularly wild attack.
"Would you... tell your little friend here that... that I am being deadly serious when I say... that I will... take... that I will take you to Roman?" Him mentioning his name again caused Neo to see red as she readied herself; no one talks about Roman in front of her, especially him! Her friend stepped in the way, blocking the chance for woman to advance on her opponent. The girl stayed there as she spoke calmly to her enraged friend.
"Neo, stop! You don't need to get worked up. I believe him, he wouldn't have come here if he didn't have something for us... for you. Please, I don't want to see you hurt yourself so close to what you've been working towards for the past months." Neo's muscles relaxed as her friend's soft words eased her anger at the man. They suddenly tensed again as adrenaline stopped and pain took its place. Emerald caught her friend and supported her weight as she looked up weakly at the Huntsman in front of them. The mute brought her fingers together on her right hand, placed them on her chest and rotated them in a circle clockwise.
"Sorry" she signed.
"That's alright. Now come on; that aircraft you lot commandeered will get us up to the ship he's in. We'll need to hurry, Ironwood'll head back to Atlas once the tournament is over and you would have lost your chance." Qrow lead the way, the two girls following slower, but determined – they'll have Roman soon.
The three of them silently made their way through the ship. Neo was feeling much better after receiving and Aura shot to help her steady and better support herself. They made their way to the holding cells, making their way down the line until they came to the one Qrow had been told held the person they were looking for. He stopped a few cells down, pressing a button on the Scroll he had and letting the girls walk up to the opening door. He continued working away on the Scroll as a voice rang from the darkness.
"Well; it's about time." Out stepped Roman Torchwick, the tall man taking his time approaching the girls who stood before him. The man looked over as he left and saw the Huntsman working away at his flank. "Oh, come on! I've barely even left the cage and there's already a Huntsman waiting to throw me back in? What's a guy gotta do?"
"Relax Roman," Emerald said, stepping up to him "Qrow is with us."
"Oh really?" Eyebrows arched as curiosity got the better of him. "What happened to your other boyfriend? Fed up of guys your own age and decided to start dating a little older, eh?" The shorter girl walked up to her secret husband and showed him a picture of Mercury; his face and body covered in multiple stab and slice wounds from Neo's attack on him. The boy was most certainly dead, the deep puncture wounds between the eyes and right where his heart was being clear indications of that. Her eyes sank to the floor, disgusted at what she had done. But Roman moved swiftly on from that rather gruesome image and questioned Emerald once again. "And what of Momma Bear? She sitting on the side lines and letting the pawns do her dirty work again?"
"Cinder doesn't know about this. What we're doing only benefits us." The ginger turned and focussed his attention on the dark-haired man, who was still tapping away at the screen.
"And what are you getting out of this, Birdman?" Red eyes looked up from the Scroll as he replied.
"I'm doing this because I was told that what Emerald was doing, even if it seemed wrong, was the right thing. Even if you and your little friend there did beat up my nieces on several separate occasions..." he shot a quick glance to Neo who looked a little surprised and embarrassed at that before returning his gaze to the screen as he continued. "And I've seen what you can do. You're dangerous and you should be locked away in here for the rest of your miserable days." Neo's Scroll pinged as Qrow finished. "But, a little mint haired birdie told me why you did that. And I've seen what that can do to some people: love is a powerful thing, and taking it away from someone can drive a person mad. I ain't gonna let someone lose their way because of lost love, I've seen it happen twice and each time is more painful than the last." He gestured at the ice cream girl's Scroll. She opened it and looked in surprise, showing Roman. "That'll get you somewhere nice, somewhere away from everything that has or will happen. I also talked to some guys who can pull a few strings, and a couple more who tie the strings in the first place: everything's been wiped. You two are free citizens of Remnant."
Neo and Roman looked at the glowing screen in pure delight; 250,000 Lien each – courtesy of Ozpin's and Qrow contacts – and all major criminal records cleared and erased from the four main Kingdom's criminal databases. The pair instinctively wrapped their arms around one another and hugged out their excitement – their first real hug as free people. Roman spoke, the act he had been putting on whilst trying to work this job for the last pay check dropping and his true, caring side showing.
"Thank you. It means a lot to us; truly." The tall man shifted his focus to his wife, holding both of her hands. "Well darling, where to?" Her hands retracted from his as she signed to him in full sentences, his understanding and fluency in Sign Language surprising Emerald a little bit – although looking back it was kind of obvious that this probably would have been the case.
"I don't care where I go; so long as I am with you." She finished, then took off each of her gloves reveal her pristine hands, colour co-ordinated nail polish and ring. Roman grinned as he removed his hat and popping open a single small compartment in the top, unveiling his own wedding ring hidden in his hat the whole time and placing it on his own finger. The couple embraced with a brief but powerful kiss. As they parted, they held hands and began walking away. Emerald looked on as her only friend from this hellish nightmare she was in walked away from her, her mind focussed on the one thing she had been searching for ever since his capture, red eyes tearing up in denial of the fact that she would be alone once again. But Neo stopped dead in her tracks, signed for Roman to "Hold on, give me a minute" then ran back to her teammate and almost tackled her with a hug. Emotions flew from the taller girl.
"I don't have anyone else, Neo. I won't have anyone else to turn to; I'll be all alone again..." Neo broke off the hug to sign words of encouragement to her brave friend.
"RWBY. Your friends. Celebrate." She looked back at Roman, asking if it was okay for her to suggest the idea. He nodded, so she continued "Tell truth. Roman. Dust. Plan. Your feelings..." Emerald initiated the hug once again.
"I don't know how I feel! I don't know what I'm supposed to feel..."
"Happy."
The sound caused the girl to jump – such an unfamiliar sound from such a familiar source. Emerald's eyes widened as she stared at her friend, who put her finger over her own mouth and winked at her. The girl looked at Roman, who slyly smirked and nodded. He obviously knew as well. She started signing once more.
"Go tell. Who knows? Maybe..." and she pointed to the finger sporting her ring. This caused the dark-skinned girl to giggle at the prospect. She sighed in contentment as she knew that this was most likely goodbye.
"Look after each other Neo. I wish you all the best and many happy years ahead of you. Keep in touch." The not-so mute girl silently smiled, pivoting and jogging her way towards her husband who tipped his hat to her as he left. The odd couple moved to the front docking bay together at a pace; the Festival had concluded and they knew that once everyone was dismissed from the arena they would have no chance of escaping to their new lives. Besides, they had one more, ever so minor crime they needed to commit – they needed to 'borrow' another aircraft. Qrow hugged the shoulder of the Haven student paternally and pulled her back the way they came.
"C'mon kid – I know I may seem like an old fart to you, but I am a good listener. And you've got a little bit of explaining to do; because either way, my niece's going to know. Either from me or from you." Emerald sighed once more and walked on with the Huntsman. She had succeeded in what she had planned to do. Beacon still stood. No one got hurt, and Neo got Roman back – what's better is that they can actually live their lives properly now.
And she felt like Qrow was going to help her do one last thing. And she was glad that he was.
I genuinely loved writing this chapter, it's very much a pay-off chapter: plot threads from multiple previous chapters all tied off here so this may seem very neat and "End of the Story" like, but trust me - I have some promises to keep and some questions to answer.
For those wondering why I think Neo can speak but doesn't - she's a mercenary and I believe that if she "can't speak" then that's one less thing they have to track her down. It made sense to me and if you don't like it, she isn't going to be in any more of the story so... problem solved
As always, feedback - good or bad - is most appreciated
