A/N: Sorry about the formatting, everybody. I uploaded it last night and was too tired to check. Thanks for being being patient and letting me know.

Roman's new body was attractive, Neo had to admit. He was handsome like a Greek statue. He was tall, lean, and well-sculpted. Roman had ended up taking a liking to his white hair, deciding to put in just three streaks of orange to give it character.

The end result was a chick magnet. For a certain subset of the female population, at least.

When Roman and Neo had gone through the shopping district to find Roman some clothes, they had been swarmed by a sudden and endless deluge of middle-aged housewives that swooned over Roman and cooed over his adorable "daughter." It was like a zoo, the air full of mating calls. Even when he politely turned them away, the women tittered and blushed like schoolgirls.

"Ah, what a joy to be alive," Roman chuckled. They were walking down an offshoot of Main Street. Neo was exhausted, and feeling more than a little resentment. Wasn't it usually the men who were tired from shopping trips? At least she had got something out of it. Neo looked down at her outfit, the usual black and white pantsuit and blazer replaced by a pink floral blouse, white pants and a straw hat. She wasn't used to it, but it was comfortable and Roman said it looked nice, so that was that.
Roman had opted for a wardrobe change as well. He now sported a blue jacket and black tie over white pants. Neo wondered if he was going for every color of the rainbow with his outfit and hair, but said nothing. Roman was the more fashion-forward of the two, and he seemed happy, judging from how he was humming off-tune to himself.

"So, what's been going on since I was gone, Neo? Haven't gotten into any trouble, have you? Any progress with your boy toy?" Roman smirked, the expression as familiar on his new face as ever.

Neo rolled her eyes, pointedly ignoring the last question (she was still processing what happened with Jaune last night-don't blush!-and she would be damned if she told him anything; he would tease her forever!) and undulated her arms pantomiming flames.

Roman's face darkened. "Ah, right. Cinder's still around her. Damn," Roman grimaced, holding his throat. "Let me tell you, a fireball through the neck is not a good way to go."

Suddenly, Roman looked concerned. "Say, she didn't approach you did she?"

Neo shook her head, choosing to keep to herself the fact that she had, and just a few days ago Neo had herself gone to pick a fight with Cinder. And died, apparently. Neo still had to process that one. Neo put it all to the back of her head. Roman didn't need to know any of that. He was just get worried, even if he tried not to show it.
"Okay, good. Great." Roman smiled, and for a second Neo was blinded. Gods damned those pearly whites, those were a weapon now! "It was a good run, these past few weeks, but I think it was a little too much. Things got a little too heated at the end there, wouldn't you say?" Neo rolled her eyes at the dad pun. Roman grinned. "Why don't you and I lie low for a bit? Cinder thinks I'm dead, so she won't be after us. It'll be like old times, just you and me and we can whatever we want, beholden to no one, eh?"

Neo tilted her head, looking into Roman's green eyes. It did sound nice. Neo remembered simpler times, when Roman had taken her exploring the city and taught her everything she knew.

But-, Neo held out her fingers and rubbed them together questioningly.

Roman smiled teasingly. "Neo, c'mon, don't you know I always have a plan?" Neo rolled her eyes again and waited for him to finish. She realized she'd been doing that a lot more often since she had reunited with Roman. He just had that effect on her. "Okay, okay. So, what have we been stealing for the past few months that the world needs desperately and costs a lot?" Roman waited a moment as Neo's eyes sparkled in comprehension. "That's right, Neo. Dust. And we've still got tons of that stuff 'cause Red and your friends popped our operation early. It was still in transit in some of the intermediary warehouses in Vale. And Cinder doesn't have any use for it anymore, and besides she has no idea where half of my warehouses are located, so that's just millions of lien just waiting for us to liquidate." Roman finished with a predatory grin that would have cowed a lion faunus. Neo just mirrored it.

A few passerby looked disturbed at the scene and hurried past. They were now walking through a residential area, past downtown. Suddenly, Roman stopped by a large three story house with a sprawling lawn, marble steps up to an arched double door, sturdy brick walls and large windows. A sign on the lawn said "For sale."
Roman turned to Neo. "You thinking what I'm thinking?"

XXXXX

Neo had never lived in an actual home before. It had been the streets, and then various hotels and safehouses with Roman, and then the dorms at Beacon.

Roman managed to buy the house outright, no need for mortgage. He didn't even have to go sell the stored-up dust hidden within Vale: He just had to ask Neo to pay for it.

Without even realizing it, Neo had become a multi-millionaire. Neo was still amazed. Even Roman shook his head ruefully when he realized. It turned out Roman had been making monthly payments into life insurance since he was seventeen, and Neo had been the sole beneficiary. That meant when Roman had died, over two million lien were ready to just be dumped into her bank account once Roman and she submitted the paperwork.

And now they were two million poorer and one mansion richer. Neo marveled. She was exploring the second floor, which was an entire glass wall facing the bay, while Roman lounged on a couch behind her.

"Heh, I know. Out of all the mansions we've robbed, never thought we'd be living in one, huh?" He sipped some wine and sighed contentedly. "Life has never been better." They'd opted to leave the house's furniture here, having none themselves. That included the previous occupants' simply unnecessarily huge wine cellar.
Neo agreed whole-heartedly. She'd just finished a bubble bath in one of the bedroom's jacuzzi on the third floor. And then there was a spa! Neo vowed to try that soon. She just wished her friends could experience it with her. Ruby would be just as excited as her, she knew. Yang would take full advantage of the walk-in shower. Neo dreaded to think how long she would trap herself in the bathroom doing her hair. (Good thing there were six more! Seriously.) Weiss probably wouldn't be too impressed but. Would enjoy the same. Even Blake and Sable would probably like it. What if she held a party here? Roman wouldn't even mind a reason to get drunk.
But there was an obstacle standing in the way of Neo and her friends. Cinder. If Cinder had her way, would her friends still be alive at the end? Now that Roman had been brought back to her, Neo no longer felt the raging inferno of anger like before. Now it was replaced by simple annoyance.

She'd spent the last few days training to fight Cinder with Blake and Sable and Jaune's father. It turned out with Blake's Semblance evolution her abilities were quite similar to her own. Shadow clones and shadow teleportation wasn't too far removed from illusions and teleportation. Because of their Semblance synergy, they had been able to form a combination move involving lots of blinking around and rapid attacks. It was designed to be an evasive and precise attack to put pressure on Cinder while preventing her from making any of her large-scale powerful fire attacks. They'd called it Blackpink, which Sable thought was cute and Neo thought was stupid. It stuck though.

Sable had turned out pretty to be pretty skilled, almost on the level of a huntress-in-training. Her Semblance was related to her weapon, like her father's. She could extend her sword instantly to about five meters. It cost her tremendously, however. Elongating her sword did nothing to change the tensile strength of the metal, so Sable had to reinforce her sword constantly with her aura in order for it to not break under its own weight.

After the week of training they had come up with a plan to battle Cinder. They knew she was working with the White Fang. They knew she was hiding somewhere in downtown Vale. Unfortunately, she and Blake had no luck finding their base of operations, even with their insider knowledge. In the end, it was decided that during the Vytal Festival Blake look for White Fang presence and Neo watch Cinder and follow her should she make any suspicious movements. Nicolas and Sable would stay in the stands to protect the civilians in case the worst happened but would be on call for backup.

Neo glanced at Roman who had fallen asleep, wine glass hanging from his fingers. Briefly she wondered whether she should tell him the plan, but decided not to. It was obvious Roman no longer wanted anything to do with Cinder, and, frankly, Neo agreed with him. He'd already lost his life once. Neo would be damned if she let it happen again.

Roman snored lightly. She smiled affectionately down at him. After it was all over she'd come straight back to this new beautiful life in this beautiful mansion with her friends in tow and with Roman, she vowed. Maybe she'd even introduce him to Jaune.

Neo thought for a second then shook her head. Maybe not that last one, she mused.