KEY

"Normal Speech"
"Sign Language"
'Thought '
- 'Scroll Message'


Neo had climbed up to the top of the Watchtower in the middle of Hai-no Hana. It was a perfect vantage point, and she could take as many shots from the top as she needed without fear of being discovered or captured if she was. She readied herself, aimed through the telescopic lens she had, and started shooting.

~000~

Fifteen minutes. That's all it took. That was all she needed to get the job done. There were pillars of smoke rising from places were fires were started just before she began. The village sounded all but dead - there was no human sound up here, just the faint crackles of fire and the wind flowing through the streets. She peered over the edge at the expanse in front of the tower. There were a large pile of people, all still laying there in pools of red, positioned in such a way that they spelt out words. She grabbed her things and jumped down to the ground, her Aura cushioning the fall from that height, as she landed by the head of the young boy curled in a ball at the end of them all. Smirking, she tapped the floor by his head three times with her parasol, then proceeded to walk away. Beacon wasn't too far away, maybe three days walk at best from now, and that could be cut down if she used a Bullhead.

Almost forgetting why she made a stop here, she sent a quick message to Fox with three of the best photos she'd taken attached to it. One was a panoramic shot of Hai-no Hana with the fires and pillars of smoke everywhere, one was of Neo holding a child with her sword from the parasol digging into her throat and the last was all the people she had gathered laying on the floor to spell out a message.

I'M COMING FOR YOU.


"How far away is Hai-no again Yatsu?"

"No more than three days away, that's walking. I doubt she'll walk all of the way here." Fox paled, his dark skin turning a shade or two lighter.

With a bit of trouble, he managed to say "So, she could be here any time within the next three days?" Now, Team CFVY were a strong bunch. They had accomplished a lot in their time at Beacon and were argueably the strongest team in their year. And that was before it became CFVYN. But even they shivered at the prospect of facing off against Neo, who they have only ever fought against as a team once, and she thoroughly kicked their asses. That was before they became a team. Now she knows their moves, their fighting styles, their tactics, basically everything about them - and she was working against them.

"It's going to take a bloody miracle to come out of this alive..." Velvet commented, expressing everyone else's thoughts. They even brought themselves closer together, keeping each other close for protection against the ice cream girl's wrath, touching shoulder to shoulder for added ease of mind. Fox pulled two more spoons out of a pocket and handed them to his partner and his leader. Velvet summoned a hard light construct of a spoon from her camera box. They all collectively started eating the ice cream from the tub in front of them. No wonder Neo likes this stuff so much...


Neo had never entered Vale from the road. It was either via the air or the docks, never the roads leading in. It was different, which was good. It meant they wouldn't be expecting her this way. It also meant that the cheaper inns and hotels were closer, rather than having to trek halfway across the city to get to them. She entered an establishment, the Notell Hotel on the outer edges of Vale, and walked up to the man behind the desk. He was a short tanned man with apple green eyes and rusty coloured hair. To Neo, he didn't look like much of a fighter, so she could do a bit of persuading if she needed to. She produced her Scroll from her pocket and began typing her initial request as the man spoke.

"Good evenin', welcome to Notell."

One person, one night please.

"Very well m'dam." he reached behind him and grabbed a key off the hook that read 'Room 18' and handed it to Neo. "That will be 30 Lien for the night." It wasn't a bad price in her eyes, so she wasn't going to haggle. She took the keys and handed over three 10 Lien notes, then headed up to her room. She turned down a hallway and headed towards her room. As she fiddled with her keys and eventually opened the door to go in, a thud was heard on the door a couple of rooms down. Being curious / nosey, she leaned backward and peered down the hall to see the commotion. The fact she felt her eyes switch to vanilla white meant she knew what she was seing wasn't a trick.

"I still haven't gotten used to this yet Cin. I miss depth perception." That voice, so unmistakable.

"Told you... just... focus..." came the hoarse reply of the other voice, followed by a nasty bout of coughing.

"Easy, easy. And I told you to stop talking so much, you'll make it worse." Neo saw the two making their way down the hall, backs to her. The exposed back tattoo of one was enough evidence to go off of, as was the mint green hair of the other, so she decided to silently slip into her room and hope they didn't cross paths again. She no longer worked with or for them, but that didn't mean what they did to her would be going away any time soon. With a violent shake of the head, she banished their presence from her mind and instead focussed on the tasks at hand; getting to Beacon. That'd be tomorrow's main task. For now, her task was to rest and get her energy for tomorrow.


Velvet and Fox had experienced many 4:00am's at Beacon. There was something very relaxing about them. The complete relaxation that came with not having to worry about anyone else interupting them, the lack of sounds from students walking around and sparring, or the hustle and bustle of everyday life in Vale, even the sounds of the animals of the night or early morning - they weren't there. At that point, the only people awake who would be making any type of noise was a blind and scarred young man and a young woman with rabbit ears. They both sat on the rooftop of one of the buildings overlooking the campus and finishing with Vale on the far horizon. The pair of them were laughing, clearly not worrying about their old friend appearing behind them at any moment, although the boy did stop his train of thought and his mind wondered onto that path on a couple of occasions. The latest time that happened, she'd had enough.

"Fox, stop it!" the Faunus commanded, slapping his exposed forearm. "And before you say it, you know damn well what! She is strong, but she is human. She needs sleep."

"She knew and used to regularly performed the Uberman Sleep Cycle. That means 20 minute rests and she's back to ripe perkiness."

"Yeah, she used to, Fox. I don't recall her ever using it when she was here. So she'll be out of practice on it, 1. 2, she walked basically the entire day yesterday, I assume. She's going to want to collapse and curl up for the night."

"Alright fine, I'll relax."

"Good. We need it. Neo is most likely in Vale right now, if not very close." Fox muttered a disgruntled "You're not helping..." under his breath that, thanks to the extra pair of ears on her head, the Faunus heard him say but chose to ignore it and continue on. "She is going to be on us within the next few days, we all know this. So whilst we have every right to be on edge a bit, we don't need to be in a perpetual state of panic. I want you to ease off Fox. We're all going to need you front and centre when this goes down."

The sarcasm that came from the "Yay" Fox gave was extraordinary. "I get to stand centre stage and watch as my girlfriend kills me." That remark earned him another smack, this time on the head. "Ow! Jeez Velv, how strong are you?"

"Stronger than I seem; you've got Coco to thank for that. But be thankful I didn't kick you, I would have had to send you to the Infirmary. That's beside the point, Neo is not going to kill you. We won't let her, and you wouldn't go down that easily. Yeah, she threw us around like ragdolls on her own when she got you on that date and she wasn't even trying. Now she'll be prepared and it would be much worse. She'd be going for the kill as well."

Fox tried to interject, stating "How is this meant to make me feel better Velvet?", but she wasn't finished and barely gave him time to speak.

"But so are we. Not only do we have a plan and know what we're doing, we're not alone. She's not going to be fighting against four individuals, she'll be combatting four teams. All we need to do is snap her out of whatever trance she's in. And we have back-up plans. We've got this."

"You enthusiastic little so-and-so," he teased, grabbing her by the waist and pulling her down to where he was sitting into a side hug "I know we complain every now and again about you hanging around with Ruby too much, but I guess it has its benefits."

"Yeah," she replied, hugging his stomach and resting her head on his shoulder "I guess so." The pair remained there for minutes on end in silence, watching as the scenery remained unmoving for the entire time they were there.

"Y'know Velvet, I know we discussed this a lot, I have said my piece on the matter and so have you, but I still think we would have made a good couple."

"Yeah, now we would be." She moved, releasing her grip and sitting away from him. "If I had said yes the first time you asked, I would have been a shy mess and you would have been unable to see anything. We would have been a shit couple."

"Hey, that's not fa-"

"Fox, we would have been such a shit couple. Honestly, as much as I agree we may have been an okay couple after a few months - or years, I prefer the arrangement we have."

"I know, me too. Well, I mean, I will be once Neo's back. Heck, if I can get my sight back, that'd be great too."

"But besides all of that, both of them have done wonders for us since we've been with them. Neo helped you become the person you are Coco broke me out of my shell as well."

"She also fucked your brains out one time and you've been hooked ever since."

"Shut up Fox, you would be hooked too if you were on the receiving end. She knows how to do things I've only ever seen other Faunus do, so you'd have a lot to live up to if we were a couple."

"Okay, okay, TMI Velvet." His blank eyes stared at her brown ones, neither willing to break first. Fox saw her Aura, the deep scarlet pool of energy inside her, and tried to wait out the laugh he felt coming through his body, just as he saw one rising through hers. Neither won that. They both started laughing together, falling down onto the rooftop and laying on their back riding out the giggles until they were back to normal.

"I like sleep and all, but I miss our 4:00am talks."

"Agreed" he sighed, resting his head down on the floor.


With nothing left in the room, Neo locked the door and headed back, giving the person at the front desk the keys. Shifts had changed and instead was a woman with midnight blue hair and a pair of equally dark blue, thick rimmed glasses. The woman at the desk smiled, though it was very obviously a forced one, and waved her off. Walking away from there, she was glad she hadn't seen the other two again as she left, though her mind still questioned their motives for being there. She knew that they weren't working for Salem anymore, a fact made painfully clear with her ever so casual 'hints' at their fate. Did the woman ever think they'd escape? Had she let them? Did she know they were alive?

There weren't the questions she needed answering. Bag on back, she marched on towards the centre of the Kingdom, towards the nearest landing pad. She had someone to meet up in Beacon, someone who was dying to see her.

"I told you." The other woman gave only a "Tsk" as a reply. "Come on Cinder, there's nothing to worry about. Honestly, if She had wanted Neo to kill us, then we'd know. It was chance that we're in the same place, and I don't think she saw us."

"Maybe's... not... goo-" another round of throaty coughs from the one well-spoken seductress.

"Stop overworking your voice!" Before the words reached her mouth, Emerald's fisted curled tightly into balls at her sides. "We can't afford lose any more of ourselves." In the spur of the moment, she absentmindedly rubbed the left side of her face, right over where her eye used to be. "She took too much already..."


Salem played with the glowing red amulet around her neck, enjoying the sensation of the just being there.

It was the least she could have done, by far.

She recalled when three of those fools returned to her after trying (and subsequently failing) to capture Neo the first time.


The dark Goddess noted that only three returned, questioning the whereabouts of Mercury not because she cared, but merely out of curiosity at what they'd say; unsurprisingly, she knew the answer before she even asked the question.

"Mercury is dead" Cinder replied, not a hint of emotion in her words. Daerk was nursing a headache from his rock-induced state of unconsciousness and Emerald not only had pain from being smacked against a wall, but also the emotional strain of watching as her partner was killed before her very eyes. Eyes that were red from crying most of the way over. Salem shrugged slightly and stood from her chair at the head of the table, pacing ever so slowly to the large windows beyond their seats.

"Oh my, what a shame." Emotions suddenly surfaced in Cinder.

"Does his death mean nothing to you?" The side stare from the ashen skinned woman would have made almost all fear her in an instant. Cinder was not 'almost all'. She was naturally assertive, she was attractive (and she knew it) and could talk her way out of almost any situation, fighting her way out of the ones where the act of talking it out wasn't an option. And to add the cherry on top of the proverbial cake, she had part of the Maiden's powers. She could be a Goddess among the men with the power she held.

But she wasn't in her comfort zone, nor was she speaking to a low level thug. She faced her boss, the boss.

"No, it doesn't. Human interactions should make them weak, and it is working. Even in such a short time, she weakens. Her friendships grown and she becomes vulnerable. But similarly, it makes you weak. That's not what you wanted Cinder; remember what you wanted."

~000~

"Five attempts..." She drifted ever closer to the three people kneeling before her. "You have failed to capture her after five seperate attempts. One girl can't be that difficult to manage."

"To be fair, Your Darkness," Daerk stuttered, his nervousness spilling over at her presence. As much as she hated doing it in here, she will enjoy watching this man suffer. Especially as he kept using that infuriating title with her. "we did have trouble getting her alone; that would have made things easier." Daerk wasn't well versed in people with unlocked Auras, he had very much a one-track mind when the thing that was the Parchment of Volentes came into his life. It was all he ever seemed to focus on. Which is good, considering that Geists can be quiet, but not completely silent. Cinder and Emerald noticed, but said nothing - they had learned not to. "We just need a little more time, then she is ours." His last mistake.

"Ours? No, she is mine. Daerk, you know nothing of what I plan for this world. Someone like her is essential for what I need. She is strong and she is an exceptional killer, if what these two have told me is anything to go by." The other two females in the room lowered their heads, focussing only on the ground. In the back of the room, Tyrian could be heard 'silently' giggling to himself at what was about to happen. "You are not."

"I... what?"

"You aren't needed. It was entertaining to think someone like you would have the audacity to come to me for help, what with no powers to speak of - active or untapped. I played along. But now you are nothing more than a burden to my plans. Your selfish goals have possessed your every waking thought, and so-"

"My selfish thoughts? You plan to destroy everything, leaving only you and the Grimm left! That is beyond selfish!"

"That is self-less. I aim to return the world to how it should be, its natural state. You want control over something that is unnatural. The thoughts you have possess your every waking thought," she repeated, sounding even more menacing than she did before, her red eyes burning with a light that sparked fear into anyone with a soul, "and so I seem it only fitting that you should die this way."

"I don't u-" was all he could manage before the Geist flew into his body via his back, shocking a long and terrified gasp out of him. "No, please!"

"You beg? How pitiful." Not wanting any part of this to physically impact her, she shoved him off to one side of the room, his weakened body flung nearly 10 metres away with a mere shove on her part. "As for you two, I just about have enough patience for one more attempt at this with you. I can't promise that I will not kill you - you are very useful even when you aren't messing things up - but I'm sure this enough would be insentive to do as I ask." Having walked between them, Salem's hands rested on both of their chins and lifted them up to stare at Daerk's form off in the distance.

His body was twitching violently, the screams that were coming through often cut short by them either transforming into roars of a Grimm or just outright stopping. His veins were darkening, even from the great distance between them in the dimly lit room it was noticeable. His skin became darker, blotches of black growing from everywhere until his skin was nothing more than darkness. His body tried moving, but it was clear he was not in control anymore - the Geist had taken control. As a black mist escaped from him, he started floating. As he did, his arms spread wide, as if he was being crucified. Daerk's cornflower blue eyes now shone with a Grimm-like amber light as he... it stared at the two by Salem's feet.

"I hope you understand Cinder, Emerald, that I won't accept failure from you again." With that, Daerk's body was pulled outwards by internal forces, essentially having the Geist ripping the man in half from the inside. His corpse, now in various different parts, fell to the floor with an uneasy sound like wet meat being slapped onto a surface. Cinder felt herself wanting to throw up, but what little of the Maiden's powers she had made her burn that away as it tried to escape her throat.

~000~

"This is most unexpected" she commented. "And who might you be?"

"Me? Why, I am Roman Torchwick, Your Grace. I heard stories of what you were capable of, and that these two were working for you. So, I thought I'd rough them up for you and come along. Nice place you got here, by the way. Loving the purples."

"You have a lot of nerve, Mr. Torchwick."

"Please, Mr. Torchwick was my asshole of a Father - Roman will do."

"I see. Tell me Roman, why did you come here?"

"Simple really, I don't like losing. And you are the winning side. Plus, you've got someone who knows Neo more than anyone. Who knows her weaknesses and fears; despite how much I hated being around her, I noticed things. Unlike some..."

"If that is the case, you have one chance to prove yourself."

"Very well" he grinned, tipping his hat to the woman and walking off.

~000~

Seeing Neopolitan laying on the ground in front of her made her laugh. And not a nice laugh either, it was near enough a cackle. But a cackle from such a soft spoken voice - it made it all the more unnerving for Emerald and Cinder, who at this point were being restrained on one of the walls of the room.

"Do you see now you two?" Salem questioned, neither wanting or needing an answer, "This is all it took. One simple human. Not any fancy tricks, no powers, just brains - something you two clearly lack nowadays." She reached out and took a glass from one of the small tables as she approached the pair. "You two aren't needed anymore, but it's such a shame to waste entertainingly stupid things run around. So I have decided that you won't be dying here today." The dark Goddess heard their sighs of relief. They didn't last long as she grabbed Cinder by the throat with her free hand. "That doesn't mean you're leaving unharmed."

Only one person knew what was happening, and that person was Salem. Everyone else watched as the woman used some sort of magic to pulled the Maiden's power out from Cinder's body via her mouth, the glowing fiery orb burning in her hand.

"What did you do to me?" Cinder begged, feeling empty having had the Maiden's powers inside her so long that they almost became part of her. With a flex of her pale wrist, the fiery orb turned into a full-on ball of flame in Salem's hand as she stepped closer to Cinder again.

"You use that voice of yours to crawl your way under the skins of many men and women, persuading them to join your lost cause." Using a single finger from the hand that held the glass, Salem pulled Cinder's jaw down, leaving her mouth agape. "Never again." She moved the hand with the flame above her mouth, then dropped the flame in. The pain literally burned her mouth, scorching every taste bud in there like a personal vendetta against them all. That's when it started falling, descending down her throat and burning away her vocal chords. Tears streamed down her face and the cries of pain grew more and more hoarse as less remained unsinged. The tattooed woman tried swallowing to rid herself of the pain faster, and she was thankful that she did. Words still felt like they could be formed, but they were going to hurt like a bitch.

"You've done enough, now let us go!" Emerald demanded, her eyes red from crying once more. It seemed like a common occurrence whenever she was here now.

"Not yet" she hummed. The locket around Salem's neck materialised from the glass of black liquid she had beside her. Honestly, Emerald thought that she was drinking wine, it wouldn't have shocked her to know that wine was this woman's drink of choice. But seeing how it turned out to be nothing more than the black goo dotted around the place the ashen skinned woman called 'home', she equally wasn't surprised. It snaked her way from her finger that she dipped into the pool up and along her arm, then formed into a small metal amulet as it got there. "You, whilst pathetic, have something very important for me."

"What else do I have to give you?" The woman tapped a finger on her chin and taunted her with waiting.

"I don't know, let me see." The stressing on that last word, along with the evil smirk, gave Emerald all of one second to realise what she meant before a hand reached out and effortlessly plucked an eyeball straight from its socket. Her screams were the stuff of nightmares. Salem just wiped the blood and nerves off the eye and placed it in her new amulet, the red iris now glowing separated from its owner. The woman turned to Roman. "Well Roman, it seems you have yourself a seat at my table. Dispose of these fools, but don't get them killed by Grimm. I want to know they suffered for a long time before that moment."

"With pleasure."


There was no need for her to feel pity for the two of them. He did in one what they failed in five, in much less time as well.

Their punishments were just.

Salem smirked at the memories. She never enjoyed dwelling on the past, but in down moments like these, it was always fun to remember those that she hurt like that.


Emerald glanced back to Cinder with her one good eye and spotted the woman had fallen asleep in the chair she was sat in. She huffed gently and shook her head, smiling a pained smile.

'How could someone so driven be so exhausted all of a sudden?' she thought to herself. 'It's so sad, and she'll dig herself into a pit of despair if we don't try and do something for ourselves.' Twenty minutes was all she was going to give Cinder. The woman only lost her voice, she had lost an eye. If anything, Emerald felt that she should be the one perpetually exhausted - which she was, but she never showed it. For once, in the partnership that she and Cinder had made in their time working together, she was the one calling the shots. But it was for their own good.

A red eye stared out of the window once more and caught a glance of the back of Neo as she rounded a corner out of her sight.

'I finally understand how you feel Neo. I wish you luck.' She spoke out loud; whether it was speaking directly to Neo or a way of convincing herself she was unsure, but she spoke with conviction nonetheless. "I hope you find happiness again."


I know that was a long way away from what you may have expected for a chapter, but I have a plan - however brief it may be, let's say 12% - to have them come back into the story one more time in the future, so world building was necessary.

And also, double celebrations! Last week was Senseless' One Year Anniversary, but this week we celebrate the fact that Senseless is now 50% complete. I've finished writing out the story, and it's currently sitting on my computer waiting to be looked through and each chapter uploaded when necessary. Unless something terrible happens in my life that forces my hand otherwise, the uploading schedule won't change, and so you can expect the story to continue right the way through until sometime in late June/early July 2019.

And don't forget, I've still got my other works, such as Kenjutsu that I'm working on alongside DioRezi, so my uploads won't stop just because this story has. We'll have Volume 6 by then, and hopefully more things RWBY, so there'll be plenty of inspiration.

As always, feedback - good or bad - is most appreciated.