Vinicius Henrique : Well, all Jaune falling down would do would be to bring additional conflict. It's a tough call, because on one side if he falls we can resolve all that conflict in one go, while on the other if he goes to Vacuo then Ren and Nora could be part of that conflict when its finally resolved, Penny too.
Well, even if he fell, its not like he would have fallen in the same spot the rest of RWBY plus Neo did, so he wouldn't appear for several chapters, probably. It'll give time for other people to say their thoughts.
When Ruby woke up, the first thing she felt was a fist hitting her in the face. She hadn't even stood up that she was already sent sprawling on the ground.
She looked up, and what she saw shocked her. They were on a beach next to a wild jungle, but that wasn't what stood out to her the most. It was Neo.
She hadn't seen her much. Most of the time they had ever talked was through text, but the few times they fought against each other she had always seemed so sure of herself. Even when she had attacked her out of revenge, the pure rage and sorrow was still cold and calculated, to a degree.
However, now, she was a crying mess of anger, frustration and despair. In the moment Ruby had stared in shock, Neo jumped on her and kept punching her with all her might, although there wasn't any of the technique she usually fought with, so it didn't hurt that much through her aura. Between each punch, Ruby could see Neo mouth something, as if she was trying to shout at her having completely forgotten that she was mute.
Ruby couldn't fight back. She didn't want to fight back. Because she knew, she understood why Neo was so angry at her. Instead, she looked away.
"I'm sorry," she said, "I couldn't do it."
Neo stopped, her two fist resting around Ruby's shoulders before she smashed them with all her meager strength, her mouth opening as if to scream out why.
"I'm not like you!" cried out Ruby, tearing up as well, "Hurting people while we fight to save lives is one thing, but knowingly taking someone's life… I couldn't kill Cinder, I can't!"
Neo's eyes widened, as if she suddenly understood something, and she grasped at her scroll, typing out something with great difficulty.
Back then, when you found Cinder fighting against Penny and Winter, you let her go, didn't you. You delayed your eyes' activation so she could run away.
"I'm sorry!" shouted Ruby, "I can't choose to take someone's life. That's not a decision someone should ever make!"
Neo lifted her fist once again, but dropped to the side. Ruby wasn't sure if it was out of exhaustion or because she had given up on her, but she used that time to stand up.
"Ruby…" she heard behind her.
That is when Ruby remembered that the two of them hadn't fallen alone. She turned around and saw Yang, Blake and Weiss looking at her with varying degrees of horror and disbelief.
"Please tell me its not true," said Yang, "Please tell me you didn't let Cinder live when you could have stopped her."
Ruby could barely muster a sound.
"Yang…" she started.
"Don't you Yang me!" shouted her sister, "You didn't seem surprised when Neo attacked Cinder! It was like you knew it all along!"
Ruby shivered, Yang's anger was far more terrifying that Neo's had ever been. Her semblance was fully activated, her eyes were bright red and all of her body was on fire.
"How much have you kept hidden from us?" kept screaming Yang, "For how long did you know Cinder was going to attack us? Was letting Cinder ask the last question part of your plan? Was letting her send multiple innocents flying part of it as well?"
"No! Yang, please…" tried to say Ruby, "that's not…"
"NO!" shouted Yang, "I don't want to hear your excuses! I should've known the moment you started lying to Ironwood! You're no better than Ozpin was!"
"Yang…" croaked out Ruby.
Yang cooled down, her anger subsiding and semblance slowly deactivating.
"No. You're worse than he was," said Yang with deadly calm, "At least he wouldn't have hesitated to kill Cinder to save so many lives."
Ruby fell to her knees in tears, and Yang turned around.
"Everyone that died out there, Atlas falling… All of that's your fault," she said as she walked away, "I don't want to see you ever again."
"Blake… Weiss…" tried to reach out Ruby.
Blake looked back guiltily, but soon ran towards Yang, while Weiss lingered for a moment.
"Ruby… I… I don't know if my sister's alive anymore…" she said, "I… need time…"
Then she was left, with Neo, alone.
After a while, Ruby and Neo left the beach and went into the forest. They weren't helping each other, they weren't even acknowledging the other's presence, but they somehow stayed together, as if afraid of being all alone, or understanding that two was still better than one, especially in an unknown land.
Neo was mad, that much was a given, but Ruby was just as angry at her. If Neo hadn't brought Cinder along, they could have saved everyone, but now so many people had fallen along with them, so many had stayed stuck on the other side of the portal, within the floating city that was falling down. So many lives lost, just because Neo had considered killing Cinder to be more important than everything else.
That being said, Ruby was also blaming herself just as much. She had failed, she couldn't use her eyes knowing it would hurt Cinder. While the first few times were unconscious, after that she had always repressed them, afraid of the pain it would bring to another human. And that was why Cinder had managed to beat them and take away the Relic.
Without a word, they each took turns gathering food and sleeping. In the distance, they could see the campfire and refuges the rest of Ruby's team were building to accommodate the civilians that had fallen with them. Whenever they met with someone else, they directed them towards it instead of trying to help them themselves.
It hurt for Ruby, not being able to help anyone, but she understood that people were better off with her sister and friends rather than staying along two girls in a mood darker than the grimm themselves.
Speaking of, it was strange how they had not met any grimm so far. You'd think, with the amount of negative energy they were both emitting, that at least one grimm would have come around already, but nothing, not a single one.
It didn't make sense. Were they really in a space without any grimm for miles? Was there really such a convenient spot in Remnant? Were they even still in Remnant to begin with?
So many questions on top of the doubts they were already having. Ruby and Neo could only live day to day, surviving in this foreign land, without a thought for what tomorrow would bring.
They had given up.
Ruby stirred awake in the middle of the night. Every time, it was the same dream, Cinder killing and burning down Atlas. At first, she had just stood there, helpless, but as her dream kept happening again and again she did her best to change the outcome. She would fight, run, do anything to save anyone, but every time Cinder just burnt everything and killed everyone, including herself.
It was frustrating, so desperately frustrating, even if that was only just a dream. And when she was awake, it wasn't any better. She'd just keep thinking on and on about everything that had happened in Atlas, and how to fix things, but to no avail.
When she thought about telling Ironwood the truth outright, she could only see him send Atlas high in the atmosphere, leaving Remnant to die, even if he might have saved the people in Mantle.
When she thought about telling her team about Neo, she could only see them attacking Cinder upfront and getting burned to death, or see Cinder run away only to come back with an army of grimm in revenge.
And no matter what, she could never think about using her eyes against Cinder. Never.
Was that it? Neo had said that everyone did what they thought was right, and that their actions determined whether someone was good or bad. After all this time, Ruby agreed, but it also hurt her. She knew that choosing to kill someone was wrong, she had decided that not using her eyes against Cinder was right.
But then, because she didn't use her eyes, so many people had died. Did that mean that she was a bad person after all?
"Neo… am I a baddie?"
Neo turned around, surprised by Ruby's question. After all this time staying silent, of not even looking at each other, she had asked that?
How stupid was she? It's the complete opposite, she's such a good person that it's sickening! That's the whole problem here!
Neo walked up to Ruby, looking down on her as she was still sitting next to their campfire. There, she grabbed her scroll and typed an answer before shoving it in her face.
What does it matter what I think? Have you ever thought any of my actions were right? If I were to tell you that you're bad, or good for that matter, would you listen?
Ruby looked down, silently agreeing that she wouldn't hear Neo's opinion at this point. Angrily, Neo stomped down on the ground which made Ruby look up again, to find another message on her scroll.
What do you want to be?
"I want to be a hero," answered Ruby, "I want to save everyone."
But you don't want to kill the bad guys that threaten everyone's lives.
Ruby looked down once again, realizing how stupid and foolish than line of thought was. Then, without warning, Neo grabbed her by her hood and threw her to the side. Ruby rolled and stood back up, ready to shout to ask what was wrong with her only to stop when she saw Neo was in a combat stance with her parasol pointing straight towards her. Then her scroll buzzed with a new message.
Then you just have to make sure you're strong enough to do both.
When I was playing football (that's soccer for the Americans), I used to have this recurring dream where I would shoot against an empty goal, only for the ball to fly way off course. For some reason, I was able to rewind and try to modify the ball's trajectory to some degree, but no matter how much I struggled the ball kept flying out-of-bounds instead of inside the goal.
Only when I would give up and start again was I finally able to score, and honestly, I love that dream. It taught me not to go back and try to fix everything, but rather to admit that I fucked up and move on. It taught me to learn from my mistakes instead of always looking back on them.
Who knew our subconscious could teach us stuff?
To be continued on November 20th
Name : Neo Politan
Age : 18
Level : 19 (07%)
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 : 95/95
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 : 27(31)
For : 20
Ref : 26
Will : 24