kootranova1 : yeah, emotional stuff isn't my strong point. Actually, it's probably the one thing I need to improve the most on.
As their journey continued, Ruby was scared. She tried not to show it, but she was constantly on guard, afraid Neo would change her mind and attack them.
Sure, she had been caught off guard last time, and alone, but everything had went so fast she wasn't sure if the four of them together would actually be capable of stopping Neo if she ever decided to fight them.
Besides, Neo had said she was going to lay a trap for Cinder, and that she would have to make a choice. What if Neo didn't like the choice she would make ? What if she couldn't even make a choice at all ? What then ?
And if Neo needed a trap to even attempt at fighting Cinder, if Neo, the one she wasn't even sure if her and her friends were capable of holding a candle to, couldn't fight Cinder head on, then would the four of them have any chance to stop her, or were they just a bunch of kids way out of their league ?
Even knowing this, it wouldn't stop Ruby. She wanted to protect people, and the biggest threat out there was Cinder. However, if this really was such a risky endeavor, then she wasn't sure if she wanted her friends to come with her, although it would mean they would have even less chance at stopping her.
This was a mess, their whole quest was a mess, but no matter what, Ruby wouldn't stop. Not while Cinder kept trying to destroy cities and hurt people.
Neo kept following Ruby and her friends as they travelled. While she wasn't too keen on killing Ruby anymore, she knew that she wouldn't be able to kill Cinder on her own, not when she had full maiden powers. She needed bait to distract her, and this Jaune kid would do just the trick, seeing how hurt he was from Pyrrha's death.
Just imagining the blonde boy rushing to his death with his friends while she found an opportunity to stab Cinder in the back was filling her with glee. Mostly the stabbing Cinder in the back part, but every little bit helped.
Watching over the teenagers traveling towards the city of Mistral, Neo noticed a scorpion faunus rushing towards them. A quick observation told her they were in for a bad time.
Name : Tyrian Callows
Age : 37
Level : 20 (100%)
Class : Assassin [You specialize in killing people, quickly and efficiently]
Path : Servant of Chaos [You want to watch the world burn, because that's when its the brightest]
Title : Black Pawn
HP : 14/14
AP : 107/107
STR : 12
CON : 14
DEX : 23
INT : 13
WIS : 16
CHA : 14
Semblance : Aura Disruption [With enough concentration, you can ignore someone's aura and directly damage their HP]
Status effects :
Child of Remnant [You are from Remnant and follow different rules than other worlds. Your HP is always equal to your constitution and any bonuses that would normally improve it are transferred to your aura]
Defenses :
AC : 26
For : 23
Ref : 29
Will : 24
Neo didn't make a move to help them. While she did need someone to act as bait against Cinder, that could be anyone. The only reason she had left Ruby that message was because she was the only one that wouldn't be hostile to her, not anymore.
She wasn't going to help, because while she had indeed decided to let Ruby live, she still blamed her for Roman's death, at least partly. She wouldn't be the one to kill Ruby, but she certainly wasn't going to protect her.
Besides, Qrow had noticed the faunus too.
Ruby fired at Tyrian.
Qrow had quickly came in to save the day, to her surprise, but she was happy he did.
Where Neo had needed two hits to remove her aura, Tyrian had only needed one. Neo had caught her by surprise, when she was alone, yet Tyrian attacked from the front against all four of them, and Ruby realized her fears were true.
They were completely outmatched. The crazed man in front of them was toying with her friends, and even their best surprise attack hadn't managed to scratch him.
She wasn't going to stop. Not for a single moment, but she couldn't call on her friends to help her. Not after she saw the gleam in Tyrian's eye when he was about to strike Ren.
Tyrian was here for her, just like Neo had been. She was the one putting her friends in danger, and she would fight to protect them from it. Qrow might have said to stand back, and she hoped her friends would, but she would not.
Cinder would be as tough a fight as this Tyrian is. She couldn't just stand by and watch, otherwise why was she even on this quest for. No matter what, no matter how small, she would find a way to help Qrow. She would find a way to matter, to protect. This wouldn't be like Vale, where all her efforts were in vain.
Then Qrow got hurt protecting her, and she instinctively cut off the weapon that had just stabbed him.
Tyrian screamed, cowered, ran, and Ruby realized just what she had done.
She hadn't cut a weapon, she had cut his tail, a part of him, a part of someone.
She almost wanted to puke, stopping a hiccup from leaving her body in fear that something else would follow after.
She wasn't going to be able to make that choice Neo wanted her to make, would she ?
Neo stretched on the tree branch she was sitting on.
Salem... Now she had a name for the Black queen, a name for her troubles.
Well, Cinder was what caused her troubles, she's the one that toyed with Roman until he broke. But Salem is the one pulling Cinder's strings.
Still, she wondered, if all four maidens were as powerful as she saw Raven was, if those four maidens had existed for centuries, if those four maidens hadn't killed Salem yet.
Then how powerful was she ?
Neo's thoughts were interrupted by a rustle of leaves under her. Standing on edge, she saw Ruby, who had walked far away from the campfire and was walking deeper in the forest, as if trying to be away from everyone.
Curious, Neo followed her, staying hidden all the way, until Ruby decided she had walked enough and sat down.
Ruby sighed. She had tried to tell Qrow about Neo attacking her, thinking he would be able to protect them all from her, but she missed her opportunity and now he was asleep. It would have to wait until tomorrow.
She looked at her scroll, at the number Neo had used to send her that message. She had registered that number in her contacts, although she hadn't given it a name yet, and in this deserted place in the middle of nowhere, it was the only one still in range of her own scroll. No matter when she looked, that number was always within range, reminding her that Neo was always there, watching her every move.
"You know, after Qrow told me about my eye's powers, and that Ozpin's first words to me where about them, I always wondered if that had been the only reason I was allowed in Beacon early." she said out loud, not even sure if she wanted to talk to Neo or to herself, "I mean, he accepted Jaune, and he had no training, so what if the only reason I'm even here is for my eyes ? What if I shouldn't have tried to fight and should have just been a flashlight when Ozpin needed me to."
Ruby stayed there for a while, alone and without answer, until she broke into a nervous laughter and tears.
"I don't even know why I'm saying this." she continued, "You've tried to kill me, you've helped cause the fall of Beacon, but here I am pouring my heart out to a stranger."
Silence followed, just as before. The wind in the leaves was the only thing troubling the forest.
"Neo... Why did you help Cinder ?" asked Ruby as she hugged her knees as tight as she could, "You killed criminals before, why did you decide to help Cinder destroy Beacon, and maybe Vale ?"
Silence followed again, and Ruby thought she would stay without answers until her scroll vibrated.
I killed criminals because society would trouble me less if I killed them than if I killed innocents.
Ruby balked as she read the answer.
"Why did I ever look up to you ?" she muttered, before asking another question out loud, "Why did you kill people ?"
Her scroll vibrated again, faster this time.
I was a kid and killing was my game. I've grown up now. I still like doing it, but I only kill for a reason.
"Like revenge for Torchwick ?" accused Ruby, "He was a criminal ! A bad guy."
And he raised me after my parents were killed by a Huntsman.
Ruby froze, unable to answer to this. She knew that bad guys were people too, that they had lives of their own and people who loved them, that they could do good, but she had never thought they might have done good while being bad guys.
"I'm sorry..." said Ruby, "He must have been important to you."
He was my one thing.
It was Ruby's turn to stay silent now, and she just akwardly stayed there, huddled with her arms around her legs, as alone as she had been when she first sat down, until Neo was the one to break the silence.
Ruby, you've asked if you should've fought. What is your heart telling you to ?
"My heart ?" asked Ruby, "What do you mean ?"
What do you want to do ?
"I want to help people ! To protect them !" answered Ruby, "But I'm starting to doubt if the way I'm going at it is wrong."
I say do what you want. Always. It doesn't matter if people around you disagree, or if it fails, at least you won't have regrets.
"Of course it matters if people disagree !" objected Ruby, "Everyone is important, I can't disregard them for my own gain !"
Why not ?
"Because that's not what good people do !" shouted Ruby, "That's not what I want to do !"
Then aren't you already doing what you want ?
Ruby stopped once again, muted by Neo's answer.
People always do what they want. It's what exactly you want that defines if you're a good person or a bad one.
Ruby stayed there for a long time, reading the last answer over and over again. It seemed so simple, but that sentence would keep her awake at night for a long time after this.
When she finally stood up to go to bed, Neo sent her one last message.
Also, I only helped Cinder to get Roman out.
To be continued on August 28th
Name : Neo Politan
Age : 17
Level : 17 (74%)
Class : Illusionist [You add both your Intelligence and Dexterity modifiers to your AC and to Dexterity or Intelligence based attacks as long as you can still cast illusions]
Path : Me, myself and I [You live for yourself first and foremost, no matter what pain you might cause others]
Title : The Gamer
HP : 10/10
AP : 85/85
STR : 11
CON : 10
DEX : 19
INT : 22
WIS : 12
CHA : 16
Semblance : The Gamer
Status effects :
Gamer's body [Your body follows game-like mechanics. You can restore 1/4th of your total HP (rounded down) by resting 15 minutes. You can only die if your HP reach 0 and you fail your last breath]
Child of Remnant [You are from Remnant and follow different rules than other worlds. Your HP is always equal to your constitution and any bonuses that would normally improve it are transferred to your aura]
Words that shouldn't be said [Your last words almost caused you to lose your life. You cannot talk until you overcome your trauma]
Defenses :
AC : 26(30)
For : 19
Ref : 25
Will : 23