Disclaimer: As per usual, I do not own RWBY in any way. Seriously, it's not mine. Like, really. Honest.
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Neopolitan used to be a normal, albeit slightly nerdy teenage girl.
She used to stutter out of sheer nervousness, wear glasses that would get constantly scratched up, and find herself the victim of bullying more often than you would imagine for a school like RTA Academy. She constantly kept to the side of the hallways and the corners of the classrooms.
All that changed the day she met Weiss Schnee.
The feeling was not love. She knew that for a fact. It went so far beyond love that it wasn't even in the same category. Weiss was the very definition of perfect – perfect body, perfect mind, perfect soul.
Yes, that was it… they were soulmates. They belonged together. Neo changed herself in ways that she never thought twice about, all so she could better let Weiss Schnee glow with a glorious radiance that could only belong to a goddess. Weiss was an incarnate deity… and Neo was her prophet. Together they would bring light to this dark world.
But then her soulmate vanished, and Neo spared no expense to find her. Word soon reached her ears of a new player in their little drama… a false prophet, if you will. Some redhead called Ruby.
Neo wasn't worried at first. Others had tried to win her soulmate from her, but all found themselves stricken with unnatural bad luck (tee-hee). Surely this new threat would cower away and leave them in peace. Surely.
But then Neo lost their contest… and had to watch them… … … k-k-k-k-k-k… … … …
NO! THIS CANNOT BE ALLOWED!
"Miss Neo… are you alright over there?"
The mature voice of the math teacher pulled the short girl from her daydream enough that she finally realized that she had yelled that last part out loud. Neo's face went beet red as she shrank in on herself and meekly said, "…Yes, ma'am."
Weiss would have laughed at her for an outburst like that… no doubt. She couldn't bear the thought of making a fool of herself in front of her soulmate.
This was all that Ruby's fault.
Weiss was not acting like her usual self anymore… in fact, according to her sources, Neo found that Weiss was like a completely different person. And it wasn't that Velvet girl, either – she allowed that one to remain close only as a personal favor – so it could only be Ruby. That girl had done something to corrupt the pureness of her soulmate.
And she would pay for it, oh yes…
"…"
So absorbed was Neo in her own thoughts that she failed to notice how loudly she was laughing maniacally… or how the students sitting nearest to her slowly shifted their chairs away.
Ms. Goodwitch simply sighed and shook her head, muttering, "I don't want to know…"
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Soon enough, Neo once again confronted her rival after the day's classes ended. As before, the tall brown-themed girl was there to witness the event. Every eye in the room was fixed on the pink-and-brown girl as she boldly made her challenge:
"Ruby Rose, I challenge you to another drawing contest! Round two!"
"… … …Why?"
"Because a single victory does not make one the supreme champion. I wish to confirm that your win was not a mere fluke."
"I take it you weren't listening to Ms. Fall's explanation…?"
"To ensure you won't refuse, I have decided on the terms of victory as well."
"You're not even listening to me…"
"In short, the winner of this round names their own terms."
The room fell silent at this news. Neo was either setting herself up for a monumental victory… or digging her own grave. Odds favored the latter, but she would never say that out loud.
In truth, Ruby's talent deeply scared her. Neo didn't want to believe that anyone could beat her in the one skill she'd honed to perfection over most of her life.
"My own… terms…?" Ruby seemed a bit overwhelmed at that. Good. Anything to throw her off her game was more than welcome.
"Indeed… and I name mine right now," Neo declared, then paused for effect. Once sure everyone was giving her their undivided attention, she said, "If I win, I take Weiss to PlushWorld… and Ruby pays for the tickets."
Everyone in the room made a choking sound, and Ruby looked ready to throw up. Neo grinned – tickets to PlushWorld were not cheap.
Weiss… glorious Weiss… patted Ruby's back comfortingly and said, "You won't have to worry about that, since she won't win."
"Time will tell, my soulmate… time will tell…"
Weiss brushed the comment aside as she faced Neo and said, "In that case, I shall declare the terms of your loss – delete your photo of me and Ruby, and swear to never be a voyeur again."
There was a brief moment of panic in Neo's mind before Weiss' words set in and she understood the full meaning. "Weiss, …I don't have any photos of you and her… in fact, I haven't taken any pictures since I transferred in. But if you want, we could take one right… now…? What?"
Weiss locked eyes with Ruby as a look of confusion passed between them. "What are you talking about? Of course you have one… you took a photo of us last month, just behind the school. We were… having a moment. Remember?"
Last month? But that was…
"That's impossible, even for me. I hadn't even had my first day here yet." And it was true, too – Neo's first day was just after this alleged incident.
Weiss' arms crossed as she put on an annoyed face. "We found your parasol at the scene, right next to where the photo was taken. I took it home with me and confirmed it was yours. How can you still deny it?"
Now it was Neo's turn to be confused. Her parasol?
"My parasol is by the front door of the school with everyone else's… I've had it with me every day since I first got it."
An odd silence fell over the room. Evidently this was not the news they expected to hear.
Weiss slowly turned to a corner of the room and produced an item that certainly looked like Neo's parasol – but that was simply not possible. Not possible. That item should have been where she left it at the start of the day. Not possible.
"Wait a moment…" Neo quietly said, then quickly dashed out the door and over to the main entrance. It was a straight shot, but on the other side of campus. She returned a minute later holding her own parasol.
It wasn't a dream – there were two identical parasols in the room.
For Neo, it was closer to a nightmare.
"So, um…" the tall brown-themed girl started saying, "…so there's a second, similar umbrella. Big deal. That doesn't mean it was her…"
"It's a parasol," Neo snapped.
Weiss quickly explained, "Umbrellas are waterproof to block rain, but parasols just block the sun. They're for shade."
Even from behind her sunglasses, it was obvious that the taller teen was rolling her eyes. Neo had to stop herself from sending them rolling across the floor.
"But there can't be two of them… I had this custom made just for you," Weiss stared at the parasol in her hands with a new wonder.
They each opened the items they held, marveling at the fancy lacework of the panels once again. It really was a fine gift. Both parasols seemed to use the exact same mechanism to open and close, and both had the exact same stitching pattern along the entire surface. There was virtually no difference between them.
"How strange," Weiss muttered as she went to close hers, …but then she lost her grip on the panels and over-adjusted… and the handle suddenly came loose…
All at once, they found a difference.
Weiss' parasol had a sword blade hidden in the handle.
"…"
Nobody moved for a full minute. Nobody seemed to even breathe.
Ruby spoke first, looking at Neo as she said, "Does yours do that?"
"Hell no!" came the reply.
In the end, everyone agreed to never speak of the strange copy parasol again. Weiss agreed to take it back to her home and lock it away in a closet. Neo silently vowed to find whoever had copied her parasol and make them pay.
The matter was never spoken of again.
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"Okay, first of all… she told me to tell you that leaving now means you forfeit the challenge. I know I'm only a substitute teacher, but she named me the 'official' judge for you two. Deal with it."
Neo stared in disbelief at the black-haired, scruffy man standing before her. And what kind of name was 'Qrow Spelled With A Q?'
"Okay, so… uh…" the man called Qrow didn't seem to notice Neo's glare as he went about getting their rematch set up. "You guys get two different models this time, rather than one. She said to say, uh… 'Last time was about interpretation, but this time will be about technique as well' …whatever that means."
A gleam returned to Neo's eye. Technique was her strong point.
"Also… she gave me this card to use when judging you. Some kind of weird points system… so it might take me awhile to figure this out."
Neo sat at her desk, facing a literal pile of sports equipment – a hockey stick, a football, a soccer ball, a tennis racket, and a pair of muddy cleats. All had been placed just so… and it was clearly meant to be a still-life. Piece of cake.
Ruby, on the other hand, found herself looking at a very large bouquet of flowers. There were all kinds among them, almost all bearing names Neo herself did not know. Lots of color.
Neo couldn't help but notice that Weiss liked the flowers better than the sporting equipment. The rest of their audience was rather disinterested.
Then came the kicker: their tools. Each only had two colored pencils to work with – Neo had a black and a violet, while Ruby had a black and a crimson red. Both girls also had a small sharpener on the desk, along with a large eraser.
Challenge accepted.
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One hour later, it was all over.
Both artists were busy wiping their hands clean (their tools left a fair amount of smudging). The others in the room engaged them and each other in quiet banter as Qrow Spelled With A Q tried to make sense of the points card.
Neo ignored them. She was too worried.
Ruby Rose was a rare talent, Neo was no longer in doubt about that. She seemed to understand what she was drawing far more than even the most seasoned artist Neo had ever met – and she'd med a lot of them by this point. She didn't just draw what was in front of her, she drew… well, it was hard to explain with words.
Neo reproduced – Ruby created.
There was no way she could properly compete against that.
Qrow looked up and called Weiss over to the desk for something. Neo ignored them, once again lost in her own thoughts.
Neo's art was more than a hobby for her… it was her defining skill. It was what she became known for. Anytime she made real friends as a child, it was always birthed from her art.
And when she met Weiss, it was the same. The young Schnee was amazed at Neo's drawing of a housecat.
And from that day on, Weiss became the unwitting subject of most of Neo's drawings – both public and private.
God… if Weiss ever saw the inside of Neo's bedroom…
"Okay, guys… we have a result," Weiss called from the desk.
As everyone in the room made their way to the desk, Qrow explained, "I had to bring Weiss over to double check the numbers… and then we both checked them again…"
On the desk before them sat both Ruby and Neo's drawings. Neo didn't study her own too much, as she was the one who made it – the equipment was almost perfectly reproduced as usual, but she had to be more careful since colored pencil was far less forgiving than graphite. The additional violet was carefully implemented in each item to give a pop of color near the center. Neo considered it to be her most… creative piece to date.
Ruby, however, outdid herself once again. All but one of the flowers from her still-life were rendered in dark shades and blurry lines… except a single rose at the top, which she shaded and blended together to look even more lifelike than the model. The background was a gradient that perfectly drew the eye to the only color on the paper. In a word, it was beautiful.
Now it was up to the numbers.
Qrow slapped the score card with his free hand and said, "According to this thing, …it's a tie."
Neo's jaw very nearly cracked the floor tiles.
Ruby seemed to forget how to breathe for a few moments.
Qrow rummaged through a few other things and pulled out three tan envelopes: the first said 'Ruby,' the second said 'Neo,' and the third said 'both.' The scruffy man opened the third one and pulled out a note:
…/ …/ …/
"To my emotionally drained students,
"In the unlikely event that you pull off a tie today, I have taken the liberty of preparing your prize ahead of schedule. Bring yourselves and a few of your friends and meet in the school parking lot tomorrow morning at 7:00 AM. If you are late, you will be left behind.
"And don't worry about getting permission – you'll find your parents more agreeable than you might think.
"This invitation is open to the following students: Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Neopolitan, Coco Adel, Velvet Scarlatina, Jaune Arc, Yang Xiao Long and Blake Belladonna.
"Your art teacher,
"Cinder Fall."
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Neo found herself in a state of shock as she went home that day. She wasn't certain of her victory, but neither was she ready to admit defeat… but a goddamned tie? That was almost too much.
And Ms. Fall provided the prize? Neo was in no shape to wonder what it was, nor was she in any shape to sleep. Or eat.
Instead she found herself at her drawing table, just like normal. Drawing was her therapy. Putting her problems into a visual form often helped her centralize it and deal with it.
But then she looked at what she was drawing, and her pencil clattered to the floor, forgotten.
She had drawn Ruby Rose.
And she couldn't look away from it.
What in the hell… … … was going on with her?
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Just before Qrow left for the day, he decided to sate his curiosity and peek at the other two envelopes. They were only supposed to be opened in the case of either girl winning over the other, but he was really wondering…
And as he looked, he couldn't help but chuckle at the frightening wit of Cinder Fall. And at the bizarre circumstances he had found himself in.
The other envelopes were empty.
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Story Note: Most of the info I know of for Neo paints her as being a bit psychotic, so I'd like to think my portrayal of her is at least a little true to her character. Teenagers tend to crack in different ways when under a mountain of stress, and for Neo, that stress was beyond normal. I won't ask for your personal experiences with mental illness in the review section, but if anything I've written needs to be adjusted to better represent reality, feel free to let me know. This may be a fictional story, but I'm striving for realism wherever I can.
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