Trust

It been a long time since Neo had been this angry and hurt. She felt as if she wanted to kill something, violently, to just maim and destroy without reason, but at the same time, another part of her just wanted to crawl up and be left alone. She could feel the crowds' eyes on her as she stomped away from the burning building, her angry exterior making them fearfully step out of her way as she passed lest they become the unwilling subject to her wrath.

For once, Neo felt like she wasn't surrounded by idiots.

This shouldn't have happened. None of what had transpired inside the building behind her should have happened. She had been following every single part of the plan and then, suddenly, she had been surrounded; attacked from all sides in an ambush a child could have seen coming but she hadn't gotten any warningabout. She'd been used—again—by someone she thought she could trust.

That was why she was so angry—so hurt. It wasn't because she'd had to fight her way out of the building, not because of the stab wound marring her shoulder, slowly dying her pristine, white jacket red, and not because the mission as a whole had been a complete failure.

He had told her that she wouldn't have to worry about any ambushes, that he'd take care of it. That's why she hadn't reacted to the obvious signs that had lead her to be surrounded. She had trusted him.

Not stopping, Neo wiped angrily at her eyes as she could feel the burning sensation of tears begin to well up inside them. She knew she needed to get out of the area before any police showed up, that she needed to hide her identity, but her thoughts were too jumbled for her to will her Semblance to work. Instead, she just kept walking, not caring where exactly she was actually going.

Firefighters had begun arriving on the scene, rushing towards what was left of the burning, former White Fang hideout, but lucky for her, they didn't seem to pay her any attention.

'Why…? Why did this happen…? You were supposed to be different!' Neo lamented inside her head as more tears threatened to spill from her heterochromatic eyes. Her anger was still there, bubbling inside her like a seething cauldron of rage, but it was slowly being overshadowed by the pain. And it wasn't her arm that was hurting so much either, it was her chest. Her heart felt like a white hot needle made of pure betrayal had been thrust into it and she couldn't find any way to dislodge it.

First Roman and now him…

Despite her best efforts, Neo just couldn't stop the slow trickle of tears that began to make their way down her pale cheeks. In the battle raging within her heart, sorrow ended up as the ultimate victor.

She thought it wouldn't be as bad as the last time, that what had happened when Roman had used her as bait without telling her would have hardened her to something like this, but no, it hurt so much more. She hadn't trusted Roman like she had him, hadn't bared as much of herself as she had to him-…

Mid-step, Neo suddenly froze.

For a second, she was sure her mind was playing tricks on her, that she'd just seen a random mop of blonde hair and her thoughts had immediately gone to him, but even as she blinked several times, he was still standing there, peering out over the crowd, seemingly looking for someone.

As if someone had thrown pure gasoline upon a bed of almost burned out cinders, her anger flared up once again and she resumed her walk with renewed purpose. She didn't even notice that she was still crying openly as she marched towards him, ocean blue eyes searching frantically for something. With equal parts hurt and anger, she figured it was her he was looking for, that he wanted to see whether she was alive or dead so he'd know if he should be watching over his shoulder during the coming days or if she'd been successfully removed…

Gritting her teeth, Neo quickened her pace, preparing herself for a possible chase should he decide to try and run away. She needed to do something. When it had happened with Roman she hadn't made him pay in any meaningful way, never claimed any sort of revenge, but this time she would. She needed to. It hurt too much for her to just ignore it. She'd make him feel her pain too...

But then his eyes finally landed on her small form and she faltered.

Dark brown and vibrant pink met deep cobalt, and suddenly Neo didn't know what she was feeling anymore.

A multitude of emotions crossed Jaune's face in a split second as he looked at her; astonishment, recognition, elation, relief, fear, anger, and then back to relief again. Neo's expression, however, stayed somewhere between anger and shock—frozen just like her body.

Before Neo even had the time to begin to process the new surge of thoughts flowing inside her head, Jaune was sprinting over to her and just when she started to get some semblance of control over her petrified limbs, he threw his arms around her and pulled her into an almost crushing hug, stunning her body right back into a frozen state.

"Oh thank dust you're alive..." she heard him whisper hoarsely. "I am so, so, so sorry, Neo..."

Not once had Neo imagined that this might be the reaction she would be met with when Jaune found out she had made it out alive. All she could do was remain stiff in his arms as she tried in vain to make sense of the storm of emotions surging through her heart.

She wanted to think that this was all a ruse to try and avoid her anger, that he figured running was pointless and instead was going to try to use deception to placate her. But the way that he held her… the sincerity that rang in his words… the relief that she'd seen on his face... it only made her already confused emotions more jumbled.

"I should have seen the ambush coming... I should have warned you or just told you take another route..." Jaune's voice was practically shaking as he continued to hold Neo close, as if she'd disappear the moment he let her go. "I just got so caught up in trying to plan out a path that would make sure you didn't run into one of the other teams that I forgot to check for potential ambush spots, and then I wasn't able to radio in like I'd planned when all our teams converged earlier than I'd expected and I just..."

As his rambling died down, Jaune finally managed to lessen his grip on Neo, leaning back so that their eyes could meet again. He was almost panting at this point, his mouth half opening and then closing again as if he had several thousands more words he wanted to say but could get out.

"I… I'm sorry, Neo… so sorry. I should have been more observant and it's all my fault things fell apart..."

As he hung his head in shame, Neo's mind went into overdrive trying to comprehend all the things that Jaune had just told her.

Could it be that this wasn't like what had happened with Roman? Was it possible that she hadn't been betrayed? Had everything just been a mistake?

Despite what she'd felt just minutes earlier, Neo felt herself begin to yearn for this to be the truth. She didn't want her faith in Jaune to be misplaced. She wanted to trust him, more than anything.

She longed to feel safe with him again…

Just as Neo opened her mouth to say something, a sudden lance of pain arced through her wounded arm and she wasn't able to stop the quiet groan of pain that escaped her. She quickly forgot about it, though, as Jaune's head shot up and his eyes hurriedly scanned over her whole body. He was quick to zero in on her shoulder and she could only watch as his face flashed through a myriad of different emotions once again, before he stood up and slipped one of his arms behind her knees while the other supported her upper back, hoisting her off the ground in a bridal carry.

"You need to put pressure on that wound until we can find a medic," he said as soon as she was settled firmly in his arms, his worried expression betraying the firmness of his voice as his eyes searched the area for any medical teams.

Neo was hardly even aware that she followed Jaune's order as she kept on watching his face. Her thoughts were finally starting to settle down, and as they did, a tiredness fell over her body. Her fight earlier, coupled with the blood loss, had taken its toll on her, but it wasn't until now that she let her senses register the fact.

The anger and sadness that had occupied her thoughts so heavily was slowly being replaced by relief. She knew that there was more to discuss between her and Jaune, both about what had happened and what they were going to do next, but now…

Now Neo felt herself begin to relax for the first time in several hours. In Jaune's arms. Where she felt safe once again.

AN: It's been almost eight months. Eight months since I uploaded something... time sure flies when you're stressed like hell because of school!

Seriously though, this year has not exactly been sunshine and rainbows for me so far. School has been a nightmare and even though I managed to pass all my classes, I'm far from proud of my grades and the work I did. It has genuinely been months since I was able to go a day without feeling awful either because I was angry at my performance in school or because I didn't have the energy to write. As much as I love doing this whole writing thing, either by myself or with Lonely, it's a very draining hobby, both mentally and emotionally.

I'm sorry for having been absent for so long, especially after all the notes I've left in mine and Lonely's stories about how there wouldn't be eons between each upload, but I had no idea just how stressful my life would become when I wrote those things. I also want to thank everyone who has sent me messages asking if I'm doing okay; it means a lot to me, and I apologize for not answering them like I should have, I felt too ashamed and tired to do so properly.

We'll see what the future holds for me, since I really can't say at the moment...