First thing's first-
Holy gees, what even is that moon, why is no one freaking out, oh f- what did Cinder's plan do, Roman, where's Roman, where am-
-Neo gets to her feet, unimpressed and significantly less dazed. Priority one is finding Roman. Wherever they go from there, they'll decide. The good news is that Beacon is probably close by.
The bad news is it's probably destroyed. Evacuated. A mess after a Grimm and terrorist attack.
Speaking of-
Why is there no Grimm?
She's rather ecstatic about them not being an immediate threat, but those buggers are the worst jump-scares with their ability to appear when least expected. There's also the little fact that every city should be swarming with them. The Vytal Festival was an internationally broadcasted event. The fear from at least one person should be enough to trigger something into attacking.
So, this town is either some completely backwater, middle-of-nowhere hick town, or something else is going on. Neo's learning towards the latter because, no matter how… unadvanced this place is at a courtesy glance, she could not have travelled far enough from Vale for them to not know what's going on.
They're either idiots, oblivious, or something else is going on.
(The clock tower ticks onwards above her.)
Also, the moon.
Whatever she's missing most definitely ties into the creepily smiling moon.
Neo huffs a little, fixing her hair in between grabbing her umbrella. No sense sticking around. She'll hunt for a map, and then be on her way. She's been through worse than a hurdle of directional difficulties.
The Nevermores were worse.
Her heels click, and Neopolitan changes into her green-eyed, Lolita girl-scout look from the tournament. She adds a bit more dress to her midriff, because many isolated towns have a conservative view on clothing. Who knows, these people may not even recognize a Huntress.
The guard she passes is sleeping on the job. Neo pauses long enough to roll her eyes.
If the whole town's like this shining example, it's going to be easy to get around.
;;;
Guess what's not easy?
Finding a map.
Dawn comes at exactly six in the morning, and yet the moon doesn't leave. Neo is careful not to get caught leaving the completely booked hotel, having thought that it must have had a map. But no. Not the post office, not the rich person's house or town hall, not even the black market or the fort where the purple haired kid is hiding out. Nobody. Has. A Map.
There's not even a sign in Remnant's universal language.
Neo's sneaking suspicion of not right is only growing, and now with the daylight she stands out even after changing her appearance again. These town's folk either ask her if she's here for the festival in three days or try to convince her to leave before the moon falls.
What the actual f-
Neo responds with polite smiles – some with too many teeth – and ends the recon mission with more gossip than information. Not a single person is from a spy network, and there's some tree-like person hiding in a giant flower. No one gives a second thought to that, but when she tried mimicking about Faunus they responded with Zora.
Again, what the actual-
Neo is too good to show how disturbed she is by these people. No matter how much she's itching to stab her way to answers, they are all truly as stupid as she had guessed. Not one person mentions Grimm, no one seems to know about the Fall of Beacon, and half of them aren't concerned about the potentially apocalyptic event of the sadistically smiling moon falling from the sky.
What she does learn from these people is which way to the beach. By going from the way she slammed into the Clock Tower, Neo hops to it and sneaks out of town. Her destination: hopefully Beacon but definitely not here when the moon falls.
With the food she managed to procure from Clock Town – and she thought names like Beacon or Shade were ironic – Neo ends up in a thick forest where she proceeds to be attacked by living slimes, carnivorous bats, and a Venus flytrap with a wooden stick for a stem. Suffice to say, after her illusion first breaks, Neo has no more second thoughts about taking her frustrations out on the wildlife.
There is special joy in killing the bats. She pretends they're baby Nevermores and keeps stabbing until they turn into smoke.
The smoke isn't the same as dust, but at least these things disappear after defeat like the Grimm. Some even drop items, like the Grimm. The worst part is how strangely soothing this familiarity is.
Then again, all this destruction gives her time to go over how she'll kill Cinder, her groupies, and maybe even little Red for good measure. Neo's smile keeps up as she imagines her revenge for everything going sideways in vivid detail. Hopefully Roman will agree and give her free reign to pay back crazy Cinder for all the success her plan's given them.
What would be more fitting: burned to a crisp or frozen and shattered?
Neo swings her umbrella, cutting through the flytrap's wood-stem like it's melted butter. She'll leave the choice up to Roman.
;;;
By the end of the second day, Neo has climbed through a dense forest, skirted around poisonous bogs, slept in a cave, and ruined her boots.
All to find a wall.
She smacks at the swirling black impassible object, her face twisted in a pissed off sneer. All this work, for nothing. With one last go, she throws her umbrella point at it.
The tip chips off, the wall is unblemished.
"Harrumph," Neo crosses her arms, throwing her back against the wall. She frowns at the moon, visibly falling from this angle. If she can't find a way out, she'll be stuck in the blast radius. Whoever's stupid idea it was to bring down a moon-
With a sigh, Neo twirls off and gets to checking for a way around. No way is she going closer to the epicenter, the wall appears to circle, so she'll try digging a hole tomorrow if she can't find an exit.
By the mental calculations, the multi-coloured haired woman knows even at her fastest she can't run the whole circle. With the beach to the south, and no way to cross water, Neo kicks off her boots and begins running north, hand always on the wall.
Anyone who sees her will die.
Not using her semblance means Neo has tons of aura. Her body can last a day or two without sleep, and if she wasn't so stressed then she could go upwards of a week. Tonight is not a night to rest and mourn – Roman better not be in this place too – but to find an escape.
Morning hits, along with the cold of the mountains. Her aura can protect her from the chills, but not for more than a few hours. Neo doesn't even make it that long before she reaches an impassible pit. She turns and moves back to the forest, eyeing the moon falling steadily closer.
When she's reached a decent area, Neo stabs the ground with her umbrella. Then gloves are adjusted, and she gets down on her knees to dig.
No matter how far she goes, the dark wall stretches past it.
In the dark of night, when her hole is too deep, and she doesn't have the night vision of Faunus, Neo leaps up and out. She's not giving up, just… taking a break.
From here, the moon looks hours away from crashing down. Neo debates finding a cave or something to hide in, but the reality is she won't survive one giant rock crashing into another giant rock. The wall's made sure of it.
Force equals mass time acceleration, but just how heavy is the smiling moon? Maybe she'll be lucky, and the force from impact won't reach this far out.
What are the chances the wall isn't the furthest reach of impact?
Neo sighs and gets back to digging. She doesn't have much hope, and regrets not trying the ocean while she had the time. She's gone too far to stop now.
Roman, you better have found a way to survive.
Neo will be pissed if she dies before taking some revenge.
For some reason, the gong of midnight can be heard throughout the land. Neo ignores it and desperately throws dirt from her hole.
When the ground shakes, threatening to bury her, Neopolitan leaps out once more to see the nose of moon crushing Clock Town. She sees the moon shift, as if it's a head, rotating to so it ends up teeth-first into the ground.
Neo smiles grimly and leans back against the impassible wall. She crosses her arms, h̡͢e̷̡r̴͢͝ ͡f͏͏i̷̕n̷͝ge͞҉r͠s ̸̛͘c̵͝l̶e̷͠n͝c͟ḩi̶ng̷̀ ͠͝a̢͞r̸͘o҉un̸̶͡d ͢͡t̡hę̷͝ ̴͜͠u͜͞m҉b͡r͢͢e͡҉̡ļl̶̨͜a͘ ̧ḩand̸͜͝l͏́e͞, and feels more than some disappointment that this is how she's going out. Not protecting Roman, not by revenge or top-notch Hunter or Grimm.
Getting killed by the moon.
How sad.
Neo has to close her eyes against the light. She can hear g̤̭̟͈͓̞o̴̤̳̗̜̳̯͎̞͘̕n͎̰͇͘͜g̸̛͓̬̗̗ͅs̷̻̖̭͈͞ ̵̩̪̬̭͇̕à̻͖̩͈͖̱̟͓̘͜͡ņ̸̖͔ͅd҉̡̥͎̮͖̩̺̙̠̖ shrieking as the world is d̸͖̟e̳͕̮̣̼̮s̬͙̰̮͈̦͠t̢͓̘r̛̬̼͔̹̺ͅoy̬̺̪̘̠é͕d̺͚͖͘
̟̣̙a̗̟͍̯͕̹͈r̲͙̖͔͞ou̫̪n̷̦d̬͚̼̦̼͖͔͞
ͅh͟e͕͎̣̹̺̣r̬͔̩͖͎̪͝
Y̜̻͐̆̀o̢͈̰ͣu̗̥̜̭͊̌ͧ̓̅'̯͇͕̝͖̟͋̿̆͂͘v̘ͯ̎̎̋̀e̛̠͓̞̪̍ ̯̻̲͍͙̝̇͂͂̎͒ͪ̕m͂ͭͤ̄̓e͓̻̣̩̽̊̈́͛̽ͤͤt͙̮͈͕̺͓ ̨̼͇̜̦̹̩̔ͨ̃̚w̝̼͍͓̓̎ͭ̒́̊i̺̤͔͎͋tͬ̊̽h̬̪͍ͥ̉ ͩ̇̉͛ͭ͏̗̗̬͙̩ä̯̫̘̮̝̾ͩ ͍͡ͅt̰̮̞͖̦̞͖͐ͮͭe̞͙̫͓̤̐͆̐͛ͤ̚ͅr̶̞͎̻̯͓̖̐͌͑ͥ͌r͎̆̋̅̓͒̏ì̭̝̰̺̱͉͒̐̕b͑́͆̅̅ͩ̆͏̝̳̜͍̭l̯͚̘͙̪͔̩̎͛̀̏e̶͓ͮ͌ͥ̉̐ͧ̌ ͍f͍̯̰͓̻a̮̱̫̼̱͎͖̾̒͑͐͊t͖ė̴͙̹̪͇̘̝̌̏̐͆,͇͈͍ͧ̓̕ ͉̜̱̤̳͛̋ͪh̬͎ͧ̇ͤ̎̀aͣ̐ͣ̅͆ͥ̀v̝̼̝̯̻̒ͫ̇̅ͬ̎ͫe̱͐ņ͈̦̠̥̼'̵̭͚̦̙̅̓ṱ̝͇̫̓͗͐̎̉ ̤̙̞̬ͥ͐̓ͥ̌y̛̳̺͚̝̒͊̍͌ͧͭo̘̯͓͐͑͛͒̍͊ͅű͓̰̾ͮͩͧ?͉̣̩͓͚̞̲̄̌̃
The gong sounds.
And the screaming stops.
Neo takes a few quick breathes. When nothing else happens, she peeks an eye open. Everything is dark, but she can see outlines below-
She's still alive.
And about to crash into Clock Tower.
With much grace, Neo fumbles to close her umbrella and drops to the ground. There's a small crater where she lands, but if that wasn't some dream there's going to be a whole lot worse in a few days.
She's got to find Roman and get out. Once is lucky, she's not betting on this second chance happening again.
Neopolitan runs past the sleeping guard, making sure to push him over as she goes. If Roman's around, best to make sure he can spot her brand of mischief. By her estimate, she has three days before there's no hope of escaping the blast. Less, if she has to carry Roman out of here.
The woman easily jumps the walled fence to the beach.
Let's try this again.
Morning of the First Day: 78 Hours Remaining
A/N: Thanks for reading! A really big think you to RCT-5555, and Guest for reviewing! The support means a lot.
Have a fantastic day
