Shattered Memories
just a quick update, this stroy is a collaboration between me and my friends on discord, monsterhuntergod-Ratholas Mk1, and Uzamaki Ricky, please feel free to comment and give me your thoughts. to those following my other works, i have plans to continue those works, once this story has come to its conclusion.
Thank you for your continued patience!
~
Chapter 1: Who Am I?
Fleeing in a panic, neo thinks to herself, 'the fuck was that!? How did she sneak up on me? Nobody sneaks up on 'The great Neo Politan!''
Looking around furiously for a place to hide, she hears a loud bang and everything goes dark.
Some amount of hours later
It was the sudden feeling of harsh light hit her that finally made her begin to rouse. Any movement she tried to make was immediately stopped by sudden and intolerable agony. As Neo lay on the ground, her vision faded in and out. She touches her stomach, it's wet, that's weird... It's... Cold, she's so cold... Sparing a glance at her stomach, through blurry vision, she sees red, and the color drains from her face. I don't want to die... She thinks to herself, even as her strength fades, her muscles failing her, each breath brings fresh pain, and each breath is more labored than the last...
Neo's eyes begin to tear up at the thought, she mouths the words, I don't want to die alone... As her vision fades, and each breath becomes a great battle against ever worsening odds, Neo sees a bright light, it's vibrant glow giving off a comforting, radiant heat, so warm... So welcoming... Neo finds herself fighting against the pull of the light, but it just feels so...warm... it's right as she's about to give in that a voice snaps her out of it, and the seeing pain comes back in full force! The pain was intense enough to snap her awake! Through bleary eyes, neo sees four young women standing over her. She saw them begin to speak, but the feeling of agony deafens out anything that they were saying. Neo lays there scared, and hurt, but for now, still very much alive.
With Team RWBY
As the dust began to settle, the thunderous cacophony turned into a muffled haze of distant action and misery. Slowly but surely, the battered, beleaguered, but still alive members of team RWBY gathered at the outskirts of Vale. Fear of loss and injury melted away to the warm embrace of relief, knowing that their sisters in arms were not harmed in horrible ways.
"Ruby don't you ever scare me like that ever again!!" Yang yelled as she bearhugged her baby sister with immense amounts of worry.
"Yang… Can't… Breathe… someone… help…" Ruby gasped with what little air she had in her lungs, reaching for her teammates for some kind of assistance.
"Yang, please refrain from suffocating your sister." Weiss said dismissively.
"Oh… Sorry Ruby… I'm just glad you're okay. Did I hurt you?" Yang asked.
"Nothing broken. Except my spine… a few ribs… everything else… ow." Ruby said as she straightened herself out after that.
"Well we kinda saved the day… I think." Blake says, uncertainty soaking into every word.
"Could have been worse." Yang replied with a shrug as the four began to walk off.
As they began to walk through the hinterlands of Vale between the city and Beacon, Blake's hypersensitive ears picked something up. It was faint, and a fair ways off, but it was that of pain. Suffering. And it was humanoid.
"I hear someone. It sounds like they're in trouble." Blake said, her ear tilting towards the noise.
"Quick, we have to help them!" Ruby said, jumping into the air, and rushing off in the general direction.
"Ruby wait! I can track it!" Blake yelled, rushing in a vain hope of trying to catch their high strung leader.
"When will she learn?" Weiss said, shaking her head.
"It wouldn't be Ruby if she didn't try to help people." Yang said before she and Weiss rushed off to catch up.
After regrouping and letting Blake take point, they finally were on the right track. When they finally arrived however, their eyes went wide, and their faces turned to horror. Yang instantly recognized the person as the same one that beat her on the train. She lay on earth soaked in what they thought was her own blood, but they weren't certain. It was clear her aura took as much of the forces as it could, but it was overwhelmed. Horrifying gashes and cuts crisscrossed her body, her left arm was mangled, and on her right leg, her Fibula bone was sticking out of the skin, and the Tibia was also clearly fractured. What was once the smug little girl that Yang faced was now… almost a corpse.
"Oh my god… what the hell happened to her…?" Yang asked in horror, feeling a bit of empathy for the small girl who defeated her.
Neo lay on the ground, a sobbing mess, her eyes pleading with the blonde girl to help her. This show of emotion caught Yang off guard. She may not have known the girl well, but, from their previous encounter, she could tell that she was at least about as prideful as she herself was. For her to swallow her pride and ask an enemy for help meant that the pain she was going through must have been excruciating.
Neo's pleading look briefly turns to confusion, confusion as to why they aren't helping her. This confusion, this lack of recognition of them on her face confused Yang and the others greatly. Did she not recognize them? Something more must have been very wrong.
"Something's not right. Even though we fought just a few hours ago, she doesn't seem to recognize me." Yang said, confusion and suspicion clear on her face.
As they debated, the pain began to worsen, and this fresh influx of excruciating pain caused Neo to start sobbing. This left all of Team RWBY stunned.
Yang had reluctantly told them about how easily this girl had defeated her. Seeing someone so capable of a fighter beginning to cry from the pain she was in didn't seem right to any of them.
Yang was the most shocked and confused by this. This girl had seemed so smug and sure of herself during their fight. But now, here she was, sobbing like a small child. Something definitely wasn't right here.
Desperate to communicate, Neo fumbled around with her hands, before finding her scroll, relieved, Neo pulled up a text to speech app and types, 'why aren't you helping me?! I'm hurt and scared, what did I ever do to you to deserve this!?' Neo sobs.
This raised a lot of red flags for Team RWBY. She was acting like she didn't know what she did. This actually angered Yang a bit.
"Well, trying to kill me for one. And let's not forget crashing a train into downtown Vale and letting Grimm loose into the city." Yang responded pointedly.
Confused, Neo typed, 'I did what? How?! I don't even know you!' Neo cocked her head in confusion at this.
This struck Team RWBY as odd. Now they knew something was going on. They didn't think it was above her to lie, but she seemed very genuine about what she was saying. Like she genuinely didn't know who they were.
At this moment, Ruby decided to test something.
"If you really don't know us, then what does Roman call me?" Ruby asked.
Still confused, Neo typed, 'What's a Roman?'
Blake narrowed her eyes, crossing her arms in confusion. "Um, he's your boss? The most infamous crook in all of Vale?"
Perplexed, Neo typed, 'I have a boss? The what? Owie, you're making my head hurt…'
Blake blinked, noting her body language, or lack thereof. "Am I? I hardly realized, my apologies then."
Yang shot her partner and friend a look at that. She gave up on that surprisingly easily. All Yang's look said was a simple question. 'Do you have some kind of plan here?'
Blake shrugged and gestured to Ruby, as if to say 'Doesn't matter, she's the boss.'
"Ruby, you act like a child. You translate." Weiss said sternly.
"Hey! I'm not a child!" Ruby shot back.
"You're also not mature in the slightest." Weiss continued.
Neo blinks in confusion.
"Alright team, what should we do?" Ruby asked, looking at her sisters in arms.
Responding, neo types, 'Make my owies go away, then ice cream?' tilting her head in a vain attempt to stemmy the pain.
"I say we drop her off at the nearest hospital, make sure she gets properly treated, and then head back to Beacon to get some food and sleep." Yang replied, rolling her eyes at Neo's response.
"Yang, you realize the hospital is going to be full because of the giant train crash through the heart of Vale. No doubt they're setting up emergency hospitals as we speak. And that is going to include Beacon." Weiss explained, in a matter of fact tone she likes to use so often.
"Just an idea." Yang responded.
Blake gave her partner a reassuring shoulder pat. "It isn't something a Huntress would do. Besides, Weiss is right, with the hospitals overwhelmed, we wouldn't be sure she's getting proper care. Do you want to start your career with a bad call on your conscience, over a grudge?"
Yang grit her teeth in frustration, then let out a sigh. "Fine, I see your point…"
Blake pointed at Ruby again. "And can you really say no to your sister?"
"So likely we are, whether we want to or not, likely going to have to take her to Beacon." Weiss continued.
Yang looked at Ruby and their teammates at this. The red-hooded reaper was practically giving her elder sister a begging and pleading look. As if begging Yang to help her help this girl. Yang then looked to the other two for assistance.
"I have to deal with her enough. It's someone else's turn." Weiss said.
"You're partners, it's in the job description." Blake replied dryly.
Confused, Neo typed 'You got me disco-bopulaterised, what's going on? Will you make my owie go bye bye?' Neo cocks her head adorably.
"Yang, please. We can deal with what she did later. Do you really want her to die?" Ruby asked her blonde sister.
Yang sighed at this and gave Neo a look of 'You'd better be grateful for this.'. "Fine, fine. Help her now, deal with what she did later…"
Neo blinked, Yang's vaguely threatening look going completely over her head.
Yang simply shook her head. "Let's just get her to Beacon and be done with this already…"
A look of unease crossed Blake's face, but she shook her head. "Somehow I doubt it'll be that simple, Yang."
With that the four lifted the petite and very broken girl up, they were off. After trudging all over the hill and over Vale they finally, mercifully reached Beacon.
Dropping Neo off, they head to their dorm room where they begin discussing what to do about her after she's released.
Yang was pacing back and forth, trying to decide what they should do about her. On the one hand, this girl defeated and tried to kill her. On the other hand, she suffered very grievous injuries and didn't seem like she remembered them or what happened. Because of this, Yang wasn't exactly sure how to feel about the situation outside of wondering if it was just an act.
'But, if this is really an act, why would she act so stupid? She seems way too proud for that…' Yang thought, wondering about how accurate her own assumption was.
Blake looked up from her novel, noting her partners obvious distress over the situation. "I know that look. You're not entirely convinced she's being honest, are you? And you're not sure how to deal with it, am I right?"
Yang sighed at that. "Yeah, that's about right…"
Blake thought for a moment, and then looked up. "You know her better than we do, is she the type to go so far to fake something like this for sympathy?"
Yang reluctantly shook her head at that. "Honestly? I really don't think so. She seemed too proud to play dumb back when we fought."
Blake considered that a second, then made a face. "Then, as bad as this might sound, she's telling the truth and we might get stuck babysitting her until her condition improves."
Yang groaned in frustration at that. "This sucks…!"
"Belly aching isn't gonna solve anything Yang." Ruby chipped in.
"Maybe not, but it's not like I can do much else in this situation." Yang responded.
"All we can do now is wait to see how or if she heals." Weiss added, sitting down and pulling up a newspaper to pass the time.
"It'd better be a matter of when, not if…" Yang grumbled.
The next day, after a tense night sleep, they began something they frankly should have done long ago. They began to try and research into this girl's criminal past. And what they found was surprisingly extensive, shockingly so.
"Lets see. Assault. Assault with a deadly weapon. Assault on a law enforcement officer… the list goes on and on." Blake read off.
"Must be familiar territory, huh Blake?" Weiss asked.
"Shut up, Ice Queen." Blake shot back quickly.
"None of this, though, is really that evil… or…" Ruby trailed off
"So that means we aren't drowning her in the bathtub?" Blake asked.
Yang looked at her partner and best friend like she grew an arm out of her forehead. "Blake, what the hell!?"
"I would have thought, of all of us, you'd be down for such an idea Yang. Considering your history with her and your penchant for punching peoples heads off." Blake continued.
Yang frowned at this. "Hey, I may dislike her and have a tendency to hit first and ask questions later, but I'm not a monster!"
"Says the person that destroyed a bar because someone touched your hair?" Weiss asked
Yang glared at Weiss at this. "Let me make one thing perfectly clear, Ice Queen: No one. Touches. The hair. EVER."
"Can you three stop fighting. This is serious!" Ruby yelled in frustration
Everyone looked at their team leader in shock at this. Ruby rarely ever raised her voice like that. The fact that she did proved how serious the situation was.
"Look, we can judge and research all we want, but at the end of the day it's all in the past. She can't remember anything. You all saw the tests, she is knocked back to being less than 10. The Neo Politan that committed those crimes is effectively dead and buried. Even if she gets her memories back, it's likely never going to be the same. Now is the only ever likely chance in her life she would get a second chance. And, considering Roman Torchwick and where he was on the train, he's not going to be around to try and foul it up. This is a chance we have to do something good for another human. And we are training to be Huntresses. Doing good things for people is in our job description." Ruby said in one of her typical long winded speeches, this one actually taking the wind out of her.
Yang sighed at this. "I hate to say it… but Ruby's right."
"Speech of the year material right there." Blake replied half-jokingly.
"How does she have that much air in her lungs?" Weiss asked.
The weeks dragged on, and by the end of the second week, Team RWBY was led back into the field hospital by Glynda. The four were confused at this, and even more confused when they found Ozpin in Neo's tent waiting for them.
"Greetings, Team RWBY. So glad you four could make it on time." Ozpin said with a faint smile.
"Professor Goodwitch told us we needed to be here for something." Yang replied in confusion.
"Right you are, Ms. Xiao Long. First, I must congratulate you four on your initiative and bravery during and in the aftermath of the incident in Vale." Ozpin said.
"Thank you, sir!" Ruby answered chipperly.
"You four will be also pleased to know Ms. Politan is also on the road to recovery as well. The major issues have cleared up and she is fully stabilized." He continued.
"Why do I not like where this is going…?" Yang asked wearily as Neo grinned innocently.
"To ensure that Ms. Politan has the proper supervisory care to her long road to recovery, and to ensure her safety, she will remain in your care till your graduation." Ozpin continued.
"WHAT!?" Yang, Weiss, and Blake exclaimed in shock.
"YAY!!" Ruby yelled singularly.
Neo giggles happily at this.
"GODDAMN, SON OF A MOTHERFUCKING BITCH! WHY US!?" Yang exclaimed in rage.
In haste, Ruby covered Neo's ears as Glynda smacked Yang in the back of the head. Ozpin cleared his throat before continuing.
"Its to ensure that Ms. Neo's mental recovery will have good influences to send her down a much better path than which she started. But it appears none of you were up to the task…" Ozpin said, only to be cut off by Ruby.
"We are ready, willing and able!" Ruby yelled
"Up for killing her later?" Weiss whispered to Blake.
"You hold her down first." Blake whispered back.
"There will be no killing my sister." Yang simply stated.
"Then it's decided. Have a good day, you five." Ozpin said before strutting out of there like he owned the place, Glynda following close behind.
"Do you really believe that?" Glynda whispered.
"It's more fun to keep them guessing." Ozpin cheekily answered.
With that, Team RWBY all looked at their new soon-to-be houseguest. Helping her into a nearby wheelchair, they all began to, on most of their parts, reluctantly take her to their dorm room as Ruby grabbed a Beacon provided air mattress. The four then headed to their dorm room with Weiss wheeling Neo along reluctantly, having gotten the short end of the stick. Weiss simply glared at her team leader.
"I hate you…" Weiss told her partner.
"What did I do this time?" Ruby asked confused and hurt.
"It was your idea that I be the one to push her!" Weiss responded in anger.
"Stop complaining, Ice Queen. At least you're not on bathroom duty…" Yang grumbled.
"So what's up for dinner?" Ruby asked, trying desperately to change the subject.
"Really, Ruby?" Blake asked.
"You're not helping, Blake. Or do you want Zwei to spend some of his play time with you?" Ruby asked.
"You wouldn't. Thats evil!" Blake yelled accusingly.
"Zwei. Go play with Blake." Ruby answered with an evil smile.
The black and white corgi perked up and began to rush off towards the cat faunus. In a flash Blake ran away, with the chubby furball hot on her heels.
"How was she a threat to anyone again?" Weiss asked.
"Guess Atlas needs to invest in more guard dogs." Yang answered.
At that moment, the bickering was interrupted by the sound of the tiny, adorkable mute's stomach growling.
"Maybe we should actually get to know the person we are supposed to be reforming?" Ruby asked the room, the sound of a terrified Blake in the background.
Yang sighed at this. "Right. Good point…"
Neo giggles, making happy mute noises.
"But, first, let's get something to eat." Yang told the others.
"Let's go into town to that pizza parlor! Maybe this time we can go there without someone trying to rob it!" Ruby yelled excitedly.
"Here we go again…" Weiss muttered.
