The next day Reaper took her usual lunch spot, against Weiss's wishes. She managed to get away without revealing why she was so insistent to still eat 'alone'. Reaper sat with her double helping of food and waited… and waited… and waited… Where is she? She usually appears just a moment after I sit down… Reaper checked her scroll and saw she had been waiting for ten minutes already. With a frown, she began to eat her half. If she didn't start soon, lunch would be over before she could finish. The bell rang and Neo hadn't showed.

She can't be here every day, I suppose… we'll just see her tomorrow.

For the rest of the day, Reaper's bleak mood was obvious to her friends. Those who were starting to feel comfortable around her again tried to see what was wrong. Reaper did her best to be vague and avoid answering without outright lying. Worries of the color coded criminal quickly became all she could think of as the night drew on. Stop it, Reaper. She'll be there tomorrow…

Except she wasn't. Or the next day. Or the day after.

"Okay, this is wrong… she should be here."

Maybe she found work? We can't be her whole life. She is still a criminal, technically.

"Have you met her? I think it's very possible we're her whole life. Even if she found work, she wouldn't miss four lunches in a row."

"Who wouldn't?" Weiss asked, walking around the corner. Reaper jumped and Ember cursed in her mind.

"Someone we met out here, the day we ran from Velvet. They're uncomfortable around people, and we tend to have lunch together. Just the two of us. It's the only time I see them, and they haven't been here for four days." Reaper ran through the practiced line, hoping it was just informative and less-vague-than-usual enough to get by Weiss.

The problem was, Weiss was highly intelligent. Years of studying to be top of the class tended to do wonders for someone's brain. "It's Neopolitan, isn't it?" Reaper flinched, providing Weiss her answer. "I suspected you were somehow still in contact. Didn't think it would be like this, though."

"Please, Weiss, I know I haven't done anything to deserve such a favor, but-"

"'Don't arrest her, don't stop this, she's still my friend and this is the only time I get with her'?" Weiss interrupted. "I get it, Reaper, I do. I've been trying harder to understand how your life could have difficult for you as well, at Blake's insistence, and I get it. She hasn't been telling you details of her latest crimes, has she?"

"I'm not even sure she's still doing crime… Well, other than trespassing onto Beacon." Reaper told her leader.

"Then there's nothing I can do. If there's no evidence, how can I arrest somebody, right?" Reaper looked to the heiress in disbelief. "Reaper, what you said the other day… Believe or not, I am trying. You've done nothing to earn suspicion since you got back, and you've had plenty of opportunity. But like I said, it's harder for me. It's difficult to get past you nearly killing my one of my family, especially one so dear to me."

"I understand… and thank you, Weiss." Reaper smiled.

"Blake's getting her new leg tomorrow. If you want to see her first steps with it, you know where we'll be." The lunch bell rang and the two girls got up. Reaper passed another sad look at the tree line and followed her leader to the dorm.


Once they arrived, Reaper began her studying. Ozpin's promised test ever-lingered in the undetermined future. She had been back two weeks, and it still wasn't prepared. It put Weiss on edge almost as much as Reaper. Just how hard was it going to be? As the night approached Weiss left for the infirmary, leaving Reaper alone. With Blake's operation tomorrow, she was taking advantage of the fact it was the weekend to spend the night with her girlfriend. Reaper kicked open the hidden-fridge to make her drink and saw a very important ingredient missing.

"Ember, we didn't run out of vodka and just forget about it, right?"

I coulda sworn we still had half the bottle last night.

"Me too…" Reaper pulled out her scroll and dialed Weiss's number.

"Reaper?" Weiss picked up.

"Hey, Weiss, you have any idea what happened to my… um… special drink? The important part's missing, and I don't think anyone outside our dorm knows about it."

"I haven't touched it since that day. Maybe someone else found out?" the heiress suggested.

"We haven't been reported… someone must have taken it. Tell Blake I said hey."

"Will do." Reaper hung up and ventured across the hall. With a deep breath, she knocked the door to JNPR dorm.

"Hello?" Pyrrha answered. "Rub-, Reaper! What's going on?"

"Has any of you seen someone around my dorm? Something's missing." Reaper asked her.

"What is?" The golden fighter ventured.

"I'd rather not say if I don't have to…" the scythe master stated uneasily.

Lie Ren answered from inside. "I do believe I may have seen Sun with what you're looking for."

Of course, he must have seen it the day Blake talked to him.

Reaper looked inside to thank Ren before going to search for Sun. After nearly twenty minutes, she finally found him on the roof. He was lying on his back with his feet over the edge, trying to drink from the empty bottle. "Hey Ruby! Oh shit, Reaper! I mean Reaper!" He slurred when he saw her.

Maybe we should start wearing a nametag?

Reaper shook her head. "Sun, what are you doing with that?"

"I really, really liked Blake… I coulda loved her, Ya Know? But she's happy with Weiss, and I'm happy for her… just not happy…" He vented.

"I don't see what any of that has to do with my-"

"Weiss stole my girl!" He yelled to world. "So I stole her vodka! Fair trade, huh?"

"Sun, that's my vodka." Reaper deadpanned.

Sun looked to the bottle. "But Weiss was holding… ah shit… I'm sorry Ru- Reaper! I got it that time haha!"

The scythe master sighed and picked up the drunken monkey. "Let's get you back to your dorm."

She walked Sun all the way back to the dorm set up for the visiting students and found SSSN's room. Sun checked his pockets and realized he left his scroll inside. Reaper kicked the door only to hear an angry Neptune telling her to 'politely fuck off' and let him sleep. She tried once more and got an even less polite response. Sighing in defeat, she dragged Sun across campus to RWBY dorm, figuring he needed somewhere safe to sleep. At least Blake wouldn't be there.

Setting the monkey boy on her bed, she considered calling Weiss and asking to sleep on her and Blake's bed.

Sun might appreciate it if Blake never found out he spent the night in here.

"Damn it, Ember…" Realizing her voice was right, she set herself up on the couch.

Dawn broke a few hours later and Sun woke with a groan. Reaper, having gotten no sleep, was ready to inform him of anything he forgot. He opened his eyes and saw where he was. "It wasn't a drunken dream, was it?" he asked.

"What do you remember?" the scythe girl asked.

"I remember I owe you a bottle of vodka." The monkey answered sheepishly.

"Damn straight. If you can get ready and get out before Weiss shows up, we can keep the sleepover our little secret." Reaper offered.

"That… would probably be best, thanks." Sun walked to the door.

"Hey." Reaper stopped him at the door. "If you're really that lonely… I'm sure Velvet could use a friend." Reaper wasn't sure what train of thought led her there, but that was one of the many thoughts that kept her up.

Sun was thoroughly confused. "What about you?" he asked.

"Hey, I have zero interest in man-meat, but Velv is bi." The scythe master told him.

"No, I mean aren't you and her…?" He clarified.

"Oh… no, Velv is in love with Ruby."

"But you're… oh." Sun processed the information slowly and came to understanding. "Yikes, that must have been awkward."

"Like I said, she could use a friend." Reaper replied. "She deserves to be happy. You might have some competition with the memory of 'Ruby' but given how tightly she tried holding on, she might need help moving on anyway."

"Got it. Thanks, Ru-, uhh… Reaper. Got it that time." He smiled and left the dorm.

Reaper sat down at the desk and with no more distractions, she tried to finally get some studying done. When Weiss entered, she saw that all Reaper had done was absent mindedly draw an image of Neo on her worksheet.

"If you're that worried about her, maybe we can go looking soon." Weiss said to announce her presence.

Reaper looked down and, when she saw what she had done, flushed red. "Are you sure?" She asked the heiress.

"It's distracting you from your work, and asking you to forget about her temporarily obviously isn't going to work." Weiss explained.

That makes more sense.

"Thanks Weiss. Is it time for Blake?" The heiress nodded in response.


For the fifth day in a row, Neo woke to pain. The Creature didn't seem to be too bright, expecting Reaper to magically show up. When she didn't, he took his frustrations out on his hostage. At least he's smart enough to keep me alive… Although without a voice, she couldn't point out his mistake and get out of this mess. Now that she was awake, she resumed her plan to struggle against her shackles when Creature wasn't looking. She figured that, eventually, her thin wrists could slip through and she could teleport out of here. Even if it meant greasing the chains with her own blood to do so.

She hated the limitation to her teleportation she so carefully kept secret, that Creature accidentally took advantage of. She couldn't leave something behind that was in physical contact with her, unless it was large like a building. If they were handcuffs around a pole or something it wouldn't be too bad, but the chains were bolted to the wall. Her semblance would travel up them take a chunk of the wall with her and she still wouldn't be able to move from wherever she landed.

She looked up and saw a rare sight, the beast with his hood down. The right side of his face as heavily scarred as his still-human hand, though the left side was the most interesting. More low-grade cybernetics replaced what used to be there, including an eye Neo had come to assume could read and track aura. It would explain how he kept finding them so easily in Mountain Glenn. It still didn't explain how his neck bent Reaper's blade, however…

"Reaper…" He growled. A mesh grating protected whatever was left of his mouth and the flatness where his nose used to be, muffling his voice slightly. He truly looked less-than-human, like a monster from a horror movie. Which is to say, horrifically fugly, Neo mused to herself. He turned around and walked to the window. Neo began her struggles. Once he started watching for Reaper, he usually stood there for hours, occasionally interrupted by impatient anger followed by breaking another of Neo's ribs.

She knew she had to escape herself. She knew Reaper would come for her, if the scythe master had any idea of any of this. A proper hostage taker would have made sure Reaper knew everything, but as Neo already figured, this man was less than intelligent and wholly and hatefully obsessed with Reaper. Neo knew she had to rely on herself, and carefully dug the chains into her wrists. She didn't mind the pain; she was driven by one thought. Living long enough to see her dear friend again.

I'll get back to you safely, Reaper. I promise. We'll have lunch, and I'll adopt that cat, and I'll live. I just have to get out of here…


Blake's new leg was sleek, all black, and surprisingly lightweight. As she took her first steps, she wobbled slightly. "It's going to take some getting used to, but I think I can work with this." She said as wobbled to Weiss. "Thank you." She told her girlfriend with a kiss.

Checkmate!

"Checkmate." Reaper passed along.

"Way to ruin a moment, Ember…" Weiss vented.

I try my best.

"She tries her best."

Weiss and Blake rolled their eyes. "So, we're searching for Neo tomorrow?" Blake asked. Weiss had apparently already informed her of Reaper's lunch mate, much to Reaper's ire.

"Tomorrow?" Weiss looked to her girlfriend and sighed. "You just now got on two feet again, tomorrow's a little soon to walk Vale."

"Ugh, fine, can I at least try walking to my dorm?" She asked the doctor.

"As long as you don't mind me dropping by there over the next couple of days to make sure nothing goes wrong." He told her.

Blake nodded and got dressed. With pants and shoes on, she looked the same as before. "How does it work? Aura?" Reaper, the weapon mechanic, was curious.

"If it worked solely on aura it would be too draining." Blake answered. "There's a rechargeable internal battery I'm supposed to plug in at night, and I'm getting a spare to change out on missions. I use my aura to move it, but it doesn't take much. Barely noticeable."

"That was my second guess." Reaper assured them.

"Of course it was." Weiss joked. Reaper replied with a rude, one fingered gesture.

When they got back to the dorm Blake had a question for Reaper. "Have you figured anything out about our attacker?"

"Crap… Sorry I've been a little distracted the past couple days." The scythe master confessed. "I had already hit a dead end anyway, I'm missing some vital clue, I have to be…"

Blake saw the artwork on Reaper's worksheet. "Reaper, have you considered the possibility that he got to Neopolitan, and that's why she's missed your meets?"

Reaper froze. She had, but she didn't want to accept it. "No, she's alive. She has to be… She's a survivor, she's not going to let herself die by Creature's hand…"

"Maybe he didn't kill her. He's after you, and you don't leave campus. He could be trying to draw you out." Blake theorized.

"How absent minded would he have to be to take her hostage and forget to inform me?" Reaper shot back.

After witnessing how methodical Reaper could be, this stubborn turn confused Blake. She looked again at the drawing of Neo and put pieces together. "You've got to be kidding me…" She whispered under her breath with an amused smile. Reaper didn't hear, but Weiss did. Blake answered her question before she asked it, whispering in her ear. Weiss rolled her eyes, less-than-amused at the theory. Not because it was ridiculous, but because it was entirely likely at this point.

Late that night, Reaper found it hard to get to sleep. Thoughts of Neo getting captured by Creature were worrying her beyond belief. She decided she needed to refocus on determining who he was… not that she knew much. Eventually, she just let her mind blend all her thoughts, hoping to just catch something, like that theory with the monkeys and classic literature. She eventually felt her eyes close and she walked her memories in her dreams.

"Don't make me choose!"

"Neo is my friend too…"

"REAPER!"

Brutal Thorn's blade bends.

"Any number of people could be after me!"

"I tended not to leave those people alive…"

"You hurt my sister, nearly killed her. It's difficult to get past…"

Reaper turned in her sleep as her thoughts looped back around.

"So please, don't make me choose."

"Is it us he's after?"

Brutal Thorn's blade bends.

"Just how many people have you killed…?"

"There was a girl who tried to kill us to keep her shop, a pair of stubborn brothers, a member of our own gang who set me off before I had Ember and- And Adam."

"It's difficult to get past you nearly killing my one of my family, especially one so dear to me."

Reaper's eyes shot open. "What if…"

"REAPERRR!"

Brutal Thorn's blade bends.

"-a pair of brothers-"

"-killing one of my own family-"

"What if…" Reaper sat up.

Brutal Thorn's blade bends.

"-a pair of brothers-"

"-especially one so dear to me."

"What if I only thought I killed him…?"

Brutal Thorn's blade bends. A pair of brothers, dear to each other. One of the few victims she didn't decapitate. If anyone could survive what she did do to him… Reaper knew who Creature was.