Volume 1, Chapter 21
Revenant
Part 1
So, remember after our last session that I said tensions were running high in our group? Yeah, that was only the beginning of it. You see, Emerald and I made up fairly quickly, helped by the fact that we we still wanted to make out, but she and Neo had gone into a miniature cold war, and a month later, it showed no sign of slowing down, much to the chagrin of myself and Mercury. But, seeing as they kept their war mostly subtle, Cinder chose not to do anything about it. I was of the opinion that was extremely counterproductive, but, apparently, both of them had softened up a bit ever since I joined the crew, so she was perfectly happy to watch them reawaken their more vicious tendencies, even at the temporary cost of team cohesion. Again, I absolutely disagreed with that, but Cinder wasn't about to put her foot down, and it was far too late for me to prevent it from happening in the first place, so all I could really do at this point was attempt to mediate. Which, as you might imagine, was a bit of a tall order when the underlying cause for their war basically boiled down to wanting more of my attention than the other.
Women...
I should clarify here: despite what this must look like by now, it was not quite a love triangle; Neo, despite some circumstantial evidence to the contrary, did not have a romantic interest in me at the time (or so she maintains), while Emerald, despite the progression of our relationship thus far resembling the plot of a trashy romance novel, made no secret of her desire for Cinder's affection. No, this was really more of a battle between one girl who was reluctant to give up any amount of time with her best friend, and one whose definition of "friends with benefits" more closely resembled what most, myself included, would most definitely call "casually dating." But, I'm getting ahead of myself here.
I ended our last session by mentioning that our group was moving back to Mistral, right? Well, when I said 'Mistral,' I wasn't lying... If we're talking about The Kingdom of Mistral. But it wasn't the capital that we were headed to. Oh no. It's true that the liars, thieves, and murderers of Remnant treat the Kingdom of Mistral as their home base, but everyone who knows anything about the Kingdom knows that most of the truly dangerous, my group included, are actually found in and around the cities of Windpath and Kuchinashi. And it was in the underworld of Kuchinashi that I would find myself eking out a reputation of my own, the best way that I knew how...
M: +7 D: +8
"You want to fight in the pits."
The impish grin fit the imp's impish personality, but the deadpan tone in which that statement had been delivered did not, and it caused Lee to raise an eyebrow at the pint-sized girl, seated directly across from him at the dining room table.
"What, did you think you were the only one who got excited by the prospect of a good fight? Come on, Neo, I thought you knew me better than that."
The girl rolled her eyes.
"Dude, you've been fighting a little over 7 months. While I'll admit that you're not half bad, I highly doubt you're ready to tangle with some of the most dangerous criminals on Remnant."
"Present company excluded?"
"Yes, considering present company has never tried to kill you."
Lee scoffed. "Fine, I'll give you that one. But how about Markos Malachite? Beiji and Da Hui Xiong? Winter Schnee? Ronald Springfield? Summer Rose?" Lee winced as he mentioned the last three names on that list, the last one in particular causing him to absentmindedly trace the scar over eye, but he continued on. "I'm pretty sure that all of them tried to kill me, yet most of them are pushing up daisies now."
Neo's grin disappeared. "You came pretty close a couple of months ago."
"Yeah, against Summer freaking Rose! She would have had us all pushing daisies if I hadn't managed to get the better of the Schnee bitch."
"Debatable, but I guess you have a point there.
"Yeah: I highly doubt I'll run into anything nearly as dangerous as Summer Rose in the pits."
"Very well then."
Both halves of the heterochromatic duo jumped in surprise, not having noticed Cinder until just then. The woman in question was wearing her usual outfit, along with a coy grin; Lee braced himself.
"Cinder! How long have you been standing there?"
"Long enough." The woman told him, glee evident in her tone. "This should actually work out quite well. Lee, you were brought aboard on the pretense that you would be a mercenary, but you have since become aware of our true aim. I'm sure that you've realized that we are playing a long game."
"Kind of hard not to, Cinder."
"Quite..." Cinder noted with a deadpan expression, though the amusement was still evident in her bearing. "While I'm certain that I've provided more than enough funds and training for you to be effective in your role, both as a mercenary and as part of this team, it would hardly be fair of me to deny you the chance to make use of that while not working towards our goal."
Tentatively, Lee began to allow a genuine smile to form. "Wow. Thanks, Cinder!"
"You're quite welcome, Lee. Besides, not only will this provide an excellent opportunity for you to earn some money of your own, but you'll also earn some valuable combat experience against people other than us. Which, despite your previous successes, you are sorely in need of." Lee rolled his eyes; while Cinder wasn't wrong, it wasn't as if he was a total amateur, which both of them had admitted. However, when Lee happened to glance at Neo, he froze; the girl looked like a dog who had just been told she was going to the park.
Lee decided his sanity would remain intact longer if he didn't ask. Instead, he decided to backtrack a bit and ask a question that had come up during Cinder's speech. "Umm... That's great and all, but how exactly is me becoming a pit fighter supposed to lead to becoming a mercenary?"
That in turn caused both women to stare at him with surprised expressions. "...What?"
Cinder spoke. "Most new mercenaries in Mistral get hired right out of the pits; it's the most convenient way for Aura capable individuals to display their skills to potential clients without doing anything explicitly illegal. But if that wasn't your motivation for fighting in the pits, then what was?"
Lee scratched the back of his neck, sheepishly. "I just wanted to fight someone other than you four..."
He laughed as both women acquainted their palms with their faces.
Neo
"Have I ever told you that you're an idiot?" There was real exasperation present in the fun sized woman's tone, stemming from the conversation they had just left. Seriously! All that just so Lee could find himself a good fight? Sure, his idea wasn't technically a bad one, but couldn't he have just asked them to mix things up a bit?
Lee chuckled. "At least twice a day, short stack!"
The bastard's smug tone made her want to attack his face... With her mouth? What the..? "Ugh... Idiot..."
"And now you've filled today's quota!"
A quick pivot caused Neo's punch, aimed at a certain spot between his hips, to land on his hip instead. Lee winced, serving as evidence of the girl's strength being disproportionate to her stature, yet still he laughed; Neo was flicking her hand out to her side, a grimace on her face.
"And I'm the idiot?"
Neo glared... But was all too aware of the heat in her face, resultant not from the embarrassment of accidentally hurting herself, but rather that of that single out of place thought. Who was she, Emerald? Seriously! Just because the guy was her best friend and... passably attractive did not mean she wanted to jump his bones the way that bitch seemed to want to! And the worst part of it all?
The smug bastard knew what was going on in her head! And he was flaunting it with that infuriatingly smug smirk, and so what if it also happened to make her a little weak at the knees? She was supposed to be the infuriatingly smug one, dammit!
Neo's fuming was interrupted when she was suddenly hoisted into the air by her waist, catching her by surprise so effectively that she forgot to protest, though she did wonder why Lee was humming something that sounded like "Nah, so when ya!" (AN: Yes, Lee just did what you think he did xD) Still, just when she was recovering from the shock of being manhandled so suddenly, he shifted her around until she was seated on his shoulders, with Lee holding onto her calves.
Neo sighed. "Lee?" She hedged, unconsciously switching to speech via telepathy.
"Neo." The buffoon was still laughing at her!
Neo did her best to remain calm. "Why am I on your shoulders?"
Of course, Lee wasn't about to let that be an easy task. "That would be because I put you there, short stack." To Lee's credit, a quick stumble and a laugh were the only indications he gave that he'd even felt Neo bonk her fist against the top of his head for making that smartass remark. Seriously, it was moments like these that made her wonder why she put up with hi-
"You also tend to not watch where you're going when you get flustered. You would have smacked your forehead against the corner of the bar, and we just got that replaced from the last time you did that."
Neo could almost see the steam billowing out of her pores at the thought of nearly doing something so embarrassing... Again. Still, she did her best to keep it out of her voice as she semi-sarcastically retorted: "Oh, so I almost pulled a Lee."
The bastard wasn't even fazed, merely ducking through the backdoor with perfectly measured strides. "Yup, except it would have been entirely your own fault, so you're welcome."
Neo was absolutely certain that her face resembled a cherry at that point. "Please just put me down..."
"What, not enjoying the view?" The lug quipped. Reluctantly, Neo forced herself to really look at her surroundings... And quickly found that she did indeed enjoy the change in perspective; being only 47 inches (145 cm) tall, and this with her high-heeled boots, suddenly being placed on the shoulders of her not-quite six foot (1.81m) friend had suddenly doubled her usual height from the ground, so even though it was only the grounds of Cinder's home that she was seeing, it was still nice.
She couldn't find it within her to stay embarrassed, and thus found herself relaxing into the grin she could feel emerging. "On second thought, this is actually kind of nice. Onwards, noble steed!"
Lee laughed, and Neo did her best to ignore that she absolutely loved the feelings that sound inspired, despite the way that he could needle her (such as he had been doing for the past several minutes!) without actually upsetting her... Most of the time, anyway. He had been absolutely merciless that one time he'd caught her trying to practice with a battle axe, but in hindsight she could see how it would have seemed pretty funny. Of course, she'd never tell him that; she'd seen how well that worked out for Emerald.
Speaking of, Neo had to put in a conscious effort not to glower at the thief (who she could see doing the same) when she and Mercury came into view, approaching their destination from the other side. Cinder's estate, in addition to hosting a rather large 5-bed 3-bath house, also held a gymnasium with a sparring arena within the grounds. It was nothing fancy, which was sort of odd compared to the house itself, but it allowed them to get the job done, which was perfectly normal when it came to Cinder. Something that Neo was certain that Emerald did on a regular basis, so it was completely baffling that she would choose to have some sort of relationship with Lee. The only explanation that Neo could come up with was that she was simply taking what she could get... Which, so long as Lee understood that too, Neo would be fine with, but what really ground her gears (and teeth) was the way Emerald would so casually inflict real, actual harm on Lee. Making him run into a traffic light at 75 km/hr, for example, or biting his lip so hard that it had required stitches. Her call sign may have been Scorpion, but as far as Neo was concerned, they should have called her Spider.
"Neo!"
She most certainly did not yelp when she was dragged out of her thoughts, and it most certainly was not just Lee holding onto her legs that kept her from falling off his shoulders, because she most definitely did not jump like a startled cat...
A punch to the top of Lee's head and a glare towards the other two was enough to bring the laughter to a premature halt.
"What do you want, asshole?"
Neo could practically hear Lee, the asshole in question, roll his eyes at her. "I said: would you like to spar with me, short stack? Twenty lien says I hit you at least twice this time!"
"Oh, you're on!"
She took a savage delight in the winces both Emerald and Mercury wore, knowing that Lee would be wearing a similar one; she had spoken out loud, a sure sign that her heart was in what she was saying.
Lee wouldn't stand a chance.
Really short chapter, I know, especially for how long it took me to write it, but this feels like the right spot to split it. As always, please review! I'm dying to know what you thought of Neo this chapter!
-C.S.
Update: The next chapter is mostly done at this point. Ran into some trouble choreographing the spar, but that's done, so now it's just a matter of wrapping the scene up. I'm thinking January 9th at the latest. Also, note the title change: it's a hint! ;)
