The rain had come on quickly, quick enough that Lily had gotten caught up in the downpour while on her way back to her car. She'd heard thunder in the distance while shopping but had thought nothing of it until the storm had settled in full force above the city and now, she was soaked from head to toe.
At the very least, the rain was relief from the heat, but relief turned to annoyance as the wind picked up and blew cold air all over her wet skin, causing her to feel downright freezing as opposed to the warmth from earlier that day. She'd considered waiting things out in a shop, but she didn't want to be accused of loitering. It was a common thing for her to get in trouble for.
Reaching the parked car, she flicked rain off her sleeves, groaning. The leather was soaked through and she worried that it wouldn't be able to fully dry by the time Beacon's second term started two days from now. Hopefully, it would be warm enough on the day that she wouldn't need it. All the same, it annoyed her that she may have just ruined the most expensive item of clothing she'd ever owned.
As she reached for the car door, noises that could barely be heard over the constant sound of thunder reached her ears. She turned, quickly, realizing that there was a fight going on nearby. She fixed her eyes on an alleyway a short distance away. Through the pouring rain, alarm shot through her as she spotted dark figures scuffling and heard grunts and shouts of pain. Instinctively, she reached for Evening Jade, but she'd left the weapons at home, figured she wouldn't need them for a casual shopping trip. Alarm shot through her as she glanced around to see if anyone was nearby to help, but this part of town was often empty, and nobody would be crazy enough to be out in this storm anyway.
She was preparing herself to go in barehanded when two of the figures ran out of sight, leaving the third nowhere to be seen. For a moment, Lily considered leaving and forgetting she'd seen anything, but her instincts as a huntress-in-training screamed at her to see if anyone needed help.
Her guard up, she stepped over to the alleyway and peered inside. For a moment, she didn't see anyone, but a closer look showed her that a small body was slumped on the hard ground.
She gasped, alarm stabbing into her as she rushed up to kneel beside it. Her worries slipped away as she realized that the body was not that of a child as she'd feared, but an older woman who just happened to be short.
"Are-are you okay?" She asked, panic slamming into her as she prayed the woman wasn't dead. If she was dead, she didn't know what she'd do. "Can you answer me?"
No answer came, but to Lily's immense relief, the woman shifted slightly, her face showing that she was in pain, eyes squeezed shut. Her breath was coming in staggered gasps, but it was still, thankfully, breath.
"Oh, thank the Gods," Lily sighed. "You're alive." She stared at the woman, slight curiosity seeping into her worry. Not only was she small, probably under 5'00", but her short hair seemed two-toned, though Lily couldn't make out the colours in the darkness of the alley, especially when said hair was soaked and darkened by rain. She'd never seen her before, she would have remembered that, and yet something about her description seemed oddly familiar.
She scanned the woman's body. At first, it looked like she was fine aside from a few cuts and bruises, until she realized that the dark pool of liquid seeping out from beneath her wasn't rainwater.
Lily gasped and rolled the woman over as gently as she could. Upon noticing the wide gash in her torso, Lily felt sick with horror.
"Oh Gods," She gasped. "You're really hurt." She tried to place her hands over the wound in an attempt to stop the bleeding, but the woman flinched away with a barely audible gasp of pain.
"I'm sorry!" Lily apologized, anxiety wreaking havoc on her brain. "I-I have a car nearby. I can get you to the hospital."
The woman's eyes finally opened as panic fluttered over her face. Lily realized she was trying to shake her head and move away.
"It's okay!" She assured her quickly. "I'm a huntress. At least, I'm training to be one. If you don't want to go to a hospital, then…my mother was a fighter too, she might be able to help you." She rested a hand on the woman's shoulder, which seemed to calm her down slightly, though her eyes were still wide with fear and pain. "Please," she begged. "I can't just leave you here. You'll die."
The woman fell still again, though whether it was from weakness or relenting to Lily's pleading, Lily couldn't tell. As gently as she could, praying she wasn't causing further harm, Lily slid her arms underneath the woman and lifted her arm, struggling to stand. She was lighter than expected, but Lily still wasn't used to carrying half-unconscious bodies.
"You're going to be okay," Lily promised, doubting her own words, but wanting to assure the woman all the same. "I'll take you back to my house, my mother can help."
Checking that the area was still clear of people, Lily carried the woman to the car and laid her in the back seat, hoping Emerald wouldn't mind the blood that was now going to seep into her new seat covers. The woman's eyes fell shut again and Lily hoped she'd make it home in time.
Trying to steady her nerves, she climbed into the front seat and started the car, taking deep breaths. Thankfully, the car didn't fail to start as it had a few times before, and she started to drive, headlights shining through the rain.
Thankfully, her house was on the outskirts of the city, a small place in need of a paint job, not far away from where Lily had been to begin with. The drive only took a few minutes, though Lily knew those few minutes could mean the difference between life and death for this woman. To her relief, the woman was still breathing when Lily parked in the driveway and went to pull her out, leaving behind dark bloodstains on the fabric of the seats. She staggered up to the doorway and pushed it open, having no idea what her mother would think when she saw her daughter carrying a bloodstained, barely conscious stranger into the house.
"Mom!" She called. "I need your help!" She wasn't sure what else to say. 'Hey, Mom, I found this lady half-dead in an alleyway. Can you help me save her life, so I don't have to deal with the eternal guilt and trauma of watching someone die?'
Emerald walked into the living room. "What do you " She broke off with a gasp as she saw Lily, and the mug she'd been holding dropped to the carpet, its handle breaking off. Her eyes were wide with shock, horror, and recognition.
"Neo!?"
"What!?" Lily almost dropped the woman in shock. Neo? As in, Neopolitan? The silent, deadly criminal who'd trained under and worked for criminal mastermind Roman Torchwick? Who'd worked with Cinder Fall to steal the Relic of Knowledge in Atlas? That Neo?
Emerald shook herself. "Quick, get her to the couch." She instructed. Lily obeyed as Emerald disappeared into the kitchen. Lily pulled the woman, who was apparently Neopolitan, to the couch, laying her down so that her wound was exposed.
Emerald returned with first-aid bandages in her hands and knelt to stare at the woman, eyes still wide. "It really is her…" She breathed. Looking again and Emerald began to cover the gash as best she could, Lily could see it now. The two-toned hair was pink and brown, and she could see a streak of white in the pink. It was how Neo had always been described to her in stories, though her hair had been described as long and not the short cut it was in now. It made sense now, why the woman hadn't spoken to her at all. She'd been mute, according to the stories.
Emerald looked up at Lily. "Do you know what happened?"
Lily sat down on the floor and shook her head. "No," She admitted. "Not really. I saw some people fighting in an alley, but I couldn't make any of them out. After they were gone, I went to check for anyone who might be hurt and…" She gazed at the injured woman, whose eyes were still shut. "There she was."
Emerald rested her hand on Neo's shoulder. "Neo?" She asked. "Can you hear me? It's Emerald Sustrai. We worked together."
Neo's eyelids flickered as they opened slightly. Recognition fluttered across her face upon seeing Emerald, along with a trace of slight fear.
"It's okay," Emerald added quickly, "I'm here to help. I don't want to hurt you."
Neo's eyes closed again. Lily couldn't tell if she was relaxing or just didn't have the strength to keep them open.
Both Lily and Emerald watched in concern as blood continued to soak through the bandages. Neo's breathing was growing shallower, and Lily's heart clenched. Whatever this woman had done, Lily didn't want to see her die. She didn't want to see anyone die.
Emerald swallowed. "I'm not sure she'll make it, Lily." She said softly.
Panic flared through Lily. "No, there must be a…" She gasped. "Jaune," She realized. "Jaune Arc, he can help," She told her mother urgently. "He can give his Aura to others; he's saved lives with it before."
Emerald was nodding slowly, looking slightly unsure. "I know about that," She replied. "But I'm not sure if she'll want help from him. They weren't exactly…friends."
Lily felt a rush of exasperation. "What does that matter?" She demanded. "You said it yourself, she'll die if we don't do something." She tried not to shake. "I don't want to see that happen," She said softly, her voice trembling. "And I know you don't either."
"You're right," Emerald sighed, her eyes darkening. "We should do what we can. Go on, call him. Tell him to get here as quickly as you can."
Lily grabbed her scroll from her jacket pocket and scrolled for Jaune's contact.
'We need your help,' She sent. 'No time to explain, come as fast as you can." She attached her address to the text. It only took a second for her scroll to show that the professor had seen it, sending an 'OMW' in reply.
Taking a deep breath, she placed her scroll down. "He's coming." She told Emerald.
Emerald looked more shaken up than Lily had ever seen her, casting a sad look at Neo as she turned her back to the couch and sat with her arms resting on her knees, stress plain on her face. Silence fell, aside from Neo's ragged breathing, which was growing shorter with every few minutes.
"She wasn't a bad person, you know." Emerald said at last, her voice soft.
Lily glanced up at her. "Huh?"
"Neo," Emerald clarified. "She wasn't as bad as the stories say. She may have worked for Roman, and then Cinder, but she came through in the end."
Lily leaned forward. "She…betrayed Cinder, right? In Atlas?" Vague memories of learning about it stirred in her head.
Emerald nodded. "She realized she was just being used as a tool for Cinder's revenge. She tried to kill her, and almost ended up killed herself. We saved her, and in return, she helped us with the information we needed to get the upper hand on Cinder. Part of it was in revenge, I know that much. But…" She gazed across the room, looking at nothing. "I think part of her genuinely wanted to help."
"Didn't she disappear after that?" Lily asked.
"Yes," Emerald confirmed. "She vanished one day, and none of us have seen her since. Not to my awareness, anyway. We assumed she'd been killed, or that she'd gone into hiding." She sighed. "I guess it was the latter." She turned her head and gazed at Neo again. "She's wearing the same clothes, after all these years. I can't imagine how she's gotten by on her own."
Curious, and noticing Emerald had stopped shaking, Lily prompted her to continue. "You would have worked with her before then, right?" She asked. "When you were…on the other side? What was she like then?"
A slight smile crossed Emerald's face. "Aside from maybe enjoying a fight too much," She started. "She was…a kid, really. Kind of a bratty and mischievous one, but she was good company." She looked down. "I guess you could say that, aside from Mercury, she was the closest thing I had to a friend." At the mention of her old partner, grief creased her features, but she continued. "We were in it for the same reasons- because we felt we owed it to the adults who took us in." Slight bitterness crossed her face. "I was always jealous of her relationship with Roman," She admitted. "He was the biggest asshole in the world, to everyone but her. He actually treated her like his daughter; cared about her. It was everything I wanted to have with Cinder." She shook her head, as if dismissing the feelings. "We'd play pranks on them," She chuckled lightly. "Neo, Merc and I, against any of the adults, before things got too serious. She was always great at it with the illusions she could create."
Something clicked in Lily's mind. "Illusions…" She breathed. "Holy shit." Everything was falling into place. "She's the Ghost."
Emerald stared at her. "Do you really think so?"
It all made sense to Lily now. "It has to be," She replied. "That's how she was going unseen. She must have been casting herself in illusions to look like a shadow." She stared at Neo. "That must have been how she got hurt. She must have been trying to stop those people from doing someone, but they got to upper hand on her."
"Of course," Emerald sighed. "She's been trying to help people this whole time," She looked at Neo's wound, anger and sorrow battling in her gaze. "And this is what she gets for it."
"No wonder she didn't want me bringing her anywhere," Lily realized. "She must have been worried about being found out." She was glad now that she hadn't taken her to a hospital. If the staff there had found out, she'd have been turned over to the cops in no time, and probably wouldn't have gotten the medical treatment she needed.
Lily looked up at the sound of the front door opening as Jaune hurried in. To Lily's surprised, Luna was at his side.
Luna rushed past Jaune and into the room. "Are you okay?" She asked. "I was with Jaune when he got your text and " She broke off and gasped as she noticed Neo, her hands flying to her face. "Who is that? Are they okay?"
Jaune closed the door and stepped up beside Luna, his eyes wide with shock as he recognized Neo. "Is that…Neopolitan?"
"I think she's the Ghost," Lily explained quickly, getting to her feet. "I found her after she'd been attacked; she's barely holding on. Please," She begged Jaune. "You can help her, right?"
Jaune still looked shocked, but he nodded. "Of course." He hurried forward and knelt beside the couch, holding his hands out over the bandaged wound. Lily watched anxiously and Luna crouched beside her, a comforting hand on her shoulder.
Jaune's Aura showed around his hands and, slowly, the same white glow appeared over Neo's wound. In the tense silence, Lily heard Neo's breathing become steadier, and her chest began to rise and fall more naturally. Emerald was watching intently, her worry seeming to fade as Jaune's Semblance did its work.
After a moment, Neo's eyes shot open as she gasped and launched herself up, panting. Upon seeing Jaune, her eyes filled with panic and she backed up against the couch.
Emerald leaned up to steady her, grabbing her shoulder gently. "Hey, it's okay!" She assured her urgently. "He's helping you, I promise."
Neo stared at her for a moment, things seeming to register in her mind. She calmed down, but still regarded Jaune warily.
"I know you probably don't trust any of us after all this time," Emerald continued gently. "But you need to let Jaune finish healing you."
"We're not going to tell anyone you're here," Lily added. "We just want to help."
Neo stared at her, tilting her head slightly. She looked at Emerald, then back at Lily, her eyes widening with surprise. Finally, she relaxed, lying back down and allowing Jaune to finish his work. As the glow faded, Neo took a breath, the lack of pain seeming to relieve her.
Jaune stepped back, regarding Neo curiously. Upon realizing everyone in the room was staring at her, Neo frowned, and narrowed her eyes.
"Hey, no need to look so grumpy," Emerald teased slightly. She glanced at Lily. "Jaune and my kid here just saved your life."
Neo sat back up and peered closely at Lily, nodding at her after a while. Lily took it as an expression of gratitude. Then Neo looked up at Jaune, distrust and anxiety crossing her face.
"Hey, look, don't worry," Jaune told her calmly. "If you really are this 'Ghost' person, I have no intention of turning you in. You've been doing real good out there," He assured her. "Even if your methods are…not entirely ethical." He hesitated. "Although," he added. "I think the others need to know about this. As Neo looked suspicious again, he quickly clarified, "Not because of anything you're doing, but because I think you could use some help."
As Neo looked like she was going to protest somehow, Emerald laid a hand on her shoulder. "You're wearing the same clothes you were last time we saw you," She said quietly. "And you look thin. You don't have a stable home to go back to, do you?"
Neo hesitated, before resigning and shaking her head.
"Teams RWBY and JNR have been working on helping me," Emerald continued. "If you're okay with it, they can help you too. You can stay here in the meantime."
"Right," Lily clarified. "We're huntsman. This is our job. And we're not under any obligation to involve the police."
Neo smiled at her, looking satisfied. After a moment of silence, she lifted her hands and did something Lily didn't understand, and judging by the look of Luna and Jaune's faces, neither did they.
Thankfully, Emerald was nodding. "She says it's fine," She translated. "So long as we don't 'try anything'."
"Alright then," Jaune confirmed. "Neo can stay here for now, and I'll talk to the others about helping her." he stood up. "Is there anything else you need right now?"
Emerald shook her head. "Thank you, though," She said softly. "After everything, this means a lot."
Jaune shrugged, giving her a sincere smile. "Hey, it's my job. Wouldn't be a very good huntsman if I didn't do it."
Luna hopped to her feet and regarded Neo with slight shyness. "Uh…you're in good hands here," She told her. "Lily's cool."
After Jaune and Luna left, Neo stared at Emerald and gestured to Lily, who didn't need to understand sign language to know she was asking about her.
"Right," Emerald chuckled. "We've got a lot to catch up on."
