Jaune woke up the next morning, he went to stretch his arms, but he couldn't raise his left one. He looked down to see just the top of some pink and brown hair. He moved the blanket down to see that Neo was pressed against him and holding his arm against her chest with both of her's, like he was a giant teddy bear. He couldn't be mad though, she had the most peaceful expression on her face.
He smiled before tenderly bringing his hand to her head and gently started to pet her. She shivered and pulled herself closer to him. Her eyes then slowly opened before she blinked and looked up at him. When she saw it was him, she smiled more and laid her head on his shoulder. "Did you sleep well?" he asked, and she nodded in return. "That's good. Do you wanna shower while I get breakfast ready?" She stayed like that for a while before she huffed and nodded reluctantly.
She slowly let go of him and he sat up and stretched out the arm she had been clinging to. He looked down at her, since she was still laying on the bed. "What do you want?" Her eyes widened with hope before he dashed them. "Not ice cream." She crossed her arms and pouted up at him. He just smirked, "How about a ham and cheese omelet?"
She froze with that. She wanted ice cream, but omelets were her favorite breakfast item, especially if Jaune made it. She caved and nodded at him. He just smiled, "Thought so. Okay you get showered and dressed while I get cooking." He got up and started to walk to the door as he was saying that. As the door closed, Neo stayed in bed for a few more minutes. It was so warm and comfy from Jaune and she was reluctant to leave any time soon.. She eventually sighed and went to get a shower.
As Neo was doing that, Jaune was in the kitchen. He had the frying pan on the stove with the eggs, cheese and ham out as well. He was letting the pan heat up while he was preparing the coffee for them. He decided to make a full pot since the others were supposed to come by. If they didn't want any, well he'd drink it anyways.
Once that was set up, he went back to the stove and started to prepare the three eggs he'd need for the omelet. He mixed the eggs with a dash of salt and pepper. He poured them into the frying pan and started to chop some of the ham into cubes. He waited a bit before he added that with some of the shredded cheese. He folded the omelet before the coffee was ready. He went over and poured a mug with three sugars and cream, Neo's preference to coffee. When that was done, he went back to the stove to flip the omelet. He would leave it like that until it was done.
When it was practically done, Neo came into the kitchen. He looked to see her close her eyes and take a deep breath of coffee and eggs. When she opened her eyes, he decided to give her a show. He flipped the omelet out of the frying pan and it landed perfectly on the plate he set out. Neo clapped her hands enthusiastically, it kind of reminded him of a little kid but he decided to not vocalize it. He handed her the plate with her silverware and her mug of coffee.
Instead of taking them, she grabbed his shirt and pulled him down enough to give him a kiss on the cheek. She then grabbed her breakfast and went off into the living room. He just smiled at her as she left. He sighed, "I really do love that girl." He went back to the stove to make his own breakfast with that. He did love the multicolored hair girl but not like Pyrrha and RWBY. It was more like how he felt about Nora and Ren. She was his family, his sister, even if not by blood.
A few minutes later, he was walking into the living room with his own breakfast. He saw that Neo was sitting on one of the couches and watching something random on the television. Jaune sat down beside her and the two sat in a peaceful silence as they ate. When they were done, they sat there to let themselves digest, feeling full and satisfied. Jaune was about to get up to do the dishes but Neo had pushed him back down and took them. He was going to argue but she just gave him a look and he decided to not question her.
He sat there and relaxed as he just flipped through the channels to find something interesting. He found nothing, and Neo eventually came back with another cup of coffee, which she handed to Jaune with a smile. It was a mild shock to him, but he took it with his own smile, "Thanks, Neo." She just nodded and sat down next to him once again. They were both getting feelings of Déjà vu. It was like the times that Qrow had to do something or go on the solo mission. The two would just hang out and find something to occupy their time.
It wasn't much longer after that, that they heard a knock on the door before it opened to reveal RWBY and NPR. "Morning, Jaune, Neo!" Ruby and Nora said in almost complete sync.
Jaune smirked, "Morning." Neo just waved nervously. "There's coffee if any of you want it. Except you, Nora."
She pouted, "Oh come on, that was one time. I can handle-"
"No!" everyone but Neo and Jaune shouted, cutting her off. That just caused her to pout more, until Ren hugged her and left a gently kiss on her forehead. She just smiled and hugged him back. That just made Jaune beam in joy.
"So, how did you all sleep?" Jaune asked as he drank from his mug.
"We slept fine." Ruby answered as she sat on the couch across from him and Neo with the rest of her team.
"We had no issues either." Pyrrha spoke up as she sat done with Ren and Nora on the last free couch. "How about you two?"
Jaune shrugged, "I slept like a rock." He then started to pet Neo again. "She slept pretty well the rest of the night. Didn't wake me at all." Neo just closed her eyes and started to lean into Jaune's touch with a happy expression on her face. After thirty seconds of so, her eyes shot open and she stared at the others. They all had grins or smirks. She quickly pulled her head away and smacked his hand. He just smiled at her as he noticed the redness of her cheeks as she glared at him.
He chuckled a bit, "Oh, don't act like that." He wrapped his left arm around her to pull her into a side hug. She just pouted but still leant against him.
The rest just stared at the two, still confused about how Jaune was so close with a now ex-terrorist. Ren then cleared this throat and the two looked over at him, "Jaune, you asked us to come over because you were going to tell us about Neo."
The others looked at either Jaune or Neo expectantly. Neo started to get nervous, so Jaune pulled her closer. She looked up at him. He just gave her a supportive look, "We do need to tell them, but I'll only tell them what you're comfortable with. So , how much do you want them to know?"
Neo looked down for a bit to think it over. She was afraid to tell them everything, afraid of what they would think of her. But she knew if they didn't know something important and it came up, they would be betrayed. And she would lose whatever trust she would've had with them. She eventually closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When she opened them again, she looked up at Jaune and mouthed, 'Everything.'
Jaune raised his eyebrows a bit, "You're sure?" She nodded slowly. He returned the nod, "Okay." He leant forward and placed his half full mug on the table before he sat back, still holding Neo in the side hug. He had a feeling she'd need a little comfort going forward. "To start, Neo doesn't know her family."
That earned a few shocked looks from the seven of them. "We don't know why but she can't remember anything before she was seven or eight. We think she lost her memory during an accident because after that she has no issue with her memory. So, we don't know what happen to her family. Whether something happen and they got separate, they abandoned her or maybe they were killed. She doesn't know. All she remembers is that she was young, homeless and alone."
That earned sympathetic looks from most of them. Especially from Nora and Ren. "She slowly started to steal to survive. She was in Vacuo and there, only those who were strong could survive. She started by just stealing enough food and water to survive on. But in the beginning, she got caught several time. And she got beaten for it. As more time went on, she did get better at it and she eventually started to steal Lien as well."
"She got by like that for several years but when she was thirteen… she got in over her head." He stopped when she started to hug him. He used his left hand to gently rub her back to comfort her. "She stole the wallet off of a known gang member. She ran once she realized what she did, but the gang found her later that day. They brought her back to their hideout." Jaune's voice took on a cold edge as Neo started to shake in his arms. That just caused him to hold her tighter, with both his arms. "They beat her. Mercilessly. Honestly, they only stopped when she was close to death. They were going to kill her. And that would've been a mercy after everything they did. But one especially sick fuck had an idea." Jaune's words were absolutely dripping with venom. That's when Neo buried her face into his chest. They all saw the tears in her eyes as she did. "I think you could guess what that idea was."
The air seemed to grow cold with that and no one was unaffected. Ruby's eyes widened and tears started to form in them. Nora was shaking in a mix of sadness and anger as her eyes were misting over. Ren wrapped his arm around Nora, but everyone could see the pure fury in his eyes. Weiss' glare could practically freeze a rushing river and Blake had her ears back and was practically growling like a feral cat. Pyrrha's eyes hardened in a way few had seen, and her knuckles cracked from how hard her hands were clenched. But Yang looked absolutely murderous. Her eyes were crimson and her hair looked to be on fire. None of them said anything though, they just watched as Neo silently cried into Jaune's chest as he stroked her hair and whispered reassuring words into her ear. It was weird to see someone so strong being so vulnerable.
Eventually she gave one last sniffle. "You okay?" Jaune asked. She pulled away and looked up at him with a few tears still falling. She nodded once. Jaune brought up one hand to gently wipe away her tears and leant forward to kiss her forehead. He then looked into her eyes for what he said next, "As long as I'm alive, no one will touch you, Neo. You know that, right?" She just gave him a shaky smile as she hugged him as tight as she could.
He just held her as she continued, "Luck was on her side that day. As they were about to do… that…" You could practically hear the pure hatred in that one word, "Her aura was unlocked from all the stress and trauma. It healed her body enough for her to stand and her Semblance activated. That allowed her to get away from them. Although, that didn't spare her from the nightmares she started to have from the experience." He sighed sadly, "She spent the next few months training to master her Semblance and with it, she had gotten better at stealing. Money, food, even clothing."
"Around that time, those bastards found her again. They made her a deal, work for them and live or they would kill her. She refused and when they tried to gun her down, she used her Semblance and the knife she had to kill them all. It was her first time taking a life. She didn't regret doing it though, they tried to kill her and something much viler several months beforehand. But that didn't stop her from being sick to her stomach." She shivered in his arms with that. "That added onto her nightmares for a while after that."
"After that, she continued to do what she usually did: Steal to survive. She did get a decent amount of Lien from the gang members but it was still finite and would eventually run out. Eventually, some people figured out that Neo was the one that killed those guys, and they had an offer for her: if she would agree to 'eliminate' a few individuals for them, they would pay her about as much as she got from the gangsters."
By that point, Neo couldn't look at any of the others. She didn't want to see how they were looking at her. Jaune gave her a gentle squeeze before resuming, "She didn't want to do it, but she needed the money and she was growing tired of barely having much in her life. So, she agreed. She knew she was selling a part of her soul but what else could she do to survive. It was hard for her at first. She killed originally because her life was depending on it, but this was something completely different for her. She couldn't let her 'employers' know how uneasy it made her though. That was when she started to smirk while fighting, it was a mask to hide how much it bothered her. Even now, she's not completely okay with killing. It's just something she's had to accept in her life."
"She worked for them for about a year. That's when they hired her to take out a new target, a potential threat to their business. She did what was routine for her, she tracked them down and when the time was right, she attacked. But this target was prepared for her and was able to hold her off. He could've killed her, but he needed a partner and he offered her the job. That guy was Roman Torchwick."
"You can all guess what happened next. She agreed and she worked beside Roman to help sabotage her now ex-employers. The two worked together up until the Fall of Beacon. Working for Roman was different than with her previous employers. Roman actually cared for her. He stuck his neck out for her, looked out for her and made sure she was happy. They were partners but she started to see him as more, possibly family. At least, that was until he died during the Fall." A small tear fell from her eye and Ruby had a very conflicted look on her face.
"That's when she left Vale. There was nothing left for her here. She also couldn't go back to Vacuo since her old employers would've been searching for her still and Atlas was looking for her as well because of her connection with Roman. So, she started to head to Mistral. But she was empty. After all those years, she was back where started, homeless and alone. She spent several months trying to get to Mistral discreetly since she couldn't afford to get caught."
"She eventually ran out of supplies and was growing exhausted from fighting against Grimm and bandits. When she was at the end of her rope, she was surrounded by bandits but she didn't have the strength to fight back. She was malnourished, dehydrated and sleep deprived." He reflexively held her closer when he said that part. "I don't know what they were planning to do with her but luckily, Qrow and I showed up to help her out. I was disguising myself by sending Void through my hair though. That was when she passed out and we rushed her to the nearest town."
Jaune looked up the ceiling and sighed, "We got her checked out and while she was unconscious, Qrow told me who she was and what she did." He looked back down to her still holding him, "I was angry at first. She was part of what took everything from me. But, seeing her so vulnerable, so weak… I just couldn't keep it up."
Jaune had a small smile, "From that day on, I was the one to take care of her. I did whatever I could to get her back on her feet again." He chuckled slightly, "She didn't trust me at first. Wouldn't have put it past her to throw something at me, if she had the strength." She shrugged at that, not wanting to answer him. "Taking care of her, it made me remember taking care of my younger sisters. Maybe I shouldn't have made that connection but by that point it was too late. Neo was someone who needed me, even if she didn't want to admit it at the time. It made me feel like there was some purpose to my life besides fighting in the war." That earned him a sad look from everyone there, Neo included. He just chose to ignore those and keep going.
"During that time she very slowly opened up to me. That's when I realized that she wasn't a cold-blooded killer. There was more to her. She was hurt in ways I couldn't understand and she wasn't going to talk to me about it. I didn't have her trust." He took a second before continuing. "The day came when we had to move on but she wasn't strong enough to move on her own. I couldn't just leave her. There was no guarantee that anyone would help her and I didn't want her to digress. So, I convinced Qrow to take her with us. I think my argument was, 'Better to keep a potential danger close.' He just knew I wouldn't back down and just went with it."
"Wait." Nora said as she raised her hand. That caught Jaune off guard since it was the first time any of them interrupted him. "If Neo was too weak, how did you guys bring her with you?"
Jaune just had and evil smirk and Neo was glaring at him, practically telling him to 'shut it.' He decided to ignore that, much to her chagrin. "I had to carry her on my back." That caused Neo to blush from embarrassment and she started to slap Jaune repeatedly on the arm. He just laughed at her reaction. That earned him a punch to the chest and her turning away from him with a pout, blush still intact. He knew exactly what that meant but he decided to call her out on it. "You don't hate me and you know it." She continued to pout but didn't move away from him. He just chuckled and ruffled her hair slightly, "Love you too." That earned a reaction from the five women, they weren't exactly sure on how they felt about that.
"Anyway, during that time, Neo got more comfortable with me. But then again, clinging to someone's back for most of a day will lead to that." Neo's blush was renewed but everyone decided to ignore her and not make her feel more self-conscious. "But what really defined our relationship was on this one day. Neo was getting close to being fully recovered but I was till carrying her. Just to be sure she would be okay. Qrow went on ahead to scout out the area. Neo and I were just talking. Well, I was talking. She was replying with her scroll."
"We were distracted and we were ambushed by a huge pack of Beowolves. It was a bad situation. I had to defend Neo while my aura was barely at half."
"What happened?" Pyrrha asked, "Your aura has always returned relatively quick."
Jaune looked away for a second before he answered, "Ever since my Semblance evolved to where I can only use Void, my aura has been returning more slowly. Makes sense considering how powerful it is, so it might be a counterbalance." They all nodded at him. He silently sighed, happy they bought another of his half-lies
"So, it was hard. Fighting with Neo on my back and half my aura, I was doing everything I could to protect us. It was going alright until we were blindsided by the Alpha. It went for Neo and I quickly spun around to put myself between it and her. Because I was using my aura as my Void, I had none to protect myself. Its claws sank into my side and sent the two of us flying into a nearby tree. I took her into my arms and my ribs crashed into the tree."
"I quickly recovered and had her hide behind the same tree. I was having trouble breathing and my ribs were broken, not to mention the gaping gash on my other side. I had to quickly absorb some of my Void. That flooded my system with enough aura to close the wound but my ribs were still a mess. I couldn't absorb any more Void or we would've been defenseless. So I ran from the tree to draw their attention and started to kill as many as possible. I wasn't doing well though, my movements were sluggish and my breathing was nowhere close to normal."
"I was on my last legs." He said seriously as he looked at the far wall. "I was barely standing and the Alpha was stalking towards me while the rest of the pack had me surrounded. I wasn't sure what to do but that was when I heard glass shattering. Next thing I know, Neo is on the back of the Grimm with her hidden blade buried deep in its neck." They just stared at Neo in disbelief. She just smirked and shrugged slightly.
"Yeah, that was my reaction too." Jaune said as he turned back to them with a small smirk. "It screamed in pain and thrashed around until it threw her off. That's when I charged in and stabbed I through the chest with a sword made from my remaining Void. When it started to evaporate, I shifted my weapon into orbs and used them to quickly deal with the rest of the Grimm. I ran over to check on her immediately and when I was sure she was okay, I asked her why she did it." He looked at her. "What did you tell me?"
She gave him a light grin and took out her scroll. When she was done typing she showed it to the rest, still not meeting their gaze. It simply said, 'I couldn't stand to see you die.'
Jaune nodded, "With that, we fully gained the other's trust. Neo seeing me willingly about to sacrifice myself to defend her. And me seeing her risking her's to save me was more than enough for us. When Qrow came back, Neo explained everything she knew about Cinder and her cohorts to us. And when we eventually came back to Beacon, Ozpin decided to trust her with everything, since she had my and Qrow's support. And that is how we got to this point." Jaune finished as he picked up his coffee and drank the remains of his cold coffee with a grimace. "I need a refill." He then got up to do so.
Before he was in the kitchen he stopped and spoke up, "She has had every opportunity to sabotage me and our side. She hasn't. I trust her. Otherwise, I wouldn't have asked her to be there for you all during your time here at Beacon. Yes, she's had a hard life and dark past but so does a lot of us here. So, I'll simply say this: she is my sister, in everything but blood." That's when he went to get more coffee.
They were all quiet for a while after that. The members of RWBY and NPR were just taking that in. Jaune has never called anyone his sibling besides Nora and Ren. If he was referring to Neo like that, that just showed how deeply he trusted the multicolored hair girl. Meanwhile, Neo was looking down with a smile. She had heard Jaune call he that before. But no matter how much he said it, it never stopped to give her this massive feeling of belonging. "Neo?" she was pulled from her thoughts when Ruby said that. "Could you look at us, please."
Neo took a deep breath and did so. The looks of anger, hatred and disgust weren't there. It was borderline acceptance but they looked serious. She turned to Ruby, who was sitting in across from her, "What exactly is Jaune to you?"
Neo took on a contemplative look as she held her scroll. She knew what Jaune was to her but trying to put it into words was extremely hard. He cared about her, similar to Roman but so much more. He was her home. He loved her. And not because of her skills or even her body. But because of her. She loved him, but how deeply? Even she didn't know. He was her brother, sometimes he was like what she thought a father would be like. Honestly, he was everything to her. Finally a single word came to her mind and she smiled. She then typed out her answer and showed it to the rest of them with no hesitation. The screen just showed two words: My Family.
They all just read that and slowly smiled. That's when Nora ran over and pulled her into a hug. She tensed until she heard Nora say softly, "Welcome to the family." Her eyes widened a bit before she looked at all the others. They were just smiling and nodding to her. Her eyes started to tear up and she smiled. She returned Nora's hug, for the first time. And she was just happy she had her friends back.
Meanwhile, Jaune was standing in the doorway with a smile. Everything was almost perfect. He just needed his family here and everything would be right in his world. But he was fine with this. Even if it was only briefly, he felt whole.
A/N- Well here it is, Neo's backstory, finally. Now just to clarify something many people will ask, I'm still not sure how deeply Jaune and Neo's relationship will go. I can easily see them staying as siblings to each other but it is completely possible for them to gain a deeper love for each other. I honestly am fine with it going either way and I'm not entirely committed to either one. So, let me know what you all think and I'll take it into consideration.
Also, TES is nearing 1.5k for both follows and favorites. That is still amazing to me. So, thank all of you that have followed and/or favorited that and this story. Also, if anyone is interested in doing a reaction fic for TES, PM me and we can talk about it. I would love to see that happen.
With that said, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and I'll see you in the next update!