AN: Here we go again with another chapter of RWBY: Red Ice. Remember to check out my other story RWBY: Kitty-Kat. Also remember to follow and favorite and leave me a review. Something new I'm going to start is giving people to a chance for a shout out at the beginning of each chapter! So remember to leave a review for a chance for that. Also make sure to check out TheBurningRuler and Nightmare 6-4 and our collaborated story Team BAWM.
The next couple months had come and gone faster than we expected. With no classes we spent a lot of time relaxing. Well all except for me. I had to get back into fighting shape. Carmine had brought back the custom weapon I had ordered. A sniper rifle with built in dust chambers. I had it modified with dual chambers to mix dust to get similar effects to the ammo Weiss gave me before the final round of the tournament. In addition to that the barrel can be changed into an estoc that also gains the effects of the dust. It had a strap that allowed me to carry it on my back when I use the sword. Lilly modified my SMG's to clip on to my body as well, and I started carrying Xana's Kunai on my right leg. I got permission from Shade to be allowed to keep my SMG's and Kunai on me at all times. However, since it wasn't as easy to conceal, I had to keep my sniper in my locker. Lilly mentioned something about working on a secret project for me, but she wouldn't say anything else.
Shade gave us permission to hold a funeral for Xana and Pyrrha. We originally planned for it to be between our team and CFVY. Somehow word got out and a lot of the students came to give their respects to our fallen friends. Team MARK became close friends with our group.
Yatsuhashi, Kazuto, Fox and Neo spent a lot of time helping me getting back in shape. It took me back to the incident in Emerald Forest. How afterward everyone took the time to help me recover. It took a while to get used to fighting with one arm. Neo and Asada were especially helpful when it came to training with my new weapon. It felt like I was slowly making progress, but I had this staggering feeling something was still missing. All my friends lent a helping hand, and I was fully armed. I couldn't put my finger on what I was having trouble with.
Classes were to start next week, and I still hadn't made up my mind whether to continue with my team or step aside. Shade had told me that if I decided to step aside, he'd let me select the replacement for our team from the other students who had their teams broken up. All the students who were coming back after the attack had arrived. Andrew and Kazuto informed us that it looked like a lot more teams broke up than he thought would.
I woke up having hardly slept the previous night. I was trying to come up with a definite answer to give Shade. I got up decided to get ready for the day and get some breakfast. I walked into the cafeteria to see Coco sitting alone.
"Since when are you up this early?" She asked.
"Hard time sleeping." I said.
"I've guessing you still haven't made up you're mind?" She asked.
"Nope." I said.
"What do you think Weiss would say?" She asked.
"That's easy, she'd tell me to step aside." I said. '
"Would you do it if she was here to tell you that?" She asked.
I gave a small chuckle. "Knowing her it wouldn't have been a choice. 'You're stepping aside and that's final.' No amount of arguing would have changed her mind." I said.
"Would you have tried to argue it?" She asked.
"For all of about five minutes if I even got that much." I said.
"Then you should already have your answer." She said.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"When you first told us about your choices you had five of us telling you to stand down, and your still unsure. If Weiss were here, you'd have only needed one of us to decide. You've made better progress recovering than a lot of us anticipated. Even still your questioning yourself." She said.
"You know somehow after all this time I never actually asked myself what Weiss would think." I said. I got up from the table and started walking away.
"Where are you going?" She asked.
"To talk to Shade." I said.
I made my way to his office and knocked on his door. He opened it and invited me in. His desk was filled with paperwork with stacks on each side of it as well.
"I'm not interrupting you, am I?" I asked.
"Not at all. In fact, I could use the distraction right now. Without Oz to help me out I have to figure a lot of this stuff out on my own. Between setting up all the new students and reestablishing the returning students. It's been a hell of a process." He said.
"What about the previous headmaster? Shouldn't he be able to help you?" I asked.
"You'd think so, but I haven't seen him in weeks. At least the other teachers have been a good help, but even with their help its still an exhausting task. Regardless have you come up with a decision?" He asked.
"Yeah I have. I've decided I'm not ready to give up yet. There are things I have to take care of that I need to be stronger in order to accomplish. Once that's over then I'll stand down until then I can't stop." I said.
"I understand. I know I gave it as an option however things have changed, and I'm afraid I'll have to add another member to your team anyway. Don't worry you'll remain the leader and you won't have the restrictions from our original deal. Due to the number of students that either transferred or didn't come back at all I have to rearrange some of the students. As of now I can't say whether this will be a permanent addition or not. I'll still let you choose the new addition… If I can find where I put the dossiers." He said.
"Wait I'm pretty sure a student isn't allowed to look at other students' files." I said.
"Technically yes, but I can still give you the basic information." He said still looking for through the pile on his desk. "Oh, found them!" He cleared off a spot on his desk and laid down a stack of five folders. He took a picture and sheet from each one and placed them in front of me. "The four members you don't choose are going to be put on a team together."
The first one I looked at was a girl named Haily Crane. She is a human that uses a shield and sword. Next was Mari Hiroka, a cat faunus that uses a chain sword. Next was Tarro Krios, a monkey faunus that uses a dust infused chainsaw. Next is a Hunter Valon, A human that uses twin gauntlet blades. And finally was Reese Chloris. The name sounded familiar, but I wasn't sure how.
"Hey, this last one Reese Chloris. Is she a transfer or something I feel like I know the name from somewhere?" I asked.
"Actually, she is a transfer. She was part of team ABRN at Haven Academy. Her team was part of the Vytal Festival. Unfortunately, they lost to team RWBY in the first round." He said.
"Now I remember. She was the first one eliminated. She was also Cerise's teammate back when they were in Haven together. I think I'll pick her. Probably easier to join a team with someone you already know." I said.
"Great I'll let her know and have the arrangements set up." He said.
"I suppose I should go let everyone else know then." I said heading for the door.
"One more thing Crimson." He said. I stopped and turned back to him. "Should I expect you to let me know when you plan to leave, or will I find out when you don't show up for class?"
"What do you mean?" I asked confused.
"Let's just say I went through a situation where I had to leave Beacon for a while. I have a feeling you'll be doing the same thing. So, are you going to at least let me know first, or am I going to find out when your teachers do?" He asked.
I gave a small chuckle. "Guess you'll have to find out when I do." I left his office and headed for my dorm. I entered to see team CFVY and MARK inside. "Did I miss something?"
"Figured you'd be telling everyone eventually anyway. So, I went ahead and invited everyone over." Coco said.
"You invited people to someone else's dorm?" I asked.
"Yep now spill it. What did you decide?" Coco asked.
"Yeah about that. I gave my answer and then got told due to the number of broken teams we'd be getting a new member regardless." I said.
"So then you're stepping aside?" Velvet asked.
"Hell No! I understand fully that I'm probably not going to be able to be a huntsman for much longer. However, like I told Shade there are things I need to do before I give it up. I need to get stronger in order to accomplish them. I'm not going to get any stronger if I play it safe and do minor training on the side. I know this probably isn't the popular choice for me to make, but I feel like it was the necessary one." I said.
"You don't wanna give up till you see her again do you?" Coco asked.
"Crimson we went over this. There's no way you'll get to Atlas. Even if you do, I'm sure Jacques has things set up so you'll never see her again." Cerise said.
"Not necessarily. If what I've understood is correct, then he would have no reason to know you were sent to a Vacuo hospital. Weiss probably wouldn't have told him you were diverted worried he'd send someone to finish the job. Since the hospital would have no records of you being there. He'd assume you passed away before arriving. Meaning he wouldn't have precautions set up for a dead man." Kazuto said.
"Either way Weiss isn't the only reason I need to get stronger. I wanna meet my parents someday. Try to get some answers. Not only that, but if Jaune's working with Cinder then I'm sure somehow, he'll find out I'm alive. I have a feeling he'll want to finish the job. If he would get me alone, I need to be able to fight him off." I said.
"Guess this would be a good time to reveal my project from the past couple months." Lilly said stepping forward. "Take your shirt and jacket off."
"Excuse me?" I said.
"What is the little monkey embarrassed to take off his clothes in front of a room half full of girls?" She asked.
"Take it off!" Coco yelled.
I gave a defeated sigh and started taking off my jacket. "This better be good."
Once my shirt was off, she held a metal disk up to where my missing arm was. "Now I will warn you this might hurt a bit." The disk shot multiple small wires into my shoulder. Fusing itself to my skin.
"Fuck that hurt!" I yelled.
"Oh quit it you baby. Now watch this is the fun part." She said. The disk opened and another small wire came out. Then a large amount of liquid silver formed around it and slowly began to take shape. "Voila you now have a fully metal arm. I'll spare you the difficult sciency details since you probably wouldn't understand most of them anyway and say it's magic. This is a prototype I've been working on since I learned about your situation. Before anyone, Coco, says anything I didn't do it because I'm in love with him or anything like that. I did it to see if I could. Essentially to boost my own ego, cause I mean this pretty much cements how awesome I am. It's an incredibly durable substance that can take any shape you want. The only thing it can't do is projectile weapons, but if you wanna turn it into a unicorn and beat someone with it you sure can. It's also dust compatible. Crush a dust crystal with it and it'll be infused with the dust. The only drawback is the effects only last about 10 minutes."
"I'm not sure what to say. Thank you so much Lilly." I said putting my clothes back on.
"Yeah I know I'm awesome. So, who wants to test him out?" She asked.
"I'm in." Kazuto said.
"Same." Fox said.
"Maybe now he'll actually be able to beat you Yatsu." Coco said.
"I doubt it, but I'd love to see him try." Yatsu said.
"Don't think I'm gonna be left out of this." Ryou said.
"Hold on before we do anything else, I'd like to know who your new teammate is going to be." Velvet asked.
"Oh, right I almost forgot. It's a transfer student from Haven Academy that Cerise knows pretty well." I said.
"Yo…" a girl's voice said from the doorway. "Um so which one of you is Crimson? I'm his new teammate…"
"Reese!?" Cerise yelled out.
"Cerise? What are you doing here?" Reese asked.
"Crimson and I transferred here after the attack on Beacon. Why are you here?" Cerise asked.
"Between Lionheart putting an indefinite hold on classes and Nadir leaving the team we ended up splitting up. Bolin and Arslan stayed at Haven. I figured I was gonna be put on a new team anyway I may as well start fresh. Plus, I heard Shade Academy got a new headmaster, so I figured I'd give it a shot. Shade informed me a few minutes ago I'd been placed on a team and told me to head here. I didn't expect the room to be filled with multiple teams though. So who are my new teammates?" Reese said.
"Looks like you're on my team again. The guy with the metal arm is our leader Crimson. The white-haired bunny is Lilly and finally the pink and brown-haired girl is Neo." Cerise said.
"Don't you think your team had enough girls on it?" Coco asked.
"You should know that wasn't the reason I picked her. She used to be on a team with Cerise, so I figured having a familiar face would be a good idea. Plus, she was good enough for her team to make it to the Vytal tournament." I said.
"Then your ex-girlfriend's team took hers out in the first round." Cerise said.
"Yeah not my proudest moment. Speaking of which, your team made it to the semi-finals with two other members didn't it. What happened to them?" Reese asked.
"Skyler decided to leave the team to join what was left of team JNPR. Xana was killed during the attack." I said.
"Oh shit. I'm sorry. That explains the new additions though." Reese said.
Coco pulled me out the door while Cerise continued to introduce everyone.
"So I'm curious. Now you have a new arm and a new teammate. I'm guessing it's only a matter of time until you decide to leave. I know you have your other reason of wanting to meet your parents to get some answers. Have you thought about what'll happen if Weiss has moved on?" She asked.
"I'm not entirely sure yet. Part of me hopes she holds out, but I realize how selfish that is especially with no knowledge if I even made it alive. Right now, I guess all I can do is stay hopeful. I have to at least try." I said.
"I don't want you to think I'm against this. We never know what's going to happen. If we did I doubt any of us would be in this situation. All I'm saying is maybe think over your options. I know your heart belongs to Weiss, but without knowing what happened to you there is always the possibility she's moved on. I may have been joking but I know for a fact that there's a couple girls in that room that have feelings for you. You said yourself you know that you aren't going to be able to keep this up much longer. Maybe think about your future self and who you think you'd be happiest with." She said.
"I understand what you're saying and in many ways your right. For all I know Weiss could be with someone else right now. Like you said though we never know what's going to happen to us. I'll think about what you said but know in my heart right now. I don't want to think of my future without Weiss." I said.
"Just a tip. I hear rabbit faunus amazing in bed." She said.
"So you know about her feelings?" I asked.
"Oh yeah. That girl thinks she can hide things from me, but she is an open book." She said.
"I figured you had an ulterior motive to letting her stay with me in the hospital." I said.
"Yeah, about that. Have you noticed a difference in Cerise too?" She asked.
"I have. Since the attack she's been blaming herself for a lot of what happened. Losing Xana, and almost losing me hit her hard. I think the fight she had with Skyler hit her the hardest though. I've tried telling her she didn't do anything wrong and even Neo told her it wasn't her fault. Part of her refuses to believe it though. I was kinda hoping having an old friend would help her accept it easier, but I'm just trying to stay optimistic with it." I said.
"Poor girl." She said.
"Actually, I've been meaning to ask you something. You're so concerned about my love life is there anyone you like?" I asked.
"I've had my eye on someone. Good luck getting it out of me though." She said.
We walked back in the room and Ryou was huddled in the corner. Andrew was trying to comfort him. The rest of them were still laughing about something. I ended up sleeping on the floor that night since an extra bed hadn't arrived in the room yet. The next couple days went by uneventful. Classes didn't technically start today, but Shade wanted to give his speech to all the students rather than just the newbies like Ozpin did.
"Thank you all for coming. To the returning students I know this isn't what you're used to. However, after the recent events that took place in Vale, I figured it would be better to give the annual speech to all the student rather than just the new students. I'm going to keep this as short as possible. The world is in a worse place than anyone could have predicted. I know there are many broken or missing teams here. The attack on Beacon was a wake-up call for many. This is no joke. This is no walk in the park. This is our duty as Huntsman and Huntresses. To those of you who came back I admire your drive and ambition. To the new students I am especially proud of all of you. Coming here after seeing what happened shows your true heart. I know there have been a lot of rumors going around regarding initiation for the new students, and how Shade Academy will be run now with me in charge. Regarding how the school will be run. I'll be doing a mixture of how Ozpin ran things at Beacon, and how the previous headmaster ran things. Don't worry I'm not implementing Ozpin's uniform rule. I hated that just as much as anyone else. Regarding initiation. With everything going on in the world the fact that you're here is good enough for me. If you didn't belong here, you wouldn't have come after the attack. I'm sure some of you are thinking that's a bad idea. Thinking that just because they are here doesn't mean they have what it takes. Everyone remembers Pyrrha Nikos. She was regarded as one of Beacon Academies best students. She was one of the students lose their life in the attack. If any of you think someone isn't worthy to be here, I want you to remember how even the best can fall. This is no longer about who thinks they are the best. We all need to work together. There will still be a team sorting program later today lead by professors Crane and Fries. To the returning students I do apologize I am working my hardest to finish managing the broken teams. If you have any suggestions feel free to let me know. Once all the teams have been compiled there will be a ceremony to introduce everyone. Returning students are dismissed. New students will be handed over to Professor Luthor." Shade said.
"Guess we'll be getting a team name after all." I said.
"Did you really think you wouldn't?" Coco asked.
"I just figured he'd have given it to us when we added Reese to our team." I asked.
"How's that working out by the way?" She asked.
"Cerise definitely seems to be in a better mood lately." I said.
"How about Neo?" She asked.
"I'm a little surprised you asked. The adjustment had been… difficult. She doesn't blame anyone for not trusting her. She still can't come to terms with the fact that I do trust her. I'm not sure if anyone else has caught it yet, but I'm know she wakes up crying at night." I said.
"Have you talked to her about that yet?" She asked.
"Not yet. This whole ordeal has hit us all hard. Trying to help everyone at once isn't easy." I said.
"Yatsu and Fox are fine especially since they have new sparring partners with team MARK. I can handle Vel for now. I think you need to talk to her again though. Reese and Lilly seem to be helping Cerise cope easier. That just leaves Neo and you. I know you said you'd take responsibility for her, but you need to make sure your taking care of yourself too." She said.
"Yeah I know. You've seen what tragedy does to me though. I want to get it out of the way as soon as possible. Right now, I need to make sure my team is alright before I deal with my issues. Especially since my issues mean I'll be leaving." I said.
"I know. It's not easy being a leader." She said.
"I'll talk with Velvet when I get a better handle on Neo. Which will hopefully be sooner rather than later." I said.
"If you need help let me know." She said. We went back to our dorms. Lilly, Reese and Cerise were in the room, but Neo wasn't.
"Anyone seen Neo?" I asked.
"She wasn't with you?" Cerise asked.
"No. I'll go look for her." I said. 'Why can't things ever be easy anymore.'
I messaged Neo and started heading for Shade's office to see if she headed there. She messaged back saying she was about to head into town. I told her to wait outside for me. I met up with her in the middle of the courtyard.
"Is everything alright?" She asked.
"That's what I was gonna ask you. You just left without a word." I said.
"I'm a big girl I can take care of myself." She said.
"That's not what I meant. I know you're still having a hard time accepting the way things are now. Trust me this is still hard for the rest of us to take in too." I said.
"At least you all trust each other. You're the only one who trusts me, and I still don't understand why." She said.
"They're slowly coming around. I don't think Reese knows about your past, so she has no reason to not trust you. I've spent enough time with you to understand your not a threat to us. If you were, you'd have had plenty of chances to strike." I said.
"It doesn't seem like they are coming around. Once Reese finds out I'm sure she'll do the same thing." She said.
I took in a deep breath and led her over to a bench nearby.
"Neo you need to stop blaming yourself. I haven't said anything up till now, but I know you're up at night crying. I don't think anyone else has noticed yet." I said.
"Y-you knew." She asked.
"Yeah. Trust me it was hard to not say anything sooner." I said.
"Carmine should have ended me when he had the chance." She said.
"Don't say that." I said.
"Why not? I'm never going to gain anyone's trust after all the horrible things I did. Not that I deserve it in the first place." She said.
"Neo! You still have people that care about you. Shade cares about you. I care about you." I said.
"He's my brother of course he cares." She said.
"Yeah and how many families would welcome someone back who's done the things you've done. He still cares for his sister and wants to help her. I'm sure plenty of people would turn them into the police or something instead." I said.
"Then what do you see in me? What makes you have any emotions other than anger towards me?" She asked.
"Its really hard to explain. You're right for everything that happened I should hate you and want you dead as much as Carmine. It's like I've been telling you though we all have things in the past we aren't proud of. It's how you overcome them that defines you. I know you want to overcome them, and I want to help you. If that means the next time we face that bitch Cinder we kill her together, then so be it. It's her fault that things are like this. It's her fault Beacon is in the shape it is. It's her fault Roman is dead. It's her fault Jaune turned against us. It's her fault I lost my damn arm and almost died again. I don't blame you for following the orders of that manipulative bitch. You only wanted to help him out, but if we keep falling apart, she'll win. Do you want to avenge Roman or let her continue to kill everyone else we love and care about?" I asked.
"Of course I want her dead." She said.
"Then you can't give up either. Once the others get to know you better, they will learn to trust you. If they really weren't willing to give you a chance, they would have tried getting revenge by now. It's been two months, and nothing has happened." I said. I got up and stood in front of her. "If you agree can learn to forgive yourself, I'll help you make sure that Cinder dies."
"Why do you want to help me avenge Roman? He was a criminal even before Cinder got involved." She said.
"You have your reason to want her dead I have mine. I may not agree with Roman's decisions, but he's not the one in front of me right now. If the roles were reversed and he was the one alive wanting Cinder dead for your death I'd still stand by him. This isn't about petty crime anymore. There is some end of the world level shit going on now. The famous expression is the enemy of my enemy is my friend. Cinder must be stopped, no matter the cost." I said.
Neo stood up and gave a small chuckle. "You have to be the dumbest guy I've ever met. You have a lot more in common with him than you know. If you wanna help me avenge Roman, then when the time comes, I'll do what I can to help you with Weiss. Not sure what I'll be able to do, but I'll at least try." She said.
"I appreciate it. Anyway, if you still want to head into town, I'd be happy to accompany you." I said.
"Sure, why not…" She said. She looked towards the dorms. "Actually, if you don't mind, I'd still rather go on my own. Would you do me a favor and meet me on the roof of the dorms tonight." She asked.
"Uh sure. Can I ask why though? We have classes tomorrow, so we probably shouldn't be out to late." I said.
"You trust me, right?" She asked.
"Yeah but…" I started saying.
"Then trust me." She said.
"Alright. What time do you wanna meet?" I asked.
"About seven should be fine." She said.
"Okay." I said.
I left for the training room while Neo headed into town. When I got to the training hall, I accidentally bumped into someone coming out at the same time. Knocking us both to the ground.
"Shit, sorry about that." I said.
"Go figure, another faunus causing issues." A female voice said.
"I'm sorry? I said confused.
"Yeah. Sure you are." She said getting up. I started to get up, but she kicked me back down.
"The hell was that for?" I asked trying to get back up again.
"Now we're even." She said laughing.
"Oh we are far from even bitch." I said. I changed my arm into a hammer and smashed it into her kneecap. She fell back down to the ground next to me. I started standing back up again.
"The fuck is your problem banana brain?" she said clutching her leg.
"My problem is I accidentally bumped into you, and you act as if it was on purpose. So then you think it's okay to hit me for no reason?" I said before kicking her back into the training room. "Scarlet right? I was warned a couple months ago about you being a Faunus hating bitch. Give me a good reason why the constantly discriminated against for no reason faunus shouldn't give you a reason to hate them." I said changing my arm into a mace.
"You wanna know why? Because five years ago I watched as a scorpion faunus brutally murdered my family. All with a god damn smile on his face and laughing hysterically. That a good enough reason you piece of shit?" She asked.
Yes and no. I can understand why you'd hate that faunus. I can understand why you'd hate the White Fang. I hate those bastards too. Because of them one of my best friends and teammate was killed. However, you are no better than the White Fang if you judge an entire race because of a few bad eggs. The Schnee family is known to be racist towards Faunus and I was dating the heir. Her father and you are huge picks towards me before getting to know me, but I don't hate all of humanity because of it. Grow the fuck up. Our whole race shouldn't be condemned because of what one or two bad eggs did. I accidentally bumped into you and apologized for it. Now let's start over and we can pretend this didn't happen." I said.
"You really think I should forgive you after what you did?" She asked standing up.
"Defending myself from a bully? This is nothing compared to the last bully I stood up to. I made him beg. I'm offering you a chance to prevent it from going that far." I said.
"Ha you really think you could take me?" She asked.
"In my current condition, it's a slim chance I'd be able to win. Before the Vytal Festival I'd have welcomed the challenge." I said.
"Your 'condition' would have nothing to do with you losing." She said.
"Alright fine. Guess we're gonna do it the hard way. Good thing I need the practice." I said. I saw Andrew off to the side of the room. "Hey, Andrew, you wanna help me out with something quick?"
"You're seriously asking for help after all that? Your all talk." She said.
"I don't have a lot of time to play. So, it's going to be a fifteen-minute match. Whoever has more aura left at the end wins. He's just going to be timekeeper." I said.
Scarlet pulled her machetes from her back and readied herself. I pulled out my SMG's and loaded ice dust into one and gravity into the other. I switched the gravity gun to its sword mode.
"You sure this is a good idea man?" Andrew asked.
"Nope. You should know by now that bad ideas are my specialty though." I said.
"If you say so. Ready… Go!" Andrew said.
Scarlet rushed me immediately. I fired a few shots into the ground in front of her. I dropped my gun and formed my arm into a shield. She slipped on one of the patches of ice and fell onto my shield. Using her momentum, I flipped her over me. I reformed my shield into my arm again and picked my gun back up. I turned to fire at her, but she was already up and slammed her knee into my face. Knocking me to the ground. I managed to roll out of the way before she was able to slash at me with her machetes. I slammed my sword into the ground launching me into the air. I switched my sword to its gun mode and started firing both at her. She dodged the incoming rounds and met me when I reached the ground. She slashed at me taking out a large chunk of my aura. I switched to my swords and tried fighting back, but she blocked every one of my strikes. She managed to knock my swords out of the way enough to kick me in the stomach and send me flying backwards. I dropped one of my swords and formed my arm into a shield again and slammed it into her as hard as I could. She staggered back a bit and charged again. Her swords collided with my shield in a near stalemate. She was slowly pushing towards me.
"Time!" Andrew said.
We both backed off and I recovered my sword.
"The final score is forty-nine percent to sixty-one percent. Scarlet wins." Andrew said.
"Maybe next time you won't run your mouth so much." Scarlet said as she started to walk away.
"Yeah, and maybe next time I'll use my semblance." I said collapsing my weapons.
"Like it would matter." She said.
"Really? One sec." I said activating my semblance. "Andrew mind reading the score again?"
"Seventy-nine to sixty-one. Crimson would have won." He said.
"Wait. Only seventy-nine?" I asked.
"What the hell is going on?" She asked.
"My semblance makes me fearless as well as giving me an aura and strength boost. Except normally it's a fifty percent boost. I only got thirty for some reason this time." I said confused.
"With the boost the two of you probably would have been a little more on par." He said.
"I'm not so sure right now. If I didn't get the full aura boost, I don't know how much of a strength boost I'd have gotten." I said.
"Then let's continue and find out." She said.
"Can't, love to, but can't. I've got other plans I only intended to come for a quick workout." I said heading out of the training room.
Scarlet ran in front of me to cut me off. "You really think I'm gonna let you off that easily? You boast about being stronger and then refuse to show it? Who the hell do you think you are?"
"Nobody special. If you wanna have a rematch another day, I'll give it to you. Right now, I have more important things to deal with." I said walking past her.
"Typical faunus, running away with his tail between his legs." She said.
I ignored her and continued walking away. I went back to the room and got a quick shower before heading up to the roof. When I got there a girl with long white hair in a white dress was standing there with her back to me. When I landed she turned slightly towards me.
"Hey, um sorry if I disturbed you, I was told to meet someone up here." I said.
"It's alright Crimson." A familiar voice said.
"What did you say?" I asked
The girl turned fully around.
"Weiss? How is this possible?" I asked walking towards her.
"I'm not Weiss." The girl said. She blinked, and her blue eyes changed to pink and brown.
"Neo? What the hell are you doing?" I said fairly annoyed.
"Please hear me out. A while back I read about a type of therapy where you have someone dress up as a person you've lost to be able to tell them something you never got the chance to say. Similar to people who try to use dark magic to contact the dead. I thought it was worth a try at least." She said.
"Why didn't you tell me about that earlier?" I asked.
She walked away and picked something up off the ground. She started walking back towards me.
"Because originally I didn't plan on doing it for you. I wanted you to do it for me." She said handing me a bag. On top was a hat like Roman's with a white coat underneath.
"Again, why didn't you tell me about this earlier?" I asked.
"Because I was still unsure if I wanted to do this or not. I didn't want to tell you to ultimately chicken out." She said.
"Okay, but what made you decide to dress up like Weiss?" I asked.
"Because I know there are a lot of things you wish you could tell her. Just like I wish I could talk to Roman one last time." She said.
"Of course there is a lot I wish I could say to Weiss, but isn't this still kind of wrong?" I asked.
"I'm sorry." She said dissipating the outfit. "I still want to try it though so… would you at least let me try?"
"Alright." I said.
I started taking the clothing out of the bag and started putting it on. Once it was on, she fixed my hair so it more closely resembled Roman's. She took a couple steps back and took a deep breath.
"You fucking ASSHOLE! I tried warning you that siding with her was a horrible Idea! Did you listen to me? NO! All you gave a damn about was the fucking money! We had a good thing going before she showed up. It may have only been petty crime, but we were doing alright." She said as tears started falling from her eyes. "I didn't even like doing all those bad things, but I had you, so I didn't care. At first maybe I was just jealous and worried she'd take you away from me. Not that it mattered, you never saw me the same way I saw you anyway. My greatest fear was realized when I watched that grimm swallow you whole. That bitch did end up taking you away from me. I never imagined it would be like this though."
"Neo…" I started.
"Shut up! I loved you alright? I never told you because I knew you only ever say me as an accomplice. I wasn't even an equal in your eyes. You're a fucking dumbass! If you ever thought about anyone or anything other than money or yourself then maybe you'd still be alive. Maybe I wouldn't feel so broken and alone now." She said.
She was looking down tears streaming down her face and her fists clenched tight. She started walking towards me. When she finally looked up, she started swinging her fist. I didn't react in time and she punched my cheek. I staggered back and fell to the ground. She got on top of me and started laying into me with multiple punches.
"Neo!" I yelled.
"You stupid selfish inconsiderate greedy fucking jackass!" She said with each punch.
"Neo!" I yelled again. I grabbed her arms to stop her from hitting me.
She struggled to regain control, managing to break free a couple times before I was able to stop her again. "Was the fucking money really worth losing your damn life!"
"Neo that's enough. You need to control yourself." I said.
Her struggling slowly lessened. She collapsed onto me and began crying louder. I wrapped my arms around her until she calmed down.
"I'm so sorry Crimson." She said.
"It's alright." I said.
After things had calmed down, she asked me to go with her to a spot away from the school. She placed some rocks together in a small pile.
"Hand me one of your weapons and fire dust please." She said.
I loaded fire ammo into one of my pistols and handed it to her. She switched it to its sword mode and struck it on the ground to ignite it. She propped the hilt up with the rocks, so the blade was pointed towards the sky. She took the coat from the bag and draped it on the blade. Setting it on fire. She took the hat out next and stared at it for a bit.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" I asked.
"Yeah, I am." She said placing the hat on top of the sword. She wrapped her arms around me and stared at the fire. I put my arm around her as we both watched as the coat and hat slowly burned away.
"Goodbye Roman."