With the festival in full swing, things seemed almost too cheerful for Emerald.
Due to the random nature of the competition, there was a day of various exhibition matches between the defeated members of the Doubles Tournament, with an open participation battle royale happening afterward, in order to give the winners of the second day time to repair their Gunpla.
Because of this, there wasn't really a lot to do while waiting, so Emerald had decided to explore the various Japanese stalls set up around the Gundam Base while looking up at the recently-constructed life-sized Wing Gundam Zero.
The sights had been rather intriguing, and overall she was enjoying herself. Until she bumped into Neo.
The two women had wound up having a rocky working relationship from the get-go, mainly due to the difficulty in communicating, though Neo had obliged her with using text-to-talk on her phone after Emerald snapped at her. Ever since, Emerald had tried to keep her distance, out of both shame and annoyance at the impish and mischievous nature of the smaller woman, so running into her on her day off was irritating.
What was worse, Neo refused to leave her alone. She was following her around, and even at one point weaseled a discount out of one of the merchants by claiming to be Emerald's girlfriend, much to the dismay of the latter.
She had been following Emerald around for almost half an hour, and frankly, it was becoming troublesome.
Emerald spun around to confront her. "What?! What do you want?!"
Neo simply smiled at her and tilted her head. The innocent look on her face was undercut by the twinkle in her eyes, the pink contact lens in her right sparkling just as much as her natural brown
"Don't play stupid," Emerald remarked, placing her hand on her hip. "You're mute, not deaf. Why are you following me?"
Neo thought for a moment, putting a gloved finger on her chin for a moment, before shrugging with the same teasing smile she had on before. Emerald glowered at her.
She sighed, exasperated. "Are you just trying to annoy me? Because it's working."
Neo shook her head, before pulling out her phone. "I'm bored and wanted company," she replied with her phone.j
Emerald narrowed her eyes. "And why me? Don't you just normally hang out with Roman or something?"
Neo nodded. "He's busy."
"Well, that's not my problem." Emerald shook her head. "And I'm not here to babysit."
Neo scowled. "I don't need a babysitter."
"Whatever." Emerald turned and headed towards the Gundam Base. She had had enough of Neo's antics. It was bad enough that they sometimes had to work closely together. She didn't want to waste her day off dealing with her, as well.
Neo blinked, surprised, before pouting. She looked around, dejected, before perking up with an idea.
She headed over to a nearby stand, purchasing some small cones of ice cream for Emerald and herself, before trotting after her. The sound of her flats slapping against the ground caused Emerald incredible annoyance. She balled her fists up as the smaller woman chased after her and fell beside her at an even pace.
Emerald glared at her at first but stopped herself when Neo held up the chocolate chip mint ice cream cone with a smile. She sputtered, not sure how to respond. "I, uh, wha…"
Sighing, she took the cone. "Thank you. But what's this for?"
Neo scrunched her nose a bit, thinking of how she could respond with one hand full. Shrugging, she typed in her phone "I sry" and held it up to Emerald for her to read while she took a lick of her own cone.
Emerald closed her eyes and shook her head. As annoying as Neo was, she was clearly not without some sympathy. "No, I'm the one who should be sorry. I've been kind of acting like a brat."
Neo cocked her head to the side and listened, before nodding and taking another lick of her ice cream. She texted again and held it up. "Friends?"
Emerald raised her hand up with a bit of an unsure look on her face. "Woah there, let's not get too ahead of ourselves. Let's see how things go, alright? I'll stop getting annoyed if you stop trying to get a ride out of me, and we'll go from there. Deal?"
Neo nodded happily, before turning and pointing at the Gundam Base. Emerald raised an eyebrow. "You….want to go in there?"
Neo nodded excitedly. Emerald herself planned on going in, but she hadn't expected company. But, maybe this would be a good way of starting over with the multicolored woman next to her. She shrugged, not seeing a reason to not go. "Okay, let's get going. I need a new Rebawoo anyway."
Emerald had never been to the Gundam Base before. The sight of the massive Gunpla shop, stocked fresh by PPSE supplies weekly, was incredible.
The first thing that Emerald noted was that they had a special section specifically for P-Bandai releases. Since the start of Gunpla Battle, the idea of a Premium Bandai kit had fallen to the wayside, PPSE's battle commission had decided that in the interest of a more competitive nature for the sport, P-Bandai kits would become regularly released, much like every other kit. This had opened up a new world for Gunpla builders, as Bandai was at an all-time high with Gunpla Battle fueling their sales far more than it ever had before.
The Rebawoo Emerald wanted was in with them, and she was grateful that it was as common as the normal version. She couldn't imagine what it had been like in the Dark Ages, as some modelers called it, when simple retools or color differences in the P-Bandai releases meant they were almost twice as much as their normal counterparts.
Although Watts was crafting her a brand new machine, the Bawoo had always been one of her favorite mobile suits. She wanted to have another, just because.
Neo seemed preoccupied with the SD kits, Emerald noted. She picked up an SD Cross Silhouette Qubeley and turned it over, looking at the back. Her smile seemed almost childlike. It made her look deceptively innocent.
Huh. So she is kind of adorable when she's not picking fights.
Perhaps this day wouldn't be so bad, after all-
The door slid open to the Gundam Base, and a blonde girl that Emerald immediately recognized came out with the reddish brown-haired, sparkly-eyed girl that made waves taking out Kyrus Alexander in the first round. "Shit."
She tensed up as the blonde's lilac eyes locked with her red ones, and the smile she wore faded to an aggravated frown. "Oh. It's you."
"Ruby, right? And Yang," Emerald asked nervously, averting her gaze to try and alleviate the death glare she was getting from the older girl.
Ruby looked at her sister. "You two know each other?"
"She's one of the two that was with Blake's ex the other day," Yang responded curtly, hand on her hip.
This just is a day for uncomfortable conversations, apparently, Emerald thought to herself. "Hey, look, I'm sorry about that. I was ordered to accompany Adam on an errand to keep him out of trouble. I didn't realize he was that big of a douche."
"Yeah, well, you definitely failed if you were trying to keep him out of trouble," Yang shot back. "Blake suffered some PTSD after that entire exchange. I actually thought she was going to withdraw because of you three."
Emerald looked down at the floor. "That's…kind of what I figured after I saw how he treated her. I already told my boss I want nothing to do with Adam again. I've been where Blake was before. So, I'm really sorry I helped put her through that."
Yang narrowed her eyes. "You don't need to apologize to me. But just so you know, I don't really trust you, considering how gleeful you seemed during the fight."
Both Ruby and Neo were going back and forth, listening to the two. Ruby knew her sister; she held grudges for a while, and words alone weren't going to convince her. Especially since it was Blake who was wronged.
She stepped between the two. "Hey, it sounds like you both may have just got off on the wrong foot," she said, her voice full of optimism. "We're already done for the day, so, why don't we take this chance to reacquaint ourselves?"
Yang looked down at her with a mix of annoyance and disbelief, but Ruby already was turning to Emerald. "Hello, I'm Ruby Rose, and this is my older sister Yang Xiao Long. I'm sorry you guys met the way you did, but maybe we can start over."
Emerald bit her lip nervously, while Yang rolled her eyes. Clearly, the older sister wasn't as keen on this idea as Ruby was, but more than that, it raised an issue. These two were on different teams who both opposed Salem. Even if they didn't know how serious things were, they were the enemy.
But was Emerald actually okay with helping Salem? Cinder was all for it, but over the year and a half Emerald had known, and loved, Cinder, she had noticed how vindictive and destructive she was. Hell, Cinder was the reason she needed a new Bawoo in the first place.
Her feelings about this plan of Salem's had been slipping for a while. She didn't even know what the true plan was. Seize control of Gunpla Battle?
"Fine." Yang's reply snapped her out of her head. Yang was giving her a stern look, but she also noticed a fire in her eyes. "But, she has to fight me, first."
Emerald's eyes went wide. "But…I don't have my Gunpla. It was trashed a couple of days ago in a training match with Team Godslayer's ace, Cinder."
Ruby looked surprised. "You guys didn't use C-level damage?"
She shook her head. "Cinder is a bit of an extremist…or a purist. She prefers to train like they did before damage levels existed. She says it brings out a more 'higher risk, higher reward' mentality, and she gets more out of it. It's B-level damage or bust, with her, and usually, she only fights on A. But even on B, she can slag a Gunpla with her Qubeley."
"I'll play."
All of their eyes turned to Neo, who had pulled a case off of her belt and held it up with that same innocent smile. Ruby narrowed her eyes a bit, trying to remember where she'd seen this girl before.
Then it hit her. When Coco and Penny had their exhibition match, this same girl had been in the crowd, recording it. "Hey…I've seen you before, at the fairgrounds the other day."
Neo nodded, tilting her head a bit to the side while she looked at the sisters. Emerald figured the two might need an explanation as to why she didn't say anything. "This is Neo. She's mute," she told them. "So she talks with her phone, most of the time."
Ruby's eyes perked up. "Oh!" Her hands began to move quickly, signing out something that Emerald didn't understand. Neo, however, did and had her mouth agape as she stared at the silver-eyed girl, who chuckled nervously when she was done.
"Grandma Ju, my dad's mom, was deaf," Yang said. "Rubes and I learned some sign language to talk with her, but it's been a couple years since she passed away, so we're probably a little rusty."
Tears welled up in Neo's eyes. Emerald was surprised, but it was clear that the gesture alone was enough to help her feel a little more comfortable. She wiped her tears away, then nodded at the girls.
The air grew a little awkward for Emerald. She shifted slightly, looking over at the model kits in a vain attempt to change the subject. "So….you guys gonna fight? They have a battle table over there."
The moment those words left Emerald's mouth, fire seemed to spark around Yang. "Heh, you bet! Talking and sign language is good and all, but there's no better way to communicate than with one's fists!" She slammed her knuckles together excitedly. "I just so happen to have one of my Gunplas with me, itching to get going."
She turned to Neo. "What do you say? A little spar?"
The soft expression on Neo's face hardened into a look of determination, and she nodded.
With the two in mutual agreement, the small group headed for a battle table in the corner. Yang and Neo began conversing in sign language, walking ahead of the two others. Emerald watched as the two laughed and moved their hands, with Neo being patient with Yang as she struggled to remember words and letters.
"She seems happy," Ruby commented. She, too, wore a smile, watching her sister and the smaller girl.
"Yeah…" Emerald felt guilty. She realized now that she really hadn't been treating Neo fairly, and more than that, that she seemed more at ease with having someone who can communicate in the way she preferred.
She didn't really know Neo at all. Perhaps she needed to give her a break.
Ruby pulled Emerald out of her thoughts again with a question. "How did you guys meet?"
Emerald shot a wide-eyed look at her. "Huh?!" Her dark cheeks flushed crimson. "Neo's not-I mean we aren't-"
A loud giggle escaped Ruby. "Hahahaha! No, I didn't mean it like you were dating! I meant like…are you guys both working for Team Godslayer? I don't remember seeing her on the roster of your available fighters."
"Oh." She exhaled, relieved. "Well, kinda. She's the business partner of an associate who helps us. Or….something like that. I'm not really sure what she does, other than she does do something."
"And what about you?"
Emerald shrugged. "I work with her partner, too, but I do something else. Mostly like…bodyguard work, security, stuff like that. It was kind of a second chance job because before, I was a bit of a petty thief."
She obviously couldn't tell Ruby too much. Working for Roman Torchwick wasn't exactly a legitimate job.
"And Adam?" Ruby tilted her head curiously.
Emerald shuddered at the thought of the man she had been ordered to guard. "Adam Taurus is one of the two aces for Godslayer. I'm sure you saw his name on the roster. Personally, I didn't really think much of the guy until I saw how he treated your sister's girlfriend. After that, I was really creeped out. I wish I had never been assigned to guarding him."
That much was true. Emerald had steered clear of Adam ever since that day. He reminded her too much of her ex.
Too much of Cinder, now, which had caused Emerald to have second thoughts about their relationship as of late.
Ruby listened to Emerald, before smiling. "Well, that just means you aren't a bad person. You are just mixed up in a job that puts you with bad people." Her smile changed slightly, morphing from encouraging to sympathetic. "Hopefully you won't be forced to do anything like that again."
The girl's optimism had honestly grated on Emerald a little, but her sincere words touched her. It was clear she meant what she said.
Another pang of guilt. This girl had no idea, did she?
"Hey, Rubes, what time is it?" Yang asked, glancing over her shoulder.
"About three-thirty. Remember that Uncle Qrow is coming to get us in like twenty minutes! And don't go over C-level damage! We're meeting your mom after this!"
Yang casually waved her hand, dismissing her sister's concerns. "Don't worry, I'm not going to use Blazing Echelon, I'll use that Shining Gundam I was building earlier. I'll be fine!"
Neo looked at the taller girl, then the shorter one, and then to Emerald. An innocent look was written on her face, but her eyes held mischief, as always.
Neo took her position at the table and retrieved the model kit from her pouch, but to her surprise, it wasn't a Gunpla. Yang crossed her arms, confused. "Huh?"
"A Spinatia?" Ruby asked. "I dunno about that…"
Emerald clearly didn't understand. "Is that not a Gunpla?"
"No," Ruby replied. "It's a member of the 30 Minute Mission line of mecha model kits. It's kind of like the Entry Grade kits they have. It's simple, quick, easy to build and modify, and is widely compatible with many Gunpla parts, but technically, it's not a Gunpla."
Emerald looked back at the table. "Will it even work on a Battle Table?"
Neo nodded confidently. She set her GP Base and the Spinatia down on the launch pad, and it scanned it like normal.
"Most model kits will work on the Battle Table," Ruby explained. "Heck, Yang and I and some friends fought a few Zoid kits not too long ago. And your teammate Tyrion had that modified Evangalion yesterday. The Gunpla Battle Commission just mainly advertises it only to Gunpla because that's what most people know and love. But as long as the computer can be programmed to accommodate it, using a different series kit is just like using a modified kit from a Gundam universe, or a kit with Gunpla parts."
"Then why aren't you sure about Neo's?"
Ruby shrugged. "It's the way the Battle Table registers kits. More complex, detailed, and modified kits yield stronger performances.
"Because 30 Minute Mission kits are easy, their performance is, at best, as good as an EG Gunpla. Which is to say, typically, subpar to an HG. But with the right skill and additions, that can be worked around."
She looked at Neo's kit. The Spinatia had large thrusters on its sleek, female-based frame. She carried a polearm with a hook at one end. The most interesting thing about it, though, was the color, which matched Neo's own-pink inner frame with dark brown and white armor pieces.
It also seemed to have some kind of arm-mounted cannon on its left arm, but it was unlike anything Ruby had seen before.
Yang smirked. The machine looked flimsy. It had an air of elegance to it, flexibility and agility clearly being expressed in its design, but it appeared like one solid blow would crush it.
"Since we're in a time crunch, we'll do a five-minute match," Yang suggested. "Sound good?"
Neo nodded pleasantly, stretching and taking her position on the platform.
"Huh, mobile trace user, huh? Nice." Yang grinned and fell into a launch stance as the holographic cockpit formed around her.
The battle table announced the match start, and the Shining Gundam and Spinatia shot off onto the streets of a ruined city. The toppled buildings, the destroyed dome of a stadium, and cluttered debris made for brilliant obstacles within what looked like a great metropolis.
Yang's eyes darted around excitedly, fists clenched. "Alright, pipsqueak, where'd you go?"
Her cockpit shook hard as the Shining Gundam stumbled, dropping to a knee. She looked up to see the pink, brown, and white Spinatia materialize before her, spinning her polearm lightly.
"Tsk. Great. Invisibility." Yang gritted her teeth, before pushing forward and launching her Shining Gundam at Neo. She raised her fist up and threw her first punch…but nothing happened.
The Shining Gundam phased through the Spinatia, crashing into the side of a downed skyscraper. It sat up and turned, Yang's eyes wide. "What the-"
The Spinatia turned, then wavered and disappeared. A hologram.
Emerald and Ruby both stared. Neither of them had expected Neo to have such tricky moves. "Huh. I guess I didn't give the girl enough credit," Emerald remarked. "She's smart."
Yang stood up, glancing around. Something like that meant that Neo had to be close by. Holograms faded at a distance and got bigger, and she was sure that Neo did indeed have some kind of cloaking device; she definitely was hit by something before.
An alarm blared to her left, and she jumped back as a pink beam saber blade shot from the other side of the building and narrowly missed her Gundam. The Spinatia exploded from the side of the building, landing before Yang in a bow and retracting the beam blade, head lowered and arms splayed out with her left foot crossed heel to toe behind her right.
The Spinatia looked up, and Neo smirked. Yang narrowed her eyes. "Gotcha!"
Neo stood up as Yang launched an assault, backstepping and swerving around Yang's attacks. She ducked, wove, and slapped away various hooks, chops, uppercuts, and kicks, almost dancing around the Shining Gundam's blows like she was performing an elegant ballet.
Backstep. Duck. Backstep. Lean. Backstep. Duck. Backstep. Sidestep. Every blow Yang threw, Neo dodged, almost like she was reading her mind.
Yang launched up into a knee, which Neo leaned backward to avoid. She did a cartwheel back into a standing position, and turned and leaned to the side as Yang's foot crashed down, shattering the pavement.
Taking the opportunity, Neo roundhouse kicked the Shining Gundam in the face, the Spinatia's right shin making contact and sending the Shining Gundam sprawling. She jumped backward as Yang rose, posed innocently as she watched the martial artist regain her footing.
This was going nowhere. The tri-toned 30 Minute Mission mech was toying with Yang. And she had absolutely no response.
Frustrated, Yang fired a volley of Shining Shots out of her gauntlets. The energy bolts sailed through the air, brilliant orbs of light that threatened to overwhelm Neo.
As they made contact, Yang noticed that Neo didn't move. Was it another hologram?
She stopped firing, letting the smoke and debris settle. Almost immediately, she realized what happened. The tip of the polearm was now projecting a pink beam shield, like an umbrella, in front of her, which had absorbed every shot. The Spinatia wasn't even scratched.
Yang let out a quick breath in annoyance and balled her fists up. This was getting annoying. She watched Neo swing the parasol-like weapon over her shoulder and gently twirl it, standing in a cute and innocent pose before her.
She rushed forward again, aiming a hard right haymaker as a distraction so a left body blow could sink into the Spinatia's torso. Neo moved, but this time, Yang made contact.
Expecting a solid, powerful blow, she was staggered as her fist tore through a balloon that had roughly the same colors and humanoid shape as the Spinatia. She came to a halt, blinking, as she saw Neo's machine wave at her a few meters away. The decoy lay at the Shining Gundam's feet.
Ruby nodded in approval. "You don't see many people deploy dummy balloons. I thought that the cannon on her right arm was some kind of mega particle weapon, but I guess it just probably stores a lot of dummies."
"You almost sound like you're enjoying watching your sister get her butt kicked," Emerald noted, glancing down at the younger girl.
Ruby grinned. "Well, she does deserve it sometimes."
She turned back to the table as Neo launched an attack of her own. Her beam shield deactivated and her beam saber ignited, and she thrust it at Yang in several attempts to slash and stab the Shining Gundam.
Yang ducked and dodged each attack, before being forced to deflect one blow that skimmed the left gauntlet pad on her arm and cut it away. Yang turned and grabbed the polearm, pulling Neo in for a punch to the face, but the Spinatia ignited its left leg thruster and twisted, pulling Yang off-balance to her left side.
A pair of bicycle kicks knocked Yang backward, followed by a stab to the gut while the Shining Gundam was reeling. Yang batted the pole to her right and boosted backward, looking over her damage.
She wasn't assimilated, but she could tell the blow had been nasty enough to the machine. Her torso was now compromised, and she needed to end this fight.
She rushed and threw a roundhouse kick, which was met only by contact with another dummy. She pivoted and lashed out with her left fist in a backhanded spin, but phased through another hologram.
Becoming frustrated, Yang fired a barrage of bullets from her head Vulcans, chasing the Spinatia, who kept popping out more balloons to distract Yang.
As Neo dashed around a building, Yang thrust forward, bursting through the concrete structure with a powerful right hook that met nothing but air as she once again phased through a hologram.
Looking up, she raised her arms as she spun around to block a diving kick from Neo, who then used her other hand to springboard off of the Shining Gundam. Yang planted her foot to avoid getting kicked off-balance, watching as the Spinatia gracefully landed several meters away.
She clenched her right fist, before dashing forward. The yellow accents along the Shining Gundam's head flared, the faceplate opened, and the shoulders and calves expanded, glowing gold as her Gunpla entered Hyper Mode.
Her right hand opened and began glowing a brilliant green. She prepared to blast Neo with a smaller version of the same move she used against Mina and Irina yesterday, coupled with the Shining Fingers to amplify its power.
But she felt off. Not being assimilated meant she couldn't quite tap into that same energy she had during the day before. And she figured Neo would dodge, even with her enhanced speed. These thoughts began to make her question her attack strategy, and she eased off the throttle a bit to avoid getting blindsided by the Spinatia.
However, Neo didn't budge. She planted her feet deep into the street and activated her beam shield, which flared immediately on contact with the Shining Fingers. She pushed back with her own thrusters, which she realized were not strong enough to combat the power Yang held, but at least could slow her down so the Spinatia wasn't overwhelmed.
The green, dangerous glow of the Shining Fingers fought against the powerful pink beam shield, and for a short moment, it appeared that, though Neo was losing ground, she was holding Yang back. However, that moment didn't last; the tips of the fingers began disrupting the beam shield and pushed through, which slowly inched Yang's hand closer.
Neo panicked. If too much of Yang's hand pushed through, the shield would collapse. She had to think quickly.
Dropping to one knee, Neo deactivated her shield. Yang, without any resistance, pushed forward unhindered, taking her by surprise as the shorter Spinatia sat below her, before launching up in a devastating knee to the chin that rocked the Shining Gundam and caused it to rotate in air, slamming hard onto its back as the Spinatia spun upside down and landed like a gymnast behind it.
Yang's monitor glowed an angry red. The knee had knocked the Shining Gundam's head loose on its neck joint, and the machine wasn't responding. Yang kept moving, trying to get any reaction out of it, but the movement was minimal.
Neo slowly, confidently, walked over to the side of the Shining Gundam, twirling her staff around her wrist playfully. She was about-faced when she got to Yang, standing over the Shining Gundam, and grinned in victory as she gripped her staff and ignited its beam saber.
She moved to plunge the blade into the chest jewel of the Shining Gundam but was interrupted.
"OVER THE TIME LIMIT!"
The entire scene froze, and the city disintegrated, leaving only the Spinatia standing over the Shining Gundam. Both Yang and Neo stared at each other. Clearly, both had completely forgotten about the time limit.
Neo shrugged. The battle had been short, but sweet. It had been ages since she had had that much fun.
Yang, on the other hand, looked incredibly frustrated. At no point had she managed to land any kind of significant blow on the triple-toned woman. At almost every turn, Neo had Yang dead to rights and had just toyed with her.
She thought that if she had used her own machine, things would have been different. But almost as soon as she thought about it, she shook her head. No, Neo had won. And she did so without even trying.
"Wow…." Emerald was stunned. "I don't even think I could have done better."
Ruby laughed, picking up the Shining Gundam. "That was awesome!"
Neo retrieved her Spinatia and bowed to both of them. Yang gave her an unamused look but shook her head. "Yeah, it was pretty cool. Even though I lost."
Neo signed "I'm sorry" to her, but Yang waved her off. "Don't apologize. You won, fair and square. It was good practice, at least."
"There you are."
All eyes turned towards the entrance at the sound of a gruff voice. Neo and Emerald's eyes both grew wide.
A tall, lanky man with black hair walked over to the group. Both of the women looked at each other. It was the guy in the photo Neo had taken, the one Roman was working to identify.
"Uncle Qrow!" Ruby cried out happily. "You're early. What's up?"
Qrow shrugged. "Not much. Was just in the area."
He glanced at Neo and Emerald. He didn't recognize the shorter one with the multicolored hair, but the other he remembered seeing on the roster. His eyes narrowed upon recognizing Emerald, which made her smile nervously.
"I don't know you," he commented, looking at Neo, before turning his attention toward Emerald, "but I do know you. You're a member of Team Godslayer."
Emerald chuckled, her voice shaking a bit. "Ah….yeah, one of their reserve pilots."
Qrow leaned in. "You also crashed my sister's dojo the other day."
"Hey, she's cool," Yang chimed in. "We had a talk, and she's fine."
"Hmmm." Qrow looked skeptical, but let the subject go. His gaze didn't leave Emerald, though, which increased her panic as time went on.
"C'mon, girls," he said after a moment. "Let's get going. I think Raven would appreciate meeting earlier than what we were expecting to do. Your dad and Summer are already there."
Ruby grinned. "Okay!"
She turned to Emerald. "Hey, if you and I meet in the tournament, let's give it our all!"
Emerald's nerves eased a bit. The young girl's honesty was refreshing. She nodded in agreement. "Don't hold back, because I won't."
Yang and Neo signed their goodbyes, and the three of them headed towards the door, leaving the two Godslayer associates alone.
"Did you hear that?" Neo's phone played. "Qrow."
The realization suddenly made Emerald uncomfortable, but it was her job to report this to Roman. "Yeah…we should get back soon and let him know."
Neo nodded. Emerald studied her face as she watched them leave. She wore a complicated expression, one that Emerald only could imagine was guilt mixed with justification. Much like what she herself felt. Ruby and Yang had made an impression on her, but her loyalty was to Roman.
That look faded as her brows drew together in determination. She had decided that, however nice it was to interact with someone willing to talk on her terms, that her job came first. She slowly followed the others, walking towards the exit.
Emerald sighed. Cinder should know, as well.
"Good job, Emerald."
Cinder's alluring, sultry voice purred within their shared hotel room, pleased at Neo and Emerald's discovery. She had initially been curious at the spontaneity of their meeting with two of Ozpin's little pawns, but in the end, it proved more than fruitful.
"The two seem completely oblivious to what's going on," Emerald commented, sitting on the bed as she watched Cinder walk over to the mirror in a towel. The dark-haired ace of Godslayer had just gotten out of the shower, and Emerald felt she was staying in the towel to tease her.
Problem was, the guilt in her gut kept her from enjoying the sight all that much.
Cinder turned to her as she brushed her short hair. "That only goes to prove that he's willing to use children to fight his battles, and not tell them the stakes." She pointed the brush lazily at Emerald. "Honestly, how could he be so nonchalant?"
Emerald glanced at her. "But…if Neo is right, and that pic was of their uncle meeting with Ozpin and the champion and the others-"
"Then they are just as guilty." Cinder sounded almost spiteful. "When we manage to accomplish our goals, and this world is reinvented with Salem's design, that kind of complacency will only bring trouble. We just need to stay strong and see it through."
The words Cinder said sounded so seductive, but the meaning behind them stirred a feeling of discontentment in Emerald's stomach. She looked away. How could someone she adored and indeed loved want to bring about what was basically the end of the world?
And Salem? What was her end goal? Even Cinder didn't seem to really know. But doing what Salem intended wouldn't come without consequences.
Cinder's mouth twisted into a lopsided frown, and she narrowed her eyes at Emerald. Her girlfriend clearly seemed to have second thoughts running through her mind.
She placed her thumb and forefinger under Emerald's chin, lifting her gaze up to meet the burning, amber eyes of Cinder. "You're fretting again," she cooed with a smile. "Please, don't look so sad. It doesn't suit your pretty face."
Those words. Cinder always knew how to make Emerald smile. A tear welled up in her eye. How could she be so sweet, yet seem so cold?
It didn't matter. Emerald nuzzled her cheek into Cinder's palm. The touch was welcomed.
"Let's get some rest," Cinder said, pushing Emerald onto the bed and straddling her. "Tomorrow, it's a new day."
