Chapter 3: First Impressions

Sun and Neptune sat hunched over their bowls under the flickering lights of the ramen stand. It was mostly silent, save for the occasional sizzle of cooking noodles and the slurp the boys made with each bite.

"I wonder what happened to that girl…" the Faunus boy uttered between swallows at his friend beside him.

"She'll be back, bro! Don't worry, no lady can resist my charms." The last few words became muffled slightly, as Neptune awkwardly wiped a stray noodle from his upper lip.

About twenty feet back, under the soft shadow of the underpass, Neo stood listening, her umbrella raised to conceal her face in the moonlight. The pair at the stand both passed their empty bowls to the man behind the counter, with Sun using his tail to wave a silent goodbye

Neo tiptoed between streetlights over to the stand the boys had just left, sauntering up to sit at one of the rounded leather seats. The older man at the stove smiled at her, his squinted eyes pulling sharp at the edges as he went back to stirring his noodles.

"The two… who were here before. Do you know much about them?" She choked the words out into the steam, slowly finding her voice once again.

"They're my new regulars, sweetie. Been coming here every day now for about a week. Heavy eaters for a couple of Mistrali kids, but it is the Vytal festival, after all." The cook turned from his pot and gave the same taut smile as before, being taken aback by the pile of lien occupying the spot where the small girl had been seated. Her pinkish silhouette tracing the streets ahead of the shop.

As she raced closer and closer to the striding pair, her boots crashed over the concrete like a storm until a stray pebble found its way beneath her feet, sending her sprawling onto the ground. The grinding screech of leather on stone sent the boys' heads flying around to greet her, both smiling at the hilarity of the scene before them.

"Hey there, pretty lady. Come here often?" Neptune said, leaning his elbow against the wall of the alley.

Sun glared at him, then looked back at Neo. "I saw you trailing us by the way, your clothes don't really make you all that sneaky. Try dressing like Blake if you want to follow two dudes around at night!" He smiled again, this time noticeably closing his eyes to form it, before helping Neo up from the ground.

"I guess we don't really need to introduce ourselves, but you at least owe us that Miss 'save somebody's life and not stick around to be thanked'."

"Long title, don't you think?" Neptune half-whispered half-giggled, earning another glare from the monkey-boy.

"So, what is your name, anyway?"

"I'm…uh, Neopolitan." She coughed a bit from the shock of saying her own name again. Usually it was heard from behind the harsh mouth of a scowling ginger, but now it somehow sounded soft and innocent.

For a few seconds the boys pondered this oddity of a girl. It was Neptune who broke the silence.

"No last name, huh? I dig it. Kind of long, though. How about a nickname, like Neo?"

She nodded to the boy, not caring to tell him she already went by that. He seemed the type to consider it his own idea no matter what she said, anyway.

"I'm sorry I didn't stick around after I helped the two of you, it seemed like your…uh, friends needed me too."

Sun and Neptune looked at one another confusedly, seemingly having forgotten the girls and the metallic beast they had been fighting in their ramen-fueled stupor.

"Was Blake there? Is she okay?"

"What about Weiss? Ice queen, I mean."

Both boys began to look incredibly worried, in stark contrast to their shining bravado only moments earlier. Sun seemed to have a moment of realization, and suddenly his eyes cast a cutting stare in Neo's direction.

"You were at the warehouse, with that lunatic in the mech! Blake and I saw you! How could you help someone like that?" A saddened anger overcame the Faunus, and the red in his cheeks died down only slightly as he clenched his fists and curled his blonde tail, clearly thinking only of the dark-haired girl by his side earlier in the night.

"Hey, Sun. It's okay. She saved us, remember?"

Tears began to file down Neo's cheeks. She'd never liked change, and too many times tonight had she cried as if she were a child again, sad and alone and scared of the world around her. Afraid to speak up for the things she cared about. She had already let Blake walk away tonight, and many others before, simply from her own inaction.

"Stop trying to save the world with your tongue, honey. You're better with a sword anyway. You'll just get yourself killed. And we wouldn't want that, now would we?"

This was a bad memory, but not one of Roman, surprisingly. A voice Neo had close to forgotten, blazed eternally into the back of her mind. Feminine yet commanding, with the slow burn of an ember left to smolder.

The boy continued to yell with ferocity in Neo's face, but she did not cry this time. She stood up, as tall as her stature could allow, and looked him in the eyes that were no longer his. To Neo, they were now burning swirls of hellish flame, licking the edges of an elegant figure. Ashes of a memory transposed onto the howling Faunus in her way.

"Cinder!" And with that, she reeled back…

Within seconds, Sun was crouched on the ground, cradling his bloodied face in his palms. Neptune rushed to his injured friend, spear collapsing to form a rifle and pointing it directly at Neo, who shuffled slowly to the boys' side.

"You…hit him! And while he was angry, too! I can't say I trust you, sister, even though you did give us a hand earlier. My buddy here just so happens to also be my team leader, and I don't necessarily take kindly to girls, however cute, punching him in the face."

"That…took some balls, Neo. I respect it." Sun looked up at her, spitting a sharp tooth and a bloody glob out onto the asphalt, seemingly calm from the shock.

"Now, can we please talk about what happened at that warehouse? It's really important to me."

His eyes reflected the same look from before, the one that shown only love for Blake and nothing else in the world.

"I…saw you two in the crowd. You looked uncomfortable. Like you were searching for something. I was too. I had been trying to get away from that man, the one piloting the paladin we fought. His name is Roman. Roman Torchwick."

Sun nodded in understanding. "Blake mentioned him. Her team leader had a bit of a run in with the guy. So, when the power went out you decided to slip away and help us?"

"Exactly. I'm actually…well, I'm the one who cut the power, I slashed the breaker box when you and Blake yelled for each other. I wanted to help. You two didn't seem like the others there."

The Faunus looked down at his feet, almost as if in longing. "Yeah, she's definitely not like the others. That's why I'm trying so hard to help her."

"Well, looks like you guys both have a nasty habit of helping people out of stupid situations. That's gotta count for something!" Neptune smiled at himself as he finished his sentence, closing his eyes and leaning back against the wall.

Ignoring him, Neo went on. "After your friends and I took out Roman's paladin, Blake walked away from me. She seemed about as angry as you a moment ago. I want her to know I can, and will, help."

"Tell you what, Neo. Let's go see if we can talk to her. I know her hiding spots this late at night. The rest of team RWBY probably hasn't even found her yet."

The three strolled out of the alley together, the broken moon illuminating Sun's blood against the brick walls at their sides as they walked.