I had a lot of very nice reviews this past week, so I just wanna say thank you!
Also, you now have to 'opt-in' to be alerted if a story you follow has been updated, so double check for all your stories. God I sound like a youtuber lol
Anyway, here's the chapter!
Neopolitan was panicking. That was a first, in Emerald's case, as she watched the mute quickly pace back and forth in their dorm room. She had been panicking since she saw a message on her Scroll. The thief had never seen her so out of control.
Cinder was out, and Mercury was getting in some last-minute training for the semi-finals later that night. And by 'training' he probably meant practicing flirting, Emerald thought with a roll of her red eyes.
"Alright, I can't take seeing you wear a hole in the floor any longer, what's going on?" Emerald finally said, standing up and crossing her arms in annoyance. Neo's mismatched eyes met hers as she chewed her lower lip, glancing downward to her Scroll.
Apparently, she decided that desperate times called for the advice of Emerald. She unlocked her Scroll and showed the thief what it was that had her worrying so much. "Youch." Emerald winced, seeing the message from Crue.
"Can we talk?" Was all that she could see, as Neo was covering the top half of her Scroll. Emerald was glad for that, knowing what the two got up to and figured it was a picture she wouldn't be too eager to see.
"Yeah that, that's worrying." Neo gave Emerald a blank look. "What do you want me to say!?" She asked. "I mean, are you gonna reply? You've just left him on read since he sent it." Apparently, the diminutive girl hadn't realised that, as she mouthed a curse that Emerald was fairly certain would have deafened her had she been able to speak.
Neo gripped her multi-coloured hair, before taking a deep breath as her appearance shimmered. Neo had changed into her 'Polly' disguise, which made sense to Emerald, as it was Polly who was dating Crue.
She typed into her Scroll and nodded harshly, before striding to the door and yanking it open. "Good luck." The green-haired girl called as the door closed. Once she was alone, she let out a breath and fell down on her bed, glad for the solitude.
"Should've asked her to try and find out what he said to piss off Cinder so much." She hummed, closing her eyes and relaxing while she could. She managed about five seconds before the door to the room opened.
Emerald let out a groan as she sat up. "Look I don't even like guys, what advice do you- Cinder!" She squawked, only now realising it wasn't Neo coming back for last minute advice. Her boss raised a single eyebrow, her amber eyes boring into hers.
"Does this have something to do with Neopolitan running down the hall?" She enquired. Emerald nodded with a sigh.
"Yeah, it's Crue again." She leaned back in her bed. "Asked Neo 'can we talk' with no context. So, she was freaking out a little-" "We need to follow them." Cinder stated, startling Emerald to her feet.
"What? Why?" She asked, stumbling after Cinder. The half-maiden froze in her tracks, slowly turning around to stare at Emerald.
"Are you questioning me?" She interrogated, her eyes shining with power. Her subordinate let out a soft gasp as she backed up and held her hands out pleadingly.
"O-Of course not. It's just, this is a personal thing between them that's probably just gonna be a lot of mushy feelings." She tried to explain her point. "And with everything that has to go to plan tonight it seems like a waste of energy."
Cinder maintained eye contact with Emerald for an uncomfortably long time, making the latter sweat. Finally, Cinder's eyes darted to the side. "Those 'mushy feelings' are what concern me." She said, almost to herself as well as Emerald.
"If Neo lets her feelings for Cullen get in the way of the mission, everything will have been a waste of energy." She seethed, exiting the room. Emerald noticed that their doorknob had become misshapen from where Cinder had wrenched it open.
"Yep." She muttered to herself. "She's pissed about this." The girl very quickly followed after Cinder, carefully avoiding the heated handle. Emerald wondered if this had anything to do with whatever Crue did to make her so angry the previous day.
She caught up with Cinder, walking in tandem. She would follow Cinder's orders to the letter, obviously. She just hoped whatever was going to happen between Crue and Neo wouldn't get too sappy.
…
"I still love you. I need your help. No." Crue shook his head angrily, scratching it as he tried to come up with a good opener to talk to Neo. This seemed so much easier when he was coughing up that shot Junior gave him. He wished he had some of the alcohol now, to help ease his nerves.
He shook the thought away with an angry inward glare. "No. She deserves this done sober."
"Maybe I shouldn't tell her my feelings…" He figured. Neo had agreed to talk to him, which he was grateful for and terrified of. She had given a meeting place, still in Beacon thankfully. It looked vaguely familiar, though he couldn't remember why.
It was a small garden pavilion with a fancy fountain in the middle. Pillars lined the sides with marble vines wrapping around them. There was no one else there, thankfully. "Maybe I saw it in the show at some point…"
He didn't know where to wait, or how long Neo was going to be. His anxiousness ate away at him as he tapped his foot rapidly, eventually deciding to sit on the edge of the fountain. The trickling water soothed him slightly, lowering his head to stare at the ground as he let out a sigh of relief.
He sucked the sigh back in as he heard footsteps quickly approaching him. He looked directly upward to the entrance of the pavilion. Standing there, in a sleeveless black blouse and two long black pigtails, was Neo.
Despite being in her Beacon disguise, the eyes Crue met were pink and brown. "Hi." He breathed out, immediately regretting opening his mouth. He couldn't make out Neo's expression from where he was, but he did hear her take a breath.
Neo froze, closing her mouth and swallowing as she raised a hand to Crue and mouthed 'hey'. The Faunus felt his gut twist into a knot, as he remembered that she was no longer talking to him. "Right." He said softly.
"It's, good to see you." He told her. He made to stand, but Neo held out a hand. Instead, she walked towards him and sat with him on the edge of the fountain. Crue pretended he didn't notice the gap between them.
He did notice Neo tap her index and middle finger on his leg twice, which made him feel a little better. 'You too'. Crue smiled to himself inwardly. He almost wanted to just stay like this, the two of them in silence.
But, he couldn't. The Faunus took a deep breath and began to speak. "I should've told you." He said, staring at the ground, unable to meet Neo's eyes. He saw her tilt her head slightly, which made him wince as he needed to clarify.
"I should've told you I was gonna be on the train." He heard a quick intake of breath. "I didn't. I didn't because I know she wanted Roman up there." He gave a small jerk of his head skyward. "So, I didn't think it'd matter that I was there."
"I was wrong." He admitted. He dared to glance up and meet her eyes. White and pink. Upset but listening. "I broke your trust. I, I hurt you." He broke away from her gaze, staring at the roof of the pavilion to try and distract himself.
"I don't want to hurt anyone I care about. And I don't want anyone I care about to get hurt." He willed himself to meet Neo's eyes once more, trying to convey what he found himself unable to say.
"That includes you." He had no problem thinking it, and as Neo glanced away from the eye contact, he felt she understood. Crue took a deep breath as he intertwined his hands and leaned his elbows on his legs. This was going to get, personal.
"Have I told you about my childhood?" He asked, somewhat rhetorically. Neo looked at him, blinking in surprise. "Yeah, not a surprise. It's not something I talk about easily. Or, at all, if I can help it." He met Neo's eyes and opened his mouth to continue.
A branch snapped.
The two immediately shot to their feet, looking to the entrance of the pavilion. A pigeon hopped out from one of the bushes at the side, a twig in its mouth. It gave a soft 'coo' before flying off. Crue and Neo let out sighs of relief, sitting back down on the fountain side.
"Fucking birds." Crue cursed, feeling a small amount of rage bubbling up within him. He turned back to Neo, who was looking at him cautiously, but curiously. The rage diminished as he met her eyes.
"Right. Yeah. Childhood trauma." He said, trying to force a laugh. It came out as more of resentful scoff, which Crue found suited it better. "I don't really tell anyone cause, wasn't the best, as you might have guessed."
A small smile showed on Neo's face, more at the rhyme than Crue's honesty. "I lost my family. The lot of them. Mam. Dad. Sisters. Dead. By my own damn mistakes." He took a deep, shuddering breath, as he took out a small pocketwatch and rubbed his thumb across the etching of a wolf.
He paused for a moment, looking to Neo. Her eyes looked at the timepiece curiously before meeting Crue's again. The Faunus inhaled deeply before speaking. "I trust you with this." He clicked it open, and showed Neo the picture within.
Neo saw a family of Faunus, the two parents, a man with brown hair and wolf ears standing with his hand on the hip of a woman with a pair of fox ears and hair to match. Below them were three children, and Neo's eyes lingered on the young Crue.
He looked so different to the one she sat next to. Younger. Happier. Innocent. She looked up to the true Crue, her eyes asked an unspoken question. "I watched them get torn apart before my own eyes."
"And it only got better from there."
"No other relatives, shithole of an orphanage." His hand clenched into a fist as his nails fought against Aura. "If you could even call it that. No one there wanted anything to do with me. And the assholes running it turned a blind eye whenever some less then reputable people 'adopted' us."
Neo's face suddenly turned to one of horror. Crue realised what he said. "Not like that." He quickly corrected. "They… Guards don't stop kids." He clarified. "They don't check them for drugs, or money, or anything. So, got into a bad place pretty quickly. Along with a lot of others."
"And because of that, I practically grew up on the street. Had to learn how to survive without the damn orphanage's help. Ended up being 'taken in' by some less than stellar individuals. Drug dealers, robbers… Hell, if I grew up here, I'd probably have worked for Torchwick. Or worse." He looked skyward once more, partially because he couldn't bear to meet Neo's eyes, and to keep any tears from spilling. "And despite everything. I still tried to be nice. To be kind."
He gave a soft scoff. "Cause I thought that's what my mam and dad would've wanted. Not that anyone there reciprocated." His breath came out in one long wavering exhale. He decided to not focus on old wounds, and get to the point. "Point is, my life was Hell. I dealt with it, figured Hell was what I deserved."
His head dropped back down, level with Neo's, but not looking her in the eye. "And then, I ended up here." His face remained neutral. "It wasn't something I wanted, or planned, or even liked at the start, but here I was. Away from everyone and everything I've ever known. Just another Hell." He set a hand down on the stonework, close to Neo's.
"And then I met you." He met her eyes. Pure pink. "First good thing to happen to me in a decade. And you made this Hell worth it." Neo blinked slowly, eyes still pink, as Crue gulped. Any other time, this would be the perfect opportunity to kiss her, and make up for all his wrongs.
"And, I don't want to lose you." He looked away, down to their hands that were just barely touching. "I've already lost so much. I don't want to lose anymore." He looked back up to Neo. "Pretty selfish, huh?" He asked, trying to smirk.
Neo blinked, one eye turning brown as she tilted her head with a sad smile, agreeing with him. "Yeah, and, selfish as I am, I can't do it alone." He sighed, finally coming to the true reason he messaged.
Neo seemed to realise what he was implying and inched her hand back. "I don't want you to force you to do anything." Crue said quickly. "I know, what you have to do to get him back." He nodded upward once more.
She loved Roman more than him. Crue knew that. And even though it was a different kind of love, the sickly feeling in his heart didn't make that knowledge help any better. "And, I want you to." He continued, seeing Neo's look of surprise.
"You need him more than you need me. You care about him, and he cares about you." Crue said softly, with a smile that wasn't truly there. The disguised girl opened her mouth to argue but found herself unable to. The Faunus looked away. He knew she couldn't disagree, even if he wished she would.
"Do what you have to. Just, maybe don't do any more afterwards? Get him out and dip?" He suggested. "I'll help where I can but, I also need to be in more than two places at once. I'm stretched thin as is, between Ironwood arresting me for knowing shit I shouldn't and cheering for RWBY- ah fuck, the doubles."
He noticed Neo's jaw fall open, before blinking and making a few gestures which Crue interpreted as: 'WHEN THE FUCK DID THAT HAPPEN?!'
"Oh, right, you weren't there for that. Day before yesterday." He blinked, his missing of Weiss and Yang's fight forgotten. "Yeah, Ironwood- well, Winter Schnee tried to arrest me cause of some bullshit." Neo looked him up and down rapidly, checking for any injuries.
Crue felt his heart beat a little faster at her concern. "I'm fine. I kicked her ass. Well, she got her ass kicked cause of her own mistakes." He smirked somewhat at Neo's raised eyebrow. "She handcuffed me to herself."
Neo sniggered silently, a faint blush decorating her cheeks as she remembered their own times with handcuffs. "Yeah, so, got out of that in a minute and just tossed her into someone else." He felt bad for slamming her into Qrow, but he supposed they were destined to fight. He ignored the sudden surge of rage he felt at the idea of 'destiny'.
"I'm fine. Got to insult the General to his face, too." He said, as if it was his proudest achievement to date. Neo sighed and shook her head, the smallest of smiles dancing across her face. Seeing her there, smiling in the sunlight, as the trickling of the fountain continued behind them, he remembered how he fell for her in the first place.
"I-" Another branch snapped. "AM GOING TO KILL THAT FUCKING BIRD!" He jumped to his feet; his mouth set into a snarl as he waited for whatever stupid pigeon decided to hop from the bush. When none appeared, he begrudgingly sat back down.
He sighed, looking back to Neo. She seemed to be squinting at the doorway, before turning back to Crue. "Look, I don't know how all this is gonna go." He met her eyes. "All I know is, whatever happens, I want you there."
He continued, swallowing as he leaned closer to Neo, who did so in kind. "And I don't want to try so hard, and get so far, only for it to not even matter."
[In The End – Linkin Park]
"CÉ ATÁ AN FUCK AG GLAOCH ORM ANOIS?!" Crue cursed in a different language, the blaring music interrupting the tender moment. Despite his anger, he managed to glimpse Neo looking annoyed at his Scroll as well. He yanked his Scroll from his pocket and answered it. A set of amber eyes with black hair appeared.
"Crue!" Blake answered. The Faunus hadn't shouted at any of Team RWBY in anger before, but he felt like he was going to make an exception. "Weiss is hurt!" The exception died like a Grimm in front of Port.
He froze, his jaw opening and closing uselessly. "What happened?" He asked, finally finding his voice.
"There was an accident in the doubles round. Her Aura was completely drained." The Cat Faunus explained.
Crue cursed to the side, remembering what had happened in the show. As he was looking to the side, he noticed Neo's expression. It was one of genuine concern. The Faunus blinked in confusion, which the mute saw.
'She was nice to me', Neo mouthed. Crue nodded, wondering when the Hell that had happened, before turning back to the Scroll. "I'll be there in a minute." He told Blake, who accepted it before hanging up.
Crue's heart was being pulled in two different directions. He turned to Neo, but to his surprise she was pointing away. 'Go', she said. The Faunus opened his mouth. "I- It- Damn it." He gave a low growl, before nodding and standing to his feet.
Neo did the same, standing with her arms limply by her side. Crue took a step towards the exit of the pavilion, before freezing. Neo noticed, raising an eyebrow as the Faunus turned on his heel to look at her.
"God don't let me regret this." He whispered to himself, before leaning down to Neo's level and placing a hand under her chin as he stared at her eyes. "I still love you." A sound did escape from Neo's throat this time.
A small gasp, as Crue moved forward and planted a kiss on her cheek. "And I don't want you to lose anyone either. After all this is over, find me where we first met." He stood up straight, turning to leave the pavilion. With one final glance back, he took off running in the direction of the airships.
Left on her own in silence, Neo gently raised a hand to where Crue had kissed. She closed her eyes for a moment, listening to her own beating heart as she privately repeated Crue's words. 'I still love you too'.
Her eyes suddenly snapped open, the hairs on her neck standing up as she realised something was wrong. The quiet, she realised, as she turned to the fountain. Water still flowed, but no sound came from it.
Shattered glass suddenly appeared from her hip, as she brought Hush out and quickly examined her surroundings. "Well, wasn't that lovely." A voice came from behind Neo, causing her mouth to dry. She blinked as she turned, her eyes becoming a jade green.
Cinder and Emerald were sat upon one of the small dining tables, the green haired girl looking particularly exhausted as she cradled her head. Her jade eyes snapped to Cinder, she didn't care what power she had, what she had intruded on was private.
And damning, she realised. Crue was the only one who did the talking, so maybe Cinder didn't catch most of the context. As Cinder got up from her chair and marched over, glaring daggers at Neo, the mute realised she may be wrong.
"Now, do not get me wrong, Neopolitan." She said, the temperature around her flaring up. "That display between you and Cullen was, sweet… Sickeningly so." She continued to glare at Neo, though the smaller woman realised she wasn't making eye contact. "But he is not your ally."
It was as if she was staring at her mouth. Her cheek? 'How long?' Neo mouthed, gripping the handle of Hush tightly. If she had overheard them mentioning Roman, they were both in trouble.
"How long is irrelevant." Cinder said, her brow furrowing. However, despite her rigidity on the subject, her currently migrained minion didn't catch the memo.
"When Crue yelled at me for being a bird." Emerald said with a groan, reacting to her boss' words, briefly looking up to make eye contact with Neo, her blood red eyes narrowing. "I am not a bird." With that, she slumped back down onto the table.
So not too long, Neo gathered. And judging from the expression on Cinder's face, she was planning on pretending she had been there from the start. "I just have, a single question for you, Neopolitan." Cinder stood tall over the disguised girl, who had already weaved an illusion and taken several steps back.
"Did Crue, mention anything about an incident yesterday?" She asked. Neo had to blink several times. The way she was asking almost sounded like a student checking if they were in trouble with a teacher. The genuine confusion on Neo's face must have been answer enough, as Cinder gave an imperceptible sigh of relief.
"I see. That is well." She turned to leave the pavilion. "Come, Emerald." The thief gave a groan as she got up from her seat, muttering about two heads being harder than one. Neo was fairly certain that wasn't how the phrase went but was content to let them leave.
"Oh, one more thing." Cinder said, stopping in the entrance and turning back to Neo. "I hope you won't let whatever, feelings, you have for the boy get in the way of your job." Her voice dripped with venom as she stared at Neo.
"We wouldn't want our dear friend to grow old up there." She waited, refusing to budge until Neo gave her compliance. Her umbrella shattered out of her grasp, as she nodded, staring at the ground beneath Cinder's feet.
The woman smiled, raising her head and flipping her hair over her shoulder. "Good. Now, get ready for tonight, Nurse Neo." She walked away, followed by a swaying Emerald, not noticing Neo's pure white eyes that glared at her.
And like that, any hope of 'Hellhound' working out is trashed. I've got to be honest, I still have no idea how Neo and Crue ended up getting together so well. That was not my intention for this story at all.
But then again Crue has a habit of ignoring how the story is meant to go. It'd be amusing if it wasn't so annoying. Regardless, the two have now had a very mushy heart to heart about what Crue wants to accomplish. In fact, I think this is the most Crue has talked about his past with, anyone. I suppose the excuse of amnesia will help avoid any unwanted questions or confessions.
I'm not sure if he ever told Neo he has it, actually. Probably never brought it up while they were... busy, for lack of a better word.
Anyway, that's the chapter. Hope you enjoyed, let me know if you did, and as always...
Until Next Time
-Friday, The author