Chapter Fourteen: The Right Reasons
Salem waved her hand, and Watts received the message, replaying the footage again. He'd already sat through it several times, but always did he allow the queen her indulgence.
"Pause it there," Salem requested. Watts complied, freezing the image of the three girls and the boy with the relic of a sword and shield. For a long time Salem just looked upon the projection from his Scroll, though she was sure by now this exercise was trying his patience.
"Am I missing something obvious?" Watts inquired, in as humble a tone as he could manage.
How typical of the good doctor; disguising his own need for information as though he were offering his services to Salem. He knew Salem had spotted some important detail and wanted to understand what caught her interest, and how to predict what plans lay ahead.
"Do you not see it, Arthur?" Salem mused.
"I see a total failure of your dear Cinder's mission," Watts replied. "The tower intact, a new Fall Maiden not in Your Grace's service, and the Grimm and White Fang routed."
It was unfortunate that Cinder had failed, but Salem had not become so attached to her as to forget that Cinder ultimately proved unworthy of what she'd been promised. The girl had her ambitions, but apparently she hadn't possessed the means to carry them to fruition… though she had achieved something important.
"If nothing else, she succeeded in killing dear Ozpin," Salem noted. "Otherwise he'd have made a point to reassure the world personally, and this new Maiden would've never had the courage to say all this with Ozpin holding firm to her leash."
Watts seemed satisfied with that. It was obvious in retrospect.
It also wasn't the important detail of the shot; that would instead be the color of the short girl's eyes and the faint hint of Aura behind her twin-colored gaze. She looked so apprehensive at being caught on film, and in her fright she'd let a bit of the power slip out. The Faunus betrayed no such power, but Salem speculated she was not present simply for moral support. She looked no more comfortable being on screen than her shorter peer.
The girl Pyrrha Nikos was not likely to be interested in whatever Salem could offer her, but her two female friends seemed to prefer the shadows to the spotlight. And if the Maiden power existed in multiple vessels at once as it had with Cinder Salem could easily turn them against each other until only the most powerful –or pragmatic- among them possessed it.
Cinder spoke of adding disciples to her faction. If any of them remained…
"Contact Cinder's subordinates in Vale," Salem instructed Watts. "Tell them to regroup with as many survivors as possible and return to their queen's service. If Cinder recruited any useful allies, we must see to it that we still have agents present at Beacon. "
Watts bowed and lifted his Scroll. Salem took one last look at the two others in the background, at least one of whom held some of the Fall Maiden's power.
They were no doubt used to the shadows. And enough time in shadows made the light seem less and less inviting.
The trip down from the tower was over surprisingly quickly, but the ride to the ground was very tense. Neo requested to be dropped off in Beacon and Jaune accompanied her, partially to honor Neo's own wish he do so and partially to placate his other friends by not leaving Neo alone, as though she might try to flee at any moment. The teachers were fairly quiet on the trip back to the Vale safe zone, though Pyrrha seemed content with her accomplishment. Blake kept her attention focused on Yang, who –while noticeably calmer without Neo in her sights- was still quietly simmering. Ruby suggested they check on some of their other friends who might've been injured in the fight, and conveniently suggested they split into pairs when they do so. Ren and Nora tried to accompany Pyrrha, but she insisted they get proper medical attention for the damage they suffered, and they reluctantly agreed, leaving Pyrrha to deal with the teachers.
Port and Oobleck were quiet as they led, and Pyrrha was silent in following them. They were just shepherding her to her destination; they weren't the ones who wanted to express their displeasure, at least not directly. That they'd leave to the people in charge in Ozpin's absence, and Port and Oobleck decided not to remain when they brought Pyrrha to a temporary Atlas barracks, where Glynda, Qrow, and Ironwood waited for her in a sort of temporary office setup, Glynda behind a desk and the two men on either side of her.
Roughly three seconds after Port and Oobleck departed and the door was firmly shut behind them, Ironwood demanded: "What were you thinking?"
Pyrrha had been preparing herself for this. "That I wanted to become a huntress; that I was going to devote my life to fighting against the evils of the world and always put myself in the path of danger. I understand why you thought this was something you needed to hide away, but you also chose me to receive this power, and I choose to do something more with it than leave it stashed away in a vault."
"And in doing so endangered yourself and this kingdom by declaring your location," Glynda added. "Whatever you may think of our actions beforehand, Miss Nikos, I'm sure you can understand our concerns regarding the security of the students at Beacon and the citizens of Vale, should someone try to attack while the kingdom is at such a severe disadvantage."
"The moment you appeared on television I received messages from the council of both Atlas and Vale," Ironwood continued, sternly crossing his arms. "Do you have any idea how tense the situation is between kingdoms right now? Do you really think none of the students here to take part in the tournament might be inclined to turn on you if they have any understanding of the Maidens' powers at all? To say nothing of any remaining saboteurs or coconspirators who survived the battle…"
"I'm sure they did," Pyrrha agreed. "Because one of them decided to ally with us and put a stop to Cinder's plan, and Cinder was alone when we faced her in the tower."
"Yes, I remember her all too well," Ironwood growled, pulling up his Scroll and replaying the footage, pausing on a short girl with tricolored hair grasping Pyrrha's left hand.
"Doctor Oobleck provided a secondhand account of her physical description from Team RWBY in his report on the mission to Mountain Glenn. After that she was reported eluding the Vale police and causing property damage that you paid for," Glynda interjected. "Do you really expect us to believe she's simply had a change of heart?"
"Yes," was Pyrrha's simple reply. "She is very different today from the person she was yesterday."
"How so?" Glynda asked, raising her hand to push her spectacles further up her nose, giving Pyrrha an increasingly skeptical look.
Pyrrha had known this would be tricky to explain. But she was committed to telling the truth now, and she had no interest in a secret eating away at her again. So she pressed on. "The Maiden's Aura was already split when you asked me to undergo the process. When we finally defeated Cinder, I wasn't the only one who received the power from her."
Ironwood and Glynda were both quick to catch on, their eyes widening. "You mean…" Glynda began.
"Yes," Pyrrha confirmed. "I'm not the only Fall Maiden."
Neo had been very quiet in leading Jaune through the rubble. This wasn't always something she could help, but Neo hadn't shown him any messages on her Scroll since they landed, save that she was looking for something and had a general idea where to look. Jaune was concerned about the two of them being isolated and alone in what had been a warzone a few hours earlier, but at least there was light out and it seemed as though the Grimm had fled. The ruins and smoke were still off-putting, but at least there were fewer shadows to catch him by surprise with more and more morning light filtering in through the crumbling stone and steel.
Unfortunately, just following after Neo left him to do little more than think about what she'd told him already… what Pyrrha and Blake knew too, that Neo had cared for him and their relationship had meant something to her. At first he was overcome by grief and tried to apologize, but then he was elated to think about what could be rebuilt and what could still follow… until he again thought about the strange process where the three girls had shared minds, and then his spirits fell again.
Before he'd kissed Neo he'd kissed Blake. Though at the time Blake had told him it was a mistake, she'd pretty clearly changed her mind… and so had Jaune, when he finally returned Blake's gesture the previous day, only for Pyrrha to kiss him shortly after that, and Jaune to return that same affection.
He felt something for all of them and they all knew it. Maybe they understood it thanks to their unusual experience, but Jaune had only one mind to process three entirely different feelings of guilt.
He'd thought Neo had left him, but still he was surprised at how quickly he was able to move on. And while he'd certainly come to care about Neo, he'd made very little effort to learn about her past, about her likes and dislikes, about all the little pieces of her personality that couldn't be conveyed through little signs of affection and texts on a Scroll. He wasn't honestly sure what she was after now, and the further they traveled from the others the more time he had to think on all he'd done wrong, and what he might've done differently now.
Time and again he tried to speak, to initiate conversation and just ask her a question. At various points he thought he might simply ask how her day had been.
Until they came upon the wreckage of Blue Two, and the answer to that question became all too frighteningly apparent. And Jaune remembered whom Neo had loved most in all the world, and whose arms she'd rushed back to when she thought Jaune had betrayed her.
Neo stood before the smoldering pieces of ship hull, taking in the sight. Jaune moved closer to her, reaching his hand towards her shoulder. "Neo…?"
His fingers never managed to find Neo, who stepped towards the wreckage, her head ever so slightly lowered as she stared at something on the ground, crouching down to move aside a few pieces of debris, then very slowly lift up what she'd been seeking. Jaune had only briefly seen Roman Torchwick in person and his mugshot lacked the trademark accompaniment, but he remembered the red-striped black bowler hat. And based on Neo's reactions…
Some people could be forgiven for thinking Neo made no sound at all; she was so quiet it was easy to miss. Jaune had spent enough time around her to recognize her small breaths, and now they were emerging from her as rapid, strangled sobs.
He'd seen Neo cry before, but even then she'd kept herself contained. He'd seen her tears but never once heard her sadness given voice.
Jaune stepped over, deliberately walking around her rather than trying to approach her back: he wanted to be sure she could see him coming, even with tears in her eyes and all her attention on a discarded hat. He waited for her eyes to find his, for her to finally look up at him and see clearly she was not alone.
Neo never quite managed to raise her head. She shut her eyes tight and pressed the hat to her chest, crossing her arms over herself, trying to bury the pain rising up within her. Her sobs were impossible to miss now, and Jaune knew he had to act, even if it meant catching her by surprise and provoking her wrath.
Whatever she had with Roman had clearly been special. He hoped to understand it one day… but for the moment it was for more pressing he made clear to Neo he was there for her and despair wasn't the only emotion she needed to feel.
He was slow in motion, giving Neo ample time to retreat from him if she so wished. She was still sobbing when he pressed her head to his chest and wrapped his arms around her, offering her some warmth from outside to help combat the cold sadness growing from within.
Neo had known this was Roman's fate the previous night, but had still needed to confirm it for herself. She needed to know there was nothing more that could be done, to know that he wasn't just waiting for her to regroup so they could finally leave and have the life together they were meant to.
But then nothing in Neo's life had ended up as it was meant to. She should've died on the streets long before, and even if things had gone to plan for them, Cinder may well have killed Roman and herself once their usefulness to her had ended… or worse, she'd be alive now, alone before this place that would mark Roman's headstone with nothing but bitter anger and vengeance left to her.
Instead she had Jaune holding her to him, reminding her that whatever she had lost -however great her sorrow was- she was not alone.
And vengeance…
Cinder was dead. And while she may have led Roman to this fate, she was not his killer. And while she'd managed to hold back at the time, Neo very much wanted to harm Ruby Rose for what the girl in the hood had done.
But she was Jaune's friend. And Blake and Pyrrha's friend… and by extension, Neo now had memories of the younger girl as her friend, almost as recent as Neo had memories of battling her atop the warship that composed the scattered wreckage that now served as a gravesite.
She tried to be satisfied with the revenge she had. She tried to tell herself denying Cinder her victory gave Roman's ghost peace and she wouldn't be haunted by his memory.
Here, in Jaune's arms, she believed it was possible.
But holding Roman's hat, knowing he was gone… she wondered just how many times she could forgive, and whether or not she should. After all, no one would mourn Roman Torchwick but her. No one else would carry on his legacy but his only family, and Neo very much wished for his final day in the world to be remembered as something more than failure and defeat.
She couldn't quite manage to put the thought aside. Much as she wished to forget and find contentment there in Jaune's arms, she couldn't simply let go. Not yet.
Blake and Yang had meant to accompany Ruby and Weiss in visiting their injured friends, but Ruby had eventually made efforts to split off with Weiss, and Blake discreetly motioned for Yang and herself to find somewhere quiet to talk.
The safe zone was still packed with people -both Vale citizens and visitors from the other three kingdoms- but more and more were leaving on transports with each passing hour. In addition to the various Atlas barracks being offered to civilians, a few temporary housing units had been set up with cots and heating lamps and Blake found an unoccupied one for them to sit and talk a moment.
"And here I thought you might be into Jaune," Yang dryly observed before giving Blake a wink.
Blake tried to appreciate her partner's good humor, though at the moment it was taxing… mostly because Yang wasn't wrong. "He's not the one I wanted to talk to you about."
"Oh, come on," Yang moaned, "You make it sound like I'm gonna attack her at any moment…"
"And you're telling me you won't?" Blake asked. "You won't try and take your shot if you get the chance to?"
"I'm not looking to pick a fight," Yang assured her. "Not right now, anyway."
"And tomorrow? The day after?" Blake inquired.
"I thought we already had this talk," Yang noted.
Blake recalled it well, after watching Yang's battle with Mercury. The thought of tears in her lilac eyes reminded Blake how hard it could be to talk to Yang… especially when it came to reining in her passion. Much like Jaune, she was always very genuine and sincere in her efforts.
Which made her hatred for Neo all the harder for Blake to address, because Yang had good reason to hate her. Even after entering into an alliance with her to stop Cinder, Blake wouldn't have made this effort to talk to Yang now had it not been for the experience they shared at the top of Beacon tower, where Neo's memories became Blake's.
"She's sticking around now," Blake reminded her. "She's not going anywhere. Are you really going to be able to put up with her day in and day out?"
"So what if she stays?" was Yang's flippant reply. "It's not like I'll have to spend any time with her; isn't that what Jaune will be doing?"
"Not just him," Blake corrected. "Pyrrha and I as well… we'll have to be around her just as often." Blake reached a hand up to feel to her chest, watching Yang out of the corner of her eye, making sure she was paying attention. "Right now, apart from her I feel… off. I feel… I'm not even sure how to describe it; a burning sensation almost like hunger, right under my skin. Something from me, some little piece of my soul is with her now, and another piece is with Pyrrha. When we separated from each other, it hit me, building up slowly and hurting worse and worse. I think Neo herself is okay –she's still got Jaune with her, after all- but I don't know how Pyrrha's handling it. I think she's taking it better."
Blake activated her Aura, the thin barrier forming over her body in a very visible line of white, so much energy radiating off her it appeared almost like flames rising from the surface, not unlike the explosion of energy that accompanied Yang's Semblance. "We're all bound with each other now, and whatever she may have done before, she's a Maiden now… or part of one, or akin to one, or whatever this thing with us is. And when this happened, when our Auras were linked, I experienced her memories. I saw things from her perspective."
"Short?" Yang snarked.
Blake shook her head. "Alone."
Yang was contemplative for a moment, as the Aura rising off Blake slowly dispersed, the power returning within her. The release of energy had alleviated the pain a moment, and then it returned almost as quickly, a nagging burn in the pit of her stomach.
"So you saw all the things she did firsthand, then," Yang noted. "You know everything she's guilty of."
"Things I'm guilty of too, Yang," Blake argued. "Stealing, killing… following someone I loved no matter how bad he got. Do you really think she's so much worse than I am?"
"Do you really think I should forget that she tried to kill me and Ruby?" Yang demanded.
"Do you think she can forget that Ruby killed her family?" Blake was quick to fire back.
A long silence hung in the air between them. Neither spoke for several moments.
Eventually, Blake continued. "We sat and talked like this before the dance, remember? When I was so angry about Roman Torchwick I wouldn't let myself sleep and kept ignoring you guys when you tried to help?"
"I remember," Yang eventually confirmed.
"Well, now I remember loving Roman like family," Blake explained, though her face noticeably scrunched up at the notion. "I remember him taking me in and helping me survive and offering me friendship and support… and then I remember when we fought on the train, how badly I wanted to kill him right then and there."
"Maybe you should have," Yang mused.
Blake couldn't deny wondering if things could've ended differently… but they could've just as easily ended with Yang hurt –even killed- by Adam yesterday too. She was content with the good fortune she'd found already.
"The point I'm getting at is that sometimes the bad guys aren't as bad as we think they are," Blake replied, lifting her hand from her chest and looking down at the flat of her palm. "And maybe we're not as good. Life's more complicated than that."
She needed more than the platitude she'd offered; Blake still had to dissuade Yang from chasing after revenge. Blake had to remind her of its cost.
"Yesterday, Neo killed Adam," Blake explained. "After she saved both our lives. Then she helped us kill Cinder. Yes, she did terrible things… but she did those terrible things at the right times. When she didn't have Roman calling her shots, she put down people even worse."
"Well, you were in her head," Yang noted. "She suddenly have a change of heart?"
"No, not at all," Blake conceded. "Nothing about her change was sudden… it all happened because Jaune was willing to put his faith in her, to believe that she wasn't a vicious psychopath like everyone else did."
Blake had gained a little more confidence now, holding Yang's gaze. "And he put faith in me too, deciding to believe in me even when he knew I'd betrayed his trust; when I helped you try to catch her after the breach."
Blake thought back to the Saturday before the dance again. "I'm not asking you to forget, Yang. I'm not even asking you to forgive. I'm just asking you to… not spend all your time angry at her for what she's done; not hate someone just because of the person they were in the past."
Yang knew just how personal that last one was for Blake. And while Yang was not in any way keen to drop her grudge, hearing her partner ask this of her…
She didn't understand what Blake had experienced, but capable liar though Blake could be, she'd never admit to sympathizing with Roman Torchwick had she not experienced something truly powerful. And while Blake wasn't actively mourning his loss, she did seem saddened to mention it, just as Yang had been when she spoke of Summer's death.
Neo regarded Roman as family, and the loss of that family had torn at her heart. That above all Yang could easily understand.
"Well, let's give it a try, then," Yang suggested.
Blake seemed puzzled. "Yang…?"
"When she gets back, we sit down –you, me, her, Rubes, maybe Jaune…all of us if we have to- and we talk this out," Yang clarified. "I'm not saying it'll go the way you want it to, but if she's sincere… if she's really changed then I'll give her a shot."
Blake knew that was equivalent to throwing a lit match at a pile of explosives. Whatever accord Neo had reached with Pyrrha and Blake, she was not over what Ruby had done to Roman. Yang's proposed meeting could very easily end badly for all of them.
But if it meant peace between them, an end to Yang's grudge and possibly even some reconciliation in whoever was able to reach for it…
It was important they try. It had to be a better solution than just letting the thoughts fester in Yang and Neo as each contemplated revenge from afar.
Blake wordlessly nodded. If nothing else, they'd see just how strong a grudge could be and whether friendship was enough to defeat it.
Ironwood held up a display of Oobleck's Scroll footage of Neo. Glynda held up a display of Blake's student profile. Qrow held up a flask and took an extended draught from it.
Ironwood pinched between his eyes with his free hand. "So instead of the Fall Maiden's powers binding to you, they also ended up in a former member of the White Fang and a dangerous criminal who actively fought against us for the first half of the battle. Well, I suppose there's some positive in that you didn't mention that in your little speech."
"Only because I didn't want to make the decision for them," Pyrrha explained. "I won't be keeping any secrets, but I won't be forcing anyone to follow my example."
Pyrrha broke eye contact, though only briefly. She had no trouble expressing her defiance to these adults and their conspiracies, but she had much greater difficulty recalling her own wrongdoing. "Secrets can hurt more than you realize, even when you think you're keeping them for the right reasons." When she looked at Ironwood again, she was assertive once more. "So if you want to keep protecting this lie you can, if only because my friends weren't as eager to step into the light as I was."
"By protecting the identities of a former terrorist and a woman who slaughtered my soldiers," Ironwood spat.
"With all due respect, General," Pyrrha replied. "Your machines caused more harm to the innocent than Neo or Blake ever did." And she had the memories to confirm it.
For a long time Ironwood just glared at her. He clearly wasn't used to being countermanded, and he wasn't willing to conceal his distaste as he had with Ozpin. And while Pyrrha hadn't objected to telling him off, she conceded she may have gone too far, and this standoff wasn't getting them anywhere.
"But ultimately Cinder was responsible for the virus that turned your knights and paladins against the people," Pyrrha amended. "And they were the ones to stop her and save Beacon right along with me."
Pyrrha thought back on her memories mingling with the other two. "Blake had to fight against her former comrades in the White Fang. Terrible as she felt to do it, she knew she had to: better they think her a traitor than she stand by and let the Grimm kill the innocent. Neo could've just run away and left us to die, but she came back to save the life of someone important to her."
"Mister Arc, you mean," Glynda interjected.
Pyrrha briefly nodded to confirm. "And even after that she remained with us, defeating Cinder and fending off the Grimm."
"I have no doubts about Miss Belladonna's sincerity," Ironwood decided. "She could've turned on Beacon when the battle was still going the White Fang's way or earlier than that at the breach. But this one-" he furiously pointed at the camera footage of Neo, "-this one did nothing but gain from what happened last night. She's exactly the sort of person who might come to steal the Maiden's power; exactly the sort of person Ozpin organized us to defend against."
How wrong he was to assume Neo hadn't lost anything. "All she ever wanted was to protect the people she cared about," Pyrrha explained.
"And noble as that motivation sounds, it's still inherently selfish," Ironwood argued. "The desire to protect can very easily become the need to direct and control… and protecting your own can often lead you to decide not to protect anyone else."
Ironwood hit a little closer to home than Pyrrha was comfortable with; a reminder of her own misguided efforts to protect her own. "And what would you suggest we do, General? Put her in your machine and rip the powers out of her?"
"If you prefer that to ordering her execution for crimes against the kingdoms of Atlas and Vale," Ironwood sternly replied.
Pyrrha had at times found it difficult to compose her thoughts when speaking to the teachers about this, but this was the first instance since arriving in the barracks she was truly surprised. "You'd… execute her?"
"To ensure the safety of… not only our kingdoms, but the world?" Ironwood replied. "Yes. I don't know why the Maiden's power has split, but I do know that it's currently in the wrong hands. You can go out there and make yourself a target… but I'll be damned if I'll let her be the one who receives it all should it ever reconstitute in a single host."
Pyrrha turned her attention to Glynda. "And you'd just allow him to do this?"
Glynda was quiet for a long moment as she put aside Blake's student profile. "If that's what the Vale council agrees must be done. Her decision to help defend Beacon does not erase her decision to work in the employ of a criminal like Roman Torchwick or her decision to kill soldiers assigned to defend Vale during the Vytal Festival. And while I don't share all of General Ironwood's views, I do agree that a criminal should be punished for her crimes."
Pyrrha glanced between all three. Qrow continued to silently drink, having contributed nothing to the conversation yet. "And then what?" Pyrrha asked, returning her attention to Ironwood and Glynda.
"There will be a lot of questions about what happened today," Ironwood explained. "But if the girl cooperates, I'm sure we can be lenient in sentencing. She deserves worse for what she did to my men, but I think the council will be content with a number of years imprisoned."
Pyrrha's eyes widened. There was no way –even if Neo were willing to give the Maiden's power up- that she'd agree to that. No matter what strides she'd taken to be a better person, she wouldn't let Ironwood throw her in a cage like he had with Roman.
"She won't go along," Pyrrha assured him.
"Well," Ironwood mused, "It's fortunate that we have yourself and Miss Belladonna here for when she inevitably reminds us of her true colors."
Neo and Jaune eventually managed to remove themselves from the flagship's crash site, returning back to the school grounds. Jaune took note of the dorms still mostly intact, and awkwardly suggested: "Would you… like to sit down a moment? Before we return to the others?"
Neo recognized the location; she hadn't been so far away when she posed as Cinder's teammate. Though Roman was still weighing heavily on her mind, she thought it might make a good distraction. Neo nodded, and reached one hand over to take hold of Jaune's, waiting on him to lead her.
Jaune complied, taking her inside. The elevator was broken so he led her up four flights of stairs… clearly he hadn't only invited her in so they could rest for a while. Not if he wanted her to accompany him to the top floor.
When they reached the twin dorms of RWBY and JNPR, Jaune no longer needed his Scroll to unlock his door; it seemed the security system -or possibly the entire electrical grid- was no longer functional. Jaune pushed the door open and invited Neo inside with a wave of his arm.
She had wondered if she'd ever see his dorm room; if she'd ever experience this side of his life. They'd spent so long in an isolated pocket, away from Jaune's studies and Neo's particular brand of work at times it was hard to remember what went on in the rest of the world. And she didn't particularly want to think about the rest of the world when she was with Jaune. She wanted only to be where she was then and there, without the past to haunt her or the future to wait on the horizon.
Now she couldn't help but think on the past: she carried it around in one hand. And the future seemed very close, as she couldn't help but think what would happen now. How long would she sit in a safe zone patrolled by Atlesian soldiers? How long would it take for Jaune (and Blake and Pyrrha) to return to school? How long until someone came looking for Pyrrha's power the way Cinder had for Amber's?
And of course… how long would it be until someone came looking for revenge on her? For the tournament, for the White Fang, for Atlas, for Cinder…
They'd saved Beacon together, and yet their future seemed less certain than it'd be had the school fallen to the Grimm. At least then they'd still be moving and not left to be consumed by doubts and fears.
Having Jaune on hand helped with that. He pointed out the amenities, his room having gone largely untouched. His exposition combined with what Neo could recall of Pyrrha's memories of having been there, and it completed the picture for her. It gave her insight into Jaune as he was away from Neo's eye, and she wasn't surprised to learn he was just as endearing and kind in this other place as he was with her.
But at the same time, Neo clearly saw a life she didn't fit into. She'd never known this sort of camaraderie or this advanced education Jaune and Pyrrha and Blake all shared; more even than Jaune, Neo was the outlier among them. Even now, with their souls all bound together, she was still apart from them.
And from him.
Jaune sat down on his bed, but didn't remain upright for very long, gradually sliding down to lie upon the mattress and then fighting not to drift off to sleep. No doubt bearing the brunt of Cinder's attack and remaining up all night and then letting Neo lead him around had left him quite exhausted, even with his considerable Aura. Neo curled up beside him, removing her hand from his grip and sliding over his face to close his eyes.
Jaune mentioned how much he enjoyed the sight of Neo sleeping beside him. He may have been on to something, because she quite liked the sight of Jaune beside her, listening to soft breaths and watching slow, subtle rising and falling in his chest. Pressed to him she could revel in his warmth, and given how tall he was compared to her she really could lie just about anywhere and find a good groove to nestle herself within. While making herself comfortable lying beside him, Neo felt Roman's bowler poke into her side and she hoisted it up, holding it in the air over her head and thinking on that past she was so desperately trying to escape from by huddling so close to the present.
Neo turned her attention back to Jaune and held the hat before him, covering his scraggly blonde head and squinting. It was a good look for him, but then, it was a very nice hat.
The longer she looked at it, however…
She fell in love with Jaune in part because of him showing her kindness just as Roman had. But the longer she spent with him, the clearer it was Jaune Arc was not Roman Torchwick. Roman showed Neo a side of himself no one else got to see. Jaune was always the kind, sincere person she'd met on that first night at the docks and never pretended to be any worse than that.
Neo loved Roman. She missed him terribly. But Jaune was not a replacement, and the love she had for him… well, she was hoping that'd be enough to change her for the better.
She slid on Roman's hat herself. It was too big and sat lopsided on her head, but she had managed to put the burden of carrying Roman aside without having to cast him away. She could still keep him with her without him at the forefront of her mind. And lying beside Jaune, it was possible for her to think her sadness wouldn't follow her around forever.
And as an added bonus, she had a memory of herself and him that she didn't know would be shared with Blake and Pyrrha… possibly only this one last time, but still a present she could remain in. And when the future inevitably arrived, at least she'd be beside him.
Neo nestled her head to Jaune's chest and closed her eyes.
"And I don't suppose there's anything I can say to dissuade you?" Pyrrha asked.
"Do you really believe the girl is deserving of clemency?" Glynda asked. "I'm sure now that you've announced your intention to become a guardian of the kingdom the Vale Council will listen to what you have to say."
Pyrrha thought long and hard on the matter. She replayed the various memories from the perspectives of both Neo and herself, and whether or not she was deserving of forgiveness. Though Pyrrha had certainly been obligated to apologize for wronging Neo for her own selfish and petty reasons, there was so much more to consider.
At first she stole to survive: food for her belly and Lien to rent a room when the night was too cold to sleep through. Perhaps not ideal, but not something Pyrrha could begrudge her for.
Then under Torchwick more complex and elaborate heists. Certainly she never intended to kill, but never batted an eye when she did, and certainly stole more than she needed to survive. All of it done for Roman and at his behest, but with each theft it was harder and harder for Pyrrha to justify with her own moral compass… but she tried to be understanding nonetheless, to see it from Neo's perspective, where morality was centered entirely around doing what was best for Roman and herself.
Sympathy whittled away further after Neo killed two members of the White Fang… cruel men, criminals themselves, but also men already subdued, whom Jaune suggested she simply have arrested. It was more important to Neo then to defend a stash of stolen goods than it was to preserve a life.
And then Neo suffered through increasingly tense alliances with the White Fang and Cinder Fall, all for Roman's sake… only to briefly entertain a better life as Jaune started pulling her away from all that wrongdoing, though never once did she accept Roman deserved the imprisonment he received for trying to lead Grimm into Beacon. Neo had yet to suffer repercussions for willingly helping him do so, because the only lives that mattered to her were Jaune's and Roman's, and so long as they were safe she was willing to let thousands of others suffer and die.
And then she killed several soldiers on Blue Two to free Roman, and then gave him the virus Cinder had written to take control of Ironwood's robots, unleashing them on the innocent. She may not have pulled the trigger, but she stood by and watched the weapon fired all the same.
It was hard to deny the truth. Not when Pyrrha had declared her intention to uphold it.
"I don't know," Pyrrha admitted. "I want to believe anyone can be redeemed."
"You know my kingdom's position," Ironwood remarked. "I'll give you time to consider my offer, but if she doesn't agree to surrender herself, I'll personally see to it she is… dealt with."
"There's no need to threaten the girl, James," Glynda interjected, casting the general a very stern look.
Qrow had apparently heard enough and sidled away. Ironwood raised an eyebrow and inquired: "Nothing to add, Qrow?"
"Seems to me like you've made up your mind," Qrow replied with a shrug. "So right after we all fight off the Grimm and the rest of Salem's little buddies we go right back to fighting each other. Great plan."
"Salem?" Pyrrha repeated.
Qrow cast her a crooked smile. "Secrets, kid. Like you said… they can hurt more than you realize. Especially when we're all supposed to be on the same side."
Ironwood was aghast. "Qrow… what did you just-"
"I'm gonna take a minute to say hi to my nieces," Qrow answered. "Then I'll go into Beacon and bring the girl and her little boyfriend back; see if maybe we can work something out before anybody decides that killing an ally is the way to settle our problems."
Ironwood continued to glare after Qrow's back as he headed out of the barracks. Glynda was more ambivalent, but also clearly displeased by what he'd said.
Pyrrha focused her attention on Glynda. There was only one question on her mind: "Who is Salem?"
True to his word, Qrow did find his nieces. Ruby and Yang were with their teammates visiting Ruby's Faunus friend Velvet, who'd taken a bad hit fighting an Atlesian paladin. The rabbit-eared girl seemed in good enough health and spirits not to be bothered by Ruby's attention shifting elsewhere, as she bounded over to glomp her uncle's side with an enthusiastic: "Uncle Qroooww!"
Qrow never got tired of that. Still, he knew he shouldn't wait too long, just in case James turned out to be right about Neo and she had already decided to flee. He figured the blonde kid with her must've been easy to sway, given he was a teenage boy and she was a pretty girl.
Still, he'd ended up carrying something important and needed to find some place to keep it, away from the interested hands of a professional thief. He'd probably eventually let Glynda know he had it, but he'd wait for a good time to tell her when James wasn't present. For now…
"Here, kid, I need you to do me a favor and hang onto this," Qrow requested, pulling up Ozpin's cane and handing the collapsed device to Ruby. "I've been looking after it but I need to make a quick run back to Beacon before we send in any cleanup crews."
Ruby inspected the device. She'd seen Ozpin hold it several times, yet apparently couldn't work out how to extend the staff. "Why? Isn't this just a… cane?"
"Actually, it's a relic that gives you ultimate power," Qrow replied.
Ruby snorted before she started laughing. "Come on, really?"
"Not only that," Qrow assured her. "It's also a gun."
"Okay, that I believe," Ruby confirmed. "Show me how this thing works."
Qrow ruffled her hair. "When I get back, kid. Just hang onto it for me for a moment… I'll tell you the whole story."
"Maybe another time," Ruby suggested. "Yang and Blake asked me to meet Jaune and Neo later. We… uh… we have some stuff to talk about."
Another subject for Qrow to bring up when he found them. Though not something he'd be mentioning to Ruby.
No doubt Pyrrha thought it'd be easy to tell the truth. Even to loved ones… sometimes it was very difficult. And lies of omission were more the rule than the exception with the two girls he loved the most.
Qrow made his exit and headed out as quickly as he'd come by. Ruby glanced around for him, but only saw a black bird flapping up over the city.
Jaune woke after less than an hour of rest. Neo had slept even less –if she'd slept at all- but felt quite rested when she felt him stir beside her. For a long time they just lay there in his bed, finally enjoying the chance to share the moment they'd been denied again and again.
Each tried to tell the other their thoughts, to explain what they wanted, where they thought things were going. Neither got very far before they simply lay in bed in an embrace, words disappearing under the greater power of one kiss after another.
They managed to refrain from going any further than that, but only just. Only because their friends were waiting, and they knew they had to return at some point, before Pyrrha sent them another text. Jaune made a point to gather what non-perishable staple foods he could from his dorm and the common room before he and Neo headed outside…
…to be greeted by a duo; a dark skinned girl with green hair and a tall boy with silver hair. Neo was at once on her guard, and Jaune followed shortly thereafter with Crocea Mors after he dropped all the stuff he'd attempted to haul out.
Mercury put up his hands. "Whoa, there, guys, hang on. We're not here to fight."
"Normally we'd have left as soon as things went south," Emerald added. "But someone asked us to extend an invitation to you specifically, Neo."
Neo eyed the green haired girl warily. She was in no hurry to hear her out, and even less to believe her.
"Turns out Cinder wasn't the one calling the shots," Mercury explained. "And the real lady in charge? She wanted to ask you a question."
Emerald pulled out her Scroll, typing something onto the tiny datapad. "How did she put it… 'what is your favorite fairy tale?'"
Neo inferred immediately. Ozpin had asked Pyrrha the same thing.
From the Scroll came a holographic projection; tattered and blurred with static, of a woman with sickly pale skin and burning red eyes. It wasn't often Neo was frightened, but this woman intimidated her more than Cinder ever had without even being physically present.
"More than that, child," the projection asked her, "…what do you want most in all the world? Because I can grant it… if you're strong enough to hold it."
A black bird looked on, perched on one of the guest dorms… as mankind's greatest enemy extended a hand of friendship to the weapon that could be used to stop her.
Back at the refugee camp in the safe zone, Ruby was continuing to work on Ozpin's cane. Normally Ruby was the one entrusted when weapon maintenenace became difficult or required some specialty, but this weapon seemed to vex her as she failed time and again to extend the staff from its collapsed state. Yang and Weiss were highly amused by her attempts –particularly when she started bashing it against the ground- but Blake was still feeling quite irritable from being separated from the other two Maidens, and the way Ruby bashed the cane to the ground hit her sensitive ears particularly hard.
"Here," Blake requested, walking over and extending her hand. Though Ruby looked like she might prefer to continue venting, she eventually complied and handed the headmaster's cane to her.
At once the staff extended. All eyes turned to Blake holding the weapon… especially when the white spherical bauble on the cane opened up, revealing a smaller white sphere within, embedded with a swirling pattern.
Blake looked down at the compartment she'd inadvertently opened and reached her fingers in. When she hoisted up the sphere, it glowed a brighter white, and Blake's Aura responded to it… the white fire of her Maiden power encircling this small white ball, the color running along its surface in a constant, repeating cycle… spinning around like a planet moving through its orbit.
"Ruby..." Blake just managed to say. "What did your uncle say this was?"
"He… uh, said it was a relic that gives you… ultimate power…" Ruby replied.
Blake looked down at the tiny spinning sphere. Whatever it was, it seemed to divert her attention from the burning pangs that had been troubling her before.
And there was power within it. Blake could feel it pressing to her fingertips and pushing into her body, like a pulse to match her own.
Of all the things she might've heard today, the last she expected was for a drunk to tell her the truth.