"Hop on," the man said. Before Neo or Jaune could formulate a response, the man had hoisted the both of them one on each shoulder.
"What-" Jaune managed and then suddenly they were rocketing through the air.
"WHAAAAAA! NOT AGAINN!" Jaune screamed.
Neo would have agreed had not her head been forced into her neck from the momentum and her cheeks flapping in the gusts. Then the roller coaster was over as soon as it began. They stood at the edge of the demolished open-air tower. Jaune stumbled to the edge and vomited.
Sounds of battle were coming from further in. From her vantage point, Neo could see three people, and recognized all of them. Cinder was in the middle, flinging fireballs at Pyrrha, who had constructed a floating fortress of impromptu metal bulwarks on which the flames splashed constantly. Emerald lay to the side, moaning, in pain and obvious distress. Her face and arm was burnt.
Fwooom. A wave heat singed Neo's hair. It seemed Cinder had finally noticed her new guests.
"Oh great, more pests." She groaned as she began to levitate the air, streams of fire snaking around her legs. "Would you believe me if I said I am only trying to take something back that's mine? That girl is a thief, I tell you. Would either of you kind gentleman help a maiden in need?" Cinder sniffed and waited for a moment for anybody to come to her support. Only the crackling of flames waved back in solidarity.
Cinder sighed. "There's just no sense of chivalry anymore."
The mystery man spoke up. "Sorry, Cinder, but you don't really count as a fair maiden anymore. At most, you're only half. The other half being Grimm, of course."
Cinder's eyes narrowed. "Do I know you?"
The man grinned. "Nope, but I know you." And then he drew his sword that had its own aura radiating around it like a small sun and leaped at Cinder's flame-wreathed body like a meteor.
Cinder reacted quickly. A gauntlet of red fire thrust in front of her at the incoming enemy, burning over a thousand degrees Celsius. Neo saw the ruined pillars melt into slag at its onslaught.
The man didn't dodge. He brought up his shield, also shining a brilliant white, and hurtled through the wall of flame, disappearing into the fire.
A shriek of rage followed, and the sounds of intense combat. Cinder looked to be more than tied up with the new enemy. Jaune quickly ran to Pyrrha, who had collapsed her makeshift fortress and settled into her partner's arms.
"Pyrrha, are you okay? Let's get you out of here." Pyrrha nodded weakly, and said. "Help, Emerald." She pointed at the green-haired huntress lying a little ways away. "She saved me from the surprise attack. Ozpin's dead. We have to get out of here."
Jaune looked at Neo, and she nodded. The both of them carried the two girls away from the fight, which was slowly growing more heated. Cinder had abandoned large fire attacks for more precise, lethal strikes with fire-coated obsidian weapons.
The man didn't seem to be having any trouble as he defended and attacked in equal measure. In fact, he looked to be enjoying himself, a stark contrast with Cinder's frustrated expression. Still, you never knew what might happen in a fight like this. Neo eyed the sharp pieces of rock littering the floor. A misstep could mean getting impaled or stepping into fire or even falling out of the tower itself. She wanted to help, but killing Cinder was no longer her main priority. She needed to save her friends. And if she died here, Roman would never forgive her. If some mystery vigilante wanted to do her job for her, then he could take the mantle.
So it was that arms wrapped around each other's shoulders, the four of them made it out of Beacon's main building and out onto ground zero outside. The Grimm were mostly gone by now, having been cleaned up by a quick response team of Hunters and Atlesian Paladins, but it was still dangerous, and Neo didn't know if Adam or someone equally dangerous would show up again. They kept their eyes on the distance.
So they were completely surprised by the massive roar that shattered the air above their heads. Jaune was the first to react.
"D-dragon! Holy mother of Grimm!"
"This is not good." Pyrrha's confident voice betrayed her as she stared into the massive fifty-foot Grimm dragon swooping down on them, teeth prominent, eyes blazing blue fire.
So this was how it ends, Neo thought. She grabbed onto Jaune's arms. It was so unfair. She'd only just found Roman again. She could just see him in front of her, just like before he'd died. Orange hair, white coat, cane. But his characteristic smirk was instead a frown. And now he was saying something.
"What were you thinking, Neo? If you wanted to do something this big, you should have asked me. We do everything together. Everything! What do you think I would have done if you'd just gone and died? What would I have done!" Roman shouted. The wind was picking up from the sheer mass that was incoming. The sky above Roman began to blot out with the black form of the dragon.
Neo's mouth fell open. Roman? Here? How? And why was he in his old body?
Then Roman sighed. "Never mind. What's done is done. Just know that I won't let you die without me." He raised his voice to be heard over the wind as he faced incumbent doom. "Now let me show you kids something. There's apparently more to my Semblance than I thought. Come on out, Birdbrain!"
Two massive spires of fire pierced out from Roman's back, and unfolded into wings. They flapped once and the rest of the body of flame lifted itself out. What resulted was a majestic phoenix made entirely of fire as orange as Roman's hair, with jewel-like eyes as green as Roman's. It gave a screeching caw that shattered brick and threw itself at the swooping dragon.
The two mythical beasts collided with a force that broke the very air. They fell apart, reoriented themselves, and charged again. Again and again, the two roses higher and higher, the crashes regular like apocalyptic waves, accompanied by bursts of fire and Grimm essence.
Underneath it all, Roman stood proudly. "How do you like that?" He gestured at the giant phoenix waged epic war against a dragon like it was a pet during playtime.
What. The. Fuck. Neo had no words. What had happened to the simple soul-hopping Semblance he had?
"Yeah." Roman looked sheepish. "I don't really get it either. I was figuring out my Semblance and then I pushed out a little too much of my soul, and that little bird came out. It's like the source of my aura and Semblance or something. Actually, that thing might be my soul period," Roman mused. Then his face became serious, and he pulled his hat on tight. "Anyway, we don't have time. You saw Birdy, my soul up there, so that means I've got zilch of my aura protecting me right now, so you'll have to help me until Birdbrain comes back, lest I die from a falling brick," Roman finished shamelessly. "Come on, chop chop."
Neo clicked her jaw shut. Sure, she could protect Roman. Definitely. As long as no one asked to use her now smoking brain to think, then she could do that, yeah.
A sudden explosion above them broke her out of her thoughts. "C'mon Neo, we got to go," someone said urgently. The battle between two colossus was still waging. The phoenix spewed green fire across the battlefield. The dragon dodged fiery death with a roll and raked its talon across the phoenix's breast, right where yellow flames became tender white. The great bird screeched in pain, staggering in air. The dragon tore the phoenix's throat with its great jaw, and the bird became to fall, already trailing drifting flames. Then the flames grew brighter, and brighter. Halfway across the front gate, the group of escapees were thrown from their feet by a massive supernova that turned the world white with fire.
The holy whiteness and the ringing in her ears made Neo wonder if she had entered communion with the Brother Gods. Luckily, she wasn't dead yet, although the pain in her arm almost made her wish it so.
Blinking away stars, she just made out the black form of the Grimm dragon, tattered and ripped, trailing black flesh like tattered clothes. It was bleeding from both eyes. Half of its face was a black ooze. It legs were gone. One wing was ripped. The other was a stump. Slowly, like the fall of winter, the giant dragon drifted to the ground, where it landed, and with a shudder, was still.
Roman staggered. Neo caught him. "Gah, that hurt like a bitch." He steadied himself. "But let's get a move on. I don't want to meet Cinder again like this."
"Yes, that would be best." Pyrrha agreed, shifting the unconscious Emerald on her back. Jaune nodded. He still seemed dazed, but they could everything once they got somewhere safe.
Neo looked back at the top of Beacon tower. The flashes of battle had dissipated. The fight seemed to be over. Had the mysterious man won? Or had Cinder? Either way, it was best to get out of here soon. If Cinder was still alive, she'd be coming after Pyrrha again. Neo eyed the green-haired girl on Pyrrha's back. She didn't know what to make of her. On one hand, she had been Cinder's closest aide, but now?
"Guys, are you okay? Oh gods, what happened to Pyrrha?" A boisterous voice cried out. Yang was running for them from the Bullhead docks.
Before any of them could response, a black and red missile barreled into them from the side. Oof! Neo managed.
"Neo! Pyrrha! Jaune! You're all okay!" Ruby cried. She was actually crying. "And Mr. Candlestick! I thought you were dead. I'm so glad you're okay."
"There, there." Roman gently patted the girl's head. He looked distinctly uncomfortable. He looked at Neo for help. She smirked at him and he rolled his eyes.
"So, what happened? Jaune texted us while we were looking for Blake. Said Pyrrha was in trouble." Yang looked at Pyrrha questioningly.
Pyrrha smiled gratefully albeit tiredly. "I am fine now. Thank you for coming. I'll explain everything later. Although I may have to ask Headmas-Miss Goodwitch for permission."
Yang accepted that with a nod. Quickly Neo wrote something on her scroll.
Is Blake okay?
"Yeah Blake's fine. I found her and Jaune's father fighting the leader of the White Fang attack. We helped, but he managed to get away. Blake's still with Jaune's family. She needed to recover from her injuries on her neck." Yang's eyes turned steely.
Neo watched Yang carefully. Huh. She hadn't realized Yang and Blake had that kind of relationship. Maybe she'd have to tell Sable to step it up.
Jaune, on the other hand, was still caught on the previous statement. "My family's here? What? How? Why?"
Yang clapped a hand on his shoulder. "I don't know, Jaune. You tell me. You never told me your father was such a badass hottie." Yang grinned, waggling her eyebrows.
Neo couldn't help but agree. Jaune's father was very hot, and if that was what Jaune had the potential to grow up to, well she couldn't wait. Jaune burned up. Ruby was right there along with him.
"Yaaaang! You can't say things like that! Mr. Arc is happily married." Ruby protested.
"That doesn't mean he couldn't be even happier with another girl on his arm. Just teasing," Yang laughed when Ruby's face began to climb the color spectrum even higher.
"Alright, alright, kids, settle down. If you haven't noticed, we're still in the middle of a battlefield." Roman cut in. He gestured at the broken down gate, the smoldering ruins that used to be Beacon, and the flames were now dying down into embers all around them.
"Don't worry. Weiss is with her sister right now, and she told us the situation's pretty much under control. Atlas is handling rescue and recover operations but pretty much everyone is evacuated." Yang explained. She was right. There had been little people when she and Jaune had arrived at Beacon, but now there was little to none, except for rescue operators distinguished by their Atlas coats and soldiers that were coming in now. Almost no Grimm were left, and there was still no sign of Cinder.
Roman started walking, tiredly to the Bullheads. "Well, then, let's just get somewhere to eat. I'm starving." Neo couldn't agree more.
Sable's coffee shop was a welcome contrast to the smoke and fire of Beacon. A warm smell of freshly-brewed coffee suffused the air. Sable, Blake and Mr. Arc were already seated at the counter. They looked a little roughed up, but none worse for the wear.
"You guys are back!" Blake said, looking up from her coffee.
"Yep," Yang grinned. "We picked them up after we beat up your crazy ex-boyfriend. Nice going, by the way Mr. Arc." She smiled prettily at the taciturn man sipping a very very black coffee.
"Um." Jaune looked uncomfortable.
"Yaang! Don't be weird." Ruby chastised.
Blake shook her head in amusement. "We handed him off to Weiss and Winter. Seemed to be in good hands." Blake lifted a coffee. "And then Sable offered to let us rest here. It's been a long day," she sighed.
Sable shrugged. "It's not like there's any customers around. Everyone's too scared to go out," she gestured at the empty shop.
It was uncharacteristically empty. The coffee shop was normally brimming with customers, both hunter and civilian. Now, the normally bustling counter where regulars hung out like it was a bar had only the cash register. Off to the side, against a window, however, there was one customer.
"Whew! That hits the spot." Roman sighed through a mouthful of a Mistralian brew and some kind of pastry at the same time. Somehow in the space of the preceding conversation Roman had made it off of Neo's shoulder (granted Neo was a little too short to be carrying him anyway) and lounging on a chair like it was his sofa. "You make good food, girlie," he nodded at Sable, who smiled back.
"Ahem," Nicolas Arc cut in. "I believe it a good idea to go over what happened. I trust our Cinder problem is resolved?" He looked at Neo, who nodded.
At that moment, Jaune stepped forward from where he was holding up Pyrrha. "Dad?"
"Son." Nicolas Arc lifted his blue-eyed gaze to Jaune's. "I hear from Sable that you have found yourself a team. And good friends I see."
"You have become a good hunter. I used to be afraid of you getting into danger." He took a long drought from his mug. "I still am. But it's a little too late for that isn't it. You've gone through the crucible. And you've emerged strong, independent. Capable of taking care of yourself. I'm proud of you, son."
Jaune's mouth wavered. "D-dad."
Nicolas stood up pushing his chair out and stretched his arms out. "Come here." Father and son embraced. "It's been too long," the father whispered. Sable joined in, an arm around each.
"Aw," Yang cooed. "Family time always makes me gooey inside. "Come here Ruby," Yang said reaching for her sister.
"I can't breathe-mph!" Ruby cried from the depths of Yang's chest.
While they were having their sisterly moment, the door bell rang again.
"Sable! Jaune! Dad!"
"Lavender?" Jaune managed. "And Mom? And Amber and Hazel and Jade and Sapphire? What are you doing here?"
Hazel scoffed and Sapphire smiled. "To see you, silly." And then the father-son hug became an Arc family hug. Neo watched on from across the table. Juniper saw her and smiled softly.
"Come here, you," she said, taking her by the hand. "Thank you for taking care of Jaune for the past year." Then Neo was part of the hug too. Neo felt a warmth suffusing her chest as she looked into Jaune's eyes. He looked embarrassed by his family, but happy too. Loved. Neo took him by the hand. She wouldn't have it any other way.
"Alright, alright!" Roman was now on top of a countertop holding a jukebox he'd found from somewhere. "We're all here, safe and sound. I think that calls for a celebration. How about a party!"
Yang all but squealed, dashing for the drinks, which Sable had shamelessly procured from behind the counter. Hazel and Jade had looked doe-eyed at their mother, who laughed, and Nicolas Arc just tiredly traded in his coffee mug for a jug of beer.
Neo, for her part, had found a stash of the alcoholic ice cream she'd stolen from the festival earlier. Jaune raised an eyebrow at her, but they ate it together. Neo sighed. Life was good.
Jaune groaned from lifting a box of moving supplies through the door. Neo, for her part, sat on a stool in the middle of the small front lawn, watching his trek from the moving truck.
"C'mon, Neo," Jaune complained. "Look at how much work I'm doing. Can you help? This is your stuff I'm moving."
Neo lifted her hands, full of ice cream and a spoon as they were, to show that they were unavailable. Jaune sighed resignedly.
Roman stepped out of the truck and laughed. "It's no use, kid. Once she's got her claws in you, you can't say no." Roman paused. "Not unless you want to keep your balls, at least." Jaune blanched, remembering something, and Roman broke out laughing again. "Just teasing, kid. Here, let me help."
Neo nodded contentedly. This was how it should be. She got up and gave Jaune a kiss on the cheek and he brightened up considerably. A little reward wouldn't hurt, after all. Roman chuckled to himself, saying something about being whipped under his breath, before the two carried the sofa inside.
"Neo! Hey!" Neo turned to the sound of her name. It was Jade, wearing her collection of belts as usual across the lawn. "Can't believe you're moving in with us! It's going to be so fun! Hey, what do you say you want to go the mall later today?"
Neo smiled and nodded. That sounded fun. She'd been getting a crash course on fashion from the more fashion-forward of Jaune's sisters, and had found it quite fun. Even more fun of course was dressing Jaune and making him look good in everything. Not that he didn't already, but phew, was he hot in a suit! Neo coughed.
The house she was moving into was in Ansel, right next to Jaune's house. Neo and Roman hadn't really had anywhere to go, as their warehouses were all compromised, and the overhead to set up a whole new criminal enterprise had been too much for Roman. He said he'd wanted a vacation and just lay low for a bit. Maybe a small village next to a forest, he'd said. And Neo just wanted to be near Jaune, so…
It turned out that Beacon had to be closed for a semester. The damage was too great, and too many faculty had been lost or were in recovery to start up right away. Including Headmaster Ozpin, though there were rumors that he wasn't really gone. A lot of students had transferred to Atlas and Mistral for the semester, but some, like RWBY and JNPR, had decided to stay in Vale and wait out until Beacon reopened. Which was why Neo and Jaune were now living next to each other. Neo smiled contentedly.
It was a nice place. She walked around to the back of the cabin. There was a forest out back where they could hunt and occasionally find Grimm to train against. She found a small tree stump that was perfect to sit on and continued her ice cream. She'd have to get more of the alcoholic stuff; she was running out and it was too good not to get more.
Some grass rustled behind her. Neo turned and looked up to see an older version of Jaune but not as mature as Nicolas looking amusedly down at her.
"As big a fan of ice cream as ever I see." The man said. This man was the same mystery man that had helped them back at the Fall of Beacon and fought Cinder, and probably killed her. But what did he say about ice cream, huh? Did he know from before?
The man suddenly looked apologetic. "Oh, sorry, I forgot that we haven't met. I am Jaune Ashari. And I need you, Neo Politan. I need your help to save the world."
Neo blinked. Well, okay then…
A/N: Jaune Ashari is not my intellectual property. It is Coeur Al'Aran's. And I think this concludes Neo Goes to School. It's a little bit of a cliff, but everything is kind of wrapped up, except for the whole mystery of who Jaune Ashari is. Well, he is, like a few of the reviewers have guessed, a time-travelled version of Jaune. Sent back from Coeur-verse from a timeline in which team RWBY won but Jaune couldn't accept that everyone died to achieve that victory and so made a deal with a dying Salem to send him back in time. In my story, there are additional shenanigans associated with Jaune's time travel. Instead of a one-time trip, it is a loop. But there is only enough power for fifty loops. And the power dissipates into other people the more time he spends with them. It looks like Jaune Ashari knows Neo, and that's right. He used to loop with other before he realized the draining power thing. He helped raise her, and when she grew up, they even fell in love (there's a J.A. engraved on Hush. But it doesn't stand for Jaune Arc, but Jaune Ashari). But then Jaune realized he was running out of loops twice as fast, and wasn't any closer to killing Salem, and had to make a hard decision to cut Neo off and reloop to reset things. That's why at the beginning of the story, Neo loops a day. It's the last vestiges of Jaune's time power. Anyway, that's where the story might have gone, but I feel this is a good place to conclude it, with Neo happy and a hint of something more in the future. Thank you for reading my first story. It has been really fun, even though I didn't know what I was doing half the time. Best Wishes, Qrow Al'Aran.
