A/N: Hey, I'm just gonna say… I'm not really proud of this chapter. The characters seem to be everywhere and I felt like I rushed it. But by the time I actually realized this, I was already 3,000 words in. And I hate just scraping what I thought was a good idea. So if you read this chapter and get confused, I don't blame you. Next chapter I'll put more work into it, this is really just a side project to do to kill time but that doesn't mean I want to write complete garbage. Again my apologies if this chapter is confusing in anyway.
Honestly at first I didn't know how to react to this new guy. He looked dorky and was obviously not meant for this world, yet he was charming in some way. I can't tell whether it was because of his stupid smile, his unkept hair, or his presence that felt no real hostility. He was like a random little puppy, too innocent for this cruel world that he walked into. Already Neo wasn't sure how to deal with him as his bodyguard but figured she might as well just wing it.
She knew she had to beat him into a proper fight dog, but oddly enough she couldn't imagine him ever being as vicious as others in this world. This alone somewhat scared her, this was the first time she met someone like him. Living in a world filled with drugs, murder, and robbery, Jaune was like a little candle light in the dark world that Neo knew all too well. She still didn't care too much towards him, a light is nice but it won't keep you from getting used to the darkness. For now she just had to watch over him and not let him die somehow.
At the safehouse she noticed him being creeped out by the file of his information. Last thing she needed was him asking question so Neo did the best thing she could do, threaten him. A quick text later and he seemed to have thrown away that curiosity. That'll have to be good for now.
As she was about to get ready for bed, she got a message from Roman, Hey Neo, I need you to check him for bodily scars. Do it while he is asleep or something, I bet that kid wouldn't let you touch him while he is awake. A sigh came out as she read that message and waited for a couple of hours, waiting for him to fall into a deep sleep. Once she knew he was in said deep sleep, she quickly pulled off his shirt. Checking his body, she only saw a small scar on his back. After the check she left the apartment, buying a bundle of ice cream using Roman's card that she swiped a while ago.
Waking up to banging wasn't that great, she had a terrible headache after eating 4 tubs of ice cream which in hindsight wasn't her best idea. The constant banging was more than enough for her to snap, but instead of breaking his arms she just sent him another threatening text. That seemed to shut him up.
As Neo laid on her bed she started thinking about Jaune again… He's annoying that's for sure, but for some reason he kept bugging her. Whenever her mind went to Jaune she couldn't help but think how he will eventually be torn apart by the monsters that this stupid city is made up of. Roman sent another message, and Neo was excited when she read it. Soon Jaune knocked on the door again, this time much more light.
"Hey Neo, I'm heading out for breakfast… You wanna come or something?" The awkwardness was easily detected, he probably guessed that I'd tag along anyway so... He's giving me the courtesy of inviting me? Again another moment that made Neo feel a random emotion that she couldn't exactly pin down. Nevertheless she opened the door to see his stupidly weird face and simply walked in front of him, heading out.
They walked down the road to a diner which had pretty good sundaes. The place was a chain popular for its sandwiches and homemade ice cream. As Neo kept the lead she noticed Jaune's wallet was easily out in the open, god he is just helpless. With the annoyance of his oh so innocent self, her speed slowly started to drop as she quickly pick pocketed the wallet. At least I can make fun of him with this.
When they were about a block away from the diner, Jaune panicked looking everywhere. That idiot, revealing the stolen wallet Neo couldn't help but give a sly smirk. Seeing it, he grabbed it with anger in his eyes as he said, "That wasn't funny." Ha, was all Neo could think as she imagined more interesting ways to fuck with him.
LeTasha greeted them with her usual spirit but gave Neo a raised eyebrow once she saw the both of them together. Neo defused the situation immediately with an intense glare and a tight fist aiming at her, the misunderstanding was resolved within seconds.
As they finished their order, Jaune tried what seemed to be his best way of small talk, "So Neo have you been here before?" The question was as innocent as it could get, so she replied with a so-so gesture, tilting her hands up and down. Even with a shut down of an answer, Jaune kept going, "I see, so is the food here decent?" Again, same gesture. That finally shut him up, but for some reason Neo felt odd doing so. Usually her conversations with most people felt dull, they were always talking about business, drugs, or her looks, I guess a different change can feel odd…
Their food had arrived, Jaune's sandwich and apple pie, and Neo's sundae. Seeing the arrival of the food as an opening, Jaune tried once again to try and make small talk, this time bringing up something she could connect to, "Hey Neo, how did you meet Roman?" Instead of amusing him even a little, Neo wanted to just end the conversation, so she just sat their silent.
Once they finished their food and had Jaune pay the check, they started back to the safe house when suddenly Jaune asked, "Neo do you know any good sightseeing places? I've never really visited Vale so I have no idea." Maybe this was an opportunity to give Jaune a glimpse of a shady world. She couldn't just bring him to a drug deal or a gang war but Junior's club was a safe start.
As Jaune followed her, she felt a weird feeling of accomplishment. Roman never told her to whip Jaune into a proper dog, but she didn't want to leave this poor thing to die out. At the very least, if he does die, at least she'll know she gave him the right teaching. Yeah she was just a bodyguard, but this felt like a fun project that gave her a bit more pride. Even with her perfect logic, she couldn't throw off the weird feeling she was getting…
They reached Junior's club and went straight in, his lackeys opening the door, letting her cut the long line. She could see Jaune's eyes dashing left to right, he was out of his comforting fish bowl and right into the ocean. With this she could at least have him see what he got himself into, she just had to show him the right stuff. It would've been easy, have him taste alcohol, make him get comfortable with the wrong crowd, maybe even have him get some confidence… It would've been easy if only one of Junior's lackey went up to her with a nervous look, "Um… Junior needs you… Could you please… Follow me? He said it was urgent." Neo's look was enough to make the man want to shrink into a little insect, but he stood his ground. She respected that little pitiful strength that the man had. She was mad that she couldn't go and teach Jaune what to do, but he could wait 5 minutes without fucking up.
As she entered Junior's private room, the strong smell of alcohol was the first thing she could notice. Junior sat there, on his "high quality" leather couch, drinking what looked to be an empty bottle of rum.
"Neo, hi… Roman was busy but sent me this, told me to give it to you. I was going to actually send someone over later today." He gestured her to sit down, of course she denied the offer. "Either way, here you go. Roman said he was going to do some business and couldn't reach you so I guess I'm the messenger." He put down a small chip which she linked to her scroll. On the chip was a basic report on what he wanted her to do, mess up a nearby gang and steal their dust reserves. Simple enough for her but she didn't understand why she couldn't just rob another store like last time. Without even a hint of any emotions, she left the room and looked for where Jaune was.
She wasn't really confused when she saw Jaune somehow drunk out of his mind, more of anger and annoyance… He really is annoying. And with that she punched him, dropping him to the ground and picking him up, heading out the door. Welp, there goes my plans.
Later she realized that dragging him wasn't the best method, so she picked his unconscious body up and piggy-backed him. While the image of a 4"10 girl piggy-backing a 6" man was odd, it wasn't that hard.
As they walked down the street, Jaune started to wake up. He started to murmur as he slowly looked left to right. Then his hand started to move and he grasped like he was a baby trying to grab on a mother. It was downright embarrassing, but then he grabbed something he shouldn't have. With that Neo decided dragging him was a better method.
A groan slowly came out of Jaune as he fully woke up, Neo stopped and started texting, knowing what he would ask next. "Wha… What happened?" His voice was somewhat shaky, his expression was a mix of confusion and pain. Neo showed him her scroll with the message. She excluded the part of him groping her, the reason is as silly as ever; because that was the first time someone had ever touched her like that.
Neo stopped dragging him to let him figure out his surroundings, once he knew his bearings he looked at her and spout out a stupid joke. It was the type of joke that was just plain bad, yet it made Neo actually laugh in the inside. She just let out a silent giggle to humor him, though her anger about the groping wasn't gone. She quickly tapped on her scroll and showed it to Jaune, seeing it he simply said, "alright, I get it. No more talking." And with that, she started heading back to the safe house.
When they had entered it, Jaune collapsed onto the couch, the alcohol and sucker punch must have worn him out even though it was only around 3PM. If there was one thing, that boy can sleep.
Neo went ahead and closed the door to the bedroom. Looking at her scroll she was ready for what was going to happen tomorrow. She texted Henry telling him exactly what she wanted him to do, Henry didn't protest but he must have been uncomfortable with the orders. And just like that, Neo threw her scroll somewhere and decided to eat more ice cream.
It was the next day and Neo was in a panic, the cause was simple. She lost her scroll. It wasn't here, it wasn't there, it felt like it wasn't anywhere. She threw her random clothes around, then she checked under the bed. She looked in the bathroom and checked under any mess that was around. The only place she didn't look was the dresser, looking through the crack she noticed the outline of her scroll. Without hesitating a single second, she threw the dresser, allowing her to grab her scroll. Within seconds Jaune came bursting through the door with a look of worry.
His face was filled with confusion but when he saw her being ok, he let up like a bright light. For gods knows why this made Neo feel even more embarrassed when she was groped. She curled up a bit while slouching over her scroll, texting Jaune about what happened. She could even feel a hint of red come onto her perfectly white face… Damn this boy, what the fuck is it with him. She was mixed with her emotions, on one half she saw him as a nuisance, a child who had to be looked after, yet the other hand showed he cared even for someone like her. Right now isn't the time to be worrying about this, today was the first day of Jaune's training, and she had to act like she always had.
Still looking at her scroll Jaune simply said, "Hey Neo, it's ok about making a mess, ya know? If you want, do you want to go out and get breakfast?" He seemed to be trying to comfort her, something that she was never used to. The feeling was weird and Neo was disliking it more and more. Finally he left, giving her some time to relax.
That damn kid… What does he know about these things… I'm gonna get back at that kid somehow… Well at least I can use today to let out of steam.
She quickly fixed her makeup, clothes, and hair. Leaving the bedroom she gave him a text. Jaune gave a weird glance as he looked at said text, he then spoke asking what he did wrong. With Jaune taking the bait, she went and wrote off a bunch of this he did while drunk. Of course some of them were half baked lies to get him get him even more guilt ridden, but she still added the groping since it truly did piss her off. His face was bright red as he read the text, she knew she had him. The perfect revenge for all these weird moments that this kid has given her, it was all going how she wanted.
He invited her to breakfast like before, again making her feel off. All she cared about was what she had planned for later on, hopefully this will teach Jaune to just shut up and do what he was told.
As she was digging into her sundae she felt somewhat sad at the idea of Jaune being the silent dog that she wants him to be. Was she actually enjoying someone treating her like a person instead of another tool? Only Roman ever treated her like a person but even then he had his limits. The feeling of having someone who doesn't even seem to know you, yet still caring for you was a mystery for Neo. She still disliked it, it was an alien feeling, something she might never get used to it. But for some reason, she still felt like taking it. Like a free scoop of a bad tasting ice cream cone? Neo still didn't know how to put the feeling that Jaune gave into words. Right now it didn't matter, she had to let off some steam from the so called emotional rollercoaster that she has been going on. Granted she has gone through worse yet this past few days have felt like the most tiresome days of her life.
They both ate their meals in silence when Jaune asked whether she wanted to go somewhere. Seeing the chance to get him over to the training ground, she smiled and nodded. Jaune seemed relieved from just seeing her smile, damn it was all she could think as she felt another wave of emotions hit her heart. This fucking guy…
They finished their meals and headed out. It took them some time to get to the training grounds but the whole time she was just happy that she could stop thinking about Jaune. All she had to do was watch him get beaten up and turned into the silent dog. Neo already knew his inept ability at fighting and she wanted this whole caring guy to just become another pawn in whatever plan they were in. Or did she? Again doubt came over her, she was blowing out the little candle in front of her only to be in complete darkness again. Was that really the best thing? Before she could even answer her own inner thoughts, she realized they were at the place.
She entered the small opening at the gate with ease, Jaune on the other hand seemed to have a bit more trouble fitting in the small space. Quickly Neo went and sat on the chair in the middle of the construction site, Henry and Jack were both at the ready. Before he could say anything, Neo snapped her fingers. Jack through Jaune's weapons and Henry grabbed the sparring sword. And just like that, Jaune's training began.
At first Neo was somewhat pleased, seeing the annoying boy getting beaten to shit. But as the beating kept going on, she felt like stopping it. It wasn't even training at this point, it was just Jaune getting up and being kicked down.
Why was he being so persistent? He shouldn't be getting up anymore, his spirit should be crushed by now, letting him become the trained dog. It didn't take long to break someone, and this was the easiest way to do so. So why was he getting up, with more fire in his eyes than before? What is wrong with him? Just stay down. You don't have to get up anymore. You've exceeded everyone's expectations?
The beating went on for another 7 hours, nothing but Jaune getting up, and being thrown back onto the ground. Neo was both amazed and confused by the persistence that was Jaune. He probably had a broken rib, his mouth oozed blood, his face was pummeled in, he had a messed up leg, he was hurt in every way. Yet he still stood, getting up and facing Henry. Even Henry showed respect towards Jaune's persistence, just what is he?
The time was over, Neo had stopped it and knew this was more than enough. Jaune was limping back, his face full of bruises, his left leg barely able to support him, his arms dangling, he truly was in a mess. Neo didn't truly know what to say, if she could say anything. As they slowly walked down the road, Jaune finally collapsed, blacked out. Neo felt guilty for some reason, she was just going to turn him into the silent pawn that she wanted. So she didn't have to deal with the kindness that was so alien to her, but all she felt was a heavy guilt. The fire that was anger went away as she carried the rag doll that was Jaune.
As they reached the safe house, Neo slowly put his body on the bed. She used her aura to boost his healing, at least now he didn't have to worry about his broken rib. She just waited there, looking at his messed up face. He seemed like a weakling, nothing better than to serve whoever he was put under, yet he still got up. While he wasn't a saint, he still showed kindness to Neo, when all she did was push him off, like a pet insect.
Jaune slowly woked up after an hour, that whole hour Neo just sat there looking at his bruised and swollen face. He tried to speak but his throat must have been dry, knowing this Neo had prepared a glass of water. She raised his head helping him drink it, and showed him her scroll telling him that she was sorry, and how next time won't be as bad. Then she left the room, letting Jaune rest.
The next morning she got up early, prepared to do Roman's task. Grabbing her parasol she walked towards where the trouble making gang was located. Seeing the building she could tell they were amateurs. They must have been just a bunch of punks who got lucky in scoring a huge supply of dust. She easily unlocked the door and walked in, being silent even though she was wearing stilettos, a trick she was quite proud of.
Looking through a small crack in the door, she saw multiple men just playing cards. This should be easy enough, and like that she kicked the door in. The men were all shocked by the little girl jumping at them with her parasol. She kicked one of them in the head with the heel of her stiletto, and knocked another guy with her parasol. One of them tried to reach for his weapon but she quickly thrusted her parasol into his stomach, dropping him as well.
2 were able to run into another room. God damn it, I'm getting sloppy. She quickly gave chase, hearing them saying something. When she kicked open the door she was greeted with 20 men, all armed with weapons. She stopped dead in her tracks and looked around… This might be a problem.
They all took aim and fired rounds of dust at her. She used her parasol to block the bullets as she ran straight to the middle. Using one of the thug's head as a springboard, she jumped up and attacked the man in the middle who seemed to be the leader. Kicking him as she fell and grabbing his body as a shield, jumping over him and kicking the next guy next to him.
Using her semblance she made an illusion, using that she attacked another thug from behind. One of them noticed her though and shot, hitting his ally but also grazing Neo's right shoulder. She was confident in her fighting but they were all spread out which made it difficult for her to properly fight them. She was used to more one on one fights rather than a large number of people. Nevertheless she kept up her attack, going from one goon to the other. The numbers dwindled until it was only her left standing. Her clothes were bloodied, same with her parasol. She only got hit 2 times, both of which were minor injuries that would heal within an hour.
She sat down on some random bloke and called for the white fang to come and pick up the huge amounts of dust. When she actually saw their haul she understood why Roman wanted it. It was at least 12 large creates the size of her, filled with bottles of dust.
The white fang finally arrived and took care of both the dust and the remaining thugs that were alive. Neo was tired but she knew she had to take care of the Jaune situation. She walked back to the apartment, using her semblance it masked the few blood stains on her clothes. She opened to door to see Jaune waiting there with big eyes, don't look at me like that…
Neo walked to the bedroom only to be surprised when she saw it in such a clean state. She quickly looked over at Jaune and saw him scratching the back of his head as he explained how he cleaned it in his spare time… That dumb… Idiot. Closing the door she takes off her dirty clothes and looked at the neatly folded laundry…. Idiot.
She got ready and headed out without saying a word, or gesture. Jaune followed as they headed towards the training grounds.
Neo was less interested as Henry gave Jaune more pointers and softened his attacks. At this point Henry seemed to have some respect for Jaune, seeing as he still kept getting up. He was improving somewhat fast for his skill level which did interest Neo a bit, seeing him actually put a fight instead of being put down was more entertaining for her. The memories of last night still came to her as she looked at Jaune, maybe she was wrong…
It had gotten late, Neo wanted to go back to the safe house and Jaune seemed to be stumped on what to do next. It seems every attack of his has gotten countered in some way, but at least now he could attack in general. By the 300th time Jaune got knocked down, Neo decided it was about time to head back.
They headed towards the diner to get food for dinner. LeTasha seemed to be worried about Jaune but he was able to dial down by just giving some vague answers. The food eaten, they head back to the safe house. Neo going into her room and closing the door. She looked at her slightly bloody parasol and went ahead to clean it.
Laying down she noticed that the sheets were new. Looking to her right, she somewhat missed the small mountain of empty tubs of ice cream. Her clothes were still where Jaune left them, perfectly folded. A sigh came out of Neo as she thought of one thing… He's an idiot.
A/N: Holy moly 4,000 words. Like I said earlier, this chapter is probably some of the most messy things that I've ever wrote. Problem is I tried to put too much into the chapter I guess. I feel like I have a good idea of how I want Neo to be as a character but I keep on bringing up meaningless information, I wouldn't be surprised if this could get trimmed to 3,000 words. I do give a pat to myself for sticking with it though, even though I just poured a water bottle on a dumpster fire, I feel like I tried something and failed. Still gonna post the chapter simply because I want to see how everyone reacts to my mistakes. I've also been taking this whole thing really slow, there are still 4ish days till Jaune actually goes to Beacon. I can already tell that my pacing is abismall so I'm trying to work on it. Anyway, say whatever you want about this chapter, again sorry if it seems like a mess.