Neo was sat in the library with the girls of team RWBY and JNPR along with her own partner, It took her no time at all to integrate herself and Scarlet into the dynamic of Beacon, quickly becoming good friends with both teams RWBY and JNPR, the rest of her team however, had not followed suit, preferring to train or gossip with Team BRDE, who had also participated in the exchange.
As the group walked to the cafeteria, the topic changed to the upcoming dance, With Neo being asked by Ruby if she had anyone to go with, Neo responded by becoming flushed, "uuuhhh, M-me? Uh, N-no Not that I kn-know of."
Yang got a predatory look on her face, "So Neo, You seem quite flustered... you got a thing for my baby sister?"
Neo blinked, her face going blank and her mind replaying all the mother daughter moments in her life. Once her life's story had finished flashing through her mind, she roboticaly turned to the girl in question and had to hold back vomit, somehow succeeding in not visibly showing her disgust so as to not hurt the poor innocent girl's feelings. Neo then said to Ruby, "Sorry, but no, I uh, don't feel that way about you, uh..."
Neo glanced around the room looking for any escape from her current conversation, finally her eyes landed on the one girl in the room she would have no issue dating, "say, Pyrrha, you don't have anyone to go with right?"
Said girl was startled, but nodded, a slightly sad look on her face, "No, sadly everyone thinks im too good for them, or wants to be with me for fame, no no-one has even approached me in earnest, not even my own partner."
Those words struck a chord with Neo, who had experienced her own fair share of people only associating with her to get closer to her Mom, and stood to walk over to Pyrrha, changing her clothing with her semblance to resemble a ball gown, "Well then, in that case, Miss Nikos, would you be so kind so as to take this lady to the dance?"
Pyrrha gave a hearty chuckle, "Well fair maiden, it would be quite rude of me to decline such a generous offer."
The whole group was laughing at the ridiculous display, and once they calmed down the group realized that Neo hadn't walked back over and was now sat down on a very brightly blushing Pyrrha's lap.
They all stared at Neo until she noticed, which wasn't long, and Neo simply shrugged, "What? I literally just asked her out, and she said yes. Suddenly this isn't ok?"
The rest of the group continued to stare, while Scarlet just pinched the bridge of her nose, "Neo, your ineptitude at anything social still astounds me to this day, but that's what I signed up for."
Neo continued to ignore the rest of them and sank further into Pyrrha's lap, closing her eyes and pulling Pyrrha's arms around herself, making the redhead's face match her hair.
"Sides' us famous girls gotta stick together, if nobody thinks they're good enough for us, then maybe we're good enough for each-other, either way, I just scored myself a date, and Scarlet owes me 40 Lien"
Pyrrha, who had started to relax, stiffened up and dared to ask Neo a question, "Neo, if you don't mind me asking, what was the bet?"
Neo blinked, turning her head towards Pyrrha, "No wait, that sounds bad, the bet was that I was going to be single throughout my time at Shade, and I said I'd find a date within my first year."
Pyrrha relaxed and settled back into her chair, content with the answer. With Neo following suit and once again sinking into the tall redhead's lap.
The Beacon dance was in full swing, in the end, Ruby had ended up getting a date with Scarlet, and Weiss was the one who ended up alone, though with the help of Jaune, Neptune had came around, leaving the poor blonde to the punch bowl. Along with Ruby and her date.
Neo and Pyrrha it seemed, had turned out to be a power couple, the two dominated the dance floor with incredible moves, Pyrrha had apparently taken dance classes in mistral, and Neo it seemed was just naturally talented. Together the two lit up the dance floor, With Pyrrha in High heels and a bright red dress, and Neo dressed in a Pink Tuxedo, with a white undershirt and brown bow tie.
It also seemed that Neo and Pyrrha had a lot more in common than one might think, Pyrrha was known in mistral as 'The Invincible Girl' And she hated it, She had no friends growing up because of her fame. Neo on the other hand, was known throughout Shade already, and had gained the moniker 'The Multicolored Menace' Due to her placement on the leader-boards throughout shade.
The two had much more to bond over, and it had turned out to be a great night. But, While the students of beacon were laughing and dancing with their friends. Aurum Lazuli sat idle in the CCT tower, waiting for the intruder to make her appearance.
With an audible 'ding' The elevator reached the top, and a woman clad in a jet black catsuit and masquerade mask walked out, the elevator doors closing behind her. As soon as the doors closed, Aurum dispelled her illusion magic, revealing herself to be sitting right at the terminal Cinder wanted to get to.
"Hello Cinder... Long time no see." Aurum Said, Her voice cool and collected
Cinder's eyes widened, "Aurum Lazuli... Why whatever could you be doing in the CCT at this hour?"
"Oh? Is it not obvious?" Aurum gave Cinder a death glare, "I'm here to kill you."
Cinder's mind was racing, How have I been discovered? Who tipped her off? How did she know?Why-
Cinder was thrown out of her own thoughts as she was launched across the room, her eyes blowing wide as a quarter of her aura disappeared in just a second, Cinder tried to draw her blades, but was quickly cut off by a swing of Aurum's massive scythe, the weapon cleaving through her newly formed glass weapons. As the surprise stopped Cinder, Aurum capitalized and sent another strike sailing through the air at her, Cinder begun panicking, she only had a tenth of her aura left.
Cinder then called upon her Maiden powers, sending out a massive blast of wind, knocking the Golden Huntress back Across the room. Cinder began to formulate an escape plan, her mind running wild until... Cinder's line of thinking was cut off as she looked down, seeing the bright blue blade of Crescent rose passing directly through her chest, looking back up, she saw that Aurum had crossed the room in a fraction of a second, Impaling her on the large weapon with ease shattering her aura with one strike and following through.
"This is the beginning of the end for Salem, Cinder. The Black Queen Virus will never be used, and the fall maiden powers will be restored to their rightful owner."
Cinder coughed up blood, and tried to speak, letting out a hoarse, "H-h-ho-ww-w?"
Aurum donned a Grim look, her eyes meeting Cinder's "If its any consolation, you won the first time around."
Cinder's brow furrowed, and she tried to say something else, but not before the light in her eyes faded, and a bright orange light flew from her chest, making its way out and down, to the vault beneath the tower.
Aurum then turned her attention to the elevator where a soft 'ding' had just come from, as the doors opened, General ironwood stepped out followed by several atlas soldiers, observing the chaotic state the room was currently in.
Spotting Aurum, and the still impaled corpse of Cinder, the good general asked, "Aurum... What happened?"
Aurum let out a small sigh and let go of her weapon, "That, is Autumn's attacker, er was Autumn's attacker. I killed her, and stopped her from plugging this into the main terminal." Aurum held up a small Thumb drive, "I don't know what's on it, but it cant be good."
The good general nodded and turned to his soldiers, "Guard this room, don't let anyone out of the elevator."
The first thought that came into Neo's head was that she was very comfortable, and that she would like to continue sleeping. Following these thoughts, Neo relaxed and sunk further into the arms that were wrapped around her, resting her head in the crook of the neck of the other person in her bed...
Wait a second... Neo cracked open one eye, and looked down, and was relived to see both she and her sleeping buddy were still clothed. But, that begged the question, Why was there another person in bed with her?
The answer to that question came in the form of a light whisper, "Good morning Neo."
Neo looked up into the emerald eyes of the girl she was currently snuggling, and her entire face turned red. Pyrrha had a small smile on her face, and a light blush herself. Pyrrha pulled one of her hands up from around the small girl, and started running her hand through the hair of the multicolored girl. Sending her into an even further blush.
Neo buried her face once again into the crook of Pyrrha's neck, attempting to hide her blush, "Why are we in the same bed? Not that I'm complaining."
Pyrrha let out a small chuckle, "You were tired after last night, and I offered to have a sleepover, you climbed into my bed in the middle of the night, something about a Grimm queen and a nightmare, and then snuggled me. You were so cute that I just let it happen, and now here we are... did you sleep okay?"
Neo had now recovered from her embarrassment, and took note that she is loosed lipped when sleepy. Neo hummed, and continued to snuggle Pyrrha for another hour, the two girls idly chatting the whole time, until an alarm went off, waking up the other members of JNPR, with Nora and Ren getting up from their shared bed, waves of embarrassment coming off of Nora and indifference from Ren.
Jaune also got up, his onesie on display for Neo to laugh at quite vigorously. Meanwhile, in a transfer dorm, Neo's team all got up, with Scarlet noticing that Neo herself was not present, "Hey girls, looks like our leader got lucky eh?"
From across beacon, Neo felt a shiver go down her spine. She'd have to have a word with her dear friend.
Once again sorry for a smol chapter today, you'll get a chonker on thursday :p