sorry for the late upload, was busy moving, but I'm back now! hope y'all enjoy!
Chapter 16: A brief respite
"So everyone, what should be done with this Watts fellow?" Ruby asked her team at a cafe table on the boat back to Patch.
Neo gives an Innocent, adorable little look, innocently typing, 'rip his throat out? Death by a thousand cuts?'
"And I thought I had issues." Blake said through her tea.
Pouting, neo types, 'He killed Zwei! He doesn't deserve the mercy of a quick death! I want him to SUFFER!'
"Considering your last attempt at vigilante behavior, you'll likely join him in the grave with little to show for it." Blake dryly answered.
Neo pouts, arms crossed and cheeks puffed out in protest.
"Neo, be glad you're alive. You nearly died back there. We all feel horrible since Zwei's death, but Zwei wouldn't want you to sacrifice yourself in a vain hope of revenge." Weiss said, putting a hand on her shoulder.
Shocking everyone, Neo hugs the ice queen, crying into her dress.
"There there Neo, let it all out." Weiss said, hugging her back to try and comfort her.
Unusual for Yang, she was deep in thought. Both Blake and Ruby noticed this odd phenomenon for the blonde brawler. Weiss and Neo were too busy in an emotional support session to notice the odd change of pace for the fiery dragon lady without a tattoo.
"Your awfully quiet Yang. Anything on your mind?" Blake asked.
Yang sighed and put her tea down. "I've been mulling this over and over again. But, no matter how I look at it, trying to go after him with all of those goons he has with him is suicide."
"There has to be something we can do. If only to calm Neo and keep her from more comic book inspired stunts." Ruby said, looking at the little mascot who is still crying her heart out on the ice queen's shoulder.
"Last thing we need is for her to turn out like the faunus wall." Blake said, forcing the sisters to look at her. "What? I read comics too."
"Moving away from comics books. What can we do to prevent Neo from running off?" Ruby asked.
Neo pouts, typing, 'Wait, wha-!? Since when am I a flight risk!?'
"Since you ran off on a half-baked revenge scheme and almost got yourself killed, Single Scoop." Yang replied dryly.
Neo pouts, typing, 'That doesn't count, cus it was Ruby's fault!'
"Neo, don't go blaming others for your actions. Now would you like some pineapple cake, dear?" Weiss said to the tiny creature.
Neo turns to camera and types, 'Seriously!? What's with these constant dehumanizing pronouns!?'
"Stop talking off into space and eat your cake." Weiss sternly warned her.
"Seriously, who were you even talking to?" Yang questioned the tiny ice cream girl.
Neo innocently points down the deck towards a group of school children on holiday.
"You know what, make it two slices of cake to keep her from getting us into trouble." Ruby said concerned.
"Neo, open up." Weiss said, holding a slice of pineapple cake in her mouth.
Neo opens her mouth, happily. Weiss then stuffed the piece of cake into her mouth, causing Neo to happily chew on the sweet fruit cake.
"Until we come up with something, we need to keep her under lock and key." Ruby said sternly.
Neo pouts, typing, 'Says the one who ignored my obvious depression and not only gaslighted me, but fed into my guilt, pushing me down that path!'
"I mean… that's not inaccurate, Rubes…" Yang replied reluctantly.
Neo crosses her arms, looking smug at having won that argument.
At that moment, Ruby sat there stunned. For what seemed like forever, there was nothing. As if she was in a void. Slowly tears began to form out of the corners of her eyes, and she looked down. It was at that moment she began to sob lightly.
"I'm sorry Neo…" Ruby let out through her sobs.
Neo shakes her head, typing, 'What you did will NEVER be ok! You will have to live with the shitty thing you did! I was vulnerable, suicidal, and what I needed was a friend… and you abandoned me, and I will NEVER forgive you for that!'
"I don't blame you. I can't forgive myself for anything. It should have been me… not Zwei." Ruby said before standing up and walking away.
In tears, Neo looks away, unable to even look Ruby in the eyes. Those words were harsh, but so was the treatment she received. She was hurting, and working purely on emotion. She had been betrayed, she had a right to be a little hostile.
Yang, however, didn't seem to feel the same way she did if the red eyed glare she was shooting Neo was anything to go by. "You went way too far with that, Neo!" Yang snapped out, getting up and preparing to leave to go after Ruby.
Neo rolls her eyes, snarkily typing, 'And here comes SUPER SIMP!'
Yang clenched her hand into a tightly balled fist at that, her glare almost demonic at that point. Without a word, she punched the table, snapping it in half like a twig.
"And what does snapping a table in half accomplish Yang? It's clear what your sister did was wrong. Neo has a right to be upset." Weiss sternly said
"Sure, Weiss! Take Neo's side! It's not like you ever actually liked or even gave a shit about Ruby anyway!" Yang snapped back.
"You both are acting like children…" Blake said before pointing at both of them, only to be cut off by Neo.
Neo pouts, interrupting, typing, 'I am LITERALLY a child! I have an excuse!'
"Yang, it's understandable for you to want to defend Ruby. After everything you two have been through, and for her to be attacked in such a fashion was out of nowhere and unhelpful. However, you smashing a table to kindling and attacking both Neo equally as harshly and with that level of venom is only going to drive a further wedge into these delicate affairs. Ruby is not entitled to Neo's forgiveness after all of that." Blake said sternly.
Neo smugly sticks her tongue out at Yang, thinking Blake was on her side.
Blake's words and Neo's reaction did little to calm Yang's ire. If anything, they only made it worse. If looks could kill, Neo and both of Yang's teammates would have been reduced to ashes right then and there.
"As for you Neo, yes you do have a right to be angry with Ruby after all of that. Being gaslighted and blamed for something out of your control is not only unhelpful, but destructive in the long run. But you tearing her down to the point of tears and ripping any semblance of direction or support she has to tackle her own issues isn't. What Ruby needed in that moment was a friend, and you abandoned her too." Blake said back, pointing to Neo just as she had Yang.
Neo crosses her arms indignantly, walking off in a huff with Weiss.
"Hey don't be…" Weiss tried to speak up before Blake cut her off.
"Shut up, simp." Blake snapped at her.
Yang merely shot one last glare at the others before walking off to go find Ruby. That earned her glares from the remaining two. The divides clearly have deepened.
Meanwhile with Salem
"Forgive me my queen, I…" Watts said nervously before the dark queen on her throne.
"You remember what I told you to do? To tie up loose ends. A simple task none of my previous servants had been able to accomplish. Especially considering the half brain dead child that I wish to no longer live. And yet here you stand." Salem said with an ethereal, unearthly calm.
"I'm sorry my queen. It was all…" Watts said before being cut off.
"What stands before me is but a man. Man is fallible. Man was cursed by the gods to be nothing more than expendable, if borderline useless pawns for their rightful overlords. Cursed with the ability to disobey, and disappoint. Cursed with free will. Unlike the world of man, Grimm have no such flaws." Salem said in the same calm tone, as a shadow began to move behind her throne.
"No! Please! Anything to regain your…" Watts begged, before he was crushed against the ground by a large black mass.
The black mass in front of the shadow queen unfurled a large, beowolf form Grimm as it lifted up Watts in a single hand, as if a human picked up a bag of groceries. For a split second, she saw the look in his eye. A begging fear one would look up at towards an uncaring and unforgiving god. Then the head sloughed off the neck and rolled across the ground like a dropped melon. The claws are sharp to a satisfactory level.
"Now then my dear. I require you to retrieve the girl. For once, someone passed a test I put out for them." She said as she scratched behind one of its ears.
With a lurch and a bound, the great unearthly beast was off. With how swiftly and efficiently it could move, Neo should be to her within the week. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the shiny glint of Watt's scroll. This caused her to smirk as she picked it up and unfurled the device.
"Now I just have one last thing to do." She said with a coy smirk, hovering over the head of the man formerly known as Watts.
Back to patch
A long, torturous week on the boat had only made the tensions of team RWBY and mascot worse. After a certain point the day of the fight, no one spoke to the other. Everyone felt shitty about it, and regardless how they truly felt about it, no one was backing down. No one wanted to be wrong, and admit they were wrong. A stalemate had formed wrapped in concrete.
At the ferry terminal, Tai was waiting for them all in the family car. After everyone was crammed in like sardines, Neo having to sit on Weiss's lap to make everyone fit, they made their slow way across the windy backroads of Patch. Tai, while not the brightest in social situations, noted the tension as it was thick enough to poke with a knife.
"So what happened girls?" Tai asked all of a sudden, blissfully unaware of the verbal can of whoop ass about to be unleashed.
"Ask Neo and Weiss, dad." Yang replied bitterly.
Neo flinches, covering her ears, seeing where this is going.
"How about you answer Yang. He is your father, after all." Weiss bitterly shot back.
Neo nervously types, 'Sooo, what do you guys wanna eat? I'm starving' Neo unsuccessfully tries to change the subject, incredibly uncomfortable.
"Is trying to avoid this really going to help Neo? Because all it's going to do is make things worse." Blake said
Neo, looking at Blake, types, 'And opening up fresh wounds will?' Neo asked quizzically.
"Depends, is blondie going to break another table in a fit of petulant rage?" Weiss asked.
"Up yours, Ice Queen!" Yang snapped back.
"Real mature from the big blonde bimbo." Weiss growled.
"You wanna go, Washboard!? Because I'll have dad stop this car and we can go a round!" Yang replied, glaring back at Weiss.
"The only round your going is once under the tires and into the mud where you belong!!" Weiss yelled.
"What's wrong, Snow Cone!? Afraid you'll get that scarred face of yours caved in!? Or are you overcompensating in front of your little girlfriend!?" Yang snapped back.
"How about I run through little red to shut your fat mouth!? Maybe then you'll learn where you're actually wanted, you destructive slut!!" Weiss roared back.
"I will skin you with your own weapon and wear you like a raincoat!" Yang roared in response.
"Can you two dumb, immature bitches shut the hell up and be adults!?" Blake snapped at them.
"Stay out of it, Blake!" Weiss and Yang snapped at their teammate simultaneously.
"You two idiots brought me…" Blake started to say, before the unmistakable tone of a scroll was heard.
Neos face contorts in horror at the sight in front of her, the severed head of one Arthur Watts. Nervously, Neo shows the screen to her teammates, as they sit in silence at the horror they just saw.
"Well, I guess we don't need to figure out how to deal with Watts anymore…" Yang said awkwardly, trying to make light of the situation in a failed attempt at humor.
Back with Cinder
Cinder sat at her mahogany desk, tapping it fitfully with her left fingers. She hated waiting for anything, but if it means the job gets done, she will wait. Especially with what she was waiting for. All of a sudden she heard an irregular knock on the door.
"Come in." She dryly said.
What came in was a bloodied and bruised man slowly limping his way in, barely able to stand on a single leg, let alone what was left of the mangled second. However what she heard swaying in the slight draft, in effect, caught her eye.
"We have it milady. Or at least what we could find." The man panted, coughing up a hint of blood.
"Put it on my desk." She said, moving her hands aside.
He stumbled over to her desk before gently putting the object on her desk, making a metallic sound upon being set down. She reached out and touched it. With a smile, she picked the object up, and put it on her head. It fit perfectly.