Chapter Five, Neos memories return?
Neo lies in her bed, snuggled up to Weiss, her eyelids flickering as if she were having a deep and enthralling dream. She tossed and turned as she saw things in her sleep. Unfamiliar things that made little to no sense to her.
Neo looks on in confusion as she sees herself beating the crap out of Yang, making her think to herself, 'I would never do that! I couldn't do that…. Could I?' No sooner did these thoughts cross her mind did the next memory return, almost as if a slideshow of Neo's greatest fuck-ups.
As her senses returned, she then saw herself standing in an alley across the street from a police station. She easily transformed into an old lady with a cane and smiled as she began making her way across the street. The scene then changed again, this time to a slightly younger looking Neo at a donut stand. Her stomach growled as she quietly began snatching donuts from the stand one by one, being as subtle as possible as she hid them from sight. Having collected enough to feed herself, she turned and fled.
With the next flash of change, she saw an older version of herself, one much closer to her current age, at a shipping yard with a strange man. The man was quite tall, had ginger red hair, and wore a white trench coat and a bowler hat. On his person, he carried a cane. Together, the two of them were stealing dust from a shipping freighter that was marked SDC, it was at that point the scene faded and neo saw a tiny, sobbing girl, in not but rags sitting behind the dumpster behind the local supermarket, this girl had matted and nasty shoulder length pink and brown hair. A tall, thin man approached this girl and offered a hand, "Come with me, and I promise to always protect you." He said in a gentle, coddling voice.
The small girl nodded and he held out his hand, and it was at this moment, Neo realised, that girl was her…
Neo sat bolt upright, a cold sweat on her forehead, as she tried desperately to forget that unpleasant dream, tho once she realised it made sense, she began to quietly sob, sob for the loss of someone close to her, sob for the fact that someone so important was so easily forgotten, and sob for the hand she was dealt….
Neo didn't sleep hardly in any capacity after that. Doing her best to hide it she slowly got dressed that morning, hoping no one would notice it. Fate, or Ruby, she couldn't quite tell which, was conspiring against her. As the two step sisters voices soon became audible.
"I am not doing that, Ruby!" Yang snapped out, sounding very angry and annoyed.
"You're overreacting Yang, she isn't that bad. So what if she kicked your butt one…" Ruby tried to say before being cut off.
"She did NOT kick my butt! She got lucky! And are you forgetting what happened after that!?" Yang called out angrily.
"I was kinda trying to forget that part…" Ruby gulped.
"Not only did she try to stab me, but she also helped cause the train crash that let tons of Grimm into downtown Vale!" Yang snapped.
"And she bonked her head Yang. She can't remember any of that. She's a new person." Ruby explained.
"That doesn't excuse what she did, Rubes!" Yang pointed out.
"Look Yang, can you at least do it for me? Please…" Ruby said as the puppy dog eyes came out.
Yang grit her teeth at that. "Low blow, Rubes…"
"You're the best Yang!" Ruby said and hugged her big sis.
Yang reluctantly hugged her back, knowing that this day was going to suck. She then looked at Neo and saw that she was as pale and white as a newly washed sheet. "You okay, Neo? You look like you've seen a ghost…"
Neo nods slowly, not entirely seeming herself.
Yang sighed and shrugged as she and Ruby both released the hug. "I'm not gonna hurt you, Neo. Mainly because Ruby wouldn't forgive me if I did…"
"Don't you even think about it Yang." Ruby said "sternly".
"I wasn't, but don't tempt me." Yang replied, rolling her eyes.
Neo goes even more pale at this, sadly her dream didn't suddenly make her remember her fighting style or how to do it, so if she did get into a fight with her, she knew damn well she was fucked.
Later, at the Vale mall
Neo was finally starting to calm her nerves, she had a metric ton of sugar in her system, so she for the moment was able to hide her immense guilt, and her fear of losing her only true friends and being left truly alone.
Yang, on the other hand, was still annoyed. She knew why Ruby was making her do this, but that didn't mean she had to like it. She didn't like having to go shopping with the girl who tried to kill her and caused so much damage to downtown Vale. But, like it or not, she had to do this to make Ruby happy.
Yang then sighed and looked at Neo.
"Neo, you're gonna think I'm a crazy person, but you did some bad things before you got bonked on the head." Yang said in frustration.
Neo gets visibly uncomfortable, typing, 'but I dont wanna talk about what Neo did!'
'"You're Neo." Yang simply answered.
Neo Fidgets uncomfortably, looking at her feet, twiddling her thumbs, an obvious tell that she's hiding something, or ashamed of something.
"Have anything you wish to share with the class?" Yang asked as she raised an eyebrow.
Neo vehemently shakes her head, looking like a toddler being asked what happened to the cookies, when she has crumbs all over her face.
"Oh? Then why so nervous all of a sudden, cupcake?" Yang asked, taking a step towards her.
Instinctively neo covers her face, typing, 'I can't tell you! I don't want you to hate me!'
"And what could you possibly say that could make me hate you?" Yang asked.
Neo whimpers adorably, typing, 'I had a bad dream last night, but it couldn't possibly be true! Could it? I dreamt I had hurt you really bad…..'
Yang narrowed her eyes at this. Had Neo's memories started coming back? Or did she never lose them in the first place? Had she been playing them all this entire time…?
Neo gives yang a look of genuine remorse and fear as she types, 'I finally made friends, for the first time in my life… Please, I beg of you, don't hate me….'
"I don't hate you, Neo. I just don't trust or particularly like you." Yang admitted.
Neo flinched visibly at this, looking incredibly saddened, beginning to tear up, Neo began somberly typing, 'I guess i can't blame you… why would anyone want to be friends with someone like me….'
Yang flinched a bit at that, having realized that this wasn't the right time for her typical brand of brutal honesty. "Neo… I need you to be honest with me about something."
Wiping her tears, neo types, 'Even if i am honest, you won't have any reason to believe me, you said it yourself… you don't trust me…'
"Then consider this a chance for you to try to start earning my trust." Yang replied.
Neo nods sadly, typing, 'I'll be honest, just promise you won't hate me…'
"Like I said before, I don't hate you. But I feel I need to ask you this: How much do you remember from the incident on the train?" Yang said to her.
Neo puts on her thinking look for a few moments, before typing, 'My memory of that is a bit vague, but I do remember me trying to stab you…. I was angry? I think? I wasn't angry at you tho…. You were just the thing I had to take my anger out on…. And I'm probably not helping my case…'
Yang had to take a deep breath to calm herself at that. Neo's explanation made her angry. Not only that, but she knew that hearing it would garner mixed feelings from the others. "That's all I needed to hear. Now let's get this shopping trip over with so we can head back."
Sad, Neo types, 'I'm ashamed of how I acted then, I know that doesn't make it ok, but I feel you should know that…'
Yang was honestly surprised by this show of maturity. She didn't think that Neo, as she was now, had it in her. Either she was mistaken by that thought or Neo's memories starting to come back was causing her to become more mature. Which was actually the case, Yang had no idea.
"Thank you for telling me that…" Yang simply said.
Neo sighs sadly, typing, 'I… I truly am sorry… seeing you confront me on that train made me feel something i hadn't felt in a long time… powerless…'
Yang was shocked by this. "Powerless? You smirked at me."
Neo sighs sadly and types, 'That was an act, a front, I would often times portray myself as confident and snarky as a means to hide how I truly feel…. I felt powerless, because for once I felt like I had a do over, I couldn't stop my parents from dying, and I felt like I was about to have a repeat with Roman, my… adopted father…'
Yang was shocked to hear this. Honestly, it didn't fully make sense to her. But she did have to acknowledge that she didn't know Neo's circumstances and had her own bias against her. In fact, she didn't really know anything about her.
Neo sighs, typing, 'Let me put it like this, imagine the roles were reversed, and it was me trying to get past you to get to Ruby for some unknown reason… imagine the only thing you knew about my intentions was I wanted to STOP her, would you have acted similarly? Be honest…'
Yang couldn't help but flinch at that. Whether she liked it or not, she saw Neo's point in that moment. If someone were coming after Ruby like that, that would make her angry. Not just angry, but willing to do whatever it took to protect her.
"I understand. I still don't like it, but I understand…" Yang replied with a sigh.
Neo nodded sadly, typing, 'I'm not trying to justify my actions, me and Roman were both in the wrong… but I didn't feel he deserved to die because of it… and as far as I knew, that's what you were gonna do if i let you get to him….'
Yang simply nodded. "I get what you're saying. I may not like it, but I get it."
Neo sighs, 'Soooo, I guess none of the other potentially incriminating memories are of use?' Neo types, trying to lighten the mood.
"You're still in trouble though. Less trouble than you would be if it weren't for Ozpin, but still." Yang replied.
This causes Neo to flinch, anxiety seeping through to her facial expressions, typing, 'Am I going to jail?'
"That will have to be decided by whether or not we tell Ozpin. That's not up to me alone." Yang simply said.
Later that evening, at the dorm
"We are not telling Ozpin!" Ruby said as she crushed poor Neo in a protective hug.
Neo mouths, 'Can't breath….'
"Ruby please don't kill her through hugging." Weiss said sternly.
"Not until I know she is safe." Ruby said, hugging Neo that bit tighter to prove a point.
Neo passes out from lack of oxygen.
"And now she's passed out. Good going stupid." Weiss said as she rolled her eyes.
"How was I supposed to know that would happen?" Ruby asked.
"We are getting off topic." Blake said simply.
"Yeah. Neo still needs to be punished for what she did. Personally, I vote for telling Ozpin and letting him decide." Yang replied.
"Wasn't the factory reset from the train and breaking half her bones enough!?" Ruby yelled as Zwei pulled the unconscious Neo away to his doggy bed.
"That's not a punishment. That's a consequence of her actions." Yang said in response.
"You do realize those are the exact same thing right?" Blake asked, raising an eyebrow at her partner.
Yang simply waved her partner off. "Details, Blake. Details."
"Very important details that you can't overlook Yang." Weiss replied.
"You're just saying that because you're developing a lady boner for Neo." Yang sniped back.
"Don't act like that's the only reason. You're using personal attacks cause you don't have an argument worth a damn!" Weiss said sternly.
"I'm not hearing you deny it." Yang responded.
"You do realize I can ask my father for another train." Weiss shot back.
Yang glared at her teammate. "Is that a threat, Schnee?"
"It ain't calling your dumb ass to dinner." Weiss answered.
Yang clenched her hands into fists at that. "Let's see you try it, Ice Queen!"
"No fighting! We need to vote on this now!" Ruby yelled before activating Crescent Rose.
Having finally regained consciousness, Neo types, 'I vote to not tell Ozpin…'
"One vote for Neo." Ruby said, before Zwei hoping on Neo's face and licking it.
"I vote not to tell Ozpin as well." Weiss seconds.
"I abstain." Blake says simply.
Yang looked at Ruby. "Why did you let Neo vote?"
"Cause it's her life we are talking about." Ruby answered.
Yang then looked at Blake. "And why did you abstain?"
"Because I'm still undecided on all of this and need more time to take everything in." Blake answered.
Yang sighed at this. "Fine. Let's shelf this for now and hold off on another vote until Blake's had the chance to process."
"Oh no you don't. This is too important for that and it's the final vote. Yang how do you vote?" Ruby said "sternly".
"Ruby, that isn't fair to Blake." Yang pointed out.
"And it's not fair to Neo to have her be powerless about her own fate." Ruby pointed back.
Yang simply glared at this before looking away. "Whatever. I don't fucking care anymore…"
"Yang, that's not an answer." Blake said.
"Just do whatever the hell you want, Ruby. I don't care anymore. Especially since it's obvious how I feel doesn't matter." Yang replied coldly before getting up and leaving.
"Yang wait!" Ruby said as she ran after her, not knowing what else was going on.
Meanwhile in Ozpin's office.
"Now then, what should our plan of attack be?" Ozpin asked both Qrow, who is only mildly drunk, and Ironwood.
"We bomb her." Ironwood simply answered.
"No no that's too simple." Ozpin said, dismissing it.
"How about we find her, and beat her up the old fashion way?" Qrow asked.
"Blunt, but we are getting somewhere." Ozpin said.
"Perfectly good excuse for a drink." Qrow said as he pulled out his flask.
"Glynda." Ozpin said and Glynda using her semblance pulled his flask away.
"Oh come on man." Qrow said.
"Why did we invite him?" Ironwood asked.
"He's extremely loyal. Frighteningly so." Ozpin answered.
"So what did you exactly have in mind then?" Ironwood asked, crossing his arms.
"Okay here's the plan. First we need that Emerald chick." Qrow said, hand gesturing as appropriate.
"Hasn't she been through enough?" Ozpin asked.
"Define enough?" Qrow asked back.
"Get to the point…" Ozpin sighed.
"We use her as bait…" Qrow began to trail off, not realizing that someone else also had plans for the green haired girl.
Meanwhile in Salem's tower
As the away team returned, Cinder was hastily bandaged before being brought in front of Salem. Despite the interesting sight before her, the undead queen remained as collected and composed as she always had been.
"I trust you have something to report on?" She asked as she clasped her hands.
"Sienna Khan is dead, my liege. However I sustained some injuries…" Cinder said nervously as she bowed.
"Thank you." Salem answered with a small smile.
"I'm sorry my queen?" Cinder asked as she visibly shivered.
"I sincerely thank you for your work. Your actions have helped further my plan greatly." Salem answered.
"Even…" Cinder tried to say, but was easily cut off.
"Even your inevitable injuries were accounted for." Salem replied, hand waving the life changing injuries off like a car dead on the side of the road, "You are all dismissed."
Cinder and Mercury couldn't get out of that room fast enough, and only moved at the somewhat normal pace they did to avoid suspicion.
"We need to talk." Cinder said as she gripped Mercury's shoulder more firmly, her voice mixed with seriousness and panic.
Back at the Beacon Dormitory
For the first time in her life, Emerald didn't know what to do. Even when she was starving on the street she knew how to survive. Now she was caught between the worst rock and hard place in human history. She was caught between Atlas trying something to her again, or her teammates who would kill her for treason. She looked out at the moon, fear still gripping her as she realized only one course of action could possibly save her… to play along with the winds of fate.