Feeling the sun warming the damaged side of his face, Neil walked around the school grounds singing "Harakiri", by Serj Tankian, to himself. He made sure he was alone, while he poured his heart out, frightening the birds away, making dogs within earshot howl in agony, and making squirrels run and hide. Eventually he shut up, thinking about the meaning of the song, sang by the archaic artist who, at the time, reflected on the way humans treated each other, lying, keeping slaves, cheating, killing, raping, etc. Millenniums of hurting themselves over and over made them easy prey for the monstrosities that eventually came, and even then, despite all of this, they still fought each other, rather than banding together to fight the menace.
"...And they called the Faunuses monsters..." Neil said to himself, continuing to meander. Continuing to contemplate the upcoming mission, he remained quiet, as he roamed the halls.
It was a day before their mission with RWBY, and he couldn't be more nervous. The leader worried himself sick, imagining losing one, or all, of his friends, or his sister, or his lover.
A distraction appeared just in time, he came across Jaune and Pyrrah sitting at a table, in the courtyard. The girl tried to help her partner study by giving him a small quiz over all of the content he would be tested on later that week. To Neil she resembled the perfect babysitter, for Jaune was rather difficult to teach, and Pyrrah was just so patient. It was rather interesting to see, but it didn't make him feel any better.
"Hello Neil!" Pyrrah called, waving him over. Noticing his troubled look she asked him what burdened him. Ordinarily, he would've told her, but seeing as how it was supposed to be a secret, he remained distant, so to speak, telling them he didn't feel like discussing it. "...but if you tell me, perhaps I could help, remember last time?" She reminded.
Indeed he did remember, so he told her, however he cut out many details.
"We're going on this life threatening mission, where one mistake could mean the death of one, if not all of us." He explained, telling her that Jaune and Van's teams couldn't come with them, or else their large numbers would ruin the plan.
Being the second in command, for Pyrrah, meant picking up Jaune's slack, when he got stumped, which happened a lot. The poor girl had to put up with Jaune's inability to anything, as well as keep a calm head in the face of danger. If anyone could give Neil advice on how to solve his problem, it would be her.
Asking three questions she solved his problem. "Have you all had proper combat training?" "Have you all mastered the use of dust and aura?" "Have your partners proven their abilities to you, beyond a shadow of a doubt?" Whenever Neil answered positive to all of her questions, she told him just to have faith in his abilities as well as his friends'. "Also, don't be too concerned with failure." She added, explaining further. "Don't think just do. Think of walking; you don't look at your feet with every step. You just walk." She added, hoping he would put this knowledge to good use, and come home alive.
"Yea. I guess you're right." Neil agreed, looking at it from that perspective.
"Of course dude, she's always right." Added Jaune, looking up from his quiz.
"And that is wrong." Added Pyrrah, pointing to one of her leader's answers.
"N-no...oh wait, it is" Jaune noticed, before Pyrrah exacted five more push-ups from him. Groaning, he asked "What's my total? Forty?"
"Forty-five." She corrected, making him count the red X's on the paper.
"...see what I mean?" He grumbled, looking up at Neil.
Ruffling his friend's hair, as though he was a little kid, Neil simply told him "You'll get it, eventually" before walking off, and saying his goodbyes.
Returning to their dorm, Neil noticed his sister and Josh counting their bullets that they clicked into their magazines, both of which gave a quiet, inverted nod, a gesture returned by their partner.
"Lee and Jude are asleep, you want me to get them up?" Inquired Josh. On his way back, he reported that they were getting dressed.
Suddenly a knock shattered the silence and got their attention. Alice jumped out of her seat happily, telling her brother that Sun was coming with them on their mission, since he held his own against Roman.
Neil followed his sister to the door to greet him, but, to his surprise, he greeted four more guests.
By this time his team was assembled in the dining room, so they all seen him ready his pistol and take aim, but they could not see what or who he aimed at.
Sun was shoved inside by Alice while the rest of Team Nigel, Alice included, stepped outside to confront team CCDM.
"What the fuck're y'all doing here?!" Neil asked, angrily, shoving his pistol in Clayton's face, forcing him and his friends to step out into the middle of the hall.
"We needed help..." Corey answered, genuinely in need of team Nigel's help.
"You need a lot more now, don't-cha?" Neil answered, sliding the safety lever down, never breaking eye contact with Clayton.
Trying to be strong, Corey tried to ease Neil away from the thought of blowing Clayton's fat ass away, telling him to go easy with the gun.
"We don't never do nothin nice 'n' easy." Neil mentioned, forming the orange blade, shattering the fool's false facade of strength.
"...not never." Agreed Alice, forming her blade, before poking Corey's cheek with it, making sure to shut him up.
"Guys, we've got a crowd forming." Advised, Jude, noticing students approaching from both sides of the hallway.
Ordering Josh and his sister to send team CCDM inside, he was sure to keep the rest of his team on watch for anyone who might be trying to stick their noses into their business.
"Okay fat asses, on the floor." Ordered Alice, asking them questions. Eventually Corey told them that some person, or people, killed their cousin, from team HaREM, and they could not find Henry to ask him any questions, so they had nowhere else to turn, but to the group that pursues HaREM so diligently.
Not a word escaped their mouths.
Neil looked at Josh, blankly, before lying to the saddened relatives of their victim. "Henry was alone with team Rl'YEH when we seen him and kicked his ass."
"How'd it end?" Wondered Max.
"That pussy ran, after my sister introduced herself to me. He couldn't bear not having us outnumbered." Neil explained, telling half-truths, while hugging his sister. Continuing Neil expressed his false sorrow, telling the cousins that he could be of no help to them.
"They abandoned him." Added Alice, referring to Henry's swords (female teammates) "They got tired of being treated like playthings, and stood him up." She continued. "He lusted for all of them, and played with their emotions, until they had enough of his shit." Explained Alice, to which Clayton disagreed. Kicking him, she countered his argument. "I heard them tell him they would not die for him! After their little argument, I didn't see them until Henry had us jump Neiless."
Their lies worked, and the team was more distraught than before. They apologized for causing them problems, and swore to leave. Neil demanded payment for their little bits of information, to which he extorted roughly fourteen dollars, a few hairs from Clayton's greasy scalp, and his leather wristband that he immediately snipped in two, before tossing it into a bowl with the rest of the payment.
"Thank you for to playing my fucking game." Neiless laughed, looking at the four. "Let's get one thing straight, before I let you go. He added, putting the bowl on the table, behind him. "...none of you will be at my doorstep again...you do, and I cut you in half faster than I did Fat Boy's cute lil' bracelet." He premisses, making odd hand symbols above the snipped bracelet.
The four of them were allowed to leave, after their encounter. As they walked briskly down the hallway, tails between their legs, (so to speak) Neil spoke with Josh about his actions, commending him for doing his job as a huntsman and telling him he was a loyal friend.
"It's not that simple, I do feel sortta guilty." Josh added, in a one on one chat with his friend.
Neil patted his friend on the back agreeing with him, "Well of course, it never is..." Neil continued asking "...but just remember 'If given the chance, would she have spared you?'"